Continuing my ability to relate just about everything in the world to dog training, I offer you some thoughts about how good editing is like good dog training. For example, here is a typical editing progression, starting with:
“I really think that dog is too hot to keep working.”
Eeeps, delete the “really”:
“I think that dog is too hot to keep working.”
Still, too many words:
“That dog is too hot to keep working.”
Better.
You get the idea. Less is more. The word “really” adds nothing but noise. The concept “I think” is implied without it being stated. Who else is thinking it if you wrote it? You could even cut the sentence down to “That dog is too hot.” (But, you have to leave in the “too,” right?)
No one says “less is better” than Sol Stein, the author of Stein on Writing, my favorite “how-to-write-well” book. He advises, in the chapter titled “Liposuctioning Flab,” to “remove all adjectives and adverbs and then readmit the necessary few after careful testing.” True to form, the editing my novel mostly involves deleting words that drag down the action. [Note that the first version of this sentence was ” . . . deleting worthless words that just drag down the action.”]
Stein quotes Mark Twain, a guy who knew a bit about writing, who said “If you catch an adjective, kill it!” [Note again: I first wrote ” . . . a little bit about writing . . . “. See what I’m doing here?]
Here’s an example that includes dogs in the sentence:
“That dog is obviously about to bite.” Versus: “That dog is about to bite.”
Which sentence is stronger? The “obviously” added nothing, right? Less is more . . . (I’d like to repeat that, but, uh, less is more.)
What does this have to do with dog training and handling? You know the answer: Less is more. Here’s a dog training equivalent:
“Maggie, Maggie, that’ll do, here!”
That’ll do, here!”
Here!”
I use the name “Maggie” on purpose, because sigh, the first sentence was mine, spoken this morning. It seems I have to remind myself of the value of brevity on a regular basis. My writing always starts with too many words, just as I often use a chopped salad of cues to my dogs, when all I needed was one cherry tomato. Granted, maybe I needed to say Maggie’s name once to get her attention, but that would be two words, instead of five.
Have you noticed that it’s the quiet people that attract the most dogs? You know who I mean, the strong, silent types, the people who are comfortable in their own skin. I wonder if part of it is that they use few words, and thus, are less confusing.
And, yet . . . like lots of people, I love talking in full sentences to my dogs. “You are soooo beautiful,” I say to Maggie every night. And I’m not going to stop. Is that a problem?
I don’t think so. I realized the distinction–less is more, versus let’s all just babble away–as I was writing this piece. Dogs need clarity when being trained, and when being informed about what we want them to do. They are living with aliens who must be eternally confusing, and when training a new concept we need to make it as easy as possible. That’s also true when Maggie was distracted by the seeds that had fallen below the bird feeders, and I needed to be clear, quickly, about what I needed from her. (“Come here.) But when we are cuddling on the couch? The words don’t matter. She gets all the information she needs from my tone. I could say “You are the ugliest bitch on four legs in the whole world,” if I had the same loving emotions in my heart, and would get the same reaction. In this case, it’s all about tone. I can be as wordy as I like, as long as I’m communicating an emotion to her, not an action I’d like her to take or a concept I want her to learn.
At the least then, there are the two contexts in which I think communicating to dogs is like editing: (Don’t hesitate to add more in the comments!)
First, as noted above, when training a new concept, or asking a dog to do something that is important to us. It’s the difference between teaching some one to drive a car, or use an app, versus gushing a thank you to someone who did you a huge favor. Meaning is conveyed by actual words, or cues, in the first example, while meaning is conveyed more by tone in the second.
The other example of “less is more” is related to greeting and/or praising dogs. Increasingly, I see people, all hyped up on the oxytocin of positive reinforcement, “praising” their dogs with so much enthusiasm that the dog is put off. How many times have I seen person squeal with joy, while the dog turns his head and looks away. Seen that?
In spite of being chatty myself, one thing I don’t do is gush when I meet or praise a dog, at least not in a high, loud voice. I tell them how gorgeous they are, and how lovely their tail, or ears, or eyes, but I do it in a quiet, low voice, watching them carefully to see how they are responding to my words and my movements.
In general, surely “less is better” when dogs are desperately trying to translate what we are trying to communicate all day long. That cute head cock that makes us all gooey is a sign of a dog trying to figure out what the hell it is that we are trying to communicate. It must be exhausting to continually try to figure out what we are saying, what we want, and what we don’t want. What a relief it must be when our verbal cues are clear and succinct.
