The Dog Blog

Tonight I noticed that Talley glanced at Argil ever so briefly as she took refuge in her favored corner cave, complete with air duct. As you may recall, I had written previously about the battle fought and lost, by Argil, to keep the air duct Talley free. It was not to be. However, I belive there has been some fall out from that event. Even though there were no harsh reprimands or verbal scoldings, and certainly no physical punishments, it confused Talley and her world according to Talley rules. Displaced from a favored location, she was not certain of where she belonged. She began to seek out other "caves" in the home. There has been other odd behavior. A few nights ago, while I was out teaching class, Argil had the dogs outside, and Talley would not come in. Everytime he went back out for her, she had moved to another location in the yard, but still refused to move. Being a smart man, he finally went and got some cheese, and was able to bring her in.

I've been trying for days to write an upbeat piece for the blog, but my heart isn't in it. 

By now most people have heard about the shooting and killing of Bear-Bear, the young husky whose only crime was playing like a dog in an off-leash park in Severn, MD.  In brief, last Monday night off-duty cop Keith Shepherd and his wife, Wendy, brought their German shepherd into this park on a leash, Bear-Bear approached and engaged with the GSD, and Shepherd pulled out a 9mm gun and blasted a hollow point bullet into the husky's body.  He claims that he, his wife and his dog were being attacked.  There were no injuries sustained to any of them.  Bear-Bear died as a result of his extensive injuries after suffering for 6 hours.

Paying It Forward…………..

I guess you could say that my actual career in understanding dogs and their behaviors began when I was only five years old and not actually by choice.  My mother was an animal shelter volunteer at our local shelter and every day, religiously, after breakfast, we walked out our front door, past the neighbor’s house and into the animal shelter to volunteer our time.  The shelter was located just two doors away from our home.  Two very determined women transformed the city’s pound and animal gas chamber into a loving, caring, animal shelter back in the early 60’s.

People need it and so do animals, environmental enrichment, that is!  Imagine if your life revolved around getting up in the morning, showering, brushing your teeth, combing your hair and getting dressed only then to be told that you needed to sit in a chair for 8 hours with nothing to do!  What if you were told that this was going to be your life, day after day?  Now what if I also limited your outdoor enrichment to the backyard only, no car rides, no stores, no movies, and no excitement.  I only allow you to access your backyard and only to get a little bit of fresh air.  I will not allow you to garden or have any other outdoor enrichment activities.  I have also decided that you are not to have any friends, no company other than me, how boring!  Eventually, your life becomes quite boring and with no enrichment, you may begin to get depressed or perhaps develop physical and emotional issues.  Now let’s put your dog in that s