Divinity Poodles

27/08/2024

As some of you know my ability to train and trial with my dogs changed drastically when I got Long Covid. I am not able to anything close to what I used to do with them and really, really miss it. I do sometimes save up my spoons and take a class here and there and this is one of them.

Mantrailing is a type of nosework where the dog is to track down a target person after being shown a scent item (something that the person has worn or purposely added their scent to) and is to do that by both tracking and air scenting.

This video shows Rain at her 3rd class. She is shown the scent item and she then starts tracking her target. In this instance the trainer also walked alongside the target person to lay a 'decoy trail' and was also the person that Rain watched walk away with her bowl of rewards (treats). Rain did not watch either her target person or the trainer actually lay the trail. At this stage the trail is also only a few minutes old.
When she gets to the playground she sees the trainer and is air scenting before ignoring the trainer and going to her target.

She did very, very good work!

Mantrailing is a type of nosework where the dog is to track down a target person after being shown a scent item (something that the person has worn or purpos...

29/07/2024

This is cool to know 😎

The next time you’re in your dog’s mouth (you do brush his or her teeth, right?) notice the bump on the roof of his mouth just behind the two front middle teeth? It’s called the ‘incisive papilla,” and near the center of it is a hole that leads to a duct that leads to the “Jacobson’s organ.” The Jacobson’s organ is a very cool thing. Put in “See Spot Run” terms, it allows your dog to literally taste the air by combining taste and smell.

Dogs use their Jacobson’s organ to experience s*xual markers (pheromones) left behind by other dogs via urine, or when coming across the scent of a bitch in season. While dogs don’t have a Flehmen response seen in many other animals (throwing back the head, and raising or curling the upper lip which helps open the entry slits into Jacobson’s Organ), dogs will “chatter their teeth” instead. A dog might hold his mouth in a quasi-open position that looks a little like a grin, or he might even lick the air. And you thought he was just happy to see you.

One theory holds that the Jacobson’s Organ could account for a dog’s ability to identify and recognize other animals and people. It’s also believed that it’s this organ that enhances a newborn’s ability to find its mother.

07/07/2024

Happy 7th Birthday to the Autumn & Chaos litter!
Cello, Ivy, Nora, Jett and Rain
It's been a wild ride so far!

19/06/2024

I wish there was a less harsh way to think and say this but this is the absolute truth.

A woman once contacted me looking for a puppy. But she kept saying she was hesitant because the borzoi has such a short life span. I’ve had a few who have lived to be over 14 and a more recent one who died at under five months. I felt that she was not connected to reality and was probably not someone I needed to get involved with because there would always be some problem. The problem is that when people pay you for a puppy, they act like they are buying a designer handbag or something. Authenticity, exclusivity, and that it will last forever and be in the Met. The reality is that it is a living, breathing being and it does not come with spare parts, any real guarantee as to what will happen to it or how long it will last. There is no expiration date.
Like all things with dogs, it is a gamble. You go to a show, it is a gamble. You breed a litter, it is a gamble. You place a puppy, it is a gamble. There is no way to know what will happen along the way.

I placed a puppy in a home I took a chance on. There wasn’t enough yard there but there was a huge park nearby and she went to work with her owner everyday. Never did we see a fungal infection in her future.

I placed a puppy in a home in Mexico at the beach. Perfect. Never in a million years did we think she could escape and while harassing pelicans on the cliff, it would give way and she would fall to her death.

How did that dog eat an entire box of fire starter cubes? What is really in those that blood was shooting out his butt? And then he was gone.

Not being a man and never having had male children, I had no idea testicles could torsion. Had I not shaved D’Argo down and got all that hair off of him I would have never noticed that giant shiny black ball under his tail.

I’ve always known how dangerous foxtails are. But you just don’t think about them all the time. Until your dog crashes and they show you the track on X-ray of that “foreign body” heading for his kidney.

I’m sure no one ever thinks about them smacking into each other. Or missing a turn and hitting a fence post. Pneumothorax or simply a broken neck.

And whatever had caused that intussusception was never found but it took out his whole gut all the same.

There are also the freak accidents. The coyote that ran across the trail and the dog who je**ed out of his owner’s hands. The driver just missed hitting the coyote and while watching it, he slammed right into the borzoi. Then there was the silly borzoi who ran out to do his borzoi dance in the middle of the busy street. He didn’t make it to the vet either. And then there was the borzoi I bred that took off through the only open gate at their local high school and their other borzoi ran after her. Again, the car just missed the first one, slammed right into the second one.

