I’ve never liked the sound of the word “blog.” It sounds like something one should have removed at a doctor’s office. (“Is that blog bothering you again?”) That said, what I do like is the interchange between the readers of this particular blog. I’ve noted before how often I am struck by the insight and compassion that is expressed on a weekly basis here.
Not to mention the stories/lessons/mysteries generated by your dogs. Regular readers and I have learned so much from them. I got to thinking about how close I feel to some of the dogs that we often hear about, and wishing that I had a visual image to match with the name.
Thus inspired, I reached out to a number of regular readers, and asked if they’d be kind enough to send photos of their dogs. Many responded, and I had a grand old time “meeting” dogs I’ve read about over the years. Here’s a collage of them… if you’re inclined, try guessing who is who until you read the caption below.
(One caveat before you look at the photos: The “Collage” App on Word Press allows me to place the photos in a kind of order (sort of), but I can’t also size the images. Every dog here deserves to be the biggest image of them all, but I couldn’t manage that. I post this in hopes that owners/fans will not be distressed if their dog is in a smaller photo. They are all stars to me.)
Here’s who you are looking at: From (sort of) left to right, top to bottom: Kat’s Finna (front) and Ranger over Beth w/ Corgi’s (surprise!) Jack, Chris in Boise’s Habi (front) and Obi on the side, em’s Great Dane Otis, Nic1’s smiling Lily over Beth w/ Corgi’s dear Maddie in the cart, LisaW’s Olive and Phoebe in the grass, Mireille’s Shadow in the snow, Bruce’s Red Dog playing, em’s Sandy dwarfed by Otis, Bruce’s lovely Sandy and Mireille’s sleepy Sp0t. I reached out to a few more who either didn’t respond or were unable to in time for this post. Let me know who else you’d like to meet! Apologies to all those who are not included; please consider this a work in progress. And a big thanks to all who sent photos. I don’t remember having as much fun on a blog as I have this one in a long time! (And aren’t some of these photos gorgeous?)
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: It’s a tad chilly out. Minus 10 F when we got up yesterday, high for the day under zero. Breezy. Not a great weekend for working the sheepdogs. I worked Maggie on the flock on Friday when I got back from NYC, but walked down the hill knowing that I shouldn’t have. It was far too icy; she slipped a couple of times flanking around the sheep, so I quit early and resolved to stop until the footing gets better. No snow predicted for 10 days, (which would make it safer for dogs and sheep), so I re-committed to getting Maggie out and about around unfamiliar dogs. She’s improved greatly since I got her, but I haven’t worked hard enough to get her as comfortable around new dogs as I should have. She’s nothing like Willie was at his worst (ie: crazy), just afraid of dogs she’s never met. I have full confidence she’ll be just fine—but, uh, I have to do the work and I so often use up my dog training time and energy on herding. So really, I should be grateful for the weather…
On Saturday Maggie and I went to the local dog-friendly pet store and had a great training session (heel, leave it, look at me), but no dogs appeared. That’s okay, the scent of other dogs was all over, and that’s a fine place to start. My goal is to get her off the farm, and around unfamiliar dogs, at least twice a week during the winter months. She thought heeling for treats at the pet stores was the best game ever and had a great time. This week we’ll be going to dog training classes; not in the class, but working outside as dogs come and go. I expect she’ll have a great time here too as long as I don’t overwhelm her. (Inside with 10 other dogs would be too much for her right now. Unless they were all Border Collies and a flock of sheep. Then she’d be fine.)
The cold weather is certainly great motivation for teaching new tricks; all the dogs are learning new ones; Willie a ‘turn around me in a circle” and “figure eight through my legs,” Maggie “take a bow,” Tootsie “spin one way, then the other.” It’s fun, but truth be told, it’s herding that draws me in like an addiction. But that will come back soon enough, so I’m working on patience (that’s the trick I still need to master…), writing notes from Virgil Holland’s excellent book, From the Handler’s Post, and everything else that the dogs need to learn not related to working sheep. That ought to keep me busy for the next twenty-five winters. Hope you are keeping busy too, in the best of all possible ways. And for those of you down below, happy summer!
Christy Paxton says
All gorgeous, love it! Everything is better with pictures. Thanks for posting. More please!
Though a trainer for 12 years, I have a degree in creative writing and I love playing with words. I like blog because it rhymes with dog, and also ryhmes with an acronym I created, POG (Parent/Owner/Guardian). In fact, in the spirit of can’t-beat-em-so-join-em, I named my own blog dogpogblog!
Stay warm!
Barbara says
Hi, Trish,
I can certainly understand how much fun you had posting all those lovely photos! Hopefully, there’ll be more, space permitting, as time goes on.
When I googled the book you referred to, Herding Dogs: Progressive Training, I was saddened to learn that the author, Virgil Holland, died last April. For those who want to know more about him, here’s the announcement: http://www.bctrainingcenter.com.
You certainly are experiencing frigid weather! Here in Switzerland, at 650 meters at the foot of the Jura mountains, our low so far this winter has “only” gone down to -6.5 degrees Celsius/20.3 Fahrenheit. My daughter’s Weim, who lives “up the hill” from us at 1,000 meters, has been wearing his ChillyDog coat in -10.0 Celsius/14 Fahrenheit. (We won’t mention the wind/chill factor when the Bise blows.)
So, as Christy suggest, stay warm, everybody!
Valeria says
The weather is frigid in Canada lately so I can relate to the trials of exercise and training outdoors. We have a lazy Beagle(Molly) and an active Beagle/BC (Tucker) cross and they both get so wound up after a week of -20 and below without their normal exercise.
Training tricks indoors and trips to the pet store save us all from screaming and climbing the walls.
Bruce says
It is lovely to see everyone’s dogs, especially since so many are “smiling” for the camera. OK maybe some of the dogs are panting rather than smiling but they look happy.
Em – That is a GORGEOUS picture of Otis overlooking the misty treetops.
Winters around here are usually mild, but this morning dawned chilly (14F/-10C) with a dusting of snow. Red Dog did not seem to notice the cold despite her short hair, complete lack of undercoat, and nearly naked belly. Mrs. B is lobbying to put her in a dog sweater, but I think Red Dog will just outrun the cold. This is our first winter together so we shall see.
