Dog Science

Racehorses with Tourette's syndrome, spinning dogs with epilepsy, cats with obsessive-compulsive disorder, feather-plucking parrots with anxiety, and a diffident bull terrier with autism - these astonishing cases were all helped by One Medicine, which emphasizes the similarities, rather than differences, between animals and humans. Inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking, and utterly fascinating, Pets on the Couch demonstrates how what we share with our animals can only lead us to a greater appreciation for them - and for our mutual bonds.

Of all the things hidden in plain sight, dogs are one of the most enigmatic. They are everywhere, but how much do we really know about where they came from and what the implications are of their place in our world? Jon Franklin set out to find out and ended up spending a decade studying the origins and significance of the dog and its peculiar attachment to humans.

The Citadel of Wizards was under siege. Deep in the Vaults beneath the walled city, gates into inhuman realities were opening and closing without warning. Monsters emerged from other dimensions; and ancient, malign magics came to life under the influence of cosmic chaos. Someone was tampering with the Void. The Council of Wizards blamed Antryg Windrose, the rebel mage who had fled their justice to find haven in the City of Angels.

Even if we've never had direct contact with one, we will have seen one, or at the very least, heard one. For those of us who live in the Western world, it is more than likely that one sleeps in our house, possibly even on our bed. I'm talking, of course, of the dog. Yet, this animal, which lives alongside 500 million of us all over the world - as an invaluable partner and a trusted confidant - presents us with one great unsolved mystery: how did this relationship - the most complex and enduring of any between human and animal - start in the first place?

"All the women of my family had gone to war... Now my turn had come... So, it is the custom that a free woman leave her mother's house to bind herself and those of her blood to a neighboring clan, either by the sword or by the cradle." So begins the story of young Tamras, as she embarks on her journey to become a warrior's apprentice. This epic story is not about battles and armor, but rather about relationships, coming of age and wisdom, and deep insights into the human experience.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse. "The Dog King" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Why do dogs bark? Do they get lonely? These questions and more are answered in this fun and engaging book for young listeners.

In 2086, a security breach of Xavier Labs in Colorado and Zheng Industries in China released the deadly experimental agent XSKL435. Anyone outside was dead within minutes. As statistics on the death toll are gathered from all over the world, Abby, the six-week-old dog-daughter of Bill and Teresa Maxwell, was one of only four known surviving canines. News services soon announce that the other three dogs had succumbed to the deadly poison. Abby was now the last dog.

Twelve-year-old Jeff and genetically engineered spy dog Chipper are on the run from the mysterious and sinister organization known only as The Institute, with help from Harry, the summer guest at Jeff's aunt's fishing cabins. Due to a combination of bravery, luck, and some of Chipper's more useful modifications, they've managed to evade their pursuers so far. But The Institute is closing in and Chipper and Jeff will have to keep one step ahead if they want to stay alive.... Harry seems to have a plan to keep them hidden, but now even he seems to be acting suspiciously.

Grace Delaney and her fellow dance students are en route to perform on a South Pacific cruise ship when a freak storm hits and they find themselves stranded on a seemingly deserted island. With the tropical heat rising, passions and tensions swell to breaking point. And the island itself is quietly steaming with a terrible secret....

The Progenitors are here, and Captain Husher knows the galaxy isn’t ready. He spent his entire military career preparing, but it wasn’t enough. As the Interstellar Union continues to flail and colony after colony is consumed, Husher must make some impossible choices. About what to save. And what to let fall to the onslaught. If he can’t find a way to oppose the Progenitors, they will sweep through the multiverse like fire through a parched forest. It all comes down to this.

Beware of avalanches! When the magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie back in time to the highest pass in the Swiss Alps, they discover an ancient monastery filled with monks and Saint Bernard dogs. Annie can’t resist offering to train a wild young dog named Barry, but he is quite the handful! Before the night is over, Jack and Annie will be forced to use some crazy magic!

It's midsummer in the small town of Llanfair, and there's been an influx of pagans who are here for the festival. In the middle of all the joy, a small child goes missing. He's found quickly, but he's different now. Changed, somehow. A changeling? Such an accusation drives a wedge between Bron and Maddie, but as events take a darker turn, they must work together - against the clock - to rescue the soul of the boy...and the heart of the town.

Albert Jenkins never cared much for bureaucrats and politicians. So, when the Galactic Congress refuses to act on the illegal invasion of Earth by parasitic aliens, he does what any self-respecting vet would do - he steals a spaceship. But when AJ and a snarky pop culture-loving alien companion are pursued by space cops, he does the only rational thing he can come up with. He strategically crash-lands on a junkyard moon.

Having narrowly escaped a pack of vicious wolves, canine heroes Max, Rocky, and Gizmo are happy to find a moment of peace as they travel down the mighty river. Soon, the trio come across a lavish boat moored close to shore. They're wary of facing another community of dogs, but when they climb on board, they discover that things are different on this ship. These dogs aren't like the power-hungry ones they've encountered in the past. Food is plentiful and rationed fairly. Plus...they've seen humans, who Max, Rocky, and Gizmo thought had disappeared without a trace.

Older, but not necessarily wiser, Aiden Pearce, “the Fox”, is a rolling stone, surviving by moving from one shadowy hacker job to the next. While in Baltimore, he’s captured by a mysterious agent who insists finding missing cargo full of transhuman tech is something only Pearce can do. When flattery doesn’t work, he’s blackmailed into taking the job. Worse, he’s partnered again with the unscrupulous Jordi Chin. Soon what looks like a simple investigation spirals into a nefarious plot leading all the way to the White House.

Three Books: Heading Home, No One Left Behind, and Amazon Warrior.

After barely surviving his last tour on Mars, Master Sergeant Michael Venn finds himself back on Earth in enforced isolation. Through a dangerous series of operations, he returns to Mars to further his investigation into the Drifters - ancient artifacts suddenly reawakened on the red planet.

Ever since being part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figures he used up his good karma when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races are left with a messy, monster-ridden world, and Stalkers are the only cavalry willing to ride to someone's rescue when something shadowy appears.

“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.