Note from Kira's Mom...

Thank you for all of the well wishes. I find I am going to have a very difficult time ahead. I have been diagnosed with ocular shingles. This means a lot of pain, and house quarantine for the next 3 weeks. ( It can be transmitted to people with immune problems , pregnant woman and some others)( I have lost the use of one eye and the doctors say it may be months before I regain my sight in it. As visual artist this is very difficult to accept. You lose all sense of perspective with one eye. I reach for something and miss. I have trouble walking on steps.( I have felt the need to smash canvas or throw things)  Instead of whining to the world and feeling sorry for myself, I have to find something positive from this.

It has been interesting watching the dogs. At first they could not figure out what was up, watching, waiting for walkies...I  know they are watching me. I feel them near, they started yesterday taking turns laying on the bed with me, (which is usually not allowed.)  One jumps down, nudges the other and he/she jumps up and lays down. When Kira lays with me, you can feel the whole bed shake with her panting, which is a rather soothing rocking feeling. I am going to try during this time to understand them more than I already do,  to learn to communicate by observing. (Since I can't do anything else) 

As a dog/ puppy trainer I am always reading and  learning.

 Dogs watch us all of the time. You can see that they pick up little things, like a hand movement before we say anything. They read our body language to figure out when it is time for a walk, time to play, time for training.

Dogs do not speak english (or spanish , french, etc) They figure out what we want by conditioning and training. They may understand that sit means to put your rear down , but it was conditioning that taught them that.The first step to good communication with your dog is: don't talk too much. Your canine friends do not spend hours in long verbal conversations with each other .Dogs are almost always communicating with each other and with their humans. The majority of this communication is through body language. Our problem is that we only understand some of the vocabulary.If you pay close attention to your dog, you will begin to understand more of what it is trying to tell you.

A couple of interesting blogs to read. 

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/

http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/

 

 

Yes, Kira will be back! We have hundreds of pictures of her last boat adventure, as soon as I get the strength up to upload all of the pictures.  No more ramblings of Mom, just Kira The BeaWootiful.

Thank you for your friendship and the opportunity to vent a little....

-Kira's Mom