Lessons of March

Posted on 16. Apr, 2010 by Annvi in Barkin' Doggie Bloggie, Interesting Dog Tidbits, Lessons, Rescue Dogs

“The road to wisdom?-Well, it’s plain
and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less. ”
~ Piet Hein

Well, I should say March 2010 equaled absolutely miserable for me.  I have totally been down in the dumps, which may have resulted in no blog postings. Sorry to those of you who missed me, if anyone did. 

Now that it is April, a time of spring, a time for growth- looking back, I realized that I actually learned a lot in March and thought it was worth sharing.

First of all, Luke came to us at the end of January, our second foster pup.  Luke was a complete street dog.  I am not sure if he had ever even lived with a family.  We didn’t realize this until after we agreed to foster him.  Mistake #1 on our part.  We should have met him to see how he would interact with our two pups and whether we could handle a temporary third dog.  Lucky for us, he got along great with Rocky and Zeus; however, he played very rough and required a lot of rehabilitation.  We weren’t sure if he was dog aggressive because he got overly excited when he met other dogs on our walks.  We got a trainer involved, who introduced me to clicker training.  I had never even heard of this.  Basically, it is a click sound.  You use it when your dog does something right and then you reward the dog with a treat.  The clicker is helpful because it allows you to pinpoint the exact point of time when your dog does something correctly.  When you just use praise or a treat, you may miss that moment and the dog may not recognize what action he did that he is being rewarded for doing.

If you are interested in clicker training, check this site out.  It has a lot of helpful information.

I also grew very frustrated with myself.  Luke did not understand what I wanted him to do.  I did not know how to communicate with him.  I couldn’t get him to sit, stay, etc.  I was completely confused and I am sure he was confused too.  This led me to Patricia McConnell.  She is AWESOME!  She has studied animals for decades and compares primates to canines.  She explains how we are different and how we are alike to our canine companions.  For example, I never paid attention to how my dogs socialize with other dogs.  If you pay attention, they always go for the side, they don’t meet other dogs head on (unless they know the dog or feel safe).  We, humans, interact with dogs head on- patting on the head, eye contact, etc.  This is almost instinctual for us because that is how we greet other humans.  We say hello, do a handshake, eye contact, etc.  Dogs do not introduce themselves to other dogs like this.   When I meet a new dog, I now go for the side.  It is crazy how much of a difference this makes in terms of putting the dog at ease.  Most well-socialized dogs tolerate the head on interaction, but when you go for the side- it definitely makes a world of difference.  I highly recommend her books if you are interested in learning more about dogs.

Luke was definitely getting better, but I was exhausted and got sick.  I wasn’t getting anything else done besides working with Luke and my dogs seemed stressed out.  Zeus had been acting up-  he had become totally destructive.  He even got into a 1,000 page accounting book that he tore to shreds.  Luke also went for Rocky’s legs and hurt him.  Tobiah and I had to make the decision to give Luke back to the rescue organization so that they could find another foster home for him.  I felt horrible because we had committed to Luke, but at the same time we were not equipped to handle him.  However, just like we must understand our own dogs limitations and not put them in situations that are harmful for them or other dogs, we must also know our own limitations.  The rescue was able to find another foster home for Luke, thankfully.

When you make a decision to volunteer or help unwanted animals, you must know what your limitations are.  I realize now that I am not a very good foster parent, but I am good at promoting adopting dogs, walking dogs at our local shelter, etc.

Another lesson I have learned is to stay focused on what I can do and the positive aspects of working with abused, neglected, and/or unwanted animals.  There are so many horrible stories of what people do to animals and it is easy to get consumed by these to the point of becoming angry and unable to act.  I had become so depressed that I haven’t gone to BARC in at least a month.  I had forgotten all the good people are doing to help save and protect these animals.  Working with homeless animals can leave you feeling hopeless because there are so many dogs that need our help, but you have to focus on all the good you are doing and all the good those around you are doing.

This line of work is difficult and emotional; however, I have never done anything in my life that has such a huge impact on the life of another being.  If you cannot bear to see so many animals in your local shelter or do not have the time/resources to foster, consider volunteering at an adoption drive.  There are events almost every weekend and rescue organizations are always looking for volunteers!

Cheers and Happy Barkin’!

Annvi and Tobiah