Search Results: Away To Me

Poor dogs. Some of us think getting a manicure is akin to heaven, but for dogs, getting their nails done is more often like going to hell. I was thinking about this last night while I was working with Willie on nails that grow extra long and extra fast because of his restricted exercise. I…

Well, I can’t tell you that last night went smoothly, but my Willie boy tried his best and ended up learning a lot about working sheep last night. (We went to a good friends, Peg, who has a lot more sheep and a lot more land than I do and is extremely generous with her…

I took Will to a friend’s to work him on different sheep in a new environment. I’m getting to the point where he and I don’t have too much more we can do at home. My small flock is so tame that Will has to be within a few feet of them to move them,…

I’m leading another safari in Kenya and Botswana this August. Wanna come? It probably will be my last. The first time I went to Africa to lead an animal-behavior-focused safari, I cautioned the participants the day we arrived that we weren’t going to see what we usually see on a nature special on television. “What…

I’m looking forward to giving a talk in Madison on April 5th about comparisons between dogs and wolves (alongside a much-anticipated talk about wolves in Wisconsin by expert Adrian Wydeven). The photograph above came to mind while I was thinking about what to say. That’s me and Ayla at Wolf Park in Indiana. It’s pretty clear…

One of my greatest pleasures is getting to know loyal blog readers. Bonus: Their dogs! Laura Lauteret (Laura L now) has commented often for several years, and many of us had heavy hearts when we learned that her beloved guide dog, Seamus, died of hemangiosarcoma four years ago. What a joy to meet her new…

I recently had a great talk with Emily Priestley, the author of Urban Sheepdogs. I reviewed her book a few weeks ago, and although I noted some issues, I am a big fan of her attempt to help people understand that the behavior of their border collies or cattle dogs is not a mystery or…

[Caution: The following contains details of sheepdog trials and a video of one of Skip’s runs. If that bores you to tears, no worries, I won’t be offended. Just skip this; I’ll see you next time!) We’re just back from the Nippersink or Swim Sheepdog Trial outside of Lake Geneva, and in spite of blustery…

(This is a post from a few years ago, but it is so important that I thought it was worth posting again. I’d write a new one, but, well, everything I want to say is here, so I’ve posted it again. I’d love your feedback, stories, etc., on what works (or doesn’t work), for you.)…

 I was going to title this “Skip likes it rough,” but, well, you know . . .  the internet. But the fact is that Skip came to us loving to play rough and Maggie didn’t, and we’ve gone through a year of managing and conditioning and innovating and despairing and come out the other side…

Holy Moly, Batman, the Wisconsin Working Stockdog Labor Day Trial really is held on the biggest, baddest course in the Midwest. What you see below is only part of it, I don’t have a wide enough angle to show you the whole thing. The dog and handlers begin the course standing far to the right,…

Remember the song Chain of Fools? If you’re too young, here’s a link to Aretha Franklin singing it. (Spoiler Alert #1: Best song ever. Spoiler Alert #2: Ear worm danger.) The word “chain” and “fool” can be linked in another way, in this case, when you’re training your dog. I’m of course, talking about “behavior…

No doubt there are lots of dogs out there who love the holidays. New chew toys! Pieces of ham or turkey dropped onto the floor! But I guarantee you that many dogs are not a fan of holidays, especially Christmas. Here are five reasons why: I. The Dreaded Christmas Photograph. Posing for family photographs is…

Recently I’ve had a couple of questions from friends about introducing cats to each other. Their questions reminded of this post from August 2013, and I thought it a good topic to discuss again. We were lucky at the farm–Polly is Nellie’s daughter, so no introductions were necessary. They get along beautifully, but we all…

Like many of us, I am finding the world to be increasingly worrisome. Between feeling physically sick about the non-ending reveals of sexual assault and harassment, the relentless attacks on the environment on our fragile globe, and political ideologies based on hate and fear–well, thank God for dogs. There are days I honestly feel like…

Awhile ago I saw a small dog hit by a car, whose occupant drove away as if nothing had happened. The little white dog lay on his side, stunned and bleeding. It was clear when I got close that the dog’s leg was broken and he needed to get to a veterinary clinic right away.…

Grisha Stewart’s new book is an impressive piece of work, and I highly recommend it to trainers, behaviorists and dog owners who are ready to dive into the deep end to help their dog. Behavior Adjustment Training 2.0 (BAT 2.0) is a comprehensive and detailed approach to working with “fear, frustration, and aggression in dogs”. …

