New dog magazine

talking dog

Kindly do not repost this, either publicly or privately. I am happy to consider doing so, should you e-mail and ask me to --- [email protected].

Hello writers (photographers, cartoonists, etc.)...
I posted a version of the following in a different forum last week and Anne kindly invited me to repost it here.

A new dog publication will be launched in July:

Talking Dog, a quarterly magazine for dog owners (inaugural issue planned for Summer 2005), is chiefly interested in nonfiction pieces on all things dog -- dog training, sports and activities, veterinary medicine, dog biology, etc., including high quality essays and creative nonfiction, particularly those that break out of the usual dogma and standard way of thinking about/looking at things; we also print one dog-related fiction story per issue.

Articles must be fact-based, well-researched, results-oriented and must not talk down to the reader. We do not buy poetry or maudlin stories about dogs that have "gone over the rainbow bridge." Useful. Informative. Humorous and/or otherwise entertaining.


Pay rate is 8 to 10 cents per word (hey, we're a start-up. we'll try to do better as we grow) for first North American serial and nonexclusive reprint rights, pay on publication; usual story assignments range from 500-word short pieces to 5,000-word features. E-mail queries only to [email protected] If you have a completed article or story, send an e-mail query and we'll contact you.

Here are some relevant sections of our credo to give you a sense of the magazine's perspective ... please consider whether your style will be compatible before inquiring:

We embrace the ideal best elucidated by author and sheepdog man Donald McCaig:
For dog owners, the friends they have wanted since childhood, and for dogs, a world that makes sense.

Effective training and leadership are the cornerstone of a healthy relationship between dog and master, and pet owners need sound, reliable information and expertise as they seek to train their animals and meet their natural needs for direction. Talking Dog promises its readers access to the most experienced and insightful training and behavior advice available, without ideological censorship or fad-worship.

Dogs are not little humans in fur suits; to relegate them to the roles of child-substitute, fashion accessory, emotional surrogate, or ego prop is disrespectful and inhumane. Talking Dog supports the scientific and cultural understanding of dogs as dogs – as complete canine beings with marvelous abilities that humans cannot rival.

We believe that laws and policies which ban or stigmatize individual dogs based upon their actual or alleged breed are not only dangerous and ignorant, but contravene natural law and justice. Talking Dog opposes breed-specific legislation and policies, whether promulgated by governments or by private entities.

Our communities have the right to protect their members from dangerous people and animals. Talking Dog supports stringent laws governing dogs confirmed to be dangerous by their individual behavior and, more importantly, severely penalizing owners who are irresponsible or negligent in the care, training, and management of their animals.

The uncounted dogs who die or languish in shelters have been failed by the human beings who should have taken responsibility for them, and have the same collective moral claims on us as the fortunate animals who share our hearths. Talking Dog supports the cause of socially responsible, ethical, and realistic animal rescue efforts.

Every dog wants and needs a job, and is entitled to understand his job, whether that is to warm our laps and make us laugh or lead a blind master, catch bad guys, guard the sheep, find birds, or tell us that Lassie's pal Timmy is down the well again. Talking Dog will help dog owners devise suitable employment for their dogs.

Life with dogs enriches us, expands us, and makes us more fully human. Life with dogs is our birthright as members of the human species. Talking Dog is about the robust joys of a life shared with dogs.