35 minute read
FITNESS
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Rest Your Way to Fitness?
Done right, active recovery delivers better results with less workout time.
By PEG MOLINE
fter an intense workout, an afternoon of yard work, or even a day at the office, rest is the elixir that lets us recover to do it all over again. But there’s more than one way to rest. And the right kind of A rest, in the right amounts, can speed recovery and deliver greater fitness benefits—with less time spent in the gym.
Active vs. Passive Recovery
We think of “rest” as a good night’s sleep, a nap, or an evening spent zonked on the couch. Experts call this “passive recovery.” But unless you’re an endurance athlete on a grueling training schedule, total downtime isn’t the best way to recover from a workout.
With active recovery—also called active rest— you leverage the benefits of low-intensity activity to bounce back faster and stronger. “When people take a ‘more is better’ approach to fitness, eventually they burn out mentally, get hurt, or lose motivation,” says Jim White, R.D., owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach. “By giving your body the recovery it needs, you are better able to sustain your fitness results for a longer period of time.”
While it may sound like an oxymoron, active rest includes light activities like swimming gentle laps, doing yoga, stretching—or even getting a massage. Foam rolling, which releases tension in muscles and connective tissues, is also a great way to give your body a positive break between bouts of exercise. The point is to move your body to stimulate circulation and support the process of physical recovery.
“In the long run, the traditional definition of fitness—which emphasizes building strength and aerobic endurance—causes body breakdown,” says Mary Burruss, co-founder of Re-Think Fitness in Richmond, “because we are failing to focus on the counter moves that allow us to do those things in the first place.”
Truth is, you’re probably already using a form of active recovery. It’s built into workouts, when you alternate between intense and light exertion and cool down at the finish. But what are you doing on the days between workouts? It’s the “off” days when active recovery matters most.
A Shortcut to Fitness
At CityRow, an indoor rowing studio in Richmond, owner Sarah Rawlings advises clients to look for “off” day activities that engage muscles “Whether you’re pulling through a rowing stroke or twisting through a golf swing, you want to do something designed to balance that out, such as swimming or gentle yoga.”
—Sarah Rawlings, CityRow Richmond
—Mary Burruss, Re-Think Fitness
in a way that’s opposite from their usual workout. “Think about the movements you are doing in your usual workout,” she explains, “whether you’re pulling through a rowing stroke or twisting through a golf swing, you want to do something designed to balance that out, such as swimming the backstroke, or gentle yoga.”
Rawlings recalls one client who was determined to train hard, logging a set number of classes before a vacation. “It meant she would have to take two classes on some days, so I encouraged her to alternate a rowing class with a stretching class, for instance, or swimming. She made that her goal and when she left for her trip, she was in amazing shape—but she didn’t burn out.”
Because it’s a shortcut to improved physical function, fitness pros call active recovery a biohack—an easy way to maximize the benefits from time spent working out. “When you take the latest research on exercise and recovery and use it to your advantage, you can cut time off your workout and still increase the results,” says trainer Pamela Gold, author of Find More Strength: 5 Pillars to Unlock Unlimited Power and Happiness.
“There’s no need to get your heart rate up on active recovery days,” Gold notes. “We have the opportunity to get much more efficient with our workouts and get better results, both short-term and long-term,” Gold says. “Why would we exercise more than we need?”
Let’s Get Technical
Breaking Down, Building Up
The process of building muscle, for example, involves breaking the tissue down with training, and then building it back during the recovery phase. If you’re doing only the intense part—the breaking down—your workout becomes less efficient and puts you at risk of injury.
“Flexibility and mobility are as much a part of fitness as muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance,” says Burruss. “What you do during the downtime is just as essential as the workout itself.”
“What happens to a runner?” Burruss notes. “They run hard, then they take a day off, and their calves and their hamstrings get tighter. When a runner fails to focus on flexibility, they’re going to get tighter and tighter and, eventually, they’ll limit their ability to run. In the end, highintensity workouts done alone will backfire.”
“Instead, be gentle on your body,” Gold advises. “Enjoy that walk, gentle stretching, easy dancing, and let your body fully recover from a hard workout, so you can come back feeling recharged.” When you’ve pushed beyond your comfort zone, she adds, gentle movement, “allows the body to come back stronger than ever.”
