Dog Hard

I love an analogy and I know that many dogs think they're Bruce Willis.

You know the plot, John McClain sees the danger of which everyone else is blissfully unaware. He starts to deal with it alone, the feds step in and tell him to back off, there's no threat. But McClaine knows better, his fine tuned senses mean he sees things that the dumb FBI agents or airport security guys refuse to acknowledge. He won't give up and if one of the feds gets injured while he takes on the threat all alone, then that's just "collateral damage", they should back off and let him finish the job. Eventually he finds one person who is on his side, someone who will listen, the calm, doughnut eating, wise patrolman, or the streetwise pawnshop owner. Now they start to work together and kick ass!

You're probably way ahead of me here, especially if you know how dogs (and Dog Listeners) think. Unless a dog is in the company of someone in whom they are totally confident. Someone who is wiser, more experienced, able, then they will have to take on the "threats" that life throws up at them, telling everyone else to "back off" while they handle it. After all, it's a matter of life and death - to them. Unfortunately dogs aren't aware that the paper bag blowing across the road is harmless or that the postman isn't an international terrorist so, to be on the safe side they'll investigate and deal with it their way - "go away".

This is where my analogy does go awry as Willis then goes on to machine gun everything in sight and blow up the rest. But we've paid good money to see him do that. In 3D, where available.

Nevertheless, until McClain can see that he can trust someone, then he'll trust no-one and sweep them aside if they get in his way. If they try to force him into line, then it's the feds that end up with the rifle butt treatment - they don't know what they're doing and they're getting in the way - so Bruce uses the only quick and effective means he has to tell them that. He means them no particular ill, it's just that if they start faffing about, then Jeremy Irons will blow up half of New York and everyone will be toast.

Now if he could trust the FBI to take him seriously and if he had confidence in them taking notice, we'd be dipping the first Nacho into the cheese sauce, the lights would be coming up, everyone would be heading for the exit looking for a refund, and Bruce Willis would probably still have some of his hair.

If you can calmly build your dog's confidence in you as a leader, not by force or "pulling rank", remember what happens to the most pompous twerps in "Die Hard", then he'll stand back and take notice of you and when you say "no problem" he'll accept it. Otherwise he'll put on a tatty vest, sweat profusely and start smoking again.

That dog is nuts!

We came home one night and walked into the kitchen to find our Terrier staring into an alcove under the worktop. Normally she will just give us a cursory sniff when we walk in and then settle down to see what's going to happen next, so were were intrigued about what on earth was going on. Any attempts to investigate were greeted with a bit of "territorial ownership" (or whatever jargon fits these days). She was very agitated if we tried to go near and growled. So we did what any sensible person would do in this situation, walked away and called her to us. No response - so we ignored her, better to make nothing of it, rather than increase any anxiety.

We pottered around elsewhere in the house for a minute or two and then called again from another room. Curiosity got the better of her, so she came out to see what treat we might have in store for her. I was then able to go and see what the fuss was about. I had been the culprit - some fallout from a lunchtime chicken sandwich had made it's way into the kitchen towel alcove, right next to a step stool that she's never been too happy about. She had no doubt spent the afternoon eyeing the morsel of chicken, while being scared to go and get it from next to the dreaded stool. When we came in she was torn between wanting us to get it out and goodness knows what else going through her mind.

The upshot of this was that it was a providentially fraught situation which, because of the Dog Listener approach, we were able to resolve without any escalation, shouting, physical restraint or confrontation. The fact is that a dog may seem to exhibit strange behaviour, but there is always a good reason for everything they do. It's up to us to realise that and that it may not always be obvious to us, but it's perfectly logical to them!