earthdoglife

Meet Pow

2026-04-15T15:56:03-05:00

Our meet our dogs series continues in the order of their adoption so let's:

meet pow

Pow entered our lives 12 years ago and it was a slow burn to get him to the (likely) border terrier that he is now. When he was rescued by Snooty Giggles Rescue he needed surgery on both knees, a cherry eye repair and a neuter after all that so for a very long time he was on very restricted activity. Boy howdy did he ever make up for that. Pow is a little spitfire…he’s truly the quintessential terrier. A comedian, a loudmouth, a ball of energy and just a little hateful. He is adored by us but he also seems to grab the attention of the internet every time we post him. His joie de vivre is unmistakable.

Pow wears our discontinued Zander pattern (we can still make it as a special order) and it’s a great match for his orange coat (and perfectly spherical head). We will actually be moving him to a breakaway (what can we say…the shoemaker’s kid syndrome is real) since he’s really active and a big player it feels like a better match for him than an adjustable collar.

Shop Pow's collar here

Collars are photographed in their current, worn state (mileage may vary). Even though Pow has longer hair that theoretically protects the collar, his coat is a bit oily and that leads to more wear and tear. He has had this one for years and it’s time for a new breakaway. What pattern would you choose for him?

(if you want Pow's exact collar as a special order just let us know)

Why Collar Safety Matters in Multi-Dog Homes

2026-03-27T12:00:00-05:00

If you live with more than one dog, you’ve probably seen it all.

Dogs wrestle.
Dogs grab collars.
Dogs tumble, twist, and play with their whole bodies.

Most of the time it's harmless.

But every now and then, something happens that makes you pause.

The Reality of Multi-Dog Play

Living with multiple dogs is a completely different experience than living with one.

Play can be louder, faster and less predictable and collars are right in the middle of it.

Dogs naturally grab at whatever is within reach, including grabbing each other’s collars during play. It’s not aggressive. It’s how many dogs interact.

If you’ve seen it, you know it can look intense even when it is not.

Where Things Can Go Wrong

Problems usually don’t come from bad behavior.

They come from timing.

A tooth can slip under a collar.
A jaw can twist at the wrong angle.
Two dogs can spin and tighten the collar without meaning to.

In rare cases, dogs can become stuck together.

When that happens, it escalates quickly.

Even calm dogs can panic when they feel trapped. And even calm people panic when their dog is in danger.

Why Traditional Collars Do Not Help in These Moments

Most collars are designed to stay closed.

That is the point.

They are built for strength and consistency, especially for leash walking and everyday use.

And they do that job very well.

But in a situation where a collar becomes caught, that same strength can work against you.

It does not release.

What Owners Can Do

There is no single solution, but there are ways to reduce risk.

Some people remove collars during rough play (not recommended by us).
Some supervise high-energy interactions closely (not always sustainable).
Some choose collars designed with safety release features (and if you're wondering how safe those collars actually are, we go deeper into that here)

Often it's a combination.

Why We Still Believe Dogs Should Wear Collars

For all the discussion around collar safety, we are still strong believers that dogs should wear collars 24/7.

A collar is often the fastest way for a dog to be identified and returned home.

Microchips are important, but they're not always immediate. They require someone to take the extra step to scan, and that doesn’t always happen right away (or ever).

A visible tag on a collar works instantly.

In a house like ours, collars are part of everyday life.

So for us, the goal has never been to remove collars. It has been to make them safer for the way dogs actually live.

Where Breakaway Collars Fit In

Breakaway collars were designed for situations like this.

If a collar becomes trapped under real pressure, it releases.

That release can turn a moment that might escalate into something far more manageable.

For homes where dogs play together regularly, that added layer of safety can matter.

It Is Not About Eliminating Risk

Dogs do not live careful lives.

They run, wrestle, collide, and push boundaries without thinking twice.

That is part of what makes them who they are.

We cannot remove every risk from their world.

But we can make small, thoughtful choices that help protect them within it.

If you want a deeper look at how breakaway collars work and when they make the most sense, you can read our full Breakaway Collar Guide.

Breakaway Collars vs Quick Release Collars: Which is safer?

2026-03-25T17:12:53-05:00

If you have spent any time looking at dog collars, you've probably come across both breakaway and quick release collars.

At a glance, they can look similar.

