Entries by Cherese Cobb

How Smart is Your Cat?

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER Your cat is clever, perhaps even crafty, but how smart is she? According to scientists, it’s not your imagination. While your dog might have a higher social IQ than your cat, she can solve harder cognitive problems, if she feels like it. Her brain is only 2 inches long, weighs as […]

9 THINGS ONLY HORSEY PEOPLE UNDERSTAND

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER If you ever feel that the world sometimes looks at you strangely, you’re probably a horsey person. The whole getting up at 5:00 a.m. to clip, braid and ship your horses halfway across the country to win a 37-cent ribbon is baffling to non-horsey people. Horses are better than people, with […]

Great Dane: A Gentle Giant

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER “Great Danes are like having a toddler in a dog suit,” says Jennifer Klika, president of the Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue in Eagan, Minn. “There are days I’d need a pitchfork to push my 9-year-old out of bed. Then he gets the zoomies and runs like a maniac for 15 […]

Hanoverian Warmblood: A Steady Eddie

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER Flashy on the outside and a gentleman on the inside, Acado is a 13-year-old Hanoverian. “He’s one of the most handsome horses in the barn,” says Jenny Caldwell, assistant trainer. “When he walks into a different environment, he puts his head up and looks around, but he’s never spooked.” The Show […]

SAVE-A-VET: Remembering the Other Forgotten Soldier

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER For four years, Department of State (DOS) Agent Paddy worked as an Explosive Ordnance Division Technician at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. When Danny Scheurer and the rest of his unit went to clear a building, he leaped from an SUV and dashed to the door. “We tried to run,” […]

Chinese Shar-Pei: A Wrinkly Wonder

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER Pepper was black, short and chunky. The one-year-old Shar-Pei looked like a baby hippo. She had mange and infected ears. Chained outside in the heat, she stunk badly. Her owners wanted to euthanize her. But there was something special about her. Kathy Baily, the president of Shar-Pei Savers in Genoa, Ohio, […]

Fox River Valley Cat Club

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER Whether you’re a cat connoisseur, a crazy cat lady in training or a dog person transitioning into a cat person, the Fox River Valley Cat Club (FRVCC) can help you publicly proclaim your “cat-mance” to the world. The half-century-old organization has 15 to 20 members. Their motto: care, advocate, teach and […]

CBD Oil For Cats & Dogs: How Magical Is It?

BY CHERESE COBB, FREELANCER Hayden, an 11-year-old Rat Terrier, doesn’t like loud noises. At the first rumble of thunder or pop of fireworks, she shakes so badly that everything around her vibrates. She also drools and leaves puddles wherever she’s hiding. Before Anna Cabal adopted her from the Rat Terrier ResQ in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, she’d […]