The Thing About Dogs, part one

If there was one piece of advice I could give a new puppy owner, it would be USE COMMON SENSE. Dogs are loyal, intelligent, and adaptable. But they are not complicated. If you approach your human/canine relationship from a complex place you set yourself up for failure and your dog for confusion.

To a canine, things almost always boil down to cause and effect. Whether you look at housebreaking, obedience training, right play vs. wrong play, behavior issues, or pack rules, keep the cause and effect in mind. That’s what I mean by common sense.

This morning I watched cause and effect at work. There were squirrels under the bird feeders when I let Penny out. Now, keep in mind she is a Bull terrier mix. The operative word here is terrier. All terriers were originally bred for some form of rodent hunting. So, the door opened and Penny took off after the squirrels. They scattered and she chased one. She got close but not close enough. It raced up a tree. Penny ran around the base of the tree, walked up the side of the trunk, circled some more, then sighed and came back to the house. She actually pranced back to the house. I believe the chase is as satisfying to her as actually winning is.

Here is the simple cause and effect of this situation. See the squirrel. Chase the squirrel. Squirrel goes up tree, can’t get it. Sigh and run back to the house happy for the chase. Penny didn’t pout and moan or get angry when she missed the squirrel. She went to the next thing, which is curl up in a tight warm snuggley circle at my feet. Life is not complicated to our best friends.

Make your dog ownership common sense and cause and effect. Go potty outside, get a treat. Accident inside, get scolded. Obey on first command get praised. Ignore a command and get corrected.

The other day I watched a man repeat the SIT command no less than ten times. He didn’t make his dog sit, just kept saying the command. When the dog finally sat, he gave it a treat. I cringed. Cause; ignore commands as long as you want. Effect; obey when you are ready and get a treat. In the common sense world of the dog, this man taught his dog rewards come from disobedience.

Don’t overthink. Know what you want from him, teach him how to do it then praise him when he does. Cause and effect, and common sense works. See you next week for part two. 

Who Needs Coffee to Wake Up?

I am a morning person. Most mornings I am out of bed and having my coffee and quiet time by 5:15. This morning, I had not gotten my coffee yet, and, at 5:15 I sat at my desk pondering if maybe today I wanted to just go back to sleep for a while.

Something fluttered above my head. I looked up and saw nothing. Within seconds there was another flutter. This time I looked up and discovered my dogs and I had company in the house. There was a BAT flying around. Not a small bat either. One of its trips around the room came quite close to my face and I'm pretty sure its wing span from tip to tip when outstretched was over a foot long!

Many questions came to mind in a matter of seconds. How did it get in the house? How long had it been there? How could I get it out of the house without myself or my dogs actually tangling with it? Of course, none of those questions had answers and in the meantime the bat continued flying from room to room, darting and dipping and barely missing crashing into me on several occasions!

I opened the doors and tried "encouraging" the creature to fly outside. I'm sure it was only a matter of minutes, but it felt like hours passed. The bat flew onto the porch and I quickly slammed the doors. At least it was out of the house. But the new dilemma was that it was trapped on our back porch with the dogs who had followed it out there. Things were crashing around as the dogs tried to catch the bat. I'm pretty sure that bat was more than a little frightened.

So, I opened the door enough to squeeze onto the porch. The bat was flying back and forth, hitting windows and walls as the dogs jumped to try and catch it. I opened the screen doors on each side of the porch. I wasn't sure what it would take for the animal to figure out it could fly outside. I decided I might have to try and chase it out so I was going back inside when I guess it finally figured things out and flew straight at me!I ducked just in time to prevent the thing from crashing into my nose!

It flew away.
My dogs calmed down.
And, I was not the slightest bit sleepy anymore--even without a coffee fix!

Wanna Be Like My Dog

In March 1988 I got my first dog training customer. At the time, I was working as  Veterinary Technician for Dr. Fawcett at Conewago Veterinary Clinic and figured the dog training would be additional income. If someone had told me that very first client was the start of a business that would rapidly become full time and still be going strong thirty-one years later I probably would have laughed at them.

