the horse whisperer -- - Page 3

What a great thread!

I don't have horses (rode a lot when I was very young) but I have always had dogs. I can honestly say that ALL of my dogs have respected me - some more than others admittedly.

The dogs I have now, Zane, Yiannis, Jenzi and Tashi in so many ways aer the same as each other although their relationship with me is so different.

Zane for example, is my oldest. He is a 3 1/2 yr old male, neutered, B&T, GSD. He is way oversized measuring 33" atw and weighs 58 Kg. He is not overweight for his size but is way above the breed standard. you'd be surprised how many people ask if he's crossed with a donkey!

Now with Zane, I know what he's thinking. He knows what I'm thinking. I have decided at times to go out and he'll appear with my keys in his mouth without me having said anythign or made any gestures for him to think that I'm going anywhere. When we're training I change things around. We have the routine of training daily but I do things in a different order or with different techniques (voice control, whistle training, clicker training, hand signals). He doesn't know abolutely everything as he's just coming into his own really but I only ever ask him ONCE to do something and he gets it without me usually having to show him. We seem to have a "connection" that I've only ever had with one dog before.

Yiannis is a different kettle of fish altogether. He was lost/abandoned in a park and I rescued him from the local Dogs' Home. He's very independent but since being attacked by my neighbours in Sept 2009 he became very clingy. He would lunge at people, try to bite and it took me 4 months to be able to safely take him back to training classes. Now he's the calmest dog I have, the best behaved etc even though he hasn't had the training that Zane has had. Again, there is a mutual respect between us and a connection there - something I can't quite put my finger on.

Jenzi is my first WL bitch (and believe me, I will definitely have a lot more over the coming years) and Tashi is my Longdog. So I'm still learning with m=both my girls. they both have high drives and need to release a lot fo energy every day. With Tashi I can let her go for a run and for Jenzi she has severe HD so we play mentally stimulating games with her - although she does get her fair share of physical exercise too.
Both the girls are very young (both were born on 7th January 2010) and I'm still learning with them.

With all 4 of my dogs, I believe I learn something new every day. I trust them 100% to do as I ask and I know they trust me. I would lay down my life for my dogs, as I would my Son and I'm aware that my dogs trust me to keep them out of trouble.

I can't describe things in terms of "proper" sports with my dogs as in Schutzhund as I've never done it. However, my dogs are all on the UK KC Activity Register meaning they can get involved in things such as agility, obedience and working trials at a very high level potentially. Having said that, I also believe that ALL dogs should have a certain level of obedience before they embark upon "sports" going into higher level competition and over here I've seen so many dogs that will respond in a certain way, to a certain command, given in a ring or on a field but outside of that enviironment, they just haven't got a clue. My dogs respond to my commands ALL of the time under any circumstances. Even though they haven't attained the standard and probably never will to be well known in higher level competition circles, I am still very proud of them for what THEY have achieved and the dogs that THEY have turned out to be.

Hope this makes sense.

stumpy ... a response to you : i have trained with the highest of the highest people in the GSD world .. trained with THE most knowledgable people and die hard sports people .. any where from police to home companions .. all these people are very very serious in the repsect of the GSD .that made clear .. what i have found as a common occurence : the more one becomes serious [ in an abstract sense ] the more they tend to forget what having a dog is primarily about ... that is the relationship of human /canine . so mnay times i come across people that simply have a companion GSD , no trophies , no show places .. yet they live a better , more fulfilling life and have a better relationship with their dog than many of those people in higher eshcelons that i have known !! yes the kind of relationship that you describe , a dog that can look at you and knows what you think & feel  , amoungst many other attributres of a realtionship .. the dog to them is an  exercise machine/ robot  or a means to an end ,.  a commodity !!
         IMO i think this bit of ' anthropormophisizing' about dogs has been taken way to much over the top !! WHY .. because dogs do have thoughts , feelings, emotions , communication skills , intelligence, motivations as we do ..dogs are not as we are but .. they are so very very much like us !! .. a lot more than many wqritten dog books illustrate.  AND and we are finding out through research .. so are many other animals in the worldare very much like us [ not ewqual or the same .. i write 'like' us].  !!
      someone like you .. i admire !! .. How many people,  standing there holding trophies .. would actually surrender their life for their dog ?? people like yourself understand : that it is the relationship that supercedes all in life .. the loyalty , the trust etc... the irony : we talk about the GSD-  BUT what i am observing .. the relationship  between human beings themselves is breaking down to such a massive sdegree ,- for a number of reasons i imagine ..  i am almost at the point of wondering if the GSD has manintained more sacredness than we do as humans ?? i wonder ?? i have found they are the most honest , forgiving , animal man could have encountered.

