DROOL - Issue No. 6

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BY B I X B I — I S S U E N O. 6

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SHE KEEPS ME COMPANY ALL DAY. SHE TALKS IN HER SLEEP.

SHE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Erda Estremera

SHE WON’T GO ANYWHERE UNLESS I CARRY HER.

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FRESH MEAT. NO BY- PRODUCTS. ROCKSTAR DIGESTIBILITY.

BIXBI makes food from fresh meat and honest ingredients and offers it at a lower price than the rest. No weird by-products, no overprocessed “meat meals.” Just healthy, delicious, digestible dog food at a reasonable price.

Damn near perfect dogs deserve damn near perfect dog food.

Available in All Life Stages, Puppy and Small Breed Recipes.

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BY BIXBI—ISSUE NO. 6

EDITOR-IN -CHIEF

James Crouch

MANAGING EDITOR

Alynn Evans

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Chris Nelson

ART DIRECTION & DESIGN

Justin Page COPY EDITOR

Christian Glazar PRODUCER

Shayan Asgharnia DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

John Webster

NO BAD IDEAS EDITORS

Rachel D’Agostino Melissa Van Vactor

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ally Coucke, Alynn Evans, Miriam Coleman, Alyssa Hurst, Chris Nelson, Alexis O’Connell CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Joel Caldwell, Richie Graham, Luka Leroy, Kelly Lund, Samantha Regula, Edward Selfe, Shams CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Andrea Cira, Mulga, Gillian Pollitt, SRT, Adrienne Walder, Brian Williams BIXBI Pet PO Box 7327 Boulder, CO 80306 303.666.1070 No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any shape or form without written consent from BIXBI. For general inquiries, story and photography submissions, contact us at droolideas@bixbipet.com. © 2021 copyright BIXBI Printed in the USA

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Issue No.

SIX

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“IF THEIR TRAINING IS A SUCCESS, THEY CAN JOIN A TEAM OF FOUR DOGS AND EIGHT LOCAL HANDLERS TO PROTECT THE WILDLIFE OF ZAMBIA’S LUANGWA VALLEY... ” 12

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Fly A Fantasy, Dream a Dream

Soldiers of Scent

Bonjour Mon Petit Ami

Freudian Sniff

Meet the dogs of Working Dogs for

One of the world’s most popular

How the father of psychoanalysis

The perfect pair sail to new heights

Conservation that protect wild

dogs certainly comes at a cost

found comfort in dogs late in life

in pursuit of their dreams

places

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Learn to Love Again

Far from the Litterbox

When losing your best friend and

Cats that live a very dog life

raising a new puppy becomes a time for healing

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On the Cover Juno the Dog by Mulga, 2021

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Writer Ally Coucke stands on a beach with the best friend she knew, Bailey. Read her story on page 64.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

C

Can you imagine a world without dogs? I can’t. Every day I’m reminded how much dogs do for us all.

They’re joyful, loyal companions who go above and beyond to receive our love and attention. No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot give back to dogs what they’ve given us.

In Issue 06 of Drool, we celebrate the seen and unseen ways dogs change our lives. We’re introduced to Ouka, a paragliding Samoyed who brought new hope into his owner’s life. We meet the four-legged heroes from Working Dogs for Conservation, who protect this planet from those who wish it harm.

We learn why famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud relied on dogs during his therapy sessions.

We’re brought to tears by Ally Coucke’s story about

struggling to bring a new puppy into her life after losing her best friend. We even peek into the lives of four cats who masquerade as dogs — by the way, did you know that BIXBI now sells cat food?

All I ask is that after you finish reading this issue, you thank your dog — or cat, or whatever furry creatures you may have — for being part of your life. Each and every one of us knows that these animals have changed us for the better in ways that we cannot begin to grasp. That’s something that we must appreciate as often as we can.

Keep sniffing, James Crouch

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SHE’S LEARNING HOW TO SIT. SHE’S LEARNING HOW TO STAY.

SHE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Tanner Crockett

SHE THINKS SHE DESERVES A TREAT JUST FOR BEING CUTE.

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BITE-SIZED. IRRESISTIBLE FLAVOR. PREFERED BY TRAINERS.

Whatever the accomplishment, BIXBI has the best way to say “good dog.” Low calorie and high value.

Damn near perfect dogs deserve damn near perfect dog treats.

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“I HAVE

ALWAYS BEEN ABSOLUTELY CRAZY ABOUT DOGS AND CREATING DOG ARTWORK FILLS ME WITH SO MUCH JOY AND HAPPINESS.

FEATURED ARTIST: ADRIENNE WALDER

@dogfaceart

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Laddie Cocker Spaniel (Mixed Media Collage) 2021

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Buda Vizla (Mixed Media Collage) 2021

Adrienne Walder Adrienne Walder started creating artwork centered around dogs after she lost her beloved dog, Winnie, to cancer in 2020. After such a profound loss, she found this process to be remarkably healing and began creating pieces of other dogs in her life. Naturally, this evolved into creating dog art for clients, where Walder finds joy in learning about their dogs and how they have impacted the lives of others. Originally trained in textile design, Walder has always included a variety of media and vibrant colors in her work. She plans to expand her techniques and media to continue bringing a dynamic perspective to her already compelling dog art.

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Ajax Whippet (Mixed Media Collage) 2021

Lucylu Jack Russell (Mixed Media Collage) 2021

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F LY

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F A N T A S Y ,

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D R E A M

A

D R E A M

A FRIENDSHIP UNFOLDING BEHIND THE CLOUDS.

BY CHRIS NELSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY LU K A L E R O Y A N D S H A M S

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A screengrab from the video of Ouka and Shams paragliding through the French Alps that turned them into a viral sensation.

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The 1984 film The NeverEnding Story introduced us to Falkor, a white-haired, 43-foot-long “luck dragon” with huge brown eyes who soars through the skies of the fictional land of Fantasia.

We immediately fell in love with Falkor because, in many ways, he’s a giant flying dog; give him a few ear scratches, and he can’t help but let his big tongue droop from his mouth. What we wouldn’t give for a companion like Falkor, and to fly through the sky on the back of our furry best friend, but fiction is fiction ... or so we thought.

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Turns out that Falkor doesn’t live in Fantasia but rather in a van currently parked in the French Alps; his name isn’t Falkor but rather Ouka (oo-ka), and he isn’t a century-old flying luck dragon but a three-year-old Samoyed who enjoys paragliding. To understand how Ouka became a flying Samoyed, we must go back through the pages of his story and understand how he came to find his owner, 39-year-old Shams.

“As a child I wanted to be a filmmaker,” Shams tells us, “but when I was young, the internet was not like it is today; it was difficult to find information about how to become a filmmaker. My mom was like, ’If you want to do something like that, you have to go to school and study well.’ So that’s what I did, I attended a university in Marseille and then, boom: eight years later I’m working in computer graphics and pursuing a PhD. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it’s what I was doing.”

Through his office window Shams looked out at a mountain where people often went paragliding, so he decided to take a lesson — and after that, never stopped paragliding. “It took me a few months to keep going and manage to find time with the PhD, but I kept going on the lessons and started to fly more and more,” Shams says. “It’s a very timeconsuming activity, so you need to dedicate a lot to it, and with the PhD it was complicated to fly during the first years.”

