Last night I went to sleep in our tent camp to the soft buzz of Snowy Tree Crickets, and woke up to an ice cream-colored sunrise. And then to the horrific news about Las Vegas, and then to an email that asked me if I knew that my Facebook page was flooded with comments, several of them negative. After reading all of the comments on Facebook and the blog, I feel compelled to answer some of them here. As background, if you need catching up, last week I wrote a review of the Monks of New Skete’s book, Let Dogs Be Dogs. We posted it on Facebook, and so far it has reached 119,576 people and generated 182 comments. Some of them express disappointment in me for writing a negative review; some go a bit, uh, farther. Rather than answer each comment individually, I’ve responded here to the most Read More
Book Review: Let Dogs Be Dogs
Let Dogs Be Dogs: Understanding Canine Nature and Mastering the Art of Living with Your Dog by The Monks of New Skete and Marc Goldberg. The primary premise of the books is that dogs can't be happy without a pack leader, and that had better be you. It thus seems appropriate to begin this review with a definition. LEADER: 1. One that leads or guides. 2. One who is in charge or command of others. 3a. One who heads a political party. 3b. One who has influence or power. 4a. A conductor. 4b. The principal performer in an orchestral section. 5. The foremost animal, such as horse or dog… 12. The growing apex or main shoot of a shrub or tree. 13. An economic indicator. Abridged from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition. As is clear, the word leader has Read More
Fun with Food at the Farm
Just some snapshots this week, the first regarding Sunday afternoon's project turning a batch of organic Roma tomatoes into red sauce for pasta. Here are some just after being harvested by yours truly from Vermont Valley Community Farm. Here's where they ended up after four hours of cooking on low with onions, garlic and spices. This chest freezer is large enough to hold a entire cow, so you'll note lots of bags on the right that help keep things organized. (The red sauce will eventually go into the bag with red sauce, marinara sauce and pizza sauce. I just hadn't organized it yet. It's on the left right now.) The freezer is so large that I used to lose track of everything in the bottom half, and ended up throwing much of it away when I finally cleaned the freezer Read More
Family Dog Training Classes-What’s in Your Curriculum?
My first experience in a dog training class was in 1968 in Southern California. We were to teach our dogs to sit, stay, heel and come from ten feet away. From a Sit/Stay. That was it. A lot of energy was put into perfect heels (using leash jerks of course) and long Sit/Stays for no discernible purpose except blind obedience. Most training classes were based on obedience competition, as if family dog owners cared about perfect heel positions and long sit/stays. But an “obedient dog” was defined by “obedience competitions”. (For more history of training classes, see this interesting article about the evolution of obedience classes.) That was then, this is now, and it’s not surprising that things have changed. 1968, heaven help me, was 49 years ago, when we Read More
Can Dogs Feel Pride?
It’s Sunday of Labor Day Weekend and Maggie is exuberant. Her face is glowing. She’s leaping onto her hind feet and pirouetting in a half circle like a ballet dancer while looking into my eyes. If she’s not actually smiling, she’s doing a perfect imitation of a slap-happy human grin. We’d just done our first run at the WWSDA Labor Day Trial in Hudson, WI, and it went well. Nowhere near perfect, but still a lovely run, and the only mistakes were handler errors on my part. We ending up placing seventh on that run, sixth on the next, and 5th in combined scores. The only higher scores were handlers who run in the advanced class (Open), which includes, if not the equivalent of tennis stars like Serena Williams, the ones she plays against in the US Open. I was thrilled, in part because all Read More
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