Ruff Trails

Hello! Please consider donating to help with her sweet Lucas with his surgery costs. If you cannot donate please share far & wide!! Let’s get him the help he needs!

Hello there! Putting the dog signal out for one of the new owners of Ruff Trails & her sweet Lucas. Please donate if you can & share far & wide. Let’s get him the help he needs! 🤍🤍🤍

Big Changes Here at Ruff Trails!!
It is with a heart both heavy & full that I announce my decision to pass on Ruff Trails to my esteemed colleagues Jen Mallon & Kim Flom.
This decision did not come easy & I still haven’t discovered all the ways I will miss this work, but if there’s one thing I have honed over these years it is listening to my intuition & it feels right & true.
I have zero doubt that these fine humans will continue to carry on the methods that I have gathered, tested & worked through. Providing your dogs with not only excellent care, but with a safe environment to be a dog 🐕
To say I love this work is an understatement.
It is part of who I am.
I will carry it into my next endeavor(s), as I continue to work with dogs & their humans in the future.
The experiences I have had shook me down to my foundation & built me back up again.
I am abundantly proud of what I’ve built & every relationship I have gained through it.
Some of your dogs are my best pals & so are some of you!!
There are a lot of emotions that I feel about this & little Nikki(3rd slide) is who I intend to ask where we should venture next.
I will not say goodbye because it isn’t that. I will be around to aid, to consult & you can still do behavior sessions with me through Ruff Trails email!
I very much look forward to seeing how Jen and Kim allow this business to soar!
I thank you times one million for everything!!
Please give Jen & Kim a big ol’ welcome & I surely hope to see y’all around. 🩵
Tell all your dogs that I love them🩵🥹🩵

Dog’s always watching over us😇

Without trust
there is no connection
only control.

Mochi so fluffy I couldn’t even fit all of him in the picture!! 🤍

Dora brings such an excellent vibe to the group✌️
So honored she chooses to be around me more now & we can chill together😎

I swear if y’all don’t get a picture of yourself, look you dead in the eyes & tell you that you’re worthy of love & acceptance…dogs will.
And oh the world that will open up to you if you believe it too🤍

There’s only a couple of things that I know to be true every time all the time.
One of those things is that Luna does do a fierce eyebrow liner from the dirt.
Second is, I’ve never met a dog that’s a liar.
They will make an honest person out of you too, if you can learn what they’re telling you instead of just simply trying to stop/distract a behavior.
Truthtellers do not appreciate authority figures who don’t hear them out. So, if you’re struggling with your dog, stay curious about what’s driving it & ask for help. It’s available!🙋‍♀️

Push & Pull
Give & Take
A relationship means we try to be at 100% as a team. So, if you feel like a 20 today I’ll be your 80 & vice/versa.
The understanding is that we are moving toward the same “goal.”
So, what’s the goal?
I try to make things as easy on myself & others as possible so it’s mostly about just feeling at peace with existing.
Not necessarily a peaceful existence but at peace with existence💛

“there is no shame when one is foolish with a tree
No bird ever called me crazy
No rock scorns me as a w***e
The Earth means exactly what it says The wind is without flattery or lust
Greed is balanced by the hunger of all so I embrace anew, as my childhood spirit did, the whispers of a world without words.” ~ Chrystos 1983

Nature’s hierarchies aren’t built to diminish those in lower ranking spots.
They’re built to make sure everyone gets safety, protection, food, water & community.
Psychological safety is the main ingredient in a team/family/pack/business/community/world working successfully.
I work towards making my dogs feel psychologically safe & that’s why we work so well together💛

I will not tell you how to train your dog, but I can show you some ways to be around your dog so that they feeeel different when friction arises.
Starting with raising your awareness of how you behave when friction arises😊
I want to hear what kind of behaviors your dog is exhibiting that are causing you(& them) anxiety & turmoil because there is a way to exist with our dog companions without all that.
No relationship is without the need for balancing out at times, but I believe those times of friction show up to point out where the imbalance lies. We change as we grow, so we have to keep in good communication with each other so we can continue to greet & Love each other as we are 💛
We can choose to face the music(omg 😭it’s the worst I know!) or keep repeating the same patterns that keep us in cycles of anxiety & turmoil.
So, where’s the friction folks & what is it asking you to look at?