You can get an idea of 1) How interesting I find this issue, and 2) How Much I Need Reminding to Shut Up, by noting I wrote a post titled The Power of Silence in May, of 2021, (about how going still and silent extinguished an unwanted behavior), and Less is More, When It Comes to Training, (about not overloading clients with information) in November, 2016.
I would love to hear what you have to say about this topic. When you say less. When you say more. When you said so much that your dog put his paws over his head. In this case, LESS IS NOT MORE! More is good! Tell us more, we’re all ears!
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Was it me wishing we’d finally get a real winter? Well, . . .
Skip’s feelings about the snow are obvious from the expression on his face. I’ve never known a dog who loved snow as much as Skip. They were tearing along a short, plowed section of a small park not far from us. There was no way you could walk it without snow shoes, so we lapped around a small area on Saturday morning, and the dogs exercised themselves. Saturday the high was in the mid 20’s, Sunday it was closer to zero, so walks off the farm will wait for warmer weather in the days to come.
I can’t tell you exactly how much snow we got last week, but somewhere around 20 inches in four days. The first storm had lots of warm, wet snow that stuck to the trees and branches, turning the world into a winter wonderland.
Lots of beautiful scenes in the snow, including with these screens we bought to distract from our ugly LP tank.
Here’s from last Tuesday, the first big storm that left us with 8-9 inches.
Needless to say, our six bird feeders are hopping. We have about 15-20 birds at our feeders at all times now. Chickadees, like the one below, Tufted Titmice, WB Nuthatches, Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Goldfinch (oh honey, why are you still here?!), Cardinals (who only showed up once the ground was snow covered), Juncos, House Sparrows, House Finches, Doves, and one rude Blue Jay.
I’m bummed there’s no sheep herding now (although nothing approaching Skip’s daily disappointment). The sheep below are standing in the snow from only the first storm, it’s more than twice as high now. Skip would be happy to work, but me and the sheep don’t share his enthusiasm.
Here’s to being enthusiastic about something in these dark, cold months! Tell us how “less is more” fits into your life–or how it doesn’t–with your dogs. More is good here!
Karen London says
Get out of my mind!! Eveything you wrote here is so relevant to my daily life. Oh to be naturally concise, but that is not who I am. Thus, editing is a constant. Thanks for the smiles today and every day.
Trisha says
Ha, you co-writer you! There’s a reason we get along so well!
lak says
YES to everything you wrote. Concise and consistent commands. We are house bound for a few days do to inclement weather, wind chill was -24 degrees and actual temp -2 when we got up yesterday. Too cold for both of us!
I had to order the dog out to void! She potties in less than 45 seconds and bolts back into the house. I completely understand! Beautiful photos!
Anna Blake says
I have enjoyed your blog over the years but have not commented. I’m a professional horse trainer and author of several books. Horses and dogs, dogs and horses. I’m eternally editing thoughts, training cues, and writing.
I appreciate your writing, that balance of training and personal news. Best wishes, Patricia. Thanks for all you do.
Heidi Armstrong says
Thank you for this. I call it the agony of delete!
Beth Kerber says
This word nerd loved your blog! I’m always relating farm work, horses and dogs to writing, and I, too, use too many words with my dogs.
Carol says
Agree!
(one word; how’s that?)
Marijane 'Mj' Moss says
I have to work hard at lucid and concise when training. I ramble on when ” hanging out”. I have found with ” new” dogs or those is stress, dropping the timbre, softening volume, and slowing pace of speech is better received. This applies not just to teaching events, but in rescue/ emergencies as well ( I have been a County Animal Response Team member over 15 years). It applies to humans as well as many other species.
I have also realized that dogs think verbs rather than nouns. The word ” chair” comes to mean a piece of furniture used for erect or semi-erect sitting for us. To a dog it may mean ” go there”, ” get on” etc. “Ball” is activity WITH a thing. ” place” is ” go THERE and lie down”…all for instances. ” Skip, sheep” means ” doing best thing with you”.
Viviane Arzoumanian says
This reminds me so much of Tag Teach principles! And yes, I too will continue to talk to my dogs. And tone and emotional underpinnings to our speech is critic to the responses we get from dogs and humans!
