“
Easy, pet.” His voice was laced with soft amusement. “I detect evidence of a temper, which I’ve no doubt you inherited from the old man. I’ve seen his eyes flash just that way when his dander is up over some trifle.
”
”
Lisa Kleypas (Devil in Winter (Wallflowers, #3))
“
Now and again, one could detect in a childless woman of a certain age the various characteristics of all the children she had never issued. Her body was haunted by the ghost of souls who hadn't lived yet. Premature ghosts. Half-ghosts. X's without Y's. Y's without X's. They applied at her womb and were denied, but, meant for her and no one else, they wouldn't go away. Like tiny ectoplasmic gophers, they hunkered in her tear ducts. They shone through her sighs. Often to her chagrin, they would soften the voice she used in the marketplace. When she spilled wine, it was their playful antics that jostled the glass. They called out her name in the bath or when she passed real children in the street. The spirit babies were everywhere her companions, and everywhere they left her lonesome - yet they no more bore her resentment than a seed resents uneaten fruit. Like pet gnats, like phosphorescence, like sighs on a string, they would follow her into eternity.
”
”
Tom Robbins (Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates)
“
Heaven is all around you. You just can’t see us because we are vibrating at a higher level than you are. It’s kind of like a dog whistle. There is a noise, a pitch so high that the human ear cannot detect it but it is there nonetheless, for don’t you see all the dogs come running!
When we cross Rainbow Bridge we become only love and love is the highest level of vibration; the highest “pitch” so to speak. This is why you cannot see us. We are here, only gone from your sight until one day you are the same vibration as we are. When you vibrate in love all the time you will not have to ask again if I am here, you will know that I am here with you.
”
”
Kate McGahan (Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge: A Dog's Afterlife Story of Loss, Love and Renewal (Jack McAfghan Pet Loss Series Book 3))
“
the sea is like having a pet dog asleep on the hearth. When I’m near it, even inside my cottage, it’s like I can feel it breathing. It’s a companion of sorts. It’s less lonely to live alone by the sea.
”
”
Alex Pavesi (The Eighth Detective)
“
Nick laughed and pet the Wangdoodle on the head. “Esperto, you silly boy,” he said to the Wangdoodle. “Usually, Esperto only transforms when I’m in danger,” Nick said to Elphaba. “But whenever he’s around Dymons, he loves to play along. Their transformations are to Esperto what a ball of yarn is to a kitten.” Esperto gave out a strange squeaking growl, which Elphaba figured was the Wangdoodle version of a purr.
“What the hell is a Wangdoodle?” Elphaba whispered.
“I haven’t a clue,” Nick laughed.
”
”
Abramelin Keldor (The Goodwill Grimoire)
“
The feline passion for pyrophosphates might explain the animal’s reputation as a picky eater. “We make [pet food] choices based on what we like,” says Reed, “and then when they don’t like it, we call them finicky.” There is no way to know or imagine what the taste of pyrophosphate is like for cats. It’s like a cat trying to imagine the taste of sugar. Cats, unlike dogs and other omnivores, can’t taste sweetness. There’s no need, since the cat’s diet in the wild contains almost nothing in the way of carbohydrates (which include simple sugars). Either cats never had the gene for detecting sweet, or they lost it somewhere down the evolutionary road. Rodents,
”
”
Mary Roach (Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal)
“
The very human-looking, terrified eyes of the young woman are burned into my mind. “What are they?” I ask, still shaken. “They’re seals. Very fierce seals, at that.” My aunt pauses to lean back against the elaborately embroidered cushions. “Long ago, the Selkies were enchanted by a sea witch. Every full moon they come to shore somewhere on the coast, step out of their seal skin and emerge in human form. For many years they caused a great deal of havoc—attacking sailors, dismantling ships. It was terrible.” “But she looked so frail.” “Ah, it’s like I just said. Appearances can be deceiving. Selkies, in possession of their skins, are stronger than the strongest Mage, and like most seals, they are very dangerous predators.” “And without their skins?” “Very good, Elloren.” My aunt looks pleased. “You’ve gotten right to the heart of it. Without their skins, they can be easily controlled.” “Why?” “Because they lose their strength, and because they cannot transform back into seals without them. Without their skins, they cannot get back to the ocean. Being wild animals, no matter how long they are kept in human form, they desperately want to get back to their ocean home. They’re not human, Elloren. It’s only an illusion. Don’t let it trouble you.” “But why was she in a cage?” My aunt grimaces at my question, like she’s detected an unpleasant odor. “Some people like to keep them...as pets.” I scrutinize her face. She’s not looking at me. She’s now glancing toward the window impatiently. “She...she looked so terrified,” I say, upset. My aunt’s expression softens. “Well, caged wild animals are never a pleasant sight. I am completely and utterly against the Selkie trade and am doing everything I can to wipe it out.” She pats my hand reassuringly.
