FOCUS!

Slowly turning the lens to bring things into focus.... because focus is what I really want. There are so many venues, so many breeds, so many gorgeous puppies within the breeds; it is like a pastry shop and at times I am overwhelmed by desire, dreams, detours...

It occurred to me lately that the people who are achieving what I most want to achieve are doing it one, or at most two, dogs at a time. They are the people who create close, flexible, relationships with their dogs and the evidence is the trail of titles that glitters as they go. They don’t get distracted by the possibilities of every pretty new litter; they are committed to the dogs they have and they don’t have TIME to get distracted.

Yes, I want a CH in front of my dogs’ names...I like the balance of fore and aft, but that is not more important than any of the other titles I want to wear... or can earn with the dogs I have.  Emma has a UCH...and she may never get an AKC CH unless I send her off with a handler...or show 10x as much as I am doing now....

I love the breed ring, but it is the work in the obedience ring and the library and the sheep pen where I feel most challenged and most at home.

Photographs

Photographs. Just thinking about them makes my imagination sparkle...what they are, what they represent, the joy they create. What it is about seeing and having a good photo, esp of a dog you own and love,  that is so exciting? Is it that  freezing a second in their life  allows you to really look at them, gives you  a talisman, kind of, a touchstone, by which to memorize them? And they grow so quickly from youth into old age....having a photo like this one, on the bridge between adult and puppy hood...lets me keep this glance for as long as I need it.
It also allows me to introduce Ike to the world...and the care and focus it holds is emblematic of the love he receives.

It is not so mysterious really. We all want photos of our beloveds. I am thrilled to have these that Linda Crossland took..they are just perfect.

Puppy Love

I’m starting to really fall in love with my puppy. When puppies are little and cute and full of enthusiasms they are easy to love.... but as they grow up and you grow into a relationship together the feelings deepen and no longer is it “puppy love,” but something more singular and striking.

I just had to work through a little blip in my consciousness about him---and about me as a trainer. Last Sunday it came to a head: M and I were walking the shelties and Maudie around dusk, when a lot of people will be out walking dogs if the weather is hospitable. I had Emma and Ike and they kept setting each other off and ratcheting each other up...barking and lunging and generally being obnoxious.

I was running a little low on patience and it made for a miserable time. In my frustration I reverted to the old ways....jerking and admonishing...scruff shaking and growling...and even after I handed Em over to M so I could concentrate on Ike...I got nowhere.

I HATED jerking on my puppy every few steps for a half mile to get his attention in order to have him walk beside me without pulling; by the time we got home I was  extremely agitated,  with the dogs and with myself; I felt absolutely ineffective and reactionary. 

I realized, later, that I needed to walk Ike alone...and TEACH him self-control and attention while keeping myself level and focused.  And so every day for the next week that is what we did.   The two of us went off with some cheese sticks and walked by several situations: recess at the elementary school and the house on the corner where the dogs ambush us from behind a tree

and shout insults through the fence. For example.

And we did great. Ike sat and looked at me when I asked and was brilliant in his ability to focus despite the distractions. 

And in these days we’ve grown tighter. He’s at the door when I go out, clearly expressing his desire to come along. One evening, about a half hour before our usual walk time, he dragged a leash off the rack and brought it to me. He shadows me around the house in that patient devoted way that the boys develop...

I see him more clearly now too: his sense of humor, his sense of drama, his sweetness, his inventive intelligence. He’s lanky and confident and willing...and he is going to be gorgeous...albeit...sigh...oversize. It’s OK though. He’s my puppy.