My usual response to someone saying "My dog is so smart!" is: "I'm so sorry, my sympathies." Smart can be great, but it also means that your dog has learned to steal dirty laundry to get your attention, or that you don't really mean it when you say "Leave it," or that the kitchen cabinet door leading to the poisonous chocolate can be opened if you leap onto one counter, stretch your body over to another one, insert your toe nail between the door and the cabinet, and . . . end up in the Emergency Vet Clinic. Oh wait--they're not smart enough to think about that last part. But you know what I mean, right? Smart dogs are not always the easiest of dogs to train. But then, of course, sometimes they are, and how many millions of us have not at some point been blown away by our dog's mental Read More

January has been designated "National Train Your Dog Month" by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), and hey, why not? (Check out their free videos, by the way, good for them.) Those of us in the north of the northern hemisphere are getting cabin fever anyway, so why not think of a few things could make life better for us or our dogs, and get to it? I decided to focus on one specific thing. (Always better than some vague, general concept, like "I'll be a better person," although heaven knows we could all probably work on that.) Skip and impulse control are not well acquainted--when I got him he spun at the door to go out, and had never learned the concept of stay in his three years of life. He's sooo much better than he was; for example, he initiates a sit at the door Read More

I love a lot about this time of year, from holiday lights to the sweetness of friends and family. Not to mention the cookies. And the cake. Just saying. Something I've done for decades this time of year is to reflect on the past year and envision what I'd like the next year to include. Not New Year's Resolutions per se, but thoughts and intentions about the time to come. (See, for example, last year's January post.) But this year I find my vision of the year to come as a big, blank void. I know I want to keep working on my novel (more on that next post). But other than that? I find myself at a loss. Predictions of what might or might not be possible feel absurd. Surely I'm not the only one at risk of being swept away by the tsunami of news about X, Y or Z, most of it scary or sad. Read More

Not sure what kind of music to play over the holidays? Here's some tips: If you've invited Orangutans to Christmas dinner, (and who hasn't?), they would prefer silence. Some chimpanzees like rock music better than quiet, while other chimps are more social when hearing classical music with a slow tempo. Lambs put on more weight when listening to random noises, but were calmed by classical music. Fast tempos increased locomotion and tail wagging in pigs, and pieces by Mozart reduced heart rates in hypertensive rats. You're welcome. I'm sure you were wondering. You might also wonder if I've lost my mind, but no, I'm inspired to write about animals and music after reading a fascinating article by one of my most influential mentors, Dr. Charles Snowdon. The article, "Animal Signals, Music Read More

I know--it's late to be talking about gifts for pets and pet lovers the week before Christmas. But the adventure of life never ceases to remind us that plans are just that. Plans. Which have to be changed when life interrupts our carefully-constructed calendars. I love the holidays, now that I've decided to focus on doing things that were loving, fun and kind, (including to myself). Most of what I purchase for Christmas presents are books for young people; I give home made food and a few beautiful things to adults. But what about our pets? What does Larry the Labrador want? Simon the Siamese? Skip and Maggie would like a 400 acre farm with more sheep and a much bigger field in which to work. Regrettably, Santa's pockets are not deep enough to even dream of such a thing, and I know I'm Read More