Open gates

"The gate is open," a cry that can strike fear in the heart of just about any dog owner these days.  It has taken me several days to get it together to post about this since I was so mad, angry, lusting for blood when it first happened I didn't dare post anything.

Last Thursday at 3 a.m. I got up to hand the gate keys to the snowplow guy. I then waited for him to go out and unlock the big gates and bring the keys back to me.  The very last thing I said to him was, "don't forget to close and lock all the gates".  Get that part?  All the gates!

Over the years I have gotten myself something of a reputation for being lacking in sympathy when the cry goes out that someone has lost a dog or dogs because a gate was left open or a door not shut properly, or whatever.  If I respond at all, my very first question is why wasn't the dog or dogs trained to honor gates and doors, open or closed and why, oh, why, weren't the dogs taught to come when called.  Each time I would write such a post after I hit the send button I would always wonder just what sort of bad luck I was bringing down on myself due to my stance.

Back to Thursday.  When I got up, I just glanced out the window to make sure the plowing had been done the way it was supposed to be done.  At the same time, I made note of the fact the big gates were shut and locked, never thinking to look any further.  I opened the office door and let Sanity and Ellie out.  Next I headed downstairs to the kennel room and let out all the dogs who were staying with me.

With everyone outside I made my way back upstairs and went straight to the kitchen porch to collect buckets, unthaw them and put out fresh water.  Having taken care of their morning toileting, all the downstairs dogs were hanging around the porch waiting for the water buckets.  Put fresh water buckets down and headed to the kitchen sink to start washing dog food pans.  Barking.   More barking.  Even more barking.

Wait a minute!  That barking didn't sound right.  In fact, that barking sounded all wrong.  I dropped the pan in my hand to pretty much fly to the office door and check on dogs.  I could see even before I opened the door that all the downstairs dogs were accounted for since they were all lined up at the fence.  Not just lined up but staring intently at the street.

When I got the door open and stepped out on the porch my stomach sank and my heart started to race overtime.  Both the small gates were standing wide open.  For heaven's sake, we have not one but two gates that must be unlocked, unlatched and opened in order to get in or out.  The point is one of safety.  Well, so much for safety in this case.  Not only had said gates not been locked or even latched, they had been left standing open.  And just where, oh where, were Sanity and Ellie?

Ah, yes.  That barking that wasn't right was coming from them.  They were both all the way out at the street at the far corner of the property barking at a walker.  At least I think it was a walker, couldn't really see much because of all the brush, but I could have sworn I saw the tail end of a coat, walking, not running.

I called, "Sanity, come" and "Ellie, come". Only had to make that single call to each of them.  At once without any hesitation, they stopped the barking, turned on a dime, spit out nine cents change and beat feet at top speed all the way back to the house and inside.  I was so shook I simply called all the rest of the dogs to come back in as well.  To H*LL with the gates for the time being.  You can sure believe I was pretty snarky towards the snowplow guy.

A bit later, when the day really got going the gates did get closed and latched and all the dogs got to go back out and play in the snow.  Have you trained your dog to come when called no matter what?  Now I have to go back to the training board and refresh gate manners where Sanity and Ellie are concerned.  But, oh how beautiful a reliable recall is to behold.

Season's Greetings

aDSC_0162
Originally uploaded by samd517
Sanity on the right, Rugby in the middle and Jasmine on the left are helping me wish all of you a Happy Holiday season this 2010.

Come train with us next year and learn just how much fun dog training really can be.

Surprise

I just had the most wonderful thing happen to me. Cranky, nasty, bossy, overbearing, mean me left home this evening to go teach my two Thursday evening classes.

I was pretty stressed-out when I left since I need to be ready to start the first class at 6 p.m. and the damn phone started ringing at about 5:15 with calls from people who should have known better. (Judith - You were not the first call and there were 2 additional calls after you)

Both of the students who normally drive me to class called and said they were running late and wouldn't be able to pick me up. To make matters worse the other two people who sometimes pick me up are both away on vacation. I know that because their dogs are here.

My substitute ride gets here and by the time we finally get to class we are already 15 minutes late. So when I get out of the car at the door and walk into the building I'm only thinking about getting the class started. Instead of the lights being on and the fans running in the training room it is dark. The jumps haven't been set up and there isn't a soul around.

I'm hot, tired, and cranky and I hurt. Why in the devil do I see students rushing here and there and yet not a single one of them is available to help set up for what is now a 30 minute late class?

Finally, a couple of them come out on the training floor and sort of start setting up. Another student comes over to me and asks me if she could talk to me in the conference room. "Sure, why not? Doesn't seem anyone is interested in working right now so we might as well go somewhere else." And with that Sanity and I follow her to the conference room doors. These are the extra wide double door set-up and instead of just opening one door she throws both doors wide open.

SUPRISE!! SUPRISE!! SUPRISE!!

The entire room is crammed full of students and their dogs. There are two long rows of tables covered with brown paper and two bushels of wonderful Maryland crabs. One bushel of crabs for each long table. In the back of the room are two more tables covered with salads, a cake, fresh strawberries, cream, and drinks.

These truly wonderful people got together and threw me, mean, nasty me a WONDERFUL birthday party. Yes, it well and truly was a surprise. They worked on this party for almost a full month and somehow managed to keep me from finding out about it.

