About Dogs and Dog Advice
…how I ended up in the Dog House!

For those who want to know about Dogs and Dog Advice and if a real person is behind it, this is for you. That’s me in the picture and this is my website.

As we say in Oregon, Howdy! I’m Pat Easterbrooks, a native Oregonian now living in the thriving metropolis of Boring, Oregon. Yep, that’s a real place with a whole lot of excitement going on.

Growing up, I drove by a road sign that said, "Boring Oregon City" (actually, two places), and I always wondered who would live in a place like that. I guess that would be me.

My kids like to say I’m almost 50, so we can go with that. I have always had many interests, from math and music to building and fixing things. I also love animals and have always had at least one dog, although two or three is more the norm. This site shares my love of animals, and dogs in particular.

Truth: We have four dogs, three goats, 14 chickens, and a dozen barn cats on our little 5 acre parcel. Yes, we fix our cats, yes, we feed them good food and yes, they all have names. No, we don't have mice!

My sister and her family, as well as my mom and dad, live next door on another 5 acres. They have two dogs (we like to call them the cousin dogs), four chickens, 8 alpaca and a guinea pig named Popcorn. We all love animals.

Learning is my Passion

I love to learn new things and share what I've learned with others...if they're interested. That's how my Dogs and Dog Advice adventure began. More about that in a minute.

Growing up in a small town, my dad had a lot to do with my love of learning. He always had something new going. He and my mom built their first house from the ground up, bought and sold property for most of their lives, and taught my brother, sister and I how to think on our feet and figure things out on our own.

When anyone in my family wants to discuss something new these days, I always seem to end up in the conversation. What's the best tractor? (we have a Kubota) How long does it take to grow pumpkins? (we grew a few thousand) Can you throw dog doo doo in the compost pile? (definitely not!) I love fixing things and figuring things out. And I've always been pretty good at it.

In our house, around the dinner table, or when visiting with "the neighbors" (remember my sister, mom and dad), the conversation always seems to include something about dogs. It's just fun to learn about all of the interesting dog breeds available, what kind of hypoallergenic dogs are available, who has one of those crazy hybrid dogs, and whether there really are designer dog breeds (is there a Calvin Klein dog?).

What's my Day Job?

Career wise, I have owned a gym, owned and managed rental property and worked in restaurants during my college years. Although I never finished college, I did give it 6 good trys. And, the 6th try landed me a beautiful, intelligent, amazing wife of 20 years. College is great!

I have been a licensed real estate broker since 1981, and my "steady paycheck" for the last 20 or so years has come from the hospitality industry, managing a resort.

When I started working at the resort, I worked in the maintenance department doing everything from unplugging toilets to repairing garage doors, and I eventually landed in the office. Now there are four guys in our maintenance department to do the heavy lifting, but I still like to get my hands dirty when a problem needs solving. How, exactly, did that turd get in the swimming pool? Is that a dog turd? (Yes, Mother, I know that is a pejorative term. No, you didn’t teach me to speak that way.)

By the way, we don't allow dogs or other pets at our resort. That disappoints a lot of people, but those with allergies and an aversion to dog hair, ticks and turds appreciate the policy (there's that word again, mom).

OK...back to Dogs and Dog Advice

Why Dogs and why now? As much as I love to hate dogs, I really do love them. All that eating, pooping and peeing give you a lot to complain about if you want to.

To this day I know the name of every dog I have ever owned. Baron von Easterbrooks and Kodiak von Easterbrooks (both German Shepherds), Doc and Chloe (Dachshunds), Princess (a Collie), Kellie (a Golden Retriever / mutt / sled-dog-wanna-be), Sam (a German Shepherd), Sam2 (another German Shepherd), Bailey Ray (a Chocolate Labrador Retriever), Annie Jo (a Cockapoo) as well as Cooper and Ellie (the two latest additions to our Cockapoo clan). Bailey, Annie, Cooper and Ellie are our current dogs.

