Lessons From and For 4 Legs

It has been hard to find time to post lately and I really miss blogging. Between writing my lesson plans for the classes I’m assisting and hope to teach one day soon, writing the column for the local paper, reading my reference books for my CPDT, working, walking, and life. . . Whew! Blogging just seems to get neglected. So prepare yourself for one of these chatty posts that contain little useful info, but I always enjoy going back and reading.

First I want to send thoughts to our blogging friend Gizmo. He was just diagnosed  with osteosarcoma and needs all the well wishes we can send him. Having lost a Rottie to this awful disease, my heart goes out to him and his family. maybe you can hope over and leave him and his mom a note or send some kind thoughts his way. The end is the worst part of having a dog and I know we’ve all been through it.

"Do you have to go again??"

On a lighter and less important note, my last column was about how to choose the best dog for you, which is funny cause lately I’ve been puppy dreaming over a totally new breed. I love my Cav’s, but I’m fascinated by the differences on breeds. This week we had a 10 week old French Bulldog in puppy class. I’m now obsessed with Frenchies. That little dog is so funny! He’s totally a big dog in a little, teeny, tiny body. The AKC describes them as, “a clown in the cloak of a philosopher.” I love puppy dreaming. It’s totally unrealistic, but it fun.

The dogs aren’t loving me working. They really can’t understand why Crazymomlady is gone so much, but I think they’re loving the perks of all the good stuff I keep bringing home.

I’m reading Patricia McConnell’s Fiesty Fido Help For the Leash Reactive Dog. It’s interesting, as all of her stuff is. She talks about why dogs react on leash. Of course she presents the reason most of us are familiar with, the “I’ll scare you before you scare me” train of thought.

She also talks about exuberant frustration, where a dog is not afraid, but overly friendly and after so many times of being stopped from greeting the other dog by the leash he develops a negative association with the approach of another dog. These dogs often play nice when off leash, but the years of frustration of being denied what they want boils over into aggression when on leash.

One idea I had never thought of was that a dog who barks and lunges to the end of his collar associates the pain caused by the a collar check with the approach of another dog. You can imagine how this would be exacerbated by a training or prong collar.

On a totally different note, remember when I was worried about Magnus being ginormous? Well he is! We had to go to the vet last week and he weighs 19 pounds! I don’t know why but just in the last week or so he started looking really grown up to me. That’s probably why I’ve been so puppy hungry. I was always worried if he weighed that much he would look fat, but the bet said he was perfect for his structure. He really is a sold boy, but I think the thing that makes him look more grownup than anything is he’s finally getting his ears on him. I love Cavalier ears, and his are going to be great. Sometimes he just looks like a little lion with is read hair all fluffy.

Obviously I fell off the Relaxation Protocol band wagon. Now of course I regret letting myself slack cause Maizey’s stress level has been higher this week than in the last month combined. I intend to remedy that today.

So all in all we’re doing good. I’m Working on a monday miles post now so start getting your miles ready for tomorrow. I’d love to hear from every member of the Challenge.  So there’s my chatty post. Lots going on and still more to do as usual. I hope you all keep checking by!