NEWS
I’m writing this from New York, where I’ll have one last coffee at Mast with my agent (and friend), Leigh, and her puppy Arthur. Puppy Brain really started with Leigh and her love of Goldens. But for the fact that she followed me on Instagram, and that she saw my random comment about writing a book (which I fully intended to self-publish), none of the rest would have happened.
I’m so grateful that it did.
Publishing a book is like a Narnian portal, transporting a writer to a previously unknown world — one filled with walking book clubs and Napa book launches and group chats bubbling over with motivating podcast snippets.
If you’re working on a book or are thinking about working on a book, do it. There is a magical world that awaits you beyond the writing, and I’d love to greet you at the lamppost.
Mark Your Calendars
I’m so honored to be invited back to Zazie Todd’s Bark!Fest — the book festival for animal lovers. Zazie, the author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog and founder of Companion Animal Psychology, hosted the inaugural event in 2024 with more than 1,600 people in attendance worldwide. This year’s lineup includes Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog, newly revised and updated) and Jean Donaldson (Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs) — and it’s shaping up to be even bigger.
The event is free, but space is limited. My panel is Wednesday, September 16th at 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern, alongside Lili Chin (Doggie Language) and Melissa McCue-McGrath (Misadventures of the World’s Okayest Dog Trainer), hosted by Zazie Todd and Kristi Benson.
SOMETHING TO APPRECIATE
I found this through The Shaker by Jedidiah Jenkins and have spent a surprising amount of time slowly scrolling through this website, marveling alongside those who marveled when these inventions became reality. Built by Jordan Dworkin, the website moves the viewer through a modern home, pairing the most rudimentary elements of a home — a light, a radio, a phone, a photograph — with a quote from someone reacting to it back when it was new. I love a good perspective shift, and this website offers it in spades. Not only perfectly paired quotes:
“Water! Water! is the universal note which is sounded through every part of the city, and infuses joy and exultation in the masses.”
but a brief historical peek into just how impactful the particular innovation was:
Philip Hone, 1842 — on the arrival of Croton water in New York City, in his diary. Manhattan’s wells shared soils with its privies and burial grounds; the cholera epidemic ten years earlier had killed 3,515 New Yorkers.
Click through and spend some time wandering through our ordinary abundances.
SOMETHING TO LEARN
One of my favorite things about Nicholberry Goldens is the people I’ve met through dogs. I have long admired the work that Christie Caton puts out into the world on Instagram, so imagine my delight when I discovered her resource-rich Substack.
Pop over and you will quickly see the depth of knowledge that informs her teaching. She offers an unbelievable amount of free content that is different from what you’ll find anywhere else. Click on “Start Here: The Tails of Connection Guide” and you will find yourself wandering down a training rabbit hole that goes far beyond protocols. Christie’s strength is in teaching the science behind them and helping readers understand how we can use those insights to work with the canine brain. She is in a category of her own as a dog trainer, and I’m thrilled to see her here on this platform.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
“Write me of hope and love, and hearts that endured.” - Emily Dickinson
SOMETHING TO LOVE
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