Tame Your Manimal

Shamu, the talented killer whale, can stun audiences daily by jumping through mid-air. It’s an impressive show that takes a lot of training. Although most wives aren’t looking for athletic feats from their husbands, author Amy Sutherland was determined to find out if the same techniques they use to make animals jump on command would work on her spouse. After spending a year in animal-trainer school, Ms. Sutherland was ready to try out her tricks. While it may seem like a plot line for a sci-fi villain — a seductive woman trains men to bow to her will — the tips she learned worked like a charm on her partner. As if an obedient husband wasn’t enough of a pat on the back, her article on her experiences, published in The New York Times in 2006, received the most email response of any article all year! Now she’s sharing her secrets in new book released this week entitled, What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage and a movie is in the works. Her husband, who nowadays can always find his keys and doesn’t hover over her while she’s cooking, is onto her game and even uses the same techniques himself. In fact, “Shamu” has become a verb in their dialogue — as in, “Are you shamuing me?” [Newsweek and Amazon]