So when breeders offer you the chic # of their dog as if it is some sort of bulletproof guarantee that your little puppy is going to make it to 14 and still be able to hike and p*e and p**p on its own, please realize, that testing covers such a teeny tiny little piece of all the possible problems you might face along the way. We spend hundreds of dollars testing for stuff, less on structural analysis, but none of it will prepare you for the myriad ways the universe can take that puppy out.

As a breeder, I deal with up to ten times the number of deaths an individual will face. I have my own dogs and I have all of yours. I have all the ones someone else bred where my dog was used at stud. Each and every death I absorb. Each heartbreak of yours I carry with me. Each litter that doesn’t happen, hopes dashed. Each neonate that doesn’t make it. I have a deep well of sadness. It is so deep I can no longer see the bottom.

What they die from and when, we cannot possibly know that. And if all this testing proved something, it would be that it doesn’t mean what you think because we have to keep testing. It is a way to track trends over time. It is no guarantee for your puppy. And really, since we have yet for one to die of thyroid or heart issues or be born blind or lose their eyesight, of fall down at four or five from degenerative disease, I’m not sure that I can make you any guarantee other than this is a living breathing bundle of love and you will have it for as long as you have it and not a second more. -Bunny Kelly

15/06/2024

This is something that anyone considering getting a high drive/ high energy dog should learn about.

Yesterday I saw a video from a well-known trainer on social media that discussed how there is no such thing as “too much exercise” for dogs. This discussion was accompanied by b roll of dogs fetching balls in a variety of places.
I don’t usually get involved in trainer arguments but I need to say something about this.
There ABSOLUTELY is such a thing as too much high-arousal exercise. And you probably don’t want to find out for yourself what happens next.
Activities that tend to *physically* wear dogs out the fastest are also the ones that create the highest excitement levels. Fetching balls. Playing frisbee. Racing around at the dog park. Chasing water from the garden hose. Running next to a bike.
All of these are physical exercise, but they also create intense arousal states. And if you put your dog into high-arousal states repeatedly you better know how to train around this, too.
I have a lot of students who fell into this trap. They got a high-energy dog (a GSD, a herding breed mix of some sort, a retriever etc.).
They figured out that the fastest way to make the dog physically really tired (the tongue-hanging-to-the-floor-kind-of-tired) was by playing chuck-it for half an hour. Or by taking the dog to the dog park every day for a wild romp.
The dog started to crave these arousal states (as programmed in their DNA).
But at the same time, no impulse control training happened. So now we have a dog who knows the fun of adrenaline and who seeks it, without having been taught to listen and regulate when in a state of high excitement.
This dog will start to show other problems. They might get frustrated to the point of redirecting when they cannot access fun immediately. They might be vocalizing or unable to settle and then I get messages that say “My dog just cannot be normal in public”.
If your dog gets to enjoy a high-arousal activity every time they leave the house, they will start to expect (and eventually demand) a high-arousal activity every time.
And this is not fun.
Your dog needs a balance of high-arousal and low-arousal activities. Furthermore, the more high-arousal activities your dog has, the more you have to balance these with impulse control training. It’s not fair to make our dogs crazy without teaching them the skills to un-crazy ;)
“Exercise” can have four quadrants:
- Low-arousal, not physically demanding (sniff walks)
- Low-arousal, physically demanding (hiking)
- High-arousal, not physically demanding (excited waiting while another dog works)
- High-arousal, physically demanding (fetching)

Make sure you are aware which type of exercise you are providing for your dog, and try to reach a balance that works for your dog.
If you are unhappy with your dog’s arousal level or impulse control in daily life, look at whether this is amplified by the type of exercise you are providing.

22/04/2024

I have not been able to do much training in the last 2+ years thanks to Long Covid which is really disappointing. I decided to save up some spoons and take a Lost Item Recovery workshop with Westcoast Sport Dogs this weekend with Rain.
She has done one nosework class and LOVES to use her nose to track.
The idea behind lost item recovery is to teach your dog to find your lost items as well as teaching her to match a scent to an item in order to find another person's lost item. Super useful in real life as well as a fun dog sport lol.
The first video is of her finding my keys which was the second search she did. She's such a funny nut when she's working, always looks like she's just doing her own thing then casually just locates whatever she's been sent for. Only time that changes is when she's tracking downed game - then you need to get out of her way 🤣
Just a note I stood where I was since it was a very small space and I just let her line out rather than try to manoeuvre around the furniture in the room. I did call her off the stuffies as she would have chosen one for herself lol.
The second video is finding the other person's item. In this case the trainer's remote. She was given her match odour outside the room and first alerted on the trainer (Danica) herself and then when she wasn't told that was it she moved on to continue her search. Again, super laid back and looks like she just randomly came across it but I promise she's working 😉

14/04/2024

This is an extremely important concept.

