Pilley Bianchi, author of For the Love of Dog, sits down with Jordan to talk about her work and her life alongside her father, Dr. John Pilley, and his research into canine cognition — the work that led to Chaser, the Border Collie with the largest tested memory of any non-human animal.
Chaser and Dr. Pilley were internationally known for that research, which became the bestselling Chaser: Unlocking The Genius Of The Dog Who Knows A Thousand Words, written with Hilary Hinzmann.
Pilley and Jordan talk about her father’s findings and his philosophy of life, and about what she learned in the years after his passing, taking up his work and becoming a champion of canine welfare. They also get into writing, creative exploration, and how to move through the ebbs and flows of a creative life.
In episode 8, Jordan introduced Chaser through readings from Unlocking The Genius Of The Dog Who Knows A Thousand Words and from Chasing Joy, a children’s story by Jordan and Pilley. You can read Chasing Joy here.
About Pilley
Pilley’s other episodes
Pilley Bianchi is an award-winning musician, producer and writer from Brooklyn. She never imagined she would use those same skills collaborating with her father, Dr. John W. Pilley, and his dog Chaser — known as the smartest dog in the world — on their groundbreaking research. John Pilley demonstrated empirically that Chaser had learned the names of over a thousand objects, along with verbs, adverbs, prepositions and common nouns. The methodology was play; the reinforcement was praise.
She has been co-teacher, producer, writer and media consultant for Chaser’s work, which has been featured in Time, People, Popular Science, The New York Times and USA Today, and filmed with 60 Minutes, CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, ITV, Discovery and Nat Geo Wild. She worked behind the scenes with her father and his co-writer Hilary Hinzmann on their New York Times bestseller, and has appeared as an expert on Chaser at SXSW, on PBS, WIRED, NPR Canada, the AKC and the ASPCA, among many others.
She is Senior Executive Producer and founder of The Chaser Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to teaching children about the legacy of John Pilley and Chaser, and about learning through play.
Her book For the Love of Dog: The Ultimate Relationship Guide, illustrated by New York Times illustrator Calum Heath with a foreword by Marc Bekoff, has been widely acclaimed — called a game changer by Tracie Hotchner of NPR’s DOGTALK.
She lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with her husband Jay, son Aidan, and their two rescue cats, Toro and Miki Mouse. More on Chaser at chaserthebc.com.
Don’t miss the next episode
Aurora Airwaves sends a short letter whenever a new conversation arrives.
