Question:

>I have a good training book and have gone through basic >obedience training with my dog, but I think I’d like a book >on how to tell what my dog is thinking–what her various >postures mean and why she does certain things, etc. I checked >a bunch of books and their reviews on Amazon.com, but I was >overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. Any suggestions >of such a book?

A must-have: _The Culture Clash_ by Jean Donaldson. — –Matt.  Rocky’s a Dog.

Response:

There are lots of good ones and if the amazon prices keep you from choosing several check out the used book search engines like www.abebooks.com and www.bibliofind.com for the ones you might like to read or see if your local library can get them in for you to borrow. Dog Behavior by Ian Dunbar is IMO a good one for a starter on the inside of the dog’s mind/behaviors. Nancy

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I have a good training book and have gone through basic obedience training with > my dog, but I think I’d like a book on how to tell what my dog is > thinking–what her various postures mean and why she does certain things, etc. > I checked a bunch of books and their reviews on Amazon.com, but I was > overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. Any suggestions of such a book? > Anne

Response:

I have a good training book and have gone through basic obedience training with my dog, but I think I’d like a book on how to tell what my dog is thinking–what her various postures mean and why she does certain things, etc. I checked a bunch of books and their reviews on Amazon.com, but I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. Any suggestions of such a book? Anne

Response:

We’re getting a puppy (we hope at about age 8 wks) this summer–a mutt. We want to be prepared to do everything to make this a well-trained dog. I work PT at home, so consistency won’t be a problem. We have a 5YO daughter who’s gentle with animals. We have a fenced yard. Will any behavior book do, or are some schools of thought better than others? I’ve heard about a book by the monks of St. Skete; is this the gold standard? Thanks! Anne

Response:

I like William Campbell’s books (reading "Better Behavior in Dogs").  He gives interesting explanations for behavior and how humans often ARE causing problems with their dogs.  Also, emphasizes HUMANE training.  If any dog books suggests shaking dogs, sticking noses in messes, etc., through the book as far away as you can!!! TC – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >We’re getting a puppy (we hope at about age 8 wks) this summer–a mutt. We want >to be prepared to do everything to make this a well-trained dog. I work PT at >home, so consistency won’t be a problem. We have a 5YO daughter who’s gentle >with animals. We have a fenced yard. >Will any behavior book do, or are some schools of thought better than others? >I’ve heard about a book by the monks of St. Skete; is this the gold standard? >Thanks! >Anne

Response:

If you don’t buy another book, buy "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson.  Also "Purely Positive Training" by Sheila Booth.  I think the Monks are a little outdated in some of their thinking, but I am sure there is some good advice there too.  There is nothing better than web surfing for training articles.  I am sure people here have some great links.  My favorite is  http://www.dog-play.com/      Congratulations on your new puppy. Carol – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >We’re getting a puppy (we hope at about age 8 wks) this summer–a mutt. We want >to be prepared to do everything to make this a well-trained dog. I work PT at >home, so consistency won’t be a problem. We have a 5YO daughter who’s gentle >with animals. We have a fenced yard. >Will any behavior book do, or are some schools of thought better than others? >I’ve heard about a book by the monks of St. Skete; is this the gold standard? >Thanks! >Anne

Response:

Think RECYCLE BIN. j;~)

t… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I like William Campbell’s books (reading "Better Behavior in Dogs").  He > gives interesting explanations for behavior and how humans often ARE > causing problems with their dogs.  Also, emphasizes HUMANE training.  If > any dog books suggests shaking dogs, sticking noses in messes, etc., > through the book as far away as you can!!! > TC >We’re getting a puppy (we hope at about age 8 wks) this summer–a mutt. We want >to be prepared to do everything to make this a well-trained dog. I work PT at >home, so consistency won’t be a problem. We have a 5YO daughter who’s gentle >with animals. We have a fenced yard. >Will any behavior book do, or are some schools of thought better than others? >I’ve heard about a book by the monks of St. Skete; is this the gold standard? >Thanks! >Anne

Response:

