This is one sure to enrage some cat owners.
Can’t help it. It’s got to be said. And discussed (by you all) openly, so every viewpoint is aired.
But here’s fair warning: this is a little grisly and very heartbreaking. It’s not a column for everyone. Some of you should probably stop reading now. You’ll know who […]

There’s a neighbor down the street who last fall left big, juicy, delectable apples out in her back yard. They were there to attract the deer that live not far away.
I was miffed. She’s breaking laws that prohibit doing anything to attract wildlife into urban neighborhoods.
And sure enough, the deer began to materialize each morning, […]

The release by the American Kennel Club every mid-January of the most-registered purebreds for the preceding year is always food for chatter.
But it’s not the much-heralded Top 10 Most Popular rankings that I find most interesting. (However, other people do, so for anyone who missed it here, for the record, is the national ranking from […]

It’s an issue many of us can relate to: weight — a little too much of it — and a sub-par fitness level.
No, not our own bodies (well, yeah, that too), but those of our dogs.
It’s so hard to deny those soulful eyes. Our buddies ask so little of us, so when they want some […]

    There are some pets, maybe all pets, that display some quality so solidly and so often you have to just grin. There it is again, you think, that … whatever the that is.
Like my friend Connie’s cat, Libby, who is so determined to be top dog in her household she literally scans the room […]

It’s Sunday morning, about 9 a.m. I’m walking my two dogs — on their leashes — through the neighborhood. It’s a pretty quiet neighborhood. We’re downtown: No major thoroughfares nearby, but not without traffic.
Across the street, about a half block away, are two women strolling with their dogs. One of the dogs is a young […]

Mocha is focused. Ears forward, athletic body all a-quiver with excitement.
We’re strolling along a rural road, and she’s just picked up the scent of something wonderful. Not just a rabbit, I’m pretty sure. Bigger, better than that.
She glances at me with joyful eyes, but she doesn’t lose her composure. Her impeccable breeding renders such a […]

Every morning after his breakfast, my Aussie mix Jasper trots briskly up the stairs to the sunny  front bedroom, dives into his dog bed and waits expectantly for a split second. From out of nowhere Gus the Cat –  ears back, legs stiff – pounces onto Jasper’s head.
And thus begins – like the jolt of […]

Sometimes you meet a dog that makes you know that dogs not only serve us, they teach us.
Al is one of them.
He’s a handsome, easy-going guy who loves a raucous romp or a long, nose-to-the-ground walk while he identifies every scent as friend, stranger, or– and his joy is palpable at these moments – WILD […]

Back in 2005, I took a leave from my job to do post-Katrina volunteer work on the coast.  I spent a big chunk of every day and night at The Humane Society of South Mississippi. The shelter was jammed with animals who had somehow survived the floods and destruction but were left wandering and picked […]