Shams had found the passion

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THROUGH HIS OFFICE WINDOW SHAMS LOOKED OUT AT A MOUNTAIN WHERE PEOPLE OFTEN WENT PARAGLIDING, SO HE DECIDED TO TAKE A LESSON... he yearned for but still felt stifled by the life that he’d created for himself. Then one day, after a heated conversation with his boss, Shams looked through the window in his office and saw a paraglider take off from the mountain. “I was like, ‘That should be me on top of this mountain,’” Shams says.

“I closed my laptop, went to the director’s office, and told him I was not coming back the next day.” In 2010, Shams quit his job, abandoned his nearly finished PhD, and pursued his dream of becoming a filmmaker.

It took him a year to find his first clients, whom he met through paragliding, and soon Shams started creating videos for a bunch of brands involved

with paragliding, skydiving, and BASE jumping, because he understood how to film in the air instead of being on the ground, capturing cinematic movement in the sky. “In 2013, I went on a trip to Polynesia with two Red Bull athletes to stay on a boat for three months,” Shams says. “Red Bull liked what I did and wanted to keep working together, and that’s how the things went: small step by small step, but very fast, because it’s a small industry.”

In 2017 Shams bought a large Renault Master van and outfitted it to live on the road. Over the next three years, he traveled to, and lived in, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, Norway, and Turkey, before he decided to visit

Ouka was abandoned twice before Shams found him, but now the two of them are inseparable. They can’t help but make the other one smile.

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OUKA SPENT EIGHTEEN MONTHS LIVING OUTSIDE IN THEIR GARDEN, NOT ABLE TO GO INSIDE THE HOME...

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Shams didn’t know if Ouka would be comfortable living in his van, but turns out the high-energy pup is perfectly happy in the small space, as long as he gets his daily exercise.

India in early 2020. “Then COVID started in March and changed the situation drastically,” he says. “I was blocked in India and had to leave the van in India in the end of March when I was repatriated to Europe by emergency plane. I was thinking, ’Okay, in two or three months, this small flu is going to end and I can go back to India,’ but I was not able to go back until January, 2021.”

That’s when Shams started considering getting his first-ever dog. He says, “For a long time, I was super happy to be alone, doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, but it was starting to be a bit sad to be alone. I wanted to share those moments with someone.” He wanted a Samoyed

because a friend of his had one who would do tandem paragliding flights, strapped into a harness between the owner’s legs. “It’s not extreme at all, actually, for the dog,” Shams says. “Some people are very afraid that we are jumping from a plane or doing BASE jumps, but that’s completely different. If I was going to get a dog, I needed a dog that could reach the top of mountains and would hopefully fly down with me.”

Serendipitously, Shams found a two-year-old Samoyed named Ouka available for adoption at a shelter in a tiny village in northeast France. Ouka had been abandoned twice, first by a family that lived in a small apartment and bought the puppy as a stuffed

animal for their kids, surrendering him after only six months, then again by a family who had another dog that was aggressive toward Ouka. Shams says, “Ouka spent 18 months living outside in their garden, not able to go inside the home, so he’d escape and run away, and that’s why they brought him back to the shelter, dirty and full of parasites.”

Shams didn’t know what to expect when he first met Ouka, but immediately he bonded with the playful and friendly pup. “I asked the owner of the shelter, ’What is the trick? I don’t understand how you can abandon a dog like this, because he’s super nice and super cute,” Shams recalls. “The main reason was that Ouka is a very

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I WASN’T GOING TO FORCE HIM, BECAUSE THE SAMOYED BREED IS INFAMOUS FOR BEING QUITE STUBBORN...

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athletic dog and needs to go out a lot, and he didn’t have the luck to find a family that can bring him in nature and run for many hours every day. I think that was the main problem, but really, he’s just perfect — for me at least.”

In an instant, all of the loneliness and sadness that Shams felt was gone, and he and Ouka cohabited comfortably in the van, adventured throughout France, and started working toward flying together. Shams says, “I wasn’t going to force h i m , b e c a u s e t h e S a m oye d breed is infamous for being quite stubborn, and when they want to do something, they do it, and when they don’t want to do something, they don’t. If he didn’t want to paraglide, I would’ve lived with that, but I was very surprised and very happy to see that we passed every step, one by one, very

Shams and Ouka are impeccable complements who complete one another; wherever life takes them, they’ll always have their best friend at their side.

easily and very quickly.”

First, he made sure Ouka was not afraid of heights, which he wasn’t. Then they spent a couple of weeks hanging around paragliding takeoff areas so the dog could become familiar with the sound of the glider and the sight of airborne humans. Then Shams started to play with his glider on the ground and above his head to be sure Ouka didn’t spook, which he didn’t, then they started training for the takeoff.

“For the takeoff, Ouka has to run, because he’s between my legs,”

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SHAMS AND OUKA ARE TOTALLY IN SYNC, BOTH CONTENT AND RELAXED WHILE GLIDING THROUGH THE FRENCH ALPS

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Ouka always looks majestic, whether he’s flying through the sky or posing for a portrait.

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WHEN I DECIDED TO TAKE HIM, I KNEW THAT I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF HIM Shams says. “I started to train him to come between my legs and run without the glider, and then we did the same thing with me having the glider above my head, but Ouka not attached to me.”

Then Shams fitted Ouka into his harness and lifted him off the ground to see if he’d remain calm, and the dog didn’t wince or wiggle at all. One of Shams’ friends saw that and said, “Oh, your dog is ready to fly. My dog is not acting like that at all, he doesn’t even want to put the

Shams took his time teaching Ouka how to paraglide. It wasn’t easy, but it was damn worth it.

harness on.” Feeling confident, Shams and Ouka took their first tandem flight, which lasted only a few seconds. “Since I couldn’t ask him if everything was okay, I was paying a lot of attention at the takeoff and landing about his reaction. For example, Ouka is scared of chairlifts at ski resorts; when we pass under one, he stops walking and starts to bark — though he never usually barks — so it’s very clear that he’s afraid and doesn’t like it. I was ready to see a similar reaction from him after the first flight, but no, he’s just super happy.”

They then flew for 10 seconds, then one minute, then two minutes, and then five minutes, and now Shams and Ouka are totally in sync, both content and

relaxed while gliding through the French Alps. In late summer, Shams shared a video of him and Ouka flying through the sky, set to the theme song of The NeverEnding Story, and the video went viral, with commenters going wild over the similarities between Falkor and Ouka. The video did so well that GoPro shared the video and awarded Shams with a cash prize.

Today, Ouka and Shams are living in the van, looking for their next adventure. When we ask Shams if he’ll keep flying with Ouka, he says, “If one day he decides to not fly anymore, well, we just stop, and we will have a good time until that. But so far, he’s just super happy.” And when we ask Shams how Ouka has

changed his life, he says, “Before meeting Ouka, I lost motivation for almost everything, so just waking up and going outside was difficult. Then I got Ouka, and he doesn’t ask if you want to get up and go outside. When he wakes up, he wants to go outside and run, and I have to do it, because when I decided to take him, I knew that I had to take care of him and do a lot of activities. As soon as I started to do that again, I was like, ’Okay, it’s true that it’s cool to go on top of a mountain, and to watch sunset is super cool also’ ... the kind of stuff I stopped doing, but I know that I loved doing.