Who in the hell wants to listen to an IDIOT and puppymill breeder…..no one….can’t even give it away can you Jerry. Stick to what you know best Jerry….picking up shit. Jerry Howe (Mr Helper)  Is mentally unstable and  ABUSES dogs.he is worse than a SHOCK COLLAR…the proof

"If the dog is trained properly, he does not think of his protection training as fun and games at the big dog park. During a protection class, the dogs temperature should go up to 106 and he should have loose stools within two or three minutes of beginning the lesson." He tortures dogs till  they have a temperature of 106 and have the runs. He is also a puppy mill breeder "I grew up in a professional breeding kennel. I’ve owned stud dogs who’ve sired hundreds of puppies. I’ve whelped thousands of puppies"    HOWE disgusting you are JERRY Jerry Howe 626 Raleigh St Orlando, FL 32805 407-425-5092 Jerry Howe and his Doggy Do Wrong are being investigated for fraud. http://www.sound.net/~twillis/Harlan/concerns.html http://deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=516286408W Got questions?  Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com

Response:

Hello carol, The Wits’ End Dog Training Method manual has all the information anyone needs to know about training their dog, and it’s free at http://www.doggydoright.com .

> If you don’t buy another book, buy "The Culture Clash" by Jean > Donaldson.

Jean isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. She doesn’t even understand allelomimetic behavior. > Also "Purely Positive Training" by Sheila Booth.

Haven’t seen it, but if you’ve read it, and you haven’t benefitted, why would you reccomend it? Or is that something you’ve read since seeing boob maida a couple weeks ago for him to show you HOWE to jerk and choke your dog on a pronged choke collar to make him friendly to other dogs? > I think the Monks are a little outdated in some of their thinking, but > I am sure there is some good advice there too.

Right. The MonkeysOfNotSoNewSkeete are a bunch of heavy handed louts who brought us the alpha rollover and tell us when we hit our dog if he doesn’t scream, we didn’t hit him hard enough. > There is nothing better than web surfing for training articles.

Sure there is. Why do you think people who read the Wits’ End Dog Training Metod manual don’t need to be skulkng about here looking for training tips??? > I am sure people here have some great links.  My favorite is

http://www.dog-play.com/      Congratulations on your new puppy. Now I’m confused. Which link will take us to pinching and twisting ears and toes, and which linke will take us to cutting poo in half lengthwise, and reassembling it with hot sauce in the middle? Do you think either of those are good ideas??? Why are they linked there??? Is it becasuse your pal blackman don’t know enough to edit out the crummy information? > Diane Blackman > "What all trainers need to understand, regardless of > allegiance, is that it is not the application of punishment or > reward, but the incorrect application of punishment or > reinforcement that leads to unhappy dogs and > frustrated trainers."  "Smart Trainers — Brilliant Dogs" by Janet > Lewis

If your pal janet lewis was so smart, she wouldn’t talk about application of punishment. She’s taught you absolutely nothing, except to reinforce your prior misconstrued, mistaken notions. > Carol

Your pal, Jerry. j;~)

Response:

Jerry Howe _could_ post the proper link but what he really wants to do is sell a $100 electronic training device. The free manual is the "bait & switch". If you want to avoid the sales pitch, here is a DIRECT link to the free training manual download page: http://www.doggydoright.com/free_training_manual.htm EdW http://Petloss.com

Response:

>Hello carol,

<snip> some stupid stuff > Also "Purely Positive Training" by Sheila Booth. >Haven’t seen it, but if you’ve read it, and you haven’t benefitted, >why would you reccomend it? Or is that something you’ve read since >seeing boob maida a couple weeks ago for him to show you HOWE to jerk >and choke your dog on a pronged choke collar to make him friendly to >other dogs?

What are you talking about?  Why would you say I haven’t benefitted?  I have never seen Mr. Maida for anything.( but would certainly be glad to meet him.)Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere close. You have me confused with someone else. > I think the Monks are a little outdated in some of their thinking, >but>> I am sure there is some good advice there too. >Right. The MonkeysOfNotSoNewSkeete are a bunch of heavy handed louts >who brought us the alpha rollover

I don’t agree with them either, but was trying to be polite to a newbie. > There is nothing better than web surfing for training articles. >Sure there is. Why do you think people who read the Wits’ End Dog >Training Metod manual don’t need to be skulkng about here looking for >training tips???

