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Introducing Meg Coyne - Dog photographer extrordinaire!

29/8/2012

I am so excited to announce that Meg Coyne will be joining us at camp. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting her or see her gorgeous work, she is a very talented artist who has the gift of capturing the spirit of her subjects, dogs and their people. If you have ever tried taking pictures of your pup, you know how difficult it can be to just get them to stay put and to look at you. Meg will be at camp for the weekend taking pictures of all of you in action. Of course, you can also book an appointment for that special portrait. And she will be offering a special Camp Doggin' It package. Check out some of her fabulous work at www.dogphotographytoronto.com .

There's only a few weeks left to register - don't miss out on the fun. Classes are filling up quickly.

Good things come in three!

17/8/2012

With camp only a month away, the donations have been pouring in. My house is literally flooded with treats, samples (great for training), biscuits, toys and monster bags of dog food. Those bags are so big - one bag actually weighs more than both of my dogs! Needless to say, Scrumpy, Java, and their friend Kobi checked it all out and gave it a big two paws up! I will need to keep an eye on the stash - those pups are good at discovering bags of treats that just happened to "split" open. I'm sure you know what I mean by that!

If that wasn't enough, I've also got a bumper crop of prizes so we're having a raffle! As camp is for both you and your best friend, so is the raffle. There's lots of dog and non-dog related gifts up for grabs. Between the raffle and the treats, it's virtually guaranteed that you will be leaving camp with more than what you came with!

My last surprise is I've got a very special guest coming to camp. This guest is a founding member of both the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers and International Positive Dog Trainers Association, is the director of the largest dog training centre in the GTA, a regular contributor to Dogs, Dogs, Dogs newspaper, Dogs In Canada magazine as well as other papers, and has been featured in numerous television and radio shows. Have you figured out who this is? You're right, it's none other than Gillian Ridgeway! She is coming to camp to as part of our Ask the Experts panel. This is a unique opportunity to ask a team of very well respected professionals all your burning questions. Everything from training, behaviour, health and well being to diet and exercise. I know that I'll be coming to camp with my own list of things to ask - I can never think of them on the fly.

Gotta go, I hear some paper rustling ... that's never good when you have boxes of high value rewards.

See you in a few weeks!!!

Lessons from dog training

7/8/2012

In my travels this summer, I met someone who told me the 3 "dead dog" lessons they learned more than 10 years ago at dog school. Its name really piqued my interest. Obviously, it was remembered for more than just the shock value. The lesson was that there are 3 things that can lead to a dead dog if you aren't aware and don't train your dog accordingly. They are:

Doorways including car doors,
Crossing the street, and
"Food" on the ground.

While I think it's obvious that we all need to be mindful with our pups around these, I had not associated it with its potential deadly consequences. It is a good reminder that some lessons we learn in puppy school are manners while others are life lessons. Even those of us with older dogs need to be mindful. It's too easy to be lulled into a state of false confidence - assuming that your dog will follow you off leash, will ignore the yummy chicken wing on the ground from the garbage can that's been tipped by the neighbourhood racoons, or will not dash out the door.

This also reminds me of a story a neighbour told me about giving his dog tylenol because his dog was in pain. He then said, "Did you know Tylenol is toxic to dogs?". I asked why did he give it to the dog. He answer was "I was desperate". I wonder how desperate he would have been it the dog reacted adversely to the tablet. Fortunately, this was not the case. It's important that we take care when it comes to trying to help our pets. While some medications are safe, others are not. This year, Lynda Kitson, our resident Pet First Aid expert will be speaking about this and other common concerns. Lynda is certified by Walks 'N' Wags and is the owner of K9 Compass. If you've got something on your mind that you'd like Lynda to discuss, let me know and I'll pass it along.

See you in September!!

Introducing Meg Coyne - Dog photographer extrordinaire!

Good things come in three!

Lessons from dog training

Mary Young,
Camp Director

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Introducing Meg Coyne - Dog photographer extrordinaire!

Good things come in three!

Lessons from dog training

Mary Young,Camp Director

Archives

Categories

Mary Young,
Camp Director