Today I took the Princess for another of her longer walks, but this isn’t going to be a post about the beauty of the countryside or the pleasure I took in the exercise, or, indeed, her company. This is a small rant.
Coming back through the village at a smart pace, we came up behind a couple of very young women, one with a child in a buggy, and the other with a small white dog on the end of a longish lead. The Princess was behaving impeccably (thank you, sweetie!) but we crossed over to the other side of the road because I could see that the little chap ahead of us was not under much control.
He was a rather nice looking half-grown crossbred, with a fair bit of Jack Russell in him by the look of things, and he was bouncy and interested in everything. He was wearing a harness, which was fortunate for him, because the young woman on the other end of the lead was not paying him any attention at all. Every so often he’d make a little detour onto the grass verge to sniff, but just as he got his nose down, there’d be a sharp jerk as he got to the end of his rope, and he’d be forcibly dragged along and he’d have to do a little skip to avoid being tumbled, end over end. This was happening because his owner had not paused or slowed, or even noticed what he was doing.
The Princess and I were walking a little faster than they were, so we drew closer and the little white dog noticed us and got excited and started to yap in our general direction. This got him his owner’s attention. She whipped round sharply, hauled on his lead until his front legs were six inches off the ground and yelled ‘Pack it in’ into his shell-like ear. Then abruptly turned and carried on walking and chatting to her companion. This happened two or three times, until she got really angry with him and practically swung him on the end of the lead while telling him she’s had quite enough and was sick and tired of him and did he want her to give him one? Then she let him go and he dropped to the ground and shook himself, by which time she was already several paces ahead and once again, he got a sharp jerk and had to do his little skip to avoid falling over.
She didn’t actually hit the little guy while I was watching, but clearly it was part of her repertoire and it made me very sad. You can do far more with positive training than by smacking your dog round the head if he upsets you. The Pirate was extremely vocal when we first got him because he hadn’t met any dog that wasn’t a greyhound for a very long time and he got excited when he saw one, even in the distance. But with time and patience and a bag of treats, he learned that when he did see another dog he was only allowed to actually get close if he was quiet and well-behaved, and that if he did behave well, he got a treat, even if it wasn’t possible for him to go have a sniff, which was what he really wanted.
Which brings me to the second part of my rant.
I would have liked to catch up with the owner of that little dog and ask her why she was taking him out for a walk when she clearly wasn’t paying him any attention or allowing him to indulge in any kind of normal dog behaviour - like sniffing good smells and peeing on things. In fact, I wanted to ask her why she had a dog at all!
When we first set out this morning, The Princess found a trail of something in the grass which had her spellbound. She spent so long with her nose glued to the ground that I thought we were never going to make any progress at all. It took us a good five minutes to travel about fifty yards. But you know what? Dogs, even sighthounds, are very much aroma-oriented animals. Smells are their landscape. They don’t care for a nice view from a hilltop, but they get a huge amount of information and pleasure from sniffing things along the way.
What The Princess found this morning was clearly the Johnny Depp of smells, and it was her walk.
So, who was I to deny her the pleasure of a good long sniff?
Now I feel sad and angry, at the same time.
Why do these people have pets? I truly can’t get my head around it. They obviously don’t love animals. Well maybe they do, but don’t know the first thing about showing it. I’ve seen many mothers treat their children the same, and I expect they love them. I think they just don’t know any better because that’s how they were brought up. That circle of life, that needs to be broken and often never is.
Now I’m getting all deep ;O)
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Oh, I would have been furious too.
For a while, I let people guilt me into thinking I had to do the Cesar Milan technique of making Smokey walk at my side and never wander more than a few inches away, . . . but he loves sniffing the grass, trees, and posts so much that I gave up after about a week. (Milan is a dog trainer who is huge in the U.S.–very much into being the “alpha.”)
Poor little dog. I hope he gets some positive attention at home.
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OH, yikes. I would have been biting my tongue trying to keep from screaming at her. Poor fella. I am so sad to hear stories like this.