And that’s what active recovery does for you: it amplifies your work. It’s that simple—but it’s also a great excuse to play with some of the latest fitness gadgets. If you want to take it up a level, gadgets like the Oura Ring, Biostrap, Fitbit, and Whoop will help you measure your exertion and your recovery.
Instead of simply recording your heart rate, these accessories also measure a more telling indicator: your heart rate variability (HRV), which indicates the length of time between heartbeats. Tracking your HRV reveals how quickly your body recovers from stress or exertion, so it’s an indicator of physical resilience. Research shows that a person with a high HRV is better equipped to handle stress—both physical and emotional—while a low HRV, which shows a greater variability in the time between heartbeats, occurs when you’re under stress and in a heightened “fight or flight mode.” If your gym is equipped with a vibration plate (Sonix and Power Plate are popular brands) give it a whirl. Turns out, those old-school jiggly belts from the dawn of fitness may have been onto something.
Developed over 50 years ago to counteract the physical effects of zero-gravity on astronauts, “whole body vibration technology” stimulates muscle contractions and supports bone density. When you stand on a vibration plate—from 5-15 minutes—the intense vibration relieves post-workout muscle soreness and boosts the impact of cardio and strength training.
For home use, electric foam rollers, like the 4-speed version by FitIndex, also stimulate muscles and tissue with vibration and, according to Rawlings, they’re an excellent way to improve blood flow and reduce post-workout inflammation.
Gold also swears by high-level machines like the Vasper—a seated elliptical that regulates blood flow—and gadgets known as EWOTs (an acronym for Exercise with Oxygen Therapy) which deliver supplemental oxygen to power up your workout and speed up the recovery phase.
Which level of active recovery depends on your goals and, to a large extent, your wallet. Bottom line: Active recovery will help keep you strong, flexible, and, yes, active. And offer you a new routine and some fun to boot.
Peg Moline is the author of The Doctor’s Book of Natural Health Remedies and has served as editor of Natural Health magazine and editorial director of Shape.
Plant Perfection Brent Heath dishes on the magic of gardening with bulbs & shares planting tips for a dazzling spring.
By MADELINE MAYHOOD | Photography by TYLER DARDEN
I’m not one for name-dropping, but several years ago I was nosing around in Amsterdam’s charming Tulip Museum and, at my husband’s insistence, I quietly mentioned to the museum’s director that Brent and Becky Heath of Gloucester,
Virginia were friends and neighbors.
Confetti might have rained down from the sky.
We had invoked bulb royalty. At Heath’s name, the museum director broke out in a broad smile and offered to give us a behind-the-scenes tour.
For the rest of our stay in Holland, we were showered with invitations to the city’s finest private gardens.
The Ultimate Plantsman
In the horticulture world, it’s hard to top Brent Heath. A third generation bulb grower, he’s got serious hort-cred and has lectured all over the world. Even the Dutch—who know a thing or two about bulbs—revere him.
John de Goede, a Dutch grower based in Breezand, a region in Holland known for its flower bulbs, is from a family steeped in the business. The de Goedes and Heaths go back decades. “From the beginning, I was impressed with Brent’s knowledge about bulbs,” de Goede told me. “It is indisputable that he has a positive influence on many gardeners throughout the U.S.”
“He’s a natural connector for our profession,” notes Brian Trader, President and CEO of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, a longtime customer. “He is a legend and one of my most favorite people in the plant industry. The very mention of his name brings great admiration.” Trader says one of Heath’s most valuable qualities is that he “transects all sectors of horticulture— public gardens, nurseries, floral, and landscapes.”
Despite these accolades, you’ll never meet anyone more genuine and down to earth. When Brent Heath tells you that his job is to spread happiness through flowers, he’s not kidding. “They bring smiles to peoples’ faces,” he says. “And my job is to keep people smiling.”
Heath himself is perennially happy. When he dispenses advice to customers at Brent & Becky’s Bulbs in Gloucester, he gestures enthusiastically, waving his clippers like an appendage. Bearded
Narcissus ‘High Society’
image credit Lilium ‘November Rain’ is a strong summertime performer. Lilies grow from plump bulbs made up of soft, fleshy scales. Planting them in the fall helps ensure they’ll develop solid roots and robust blooms. Above left: Ever the jokester, Brent Heath stops for a brief thought in Becky's Mediation Garden.
