#FollowFriday Fab Four comes a day early this week. Sadie and I desperately need some together time hiking and doing a little retail therapy. (Sadie loves retail.) So we’re out and about today and tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll return with lots of pictures.
This week I want to tell you about three favorite oldies and a new blogger on the block. I’ll save the newbie for last.
I started playing on Twitter and blogging in April, 2009 and soon found three smart, compassionate dog-o-philes to follow. So, as you can see, ‘old’ means about 17 months. Here they are:
Fearfuldog’s Blog is written by Debbie Jacobs. You can find her on Twitter @fearfuldogs and on Facebook here. Debbie
Debbie and Sunny
was moved to learn as much as she could about how to help scared dogs not be so scared after adopting a Katrina refugee, a border collie mix she named Sunny. Watch this moving video in which Debbie tells Sunny’s story and learn more about Debbie’s personal story here.
One of the things I enjoy most about Debbie’s blog posts is her ability to engage the reader to empathize with how fearful dog’s feel. Read “Yuck! Do I Have To?” . It’s one of my favorites. If you have a fearful dog or know someone who does, send them to Debbie’s blog and her website which is filled to the brim with sage advice and an award winning e-book! I truly believe Debbie’s reach in helping fearful dogs and their people is huge. Just read “Some Chains that Bind Don’t Hurt.”
Debbie has become a friend and reliable source of support when I need advice and hand-holding with my shy girl, Sadie, as has Barrie, who’s up next.
Barrie’s blog is Fun with Dogs! and she tweets @barrie. Barrie also has a 
fearful dog, an Australian Cattle Dog named Jelly Bean (aka JB) who takes center stage in many of Barrie’s posts. Barrie is indefatigable in her quest to build JB’s confidence. Take the balance ball, for example. Barrie patiently taught her sweet JB to get ON the ball and shares the accomplishment in a video in the post “New Starting Point.” Barrie is as committed to her own learning as she is to helping JB feel more comfortable in the world, which is one of the reasons I love reading her blog. After attending a workshop with Susan Garrett, Barrie wrote about applying what she had learned in a rollicking post (“Thinking, Thinking, Thinking“) about sibling issues between JB and her other dog, a Jack Russell named Brit. Unfortunately, I can’t link to individual posts, but you can go here and then scroll down to the titles I mentioned. Fixed! The links are live now.
Angela blogs, tweets (@fun4fido), and trains dogs in England. Her blog, Fun4Fido: Clicker training 4 dogs-shaping behavior 1 click @ a 
time, and facebook page are treasure troves. In addition to Angela’s spot-on posts from “Two Ways a Dog Learns” to “Myths about Clicker Training,” she also takes on the fallacy of doggie dominance. Yes! You won’t want to miss “Debunking the Dominance Myth” and “Dog Trying to Dominate Your World?” written by excellent guest bloggers. Lately I’ve been making frequent visits to her Facebook page where she links to posts like “Trainers with Jackhammers Need Not Apply.”
Last but in no way least is Mary’s Dogs Blog: Fostering hope–one day at 
a time written by Mary Doane aka @turtlelady81 on Twitter. We’ve been Twitter buddies for a long time. It’s the blog that’s new. Just a couple of weeks ago Mary brought home her first foster dog, Aaron. He’s very fearful and sweet and the inspiration for Mary’s blog. I love, love I tell you, this post: “Ummm…About that harness…” Her voice is pitch perfect. Mary not only writes about the challenges Aaron is facing, which are considerable, but her own as well. In “Helping Him Find His Inner Dog…“Mary finds it necessary to give up her own agenda and get with Aaron’s needs and pacing. That is a difficult lesson–one I’m still learning with Sadie. You can find Mary on Facebook here.
Well, that’s it for this week’s fab four. I hope you explore these blogs and enjoy them. Have a great weekend!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rod Burkert, Kim Clune. Kim Clune said: Checking out: #FollowFriday Fab Four: August 6, 2010 http://bit.ly/bMKeKj (via @boulderdog1) […]
OMG that is so incredibly sweet!!! I can’t tell you how much I missed your lovely writing when you took your leave of blogging/twitter absence 😉
The permalink to the posts on my blog are at the bottom of each post 🙂
Just to be helpful (not that this isn’t total self promotion!) here they are:
Balance Ball Post
Thinking Post
Big hugs to you and (virtual only) Sadie!!!!!!!
I’m so sorry 🙁 that I missed your permalinks. I will correct that.
Ooh, ooh, those are some of my favorites from way back when too. Sometimes I get so busy I forget to look but I’m glad you reminded me. And I didn’t associate turtle lady Mary with the new blog I’ve been hearing so much about — no wonder it’s so terrific!
Thanks, Deborah, for bringing these back (and forward) to my attention.
You are most welcome 😉 Yep, Turtle Lady Mary is writing a lovely blog. I’m falling in love with Aaron.
Love it 🙂
Of course some of these are good friends of mine, but some I’ve known and somehow lost track of….so glad you posted this, I use to check out Fun with Dogs but have somehow lost track of it….thnx for reminding me 🙂
Also, great example of a list post….awesome 🙂
@dino_dogan
Thanks, Dino. I had no idea that I wrote a list post. That’s really cool.
Deborah, I am so very honored to be one of your #FollowFriday Fab Four. Thank you so much for your kind words and for following my journey with Aaron. I’ve been following your blog for some time now and I must say that your honesty and thoughtfulness as well as your beautiful writing has been truly inspirational. Thank you, Deborah. And, thank you, Miss Sadie, as well!
Thanks so much, Mary. And, the pleasure is all mine. 😉
Fearfuldogs has been a huge help to us, thank you for reminding me that I need to go keep up with the posts regularly because it’s always an interesting read, instead only remembering it’s there when I desperately need advice for little miss neurotic mutt.
Look forward to checking out the rest of your recommendations.