Sandy the Sammy has plenty of coat and would probably stay toasty-warm in liquid nitrogen.
Kat says
I love seeing the dogs I’ve read so much about and feel like I know. I did pretty well identifying the dogs although I did miss a couple. Hoping to meet more of them through photos as time and inclination permits. I’ve always thought it would be fun if we weren’t scattered all over the world and some of our dogs got to meet in person. I’d be fascinated to see how Ranger, Otis, and Jack, for example, interacted with one another since temperamentally they have many similarities all being natural leaders.
And thank you for mentioning taking Maggie to the pet store so she could smell other dogs. That was very reassuring and encouraging to me. I’ve been taking Finna to the church next door and encouraging her to sniff around all the doors and other common gathering places and taking her up to the mailboxes and encouraging sniffing around there in hopes that the chance to smell people without any likelihood of actually having to interact with them would be a good link in our efforts to get her human reactivity better managed (I started to type resolved and thought better of it, at this point managed is a more realistic goal.) It seems to be making some difference. Today when I took her to the end of our driveway to get the newspaper there was a person down the street doing some yard work. Typically I’d see high alert from Finna (weight forward, ears forward, tail stub straight up, laser focused attention) in those circumstances but today she was interested, definitely watching carefully and sniffing the air but her weight stayed centered, her tail went to the half-way mark but never higher. I was very pleased with her and glad the breeze was blowing the right direction to make it easy for her to identify the neighbor as someone she’s smelled by the mailboxes.
Jann Becker says
Do the sheep have some shelter from the cold?
One of my favorite training maneuvers is going to a big pet store when adoption events are going on. You have human adults, kids, dogs, puppies, cats and usually LOTS of kittens-so a dog who can keep it together deserves lots of praise (but no new housemates.) I have a great memory of Kira (65 lbs) sniffing a kitten (2 lb) and getting a swat on the nose for getting too close! Then there was the guy who asked if SHE was up for adoption…
Trisha says
To Kat re Finna and taking both Maggie and Finna to smell the scents of dogs, people. It seems to me that this is yet another example of how importance scent is to dogs, and how easily we forget that, primates that we are. Lately I’ve been saying “Think like a dog” to Jim, and so often what I really mean is “Are you remembering how important smell is…?” Interesting that smelling mail boxes seems to be helping Finna, love hearing that. I think you are brilliant to let her smell the scents of neighbors before ever meeting them. And love the “Oh yes, this scent is familiar” probability.
To em: I agree completely with Bruce that the photo of Otis is gorgeous. Hope it is on your wall, enlarged soon. (That’s actually true of many others, including the beautiful Shadow in the snow shot.
To Bruce: Laughed at loud at Sammy in liquid nitrogen (okay, not really). Sounds like she needs an arctic expedition soon…
To Christy and her dogpogblog: Another wonderful laugh! Thanks so much. Good for you for making lemonade. 🙂
LisaW says
I love, love, love seeing the dogs from this blog. I feel like they’re family or old friends or both (which is rare!). I was showing my partner the photos, and as I was naming the dogs, I told him a little anecdote about each of them. It made me realize what a tightly knit group of dog-blog readers and posters we are; I was agog. Maybe this blog will serve as a prologue to catalog each dog 🙂
I, too, was thinking it would be so fun to meet in person one day. A “We Are the Other End” convention.
em says
Oh, how awesome! What a treat to see the faces of so many of the dogs I’ve heard all about all in one place. Just seeing their smiling (and elegantly serious or blissfully unconscious, as the case may be) faces lifts and warms my heart on this snowed-in morning. I love being able to match images with stories in my head.
Thank you, Bruce and Trisha, for your comments about my photo of Otis- all credit goes to luck and the subject matter; I’m a click-n-pray photographer. Actually, one of the nice things about the gray frosting Otis’ muzzle these days is that he is much less baffling to the autofocus. If I had a dollar for all the shots of vaguely dog-shaped black blobs in front of crisply focused shrubbery, I could retire. 😉
I’m loving the idea about a real life meeting, too. Wouldn’t it be lovely to go on a big group ramble together?
One last thing @ Kat, Yes! Dogs do react differently to meeting a person or dog whose smell is familiar. Both Sandy and Otis seem much happier and more excited to meet a dog they’ve often smelled on the clothes of friends or family, and in one notable case, when the owner of his very best dog friend brought her twelve year old daughter along to the park for the first time, Otis was over the moon. He’s a friendly, sociable dog, but he never greets new people that way- this was more like greeting an old friend he hasn’t seen in forever. It’s less noticeable in Sandy, who greets everyone like an old friend, but even with her, I think there is a difference.
HFR says
Thank you so much for posting these pictures. It’s so great to “meet” all of the dogs I feel I already know. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get my pix to you in time, but hopefully we’ll get on the next collage. All the dogs are so gorgeous and looking at them I think “What lucky dogs they are to get the owners they have.”
Thanks again!
Chris from Boise says
Trisha – Thank you for posting photos of some of the characters we’ve been reading about over the years. Hoping to see more of the ‘regulars’ in a later post. (Sophy and Poppy, where are you?)
Mirielle – Spot looks so …relaxed…! Nice to see that he can (recuperating from those vigorous walks?!)
Beth – Maddie looks so cheerful on wheels. Is that only because she’s standing still?
And all the rest – how lovely to put faces to names!
Judi Rogers says
This is such a positive place to be and informative as well. Thanks to Patricia and everyone who contributes to this blog…er….community!
Donna says
Just a comment on dogs’ sniffing of human scents – both my pups are therapy dogs & take turns visiting group homes for adults with cognitive impairments. When either returns from a visit, they sniff all along the other’s back, head, etc. where they may have been petted, to ‘know’ who is was they interacted with on the visit. They also do this when they return from other locations (i.e. local hospital), but it is most evident after these visits in the homes, where they truly get a chance to develop relationships with the residents & the staff working there. And as for walks- sorry, I just read last week’s post, I have used a countdown of sorts, when they are REALLY lingering on a location/scent; I start to count from 5 down to 1 and then cue them with “OK, done!” before we move along. I don’t usually have to get all the way to 1 before they start to move themselves on to the next scent. I try to do a smell walk once a week such as Alexandra Horowitz suggests ( I think that’s her name) in her book Inside of a Dog, but agree it’s not always as much fun for us 2 leggeds as it is for the pups!
