Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Animal Companion

Every dog has its day — and canine behaviorist Jon Katz believes that, when dogs are doing the work they’re bred to do, that day can be every day. A onetime technology writer who found rural bliss after adopting a troubled border collie, Katz is convinced that dogs, like people, need meaningful occupations to keep from going crazy. His collections of pastoral essays chronicle life on the upstate New York farm he now shares with several sheep-herding border collies, while his latest book describes the special tenderness some dogs show for humans who are ill or ailing, and explains how he and his dog Izzy got involved in hospice volunteer work. Middlesex-and-Barre-based psychiatric nurse practitioner Amy Miller interviews Katz about canine hospice training during a live taping of her Central Vermont TV show.