Pete and I have had two toy poodles: Rene and Jacques. Rene died a couple years ago at age 17 and Jacques is still perking along, turning fifteen this April. We picked poodles because they’re hyperallergenic and don’t make either of us sneeze. Rene came first and was very aristocratic–he could have been a contender in the show dog world. When Rene went into high anxiety when we left him alone, I decided it was time to get another dog. And so Jacques entered our life when Rene was four and he was a very small pup of eight weeks. He could fit in Peter’s shirt pocket. Rene had a large vocabulary and loved to watch the...

I live on a farm, and all of the animals have names, even the hens, who are named for Gilbert & Sullivan heroines, with the Barred Rocks being Members of the Women’s Chorus. I have Ruby The Crazy Corgi, and 4 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’s; Peach, puppies Boone (Daniel) and Kit (Carson), and Little Tony, who I know sounds like a Mafia member. At one point I considered naming all the dogs after made men, but I was the only one who thought it was funny. The dogs didn’t. The horses did. How old these animals came to be in my life is an excellent question. I wrote a nonfiction memoir called WHY MY THIRD HUSBAND WILL BE A DOG,...

I had no idea what I was in for when I picked out Binkley. Or, for that matter, when I named her. She caught my eye some thirteen years ago, a tiger-striped little curlicue of gray and black sleeping on the topmost rung of a carpeted play structure in the kitten room of the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA. At the time, it was her tiny paws, her enormous ears, and her pale chin angled skyward that grabbed my attention. What I should have noticed was the fact that this adorable ball of fur small enough to fit into a teacup had somehow made it to the very top of a six-foot play structure. This was the first of many strategic errors. As for her...

NOSES FOR CRIME by Sue Owens Wright When a writer and lifelong dog lover has been owned by a total of thirteen basset hounds, it’s reasonable to assume that they might end up being written about. If that person is also a mystery novelist, her dogs can inspire fictional characters such as Cruiser, the crime-busting canine in my Beanie and Cruiser Mystery Series. The basset hound breed, with a scenting ability second only to that of the bloodhound, seemed to me the perfect sidekick for Elsie “Beanie” MacBean, the amateur sleuth in the series. Unlike their taller hound cousins who were bred to run alongside hunters on horseback, bassets were...

A PROPER DOG Name: Bridget Breed: red beagle Age: 3 I have a favorite picture of my childhood dog. Macduff was a big, happy collie, named by my brother when his class was reading Shakespeare. We all loved that dog, but it was my sister for whom he became a best friend, a source of comfort during her growing-up years. In the picture, my sister – about seven at the time – has her arms wrapped around his big, shaggy head, her tear-stained face pressed to his long snout. I don’t remember what had caused her sadness that day, but I do remember that whatever the hurt, Macduff would sit patiently with her until she felt better,...

Names: Cleo and Knish Breed: Cleo: Siamese chocolate point Knish: Part Siamese blue point, part alien Ages: Cleo: 11 Knish: 3 How did they come to be a part of the Coleman household? We bought Cleo as a gift for our then 12 year-old daughter, Kaitlin, who has since left the nest. Kaitlin then adopted Knish from a shelter to keep her company in her new apartment, but Knish had other ideas. Knish wasn’t fond of Brooklyn and came back to live with us. Any odd traits or habits? Cleo thinks she’s human and talks to us all the time. I should list her as a first reader, but it would be difficult to explain. Knish was rejected by her mom so she’s a...