Merry Christmas, it’s a Pete-in-a-Box!
No, he didn’t come packed in a box of styrofoam peanuts. We didn’t even order him, technically. My outlaws, the Sporting Wife’s parents, had a litter of registered Lab puppies weaned and ready Christmas of 2006. Wendy and I talked at length about adopting one into our home, and we decided firmly against it. We already had a chocolate Lab named Hershey. (Hey, I also had a python once named Monty; original we ain’t.) Hershey was getting on in years, and he’d never shown any desire for a younger brother. Besides, with a big chocolate hunk o’ love already, we weren’t really in the dog market. Wendy’s dad was bringing a pup for my brother-out-law Jay, and he decided to, “Bring an extra one, just so we could see it.” The result was fairly predictable. Can we all just agree that puppies are cute? They don’t call it puppy love for nothin’, folks. Here I am, gone.
Wendy walked outside, saw this look on my face, and started making preparations for the dog to ride home with us. The outlaws generously sweetened the deal, and deflected some of the Sporting Wife’s ire, by offering to help us pay for the fencing of our back yard that we had been putting off for financial reasons.
Hershey was not really that taken with the idea. Here they are together. Pete is playing; Hershey is wishing his parents had more resolve.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Your pal JT // Jan 3, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Pete looks like a real pistol. Had Lab pups once, they ate the vinyl top off my vintage (read: old) Toyota and used the redwood picnic table as a teething ring. FYI – don’t keep 6 Lab puppies in the kitchen in the winter. Maybe someday I’ll tell you that story. Liking the hell out of the blog.
2 armchairoutfitter // Jan 3, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Thanks for the kind words, JT. Hershey decided once that we shouldn’t have cable TV, so he pulled about 60 feet of cable out from under our house. Funny thing is, the cable guy said, “What kind of dog you got, a Labrador?” He’d just rewired another house with the same problem.
Pete has grown into a fine looking young dog over the past year. Look for updates on “Pistol” Pete and his training in the coming weeks.
3 Teresa R. // Jan 8, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Great site Mike! I look forward to hearing about Pete’s training. I know he will do a great job!
4 Theresa // Jan 27, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Read this in local paper. You may already know it, but here goes anyway. Putting it in my own words and using the best my memory has to offer:
The 2 Most Common Mistakes Made When Training A Dog
1. Wrong behaviors get rewards: You probably don’t really think of it as a reward when you do things like let him in or out when he barks or even giving him a severe talking to when he misbehaves, but attention of any kind when a dog acts up is sending a message to the dog that what he’s doing gets attention. It may not be exactly what he wants, but it’s still attention.
2. Making your dog come to you for punishment: When you call your dog to your side so that you can get mad at (discipline) him, you’re asking for trouble. Every time you call him to you in order to do something unpleasant, you’re punishing him for returning to you. Ergo, it cements in his head that he doesn’t want to go back to your side because you’re gonna act ugly towards him.
Think about it. Makes sense to me.
5 armchairoutfitter // Jan 27, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Aunt Theresa,
I’m glad to know those are common mistakes, because they are certainly two I have made! # 2 is the primary benefit of using an e-collar. The dog associates the electric stimulus with the bad behavior rather than the trainer. Like any tool, these can be overused. I have tested a friend’s collar on myself, and while its effect is unpleasant, it’s certainly better than some other “discipline” I’ve seen that borders on abuse.
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