Average Jane

Average Jane Brings Her Dog to BlogPaws

One of the first people I met at my first BlogPaws conference had a sweet and wonderful old Italian Greyhound. I'd been thinking about getting a dog, and meeting Lucky showed me what kind of dog I wanted. 

That was in 2011, and I adopted Toby not long after I got home from the conference. I've been to a couple more BlogPaws Conferences in the meantime, but for various reasons I haven't been able to take Toby with me...until now!

Tomorrow I'm getting in the car and heading to Nashville, Tennessee for BlogPaws 2015 and Toby is coming with me. He's not a big fan of riding in cars, so I got some nerve-calming medication from the vet so he'll sleep most of the way, I hope.

If you're going to BlogPaws, look for me and this goof head starting tomorrow evening.

Why Average Jane Loves the BlogPaws Conference

One of the best things about blogging is finding and building communities. When I first started blogging, I used to make it a point not to talk about my cats too much, but I've since overcome my crazy cat lady shame. It's a good thing, too, because it turns out that the BlogPaws community suits me very well, despite the fact that I still blog about plenty of other stuff besides my pets.

Communities are about friends and finding new blogs to read, yes, but they're also about learning. BlogPaws does an excellent job in that regard. Their annual conference features top social media professionals teaching the ins and outs of multiple social outlets and mediums. There are beginner, intermediate and pro tracks for any blogger, as well as some specialty tracks aimed at the pet health and welfare professions.

The speakers are top-notch. Last year Laurie Ruettimann spoke on monetizing your blog. This year Susan Getgood is presenting on monetization and Toby Bloomberg is speaking about Twitter for business. Triberr founder Dino Dogan will be presenting again this year on the future of blogging.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, but I think it's a great representation of how seriously BlogPaws handles core social media topics. There might be eight dogs, a cat and a ferret in the room during any given session, but all of the humans are learning useful information to advance their blogging goals.

Now you may be asking, "But is it fun?" Yes, it's fun! There are social activities built into every mealtime, receptions each night, a red carpet walk the last evening leading to a blog awards ceremony, and lots more. That doesn't count the expo hall, Catification Lounge, dog parks, craft projects and other BlogPaws-specific activities. There will even be BlogPaws Karaoke this year. I don't know exactly what that will entail, but it sounds intriguing.

Want to know more and see some photos? Check out my recaps from 2011 and 2012. 

The 2013 conference starts a week from tomorrow in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. It's not too late to register! Use my discount code BlogPaws2013-POPS-Lindell-20 and you'll get 20% off. Hope to see you there!

Disclosure: My opinions are my own. As a member of the BlogPaws Paws on Patrol team, I attend the conference at no charge and am compensated for helping to promote it.

Nine Years of Average Jane

Today is the ninth anniversary of my first post here. This year doesn't feel particularly triumphant because I've been struggling to keep thinking of stuff to write about, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've kept going. 

This isn't the first time I've taken the opportunity to direct you back to my very first blog post on one of these bloggiversaries, but today I've actually taken the liberty of updating that post. Back when I started blogging, I never posted photos. It was an artistic choice at the time, but since then I've changed my mind. Therefore, my very first post now has a (not very good) photo of me taken in conjunction with the event it describes.

And thus is history rewritten...

So how about those nine years? To keep you from having to read through the entire archive to find out, I can point out a few key things, in no particular order: 

• My hair is blonde again. Until I went and dug up that first post photo, I didn't remember what color my hair had been back then. It was a fashion choice then; today it has a lot more to do with covering grey.
• I sort of have the same job. When I started my blog, I was working at a small web/game design firm that was later acquired by the company where I currently work. I've jumped around to a half-dozen different departments since then, but I'm happy to say that I'm still there and getting things done.
• All of my pets are different. When I started the blog, the cat lineup in our household was Kato, Friday, Velcro and Alexandra, all of whom have since died of old age. Now our cats are the relatively youthful Xena, Velvet, Trillian and Dr. Jones, and we have a senior dog named Toby.
• I have a lot more friends. I cannot overstate the effect that blogging has had on my social life. Between meeting bloggers and social media folks in Kansas City and connecting with the same at conferences around the country (notably BlogHer, BlogPaws and BlogWorldExpo), not to mention meeting people online in different parts of the world, I've developed the most wonderful network of people I really enjoy spending time with. Thanks to this blog, there are literally hundreds of people that I would fly anywhere to visit without hesitation if money were no object.
• I'm in a band again. Never believe me if I say I might stop singing in bands. It always turns out to be temporary.

