Nancy Freedman-Smith CPDT, certified pet dog trainer and owner of Gooddogz Training, provides a place for dog owners to find positive training tips, canine-activities and places to visit along with the latest information on keeping your dog healthy and active. Nancy lives with her three kids, Charlee and Finney the dogs, Jeffi, Pumpkin, and Pepper as well as guinea pigs, canary & clicker-trained rat. Staying current, keeping fresh, and always learning new things is a must for Nancy and her profession because one thing that animals surely teach you is "the more you know, the more you know you don't know."
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The Flu is What's New
Nov 6, 2009 04:46 AM
Categories: Adoption and Rescue, Dogs
It appears Swine Flu has hit my home. My oldest son spiked a 103 plus fever on Monday and my youngest daughter's fever hit 102.5 last night. The fun never stops right? Swine is suspected, because the regular flu has not yet hit these parts. Hopefully it will run it's course soon and we will not be seeing any complications and the kids will have immunity.
Having two kids home sick forced me to cancel my scheduled private sessions today and afforded me blog time. Free time has been seriously lacking as of late and I am sorry for the sparse posts. Spring and fall are my busy seasons, and gratefully, things are looking a lot less recession like than they have for a while.
Here is a brief update about what the dogs have been up to.
Peter
We waited 5 weeks to give our former foster a chance to settle in before we went to see Peter, the dog we shared our home with from March into October.
Peter has the most loving family who adore him and the feeling is mutual. Sunday we met with them on their front porch and lots of delightful Peter kisses followed. They live close by and we will be getting together with them in the next week for a training tune-up.
Charlee
Charlee continues to injure herself. It appears that no one has explained to Charlee that she is a 10 year old dog and she flies through the woods like a damn fool. It is nothing that can be "fixed" and is part of who she is at this point. I am taking my cues from her and we both have decided to not age gracefully together.
On more than one occasion after being put on limited activity, Charlee has scaled our 5 foot fence and gone on walk about. Clearly she is trying to tell me that I can't keep the old girl down. So at this point, I am not limiting anything and giving her something for pain after a big romp. She out runs and out lasts all the younger dogs and is the happiest in the woods running at full tilt. I am sure it is not the best plan of action, but that is where we are at right now. While I surely don't want her in pain, I do need to take into account that she is a high drive, high energy gal and her mental well being depends on getting out and acting a fool. Again I say, I am taking my aging cues from her, and the two of us can be seen daily acting 1/2 our ages.
Finney
Finney is amazing at teaching dogs in my house the rules and keeping them exercised. . He is very fair and forgiving and loves the company but will be quite happy when Djembe leaves so he can start coming to work with me again. He loves being a Wild Blueberry in my Saturday morning Freestyle group class , and it is my professional opione that he has moped every Saturday since Djembe got here, whenever I took Djembe and not him.
Next week buddy I promise.
Djembe
Sweet cute adorable, fluffy, silly, fun and awesome Service Dog in training Djembe will be moving out of Maine. He was not a fit for the intended family up here. Djembe was supposed to leave this afternoon but got a bit of a reprieve and will be picked up on Saturday to go back to Connecticut to be placed with another family.
Sad face.
Paws in Stripes pups
The latest Paws in Stripes litter "All in the Family" have done really well in training. The six 5 month old sweeties are most likely Boxer/hounds and will be up for adoption next week. Two of them are already spoken for by prison staff. They are on the mellow side and know all commands and quite a few tricks. In an effort to better socialize the prison pups we are toying with the idea of placing future pups in foster homes for two days post spay so they can see the sights and sounds of a home and especially learn about life with kids. If you would like to foster a prison pup for only two days you first need to attend a foster home orientation at the ARLGP.org
Come on, it's only two days!
Most likely we will take at least one to.
Poppy
Poppy is a 2 1/2 year old Black Lab that I have been working with since puppy hood with her Autistic boy Jack and she has gotten the Ok to attend middle school with her boy! There is lots to do before the big day arrives and we have been doing refresher training once a week or so. I have filled out my background check paperwork so I can accompany her to school in the beginning. Poppy will ultimately be handled by Jack's aids who will also be trained by me. We still have lots of meetings and fine tuning before the big day, but I am thrilled to be a part of this! Now that as my kids say "The cat is out of the bagel" I will be updating the process in detail. She is a lovely dog.
That's what I have been up to, along with lots of group training classes. By now you have most likely seen that a cat contracted H!N!. Check PetConnection.com/blog/ for the latest info on H1N1 and keeping your pets and family safe.
