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 Butterfly Season — a Quixotic Danish Explorer
#1008B: Lea Korsgaard — an award-winning journalist and author, cofounder and editor in chief of the digital Danish newspaper, Zetland — talks about her wonderfully baffling book, "The Butterfly Season," which recounts how she got it in her head to try to find every one of the 64 species of Danish butterflies in one year... when she knew absolutely nothing about butterflies! An otherwise highly accomplished journalist, businesswoman and practical wife and mother, she is the embodiment of the word "Quixotic" — "foolishly idealistic, romantic, or chasing an impossible dream." Her book and odyssey is an inspiration to those who might want to live out an idea, no matter how impractical.
What Your Open Palm Can Mean to a Dog
#1008A: Sindhoor Pangal is a canine behavior consultant with a Master's in Anthrozoology from the University of Exeter. She researches India's free-living dogs in Bangalore, is a TEDx speaker and author of "Dog Knows." She recently published a peer-reviewed paper “The Open Palm Gesture in Human-Dog Communication,” which is her unique observation of how an open palm facing down towards a dog can calm, reassure and strengthen your bond with the dog.
Home Cooking is Great — But Only If You Balance the Ingredients
#1007B: Dr. Tracy Lord has her own holistic practice veterinary clinic that supports owners who want to lean into home-cooked diets as part of illness prevention and management of health. She cautions that people should use one of the balanced whole food diets like the ones offered on the IVI Blend website (privately owned by two veterinary nutritionists), along with the supplements they have blended for fully balanced nutrition and optimal health.
Are Scientists Looking at Animal Cognition the "Right" Way?
#1007A: Philosophy professor Mike Dacey's book “Seven Challenges for the Science of Animal Minds” examines the way some of the greatest "animal observers" may be misguided in their perspectives in looking at the "intelligence" and lived experience of non-human creatures.
Poems To Make Your Heart Sing (some with dogs!)
#1006B: K.T. Landon's “Abide” poetry collection won the 2025 Richard Snyder Prize and hearing her read from this collection of wonderfully, powerfully accessible poems will make it clear why she got that honor.
Veterinary Experts Deployed for National Disasters
#1006A: Dr. Deb Zoran Texas A&M director of VET (Veterinary Emergency Team) which she also teaches to 4th year veterinary students — also serves on the FEMA Incident Support Team as a DVM specialist supporting the working canines deployed to national disasters.
Please Do NOT Get a Frenchie!
#1005B: Mariclare Carey-Jones made the film “Pierre’s Tale” as a cautionary story of the terrible physical ailments the breed has as they have become so popular, hoping to spare others the pain and suffering her beloved Frenchie Pierre went through.
Robo Stars Again in the Newest Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
#1005A: Margaret Mizushima's “Fighting Edge,” her 11th Timber Creek K-9 mystery, has Robo, the detection/apprehension dog, who is the star of the series, at the center of the action in this wonderfully complex set of mysteries.
The NYC Animal Care Centers Have Come a Long Way
#1004B: Katy Hansen of the NY ACC (the beneficiary of the NYC premiere of the NY Cat Film Festival Sept 26th) talks about all the great shelters the city has built (or is building) in the boroughs and how the many cat rescue groups flourish in their mission.
Giants of the Valley — 16 Irish Wolfhounds (and Counting!)
#1004A: Nick Trumble talks about his delightful film "Giants of the Valley," premiering in the 11th Annual NY Dog Film Festival, about a fabulously eccentric English family who own 16 Irish Wolfhounds, along with a number of other dogs, and the joy they take in their pack.