Category: Dog Stuff
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Heat exhaustion or heat stoke in dogs
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What to look for, how to treat and suggestions for alternative physical and mental exercise No question, it’s hot. Oh … and it’s the middle of summer too which means heat, humidity (especially in NW Florida) and rain. Quickly passing rain showers then create a fabulous outdoor sauna. If sweating…
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Benefits of daily walks with your dog(s)
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This photo was taken on my favorite stretch of my favorite trail in my favorite State Park in Tennessee. If you were to scroll through my photos app, it’s very evident that my dogs are a big part of my life. It’s also evident that most of my favorite photos…
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Benefits of Daily Walking
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No excuse. You should be walking. Every. Single. Day. If you do an online search for the “benefits of walking,” you will get several pages from a bunch of different sources all explaining the amazing advantages of walking as exercise. Try it yourself and you’ll see what I mean. Everything…
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per·se·ver·ance
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noun 1. persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Three months after my hip resurfacing surgery in July of 2018, I decided that I would probably never run agility again. I quit entering agility trials several months before when my hip pain was so overwhelming that…
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This is for Finnegan
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I would imagine that stepping to the start line for the very first time with your young dog is much like sky diving. There are the butterflies just before take that first step, the rush of adrenaline as you release yourself into the elements and while you are enjoying the…
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What does grief look like?
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On December 29, 2016, I lost Finnegan to cancer. He was just seven years old. Riley was three when I brought Finnegan home. Finn attached himself to Riley immediately and became his little shadow. Whatever Riley did, Finnegan did. For the almost 8 years they were together, they were very…
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Darcy’s First Trial
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The JOURNEY has begun! Over the past 1.5 years, somewhere in between my “real” job; teaching several agility classes a week; completely renovating a house; working to get Finnegan qualified for AKC Nationals and other life stuff, I found a moment or two to train Little Miss Darcy. Looking back…
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Demo Dog Darcy
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Last week as I was leaving my Performance Puppy class at Pets Behave, I was thinking what a great job my young “demo dog” Darcy had done in class. At one point, I was demonstrating a concept that I call teamwork. To illustrate, I asked Darcy to sit on my…
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Here’s to the Newbies
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I love teaching agility. And for as much as it can be truly difficult and a brain strain to teach beginners, I truly love my beginner class. I love the fact that they greet me with a smile and more importantly, leave with a smile. I love the enthusiasm that…
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It Worked!
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“It worked!” Ahhhh … music to my ears. You would think that after teaching the same group of people for several months, that they would have figured out that (every now and then) I know what I am talking about. But it seems that sometimes they need a little extra…
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Riley Barks at the Moon
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For the past few years, the way I would describe Riley is that he was just happy to be alive. If you would like to know his secret, this is what Riley would suggest for each day: In the morning, go outside, find a good spot and just be. Watch…
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Are Dogs Color Blind?
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This past weekend at the Mobile Bay Dog Training Club, a friend had an interesting experience with her dog. The trial was held just west of Mobile in Vancleave, MS at a covered horse arena on orangish/reddish packed dirt. On Saturday, Tami Grinstead had perfect runs with her Papillon, Peyton,…
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Raw Feeding Primmer
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For over 20 years, I have been feeding my dogs a raw diet. And interestingly, over the past 20 years, it seems that many “dog food” companies have been creating formulas that are getting closer and closer to a natural diet for our dogs – raw meaty bones. When anyone…