Today I’m celebrating 13 years of writing about how to have happy dogs and cats, aided by science.
| Photo: Havoc/Shutterstock |
By Zazie Todd, PhD
The symbol of a thirteenth anniversary is lace, so that’s why I chose this photo of a beautiful cat in a window.
I feel very lucky to still be able to write this blog, and to have such a special community around it of people who care so passionately about the welfare of dogs and cats.
To be honest, I find it a little hard to look back on the last year, because it’s six months since I lost my dad. Of course, I still miss him terribly.
But there were some real highlights. I was so happy to celebrate the publication of my third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, in October.
As it happens, this book is dedicated to my parents, and it means a lot that my dad was able to see this before he passed.
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| People tell me they love the stories about Pepper in the book |
And, of course, there was Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers. I was delighted that so many incredible authors came and shared their books with us. It was a heart-warming (and popular) event. More than 1600 people signed up, some events reached capacity at 500 people—and some special folk came to every single event (or almost every one).
I was especially honoured that Marc Bekoff, PhD, and Cat Warren both agreed to be on a panel with me. I love their writing, and I love the empathy that suffuses their work—and they are both also such interesting and engaging people to chat with.
If you missed it, you can watch the recording here or listen here.
Most (but not all) of the Bark! Fest recordings are out now and you can listen via The Pawsitive Post in Conversation podcast or on my Youtube channel. The remaining recordings will be coming out over the next couple of months.
If you’d like to support my work, you can become a member or founding member of Companion Animal Psychology.
Or if you prefer, you can buy me a coffee.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past year.
Happy 13th anniversary!