Sitemap - 2023 - Paws and Reflect
A Paws and Reflection for the new year
Our favorite dog-safe cleaning products living in a van
Our favorite dog grooming products
21: Dog Nerd Tries to Counter Condition Her Own Eye Drops
What biological fulfillment is and why it matters for pet dogs
Why I’d rather have an overconfident than fearful dog
Making sense of my dog’s nuanced, conflicting body language
20: Visiting Family With Our Dog: Logistics, Advocacy, Emotional Processing
An open letter to the owner of a friendly off-leash dog
19: Ego as a Dog Owner: Why I've Struggled, How It's Impacted Our Training, and Where We Are Today
Key concepts that have helped me grow as a dog owner
Why I’m risk averse with family dog-dog interactions
Should we compare domestic dogs to wild animals?
Adopt or shop responsibly: Breeding, rescue, and my evolution
An open letter to businesses with roaming “shop dogs”
What level of command precision is “good enough” for my dog?
Visiting New York City in our converted van, with our dog
An ode to big city dogs (and their people)
How we (and our dog) get quality sleep in our van
Viral “on-leash adventure dogs” thoughts & nuance
Is everything I write about nonsense?
How I decide whether to let my dog off leash
Why we love having a shower in our converted van
How we keep our dog happy on long driving days
I don’t think “everyone should have a dog” actually
What does it mean to be “outdoorsy”?
Safety and temperature control in our converted campervan
Responses to common muzzle training concerns
What’s turned me off of working with dog training professionals
Medical history template: Tracking my dog’s health
A template to track all our van-life logistics
Reading tracker spreadsheet template
Living in a van makes it harder to care for my dog
Living in a van makes it easier to care for my dog
Hills I will die on as a dog owner
In my perfect world… Dog ownership fantasies
Chicken soup for the dog lover’s soul
Cues and commands, oh my: Non negotiables in my dog training
Feeling misunderstood: Assumptions in online communities
I’ve been alive for 26 years! Time again to reflect
How we find and enjoy public land with our dog
Five months in: What I wish I knew about living in a van
Our visit to Denali National Park’s sled dog kennel
A running list of books I recommend to dog owners
My “head-heart thing” as a dog owner
What does it mean to be friendly?
Van dog skills: What enables our dog to thrive on the road
Why I push for nuance in the online dog community
Two things can be true at once: I love… and sometimes resent… my dog
The worst moments in my dog ownership, a “tell all”
Van life with Scout: May 2023 recap
Balance: Being respectful of others without “living in fear”
Staying in campgrounds with a sensitive, “reactive” dog
“Pet all the dogs” should not be a life goal
Our van’s lithium ion batteries exploded
What I’d like you to know about my sensitive dog
To my first dog, I owe you an apology
Reflecting on my cattle dog’s evolving human sociability
Are public dog parks great? Are public dog parks awful?
Our cattle dog’s favorite types of meal enrichment
My personal dog ownership pledge
My dog does not have dog friends
Thoughts on using “owner” to describe who we are to our dogs
Expecting reality does not mean accepting it
How on earth do we find dog trainers we can trust?
Full circle as a dog lover (I’m a starry-eyed kid again?)
Ways invisible illness impacts dog ownership
Our dog’s biggest struggles with full-time van life
Thoughts on the AKC Canine Good Citizen title
17: Fulfillment Deep Dive: How We Think About Fulfilling Our Dog (and Ourselves)
What I value most in a dog-owner relationship
Dog buttons: Thoughts on How Stella Learned to Talk
How we named our converted van, Hermes
Dog supplies we’ve packed for full-time van life
Managing my timid cattle dog around my baby niece
Our van life timeline: How long we’ve been planning
An open letter to the overwhelmed new dog owner
Key ways my domestic dog is not a wolf
Successfully driving 24+ hours straight with our dog