Kayce Cover will be in the Syracuse area for seminars and private lessons August 23 through September 1. She will be presenting SATS Certification Series Seminars 1,2,3,4. If you are interested in more information email Susan (susan@cailleachaussies.com) for a seminar flyer.

For over 30 years, Kayce (Kay-Cee Coe-ver) has been professionally involved in animal training and public education. In 1990, she founded Syn Alia Animal Training Systems which includes “Bridge and Target”.

Education
Bachelor of Animal Science, Masters of Science in Education

Professional Background
Trained animals at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Mystic Marinelife Aquarium, the US National Zoological Park—Smithsonian Institution. In addition to training many animal professionals and handlers/owners, she is a consultant to numerous zoos and private institutions, providing a range of services that include:
Implementing state-of-the-art training programs and husbandry/animal manage-ment systems for domestic and exotic animals;
Training and managing animal models and actors;
Research and behavioral engineering to develop animal-based solutions to human and animal needs (see website for additional articles and info regarding research past and present)

Other
Kayce travels internationally providing seminars, classes, and public demon-strations. Among her numerous published articles are: Protected Contact: A New Era in Elephant Management (American Trainer Magazine, July 2002); Introducing the Intermediate Bridge (American Trainer Magazine, Oct 2002); Who’s Training Who (Primate Care Journal 2001). She has also produced a manual for students of Bridge and Target, The Syn Alia Series on Animal Training, Vol. I: An Introduction to Bridge and Target Technique and a new book, SATS and the Family Dog, available now.

Susan :: Aug.03.2008 :: Dog Blog, News :: Comments Off

All our aussies have been tested and the results are back. Everyone is normal/normal except for Monkey and Dorrie who are normal/mutant. Check the individual pages for each dog.

Susan :: Apr.04.2008 :: Dog Blog, News :: Comments Off

From the same folks who make the Chairman Meow tshirts:

Obey the Australian Shepherd!
Propaganda for the Aussie Revolution

They have tshirts, mugs, posters, and even a bumper sticker. Woof!

Becky :: Dec.21.2007 :: Dog Blog :: No Comments »

Kasey (Cailleach’s Autumn Rustler DNA-VP) and  Neo (AKC/ASCA Ch Aliyah’s Matrix Revolution DNA-CP) are the proud parents of FIVE lovely little girls….3 black tris, 1 blue merle and 1 red merle. Tom & Beth Norton of MA called us with the news on 12/11.  We hope one of them will be coming home to Cailleach in a few weeks.

Susan :: Dec.15.2007 :: Dog Blog :: 1 Comment »

Tammy (Hearthside Hot Tamale) took reserve winner’s bitch under breeder judge Emmy Adasawiecz at HONYASC’s Lake Effect Show on Saturday morning, December 1st.  Thank you, Emmy!

Susan :: Dec.10.2007 :: ASCA, News, Shows :: Comments Off

From UGO:
Better Than Underdog? Our Top 11 Fictional Dogs
By Jordan Hoffman

This weekend marks the release of Underdog, this seasons family film with the best tagline (”One Nation, Under Dog!”) Underdog has long been one of our favorite Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons — why shouldnt he do well in a feature film, too? There have been many fictional dogs weve been fond of over the years. Some might say we have eleven favorites, in fact.

11) Air Bud

We never saw the movie, but we loved the commercial. He got up to the freethrow line and would bounce the ball off his snout and into the basket. More than we could ever do in gym class.

10) K-9

Dr. Who was the only thing we watched on PBS, we swear. (Fine! You caught us! We always tape Live From Lincoln Center.) Anyway, Drs. Who may come and go — they have a scarf, then they have a pipe — but there’ll only ever be one K-9. Metallic, loyal and traveling through currents in the time/space continuum.

9) Hooch

As in Turner And. . . Tom Hanks may have won some awards, but Hooch deserves all the milkbones he can eat. He’s slobbery, flatulent and (we think) he fights crime. All our dog does is sleep. Our dog sucks!

(-read the rest-)

The list also includes: Snoop Doggy Dog, Fluke, Rags from Sleeper, Checkers, Cujo, Astro, Rowlf the Dog, and at number one, Scooby Doo.

Becky :: Aug.07.2007 :: Dog Blog :: No Comments »

But apparently it isn’t.

Dear ABBY: Leaving dogs in hot cars is considered cruelty

DEAR ABBY: For the second time this week, I saw a dog left in a car while its owner went shopping.

Please remind your readers that any time it’s over 70 degrees - or even 65 on a sunny day - can mean that the inside of a car will quickly climb to more than 100 degrees!

The dog today, an adorable pug, was panting desperately against the window, which had not even been cracked a couple of inches in an attempt to do the right thing. Abby, the car had a couple of doggie decals on it, as if the owners believed themselves to be animal lovers!

