Do your pets keep a blog? Do they tweet? Do they have a Myspace page? Do they chat with other ani-pals on Facebook (or Dogbook or Catbook)?
Writing for your pets can actually be a great creative exercise and imagination outlet. Think about it: you’re writing in a voice that is not your own, imagining what a pet’s daily life is like, and even interacting with other imagined animal personalities.
If you’ve got a reluctant writer in the house, writing as a pet might be a good way to go. Twitter is fun for the one-liners — you have to really narrow down your message when you’ve only got 140 characters to use! And there are plenty of places where you can have a free blog — including Myspace, Livejournal, and Blogger. Dogster and Catster let you write journal entries, too! These are great places for “day in the life” type stuff, and detailed accounts of adventures like vet trips, long walks, and gotcha day celebrations.
I’ve thought about making a Twitter stream for my dogs — particularly Moose, who always seems to be having some sort of adventure. And frankly, whatever Moose would have to say would probably be more interesting than my own tweets (I’m @NewroticGirl, what a surprise!) about how I’m feeling and what I’m up to.
But even though I don’t blog or do social networking for my pets, I still enjoy it when others do. My Twitter friends include cats, dogs, and humans. I read blogs about dogs and cats — and written by dogs and cats. I appreciate the creativity that goes into an animal blog… and I do like reading the adventures that the animals have. When you’re a dog or a cat, something as simple as dinnertime becomes super exciting! (Especially if you’re my dog Moose.)
As for reading blogs by and about pets… it’s tricky to know where to start. The very first site I went to listed more than 200 dogs around the world with online journals. That led me to a particular dog’s blog that listed another 50 blogs from dogs and shelters!
There are a LOT of options out there. You might want to start somewhere like Dogster and Catster and find some friends there who blog. Or ask your friends and family — they might have a favorite pet blog that they read. Maybe they write one for their own pets.
Unleash (haha get it?) the writer in you! Give blogging for your pets a try. And if you have a favorite blog about pets or written by pets, please share!