I'm happy to work as long as we get to take lots of fun breaks.

Bone Weary – the Puppy Version

I’ve never had a dog as smart as Honey. It’s a pleasure to train her. Just a couple of repetitions and she’s captured a new behavior.

But even the smartest dog can get a full brain and become bone weary of learning. That’s why dog trainers tell us to break our training sessions into no more than five minutes scattered throughout the day.

Here’s what it looks like with Honey:

• We start out practicing targeting with the bike trailer.
• After a few excellent repetitions, Honey just stops.
• She looks up at me.
• She lies down on the floor.

Yep, she’s done. The Retriever brain is full. It’s time to take a break.

Bone Weary – the Human Version

What is a typical week like for you? A full-time job? Raising a family? Caring for multiple animals? Volunteering? Writing a blog? Caring for elderly relatives? Home renovations? Running a business?

Whew, I’m getting tired just thinking about all the things we try to crowd into a week.

What does it look like when our brains get too full?

• We lose our motivation to do our usual tasks.
• We feel guilty and bash ourselves for not doing what we should.
• We go get an awful snack and watch bad reruns on TV while feeling even more guilty.

Maybe we need to be as kind to ourselves as we are to our tired out pup who’s had too much time in training.

Bone Weary – the Cure

When Honey’s brain is tired, we stop. It’s time for zoomies in the yard, a game of tug, or a cuddle on the couch.

Of course, when our own brains are tired, we aren’t usually as kind to ourselves. But we must be. Or we’ll never last.

So if you’re feeling unmotivated and can’t get something done that you know you should (probably the most evil word in the English language), take a break.

And if you find yourself doing something different that’s real or mischievous, that enriches your body, your mind, or your relationships, congratulate yourself. You’ve just become as smart as a puppy.

[Thanks to Pup Fan for suggesting this topic for The Puppiness Project on the I Still Want More Puppies Facebook Page. If you liked it, go "like" I Still Want More Puppies.]

Ahhhhh, finally a chance to spread out without peasants getting in my way. After all, it is a Queen bed, isn't it?

Some dogs know just what we need before we even say it. Others don’t seem to understand what they knew just the day before.

And what about you? Do you understand what your dog needs?

Are you and your dog communicating?

Take the quiz.

1. When it’s doggy dinner time, your dog

(A) Is standing by her food dish waiting for you to serve her.

(B) Barks her head off for her food. Come to think of it, she does that even when it isn’t dinner time.

2. When you’re chatting with someone and your dog is in the room too, when you say his name he

(A) Looks up to see what you want.

(B) Continues whatever he was scratching, sniffing, or humping.

 3. When you plan a fun activity for your dog, it includes 

(A) Being off leash, mud, adventure, and stimulating smells.

(B) Wearing a very itchy costume and having to sit very still and quiet in a crowd filled with food, other dogs, and kids who like to pull fur.

4. “Walkies” are when 

(A) Your dog picks the route (within reason; following a squirrel across heavy traffic isn’t too smart) and gets to sniff what she wants along the way.

(B) You catch up on calls you need to return while getting in a power walk around the block with your dog constantly pulling you forward or backward.

5. When your dog has an accident in the house, you know he

(A) Might be sick or just couldn’t wait any longer.

(B) Is getting revenge for (pick one) getting neutered, being left alone, not being allowed to eat garbage.

6. At the dog park, if you hid behind a tree while your dog wasn’t looking, she would

(A) Stop playing for a little while until she figured out where you were.

(B) Never notice you were gone. She might even follow someone else home.

7. Your dog’s favorite tug toy is

(A) Made by Kong, Nylabone, or some other pet toy maker.

(B) Your leg, your lunch, that 25,000 page manuscript of a novel you’ve been writing since college.

8. When your dog barks

(A) You can tell if he’s hungry, has to go outside, or sees a stranger at the door.

(B) You scream,”For the love of God, don’t you ever shut up?”

9. A good dog is

(A) A happy, fulfilled, and tired dog.

(B) One who never barks, pulls on leash, wakes up before six a.m., or farts. You know, a robo-dog.

