I love moving with dogs. Just as in learning how to walk, one foot in front of the other, and realizing how this opens up the entire world for exploration, learning how to move with a dog opens up a whole new category of relationship. There is this thing I call the ‘sweet spot’ when…
Running Parallel
She is My Perfect. My Rhumb Line. A sexy disaster. She is a hard hitting working dog, tenacious, intense, and determined. When she is with the ones she loves she is as tender as they come. She is my eye gazer, up close and personal, right to the very being of who you are. She…
Strategies for dealing with off-leash dogs in on-leash only areas
You are trying to do the right thing. Following the signs and the rules. Walking, training, and spending quality time with your dog. Enjoying the day, the weather, the simple pleasure of movement. And then you see an off-leash dog coming your way with an owner making no effort whatsoever to call their dog back….
love …
Sometimes love presents itself so easily, so effortlessly, so tangibly. A gift of sorts, as long as the gift is in fact mutual. And sometimes love is there but maybe hidden behind some armor, not so easily accessed or felt. But it is there, a challenge perhaps. And every now and again love is felt, and…
It’s a TONGUE thing …
If you are into canine body language than you are one of those persons on this planet that is hyper aware of how a dog uses their tongue. A student of the tongue more or less. It is one of the first overt body language signals a new dog trainer learns to observe, in social…
I don’t want my dog to think that just because …..
It is a warm, nearly hot, sunny summer morning. And yet, my feet are tucked under Story as I sit and type this out. Even with the heat, the weight of his body and the wooliness of his fur on my feet feel just about perfect. Just so you know, almost everything I have written…
Is there really such a thing as a stubborn dog?
Every day of every week I have a person tell me their dog is stubborn and won’t do ‘this or that’. And just so we are clear, this is the formal definition of STUBBORN – ‘having or showing dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good arguments…
learn me …
“We hardly know one another” “You can learn me…” “Learn you?” “Yes or No” ~ The Constant Gardener I am asked, almost on a daily basis, why dogs respond to me the way that they do. I think this always catches me off guard, a little or a lot, as I don’t really think about…
THE OFFICE – part 6
Rhumb was peacefully reading away before this mornings office meeting, and was at a really great point in the story when the Boyz showed up. Not ready to put the book down, and wanting to buy another twenty minutes or so, she looked up, told them they smelled boy funky and should go take a…
the dog not of your fairy tale
I am somewhat sensitive to emotions, body language, and energy. Not just the human type, but all animal type, with the exception of reptiles. I don’t get reptiles and I am pretty certain they don’t get me. I don’t need verbal communication to get what is going on. While my title is professional trainer, it…
Nancy Tanner 