I received many wonderful gifts, but the one I will treasure forever is a book of pictures. These pictures were all taken either during the Thursday evening class or at my place; some were outside and some in my training studio. These pictures are of dogs past and present and each one of them brings so many good memories.

Right now I just can't fully grasp what happened. As my son said after reading what each person wrote in the back of my book, "Mom, you have a book full of love." How right he is. How rich I am. May all of you be lucky enough to have something so rich and full happen to you before this year is over.

We even had a couple of people there who were just "checking us out" as they decide whether or not Applewoods Dog Training and Margot Woods are a place they might want to come for dog training. They got fed too. The fact that the room was full of dogs. Dogs that were quiet, mannerly and pretty much out of sight sure seemed to make a strong impression on them. Hope it was a good impression.

Don't steal my sanity

First the background. I'm not walking all that well these days and sure enough have to 'count' my steps. Sanity lost her public working privileges several months ago. The snow is just the pits on so many levels I've lost count. They are calling for yet another 5+ inches later this week. GAG.

I had an appointment for a hair cut this afternoon. What with one thing and another I had Jesse (son) drive me and Sanity rode along. Just because she lost some public privileges doesn't mean she can't carry the shoulder pack and ride along. Still saves me from having to struggle with a purse.

Rather than making Jesse wait, not a thing very many men are fond of doing, he dropped me at the hair salon and then with Sanity riding shotgun went off to run some much needed errands. One of those errands called for a stop at the post office on Main Street. When he got there because of the lack of parking (a snow related problem) he had to park around on the side of the building and some distance from the street.

As he was returning to the car he passed a local LEO on foot who was talking to a county Sheriff. The Sheriff's car was completely blocking the entrance to the Post Office parking lot. They looked at Jesse, Jesse looked at them and continued on toward the car. Nothing different or exciting so far, eh?

Then the car came into view. The back door was standing wide open and this strange man was leaning into the car with his arm outstretched. On the far side of the back seat sat Sanity. Silent as an old movie, she was in full ugly face display and managing to stay just out of reach.

Well, Jesse dropped the boxes he was carrying and taking off at a run, yelled, 'what the f ck do you think you are doing?'

For starters it sure did get the full attention of both LEO's. It also caused the want't'be thief to leap back, take a frantic look around and then start to run towards the LEO's yelling, 'he stol my dawg'.

The city LEO moves up to where Jesse is now standing and the creep gets snagged by the Sheriff. Identification is called for and Jesse gets out his driver's license, then moves over to the car and gets out the registration. City LEO says, 'Mother's car?' Jesse says 'yes'.

Next City LEO looks in the back seat and sees not just a dog, but a dog wearing a shoulder pack that says "Service Dog" on the side. Easy enough to see since Sanity has now moved over to the open door, the better to see what is going on. City LEO says, 'Service dog. Your mother's?' Jesse says yes as he closes the back door and after putting the registration away closes the front door.

The very next second, the Sheriff has the creep whipped around, bent over the hood of his car and it cuffing him. At the same time he is hearing the 'you have the right to remain silent' stuff and they are charging him with a host of crimes that had not a single thing to do with dog napping or even attempted dog napping. As it turned out, this was someone they had been searching for for a couple of days for burglary, and several other crimes.

I am so pleased with Sanity. She did exactly what I want my dogs to do in situations like that. Stay out of reach. Keep quiet. Do what threatening needs to be done without making a sound. Of course, it goes without saying that off leash training meant she didn't leave the car just because the doors were standing open. She didn't run away because no one was there to restrain her. Yes, oh my yes, she did a very good job.

Sometimes I wonder if all my dogs have some sort of flashing sign over their heads that says, 'steal me'. I've had 6 Dobermans over the years and at some point in each of their lives some creepy fool has tried to steal every single one of them. Bless them, one and all. They all handled the event exactly like Sanity did. No way can they be charged with dangerous behavior.

Like I said, 'Don't steal my Sanity'.

Just a little bit ago, she came in the living room and headed for her bed. AKKK! There was an Ellie, aka: mini-me curled up in the exact middle. So just where was she supposed to relax? Big, soulful eyes stare at me and she started to pace back and forth. Many sighs and even some moan's. Mini-me pretends she doesn't know about the trespass.

Finally I take some pity on the poor misunderstood thing. Even so, I have no intention in getting up just to solve what is actually a very simple problem.

"Sanity, fetch the blanket." Sanity walks over and picks up one corner and starts to tug. It's heavy rather than light. Seems it currently weighs 9 pounds. She drops the corner and comes back toward me with this truly pitiful look on her face.

"Sanity, if you want your bed, you are going to have to fetch that blanket." She turns around and moves back to the bed and picks up the corner again. Holding it in her mouth she stares at me.

"Well, don't just stand there, fetch the thing." With that she gives a mighty heave and sends Mini-me flying and in the process gains position of her bed once again.

Post script: We don't lock the car because a few years ago it was stolen. The thieves broke the locks and a window and the ignition. It just didn't seem worth it to pay a ton of money to get the locks fixed just so it could be forced again. So we just make very sure there is nothing left in it that can be stolen and that includes large, well trained Dobermans.

Blizzard aftermath 2010

Here's what it looked like just after it stopped snowing.

