But this is not going to be a post about that.

 This is going to be a post about sunbathing. In the back yard.  Thought I’d start with Josephine, my 14 year old whippet. She seems to be doing quite nicely in spite of her heart murmur. She’s pretty much the perfect dog.

So quiet, you almost never know she’s around.

Impeccable manners.  Walks by my side on leash walks.  Every time.  Because that’s what whippets do. (It’s programmed into their DNA along with their “must have’ sleek elegance.)

We don’t walk too far these days on account of her heart murmur.

One of her favorite things to do on warm, sunny days in May is to lounge in the grass, close her eyes and soak up the sun.

Which isn’t what Tessa chose to do, as her role, when she’s in the yard, is to guard it, chase it, bark at it or try to snatch if out of the air.  As you can plainly see.

She had nothing to guard, chase, bark at or snatch, so she struck her “look at me” pose.

It’s not often she stands still long enough for me to take her photograph.

Sometimes, timing is everything.

The series of photos that I’m really pleased with are the ones of Gracie. (Finally.)

She’s shy when it comes to having her picture taken. Kind of aloof, truth be told.

She’s had almost two months to get used to the house, the yard, the routine; the sights and sounds of the neighborhood that she can see from part of our back yard that’s fenced but fenced in such a way that she can see down the street.

She looks like she’s sleeping. But, she will open her eyes and lift her head instantly at the slightest noise.

According to my son, Pit Bulls “sleep with one eye open.”

Suzy, our German Shepherd/Husky mixed breed dog did that too. (I think that all working breeds have this trait. At least the smart ones do. Suzy was a really smart dog. And, she was a lot of work.)

Gracie’s about as much “work” now as Suzy was back then.

Which is not a bad thing.

Dogs that make you work are dogs that are always thinking about things.  And, they think about things because they are really smart.

Gracie’s quiet about her smartness. She rarely barks and because of this, you never know that she’s out in the yard.  Like Josephine, Gracie is the perfect yard dog.

This is the photo I like the best out of this batch. Isn’t she just darling?

I’m sorry that I didn’t get Gracie’s entire head into the photograph. There’s always next time. But what I like a lot is that she’s clearly enjoying herself.

Such a happy baby girl.  And not so shy aloof because she knows she’s (finally) home.

© Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets, 2013. Written by Kathy

Post tags: dogs, Min Pin, pit bull terrier, sunbathing in Categories: Adoption And Rescue, Tessa The Wonder Dog, Women And Dogs

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The post This Won’t Be A Post About Clicker Training. It Will be a Post About Sunbathing. And Dogs. appeared first on Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets.

One beautiful May morning.

My neighborhood is greening up, the dogs are lounging in the back yard instead of zooming around like crazed speed merchants; windows are open, skiess are blue and there’s a bumper crop of dandelions sprouting up faster than you can say, “Wow. Look at that.”

Once again, we’ve come out of winter to an early spring. It’s good to be here.

The farmer’s market opened last Saturday which brought back one of my favorite vendors, Sweet & Woodsy Aromatherapy. This year I’m determined to bring more of Mindy’s meticulously crafted essential oils into my home and to sing her praises to my friends.  I’ve been so entrenched in my own “stuff” that I’ve gotten out of the habit of publicly supporting my friends.  Hopefully, you’ll see more of Mindy here on my blog. She and I have been casually talking about how essential oils can help calm anxious dogs. I offered up some space on my blog so that Mindy can share what she knows.  I’m looking forward to that. And to more days like this.

© Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets, 2013. Written by Kathy

Post tags: dogs, dogwood tree, early spring, essential oils, neighborhood life in Categories: Life Lessons

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Leadership begins here.

Like many of her peers, Victoria Stilwell understands what it takes to develop awesome, healthy relationships with dogs. Understand, communicate effectively, always be positive and consistent.  Embrace life long learning.  She says, “A good relationship is based on cooperation, not dominance.”

Why is it that humans mess this up? What is it about the human condition that guarantees each one of us will fail, not just once, but many times before we get this right?

Stilwell didn’t think she was writing a self-development book when she wrote It’s Me Or The Dog – How to Have the Perfect Pet. But. I think that’s exactly what she’s done. As I watch my son grapple with some of the harder truths about the human condition,  I reread parts of this book so that, at the end of a not-so-great day, I can remind him of the important things.

1.  “It is easier to blame problem behavior on a dog’s character than to look at  how the environment we have created might be affecting it.” (pg 33 of It’s Me Or The Dog.) 

