Logical Expressions Blog

Last week, we selected the winner of our Dazzling Dogs Writing Contest. Maureen Lee won a license for IdeaWeaver for her story called "Scouting for Bashful," which involved Girl Scouts and a dog named Bashful. In the story, the 13-year old protagonist gets a lot more than just a box of Thin Mints; she got a new furry friend. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough stories that we loved to compile into a book (we need a minimum of 20). But we plan to run the contest again another time in the hopes that we can inspire more...

I found out that Connie Weiss at the My Pet Street blog wrote a review of Happy Hound. Here's a snippet: "There are lots of behavior and training books available, and most every one I've read leave me feeling totally incompetent as a pet owner. As much as I follow the prescriptive advice, problems still persist: barking, marking, and terrorizing the cats, to name just a few issues. Susan's clean writing style and total honesty about the ups and downs of finding the right balance in living with a pet conveys the feeling that you're sitting at...

This week, it became apparent that I could no longer wait until the weather "gets better" to wash the dogs. The weather stinks and so did the dogs. So Saturday, I had to embark on Doggie Maintenance Day. With four dogs, maintenance takes a while. I brushed them, clipped their toenails, and washed them. As you can see, post-bath, they all look a little miffed: Leia doing her imitation of a wet rodent: Tika keeping an eye out for more cleaning activity: Cami (the Happy Hound cover dog) looking somewhat...

Those of you who read my newsletters know that I've been working hard on the member benefits and private member area of the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals web site. I'm proud to report that I actually met my self-imposed deadline and it all went live on March 20. (The first day of spring!) Today I did a press release about it: New Pet Rescue Association Offers More than 160 Customizable Forms, Pet Care Articles, and Information to Help Humane Professionals Save More Lives If you're involved in rescue work, you probably can imagine how...

All of you folks who have been busily downloading IdeaWeaver so you can enter our writing contest have just FIVE days left to get your contest entries to us. You can read more about the contest and submit your entry here: Dazzling Dogs Contest Entry Form We've gotten some cool entries already, which is ample proof that I'm not the only one likes to tell tales about my goofy dogs. It's FREE, after all. And you might just get published too   ;-) Technorati Tags: ideaweaver,writing contest,dogs,writing software,pets,logicalexpressions

Since we have been working hard on new private membership area of the NAPRP site, I am just now posting links to the great folks who agreed to run my "guest posting" about the importance of spaying and neutering pets, which we did the week of Spay Day (February 26). Check them out ;-) For the Love of Animals - http://4theloveofanimals.com/blog/2008/03/03/spay-day-guest-post/ The Blog Pound - http://www.theblogpound.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/guest_post/ Easy Vegan - http://www.easyvegan.info/2008/02/26/spay-day-usa/ Thank you for helping me spread the word!   Technorati Tags: naprp,daffron,dogs,cats,spay,neuter,humane,logical expressions,adopted pets,animal shelter,dog rescue

Today we went to take our dogs out for their daily constitutional and discovered that the snow finally came off our woodshed. It hasn't shed all winter and we were a little worried, particularly since over the last few days, there has been a really long snow curl hanging off the back that refused to break off. Imagine our surprise to discover that all the snow fell off at once in a giant chunk. We were so shocked we just kind of stood there for a minute staring at it. (The dogs started barking , since the giant snow wall...

In honor of Freelance Writers week (which is this week), we are running our first writing contest! If you love dogs and love to write, this is your chance to tell us your best dog story. I know I love writing about my dogs, so I figure other people have great stories to tell too ;-) There is no entry fee; the only stipulation is that you have to use IdeaWeaver for your entry. Because the IdeaWeaver site has a free 30-day trial copy available, the cost to enter the contest is exactly $0. The winning essays will...

After a whole lot of planning and work, on February 1, we launched a brand new association called the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals. We just finished the Web site, and you can find it here: http://www.naprp.com Basically, we are setting ourselves up as a resource for rescue groups with lots of information, tips, tools, and documents they can use to help save more critters. The member part of the site with all the documents, forms, templates, forum, and other goodies will be available on March 20. (But...

Today we packed up all the Logical Tips books that people bought during our pre-order sale and took them off to the post office. (In fact, the response was sort of overwhelming; we actually almost sold out of all the books we ordered!) Anyway, the packing and shipping process was the source of great excitement among the canine team. Our golden retriever Tika thinks these books should go in a flat-rate box. These books seem to pass the sniff test. All that packing is hard work! ...

As some people know, I have a "hoop house" for my garden. It's the only way I can grow tomatoes with our short growing season. You can see a bit of my garden in the "Vegans Go Hunting" video on the Vegan Success site (or on You Tube). Anyway, I'm not particularly tall, but I can stand in my hoop house in the summer. The hoop is on the left in this summertime picture. I can easily walk inside, since the top bar is about 6 feet high. Here's what it looks like today...