Jan says
Yes concise commands absolutely , but where is the line between command and conversation when working, not training a dog, say in herding? I have always wondered about this when I watch top handlers having a continuous conversation (usually by whistles) with their dogs where each ‘word’ has such nuance in it’s duration, volume or other means.
LisaW says
In the spirit of honoring editorial finese and sharpening communication skills, I pledge to call Olive five of her eight nicknames henceforth.
Olive is the one who really got me to pay attention to my lilt and volume. Too loud, she’d cringe, too soft, she’d ignore, too deep, she’d worry, we never had too squeaky. We have found the tonal qualities that are just right. Singing is an acquired taste, which she tolerates in her dotage. Now that she is a bit aurally challenged, I find myself speaking louder, which feels odd.
Gayle Watson says
About the same, maybe a bit more, snow, south of Georgian Bay. Fifteen minutes north of us, in town, almost clear roads. Since we live in this small snowmagedon area, I put up an arena about 20 years ago. THE BEST money I ever borrowed. I don’t snowshoe anymore, so this offers a solid footing to train and play all year. I did try to get my husband on board with sheep. Since he would have to do the chores often, I respected his very clear ‘no’. Would like to have tried herding.
Love this article, especially about catching and killing adjectives.
Our dogs!! Trying to make sense of the verbal soup they swim in. Self consciously counting adjectives!
Lorraine says
I had to venture out at -10 to pick up a warmer for my hummingbird feeder to keep it from freezing. Those tiny feathered jewels are still zooming about, unfazed by a night at -15. The female Anna’s sensibly migrate south for the winter but there must be an advantage for the males to stay on their territories year-round.
Barb Stanek says
Editing IS like dog training. Human, pay attention. Know what you want the end result to be. Focus on the elements that create the end result. Remove the elements that interfere with creating the end result. Keep the reader in the forefront when editing. Keep the dog in the forefront when training.
Love winter. Some the photos that I treasure capture winter beauty that I’ve found. Your photos are great! Thanks for them!
Paula Sunday says
The tricky part is shutting up the owners you work with who want to chatter, while I stand there silent waiting for the dog to respond. They almost always respond to me first, which can frustrate the owner. The other thing I teach is the voice tone with usually men, who think they should command to communicate. When I show them what works better they get better usually temporarily. But reminders often start to come from the female partner as she gets better responses from the dog/ puppy.
Amy F. says
I, too, wished for real Winter in Wisconsin. We sure got it! 🙂 Those snowy photos are gorgeous.
This post reminds me of the Plain Language movement. I’m a big fan. What’s fascinating is the human desire (need?) to imply tone to written messages when the goal of the communicator is simply to cue (‘do this’) or share information (‘you may not’) sans emotion. It’s almost like our species can’t handle it. We assume tone is lurking there, making it up when it’s not.
Best sentence ever: I often use a chopped salad of cues to my dogs, when all I needed was one cherry tomato.
If I had a lettuce leaf for every time a family member cued along the lines of, “Charlie, go lie down. Go to your bed. Charlie! Lie down. Go lie down!” I would have quite the salad. Lots of croutons too. 😉
Trisha says
Amy F: And dressing! Lots and lots of dressing!
Trisha says
Paula S: Oh yes, same thing happened to me. Many men (not all by any means) used low, gruff voices for cues, even sometimes when trying to praise. I loved helping them lighten up and feel like the manly men they were without having to sound like a drill sargeant. And we woman tend to squeak….
Trisha says
Lorraine: What what WHAT?! You have hummingbirds and it’s 15 below??? Where the heck are you? Out west for sure if you have Anna’s, yes?
Trisha says
Gayle W: Color me green about your arena! Nowhere to put one here on our little, hilly farm, with most of the land up a steep hill. But, good for you!
Nana~Mary says
We experienced the same snow (we’re not far from where you live) and our two small dogs are absolutely DONE with it! There is no place to explore the backyard because the deck is covered with that 20″ of snow. We weren’t able to shovel it off the deck before the temps took a nosedive, so it’s now like concrete. The only place for them to potty is out front on the driveway. To make matters worse, one of the dogs is a Westie with a bright white coat…when we let her out, she disappears from view! It’s a good thing that I don’t experience cabin fever…
Trisha says
LisaW: Never ever will I give up nicknames for Maggie, Ms. Maggie, Princess Margaret, Maggie Mae, or Skip, Skipperkee, Skipper dee doo da . . . Etc. Tell Olive she gets senior “tonal” editing skills. What a woman.
