Blog

I‘ve been looking at this page titled “Blog” and wondering what to do with it. I suspect it will take a bit to get it organized as i would like. It but for now i‘m just going to dump some random thoughts into it.

I help one day a week in a local memory care facility, doing activities with the folks there. As The dogs and i were walking i realized we spend a lot of time doing activities with the retired dogs as well. When i did search and rescue on the nice days when the weather was good for hanging out in the car I’d bring the retired dog along. At the end of the day it was always easy to find someone to lay quick trail, or hide a training aid for the old one in the car. Then i said for my old dogs “retired means every search is a walk up find” even if they were getting a lot of help from me holding the back end up and helping them over any obstruction in the trail. It was always hard when that pager went off (back in the day of pagers.). For the old dog that was left behind on the real searches. These three are different. Shelby the gray lady in the front was happy to retire and become the pet dog, Cagney, in the back, considers visiting people a worthy job so often joins me at the retirement community to explore her calling as a therapy dog. Lilly, the girl in the center, loved working and has no intention to retire. Sadly she got hit hard by age. Lilly’s hearing is almost gone, her vision would have her considered legally blind, and an immune condition that affected her ability to actually smell forced the whole retirement issue. I believe there is nothing worse than being put into retirement when you’d rather be working.

In the memory care facility by far the best activities for people are the ones that give them a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Making crafts is fine, but making crafts we can give as gifts to guests at an upcoming family night is usually received with more enthusiasm. So when a friend asked me to participate in a citizen science project with Shelby i added Lilly to the participants list. Shelby ended up with some medical issues and dropped out, but i couldn‘t bring myself to pull Lilly. The idea of sniffing boxes for the new target odor was the highlight of her life. Lilly certainly got me thinking about life enriching activities for elderly dogs.

But even more than that what about activities with a purpose for all dogs? Something to do that gives them or perhaps more importantly a sense of purpose?

The last decade has brought some real changes to the dog world. There have been an explosion of studies published about how dogs think and behave. The internet has made finding and participating in dog activities easier than ever for people that would have struggled to find access to these sports before. I remember when i wanted to teach my rottweiler sheep herding skills. We were in Maryland at the time, i started out in Virginia and ended up taking classes in Delaware. But then it was as much persistence and luck as anything else. Today it is a minute typing words into google and your inbox is flooded with options. When i started using my man trailing dog to find lost pets there were only three of us doing that in the whole United States. Today there is support for lost pets in almost every community, certainly in most states. I think this is a good time to get a puppy there are so many more opportunities for you and your puppy.