”
”
Laurie Forest (The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles, #1))
“
The Holy Grail is a pet food that not only smells unobjectionable, but also makes the pets’ feces smell unobjectionable. It’s a challenge because most things you could add to do that will get broken down in digestion and rendered ineffectual. Activated charcoal is problematic because it binds up not just smelly compounds, but nutrients too. Hill’s Pet Nutrition experimented with adding ginger. It worked well enough for a patent to have been granted, which must have been some consolation to the nine human panelists tasked with “detecting differences in intensity of the stool odor by sniffing the odor through a port.
”
”
Anonymous
“
many creatures come to her for help solving problems and mysteries. So Kiko was the world’s first cat detective. It was not unusual for one or two animals to ask for her assistance each day, but one sunny afternoon not very long ago, dozens of pets and woodland creatures were lined up at her tree. They all needed her help, and they all had the same problem. So Kiko decided to hold a town meeting. All of the animals gathered
”
”
Uncle Amon (Kiko the Kitty Cat: Short Stories, Games, Jokes, and More!)
“
At the neurological level, the rationale for Refocusing is straightforward. Our PET scans had shown that the orbital frontal cortex, the caudate nucleus, and the thalamus operate in lockstep in the brain of an OCD sufferer. This brain lock in the OCD circuit is undoubtedly the source of a persistent error-detection signal that makes the patient feel that something is dreadfully wrong. By actively changing behaviors, Refocusing changes which brain circuits become activated, and thus also changes the gating through the striatum. The striatum has two output pathways, as noted earlier: direct and indirect. The direct pathway tends to activate the thalamus, increasing cortical activity. The indirect pathway inhibits cortical activity. Refocusing, I hoped, would change the balance of gating through the striatum so that the indirect, inhibitory pathway would become more traveled, and the direct, excitatory pathway would lose traffic. The result would be to damp down activity in this OCD circuit.
”
”
Jeffrey M. Schwartz (The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force)
“
This was the first study ever to show that cognitive-behavior therapy—or, indeed, any psychiatric treatment that did not rely on drugs—has the power to change faulty brain chemistry in a well-identified brain circuit. What’s more, the therapy had been self-directed, something that was and to a great extent remains anathema to psychology and psychiatry. The changes we detected on PET scans were the kind that neuropsychiatrists might see in patients being treated with powerful mind-altering drugs. We had demonstrated such changes in patients who had, not to put too fine a point on it, changed the way they thought about their thoughts. Self-directed therapy had dramatically and significantly altered brain function. There are now a wealth of brain imaging data supporting the notion that the sort of willful cognitive shift achieved during Refocusing through mindful awareness brings about important changes in brain circuitry as we will see in later chapters.