02/04/2024

There are very few instances where a ‘working dog’ does not need to be able to live the life of a pet (think LGD).
Please remember that.

Dear future "working home,"

While I know you have dreams of podiums when you bring your little working line puppy home, you have a much bigger responsibility to this little puppy I'm trusting to you.

That's great that you've researched pedigrees, have a club and maybe even a solid mentor. That's amazing that you have all the latest tug toys and a custom wide agitation collar with his name embroidered on it. And I'm really stoked that you already have his instagram loaded with fire emoji's detailing his daily puppy training sessions.

But over and over, my puppies are FAILED by their working home owners. Owners who look amazing on paper. Owners who have all the goals and dreams for their little puppy. And it's not just MY working home owners. I know other breeders who feel this same pain as they send their little ones out into this world. Knowing that these puppies who could excel at so many things are going to be set up for failure by the first people who have their hands on them.

How are they being failed?

By s**t advice. S**t advice from the clubs that are mentoring them. S**t advice from the internet. S**t advice from those around them.

I'll scream it from the roof tops ....

Stop taking these working prospects and shoving them in crates, only to come out for "work" in the name of drive building. If they need full deprivation to "work" then the genetics aren't there in the first place.

Stop taking these working prospects and controlling every single morsel of food to the point of deprivation, over long periods of time. If the food drive is that bad, the genetics aren't there in the first place.

Stop taking these working prospects and never letting anyone touch your puppy. "He should treat people like furniture." Yeah ... solid advice for some puppies but I know when you wash this dog in 18 months, I now have a full size adult intact male Rottweiler who's never been handled by strangers. Great, thanks.

Stop taking these working prospects and never letting them interact with another dog or animal. "He should be neutral to dogs." Yeah ... great ... now you wash this dog in 12 months and I have a full size intact male Rottweiler who doesn't know how he feels about his own species.

Stop taking these working prospects and never telling them "no" because you want them to be strong on the field. Great....now when you return King Kong to me, he isn't really going to know what to do with those big feelings when that's not how the world works.

Stop depriving your working line puppies of a solid start in life ... because when you wash that dog from sport for an issue YOU created .... now I have to clean up the mess.

Raise your puppy for sport however you want, but at the end of the day if that dog doesn't pan out for sport you are giving them a death sentence if you haven't also raised them with a pet dog life in mind.

Sincerely,
A Working Dog Breeder

29/03/2024

If I die while I have a pet, let my animal see my dead body. Let them see my dead body please. They understand death and seeing me dead will allow them to mourn, but if I just never show up one day they’ll think I abandoned them. I know what it feels like to be abandoned and I never want anyone to feel that way, especially my dog...

09/03/2024

The Broken Heart Dog

Most of us know what a heart dog is: that special dog that we connect with on a deeper level. The dog that we know and that knows us forwards and backwards. Our four legged other half and in some ways, one of the great loves of our lives. These dogs are talked about often, placed on a pedestal against which future dogs are judged and revered by their owners for the lifetime of the human lucky enough to have spent their time with them. Some people are lucky to find that one heart dog. Some are blessed enough to have two or even several in a lifetime. Some people will describe them differently. Referring to a heart dog, a soul dog, a spirit dog, etc. All are just as important as the first and all can change the life of the person fortunate enough to have found them. Praise and honor is given to these dogs on a daily basis and today will be no different for many, but today I want to take a few minutes to talk about a different type of heart dog. The broken heart dog.

These are the dogs that follow our heart dogs. Maybe they survive them in this life or maybe they find us after we have suffered that profound loss of that “once in a lifetime” dog. It doesn’t matter how they arrive in our lives or why, it just matters that they do. They are there. They are there at our worst and they stay at our sides until we find that new version of ourselves. They help us discover our new normal and they never ask to take over the place of the dog before them. When we are broken, they are the guardians of the pieces. When we are whole again they are elated to be there and experience that with us too. As we move on in the world and we no longer need them to plug the leaks and fill the cracks, they are honored to still be by our sides as we grow and face new challenges. These dogs are irreplaceable in their own right and equally deserving of recognition and celebration.

