Teaching Manners, Behaviors, and Relationships
Desperate to play ball, Pax’e dropped the tennis ball on the sleeping cat, Freya.
Here’s some things Pax’e might be saying. Reply below to let me know your vote, or make up your own…
Share on your social media to see what others think.
On this remarkably comfortable summer morning Pax’e and her new friend Ruby ran, tumbled, chased, and mouth wrestled to their hearts content.
Occasionally Pax’e would chase another dog, but back she would come to Ruby. It was a good long time of this tumbling until they were wet and tired enough to take a breather and pose for their picture. Maybe you can see how soggy they are.
Perhaps the sixteen-week-old Standard Poodle Ruby inspired Pax’e’s mothering instincts, or maybe Ruby is just a great playmate.
Thanks to Ruby’s human, Karen, for the picture!
Recently I was able to wrangle three Golden Retriever puppies to compare and contrast their differing colors.
For some time, I have noticed Golden Retrievers are turning up in some very different colors.
Until now I have not had all three colors in the same class.
However, in a recent Basic class I was able to wrangle three Golden Retriever puppies to compare and contrast their differing colors.
Notice (from left to right) Tucker-the-Cream, Redgie-the-Red, and of course Willow-the-Golden.
My question is, in the future will we be looking at a true color split in this breed like we see with Labs? Will we be making similar designations for Goldens just like we do for Labs?
We will probably have to wait a decade or two before we know how this is going to turn out.
But in the meantime, here is some three-colored Golden-puppy play.
Enjoy!
We wish Boo a very happy and healthy eleventh birthday!
It was eleven years ago October 31st that Boo joined our family.
There was no way we could tell that this little black and white ball of fur we saw in a stripmall fly-by-night pet store would turn into the incredible dog he did.
His mother was probably ill while pregnant, which left him with cerebellar hypoplasia – a disorder which is caused by the cerebellum not being mature at birth – that was immediately apparent in his jerky, stiff movements and overall lack of coordination. His other symptoms gradually made themselves known as it was clear that he was partially deaf, progressively lost his eyesight, and suffered from a number of cognitive disabilities.
Despite all of those hurdles, he was was able to trooper his way through training and eventually passed his Delta Society evaluation to begin his career doing therapy work.
There he was: a small puppy thrown away in front of a pet store, who could barely stand or walk and who would take over a year to housetrain, but he was the one who gave a family their son back and made national news doing it.
As much as we love him, he’s also a powerful reminder that we can’t overestimate an animal’s ability to exceed our expectations (or prejudices) based on their origins or pedigrees. Every dog, whether they’re from a shelter, breeder, or a stray has within them the same potential to shine.
(Editorial Note – I had intended on posting this on Halloween, but that little bit of snow we had left us without power until just recently.)
