Tag Archives: Joy

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A great idea for valuable community service for our terriers. Bossy and Bark Border would LOVE this service dog gig. How about your terrier?

Jeg News

The end of semester can be a tough time, with students feeling the crunch of big assignments and cramming for exams. Add to it the lack of sleep, eating badly and more than a few drinks, and it’s pretty easy to get stressed out.

And we know, there are plenty of ways to fight stress — but Dalhousie University is trying out a new way: Puppies.

The Halifax university is creating a puppy room for on December 4th, 5th and 6th to help students cope with the stress of exams and end-of-term assignments.

Not surprisingly, news of the puppies has been met with excitement. A Facebook post published to the Dalhousie Student Union’s page on Wednesday has already been shared more than 300 times in two hours.

“My major paper is due at 4 PM on the 4th… I will beeline it to the Puppy Room,” wrote Dal student Jimmy Tennant.

HuffPost Canada spoke…

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Border Terriers & Coyotes

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A silent communion

Coyote on mountain ridge

Not the Coyote we saw yesterday, but a Coyote from Yellowstone. Photo credit: Jim Peaco

My Borders, Bossy and Bark, normally sound off when an off-leash dog approaches us. But not yesterday.

Yesterday at Hilton Falls we met one of our resident Coyotes as we crested a hilltop. It’s the second time in the last six months we’ve been lucky like this. Last time we were coming around a corner on a forest path and I thought I was seeing the hind end of a young deer.

This time, the Coyote was out in the open.  At first I thought I was seeing an off-leash German Sheppard running towards us. Expecting a vocal explosion from my terriers I stopped and looked around, preparing to ask the owner to recall his dog.

But when we stopped, the ‘dog’ stopped.  And for a few seconds of suspended time we all gazed at each other, the ‘dog’ looking straight at us without a hint of confrontation in his body or attitude. No owner in sight. Certainly not a Sheppard. A handsome Coyote instead.

Far too quickly he turned and vanished into the hillside woods behind him, running through a carpet of fall leaves without making a sound.  Bossy and Bark didn’t make a peep either. Just like when we met the Deer-Coyote in the woods in the summertime.  A silent communion. Some amazing grace.

Terrier Play. Terrier Joy. Don’t stop me now.

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The Parkour Terrier video reminded me of this rocking, old classic YouTube video of two Border Terriers having such a good time playing to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now“.  You’ll feel happy just watching them.

Nothing makes me belly laugh as much as watching my Bossy and Bark (both Borders)tear through the woods, run around and jump over the bushes, ducking, diving and rolling. Stopping long enough to lap some water.  Two dogs, one bowl.  Ear to ear. Two sets of tags raining on the side of the dish.  Then off again they go for more laps around the yard before they finally flop down, sides-heaving, with the most satisfied grins on their sweet faces. Now that’s all-out Terrier Play.

Terrier Joy. Terrier Play.
Bossy and Bark Border Having Such a Good Time. Copyright, Terrier Logic 2012

Watch it now: Don’t stop me now… – YouTube.  And laugh with me.

This video also might answer a question just asked online:

 

 

 

 

“Why does my Border Terrier bark and pull me when he sees other dogs on his walk?”  Wouldn’t you, if you had so much fun with your friends?  Too bad people don’t work so hard to get more joy into their lives. Another reminder from our precious canine friends to Live with passion. That’s Terrier Logic # 12.

Parkour Terrier

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Parkour dog.  This astonishing Staffordshire Terrier makes most terriers look comatose. Watch this RIVETING video (follows a short commercial not of my doing–sorry–it’s worth the wait).

This boy understands Terrier Logic # 12: Live with Passion.  You’ll never look at a standard agility course the same way. And you’ll probably join me in never whining about your high-energy terrier ever again.

We should all Live With the Spirit of Parkour.

Credits: Found on http://bitemecharlie.wordpress.com/

Don’t walk your dog today!

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Don’t walk your dog?

What on earth would possess me, the ‘owner’ of two high-energy terriers who LOVE and need to trot for miles and miles and miles, to recommend that?  Simply: better results.

OK. I’m not really saying we shouldn’t walk our dogs.  What I’m offering is the thought that we walk with our dogs, not for our dogs.

This shift in perspective can make a lot of the dog-walking challenges disappear.

Both Bossy and Bark can be very forward. Especially in an exciting, new park or trail or when we’re out on wet, smell-enriched ground.  As a puppy and despite a lot of very solid obedience skills, Bossy pulled so hard in these settings I was sure she was going to collapse her windpipe. She could snowplow her Gentle L headhalter right off her nose. And Bark can still–at three and half–do a 5 or 6 km walk with his nose on the ground, tracking one inch ahead of his leash.  Just lovely!

Yet when I walk with Bossy and Bark and lose myself in music, or let my mind wander through the challenges of my work, we start walking together.   The dogs just fall in at a my side.  We’ll travel as a unit. We all forget the leashes.

I change. Then they change.

But whenever my attention snaps back to them, I’ll feel them in my hands again.  We’ve fallen out of the zone.

I’m sure the secret is in my more focused, peaceful and happy energy. In my deeper and even breathing.  In the speed we can walk when I relax, let my arms swing naturally and just go.

When I’m in this zone, I’m a whole lot more interesting and easy-going.  I’m someone Bossy and Bark want to walk with, rather than someone they have to walk with.

So don’t walk your dog today.  Take yourself for a walk; bring your dog(s) along for company. Enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and use of your own body and mind.  Lose yourself and find your dogs.  See what happens when you forget about demanding respect. You might discover that you’re someone who can actually command it.