Where do you think people find your site and your manual?  At the local pet store???  By Web Surfing, you dooofus! > I am sure people here have some great links.  My favorite is >http://www.dog-play.com/      Congratulations on your new puppy.

<snip> a bunch of confused rambling and rants about a nice lady who has presented a lot of good information and links. Get the players straight, Jar.  This makes you look like you have Alzheimers, as well as being one of the meanest people I have ever come in contact with. (shudder) Carol – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –

Response:

  Did I not read in a recent "Whole Dog Journal" that the monks of New Skete have revised some of their methods in their latest book?  Anybody seen it?

Response:

Hello Carol,

> What are you talking about?  Why would you say I haven’t > benefitted?  I have never seen Mr. Maida for anything.( but would > certainly be glad to meet him.)Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere > close. You have me confused with someone else.

Excuse me, I did confuse you with Carol Levie. >> I think the Monks are a little outdated in some of their thinking, >> but I am sure there is some good advice there too. > Right. The MonkeysOfNotSoNewSkeete are a bunch of heavy > handed louts who brought us the alpha rollover > I don’t agree with them either, but was trying to be polite to a > newbie.

Being polite by giving a recomendation to a book that teaches fear, force, and confrontationm is a favor to them? The monkey’s teach scruff shaking and chin cuffing and sharp leash corrections. >> There is nothing better than web surfing for training articles. >Sure there is. Why do you think people who read the Wits’ End > Dog Training Metod manual don’t need to be skulkng about here > looking for training tips??? > Where do you think people find your site and your manual?  At the > local pet store???  By Web Surfing, you dooofus!

If there here, then they’ve found it… >> I am sure people here have some great links.  My favorite is >http://www.dog-play.com/      Congratulations on your new puppy. > <snip> a bunch of confused rambling and rants about a nice lady > who has presented a lot of good information and links.

That ”nice” lady knits coverups for pronged choke collars to illegally train dogs on akc show grounds and to avoid looking like a barbarian to her pals. She is as decietful and manipulating as they come. That link from diane will take you to links that reccomend kneeing dogs in the chest, sticking fingers down puppies throats to choke them out of mouthing, dunking their heads under water in a hole they’ve dug, and twisting and pinching dog’s ears to enhance the bond between "trainer" and dog. > Get the players straight, Jar.  This makes you look like you have > Alzheimers, as well as being one of the meanest people I have ever > come in contact with. (shudder) > Carol

Here’s a partial list of the players:

> How do dogs learn which behavior is right and which is wrong in > dogs way of life?

Doc dermer likes to rely on food bribes and punishment. >  The right ways are followed by effective behavior and the wrong >  ways either fail or produce punishment.

Let’s look at dog trainer’s from that perspective. You could take that to mean good training methods produce results, and incorrect methods fail, or cause the dog trainer to punish the dog… Let’s examine the methods of the posters you have learned so much from whom you’ve listed below… >  –Marshall > http://www.uwm.edu/~dermer > I have read rpdb for over two years.

Yes, you’ve led some of the arguments defending force, punishment, hurting dogs, and deriding non force methods. You criticize my methods without reading any further than my condemnation of the universities for the sorry state of the art of behaviorism as it exists today in dog training. You’ve recently endorsed the koehler method. In order to endorse the koehler method, you must be prepared to hang dogs who object to the incrementally increasing force, violence, and intimidation. Koehler justifies hurting dogs for willfully disobeying commands as a direct affront to the trainers AUTHORITY. Isn’t aggression a predictable response to jerking and choking and shocking and twisting and pinching ears, toes, and testicles, and beating dogs with sticks to MOTIVATE THEM? Don’cha thaink? > Consequently, I urge newbies to attend to the civil and rational > posts of the rpdb regulars from whom I have learned much.

