Activities, Kids, and Pozy's Ear Frizzles

Yesterday in a blog comment Sarah asked about the kinds of activities one can do with a Berner, and if there are any especially good dog-related activities for kids. Great questions!

The Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America (BMDCA) has a wonderful Info Series that includes short articles about all things Berners, and there is an entire section of articles covering Activities; you can find these articles by clicking HERE and scrolling down the page.

You will see there is an article about Juniors in the Activities section — that article includes info about activities involving kids. Agility is an especially fun event for kids to do with dogs, but so is obedience, Scentwork, and conformation — any activity could be fun if a dog and young person want to get involved with it and have a good trainer.

Zeus (Wildflowers) and one of his humans, Raymond.

The ethical treatment and training of a puppy/dog is a wonderful way to teach children prosocial skills that will have broad and valuable application in their lives. Dr. Ian Dunbar has an excellent video titled Dog Training for Children that families can watch together so that everyone is on board with how we train in ethical and effective ways.

I got in the mood to groom dogs yesterday and Pozy was swept up in my enthusiasm. Puppies grow wild ear frizzles…

I decided the time had come to give her a more polished look.

It is easy to trim ears. Just buy/order an inexpensive pair of thinning shears and thin the ear frizzle. I leave it about 3/4 of an inch or so long but it is not an exact science and doesn’t need to be. If you mess up — no worries because it will grow back (think of the bad parental haircuts you probably got as a kid!)

I also tidied up her feet…

Just a pair of scissors — rounded tips are a bonus but not required.

There is no need to send your dog off to someone for grooming — it is easy to do it yourself. If you must use a groomer for some reason, best to use one that lets you watch (and feed cookies to your dog).

And again, if your grooming efforts yield imperfect results — so what? Nobody takes away your birthday if the dog’s ears are not perfectly groomed.

Sparkle with her imperfectly trimmed ears — my birthday remains on May 24, FYI.

Best wishes for a marvelous Monday.

On the Bright Side

This is the puppy that started my succession of “Bright”…

Pat Long Photo, 2003

Halo was named after a hiking trail in the Grand Canyon — her official name at the time of her death at nearly 11 was CH Kaibab’s Bright Angel UD TD NAP NJP NFP RE DD BDD. That photo was taken when she was a puppy, having recently earned her Tracking Dog title on her six-month birthday, which was pretty incredible.

Halo was something. She was SO smart and such a wonderful working dog. This was not surprising as she was Abra’s daughter, and Abra was brilliant. This is a photo of Halo’s parents, Abra and Zaltana (owned and adored by Terri Zimmerman).

Pat Long Photo, 2003

Halo (Bright Angel) had Zoey (Forever Bright)…

GCH Kaibab’s Forever Bright UD TDX AXP AJP NF RN DD BDD VCD3 and so much more.

Zoey. I do not have the words to describe everything she is and was. She did it all and meant the world to me.

Zoey gave us Sparkle (Incandescently Bright).

Zoey and Baby Sparkle

And Sparkle had Claire, who is indeed (Kaibab’s) Justifiably Bright…

Sparkle and Claire (in the back)

But it is not only those who carry on the family name that shine Bright.

This is Tristan, Zoey’s son and one of the iPups…

Pandemic Life is slowing all of us down a bit (understatement alert) but Team Tristan still managed a phenomenal fall. Over the course of seven weekends, Tristan passed multiple draft tests with his new partner, Kelyn, earned many agility Qs including two QQs, and picked up two Utility legs.

Team Tristan is on fire, although the fire is now banked for the winter. Bright, indeed. Congratulations to Team Tristan.

Sparkle’s daughter, Ruthie, is shining bright this weekend.

Perfect scores in Rally — well done, Team Ruthie.

Not all Kaibab dogs compete — there are many ways for a dog’s light to shine bright. We celebrate all accomplishments — Nikko’s uncanny ability to find money on walks, Kidd’s gradual recovery from neck surgery, and Lucy Clover King’s excellent retrieving skills.

What matters is that these bright dogs have interesting lives, and interesting happens in all kinds of ways.

And speaking of bright and interesting…

Sparkle wants those candles for her next birthday!

Isn’t that an amazing cake? A certain girl made a special wish on her bright birthday candles and between birthday wishes and Lucky Socks, let’s all hope there will soon be more bright puppies in the world.

Everything crossed.

Life Here

I occasionally have people ask if they can visit my kennel to see how my dogs live. Here you go…

That is the view from my desk — Harper, Daisy, rePete — and can you spot Rosebud?

We do not have a kennel. The dogs live with us in our house with access to fenced yards. They are members of our family, after all, and not things we keep outside in storage.

And speaking of Rosebud…

Having a kitten involves kitten toys — I have forgotten how incredibly playful kittens are! HOLY ENTERTAINING. And so I am reminded regularly that a puppy who has been rewarded for bringing things is handy…

I like to train dogs with an attitude of instead. If Pozy is delivering a kitten toy, for example, she is not chewing it up.

Sometimes we forget that telling a dog or human what not to do creates a void that can generate anxiety and invites them to try some other behaviors we might not appreciate. So much better to train YES and avoid creating that potentially anxious space where the dog is not sure what she is supposed to do, and so makes things up — this works in dogs and humans, FYI.

Please have a wonderful, compassionate, thoughtful Saturday.