10. A good person is

(A) Someone who does her best to understand her dog and loves him forever even when it isn’t always easy.

(B) What are you talking about? I just want to have a good dog. It has nothing to do with me.

How did you do?

Obviously we’re hoping to have as many “A” answers as possible. It doesn’t always happen.

Even those with the best human/canine bond in the world will sometimes face spider monkey wake up calls or failure to launch (into a bicycle cart).

But isn’t it lucky our dogs and we have an entire lifetime to work on figuring each other out?

Can you think of a time you felt really good about understanding your dog? For me, it was figuring out what sound Honey made in her crate when she needed a drink of water. 

When do you and your dog understand each other the best?
Hop on…

For me, the perfect sized dog is one whose head ends up right under my hand when she walks by my side.

Since I’m about 5′ 7″ (170 cm) tall, that means the perfect dog will end up in the 50 pound range.

But here’s the thing. I live in a small house.

I only have love seats because there’s no room for standard couches. And in our bedroom, we have to move Honey’s crate to put our clothes away because it blocks our dresser drawers.

Adopting a small dog?

However, while doing foster puppy duty for the SPCA, I discovered we have just enough room in our bedroom for a crate that houses a 10 to 15 pound (4-7 kilogram) dog.

Hmmmmm, is it time to adopt a friend for Honey? Time to do some research.

I wanted to find out what it would be like to have a small dog so I went right to the source. Who better to tell me what it’s like to live with a small dog than Dexter the talking Yorkie?

We-ell, maybe I’ll just keep things the way they are.

Need more words of Doggy Wisdom? Check out Dexter’s Ruff Life.

Here’s a riddle. How is building a relationship with an animal like taking a trip?

Give up?

You’ll feel like a stranger, there might be diarrhea involved, and you’ll learn things that will change you forever.

Pet Travel Thursday – The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Although the point of Pet Travel Thursday is to review books that talk about traveling with pets, I decided to break away from that constraint a little by reviewing a film that will make you want to travel to see some amazing animals in their wild (although not native) state.

Documentary filmmaker Judy Irving had been filming seabirds around San Francisco when she began noticing a flock of parrots. People told her about the man who fed the parrots and studied them.

When Irving met the man, Mark Bittner, she didn’t think he would be very good on film. So she conceived of a new idea and relied on the advice of Bittner to make it work.

But as the filmmaker got to know Bittner better, she saw the relationship he had developed with the birds. He had observed the birds so carefully and so long that he was able to distinguish between them, recognize their offspring, and understand their natures. The resulting film, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, explores the relationship between a man and a flock of parrots.

Animals Change Us…If We Let Them

When Mark Bittner began observing the birds, it was just idle curiosity. Where did they come from? Could he coax them into approaching him for food?

He didn’t think the birds would have a big impact on how he lived or thought about animals.

But then he met Tupelo.

During several springs, young parrots came down with a mysterious illness. In their weakened state they were vulnerable to predators and even other parrots. Bittner would occasionally bring one of these ill birds into his home to keep it warm, feed it, and give it a chance of recovering enough to be released.

Tupelo was an affectionate bird. At night, Bittner would pick her up to rest on the bed beside him while he read. One night, when he picked her up, Bittner felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. At first, he didn’t understand what he was feeling. But he came to realize it was coming from Tupelo.

When it was time for bed, the fragile bird had to go back on the floor so she wouldn’t be crushed. And as he placed Tupelo on the floor, he again experienced a rush of emotions coming to him like a message—regret, sorrow.

When he awoke, Tupelo was nowhere to be found. He eventually found her dead, under the heater.

In watching the film and reading Bittner’s book about the birds, I got the sense that he was shocked by his response to Tupelo’s death. Afterwards he was unable to speak to anyone for three days. And he felt burdened by regret for not being with Tupelo when she died. He hadn’t meant to be changed by interacting with the birds. But he was.

Bittner mentioned a few times in the film and the book that he was afraid of being considered eccentric. And he had trouble talking to a local bird expert because he tripped over his words trying not to be anthropomorphic. But eventually he couldn’t escape from the fact that he had developed relationships with some of these birds. And that they weren’t really that different from us.

