Once a child who couldn’t resist “borrowing” the neighborhood dogs, Marjie Alonso grew up to make her passion her profession. She spent decades as a dog trainer, behavior consultant, and executive director of animal behavior nonprofits. Over the years she shared her life with Emma, an American Eskimo, Betty and Addie, a pair of Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Nellie, her first beagle, and now Alice, along with countless foster dogs. A devoted parent and storyteller, Marjie writes with humor and heart about the joy, mischief, and everyday conversations that make life with dogs so deeply meaningful.

 

Marjie has just completed a memoir about taking her sons to meet their biological mothers in Paraguay and a reckoning about adoption. She writes essays for publication, and has a weekly Substack.

Dear Goddamned Dog,

While I appreciate your sudden bent toward tidiness, your new habit of finding pieces of ice melt that have fallen from people’s shoes and eating it, loudly, with a smacking/crunching noise is not OK.

Paw safe though it may be, it’s not INTESTINE safe, or ESOPHAGUS safe you tweaked out little salt junky Swiss thing. Plus those eating noises are like being trapped in a geriatric diner on burned toast and tapioca day, and are causing me to lose my mind.

Further, if you’re going to do this then game on – but you are not allowed to then be afraid of the vacuum cleaner. I’m not buying that for one minute. You just want me to leave the ice melt alone.

Love,

Your Person

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