I have a sinus infection and am feeling a bit under the weather (whatever the hell that means.) This morning my teeth hurt so bad I told Hubby it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them fell out. 😉

I woke up at 6:20 am and couldn’t fall back to sleep; I had a busy day ahead of me so I got up.  I was on the road by 7:30 in order to get my three-week supply of dog food.

After picking up the food, I brought it home and Hubby made me an omelet before I headed over to watch my grandchildren while mom and dad went to a wedding.

I left their house and headed over to the grocery store where I did a weeks worth of shopping for me and mom.  Hubby had dinner ready when I got home and after putting the groceries away and eating dinner I still had to portion out the dog’s food and empty the cat box.

A few months ago when I picked up necks Sandy said, “I forgot to tell you, every once in a while you get a head in there.”

“Oh my God!” “What do you do?” I asked.  (Now I’m not really sure why I asked that, but I did.)

“Close your eyes and give it to them” was her response.

Ever since that day I have dreaded doing the necks because I knew sooner or later I was going to find a head in there.  Sure enough, the day when I’m feeling pretty gross is the day I find, not one but two heads…still attached to the necks.  I couldn’t give them to the dogs, so I threw them out.

Yeah, pretty gross.

Oh and I missed the Saturday morning hop. 🙁

My follow-up Friday has to do with A Good Dog Trainer.

Last night at our Thursday night drop-in obedience class we were joined by “J” and her rescued bully, Diesel.

Diesel seems like a very nice dog, but he tends to be excited around other dogs.  J is devoted to him and determined to help him.  She has him on a gentle leader and from what I could tell he listens very well and appears to respond to J’s commands.  The bigger issue (as I see it) is his excitement around other dogs.

When Diesel gets close to another dog he whines, and you can see him amping himself up.  J was using a water bottle and a verbal command when he whined.

While we were walking around the room and Diesel began amping himself up, Sara suggested having him ‘sit’ and ‘down’, ‘sit’ and ‘down.’ This command is known to many of you as puppy push-ups.  What this does is distracts Diesel from whatever he is fixated on and instead helps him focus on something else; allowing his brain time to settle down.

When class was over I followed J out and gave her my card.  I explained that I wrote a blog and I had access to some really great people, some of who rescued bullies, I suggested someone who fostered/rescued bullies might have some different suggestions for her. I asked her to check out my blog or send me an e-mail and I would put her in touch with someone.

Today when I picked the dogs up from daycare at The Mellow Mutt I had a chance to speak with Sara.  I wanted to let her know what I told J.  I told Sara that her suggestion of distracting Diesel with the puppy push-ups was similar to something that Kirsten (Peaceful Dog) does with her reactive dog Lamar.  Using the clicker Kirsten has taught Lamar the “whisper” command.   Where Lamar moves his lips but no words come out.  “Whisper” is Lamar’s favorite trick and when Kirsten sees Lamar gearing up to become reactive, she says “Lamar, whisper” and diffuses the situation.

I said to Sara, “I know you’re not a fan of the clicker.”

Sara said, “I don’t use it, but I think for Diesel it might be the way to go.”

That’s what I mean when I say find a good trainer, someone who is wise enough to understand that not all dogs respond to the same methods.  Who listens and answers your questions, who cares about your dogs as much as you do; who doesn’t care about the money as much as she cares about the dogs.  When you find a trainer like that; you’ve struck gold.

I think I’ve struck gold with Sara.