”
”
Jeffrey M. Schwartz (The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force)
“
It was clear to Stapp, at least in principle, that Quantum Zeno might allow repeated acts of attention—which are, after all, observations by the mind of one strand of thought among the many competing for prominence in the brain—to affect quantum aspects of the brain. “I saw that if the mind puts to nature, in rapid succession, the same repeated question, ‘shall I attend to this idea?’ then the brain would tend to keep attention focused on that idea,” Stapp says. “This is precisely the Quantum Zeno Effect. The mere mental act of rapidly attending would influence the brain’s activity in the way Jeff was suggesting.” The power of the mind’s questioning (“Shall I pay attention to this idea?”) to strengthen one idea rather than another so decisively that the privileged idea silences all the others and emerges as the one we focus on—well, this seemed to be an attractive mechanism that would not only account for my results with OCD patients but also fit with everyone’s experience that focusing attention helps prevent the mind from wandering. Recall that Mike Merzenich had found that only attended stimuli have the power to alter the cortical map, expanding the region that processes the stimuli an animal focuses on. And recall Alvaro Pascual-Leone’s finding that the effort of directed attention alone can produce cortical changes comparable to those generated by physical practice at the piano. It seemed at least possible that it was my OCD patients’ efforts at attention, in the step we called Refocusing, that caused the brain changes we detected on PET scans.
”
”
Jeffrey M. Schwartz (The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force)
“
Animals tend to be the most sensitive to the supernatural. They're usually the first family members to detect a haunting, followed by the kids, the wife, and the husband, in that order.
”
”
J.L. Bryan (Maze of Souls (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #6))
“
There had been so many MoFo ladies—the librarian, the lawyer, the gastromancer who conversed with dead people via tummy rumbles, the psychic we underestimated (she’d told Big Jim that the human population was about to be wiped out, which had really killed the vibe of mini golf), the bodybuilder, the one who wouldn’t let me steal her earrings, the pet oncologist, the one from Zimbabwe, the one with six children, the one with dead mice in her pockets (Detective Turd eked them out, and she had to come clean about being an Indian python mom). These strange species of MoFo blew in and out of our lives like empty Cheeto® bags.
”
”
Kira Jane Buxton (Feral Creatures (Hollow Kingdom #2))
“
I know you were lying to me the whole night. That's OK because I lied to you too. I said I didn’t remember what I felt like before my accident, before I became the narcoleptic me. I remember what it felt like. I was awake, always awake. I didn’t miss anything. I could read books for more than a few pages at a time. I didn’t smoke. I watched movies from start to finish in real goddamn theaters, wouldn’t even leave my seat to go to the bathroom. I stayed up late on purpose. Woke up and went to sleep when I wanted. Sleep was my pet, something I control, schedule, took for walks. Sit up, roll over, lie down, stay down, give me your fucking paw. Not now, only me, and everything else is on the periphery. Just slightly out of reach or out of touch or out of time. I don’t have a real career or a real life. Ellen supports me and I sleepwalk through the rest.
”
”
Paul Tremblay (The Little Sleep (Mark Genevich, #1))
“
One of the reasons people and animals share such a close relationship is that people have always learned important lessons from animals: what to eat, and what not to eat; when it is safe, or when there is danger about.
Have you ever walked in a park or forest where there were no birds singing and no small animals to be seen? It's unsettling, isn't it? Where have the birds gone? And why did they leave? Often, animals can warn us of trouble before we are able to detect it for ourselves. Many people have been saved from fires by their pets, who, sensing the danger early, woke their owners and allowed them to get to safety. By carefully watching animals and their behavior, people can learn, and have learned, a great deal about their environment.
”
”
Carolyn Dunn
“
Mr Garez glared at me. “I should hope so!” he said. “Look at all this mess! I should tell your mother!
”
”
Louis Catt (Pet Detectives (The Sleepover Club))
“
It’s ironic that our nearly three trillion dollar medical system actually has some of the most sophisticated diagnostic equipment available in the world, which detects and measures energies and frequencies in the body. This diagnostic equipment includes devices you probably heard of like MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography), CAT scans (Computed Axial Tomography), EEGs (Electro encephalograms), EKGs (Electrocardiography), ultrasound devices and more. Our medical system diagnoses the body energetically with modern physics (Quantum Field Theory), and then treats with drugs and surgery (Newtonian Science). What is wrong with this picture? The Book Of Science is Constantly Being Rewritten Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose our views of science are ultimate; that there are no new mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete; and that there are no new worlds to conquer. —Humphry Davy (from a public lecture given in 1810)
”
”
Bryant A. Meyers (PEMF - The Fifth Element of Health: Learn Why Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy Supercharges Your Health Like Nothing Else!)
