OUR MISSION

Many years ago when I first began to think about the idea for this site, I was in the throes of retraining a troubled Gracie and training a puppy Piper. I experienced nearly every high and low I had never even imagined, and during it all, I became indoctrinated into life in the dog park... something Gracie and I had never been able to accomplish on our own to that point (more on this later). Through what felt like trial by fire, I learned there are a lot of different dogs in the world... and each one has it's own person. Though I thought I was trying to train my dogs, the real work lay in training myself… to handle the people. Then I thought maybe I could train them how to handle themselves. And so the idea for a site about dog park manners was born... manners for people, not dogs.

I love animals. People... they can be a challenge, including myself. I believe, as with ‘pleases’ and ‘thank you’s’, we need to develop our language, our standards... develop our common ground as owners to create a safe and enjoyable environment for ourselves and our beloved pets. Our dogs do their best to understand and respect one another within seconds of meeting (we hope!)… we should do the same.

There are plenty of dog trainers out there, and while I have a good amount of experience with my own pets as well as some success, I am not a professional dog trainer -- I am a member of the dog community. Now that we live in a world that actually has a dog community... with dogs and owners more numerous and more prominent than ever before, it is our responsibility to decode and disseminate the mores and manners of our new and extremely varied society.

Though this idea began to take shape in the dog parks of Los Angeles, life got in the way and this idea fell by the wayside. Now having moved to Northern California and being newly immersed in training our remarkable but troubled Oliver, my desire to share my experiences and all I have learned has strongly resurfaced. Every day I face the ongoing challenges of a challenged dog in a complex society… and my biggest obstacle of them all… myself.

I hope through stories, advice, guidance and most of all my honesty with myself, my animals, and with the people around me, not only can we all understand each other a little better… but we can understand ourselves and our animals a whole lot.