Viva's long road to rehabilitation: reactive behavior

that is close enough, please!

When we adopted Viva, the local shelter warned us for her aggressive behavior. As we soon were to find out, she would lung and growl at any dog in sight.

How it was possible her first meeting with Kenzo went well remained a mystery for us in a long time. But more about that later in this story.

As you might remember, Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT) was brought to our attention by dog trainer Irith Bloom and blogger/author Edie Jarolim and we started making some progress. So where do we stand now?

I'm cool when you are cool

Training different BAT setups enhanced Viva's vocabulary of calming signals. She also feels confident enough to use them in a lot of situations. We can pass any other calm dog on a distance of around 5 meters (15 feet) and her normal response would be to look away and ignore the other dog. She has no wish to come up and greet. But that is also not necessary. Just that she chooses to tackle the situation with these calming signals instead of agression, is wonderful.

One of the good things with BAT in Viva's case was that it took the edge off of things. Which allows us to use other techniques like counter conditioning and desensitizing - see Debbie Jacob's explanation of this training jargon. Something that had no effect on Viva at all before BAT.

Some of the calm and well-socialized dogs she has gotten to know in the neighborhood are allowed to come and greet. In Viva's world that means the exchange of a sniff. That will do for Viva. Thereafter it is all turning away and ignoring. Again a good display of Viva using her newly adopted social skills.

Unusual setups

We still have a lot of progress to make trying to approach a more "excited" dog. From a distance Viva will try some lip licking as calming signals, but she still will not feel comfortable to approach closer than a distance of 10 meters (30 feet). Although she will not lung or bark at them anymore if we come closer, she is clearly outside her comfort-zone. I always make sure never to go over her threshold, praise her for the lip licking, and turn around.

To help Viva further we found a great BAT setup with Kenzo's friend the Yorkshire terrier "watchdog". Because he knows me from all the walks me and Kenzo did past his property, he barks excited, and runs up to the fence, ready to meet us and receive his treats. I watch this with Viva on a safe distance and we have made it into our 5 meter barrier where we even were able to do "look at me". I throw some treats at the Yorkie too.

Play bow

Our biggest concern are off-leash dogs. We have become quite savvy in avoiding other dogs, also when they are off-leash. But unevitably some come up and meet. The good thing is that she doesn't lung at them anymore head-on. When the other dog ignores her after the sniff she allows them to leave in the best of health.

Amazingly, the best the other dog could do is to make a play-bow. That calms her down tremendously and she will fully accept the dog. I had to rub my eyes the first couple of times that happened. She will do some tail wags and grins to the other dog. Suddenly we realized, it was also the key Kenzo used in their first meeting together, and explained why she accepted him from day one. Just luck? or another display of Kenzo outsmarting me once again on the social dog front?

Too much

Anything else than ignoring after the sniff or play-bows clearly sends her in distress and she will start focusing on trying to convince the other dog to leave. She will take a more confrontational stand, and will snap them in the neck or back if they keep on coming back. Those meetings send her stress levels sky-rocketing. She is clearly very unhappy the rest of the day, and can start with a heavy panting that goes on for hours, like some kind of constant state of hyperventilation. After such an encounter we usually take it calm for the next couple of days. Make some short walks and ensure there is not even another dog in sight.

Our biggest challenge is of course other reactive or aggressive dogs. I think I am now able to spot them from a great distance and the tactic is simple: get the hell out of Dodge! We are absolutely not ready for a meeting, on any distance, with one of her equals.

***

"Viva's long road to rehabilitation" is a series of updates how Viva is doing almost one year after her adoption:

• the work-out
• reactive behavior

The fearful dog owner

this new policy doesn't seem to work

Despite Kenzo's excellent reputation with small fearful dogs, he does not have that same therapeutic effect on some fearful dog owners.

There is one person and his dog, we call them "Big and Little Kurt", and both are terrified of Kenzo. Big Kurt was already afraid of Kenzo before he got Little Kurt. He send killer looks our way when we met on a walk. Polite greetings were not returned. I never thought that to be a problem, as not all people like dogs and even more people do not like big dogs like Hovawarts. So I just made sure to be polite and didn't give Kenzo the opportunity to greet him.

