It’s a light post today, in celebration of the waning days of summer and a bucket of writing to do for speeches (both on “People, Dogs & Trauma,”one a Keynote at ADI Trainer’s Conference in Denver, the other a Keynote at APDT in Hartford, CT), revising a chapter with Aubrey Fine in the Handbook on Animal Assisted Therapy, and working on my memoir.)
Every day I ask myself what I am grateful for, and today I’m thanking the universe for this little green frog who is an Eastern Grey Tree Frog. (Apparently you can order them in a variety of colors. This one arrived in green.)
There is no scale in the photo, but he is tiny, perhaps an inch and a half max. I never would have noticed him if I hadn’t been on my daily round of picking Japanese Beetles off of my plants and dunking them in soapy water. The beetles are voracious, have few predators, and can consume your favorite plants like a storm of locusts. You can either use pesticides that are horrifically damaging to a host of creatures in the environment, or do what I’ve been doing, picking them off the plants one by one and dropping them into soapy water.
As frustrated as I’ve been by the beetles, they opened my eyes to the tiny animal life on the farm that I never would have noticed. A bevy of several species of bees (so happy to see the bees!), butterflies galore (okay, I would have noticed them anyway), and a vast number of fascinating beetles, none of which has appeared in the army-like numbers of the Japanese beetle invasion.
Here, then, is my question for you today: What negative event in your life has had a silver lining? I suspect we can all think of many examples. The terminally cute little green frog I only noticed because of the Japanese beetles is a lighthearted one for me, Willie teaching me to accept who he is (who I am, who X is, you name it…) is a big one. You?
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Willie is recovering well from his minor surgery. In a few days I’ll be able to get him back on sheep. I admit to feeling a tad obsessed with working sheep dogs at the moment, I’d work Willie and Maggie three times a day if I could. Right now I’m only working Maggie once or twice day, depending on my schedule, but she’s making real progress. I’ve started her on driving and I think she is going to like it. She puts that little head down and laser focuses the flock forward. Love it.
Here’s a video of Willie’s Pro-Novice run last week in Cambridge. There’s no sound recorded, and you can’t always see Willie on the screen, but as we are all told, “the sheep will tell you what your dog is doing.” Willie did very well on the fetch and driving section of the course, which was the part we’ve been working on the most. He had become less and less happy about driving, doing lots of hesitating and looking at me ever since his shoulder surgery and his three months on leash (again) after an iliopsoas tear last summer. I honestly think he was (is?) suffering a bit from “Stockholm syndrome”), after so many months of never being able to move without looking at me. So in training we worked on making driving fun… I let him lope behind the sheep and push them forward, with no worry about precision signals to go left or right. I was very happy with his drive, more on that below.
However, as so often happens, the one thing he’s always been solid on, his outrun, fell apart. You’ll see that he leaves me and runs around clockwise for about 150 yards. (At 3 seconds you can see the sheep behind Willie, a long way away!). At about 14 seconds you can see that he circles in with the sheep behind him and looks at me. “Where are the sheep mom?” I gave him a “Look Back,” which is supposed to mean “the sheep are behind you, go back and get them.” He knows “Look Back” but apparently has added in his own spin on it: “Go get the sheep behind you, but change direction while doing it.” After he stops to look at me you can see he continues on in the same direction, and finds the sheep from the other direction that he was sent. He was sent clockwise to get the sheep, but then “crossed over” when he heard Look Back and changed direction to run right, or counter clockwise. (It is clear to me now that I should have stopped him sooner, my bad.) Basically, he ran a figure eight rather than a half circle. He did the same thing on the 2nd run–I sent him to the right thinking that’s how he found the sheep on the first run, but he again stopped short, and crossed over to the left when I said Look Back. A clear example of the difference between the “message” (sheep are behind you) and the “meaning” (get sheep by changing direction)! I can’t fault him for stopping short, the sheep were 300 yards away, which is a very, very long outrun for ProNovice, and Willie has never run that far. We have our work cut out for us on this, it’s not easy to find a field that big to work on that has sheep in it, but we’ll do our best before the next trial.
