The Diet - if I feed my dogs so well, why not do the same for myself?

Calgary, March 26 - enough snow!

I just wrote a note to a friend about my diet, and thought, maybe I will post it here, because I have received a lot of feedback on my journey. Yes, I think many of us put a lot of focus on what our dogs eat, but not on our own nutrition. We don't even understand our own bodies as much as we know what is going on with our dogs! So here is some of the stuff I am doing. It works for me - everyone has to find their own path of course...

"You can set yourself up to be sick, or you can choose to stay well." ~ Wayne Dyer

THANK YOU to all of the people who have written me privately or privately commented on my blog post. I deleted it - curious - I got self conscious about putting it out there. But maybe my journey can inspire others. Lord knows there are a lot of us who keep our dogs in prime condition, but not ourselves. If WE are in better shape, it is great for our dogs too. We are more active, and will give them more of ourselves. It's always good to have motivation. I always wanted to run with my dogs - and NOW I do! I nearly want to cry when I do it. I ran 5 K last week - in intervals (walk, run, walk, run). It was like a dream, and the dogs were so happy too.

I ran 5 K with Caden and Jet a week ago, doing intervals. Awesome.

I followed the Belly Fat Cure (Jorge Cruise) religiously but lately am amending it to eat more 'pioneer style' - using two books, The Hormone Diet (awesome and Canadian - recommended by a naturopath I see) and Eat Clean by Tosca Reno - all about eating wholesome food you make yourself - stop buying stuff pre-made. Go back to the basics. Plus I am working out with a personal trainer, and have a treadmill at home. I do lots of resistance training, as it burns more calories by making your body work harder even after you are finished a workout. I am trying to do 30 minutes of cardio at least 4 times a week. This will help make a leaner body in time (I am banking on it!)  I detox regularly now, and I take healthy supplements to support all of this - all recommended by an awesome Naturopath - Nurse Practitioner I have found in Red Deer who promotes the Metagenics line of supplements.


I feel like a different person but the more weight I lose, the more self conscious I am of my body. I used to 'ignore' it, lol. I am really amazed at what I've learned about eating and how the body works. I have to say, it's been Wayne Dyer who inspired me as he talks all the time about reducing sugar and eating healthy - you only have one body! Even if your spirit is who you are, the body is the home for it in this lifetime.

I was privileged to attend a retreat with Dr. Dyer in Maui last fall, and admire him so much. The movie The Shift is a MUST HAVE for inspiration. The book Excuses Be Gone also gives a great program to shift your mindset. Jorge Cruise interviewed Wayne Dyer about Excuses, and this is good listening, even for dog training!  Here are other places you can hear his message. You can even call him on HayHouse Radio, as he counsels people on a live show every Monday. I called him in November 2008 after moving to Alberta, and was really touched by his message as we chatted - about forgiveness and moving forward in my life being key to achieving goals of weight loss, happiness and peace. I KNOW this sounds like marketing for Wayne Dyer, but I truly believe his messages are so important to getting everything in balance, which is a key to weight loss.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

Jorge Cruise's book basically says we eat too much sugar - even naturally occurring sugar in tomatoes and apples, etc. So he says no more than 15 grams a day of it - and no more than 6 servings of healthy carbs (5-31 grams = 1 serving). And have healthy carbs and healthy proteins. So I use the numbers 15/6 for my Eat Clean diet now - and I calculate my meals and snacks, prepare them ahead of time every day and don't eat anything I did not plan to eat that morning. I have a good friend, Shannon Boyce, who recently shared her journey with staff at work, and learned this last bit from her!

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice."

~ Wayne Dyer

I bring a little cooler to work with my food in it and am self sufficient. I watch other people eating those frozen 'diet' meals every day at lunch - so full of chemicals that stress the liver and so full of sodium. They are doing what works for them, but I just can't eat anything processed anymore - the more you learn about how your body works, the more you want to eat clean and whole food, what my friend Shannon calls Pioneer Eating. I haul out my big containers of salad and rice and chicken - all home made, and I feel proud of myself. It is a LOT of work, and things won't happen overnight of course. But I have now lost 105 pounds in just over 3 years and gone from size 24 to size 14.