Ouka reminded me of it.”

In the words of Falkor: ”Never give up, and good luck will find you.”

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HE MAKES MODERN ART IN SLOBBER ON MY CAR WINDOW. HE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Ja San Miguel

HE’S EASY TO TAKE CARE OF. HE’S GREAT COMPANY.

FRESH MEAT. NO BY- PRODUCTS. ROCKSTAR DIGESTIBILITY.

BIXBI makes food from fresh meat and honest ingredients and offers it at a lower price than the rest. No weird by-products, no overprocessed “meat meals.” Just healthy, delicious, digestible dog food at a reasonable price.

Damn near perfect dogs deserve damn near perfect dog food.

Available in All Life Stages, Puppy and Small Breed Recipes.

P H OTO BY R I C H I E G R A H A M

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MIRIAM Y B S D OR

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COLEM

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Y OF U R T E S E R VA R T I O N O C Y S GRAPH R CON PHOTO G DOGS FO IN WORK

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NG I K R O W R O F S G N DO O I T A V R CONSE TRAINS S CANINE TECT TO PRO WILD S PLACE

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Zambia’s Luangwa Valley teems with an awe-inspiring variety of wildlife, with elephants, giraffes, lions, and rhinos striding across its grasslands and congregating along the lagoons of the Luangwa River. This jewel of an animal sanctuary is also the site of a growing trade in wildlife poaching and trafficking, and as rhinos are hunted to near extinction for their horns, and elephant populations are diminished by greed for their tusks, the scouts and rangers who protect these lands are in a battle for wildlife survival. Fortunately for them, a determined pack of canine allies is at their service. Whether they’re

tracking poachers across the plains or sniffing out contraband at roadblo cks and airp or ts, conservation dogs have become a critical force in the fight to protect Zambia’s natural wonders.

This te am of four-le g g e d detectives and their handlers were trained by Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C), a Montanabased non-profit that teaches dogs to use their magnificent noses in the service of ecology. Founded in the early 1990s, the organization deploys dogs across the globe — from Kyrgyzstan to the Falkland Islands — on missions including the detection and eradication of invasive plants and animals,

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Working Dogs for Conservation trains dogs to detect and alert to invasive species, monitor fragile ecological systems, and prevent poaching.

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A group of WD4C’s trained detection and tracking dogs permanently live in Zambia with several local handlers.

These dogs are trained to detect ivory, rhino horn, bushmeat, skins, and ammunition and guns.

monitoring of endangered species populations, and disrupting wildlife trafficking.

C a n i n e n o s e s h av e l o n g been put to use in the service o f d e te c t i o n . H o u n d s h ave been trained to assist in law enforcement since at least the 19th century, and bomb-sniffing army dogs searched for German landmines in World War II. The work has become commonplace in police K-9 units, customs agencies, and search-and-rescue teams, while canines are now even used in medical care to sniff out diseases like cancer and malaria.

Building on the techniques of police K-9s and search-and-

rescue animals, WD4C’s four ecologist co-founders pioneered the use of dogs in conservation work after first enlisting the animals to help them find and distinguish bear scat during a field project in Canada’s Jasper National Park. Later, projects sent dogs to monitor endangered kit fox populations in California’s San Joaquin Valley, and to eradicate invasive saltcedar and pepperweed plants in Wyoming, yellow star thistle in Colorado, and brown tree snakes in Guam.

Recently retired WD4C co-founder Megan Parker says, “I always try to remind people that humans have been using dogs to

WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT’S LIKE TO SMELL IN THE WAY THAT DOGS SMELL.

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P H OTO AT R I G H T BY J O E L C A L DW E L L . A L L OT H E R P H OTO S T H I S S P R E A D BY R I C H I E G R A H A M

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find information on animals and conservation for thousands of years, and all of these working dog lines have been bred for hundreds of years or longer to work with people to get what they want. That relationship between humans and dogs is really the vital part of this — that dogs are willing to tell us what they know.”

How do dogs know what they know? A lot of it comes down to the structure of a dog’s brain, and how much of it is dominated by the huge olfactory bulb, responsible for the animal’s remarkable sense of smell. The part of a dog’s brain dedicated to processing odor is around 40 times that of a human’s, and while humans have around six million scent receptors in our noses, dogs can have up to 300 million. They can use this sensitivity to detect substances in parts per trillion. “Dogs have a brilliance,” Parker says. “We have no idea what it’s like to smell in the way that dogs smell.”

WD4C’s headquarters sprawl

across 44 acres in Turah, Montana.

A former equestrian center set along the Clark Fork River near Missoula, the property includes pastures, paddocks, ponds, and arenas — plenty of space for dogs to roam as they prepare for their missions. There’s also office space, kennels, a doggie fitness facility, and a dedicated training shop equipped with devices such as scent snorkels and a scent carousel to help dogs zero in on their target odors.

Dogs training to join WD4C’s anti-poaching program in Zambia, for example, will learn to target the scents of ivory, rhino horn, bushmeat, pangolin scales, animal skins, ammunition, gunpowder, and guns. If their training is a success, they can join a team of four dogs and eight local handlers to protect the wildlife of Zambia’s Luangwa Valley by detecting illegally trafficked animal products, tracking poachers, and locating and protecting rhinos.

Every detection dog goes through extensive, necesesary training and maintenance of scents. Most dogs learn multiple scents and are able to work on a variety of projects and missions.

P H OTO AT B OT TO M L E F T BY J O E L C A L DW E L L ; TO P L E F T E DWA R D S E L F E /CO N S E R VAT I O N S O U T H L UA N G WA ; P H OTO S AT TO P R I G H T CO U R T E SY O F WO R K I N G D O G S F O R CO N S E RVAT I O N

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WE’RE NOT GOING TO TRY AND FORCE THE DOG TO DO WORK THAT IT DOESN’T WANT TO DO 35

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Anti-poaching detection does not stop in the bush. Dogs are used to detect illegal animal products trafficked across borders.

This wildlife crime s unit has been working alongside local Z ambian organization Conservation South Luangwa since 2014. The animals’ efficiency and dedication have proven to be valuable assets in advancing the NGO’s mission. According to Ra c h e l M c Ro b b, C E O o f Conservation South Luangwa, “the dogs and partnership with WD4C have re sulted in the reduction of wildlife trafficking in this area, the arrest of over 120 poachers or wildlife traffickers, [and seizure of ] countless firearms and other illegal wildlife contraband.”

Canine field specialist Lauren Wendt is in the process of training a new rescue puppy for the Zambia job. A former game warden and detective with

Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wendt initiated that state’s first wildlife K-9 unit before joining WD4C two years ago. Her work now includes scouting shelters across the country, looking for dogs with a certain spark who couldn’t quite fit in as a family pet. “There are some dogs that always want to be doing something,” Wendt explains.