Elizabeth P says
Daisy and Rosa’s favourite indoor cold weather game is “find the treat”. They are very efficient at it (although Daisy always tries to peek, so I have to close the room door before hiding the treat.). Daisy, our anxious noise-phobic dog, is so much better in the snowy weather – I always wonder if snow muffles noises for her. Rosa just likes to chase Daisy, snow or not!!
Andy says
Too cute! So much happy + tired, lovely to see. Lucky dogs to have such great humans!
Steve Soberski says
I saw your comment about trying to herd but decided conditions were too icy…same situation here in Nebraska. We had snow, a few warmer days, temps in the 30’s, now -10 F mornings. I walked the fields, way to slippery, for me, for my dogs and for the sheep. Fortunately the ranch where we train has a nice indoor arena, it’s not heated but works great this time of the year. So we have been working indoors, working on skills we would need for arena trials and getting time working the Texas Longhorns that the ranch owner now has…it’s a real rush seeing my little girl taking on those steers, getting them moving!
Cathy says
What a joy to see these wonderful dogs! So glad you did this and grateful to those who responded with photos.
Thanks also for sharing what you are doing to help Maggie. My BC is fear reactive to many dogs, and I also take him to a local training center for the experience of watching other dogs coming and going without being in class. It has been helpful. He does attend freestyle class, and with space from the other dogs, he does very well, but he has been attending class for many years, so he is comfortable there. When a new dog enters class, I give him more space until he gets used to seeing them there.
Kat, what a good idea to allow your dog to sniff where people have been without the pressure of actually meeting them!
It’s a balmy 13 in PA today, which feels very cold to us given that it’s been the warmest winter on record so far. The wind chill is considerably lower, and I asked my BC Seamus if he knew how lucky he is that I was braving the cold to play soccer with.
him. He reminded me that I am the lucky one to have a fun-loving companion like him! Our first snow looks to be a big storm this weekend, so my dogs will be happy.
Trisha says
Jan asked if the sheep have shelter from the cold. Yes and no. They have a barn to go into for shelter, although there is a big open door that never closes where they enter. It’s out of the wind but not warm otherwise. Unless there is a storm, the sheep prefer to be outside. I made the mistake when I first had sheep of carefully covering the barn windows and doors, doing all I could to seal it up so that the sheep would be as warm as possible. The flock got pneumonia because of the warm, damp air. My well-intentioned efforts darn near killed them all. Sheep need fresh air, shelter from storms, and lots of good food when it gets very cold, but they are fine in very, very low temperatures. That’s why I’ll put on my thick wool sweater this afternoon before I take the BCs out on a long walk. Nothing like a wool coat!
Kat says
@Donna, Interesting you mention your therapy dogs like to sniff each other over when returned from a visit. Ranger is a therapy dog also and I’ve noticed that when he gets back from a visit Finna sniffs every inch of him. We visit usually as part of a group and I’ve spent time with each of the other dogs but Finna couldn’t care less about the other dogs I may have been consorting with she’s all about the fact that Ranger has been consorting with humans outside of his family. It’s part of what made me hope some intentional ‘sniff where the neighbors have been’ walks would help her. Getting inside her head to figure out what I can do to explain to her what I want from her is a never ending challenge.
Nic1 says
Fab, fab, fab! What a treat to see the dogs we are so familiar with having heard so many stories over the years. Thanks Trisha! 🙂
Dear Maddie has such a sweet smile and I have to agree with so many other comments about Otis – it’s a magnificent picture.
LisaW – how lovely to ‘meet’ Olive and Phoebe at last! I agree, a convention would be totally awesome – maybe online via a webinar?
Trisha, it’s really reassuring to me to hear about your training techniques with Maggie’s unfamiliarity with dogs. I did the same with Lily and worked her outside of classes for weeks gradually building up to moving inside. I have to say, it took a bit of persuasion with one trainer (because I was emphasising the importance of her making choices) but I eventually found another trainer who was totally committed to providing the environment we needed and supportive of the methodology. We had a spot by the door with some barriers where we could make a hasty exit if required once we eventually moved inside. Eventually, she became comfortable enough to do scent work indoors and also dunk for hotdogs in a bucket of water during our special Halloween training class party. 🙂 A real breakthrough moment with her licking her wet muzzle and gently wagging her tail….
lin says
I knew what Ranger and Finna look like because I pop in to read Kat’s blog and marvel at how far she has come with Finna, and her patience and inventiveness.
My late Pupper wasn’t that fond of people, and when we would have overnight guests I would ask for them to send me a worn t-shirt beforehand. I would present it to Pupper and tell her to “Smell this,” she would stick her nose in it, and I would give her a treat. I would do this every day, keeping the t-shirt in a plastic bag (and washing it well before I returned it to the owner!) I’m not really positive how well that worked, but figured it couldn’t hurt. Pupper was suprisingly comfortable when my sister visited, but i always wondered if that was because my sister and I had a ‘family’ scent.
It was fun to put faces to the dogs. My biggest surprise was Otis; for some reason I always pictured him as flashy brindle.
Doesn’t someone have a Papillon (Poppy?) and another dog? Would enjoy seeing a picture.
Susan says
I, too, loved seeing the dog stars of this blog. Maddie’s big smile charmed me, and the others were all in just the sort of poses and activities that my imagination places them. For whatever reason the 2 that looked different than I pictured them are Finna and Ranger. Imagination is now corrected for them.
My Gimmel went through a dog-reactive stage when she was about 2-6 years old. i finally contacted a behaviorist, and he came out and videoed us. Being a Terrier Contrarian, Gimm was good as gold. In the weeks we worked with the behaviorist, he never saw her in action. That was the hard part–it was so intermittent. But he gave me exercises to work on and refined my understanding of reactivity, and Gimmel responded well. She is good with almost everybody now, and the few that she exchanges insults with, I think could learn to tolerate each other if we walked parallel to each other for a few times. One thing that I learned was that she can’t tolerate long face-to-face greetings with new dogs. She will start off soft and wiggly but inevitably stiffen and get ugly. I wasted a lot of time trying to see what was happening the moment before she stiffens. Now I just keep the meetings short and offer to walk with the other dog and owner, which always works well for her. I have no idea what’s going through her mind when she stiffens, but I know how to circumvent it. I guess that’s good enough.
