Moving On and Healing

Months have passed and a lot of healing has taken place. It was hard to get used to working without my shadow of almost 9 years. But, work we have done. We (Chula, Pitiful Pearle, Quihi and I) are involved with a local spay/neuter campaign called Talk About It, geared to educate the community about the importance of health care, spay/neuter and adoption. We go into community centers, churches and public parks giving free dog training demos and showing people how to take care of their dogs. I have loved getting on the ground with young children and showing them that they too can train their dogs. Talking with elderly and meeting new young couples and providing them with fun things they can do to make their dogs members of the family.
We are working with Penny’s From Heaven training therapy dogs to go to BAMC and other facilities in order to help the men and women returning from war cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s). We have also started a new program based on providing and training medical assistance dogs to wounded warriors who have a hard time getting back out into society. This is the Train a Dog Save a Warrior program. Loving called TADSAW.


Imagine coming from a place were a traffic jam could be a set up for a road side bomb. A crowded area is an ambush waiting to happen. These young men and women have been there and have injuries from just such a thing. Just driving in rush hour traffic sends waves of fear or causes horrible flash backs. A simple trip to a grocery store or WalMart is unthinkable. So, these brave young men and women seek safety by shutting themselves in a room. Until they meet their dogs. The dogs give them a silent shoulder to lean on, a comforting nuzzle when things get hard. These dogs add comfort by watching the warriors back when in a crowd. They also, will alert the warrior when they feel him or her start to shut down. This enables the warrior to change gears or get out of a situation or the dog will lead the warrior to the nearest exit. These dogs assist those who walk in their sleep, and those who can’t sleep or have horrible nightmares.



Recently I fostered and trained a dog named Kingsley to go warrior. He came from a wonderful foster home with Gavin Nichols who I met through Talk About It. Gavin and his wife took a pup from a local high kill shelter and nurtured and raised him. Kingsley lived and trained with me for about four weeks. Then we carefully screened and matched him with his warrior. It was a great match and the two of them will have a fantastic life together.


We have plenty of dogs in our local shelter that would be fantastic at the task of helping a warrior. However, there are too few great foster homes such as the Nichols who are willing to take these dogs in and bring them to training. Want to save a dog? Want to do something to bring down the number of dogs we kill each day in San Antonio? Want to do something to help out these brave young men and women returning from war broken and battered? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please contact me. I may just have a way you can help out.

So Long Dear Friend

Two weeks ago today I said good-bye to my beloved Hondo. He was an amazing dog in all ways. He helped socialize many dogs large and small, but he loved community service. Going to nursing homes, hospitals, school and going to work were his favorite things to do. He touched many lives in his short life of 8 years and 9 months. He will be missed by many.


We have seen many changes in our pack dynamics as Hondo had a huge impact on the dogs that share our home. We all seem a little lost without him. He had such a huge presence. As we deal with the quietness of life without a Catahoula I will post how each of the pack members have changed.

So long dear friend, we will meet again across The Rainbow Bridge.


R.I.P Hondo CGC,ATT
Sept. 11, 2001 - June 22, 2010

Living With The Little People

I’m not sure what it is that attracted me to the Chihuahua as a breed. I certainly wouldn’t have listed them in my top ten several years ago. In fact I thought of them as psychotic rats on a lead, ankle biters and little evil dogs. I even remember saying, “I would never own one of those psychotic little creatures.”

One day I met a little white Chihuahua named Julio. He was just what I had always thought a Chihuahua was. He refused to walk on a lead. In fact if you put the stinker on the floor he would climb his owner’s leg like a fire pole. If you put your hand down to block him he then climbed your arm to the desired position, sitting on the shoulder. On his first day of classes with me he attacked two dogs and then bit me. Needless to say he stayed after class that first night to go over new household rules. The next week he was quiet and attentive in class, the week following that he walked in proudly next to his beaming owner. A changed dog, he had gone from spoiled rotten to a proud happy dog.

Then we had the tiniest little dog come in. Socrates. He weighed in at a whole 1.5 pounds when I met him. His vet said he wouldn’t live and that it would be waste to invest in training. Socrates loved his training classes and excelled, plus he has had a fantastic life during the past five years and still loves learning new things.



I personally have always preferred to train Labs, Pit bulls, Catahoulas and other large breed dogs. Just what is it about these little dogs? Was it the neotanized eyes, head and noses? Is it that they are all different and known to be feisty, but loving to their owners? Or is it the fact that they are known as hard to train to the point that some trainers won’t touch them? I was under the spell of these little creatures who’s owners many times anthropomorphizing them so much that I thought of them (the owners) as a bit off.

At one point in my career I stumbled on the fact that little dogs just had to be trained a little different. A ton of patience, extremely short sessions and it had to be a ton of fun for the dog. I had to get a small dog to learn from. I then acquired little Quihi, who turned out to be a very sickly but loving dog. She wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for but I was madly in love with this doe eyed little dog that seemed to wrap everyone she met around her dew claw. Then I understood how easy it was to anthropomorphous or put human emotion/characteristics to these little creatures. She has a way of rolling her eyes at you when you ‘ask’ (that’s right, ASK) her to do something. She snorts in disgust, and has a way of looking at her dinner as if to say, “So, what is this slop you’re serving today?” Oh my gosh! I’m now one of ‘those’ dog owners whom I've always labeled as a bit off. Then it got worse! I got a second one.