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Poor dog. I’m not even a dog person and I feel bad for the pup. I don’t have much patience for dogs, either, they’re too high maintenance for me - but that’s exactly why I don’t own one! My two cats suit me just fine…but even if I HAD a dog, I wouldn’t treat it like that. I hope she doesn’t have children.
I am afraid I would have to have said something to the owner. And for my sins would probably ended up with a black eye and an extra dog to feed in the process!!!
I freely admit that before we had Hippie I was not a dog person and probably am still the same where other dogs are concerned, but I cannot stand cruelty and bullying.
Some people should not have animals!!!
Happy sniffing Princess!!!!
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Too bad it’s so much harder to train humans.
Yes, I’d probably have wanted to pin that monstrous owner up against a wall and lecture her loudly and furiously until she begged me to take the dog off her hands. But, of course, one doesn’t. I did once and the pathetic excuse for a human being ended up in court for assaulting me. Nothing about assaulting his dog, mind you, which was the reason I got involved in the first place. My daughter, who is fearless in the matters, regularly accosts people behaving badly towards animals. Or towards children or any vulnerable human being or animal, come to that.
And you are absolutely right about sniffs. The greatest pleasure that life affords my lab/collie cross, now fourteen and a half and very wobbly-legged, is sniffing. Walks are conducted at his pace, not mine. And he’s a very happy old boy.
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Babs - It almost makes me more angry when it’s children because they ought to damn well know how their own species thinks. At least when it comes to dogs I can console myself with the thought that an awful lot of people don’t understand the way dogs think and what motivates them. That’s why so many children get bitten in the face - they simply don’t understand that anthropoids (humans) hug with affection and stare into each others eyes with love, canines (dogs) see both as a threat.
*Sigh*
I wish I could make all prospective dog owners read Stanley Coren’s How Dogs Think, or Patricia McConnell’s The Other End of the Leash.
Ruth - We do have Cesar Milan’s shows here. His methods are very strong, and they may well work for the breeds with very assertive temperaments (no surprise that many of his clients own very small dogs or bully breeds), but they wouldn’t be so good for the others. Another problem I have with him is that he works on instinct and cannot always explain how or why to the people he works with. Just my opinion, of course, but I have no time for him.
Maureen - It may be of some comfort to hear that this little guy seemed quite happy, despite the way his owner was treating him. He appeared to be a tough little thing. So sad that he had to be.
Angi - Exactly. And that’s why I will never try to persuade anyone to get a dog. In fact, I’ve talked some perfectly nice people out of it because I could see that they either didn’t have time, or their situation wasn’t right for one just now.
Kate - That’s the worry, isn’t it? I’m not into confrontation anyway, but I also worry about putting my dogs into danger. If I’m having an argument with someone on a busy road, I won’t be watching the dogs as well as I should and who knows what could happen?
Joe - That’s hitting the nail squarely on the head!
60/16 - Gosh - how awful for you! But I’m glad you followed through .. Other Half confronted someone in a park once, and the guy had actually got hold of his lapel and drawn his arm back ready for a punch. OH just said ‘Oh, please - DO hit me! I’ll see you in court’ and he thought better of it. But it scared me.
Your old boy is one of the lucky ones!
Hippie just barks at people if they look like trouble - she seems to know, bless her.
On a different subject for a minute - don’t know where you are but are you going to the RGT greyhound gathering in September?
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I suspected you might have Cesar Milan, but I don’t like to assume. That would just be so “ugly American.” LOL
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I would have been furious as well. And, I certainly would have asked that dog owner WHY she has a dag at all!! How awful!
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I think these self-absorbed folks have pets because they think it’s the Thing To Do… much like having kids.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the kid or dog will have the right kind of treatment. In fact, the kid and dog are accessories, statements or accomplishments. And when they get in the way, she’ll find something else with which to amuse herself. It’s always extremely sad to witness.
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Hi Jay. Sad really. What other animal is at the ready to offer unconditional love, even to such an inconsiderate woman?
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Kate - My lovely old Jim used to be like that! Good for Hippie!
