Why have people with power, throughout the centuries, in every country, ruthlessly used war and battle to destroy and conquer others?
Why has the value of discussion, negotiation, even compromise, not been recognized as best for all?
Today, as always, in every part of the world, , there are those who destroy for power and land with no concern for the pain, destruction and chaos they cause.
TV news, when it relentlessly reports on the struggles going on in the world, is performing a service. However, true discussion between those in power, as opposed to posturing and hidden agendas, is uncommon.
And so I think of dogs and books for kids where a better world prevails...a world where people learn from dogs about unconditional love and non-violent ways to find peace.
My conclusion is that every president, prime minister, king, despot and dictator should have a dog. It might not solve the problems of this world, but it would help.
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The Planet Of The Dogs Series is going to China
We are pleased to announce that Deanna has facilitated contract negotiations for the Planet Of The Dogs Series and that Beijing Chongxianguan Books will be publishing our books in China. The illustrations will be redone, but the stories remain intact.
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Tech Crunch
Amazon Killed The Book Reviewer Star
by Gregory Ferenstein...This provacative article (from Tech Crunch by way of 100 Scope Notes) relates a shift in thinking regarding the relative merit of book reviews by "experts" vs book reviews by "ordinary" people...
" Authors no longer have to impress stodgy English majors to get their book a quality review: new research from the Harvard Business Review shows that the aggregate rating of Amazon reviewers are every bit as good as professional book critics.
Professional book critics, on the other hand, suffer from nepotism: critics give more favorable reviews to their colleagues, authors who agree with their ideological slant, and if the book has been given an award by other critics. The result, implies this new research, is that Amazon has democratized the book reviewing process, with consumer reviewers less beholden to special interests and more representative of the book-reading masses. Perhaps most importantly, it rebuts critics who have claimed that Amazon is nothing more than a cauldron of corrupt and uneducated opinions." → Read More
The ultimate reviewers for our books are kids and dog lovers of all ages...The readers in the photo are in teacher Julie Hauck's therapy reading dog program -- Pages for Preston -- at the Longfellow School in Sheboygan, WI.
We are feeling quite upbeat after reading Mr Ferenstein's article... take a look at our Amazon Reviews for PlanetOfTheDogs
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From Elizabeth Bird, Librarian (NYPL), and Fuse#8 blogger ....
This Salon will be held in the Berger Forum on the second floor of the Stephen A Schwarzman Building (located at the corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue). "
A Dogster friend shared this information with me. Loosing a dog can be a traumatic loss; my friend found the Empty Leash after the passing of her beloved dog.
"The Hospice group is called the Empty Leash and there is a website for it www.emptyleash.com, so you can read various things and see some pictures. We have a Wall of Love, with pictures of our beloved friends who have passed and also new pets that we have in our family.
There is a grief format going through the stages of grief, and memorials with the members who are ready...It is all very simple and respectful, but I think that's what people need at a time of loss."
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Lille and Dusty continue working to help in the fight against children with Cancer....
These are photos from the Hope and Heroes fundraising get-together and walk. Over $330,000 was raised; over 1600 people attended.
Therapy dog owner Barb Babikian, who has been actively working with children with cancer for some time now, has also played a very active role in the Hope and Heroes Children's Cancer Fund campaign.
The fund benefits the innovative and compassionate clinical care programs and cutting edge research at Columbia University Medical Center. Childhood cancers are the #1 disease killer of children - more than asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and pediatric AIDS combined.
Barb Babikian's two Sheltie therapy dogs,Lille and Dusty,are in the photo on the left.
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PAL
We first learned of the wonderful therapy dog work of PAL (People Animals Love) through Young Adult Librarian, Ginny Rawls, at the Alexandria, VA, library. We wrote in our March post how PAL's Paws To Read volunteers bring the world of books to kids.
PAL's therapy dog programs (321 volunteers) also bring good moments, happiness and healing to those in need in the greater Washington, DC, area.
The Voice of America, a dynamic international multimedia broadcaster, chose PAL for a story on the powerful effect dogs can have on people. This video highlights interactions of PAL members, their therapy dogs,staff members and residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home, where PAL has been visiting for more than 20 years. Check out this video: Video Link:Veterans
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All books in the Planet Of The Dogs series can be purchased at your favoriteindependent bookstore or on the internet through Barnes& Noble, Amazon, Powells and many others.