“They just have that innate drive to be searching for something or playing with s omething , and if they’re not given a path to do that, then they often start chewing furniture or doing other unwanted behaviors.”

Few truly have what it takes to make it as a conservation dog.

Wendt says that they screen around 100 dogs for each one they take in as a candidate, and of those,

only about half make the final cut; if a pup is rejected, WD4C places them in a forever home.

The dogs that do make it go absolutely bonkers for the toys and playtime that serve as rewards for successful detection, but they must also take enough joy in the work itself to sustain them over long, grueling searches — hours spent hunting for targets that may never materialize and therefore don’t present the opportunity to be rewarded. “You know, we’re not going to try and force the dog to do work that it doesn’t want to do,” Wendt says.

Benny, a Labrador retriever, was just “too much dog” for his adoptive family and had landed in a shelter at 16 months old before Wendt found him. The obsession with toys and hunting

OF THE ROUGHLY 40 DOGS IN WD4C’S WORKFORCE, MOST ARE SHELTER RESCUES.

that made him unmanageable as a pet has served him well in his career. He began his working life as Wendt’s K-9 partner when she was a Fish and Wildlife detective in Washington. Trained to detect elephant ivory, shark fin, rhino horn, and firearms, he’d accompany Wendt to the port of Seattle to sniff out illegal products in shipping containers.

He still lives with Wendt most of the time, but is currently on the job for WD4C in Montana, helping ecologists map and monitor the population of black-footed ferrets, one of the most endangered

mammals in North America.

Of the roughly 40 dogs in WD4C’s workforce, most are shelter rescues, but WD4C also offers a new path for working dogs ill-suited to their current careers, like search-and-rescue dogs whose sensitive paws can’t handle rough terrain, hearing assistance dogs who are too excitable, or border patrol dogs who just aren’t into it. Jax, for example, was a Green Beret who didn’t like to bite people. The sweet Belgian Malinois loved hunting for odors, however, and WD4C put him to work checking boats for invasive

zebra and quagga mussels at Grand Teton National Park.

A lot of the dogs in the crew will keep working until the age of 10 or 12, and many seem reluctant to give up the hunt, Wendt says.

When the dogs reach the end of their working lives, however, a comfortable retirement awaits.

Most continue to live with their primary handlers, and receive acupuncture, swim therapy, massage, and high-quality food.

“We want to keep them as happy and healthy as possible,” Wendt says. It’s a fair reward for saving the planet.

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These amazing dogs love what they do and live an enriched life, all the way through retirement.

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BON JOUR MON PETIT

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CUTENESS COMES AT A COST FOR FRENCHIES.

P H OTO BY A N G E LO S M I C H A LO P O U LO S

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W O R D S B Y A LY N N E VA N S n n n P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y O F U N S P L A S H / VA R I O U S C R E D I T S T H R O U G H O U T

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B ulldo g s have always b e en entertainers, even in the beginning when “entertaining” meant the brutal blood sport of bull baiting, for which t h e s e d o g s we re o r i g i n a l ly bred. A magnificently strong and determined class of dogs characterized by large, bulging muscles, a short coat, and underbite, bulldogs also carry a softness, goofiness, and an oversized personality. When bull baiting was outlawed in 1835, the English scrambled to make use of the now-unemployed bulldog by breeding what became two distinct spinoffs.

In one direction, breeders looked to enhance the sporting capabilities of the dogs by adding terriers into the genetic mix. In the other direction, bulldogs became heavier, with more exaggerated

features — and in turn, far less capable fighters. Smaller versions of the once-treasured bull-athlete arose and became quite popular among a niche group of lace artisans residing in Nottingham, England. When the Industrial Revolution essentially wiped out the craft, many of the artisans moved to France, bringing their toy bulldogs with them. Outside of Nottingham, the English really couldn’t make sense of these smaller versions of their treasured bulldogs, but the French took to these miniature replicas quickly, eventually establishing a trade agreement with England for their unwanted toy dogs — even with the occasional faulty ear that stood up.

Referred to as bouledogue Français, the name sounded like the English “bulldog” and was

an amalgamation of the words boule, meaning “ bowl,” and dogue, meaning “mastiff”— both accurate descriptions of this soonto-be Parisian sensation. By 1860, these petite bulldogs had boomed in popularity, especially among trendsetters in the famously chic Montmartre district of Paris. Shop and café owners, socialites, and creatives couldn’t get enough of the bouledogue Français. Artists, including Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painted French bulldog-like dogs in several of their pieces, and you could even find them running around with France’s infamous belles de nuit, or “ladies of the night,” because these comical dogs made great icebreakers for the working women. Even the shyest of gentlemen had something to say about the canine

The French bulldog is a loving, charismatic breed, known for their hilarious personalities and equally comical expressions.

P H OTO T H I S PAG E BY C H R I S B E N S O N . P H OTO O P P O S I T E PAG E BY K E N D R I K K E S P O H L

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THE ENGLISH REALLY COULDN’T MAKE SENSE OF THESE SMALLER VERSIONS OF THEIR TREASURED BULLDOGS.

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80% OF FRENCH BULLDOGS ARE BROUGHT INTO THE WORLD VIA C-SECTION.

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The European French bulldog had folded, rose ears. Americans preferred pointy, bat ears. In 1897, Americans established the French Bulldog Club of America — declaring bat ears as a breed standard.

cartoon characters that happily trotted along in the brothels.

It wasn’t long before wealthy American travelers noticed these dogs and started bringing them back to the States. A lively dispute erupted among the breed’s enthusiasts, and it was all in the ears. The English and French preferred the folded “rose” ear shape, while Americans were partial to the pointy “bat” cones. When the French bulldog finally made it to the show ring, the English excluded the bat-ear variety from competition, which enraged American breeders, who then established the French Bulldog Club of America and wrote the first-ever breed standard for this prized bulldog: a natural nub for a tail and pointy, bat-like ears.

The French bulldog remained incredibly popular up until World War I, when breeding and ownership declined steadily for the

next 50 years. This was partially due to the rise of another squishednose dog, the Boston terrier. More importantly, though, the physique of the French bulldog — a large, round head and broad shoulders — made it nearly impossible for the mothers to give birth naturally, and cesarean sections in veterinary medicine were largely uncommon. This problem has followed the breed into contemporary times, with about 80 percent of today’s French bulldogs being brought into the world via C-section. Additionally, the breed’s narrow hips also mean that nearly every French bulldog conception is through artificial insemination and not doggie-style.

The French bulldog is a true companion dog , bred to b e easygoing, entertaining, and endearing. They have wide set eyes with noses centered on their face, humanizing them in a way that isn’t apparent on first

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As the second most popular breed in American in 2020, it’s not uncommon for people to pay several thousands of dollars for a French Bulldog.

