DOG TALK® (and Kitties Too!) on

icon of side silhouette of dog and cat drawn inside the dog Tracie Hotchner the Radio Pet Lady

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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“Doing a paternity test on a boa constrictor as a favor to a friend…”

#907B: Warren Booth, Associate Professor Department of Entomology in the Urban Evolutionary Entomology Lab at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, talks about the many topics he has studied, from bed bugs to reptile reproduction.

Grand Pet Necropoli Around the World

#907A: Paul Koudounaris talks about the pet cemeteries he found and photographed all over the world in his book “Faithful Unto Death: Pet Cemeteries, Animal Graves & Eternal Devotion,” chronicling fascinating tales of how people have memorialized their beloved pets forever.

Top French Pet Psychiatrist Unravels Kitty Cats

#906B: Dr. Claude Beata (who is one of only 5 “animal psychiatrists” in all of France) discusses his psychological theories about bipolar disorder, ADHD and OCD in cats in his book “The Interpretation of Cats: Understanding the Psychology of Our Feline Companions,” conditions which he says are treatable with medications and behavior/environmental modification.

Keeping the Pack Together

#906A: Bruce Cameron’s novel “My Three Dogs” takes us inside a pack of three dogs who are separated after being put in a shelter when their owners die in an accident — but the hero is the Australian Shepherd who cleverly finds a way to reunite his pack.

A Training Book from School for the Dogs

#905B: Annie Grossman, founder of School for the Dogs in Manhattan's East Village, has written “How to Train Your Dog With Love + Science,” which even those without a dog can enjoy because it is more than a dog training book — as funny as it is useful.

Dog Rescue Seen From a Different Angle

#905A: In her book “Rethinking Rescue: Dog Lady and the Story of America’s Forgotten People and Pets,” Carol Mithers did a deep dive into the life of Lori Weise, the champion of pets of the homeless in Los Angeles, offering a different perspective on how we approach pets and people experiencing homelessness.

A Renaissance Man With Talents Beyond a Love of Spiders

#904B: Chris Buddle is a renowned entomologist (emphasis on arachnids) who has been chasing spiders throughout his academic career, while developing astonishing skills as a watercolorist of natural subjects. He has turned his work into a gorgeous book "A Portrait of Astonishing Nature" with pithy Haiku poems accompanying every drawing — with 100% of the proceeds going to a land trust in Canada, bordering the Great Lakes, to protect the wildlife.

Danger to Man and Beast in the Forest

#904A: Margaret Mizushima has written another gripping Timber Creek K-9 mystery “Gathering Mist,” in which the forest is integral to the dangers confronting heroine K-9 Deputy Mattie Cobb and her tracking dog Robo.

Visionary Award Winner Returns in the 6th Annual NY Cat Film Festival

#903B: Filmmaker Kim Best — who was awarded the Visionary Award from the NY Cat Film Festival for having at least one film in every year of the Festival — will be flying back to New York City again on October 15th to be applauded for having yet another two new films in the 6th Annual Festival.

Celebrating the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans

#903A: Shannon Walker, the Executive director of the National Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans (and also the Founder of Northwest Battle Buddies, which trains and provides PTSD service dogs for veterans) talks about the Association’s support from Purina Dog Chow and now the NY Dog Film Festival, presented by Purina, featuring three finalists in a new Service Dog Salute category of films illuminating the life-saving effects of specially trained dogs for veterans with the invisible wounds of PTSD.