Dog Talk ® (and Kitties Too!)

#885B: Jeff Pohn’s very funny novel “Hounded: A Love Story,” features a neurotic, addictive protagonist whose loquacious witty dog is tasked with helping him make better choices.

#884A: The extraordinary journey of Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald to becoming a veterinarian in Denver, where he also does stand up comedy to open for famous comedians, having spent his younger years as head of security for the Rolling Stones. 

#884B: Christopher Dale’s book “We Saved Each Other: How Rescue Dogs Help Us Through Hardship” chronicles the simplicity, directness and healing value of the canine relationship, especially for people like himself, struggling with addiction and clinical depression.

#883A: Marc Bekoff discusses his newly revised book “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter,” with a foreword by Jane Goodall, alongside whom Bekoff has spent his career advancing the idea that animals have inner lives — and outer relationships — of significance.

#883B: Tracie talks to Susan, a listener in Connecticut, who cannot figure out why her dog, Shelby, has had episodes of sudden onset shaking and whining. Is it emotional? Physical? What is triggering it? How best to manage it?

#882A: Simon Van Booy discusses his newest novel “Sipsworth,” which enchanted Tracie with its depiction of a rare and beautiful relationship between an elderly lonely lady and the mouse who transforms her life.

#882B: Tracie talks to dog trainer Annie Phenix — who specializes in aggressive dogs — about the immorality of asking her to help rehome a dangerous “Czech shepherd” dog that has shown aggression to other dogs and to people. 

#881A: Helen Brown speaks from Australia about the healing power of a feline companion in her memoir “Mickey: the Cat Who Raised Me.” 

#881B: Kerry Nichols writes with exuberance in her book “PUPPY BRAIN: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love,” about how puppies’ minds and feelings develop and our impact on them.

#880A: Bill Wasik [New York Times Magazine executive editor) and his wife Monica Murphy (Park Slope veterinarian and writer) collaborated on a sweeping history of how animals and people coexisted in the 19th century in their impressive book OUR KINDRED CREATURES: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals.

#880B: Amy Creel is a hilarious curmudgeonly TikTok presence [amymaurercreel] where she recounts her amusingly frustrating experiences helping dogs find homes through her Knine Rescue in Maryland.

#879A: Tommy Tomlinson talks about his book “DOGLAND: Passion, Glory and lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show,” filled with wonderful canine anecdotes.

#879B: Dr. Starr Cameron [Clinical Associate Professor in Small Animal Neurology, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin at Madison] has been studying feline dementia and the symptoms like disorientation, changes in sleep/wake cycles, reduced activity and interaction with people or other pets, house soiling, anxiety and problems with learning/memory.

#878A: Doctoral candidate Jemma Forman at the University of Sussex is co-author of a peer-reviewed study of 1,154 cats from around the globe who play fetch with their owners.  Tracie asks: What does it mean for a cat to be “dog-like?”

#878B: Anne Abel explains how she happened to make an appearance at a Moth event and wowed everybody with the story in her memoir “Mattie, Milo and Me” - of never wanting a dog but then adoring the one she got for her son.

#877A: Brianna Madia’s memoir “Never Leave the Dogs Behind” describes the rollicking nomadic life she has led with her family — a pack of dogs!

#877B: Dr. Stephanie McGrath, associate professor of neurology at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been studying dog and cat dementia and discusses what they have learned so far.

#876A: Tommy Hyde, the director of “Underdog” streaming on Amazon Prime & Apple TV, talks about the protagonist of his film, a “hanging-on-by-a-thread” Vermont dairy farmer with a pack of German Shorthaired Pointer sled dogs he dreams of racing in the Iditarod.

#876B: Lisa  Rimmert’s memoir “Stay: My Forever Friendship with an Aging Dog” is a gentle tale of staying by a dog’s side as his muzzle becomes gray and they head into the twilight of their years.

#875A: Kathleen Donnelly talks about her newest National Forest K-9 thriller, “Killer Secrets,” featuring HRD (Human Remains Detection) dogs and other tracking dogs, trained and handled by volunteers, that can apprehend even a wily serial killer.