Unless I was a Nobel Prize winner who could summon funding for my research with minimal to no interference from the funders, I wouldn’t like to be a researcher at this time. Although many scientists still claim to be objective (at least publicly), funders can and do directly or indirectly influence researchers. That’s simply human nature. Even so, as the numbers of costly tests associated with diseases that have some genetic component in purebred dogs continues to grow (and seriously, is there any disease that doesn’t if we really think about it?), it seems like we need to get
Read more →This podcast uses Lyme disease as an example of how incredibly complex natural cycles can be. And, more troubling, how seemingly unrelated point-in-time choices we make about wild animals may, literally, come back to bite us years later.
Read more →Are you one of those people who automatically rants and rages about the unfairness of it all when you develop a cold, succumb to the flu, or get laid low by a hot intestinal virus? I admit that when it happens to me, it takes a lot of self-control not to succumb to such feelings. But I’m a lot better than I used to be because I realize how such negative emotions may undermine the immune response. And I’m also now at the age where I can’t afford to ignore any help Nature builds into the system. This podcast
Read more →Continuing our series of 4-letter words that may affect the human-companion animal bond, this week we consider some of the profane effects of love.
Read more →Unlike our first 4-letter word, hope, to which we readily may assign a positive emotional value whether it deserves it or not, most people agree that the less fear we and our animals experience, the better. This isn’t to say that fear has no redeeming value. At its best it can prevent us and our animals from doing things that might cause us harm. But at its worst, oh my.
Read more →If you look up hope in Wikipedia, you’ll discover that it’s a word that those in multiple disciplines strive to define to their own satisfaction. When it comes to our interactions with our animals, hope sometimes plays a pivotal role in our interactions. The question is: Is this always a good thing? Or can hope sometimes get in the way?
Read more →When most people think of New Year’s traditions, making resolutions to improve our lives typically comes to mind. If you’re like me, you even may envision those resolution as written in stone to help guarantee their fulfillment. But many years ago some friends introduced me to another kind of New Year’s list, one that I delight in watching go up in smoke.
Read more →What comes into your mind when you think of extra-sensory perception? Does your definition have enough flexibility as it relates to human-animal communication? In this podcast we explore how such extra-sensory communication flows naturally once we become aware of the role sequential thinking plays in our interactions with animals. And what a wonderful gift it is!
Read more →Henry David Thoreau wrote that “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” The same holds true of all animal behaviors, whether in response to those of their own species or members of a different one. At that same time, though, sometimes our teaching methods cause us to forget that this flow…
Read more →The next three podcasts deal with something that we can’t see, hear, smell, taste, or feel that affects all of us: time.
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