"The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind." ~ Wayne Dyer

I even ask for special stuff at restaurants now - I ask for rice instead of pasta with the same pasta toppings at Boston Pizza and sub chicken for sausage - and they are really accommodating. The ironic thing is - I used to watch my ex-husband and his friends do this - they were all serious Ironman - Boston Marathon runners. But I never did it for myself.

I don't know why. The closest I can come to answering that - is that your MIND has to be there first. If you are not there mentally, emotionally and spiritually - you have to shed that weight first. Then, the physical weight will follow.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer

"Treat yourself and others with kindness when you eat, exercise, play, work, love, and everything else." ~ Wayne Dyer

Clinic Working Spots are Full!

You can still get on an alternate list, in case someone pulls out between now and the clinic on April 30 - May 1. But at this point, working spots are all taken! What a variety of breeds coming!

Mini Schnauzer
GSD X 2
Canaan Dog
Dalmatian
Rough Collie
Corgi
Aussie
Viszla
Weimarainer

Alternates

Viszla
GSD

Auditors *so far

GSD owner
Rough Collie owner

I just hope the snow is gone by then. This was the scene outside of my office window yesterday. Today was even worse! Six weeks to seminar day!

Tracking Clinic Dates set

The CKC Tracking Clinic will be April 30 and May 1 in Olds, where we will alternate between an urban setting and a fantastic half section of fresh hayfields. If you are interested please use the private comment section below this email (it won't be published) and give me your email address and name, or email me if you have my address. I'll give you the details! I already have quite a list and can't take too many working dogs, I prefer 10 to 12 at the most. I am also planning a mini-seminar in the evening for people who stay overnight.

The clinic will focus on how to prepare for CKC tracking tests - a training plan, how to enter, how you are judged, handling, rules and regs. It will also have hands on training for beginners and people wishing to enter for TD and get started. We will do both hard surface and field work, and I'll share lots of tips and advice, tailored to each individual working dog.

After the clinic, I'll touch base with people who wish ongoing coaching, one on one or in small groups for the balance of the summer.

Feet and Paws

My new purchase from MEC in Calgary - Vibram Fivefingers TrekSport runners! My personal trainer swears by them. They are like being barefoot but very rugged! I am walking around in them today and love them. I was trying to take a pic, and Caden thought it was all about his ball - hilarious! (he is embarrassed that it is pink - it was the only colour at the store, and they needed a new squeaky ball to play with).

Welcome to life with Jet


AFTER playing ball with Jet and the other dogs for a LONG time, I came in to relax for a FEW MINUTES after work... and up pops this...

Are we training tonight?
Can you throw my ball?
Do you have a cookie for me?
Are you looking at ME?
I am the best, right?
Are you trying to watch the news?
What's up on Facebook?
Are they talking about me?
Me me me me me...

So you can see why Jet really, really needs a job!

Yes Jet, it's training night! 





New Tracking Judge on the Block - ME!



I received word today that I have successfully completed the CKC's requirements to be a tracking judge for TD and TDX. I am now a judge!

River, my first urban dog. She came so close to finishing her UTDX, in my heart she is a Tracking Champion
I know she can do it, she has done it, we just need to do it at a test. See the sidebar menu for her UTDX story. In this photo, River had just completed a 23-hour old track at Red Deer College. Amazing.  


It's funny, I meant to do this a long time ago - after earning Robin's TDX in 1998, Ilene Newman (who judged her) encouraged me to apply, since it was my 3rd TDX and I had 5 TDs at the time. I was preparing to follow through when I became sick and finally diagnosed with Cancer, had the surgery and then had to recover.

It was here in Alberta that I finally wrote the test and began apprenticing! Thanks so much to Erich Kunzel, Greg Martin and Dawn Sanderson for the apprenticeship opportunities, and to the clubs that welcomed me.



Jet, the first Border Collie to earn a CKC UTD, 2010. Will she be my first Tracking Champion?
In this picture Jet is indicating the final article of her successful UTD track. See the sidebar menu for a pictorial record of her track!

I now have 7 TDs, 4 TDXs, two UTDs and am just ~ oh so close ~ to a UTDX. River made me so proud last year, dead on until her final turn (I blame myself, of course, for pushing her across the road, I had lost my  mind knowing we were near the end...). Will she do it this year? Or will Jet earn a TDX and UTDX? It could be either of my girls. They are both awesome, if I may say so myself!

