So last year we posted a 5×4 blogging summary where we looked at our five favourite blogs, blog posts, on here, and on the world wide web. I hope that you mind find some new blog posts or blogs that you find enjoyable.

Top Five Favourite Blogs of 2013

SavingPets – A front runner again. Shel blogs on companion animal welfare in Australian shelters and does a fantastic job highlighting facility incompetencies. When I see that SavingPets has posted new content, I always get a little excited.

Offbeat Bride – It’s been a little quiet, but I got married in 2013, and so I really enjoyed getting wedding-y fun things from Offbeat Bride. No, not dog related, or even sheltering related, but still a fun blog that I spent a lot of time on over the course of the year.

ThatMutt – I have no idea how Lindsay posts as often as she does, and as much good content as she does, but I know I can hardly keep up with reading it. Lindsay blogs a lot about rescue and sheltering, and these would be my favourite posts – but her content is certainly not narrowly defined.

Denise Fenzi – Denise’s blog looks mostly at formal obedience, and training dogs for competitive sports, but I like it. Her posts are often quite heavy and indepth, so I have to sit down and concentrate on them, but it always gives me something to think about. She also honestly presents her own training videos, and dissects them, which is refreshing and educational.

Veterinarians Behaving Badly – I really enjoy getting a ‘vet’s perspective’, especially when it’s delivered in a humourous and dark way as this blog does. And hearing stories about horror clients is fun in its own way, too!

Top 5 Favourite Blog Posts of 2013

“Raising them right” and “Bad owners” from Beyond Breed – I really love this post. It talks about how the idea that nurturing is the only thing that matters for dogs is harmful, including for rescue. Love this post!

Passionate statistics: pie charts – parallels to Florence Nightingale and how she used statistics to analyse ways to make nursing  better… And how sheltering can take heed from this. To quote, “Without an evidence-base, without research, without the numbers, without the statistics and without a strategic understanding of the wider scheme of things rescuers are doing the equivalent of … bandaging over the wounded with out-dated paradigms when they should be opening the windows and flushing out the drains of old thinking.” Very well argued post that is well worth the read.

Common Knowledge – Denise Fenzi talks about all those things that are often considered just ‘common knowledge’ when it comes to training dogs – and how they shouldn’t be simply taken for granted.

What to do with a milk-seeking missile? The four most important things dog breeders can do for newborn puppies – Four steps that breeders can do for producing fantastic, stable puppies.

Know the opposition: ‘Why are you blaming the shelters?’ – As Christie describes, many of those in rescue blame breeders or owners for animals ending up in shelters and dying, while giving shelters a free pass. Christie disputes this free pass.

My Top 5 Favourite Blog Posts of 2013

Where do puppies come from? – A lot of research went into this post. I was motivated to find out the information myself, and then motivated to share it. While the conclusion (that most puppies come from backyard breeders) is what I expected to find, the data overall is interesting and (I hope) easily presented.

Select Committee SA replicates faulty animal welfare legislation – This is mostly here because it was so painful to write. It took me hours and hours to dissect the report, and I was just so angry that the public’s recommendations could be disregarded on such a large scale. While this post was specific to the South Australian report, it talks about errors in animal welfare legislation seen around the country.

Do dog dreams matter? – I am a little disappointed that this post didn’t receive the engagement I had hoped. I partly wrote this post because I think about this all the time! But also, I hoped that I’d stop thinking about it. Sadly, I still think about this all the time. Basically this posts asks if a dog’s dreams would influence their behaviour.

Are you willing to be wrong about that? – This post asks how many dogs could Australians accommodate in their lives. It argues: A lot, and overpopulation doesn’t exist.

Rescue Vs Breeders – I have long found it frustrating that people identify themselves as a ‘rescue’ and pigeon hole me as a ‘breeder’, and use these labels to predict my opinions and motivations. This post argues that such classifications are not productive to the dog community.

‘Reader’s Choice’ Top 5 Favourite Posts of 2013

According to Google Analytics, these were the most popular posts of 2013 on Some Thoughts About Dogs:

Oral Flea Treatment Most Effective In Dogs – This was a guest post, and so I am pretty grateful that Aussie Professional Pest Control could provide a post that was so popular! This post looks at research that shows that oral flea treatment is most effective.

How to Save a Swimmer Puppy – I am so happy that this post has become such a hit. I made this post as I found the information available about swimmer puppies to be very negative and disheartening, and it just doesn’t have to be as swimmer puppies are very saveable.

Golden Retrievers: Cancer if you do, cancer if you don’t – I’m also really pleased that this post is so popular, and I hope it encourages critical thinking on spay/neuter, especially at an early age. Maybe the controversial title helps to grab the attention of readers, too.

Why I don’t want Oscar’s Law – This post was on the books for a long time, but only this year did I get it published. I am also very pleased that this post has gained so many hits, as, again, I hope it elicits critical thinking in the readers.

Classical Conditioning in Dogs – I’m not quite sure why this simple post has had so many hits, but I can only take it as a compliment that it is a clear explanation that others have found easy to follow.

Thanks for reading throughout 2013. I hope I can keep your interest in 2014.