Pack Life and Cabin Fever
John and I are living in this tiny little apt above a garage right now. We have been here for about 8 months while we are having a new house built. We used to let students use it when they were here for camps or [...]
Winning When You Lose and Losing When You Win
I got a note from a student recently that was thrilled with her performance at a weekend trial, earning her first ever "double Q" in an AKC trial, the first step toward her MACH, gathering a boat load of mach points in the process as [...]
Saying Good Bye to a Great One
Canadian agility lost one of it's very special dogs yesterday with the passing of Sarah Mairs' brilliant Golden Retriever "Gabby". She was only 10 1/2 years old. Gabby was an amazing flyball dog, one of the fastest "non-Border Collies" of her day and brilliantly represented [...]
Omaha, Nebraska, good times, but stay away from the organic diners:)
Well I just spent the weekend with a great group of Mid-Westerners in Omaha, Nebraska. Lots of laughing, it is always a bonus when you can have a great time when you go to help people with their dog training. It was an unusual training [...]
A Critical Key To Training the Running Contact?
I have had a few of you email me privately and one post to my blog why I thought a "fool-proof method of running contacts was unlikely." I don't pretend to have all of the dog training answers and I am not a pessimist about [...]
Is Agility Keeping Pace with Technological Advances?
Earlier this week John and I had to spend the day in the car running errands an hour or more away from home. Yes of course he drove, I do love me life. As he was driving I was thinking about all of the technological [...]
Continuing with Life’s Processes
I am continuing the topic I started yesterday, describing how I have emotionally coped with the advancing progression of my dog's lives. Denial and Grieving. The day after losing Stoni I had to leave for 3 weeks of teaching in Australia. Stoni had been sick for [...]
Lessons in Life’s Processes . . . get the kleenex.
It has to do with the oneness you become with that dog on the agility field. You are a team. The time and dedication invested in a relationship to reach that degree of unity only helps to fuel the burning pain of loss as your time together draws to a close.
2×2 Weave Pole Training with a Food Only Motivated Dog
Now that there are so many of you excelling with the 2x2 process I thought I would answer a few questions that you have sent in about training dogs that are not toy motivated. First of all yes, this method works well with all dogs, [...]
Doggie Diction
I talk to me dogs. I don’t mean I talk to my dogs the way normal people do, saying things like -- ”yeah boy, get the stick”. I mean I talk to them like I expect, at any moment, they are about to answer back. I don't [...]
More About Me Than Anyone Really Needs to Know
This is a great read by a seven your old kid, really you have to check it out. In it he says "I believe everyone is weird in their own way." I am about to prove it. For a light-hearted change of pace I thought I [...]
Perspective
Once I finished writing the following post, I really questioned whether I should put it up on my blog. It didn't feel as light-hearted or uplifting as others I have written. I decided to let it go because there are a few lessons that I [...]
