I had to put my dog down yesterday. She was a great dog and a good companion. The day had been coming for the last several months. Ever since we found a small tumor in the roof of her mouth. It became clear over the weekend that the now baseball sized tumor had finally migrated up into her nasal cavity and was causing a great deal of pain. She’d been on pain killer for the last two months and these seemed to help, but with decreasing effectiveness. It’s odd when an animal who always shadowed me whenever we were together is now gone. I keep finding myself looking at where her dog beds were thinking she’ll be sitting or sleeping there. This too shall pass.
Dogs are simple creatures. Take them for walks, scoop up their deposits, feed them, play with them, train them, pretty much take them with you where ever you go, and they’ll be happy. The one thing I never did was treat her like a human member of the family. I’ve seen a few episodes of Cesar Milan’s Dog Whisperer and I always shake my head at the stupid things people do with their dogs. Treating them like a equal human member of the family instead of what they are, a dog. Then they wonder why they have all these behavior problems with the dog. The owners are at their whits end, and the dog is in control. Long before I discovered game, I understood that dogs will listen and obey the person that they see as the alpha of the pack.
I was walking into the pet store a couple weeks back to get some food for my dog when I spied a morbidly fat man with two chihuahuas. Little high strung yip dogs. He was coming out of the store with a bag of items in one arm, and his two dogs on leashes. The dogs decided it was time to investigate the column just outside the store entrance. As I came up on the guy, I could actually hear him pleading with his dogs to follow him to the car. Begging the damn things. WTF dude, they’re dogs. Keep walking and force them to follow. They weren’t even big enough for this fat body to strain with the effort.
I have many friends who own dogs. What I find interesting is to see how the dogs interact with these friends and their wives. Sometimes it can be a really sad sight to see. One guy I know is so cowed by his wife, she can bark and order at him and he’s falling all over himself to obey. The marriage isn’t long for this world. If she’s not cheating on him yet, she will be soon. Their dog knows who is in charge. The dog doesn’t even listen to the guy, but it will follow his wife and obey her commands. It is quite obvious who the dog thinks is the alpha of the pack in that house.
Another couple I know has two dogs and no kids. They are older, married late in life and not likely to ever have children. The husband took it upon himself to train the dogs and generally take care of them. We were out to dinner not long ago, and his wife was complaining that the boys, as she calls the dogs, refused to obey her and would only listen to her husband. Since that night, the gals husband got the more dominant dog and her into one of those dog agility programs. It appears the problem has been, for the most part, solved. The dogs now listen and obey his wife.
I see these men who subordinate themselves to their wives. Their wives treat them poorly and their dogs ignore them. If they can’t even get their dogs to acknowledge them as a superior member of the pack, they shouldn’t expect their wives to look up to them either. A dog is a wonderful pet and can teach any boy or man lessons in being confident and assertive. Lessons that can be applied in the rest of their life’s interactions with people and especially with women.