Since we're celebrating my blogging anniversary, I'd like to ask you: How long have you been reading Average Jane? I know there are some long-time readers still around and I'm curious to see if I've attracted anyone more recently.

Happy Friday! Have a piece of cake if you can get one!

Photo credit: Nakeva Corothers

Average Jane On Another Blog

Good afternoon! Just wanted to pop in and report that there's an interview with me at TheNotMom today. If you're visiting from there, welcome!

I thought this might be a good time to talk about 2013 conferences. Although I've strayed away from social media in my work life, I'm still planning on attending a couple of blog-oriented conferences.

• BlogPaws - This will be my third year at BlogPaws, this year held May 16th-18th in the Washington, D.C. area. I'm going with my friend Spyder again and we're both looking forward to hanging out with our fellow pet bloggers. If any of my D.C. area pals want to get together while I'm there, I'll probably be around Thursday through early Sunday.
• BlogHer - I'm also planning on going back to BlogHer after taking a break in 2012. This year it's in Chicago, July 25th-27th. I'm hoping to catch up with as many friends as possible and, of course, meet new ones! I'm thinking about taking the train there, so that means I'll be in town relatively late on Thursday but available for breakfast and lunch on Sunday if you live in the area and want to get together.

What are your plans to meet your favorite bloggers this year?

Average Jane Switches Veterinarians

We've been going to the same veterinary office for our various generations of cats and now the dog since 1995. I can't say we ever really liked them, but they were close to home and that's a plus when you have assorted critters who hate riding in the car.

Over the years, the things I didn't appreciate about them started to add up:

• The time my cat, Friday, got shot with a pellet gun and was still limping long after it healed. The vet told me they could give her muscle relaxants but, "She'll probably always be like this." I ended up seeking out the only veterinary chiropractor in the area at the time (40 miles away) and getting her treated there. She was good as new after one adjustment.
• Then there was Xena's spaying ordeal. She wouldn't leave her stitches alone and had to go to the vet repeatedly for a month before she could have her E-collar removed. My husband handled all of that and I recall that he wasn't thrilled with how the vet reacted to his difficult kitteh wife.
• There were little things, too, like the fact that they never acknowledged the email that I sent to let them know that our cat Velcro had died at home.

Toby's ongoing ear problem proved to be the last straw for us. He was obviously suffering and yet the vet dismissed his yipes as him being "dramatic." Last weekend I made an appointment at a clinic a few miles further away and brought the dog to see what more could be done.

I took two things into consideration on my clinic choice. One was that I'd won a $250 credit for any AAHA-certified vet clinic while I was at BlogPaws this year. I also did some crowdsourcing among my pet-loving friends to see which clinics they recommended.

I ended up choosing one that came highly recommended and was AAHA accredited. 

Everything about my visit was top-notch. The office staff were all very friendly and interested in Toby. The facility is new, modern and spotlessly clean. The vet tech and vet immediately began taking samples and running tests, which was a far cry from the other vet's "let's try this medicine and see what happens" approach.

The new medications seem to be doing the trick and I'll be interested in seeing how his ears are looking when we go back for our follow-up visit. Toby is no longer shaking his head and scratching his ears incessantly and it's clear that the new ear drops don't hurt him the way the old ones did.

After just one visit I'm ready to transfer my cats' records over as well. I'm very glad that circumstances conspired to get me to make the change. I think it will benefit my whole family of critters and make me much happier as well!

Average Jane's Favorite New Pet Products

The BlogPaws Conference sponsors brought out the big guns this year when it came to new product releases. I've had time to use and evaluate many of the things I brought home, so I'd like to share my favorites.

Sentry Calming Collars

I've long documented the cat drama in our household perpetrated by Trillian and Xena. When the Sentry reps showed off their new line of pheromone-based collars and sprays designed to curb anxiety and bad behavior in cats and dogs, I was quite intrigued. They sent me home with one cat collar and one dog collar and later sent me another dog collar, some calming and "stop it" sprays and other miscellaneous related items.

I put a collar on Toby right before a vet visit and I really felt there was a huge difference in his anxiety behavior compared to his previous visit (which had been a nightmare). Trillian got the cat collar and it seemed to make her less fearfully aggressive toward Xena. Since then, we've purchased one for Xena as well, and I'm interested in seeing if it ratchets down her grouchiness level.

The most impressive result I saw with the calming collar was A Librarian's cat, Spike. I spent Independence Day at her house and was surprised to see Spike hanging out in a crowd of people. He is ordinarily a nervous wreck and has always gone off and hidden from company. The collar completely transformed him and I think I saw as much of him that day as I have over the past several years combined.

