PetTraining.

Sometimes when my cat is giving herself a bath, and I call her name to get her attention at the right moment, she'll look at me mid-lick and forget to put her tongue back in her mouth. I find this hilarious every time. And though she often leaves her tongue hanging out for several long seconds, all my attempts to photograph it or call it to anyone else's attention have failed; she always manages to retract the tongue at the last second. This video makes me wish cats were as trainable as dogs, and that I had the apparent patience of this border collie's owner. I wouldn't have to wait for the right tongue-wagging moment to try to snap a picture, only to fail once again. I could get my cat to ...

Anna Westhoff Each week, Ben Westhoff shares the ups and downs of owning Pippi, the dalmatian mix he and his wife Anna adopted as a puppy in late 2009, and the first dog Ben's ever had. No one wore a cap or gown, but Pippi graduated from her basic training class this week. Actually, going into the final session of the eight-week course, I wasn't entirely satisfied with Pippi's progress. Sure, she could sit and wait, but that was about it. When it came to going "down" onto her belly as commanded, she would only do so if there were treats involved, and even then she didn't do it very quickly. As far as getting her to "drop," forget about it. When she had a toy or a forbidden food item ...