Friendly Companions
PLANTS CAN PAINT A LANDSCAPE with showstopping color throughout the seasons. Lilies (at left), for example, make bold statements in the garden if you’re looking for pops of color. They also make wonderful companion plants for grasses, annuals, and perennials, and they love shallow-rooted pals like peonies, columbine, and irises that help keep their roots cool. They’re available in countless colors, with some varieties sporting spots, speckles, contrasting edges, and brushed-on stripes.
Companions can mean rivers of daffodils combined with tulips and muscari—high drama in the landscape, especially when planted in large quantities. Or it can mean plants in 50 shades of blue or a riot of different colors. Plant stragetically and focus on successive blooms so that you’ll have something flowering during the course of a growing season. Mix and match bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes, and combine them with perennials and annuals to achieve strikingly beautiful combinations in the garden.
Lilium is a genus of about 100 species. Hybrids are classified into eight divisions and include Asiatic, Oriental, and American.
A “hot” tulip bed in shades of reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks makes quite the spring show. Below: Brent & Becky Heath at their farm in Gloucester.
— Brian Trader, President and CEO, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
and bespectacled, he is remarkably youthful at 76. With a twinkle in his eye, he accepts the badge of “legend” with an aw shucks kind of vibe.
Back to the Beginning…
In the early 1900s, and for decades afterwards, Gloucester, a little village on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula, was the daffodil capital of the U.S. And the Heath family had a hand in the story.
It started in the Manhattan townhouse of Charles Heath, Brent’s grandfather, in 1900, when he encountered a slice of cantaloupe on his breakfast plate one summer morning. He took one bite and fell head over heels in love, prompting him to track down the grower and order a case delivered once a week. That cantaloupe led him to Gloucester and Mathews counties where the sandy soils produced super sweet, succulent melons.
One visit to the area, and melons took a backseat once Heath saw millions of daffodils growing wild in the fields. Sensing an opportunity, he moved his family South and enlisted the expertise of a Dutch grower. His enterprise soon became one of the top bulb suppliers in the country.
But Daffodils are Not Native
Some insist that daffodils are native to the U.S. Not so. Neither are peanuts, peaches, or apples for that matter, but that’s another story. Instead, they’re indigenous to bits and bobs of southwestern Europe and North Africa.
So how did they get here? Hundreds of years ago, explains Heath, women crossing the Atlantic in giant square-rigged tall ships of the 17th and 18th centuries, stuffed bulbs into the hems of their clothing, “to remind them of home,” as they headed for new lives in the Colonies. By the 20th century, the counties along the Chesapeake were strewn with countless daffodils, which had perennialized thanks to the ladies of yore.
A robust Narcissus economy developed, with Virginia supplying the flower markets of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York through the
A bird’s-eye view of Brent & Becky’s fields, greenhouses, and warehouse in Gloucester.
Daffodils. Narcissus. Jonquils.
A primer:
COMMONLY KNOWN AS DAFFODILS, the botanical name for these bulbous plants— members of the amaryllis family—is Narcissus. In the Southeast, you may hear the term “jonquil,” a throwback to the bulbs brought by early colonists from England. There are about 15,000 varieties of Narcissus, classified into 13 divisions.
Colors are various shades of yellow, orange, and white—from lemon to butter yellow, peach to tangerine orange, and creamy to snow white. It’s hard for Brent and Becky to single out their favorites, but when pressed, they reveal that ‘Kendron,’ ‘JetFire,’ ‘Starlight Sensation,’ ‘Barrett Browning,’ and ‘Tahiti’ are some they love best.
Narcissus ‘Tahiti’ is one of B&B’s favorite daffodils.
wharves that dotted the Bay and a steamboat system that transported goods and passengers up and down the coast. After World War II, Brent remembers when he and his classmates would get a week off from school each spring just to pick daffodils to sell.
While Charles Heath’s bulb business was anchored in Mathews County, once his son, George, took over, he moved to nearby Gloucester, where it continued to blossom; in 1938, he christened it The Daffodil Mart. George expanded the business significantly, and after his death in 1968, Brent took the helm. It’s now one of the star attractions in the little country hamlet of Ware Neck.
Mr. & Mrs. Daffodil, Bulb Ambassadors
If Brent is the Daffodil Ambassador of the business, Becky, his wife of 43 years, is the engine that makes it run. A teacher by trade, she’s also an ace strategist and problem solver.
