I had a moment of pause the other morning when I went to feed the dogs their breakfast. I rattled the dog kibble in their bowls. It was still early morning and Scout, the female wirehaired pointer, and her yellow lab confederate, Drake, were both Johnny on the spot. Our geriatric male Clumber spaniel,...
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In reality, they are really very sweet animals and they don’t intend to harm anyone…but dogs truly need to avoid Sonoran Desert Toads. Dormant throughout most of the year, they emerge from the earth during the rainy monsoon season experienced by those of us living here in the desert Southwest. Typically, the monsoon season...
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“Nice leather sofa you got there…would be a shame if something happened to it.” Their eyes carry the intensity of a protection racket courier picking up the weekly envelope of cash. We have rituals at our house. The day starts with the making of the oatmeal, which includes adding blueberries to the mix. Frozen...
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There are practical things to consider when scheduling a rattlesnake aversion training session. A common question I hear is, “Why does the training take so long?” In our highly scheduled and demanding world in which people have jobs and appointments to get to, scratching this essential dog training session off the list is more...
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I open most of my Snake Safe (rattlesnake aversion) classes by telling my folks, “I’m going to tell you something and you won’t believe it until you watch it today. Rattlesnakes are invisible to dogs.” That is a simple declarative statement, yet people don’t really grasp that I mean that literally. A rattlesnake can be on the ground...
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Today Morning Perimeter Report Good morning, Big Yellow Dog here reporting for perimeter duty. Both the girl dog and I were ready at dawn, but the humans lingered in their sleeping chamber. I suspect they may have been feigning sleep in an attempt to stall the important work of property patrol. I can not...
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Many years ago, I joined Toastmaster’s International in order to improve my skills and gain confidence as a speaker and communicator. My very first assignment was to introduce myself to the group at our weekly meeting. As I have always suffered from a broad range of interests, skills and experiences, putting together a cohesive...
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I often get questions about training older dogs- people wonder just how successful one might be trying to train an old dog? My experience has been that when you have lived with a dog, there comes a turning point. Yes, early on you are training the dog, but not too far down the road...
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I tend to be careful about the things I choose to react to…I once heard a line in a cowboy Western years ago, where the lead character admonished another person with the line, “I let people kill their own snakes.” I’ve tried to live by those words of wisdom, letting others fight their own...
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Recently we talked about rope, the primary and simplest tool a dog trainer needs. In this week’s blog we will explore the second essential training tool: your voice. It’s the one thing we all use to communicate, and yet we underestimate its power and potential peril when used to train our dogs. Since we...
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