To my surprise Big Kurt was a dog person after all. I met him on a walk where he just got "Little Kurt". The cutest puppy, a terrier mix. With Kenzo on leash and approaching with a smile to break the ice, Big Kurt was not happy at all to see us. Big Kurt took Little Kurt up in his arms and walked right passed us with the usual killer look. He repeated this a couple of times, I tried to stop for a conversation, but Big Kurt would just mumble something in response and continued on his path, with Little Kurt in his arms.

What if...

I started avoiding them because this couldn't end well. What would Little Kurt think of us? We must be something horrible when my dad doesn't let me meet them? When Little Kurt grew up to adolescence the local dog drums already talked about him as not very well socialized. Especially with larger dogs. This didn't surprise me, but what really did surprise me was that Big Kurt now had decided to always walk Little Kurt off-leash.

Our first meeting with Little Kurt off-leash was a disaster. I don't blame him, he was setup to fail. We were on a narrow path and approaching the next corner when Little Kurt appeared. I made a quick turn with Kenzo. Also Big Kurt appeared around the corner. But he didn't put Little Kurt on a leash. I was stunned he continued walking towards us with Little Kurt ahead of him. After a few more moments Little Kurt decided to close the remaining gap and launched at Kenzo. Barking, hysterical, snapping at his face and legs.

Normally my reaction is to drop the leash, but my instinct didn't let me do that in this case. Kenzo could break Little Kurt in half with one bite. Using the leash to keep Kenzo's head away from Little Kurt I thereby sealed their faith forever as mortal enemies. And in addition it was the start of Kenzo's uncomfortable relationship with the leash. I should have dropped the leash and let Kenzo defuse the situation, but Little Kurt's fierceness made me choose otherwise.

Big Kurt was chasing Little Kurt in a circle around us. And finally stopped the spectacle by kicking Little Kurt so hard the little fellow squealed in pain while he was launched in the air and fell down a couple of feet away. Now I have had it with Big Kurt and to put it short we finally had our first conversation. Just not the intelligent kind.

Locked in battle

We still regularly meet, I always make a turn and recall Kenzo when he is off-leash. Big Kurt never makes any attempt trying to avoid us and keeps on coming head-on with Little Kurt off-leash. I don't know what he is thinking, but he is not helping. Kenzo is bracing himself for an incoming attack, he has no calming signals for Little Kurt as he would have for other small fearful dogs. Neither does Big Kurt seem to pick that up.

I am so worried. This will end wrong. We are heading towards the next confrontation. Even worse, I also had Viva with me on some of the walks where we meet, and she will show no mercy. Little Kurt doesn't stand a chance and I don't want him to get hurt. Neither do I want Kenzo and Viva to end in dog fight with all the consequences for their behavior towards other dogs. When something would happen to Little Kurt all fingers will point at us, fed by prejudice around larger dogs and Hovawarts in particular. With the current razzia-like situation in Denmark against dog bites and trigger happy authorities I worry for Kenzo and Viva's safety too.

What can I do? Nobody seems to know where the Kurt's live. As it turns out, nobody actually talks with them that could pass the word. I started to make small walks by myself trying to find both Kurt's and have a talk. At least we should be able to establish some common rules, like stop coming towards us and always put Little Kurt on leash as soon as they see us coming. So far I have not met them yet. It is such a shame all of this happened, Kenzo would have been an excellent therapist for both Kurt's.

I hope some owners of smaller dogs read this that are afraid of larger dogs. I understand how you must feel meeting larger dogs that can possibly harm your dog. Please leave a comment if you read this and tell me what we, as larger dog owners, can do to help Big and Little Kurt.

Viva has Cushing's

Helping Viva to get better and improve health is a lot like peeling the layers of an onion. Just when we think all bases are covered and all issues addressed, we find out we are looking at yet another layer.

Warning signs

ear-nibble please?