Trisha says
Jan, re continual whistles from handler to sheepdog. Yes yes, I know what you mean. Some handlers whistle a continuous stream of sound to their dogs. We should ask them why. I know some want to keep their dog’s attention, for others, things happen so fast the dog truly needs that much information to stay on line. And others, maybe just tiring out their dogs? Great question…
Trisha says
Marijane: Yes yes, my experience too, that dogs think most cues are verbs. (See I post I wrote in 2016 about that, when trying to train Willie words for objects. He was totally confounded.
Trisha says
Carol: Perfect! (tee hee)
Trisha says
Beth K: It is SO much easier to go back to what you wrote and delete words. Wish we could somehow do that in real time with our speech!
Trisha says
Heidi: That’s hysterical (the agony of delete!)! I found, though, that it is satisfying now rather than painful. You?
Trisha says
Thanks Anna for chiming in. I especially love comments from people who work with animals rather than dogs, because dogs are so forgiving that they let us get away with all kinds of garbage. Congratulations on your books, I’m going to look them up now.
Catherine says
This article appeared at the perfect time. I find myself with a rescue pup from Puerto Rico. He was adopted by a friend of the family. He needed so much time and training, my friend was unable to give him all he needed. So, now he is here. With me and my 4 other dogs.
What a timely message from you! How helpful. It is the perfect way to help this hyper alert, under socialized, untrained, high energy pupper.
I am pretty old. Not as patient and nimble as I once was.
Trisha says
Catherine: You hero you, for taking on the pup from Puerto Rico. Especially when you feel “pretty old.” (I’m with you there.)
But that age gives you the wisdom borne of experience to help a dog who must be overwhelmed with an unfamiliar, mysterious life. Good on you, girl.
Charlotte Kasner says
Wholeheartedly concur. I would add – plan before you start and then edit. You can always tear your original plan up, but it helps to curb the rambling, whether writing or training.
I developed an acronym for clients who (like me) want to plunge in headfirst and then find that they have painted themselves into a corner (apologies for mixed metaphors). This is what I say that you need from your learner to start training:
An AIM (goal)
A=Attention
I=Interest
M=Motivation
I learned from my Siberian Husky that the first two can be fleeting and not always easy to capture, so the third is essential to sustain the session.
Once I’ve worked out how to get those in any given session, I already have a plan. I get clients to talk it through quickly before we start and then I encourage them to write a short (6 line max) plan until they get used to doing it in their heads.
I was taught to write essays in a similar way and it has stood me in good stead by saving me a fair bit of writing and editing time by making writing more efficient and editing more a case of “buffing up”.
Love the winter pictures.
Tricia says
Dogs, like kids, tune out the chatterers.
Mila Hathaway says
I love your articles! I also name everything so that my dogs know what we are going to do, even if it’s not an action that they need to perform. For example, they know whether they are going to the backyard to their play yard or the front to go potty.
Jamie Root says
Agree!
K.I.S.S.
Kiss for redirect, recall, smile praise.
P. J. Grath says
Two words I should not even allow myself ever to use in writing are ‘just’ and ‘even.’ When writing a blog post, those words creep in far too often, which is why I draft and wait and re-read and edit before posting.
With my dog, our agility coach is always telling me I use too many words. ‘Jump!’ is sufficient. I don’t need to say “And jump again!” each time.
These days when we are outside in the snow (which she adores!) and she doesn’t want to come immediately when called, I start praising her if she even turns her head to look at me, clapping my hands and telling her “What a good dog!” she is. That’s a lot more words than “Come!” (or “Side!”), but if she keeps responding well to all those words, I’m going to keep using them!
Trisha says
Charlotte: I LOVE this. Such good advice. Here’s a story on me of, sigh, not planning well enough: I was working on teaching Skip to shed off the right group of sheep he’d divided into two groups. Turning my feet and body toward the group I wanted him to move off wasn’t giving him enough information, he always seemed to pick the wrong group. So I moved the two groups much farther apart, then turned and walked very obviously toward the group behind us to get him to key onto them, and associate my walking toward the group with him understanding that was the group he should work. If he didn’t notice my turning, I initially smooched to get his attention, but then, for some reason, switched to saying his name. We made progress; often he’d turn toward the “other” group without a sound from me if he saw me turn walk toward them. You can probably predict what happened. I said his name in another context to get his attention and he immediately flipped around and looked for the sheep behind him. The ones that weren’t there. Whoops.