Dogs have always fascinated me. How to train them. How to keep them from running off, even if you don't have a fence. How to keep them from barking and keeping the neighbors up. What breeds are easiest to train and what the most popular AKC dog breeds are, etc. Those blasted dogs are just too darned interesting.

With so many cool dog breeds, puppy names, dog houses, electronic gadgits and canine accessories in the dog world, as well as dog training tips and dog health issues, there is just so much to learn. This website is my way of sharing what I have learned with you. If I don't know the answer, I can find it. Research and writing are my passion.

I love the internet and I do spend a fair bit of time in cyberspace. Why? To learn more things, of course. Although my wife wonders about me sometimes, I AM learning to play the guitar and I DO let her dogs sleep on the bed!

With a nearly unlimited supply of available information, I tend to focus more on "how-to" stuff and, lately, everything I can learn about dogs. That’s what led me to build my first website in 1995.

After building my own website and a few for other people, I wondered how I could marry my love of learning with the internet and actually make some money doing it. After all, my kids need a college education and I need to pay for it without going into debt (something I hate).

Truth: I hired someone to help me build my first websites. She made the money and I paid her. Not a good model.

Along came SBI (what's that?)

SBI is an acronym for Site Build It!, an online tool that helps you turn your passion or hobby into a real, money-making business. And, you might be surprised at some of the topics.

If you want to see how it works, take a look at the Video Tour. If you use a dial up internet connection, take the Quick tour.

You need proof that it works? Here are a few hundred successful SBI sites built by ordinary people like me and like you. (Remember, I'm the guy from Boring, Oregon!). Every one of these sites is in the top 1% of all websites on the net. Really!

Juggling, customer service, travel, pets, motorcycles, kids birthday party ideas, costumes, ghosts, RC airplanes, guitars, and on the list goes. Hey, you really CAN do this.

No, this is not a "get rich quick" scheme. Yes, it is a lot of work at the beginning, but it really is worth it. My little Dogs and Dog Advice site is steadily growing in size and popularity, but it is still fairly young. My first SBI site, Garage How To, has thousands and thousands of visitors stop by every month, and I make hundreds of dollars for my efforts…every month! Dogs and Dog Advice is not too far behind.

The process can go as fast or as slow as you want. For me, I don’t have a lot of "extra" time, so my pace is more like the tortoise (remember who won the race with the hare?). Others like Elad and his sister Tamar were more like sprinting tortoises in the beginning, earning $1,000 in their fourth month, $2,000 in their sixth and not looking back.

Here's the best part. It's totally risk free! SBI's service offers a money back guarantee so you can try it to see if you like it. If you do, it will be the best decision you ever made. If you don't, you can get your money back.

How do you make the money?

There are many ways to make money with a website, but here are a few:

• Advertising. The ads on my site from Google offer things of interest related to the content of my site. When someone is interested and clicks on one of those ads, I make money.
• You can create e-goods for sale (e-books, e-photos, your own music, etc.)
• You can sell products that others create and make a commission when they sell.
• You can get paid for referring visitors to other services.
• And on the list goes...

To get an idea how other SBIers have done it, take a look at these case studies.

Why not YOU and why not NOW?

When I was really young, I learned that if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. That's about all you need to know to get started.

I think you can. In fact, I KNOW you can. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Mark Twain. When I found it (on the Internet), I printed it and taped it to my computer monitor. Years later I discovered another SBIer who uses the same quote on her site. "B," as she is known, encouraged me when I started building my site (thanks, B!). Maybe her story will help you, too. NOTE: When the new page opens, scroll down a bit to read about B.

Here’s the quote:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."   Mark Twain

When Twain's long and storied life ended, that quote became one of his most popular, and for good reason. Start today. Don't look back 20 years from now and wonder why you didn’t try something new and different.

Think you're too young? Take a look at this.

Think you're too old? Take a look at this.

If you want to be in touch, please contact me. I would love to hear your story.

All the best,
Pat

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