Dog Fancy Magazine Interview

Check out my interview about pet poo disposal in the upcoming May issue of Dog Fancy!

Talkin’ Pets with Jon Patch Interview

Now you can listen to Carol’s October 2010 interview on Talkin’ Pets below.  To listen to the full hour of radio, click here for the mp3.

My Favorite Recycler

Today is curbside recycling day.  Every Wednesday the Waste Management Company picks up trash, a separate paper and plastic recycling bin, and on alternate weeks,  yard waste.  I’m waiting for the day (soon) when we can add food scraps to the yard waste.  The recycling program in Portland is pretty good.

Credit: Joyce Levear

But…here in the Willamette Valley, my favorite recyclers are seasonal.   This spring, when the days were longer and sunshine reigned (pun intended) my neighbor phoned.  “Carol, look out your front gate.”    While I looked, she snapped a photograph.  Here’s my favorite recycler at work.

Our avian friend is recycling a fox squirrel that perished in a collision with an automobile.  Hey, it’s the circle of life.  Hakuna matata, for all you Lion King fans.  A lot of folks find turkey vultures repulsive;  I say they’re urban heroes.

Salad Garden Window Boxes

All spring and summer I cut leaf lettuce from my salad garden window boxes. Instead of using the irrigation, as in years before, I collected the cold shower water (that precedes the nice toasty temperature water) in an extra trash can.  That water was the only life fluid of these boxes, except for the monthly dose of worm tea that comes from my hardworking worm-stock in my garage worm ranch, working their magic on food scraps and newspaper.

When the cold snap came, I had to do something to keep the salad greens coming. Beth Wilson, of Green Light Garden, and I rigged these box covers from three wire hangers, and plastic left over from a painter’s drop cloth, and a few staples.

"Salad Gardenbox" photo credit: Lizzy Massa-MacLeod

So far, so good. I cut leaf lettuce through the first three-day freeze. I hope I make it through the next.

Training Keeps Pets Out of Shelters

Dogs not coming when they are called is the most frequent problem Maryland-based trainer Janet Oquendo’s clients ask her to solve.

Reward-based training can be highly effective. photo credit: Kirsten Nielsen

Janet’s neighbor became so frustrated with “Husky” that he was considering handing his dog over to a shelter. Janet discovered that the only time the family called Husky was to scold her. The problem was solved simply; Janet had the family give Husky treats when she came when called. Treats for coming-when-called helped Husky re-associate her name with something good (instead of the scolding the family had been giving her).  Dogs, as humans, prefer rewards to punishment.

Oquendo lives with four rescue dogs and swears by reward-based training.