Q: Why do some dogs freak out when you go to pat them on the head?

A: Moving toward a dog quickly and reaching over the top of a dog’s head can feel threatening. Just like humans, some dogs are born less affectionate, not touchy-feely, and don’t like having their personal space invaded. We unfairly put pressure on our dogs to accept everything we throw at them. It’s important to know your dog’s individuality. If your pet doesn’t enjoy being picked up, snuggled, or hugged, respect those feelings. Some dogs will shun touch because of past unpleasant experiences. Dog owners who constantly pick the dog up, grab their collar, discipline their dog physically by hitting them or approach too quickly or in a threatening way are programming that dog to lose trust in hands. Dogs don’t understand our emotional reasons for doing things. Even well meaning owners who attempt to interact in a loving, affectionate way can cause a freak out. Some approaches feel overbearing from the dog’s perspective. Think about relatives who grab you too fast and hug too hard. It feels overwhelming and you hate it, right?

Q: Why do dogs look like they feel guilty when they misbehaved?

A: What we interpret as a guilty look can be a display of submission, a dog’s way of saying, “I understand that you’re not happy right now.” Signs of submission include tail down, ears down, head down, or body low to the ground or rolling onto their back to expose the belly. This type of dog body language does not mean the dog feels guilty. Many dog owners say, “My dog knows when he did something wrong.” The reality is, if you walk into a room and your favorite shoes are lying in the middle of the floor chewed to bits, and you shout, “FIDO, WHAT DID YOU DO?!” your dog may slink away and retreat to a safe place but not because he knows what you’re unhappy about. Only if you’ve caught your dog in the act of an unwanted behavior will your body language and stern tone be associated with the canine-misdemeanor taking place at that moment.

Q: Why is it so difficult to train dogs not to bark or pull on their leash?

A: Confusion is the biggest underlying factor where problem behavior is concerned. Don’t assume a dog should know how to walk on a leash. You have to teach the dog what you want. Dog owners complain, “My dog won’t come when I call him.” How much time has been spent teaching what the word “come” means? To raise a happy, well-behaved dog, owners need to commit time to teaching. Another issue that can get in the way is not providing leadership. Dogs who perceive themselves as the boss may pull on the leash or bark. Exercise is very important, too. If a dog is not physically and mentally stimulated they can suffer from boredom or anxiety and problem behavior will ensue.

Q: Does a dog have to be extremely intelligent to learn complicated tricks?

A: Some of the smartest dogs I’ve met were accused of being stupid, stubborn, or deaf. They weren’t. They were confused by their owners’ unclear communications.

Q: How can a dog be taught not to eat food off the street?

A: Take time to teach the command, “Leave It.” Begin instruction inside the house where’s there’s less distraction. That will make it easier for your dog to learn. Use less tempting items at first. Get your dog to understand that looking to you when he hears “Leave It” will get him a higher-value reward, like a piece of cheese or meat, and lots of praise. Incrementally move to more distracting environments and use more tempting items to test your dog. Don’t expect your dog to learn if you haven’t worked toward creating this habit. Also make sure your dog is getting the nutrition he needs daily. If your dog isn’t starving for nutrition he’s less likely to scavenge for food on the street.

Q: My dog swallowed pieces of toys a few times but never made a connection between that and the intestinal surgeries. Why?

A: Dog behavior is determined by immediate outcome. It makes sense to us that the dog shouldn’t want to re-live an unpleasant operation but the dog doesn’t make a connection between the two events. That’s human thinking. The dog thinks, “I like swallowing chewed pieces of toys because they smell good and make me feel full.”

You can contact Greg Kleva on Twitter and via Email.

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Take Your Dog for a Long Walk in the Mornings

Your dog won’t be happy with the diminished time they get to spend with you due to your business commitments so it’s important you make sure you take your dog for a long walk at least once per day, even if that means you have to get up an hour earlier in the morning. There is no good to come of letting your dog out in the garden and then expecting another family member to take the dog out for a walk during the day when you could be getting up earlier to do it instead. Deep down, your dog will wonder why they don’t get to see you as much, but as long as they get to spend at least a little time with you per day, that’s is all that matters.