Here's what it looks like today. What you are seeing are all the dogs here right now. Ellie and Bliss (here for training) are bold enough to at least run out to the big tree and back several times. Meanwhile, in the lower left hand corner is all you will ever see of Sanity. The entire business is just as terrible to her as it is to me. She won't even try to leave the tiny shoveled area.

My once beautiful pine tree is now pretty much a party toothpick. All the limbs are in the driveway and parking area.

This shot shows just how tenuous our connection with the outside world really is. Notice the one thin strand of wire that is all the connection we currently have. One more even mild blow and poof, no more Internet, no more telephone.

My poor cane was crying in fear. Fear of my leaving it behind as I struggled back into the house. It got stuck there while I took the pictures.

Meanwhile, my son just walked to announce they are calling for 20, yes that is twenty additional inches. Most of the counties are all but done in and lacking salt, sand, trucks, manpower will be giving up sometime very soon. Have I remembered to tell all of you just how much I HATE SNOW. I HATE IT... I HATE IT.

Pray we don't lose our power because our power line is just a hanging by a thread on the other side of the house.

Will we be able to get out before April? And most of all, just where in the hell is global warming when you need it the most?

More Bars in More Places

This really is about the Wednesday morning Open/Utility class. Like just about everything else in my life it seems the things I don't plan for, those things that just sort of happen or just grew are always the best. My Wednesday morning Open/Utility class is one of those just grew things.

It started out with two students who traveled a fair distance to study under me. They wanted Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) obedience titles on their dogs. This is my Intermediate level class. Both dogs already had their Companion Dog (CD) titles. The Novice class is where I normally teach the necessary requirements for basic living and it is those basic living skills that are the basis of the Companion Dog title.

The problem was the same as is always is when I face students in this condition. While it is true the CD was earned and in their cases, with good scores, the foundation was so weak unless we went back and rebuilt there was going to be no way I could give them what they wanted in a reasonable manner of time, if at all.

So they stayed. I taught and they were both good, diligent students with good dogs. The strongly rebuilt foundation made it possible to move on in a timely fashion and the CDX's were earned fairly quickly and with good scores. Then it was on to Utility Dog (UD). Meanwhile, a friend and her dog joined the class for a time. A couple of my Novice students joined the class.

The original two students completed the Advanced material (Utility Dog) and moved on to the really difficult stuff. Learning the art of keeping a dog's spirits up, keeping it enjoyable and at the same time building in more and more reliability, stamina and precision. In due time both dogs had completed the requirements for a Utility Dog Excellent (UDX) and shoot, if you are going to do that then might just as well finish up with an Obedience Trial Championship. So they did.

Of course, more students from my novice class and/or my retrieve class joined this lovely mid-week class. So here's what this bunch looked like this morning. It was cold and blustery outside, while inside in my little training studio six dogs and six humans were warm, comfortable and doing a nice mixture of new and difficult tasks along with comfortable and easy tasks. Here they are doing the down/stay part of a set of stays.

Seeing as how none of us seem to be able to "just train" we all agreed it would be fun to play around with the dumbbell visit again. So we lined everyone up and left them doing a sit/stay with a twist. Everyone one holding their dumbbell.

For those of you who might be wondering or perhaps don't recognize all the breeds. From the left they are Standard Poodle, Caruso; Doberman, Sanity; Labrador, Pete; Brussels Griffon, Cabot; Yorkshire Terrier, Ellie and Maltese, Rugby.

While it is true I could have just used one shot instead of three, it just seemed like it would be more interesting to show three of the 9 taken. See, while they were working on holding the sit/stay and the dumbbell we were all dashing back and forth, jumping up and down, making silly noises and just about anything else we could think of. Sure its true that the silly humans were either supplying distractions or just playing the fool. Meanwhile, the dogs were getting a chance to learn what I think of as 'steady under fire'.

It actually wasn't until later when I finally load the pictures on my computer that Sam and I both realized we had the beginnings of an AT&T commercial. In this case I get to say, More Dogs in More Places. No, there really isn't any point in sending this in to AT&T. Seems they don't want any outside suggestions. Poop on them, their loss, our gain.

Not a bad sit/stay. Not a bad dumbbell hold. And best of all a darn good More Dogs in More Places. AT&T, eat your heart out.

Sit on the Dog pictorial

I'm starting this pictorial out with toy breeds. The first thing to notice is that their size and special needs are being seen to, which makes this exercise both easy and reasonable.

The toy breed dog really should never be required to do any sort of a down in a location that has the potential of putting them in physical danger. Doing a 'sit on the dog' strictly by the book will do just that and serve to damage the trust relationship between dog and owner. So two changes are made. The first one is to supply a small bed with sides and the second is to place the bed UNDER the chair rather than on the left side.

Notice the position of the collar and the leash. There is just enough slack allowed in the leash to maintain the slight upward pull on the collar. Since the dog is actually under the chair the leash angle is toward the owner's left side.

Pay attention to the location of the leash. Even though the dog is ultimately going to be under the chair there is still the need to adhere to the left side rule at this time.

Generally when you see a dog doing what this Lab is doing the digging is accompanied by verbalization. The noise may be anything from an annoying whine to a loud bay and frequently settles in to steady cadence style barking if not stopped.

Temporarily resigned to his fate our Lab is now quiet, in a comfortable position and able to take in his surroundings.

Babied and catered to this Portuguese Water Dog wants no part of the floor and tries for a lap.

When that fails, she sits hunched up and brooding. But not for long...

