Boy is this going to be short. Stomach flu. Not good. Will spare you all details, but been sick (as a dog? where did that expression come from?) Been sick for 3 days, huge snow storm kept friends out, me in. Jim, my wonderful guy, just took the afternoon off to come out with saltine crackers and ginger ale for me. Heaven. Wanted to write about the seminar in Des Moines, the participants and hosts were so wonderful. Stay tuned, don't have much vertical time in me yet... BUT here's the question: All of Monday and Tuesday, when I was flat on my back, young BC Willie never once brought me a toy to throw for him. To say that's atypical is understating the matter. Oh sure, he'll stop when you say "Enough" but he'll try again in a half hour or so. But he never tried, ever for 2 1/2 days. Why? Read More
Dogs don’t talk politics
I'm getting pretty bleary this mid-afternoon, having stayed up late last night, like much of the country, watching the election returns. As the evening progressed, I found myself on the floor, with Lassie on one side, and Willie on the other. Both of my paws were busy, stroking and petting my dogs non-stop, in my attempt to maintain a modicum of calm. No matter how you feel about the outcome, it was a historic night for our country, and like many others, I was wired, and didn't go to sleep until well into the morning hours. As I lay beside Willie's warm body and stroked Lassie's buttery soft fur last night, I thought about how wonderful it is that the dogs and I had never had heated, or even heart-felt discussions about politics, the election. . . or anything else for that matter. What a Read More
Using Play to Treat Aggression
The last great talk in the Play Symposium at APDT was a wonderful presentation by Karen B. London. She begin with the belief that play is under-utilized as a reinforcement and tool to treat aggression-related problems in dogs. Several types of behavioral problems were listed as being amendable to using play, including over-arousal, frustration-related aggression, the fear of strangers and reactivity to other dogs. Dr. London reminded us that play is so useful because it 1) is a high energy exercise that can motivate dogs and channel their energy in positive ways, 2) play is a skill if you think about it, and it can be used to teach incompatible behavior (go get your ball instead of barking at the stranger) and also can be used to help dogs learn emotional control, 3) an increased amount Read More
Play and Self Handicapping
Apologies for not writing sooner, but I've just come out of one of those "work tunnels" that we all experience from time to time. What a joy to have come up for air and work Willie on sheep, rub Lassie's creamy soft belly and go on a bike ride with Jim. But, there's so much to tell you about the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference last week in Kentucky. I was only able to attend for two days, because I had to get back to give another speech on Sunday. I know I missed some great talks the last days at APDT, but I want to tell you about some of the great information that was presented at the Symposium on Play on Thursday. An entire day was devoted to the topic of play, and it was a joy to be able to go into a topic in depth. (Truth in Lending: I'm not objective about this at all. Read More
APDT, Tales of Two Species
Eeeeps, I was all set to settle in and enjoy writing more about our relationships with pets (and answers to your great questions) and then life got in the way. You know, in that "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans" kind of way. I like to say that "today didn't turn out to be the video tape I thought I rented." Nothing bad about today, except the feeling that we all have on occasion that there is simply not enough time in the next two weeks to do what absolutely has to be done. I do want to talk more about society, pets and animals though... sometime soon. (And thank you for your generous comments about Calling All Pets. They are very, very appreciated.) So I write with a bit of an apology... I'm overwhelmed with doing wonderful stuff (at least I sure hope it turns Read More