Stories by Julie Hecht

Can't believe so-and-so said that in front of everyone? Is it time for a break from members of your own species? The dogs are here to help.

I've been writing about dog humping for years. Jon Stewart mentioned my first piece, "H*mping: Why Do They Do It?" on air. Fine, it could have had something to do with the dog-friendly workplace at “The Daily Show” being featured in that issue of The Bark magazine, but for some reason, my humping article grabbed [...]

Observing behavior can be part of loving dogs

The Beagle stopped dead in his tracks. It. Was. Coming. As the fire truck neared, the Beagle held his stance, put his head back, and out came a long, deep howl.

A picture of a dog mid-sneeze is delightful. Twenty-seven dogs caught mid-sneeze is icing on the cake. It is impossible not to smile as you scroll through these dogs, squinting and contorting just like we do.

This past weekend, I saw Heather Graham wearing cut-off shorts with lacy black tights. Someone seeing this fashion statement might be quick to run out and buy a similar outfit.

Grover Krantz was onto something when he had his remains donated to science. A professor of anthropology, he didn't see why death should interrupt his life-long teaching.

Chaser, a Border Collie from South Carolina, knows the names of over 1,000 different objects. Does anyone find themselves looking at their tail-wagging friend and wondering, "Well, what do you know?" When it comes to whether dogs can understand words, Chaser—the subject of not one, but two scientific publications—can attest that the answer is: Yes.

This question was not proposed by a mad scientist bent on world doggie domination. The idea to see whether dogs follow life-sized videos is actually entirely sensible.

Tracking Cats. A Book of Common Ants. Want to meet the mites on your forehead or the bacteria in your armpits? Get all that and more at Your Wild Life.

There was no way I was going to miss something called a `Smellwalk.' A social dilettante at heart, I revel in time spent in the mind of others — especially those who add an entirely different color to the palate of my worldview.

A few years back, John Homans, former executive editor of New York magazine, published What's a Dog For? — an intimate reflection on his beloved family dog, Stella, as well as a snapshot into the flourishing field of canine science.

Live with a companion dog, and you've probably come across the Rainbow Bridge idea, a mythical land where pets go when they pass to meet with their owners at a later date.

Your pocket can hold many potentially lethal items, so let me be more specific: `What's the Dog Killer in Your Pocket That You Wish No Longer Existed?' Can you guess?

We've all met dogs with a small head and large body who bear a striking resemblance to the people with shrunken heads from the movie Beetlejuice.

In my perfect world, artist-in-residence is just the beginning. In my perfect world, all researchers and research institutions are paired with a comedian-in-residence.

Pulp Fiction gangster Jules Winnfield is right. "A dog's got personality, and personality goes a long way.” Cross-species animal behavior studies confirm Winnfield's statement (although he's wrong about pigs: pigs have personality, too).

Most trends I can't get behind. Hammer pants should have stayed in the 1980s and 1990s and far away from 2014 (there, I said it). Sure, I love a good flash mob, but the more of 'em you do, the older they get.

For some, it happens in the bathroom. For others, it's the living room. All across America, as fireworks go off on July 4th, many dogs experience varying degrees of fear and stress.

I had one of those `woe is me' moments in September 2013, lamenting that on top of my personal dog-related To-Do lists there is so much dog-related reading to take in each month–much of it covering canine science research.

I always loved summer camp — the forced rituals and the chaos and buzz of lots of people doing similar activities. Even though the age of summer camp is far behind me, I still find myself thrown into grown-up versions of “summer camp.” Earlier this year, I joined up with Academia Film Olomouc (Twitter, Facebook) [...]

The first thing I noticed was his balls. Peering out my back window at the unfamiliar cat lounging in the courtyard, my eyes immediately fell on the two testicles protruding from his backside.

Dog owners seem pleased when they meet me because they can talk about their dog with someone who is truly interested. Sometimes they share intricate descriptions about something interesting that their dog does (often followed with the question, "Why does she do that?"), and other times, owners have a question like, "How do I get [...]

Over the last few years, there has been a surge in public-participation science projects, and I don’t mean watching dog videos on YouTube.