Canine Circus School

The Art School for Dogs

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Published November 10, 2015 at 1764 × 1764 in Canine Circus School: 2016 Schedule February – March Classes

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This is not a drill. Last night just as we were about to go to sleep, Balzac our noble direwolf called to me with a volley of hectic barking that wouldn’t cease. And thankfully he was persistent because I was thinking “ the dam house better be on fire with all that barking going on.” When I went out side I heard what sounded like hard rain but instead flames were shooting 60 feet in the air. I ran to warn family and neighbors, and call 911. When I got back I saw Norma on a ladder with a hose gamely fighting the blaze off our fence line (first picture). We live in the company of very tall Eucalyptus trees and we were worried they would catch. The fire was in a small grove of pampas grass that lies between a dog park and the fence line. The source of ignition is unknown. What scares me is, even with the most rain we have seen in years, with everything getting mossy, that the fire climbed to 60 feet and licked a powder keg of branches. Had this been the bone dry season where a celery stalk can dry in a plastic bag over night we would of all been toast. #fire #temescalcreek #savedbydog

Our new classes are just four weeks away. Operators are standing by ready to take your call. Sign up now! Link in profile. Void where prohibited. May cause sudden giddiness, not recommended for patients suffering from closed mindedness. Sign up now and you too can walk among us! #walkamongus #canine_circus_school #oakland #bayarea

I can’t believe Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote a song about cat training. I sing it when I’m getting ready to train my cat because I use a spoon to give him food. I use the spoon because it’s cleaner with wet food. The needle refers to the cats claws which feel like needles. So this design ended up in my sketchbook. My advice is stay away from cat training it’s addictive. #cattraining #alleycats #thundermint

After a good rain was the perfect time to teach these guys this very natural version of the scent discrimination trick. You see if you’re in the forest with your dog and throw a stick most dogs look for the stick you threw if you make it evident enough. A strong rain brought down lots of debris and also washed the area so the handlers scent will be obvious to the dog because of the contrast. We simply made the stick less and less visually evident to the dog as he showed us he was using his nose. Then we lined up the sticks making it progressively harder by adding more sticks and letting more time go by after placement. It reminds me of that book, Perfume, where the main character has a genius for olfaction but not for language and can’t believe that there is one word for wood when every piece has such a different scent. #scentdiscrimination #malinois #petitebois #canine_circus_school

We went to hear Wade Davis speak last night. I woke up with his words ringing in my head. It was cool hearing stories about being a student of botanist R E Schultes, and how deeply moved he was telling the story of a man in the desert who offered him tea made from his last glass of water. #thirst #leshercenter #wadedavis #wizard #oneriver #rolemodel

Thundermint doing some leaps. Also you’ll see my poorly aimed camera caught a crash landing in slomo. Thundermint ended up on his feet as usual with nothing hurt except his pride. At the end we go inside and I do my first throw of the object I’m training him to pick up,and he does pretty good at it. At the end just a still photo of a very tired cat lying on a sheepskin. Soundtrack is me. #thundermint #blackcat #witchescat #cattraining

Today we are welcoming the new year but also mourning the loss of our fish Spartacus who died surrounded by family last night. When he refused food several days ago I was worried, then last night I heard a splash and Spartacus was taking his last breath, Norma and I put our hands on his tank and he craned his eye in acknowledgement. Spartacus was 14 years old, I got him at the Petco on Potrero in SF he was barely an inch long. I am fascinated by fish intelligence, we don’t think of fish as creatures that raise their young, form long term relationships or build structures. But they do, and I’ve come to think of them like birds, capable of complex thoughts rather than a just a flavor. This video is from many years ago, I made it for the UCSF Children’s Hospital as part of a tv show that was produced by the Child Life department, Spartacus was showing his secret talent. The hoop is made of luminescent wire and flashes randomly, this is just a prop it has nothing to do with training and it certainly doesn’t shock him or signal him, you can see he does the action for a piece of krill. By the way Spartacus lived to the exact age the internet predicted a fish of his species would live to. I remember one time having breakfast with the famous pit bull expert Richard F Stratton talking at length about Red Devils. What a trip sitting at a greasy spoon talking fish with Dick Stratton. Last night as the New Year’s Eve celebrations exploded throughout the neighborhood a figure dressed in black stood in the darkness with a post hole digger burying a fish at depth that would foil a hungry raccoon family. Out of the darkness who showed up giving me quite a fright, it was Thundermint the cat coming to pay his final respects:)Just two skallywags saying goodbye to their first mate. #fishtraining #canine_circus_school #animaltraining #aquarium #amphilophuslabiatus #reddevil #cichlids #fishfuneral

Thundermint doing some swashbuckling this morning. #cattraining #cattricks #oakland #blackcat #witchescat #swashbuckle #canine_circus_school

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