Pet Blogger Challenge 2017

This is my first time participating in the annual Pet Blogger Challenge, hosted by Amy Burkert of GoPetFriendly.com   Following here are the challenge questions: 

1. When did you start your blog and, for anyone who is just seeing it for first time, please provide a description of your site. Would you say your blog focuses more on sharing stories with your readers, or providing a resource for your audience?

I started blogging when blogging was rather new, in 2007. I can hardly believe it's been 10 years! Back then, blogging wasn't monetized. Blogs were a place where writers could show off their work publicly... instantly! No more applying to magazines and newspapers. Just write it yourself, click a button, et voila! Anyone with an internet connection can read what you write. 

My blog focuses on sharing stories with my readers, for sure. My tag line of "This trip called life with dogs and cats" describes the blog. It's sort of a mish-mash -  a "lifestyle" blog by a travel professional who loves dogs (and cats). But I write about other things, as the mood strikes.

The original k2k9.com logo

I have tried to make a go of providing resources (senior pet care; pet loss and grief, for example) but I haven't given that enough attention to make TravelingDogLady into a resource site, yet.

2. What was your proudest blogging moment of 2016?

Taking the huge, and scary, step of changing the name of my blog. My late husband had named my website k2k9. My nickname is "k2" because there are so many Kathys. And obviously k9 = dogs. It was very clever! But, because he had come up with the name, it was emotionally troubling to make the decision to change. 

I have owned the domain "Travelingdoglady.com" for a few years, but just kept it in my back pocket for "some day".

Recently, some issues cropped up and made me re-think the name of my site. There is a street drug named K2, a reality-TV star named K2, and (the clincher) someone started using the tag K2-K9 in YouTube videos about dog fighting. I wanted no relation or attachment to any of those things, so, I took the plunge and changed the name of the site. Not to mention that my friends and family and followers STILL rarely get it right:  "k292?"  "k922?" "k929?" 

I also convinced myself to put my 32 years of travel industry experience front and center or a change. Up until now, I aimed to downplay my travel career -- to separate it from my dog/cat enthusiasm. 

In 2016, I decided to embrace my travel career background and use it, instead. Thus, travelingdoglady.com was revealed.  I lost some followers and traffic when I changed the name, and made some mistakes that can't be reversed, but the blog is springing back and I feel it was the right decision. [By the way, the domain k2k9.com still redirects here.] 

3. Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? (Please include a link.)

18 Steps For A Successful Dog Birthday Party was my favorite blog post of 2016. I hosted Charlie and Cooper's 5th birthday party at our house, and learned a few things about my dogs and their siblings that day. Plus, it was a good experience to have "a pack of dogs" at my house, socializing (something I never do). I made gift bags for everyone, served food, and entertained (again, something I never do). It certainly got me out of my comfort zone. Finally, I got some pretty good photos of the crew, and was able to use those shots in my blog post. The post generated some traffic on my blog, too.

I can't help by re-post this "pile of puppies" photo!
That's Cooper right on top!

4. Year after year, one goal that we all seem to share is that we want to reach more people. What one tool did you use or action did you take this year that had the most impact on increasing traffic to your blog?

In a rather humorous turn of events, the tool I decided to use to increase traffic to my blog ended up being a scam, of sorts. My traffic increased by 300%. It turns out, all the "hits" were from Russia (of all places!). I ended up cancelling my account with that feed-sharing site, after complaining to them about their trickery. So, I am sort of back to square one with traffic. When I began blogging, this stuff did not even exist. However, I am a "computer nerd" from way back, and have a lot of experience in sales and marketing from the travel company. So, I understand HOW to do marketing and traffic-driving... I just don't enjoy it. It's not my favorite thing, even though it's a skill I possess, and I understand how it works. For me, tracking all that stuff is not "the fun part" of this experience.

Maggie the cat, back in the '90s.

5. Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? (Please include a link.) Have you noticed any themes across your most popular posts?

A Fond Farewell to Eastham. Other than sponsored posts, which I'm not counting, the post I wrote about selling my vacation home on Cape Cod got the most traffic. It's not pet-related at all!! I do notice that my most popular posts are the ones I write about myself, "from the heart", rather than the ones I THINK are going to get a lot of traffic. In this particular case, I wondered if people were just being nosy.... uh, I mean curious, yeah, yeah....or perhaps it was that fabulous selfie I included! 

