Australian leader of the opposition is a dog blogger

Since I started Penny's blog I've found lots of interesting people who like to write about life with a dog. It was a surprise, though, to see a story about a prominent Australian dog blogger on page one of mx - a daily paper designed to be read on the evening train commute by people who've lost half their wits during a long, tiring day at work.

Malcolm Turnbull, the Leader of the Opposition, was accused of updating Twitter posts about his dog blog during Question Time in Parliament.

Of course I took a look around the Net to find his dog blog. Call me easily influenced, if you like, but this is one of the few times I've warmed to a politician. I really liked the posts I read.

I particularly liked the one about Embarkation Park. Jojo the dog (aka Malcolm Turnbull, or whoever writes it - can't quite get rid of the cynical attitude to politicians, unfortunately) quotes one of my heroes in the fight to protect the millennia-long bond between dogs and humans - Clover Moore, whom I've written about previously when she proposed a bill to ban the sale of dogs in pet shops. On Turnbull's blog she is quoted as saying

"regular off-leash exercise helped dogs socialise and release pent-up energy, reducing nuisance behaviour such as uncontrolled barking."

Recently there has been an endless, fraught debate about the use of some of the local Darebin Parklands for off-leash exercise of dogs. Seeing the vital role of off-leash exercise mentioned on the blog of the Leader of the Opposition gives me heart that this issue has some powerful supporters.

dogs with blogs and blog action day

It's only a week now until Blog Action Day. This year's topic is Poverty and I can't think of a more important theme in this unequal world.

There's a guy who busks in the underground passage that leads out of one of our main city railway stations and he always has his dog with him. He probably thinks I like his singing, but in fact I always make sure to contribute something so that he can afford to look after his dog. I don't know whether the man is living in poverty, but I guess singing in a cold concrete tunnel wouldn't be his first preference for a job, so I assume times are hard for him.

I ask myself whether blogging about poverty can make a difference, but I've decided to join the Action Day, because the more we talk about the injustices in this world the more we become alert to ways in which we can make a difference.

I care a lot about dogs, but I also care about humans.

dogs in the squirrel patrol

Penny is now a member of Rusty's squirrel patrol. She's been waiting for weeks for her human to show off the lovely certificate that proves she's a member but a little 'technical problem' has held up the works - how to turn the certificate the right way round. And then, today, in a stroke of brilliance, her human noticed a little arrowy thingy that looked as if it might do the trick, and it did!

Hmm... then there was the new technical difficulty of finding where the turned graphic had hidden itself. Let's think... could it be in the folder called 'downloads'? Yep, there it was.



Oh, no! It had turned itself around again!

Okay, never say die - import it into iPhoto, export it out to the desktop and, hey presto! there it is.



But one important thing - Penny will be practising on possums for now, until squirrels arrive in Australia.

dog blogs and awards

Ten days ago Penny and I were excited to receive an award from Noah. I showed my excitement by rushing off to tell everyone in the family that my blog had received an award. Penny poured out her emotional excess with a yawn and a scratch of that hard-to-reach spot near her left rear leg. Just goes to show that different species can live together in harmony but see the world in different ways.

Here's the award.It looks fabulous!



It's great to hear that others out there in the blogosphere enjoy Penny's blog, because blogging is a solitary pursuit, after all, and when you write a blog post you can never be sure whether your words are finding a home.

After I had settled down, I began to wonder who I should pass it on to. I popped over to Noah's blog to let Noah know the award had been received. And then I thought again. And again. And again...

By this stage a week had passed and I still hadn't decided who to pass it on to. Should it be that great blog with the jokes? Should it be one of the many dog blogs that bring me such joy to read? Maybe I should give it to the site with the fascinating recipes, or the one with the masterly photographs?

Hmmm...

I had a look around the Net. No, can't give it to that blog, because it already had the same award. Oh, I know... there's that interesting one about agility. Nope, she's already had it also.

So, to cut a long story short. I'm not going to pass it on. I apologise if that seems selfish. But it's just got too hard. I simply can't choose between the many blogs I love.

Okay, now that it's confession time, I'd better admit that the same thing happened when I received the lovely award from Rusty. I was thrilled to get it but I couldn't get my head around who to pass it on to.

Awards are exciting and make me feel good, but I find it just too hard to choose who to pass them on to. It's not that I don't appreciate the other blogs - my enormous list of blogs in my Google Reader is evidence to the contrary.

I don't like choosing one blog over another.
I love so many.