It's been a while since I put paw to keyboard. Even though I'm only a dog, sometimes when I hear the things you human beans do to us animals, I am lost for words. So many of you still have the old fashioned idea that all us dogs can't wait to be leader of the pack in your homes, and that's the reason for any and all of our behaviour that doesn't suit you.
I read this very interesting article about someone who had to put right the harm done by people who still believe this so-called dominance theory is correct. http://www.apbc.org.uk/Dog-Whispering-Can-Backfire This Mat Ward sounds like a very nice sensible human bean. I wish there were lots more like him.
Let me tell you a little bit about growling and why us dogs do it. Even though I've been with my human bean for 18 months now, having come from the rescue kennels, we are still learning things about each other, and learning to trust one another. So sometimes I growl at her. And yes, I admit, sometimes I even snap.
But that's not me saying I am top dog in this pack and don't you forget it. On the contrary, that's me saying something really scary is going on around me which I neither understand nor like, and you're pushing me a bit too hard, too fast, to accept it. I'd like you to deal with the scary thing, please, and let me just stay in my corner well away from it. And if you insist I come out and face my phobia, I'll just have to resort to biting you to try to explain how scared I am.
Now my human bean is trainable enough to understand this most of the time and she does her best. But there are still far too many out there who suggest dealing with us frightened dogs by “scruffing” or “pinning” us. Both of these methods seem to involve grabbing us by the neck in a way that hurts and throwing us to the floor. I can't think of anything that would terrify me more, nor make me more likely to bite in self-defence.
Today my human bean clearly had a touch of the sun. She bought a strange machine which made a noise and when she ran it over my coat all my lovely hair finished up on the floor. She said it was to make me feel cooler in the heat. She put my Baskerville muzzle on me, just in case, and explained carefully what she was doing and spoke quietly whenever I growled, so after a while, she got most of it done. If she'd grabbed me and shaken me, I'd have been doubly convinced the machine was dangerous and painful and wouldn't have let her try again. Ever.
There are a lot of “experts” out there who claim to be Dog Whisperers or Dog Listeners. They all seem to share a belief in dominance being at the root of everything dogs do. That means they haven't the slightest working knowledge of the language Canis, which is very complicated. “Grrr” has as many different meanings to dogs as “snow” has to Eskimos. It can mean “I'm going to bite you” or it can mean “I don't want to have to bite you but you're putting me in a situation where I see that as my only option”. Anyone who can't tell the difference is putting themselves and their dog in danger.
Human beans are supposed to be the most intelligent species, yet you persist in wasting time trying to get us to learn your strange language, without taking the trouble to learn even the basics of ours. No wonder dogs have so many problems in your company.
I believe you human beans have to take a theory and a practical test before you're allowed to drive one of your motor cars. What a pity you don't have to do the same before you can have a dog.
If you don't speak Canis, there's no shame in admitting it and getting help from a proper interpreter who does. You only have to look at the APBC website to find one near to you. http://www.apbc.org.uk/ Their people are fluent in Canis, and Equus and Felis, and lots of other animal languages too.
Have you ever had problems in a foreign country when something goes wrong and people are crowded round you all shouting at once in a language you don't understand? Imagine how you would feel if, when you were trying to tell them you simply didn't understand, they suddenly resorted to violence, shaking you by the neck, throwing you to the ground and pinning you there. Then imagine the relief if someone came along who spoke both languages and could explain everything clearly to you and the others.
Sound familiar? Which do you think your dog would prefer?
dimanche 27 juin 2010
samedi 10 avril 2010
The rules on capital punishment
At last, I've managed to get my paws on the computer to write my next blog. I'd first like to thank all my human bean friends for your kind comments on my last piece. Your words of wisdom are so helpful to a little toutou trying to understand the ways of humans.
One thing occurred to me from your comments, not only here on my blog but in places like Twitter, too. I've been told that the dog in that Cesar Millan video who appeared to be learning not to attack cats by wearing a shock collar and getting zapped every time it went near the cat would otherwise be put to sleep as a cat killer and my question is simply - why?
Why do human beans have the death penalty for dogs who follow what is after all a pretty basic instinct to chase and eat cats?
