OMG I Want a(nother) Dog!!!

Dogs are so awesome. I'm a complete advocate for everyone having at least one. They do take a little work, but they bring love and amusement to everyday life. I can't imagine life without one.

I grew up without a dog, so with my mom's approval, anytime I saw a dog I would ask the owner if I could pet their dog. I used to think it would only be kids that didn't have dogs that would do that, but about half the kids that ask if they could pet Dizzy, have a dog(s) at home (Dizzy is our eight year old Shiba Inu).

With a few exceptions, we mold our dogs, they become what we make them. If we abuse them, they may become aggressive. If we're nice, loving and caring, that is what they'll become. I cry almost every time I watch anything that talks about or shows a dog that has been neglected and/or abused. What did these dogs do to deserve that? Chances are these dogs didn't have a mean bone in their body. That is not right. Anyone that abuses an animal deserves severe punishment and they should definitely NEVER have children, that right should be taken away from them.

Here are some quotes that ring true for me:

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished" -Dean Koontz

"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person" -Andrew A. Rooney

"Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." -Agnes Sligh

"The more I know about people, the better I like my dog" -Mark Twain

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive." -Gilda Radner

In addition to their general awesomeness, dogs are also good for our health. According to an article from www.webmd.com "(b)abies in homes with dogs have fewer colds, fewer ear infections, and need fewer antibiotics in their first year of life than babies raised in pet-free homes...." The article continues with some theories as to why. One of them being dogs may expose babies to just the right amount of additional germs to strengthen their immune systems. While I certainly don't need more reasons to have a dog when I have a baby, the science is very interesting.

As we get older, dogs continue to contribute to our health in a variety of ways. They help us stay active, can help lower our blood pressure (www.huffingtonpost.com), encourage us to be social and more.

I can definitely vouch for Dizzy helping me stay active and be social. I would take her to the dog beach frequently. It wasn't unusual for her to approach other people and wait for me to come get her. I'm a pretty shy and quiet person, so she completely took me out of my comfort zone, forcing me to talk to complete strangers. If I was a dude, she would have been an excellent way to pick up chicks. She generally picked woman to approach and wait for me, it was pretty funny.

I know it's not the right time yet, but I want another dog. Hopefully in the not too distant future.

This is our beautiful girl:

Challenging Oneself

I'm a pretty shy quiet person. I try to pretend not to be when I'm around people, but at heart I really am. I'm also self conscious. Put these together and blogging becomes a bit more challenging, but challenges are good for us; they help us grow & learn.

Anytime I think of posting my thoughts online, I'm definitely going outside of my comfort zone. Blogging is a challenge for me because I'm concerned what people will think, especially people I know. So, with that in mind, the first thing I want to do is become more comfortable with blogging by just writing, knowing people may read it. After I become more comfortable with this, I'll hopefully start posting more interesting topics.

This is also a good challenge to keep up and improve my writing skills.

I should be careful while I'm getting comfortable, to not treat it too much like a journal. Yet another challenge: changing my writing content from just my thoughts and happenings into informative content. I really enjoy writing/typing in a journal, so this will also be a good challenge.

It might not be all bad to put my fears out there in a journal. Maybe I'm not the only one and I could help someone, letting them know they're not the only one.

I think this may be more difficult than loosing weight. It may sound crazy, but that came rather easy to me; I didn't really have to think about it. While I agree I had a pretty big part in it, I also believe God had a big part as well. I honestly don't think I could have done it with out Him. Anyway, it seems to take a lot more thinking to blog than to loose weight.

My first post

Now that is original and creative...My first post. Oh well, at least it's something, right?

I enjoy typing, so why not try blogging? Not sure yet what to blog about, but I'll hopefully figure it out. Coming up with interesting things to write about that people would want to read.

There are some subjects frequently on my mind:
-Career/job
-Learning
-Organization
-Nutrition
-Weight loss
-General observance of people

Stick to one subject or bounce around?

It would be cool to write blogs that could help people, but I don't even read blogs, how could I be creative and imaginative enough to captivate others peoples attention? A general journal would probably not be very interesting.

It's been a while since I've been in college, but I think I've still retained quite a bit of writing skills, I hope.

Maybe I'll start out with one subject and move on to the next.