poochiemama Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thanks guys. Yes at moment it's Labrador focused cause its only day 2 and there are 3 posts, one of which is my personal story of my dog who is a labrador. how about we give it some time. I think featuring real life stories of people who have rescued dogs is a great idea... In fact someone I know has asked if she and her dog can be featured... Could be a regular thing if there is enough interest :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mita Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thanks guys. Yes at moment it's Labrador focused cause its only day 2 and there are 3 posts, one of which is my personal story of my dog who is a labrador. how about we give it some time. I think featuring real life stories of people who have rescued dogs is a great idea... In fact someone I know has asked if she and her dog can be featured... Could be a regular thing if there is enough interest :) Good thinking, The real life stories you're talking about give potential adopters assurance that there are things you can do to settle dogs in ... with some taking more time, perhaps, than others. But the ending to look forward to, is a well balanced dog who's a much loved member of the new family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I might just have to send you my Pickles' story... she's kinda speshul... *grin* T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 I Would LOVE to hear your story, please send it! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddy Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I think my biggest concern would be lack of experience dealing with rescued dogs. It's nice to warn people about potential problems of dog ownership generally but do you have the knowledge or experience to really contribute in a meaningful way? I'm not saying this to be negative but many rescue groups (especially breed-specific rescues) provide a lot of information on their own websites anyway- information that comes from years of rescue experience- and my worry is that people will receive conflicting information. As a breed-specific rescuer, I've put literally hundreds of hours into writing articles and information for my website and I'd be pretty annoyed if someone decided against adopting a greyhound because they'd read elsewhere that their house would end up coated in dog hair as soon as a dog stepped in the front door. It might seem like just a humorous observation of what dog ownership can involve to you but other people might read that as "owning a dog will turn your life into a filthy, ungodly mess of hair". I'm afraid I just really don't see the point in it. You get a lot more exposure by just sharing a dog's PetRescue profile on FB and a google search is going to bring Petrescue up on the first page for most searches. Unless you advertise very widely, no one is going to know about your site to actually look for dogs on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I'm in agreement with HA. It's just sharing your thoughts with the world, well that's my take on it. What the world is short of is sound advice sites or sometimes people just don't think to look on the internet. I can't believe people don't just google search for help when they are struggling with dog issues. Sound advice is not really what your site is about though. If you are going to keep going with it, perhaps you'd need to have links to good advice such as housetraining - it's a HUGE issue for most people and many rescue groups simply do not provide enough advice and support to ensure that the dog adopted from them is not going to get stuck outside or abused for having accidents. In an ideal world the rescue group would have housetrained the dog before rehoming but it's not always possible if it wasn't in foster care. So many problems out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thank you for your thoughts. I suppose that's why I have asked for opinions on here as to how to make the site most useful rather than just my thoughts. But I think a blog is different from a website in that it does need to be a bit more personal. A lot of dogs end up in pounds because people are unprepared for the reality of dog ownership. Yes, that includes dog hair. I specified that I was referring to long haired dogs. Anyone who is serious about owning a dog would not find it a huge surprise that yes, some dogs do shed. Links to toilet training.... I think that's a great idea and will incorporate an article and links to that. Thanks again for your feedback, I have a huge amount of respect for the hard work that you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic.B Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hey :) Can not believe I am the first to post (read your thread very briefly early am). To be honest I am left feeling very dissapointed, no offence intended. I think it is great that you are a passionate dog owner/lover and you are doing your best to assist shelter dogs. Swearing and some of your advice is 100% off for rescued pets IMO. There could be a huge amount more advice offered on your site (and questions) in implementing a 'guide' for an owner/family to adopt from a shelter directly and what to expect. Normal settling in behaviour etc. Have you thought about volunteering at your local shelter? Hey! Thanks so much for your feedback. I agree there is a huge amount that I could add eg guide for adoption. But bear in mind I only started the site yesterday! Would love feedback on what else you would like to see on the site. I am trying to keep it a little humorous, although I take it very seriously. Truly I don't want to offend you at all. What market are you gearing toward? Regardless of an average dog owner or promoting a specific cause