Ma maitresse has a cat, a very precious Siamesey type thing that thinks it's royalty and well above mere dogs like me. I don't understand about cats. I'd love to eat it. But ma maitresse says, until we get used to one another, we'll just have to live in different parts of the house. Now perhaps the dog owner in the video didn't have enough room to keep her cat and dog separate. In which case I wonder why she was trying to keep such a big and lively dog at all?
It can't be said that she was afraid her dog would kill other people's cats. She obviously doesn't have the dog under control, if she can't stop it attacking her own cat, so she shouldn't be letting the dog off the lead anywhere it could get at other people's cats - should she? That seems to be the law in most countries I've heard of.
I know I'm lucky because there's plenty of room here for both me and the cat. But if there wasn't and we really couldn't get along, I'd like to think ma maitresse would find a new home for one or other of us (and I hope it would be the cat!) rather than having me killed.
Ma maitresse certainly doesn't give me electric shocks or try to strangle me with a choke chain for going for the cat. She understands it's just that I don't know any better - yet. But I am getting better. I can look at the cat through the glass door and sometimes I can even do it without barking at her now.
Ma maitresse once went to see a man called Roger Mugford, about another dog, not me, and one of his people showed her a clever trick. In fact, it's so clever I didn't realise it was her doing a trick until she explained it to me, for this blog. I'd discovered that if I lunged at the door to try and get the cat, a nasty noise happened which I didn't like so I'd jump back nearer to ma maitresse who then made a big fuss of me and gave me a treat. So I learned the polite way to greet the cat was to go quietly up to the door and wag my tail. I thought the scary noise was coming from the cat if I wasn't polite enough - respect! Turns out all along that ma maitresse has an old Cola can full of pebbles and she shakes it to make the noise. And I never even realised. It's much less harmful to me than the shock collar would be, but it has made me understand the polite way to approach a cat.
Other people have also said that two trainers had tried and failed with that cat-killing dog before Mr Millan came along, so he was its last chance. I'd like to know who those trainers were and what their methods were that weren't successful. Because, as you human beans like to say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. And more than one way to train a dog not to.
The way ma maitresse is using is succeeding with me, but slowly, and it takes a lot of time and patience. So perhaps it wouldn't make very good television.
One thing occurred to me from your comments, not only here on my blog but in places like Twitter, too. I've been told that the dog in that Cesar Millan video who appeared to be learning not to attack cats by wearing a shock collar and getting zapped every time it went near the cat would otherwise be put to sleep as a cat killer and my question is simply - why?
Why do human beans have the death penalty for dogs who follow what is after all a pretty basic instinct to chase and eat cats?
Ma maitresse has a cat, a very precious Siamesey type thing that thinks it's royalty and well above mere dogs like me. I don't understand about cats. I'd love to eat it. But ma maitresse says, until we get used to one another, we'll just have to live in different parts of the house. Now perhaps the dog owner in the video didn't have enough room to keep her cat and dog separate. In which case I wonder why she was trying to keep such a big and lively dog at all?
It can't be said that she was afraid her dog would kill other people's cats. She obviously doesn't have the dog under control, if she can't stop it attacking her own cat, so she shouldn't be letting the dog off the lead anywhere it could get at other people's cats - should she? That seems to be the law in most countries I've heard of.
I know I'm lucky because there's plenty of room here for both me and the cat. But if there wasn't and we really couldn't get along, I'd like to think ma maitresse would find a new home for one or other of us (and I hope it would be the cat!) rather than having me killed.
Ma maitresse certainly doesn't give me electric shocks or try to strangle me with a choke chain for going for the cat. She understands it's just that I don't know any better - yet. But I am getting better. I can look at the cat through the glass door and sometimes I can even do it without barking at her now.
Ma maitresse once went to see a man called Roger Mugford, about another dog, not me, and one of his people showed her a clever trick. In fact, it's so clever I didn't realise it was her doing a trick until she explained it to me, for this blog. I'd discovered that if I lunged at the door to try and get the cat, a nasty noise happened which I didn't like so I'd jump back nearer to ma maitresse who then made a big fuss of me and gave me a treat. So I learned the polite way to greet the cat was to go quietly up to the door and wag my tail. I thought the scary noise was coming from the cat if I wasn't polite enough - respect! Turns out all along that ma maitresse has an old Cola can full of pebbles and she shakes it to make the noise. And I never even realised. It's much less harmful to me than the shock collar would be, but it has made me understand the polite way to approach a cat.
