Thanks very much for the name of the piece too!

@M.E. from Ohio

The music is "Bandera" by Willie Nelson. Thank you Shazam! Good guess, btw.

The music just after the story about Charlie was very nice and I was hoping to find out who the artist was. It sounded sort of like Willie Nelson on the guitar, maybe with some harmonica too (?) Can someone who produces the show identify the music? Thanks.

This story was more about a shared delusion within a family, possibly excluding the father, who loved Charlie so much. The rest of them tried to delude themselves about Charlie being killed in a brutal manner. I hated this story because there was no kernel of truth to it and the writer was self-serving.

The story about animals and deception was great and very interesting. I was reminded of my childhood dog who regularly 'lied' to my mother. The dog was trained to relieve herself outside by positive reinforcement with dog treats. My father and I eventually stopped giving treats for this unless she'd done especially well to hold it. My mother however, often sought the dog's personal approval and would reward her constantly. The dog would often, and only with my mother, beg to go out and mimic peeing or pooping with excreting anything. She then expected and received a treat, to my mother's exasperation, who knew what was going on but couldn't stand to deny the dog. (She died a very fat dog). I fully believe animals in close relationships with humans can 'get in their heads' and even be manipulative, just like the orangutan.

I teared up in the car as I drove to a local brewery. Needed a beer more than I did before hearing the story about Charlie, I'm a dog lover.

My passion, my love. yes, its you , Radiolab.
Thank you for these and other intriguing stories. Yes, it may not scream science, but the subtleties whisper a unique way of peeking into animal nature.
btw, jad, your dad is a fun guy.

Maybe the science part was about the behavior of the coyotes and their ability to "trick" their prey in devious ways. To me, that's pretty amazing.

Love this episode. Lulu's story was great. I believe that the question who are you, at this stage in our human intelligence, must be asked both scientifically and philosophically- one without the other is just lacking. Poor Charlie indeed, but Im wondering how much like charlie I am in my nice fenced suburban yard.

I love Radiolab, passionately, Lulu Miller is one of my favorite personas on the show and I'm a certifiable dog person.

All that said, I was psyched to come across the Charlie story. Still, as much as the piece was well written and well presented, somehow I missed the 'science' part of the story. A well-narrated tale of a woman reflecting on the loss of her beloved dog and tragically, it was indeed. A tale of a domestic animal pondering wildness, well, somehow I felt like I missed something and perhaps I did.

If Charlie was less like Toto and more of a young, rogue, husky-ish fella, hard to keep home, hard to temper his predator nature and definitely more closely genetically linked to his wild coyote cousins, I definitely would be on-board with questioning his longing for wildness and the possibility of him heading off into the woods to join their band.

While on its own the piece missed the mark for me, it could serve as a fabulous opener to a really interesting science piece on the domestication of animals and where the line between wild and domestic is drawn and where its rather blurry.

Just a suggestion...

i second rose's thoughts on this. This wasn't really radiolab-ish.

Such a touching story! Thank you for sharing!

That was so sweet

I still have tears running down my cheeks.... :-(

Poor Charlie..

I love Radiolab, but I listen to it for a thoughtful approach to novel science topics, not for personal stories that end with unsatisfying speculation. As evocative as the dog story was, it didn't belong in the episode. Please, I want more Radiolab and less TAL!