As a trainer, I’ve received calls like this more than once: “Buddy’s a great dog, he’s sweet, he loves people, and he likes most other dogs. He even plays with them at the park. But there’s this one neighborhood dog he just doesn’t like. Can you help?”

Sure, that one dog can present a problem if the dogs have to pass each other every day on walks or if, for example, the dogs are in the same group class. And yes, a trainer can help the owner to manage the situation so the dogs can co-exist. But the deeper issue is the belief so many people hold that their dogs must like every dog they meet. Do you like every person you meet? I doubt it, and I doubt there’s a person on the planet who does.

I’ll admit it. My attitude toward the new “social media” has been less than enthusiastic. At this time I don’t have a Facebook page, I don’t have a personal blog, and until yesterday, I wasn’t on Twitter. My view of Twitter, where you post up-to-140-character “tweets” about what you’re doing, was that I really didn’t need to know that you just did your laundry or were going out for a bite to eat. Then I read an article in Time magazine about Twitter, and all of its potential uses. And it got me to thinking. Then it got me to investigating. Then… yep, I joined. Yes, I’m now “tweeting” along with thousands of others.

A recent study purported to show that dogs do not feel guilt but that so-called guilt is a product of our anthropomorphic imaginations.The dogs were put in a room with their owners and told not to eat a tasty treat.The owners then left the room. Some of the dogs were then offered the treat by one of the researchersbefore the owner returned to the room. The owner was then misinformed as to whether their dog had committed theoffense.  Apparently, there was verylittle connection between the dogs’ guilty look and the disappearance of thetreats.  This study proves that dogowners (people in general) see what they believe to be true as opposed to whatis actually going on.  It isanother example of the so-called placebo effect.  

We live with three dogs, Claude, Dune, and Hugo, and two cats, Uggs and Mayhem. Most activities are fairly routine and deviate very little from day to day. For example, each mealtime is a well-rehearsed three-dog, two-cat, three-human performance.

Similarly, the dogs' morning walks usually follow a prescribed schedule — but with one big difference. The dogs are sometimes walked together, but my wife Kelly tries her best to also walk each of the three dogs individually at least once a day. After all, each dog walks differently. The dogs walk at different speeds, for different distances, and have very different interests and abilities while walking.

American Bulldog Dune yearns for really long power walks with occasional short breaks for heavy-duty peeing. For Dune, the purpose of the walk is physical exercise — to move and to move quickly – and to leave reminders for those who come after that he was there first.