Killing our dogs with misdirected good intentions

  I’m passionate about my canine companions. I’ve owned, bred, trained, exhibited and adored Shelties (and now also Labradors) for over forty years. I try to keep a sane perspective — after all, “they’re just dogs” — but it doesn’t work. They’re an integral part of our family and, just as is the case with

Happy Birthday, Wild Child!

Maybe by referring to him as our “Wild Child” we have unconsciously been sending negative vibes that help perpetuate the cyclone-like behaviour. People often say that a Labrador’s brain doesn’t kick in until they are at least three years old. Some warn that it’s more like five or six years, while others admit sometimes it never

Sleepers Begone!

  I bit the bullet today and deleted my Google+ account. It was a sleeper anyway — a place I rarely visited. My blog posts from here were set to automatically show up there as well as on Facebook, but when I chose where to spend my social media time, apart from here, Facebook usually won out, despite some of

Is it Discipline or Discouragement?

When used correctly, crates and exercise pens are very handy tools for dog training. Like a child’s playpen, they can be overused, or used for the wrong reasons, but they are invaluable when it comes to having a safe place to contain a puppy and avoid the havoc he could wreak when left untended. Yes, he’d rather be outside

Another new start…

We didn’t originally expect to get another Labrador Retriever, but life doesn’t always work out the way we intend, does it? “Life is all about how you handle Plan B” says a plaque a friend once sent me. So this is our Plan B. His call name is ‘Clipper’ (shortened from a registered name that will include ‘Eclipse’)

Sometimes it’s hard

Earlier this week, on Thanksgiving Monday, under the title “In all things give thanks“, I posted a photo I’d taken during a drive in the Fraser Valley,  and I included a quote from Psalm 95:2.  We have so much in our lives for which to be thankful and I was feeling full of praise. Tuesday morning we were once again driving in the

People Watching and Developing Fictional Characters

I spend more time than I should just staring out windows. It’s not that there’s a lot to see here, but you never know what you’ll miss if you don’t happen to be looking at the right moment. You can observe a lot by just watching. [Yogi Berra] You may get real tired watching me,

How do you pick a name (for a cat or a character)?

This is Zeke. Our grandchildren started out calling her ‘Trooper Zeke McGuire’ until it eventually ended up as just plain Zeke — not that either name was particularly appropriate for a female kitten. Of course at the time of naming, everyone thought she was a he, and by the time it was discovered she wasn’t,

A Doggy Dilemma

Not many dogs own forty toys. That’s right, forty! Our dogs have always liked a stuffie or two, a nylabone to chew and the occasional tug toy (to gnaw on; we don’t encourage tugging). But in his half dozen years our Labrador Retriever has managed to accumulate quite the assortment. He adores getting a new

Subtle Differences… or maybe not so subtle

Earlier this month on the way into our cabin I took this photo: . On the way out a week later I took this one: Same horse, same general location, but the weather had changed. Who would have thought a few snowflakes could alter the mood of a scene so drastically? The same thing happens