I tried to add titles in iMovie to “narrate” the video, but right now iMovie is not my friend, so I’ll just say a few things here for you to look out for: At the beginning you can see him run in a half circle but come in in front of the sheep and look at me. I say “Look Back” and that’s when he changed direction and went back to get them from the other side that he was sent from. “Crossing over” loses you 19 of 20 points on your outrun. Ouch. Willie and I have to have a discussion about scoring. Then watch how he brings the sheep directly to me through the first fetch panels (good!), wraps them around me tightly as I stand at the post (good!) and drives them straight through the 1st drive panels (good too). Then we make a good, tight turn toward the 2nd drive panels, but get a bit off line on the way there. Not too badly, but we did lose a few points. Then we penned, although really, these sheep pretty much walk into the pen themselves so we get no credit for that. But I was very happy with his fetch and driving on this run and felt like our work the last few weeks had paid off. I should say, though, that his next run later in the day wasn’t as good. Both he and I seemed a bit behind the eight ball. It was killer hot in the sun at that point, is that our excuse?
As soon as Willie is healed up (end of the week?) I’ll be taking him to a larger field and working on his outruns. Regrettably it’s not something that you can do over and over… 300 yard runs in the heat aren’t something I’d ask Willie to repeat too often, but hopefully he’ll be sound enough so that we can work on it.
I hope you are all able to do something fun with your dogs this week, too. As always, I’d love to hear about it…
Mungobrick says
Well, since I know nothing about sheep herding, it looks awesome to me anyway!
I’m impressed that you found a silver lining in your lily leaf beetles. We are digging up our lilies in defeat, but I will confess that we weren’t that happy with them anyway, they came up in the wrong colours. But those beetles are just disgusting (at least, the larvae are), and I found no frogs when I was fighting them earlier this year. Just ick.
Normal fun with our dogs – two off leash woods or marsh walks every day. Lucky us to live where we do! And Rosa is grabbing Daisy’s neck less often and letting go right away when we say eh-eh. (I told her you said it wasn’t bullmastiff behaviour, just rude behaviour…) Also Daisy is trying out interesting new dodging patterns when she runs, and it’s very funny to see Rosa being outmaneuvered at the last second. Love having two dogs again after 4 years of only having one!
Monika & Sam says
Noticing the little things in life is what makes it rich and promising. Thank you for the reminder to always recognize gratitude.
Jean says
I love your blog! I did sheep dog trialling another life ago…before kids….and would love to get back into it someday……Did you redirect him on his look back? I know I was taught to give Look Back..Waaaay so my dogs knew which direction to head back out in. Very nice dog!
I now run an all Breed Dog Rescue, Camp Jean, and use your managing multi dog household tips for my rescues. Recently I started working on group sits and giving treats one at a time. After only a week of working the dogs once or twice day for about 10-15 minutes a time, I have a group of 10 dogs…mostly puppies 12-16 weeks old, who will do a group sit. Waiting patiently for treats is still in progress, but it is coming. I posted a picture of the group on my Camp Jean Facebook and it got more likes than just about anything else I have posted! 🙂 This is my fun with dogs!
Milissa says
In spite of the outrun, there was a lot to like about that run! I do wish he hadn’t had trouble on the outrun as it looked like even though the lift happened when he was still beside the sheep, when he got behind the sheep he went through the motions of a proper lift that would have been very nice. A nice lift seems to me to often be underappreciated these days, but it can set the tone for the whole run, so it is nice to see when a dog has it! So I’m curious, did you train that lift or is it just natural for him? I’ve seen both, but still haven’t figured out how to identify without asking the handler. I totally empathize with the field size problem! On my micro farm that size of outrun just isn’t physically possible, and makes it very hard to train a dog to look that far away for their sheep! Anyway, I love that you celebrate the good and learn from the not so good instead of focusing on winning or losing! It’s all about the dog! Well done to Willie and yourself!
