dogs – INGRID E FABER

Wolf Camp (Book Review)

Posted on May 21, 2020 by iefaber

by Andrea Zuill
Humor – Picture Book

My Synopsis:
Homer the dog gets an invitation to go to Wolf Camp for a week and he absolutely MUST go!

Why I Picked This Book:
I was watching Julie Hedlund‘s mini-lessons that she was offering to 12×12 members. (I highly recommend all of her lessons if you’re new to writing picture books.) She talked about this book briefly while teaching, and I quickly wrote it down knowing it was one I had to own.

What Was Disappointing:
Absolutely nothing. Which is saying a lot since my expectations were pretty high.

Why I Kept Reading:
Ok so maybe this format I use for book reviews doesn’t really fit for Picture Books. But there are picture books that although I finish, it’s only because I know the end is near, not necessarily because I’m intrigued and need to find out what happens. With this book, I was simply enjoying every page, every page turn, every image, and every word.

Take Away:
This book is certainly a great example of humourous Picture Books, but even more. It has fantastic scene changes, great page turns, and super fun illustrations. The reason Julie used it as an example was to discuss character changes and arcs. The goal of wanting to be a wolf and how he feels about being a wolf at the end are just fantastic.

Final Thoughts:
As a dog trainer and groomer some dog stories make me cringe. I don’t see the humor in most dog books because I tend to take things too seriously. I see issues with some dog behavior and worry owners will think it’s acceptable or even cute. I know picture books are harmless but being submerged in dog behavior and how they learn, I cannot help how I feel. This book however is perfection. I won’t dive into my theories of dogs being dogs or the methodology of the team I work with, but I will say this book could almost be an advertisement for one of our programs: Farm Dog. So kudos to Andrea Zuill for making me laugh and smile and fall in love with this book. If I’ve reread it as many times as I have, kids will certainly enjoy this one over and over again.

Post-Script:
I hope Pixie and Rex stay in touch with Homer.

Dog Stuff

“What can I do about my dog’s breath?”

Posted on October 5, 2019May 9, 2022 by iefaber

(See below for actual answer – I ramble first)

Oh blogging world. I have yet to be dedicated or have an actual theme. I haven’t had time to read most of the blogs I follow let alone write one myself. I’d probably care more if anyone else cared, but I don’t believe anyone does.

Do you?

Hello?

That’s right, no one is reading this and that’s ok. It’ll be here when someone wants to. That’s how blogs work; tons of random thoughts, opinions, ideas posted to the interwebs for anyone to read, or everyone to ignore.

I’m ok with this. I need writing practice that’s not for Picture Books. It feels like ages since I’ve written anything other than Picture Books. And if you don’t know – it’s hard!!

So here’s the deal. I groom dogs. I train dogs. I live, eat & breath dogs. No I don’t. That’s gross. But I do breath a lot of dog hair, that is true and it is gross. Just lots of dogs in my line of work.
To that end, I have had multiple questions about dog breath and teeth care recently and my answer is always the same so I thought I’d share my product review here for anyone who passes out when their dog breaths on them.

START HERE FOR ACTUAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCT.

OXYFRESH

I found this product about 19 years ago when I had my first dog, Indiana Jones. (“I named the dog Indiana.”) It wasn’t that I couldn’t brush her teeth, she was amazing and loved to be groomed. She was a Staffordshire Terrier who came to work and we’d sometimes have to put her on the grooming table and pretend to give her a haircut so she wouldn’t feel left out. What’s my point? I used this product because it worked, not because I couldn’t do better with brushing.
Vets used to commend me on brushing Indiana’s teeth because they always looked so great. (Psst- I stopped brushing regularly once I saw how great this product worked – jokes on them)

Fast forward to my current dog. I stop buying Oxyfresh because it used to be exclusive to pet professionals and I had left the business for a while. New dog Scarlett Grey had missing teeth (malnutrition as a pup before I had her) and some plaque that vets ALWAYS point out to me. Oh, the shame. I started brushing her teeth. She too loved it. But then one day I realized her breath stunk anyway. Just a little, but enough that I didn’t like it.

Then I find that Oxyfresh has been rebranded and readily available on Amazon (yes I shop from the devil) and we’ve been good ever since. I still brush her teeth, absolutely recommend it if you can! But this certainly helps out in between.

PRODUCT USE:

It says to add a capful per/liter of water. I have a gallon of water I keep in the fridge for Scarlett. I do the math, add the Oxyfresh, and keep her water bowl filled with this special water. Without it, (ie – on vacation ) she’ll have stink breath in about 5-7 days. Which I can remedy in about 2 days by giving her the good water.

The vets stopped telling me her teeth needed to be brushed. I still brush her teeth cause she loves it. She loves all attention from me actually. Even when I squish her head with hugs.

So that’s my blog post – a product review of Oxyfresh from someone who has worked with dogs for over 27 years and has used it on my own two dogs with satisfaction. I have nothing to do with Oxyfresh or Amazon. I’m just a girl and her dog. Take it or leave it. That’s my answer to your question.

Happy Blogging.

On Writing

NO DOGS PLEASE (says the dog lover)

Posted on June 22, 2019May 9, 2022 by iefaber

Earlier this month I went to the Rutgers Writing Conference. It was a fantastic experience and I came home with plenty of inspiration and advice. One thing that came up during a conversation about author bios and what to put in there, I was told that including my day jobs was ok because they are “interesting”. I was also told that I should be writing about dogs because I am a dog groomer and dog trainer. They said I “must have tons of stories about dogs”. When I mentioned that I feel the children’s book market is already saturated with dog stories and no one wants another, everyone seemed to disagree. The real problem, however, is that I write to escape dogs. Continue reading “NO DOGS PLEASE (says the dog lover)” →