Althouse: "I do not own a dog and never have, but I do own a television, and from the evidence it emits..."

January 8, 2011

"I do not own a dog and never have, but I do own a television, and from the evidence it emits..."

"... the whole danged species needs to go on a lengthy timeout."

By "species," you do mean human being, right?

16 comments:

woof said...: Cesar Millan rehabilitates dogs and trains people.

What breaks my heart are the SPCA commercials and the Animal Police shows. I can watch people being cut up on plastic surgery shows no problem, but anything involving sick or abused animals breaks my heart.; 1/8/11, 10:09 AM
Roux said...: The Humane Society and SPCA are not just looking for donations they are looking for monthly payments. We had to tell my mother-in-law to stop watching them to keep her from signing up. She could not afford the monthly payments.; 1/8/11, 10:34 AM
KCFleming said...: rhhardin bait.

The Humane Society and SPCA are like the human abortion industry; the biggest mass killers currently on the planet.; 1/8/11, 10:40 AM
traditionalguy said...: So dogs are well cared for by their owners. And the dogs famously give back love and loyalty. So who is doing the jealous bitching here?; 1/8/11, 10:42 AM
Unknown said...: Dogs are like kids: they drive you nuts and make your life (and house) a wreck, but you think about anything happening to them and you realize you couldn't live without them.

Another article where all the usual commenters can vent over narcissistic Boomers.; 1/8/11, 10:42 AM
madAsHell said...: I do not own a dog and never have

...and I stopped reading!!; 1/8/11, 10:53 AM
rhhardin said...: Koehler had thousands training their dogs in the 50s and 60s.

Dogs as good citizens was his vision.

The method was so successful that his book was banned in Arizona, and is widely disparaged today.

It's the method I use.

The book is out of print and overpriced by collectors.

You can read about it in Vicki Hearne's Adam's Task though; the chapters on Washoe and How To Say Fetch.

The contrast will tell you why every lefty's dog is neurotic today.; 1/8/11, 11:36 AM
KCFleming said...: I will always be grateful to rhhardin for pointing out Vicki Hearne.; 1/8/11, 11:39 AM
jungatheart said...: RH, I'm amazed how Vicki keeps in the boundaries, and apparently the German shepherd next door has learned to stay on her side, at least for a while.

Can an older dog be trained to stay in boundaries?; 1/8/11, 12:34 PM
chuck b. said...: Just let me have my Toddlers & Tiaras.; 1/8/11, 12:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Treat your dog like an intelligent being (even a teacup Chia)and they'll normally live up to it.

I recall taking Sam with me when I went to get a car part. Tied to a tree by the curb, he became anxious where I was and started calling.

I was inside the wide window front at the cashier. I whistled, he looked in. I slashed horz (stop whatever), closed my hand like a dog mouth shutting, dropped my flat hand diagonal like a dog sitting, dropped horz to lay down.

He followed instruction and probably ten people were amazed and congratulated me on his behavior. He was two.

More importantly, he was not an accessory.

wv: hicandu - What the cashier said, "Hicandu all that through glass?"; 1/8/11, 1:53 PM
BJM said...: The near drowning technique to discourage digging works. I learned it from a Army K9 corps trainer.

One dip and our dog never dug another hole.

Another dog was a garbage can raider. Nothing worked, until the same trainer advised us drag him to the mess he'd made, tell him NO!, tie him to the garbage can and to then the container enclosure or a fence and to leave him there for 6-8 hours (with water and shade of course). He whined, he barked, he howled, he strained the stake-out chain, twisted, bucked and wound it around the garbage can. Then he laid in the mess quietly until we released him. He never touched the garbage again. He wouldn't even go near the enclosure or the back gate.

The same young dog developed a shoe fetish, we were advise to catch him in the act, tell him NO! and tie the shoe to his collar for a 24 hour period. That shoe became the most loathed object on the planet. It was hard not to react to his beseeching expression as he dragged a heavy size 10 wing tip around banging against his front legs. Needless to say he never touched another shoe and his three pack mates understood the lessons too. Even though they hadn't offended they got it: no garbage, no digging, no shoes.

The dog that gave us so much trouble was an untrained 10-12 month old breed rescue. Even though he easily learned basic obedience, including both vocal and hand commands, he refused to submit to our authority until the garbage can incident.

Our current dog was trained with the Dunbar method, he's an obliging, sweet tempered dog, but it does tend to make them overly keyed on food. One could easily end up with a well trained beggar.; 1/8/11, 2:09 PM
rhhardin said...: The trouble with Koehler is word of mouth - nobody will talk about the praise and respect he also gives the dog, which is the usual course for training.

His corrections are what's unusual, and so what's remarked on.

But they just amount to giving the dog credit for his intelligence.

The book covers every case, though, and so there they are.; 1/8/11, 3:44 PM
rhhardin said...: Can an older dog be trained to stay in boundaries?

Probably. I'm pretty persistent and so could probably do it.

If you go way back to 2006 you'll see Vicki is always dragging a line for the first year.

That makes it possible to capture her without calling her (she doesn't know where the other end of the line is).

You can't correct her if she comes when called, so the line is to avoid calling. Drag her to the boundary, and show her "no."

Repeat each time she crosses.

Praise when she doesn't cross, especially when tempted.

When she gets good, add temptations deliberately.

The old-style plastic coated clothes line has the advantage that it doesn't tangle on stuff.; 1/8/11, 3:51 PM
paul a'barge said...: Here is the mutt who wrote the article:
"http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/neil_genzlinger/index.html"; 1/8/11, 4:29 PM
jungatheart said...: Thanks, rh, that is a great system. That picture is too cute.; 1/8/11, 8:13 PM