thunder wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:04:49 -0500, RCE wrote:


If you don't understand, you never will, either. Here, the dogs are far
more valuable than the furniture.

Nothing wrong with not liking dogs, but you are missing out on a very
special commitment of friendship.

And the joy. My folks, both in their mid-eighties, have a dog. I've
noticed their house is a far happier place with the dog, than without it.
It has been proven that pet owners are healthier and happier than non
pet owners.

http://smh.com.au/news/childrens-hea...890803141.html

--
Reggie
************************************************** *************
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

************************************************** *************

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 08:34:05 -0500, Reggie Smithers
wrote:

thunder wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:04:49 -0500, RCE wrote:


If you don't understand, you never will, either. Here, the dogs are far
more valuable than the furniture.

Nothing wrong with not liking dogs, but you are missing out on a very
special commitment of friendship.

And the joy. My folks, both in their mid-eighties, have a dog. I've
noticed their house is a far happier place with the dog, than without it.
It has been proven that pet owners are healthier and happier than non
pet owners.

http://smh.com.au/news/childrens-hea...890803141.html

Which came first, the disposition to become a pet owner (and the health
that came with it), or the ownership of the pet and resultant health
changes?
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************

JohnH wrote:
On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 08:34:05 -0500, Reggie Smithers
wrote:

thunder wrote:
On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:04:49 -0500, RCE wrote:


If you don't understand, you never will, either. Here, the dogs are far
more valuable than the furniture.

Nothing wrong with not liking dogs, but you are missing out on a very
special commitment of friendship.
And the joy. My folks, both in their mid-eighties, have a dog. I've
noticed their house is a far happier place with the dog, than without it.
It has been proven that pet owners are healthier and happier than non
pet owners.

http://smh.com.au/news/childrens-hea...890803141.html

Which came first, the disposition to become a pet owner (and the health
that came with it), or the ownership of the pet and resultant health
changes?
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************
They have done studies of people with poor health and then compared the
individuals health after having a pet. The pet ownership seems to be
the reason for the improved health, not that those who are inclined to
like or want pets are healthier.



--
Reggie
************************************************** *************
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

************************************************** *************

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"RCE" wrote in message
...
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
A friend's two dogs chewed a wiring harness out from under his Jaguar.
He was not amused. He had to have his invisible fence system completely
rearranged so he's able to park in his own driveway. That's friggin
nuts.

Hafa admit. *That* would be a real test of my patience.

RCE


It would be a test of my ability to build a silencer for my handgun, to
be used just twice.


Just twice?

Why waste more than one round per dog?

"Don White" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"JohnH" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:29:35 -0500, "RCE" wrote:


"Don White" wrote in message
...


Doug Kanter wrote:

Do you ever use shock collars, like those I see in hunting catalogs?

My sister bought one of those for her Corgi.
That dumb dog was so stubborn, he'd bark anyway. Reminded me of that
'Simpsons' episode where the whole family was hooked up to electrodes
at a
research clinic and kept shocking each other.


The store manager at the PetMart also told me that although Labs are
super
people friendly and affectionate, they aren't exactly the sharpest tack
in
the drawer, as dogs go.

I like him though. He's just a big goofus.

RCE


My daughter used a shock collar on their new bulldog. They used it to
keep
it from jumping on visitors, and it worked well. I don't see how it could
be useful to keep a dog from barking only at certain times and places. I
would want the dog to bark if someone were walking in my yard, for
example.

The collar didn't help a bit when it came to the dog's chewing of
furniture!


I can't imagine how anyone even entertains the idea of having a dog, if
there's a chance of it ruining nice furniture. Maybe it helps to own
crappy furniture.
Our 14 year old cat is always sharpening her claws on our living room
furniture. We're constantly after her. I might have to find one of the
boys old water pistols. That should make her think twice.

White pepper, red pepper, black pepper. These are your friends. And, wrap a
1x10 board with sisal rope & sprinkle with catnip. Teach her how to claw it.

"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
...

They have done studies of people with poor health and then compared the
individuals health after having a pet. The pet ownership seems to be the
reason for the improved health, not that those who are inclined to like or
want pets are healthier.

Pets tend to have a positive attitude, although with cats, I think it
depends on the pet's age when it comes into the home, especially with cats.
Some people say their cats are boring and just sit around all day, and these
are usually people who adopted older cats. Get a kitten and romp with it
daily, and it's a different story. Mine's 8 months old, and as far as she's
concerned, it's play time 24x7xAMillion. :-) Impossible not to smile more
when that's going on. Hard to explain to my customers, though, when they're
giving me orders for truckloads of food, and I'm laughing.

Doug Kanter wrote:
"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
...

They have done studies of people with poor health and then compared the
individuals health after having a pet. The pet ownership seems to be the
reason for the improved health, not that those who are inclined to like or
want pets are healthier.

Pets tend to have a positive attitude, although with cats, I think it
depends on the pet's age when it comes into the home, especially with cats.
Some people say their cats are boring and just sit around all day, and these
are usually people who adopted older cats. Get a kitten and romp with it
daily, and it's a different story. Mine's 8 months old, and as far as she's
concerned, it's play time 24x7xAMillion. :-) Impossible not to smile more
when that's going on. Hard to explain to my customers, though, when they're
giving me orders for truckloads of food, and I'm laughing.


