I started putting paws across the keyboard after I had life-saving back surgery and had to sit-stay to recover. That's when I came to create wine country dog ezine™ — an independent pet-ezine.
I'm mostly recovered now, but don't walk as well as I used to. My veterinary surgeon said that I might have some problems now and then.
It's a good thing I can paw my computer and travel virtually when my legs are tired.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I'm Jack, the Corgi known as pawlitico.™
I hope you'll find my paw-writing informative and even entertaining.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our thanks to our editor, DJ dog-ma, for copyediting, photography, and web dev.
It was arfully nice hanging out with folks attending Wine Bloggers Conference North America. You know howl much I like taking paw-notes while humans talk 'bout wine and winemaking.
Here I am in the garden of C. Donatiello Winery on 26 July 2009 with @dirtysouthwine and @DrncPno. What an arfully beautiful estate this is, situated in the Middle Reach of the Russian River Valley AVA. Not that far from my doghaus. A fine pawlace to produce great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
We were escorted into the C. Donatiello Guild Room fur a private wine tasting. I'm fortunate enuff to fit under the table, and that's a good pawlace fur me to paw my notes while humans drink.
You know I don't drink wine. As a new media innovator workin' in the world of blogging and social media, I have an impawtant role at wine tastings: I'm a designated note-taker and canine schmoozer.
It's hard to believe howl the wine blogging and tweeting humans doo wine tastings. They have micro-bloggin' devices and cameras and video cams. They concentrate arfully hard. Tastin' is a serious activity. It's not unusual fur them to have a device in one hand and a wine glass in the other. That is why my paws come in handy. I take notes that humans miss.
Doo you recognize @winebratsf? It is pawsible that she blogs and tweets more observations 'bout wine and life than most wine bloggers. Rumor has it that it's 'cuz she's a Gemini... but I can't woof whether it's true. I don't know 'bout astrology.
Doo you recognize other wine bloggers in these photos? Howl 'bout @norcalwine and @sharayray and @thebeerwench and @winequester?
You can't see dog-ma in these photos, but she was there. And she was whisperin' many pawsitive wine comments to me. Appawently she was very taken with the '07 Maddie's Vineyard Pinot Noir and the '07 Floodgate Block 15 Pinot Noir.
There are other wine bloggers in the group we were walkin' to the cellar with. But my being so short, I had a hard time seeing 'em all. And I got distracted by the enticing smells of herbs on the paths along the way. I was in Middle Reach heaven....
We all followed @cdonatiello into the wine cellar....
Then @dirtysouthwine jumped into a big tank. Furhaps he was dooin' a demonstration of wine blogger hazing rituals.
I sat and watched @cdonatiello pour Bradford Mountain wines of Dry Creek Valley fur arfully serious tasters @sonadora and @winebratsf and some others, including dog-ma. She whispered to me that she adored both of the '05 Zinfandels.
It was so nice and cool in the cellar that, in combo with all the herbs I'd inhaled, I could've dozed off blissfully fur the rest of the day. Howlever, I had my duty to doo — not as a true wine blogger, but as the ever-vigilant paw-note taker and wine tastin' companion!
I wonder if I'll get my pawsonal chauffeur to take me and my little Corgi bro to the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington.
It was all over the wine twitterverse that the winner of the Murphy-Goode winery lifestyle compawtition would be announced today (21 July 2009).
Hark and bark! Dog-ma (aka chauffeur) agreed with us two social media corgis that we ought to catch up with the winner in Healdsburg. After all, we had a paw of congratulations to extend!
Our chauffeur parked the doghaus mobile behind Hotel Healdsburg.
Off we ran across the foot bridge, past Bear Republic, takin' the long way 'round via Healdsburg Avenue.
We came to an abrupt halt and stared intensely at the human before us. Oh good grief, that human there is an impawstor. He isn't Mr. Really Goode Guy!
We went 'round the corner and did a sit-stay across from the Murphy-Goode tasting room on Matheson Street. We had to paw over the situation. We knew we could sniff out Mr. Really Goode Guy if we used our dogheads.
Oh boy, that's a fancy new tasting room in an arfully fancy wine country town.
Howl, look! There's somebuddy who magically appaweared in front of the tasting room....
It's him! It's Mr. Really Goode Guy Hardy Wallace — aka @goodetobefirst and @dirtysouthwine. High paw! Congratulations, Really Goode Hardy!
Howl exciting that a really nice guy won. We sure doo like this fine Southern sommelier whom we 'spected would become the really goode job guy.
I hope we'll see a lot of Really Goode Hardy in the future. That is, if we can get close to him. If he carries wine rations like that around with him, he'll have a dogzillion friends. The only way we'll ever find him again is if we doo the lowdown corgi crawl through the crowd's legs.
