Mr. Willie is ten years old now, in spite of my incantations to the spirits to keep him eternally young. I've retired him from sheepdog competitions, which I'm sure was a good decision. But it also means that every day I walk back to the house after Maggie and I have a long training session, and see Willie's big-eyed face looking at me by the door. "My turn? Is it my turn now?" If you have a "retired" dog, you know exactly what happens in my heart when I see his face looking at me as I begin to leave. Sometimes it IS his turn, because there is always work to do on the farm. Perhaps Willie and I will go back up the hill and move the sheep down to the barn for their evening meal, or to sort out a limping ewe. But sometimes there are no farm chores left for him to do. Granted, Read More
Sheepdog Heaven
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
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
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