Dog Talk ® (and Kitties Too!)

#852B: Wendy Wen talks about being a woman entrepreneur in the pet industry, carefully buying brands like Bocce's Bakery, Ark Naturals, and Super Snouts to infuse them with venture capital and help them grow to the next level, while retaining the original founders and team behind those companies.

#851A: Pilley Bianchi talks about her book "For the Love of Dog" and growing up as the "sibling" of the world's most brilliant dog — Chaser — who knew over 1,000 words. She encourages everyone to "use their dogs' brilliant minds to play," and magnify our bond and appreciation of them.

#851B: Peta Hitchens in Australia talks about her movie "Filming Dogs" that will be in the upcoming 8th Annual NY Dog Film Festival, and the question she asks herself and others who have performing dogs: "Do they really want to be doing this or are you doing it for yourself?"

 #850C: Lynn Hightower, the author of the thriller “A Beautiful Risk” — which is also a book about loss and grief — talks about how this book morphed into her column on grief for Psychology Today. [She generously bought copies of her book for the doggy swag bags for the filmmakers coming to the NYC premiere of the 8th Annual NY Dog Film Festival.] 

 #850B: Francesco Marciuliano has written “Oh. It’s You. Love Poems by Cats,” another hilarious collection of poems inspired by (and theoretically penned by) his own cultured kitties. He is giving a copy as a gift to everyone who buys tickets for the Meow Party, as well as to the filmmakers coming to the 6th Annual NY Cat Film Festival premiere. 

 #850A: Cate Conte is back with another cozy kitty-infused mystery, this time with ghosts, a psychic, and deaths in a haunted house on Halloween. 

#849A: Director Kim Best won the first-ever Visionary Award in 2022 for having had a film (and sometimes two!) in every NY Cat Film Festival since the first year. She talks about yet again having two of her films selected for this year’s 6th Annual Festival —  “Insomnia” and “Seen at Last” — and what inspires her.

#849B: Brian Patrick Duggan talks about his innovative new book, “Horror Dogs: Man’s Best Friend as Movie Monster,” and the years of research and passion that went into unearthing all the movies ever made in which dogs are depicted as you’ve never thought of them before: as “man’s scariest” friend.

#849C: Kathleen Donnelly talks about her second book in the National Forest K-9 series and how her own experience with search dogs makes the human-canine bond so realistic (and the danger so scarier!)

#848A: Hersch Wilson discusses the special ways that living alongside dogs can expand our view of the universe in his book “Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends.” 

#848B: Dog trainer Annie Phenix (author of “Positive Training for Aggressive and Reactive Dogs”) discusses the apparent ignorance of President and Jill Biden about what is acceptable canine behavior — since they now have a second German Shepherd that is repeatedly biting Secret Service members and other staff at the White House.  

#848C: Rick DuCharme talks about the Community Cat Clinic he opened in Georgia — with more to come — that offers accessible services and fees to cat owners and community cat protectors who previously did not have affordable or geographically accessible care.

#847A: Pilley Bianchi talks about her book describing growing up alongside Chaser — probably the most famous dog in modern times, the Border Collie her father taught more than 1,000 words.

#847B: Dr. Doug Mader — Tracie’s co-host on their podcast Exotic Pets — discusses the value of routine annual exams at the veterinarian whether for dogs, cats or snakes!

#847C: Spencer Williams — the owner of the dog toy company West Paw — talks about the safety element to their toys being made of non-toxic, recyclable FDA approved material, and Tracie congratulates him for celebrating their 10th anniversary as a “B corp.”

#846A: Ross Scarbro from Wondercide discusses the products they have created with natural “plant power” to repel and kill fleas and ticks without exposing your pets to toxic chemicals.

#846B: Dr Craig Clifford, who previously spoke about the Take C.H.A.R.G.E Registry, returns to consider whether food, environment, genetics or something else can be blamed for the ever-higher incidence of cancer in dogs.

#846C: Robin Joy Meyers talks about how she and her husband developed a brand new kind of fabric that captures pet hair and dirt - while being elegant and luxurious to the touch — and how they made it into Magic Fabric throws to protect furniture and beds from snuggling dogs and cats.

#845A: Tracie is so happy to catch up with Dr. Clive Wynn, who she interviewed years ago as author of “Dog is Love,” and who is the director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, who is happy to have many other “canine scientists'  following in his footsteps.

#845B: Stephanie Volo, who is the Chief Impact Officer for Earth Animal, talks about how the toy company West Paw (one of the first pet businesses to be a B Corp) created the “Funnl” to hold Earth Animal’s unique No Hide dog chew — “a partnership for good,” as she describes it, “for the betterment of animals, people & the planet.”

#845C: Dr. Angie Johnston — Director of Boston College Canine Cognition Center & Social Learning Lab — returns to talk about how they are studying learning from watching how kids and dogs learn differently. And it may be that dogs are actually smarter than children at some things!

#844A: Tracie was surprised to learn that yet another prestigious college has dog studies — the Yale Center Canine Cognition Lab. She talks to Dr. Zachary Silver, who got his degree and is leaving to start a dog studies program at Occidental College, where he will be a professor, finding the study of co-evolution with dogs and awareness of their social cognition endlessly fascinating.

#844B: Nancy Peterson of the National Kitten Coalition talks about the challenges and successes in groups across the country rescuing kittens, but she urges people not to disturb little kittens in a nest because their mother is surely looking after them — and it gives them a better chance of survival.

#844C: LeeAnn Wagner from the Suitical company — which originated in the Netherlands —  talks about the unique products that cover a dog or cat’s body for healing from wounds or surgeries instead of the dreaded “cone of shame” disliked by pets and owners alike. 

843A: Katie Haegele talks about her art-infused stories in her book “Cats I’ve Known: On Love, Loss, and Being Graciously Ignored” and also her Cat Zine series, creating some of the most delightful tales Tracie has encountered about the feline-canine bond.