Surely the lap is not to be denied a second/third/tenth time and so she tries again and again. Each time she is simply pushed off and away and, if necessary, the leash is readjusted to allow less slack.

Finally getting the message, but only in part, Portuguese Water Dog grudgingly does a down. Notice she is still not willing to pay attention to what is going on around her. Because her curled up in a ball position is yelling, "I'm not here and I'm most certainly not going to play with you" we know there is still much work to do on this one exercise alone

And now we come to the large dog. Since this is what I call a 'naked' dog, i.e. one with short, tight coat and very little body fat, like the toy breed it makes good sense to supply a mat or bed for them to use during this exercise. No, it most definitely isn't spoiling or pampering. It's just good animal husbandry practice. Dogs with little coat/body fat protection are very prone to pressure sores on hocks and elbows. Besides which, this exercise is supposed to be teaching calmness, a willingness to follow and patience, not how long can you stay in one spot and suffer physical breakdown without complaining.

Meanwhile, our model is saying, "I ain't a gonna do it and you can't make me" Of course, the dog new to this sort of discipline hasn't a clue as to just what "it" might be. Being fair in this case simply means allowing the dog the necessary time to figure it out.

Here our model has resorted to pulling as hard as possible. Since there really isn't enough slack to allow for the necessary traction the pulling is short-lived.

Having figured out the guidelines of this rather strange human behavior, we are now treated to a calm, alert dog who appears to be very much with the program.

Please note that all the dogs used for these pictures are models well accustomed to posing and every single one of them are volunteers. Truth be told, one of them even threw something of a temper tantrum when she thought she might be passed over for the photo shoot.

No humans were injured during this production.

The Mighty Maltese

Sometimes a person just has to do what a person must do. In this case, Sam, Rugby and I got together and shot this quick video as a protest.

Yep! That's right. We are all protesting the misconception people seem to have about toy breed dogs and perhaps Maltese toys in particularly. Sam ordered a dumbbell for Rugby and had to deal with being told what she was ordering was too big. It wasn't.

Several months of hard use later it broke. One of the bells just fell apart during a training session. Since Mr. Rugby has also been taught to retrieve all sorts of things besides the dumbbell he "borrowed" a dumbbell from his friend Ellie the Yorkie. Meanwhile, Sam ordered not one, but two new dumbbells, thinking to have one to use and one for a spare. Again, she was told the size she was ordering was too big. Shoot, it wasn't too big the first time around and it sure isn't too big now.

She complained to me about the problem. I found I was most annoyed about this issue. See, just a couple of months ago I ordered a dumbbell for Ellie only to have the wrong size sent to me because what I had ordered was "too big". Not so.

Sam and I both filed a protest and Rugby's new dumbbells are on the way. Meanwhile a guy's gotta keep on training. So Rugby asked Sanity if he could borrow her dumbbell. She said yes. Here is Rugby, hard at work. As you can see, he's no shrinking violet, hot-house, sissy, purse dog. Nope, this is a serious working dog that just happens to come in a very small package.




I don't know about you, but I think Rugby is one super and very special, not-toy, dog. Wonder if his diet of raw, meaty bones has anything to do with his jaw and neck strength?

Just a bunch of randoms

I started collecting the quotes used in this blog several weeks ago. Had fine, high-fluting ideas about writing a deeply thoughtful, insightful, monologue on where we stand at the close of this year of Two Thousand and Nine CE. The first problem I ran into was that every single time I would start to write this amazing opus my mind would simply go blank. When I would finally come back to myself I'd be playing Solitaire.

Now I ask you, how is a well-meaning, reasonably thoughtful person like I thought I was supposed to write anything of worth when the blasted computer switched to Solitaire in such a sneaky fashion?

My final solution is what I am now offering you. The entire, current collection of quotes. They are well worth thinking about. They are offered to you with the hopes that you, my reader, will be led into doing some research on your own. I don't know about you, but I know I wouldn't have a life worth living if it was bereft of animals.

In my case, with my current living situation that means dogs, dogs, dogs. I want to continue to train them the way I have always trained them. I want my right to care for them as DOGS! I want to continue to be the owner and to use what is now a unPC term, I want to be the master (well in my case, I guess I need to say mistress).

I don't want to lose them. No, I don't want to be a dog mommy. No, I don't want to have the state allow me guardianship over a group of fur children. No, I'm not willing to live with a bunch of "little people in fur suits". I'm not willing to prevent my dogs from learning the joys of real work.

"Animal rights is mental illness masquerading as philosophy." Walt Hutchens

I continue to wonder if the real problem is that for one reason or another we now have a huge population of mostly women of a certain age and education level who are all suffering from Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS) and the poor proxy just happens to be whatever animals they have taken a fancy to. These women also managed to raise a generation of young humans who seem to be pretty much neuters, insist their animals be rendered sexless and who are continuing the MBPS with a vengeance. The goal would appear to make the condition the legal norm. May G*d save all of us from such a fate.

"Animal Extremists and Animal Terrorists. The difference is that anyone falling
into those two groups will gladly deprive you of your civil rights, your
property and even your life in order to get what they want (witness the
story about the fur protesters in Morgan, UT who claim that "God hates fur"
and even carried a poster with a drawing of an automatic weapon and the
words "no compromise") ." barbarajhaines

Now that's another thing I just don't get. Here we are, living in a great country. A country founded on a person's individual freedoms. Pride of our civil rights and our right to own property seems to be falling out of fashion. In it's place is what? Socialism? Something even worse?