But, here I sit on August 8, 2019, one of the blessed people to have successfully turned a hobby and a passion into a business. Since that first dog, a Weimeraner, I have trained at least 15,000 dogs. Folks, that’s a lot of sloppy kisses and doggie cuddles, and more than a few growls and snaps. To be honest, I’d say that in some ways I have been as much a student as the dogs and owners with whom I’ve worked.

Recently, I watched my sweet Golden Retriever, Gracie, do something that touched my heart. Gracie is four years old and still a puppy at heart. She is, of course, a retriever and retrievers are not particular about what items they retrieve. Our first Labrador, Daniel, once brought Don a brick and dropped it on his foot—but that’s another story.  Gracie pulled the fold-down tab from the cardboard of a twelve-pack of sodas. Instead of running with it because she knew she wasn’t supposed to have it, she brought it to me.

Now, if you have dogs, then you know what I mean when I say I knew what she was asking just by her actions. If you do not have a dog… you need one! Gracie approached me with the cardboard in her mouth, her tail wagged lazily, her head was slightly lowered and her eyes smiling. Yes, her eyes smiled. She delivered the cardboard to me, set it at my feet, sat herself beside me and waited. In dog body language she was asking, “Mom, I got this thing. Is it okay? Can I have it?”

Of course the answer was no. But she had done exactly what she was supposed to do. Gracie brought Mom the item, showed it to me, and asked if she could have it. I’m pretty sure she knew the answer. I’m pretty sure she knew she could have carried it the other way and chewed it to oblivion before I even knew she had it. But she brought it to me.

So, why did she do that? Because Gracie is a good dog. She’s loyal, she trusts me, and she respects my authority. Instead of fussing at her for getting into the cardboard I picked it up, thanked her for bringing it to me, and gave her a big hug. In the end, we went into the living room, got one of the dog bones and I held it while she chewed. She was a happy girl.

 I think when I grow up I want to be like my dogs. You see, my nature—and  I venture to say it is probably all of our nature—when I do something wrong is cover it, or rationalize it, or even run away from it. I know I would rather not have to face the consequence of my mess. Yet, what if I emulate my dog when I mess up? I run to God and say, “I got this thing, or I did this thing. I apologize.  Is it okay?”

The answer would most likely still be no. There would still be a consequence. But, there would be no shame and guilt. And, I know from past experience the hug God gives my heart is much better than whatever I thought I wanted.

Yep, I want to be like my Gracie when I grow up.

My Thoughts Today

I registered to vote immediately after I turned 18. The privilege and responsibility of voting was instilled in me. I proudly registered as Democrat as was my family tradition. There came a point in my life that I decided to change my party affiliation and registered Republican. I have my reasons.

I have voted in every primary and general election since I turned 18 in 1977. I have seen my candidates win and seen them lose. There have been times I was pleased with things elected officials have accomplished. I have also been greatly disappointed. I am proud to be an American but sometimes not the slightest bit proud of choices my countrymen, elected officials, and government have made. There are things about my nation that break my heart. Thus I vote at every election. I have watched Presidents make wise and godly choices for my nation and others not so much. Thus I vote at every election. I have sat through single and double terms of Presidents I did not vote for and of Presidents for whom I did vote. Thus I vote at every election. And I encourage everyone to vote their conscience, their beliefs and if they are unwilling to vote, then they should also be unwilling to complain.

I do understand the difficulty in sitting through the term of a person for whom you did not vote. But, I do not understand slamming and hate mongering. I have never and I will never bad mouth the President of the United States. And, believe me, there have been many policies and many presidencies over the past forty-two years that broke my heart deeply and I could not support in any way, shape, or form.

I tire of the constant anger and hate spewing from one party to the other. I tire of myself or others being judged and called hurtful things just because of my or their party affiliation. That is the reason I do not comment on or re-post any type of political junk. Our country does have laws. I am expected to obey them or suffer the consequences. I expect the same of everyone else. I firmly believe we should expect that of everyone citizen or guest.

To quote a song I love “I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be, this is me.” 

Have a blessed day, everyone, Chandra

p.s. If a comment on this post ends up spreading the very angry, hateful, hurtful things of which I have been speaking, I will remove the comment. Just sayin’.

Summer With Your Dog, part one

It’s sum, sum, summertime and as wonderful as summer is, we must always be mindful of the hot weather and our best friends’ safety. Here’s part one of summertime with your dog. Here are clear guidelines for having the best summer with your dog.

