Willie, Maggie and I spent the last three days in sheepdog heaven at a Patrick Shannahan clinic, reveling in fall colors, great dogs, good company and the always brilliant advice of Patrick. I love working with him for his benevolence, his clear explanations and his gentle insistence that our dogs do what's right without us having to micro-manage them. Good advice for me, given that I often fall into "helper" mode and tell my dogs specifically what to do ("go right, walk up, go left") rather than making it clear that their job is to find the "pressure" from the sheep and stay on it. Best part of the weekend? When Maggie and I clicked and we drove the sheep straight across the field with Maggie in complete control of the flock, even when they wanted to run forward, and Maggie was behind Read More
Archives for 2016
Tired Dog? Good. Overtired Dog?. . . Not so Good.
I can't begin to count the number of times I've heard "A tired dog is a good dog." We all know the point is that under-exercised dogs often get themselves into trouble... chewing, pacing, or pondering ways to get online and order dog toys with your credit card. True, as far as it goes (except perhaps the online part). However, I also can't count the number of times a client came in with a tragic story about the "best dog in the world" who snarled/lunged/bit at a child/neighbor/other dog after a long day at the dog park/picnic/family reunion. The fact is that dogs can become over tired, just as we can. And just like us, dogs can lose their ability to be their "best self" when that happens. There's no reason we should be surprised at this, but the concept often seems to surprise Read More
First look at my memoir: The Education of Will
After five and a half years of work, my memoir is done, and, amazingly, available for pre-order from the book sellers below. I say "amazingly," because the book isn't due out until February 21st, 2017. Now I understand a bit better why we see trailers for movies "Coming Soon!"--in eight or nine months. (I'm not sure I actually understand why the promo's come so early, but I'm beginning to realize it's par for the course.) I should tell you that I was initially surprised by the cover selected by the good people at Atria. We had looked at a variety of options, and never talked about a cover with Willie's face on it. At first I wasn't sure; it didn't seem quite fitting for a memoir about a woman (me) whose dog (Willie) teaches her that will power is not enough to heal from trauma and Read More
Who’s Your Momma?
Meet Colby. Colby was adopted by my friend Renee at about seven months of age. She came up from the south, parentage unknown. Renee was curious, and so sent off a DNA sample to the folks at Wisdom Panel® to see what they had to say about her heritage. Here's what came back: The hound heritage was not a surprise. As a matter of fact, when Renee first showed me the dog’s photo on a website, I said to my friend who has always had herding breeds, “She has an adorable face, but you do know she’s probably got a lot of hound in her, right?” The “Treeing Walker Coonhound” ancestor sent Renee to this link that illustrates why the word “Treeing” is in the dog’s name. After viewing the video, Renee wrote: Yesterday on our walk, Read More
Free to a Good Home? (Booklets, Not Dogs!)
No, not a dog, I'd never advise anyone to ever give a dog away! What I'm hoping to go "Free to a Good Home" are our booklets on house and litter box training whose prices have been radically reduced so that shelters, rescue groups and veterinary clinics can give them away for free. I began thinking about this when the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League ordered 2,000 Way to Go booklets early this year. Kristi and the adoption counselors originally bought the booklets because their research showed that house breaking problems were a common cause of dogs being returned to their shelter. I talked recently to the shelter's Director, Kristi Jackson, who said that since they began giving the booklets out in their adoption packets, their returns and hotline questions have decreased. Of course, Read More
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