hindrancedog

[hindrancedog]

I feel like my issues with doodles can be aptly summarized by the oops litter (happened under a daycare/sitter’s watch) we saw from a 1 year old doodle where each puppy went for $2000-3000 a piece. And yes they were merle.

Let that sink in. A 1 year old dog, which means too young for all the appropriate health testing or even really to know their full temperament/conformation. An accidental breeding to a dog with an unknown health status and pedigree. $2000-3000.

I have no problem with a big price tag on a dog, as long as it makes sense. I also have no problem charging a bit on an oops litter to make sure people don’t get them on a whim, and to cover the cost of rearing the pups. But to make such an insane profit on the accidental breeding of a 1 year old dog? Absolutely insane. For context, these puppies are more than I paid for Raava. What did I get with Raava? Multi generation pedigrees on both sides, full health testing on both parents, lifelong breeder support, Embark panel, two parents with extensive titling, AKC/UKC registration, first vax, deworming, exams etc. I didn’t mind paying for all that. So what the hell are some oops puppies getting that makes them worth $3000? Because a dog’s price tag shouldn’t be to make a profit or because they’re cute/trendy. Reputable breeders price puppies this way because you get A LOT, and they’re really not making a profit because of all the time and money they put into their dogs. Huge pet peeve of mine to see these irresponsibly bred dogs with massive price tags just because, and then people somehow take that to mean that the dog must be quality because it was expensive.

[hindrancedog]

“A fox once went to ground in a narrow drain; two terriers were running with the pack. The first went in and, unable to get right up to the fox, caught hold of the brush, the only point he could reach. The second terrier also went in, but could not, of course, get far, as his companion blocked the way, so he caught hold of the first terrier's tail. Then came the whipper-in, and he stooped down, put in his arm, and feeling the second terrier he caught hold of him and pulled him out. There was considerable resistance, but at length, to the amusement of the field the second terrier appeared to be holding tight to the tail of his predecessor, who in turn was holding on to the brush of the fox, which was also drawn in its turn.” T.F. Dale, ‘Working Terrier Past and Present’, 1907.

[hindrancedog]

So to summarise my experience of reading How Stella Learned to Talk by Christina Hunger: if it’s not clear, I hated this book. It’s trash. It belongs on the dog edition of If Books Could Kill. There is nothing of substance in it, nothing of value. My major issues with dog buttons remain the same and are now in fact more pronounced. Those issues are:

Dog buttons replace existing communication dogs use with human-centric communication, which only devalues humans learning real dog behaviour

All dog use of buttons is assumed deliberate and meaningful

All dog use of buttons is explained away with creative storytelling

Supporters of dog buttons rely heavily on harmful anthropomorphism

The novelty of dog buttons is considered more important than existing research of dog behaviour and practice of dog training

People like Hunger are either lying to themselves or lying to everybody else and it doesn’t really matter which because functionally the result is the same

I went on the Hunger for Words Instagram page to see what they are up to today. I recognise that Stella seems to use her buttons in a way that suggests familiarity with them, but that doesn’t equate to language use. She also still displays calming signals like yawning, stretching, flat ears, pacing and looking away while using her buttons.

The videos are all short and without much context within the footage. The captions are complete storytelling. There is no way to know that what is happening in the video is valuable because it’s surrounded by unverifiable storytelling and commentary from Hunger.

The Instagram also features videos from other laypeople who think their dogs can talk. One recent video shows a golden retriever repeatedly pressing a button that says "car". The owner attributes this behaviour to the dog "throwing a tantrum about the car". In another featured video, a Pekingese mix presses "chew" then "come" and then puts his lifted paw down on "get it" which is also taken as deliberate communication.

One of Hunger’s tips in the book is to wait for your dog to respond after you have talked to them. Think about how this looks from the dog’s perspective. You have stopped talking, you are making eye contact, you are waiting expectantly. What do dogs normally do when confronted with this kind of body language? They throw out appeasement signals and they offer behaviours that might lead to reinforcement. This is what is recommended as language breakthrough, and that any button pressing that may result from it is deliberate linguistic communication and not instead meaningful communication about the dog’s emotional state and response to your own body language.

My emotional state after finishing this book? Exasperated and sad. The most important thing you can take away from this story is that your dog is always communicating with you, and you don’t need a plastic button to learn what they are saying.

