Not my circus, not my monkeys. Oh Crap, this is my circus and these are my monkeys.
Raising and training any dog is not the easiest job in the world. Undoing other peoples mistakes is even harder. I've had people who look at how my dogs behave, quite often actually and say how they wish there dogs behaved so well.
My training is 24-7 for the lifetime of the dog. A lot of common sense & a lot of forgiveness. Lately one thought keeps occurring to me. Dogs understand many human words, how many dog words do we understand? So tell me again, who's the smarter animal.
Humans have a bad tendency to try to make a dog conform to some human idea of what a dog should be and how they should act. Showing little regard for the dogs point of view. Mostly this works because dogs are such wonderful creatures and they allow it.
My way of training is cohabitation, which tries to maintain as much as possible of the inner, natural dog while teaching a dog the important things that make cohabitation possible. Figure out what's actually important and what you can let go. Use common sense, be consistent and try to understand the dogs point of view n it's needs.
All of this kinda got shot in the ass when I met Billy Two Knives. Now people say, my she's behaving so good. To which I'm thinking, Oh My God, How must your dog be behaving for you to think she's being good.
Billy Two Knives is an absolutely wonderful dog and she actually suites me just fine, but I gotta tell ya my lawyer skills are really being tested on her behalf.
The thing about sharing your life with dogs is they break your heart when they die. If I could through a miracle have 3 dogs back in good health that are gone now they would be.
1. Chica Boom a big red female Bull Mastiff. My first Mastiff and a very tough act to follow as she was the most perfect in every way dog I have ever share time with. Boomie's spirit/soul was a very old one, she was on her final journey and she share those eight final years with me. My life was affected in the most positive way by those eight years. Boomie was a Budda Dog and she taught me a lot. She died of cancer.
2. Rudy a big red female Bull Mastiff. Rudy was a newer spirit than Boomie and my great hope is that she returns to me someday. Rudy passed last year from cancer. I miss Rudy more than my words can tell you.
3. BIG
Another example of a used dog was BIG a Neapolitan Mastiff . Big came to us after his people (a couple) committed suicide together leaving BIG and another Mastiff in dog crates for days until the bodies were discovered. Because of this BIG had issues about confinement. We found this out when we left him in the washroom for a couple hours while we were gone. Big through nervousness shredded the linoleum flooring. Lesson learned by us.
BIG also chewed up window trim because of nerves.
BIG was the sweetest most lovable male dog I've known. Big had a very big heart, unfortunately that heart had a very thin wall, which was a death sentence for him. He was running in the field one day and just collapsed, which is when he was diagnosed. Nothing to be done, no cure, BIG and I just ignored it for the next year until he broke my heart by dying. I loved BIG very much, he is missed and remembered.
One dog who has returned to me is Soup Bone a brindle Brazilian Mastiff. Soupy was the most dedicated, to me, Dog I've ever known. Ole soup was always just a few feet away from me, usually in the shadows. Soup defied all odds and stayed at her self described post for 12 years. Unheard of for her size of dog not to mention al of her body issues her whole life. Soupy returned to me in the form of Billy Two Knives, without all the anger issues. I guess this time she grew a little. I recognition Soupy in Billy in ways that are hard to describe to you, but it's her. One way is Soupy having a lot of mobility issues tended to live a lot of her life in dreams. I watched those dreams for 12 years and I am now seeing Billy live Soupy's dreams this time around. I'm very happy for her. I will never stop defending her. Soupy as Billie deserves this go round.
Raising and training any dog is not the easiest job in the world. Undoing other peoples mistakes is even harder. I've had people who look at how my dogs behave, quite often actually and say how they wish there dogs behaved so well.
My training is 24-7 for the lifetime of the dog. A lot of common sense & a lot of forgiveness. Lately one thought keeps occurring to me. Dogs understand many human words, how many dog words do we understand? So tell me again, who's the smarter animal.
Humans have a bad tendency to try to make a dog conform to some human idea of what a dog should be and how they should act. Showing little regard for the dogs point of view. Mostly this works because dogs are such wonderful creatures and they allow it.
My way of training is cohabitation, which tries to maintain as much as possible of the inner, natural dog while teaching a dog the important things that make cohabitation possible. Figure out what's actually important and what you can let go. Use common sense, be consistent and try to understand the dogs point of view n it's needs.
All of this kinda got shot in the ass when I met Billy Two Knives. Now people say, my she's behaving so good. To which I'm thinking, Oh My God, How must your dog be behaving for you to think she's being good.
Billy Two Knives is an absolutely wonderful dog and she actually suites me just fine, but I gotta tell ya my lawyer skills are really being tested on her behalf.
The thing about sharing your life with dogs is they break your heart when they die. If I could through a miracle have 3 dogs back in good health that are gone now they would be.
1. Chica Boom a big red female Bull Mastiff. My first Mastiff and a very tough act to follow as she was the most perfect in every way dog I have ever share time with. Boomie's spirit/soul was a very old one, she was on her final journey and she share those eight final years with me. My life was affected in the most positive way by those eight years. Boomie was a Budda Dog and she taught me a lot. She died of cancer.
2. Rudy a big red female Bull Mastiff. Rudy was a newer spirit than Boomie and my great hope is that she returns to me someday. Rudy passed last year from cancer. I miss Rudy more than my words can tell you.
3. BIG
Another example of a used dog was BIG a Neapolitan Mastiff . Big came to us after his people (a couple) committed suicide together leaving BIG and another Mastiff in dog crates for days until the bodies were discovered. Because of this BIG had issues about confinement. We found this out when we left him in the washroom for a couple hours while we were gone. Big through nervousness shredded the linoleum flooring. Lesson learned by us.
BIG also chewed up window trim because of nerves.
BIG was the sweetest most lovable male dog I've known. Big had a very big heart, unfortunately that heart had a very thin wall, which was a death sentence for him. He was running in the field one day and just collapsed, which is when he was diagnosed. Nothing to be done, no cure, BIG and I just ignored it for the next year until he broke my heart by dying. I loved BIG very much, he is missed and remembered.
One dog who has returned to me is Soup Bone a brindle Brazilian Mastiff. Soupy was the most dedicated, to me, Dog I've ever known. Ole soup was always just a few feet away from me, usually in the shadows. Soup defied all odds and stayed at her self described post for 12 years. Unheard of for her size of dog not to mention al of her body issues her whole life. Soupy returned to me in the form of Billy Two Knives, without all the anger issues. I guess this time she grew a little. I recognition Soupy in Billy in ways that are hard to describe to you, but it's her. One way is Soupy having a lot of mobility issues tended to live a lot of her life in dreams. I watched those dreams for 12 years and I am now seeing Billy live Soupy's dreams this time around. I'm very happy for her. I will never stop defending her. Soupy as Billie deserves this go round.
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