I confess that the title of this article wasn�t the brain child of myself, but came from a program I was listening to over the week-end. It got me to thinking of how it applies to us and our dogs.
One of the great things about the German Shepherd Dog is that he is so versatile. If you don�t want to show him in conformation shows any longer, you can train him for obedience trials. If you don�t want to do that, you can just enjoy him as your family pet. He wasn�t born for just one thing. Take him for hikes, take him camping, boating, fishing, jogging or even for rides in the car. He�s not picky. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing; the German Shepherd Dog enjoys doing it with you. There probably isn�t a better companion dog than this breed! Truly this dog�s happiness comes from his interaction with his owner!
How much of your dog�s brain is being utilized? Do you provide him with the stimulation that he needs to develop his fullest potential? How many of these dogs die never knowing what it is to come out of a kennel and go for a walk with their owners? How many fetch a ball? In fact how many of them even know what a ball is and what to do with it?
If your dog was hooked up to one of those brain monitors in the hospital, would a straight line appear all across the screen indicating that he�s brain dead? Or would there be a lively zig zag running across the screen indicating that this dog�s brain is well and very much alive because his owner recognized the need for stimulation in this dog�s life?
Do we owe our dogs anything more than food, water and shelter? Does our responsibility to them extend further than the heat in their kennels in the winter and the air-conditioner in the summer? Is that enough? Do we owe them more than this or are we of the mind set that their basic needs are being met and they�re only a dog and some of us put too much time into �humanizing� them?
So what does that mean��.humanizing them? It would seem to some beyond the three essentials (food, water and shelter) anything more would give the dog a more human nature than that of an animal. So does he need more than the essentials to live? No he could and many do exist just on the essentials. Day in and day out, the same old/same old! After all some would argue, he�s an animal and his basic needs are being met so what more could he want?
To agree with this mind set would be to ignore the very nature of the dog and that is foremost and above all else the reason for his existence in the first place. That is to be a companion to man. Very simple. Very basic. He wants and needs to be with his owner. Once his basic needs are met, his primary goal is to be with his master. Now if one owns a kennel full of dogs, that�s not going to happen too often for most or them or even a few of them.
I�ve read that the brain of a German Shepherd is equal to the brain of a seven year old child. Gee, considering that most of what we learn, we learn in the first five years of life, means that this breed of dog has the capacity to learn so very much. How many of them are being taught all that they can learn? How much stimulation do they receive lying on the floor of a kennel? Very little.
We now know that the dog is capable of more than having an intelligent, teachable brain. We now know that he is also very capable of emotions and feelings. He�s sad when he loses one of his own kind and sad if he should lose his owner. He mourns losses just like we do. He rejoices in companionship with his kind and our kind.
When�s the last time you looked into your dog�s eyes and seen that there is a whole lot more going on behind those �Hershey Browns� then just a dumb dog looking for a treat from his owner? Get close to a dog and he anticipates your every motion. He responses to your every mood. Sometimes it�s as if he knows you�re going to do something before you do! They have this uncanny ability to read us better than we read ourselves.
When you have a �love affair� with your dog�..that is letting him participate in your life, the enrichment that he brings to it would never have been fully realized without him having your permission to truly live his life. In this writer�s opinion a dog that lives his life ONLY in a kennel has never truly lived, rather he�s existed in a small fenced in area in a great big world because his owner didn�t invest the time it would take to realize his dog�s potential. Just imagine what that would be like only being able to walk back and forth, day in and day out and you had the intelligence of a seven year old kid? Now that�s called sad�..
From the book: "HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE"....Kaufman, director of the Option Institute and author of A Land Beyond Tears ( LJ 4/1/82), contends that if you change a belief or attitude you can change your life. A decision to pursue happiness, he claims, can improve relations with others: "We can engineer our own responses, choosing love over hate, peace over conflict and happiness over depression." The first five sections relate Kaufman's philosophy and offer stories of clients' successful changes while in therapy. Section six has short chapters detailing shortcuts to happiness. The book has a four-page bibliography and two pages of additional readings. A cut above most self-help books; recommended.
My rating: Teaching and training the GSD: (4)
Showing posts with label natural dog supplements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural dog supplements. Show all posts
Monday, 13 December 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
WHAT YOUR EYE IS USED TO LOOKING AT
I�ve done articles here before about the different coat colors and coat lengths of the German Shepherd Dog. We have a breed standard, but you could line up all these different dogs with their unique coloring or coat length and there really wouldn�t be any consistency in their breed type. Oh they may all be beautifully structured, but they really wouldn�t look alike except for the erect ears that this breed is known for. So even if they all were the best representatives of their breed only in different colors and coat length, no two of them would look alike.