How will I ever work in the time to get a Tracking Championship plus start apprenticing to judge UTD, and get a SchH title (or two) on Caden this year - oh, and hopefully trial the Border Collies!

You know you are leading a blessed life when the biggest dilemma is partitioning your time to give your dreams the chance to become reality.


Caden is doing SchH tracking right now, aiming for some SchH titles - and then on to CKC

Ted is all-sheepdog in his heart, but he is capable of amazing tracking when he puts his mind to it.
He'd rather be herding sheep, but we'll keep tracking for now and aim for TD. Ted is doing a hybrid of SchH and HITT tracking, as a personal experiment with that method.

 

Birthday Girl River is a Keystone Dog, at age 11 - Happy Birthday Princess!

Keystone: "The central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together. The central supporting element of a whole."

River is my keystone dog. She is connected to dogs of the past, and also, is part of the current group of dogs at home. Born on March 2, 2000, River came along a few months after Hawk died at the age of 13. She was the youngest of this group, below...

Most of these pictures were taken on River's 5th birthday in March, 2005. As you can see, there was a lot of snow that year, too!



Left to right - River on her 5th birthday, 2005. Thorn and Shaman, both aged 8 here, and Robin, almost 14 in this photo. Robin died four months after this photo was taken.  There is a good reason why I had them separated this way for a group photo...

As you can see in the photo below, Shaman was very dominant over Thorn, and always ready to rumble... oh my, Shaman. You were enough dog - why did I have four! Thorn was very good natured, thankfully! I don't think Thorn even realized Shaman's plans as he decided to break from a sit stay. But you can see it on Shaman's face.

I never boast about my dogs accomplishments but I will today. Between the 4 great dogs sitting in that picture is a a multi multi group winning BIS (Robin), 3 CHs., 4 TDs, 2 TDXs (the girls), one UTD (River), 3 JHDs, the top herding Rough Collie in Canada (07), two TTs and a Therapy Dog (Thorn) ... all gone but River the birthday girl!



A few months after River was born, I also lost my very special Katie, my sable collie below, to pyo. It was completely heart wrenching. This is the only shot of that whole group, taken on Thorn's birthday in May, 2000.



Back row - Shaman, Baby River (AKA Princess), Thorn
Front row - Katie, Robin - two very, very special girls



 

 

Above and below - River, Shaman and Thorn keeping me company as I feed the sheep. Oh, how I miss my sheep! River was a 'chore dog.' Shaman actually did herd the sheep - he was the #1 Rough Collie in Canada for sheep herding (CKC) when her earned his Herding Intermediate Title, and he had a lot of talent.



River always came in while the sheep were eating to take the water bucket which I had carried up from the house. She viewed her job as carrying the bucket back to the house. She took this very seriously.

You can see how proud she is carrying it! This is the trail from the field to my house, back in Thunder Bay.



 Robin waited in the house for us that day. At age 14, her trips up to the field were mostly in her dreams... you can see a picture of Robin and Thorn up in the field behind her - with my sheep in the distance.

It seems like just yesterday that River was the baby in the family... here she is torturing Thorn, below!

And now, River is part of the new pack! It started with little Jet, who arrived after Robin passed on. Robin died in July, 2005. I went to a Scott Glen Clinic in Cremona AB shortly afterwards, and met Scott, and Jet's mom, MAID. I arranged for a pup on the phone with Jenny, and Jet was born in October of 2005.

Jet is the first dog of the NEW CHAPTER of my life. I love this picture of them - Jet looks like she is laughing! They get along so well. I love my girls.

And now, River shares her life with Jet, Ted and Caden.

I always alternate having old and young dogs, but despite my 'theory' it never makes it easier when you lose the old ones. River is more like a friend to me, than a dog. Not only has she been around for a long time, but she has been at my side through many changes, the big move to Alberta, and a new life here. She's taught me everything I know so far about Urban Tracking, and although she did not pass her test last year - she could not have made me more proud with the great work she did up to that fateful last turn. She still loves to track - and she is doing so well! She is Lindau's Uncharted Course, TDX UTD JHD. I list the titles last because they are just not that important compared to everything else she has given me.

11 years young! Happy Birthday my girl. I love you!



Me and River after completing a 23 hour old track last year at Red Deer College