Could a Veterinary Behaviorist Help Your Dog?
Trixie the greyhound lives surrounded by movie stars in her Southern California home, but for many years, she was hardly a talent agent's dream. Fearful and aggressive toward strangers who came to visit, Trixie wouldn't even go on walks without becoming skittish.

Dog Training Can Be Fun and Games
In 1973, Kay Laurence got her first dog, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, and a life-changing piece of advice from her father. "You'd better take a training class," he said. Thirty-five years later, Laurence is the head of the class. Based in the UK, she runs Learning About Dogs, a business that organizes conferences and offers classes all on the subject of dog training. In her latest book, Learning Games (Sunshine Books, 2008), Laurence advocates teaching dogs through play. Below, she explains both how and why.

Dog Walking Mystery Solved
Try a little experiment with your dog: Have it stand perpendicular to you, with another person facing your pet about 3 feet away. Ask the other person to call your dog. As the dog moves toward that person, look at which foot it moves first.

Innovation Showcased at New Pet Hospital
One of the first patients brought to the newly opened pet hospital of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SF/SPCA) in January was a gray Tibetan terrier suffering from smoke inhalation. The pup had been rescued by the San Francisco Fire Department and was brought into the hospital's state-of-the-art intensive care unit. He was treated in one of the facility's new oxygen cages -- a plastic cage that looks somewhat like an incubator.