“
But I held him till he relented and just let me pet him and give him some affection. “I love you, Toast. If you got killed I’d find out who did it.” I put him down on a shaded part of the concrete
”
”
Michael Craven (The Detective & the Pipe Girl: A Novel (The John Darvelle Mysteries Book 1))
“
However, if we walked down the street holding hands, I wanted the people we passed to think What a lovely couple. Not That’s one seedy customer Detective Bowers is hauling to the station.
”
”
Jacqueline Vick (A Scaly Tail of Murder (Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic, #5))
“
Walk to work, or just go on a walk for at least twenty minutes each day. ▪ Use your feet instead of an elevator or escalator. This is good for your posture, your muscles, and your respiratory system, among other things. ▪ Participate in social or leisure activities so that you don’t spend too much time in front of the television. ▪ Replace your junk food with fruit and you’ll have less of an urge to snack, and more nutrients in your system. ▪ Get the right amount of sleep. Seven to nine hours is good, but any more than that makes us lethargic. ▪ Play with children or pets, or join a sports team. This not only strengthens the body but also stimulates the mind and boosts self-esteem. ▪ Be conscious of your daily routine in order to detect harmful habits and replace them with more positive ones.
”
”
Héctor García (Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life)
“
It’s me, pet. Vera Stanhope.’ The detective of the night before. He thought he’d answered all her questions and her presence threw him. At one time he’d have been able to take this in his stride. He’d had the confidence to talk himself into any event, out of any bother. Now, it wasn’t so easy. But he couldn’t leave her there, waiting. ‘Come on up.’ Keeping the voice light, to show he had nothing to hide. He checked his appearance in the long mirror. Habit. Reassurance. Like spending a fortune on the right haircut, a decent pair of shoes. Then he opened the door of the flat and stood there, waiting for her to appear. He couldn’t hear the lift and was wondering if she’d been called away on more urgent business, when she appeared at the top of the stairs, wheezing, heaving for breath. ‘I don’t like lifts.’ The words came out in quick accusing pants, as if she was blaming him for living there. ‘I’m never quite sure they’ll carry my weight.’ And he realized her appearance was something she was sensitive about. She’d have been bullied at school and the only way to deal with it would have been to get the jibe in first. Surprised that last night he’d been intimidated by her, he leaned back against the door and let her walk into the flat ahead of him.
”
”
Ann Cleeves (Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope #3))
“
She looked through the hall window before opening the door and saw the fat detective and her sidekick standing outside. ‘Sorry to disturb you, pet. Do you mind if we come in?’ And by the time Vera Stanhope had finished the words she was inside the house, the younger man trailing after her. Kate wondered how that must make him feel, always in the fat woman’s shadow.
”
”
Ann Cleeves (Harbour Street (Vera Stanhope #6))
“
Molly’s ability to break down the barriers between cat and dog owners and to bring both “camps” together was quite remarkable. She could charm and disarm the most avowed felinophile—I think her friendly and placid manner helped in that respect—and the fact that she’d been trained to find their missing cats only added to her charisma.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
The next household—a young father—was far more accommodating, thank goodness. He ushered the three of us through his back gate and five minutes later, appeared on the patio with his toddler, who was clad in an all-in-one playsuit.
