Writers talk about what brings them hope for the human-dog, human-cat, and human-animal bond.

This is a bonus episode featuring Patricia McConnell PhD, Jean Donaldson, Marc Bekoff PhD, and all of the writers who took part in Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers. Together they share their insights on what is cause for hope. Bark! Fest celebrated the launch of my book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, which is out now.

A few years back, I heard one of my favourite authors speak at an online literary festival. Amin Maalouf is a member of the Academie Francaise and the author of novels including Samarkand and The Rock of Tanios. He said, “I think the duty of a writer is to have lucidity and hope. If you spread despair, it’s best not to speak at all.” So that's what made me think to ask this question of everyone.

You can find recordings of the full panel discussions in our back catalogue.

The authors and their books:

Patricia B. McConnell: The Education of Will and The Other End of the Leash.

Jean Donaldson: The Culture Clash.

Zazie Todd PhD: Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog.  

Marc Bekoff, PhD: Dogs Demystified and The Emotional Lives of Animals.

Cat Warren: What the Dog Knows.  

Alexis Devine: I Am Bunny.  

Teresa J. Rhyne: Poppy in the Wild. 

Lili Chin: Kitty Language.

Mikel Delgado PhD: Play With Your Cat! .

Lucy Hoile: the book your cat wishes you would read.  

Pilley Bianchi: For the Love of Dog, illustrated by Calum Heath.

Wendy Lyons Sunshine: Tender Paws.

Carri Westgarth PhD: The Happy Dog Owner.  

Antony Johnston: The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead.

Louisa Scarr: Gallows Wood.  

Philipp Schott DVM: Eleven Huskies: A Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery.  

Sarah Chauncey: P.S. I Love You More Than Tuna, illustrated by Francis Tremblay.  

Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey): Claw This Journal.

Rachel Wells: Alfie the Christmas Cat.  

E.B. Bartels: Good Grief.

Rev. Sarah A. Bowen: Sacred Sendoffs.

Karen Fine DVM: The Other Family Doctor.  

Kristi Benson.

Finding hope in dog training and animal behaviour (Psych Today) https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/fellow-creatures/202103/finding-hope-in-dog-training-and-animal-behavior

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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As we take a summer break, we're replaying this fun and fantastic interview with Erica Beckwith of A Matter of Manners dog training about the benefits of tricks training for dogs and cats.

We talked about:

• the benefits of tricks training
• how tricks training can help you love your pet even more
• how Erica got into training tricks
• Erica's favourite tricks to teach others in classes
• tips on how to take a selfie with your dog
• how to find the right reinforcement for your cat, and the right way to deliver that reinforcement

This episode was first published in 2022.

About Erica Beckwith: Erica Beckwith of A Matter of Manners Dog Training in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Erica is an amazing positive reinforcement trainer who first got into dogs as a volunteer at Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary in South Korea. After moving back to America, Erica studied at the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers where she got her CTC. Erica is also a CBCC-KA and a Fear Free certified professional. Erica loves cats too, and earlier this year she graduated with a certificate in Advanced Feline behaviour for Cat Professionals with Distinction from International Cat Care.

Website: https://www.amatterofmannersdogtraining.com/ 

See Erica’s dogs (including Ruckus and the trumpet) in the video Yes Sir, That’s My Baby from The Academy for Dog Trainers.  

Kristi Benson’s website and courses: http://www.kristibenson.com/

Zazie Todd's book Purr includes a training plan to teach your cat to go into their carrier and to teach them to sit pretty. Purr, Wag, and Bark! are available wherever books are sold.

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Dogs have incredible noses, and can trained to search for the scent of human remains, bringing closure to those who are grieving and the opportunity to memorialize. As well as recent remains, they can also search for historic remains. We're joined by two experts in the field, Kim Cooper of Ottawa Valley Search and Rescue, and Cat Warren, author of the NYT-bestseller What the Dog Knows, to learn more about these dogs and the work that they do.

We talk about:

• How Kim and Cat got started in working with human remains detection dogs and how the dogs are trained
• Historic human remains detection dogs
• How these dogs can help with searches at the sites of former residential schools in Canada
• The emotional side of a search from the handler's perspective and the skills a handler needs to work with communities
• Working with communities and the role of oral history in historical searches
• What type of dog is best suited to this work (breed, personality, size, etc.)
• And finally, we talk about the books we're reading

The books we recommend:

• The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
• Native Nations: A Millenium in North America by Kathleen DuVal
• Words Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula Le Guin
• Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Also mentioned:

• The work in Croatia is described in this article by Cat Warren https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/dog-archaeology-ancient-human-remains-bones-croatia-a9522776.html
• Cat Warren at Bark! Fest (with Marc Bekoff and Zazie Todd) https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16276537

Cat Warren's books are What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World, and the Young Reader's Edition of What the Dog Knows. They are available wherever books are sold.