The collars last about 30 days, so Toby and Trillian will need to have theirs replaced soon. I'll definitely keep using them. Not only do they seem to make a significant difference in the animals' behavior, they smell quite nice (lavendar!) and they're rather pretty (purple for cats, aqua for dogs).

Zero Odor

These guys had me with their first demo. They sprayed straight ammonia in a petri dish, let me smell it (ugh) and then sprayed their Litter Spray over it. Wow. In just a matter of seconds, the odor was almost completely gone.

I don't have any Litter Spray yet, but I used their Pet Stain Remover to clean all of the litter boxes and it did an amazing job. It is also better than any product I've tried (and believe me, I've tried just about everything) when it comes to getting urine odor out of my slate floor. It is now my go-to product for pet mess clean-ups in the house.

They also have some general household odor sprays. I gave my BlogPaws sample bottle to my husband to help him combat the odor of Stinky Musician in the studio (sweat, cigarette smoke, beer, etc.). It's nice because it has no perfume or other odor of its own.

Their product line is available at Bed Bath & Beyond, so I'll definitely be heading there for more when I run out.

Rachael Ray Nutrish Dog Treats

If I'd known how much Toby was going to enjoy the Oatmeal & Berries dog treats I brought back for him, I'd have snagged some more.

He gets a lot of treats every day because we use them as positive reinforcement for good potty behavior, so I liked the idea that these were all natural and low calorie. I thought the strong berry scent might not be his cup of tea, but he chows down on them eagerly. I'll be shopping for more soon.

Pet Armor

Finally, I wanted to give Pet Armor a shout-out for being so blogger-friendly. We have indoor cats and the dog gets his flea and tick protection via his heartworm tablet because Italian Greyhounds are hyper-sensitive to topical medications, but I appreciated the cat flea protection samples I got from Pet Armor and so did my sister, who happily took them for use on her outdoor cats.

My cats love the comfy bed they sent me after the conference and I've placed it on our table so they can sit on it to look out the window during the day. Dr. Jones called dibs before it had been out of the box for five minutes.

I'm still making my way through some of the other items I received at the conference, so I may do additional reviews later. A big thanks to all of the sponsors who made it such a great event!

Average Jane's Wonderful BlogPaws Experience

I had such a good time in Salt Lake City at BlogPaws. I loved seeing old friends and making new ones and it was even more fun with my good friend Spyder as a roommate. Here are some of the photos I took, in no particular order.

Here is BZTAT, Jenifer Whiston and Spyder, all doing what social media people do at dinner! We met up for local microbrews and dinner the night before the conference.

This is my new dog nephew, Duff, and his mom Katharine McMahon of Kat & Dogs. I fell in love with his brother, Lucky, at last year's BlogPaws, which led directly to my adopting Toby. (Note: If you put Toby next to Lucky or Duff, it would be the perfect illustration of the difference between "pet quality" and "show quality" in a particular breed.)

Just like last year, there were lots of dogs in attendance. This is Tillman, spokesdog for Natural Balance. As you can see, he's a monster skateboarder. He and his dog buddies and handlers travel around in a huge bus and do various amazing dog tricks.

This is Preston. He can ride a scooter or a bike. Unfortunately, his bike didn't make it to the conference thanks to an airline snafu, but he did a great job on the scooter.

I loved this little guy's studded "wristbands."

There were also cats, like this lovely gal in her fetching pink wig.

I spent a little time with Bret Michaels, who was debuting his new line of pet accessories at PetSmart. He didn't have a lot to say, but he didn't object to my bringing home a cool studded jacket and leash for Toby.

Here's Laurie Ruettimann with a flat capybara because, why not? It was wonderful to get to hang out with Laurie one evening and see her session on monetizing your blog. It was definitely one of the most dynamic sessions I attended.

Speaking of capybaras, I was happy to reconnect with Melanie Typaldos and Stacy Winnick. They're determined that next year's BlogPaws will feature many more small animals such as rabbits and rodents. 

On the first day of the conference, I skipped one of the session blocks and instead made an Honor Flag for the cats from my past. They strung them all into two long banners and hung them on the stage at the closing event.

The important thing to know about BlogPaws is that it's truly a social media conference. There are sessions about blogging, SEO, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, podcasting, video and just about anything else you can think of that would be useful to someone in the social media space. There's nothing about it that's restricted to pet bloggers, it's just that pet owners love to hang out with each other and it provides a great backdrop for a lot of knowledge.