The warning signs have been around all the time. High liver numbers returned from her very first blood-work. Not too high to worry about, treat or investigate further. But we kept on monitoring her regularly just in case. The first external signs came about one month ago. Viva was slowing down on our daily work-out. We gave her some rest, an additional acupuncture session - maybe she was in pain ? - but to no avail. She rapidly became more lethargic, and stopped playing and ear-nibbling with Kenzo, her favorite past-time!

We did a round at our vets and found out her spondylosis had not gotten worse, but her liver numbers had exploded. High liver numbers could be caused by just about anything and further testing was needed. We were in for a couple of painstaking weeks of further testing, investigating, and discussing theories. Our regular vet started suspecting Viva of having Cushing's disease after some additional testing. Although not all the signs have been adding up. She turned out to be spot on.

Cushing's disease

Cushing's is caused by a tumor in the pituitary or the adrenal gland, causing an over production of ACTH hormones which in turn triggers an overproduction of cortisol. A life threatening condition affecting inner organs like kidneys and liver. Some of the most common signs are hair-loss, a pot-belly, lethargic behavior, incontinence, and being overly interested in food and water. Apart from being lethargic, Viva had none of those signs. Yet she always had been overly interested in food and water as a former obese dog. Testing Viva for Cushing's sounded like a wild-goose chase, but I am happy to have followed our vet's gut feeling on this one.

To diagnose Cushing's we started with a urine test to measure cortisol levels. They were sky high. Next was an ACTH stimulation test, which was conclusive. Now it was final, Viva has Cushing's. The diagnosis was actually a huge relief, a month had already passed and I was so worried for Viva being in discomfort for so long and not being able to help her.

Treatment

We started treating Viva with Vetoryl (Trilostane). Already after 5 days Viva was feeling better. Kenzo got his first ear-nibble in a month, which we celebrated with the whole family that day. It was awesome to witness.

Vetoryl is a very aggressive medicine, that messes with the hormone level. Administering the correct doses is extremely important, as Viva can die when we administer either too much or too little. Viva will need Vetoryl for the rest of her life. The doses can vary over time, and Viva has to be tested quarterly to ensure the doses is correct. Those quarterly tests include an ACTH stimulation test and 3 different blood-work tests.

The onion

It was a hard month with no blogging but we are back! Just wondering how the onion is doing. We are three layers down: allergies, spondylosis and Cushing's. Maybe we are done, maybe we are not. Yet another lesson Kenzo and Viva taught me. Health is not a shopping list with items you can check off and wrap up.

A big thank you to all my anipals for all your kind words and your support on Twitter and Facebook during the last month. It meant a lot and was a huge help getting through all of this. You guys rock!

Introducing Diva the Mystery Mutt

Diva the Mystery Mutt

This is our entry for the Mystery Mutt Tour, where you can name the breeds of mystery dogs.

We are featuring .... Diva ! Isn't she absolutely gorgeous?

We stumbled upon Diva on Twitter through her dad Matthias Maly-Persy, an Austrian national who could speak Dutch, which caught my attention as Dutch is my mother-tongue. As it turned out, Matthias also had this wonderful "mutt" called Diva.

Can you guess which breeds are in her roots? Diva is 8 years old, 23 inches (59 cms) high by the shoulders and weighs 60 lbs (29 kilo).

To tell you some more that might help you analyze or guess her roots, Diva has an instinct for guarding around the house and hunting/tracking. She isn't a great retriever and also feels no need to herd. Yet Matthias never explored any herding instinct Diva might have any further (hint, hint). She is slightly shy of character, but very social towards people and dogs. Children can sometimes be too overwhelming, and she will quietly leave if she thinks their presence is too much.

Diva with Matthias in the Austrian landscape ... wow!

Diva loves to engage together with her family in the wonderful nature of Austria. She enjoys long walks in the woods and some swimming. Diva loves to jump over and through obstacles during the walks and create her very own improvised agility track.

Diva's favorite past time is to sing along with Matthias when he plays the piano! And she has great taste too, her favorite song is "Jump" from Van Halen, how cool is that?

Matthias had a big scare when Diva one time followed her hunting/tracking spirit in unknown territory and disappeared out of sight. It took 4 pain staking days until Diva was found again, as she happily returned by herself not far from the place they have seen her last.