Lorraine says
Anna’s Hummingbirds-southwest coast of British Columbia, Canada. We generally have mild winters but just went through a cold spell. Snow predicted tomorrow but the hummers will still have an unfrozen food supply.
Bitsey Patton says
I miss Wisconsin, but right now Kansas looks just like your photos. However, it was 8 below when I walked Jesse this morning! As a teacher, dog trainer, and horse person, I agree completely that less is more. In teaching kids, there is something called “wait time” where you just sit quietly and give the student time to think and process before answering. If you chatter, you get in the way. With all critters, we need to remember to get out of the way!
Laura says
I’m a professional editor and a decidedly amateur dog trainer, so I was all in based on the post title alone!
I think one of the most useful questions in each pursuit is “what are you trying to do here?” What is this phrase, sentence, paragraph, chapter, or even whole manuscript trying to say? What behavior are you trying to teach (or discourage)? What is this dog trying to accomplish with their (incomprehensible, or inconvenient, or embarrassing) behavior?
And in both activities you’re going back and forth between the big picture and the details, tweaking little things and checking to see if you’re still making progress toward the desired result. But with on-screen editing tools it’s much easier to undo changes and start over when you realize you’ve been making something worse instead of better than it is with dogs!
Louise Wholey says
Your sense of humor is great! I laughed out loud at this one. Right on!
“Maggie, Maggie, that’ll do, here!”
That’ll do, here!”
Here!”
Tails Around the Ranch says
Your snow scenes are beautiful. The word ‘obviously’ sends me into orbit. It is one of those words that should have been killed long ago (though I know I’ve used it-thanks for the reminder regarding the editing process-I needed it). 😉
Cathy Balliu says
I once had a big hat dog trialer tell me that I had a really good voice for a woman because I didn’t sound like a fish wife shrieking lol. So many people narrate their actions to their dogs in words: now you’re going to be going in circles, but not too fast and watch out for that last sheep and you’re doing so good, such a good doggie, etc, etc. I’m trying to be more chirpy when I’m praising my girl in nosework and she is he same, quiet self. She sees me for the poser than I am lol.
Tiffany Yates Martin says
I read your newsletter every week–one of the few I always look forward to–but this week was especially delightful because I’m not just a dog lover but an editor…and I loved your parallels with dog training (so spot-on). And because Sol Stein is one of my two editing idols (with Max Perkins) and his book Stein on Writing the reference I suggest to authors most often. And because I also always draw parallels between editing and writing and …well, anything, including–frequently my dogs, like this one:
https://foxprinteditorial.com/2021/03/25/training-your-writing-to-behave/
Word-nerding out with delirious joy…thanks. Hope your manuscript is going well.
Trisha says
Lorraine: Hummers still in BC, fascinating. I remember how much warmer it was in Ketchikan, Alaksa than here in WI when I lived there. Oh that moderating ocean! Thanks for letting us know. 🙂
Trisha says
Tiffany YM: I LOVED your article. I’m word-nerding out too, what delight you bring to us! (MS is at my agent’s, awaiting her decision to start prepping to send it out, or have other agents read it. . . Holding my breath.
Trisha says
PJ: I’m all in on praise being chatty–you’re conveying a mood, not a specific action. (At least that’s my justification, cuz I’m not giving up “You are SUCH a gooood girl!”
Maureen Finn says
I wish there were a way to “like” the other comments on the thread – social media has infected me with the need to agree with so many (all) here.
And yes yes yes. As a writer (who hasn’t written anything in a while – rescue has consumed my life lately) and editor by profession, I am the WORST at editing my own writing. I find when I go in to edit something I wrote, I often make it LONGER. Ha! I love to hear myself “talk,” I guess, and can be struck by my own brilliance. I want to say that last with tongue in cheek, but not really. As a lover of adverbs and adjectives, I’m doomed.