I’m sure you can think of who this dog (or dogs) are in your life. Some of them may have grown to become heart dogs in their own right. Others may have quietly done their job of support and regrowth, quietly and with dedication that allowed us to change and grow without seeming to realize it. It’s hard not to be reminded of your past, of your history and what you lost with the passing of time. Our history is what formed us and shaped us into who we are now, heart dogs and broken heart dogs included. Our history will repeat itself because such is the nature of the beast. I think what we need to remember, with these broken heart dogs, is that sometimes the most important history, is the history that we are making today. Because of these dogs we find ourselves ready to take those steps and make that history. Their accomplishment in that moment and in that victory is not to be overlooked. They remind us who we are and why we love the things that we did with those heart dogs.

So here’s to the dogs that clean up the messes that this life makes of us. The dogs that may not be the best looking, the most talented or the ones that catch everyone's eye. These dogs are the therapists, the mechanics and the keepers of the soul. Their value known only to the one person fortunate enough to have found them through chance or sheer desperation. Maybe they are great dogs, known to the masses and legends in their own right. Maybe they are a little tall, a little too shaggy, a little too leggy or they have a crooked ear. It doesn't matter. This is the perfect work that can be done by dogs both imperfect and otherwise. The mending of a broken heart that requires the love of a heart so pure that it can repair, rebuild and cleanse the scraps that it finds itself responsible for. I see you and the work you do. We all do. This is your day to shine for the beautiful work you do, even if you do your job in the shadows. Today is your day for the pedestal.

Written by Jen Rainey, CPhT

30/01/2024

Sunshine got mail 😊

27/01/2024

11/01/2024

Sunshine went to an IABCA show this weekend.
She came home with some bling 🤩
She earned her International Championship as well as 2 Group 2s.
She is in a short modified continental that one American judge really appreciated - “I can feel her without digging through hair!” 😉
Handled by our daughter Sydney.
It was a fun weekend.

16/12/2023

Sunshine got some mail!

She earned this in May lol. I actually forgot that the certificate hadn’t come. CKC is a little slow.

12/12/2023

🥳🐩🥳Happy 12th Birthday Autumn (UCH Intl/Nat JA SHR
Tudorose Williams Autumn Angel WC RATN CGN)! 🥳🐩🥳

It's been a wild ride little girl.
You are our Little Brown Girl, The Queen, Autumn-Bottom. An excellent momma dog - still drying your 7 year old son and 6 year old daughter lol. One of the best hunting dogs out there - whether it's birds, deer, or rats lol even if you do think barn hunt is a waste of time 😂

Here's to many more years with you 😘

22/11/2023

Yelling louder for the people in the back

My dog is not my child.

My dog is not my furbaby.

I am not her mother, I am her trainer. The word trainer is not a bad word, it means leader, supporter,disciplinary.. and friend.

My dog is my friend. She is my partner and my companion. To treat her like a child, to infantilize her and make it seem as though she needs my constant coddling or protection, would be unfair to her.

She is an adult carnivore that I have brought into my human world. Because of that it is my responsibility as her owner:

1) To communicate with her in a way she can understand.

2) To provide leadership, discipline and mutual respect.

3) To understand her instincts and needs, and provide appropriate outlets for them.

4) To train her and provide her the skills to function effectively in our human world, including acceptable manners and behaviors including the veterinarian.

Our dogs deserve to be given responsibility and allowed to be adult creatures, not perpetual babies. Please, don't try to make them tiny humans, they aren't and they don't want to be. Dogs are wonderful because they are dogs. Let them be dogs.

Teach them to be good ones.

I couldn’t live a day without them..

31/10/2023

Happy Howloween!

Knives is all ready to get his treats!
Thanks to Erin and her co-workers at Good Dog - what a great job you guys did 😁🤩🐩

19/10/2023

UCH Intl/Nat CH SHR Tudorose Williams Gaelic Knight WC RATO CGN
"Cale"
2010-11-30 - 2023-10-18

It was with a great deal of sadness that we had to euthanize Cale last night. We thankfully were able to arrange for it to be done at home where he was comfortable and without stress.

This experience was absolutely blessed. Cale simply fell asleep in David's hands surrounded by his family. Truly peaceful.
Thank you to Pacific Comfort Home Veterinary Care - Dr Karen and Dr Mark for making a very difficult day so much more tolerable.

He was the best boy and will be greatly missed.