Look closely, what do you see?

One other time Diva jumped on the edge of a cliff, slipped and fell 40 feet (12 m) down into the Danube river. But she is a great swimmer, and returned to the shore unharmed before Matthias could take his boots off to jump after her. She acted like it was intentional and couldn't understand what all the fuzz was about.

What breeds do you think can be found in Diva? Looking forward to your suggestions! The name of this blog might look like a giveaway, but it is not, there are 4 breeds in all you could find in Diva.

A big thanks to Edie, Peggy and Pup Fan, for organizing this fun Magical Mystery Mutt Tour.

Viva's long road to rehabilitation: the work-out

The shelter passed along to us from the former owners that Viva loved long walks. They probably meant measured in time, not in distance. Viva hardly ever stepped up in pace, let alone take a run. As we soon where to find out, every step was painful for her. Caused by spondylosis and a continuously infected paw.

She already lost a lot of muscle with this inactive lifestyle, and she was in a negative downwards spiral. After we cured the infected paw and managed the spondylosis, we guessed it would be easy to build up some muscle again. We were looking forward to getting started. We could not have been more ignorant.

The mind

What's wrong with a couch-potato?

Viva was in better health and pain free, but the mind still told her to spare her legs and back. We could notice her being more happy and playful, but the walks were like before. The first thing she had to learn was that it was alright to use her legs again.

We adjusted our walks and made sure to do a lot of uphill walking and swimming. Preferably on the beach, plowing through sand and dunes.

How to outsmart a smart dog

Building up muscle is hard work. For Viva, but even more so for us. We came home exhausted from our work-out walks - which are more like runs to us humble humans. But that is by far not good enough for a dog. Therefore we tried bicycling, but that was just to stressful for her as a fearful dog. We also tried with toys, luring her into going uphill or climbing a sand dune.

But Viva is not that easy to lure. Once up on a hill, she didn't come down anymore and enjoyed her toy by herself. Or find out a less steep slope to reach the toy. Throwing another, more valued toy, didn't help getting her down either. Walking away would get her down though. But we had to find a new hill to throw the toy. Throwing it up the same hill again, she would only look at me and think "You must be stupid ...". When I asked Kenzo's help to get the toy back he was happy to oblige. But Viva thought it was very annoying he was getting "her" toy and waited for his return downhill with an attitude. Not a good idea if we wanted to keep the peace. I had to climb up and get it myself. In the end, it was me getting the exercise instead of Viva.

The water walker

The water walker was absolutely key to make any substantial progress. Walking this underwater treadmill once or twice a week forced her to use her legs. It was also a great way to follow her progress. Not only could we increase the time for each couple of sessions, we also could get a good picture of what she could cope and put a time on it. As soon as her steps became smaller, we knew she had reached her threshold. We found the water walker to be a great and absolutely necessary addition to our daily work-out schedule.

Viva started with a five minute session. Then we slowly build this up into multiple short sessions with a break in between. Today she can do a 13 minute non-stop session without getting tired. Pretty good Viva! To compare, a healthy dog could do a 30 minute session. But I am not sure if that would be realistic for Viva because that would certainly be too stressful for her back.

Stretch those legs

Slowly, very slowly, we can see her make progress. The biggest progress we saw was when her mind made the switch that it is cool to use both of her hind legs. Her gait improved into a more dog-like style, instead of using her hind legs as bouncers. She could accelerate and stop quicker. You could see her really stretch her legs to make big steps, meaning she was using her muscles.

Diary

To keep a good track of her progress we made a simple diary with videos and pictures of Viva doing the same things on the same places. That way we could track difference better. See this video here comparing Viva walking up stairs after one month of training. The two pictures above to the left and right also shows how she is able to stretch her legs now.

Because progress is so slow on a daily basis, the diary helps us to notice improvements being able to compare over a longer time. It is a mood booster too, that keeps us going.

