OT rescue dogs [organic beer and ale]

[Guest guest]

>

> Of the rescues that we've fostered, Kinsey was my favorite:

> http://www.flickr.com/photos/oz4caster/2209184707/

Such an unusual name, but it's the name of the heroin in the book I'm

currently reading in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series.

> We are going to wait until Hailey is a year old before trying another

> dog, and will probably look for a younger dog that will be about

> Hailey's size for better compatibility. Our 10 yo daughter likes

> smaller dogs that she can pick up.

So Hailey is your own dog and not a foster?

I have a newly acquired female Min Pin who spent her entire life as a

breeding bitch in what has been described as one of the worst puppy mills in

Maine (almost 7 years). She has behaved beautifully with my elderly

Chihuahua who is a bit smaller than she is. But she is aggressive with every

other dog (as well as humans other than me). Somewhat of a different

dynamic, but I bet your Hailey would be OK with a non-dominant smaller dog.

You may want to specifically look for a non-dominant one.

Suze

[Guest guest]

--- Suze Fisher <suzefisher@...> wrote:

> So Hailey is your own dog and not a foster?

Suze, the rescue groups let us foster for two weeks before making a

decision. We kept Hailey but had to return the others.

> I have a newly acquired female Min Pin who spent her entire life as a

> breeding bitch in what has been described as one of the worst puppy

> mills in Maine (almost 7 years). She has behaved beautifully with my

> elderly Chihuahua who is a bit smaller than she is. But she is

> aggressive with every other dog (as well as humans other than me).

> Somewhat of a different dynamic, but I bet your Hailey would be OK with

> a non-dominant smaller dog. You may want to specifically look for a

> non-dominant one.

Maybe you should call the dog whisperer

I didn't add OT to the title because I believe keeping dogs is good

for health

[Guest guest]

--- <slethnobotanist@...> wrote:

> I seem to recall studies showing that people with pets live longer

> than people without pets.

, I've read that too.

> I also recall reading studies about married people living longer

> and happier as well.

Yes, but only if they get along well.

> So I imagine if you have both and good nutrition too then you are

> maximizing some non-nutritive ways to increase longevity.

That's definitely ideal.

But finding a good pet is much easier than finding a good spouse

[Guest guest]

--- Suze Fisher <suzefisher@...> wrote:

> Some holistic positive reinforcement folks don't like all the Dog

> Whisperer's tactics. But I have a good local trainer.

Suze, just out of curiosity, do you know what tactics they don't like?

I've only seen a few of the Dog Whisperer shows, but I thought what

he did was amazing.

[Guest guest]

--- Suze Fisher <suzefisher@...> wrote:

> Here's an article that explains a few things. The hanging by the collar

> method is incredibly cruel IMO and I've read of dogs being killed by

> this method.

Thanks for the info Suze. That does seem cruel. I don't recall

seeing anything like that on the episodes I watched.

[Guest guest]

--- Suze Fisher <suzefisher@...> wrote:

> I'm sure that a t.v. show in which he stars would not show its star in

> a bad light. You will probably get a more balanced view of Millan's

> tactics if you do a Google search. I've pasted some samples below.

Suze, thanks for enlightening us about the Dog Whisperer and

alternative training methods. TV can sometimes be very misleading. I

do remember seeing an episode where he had a dog on a leash leading

him down the street while he was on roller blades IIRC. It wasn't

apparent on TV that the dog was being choked, but now, I wonder about

that. I don't remember seeing a harness on that dog, so it was

probably a choke chain.

You live and you learn

[Guest guest]

Suze, you must have seen the book I learned about clicker training in

Girl Scouts with, " Don't Shoot the Dog? " by Pryor? It's a

popularization of postive reinforcment and clicker training for

people.

We played the clicker game in a group of 15 girl scout leaders and as

you can imagine, the professional teachers were the worst. They

would wait way to long, waiting for a completed result of a long

complicated task, when all the others were positively reinforce every

single little movement in the direction we wanted.

I used it all the time for my kids and what a riot to be able to

shape them that way. Well not a literal clicker but the idea.

LOL

Connie

> There are also many books on positive training that give step-by-

step

> instructions. I can recommend some that have been recommended to me

(and

> which I own) if you'd like.

>

> Suze

>

[Guest guest]

> Hey, that's great! I actually didn't know people were using it with

people

> other than jokingly.

oh yes. It was big in my La Leche League circles in the 70s also.

I have one friend who totally transformed her interactions with her

mean, nasty mom who was in a nursing home. My friend would respond with

praise, energy, and enthusiasm to positive talk, and totally ignore the

whining and negativity. It worked over time and they ended up enjoying

each other's company enormously.

the real art is the immediacy - praise right when the desired behavior

is happening.

Very fun! Pryor wrote that clicker trainers' kids are happy and

well behaved and I could totally see why.

Connie

[Guest guest]

Hi Kim, Welcome!

The thing that turned the corner for my dog training was the concept

that " no " was a command, not a punishment. Teaching a dog that " no "

means to stop doing whatever it's doing because you don't like it, and

then praising it when it stops because the dog wants to please you. I

had thought that if I praised the dog for stopping what I wanted, it

would do the behavior more so it could stop and get praise but they're

not that complicated. (Unlike children!)

>

> Hi my name is Kim and I'm new to the group. I joined to learn about

health

> and hate for my introduction to start out due to dog training

methods, but I

> have to put in my 2 cents worth.