Last week I was called to the Massachusetts State House to testify about “dangerous dogs.” I agreed to go because it was just an information gathering session and anyway, Representative Vincent Pedone, who invited me sounded like a reasonable guy on the phone.
When asked about breed bans I lead off with the statement that the breed bans were odious. I guess I should have used the word hateful because a lot of people misunderstood and sent me hate email (“How could a person in your position …”etc).
At my dog daycare facility, I often find owners struggling to help their dog maintain a sit during greetings, or apologizing for their excited behavior in the daycare lobby. They seem to really want the dog to come into the facility in a calm, respectable manner. This same scene takes place on sidewalks, in parks, at the vet’s office and in homes across the country.
I have a confession: Soko, my German Shepherd who passed away last April at the age of 13, was an addict. Yes, friends, if she could have stood on a dog house in a yard filled with her canine peers, she would have barked out, “My name is Soko and I am a tennis ball addict.” No doubt the malamutes would have woo-woo’d a warm, “Welcome, Soko!” The other Shepherds would have nodded knowingly. The Border Collies, of course, would simply have stared.
If I’d gone to puppy classes, I’d not have chewed your glasses Or caused you such great pain Oh I woulda been a good dog, and I coulda been a good dog If I only had been trained.
I would not be just a nothin’, my mouth all full of stuffin’ From your new couch and chair I’d behave – you must believe me Don’t you know you’re s’posed to leave me In my crate when you’re not there.
(chorus) Oh gee, I’m running free – I slipped out of the door You can chase me but you’ll never catch me cause
Many dog owners falsely believe that their four, six or eight month old dog is still a puppy. Well, I suppose she is in the same way that my 23 year old daughter is still my little girl. However, my feelings about my daughter do not change the fact that she is most certainly an adult. Likewise, the cuteness or playfulness of any dog doesn’t change the fact that a dog becomes an adolescent around four months of age.
I just returned from a training appointment with one of my favorite clients. Cory and Carol are a forty-something couple who have a twelve-year-old son and a Golden Retriever named Vinnie. Perhaps it’s my Brooklyn roots, but the dog’s name strikes me as funny and adorable. The dog is both.
On my routine evening strolls along one of the most gorgeous beaches I have seen in my life, I watched the typical sunset “scene” and pondered the life of the dogs that lived and played in this quaint little surfer town.
A few years ago, I brought an adolescent dog home from the shelter. You know the type – part beagleshepherdspaniellabrador. A robin stalking, trail sniffing animal who liked to herd birds and paddle water out of her bowl as fast as I could put it in. She was a four-legged piece of imperfection with soulful eyes and poetic ears, and while furtively stealing my socks out of the laundry basket, she also stole my heart.
In the middle of a conversation with a daycare client the other day, I was interrupted with, “…I know, I know. Socialization, socialization, socialization.” The client rolled her eyes as she said this, and we both laughed. She’s heard my mantra many times and she knows I’m passionate about it.
It has been a while since I’ve reported on the dogs of Costa Rica and it’s because I couldn’t bear to sit at the computer while in such a gorgeous place. Instead, I spent my days enjoying the atmosphere and trying to savor every detail, making notes on a hotel message pad in order to remember as much as possible about my brief stay.