Emeline today after working great!
Emeline today after working great!
Ms Emeline enjoying her ball after working on a hot summer day!
Usually once every month or two you will find me out of scrubs or dog training clothes and in the mustang with my husband for a few hours of alone time. Last night was the first time in almost 5 months that it occured! Dinner and a show and then of course some grocery shopping to top off the evening left me dogless for about 4 hours. It was rough but i made it and am now exempt from having to do it again for a few months!!!
Of course the morning was spent SAR training, but that’s a different post!!!! Ahhh some of us where just BORN TO TRAIN!!!!
I was at a consult this past week when someone made a reference to me as “the dog whisperer” While i appreciate any comment towards a well known popular dog person (albeit whether i agree with his methods or not) i am not, in anyway, a dog whisperer. The term is just plain, well, dumb. What does it mean??? How would you ever “whisper” to a dog? Why would a dog care if you even did whisper? Dogs do NOT communicate like humans do, we cannot whisper, yell, cry, scream, yodel, bark, meow, purr, whistle, burp, or even groan for godsakes as dogs do not communicate through vocalization like humans do. To really truly understand dogs one must first observe said dog. I say this because EVERY dog is different, it doesn’t matter the breed, sex, age, or size of the dog they are all genetically different and environmentally influenced to have varying personalities. Once the dog has been observed you can start to draw SOME conclusions about the dog, and what methods of communication will work, and even why he is offering certain behaviors or unpleasant habits. Then once this has been accomplished you can begin to build your relationship with said dog, in hopes of opening the barriers in communication that exist between dog and human.
I do not whisper, I translate.
Offering some basic classes in good canine communication this summer please check out our website for details!!
Honestly i’m to busy in my little doggie filled life to pay attention to what goes on in most the world, but even this news did pop up on my facebook account this morning when i got up. It’s really a shame that people have nothing better to do then make up fictional dates and activities that will never happen. So rather then dwell on any possibility that life as we know it will end i got out and trained some dogs!!!!!!
The main lesson for today was training in the rain is fun!!!! Well it’s wet at least. All 3 girls plus felix got a short search problem in the rain and thunderstorms that ensued this miserable afternoon. Despite the downpour, thunder, and distant lightning (no one was in danger, we made sure the bad portion of the storms was going around us so we were just able to desensitize the dogs to the sounds and environment without actual danger) everyone did AMAZING. Now in most situations we will not search in sever thunderstorms but it doesn’t hurt to know that the dogs can do it without any hesitation. They know there job and they do it well.
I was extremely proud of abby (who’s indication is a bump, meaning she comes up and slams me on my chest as hard as she can then takes me back to the subject) who not only located the subject in her off trail problem but i had already passed him so she had to come up and slam my back which was the first thing presented to her!!!! We had been working the last few months on getting her to slam me anywhere not just my front so i know that she would alert me no matter what part of my body was closest to her. Way to go Abigail!!!
This past weekend Kara from Amigo SAR dogs and I attended a Bill Dotson workshop up in Skaneateles New York. It was a pretty dreary wet weekend but we made the most of it. The weekend was a lot of classroom work and it was a wealth of knowledge. Bill is a great guy and one of the guys who started it all with search and rescue in the 1970’s. He absolutely loved the way Raina worked and i was one proud handler.
Every morning and evening we took everyone on long walks around Skaneateles which was great socialization and desensitization for them. I brought Raina to work the seminar and Abby to keep an eye on her recovery so she was able to tag along on all the walks too. Kara brought Felix the GSD Life Long Tails got a few months ago who we wanted to place in a working home. All three did fantastic downtown even during the busy night hours.
Everyone did great in the hotel room and were on their best behavior at the seminar, no barking or complaining even with being in there crates a lot during classtime. I have to say we have the best behaved dogs!
I usually only attend a seminar every year but i always take a lot away from it and this time was no exception! I hope before the summer is up to visit Bill and his training facility in Virginia!
Fugly and Val relaxing at work.