The Desert Shenanigans of Djinni - Thunder Hill Believe in Love and pals

19/03/2024

11/01/2024

Yeah, but he's still my human 👀

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📸speedbump.com

03/01/2024

A new year can mean many different things: a reset, a do over, change, a beginning, a conclusion, goals, dreams…
Whatever it means to you, the next step is making it happen.
The great thing about that is, you can change.
Each day is an opportunity to adjust your mindset.
No one else defines you.
You have the pen;
you have the paper;
you are the one doing the writing—

May 2024 be your best yet 💪💪🐾🥂🎉

08/12/2023

Frankie is patiently waiting for the FedEx delivery truck to bring him his Christmas presents. He truly looks disappointed when the delivery trucks don’t stop in front of our house! 🤣

25/11/2023

Find the good.

24/11/2023

Franklin went to his first dog show today and had absolute moments of brilliance in the ring! He has a wonderful free stack and was well-behaved on the table for the judge’s exam. We have some work to do on gaiting though - sooooo many sniffs to sniff on the floor! 🤪 He won a 4-6 Puppy Terrier Group Three and left the ring with his tail wagging as much as it was going in. Baby steps will keep this calm, confident attitude toward showing alive - another show Sunday then we take a break until January, when he will be old enough to start competing for points.

23/11/2023

😅🦃

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23/11/2023

We haven’t even made it to dinner and Franklin has already tapped out! Happy Thanksgiving!

04/11/2023

N.B. We were hiking in a familiar but fairly remote area with clear sight lines in all directions for other hikers, snakes, coyotes, and other things. Djinni was wearing her freshly-charged locator tag and we had Myc for emergency round up duties if the situation warranted such services. 🤪

I have been asked countless times over the years by training clients and others why I teach my puppies so much at such a young age. Why I don’t just let them be puppies and start training them when they are older. Why I expect my terriers to do the same things I expect from my retrievers or Dals or Border Collies when it comes to the important life skills I believe all dogs should have. Why I control so much of my puppy’s early interactions with the world. Why I don’t buy in to the excuse “My dog can’t do ________ because he is __________ breed.” Why I strive to be the gateway to everything good in my dogs’ lives. Why I think trust is so very, very important in dog training.

Well, it’s because of things like today that I believe and do all those things. Jeff took the day off and we took the dogs out for a hike at the Sonoran Desert National Monument - a beautiful area that includes a portion of the Butterfield Stagecoach road. Because of the exceptionally hot summer we’ve had this year, we hadn’t taken the three older dogs there in over six months and it was Frank’s first time on the trail. Ember and Myc were off leash and we started with Djinni dragging a long line, with Frank on leash. Once we got away from the highway, I took Djinni off her longline. Yes, my terrier was free in thousands of acres of desert. Her very first time completely off leash on a hike. The video below is the first recall I did after taking her off. And look what happened - she came back as quickly as the Dalmatian and the Border Collie. She did an off leash recall of her own free will with nothing more than a piece of kibble and a release to take off again as her rewards. We do these recalls randomly any time we hike just to keep the dogs fresh on this skill. One refusal or slow response and that dog goes back on leash for the rest of the hike - doesn’t matter which dog it is. The dogs know this game with a whistle (my preferred signal since it is loud, consistent in sound, and unemotional), me whistling the signal, and me calling them with a verbal. Blow off the recall, lose off leash privileges for the rest of the hike. That’s rule #1 of the recall game. Come in quick and get a cookie. That is also a rule of the recall game. Whistle recalls ALWAYS get a cookie and most times a release to go run some more. My dogs learn from day one that coming when called isn’t the END of the fun - it’s actually an ENHANCEMENT to the pleasure of running free. If they leave something interesting to come back, I’ll often go check it out again WITH them just to make that recall compliance extra special. Coming the first time called is always positive for my dogs. And I start that work as soon as my puppies come home. It just becomes part of life for them. Having older dogs who already know the game is wonderful as well - Frankie is already learning this important skill even though he needs to be carried part way on longer hikes.

Why put all the work into that skill? Besides the obvious safety need of a solid recall, I believe it’s important for dogs to have time to be dogs - running, sniffing, exercising - and because no matter how careful you are, life happens. It happened today, in fact. We were about halfway through our walk and we stopped in a shady spot along a dry creek bed to water the dogs. All four were drinking, then suddenly, only three were. Djinni bolted off down the edge of the creek bed, obviously in pursuit of something. I was so focused on her I didn’t see what she was chasing - I was keeping an eye on where she was headed while grabbing my whistle and getting ready to send Myc after her if she didn’t come back. I blew the whistle and Djinni whipped around and came running back in all the way to my feet (I teach my dogs to come up and get their treat near my feet so they are close enough to grab the collar if need be). I was so excited I spilled treats everywhere! Jeff said while I was rewarding Djinni, a jackrabbit popped back out into the creek bed. I called a Jack off a Jack! 🤣 THIS is why I do what I do!!! Would I intentionally set up my dog with that type of distraction? Of course not! But because Djinni has learned the rules of the recall game from the day she came to us, she didn’t even “think” about her behavior - she just DID it. Would I run any of my dogs off leash if I didn’t have clear sight lines or was in an area near roads or on mountain trails? No - long lines or flexis work for us just fine in those less-safe situations. I won’t spit in God’s eye when it comes to running my dogs off leash. But when I can, I’ll give my dogs all the freedom they can safely have to just be dogs sometimes. They’ve worked hard to earn that privilege.

And that’s why I do what I do…