[hindrancedog]

"you are a PAWRENT not an Owner your dog is your family and you are Equals!" my dog is tied to me with a rope so it doesnt run away

[hindrancedog]

Research shows that dogs possess genetic mutations that are found in people who have Williams syndrome, a rare condition characterized by exceptionally gregarious, friendly personalities.

Wolves don't have these mutations; these traits appear to be products of domestication. That certainly does not mean wolves don't love—they are extraordinarily devoted to one another, in some ways more so than dogs—but their affection is concentrated within their pack's members. The dramatically heightened openness of dogs to strangers may be part of what makes dogs unique from wolves, and perhaps from all other animals.

With this knowledge comes great obligation. Having called such exquisitely sensitive, tender-hearted creatures into the world, beings so predisposed to give and receive affection and therefore vulnerable to its withholding, we owe them our love—perhaps our unconditional love—in return.

— Brandon Keim, National Geographic (The Genius of Dogs)

[hindrancedog]

“Why Title a Dog? Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores, a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a memory for as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better in that regard. And though the dog itself doesn’t know or care that its achievements have been noted, a title says many things int he world of humans, where such things count. A title says your dog was intelligent and adaptable, and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that please you, however crazy they may have sometimes seemed. And a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with it because it was a good dog, that you believed in it enough to give it yet another chance when it failed, and that, in the end, your faith was justified. A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few; that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved, and loved greatly in return. And when that dear short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, that best you can give to a deserving fiend, volumes of pride in one small set of initials after the name. A title earned is nothing less than love and respect, given and received, and permanently recorded.”

— Sandra Mowery (via crosscheckcatahoulas)

[hindrancedog]

I say to people, “You feel like an imposter because you are an imposter. What the hell are you doing working with aggressive dog behaviour? That dog’s going to eat the baby. Go get a mentor!” Maybe we could replace the phrase imposter syndrome with humble. Oh, you mean like you might not feel like you know everything? Well, we all feel that way. Now, what are you gonna do about it? I’m a little bit of a hard ass on this stuff. Because the people who say it are often really new in the field, and some days I’m exhausted with how much information I’m holding. You know, it’s heavy after all of these decades of learning, and I wanna say, “Just go learn!”

The reason why I think that I push back on the imposter syndrome thing and the idea that we all feel it, we do, I think we do. I think experts do feel it when they’re in new settings and so forth, and so that’s a very important share. But imposter syndrome is a construct. It’s a label. It doesn’t exist in any tangible form. And so, I actually went to the internet and said, “Okay, what, what do clinical psychologists mean by this phrase?” And I wonder how many people have sought that information out? Or are they just grabbing the common vernacular meaning of the two terms together, and then using it to describe what they do? Imposter syndrome is not when you’re new to a profession, and you feel insecure, you feel worried that you don’t have enough experience to do well. Which if you’re new, you probably don’t, without a mentor. But it’s when you are highly accomplished, and you feel insecure about your abilities. So, I think that’s an important thing to remind people is that this has a technical meaning. If the right term is, “I’m feeling unprepared, given my level of experience and education to do this case,” many times I say, “Well, I agree. So, who’s your mentor? Who’s your supervisor?” And that’s a big problem because we don’t have enough mentors at this stage in our profession.

— Dr Susan Friedman, #36 - Dr. Susan Friedman: Become a Better Animal Trainer, Enrichment for the Real World

[hindrancedog]

What are your dog’s colors? Javi has everything in teal and light blue with some green and purple mixed in

[hindrancedog]

but my dogs do actually have jobs. walking me, taking me for hikes and making sure i have enough stimulation and enrichment so i don't get into trouble or chew up the furniture is a full-time gig. it's so demanding a couple of years ago we had to hire a 2nd dog.

[hindrancedog]

The simplest concept that would help pet owners so much more than Cesar Millan ever did would be that forcing facilitates helplessness, not learning.

Regardless of your methodology you're not going to see your best results by walking into heel yourself, pulling your dog into a position, holding them in sit to be petted, pushing and using body blocking when trying to build impulse control, guiding them around by a headcollar, etc.

At best, you'll get a dog who has learned the inevitable and leans into it. More often, I see lazy or confused dogs who learn to only listen to outside pressure, or worse, become anxious or overaroused due to their own lack of control and autonomy.

