Life is Always Good at the Good Shepherd Farm


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 CHEVY: “For your birthday, Julie, we made you this beautiful cake, but we are not sure if we got the candles right.” 

 

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VIDA: “I can count . . two, one, seven, three . . . “

 

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JOHNNY ANGEL: “Better let me try, Wow, that’s a lot of candles but I’ll do my best.”

 

 

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Well, we finally figured out your age - in dog years, you are practically still a pup!

Have a happy happy frisky fun-filled birthday, Julie!

Lots of love and sloppy wet kisses, 

Vida, Chevy and Johnny Angel 

Candidate must be able to instinctively display calming signals , respond to directions quickly, carefully and consistently, show quiet, easy-going confidence at all times, remain non-reactive in the presence of reactive/ aggressive canine clients whether 5 pounds or 150 pounds, make all human clients feel like geniuses by responding to their sometimes clumsy commands if asked to do so, demonstrate different levels of play behavior with aforementioned canine clients and quit immediately if required. This type of dog is rare and most of the qualities they need to possess are instinctive, not trained.

Miami and Portia have been ably assisting me for the past 12 years, and, although not yet retired, they would like to begin decreasing their workload in this very demanding career.

Vida applied for the job and his first assignment was to interact with a client's 2 year old GSD who is dog reactive/aggressive among other behavioral issues. This required serious focus and exquisite communication between Vida and myself. He was able to calm this dog by his presence and they both enjoyed their playtraining sessions throughout the class. The client's dog is a recent rescue and has very limited social skills and no previous obedience training. Vida was not offended by escalating rough behavior and waited patiently during time outs.

A quietly confident dog of strong character with exemplary temperament and intelligence is absolutely essential to me in my business. Thank you, Julie, for my new canine business partner. I might have phoned Julie and shared this story with her alone but I thought it more complimentary to post it here so everyone could enjoy this great story about another super Alta-Tollhaus dog.

QuickUpdate: Tonight Vida participated in his second behavioral class with another GSD with reactive/ aggression issues. Another successful class due in no small part to Vida's good work!

I haven't decided yet what Vida's salary should be. Any suggestions?

Oh, I almost forgot. Vida is not even two years old yet!

(more…)

Chevy believes flossing is best but the rest of the gang swear by the water pik.

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Hi to My Sibs,

My buddy Margot took these pix so I could send them to my mom and to
Julie. I’m at summer camp and having a blast playing with my new best
friend, Jack. I hope you all are having a great summer, too!

Love, Buck (Sole x Esko)

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Greetings from Good Shepherd Farm!

Vida’s good friend Andrew came to visit and they enjoyed playing a
nice game of fetch. Miami, my senior citizen, joined in, too.
Andrew wanted to take Vida home with him when it was time to say good
bye. I love how gentle Vida is with Andrew and how he doesn’t become
reactive when Andrew is removing the ball from his mouth.

Shoki, Melissa , Andrew, Duke and Dahlia are so photogenic that I
couldn’t resist taking their pictures, too.

They brought me fresh okra so I can make a delicious Indian dish
called Bindi. I think Bindi would be a cool name for a dog, don’t you?

Andrew and Vida, photos by Margot Foster
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Andrew, Miami, and Vida
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Shoki, Melissa , Andrew, Duke and Dahlia
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Duke and Dahlia
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“I am not young enough to know everything.”                                                          Oscar Wilde 

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