Milissa says
Oh, and I don’t know if this would be helpful or even possible on your farm, but one thing I heard suggested to help a dog being trained on small acreage, is to set the sheep where the dog can’t see them. This is supposed to help in two ways. It is to teach the dog to trust that when you send them, even if they can’t see the sheep, there are sheep out there, and it supposedly teaches them to keep casting out and looking. I’m no trainer, but I’m sure like any technique how well it works depends on a lot of factors! Best of luck to you and Willie!
Marianne Cyr says
Go Willie Go! Go Willie Go!
Love the video!! I especially like when he looks back at you for direction. What a good boy!
Marjorie says
Sweet little frog, what a find. Love the video of Willie, the level of control involved is amazing to me. I was going to suggest Tootsie stand in for Willie while he’s laid up, but in true Cavalier fashion I’m sure she would most likely end up chasing the birds in the video and ingoring the sheep. I wish Willie a speedy recovery so you can both get back to what you love.
Every morning that I wake up and put my feet on the floor I give thanks that I won the lotto in life in that I live in a relatively peaceful country, and was born into a kind and loving family. Then I say a prayer for those who are not so lucky.
This past week-end we attended a beautiful event hosted by Elderdog Canada at their headquarters on Rose Bay, Lunenburg NS. It was their annual ButterflyJubilee which is a commermorative event where you can release a butterfly in memory of those beloved dogs who have passed on. Beautiful property on the shore with 4 klm of trails, BBQ, live enterainment , and best of all the dogs roam free and enjoy the day. They are such a wonderful organization and it was such a peaceful, relaxing and fun day. All the dogs present got along wonderfully.
Trisha says
To Jean, re Willie’s Look Back. I wish there was audio on the video! I think I said “Look Back, Come By” but wouldn’t swear to it. What I know I should have done (but didn’t, sigh) is to have stopped him instantly when he began to go right instead of left. It probably would have meant leaving the post and getting it sorted out (thus losing all points and getting letters–RT for Retired–instead of numbers, but in hindsight that’s what I should have done. (And I love hearing about your camp and group sits. Well done!)
To Milissa: Great question about the fetch. I agree with you (and I think all the top handlers do too) that the lift (first contact with the sheep) and fetch to the handler is key. If the dog is too fast and pushy the sheep panic and either run out of control like deer or turn and fight the dog. If the dog isn’t in contact the sheep learn to ignore it and do what they want. I too thought Willie did well on this one (his second run’s fetch wasn’t as good). He took charge of the sheep but paced himself beautifully I thought. That was a function of 1) lots of training, 2) his natural tendency to be cautious (not always good) and 3) his age. It helps to be eight rather than a two year old dog who is not yet emotionally mature.
Trisha says
To Marjorie: Thank you so much for sharing the description of your Butterfly day. It sounds magical, and made me feel all oxytocin-y just reading it. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
And thanks Milissa too for the advice about helping a dog find sheep he can’t see. Willie does that a lot on the farm at home, because my two acre pasture has a hilltop in the middle so it is common for the sheep to be out of sight. I think his primary problem was that he is used to running 150-200 yards total, never 300. As soon as he heals up I’ll start working on that.. although, again, that’s tough to replicate. But at least I can teach him to not cross over if he stops short.
Stacey Gehrman says
Hope Willie can be back on the sheep soon. He appears to be coming along nicely though I’m no expert.
As for my dogs, this week Gryffe is practicing his Rally moves, and the others are getting used to a new foster dog; a @ 9 mos. old smooth coat BC male. My 11 yr. old BC bitch is teaching him his manners with the help of 6 yr old Chico, another BC, and Kelpie an 8 yr old Lab. He is learning quickly and I am pleased that he takes the slightest hint when his playful attentions are unwelcome.
HFR says
I’m so glad you didn’t have sound cuz I made up my own …”Which way did they go? WTH! They were just here. Did they go over here?” And of course the sheep: “Phew, I guess we outran him, guys. Oh no, here he comes again”. Seriously I think Willie is amazing and without sound it looks like he’s doing it all on his own so he seems like a genius! Do you use the whistle or is it all voice commands?
