Welcome to The Canine Chasm – A Dog Blog

The Concept of The Canine Chasm

There is a reason I named this blog “The Canine Chasm” (just “The Chasm” for short). Mostly it’s that I like alliteration. Kidding! Kind of… Really, it’s because there is a giant gap between two groups of people who LOVE dogs. They both may or may not think they love their dogs more than the people on the other side.

On one side of this Grand Canyon-sized divide are “Pet People”. Pet People are normal pet owners, fur moms, and the general public. Basically, anyone that’s not part of the Dog World, which includes dog sport competitors, responsible breeders, and a few rare pet homes (AKA Dog People).

They both may or may not think they love their dogs more than the people on the other side.

Bridging the Gap

This issue has been on my heart for quite some time and no other outlet satisfied me, so I decided to make my own outlet. A place where I can share my words, my heart, and hopefully a bit of knowledge and wisdom. I want this blog to be a place for people to learn. I’m warning you though: It’s going to be real, it will be blunt, and you might not like or agree with everything I say. AND THAT’S OK.

There are many reasons The Canine Chasm exists and there is fault on all sides, but pointing fingers isn’t going to help. No matter which side you’re on, you might not even see The Chasm until you are standing on the precipice trying to communicate with someone on the other side. (Puppy seekers trying to get a reputable breeder’s attention, I’m looking at you.)

Pet People usually just don’t know what they don’t know, so they don’t see The Chasm at all. Some Dog People are so entrenched in their ways that they forget what it’s like on the other side. Other Dog People are born into the Dog World and have never been on the Pet People side of The Chasm at all. I hope this blog bridges the gap between these very different Worlds.

Tales of The Canine Chasm

I also hope my story helps you understand why this is so important to me.

It starts about 8 years ago when my husband and I decided to get our first dog as a couple. He wanted a Golden Retriever and I wanted a Pembroke Welsh Corgi (PWC). We compromised and decided to get one of each, with the Golden coming first.

I owned a well-bred PWC as a teenager, so I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I already was a Dog Person, but I was not a Dog Person. Like many Pet People, I knew it was important to find a reputable breeder. By reputable, I mean a breeder doing breed appropriate health testing and ideally competing with their dogs. I did a lot of Googling, read a lot of articles, and contacted Golden breeders in my area. I called, emailed, facebook messaged, etc. One rejected me, several ghosted me, one didn’t have any puppies available, etc. It sucked.

We finally decided to look for a breeder in our home state and found one that checked all our boxes. I called her first instead of emailing and she answered the phone! I was so shocked that I almost forgot to speak! The conversation went well, so I followed up with an email and we got on the list for a puppy. Relief and excitement flooded our brains, and the waiting began.

Puppy Time!

Approximately 4 months later we brought home our very first Golden Retriever: a little boy puppy named “Rocket”. He stole our hearts within a matter of minutes. One or both of us came home during lunch every day to take him out to potty and feed him. We fed him what we thought was a high-quality grain-free food. We started training the basics at home (sit, down, stay, come, etc.) and worked on “socialization” during walks in our neighborhood. He was a quick study and an eager student. I loved training him! It lit a fire in my soul that had been burning low for a very long time.

Y’all, we LOVED this puppy. Our world revolved around him. He was (and still is) the absolute sweetest dog we’d ever met.

All the Right Things

We knew how important socialization was during those early weeks. So, we allowed Rocket to greet any people and dogs that wanted to greet him. In case you didn’t know, when you have a fluffy Golden puppy that means basically everyone. We signed him up for a positive training-based puppy class, took him to puppy play time, and went to dog parks after he had all his vaccinations. All the “right” things… right?

Before we even started puppy class, which we admittedly started a bit late, he had learned to pull on the leash so hard that he choked himself. He quickly realized that once he started choking, we would release the pressure and let him greet whoever was nearby. He developed leash reactivity and an opposition reflex within a matter of weeks. It was a near nightmare to go on walks in our busy neighborhood.

Our socialization efforts left him so conditioned to pull on the leash that he pulled and choked almost constantly. The “positive” trainers recommended a head halter type of collar to discourage him from pulling. Another “right” thing… Listen, y’all. Those collars are not positive. They just aren’t. He hated every second that one was on his face.

Stay Positive!