Learn more about Kim Cooper on the Ottawa Valley Search and Rescue Dog Association website: https://www.ovsarda.on.ca/

Learn more about Cat Warren: https://catwarren.com/

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Zazie Todd is at the forefront of the move towards positive animal welfare and kind, humane dog training methods. Her third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog is a compassionate and practical guide to overcoming your dog’s fears. In this panel from Bark! Fest, you’ll learn how to help your dog feel safe, how your presence can help your dog, and get a new understanding of the training techniques that can make a difference, as she shares tips from Bark!. 

We talked about:

• How Bark! Fest came about
• How to counsel people that slow is the new fast when it comes to fearful dogs
• Decisions about how much of the "why" and "how" to include in the book
• Why tricks training is included in a book for fearful and anxious dogs
• How to keep dogs and people safe
• Whether pandemic puppies really do have more behaviour issues, and how we can use management to help a fearful dog
• The gorgeous cover of Bark! and how much input authors get into book covers and titles with a traditional publisher
• Plus Zazie did a reading from the book

Bark! is out now in paperback. It is available wherever books are sold.

Find out about upcoming events and learn more about Zazie Todd, PhD, on her website https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/p/home.html

The recording of Bark! Fest with Patricia McConnell, PhD, is here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16149739

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Living with pets sadly means losing them too. There wasn't a dry eye in the house (in a good way) at this event.

Loving pets means thinking of them both in life and after their loss. In the poignant and personal Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, E.B. Bartels takes us on a global tour of how we love and mourn our pets. Sarah Bowen shares her deep insights on the lives and loss of all animals—pets and wildlife—in Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice for Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, and Trying to Heal the Planet. And Karen Fine DVM’s heartwarming memoir about becoming a veterinarian, The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality, is full of tales about what we can learn from the animals in our lives.

We talked about:

• Why E.B. Bartels wrote her book and what she learned about how people memorialize their pets, including taxidermy and mummification
• The way that grief for a lost pet is often disenfranchised
• What an animal chaplain is and why Sarah Bowen wrote her book
• Blending science with spirituality, and practical tips to help when someone loses a pet
• What it's like being a veterinarian, and how Dr. Karen Fine was influenced by her grandfather
• The value of making home visits as a veterinarian, and helping other pets cope when one of their fellow pets has passed
• Plus each author did an amazing reading from their book

The quote by Irving Townsend can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/37516-we-who-choose-to-surround-ourselves-with-lives-even-more

Learn more about the authors:

E.B. Bartels: https://www.ebbartels.com/ 

Rev. Sarah Bowen: https://www.sacredsendoffs.com/ 

Karen Fine DVM: https://karenfinedvm.com/ 

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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When The Emotional Lives of Animals was first published in 2007, it was a gamechanger for its exploration of animal emotions and cognition. Now, a second edition has been published to bring us up to date on all the new science of animal emotions. Marc Bekoff joins us in this webinar to talk about animals’ experiences of joy, empathy, grief, anger, and embarrassment. You’ll never see animals the same way again.

We talked about:

• What Marc Bekoff was hoping to do when he wrote the first edition of this book in 2007, and why he wrote a second edition
• Bekoff says, "It is no longer radical to recognize, respect, and want to protect the emotional lives of animals.” We talk about how people can recognize, respect, and protect animal emotions
• What he looks out for when he watches dogs run around and play at the dog park
• Examples of sorrow and empathy in non-human animals
• Bekoff's research on wild canids including wolves
• What it was like to create the book, Jane Goodall at 90
• Plus Marc did a reading from the book and we were all captivated! The books are available from all good bookstores.

To learn more about Marc Bekoff, visit his website: https://marcbekoff.com/

You can contact him via the website to ask to join his email list, which is mentioned in the recording.

Also mentioned in this episode is Thinking Like a Wolf by Rick McIntyre.

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Reflect on what cats mean to us and the many ways they influence our lives with these 3 feline authors. 

Sarah Chauncey’s heartfelt P.S. I Love You More Than Tuna is a touching celebration of our bond with our cats, illustrated by Francis Tremblay. Claw This Journal: An Activity Book for Cats and Their Humans by Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey) is packed with crafts, training, and activities and a deep understanding of cats’ emotional wellbeing. In the latest in the Sunday Times bestselling series, Alfie the cat is preparing for a purrfect festive show when things go wrong, in Alfie the Christmas Cat by Rachel Wells. 

We talked about:

• The story of how PS I Love You More Than Tuna came about (and the Easter eggs in the book)
• How this book is designed to be given away, and how giving became part of Sarah's process
• The role that a Muse Medallion from the Cat Writer's Association for an article by Sassafras played in making Claw This Journal come about
• The range of activities in the book (and which ones are Sassafras's favourites)
• Why Rachel started writing the Alfie the Cat series, and the themes behind Alfie the Christmas Cat
• What it's like to sustain a feline character and their supporting cast over so many books
• And you can listen to each author do a reading

Learn more about the authors:

Sarah Chauncey https://www.sarahchauncey.com/

Sassafras Patterdale https://sassafraspatterdale.com/

Rachel Wells https://itsacatslifebyrachelwells.substack.com/

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Zazie chats with Kerry Nichols, bestselling author of Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love.

