Dog Lover's Daily Companion: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Living a Rich Life with Your Dog

Dog Lover's Daily Companion: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Living a Rich Life with Your Dog

Live a more joyful life with your dog - one day at a time! Dog Lover's Daily Companion is an inspiring handbook filled with 365 helpful tips, easy-to-build projects, and practical advice on the canine-human relationship. No matter where you live or what breed of dog you have, this book has a year's worth of ideas and insight into an exuberant, healthy life with your dog. Wendy Nan Rees and Kristen Hampshire use humor, passion, and panache as they guide you through the day-to-day life of owning and living with a dog. From regular vaccinations to dealing with a sick dog; puppy school to obedience training; grooming at home - to those times that you must consult a professional - it's all covered here. Dynamic photographs by pet portraitist and "dogumentarian" Kendra Luck weave a visual narrative that honors the joy of dog companionship. Inside, you'll find the following day-to-day categories: Monday - Dogs 101 Tuesday - Table Manners and Training Wednesday - Playtime and Exercise Thursday - Grooming and Health Care Friday - Housekeeping and Cleaning Saturday and Sunday - Bonding and Relationship Building Versatile and practical, Dog Lover's Daily Companion will entertain you, inform you, and might even let you in on industry secrets. Whether you are a first-time or lifelong dog owner, you will be inspired to make your own beds and toys, learn valuable tips about pet safety, and enjoy traveling with your pet. As someone who has written a pet column for seven years, I felt pretty confident that I knew all the basics about dogs. For a layperson, that is. But "Dog Lover's Daily Companion," by Wendy Nan Rees and Kristen Hampshire, has a host of doggy details and trivia that had never even crossed my radar. Subtitled "365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Living a Rich Life With Your Dog," this 315-page book, with playful pet portraits by "dogumentarian" Kendra Luck of Albany, will entertain and inform even the most savvy dog owner…With the approaching holidays, the "Dog Lover's Daily Companion" will make a welcome gift for those who already share their life with a dog as well as those who are considering the joys of canine companionship.   --Eileen Mitchell, San Francisco Chronicle Kristen Hampshire is an award-winning magazine journalist and author of four outdoor design and landscaping books branded by John Deere, including Hobby Farms, 52 Backyard Landscaping Projects, Landscaping & Lawn Care, and Stonescaping Made Simple. Hampshire has been published in Consumers Digest, Ladies’ Home Journal, Fortune Small Business, Vogue Knitting, The Tennessean and Ohio magazine. Hampshire is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). She writes from home in Bay Village, Ohio, where she lives with her husband Haven Ohly, and her muse, a Scottie-dog named Mayzie. Visit her at www.kristenhampshire.com. Wendy Nan Rees is an author and entrepreneur who has been involved in the pet industry for more than 25 years. Her career began when she founded Lip Smackers, Inc., a company dedicated to providing healthy all-natural treats to consumers concerned about their pets\u2019 well-being. She is an author of The Natural Pet Food Cookbook: Healthful Recipes for Dogs and Cats (2007), No Barking at the Table (1996), and No Catnapping in the Kitchen (1996). She orchestrated the book The Name Game, a collection of over 100 celebrity essays and more than 1,000 suggestions for pet names. A percentage of the proceeds from The Name Game goes directly to PAWS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with HIV/AIDS care for their pets. Kendra Luck has created a style and body of work from a past career as an award-winning photojournalist and day-to-day life with her canine muse, Gladys (1992-2008). For Luck, watching a dog is akin to watching children play, waves breaking at the beach, or a bonfire blaze - it's hypnotic. Luck documents the dog's rising role in the family household. She lives in Albany, California, and travels throughout the United States for private photo commissions as well as editorial and commercial projects. For more information, visit http://www.dogumentarian.com. Introducing a Second Dog into the Family Dogs rely extensively on smell, so it helps to introduce the dogs to each other’s scent before bringing the new dog home, if possible. Once you have picked out your new dog, bring home a blanket that your new dog has been playing with at the breeder’s or the rescue center, and vice versa. Allow each dog to sniff their future sibling’s towel. Offer the towel like it is a toy or treat—something special that the dog will want to sniff and love. When you bring your new dog home, introduce the dogs outdoors—not in the house, where the “older sibling” is in charge. Place the new one in front of your dog gently, and say, “Look! For you!” or a similar cooing phrase. Then, give your dog a treat and praise her. Lead her to believe the new puppy is just for her. This will assure