Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-first day of the month is "Safety."
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My husband's family is not a pet family. A few of the extended family have dogs, but I can't think of a single cat in the family except for Zelda. Because of this, my husband's aunts, in particular, are fascinated by Hannah and the training we do with her and our animal companion philosophy.
We train Hannah for several reasons. One, she likes to do it and it is a form of mental stimulation and it's one way to tire out a dog that doesn't involve running eight miles with them every day. Second, it builds a bond between her and her trainer(s). Third, we can work on skills that will make her life and our lives easier. For example, it's a lot easier to get her weight at the vet if I can get her to stand still on a platform (see above). Lastly, we do it because it's a matter of safety and in extreme cases, it can be life and death.
Hannah was off-leash at a park recently (legally) and a car started driving into the field where we were. I have no idea why this was happening, but I immediately called for Hannah to stay and I was able to get to her and put a leash on her before she even realized that there was a scary car in the area. The car was going slowly and I'm sure Hannah would have just run away from it, but scared dogs can be unpredictable, so I was happy to see that the training paid off.
Zelda threw a hairball up on our living room rug and we didn't see it (this is gross, but her puke is literally the same color as one of the accent colors in the rug and she threw up so it blended in perfectly). Dr. BB and I both saw Hannah sniffing at it at the same time and immediately said "leave it" and she just walked away from it and headed to us to get her treat. Ha! When we're on walks and I say "leave it" or "yucky," she just continues moving on and I greatly appreciate that the time we've put into training has been effective.
She's not perfect, my friends. She is somewhat leash reactive to other dogs and people. She is extremely reactive to bicycles, wheelchairs, skateboards, and small motors. I still can't sweep in the same room as her. But she tries hard every day to do what we ask her to do and I can't ask for a better dog than that.
Are there lots of pets in your extended family?
No pets ANYWHERE in my immediate family (aside from our pet hamster). My Dad grew up with dogs and would love to have one, but he and I are allergic and my Mom is terrified of all animals.
ReplyDeleteHannah seems so well behaved and I love the philosophies at play here. So, on that note, WHEN CAN YOU COME TRAIN MY CHILDREN?!!!
People are SO MUCH HARDER than dogs. You can't just do 5 minutes of training twice a day and be done with it! I don't envy parents of small people!
DeleteBeatrix is not trained because she is just a naturally wonderful, lazy, and obedient dog. We didn’t even have to work hard to potty train her— she just sort of does what we want her to do. BUT she is a BAD WALKER and really could have benefitted from training to make it easier for the kids to walk her. She has VERY LOW walk requirements, though, so we’re good.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, I should also have noted that Hannah is lazy and eager to please, so a lot of time we just coast on what's already in her nature. She's not a super energetic creature and mostly wants praise, so it's easy to work with her. We got super lucky about that.
DeleteI cannot get over how good-looking Hannah is. She's perfectly proportioned like a fox, and she's just so cute. You scored a winner with her.
ReplyDeleteAgree, agree, agree about training! A well-trained dog is a happier dog, too. Dogs like to know what's expected, and they like to have limits. They like to know their role in the pack.
My granddog Zydrunas was a Lawless Vagabond and it was so difficult. He and his Pet Parents were given training and it made everyone happier, most of all Z. He's the most Joyful Good Citizen now.
Yes! They need to understand the rules of their family and what the expectations are for them. Hannah's a delight, but it's because she's not at all confused about what she's supposed to be doing. We really only run into problems when we change up her routine. I'm glad Z is a happier dog with some training - it probably makes the entire house a lot more fun for everyone.
DeleteOur dog is wonderfully well behaved, and from what I understand it's because her first owner put her through a fancy puppy training school. When we have people over, they're always amazed that she doesn't try to jump on them and when we have food out she never tries to steal it. The only thing is that she has to do a trick to get her nightly treat, and the choices are "speak", "sit", or "shake" and often when it's treat time she'll just do all three actions at once no matter what the command.
ReplyDeleteYes, those overnight training schools can be helpful, but I'd be worried about my dog creating a bond with another person! I prefer to the training on my own, but I know a lot of people who have sent their dogs to boarding schools with good results!
DeleteHannah used to jump, but not a lot these days. I can't tell if we've trained her out of it, she's just older, it's causes pain from her back injury, or she's just too lazy for it. Ha!
Rex is very well trained, but that really didn't have much to do with me. We've just worked with his very sweet personality, and he's been great. Barkley was also well trained, and that was mostly me. He was with a puppy trainer for four weeks before he came to us, at 13 weeks, but since he was so young there was quite a bit of work I had to do. But he was extremely food motivated, so pretty easy to do. However, he was extremely reactive to skateboards. Everything else was fine, but a skateboard going past would make him lose his fuzzy little mind!
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely should clarify that Hannah came to us as an adult dog and she was already super well-behaved and sweet. We too just work with her natural gifts. We also do training SHE likes, so we focus on her strengths. For instance, I sort of wanted her to do agility courses, but she's not a big jumper and she likes to always be able to see me, so going into tunnels has never been something she's even willing to try, so we do a lot more straight obedience and no agility at all.
