Coffee with a canine: Julie Zickefoose & Chet Baker

The current featured guests at Coffee with a Canine: Julie Zickefoose & Chet Baker.

Zickefoose, on how they were united:

I resisted getting a dog for 13 years. I said I didn't need one more thing to care for, being a songbird rehabilitator. In 2003, my daughter Phoebe and I raised and released three ruby-throated hummingbird nestlings. You can hear the story at the NPR links here and here.

Then, in 2004, Phoebe and I raised seven orphaned chimney swifts. We released them, and it was there, standing on a railroad trestle, watching them circle overhead, and watching the tears running down my 8-year-old daughter's and 6-year-old son's faces, that I decided to get them a puppy. Get me a puppy. Get us a puppy. Something young and sweet that we could raise and love and wouldn't have to release, ever!

I chose a Boston terrier based on early childhood impressions of a neighbor's fun-loving little dog, Patsy. I wanted a dog who was smart, agile, playful, athletic, clean, and had a great sense of humor. I am completely hooked on the breed, and...[read on]

Julie Zickefoose is a writer, artist, naturalist and NPR commentator. Letters from Eden (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), a collection of nature essays, heavily illustrated with her watercolors and drawings, was published in 2006. Chet Baker is a five year old Boston terrier.

Visit Julie Zickefoose's website and blog, and listen to her commentaries on NPR.

Learn more about Letters from Eden, and read Zickefoose's short stories online.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Julie Zickefoose & Chet Baker.

--Marshal Zeringue