The solution begins when we spread the word: "When you donate to HSUS, a shelter
dog dies." Loretta Baughan

Now this is something we should all be saying every single chance we get. Money donated to the Humane Society of the US doesn't go to help any animals. It sure doesn't help the lost, broken, cast off dogs. It sure doesn't help the horses or the cattle or the sheep or the pigs or even the chickens. What it does do is help pass yet another round of human hostile, animal killing bills into law. As a certain TV personality is fond of saying, "How's that working for ya?"

To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly
Bill 241 without my signature.

This measure would make it a crime for
any person or entity to own or control more than 50 unsterilized adult dogs or
cats for breeding or raising for sale as pets. I support measures designed to
prevent animal cruelty and that punish persons engaged in the abuse of animals.
However, this measure simply goes too far in an attempt to address the serious
problem of puppy mills. An arbitrary cap on the number of animals any entity can
possess throughout the state will not end unlawful, inhumane breeding practices.
Instead this measure has the potential to criminalize the lawful activities of
reputable breeders, pet stores, kennels, and charitable organizations engaged in
raising service and assistance dogs.

For these reasons, I am unable to
sign this bill.

Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger

When Gov. Schwarzenegger refused to sign CA 241 into law, I was one of a great many who gave a sigh of relief. Sadly that was just one of hundreds of bills presented to legislative bodies all across this great land of ours. Why? What on earth has gotten into the elected officials? They continue to accept bills written by H$U$ toadies and then vote those anti-animal bills into laws. Laws that will do much harm and do no good. Strange behavior, strange indeed.

Animal Welfare or Animal Rights?
Here are some of the differences:
　
As animal welfare advocates. . .

• We seek to improve the treatment and well-being of animals.
  
• We support the humane treatment of animals that ensures comfort and freedom from unnecessary pain and suffering.


• We believe we have the right to "own" animals -- they are our
  property.


• We believe animal owners should provide loving care for the lifetime of
  their animals.

As animal rights activists. . .

• They seek to end the use and ownership of animals, including the keeping of
  pets.
  
• They believe that any use of an animal is exploitation so, not only must we
  stop using animals for food and clothing, but pet ownership must be outlawed as well.
  
• They want to obtain legal rights for animals as they believe that animals
  and humans are equal.
  
• They use false and unsubstantiated allegations of animal abuse to raise
  funds, attract media attention and bring supporters into the movement.
  　　　　 (The Inhumane Crusade, Daniel T. Oliver – Capital Research Center)

For now I will just ask you to read, think about what you just read and then read it again. I don't know about you, but no way will I ever be willing to believe my dogs are my equals. Well, maybe I could be convinced to change my mind on that matter when the dogs start washing windows. Certainly not before.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) spent less than 5% of its
$152 MILLION income directly aiding animals. Most of their money went to
executive salaries, travel and political lobbying.

If you really want to give your money away to be used for paying executive salaries, travel and heavy duty political lobbying, hey it's still a free country. It's your hard earned money and you should be free to spend it, give it away, bury it or burn it. In the giving away part, at least know what that money will be spend on. Know it will be spend on eliminating domestic animals. Personally I think that is a really bad idea, but that's just me.

Animal rights laws are another way for government to meddle in your life

We've got way, way too much government as it is, do you really want more?

Even Dobermans enjoy duck hunting and duck eating.

Serious Opinion Needed

I say this is a great picture. I love the expression on both faces. I love the pose. I think the color contrast is nice. Yes, it would have been nicer if Sanity's ear tip hadn't been cut off. Yes, it would have been better if the clutter in the upper right hand side wasn't there. But as dog shots go this one is a keeper for me.

I didn't take it. Yes, I did act as the 'handler' getting the poses, but I wasn't the cameraman. Nope, that skill was left to Sam (Rugby's owner).

Sam's blog is here:http://misterrugby7.blogspot.com/ She has lots of great pictures. Go take a look.

But now back to the voting thing. I already showed you the picture I like the best. Here is Sam's choice and a runner-up. You choose Runner-up

So what say you?

The perfect dumbbell

I am a "hit and miss" member of an obedience training email group. The reason for my status has to do with my frequent lack of patience and understanding when it comes to the contents of many of the posts.

Recently, this group had a thread running about not just retrieving, but how important the perfectly fitted dumbbell would be to the success or failure of any given retrieve. HUH? I would read one of these posts and all I could think to say was, "Why not train the dog?"

A poster would write, My dog already knows how to retrieve, BUT:

"...DOES chomp on the dumbbell and this is a problem. Can you give me suggestions on how to break this. Do I need to start over from the beginning and ... train her?"

"...only starts chomping when she comes..."

"...has started refusing to pick up the dumbbell some times..."

"...refuses to pick up the dumbbell when it lands in grass..."

"...sometimes drops the dumbbell..."

That is just a sample of excuses/problems that I hear or read about. To one and all, I say, "stop making excuses and train the dog".

So does the retrieve problem show up because the dumbbell is too big? Here is a clear-cut case of that being a problem.

In this case, the dumbbell isn't too big for the dog to handle on a regular basis, it is TOO BIG. The Maltese model who posed for this picture and the following pictures has actually done a retrieve on the flat with this dumbbell. He really does know "fetch" and has the heart and brains of dogs weighing 15 times his size.

