Sasha is officially three years old today! When we registered Sasha with the AKC via their Purebred Alternative Listing (PAL) program, we opted to rely on the veterinarian's estimate of her age because the details of her life before she came to us are largely unknown. We chose July 4th for her "official" birthday and she's …
Tag: American Kennel Club
At the Crossroads (Again) of Fact & Fiction
In a previous post I mentioned the issue of breed-specific legislation is a key part of the plot in Dangerous Deeds (#2 in the Waterside Kennels mystery series). In that fictional world, community members take sides over a proposed “dangerous dog” ordinance to ban specific breeds, and the kennel staff is caught in the crossfire. For the …
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Play Nice: Good Manners, Canine Style
With warm weather on the horizon and a holiday weekend ahead, chances are you'll see a lot more people out and about enjoying the outdoors with their dogs. Some dogs, like people, are super-social and love spending time with others. If you have a dog like this, a dog park might be a fun destination. …
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Winter Fun and Safety
It's been a mild winter here in the Ozarks, with temps fluctuating between single-digit bone chilling cold to spring-like days when we traded parkas for tee shirts. Green sprouts appeared in the garden a month ahead of schedule and daffodils splashed color across the late winter landscape. We settled in the Ozarks 22 years ago after decades of living …
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Detours
Just when I think we're making progress in our preparations for the AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification, something happens that has me reevaluating my process. From our first days together I knew I couldn't apply the same training methods I'd used years ago with my spaniel Alix. For one thing, Alix was just six weeks …