Blogging and Social Media

Pet Blogger Challenge

January 10, 2011 by kathi

Although I may not be a “real” pet blogger, I think I’ve written enough Rottweiler-related content over the past couple of years to participate in today’s Pet Blogger Challenge, hosted by GoPetFriendly and Will My Dog Hate Me?.

So here are my answers to the questions of the day:

1. When did you begin your blog?
This blog started in November 2008 for NaBloPoMo. I did successfully make a post every day that month, and many of the posts were about my dogs and cats. I decided to keep the blog going and attempt to focus on two of my favorite topics: Rottweilers and technology.

My original blog was focused on my pets and their health issues and was active mainly from April-December 2002.

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?
My original blog was started to record and share my pets’ health and training issues. This blog was started because I wanted to do NaBloPoMo in November 2008.

3. Is your current purpose the same? If not, what’s different? If so, how do you feel you’ve met your goals?
I’m struggling to find a purpose at the moment. With the dogs on hiatus from training and competition, and thankfully enjoying good health, I often find myself reaching for anything to write about. I don’t feel I have the writing or photography skills to make day-to-day life with my pets interesting to anyone but my family (and I see some of them yawning a bit when they think I’m not looking). So I definitely need some specific topics such as training or health to focus on. It would be completely against the spirit of this exercise to go back to training before we’re ready just to have something to write about!

4. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you? If the former, how often — and what techniques do you use to stick to it? If the latter, do you worry about… well, whatever you might worry about (e.g. losing traffic, losing momentum)?
Over the last two years, I’ve often participated in NaBloPoMo, which runs all year now. In those months, I post daily. During the months I don’t participate in NaBloPoMo, I don’t have a schedule and I don’t worry about it.

5. Are you generating income from your blog? If so, how (e.g. sponsor ads, affiliate relationships, spokesperson opportunities)? If not currently, do you hope to in the future — and how?
No, and I’m not actively seeking to monetize. It’s not why I blog. If an opportunity that makes sense were to present itself, I hope I will be smart enough to recognize it.

6. What do you like most about blogging in general and your blog in particular (bragging is good!)?
I like having a place of my own to say what I want. I like that sometimes one small blogger can make a huge difference just by getting something started for a big cause, an educational effort, or just to help one dog live a better life.

7. What do you like least?
At its worst, the blogosphere (hate that word) is just as cliquish as high school was, and ten times as nasty. No thanks to the internet, it can take less than a day to falsely ruin someone’s name. Maybe I would feel differently about both high school and the blogosphere if I were one of the “cool kids.” Nah, I don’t think so.

8. How do you see your blog changing/growing in 2011?
I’m still deciding whether I will keep blogging at all. As I mentioned in my answer to question 3, I’m still struggling with redefining my purpose.

So there you go. Thank you to Amy Burkert and Edie Jarolim for making the Pet Blogger Challenge happen! There’s a linky list, too. Go and check out what everyone else has to say, and let’s hear from you, too!
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Project 365 | The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop

January 8, 2011 by kathi

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m doing a Project 365 (photo-a-day) this year. Since not all of the photos will be about Rottweilers, computers, or even world domination, I’ve started a separate photoblog as well as a Flickr set for the project.

So far, I’ve been using my familiar point-and-shoot Nikon S51 and the camera on my BlackBerry Curve 8330 for the daily shots. But one of my goals for Project 365 is to learn to use my Canon Rebel XS DSLR to best advantage, so that camera will be added to the rotation starting next week.

I cross-posted my first Rottweiler-related photo earlier in the week. Here are the other pet-related project photos:

Click photos to go to the blog posts

Now that we’re concentrating on pet-related content again, it’s time to rejoin the wonderful Saturday Pet Blogger Hop! As always, this blog hop is hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume.
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Rewind: 10 from 2010

January 6, 2011 by kathi

Yes, I’m late with this since we’re almost a week into 2011 at this point. But I still wanted to take a look back at 2010. I won’t call this a “top 10” list as many other pet bloggers are. I’ll just ask you to revisit some of 2010’s moments with me:

The best achievements of 2010 went to the dogs.

New champion!! Axel’s AKC championship was one of the highlights of my year. A week after this, he would earn his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and the following week his RN (Rally Novice) title, making January 2010 a hugely successful month for him. I was more of a happy cheerleader than anything else. The credit goes to his handler Julia Foster and his breeder Denise Pluta.

Just a few more Freya title thoughts Later in the year we would have some training setbacks and I’m still not sure whether Freya is retired or just on hiatus from rally obedience training and competition. But in March 2010, we kept things together long enough for her to earn her UKC Rally Obedience Level 2 title. This is an off-leash title and given that I am the worst handler in the world, a huge accomplishment for both of us.

If I were a real pet blogger, I’d have more posts like these.

Freya: class notes 1/16/10: I have a few other “class notes” posts where I take some raw video from a training session, class, or practice session, and break it down into what went right and what still needs work. It was helpful to me to review Freya’s progress and decide what to work on. I hope it was interesting to at least a few of you as well.

Some Freya video and my iMovie learning curve: I used one of the “class notes” videos to learn how to use iMovie ’09 and also create an “intro to Rally Obedience” type video. It did not end up being that effective as an overview, but I learned a lot about iMovie while creating it. Thanks to our obedience trainer Allan Ross for all of the class videos.

Total recall: We experimented with taking an online class as well, with some surprisingly good results. I don’t think online dog training can ever totally replace working one-on-one or in a small group with a good trainer, but I found this recall class to be an effective supplement to our training. Susan Garrett’s blog is a great read even if you are not doing one of her online classes and even if you have very little interest in agility.

Review: Pet Botanics Healthy Omega Treats: If I were a real pet blogger, I’d probably get more opportunities like this one to review pet products. I was happy to give these treats a good review. The dogs loved them and the healthy ingredients and low calorie count were a bonus.

These very disturbing news stories accounted for quite a bit of last year’s traffic, sad to say.

Update: Mary Wild sentencing: Dog handler Mary Wild got off with an unbelievably light sentence for the actions that caused the heat-related deaths of seven show dogs due to her negligence. She was convicted on eight counts of animal abuse and the light sentence was a horrible letdown considering what the penalties could have been.

Update: Lora Hunt sentencing: Lora Hunt was painting her fingernails as she drove, and rear-ended motorcyclist Anita Zaffke, killing her. For this, Ms. Hunt got only 18 months in jail. Another unbelievably light sentence and a big letdown for all of us who really do want to believe that justice can be served.

I’ve gone off-topic to non-Rottweiler, non-technology items quite often in the past. I’m trying not to do that going forward, but sometimes it’s hard not to write about food and entertainment!

Snack break: teriyaki meatballs: If 2009 was the year of kal bi, 2010 was the year of these retro teriyaki meatballs, taken from a ’60s cookbook put together by my aunt’s service club in Honolulu.

TV break: The Rocky Horror Glee Show: I’m not good at recapping or reviewing movies or television shows. I usually talk more about myself than about the show!
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