The inaugural Oh My Dog Person of the Week! Plus so many good dogs.
I wanted to thank everyone so much who has subscribed, and if you paid, well, I am just so very, very thankful for the support. I haven’t launched a passion project since I started my original blog, and this feels like that.
Hoover thanks you as well, because if it keeps him more comfortably in his gross yak cheese bones (which are actually the most engaging treat I’ve ever had in this house in ten years), he’s good with it. I’m going to continue to strive to bring the goodness here to make it worth your while.
That said, my pal Lizz Porter (of the PewPew Lasercraft Porters), who is one of the most talented and tenacious people I know, has offered me some help with logos and such. I’m a word and picture person, but design and merch elude me, and I need help that I am increasingly learning to ask for.
Others have offered to save me from myself as well—thank you for taking my frenzied dms, Jill Krause and Jessi Sanfilippo—so hopefully things will start sprucing up around here. I am tagging these people because I love them, and also because writing it down in public means I will follow up for sure, instead of spending way too much time playing this meditation game called Prune on my phone and never messaging anyone ever.
Meanwhile, as the great thinker, comic and serious Oh My Dog person Hannah Gadsby is known to say, “Let’s get after it.” (Watch her new Something Special on Netflix, or Nanette, if you haven’t, get her book—it was fantastic on audio—consume whatever you can find by her, if you haven’t. Life-changer.)
The very first Oh My Dog Person of the Week (OMDPOW)!
So the worst thing that this or any publication could possibly become is just me talking all of the time.
So thankfully there is absolutely no reason for that to happen, since I know some of the most truly spectacular people ever to walk the earth. Unlike some despotic politicians, I am not lying. I make it my business to spot rad people out there roaming around, then low-key pop up here and there in shared spaces until we are friends. (But not in a scary way, I swear. Truly I have such a low rejection threshold that if someone appears not to vibe with **flails my hands around at all of this**, I will go to serious lengths to avoid them—not as serious as I might have before intensive, brain-rearranging therapy, like I will no longer walk through the next county to get to my car to avoid them in a parking lot, but some lengths. You’re probably picking up what I’m putting down, because you are very perceptive and smart.
Thanks be to god of metal Ozzy Osbourne that I didn’t have to go to any lengths whatsoever when I met Lisa Rae Page Rosenberg, whom I fondly refer to in my head by her full name at all times. I don’t remember the specific moment when I met Lisa, but then she showed up to save my ass at a conference we were attending by a mall parking lot in Atlanta in 2014, and we have been friends ever since.
Lisa is one of the best people I know, and also a dog person. So it made sense that she would be my first person in this brand new series. The first OMDPOW, if you will. Here we go.
1. How did you first know you were a dog person?
I first knew I was a dog person when I got to pick out a puppy at the pound on my eighth birthday. Chuck was a shepherd mix and the sweet dog of my childhood.
2. Why are dogs the best?
I like cats, but my familiar has always been a dog. They’ve been soul mates.
3. Is there a certain kind of dog you're really into? What's your soul dog?
Labs and lab mixes are my favorites. Goofy and 100% love.
4. Do you have a core dog memory? Something you'll just never forget, or that had a formative impact on you?
There is a story about one of my current dogs, Levi (my lab mix soulmate.) Before we brought him home from a rescue, he was placed as the house dog at an assisted living. He greeted visitors at the door and was free to roam around the first floor and visit with the elders. He was scared of stairs and refused to climb them. One morning, when the day staff came in, they couldn’t find him. They searched the whole first floor and the grounds. He was nowhere. Eventually they looked on the second floor, assuming he wouldn’t be there because of his fear of stairs. He wasn’t there. Finally, they found him on the third floor, laying at the foot of the bed of a woman who had passed during the night.
Levi can also tell if you are sick or injured and can find the place on your body that hurts.
5. What question SHOULD I ask you about dogs? (And why isn't it "if you could be a dog, what kind of dog would you be?" Because I don't love that question.)
There is no better feeling than being greeted at the door by a dog who has missed you so much when you were only gone long enough to get the mail.
Lisa Rosenberg is a writer and filmmaker who lives in Southern California with her husband, Mr Rosenberg, son Bob, and three large-ish dogs, Levi, Teddy, and Martha. Find her on Insta at @smacksy.
Ed. note: “Levi can also tell if you are sick or injured and can find the place on your body that hurts.” I mean, COME ON! I don’t want to brag all the time here, but I’ve met Levi, so I’m pretty sure I have a special veil of protection, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Thank you, Lisa, for being our inaugural OMDPOW, and just for how wonderful life is while you’re in the world. (The dogs, too.)
Dog dopamine hits from around the web:
This is just straight up hilarious, and I don’t know about you, but I have had A WEEK, my friends.
Linda in HR (@lindainhr) is my current Insta dog crush. Linda will write you up. She is not playing around.
You need to watch Justin the service dog get his diploma from Seton Hall University alongside his person, Grace Mariani. I can handle most things in life without chills and crying, but this is not one of them! Congrats to Justin and Grace. Service dogs amaze me, and I’d like to cover more of them here.
The town of Front Royal, Va., honors the dogs of war this weekend, as part of their Memorial Day celebration. And here’s a look back at some of the canines KIA over the years. Dogs are amazing, in so many contexts.
Fact: I am supposed to meditate as part of my anxiety care plan, and I struggle, y’all. I struggle with the thinking of all the thinking things. I wrote once about ways to meditate that aren’t sitting still, and I still find solace in this idea. What I discovered recently in some late-night dog Insta scrolling—a real and powerful thing—is that dog grooming videos scratch that itch for me. Jess Rona Grooming was my gateway, and remains the Insta grooming GOAT for me. Check out Oliver getting a bath. Just look at those faraway shots. Art.
The occasional deal, because I like deals:
The Chewy deal is still live. This link gets you 35% off your first auto-delivery, plus 5% off in the future. It’s totally worth it to me, and perhaps to you. I freaking love Chewy.
We love Bark Box around here, too, and you can get your dog a Bark Box treat for spring, if you’re into it. A double box! Also, if you have a toy-shredder who still likes to play, Bark Super Chewer is the way to go.
Do you Rakuten? I’m new to this site for some bizarre reason, and it’s awesome. Cash back for pet people at Petsmart, Petco, Chewy (omg there they are again), Only Natural Pet, and a ton of other places you might need to buy pet supplies. Join here. It’s really easy and so worth it to me already.
Please get DogTV so we can talk about it (I’m going to so I can review it.)
Finally, this jumpsuit is human-sized, but is straight up the most comfortable thing I own; I have four colors now, and the pockets hold everything I need for dog walks.