Happy New Year! And a hilarious Corgi New Year to you.

Hereabouts we're ringin' in the New Year with a big, soggy rainstorm. Cassie the Corgi, as we know, loathes and detests water, especially if it's inclined to get on her. Until this morning, it looked like Ruby the Corgi Pup was going to be the same way, presumably having learned her hydrophobia from her sort-of role model.

But no.

Ruby has learned to use the doggy door. Cassie still declines,…

So people say we're sentimental fools to imagine our dogs feel guilty when we catch them in some shenanigan and growl "baaaaad daaawg." These authorities claim that dogs cannot feel guilt, because, according the theory, dogs live in the moment and so don't connect what's happening now with what happened ten minutes ago or what may happen ten minutes hence. This implies that the dog brain is utterly devoid of anything resembling ethics, in the sense that humans understand that…

So I'm driving home from the gas station and the Target this morning. Cruise into the 'hood and see the new owners of the run-down rental on the north corner of MyStreet and Elm are working away at their renovation project. And as I'm snooping curiously to see what they've been up to over the past few days, what should I see limping up the alley but a coyote.

It's broad daylight, not the time of day coyotes come out and about. She's walking on three feet, holding her left foreleg up.…