Oregon Meetup Dec 2019
They say it takes a village—-we have a pretty great village. And while it’s great to stay connected online, it’s no replacement for getting together in person, getting wet and muddy, and playing with dogs.
I met Annie back in 2012 when she was first exploring NDT as a way to better connect with her sweet but sometimes-ornery corgi, Jake. Since then she’s become a consummate dogwoman and a dear friend. When I travel to the Portland area we never miss a chance to get together and bond over photography, dog training and our mutual love of wild places. Annie owns, trains and loves a foxy little live-wire Border Collie named Cassie.
When I first met Cassie, she was a cringing, terrified little puddle that couldn’t walk on a leash without melting into a limp heap on the floor. Now, Cassie is a different dog. A dog who will do anything for the tug, tuned to her human like a laser, and full of wildness and life; a dog who will make enthusiastic contact and stay online in the face of stimuli that once would have shut her completely down.
On this trip we fried up some breakfast and spent a morning running around in the orchard and fields on her farm; then the following day threw the dogs in our cars and headed out to a spot in the Middle Santiam wilderness for a forest hike.
Puppy Gamma is a lot of energy for the more mature Cassie; she’s relentless and unsubtle about wanting to plug in. When they first met they were about equal in size, but at this point my pup had grown quite a bit in size and drive. At first Cassie was unimpressed by Gamma’s attempts to get the party started, but once the two were able to run it off a little bit and connect around the midpoint of shared prey (the tug toy), they fell into a nice group flow. It was great to watch Gamma learn to modulate her approach to not overwhelm Cassie. Till next time, Annie and Cassie!
Story by Jenya Chernoff
Photos by Jenya Chernoff and Annie Kaplan