Make the Most of Your Weekends Off

When running a business, it’s hard to have any time off at all, but any time you do get off should be spent with the family and that includes your dog. Whether you go on a day trip somewhere or even just for a walk around the park, try to get your dog involved as much as possible so they don’t feel left out. Even if you are running a successful business that takes up most of your time, it’s always important to make time for your loved ones and that includes your dog.

Buy Your Dog Regular Treats

This doesn’t necessarily mean buy your dog any treats related to food. Instead, buying a new chew toy once every couple of months, and a small treat every week or so, could be the difference between your dog knowing you care and thinking you don’t.

You may well have achieved an online MBA degree via one of the many online MBA programs to give you the business administration experience required to succeed in running your own company, but none of that will matter if you do not spend some time with your loved ones once in a while. Your dog might be a dog, but it doesn’t mean that they do not understand what is going on around them.  So please keep these tips in mind to keep your beloved dog a priority.

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The Latest Social Media Tricks: What Works, What’s a Turnoff

Our panel of editors and social media experts will teach you what works and what doesn’t. There’s never enough time in a writer’s life. It can be overwhelming without tips and tricks for efficiency. Don’t waste valuable hours. We’ll cover ways to maximize your efforts with titles, tags, topics, keywords, SEO, naming images and how Google rankings work. Editors will tell you how and what to pitch.
HERE’S HOW TO REGISTER FOR #ASJA2016
Here are my as-of-now confirmed speakers for my Sat, May 21, 2-3:30pm panel at the #ASJA2016 annual conference:

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6 Unique Valentine’s Day Gifts

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Okay, so you’re never going to get a text like that from your doctor. If you do, run and find a new doc.

But smart healthcare providers are catching on to interacting with their patients via smartphones (sans emoticons).

Modern medicine is just beginning to catch up to tech and figure out how SMS can be another tool to help patients. While the healthcare industry must adhere to additional electronic privacy rules along with standard anti-spam and proper marketing regulations that everyone else must follow, providers and their staff can still find smart ways to utilize texting.

Examples

• Appointment reminders. Instead of a card in the mail or a courtesy phone call, your provider’s office can send texts confirming an upcoming visit, or an automated text once a year for a check-up. Texts to doctors can also help them remember their own appointments.
• Seeking Advice. As long as the patient’s identity is protected, doctors can seek advice from other peers or specialists. Physician A’s texts can also get right through to Physician B, rather than going through the phone system and leaving a message, or sending an email that may get lost among the hundreds of others that doctors typically receive.
• Better adherence. A British study showed that patients who had regular text reminders from their providers were less likely to forget to take their medication or the wrong quantity. A group of 303 patients being treated for heart or blood pressure problems were divided into groups that received SMS notifications versus another group that didn’t. The texts were sent daily for the first two weeks, then every other day for two weeks, then weekly for five months. The study found that 25 percent of the “non-text” group didn’t complete the prescription, compared to 9 percent of the “text” group. This type of active texting could potentially lead to better prescription management — such as less waste, and better outcomes, i.e., if a patient doesn’t comply with a prescription or a recommended medical plan, they’ll increase the odds of suffering future problems like heart attacks.
• Better interaction with pharmacies. If a pharmacy has “just a little question for the doctor” it might take hours for the provider to receive a phone message but a quick text can lead to quick communication and a fast response.
• Provide accurate information. Doctors often discourage patients from research their problems online research and self diagnosing. So much of the information available on the Internet is questionable, wrong, and even dangerous. A study in the Journal of Medical internet Research showed that patients and doctors are both aware of some of the credibility concerns of certain sites, and suggests that improved communication between patient and provider can reduce anxiety and confusion. An SMS environment may not prove the best place to debate pros and cons of technical studies but a doctor or doctor’s office can text a patient reliable web links to accurate information — including the doctor’s website — and invite the patient to make an appointment for further discussion.
• Quick interactions. Many doctors and nurses would love nothing better than to spend more time with every patient but the reality of the current industry is that giving extra time for one patient means less time or delays for the next patient. Texting is a time-efficient way for a doctor and doctor’s staff to provide quick answers to patients with basic questions that may not necessitate an appointment.

Bottom Line

Texting can be a useful tool for physicians to communicate accurate information, maximize time management and improve patient relations.

