As a dog blogger and an English major, how could I resist a book entitled, Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Brontë? I mean, this book has my name all over it, except, that is, where I was wish it was—on the title page! As much as I enjoyed reading it, I would have liked writing it even more. Continue reading “Shaggy Muses: Book Review”
Last Friday morning I was outside my house, saying good-bye to a friend who had visited, when a small white dog ran by on the sidewalk across the street, without an owner following or even a leash trailing behind. The little dog was trotting at a good clip and heading right for busy Fresh Pond Parkway, a perilous four-lane artery less than a hundred yards away.
Apologizing to my friend, I took off in hot pursuit but, clearly frightened, the poor dog sped up when it saw me. Continue reading “Lost & Found”
When a friend told me about DOGTV, I assumed it was a joke. A new cable TV channel with programs for — not about, but for — dogs?! The Onion must be jerking our chain again, I thought. But no, DOGTV (billed as, what else, “a new breed of television”) is for real, a new digital media entrant in the race to grab a piece of the $50 billion dollar pet industry.
When a friend told me about DOGTV, I assumed it was a joke. A new cable TV channel with programs for — not about, but for — dogs?! The Onion must be jerking our chain again, I thought. But no, DOGTV (billed as, what else, “a new breed of television”) is for real, a new digital media entrant in the race to grab a piece of the $50 billion dollar pet industry. Continue reading “I Want My DOGTV!”
As every superhero knows, wearing a body-hugging unitard will make you feel more confident, even capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Now, thanks to the invention of a nifty garment called the Thundershirt, dogs can feel as brave as superheroes — or at least less likely to cower under the bed during a storm.
The Thundershirt (and its more prosaicly named competitor, the Anxiety Wrap) work on the same principle as swaddling a colicky infant; by applying steady, low-level pressure, a snuggly-fitting shirt exerts a calming effect on the dog’s central nervous system, miraculously curbing anti-social behaviors triggered by anxiety, fear or over-excitement. Continue reading “Thundershirt to the Rescue!”
I’m proud to be today’s guest blogger on Plan B Nation, a wonderfully enlightening blog, whose subtitle “living creatively in challenging times” is a trick we would all do well to master. Plan B Nation is the brainchild of my friend Amy Gutman, who used to live in Cambridge and has a cat. My guest post (in which I compare myself to a Border collie on the World Wide Web!) is called “The Dogs Days of Plan B Nation.”
Here’s how it begins:
This Valentine’s Day I sent my 23-year-old son a card with a photo of a young man and his dog sitting side-by-side, wearing identical frizzy red wigs: “May you never grow to look like the one you love,” the card teased. With neither a sweetheart nor a pooch, my son is in no imminent danger of this romantic peril. The joke was on me, as it’s certainly no secret that his old lady has been crushing on her puppy lately.
I’ll let you be the judge of whether I’ve yet begun to resemble my dog, physically, but I have begun to recognize, and even embrace, a few emotional parallels. [READ MORE on Plan B Nation]
Animals loomed large in my childhood imagination. When I wasn’t pretending to be one – cantering and jumping fences like a horse, wiggling my nose like a bunny as I nibbled carrots, or swimming underwater like a dolphin – I was apt to be reading animal stories, drawing animal pictures, or playing with toy animals. I grew up with dogs, and the Snoopy poster “Happiness is a warm puppy” hung on my bedroom wall. Continue reading “The Dog We Deserved”
It’s award season and canine celebrities are walking the red carpet at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Show as I write. Closer to home, there’s a beguiling show of ceramic dog sculptures by Ronnie Gould that is well worth a visit to Concord center’s Lacoste Gallery this month.
It’s award season, and canine celebrities are walking the red green carpet at New York’s Madison Square Garden at the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Show, as I write. Closer to home, there’s a beguiling show of ceramic dog sculptures by Ronnie Gould that is well worth a visit to Concord center’s Lacoste Gallery this month. Continue reading “Best in Show”
The stars aligned today to bring together the dual inspirations of my blogging life (dogs and E.B. White) when I discovered a post about E.B. White’s dog on a delightful blog called Letters of Note. Serendipity or synchronicity? Who can say that Facebook is a waste of time when it regularly conjures this sort of magic? Continue reading “Of Letters and Lists”
With actor Jason Segel in Cambridge this week to be roasted as the Hasty Pudding’s 2012 Man of the Year, the time has come for a post on the subject of people who don’t pick up after their dogs.
With actor Jason Segel in Cambridge this week to be roasted as the Hasty Pudding’s 2012 Man of the Year, the time has come for a post on the subject of people who don’t pick up after their dogs. Continue reading “Don’t Be a Sydney!”
Regular visitors to Fresh Pond often greet each other by asking, “Did you see him? Is he there today?”
The uninitiated may be excused for wondering what local celebrity could be the subject of such intense speculation. Is Matt Damon back in the ’hood? Might Ben Affleck be scouting locations for another film set in his old stomping grounds? Has Larry Summers taken up power walking to slim down? Is Justice Stephen Breyer riding his bicycle again after his accident last year? Does Skip Gates jog to keep ahead of the Cambridge police? Continue reading “Fresh-PO Is In Da House”
