Rather than mistakes dog owners make, maybe I should call this … the dumbest things I ever did when it comes to dogs. Granted, most of them happened when I was much younger and less experienced with being responsible for 100% of my dogs’ care. Get ready to laugh (or be horrified).
Dog Halloween costume advice for 2021! I know I’m cutting it close, but a lot of dogs get put through too much stress purely for a good laugh or cute pix for IG or a funny video clip for TikTok. Avoid these common dog Halloween costume mistakes with this advice from a longtime dog mom who learned these lessons the hard way + ideas on what to do instead.
Looks like I waited TOO LONG to write about our success completely rebuilding Clover’s agility teeter-totter training last summer. It was going so well that Clover even did the agility teeter-totter at our group class in early October 2017. Alas, in recent weeks, Clover has gone back to treating the agility teeter-totter like her sworn enemy (again). If nothing else, dog training gives people the chance to practice patience and creativity. Thank goodness I shot some video of what worked last summer so that I can try the same things again. Cute 1-minute video ahead.
It took a while to find a used dog agility teeter-totter to buy, but we finally did just before Clover’s third birthday. It’s going to take some time to fix Clover’s teeter-totter worries that have been brewing for nearly a year now, but Tori figured it all out in basically a day and a half. Cute videos ahead!
In the last 9 months or so, we’ve seen a couple things in Clover’s body that we wanted to address right away. We’re doing physical therapy or canine rehabilitation (under the direction of our rehab / chiropractic veterinarian) to build Clover’s strength and flexibility to prevent injuries while she is playing agility. Check out the video of our current preventive therapy work. We’re calling it “pre-habilitation.”
When Lilly’s brain and spinal cord went kerplewy with inflammation, it greatly affected her ability to move her once-agile body. Her cognitive responses to things like verbal dog training cues are also impaired (for now), but we’ve made a few adaptations around the house to help her be where she wants to be and do what she wants to do … on her own.
Taking a week “off” is relative, of course, meaning mostly not owing drafts to clients. Other demands of life continue. HOWEVER, Lilly and I ventured to Boulder for dog training class with our dog trainer Gigi Moss … for the first time this year. I’ll tell you how it went tomorrow. Today? A video showing just how much Lilly loves her dog trainer.
So, the question is this: If your dog could earn merit badges for training accomplishments as simple as SIT or DOWN or being housetrained, would you take part? That’s the idea behind Good Dogs of America.
Stick with me, kids, while dipping into cognitive psychology, because the brain retraining touted in this book mirror and helped me better understand the dog relaxation protocol.
Remember my rant about the viral “guilty dog” video? Well, I promised then to try and teach Lilly to look “guilty” without feeling bad about it, including a wiggly-wag, dropping her ears, squinting, and curling her lips.
