Denise Flaim E-mail your questions to Denise Flaim at denise.flaim@newsday.com

Denise Flaim, a Newsday staffer since 1994, covers companion animals – not pets -- every Monday in her Animal House column. Denise is owned by two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and is involved in breeding, conformation (code for "dog shows"), lure-coursing (don’t worry, no one else knows what that is, either), obedience, agility and therapy-dog work. She is the historian of the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the United States, and author of "The Holistic Dog Book: Canine Care for the 21st Century" (Wiley, 2003) and "Getting Lucky: How One Special Dog Found Love and a Second Chance at Angel’s Gate" (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2005).