Posts Tagged ‘puppy’

Just do nothing

The other day I was sitting with Kevin and Agi at their beautiful farm house underneath a huge maple tree.  We were sipping coffee and chatting away.  Kevin was holding Hero on a leash and no one was paying her much mind.  Without a thought in the world, I got up to get something out of the house.

Hero lit up like a match hitting a pile of kerosene soaked rags.  As I walked away, she jumped up and barked like crazy.  She barked while I was in the house and never took her eyes off that front door.  When I came back, she settled right down and began chewing a stick again.

What’s amazing about this is that it was the first time I really understood the connection I have with this dog.  All I have ever done, ever, is open the crate door, put a food bowl down, and walk her in the woods.  No praise.  No intense petting, no whistling , no talking, no nothing.  I have just stood there and done nothing.  I have just been there.  That has been enough,more than enough, to create an unbreakable bond.

We all know dogs love us unconditionally.  Still, we all try to do things to make them love us.  We don’t need to.  All the things we do;  doggie day care, treat training, behavior modification, praise, punishment, lavish collars, they just get in the way of allowing a dog to freely express their unconditional love for us.

It’s the same with people, all we need to do is just be there, it’s always enough.

The Oxford English dictionary defines nuclear as relating to the nucleus; the central and most important part of an object. Engineer is to skillfully arrange for (something) to happen. Working with Natural Dog Training is to be a Nuclear Engineer. One is always in touch with the central core of a dog; it’s energy. One is always conscious of how one’s behavior; body movement, voice, manipulation of a prey object is effecting the inside of the dog.
Sometimes this idea can seem esoteric; talk of energy can seem elusive. Most of the time I struggle with it myself. Thank goodness for ah-ha moments; those little dark light bulbs that once and a while flash on.
I had a wonderful light bulb moment the other day with Hero; the one that lead me to decide I am a Nuclear Engineer. Usually I walk her in the woods. The woods has sticks, leaves, mushrooms, running water; a whole myriad of things to absorb her energy. I do mean literally absorbing her energy by being bitten by her. Hero shakes, rattles and rolls herself through the woods. Anyone in the Northeast knows how rainy it’s been, so the first beautiful sunny day I decided to take Hero into the big open field to get some sun. Big mistake. Big nuclear energy mistake. Here’s what happened.
We walk into the field and all is good. Hero runs through the tall grass and bites some goldenrod. She finds an old fire pit and chews some coals. After catching some rays, I head back home. I’m in the middle of the field and guess what? No sticks. No mushrooms. No fire pit. Just me and my legs. My legs: there the only thing around that are; a)moving and b)crunch able. Uh-oh. The first words that come into my mind are “I’m dead”. I’m unprepared. I have nothing to give her to bite. Hero starts in to her “shake, rattle and roll,” bit. On my legs. A few things are going on inside my head but I see it; I see that she is a bundle of energy literally. There is no intention behind her biting frenzy; she’s not trying to show dominance, she’s not misbehaving , she’s not learning something bad. She is simply expressing her deepest energy; bite, bite, bite. She’s really going at it and I have no idea how to get out of it. Then I realize there is a God after all; I’ve left a gardening glove in my back pocket. The thoughts go through my head very fast; this glove was $7, is it worth $7 to get out of this? No question. I pull out the gardening glove; (the kind with the rubber coating) and hand it to Hero. Oh ecstasy! A rubber coated glove that she can sink her teeth into. She gets practically the whole glove into her mouth, she’s chewing it and running and I can see the whole body sensual pleasure she is feeling. I can see the glove literally absorb the energy radiating out of her center into her mouth.
Standing there in that field while Hero expressed her prey instinct visa vi my legs was a real eye opener. She was like a little hurricane, a tiny nuclear explosion; it was like watching a small sun being born. I had to engineer that energy, I needed to find a place for it to go. Thank God for gardening gloves that get left in pockets!

What?? You don’t have your puppy in the house? The questioner is truly incredulous; I am equally so. Lets imagine; what would it be like having Hero, aged 8 weeks, pure breed German Shepherd dog living in my house?  Favorite shoes chewed? Check. Hand hooked rug ripped apart? Check. Cat chased. Check. Oriental rugs peed on? Check. Puppy getting tripped over? Check.  Children’s ankles bitten and favorite toys destroyed? Check. Toilet water everywhere?  Check. Food stolen off the table? Check. People mad at puppy? Check. People yell at puppy? Check. Puppy feels….confused, scared and does not trust her owners. I must ask, why would anyone have a puppy in their house?

I think people really love their puppies, but are confused about what they need.  Puppies need quality time where they can be puppies uninhibited, safely and without incurring our wrath.  Since dogs have no sense of time, for a puppy, it only matters that each experience is like this; it makes no difference how long it lasts.  One bad experience; one scolding, one finger wagging, one grab from behind, damages a dog forever.   Protecting our puppies from these bad experiences is our number one job as dog owners.

Hero lives contentedly in her crate while she’s sleeping and when she’s not sleeping, she is playing safely and contentedly in her little yard, accompanied by one the family members. Here she is free to jump on us, chew our hands, chase butterflies, and bite whatever is available. She is safe from getting into trouble and from being yelled at for simply expressing her energy. She is learning that she is safe expressing her energy when she is with us, and that is the key to the training that will come down the road.
Who does it really serve having a puppy live freely in a house? It really serves the human. It harms the dog. I would say, from watching Hero, that trying to live in a house with a puppy is the number one cause of problem behavior. It is just plain not fair to put a puppy into a situation they are not mature enough to handle. It’s not right to expect them to act in any other way but like a complete chomping, ripping, jumping machine. I never let my babies play with knives but as adolescents they chop like chefs. I apply the same principle to the puppy. It really does amaze me that people think a puppy somehow suffers from not living in an environment they clearly can not handle. If I had to live with Hero, I would guess that I would mostly feel frustrated, angry, and guilty. As it is , she is the absolute apple of my eye. I adore her beyond comprehension. She also loves and trusts me implicitly, because I don’t have to man handle her, confront her, correct her, or get mad at her for anything. A dog that has never been confronted or corrected is a dog without problem behaviors.

I believe we all have a lot to learn by exploring the feelings we have about having a puppy be our plush toy, by needing to cuddle it, by thinking it needs to be with us all the time.  Dogs are in our lives to help us see ourselves better, what better place to start?

Really think about it.  Puppies don’t belong in a house.