Award-winning comedy writer Merrill Markoe, the slightly warped mind behind Stupid Pet Tricks, is an old hand with dogs. She knows who’s boss (they are) and the myriad ways a loving pet can make you feel guilty twenty-four hours a day. This new edition of Merrill Markoe’s classic collection of humorous essays gives readers the choicest selections along with brand-new material. In these razor-sharp essays, Markoe recounts her dogs’ phone chats with animal communicators, her search for past lives, and her brief stint as a stun gun saleswoman. She describes the workshop that taught her how to launch an Internet porn business and another that gave proper instruction in the esoteric art of becoming a dominatrix. She shares insight into what it is like to structure your day using only dog rules, how to spot a really horrible restaurant, and what it’s like to have a romantic dinner with Fabio. There’s even a bright side to preparing for the apocalypse: “At last, it is time to forget about fat grams and low cholesterol.” This enchantingly rambunctious and boundlessly enjoyable book gives you Merrill Markoe at her best. You’ll devour it in one sitting (and so may your pet).

Celebrate the wisdom of the sandbox—the witty, innocent, surprising, and yet completely sensible things that kids say and do. A little book with a big heart, Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me combines deceptively simple life lessons with engaging images that together not only offer insight but inspire joy. Kids see the world in a way that adults don’t, so glimpsing life through a child’s eyes offers a fresh—and often funny—perspective. Kids encourage us to be open-minded: There are a lot of different ways to get to the top of the jungle gym. To be fearless: Jump right in or you may change your mind about swimming. To aim high: Even babies grab for things just beyond their reach. To be kind to yourself: Sometimes you need a Saturday on a Wednesday. To follow your own path: If the flowers you draw don’t look like anyone else’s, that’s good. And to stay young: Go barefoot! Tune in to the chatter on the playground, and remind yourself how simple everything really is.

“My dogs and I get along best when I hit the birds they produce for me. Putting the odds in my favor is the least I can do. Now, so can you.” If you hunt for pheasants, grouse, quail, and other upland birds, forming a partnership with your dog can be a daunting challenge. Wingshooting USA’s Scott Linden is here to help. What the Dogs Taught Me fills in the blanks for the wingshooter and dog owner with solid advice that will improve dog and hunter’s levels of communication, respect, and hunting efficiency. With lessons on dogs’ desires, skills, and abilities to learn, care and feeding, health and safety, preparation, and shooting, What the Dogs Taught Me is the ultimate guide to maximizing happiness and minimizing frustration whether out on the hunt or relaxing in the backyard. Even better, Linden’s lovable, often hilarious tone makes taking advice on training, strategizing, and partnership enjoyable to human and canine alike. Don’t be a student at the school of hard knocks—What the Dogs Taught Me advances an upland hunter’s skills quickly, creatively, and without any of the angst of more difficult methods.

Charismatic dog trainer Doggy Dan shares his insights and tips into how working with dogs has helped him bring up his children. Learn how to lead the way in your family without using fear or aggression. Find out how to be clear and calm, firm and yet fair in all your dealings with others. Learn how to be confident and sensitive to those around you, and how to make decisions for the good of everyone. As Dan says, this book is not rocket science, it’s a very practical and straightforward book with clear examples and lots of anecdotes that will change the way you think about your interactions with your children and, in fact, any other people. This book will change your life forever.

In a companion to Cat Psalms, the author explores the similarities in the relationship between dogs and owners and the relationship between humans and God, with his descriptions of well-loved canine attributes—including trusting, pleading, loving, guarding— followed by prayers that explore these traits in our relationship with God. Original.

'A wonderful read' -- Lorraine Kelly In this book for dog lovers everywhere, Jonathan Wittenberg says his dogs have taught him, more than anything else, how to appreciate the wonderful world in which we live -- and how to develop better relationships with his friends and families. In this wonderful, warm account of one man and his dog, Jonathan brings all the big themes of friendship, faithfulness, kindness, cruelty, grief, prayer and spiritual companionship to the fore, and shows us how we can learn so much from a dog's approach to life. If you're one of the 8.5 million dog owners in the UK the answer to a better way of living may already be under your roof.

There is something much more fundamental to our social interactions today than just simple hello's and goodbye's. What if I said that levels of mental illness, obesity, mistrust, inequality, and rates of imprisonment in the human populous have a significant effect on our relationships with not only each other but our dogs as well! If you look at Epidemiology, which literally means "the study of what is upon the people," we have no choice but to include our dogs. It is a highly significant, symbiotic relationship we share. Though there are many social differences in this age we still thrive in social compacts. As I explore this wonderous world dealing with dogs I can't help but stop and question why we seem to be so impatient. Impatient about the weather, inflation, food, dogs, and ourselves. Evolution occurs so slowly yet too fast for us humans to understand it. The answer to this paradox is to simply, "slow down our thinking." When I spend time working with dogs, whether my own dogs or clients, it's all about equality of the senses. It's about "truthful importance." This applies to everything, positive or negative, everyday, every moment.