The sponsors were incredible. This is all the stuff I brought back, which I divided between my cats, my dog, my sister's dogs and a local rescue group. I'll be writing some product reviews in the next few weeks because there were some outstanding new products in there that are well worth sharing.

Next year's conference is back in the Washington, DC area and I've already purchased my conference pass. Can't wait to see everyone in 2013!

Average Jane Leaves for BlogPaws

Today's the day I get on a plane at the crack of dawn and head to Salt Lake City for BlogPaws 2012. This year, my friend Spyder is coming with me, so it's really going to be fun!

I'm not taking my laptop, so this will probably be my last post until Sunday or Monday. However, for anyone I meet at the conference, I'd like to introduce my animal family.

This is Toby. The fact that I have him at all can be directly attributed to BlogPaws 2011. He's a 9-year-old Italian Greyhound that I adopted after his original family gave him up, post-divorce. He enjoys chew sticks and accompanying me on my daily 5K walks through our neighborhood.

Dr. Jones is my only male cat. He spends a lot of time thinking of stuff to get into. Fortunately, he also spends a lot of time sleeping. He has a very fluffy belly that must be woozled regularly.

Trillian is my youngest female cat. She loves to be snuggled and petted, especially when she's away from her arch-nemesis, Xena, whom you'll meet shortly. If you work for my company's IT department, please pretend you never saw this photo. If you ever come over to my house to eat, please know that I keep lots of Lysol wipes on hand to disinfect the countertops and appliances.

Xena enjoys sunbathing, treats and constant access to the food dish, as you can see. She and Trillian spend their days establishing and defending vital strategic bases in the kitchen and living room. Xena is my husband's kitteh wife and she likes to dramatically fling herself into his arms.

Velvet is our oldest cat. I adopted her as a "buffer cat" between Xena and a very elderly cat we had at the time. Despite the fact that she's at least twelve years old, Velvet is the most playful cat in the household. I think she may even play with the dog when we're not looking.

So that's the gang I'm leaving behind for the long weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting all the pets that people actually bring with them to the conference, hanging out with all the friends I made last year and making some new friends.

Average Jane Adopts A Dog

This post is my entry into the BlogPaws Blog Carnival Contest sponsored by BISSELL Homecare, Inc.

When this much cuteness comes into your life, you have no choice but accommodate it.

In less than a week, we went from "we're fostering Toby to see how it goes" to "of course we're keeping him." The adoption will be finalized next week, but he's been "our dog" almost since the beginning.

I've never had a dog before. We had dogs when I was growing up, but none of them were ever mine. I was always a cat person and I figured that our unfenced yard was a dealbreaker when it came to getting a dog.

As it turns out, there are plenty of types of dogs that aren't suited for being left unattended in a yard, and Italian greyhounds are among them. That means we take Toby on lots of walks. He's well trained to walk on a leash, so our walks aren't a struggle in any way. He really needs a long walk each day; otherwise, he gets restless and bored. Have I mentioned that he's already shaved a minute off my average mile pace when we do my 3.4 mile morning walk together?

When Toby is indoors, he's very well behaved. He likes to lie next to me or sit on my lap while I'm reading. He'll follow me up to my office and curl up under the desk to sleep once he's been petted to his satisfaction. I haven't seen him get into anything, chew anything or otherwise misbehave in any way.

He wants to meet everyone he sees. Fortunately for him, the sight of a well-mannered small dog on a leash is a magnet for passers-by. He's also a magnet for free roaming dogs. Twice I've had big, unleashed puppies come bounding up to introduce themselves. Toby is not one of those small dogs who thinks he's a big dog; he's rather intimidated by larger dogs, so I have to be cautious when we encounter them.

I never realized we had a dog-shaped void in our lives until we met Toby. He's so different from our cats, but we love him just as much already. I look forward to many years of his companionship and I'm glad we can provide him with the attention he so clearly needs and enjoys.

Welcome home, Toby!

Average Jane Goes To BlogPaws

Now that I'm back and I've had the chance to decompress a bit from my delayed travel, it's time for me to recap the wonderful time I had at the BlogPaws conference.

I think it's safe to say that it was everything you would expect from a conference aimed at pet bloggers. The sessions were all very informative with lots of practical takeaways, and most of them would apply to any type of blogger. I took lots of notes and I intend to refer back to all of them in the coming weeks and months.

Speaking of taking notes, I should tell you about the gift my husband gave me right before I left for the airport. The night before, I'd been talking about how much I wanted an iPad and he offered to edit his current Craigslist ads for drums and other music gear to say that he'd be willing to trade for an iPad.