As Bittner stated in the film, “They’re afraid of death. They’re afraid of injury. They’re afraid of being alone. Like us.”

Seeing the Wild Parrots in San Francisco

Shortly after seeing the film, I got to travel to San Francisco. It’s a lovely city. It’s one of those unique places that you wouldn’t confuse for any other place in the world.

Yes, it has beautiful architecture. And the setting on the bay can’t be beat. You’ll find great food and bookstores. But when I got off the ferry, my first stop was Telegraph Hill—to look for the parrots.

It was late in the afternoon. Dozens of birds were sitting in the trees as I walked up the Greenwich steps. The loud screeching was unlike anything I had ever heard on a city street. And as the flock got the alarm, they took off in a rush of green that stood out against the grey sky.

Many people think you need to escape the city to experience nature. But nature is stronger than buildings and paving and human destructiveness. If humans disappeared from the earth, nature would reclaim Manhattan in a matter of months.

Nature—yes, altered by human intervention—is everywhere. And a huge flock of wild parrots is one way nature expresses herself in San Francisco.

Something Wagging and Wild Parrots

If you’ve been coming by Something Wagging This Way Comes for a while, you know that I’m fascinated with the human and animal bond. And not because I’m an expert on it or particularly good at building relationships. But because I believe we need to be open to life-changing experiences to be fully human.

Learning from and loving animals is one, very powerful life-changing experience.

It doesn’t have to be. You can have a dog that you let out in the back yard and pet absent mindedly while you watch tv just like you can travel to a new country and never eat anywhere but McDonald’s or make no attempt to speak a new language.

Learning what animals think and feel and what motivates them is exciting. It opens us up. That’s what Mark Bittner learned from his involvement with the parrots in his Telegraph Hill neighborhood. And it’s what we learn every day with our own dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, guinea pigs…

In future reviews for Pet Travel Thursday, I hope to explore ways that traveling and animals can open us to new ways of viewing the world. Can you help me?

What books have you read about pet related travel? Anything you can recommend?

And don’t forget to stop by my review at A Traveler’s Library where you can see a trailer for the film and learn more about the amazing setting.

[Photos are from Flickr and used under a Creative Commons license. You can find them here and here.]

The blessing of being single is that you don’t allow your attention to be taken over by one person. And you’re free to share your friendship and love with many others.

This is my Valentine to my wonderful single friends who share themselves with other creatures selflessly instead of being tied down in one relationship.

Isn’t this the cutest picture from Flickr?

Confidence given by squirrels.

Stop wiggling. You're making it hard to see what's going on.

Honey isn’t a bold dog. After tripping once while dragging a big toy up the stairs, she’ll whimper at the bottom of the stairs while she tries to figure out if she’s brave enough to try it again. And she’s very uncertain if surfaces move under her feet.

Honey’s not the kind of dog that I need to worry will get onto the counters while I’m at work. Too scary.

And yet, when something important comes along, Honey gets a confidence boost. She does what she must keeping the big picture in mind.

Yesterday Honey heard something outside the front window. I assume it was a squirrel in the tree. Cautious pup, the one who is afraid of unsteady footings and tripping, climbed my body to get a good view out the window. She balanced with two paws on the back of the sofa and two on me. She was absolutely fearless.

Keeping the big picture in mind.

I feel like I’m at a low point in my confidence right now. I’m coming off my first major illness after years of being healthy. I’m still feeling pain related to my month-past bicycle accident. I had a really hard time writing recently although I usually find blogging pretty easy.

Oh, and I’m slowly converting to a full head of silver hair after more than a decade of dying those grey hairs that started appearing when I was 18 years old (just about the time I met my now husband; a coincidence? I doubt it).

I certainly don’t feel smart enough or strong enough or ambitious enough to pursue all the plans I’ve made for 2012. I could really use a shot of confidence.

I need to lift my eyes from the silly fears I have right now and look toward my goals for the future.

