That's the title of a new book by some staff members at the Veterinary College at Tufts. I heard about it from a Face Book friend and decided to check it out. One of the authors was interviewed on Fresh Air, the great NPR program hosted by Terry Gross.

I listened to the interview and read the information on the Fresh Air web site and I definitely recommend that you check it out. I'm putting the book on my Christmas list.

Can't help but share this - even though I'm a week late! Amy Shojai is a certified animal behavior consultant and the author of 23 pet care books. That makes her tops, in my mind. But, she is also a spokesperson to the pet products industry and a columnist at About.com.

During the month of November, having started on the 12th (sorry for being late to the blog, Amy!), she's arranged a fantastic blogger book tour of her latest: Complete Care for Your Aging Cat and Complete Care for Your Aging Dog. Both books are sure to be on the pet best seller list - as many, many of us have aging pets and it's a topic of great interest to the entire pet community.

I was fortunate to be on a panel discussion about Veterinarians in Social Media at the recent Blog Paws Conference in Denver. Dr Nancy Kay was on the panel, too, and she gave another presentation dealing with communication between Veterinarians and Clients to the assembled troops. 

Communication is her thing. She trains Veterinarians and Veterinary students how to communicate with pet owners and, in her award winning book, Speaking for Spot, she teaches pet lovers how to best communicate with their Vet. I think she does a great job of both.

It's a rainy day and what better thing to do than go to the bookstore. Can't ride the bike, hike with the dog or go fishing so I might as well shop. I found a really interesting title and the University of Montana bookstore. Through a Dog's Eyes by Jennifer Arnold looks to be a book all dog owners will want to read.

I was down in Las Cruces yesterday picking up some vaccine for Miles at my friend's Veterinary Clinic. While there I noticed a sign in the waiting room about the need for year round heart worm prevention. I asked my friend about the sign and she said that they had definitely been seeing more and more heart worm.

That struck me as odd since Las Cruces is smack dab in the middle of the Northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert. Not a real hospitable place for mosquitoes, the insect vector responsible for the spread of this deadly parasite.

Earlier this month I wrote about what I consider the BEST BOOK of 2010 - when it comes to pets. It's Alexandra Horowitz's book, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. Alexandra is a scientist and this book has a lot of scientific research in it. Research that really does reveal what a dog sees, smells, and knows. To the best of the author's interpretation, of course.

One of the things I found most impressive about Alexandra's approach is this - she says, "...with humans we never let one person's behavior stand for all of our behavior." And yet, "By contrast, with animals the order is reversed. Science considers animals as representatives of their species first, and as individuals second." Which is just wrong! Alexandra writes, "So, when I talk about the dog, I am talking implicitly about those dogs studies to date." And she goes on to note that YOUR dog, or MY dog, may be entirely different than "the dog." Oh, how true!

I have just begun reading an outstanding book on dogs. It's been lying on my bedside table for too, too long and with all the busyness in my life, I decided to take a few moments every day to slow down...and read.

The book is Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, And Know. It's written by Alexandra Horowitz. I have to tell you, even though I've only read 7 pages, I am totally in love with this book! Alexandra has my undying appreciation for writing this book. As I read through it, I will share tidbits for you. But, even so soon into it, I can honestly say you should go get a copy for yourself!

Let me quote from it, starting with Alexandra's first (un-numbered) page: "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." Attributed to Groucho Marx.

We next learn that the author is a dog person. I am a dog person. I am a cat person. But, my first and best love has always been dogs (until the Wabby - she has proven to me that cats are more mysterious than we ever knew!).

I hope you will refrain from the idea of buying your kids a "pet" for Christmas, or any other holiday you're celebrating this time of year. We're most familiar with Christmas, being Christians, and as such, we're also familiar with the idea of having a puppy or kitten under the tree for our kids.

But, puppies and kittens aren't toys. They're living, breathing creatures. They require a lot of attention and care. They cost more than that initial investment (one hopes you're not contributing to puppy mills by buying in inappropriate places), including good food, a leash or a climbing tree (for cats), vaccinations, vet visits for illness, and more.

It's an acceptable practice in this country to buy pets for our kids at holiday or birthday time, but when the kids tire of taking care of their bundle of energy, those puppies and kittens end up at shelters, with sad eyes and confused minds.

Here's a fact that might surprise you: Americans have more cats than dogs - as this USA Today story from last year says, "...cats outnumber dogs by more than 10 million (82 million to 72 million)." So why do dogs get all the attention and why do I have a book on my nightstand titled, "Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats"?

Well, I don't have a good answer for that - I love both dogs and cats and right now I am a proud cat owner, sans dog, for the time being. Our cat, Wabby, is very loving and cuddly and easy to take care of. Every morning I hold her for awhile, I walk around with her in my arms and she purrs in my ear and she loves looking at all the "up high" stuff (as she really can't see much past her nose, I don't think!)

A few months ago I received a book about rescued pets and I put off reading it because I knew it would make me cry. Just the thought of having to "rescue pets" makes me teary-eyed. I cannot bear the thought that someone's pet(s) are given up for adoption, left on the side of the road, or abandoned, however unintentionally (for instance, during and after Hurricane Katrina, people were shuffled off and forced to leave their pets behind).

This book, it turns out, is uplifting and inspiring: Saved - Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform. The people Karin Winegar writes about are amazing people, with the best heartwarming stories I've ever read. Along with Karin's excellent story-telling, are the beautiful black and white photographs of Judy Olausen - which capture the true emotions in these wonderful stories of rescue.