“Two cups a day!” How much are you REALLY feeding your dog?
Ask any owner who feeds kibble to their dog how much they feed to their dog, and you will invariably get the amount expressed...
Are Dogs Good With Chickens?
When I was about five years old, my parents moved our family from the San Francisco Bay area to a rural farming area about...
Canine Adolescence: The Great “Unconsidered” Life Stage
The other day the New York Times published an excerpt from canine behavioral researcher and author Alexandra Horowitz’s newest and most excellent book, The...
Otto is still here
Last week, I was 100% sure I would be having Otto euthanized at today’s appointment with a veterinarian who provides hospice and home-euthanasia services....
End of life decisions
Three years ago I wrote a blog post about “how to know when the time is right for euthanasia.” A the time, I had...
The secret to dog-training success
One of my ex-boyfriends from many, many years ago had a sort of dad-joke he’d tell at least once daily. Any time he saw...
Urgent warning for dog owners: Parvo-like illness spreading in Michigan, killing dogs
Recently, a dog was admitted to a veterinary hospital in northern Michigan with symptoms that looked just like those of canine parvovirus type 2...
Monkeypox and your dog
A single reported case of transmission of monkeypox from a human to a dog has prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Cultural differences (and what are we doing wrong?)
Last month, my sister-in-law and my almost-13-year-old niece, Ava, spent two weeks in France, visiting my sister-in-law’s mother and stepfather, who live in Paris....
The New Dog and “Youngest Child Syndrome”
I’m the youngest in my family of origin. My siblings are seven, six, and five years older than me. When I became an adult,...
Ode to a Senior Dog
Not one but two friends said goodbye to their beloved senior dogs in the past week. I read their tributes to their beautiful dogs...
How Do You Keep Dogs Cool in the Summer?
It’s officially HOT in the northern Sacramento Valley where I live. These are more or less normal temperatures for July in this part of...
Latest Blog
Parallels between Force-Free Training and Gentle Parenting
Both gentle parenting and force-free training emphasize empathy for the living being you're responsible for, and patience with their behavior as their core tenet.