What Makes Me Angry, What Breaks My Heart

I had such an amazing response from my last post when I went on my rant about my Garmin watch! If you missed it, you can find it HERE. 

Since I was on a roll with my rant, I figured I’d continue and share with you a few more things that are on my mind. I was chatting with my friend and mentor Jane Deuber last night, and she asked me to reflect upon what originally put my on the path that led to following my passion, leaving my Associate Professor position at Rutgers University, and starting up my canine fitness business.

Jane asked me to revisit those things that break my heart and make me angry.

So with that in mind, here are the first things that come to mind.

It breaks my heart when

• High drive dogs give us their all, but they end up injured because we missed those subtle signs of pain and injury
• Our dogs get hurt by something that could have easily been avoided, but we didn’t know any better
• We hear about dogs dying because their owners missed the early signs of heat distress and heat injury

It makes me angry when

• A lack of education leads people to falsely believe such things as drinking cold water will give a dog bloat, training in the heat with no air conditioning on the weekend will acclimate their dog to hot weather, and their dog will never choke on that dangerously small ball;
• Trainers feel that attending to our dog’s health, fitness, and general wellbeing mean that we are “babying” them (I can’t tell you all the hell I got when trainers saw me using a ramp for my healthy Malinois when he was entering and exiting my large SUV!);
• An owner’s gut instinct knows something “isn’t right” with their dog, but their views are not valued by others because they are seen as a “newbie,” a novice, or simply less experienced

These are just some of the many reasons why I decided to dedicate my life to canine fitness and to educating others so that fewer dogs are injured. I wanted to end the needless suffering that can happen due to owner/handler miseducation and mistakes.

Trust me, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes!

I want to help people confidently make decisions about their dog’s health and fitness based on fact and science and not on urban myth.

Through our Northeast K9 Conditioning Academy, we help people become better advocates for their sport dogs, working dogs, and active family pets so that their beloved canine partners can live longer, healthier, and more productive lives.

We help owners and handlers feel confident about the choices they’re making regarding their dogs’ training and exercise programs.

Some people want better working dog performance. Others want higher scores on the trial field. Everybody feels good when their dogs perform well.

At the end of the day, however, it’s about enriching the lives of our dogs and keeping them happy and healthy for as long as we can. By enriching their lives, they, in turn, make our lives so much better.

I made this video a couple years ago to celebrate our truly amazing canine partners. It was a passion project of mine that evoked so many emotions while making it. Even after watching it for the 100^th time, I still get emotional. If you’ve not seen it, check it out and feel free to share it with others!

-Erica

P.S. I’m super excited to announce the launch of our brand-new website! I’m also very excited to announce that we are now doing pre-registration for our Elite K9 Athlete Program! Hop on over to our new website and check it out at https://www.northeastk9conditioning.com/EliteK9Athlete.