Laura says
Pictures!
I’ve always wanted to know what these dogs looked like. I can see them… sort of, especially the bigger dogs like Otis, and what is cuter than a Corgi? Thank you so much for posting these dogs. I especially love Shadow in the snow. thanks to the contrast, I can see him very well. I have learned so much from not just Tricia, but all the readers here, Kat, M, Lisa W… all of you. I also love the funny and great stories you tell. This blog is like a family and I would love a “The other End,” convencion as well. As for the cold… yup, just as painfully cold over here, next door to Tricia in Minnesota. It’s been too cold to work seamus these past few days, so I think he’s been happy to start the week here again at the U of M. Anyway, if you can manage it Tricia, have more people send pictures, they are wonderful from what I can see. Also, I laughed out loud at your aversion to the word blog. “Oh no… he’s got a blog. It’ll have to come out.” Blogectomy? LOL!
Melissa says
Funny hearing people’s strategies for coping with the cold when it’s the heat that is keeping us indoors here in Australia. We are keeping our exercise to early morning romps in the dew and evening trips to the river to cool our toes. My Nordic breeds don’t believe in swimming, it seems, but they like to wade in and get wet to their bellies.
Beth says
Chris from Boise: That is just Maddie. She looks like that for a good chunk of every day. She looks equally cheery when she is trotting along, and the look on her face when I call her and she comes running, all flopping ears and lolling tongue and bouncing wheels, is enough to make my heart sing.
Less often, if she is a little sore or tired or too warm, we get what I call “worried ears” where her ears sink to 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock. But mostly, Maddie is what you see in the photo. She is a sweet, wonderful, trusting dog who thinks that people are just full of the cleverest ideas. If more breeders focused on putting out dogs with Maddie’s disposition, there would be a lot of retiring dog trainers out there.
We are blessed to have her.
Beth says
Love love LOVE seeing all the dogs! Ranger looks as calm and dignified as I imagined. Finna looks very cattle dog in that photo, on her toes and ready to go. Great photo of Otis looking over his world. Lily looks like such a sweetie and Red Dog just happy to be alive and playing. Sleepy Spot looks so relaxed and happy, and all the rest too! So nice to put names to doggy faces.
Diane says
wonder pictures…even without the pictures, I felt I knew the dogs. Wonderful “owners”….hate that word ….feels similar to the feeling of the word “blog”…wonderful friends and family is better. Thank you for sharing
Monika says
What a lovely and gracious post. Thank you for sharing photos of regular commenters. Love seeing images of those who frequently comment. ღ
Trisha says
On “meeting” others through scent: Maggie and Willie also investigate Tootsie when she comes home from therapy work. Maggie is especially focused on her scent, and spends much more time than Willie does smelling Tootsie from head to toe. I would love to see research on the correlation between time sniffing and a dog’s reaction to meeting new dogs or people. Willie, when he was crazily terrified of other dogs, spent far more time investigating the scents of other dogs than he does now. When Maggie first arrived, and everything was new to her, she barely lifted her head up for days. Sue Sternberg said once that if a dog comes into your office and won’t stop sniffing the ground to greet you, the likliehood is high that s/he is dog-dog aggressive. I found that, anecdotally, to be dead right. By the way, Maggie and I worked outside of a training class last night (Brrr) and had a great session–she got a treat and an increase in distance whenever she looked at another dog without growling. After just 5 dogs she was ‘auto-watching’ and didn’t stiffen when she saw another dog. However, we stayed quite far away. (One owner and dog kept moving toward us, just for the dog to have a chance to potty, and I literally had to climb snow banks and slide across ice to keep Maggie at a comfortable distance. All while staying calm and collected. Who said dog training isn’t a sport?)
Ellen Barry says
I am not usually a poster–more often a lurker–but I’m heartened by seeing how creative and compassionate you “regulars” are in dealing with your dogs’ issues. My sweet Flaca (Mexican slang for “skinny chick”) is a rescue, and she’s my first dog. The Ur-dog. The one against whom all other dogs will be compared. She loves all humans, but she watches how I interact before she decides how much love to give them. My dear friends are great assistants in training her not to jump up on them in her exuberant greetings, which she is reluctantly abandoning. I think she can’t figure out why I am not happy when she jumps on the favorite people–I even stopped hugging my friends, thinking she’s following my lead.
On the other hand, she’s not a dog fan. Who knows what life she had before the Humane Society rescued her at 6 months, running around the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. In my mind, she had to struggle to find food and likely was menaced by other dogs–but instead of shirking, she accepts all challenges with a display of barking and lunging. She used to start the bark fest–every walk was an anxious strategy for me in avoiding ALL dogs, because she wanted to lunge and bark at anyone. Now, after four years and LOTS of clicker training, she can walk past most of the dogs in my urban neighborhood, and reserves her outrage for a few “enemy” dogs (all female), who we can pretty easily avoid.
I’ve come to accept that she really doesn’t care to make “dog friends”–her home pack of humans and cats is fine with her. Does anyone think I ought to be trying to get her comfortable in close proximity with dogs–greeting, etc? She’s just unreliable in her reactions, and I’m not smart enough to distinguish between the “fight” that might be the result of a quick establishment of the pecking order, and one which might lead to bloodshed and tears. I don’t want to risk it, but I wonder if I’m doing the right thing?
–Ellen
Trisha says
Welcome Ellen! Here’s my two cents on your very lucky dog: There is absolutely no reason for you to try to push her to become friends with other dogs. You’ve done great work creating a life for a basically feral dog who now can comfortably move through your neighborhood calmly and without distress. She sounds happy with you, you sound happy with her. Every dog doesn’t need to be everything. Toss any feelings of guilt away and be proud of what you’ve done for her. Sounds like she won the Rose Bowl of Happiness when she found you!