They are not.

Both are designed with safety in mind, but they solve different problems. Understanding that difference matters, especially depending on how your dog lives day to day. If you are wondering how safe breakaway collars actually are, we go deeper into that here.

What Is a Quick Release Collar?

A quick release collar is what most people are familiar with.

It uses a buckle that opens when you press it. It is designed to stay securely fastened during normal activity and only comes off when you choose to release it.

This is what our flagship product and we’ve been making it for decades.

Adjustable collars are strong, reliable, and ideal for everyday use, especially for:

• leash walking
• training
• dogs that are handled regularly

For many dogs, a well-fitted adjustable collar is exactly what they need.

What Is a Breakaway Collar?

A breakaway collar is designed to release under pressure.

If it gets caught on a fence, a crate, a branch, or even another dog during play, it opens before the situation escalates.

That release is the difference.

It is not about convenience. It is about reducing risk in moments you cannot predict.

The Core Difference

The difference between breakaway and quick release collars comes down to this: one releases automatically under pressure and the other only opens when you unclip it.

Both are intentional designs. They just serve different purposes.

When Adjustable Collars Make the Most Sense

Adjustable collars remain the most common choice for a reason.

They are dependable and built for control.

They make the most sense for:

• daily walks on leash
• training
• situations where you need a collar to stay on

We still use them every day.

They do exactly what they are designed to do.

When Breakaway Collars Make More Sense

Breakaway collars are designed for a different kind of risk.

They make the most sense in:

• multi-dog households (for some dogs)
• homes where dogs wrestle and grab collars
• crate use
• fence running
• dogs wearing collars primarily for ID

If you have ever watched dogs play together, you know how quickly things can escalate.

Most of the time it is harmless. Occasionally it is not.

That is where a collar designed to release can make a difference.

Where Some Breakaway Collars Fall Short

Breakaway collars have a mixed reputation for a reason.

Some of them open too easily.

If a collar releases during normal movement or light play, it becomes frustrating and unsustainable. Collars get lost. Dogs lose their ID. Owners stop using them.

We have experienced that ourselves and it's why we spent time designing something different.

A breakaway collar has to strike a balance. It needs to release under real pressure, but not during everyday activity.

Finding the Right Balance

This is not about choosing one collar and declaring it the safest.

It is about matching the collar to your dog and your environment.

For some dogs, an adjustable collar is the right choice.

For others, especially in more dynamic environments, a breakaway collaradds an extra layer of safety.

Like us, many people end up using both.

So Which Is Safer?

It depends on what you are trying to protect against.

If your priority is control and consistency, adjustable collars are extremely reliable.

If your concern is entanglement, snagging, or collar grabbing during play, a breakaway collar is designed for that specific risk.

Safety is not one-size-fits-all.

It is about understanding how your dog lives and choosing gear that supports that reality.

If you want a deeper look at how breakaway collars work and when they make the most sense, you can read our full Breakaway Collar Guide.

Are Breakaway Dog Collars Safe? What Owners Should Know

2026-03-13T16:19:25-05:00

this was a question i thought i knew the answer to for a long time and it was “absolutely not.”

it turns out, with a little education and a more open-mind, i learned the short the answer is actually “absolutely yes.”

the long answer is: it depends on how they’re designed and used.

So are breakaway collars safe for dogs? In many situations, yes. A well-designed breakaway collar is meant to release under pressure if it gets caught on something like a fence, a crate, or another dog during play. That release can help prevent the kind of entanglement accidents that traditional collars simply cannot.

and if you live with dogs the way we do, in a full, messy, joyful, multi-dog pack, that nuance matters.

what is a breakaway collar?

a breakaway collar is designed to release under pressure.

if a collar gets caught on a fence, a crate, a branch, or even another dog’s teeth during play, it’s meant to open before something awful happens.

that’s the theory and the theory is sound.

traditional collars don’t release at all. if they get caught, they stay caught.

but, and this is important, not all breakaway collars are created the same. The differences between breakaway collars and standard quick release collars also matter when thinking about safety.

where things get complicated

when i first learned of breakaway collars i had nothing but doubts.

how do you walk a dog with a collar that’s designed to open?
how much pressure does it take to release?
would it pop open during normal play?
would i constantly be replacing lost collars?

these are real concerns.