I don’t know if I’m going to the RGT gathering. I had the newsletter just yesterday and thought it might be nice, but I know we’re going to a Western horse show in September and I need to look up when that is.
We’re about an hour away from Nottingham. It was Nottingham, wasn’t it?
Ruth - LOL! It’s OK. I know it can be difficult to know what people do or don’t know.
Meleah - It would have been difficult, sadly. The Princess is pretty good with other dogs, but she is a little intolerant of badly behaved small dogs. What with the little guy being on a long lead and there being traffic very close, I was afraid that someone would have got hurt if I’d taken her too close, just with leads getting tangled and people tripping.
Jenn - I am afraid you’re right. And the sad thing about this one is that if she got the dog for the kids she’s going the right way about creating a situation where the poor dog is likely to snap at the kids, and that could end very badly for him.
Petra - I remember reading once about how dogs were domesticated. It seems that they more or less offered themselves and have done rather well out of the bargain in terms of survival of the species. It was a mutually beneficial deal. We got the guarding and herding done for us, and dogs got the food scraps and didn’t have to spend so much time hunting. I guess it’s for this reason that dogs are predisposed to be tolerant to bad treatment, but it is indeed very very sad to witness.
Owning a dog is like having children,they need discipline, love and constant attention. It amazes me how many people get dogs and don’t do basic training. I’m lucky, for the most part, I can walk Lily off the lead and she can snoof to her heart’s content, chase rabbits, splosh in ponds and roll in various types of poo(eeeuuw) but when on the lead she’s impeccably behaved and simply because she’s been trained and rewarded to heel. (Hey it worked with the kids, why not the dog!)Having a little bit of trouble with the ‘drop’ command though, she never quite mastered that one so ‘lie down’ has to do!
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Jay, I know I have cats now, but I’ve had dogs, and my parents had plenty of dogs too. From, Cocker Spaniels to Great Danes. I never read any books on dogs, yet it all seemed to be quite easy to work out what makes a dog happy, and take pleasure in being obedient. My dog even learned obedience tricks, and was always so proud when I praised her. It’s not so hard is it?
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Baino - Sounds like Lily is beautifully trained! I think it’s up to each of us to train our dogs to be well-behaved while out and about and in company. We don’t want them biting people or frightening people, we don’t want them damaging property or running riot. Beyond that, I’m content to have dogs who will obey basic ‘health and safety’ type commands - like ‘drop it’ and ‘wait’. I personally don’t require ‘drop and stay’, which is fortunate because greyhounds aren’t terribly good at that, especially when you take them on as adults. LOL!
Mine are well-enough behaved to be a pleasure to have around, and that’s all, but I do very much admire people who train for agility and flyball and jobs like guarding and police work.
And I don’t understand the people who don’t bother with basic training, either. Especially when they then complain about what a nuisance their dog is! What, did they think it would train itself by a process of osmosis or something??
That was a very informative reply, Jay. Had no idea, but it makes sense. Thank you! Well, I’ve included Brian Blessed in my current mini-script, if you’re interested. It’s called Z is for Zorro? Remember to read the script on the left first, then the polls include who you think would be the appropriate actor/actress to play the roles. Have fun and a wonderful weekend! Thanks again, Jay :))
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This makes me so sad.
I don’t have a dog of my own but often accompany my neighbour when she walks hers. We live close to large woods - and the sea, where we often go to let the dog (and ourselves) have a good old paddle! The dog’s delight is wonderful (and funny) to see!
I realise that this might not be possible but if you see that stupid, thoughtless young woman again, could you follow her home, note her address and report her (anon)to the RSPCA? A warning from them and a bit of info on how to treat her animal, might just do the trick (?)
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I want to sniff Johnny Depp … particularly his lovely neck. And I don’t want anyone yanking on my chain when I get my chance.
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Petra - Thanks, I find it all very interesting. No-one can know for sure, of course, what happened in those far-off days, but that’s what the experts in evolution and dog behaviour think.
I’ll pop over and take a look at your script!