I took my collie mix for a couple herding lessons but between her being so out of control (she scared them so much that one jumped completely out of the pen), the aversive training methods offered and just how darn hard it was, I quickly gave up. But it is such a beautiful thing to watch that I always regret not carrying through.
I wonder why Willie couldn’t follow his nose to the sheep. Was he just using eyesight? Or was he just concerned about how far he was getting from you?
All you have to do is listen to the news these days to be grateful for so much. And I am.
lin says
Negatives yield positives: Our dog turned out to have separation anxiety and fear aggression, and my research on learning how to help her led me to books on dog training and behavior and you! Her problems made me a much more knowledgeable dog handler than I ever would have been if she had been a ‘normal’ dog.
And on a non-dog note, a financial crisis caused me to move across the country to another job, where I made wonderful friends and met my husband.
liz says
The Silver Lining that has been on my mind most lately fits here well, as it’s also something I look forward to doing with the dogs.
Very long story short: about one year ago, we moved to an abandoned farmhouse on overgrown land whose bedrooms are upstairs. The bedroom location is significant in that all of the dogs’ previous homes had bedrooms on ground level. One of the dogs didn’t take the relocation well initially, and among the changes he exhibited, he no longer slept curled up in the corner of the bedroom. Boo. I never realized how much I appreciated his nighttime routine: hopping up to warm the human bed, staying on for a snuggle, then hopping off to his own dog bed on I hit the light.
Based on the adjectives used to describe the house and land above, one could infer that the last year has been mostly devoted to reviving what once was. Despite the busyness, the dogs routine stayed the same. I made a concerted effort to be present in every daily activity with them, and went a step further by beginning to say goodnight. In lamenting the loss of a dog at the end of the bed, I started a new ritual with them. I’d find wherever they were in house, give their favorite kind of rub or scratch, thank them for some wonderful moment during the day, and say goodnight. Such a simple act that holds great significance with other family members, once I started saying goodnight I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done it before. So now, no matter how crazy a day has been or how tired and sore, everyday I anticipate our happiest nighttime moments.
And lo and behold, after a short while of saying goodnight, my bed-warming dog began following me upstairs to hunker down next to me again.
Trisha says
To HFR: I love your Willie translations. I expect they are actually pretty accurate! Good question about why didn’t Willie use his nose. I suspect that the dogs are all using visual cues and past experience to find the sheep, not their noses. After all, if the wind is going the other way, they’d never find them. And I would guess that they simply have their vision system turned and their scent system on hold, since they never seem to use it when they are working. And your point is so important about just listening to the news to make us feel grateful. Someone was late, very late, to an appointment I had with them and they were all over themselves apologizing. I said “Hey, no one is bombing my house right now. Everything else is gravy.” I can’t pretend to be so sanguine all the time (just ask my husband, my dogs or my staff), but I am working on it…
LisaH says
Beautiful video! I love watching how Willie applies pressure, sometimes from such a distance but the sheep are still pretty calm and keep moving. It’s such a dance. And that was a substantial distance!
Mary says
Loved seeing the run – love to watch herding trials. I haven’t trialed since the Bluegrass in May (in Pronovice – although in that trial there’s no cross drive – that would be Ranch class) due to other obligations, and am hoping to enter some this fall in the Ranch class. Sheepdog trialing is an addictive sport. I also need practice on large fields and my dog is also 8 years old (my first BC). So great that Willie made all of his panels! Very nice! Thanks for sharing!
Trisha says
To liz: How I loved your comment about saying good night to each and every dog. Right now Maggie sleeps in a crate downstairs (Maggie, aka “Beaver Dog,” who is still learning what is chewable (her toys, antlers and other assorted items so designated) and what is not (ie, the remote control I took out of her mouth this morning). When I put her in her crate for the night I say “Goodnight Maggie, I love you” and it feels so good. You reminded me I should say it to Willie and Tootsie too. Just because they get to come upstairs with us doesn’t mean I should add that to our ritual. Thanks for the sweet reminder.