And after almost three decades designing dog collars and living with a large pack of rescue dogs, they were concerns I took seriously.

we tested one a few years ago and it was gone within 15 minutes.

months later it turned up in our yard (how does this always happen with dogs), i put it back on and then it quickly disappeared for good.

it felt safer but realistically just not sustainable.

a collar that opens when it shouldn’t can mean your dog suddenly isn’t wearing id or there's no way to wrangle them and that matters.

it also matters to your wallet.

when breakaway collars make the most sense

in my opinion, and this comes from decades of living with a pack of dogs, breakaways make the most sense in:

• multi-dog households
• homes where dogs wrestle and grab collars
• crate users
• fence runners
• dogs who wear collars primarily for id

if dogs play together regularly, collar grabbing happens. it just does.

and that’s where a collar designed to release can be the difference between a scare and something worse.

but they’re not for every situation

breakaway collars are not meant for tie-outs.

they shouldn’t be used for leash walking unless both d-rings engaged.

they’re a safety feature, not a magic solution.

like anything in the world, proper use matters.

so… are they safe?

absolutely, resoundingly yes.

when they are thoughtfully designed and used correctly.

we can’t bubble-wrap our dogs. they run, wrestle, sprint fence lines, dive into crates, and live life at full speed.

but we can make small design choices that reduce risk.

that’s what led us to rethink how breakaways work and eventually design our own adjustable pressure system; one that releases under real pressure but doesn’t just pop open during normal play.

and, because you know your dog best, it puts the control safely in your hands.

learn more about our breakaway collars here

i’m not writing this to fearmonger but to let you know safety is now attainable and sustainable.

i’m writing because i’ve heard the stories firsthand and worried about it myself.

if there’s a way to reduce even one preventable accident in someone else’s pack, it’s worth talking about.

at the end of the day, your dog’s safety shouldn’t be a commodity, it should be about protection.

The Call That Changed How I Think About Dog Collar Safety

2026-02-18T18:22:38-06:00

i’ll never forget a call i got at work a few years ago. a woman called to ask about our martingale collars and in the conversation i told her we didn’t recommend leaving them on unsupervised. what ensued from there was a horrifying conversation. a store had sold her one of our martingale collars and not educated her about the dangers. one day her dogs were playing, one got tangled in the other’s collar, and before she could get them free, her dog had passed. this has played in my head over and over ever since.

i’d heard of breakaway collars but to be frank i didn't understand how they worked and poo-pooed them out of the gate. i didn’t understand how you contained your dog with a collar that snaps off with pressure and it seemed more bad than good to me.

i did get a little more educated but the issue still remained that any breakaway collar opens with a very small amount of pressure. i bought one and it was gone within a few hours - it did turn up again a few months later (dogs…am i right?) but was very quickly gone for good after that.

that’s when we set out to design something better and i’m so proud we did. our (patent pending) velcro closure system adds an adjustable tension to the breakaway collar, giving you controlled release if a collar gets caught, without constant accidental pop-offs that ultimately hurt your wallet.

like you, my dogs’ safety is really important to me and i’m so happy we're able to offer a safer version of a collar should people want it. i believe wholeheartedly that collars should be worn 24-7 for a myriad of reasons but there are inherent dangers with that for some dogs. We’ve been lucky over the years, but others haven’t been as fortunate and i didn’t want our luck to run out.

living with one dog teaches you a lot but living with a pack of dogs for decades teaches you everything. over the years we’ve seen it all; wrestling matches that go awry, sprinting the fence line, dogs in crates, dogs grabbing each other by the collar while playing, a dog tag getting stuck in a vent. all of those can be accidents waiting to happen unless your dog is wearing a breakaway and with other breakaways it’s also a lost collar. dogs don’t move carefully…the live life to the fullest.

what we set out to do was pretty simple: if a collar ever gets caught, it should open but it shouldn’t fall off just because dogs are being dogs.

that balance, safety without constant loss, became something we thought about for a long time.

when you live in a multi-dog home, you see how collars are really used. they’re tugged, rolled on, grabbed mid-wrestle. they go through mud, rain, zoomies, and naps in a tangled pile. safety isn’t theoretical here. it’s daily life. that’s why we built a breakaway system differently, something that releases under real pressure, but doesn’t just pop off during normal play.