I first posted this article in 2011, but it seems wise to put it out in the universe again. Taking a dog to work can be wonderful, or, not so much… Friday June 26th has been designated “Take Your Dog to Work Day” by Pet Sitters International. Begun in 1999 with a goal of encouraging…

Can we learn anything about a dog’s behavior around unfamiliar dogs with the use of a fake, stuffed dog? That is the question asked by a team of researchers in Massachusetts, who did a study comparing the responses of 45 shelter dogs to a live dog and a fake, plush, stuffed dog. The real dogs…

French Vanilla. Ice Cream. Summer Day. Those were the six words I wrote for my Lassie girl, the day she died. That was a little over five years ago, and I still miss her more than I can say. She was pure and simply the sweetest dog I have ever had. She was Cool Hand…

Pia Silvani’s, Director of Behavior and Training at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey, gave a talk at APDT that focused on play between adult dogs, and it was a fantastic presentation. The best part of the talk was her videos of dogs playing–both appropriately and inappropriately. My absolute favorite was a video…

It’s uh…  “Throwback Monday?” Things are a tad crazy right now, what with winter looming,(Translation: Spend much of Sunday planting the 300 bulbs that arrived on Saturday. Be sore today.) and a trip to APDT tomorrow morning. I’ll be giving the Keynote Wednesday morning, please come up and say hi if you are a blog…

The title of this post is a bit strong, but I do want to caution people from adopting two dogs from the same litter because “it’s easier” to raise two at once (ask someone with twins if it’s easier than having one child) or “we don’t want our dog to be lonely.” (Because you might…

What are we to call ourselves, those of us who love our dogs like family but respect their, well, dogness? Dog owners? Pet parents? Guardians? All of these titles have pro’s and cons. Are we dog owners? Well, yes, in that Skip and Maggie are MY dogs, and Ginger or Butch are yours. We take…

So. This is not the post I had intended. Apparently I am on the road to hell, the one “paved with good intentions.” In my body’s never-ending determination to make my life more F&^*&%^% difficult an adventure, I now have “de Quervain’s Tenosynovitis.” It’s basically two pissed off tendons squeezed inside of a vice (the…

≈ It’s happening. Really happening. Away to Me—my mystery novel about behaviorist Maddie McGown and the murder of one of her best friends—is launching February 24th, 2026, but is available to order now on Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. I’ve read and loved novels all my life, and have read mysteries ever since I…

Yup, Redstart Farm has a new member of the family. Maggie, a 15-month old female Border Collie from Idaho, has stolen the hearts of us all, Willie especially. He is gobsmacked. In love. Head over heels. Watching the two of them play has become one of my greatest joys in life. Those of you who…

Our resident cats, Nellie and her daughter Polly, arrived almost two years ago thanks to friends who found a starving, half-dead adolescent cat in their yard. They took her in and nursed her back to health–which included discovering that she was pregnant, helping her raise five kittens and finding them all wonderful homes. No one…

I’m sure you’ve never been in a position to feel foolish while training or performing with your dog. What’s that? Perhaps just once, you’ve found yourself red-faced and fighting the flames of humiliation while working with your dog? If you’re anything like me, you actually have a multitude of such stories, and some of them…

This week, it’s all about the farm: (Next week I’ll write a full report of the talks at the Animal Behavior Society 2013 Meeting in Boulder. It was great, lots to tell you about!) [I should mention here that I just changed that last sentence on 8-8, after a call from Jim who noticed I…

  This is Bits. He is a hybrid wolfdog. Or maybe some coyote, no one knows. He is drop-dead gorgeous and is flat out terrified of strangers. He has been living with Jayne and Mike Belskey at the Grey Wolf Central Wisconsin Rescue  for two years now, having been rescued by them as a panicked,…

I’ll be working on a post about social status and dog training this week, keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, something happened on Saturday that related to our discussion about fears . . . I mentioned last week that Willie has become fearful of being in the bedroom with me at night. He is better, although…

If you’ve been following the bouncing ball, we’ve been talking about how the concept of “dominance” and social status may or may not relate to dog behavior. Now I’d like to summarize a bit and discuss how we might handle conflict between dogs within the household. After all, whether you buy into it or not…