6. What blog do you find most inspirational and how has it influenced your blog? (Please include a link.)

Hands down (er.... paws down?) it's Pooch Smooches!  Jackie Bouchard's blog. Jackie and I have similar interests and senses of humor. It was our look-alike three-legged dogs, Abby and Cooper, that more or less connected us. I had the great honor of previewing one of her books before it was published, too. She inspired me to use more photos in my blog posts, and write funny (well, I think they're funny) captions for each photo. Thanks Jackie!

7. What is one thing your readers don’t know about you or your pets that would surprise them?

Gosh, my life is an open book. Pun fully intended. I doubt there's anything people don't know about either me, or my pets. Well, I'll give this a try... I am welcoming my "grand-dog" to our pack in a few weeks. She is very old and has some health issues. I offered to take her to my home where she can live out her remaining years in the way that my dogs Timba, Hobie and Hector did before her. I always dreamed of having a pet sanctuary for senior pets. I think I've had one all this time, and just didn't realize what was at the end of my nose all along!

my "grand-dog", Ana.

Coincidentally, I am (still!) taking classes to become a Certified Canine Training and Behavior Specialist -- something I've been doing for a few years... 
slow-w-w-w-ly. So, having Anabel added to our pack may give me some extra fodder and muse, both for my studies AND my blog. 

Infographic courtesy of doggiedrawings.net

Canine Body Language Infographic - not mine, but love it!

8. What is something you’ve learned this year that could help other bloggers?

Watch out for scams and expensive online courses. I got roped into some of each that really were a turn-off. And since I have a marketing and sales background, it made me say, "I could do this MUCH better than they are doing!" (and at little to no expense.) Maybe I should offer them some training ha ha. Thankfully, the scam cost nothing but my time (lots of it!); and the courses were fully refundable.

9. What would you like to accomplish on your blog in 2017?

All through 2015 and 2016 I focused on monetizing my blog. I have not found it enjoyable, whatsoever. So, in 2017, I'm going to try to have fun with my blog, hopefully move it over to WordPress, and simply try to enjoy doing the "work" rather than trying so hard to make a profit out of it. 

That being said, I already have my ticket for BlogPaws' conference in Myrtle Beach, and that includes the Cat Writers' Association conference (they are combined). I am a member of both organizations, so I'm excited to learn some things at the conferences.  Sounds like I'm talking out both sides of my mouth. Hey, I like to keep all options open.

10. Now it’s your turn! You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there a question you’d like answered, or an aspect of your blog that you’d like input on?

I have far too many pet-related interests and areas of dog/cat experience, so I keep changing the blog's menu, features and appearance. Sometimes on a weekly basis! I look at other blogs and think, "Darn, I thought of that... why didn't I do it first?" or... "Why didn't I think of that?" I could use some suggestions for how to focus my blog. Or feedback telling me it's just fine the way it is (lol!). 

Since I changed the name of the blog, it's under construction so, "please excuse our appearance". 

Changing Your Dog's Food

This week, I returned from being away for a week in pet-friendly Rome, Italy. It's the annual "Yuletide" trip that my company, Passports Educational Travel, takes every year. While it was fun, it was also a lot of hard work, and I missed my pets something awful!

Me, at an Italian winery between Christmas and New Year's, 2016

I had stocked up on dog and cat food before I left, so that my pet sitter would have enough, and I'd have enough for my return, to avoid having to go the store as soon as I got back.

Yesterday, I opened a new bag of dog food, and when I tore off the strip at the top of the re-closable bag, I noticed something was stuck to it, and it looked like a dead bug.  When I tore open the rest of the top of the bag, inside were hundreds of bugs crawling around!  Gross!  I whipped open the back door and threw the bag outside. Charlie went after it, and I had to grab him and drag him back inside. I do not know what kind of insects they were, but it was disgusting. This was a small "extra" bag of food I had grabbed at the grocery store -- the same brand I have been feeding them (FreshPet Dry Grain-Free).  I also had a large, un-opened bag left over as well.  When I looked at the dates on the bags, they were a year old. I do not know why I didn't notice that before.  It said "Freshly packed on 1/26/2016" !!!