15/10/2023

Sunshine earned her RATI this weekend at the Okanagan Rat Pack Barn Hunt Trial!
She also earned 2 Q's toward her Novice title with a 1st and 2nd place!
We are so proud of Sunshine and Sydney 😍

07/07/2023

Happy Belated Birthday to the Autumn and Chaos litter.
They are 6 years old (July 6)!
Cello
Ivy
Jett
Nora
Rain

21/05/2023

Woot!! Great day at Kelowna Kennel Club show.
Sunshine earned her CGN - her first, and Sydney’s first, title!!
And she took Reserve Winner’s!
This is just their second show 😊🎉

12/05/2023

11/05/2023

Happy 7th Birthday to the Autumn x Nino litter!!
Baci, Knives, Louis and Moki

12/03/2023

Well we went to our first CKC show on Saturday.

Sunny and Sydney have taken 2 handling classes and had a lot of fun on Saturday. Sydney learned a lot and got some good feedback. Sunny behaved very well, free stacked, and gaited relatively well. Sydney is working on keeping her from jumping like a loon so it's an odd look at the moment. After watching the video lighter clothes are definitely needed as well. There was more of a contrast in real life but still too dark.

Overall it was a fun, educational day.

Thank you Kate for the morning sc******ng - she looks like a real show dog!

Ignore our commentary if you have the sound up lol.

This is our first CKC conformation show (ever for our kennel) and also a first for both Sunshine and Sydney.

04/03/2023

So well stated!

On Dogs & Social Expectations with Other Dogs
………………

Canadian society has developed some weeeeeird ideas about dog sociability in the last few decades, at least as far as I can tell. I remember growing up on a farm and being strictly instructed NOT to touch other peoples’ dogs without express permission from the dog’s owner. I remember it being a fairly common thing for lots of dogs to not want to interact with people they didn’t know, and while they weren’t allowed to be aggressive unless the situation called for it, it wasn’t considered at all “odd” that the dogs were like that. It was also expected that your dog would NOT be friendly towards any dog that just showed up at your place. In fact, most owners in that situation WANTED their dog to behave aggressively enough that wandering dogs would be run off as quickly as possible and would NOT want to come back.

Sometime between now and then, and especially in urban settings, that changed.

Somehow, we got it in our heads that dogs who had been bred for decades – if not centuries – to be committed to a relationship with one or two people, or a single family, could be expected to be friendly with EVERYONE. And, in some instances, every THING, too. Suddenly, a dog should enjoy interacting with all human beings and other dogs, in any and all circumstances, and all without a care in the world. Suddenly, dogs weren’t supposed to be who and what we’ve been breeding them to be for generations; suddenly they were supposed to be something entirely different. And in a LOT of instances, that isn’t going so well.

So. Here’s the deal (at least in my opinion). Dogs, like people, have varying levels of sociability. And those levels of sociability change with age, experience, and circumstance.

If you take a bunch of toddlers and put them in a playroom together with a bunch of toys and activities, or even just with each other, they will – for the most part, anyway – have a good time. Some will dive right in; some might be more cautious. You might have some that cling to their mothers until they’ve determined that no one is going to eat them, and you might have a small few who really never want to interact with the other toddlers at all. But, for the most part, they will all end up playing together, more or less.

An aside… It’s important to note, that I’m NOT talking about children who know one another. I’m talking about a group of children who are unfamiliar with one another who have suddenly found themselves in a room together.

Fast forward a bunch of years, and now you’ve got a group of junior high aged children who – once again – do NOT know each other, put into a room together. At this point, they’re starting to get a lot pickier about who they want to hang out with. There is a lot more suspicion, a lot more hesitance towards one another. You’re still likely to have your super-gregarious ones, but the majority are less interested in interacting on a free-for-all type scale, and more interested in trying to suss out who is most like them, who will do things the way they like doing things, and who will give them a hard time. You’ll have your swaggering, stereotypical, popular types who are comfortable taking the lead (and whatever else they want), and you’ll have your more cautious, introverted types as well. There might be problems between some of them, and it’s pretty much guaranteed that they won’t all like each other, no matter what else happens.

Fast forward a final time. Now we’ve got a group of people in their early thirties. For this experiment, we’re going to plunk them in a fitness centre together. Most of them are going to go about doing whatever it is that they normally do in a gym without really acknowledging one another. There might be some friendly overtures, but not many. If any of the people DO happen to know each other, those ones will usually stick together. Some people – usually those who have had negative past experiences or who were more introverted growing up – will be overtly suspicious of everyone else. Some will react poorly if they are approached; some will tolerate the interaction, even though they’re really uncomfortable about it. Some will just leave if they can. But very few of them will want to be friends with anyone and everyone they can walk up to, aaaaand the ones who are like that will often be received poorly by the others because their social etiquette sucks and they make the more reserved adults uncomfortable.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, it should.