Quote ~ someone like you .. i admire !! .. How many people,  standing there holding trophies .. would actually surrender their life for their dog ??


Wow. Go hug a tree.

shadylady ? i didn't understand the meaning or the nature of your comment? . but this i will acknowledge : if someone is ready to sacrifice themselves for their dog .. then i think it is safe to say .. that person similarily would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for another ... that person expemplifies ..LOVE .. & on that note .. what better form of character / what more could expect of any human  .. of any person in life ?  So .. you don't think that person is worth admiration ??  beleive me .. in todays world .. many people are about me, me , me  and i have just observed  in today's wolrld there exists rampantly many a self centered people &  i would add cowards at that .. no sense of sacrificing for others [ and i don't mean one's life..i mean just foregoing self satisfaction  for another's benefit] .  many people i have come across use dogs to fulfill their OWN EGO   or Greed !!  i have come across many a dog that are opportunistic ..BUT  i have never come across a dog .. that would intentionally USE a human now !! the very least i have seen a dog offer .. a symbiotic / synergistic relationship .. perhaps stumpy realizes this .. more so than anyone else .. give that person a little credit  si' vous plait
 

Thanx - but I dind't post so I would get credit. To be honest I was in 2 minds about whether to post what I thought or not. I first thought that as so many people here do know so much more than I do about the GSD and probably dogs in general, that I'd be laughed at and shot down in flames.

I'm not always a nice person. I have my faults an dmy bad points too.  I was brought up though to think along the lines that if someone wants something and I have it, then I should give it to them. Material possessions means very littel to me and I'd give away clothes, money or food in a heartbeat. Of course my Son comes first and then family so there's not much left after that.

On another dog forum on someone else's signature it stated "I try to be the person my dog thinks I am". I strive to be that person. I also try to make my grandfather proud even though he died 12 years ago. That's just who I am and I can't change that.

Having said that I have done the higher level competition thing. Once - that was enough. I exhibited at Crufts last year. it's no different to ANY other dog show other than the size but I decided it wasn't for me. If my dogs are involved in somethign they enjoy and they get trophies, recognition etc then fine. But they woul dbe involved in that activity because they enjoyed it, not because I have an ego. Of course that doesn't mean that everyone who shows or doe sother things with their dogs are overly pretentious, but yes, there is definitely a hard core group of people who are in it for themselves and not for the benefit of the dogs.

Alphapup, you admire people who would give their lives for an animal?

shady lady .. within context .. yes .. and for the record : i did't say people should wake up and say "gee i am going to die today for my dog" .. i also don't say that sacrificing one's life  is  something a person should do or not do .. but given a split second where someone jeopardizes themselves for an animal , namely their dog , and in the split second of an attempt to save that dog  that event the reuslts in the loss their life [ hopefully by accident ].  yes i do admire that selflesness of that  person and that person's  idea of " the sanctity and reverence for all life" . no more or less in than having an animal in a split second loses it's life to save a human .. again not saying someone throw their life away ..or an animals life is more important than a human .. but accidental events do happen .. AND to add .. how many times do you see on the news - events where rescuers actually RISK their lives to save an animal . cats , dogs , deer. : countless times we see this .. when threy take risks -- that means there exists the chance of possible loss of their life , now doesn't it ? these people too .. i respect and admire !! to each is hown .. So Shady L .. i answered your question to me . BUT .. what really should matter to you : IS what YOU  would  do say and  do in the pinch of a situation ... that is more important for you / or each other person /  rather than my answer to that question ..

    Alphapup..I understood the meaning of your post...: )

Quote ~how many times do you see on the news - events where rescuers actually RISK their lives to save an animal . cats , dogs , deer. : countless times we see this .. when threy take risks -- that means there exists the chance of possible loss of their life , now doesn't it ?

Of course there is risk, it doesn't equal the same thing as giving your life or sacrificing your life for an animal. Anyone that loves animals would try something to save them - not anything, but something - but again, not the same as sacrificing your life or giving up your life for their life.

what is not understood by the word ' RISK ' [ RE- rescue]  .. AHHH .. i think that means : take a chance on possibility of losing your life or incurring great harm .. umdertaking an event without a 100% guarantee ?/ ..  semantics .. you may not lose your life .. but one chances it ?? and unlike an unseen evwent/ instantanoeus accident ,, the rescue of an animal involves a choice , desn't it? ..  so here i end .. not az point worth beating to death .. So - life is for each to decide how they wish to think and feel .. and what choices one makes  or is willing to make.