It's that time of year....

...yep, back to school for the hu"MOM" and millions of others.  Tootsie Roll and I had been considering some blogs about high school social groups and then putting dogs in those roles as they "went back to doggy day care" followed by some TootsUncommon outfit recommendations to accompany the "jocks, nerds, etc..."  but then we got sidetracked by canine play groups and styles and did a 360.  Did we ever find some interesting stuff!  Here are some hi-lights from our reading:

http://thebark.com/content/dog-daycare

http://teamunruly.com/?p=2159

From author Pat Miller and her book, "Play With Your Dog" she identifies the following doggy play styles, which are explained by Team Unruly:

-cheerleaders
-body slammers
-wrestlers
-chasers
-tuggers
-soft touchers
-self players

These descriptors really brought our thoughts to life...Tootsie Roll and I read a lot about how play groups differ and watched videos of different styles and although you could see the difference there weren't good names to put words to what you were seeing. Some ideas that surfaced in almost everything we read...dogs play in dyadic groups - groups of two close to 100% of the time - anything larger and signals and communication get mixed up and play stops. Size is not always a determining factor on which two dogs play together; rather like energy levels.  And that an important thing to watch for in safe play...no matter how rough it may look....is role reversals.  And that some dogs...no matter how hard you try...are not going to play together.

With all these new ideas a TootsUncommon Fashion Photo Shoot took place yesterday afternoon....fun as always!  It not only brought about some good pics of outfits for the seven canine play styles; but some good stuff to update pictures at www.tootsuncommon.etsy.com and www.tootsuncommon.com.  So even though it was back to school today for the hu"MOM" with the "jocks, nerds, etc..." Tootsie Roll and I are also excited to continue the blog tomorrow with our Cheerleaders and to roll up our sleeves and update our shopping sites!  

Fashion Shoot "Teaser"