Doggy Details
Doggies and People
Cats
Horses
Posted on June 29, 2010
Last weekend I photographed three Great Pyrenees Mixes for the Pott County Calendar I am working on. These three beauties are four years old and have not seen each other since their puppy days, when they were pickedup by Animal Control and brought to the Pottawatomie County Caring Hearts Humane Society. And I think I can safely say there wasn’t much family recognition among them (in case you were wondering why I didn’t sit them very close to each other). They are beautiful big dogs, though. With amazing amber colored eyes. A big thanks to their humans for bringing them back together for me!
Posted on June 15, 2010
I am in love with this new DVD I got. It is about dogs’ body language and what they are trying to tell you. I have been reading about it (much by Patricia McConnell) and tried to see it in my dogs but I guess I am a visual person and it’s not as easy for me to translate my theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge. At least not in this case. So I found this DVD by Sarah Kalnajs, a dog trainer and behavior consultant. It is a recording of a seminar she gave (for shelter staff, I believe) in which she goes through each and every body signal a dog could give and backs it up by examples on video, which she gathered from mainly dog assessments in all sorts of environments. I am in love with it! I think I am just going to keep it in my DVD player for a few weeks and play it over and over again to make sure it is imprinted into my brain 
I absolutely recommend it for anyone dealing with many dogs, shelter staff, foster parents, humane society volunteers, or anyone who visits the dog park frequently and would like to know when to back off. That DVD cleared up some signals I see in one of my dogs that majorly confused me. Now I know for sure that she has got some major fear issues. Sarah Kalnajs gets four paws up from us!
*EDIT Sarah Kralnajs website also has some good resources for further information on anything training and behavior related!*
Posted on June 12, 2010
Duke was adopted from the Pottawatomie Count Caring Hearts Humane Society last summer. Shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo treatment including surgery. If you didn’t know, though, you couldn’t tell. He is a sweet, happy and well behaved dog. And he has lots of fun with his new football that no one could pry from his paws!
Posted on June 3, 2010
I had a nice training break-through this week. I finally found a real motivator for Maize. She was kind of a tough nut to crack. While Mac is crazy food motivated Maize could care less. I mean, she does stuff for food, but only in rare circumstances is she ever as eager and excited as Mac. And that eagerness is what makes Mac’s training so easy. So I tried different things with Maize: different treats, petting, tug, fetch. Nothing. But now I found it. Fetch in the water! She loves run and chase after stuff, but on land she hardly ever brings it back to me… but she looooves to swim and swim after her fetch toy. I have not seen her this excited… ever! So I incorporated her training into our walks by the water and she learned to sit in a perfect heel position after two days. (And at the end of the video you see my super cool new shoes, that I will be writing about here soon)
I don’t believe that there is a dog that is not food motivated, but I do believe that some enjoy other things just as much or even more. Go and find your dogs perfect reward and be amazed by how fast she can learn all of a sudden!
Posted on June 2, 2010
I still have not figure out if the expression “a dogs life” is supposed to be good or bad. If you measure it by Russel’s life, it is as good as it gets. I want to live like Russel lives. This boy is so sweet and beautiful. Him and I had lots of fun together… well, I don’t know about him, but I sure loved hanging out with him.
Posted on June 1, 2010
I can’t believe I almost missed it. I was featured in the Manhattan Mercury today. I hope I will still be able to find a copy or two somewhere tomorrow!!!
