This video made me laugh in sympathy, and cry a little, I’ll admit… This is what it’s about. Try, try and try again, enjoy your dog and laugh and love them.
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28Jun
Tags: Inspirational, videos
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03Jun
There’s so many reasons to do Agility as a pastime and a competitive sport- fitness, bonding with your dog, fun… but have you ever thought about why your dog does agility? Sure, your dog likes running around… and he loves spending time with you… and agility is mad fun… but none of those are reasons for your dog. They’re benefits!Put simply, the reason your dog does agility is you. He wants to please you, and to do as you say. So you become happy when he jumps things (which is so much fun!) and so he is happy, too! boy, that was fun AND it made momma or poppa happy! (As compared to chewing socks, which only made HIM happy, and you very unhappy…) Your dog is out there for you, and you need to be there for him! Even if your dog ’screws up’ on course, don’t give up on her. Keep running, keep signaling and tell yourself next time it’ll go better and you’ll get it right. Don’t stop and throw your hands up in exasperation. There’s always another run, and your dog doesn’t need to know it should have taken the jump instead of the tunnel, because by the time he’s already done it it’s pointless! Keep agility positive for your dog, so he will continue to want to do what you ask him.
Dogs love to please. Make things easier on your dog and remember that you’re only a human, and that they are only a dog. Neither of you are perfect. The love between you, however, is. In the grand scheme of things, that’s what matters.
You work together, and play together, and look out for each other. When you compare that to a missed weave entry or tunnel ), what is it? It’s not much, really. If anything, it means you get to spend more time together, ironing out that particular wrinkle. What didn’t break you made you stronger as a team and as individuals.
You ask agility of your dog, and he delivers. It’s wonderful for both of you and a great way to keep your best friend in shape and out of trouble! But remember, ultimately, you are the dogs’ reward for a job well done.
…But the cookies are great, too.
Tags: agility training, Inspirational
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13May
It can be difficult to support shelters the way we’d like to. freekibble.com is a website where EVERYONE can help give food to shelter animals! There is a trivia question every day, and for every answer you give (even if its’ the wrong one) you give ten kibbles of dog or cat food. While ten kibbles may not seem like a lot, think of it this way. If ten people do it, that’s a hundred kibbles. That’s a quarter cup. That’s breakfast for some dogs! It takes a second, and you can do it every day. If ten people do it for ten days, that one thousand kibbles! That’s a respectable amount of food! (there’s a link for cats, too!)There are several hundred subscribers to this blog. If everyone does this, we could contribute 6,000 kibbles in just one day! It takes so little, and yet it can be so much to a needy animal.
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07May
This film clip below is amazing. Dogs really don’t use their forepaws, but this dog seems to instinctively know that its’ injured fellow needs more than just being dragged by his mouth. The dog is showing more humanity than the humans driving by on the busy highway.
It’s rare that a film actually moves me to tears, but this one does.
Tags: Events & News, Inspirational
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21Apr
I recently learned a very important lesson in my class.When we started the class, everyone laughed as they saw my large collie mix bouncing along beside me. He didn’t walk- he boinged like a ball! He was pretty obviously one of the worst dogs there. I knew he had it in him, though- he just needed to apply his home learning in a class setting. I wanted the class for socialization and heeling in an active setting more than anything.By the third week, people were commenting on how much better my dog was! I felt great, because my dog had very rapidly become one of the better dogs in the class. He was okay with applying what he’d learned at home in an active setting for the most part!
But then, I let myself rest on my laurels, as it were. Quick didn’t get any better, though he remained calm and collected and a good boy in class. He wasn’t improving because I wasn’t working with him. I was looking at all the other dogs and saying ‘my dogs’ doing great! He’s one of the best here!’
He wasn’t his best, though, and I knew it on graduation night when he flat-out refused a heel position sit. He’d sit- in front of me. I hadn’t bothered to teach him placement, because no one else could do it, so why should we? It wasn’t that I chose not to heel position him, I just didnt’ bother!
It was a sobering lesson, that when you compare you either come out ahead or behind, and neither is good for you, or your dog. If I were comparing him to my older dog, I’d be depressed about him and tell him he’d never be as good. But comparing him to a rambunctious bunch of beginner dogs, he was an angel! I needed to take Quick as his own dog and teach him and myself to progress as far as he could.
Don’t hold yourself back, and don’t let anyone else hold you back, either! Just because your dog isn’t the ‘best’ doesn’t mean it isn’t YOUR best. And just because he IS the best doesn’t mean it’s YOUR best, either.
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