Juniper says
Thanks for posting the video! My favorite part was how quickly Willie turned and ran during the “around the post” portion.
patrick says
Such a treat to see Willie in action. This is the time of year when no amount of working the dogs seems like enough.Total pleasure. Are you and Willie doing WWSDA this year?
Mireille says
I love seeing Willy in action! My how he runs, lovely! Guess I once realise why I chose my breed; I plain and simple love Speed! Anyway, silver lining… We are planning a merger between our lab and another one. Which means our staff will have to travel a lot further. Actually, it is more of a take-over with consent than a merger. But anyway, as managing doctor it causes me tons of stress and I am learning about leadership. Something that brings together dog training and management.. I’ve been doing a lot of extra time, and since I was very tired, my colleagues thought it was a splendid idea for me to take a couple of days of. My husband was away on a conference so I just had three days of “just me and the doggies” time. On monday we walked in the wood for ages. Okay, it was not an easy walk. They still pull like crazy when smelling wildlife. At some stages it felt more like a wrestling match than a walk. So I took my camera and at several points along the way I tied them to a couple of trees and experimented with photography. Which helps me to regain my “zen”. Then at the last stretch of the road, I finally had one of the dogs, Shadow, walking besides me on a loose leash. I nearly cried. The day after I went to a dog trainer because they’ve been reactive on leash, Spot especially at dogs who approach next to a bicycle. At one point, he leapt at a dog and I got my fingers caught in his collar and , yes, well, have to admit it, I screamed in pain because he kept pulling and I could not get them out. After that it really got worse. Yesterday we practiced and because we were one-on-one and I was focusing really on what was happening, I noticed “the look” > The quick look he gave me when the cyclist with dog approached (the dog-trainer with his young male malinois cross named Haggis). And I just told him “it’s okay, we walk on” (with words an demeanour) and he looked at the dog, gave a little halfhearted growl and walked on with me. YES, we will get there ;-). The trainer was very positive that I could pretty easily get this turned around. Yeah! and my fingers still work!
Mireille says
just one more line to add: the work with the dogs totally made me forget my “work-work” 😉
Gary says
True story.
I got my first golden retriever a few years ago. She was about a year old and it was December. I took her out for her walk one cold clear night. Really cold, and our rural neighborhood is dark at night. I didn’t want to be out there. Dinner was late, I was cold and hungry, and I just wanted to get it over with. I walked fast, head down, shoulders scrunched. Dog had been in the house all day and wanted to be a dog and sniff everything. After tolerating a few rounds of my “come ON! Let’s Go!” and pulling her leash she had enough and sprinted ahead, turned around, and sat right in front of me. Her face said, “jeez, can you just stop a minute!”
I realized what I had been doing, knelt down and put my arm around her. “OK”, I said, “Sorry, you are right. Let’s just sit here.” I watched her breath in the starlight as she looked around, and then looked up at the sky. I followed her gaze up and just at that moment a shooting star wooshed overhead.
Ever since then, on most nights, I make a point to stop with the dogs, sit in the street, and just look and listen.
Cally says
I had a silver-lining moment last week: Because of my 10-year-old lab’s hip dysplasia, we’ve had to very nearly eliminate walks in the rain. Last Friday, it was pouring – and I decided that we’d head out anyway, for old time’s sake.
We ended up splashing through the woods for three hours, grinning at each other and getting soaked. We loved every minute, precisely because we had not been out in heavy rain for so long. After coming home, we snuggled on the couch together, and Nerina spent the next hours with a hot-water-bottle at her side. It was worth it – those moments of connection are getting more precious with every day my dog gets older.
Amy, on the other hand, has me stumped. She’s the three-year-old Maltese-Mix on your “Cautious Canine” program, but she obviously hasn’t read the book. While she has been more relaxed overall, she hasn’t shown any signs of happiness upon seeing people at a distnace – EXCEPT for the two (unplanned) times when there where people right in front of her, talking to her. She actually walked up to a guy talking at her, tail wagging, ears up. And, if anything, men have been her biggest problem before.