ie; rescue you need fantastic info, advice and stategies to address various "normal puppy or dog behaviour" esspecially when dogs are moving into a new home or a new environment. I read what you had up, and as a "would be" potential new dog owner I thought "Nup" too hard. It was a negative experience for me personally. I guess for me you need to think about the market you would like to target and then ensure you have fantastic advice and suggestions offered, or perhaps links? Swearing is out. I swear at times :laugh: though if I had my own website, no way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mita Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) What the world is short of is sound advice sites or sometimes people just don't think to look on the internet. I can't believe people don't just google search for help when they are struggling with dog issues. Sound advice is not really what your site is about though. If you are going to keep going with it, perhaps you'd need to have links to good advice such as housetraining - it's a HUGE issue for most people and many rescue groups simply do not provide enough advice and support to ensure that the dog adopted from them is not going to get stuck outside or abused for having accidents. In an ideal world the rescue group would have housetrained the dog before rehoming but it's not always possible if it wasn't in foster care. Agree. One of the recommendations UQ research made, after discovering that most dogs are dumped because they don't live up to expectations, was that pound/shelter authorities offer a first step of providing training/management help. So many issues relating to dogs are not always extremely difficult to 'fix' if owners have guides on what to do... & are willing to put in the effort. It'd be great if there was one dedicated website that specifically provided user-friendly, jargon-free guidelines on things like toilet training, preventing separation anxiety, barking, timidity ... etc etc etc. Easily printed out, too. Edited March 7, 2013 by mita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Some great suggestions, I am starting to get a clearer picture of what the website could be... With articles on common issues facing the dog owner, with good links, , hopefully written in a way as to engage people. I will probably do one on toilet training tonight, after reviewing some of the available articles. As the readership picks up, I could have guest writers eg reputable dog trainers, who could write about some common issues. It's really at brainstorming stage at the moment... Edited March 7, 2013 by poochiemama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thank you for your thoughts. I suppose that's why I have asked for opinions on here as to how to make the site most useful rather than just my thoughts. But I think a blog is different from a website in that it does need to be a bit more personal. That is why it would be better that you only write about your personal experience and knowledge. You can include links and references to interesting articles other people have written, crediting those authors for the information. As I said before, it is disingenuous to be writing advice or information for people about something that you have no experience of. You may not want to offend, but it is pretty disrespectful. It's fakery. You could ask yourself the question - Why should people seek your advice on rescue and not the advice of somebody that is experienced in rescue? There is a lot of information that rescuers might want out in the public eye. But you aren't really in a position to be writing that information yourself. You have never had much to do with rescuing at all, so your perspective is very limited. The blog is limited in its usefulness for that reason. Hearing about how messy your dog is would put me right off rescuing a dog. You really paint a dismal picture there that wouldn't be compatible with a lot of people's lifestyles. The rescue experience is so different from that for many people. Why not do interviews with rescuers, see what message they want to put across, see what articles they recommend people read and provide links to those articles? Or as I suggested before, join a rescue group and blog about your personal journey of learning more about rescue. I think this would be the way you could get best use out of the blog. Otherwise if its important that the blog have a personal tone, you could just make a blog about you, your pet, and how much you like writing, leaving rescue out of it, because this is your current personal experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi greytmate. I think I've been pretty clear that I am linking to articles and that I plan for rescuers to contribute their experiences to the website. I think you have been quite personal in your comments eg calling it fakery. I have been very respectful towards you and others, but I feel you are turning it into a personal attack. As I said, I respect your expertise and opinions which is why I came here in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimax Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi greytmate. I think I've been pretty clear that I am linking to articles and that I plan for rescuers to contribute their experiences to the website. I think you have been quite personal in your comments eg calling it fakery. I have been very respectful towards you and others, but I feel you are turning it into a personal attack. As I said, I respect your expertise and opinions which is why I came here in the first place. It's not an attack, it's a fact. Would you go to a podiatrist if you had a brain tumor? Probably not, as they don't have the experience. You'd go to someone who did have experience. I think wanting to promote