Other people have also said that two trainers had tried and failed with that cat-killing dog before Mr Millan came along, so he was its last chance. I'd like to know who those trainers were and what their methods were that weren't successful. Because, as you human beans like to say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. And more than one way to train a dog not to.
The way ma maitresse is using is succeeding with me, but slowly, and it takes a lot of time and patience. So perhaps it wouldn't make very good television.
mardi 2 mars 2010
A shocking way to train a dog
I'm so pleased to see that Wales is to be the first part of the UK to ban the use of electric shock collars for “training” dogs. http://ow.ly/1bmSn Wales hasn't always had a very good track record for canine welfare, since it houses more puppy farms than anywhere else in the UK.
This has happened because a lot of animal welfare groups have been working with the Welsh Assembly to ban what the RSPCA calls “a cruel, outdated and unsuitable method of training dogs.” They say “electric shock collars train dogs through pain and through fear”. Just ask any dog that's ever been subjected to them.
So that makes me wonder, again, about Monsieur César Millan and his methods. I have never seen one of his programmes, but I have seen parts of them on YouTube. In one, he seems to be using a shock collar on a dog which does not like cats, although he doesn't say he's using one.
I was puzzled about that, so I asked Monsieur Millan a question about it, a month ago, via Twitter.
@cesarmillan Did you really use an electric shock collar on this dog monsieur? http://ow.ly/ZNi6 If so can you explain why, s'il vous plait?
I didn't get a reply. I know he's very busy and I'm only a little dog, but I would still like to know the answer to my question. I'm pleased to see that if you put “Cesar Millan electric shock collar” into Google, my question comes up on page one, so it's there for all to see.
And I'd like to ask again. If Wales thinks these shock collars are so bad they have to be completely banned, why does Mr Millan think they are a good thing to use? If he uses them, why doesn't he say so, at the time he's using them. And why doesn't he warn people that their use will shortly be against the law in one part of the UK.
Most importantly, why doesn't he tell people that while it might, just might, be ok for very experienced dog handlers and trainers to use them in exceptional circumstances, with great care, they should definitely not be used by inexperienced dog owners unsupervised at home.
For those of you new to my blog, ma maitresse rescued me from a rehoming centre where I was very frightened, so now I can get a bit aggressive if I feel threatened or I don't understand something. I'm gradually training ma maitresse in the best way to explain things to me, so mostly we get along fine and I now have her trained to give me treats when I do the right thing.
Luckily, she's not keen on Mr Millan and his methods. She doesn't believe in his dominance theories. Nor do I. If ma maitresse wants to be pack leader, that's fine by me. I'm only a little toutou, and a scared one at that. I don't want to be top dog. If I growl a bit sometimes it's because I get worried when I don't understand things. Luckily, she usually gets down to my level and explains things a bit more clearly and gently. If she grabbed me by the throat and threw me onto my back – I think M. Millan calls it an alpha roll – I would be so frightened I would definitely bite her.
I try to read everything I can about new ideas to help us dogs train our human beans, and I read this very interesting article on M. Millan and the principle of parsi...parsley .. keeping it simple. http://networkedblogs.com/Crlt (Please excuse me, my heenglish is not very good). I like this article, it makes a lot of sense to me.
When I growl, I'm trying to tell you something, usually that I'm afraid because I don't understand what you just asked me to do. Because even though human beans are supposed to be intelligent, they sometimes don't realise we simply don't speak heenglish, or French, or any other human language. We speak dog, and body language. Very well. Much better than they do. So sometimes when they bend over trying to be friendly, they're really saying something scary and threatening in dog body language.
Most of us dogs know when we're onto a good thing. We don't want to become “pack leaders” in the human bean world. All that stress- who needs it? Going to work, paying bills, doing the shopping. Merci, mais non.
We're perfectly happy to be your faithful companions, ready with a lick and a wag to cheer you up when you need it, desperately keen to get the rules right in your complicated society. Sometimes we get them wrong. When we do, please just ask yourselves – could I have explained that a little better, and give us a second chance.
Please don't ever, ever, subject us to electric shocks, prong collars and choke chains, because they are never the answer.
This has happened because a lot of animal welfare groups have been working with the Welsh Assembly to ban what the RSPCA calls “a cruel, outdated and unsuitable method of training dogs.” They say “electric shock collars train dogs through pain and through fear”. Just ask any dog that's ever been subjected to them.
