Well, my awesome redbone coonhound Lady has done it again and is featured on the homepage news slider of Palo Alto Online. It’s for a good cause, as she’s promoting an event at the Palo Alto animal shelter this weekend, where shots are low cost and adoptions are half price. See my blog post on Love That Pup here:
I have another blog called Love That Pup about dogs and animals over at Palo Alto Online, where I recently posted “Try the Moonlight Dog Walk,” about walking your dog at the annual Moonlight Run for charity. Since the event is sponsored by the Palo Alto Weekly and the City of Palo Alto, the Weekly thought fit to feature the post on the news slider of their home page. So here’s the screen grab from my dog Lady’s five minutes of fame. She is a Redbone Coonhound, although I am well-versed in explaining how she is not a Vizsla (they have light nose, light eyes, sporting group) or Rhodesian Ridgeback (lighter coat, ridge on back, more powerful build, although technically the better guess because they are also in the hound group). The Moonlight Run event is over for this year, but do think about going out and supporting it next year, whether as a runner, walker or dog walker!
As we look to the new year, and reflect on how we would like to approach it, let us consider our dogs as our guide this year. Dogs are all about love, loyalty, service, perseverance, and courage, namely your dog has the nobility that we seem to lack in ourselves. Your dog doesn’t care about money, status, or appearances, and your dog lives in the moment and doesn’t bear a grudge. His only frustration is when he can’t be with you and serve you. This sentiment is expressed so well in Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s poem below, as our dogs know how to give all to love, and nothing refuse:
Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-frame,
Plans, credit and the Muse,—
Nothing refuse.
’T is a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent:
But it is a god,
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.
It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward,—
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.
Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,—
Keep thee to-day,
To-morrow, forever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
First vague shadow of surmise
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free;
Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.
Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive.
Scottie Zimmerman is known as the moving force behind the Friends of the Palo Alto Animal Shelter, which formed this year to support this vital city service. We were glad to see her acknowledged in the Palo Alto Weekly as a “person of the year” for 2012. Keep up the great work Scottie! Check out the FOPAAS web site when you have the chance and consider becoming a supporter. Rocky, our Dogo Argentino, gives this a big tailwag.
Now that it’s the holiday season we are reminded of a wonderful line from The Sound of Music in which Julie Andrews, Maria, says about Christopher Plummer, Captain von Trapp: “I can’t ask him to be less than he is.” First, if you haven’t seen the movie, or not in a while, it’s fabulous and full of beautiful sentiment that will fill you with the holiday spirit, even though it’s not a Christmas movie per se. Second, it’s worth thinking about this quotation with respect to our dogs.
If we reflect a moment on what noble and loyal creatures they are, and how they were bred for hunting, herding, ratting (yes that’s what terriers do) or whatever, we should credit them for their willingness to adapt to the town lifestyle we lead here in Palo Alto in order to serve as our companions and please us. Yes our dogs may have foibles, like jumping up on people, getting in the garbage, and other issues we may need to address. But we need to approach these challenges in the spirit of appreciating how much our dogs are already giving us by adapting rather well actually to the extreme environments that we put them in — such as living in an apartment, or having us gone most of the day at work or at school, etc. Our point is that when you are dealing with a behavior issue with your dog, don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees.
Approach dog training with a spirit of respect and compassion for your dog, in terms of appreciating how much they are already giving you that is positive. And realize that usually the behavior issue that frustrates you is a symptom of larger issues, in which we are asking our dog to be less than who he really is, by not fully utilizing his capabilities and not giving him the opportunity to actualize his genetic makeup in the world. So next time your dog does something naughty, have some perspective. Your dog is not the problem — it’s a sign that you need to work on enabling his proper place in the world, and these issues will tend to resolve themselves with a little work once there’s a larger vision and leadership tone coming from you. That’s why we ask, what is your wish list for you and your dog? Form a positive vision and work towards it together, patiently.
We’ve read that the City of Palo Alto is working on a program for composting food scraps, in order to become a Zero Waste community. One suggestion for dog owners is to consider working towards zero waste of food scraps by improving their dog’s diet. Of course, you need to rule out chicken bones, chocolate, grapes, and all the various food hazards for dogs. At the same time, instead of buying expensive food that seems to aspire to human-quality cuisine for dogs, you can set aside a bowl for food scraps each day and mix those into your dog’s bowl with their kibble or whatever they are fed. We no longer waste unfinished sandwiches, oatmeal, rice, stew, or whatever else has been on the…
One of the challenges of dog ownership is that dogs require a lot of time and attention. But this fact is also the source of the vast psychic benefits that come from having dogs, namely that they are devoted and loyal companions who live to serve us and brighten our day. The problem can be that in today’s world, our busy schedules sometimes cause our dogs to be left alone longer than they can reasonably tolerate given their nature as dogs. So often I am asked to address behavior problems that we find are merely the symptoms of the larger problem, i.e., that the dog is being asked to lead a cat lifestyle, and the dog is not doing so well with that.
