After writing several blogs about dog poop this summer, I knew I had to “practice what I preach,”—or at least try it. The first article was about the environmental hazards of dog poop. 
I pick up, so that wasn’t the concern.
Book Review: What It’s Like to Be a Dog, And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience
By Gregory Berns
From the title, I first expected this to be a story told from a dog’s point of view, but it’s not. 
Read the subtitle, “Animal Neuroscience.” This book is about studying dog brains and other animals with MRI scanners. This allowed researchers to measure the strength of connections within the brain.
How much is your dog worth?
Priceless, most of us would say. But what happens when you have an old dog and an unknown illness, like an abdominal mass? Your vet runs through several scenarios:
- Run multiple tests to try to identify the problem. That would cost of over a grand, and not
involve treatment. If we’re lucky, the problem can be determined from only one or two tests. Plus the cost of treatment, whatever that may be. - She could do exploratory surgery and remove the mass, but if there were multiple tumors, then she would euthanize your dog.
- Or she could just make him comfortable, which may last only a few weeks.
How far do you go down the rabbit hole?
Raw Dog Food—is it right for Your Dog?
Let your dog decide
Feeding your dog raw food is a fairly new concept based on what dogs ate naturally in the wild. Modern technology changes much faster than anatomy, which may take many hundreds of years to adapt to dietary changes. 
This trend to feed natural foods based on a dogs ancestral diet is similar to people going back to natural foods after more than a half century of eating a processed diet that contributed to many illnesses.
Why You Should Pick Up After Your Dog
Forty percent of dog owners don’t pick up after their dogs, so why should you?
The average dog produces ¾ pound a poop a day X 83 million dogs in America = 10.6 million tons of dog crap each year.
Blindness Temporarily Thwarted
Buffy, my one-eyed cocker spaniel, acted normal on Sunday morning, even asking me to throw her ball. But ten minutes later, she stood still with her head down. She stepped cautiously forward and bumped her nose into the bathroom door, then the wall, then the corner. She sniffed everything. I waved my hand in front of her face. She blinked once, likely feeling the air moving. But her eye showed no movement.
Book Review: A Dog’s Way Home
By W. Bruce Cameron
I’ve always heard authors should not write using a dog’s point of view, but Bruce Cameron catches Bella’s thoughts perfectly
My Senior Dog has more Energy than Last Year
Chipper, my twelve year-old cocker spaniel, has more energy when we go for walks than he did
this spring. He often leads the way as we walk around our neighborhood (as long as interesting scents don’t distract him), and he now chases squirrels—something he hasn’t done in years.
Can Pets Prevent Suicide?
“Everyone thinks of committing suicide at some time,” my walking partner said as we settled into a steady pace for the 5K Wauk for Suicide Prevention and Awareness this past Saturday. We had both known people who have attempted and some who had succeeded at committing suicide.
