Jennifer Arnold—the founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, which trains and provides service dogs for children and adults with physical disabilities and author, most recently, of “Love Is All You Need: The Revolutionary Bond-Based Approach To...
This represents a highly unusual edition of “Talking Animals,” chiefly, because it features far more guests at one time—eight—than any other show in our 13-plus year history. The overall topic was Pasco County’s Inmate Labor Program, which allows inmates to “work”...
Cheryl Brady—founder and owner of Vet Care Express Ambulance, which is designed to help pet owners, emergency vet clinics, veterinarians, humane societies and other entities in situations where an animal is injured or severely ill, and time is of the essence for...
Jamie Katz — who runs the only licensed private investigation agency in Florida that specializes in locating pets (so, yes, she’s a pet detective)—discusses growing up with a passion for animals, how during her childhood there was just one dog and two cats in her...
Bronwen Dickey—author of “Pit Bull: The Battle Over An American Icon”— shares, in response to my observation about the already-lauded breadth and depth of the book (which had only come out the day before), how discoveries of notable information she made during the...
Tibet and Brenda Kocher—respectively, Florida’s first courthouse dog and the Guardian ad Litem volunteer who serves as Tibet’s handler, under the auspices of Voices for Children of Tampa Bay—outline the extensive training Tibet underwent, in keeping with the dogs...
Michele Lazarow—a Hallandale Beach city commissioner and activist who has helped pass numerous laws across Florida preventing pet stories from selling dogs that come from puppy mills—recounts the dreadful experience she had in 2004 after buying her dog, Alfie, from...
Darcy Dennett—the director of “The Champions,” a documentary chiefly about the pit bulls rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring—outlines her professional experience that served as a prelude to this, her feature film debut. She explains the passion that...
Laura T. Coffey—the author of “MY OLD DOG: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts,” which touts the virtues of adopting senior shelter dogs—recounts going to school (including college) in the Tampa Bay area and her extended stints at what’s now The Tampa Bay...
For today’s program, I opted to set aside our regular format, in favor of convening a panel discussion about service animals, propelled largely by the growing trend of people using bogus service animals and emotional support animals. Indeed, a key catalyst for...
