Hello again, my friends!

It’s me, your ever-so-happy tail-wagging JournoDog! This is my recap of all the best, most tail-wagging news out there from a dog’s POV. You know, the real scoop (of food) and paw-someness of it all that’s worthy of belly rubs and doggy snuggles.

You may have noticed it’s been a while since my last JournoDog recap. To be honest, it’s tougher these days to get the energy to even post on Facebook — I’m 14, after all. In fact, that brings me to the first tidbit of kibble-news: it turns out that since my last update, some smart science-peoples declared that how humans have calculated dog years has been wrong all along. It’s no longer just as simple as multiplying dog years by 7 and getting the “dog years” age. There’s a new formula that makes math-haters (like most journos) scratch their heads.

#JournoDog welcomes 2020!

The new formula takes what math geeks call the “natural logarithm” of the dog’s real age, multiplies it by 16, then adds 31. For me, that means going to the calculator and typing this: (In 14) x 16 + 31. So, that means I am just about ” of the dog’s real age, multiplies it by 16, then adds 31. For me, that means going to the calculator and typing this: (In 14) x 16 + 31. So, that means I am just about 73 years old, per this new formula — which this puppy gal is totally cool with, since it knocks ~25 years off otherwise!

Anyhow, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m an older girl (even though I still am fondly referred to as “puppy” dog). I may be in semi-retirement, and have increasing difficulty doing daily activities and playing like used to, but I haven’t lost my curious JournoDog nature and it’s not time for that final walk around the block just yet…

So what else has been on my radar lately?

  • Happy New Year 2020 and Next Decade! This Best Dogs of 2019 by People was a tail-wagging good read to reflect on the old, and welcome in the new. It’s also nice to see other doggos helping to pick out top stories of the year, with opinion-writer Brian Dickerson at the Detroit Free Press enlisting his fluffy white pup for a fun exchange about current events.
  • I Went Camping!! Yep, this doggo’s older, but can still go on a tent-camping trip with Mom and Dad. Our camping trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was in Fall 2019. This was my first time camping in more than a decade. We had a blast. I had a lot of places and new scents to explore, the campfire was warm and I got to wear a light-up mosquito-repellant light on my collar at night. There were also some friends to meet and big Great Lakes waterfronts to sniff around.
  • It’s Streaming Dogs & Cats: Add Disney+ to the roster for streaming services. That is one that’s made it onto the TV in our house, and of course it’s nice to see some classics like Lady and the Tramp featured there. Along with CBS, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Prime, and all the other ones out there… it’s never a challenge to find something to watch. Even when the Puppy Bowl isn’t making an annual appearance… (here’s a rundown of the top canine-content on Disney Plus and the free Cat TV on Prime to entertain pets).
  • Baby Yoda, Stranger Things, Frozen II: If you haven’t seen Baby Yoda, then Disney+ is your place to be so you can see the cute goodness of this little character. Seriously, it’s gone viral. And if I had him at home as a pet, I’d love him non-stop. While we watch Frozen II with all new songs, and Stranger Things Season III with the smile-inducing, heart-warming Never-Ending Story song!
  • Lime green puppy? Whoa. No, don’t worry, this isn’t tied to the green ooze seeping onto a Metro Detroit interstate recently from the basement of an old closed down factory nearby. This is a happy (but strange) story out of North Carolina. A white shepherd named Gypsy delivered eight puppies in January, and after the first few pups were delivered smoothly, a fourth puppy emerged covered in lime green fur! His name is Hulk, too! Apparently, a local vet expert says liquid from mother’s stomach probably stained his fur in utero. It’s not permanent, and the vet said a few weeks of routine baths and dog-licks would likely return his color to normal white. And this fun pup-date on Hulk’s status in mid-February: he’s staying with the human mom in the home he was born, and that will be Hulk’s “forever home.”
  • Speaking of Kibble… beyond just dog-age, science geeks also put their thinking caps on in figuring out that dog owners often measure kibble amounts inaccurately. Well, of course! I could’ve told you that. They NEVER give me enough food. So no matter what this story and those Ontario researchers may lead you to believe on the idea of “too much food” (pfft), I say measure up and scoop more for us! (Listen: this even applies to us older pups who may not be eating as much, are feasting on bland white rice and chicken these days, and are unable to keep everything down like we used to… we always want more!)
  • Impeached: Sadly, we also made history with Donald J. Trump becoming the third U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Reps. The Senate later acquitted him, and the whole ordeal was a politically-charged piece of poop that stains everyone involved. Moral of the story: As I’ve observed before, we would be better if Dogs and Cats ran the show. Oh, politics and Election Year 2020. (grrrrr….)

See, how’s that for a first-in-a-long-time-recap? As mentioned, I’m getting up there in age. But I am still sniffing along and it’s certainly not time for my final walk around the block, as far as I can tell.

Until the next time, whenever the news beckons like a barking dog you can’t help but pay attention to, #JournoDog out.

As always, remember: Love your pets. Read a newspaper. Appreciate all you have in life. Work to do better, be better for yourself and those around you. And try to smile and find a little happiness for your heart every day.

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