In both situations, I intervened by tossing the toy before she had a chance to get scared. Overall, we’re happy with her progress…but we do worry that she may have made a completely different connection than the one we’ve been expecting. Any idea what we’re doing wrong?
Kat says
One of the best things in the world is watching a dog do what it loves. Thanks for the video.
There are lots of silver linings at my house. Here’s one that is directly the result of living with dogs who need to be walked no matter what the weather. https://www.flickr.com/photos/33350160@N02/8162786706/in/set-72157629579818786 Grey, gloomy, cold walk but views like that make it so worthwhile.
An ongoing silver lining is a Facebook Group a friend and I started based on the idea that we all have abundance to share. It’s a daily antidote to the unkindness and hate that is everywhere in the news. Members of the group give and receive freely from the abundance that they have, someone who is financially strapped may have an abundance of knowledge to share, someone else might have an abundance of stuff, and someone else might have an abundance of skill. It means that everyday I get to watch people help and support each other. This morning I saw someone ask for dog food to tide their dog over until pay day almost at the same time someone else offered the gift of a mostly full 40 lb bag of dog food that their new puppy can’t eat due to grain allergies and then I saw these two people connect. How cool is that? Something to be happy about every day.
parallel says
Everything about Jonas’s arrival in my life was a bright silver lining on a little dark cloud. One of my fellow techs at the vet hospital called out of work the day he was brought in. I picked up the phone without thinking when normally I always checked the number and pretended not to be home (otherwise I’d get called in to cover for someone every other day.) That night was jam packed with emergencies, and the tech who was supposed to bring him down to the ward got trapped out in the parking lot with an angry rotti. The vet who was supposed to euthanize him because of his incredibly poor prognosis got called up to deal with yet another emergency. With all the chaos, every cage in the ward was full, forcing me to carry this pathetic, comatose kitten around while I tried to get some work done. Because I was carrying him, he was able to bite me…which convinced me to try and save his life.
That was a busy, chaotic, exhausting night…and if any part of it had gone down differently, Jonas would have been euthanized at six weeks old and I would have missed out on profound relationship that has improved my life in countless ways.
Late on, I was involved in a car accident that caused permanent damage to my spine. Because I could no longer lift heavy objects or wrestle dogs, I had to leave my job. That accident also gave me a settlement that was *just* enough to cover Jonas’ first round of surgeries and procedures. So there was a definite silver lining there!
Trish Kirby says
Although I don’t know a thing about sheep herding, I love the video. I like to be able to SEE what you are saying sometimes. Went to a few websites to check out sheep herding in Michigan but it seems that training facilities are few and far between. It would be interesting to watch in person. At least I have a basic understanding now and learned what some of the commands mean so I can appreciate what I’m seeing in the video. I can see how the training and sport would be addicting and fun.
So after years of training, if a few sheep got out and went up the hill, would you be able to stand by the barn and say ” Willie, go get the sheep” ,”Bring the sheep back Willie” would he? Or is that too much LASSIE like wishful thinking? Also I was wondering if after much practice do you think that a dog understands that when he moves a certain way he is causing the sheep to move a certain way to ultimately end up at a specific point? Basically that they understand after a while how to bring the sheep in without your command. I think yes.
As far as the silver lining? I know it’s there, I’m just not seeing/recognizing it. Which only means I have to look harder.
em says
So fabulous to find that tiny frog while picking beetles (I know the task only too well, and have made friends with a variety of garden toads, benign bugs, and the occasional beautifully checkered snake (we can’t figure out what kind he/she is- probably some sort of odd color morph of garter snake- but she’s fat and satisfied among my pesticide-free and chipmunk-ridden plants- that I regularly come across while doing it, but my best garden find this year was the almost unbelievably tiny salamander I found while clearing the winter cover from around the base of my roses this spring. I’ve happily come across some of his bigger cousins, but the surge of pure delight when I peered down, thinking, ‘what kind of a worm is that?” and saw his perfect, miniature form, small enough to perch on the tip of a finger, just can’t be beat).