With the dogs I tend towards overpraising, so it becomes meaningless to them. Yet I still do it. I live alone (by choice and happily) and they are stuck with my discussions, and for the most part seem to enjoy them. I have a house full of rescue misfits now (3 dogs we couldn’t place, and a 4th fostering who may end up staying as well, for the same reason) and it’s fun to see/learn the different engagement styles and preferences that each has. Most, I find, are always thirsty, if not starved, for a kind word directed at them (thus my overpraise habit is reinforced) and that is rarely well edited. We don’t do a lot of formal obedience work, and my expectations are low – have fun and be nice to one another, follow a few rules and don’t misbehave too much – and we’re all happy.
Elaine Sorensen says
Perfect!
Kat says
I tend to the verbose when writing and then have to go back and delete large chunks. I also need to cut sentences into manageable sizes because I can run a sentence on for pages if I’m inspired by what I’m trying to say. In contrast I’m good at communicating clearly to my dogs. I’m able to recognize when I wasn’t clear and reduce the information to just the salient information. Here’s a good example, from today.
D’Artagnan hurt his left hind and has been off work for a month. (he’s on the mend now and the X-rays didn’t show any of the osteosarcoma that’s always the fear when a giant is limping) I wanted to know if he was up for going on a Therapy Dog visit this afternoon. He was asleep on the deck so I went out and asked “Would you like to go to work?” He looked interested that I was talking to him but not certain about what I asked. I reduced it to “Work?” which had him on his feet and hurrying in to get brushed and ready to go. As we were going in I realized I usually ask “Wanna go to work?” Changing my ‘salad’ (love that description) ingredients from Wanna go to Would you like to go to didn’t set off the single cherry tomato of ‘work.’ He’s used to seeing it in one salad and here I was offering it in a different one.
It’s been unusually cold here in the Pacific Northwest and my Pyrs are loving it. They’re just sorry is hasn’t really snowed. They’d love to come and romp through all your glorious white stuff. Personally, I find I appreciate it more in photos these days. Thank you for sharing yours.
Jann Becker says
Back when Missouri got real snow, we had a Border Collie/Aussie mix and a BC/GOK* mix. My husband, bless his heart, had to shovel a path around the yard for the two of them to run in. That picture took me back.
*GOK= G-d only knows; in this case BC coloring with silky spaniel-ish hair. Never the sharpest knife in the drawer but sweet & loving to my kid, his nominal owner.
Evelyn says
“Sorry. I think that dog is too hot to keep working!” (No, he’s not!)
“That dog is really too hot to keep working!” (He’s got a job to do, He’s fine!)
“He looks unwell!: (My dog! Get the hell outta here!)
Dog collapses,
Frances says
Timely reminders all round – I have a very boring document to edit and I must improve my communication with the dogs. As others have mentioned Sophy’s age-related hearing loss means she now needs me to bark-like sounds – clear, short, slightly higher pitch and louder than normal speech. Once I have her attention I can use hand signals, but getting the right tone to catch her attention without sounding angry and upsetting her is work in progress.
With Freddy I am still sort-of working on toy recognition. Mj’s comments on verbs v nouns are very interesting – the cue I use is “Freddy, noun verb” – Freddy, Piggy Fetch” for example. The actual toy he brings is a bit hit and miss, except when I say “Freddy, Tuggy Fetch” when he will fairly reliably bring one of the tug toys from the toy box. It seems Piggy is now associated with the game of chasing and retrieving any ball or squeaky toy, while Tuggy is the very different game of tug.
We had half an inch of snow, which was then washed away by heavy rain. I’m another who prefers to admire it from a warm spot indoors these days!
Jen says
Apparently some goldfinches overwinter here too! In Saskatchewan! Not at our place, sadly.
Love the pics. It’s been brutally cold here too and that makes Gus a hoppy boy (cold feet, hates boots, get them on anyway, still hoppy!) The sun makes the cold bearable. Well, not really, but it does make it prettier.
Betsy says
I try to limit directions to two or three words such as “Levi, outside?” or “Levi, eat now!” Too much verbiage and he puts me on wife mode. A male friend once totally tuned me out during a conversation. He apologized and told me he had me on wife mode. Said all he heard was “Wah wah wah”. Hmmm
Sheila says
Amazing how you always write exactly what I’ve been thinking about! Living alone I talk to myself constantly and recently started doing video of my agility training sessions with Ollie in the basement. The big reveal? I’m blathering away to myself so much I’m surprised he even knows when it’s time to listen. So I am trying to edit myself – easier said than done! LOL
Trisha says
Sheila: I feel your pain, and I have no excuse!