Dog and Wolves

I finished the Susan Clothier Book (If Bones Would Rain)and really enjoyed it. To me that main point was the obvious..."listen to what your dog is telling you". and don't be afraid to ask your dog "What can I learn from you?" I am officially a New age doggie person and I am going to the animal communication seminar on Sunday. We will see just how far my new ageness progresses! HA!

So now I have moved on to a book that I have skimmed often before but never actually sat down to read cover to cover. It is Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour and Evolution. It is an interesting book but a little controversial (see reviews of the book on Amazon). I haven't gotten thru the controversial parts yet (and am sure I will have to put the book down and scream on occasion!) but found the part about wolves/scavenger dogs very interesting. I will post more when I have finished the book!

With "The Dog Whisperer" becoming so prevalent on TV; this stuff on "pack" dynamics is back again. So the beginning of Coppinger book is interesting to me right now as it discusses the idea of where dogs developed from and actually how close is dog behavior to wolf behavior really? I do watch the C. Milan show on TV and am amazed at the results the guy gets; yet want to cry when I see some of the ways he gets those results. What happened to the "Positive" way of training? I know that some of these people are at the end of their ropes with these dogs and I guess, at least, he helps them be able to keep their dogs. I must admit that watching the show has reminded me of a few basic ideas to help keep my guys calmer in the house. The idea of being "a calm leader" to your dog is not bad. But I just cannot recommend going backwards to that physical type of training. Prong collars, choke collars and all...sheesh... The problem is that people start getting immune to seeing the abuse and then think that is the "way" to train dogs...

I do have some videos from the Sheltie club heelwork to music training day but Dennis is away in NY and I need him to download the videos to the computer. I keep asking him to walk me thru it but I think he is afraid that he will then not be needed! The videos are not much but they are cute clips of little Zoe (one of Zen's pups) learning some baby HTM moves. I will post separately about the day when the videos are done.

Dennis bought me two new CDs before he left. I love the Amy MacDonald CD called "This Is The Life" and he also bought me the new KT Tunstall. I love both of them and I must get them onto my Ipod! It is a Bummer I cannot play them in my car as my car still only has a cassette player! Don't you think I need a new car??? hehe

I had some plans for some agility training today and tomorrow but I need for it to stop raining!! Lisa did come over and help me set a course. I am judging at C-side in two weeks and wanted to get the course up in my backgarden to make sure it will fit in the arena. It went up well and I like the course; hopefully those who run it will enjoy it as well! Now that I got that done I am really looking forward to judging.