Not thinking, I threw everything in the trash, and of course my maintenance guy picked up my trash yesterday, so I have no lot numbers or bar codes or anything like that. I also threw out the receipts when I made the purchase.  I never keep those kind of receipts. It will be difficult to report the problem to the store, or FreshPet, but I will think of a way to inform them of the problem.

So, there I was, with no dog food!

I checked all the bags of cat food, and they seem fine. The insects did not get inside of anything else, thank goodness.

I do not think it was FreshPet's fault.... I think it was the fault of my local store for not clearing or rotating its shelves and stock. I will probably report this incident to them, but the problem is, I don't remember WHICH store I went to. There are two grocery stores near me, both carry the brand, and I did visit both of them before my trip. So, I have a pretty good idea which store it was, but I can't be 100% certain.  Since they are both the same franchise, I will probably speak to the managers at both locations.  One thing is for sure, I will not be shopping at either one of those stores until further notice!

I went to my local pet food store -- a family-owned business -- and bought dog food yesterday afternoon.  This store doesn't sell FreshPet, which is fine with me because I am a little turned off by them at the moment! So, I had to switch my dogs' food, something that should always be done with care and caution.  I decided to switch back to "Taste of the Wild", a product I had once fed to my dogs for quite a few years, based on the recommendation of my former veterinarian.  I stopped feeding TOTW because of a recall a few years ago.  Honestly, you can't win with manufactured dog food! If I had more time in life, I probably would feed raw. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe not. I'm lazy. I'll probably keep going to PetSmart or one of the other pet stores.

New! Pendleton Dog Coats Available at PetSmart.com!

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Switching your dog's food is easy, but you have to be careful. Normally, I mix together some of the old food with the new, for three or four days. Up to a week, if possible. But this time, I had to toss the old food. I was not taking any chances with bugs! So, I took chances with the new food, Taste of the Wild.  It seemed the dogs really liked it, and they did not get "gassy" or anything like that. But I noticed Charlie burped a few times last night!

I will go outside and inspect their poop (yes, we dog people do that!) and see if there are any problems from that end!

Until next time.... thanks for reading!  If you haven't joined my email list, what're you waiting for?  Do it now!  Newsletters and special things are coming soon!

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Wordless Wednesday Merry Winter Solstice

Happy Howlidays from TravelingDogLady.com's K2, Charlie Brown, Cooper, Cali, Tux and Newman

Merry Christmas from me and my twin elves!

Newman, taking a siesta during winter solstice.

30 Homeless Pets and 1 Holiday Feast | Freshpet

Puppy Christmas Parties

Have you ever watched young, un-weaned puppies play? Well, I never had until I went to a Christmas party last weekend at the shelter where I volunteer. I'm the one who entered all the puppies' intake forms into the computer database this year. What a thrill to meet this one litter that accompanied us at the party! I never even thought to take any pictures of them. I was too busy cuddling the little buggers.

While watching them play, I recognized Charlie Brown and Cooper's antics. Of course! Lightbulb moment! They are littermates, and of course they still carry on with the same posturing even though they are 20 times the size. It's hard to believe they were ever that tiny.

Seeing the puppies playing this way gave me a whole new appreciation of the way Charlie and Cooper play. Still, at 5 years old, they play the same way. But they are huge! Not that I ever thought what they were doing was bad, but I now understand more fully why they are sometimes so rough with each other. Why all the growling, sneezing and barking. They play exactly as they did when they were tiny little puppies still nursing from their mama.

Isn't dog behavior and dog body language fascinating? I've always thought so.

Today, we went to see Santa and get our pictures taken. We got a hat, some stockings, and a sweater, along with a few toys and treats. Presents!

Here are some outtakes from me trying to get Cooper to wear the Christmas hat for Spencer The Goldendoodle's December Dog Photo Challenge:

Shake this thing off my head

'the heck, ma?

Come 'ere.... oops not that far

Almost!

The winner! It'll have to do. Hard to get this guy to sit still. 

We won some stockings and toys at the shelter's Pictures With Santa event today.
There are treats inside this stocking. I looked over and Coop was trying to pull it down off the mantle!

This blog has a new name - k2k9 is now Traveling Dog Lady

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    Good evening fellow travelers, readers, followers and bloggers.

After a group of unsavory characters decided it would be a good idea to attach the moniker "k2k9" to their websites, I have made the decision to finally change the name of this blog.

The original k2k9 logo.  Awwww!! 