What is a cat lifestyle? If you know cats, I don’t have to tell you, and fyi I have cats and am a cat lover. if you haven’t had a cat, basically you should know that a cat is kind of a like a roommate, someone whom you share space with, have some good times together, but otherwise you both are quite happy being independent. The cat relationship with mankind is this: you have food and shelter, so I will kill whatever rodents might be on your property in exchange for being allowed to hang around. Now today, we may not use cats for this purpose, but that’s the time-honored deal with cats.
Here’s a fun article about dog versus cat IQs in the Huffington Post by Joan Liebmann-Smith. The salient point for this discussion is that dogs are much more social than cats and need the social interaction of their pack relationships with you and others to thrive.
So if you get a dog, and try to leave it alone for long periods of time, your dog will likely show behaviors that are in protest of this arrangement. A cat, on the other hand, can be left alone with food and water and a litter box while you go away for the weekend. So it’s useful to ask ourselves, are we honoring the canine in our life by enabling them to live a dog lifestyle, or are we trying to put bandages over the problems that arise because we are asking them to live like cats.
So here are two very basic, common-sense tips for enhancing your and your dog’s lifestyle, and thereby avoiding many behavior problems:
1. If you are gone for the day at work, hire a business like Smilin’ Dogs (no affiliation) or a dog walker or some other service to get your dog out and about so they have a social life, get exercise, and of course get to relieve themselves. If you ask for my help, I will suggest you spend your money first on enabling this routine (on a daily basis!) rather than getting my help for a problem that comes from not having your doggie day-care issues addressed. I do half-day obedience and socialization trainings, so some people use me for one of their “day-care” slots, but I must emphasize that finding a daily affordable routine is paramount rather than hiring someone to fix a problem inherent to your living arrangements.
2. When you are not at work, try to take your dog wherever you go. You love your dog, and your dog loves you, so you will both be happier. Of course you need to walk your dog and do all the usual things, but my point is try to rethink and radicalize your own lifestyle to include your dog more. It might be possible to take your dog to work, or commute with your dog and drop him at day-care near your job. When you are off work, run your errands with your dog and include him in your social life. Your dog would rather sit in your car while you go to the store or party then be left at home, period. Ideally you start frequenting businesses that allow you to bring your dog in, or using an outside patio if it’s an eating establishment. But the bottom line is, think of your dog as your shadow, and include him in your life whenever you can. It will transform the both of you, guaranteed.
Now’s the time to think about what you and your dog will be up to this summer. Will it be going on vacation with the family, or enjoying the longer daylight by spending more time together outdoors? Do you have any new training or behavior objectives for your dog? Here are some ideas to think about. Decide to Travel with Your Dog. If you make the decision to travel with your dog, then you will find yourself undertaking to work out your plans to make that a reality. It may be that you need to adjust your plans somewhat, but where there’s a will there’s usually a way. For example, you might decide to drive rather than fly, if your dog doesn’t meet…
There have been a few news stories about the potential closure of the Palo Alto animal shelter, such as this one by Gennady Sheyner posted on Palo Alto Online. Without getting into the politics of budget cuts, I can only say it would be a shame to lose this dedicated community service. Sometimes you may not know what you’re getting from city staff, but here it’s unambiguous in terms of the animal control officers, adoptions, spay and neuter, and vaccinations. I do think they make it too hard to adopt these days, but that’s another story. I was also concerned to read in comments to this related story, an interview with Sandy Stadler, head of animal services, that Stanford sends strays to a…
If you missed this dog-related article in Slate about the rigors you can go through these days in adopting a “rescue” dog, you might enjoy it. Author Emily Yoffe has a wonderful sense of humor. Back in the 1970s we adopted a lab mix from the Palo Alto pound, basically by walking in their, picking her out, and leaving with her. More recently, I went in with my little boy to try to adopt a bunny, and the process was somewhat different. I have had rabbits in the past and am actually fairly knowledgeable about them. We went through the whole interview process, and it was pretty funny that they wouldn’t let me have the bunny until they spoke with my husband on the…
Palo Alto Dogs 