Its now June 1st and I’m officially no longer your Dogster blogger. This is one last post to bark so long and invite you to join me over at my personal blog, Joy Ward’s Writing Journal, where I’ll still be fighting the good fight. You can also find me at my web site.

As I announced a few weeks back, I’ve resigned from the For Love of Dog Blog to free up more time to write. I still love Dogster and all the Dogsters and Catsters who make up the world’s best online community. Unfortunately, the many hours it takes to write and edit this blog has made it impossible to write the many pieces I want to get done. Between my regular consulting work and the the For Love of Dog Blog, there just wasn’t much other time to write. And it’s getting VERY embarressing when people ask me for the sequel to Haint that was supposed to be out two years ago…

So I’m going back to my main blog where I’ll be posting less often. I’ll still be focusing on dog issues, reviews of books and products and who knows what, interviews (I’ve got a fun one with a well-known science fiction writer which I’ve got to get cleaned up), laws about dogs, and well whatever comes across my mind. I hope you’ll visit me there from time to time.

I just finished a chapter on ghost dogs for K9 Editor Ryan O’Meara, for an upcoming anthology on true dog stories. Thanks to Dogsters for sharing your stories, btw. Please keep an eye on my blog for information on when that’s coming out.

I’m also working on a sort-of fantasy story about a dragon and some dogs for an anthology of dragon stories from a publisher. More news on that in the blog, too.

I feel like so many of you are personal friends I just haven’t met yet. We’ve shared tears and tearjerkers. We’ve shared anger and outrage. We’ve shared a lot of laughs! But all of that was because we share a love of dogs (and cats). We’re all part of the worldwide pack that knows that dogs are much more than just protection systems. We know that dogs make us much more than we would be without them. And together, we’re much more too!

We are the ones who do and will make the world better. We’re the ones who open our hearts even though we know it will hurt. We’re the ones who give voice to the voiceless. We’re the people of the Dog!

Best barks to all of you! I look forward to hearing from you or meeting you somewhere on the road. You and the rest of Dogster have made my life richer! Thank you!

If you’re in the Baltrimore environs this weekend and looking for something fun, come on over to Balticon at the Hunt Valley Marriott. Balticon is one of teh country’s oldest and best science fiction conventions.

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All good things come to an end. And it’s time for me to move on from the For Love of Dog Blog.

As of June 1st, I’ll be moving my online home back to my own blog, Joy Ward’s Writing Journal. I would love to have each and everyone one of my Dogster and Catster readers come visit with me and the Ward Pack over there. We won’t be barking as often as we do over here but I’ll be keeping up our same high standards.

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The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook should come with a warning — don’t read while hungry! These recipes sound so good I couldn’t help but get hungry as I read through them.

Author Liz Palika has put together a collection of tasty treats for all kinds of events and dogs. Looking for cookie cutter treats or special goodies for special occasions. The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook has got it covered. Do you need recipes designed for dogs with special needs? You’ll find yummy meat-free, grain-free, wheat-free and reduced-fat treats here.

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101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers is the book for all of us who’ve had some version of the following scenario —I’m sitting in a meeting with clients and as another client flunkie makes another inane comment about marketing all of a sudden I’m wondering if there isn’t something I could do that would keep me away from these kinds of humans and let me spend more time with dogs and other doggy humans. I bet you’ve been there too, haven’t you?

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Not only are Dogster’s great people and pawples, they’re talented too! Jackpot’s Tail: Lost in Las Vegas was written by one of our Dogsters (okay, she let her furmom get the credit). Not only that, but it’s really GOOD, too!

Are you looking for a well-written, fun book that helps kids understand what happens to dogs who go through the rescue systems? Have you recently adopted a furry family member and want to let your not-so-furry young ones know more about how their new furbrother or sister came to join your family? Then Jackpot’s Tail may be just the book for you!

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Have you had an experience with a dog who has passed to the Rainbow Bridge? received a visit from a beloved canine furbaby who has come back to help you or reach you in some way? I’d love to hear from you!

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There are MANY excellent training books for humans working with dogs but Tess of Helena (a four-footer herself) has penned a fun and helpful training guide for dogs trying to get the best from their humans. Training Humans combines a touch of satire with a large helping of canine insight into a literary recipe that offers useful information with a twist.

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Dogsters and Catsters know that dogs, cats and others animalshave a different yet important type of intelligence. So this National Geographic article will probably not surprize you too much. Bit it will confirm some of what you already feel and know.

Personally, I’m thrilled to see this information talked about openly by reputable publications because there are way too many people who still believe that there is nothing we can learn from dogs and other animals.

Those of you who have visited me at the science fiction conventions know I am usually on panels about how humans view and write about non-humans. A few years ago I was on a panel with a successful writer who actually has a good-selling series with aliens. But he has little interest in non-human animals on THIS planet. When i asked him why he said it was because there was nothing else we could learn from other species on Earth. I hope this writer gets a chance to read this article. There are so many excellent scientists who know better. I hope the writer and others like him can learn from these true scientific pioneers.

There is so much we can learn about and from our canine and feline symbiotes, as well as the other species with whom we share this planet.

Thanks to Michael K. (who saw the convention panel with the other writer) for barking in this article from National Geographic.

Minds of their Own
Animals are smarter than you think.
By Virginia Morell
Photograph by Vincent J. Musi

In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”

When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs’ eyes and know that, of course, Spot has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking—that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it?

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If you’re in Birmingham, Alabama this weekend you might want to check out Omegacon, the Science Fiction Conference. If you do, look me up! I’ll be there with lots of fun folks.

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