June 25th, 2025

Now that I discussed the boarding bit of my business, let me talk about the training side of Green Paws.

Well behaved dogs have always been part of my family when I grew up as my mother did search and rescue with the first family dog I remember. My father did hunting with previous dogs, but I believe we moved away from those types of dogs, and focused more on SAR, obedience and agility. My mom and her dog Aika excelled at everything.

My mom, Rylee and Bella on the couch in Vermont on December 13th, 2022

She trained and ran her own classes at the local club, when my sister and I were little, we would go there to watch or even participate with one of our dogs. It was usually a downfall as our dogs just wanted to get to mom. Mom was their life.

I have always been a little jealous of that to be honest, the ease with which my mother was able to form relationships with all types of dogs, no matter how mean and angry or smart the dogs were, mom had a way of getting through to them to help them.

A lot of the work was just spending time with them, giving them the respect and time that they needed to open up. She was a natural at dealing with dogs, and still to this day is my sounding board when I feel stuck with a dog.

In every day life my parents dogs were always on point, well behaved and knew what to do and how to listen. They also knew how to ignore us children, when we asked for silly things, only barely listened enough so that we were trusted with daily walks and later on entering dogs in classes (not under mom) and actually

compete. It was all a lot of fun.

I myself have always put a lot of emphasis on Rylee being good. Being appropriate. I wanted a dog who would follow me without a leash on. Yes, I understand that at some point leashes are necessary, but generally speaking, I cannot stand leashes. I find them annoying, and restrictive. I do not usually go to places that need me to have my dogs on a leash, so that usually also works out in my favor. The few spots that require a leash by law, are the few spots that I will actually leash my dogs. They do not hate the leash, and know not to pull me. We have a very simple understanding, if you would like to be a part of the adventure, then you are going to have to be okay on a leash. All three of my girls do terrifically on the leash.

Stressed out Rylee at the vet on June 8th, 2023 - leash manners are there to protect them too

In our work life my dogs are used to be leashed to fence, car, tree or whatever I can find and wait and let me use them as baits so I can help dogs get over their fears safely. I place a lot of emphasis on keeping my girls safe and protected, as I believe that is the single most important job of mine in their lives. I want to earn their trust and respect and build relationships with them that will allow me to move mountains. Or in my case sheep.

Bella is somewhat reactive towards other dogs, especially dogs who invade her personal space, and then do not back down to a correction. I know this, and I advocate extremely heavily for her personal space bubble. I understand it to some degree, because I am very much like that. My poor girl is still struggling to accept Emma into her life. Her only friend who she ever has played with who is not  a border collie, is Rylee. However, I take her happily on off-leash walks with me, and am extremely vigilant in paying attention to everything around me. I owe it to my dog and to other people’s dogs that she does not cause havoc. I also enjoy seeing her off leash exploring her environment with her sisters and just being a dog.

So I train a lot. A lot of passive training to make those kinds of things possible. If I am asking for a behavior, I need to have the guarantee, the trust and respect that my girls will listen. If that falls short, we cannot go and have adventures together.

The Girls and I visited the Niagara Falls after a herding trial in western New York on August 25th, 2024.

The other day we were at the farm, and now with the training sheep across the street for a little while, we have to cross that road almost daily. The girls have gotten used to it, so now they think they can run ahead and cross the road without me. I slightly lost it, and I asked them what they were thinking, Emma and Bella came right back to me, looking like they regretted their choices, and I crossed the road first and called them over.

It is not about making a big splash and taking away all possibilities of wrong. But having the tools in place to help your dogs make better decisions, that is what all of this all about.

We need to stop thinking of ourselves as the greatest being, and start seeing the wonders around us.

Herding has done that for me, my dogs have shown me something that I still struggle to express. It is magic, and yet so much more.

Happy Training.

Addi and The Girls