Guest post by Sophorn Chhay, an inbound marketer specializing in attracting targeted visitors and generated sales qualified leads. Through Trumpia’s SMS and marketing automation solution he helps businesses and organizations communicate effectively with their customers or members. Trumpia is offering a free Mobile Marketing Success Kit so don’t forget to grab your free copy.

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UPublishU at BEA Conference • 5/30 at 1:30pm

“Connecting to Readers—With Social Media”

Tools & Marketing Mania
Time 1:30pm-2:20pm
Room 1E08

So many readers, so little time to make the right connection. For authors with busy schedules, and always working on the next book, it is important to find ways to connect with your loyal readers and engage with new readers. Join this panel of industry professionals as they share opportunities and tools that will help you stay productive and reach readers. Learn how to use Hootsuite to connect your readers all while making your writing life easier. Get insight into new ways to find and share content that can raise awareness about your book and engage in direct promotion. Learn how to schedule posts, manage your writing announcements, monitor your mentions, and engage your readers. Get insight on specific steps authors can (and should) take to expand their profile, their brand, and their platform with unique social sharing strategies.

Moderator:
Susannah Greenberg, President, Susannah Greenberg Public Relations
Speakers:
Denise Alicea, Book Blogger and Professional Freelancer
Daniel Langston, Co-founder and the Chief Sales Officer for BookGrabbr
Dorri Olds, Award-winning Writer and Webmaster

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My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Buddy, is a very healthy boy. The only physical problems he’s had in his 10 years have been of his own making: swallowing parts of toys, snatching and gulping down food off the Manhattan streets faster than I could stop him. The bacteria in old food has sent us to the vet a few times. Now I’m much more careful. Each trip to the vet was terrifying and, as you probably know, it’s a helluva lot of money.

The sole digestive problem my hairy little son had is messy poops. The vet said it wasn’t anything to worry about so I didn’t. Then I met Kevyn Matthews, The Dog Chef.

During our first conversation I joked with Kevyn that Buddy has promised me he will never die. But, seriously, I’m scared now that Buddy has reached double digits. Kevyn picked up on my fear and said if I wanted my dog to live longer I should feed him a raw food diet. My first concern was food poisoning, like salmonella, but Kevyn reassured me that his plan includes probiotics to fight off any potential infection.

That’s all I had to hear to give it a try.

What Kevyn said made sense. Wild dogs ate raw meat and vegetables. I looked up the world’s first dog and that was 31,700 years ago. There have been many pooches since then and they’ve been around long before packaged dog food, riddled with fillers and preservatives, hit the shelves.

Convenience dog foods became all the rage in America in the mid to late 40’s. Huge bags of dry dog food became increasingly popular the same time the first McDonald’s popped up in 1948. That was long before what our nation now knows about nutrition.

“Packaged dog food contains wheat, rice, soy, or corn,” Kevyn said. “That’s not what dogs would be eating in the wild. Dog owners figure if the kibble comes from a big bag and a big company, it must be good. Most people don’t know if they’re feeding the dog healthy food or not because they don’t read what’s in it. Dog food was created for convenience to humans, not what’s best for a dog.”

A few months have passed since I switched Buddy to Kevyn’s raw food diet and, glory hallelujah, Bud’s poops have been solid and easy-breezy to clean up. I’ve also noticed Bud’s breath is sweeter and his coat is softer, silkier, and shinier.

The average American pet eats food processed at high temperatures and filled with preservatives to extend its shelf life. The heat kills naturally occurring enzymes that exist in raw foods. Enzymes are tiny protein molecules found in every living cell. They are the “workers” that provide energy, metabolize foods, and help remove toxins. Heat, pesticides, herbicides, food preservatives, additives, artificial colorings, and flavor enhancers destroy enzymes.

There are two key categories of enzymes:

Metabolic

To maintain every cell, tissue and organ.

Digestive

To work in the stomach and intestines to break down food.

• Amylase aids in digesting carbohydrates and starches
• Cellulase breaks down fiber
• Lipase aids in digesting fat
• Protease works at digesting protein

When your pet eats heated and processed “dead” food without enzymes, their system will kick into survival mode to digest food. This means borrowing digestive enzymes from their metabolic enzymes. When that happens, your pet’s body is in overdrive and only able to partially digest food. Whatever isn’t digested can enter the bloodstream.

