Our Kirby Is International

Oh my dogginess! I was checking different components of our website to make sure everything was working as it should. I did discover our email subscription is not working. Something to do with Google taking over Feedburner so I will have to figure out how to fix it.

What really got my attention was the visitor and fan numbers.  Kirby's little "dog park" on FaceBook continues to gain fans which truly warms our hearts.  His fans are from all over the United States with a few fans from other countries.  Some fans are humans and some fans are beloved pets given voices by their owners.  We love interacting with them and seeing what they are doing or thinking in their various locations.

The really cool thing I discovered was when I checked on our visitor stats. I added this feature just a few months ago and was completely overwhelmed at what I found!  Every computer has a unique IP Address so this counter is able to count each unique visitor which means it doesn't count the same visitor again.  Each count represents someone new to our site.  I expected the vast majority to be from the United States.  I didn't expect the number to be so high.  I was humbled and honored by the number of visitors from other countries.

There are so many places and countries we may never get to visit but it looks like they are visiting us. Welcome to Kirby's humble little spot on the great internet!  We are so glad you came by to visit and we sincerely hope you keep coming back. We would love your comments on our posts for feedback and comparisons to what is happening in the lives of your pets.

 
I absolutely adore Kirby so this website is a beloved passion of mine.  I love sharing his adorkable antics and finding the information dog owners need.  Thank you so much for sharing this adventure with Kirby and I.
 
Realizing the vast numbers of visitors I plan to set up in the very near future a Paw Wall of sorts to spotlight dogs (and cats) of all our wonderful readers and visitors.  Let me know what you would want to see or any other suggestions to make Kirby the Dorkie the website you want to visit! 

Thanks for reading!

Facebook Is Going To The Dogs

I am amazed at the ever growing number of Pages and Profiles people have created for their furry companions on Facebook.  Even Kirby has his own Page.  It's fun and a great way to connect with other dog (& cat) lovers.  Who knows, maybe one day he will be a famous Facebook dog!  Until that day arrives I thought I would introduce a few really famous dogs.  You are probably already a fan of them and if not, then you should be.

So far the most famous Facebook dog is Boo, a Pomeranian who has a following of 1,047,964 fans.  He doesn't really do anything except look so adorable with a lot of attitude.  He has been featured on tv, in magazines, and various websites.

Not far behind is Beast, a beautiful Puli who was recently purchased by Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of FaceBook.  Ahh, the life he's gonna have!  To date Beast has a following of 96,888 fans.  He just may take over Boo's top dog status in the very near future!  His charm is his uber puppiness, not to mention his "Who's Your Daddy?" status.  His greatest achievement to date?  Pooping on Daddy's white rug!

Another not quite as famous Facebook dog who is definitely on his way to fame and fortune is Dexter from Dexter's Ruff Life.  This little guy has a sassy attitude and some of the funniest YouTube videos ever.  Dexter is a rising star with 678 followers on Facebook and 590 subscribers to his YouTube Channel.

Getting to the point of my story is that a few weeks ago I was watching Ellen and Kirby said he wanted to do an interview just like she does.  I flippantly told him to give it a shot.  Surprisingly he later reported that he had made phone calls, sent emails and texts to Boo's people and to Beast's people with not one answer back.  Finally he excitedly informed me that he had gotten an email from Dexter's mom telling him that Dexter would love to be interviewed by him.  I swear Kirby did a little happy dance!

So please mark your calendars for Monday April 18, 2011 when you will get to see that interview right here on Kirby's blog! I have to admit he did a pretty good job even if I am a tad biased!

Meanwhile it's time to join the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.  You can add your blog to the Linky List or just follow along.  Happy Hopping!

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Thanks for reading!

And Kirby's First FaceBook Contest Winner Is....

Kirby's First FaceBook Contest began January 1st and ended last night at midnight so we could pick the winner on January 9th - Kirby's birthday!

We had a total of eleven contestants.  That may not seem like a lot but I think it's pretty good for our very first contest.  I was surprised how excited I got every time someone entered!  It was fun!  The main objective for this was to thank Kirby's fans and maybe get a few more which we did.  His fan base went from 163 to 171.  That's eight new friends!  We want our fan base to grow organically so we have people who truly love dogs in general and Kirby in particular.

It was fun seeing all the pictures of furry babies and learning a little about each one.  It was also interesting to see which blog posts people preferred.  Big dogs, little dogs, and even a few dorkies in the mix!

I wanted to keep this contest very simple so each time someone entered I wrote their name on a piece of paper, folded it up, and placed it in a glass jar.  I've seen other contests where Randomizer was used to pick a random winner but since this is all about Kirby I wanted him to pick the winner which turned out to be easier said than done.  Why did I think this would be easy?  Because every week I place three or four different chews on the floor from which he has to pick one.  He sniffs each one then grabs his choice and runs to the living room with his prize.



We tried a few times with no success.  All he had to do was pick up one of the folded papers.  Easy?  Not so much!  He just wasn't interested so then we actually rubbed meat on each piece of paper, placed them back in the jar, and tried again, and again.  Bribery and still no luck!  We finally deduced he was much too interested in the food Doug was cooking on the stove so we decided to let him eat and then try again.

A little later and Kirby had eaten while the pieces of papers marinated in the glass jar.  So we tried again.  I'm sure he thought we were insane.  Why would he want to eat paper when he had just eaten hamburg?  Doug video taped while I handled the jar dumping the pieces of paper on the floor.  Third time was a charm!  Finally, and I do mean finally, Kirby touched a piece of paper and we were able to declare our winner:

  

Notice the meat stain on the bottom left!!

I do love all dogs but I did think it was pretty cool that Kirby picked a dorkie!  We will be mailing the book, A Dog's Purpose, to Debbie this week!  It's a great story so enjoy!  If you haven't read this book, buy it today!  I couldn't put it down!

Again, thank you to all of Kirby's FaceBook fans and especially the contestants who took the time to enter Kirby's First FaceBook Contest!!  Congratulations Debbie (and Charlie too)!!!

Thanks for reading!