Advice

Dog’s Best Friend: Mr. Bojangles and the close shave

Over this Labor Day weekend, Telluride celebrates the 36th annual Telluride Film Festival. This week's post from Telluride Inside and Out's dog expert Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, concerns a dog whose breed has star power. From the hero of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies," Disney's "The Shaggy Dog" and Nurse Nana of "Peter Pan" Old English Sheepdogs have stolen the hearts of millions of young cinephiles, captivated by these huge Steiff toys come to life.

When the breed first crossed the pond, it went straight to the top, entering aristocratic families such as the Goulds, Guggenheims, Morgans, and Vanderbilts. The Old English held their place at the top of the food chain until the late 1950s, when a champion named Fezziwig Ceiling Zero became Top Dog in the show world and everyone wanted Nana. The breed's popularity peaked in the 1970s, when an average of 15,000 Old English Sheepdogs were  registered each year with the AKC. However, as besotted owners soon realized: Old English are high maintenance.

Alacazem 2009.09.03

September 3 to 10, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Mars   Evening: Mercury and Jupiter

The Virgo/Pisces axis of the September 4th Full Moon illuminates the polarity between what we dream about and what we do. Hopes, dreams and visions, fantasy and imagination are all subjects in the Pisces kingdom. And across the deep, shining sea lies the land of Virgo – terra firma upon which the workers work to build the dream and manifest the vision, one day and one step at a time. 

 Pisces listens to celestial music, floats on clouds and swims in oceans of emotion while Virgo hears the hustle and bustle of progress, critiques the process and improves the product. Virgo is the sign of analysis and logic; Pisces is the sign of intuition and mysticism. Virgo corresponds to physical embodiment; Pisces relates to spiritual transcendence.

Throughout the Virgo zodiac month, we are called upon to focus, simplify and consolidate. We are asked to discern and sacrifice, take responsibility, cut the fluff and eliminate excess. It’s all about cleanliness and organization, self-esteem and self-improvement, good deeds and nutritious diets. Health is wealth. It’s a time to show up and get the proverbial job done.

Dog’s Best Friend: The girl with the curl

[click "Play" for Ted's experience with Molly] On Monday, August 31, Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library is hosting an all-day pet rescue event. At noon, Second Chance Humane Society arrives in town with its Pet Mobile. Its passengers: adorable animals in need of a family to...

Dog’s Best Friend: Cabela meets his match

Telluride Inside... and Out's Top Dog, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, is not above telling tales on himself. The story of Cabela is an example.

Cabela, a family pet, is a German Shorthaired Pointer, named after the company, a favorite in the Hoff family, known for its quality hunting, fishing and camping gear.

Alacazem 2009.08.20

August 20 to 27, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Mars  Evening: Jupiter and Saturn

The 27º 31’ Leo New Moon @ 4:02 pm on Aug. 20th is the first lunation in quite a while that is not an eclipse. Can you feel the less stressful energy, the lessening intensity of this New Moon? Can you finally take a deep breath and know in your heart that something is “over” and you’re on the flip side of trauma and drama, headed toward health and healing?

That said, this lunation is still one of great strength and force as it is the fourth of five “supermoons” this year – which is when the Moon is at perigee (its closest approach to the Earth) and syzygy (a New or Full phase) – and gravitational pulls on tides, tectonic plates and physical bodies reach record highs.

Dog’s Best Friend: double retrieve

Telluride Inside... and Out's dog whisperer, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, Crawford, Colorado, continues with his lessons about training retrievers, Labs and Goldens.

Working our way through the glossary of retriever training terms, we begin with concepts such as  "Amish training, " the art of training a dog without the use of an electric collar on to "cast," giving a dog a specific direction through the use of body movements and finally on to the lesson of the day, "D" is for "double retrieve."

Alacazem 2009.08.13

August 13 to 20, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Mars    Evening: Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn

We passed the cross-quarter mark of 15º Leo on August 8th and reaching the point of mid-summer. The sizzling season of hot and heat is on the wane. The first yellow leaves of coming autumn are starting to appear and the rush of school is in the wind. Peaches, tomatoes and apricots fill Farmers' Market baskets and we notice a crisper coolness in the nighttime air.

The last week of Leo brings memories of love and romance – it’s all about the heart – candles flicker and cakes are cut in a sentimental dénouement to the Lion’s annual birthday month.

The Moon also wanes this week as we prepare for the upcoming late degree Leo New Moon on Aug. 22nd. The night skies are filled with sparkling diamonds, the Perseid meteors fall and we breathe deep.
Happy Birthday to the Roadhawg. May your next decade be filled with the peace, love, joy and happiness you deserve. Mighty fine…

Dog’s Best Friend: Hound of the Baskervilles? Story updated

[click "Play" to hear Ted Hoff's story] Telluride Inside...

Dog’s Best Friend: The story of Skadi

Telluride Inside... and Out's dog expert, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, has been sharing the insights he has gained from working for about 20 years with our four-legged friends. This week, however, he decided to take a time out from training, simply review last week's lesson (training retriever pups) and share a story about one of his favorite dogs: Skadi.

Skadi is the name of a 12-year-old yellow lab, the Grand Dame of Ted's father's household. Skadi is a blue blood in the dog world: her daddy was a famous dog named "Lean Mac" who was Canadian and American national field trial champion.

Alacazem 2009.07.30

July 30 to August 6, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Venus, Mars and Jupiter  Evening: Mercury and Saturn

When I was a little girl, my Mother used to load my brothers and sisters and me up in our red and white 1958 Chevy station wagon – I think it was on Fridays – and we’d make the exciting journey to the big, modern Safeway supermarket on South Colorado Boulevard in Denver. It was always a big event because the refrigerator would go from empty to full, and in summer we’d come home with bags of fresh peaches, watermelon, strawberries and bing cherries – yum!

But, perhaps even more exciting than the groceries, we were also allowed to pick out a new Golden Book from the children’s section of the store, and that meant opening new doors in the fascinating worlds of information and imagination. Those glistening golden bindings just shimmered with anticipation.

One of my favorites was entitled Grandpa Bunny Bunny. It was a sweet tale of a Grandpa rabbit who taught the little bunnies about the magic of nature and prepared them for life in Earth’s changing seasons. He was a supreme storyteller and magnificent artist. He showed them compassion and love, patience and grace. They came to depend on his direction and guidance, and when the day came that Grandpa Bunny Bunny was no longer in his hole, when he had passed on, the little bunnies were lost in their sadness and grief.