if you’re curious how our breakaway system works (and whether it’s right for your dog), we put together a full guide explaining it here:

read the breakaway collar guide

i’m personally really proud of what we created and i’m intensely grateful for that extra sense of safety (and more importantly the absence of fear) these collars bring to our lives and our dogs’ lives.

how to put on a dog harness | h-style

2017-10-13T18:08:00-05:00

harnesses can be confounding things to figure out for the first time so we put together a short video on fitting our h-style hemp dog harnesses and how to put on a dog harness...

i hope it's helpful for you. we plan on making more how to videos so if there's something you'd like to see please let me know.

on pow: this dog is a super large handful...super.large.handful. but he definitely earned his keep today. he's a typical terrier; so, so much work and such a jerk while conversely being an absolute gem, usually at the exact time you're ready to kill him thus earning himself another breath.

wherein i save you from the edge of a cliff

2017-09-28T16:37:00-05:00

dave & i both unintentionally created cliffhangers last week via social media and i thought i would take some time to address them both.

in an instagram post last week dave mentioned moose was spending the day at our vet for cushing’s testing. moose has been having some issues the past several weeks and we were struggling to get to the bottom of them. for weeks he has been drinking all of the water (all.of.the.water) and subsequently flooding our house on a constant basis. he definitely had a uti and treatment seemed to make the situation better until it was no longer better. after more testing and the emergence of some further symptoms we (and by we i mean our vet) nailed down the diagnosis. moose has pituitary dependent cushing’s and hypothyroidism with a secondary uti. myself, dave, moose and our floors and carpets are happy to report that after 1-1/2 weeks on medication he is doing so much better. he seems more himself and our house is drying out. because we haven’t had him a terribly long time and realistically don’t “know” him some of his symptoms were a bit evasive and some seemed like just a bulldog in summer; ie, panting more, drinking more water, less active. now that he’s being treated we can clearly see that he feels better and is more himself. i hate that it took us so long to nail down the diagnosis and that we missed some signs but unfortunately that can be part and parcel with a newly adopted rescue dog.

in a blog post last week i mentioned that we potentially may not be able to stay in our current home and place of operation for earthdog and some people were wondering why. earthdog has now been in business for 20 years and as such, in a fast-paced, changing retail landscape we could probably be considered dinosaurs. adaptation to social media demands and e-commerce trends require constant attention and in some ways neither of us are the best adaptors. one particular thing we grapple with is that we are two people who are generally allergic to attention and cameras being pointed our way. not the best characteristics to have in the age of selfies, self-promoting, inside looks and “behind the curtain” sensibilities that are so popular now. we would much prefer to let the dogs be the face of our business! the state of retail continues to change rapidly and many of our retailers have closed, sold their stores or changed their business model. clearly many of our cherished, independent retailers have been faced with their own challenges of rising rents and trying to compete with amazon. we made the decision at the very start to not sell to big box stores or large, discount websites. that has definitely held us back to a degree but we’ve always felt that it was better to stand for something and we would never had built the business we did if it weren’t for the “little guys” who brought earthdog into their stores. interestingly, at the same time we have seen the rise of earthdog popularity overseas, particularly in japan and south korea where dog culture is clearly changing. it is still a trip for us to see on instagram these products we make pop up on dogs in far away places with captions and comments that we can’t read.

we are currently trying to work out what earthdog 2.0 should look like. we all love this house and it felt like home the minute we saw it so we’re hoping to stay but if that can’t happen i will be forever grateful for the time we’ve had here. for now we’re going to adapt, change and grow however we can. that means focusing on the things we do best, like our decorative line (new styles in the works), exploring and being open to new ideas and inspirations that we can bring forth from our dog-centric life and identifying new venues to promote and sell earthdog. let me know if there’s a great dog product supply shop where you are that should be selling earthdog!

