DOG TALK® (and Kitties Too!) on 
DOG TALK® features Tracie's interviews with authors, pet experts and animal welfare advocates from around the world, discussing practical and philosophical issues regarding our relationships with dogs, cats, other pets, wildlife and the natural world.
The show broadcasts from WLIW FM 88.3 in Southampton, the only NPR station on Long Island, reaching from the East End across Long Island into Southern Connecticut and Westchester.
The show’s theme song is “Mmm My Best Friend” by Sophie B. Hawkins from her album TIMBRE.
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The Legacy of the DNA Sequencing of Tasha the Boxer at the NIH
#973B: Elaine Ostrander, a canine genomics expert, was on the team that sequenced Tasha’s genome, the first purebred dog studied twenty years ago. She and her colleagues at the NIH have been studying the DNA of many dog breeds since then, discovering which genes are responsible for what physical and health characteristics, allowing them to guide dog breeders in making decisions to avoid naturally occurring diseases, knowledge which is valuable for human disorders, too.
The Little Girl & Her Fluffy Little Pekingese Who Rule the Dog Show World
#973A: Kennedy Green was the #1 Junior Pekingese handler in the USA in 2025 (having just turned 12), working with Dr. Kelly Fishman, an integrative sports medicine veterinarian, who both talk about what it takes to keep Lincoln, a special breed of toy dog, in top physical condition, to compete in the 150th Westminster Dog Show.
The Sacrifice of Beagles for Humans
#972B: Brad Bolman’s book “Lab Dog: What Global Science Owes American Beagles,” takes the long view of the Beagle dog, chronicling its whole history as a breed and how people turned what they had bred as a hunting companion into a “lab rat” to be turned out in the tens of thousands for research.
Jane Goodall’s Legacy for Us All to “Keep on Caring”
#972A: Marc Bekoff, the renowned ethologist, talks about his long personal and professional relationship with the late Jane Goodall, and how important it is that we hold on to her messages of hope and perseverance in caring about animals and the planet, especially through the Roots and Shoots program of the Jane Goodall Foundation.
“Dogsitivity” — Does That Describe Your Dog?
#971A: Dog trainer and author Ineke Vander AA in Belgium discusses how she developed her scientifically-backed theory of “highly sensitive” dogs in her groundbreaking book “Dogsitivity: a Guide to Living With Highly Sensitive Dogs.”
Wolves and German Shepherd Dogs
#971B: Greger Larson, the Director of the Paleogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network at the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, returns to discuss whether wolves were ever introduced into the breeding of German Shepherd Dogs — which was adamantly opposed by early breeders around WW II in Germany. They were purists against hybridization with wolves — although it would have been to the dogs’ health advantage.
The Challenges of Prescription Drugs
#970B: Dr. Doug Mader explains the different ways that pet owners can fill prescriptions for and why they need to understand the value of backup support if their pet has side effects from a drug or gets better before all the pills are taken. Is it best to fill a prescription at the vet clinic? An online store? The local pharmacy? How many pills are necessary? What about refills?
The Man Who Wanted to be a Hippopotamus (at age 3)
#970A: Jonathan Balcombe, a biologist and ethologist with a doctorate in animal behavior, has studied and written books about all manner of non-human creatures: “Pleasurable Kingdom,” “Second Nature,” “The Exultant Ark,” “What a Fish Knows” and “Superfly.”
Sherri Franklin — Muttville’s Patron Saint
#969B: When Sherri Franklin first rescued old dogs from the San Francisco city shelter and brought them to her own home, nobody wanted senior dogs. Now, two decades later, she is stepping down as the leader of Muttville, arguably the nation's most vibrant and successful rescue nonprofit for senior dogs, leaving behind 600 regular volunteers, 80 foster homes, thousands of oldster dogs happily adopted from its own cage-free campus, vibrant with senior humans hanging out in Cuddle Club along with visitors from around the world.
Cat Mummies for Sale in Ancient Egypt
#969A: Greger Larson, Director of the Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network of the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, tells the amazing true history of how cats found their way into human society in Egypt, where travelers making a pilgrimage to the tombs needed to present a mummified cat as an offering — so local entrepreneurs bred them on an island in the Nile in order to mummify them and sell them to the pilgrims.