Dr Jo's blog

So I took Chilli dog along to the Purina offices with me today. Not her first visit but her first since she was 8 weeks old. Now she is 1.

This was not the first occasional she has been to work with me. Generally, however, wherever I work there are open spaces, grass, fresh air. Great for work breaks. None of that in a corporate office. Walls, ceilings, lots of surfaces to echo barks! Yes, Chilli barked… and barked.

Within five minutes she acted, typical Terrier style, as if she owned the place. Then, of course she had the right to bark at anyone who walked past her. To calm her down I had brought her dog house (a portable dog kennel) which she likes to snooze in and I can close screens to block her view. In her house, she went, as always enticed by the promise of a treat ball within. Today, however, she could still hear the girls in the petcare advice centre answering calls. Every time one of them said “Hello”, Chilli thought someone new was arriving and started to bark!

We managed to limit the barking by providing her with a Purina Total Care squeaky toy. Great – no more barks. Just squeaks, loud squeaks!

Purina is a pet friendly office. People who work there are welcome to bring their pets along to work. It is illegal, however, in our State to take your dog into food preparation areas – thus no trips to the office cafe. How does one survive a stressful day at the office with your dog without caffeine?

Home now and Chilli dog is exhausted! Next time I bring my quiet cat!

You didn’t think I had perfect pets, did you?!

(More misbehaviour from Chilli)

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So you think you have pet problems…

Now’s your chance to come along and discuss them. For now, it’s only for those of you in Sydney or willing to come here (everyone else will get a chance in time I hope, if this one goes well). I have just organised (well my friend Cameron from Family Activities) has organised a new event.

I will be talking at Bankstown Sports Centre on April 20th from 6-9pm. Everything you have ever wanted to know about your pet’s behaviour – come and ask me. When you register you will get a chance to tell me exactly what you’d like to know. It should be fun. I will get to meet lots of you and we can all talk pets together.

More here

You can also let me know here is there is any particular topics you are keen to find out more about.

Look forward to seeing you soon. Please pass on to any mates you think might enjoy it.

Jo

Other events here

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1.       The interesting friends I follow. Where else can I follow the conversations of a moose, a capybara, a gorilla, a gerbil and her mother? Just as in real life, on Twitter I enjoy the company of cats and dogs and the most followed pet of all is Sockington (@Sockington) who comes up with some fabulous feline life statements such as:

“OH DESPAIR THY NAME IS EMPTY FOOD DISH thy last name is mcglamery WELL EMPTY FOOD DISH MCGLAMERY LET’S SEE IF A YOWL WILL HELP YOU”.

Sockington’s prose has earned him over 500,000 followers.

Sockington 500,000 Followers from Jason Scott on Vimeo.

2.       You can be yourself. It is tempting when you first tweet to try to emulate the style of others. At first I stuck to being a professional, recommending all things pet. Other people were tweeting about the colour of their socks! Now I know, just like real life, Twitter is a balance of both personal and professional. Now I tweet whatever I like. I tweet about how muddy my pup’s paws are or how my cat has woken me again at 5:30am. If my followers don’t like me, easy, simply unfollow. I can do likewise. How many friends can you do that to in real life?

3.       Just because you think something is brilliant, doesn’t mean it is. On Twitter, it is quite a priveledge to be retweeted, Sometimes, you tweet your supposedly brilliant 140 character message and… NOTHING. Not a retweet! Not even a reply. Next, a quick comment and bingo, everyone loves it, retweets it and you get masses of replies.

I once said “Anxiety problems in our pets need to be treated with kindness for both the pets and the owner’s sake.” Nothing brilliant there I thought but the large number of endorsing responses I received showed that my tweet had touched people. Twitter helps me learn what inspires others.

4.       I can find out anything I want to. When I need to know something, such as where to find a book of barking, I can just ask my followers. Yes I could Google but Twitter followers give me their personal recommendations; very valuable. I can return the favour, occasionally giving pet behaviour advice and instead of a 2hr consult and 6months of therapy, all it takes is 140 characters.

5.       Twitter takes you to other worlds. Not only can I find out who twitters in my suburb, I can look for cat owners in Edinburgh or dog owners in Siberia. I can be a mythical creature (if I had the imagination); I can take on my pet’s personality. I can find joy in other’s experiences too. Here is Smudge (@Smudgebestcat), who resides with his people in England, being best cat at Australian Barney to Canadian Alley cats’ Twitter wedding. Only on Twitter?!

If you need more info on pets, visit Pet Problems Solved.

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