Boy! Was I ever cute, huh?
This is my first installment of Dog Blog Love, focusing on one dog blog that I really dig.
Tales and Tails shares stories and photos of a four-dog family with three Greyhounds and one Shepherd. If you don’t yet think that dogs are hilarious, quirky, messy and entertaining, then you need to check out Carrie and Bunny’s blog. You may remember Bunny from this post. But let’s get to know Carrie a little bit better, shall we?
What motivated you to start blogging?
I had been doing quite a bit of creative writing at the time, and I lost my first Greyhound, Treat, after a short illness. After she’d passed away, I realized we’d told so many funny stories about her, but they were all on various message boards, and some were defunct. I was a big fan of Life With Dogs, and a friend had recently been urging me to start blogging as a writing outlet. Anyway, after Treat died, I was heartbroken, and even with three other Greyhounds here, I felt something was missing. I wanted to keep doing some of the things I’d done with Treat, like nursing home visits and meet and greets. Two of our hounds were seniors and the third was really my husband’s girl. So, we took the plunge and went back to the adoption kennel to look. I thought I’d get a nice three to four year old hound who could be active, but came home with an eighteen month old puppy named Bunny instead. I realized that I didn’t want to miss or forget any of her funny stories and I wanted to keep them all in one place. So, the blog was started within that first year of bringing her home. I wanted to chronicle all of our lives in a humorous way, but having her here definitely provided the impetus I needed to get started.
What motivates you to keep blogging?
The dogs are always doing something fun, or I have something I want to say. For me, it’s really a wonderful creative outlet. I also enjoy being a part of the blogging community.
When did you adopt/rescue your first dog?
As an adult, our first dog was an adopted Greyhound named Treat. She was perfect for us in every way. We brought her home on December 30, 2000.
Please give us a little bio about each of the dogs in your current family.
Lilac is our old lady Greyhound who just turned fifteen. If she were human, she’d be Mae West. She’s bold, sassy, shameless and a total lovebug. You absolutely can’t be mad at her, no matter what she does. She’s a talented thief and still steals things on occasion if the fancy strikes her. She also enjoys waking us up half an hour before the alarm goes off, or just anytime she feels we should all be up. Any of our other dogs would hang their head in shame at just the thought of being caught in a misdeed, but Lilac will look you right in the eye and give you a grin.
Blueberry is Lilac’s daughter, an eight and a half year old blue brindle Greyhound. She’s the supermodel of our group, a rather large hound for a female. She’s beautiful and has only one vice, baked goods. She’s very sweet and unassuming, unless you’re trying to go for a walk without her. Then she’s stuck to you like glue and knows exactly how to get you to take her along.
Bunny is the youngest of our Greyhounds, a tiny three-year-old blue fawn. She’s a social butterfly and loves to be on the go with us. She goes on all kinds of adventures with us and never seems to be phased by it. She’s funny and knows that her cuteness is irresistible. She also doesn’t hold back on letting her feelings be known. I am always very proud of her when we go out in public, because she is always so well-behaved. She’s gone to nursing homes, visited PreK classes with me, goes out hiking and takes it all in stride. People can’t seem to help being drawn to her and she loves the attention.
Morgan is our latest addition, a twenty two month old German Shepherd puppy. My husband has always wanted to have a Shepherd and when the opportunity presented itself, we went and got her. She wasn’t in an adoption group, but the family who had her couldn’t keep her anymore. We’ve only had her since the end of June, so we’re all still getting to know things about each other. She is a very typical GSD. As long as we all stay together and nobody walks past the house, all is good in Morgan’s world. She goes hiking with us on a regular basis and it’s been really good for her. She’s gaining confidence all the time and she is very devoted to all of us.
Please describe your on-line community.
Most of our readers are other dog blog writers or fans of Greyhounds or dogs in general. We’ve been very lucky to have some wonderful friends we’ve made through the blog. I recently had the experience of meeting someone at our reunion picnic who reads the blog and was really excited to meet the girls after reading so much about them. That was sort of surreal and fun at the same time!
Have you participated in social media?
We have a Facebook fan page, and we have a YouTube channel. That’s really all I can manage to keep up with at the moment.
If yes, what do you enjoy about it?
I love the sense of community and the feedback we get. It gives me a good idea about which things I write about are things that people relate to and which things aren’t so great. I also just love talking to people and connecting to others who have similar interests!
Anything you don’t like about it?
No, my experience has been very positive!
What is your favorite thing about blogging?
The idea that other people have actually read what I wrote, and hopefully that I’ve entertained them. I also really enjoy reading the blogs of the people who follow us. I love that sense of connectedness I feel when sharing our stories with others who understand.
Have you written anything else that you’d like to share?
On occasion, I write for Celebrating Greyhounds Magazine. Actually, I have an article about blogging that should be appearing there in either the Winter or Spring issue. I also dabble in poetry and fiction writing, but I haven’t pursued publishing those. I just do it for fun!
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Lots of brains and beauty at work to create such a great blog. I’m sure Bunny may think that she is the driving force behind it, but it takes a village. Carrie and her village of one husband and four dogs build a fun place to hang out.
