Once inside she leaves footprints on the floor. I quickly take a marker and trace an image of one before it dries. Capturing a moment and adding a tattoo to our old wood floors. Now there is a reminder of this morning and the delight of a dog and her person.

She stands and shakes, which reminds me of an article I read about how scientists revealed how fast dogs much shake to dry off their fur. If you’ve ever seen a dog trying to shake itself dry after taking a plunge into water, or perhaps while standing next to the person who just gave it a bath, you’ve probably noticed that the technique can throw off an amazing amount of water.

Andrew Dickerson, a graduate student at Georgia Tech says that is all part of nature’s design. He studied how fast different animals oscillate their bodies to shed water droplets.

Researchers found that both bears and dogs shake off at a similar speed. And it turns out the smaller the animal, the faster that it needs to shake to dry.

This work may have real-world applications in improving the design of washing machines.

I wouldn’t recommend a human try to duplicate the shake off, which is, by many rights a dog’s trick. Diamond is barely damp now, sleeping on the settee next to me, her paw print etched on the floor, and a prediction for showers all day.

One thing that Diamond does wear well is accessories, as in bling. With a name like Diamond how could she not look great with an extra bit of sparkle and shine?

After we adopted her, one of the first stops we made was a pet boutique where they had fabulous collars, including a black leather one embellished with rhinestone dog bones.

When she outgrew it, I wanted to hold on to the precious memories of her first few months with us, so I removed the pendant from the collar, added some additional ones, and gave it to a jewelry designer who created a necklace that I adore.

Yes, it is very bling and a bit over-the-top, and it is absolutely perfect. It is my instant touchstone for reliving Diamond’s puppyhood. Check out how well she wears it in today’s photo.

You can repurpose things like collars as well as leashes. I have a great belt made from an early leash. A shoe repair shop helped me create it and it looks great with jeans, in black of course!

Actually, it’s from a toy purchased especially for her at a thrift store. A quarter really can buy your dog about an hour or so of delight.

In another lifetime, before she was a princess, Diamond must have been a skilled surgeon. After removing any of the parts that aren’t safe, Doctor Diamond gets her treasure, or latest patient. She’s a shredder. Using her teeth like a scalpel, she deftly slices an incision that gives her teeth easy access to remove the offending stuffing.

Before long she is surrounded by mounds of white fluff. And satisfied with her work, she snuggles among it and takes a quick nap.

There are a few ground rules…

Pick the best quality plush that your local thrift store has to offer, the clean ones without removable eyes or other parts are the best. This is not a leave-this-toy-with-your-dog-and-go-for-a-quick-jaunt-to-the-mall kind of toy. This is a supervised activity.

Pretend you’re in the gallery of the operating room watching a skilled medical procedure. Plus not only will your dog have fun for that quarter, you will, too.

Once the devastation is complete, remove all traces of the fun and put it out of your dog’s reach. The good news is that you won’t need a shovel.

2010′s Top 10 Most Popular Adoptable-Dog Names

1. Buddy
2. Max
3. Daisy
4. Bella
5. Lucy
6. Jack
7. Molly
8. Charlie
9. Sadie
10. Rocky

Though they were originally made to be disposable, vintage dog license tags which are a bit creative are now highly collectible. Especially shapes like doghouses, acorns, police shields, dog bones and dog-head silhouettes. More unusual forms can also be found: six-pointed stars, three-leaf clovers, locks, keystones and butterflies. There is even an International Society of Animal License Collectors.

In 1888, a stray Terrier mix named Owney was informally adopted by the U.S. Railway Mail Service. Owney’s travels began in Albany, New York; riding on mail sacks, he journeyed all over the U.S. As he traveled, employees of the Railway Mail Service would attach tokens and dog licenses to his custom-made harness and jacket.

Because of his history of “collecting” tags, Owney is also the unofficial mascot of the International Society of Animal License Collecting, a fiercely devoted club dedicated to preserving the history of dog tags.

With the rise of middle-class pet ownership in the nineteenth century, the bureaucracy involved with dog licensing expanded and the appearance and design of the tags and licenses themselves became more involved.

The earliest form was paper dog licenses. They came in a variety of colors, with details of the dog being licensed on the front; sometimes a printed image of a dog appeared as well. The next step, toward the end of the 19th century, was metal license tags.

Our choice of collar tags is Boomerang Collar Tags. They are made of stainless steel and extremely durable. We love that the tag can include her microchip information as well as several phone contacts. Since Diamond has an everyday collar and others for special occasions, she has a Boomerang collar tag for each collar.

Today’s image is from yesterday’s photo shoot with Zeus. Diamond played with the handsome puppy at the end and they had a great time together. It’s such a joy to meet another dog and great dog person.

By the way, any guesses as to what famous person was issued a military dog tag with the number 53310761? Here a hint, one of his dogs was named Brutus, and there is another well-known dog connection. Tag, you’re it.

When they teamed with early humans, our four-legged friends developed special talents to help us. Ancestors of greyhounds and whippets detected prey with their sharp eyes then it was off to the races, no mechanical rabbit necessary.

Evolving scent hounds smelled the footprints with the stamina to follow them for hours. Terriers cleared our farms of vermin.

Getting food took skill and cunning, using the brain as much as physical attributes.

Fast forward to the 21st century and now these highly evolved specialists have checked their tools at the kitchen door, as they simply show up and a meal is plopped into a bowl and shoved under their noses. Because the meal is typically consumed so quickly – wolfed down – it can easily become the canine version of fast food; something that puts it squarely in conflict with an intense hunting history.

