Dog Days
My dog Gabby has the best sense of humor. I’m not anthropomorphizing–she loves to tease my Dad, Stepmom, and little brother. She’ll sneak up behind my dad and push him either with her snout or with her front paws, taunting him. This usually turns into a sparring match between the two–my dad taught Gabby to pseudo-box when we adopted her.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. (Credit: Cassie Martin, via Instagram)
She is my best non-human friend, and I love her dearly. Unfortunately she resides in Michigan and I’m stuck here in Boston where most dwellings don’t allow pets. I would dog-nap her if I could, believe me I’ve come close two or three times. In the months between my trips back to The Mitten, all I have are pictures to remind me of how awesome she is (gosh, this is starting to sound like a Cure song).
Dogs in general are pretty awesome, though. Lately, I’ve found myself writing about them a lot. In the spring, I created an entire website around dog culture in Boston for a multimedia class. Then, I started my internship at The Wildlife Society. I thought I’d be writing about endangered species and conservation efforts–which I am, but I’m also learning and writing about the awesome contributions dogs make to science. If you keep up with my blog, then (I hope) you read my article about dogs sniffing out zebra mussels. Until recently, I was working on an article about researchers in the UK using dogs to detect bat carcasses. Apparently, “conservation dogs” aren’t new. Scientists have been using dogs for decades, but in an unofficial capacity. I’m going to keep gathering string on this subject. I mean, who doesn’t love dogs, and writing about them is just another excuse to hang out. Sometimes, I really love my job.
Cassie Writes Science 
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