That’s because dogs are very similar to people in this respect. As puppies, most dogs will be social to one degree or another. As they age, many of them become less so. And as they reach maturity, a lot of them will have gotten to the point where they don’t like other dogs or they only like certain dogs with whom they are familiar.

Some of them will view others of the same s*x as competition. Some of them will still be willing and ready to be besties with everyone (I call those dogs “derps” and they’re the ones who genuinely benefit from dog parks, daycares, etc.). Some will be incredibly uncomfortable in unstructured social situations, to the point where they’ll lash out or run away if approached. Some will be tolerant, but not particularly enjoying themselves.

ALL OF THEM ARE NORMAL.

And ALL of them deserve to have their preferences and personalities acknowledged and respected, while being taught how to participate appropriately in society.

What do I mean by that? Well, I mean that it’s possible for you to understand and respect the fact that you have a dog that doesn’t like other dogs that are unfamiliar to them AND still insist that they behave appropriately despite that.

For example, if I’m walking my “introverted”, socially reclusive dog on the street and another dog looks at them funny or tries to get their attention by barking or jumping around, they aren’t allowed to start freaking out at the other dog; they must behave politely and appropriately, despite how they feel about the other dog’s overtures. However, if I’m walking my dog in the park, and another dog comes rushing at us off-leash (and trailing an owner that insists the dog is friendly), then my dog is allowed to be uncomfortable and communicate that to the other dog with appropriate dog body language and vocalizations (flattened ears, side-eyes, lip licking, lip lifting, grumbling/growling, hackles up). For MY part, so that my dog doesn’t feel the need to escalate their communication how displeased they are, I’m going to do my best to keep myself in between my dog and the other dog until the other dog’s owner can responsibly retrieve their pooch, but it’s NORMAL and HEALTHY for my dog to not want to interact in this situation. My dog isn’t being “mean”, they aren’t “poorly socialized”, they aren’t “unfriendly”. They’re a NORMAL dog, exhibiting NORMAL dog behaviour. Period.

Let’s be honest, you guys… If you go for a walk in a park by yourself or with a friend, how happy and engaging are YOU going to be if someone came running up toward you at full tilt and hugged you without a word of introduction or your permission? How tolerant are YOU going to be if you’re playing catch with a buddy and someone runs over and grabs the ball and takes off with it, expecting you to chase them to get it back?

How comfortable are YOU going to be if someone puts you in an enclosed space with a bunch of people you don’t know, some of whom are yelling (barking) at each other, some of whom look like they’re sure they’re going to die at any moment (pacing along the edges of the room, panting), some of whom are aggressively chest bumping anyone they can get close to (body slamming), and some of whom keep trying to kiss people they’ve never met (licking faces). In that situation, how long would it take YOU to freak out on the next person who got in your space, regardless of whether or not their intentions were friendly? ESPECIALLY if you’ve already communicated your discomfort politely a whole bunch of times in a whole bunch of different ways.

So if you have a dog that doesn’t like to play with random other dogs, who isn’t a fan of dogs they don’t know getting in their faces, or who prefers to keep to their interactions to dogs they know or just to YOU, respect that. For the vast majority of breeds, it’s what we bred them for; it’s how we WANTED them to behave. Instead of trying to force them to be social butterflies, provide them with experiences and interactions that they are comfortable and happy with, and fulfill them in ways they actually enjoy. And, if those interactions are in large part with YOU, then know that your dog is a normal, healthy, happy dog, who is doing exactly what they were designed to do.

After all, that whole business about being wo/man’s best friend is kind of a big deal. Let’s love them for it instead of trying to “fix” things that were never broken to begin with.

Christina Chandler, IACP-CDT
ALIGN CANINE TRAINING INC
……………………….

P.S. Just for the record, I am NOT knocking the “derps”. There is a lot to be said for a dog who is unapologetically HAPPY and social just because they’re alive. My clients who have dogs like that know how often they make me laugh, how much I like them, and how fantastic I think they are as pets in our society.

But… they ALSO know that I firmly believe it’s their responsibility to be aware that many other dogs are NOT that way, and that super social dogs should NOT be allowed to invade another dog’s space, just because they happen to think that everyone should love them as much as they love everyone else. (Even when they love everyone else a LOT. Like… SO FREAKING MUCH, you guys. So. Freaking. Much. Even THEN.)