There have been some unusual dog stories in the news recently. Sophie Tucker the black cattle dog fell from her owner's boat amid stormy weather off the coast of Australia. Her owners assumed the worst when she didn't reappear. However, Sophie turned up months later on St. Bees Island after locals reported her to rangers. Apparently Sophie had swum six miles through shark infested water to get to the island.
I love living in Shropshire; the scenery is beautiful, the people are laid back, and there is lots of space to walk the dogs. Since we've been here I have listened more to Radio Shropshire, and appreciated the sense of community generated and supported by the station. So it was pleasure today to meet Jim Hawkins who presents the morning show on Radio Shropshire. We go to dog training classes with the same trainer (Jill Arnold, Paws4Thought) although at different times, and we have been tweeting back and forth on Twitter, so when Jenny and I were going to be in Telford at the same time as Jim was doing one of his sitting on a bench stints, it seemed a good opportunity to meet up. (Jim sits on a bench somewhere in Shropshire after a show once a week and includes the conversations in his Friday show.)
I was talking today to the owner of a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. She was bemoaning the fact that her young dog had done heavy damage to one of her doors and doorframes while trying to get to her. She was upstairs at the time, he was shut in downstairs, and he was desperate to join her. I asked what I thought was a reasonable question.
"Do you have a crate?" I inquired.
We were in the middle of a training class, so she misheard me, "A gate?" she questioned.
"No a crate," I replied, but she still looked puzzled. "You know - a cage."
Her face immediately creased into a look of acute disgust, "Oh, I don't want a cage!" she exclaimed, as if she was proclaiming something as self evident as the statement, "Oh I don't want to have my dog thrown into the lion enclosure at the zoo."
We had a rare Saturday with nothing
already arranged. The weather was good, so we decided to ignore the various chores waiting to be done at home, and go out for the day. We are members of English Heritage, and we consulted the guidebook for a suitable venue. We were members of another similar organisation, but defected to English Heritage as they welcome dogs. When I say they welcome dogs, I really mean they welcome dogs, as opposed to just tolerating them. The organisation we left has some site which claim to welcome dogs, but that translates to permitting them in the car park on a lead. Which is absolutely no good to me or most dog owners. With rising crime it's asking for trouble to leave your dog in a car in a distant car park, apart from the dangers of overheating.
Today I've been editing an interview I did with Tim and Cathy Glass. Tim is the author of Just This Side of Heaven, a book which tells his and Cathy's and their Beagles' story. It's a beautiful book that depicts life - and death -with a dog. Or rather dogs, because both Cathy and Tim love Beagles. In fact the breed brought them together, but you'll have to read the book or listen to the interview to find out!
Over the years of making DogCast Radio I have been privileged to interview many training and behavioural experts. Even an amateur like me can't fail to take in some pearls of wisdom when bombarded with them like that. I thought you might enjoy some of the gems I've picked up along the way, and if you have some I've missed let me know.
Relax – stress is the enemy of good training
I spotted a few things in the news or on the net today that I thought might be of interest to dog lovers. Firstly, a story about a dog who was savaged by a deer. No that shouldn't be the other way round. Okay - some would argue it should be the other way round, but it isn't. Apparently the deer in question has "fangs" as it is Chinese water deer. Years ago some of these deer escaped from a safari park, and they, or their descendents, are now living wild
April looks like being a busy month pet-wise. This month is the ASPCA's Prevention of Cruelty to Pets Month. There are loads of suggestions on the site for ways you can support the charity in promoting the message of treating animals properly, and raise money for them. If you're stuck for ideas on how to join in check out the 10 Ways to Celebrate page.
When I went to Good Citizen training classes with Buddy we met a lot of new people and dogs. Which was great for us both. Except that I'm not very good at recalling names, and suddenly I had lots to remember. The other problem I had was that many of the owners I met had given their dog a traditionally human name, which just added to my confusion. So I had not only to memorise Tara and Katie, Ellie and Sally, Nick and Harvey, and Connie and Sally, but I also had to remember which was the dog and which the person.
Did you know that chimps and share 98% of their DNA. Well it might be almost 98%, but it's around that figure and it's definitely a lot. The point is chimps and humans are very similar. However, a recent study (which I love) says that humans actually have more in common with dogs. Thousands of years of living together has caused us to share many behaviours, such as cooperating, understanding verbal communication and imitation.
