This is what I did today instead of write a blog. I'm so sorry. Jim is not. It's from the New York Times Magazine, the Double-Layer Chocolate Chocolate Birthday Cake. You'll use every pot and pan in your kitchen twice, it contains enough butter and sugar to fuel the citizens of a small state, my kitchen was a disaster zone when I was done, and yup,  it was just what I needed today. Any guilty pleasures for you recently?   Read More

    Last week I enjoyed speaking at the Lakefly Writer's Conference in Oshkosh, WI. After accepting the invitation, I pondered for awhile about a topic, and somewhere, out of the recesses of my mind, came the question of what my two professional loves have in common. Here's a short summary of some of the ways that I think training and writing can inform each other:   COMMITMENT. Raise your hand if you have said you absolutely are going to finish teaching your dog not to ________ (fill in the blank).  Or to _______? We all have a list of things we want to do, should do, promise to do "when we have time," right? Writing is famous for the same phenomenon. "Someday I'm going to start that novel I've been thinking about" is such a frequently uttered phrase that Read More

"One's Nose is Never So Happy..." has nothing to do with dogs, except for the nose part. Here's the full quote: "It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when it is thrust into the affairs of another, from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell." – Ambrose Bierce Apologies for such a ridiculous diversion, but reading it made me spit out my tea while I was looking for interesting quotes about the sense of smell, so I opened with it. The sense of smell is indeed what this post is about, and whether some scents can act to calm or relax dogs who are in stressful situations. The bottom line is yes, according to a study done by Jonathon Binks et. al. (2018, The behavioural effects of olfactory stimulation on dogs at Read More

It's getting to be that time of the year when a lot of us travel. Sometimes our dogs go with us, other times, not. I thought it was a good time to repeat a post I wrote in 2010 about doing all I can to keep my dogs safe and happy when with a house sitter. ...Leaving one’s dog(s) is hard, and the only way I can do it myself without being a wreck is to have a system in which I feel like I’ve covered as many bases as I can. Here are some of my tips, I’d love to hear yours: 1. Put a big-lettered note by the phone that says YOU ARE HERE and give the address and phone number of your home. House sitters rarely can spit out your address in a crisis, and that’s when they need it the most. 2. Also by the phone, leave EMERGENCY phone numbers for your usual vet (who you’ve called to approve Read More

Ever wanted to be two places at once? I left Thursday for the Penn Vet Working Dog Conference in Philly and wanted to stay home. (Lambs. Flowers...) I spoke Friday to introduce the conference (speaking about resilience, blog on that to come in a few weeks), and wanted to stay all weekend. The line up of speakers was that inspiring. If I were you, I would seriously consider going next year, even if you don't have a dog who is officially a "working dog." Honestly, I promise, you'll learn bunches. It's an amazing conference. I was terrible about getting photographs at the conference. But I did take a photo of the Dogwise table, who generously sponsored the dinner and offered discounts to all participants. (Dogwise made the offer, not the table. I really should edit the sentence, but an Read More