Furballs stuck in the throat

Saturday morning

10:10 hours

Cloudy skies

One scaredy dog hiding in the corner while Flapper is chewing his new Nylabone out of boredom. I am appreciating my decision to keep this last week relatively relaxed and having some time to re-group myself. But I am still tired and silently wishing I could have a few days off without having to attend to any dogs other than Flapper. Even choosing to only have one other dog is still work. So I wonder if I am actually having any personal time-out at all....

I am not complaining because I am openly pleased about the growth of my business. I give myself a big pat in the back for having built my micro-business so steadily in a span on 5 1/2 months. When I first made that big decision to be my alter-ego, nevermind I was in a very bad chooey-state, I was certainly not expecting myself to be announcing some 5 months later... "I'm fully-booked for the month of December through the first week of January 2010."

Great! I say.

Tired! I say.

Blessed! I say.

Frustrated! I say.

My success comes with a whole set of mixed emotions. I love my job, no doubt. I love the shedding furballs, I love taking care of them and I love seeing them transform from crazy dogs to becoming calmer.... and basically just learning to BE DOGS. BUT! What I don't appreciate most? The demand barking, the fear barking, the whining, the howling, the hyper-activity, the obsessiveness, the fears, the bullying, the barking, the barking AND the barking. Thank God for my sacred few friends who understand about dog behaviour and allowing me to bitch about the behaviourial problems and giving me valuable insights and suggestions that help me keep sane. Else, I reckon I would have thrown in the towel a quite some time back.

And I mutter, "I, as a dog care-taker, am supposed to be reinforcing good behaviourial conditioning but what do I end up doing? Re-conditioning the dogs for good behaviour, not for the owners' sake but for my own sanity sake."

The case of what I call HALF-BULLY, HALF-FEARFUL

Every 'bully' comes bundled with fears. That's my verdict. They are, in my opinion, very sorry cases as dogs. My observation -

1. 'Bully' selects their victim. You reckon the 'dog bully' is going to attack every other dog? That's just plain aggressive! The bully selects its victim such that it sniffs out the odds of being able to torture that dog - be it physically or mentally.
2. 'Bully' is a classic case of 'middle ranked dog'. It wants to be boss but don't know how to be one. It wants to be submissive but doesn't know how to do that. So it just ends up being a middle-ranked useless squabbling fool who more often than not go seek unnecessary trouble and fights.
3. 'Bully', more often than not, has some fears - be it fear of thunder, fear of humans, fear of other dogs.... but certainly there's some deeply rooted fear.
4. 'Bully' always has a hiding hole or corner. And boy oh boy does it start guarding over it.
5. 'Bully' always has a stressed-out look. Always worried about something. Sensitive to everything... noise, objects... anything and everything.
6. Bully' is so not a rested dog.

Don't have to take my word for it. As I said, this is based on my observation.

The case of the BARKERS, WHINERS and HOWLERS
This has.... crept up to my number one pet peeve of all behaviourial problems. My good god. One is annoying, two is sickening.... six is murderous. So how does this come about?

DEMAND BARKING - The dogs have gotten used to using barking, whining and/or howling to get what they want and to get attention. If one listens hard enough, you can almost hear in the bark, "me! me! MEEEEE! MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I said MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! And believe you me, the decibels increase.... louder and sharper with each "me!"

And how does this usually come about? Usually somewhere long long time ago, when the dog first decided to try out barking/whining/howling to get what it wants, somewhere alont the way, after like the first few barks, owner will be like "Yes baby? What do you want? Oh! You want xxxxx? How smart! You know how to ask for it!"

Fill in the xxxx yourself. It can be anything from toy to going to pee to clearing the pee to wanting owner's attention.

Then it clicks in to dog that by being annoyingly barky, it gets what it wants... which its owner find it charmingly sweet. So after like 3 repetitions, the dog ain't gonna stop till it gets what it wants. Only thing is, dog learns that at first if it does not succeed, try try again.... bigger, better, LOUDER! Sweet!

FEAR/DISLIKE BARKING - This is something else all together. Dog gets fearful of something... dog barks at that something... NON-STOP. Dogs afraid of/dislike humans. BARK. Dogs fearful/hate the loud foreign noise. BARK. Dogs afraid of thunder. BARK. Dog can't figure fly out. BARK at fly.

The pitch of these barks compared to demand barking changes. Except that these are as prolonged as demand barking as long as the fear-factor or dislike-factor is still present.

Conclusion:

ALL dogs bark unless it is a stuff toy. And no, I am not saying it is wrong for dogs to bark. Even my own dogs bark. But there was be some control. But with all that said, it is amazing to see how many owners are okay with the barking (especially demand barking) and can even find it cute. Rather than countering the excessive barking problem, they indulge the dogs in it. And usually these dogs.... act like their bums have ants attacking. These dogs... have no idea how to rest. Always busy. Always on a look out for something. Always-always....

What can I say?

The case of SCAREDY, STRESSED-OUT and UNSOCIALISED DOGS

Man.... amazingly, alot of owners do not work on this.... AT ALL. Sad dogs. Very very sad dogs.

Fearful Dogs - OK.... my own dog is heck of a fearful dog and I will admit that it is a bloody pain constantly working to overcomes his fear. Today helmet, tomorrow some loud noise.... day after God knows what. It is always a birthday surprise. Just when I think I've gotten him to get over one fear, another pops up. But it ain't difficult to counter it. Just needs work.

Have you ever seen a fearful dog and count how the face looks permanently crinkled up from fear and stress (inter-related)? Permanently furtive and scouting its surrounding to check out what horrible noise or object might kill it? If one dares tell me that's a good quality life its providing for its dog, then I will stop being my alter-ego.

The thing is, like us humans, most dogs do have fears to a certain extent. But accepting the fear and NOT doing anything about it is not ok. The more deeply rooted the fears set in, the dog (more likely than not) start displaying fear-aggression as it gets ollder. Might as well euthanise the dog now rather than allowing it to live 10-over years in fear and stress.

Unsocialised Dogs - That is another essay all together. All I can say is.... natural recipe for disaster.....

The case of QUARRELSOME BITCHES

Need I say more?

Last but not least....

The case of UNTRAINED OWNERS

Notice the term used is owners and not dogs. Yes people. Dog training is not about training the dogs. But training the owners... how to handle their own dogs. And at this point, I have to make this clear. It is NOT about having the perfectly trained show dog that acts like a stuff toy BUT having a good home dog - one that owners can bring out with to chill out cafes or at a friends home without having to deal with crazy barking and markings, one that is calm.... one wise trainer said to me, "The dog does not have to be obedient 100% of the time but some times... " That is a powerful statement. And what does that mean? Go research it out yourself.

There are alot of myths and misconceptions humans hold about obedience training and the big word called "PUNISHMENT". However, that I will leave to positive reinforcement trainers to hold that big talk.

All I can say is, when I first started out and had big ideas in my head on games/tricks I can play/teach the dogs ended up as "OH MY GOD! You mean you guys barely know sit?"

It's amazing how tough it is to convince owners WHY obedience training is important and that training is actually FUN! If one can take the time to figure out and read up on how to operate the latest gadgets (quoted from a friend), why not spend that little bit of time to understand how dogs operate and providing a quality life for their furry companion rather than a corner ornament that only knows how to make noise.

And by providing a quality life does not mean spoiling it rotten by giving it unwarranted treats and stuffing the dog with food promptly during meal times....

I think I've unstuck the furball in my throat and will probably end up getting shot in the face and foot big time. But whatever. Coz I'm wishing and hoping....