Canine Journal

Dog Blog Post #184: I bought a book this weekend, Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie & Charles E. Roth - A total impulse buy, as I spend little time in "nature" these days (sigh) and have zero time to actually keep a journal.

(The book suggests 45 minutes a day. Or maybe that was an outing. Doesn't matter, either way, as I don't have that kind of time!)

So why am I mentioning it here?

Because (a) it's a gorgeous book, and if you are into that sort of thing you should take a look at it and (b) it triggered a twinge of inspiration that might actually be appropriate here.

That is, the following sentence did, "... nature journaling is the regular recording of observations, perceptions, and feelings about the natural world around you." (pg. 5)

Isn't that what a dog blog is? A "[somewhat] regular recording of observations, perceptions, and feelings about the [dogs] around you"?

And so now I'm wondering if I could take a few minutes (definitely not 45, but since I photograph instead of drawing I could probably cut that down to 10-15) and simply observe my dogs being, well, dogs.

Maybe write about it occasionally.

Here.

Perhaps under the heading Canine Journal?

We'll see. Like I said, it is so far just a twinge of inspiration.

In the section on "Getting Focused" (pg. 25) I found some more good ideas (I took the liberty of substituting "dog blog" for "journal" or "nature journal"... hopefully that doesn't step on any legal toes!):

• "Think about what you want to achieve with your own [dog blog], and how it may relate to other personal goals you have."
• "Remind yourself that you are keeping the [dog blog] to learn to observe, record, and fully appreciate [...] You are doing this for yourself, and your own enjoyment."

I highly recommend taking a look at the book if you are even remotely interested in nature journaling. It is filled with colorful little sketches (see picture at top of this post for an example), gives many tips on how to sketch things in your own journal, and has a lot of ideas/inspiration for how to make and/or improve a journal.

It does have absolutely nothing to do with dogs, or blogs, except when viewed through a wide-angle lens - although there are a few quick sketches of dogs within.   :)

(Obligatory disclaimer: I don't any interest or stake in this book - I just happened to like it!)