Kevyn said, “Inside your dog is an entire ecosystem that was designed to eat and digest foods in a certain way. Commercially cooked dry food with chemical preservatives is not what a dog’s system needs. By feeding a dog these foods we are changing their system from the genetic blueprint and making it work much harder. Fresh food takes your dog 6 hours to process; cooked foods take 12 hours or more to digest with some of it left sitting and rotting in the intestinal track. Stagnant food causes digestion issues and inflammation, which can lead to liver, kidney and pancreatic diseases, and cancer. When toxins aren’t processed and they spill out into the bloodstream, that can create serious health problems.”

“Obesity,” said Kevyn, “is increasing in this country and so are diabetes, cancer, and a host of other diseases. We have to stop and think about what we feed our animals. They need protein rich, enzyme rich, raw meat and raw vegetables.”

When fed grains, a dog’s pancreas have to produce large amounts of amylase to deal with starch and carbohydrates. Dogs were never built to digest grains, yet dog foods are filled with them.

Another reason I’ve switched to The Dog Chef’s raw food diet is the new knowledge that as my little Buddy ages, his body will produce fewer enzymes. If he doesn’t have enough his system will become taxed and age faster. I want my little four-legged fella by my side for another 10 years at least. I’m feeling hopeful since I switched to The Dog Chef’s raw food plan.

The oldest dog on record lived until the age of 29. Hey, you never know.

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Strong, Bold Statements

Be concise. Avoid including detailed paragraphs of text, or images that are too intricate to decipher at a second’s glance. When your audience turns their attention to your presentation, you want them to get the takeaway point immediately, with the spoken part of your presentation building on the projection you have prepared. Go for strong, bold statements that outline the crux of your message, and take care to present in a font that is suitably sized and colored. People need to be able to read and digest your core message as quickly as possible, without having to struggle to make out your text, so it is best to keep to statements that are easy to read and understand.

Professional, Clean Theme

A professional, clean theme can work wonders for your pitch, displaying the core information behind your presentation in a stylish but professional way. This is in contrast to cluttered themes, or visuals which detract or distract from the main thrust of the points you are presenting, and can quickly undermine an otherwise valuable, meaningful pitch. Don’t go too out of the box, unless you know that’s what your audience is expecting, and avoid garish colors and styling features – they won’t do the focus of your presentation any good.

High Quality Projection

No good visual presentation is complete without a high quality video projector. A high quality video projection system will ensure your visuals are carried through your presentation in the highest possible resolution, making slides easier to follow and helping underline the professionalism in your presentation and your wider businesses. We all know first impressions count, and a shaky or low-res projection system will do you no favors on this front.

Those who deliver presentations on a regular basis, or employers who require presentations as part of their organizational information flow, need to think seriously about the optimum projection system for their needs. Without the right hardware, your job of pitching convincingly will prove much harder. But with the right technical setup, your presentations will convey your message with more meaning, for a memorable, professional presentation.

For more tips don’t miss:
American Society of Journalists & Authors Annual Conference
April 30–May 2, 2015 • Roosevelt Hotel

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“Be Seen! Stand Out Online in the Most Time-Efficient & Cost-Effective Way”

If you’re feeling there’s never enough time to update your website and keep up with social media, blogging and marketing, this panel is for you. In this session Dorri Olds and panelists will teach you how to use your time efficiently to get the best results. You will be given tips and tricks based on hard-won experience including the best tools to use for your specific goals and how to get noticed online amidst worldwide competition. Learn to improve your website, blogs, and social media accounts. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube all have their own language and audiences. The model for journalists has changed. Everything we learned about not repeating words and using creative ways to say things doesn’t apply to blogging and social media and website content. Not if you want to be found. You need to blog with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind and make the most of using tags. Everything you write should be in your voice, but with a focus on keywords.
“Join 650 writers, editors, publishers and agents at North America’s premier conference for freelance writers and book authors! This year’s focus is the most important item in your writer’s toolkit: YOU. You’re the key to your success as an independent writer, and we’re here to help you boost your strengths, publicize your talents and turn your own personal stories into gold. You’ll hobnob with agents who are looking for the next bestseller and editors who are eager to buy stories. You’ll hear from the best in the business on topics like storytelling, custom content, self-publishing and negotiating. And you’ll learn the latest about protecting yourself from invasions of your privacy and your rights.”

Click here to learn more.

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