FAQ on everyday life with my dogs
"How
can you look so sincerely happy with your dogs after each run, no matter
what?", "Do you EVER get mad at your dogs?", "How can you stop your dogs
from destroying things, chasing joggers, barking etc. without using
punishment?"

Those are some of the questions that I'm getting by mail that I will try
to answer today. Let me start with the story that made a great affect on
me when I was a kid. My mother is a teacher and she once gave a homework
to her 8-year old pupils to write about what makes them sad. I read some
of their answers and one of those little kidos wrote that it makes him
sad when he comes home all dirty, after playing with his friends in bad
weather, because his mother gets so angry with him. He went on with how
he sneaks into a bathroom and trys to clean his shoes and clothes etc.
It made me just sooo sad... Well after the ere of washing machine
discovery, somebody can still make her kid sad by getting angry over
dirty clothes! You can ask my mother: those washing machines can survive
lots and lots of mud. Or ask anybody who ever saw me on a rainy
competition!:)
I know that most parents don't get angry over so banal things, but I
still believed that some of this stupidity comes with adulthood. For
example, my mother is one of the most patient people I know, but still,
she couldn't laugh with me at my my-whole-world puppy Aiken, my
biggest-ever-wish-fulfilled, after he destroyed a shoe or chewed on a
chair... Even though he was SOOO cute! I decided then that I never want
to grow up if being a grown up means you can't see the cuteness of a
10-week old Samoyed puppy, eating a shoe. Or if it makes you angry over
things like some mud on the trousers...
And well, my washing machine still has lots of work with all that mud
and I still laugh at my dogs, being dogs, years didn't make me stop
laughing. The funniest is Bi when she gets to some paper or cartoon or
plastic bags - those are her "top 3" materials - and makes the tiniest
little pieces out of them. And when you walk into the room, she is
standing there, at the middle of all the mess, with the biggest smile
possible all over her face, with such a satisfied, fulfilled expression
that it just cracks me up! Sometimes I think she does that just to make
me laugh. I have this suspicion because sometimes, when I come home and
she doesn't have anything to show, she frantically starts to surf
counters for some decoration material. Of course, I tell her not to do
that, but she knows me too well to ever be fooled that I really think
so. Gosh, I laugh already just writing about that face of her!

I guess that pretty much answers a question on what I say to destroying: I make
sure the important things are in the drawers or closets - and I laugh
whenever something changes shapes... Luckily, our furniture doesn't look
too tasty to the puppies, so neither of them tried to chew on it, maybe
I need to get them a wooden chair or something!:)
They also never showed any wish to chase joggers, bicyclists, deer or
rabbits. My Samoyed was a passionate hunter and it's not a nice thing
if you love hiking with the dogs in nature, so shepherd breed seemed a safer
solution when it comes to deer and other animals. Building a good recall
and keeping them animated on the walks helps too.

And that pretty much answers all the questions: either what my dogs do
make me laugh, either they don't do it because they either just don't -
or I make sure they can't (by keeping all the important things in
drawers and all the food very high or in closets). So no, my dogs never
make me mad. Well, I have to admit that when they roll in something
stinky, I tell them all loudly and clearly that I'll sell them all - but
they do know it's just a joke: they know I know they're just dogs and I
love them the way they are.
So no, they can't make me mad with things like that - and even less I
could ever get angry because of what they do on agility course. Afterall,
it's my responsibility! So yes, I actually am happy after every run -
there is always something good to be happy about and if something isn't
perfect, it is just a new idea for a training. Yeah, we don't take
agility all that seriously.
Also, a quick answer to a question on why I have females only: simply
because in order to get a better chance to have a PyrShep, small enough
for medium class, female is a safer choice. And as I already had two
non-spayed females, it was just logistically easier to get another
female. I don't think they're better for agility or whatever, I just
find it easier to live with females only as with a mixture of unneutered males and females
in the same appartement:).

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