My column about Jacob and his pet tarantula led to several conversations regarding spider phobias, and that led to the internet for some interesting reading. Ten percent of Americans are affected by phobias (per the American Psychiatric Association), 40 percent of...
Many past columns celebrated the joys of life with dogs and cats, and we’ve also touched on potbellied pigs, rabbits, hamsters, love birds, tortoises, guinea pigs and other animals broadly considered pets (or, for the more politically correct in the audience,...
Both in our private lives and also in the big public horrors we face together, life is often hard. For my generation, that first shocking experience we share was the assassination of a president. We all seem to remember where we were when we learned JFK had been...
These past few months we’ve talked about the dangers of dogs in hot cars, summertime increases in ticks and fleas and nasty weeds which literally get under our pet’s skin, older dogs being dragged on leash by oblivious humans out to enjoy the nice weather, and more....
From Linda: “Since it’s summer we find ourselves at beaches and parks more than other times of the year. As such, you see more people who have their dogs off leash and the distressing consequences of most dogs who don’t return on command. Dogs who are blissfully...
Opehidiophobia. Readers will recognize the end of that word means “fear of”; opehidiophobia is fear of snakes. I just returned from a glorious week in Tahoe where, yes, snakes live and thrive (along with thousands of other remarkable plants and animals: I mean, how...
