Dog Training & Behavior

Dog Training & Behavior:
A Message from Max

My name is Max and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here and there, often much too fast,
often never noticing
the truly grand things in life.
Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way My dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now, that comes with age. The grey hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle. You smile at me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine?
Do you see a spirit, a soul inside who loves you as no other could in the world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a simple moment of your time?
That is all I ask. To slow down if even for a few minutes to be with me. So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of others of my kind passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes we age so slowly before your eyes that you do not even seem to know, until they very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we take that long sleep, to run free in distant lands.
I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed the waters from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just "One more day" with me.
Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We have now, together. So come, sit down here next to me on the floor. And look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk you and I, heart to heart.
Come to me not as "alpha" or as a "trainer" or even a "Mom or Dad", come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one another's eyes, and talk.
I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general. You decided to have me in your life (I hope) because you wanted a soul to share just such things with. Someone very different from you, and here I am.
I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls.
I do not think of you as a "Dog on two feet" I know what you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.
Now, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if even for only 15 minutes. Look deep in my eyes, and whisper to my ears.
Speak with your heart, with your joy and I will know your true self. We may not have tomorrow, and life is oh so very short.
Love,
Max, (on behalf of all canines everywhere)

"May be reposted and shared freely as long as this credit appears with the post: given to J.D.Ellis 2001, rottweilerdriver@aol.com."

Dog Training & Behavior

Dog Training & Behavior: "OUTSIDE DOGS

OUTSIDE DOGS

I'm familiar with hundreds of dog breeds, but what's an "outside
dog?" Unless you're medically intolerant of it (and therefore can't take
care of it in a medical emergency, so you shouldn't have it), making a dog
stay outside is a costly waste. If it's for protection, what do you think
I want to steal, your lawn? When you leave, do you put your valuables and
your kids out in your yard? Just what is the dog "protecting" out there? Most
dogs kept out cause far more nuisance complaints from barking and escaping
than any deterrent to intrusion. Such complaints cause teasing,
antagonism, release and poisoning. I lost count of the number of times I've
heard: "NOW I know why I find so many rocks, sticks and cans in my yard! They're
throwing them at my dog!" Or: "So that's why I've had to replace the
padlock on the fence 17 times in the past year!" With your dog a helpless
victim, it's no laughing matter.

If I'm a crook and your dog is out, your fence protects ME, not your
possessions or dog. If I just open the gate 9 out of 10 dogs will run
off! I can safely shoot, stab, spear, poison, snare, strangle or dart it
through the fence. You just lost your dog AND everything I steal! If it's
tied and I keep out of its reach, it's useless. It'll bark, but outside dogs
bark so much they're usually ignored. But let a dog hit the other side of a
door or window I'm breaking into and I'm GONE! I can't hurt it until it can
hurt me and nothing you own is worth my arm. Deterrence is effective
protection.

Protection and aggression are not the same. Protection is defensive,
reactive and often passive and threatens or injures no one.
Aggression is active, harmful and offensive, threatens all and benefits none. Yard
dogs often develop far more aggression than protectivity because everyone
who passes by or enters has already violated the territory that dog has
marked dozens of times a day for years. That's not protection, it's not
desirable and it overlooks two facts of life today:

1) Property owners have implied social contracts with others in the
community. Letter carriers, paper boys, delivery people, law
enforcement, emergency medical personnel, meter readers and others are allowed
near and at times on your property without your specific permission. Sure that
ten-year-old was not supposed to jump your fence after his ball, kite
or Frisbee; but neither you nor your dog are allowed to cause him injury
if he does. Imagine this: A neighbor looks into your yard or window and
sees you, your wife or your child laying on the floor in a pool of blood. They
call 9-1-1 and your dog prevents paramedics from assisting! Should they
shoot your dog or just let you die? Great choice.

2) Even if the intruder is a felon, few places allow you or your dog
to cause physical injury to prevent property loss. Convicted felons have
sued the dog's owner from jail and won more in the suit than they could
have stolen! Appalling but true. Don't believe your homeowners insurance
will cover the loss. Now you see why many feel that an "outside dog" is a
no-brainer.

The more a dog is outdoors, the less behavioral control you have.
It's easier to solve four or five indoor problems than just one outdoors.
The reason is simple: The more you control the stimuli that reach the
dog, the more you control its responses. You've got a lot more control over
your living room than you do over your county! When it's bored but teased
by every dog, cat, bird, squirrel, motorcycle, paperboy, airplane,
firecracker, backfiring truck and rabbit in the county, OF COURSE it'll dig, chew
and bark. Would you sit still all day every day? Do you want unnecessary
medical and parasite fees, especially as the dog ages?

When a dog is alone indoors you're still 30% there because your scent
and things it associates with you constantly remind it of you and your
training. When it's out, it's alone whether you're home or not. Do you expect
it to keep YOU in mind while the entire world teases, distracts and
stimulates it?

The media are full of stories about family dogs saving everyone
during a fire. How many people, including children, would be dead today if
those dogs were kept out? SURE you always get up to investigate every time your
yard dog barks. And I've got this bridge.....

An outdoor dog has an address, not a home. Does your dog get so much
mail that it needs its own address? A real value dogs offer is as
companion animals. Do you live out in your yard? Whose company does your yard
dog keep and protect? Stop behavior problems and start enjoying real
protection and companionship.

Bring your dogs in.

Copyright 1993 Dennis Fetko, Ph.D. (858-485-7433, Fax 858-485-0651).
The author authorizes this article to be copied, quoted or used however
it will do the most good as long as proper credit is given.