THE BARK BLOG

We packed two adults, two dogs, and everything we needed into a Kia Soul for a week-long road trip to Kennerdell, Pennsylvania. Here's what we learned.

Catch up on everything happening at My Barking Life! In Bark Bits Issue #11, meet adoptable Lion, learn how to build a dog first aid kit without spending a fortune, celebrate training graduations, see how two Training Assistance Grants are helping families stay together, and discover how one sponsored spay surgery is making a difference for shelter dogs.

They didn't start as a status symbol. They started as a lace worker's lap warmer in freezing Nottingham workshops. Somewhere between Paris and Instagram, the French Bulldog became the most popular breed in the country — and one of the most medically fragile. Here's everything you need to know before you fall for the face, including the story of a Frenchie named Babs who's living proof of why this matters.

This week's Bark Bits is packed with practical advice and a little canine chaos! Join me as I prepare for my first road trip with Pike and Gus, learn about Aspergillosis in dogs, meet our Shelter Spotlight, Lucy, and pick up three simple travel tips to help keep your dog safe on the road.

Jack’s custom doodle t‑shirt was supposed to be cute. Instead, it turned him into an accidental philanthropist. One burst of creative energy later, two shelter dogs had their adoption fees sponsored — all thanks to one very caffeinated muse.

The Portuguese Water Dog earned its keep on fishing boats centuries before it became a presidential pet. It herded fish, retrieved gear, and carried messages between ships — and it was paid a wage for the work. That history matters, because this breed still shows up ready to do a job. Smart, loyal, and deeply attached to its people, the PWD is a remarkable companion. But there's more to this curly coat than meets the eye. Read on before you fall in love.

The German Shepherd didn't just happen. In the late 1800s, Captain Max von Stephanitz set out to engineer the ideal herding and working dog — one with intelligence, stamina, courage, and a relentless work ethic. He succeeded spectacularly. What followed was a breed that thinks, decides, and acts — often independently. Here's what that actually means to live with, including the health realities, lifetime costs, and why GSDs are one of the most commonly surrendered breeds in th

Before dogs were pets, they were coworkers. Humans bred them — deliberately and over centuries — to perform specific tasks: hunt, herd, guard, retrieve, track, haul, and sit in the laps of very important people. Every physical trait, every behavioral tendency, every inexplicable habit was, at some point, a design feature.

The dog that nearly beat the GSP in the Ducks Unlimited Top Dog Challenge wasn't the Lab. It wasn't even the Golden. It was a breed most of us had never heard of — the Boykin Spaniel. South Carolina's state dog, built for swamps and small boats, equally at home on a couch. Their nickname is the Little Brown Devil. That's not a warning. That's a promise.

Someone recently posted in one of my Facebook groups — their two unaltered purebred dogs were having an oops litter. Yay!!! The comment section full of energy, both positive and negative. The post was gone by the time I went back to find it. But the feeling it left me with wasn't. The anti-spay/neuter movement is real, it's loud, and it has talking points that sound responsible. While we debate studies in comment sections, shelters are full.

Let's get something out of the way first. The Rottweiler is not the snarling junkyard sentinel of every 80s thriller. It's one of the oldest, most historically significant, most deeply loyal breeds on the planet — and it has spent decades paying the price for a reputation it didn't entirely earn. Before you fall in love with that black-and-tan face, read this.

There are 20 German Shorthaired Pointers waiting for adoption within 100 miles of us — and that number isn't random. It's a pattern. The GSP was bred to do everything, and they will. Including redecorate your home if you don't give them two hours of hard exercise a day. Before you fall in love with that liver-spotted face, read this.

There's a scene in almost every horror movie where the protagonist walks into a familiar place and something feels off. Everything looks the same on the surface, but something essential has been hollowed out. That's increasingly what's happening at your local vet clinic. Same sign on the door. Maybe even the same doctor behind the exam table. But somewhere upstairs, the decisions are being made by people who have never once looked a dog in the eye.

There are 225 Australian Cattle Dogs available for adoption within 100 miles of me right now. That number isn't a coincidence — it's a pattern. And patterns mean something. This week on What's Breed Got to Do With It, we dig into the breed that people chronically underestimate: where they come from, what the dingo ancestry actually means, why they end up in shelters in such staggering numbers, and what the right home for one actually looks like.

Are dog moms "real" moms? As the internet argues, one thing is clear: the love, labor, and responsibility look a lot more similar than some people want to admit.

There’s a specific kind of grief that comes from walking away from something you truly believed in.