I've watched Burley dog and Miss Priss in public, and they have totally different reactions to body language. If someone freezes up at Burley's approach, he turns around and walks away, boom, he's gone. Miss Priss on the other hand " gushes" she rolls on her back, puts her head down and does the full body wiggle. That will bring even the most stanch "blue hair" to her knees....in her best white pant suit, no less. Learning to read body language in the animal world is a survival skill, those of us who volunteer in that world should take lessons. I have met people with whom I totally disagree, and yet because of our love and respect for animals , we work together just fine.. I've tried to work with others who are using animals to meet their own needs and found them rigid.. As we worked our way through a prolonged search effort, the diference between those two mind sets came to the fore. The unhealthy ones never spoke of the dogs feelings, only how much the owner wanted the dog back. There was no mention of how frightened the dog would be, there was no empathy, only " I want " That turned a lot of the searchers off, and pretty soon the worst of people were the loudest voices in the room. the decent people left the search. But a new group of caring people formed, and that is never a waste in animal welfare. One person has great experience in trapping dogs.. I would like to learn more about that, another has a horrible shelter and I have helped turn a few shelters around so maybe I can help there. I have been in animal welfare 50 years, I have learned a great deal, I hope to learn more.. Look at Burley Dog's body language, relaxed happy face, ready for a new experience, yep I want to be like Burley Dog when I finish growing up.
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Dear Ardenia, thank you for not giving up on our Sam. He was listed as some kind of mountain dog when one of your group drove 3 hours to see him in person. Sam is a saint newf mix and with the brown he could look like a mountain dog. When he wasn't the dog you were looking for she almost left him. Sam's time was running out. He had been adopted out once and was returned for fighting with their other dog. Sam is not very tolerant of other males. After showing the shelter my ad, she called me. The place agreed to hold him until I got there. Sam will be getting a new chip and he will lose his manhood,pronto. I won't lie, it's not the first time Sam went looking for love, but it's the worst. He had been gone two months when Carol found him. He was matted to his skin, his nails were curled up and he didn't really believe it was me when I first showed up. When we get settled in I will send you a picture. Carol said I could always reach you here, hope this is right. I had read the blog during the search. but didn't have a name besides Oreo.
thx Mike
Thank you Mike, your dog is the sixth to be found while searching for another. I am so happy for you, and I think a nutectomy is in order for Sam. Seriously so many runaways are intact dogs, unless there is a strong reason not to fix them, just do it. May I share your wonderful letter in a status update on the FB page?
I don't want to post on that page anymore. you can share my story though. several of our family members who were on the page were spammed with hate mail to. We keep reading it, but there are some loose cannons out there.
Oreo did you really say nutectomy? You know when I was at NHS so many of the dogs coming through were not fixed. That causes behavior and health issues that cost a dog a home. It's great that Sam is home and will be fixed, but he's got a pattern of running now that will be hard to break. I hope the owner is able to keep him in. We just had a story on the news about a man in one of the north valleys that shot two pitbutlls that attacked his dog and then him. Running is a bad habit, running and fighting is not going to fly.
Yes I did Kev. I didn't think this dog was a natural fighter, but your point is taken. I saw the story on 4 too. The public is losing its patience with stray dogs, no matter how nice they are. To many mean ones are getting adopted out. So now I guess people are going to shoot them. I like our new bumper sticker at aC says " Love it, Leash it" it's true. Letting your dog run in our neck of the woods is not good anymore. Used to be okay when we were smaller, but we are way to big now.
I told you before I would groom Burly. I say " furbabies" and I care. Not sure what my language has to do with it Miss Priss. I do agree that the language can be a little to much at times. I am open to looking at one I say, but not your right to tell me not to :0 Glad another dog panned out. I don't think the one is going to be found. I think it's in a home and is going to stay there until they find a way to get on the news. Not that many people really do the CL and Fb stuff. They go to the pound, get a dog and are not looking for the owner because they are the owner. She ya at AC tomorrow?
I wanted to reaffirm the experience of the dog not knowing the owner. My dog was stolen, got away and when I went to the pound, she didn't know me. Luckily she was chipped, but she was off for week. it shatters their confidence.
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