Unlocking, Stevie levels of joy today✨

GILBEAUX!!
Gilbeaux is a prime example of why I do what I do & I’ll tell ya why stick with me.
When I first brought him out he had high anxiety, could not stop moving & was reactive to any dog coming in his space. His loving family really wanted his later years to be full of ease & joy. It makes me so glad I ditched trying to “train” my dogs & worked on relationships with them.
What I do is create a safe space for all who are in my care, and maintain that space so none of these furry toddlers are running around wondering if there’s anyone in charge around here.
Communicating, to the best of my ability, like everything in nature does. Frankly, the way everyone innately knows but some have just forgotten; through energy & body language.
I haven’t used a single command or treat. I told him in a way he understands that I’m taking care of all that stuff he was worried about before, & that my space & his will be respected.
He chooses to be here with us, sleeping in the grass after our walkabout & THAT is what I call a dog rescue.
“When we understand them there’s no need to control them” ~ Barb

Eye contact has such an important role in communication across all species. We sharpen our skills by being intentional with our actions.
Good questions might be;
How are you using eye contact?
What does it mean to you? & last but maybe the most important…
What does it mean to them?

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?!

Artemis is ready to start her own Instagram page that’s all “Get ready with me” videos of her just dipping into a mud puddle before she leaves for the day. 🖤😎

Olive & Ollie🖤
Newer relationships require lots of communication about who each individual is as an individual, what they bring to the table & how that is received by the other individual. Communication is one of the keys to TRUE LOVE.
No words said, zero physical touch. Just energy.
There’s no question here regarding who is leading & who is following. They’re both making it clear to each other who they are. They stood like this for about 3 minutes until the conversation was finished. Regardless of your feelings about how it looks, it is how dogs talk.
Are you communicating to your dog in a way they understand?

Just trying to see things from their point of view♥️

Just sitting here with the consequences of my actions.
It’s LOVE y’all. Love is the foundation & consequence of my actions & here I am getting to revel in it♥️

✨Today I relish✨
In the sun
In the trees
In the way nature is so adaptive
In the way I’ve learned to try to be that way too.
In the way dogs will always be honest about how they feel & never make us guess. The way they accept themselves & others as they are. A fraction of how they love us so unconditionally & with abandon.
The way they’ve taught me to work on being that way too ♥️

“In the traditions of many Native peoples of North America, animals are almost universally seen as equals to humans on the circle of life. The word “circle” is especially appropriate, for all living things, animals, and humans alike, are part of a great circle. No part of that circle is more important than another, but all parts of that circle are affected when one part is broken. In the eyes of the Native American, animals are all our relations” ~ Joseph Bruchac

Is it your walk or the dog’s walk?
Trick question cause it’s BOTH.
You are the guide & the dog is along for the joyride, but It’s something you both can do together to learn more about each other & the world around ya!
So while one of us is looking at the stick cause it has some cute mushrooms on it the other might be chewing on it, but we are both enjoying things we love together.
A relationship, as it were.
Don’t get caught up in all that training & forget ❣️

“When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environment or how to rule their world—- which is saying the same thing. Human beings destroy their ecology at the same time that they destroy one another. From that perspective, healing our society goes hand in hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world.”
—Chögyam Trungpa

Daily dose of dog medicine 💙

Our connection to dogs is ancient & ever-present. We don’t need to search for connection it’s there, waiting for us to find it. Maybe the question then is how are we tending to it?
Get out there & take some whiffs, dig in the ground, climb over stuff, look for things that catch your eye & study them.
Awaken all your senses, bond with your dog in the old ways, and discover the gift of this place.
Tend to the connection💚

The precision timing & placement that had to happen for that stick to go right in his ear…🤣
None of us get through this life unscathed folks.
It is what you make of it💛

I like the term Embracing Change. It’s like I’m giving changes in my life hugs. Saying Hello to the new & Goodbye to the old.
We all tend to not embrace it because we aim to be comfortable & change is NOT THAT.
However, the only control we have is how we respond to change. Life is always moving.
I’m most uncomfortable when I am tired from fighting change, but when I give it a squeeze, an embrace of you will, we can become closer friends. I can slow down & respond better to the request. Hell, she might even start to warn me before she arrives…maybe😆

Get in where you squish in around here