Pedalling Uphill

Bonnie - My problem rescue dog and our happy ending: Hyper active, pacing, jumping all over us, pooping and peeing inside (even when she knows she will be punished and after having been taken for a walk) – just all around an exhausting, demanding dog (even though she’s only 10 pounds).  When we would walk Bonnie (on one of those retractable leashes which might be good for some dogs, but not ones behaving as this one was), she would run ahead weaving back and forth across the street in a dizzying pattern, constantly pulling. The good side: She’s very affectionate, cute as all get out, excellent with young children, very smart and totally non aggressive. The solution: Just by luck I stayed up late to watch a British program about unmanageable dogs who were at the end of their line.  One, a bearded collie fit the exact profile of Bonnie – sweet natured, smart, healthy but hyper active -  the only problem was that when he was herding sheep (his job), he would get the uncontrollable urge to kill one at the same time.  This cuts into sheep owner’s profits L and needless to say was frowned upon.   So this very nice British lady undertook the retraining to save his life.  The first thing she did was make him walk BEHIND her.  You hold a stick, like a walking stick in one hand and a short leash in the other.  Placing the leash hand behind your back, you tell the dog ‘behind me’ and use the stick to block their way if they try to get in front.  The next morning, I tried this on my hyper active dog and it was like a complete transformation!  She fell into line behind me and calmly walked meekly along.  Today it’s 7 days since I started doing this and she is a changed dog.  No peeing or pooping in the house, the pacing has stopped and she is a much more relaxed dog.  She still has a lot of energy, but it’s not the frenetic kind she exhibited before – it’s a playful type. I’m really hoping this little piece of knowledge can help other desperate folks that are having trouble with wonderful but uncontrollable dogs.  Try it!  It costs nothing – and the effects can be seen almost immediately.  The dog psychology behind it seems to be that the dog has to see you as the Alpha (lead dog of the pack). They become very stressed – hence the pacing and irrational running around on the leash – when they have to assume that role by being out in front of you on the leash, or by sitting higher than you (on the back of the sofa for instance) or even by running out the door ahead of you.  These are actions that should be attributed to the Alpha human, not the dog.   Further investigating these theories led me to a very informative website called www.dogbreedinfo.com  - look over at the categories on the right side of the opening page. 

I just hope this little piece of information can be as helpful to some other troubled dog owners as it was to me.  If you think it can, please pass it on. 

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Last week, Abe and Tazzie got up early and Chester and I slept in.� When we finally got ourselves together, I saw Ches start down the stairs with his usual boink a boink to each step and then�we both�heard Abe in the kitchen�chastizing Taz� “Bad dog Taz, bad dog!”� Without missing a beat he made a U turn and boink a boinked back up the stairs and stood at the top with his head through the railing listening for more details.�

He really cracked me up…that’s his job - to make me laugh and look at him with intense�love in my heart and know that he’s the cutest dog in the world.� But judging from some dog magazines, maybe I’m not expecting enough from my dogs.

Recently I picked up copies of the two most popular dog magazines and as I read through them, it started to dawn on me that as with everything in our society today, a good thing taken to extreme can be pretty ugly.� Dogs are riding the crest of popularity, but that means there are plenty of people ready to exploit them to make big $$$.�

I feel sick looking at the Pitbull ads so obviously created to appeal to the ‘macho’ among us.� “Monster dogs with large heads (tiny cropped ears making it look even more fierce), wide chests, thick bone structure.� Extremely athletic for the ultimate in working ability” they read.� The ads and the dogs both look like something out of a nightmare!� What type of work are they doing?� Herding sheep?� Leading�the blind?� Surely not working with the police…even they would be afraid of them!� So what else can there be?� I’m sure you can guess.

And then there are these trials to evaluate terrier and bull type dogs - something new to me.� From what I understand, it says�they fling rats�into a large pond and let the dogs swim out to hunt them.� In other trials, rabbits are released and as soon as�the animal�has found cover�the dog is released to hunt it down. “The actual catching and killing of the rabbit�is immaterial, as any untrained dog will often do that” they say.� Yes, dogs will do things like that, but do normal people�usually encourage that type of behaviour?� As usual, it’s really not about the dogs, it’s about the egos of�pathetic little�human beings and dogs end up paying the price.

