What's your "thing?"

Training is probably my favourite 'thing', it is certainly what I enjoy doing most. Tricks, agility, rally-o, obedience - just bits and pieces really. I don't compete with my current dogs, but I have a lot of fun with them.

I enjoy learning about dog behaviour, especially aggression issues.

Abby's feet hair is atrocious! I did one foot the other day, decided I'd had enough and haven't returned to them.

Oh... yes, this too. Sliiiiightly weird about that. Just slightly. LOL.

Oh this too! I am very conscious of Quinn's weight and fitness, thus her food intake and supplements. Weight is one of the first things I notice with other dogs now, too.

Fat dogs. I can't stand the thought of having a fat dog and it pains me daily to see the amount of overweight pets that come through where I work and not being able to say anything to the owners for fear of offending them. I'll admit Pit got large for his frame some months ago, but in all fairness, it was my boss slipping him treats throughout the day that put him up there - all the while I thought he had hypothyroidism or something I promptly had him back to a good weight once I figured that out.

Dogs must be CLEAN! Despite my deep affection for canines, if a dog leaves a filmy residue on my hands when I touch it, I will avoid it like the plague. Even worse is the sour golden retriever stink I encounter so much at work. Honestly, I have to wonder if people actually touch their dogs if they aren't bothered by that stink and filth.

Shedding. Kind of goes hand in hand with clean dogs? I love plucking the tufty undercoat from shedding dogs. If I can't brush your dog, it will be plucked if it gets in my vicinity I need a wire haired breed for my next dog just so I can strip its coat.

My thing is communication with people. It's my biggest pet peeve, angst, whatever. I find myself frustrated by people who think they can help dogs by belittling or being cruel in any manner to the dogs owners.

Only dog wise, mmmmm.... POOP. I clean up way too much of it, I am super picky about foods because of this. I hate gross poop, and yes there is poop and then there is gross poop.

Yea I'm pretty anal about that, too, come to think about it.

Jack of all trades, master of none . I enjoy training, I love dog sports, I just don't have time to do classes right now. I keep imagining the day I will go from herding class to obedience to agility..yeeep.

Oooh nails, I do them all the time. I'll just get a wild hair and trim up everyone...once a week or every other week. Skye probably gets a little bit cut all the time because hers are white and she is extremely easy to do. I always have nail clippers sitting out. It love to go from hearing "click click click" of dogs walking around to near silence.

I'll tell you though...I have never, ever touched a nail clipper to Romeo's feet and they are just naturally short. They don't click at all.

Ugh I wish Bandit wasn't so chubby. My boyfriend is the worst for feeding him. It makes me rage.


You'd all die at the sight of his feet too .They are so hairy.

Ugh, I'm with you on fat dogs! Millie is not in the best shape right now and it bothers me every day. I'm getting really into helping her get back into shape and I swear I can see it every time she loses an ounce.

I'm super anal about how people interact with my dogs. And hell, dogs in general around me if I can tell they're uncomfortable. I don't like people sticking their faces in their faces, bee lining to pet without asking, etc.

Oh, and I still think about a neighbor's horribly obese dog I haven't seen for like 2 years. Her name was Pepper, she was a medium sized mix of ACD/Aussie. She was a little taller than Millie, probably 20," and was so fat her back had flattened to be like a coffee table. She probably should have been 40- 50 lbs. She was 85! The owners told me that when she got back from a vet visit. (But apparently he -the vet- didn't seem concerned?) My mom, who thinks I practically starve Millie, even took pity on Pepper. Every time I saw her I just wanted to cry.

The weight thing drives me nuts especially because Dachshunds are my breed of choice and so frequently do I see incredibly fat Dachshunds. And every one thinks it's funny they're "fat little sausages." No thanks. My Dachshund is 11 lbs and a muscle man.

I've been starting to get into conditioning Elsie. She's got gorgeous chunky thigh muscles... that no one can see.

Spray her with a hose and try to get a pic.

Kidding, but seriously, Millie's coat is so deceiving. It's short, so it doesn't look like it's hiding anything, but her fur is so thick it adds a good 5 lbs. to her appearance. The only accurate waist pics I can get are when she's wet, lol.

She swims a lot; the next time she gets out of the pool I'll try to get a picture.

If she doesn't get submerged, though, she ends up looking like a skinny coyote, because she just wets down her legs, lol.

Clickers. I'm addicted to shaping & modifying behaviors. My dogs get soooo excited when they see the clicker! ( : Poor dogs. Always doing weird things in hopes that I try to shape it into something. There's just so much to do with clickers, so many deep, intriguing ways that they can be used to humanely brainwash!!!

I wish I had friends who love clickers this much. I always try to explain them to friends & clients... and they just DON'T get it. I guess it's a lot to grasp for some people? "Wait so the click replaces treats?" No. "So all dogs naturally love the sound of the click?" No...

LMAO! Sour Golden Retriever stink is such a great term... I totally know that funk D: I hate it when I pet a dog and afterwards my hand is greasy and reeks. It makes me question their owner's personal hygiene, if they're ok with touching THAT all the time.

Both of these! Plus the fitness things and training in general...

Oh this too... So true If I get grease on my hand it totally grosses me out and makes me wonder what their house might be like too. I understand that some of the retrievers get smelly easy but c'mon, I owned one for 8 years and he never got that bad before a bath!

This is a source of frustration for me, too. Partly because I wholeheartedly agree (I was clueless once, too, and jabs at me would have never helped), and partly because I'm so passionate about it I get all twisted up and I get angry when people are hurting their dogs in any way, whether intentionally or not. Taking a step back and realizing I'm not helping the dog by scolding the owner is hard for me sometimes. *le sigh*