We talk about:

• How Kerry got into breeding dogs
• Why we both love Golden Retrievers
• How the book, Puppy Brain, came about
• What puppies are like when they are born
• Examples of the socialization that Kerry does with puppies
• Her favourite part of the first 8 weeks of a puppy's life
• Advice on finding a responsible breeder (for any breed)
• And Kerry reads from Puppy Brain for us!

Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love is out now in hardback. The paperback will be out on April 29th and can be pre-ordered now from all good bookstores.

The books we recommend in this episode are:

• Dog Poems: An Anthology by Various and Christopher Wait
• The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

OFA - The Canine Health Information Center is at https://ofa.org/.

Kerry Nichols is a former attorney turned canine educator and advocate whose journey into the world of dogs began nearly fifteen years ago. With the founding of Nicholberry Goldens, she devoted herself to raising the healthiest Golden Retrievers possible. This evolved into a mission to instill emotional resilience and agency in her own puppies, a pursuit she now shares with an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers across social media. Her methods continue to garner support from leading veterinarians, trainers, and psychologists, and notable owners of her Goldens include executives from Facebook, Microsoft, and Tinder. 

Kerry's website: https://www.kerrynichols.com/home

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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If you love crime and mystery novels, you’re in for a treat as dogs help solve crimes in these remarkable books. When a singer dies in mysterious circumstances, dog sitter Gwinny Tuffel and the singer’s Border Collie investigate in Antony Johnston’s cosy and witty The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead. In Louisa Scarr’s dark and compelling Gallows Wood, PC Lucy Halliday and her dog Moss search for the body after a severed hand is found in the woods. And when veterinarian (and amateur detective) Dr. Bannerman and his champion sniffer dog Pippin holiday near a remote lake, he has to try to save some poisoned sled dogs and figure out why a float plane crashed in Eleven Huskies by Philipp Schott DVM. 

We talked about: 

• How Antony Johnston came up with the idea of Gwinny Tuffel, the pet sitter who is the amateur detective in his Dog Sitter Detective books 
• Why Johnston especially enjoys writing cozy crime 
• The story of PC Lucy Halliday, the human remains detection dog handler, who is the main character in Louisa Scarr's Gallow's Wood 
• How Scarr did the research for this book which is a police procedural 
• How Dr. Bannerman and his pet dog work together in Dr. Philipp Schott's Eleven Huskies 
• Schott's love of the northern Canadian landscape and how it plays out in his books 
• and more, plus readings from each of the books! 

Learn more about the authors: 

Antony Johnston: https://antonyjohnston.com/ 

Louisa Scarr: https://www.instagram.com/louisascarrwriter/ 

Dr. Philipp Schott: https://www.philippschott.com/ 

The books are available wherever books are sold.

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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Zazie and Kristi talk to dog trainer Si Wooler about his new book, More Than Just a Dog.

We talk about the big changes that people are willing to make for their fearful dogs, and why the dog's relationship with their person is important for all dogs, but especially the fearful ones. We talk about what a great job Si does of helping people see things from the dog's perspective, and we ask how he talks with clients about the dog's umwelt, or how the dog perceives their world.

We ask about how Si decided where to fit Sophie's story in the book. And Kristi puts Si on the spot and asks how he deals with the outdated idea of dominance when it comes up in conversation and what he thinks of toxic masculinity in dog training.

More Than Just a Dog: Understanding, Loving, and Living with Dogs, The Indispensable Guide for All Dog Lovers by Simon Wooler is out now in the UK and available wherever books are sold, including UK Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/14471/9780008707484

More Than Just a Dog will be published in North American on May 13th.

The books we recommend in this episode are:

• A Dog a Day, Old Dogs, and Rescue Dogs by Sally Muir
• Woman at 1000 Degrees: A Novel by Hallgrímur Helgason, trans Brian FitzGibbon
• The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

The talk by Dr. Lindsay Parker is the A&S Colloquium Kicking the Dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN7m4sfkbZA&t=1s 

Si Wooler has been training dogs for more than ten years. He studied with the Academy for Dog Trainers, one of the most rigorous dog behaviour and training programmes in the world and specialises in training fearful and reactive dogs. In 2023, he worked with author and broadcaster Rory Cellan-Jones and his wife Professor Diane Coyle to help their Romanian rescue dog, Sophie, overcome her profound fears, bond with her people and gradually discover the world, a journey that was followed daily by hundreds of thousands of fans.

Si came to dog training after 20 years as a sound engineer so loud barking hardly registers on his personal decibel scale. His own fearful, ‘unhomeable’ rescue dog, Thomson, was the motivator for seeking out effective, evidence-based training methods and leaving his career in sound and stage to focus on working with troubled dogs and the people who love them. This is his first book. Si's website: https://www.sociabledog.com/

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

Instagram BlueSky