And I guess I’m left scratching my head wondering if these things being published in a mainstream magazine makes them seem ‘legit’ to the readers.� Not to me.

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We see a lot of stuff today in the media that is quite horrifying but somehow, just when you think you’re becoming immune to it all, something pops up that can just make you sick to your stomach!  Guillermo Habacuc Vargas.  Remember that name.  He calls himself an artist but he’s really a sicko and a possibly a psyhcopath.  Take a look at this link  http://aspcacommunity.ning.com/group/stopping and see what he considers part of his exhibition.  I think what troubles me most is that no other person stepped in to put a stop to it.  They just turned their backs to the misery.  Costa Rica should be really proud to claim this guy as their citizen.Â

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Just came back from a month in Florida and I don’t know what to make of this?  There were Puppy Stores almost everywhere we went.  No store identity other than just Puppies for Sale.  I watched alot of Miami Animal Police on the Animal Planet channel and it seems like Florida has strong laws against animal abuse so why would these awful places be allowed to prosper?

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I hate this corporate trend of using animals to identify their brands.  Currently there are two television commercials that really get me going.  One is Mcdonalds with the two large people sitting on and riding a small pony.  Did any one consider how much weight this little animal can sustain? 

The other is Netflix which shows a horse and rider galloping down a highway.  There are plenty of fools out there who will think galloping horses on paved roads is just fine, when in fact it’s totally not and can permanently damage the horse’s hooves forever causing crippling pain. 

And then there was the one with the cute bunnies.  Like the humane societies aren’t already over run with discarded rabbits.  As I said in my e mail to this company…I hope you’re making a generous donation to rabbit rescue groups who will have to end up caring for the cast-offs. 

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Hi Miranda,

I had the worst experience not too long ago while looking for Yorkie puppies to photograph.  I contacted someone through a classified ad advertising Yorkie puppies for sale and I ended up at a puppy mill and was too frightened by the very hostile man and the ’skanky’ woman to just make a hasty exit.  So I stayed and took some pictures as quickly as I could so I could get out of there.  But the image of the place and those people has stayed with me ever since.

They were very tough and totally ignorant on top of it.  I could hear barking and yelping in a barn behind their house, but of course I was not allowed to go there.  The woman had already brought several dirty pups into her house by the time I arrived there and that was all I had access to.  Her husband glared at me the whole time and she couldn’t stop bragging about the fact that she had sold over 4,000!!! pups last year.  Can you imagine what’s going on in that barn/shed?

I came home and contacted our SPCA and several other animal welfare associations and they all told me the same thing.  Quebec has no laws against puppy mills and only very weak laws to protect animals at best.  I tried writing to governement ministers, but of course they just pass you around from one to the other until they wear you out.  So today I went on line to get the Quebec Agriculture Minister’s name and e mail address  (pet welfare falls under ‘agriculture’ here apparently) and wonder if you or your friends might drop him (Minister M. Yvon Vallieres) a quick e mail requesting that he put an end to puppy mills here in Quebec.  Isn’t it just common sense?  And doesn’t it seem like anybody with even a little heart might want to put an end to all this terrible suffering?

ministre.mapaq@mapaq.gouv.qc.ca

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This is no scientific study, but I have to put this forward in case it has merit and can help someone whose dog is having epileptic seizures. 

I’ve had two dogs with epilepsy - one before the internet exisited and when it started happening last year to my beloved little Chester, I went on line to see if I could find out anything that would help.  He started with a seizure every few months and progressed into once a week. (I took him to the Vets, but didn’t want to put him on personality altering medication before I explored other avenues)  I found a small item about changing foods.  For years I had been feeding my dogs a brand commonly found in grocery stores that looks like ground beef (and seems to have lots of red [unnecessary] coloring).  They really liked it and I thought all pet foods were relatively equal.  However, the item said that this person had had success by changing to a more natural dog food without very many additives. 

So I went to a pet food store (NOT a Pet Shop!) and they recommended a natural food brand and amazingly his seizures have stopped.  He did have one minor one about 2 weeks into the new food, but it’s been over a year now and he has not had one (knock on wood).   It’s certainly something to think about.

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