Many pet people have never seen an all black German Shepherd for instance. Some have never seen or know what a sable looks like. A bi-color may totally confuse them. Most people have seen a white German Shepherd so that wouldn�t be too confusing. Probably the most favored color is the black and tan dog.
Over time if you live with one of the different types of this breed, your eye gets used to looking at that type of dog. Correct or not, this is what you�re used to seeing so when you see something else that doesn�t look like your dog and may even be a better representative of the breed, you still think that you dog has the better quality. That�s because that�s what your eye is used to looking at.
For example, if you are used to showing a specialty type of dog that has more hindquarter than an All-Breed dog, than that�s what you think is correct. It works both ways. The All-breed exhibitor will think his dog is the correct standard for the breed. If your kennel is known for producing good fronts, you will automatically be looking at the competition to see if they have the front and side gait that you�re used to looking at. The same thing goes for the kennel that consistently produces good hindquarter angulation. If a dog has anything less than what you�re used to looking at, then you�ll think it lacks hindquarter. It�s all because this is what you are used to looking at in your own dogs.
Many times you can follow a specialty judge and know what he likes by looking at the type of animals he�s bred and raised. If he�s bred some top winning dogs, many times that�s the type he�s going to put up. It�s what he�s used to looking at everyday and it�s what he�s won with. Some judges are movement judges. Some are breed type judges. Some like lots of rear. Some like lots of front. Ideally you want to show under a judge that takes the whole package into consideration when he judges. Hopefully you show under a judge that has a �trained� eye. He�s lived with and knows dogs and specifically the German Shepherd Dog.
It can be very difficult for some people to develop a �trained� eye. You will never know what a good dog is unless you�ve lived with them and bred them. Living with these beautiful specimens of the breed is all the education one needs. To have bred and lived with dogs that �take your breath� away is the best education you could ever hope for when you step into the middle of that ring. No book, no magazine, no video could ever prepare you to what it�s like living with one of these properly structured animals. I used to love letting my dogs out in the back yard and just sit watching them float around the yard like it was no effort at all. And that�s the key��a good dog moves like there is no effort at all. The other dogs will have to put out more energy to move. That�s probably why you see your better movers in the ring floating rather than charging. The dog that is not as good of a mover will have to put out harder to make up for the lack of his proper structure, whereas the good mover makes it look easy. You won�t see him huffing and puffing at the end of his lead like the charging dogs in the ring next to him.
Someone said to me not too long ago when talking about a fellow exhibitor, �What does she see in that dog? Why is she still showing him?� She said that the dog was a really horrible dog. I replied to her, �It�s what she�s used to looking at.� Is the owner right or is he wrong in showing his poorly structured dog? It�s really not a question of right or wrong. It�s all about what her eye is used to looking at. Until she educates herself, she will still think her poorly structured dog is correct.
So if your dog lacks the front or rear and he�s not a very good mover, you won�t really know it until you put him in the ring next to those that have these attributes. When you watch a dog that is not properly put together, because you live with him, you believe he�s the best thing next to a �hot off the grill� cheeseburger. Then when you put him in the show ring and you see the other dogs, you think that there�s something the matter with the other dogs. They look nothing like your dog does. It�s all what your eye is used to looking at. This is called being kennel blind. Your education begins when you are forced to re-evaluate your breeding and show stock.
You can chose to like whatever it is that you find appealing in this breed�s structure (hindquarters, fronts, movement, etc.) but for all the variety that is out there, there is only one correct structure and that is dictated by the German Shepherd Dog Club of America�s breed standard. Once you become familiar with it, you may come to realize what your eye has become used to is not what the standard calls for in a correctly structured animal.
My rating: Get familiar with the breed standard: (4)
Many pet people have never seen an all black German Shepherd for instance. Some have never seen or know what a sable looks like. A bi-color may totally confuse them. Most people have seen a white German Shepherd so that wouldn�t be too confusing. Probably the most favored color is the black and tan dog.
Over time if you live with one of the different types of this breed, your eye gets used to looking at that type of dog. Correct or not, this is what you�re used to seeing so when you see something else that doesn�t look like your dog and may even be a better representative of the breed, you still think that you dog has the better quality. That�s because that�s what your eye is used to looking at.
For example, if you are used to showing a specialty type of dog that has more hindquarter than an All-Breed dog, than that�s what you think is correct. It works both ways. The All-breed exhibitor will think his dog is the correct standard for the breed. If your kennel is known for producing good fronts, you will automatically be looking at the competition to see if they have the front and side gait that you�re used to looking at. The same thing goes for the kennel that consistently produces good hindquarter angulation. If a dog has anything less than what you�re used to looking at, then you�ll think it lacks hindquarter. It�s all because this is what you are used to looking at in your own dogs.