1.)        Walk your dog in the coolness of morning or evening. On the hottest days, evenings are not even cool. There is nothing wrong with slowing your pace into a more casual walk. You still get exercise but don’t overheat as quickly.

Always remember a dog’s normal body temperature is 102.5F. If it is hot for you to walk, your dog is even hotter. And a dog’s risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke is always greater than a human’s. Please DO NOT walk them in the hottest part of the day.

2.)        PAVEMENT GETS HOT, DANGEROUSLY HOT. If the humidity drops and the air feels comfortable for walks, the pavement will still be too hot. Even if the day is not oppressively hot, pavement, especially asphalt is. For example, if the air temp is only 77F, the asphalt temp may be 125F (At 125F skin destruction can occur in mere minutes). At 87F, the asphalt temp can be as high as 143F. That’s hot.

Your dog’s pads are protective, but not against that kind of heat. If your dog is used to walking on gravel, cement or asphalt his pads probably are nicely calloused, which offers some protection, but not enough. Do the ‘5-count test.’ Place the back your hand on the pavement. Hold it there for a slow count to five. If it is too hot for you to keep your hand there comfortably, it is too hot for your dog’s feet. Walk on grass in the cool of the day instead.

3.)        Never underestimate the power of a good swim! When possible, swimming is as great an exercise for dogs as it is for humans.

4.)        Provide your dog with easy access to water.

5.)        If your dog spends a great deal of time outside, be sure he has shade. And, honestly, if it too hot for you to enjoy sitting outside, it is too hot for your dog also. Bring him inside.

Let’s keep our dogs safe and healthy this summer! See you next week for a look at summer training tips

From 2008 until January of this year I had a weekly column in the local newspaper titled Letters From the Doghouse. It was a sort of advice column for dog owners.  I currently am compiling years of said column and my photos of dogs I've trained over the past 31 years into a book I am calling Life in the Doghouse. As I work on the compilation in addition to my current fiction project I plan to share some of the advice I've given dog owners over the years. Feel free to send my blogs to anyone in your life who is a dog lover.

Love Them Enough to Make Them the Best Pets

I believe every puppy is born with the potential to be the best pet you've ever had or the worst nightmare. Each breed of dog has unique personality characteristics. Mixed or designer breeds combine characteristics. It is true some breeds tend to be more or less affectionate, dominant, aggressive, protective, or playful. But, I do not believe there is any one breed that is the best, nor is there one that is the most dangerous.

Since I began training dogs while in college in 1981, and certainly since I began my business in 1988, I have seen dogs of all sizes, breeds, shapes, ages, that were darlings and others that were downright mean.

Puppies are not born aggressive. Some are born with the desire to be the alpha, or leader. Some back down from confrontation quicker than others. But even that is not what makes a dog dangerous.

The most dangerous dog is an untrained dog. Without training, dogs do not learn the humans in their packs are the loving masters. And, at the most basic level, that is the source of a dangerous dog’s behavior. Please note: Saying the humans need to be the masters or the dominant ones NEVER means abuse a dog. And, yes an abused dog is very dangerous. But again, it wasn’t trained, it was mistreated. Training a dog is never abuse.

The best pet you will ever have will be a trained one. Period. Any dog, any size, any age, any breed, or any mix must know its role in the human/dog relationship. Humans must grasp this too. The day you bring your dog home please understand he is your dog, you are not his human.

Training your dog means housebreaking him so he learns self-control. Believe me, for all the wonders those dog litter boxes advertise, they will create huge behavior issues. And smells. And messes. Training him also means teaching some simple obedience commands, teaching him what ‘no’ means, and that he must respect all of the humans with whom he lives humans. Even if the dog essentially belongs to one family member, he must obey everyone his pack.

We are not talking about tricks or agility or games right now. Those are fun to teach and do, but they are not what make the best pet. Mutual respect between you and your dog is imperative. You must respect he is a dog, he will think, feel, and act like a dog. You must love him for that fact alone. And he must respect that you are his master and will always be in charge.

Your dog, whether he’s a puppy, rescue, purebred or mix, deserves the chance to become all he can be. And when you love him enough to teach proper behavior he will be your best pet ever.