Finding balance

We learned the hard way that work-out is more than just working out. Viva missed one of her acupuncture treatments. It was rescheduled twice postponing it in all for 3 weeks. As she needs acupuncture for her pain management and keeping her back flexible I was such a fool to wait and not give her NSAID's instead. We kept on training, and disaster struck. When she miss-stepped it indicated something was wrong. She was rapidly going downhill once more instead of improving. We had to start all over again with step 1, convincing the mind ...

There should be absolute balance between her medical treatment AND the work-out. We learned it the hard way. We have some NSAID's around might we miss an acupuncture treatment and I will not hesitate to use it next time.

When enough is enough

Ha! you make it sound like you can keep up with me ... not!

The question I struggle with now is how far I can take this. Viva will never become as agile as she once was, and I must take care not to overdo it. I am very happy with where she is now. She can do a one hour "work-out walk" with no signs of stiffness or pain the next day and fresh for a new work-out. The way she positions her legs, turned inside to better support her body, has improved a lot but could be better. When she can position them straight it will be a great indication that her muscles are strong enough. So we continue with the work-out and the water walker. Just taking it slowly, and giving Viva a chance to show how far we can take this.

A big thank you to the awesome people of the vet clinic "Københavns dyrehospital" and the love they have given to Viva: Lea, our water walker trainer and coach, and Charlotte, a great vet with a magic pair of hands.

***

"Viva's long road to rehabilitation" is a series of updates how Viva is doing almost one year after her adoption:

• the work-out
• reactive behavior

Europe No-Kill by 2016?

image courtesy of michellehenry.fr

Animal welfare for pets varies enormously throughout Europe. Not only do countries legislate differently. Even towns legislate differently. Last week's story on Dancing Dog Blog about the Swiss town threatening to put down dogs for unpaid taxes was yet another example. Thankfully the Swiss government quickly stopped the local authorities before any dog could get hurt. A painful reminder of the incoherent policies throughout Europe.

Seen in this light, there was positive news last November that this is about to change. The EU announced that the protection of companion animals - meaning dogs and cats - will be integrated in EU animal welfare legislation. See the press release her: Good news from Brussels: Dogs and cats under protection of the EU. When the EU legislates, it overulles all other country and community laws. In one blow they are able to harmonise all legislation about animal welfare.

The plan

What does the plan from the EU entail? It is very ambitious. They will focus from 2011 onwards on companion animals as part of their animal welfare policy for the first time. The overall goal is that no more healthy pets are put down by 2016. In short: No-Kill in the whole of Europe. Some of the measures that will be implemented are:

• birth control
• closing of puppy mills
• EU wide pet licensing and registration
• rules for breeding and trading

All will benefit. Even countries like Germany and the Netherlands that already have the above in place, suffer from puppy mills in Eastern European countries that keep the illegal influx of puppies alive. Germany is an excellent example of what can be accomplished by the plan. Their efforts have resulted in only 8% of the population owning a dog. As far as I know, Germany is no-kill already. Compare that to France with a much softer legislation where 38% of the population has a dog. Great-Britain with 23% and 15,000 healthy dogs killed each year. The southern and eastern countries have even more issues. Strays, puppy mills, etc. So many lives can be saved. It would be great if we could follow the German and Dutch scenario all over Europe without local exceptions.

Can the EU make a difference?

The goals are ambitious and sound like music to my ears. As wonderful this news might seem, I have mixed feelings about it. The EU is definitely the place that could make a change, unfortunately it is also the Mecca of bureaucracy and compromise. The track record of the EU in the area of animal welfare is very poor. So far they have only focused on life-stock and progress in this area is futile, hindered by big fat agricultural lobby groups.

I hope the EU can break with its own past and accomplish their goals. This is their chance. No, this is our chance. The pet industry, puppy mills in particular, have no EU lobby power like agriculture. Neither is it likely they have the financial means to build up an EU sized lobby. On the other hand we have also seen the whole of Europe making the wrong decisions in animal welfare due to some farmers going to the barricades in just one of the member states.

Fair enough. I am excited, this gives hope nonetheless.

