Katie, my own shy dog, has been with us for almost six years. She has come a long way since we first fostered her, but her relationship with my husband, Mark, has always been a work in progress. While she no longer scurries away to hide at the sound of his footsteps, she will often bark […]

“Worry, worry, worry, why are you so worried?” is a line from a great children’s book by Kevin Henkes titled Wemberly Worried. Poor Gracie, my first fearful dog, had to bear the brunt of my own worry and anxiety for years before I became conscious of what I was doing, and took steps to change. […]

Last winter, my sons noticed some slight movement under the ice of our small, shallow pond. Upon investigation, they determined that a snake had become trapped under the surface, and that it needed to be rescued from certain hypothermia and an icy grave. Recovery efforts were successful, and the limp victim was rushed into the […]

I came across a post recently that asked, “How can we make the world a better place for our dogs?”. As I finished reading, I wondered what we would learn if we asked a more pointed question: “How can we make a fearful dog’s world better for that individual dog?” I started thinking about what […]