It’s also so lovely to see Willie working. There’s just nothing better than seeing a dog doing what he loves.
@Liz, and on the topic of bedtime rituals and turning negatives into positives, my story is actually about the flip side-morning rituals.
As long as we’ve been together, my husband has set his alarm to go off waaaaay before he actually needs to get up in the morning. It used to be rather a point of contention between us- I understand his desire to wake slowly, but the alarm woke me a great deal more fully than him, and it drove me nuts-” why can’t you just set it for TEN minutes before you need to get up and actually SLEEP for that last half hour instead of being pestered to death?” Despite my ongoing disgruntlement, the practice stuck.
Once we brought Otis home, however, the significance of that time started to change. I’m not sure how he worked this out, but on his own, Otis decided that the alarm meant, “people are awake but still in bed- time for snuggles”, and the dog who never tried to sneak into bed at night quickly created a ritual of snuggle time in those early mornings. Otis would climb up, fold himself into the space at the bottom of the bed, snooze for a few minutes more with his velvety ear draped over my ankles and his head against my feet, and slowly wake with us. We’d rub his face and belly on our way out of bed, and whichever of us needed to be up earliest would head to the shower as the other stole a few more precious moments snuggled in bed with the dog. When Sandy came, she took to this ritual like a duck to water, and if I thought Otis was a snuggly dog, Sandy taught me that I truly hadn’t seen anything yet.
Sandy has mastered the art of the snuggle. She will crawl up the bed to lie between my husband and I, tucking her legs close to her root beer barrel of a torso like a baby seal, resting her head ever so gently on one human hip or shoulder while pressing her back against the other.
Both dogs are shockingly good bedmates, given their improbable size-to-available space ratio, quiet and warm, not at all pushy, and while they are far too big to even consider spending the whole night with, their warm, contented presence has transformed this morning alarm ritual that I used to dread into my favorite time of the day, the moments when we are all together, safe and warm, enjoying one another’s company before we go out and greet the day.
Kathleen Bullard says
My silver lining this week is getting our little terrier rescue mix, Blake, groomed. When we initially took him from the shelter, I had arranged with my vet to immediately get all his shots, have him groomed, and then take him in to be neutered the next day. But when she saw him, and how badly matted he was, she said they would groom him they next day when he was anesthetized. He was shaved, but they left some of the fur on his ears (which are huge), his tail and muff. He looked so cute! Six weeks later, upon recommendation from a friend, I had him groomed by a mobile groomer who against all my instructions, had him look like a chihuahua except for the tail. I was horrified! In addition, my neighbor who was sitting outside later told me how much Blake was howling in there.
So I got online and started looking around. I found a place that provides do it yourself grooming to complete care. After bathing him there ourselves several times, I asked about them grooming him. Yes, they listen, and you can stay with your dog and the groomer. So yesterday Blake was groomed by a wonderful person who kept him calm and unrestrained the whole tine while we watched and discussed the cut. He looks the best since we got him 7 months ago! So had the mobile groomer not shaved him, I might never have looked and found such a wonderful, gentle, caring place that does such a beautiful job. Such a relief!
Trisha says
Quickly, to Trisha, before going out to feed the sheep: Yes, I can indeed send Willie to bring the sheep down the hill, through the woods to the barn. However, it is only successful if the sheep are not in a second pasture, which would require him moving them away from the barn first through a gate. (I should admit that there are some exceptions: a few times he’s run back to me with a quizzical look on his face and we went back up the hill together and there they were right in front of us.) But usually he can and does, and I can tell you there is little that makes my heart bigger than standing by the barn, and seeing the silhouettes of the flock appear at the top of the hill through the woods, and then watch them trot down the path, single file, with my little dog behind them.