First steps

The action plan has just been set in place, and therefore nothing concrete has come out of Brussels yet. But some first steps already are visible. At the moment they are building websites to inform the public and gathering data to develop the policies. Everything will be published online. Keep your eyes on this unfolding website: http://www.carodog.eu/. Data from all European countries and from most other countries in the world will be collected here, with numbers and performance indicators about companion animal welfare. How many dogs are sheltered, how many re-homed, put down etc. Together with showcases of successful projects, the tools to analyze it, and what was done to reach those numbers. Compared per country. Bookmark this site, it will become a rich source of information.

Hovawarts and health

We all worry about our dog's health. What about Hovawarts? What conditions do they fight with as a breed?

A Dog and a Rescue

The story of Shiloh is about the spirit of a dog and the love of a rescue.

Whoever it was that named her Shiloh - the place where Mozes took the Ark - couldn't have picked a better name. Already diagnosed with hip dysplasia at the young age of 1½ year, her chances for a fulfilling life seemed non-existing. Not for Shiloh. She defied all odds and made an unbelievable come-back. Fighting her way through the surgeries and rehabilitation programs without loosing her spirit and sweet character. Her special affectionate personality left intact. Today Shiloh is fully recovered from her ordeal and waiting for adoption.

The rescue that took her in, project HALO, fought the battle together with Shiloh. Understaffed and under-financed, they did everything in their power to help Shiloh. It took them more than a year. They cared for her in foster, spreading the word and organizing fund raisers for the necessary surgeries and treatment. When the funds finally came available they helped her through two FHO surgeries, one for each hip, and the following long rehabilitation back to a life with proper use of both legs.

Lets write a happy end to this story together. Spread the word. Retweet, like, and share Shiloh's story. And she will find a home.

Update January 2012: Shiloh adopted after 2 years

***

If you are interested in adopting Shiloh please visit http://www.projecthalo.net/ to fill out an application or contact Rhonda at projhalo@bellsouth.net for more information

Pet Blogger Challenge: The Day After

Yesterday's Pet Blogger Challenge turned out to be an awesome party. I made it to reading 55 blogs only to return to my own blog and finding 30+ comments of the same bloggers I was reading about. It was like you were all sitting in the room with me. What an energy. Could you feel it too? I am still shaking. And there is more, entries are still coming in!

I don't want to dwell, but I cannot help myself wanting to have a "the day after" chat. It is that passion thing again. If I would have had a schedule my next blog post would already have been shining out there. But now you know me, so why hide?

Thanks to all that participated. I found so much inspiration, advice and kind words. It has helped me tremendously to sort my own thoughts on how to "un-bully" this blog and how to move it forward. Key in it all was the schedule, suffocating the passion from which I write. I cannot point to one particular post, but all of you together convinced me to forget the schedule and continue to write from passion. And, important lesson learned 2, not mistake writing with the "publish" button. So the publishing is getting a schedule treatment. Not the writing, that will still come when it comes.

Now we are talking schedule or not-scheduled, did you read the entries from two of the most professional bloggers around, Roxanne Hawn's Pet Blogger Challenge Q&A, and Kim Clune's Pet Blogger Challenge. Both successful and established writers, yet a total different approach. A perfect example that personality and background define how you write. There is no right or wrong. The right style is the one that fits you best.

I am looking forward to next years Pet Blogger Challenge. Whats wrong with a yearly virtual group hug? Maybe we should call it mini-Blogpaws. Talking about Blogpaws, I would love to visit and meet all of you in real life. But as you know I take Viva and Kenzo with me everywhere, and having them on an intercontinental plain-trip is a nut I haven't cracked yet. Blogpaws Europe maybe? Does that exist? Nah, we would get lost in translation.

A huge thank you to Edie from Will my dog hate me and Amy from Gopetfriendly.com for hosting and organizing this challenge. You guys just rock.

Bad, bad blog!

Wake me up when it is about me again

This post is answering to the call of The Pet Blogger Challenge by Will my dog hate me Edie Jarolim and Go pet friendly Amy Burket. The challenge is to look back at what we've done with our blogs and forward to where we want to go with them, guided by 8 questions. A great opportunity to reflect and to have a peek in what other bloggers thoughts are.