Many times you can follow a specialty judge and know what he likes by looking at the type of animals he�s bred and raised. If he�s bred some top winning dogs, many times that�s the type he�s going to put up. It�s what he�s used to looking at everyday and it�s what he�s won with. Some judges are movement judges. Some are breed type judges. Some like lots of rear. Some like lots of front. Ideally you want to show under a judge that takes the whole package into consideration when he judges. Hopefully you show under a judge that has a �trained� eye. He�s lived with and knows dogs and specifically the German Shepherd Dog.
It can be very difficult for some people to develop a �trained� eye. You will never know what a good dog is unless you�ve lived with them and bred them. Living with these beautiful specimens of the breed is all the education one needs. To have bred and lived with dogs that �take your breath� away is the best education you could ever hope for when you step into the middle of that ring. No book, no magazine, no video could ever prepare you to what it�s like living with one of these properly structured animals. I used to love letting my dogs out in the back yard and just sit watching them float around the yard like it was no effort at all. And that�s the key��a good dog moves like there is no effort at all. The other dogs will have to put out more energy to move. That�s probably why you see your better movers in the ring floating rather than charging. The dog that is not as good of a mover will have to put out harder to make up for the lack of his proper structure, whereas the good mover makes it look easy. You won�t see him huffing and puffing at the end of his lead like the charging dogs in the ring next to him.
Someone said to me not too long ago when talking about a fellow exhibitor, �What does she see in that dog? Why is she still showing him?� She said that the dog was a really horrible dog. I replied to her, �It�s what she�s used to looking at.� Is the owner right or is he wrong in showing his poorly structured dog? It�s really not a question of right or wrong. It�s all about what her eye is used to looking at. Until she educates herself, she will still think her poorly structured dog is correct.
So if your dog lacks the front or rear and he�s not a very good mover, you won�t really know it until you put him in the ring next to those that have these attributes. When you watch a dog that is not properly put together, because you live with him, you believe he�s the best thing next to a �hot off the grill� cheeseburger. Then when you put him in the show ring and you see the other dogs, you think that there�s something the matter with the other dogs. They look nothing like your dog does. It�s all what your eye is used to looking at. This is called being kennel blind. Your education begins when you are forced to re-evaluate your breeding and show stock.
You can chose to like whatever it is that you find appealing in this breed�s structure (hindquarters, fronts, movement, etc.) but for all the variety that is out there, there is only one correct structure and that is dictated by the German Shepherd Dog Club of America�s breed standard. Once you become familiar with it, you may come to realize what your eye has become used to is not what the standard calls for in a correctly structured animal.
My rating: Get familiar with the breed standard: (4)
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON
Yesterday�s blog about Specialty Clubs drew a lot of conversation on the different e-mails lists that I send this blog to everyday. One e-mail stood out in my mind. Someone wrote to me and said that she found this subject interesting as she contacted a specialty club in her area and she never heard from anyone. That�s very telling. Then someone called me this morning and asked me to continue this subject and perhaps talk about the lack of entries at shows. We touched upon some of the reasons that the clubs are falling that I wrote about yesterday. She agreed 100% with one writer that said that some of the fault lies with having access to the internet. We would have normally gone to a club to discuss certain things about the breed. However, with modern technology we no longer need to leave the comfort of our overstuffed furniture to get the answers to our questions about anything pertaining to our breed. You can �Google� anything and you�ll receive a gazillion answers. You can go on a German Shepherd Dog e-mail list and there�s a world of knowledgeable people willing to help you. We�ve become a lazy society. I jokingly said to my friend, �Heck why go to a dog show? We can have a virtual dog show right on our computer!�
So lets take this subject another step further as my friend requested. If the clubs fold up, so do the shows. The clubs are the ones that are responsible for putting on the shows. No club�..no show���hmmmmm, I wonder where that would leave the AKC? Would the AKC become just be a place to register dogs? They would no longer be anything called an AKC registered show.
So my friend brings up a very good point to me in our conversation about shows. She says to me, next time you go to a show take a look around you. What do you see? Who do you see at these shows? She answered her own question��she said most of the people that go to these shows are over 50 years old! She continued by saying it is very rare to see any young people. Very good observation, my friend! Where is the youth in our breed? Oh sure we have the junior handlers that love to show. But what percentage of these kids will actually be the breeders and ultimately the future of our breed? Have we seen the last of the likes of the Covy Tucker Hill or the Fran-Jo kennels? Are the days of the big show producing kennels a thing of the past? Who will the next great German Shepherd Dog book be written about? Will the author have to rely on the great dogs of the past to fill the pages of his up coming best seller? Will there be anyone left to even be interested enough to buy his book?
