Author: Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related. I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  • Productivity placebo effect

    Have you ever heard of those productivity studies, where no matter what researchers do productivity goes up (at least temporarily)? Paint gray walls pink. Productivity goes up. Paint them gray again. Productivity goes up. Pipe in music. Productivity goes up. Pull the music … you get the picture. Sometimes that’s how I feel about all the ways I try to help Lilly overcome hear shyness and fear. Everything seems to help, at least at first. I’m beginning to think we have a productivity placebo effect.

  • Green handler seeks experienced dog

    In response to “No praise for you.” a regular reader compares matching newbie handlers with green dogs to putting a first-time rider on an inexperienced horse. Hello … disaster calling. The question she raises is valid: Would green handlers learn more from running experienced dogs before they attempt to train their own green dog? After all, you can get already-trained field dogs? Why not already-trained agility dogs?

  • Rainy day survival

    It’s been raining nearly all day, and Lilly is going mad. This is Colorado not the Pacific NW. When it rains, it’s usually just part-time thing. I’m going to bundle up one more time and see if I can get her to play. But, I can’t keep this up. C’mon sun!

  • What’s that smell?

    There are no sissified city dogs at my house. We have rough and tumble mountain dogs around these parts. And, that means, they get into all sorts of really gross situations. So, come with me my friends, and let’s play as David Letterman would say, “fastest growing quiz sensation” … What’s THAT smell?

  • Wedding Numerology (NY Times)

    I often write about our training struggles, which truth be told feel like big, fat failures . So, today, I’m going to brag just a bit on myself. I had another article published yesterday by The New York Times. The piece, called “Lady Luck as Bridesmaid,” is my fifth for the SundayStyles section, which is a big, BIG deal. It’s hard to convey, but imagine you trained for 6 months for one run at one of the biggest, invitation-only national trials. Now, imagine the feeling of crossing the finish line with a clean run that millions of people saw. That’s how I feel today. (Well, that, and grateful the piece is finally done.) If you’d like to read what I really do for a living, I pasted the text of the article below.

  • Puppies coming in waves

    Like surf racing toward sandy shores, I’m beginning to believe that puppies come in waves. Along with Indy (star of yesterday’s post), puppies are busting out all over around here. Yes, I know it’s sort of puppy season, but this year it feels like nearly everyone I know is getting a new pup. This set of dogs will grow up together, train together, compete together, and the pull to ride this wave is strong. Yet, at our house, we’ve always had a solid 2-dog limit.

  • Snappy come-backs

    I think I need talking points. You know, those repeatable phrases that politicians use. I especially need them for situations when know-it-all observers feel compelled to give me dog training advice. These are not true handlers, but regular lawn-ornament-style dog owners who think they know best. For example …

  • Thinking like Lilly

    As I began trying to teach Lilly more complicated behaviors, it became oh-so clear that I needed to understand how she thinks. Once I figure that out, it’s usually pretty easy to break down the task, then click-treat and shape it to our goal. This really struck me for the first time when I tried to teach her to Roll Over.