Now that winter is here, it seems like a good time to talk about some good books and DVDs to keep us busy during those long, dark evenings. Here are a few books and DVDs that I’ve enjoyed, some dog related, some not. AWAY TO ME DVD: First, check out the trailer for a new…

Last week I posted a blog about giving our dogs more autonomy, and asked for comments about ideas on how to do so outside of working dogs on sheep. Many of the comments sent in response to that post are extremely helpful, and I encourage you to read through them. However, I know that time…

Wow. You all are amazing. So far there have been 165 answers to the question posed two weeks ago, “What’s Your Favorite Non-Traditional Cue?” I’ve read through every one of them with great interest (and often amusement). My plan was to go through all the comments, list every cue mentioned with it definition (some people…

As if any of us REALLY knows “what it all means,” right? But thank you for your interesting and thoughtful comments about the previous post’s video of Willie and the “Get Back” signal. They were great. I’ll cut to the chase about my own interpretation. Here’s the data: Willie tongue flicks when I ask him…

Lots of you liked the idea of doing some case studies, as well as reviewing and discussing photos and videos. I think it’s a great idea, so here goes our first one: Here’s Sleeves on the left, and Patch on the right. I’m sad to report that Patch died just last week and her sister…

Home. Ummmm, feels so good. Even though the trip was wonderful in so many ways, it is SO good to be home. As I wrote earlier, I greatly enjoyed presenting a seminar in Sweden—the people were so kind and interesting, and our vacation in the fjord country of Norway was heavenly. (see the photos attached).…

I was recently reminded that my first national book, The Other End of the Leash, was published in June of 2002, ten years ago (thank you Lisa). Wow. Ten years. It feels like a long time, and it feels like the years have flown by. Time is like that. There’s something about big blocks of…

Thanks to all of you who commented on the saga of Willie and Sushi. (And for those of you who haven’t read the last post, my biggest training/behavior challenge at the moment is Willie’s obsessive herding/stalking of my cat Sushi. I have started a new paradigm, which is to quietly and politely ask him to…

I don’t know about you, but anytime I hear a dog training product described as “revolutionary,” I get worried. And for good reason. Have you heard about the new “revolutionary way” to walk your dog? It’s called SimpleLeash, and it is guaranteed to work on “dogs of all sizes and temperaments.” What’s the revolutionary idea?…

It makes me so happy to say that Tootsie is doing great. Right now she’s sleeping in her crate beside my desk. The door is open, but she loves it there. The only places she likes as well are 1) being in bed with me, 2) being on the couch or 3) being by herself…

Balance is a term used by sheep dog handlers, but I find myself thinking of its value in so many other contexts related to dogs. In sheep herding, “balance” refers to a dog’s ability to place itself exactly where he or she needs to be to take control of the sheep without frightening them. It…

  Here’s Hailey, who was one of the demo dogs in Pittsburgh a few  weeks ago. Crystal is fostering Hailey, and had only had her for about a month before the seminar, and we were both concerned that her general arousal levels might make the seminar too much of a challenge for her. As it…

I wondered if you have seen this — an automatic ‘dog washing machine,’ in which you put your dog into a metal box, streams of water and soap engulf him or her, then presumably the dog is dried with blasts of hot air.  Here’s a link to the Dog-O-Matic (sent to me by an alert…

Love Has No Age Limit is now available in audio. Wheeee! My co-author, Karen London, and I are deeply grateful for how it has been welcomed by shelters, rescues, and adopters. This booklet, about bringing home an adolescent or mature dog rather than a puppy, has sold almost 150,000 copies and was called “A one-of-a-kind…

I just did a photo shoot for a magazine cover with Willie (more on that later) and I was reminded while doing it how many pet dogs are going to be asked to participate in the GREAT HOLIDAY PHOTOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE. Except I don’t think dogs would use the word “adventure” if they could talk about…

    Pondering about what to write in this week’s post, I thought: I know! I’ll write an article about what dogs REALLY want for Christmas. Deep from within my dusty, cobwebbed brain, a thought emerged, like smoke arising from smoldering embers. Have I ever written about that in the past? Oh, she said, having…

Here’s an interesting question: Should you teach a dog the concept of “no, don’t do that?” If so, how would you teach it? This came up during a discussion generated by an earlier post, “Asking versus Telling.” It was mentioned that very few classes teach the concept of “Don’t do that,” but lots of owners…