I purchased the domain travelingdoglady.com a few years ago, and just never did anything with it.  

So, today is the day!  

Welcome to Traveling Dog Lady

Our favorite mode of travel.... the Subaru, of course!

And yes, we still love cats, too.

   

Stay tuned for more updates in 2017.

Happy Holidays!!

"k2" The Traveling Dog Lady

It's #NationalMuttDay

I couldn't be more excited about National Mutt Day!

My last four dogs have been mutts.  My first four were purebreds.  I'm not sure why, but I have such a soft spot for the mutts.  Probably because they are "one-of-a-kind" dogs.

Yours Truly (barefoot) with my first dog, Sam.  Yes, a beagle.  She's barefoot, too.

Cali and a shadow of one of the dogs

The twins:  supposedly they are "hound/collie mix".

Hobie (lab/shepherd) and Charlie Brown (hound/collie).

Cooper and Newman -- the cat who thinks he's a dog

Handsome Charlie Brown... what kind of a dog is that? 

What kind of dog is THAT?  It's a one-of-a-kind dog.  A Heinz 57. The best kind. A mixed-up, lovable mutt. "A rescue" (as in, "rescued is my favorite breed").

Yours Truly, again.  And another hound.... Hector!

One of the best ways I spend my time is hang out with my muttley crew, which happens to include three cats who sometimes think they are dogs.  The cats are mutts, too!

Snooze buddies!  Hobie the dog, and Newman the d... I mean, cat!

What kind of dog do you have?  Tell me about it in the comments.

Throwback Thursday #TBT

Charlie Brown when he was a puppy! "What's that thing you've got in your hand, new adoptive mother?"
"A camera.  Get used to it.  There's going to be a lot of this!"

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop

My cat has thumbs!

#WordlessWednesday #HappyThanksgiving Blog Hop

What the hounds like to do on Thanksgiving Eve!

It's #NationalBlackCatDay

In celebration of #NationalBlackCatDay, I'm re-posting the story of my beloved black cat, Mr. Kitty.

Today, I have Tux who is black and white; and Cali who is a Tortie cat, (mostly black with brown and white). So, no black cats with me today, but Mr. Kitty has always been with us in spirit.

Mr. Kitty took a piece of my heart and never let go.  I think of him every single day.  His is the first story I wrote for the k2k9 blog.

Mr. Kitty

Mr. Kitty -- the Reincarnated Dog

In 1991, about 20-some-odd cats came to our care at the farm.   These 20-odd cats were promptly deposited into our barn, having been driven in a VW hatchback several hours from their New Jersey home where three times that many cats had been living in one house.

Of the 20-plus cats, one very young male cat made himself an immediate friend to us.  Much to the chagrin of many of the people living at the farm.  These folks could've been described as "anti-cat people."

At the time, I was a "cat person", having not yet adopted my two dogs Hobie and Hector, who would come to us many years later.  Oh sure, I had my faithful Timba, and we had Annie and a few others, but during the early 1990s, I most assuredly and most definitely loved cats more than dogs.  To have 20 cats deposited on my doorstep was a dream come true.  I was in love with every last one of them.

This one young male cat was very small, very skinny, and rather sickly.  Someone called him "Skinny Bops" -- I mean even people who hated cats couldn't help talk about this cat and give him a nickname!  That's how likable he was.  "Skinny Bops", later to be re-named "Mr. Kitty" by me, was originally mistaken to be a female.  He was so tiny and sprightly, and he just seemed rather feminine.

Many of the anti-cat people were not happy about the cats.  They wanted to have the cats destroyed, despite the well-known fact that their previous owner was promised these cats would be cared for for the rest of their lives, and despite the fact that the cats had been saved from certain destruction -- at great personal expense -- in the form of an old woman's broken heart.  The woman loved those cats as if they were her own flesh and blood.  She felt responsible for them.  She made us promise they would not be destroyed.  We promised.  They would not be.  They would not  be destroyed.

The first cat to be considered for euthanasia was "Skinny Bops".  He (she, at the time) was very sickly and had a giant bald spot on his (her) side which he (she) would lick for hours on end.  He (she) wouldn't eat, and seemed to be wasting away.  People talked about having this particular cat "put to sleep" at length.  We stood in the way.  This was our most favorite of all the cats that had been delivered to us that day.