This is going to hurt a little bit, doc. Brace yourself. It’ll be all over in about two minutes. Just relax. > They include: Amy Dahl,

Oh yes, we were just mentioning some of her methods, weren’t we… She likes to beat Retriever dogs with sticks to motivate them to WANT to retrieve. She pinches ears, not twists them, NO mention of twisting and pinching of toes or testicles, and she shocks and chin cuffs, NOT SLAPS, retriever dogs, to teach them to retrieve… NICE stuff, huh? > Diane Blackman,

Yes, diane… She’s as confused and deceitful as they come. She knits cover-ups for pronged choke collars so she can train dogs illegally on akc showgrounds, and so that people won’t SEE the prongs and  think the less of her… She twists words better than you can, BECAUSE SHE HASN’T GOT BAGGED FOR LYING, LIKE YOU DID. She’s got a dog who’s been a chronic puller for five years, and she day boards her dogs because she can’t trust them at home alone. Her links page has lots of lousy advice, but diane won’t edit the lousy ones that teach HURTING dogs, because she says she doesn’t know enough about training to discern good from bad information… Whaddaya thaink of that? > Janet Boss,

Jerks dogs around on pronged collars to make them friendly. She’s as incompetent a creature as G-D could possibly create. I’ll be throwing THAT in HIS face when I get there… She has no business telling people to kill their dogs because their only option is to jerk the dog around and keep him confined for the rest of his life. See the thread ”interested in hearing” and you’ll see for yourself HOWE you bums mishandle and kill dogs because you don’t have any IDEAS and can’t outwit a puppydog… > Susan Fraser,

susan twists and pinches ears and toes and shocks and chokes dogs on pronged choke collars. But she doesn’t hurt them. > Avrama Gingold,

Our Professora… She got her damned teeth knocked down her throat when her dog finally figured out HOWE to hurt her back, and make it look like an accident. That’s called allelomimetic behavior. avrama had a habit of jerking him to make him heel or come, but always made it look like the dog did it to himself. Dogs are smart. Don’t take my word for it, that’s in the Wits’ End Dog Training Method manual. > Lynn Kosmakos,

Our pathological liar? She jerks and chokes and hangs dogs according to the koehler method. She justifies force because there are so many dogs to HELP and such little time to HELP them all, at the shelter she kills dogs at. > Bob Maida,

What advice? "Don’t let him do that?" Killfiles is all he writes about. He can’t talk dog training because he is a violent dog trainer. If he opens his yap, I shove his foot in it for him and hammer on top of his head till he’s craping toenails… He’s no dog trainer. He said he recommends cindymoron’s Website to his ‘’students” and they tell him HOWE much they’ve benefited from it… cindymron’s site has instructions for sticking your fingers down puppies throats to choke them out of mouthing, kneeing the dog in the chest, shocking, throwing the dog down by his ears and climbing on him like a wild animal, pinching and twisting ears, choking, jerking, and sticking dog’s heads under water you’ve filled into a hole he’s dug to break dogs of digging. I guess boob’s student’s only learned the jerking and choking from him… Your pal boob had been begging his ”teacher” cap’n fagarty to debate me here, and smarten me up. He sent his little girl to write me a threatening letter saying she’d sue me if I told the truth here… Then, your pal boob suggested there would be a motorcycle gang paying me a little visit… Do you ride, lyindoc? I may be able to get you a good deal on some dead bikers machines. > Cindy Tittle Moore,

A true sadist. She gets pleasure for dominating and hurting dogs. Read her forced fetch page, that will show you HOWE excited she gets just at the thought of hurting dogs. Did you see my STAY-OUT-OF-JAIL CHALLENGE to cindymoron? Here’s the deal… We get her to force fetch train three dogs in front of a childs playground, and I’ll train three protection dogs in the same site, and we’ll see who the children are disturbed by, and who the parents are going to call the cops on… And then I’ll show ups as expert witness for the prosecution, and we’ll demonstrate her forced fetch in front of a criminal judge and jury… HOWE’S that for a FAIR TEST??? > Denna Pace,

Says she sees a lot of value in koehler… She’s got PLENTY of problems with her own dogs running away and being disobedient. > Marily Rammell,

what the hell is she doing in this lineup of Thugs? > John Richardson,

He only hurts dogs to save them from the needle. He’s as abusive and immature as they come. He’s a clone of dogman. The dogs he can’t hurt into being friendly, he KILLS in the shelter he HELPS in. Unlike yourself, he’s too stupid to be evil. He’s just doing what koehler taught him. > Ludwig Smith,

Another koehler trainer. He’s too cowardly to come out and say what he believes. He throws around lots of non advice, and then tells us we can get more help in koehler’s books. He’s got a link to cindymoron’s page on his sig file… > and Terri Willis.

