New URL

The url of this site has been changed. Please update your bookmarks!

www.raleighpop.com

Dot Com: How to Roll Over

I spent last night moving each and every bitchy post on this wordpress page to our new home http://raleighpop.com

And by that I mean I found a widget to do it for me, so I drank some Raging Bitch beer and sat around pressing “refresh” every so often.

These shall be the last words I press here, so please visit us at the new blog. And thanks for reading, tweeting, and commenting!

PSA: Maintenance

This website is a little messy today, because we are attempting to upgrade to a fancy new site. Metaphorically, we’ve shit all over the sidewalk and now we have to clean up the disaster with plastic bags. Please hang on for further details. And always clean up after you pet!

Alternate Tag Lines I Have Considered For This Blog

The tag line USED to be, “in the war on fox terrorism, there are always two sides,” but I changed it because not everyone landing on the blog was immediately breed savvy enough to know I was talking about a fox terrier. But I’ve never really liked “dog blogging from two bitches in Brooklyn,” all that much. I’ve talked about dog places other than Brooklyn plenty of times, and while I like the local angle, its not all we do here. So here are my other thoughts…. (feel free to add more to the comments)

…  because hunting foxes is better than watching FOX news

… two sides to every dog story and dog face

… rhymes with Lollipop

… two bitches, one dog blog

… a fox terrier and a terrorized Owner

… this is not a jack russell

Conclusions to draw here: I like the word “bitch.” Maybe its time to move on though? Please help!

Photo Op: The Anti-Nap

It’s couch nap season in my living room; they tend to end the same way.

A Total Bitch

I saw the headline of this article in my google reader and I thought, that is me! And then I realized this is about dogs not humans. Aggressive Dogs May Be Depressed talks about a study on serotonin:

Canine aggression is the most common behavioral problem that veterinarians see and now new research is finding that the aggressive behavior may be the result of depression, The Telegraph reported.

Luckily, my dog does not attack other dogs. I, on the other hand, have been known to fly off the handle a bit, and a lot more recently, due to family events I’d rather not detail at the moment. What I will say, is my poor sister has listened to a lot of misplaced vitriol this summer. I’m a semi-aggressive person all the time, but I certainly notice a big difference when I am upset/depressed. It’s pretty terrible because at the time when you’d like people to be most sympathetic to you, you end up being the most horrible to them and making it all impossible.

Researchers for the study, reported in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, found that dogs who exhibited aggressive behavior had low levels of the “feel good” hormone serotonin in their bodies. This is also the case in people that are depressed and anxious.

So just like the bitches in the study, I’m working on managing this but there is no clear cure. I do think I can rule this treatment suggested in the article below. I’m not sure what a human equivalent would be, but I imagine it’s scarier than my disorder :

They say enrolling your pet in doggie day care can help ease separation anxiety.

Q & A: Who Is The Old Guy With The Irish Setter?

Q: Raleigh- Yesterday you featured an old guy and his Irish Setter in the post about dogs in Virginia Beach. I was wondering if that is your Grandpa?

A: Thanks for asking. That guy, Bill, is my Owner’s Grandpa, so he is our Great Grandpa! And the red-headed mess next to him is Ollie (Oliver if you are formal). Great Grandpa Bill is a serious, life-long dog lover. In his 97 years, he has owned more dogs than he can remember (but apparently every thing is hard to remember at that age, which means he is great at giving out multiple dog treats!) His history of dogs includes (best we can recall): 2 Cocker Spaniels (One whose name was Scram), 3 Irish setters (Kim and Kay preceded Ollie), 3 English Cocker Spaniels  (Jodie, Blue, and Duke) and a Boston Terrier named Blackie. Unconfirmed family reports suggest there was also a “farm dog” growing up, and at least two litters of puppies for a while.

Dog Meets World

I can’t remember how I ran across Dog Meets World but any charity project with a “pup prop” has to be a winner over here. The organization is on a mission to give children of the world photographs of themselves who would not otherwise have them. The founder began doing this with a stuffed version of her own dog, and the mascot has stuck.

She looks snarky. I like her!

A photo gallery of the work is available here.

I think this proves that dog people are the nicest. Because when was the last time inspiration for helping someone came to a person bent over a little box and scooping it out? Never.

On Other Cities, More Dog Friendly

Paw Print post has blogged the list of top ten cities for dogs, complied by Dog Fancy Magazine (issue release July 27). Number one was Provincetown, Mass. which I know nothing about. I do, however, have strong opinions about number 8, the place of my raising:

• Carmel, Calif.
• Madison, Wis.
• Benicia, Calif.
• Fort Bragg, Calif.
• Lincoln City, Ore.
• San Diego, Calif.
• Virginia Beach, Va.
• Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Salem, Ore.

My parents raised two dogs (in addition to my sister and me: the two bitches) in that town and my Grandparents had many, many more dogs there. Raleigh gets to visit once or twice a year and I have to admit, its much easier than New York. Here are some specific reasons why:

This guy prefers Virginia Beach for raising dogs. Quite large ones.

Buying In Bulk: A Storage Problem

Living in New York makes buying in bulk nearly impossible. The problem is two-fold. Its nearly impossible to cart multiple lbs of (insert ANYTHING here) home, but usually even harder to store them in your tiny apartment once home. Yet, something about the uphill battle, the forbiddenness, makes it even more intoxicating for this bitch, when it comes to two items. I present the first: