One night while watching “Mrs. Doubtfire” on TV, Tom and I started doing that classic “Hello” she does with whipped cream on her face … just to crack each other up. Well, it really got Lilly going, and she started to howl. We’d never heard her do that before, but the more we laughed and the more we “hello’d,” the more she sang. Now, we do it nearly every night as a pack. Tom and I do the “hellos.” Lilly provides the melody, and Ginko does the background yip-yip-yips. Check out this recent recording (about 15 seconds).
We do not approach others as blank slates. We make all manner of assumptions about them based on how they look, what they do, what they say. This is especially true when dogs are involved. Those of us who adore our dogs make assumptions about other dog owners — most of them good. It’s called a “fundamental attribution error.”
Lilly had a full-blown panic attack during an outing Saturday night. It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, so it caught me a little off guard. Thankfully, the clouds rolled in, dropping the temperature a lot and making it safe to crate her in the car so that she could calm down. Looking back on the chain of events, I think I understand the triggers.
Have you ever heard of those productivity studies, where no matter what researchers do productivity goes up (at least temporarily)? Paint gray walls pink. Productivity goes up. Paint them gray again. Productivity goes up. Pipe in music. Productivity goes up. Pull the music … you get the picture. Sometimes that’s how I feel about all the ways I try to help Lilly overcome hear shyness and fear. Everything seems to help, at least at first. I’m beginning to think we have a productivity placebo effect.
In response to “No praise for you.” a regular reader compares matching newbie handlers with green dogs to putting a first-time rider on an inexperienced horse. Hello … disaster calling. The question she raises is valid: Would green handlers learn more from running experienced dogs before they attempt to train their own green dog? After all, you can get already-trained field dogs? Why not already-trained agility dogs?
There are no sissified city dogs at my house. We have rough and tumble mountain dogs around these parts. And, that means, they get into all sorts of really gross situations. So, come with me my friends, and let’s play as David Letterman would say, “fastest growing quiz sensation” … What’s THAT smell?
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