Humans have larger brains than dogs.  According to humans, that is: The brains of dogs are smaller than humans in relation to overall body size. In humans, the brain-to-body ratio is 1:40 while in dogs it’s 1:125. The brains of humans have more folds, which means more surface area. The cortex of d…

Yeah, so he can swim.  Big whoop. Still, what a fuss the crowd on the beach make about the revered Kemba!  Stranger strolls by, and K-Dawg snaps to attention.  “Can he swim?” bypasser asks Beagle Man.  Without replying verbally, and without getting up from his sand chair, B-Man grabs a stick he’s s…

The plan: Meet Greg and his boys — our son and grandsons — and take in an after-school Staples baseball game on a sunny early-May afternoon.  I drove in to the high school grounds the “back way” — the narrow road that allows you to circumvent the busy main entrance and head straight for the large…

I was walking with Dede, Mayor of the dog park (or so I’ve dubbed her) earlier this week, along with her Sadie, and, of course, Kemba.  She was telling me about a health scare she’d recently been through with Sadie.  (Thankfully, it turned out all right.)  “How old is Sadie?” I asked.  “Ten,” she…

I’d like to point out that there’s an awful lot of Husky-mania going on around our house.  Sure, I get it — I was named for the ultimate Husky hero, Kemba Walker.  And we do live in Connecticut.  And UConn is a damn good squad — there’s no doubt about that! But I find myself wondering if there mig…

(* COME ON, NOW — BE HONEST!) When playing fetch with two or more dogs, do you cheat in favor of your own by signaling (a slight nod of the head; a subtle hand signal) in which direction you’ll be throwing? When another twosome (human/dog) approaches for a meet-and-greet, and the human asks, “Is…

Let me tell you something about cross-country skiing: I love it. You know what I mean.  Like I don’t actually wear skis.  I leave that part to Beagle Man.  But there’s a heckuva lot of other things I can do . . . •  I can trot through the snow alongside him, like a good little dog. •  I can dash w…

Spent New Year’s in Vermont, as we pretty much always do.  Because certain of the activities weren’t dog friendly, I got shipped over to my Manchester sitter for a couple of days.  Don’t get me wrong: I actually love staying with Christine and her family, and her four dogs, and the other critters…

I happened upon a Rover.com list last month of the most popular dog names for 2023.  Topping the charts for the males: Charlie (also my grandson’s name); for girl dogs, it was Luna, followed closely by Bella.  This jibes with my personal experience at Winslow dog park, where I’m pretty sure half t…

It’s no secret that I’m not good at training dogs.  The funny part of this, though, is that a lot of people we run into think Kemba is extremely well behaved.  They’re impressed that he’ll drop a ball at your feet after retrieving it.  That he’ll come when he’s called.  (Mostly.)  That he doesn’t…