The Three Jacks

I don’t know why some cat owners think it is okay to just let their cats roam.  There are 2 such cats that invade our property daily!  The Three Jacks seriously dislike cats, and that’s putting it mildly.  One of the cats seems to either be curious about the dogs, or what I truly believe, purposely likes to torment them!  This cat will parade itself on the other side of the fence about a foot away.  Petey goes totally nuts, the cat does not care.  This same cat has also perched itself in the front window to torment the dogs when they are in the house.

One day a couple of summers ago, I was taking Maddie out to the agility field in the back of my property.  We had to go from one fenced area that’s attached to the house, to a separate area a little ways in the back.  Maddie is an extremely good dog and was excited to be going back for some agility practice.  Because I was in my own yard and Maddie just wanted to go play agility, she was off lead and walking with me to the agility field.  Suddenly the bold cat appeared, taunting Maddie to a game of chase.  Maddie just couldn’t resist.  This was her yard and she wasn’t going to tolerate a cat in it.  So, she chased it two yards over to it’s house.  I ran following her.  Upon our arrival to the cats house, the owner appeared.  This woman immediately started yelling at us!  Maddie was barking at the cat, who so (innocently) was hiding behind her human.  The woman continued yelling at me, telling me I had a wild out of control dangerous dog!  After 5 minutes of her ranting and raving I told her how her cat was in my yard and Maddie simply chased it home.  By now Maddie was in my arms, kissing my face.  The woman’s ranting started again – now calling Maddie vicious and that she should call animal control.  At that point I did become a bit angry but held my temper.  I then said that’s a wonderful idea, that I should call animal control whenever I see her cat in my yard!  I then asked her why did she allow her cat the run of the neighborhood?  She informed me that the cat was an outdoors cat, and that’s just the way it is!  Wow, what is the thought process of such people?  I then asked her, if my dog is not welcome in your yard, what makes you think your cat is welcomed in mine?   Her reply was, that even if she had a fence she couldn’t keep the cat in it so there was nothing she could do about it.  Rather than argue with this very clueless person, I reminded her that there were coyotes around and that her cat could become dinner for them.  I also told her that if one of my dogs got hold of her cat in my yard that I could not guarantee they would not kill it.

I do not hate cats by any means.  My sister has a sweet little house cat that I adore.  But my dogs do hate cats!  I don’t appreciate people who seem to think it’s okay for their cats to roam freely.  I do not appreciate cats that torment my dogs.  This seems to be a problem here that there is no solution to – animal control will not come and catch these roaming cats.  They won’t even go speak with their owners.  But I’m sure if my dogs were roaming or even got loose accidentally, animal control would be dealing with us!

Petey said there's a CAT in our yard!

My sweet little Maddie is 11 years old today!  She is such an amazing sweet little dog, who still loves to play agility.  One of the truly great things about Jack Russells is their long life span and excessive energy – so an old gal like Maddie is still healthy and spunky.

Rolling in the grass!

Playing Agility

Agility A Frame

One thing about Jack Russell’s is they seem to think they are huge!  They have been referred to as “a big dog in a little body.”  Petey is no exception – he is a lot of dog, more than what most people want, even though he only stands 14 1/2 inches at the withers.  Yesterday we went to the beach and on a walk with some Great Danes, and as the photo’s show, the little guy’s attitude was probably bigger than the Danes!

Petey - Size is all in the Mind!

"Hey, if I walk behind these big guys the squirrels won't see me coming"

For the Love of A Dog

Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend

by Patricia McConnell

I’ve read several other books by Patricia McConnell, so it was no surprise to me when I began reading, “For the Love of a Dog”, that I became completely immersed.  Patricia has a wonderful way with intertwining scientific facts and information with everyday life.  This book is a beautiful blend of both, with the science of the brain (both human & canine), and stories and examples from her own experiences with dogs, both her own and of her clients.

Patricia explains and proves that dogs do share many of our same emotions.  Though this is something I have always believed, to finally see scientific proof that indeed our canine companions share these emotions with us, is like a breath of fresh air.  Finally, we, the lover of dogs, can debunk the naysayers.

“For the Love of a Dog” is a must read for anyone that has any contact with dogs.  To begin to understand the emotional ability of an animal that humans have chosen to live with for thousands of years.  For dog trainers this book is of utmost importance, in that it explains, not only how a dogs emotions are shown, but also why a particular dog may behave the way it does, and how to deal with that.  It also explains and shows, with wonderful photographs, the expressions of canine emotion, and compares that to the same show of emotion on human faces.  The similarities are simply astonishing!  Of course body signals from dogs are also discussed and shown in this amazing book.

This book has enlightened me on one of my own dogs.  Petey is an amazing little Jack Russell Terrier that I adopted when he was about 8 months old.  When I adopted Petey I had grand visions of him becoming a champion agility dog.  Physically he was perfect for it.  For years I’ve trained Petey in agility, he is truly an amazing athlete.  His level of speed, accuracy and advanced skills are those of some of the best agility dogs in the country.  So why is it that Petey is not an agility champion?  Why is it that in all of his years of training and trialing he only has three successful qualifying agility runs?  Finally after reading “For the Love of a Dog”, I now understand my little Petey better.  I knew that he was stressing at trials, there were all the classic signs of it; marking on the course, yawning, the zoomies, looking like a scared puppy and not moving.  Yet I continued to try with Petey.  I thought maybe it was me stressing, therefor sending stress signals to him.  I read books on relaxation for competition.  I competed with Maddie who loves to play agility, though not quite the athlete Petey is, she taught me it was all about the fun, and to relax.  I tried again with Petey, utilizing the lessons in relaxation I had learned, and still no success.  I would go long periods of time where I didn’t trial Petey because the little guy would stress so badly that I felt like it was cruel of me to want him to compete.  Now, I really do understand, thanks to Patricia and this wonderful book.  Petey, more than likely will never be able to compete successfully in agility.  No matter how much skill and confidence he shows when training, the stress of a trial is just too much for him to emotionally overcome, probably due to his very early weeks and months of life, when he did not get the proper socialization and emotional confidence needed to compete in the overly stimulating atmosphere of an agility trial.

There is so much more I have learned from this book, I could go on and on.  I urge everyone who loves dogs to pick up a copy of “For the Love of a Dog”.  No dog lovers library could be complete without it.

Here is a link to Patricia’s website where you can buy a copy right now.

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/for-the-love-of-a-dog-understanding-emotions-human-dogs

You might also want to consider some of Patricia’s other books, as they are all equally fascinating!

Here is a link to Patricia’s blog -

http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/