Kate's family hires a dog trainer called the Brigadier to teach the exuberant Dave how to behave, but they are all unhappy with the results.

When McDuff and his new French-speaking neighbors' dog are enrolled in obedience school, it seems as though McDuff has not learned his lessons.

Everyone becomes a suspect when bathroom business is done in the wrong place.

Gertrude LaRue receives typewritten and paw-written letters from her dog Ike, entreating her to let him leave the Igor Brotweiler Canine Academy and come back home.

Step one: Decide on a trick Step two: Get some treats ready Step three: Hold the treat in your hand and ask your cat to do the trick Step four: Watch your cat do exactly what you asked him to do Step five: Reward your cat for doing the trick Simple, right? This spoof on an instruction manual features an increasingly bewildered human, a nonchalant cat, a very good dog and a know-it-all narrator . . . who really doesn't know it all. How DO you teach...

A fictionalized account of Bill "Doc" Key, a former slave who became a veterinarian, trained his horse, Jim Key, to recognize letters and numbers and to perform in skits around the country, and moved the nation toward a belief in treating animals humanely. Includes an author's note.