Oh my, the paperback version of The Education of Will comes out February 27th. It's hard to imagine that one year ago the hardcover came out after five and a half years of work (not to mention lots of therapy!). I love the new version (new cover, new subtitle), hope you do too. As many of you know, the book is about how a dog named Will taught me that will power is not enough to heal you when you are broken. As hard as it was working with Willie in our first years together, I owe him so much. Here's an excerpt from page 120 in the paperback: I felt sick to my stomach. How could I even think about not keeping Willie? The dog who moaned when he pressed his head against my neck; whose happy face could only be described as radiant. When Read More
Archives for February 2018
Cats Don’t Shake Hands
Recently I've had a couple of questions from friends about introducing cats to each other. Their questions reminded of this post from August 2013, and I thought it a good topic to discuss again. We were lucky at the farm--Polly is Nellie's daughter, so no introductions were necessary. They get along beautifully, but we all know that's not always the case. I can't tell you how many clients I've seen who forced two cats onto each other and then... well, ever been out with the guy your mother insisted you go on a blind date with? How'd that work out? Here's from August 2013: Bringing home a dog when you have another one at home (or two or three or more) is one thing, but bringing a cat into a resident cat’s territory is another thing altogether. Besides litter box problems, most of Read More
Let The Fetch Games Begin. Or Not?
Willie and Maggie usually play tug games every morning before I begin working, but Willie had a tooth removed, so he is working on some new tricks. Maggie needs to stay in good condition and needs to run hard, at least twice a day, so we are playing fetch together in the morning. After just a few morning of this, I noticed that Maggie began jaw chattering as I got my boots on to go outside. It's relatively subtle, but it's new. What's not subtle is her overall level of arousal while fetching. She ADORES doing it (that is her talking in caps) and when she brings the disc back she is so excited that she seems electrified. She squeak-barks, jaw chatters, and shoves the disc into my leg if I don't pick it up fast enough. There's nothing else that we do that gets her so excited. Read More
It’s How You Say It
For those of you without grey hair, the index cards on the right are how we organized information back in the dark ages. (Also known as The 80's.) I found hundreds of them this weekend while cleaning out a closet, kept from the research I did for my dissertation on the effect of acoustic structure on receiver response. I have to admit that I was amazed at how much work I had done researching the central question--does the structure of a sound influence how an animal responds to it? I'm sure you know that feeling--"Did I really write that?" or "Did I really climb that mountain?"or "Was I ever that young/pretty/strong/athletic?"--insert appropriate adjective here. Besides being blown away by the effort involved in doing research and keeping track of information in years past, I was Read More