Oklahoma Pet Tales: Rescued dog finds family home

Two books that would help you immensley with training a shy dog are "The Cautious Canine" by Patricia McConnell and "The Other End of the Leash" also by Patricia McConnell. There is an entire other way to care for shy, fearful dogs and help them learn to enjoy their new life and new situations rather than being in a constant state of stress and fear of new things and people. Also recommended is "For the Love of the Dog", again by Patricia McConnell. I just read all these books and they have completely changed my way of understanding my own shy dog and dog language in general and why it's so important to learn the signals they give us that we fail to read. One example is that we are primates and we tend to use our hands and arms alot. Dogs don't do this, the only time a dog will put his leg over another dogs shoulder or torso is to assert social dominance. We have an overwhelming urge to hug our dogs and pet every dog we see on the head, but to them all they see is someone looming over them, reaching to touch them in a place they feel vulnerable. We, as primates, look into one another's eyes much of the time. Dogs consider this rude and sometimes a challenge. If you do it too long to the wrong dog, you're gonna get bitten. Dogs that know us and love us will give a certain amount of eye contact and tolerate and may even learn to enjoy hugs, but even then, they will look away quickly. Have someone snap a picture of you the next time you are hugging your dog. Look at the dog's face. Chances are he will be turned away from you or leaning in the other direction. His mouth will probably be closed. These are not signs that he is enjoying it. Ms. McCOnnell's books have really helped me understand my dogs better and helped me understand what I do that confuses them. When we confuse them or misread their body language it only makes our relationship more difficult because we think they are willfully disobeying when really they are trying to appease us (what we erroneously call looking guilty) when for instane we yell at them for eating the cat food or chewing something they shouldn't. Think how hard it is to communicate with our own species sometimes, much less an entire other species. Our dogs try so hard to understand us. They are constantly searching our faces and body language for clues as to what we want, how we feel. It would serve us well to meet our dogs halfway and educate ourselves as to how we can modify our behavoir to improve both of our lives.

As for the above story, please do not buy from pet stores or backyard breeders. They will sell a dog to anyone with a checkbook regardless of whether or not they will give the dog a good and permanent home. The by products are these so called "breeding stock." Kept in confinement their entire lives, they are nothing but puppy machines and when they are used up, they are usually killed or abandoned like this one was. If you are looking for a purebred dog, please contact a rescue group that specializes in that breed. Also approximately 25% of dogs in shelters at any one time are purebreds too. Their only crime is that there are not enough homes for them all so please give these deserving dogs a second chance.