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P H OTO O P P O S I T E PAG E BY M A R T I N K AT L E R . P H OTO T H I S PAG E BY C H R I S B E N S O N

QUOTE HEREM OLUPTATENT LAM IUS, AUT AUT UNTE VENIMUS PA VENDIA DEL IN

EVEN THEIR JOWLS DROOP IN A WAY THAT VAGUELY RESEMBLES A HUMAN SMILE.

glance, but strikes us humans in that evolutionary “aww” area of the psyche. Even their jowls droop in a way that vaguely resembles a human smile. The very features we fawn over are the source of a multitude of health concerns consistent among the breed. The short, brachycephalic nose contributes to respiratory distress and difficulty regulating temperature, meaning the French bulldog has a pretty low exercise threshold and is most comfortable in a climatecontrolled environment. For such a low-maintenance companion, the breed sure has sacrificed a lot to claim a spot on our couches.

According to the American Kennel Club, the French bulldog was the second-most popular dog in 2020, behind only the posterchild family dog , the Labrador retriever. People are willing to pay top dollar for their companion bulldog, with the

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average cost between $1,500 and $3,000, though it’s not uncommon to find Frenchies in the $5,000 to $12,000 range. But what can we make of a dog bred entirely to be a companion? Beyond becoming outrageously expensive, the consequences for this breed are rather costly.

That said, it’s hard not to fall in love with every Frenchie you meet.

We should enjoy the ones that are here now but take a long, critical look at what the development of the French bulldog says about humans and our predisposition to meddle with genetic s in the pursuit of adorableness.

Fortunately for us, there are a lot of responsible breeders already making changes to the breeding standard in an effort to greatly improve the health and wellbeing of future French bulldogs. For a breed that is so easy to love, it’s our responsibility to make it easier for them to love, too.

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“IT SEEMED THAT

THROUGHOUT MY CHILDHOOD I HAD A WHIPPET

BY MY SIDE OR ON MY LAP! THEY OFFER SO MUCH AS A SUBJECT.

FEATURED ARTIST: SRT

@srtartgallery

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Whippet 06 (Ink on Paper), 2021

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Whippet 08 (Ink on Paper), 2021

SRT As a young artist, SRT learned the late George Harrison had purchased one of his stone pieces, giving him the necessary boost of confidence to continue pursuing art. Having grown up with whippets, SRT has an affinity for sighthounds, particularly enjoying their ability to “ be so cute, but then explode into something amazing, and then go back to being so cute.” Based in Somerset, UK, SRT creates remarkably realistic works that include bold, sweeping marks.

Whippet 04 (Ink on Paper), 2021

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Whippet 03 (Ink on Paper), 2021

Whippet 07 (Ink on Paper), 2021

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PG.......................................

FREUDIAN SNIFF

How dogs slipped into the psychoanalyst’s heart and home B Y A L E X I S O ’C O N N E L L P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y O F F R E U D M U S E U M L O N D O N

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The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud understood that canine companions offer us a special type of therapeutic company, but he didn’t come to that conclusion until late in his career. Freud was in his seventies when he first became a dog owner. In 1925, his daughter Anna got a large black Alsatian named Wolf to accompany her on solo walks in the woods of Vienna.

When the dog gained Freud’s affection, friend of the family Dorothy Burlingame gifted Freud a dog of his own, a chow named Lün-Yu. Many wonder why Freud didn’t become interested in dogs until later in life. In his book, The Interwoven Lives of Sigmund, Anna, and W. Ernest Freud, clinical psychologist Daniel Benveniste surfaces a note from biographer Ernest Jones: “In the Europe of Freud’s era, Jewish families, like Freud’s, typically did not have close contact with dogs. For them, dogs had fearful associations; for instance, anti-

Semites had used attack dogs during the pogroms. The fact that Freud may have overcome some cultural and cognitive inertia to welcome Wolf and Lün-Yu into his family lends some nuance to his relationship with canines. Anna, one of Freud’s six children and an acclaimed psychotherapist, speculated that in those times of “unrelenting brutality and blind lust for destruction … it became easier to look away from one’s

fellowmen and turn to animals.”

There’s also reason to believe that Freud’s inner turmoil played a part in him opening his heart and home to dogs. He had seen a lifetime of patients, heard their stories and their hurts, translated the assessments into concepts and methodologies, and delved into and defined the different layers of the human mind. Compared to people, Freud found dogs to be joyously straightforward. “Dogs

Taken in 1920s, this photo shows psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud with his first Chow, Lün-Yu; Freud would own two more Chows before his death in 1939.

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love their friends and bite their enemies,” he said, “quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate in their object-relations.”

Freud cherished dogs for their “affection without ambivalence” and their freedom from the convoluting forces of society.

Writer Laurel Braitman recaps the impact of Freud’s long career as a practicing psychotherapist: “His decade s attempting to untangle people had made him, finally and overwhelmingly, into a dog person.”

Freud began to incorporate his pets into his practice. In 1930, after the untimely death of Lün-Yu, Burlingame gifted Freud another chow, Jofi, who laid on the floor

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of the office during sessions.

According to lore, Jofi became Freud’s timekeeper during his appointments: when she stood up from the floor, Freud knew the hour was up. If Jofi was suspicious or avoidant of potential patientclients, Freud considered them unfit for analysis. Some clients to ok is sue with how Freud conducted his sessions with his dog as a conduit. Hilda Doolittle wrote in her diary in March 1933, “I was annoyed at the end of my session as [Jofi] would wander about and I felt that the Professor was more interested in [Jofi] than he was in my story.” Others took advantage. Roy Grinker’s m e m o i r s re c a l l s e s s i o n s i n which he fiercely emoted at Jofi,

which was easier than shouting at Freud: “I could also scold the dog, which was definitely involved in my analysis, and in that way indirectly express my hostility to Freud. As a child I had been deathly afraid of dogs.

Now Freud’s dogs naturally got the full force of my fears and hatreds.” Though dogs have an amazing ability to calm our chaotic human energy, turning to them for therapy session scapegoating raises some red flags.

Despite his renown, Freud was far from perfect — as both a pet owner and a professional.

His shortcomings on both sides dovetail in a letter he wrote to Doolittle in July 1933, several

The famed psychoanalyst sits at the desk in his home office in London, England, which has been preserved as part of the Freud Museum.

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Freud plays with his beloved Chow.

Below: Freud’s daughter, Anna, with her big, black Alsatian, Wolf.

Compared to people,Freud found dogs to be joyously straight forward.

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Anna sits with Wolf and some of the Freud family; Anna went on to have a career in psychoanalysis and summarized the ego’s defense mechanisms in her book, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (1936).

m o n t h s a f t e r h e r a n n o ye d journal entry. He explains how he has gotten rid of several of his dogs because of what he sees as an inevitable conflict between women: “There has been much commotion in the dogstate. Wolf had to be shipped off to Kagran, because both ladies were in heat, and the fierce antagonism between Jofi and Lün, which is rooted in the nature of women, resulted in good, gentle Lün’s being bitten by Jofi. Thus Lün, too, is at present in Kagran and her future is uncertain.” From today’s vantage point, we can easily call into question Freud’s accountability as a dog owner and as a healthcare professional, wielding unsavory stereotypes of, and influence on, women’s psychology. Alas, the flaws of men never stopped the dynamic duo of man and his dog.

Dogs witness our imperfect selves and still love us. They look

The flaws of men never stopped the dynamic duo of man and his dog.