Trisha says
Kathleen, I love your silver lining and upbeat attitude. Lucky handsome Blake!
And em, you are a brilliant writer. Here’s one of my favorite lines: “…tucking her legs close to her root beer barrel of a torso like a baby seal.” Thank you so much for your description of morning time with Sandy and Otis, it was lovely, just lovely. I say I’d like to be there too but that would sound creepy.
em says
Aww, shucks. *blushes*. Thank you, Trisha, I can’t tell you what a compliment that is, coming from you!
Beth says
Kat, I too have dogs that need to be walked no matter the weather (well, at least one of them does). When we are trudging through a light rain or out with flashlights, reflective gear, and 7 layers on a frigid winter night, I often ask my husband what the chances are that we would be out exercising in THIS were it not for the dogs. I don’t consider that a silver lining, personally, because one of the main reasons I specifically chose higher-energy dogs was to force me to get out and do stuff even when I didn’t feel like it. So it is not an unexpected benefit.
Here is one of my silver linings: I have a form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis that leaves me stiff and sore if i sit too long. I used to be one of those people who would hunker down and forget to move for hours if I was engrossed in a good book or film, or writing, or doing a puzzle, or whatever. And I have a desk job. I lost that to this illness; I get up at least once an hour and frequently more to move around an loosen up. It seemed quite a loss at first, though now I am used to it. And then studies came out showing that sitting too long is perhaps one of the worst things for your health, and even hours at the gym can’t undo the damage. And so now I am grateful, in a way, that I was forced to change something that was a core part of my personality, because now I am like a jack-in-the-box and can hardly sit still and it turns out that is probably the healthier way to live.
Or, as my husband likes to say: “Good thing, bad thing. Who can say?”
Trish Kirby says
Wow! Well I certainly don’t need a picture to “see” that wonderful image of the silhouette of the sheep and Willie coming home. Could be a great illustration for a book cover.
@em- because I had the pleasure of seeing a picture of Otis I couldn’t help but to laugh a bit at the thought of that BIG BOY coming up for a snuggle.
Annie R says
Ah yes, the good thing/bad thing/who knows syndrome!
I’ve had the great experience of having seven dogs in the last fifteen years (2 or 3 at a time) and because I have a busy work life and live in a city environment, the last 4 were acquired at ages between 8 and 12 years old – yes, two twelve-year-old adoptees in a row! And I was always so grateful to take in these lovely sweet herding and herding/husky mixes in their mellow years, but six losses in the last 6 years, with the last two within a six-month time frame, added up to a huge weight of grief which threatened to overwhelm me – and certainly not helped by having lost each of my parents within the last 2 years as well.
But, it turns out, having that many dogs in a short number of years has resulted in my being able to know very quickly when a dog is “made for me”, and after two months with no dog in the house (my first “empty-nest” stretch in 15 years), I’ve just brought home a 7 year old Australian Shepherd, a very “soft”, pet-temperament standard/mini cross who has settled into my home and heart in the past week to a degree that I have to remind myself he hasn’t been here forever. For me, he is a spring chicken at 7; hopefully I will have him quite awhile!
I’ve never really regretted having all those dogs – they’ve all been wonderful, but so many losses had me floundering for awhile – and working with each of them as they adjusted to my lifestyle and busy neighborhood led me to an immediate recognition of the right kind of energy and responsiveness in this little guy. He’s going to be a good walking partner and already is sweet and snuggly, makes me laugh with some fun silly quirks, and yet is a calm “city dog” personality who doesn’t blink at noise and numerous neighbors all around. We are a perfect match; it feels like the fantasy of an internet romance come true! And after all the losses, it sure is nice to quickly and easily have a new loverbug in the house.
Parker says “Hi, Trisha” and “thanks for the ‘Love Has No Age Limit’ booklet – Momma really caught on to what I needed her to do by reading it just before she came and got me!” Parker is right – what a good refresher on how to have their first days be successful – and he’s been a superstar! We both, seriously, thank you so much for it. Many healing adventures ahead!