Photo of Canadian Pet Columnist, Joan with her horse Tex.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely train him to be semi-human.
The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming part dog."
Edward Hoagland
While in Vancouver, BC, Canada, I enjoyed reading dog trainer Joan Klucha’s weekly Canine Connection
pet column. She has been an integral part of the North Shore News since 1998.
Joan, who has always loved animals, grew up on a lakeside farm in Ontario, Canada. Her pet chicken lived in her bedroom for a few months, and observing her pet rabbits rapidly multiply “... taught me about birth control at a young age,” said Joan. “Living isolated on a farm, I became creative having a pet pigeon, barn cats, a pony, horse and dogs as my
friends.
My love of pets carved my career - all by ‘accident’! Twenty years ago, I vowed that my Doberman puppy, Alex, would be an amazing dog, nothing like the stereotype aggressive Doberman.
So, I enrolled us both into a Human Dog Leadership course. At the time, I was involved in personal fitness training and when one of my clients brought her dog to class....he was a nightmare!
I volunteered to train
him and she was pleased with his paws-itive changes. A few weeks later, one of her friends phoned asking me to train her dog! Just like that I was in the dog training business!
A few years later, I approached the Vancouver, B.C. Police K9 unit and asked if they would like help training their dogs. The sergeant was open to the idea! So, I began working with their upstanding purrs-onal’s puppies and dogs doing quarry work and
tracking.
This is about the same way that I ended up as a pet columnist. All of a sudden!
For a few weeks, I was helping a woman train her dog, and one day I suggested that I submit a pet column to her newspaper. The editor loved the idea, and that was 20 years ago.
Like Mary Ellen “Angel Scribe”, my column is a passion, teaching readers canine wisdom, and thereby creating better lives for both
reader and canine.
At the moment, I have three amazing dogs and a horse who all have very different purrs-onalities and energy levels.
Piper is a 10-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer and my Prince Charming. He’s an easy dog to train even with his bundle of energy. He’s a big boy at 95 pounds and very affectionate. When he curls up beside me he rests his big head on my lap like a little guy.
Zumi is a 12-year-old
Czech bred German Shepherd. She was originally destined to be part of the Vancouver Police Department’s K9 breeding program but she was rejected because of her hips, so I was allowed to keep her. She is gorgeous - jet black, no tan markings and is so beautifully put together.
Zumi is very protective and loyal. She would give her life for me. It brings me to tears thinking of her devotion to my safety. At all times, Zumi is never more than five feet away
from me, her choice…she takes her job of being my personal body guard very seriously.
Raider, a goof ball, is a two-year-old Border Collie/Cattle dog mix who weighs 45 pounds. Compared to my other dogs, he is a little guy. He is an affectionate dog with a HIGH energy level. Even so, he is very manageable because, first, I was aware he would be and, second, I know how to work with dogs to keep his energy in check. He is incredibly smart and loves to
jump.
When Raider gets excited, he jumps straight up from the ground and back down like he is on an invisible trampoline.
My amazing horse, Tex, is an eight-year-old quarter horse, I‘ve had him since he was a year and a half. He is gorgeous now and he receives a lot of attention from people.
When I bought him for $500 he was an ugly duckling. He looked like a llama with a long ugly shaggy white coat. He was covered in
lice and had an abscessed foot. I put him on the best feed I could afford, gave him some kind gentle training and voila, eight year later he turned into another Prince Charming.
Tex is gentle, kind, honest and sensitive. He’s taught me many lessons on trust.
The previous owners didn’t appreciate what they had underneath that scruffy sickly looking colt. Their loss, my gain!I don’t compete with him, so he’s my ‘get out and have fun
horse’. He’s really a big dog who’s playful and always looking for fun mischief. I’ve taught him to come to a whistle and his name, just like a dog, and posted a video of it on my k9 kinship Facebook page.
Thank you for letting me share my pets in your column!”
