An unexpected, poignant, and personal account of loving and losing pets, exploring the singular bonds we have with our companion animals, and how to grieve them once they've passed.
E.B. Bartels has had a lot of pets--dogs, birds, fish, tortoises. As varied a bunch as they are, they've taught her one universal truth: to own a pet is to love a pet, and to own a pet is also--with rare exception--to lose that pet in time.
But while we have codified traditions to mark the passing of our fellow humans, most cultures don't have the same for pets. Bartels takes us from Massachusetts to Japan, from ancient Egypt to the modern era, in search of the good pet death. We meet veterinarians, archaeologists, ministers, and more, offering an idiosyncratic, inspiring array of rituals--from the traditional (scattering ashes, commissioning a portrait), to the grand (funereal processions, mausoleums), to the unexpected (taxidermy, cloning). The central lesson: there is no best practice when it comes to mourning your pet, except to care for them in death as you did in life, and find the space to participate in their end as fully as you can.
Punctuated by wry, bighearted accounts of Bartels's own pets and their deaths, Good Grief is a cathartic companion through loving and losing our animal family.
The #1 New York Times bestselling book from the author of The Year of the Puppy that asks what dogs know and how they think. The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs' perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draws a picture of what it might be like to be a dog. What's it like to be able to smell not just every bit of open food in the house but also to smell sadness in humans, or even the passage of time? How does a tiny dog manage to play successfully with a Great Dane? What is it like to hear the bodily vibrations of insects or the hum of a fluorescent light? Why must a person on a bicycle be chased? What's it like to use your mouth as a hand? In short, what is it like for a dog to experience life from two feet off the ground, amidst the smells of the sidewalk, gazing at our ankles or knees? Inside of a Dog explains these things and much more. The answers can be surprising--once we set aside our natural inclination to anthropomorphize dogs. Inside of a Dog also contains up-to-the-minute research--on dogs' detection of disease, the secrets of their tails, and their skill at reading our attention--that Horowitz puts into useful context. Although not a formal training guide, Inside of a Dog has practical application for dog lovers interested in understanding why their dogs do what they do. With a light touch and the weight of science behind her, Alexandra Horowitz examines the animal we think we know best but may actually understand the least. This book is as close as you can get to knowing about dogs without being a dog yourself.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Calling all animal lovers! A heartwarming memoir about one woman's career as a vet and the unique role pets play in our lives - "Filled with compassion and wisdom, Karen Fine is a healer whose own wounds have deepened her gifts for bringing animals and their people comfort and peace." --Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus A tribute to our furry, feathery, scaley, and wet family members, All Creatures Great and Small meets Being Mortal in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian. Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients' stories to provide the best possible care. And in The Other Family Doctor, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking, and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's: - The feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw - The pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family - The surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets - The beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation - The dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats, and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons--how caring for the animals in our lives can teach us to better care for ourselves, especially when life seems precarious.
Raise a happy, well-behaved puppy in 7 simple steps Teach your pup the ropes with Puppy Training in 7 Easy Steps. This step-by-step guide shows you how to combine positive reinforcement with your dog's natural instincts during training. They'll learn essential manners and boundaries―while both of you bond and have lots of fun! Discover dog training fundamentals, and start implementing straightforward techniques that build up your pup's skills in stages. You'll gain a solid understanding of your puppy's perspective, behavior, and body language--so you know why they're doing what they're doing, not just how to change their behavior or train a command. In this beginner-friendly dog training manual, you'll find:
Complete dog training―Get guidance for bringing your puppy home, crate and potty training, preventing food aggression, socializing, learning key commands, and leash walking. Prep and puppy-proofing―Explore the best ways to prepare for getting a puppy, from checking off an essential list of supplies to doing a safety check around your home. Tips and troubleshooting―Learn how to see each dog training step from your puppy's viewpoint and get quick advice in case things don't go according to plan. You and your pup will learn all the essentials with this handy guide that makes dog training easy.
"What Mr. Rogers was to children, Alexandra Horowitz is to dogs: a wise and patient observer who seeks to intimately know a creature... Her chapters, packed with close observations about canine cognition and behavior, are mini-mood lifters." --NPR, Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air What is it like to be a puppy? Author of the classic Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz tries to find out, spending a year scrutinizing her puppy's daily existence and poring over the science of early dog development Few of us meet our dogs at Day One. The dog who will, eventually, become an integral part of our family, our constant companion and best friend, is born without us into a family of her own. A puppy's critical early development into the dog we come to know is usually missed entirely. Dog researcher Alexandra Horowitz aimed to change that with her family's new pup, Quiddity (Quid). In this scientific memoir, she charts Quid's growth from wee grub to boisterous sprite, from her birth to her first birthday. Horowitz follows Quid's first weeks with her mother and ten roly-poly littermates, and then each week after the puppy joins her household of three humans, two large dogs, and a wary cat. She documents the social and cognitive milestones that so many of us miss in our puppies' lives, when caught up in the housetraining and behavioral training that easily overwhelms the first months of a dog's life with a new family. In focusing on training a dog to behave, we mostly miss the radical development of a puppy into themselves--through the equivalent of infancy, childhood, young adolescence, and teenager-hood. By slowing down to observe Quid from week to week, The Year of the Puppy makes new sense of a dog's behavior in a way that is missed when the focus is only on training. Horowitz keeps a lens on the puppy's point of view--how they (begin to) see and smell the world, make meaning of it, and become an individual personality. She's there when the puppies first open their eyes, first start to recognize one another and learn about cats, sheep, and people; she sees them from their first play bows to puberty. Horowitz also draws from the ample research in the fields of dog and human development to draw analogies between a dog's first year and the growing child--and to note where they diverge. The Year of the Puppy is indispensable for anyone navigating their way through the frustrating, amusing, and ultimately delightful first year of a puppy's life.
Zen meets cats -- and kitty litter -- in this calming Zen garden kit that includes everything you need to reach ultimate enlightenment. For any cat lover looking for peace and mindfulness, this kit includes:
3-inch "Litter box" tray Two 3/4-inch cats Bag of sand 5 decorative rocks 2-1/2-inch wooden rake 32-page book on the Zen of litter box gardening