When Your Dog Is On The Same Meds as You
Somehow I know only peripherally posted this meme on social media post recently:
“Raise your hand if you and your dog take the same anxiety...
Foster Dogs Are Like a Box of Chocolates
Early in July I mentioned a litter of puppies I was fostering for my local shelter, and mentioned one pup I was particularly worried...
Appreciating Our Dogs
I was looking through my Google photo storage, trying to find a picture to go with an article about a veterinary topic for WDJ....
Comparing Results from Mixed-Breed DNA Tests
I recently received the results of my dog Boone’s mixed-breed DNA test from Darwin’s Ark, a nonprofit scientific research organization (which I previously wrote...
Turn Your Back for Just a SECOND
The difficulty and importance of supervising kids and dogs.
We’ve had lots of articles in WDJ about kids and dogs: choosing when to get a...
Long-Term Sheltering in No-Kill Shelters
When you have a career that involves dogs, everyone you know sends you memes and articles about dogs. Unfortunately, those little gems, meant to...
A Budding Crisis in Animal Shelters?
The potential for the loss of liability insurance is closing shelter doors to volunteers.
As many of you know from personal experience, volunteers in animal...
Parvovirus and Foster Puppies
With just a couple of exceptions, every time I have fostered a dog or litter of puppies, I’ve done it for my local shelter....
The Dog Days of Summer
I hope you and your companion animals all survived Independence Day, the least favorite holiday of many of us dog owners. I live close...
Your Kindness Is So Appreciated
As one could predict, I was a bit of a mess last week. Making the euthanasia appointment for my beloved Otto, and being with...
Tribute to our Fallen Leader
I first spotted Otto in a jail-mugshot-type photo on my shelter’s website in June 2008. My husband had just agreed that we were ready...
Car Chasing
Phoebe, my little foster mama, is a car-chaser, and, unfortunately, we have a perfect property for her to practice her passion. I live on...
Latest Blog
A Fish Story
What’s worse than a skunked dog? A dog who has rolled in a long-dead, rotten salmon carcass. Rolled in it at length, luxuriously, with relish while ignoring the calls and whistles of her foster provider—even after being abandoned by the other dogs, who did heed their owners’ calls.