I'm always amazed to discover people can't legally do some of the things they think they can do.

For example, when you made your will perhaps you left a sum of money in trust for the care of your dog. Most people think they can do that.

But they can't. Not if they live in Connecticutt, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia or Wisconsin. Those states don't allow human animals to leave money to non-human animals. I didn't know that. Did you?

Even where it's legally possible, leaving money to your dog is tricky. Look what happened to Trouble, Leona Helmseley's little Maltese. Trouble's $12 million trust was recently reduced to a measly $2 million. But there you go. People get snarky when there's money involved -- I know a self-proclaimed Buddhist who went to very un-Buddhist-like lengths to extract money from her grandmother's estate.

The trick is apparently not to leave your dog so much that the rest of your beneficiaries get jealous. And of course, to be living in the right state. There's more useful information on this topic at http://www.aldf.org/

Of course, dogs don't care about money. They just want to be loved. If you don't believe me, ask Bao. Or Trouble.