Hey there dog fans, it’s Friday and you know what that means! 
I have the pleasure of telling you about four of my favorite blogs. This week’s collection share a common trait. In one way or another I have a personal connection with the authors. Two of the bloggers know this, the other two most likely do not. Let’s begin with the two I ‘know.’
First up is Rod Burkert. You might remember him from a previous Fab 4 post when I wrote about the gang behind the website and blog, GoPetFriendly, Rod, Amy, Ty, and Buster. Well, Rod has a new gig over at the K9Cusine 
Chronicles, Ruffin’ It: Pet Travel Tails. I met Rod in person at BlogPaws West, but we had been palin’ around on Twitter and reading each other’s blogs at least since the first BlogPaws last April. Rod and Amy have a great story to tell. They left home 6 months ago and have been traveling the USA with their two lovely dogs in the marvelous Go Pet Friendly RV. Whereas GoPetFriendly.com is all about traveling with your dogs, Ruffin’ It strikes a more personal note. How 6 months of Pet Travel Changed Our Lives, is a good example. From the sound of it Rod and Amy might be leaving their home in Pennsylvania to put down roots in the Rockies with their pups. Lucky us! Find Rod on Twitter @gopetfriendly and @rodburkert and ‘like’ Go Pet Friendly on Facebook.
Pamela Douglas Webster writes Something Wagging This Way Comes: An Amateur’s Musings on Dogs and Their People. I must
Honey
have been asleep at the keyboard because until Pamela honored me with a Doggie Blogger Award I didn’t know about her blog. Now I do, and what a delightful read it is! Pamela started writing the blog March of this year to chronicle life and times with her gorgeous Golden Retriever puppy, Honey. Apparently Honey recently swallowed a squeaky toy that had to be surgically removed. Poor baby! Since she’s been home from the vet the once I’m-totally-chill-in-my-crate pup is not so laid back about being in her kennel anymore, especially at night. She whines. Maybe Honey doesn’t need to be in her crate at night anymore, Pamela muses in this post. And, it’s not all Honey all the time at Something Wagging, not that that would be a bad thing at all. I’m just letting you know that Pamela posts lots of fun dog videos, and weighs in on dog issues of the day, like the listener responses to the recent NPR interview with Jim Gorant, the author of The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption in this post.
I don’t know Mark Bekoff personally, but he lives in Boulder and Sadie and I encountered him on the Sanitas Valley Trail (pictured in the header) when Sadie about a year old. I was bent over Sadie picking
Mark Bekoff
burrs out of the hair on her hind legs on the side of the trail when all of a sudden she let out an alarm bark! You know, one of those “Rufffffffffffff-Ruuuuffffffffff!” Holding onto to her I stood up and saw a man walking directly towards us, his head down, looking intently as his thumbs tapped away on his PDA. He startled at Sadie’s outburst. Who wouldn’t? I apologized and said something like, “I think you looked a little weird to her–your head down, walking slowly and directly at us.” Sadie sniffed his hand and that was that. I didn’t know it was Mark at the time. Only later when I bought one of his books, The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy – and Why They Matter, and saw his picture on the book jacket did I make the connection. Anyway, I’ve since become a fan of the blog he writes for Psychology Today, Animal Emotions: Do Animals Think and Feel? Mark keeps his readers abreast of current research and writes commentary that, whether you agree with him or not, will make you think, like this post, for example: “Oh, I know animals suffer, but I love my steak: The self-serving resolution of the ‘meat paradox.”
If you haven’t read Suzanne Clothier‘s Bones Would Rain From the Sky: Deepening Our Relationship with Dogs. I highly recommend it. 
Suzanne writes beautifully and she’s all about nurturing our relationship with our dogs. That’s why I love her Flying Dog Press Blog. Suzanne’s blog has been around for a long time but I’ve only recently been paying regular visits. I don’t always agree with her, but that’s beside the point. She’s a reader’s and wrtiter’s blogger. By that I mean Suzanne is extremely well read and her writing style is, well, writerly. For instance, she invokes Norman Mailer in “Reality Check.” And, this is one of my favorites, “He Just Wants to Say ‘Hi’,” which is not a blog post but an article she has posted on her website which includes her blog. By now you’re probably wondering so what’s Deborah’s connection with Suzanne. As with Mark, I don’t know Suzanne, but I am signed up for the “Polish Your Training Chops” workshop at the upcoming APDT Conference (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) on Saturday afternoon that Suzanne is conducting with Pia Silvani and Nancy Williams. I’ll have a dog to work with and everything! I can’t wait. Although, I expect it will be a humbling experience.
Temperatures have been far above normal for this time of year. But, this afternoon there’s a slight touch of fall in the air. So Sadie and I are off to one of our favorite parks. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you here next Friday for another Fab 4.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rod Burkert, Kim Clune. Kim Clune said: Checking out: #FollowFriday Fab 4: October 1, 2010 http://bit.ly/cdrVrD (via @boulderdog1) […]
I know — and greatly admire — three out of four of your picks (I guess we run in the same blogging circles, Deborah) but never heard of Mark Bekoff and am very happy to make his acquaintance. Thanks for the tip; I’m always eager to see who you recommend on Fridays because I trust they’ll be interesting and smart.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad to introduce you to Mark Bekoff. He’s very interesting. And, this task I’ve set for myself every week is becoming more and more difficult. LOL.
Thank you, Deborah, for your mention of Something Wagging This Way Comes. I’ve really enjoyed your Follow Friday and look forward to checking out your picks.
I was especially flattered to be mentioned in the same post as Suzanne Clothier. I always find her writing provocative and I’ve passed copies of “He Just Wants to Say Hi” to many, many people.