The first catalogs of the then-Daffodil Mart were typed on a Smith Corona, copied up at the
Lasagna Gardens
THESE LAYERED GARDENS are built the way you make lasagna—sauce, pasta, cheese, repeat. In bulb-speak, a lasagna garden translates to layers of soil and bulbs, as in the step-by-step photos below. Brent Heath says they’re one of the best ways to enjoy bulbs in the garden, whether in containers or in the landscape. For lasagna gardens in pots, choose bulbs that bloom at the same time for one massive explosion of color; for the landscape, stagger bloom times—called succession planting—or not. It’s all up to you.
The rule of thumb is that the larger the bulb, the deeper it gets planted, and generally speaking, that means they’re planted to a depth of three times their size. So large bulbs, like daffodils, which can be as big as your fist, go deepest, with the smallest bulbs, like Muscari (grape hyacinth) and Chionodoxa (glory-of-the-snow)— about the size of your pinky nail—as the top layer. Either way, in the landscape or in your favorite container, lasagna gardens are easy-peasy and net the most spectacular results.
How your lasagna garden grows is only limited by your imagination. Go for a patriotic garden with red tulips, white daffodils, and blue muscari. Or, if you’re in a monochromatic mood, maybe a one-color scheme—with lots of white daffodils, or a sea of tiny blue flowers—is more your speed.
If you can’t decide on a theme, mix it up: ‘Spring Paradise,’ a new variety Brent & Becky’s introduced this year, is a fully double mid-spring blooming Narcissus that’s wonderfully fragrant and bright yellow. Tulipa ‘Cabanna,’ a parrot variety resembling an extra-frilly bloom dipped in magenta Kool-Aid, is also a 2022 B&B introduction.
Brent sits in his self-described “plant orgy,” the experimental garden outside his house just a mile from Brent & Becky’s.
Becky does her morning rounds in the gardens. Left: At Brent & Becky’s, plants grow out of an old sailboat, a testament to Becky’s passion for repurposing and recycling.
local office supply store, and stapled in corners, always with a yellow cover page—a homespun compendium highlighting hundreds of daffodil varieties, sometimes with line drawings that accompanied descriptions. Becky crafted messages that were down to earth and personal— about children, milestones, news from the farm— shared with their thousands of loyal customers.
And as the business grew and their partnerships with Dutch growers expanded, the couple added other bulbs like tulips, hyacinth, muscari, and anemones, along with tubers, rhizomes, corms, like dahlias, iris, ranunculus, and peonies to keep up with customer demand.
A name change came in the early 2000s—to Brent & Becky’s Bulbs. The company now produces two catalogs, each one encyclopedically informative, and now with plenty of color photos (many taken by Brent) to illustrate flowers in bloom: one features bulbs to plant in the fall for spring blooms (like tulips and daffodils) and the second includes bulbs to plant in the spring for summer and fall blooms (like dahlias and lilies).
Always Inventing: The Hybrids
Through the years, Brent has hybridized hundreds of thousands of new daffodils. Among them, about 50 have cleared the complex trial and registration process required to enter into commercial cultivation. His signature daffs have an international following, with Prince Charles favoring ‘Golden Echo’ and ‘Katie Heath’ winning over Russian gardeners. The Heaths now partner with Dutch growers and hybridizers and continue to introduce innovative new varieties each year.
The business is now a savvy, world-class operation that serves botanical gardens in Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, New York, Fort Worth, and
Tools of the garden trade, all available at The Bulb Shoppe at Brent & Becky’s, include gloves, clippers, and a multifunctional hori hori knife and sheath. The latter doubles as an effective bulbplanting tool.
Narcissus ‘Kendron’ is another B&B favorite.
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden here in Virginia— as well as highway departments (Georgia Department of Transportation is one of their most loyal), and lots and lots of home gardeners.
Brent & Becky’s Bulbs is still a family affair, with son and daughter-in-law Jay and Denise Hutchins now on board. Jay is general manager, Denise runs the successful on-site Bulb Shoppe, which sells all manner of plants, bulbs, and garden supplies. “Succession planning is always a part of any smart business plan,” notes Becky. “We’re watching our Dutch bulb partners begin to transition their operations to the next generation. We’re doing that, too.”
If you happen to be in the area, don’t miss the four-acre Chesapeake Bay Friendly Garden, an oasis the couple have cultivated on their property. Its multiple garden rooms feature lively plant combinations, whimsical sculptures, meditative spaces, and of course, bulbs galore. Brent credits companion planting, rich compost, and soil health as the keys to the garden’s success.
