April 7-- I played out my string with Gracie, and overshot my limits. My enthusiasm for the training was anxiety-driven in part, and my desire for success tinged with desperation. As I recover now, I need to re-balance my life, and put a little more joy into it. As son Bayard wisely put it long ago, the key is managing expectations. I have to accept the prospect that Gracie and I might never enjoy the easy companionship that Buster and I did. She will eventually settle down,

Reminder to Self: Pay Attention. The Sun is Shining. The Breeze is Sweet. The Hound is Napping. Mellow Music Hum and Glow. At Month PG3 (Post-Gracie), recalibrating, stabilizing, recovering from Month One & Two.. We're here now. I'm still embodying the lessons learned, I suppose, in muscles and joints as well as nerves and jangled emotions. Just today I feel a shift in attitude, signaling renewal in the offing. The accumulated frustration and fatigue made me very irritable an

As we approach 90 days with Gracie, my learning and understanding have reached a whole new level. Most everything I said in my journal and commentary during March I now humbly recant. Indeed, some of my arrogance and ignorance as revealed in those posts I would now like to expunge from my permanent record. So just treat those blog posts as prep for my fictional tale of a hapless would-be dog whisperer, worked into my Tales of Buster and Katie Loo series. Our trainer is wonder

Life with Gracie has settled down considerably. We have comfortable routines, we know what to expect from each other, and we are blessed that she takes naps between her active periods. Alexis and I have teamed up well to care for her and move her training along. Gracie loves riding in the back of Alex's car, but still won't tolerate mine. We're working on it. Meanwhile, though, with my back going out, etc., I've continued to modify the studio space to suit our various needs,

Remember the one about Gracie escaping the night of the Graham Nash concert? Remember that first night, Raven (at the time) howling in the laundry room-- our best idea of wlecoming accomodations-- and A. and I looking at each other, wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Remember when I tried to acclimate Gracie to her bathroom area out back under the deck, and all she would do is dig furiously in the mulch-- and then later I discovered the nest of ground wasps? No wond

I rarely meet a "dog person" I don't like. Of course, I/we feel a kinship and share a few words about our dogs when I meet them on the trail. But maybe it's more than that-- maybe dog people have more empathy, compassion, patience, love of nature's bounty and beauty, etc, -- or something else-- that sets them apart. Who am I to judge? Have you noticed how experienced dog owners love to share their experience, and are often free with advice about how you ought to be raising yo

So we spent our third in-home session with Heather yesterday mostly as a consultation rather than a training session. Right now, it seems the only viable option to board training, a 3-week boot camp with Heather, is to return her to Lab Rescue, and an unknown fate-- which neither of us is willing to do. Soooo, we are on the wait list with Heather at leadthewayk9training.com, with a possible appointment beginning April 9. That is nearly a month away, nearly the length of time

We haven't been clear or effective in instructing Gracie about boundaries. Boundaries. We all need 'em, to function in this world. "She's looking for limits," we say. Well, of course she is. That's what "PLACE" or "HOME" or other words mean: Operating smoothly, and without question, for example, within the boundaries of the yard-- because she knows and accepts the boundaries no matter what, like Buster did. He ventured near the road, but never on it, even when chasing deer ou

Gracie has made wonderful progress with us during this past intense and eventful month. She is intelligent, alert and inquisitive.. oh, and then there is her energy level, often past the point of acceptable behavior. These very attributes make her the precious creature she is. They also point to trouble, when combined in the form of an untrained adolescent. We were caught off-guard, flat-footed, unprepared for her arrival that day. What were we thinking!? We overlooked the s

3/11-- It is humbling, after devoting the past month to Gracie's training, to admit that I've reached my limits-- physical, mental, and emotional. I started to doubt that we'd be successful last Thursday, when everything went a little akilter. Doubt deepened Friday with her regressing, and turned to despair on Saturday, when I could barely get out of bed and had no endurance. The key insight today was that my training wasn't sharp-- muddy commands, poor observation and timing