Melissa L. Kauffman, Group Editorial Director Catster/Dogster

Covering the pet world for more than 30 years, Melissa L. Kauffman has been an editor/writer for a wide variety of pet magazines and websites from the small critters and parrots to cats and dogs. Her advisory team of pets — rescue dogs Tampa Bay and Murphy Brown, plus Cirneco dell'Etna Liberty Belle and rescued parrots Deacon and Pi-Pi — help keep her on top of the latest and greatest pet health research, training and products, anything to give keep them in the high life they are accustomed to. Follow Tampa and his crew on Instagram @tampa.bay.pup.report while Melissa can always be found working on the next issue of Catster and Dogster magazines at caster.com and dogster.com. Contact her ONLY at [email protected]. (Any email not from belvoir.com is not this Melissa L Kauffman.)

Interview with Belgian Malinois Lulu from Channing Tatum’s DOG movie

OK, well that’s her name in DOG, the film where she stars with Channing Tatum, who also co-directs along with Reid Carolin. It’s a road buddy movie that also deals with the trauma war causes on our soldiers — both humans and dogs. Two former Army Rangers take a road trip to a fellow soldier’s funeral—

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4 Dog Books to Read This Summer (2024 Guide)

The Finders Being a big fan of mysteries and dogs, I happily dug into author Jeffrey B. Burton’s new series, starting with The Finders. Mason “Mace” Reid is a dog lover’s protagonist — a dog trainer who also trains human remains detection. It all starts when he takes in Golden Retriever Vira from Chicago Animal

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Dogs & Fireworks: How to Stop Your Dog Barking & Being Scared

My wedding anniversary falls on July 4th weekend. My husband and I used to celebrate with a short trip, but not anymore. Not since our pet cam showed my dog, Tampa Bay, shivering and hiding in the closet with my other dog, Justice, standing guard in front of it, constantly barking because of the random

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Interview with Matt Beisner, the Dog Behavior Specialist from Dog: Impossible

Most of us animal lovers are no strangers to the Nat Geo WILD television network as it focuses on all things animal. (Woo hoo!) What animal lovers may not know is that Nat Geo WILD is launching a new series this September 2019 called Dog: Impossible, which follows dog behavior specialist Matt Beisner as he

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Artistic Aire can transform a picture of your dog into a beautiful portrait.

Artistic Aire: Beautiful Dog Portraits by Lauren Klose

Dogster’s art director Lori fell for the beautiful dog portraits of fine artist Lauren Klose when she saw an article profiling her work. She shared the story with me, and I knew we had to share these amazing pet portraits with Dogster readers. Lauren’s a busy woman — wife, mother, artist, piano teacher, tennis player

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Belgian Shepherd Malinois and American Staffordshire Terrier dog lying on the sand at the beach

Take Your Small Dog on a Dog-Friendly Vacation to the Ritz-Carlton, Aruba

Looking for the ultimate luxury vacation where you can actually take your dog? I’d suggest the Ritz-Carlton on Aruba. I was lucky enough to personally check out this dog-loving island and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, a pet-friendly luxury property. Luxury properties don’t always allow pets, but certain Ritz-Carltons do and, of course, it does it

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A dog tethered by a chain.

Why I Am Against Tethering a Dog When You’re Not Around

I was visiting my home state of Pennsylvania recently, which was experiencing a bit of a warm spell for this time of year. The temperature was about to change, however, and that sparked conversations from my dog-loving friends about PA’s new law. Act 10 of 2017 places limitations on chaining or tethering a dog outside. You

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National Pit Bull Awareness Day 2024: When Is It & How To Celebrate

What’s new with Pinups for Pitbulls founder Deirdre Franklin since we last spoke? Pinups for Pitbulls’ 2018 calendar has been released this week and is available for pre-order! “In 2016, we helped get 1,003 dogs adopted through our social media courtesy posts,” Franklin shares. “This year, we’re on target to match or possibly beat that

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Ted Rheinhold.

Dug Up at Dogster: Honoring Ted Rheingold and Betty Liddick

The Dogster and Catster brands have a very long history. Cat Fancy and Dog Fancy magazines, which have been around for 50 years, were merged with the Dogster.com and Catster.com websites four years ago to become today’s Dogster and Catster magazines and websites. Many, many people along the way have worked on these brands — Cat

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A Roxy Reading Therapy Dog at work. (Photo courtesy Roxy Reading Therapy Dogs)

Books, Kids, and Therapy Dogs Come Together With ‘Be Like Bud’

Books, children, and dogs — can you even imagine a better mix? I spoke with Roxy Reading Therapy Dogs’ President, Sharon Fleck, about the incredible work the group does. Dogster: Could you tell us about your new book, Be Like Bud? Sharon: We decided that we wanted our book to be an inspirational book for

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How to Help Your Dog Avoid Dry, Itchy Skin in the Winter

Scratch, scratch, scratch. And so winter begins with its dry, windy, cold air outside, and the dry, hot, forced air inside, without any moisture in sight. What’s a kitty or puppy to do except scratch? Unlike humans, pets can’t just slap on some extra moisturizer and call it a day. However, there are some easy

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Why Do Dogs Lick Their Paws? Reasons & How to Help Them Stop

My 7-year-old Min Pin–Vizsla mix, Justice, starting licking his back left paw recently. Immediately I went into alarm mode. I examined and re-examined the paw, which Justice did not enjoy. I had my veterinarian look at the paw. Nothing. No tenderness, no swelling, no bleeding, not cuts, no scrapes, just a slight sign of irritation that

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Check Out Fido to Go: It’s a Food Truck for Dogs!

My food hound Tampa Bay probably dreams about food on wheels, and now his dream has come true thanks to Donna Santucci, owner of Fido to Go. As the nation’s first doggie food truck, Fido to Go features natural, organic treats, including gluten-free nibbles, doggie frozen yogurts, and Midwest-sourced natural treats and chews for dogs and cats.

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