EVERYDAY DOGCARE

Our small cockapoo Bailey always sleeps on the bed with us. And he always ends up on my pillow, curled around my head with breaths from his little nose going right into my ear. Curiously, in the middle of the night, I almost always wake to find him furiously licking my face, especially my eye sockets and scalp. Once he did it so long and hard that he scratched my cornea. If I have a nick from shaving, he will literally lick it until the scab is gone. These episodes can last as long as 30 minutes. Is he grooming me as his master and trying to please me? Whatever the reason, its so cute that I never cut him off. Its good to be loved. Hes a great dog and tends to my every emotional need. I should note that he doesnt ever do this to my wife. Whats going on here?

Your dog doesn't seem right, and you want to take her temperature to make sure she's okay. But what should her temperature be? Is 98.6 degrees in the right range, as it is for us?

What about when it comes to drying her with a hair dryer after a bath? What's a safe setting? What could burn her?

Carlat Publishing in Newburyport, Massachusetts, puts out newsletters and books for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, but probably nobody in the company knows as much about psychology as office mate Mo. At no more than a pound or so, the tiny nine-year-old Chihuahua, who belongs to chief operating officer Jeffrey Ives, puts a smile on everyones face by coming over to their desks to be petted, cooed over, and marveled at as he makes little play bows and generally acts more adorable than shoud be legal. His sessions with people dont last too long, but they do a world of good. His instincts are always on the mark.

You like peonies; your dog likes peeing. You dig asters; your dog digs, period. You stop and smell the roses; your dog sniffs what decomposes. How can you and your canine pal possibly enjoy the same garden? It would be great if you could, because time outside with you is time not spent waiting indoors for something more exciting to happen.

Say mites, and many people think mange, a highly contagious disease often referred to as scabies or sarcoptic mange. Caused by a species of mite known as Sarcoptes scabiei, it occurs when the microscopic animals burrow through a dogs skin, causing severe itching and irritation. Treatment consists of oral and/or topical drugs that kill the mites, with the dog perhaps being dipped in a medicated shampoo. Ongoing treatment over the course of several weeks is critical, as the drugs kill only living mites, not eggs that havent hatched yet. The eggs need to mature so the continued drug administration can take care of that next generation of mites, too.

Nothing beats the summertime heat like a dip in the pool or a visit to the beach or a lake, and many dogs, like their human family mates, enjoy all the splashing around. Theyre probably not going to be willing to go down the water slide with you, but toys and gear are available that will enhance their pool or shore-side experience. At the same time, a number of other items will help insure their safety. First, the fun stuff!

So you know that park with the trail that wends alongside a cove where I take the dogs for romps? And you know how I havent talked about that spot in a while? Its because the town has outlawed dogs off leash there, and border collie Franklin has to have significant time untethered every day or he will go crazy. (Translation: He will drive me crazy.)

My dog is now almost a year old and absolutely loves to go in the water. There is a saltwater bay near our house that leads to the ocean, and nothing makes him happier than to splash around in it, and even swim in it. He grins from ear to ear. But should I be bathing him after each wet excursion? After all, water in a bay - or even in a stream or river - carries its own bacteria and other pathogens and may not be perfectly harmless. Also, I wonder if the salt in the water is prone to making the skin under his coat too dry. Please tell me the verdict on how often to bathe a dog who enjoys the ocean, lakes, ponds, or streams? I certainly wouldnt go into the water without bathing afterwards.

Q My dog does a lot of dreaming - you can see her limbs twitching a little. But she also often emits little cries or other sounds while dreaming that seem to indicate shes in distress. Should I wake her at those times to relieve her from whatever anxiety she may be experiencing?Leora SadlerRedondo Beach, California

We know. Summers approaching, and with it that feeling of freedom, so you like to roll down the window and blast the car radio, belting out your favorite songs as you cruise along the highway. But you know what? If your dog is with you, it could really hurt her ears. Dogs hear a good four times better than we do, and they have a hard time with very loud noises. So Jimmy Pages guitar riff and Robert Plants louder and louder singing of the lyrics in Led Zeppelins Stairway to Heaven, while a terrific release for you, are a jangly, scratchy cacophony of ear-splitting sounds to your pet. Imagine having to listen to a high-volume recording of a fork scratching the bottom of a pot and not being able to change the station.

When pitbull mix Brooklyn came to live with Rochelle Lucas and Aaron Roylance at the ripe age of 9, he tipped the scales somewhere between 90 and 95 pounds. The vet said, he cannot stay at this weight, Ms. Lucas recalls. Thats going to be really hard on his joints."

Photojournalist Jann Tenenbaum used to train her camera lens on subjects with names like Queen Elizabeth, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bruce Springsteen, Pope John Paul II, and hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Her pictures appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times to USA Today. Then a friend of hers was on the way to Los Angeles one morning when her plane was rammed into the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. With no one left to care for her friends dog, a golden retriever named Naboo, Ms. Tenenbaum adopted him, photographed him as a way of dealing with her grief, and never looked back. Today she takes pictures only of subjects with names like Trixie, Lucky, Queenie, and Duke. Really good pictures.