Friendship Collar | New Dog Collars | Earthdoglife

2014-06-05T19:20:00-05:00

so i don't usually write about earthdog-related things here (although i'm not sure why since somebody's gotta buy the stuff or these dogs will be eating us for dinner) however on this occasion i can’t contain my excitement so please excuse this small bit of promotion.

i've long been a fan of friendship bracelets - i love the colors, the patterns and the craftsmanship. after murray died i sewed his id tag on an old bracelet i had made in college and when that one wore out i got a new one and sewed it on that and so on and so on. at this point i have no idea what number i'm on but since losing murray his tag on a friendship bracelet has had a permanent place on my wrist.

dave and i are pretty much constantly trying to come up with new collar designs and a few weeks ago it dawned on me that a friendship bracelet pattern would make an awesome collar and so we got to work on it. when we got the sample trim i was so excited - i think it came out beautiful and i couldn't wait to get it on a dog. jack seemed the best recipient since: (a) he’s in best friend training and (b) since his arrival he’s been wearing the zander which ronan is also wearing and in this house doubled patterns is a cardinal sin. the new dog friendship bracelet (the speck) is currently in production and will be on the site and ready to ship by the end of the weekend. really if anyone in your life deserves a symbol of friendship isn't it your dog?

up next will be a jack update but here's a teaser: he's fantastic!

an inside look

2013-07-18T16:00:00-05:00

a while back dave got in his head that he wanted to do a promo video for earthdog. i eventually went along with it, kicking and screaming the whole way...

say cheese

2012-07-18T20:37:16-05:00

back in october (i’ve never claimed to be timely) we had the pleasure of being photographed by adrian hitt, an accomplished nashville pet photographer. i should start by mentioning that i absolutely hate having my picture taken - the hatred is alleviated only mildly when there’s a dog with me in the photograph. i’m finding i’m having to get used to it more and more as dave’s interest in photography increases but the idea of a “photography session” was slightly nightmarish to me. we’ve known adrian for a few years and had been planning to schedule a session with her for a while before it actually worked out. as much as i was dreading the actual session i was excited for the end result of some family photos.

the session was in no way a nightmare – adrian was really easy to work with and it all felt very natural. she was awesome with the dogs and they in turn were great with her. she was set on getting an entire family portrait, even if it had to pieced together, but after spending some time trying to make it happen it was clear the dogs were not going to comply with her wishes. apparently a popular pet photographer trick to getting good shots of a dog is using cheese. this trick did not translate well to our family – what it did was guarantee that she had at least 14 dogs salivating all over her (and her equipment) the entire time.

all in all it was a fantastic experience and we ended with great shots of every dog and some partial family photos we will always treasure. because dave has become such a fantastic photographer we have a ton of great photos of our dogs so i wasn’t really expecting anything other than some group shots and at least one photo of dave & i and some dogs together. i ended up being really surprised with so many of the individual dog shots – the dogs looked at adrian in a totally different way than they look at us so we actually ended up with really different, equally fantastic photos of each of them. some of them still make me laugh out loud every time i look at them (flanagan's especially is a total joy).

here are some of adrian’s favorites:

i may have overdone it with jewel's hair in this one:

i feel so unbelievably grateful that murray was with us for this day...we lost him the following week. adrian got some fabulous photos of him that i will always treasure. this is one of my favorites:

i'm certain this will remain one of my all-time favorites of dave & i together:

dave will be absolutely horrified when he sees this photo that i'm sharing with you but i don't pretend to be ansel adams* which gives me the freedom to share crap. it's important to me to share with you a picture of this wall in our house because it entirely encapsulates a moment in time. the stark reality of the nature of the family we've chosen to spend our lives with is it's ever evolving, certainly not by our choice but by the reality of the life span of dogs. this wall hits the pause button on our family at that time and that is extremely precious and imperative to me. take the photo with a grain of salt but the idea of it with it's intention:

if you’re local to nashville i highly recommend hiring adrian. if you’re thinking you have a bunch of photos of your dog and more aren’t necessary i strongly urge you to reconsider…the difference in your dog interacting with someone else creates a totally different expression than you probably normally see.

*i'm in no way implying dave fancies himself ansel adams

pitbull awareness day 2010

2010-10-21T14:16:57-05:00

for the third year we will be sponsoring the spay station at the nashville event on sat. free neuters will be done on site (by appt) and vouchers will be handed out for free spays & neuters at fix for life in lebanon, tn. come join in the festivities - it should be a beautiful day. this fine little lady will be joining dave & i...

click here for a state by state listing of events and here for more information on the nashville event.

