Dogs are too forgiving

FourIsCompany

corvus

Dogs are easy, folks.

 

Uummm... I don't think they can all be so easy. Cara and Mia are a DREAM easy! Yes. The others... way different. Not easy. Hard! LOL It depends on the dog, IMO.  

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Sure, depends on the dog. We've had hard dogs at our house. Pyry is one of them. You have to think for Pyry because you have to outsmart him to get anywhere, and that's a lot harder than it is for any other dog I've ever met. But all the same, he's not going to bounce off the walls and break his other leg if I even look like I'm thinking of imposing my will on him. He's not going to refuse to talk to me for several days if I move his stuff around. He's not going to bite me for righting something he deliberately knocked over. He's not going to try to scratch me to pieces if I try to worm or bath him, and he's not going to turn around and attack me if he nearly falls off something and I grab him before he does. I've had other animals do all of those things. He'll let me touch him, he'll let me pick him up, he'll listen to me and know what I'm asking, he'll work for food, he'll work for a chance to sniff my rabbit's blanket, and he'll even do what I ask him to do if it suits him. All I have to do is make sure I set it up so it'll suit him. That's easy. Even when he'd rather go bark at nothing or break out and go chase roos, it's blindingly obvious what is driving him and what he wants. Compared to an animal with a crazy strong flight response, or one that won't work for any rewards I can offer, or one that has limited ability to learn human speech, the hard dog is pretty darn easy. I wanted an Akita because I wanted a REALLY hard dog. Hard dogs make me think more and challenge my methods. That's GOOD! Unfortunately, all the hard dogs I was looking at would have eaten the rest of my furry family, so for the moment I'm stuck with easy dogs that are easy to take for granted. I lament that I often find myself taking easy dogs for granted. And then when I try doing something with my hare, I start taking any dog for granted because it's just so much easier! Hares make dreadful pets, but my goodness, it makes you appreciate the gift that domestication is. When I decided I wanted a hard dog, it was because I secretly wanted a hare I could train to walk on a leash.