Want to Improve Your Relationships with Companion and Other Animals? Plant a Garden I have a magnate on my refrigerator that says, “Change your shoes…Change your life.” The relationship between planting a garden and quality animal interactions may seem equally unconnected, but it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. Gardening teaches basic skills that [...]
Archive for the New Commentary Alert Category
July Commentary Now Available
Blind-Sided: The Dilemma of Contemporary Service Dogs Have you ever noticed that when we humans think about combining two different components we automatically assume that the result will be the best of each? There are multiple examples of this concept in the animal-related world, with the natural or artificial breeding of animals from two different [...]
June, 2010 Commentary Now Available
The Bond: More Than What We Want Last month I attended a seminar on the human-equine bond held at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The attraction for me was two speakers from the United Kingdom. Because a sub-theme of the meeting was equine rescue, I knew it was possible that [...]
May, 2010 Commentary Now Available
Blasphemous Thoughts The nice thing about being an independent scholar is that I’m not bound by the culture and limits of a particular discipline. Because of this I’m free to think about a lot of subjects that would be unthinkable to others. Add that I’m blessed with friends and colleagues with whom I can freely [...]
March, 2010 Commentary Now Available
Rescue: Lasting Salvation or Quick Fix? In spite of my vow to limit my exposure to what now passes as news reporting for my mental health, it’s impossible to escape the rescue culture that is deeply entrenched in our society. The devastating earthquake in Haiti has yet again brought this to the forefront, both in [...]
February 2010 Commentary Now Available
Wolves in Our Parlors, Dogs in Our Minds Novelist Marcel Proust said that “…every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self.” The same can be said of writers who, whether they want to or not, often tell the reader much more about themselves than the subject about which they write. [...]
January 2010 Commentary Now Available
A Universal Human-Companion Animal Bond Resolution If the title makes you think that I’ve succumbed to the hyperbole that permeates all things companion animal from (gross!) canine butt-covers to adopted pets as holiday gifts, fear not. The title represents the distillation of numerous good resolutions into one that will be easy to remember even when [...]
December 2009 Commentary Now Available
Free Holiday Gifts for Pets and Their Owners It’s that time of year again when thoughts about holiday gifts creep into our minds more and more often. Only this year as last, finding the funds for even token gifts is out of the question for many people. But not to worry. There are several great [...]
October and November Commentaries Available
I blew it. I didn’t realize until I started to prepare the blog for this month’s commentary that I never uploaded one for last month’s. So in keeping with all the sales the economists are saying we’ll have this holiday season, this month you get two commentaries for the price of one. First the October [...]
September Commentary Now Available
Eating My Words: Redefining the human-companion animal bond—again One nice thing about not being a commercial success is that I can change my mind about things as I gain more knowledge and experience. I can say “Whoa, was I wrong about that! This makes ever so much more sense!” without losing sponsors or watching the [...]