National Dog Day 2018

Yesterday was National Dog Day.  I hope that you all enjoyed the day with your dog/dogs by your side.  I happened to think that every day is dog day but hey, that's just me.  ;)

We (my husband and I) spent Saturday afternoon celebrating National Dog Day at the Pet Project Foundation fund raiser at the Outlets at San Clemente mall.  This was my first time at the event and I was extremely surprised by the turn out.  Before it was officially started, there was a steady stream of canines and guardians.  By midway in, it was packed. 

Three hours spent visiting with dogs, talking dogs, helping guardians with their dog problems and listening to stories about dogs, not too shabby for a huge dog lover.  :)  The dogs were all very well behaved.  There was everything from the tiniest of pocket pooches all the way up to a huge Mastiff and a couple of Great Danes.  There were young puppies out socializing and old dogs just moseying around.  

I had made four batches of my Elsa's Pure Delight cookies to handout that were a huge hit.  I was so stoked when several guardians told me that their dog had spit out other cookies at the event, but ate mine.  They were hesitant to try more cookies but after one taste of Elsa's Pure Delights, they chowed down and their guardian grabbed a second bag to bring with them.  

There was no shortage of body language for me to watch.  As most of you know, I could watch dogs communicating with other dogs and humans all day long.  They truly are so amazing to watch as they interact.  One special moment was between an adorable young Golden puppy a mixed breed adult.  The puppy was very apprehensive to say hi to the adult because the adult was frozen in stance.  He was not giving off the warm and fuzzy feeling and the puppy clearly understood.  He hesitantly sniffed the adult and then backed away; sitting down and just watched which was the best thing for him to do.  Nice.  

It was a great family event that I was thrilled to be a part of.  I hope that we can make it again next year; it was most definitely a fun time for all.  

Happy National Dog Day, yes it is every day for me and should be for you.  Have a great day.  

Dog on a leash. Pay attention!

Fanny pack gone wild.  :)  I had to bring several balls with me to this beach in Connecticut.  Other dogs stole the balls all the time so I had extra bags to put the wet balls in.  

I see ducking dogs everywhere.  Team after team stroll past Elsa and I; at the beach, the park, malls and street, ducking.  What do I mean ducking?  

Ducking - to avoid or evade a blow, unpleasant task, etc.; dodge.

Humans strolling along, walking their dog with their arms swinging back and forth.  Along with their arm swing is also the leash swing, perhaps a poop bag swing if you are one of those folks who attach a poop bag holder to the leash.  While the leash swings the dog ducks to avoid the constant and annoying leash and/or poop bag holder hitting them in the face or head.  

When I am working with a client on walking, loose leash walking or heeling, I'm all eyes.  I was trained as a youngster in obedience by a very strict obedience teacher.  She was unfortunately a harsh conventional method trainer but that was many, many years ago when there was nothing else.  She watched our every movement looking for things that would interfere with the robot like obedience we were training our dogs to do.  

The obedience teacher hated when the human students swung their arms about willy nilly.  She'd scream at you until you stopped.  If you held your body crooked, you'd hear about it.  Anything that was unlike a statue was not allowed.  So, although I hated the training method; movement was something that was drilled into my head.  To this day, the arm that holds Elsa's leash is motionless, typically held by my waist.  For those students who did not catch on to the "no flailing" rule; they were told to keep their hand in a belt of waist of pants.  

I see people walking along, not paying any attention to who is on the other end of the leash.  The leash can be whipping them in the face, their collar half pulled over their head, the humans hand even hitting the dog in the face as it swings.  So many dogs walk very far away from their human simply due to an avoidance behavior.  The guardian has no idea that their dog is not enjoying the walk because of the swinging.  

When you walk your dog, pay attention.  Yes there are times when something can happen for a moment and you might miss it.  But typically if you look down at your dog on a regular basis you'll notice this kind of stuff.  Does your dog strain at their leash?  Either sideways or backwards?  Well maybe they are trying to avoid the swing.  

The whole poop bag holder is a big thing now.  I don't understand attaching one to a leash, honestly.  I wear the very chic fanny belt; although it is not on my fanny.  ;)  I carry everything I need on a walk in it, poop bags included.   

So pay attention.  Ask someone to watch you walk.  Be aware of what your body is doing.  Along with the annoying face swapping, there could be other things going on that you have never noticed.