Barking up the 'write' tree:
NIU secretary’s pet pen
places her among idols

by Mark McGowan

Sharon Pflaumer’s two lifelong loves – companion animals and writing – found each other in 1985.

Pflaumer, staff secretary in Student Housing and Dining, attended many office-related parties with her then-husband. While he and his co-workers talked shop, Pflaumer regaled the spouses with amusing anecdotes about her new dog.

“They’d be rolling on the floor,” said Pflaumer, an NIU alumna and 25-year university employee. “One night on the ride home, I thought, ‘If this was funny to people in a social setting, then it would be funny to read.’ ”

And so she took pen to paper, dashing off a column she soon submitted to Dog Fancy magazine.

Its publication opened a new chapter in her life, including a 12-year stint as a regular contributor to Dog World magazine and, since May, a biweekly column in the MidWeek called “Paw Print.” She wrote about half of Dog World’s cover stories from 1991 to 2003, while she also had stories published in The Bark, Good Dog and Dogs in Canada.

In 2000, an article for Dog World called “Beating Bloat: An Analysis of Risk and Prevention” won Best Article of the Year in an All-Breed Magazine in the Dog Writers Association of America’s National Writing Competition. Pflaumer received the Maxwell Medallion, the association’s highest honor.

Pflaumer recently was a finalist for a top writing award from the DWAA, where she found herself in competition with nationally known pet pundits Steve Dale and Amy D. Shojai. Dale, who hosts the “Pet Central” program on WGN-AM radio, won the “newspaper column” category.

But for Pflaumer, becoming a finalist among two of her idols was exciting enough, as the recognition and confirmation of her work provided further encouragement to continue writing on her favorite topic.

Not that she needed a nudge.

“My secret dream is to get syndicated. Animals are my whole life. Anyone at NIU will tell you that. All conversational paths tend to lead to animals with me, and I talk to lots of people,” she said. “The whole pet industry is a multibillion dollar industry. People spend tons of money on dog food, dog training, dog equipment – coats and sweaters and all kinds of paraphernalia. This just reflects the fact that animals have always played an important role in our lives, since the wolf was domesticated into the dog.”

Pflaumer said her MidWeek column has an enthusiastic flock of readers, many of whom ask the questions that supply the basis for her articles.

Of course, as the owner of three Collies, she finds ideas everywhere. A recent trip to the vet prompted her to devote an upcoming column to “Pets Need Dental Care Too” month.

She attributes the column’s popularity to the popularity of pets themselves.

“The family is breaking down. More and more people live by themselves. Pets provide a great deal of companionship and affection,” said Pflaumer, adding that studies show a person’s blood pressure usually drops when in the company of a pet while it rises in the company of a spouse. “There’s no judgment with an animal.”

2-23-04