i think yesterdays dd was a reaction to the approaching adi "inspectors"...it is forcing me to try and explain our different training---and mind you , i have been awake since 2--- problem being i am having trouble with the mental discipline necessary to put together a 7 min speech for the mass veterinary assoc for that award dinner where i got some award for the human animal bond.
george said i must not disinterate into pig and donkey stories.
back when...... i was animal episodes.... providing animals for commercials, i had to ask 34 dogs to sit quietly off leash outside a store in the dead center of newburyport.( full traffic etc)
-- there were 3 goldens-- belonging to marcia who were obedience trained---and sat--- the rest of the obedience trained ones i "interviewed" popped up and ran a bit at random -- that would cause all kinds of havoc- i finally went with a collection of "farm dogs" that usually just tagged around with their owners.... and one homeless person's dog-- for about the same reason...
my collection of danes fell into the farm dog variety--- never got round to the exact "commands"- but they hung around without the excitement of "oh i am loose"
from that my mind has to go to the fact that the $7 baby pig i bought for the foolish 4h circus became a well behaved barnyard pet melding well with the children, dogs, & donkeys -- she understood sooooo much that she realized when she squealed and chased my husband, i would laugh and not stop her but she realized scaring anyone else was not an approved activity.-- her freedom was the key- and she was smart.
somehow couple that with mary-- purchased in kansas as a 6 month old mamouth donkey-- who came to be such a dominant factor at crazy acres-- being allowed to roam free--- she was a thinker-- if she had been a human she would have been a superb pickpocket. her "training" was minimal, yet her behavior --- under fire--- was perfect.. we took her into nursing homes-- brooksby village.... malls... churches( for jesus jobs) yet around the farm, she watched for the slightest opportunity to steal-- mostly food-- but if there was no food, she would grab and run with anything just to get a reaction from the crowd. she was smart.
paralell that with the danes.. i had a dane -- tiffany-- behaved absolutely perfectly in any situation totally off leash etc....
then i had the litter of 8 that i decided to keep, i went thru a stage of crate training them-- that is what everyone of the official dog population did.. since i was in the animal business , i had dozens of crates for lugging rabbits,chickens, or skunks... whatever...
so i cleaned them up and lined them up in the back room, pup one dane pup in each one and figured... now i was an official dog trainer with lines of crated dogs just waiting for my commands. i would take each one out and march in circles like the other dog trainers do--- and when i stuck out my index finger they would all sit. these were going to be even better than tiffany.... the rest of that story is that when i turned them loose they wanted to be anywhere else--- and tif would be standing next to me wondering what fun job we had next.
i had it backwards--- now i realize to have an educated dane, they-- like the pig and mary and tiffany must spend alot of people time absolutely loose... achieving boredom, and deciding being with a human is much more enjoyable.....you then put a collar on for a short walk about to define a working situation-- and let them loose again. it is being loose that they develope their understanding of human behavior and then bond to their partners to become a useful partner. some of our danes have pulled off some amazing complicated details-- that we never taught them..
or something like that....