Like modern humans, dogs lead lives of luxury today when compared to the struggle for survival in the past. The life of plenty is a good thing, but it tends to make dogs overweight and underutilized.

Dogs weren’t bored when they had to work for food. Famed animal behaviorist and animal training publisher Ian Dunbar says that by not allowing pets to pursue and earn food, we steal their life. When we steal their life, they become like a really rich person who doesn’t have to work and is unhappy just being served. “Without a doubt, regularly feeding a new puppy (or adult dog) from a bowl is the single most disastrous mistake in dog husbandry and training. Within seconds of gulping, the poor dog now faces a mental void for the rest of the day with nothing but long, lonely hours to worry and fret, or work itself into a frenzy,” says Dunbar.

So how does a dog person put some challenge back into their dog’s eating?

The answer: Replace the dog’s food bowl with a variety of food puzzles and hide them around the house.

When Diamond eats a meal of kibble out of her Leo toy, it takes about a half an hour or longer to push, paw, roll, grab-and-drop the bowling pin shaped toy to get kibble to drop out of the spout or crosscut openings.

Watching a dog work “soooo hard to eat” makes some people comment, “They seem frustrated about getting food out of that puzzle. Isn’t that cruel?”

Behaviorists call this food motivated exercise, “constructive discontent.” We can treat boredom using constructive discontent (hunger) to expend energy, and stimulate intelligent problem solving, resulting in dogs that are physically healthy, smarter, and more emotionally fulfilled.

Having a job to do, a challenge, a problem to solve that is within your abilities to do is what keeps us alive, aware and engaged in our lives and the same is true for our canine companions.

(We love songs and their lyrics, in fact, our company’s name, Working Like a Dog, was inspired by the Beatles tune, “A Hard Day’s Night.” Today’s blog title comes from “From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”)

When you’re ready to adopt, don’t pass those BBD (big, black dogs) by. They are the dogs most often overlooked, and most often euthanized. They are the dogs who remain ever hopeful to the last minute.

The general public is not aware of how doomed black dogs are when they are taken to a pound.

One shelter this year made Black Friday a day to remember as black dogs and cats were able to go home with qualified adopters at no charge. Now that beats shopping with crazed bargain hunting lunatics in the quest for the latest toys and gadgets. These loving animals, unlike the toys, will become children’s best friends, their confidants, their protectors, long after the holidays are but a memory.

Tamara Delaney of Woodsville, Wisconsin makes a difference, one black dog at a time. She launched www.blackpearldogs.com, helping black dogs get off of death row.

Let’s all take a second, third, and fourth look at those big, black dogs. Every dog deserves their day. It doesn’t just have to be on Black Fridays.

When we had our Irish Wolfhounds we ordered a dump truck load of sand to be delivered. When we told the driver that we wanted the sand in the backyard for our dogs, he just shook his head. We were living in a rural town at the time in an area where it wasn’t uncommon, but still heartbreaking, to see dogs riding precariously in the back of pickup trucks. Paying for a delivery of sand for dogs to dig in was beyond his comprehension.

The dogs loved it. They played King and Queen of the hill for months, and it is a happy memory.

Diamond is more an excavator than a digger. She puts her entire body into the dig. Sometimes both front legs are simultaneously tossing dirt in all directions. She rolls and even digs on her side. So much happiness from a bit of dirt.

If only life were that uncomplicated for us, but perhaps there is a lesson that we can take away. The little things can make us ecstatic if we would only allow them. Dirt may not be that thing, but a sunrise, an unexpected connection to an old or new friend, or a loving lick from your dog. All of that can bring pleasure if we are open to it.

A compromise can easily be made in regard to digging. There are a lot of articles that discuss making a designated dig place, usually three or four feet square, loosening the dirt and even adding sand and toys to be discovered. Diamond must have read this information because, on her own, she devoted a space about that size in the shade of the backyard. When she is done, often she can fit her entire 50 pound body in her hole. It really makes her tail-wagging happy when she sees the shovel and I fill it back in.

And the cycle starts all over.

Eager to begin, I woke before dawn and watched Diamond, like a movie theater screen, go from a shadow of black to a faint blur of black and white. We lay in bed as the sunlight began to filter through the curtains with me lazily scratching her belly, her face, her legs. And Diamond seemed to be open to a change in routine as well, as she indulged herself with my attention, rather than rushing to the door to inspect any possible cat trespassing that may have occurred during her slumber.

Another suggestion for my adventure was to journal, and this blog is part of that process.

I read, with permission, some of my mother’s gratitude journals as I recently recreated and repurposed her environment for the first time since she became a widow. Now it’s a her house, more than a them house. And most of her entires, day after day, year after year, said she was grateful for her dog, Dixie, who remains her constant companion.

As I wake in the mornings, I am surrounded by photographs, large and small, of the dogs I have loved. Only Diamond is on this earth, but the dogs before her will never leave my heart. For they, as my own sporadic gratitude journals entries attest, had been the center of my days and nights, and that love endures.

Which reminds me of a poem by Mary Oliver…To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.

But letting go doesn’t mean forgetting.

If you want to start an adventure of your own, perhaps you will write of the things that make you laugh and cry, to cherish as the sunlight filters through your window in the morning, while scratching a grateful and beloved dog.

The answer is simple genetics. They’ve been genetically programmed to trample their sleeping areas in the wild so that the grass is tamped down to make a comfortable resting place.

Diamond and I sleep in a bed fit for royalty, yet even in this nuturing surrounding nature plays a role. She considers the bed to be her den and I often find bones, sticks, toys and other treasures hoarded there for safekeeping.

According to American humorist Robert Benchley, a dog teaches a child three things: fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. I’d say that is just the beginning of a much longer list.