Serious show people still hunger for those major producing shows every week-end. Without them they can not finish their dog�s American championship. So they telephone their friends, they announce it over the e-mail lists asking for people to help make a major at these shows. Sometimes they�re successful in getting the right amount of entries by maybe one or two dogs, only to be sadly disappointed when those one or two dogs don�t show up making the show not able to hold the major points. Where does the fault lie? Again it goes back to the specialty clubs. If we want to have major pointed shows, we can�t depend on calling our friends or soliciting people on the e-mail lists for their entries. It might work for one or two shows, but ultimately it will fail. The only answer in my opinion is to strengthen relationships with your club members so another club doesn�t die a slow death.
Someone else wrote to me yesterday proudly telling me how well her club is doing. Perhaps someone from her club can tell others how they do it. Tell them how they attract new members and how they keep those that they have ensuring that they come back time and time again. Give the membership a reason to show up and I believe they will. If people are made to feel that they are important and that they count for something, I believe they will show their �pretty little faces� there each month. We can�t ask people to come out each month to an atmosphere filled with moans, groans, whines and complaints every time they walk through the door. We can�t ask people to come out only to be ignored when they get there. Give people a reason to come out and I believe that they will. Make them feel welcomed. Answer their questions. Mentor them. There is no better way to get to people than to make them feel like they are needed. It makes them feel good and when people feel good, then they�ll come back to the source that�s making them feel that way. Act like you don�t appreciate them. Act like your can�t be bothered with them because you�re better than they are because you�ve been around forever. Then watch the walls come crumbling down and say good bye to the once great club that you helped build.
The new generation needs the older generation to help show them the way and to pave out a future to ensure that our beloved German Shepherd Dog is properly presented to the general public. The only way we can do this is by educating them. There is no better teacher to the �newbie� than the seasoned experts of the breed to help lead the way. If we truly love this breed, each and every one of us owes it to the �best dog on the planet� to ensure that the next generation gets it right! It�s not fair to die with so much knowledge inside us without sharing it with the next generation. You may not get your name in the history books, but what you leave behind ensures that the German Shepherd Dog is properly taken care of and his legacy for generations lives on. The breed will love you for it!
No longer is it true���Give them a show� and they�ll come! I believe if we don�t start making showing dogs a fun and positive experience we will eventually see (like my friend suggested) only the geriatrics of the breed showing up. Then we can all sit around and complain about our arthritis, aches and pains without the worry of those pesky �youngins� (newbies) snickering and giggling at us.
Then one day, there are no more shows. The geriatrics no longer shows up because �Everyone�s gone to the moon!�
From the book: "FRIENDS TO THE END: THE TRUE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP".....Friends and life. Life and friends. The two are so tightly interwoven it's impossible to imagine one being remotely worthwhile without the other. As Bradley Trevor Greive points out, "there are very few truly solitary creatures on this planet. And most of them have serious personal hygiene issues." What makes friends so special? What does our choice of friends say about us? What sparks the best friendships and keeps them burning? In Friends To The End: The True Value of Friendship, BTG uses hit trademark witty narrative illustrated with irresistible animal photos to explore the daily magic we experience through our friends. Best described as a cross between his famously successful Dear Mom and The Blue Day Book, Friends to the End examines themes such as why we can't live without friends, how great friendships grow from humble beginnings, how to identify different types of friendship, what to do when good friends turn bad, and why it's all so worthwhile. "When I think back to all the really great or the horrendously bad times in my life," says BTG, "I can't help but think about how my friends made the former all the more enjoyable and the latter at least survivable. I want this book to help people appreciate friendship for all it is and all it can be." Friends to the End promises to have the same cultural impact achieved by his previous books. His modern classics The Blue Day Book and Dear Mom have been New York Times best-sellers and made the author a household name in more than 35 countries. BTG's seven previous volumes have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.
My rating: The importance of dog clubs: (4), The importance of mentoring: (4), The importance of friendships: (4)
So lets take this subject another step further as my friend requested. If the clubs fold up, so do the shows. The clubs are the ones that are responsible for putting on the shows. No club�..no show���hmmmmm, I wonder where that would leave the AKC? Would the AKC become just be a place to register dogs? They would no longer be anything called an AKC registered show.
