Dogs in General

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Cesar Millan – Take 2

/ Dog Training, Dogs in General / By / 1 Comment

Seems Cesar has a way of stirring things up wherever he goes. He’s attracted a fair amount of attention here in Shanleyville. Irma, a thoughtful reader, left a comment on why she found Cesar’s approach useful for certain situations. She brings up some valid points.

Different trainers become popular with different people for different reasons. Obviously, the Dog Whisperer show has struck a nerve. I don’t find that surprising; there are a lot of dogs who need more training. And … Read more

Two Dogs vs. One Dog

/ Dogs in General, My Dogs and Me / By / 46 Comments

Watching Kiera and Graidy playing with each other this morning, I’m more keenly aware than usual of the benefits of having two dogs.

I’ve just come back from a visit to my mother’s. She has one dog, Zoe; a beautiful, 4 yr old German Shepherd, who’s a ball nut.

zoe1.jpg Because Zoe is a high energy dog, and doesn’t have another dog to help tire her out, she is constantly looking for someone to throw her ball. My mother does her … Read more

Dear Dogs

/ Dogs in General, Funnies / By / 2 Comments

A pet-loving friend sent this to me and cc’d a copy to Andrew. There’ve been several versions that have made the rounds. It still cracks me up.

Dear Dogs,

When I say to move, it means to go someplace else, not switch positions with each other so there are still two dogs in the way.

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a

… Read more

Cesar Millan

/ Dog Training, Dogs in General / By / 1 Comment

Okay, I have to say it. I don’t like Cesar Millan’s training methods. He’s set dog training back about 20 years.

The Alpha Roll?! Come on, really. And I don’t know of any good trainer who would EVER say, “Don’t try this at home.” Then what’s the point, I ask you? Showmanship, ego, and money. That’s the point.

It’s not that Millan is wholly without merit. There are some training techniques that even Millan doesn’t have to turn into an … Read more

Would you do it to your dog?

/ Dogs in General / By / Leave a Comment

I’ve been following Marc Bekoff’s work on Ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior) for years. He’s written and edited a number of books on the subject, including The Smile of a Dolphin: Remarkable Accounts of Animal Emotions, a collection of short essays on animal behavior.

One of his recent articles asks the question of animal research scientists, “Would you do it to your dog?”, in an attempt to address the question of animal experimentation in general, while highlighting … Read more

10 Great Reasons to Have a Dog

/ Dogs in General, On Writing / By / 65 Comments

Yesterday, I had the good fun of speaking with a terrific group of kids who were spending their week at Mahogany Ridge KidsCamp. It’s a camp where kids and their dogs get to play and learn together. Theresa Richmond, the camp director and trainer, (whom some of you may remember from Dogs of Dreamtime) invited me to give a talk on what it’s like to write about dogs.

As with training dogs, writing about dogs is best learned by … Read more

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