Perhaps the refusal to retrieve correctly is being caused by the dumbbell being too small.


Then again, maybe the bit is too long, too short or too thick.

By all means do choose a dumbbell that is a comfortable fit, but not so light, with such a thin bit that the very act of retrieving is moved from useful work to cute trick.









A thank you is due Sam Daley for her great photography skills. And another thank you is due to my canine models, Sanity, Rugby and Jasmine. They are so patient and willing every single time I get the urge to have a photo shoot.

Birds and Drugs, but not together

Last week I posted a short video of a part of the large flock or flocks of big, black birds that stop off here every year in the fall. Even though it wasn't the clearest of footage you can still make out the fact they were eating something.

Knowing how many walnuts fall to the ground in my yard every year, one reader suggested "maybe they are eating the nuts". Nope. Not possible and that's a not possible on two fronts. First, it isn't possible because neither of the areas the birds were interested in were areas that had walnuts on the ground, because no walnuts trees grow in those areas. In the back the trees in question are 2 mulberry trees, a large locust and a maple. In the front its 2 large maples and a couple of blue spruce. It is worth noting than none of the trees are less than at least 50 years old, so we aren't exactly talking about small trees.

As for eating the walnuts, not possible. When the walnuts first fall they are about the size of a baseball and covered in a green outer casing. They are also hard enough to do some damage when they hit things. After they have been on the ground for several days the green covering turns brown and then gets soft and mushy underneath. They are true ankle breakers at that stage. Next the mushy stage passes and what is left is the hard shell nut most people are accustomed to seeing. The big, black birds in question don't have the right sort of beak to hammer open one of those shells. So, no they aren't eating the nuts. That job is left to the truly amazing squirrel colony that lives in the trees.


DRUGS and dogs


I got to attend a lecture on Sunday. This lecture was given by one of the big authorities on animal behavior modification via the brave, new world of drugs. Since I went as someone else's guest I was sworn to keep my mouth shut. By noon I honestly thought my head was going to explode.

When the reservations were made for us the person taking the reservation was told there would be a service dog coming. She promptly told my friend "no dogs allowed". Which triggered a reminder that the lecture was being held in a public place and service dogs were allowed by law.
Now the only reason I am bringing this up is because of what was said next.

You see, the response to the "service dogs are allowed by law" was the statement that the same law allowed them to turn away any noisy dog or any dog that caused a problem. Don't you sort of wonder why they would make such a statement? I know I have my own ideas. I honestly believe that while they call themselves dog trainers and animal behaviorists, they have actually never seen a trained dog actually working.

Several people came up to me during one of the breaks or at lunch time and wanted to know what "program" trained my dog. I guess I'm sort of snotty, cause I said I'm the program that trained this dog. It sort of acted as a conversation stopper. I make no apologies for my lack of patience with the clicker, food, play group and their lack of ability to actually get a dog trained.

Cranky. Yes.

Annoyed. Yes.

Miffed. Oh my, yes.

What fun (not) to sit and watch a 'famous' person proudly announce how wonderfully friendly her super dog was. Why he even jumped up on a counter at Petsmart and gave the clerk a big kiss.

I confess at this point that I too once had a dog jump up on the check-out counter at a PetCo. The clerk offered her a treat without asking my permission first. This was Wrap as a young, very exuberant dog. Before I could so much as blink, much less stop her, Wrap had elevated from the floor to the counter, snatch, eaten the cookie AND...

And knocked the clerk out of the way, stuck her nose into the cash drawer, grabbed a mouthful of 10 dollar bills and floated back to the floor. Do I need say I was upset, mortified, angry at the clerk, ashamed that I didn't catch the beginning of her jump and a host of other things. None of them were good. Meanwhile, Wrap thought it was one of the funniest stunts she had managed to pull off so far. Now I look back on that day with fond memories, but never have I bragged about how friendly my dog was that day.

WHATTHEFU**? She also was so kind as to share a video of her rapid stuff method of treat training. With a dog in a tight and very controlled environment we got to watch her use food to get the dog to "hold its breath". For the life of me, I never did see the dog actually stop panting and close it mouth on command and, honestly that is what I expected to see.

I almost forgot. Sanity had to retrieve her bed so I could roll it up when we left. And she had to figure out how to get through the press of people and the chairs blocking the way when I sent her back to where we had been sitting to retrieve my jacket.

Most of all she had to deal with a large number of pretty clueless people in a rather small space. As you can see it is going to be a tight fit.

Here we go, working our way between the tables on the way to the restrooms.
Look closely and you can just spot us beginning the return trip.

In order for her to do two of those jobs I had to repeatedly ask people to please leave her alone since she was working. The really funny one happened after the third person picked up her leash and tried to stop her. After I told that person to leave her alone, she gave them a dirty look, picked up the leash in her mouth and carried it herself. I'm thinking she was just flat tired of what her body language was calling the 'stupid humans'.
Sticking close so as to avoid getting kicked, stepped on or fondled by strangers. Amy's not a stranger, but a friend. Just seconds before this picture was snapped two different strangers wanted to fondle her. I said no they couldn't pet her or touch her because she was working. And I'm not all fire breathing dragon, I did thank them for asking.

