Bertie is the CBO (chief barking officer) of Beagle Bay, a publisher, distributor, and book packaging company, and according to Jacqueline Simonds, he takes his job very seriously: "If you call," she tells us, "you'll no doubt hear him barking in the background. Bertie allows his people to take him to board meetings (a daily 1 mile walk), to the warehouse, where he has 5 toys and likes to race around the pallets, and to drop off packages at FedEx ('cause then we knows we is makin' money!)."

Irene Rawlings, the author of Portable Houses and The Clothesline, and a journalist who interviews authors for Clear Channel radio stations in Colorado, sends us this photo of Chloe plunging in the Denver snow "up to her armpits."