Stilwell describes a puppy that finds itself in a home with humans who fail to grasp the basic fundamentals of consistent, positive, reward-based training. Not understanding why their puppy is behaving badly, these humans dump the pup at their local shelter. Sadly, the outcome for this pup is not a happy one. Stilwell’s larger point is that the odds of survival for shelter dogs are slim; that “…between six and ten million dogs are put down in American shelters every year, and only 5% of these for medical reasons.” (pg 35)

How can we fix this? Know, says Stilwell, that “…rescue dogs take time and patience … it’s necessary to understand why dogs behave the way that they do, to see the world from their point of view.” (pg 35.)

To see the world from their point of view.

If humans are going to mess up big time, this is where we do just that. Many of us fail to learn that one of the secrets to getting along has a lot to do with climbing inside of someone’s head to figure out what makes them tick; that finding common ground opens the door to clear and direct communication. Without honest discourse there is no safe place to come together to solve problems, to fix things, to work together as a team.

Better than this is wanting someone else to succeed more than you want success for yourself.  Just imagine what kind of a team you’d have with this as your bench mark!  If I told you that it takes years for this to happen, would you believe me? Would you be willing to take the first step to make this be true? All you have to do is be the leader that you want to follow.

What kind of leader should you be?

Be kind with your words, thoughtful with your actions and selfless with how you motivate others.  Do the work on yourself to be the best person you can be.  Self-development is where your dream team begins.

Each day,  pick one aspect of yourself that needs work. Maybe you need to buddy up with a colleague on one project and, in order to do this, you have to ignore that person’s sour attitude. One of your goals for the day becomes staying positive and supportive no matter what. Sometimes, this is easier said than done. If true leadership is wanting the other person’s success more than your own, your inner work on this day is figuring out how to bring that about.

The “figuring it out” part is the hardest kind of work that you will ever do. It requires patience and a lot of practice. But, I promise you this. You can learn from watching the leaders around you. Make a deliberate choice to model the behavior and the language of the leaders that have already stepped up – the leaders who have done their self-development work and, as a result, are farther along on the path that you have just found. Don’t despair. Don’t give up. Above all else, don’t ever, ever give up.

© Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets, 2013. Written by Kathy

Post tags: dogs, healthy relationships, It's Me Or The Dog, relationships, rescue dog, self development, the secret, victoria stilwell in Categories: Book And Product Reviews, Life Lessons

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Dogs don’t have the corner on lost and found. But they make for good copy, don’t they?

Being lost and found is a state of mind that some of us never climb out of. We stay in that shallow, finger-pointing place of “Why didn’t you do this my way?” “Well, looks like you’ve failed already this morning….” If you want to peer into someone’s inner core, listen to the words they use, their tone of voice. If it’s this kind of verbal crap, it comes from a place of fear served up on a plate of ignorance.

My niece and I talked about leadership last night. She’s just been promoted and is finding out that language is key. If you want a work environment that fosters mutual respect and an all for one, one for all philosophy, everyone has to work on their inner core. She’s smart and compassionate and she’s old enough that she’s learned some things. She’ll work really hard to foster a sense of team because, as she said to me, “That’s what being a leader is all about.” She grew out of her own lost place into an admirable place of being found.

We talked about what it’s like to watch someone we love (who is doing the hard work of finding himself) come up against one of the lost people.

Lost and found. Sometimes it’s as simple as an open gate that a dog slips through, an accident that immediately plays out in Social Media drawing thousands of compassionate people to like, to share; to plead that we all come to the rescue. And we do. Because we love our fur babies. (Why can’t we love each other in this way, wanting someone else’s success more than we want our own?)

What amazes me is the simplicity of this equation.  I think that this simplicity is why some of us are drawn to dogs. They may become physically lost but their sense of self is always straightforward. What you see is almost always what you get.

It’s not so easy when you switch out dogs and replace them with people. What if you don’t know that you’re one of the lost?

Some people never find themselves.  If there’s no one to show them an alternate path, they will stay lost. Sometimes, those of us who have found ourselves become tangled in the ugliness of a lost person’s mess. The path we’re on gets muddied. It’s hard to know where to step because we feel like we’re up to our knees in bullshit. If we keep to what we know is true, if we focus on the things that we can control, it’s possible to ride out the storm, to come out on the other side of the rainbow.

© Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets, 2013. Written by Kathy

Post tags: in Categories: Life Lessons, Women And Dogs

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April flowers.

Today’s the last day of pet care-taking for my neighbors down the street. Grabbing my camera,  I left my house at 6:20AM, said hello to a woman walking her dog on the opposite side of the street, and made my way down the street.  It’s also my son’s 27th birthday. He’s got today and tomorrow off from work – his dad and I are taking the day off too. It’s time to deliberately stop and remember the important things: family love and the beauty that’s all around us.

© Healing Rescue Dogs | rescue dog stories | dog owner tips | dogs change lives | dogs helping people | healing power of pets, 2013. Written by Kathy

Post tags: April, april flowers, love, shade garden, spring in Categories: Life Lessons, Women And Dogs

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