LisaW says
Nic1, Lily and Olive look like second cousins. They have that great scruffy ruff and wiry hair and broad foreheads. And, it seems they share some temperament tendencies. So nice to meet Lily, she’s seriously cute.
Okay, I’m just throwing this out there — I keep thinking it would be fun to try and match pictures of the humans with their dogs. I know, it’s not easy to do and it’s against the rules of the anonymous internet, but I sure would enjoy putting more of the puzzle pieces together. But, I can wait for the webinar that’s bound to happen 🙂
Ellen, Trisha said it best (as she always does) that you have created a great world for Flaca, and if you both are happy and see it working, then that’s wonderful. I used to worry a lot (I still worry a little) that Olive’s world wasn’t rich enough. But after much work on all our parts and taking into account her physical and behavioral constitution, we seem to have hit a balance that works most of the time. Like the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, said: “You’ve got to let Olive be Olive.”
Nic1 says
LisaW – they do have a similar look. 🙂 How old was Olive when you adopted her? And it’s so strange that you mentioned about pictures of humans as I was thinking along the same lines but about pictures of us alongside our dogs. 🙂
https://nishidiaries.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/lives-of-steeties-the-story/
I saw this study and thought there might some interested folks here. It’s an ethology study of street dogs in India. They spend most of their day snoozing happily it seems!
Lynn says
Just love this idea of posting the dog’s photos. This is my very first response to your blog, or any blog (which is a strange word) for that matter. I read all your books and visit your web site often. It’s nice to know that you struggle at times to do the work of training, but boy it’s worth it. Just wanted to respond and tell you how much I appreciate your sharing of knowledge and humor and everything dog. Keep doing it please. Waiting on the snow storm in Pennsylvania that is coming tomorrow…..
Lynn
HFR says
When I first started volunteering at the rescue walking various dogs, my dogs would sniff me when I got home. However, after the first few times, they stopped completely. It’s like they resolved themselves to the fact that I was “cheating” on them. 🙂
It’s interesting reading about dog/dog aggression. I’ve been lucky that none of my dogs have had this problem. I’m wondering if maybe that is because I am drawn to retrievers and sporting dogs. I have to say when I was deep into the sport of agility, I think I only met one or two BCs who were not dog aggressive to some degree. (The same was true of the many Aussies I met.) Granted these were highly trained, competitive dogs, but could there be something to the assumption that BCs are just not bred to be especially dog friendly (except it seems with their own breed)? Or is it a side effect of being highly intelligent, super driven dogs? Or maybe in breeding them, dog reactivity is not one of the things that breeders think about focusing on. It’s more about drive, intelligence, health, etc. I think the same could maybe be said about terriers.
I don’t think we can dismiss breeds when we wonder why our dogs are reactive. And I agree that we shouldn’t force our dogs to be something they are not. If they don’t like other dogs, then avoiding them is probably the best way to handle it. It’s like trying to force a dog to love the water, rarely happens.
Thanks again for the pix. Lots of fun!
LisaW says
Nic1, I’m not sure how old Olive was when we adopted her. We were told a good story about her that turned out to be made of whole cloth. Best guess is somewhere around one year maybe a bit younger going by her teeth. Olive is 6 or 7 now. How old is Lily?
Thanks for sharing that interesting study and writer. One question I have is while the Indian street dogs spend a lot of time not on their feet, their brains must be hard at work much of the time and therefore maybe they need less physical activity? Maybe like spending most of the time working on a Nina Ottosson puzzle. No need for a lot of movement.
Mireille says
Spot &Shadow thank you for all the kind words ☺️ They both are very relaxed around the house – usually. Spot is a great sleeper and cuddler too, and hyper husky while walking ? especially now it has finally gotten colder. I was a bit hesitant in training Spot because he is suffering from tummy trouble (possibly a form of IBD / colitis) but since he practically tried to drag me around this evening, I decided to give it a go. I went scootering with him this evening and he absolutely had a blast. It was only a short run, but no cramps, so I hope we can get going again.
I loved seeing the dogs, I also had a different image in my head of Ranger and Finna. Loved the pic of Otis.
As for the smell ; a friend of mine has Schnauzers and she told me that all her dogs, but specifically the male ones, react very strongly to humans belonging to dogs they do not like. One of het dogs even tried to attack a man who owned a dog he had a fight with. No I am totally not familiar with this, my dogs love to get ear rubs from the girl who lives with the enemy down the street… They are very interested when people smell of other dogs. Epsecially when I visited their doggie friends, I get a very close inspection… They are no so interested in smelling strange humans.
Yes, a meeting would be nice but a bit far probably for me – we’re an ocean apart…
Beth says
I also find it very interesting that Maggie only likes other Border Collies. My Madison loves other Corgis and Corgi-sized dogs (she’s especially fond of Beagles), but is not 100% reliable with bigger dogs. She’s not bad, but not wonderful– she has a tendency to stare and/or bark, which confident dogs don’t mind but reactive or uncertain dogs take as a threat.
I always just assumed it had to do with how she was socialized with other dogs. She was an adult when we got her and came from a multi-Corgi home, but perhaps didn’t have a large amount of unstructured time with non-Corgi dogs. So just like dogs who are mostly socialized with women may not generalize what they learned to me (or they might not like people with beards or wearing hats if they weren’t exposed when young), I think that dogs who are mostly socialized with one type of dog might not generalize to others.
I wonder if Maggie recognizes Border Collies by type (size, scent, tendency to be black and white) or if it is their mannerisms she is used to? Border Collies behave in a way that is a bit different than most other breeds.
Kat says
Sharing this with all of you because you’ll understand and appreciate what a huge milestone this is. Finna, the dog that would freak out at the mere touch of a towel when she first came to live with us, the dog that it took me a solid month to condition to wearing a harness, just let me put a raincoat on her and take her for a walk!!!! Photographic proof (since this blog post is about photos of our dogs) https://www.flickr.com/photos/33350160@N02/24450735171 and just because, here’s one of Ranger in his raincoat .https://www.flickr.com/photos/33350160@N02/24450645321 Today has been one of those days where it has rained so hard the dogs don’t even want to go out to relieve themselves but after being cooped up all day they really needed to go out. Ranger is willing to wear a raincoat but I wasn’t sure Finna would cooperate. The only reason I had one for her is that we bought one that wasn’t quite big enough for Ranger. She acted like she’d been wearing one for years.
