Katie is a writer, dog lover, conservationist, mom, wife, bookworm, liberal, collector of Masters Degrees, and athlete. She writes about dogs, family, friends, and animal behavior during her Ninth Dog Year. Katie wiil be teaching a "Writing About Animals" class at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute in the Fall of 2012.

Bella, her young and gentle black Newfoundland, is ninth in a long line of lovable, large, and largely untrained family dogs. If the first two dog years equal two human decades and each additional dog year equals five human years. Katie will remain Nine, in dog years, as Bella grows up.