Lisa Cohn's Blog, page 22

Dog Tips for Parents: Child Safety Around Dogs

Dog Tips for Parents: The Dos And Don’ts of Child Safety with Dogs

We learned lots of dog tips for parents in a recent dog training class that took us to downtown Portland, where we exposed our puppy, Hudson, to all the hustle and bustle of two bridges, a crowded market, and a park. During the class, dog lover Michael knelt down and put his face in front of the face of a dog he had never met.

That’s a huge no-no for kids, says Mark Dunlop, owner of “Leader of the Pack,” a dog training program. In fact, he learned this lesson as a child who put his face in front of a dog’s face and got nipped, he says.

In this video, Dunlop gives great tips about how to keep kids safe around dogs:

Dunlop explains how to introduce children to dogs, and warns parents about how important it is to keep an eye on kids who are meeting strange dogs. Even the nicest dogs sometimes will bite when kids startle them by sticking their faces in front of the dogs’ noses!

Meanwhile, Michael, the young co-author of “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” learned his lesson. He won’t stick his face in front of a strange dog’s nose again, he promises. That’s a good thing, because Michael is scheduled to appear at a dog event next week to promote his book, which is about to be released!

Parents, we hope you heed our dog tips AND watch the video trailer for our book!

And if you have dog tips for parents, please send them our way!

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International Literacy Day Celebration: Book Reviews By Kids, Age 5-13

International Literacy Day Celebration at Bash And Lucy

To celebrate International Literacy Day (Sept. 9), here at Bash And Lucy we’re sharing some of our book reviews by kids age 5 to 13. One of our goals is to inspire in young kids a love of books–especially dog books.

Our book review efforts were launched by book lover Michael, age 5, co-author of “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence.” When we first started doing videos for our blog, he came up with the idea of doing reviews of other dog books for children (our book is a kids’ dog book). And so we launched our video reviews, inviting Michael’s friends age 5 to 13 to join in the fun.

Michael’s enthusiasm for reading has driven our efforts. Not a day goes by when he doesn’t say, “Why don’t we do a review of (then he names a book).” But it wasn’t hard to find other kids equally enthusiastic about reading. Michael’s favorite person to review books with is Mia, who is 13 and a student at an arts school in the Portland, Oregon area. She is pictured with Michael at the top of this blog and also right here:

International LIteracy Day Celebration with Book Reviews By Kids

Other reviewers–in videos past and planned–include Edward, a 7-year-old who helps review “Scooby-Doo and The Rock-N-Roll Zombie,” and Michael’s cousins, Marty, age 4, and Paula, age 8, who will appear soon in a review of “Clifford Goes to the Beach.” Our book reviews take place at the Oregon Zoo, on the Oregon Coast, in New York City’s Central Park, and other places!

International Literacy Day: Michael and Edward

Lisa, Michael’s mom and his co-author, is the interviewer for these book reviews on youtube. She follows the kids’ leads and any attempts to focus Michael or dress him properly generally fail! He developed a silly routine that he insists on following in almost every review. And his chosen “uniform” generally includes an inside-out striped t-shirt and two different colored socks.

Here are some of our book reviews by kids:

“Good Dog Carl,” by Michael and Mia:

“Bad Dog Bailey,” by Michael and Mia:

Scooby-Doo and The Rock N Roll Zombie, By Michael and Edward. We love it when young kids use terms like “mystery fiction!”

Dog Books Teach Vocabulary by Michael. While this isn’t exactly a book review, it says a lot about what kids learn when reading books that include a few words they don’t understand:

You can follow all Michael’s book reviews by following his youtube channel here: Michael’s Youtube Channel

If you have suggestions for books you’d like Michael and friends to review, please email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com. In the meantime, Michael and friends are working their way through the stack of books that children’s book authors have sent us to review!

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Book Reviews for Children by Michael, Age 5: Osteoblasts To The Rescue

Book Reviews For Children By Michael, Age 5, & Mia, Age 13

Book reviews for children are one of Michael’s favorite activities, especially when he gets to review a book along with his good friend, Mia. In this video, Michael and Mia depart from their tradition of reviewing kids’ dog books. This book, “Osteoblasts to the Rescue,” is actually a human body detective novel!

In this book review for children, Michael, co-author of the children’s book “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” says he loves the fact that this is a detective story. In “Osteoblasts to the Rescue,” kids actually go into a friend’s body to understand her broken arm. Along the way, the kid detectives teach readers a whole lot about how the body works!

Here’s the video review by Michael and Mia, which takes place at the Oregon Zoo:

One note: Mia says in this review that the book needs a glossary. She and Michael were working with a pdf of the book, and didn’t have the glossary in hand. Rest assured there is a glossary of all those big words!

Speaking of big words, the character of “Bash” in Michael’s book uses a lot of dog words that the coach doesn’t understand! We’ll be releasing the book very soon, so stay tuned!

You can watch the video trailer here:

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Do Dogs Feel Love While We’re Away From Them On Vacation?

Do Dogs Feel Our Love When We’re Away From Them?