Bulbs are unbeatable additions to any garden, but the daffodil is “the ideal perennial,” says Brent. “They thrive and perennialize, they’re tolerant of most soils as long as they have drainage, and they’re drought tolerant,” he says, adding that daffodils don’t require a lot of additional nutrients, are almost pest-free, and make excellent companion plants for perennials, annuals, ground cover, shrubs, and trees. With a trademark stroke of his beard and a decided wink he asks the million dollar question: “What more could you ask for in the garden?” BrentandBeckysBulbs.com Madeline Mayhood is senior editor at Virginia Living. She regularly writes about homes and gardens.
Tips for Gardening with Bulbs
TIMING: Plant in the fall for spring blooming bulbs, around the first frost date, usually when trees begin to lose their leaves. If you wait to plant after the first of the year, make sure your bulbs are firm. Bulbs planted late may have shorter stems in their first year and will bloom later, but will most likely catch up. ORDERING & STORAGE: Bulb suppliers will time their shipments to coordinate with optimal planting times in your area. Bulbs aren’t big on being soilless for stretches of time, so avoid storing them for too long. Providing stored bulbs adequate air circulation is important. SUN: Most daffs prefer full sun. If planting in filtered or partial shade, ensure they get at least six hours of sunlight per day. LOCATION: Plant your bulbs near a window view or in a garden bed that you see often and can enjoy. SOIL & PREPARATION: Bulbs like adequate drainage— daffodils in particular. If possible, supplement the spot with hummus-enriched soil to build soil health. If you use compost, make sure it’s well-decomposed to avoid root rot and harmful bacteria buildup. Heavy soil can benefit from the addition of gravel or coarse sand. Also, Heath says, skip the digging: just build up the bulb bed from grade level, and ensure you’re providing the right depth of coverage on top. PLANTING: Groups of 10 or more look best in order to achieve a focal effect. The usual rule of thumb is to plant each bulb three times the depth of its height. BULBS: If you’re a beginner, buy a small quantity—10 or 20 bulbs. The return is incalculable. There’s nothing quite like the reward of blooming bulbs in a spring garden, especially if you had a hand in planting them. HARVESTING: Never use clippers to cut daffodils. Sharp blades can compress stem tissue, preventing water from being absorbed. Instead, snap the stem close to the ground. A clean break enables the flower to absorb water. TIP: Remember that the beauty of gardening is there are no hard rules in nature. You can always make changes to your garden if you want to experiment in subsequent years.
A bucket of daffodil bulbs ready to plant.
Paula Haywood, greenhouse manager at Brent & Becky’s, uses garden scissors and her considerable experience to “clean up” echinacea seedlings.
Dog’s Day All in a
These working dogs get the job done.
By MADELINE MAYHOOD Photography by KYLE L a FERRIERE
Gum Tree Farm’s Walter and Franny Kansteiner with livestock guardian Bluto.
I If you think of your dog as more than, well, a dog, you’re not alone.
The term “man’s best friend” has endured since the 1700s, when Frederick the Great of Prussia coined it. At home, dogs are family members and loyal companions. And at work, they’re valued team members who take their jobs seriously.
Meet canine celebrities Nadine, Bluto, Bruno, Sky, Irene, and Forest. From farm shepherds and truffle hunters to K9 cops and medical alert dogs, a good dog can tackle jobs that humans can’t, making the difference between profit and loss, escape and capture, and in some cases, life and death.
Nadine sniffs around for truffles near the base of a tree on the Virginia Truffles farm in Rixeyville. Above right: Olivia Taylor with a fresh find from Nadine.
Nadine: Truffle Hunter
Nadine is on a mission. She romps through the rolling hills and woods near Rixeyville, tail up, nose to the ground, on the hunt for the elusive scent of the black Perigord truffle. Trained to paw the ground once she zeros in on her target, she is Virginia Truffles’ working truffle dog. This happy girl loves her job.
A culinary delicacy, black truffles are rare and can fetch hundreds of dollars per pound. “Black truffles add so much depth and flavor to dishes,” says Olivia Taylor, whose parents, John and Pat Martin, established Virginia Truffles in Culpeper County in 2007 when they inoculated tree seedlings with black truffle spores. They waited 11 years to discover their first truffle, but each year their yield increases.
Taylor joined her parents as farm manager and truffle dog trainer in 2018. Odds are Virginia Truffles wouldn’t be nearly as successful without Nadine on the hunt.