The psycho clown. She wants to hurt dogs because she is compensating for her inferiority complex. She WANTS TO HURT DOGS. NEXT POST, we’ll talk about YOU, lyindoc dermer. Let’s figure out why your dog masturbates on the pillows. Could it be allelomimetic behavior? Bye! Your pal, Jerry. >        Marshall Lev Dermer/ Department of Psychology/ University of >                      http://www.uwm.edu/~dermer

"Thus we should beware of clinging to vulgar opinions, and judge things by reason’s way, not by popular say." Montaigne "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." Salvor Hardin "If you cannot convince them, confuse them." H.S. Truman.

… read more »

Response:

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions! Anne

Response:

>  Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions! >Anne

  Oh, we just got started, Anne   Think I would recommend a recent one by Myrna Milani: "Dogsense", is it called? It is judicious and fair to various methods.

Response:

HI,    2 books, I would recommed are Understanding Your Dog by Dr Michael Fox Mother Knows Best by Carol Benjamin The Art of Raising A Puppy by The Monks of New Skete (and NO, the Monks book does not have the "alpha roll" in it) Any puppy book by Ian Dunbar (hit dogwise.com for Ian’s Books)   A good book on evaluating breeds, litters and breeders would be: Your Purebred Puppy by Michelle Lowell   To be sure you are not set up for failure by choosing the wrong breed do read the above book (A MUST) Also talk with breed rescue (of your potential chosen breed) and find out why this specific breed did not work out for a specific family or individual. Look at different litters so you have a basis for comaparison. DO NOT buy your dog from a PET STORE or a retail outlet/kennel where a dozen or more breeds are available And REMEMBER: AKC papers do not mean quality. They are merely a birth certificate. DO NOT buy off the net, sight unseen as well as the dog magazines Good luck, Bob Maida Dog Training/Problem Counseling since 1969 Herndon, Virginia

Response:

Hello boob, If you’ve read all those books, you certainly don’t do them any favors recommending them… Most of the authors you recommend are dominance and force control freaks like yourself. I suggest you stick to giving killfile advice, that’s you strong suite. Jerry.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> HI, >    2 books, I would recommed are > Understanding Your Dog by Dr Michael Fox > Mother Knows Best by Carol Benjamin > The Art of Raising A Puppy by The Monks of New Skete (and NO, > the Monks book does not have the "alpha roll" in it) > Any puppy book by Ian Dunbar (hit dogwise.com for Ian’s Books) >   A good book on evaluating breeds, litters and breeders > would be: Your Purebred Puppy by Michelle Lowell >   To be sure you are not set up for failure by choosing the wrong > breed do read the above book (A MUST) Also talk with breed rescue > (of your potential chosen breed) and find out why this specific > breed did not work out for a specific family or individual. > Look at different litters so you have a basis for comaparison. > DO NOT buy your dog from a PET STORE or a retail > outlet/kennel where a dozen or more breeds are available > And REMEMBER: > AKC papers do not mean quality. They are merely a > birth certificate. DO NOT buy off the net, sight unseen > as well as the dog magazines > Good luck, > Bob Maida > Dog Training/Problem Counseling since 1969 > Herndon, Virginia

Response:

for raising a puppy I like the books available at www.superpuppy.com the How to Play with your Dog book is a great read aloud for kids and has good kid/dog training hints in the back the Super Puppy book has short and easy to follow instructions for making your pup a nice companion dog for video tapes I like Sirius Puppy Training by Ian Dunbar If you want to get into training theory and some newer techniques try Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor there are lots of books but the Super Puppy book I have given to novice after novice dog owner who has done GREAT with their pup using this book as a help Nancy