Do dogs feel love from us while we’re away from them? That’s what we’re wondering about our dog, Hudson. Here we are on the beach enjoying the warm weather and beautiful scenery…but…no matter how much fun we’re having, we miss our dog! When we’re away, he sits by the door waiting for us to return, just like he’s sitting at the door in this photo. Has he been sitting there for five days?

While we’re away, we worry about him. Will he get sick or hurt? Will he be sad?

Here are some tips for kids and families who miss their dog while they’re traveling. These tips have helped us while we’re away from our best friend.

1. Leave your dog with someone you trust. This may be someone who boards dogs, or someone who comes to your house. We’re fortunate enough to have a friend stay at our house with Hudson. She tells us what Hudson is up to and sends us photos.

2.Tell stories about your dog or pup. This makes us feel closer to him while we’re away. We tell stories about how he makes friends in the neighborhood and how he loves to wake us up with kisses.

3.Read books about dogs. This week we’ve read a lot of Scooby-Doo books. When Daphne bribes Scooby with Scooby snacks and makes us laugh, it reminds us of how we have to bribe Hudson with treats when we want him to leave the park or come home from a play date. Laughing makes us feel better about missing him.

4. When you see other people with dogs, ask if you can pet them and ask about what kind of dogs they are.

5. Watch videos of your dog. This week we’ve watched our book trailer–starring Hudson. We’ve also looked forward to releasing our dog picture book when we return! That means we’ll have a party and invite all our four-legged friends.

For now, here’s the trailer:

Please tell us what you do when you miss your dog! And do you think they can feel our love when we’re away?

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Book Review By Kids: Michael, Age 5, Reviews Bad Dog Bailey

Book Review By Kids: Michael, Age 5, and Mia, Age 13, Review Bad Dog Bailey

Another Book Review By Kids! Michael, age 5, and Mia, age 13, review the kids’ dog book, “Bad Dog Bailey.” They give the illustrated children’s book a big thumbs-up. Michael thinks it’s funny, and shares his favorite pages. Mia likes Bailey’s transformation from bad dog to good dog in the book. And Lisa (a grown-up kid) throws in her opinions, saying what she thinks smaller children will like best.

You can watch the review here, which includes Michael’s usual (and silly) opening and closing:

Michael and Mia have strong opinions about kid’s books. In our “kids’ dog book reviews for kids” series on youtube, we hope to inspire other young readers with Michael’s and Mia’s enthusiasm for children’s books–especially kids’ dog books. Demand has been growing for book reviews from Michael and Mia; they will soon begin reviewing all kinds of children’s books, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, we hope you take a moment to learn a little about Michael’s dog picture book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence.” You can watch the video trailer here, which features Michael and his dog, Hudson. It was filmed by award-winning teen videographer Denis Berberovic, a friend of Michael and his sister.

A Boy, His Dog, A Book, and Love

Stay tuned for more book reviews by kids for kids, including dog book reviews from Michael’s cousins and friends, age 4 to 8.

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Naughty Puppy Story By Lisa For Dogster Magazine

 

Naught Puppy Story: Thanks for The 130-Plus Facebook LIkes!

This naughty puppy story that Lisa wrote for Dogster Magazine shows just how much you can learn from a puppy who refuses to listen to you! Read the story, and you’ll also learn how much fun kids have with a naughty puppy and how much people can learn from dogs in general.

Read the story here:

Story By Lisa in Dogster: Dog Wrecks Party, Teaches About Friendship

Please Join The Conversation!

We really appreciate all the “facebook likes,” about 130 so far. The comments people posted address an interesting issue: memorial services for dogs. Does a true friend attend a memorial service for a friend’s dog? We think the answer is yes, and we’d love to hear what you have to say about the subject.

Speaking of dogs that have lots to teach people, our kids’ dog book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” will be available in early September, and you can buy it from this website. In the book, a wise but mischievous dog, Lucy, has lots to teach a boys’ soccer team about sports, confidence, teamwork–and life!

Here are just two of the reviews we’ve received for our kids’ dog book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence:”

“Bash and Lucy,” an endearing story about a boy and his soccer-loving dog, is a book that kids (and the adults who read it to them) will enjoy. Any kid who plays soccer, any parent who’s watched or coached soccer, and anyone who’s loved a dog will find something to love about this book!

–Susan Moshofsky, teacher, parent, and former soccer mom

“Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence” is a wonderful story that teaches kids and their families about the important relationships we can have with dogs and illustrates beautifully how there can be more than one way to do something… and that the best way isn’t always the obvious way! It promotes relationships above results and creative thinking above the status quo. A great read for any dog-lovers!

- Phoebe Spier, Musician & Child/Youth Development Professional

Be sure to check out the video trailer for the book here:

A Boy, His Dog, A Book, and Love

And we’d love comments about Lisa’s naughty puppy article in Dogster!

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Service Dogs For Children Sense Anxiety and Take Action!

