Pet Tales: Admit it. Pet-owning friends just don’t get it
Today’s Pet Tale comes from Sam, Sophie and Beethoven’s Mom:
I won’t pay anyone to help me train Beethoveen. He is a Yorkie and will be 6 months old Tuesday on my birthday. We spend time with him daily and we just teach him how we want him to be. He is a smart little dog and soon he will be just as obedient as Sam and Sophie.
Sam is a 10-year-old Schnauzer and Sophie is an 11-year-old Bichon. We love spending time with all three dogs. We are very careful to treat them like dogs.
My sister-in-law’s yorkie thinks he is a little boy, and now he does not want his bowl on the floor. He wants someone to hold it while he eats. He wants to ride on the dashboard of the car which is very dangerous. We tend to be more stern with our dogs.
Have any pet peeves you want to share about friends or neighbors? Who knows, maybe they’ll see this and change their ways!
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I have neighbors in my condo that have 2 large dogs that bark very aggressively whenever anyone passes their door, as well as when they are out in public. Large dogs have no place in multi-unit dwellings; they need space to run and work off energy. Quit being selfish and forcing everyone to live with your poor choices. Your pets and neighbors deserve better!
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I think the worst is the way non-pet owners think that they’re interchangeable. Especially when you lose them or they die.
That “it’s just a dog/cat. You can get another one” is awful but telling.
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Obedience training at home is essential but does not make up for the socialization a team gets at obedience class. It is of the utmost importance that dogs get out with other dogs and people and learn how to behave. Even controlled leash walks are too limiting and dog parks…don’t even get me started there but suffice it say, I don’t trust them and don’t take my dogs there.
JM–some large breeds are ideal for condo life! Many of the “giants” are very low energy dogs and quiet content to be couch potatoes. But you support my case to molulu that dogs must be socialized in public and people need to be instructed on how to train their dogs.
Anyone considering a dog MUST do research on the breed (or if a mix, the dominate breed) to see if it fits into their lifestyle. A border collie, boxer, or even the small Jack (or Parson) Russell Terrier may not do great in an apartment with an owner who is gone 12 hours of the day but a greyhound, St. Bernard, Newfie may settle in and consider this a permanent vacation.
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I agree, training is very important for both cat’s and dog’s. If you have a cat that is leashed trained and you take him for walks, he must be trained NOT to react to other animals especially dog’s, as is some cat’s nature. My oldest cat Jake, The Cat Who Loved Camping, is very well trained on his leash. Jake is also a very friendly guy and some of his best friends have been dog’s. Unfortunately a lot of dog’s would become quite aggresive when they spotted Jake as we walked on some of the trails we walked. Jake would stop and sit down right against my feet and look back and forth between me and the other animal as if to say “what’s his problem?”. Once the dog and his person had passed we would continue on. If the animal was friendly Jake and the other animal may sniff each other a moment while I chatted with the person holding the leash. Jake always made sure he spoke to the humans too. My husband sometimes gets annoyed because Jake is such a talker. But, that is something else I guess I trained him to do, during the years it was just me and him. I talked to him a lot and he always talked to me too. I also taught Jake to fetch and one of his favorite games while we were camping was for me to throw a stick and he would fetch it. Sometimes he would bring it back over to me but not give me the stick and I had to play tug of war to get the stick before I could throw it again!
We are not the only ones who teach our cat’s and dog’s. One of Jake’s best friends was a Jack Russell mix that my daughter had rescued from a dumpster, the poor little guy had a broken leg and had been thrown out with the trash. His name was Chester and him and Jake loved each other. Everytime we stayed with my daughter Jake and Chester would be sure to get into mischief. Chester taught Jake to drink out of the toilet, now I have to keep the toilet lid closed. Jake taught Chester that the best place to sleep was the back of the couch or in an open window. You should have seen Chester precariously perched in either of those places. What fun we have with our animal friends. They are worth every penny we spend on them and every bit of time and energy it takes to train them. What a joy and a blessing!
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Melodie–When I was in 4-H in WA State, I did cat obedience! I guess the judging was based on whose cat put up the least resistence. There was a set heeling pattern, a recall and a stay of some type.
I remember one year (I was young, 10 or 11) I’m doing my heeling pattern and I was quite proud of how well my cat was walking. I get to the end and look at her and apparently she had flopped on her side and I had dragged her the entire pattern. You could see where she had “dusted” the floor as I walked. We won the class b/c she didn’t resist me at all.
Now THAT’S a cat.
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i love the pic ..! looks like a co operate dog
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Training Instructor, I just have one word for your comment about dog parks:
AMEN!!
While it is good that they exist, I guess, because a lot of dogs wouldn’t get any exercise at all without them, they do pose risks to the dogs that play there. “Run fast, run away” equals play most of the time, but “run fast, run away” can trigger a dog’s prey drive, leading to tragedy.
I’m actually going to an event at an off-lead dog park today, and all four of my dogs will go with me. They will come out of the van individually for a little bit of training, and then go back in for a nap. We’ll have fun, they’ll see someplace new and get to train in a distracted environment, they’ll be heavily rewarded for good work and best of all, they’ll be safe from potential tragedy because they won’t be “running with the pack.”
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Training Instructor
When I was leash training Jake we lived in an apartment, I kept the door to our screened in patio partially opened in the spring so Jake could go out on the patio and enjoy the weather. First, I trained him to the harness, to do this I put the harness on him for 5 minutes every day. At first he would fall over in the floor as if suddenly paralyzed. This had continued for nearly a week, still I decided to add 5 minutes that day to the amount of time. On that day I had left him laying in the living room, paralyzed, unable to move. When I walked back into the room 10 minutes later he was out on the patio drinking water. I watched him walk around a minute then he saw me and he fell over on his side as if suddenly paralyzed again.
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