Talisman & Totem SportDogs

Six years ago, I lost my Mom. I drove the 3 hour R/T daily for a month to sit with her in ICU. My ever hopeful side, willed her to recover from a traumatic brain injury. I stopped hoping after she died, my heart went numb for a long time. Ten months later I lost my Dad, an orphan suddenly. We all go through it at some point, but I wasn't ready. When we love someone, losing them shreds you. It doesn't feel any different today, than it did 6 years ago to lose her-but maybe just a few less tears. Today is also the 2nd birthday of my SoBright. This pup would have made my Mom laugh, after she would have commented on her lovely stifle angle and tried to convince me to "show" her. Um nope, but sports and stock yes. Bright would have loved my Mom, who would probably given her all sorts of milk bones and sugary dog treats, that I never would. Her Mama Ffire loved visiting my Mom. I remember the first real show I went to as a Junior handler, my Mom was so proud, I was t...

Dan Rather 7 hrs  ·  I close today with a very heavy heart. I ache for my country and all those in pain. I rage at a national leadership bereft of empathy and the minimal instincts of de escalation. May tomorrow shine its light upon a path towards love, peace, and most importantly, justice. ~ This week has not been a good one, my heart is heavy after the recent senseless death of George Floyd. And, recently Ahmaud Arbery. The entitled racist behavior of Amy Cooper...the list goes on. There have been demonstrations, both loud destructive riots and peaceful quiet protest marches (with most wearing masks because they care about each other!)-but the reality is the undercurrent of racism and hate, that our current administration has ignited, inflames and condones.  Our country is being looted in it's heart and soul. Racism and classism have always existed, but until the last few years as a country we seemed to be evolving? Maybe not, if that sore has e...

Summer is here, sort of. Frosts and the heat on a few days ago in NH, then 85F+ this past Friday. The world is slowly starting to open, as Covid-19 cases are not increasing in most states in the US-but still a concern. I think everyone is just stir crazy after 2+ months of stay at home. Working has been hard during this time, but as an independent contractor, no handouts here. The pups have kept me sane and out on the trails, accomplishing health goals, while also providing them variety of environment. We have seen a lot of empty mall parking lots as great walking places, as ticks started to swarm in the woods. Those are starting to get busy again. I miss the beach, but with Memorial Day those that are open are now mostly off limits to dogs. After 5 PM okay for some...but waiting for self-quarantine rules of crossing state borders to lift. I miss working sheep and going to agility class, I think the dogs do too.  My one pup Purple, is now 6 1/2 months old. It has been a tou...

We are all Staying home right now! For now, in NH there is enough space to find places to walk/exercise and still observe the 6' social distancing (I prefer 100') rule.  Some have been dumb and gone to crowded beaches and stand closely in take-out lines, which caused stricter stay at home orders. Won't even talk about the idiotic Spring Breakers in Fl. Or, just yesterday the 100+ protestors standing in close proximity with no face masks at the NH State capitol, wanting to be "free" from stay at home orders, you are not immune....WTF!!!!!!! The curve is flattening, NH likely just got extended time from such selfish stupidity putting us all at risk-who wants to guess a new spike in two weeks?  Limiting contact with the outside world, is really the only way for us all to flatten the curve of this pandemic. This virus is sneaky, as it is morphing around the world and mode of infection/symptoms varies. So basically, none of us are safe. But, what do you do if you h...

"So there is no point in teaching them obstacles, if they lack the basics. So instead of training them, I started to get to know them better, and most of all – we started to play. Just play, no strings attached. And pretty soon, things started to change…" Motivation Puzzle ~~~ I love to be inspired. In training dogs, there are so many who are giving advice, but some "speak" to us, so well! Little nuances of underlying approach and respect for who a dog is, comes through to me in what I see in training. I want the shining eyes and heathen pup, with not so much perfect self-control...not having any issues with motivation in my dogs, but always looking for new ideas to improve our bond and fun in training. Polona Bonac is brilliant and I am glad to be in her newest running "Let's Play" online class.  If we like to have fun, why wouldn't our dogs? WE see them do silly things like tossing a toy into the air to catch it, a game! That joy and g...

Started this thought 2 months ago and never finished it...life has been busy! Dog injuries, illness, work, general craziness in life-all can eat up your time. Now that things are quieting down a bit, even with dark coming earlier each day-getting a bit more time to train the dogs, enjoy a gorgeous New England Fall and filter out unnecessary things.  Try! is about keeping going and focusing ahead to joy, even as roadblocks are thrown in your way...adversity and criticism can be motivators to build more Try!, unless you let them get you down... ~~ One of the qualities I love most in a dog, is Try! A dog who has Try! will often keep working towards completing one of the tasks we ask of them, or they are the pup who doesn't quit trying to get a rolled ball or treat out from behind a cabinet...the relentless ones. Some Try! very calmly, others are very obvious and overt. Sort of like the difference in introverts and extroverts in people-there are the boisterously loud "look at...

It's that time of year again. July 4th is days away and summer storms are kicking in, here in the NE US. I have an 18 year old cat who is terrified of both. I find myself with a young dog who is showing some signs of noise worry, so knowing this is not one of those things that just passes-we are working on it. In the past I have had an older dog start to show storm/fireworks worry and found a few things that helped.  There is a thought that there is a genetic predisposition to sound sensitivity, yet this pup has parents, siblings, 1/2 siblings, etc who show no such worry. Hers was likely a traumatic event, at a key developmental period and while hitting another age of maturing, is at an insecure time right now in general. We can't be with them all the time, even if we wish we could. I am sure it does follow genetics in some cases, but then have also seen sound worry dogs produce pups with no such worry...so that is interesting too! Some dogs as they get older will start to ...