Susan says
I think that breed predisposition does play into lots of behaviors too. Gimmel is always on her toes. She has never been interested in playing with other dogs, so I’m happy to settle for her being polite to them. Could imprinting be part of their preferring dogs of their own breed/type? it certainly makes sense since that is what the see almost exclusively for the 1st 5 or so weeks of life.
HFR says
Good dog, Finna!!!! She even was cool with the hood! (The minute I put any kind of coat on my dogs, they act like someone gave them a paralyzing drug or something.) I so admire people who work so hard with dogs who have issues and when all the hard work pays off, that’s all the reward they need. Congrats!
Mireille says
@Kat: congratulations! And what a sweet pic of Finna in her coat ;-).
Is it breed disposition or ‘breed style’? I ask that because, yes, my Sibes respond different to other Siberians and similar types of dogs, like malamutes etc.
But they also appear to be quite comfortable with other breeds, fi Schnauzers. they get along very well with my friends Riesenschnauzers (and they only met them when for the first time they were already a couple of years old) and with another friends Dutch/Malinois Sheperd crosses.
They do not like Border collies ((with some exceptions, like the lovely girl in Shad’s class. The first time he saw her he did a lunge/bark, but after I went to her and cuddled her -with permission of the owner- he actually started to like her. And she defintely preferred him over the bouncy lab cross that tried to woooo her.)) I think find the staring offensive?
And they do not particularly like Labs and Boxer, the “bouncy happy go Lucky” types of dogs.
A dog trainer once said to me: “they are pretty serious about dog-etiquette and quick to take offense at impolite behaviour”
Trisha says
Yay Finna & Kat! Never had to put a coat on my dogs, except a vest for Tootsie’s Pet Pals program. Pretty sure the BCs would be offended. Good work Kat..
About the issue of breed/personality and aggression toward other dogs. First, I am not surprised that HFR noted so many BCs were aggressive at agility trials. But I see almost none of that at sheepdog trials. And I’m talking about a place where almost everyone let’s their dogs run off leash when it’s potty exercise time. Here’s my guess–I suspect it has more to do with levels of arousal, and expectations of a dog’s ability to control it’s arousal, than anything else related to breed. I say that because I see dogs being hyped up at agility trials, but never, ever at a sheepdog trial or clinic. Working sheepdogs, as a matter of fact, have to learn to inhibit their arousal levels; it’s a huge part of learning to work difficult sheep in difficult circumstances. Agility dogs, of course, have to be able to concentrate and focus, but so much emphasis is on speed. Working sheep is all about working carefully and in a controlled manner. Agility is about physical ability and speed. Of course, then the question is, why would BCs have more trouble with high arousal than other breeds at agility trials? Not sure, have to ponder, but in part perhaps because they are so intense, and weren’t bred to function at such high levels of arousal? Discuss….!
Beth says
Here’s my own thoughts on “herding dogs at agility being dog-aggressive” thing. What I personally have seen is not so much “dog -aggressive” in the sense of a dog who goes out of its way to attack other dogs, but more a case of herding dogs being snarky and cranky with other dogs at agility.
As I have mentioned, Jack is dog-friendly to the point of being pretty bomb-proof. I have used him to help people socialize not-so-friendly dogs on multiple occasions. If another dog moves in too close, he will simply circle away and if the behavior keeps repeating and a gentle correction does not work, he will go sit on a person’s feet. However, if he is in high arousal because, say, he’s chasing tennis balls, he is not very tolerant of other dogs crowding into his personal space. Since he has great dog social skills, this doesn’t turn into a fight but he will sometimes curl a lip and vocalize pretty loudly (what I call snarking) if someone barges into him when he’s in super high-drive mode.
My own feeling is that herding dogs, as a rule, like to control a space. They are, after all, bred for this. When they reach emotional threshold, their self-control diminishes and their desire to control space can spill over into lashing out at other dogs in frustration, just for being there.
Laura says
At Kat, woo hoo! I’m so glad you got the coat on her. While I never had to train my dogs to tolerate anything on them, neither of my last two liked boots in the winter time. Torpedo would work, slowly but surely, in them but Marlin would have none of it. He kicked off the boots I had bought for him into the snow and I couldn’t find them ever again. I searched and searched and still don’t know where they went. The search made me late for a final and I decided after that, to use mushers wax with him. Seamus was trained to work in the boots and they were given to us upon our graduation from class. He isn’t crazy about them, but he doesn’t put up a fuss either and works normally. It does bring up a good topic about body sensitivity though. I read this story from a guide dog trainer. She said when most dogs get the harness body on, they don’t mind as they’ve been wearing a puppy jacket since they were 8 weeks old but the aversion comes when the harness handle rests on their back. Some dogs are fine with it but some are not and then they develop an aversion to the harness entirely. She said that this is where clicker training works very well. Click and treat the dog every time she shows a relaxed and calm attitude while the harness handle rests on her back and you can usually condition the dog to not only be ok with the harness handle resting on their body, but they can be thrilled with getting in the harness. I’d never read anything from a trainer’s perspective before and I thought it was so cool.
At Tricia,
I think you’re right about a dog’s level of arousal. I’ve seen spats, snarly/barky scuffles, break out at conventions I’ve been at and it’s understandable. the dogs are going all day and they’re tired and cranky. Perhaps it’s the same thing at agility trials? Adrenaline pumping through a BC’s system could definitely create some aggressive behavior. It does in humans… sporting events anyone? I’ve watched agility shows on tv and the bc’s are so excited and ramped up that they’re laying on the platform, barking cause they need an outlet. Anyway, just my thoughts.
Lacey says
re: Mireille’s observation that her husky responded well to the BC after seeing her pet it:
When I was lucky enough to have a helper while introducing a new foster dog to mine, I found it helpful if my dogs could watch me pet the stranger, and even better if they could see it obey a simple command (“Sit”) from me. This seemed to reassure them, and toned down the investigation.