Learning from Honey

The reason it’s hard to teach Honey to ride in the Doggy Ride bike trailer is because I can’t share the big picture, as I see it, with her. I can’t say, “Honey, as soon as you feel comfortable riding in the trailer, I’ll take you to the Dog Park to run around with your friends.”

But when Honey knew something interesting was outside the window, she was willing to challenge her fears to see it. She kept the squirrel (or dog or child or blowing paper) in her mind and climbed a very unsteady surface to get access to the window.

I need to remind myself that every brave step I take will get me closer to the life I want to live.

Maybe it’s time to paste a picture of my squirrel to my computer monitor.

No, not because after two weeks of coughing I have stomach muscles that would be envied by a Navy Seal.

I’m excited to see how people took up the training challenge to learning something new with their animal friends and to build their relationships.

Challenge Champions

You can read each of the challenge stories. I know they’ll inspire you as much as they did me.

• Elka learned how to walk gently down the icy stairs to keep from killing her person, Jen.
• Over at Pit Bulls and Patience, you’ll see some great off-leash training.
• Amy and Rod at the Take Paws Blog now know why Buster gets so excited when he sees other dogs on leash and are working to calm him down.
• Kolchak the puggle has trained his Mama to set up K9 Nose Work games.
• Our friends at 24 Paws of Love started out training a recalcitrant cat and discovered a new friend.
• The dogs at Silverwalk Hounds Sanctuary have gotten training throughout the day and extra walks as part of their challenge.
• Thanks to some hard work, Frankie and Beryl of Greyhounds Can Sit are safely entering and exiting their new adventure mobile.
• The always-ambitious Kristine of Rescued Insanity has video evidence that a tornado on a leash and a fussy kitty can do tricks together in the same room. Impressive!
• You’ll also see some great video at Married With Dawgs showing the unique styles of “backing up” as demonstrated by Sadie, Maggie, and Hurley.
• Visiting dog Saydee learned that calm behavior gets rewarded with a fun game of fetch over at the Daily Dog Blog.
• Jasper at No Dog About It Learned how to put his front paws up on a surface. And the blog readers made suggestions about what other tricks this behavior could be linked to.
• Bunny and her Mom of Tales and Tails are again participating in the IditaWalk. There is no better way to bond with a dog than by taking her for a walk.
• And over at Facebook, Christy shared her progress in teaching her dog Dixie not to enter into every conversation.

Everyone did a great job and I’m so glad you took up the challenge. You’ve inspired me to work harder with my Honey.

And the Winner Is…

Although the challenge itself wasn’t a competition, I did choose one participant at random to win a $50 donation to their favorite animal charity. Amy Burkert of Go Pet Friendly came up in the random number generator.

I haven’t yet heard from Amy where she wants her donation to go but I’ll announce it as soon as I know.

Same Time Next Year?

Although it’s hard to fit one more thing into an already-busy schedule, all the challenge participants seemed to find the training worth the time.

What do you think? Should this be an annual event?

The Method

Honey's Nemesis

The Doggy Ride cart sits in the corner of our living room. We’ve removed the wheels to make it more steady.

I’m using a clicker to shape Honey’s behavior around the cart. We started by clicking and treating her every time she looked at the cart. Then when she stuck her head in the cart. Now, to get a treat, Honey has to put her head into the cart up to her shoulders.

We’re also rewarding her if she can sit or lie near the cart when I shake it gently.

In addition to our active work, I regularly hide treats in the cart at random for Honey to find. We’ve hidden chicken liver, cheese, and chewy treats (basically anything starting with a “ch”) in the cart.

Honey’s Progress

When we started, Honey was tentative even walking by the cart. Now she moves easily by the cart and goes right to the cart when she sees me pick up the clicker.

When I hide things at random in the cart, Honey will prop one paw into the cart to gain access to the treats hidden farther back.

But she’s not willing to crawl into the cart to get even the yummiest treat.

Setting Goals

Ok, I'm sitting in front of the "thing." What do you want me to do now?

My goals for Honey are not linked by time. I did not assume I’d meet a certain benchmark by the end of the month. I’m trying to let Honey lead the way.