Geri Atric - Unfortunately, this kind of bad treatment is not severe enough for the RSPCA to get interested. I’ve reported a number of things to them in the past, from an abandoned pet rabbit in a favourite dog-walking spot near a busy road, to a neglected looking pony pegged out on a chain. They simply don’t have the resources, I think, unless there’s something worth of prosecution. They actually said they thought the rabbit would have ‘rather a nice life’, to which my reply was, ‘yes, and a very short one if you don’t get him’, but they didn’t.
I used to take my first dog to the beach. Jim was 100% safe with all small dogs, but he loved to chase the seagulls. They would tease him, flying low, just ahead of him, and then suddenly swerving out to sea and Jim would be wondering why it was suddenly hard to run! LOL! See, here’s the thing those silly people miss - the pure pleasure of watching a loved animal have fun.
Jenny - Ha! I knew you wouldn’t let me down. LOL!
Babs - I’m sorry! I missed you! You must have posted while I was writing the replies!
No, it’s not so hard, it just takes patience and understanding, and a little empathy. Dogs are naturally keen to please, since they’re pack animals and want to remain in good standing with the pack. It’s just a question of getting them to understand what we want from them and making it a positive experience - I know you know that, or you wouldn’t have been able to train your own dogs so well.
Clearly you have a lot of empathy and an instinctive understanding. Other people may need the books, which is no disgrace - the only stupid question being the one you don’t ask…
What so many people don’t understand is that dogs are far better at reading body language than we are, but we need to give them nice clear signals or they get confused.
Even before reading your second rant, I was thinking that why is the lady having a dog at all? I mean I hate people who keep pets but when it comes to looking after them or training them, they are least bothered. Is it a social status to keep pets these days or people genuinely love pets?
I so much loved the line ‘What The Princess found this morning was clearly the Johnny Depp of smells, and it was her walk.’;)
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I see people treating their kids in a similar fashion out in public. I shudder to think what happens behind closed doors.
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Our Jethro, a 4-year old Havanese, is known around here as The Crown Prince. No disrespect meant to Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor-Mountbatten, by the way.
This may get lost in the midst of these multitudinous comments of canine love and affection, but I have given you an award. Come on over to my blog and pick it up!
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Scratch - I have no idea why they do it, and I don’t believe they think very hard about it either.
I wish they would. Maybe then they’d do a little research which would help both dog and owner be a little happier with each other.
I’m glad that line pleased you!
EWB Lady - Me too, and I wonder the same. It’s a good thing both kids and dogs are resilient, but wouldn’t it nice if they didn’t have to be?
Bob - Oooh, thank you! I’m coming over to collect it in just a mo!
I had to look Havanese up - they look small and sweet! I bet His Highness doesn’t get dangled by his harness.
His Highness rules the roost, actually. Jethro is a little larger than the typical Havanese; he weighs in at about 15 lbs. (7 kilos, maybe) and is more the size of a small cocker spaniel.
Thanks for your comment on my blog.
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Grrrrr. That makes me so angry. I was watching a man walking along in town recently with a young boxer - he was yanking and pulling so hard I should think the poor thing had a sore neck the next day. Yes, Bert likes a sniff. It makes me die when they smell something sooooo fantastic they have to snuffle about for several minutes! Our boat road walk is more of a meander because we have to stop and sniff every five seconds!!! x
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Bob - Wow, that is bigger than I expected!
EM - I know. And sometimes they have choke chains on, too. Our first dog pulled like a train when we first got him, but it was easy enough to fix, with patience and the right approach. Seems some people would rather have their arms pulled out of their sockets than put the effort into training - although I know not all dogs are easy.
I love watching them enjoy themselves, whether it’s chewing on a pig ear, racing across a field or indulging their noses. Seems to me you’d miss the best part of pet ownership if you didn’t.
yes it is at Nottingham Race Course - we’re about an hour away too - I’m just hoping Toria isn’t working on that day so we’ll have to see too….. I think its fun to go to these things and Hippie enjoys it too!
Kate - I’ll look up what day it is, and what days our commitments are and see if we can go. It would be fun to meet up!