Librarians, teachers, bookstores -- order our books directly from Ingram...professional discount, of course.
Therapy reading dog owners, librarians and teachers with therapy reading dog programs...write us at [email protected] and we will send you free reader copies of books from the Planet of the Dogs Series.
Read Dog Books to Dogs....Ask any therapy reading dog: "Do you like it when the the kids read dog books to you?"
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This article contains information on studies involving eye contact as well as oxytocin. I have excerpted a section below to provide some sense of the article.
About the Author: Jason G. Goldman is a graduate student in developmental psychology at the University of Southern California, where he studies the evolutionary and developmental origins of the mind in humans and non-human animals. Jason is also Psychology and Neuroscience Editor for ResearchBlogging.org and Editor of Open Lab 2010.
"Some evidence exists that dogs were the first animals to be domesticated, and until now, humans have only succeeded in domesticating around 20 different animal species. Compared with those other species (such as sheep, goats, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, and camels), only dogs (and to some extent, cats, though at the risk of alienating readers, I maintain that cats are evil) have established for themselves a social niche within human society. Dogs were not only bred for companionship; some dogs were bred for hunting, guarding, or herding. More recently, dogs have worked as service dogs or drug-sniffing dogs. The question remains: Why do dogs have such apparent psychological effects on humans?"
One hypothesis claims that humans develop positive feelings and behaviors towards dogs as a side-effect of a mechanism in place that forms the bond between parents and children. Attachment, or social bonding, is a sort of behavioral regulation system that exists to reduce the risk of harm (e.g. predation) to a young animal..."{
Here is the link to the complete article: JasonDogs
The dogs shown here are from The Planet Of The Dogs Books
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Dogs Reduce Stress On the Job...
Dogs in the workplace are beginning to make a positive difference. June 22 has become “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” developed first in 1999. It is sponsored by the Pet Sitters International.
A preliminary study that was published in the March issue of the International Journal of Workplace Health Management reported that dogs in the workplace reduce the impact of stress during the workday. Studies show dogs in the workplace reduce stress and create an enjoyable and satisfying job experience. At one time, many places were off-limits to dogs … today they are more than welcome as part of a growing trend. Most companies see it as an “employee-friendly” move that is good for business, according to the Sacramento Beeonline newspaper.
According to the study manager Professor Randolph Barker, employees with dogs reported less stress as the day progressed, while those without dogs reported an increase in stress. Meanwhile, the dogs appeared to increase employee interaction and communication, much more than businesses that did not allow dogs to be present with their owners. :Link: waycooldogs
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Doggonia...A Unique experience for Dog Lovers and Kids
Eric Whollem has created Doggonia. On YouTube, you can see the Doggonia postage stamps, map, and learn something of the history.
Another video celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Doggonian Archeological Museum.
Bones are the currency on Doggonia.
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Dafi Dog
Dafi, our wonderful family dog and friend has
returned to the Planet of the Dogs.
Dafi served as inspiration for the Planet Of The Dogs books. His likeness can be found as Buddy, one of the first three dogs to come to planet earth; he was also the model for Billie, one of the heroic dogs in Castle In The Mist.Dogs
Dafi was a Belgian Shepherd Groenendael, a wonderful breed. His younger step brother, Nemo, is now our family dog. Dafi lived a good life. He will be missed.
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Librarians, Teachers and others concerned with kids and reading will enjoy visiting Doug Johnsonson's Blue Skunk Blog.... Doug is an educator, techologist, and writer with attitude and insights.In a recent Blog regarding the top 20 Books Read Among High Schooers, Johnson casts a skeptical eye on the uses (and abuses) of reading scoring. Here is a quote from his website:
Internet Serenity Prayer
Technologist, grant me…
the Serenity to accept that not everything can be found on the Internet…
the Courage to go to the Library…
and the Wisdom to evaluate the information I do find.
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The Good Dogma Company
In 2009 Lisa had a book nationally published, Bad To The Bone: Memoir Of A Rebel Doggy Blogger (Kensington Books/ Citadel), which chronicles family life through a dog's eyes. (I reviewed this special book on Amazon and here on our Blog)
Lisa is a dog lover and has several rescued dogs in her family.
