Breeding, no, "editioning" my dog

It is of course ridiculous to say that I consider my dog an artwork. (btw did you know that "ridiculous" now means cool; somebody told me that yesterday in the dog park. Sick! :)

Okay, so language is pretty f'd up (but in a good way). But serially, from the beginning I thought this 'dog thing' I seemed determined to do (for reasons I have never clearly understood and have therefor to be taken to be a kind of artistic inspiration) must be some sort of art thing.

So now I'm thinking maybe it's time to create some 'real art', not just 'owning a dog as art'... one idea would be to breed a litter as an artist's multiple. Like prints, only 3D... and alive.

Ridiculous or what?!?

Perhaps you have heard of the artist Eduardo Kak and his Green Florescent (GFP) Protein Bunny? I think Mr. Kak is a great artist, partly because the glow in the dark bunny is so interesting, and partly because between having the idea and marshaling the resources to pull it off there is a lot of work, planning, collaboration, intelligence involved. I think Eduardo Kak is a much better artist than Picasso, tho' Picasso gets some points for owning a Dachshund, especially one named Lump.

If you are really interested in "dog art", Moira McLaughlin's blog would be the place for you.

Shih Tzu - What you need to know

Most breed evaluations on the web will make note of breed limitations or unusual characteristics. Here's a very nice, short bit about the Shih Tzu, that is very true (in my experience) but also nothing you can't cope with; it's just useful to know in advance.

about the Shih Tzu on amazines.com

i can haz fun dog pics

From the folks who brought you the amazin' icanhascheezburger website:

ihasahotdog

Working like a dog?

Is this expression based on how dogs are treated or on how hard they work?

I think it's more the former. If you are working like a dog, it's like being beaten into submission. "Working like a dog," as an expression, is akin to "it's a dog's life." Because otherwise, dogs don't work very hard, and most dogs lives are pretty darn good.

No matter that dog valorizers will surely disagree:

Some people have figured out that if you actually had to work only as hard as a dog, that might be a pretty good gig.

While others observe that no matter how "hard" they work physically, dogs are "on" or "available" 24/7.

Which is perhaps why we want to "let sleeping dogs lie." They might not work very hard but you don't want to interrupt them either; being grumpy is somehow related to working hard.

Most of us think bringing your dog to work would be great.

I would be in that camp, taking mine with me practically everywhere. While that's generally great, it's not without challenges; there are some things you can't or are reluctant to do and you have to always be thinking ahead about what to do with the dog. That said, I guess from an employer point of view I can see how it's a benefit to let employees bring their dogs to work; you are actually working "harder," with more focus, foresight, planning, etc. when you have your dog with you. And for sure you are more attentive to your colleagues and the general atmosphere in the workplace because people are always stopping by to pet the dog, and they say hello to you and smile. Having your dog at work makes you feel and act even more responsibly than you would otherwise.

Anyway, just for the record, I don't think dogs themselves work very hard, even on the availability scale. My Shih Tzu isn't terribly available. Like royalty, her idea of service is to some higher, public, universal purpose. Which in the workplace, seems to be just about the right attitude, for a dog.

Evidently, like other types of working folks, when times get lean, they can fall from grace, Shih Tzus reverting to their feral work ethic.

Best breeds ever

I've been putting off this post but it feels inevitable that I should weigh in on the question of what is a Great City Dog. The caveat is that any breed can be a great city dog; it depends so much on what you do with your dog. I see all kinds of dogs in our local dog park, Trinity Bellwoods in Toronto, and some are great and some are not so great but it rarely has anything to do with breed.

That said, here are some of my personal favourites:

Basset Hound - adorable, laconic, low maintenance dogs with ears like silk.

Boston Terrier - I'm not a big fan, but Bostons impress me as smart, attentive, "untroubled" dogs, or at least I've yet to meet one who had behavioural "challenges."

Bulldog - What can I say. I LOVE bulldogs. They are gross, and adorable.

German Shepherd - what can you say, Shepherds are great dogs period. I doubt there is a breed that would better bring out the best in you.

Lhasa Apso - like their cousins, the Maltese and Shih Tsu, these are somewhat reserved dogs; but my view is that that's a good thing in the city where many of us are over-extended and, perhaps because we live chock-a-block with so many people, protective of our quiet privacy.

