THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

I can’t write much, I’ve been deep in preparation for the new seminars I’m doing in Arroyo Grande at Gentle Touch Pet Training this Sunday and we’re leaving for the airport in a few hours. Predictably, we are in the usual flurry of last minute packing, house sprucing and training of new house sitter. As much as I hate leaving Lassie and Will (I’m sorry Lassie, I’ll be back soon, I promise), I am truly looking forward to this trip. Both 1/2 day seminars should be great fun. The half day Play Play Play seminar is completely new, and I can’t wait to present it. (And will be available as a DVD sometime soon, I’ll keep you posted!) I am also, admittedly, relieved that I’ve got it finished, at least until I decide to tweak it some more on Saturday. (These things are never finished, are they?!)  The seminar has tons of video (it took me 3 hours to burn the videos onto 5 different DVDs. It takes an absurd amount of time to create videos for seminars, although you’d never know it when you see it. On Wednesday I spent 3 hours creating less than 3 minutes of video. Good grief.) and I am looking forward to discussing the ever-burning question to all of us immersed in dogs: what play is appropriate and healthy, and what is over the line? When do you intervene? And how?

I’m also looking forward to the 1/2 day on Dog-Dog Reactivity. I’ll be doing some of what I’ve always done (a la Feisty Fido) and some new things inspired by Karen’s and my revision of the Feisty Fido booklet, Second Edition. (Coming out next week, oh boy! I’ll keep you posted on that too.)

Meanwhile, back at the farm: Here’s the Black Raspberry, Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie I made on Sunday. One of you asked for the recipe: It’s simple, just use the Joy of Cooking’s recipe for Rhubarb/Strawberry Pie but substitute the raspberries for one third of it. The only trick I know is to use Tapioca as a thickener when you’re using rhubarb. I’ve never had any luck at all with corn starch or flour, (although lots of other people seem too, go figure… cooking must be like dog training!)

It rained hard again this morning; I don’t remember a summer when we’ve had so much rain. That’s a good thing for the farm, I don’t have enough pasture for my little flock and rain keeps the grass growing as fast as the sheep can eat it. We are all enjoying the bounty of summer; this is the trail behind the house to the orchard pasture, and it is edged with buckets of black raspberries. (Would that they came in buckets, instead of interspersed with lots of prickers and a bevy of mosquitos!) I’ve been picking like a fool, and so has Jim, and so far we have 6 quarts of berries in the freezer, along with 9 quarts of strawberries and 5 of rhubarb. I just love the idea of making pies in the icy dead of winter, with fruit from the lush of summer.

xx