we tweet, therefore we are

2009-03-06T15:47:51-06:00

want to keep up with what carly’s destroying? want snippets of information from the innards of earthdog? want a look through the tiny lens of dave’s obsessive iphone photo snapping? want to wonder where yet another 10 minutes of your day went? hey then we’ve got just the thing...join us on twitter:

www.twitter.com/earthdogkym

www.twitter.com/earthdogdave

stuff it

2008-11-11T20:44:39-06:00

one of the components of our bed stuffing is a recycled poly-cotton that is delivered to us in a very tightly bound 700-lb block of hell. in the old days dave and i would single-handedly have to figure out how to maneuver this fat chunk thing into a very small hallway where we actually stuffed the beds. fortunately that is no longer the case and neither one of us suffered any hernias. the bed stuffing now takes place in a separate building and the block of “fuzz” stays intact until it’s gone. many of the dogs agree that the bed is actually superfluous – they’re quite happy with just the raw fuzz block. we apparently stumbled upon some great stuffing...

dare to dream

2008-11-05T17:44:27-06:00

pitbull awareness day was an enormous success. the spay station neutered 46 dogs in one day – i can’t believe i just typed 46 dogs!! fix for life also gave out a large number of certificates for free spays. it was overwhelming to see all the cages filled with dogs from our community. it really made us hopeful that someday there can be an end to the overpopulation problem in nashville. we were absolutely honored to be a part of it.

pitbull awareness day

2008-10-24T18:43:59-05:00

tomorrow is pitbull awareness day in nashville and earthdog and kody’s fund are sponsoring the spay station. the spay station will be parked at edgehill village and will be neutering 38 (not a typo...38) pitbull/pitbull mixes. we're proud to be able to fund this amazing event. if you're in the nashville area please come down to edgehill village tomorrow between 11-2. they will also be giving away certificates for no cost spay & neuter surgeries to be done at fix for life.

if you've done any foster or rescue work in nashville then chances are high you have or have had a pit bull variety. we have a serious problem with dog fighting and many of the stray dogs on the streets are pit and pit mixes - wonderful dogs that just need a chance. spaying and neutering is a real world solution to an abhorrent problem. this event is a great step in the right direction for nashville.

sara femlee of the spay station/fix for life

these things happen in business

2008-08-21T01:57:50-05:00

i don’t know if any of you frequent dogstar – if you do don’t expect to see earthdog popping up there anytime soon. i received a cold call from michael, a member of their “establishment”, a few months ago followed by a very short but lively email conversation with them. i’ve had the emal in my inbox for a few months and since i chuckle every time i read it i thought i would share it with you. first the backstory…as i said, i received a sales call and since i was busy at the time and was not familiar with the website i asked michael if he could email me information. he said he could email or fax me at which time i said “please don’t fax anything…if you can email it i’ll take a look at it and get back to you.” no less than 1 minute later our fax machine starts ringing and do you know what it was? do you? i think you might be right – it was a fax from dogstar – a word document much less (easily emailable, right). come on michael our environmental footprint is not gonna lessen itself. now i will admit i got pretty incensed and immediately shot off a slightly obnoxious email without really thinking about it – it was not the most businesslike of emails. it went something like this (capitals have been left in to retain the integrity of the email):

On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 4:45 PM, earthdog wrote:

Michael,

When I spoke to you on the phone I specifically stated that I did not wish to receive marketing materials via fax and yet you faxed the materials anyway, apparently after finding our fax number on our website. Why in the world would you fax a text document (that could easily be emailed) if you were specifically told NOT to fax the information? When you are cold calling potential customers it would be in your best interest to listen to them, especially if you are trying to form a long-lasting relationship with them. That being said our 2008 marketing/advertising budget is spoken for.

kym

earthdog
good for the earth...even better for your dog
www.earthdog.com

not so much a well thought out email, i’ll give you that. in the future i should probably take some time before shooting emails off. it was all worth it for the gem i received back:

Great kym you will never advertise on our sites. Also learn some respect - welcome to our blacklist -- We do not deal with jerks. CYA!!! Jim Webmaster

to you webmaster jim i say touché…well played.