These positive reinforcement-based training classes were just ok, in my opinion. We learned some useful things like marker words and how to teach hand touches, send to place, etc. The teachers vehemently discouraged any correction other than a negative marker word (uh uh, try again, not quite, etc.). We were to redirect bad behaviors, not correct them.

One of our classmates was having a difficult time getting their dog to lie down. The “trainers” wouldn’t let the owners gently push the dog’s shoulders or rear down to help her understand. That isn’t even a correction! They kept telling the owners to “Just keep luring, she’ll get it!” Spoiler Alert: She did not get it. I have no idea why, but I signed up for the follow-up class.

We were to redirect bad behaviors, not correct them.

The leash pulling never got better – even after two 6-week class sessions – no matter how much “red light, green light” we played. Anytime he wore the halter he tried to rub it off with his paws or refused to walk. He still pulled even though it hurt his nose when the collar – news flash! – corrected him.

Eventually, we switched to a front clipping harness. This worked, but the reason that it worked was because it physically prevented him from pulling by restricting movement in his shoulders. Front clipping harnesses can dislocate their shoulders if they pull hard enough. And guess what? He still didn’t learn not to pull on the leash.

Crossing The Canine Chasm

Through all of this, I discovered that I loved training and I wanted to do something more. Our breeder encouraged me to try out the dog sport called Rally through the American Kennel Club (AKC). Here begins my journey out of the Pet World and into the Dog World.

When I was a kid, I watched the Westminster Kennel Club dog show every year and dreamed of having my own show dog someday. Rocket wasn’t a show dog, but I wanted to do something competitive in the Dog World anyway. So, I took my breeder’s advice and decided to try out Rally. I got on the AKC website, read the rules, studied the signs, watched videos, went to a dog show, and started training. I had NO idea how much effort went into having a competition ready dog, but I did my best.

We went to our first Rally competition when Rocket was just shy of two years old. Rocket and I competed in the Novice A class at the Houston World Series of Dog Shows, which is for dogs and handlers that have never gotten an AKC title in Rally or Obedience. We needed to get a score higher than 70/100 in three separate competitions to get the Rally Novice title. Somehow, we did it! Suddenly I had a titled dog on my hands, and I was hooked.

Are we there yet?

After we finished Rally for the day, I watched the Goldens in the main dog show. I met other Golden people and some breeders just by sitting ringside. One Golden breeder introduced me to her sister – a Leonberger breeder, who introduced me to a Leonberger friend, who invited me to come train with her for Rally.

Y’all, training with people that knew what they were doing was like training on a different planet. The Canine Chasm was visible for the first time in our first class. Watching true Rally competitors training their dogs was eye opening to say the least. We had unknowingly done so many things wrong in raising this precious soul called Rocket. I had no idea how much garbage information about training and socialization there is in the Pet World.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Rallying the Right Way

The ladies at our new training facility were amazing and so welcoming and encouraging. They taught me how to properly correct Rocket when he pulled on the leash, better canine communication skills, how to teach impulse control, and how to train competition skills for Rally and Obedience. We learned more in just a few weeks of training with them than we had during the entire tenure at the previous facility. We were a completely different team. A better team.

By the time we moved up to Rally Intermediate, our scores had gone from the 70s and 80s to the high 90s. We even got a perfect 100 in a bonus Novice run (#humblebrag!). Rocket’s Rally Advanced title followed just a few months later, and I was well on my way to the Dog Person side of The Chasm.

Making the Final Leap

What really pushed me over to the other side was attending the 2018 Golden Retriever National Specialty – a weeklong event for just Golden Retrievers. Hundreds of dogs and humans attend the National Specialty each year and it’s one of the biggest Nationals of any breed in the country. It was like heaven! Goldens everywhere! Rocket and I competed in Rally Excellent (the fourth level of Rally) and Beginner Novice Obedience (optional pre-first level) and earned qualifying scores in both classes. We even placed in our Rally Excellent class!

I spent the rest of the week helping our breeder and others for the conformation events and learning about Golden structure and movement. It was an absolute blast, and I knew that my next dog needed to be a show dog. Ideally one that would be competitive in Obedience. Prior to this event I had been drifting closer and closer to the Dog Person side of The Chasm, but I hadn’t quite crossed it completely. After the National Specialty I was firmly on The Other Side, never to return.