Well damned if he didn't find someone to take him up on it. He traded...something (he won't say what, so I suspect it was something valuable that he would otherwise have kept) plus some cash, and managed to get me a first generation iPad. Which was everything I hoped it would be, by the way. I spent all weekend downloading apps that people recommended.

So back to the conference. The attendees were welcome to bring their pets and many people took advantage of that opportunity. Predictably, were lots of dogs:

This is Lucky the Italian greyhound. More about him later.

There were also cats:

And ferrets:

And guinea pigs:

Papua Piig and his owner Angela Mitchell.

Two rescue guinea pigs. The one on the left was very pregnant. Aren't their little faces adorable?

Some people brought Flat Pets to represent their actual pets:

Other people brought stuffed animals, like capycopy here:

I was very excited to meet my fellow Paws on the Ground bloggers, Katharine McMahon of Kat and Dogs, Lisa Taron of Pet Book Lady, Caren Gittelman of Cat Chat with Cody & Caren and Dakota's Den, my awesome roommate Karen Nichols of Mousebreath, Doreen Disbro of Doggies and Stuff, Robbi Hess of Henrietta: The Dish, and Maggie Marton of Oh My Dog!. We all pitched in on Thursday to help sort and cut a massive pile of feedback forms for the sessions that the printer had failed to collate. I would have been more than willing to help out more at the conference, but it was a well-oiled machine.

Because I only blog about my pets part of the time, I wasn't quite sure where I fit in with the crowd, but everyone was so friendly and nice that it was never a concern the whole time I was there.

I was pleased to meet BZTAT, who is a talented artist, a dedicated animal rescuer, and owner of five cats. She and I were united in our disappointment that Laurie Ruettimann (a.k.a. Scrubby's mom) could not attend due to the weather. We paid tribute to her by making a version of Laurie's famous swag videos. Ours was a little long.

One of my favorite BZTAT paintings.

For me, one of the big blogger celebrities of the conference was Melanie Typaldos of Giant Hamster. She has a capybara named Garibaldi ROUS and I've been reading his blog for quite some time. Melanie wasn't the only capybara owner at the conference. Stacy Winnick of Dobby's Day was there as well. On two separate occasions, I hung out with the "capybara bloggers" and helped put together capybara puzzles. It was a lot of fun, especially when you factor in the wine.

Melanie, Stacy and the easy puzzle from the first evening.

On Saturday night we did a much harder puzzle. I kept at it until after 1:00 a.m. and finally gave up before we had all the fur on the haunch completed.

I met lots and lots of people and I know I'm leaving many of them out. I'll make a point of linking to everyone in a later post.

One thing that was notable about the attendees is that nearly everyone I spoke to volunteers for at least one animal rescue group. Thus, the opening keynote by two of the founders of Rescue Ink definitely resonated with everyone. I was impressed by their no-nonsense approach to saving animals and educating the public by whatever means necessary.

Obviously the weather was a big factor as Hurricane Irene and later Tropical Storm Irene headed up the coast. A lot of the attendees and vendors ended up leaving early, but the remaining group made the best of it.

On Saturday evening we were treated to a sneak preview of the kids' movie Spooky Buddies, which comes out on DVD just in time for Halloween. One of the highlights of the showing was the occasional barks by audience members' dogs.

Remember when I said I'd get back to Lucky? Well, here he is with his owner, Katharine. I am forever indebted to her for not only taking me on two Starbucks runs that allowed me to get the breakfast shakes that sustain me, but also for introducing me to her adorable dog.

Despite my solid cat lady status, I've been thinking a lot lately about getting a dog. However, I didn't know what kind of dog I wanted until I met Lucky.

While I was waiting to travel back home after the conference, I found myself idly looking on Petfinder to see if any of the rescues near me had an Italian greyhound up for adoption. The first one on the page was Toby, offered for adoption by the very rescue group for which I volunteer.

I emailed to ask why someone would give up an eight-year-old dog and learned that his people are divorcing. One more email and I had an appointment to go meet him tomorrow and an invitation to foster him for a while to see if he fits into our household before I make any further decisions.

With my husband fully on board, I'm looking forward to meeting Toby after work tomorrow and discovering whether he's the dog for us. I've been researching the breed and the more I read, the more suitable they sound for our lifestyle.

In closing, I was so very impressed with the conference—and not just because it may have expanded my pet universe. I'm already planning on going to BlogPaws 2012 in Salt Lake City. What do you think? Interested in coming with me?