The thought "howl strange and dangerous are fireworks!" keeps swimmin' round my doghead.
Never met a dog or any other four-footed who likes fireworks. Never asked other furriends, but I 'spoze birds and bees and bugs and others dislike noisy explosions too.
Yet all the nation's a stage fur fireworks on a July 4th evening. Howl, what are fireworks: the humans' tribute to freedom, or a cathartic release of pent-up human anger? Imagine if other species lit colored fires and made explosions. Humans would think we're out of touch with Nature, to woof the least.
Consider the iconic pic below.
The little Yorkshire Terrier is being made to ride in a wee wagon, towed behind a huge human on a terrifyingly large tractor. Howl small and vulnerable this dog is! Not just physically small — also small in terms of what's impawtant to many American humans on July 4th....
Just think 'bout howl this Yorkie dog must feel! Could humans make sure all dogs — and cats! — are somewhere safe on the big noisy holiday?
Pawleeze, American humans everywhere, look out fur animals' needs come the next 4th of July. It'd be wonderful if the emergency veterinary clinics and animal shelters didn't fill up every year after the fireworks explosions.
In 2002, Japanese toy company Takara sold their first Bowlingual Voice™ device fur computer-based dog-to-human language translation.
We doggiggled. Cute idea, but what human would buy it?
Fast forward to last week, when twitter pal @hollygomadly sent us the link to the Youtube below, which shows Japanese dogs sendin' Bowlingual messages to their humans.
"Onaka ga sukimashita!"
Nothin' new 'bout that. Ha howl!
That demo of Bowlingual Voice is one of the funniest things we dogs have ever seen. I'm sure that Meowlingual is just as funny.
The Bowlingual device is called a "translator," but it's really an emotion analyzer. It categorizes dog barks into one of six standardized emotional categories and then provides a phrase to represent that emotion.
Bowlingual and Meowlingual are "for entertainment purposes only." Of course our dog and cat communications cannot be translated easily into words, if at all. Howlever, barks and meows can be intuitively translated by discerning humans.
Now, what's needed in the dog world is a device fur humans to wear that analyzes their thoughts and emotions, and then translates them into something that makes some doggone sense consistently.
Suki desu ka?
Paw-note to dog-ma: Jack, Meezer, and I wish you a happy B.D.
I hurried through the vineyard to the Paws for Love event at Foppiano winery on June 6th. The event, called "Painting Paws and Petite Sirah," was a fundraiser benefit for animals in Sonoma County, the North Bay, and beyond.
Below you see the Paws for Love "Vineyard Barrel Dash", a unique canine agility course that was created from wine barrels especially for this fun fundraiser.
We sat-stayed and watched clever dogs go 'round the agility course. I didn't doo the course 'cuz of my back pawblem. And Jack Corgi didn't doo it 'cuz he's shy. But we compawletely enjoyed watching and meeting all the dogs on the sidelines.
What a beautiful setting fur a get-together! This is one of California's oldest family-owned wineries, founded in 1896. Foppiano is well known fur its old vine Russian River Valley Estate Petite Sirah.
In the background you see some of Foppiano winery's beautiful old vineyards. In the distance, you see fluffy clouds hangin' over hills to the northeast, beyond Healdsburg.
Doo you notice, below, that wine barrel hoops were hung fur dogs to jump through? Such a pawfect activity fur a wine country event.
Below we see handsome Java Schnoodle, winner of the agility event, with his human, Heather, and her mom, Audrey. Sitting and talking to Java and family is none other than pioneer California winemaker Louis J. Foppiano!
Truly, Lou Foppiano is a living resource of wine industry history. Howlever, my favorite story is about Lou Foppiano the great dog lover: It's said that he always had Chihuahuas around him while he was working, and that the dogs would crawl up his arm and sit on his shoulders. Howl I love that!
I overheard humans at the event say they enjoyed tastin' the Foppiano wines. (Appawently the Cabernet was especially well received and tasted more than once by the same folks.)
After the agility event, Paws' founder, Ms. Ellyn Boone, did painting with dogs on the winery's front lawn. Well, not directly on the lawn — that'd be silly. The dogs made their paintings on paper, so that their humans could frame their works of art.
Howl can I adequately convey to you what a great time was had by all? I'm not just woofin' this to be nice. I've never been on a more enjoyable, dog-mellow outing. And fur such a great cause!
The Paws for Love Foundation provides resources and funding to shelters, rescue groups, and individuals who impawrove the health, welfare, and adoptability of unwanted and abused animals.
High paw fur Ms. Boone!
Paw-note: Congrats, Java! I hope I see you at the next Paws agility event.
I wonder if I'll get my pawsonal chauffeur to take me and my little Corgi bro to the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington.
