Let me have dogs about me that are fat 

McCracken was the fattest pup in his litter, and the only one with jowls

It's almost Christmas.  I know this because of the festive seasonal lights, the gaudy store displays, and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Also because the media tips ...

Lickity spit

Photo by Antony***/ Flickr 

Sometimes I think the decision to live with kids sentences you to a lifetime of tears — best case scenario, theirs, not yours. But the decision to live with dogs sentences you to a lifetime of drool. Even if you don't live with one of the spectacularly salivating breeds ...

The Pushkin Papers: Two

As I keep telling everyone, including Pushkin herself, Push is my first little dog. "Pushkin, there are your people!" I say, whenever we see a squirrel. But she's not so different from larger puppies: she rolls in the laundry room lint piles, and carefully examines the ants on the kitchen ...

Pet projections -- my dogs, my shrinks

McCracken as we leave my therapist's (he's sad the session's over)

I've learned a lot about my therapists (yes, plural - it's a lifelong learning project) from their attitudes to my dogs.  Joseph Burgo, a clinical psychologist, has written that he's come to see ...

Family patter(ns) - how we talk to our dogs

Mack Crack and Foo, good looking in a subtle way, and always a sceptical audience.

My mother would be the first to tell you that I am bright but not brilliant. I call her the Queen of the Qualified Compliment. And when I talk to the ...