Trisha says
Interesting thoughts, Beth, about controlling space and arousal levels. I’m not sure if that fits with my observation that BCs in general (if ‘good with other dogs’) tend to greet one another relatively carefully. Lots of curling of bodies, sniffing hind quarters, and very little running up to the face of another dog right off the bat. No idea how much this varies by breed versus personality. Heaven knows I’ve seen a gazillion examples of each over the decades, but I honestly can’t say I have done a careful enough analysis of breed by breed to say more. Just more to ponder…
Nic1 says
I agree about the idea of arousal levels being a causative factor for aggression as opposed to simply breed type. A behaviourist I know has said he thinks that the highest number of dog on dog aggression/attack incidents happen at fly ball competitions. Not sure if he had any data to back that up, but it makes sense considering how adrenalised some of the dogs competing can be. Not all dogs who compete in Flyball are BCs.
breed standards? ‘this breed of dog must be naturally sociable with all types of dogs?’ Do breeders prioritise this at all when selecting dams and sires?
LisaW, glad you found the street dog study interesting. What fascinated me was the dogs’ relative lack of reactivity. Pretty chilled out dogs from the film footage posted. They are pretty much in control of their own lives and make their own choices. Mostly snoozing! 🙂 A lot of people take pity on street dogs and their lives that are so different to our pets but I wonder what their baseline cortisol levels are compared to our pet dogs? I also noted how structurally sound they seemed and also a lot had high set tails. I must read ‘Dogs’ by Ray Coppinger again.
Lily is almost 9 – we think. We adopted her aged about 3.
Kat, congrats and tummy scratches to Finna. Boy she looks cute in that coat! As does Ranger!
HFR says
Trisha, I see your point about the differences in training at herding and agility. That is true, the main goal in agility is to ramp up your dog as much as possible, especially at the higher levels. I also think in herding, it’s probably necessary that the dog be able to work around other dogs off leash, even if at a distance. Not at trials necessarily, but certainly in working in the field as more than one dog could be working the stock at once. Whereas in agility, that’s not a requirement to succeed. And, Beth, that is interesting about space too. That is definitely true in agility. To be clear, I was using the term “dog aggression” to mean just what you describe, snarking at a dog who comes to close, not actively going after other dogs. If that was the case, that dog would quickly not be welcome at any trials.
I also think some agility trainers don’t consider dog friendliness a priority for their dog to succeed, since the sport is performed by a single dog at a time. Whereas if you were training for flyball, you’d need a dog who doesn’t mind other dogs in their space. I think the “problem” is BCs are good at everything they try to do or is asked of them so it’s possible to see all kinds of temperaments in them. God bless their souls. 😉
LisaW says
I’m thinking it may be more synapse than controlling space or breed temperament. Agility and flyball demand different neurological responses than herding or dancing. Human brains wholly focused on a soccer ball or football, and given a certain circumstance, riots occur. Like Laura said, “Sporting events anyone?” It may be that a dog’s brain wholly focused on an agility course or flying ball demands that everything else is seen as an impediment and a more aggressive response is warranted. Herding has an entirely different umwelt.
I am not a neurologist so I don’t have the science-based language, but I imagine it’s like when I tried to learn to juggle. I saw the third ball coming at me and I swatted it away as fast as I could. Wholly focused on one thing excludes other information. Swat or Snark.
Kat says
Thank you everyone for the kind words. I knew you’d all appreciate it for the big deal it is. That said, raincoats are not standard for my dogs. Ranger has one that he wears when he’ll be going on a therapy dog visit and it’s raining–oddly enough people aren’t wildly enthusiastic about petting a damp dog and once he’s really soaked it takes Ranger for ever to dry hence he has a raincoat. Yesterday we got three inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Neither dog wanted to be out in that kind of rain so we put on the raincoats. I would have been thrilled if Finna had just worn it long enough to go out and relieve herself before immediately coming back in but she was completely comfortable in it.
As for dogs not getting along well with all types of dogs and preferring their own breed or size I wonder if a lot of it is just the natural tendency to like others like ourselves. Ranger has excellent dog/dog social skills and seldom meets a dog he has any problem with. He’s like one of those people who seems to immediately connect with everyone they meet. Still, in a mixed group of dogs of all types and sizes where he doesn’t already have particular friends he’ll gravitate to the herding breeds first. They’re the ones most likely to want to play the same types of games he does and to require the least negotiating about the rules of those games.
For awhile Ranger had a Husky friend in the neighborhood. They clearly were delighted to see one another and wanted to be together but it took them quite awhile before they figured out a game that satisfied both of them. The Husky, of course, wanted to run and run and run. Ranger wanted to control that motion and herd the Husky. It was interesting seeing how bored Ranger got just running and how frustrated the Husky got when Ranger tried to herd him. In the end they invented a game where Ranger would stand in the middle of the yard and the Husky would run in circles around him. Ranger would make the circle smaller or larger and control the direction of the circling by how he moved in relationship to the Husky and changing those variables at will. The Husky was satisfied because he got to run and run and Ranger was satisfied because he got to control the running.
I offer that story because it seems to me that different breeds have different specialties and styles. When he plays with a herding breed they both automatically know it’s going to be a herding game and they both need to take turns being the sheep. They automatically start out with a lot in common. When he plays with a running breed it’s going to take some work to figure out a game that suits them both. I wonder if Border Collies excel so much at herding type behaviors that they, for want of a better analogy, have a herding dialect that makes it harder for them to understand other dogs and impatient that their signals aren’t instantly grasped by other breeds and types. It’s just so much easier to ‘talk’ to other Border Collies and so much more of a struggle to try to ‘talk’ to other kinds of dogs.
Mireille says
Oh yes, adrenaline… I have one basic rule when I let the guys work (in my case = pulling, dog scoortering or skijoring) ; no interactions with other dogs while working. Especially at the start the adrenalin level is so high that they are much more likely to overreact to other dogs. And they are in chase mode, so there is always the danger of them chasing another dog – and me hanging on for dear life ?
Even gentleman Chenak would snark at a young dog that came to ‘say hi’ while he was working.
About BC’s; I didn’t mean that they were more prone to be agressive but that my guys tend to overreact to BC’s because they misinterpret their body language, eg feel threatened by there stare. Fi there is a very shy Male BC that ducks and stares when he sees my two, which sets my two into a lunge/bark session, which he then finds frightening, so he makes himself even smaller. I feel sorry for the little guy.
