I bet you’ve experienced this yourself. It’s been a long and especially hard day, you’re feeling all kinds of emotions, and that includes feeling all alone. You look over at your dog or cat, and things start to shift. Your cat does it with her eyes, the way she...

Having written weekly columns for decades, this is the first time I have chosen a dumb topic. (Readers, however, may think quite a few others also qualify.) With Halloween coming, I’m reminded how often I’ve talked about this holiday’s real risks to our pets (from...

Although we’re certainly not always kind to them, people’s feelings about dogs can be considered a long-time love affair. But when did that begin…? We now have evidence of a first date going back further than previously estimated for here in North America. Scientists...

Back a few weeks to my Labor Day column, I mentioned bees used to detect explosives. As promised to a doubting reader, this is my further explanation of what seemed to her a highly suspect reference. Quoting here from no less a source than the December 7, 2006 issue...

Lola, the world’s most perfect puppy (my column, my rules), is celebrating her first birthday. Well, we’re calling this her first birthday since, as with almost every shelter graduate, the day of her actual birth – along with other early details – is only a guess. But...

Here’s a question I often get asked: “What’s the relationship between Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA and American SPCA (ASPCA), Humane Society of U.S. (HSUS), and other national-sounding groups?” The question often comes as those organizations send mail asking...

There are several theories about the history of Labor Day but none I’ve found pay any attention to the other than human animals used in labor, and that seems an oversight. The history of animals used in labor is frankly neither humane nor pleasant (and although...

A century ago, Maria Dickin set the goal of helping London’s animals. While even today we remain dissatisfied with the quality of life offered most animals, we know that current conditions are far better than those of the early 1900s. Dickin described an epiphany...

At times it seems that we are a species possessed of apparently tiny memory as well as very little interest in the past. Here’s a case in point. Say the word “Tesla”, especially here in the Bay Area, and you’ll soon find yourself in a conversation about innovation and...

Following last week’s story of my first pet, Spot, did you know that fish are the most popular pets in America? 14.5 million households have tanks containing 160 million finny friends. The highly profitable aquarium industry ($300 million/year) creates much animal...

Outside of work, I’ve lived with literally hundreds of animals, but all of that since leaving home at age 16. I spent childhood begging, unsuccessfully, for a pet. Rather than a pet-less childhood, however, it’s more accurate to say there were no pet-able pets. There...

Our little Lola, the world’s best dog (my column, my rules) never meets anyone who is not her instant best friend, and most of those best friends burst into a spontaneous “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets…” upon learning her name. And that, in turn, quite frequently...

Love or hate him, among those traits which make Donald Trump unique is that he is the first president in a century to live without a dog in the White House. This realization made me turn to the “dog quotient” of those now attempting to take Mr. Trump’s place in...

Summer has just begun but weather doesn’t pay close attention to the calendar, especially not here in the Bay Area. Let’s talk hot weather and pets! Prior to coming to PHS/SPCA I spent 7 years at Arizona Humane Society, so when I hear people complain about the heat I...

For months now, our little Lola (the world’s most adorable puppy) (my column, my rules) has been entertaining us with super-excited mad dashes around furniture, racing from room to backyard to room, wearing a big ear-to-ear grin as she banks the turns, typically...