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.

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.

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?

The new naughty words

Take the time to watch the video before you read what I have to say about new naughty words.

We all know what the old naughty words were. They were the Anglo-Saxon expletives that are now heard routinely on TV, in the movies, on the streets and in the schools. They have become so common the only way a person can voice a complaint is when the speaker uses the same two or three of them over and over again to the point where it isn't possible to ascertain what, if anything, the speaker is trying to say.

Those are not the words I write about. The new naughty words are words like:

work
discipline
drill
memorize
leadership
submission
correction
contention
compulsion

The reason why or even how those eight words became the new profanity is totally beyond me. If you watch the above video all the way through and you pay attention to what is really going on there are some things that should jump right out and slap you in the face during the first viewing.

What? The extreme attention the dog is giving the trainer didn't happen through the use of food, toys, games, special training collars or prayer. That attention was earned with hours of hard work over a period of several months. That work didn't just include all of the bad words in the list, it also included both time and duration.

The dog is now at a point where he can concentrate with that level of intensity for up to 10 minutes. By this time next year that will have been pushed to at least 3 times that amount of total focus on the handler, with no lose of attitude. I'll say that part again just in case you missed it the first time. There is no loss of positive, good, upbeat, happy, confident attitude.

Why? Because during his training he was taken to the point of contention and helped to move beyond that point. On the other side of contentiousness lies self confidence, confidence in the trainer, trust, safety, pride of purpose and an entire host of other feelings and sensations that are only experience by those who are willing to practice make full use of all those naughty words and what each of them means.

Pride of purpose means knowing and understanding what the purpose is for starters. Pride of work is the strongest and most powerful reward of all. No food treat nor toy nor game will satisfy a dog who has been lucky enough to join with a trainer that understands leadership, work, discipline, and yes, compulsion.

Now, go back and watch the video a second time. See if you can spot the number of times the dog is corrected for making a mistake. Remember, there are no cookies, no toys and no leash. Then take a look at the background. In the upper left side of the frame you will see two other dogs. They spend some of the time watching and some of the time playing. They are not tied nor restrained in any fashion. When it is their time to work they will come out on the floor with the very same upbeat attitude seen in the Lab.

For those of you who may be wondering, yes the Lab is Pete. Under the table waiting their turn are Rugby and Ellie. Sam is the trainer.

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.

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.