Mireille says
By the way: someone mentioned runners and agression? A friend of mine is a talented runner, normally a quiet and polite guy. One day he was in a race and soms less talented / fast runners were in his way, chatting amiably while ‘racing”. He violently shoved one to the side and got into a shouting match. He was so riled up, seemed like a different person. .
Yes, human runners that run races not for fun but really competitive are aggressive as well. Actually they need some of that agression: in olympic triathlon races fi the swimming is more an underwater battle than a swimming race. Competitors end up with bruises and scratches and those who trie to stay out of the melee lose valuable time.
Another example: watch a 1500 mtr final when the runner go to the inside lanes: a lot of pushing and shoving. Spikes are sometimes planted in other people achilles tendons. That is not a friendly environment and people show aggressive behaviour there.
Oh and how about adrenaline and road races in cycling: there are plenty of examples form the Tour de France: this is after the finish, most people would be tired and wanting food & hot shower, but there was some leftover adrenaline??? https://youtu.be/hu0Jltcq3-s
There are incidents like this in practically every Tour. It’s part of it, I mean, nobody in his right and sane mind would consider going to the finish in a group of cyclists at 60 km/hour in a full sprint. You have to be a bit crazy to do that… Actually, it is quite surprising perhaps in a field full of young males that so little incidents happen 😉
Susan says
Agility arousal==Gimmel and I went to a trial that was running 2 rings, after our other trials with only one ring. She has no problems in the crating area or outside the ring with all kinds of dogs milling around, but another dog running in the other ring drove her nuts. She just wanted AT THAT OTHER DOG!! She ran the fence and we were eliminated before she ever even looked at the 1st obstacle. I was a bit surprised because at class there is always more than one dog running and she’s OK with it. I have to find other over-the-top locations to acclimate her.
Beth says
Nic1, lots of Jack Russel terriers compete in fly ball, so I imagine there are lots of fights there. They are known for being scrappy in the best of circumstances.
Regarding whether breeders prioritize dog-dog sociability: Yes, in many cases they do. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Foxhound out of a working pack who was naturally dog-aggressive. It makes them worthless and any aggressive lines are not kept by the kennel, going back dozens of generations. In fact, most purpose-bred scent hounds are very dog social because they often hunt in packs or braces.
Bird dogs (setters, pointers) are field trailed in braces (pairs) and need to honor the lead dog’s point. So they tend to be fairly dog-friendly. Similarly, Labradors would be asked to sit in a blind or under cover with other dogs and handlers whom they had perhaps not even met. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, on the other hand, were professional goose hunters’ hunting dogs but also guarded the boat and tended to hunt in one handler/ one dog teams. Many are aloof to other dogs, though they are getting more dog-social I think as generations go by and they are turning into sportsmen’s dogs as professional hunters no longer have much role.
Working border collies were rarely the only dog on the farm and must be able to work with other dogs, so they tend toward the friendlier side of the equation but as has been mentioned, they have some innate tendencies like staring and freezing that can make other dogs react.
Private guard dogs like Dobermans, on the other hand, are intentionally bred to be distrustful of anyone they don’t know, including other dogs. Many of these types of dogs can be ok with dogs in their own household but must be carefully introduced to other dogs and might never be ok.
There is a vast sea of dogs who lie in the middle, whose purpose caused them to neither be bred for dog-friendliness or for dog-aggression.
The most extreme cases are dogs who were bred for dog-fighting, of course, and many of those dogs have had normal dog communication skills intentionally bred out of them to make them more effective in a fight. It does not help to warn your opponent of what you are about to do next. Poor things.
Susan says
Another story of competitive adrenaline-fueled aggression. I went on a hack once with a friend. We were both riding ex-steeplechase racehorses who were stabled right next to each other. At one point one of them gave the other a small nip, and they were off. we couldn’t turn or circle because right next to me was a fence and on the other side of my friend was a 6-foot bank. We had to just ride it out. When we finally were able to pull up both horses were high as kites, and we had to ride back to the barn with 20′ between the 2. They could never be stabled next to each other again, and remained rivals whenever they saw each other.
Bruce says
After a record 3-foot (!!!!) snowfall and digging through the shoulder-high drift blocking the back door, we released the dogs into winter wonderland. Sandy the Sammy greeted the snow with eyes shining, but the Pug clearly felt that the snow was an unnecessary inconvenience.
Red Dog’s initial response to the snow was “OMG the world just ended”. After a short time, though, she started bounding full-speed through the soft powder. Maybe tomorrow I’ll stomp out a circular dog racetrack in the back yard.
Tomorrow, of course, will be Dogs In Snow Picture Day . . .
Re dogs getting along with same/different breeds – we have had mostly mutts over the years, and they seem to care more about personality than pedigree. Red Dog will initiate play with dogs of any breed, but seems find maximum joy in chasing fast-running dogs like Pointers, Whippets, Salukis, etc. If she can overtake and cut off a slower-running dog she will. Some dogs take that as a signal to wrestle; others get annoyed and don’t want to play any more.
I have heard that dogs with a ruff of hair on their shoulders/back (Samoyeds, etc.) are more likely to get attacked by other dogs – perhaps their natural coat is misinterpreted as piloerection (raised hackles). Not sure if there is any solid data on this idea.
Mary Lou says
I have four dogs. Two Leonbergers, male and female, not related, and two Irish Jack Russells, male and female, not related. They all get along wonderfully. They enjoy being together and playing together and riding in the car together. They are our kids filling the void left in our home since our six sons have grown and have families of their own. I’m so excited to find your website and to be a part of your blog. I’ve never “blogged” before so this is a learning experience for me! I’d like to send you a picture of my “kids”, and am looking forward to reading and enjoying your website. Thanks so much for opening a whole new experience for me!
Nicola says
Came here to reflect on Willie’s 12th birthday as also thought about all the blog dogs getting older too. My lovely girl Lily has now passed away and also realised that Otis and Maddie are no longer with us too. The time we have with our dogs is so precious and sometimes can be painfully short. It’s nice we got the opportunity to talk about them and share our stories on here with other dog lovers around the world 😊❤️