Finally I was totally blown away by the number of strangers who came up to me and wanted to know if I would like them to "take her outside?" for me. I continue to try really hard to see that as well-meaning, but clueless offers of help. Mind you, I'm not at all ungrateful of help given to move objects out of the way of the scooter or open the restroom door or any other heavy door. But take my service dog away from me? Not on your life. I work very hard at developing a high level of trust between myself and my dog. No way am I willing to endanger that trust by handing her off to a complete stranger to take her where? And do what with or to her?

Now I'll stop this, cause I actually do feel a little better and who knows? Maybe I'll manage to find it in my heart to better understand the drive away from actually training a dog to using different drugs as a blanket to over the dog's problems.

Changes

Back in March a little pimple of a problem grew to boil size, festered and finally broke open. Sanity forced me to pull her from working in public because I could no longer trust her to behave in an appropriate manner when rude children were around.

Wrap left us in April. At this time Sanity was not a yard boss. She was more a riot inciter and would be more likely to be a reason for a squabble to break out than the reason why it stopped. Anything, everything, nothing would send her off into wild frenzies of barking that nothing could stop other than my enforcing a "give me 20" rule. Having to do 20 dog style push ups did help to take the edge off the frenzy.

Ellie arrived in May. Sanity viewed her a a nuisance and something to be ignored to the point of stepping on her rather than over her. However, by the end of May Sanity and Ellie were starting to develop an interesting relationship. It consisted mostly of Ellie following Sanity around everywhere and doing her level best to copy everything she saw Sanity doing.

In June I switched Sanity over to a raw meat and bones diet that includes green tripe and some cooked veggies or fresh fruit that happens to be hanging around. The first week was almost the last week of this experiment since I pretty much couldn't get her to eat much of anything. She was very happy to lick the bones for a time, but then would look at me and seem to ask, "so when are you going to put the food down?" I just continued to tell her that was the food.

By the beginning of the second week of this new diet something clicked in her brain. She started eating and eating with gusto! Of course, there was no more worry about her inhaling her food. Can't do that when you have to chew and chew and chew, just to get one bite you can swallow.

In July, I thought I was seeing some changes in Sanity's behavior both out in the yard and in the house. For starters, I was rarely having to call for 20 push-ups to help her come back to her senses. Then I thought I was noticing some of the very desirable "yard boss" behavior starting to show up every now and again. The most interesting thing was the change in her behavior after she finishes her dinner. She is calm. She is quiet. She is mellow and relaxed.

I'm finally writing about this because other people have begun to notice the very same things I've been noticing. That means it is really happening and not just wishful thinking on my part. It started with little things like her saving Ellie from the dog killer Golden by running between them and then cutting the Golden off. This gave Ellie time to make it back to the house and for the rest of us to put the yard back to rights with the Golden back in jail. I thought it was just a fluke or maybe I just imagined it.

That was the first time I actually thought I was seeing proper yard boss behavior, but didn't want to trust myself on the subject. Since that first time I have seen the same behavior almost daily. Squabbles are becoming less and less. And while that is true it is also true that Sanity is more and more willing to go retrieve string wearing dogs who are not coming when called.

All this makes me wonder if she was just waiting for Wrap to be gone before she finished her growing. And that leads me back to the kids problem.

Starting in June I finally managed to have a few students here who have either children or grandchildren of exactly the right size and age. It means I have been able to stage training problems and actually work on her attitude towards children of a certain height and behavior. Little by little, even this problem is resolving itself in a way that is going to get her back to working in public again. No rush, best to take things slowly and steadily rather than to rush and end up back sliding.

All in all this summer has been full of some pretty important changes and ones that sure have given me lots to think about.

A Tale of Two Dogs or A Tale of Two Owners

I've been thinking about two incidents that just happened and wonder if I will ever be able to understand. Somehow my suspicion is that if I can just even manage to find a tiny clink in the mud that holds the wall up, than maybe I'll actually understand a way to tear that wall down and stomp the individual stones into sand.

First Dog

This dog is a German Shepherd Dog(GSD) that is about 7 or so years of age. She has been raised on a farm. She has received no real training, either obedience, manners or farm skills. For the most part she is allowed to do pretty much as she pleases. Ask her owner to tell you about this dog and you will hear all about how wonderful she is. She runs, plays, chases, and has ever so much fun just playing with the other dogs. One of the other dogs lives with her and the rest come and go with their owners.

If you were to push her owner, you might learn that sometimes she gets a little over excited. When that happens she can be just a little rough with the other dogs. But she is a good dog since she doesn't run away from home, eats her meals, refrains from soiling in the house. There is just one small problem.

She is a dog killer. Of course, you will be told, it was all an accident. She was just over excited and being really playful. Too bad the little dog she killed didn't agree.

Second Dog

This dog is as Doberman. She will soon turn 4 years of age. She was raised in a rather unique dog day care and training environment. She has been in training learning new skills, polishing previously learned skills, finding new ways to apply the skills she has. Her obedience, manners and and work skills are at a good level for a dog of her age and breed. She has many responsibilities around the yard and in the house. She has even more responsibilities when she travels away from home with her owner. Not running away from home, eating her meals and refraining from soiling in the house are considered to be just ordinary, everyday things that aren't even worth commenting on or thinking about.