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> We’re getting a puppy (we hope at about age 8 wks) this summer–a mutt. We want > to be prepared to do everything to make this a well-trained dog. I work PT at > home, so consistency won’t be a problem. We have a 5YO daughter who’s gentle > with animals. We have a fenced yard. > Will any behavior book do, or are some schools of thought better than others? > I’ve heard about a book by the monks of St. Skete; is this the gold standard? > Thanks! > Anne

Response:

Thanks for the advice. We did lots of research on breeds and in the end decided we’re going to get a mutt. Anne – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->  A good book on evaluating breeds, litters and breeders >would be: Your Purebred Puppy by Michelle Lowell >  To be sure you are not set up for failure by choosing the wrong >breed do read the above book (A MUST) Also talk with breed rescue >(of your potential chosen breed) and find out why this specific >breed did not work out for a specific family or individual. >Look at different litters so you have a basis for comaparison. >DO NOT buy your dog from a PET STORE or a retail >outlet/kennel where a dozen or more breeds are available >And REMEMBER: >AKC papers do not mean quality. They are merely a >birth certificate. DO NOT buy off the net, sight unseen >as well as the dog magazines

Response:

> Thanks for the advice. We did lots of research on breeds and in the end decided > we’re going to get a mutt. > Anne

    Ya old softie !!! )     I absolutely love it !! We have four dogs.     Rudy, 8, golden retriever, I adopted, in 92, at 8 weeks old from the HS. LOVE of my LIFE !! Babe of my world. Pie of my life. Soulmate forever. )     After I got him I swore I’d only ever buy or rescue goldens. Had owned two other dogs year before, black lab mixes.     Ceilidh (KAY-lee), 3, black lab female, adopted, in 97, at 4 months old from shelter. Okay so one more lab won’t hurt, and she *is* a purebred lab, bought from a pet store <AAACCCCKKK> and given up for ‘allergies’.     Zack, 3, some sort of black mix, adopted, in 99, from my vet’s stray program. Okay so he wasn’t a golden either, but he was severely abused and confiscated at 32 pounds. He’s now, over a year later, 80 pounds, and happy as can be.     Okay, that was it, for sure, for black dogs, ONLY goldens from now on.     I get a notice in the rescue group. A golden in Bayonne NJ, over an hour north of me, had been orphaned, her owner had died, and the daughters were taking her around to vets to try and have her put down. I was told by the vet she was a GR, and 6 yrs. old. I had other homes for her, in GR Rescue if she didn’t work out here. But I had planned on trying, I was, after all, sticking to my guns…..another golden at last !!!     I drive up there, with Rudy, to pick up this dog that had been spending its nights in a car, in a nasty neighborhood. Go up to apt., see a black dog and a blonde dog. The give me the blonde one. She’s about 45 pounds, 6 years old (that part was right), blonde (so was that part), but a <AAACCCKKK> pointy faced, big pointy eared, foxy looking, ugly as sin (to me) mutt !!! She’s an overgrown TACO BELL dog !!!!! NOT a golden, dammit !! I could have left her there, but thought, oh sheesh they’re gonna put her to sleep, so I better foster her and find her a home.     Rudy, for the first time in our eight years together, literally, gave me the most vile, evil eye, all the way home. He HATED her….and me.     She came home, started to follow me around, with this huge smile on her face every time I looked at her. Whole body just craving to be loved. Not me, I’m tough, I’m taking her out with a paper bag over her head, (she’s sooooo ugly, still), and tried taping her ears down to at least *look* like a yellow lab mix.     Tape didn’t work, staples rusted, so I used super glue. Ahhh, okay, now to find her a home. I have digital camera, and many contacts, no problem. But I haven’t taken a picture of her in the 4 months she’s been here, can’t seem to find the time when my house is clean enough to show up in background of pic.     Okay, so I find her a dog bed….none of the others will sleep in it. !! Now, she’s definitely outta here !! We go on vacation, petsitter doesn’t charge me for her, as he and his wife do rescue also, and he thinks its neat for me to foster her. <cheesy grin>     Come home to find that she has piddled all over the carpet, little stains but ALL over. Try to clean as I swear I’m taking the danged pic TODAY, and she’s outta here, going to shelter if I have to. Camera isn’t hooked up to puter to download, and haven’t the time to look for connecting wire. (I don’t work, home pretty much 24/7, BTW.)     