rescue or be involved in rescue is great. Have you thought about getting some hands on experience so you can write with first hand knowledge and experience? Or helping out rescues in helpful ways like volunteering your time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi greytmate. I think I've been pretty clear that I am linking to articles and that I plan for rescuers to contribute their experiences to the website. I think you have been quite personal in your comments eg calling it fakery. I have been very respectful towards you and others, but I feel you are turning it into a personal attack. As I said, I respect your expertise and opinions which is why I came here in the first place. It's not an attack, it's a fact. Would you go to a podiatrist if you had a brain tumor? Probably not, as they don't have the experience. You'd go to someone who did have experience. I think wanting to promote rescue or be involved in rescue is great. Have you thought about getting some hands on experience so you can write with first hand knowledge and experience? Or helping out rescues in helpful ways like volunteering your time? Yes, this is what I mean. Unless you have a background in something it's disingenuous to be writing advice for others. Using polite language is a different thing to being respectful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic.B Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi greytmate. I think I've been pretty clear that I am linking to articles and that I plan for rescuers to contribute their experiences to the website. I think you have been quite personal in your comments eg calling it fakery. I have been very respectful towards you and others, but I feel you are turning it into a personal attack. As I said, I respect your expertise and opinions which is why I came here in the first place. Poochiemama I agree you have been very respectful and open minded which is great :) Greytmate has offered some fantastic advice and has a lot of experience, it is not personal at all. There is so much valuable information and education you can offer. Personal rescue stories are also great. "To be expected" settling in behaviour is always very worthwhile. Promoting puppy school, obedience training, socialisation and offering basic training tips, stimulation ideas etc is also worthwhile. One thing that stood out for me was a comment in which you say if you get a puppy forget dinner dates etc. That frustrated me as there are endless options such as crate training, getting a friend to mind the puppy or dinner order in. Sorry have only looked once at your site, so if I have got it wrong appologies in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thanks NicB. I will be including stuff on crate training etc with time. Like you say, there is so much scope. I have asked advice on what sort of things you would like to see and have received some great advice. I do think comments like 'your messy dog' and 'faker' are offensive and unhelpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I'd consider adding solutions to 'the bad' and' the ugly' as there certainly are some good solutions to what is mentioned there. I do agree with Nic B's thoughts too with regards to identifying the market you wish to target and providing quality information. Are you going to write information for articles yourself or get others to do it for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Thanks Cosmolo and NicB . I think you are right in that 'the bad' and the ugly does not make it clear that there are good solutions to the issues (which of course there are). I will make this clearer and hopefully in future I can write about how some of those challenges can be met. Will be writing myself but like I said, any contributions are welcome and I will provide abundant links so it's not just my opinion. Edited March 7, 2013 by poochiemama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochiemama Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Just to add...I think there's some misunderstanding that i'm proclaiming to be an expert on dog rescue. Not at all and I don't claim that anywhere on the site. I'm writing as a lay person, who is finding out information from the various sources available. What I've written about were my own personal challenges when my dogs were growing up. I have just written a post about a book that I found very moving - my own personal reflections on that book along with links to more expert information about puppy mills etc. So it's really my personal reflections and pointing people to where they can find the advice. I hope that makes sense. I think cosmolo and nicB, your question about who the 'target' audience is , is very important and I'll give some thought to that. I have taken your advice on board and updated my 'so you want a dog' page to reflect that there are some solutions to the common problems that I listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic.B Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I'd consider adding solutions to 'the bad' and' the ugly' as there certainly are some good solutions to what is mentioned there. I do agree with Nic B's thoughts too with regards to identifying the market you wish to target and providing quality information. Are you going to write information for articles yourself or get others to do it for you? Yes :) To be honest I don't like I dont like the idea of good, bad and ugly Getting a new family member is a valuable and worthwhile experience which can be shared. I would prefer to read about the many benefits of dog ownership and to be expected and normal development. You could not get anyone better for advice than Cosmollo by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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