Pug - Pug owners are about as nuts as their dogs are crazy lookin' - ya gotta love the people and dogs that could come up with the Pugalug!

Shih Tzu - okay, I'm prejudiced. But for me, this taciturn angel is absolutely a Great City Dog for busy downtowners like me.

Soft Coated Weaton Terrier - non-shedding, there are alot of SCWT crosses out there. I've seen quite a range of personality but basically they're all good, quite active, but smart and engaging.

Weimaraner - Although not the most social dogs, I have yet to see one that didn't have a great relationship with its owner and wasn't well behaved in all circumstances. And they are simply beautiful, conveyed nicely, tho' with a little too much irony for me personally by artist William Wegman.

Phobias in dogs

My dog has started being afraid of going out at night. It started one night with fireworks... stupid me; I wanted to see the Canada Day light show on the CNTower... I didn't think; she came along and there were kids setting off fireworks all over the place. Oreo took off across the park, stopping only when she got across the street on the far side.

Also she's also been spending time with a friend's dog, which has also developed a phobia for fireworks-like noises, day or night, his dog has trouble even leaving the house.

It's been a couple of weeks now for us and it's not getting better.

The Jacksonville North Carolina Kennel Club has posted an excellent review of various common phobias and what you can do to help your dog deal with them. (There would seem to be no 'getting over it' here.)

This paper suggests that phobias can be treated effectively with a combination of medication and behavior therapy, basically giving the dog reassurance (pets and treats) when in a phobia-inducing situation.

Storm-related phobias are quite common. Onset seems to happen with young adult dogs. (Oreo is 2 1/2.) Behavior can be modified with gentle and firm support, neither anger nore coddling.

Some folks strongly recommend medication.

My dog has "a thing" about hats (or bikes, or kids, or men, or best of all, men with hats)

As I entered the dog park off leash area the other day, one dog decided to run at me and bark. Another followed and before you know there was a whole pack of them.

I'm pretty good with that sort of thing, knowing that some dogs just sort of "do that," but this one dog was pretty "brave" and as he got closer and louder, it kind of scared me. Which was, no doubt, his point. His owner came sauntering over eventually and apologized while cooing at the dog and kind of laughing as she told me her dog has a "thing" about hats. I laughed and said that was ridiculous, I wasn't about to take off my hat for a dog. She seemed taken aback a bit and said modestly that she didn't expect me to... and that was that.

But the question left unasked and unanswered in this encounter was, What then did she mean by telling me that her dog has a "thing" about hats?

I think she meant that she liked that her dog has a "thing," it not mattering what that "thing" might be; she is just glad he's not inert. Or possibly, she's the one who has a thing about hats, maybe even the particular hat I was wearing that day and just couldn't help her subconscious from welling up and saying something just short of "You look ridiculous (and deserve to be chased from the park by my dog)."

Whatever her motivations or reasons, I have to say that I don't buy it. I see her and her dog in the park frequently. Her dog barks a lot at people who come into the off leash area.

A lot of dogs do that if someone they don't recognize comes in, or someone comes in from an unexpected place like the bushes or not a path, especially if they don't have a dog with them. But this dog does it more than the rest. It's not a bad instinct, a kind of intruder alert. And all dogs need jobs to do, some more than others. Evidently her dog has taken intruder alerting to be his vocation.

Which would be fine except it's like dogs that bark at children, chase bicycles, or bark at people in uniform. It's scary for the people being barked at, potentially dangerous, annoying for everyone else and a disappointment for their owners. I don't think we should put up with it and the best way to deal with it is firm discipline on the first and every single incident until it stops.

Firm discipline means a firm voice command and physically taking the dog by the collar away from the scene. Firm discipline is not, "Oh Woofy, stop that you silly dog." spoken in a cooing voice that is really saying "good dog." Firm discipline is not petting the dog while cooing.

This sounds pretty simple but it's amazingly hard to do. It means disengaging emotionally from your dog and the way you identify with your dog and going into a very clear relationship mode where you are the leader. If you let your dog know that you don't like his behaviour, he's that much less likely to do it next time. He may not understand why you don't like it. Indeed, he will very likely be confused by your reaction because he is not alerting just anyone about intruders, he is alerting YOU.

It might be that the vocation of "intruder alerting" can be diverted into another adjacent, similar job, like "friendly greeting." I don't know really but dogs that start going down the road of scaring people as one of their jobs need to be given a new job.