Selected Shorts: "Too Hot For Radio: Pam Houston 'Jackson Is Only One of My Dogs'"

Date: October 13, 2025
Host: Aparna Nancherla
Story Read By: Bonnie Milligan
Post-Story Interview: Matthew Love with Pam Houston

Episode Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts: Too Hot For Radio spotlights Pam Houston’s short story, "Jackson Is Only One of My Dogs," performed by Tony Award-winner Bonnie Milligan. The piece blurs the boundaries between love, obsession, and the chaos of both dogs and men in the narrator’s life. Following the performance, producer Matthew Love interviews Houston about the story’s origins, her lifelong themes of animal companionship, and evolving perspectives on autofiction and storytelling. The episode weaves humor, candid introspection, and profound insights about relationships—both human and canine.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Story Performance: "Jackson Is Only One of My Dogs"

(04:40 - 17:53)

• Dual Focus on Chaotic Relationships:
  The narrator’s life is complicated by her "problem" dog, Jackson, and her equally challenging boyfriend. The story humorously draws parallels between the unpredictable nature of both.

  • "Jackson is only one of my dogs. I have a dog named Jackson who...became suicidal in a period of less than 12 months...Similarly, when I turned 28 years old, I started to date a man whose favorite song was Desperado." [04:40]

• Dog Personalities as Metaphors:

  • Jackson is wild, reckless, and charming, always finding creative ways to get into trouble and require rescue—mirroring the troubled boyfriend.
  • Haley is the steady, low-maintenance dog, an emotional anchor contrasting Jackson’s chaos.

• Life, Risk, and the Allure of Trouble:
  The narrator recounts her history of broken bones and risky pastimes, connecting her attraction to challenge—both in relationships and personal feats.

  • "People say, are your bones particularly brittle? They say, did you drink enough milk as a child? But it's my lifestyle, the sports I push myself into..." [08:32]

• Complicated Intimacies:
  The story candidly discusses sex, emotional distance, and the strange ways passion and dependence manifest.

  • "I didn't tell her about the time he got out of bed during foreplay and I found him 20 minutes later, naked and caulking the bathtub." [06:05]

• Dog Trouble Escalates:

  • Jackson’s misadventures (escaping, run-ins with animal control, even hiding inside a cow carcass) are narrated with comedic detail and serve as analogies for the narrator’s own entanglements.
    • "He’s bullshitting with the malamute next to him. What are you in for this time?...He raises one furry eyebrow in my direction. Oh, hi, mom, he says. What kept you?" [10:10 – 10:24]
  • Haley is the dependable foil; their differences highlight themes of loyalty versus unpredictability.

• Reflections on Love and Escapism:

  • The narrator muses on her patterns, women’s expectations, and eventually, healthier relationships.
    • "My friend Deborah has a theory that women are the real male chauvinists...It's not the way I would say it, but I can't say she's entirely wrong." [13:59]
  • Symbol-laden moments (like Jackson crawling into a cow carcass) punctuate the story’s fascination with hiding, risk, and the messy work of choosing growth over escapism.

• Shifting Priorities:
  By the end, the narrator considers moving beyond adrenaline-driven living, placing family and intimacy in higher esteem.

  • "Skydiving and hang gliding are gone. Babies, therefore, are higher. Everything about sex, even the simplicity of an orgasm, seems to be more complicated by all the gazing into each other's eyes..." [15:45]
  • The story closes with an unforgettable scene: a metaphor for transformation and perhaps transcendence.
    • "Jackson tore its swollen belly open with his toenails and crawled inside its rib cage and wouldn't come out all afternoon...This is a kind of flying." [17:40]

Author Interview: Pam Houston with Matthew Love

(17:53 - 34:17)

Writing Animals, Masks, and Essential Love

• Houston reflects on the story’s genesis and the "fight" with her editor about having two second-person stories in "Cowboys Are My Weakness."

  • "Whether the collection Cowboys are My weakness could bear two second person short stories. That was back when Lori Moore had sort of brought second person to our attention as a strategy." [18:16]

• She discusses her comfort in writing about animals and feeling it was "too easy"—contrasting the creative struggle with how naturally animal consciousness flowed for her.