takin' care of bidness

2008-08-14T21:28:44-05:00

just a few things that need to be mentioned. first off i want to profusely thank you for the amazing emails i've received since i started this blog. i feel like a little too much altruism is being attributed to dave & i but it is definately much appreciated...flattery will definately get you everywhere. i'm still struggling with the idea of the blog - to think that people would actually be interested in reading about our life seems a bit pompous. i also struggle with what to write about - you guys can definately help by pointing me in the right direction - is it just the dogs that are interesting, do you enjoy the pictures and videos, do you seriously want to hear about our life???? it makes my head hurt when i think of it. i do have to say, as much as i struggle with the writing side of it, it is so enjoyable to share these stories and share my dogs and their antics with you. we're just plugging away at our little life here and the fact that some people see it as worthy of reading and then to email with very kind words is pretty amazing and i thank you from the bottom of my heart. please let me know what you'd like to see or i might have to succumb to dave's wishes of "more speck please."

on another note i have finally gotten the start of our kody’s fund website up. kody's fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that dave & i started to fund spay & neuter programs. check it out if you feel so inclined - at the very least you should check out the kody pics (they alone are worth the price of admission).

how's uranus?

2008-07-20T22:31:31-05:00

it’s been a tuckus intensive day. i spent the first portion of my day at a buddhist retreat sitting away the hours. dave and i then spent the rest of the day pointing and clicking, updating the website with some changes including new collar patterns, the phineus-1 and simon-2. it's crazy how much work goes into website maintenance and how many hours just slip away while juggling images, data, too many open windows and applications. ahh computers, how we love thee. we made some good progress but didn't get quite as far as we had hoped. stay tuned for new dog images and further updates but now the dogs call. it's playtime and the obligatory throwing of the red balls ritual followed by their favorite part - dinner. it's sauna-like today in nashville so after a few good throws the red balls in mouth will no doubt be replaced simply with enormous red tongues, hanging sideways begging for mercy.

media boy

2008-04-02T18:50:43-05:00

dave did an internet radio interview yesterday on wendy’s animal talk. you can listen to the interview here - scroll to the 4/01 show to listen to the interview in its entirety. dave comes on around the 7:30 mark. i’m glad he was the one to field the call…if i had done the interview it would have been filled with a lot more gobbledygook. after listening to how well he did i'm trying to convince him to do a weekly or montlhy podcast - stay tuned to see if i win this one.

new website coming soon

2007-10-17T20:38:06-05:00

we're hard at work on our new site and hope to go live with it by next week. for now the old site is still viable (just barely), earthdog

about me

2007-10-05T14:52:00-05:00

this really should be an "about us" blog post. i'm kym colella and the “us” is my husband dave and our 16 dogs. together we are all equal partners in earthdog (a hemp dog product manufacturing company). i say equal partners because dave & i do all the actual work and the dogs provide us with inspiration, photos and the use of their names.

many people ask, and i'm sure still more wonder, "what could possibly have gone on in your life to have ended up with 16 dogs?" i imagine if you've read this far that you too may be curious so here's a brief history and explanation. let’s start at the beginning. i grew up in a multi-dog household and have had a lifelong passion for animals. when i was 19 i was incredibly fortunate to have adopted kody, an amazing 3-legged shepherd/collie mix who changed my life. he was my faithful companion for 14 years and i will forever consider myself lucky to have had him in my life.

when dave & i met i had 2 dogs. i like to say dave was a “normal” dog lover. i think at the time i believed i was too but apparently there was a fanatic lurking just below the surface. it wasn’t until we moved from new jersey to nashville that things changed - and fast. the homeless dog population here is something i had never experienced before and it hit me hard. a few months after moving we bought our first house - a diamond-in-the-rough complete with an ample-sized, fenced yard and soon after the pack grew to five. wanting to do something to help the homeless dog issue, i began fostering for the nashville humane society and over the course of the next 2 years we had over 100 dogs pass through our house while they either recovered from an ailment that prevented them from being adoptable or, in a few cases, until a pregnant mother had her pups. through all this time dave was quite the trooper and incredibly understanding. sometimes i'd have to concede when he’d put his foot down and plea for a break in the action but most other times i was able to talk him down - especially after he saw the particular dog in question. somewhere along the line i broke him entirely, evidenced by him on one occasion turning up back at home just minutes after leaving for work with a stray rottweiler in tow. i do think he would agree when i suggest that, given a choice, he wouldn’t change the course of our journey and life together - right dave? it seems that once you have a fenced yard and open up your door to a few wandering, homeless dogs they tend to just keep coming. the pack we've come to call our family are all rescues who one way or another found their way to us or us to them. with all the love and laughter they provide i'm not entirely sure who really rescued who.

