For some former print titles, the switch to digital edition is a step into the unknown, is not always done for the right reasons, and is done with little imagination. For K9 Magazine, a print title from an overwhelmingly digital stable, it was like coming home. Ryan O’Meara explains why they ditched their flagship print magazine and what they hope to achieve from its digital rebirth.

I think we’ve done absolutely everything back to front in publishing. From day one, we did things the wrong way round, always have.

K9 Media, the publisher behind K9 Magazine and a portfolio of some 40+ digital properties (that’s the fancy term for websites so I have learned) was started back in 1999.

We were / are a digital media company. But in 2001, K9 Magazine was launched. I have never denied the fact that K9 Magazine was born of the result of advertisers telling us how much they “loved what we’re doing, we just don’t really have an online marketing strategy at present. Do you have any print media?”

It took us seven issues to get K9 Magazine right and we even had to go out and get additional investment to sustain the company after this hungry new inky addition ate all of our cash in a way that our digital children never did. When we did get the magazine right though, we really got it right. It grew fast. TV coverage, major, world-exclusive celebrity interviews, brand recognition, we made a magazine that I became very proud of. Despite this, I still couldn’t get as passionate about print as I was about pixels.

Read the full article here

The Three Counties piece was an item on the importance and value of socialisation for dogs (and their owners) – they asked me which breed I thought was the most intelligent, I said Afghan Hound, purely to buck this trend which keeps seeing them ranked low on the intelligence tests. Unintelligent is not an accurate reflection of the Afghan’s I’ve met and I think some people like to call a dog’s intelligence in to question just when that dog doesn’t do what they want – non compliant is not the same as unintelligent!

The 4FM item was discussing the survey of two weeks ago which contrasted canine intelligence to that of a two-year old child.

Something which I don’t agree with!

Bruce, deathrow dog in Northern Ireland – BBC interview

Note my ‘Rescue Me’ by DogsBlog T-shirt. I am lucky enough to have a limited edition, one-of-a-kind sample and it attracted a lot of interest from some of the TV people who wanted to know where you could get one. At the time I had to disappoint them as they weren’t available, but some exclusives are now on sale at www.dogsblog.com/rescueme

Here’s one from the past. Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour.

It’s to do with dogs, I know that, but I swear I do not recall what I was there for. I just remember not saying very much.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2006_46_thu.shtml

It is the scourge of communities across Scotland and beyond, and no council has escaped censure for failing to clean up its act. Now one local authority has unveiled a novel solution to the problem of dog dirt – spraying it bright pink in a bid to shame guilty owners.

But, according ‘Ryan O’Mara’, who is the editor-in-chief of dog owners’ magazine K9 and chair of the Coalition for Improved Dog Ownership Standards…

“While it is well-intentioned, this type of scheme will not deter the sort of irresponsible people who allow their dogs to foul this way.

“The only way to stop this problem is to say, ‘If you are caught, it will cost you £2,500′.”

Well, alls I know is – Ryan O’Meara is the editor-in-chief of K9 Magazine (not ‘K9′), he is the chief exec of the Coalition for Improved Dog Ownership Standards (not the chair) – but he DOES think that spraying poo pink is not really the answer to addressing the problem of irresponsible dog owners who allow their pets to foul the streets although he’s not entirely confident enough to place such a precise figure on the fine that will make dog owners think twice about clearing up after their animals.

Source (The Scotsman)