Having two kids home sick forced me to cancel my scheduled private sessions today and afforded me blog time. Free time has been seriously lacking as of late and I am sorry for the sparse posts. Spring and fall are my busy seasons, and gratefully, things are looking a lot less recession like than they have for a while.
Here is a brief update about what the dogs have been up to.
Peter
We waited 5 weeks to give our former foster a chance to settle in before we went to see Peter, the dog we shared our home with from March into October.
Peter has the most loving family who adore him and the feeling is mutual. Sunday we met with them on their front porch and lots of delightful Peter kisses followed. They live close by and we will be getting together with them in the next week for a training tune-up.
Charlee
Charlee continues to injure herself. It appears that no one has explained to Charlee that she is a 10 year old dog and she flies through the woods like a damn fool. It is nothing that can be "fixed" and is part of who she is at this point. I am taking my cues from her and we both have decided to not age gracefully together.
On more than one occasion after being put on limited activity, Charlee has scaled our 5 foot fence and gone on walk about. Clearly she is trying to tell me that I can't keep the old girl down. So at this point, I am not limiting anything and giving her something for pain after a big romp. She out runs and out lasts all the younger dogs and is the happiest in the woods running at full tilt. I am sure it is not the best plan of action, but that is where we are at right now. While I surely don't want her in pain, I do need to take into account that she is a high drive, high energy gal and her mental well being depends on getting out and acting a fool. Again I say, I am taking my aging cues from her, and the two of us can be seen daily acting 1/2 our ages.
Finney
Finney is amazing at teaching dogs in my house the rules and keeping them exercised. . He is very fair and forgiving and loves the company but will be quite happy when Djembe leaves so he can start coming to work with me again. He loves being a Wild Blueberry in my Saturday morning Freestyle group class , and it is my professional opione that he has moped every Saturday since Djembe got here, whenever I took Djembe and not him.
Next week buddy I promise.
Djembe
Sweet cute adorable, fluffy, silly, fun and awesome Service Dog in training Djembe will be moving out of Maine. He was not a fit for the intended family up here. Djembe was supposed to leave this afternoon but got a bit of a reprieve and will be picked up on Saturday to go back to Connecticut to be placed with another family.
Sad face.
Paws in Stripes pups
The latest Paws in Stripes litter "All in the Family" have done really well in training. The six 5 month old sweeties are most likely Boxer/hounds and will be up for adoption next week. Two of them are already spoken for by prison staff. They are on the mellow side and know all commands and quite a few tricks. In an effort to better socialize the prison pups we are toying with the idea of placing future pups in foster homes for two days post spay so they can see the sights and sounds of a home and especially learn about life with kids. If you would like to foster a prison pup for only two days you first need to attend a foster home orientation at the ARLGP.org
Come on, it's only two days!
Most likely we will take at least one to.
Poppy
Poppy is a 2 1/2 year old Black Lab that I have been working with since puppy hood with her Autistic boy Jack and she has gotten the Ok to attend middle school with her boy! There is lots to do before the big day arrives and we have been doing refresher training once a week or so. I have filled out my background check paperwork so I can accompany her to school in the beginning. Poppy will ultimately be handled by Jack's aids who will also be trained by me. We still have lots of meetings and fine tuning before the big day, but I am thrilled to be a part of this! Now that as my kids say "The cat is out of the bagel" I will be updating the process in detail. She is a lovely dog.
That's what I have been up to, along with lots of group training classes. By now you have most likely seen that a cat contracted H!N!. Check PetConnection.com/blog/ for the latest info on H1N1 and keeping your pets and family safe.
babette says,
lets hope its just the two and not four that end up sick. Djembe is such a wonderful looking dog, lets hope he gets a good home too. hooray for peter and silly Charlee. But the pics of her flying around free show how important it is to her. Wonder if there are warm ups we can do with dogs to cut down on injuries? Good luck
Nov 7, 2009 11:39 AM
ChessieMom says,
Neat stuff for most of your pupalups... but i hope Djembe finds a great forever home, too!!
Nov 15, 2009 02:32 PM
BeckyandMilo says,
I'm sorry to hear about Djembe :( Will he be a service dog for a family or just a pet? Big wags to Poppy though! :D
Nov 18, 2009 12:50 AM
Gooddogz says,
He was placed with an autistic girl and her 2 little sisters in Ct. I haven't heard how it is working out.
Nov 18, 2009 11:22 AM
BeckyandMilo says,
I hope it works out. Maybe he will be her very own Milo! :)
Nov 18, 2009 10:54 PM
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