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I’m a huge fan of the Tour de France. I install cable every July just so I can spend every early morning for almost a month watching dramatic racing as well as absolutely stunning aerial views of France (and sometimes the neighboring countries that the race visits). But there is one sad certainty of every Tour: At some point, a leashless dog runs across the road, right in front of the racers.

It’s hot here in Northern California. And it’s just the start of a two-month annual period of the extremely high-temperature, dry weather we get here in the northeastern Sacramento Valley. I’m not crazy about it, but my dog Otto REALLY seems to hate the heat. Once the mercury hits 90 or so, he finds the coolest, darkest place he can find to hide out from the heat.

The Whole Dog Journal began in 1998 as a line extension of other subscriber-supported periodicals from Belvoir Media Group. Since 1972 Belvoir had polished the concept of advertising free journalism, and dogs seemed like an interesting fit.