But busy, really, on here, taking dogs to park, training them. Oh well, another few weeks go by. I still have feelings of ‘like’, not love for her, and can happily see her driving off from our driveway with another person, a new home for her, and feeling all warm and fuzzy, knowing she’ll be happy. DH, me, and other three dogs waving our warm hearted good-byes, using Visine for fake tears, in all our eyes.     Really, I had absolutely no major attachment to this ugly mutt !! I make her call me Mrs. Smiff, not Mom. As in, ‘Would you like Mrs. Smiff to let you out?" as opposed to my other dogs, "Do you want mommy to let out my babies?" <G>     By this time the other dogs are starting to accept her, and she’s opening up more. I ignore the love and devotion she is trying to give me, I’m a hard case, believe me, I’d just ignore her. After a pat or two, and a treat. Okay, and a few belly rubs, where she starts making these God awful noises, of pleasure, but sounds more like Frankenstein clearing his throat.     So, okay one day I’m playing in the yard with them, she jumps over into my NICE yard area. You know the half with no holes dug? Becomes Bambi !! Shows my labby gal Ceilidh, AKA Princess Knucklehead, how to do it !! Next thing I know they’ve tempted my good boy, Zack to just push the fence over. <AAACCCKKK> They’ve dug all over my ‘good yard’.     I find a rusted wrench in one of the holes? Dunno what that was for, but suddenly the gate is becoming harder and harder to close. Hmmmm. Must be the landscapers who mow for us. Right?     So, there I was sitting there watching her one day, while sitting on couch, which she now has rights to. Must have been DH who gave them to her, not me, no sireeebob!! But still has to call me Mrs. Smiff, no way is she ever gonna call me Mom. It does, however start to escape from my mouth once in awhile. I gargle with Listerine.     She’s still glued to me, and smiling all the time. Reminds hub and me of Stevie Wonder. We put a pair of sunglasses on her and start singing "Isn’t she lovely, isn’t she wonderful? Mrs. Smiff is my mommy, and I’m so gra-a-a-teful". I SCREAM, NO SONG, NO SONG !!!!! If a dog gets a song, they wind up staying !! No song !!     Okay, so then another day of watching her, and suddenly, this was about 3 weeks ago, I look and realize there’s NO damn way I’m watchin *THAT* smile drive away in another car, to live with someone that will let her call her "Mommy". <sniffle>     I can’t give her up, she weaseled into my hard heart, and now she’s ours. was *immediately* shortened to CC. After the piddlin on the rug, we have changed her name to Poppy.     Most people think it’s cause she’s such a cute pup, which she *IS* now, BTW. But, alas, it’s after that Seinfeld episode where "Poppy" pees on Jerry’s couch. <WEG> But, and this is important, (somehow, I forget why, but it is important), I still make her call me Mrs. Smiff.     So that about rounds off my family. 4 dogs, two black and two blonde, at least she’s blonde, if she’d been black, I’d never have kept her. I swear, honest, I ain’t lying, really, truly. MaryBeth

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>     So that about rounds off my family. 4 dogs, two black and two blonde, at > least she’s blonde, if she’d been black, I’d never have kept her. I swear, > honest, I ain’t lying, really, truly. > MaryBeth

That’s the funniest thing I have read in a long time….hang in there MaryBeth…there will be a Golden in the near future.  Maybe a black one huh? — Kelly Caiman the Shepherd, Rudder the Lab Monster and the three furry kitties. http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/8977/index.html Take out the trash before responding!

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(Anne) writes: >Thanks for the advice. We did lots of research on breeds and in the end >decided >we’re going to get a mutt. >Anne

Good Choice. But do read some of the suggeted books for it will assist you in picking a pup/dog that is easier to train and live with Temperament and training aptitude tests are important for all pet owners. Again, a mix is a good choice, for I have 2. Bob Maida Dog Training/Problem Counseling since 1969 Herndon, Virginia

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"Carol Phillips" wrote > If you don’t buy another book, buy "The

Culture Clash"  by Jean Donaldson. I would second this, Anne. An invaluable read for me. * Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping.  Smart is Beautiful

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