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Late in his life, Freud learned to love dogs and figured out how to work them into his practice. We wonder: What else would he have discovered about the human psyche if he accepted dogs earlier in his career?

past our issues and see those they are loyal to without judgement.

We can trust them to stay by our side — or to return to it, as Wolf did once by taking a taxi back to the Freud residence. As the Freud Museum tells the story, Anna and Wolf were on a walk in Vienna when a loud shot from a military parade “startled Wolf and he ran off. Anna searched for him in vain, only to return home and find him there. He had taken a taxi home … according to the driver, Wolf jumped into the back of his cab and resisted all efforts to get him out. He raised his head, letting

the driver read his tag: ‘Professor Freud, Berggasse 19.’ So Wolf was safely dropped home and Freud paid the taxi driver his fare.”

When Jofi passed away in 1937, Freud soon got another chow by the same name. In 1938, the Freud family left Vienna to escape Nazi persecution. They moved to a new home in London, the site of which is now the Freud Museum.

Jofi II returned to Freud’s side after being released from a six-month quarantine, to the fanfare of the local London press. Freud died shortly after, in 1939 at the age of 83, concluding his final, dog-filled

chapter of life.

The question of why someone would fall for dogs in their final years has a simple answer: it was about time. Freud’s story hints that it’s never too late for a new passion or friend. His belated affinity to dogs is a refreshing reminder that one’s work life is not the end-all, be-all to the time we spend here. It’s a wide world, and the beings we share it with have a magical way of complicating the things we thought we knew about it. In connecting with dogs, we can escape from our own tangled human heads.

SHE PLAYS WITH THE KIDS. SHE CUDDLES WITH THE CAT.

SHE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Victor Grabarczyk

MY FLIP FLOPS ARE HER FAVORITE TOY.

AWARD-WINNING. DELICIOUS FOOD. PERFECT TOPPER OR TREAT.

Dogs go crazy for 94-98% meat, organs and bones in bite sized pieces.

Damn near perfect dogs deserve a damn near perfect dog food, treat or topper.

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“DOGS ARE

JUST GENUINE, LOVING, GOOFY, FUN, AND THEY’RE SIMPLY JUST THEMSELVES.

FEATURED ARTIST: ANDREA CIRA

@acirastudio

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Two Dogs In Love (Paper), 2021

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Coronel (Paper), 2021

Two Dogs In Colorful Buildings (Paper), 2021

Andrea Cira At the beginning of 2020, Andrea Cira traveled from Mexico to Kansas City to visit some family, intending to then make her way to Canada for a UX design program.

When the pandemic shut down Cira’s plans, she stayed in Kansas City, where she met and married her now-husband in a matter of a few months. She’s happily been in Kansas City ever since, which has incidentally given her the opportunity to explore her love and talent for paper arts. Dogs have always been a part of Cira’s life, so incorporating them into her art was only natural.

Honey (Paper), 2021

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Lore and Ponzu (Paper), 2021

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LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN DOGS COME AND GO, BUT THE MEMORIES DON’T.

P H OTO BY K E L LY L U N D

W O R D S B Y A L LY C O U C K E PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAMANTHA REGULA , K E L LY LU N D A N D A L LY C O U C K E

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I remember the joy in his bright eyes, the softness of his untouched paw pads that had yet to explore the new world around him, the distinctive sweetness of his puppy breath that made my heart skip a beat every time he kissed and nibbled at my face. The happiness experienced after bringing home a puppy is remarkable; you want to take him everywhere, introduce him to everyone, and share with him everything that you enjoyed before he came into your life.

A small plane flew in from New Mexico, and I stood on the tarmac waiting for him. I crawled up the wing, and took his little kennel

I and peeked inside. He looked like a potato covered in cotton balls. A mix of Great Pyrenees and Australian cattle dog, with a sprinkle of husky and dash of German shepherd, he had one patched eye, a quarter of the other eye piercing blue, brown ears to match the patch, and a striped tail that only a raccoon mother could love; he was unlike any other dog I’d seen before. When I came across a photo of him at barely a month old, covered in dirt and laid on top of his litter mate for protection, my heart could not bear it, and I thought to myself, “I can help him for just a little while,

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It’s easy to fall in love with a face like Petey’s, but sometimes the pain from our past doesn’t let us see how beautiful the future could be.

until someone else comes along.”

I named him Petey and gave him a safe place to call home, but I made it clear to everyone around me that he wasn’t my dog, just staying with me for a little while.

He was calm, quiet, and so patient.

I’d never witnessed a puppy watch the world as he did, looking around with wonderment, and anytime those eyes turned to look at me, they asked me one thing: “Am I staying here, with you, forever?”

For months the answer remained “no” as I fostered this nearly perfect puppy, and I constantly convinced myself that it would be too hard, that I wasn’t ready, and

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Petey is a lucky boy who lives in a loving home, but who knows where he would’ve ended up if the writer didn’t take him in.

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I CAN HELP HIM FOR JUST A LITTLE WHILE, UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE COMES ALONG. that Petey wasn’t my puppy.

If I could wipe it from my memory, I would; I let the day come for someone to adopt Petey.

After they walked away together, I sat despondent in a scene from a sorrowful movie; cue the rain, the emotional breakdown, and a long, dark night spent in bed alone, crying and wondering why I let him go. Early the next morning, with my heart in my hands, I asked to take Petey back, and the response was soft and honest: “Yes, of course. He’s your dog.” When I picked him up, I wrapped my arms around my puppy and kissed his soft nose, and I could feel his raccoon tail

whipping around in excitement.

With his heterochromia eyes, he looked at me and forgave me for telling myself the lies that I had.

I understood then that this sweet puppy was not a gateway to a new life, but rather a bridge back to my old life.

Less than four months prior to rescuing Petey, I had lost my first dog to a cancer that he bravely fought for years. A 20-year-old me named the eight-week-old pup Bailey, and for almost 13 years we lived as hard as we could, to a point where the only thing that could outdo our adventures was our love for each other. A 90-pound white German shepherd, Bailey

was stoic, strong, and very serious, but also tirelessly playful, and he had a kind soul that could be seen through his deep brown eyes.

Never a morning without a kiss, and never a good night without saying so, Bailey was as constant as the sunrise for me.

I’d never known a love as deep.

It was a love I had experienced in my family, of course, but this felt deeper somehow. If you asked my sweet mother, she would understand: it felt of my body, because it was me, he was me, and I was him. In him I found my best friend, my soul’s twin flame, and my child. Where I would go, Bailey would go. And where he

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There’s no right way to say “goodbye” to a best friend after 13 years of doing everything together, but in those final moments at least you can hold hands near a fireplace.

A 20-YEAR-OLD ME NAMED THE EIGHT-WEEK-OLD PUP BAILEY, AND FOR ALMOST 13 YEARS WE LIVED AS HARD AS WE COULD... went, I followed, until he went somewhere I could not.

As it does for us all, time came for Bailey, and because no amount of time on this Earth together would be enough, I couldn’t bear watching it; kings don’t die this way. He deserved more than the fate he was handed, but the brightness in his eyes began to fade, the roughness of his paw pads told a story of tiredness, and his breath weakened.

