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Tags: Dog Training

Labor & Love

Labor & Love

I launched Bark Pouch almost ten years ago with two lovely business partners who signed over ownership to me five years ago to focus on their families. I laugh now, thinking that making 100 pouches was such a big deal, and I once tracked inventory in a note on my phone. On so many levels,… View more

Big

Big

Today would have been my big-love, big-feelings, big-headed, big-hearted boy Gavin’s 11th birthday. To celebrate, Mabel and I walked through her second favorite sniffer spot, Scioto Grove Metro Park. Her best-loved stroll spot is the tree line at my mom’s house. I’m unsure whether it’s the ultra-quiet setting, the fact that my sweet girl gets to greet… View more

Wonky

Wonky

This week was wonky on every level. Mabel felt amazing by Sunday night but needed a few more symptom-free days before safely returning to daycare. The replacement part that Cammie and Mark tried to put on Felix to repair our piston filler was wrong. The manufacturer sent us the incorrect part. Fortunately, the amazingness that is… View more

Time

Time

I woke up this morning on the tiniest sliver of the edge of my bed. I could hear Mabel mumble and sleepily stretch as she lay belly up, horizontally next to me, waiting for her pre-breakfast belly rubs.  In the short time Mabel’s been with me, she’s shown me what a sensitive sweetheart she is,… View more

Chickens & Eggs

Chickens & Eggs

As Mabel and I continue bonding and learning to communicate, I’ve thought a lot about the beginning stages of the dog-human relationship, whether forever or fostering. It’s a lot for everyone, us, our dogs, the people we love. Give our dogs bones to relieve stress. Oh, but some pups swallow and choke on those bones…. View more

Wild

Wild

When I was a little girl, my papaw (grandfather) won a hat for me at the fair, bubblegum pink lips airbrushed on top of bright teal bricks with the word Hot Lips. I loved that hat so much that my mom found material with neon pink lips all over it and made me a dress… View more

Hearts

Hearts

The day after I said goodbye to my spunky soulmate Finn, I needed to connect with him, so I went to the park, where he passed peacefully. In the spot where we ran into our beautiful neighbors John and Javier was a three by four foot perfectly shaped leaf-filled heart, in January, in Chicago. From that day on,… View more

Trying

Trying

The night I met Mabel, it was an instant infatuation. I fell in love with her silly playfulness as she jumped on her foster mom’s sofa, bone in her mouth, butt in the air to be close to me while she chewed. And she let me know she liked me too by sitting on my… View more

Ease

Ease

I believe you get back what you put out into the world. I can’t tell you how many dogs I’ve met named Barkley who live up to their name, so I’ve been referring to my almost official rescue dog as my easy breezy Mabel girl. Mabel has settled in so remarkably well. The most challenging… View more

Firsts

Firsts

Saturday morning arrived, and I was so excited. I met was Stella-now-Mabel Tuesday night, and she seemed sweet and playful as she happily gobbled up the treats I took for her and her foster brother before leaning against me. After her foster mom left, Mabel was nervous about the new sounds in a new environment with… View more