My only goal is that Honey be comfortable. I’ll take my time. We’ll go at her pace.

The Relationship

Honey is excited that we’re regularly playing training games. And I think she trusts me more around the cart. I hope we can build enough trust to get her riding in the cart.

But, if we fail, I’ll be grateful for anything I can get.

The Challenge

When I dreamed up the Something Wagging Train Your Dog Challenge, I wanted to encourage a stress-free month of fun and bonding with your dog.

Responding to the comments left with the challenge, I created the Lazy Person’s Guide. And we opened up the training challenge to any other critters.

So now it’s your turn. What did you hope to learn with your animal this month? How did you succeed? How did you fail? And, most importantly, did the training strengthen your relationship?

Share your story.

• Post on your blog and link using the tool here.
• Tell your story at the Something Wagging Facebook page.
• Email your story to somethingwagging (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll post it here.

Why do you want to do this? Because one challenge entrant will be chosen at random to win a $50 donation to their favorite animal welfare charity.

Don’t delay. You have one week to post your story and enter to win the prize.
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Or does it?

What will we forgive if someone loves dogs?

Like most of my thinky, wordy posts, this one began with someone else’s writing. In Sigmund Freud’s Case of Puppy Love, Edie Jarolim explored Freud’s love of dogs later in his life.

A few commenters hinted that their thoughts of Freud were somewhat more positive for knowing he loved dogs. Which got me thinking: Is loving dogs really a sign that you’re a better person than someone who doesn’t like dogs? Are you more compassionate? Does your connection with another living creature make you a better human?

Or are humans so complex that we can do unspeakable evil while loving an animal?

Hitler loved dogs.

Americans have a short historical memory. If you’re in your twenties, live in the U.S., and watch political news, you may think Hitler was an evil person because he wanted everyone in Germany to have health insurance.

But in a century that also saw Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin exterminate millions, Adolph Hitler stands out for his remarkably orderly and purposeful attempt to kill every Jew, homosexual, Jehovah’s witness and others he deemed as threatening the purity of the “master race.”

And yet he adored dogs.

Dogs can only help us be better humans if we listen to them.

One of the things I like about dogs is that they are directed by their own self-interests just like people. It makes them complex. And figuring out what motivates a dog is one of the great joys of living with one.

But I don’t believe dogs are so complex that they are capable of being evil. That takes a level of denial and mental compartmentalization only available to humans.

So I definitely believe that we can be good in one aspect of our lives while being truly horrible in another.

But while I was thinking about this I realized something. Maybe the question isn’t how Hitler could love dogs so much while being ruthless, delusional, and wicked. Perhaps we need to ask not what Hitler thought of his dog. But what did Hitler’s dog think of him?

Once you see this video footage I found, I think you’ll know what I mean.

Hitler’s Dog Didn’t Like Him

The beautiful German Shepherd in the images and film footage was Blondi. By all accounts, Hitler adored her.

But what do you think Blondi thought of Hitler?

I don’t know about you but I saw a pretty unhappy dog.

I’ve seen dogs behave like Blondi. You probably have too. Sometimes they’re rescued dogs. Other times they’re fearful for other reasons.

How do you respond when you see a dog cower? If I know my readers, and I think I do, I’m going to guess you take a step back and try to figure out what’s going on.

You evaluate what’s making the dog scared. You slow down. You let the dog find a place of comfort.

You don’t keep pressing forward, petting and hugging a dog that just wants to go away.

As a dog lover, a real dog lover, you listen to the dog. You enter into an unspoken dialogue where the dog tells you what she needs and you listen and try to respond.

You may not always get the right answer. But the dog is not a possession or an object but a communicating being that you need to learn to understand.

And that’s how liking dogs can make you a good person.

It’s not liking dogs that makes us better human beings. It’s listening to them.

How did we celebrate Honey turning two?

• My husband walked her to the groomer’s yesterday so she’d like extra pretty for her special day.
• I took her to work with me today.

You might not think that going to work is such a big thrill. But Honey loves visiting her fan club.

I hear someone speaking baby talk. Do you think she's looking for me?