L. R. Trovillion

Whenever I give my Husky mix, Sitka, a high-value treat or one she is not interested in eating right then, she whines and stresses over where to hide it. She carries it around the house, shoving it under sofa cushions, burying it under the bath mat, or sliding it deep under the bed. She’s often not satisfied with the first hiding spot, so has to retrieve it and find a better one.

My husband and I laugh over this curious behavior. “No one is going to take your bone!” we tell her. There are no...

Do you ever wonder just how much your dog actually understands? I’ve long suspected it’s far more than she lets on—and that obedience is, frankly, optional.

This week, I got proof.

Yesterday morning my mare came in missing a shoe. This is not rare. She has perfected the art of pulling them off, and my farrier—who possesses the patience of a saint—usually comes out to tack it back on. That is, if I find the shoe. If I don’t, we’re looking at a more expensive and time-consuming remake.

Naturally,...

I recently learned that Dorcas (Galley) Hoar, a woman accused of witchcraft during the notorious Salem Witch Trials, was my 10th great-grandmother (according to Ancestry.com).

The revelation couldn’t come at a more appropriate time than the beginning of October, Samhain, Halloween, and the witchy season. Of course, poor Dorcas was not a witch, although she ended up copping to the charge in order to save her neck. Instead, she was a woman who did not fit in with the Puritan community and...