“You don’t mind if we watch, do you?” he asked. “Ethan and I have had enough of Tom and Jerry for one morning. Molly the detective dog seems far more exciting.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
I contemplated the task that lay ahead. It felt like I was in the middle of a Midsomer Murders case in many respects, since our village location was similarly quaint and rustic and teeming with a cast of colorful characters. The central theme of this particular episode was abundantly clear, and of course: where on earth is Simba? Had he wandered off and got lost? Was he trapped in an outbuilding? Had he been kidnapped by a local? Was he still alive, even? Fortunately, I had my problem-solving pooch waiting in the wings, who’d no doubt help me to get to the bottom of it.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere around the breakfast table that morning was fraught. A teary Lindsey was inconsolable—“How can I carry on without Simba?” she kept repeating—and both parents, sitting on either side of their daughter, tried their utmost to reassure her.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
There before me, in the living room, lay a vision of domestic bliss. Sarah was curled up on the sofa with Marian Keyes’s latest novel and a glass of wine and wrapped around her feet was a snoozing, snoring Molly. I couldn’t help but smile. Once upon a time, Sarah—an avowed cat-lover—could hardly bear to be within a yard of this hair-shedding, handbag-snuffling rescue mutt, but now here they were, snuggling like a pair of old friends.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
The “Bring Newton Home” social media accounts had evidently gone into meltdown when the news of his recover had filtered through—well-wishers from all around the world had posted photos of themselves jumping for joy and holding NEWTON IS HOME!!! posters—and it seemed the little dog had become something of a celebrity, both at home and abroad.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
The air was heavy with hope and expectation and the three men watched on, agog, as my smart little spaniel stuck her snout deep into the jar, her tail wagging nineteen to the dozen.
Responding to my usual “Seek, seek” command, Molly raced into the long grass, springing high and squatting low as she traced the rise and fall of the riverside breeze. Then, suddenly, she homed in on the upended oak tree and—bang!—hit the deck immediately before giving me a textbook “down.” She locked her brown, unblinking eyes on mine, as if to say FOUND IT, EVERYONE!
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
I thought you’d gone forever!” she squealed, flinging her arms around him and smothering him in kisses. “You’ll never know how much I missed you.
”
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Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
Right, first the bad news,” said Rob, when, as promised, he called me with an update. My shoulders sagged as I braced myself for yet more disappointment.
“Molly’s very, very demanding. She’s been badly deprived of love and affection. She suffers from terrible separation anxiety. She barks like crazy when she’s frustrated. She steals food from people’s plates and pinches treats from their pocket. And she’s one of the most willful, wayward and stubborn dogs I’ve ever met.”
“And the good news?” I replied despondently.
“I reckon we’ve found our dog, Colin.
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
We learned an awful lot about cats’ day-to-day behavior, habits and movements and, critically, the circumstances that led them to migrate or go missing. Some cats, we noted, reacted adversely to a change within the household—the arrival of a new baby, perhaps, or even a room being redecorated—and others were driven from their usual territory by an aggressive cat encroaching on their home or garden.
”
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Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
I gave my dog the signal to proceed. With Tim and I trailing behind her, an all-guns-blazing Molly charged across number 38’s lawn, her stride unbroken as she gobbled up some bacon rind that had been left for the birds. She sprang up to the decking, whirled around to face me, locked her eyes with mine, and—a slither of bacon rind drooping from her mouth—gave me the most emphatic “down” I’d ever seen.
“Oh my god, she’s doing that trembly thing again,” whispered Tim, his voice shaking. “Has she found her?
”
”
Colin Butcher (Molly the Pet Detective Dog: The true story of one amazing dog who reunites missing cats with their families)
“
When I came back out five minutes later, even my pet parakeet wouldn't have recognized me. Of course, I didn't have a pet parakeet. But never mind that.
”
”
James Preller (The Case of the Detective In Disguise (Jigsaw Jones, #13))
“
the most sophisticated diagnostic equipment available in the world, which detects and measures energies and frequencies in the body. This diagnostic equipment includes devices you probably heard of like MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), PET scans (Positron Emission Tomography), CAT scans (Computed Axial Tomography), EEGs (Electro encephalograms), EKGs (Electrocardiography), ultrasound devices and more. Our medical system diagnoses the body energetically with modern physics (Quantum Field Theory), and then treats with drugs and surgery (Newtonian Science). What is wrong with this picture?
”
”
Bryant A. Meyers (PEMF - The Fifth Element of Health: Learn Why Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy Supercharges Your Health Like Nothing Else!)