#33 - round up March 2024
What have I been paying attention to this month?
Hi folks!
Happy Spring (or Autumn) equinox! Bucky is excited about sunbathing season and has started napping in the garden.
Exciting news, my physical books Hike with your Dog and Questions to Ask Yourself Before Getting a Dog are now available in person at Big Bro’s Barber Shop in Vancouver. They’re on a $10-20 sliding scale. Also the shop has two cute dogs so it’s a great place to get a haircut.
Previously, on Out With Your Dog
#29 - Behaviours to teach your trail dog
#30 - Four automatic behaviours to add to your dog’s repertoire
#31 - Four underrated ways to help your dog have a fantastic life
#32 - A trip down memory lane and a hike up the river
What I’m paying attention to
Susan Garrett has been in the dog training game for a long time, long enough that she was already well known when I got interested in the subject in the late 2000s. Despite feeling aligned with her training philosophy, I never consumed much of her content. The only way I could explain it is that she “rubbed me the wrong way”. With an extra 15 years of experience, I can tell you why. She’s just too high energy for me to listen to regularly. She’s a Border Collie and I’m a Saint-Bernard; we just don’t function at the same speed, and that perfectly alright.
I highly recommend her podcast episodes about giving your dog a better life, reflecting on how we use positive reinforcement and welcoming a rescue dog.
What I’ve noticed
I’ve been doing great at adulting, going to bed early, leaving the phone in the living room, looking away from my screen at regular intervals… And then I dropped off Bucky at his dogsitter a night before travelling and when I looked up for my screen it was way past my bedtime.
Bucky is not a service dog. He was not trained to perform tasks specifically to help me. He does however prevent me from getting lost in the depths of internet. He naps and make cute dreaming noises, and I look away from my screen. He knows when I close a work meeting and takes the goodbyes as his cue to come ask for a bit of attention. He takes me on walks outside a few times a day. He convinces me to go on hikes on rainy days. If I’m on the couch past our regular bedtime he will sigh deeply as a way to ask me to get on with it and go to bed. Wanting to make his life better has pushed me out of my comfort zone.
He also whines a lot when I’m stressed, eats gross stuff off the sidewalk, and glares at me when I take too much space on the couch, but overall, my life is better for having him around and I’m looking forward to warmer months so we can go on more adventures.
