Dear Dog

[smilingcat]

Dear Holly Spirit Bear,

Thank you for dragging me to your puppy intermediate class tonight. I needed the break from the same old same old. And you did pretty well. Being the kind of breed you are (great pyrenees), instructor and I know that you are not the most sociable dog. You breed tend to be very aloof and solitary, so it was pretty amazing that you only snarled at one dog, an Akita. Well he snarled at you too. not sure who started it (simultaneous). I know you get overwhelmed with 9 other puppies and you do just fine when its one on one. So neither the instructor nor I are too concerned with your bad behavior. You are quite okay with all the people. You just don't like that Akita. Yes that Akita is bit smaller than you. We just need to work on it.

Overall, you did great with leave it, doggie push-up something you hate. Sit-lay down-stand, sit-lay down-stand... Your big long leg makes this a real work out. but you did great with three repetition. And for a Pyrenees you did pretty well with Come... And you did really well with ignoring distractions.

Will keep practicing this week till the next class. And the practice will keep me out of trouble too.

love mom,

[Dogmama]

Dear Holly Spirit Bear,

You breed tend to be very aloof and solitary, so it was pretty amazing that you only snarled at one dog, an Akita. Well he snarled at you too. not sure who started it (simultaneous).
love mom,

Puppy class is the BEST!!! Get them out EARLY and expose them to new things. I'm a HUGE advocate (can you tell?)

Snarley dogs - here's my experience and thoughts. Dogs can sense other dogs' emotional states in a way that humans can't. Akitas are typically not sociable dogs and if your dog sensed some anxiety, he (she?) might have simply been reacting. Remember too that your puppy doesn't have a lot of experience with other dogs yet so reactions can be all over the map. Two main things to remember:

1. Don't over react to anything your puppy does. If your puppy snarls at another dog and you react with alarm, your dog might think, "Hey - I snarled at that dog and my human got excited too. There IS something wrong with that dog! Next time I'm really going to snarl at him - maybe even snap too!" You should calmly redirect your puppy's attention without rewarding the behavior.

2. Do NOT punish your puppy for any unsociable behavior. Dogs are not innately aggressive but they can be fearful. That fear is shown as aggression. You cannot fight fear with punishment. I do counter-conditioning and desensitization - or as I call it, "I see a dog I get a cookie." The book Control Unleashed outlines this beautifully.

I always tell clients to get their puppies in all kinds of safe environments (I do not consider dog parks to be safe, BTW.) More dogs are euthanized because of bad behavior than communicable diseases. Early socialization is key.

[smilingcat]

Dear Holly,

Please do not eat things which are not food. You were very lucky that your other mom saw you downing two tulip bulbs. We are not happy about losing more tulip bulbs.

But more importantly, tulip bulbs are poisonous to you. So we and you were very lucky. We gave you the peroxide to get you to throw it up. Not to make you feel awful. You would have been in lot worse shape if we didn't. It wasn't very pleasant for me to go through your regurgitated stuff and made sure we had all the pieces of the bulbs.

Please don't do this again. And yes when your tummy settled back down, we gave you treats to make you feel better. And we've put barriers up so you can't dig anymore bulbs. "childproofing" the yard.

[smilingcat]

Dear Cody (Pyrenees, golden or lab mix),

The first time I met you, your mom had just picked you up from a rescue place 3 hours away. Your fur was scruffy, awful and you absolutely looked pitiful. Your stole your mom's heart that day when you tried and succeeded by jumping up and down, bobbing your head out of the crowd of Pyrenees. boing boing boing you jumped, each time, your head popped out of sea of Pyrenees head. And so you came into our lives, always happy, always cheerful.

Cheerfulness was your defining character and we loved you very much. So much so that even the cats loved sleeping with you and to be groomed by you. You even let the kittens climb on you, kneaded your fur and you were happy.

But today, we all had to say good bye to you and let you cross the rainbow bridge. You managed to live to be a very old grampy dog and over the years you've helped us foster many many orphaned kittens. We are sad to see you go, but we are also grateful that you are no longer in pain from very old age, arthritis and other ailments. The least we could do was to let you go in peace in your home and on your favorite rug. And you were happy as you went to sleep.

We'll see you and visit you in our dream.

lots of love

[snapdragen]

I'm so sorry smilingcat.

[smilingcat]

Dear filthy mouthed dogs yes YOU Austin, Holly and even Flynnie-winnie,

Kitty roca is not food. Kitty roca is not food for people, its not food for the kitties and it sure isn't for the dogs. STOP trying to get "morsels" of kitty roca. NOT FOOD. NOT TREAT. And never will be. And yes it does resemble almond roca but its not the same!!

And you Austin, somehow you figured out where kitty roca comes from. DO NOT STICK YOUR NOSE INTO THE BACK END OF THE CATS!! THEY DON'T LIKE IT!!

gahhh!!

[Helene2013]

love this. haha