Ted Kerasote is an outdoorsman and author who has written three charming and insightful books about the human-dog relationship – Merle's Door (2007), Pukka, The Pup after Merle (2010), and Pukka's Promise (2013). Pukka's Promise relates the story of Kerasote's search for a dog that...
IntroductionWellBeing International continues to explore the potential health benefits of the human-animal bond and return to the benefits of service dogs for veterans in this newsletter. There are now many organizations promoting and providing service dogs for veterans. WBI focuses on two organizations that provide...
February and March bring crocuses and daffodils to the Northern Hemisphere and extensive media coverage of “clothing and other fashions” in Milan, Paris, New York, and London. In mid-March last year, there were numerous media reports that the Labrador retriever had been deposed as America's...
For those of us who enjoy playing with our dogs, such as tossing a ball or stick for them to fetch, the world offers many more challenging exercise opportunities. Now, a new human-pet dog sport has appeared – CANICROSS or CANI-X. In canicross, the owner...
Thanksgiving is perhaps the most important family holiday in the United States. As we head into the coming week and the gathering of family members, it seems appropriate to reflect on our families and who is included at this critical time. In the Rowan household,...
An extensive study of the genetics of dog behavior (including individual dog personality) and appearance (physical traits) has just appeared in the major academic research publication, Science. The research team reviewed the behavior and genes of 2,000 dogs who had had their entire genomes sequenced....
One of my special projects is catching uncatchable dogs! These are dogs that have been lost after a car accident, on a mountain hike, or as a new adoptee that did not know the adopter intended to provide them a forever home. After such dogs...
People have been writing epitaphs and memorials to companion dogs for millennia. Perhaps the best-known epitaph to a dog is the one Lord Byron wrote for his Newfoundland, Boatswain. Near this Spot are deposited the Remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferosity, and all...
Kabul, AfghanistanAfghanistan recently experienced a change in government, leading to chaotic scenes at Kabul airport as countries evacuated their personnel and individual Afghan citizens sought to leave the country. Dogs were also caught up in this chaos as some animal advocates sought, mostly unsuccessfully, to...
On November 30th, we are holding the first webinar on dog homelessness and WBI's Global Dog Campaign (GDC), and it seems an appropriate time to review the background leading up to this moment. In 1983, I started working on dog/cat welfare and demographics in the...