The challenge was born from a feeling Edie and Amy had their blogs where bullying them. Not my problem? On second thought, this blog was bullying me too! Kenzo and Viva agreed to allow me for this one time, not to write about them, and to show the blog it's place. Bullying me is their privilege.

I am also going to brag a little, as Edie said that bragging is good. Just so you are warned in advance.

Blog: "Get a plan, stupid"

A blog born out of passion for dogs. And in particular a passion for the Hovawart breed, nose work and tracking. It just had to come out. They say passion cannot be planned. A convenient dream for me as I am just not the "plan" type of person. But sure it can.

I only needed a little push to actually start blogging. That push came in May of last year when my twitter pal Kim Garisson, @kimhalligan1, urged me to write a How To about tracking. The joy of my newly won plan-free blogging freedom soon faded. I realized that with my handicap of not being a trainer, behaviorist, vet, rescue volunteer, foster parent, author, or a native English speaker for that sake, left me with only one thing to do. Get a plan asap!

Quickly scrambling a plan together I decided to - next to writing about Hovawarts and tracking - focus on stories based on Kenzo and Viva's experiences that touched some "higher" subject of importance. Stories like Are you prepared for a dog fight, Kenzo stopped visiting the dog park or Viva into BAT. I also made a schedule to blog regularly, resulting in a couple of book reviews to fill up spaces. Which turned out to be not one of my best sides, so I dropped the schedule. More about the schedule later. But at least I had a plan of what to write about, the core of any blog.

Blog 1 - 0 Kenzo

Blog: "Stay focused, stupid"

Some events that enfolded in Denmark during the year, like the new Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), Cesar Milan's visit, the Danish puppy mill exporting to US, etc. were obviously out of scope for the blog. But I just had to speak out about them.

As it turned out it was also interesting enough for my audience overseas to read what was going on in a different part of the world. That made me glad, as we can all learn from each other's solutions, as well as our mistakes. When Mary Haight from Dancing Dog Blog listed the puppy mill story in her top 10 for 2010, I was swept of my feet. I have Mary and her blog on a pedestal, and having her sign it off as "news worthy" is for me a tremendous compliment. They don't come better than that.

Blog 1 - 1 Kenzo

Blog: "Speak English, stupid"

Deborah Flick from Boulder Dog blog was the first to mention us. She featured this blog in one of her Follow Friday recommendations as "versatile" and "international". What a terrific incentive was that! It also helped me to focus on what this blog was about and to stick with the plan. But most of all that recognition helped me to come over the block that my English is ... well, you probably already noticed.

Blog 1 - 2 Kenzo

Blog: "Listen to your audience, stupid"

Some of the feedback I received during the year was from people that either started tracking, or expressed their thanks for the inside information about Hovawarts. Information they felt they couldn't find anywhere else. That was pretty awesome too.

Some of the stories I wrote about Kenzo also touched a wider audience. I was so honored that the Small fearful dog therapist made it to the top 10 of 2010 from other bloggers like Little dogs on long leashes, Rescued insanity, Bark'n About and Dashing dachshund. How cool is that !?

What I like best about blogging is the rush when you find out people are actually reading what you are writing. It is just so exciting to get a comment and find out what that person has got out of the story. It is different for everybody and enriching the story itself. It makes me see things differently. What worries me is when I stay empty handed for a couple of weeks and the blog remains silent. I know the right story can be around the corner. I rather wait instead of squeezing something in that not originates from the passion that started the blog. It would just be fake. Seeing most people return after such a silence, makes it worthwhile I like to think.

Blog 1 - 3 Kenzo

Blog: "I told you so, stupid"

So actually this blog turned out not so Hovawart and tracking specific after all. But it is still the main mission.

Coming to the plan part for this year ... makes it awfully quiet once more. I must admit I don't have one yet. Neither did I find a solution to the schedule problem. I you find me blogging regularly next year, then you will know I have untied that knot. Any suggestions are welcome. Actually I hope to find some inspiration with the other participants of the Pet Blogger Challenge.

Blog 2 - 3 Kenzo

Slam-dunk.
I am afraid the bullying blog is not joining for the ride. Kenzo and Viva will be proud. For me, I enjoyed bullying back. This can keep me going for the whole year.