Please also let your readers know it’s OK to leave a polite note on a car, telling the owner that it’s too hot to leave a dog in a car, and to alert the manager of the store (if they know which one) so an announcement can be made that a dog is in distress.

It is worth the extra minute to try to courteously educate and alert the careless animal owner.

- No Dogs in the Car After Memorial Day

DEAR NO DOGS: Thanks for your important message.

I spoke with Capt. David Havard, of the Los Angeles SPCA, who kindly provided the following information:

“Leaving a dog in a car can be considered neglect or abuse. There are laws governing cruelty to animals, and enforcement of those laws would fall under local jurisdiction.”

So, readers, if you see a pet left in a parked car, the first thing to do would be to alert security personnel for the parking lot.

And if the lot has no security personnel on duty, notify the police. Leaving a note on the offender’s car is not enough, because the poor animal could be dead by the time the owner returns.

Today’s Dear Abby column seems particularly timely in light of these stories:

Dog left in hot car dies
Police receive 6 calls in 1 day; investigating 2
By Susan Nolan
August 06, 2007

PORTSMOUTH — A Chihuahua died Friday after being left in a closed vehicle outside of Home Depot in 95-degree weather.

“We’re investigating this as a prolonged exposure to heat inside the vehicle,” said Capt. David “Lou” Ferland.

Police received a call from Home Depot at 2:23 p.m. Friday that the dog was in trouble. The owner had come running into Home Depot with the dog and had thrown cold water on it and put it in front of a fan in an attempt to revive it, Ferland said. By the time police arrived, the dog and owner were gone.

The owner had taken the dog to a local animal hospital where it was pronounced dead.

The dog death was the most serious of six calls police received Friday for dogs locked in vehicles during the scorching heat.

(-read the rest-)

Man arrested after his dog dies in hot car
He faces animal cruelty charges after apparently leaving his 2-year-old Labrador retriever unattended for at least four hours.
By Ari B. Bloomekatz
August 3, 2007

A 56-year-old man was arrested this week on suspicion of animal cruelty after his 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever apparently died of heat exhaustion inside the man’s BMW, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

Bennett Ira Goldberg of Simi Valley apparently left the dog unattended in the car in the 6800 block of Owensmouth Avenue in Canoga Park for at least four hours Tuesday afternoon while temperatures continued to rise inside the vehicle, police said.

A neighbor heard the dog barking inside the car and called police about 1 p.m. By the time officers arrived, the dog had died, officials said.

(-read the rest-)

Becky :: Aug.06.2007 :: Dog Blog, Health, Travel :: No Comments »

I stumbled across this recipe at VeggieLife.  I had to substitute rye flour and a couple tablespoons of polenta for the corn flour (I totally forgot to pick some up when I was at the store getting the fresh parsley) but they still came out well. They even smell good to humans.

Here are my homemade dog cookies (I didn’t have a bone shaped cookie cutter either, this being my first foray into dog biscuit baking. I’ll be looking for one now; it was easy enough that I could do it regularly.) They seem to be having a positive impact on the dog-breath too!

Breath-Freshening Biscuits for Dogs
Servings: 18

Mincing the parsley in a food processor makes for quick work. Three cups (1 medium bunch) of parsley results in 3/4 cup minced parsley. Your hands are the best tool for mixing the dough. (Go ahead and eat a biscuit, yourself—I did.)

Ingredients
3/4 cup minced parsley leaves and tender stems
1/4 cup finely grated carrot
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup corn flour or finely ground cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup water

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, mix together parsley, carrot, and oil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours and baking powder. Add parsley mixture and work into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water, and mix and knead with hands until dough comes together in a smooth ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Using a small (2-1/2 inch) bone-shaped cookie cutter, cut out biscuits, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes for softer biscuits; 30 minutes for hard.

Becky :: Aug.06.2007 :: Diet, Dog Blog :: No Comments »

Check out our Technorati Profile and MyBlogLog Community pages.

We’ve also joined Feedburner. You can subscribe to our feed here.

Webmaster :: Aug.06.2007 :: Dog Blog :: Comments Off

Dogs have their own library story times
Kids love to read to, and pet, such uncritical listeners
By Alexis Blue

It’s not often pets are allowed in the library. But at the Dusenberry-River Center Branch Library, Australian shepherd Lucy is a welcome guest with an important job — helping children practice reading.

Lucy is the newest addition to the popular Read to a Dog program in Tucson libraries. The program started at the Himmel Park Library in October and has expanded to the Miller-Golf Links Library as well as the Dusenberry-River Center Library at 5605 E. River Road.

It is modeled after similar programs nationwide that use certified therapy dogs to help new readers and children of all ages practice their reading skills on an uncritical audience.

(Read the rest of the article…)

Becky :: Apr.04.2007 :: Therapy Dogs :: No Comments »