“Dogs have about 200 times the smelling ability
Olivia has her hands full with Nadine and fellow truffle dogs in training, Harley (middle) and Pozzi (right).
of humans,” Taylor explains. Their noses possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors, compared to six million in humans—and the part of a dog’s brain that analyzes smell is also about 40 times greater than ours.
They also have something called neophilia, which means they are attracted to new and interesting odors. But Taylor notes that a sensitive nose is not enough. “I have known dogs bred from champion truffle dog lines, who make terrible truffle dogs because they don’t care to do the work,” Taylor says. “It’s all about intelligence and work ethic.” Labradors and Logotto Romagnolos are among the most popular truffle hunters, but mixed breeds can be just as successful.
“All dogs on the farm are part of our family, whether they become truffle dogs or not” explains Taylor, each with their own personality. “Nadine is a very high energy, reward-driven girl,” she says, while Pozzi and Harley, both in training, are not far behind. “Harley has a lot of potential. She’s my mischief-maker of the bunch.” Pozzi is high energy, but a bit stubborn. “He’s been more of a challenge to train,” says Taylor.
Virginia Truffles offers two-hour truffle hunts, accompanied by Olivia and Nadine (and maybe Harley or Pozzi) from November-March, by reservation only. “When truffle-hunting visitors arrive, the dogs love all the attention they get.” The experience also includes refreshments, tips on cleaning and storing truffles, a culinary demonstration, and a peek in Virginia Truffles’ lab. VirginiaTruffles.com
VDWR K9 Bruno plays tug with a rope Kong. Each handler uses a high-value reward after the dogs complete a task. These conservation K9s are toydriven and especially like to retrieve and play tug.
Black lab Sky sits in the police cruiser after a training session in the field. Right: Training and keeping up with K9s is tough but rewarding. Officer Richard Howel with Sky (left) and Major Scott Neff with Bruno.
Bruno & Sky: K9 Cops
Major Scott Neff was off duty when he heard the sound of the car crash in the distance. Soon Neff saw a man snaking through the brush directly under his perch in a Cumberland County deer stand. Disheveled and out of breath, the man appeared to be on the run. Was he in the crash? Neff remained quiet as a mouse until it was safe to call 911.
Officials combed the area without luck, so Neff, an officer in Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR) Conservation Police, called in fellow agent Tyler Blanks and his highly trained canine partner, Bruno. Once on the scene, Bruno picked up the man’s scent. The fugitive, who’d stolen the car before fleeing the accident, was captured within minutes in a nearby field thanks to Bruno’s tracking skills.
Bruno and the agency’s five other canines—Bailey, Sky, Reese, Lily, and Grace, mostly labs—specialize in “conservation,” a term that encompasses evidence recovery, wildlife detection, and human tracking. This elite team works side-by-side with VDWR police officers, thanks to Virginia’s K9 Conservation Program. The agency took notice of the successes similar agencies throughout the country were experiencing when canines were added to their teams. So in 2011, Richard Howald, Senior Conservation Office, helped launch VDWR’s program. For him, it was tailor-made: he’d grown up on a farm in Missouri and understood how farm and hunting dogs could be huge assets. To build Virginia’s K9 program, he headed to Indiana for nine weeks of intensive immersion with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the mecca of K9 conservation training.
Now Howald and his black lab partner, Sky, train handlers and K9s from across the country, and even Zambia, which sent handlers seeking dogs trained to track poachers by detecting ivory and rhino horn. “When we’re tracking—whether it’s a fugitive or evidence—dogs can literally get the job done within minutes,” Howald explains. The K9 cops and their handlers ricochet all over the state, searching for fugitives, crime-scene evidence, runaways, dementia patients, poachers, and human remains.
You name it and Sky has probably found it, including a diamond ring lost in a field. “Once I was in an area the size of three football fields, with grass up to my waist,” Howald recalls. “Sky found three shotgun casings within eight minutes. Without her, recovering those casings would have been impossible.”
Bluto: Gum Tree’s Guardian
It’s lambing season at Gum Tree Farm and ewes are giving birth in the fields. It’s an otherwise bucolic scene here in Middleburg, but there’s a looming presence overhead. Vultures are circling, with their minds on one thing: newborn lambs for lunch. Guarding the scene, Bluto, a Kangal Shepherd Dog, is on patrol. Since Bluto arrived at the farm in 2019, not one animal has been lost to predators.