DeleteYou bet there are pets. Well, pet. Lizzie isn't even "extended" -- she considers herself full-on family and so do I!
ReplyDeleteOh, Hannah the Dog and Zelda the Cat are definitely equal members of the family if you ask me! Zelda is certainly the queen of our house and in charge of everything.
DeleteAs a lifelong cat person, I am amazed what you can get dogs to do! I can understand that it makes them happier too, it's all great, it's just so different from cats. Maggie has us pretty well trained, though!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Zelda is definitely the one in charge at our house and the rest of just fall in line with her orders.
DeleteMy sister has cats. No pets at either of husband's brothers' places. My mother was a strictly no-pet person even though my dad has always loved dogs - it's hilarious now that she walks Lucy for hours and happily pet sits any time, and my dad literally sleeps in the spare room with Lucy when they have her overnight.
ReplyDeleteIt's always the people who are most vehemently against getting pets who fall hardest, isn't it?
DeleteAw, Hannah! What a good dog! We're a big cat family. We had cats growing up (Joey and Sparky, they lived for almost 20 years so I had them my entire childhood) and now I have two cats and my sister has always had cats. When my husband and I got together, he had the tragic condition of being allergic to cats. But somehow he outgrew that over the years (phew!) and now we're able to have them. My son and I are trying to find a way to sneak a third cat into the family, but my husband thinks two are enough (we'll see.)
ReplyDeleteI reallllly wish we had gotten Zelda a feline friend when she was younger. I think she's too old and set in her ways for a new friend now, but I don't think I'll ever have a single cat again - I'd always get them in pairs! I think you should just surprise show up with a third kitty and your husband won't be able to resist!
DeleteHannah! Both beautiful and good? I was going to ask how you got so lucky, but it sounds like you spend quality time training her. I think like human kids, animal kids have their own temperament too. Our older one is very emotionally aware and our younger one is practically the honey badger from the meme.
ReplyDeleteMy spouse's family has always had pets, my sister and I didn't have pets growing up because my parents thought we'd be emotionally devastated by pet loss.
Well, we DID luck out. She came to us as an adult who was sweet, smart, and eager to please, so we didn't have to do a lot of basics because she was already a good girl. Some of it is the time we spent on training, but a lot of it is her innate character.
DeleteIsn't it crazy when parents say no pets because they don't want their kids to be sad? It feels like I'd rather kids learn about death through the loss of a pet than have their first experience of loss be a close friend or family member? But maybe that's crazy. I don't have kids, so I don't have to make these decisions.
I am more of a cat person, but those in the extended family on Sue’s side are dog people. There is no extended family on my side. Not close enough to really know anyway. Oh, just remembered that I do know one, just on FB, and she is a cat person. I haven’t seen her since 1962, but at least we’re connected in some way.
ReplyDeleteMy mom and sister and definitely pet people - they have dogs and cats. It's really just my husband's side of the family that has so few pets. I think that they think I've taken him to the dark side re: animals in the house!
DeleteI love that you put so much effort into training Hannah. It pays off for you and for her! There aren't many pets in our extended family - my sister has two cats and three turtoises and my cousin has a cat. That's about it.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's interesting that pets seem to run in families. I guess it makes sense - if you grow up with pets, it's normalized and you're more likely to have them!
DeleteWe are a big pet family! My mom has two dogs, my cousin has 2 dogs and 3 cats, my other cousin has a dog, my uncle has two dogs... so many pets in our family! Right now, Chip (my mom's dog) is going through one-on-one training because he's a little bit of a troublemaker (barks ferociously at people when they're out, climbs up on counters, etc). He's doing really well with training, though! I was worried he was untrainable, lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, no dog is untrainable! Some just aren't as quick as others to figure out what their humans want from them. (Although I'm starting to think it may be impossible to train Hannah to go down the basement stairs. We've been working at this for months and the "progress" we've made is ONE paw on ONE step. Ahem. So maybe don't listen to what I have to say.)
DeleteWe are all pet people; mostly dogs at the moment. Training is key. You are right on all accounts: It's good for her, it's good for you, it's good for her mental stimulation. I never thought about having a dog stand on a platform; (or rock)you are so bright!!
ReplyDeleteI'm working hard to get Peanut to 'listen' to my commands...which is hilarious after the precarious event yesterday where I was chasing her for a good four minutes as the UPS truck was trying to enter our driveway. (there is much work to be done!)
Oh, boy, stubborn dogs who pretend they can't hear you are the WORST to train. Does Peanut have any hound in her? Because I've learned that hounds take fare more patience than I have to train because they just follow their nose and literally don't hear you because they're so distracted by the world!
DeleteNo pets. Sigh. I would love to have a cat (small apartment, so a dog would be more challenging...). But, I am allergic. And although you read those stories of, "I thought I was allergic to cats, but not my cat!", I don't exactly want to adopt one and then... realize I'm allergic to it. I am always envious of your pictures of Zelda. She's so very... cat-like. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd Hannah! What a rock star. Speaking of Hannah and her back pain, though - how is she doing? I hope I am not jinxing anything by asking... ?