Dogged Blog: 11th Annual Chat Month on PetHobbyist.com!

28 January 2009

11th Annual Chat Month on PetHobbyist.com!

Every year, I earn around half my annual paycheck in one month by helping produce Chat Month on PetHobbyist.com (a family of websites that includes kingsnake.com, the Web's oldest and largest reptile community). This massive series of online seminars, discussions, symposiums -- I never know what to call them, really; "chat" just doesn't reflect what they really are -- is the Internet's longest-running such event, at least as relates to animals.

We bring in herpetologists, zookeepers, breeders, rescuers, authors and veterinarians to talk to our users about all the things we're most passionate about, from the ethics of breeding to how to stop puppy mills to how to get your cat to stop scratching the sofa.

It starts Sunday night, February 1, and runs through Saturday, February 28. The complete schedule is here.

You'll see some familiar names on the schedule, including Gina's twice, once with Dr. Marty Becker on how to add a couple of years to your pets' lives (seriously!), and once with her "Birds for Dummies" co-author Dr. Brian Speer, one of the country's most respected board certified avian specialists.

We'll also welcome Rich Avanzino of Maddie's Fund, talking about what each of us can do to get animals out of shelters and into good homes -- it won't cost you a penny, but it won't happen without your help.

There will be lots of other Pet Connection BFFs, including Dr. Marion Nestle (I'll do a separate post about her appearance later) and I although she's not on the schedule yet, rumor has it Dr. Patty Khuly will be joining us, too.

Most of the events have free email reminders you can sign up for, in case you're getting forgetful. ;)

We're actually still adding names to the schedule, so in addition to checking it out here, you can sign up for our Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter feeds and get last minute changes, updates, and additions as we make them.

I hope to see some of you there! It's all free, and you don't have to register; just make sure you have Java enabled in your browser. You can check the chat rooms out here in advance if you want to be sure.