by Bethers » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:35 am
OK - let's start talking about this book. This discussion will be more free-wheeling - throw in whatever you want about the book and we'll talk about our thoughts and feelings - see where we agree and disagree.
One thing I wondered how everyone would feel - is this book doesn't hold to the human as the leader - to the extent many dog experts today do. I happen to agree with this book, but also sometimes agree with the experts LOL -- I hate when a dog is so well trained that he loses some of his "dogginess" - I like seeing them with a bit of their own spirit. When I had Moxie and Tips, both of them had their times they could run and roam off leash. It's something I really regret that I haven't been able to do with Peaches at all. I know how much she'd love to run on the beach. She wouldn't hurt anyone, but I'm afraid that she also wouldn't come when called, or pay attention to the vehicles. So, unless I find a large field or somewhere to work with her, I feel like I'm sometimes confining a part of her that really needs to open up and be free. I don't force her to heel when walking - unless there is a situation that calls for it - but it's not nearly the same thing as her being able to swim into the ocean, or chase that bird, or run exuberantly without reaching the end of her "rope". As much as I know she loves me, I know that she would love to do all those things. Ah, how I which more dogs could have the freedom that Merle and the dogs in that town were allowed to have. And how I loved the same about that town in Europe where the dogs would come down and visit on the square. How neat.
Ok - what do you all feel about this type of dog training? Allowing the dog to be more in charge of his life - with restrictions, of course, for both his safety and the safety of others? Do you think Merle was an unusual dog in that he could do this, or that many of our dogs would have been the same given those same opportunities? (Me, I can say for a fact, that TIps would have been in dog heaven living as Merle did. Tips used to make the rounds of one place we lived. And when we moved too near a highway and I couldn't let him do that - I hurt for him - and occasionally let him lose to go visit the guys on the next block working at the Goodyear place. He'd walk right over, head right in and get rubs from each of them, then come home grinning from ear to ear.)
Beth
“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
"He who treasures the small things in life has found the path to true happiness"
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