Monday Round-Up

I always hesitate to overly recognize a dog, fearing that others will think ribbon-related accomplishments are what matters to me.

How can I adequately convey that what I value for our Kaibab dogs are interesting lives, and that I know well there are so many ways that can be achieved. I fear that my words may not be adequate — but I mean that most sincerely.

Abbie’s interesting life involves being a canine big sister to Hal, and being loved to pieces by her humans. Ze.D is beloved by his two dads and has an extended canine and feline family as well; he also gets more exercise than most of his littermates — or any of us! Abbie and Ze.D’s lives as valued family members and companions are not less-than simply because there are no ribbons or recognition for their accomplishments.

Creating puppies that have the abilities needed to fit into family and community life is no small feat, and the measure of our success in achieving that goal is in the charmed lives those dogs live as beloved companions to wonderful humans. There may not be ribbons for those dogs — but just know there is plenty of appreciation for their wonderful lives.

Ruthie, Jordan, Zimmer, Lucas, and Tika are leading their humans on wonderful learning adventures. Each of those teams will be reflecting their interesting lives through continued participation in dog events.

Every Sparkler is in his/her perfect home and living his/her perfect life.

It is also true that as a reputable and ethical breeder of Bernese Mountain Dogs, the dogs who are actively competing are our “face” in the larger breed community. The competing dogs are the more visible proof in the pudding, so to speak, about how we are doing in achieving our commitment and responsibility to produce Berners who accurately reflect the Breed Standard.

Kiri is one of the Sparklers who carries a particularly heavy mantle in this regard. Actively competing in both the breed ring and performance events, Team Kiri represents us as breeders, and our larger Kaibab Community — especially, the Sparklers (our J Litter).

Team Kiri is giving our community much to celebrate together, and she is representing Team Sparklers well. Over the weekend Kiri (always owner-handled) picked up six more points towards her Bronze Grand Championship — only nine more points to go (a dog needs 100 for Bronze).

Last weekend Kiri earned her AJP (an excellent level agility title) plus her first PACH points.

And we recently learned that Kiri is the BMDCA’s Top Novice Agility Dog AND the Top Open Agility Dog for 2019.

WOWZA.

This is Kiri and her uncle Tristan (iPup) in their holiday photo showing off their excellent core strength…

Congratulations to Team Kiri — and thanks for making the rest of us look good from the comfort of our pile of snow…

Claire resting after hearing about her sister’s recent activities!

Happy Monday doing whatever fun and interesting things you have planned for today.

Berners with The Edge, Week Four

The kinds of things that we have focused on in the beginning weeks of our online community adventure are understanding the value of thinking micro, the value of reinforcement, and we have also offered specific ideas for training.

I started the first week with a video about Vulnerability because learning requires an ability to embrace and expose our imperfections; that is not easy, and especially for adults. Thank you to those who have shared videos — they are valuable learning opportunities for all, and your willingness to be vulnerable is honored and appreciated.

This is the week in which I want us begin to more explicitly consider the parallel tracks of training dogs and the whole human side of things. Yep—we are going to start tackling the monster that is Ring Nerves.

The name is misleading even as it gives us a shared concept to discuss. It isn’t really nerves nor is it limited to a ring — rather, it is a physiological response to a perceived or real threat that happens to so many at dog events.

Why do people experience this response at dog events? Are dog events dangerous?

Note that the threat can be real or perceived. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if a dog event is actually dangerous or not. If a person perceives a threat, the response is activated and it is real (and unpleasant).

But that response does more than make humans sweat, tremble, and need to run to the facilities — our fight-flight-freeze response distracts dogs.

Keenly attuned to us because of eons spent evolving the hard-wiring to be that way, our stress response triggers dogs to be on high alert for the threat. I bet you can imagine that when sirens are screaming about impending attack, it is hard to focus on anything else — like heeling.

Dogs do not understand the concept of perceived threat and we cannot simply explain, “Never mind that I am a Hot Mess of Screaming Stress Hormones right now. There is not actually not a lion, tiger, or bear — I just perceive a threat to my self-image.”

And so the dog is on alert for the danger, scanning the environment to be ready for the imminent attack and preparing to get the heck out of Dodge — and the human cannot understand why the dog is not happily engaged in the ring.

I left my camera in Boise — sigh. Therefore, I am photo-deficient these days.

This week’s video invites consideration about both the impact of perceived threats at dog events AND how to figure out what those perceived threats are; they are not the same for everyone. If we understand the perceived threat(s), we can change things — I promise.

In addition, I pose what I think is an important question — what are we practicing when we continue to show a dog whose ring performance is disengaged and/or not what we want to see?

This is an honest question and not asked with judgment — I really want to know what drives people to continue to show a dog who does not seem ready to achieve the human’s hopes and dreams. If we understand what drives such decisions, maybe we can be helpful.

A Farewell

The Glitterati are reunited at the Rainbow Bridge.

Cooper left the earth a few days ago at the age of 11+ years — a long and well-loved life but one that was too short to contain all that was amazing and special about him.

Cooper was loved by the Graffunders, and especially Jennifer.

His leaving leaves a giant hole in the fabric of their family. We send our most heartfelt condolences as well as our deep appreciation to the entire Graffunder family for loving Cooper enough to give him such an amazing life.

Farewell, Sweet Boy.