Prairie K9

12/16/2025

In class and in private training, we talk a lot (a LOT) about the fact that dogs have 18-24 months to do what it takes human beings 18-24 YEARS to do: go from neonate to full on adulthood.

Think about it: we have a common cultural discussion about developmental stages in human beings, where even people who have never had children know about 'the terrible twos', for example, or have reaonsonable expectations of how teaching something to a five year old child is quite different than teaching a fifteen year old adolescent.

Yet there remains very little awareness and true understanding of developmental stages in dogs. I frequently encounter owners who have wildly unreasonable and unrealistic expectations of their dogs, especially puppies under six months old.

This (below) is a terrific framing of one aspect of canine development: social maturity.

Read it all the way through.
The last two lines are brilliant, and spot-on.

12/12/2025

Puppies are not for Christmas.

Alternatively.....

12/09/2025

If only the dogs would do the decorating...

:)

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

12/08/2025

Puppy and Beginner Dog Training class starts Tuesday, Dec 16

for specifics, email: [email protected]

12/06/2025

It’s tempting to believe that our actions follow our beliefs. That’s what we do, it seems, and so others must as well.

In fact, just about always, our beliefs arise as a result of our actions.

If you want to change what people believe, change how they act.
-- Seth Godin, marketing and business guru

__________________

Dogs, too.

Change your dog's behavior by changing your own, actions that occur both separately and together.

12/04/2025

Today's PSA courtesy of our favorite cat.

Keep warm and stay safe out there.

Brrr 🐾❄️

12/02/2025

The brilliant Jackie Summers is an entrepreneur and an outstanding writer.

Here's the first part of an essay he posted recently, and I thought of how we look to the arts during the Blent -- concerts, dance, vocal music, holiday markets, cooking, decorating --- pulling them up like blankets.

The arts of dog training, too, during this 'vague stretch of days' spent indoors somewhere: subject, light, time, and framing.

Aperture.

_______________

Welcome to the Blent—that vague stretch of days between the fourth week of November and mid-January when time loses all meaning. Emails slow down, emotions run hot, capitalism tosses tinsel on austerity. Jeans grow increasingly skinny, the days slog, and it’s okay to crawl under the covers by 4pm. For the next few weeks, things might feel a bit blurry.

That’s not a design flaw. That’s a feature.

The first rule of good design is: if everything’s important, nothing is. This is true whether you’re drafting a leaflet, a lyric, or a life. Great photography, for example, is just four things in conversation: subject, light, time, and framing. Each matters on its own, yet what truly counts is how those integers interact.

To capture a subject, a photographer controls how much light can enter a lens, and for how long. Narrow aperture plus wide focus equals: the whole scene is visible, but depending on your background noise, your subject may get lost. Wide aperture plus narrow focus equals: your subject snaps into clarity, everything else melts into blur.

Both are valid. Only one accounts for the asymmetry of information.

12/01/2025

A mentor once looked across the table at me with a twinkle in his eye.

He said, "I always charge four times as much to solve a 'behavior problem' without obedience."

Me: ???

Him: "Because you can't solve a behavior problem without training the dog in some way.

I just like to get my money up front."

_____________

Wisdom for a snowy Monday morning.
Be safe out there today!

11/30/2025

When we find ourselves saying:

*"He knows this already"
or
*"He should know this by now"

it might be helpful to archive this post (below) and re-read every so often. ;)

11/27/2025

A day to share with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone! 💋

11/26/2025

Brrr, that wind!

Puffer coat szn ❄️

11/25/2025

Reminder: no Puppy classes this week.
Safe travels, and a Happy Thanksgiving.

🦃🥧🌾

We’ll be right back at it again next Tuesday. 🤩