Dog Talk ® (and Kitties Too!)

#918A: Dr. Rick LeCouteur and Tracie discuss the history of pet foods formulated to help manage medical conditions but are often based on less-than-optimal ingredients for long term use — for which they were not intended anyway.  

#918B: Dr. Renee Schmid — senior veterinary toxicologist at the Pet Poison Helpline — discusses the many instances when pets ingest something they should not, which is where their specialized service comes in, to support the owner, the vet and the specialty hospital if they need to go there. 

#917A: Don Sturz, who is President of the Westminster Kennel Club [which has put on America’s most prestigious dog show every February for 149 years!] discusses what it takes to become a Best in Show judge at Westminster Dog Show — as he was in 2022, and how to make that decision. He talks about the three dogs who share his life currently, only one of whom has the “It Factor" to be a show dog — his champion Pekingese Fiona.

#917B: Vanessa Woods, co-author with her husband Brian Hare of the delightful book “Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog,” immersed herself in the litters of service dog puppies from Canine Companions that they raised and studied — bringing them to life on the page as individuals you come to know and love — funny, annoying, delightful and sometimes baffling. 

#916A: In his book “Puppy Kindergarten: the New Science of Raising a Great Dog,” co-authored with his wife, Vanessa Woods, Brian Hare talks about how they helped to raise potential service dogs at their Canine Cognition lab at Duke University in order to discover how early a puppy will reveal his/her proclivity for becoming a successful service dog. They also ask the question of whether the way “regular people” raise their own puppies is good enough...or is there something more we should be doing?

#916B: A philosophical discussion about how much sacrifice we “should” make for our pets. Tracie asks whether Dr. Doug’s desire to stay in Florida to keep his Tortoise Taxi going, outweighs the safety benefits of moving away from extreme weather with his wife and animal entourage to Oregon where the tortoises would have to live in an indoor herpetarium. 

#915A: Dr. Carlo Siracusa, Chief of the Animal Behavior Service at Penn Vet at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses their study of geriatric cats, the role of inflammation in aging, and how this information might translate to human aging.

#915B: Dr. Rick LeCouteur — a veterinary neurologist and surgeon — agrees with Tracie’s long-standing credo that dry foods for cats are “kitty crack” because the ingredients are biologically inappropriate for an obligate carnivore. So why do vets keep recommending them — and feeding them to their own kitty cats — when the facts and science show the harm of kibble for cats? (Rick is also the author of the beautiful children’s book “Nasty Names Are Hurtful” about the Australian white Ibis.)

#914A: Ettore Farratti Pojani talks about his centuries-spanning novel “The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia,” imagining one cat reincarnated as a vital companion throughout history to influential individuals in the town of Amelia, Italy. 

#914B: Hannah Shaw talks about “Cats of the World,” the book she created with her husband, feline photographer Andrew Marttila, as they traveled the globe to celebrate the lives of cats everywhere. [The authors very kindly gifted a copy of the beautiful book to all the winning filmmakers who came to the NYC premiere of the 7th Annual NY Cat Film Festival in October.] 

#913A: Carol Borden [of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs] gives Tracie advice on how to best prepare and “protect” her senior dog, Wanda, from the "household invasion” by an 8-week-old puppy.

#913B: Dog trainer Annie Phenix [of ChooseToTrainHumane.com] sympathizes with Tracie’s concern that the puppy classes she has tried with her young Viszla, Sky, have had a joyless, even harsh, atmosphere. Annie explains why lessons should be about building trust, safety, confidence, resilience and JOY! which matter so much more to a young or new-to-you dog than “training.” 

#912A: Don Sturz, president of Westminster Kennel Club, a widely respected dog breeder, handler, and judge (voted Judge of the Year in 2020 and chosen to be the Best in Show judge at Westminster in 2022) discusses a lifetime passion for dogs that began when he was an award-winning junior handler at 10, which gave him a chance to shine when he didn't fit it at school. 

#912B: Dr May Reed is a doctor and professor of geriatric (human!) medicine at the University of Washington, and talks about being an investigator for the Dog Aging Project trial of the anti-aging drug TRIAD.

#911A: Rick LeCouteur — formerly a veterinary neurosurgeon — is the educator for Veterinary Expeditions, as well as being an illustrator/wildlife photographer and author of the children's book “Nasty Names Are Hurtful: An Australian White Ibis Responds to Name-Calling in the City.” 

#911B: Lisa Milot, professor at University of Georgia School of Law, holds the prestigious Annie & Zack Stanton Distinguished Professorship in Canine Welfare Law (named after the benefactor’s Corgi Annie). Milot teaches animal welfare law, floating the idea that to reduce “bad breeding” a license could be required like hunters have to get — but Tracie points out the unintended negative consequences to responsible breeders.

#910A: Sara Driscoll’s new FBI K-9 novel, “Summit’s Edge,” will have you at the edge of your seat as her protagonists navigate an avalanche while investigating a plane crash in the Colorado mountains with their dogs, who have to track the man who blew it up.

#910B: Retired Air Force Brigadier General Scott Wiggins talks about being the subject of the documentary “The Wingman” — which was one of three finalists in the Purina Dog Chow Service Dog Salute — a new category of the NY Dog Film Festival. He explains how having his PTSD-trained service dog Bear — a Labrador from Patriot Service Dogs — has transformed his life. 

#909A: Katherine Carver’s book “Abandoned: Chronicling the Journeys of Once-Forsaken Dogs” photo-documents a series of dogs in shelters and then revisits them again a year later after adoption — sometimes with new names, along with a new lease on life. She calls her own rehomed Sheltie Victory “my daughter’s fur sister.”

#909B: Dr. Esther Eng, who is completing a residency at the Animal Behavior Wellness Clinic to join an elite group of board certified veterinary behaviorists, talks about having been an Asian American student at Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, a Historically Black College.