I said, “You tell me, Bailey, and I will be strong enough to let you go. I want you to be free of this sick

body. I will be here until the end. I will never leave your side.” Those beautiful eyes looked back at me and told me they understood. Late one night in late fall, I laid with him by our wood-burning stove, nose-to-nose on his favorite bed, when suddenly he sat up, arched his back, and let out his goodbye.

He came down into my arms and I held him so close until he took his last breath, and I whispered, “Thank you, be free my sweet boy.”

This is what I know of a broken heart, and nothing else comes close to the pain that weighed

on me so heavily that there were days I couldn’t get out of bed.

But now, one year after Bailey’s death, I appreciate the pain as a blessing. I experienced a lifetime of memories alongside a beautiful soul who taught me about the type of human I want to be, the one I aspire to be. The type of person that takes a puppy from New Mexico who has no shot in this world, a human who is so shattered by losing her best friend, but understands that this love has to be put somewhere, so why not this puppy? Why not use that strength

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Petey holds the writer’s hand as she remembers Bailey, the sweet boy who showed her how to live again.

of fighting for Bailey’s life to build something new with Petey?

I subscribed myself to the ludicrous idea that if I loved Petey, it meant I couldn’t love Bailey anymore, that there was no room for both. My mind had become so dark that I couldn’t see the light that is Petey. I couldn’t see the value of teaching a threemonth-old puppy to sit, to stay, to give me his paw, and watch as those simple teachings build into a beautiful partnership over a decade together. Bailey showed me that the cycle will repeat, that the love evolves, and that my heart can grow. My dying boy showed me how to live, because it is in those last breaths that you can sit with them, you can hold their paw, and you can beg them to stay.

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MY DYING BOY SHOWED ME HOW TO LIVE

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“DOGS HAVE

NO HIDDEN AGENDA, THEY ARE GENUINE, KIND-HEARTED AND INCREDIBLY FORGIVING.

FEATURED ARTIST: GILLIAN POLLITT

@gill_pollitt_art

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Unnamed (Pen on paper), 2021

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Gillian Pollitt Gillian Pollitt’s pen and ink drawings capture both visual accuracy and personality in a very special way. In creating realistic representations, it’s no surprise that Pollitt is her own toughest critic — always striving to fix and refine the smallest details in her art. That doesn’t stop her from taking on challenging subject matter; she enjoys the trials of capturing different textures, which is readily apparent in the nuances of drawing dog fur.

Drawing animals — and dogs — came naturally to Pollitt. When you draw what you love, it’s all the more enjoyable.

Unnamed (Pen on paper), 2021

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The Look (Pen on paper), 2021

Unnamed (Pen on paper), 2021

Unnamed (Pen on paper), 2021

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SHE’S AS SOFT AS A COTTON BALL. HER PURR WARMS MY HEART.

SHE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Namtke Hereltk

SHE WON’T STOP SLAPPING ME IN THE MOUTH

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MEAT CATS CRAVE. DELICIOUS FOOD. PERFECT TOPPER OR TREAT.

Cats crave 95-97% meat, organs and bones in bite sized pieces.

Damn near perfect cats deserve a damn near perfect cat food, treat or topper.

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CAN CATS MASQUERADE AS DOGS?

the

W O R D S B Y A LY S S A H U R S T I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y B R I A N W I L L I A M S P H O T O G R A P H Y C O U RT E S Y O F O W N E R S

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Think of the word “drool,” and it’s likely that you picture a dog salivating over its dinner, or long slimy strings hanging from a jowly pooch’s lips. I think of my cat, April, who wakes me well before my alarm with tippy taps on my face, and as she purrs, little droplets of drool fall from her canines onto my cheeks.

The feeling is about as pleasant as stepping in water while wearing socks, but in a small, strange way, living with April reminds me of my days with canine companions.

There are other ways she reminds me of a dog, too. She is wild for food and starts meowing desperately when dinnertime rolls around, and she begs for scraps at the table, especially when cornbread is on the menu. She adores the outdoors and loves a good roll in the grass or a short — very short — hike on leash. And most importantly, she is incredibly loving; unlike many dogs, her affection is conditional, but she’s reasonable enough. All this is to say that the dichotomy that exists in our culture between dog people and cat people is simply a false narrative.

There are cat-like dogs and dog-like cats and everything in between, and many dogs and cats don’t feel the same pressure that some humans do to stay in their lanes. It takes less than five minutes of scrolling on social media to find cats and dogs not only comingling, but genuinely enriching each other’s lives. In this story we introduce you to our favorite canine-feline combos — and one feline-donkey combo — to illustrate that cats are capable of more than just being aloof couch goblins. We see that when the two species come together, beautiful friendships result.

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THREE’S COMPANY In 2019, Chloe, a French bulldogBoston terrier-pug mix, earned a new nickname: cat whisperer.

She was being treated for a mast cell tumor on her paw when veterinarians noticed the special way she put her feline counterparts at ease. So powerful was her presence that she became a de facto “comfort dog” for kitty oncology patients.

These weren’t the first cats to benefit from Chloe’s kind ways.

That honor belongs to Koda, the British shorthair who joined the pooch’s household when Christina Ho adopted the small kitten at six weeks old. After some initial hesitation, Chloe took the small, grey kitten under her wing, introducing her to her other canine

siblings, Winston and Dexter, and helping her fit into the pack.

“She took on this mothering role and would do things like grooming Koda, licking her and cleaning her,” Ho says. “I think that being around Chloe all the time made Koda develop these doglike tendencies.” Among those tendencies is Koda’s adventurous spirit. Early on, Ho noticed Koda’s interest in the outdoors and her desire to tackle the same experiences as her canine siblings.

She started small, with short waterfall hikes, expecting timidity from Koda, who is Ho’s first cat.

“Instead of being scared of the waterfalls, she would stand there and just love it,” Ho recalls. “She let the breeze hit her face and

was like, ’Ah, I love this.’” Since then, the family has conquered endless new adventures together.

They’ve visited seven national parks together, snapped festive photos at Halloweentown, and delighted in the trippy visuals at the Museum of Dream Space. Ho takes her four-legged best friends everywhere she can in the hopes of showing them everything life has to offer. And Koda, with her protective and loving posse of pups, is always up for it.

“Koda is curious, and she likes to go out and see things,” Ho says.

“As her owner, I want to be able to show her as many things as I can.

Just like for humans, it broadens [her] perspective to get so many different experiences.”

Koda’s adventurous spirit quickly became apparent. After a few short hikes, Ho realized Koda was happiest outdoors among her canine siblings.

P H OTO BY N A M E H E R E T K T

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FEARLESS FLUFF BALL When James Eastham first met his partner’s cat, Gary, the cat did what cats sometimes do: hide. The then-two-year-old’s favorite spots were under the bed and in the closet. Back then, his only outdoor adventures included slipping through an open apartment door to catch some fresh air.