So that makes me wonder, again, about Monsieur César Millan and his methods. I have never seen one of his programmes, but I have seen parts of them on YouTube. In one, he seems to be using a shock collar on a dog which does not like cats, although he doesn't say he's using one.
I was puzzled about that, so I asked Monsieur Millan a question about it, a month ago, via Twitter.
@cesarmillan Did you really use an electric shock collar on this dog monsieur? http://ow.ly/ZNi6 If so can you explain why, s'il vous plait?
I didn't get a reply. I know he's very busy and I'm only a little dog, but I would still like to know the answer to my question. I'm pleased to see that if you put “Cesar Millan electric shock collar” into Google, my question comes up on page one, so it's there for all to see.
And I'd like to ask again. If Wales thinks these shock collars are so bad they have to be completely banned, why does Mr Millan think they are a good thing to use? If he uses them, why doesn't he say so, at the time he's using them. And why doesn't he warn people that their use will shortly be against the law in one part of the UK.
Most importantly, why doesn't he tell people that while it might, just might, be ok for very experienced dog handlers and trainers to use them in exceptional circumstances, with great care, they should definitely not be used by inexperienced dog owners unsupervised at home.
For those of you new to my blog, ma maitresse rescued me from a rehoming centre where I was very frightened, so now I can get a bit aggressive if I feel threatened or I don't understand something. I'm gradually training ma maitresse in the best way to explain things to me, so mostly we get along fine and I now have her trained to give me treats when I do the right thing.
Luckily, she's not keen on Mr Millan and his methods. She doesn't believe in his dominance theories. Nor do I. If ma maitresse wants to be pack leader, that's fine by me. I'm only a little toutou, and a scared one at that. I don't want to be top dog. If I growl a bit sometimes it's because I get worried when I don't understand things. Luckily, she usually gets down to my level and explains things a bit more clearly and gently. If she grabbed me by the throat and threw me onto my back – I think M. Millan calls it an alpha roll – I would be so frightened I would definitely bite her.
I try to read everything I can about new ideas to help us dogs train our human beans, and I read this very interesting article on M. Millan and the principle of parsi...parsley .. keeping it simple. http://networkedblogs.com/Crlt (Please excuse me, my heenglish is not very good). I like this article, it makes a lot of sense to me.
When I growl, I'm trying to tell you something, usually that I'm afraid because I don't understand what you just asked me to do. Because even though human beans are supposed to be intelligent, they sometimes don't realise we simply don't speak heenglish, or French, or any other human language. We speak dog, and body language. Very well. Much better than they do. So sometimes when they bend over trying to be friendly, they're really saying something scary and threatening in dog body language.
Most of us dogs know when we're onto a good thing. We don't want to become “pack leaders” in the human bean world. All that stress- who needs it? Going to work, paying bills, doing the shopping. Merci, mais non.
We're perfectly happy to be your faithful companions, ready with a lick and a wag to cheer you up when you need it, desperately keen to get the rules right in your complicated society. Sometimes we get them wrong. When we do, please just ask yourselves – could I have explained that a little better, and give us a second chance.
Please don't ever, ever, subject us to electric shocks, prong collars and choke chains, because they are never the answer.
lundi 25 janvier 2010
Condemned to life?
I know lots of you will have been moved by the tale of my canine cousin Keanu who has spent six long years in a Dogs Trust home, waiting for a new owner. I mentioned him in my last blog http://bit.ly/78W5xh and lots of people posted on Twitter about him. I wish I could give you good news but so far, Dogs' Trust report “Nothing at present, I'm afraid - I nudge the centre on a regular basis for more, though... (re: Keanu progress!)” Which presumably means he's still there.
Dogs Trust have a policy where they never destroy a healthy dog. They say Keanu is very happy in kennels and gets on well with his trainer. I'm sure it's as good a home as can be. Some boarding kennels are very nice. But be honest, would you want your dog to spend six years in one? And since Keanu is a healthy dog, that means he could, conceivably, be there until he dies. Is that right?
