Comments | robinmckinley: Dog Heroine

robinmckinley

Dog Heroine

Mar 27, 2008 01:58

Well, the car is running. And the hellhounds are eating.* And when I got to my Wednesday bell practise tonight I hadn’t forgotten everything after an entire week away. (You don’t have bell practise in church towers during their Holy Week.) Indeed we had a packed-out crowd-of mostly beginners. So I got to be one of the Big Grown Up People Who ( Read more... )

hellhounds, heroines

Comments 29

jonquil March 27 2008, 02:29:15 UTC

> at least four 600+ page novels, because you never know how long you may have to wait for dinner when you’re away from home.

I think you are really me. And of course there are plane flights and airports and I generally worry about how many enormous novels I have to take in case I don't *like* the first one.

I may add, parenthetically, that the British custom of selling bestsellers in paperback *only in airports* is the most civilised (note spelling) thing *ever*. "We know you'll be on a plane, here's a light book!" Speaking of light, Jilly Cooper is the PERFECT thing to read on a Transatlantic flight because it doesn't matter if you forget anything.

robinmckinley March 27 2008, 02:45:27 UTC

and I generally worry about how many enormous novels I have to take in case I don't *like* the first one.

********** Oh gods! I AM really you!!! :)

reading_angel March 27 2008, 15:25:10 UTC

And, of course, there is always the chance that you may randomly get stuck in an elevator for hours and have to amuse yourself.

This is me, too. Whenever I'm flying anywhere a good amount of packing time is spent deciding which books and where they will fit among the luggage.

robinmckinley March 28 2008, 00:46:24 UTC

YES. :)

danceswithpahis March 27 2008, 02:38:32 UTC

That was really fun to read. And brings back memories of one of my favorite cat books, talking about training cats. I appreciated it because it talked about how cats aren't stupid, they just aren't motivated by the same things as dogs, so you have to find different ways to get them to do what you want (which I kind of would have considered self-evident, but I've had too many dog people try to tell me that cats are just stupid and can't learn anything. So I felt Vindicated.). I also appreciated a lot of their ideas. Some day I will have a cat again (I have been living with allergic people for most of my life, alas), and then maybe I can try it ( ... )

robinmckinley March 27 2008, 02:48:24 UTC

I've had too many dog people try to tell me that cats are just stupid and can't learn anything

************ ARRRGH. I hate it when stupid people make the rest of us look bad.

And the more you teach them, the more they learn how to learn stuff

*********** And not to forget this is also true of HUMAN critters. :) *And* with reference to dog people declaring that cats are stupid: I believed *I* was stupid for many years because I found it so difficult to learn by the standard schooling methods.

(which of course you know already, but I figure more encouragement is always a nice thing :) ).

*********** More encouragement is ALWAYS a nice thing. . . .

danceswithpahis March 27 2008, 04:56:41 UTC

I've had too many dog people try to tell me that cats are just stupid and can't learn anything

************ ARRRGH. I hate it when stupid people make the rest of us look bad.

-- Yes. Although my sympathies lie much more with the feline portion of the world's population (including wild cats, at a nice safe distance, of course), I do like dogs reasonably well also (my one big issue with them is being jumped and slobbered on by large friendly dogs that cover me with drool and scratch me with their big claws. I feel like I shouldn't care so much, but somehow I do. Small dogs and large well-behaved dogs [or at least large non-drooly dogs with owners who trim their claws] are no problem). And most dog people that I've known have reasonable views on the cat vs. dog discussion, even if we disagree a bit. It annoys me to no end, however, when I hear dog people smugly trashing cats. Yes, they're different. That's why we have our different preferences. But different does NOT necessarily mean that yours=good and mine=bad. Sigh.

spindriftdancer March 29 2008, 13:08:08 UTC

*********** I believed *I* was stupid for many years because I found it so difficult to learn by the standard schooling methods.

++ Amen.

Thread 8

Jackets ext_91778 March 27 2008, 03:17:19 UTC

Personally, I like to have jackets with sleeves large enough around the forearm to fit books inside. Then I can simply be walking around, and if I get to some place where I have to wait, slide the book out and start reading! It takes all the hassle out of carrying around a bag.

~Q

soitgoes31 March 27 2008, 05:47:52 UTC

I totally sympathize on trying to train dogs. My puppy (well, sort of puppy. He'll be two in a couple months) used to have no connection to food at all, though he never really rejected dinner like Chaos and Darkness. Over the past maybe six months, he has acquired a certain amount of food orientation, which is not in fact the blessing it seems. Now he simply comes and rests his head on your knee if you should happen to eat anything and *gasp* not share with him, and looks upon used ice cream bowls as his private domain. He has also learned to tell the scrape of a spoon on an empty ice cream bowl from the scrape on a full one. And here's the thing- he still wont train. You tell him to sit, and he looks at you like "she has said sit. My options are 1) sit and 2) not sit. Which ever shall I choose? Each option certainly has it's merits. Oh, I know. I shall stare. Does she really mean sit? Perhaps I shall sit now." And finally sits down. A few months of intensive training might reduce the delay to 5 or 6 seconds, and of ( ... )

anonymous March 27 2008, 06:42:45 UTC

Big congrats to southdowner. Best of Breed at Crufts is a terrific accomplishment, just to cite one thing. Brava!

It isn't always a bad thing to work with non-food-oriented dogs. I have found with Alpha Bitch, who is a crocodile, that treat focus can make it easier to teach her a new behavior, but she goes from "will work for food" to "no treat, no work" very easily, and then the performance gets unreliable. So if your boys learn without a lot of food rewards, you are probably better off in the long run.

Regarding the comment about training cats--cats aren't stupid, they just don't usually come with a cooperative attitude. As they say, dogs have family, cats have staff.:)

Diane in MN

robinmckinley March 28 2008, 00:34:37 UTC

At present I've reverted to Lots of Praise. They like it, it's free, it's uncomplicated :) I'm sure food WOULD work faster, if there were food . . . that would work at all. But I've actually never trained anything--dog, horse, dragon--with food. when I was younger using food was cheating, remember? My impression is that food didn't get really legal till clicker training suddenly because a huge big thing. Till then it was at least mildly controversial ( ... )