Enter Pitiful Pearle, Quihi’s new partner in crime. At first Quihi wanted nothing to do with the bald little black dog with demodectic mange we were going to foster. In fact the first night she sat on the couch and howled a mournful long song. As if she was saying good bye to her old life. Pearle is the opposite of Quihi, she attacked my beloved Hondo (Catahoula) her first night, then the next night attacked me. I called the agency I fostered her from and gave them a report of my concerns. They just said that she was in the right place and they were confident that we would be just fine. Pearle is a smart cookie who loves to learn. A dog trainer’s dream, so after seeing some behavior problems and some fear issues I found myself in love again. We kept her. Now I have two little people in the house. Yes, that is what we call them. Unlike the other dogs they have a way of making me stop and say, “No, that did not just happen.” They both give eye rolls and snorts, now Quihi even shakes her head yes and no. I kid you not! Is it that she understands me or have I conditioned her? Truthfully she has been conditioned to shake her head yes or no. Just as Pearle has been conditioned to lick her lips when I ask is something is yummy. It is just that Chihuahuas learn quickly when they want their way. Laughter is also a great reward for the little one. They have bigger than life personalities and are highly trainable when they think it is their idea. They even have a way of training us to do their bid and calling. That however is another topic, another day.

I do however find myself asking, “Did that just happen? Nah, just my imagination” On more than one occasion I have left to go to work, got in the car and started to back out of the drive when I realize I’ve left something. Upon returning to the house I find the two little people in odd frozen positions. One will be ready to leap from the couch to the dining room table while the other I halfway on the coffee table. Frozen in time, not moving a muscle it is like time has stopped. As I run in and grab whatever I left they stay in the frozen position giving me the creeps. I usually run out and then after about 30 seconds open the door really fast to find them curled up on the couch looking at me as if I woke them from a long nap. Now, I definitely am one of those Chihuahua owners. Oh well, all I can say is that they play hard, love harder and can give really dirty looks when not pleased with you. They bring much joy, and laughter at the end of a long day training dogs and they have taught me a ton of techniques on training the smaller breeds. Huge personalities in those tiny little bodies make up for a life time of love and laughter. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Name Those Ingredients

It seems these days that everyone has something to say about what kind of dog food to feed a dog. There is a dog food for the active dog, the puppy, old dog, fat dog, itchy dog and you name it. I fed commercial brand dog foods for most of my career and I honestly thought my brand of dog food was the best. Then I started noticing things. The food would disappear from the shelves of the local pet food store. Many times the manufacturer will have voluntary recall and not always disclose why. You had to search for the reasons a company would pull a product off a shelf. A standard excuse was that the manufacturer wasn’t sending food for shipping and warehouse issues. Finally, the food would appear back on the shelf in a newly designed bag. Then things would happen to my dogs. Diarrhea, itchy skin, vomiting and ear infections were just some of the fun things my poor dogs endured. I have known for some time that one of my dogs has a problem with corn so I took care to feed foods minus the corn. Apparently after a while other grains started bothering him as well, including rice, wheat, barley and others. Then after seeing other brands change bags, I realized they were changing the ingredients in the food as well as the look of the bag. I struggled with different foods until I met a weight pull judge at a pull in North Texas.

Her dogs were absolutely beautiful. She owned old family red nosed American Pitbull Terriers. When asked if I would hold one of her beautiful dogs I couldn’t believe the softness of the coat and the overall health of this dog. Naturally the big question had to come, “What do you feed these guys?” Her answer changed my way of thinking when it comes to dog food. RAW!

I had tried raw in the past and it was a pain. My new friend sent me some information and when I saw what she did, it was not only easy, but made too much sense. I can now off the top of my head tell anyone what is in my dog food. Lettuce, apples, carrots, celery, green beans, peas pureed and added to ground beef, occasionally I’ll toss in other fruit or veggies. Added fresh each morning are; ground alfalfa powder, ground kelp, Missing Link Plus and a fish oil capsule. In the evening they get raw chicken backs. Each dog gets 2-3% of their body weight in food. I adjust a little depending on each dog. Here are the things I noticed since the big switch. No more itching, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting bile mid afternoon and most of all the vet bill has decreased considerably. The heavy dogs have lost weight, the skinny dogs have gained, my picky eater is the first to the food bowls and the dogs behave much better. If it were just one or two dogs I would say it was a fluke, but we are talking eight dogs. Ranging from 7lbs to 80lbs aged 1 – 10 all with different, jobs, health conditions and allergies. They are all now focused on their work, very happy, frisky and active. So now when people start recommending xx brand of dog food I ask, “Can you name all the ingredients off the top of your head?” If they can’t then there if too much junk in the food and I want to stay away from it.

While I prefer raw, I know that it is not for all. However, there are some very good foods out there that are great choices for those who would love to feed raw and can’t. For me I love my once a week hour of making dog food. It is a labor of love that my hard working dogs deserve. I control the quality of the food I feed and know exactly what is going into the diet of my hard working friends. That makes for a very happy pack.