With the release of our new Logical Tips books, we have now published eight book ourselves (the four Logical Tips books, Happy Hound, Happy Tabby, Web Business Success, and Vegan Success.) This week's article in the Publishize newsletter offers a few reasons why we have opted to take the self-publishing route, after going about it the "traditional" way: A Few Good Reasons to Self Publish Your Book Enjoy!   Technorati Tags: web business,web business success,vegan success,vegan,pets,happy hound,happy tabby,publishize,logical tips,daffron,writing,dogs,cats,cookbook

The thrills of pet ownership are ongoing. Troi, the cat on the cover of our Happy Tabby book, has been digestively challenged lately. We took her and our other cat Alia to the vet for a checkup. (If you're going to listen to one cat yowl all the way into town, you may as well listen to two.) Alia got a clean bill of health, which is impressive, since she's almost 15 now. Little Troi doesn't seem to have anything obvious wrong, but is now on a lovely concoction of liquid antibiotics. Getting the pink goo into the unwilling...

This week, we got our first snow, and the canines are totally and completely thrilled. Watching them bound joyfully through the snow is good for the soul. Another thing that makes you feel good is donating old clothes to charity. This week in the Publishize newsletter and podcast, I ponder cleaning, evaluating, and recycling and how it all relates to marketing. If you'd like to read the article online, please use this link: http://newsletter.logicalexpressions.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=144 Enjoy!Technorati tags: publishize, dogs, daffron

Like a lot of people, I have a Google Alert set up on my name. (If you are wondering how to set up an alert, check out this page for more information.) With an alert, I often know when people are quoting me somewhere on the Internet. For example, I was quoted as the author Happy Hound on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel site in the Animal Megnetism blog. Check it out: What's In a Name? I always get a little thrill when I see my name in print. This week I also was interviewed for an article that may run in a major...

I just got back from two days of babysitting a dog boarding kennel. Now I have "dog walker feet." Over the years, I have met quite a few professional dog walkers and they often complain that their feet hurt. That would be me today. Even with shoe inserts, my feet are sore. Walking many dogs 3 or 4 times per day is a lot more walking than you might think. The end result is that I am tired and ready to enjoy the long holiday weekend. I have a lot of gardening to do though. I hope my feet hold out!Technorati...

Although James and I had a radio show for a while, and I was a DJ in college, today I did my first radio call in as a promotion for one of our books. I talked to Steve Dale about his article on "designer dogs" such as cockapoos and labradoodles. The article contends that shelters are a much better (not to mention less expensive) way to get these dog, which after all actually are simply mixed-breed mutts. In the article, he points out that he has a "King Daley Shepherd" named Ethel. I like the idea of giving my shelter/rescue dogs...

Our book Happy Hound was written up in an Indiana newspaper! It was a fun interview actually, since the author and I are both dog lovers. We talked for ages about the thrills and chills of living with many very goofy canines  ;-) Check out the article... "A Happy Hound - Having problems with your new dog or puppy?" by Jean Starr, March 3, 2007, The Times of Northwest Indiana " Any lasting relationship requires knowledge of the other being and plenty of introspection. The same is true with making...

I finally got our videos uploaded to YouTube. They've been available on their respective Web sites for a while, but now they are available to a (much) wider audience. Here are the links: Samoyed Songs of Joy (from Happy Hound) Vegans Go Hunting (from Vegan Success) If you are into YouTube, please share them with all your video-phile type friends  ;-)Technorati tags: daffron, vegan, vegan success, happy hound, dogs, puppies, adopted pets

The fact that you can't really open windows in the wintertime can be a real problem. Such as the other night when I was happily spooning out our dinner onto plates. I looked over behind me and noticed that the Gold Dog had "assumed the position" and was committing an act of badness on the kitchen floor. Yes, dinner was somewhat late. In a similar vein, this morning James discovered that the turnips that I had stored in a box in the root room had decomposed and created their own vile compost pile. (Perhaps it should be called the "rot room"...

The canines are back in my office after being ostracized for several days. The sleeping has begun. The all-furry team was banished over the last few days because I was sewing a costume for the Follies (http://sandpoint.org/mardigras/), which is tomorrow.   I have very, very tiny bit role as an Egyptian backup singer (except I don't sing). To create my costume, I toddled off to Goodwill and got some fabric, a slip, and a (girl's!) dress that I have very sloppily transformed into somewhat of an Egyptian look. (I'm going to look like Cleopatra's really ugly stepsister or something.) Unfortunately, I'm an...

I just got an email that the first delivery of our new book Happy Hound: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Dog or Puppy has shipped. That means my books are somewhere between Tennessee and here. In the meantime, you can read about it on the Web site: http://www.happyhoundbook.com Plus, you can watch a video of our cover model Cami "singing." She's a Samoyed mix and when she has something to say, she utters a Mighty Woo! - SusanTechnorati tags: daffron, dogs, happy hound, puppies, adopted pets

I got a number of hilarious responses to this article: No, I will Not Go! about my dog Cami’s ability to get herself tangled up in the forest. One person wrote to me about her Siberian Huskies tangled up with her and their coupler leash in a tree. It’s all too easy to imagine! Technorati tags: daffron, dogs, puppies