What to do about Dogs

Thirty years of training dogs and teaching people to have a better relationship with their dogs came and went; I retired. For the last five years I’ve done no training, no teaching. I can’t tell you that I’ve missed it; I simply haven’t thought about it.

Living with four dogs who come and go when they want has been interesting, but I haven’t trained them. I don’t have fun with it the way I once did. Once in a blue moon I’ll do a few sits and downs with Lucky and Robert Redford; the old trainer in me still has a pulse albeit a weak one.

The dog situation in Puerto Rico is deplorable despite the efforts of many wonderful animal advocates. Yesterday I fed the counselor crewe and gave them a big bowl of water; these dogs live in the woods on the ridge overlooking the lake. The members of this little crewe change rather frequently; at the moment a small red spaniel seems to lead the fearful hounds living near an enclave of houses where a couple of lawyers live on counselor ridge. I didn’t feel well, so I tossed down the food and water and left.

No more than a hundred feet away in the bend of the road huddled a litter of three puppies maybe ten weeks old. I gave them all of the food I had left and a bowl of water. This pisses me off because someone dumped these babies there. The clean healthy pups will change in days to bedraggled, gaunt creatures within days without help. Their best hope is for the counselor crewe to adopt them. This is where I am lately on the subject of dogs.

So I’ve been asked to teach a beginner dog training class on Monday nights in Manatee. I met with the class volunteers, who are wonderful dog lovers. We played with a few of my friend Alma’s dogs and worked on name recognition. Yes, me remembering the people’s  and the dogs learning theirs’ when said by anyone other than Alma.

My journey continues; wish me well.