Stray Comments while Walking

"That's a beautiful Doberman. I used to love those dogs in the 90's."

"What kind of a dog is that?"

"Sure, she's friendly, as long as I don't come near you."



"Is that a Great Dane?"

"Oh, a Doberman! You don't see too many of them anymore."









"Awww, she's such a cutie!"

"She's so well behaved."

"Is that a Greyhound?"

Elka, now and for the future (400th post!)

So, here we are. 400 posts! It sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I think it sounds like a lot.

I certainly didn't (and still don't) have a finite "arc" for this blog in mind, so I guess it was inevitable I'd make 400 and beyond. I just wanted to mark the milestone!

So, what to talk about? Woefully unprepared, I asked on Twitter what the topic ought to be, and maggie68d helped me out. Elka, obviously. Her achievements and what we've been working on. I thought it a splendid plan!

If you like it, name it

I've heard a lot of good advice when it comes to shaping behaviors, and eradicating behaviors. Interestingly, there is some overlap in the Venn diagram of the two.

If you are shaping a behavior, you reward it when you see it, and put a name to the cue.

If you are eradicating a behavior, you can treat it as though you're shaping it. Name it when it happens, and put it on cue. Eventually, said behavior will be offered, or performed on cue, and not at other times.

It might sound kind of weird. I thought so. But it can work!

Want to learn how?

June 22 is Take Your Dog To Work Day!

Apparently, somebody decided June 22 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. I don't disagree with such a notion; I think it's a great idea. Especially because they keep doing studies on people who can take their dogs to work, and coming up with a measurable reduction of stress and an increase in job satisfaction.

But, I can't take Elka to the library. If I was going to commit to the notion that she's really-truly my service dog, I guess it would be no contest, but I don't feel that my migraines, at current, reduce my quality of life such that I suffer from that degree of disability. Some people do, and I know that I'm profoundly lucky. Anyway, I did the next best thing: I took Elka for a walk in the library park.

Monday Mischief December 5

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and in December, in Central New York, I certainly take what I can get.

I've had a lingering cold-flu thing for about two weeks, so you can imagine, my walks with Elka have suffered.  Well, certain other things have apparently suffered as a result. As in, the Doberman needs regular exercise in order to be able to access her brain!

Free advice Thursday

All my advice here is free.  All of my advice in person is free, too (at least 'til I can call myself a canine professional).  Sometimes I just can't help giving advice, really, but there are times I keep my mouth shut (if you can believe it), for various reasons. Sometimes it's safer for Elka and I to just move on, sometimes I recognize the person from about town and know that they won't listen to any advice I have to give, and sometimes I'm in the car driving by, and think it's super sketchy to pull over and leap from a vehicle to hand out free dog-handling advice (I'd need a cape and a mask for that).  So. I'm  unbottling all of that advice that I kept to myself, and sharing it here with you.

Elka's New Game

So, Elka and I have a pretty decent routine now, for our walks.

We get up, I do my best to get her to go potty at the house, and then we walk to the park.  I do what I can to keep her attention, and keep the leash loose (and discovered today that she really loves my homemade turkey meatballs), and she does what she can to understand what I want, and we get to the park.

At the park, the long line goes on, and as I discussed in The Rules, we're much more relaxed with the long line.  It's how I practice recall (again, turkey meatballs are apparently The Way), and mostly I just want her to not pull and to keep up.