Please, examine your training every so often to make sure the dog is the one doing the action on their own, not being actively imposed into it.

[hindrancedog]

okay actually im not done talking about this

if you are so deeply uncomfortable with the idea of owning a dog originally bred for fighting that you make up a fake sugar-coated history do not get a pit bull

dogfighting is fucking horrendous and disgusting, you SHOULD be a little uncomfortable with it. but like it or not, it's what pit bulls (and staffies) were originally bred for. you can try to say it doesn't matter and has no bearing on how an individual dog of that breed behaves but it does and it's ridiculous to claim otherwise. how many border collies have you met that instinctively herd anything that moves? how about jack russells that chase small animals? labs that love water? german shepherds that are suspicious of strangers? i could go on. the same applies to pit bulls.

i love this breed. i love the way they look, i love their athleticism, i love how goddamn happy they are all the time, i love their tenacity. it's very upsetting to me how people try to make them into something they're not. it's not fair to anyone, the dog included.

you have a medium-large extremely powerful terrier type dog with all the usual instincts that terrier types have. if that doesnt sound like something you want, if you want a dog you can let run free at a dog park without any worry, don't get a pit bull. get a golden retriever or something.

[hindrancedog]

This is pointless and probably doesn't deserve a post but it's been living inside my head for a while so..

I've noticed a trend lately on FB and IG, since I opened accounts on both for my dog walking business. If you open a new account and indicate that you are interested in animals, it tends to skew toward animal rescue, and then eventually to stories of abuse. In a matter of weeks this dominates your feed. You are seeing nothing but stories about dogs who were left abandoned in basements without food, cats who had been set on fire and miraculously survived, horses with incredibly overgrown feet or stereotyped behaviors from being confined. I'm not saying that these things don't happen. It's more that social media causes you see it over and over, both desensitizing you and super-sensitizing you. Making you think that a huge percentage of animal owners must be neglectful or abusive.

And it creates a mindset within people on these platforms that humans are just ~always~ out to abuse animals. You begin to see comments on videos where an animal is clearly loved, where comments are claiming abuse must have happened. You see this on videos of dogs excited to get on their treadmill to run (dog fighting training!) horses doing dressage (the training must have been so cruel, it's not natural for a horse to move that way!) videos of dogs joring (forced running!) anything you can think of. Any kind of tack or collar generates debate and judgement. Purebred dogs existing at all in the first place must be supporting puppy mills, forced breeding, filling shelters and leading to countless euthanasias. There is no ethical way to have animals. The only "unproblematic" dogs are soft and silly-looking and wearing pajamas. And if an animal is aggressive or scared in any way the first accusation is always that abuse must have happened.

I just think there's something sinister to the idea that whenever humans and animals interact, the humans are always monsters and abusers. Priming people to expect abuse, to look for it, to manufacture it if they can't find it. You can't post anything online without it being wrong in someone's eyes. And I think it's really unhealthy to always expect the worst in humanity, to the point that you perceive terrible things must be happening offscreen when it's literally just a video of an animal having fun.

[hindrancedog]

He's instructing, everyone pay attention

[hindrancedog]

😔 ohhh someone I know is getting a new puppy, and started advertising for the breeder & trying to find a home for another puppy which I thought was odd for a reputable breeder

It's the breeders first registered litter, the dam is 20% COI on pedigree (let alone genetically) and is being bred to a stud who isn't even 2 yet and also shares a grandsire AND granddam with her........

Like IDK that just doesn't seem like the most solid breeding choices to me???

[hindrancedog]

I'm the worst at posting regularly, especially ATM while I'm still recovering from my thyroidectomy, but today I worked Hiro in harness in 2 different shops and he was incredible.

I need to get a lot better at trusting him and actually letting him help me.

[hindrancedog]

If you sign up for Shade Whitesel’s mailing list then you are reinforced with a free one hour presentation on location specific marker cues (LMS). Shade’s LMS system changed everything for Martin’s dog training. I highly recommend checking out her presentation!

[hindrancedog]

transparency is a good and noble goal but some of you need to be careful not to get so hung up on transparency as a singular virtue that you put faith in the opinions of people who are transparently bad at what they do