On Sunday all the dogs in the Pet Pals Program came in for their twice annual vet check. It's fun for us because it's a great chance for us to say hello to the other teams and meet some of the new dogs. It's also a chance for me to play with my camera and take some photos of the remarkable dogs in this program. We see children and their families at the American Family Children's Hospital, many of whom are very ill or badly injured, and all of our dogs have to be quiet, sweet and basically bomb proof. I joke about them acting like "semi-stuffed dogs," but believe me, their hearts are all alive and beating with love. Here's to them, and all they do. Read More
When is it Acceptable to Break the Basic Rules of Dog Training?
Today's question was inspired by the comments of sheepdog trainer Patrick Shannahan, who argued at a recent sheep dog clinic that I needed to ask Maggie to "take responsibility" for her behavior. Eeeps! Isn’t that perspective one that trainers and behaviorists (me included) have been arguing against for decades? In most contexts, it is the last thing we should be doing. It calls to mind the ubiquitous comment “I KNOW he knows better!” when some poor dog pees on the rug because he’s never been house trained. Or the standard perception that dogs are jumping up even though they "know" they shouldn't—and if we just stopped coddling them they’d straighten up and behave. Perhaps the best extension of this misapplication of asking dogs to “take responsibility” is Will Ferrell’s Saturday Read More
What I’m Thankful For, 2015
I'm already feeling that "holiday buzz," during which it's easy to fall into feeling pressured about the special dinners and the houseguests and the gift list. I'm not immune, but one of the ways I try to counteract it is to stop and savor the multiple things that I am thankful for. Here's my own list, at least as it relates to my life with animals. I will read yours with pleasure and gratitude when I settle down several times a day with a cup of warm tea, and Tootsie snuggled on my tummy. I am grateful for Maggie’s ridiculous postures on the couch when she tries to seduce us into rubbing her belly for yet another fifteen minutes. Every time she goes all bendy on us, turning her body into something resembling a furry paperclip, Jim and I can’t resist laughing. I am grateful for Read More
Cyber Solace
It's been a few days since the bombing in Paris, and yet, of course, it still resides, like a black tumor, inside of my psyche. First, I want to say that I am so so sorry--to everyone directly involved, and to those indirectly involved and to the entire world community that is trying to find a way to cope with the consequences of evil. If you know my work, you know that I never mention politics, but I find that this is one of the times that world events overshadow everything but the primal reality of being human, and all the good and the bad entailed in our species. Sometimes the amount of suffering in the world feels overwhelming. And yet, there is only so much we can do, and sometimes one of those things is to provide solace to ourselves and those around us. Coincidentally, I have Read More
What does “Licking” Mean?
Someone once told me that her dog, Barney, was clearly anxious because she "lip licked" every time she asked him to sit or lie down. That's seemed to be a reasonable conclusion, except that the dog's tongue always flicked out laterally to sop up a stream of drool every time he heard the cue. I suggested that Barney was anticipating the food, and was salivating and licking in anticipation. This incident is a great example of the pitfalls of acquired knowledge: As we improve our ability to "read" dogs, it is easy to worry about expressions or movements that might, or might not, be indicative of distress in our best friends. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to look at all the contexts in which dogs lick, and our best guesses about what it means when they do. ANTICIPATION OF Read More
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