Dog Tracks, WIN A CD
There’s a CD 0ut called Dog Tracks, all the songs are from a dog’s perspective. It includes a variety of song styles, genres usually called Roots Americana. So, how did this all come about? It all started with Bob Dorman, and a contest.
A few years ago I entered an informal songwriting contest. I sat down with my guitar, pencil and paper but couldn’t think of anything to write about.
As usual, my dog (Mabel, Rat Terrier, adopted June 2001) was lying on the floor watching me. Dogs are a great audience because they think everything you do is fantastic. They never criticize a poorly played note or off-key singing.
I jokingly asked Mabel to help me write a song (we talk to each other all the time; I use words but Mabel uses facial expressions and body language). The expression she replied with was one of those “How about me?”-looks she does when she wants attention. So I decided to try to write a song from her perspective.
My wife and I had just returned from a vacation in Hawaii during which Mabel stayed at the doggy hotel, so I decided to write about that. A few hours later I finished writing the first song, Wishin’ You Were Here:
I didn’t win the songwriting contest but I had so much fun with the idea that I decided to write more “dog songs.” Pretty soon I had quite a few songs…and the idea to make a CD of “dog songs” and sell it to raise money for rescue/adoption organizations.
Since adopting Mabel (rat terrier) in June 2001, I’ve become fascinated with how dogs think and learn. Of course, a big part of that has been to become more aware of how they communicate with us…and that’s what Dog Tracks is all about: stories from dogs (the best songs are simply a good way to tell a story).
We’re giving away five CD’s to Dogsters. It’s easy to win, just leave a comment in the comment section sharing if your pup ever listens to music or watches TV. The contest starts today and runs through Friday, March 6th when I will randomly choose the winners.
You can hear sample songs and order the CD at www.dogtracksCD.com, one dollar of the proceeds go to rescue organizations.
I,Tir- do not watch TV.
However my best friend, Target, (a JRT) is a huge TV fan. My Mom had to train him to attack one of his toys when the TV gets him going,(he ruined a couple of TVs at his house….
Now when he goes “off”, anyone can say-:”Targie- get your toy”, and he redirects his aggression to the hapless toy!
I personly like to listen to music,w/ my Mom…
Just yesterday, my 3 1/ 2yr. old Am. Staff, Rocky, was staring at the T.V. during the credits of some random movie, but the way he moved his head slightly up and down, it seemed as though he was reading all the names in the credits!
my male pup, ash, watches football and ice hockey, with an occasional discovery channel/animal planet show.
My family gets the biggest kick out of my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Jake Cooper. He will lay contentedly while we watch the television glancing at the set until some kind of animal or fight comes on, then he races to the TV barking frantically like he’s going to go right thru the TV! We have to sometimes change the channel just to calm him down. At all other times he is a little lover, cuddly, and so mild mannered. My parents who babysat Jake while we were on vacation said that we should tape him and send it in to the AFV show!
I can’t sit idly by and just listen. I sing duets with my daddy when he is singing opera. He sings tenor and I am pretty much a full out Diva dog soprano, so I never let him out do me. He sings mostly in something called italian, but I try to do my best canine translation. No broken glasses yet, but I’m working on it.
My toy poodle Cooper watches cartoons on Sat. mornings. Cooper likes soaps too, but I turn the channel on him. My golden doodle Annie likes to dance with me while listening to music of course.
The TV is not Zoe’s best friend. She barks at every animal she sees and there are a lot of animals on TV series and commericals. We do listen to alot of music together and does not have a preference except she does not like the WHO. Everytime a CSI program comes on we mute the music! It puts her into a frenzy, but we don’t know why. At night, just before bed, I put on some soft music to wind us down for the day. It is part of our routine and we both enjoy it. So Zoe loves music except for the Who! Sorry Roger & Pete, but Mom loves ya!
BOL! Mommy just played a few of the tunes from their website and since she loves ‘Blues Music’ she started dancing around – and I figured what the heck…….. so I joined her.
Cool CD.
I love it! and you help out rescues!
Arroooo!
SAMSON
Mudge, our couch potato Saint Bernard, likes to watch dog shows and agility competitions. You can see his eyes following the show dogs when the prance across the screen…he seems especially interested in the poodles….hmmmmm….
I love music! Mom and I dance all the time together, BOL! She is only 5 ft tall, so I can put my hands on her shoulders and we spin around. I like to bark when she sings along…not sure if I’m trying to sing with her or tell her to to shut up, hehe. We prefer 80’s music, but we like all kinds
Mickey likes to listen to the theme song from cops. He likes to watch it too. They have the police dogs on there running after people and he stands up on the edge of the bed as if he wants to go through the TV after the bad guys. Too bad hes only 5 lbs or he’d make a great police dog BOL
I catch my black lab Cynder watching TV every now and then. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of pattern or viewing preference for her but she seems to respond the most to horror films and sporting events… just like her dad. As far as music goes… Cynder is a well-rounded dog. When she was a puppy I’d leave the TV on one of the 150 digital music channels and still sometimes leave my iTunes on for her during the day.
My mum plays doggy CD’s for me when she leaves the house and it helps calm me down when she is gone. She has selections from Chopin, Beethoven and Mozart that she bought from the In The Company of Dogs catalog.
I love to snuggle next to her and Dad when they are watching TV. The only TV program that grabbed my attention was In the Valley of Wolves, a Nature PBS special. The howling wolves had me riveted to the TV for the whole program!
I don’t listen to music except for certain high pitched tunes on television. I usually don’t watch TV, but mom and dad will tell me to watch if a dog is on. Then I run to the TV and bark once or twice, but that’s the extent of my attention span.
Me? Watch TV? Nah, everytime big sis brings me up to the TV to watch I never pay attention to it. But I do listen to music, especially when big sis and the family keeps on singing on the new karaoke, I really can hear it even when I’m outside, BOL, I really don’t even know if what their saying is correct, I have no sense of music, double BOL.
My boys do occasionally watch tv. Every so often we will catch them staring right at the screen If there’s a dog barking on there they are right there turning their heads from side to side like they know what is being said without the subtitles.
Now the radio the listen to all the time. I always leave it on when I leave them home alone too. I think it’s comforting for them to hear voices when we’re gone. They also love to dance to the music when Mama dances around the house. They’re good company those boys.
Whenever my family has to be gone for the day, we always try to make things more interesting for our 4 dogs. We turn the TV on Animal Planet so that they can watch while we are away and make sure they have stuffed Kongs for “movie snacks.”
I have a rat terrier too (Daisy). We love the song idea. We’re always talking about stuff, so why not sing about it? Great, great idea! Woof!
I have 2 dogs. I (Toby) is very large and the other(Tiger) is small. Toby will watch TV and if a car pulls up on TV or a door bell rings , he’ll start barking and then Tiger looks around and doesn’t get it but he’ll start barking also. Soon there is so much noise that we turn the tv up to get their attention back on it.
My pup loves music and T.V. He is such a teenager! My kids and I once watched a movie where some pups were helping a man survive the cold and my pup immediatly ran over to where we were sitting and started whining. Then he cuddled next to us. It was so sweet!