During the critical development stage for puppies, it's important to expose them to as many new and different people, animals, places and things as we can. It's just as important to expose them in a safe and positive way, though, as a bad experience can sometimes be worse than no exposure to something at all. [...]
Ever tried your hand at sheep herding? Not with your dog, just you. Not something most of us would think of trying ourselves, but I got my opportunity quite unexpectedly the other day. We were out walking our dogs and a boarding dog. As we approached the top of the hill, I realized my neighbor's [...]
It's no secret that our dogs' sense of smell far surpasses our own. Most dogs love to sniff when out on walks, sometimes to the point that it becomes difficult to get much exercise. At least for us. We tend to think of walks from our point of view. The farther you go, the more [...]
In a previous post, I discussed testing off-leash readiness with our dogs. As I described in that post, I am working toward off-leash reliability with Romeo, my Vizsla. At that time, he wasn't quite ready for the freedom of off-leash walks. This past week (May 2011), I have been re-testing his off-leash reliability. I'm happy [...]
At the time I wrote this post (May 2011) I was working on my first book. . . I am making revisions and hoping to get the final draft completed this month. I'm not sure yet when it will be published - still lots to do with the layout, cover, etc. Being a bit of [...]
