Day: May 23, 2013

In the garden, after the rainstorm, I saw the apple tree reflected in the birdbath, and we all waited for the sun.

Flo has taken to following me around the farm. Tonight, for the first time in my life, I sat with a cat on my lap on the back porch, and she curled up in my lap and went to sleep. I’ve never done this before. Maria asked me if I liked it, and I do. Cats find spaces to fill and Flo has touched my heart. I think of her living under the porch for months in the winter, hiding out and then revealing herself to Maria in a snowstorm. Smart move. Since then, she has practically taken the place over. She is a bit of a thug, but a loving one. She is at ease around Red, wary of Lenore’s bounding around, and she hisses whenever she sees Frieda.

This summer, I’m photographically following a neighbor’s corn field. Come along for the ride.

Next Tuesday, a significant chapter in my writing life, the beginning of a new direction in my work.  My e-book original “Listening To Dogs: How To Be Your Own Training Guru” will go on sale everywhere digital books are sold – your computers, smart phones, e-book readers, on Amazon, Bn.com, Ibooks, on Kindles, Nooks, Kobos. The book will sell for $2.99. The book is important to me for many reasons.

First, it my most detailed explanation yet of my philosophy of communicating with and training dogs. It is an empowerment book, designed to help people rely less on all of the TV and other gurus many dog lovers have become dependent on. I believe most people have the knowledge and motive and intelligence to figure out how to train their dogs. This was the method for many hundreds of years. Training manuals have become expensive, complex and rarely seem to work for people.

I talk about my own life with dogs and many of the things I and others have learned, but this is not a training manual, it will not promise you the “perfect dog,” an obnoxious idea to me. It may help you figure it out for yourself.

I will launch this book next week with a podcast and a week-long discussion of “Listening To Dogs” and dog training here on the blog and on my Facebook and social media outlets. In the evolution of the writer, this kind of book is a significant step in evolving in the exciting, creative and challenging world of publishing. Later this summer, I will publish another e-book “Love And Light From Bedlam Farm,” a collection of the most loved photographs of light, the farms and the animals and flowers here. I mean this as an inspirational book.

I have been working on my new media tools – the blog, Facebook, the podcast, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest for some time now and we’ll see how this plays out. A lot of people are watching. As an advocate for dogs, I hope to encourage people to see dogs as the wonderful animals that they are, not as dependent projections of our own emotions and feelings. I have been working on this for years, and I believe I have come a long way in understanding my dogs, communicating with them, listening to them. Many of you have followed this process along with me. I have had some troubled dogs – Orson and Frieda – and some wonderful dogs –  Julius and Stanley, Pearl, Lenore, Izzy, Rose, and now Red. I have worked hard on developing training programs that work for me in my home and my life, not generalized and prefabricated plans designed by experts who do not know me or my dogs.

All next week I will post a series of topics on training and on communicating with dogs. For me, training is not about obedience, it is a spiritual covenant with our dogs, our way of talking to them, listening to them, showing them how to live safely and well in our world. I think the price is fair and in line with the high end of e-book publishing. It is a bit shocking to me to write a book for less than a cup of coffee, but I welcome this creative challenge, and I think this is a good form and venue for me. I hope you will find it worth your time and money. Stay tuned, another ride.

“To Know others is wisdom;

To know yourself is enlightenment

To master others requires force;

To master yourself requires true strength,”

– Lao-tzu, Tao-te Ching