If you continue to show your cat love and affection, even older cats
will want to sit on your lap (at their discretion of course) and get
petted and provide a nice contented purr.

--
Reggie
************************************************** *************
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

************************************************** *************

"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
. ..
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
...

They have done studies of people with poor health and then compared the
individuals health after having a pet. The pet ownership seems to be
the reason for the improved health, not that those who are inclined to
like or want pets are healthier.

Pets tend to have a positive attitude, although with cats, I think it
depends on the pet's age when it comes into the home, especially with
cats. Some people say their cats are boring and just sit around all day,
and these are usually people who adopted older cats. Get a kitten and
romp with it daily, and it's a different story. Mine's 8 months old, and
as far as she's concerned, it's play time 24x7xAMillion. :-) Impossible
not to smile more when that's going on. Hard to explain to my customers,
though, when they're giving me orders for truckloads of food, and I'm
laughing.
If you continue to show your cat love and affection, even older cats will
want to sit on your lap (at their discretion of course) and get petted and
provide a nice contented purr.

When I'm at the desk, mine thinks it's a good idea to leap 4 feet onto the
back of the chair (which she can do without clawing it), and than lay on my
neck like a fur collar. I just wish I knew when she was planning on doing
it. I could turn the heat down a couple of degrees.

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:58:16 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
...

They have done studies of people with poor health and then compared the
individuals health after having a pet. The pet ownership seems to be the
reason for the improved health, not that those who are inclined to like or
want pets are healthier.

Pets tend to have a positive attitude, although with cats, I think it
depends on the pet's age when it comes into the home, especially with cats.
Some people say their cats are boring and just sit around all day, and these
are usually people who adopted older cats. Get a kitten and romp with it
daily, and it's a different story. Mine's 8 months old, and as far as she's
concerned, it's play time 24x7xAMillion. :-) Impossible not to smile more
when that's going on. Hard to explain to my customers, though, when they're
giving me orders for truckloads of food, and I'm laughing.


Our two cats (see "Tired of Dogs" in abpso) were both adopted as adults.
The orange one, Toby, was about a year old when we got him, and he's full
of energy. He'll chase a laser beam spot forever!

The other one, Huey, was, according to the animal shelter, about a year and
a half old and had been hit by a car. The vet, after a physical, said it
was more likely seven to eight years old. He also said animal shelters tend
to greatly underestimate the ages of the adoptive animals.

But, the older one is the one that keeps my lap warm when watching the tube
or reading (or conversing with you folks).
--
'Til next time,

John H

******************************************
***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
******************************************

"RCE" wrote:
How do you teach a juvenile delinquent dog not to bark at everything he sees
in the back yard?


Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
The first and best way is to train the dog not to bark. That often
requires your presence with the dog and normal behavior training.

Agreed. It helps to understand why dogs bark in the first
place, and encourage them to fit their barking into their
home & family life in a way that is acceptable to you. Dogs
are intensely social animals, their social group means more
to them than their life as an individual. You just have to
communicate with them consistently so that they know what is
good & what is not.

Most people assume that dogs 'think like humans' and also
don't spend enough time with them.


.... The
following is what I tell people to do and it often works.

One is that you personally invest time with the dog - probably for a
couple of weeks using positive reinforcement to train your dog to bark
on command; this will help him learn how to be quieted on command as
well.


That definitely works. Another action to take in this regard
is to use the dogs instinctive 'alarm bark' to condition him
to accept *your* decision about what to bark at. One of the
main reasons dogs bark is to alert their pack to approaching
danger. Obviously if the 'alpha' of the pack is alerted, and
makes clear that there is no danger, then the barking should
cease. The problem here is that most people just yell at the
dog to shut up, and don't signal to the dog that they have
seen the possible danger and that it's OK... a double whammy
since they miss the chance to reinforce their alpha status
and also failing to condition the dog to it's proper &
acceptable social interaction with it's 'pack.'

Dogs bark for other reasons, but once you get a handle on
teaching them to bark on command (and they enjoy it, like
kids enjoy yelling & stomping) and accepting their 'alert'
barks, they will bark far less just to be annoying.

Our old dog would bark at the approach of strangers, and he
would not stop (in fact he'd get louder & more aggressive)
if I did not pay attention to what he perceived as
approaching danger. OTOH if (for example) if he was barking
at a strange car or delivery truck parked in front of the
house, once I went & looked and said to him "It's OK, you
can be quiet now" he settled right down.

Then there's the issue of barking at stray cats & squirrels,
which is more difficult to solve.


The other way is to invest in a citronella no-bark collar, which is
effective and not cruel; if your dog barks, the collar sprays a small
amount of citronella, which dogs dislike. It works well, but doesn't
help you become a command presence for the dog and actually is a
negative type of training. It doesn't allow for command presence. If
your dog needs to bark at something he is afraid of, for instance, the
citronella collar doesn't work as well.


If you go this route, get one that can be turned off while
the dog wears it. Otherwise he will learn *very* quickly
that he cannot bark while wearing the collar, and bark even
more when he's not wearing it.

My sister reports that she bought a collar like this, and
her other dog enjoys setting it off just to harrass the
younger 'problem barking' dog.

Regards
Doug King