Playing and Talking

I get asked a lot as a trainer from students if it's normal for their dogs to groan and growl while playing. It is normal. Dogs vocalize quite a bit while playing. All normal. Always make sure their bodies are lose and relaxed, no hard staring, fear or stiffness.
Here's our guys goofing it up with lots of vocalizing.
Here's our handout called Your Pit Bull and Other Pets that might be helpful. http://www.ourpack.org/otherpets.html

Happy Earth Day

I remember while living in Kansas for a couple of years (was born there but raised mostly in Calif.) I had done a lot of pole bending and barrel racing with my horses. On Earth Day I rode my horse to school which was 2-3 miles. My dad followed as best he could in the car. How cute was my dad (still alive at 91)! It was important to him to make the statement that Earth is to be cherished as are animals and the gifts that they give. I remember as an older teenager in California going barefoot with my dog and he followed along and we were like family.We somehow just belonged togehter. I would like to go barefoot again with my dogs and feel the dirt under my feet free of pesticides and chemicals breathing fresh air that my dogs can breathe too. I don't want to forget Earth and what she's given us and the prosperity of her inheritance is not to be simply thrown away. Dogs remind me of the beauty of nature and what a perfect thing she is......thank doG for the grass that's still green! Here's Kevin with his buddy Rocco on the beautiful green grass at training. Happy Earth Day!

Join Us for a Party on the Patio at La Fondue!

Please join us for cocktails and La Fondue's legendary cheese & chocolate fondues, meet other Our Pack friends and supporters, and groove the night away to 80s dance music! There will be chances to win great prizes and bid on some very special items in our silent auction.


When: Wednesday, May 26th, 6-9 pm
Where: La Fondue
Why: Our Pack Fundraiser

Register Now!

75% of proceeds will be donated to Our Pack!

Space is limited, register now to reserve your spot!

Advance Tickets: $30
At the Door: $40

Ticket price includes cheese & chocolate fondue, drink ticket and raffle ticket. Additional raffle and drink tickets will be available for purchase at the event.

Due to space limitations, we ask that you please leave your four-legged friends safely at home.

Save the Date!

La Fondue & Our Pack are hosting a Party on the Patio!

Where: La Fondue Restaurant

When: Wed., May 26th, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Why: Fundraiser for Our Pack Pit Bull Rescue

Come out and enjoy cocktails and La Fondue's legendary cheese & chocolate fondues, meet other Our Pack friends and supporters, and groove the night away to 80s dance music!

We'll be raffling off some great prizes, and unveiling some very special Pit Bull artand other prizes in a silent auction.

Stay tuned for more details!

The Fruits of Education

Vivian Chen came to interview Stephanie Lam of Our Pack while doing our monthly presentation on Pit Bull basics at Humane Society Silicon Valley. Vivian was doing a high school film class project and included Stephanie in it. I think Vivian will make a great filmmaker. Also, her sister Melody helped on the project.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=386807711865

A Training Student's Success Story

Here's a wonderful and supportive story from one of our students. Thanks Lark!!

Confessions Of One Confused Dog Mom & A Thank You Letter To Marthina & Our Pack Trainers

I just want to say thank you so much & I don't even know if I can voice the gratitude I feel. I have had Lola almost 4 years. I took my 2 required training classes ( not from Our Pack) and we got our basic training certificate's. I knew we didn't deserve them. Basically we just finished the course. I was very confused when it came to training Lola. We were a spectacle every where we went. I convinced myself it wasn't our fault. That Lola was lovable but a major spaz and maybe just too neurotic to be to trained. I justified myself saying it's ok because Lola is not dog or human aggressive. The thing is when you own a large dog and in my case especailly a Pit bull mix, people DO NOT believe you when you say "Oh she's a good dog, she just gets excited." It was very important to me for us to be good breed ambassador's but I was so confused and frustrated on how to get there. In the mean time I spoiled Lola to the point where she ruled our house. Bad manners galore.

Now to the Thank You part. I was tired of looking like the crazy lady with the out of control dog. So I called Marthina and she came for a house visit. OH BOY! Marthina told me what to work on and to come to the next Sunday class. I came home from the first 2 classes discouraged. Then in the next class Lola did better. So I was like YAY! Then we had a set back Lola would not listen or look at me during our training outside of the house. This went on for a week. Frustration mounting, I blew up. I was done. There was no way I was ever going to be able to train my (baby) dog. I e-mailed Marthina and told her I give up......

What Marthina emailed me back changed our lives. Marthina told me to relax. Stop rushing. If I was trying to train Lola while I was frustrated then Lola was going to pick up on that. She said that it was ok to go back a few steps and to stop taking it personally, Lola was not trying to make me mad. A lot more was said. I read the e-mail about 10 times and I got it, it just clicked.

Now we love training class. I love that the Our Pack training instructor’s takes the time to answer my questions. I have a lot. They really want all of us to succeed. I also know when they tell us we are doing a good job, they really mean it. They don’t blow smoke if you know what I’m saying. I don't rush myself or Lola. We are a team and we have fun. Some day's Lola has an off day. Now I know how to gently but firmly get her to focus and if she can’t we take a break. I now keep my bad day's out of our training too. We have a long way to go but now I have the confidence that we can do it.

Lark McIntosh & Lola

Thank You Jennifer at Dog Examiner San Francisco

Jennifer Zhang did a follow up on the Len Tillem show and posted our educational events in her article.
The dates and locations are: April 24th at For Other Living Things in Sunnyvale at 10am and April 25th at Humane Society Silicon Valley at 4 pm.
Here's Jennifer's follow up article.


Oakland Dogs Examiner

Apparantly Tillem has apologized.

KGO810 what are you thinking?

Please check out this article regarding a talk show on KGO810. I think we need to get some letter writing started right away....unbelievable!
The link to the radio show is in the article and it's at the 48 min mark.
http://www.examiner.com/x-23175-Oakland-Dogs-Examiner~y2010m3d30-Local-radio-station-KGO-airs-hateful-comments-about-pitbulls