So my friend brings up a very good point to me in our conversation about shows. She says to me, next time you go to a show take a look around you. What do you see? Who do you see at these shows? She answered her own question��she said most of the people that go to these shows are over 50 years old! She continued by saying it is very rare to see any young people. Very good observation, my friend! Where is the youth in our breed? Oh sure we have the junior handlers that love to show. But what percentage of these kids will actually be the breeders and ultimately the future of our breed? Have we seen the last of the likes of the Covy Tucker Hill or the Fran-Jo kennels? Are the days of the big show producing kennels a thing of the past? Who will the next great German Shepherd Dog book be written about? Will the author have to rely on the great dogs of the past to fill the pages of his up coming best seller? Will there be anyone left to even be interested enough to buy his book?
Serious show people still hunger for those major producing shows every week-end. Without them they can not finish their dog�s American championship. So they telephone their friends, they announce it over the e-mail lists asking for people to help make a major at these shows. Sometimes they�re successful in getting the right amount of entries by maybe one or two dogs, only to be sadly disappointed when those one or two dogs don�t show up making the show not able to hold the major points. Where does the fault lie? Again it goes back to the specialty clubs. If we want to have major pointed shows, we can�t depend on calling our friends or soliciting people on the e-mail lists for their entries. It might work for one or two shows, but ultimately it will fail. The only answer in my opinion is to strengthen relationships with your club members so another club doesn�t die a slow death.
Someone else wrote to me yesterday proudly telling me how well her club is doing. Perhaps someone from her club can tell others how they do it. Tell them how they attract new members and how they keep those that they have ensuring that they come back time and time again. Give the membership a reason to show up and I believe they will. If people are made to feel that they are important and that they count for something, I believe they will show their �pretty little faces� there each month. We can�t ask people to come out each month to an atmosphere filled with moans, groans, whines and complaints every time they walk through the door. We can�t ask people to come out only to be ignored when they get there. Give people a reason to come out and I believe that they will. Make them feel welcomed. Answer their questions. Mentor them. There is no better way to get to people than to make them feel like they are needed. It makes them feel good and when people feel good, then they�ll come back to the source that�s making them feel that way. Act like you don�t appreciate them. Act like your can�t be bothered with them because you�re better than they are because you�ve been around forever. Then watch the walls come crumbling down and say good bye to the once great club that you helped build.
The new generation needs the older generation to help show them the way and to pave out a future to ensure that our beloved German Shepherd Dog is properly presented to the general public. The only way we can do this is by educating them. There is no better teacher to the �newbie� than the seasoned experts of the breed to help lead the way. If we truly love this breed, each and every one of us owes it to the �best dog on the planet� to ensure that the next generation gets it right! It�s not fair to die with so much knowledge inside us without sharing it with the next generation. You may not get your name in the history books, but what you leave behind ensures that the German Shepherd Dog is properly taken care of and his legacy for generations lives on. The breed will love you for it!
No longer is it true���Give them a show� and they�ll come! I believe if we don�t start making showing dogs a fun and positive experience we will eventually see (like my friend suggested) only the geriatrics of the breed showing up. Then we can all sit around and complain about our arthritis, aches and pains without the worry of those pesky �youngins� (newbies) snickering and giggling at us.
Then one day, there are no more shows. The geriatrics no longer shows up because �Everyone�s gone to the moon!�
From the book: "FRIENDS TO THE END: THE TRUE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP".....Friends and life. Life and friends. The two are so tightly interwoven it's impossible to imagine one being remotely worthwhile without the other. As Bradley Trevor Greive points out, "there are very few truly solitary creatures on this planet. And most of them have serious personal hygiene issues." What makes friends so special? What does our choice of friends say about us? What sparks the best friendships and keeps them burning? In Friends To The End: The True Value of Friendship, BTG uses hit trademark witty narrative illustrated with irresistible animal photos to explore the daily magic we experience through our friends. Best described as a cross between his famously successful Dear Mom and The Blue Day Book, Friends to the End examines themes such as why we can't live without friends, how great friendships grow from humble beginnings, how to identify different types of friendship, what to do when good friends turn bad, and why it's all so worthwhile. "When I think back to all the really great or the horrendously bad times in my life," says BTG, "I can't help but think about how my friends made the former all the more enjoyable and the latter at least survivable. I want this book to help people appreciate friendship for all it is and all it can be." Friends to the End promises to have the same cultural impact achieved by his previous books. His modern classics The Blue Day Book and Dear Mom have been New York Times best-sellers and made the author a household name in more than 35 countries. BTG's seven previous volumes have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.
My rating: The importance of dog clubs: (4), The importance of mentoring: (4), The importance of friendships: (4)
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