September 9-12, 2010

• Daily Grounds Ticket – $10
  This ticket allows access to the grounds for one day of competition.
• Weekly Grounds Ticket – $25
  This ticket allows access to the grounds for all four days of competition (September 10-13).
• VIP Ticket Thursday & Friday – $50
  This ticket allows access to the grounds, private clubhouse, and exclusive admission to all VIP amenities including food and beverage services for Thursday and Friday.
• VIP Ticket Saturday & Sunday – $100
  This ticket allows access to the grounds, private clubhouse, and exclusive admission to all VIP amenities including food and beverage services for Saturday and Sunday.

For tickets, call Rose at 801.367.8021

Utah Animal Adoption Center

Since 1983, as one of Utah’s oldest no-kill animal-rescue groups, Utah Animal Adoption Center (formerly Wasatch Humane) has annually helped more than 1,500 dogs, cats and horses take their next breath. The adoption center operates a 3 1/2-acre sanctuary next to the Jordan River Parkway Trail. Each adoption comes with a lifetime guarantee that if things don’t work out, the center takes the pet back and tries to find a new family. And keep in mind, volunteering or adopting a pet here are both ways the center might save your life. 1955 N. Redwood Road, Salt Lake City, 801-355-7387

This effort comes on the heels of a recent PETA undercover investigation at the University of Utah.  The investigation revealed that each year, more than 100 homeless cats and dogs from government-run animal shelters in Utah were sold to the university for use in invasive, painful experiments that are usualy deadly for the animals.

With the passage of this new law, homeless animals in Utah and the people who care for them, can rest a little easier.

(information gathered from peta.org)

I have signed up for 10 weeks of body work with my wonderful friend, Dan Schmidt, owner of Open Hand Body Work.  He does Feldenkrais and Structural Integration.  Look it up if you want to learn the details about what this is.  This week I am writing about how my sessions with Dan have changed my life and how you can apply it to training your dog.

Imagine someone coming up to you and asking you for support.  The person isn’t even looking at you.  The person is actually slumped over with their shoulders forward.  Now imagine a person coming to you asking you for support and this person is giving you nice direct eye contact and he / she is standing upright.  Which person are you going to be more receptive toward?  Probably the person who is standing upright.

The way you carry your body affects every interaction you have including the one with your dog.  I have had muscle pain for years.  In fact, I was the person who slumped over.  My back and shoulders hurt immensely when I even tried to stand up or sit up straight.  This was true until I worked with Dan.  Now my body posture is more erect.  I see myself walking and talking to others with confidence.

My dog who has had made amazing shifts with his car anxiety.  When I would walk him he was scared when cars would drive by us on the sidewalk.  I have been training him for a few months with many techniques including energy and reward-based training.  When my body posture changed I saw the hugest shift so far.  I believe the result is a combination of all of the techniques I am using.  My confidence with walking him increased drastically as my body posture shifted.  He became more confident and calm as the cars drove by.

This week pay attention to what your body posture says to your dog.  Change it up and watch the difference.  If you are really motivated to make a huge shift call Dan.  If you are like me I had no choice with my pain to even stand a different way.  He allowed me to stand grounded, confident and in my power.  My dog so sees it and feels it!  Amazing!

1.) The money supports the rescue or shelter you are receiving your dog from.  As a result, they are able to save even more dogs.

2.) Many times your dog is fixed (spayed and neutered) and vaccinated by the shelter or rescue before you adopt the dog.  If this is not the case usually they will support you to get the above done for free.

3.) You are saving a dog that desperately wants a home.  Some dogs don’t make it to new homes in their lifetime so it is wonderful to know that you can help save at least one.

4.) Generally you have a trial period.  Therefore, if the dog isn’t a match for you can tell the rescue / shelter and they will take the dog back.

5.)  If you receive your dog from a rescue there is a chance that your dog has already started dog training.  Many foster moms begin to train the dogs and socialize them!

6.) Again rescue groups want successful adoptions.  Many of them screen the potential owners thoroughly to make sure that the dog and the potential owner are a match.  Also rescue groups love successful adoptions and are generally more than willing to figure out a way to answer questions on training or behavior problems to increase the chance of success.

7.) The cost of adoption is also fairly low.

All of the dogs I have ever owned have been adopted.  If it feels good to you I would suggest that the next time you want a dog, consider adoption  I also am a huge advocate of Utah Animal Adoption Center , Utah Friends of Bassett Hounds,Greyhound Pets of America.

Happy Training!

Let’s take a whole new spin on dog training.  I have been noticing more and more about how our emotions and energy affect how our dogs respond to us.  Our emotions affect how fast your dog will learn!  Wow…fascinating.  Most of you may know this already as it is not the first time I have mentioned it.  I am going to say that I believe 80% of the dog training results you create with your dog are a result of emitting confident and relaxed emotions.  Think about it when you are stressed, fearful, angry, sad, etc. your dog feels this and he is probably more focused on your emotions then what you are training him to do.

This past week I have had amazing experiences with breath and dog training.  What I am referring to is taking the time to ground yourself by breathing through your belly.  As you are doing this be in a place of allowing.  You can see white light traveling through your body and being emitted into the ground.  The point is that you are in the moment and are channeling your energy to become more balanced.

Here are three amazing scenarios that I witness this week with breath work and dogs:

1.) Last Wed I had my students breath at the beginning of class.  The dogs immediately became quiet afterwards.  To be clear they were barking before we did this and it wasn’t minor.  It was a huge shift!

2.) I was at my boyfriend’s house and our dogs love to play rough.  We took sometime in the morning to breath and meditate.  The dogs were drastically calmer and played less that morning.  They were more grounded.

3.) My dog is still moving through his fear of cars.  Today I breathed when I walked him.  I also slowed my walking pace.  He was much calmer as the cars went by.  Of course I was doing training.  The truth is disregarding the training he was calmer.

Take some time and breath before you train and during your training.  Watch the difference!

Reading Dog Behavior Week 4 (Feb 17th) 

This is the last week on the series of “Reading Dog Behavior.”  I hope it has been helpful for you.  This week I wanted to target other stress signs that your dog may show when he is out of alignment.  These stress signs can be a result of fear (defensive behavior), aggression (offensive behavior), excitement (over stimulation) or just over aroused in general.  If you see multiple stress signs make sure you do something to calm your dog.  It could be something holistic, checking in with your emotions or hiring Four Legged Scholars for training advice.

More Signs of Stress:

Moving quickly or pacing

Sweaty paws

Rapid or shallow breathing

Shedding excessively

Clicking teeth

Lethargic

Not wanting to eat or gulping food quickly

Dry Panting

Another tip that is helpful for you to know is that your dog will respond to stress in one of the following ways:

1.)   Fool Around (Displaying Calming Signals to Relieve Stress)

2.)   Fight (Bit or Attack)

3.)   Flight (Run Away)

4.)   Freeze (Totally Shut Down and Do Nothing)

5.)   Faint (Pass Out)