Fairy Dog Mother (FDM) made it look easy when she commanded control over Hershey. Now that I’m trying to show her who’s boss, it’s a lot harder. This little pup doesn’t want to give up. And actually, she’s not so little anymore, which is part of the problem. My shoulder was aching for days, and [...]

Yes, Virginia, apparently there is a fairy dog mother and she’s going to help us with Hershey! My neighbor, who’s fretted over my troubles with this headstrong dog, passed on the name of her dog sitter to me. “She’s kind of a dog whisperer,” she told me. “She comes right to your house and works [...]

Hershey has developed a taste for shoes. And I don’t mean she’s longing for the latest designer doggie booties. But if she were, she would probably be ogling Jimmy Choo’s, because that’s what she’s been doing—chewing our shoes. Last week, she destroyed my favorite sandals. My favorite wear them everywhere sandals!!! And I’m not even [...]

Even if you never watched the show Lost, you probably know the whole series wrapped up recently. I was a total Lostie, and cried through much of the final episode, especially at the very end. And even all these weeks later, I still get teary eyed thinking of the final scene—all because of a dog. [...]

I thought it was just a fluke the first time she did it. I brought Hershey outside to pee and neighbors happened to be walking by. Of course they had to meet Hershey, and she charged over to the sidewalk while they oohed and ahhed over her. She rolled over on her belly and wiggled [...]

I did not think my pets would be eating each other. I don’t mean play fighting and chewing eating-each-other, I mean Eating. Each. Other. Let’s just say my cat is making Hershey look like a choirgirl. Spencer is the new #1 troublemaker in the house—even after he got fixed! I thought he was supposed to [...]

If Hershey was going to star in a Lifetime movie of the week, it would be about a little dog, teased and taunted and shunned by all of her friends because she was the only one with no sense of smell. But her plucky nature would save the day in the end in some heart [...]

When we first had kids, we were confronted with perplexing surprises all the time: like the day Riley swallowed a pebble. How serious was that? I certainly felt like Mommy Of The Year calling the doctor with that news. (It all came out fine in the end, so to speak.) And the time she shoved [...]

When a puppy is quiet and out of your sight, there’s usually trouble to be had. The other day when Hershey was neither in sight nor making noise, she was indeed making trouble. She had pushed over one of the baby gates and was exploring the off-limits-for-now living room. “What are we going to do? [...]

One of my recent voice over jobs has been narrating a children’s book called A Puppy is For Loving. A little girl spends the summer at her grandmother’s house and learns all about the miracle—and yucky parts—of birth when Grandma’s dog has puppies. Then they’ve got to find homes for all the babies. “A puppy [...]

My daughter Riley has never liked babies. Not baby dolls or real live babies. I suspect it’s because she’s the baby in the family and resents anyone or anything that crowds in on her cuteness. It took months before she’d even look at the beautiful twins my sister-in-law adopted. Now that they’re almost three years [...]

Every day, my dog does something that makes me go, ‘huh? I haven’t had so many bizarre questions to ask since I first had kids and had to figure out why my baby was throwing up on me every night. The good times keep on rolling with our newest baby—the one with fur. Here are [...]