Occasionally, we get a visitor to our office who isn’t aware there are two Great Danes running the place.  I’m always conflicted; I would never want anyone to be afraid of our dogs–or of walking into the office–but the looks on people’s faces when faced with a surprise greeting from two 130-pound dogs is a gift I never tire of receiving (It is always short-lived as the girls usually ingratiate themselves to people just about immediately and if a person is bothered by our dogs, we contain them in short order).

Many of you know that Lilly is bilaterally deaf and her gorgeous blue eyes are a bit vision challenged.  White dogs, of all breeds, are sometimes born with hearing, vision and other problems, a genetic result of uninformed and/or unintelligent breeding.  Tragically, there are aggression and other negative myths about white dogs; as a result, many are put down at birth.  I grew up with a deaf, blue-eyed Dalmatian who was the best dog a kid could ever hope to have.  So, when it came time to find Perdita a buddy, I started talking to the good folks at deafdane.org, a small but mighty group in Oakridge, Oregon, dedicated to rescuing and training white Great Danes.

[caption id="attachment_1411" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="© http://deafdane.org  This picture makes me melt!  Can you find all 12 dogs?"][/caption]

After Lilly came to live with us, I was invited to join an online group of deaf and/or blind Dane owners, which has proved invaluable.  Today, we got great news from one of our fellow group members:  her deaf  and blind boy, Titan, was recently measured by Guinness and it looks like he is the new World’s Tallest Dog!

Titan, aka “Bandito Blanco” is a 190-pound, white, blue-eyed boy living in the San Diego area with his mom, Diana Taylor.

[caption id="attachment_1406" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Massive Great Dane may be world's top dog - San Diego Union-Tribune –A great article on Diana & Titan"][/caption]

He was recently measured at 42.250″ (according to Guinness‘ measuring specification, which is to the shoulder).  Diana says he’s 43″ when measured at the withers.  Compare that to our girls, who measure at abour 34″ and 130 pounds.  Titan is both deaf and blind, which makes him a wonderful ambassador for special needs dogs.  Diana also hopes to use his celebrity to further rescue efforts for dogs and their people, especially during disaster situations where housing is lost.

Titan has a MySpace page and Diana is working on getting his own website up and running: http://titanandfriends.com.  Watch for pics of Perdita and Lilly there soon.  He’s already fielding offers from the Today Show, Early Show and Letterman.

So congratulations, Titan!  We look forward to your confirmation by Guinness!

~Keleigh

P.S.  Please join me in offering condolences to the family of Gibson, the former record holder, who passed a few weeks ago to bone cancer, the horrible disease that took our founding beachdog, Karadog, this past January.

Excerpts from an article in yesterday’s New York Times:

• Use of social networking by people aged 35 to 54 grew 60 percent in the last year.
• Adults have driven the growth of many perennially popular Web services. YouTube attracted young adults and then senior citizens before teenagers piled on. Blogger’s early user base was adults and LinkedIn has built a successful social network with professionals as its target.
• Older populations are a smart thing to be thinking about, as opposed to eternally going after the 15- through 19-year-olds.

Forrester Research self-summarizes its report:

“Social technologies continue to grow substantially in 2009. Now more than four in five US online adults use social media at least once a month, and half participate in social networks like Facebook. While young people continue to march toward almost universal adoption of social applications, the most rapid growth occurred among consumers 35 and older. This means the time to build social marketing applications is now. Interactive marketers should influence social network chatter, master social communication, and develop social assets — even if their customers are older.”

Another Forrester report says brands should reach Gen Xers through word of mouth:

“The once “ambivalent” Generation X — adults ages 30 to 43 — has become a mainstay of the workforce. This generation has adopted social technologies and is highly vocal as nearly half tell their friends and family about products that interest them. Brands seeking to reach Gen X should factor into their marketing programs a way to reach them socially by creating platforms for them to spread word of mouth, encourage them to create content, and engage them in advocacy programs.”

A doctor on his morning walk, noticed the old lady above, sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said, “I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look! What is your secret?”

“I smoke ten cigars a day,” she said.

“Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint.  Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food. On weekends, I pop pills, get laid, and don’t exercise at all.”

“That is absolutely amazing! How old are you?”

“Thirty-four,” she replied.

. . . . .

That one gave us such a chuckle this morning, we had to share. 

Last June the Pacific County EDC brought together local businesses and experts in security, finance and emergency communications to help strengthen our community in case of disaster. I was honored to be a speaker, sharing what I know about protecting your digital world from disaster.  The EDC is bringing back the ‘Ready, Respond, Recover’ Conference on October 14th to help even more businesses prepare for the unexpected.  This time, the conference will be in Long Beach.

While we’d all like to think a natural or man-made disaster won’t impact us, we’re all at risk. As a local business owner or manager, you need to protect your staff, facility and other assets. Join us on October 14, 2009 at the Chautauqua Lodge from 8:00am to 1:00pm for the ‘Ready, Respond, Recover’ Conference. You’ll learn disaster planning tips from local experts, and get personal coaching to create a plan for your business. Registration is only $25 if you register by September 18, and $35 thereafter.

To help encourage participation from even the smallest businesses in the community, the EDC is pleased to announce that ShoreBank Pacific has sponsored ten free business registrations-available on a first come, first serve basis. Call 360-642-9330 to secure your spot today!

I hope to see you on October 14th!

Keleigh

We’ve been getting a number of questions recently from site owners who receive an email saying they’ve won an award.  Some of the email look like this:

All of the blacked-out sections are customized, adding to the legitimate feel of the email.  It looks pretty legitimate, but these email appear to be part of a widespread scheme designed to get companies to pay for “vanity” awards and plaques.

The group behind the “awards” program is the U. S. Commerce Association of Washington, D. C. The association has been sending out news releases in recent months to businesses nationwide, telling them they have been selected as “outstanding local businesses” and offering them an opportunity to buy one or more awards to mark the honor.

The problem is, the U.S. Commerce Association appears to conduct no business other than selling of over-priced, custom, award plaques and trophies.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) urges that area businesses exercise caution when dealing with this group or a related organization called the U. S. Local Business Association.  [more]