earthdog began a little over 19 years ago and became a business quite by accident largely as a result of the foster work we were doing. since getting kody i had always been on the prowl for great collars to outfit my dogs and the choices at the time were very limited. not finding ones that really moved me, and feeling a bit crafty, we decided to make our own. we put a few of our new collar creations on the foster dogs who were returning to the shelter for adoption and found we were getting a lot of compliments on our work. soon after, when one of the humane society employees took up the management position at a new dog shop in nashville and asked to buy our collars, we had our first order and "earthdog" was born. we named our collars after our dogs and they were, and continue to be, the inspiration for all the various earthdog products that came to follow. we both feel incredibly grateful that we have been able to work together on a business that fuels our spirit and creativity. we live and breathe earthdog and it is truly a family endeavor.

after several years of growth we reached a point where the business was exploding out of our house. there was no more room to add outbuildings and we had a decision to make. we knew if we moved the business to a separate location it was highly unlikely that all 11 (at the time) dogs were going to get in the van every day to go to work with us – which was absolutely unthinkable. dave also wasn't a big fan of this idea, finding it a bit impractical. we both agreed that earthdog would somehow remain a home-based business so house hunting we went, both of us thinking it could take forever to find the right place. our wish list was pretty unrealistic: enough house for us and the dogs; a large, fenced yard; a basement for dave's music room; and, of course, a lot of space for the business with plenty of room for expansion. just five houses later we found it and knew right away it could be the "earthdog compound." this place had it all - a house with a large office, even larger outbuildings and 4 acres already fully fenced. one month later it was ours and we found out very quickly it was the right choice for us. we're just not the kind of business that could function in a business park or office building.

a few months after we moved in with our 11 dogs, hurricane katrina hit and dave & i went to new orleans for a weekend to volunteer with noah’s wish, an amazing organization that works on behalf of animals in disaster situations. we fully expected to be coming home with a hurricane dog, but wisely all the dogs were being held in the area in hopes of making happy reunions with their displaced families. we left in a weakened state - it was impossible to not be affected by the sight of such devastation and scores of homeless animals. i guess we thought we had some space in our new home and within a few weeks we had adopted 3 dogs, bringing us to 14. a year later 2 more dogs came along that needed out of their current situations so here we are at a current count of 16. i can’t say whether that number will grow (never say never) but i’m pretty sure it won’t be getting smaller. with the amount of homeless dogs out there i think dave & i both feel an obligation - we know we can handle 16 so when we have a spot open it will probably get filled. we have had to deal with the loss of several dogs at this point and it is something that rips us apart and never gets any easier. unfortunately, we knowingly open ourselves up to that loss exponentially with the amount of dogs we have. that being said, the amount of joy and love that these beings have brought to our lives is immeasurable and, as hard as it is to lose them, it is something that i wouldn’t trade for the world.

our life is definitely outside the box and not for everyone. living with a pack of dogs is a lifestyle and we have been very fortunate to create a business out of that lifestyle. there are some common questions/misconceptions we are often asked about which i will address: our dogs are "inside" dogs (unless we’re outside, then they're dogs outside); they all get along 99% of the time, excepting the occasional, inevitable scuffle; we do go out of town together, though not often or for long periods of time, thanks to various experienced, dog-loving sitters we've been fortunate to have. we have a wonderful vet, use about 75 lbs. of food a week, and no, it's not crazy expensive to have 16 dogs. we have a very "normal" house with regular furniture and a dyson vacuum that we couldn't live without. i sometimes cringe when i'm asked how many dogs we have – i always feel that after i say “16” the person in question imagines us living in a concrete hole with lawn furniture. hopefully this blog will sway some of those thoughts!

i started this blog to share my experiences living with a pack of dogs. my hope is that it will be both entertaining and informative. (we have picked-up some good dog-related knowledge along the way which might be of help to someone out there.) it’s also the simple musings of a girl who, with a bit of luck, happened upon an amazing life. my hope is to be able to provide a glimpse into that world. i consider myself incredibly fortunate to get to spend my days and nights with my husband & 16 dogs, surrounded by a ton of love and laughter.

please take a moment to leave a comment or email me. i look forward to your questions, thoughts and comments as to what you’d like to see here or where i should go.

enjoy! kym colella