Braque du Bourbonnais | Rufnit Kennels, LLC

16/11/2024

Happy birthday Rufnit “F” companions!

31/10/2024

“They told me my house smelled like dogs, and I asked them:

Do you know what a dog smells like?
A dog smells like gratitude, loyalty, nobility, affection, pure and unconditional love. And despite everything they’ve been through, they don't smell of resentment.
So, I feel blessed that my house smells like dogs."
Patrick Swayze.
A man who loved animals deeply. 🐶🐱🐾

30/10/2024

26/10/2024

Opening Day! First pair of quail for the season!

22/10/2024

From my book, Dog People.

22/10/2024

•Pet your dog, all the time
•Talk to your dog, all the time
•Allow your dog to follow you, all the time
•Allow your dog to be on your lap or laying on your feet, all the time
•Pet, soothe, comfort your dog when it whines or barks for attention...or is simply anxious
•Allow your dog to demand affection/interactions
•Be emotionally dependent on your dog to the point that unhealthy dependency and interactions are no longer noticed
•Allow your dog to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants—aka, provide no structure, rules, or accountability
•Foster an environment of chaos, stress, and anxiety
•Refuse to train and pattern calmness
•Refuse to crate train your dog
•Refuse to correct your dog when inappropriate behavior occurs
•Refuse to train your dog how to be independent/alone by using a “Place” command, “Downstay, and/or “away” time in the crate
•Let your dog out of the crate when it whines or barks
•Avoid training or anything that makes your dog temporarily uncomfortable or unhappy—in other words, cater to your dog’s every desire/need, designing your life around your dog, rather than having your dog fit into yours
•And many, many more...

Basically, baby, soothe, allow, enable, disable, lean on, omit teaching necessary life skills, prioritize what feels good for you rather than what does good for your dog, and through this master plan of leadership-free chaos, and systematic cultivation of creating a toxic dependency between dog and human...you’ll ensure that when you leave, your dog will be a true emotional mess, because you haven’t prepared them to be calm, obedient, strong, resilient, robust, independent, and alone.

17/10/2024

If you choose to donate this year…please give to your local shelters.

Spending millions of dollars on TV ads with images of downtrodden pets, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has waged a

09/10/2024

Had to say good bye to Olivia this morning. She filled our hearts with love for 16 1/2 years. Watch out rainbow bridge, I can guarantee she will be coming in hot! Run free "short legs". RIP until we meet again my beautiful angel.

14/09/2024

How do you feel about exposing your dog to stress?

This young Weimaraner started a board and train recently. During the drop off, I informed his owner, he'd be living under some different rules at my house than what he'd been used to for the past few months of his life.

He would be subjected to some "healthy stress.”

Among other things, he would be sleeping in a crate at night, learning to walk nicely on a leash, and participate in proprioceptive exercises to build body awareness.

Essentially, he would be learning some problem solving skills and because of it, develop greater resilience.

The first day here he found himself stuck on the opposite side of a pole than the side I was on.

Can you guess what I did?

I did nothing. I stood there, not moving, not applying more pressure to the leash, not coochie-cooing him...I just waited.

It took him about 90 seconds of wiggling, and whining to figure out what to do to get himself free.

Once he did, he was darn proud of himself, prancing about for a few seconds and then we moved on and enjoyed a short game of fetch.

The stress was short lived. He learned how to relieve it and was proud of himself as he discovered his power to problem solve.

We do our dogs no favor by immediately bailing them out of every little problem or struggle they encounter.

So often I hear, "My dog doesn't like the crate,” or "My dog doesn't like to be brushed,” or "My dog won't potty while on leash.”

As a woman who has raised two (now grown) children, I could not have imagined saying to my kids dentist..."well, they don't like having their teeth brushed so we just gave up." 🤣

I have news for you, there are very few dogs that immediately enjoy their crate, or being brushed and bathed, or being restrained on a leash.

It's our job to teach them to tolerate the realities of life in the human world.

For most things the teaching recipe is simple:

A bit of skill, applied over time, mixed by a healthy dose of patient persistence.

If you don't have the skill, the time or the patience, you can pay people like me to do the foundation work for you. It is like having the dentist clean the kids teeth...but if you don't maintain what the professional did, it's not going to become good habits that serve for a lifetime.

The main thing to understand is that stress and learning will be part of life. There is no avoiding it. It is how we learn to work through it that makes the difference.

By taking time to teach your dog how to tolerate some stress and learn to problem solve, you set them up for increased confidence, improved manners and an overall healthier mindset.