Some of the dogs that come to her yard are her friends. Some of the dogs that come to her yard are of little to no interest to her at all. A few of the dogs that come to her yard are dogs she can just barely tolerate. No matter what category these dogs fall in, she is mannerly and polite. This politeness is not something that came easily to her. It is a skill she must work hard to maintain and work she does.

This day, just three days before her fourth birthday she took another huge step forward in her areas of responsibility. This is what happened.

Two small crate pads had to be washed and dried and put back in the crates they came from. No big deal and certainly not something to make an issue over or tell a story about. Once out of the dryer and still not totally dry they were hung on the outside clothesline to finish drying. Still not a big deal until one of them slipped the cloths pin holding it and fell to the porch floor. Along came on of the dogs that falls in the tolerate category. He stole the pad and carried it off to a hidden spot in the yard.

When it was time to bring the pads in there was only one. So the Doberman was called and told to "find it". Giving a puzzled look she dutifully went down the steps and in a slow, methodically manner checked around the ground close to the porch. After all, normally when she is called to retrieve an object from that location, it was dropped and can be found right at the base of the porch. There was nothing.

Again, she was told to "find it". So she widened her search and checked the entire side yard. Nothing. Her quizzical look earn yet another "find it" with a wide sweep of an arm. So she moved her search further out into the yard. On her fifth pass she spotted a something. A something that didn't belong in the yard. It was hidden on the far side of the parked truck and had fallen or been pushed sort of under/behind the left front tire. Not sure that was what she was supposed to be finding she continued around the truck.

Again she heard "find it" and saw the wide sweep of the arm. So she turned around, went back to the something that didn't belong, picked up up and carried it to the back of the truck. As she looked up for further instructions she heard "YESSSSSSSS". Just the information needed and with no further prompting or help she brought the pad back, up the steps, into the house and straight to the crate where it belonged. Her pride in being able to successfully complete the job had her smiling, doing a little hop/skip victory dance and just generally getting some pretty intense pleasure from the challenge and the victory.

Now comes my puzzlement. Why do so many dog owners seem to feel that the first dog is happy and joyful and the second dog is sad and cheated out of critical praise?

Yes, before you ask, the second dog is Sanity and I am sort of glowing over her latest display of understanding, her acceptance of responsibility AND the obvious pride she takes in doing each job she is assigned.

Yes, I also know who the first dog is and no I won't name her since she doesn't belong to me. What I will say is that she is not a happy, relaxed, confident dog. She is not a dog that is secure with her place in life, she is not trained, much less well trained. She is rude and she is very dangerous. How is it that even after killing another dog, her owner continues to remain clueless?

Meanwhile, Sanity really ROCKS!

Sometimes you just have to stop and play

For the past week I really have been a most uninteresting sort of owner. Sleeping just about round the clock, grumpy and whinny when awake. Now that is not a pretty combonation, is it? So this afternoon when Sanity started bugging me about the fact that she was bored, bored, bored I figured she deserved some time.

First we spent a bit working on the old fashioned doodles. Meaning I called out the commands in a very random order, come, back, stand, down, sit, down, stand, come, back, back, down, stand, etc. Then we both got tired of that at about the same time and so this is what we did next.

I confess, she never did manage to master the stand, flip, catch bit. All that means is we still have something to play with on another day.

New tasks

This is the time of year when my dogs always start to get really bored with life and especially me. Wrap, of course, is just happy to be warm and allowed to sleep most of the time. She had no complaints about retirement.

Sanity. Ah, Sanity. That is a whole other story. So in the interest of staying sane and not allowing insanity to take over we have embarked on learning a new set of commands. More for fun than work and more brain than physical exercise for both of us.

First I threw her a curve by messing with her morning routine. Instead of going downstairs, moving from kennel to kennel and collecting the dirty pans and then bringing them upstairs to the kitchen like she has been doing for more than a year I started the changes.

The new commands I'm going to teach are: drop it and look up. Once she understands them we will have a much better way of communicating. I started by staying downstairs with her and as she would fetch a pan and head for the hallway and stairs, I gave her a sit command. She acted as if I was crazy, but did turn and sit facing me.

Next I told her to drop it and helped her release the pan. Clang, it hit the floor. Didn't matter because I was already praising her for letting go. Then I told her to fetch a pan and had to handle it as a directed retrieve, while using my cane to prevent her from just picking up the one she had just dropped. Six repeats later we had all the dirty pans on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

At that point I went on upstairs to the kitchen and had her finish the job by bringing all the pans to me. We have actually been working on this for the past couple of weeks and the "drop it" command is slowly coming along in the food pan context. So last week I moved it along.

I started insisting she fetch all the toys scattered around the house and put the back in the toy box. That was even more difficult an idea for her to grasp than the pans.

"What? Pick up the toys and put them away? That's your job, not mine," sez she.

"Wrong," sez I. "You got them out so you can bloody well start putting them away."

It's coming along, but slowly. Yesterday I added "look up". Mostly that got started because I was in my lounge chair; my bottle of coke on the coffee table on the other side of the room and I really hurt too much to get up. So why not send Sanity?

The why is because if I say "fetch" she will move out in the direction I am facing or in the direction my hand has signaled and check the floor or ground. The idea of looking up for things not on the ground doesn't enter her mind. It just seemed to me she was solid enough in her understanding of "fetch", "sit", "turn" commands that I should be able to teach "look up" and not even leave my chair.

More later on how I'm teaching "look up".