Gum Tree Farm’s owner and chief human shepherd, Franny Kansteiner says, “Sheep raising, in the beginning, was pretty peaceful.” But as their flock expanded so did the threat from coyotes, bears, vultures, eagles, even dometic dogs. “We were losing a dozen sheep a year,” she says.
They brought in a protective guard llama— Mama Llama—who would move the sheep to safety if predators got close. But when it came to lambing season—paydirt for vultures and eagles— the flock needed more protection, so they settled on a livestock guardian dog. The dog needed to be bird-alert and comfortable around people, children, and other livestock. Kangals, an ancient Turkish breed, are large and powerful. They fend off predators and have the most powerful bite force of any domestic dog. “They are in the mastiff family,” explains Kansteiner, “but have been bred over the years to be lean and fast.”
“Working dogs are born knowing what to do,” she says, “so it’s always a good idea to get a working dog from actual working dog parents.” A good
Kangals, an ancient Turkish breed, have the most powerful bite force of any domestic dog.
Walter and Franny Kansteiner with Bluto, guard dog extraordinaire. Left: Only a year old, Olive is already becoming a big help around the farm.
guardian farm dog can decide what’s safe and what’s not. “They’re not alarmists, but they’re not afraid of confrontation.” Young guardians learn to make good decisions from senior dogs. “It’s a work in progress.”
Olive, a year old, has just joined the farm team. “Bluto is teaching her the ropes,” says Kansteiner. “He and Olive live out with the sheep. We interact with them during the day with big hugs of gratitude, and we make a point of introducing them to visitors on the farm.” They’re happy to say hello but after that, they’re all business and quickly get back to work.
Without Bluto on patrol—and Olive behind him—there would be far fewer sheep, and without sheep, there would be no Gum Tree Farm, where artisans turn their ultra-fine merino wool into luxury goods for homes and humans. “We know and love the sheep that make our clothes, from beginning to the end,” says Kansteiner. “We see them born, and we see them grow up to be mothers themselves all while producing our wool. We raise our sheep organically, process the wool organically, and hand weave, sew, or knit the wool into beautiful pieces that keep us warm.” GumTreeFarmDesigns.com
While Bluto and Olive bring home the bacon, Franny’s Norwich Terrier, Tinga, pictured here on a stroll with Franny and Bluto, pursues a life of leisure.
Bluto takes a moment to rest on a hay bale as the sheep settle in their stall. Bluto makes his morning rounds. Below: Walter makes his too.
Irene: Tail-Wagging Miracle Worker
‘‘In 2015, I was the healthiest middle-aged person on the planet,” says Tamera Mason, an EMT who lives in Staunton. Then she got stung by a yellow jacket and her life turned upside down.
Although Mason had no history of allergies, the sting triggered a cascade of autoimmune disorders that landed her in the ER dozens of times over the next several years. Each of the four disorders that have been identified are life-threatening. “I was three minutes away from the next crisis,” she explains. “It’s nothing for my blood sugar to drop 100 points in three minutes, for no reason,” Mason says. That’s where Irene comes in.
Irene, master of fetch, plays with a Mr. Bill toy during her time off.
“She’s made the difference between life and death,” says Mason. A beautiful yellow lab, Irene arrived from Charlottesville-based Service Dogs of Virginia (SDV) in 2018. The organization matches dogs and clients based on temperament, diagnosis, size, responsibilities, and family dynamics. Years of training worth tens of thousands of dollars go into SDV’s dogs, but, remarkably, clients pay nothing for dogs placed in their home.
“Instead of being in the ER every few weeks,” says Mason, “I’ve gone almost a full year between trips because of Irene.” Among other skills, this “scary smart” seven-year-old, tail-wagging blond, is trained to detect fluctuations in blood sugar. “Anything below 70 and Irene hovers over me until it gets above 70.” Miraculously, Irene can also detect when Mason’s blood sugar drops 15 points within 15 minutes. And when Irene senses her steroid levels are low, “she’ll nudge me until I self-inject,” Mason says.
When she heads to work in a local ER, Irene stays at Mason’s side in a soft crate. “When something isn’t right, she gets restless and wiggly.” Equally remarkable, Irene has alerted blood sugar problems in five of Mason’s ER coworkers, including one physician. As Mason explains, “Hypoglycemia is a universal scent.”
