Should You Need Us

In this unusual picture, the hyper dog is sleeping and the lazy dog is awake. Life is always surprising us...

For my first post of 2017 I'm here to tell you that I'll be taking a break from the blog for a while, to pursue other adventures and to contemplate a new direction and look for Rubicon Days. We are all doing well despite the frightening and uncertain times. Ruby and Boca continue to delight daily, and my nearly-twenty-year-old cat Nina continues to astound the vets with her feisty perseverence. I had an incredible 40th birthday and set some intentions for how I want this year to look, including less time on social media, more music, more long-form reading and writing, and some exciting travel plans. When I am ready to write here again, I expect to return to the style of blog I was first drawn to, filled with rich stories and personal experience. I so appreciate your readership and hope you'll keep us on your radar. Instagram is the best place to follow us now because I won't ever stop taking endless pictures of The Ginger Sisters. I am also getting my first tattoo - of Ruby - this summer, something I'll absolutely be sharing here.

Until then, please love those good dogs (and especially the "bad" dogs) and should you need us, for any reason at all, as Sarah's fantastical companions in Labyrinth say, we won't be far away.

Purple Chair Sessions

My aunt moved into a new house that they are fixing up, and it's filled with her usual sense of style and beautiful light, so I took the oppportunity over Thanksgiving to snap some pictures of the Ginger Sisters with their new cousin, Mozzie.

Love, Trust and Communication: The Gifts of Positive Training

When I adopted Ruby in 2013 I didn't exactly have a training philosophy, and I had no idea how essential training and management would be to our life together. By the time I adopted Boca (as a foster failure), I knew that positive reinforcement was my goal and I've tried to employ it every step of the way with my two wonderful girls.

Aside from trick training and enrichment like crate games, I don't do a lot of formal or obedience training, but my background in horses taught me that every interaction is training. Day to day life with The Ginger Sisters is a constant dialog, and sometimes lessons are learned - for good or bad - before I even realize it. My dogs are far from perfect, but my relationship with them is one of the most important and treasured in my life, and I would never sacrifice it for a shortcut. My adherence to positive training is non-negotiable and a value I won't compromise on. Its gifts aren't quantifiable, but among its greatest are love, trust and communication.