|
It may not be obvious when you look at him but our Indie Dog has a problem. He tends to be very aggressive around other dogs.
My wife has engaged the assistance of one of our neighbors, a breeder of lovely Australian Shepherds. The preferred method is click & treat which relies on the dog being more motivated by praise and food than by the flavor of the passing Yorkie. Pretty simple stuff, when the dog exhibits a desirable behavior, the click is an immediate promise of reward. So ignore the dachshund, click and treat. Sit at the street crossing, click & treat. It's important that the treat tastes better than boxer. We blend something like hot dogs (nitrite free of course) with kibble (current selection herring and sweet potato) Logistically, at least for me, its a bit of a challenge. The leash needs to occupy both hands, looped around one wrist and controlled/tensioned by the other. The clicker has to go somewhere and one hand must hold a ready supply of the promised reward. So here's Cloverdale's most excellent fiduciary being dragged down 3rd Street, reeking of Olson's Deli and desperately trying to maintain the rhythm of click-treat. Very nice. Surprisingly, despite my limited abilitiesit seems to work. Indie is, thankfully, very food oriented and hasn't tasted dog flesh in many months. Still not ready for prime time but better. Find myself wondering about a possible application in my client work. Maybe a click and tasty treat could get Olivia to finally sign that release. Or maybe Montgomery will turn over the rest of the contested family treasures with the promise of something yummy. Or ....... In my almost 31 years of marriage, Carol and I have been blessed by the companionship and devotion of dogs.
Ginny was a rescue dog of some magical collie/shepherd mixture and was there to welcome and nanny our children. She survived our move to the North Coast and thrived in our first Cloverdale Home. Ursa Minor was our venture into the privileged world of burebreds. A very attractive red and white Pembroke Corgi, her herding instincts were very visible. One our her self-assigned jobs was to herd our son up the stairs and into bed each evening. Tea Time was a pure bred Aussie, very beautiful, gentle and affectionate. We rescued her from a local family and were rewarded a thousand times over with her devotion and playfulness. She became a Canine Good Citizen and accompanied Carol to our local elementary school on many occasions. Reading to TT became a valued reward for completion of tasks for students in Carol's class. The new guys are Maddie and Indie. Litter mates from different planets. Maddie has the look of a border collie and is all energy and mischief. She accompanies me on some client visits where she shows her gentle, affectionate side. Indie is very much a Golden Retriever with the infectious smile, equally content with a romp through the back 40 with Maddie or just plopped beside me on the sofa. Through the years all of our dogs have brought us love, companionship and comfort. They give us a reason to squeeze more out of a lovely spring day or to bring a warm tongue and cold nose to a shut in. We have come to value rescue dogs as a small pay back to all of the canines that have touched our lives. We give so little relative to the return. |
Don the Trustee
When my mother passed very suddenly some 16 years ago, I worked as a trustee for the first time. Her trust contained walnut orchards, peach orchards and a small vineyard. One of the properties was within the sphere of influence of the adjacent city and I dove in with the neighbors and started working on annexation. Loved this work back then and still find it very satisfying today. Archives
August 2012
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed