Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Traveling In The Wrong Pack

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Most of the people who follow this blog and train dogs, work with the positive reinforcement method.  I train this way because I want my dogs and I to have a bond and I believe that is achievable through positive reinforcement training.

A couple of years ago I stopped at a tag sale a couple of streets away. I was very impressed with a woman and her dogs, they stayed calmly in the yard and followed her around.  I told her how I was struggling with Delilah.

The woman went in the house and brought out a postcard stating she was a dog trainer along with all of her contact information.  She asked if I would like to walk with her sometime.  I told her I would love that.

I waited a day or so (I didn’t want to seem TOO eager) and contacted her via facebook.  She asked if I wanted to walk and I said yes.  I then gave her my schedule for the week.

I never heard from her again.

In retrospect, this was a blessing in disguise.

This is the same woman I mentioned in my Passive-Aggressive post.

The same woman who deliberately left her dogs for seven to ten anxious, panicked filled moments, while she taught them a lesson about traveling with the wrong pack.

The same woman who thinks dogs have the capability of being passive-aggressive.

The same woman who lets her dogs roam all over the woods with no regard for anyone else or their dogs.

The same woman who has no identification of any kind on her dog.

As I stood there in the woods last Saturday listening to these two women talk about the archaic methods they use to train their dogs, I took a moment to say a prayer of thanks that I don’t travel in her pack.

Clueless

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The park at the top of the street isn’t an off-leash dog park.  Heck it isn’t even a dog park if you want to be technical.  It’s a soccer field surrounded by trails.

Most people who walk on the trails either have a dog, or have had a dog in the past.  Most of these people walk(ed) their dogs at the park off-leash.

There are a lot of people who use this park, but most of them don’t care to walk their dogs with me.  When I mentioned that in a post a couple of days ago, a few of you asked why.

This is the way I see it.

I’m a conscientious dog owner.  I want to make sure that my dogs are well-behaved and respectful.  I do not want to be the reason that animal control says you can’t walk your dogs up here anymore.

Okay, I do admit I fall into that…..what did Kristine call it?

Oh yes…..MDIF (my dog is friendly) category but for the most part I’m very consciousness when I walk my dogs.

I keep my dogs close by and do not like them to be out of my sight for a number of reasons.

Poop

I always pick up after my dogs when they poop.

Okay you got me… if Sampson goes off the trail and poops, no I do not go in after that, and yes  I might sometimes push some poop off the trail if Delilah decides to squat where she’s walking.

But I never, ever leave my dog’s poop anywhere that someone could step in it.  When they poop in the field, I pick it up.

Besides, I need to make sure their having normal poops. 🙂

People

Most of the people walk with dogs, but there are some who walk alone.

Let’s face it, not all people are dog people and those people do not want to come across an unaccompanied dog that they have no idea whether the dog is friendly or not.

This person could call animal control or worse, scare or hurt your dog.

Or your dog could hurt someone else.

“S’s” dog Brady is a jumper.  Not too long ago he jumped on a mentally disabled person causing them to lose their balance.  The person went down a number of stairs, somehow (amazingly) managing to remain on his feet.  Imagine the trouble ‘S’ and Brady would have been in if he hadn’t.

Property

Delilah loves to run off the trail and scope out other people’s property.  She will scrounge around looking for food.  Maybe this doesn’t bother some people, but what if she damaged something?  Remember the time she got caught on the air conditioning unit?  It’s a good thing (for me) that she didn’t do any damage, I would have been responsible for that.

Other dogs

The few people who do walk their dogs on leash do so for a reason.  Perhaps their dogs are fearful, maybe they are runners like Delilah.  They do not want unleashed dogs rushing up to their dog.

One would hope that no-one would let an unpredictable dog off-leash but we all know that not every dog owner is responsible.  I like to supervise any meetings my dogs have.

Injury

We are walking on hiking trails.  This means there are rocks, cliffs and fallen trees.  How can I help my dog if (s)he becomes injured if I do not know where they are?

Not to mention animals.  There are wild animals that could really hurt my dogs up there.  Granted they should not be out during the day, but I’m pretty sure if they’re rabid they don’t worry about what time of day it is.

Illness

I have big dogs, I worry about bloat.  I’m very cautious about making sure we wait two hours after eating.

Sometimes I walk before breakfast, but I still make sure to wait an hour before I feed them their meal.

But there are kids who like to go into the park at night and have bonfires.  They sit around the fire drinking alcohol and baking potatoes.  Not that a potato should hurt my dogs, but you never know what else those kids are doing.

And it’s not just food items that can be dangerous, there are bugs, small animals and plants that can be dangerous to your dogs.  If you don’t know where your dog is you cannot monitor what your dog is eating.  And if you don’t know what your dog ate, you can’t tell the vet and get the proper treatment.

You get the point, right?

Most people who walk their dogs where I walk don’t think like this.  Walking with me doesn’t jive with their way of thinking.

I sometimes feel like I’m the only one who walks up there that even has a clue about what could happen with/to their dog.

Are you like me, surrounded by people who don’t train the same way you do?

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

Please feel free to grab the badge and join me in recapping or wrapping up your week.   It doesn’t matter if you do it every week or just once in  a while.

This week’s posts have been largely focused on training.  If you have a dog you understand some part of your life will always include training.

I’d like anyone who’s struggling with a challenging dog to know that there is hope.

Don’t give up, check out new trainers, new sports, new groups.  Find something that works for both you and your dog.

Practice Makes Perfect –  Update:

On yesterday’s walk I took Delilah off-leash again.  As soon as I took her off, I called her back.  Anytime she got too far ahead of me, I called her back.  Most of the time she kept coming back to me on her own, or kept looking back at me, as if she wanted my approval.

I gave it to her, along with lots of treats.

Again I kept her off-leash time to a limit, then back on leash she went.

It is the small successes that add up.

Passive Aggressive – Author’s Note

I think I could write another full post on this particular topic.  There is so much I want to say, about the way people around me train and take care of their dogs.  Look for me to come back to this topic at a future date.

WTF/Whoo Hoo Wednesday – Update

Pamela was kind enough to point out that I missed a great big Whoo Hoo.  And that would be to the eight strangers who banded together to get the GDS, Misty down from the mountain.

That was my bad.  I was trying to shorten my post and get it published in a timely fashion.  And truthfully, sometimes the WTF really brings me down.

My friend at 2 Brown Dawgs blog mentioned in the comments that she read the entire thread regarding Misty’s rescue.

I didn’t.

Apparently the dog’s plight was posted on the message board and a group of people got together and went in and rescued Misty.

Then her owner came forward.

Which once again is a topic for an entire post, but only after I read the entire thread. 🙂

That’s it for me, hope you have a great weekend!

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