This started out as a podcast describing the mediocre-at-best history of Presidential dogs, but turned into something quite different by the end.

Below is the video of Barney, President Bush’s dog, having the breakdown in communication with members of the press that I describe in the podcast.

Before I forget again, for those of you who live or have animal-loving friends in the Washington, DC area, the seminar next weekend is going to be a good one.  Be the first on your block to understand what those canine and feline behaviors really mean. Tell your friends. :-)  For more information or to register, contact Debbie Winkler at deb@humanedomain.net or call her at  (410) 549-1135.

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This week’s podcast immortalizes the end of an era, and it seemed only right to include pictures to enhance your experience as you listen to this touching tribute.

This is what I saw that fateful day when I discovered the alien had been injured:

And then later when complications developed:

My sincere, but alas unsuccessful attempts to treat the massive injury:

The alien before his narrow escape from the grave:

And then enshrined in his final resting place:

At peace at last.

What could these two topics possibly have in common?  As it turns out, a lot more than you might think.

No, this isn’t a morose podcast. Just some thoughts related Whit’s surgery and recovery and my emotions’ effect on it. One thing that occurred to me after-the-fact is that I used the word “crate” which might be confusing to some. The term is now used to refer to those small enclosures that were designed to transport dogs and cats, usually by plane. Originally these were called dog or cat carriers, but then soft enclosures were added to the line-up and given the same name.  To avoid confusion, the original carriers were then referred to as crates. This is a picture of Whit’s crate which started out as Ollie’s crate until Whit appropriated it when Ollie wasn’t around. Now they both use it. Because Ollie’s scent obviously doesn’t bother Whit and possibly even comforts him since he was so close to my other dog, I left the same bedding in it when I took Whit to the clinic.

This was a difficult podcast for me because I don’t like to rant and it is extremely difficult for me not to do so when I mentally link these three subjects. One good thing is that it’s hard to put much energy into ranting when you’re trying to stay away from dogs with clinking tags and the surprisingly loud noise of such tags clanking on a stainless steel water bowl. Sometimes I’m not sure what’s worse: the pet-related noise or the sound of me huffing and puffing trying to get away from it.This podcast would have been longer if I’d included the part where I ran into the coffee table trying to get away from Ollie and the few choice words that followed that incident, but I didn’t feel it added anything to content that I wanted to add!

What do denial, squash, and the the human-animal bond have in common? Find out in this podcast. But before you do, check out these pictures. Can you tell a squash from a melon?

]]> http://blog.mmilani.com/265/meandering-with-myrn-episode-7/feed/ 13:14 Denial, Squash, and the Human-Animal Bond What do denial, squash, and the the human-animal bond have in common? Find out in this podcast. But before you ... Denial, Squash, and the Human-Animal Bond What do denial, squash, and the the human-animal bond have in common? Find out in this podcast. But before you do, check out these pictures. Can you tell a squash from a melon? Audio,Updates Myrna Milani no No http://blog.mmilani.com/265/meandering-with-myrn-episode-7/ http://feeds.mmilani.com/~r/mmilaniaudio/~3/370567455/ http://blog.mmilani.com/254/meandering-with-myrn-episode-6-a-householder%e2%80%99s-view-of-lobsters-germs-and-companion-animals/#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:30:56 +0000 mm@mmilani.com (Myrna Milani) http://blog.mmilani.com/?p=254 A Householder’s View of Lobsters, Germs, and Companion Animals

In the process of recording this podcast just about everything that could do wrong did: multiple thunderstorms that caused power outages, animals stir-crazy from being stuck inside so often thanks to the lousy weather, and the discovery that the speech center of my brain is apparently sensitive to humidity. What else could explain the tongue-tripping errors?   I would have started over for the gazillioneth time, but the weather was getting worse. So here it is in all its stormy, animal-laden, tongue-twisted glory.

In the podcast I mention two great books, the Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson and Good Germs, Bad Germs by Jessica Snyder Sachs that revolve around a concept—ecology—that provides those of us who share our homes with companion animals with a new way to view our households. To learn more about these books and their authors, check out the links below:

www.secretlifeoflobsters.com

www.jessicasachs.com/books/index.html

This podcast is about a study I consider a virtual Rosetta Stone relative to understanding the relationship between physiology, behavior, and domestication: the Russian Farm Fox Study. While recording it, I managed to stay out of range of the playing dogs most of the time and edited out most of the “ums” and breathiness that occurred when I tried to outrun or outsmart them. I’m beginning to get the feeling that they’ve made the connection between my using the voice recorder and canine party time. Simultaneously I was trying to outrun a storm because I didn’t think crashing thunder and rain pounding on my metal roof would do much for sound quality, either. But as I discovered and so will you when you listen to this, trying to do that while giving the evil eye to the fuzzy dog on the coffee table (!) taking a bead on the corgi below while saying the words “immature immune response” isn’t  easy!

This week my podcasting career suffered a double assault that left bloody, but unbowed. With apologies to William Ernest Henley’s Invictus (which I had to memorize in the 11th grade),

It matters not how strewn with animals the path,
How filled with incomprehensible terminology the emails,
I eventually will be the master of my podcasting fate.
I eventually will become the captain of my podcasting soul.

Did you ever support some animal-related practice that you and almost everyone else thought was fantastic, the bee’s knees as we used to say in the old days, only to question the wisdom of it later? As we have more access to more information faster, such doubts seem to crop up more often. Then the question becomes, what are we going to do when that happens?

I continue to master the technological aspects of podcasting with more or less success. But a report on Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton’s historic unifying visit to my little town of Unity, NH last week seemed like something that would cause people to overlook my electronic limitations, so enthralled would they be in the story of the dogs’ and my first foray into national politics. Well, our sort of first foray…

For the written/streaming version, click here.

For the mp3/download, click here.

Join me as I make my first foray into podcasting, share my angst as I come to grips with imperfection, and learn about some of the characters you’ll be hearing in the weeks ahead–whether I want them to comment or not!