When a dog alerts to one of the odors they are trained to detect, explains Sally Day, SDV’s director of development, “it prevents a life-threatening medical emergency. Their amazing ability to smell what humans cannot decreases emergency room trips and hospitalizations and provides enormous peace of mind.”
But perhaps the most extraordinary event occurred in February of this year. “My adrenal pump failed, and I went into full-blown crisis,” recalls Mason. “But I didn’t know it—it was 4:00 a.m. and I was in bed asleep.” Ordinarily when Mason needs her rescue kit, she tells Irene to fetch it. But this time Irene knew to get the kit first. Mason awakened to Irene’s gentle paws and nudges, the rescue kit squarely on her chest. “Her ability to problem solve is incredible,” says Mason. “Another five minutes and it would have been too late,” she says of the stark reality. “Irene is literally a lifesaver.”
Like two peas in a pod, Mason and Irene are side-by-side, day and night. “She’ll sleep with a paw touching me so she knows when I move. She needs to know where I am and that I’m OK.”
Tamera Mason and Irene
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Forest: The Neal Family’s Lifesaver
‘‘H e has completely changed our lives,” says Jessica Neal of her family’s English lab, Forest, an autism support dog for Neal’s son Sam, 13. Forest and this family of four—Sam, his two brothers, and mom Jessica— live just outside of Charlottesville.
Before Forest entered the picture, “our world was becoming incredibly small,” Neal, a single mom, recalls. “A trip to the grocery store, anywhere in public, was almost impossible. Something would trigger Sam—lights, sounds, just waiting in line—and he’d have a total meltdown that I wasn’t able to get ahead of. Over time, you eventually just stop going to things.”
Neal studied Sam’s diagnosis, soaking up advice and information to create a powerful toolbox of resources. But raising a profoundly autistic child can bring even the best-informed parent to their knees. “Autism is an invisible disability,” she explains. “When your autistic child has a meltdown, people think your kid is being bratty or a nuisance, and you don’t have the mental space to get into a conversation, explaining the behavior.”
So you hurry away, head down and embarrassed.
When she heard about autism support dogs, she contacted Service Dogs of Virginia (SDV). Forest, a handsome, three-year-old black lab, arrived on the scene in 2018, trained to reduce Sam’s anxiety and regulate his emotions. When he senses an oncoming meltdown, “Forest will calmly lay his head in Sam’s lap and apply deep pressure for two
Irene to the Rescue!
1. After sensing a problem, Irene retrieves Tamera's Adrenal Insuffiency bag. 2. Irene rushes to the rescue. 3. Irene tugs on Tamera's leg to let her know she needs her medication. 4. After a job well done, a much-deserved nap on the porch. Sam and Jessica Neal go for a walk with Forest. Forest’s presence alone is enough to calm Sam in otherwise uncomfortable situations.
to three minutes,” Neal explains, “enough for Sam to calm him down. English labs are big dogs with big heads—so he’s heavy,” she says. Most times Forest is able to de-escalate a situation that might otherwise turn chaotic. And when Forest senses Neal is particularly stressed, he’ll lay his head on her lap, too.
A year later—by Christmas 2019—the entire family traveled to Disney World, Sam and Forest sitting together on the plane and enjoying rides like Ariels’ The Little Mermaid and It’s a Small World. Neal struggles to describe this remarkable milestone: “A family trip wasn’t even on my radar, let alone Disney World,” she recalls. “I had very low expectations and thought we might get a nice dog out of the process.”
“Autism Service Dogs become constant companions,” explains SDV’s Sally Day. “They help improve social interactions and relationships, expand verbal and nonverbal communication, teach life skills because the client plays with, feeds, and cares for the dog.” Autism service dogs also teach social cues, body language, and empathy, which Sam can come to model.
And there’s another big benefit to having Forest on the scene. “When you’re walking with a service dog, people immediately clue in,” explains Neal. “I’ve noticed that the amount of empathy you get is amazing. They might not know exactly why he’s there, but there’s an instant level of respect and space.”
“For so many years, we were all on edge nearly 24/7. Life was so hard,” Neal says. “But about a month after we got Forest, the stress wasn’t there anymore,” she recalls. “One day I looked around and thought, wow, things are kinda chill.” It’s hard for Neal to quantify the incredible difference this loveable, lumbering lab has made for the whole family. “We were all in a constant state of anxiety,” she says of life before Forest. “With him, it’s all gone. It’s almost like magic.” ServiceDogsVa.org
