Rob made this photo of Mia last week at work. I love it so much that we need to make a companion one of Leo and then mural an entire wall with it. We celebrated Mia’s birthday last week. We brought her home four years ago June 4. Who knows how old she really is,Continue reading “Purple Flowers Mia Majesty”
Author Archives: Kari Neumeyer
The power of a photo
This post is going to be even less Wordless than usual, but it speaks to the power of a single photo. This one: Since I started volunteering at an animal shelter, I’ve deliberately not plastered “sad dog” photos all over Facebook. I take dogs on walks and try to get photos of them with myContinue reading “The power of a photo”
Lucky and Ty find families
Two of my long-suffering buddies at the Humane Society of Skagit Valley have been adopted! Lucky, as in L is for Lucky, and Ty, seen here in this photo by Tracey Salazar. Salazar and another photographer, Lara Grauer, are working with The Dugan Foundation and Pawsitive Alliance to spread the word about dogs who keepContinue reading “Lucky and Ty find families”
What’s so great about being positive anyway?
This month’s Positive Training Blog Hop theme is reviews. Product reviews actually, but I’m going to review myself instead. Or rather, my effort to use All-Positive language during April’s A to Z Challenge. It wasn’t that hard to come up with topics for each letter… what was hard was expressing my point of view without usingContinue reading “What’s so great about being positive anyway?”
Z is for Zen
Dogs are my Zen The other day I filled out some paperwork for massage therapy. It asked me what I do to relax, and I should have written Walk my dogs. Walking shelter dogs has the same effect (although I’d prefer that Mia and Leo believe they’re the only dogs with this effect on me).Continue reading “Z is for Zen”
Y is for Yes!
Pictures of Isis that make me want to shout, “Yes!” Isis did all these tricks because she wanted to, though I’m sure our affirmations reinforced her habits. “Yes!” is a marker word of choice that can be used in place of a clicker. At first, I was skeptical about clicker training. Who wants to hold somethingContinue reading “Y is for Yes!”
X is for Xerxes
Since my Isis post has me on one kind of watchlist, an alternate X is Xenu, to get me on another. Both make great dog names, right? While I had Isis’s name in mind before we met her, Rob and I spent more than a week deliberating on what to call Leo. Since Isis is an EgyptianContinue reading “X is for Xerxes”
W is for Window Film
This one’s for the mailman. While we appreciate Leo’s gifts as a guard dog, sometimes the view outside the front windows is overstimulating. I considered his window reactivity a minor concern, but delivery men might tell you a different story. Blinds obscure the view from the outside, but clever dogs are able to peek between,Continue reading “W is for Window Film”
V is for Victory
I have proof that counter-conditioning reactive dogs to scary things works. On a recent walk around Rob’s parents’ neighborhood after dark, we saw some kids run out of a house. I thought they were going to get in a car, but they just stood there in the street. I worried they might hop on skateboardsContinue reading “V is for Victory”
U is for Understood
The best part of publishing Isis’s story, Bark and Lunge, has been getting feedback from other dog owners who relate to our experience. Some fellow dog-bloggers have been very kind to review the book on their sites, and I’ve excerpted their reviews on my Media page. Last week, I commented on this great post byContinue reading “U is for Understood”
Kari Neumeyer 