We started noticing, when cars pulled in the driveway of the farm, the dogs Timba and Annie (and other visiting dogs) would run up and greet the people arriving.  Along with them, every time, was the little black cat.  I started declaring that he (she) was not just a cat.  He (she) was a very special cat who was really a reincarnated dog!  He (she) acted like a dog in many ways.  While many cats run away and hide from people, or at least sit in defiance, aloof off in a corner with one eye open, this cat was different.  He (she) would run up to people, greet them, meow at them, rub against them and hang around with the dogs, not with the other cats!  He (she) was part of the dog's pack!

We started allowing this cat to hang out in our living quarters at the farm.  We had a large painted wooden deck that overlooked the 150 or so acres of rolling farmland right outside our sliding glass door that the dog, Teaneck (also from New Jersey) knew how to open with his paw, even if it was locked!  The little black cat also learned how to open that sliding door, as well as an old-fashioned "half-screen" that held open the window in the summertime.  The cat would open the door, or the screen, and dart off in search of bats that lived in the cupola of the barn in great abundance.  This cat could catch a bat, in his mouth, every time.  He would bring them to our apartment as "gifts", and then we'd have to enlist his help in catching the flying critter again, so we could escort the little Count Draculas out of our apartment.

I started calling the cat "Missy" because she (he) was a bit mischievous.  I would say things like, "Hey, Missy! Don't open that window!"  The name "Missy" eventually evolved into "Miss Kitty" -- in spite of the character from the old Gunsmoke television show.

One day, Miss Kitty walked up to some inanimate object, I don't remember if it was indoors or out, backed into it, and sprayed a big long stream of urine onto the object.  That was the day it occurred to me that Miss Kitty was not a Missy at all.  She was a he!  We immediately renamed the cat Mr. Kitty, and that name stuck.

We never did allow anybody to kill Mr. Kitty.  He ended up living with us for years, and becoming elderly.  When we left the farm, Mr. Kitty was one of only seven cats we were able to rescue from certain death.  Mr. Kitty moved with us to our next house where we lived for about a year.  And then back to my little cottage on the pond where we all lived -- me, Gil, Timba, Mr. Kitty, Love Kitty, Filkin, Maggie, Charlie, Louise and two parakeets.  We picked up another cat, Pointy, at the cottage.  We lived in the little cottage, all eleven of us, for about three years, and then we moved across the street where we still live today, minus all of the cats except Maggie.  Mr. Kitty came along for all those moves.  When we moved across the street, he refused to be brought over in a cage like he had the previous two times.  Instead, he walked across to the new house with me and Timba.

Mr. Kitty remained Timba's companion, going with her on her morning walks every day, and her afternoon walks every day, for the next 5 years or so.  When Timba passed away, Mr. Kitty was as sad as the rest of us.  He became old himself.

In the end, we tried to provide medical cures for Mr. Kitty, but it was hopeless.  His kidneys had failed, and he, the former "Skinny Bops" was losing weight. The vet sent us home and told us he'd euthanize Mr. Kitty if and when we needed it to happen.  Mr. Kitty even lived several more months after that.  In October of 2002, Mr. Kitty hadn't been outside in about a year.  Never being a house cat, it was difficult for us, because he really didn't know how to use a litter box.  

One day in late October, it was one of those Indian-summer days when it's warm during the day, but cold at night.  Mr. Kitty "asked" to go outside.  We let him out.  He walked the neighborhood, on the same route as he had once done with Timba.  He went door-to-door, visiting all of his and Timba's old haunts.  He didn't come back in the house that night.  We left the garage open for him -- all our cats know to go to the garage if they have to stay outdoors overnight.

The next morning, my neighbor hollered over to me, "Are you missing a cat?"  I said yes.  She said she found a dead cat in her yard.  She put the cat in her trash barrel.  She asked me to come over and ID the body.  Sure enough, lying there curled up in a little ball was our beloved Mr. Kitty, dead as a doornail, and flat as a board.  She said, "He's flat as a board. Why is he like that?"  I explained that he had been very sick for many months. Poor lady thought her husband had run over the cat with his car!  No, Mr. Kitty was just that skinny.  Skinny as the day we met him in 1991.  No, skinnier.


We buried Mr. Kitty in the Timba Memorial Park, right beside his beloved canine pal, Timba.

Timba and Charlie the cat.  I don't have a picture of Timba with Mr. Kitty.