Service dog for children applies “deep pressure,” which can help children with autism

Service dogs for children are our heroes! They are trained to help kids in amazing ways. In this video, we share with you how they help autistic kids. We interview Andrew, a boy who attended an Autism Service Dogs of America camp, where he and other kids took service dogs with them to go bowling, to a barbecue, to a lake, and other fun activities. Being with one particular service dog–a Golden Retriever–made Andrew feel happy, he says.

In the second half of this video, Michele, Andrew’s mom, explains that service dogs sense anxiety in children and then take action. In the photo above, the dog is applying “deep pressure,” which can help children with autism.

Learn about service dogs for children by watching the video here:

Here at BashAndLucy.com, we love stories about heroic dogs. And that’s what service dogs for children are! We plan on doing other blog posts about service dogs for kids. Be sure to subscribe to our blog by entering your email in the little box to the left. You can also subscribe to our youtube channel here:

Michael’s YouTube Channel

Be sure to visit our home page to learn more about a dog we consider to be heroic. Her name’s Lucy, and she’s the star of our dog picture book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” for kids age 4 to 8. She teaches a kids’ sports team about sports, confidence, teamwork–and life! The book also teaches kids about the magical connection between children and dogs.

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Dog Book for Kids–And Dogs! “Bite This Book” Review By Michael, Age 5

Dog Book for Kids: Bite This Book

Michael, age 5, loves to do reviews of other dog books for kids. In this video, the co-author of the dog picture book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” along with his friend Mia, 13, (via Skype) give an enthusiastic thumbs-up rating for “Bite This Book,” which is a dog book intended for kids and adults to read to their dogs!

This is an original idea that provides readers of all ages with a sweet, silly, funny and touching glimpse into the lives of dogs. The voices of the dogs who are “speaking” ring true. Best of all, the book exudes love for our best friends.

Watch Michael and Mia’s review:

In this video, Michael (who isn’t really reading because he’s only 5), gives his summary of two of the poems in this book. He loves the illustrations and the silliness in this dog book for kids, adults, and canines.

Speaking of love for dogs, be sure to watch the trailer for Michael’s dog picture book, “Bash And Lucy Fetch Confidence.” It also exudes lots of love!

Follow Michael’s Dog Blog for more reviews of kids’ dog books! You can enter your name in the box at the left. And email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com if you’d like Michael and friends to review your dog book!

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Dog Fun Fact For Kids: This Dog Has A Stuck-Up Ear!

Dog Fun Fact For Kids: This Dog Has A Stuck-Up Ear!

Here’s a dog fun fact for kids: Why does the dog pictured above have one stuck-up ear? We ran into this dog, Walter, and his owner, Sally, near our house. This is a Briard, otherwise known as a Brie Shepherd. This dog loves to herd, is kind and protective. It’s a pretty big dog; Walter weighs about 88 pounds.

But what about that single stuck-up ear? Michael wanted to know.

Dog Fun Fact for Kids: What’s With That Stuck-Up Dog Ear?

It turns out that this dog’s flat ear is what’s called a “crop and flop.” Many Briards have “cropped ears,” although the practice is controversial. In fact, cropping is generally banned in Europe.

Here’s how it’s done: When the dog is six to seven weeks old, its ears are cropped. The hair on the ears is glued together with fabric glue. Some breeders add glue from time to time to keep the look up; others take the ears apart and re-glue them to maintain the look.

Sometimes, however, a Briard has poor ear leather, and the “crop and flop” results. That’s what happened to one of this dog’s ears!

You can probably guess why cropping a dog’s ears and gluing them might be controversial. Be sure to leave us a comment or email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com if you have an opinion about this practice!

The dog in Michael’s dog picture book, Lucy, doesn’t have stuck-up ears. She’s a Golden Retriever who teaches a kids’ sports team about teamwork, confidence–and life! You can learn more about the book by watching the video trailer here:

Be sure to follow us on facebook for more fun dog facts for kids: https://www.facebook.com/BashAndLucy

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“Best Children’s Books” Review By Michael, Age 5: Clifford’s Manners

Best Children’s Books, By Michael: Clifford’s Manners

One of the best children’s books, in Michael’s opinion, is “Clifford’s Manners.” He loves the fact that a dog teaches kids manners! In this video, Michael tells which manners kids learn by reading this book. You can watch the video here:

Kids learn so much by reading children’s dog books! Dogs have so much to teach children about manners, vocabulary, sports, teamwork–and smells, as we’ve mentioned in previous blogs.

In fact, in Michael’s dog picture book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” a wise Golden Retriever, Lucy, teaches a kids’ soccer team about teamwork, sportsmanship–and life! You can watch the video trailer here:

Michael plans other reviews of  the best children’s books, including “Clifford Goes To The Beach,” which  is coming soon and includes commentary from his two cousins, age 4 and 7. Stay tuned to this blog to watch his other reviews! You can subscribe by entering your name in the box to the left.

Here at Michael’s Dog Blog, we aim to instill in kids a love of dogs–and books. Leave us a comment or email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com to tell us how we’re doing and to suggest books you’d like reviewed.

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