Edie Jarolim earned a Ph.D. in English literature from New York University; edited guidebooks at Frommer’s, Rough Guides and Fodor’s; published myriad travel articles and three travel guides; and otherwise led a respectable but “dogless” life until 2004, when she began palling around with terriers -- specifically, one small terrier mix named Frankie. Cluelessness about dogs in general and Frankie in particular inspired her to begin reading up on all things canine and, eventually, to write AM I BORING MY DOG: And 99 Other Things Ever Dog Wishes You Knew (Alpha/Penguin) and to start blogging at Will My Dog Hate Me.

Her blog is clearly not boring her readers. It was recently nominated for a DogTime Petties award in the Most Humorous Blog/Blogger category.

She says of the nomination:

I can be as frivolous as the next person; hey, I was originally going to devote my blog to dog dressing, its title being short for Will My Dog Hate Me If I Dress Him?  I think anything that brings a little laughter into the day is worth pursuing.

But I’m also a bit of an activist for causes I believe in. And since I adopted Frankie, those causes tend to be animal oriented. The longer I blogged, the more it became clear that it’s more effective to focus on the positive, to make people understand the joy that pets can bring into their lives rather making them feel that rescue, for example, is a duty.

Jarolim has chosen to donate the $1000 award to The Humane Society of Southern Arizona if she wins, but she often writes about other worthy pet causes and organizations.

She next plans to bring her travel and pet writing expertise together to write a pet travel book. She is the Pet Travel correspondent at Animal Cafe, a community of pet bloggers that provide weekly podcasts on topics of interest to all animal lovers.

Jarolim is also a regular contributor to Your Dog and Catnip, the pet newsletters of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.  

Read more about Jarolim’s other freelance editing and writing projects at www.ediejarolim.com, and follow her on Twitter/@willmydoghateme and on Facebook/WillMyDogHateMe.