one of the best things about the pup is how genteel she is. Sure, shes a dog, but shes such a gentle, dignified, refined little doggie. For example, her favorite food (right now) is mini powdered sugar donuts. Found this out quite by accident, just this year, because it was the first time Id bought any in her lifetime, and she went NUTS before she even tasted her first bite. These are like the only food she literally drools all over her paws for. But at the same time, I can leave a bag of them out on the nightstand, and just give her a teeny bite every day, and leave her alone with the bag and she wont TOUCH it! And this is NOT because I taught her not to eat human food unless I give it to her. Ive never had an opportunity to teach her this, since she seemed to be born already knowing it. Even from the time she was a tiny puppy, I could leave an entire pizza on the dashboard, and go into a store for an hour and come back and she would be sleeping peacefully in the back seat, pizza untouched. Pizza, incidentally, is another of her very favorite foods. I attribute this to the relationship, rather than to any training. Its like voice command vs. leashing her. She is MUCH more attentive to me when she is off leash than when I have her leashed. Its as though she understands when I am trusting her and when I am not, and she behaves accordingly. Ive always believed that she understands exactly what I want all the time, without my having to tell her, so she behaves like someone who does exactly that. If I were constantly putting the food out of her way, and locking things up around her, she would not have had to develop any sensibility of the how to behave. The rules would have been if you can get to it, you can have it, unless I catch you. But because I leave temptations out around her all the time, she learned a different rule which is you can have all the treats you want as long as I give them to you At least thats how it seems to me. She sits at the same level as me all the time (furniture-wise), she knows to get into the car before me and get out of the car after me (same with doorways) because its a safety issue, not because of any dominance rules. Our relationship is a lot like those freestyle dogs have with their dancing masters - she invented more than half of everything she knows how to do. She invented her own doggie manners, and I agreed with most or all of them. Theres one that she doesnt like or understand that well which is dont eat anything off the ground (outside) probably because she doesnt make a distinction between outside and inside and she eats everything else off the ground when we are inside (food bowl is on the ground, treats fall on the ground, when I am done with a plate I put it on the ground for her, etc.) so ground usually means it belongs to her. We have such a wonderful equilibrium, that even our own cat coming in the house upsets the balance. I wonder if there is a very special relationship that forms when there is a one dog/one person partnership, vs. a family dog, or a single person with multiple dogs, or a family with multiple dogs. Maybe its just closer because she is my pack and I am hers. period. Anyway, I think about these things a lot.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 03:13:08 +0000
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