Eastham and his partner soon noticed Gary’s affinity for escaping and decided to offer him a new experience: leash training. Though the process was tedious and slow-going, Eastham says Gary’s love of grass munching quickly outweighed his harnessed hesitation. The couple moved to the mountains of Canmore in Alberta, Canada, and began building up Gary’s hiking stamina. In just a few short years, he’s become a genuine outdoorsman, accompanying his

humans and their three dogs — Duke, Marge, and Douglas — on incredible adventures, including a 22-mile hike to Yoho National Park’s Opabin Lake. Though Gary likes to get out and stretch his paws, he often spends long hikes in his backpack or perched on Eastham’s shoulders.

“Beyond hiking, he loves to paddle on a little inflatable packraft. We’ve also gone skating with him and he goes skiing, as well,” Eastham says. “He’s summited quite a few mountains with me and stood on a number of peaks.” The once-timid cat has even dar ted among the crevasses of Athabasca glacier and joined Eastham for some appropriately named cat skiing, a type of backcountry skiing where skiers are transported up runs by snowcat vehicles. These new

sights, sounds, and experiences have changed Gary’s life, giving him more confidence and a safe outlet for his love of the outdoors.

Of cour s e, Eas tham s ays, hiking with Gary is different from hiking with dogs. He’s slower, sometimes refuses to walk, and requires more attention and care. Still, he wouldn’t trade the special bond they’ve developed through adventuring. “Gary and I have been doing this for a while, and I think we’re pretty good at reading each other. One of the benefits of having him on my shoulders is I can notice changes — if he’s really relaxed, if he’s tensed up, if he’s not happy,” Eastham says. “It’s just nice to have a buddy when you’re out.

It’s nice to be able to bring Gary and have someone to get out and do something with.”

Gary loves accompanying his humans and canine siblings on epic outdoor adventures. When he’s not trotting along on leash, Gary rides in Eastham’s backpack or on his shoulders.

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LEADER OF THE PACK Samantha Draper’s hobby farm already had plenty of animals, including two Anatolian shepherd livestock guardian dogs, mini cows, alpaca, goats, chickens, turkeys, and a mini donkey, but it didn’t have a cat. Draper always thought she could never have mousers on hand with her two rough and tumble livestock guardian dogs and four additional rescue dogs. Plus, cats never seemed to like her much.

Then one day she spotted a tiny kitten running around on her property. Draper decided to keep the fierce little feline, and slowly began introducing her to each member of the family. Luna, as she would come to be known, made herself right at home. “She wasn’t scared at all. I mean, you

would think any cat would be intimidated. She was a kitten, and it was like nothing to her,” Draper says. “We joke that she’s kind of like the ranch supervisor and oversees command and control at the ranch because she seems like she’s got control of the livestock guardian dogs, and all the farm animals bow down to her.”

Luna’s closest relationships on Raventree Ranch are with livestock guardian dogs Lilly and Bo, whose job it is to stay with the farm animals at all times, protecting them from threats like coyotes or foxes. Draper says Luna has the two dogs, who are several times her size, wrapped around her little paw — especially Lilly. “They kind of have a language of their own and they have games that they play. I

have security cameras so I can watch the dogs at night and she’s out there with them,“ Draper says.

She will often catch the trio playing hide and seek together, and the dogs seem to consider Luna part of the team.

They aren’t the only ones smitten with Luna, though.

Even the notoriously pushy mini donkey, Molly, is charmed by the little cat’s big energy. “She takes her time to really win over the hearts of each animal,” Draper says. “They almost look at her like a little god or something, and they worship her. They really love her and adore her.” Draper feels the same way: “Luna kind of transformed our life when she came into it. She just brings a magical quality to the ranch.”

Luna was found on Draper’s property as a kitten and quickly bonded to the farm’s two livestock guardian dogs, Lilly and Bo.

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UNLIKELY SIBLINGS Casper the Samoyed and his feline brother, Romeo, are like human siblings in nearly every way. Even their earliest days together reflected those of new siblings learning to share time, space, and resources. Little by little, Casper and Romeo warmed up to each other.

“Then it just happened,” owner Rensa Li says. “Casper would really softly, gently follow Romeo around, and Romeo was just like, ’OK, but not too close.’ On week three, Casper and Romeo just kind of bonded together.”

Since then, the two have been inseparable. Li and her husband Wei Chang Phee noticed the cat and the dog copying each other’s behavior: grooming themselves at the same time, operating on their own special schedule, and changing their eating habits to match one another. Romeo came

when Casper was called, and he picked up on his canine brother’s tricks, too, even learning to shake — a genuine feat, as any cat owner knows. And they hated to be separated. “[We decided] if my dog can go out, my cat can go out,” Li says.

The couple started to leash train Romeo, expecting disaster, but instead watched him take cues from Casper. “He just wants to be by his brother’s side. So, it was really easy for us. If we can control Casper, we can control Romeo.”

Of course, like any pair of siblings, the two have their disagreements and differences.

For one, even though b o th are fluffy and white, they are opposites in other ways. While Casper usually has the typical “sammy smile” plastered across his face, Romeo’s perpetually sour expression rivals Grumpy

Cat’s. And jealousy often creeps into their relationship, causing many spats. Phee says their relationship has its love-hate moments, but shines when they are out exploring New Zealand’s Remarkables or Port Hills: “It’s an interesting dynamic when we’re outside. It kind of seems like they look out for each other quite a lot.”

Their love for each other, and the ways in which it mimics human relationships, touches audience s acro ss the glob e through social media, too. Li and Phee get messages daily from people expressing their gratitude for the love shared between Casper and Romeo. “We never knew that they would have this impact on peoples’ lives,” Phee says. “If we can just make people smile, even for a couple seconds, it brings happiness to [our lives].”

The two are inseparable, especially on outdoor adventures. Where one white fluffball is, the other is not far behind.

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“DOGS ARE

SUPER CHILLER CREATURES. I LOVE THEIR ENTHUSIASM AND ENERGY.

FEATURED ARTIST: MULGA

mulgatheartist.com.au/

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Latte The Dog (Acrylic on Canvas), 2019

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Mulga Joel Moore, a.k.a. Mulga, is a Sydney-based illustrator and muralist known for his elaborate line work and bright colors. Moore jumped into the art world in 2012, when he had his first art show and mural painting. Moore drew every night and sold art at local markets until he could officially quit his finance job in 2014. That’s when he realized he could actually enjoy his work, and engaging projects have been rolling in ever since. When it comes to dog art, Moore often creates pieces commissioned by their owners. As someone who admires dogs’ enthusiasm, energy and scruffy beards, “It’s pretty cool to be able to get commissioned to make an artwork that I would enjoy even if I wasn’t commissioned.”

Billy The Bulldog (Posca on Paper), 2018

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Floyd And Flick The Doggies (Posca on Paper), 2021

Enzo The Dog (Posca on Paper), 2021

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HE DOESN’T BARK. HE DOESN’T DIG.

HE’S DAMN NEAR PERFECT.

Photo by Ruby Schmank

HE HAS FOUR DOG BEDS AND STILL SLEEPS IN MINE.

1

FRESH MEAT. FREEZE-DRIED COATED. ROCKSTAR DIGESTIBILITY.

How do you make the world’s best dry food for dogs better?

Simple, coat it in more meat. Freeze-Dried coated BIXBI RAWBBLE, the end of picky eaters.

Damn near perfect dogs deserve damn near perfect dog food.

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