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I thought it would be good to start with just plain gorgeousness from our trip last week to Washington DC for the 80th birthday of a dear friend. These next two photos are from the other-wordly gardens at Hillwood Estate and Gardens. Walking through the gardens felt like falling into some Alice-in-Wonderland-like exuberance of color […]

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I may, (paws crossed), have a happy story to tell you about a “need-to-be-rescued dog,�� but I’ll wait on that until I have more to report. (Please cross your paws; and no, we won’t be the ones taking it!) Meanwhile, I’m thinking a lot the last few days about house training a dog who has […]

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A few weeks ago Maggie, aka Princess Margaret, came back after a play session with a tiny limp. Well, damn, I thought, I hope this isn’t serious. Her limp disappeared the next day, and play sessions with Skip and her favorite toy were back on the agenda after one more day of “just to be […]

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I’m looking forward to giving a talk in Madison on April 5th about comparisons between dogs and wolves (alongside a much-anticipated talk about wolves in Wisconsin by expert Adrian Wydeven). The photograph above came to mind while I was thinking about what to say. That’s me and Ayla at Wolf Park in Indiana. It’s pretty clear […]

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You know how they say “All’s well that ends well?�� But, what if it’s the opposite? We all know that what happens last has a disproportionate amount of impact, and I regret to say that our vacation in Arizona, had, uh, some low points. But after I whine, I’ll get to remind myself of the […]

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I love giving dogs choices, including when it’s related things I want/need them to do. Here’s an example of the “Premack Principle,�� which says that “more probable behaviors act to reinforce less probable behaviors.�� Most probable because that’s what the dog/cat/child/iguana wants to do, so it’s the perfect reinforcement, right? My version is a variant–the […]

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I need some solace today (dogs are fine!), before I jump into action. While cuddling with Jim this morning, talking about our day, I realized I just didn’t have it in me to write a content-heavy post right now. Jim, bless him, knowing I’d mentioned earlier I needed to cut down the 15,787 photos on […]

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  January is “Divorce Month.�� Who knew. I got divorced from my two practice husbands in other months, but it does make sense that January, the month of darkness, sugar withdrawal, and dashed expectations of holiday cheer, would be a prime candidate for the dissolution of marriages. When I was seeing clients, some of my […]

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                                       “The meaning of life is just to be alive.                                               It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.��            Alan Watts. But, of course, it’s not so simple, at least to most of us. Perhaps especially this time […]

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    Pondering about what to write in this week’s post, I thought: I know! I’ll write an article about what dogs REALLY want for Christmas. Deep from within my dusty, cobwebbed brain, a thought emerged, like smoke arising from smoldering embers. Have I ever written about that in the past? Oh, she said, having […]

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