Read, watch, and listen this week:

Newspaper:
The New York Times has a book review by CATHLEEN SCHINE published September 8, 2009 of the book Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know‘ by author ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ .  The reviewer noted: “.  .  . As a psychologist with a Ph.D. in cognitive science, as well as an ardent dogophile, Horowitz aims “to take an informed imaginative leap inside of a dog – to see what it is like to be a dog; what the world is like from a dog’s point of view.  .  .  .  Her work draws on that of an early-20th- century German biologist, Jakob von Uexküll, who proposed that “anyone who wants to understand the life of an animal must begin by considering what he called their umvelt . . . : their subjective or ‘self-world.’ ” Hard as we may try, a dog’s-eye view is not immediately accessible to us, however, for we reside within our own umwelt, our own self-world bubble, which clouds our vision.” . . . more

Ms. Horowitz  has excerpts from 3 chapters in her book on her website ”  .  .  . We are known by our dogs–probably far better than we know them. They are the consummate eavesdroppers and peeping toms: let into the privacy of our rooms, they quietly spy on our every move. They know about our comings and goings. They come to know our habits: how long we spend in the bathroom, how long we spend in front of the television. They know who we sleep with; what we eat; what we eat too much of; who we sleep too much with. They watch us like no other animal watches us. We share our homes with uncounted numbers of mice, millipedes, and mites: none bothers to look our way. We open our door and see pigeons, squirrels, and assorted flying bugs; they barely notice us. Dogs, by contrast, watch us from across the room, from the window, and out of the corner of their eyes. . . . “

One of my favorite movies featuring Jack Russell Terriers is the 1994 movie “The Mask”  starring Max McCarter as Milo the dog, and some guy named Jim Carrey and a woman named Cameron Diaz.  The plot involves Milo helping his human,  ”Mild-mannered bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss who discovers a mysterious ancient mask that brings his inner most desires to wild, screaming life!” (taken from plot synopsis by Robert Lynch ).   For this role, in 1995, Max won the Blimp Award from Nickelodeon’s Annual Kids’ Choice Awards for favorite animal star.

Radio: