I've been fortunate that none of my pets have ever run away from home.  I would be unbelievably panicked if one dog was lost, so I can only imagine the heart attack Penny Blackwell was having when both of her Golden Retrievers disappeared from her yard last month in Sandwich, Mass.  Complicating matters, the two dogs were attached together by a double leash, making it harder to escape any danger they might encounter.

I recently saw this video of a training session focusing on transferring a cue and I was awed by it. It’s easy to read about training in a textbook, but it’s actually rare to see textbook training. This video shows trainer Laura Monaco Torelli training her Rhodesian Ridgeback Santino. She is transferring his visual cue, which tells him to spin in a circle to the right, to the verbal cue “twist.” I thought the training was so beautiful that I want to share it.

When Michael Vick mentioned over the summer in an interview with Piers Morgan that he would like to have another dog someday, many people reacted with concern and even revulsion. (Vick served 18 months in federal prison on dog fighting charges.

As an avid Bark reader who frequently hikes with my dog, I was so excited to see that this issue prominently featured exploring nature with your dog. I see the opportunity to share wild spaces with other hikers and wildlife as a privilege, not an innate right. This means following leash laws and not allowing my dog to be a nuisance to other hikers and wildlife on the trail.