All that is preamble to what I have learned and am still learning from my Sadie girl:

-There is only one pace to go—Sadie’s pace. Slow down and pay attention to her. Be careful not to push her beyond her threshold.

-Let go of trying to make Sadie into the dog I wanted and celebrate the dog she is.

-Ask myself: “How can I help Sadie be successful?” Then, do whatever it takes.

-Focus on the good stuff. Notice what makes Sadie happy and do those things everyday.

A series of synchronistic events set me on the blogging path. I had been thinking about creating a website–not a blog–for all things dog in Boulder. I tried to learn Joomla, a content management system, to create the website and soon gave up. Novice that I was, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I gave up. Then I heard about a free class on social media being offered at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in January of 2009. I decided to attend at the last minute when some other plans fell through. In each week’s class I learned just what I needed to take the next step toward creating my own blog. I started writing posts during the class. My blog went live in April 2009.

I have always enjoyed writing. I published an award winning book, From Debate to Dialogue, twelve years ago. Now I aspire to write not about academic topics or in an academic style, but to write conversationally about the love of my life, Sadie, and all she has pushed me to learn about dogs. Currently my challenge is to write about potentially dog geeky topics (the dominance myth and the research debunking it, for example) in a reader friendly way.

As for blogging in particular, I think it’s important to find your topic and your tone, or your ‘voice.’ You might need to blog for months or more to do this. You might need to experiment. I think the most successful blogs provide consistency in one way or another—a topic, point of view, a style (humor, say), original thinking, and intelligent content.

Engage your readers. Ask them for advice. Ask them questions. And, then reply to their comments. Sometimes the conversation in the comments is the richer part of a post. That’s a good thing. You’ve created a space for a great conversation.

Link to other blog posts that you like, but don’t copy them whole and paste them into your blog. That’s not blogging. That’s ripping off your colleagues.

Conventional wisdom says bloggers should post everyday. If you can’t do that, try to be consistent in your posting so your readers will know when to check in. For example, recently, I started a “#FollowFriday Fab Four” series in which I highlight four blogs that I like and tell readers why I like them.

That said, I’m also committed to writing about the alternatives—a science-based understanding of our dog’s behavior and reward-based training methods. In a word, make that two words, “yes” and “ignore.” Look for what you dog is doing that you like, say ‘yes’ and reward her for it. When possible, ignore what your dog does that you don’t like. If the behavior can’t be ignored, then teach your dog an incompatible alternative behavior such as “sitting” when the doorbell rings rather than racing to the door. That is reward-based training in a nutshell. I’m committed to spreading the word.

Establish good habits from the start. Do you want your dog to sit at the door and not go out until you release him to exit through the door? Then, from the time you bring your puppy or dog home, practice this.

Be consistent.

Don’t allow your dog to practice the behaviors you don’t want her to do. For example, it was clear from the start that Sadie was destined to be a first rate counter surfer. So I decided it would be best if she just stayed out of the kitchen. I blockaded the entrance to the kitchen. I had to step over the blockade to walk into and out of the kitchen. It was inconvenient, but it was worth it because when we worked with our positive trainer to educate Sadie to stay out of the kitchen, it was much easier because she didn’t have to unlearn bad habits.

Don’t encourage your dog to do behaviors that as a puppy seem cute but that you won’t like when your dog is an adult. Chewing on your fingers, for example.

Help your dog to succeed by rewarding her when she is doing a behavior you like, for example lying down at your feet when you sit on the couch to read a book.

Don’t hurt or intimidate your dog in the name of training or ‘correcting’ her. Never hit your dog. Ever.

Think about it this way: Tell your dog “yes, good girl” at least twenty times for every time you tell her “no,” if you tell her “no” at all.

Be generous.