Talisman & Totem SportDogs

I love training dogs. I think my dogs love to train too. It's a process, each at a different place in their learning, but each brilliant! The time change to turn back the clocks last week and rainy, chilly pre-winter creeping in, make outdoor training harder. Not sure how it goes from getting dark a little early, to pitch-black at 5 PM EST and I feel like going to bed at 8 PM is reasonable. Fighting the dark winter hibernation instinct, training helps with that.  Formal Training is probably only about 5-10% of my dog's lives, with hiking, etc and just being a dog important too. I do think my dogs enjoy training/working though, as my goal is always to build behavior and the bond. I am not a punishment based/aversive trainer. I think I would not enjoy my dogs as much, if that was our life together and training relationship. R+ training focuses on bringing out the best in each dog. The dogs might fail or make mistakes and that can build resiliency in learning, but I prefer not to ...

 Euthanasia is a shitty word. When you think about it, death is too. My old cat is dying and I am sad. Very sad. 20+ years on this earth, 15 with me, she was slated for euthanasia when I adopted her. I don't believe you can save them all, but something about this quarrelsome, cranky biter got me.  Her eyes looked like the Harvest moon, glaring a blood-orange glow as we drove home. She looked more like a Portuguese Water dog than a cat.  Shaved like a Portie-she had probably never seen a brush and with her thick coat of Maine Coon x Persian hair, she was a cat who needed to be brushed. That was one of our first agreements, there would be NO brushing. Nails were negotiable, but biting me was also an option.  Animals really do mark the passage of our lives. It seems like yesterday we were driving home. She had not been vetted at the shelter, needed to be spayed, was filled with Giardia and had an adverse reaction to Rabies vaccine on our first veterinary appointment. Bu...