Companion Animal Psychology Turns 14 Today
I'm celebrating 14 years of writing (and podcasting) about how to help our dogs and cats have better lives.
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| Photo composite: Chendongshan and Oleksandr Kostiuchencko, both Shutterstock/Zazie Todd |
It's exactly 14 years since I started writing Companion Animal Psychology blog. I remember thinking that I would give it a try for a few months and see how it went. And somehow, here I still am!
I'm still here because this stuff matters, not just to dogs and cats, but also to their people. As I've said many times over the years, when you know what your pet needs and provide it for them, they will be happier and less likely to have behaviour issues--and you will be happier too, because what's nicer than having a happy and contented pet?!
Perhaps the biggest change over the past year is that the podcast now has a new episode every two weeks, instead of once a month. It's obviously more work, but Kristi and I enjoy our conversations with each other and with our guests. And listeners seem to like it too, as the podcast is going from strength to strength. We even tried something different with our holiday episode, which was a lot of fun to put together.
It was a big year for my book, Bark!, too, with it winning a Maxwell Medallion and the McFarland Best Book Award in the Dog Writers Association of America competition. I'm so thrilled and honoured! As well, somehow, Bark! has been making multiple cameo appearances on Coronation Street--something you couldn't dream into existence even if you wanted to. Amazing!
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| One of Bark!'s many appearances on Coronation Street |
There have been some hard decisions too. A while back I decided to put adverts on the blog to help to cover the costs of running it. I don't like it, but as with everything else, the costs of hosting etc. have gone up while affiliate income has gone down substantially. Anyone who doesn't like it is of course welcome to use an ad blocker. And then there was the issue with Meta's AI wrongly banning me (and many others); thankfully that eventually got resolved.
The other reason I'm still here, of course, is because this stuff matters to you, too. I'm so grateful for the community of people that has built up around this blog, and for all the emails and messages I get whenever I publish a new post or when people have questions. I love to hear from you.
I'm excited about some things that are coming up later this year that I will be able to share with you soon.
I'd like to say a special thank you to Kristi for being such an excellent Special Correspondent to Companion Animal Psychology and for being such a fun co-host on the podcast.
And I'd also like to say a special thank you to everyone who has supported the blog over the past year. I couldn't have done it without you.
If you’d like to support my work, you can become a member or founding member of Companion Animal Psychology.
Or if you prefer, you can buy me a coffee.
Thank you, all, and Happy 14th Anniversary!