Then there's a little dog called Freedom, who has been in his rehoming centre for six and a half years. Apparently no-one wants him because he is very nervous and appears aggressive. I understand that so well – I was that dog, when I was in kennels. Ma maitresse had already seen my profile on the internet and passed over it, and walked past the kennel where I was barking and snarling in sheer terror when anyone came near me. Thank goodness the lady in charge persuaded her to take me out of the kennel to see what I was really like. And I turned on all my considerable Gallic charm to make sure she didn't leave without me.
But I understand Freedom's fear. I was petrified, most of the time I was there. There were lots of big dogs all around me, barking all the time, and I'm scared of noise. I had to share the kennel with another dog and although he was little, smaller even than me, and quite kind, I was still scared.
Do you know what it's like to be really afraid? So afraid you become aggressive? I do, and it's not a nice feeling. Imagine feeling like that every waking minute, and having far more waking minutes than you should because you're so afraid of every small noise you can't sleep. Then consider what it might be like to feel like that for extended periods of time. Then consider if keeping an animal like that is really the best and kindest option.
Ma maitresse says that in the 1970s when ponies were so cheap you could buy one for £5 from sales in Wales and the New Forest, a leading vet wrote a very controversial article saying the only way horse welfare would improve was if a virus wiped out 80% of the pony population. That's because, with ponies then costing about a fifth of the cost of a vet callout, people were not greatly motivated to spend good money on them. An extreme view?
Rescue kennels all over were reporting being full to capacity and beyond after Christmas. So what happens to all the dogs which could possible be rehomed that can't get into a rehoming centre because poor dogs like Freedom are taking up places?
Am I, as a dog, really saying dog charities should be putting more dogs to sleep? Wouldn't that be terrible? But ask me, honestly, if I would have been prepared to go on at that same level of terror for years and years and I'll tell you honestly. No. I would rather have had a quick and mercifully end . To a dog like me, to be given up for adoption was bad enough (if you read my first blog, you'll understand a bit more about my circumstances). But just to think about spending any longer in kennels than I did is terrible, and my heart goes out to all those poor dogs who spend years and years behind bars.
Dogs Trust have a policy where they never destroy a healthy dog. They say Keanu is very happy in kennels and gets on well with his trainer. I'm sure it's as good a home as can be. Some boarding kennels are very nice. But be honest, would you want your dog to spend six years in one? And since Keanu is a healthy dog, that means he could, conceivably, be there until he dies. Is that right?
Then there's a little dog called Freedom, who has been in his rehoming centre for six and a half years. Apparently no-one wants him because he is very nervous and appears aggressive. I understand that so well – I was that dog, when I was in kennels. Ma maitresse had already seen my profile on the internet and passed over it, and walked past the kennel where I was barking and snarling in sheer terror when anyone came near me. Thank goodness the lady in charge persuaded her to take me out of the kennel to see what I was really like. And I turned on all my considerable Gallic charm to make sure she didn't leave without me.
But I understand Freedom's fear. I was petrified, most of the time I was there. There were lots of big dogs all around me, barking all the time, and I'm scared of noise. I had to share the kennel with another dog and although he was little, smaller even than me, and quite kind, I was still scared.
Do you know what it's like to be really afraid? So afraid you become aggressive? I do, and it's not a nice feeling. Imagine feeling like that every waking minute, and having far more waking minutes than you should because you're so afraid of every small noise you can't sleep. Then consider what it might be like to feel like that for extended periods of time. Then consider if keeping an animal like that is really the best and kindest option.
Ma maitresse says that in the 1970s when ponies were so cheap you could buy one for £5 from sales in Wales and the New Forest, a leading vet wrote a very controversial article saying the only way horse welfare would improve was if a virus wiped out 80% of the pony population. That's because, with ponies then costing about a fifth of the cost of a vet callout, people were not greatly motivated to spend good money on them. An extreme view?
Rescue kennels all over were reporting being full to capacity and beyond after Christmas. So what happens to all the dogs which could possible be rehomed that can't get into a rehoming centre because poor dogs like Freedom are taking up places?
Am I, as a dog, really saying dog charities should be putting more dogs to sleep? Wouldn't that be terrible? But ask me, honestly, if I would have been prepared to go on at that same level of terror for years and years and I'll tell you honestly. No. I would rather have had a quick and mercifully end . To a dog like me, to be given up for adoption was bad enough (if you read my first blog, you'll understand a bit more about my circumstances). But just to think about spending any longer in kennels than I did is terrible, and my heart goes out to all those poor dogs who spend years and years behind bars.
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