She now has a site where you can buy special dog things, wine and even a guide to selling your house...A portion of every sale goes to dog rescue. Here is the link: GoodDogma
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CAMPAIGN FOR THE AMERICAN READER
I first met Marshall Zeringue, Author, Playwrite, Producer and Blogger extraordinary when I was a guest on his Coffee with a Canine Blog.In additon to being an advocate for coffe drinking dog lovers and dog writers, he is the force behind the Campaign For The American Reader. Here is Marshall's rationale for this excellent Blog:
"The goal of this blog is to inspire more people to spend more time reading books. I'll try to do that by shining a little light on books that I like and think others might find worthy of their time and attention.
I'll also ask some interesting people about what books they find interesting or useful.
Most of us don’t need any encouragement to read more—we need more time.
Yet encouragement does work for many people; and if you doubt that claim, I have two syllables for you: O-prah.
And it’s not only Oprah, who created regular readers out of a mulitude of the otherwise idle, who has this power. Many of us read what we read because someone recommended it to us."
If you care about books and reading, I suggest a visit...Here is the link to the Campaign For The American Reader: Read
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Frankie the Walk 'N Roll Dog....Barb Techel, author of the inspiring Frankie books for young readers, and her friend Cassy Tully, ran a contest resulting in this dog wall.
In Barb's own words..."We sponsored a contest called, 'Be Creatively You.' We sent out a letter to all our local third grade teachers encouraging their students to be creative and design an outfit for Frankie. We were so tickled at the wonderful response and better yet, the design entries that we received. On Friday, April 17th we announced the grand prize winner, plus second and third place. Grand prize winner will receive lots of Frankie books and goodies, plus a visit to her classroom from Cassy, Frankie and I.
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Man's Best Friend
Planet of the Dogs: K-9s Groom Humans as Personal Well-Being Tools
by Chad Love
If you ever stop for a second and think about it, I mean really think about it, I believe you'd come to the conclusion that there's not a damn thing a dog can't be trained to do, and do it better than pretty much anything else out there. Dogs can find people buried under tons of rubble, they can sniff out bombs and
drugs, they can be trained to detect cancer, pick up shed antlers, help guide the blind, I mean, the list literally goes on forever. And although they do seem to lack our devious cunning and handy extra digit, dogs are our superiors in virtually every other way imaginable. We may be the "masters" in this eons-old relationship, but who's really controlling whom here?
According to some recent research, dogs have evolved not so much to please us, but to groom us as their personal well-being tools.
Link: ChadLove
The dog in the illustration above is from Snow Valley Heroes.
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Soldier Dogs, the untold story of America’s Canine Heroes...a review by Ariel Wulff
"The author touches briefly on the history of military dogs, with a fascinating explanation of how the program came into existence, and how it has changed during the course of U.S. wars. She travels to Lackland Air Force Base where today's dogs receive their training to be scouts, detection dogs, security sentries and a soldier's best friend...
Goodavage delves into the relationship between dog and handler, their cooperative reliance and the bonds they form. She gives a remarkably touching description of how handler and dog come to care for one another. She makes the book..."
Follow this link to read all of the review: SoldierDogs
Follow this link to learn more about reviewer, author, illustrator/artist, blogger and passionate dog activist Cayr Ariel Wulff: Wulff
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A Shy Aussie Stray is Caught and Saved ...one of many true dog rescue stories on Sunbear Squad, a site that teaches and guides people who see a dog in distress, danger, lost...."I saw a small black aussie mix on the way to my daughter's place. Each time I went out there I would see her beside the road, so one day I decided to try to approach her. She bolted. The next time I went, I brought food and just threw handfuls along the roadside and then pulled off the road not far away and with binoculars ready, I waited. After 30 minutes, she started grazing on the food.
I fed her the same way for a couple of weeks every day. Then I got some bowls and started feeding in the same spot every day. It was only about 20 feet off a busy road, but that's where she was hanging out. After a week had passed, she started hanging around the food bowl waiting for me, but when I pulled off the road she would retreat farther back into the woods. I would give her clean water and food and go back to the car and watch. She always came to eat when I was far enough for her to feel safe..."
Here is the link to read all of this true story: Sunbear
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"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." -- Andy Rooney
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