NorthfieldNick

Wonderful company run by wonderful women. Old friends of my sister's, since they started in a little shop in Flagstaff. Their face products for people are my favorite. The Sierra Madre Sun Cream is a staple around here, too.

Good friend of mine is part of the Chicago study. There's a ton of research that shows the more coyotes you kill, the faster they reproduce. If you have residents that avoid your property/livestock/dogs, don't kill them. Adults train their offspring. Coyotes are not going to disappear. They've adapted. It's our turn now.

I have one of those rare, super-friendly, loves-everyone-especially-small-children, super social dogs. He was also an excellent working dog before he retired, both at home and on the trial field, limited only by his handler. Nick has met exactly one dog he didn't like- my friend's Aussie puppy who had zero training when she got him at about 6 months. Once he learned some manners & grew up, Nick was okay with him. My pet-dog-trainer friend used to use Nick for her reactive dog classes- he's *that* good at tolerating other dogs & reading body language. He is, however, definitely the exception to the rule, although apparently his mother was much the same. I have also wondered if selecting working dogs to be so attuned to social clues and behaviors is part of what makes them, in general, so "reactive" and "intolerant" of a lot of people and other dogs. You get used to it after being around them for so long.

Both my boys hate the smoke alarm. Hoot is terrified of thunder & gets pills for it. Nick now associates thunder with peanut butter (he had to have some, too) and runs to the fridge when it storms. Hoot, weirdest dog ever, has fears that change daily. Weird noises tweak him out, but rarely the same one twice. He was once afraid to go up the stairs he goes up and down 300 times a day. Some days he won't eat if his bowl isn't in the right spot. He is terrified of the WHACK of a golf club hitting a ball (we run past a golf course), but is fascinated by the flying ball. The UPS man is scary, but his female co-driver isn't. (FTR, the guy is totally non scary & the other dogs love him). I really wish I knew what was going on inside Hoot's odd little brain

4-H ewe forms & a three-ring binder, plus a Rite-in-the-Rain notebook for field use. I tried software, and went back to handwritten, paper notes. It worked much better for me. I kept up with two separate flocks, ~100 ewes each. I'm sure the software is much better now (I tried it in 2004-2005), but it seemed overly complicated at the time.

Masterson Station has a lovely cross-country course, as well, so if you're a horse person, there's often some equine viewing to be had. Have to keep an eye out for incoming training walking up the novice field fence, though! Hmmm, maybe I should talk my eventing friends into hauling down for the day. Buddy (my QH) is pretty good at sheep work...

Ack! Julie, if I could give him a quick tune up, I'd cover set out with Nick. He's a great set-out dog. Unfortunately, he's almost 11 and hasn't worked in over a year... hips are slowly getting creaky. Hoot is pretty good at set-out, until he has to give up his sheep. Then he's all resource guardy mine-mine-mine

Half the people in the PNW trial community call me Nick. I'm used to it. No one has called me Hoot yet... Might have to take a day to come by the trial, with a bourbon tasting or two thrown in.

I highly recommend volunteering! I had a blast last year. Volunteering is a great thing for novices. Do something like running or posting scores & most of the time you'll be watching the action surrounded by people who aren't running a dog & who will happily answer your questions. I spent a lot of time being an extra runner last year, but ended up keeping scores in the White House and doing a lot of fast math. The Novice field is really fun to watch, too- you get to see dogs (and handlers!) in a very different stage of training than on the Open field. There are puppies everywhere. Best part of trialling is getting your puppy fix without actually having one... I'm one of those rare people who'd rather get a dog at 2 years old than 2 months old. I won't be volunteering this year because of grad school scheduling, but I'm hoping to make it down for a day... with a backpack full of brownies again Sue, no stitches this year It took two people, plus Robin on the computer, to do your job!

Never mind different languages, different accents are bad enough! I bought my good old dog when he was 2 from a southern gentleman, who sent along a tape of Nick's commands & whistles. This gentleman had quite a drawl. Nick is a fast dog to start, but when I started working him, he was like a rocket. It took me a week or so to figure out that, to him, my quick, final-letter-dropping, NE Ohio accent sounded like I wanted him to move quickly. Poor dog had been trained in a slow southern drawl his whole life! We figured each other out eventually.

Speaking as a former EMT, we DO try to find out what to do with dogs, etc in an accident when the person is unconscious or unable to provide information. Human care comes first, but there's usually at least one dog person on the team who will look after dog care after the people are looked after. We also DO look through wallets and cell phones, especially now that people keep all sorts of info on their phones. Cell phone lock codes drive me crazy. I understand the need for them, but in an emergency, info stored behind a lock screen isn't going to get anyone anywhere. I believe I've seen an app that allows your lock screen to be a display of emergency contact info. I once went so far as to take one very unhappy, very grumbly, very scared old dog home with me after an aid call. Poor dog was something of a mess, and I doubted she'd be any better in a kennel at the sheriff's office. She did not approve of my boys, who spent a night in their kennels, but when her owner returned the next day, he was extremely happy that his long-time companion animal had had a decent overnight on a soft bed. So, yes, do include emergency contact info for animal care. Also, if you live in a rural place with a volunteer (or mostly volunteer) fire department, and you have the space and knowledge to care for and handle dogs, horses, or other large animals, consider giving the FD your name & contact info.

http://www.holdenarb.org/home/ There you go. You might have to become a member, but that comes with all sorts of fun perks, like pancake breakfasts, plant sales, craft fairs, workshops... I basically spent my childhood either on a horse or at the arboretum

Caveat: I haven't lived in Cleveland since 2000, but I grew up there. My info may be outdated. Holden Arboretum. No off-leash, but great for walks. Metroparks!! They're all over & around Cleveland. Tons of trails, etc. Some, especially by Chagrin Valley, had off-leash trails, but PLEASE make sure you have voice control over your dog. The dog trails are often also horse trails. I spent a good chuck of my teenage years riding those trails. These are both more east-side oriented- sounds like you may be on the west side- but they're an easy drive on a weekend.

My first Novice run I, or rather my very nice but very fast, pushy dog, ran the sheep over the judge. Literally. A very nice Scottish woman whose name I've blocked out. Note to self: get a handle on your damn dog! We never did well on that field thereafter (in Open once, the same dog ran BEHIND me to lift the non-trial sheep in another paddock... Blargh!). Volunteering is great! It takes no knowledge of sheep, dogs, or trials to post scores or hand out coffee, but it's the perfect way to learn because you can ask lots of questions. Be honest about being a novice, don't talk to anyone about to go on the field or just coming off, and maybe bring cookies (my strategy), and you'll make friends fast Dog people are generally super friendly. It's not uncommon for someone to know of a young dog for sale or a working flunky looking for a home (you never know, though. I know a "working failure" who turned on at 3 yrs old & was doing nicely on the local trial field).

This: makes no sense. Cartilage is composed mostly of collagen fibers. The composition and arrangement of the collagen fibers is what gives cartilage its rigidity, not minerals like calcium. Pulling Ca out of the system I could believe, but it would come from diet and bone loss, not from cartilage. Nevermind that most cartilage is avascular, so moving nutrients in to our out of it is incredibly inefficient.