On behalf of the pack, the cats, the chickens and Martijn & me we wish y'all a wonderful Christmas!!!

For most people Christmas is a joyful time, with a lot of love giving and receiving.

Our dogs are part of celebrating Christmas, are part of the love giving and receiving. But not every dog is so lucky this year. There are a lot of dogs waiting in a shelter, rescue, with a foster to be saved by a human, a family. Will you be that human, that family?

IF you consider buying a White Shepherd and it doesn't have to be a pup (i do have people calling from time to time looking for an older dog so i know you're out there), the following rescue organizations do have white shepherds: Echo dogs (operating East of the Mississippi), Shenandoah Shepherd Rescue has often White Shepherds. They adopt also out of State and Virginia Shepherds Rescue

​Merry Christmas everyone!!!

You might know this about me by now, but I like to know all about the way dogs think and about the way they learn. I read a lot about this, mainly science based books or papers.

Questions like "why does Evie 'talks' to me when she know she is going outside?" or "why is Jessie licking my hands when she is there to greet me?" I want to find answers to. Some questions are easy to answer and some need some more information before they can be answered.

The question are dog 'born to win'? came from my question why people like to attend dog shows. Partly this is because they like to win, they like the feeling that comes with winning. The 'rush' caused by the hormone dopamine.

However, their motivation is primarily driven by the desire for praise and attention from their owner, not a natural competitive instinct.

I do see this also within my pack, especially when playing find and fetch. They love to find and fetch the ball, because this way they are rewarded with my praise, attention and continuation of the game. It's so rewarding.

My conclusion is that dogs are not 'born to win', they lack the internal motivation. However if rewarded for doing a 'good job' dogs will go the extra mile.