Half-Dog with Toy
Keeping with yoga poses named for things our dogs do, here is Ginko showing the classic Half Dog (with toy). …
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In honor of the Super Bowl
As a kid, I watched football with my family. As an adult, however, I found and married one of very few American men who doesn’t give a rat’s behind about sports. He doesn’t watch them. He doesn’t care. He dives for the remote when sports reports come on TV news. All that is fine by me. So, these days, about the only things I enjoy about football are the famous Super Bowl commercials. So, in honor of this weekend’s big game, here’s a quick plug for our Border Collie friend
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Vaccination Decision
In general, I follow the American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines. That means, I only vaccinate my adult dogs every 3 years (not every year). Since it’s required in our county by law, that means a 3-year rabies vaccination. I also do not do annual boosters for some of the others, like that combo one many dogs get for distemper, etc. because I once interviewed the top canine infectious disease expert in the country, and he told me that many such vaccines have MUCH LONGER duration of immunity that we’ve been led to believe. I absolutely want …
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Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture in Dogs
I’ve mentioned before that Ginko “blew out” both knees when he was 3 years old. The official name of the injury is a cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture. Often dogs also tear their cartilage (or meniscus) too, which complicates things. For those who aren’t too squeamish, here are details (including photos). Fair warning. …
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The Rare Arctic Ice Bat
Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a rare arctic ice bat in our very own backyard. Ooooh, scary! …
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Name That Livestock
Any number of animals graze on the ranch behind us. Lilly enjoys sassing these large animals who regularly walk the fence-line route. For fear of her getting kicked in the head by horses, mules, and/or cattle, I try to divert her attention and often reward her for looking at the animals without rushing the fence or barking at them. Recently, however, it’s been harder to call her off. She ignores my faint LEAVE IT, followed by COME as if I did not exist. And, now we know why. A new critter has joined the grazing pack, and (it seems) Lilly …
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My Lame Attempt at Scent Work
While casting about for something new to teach Lilly, I threw together a quick and easy scent discrimination training session. One word, my friends. HA! What seemed logical to me made ZERO sense to Lilly. But, first, here’s why I thought Lilly might be good at smells. …
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Weekly Training Update (Jan 2)
We used our one remaining group class (advanced pet dog obedience) from a punch card purchased over the summer for an outing on New Year’s Eve. Typically, we pay $90 for 6 classes, and get one free. So, that comes to $12.86 per class instead of the $15 per class cash rate. To keep our training accounting tidy, I wanted to use up our last class I’d already purchased. Lucky for us that the weather was decent and the location was a spot where Lilly sometimes does well. Plus, the usual Wednesday classes are typically smaller than the Sunday classes …
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Lilly’s Year in Review
Longtime readers know I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions. Yet, 2008, I think will stand as a turning point. You very well may have witnessed the year I gave up the dream of ever truly doing agility with Lilly. I’m not sure, since I tend to be terribly persistent with a cautious optimism, but I do kinda feel like the dream is dead. …
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ACL Injury Prevention
News reports tout the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) warm-up program that researchers tested on women soccer players. This routine, which takes about 20 minutes 3 times per week, greatly reduced ACL injuries in these women athletes. While an agility run with your dog takes less time than a soccer game, I suspect the routine makes sense canine agility handlers too. In fact, it seems quite similar to the Human Agility Training classes that Lori Hansen teaches. Her DVD is available from Clean Run and on Amazon. Lori focuses on running …