  • "I finally think it's okay to write deeply into this connection with animals because animals see us unmasked...that's the sort of love...everyone wants to be loved that way." [19:27]
  • "I could give an animal thoughts or dialogue or motivations often more easily than I could human characters because I understood them better than I understood human characters." [21:54]

• Houston distinguishes animal grief and love from human relationships, expressing hope everyone experiences the unconditionality found in animal affection.

  • "I hope that everybody gets loved in their lives as much as my dogs have loved me...It's the closest we ever get to being loved just for being. Just for existing." [23:13]

Inspirations and Autofiction

• Jackson was based on Houston’s real dog, Jax, while Haley was modeled on a more placid lab she owned.
  • "Jackson was an Airedale sheepdog, mutt, and really my first dog and the first Love of my life, you know, and he had a lot of opinions." [24:03]
• The collection, though largely factual, was shaped with artistry—autofictional before the term’s popularity.
  • "Almost everything that happens in that book...really happened to me, with of course, a couple notable changes..." [24:11]

Metaphor: Choosing Growth Over Hiding

• Houston interprets the cow carcass scene as a metaphor for the narrator’s struggle with self-imposed isolation versus intimacy.
  • "This story is very much about that narrator who was certainly me imagining a future where she wouldn't crawl into the cow carcass. Yes, I do think that's very much what that story is about." [25:29]
• The narrator’s evolution is affirmed—hopeful, but honest about the time and journey required to choose healthier patterns.

On Aging, Passions, and a House Full of Dogs

• Houston highlights growing past old weaknesses (the "cowboys") and embracing her deep, unapologetic love of animals.
  • "Now that's the gift of age. I would find another word. And of course, cowboys...were outdoorsmen who couldn't commit. Basically, that's what cowboys means in that sentence." [27:11]
  • "...I would get 100 dogs. And that's like. That strikes me as the answer to your question. Like this commitment to animals, which...is in my life..." [27:55]

Short Story Craft and Upcoming Class

• Houston shares details about a yearlong short story workshop with Pie for Breakfast, passionately advocating for the art form:
  • "I will always think that short stories are the purest form of literary art...they are just, in my opinion, the best short stories..." [29:52]
• She mentions favorite works such as Charles Baxter’s "Loyalty," James Baldwin’s "Sonny’s Blues," Russell Banks’ "Sarah, A Type of Love Story," and Jamil Koch’s "Playing Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain."
  • "There's a story by a former student of mine...I couldn't get enough of a story that is essentially about a video game." [32:42]
• Interested listeners can join via pieforbreakfastclub.com.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the irresistible nature of troublesome love:
  "I was addicted to him like cough syrup and I didn't respect his mind."
  —Narrator [05:10]

• On dog charm and trouble:
  "Jackson, on the other hand, is a charm machine. He's cost me over $2,000 in vet bills...About once a month I have to go and bail Jackson out at the pound."
  —Narrator [09:40]

• Jackson’s voice (personified):
  "'Oh, hi, mom,' he says. 'What kept you?'"
  —Narrator [10:21]

• On the easy affinity for animals in writing:
  "I always thought of it as cheating somehow...You grieve a dog because a dog loved you without your mask in this simple, complete and total way."
  —Pam Houston [21:54, 22:36]

• On changing priorities and self-knowledge:
  "Skydiving and hang gliding are gone. Babies, therefore, are higher."
  —Narrator [15:45]

• On the metaphor of escape and transformation:
  "Jackson tore its swollen belly open with his toenails and crawled inside its rib cage and wouldn't come out all afternoon...This is a kind of flying."
  —Narrator [17:41]

• On aging out of old patterns:
  "Now that's the gift of age. I would find another word. And of course, cowboys...were outdoorsmen who couldn't commit. Basically, that's what cowboys means in that sentence."
  —Pam Houston [27:11]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:46] Host intro & content warning (sexy talk, strange dogs)
• [04:40] Story performance begins – "Jackson Is Only One of My Dogs"
• [17:53] Interview with Pam Houston begins
• [29:24] Pam Houston discusses her upcoming story class
• [32:36] Discussion of favorite short stories
• [33:36] How listeners can join Houston’s class
• [34:21] Closing remarks

Tone and Style

The episode balances humor and poignancy, retaining Pam Houston’s brisk, candid prose in both the story and her interview. Aparna Nancherla’s introduction and interstitial comments are witty and inclusive, playing to the podcast’s audience of literary “hotheads.” Houston’s reflections are open, self-aware, and generous, echoing the honesty and searching spirit of her fiction.