On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 20:27:05 -0600, wrote:

madgardener wrote:

So I called her and dragged her dawg ass out the front door over to
the pit she'd dug and dragged her muzzle thru the dirt yelling at her
"what did you DO????? BAAAADDDDD DAWG, NO" about 30 seconds of this

Why are you mad at the dog instead of your sons, who left them unsupervised?

For what it's worth, your dog most likely associates your yelling with her
most recent action...coming to you before being dragged outside.

This struck me, too. Our NPR station carries 'Calling All Pets' (from
Wisconson Public Radio -- http://www.wpr.org/pets/) with animal
behaviorist Tricia McConnell. Her training advice is almost
universally directed toward encouraging good behavior and training
animals out of bad habits. Unless they're 'caught in the act' (or
preferably just as the idea is forming :-), it is virtually useless to
punish them for a prior (even a couple minutes prior) act.

Dr. McConnell, a very bright and cheerful woman, as well as a sound
academic, has written several books on (mostly) dog training that may
be available in your library. She even had a good tip recently about
keeping neighbors' dogs from pooping on your lawn. Send me a SASE and
$10, and I'll reveal the secret. :-) Since digging is a common
problem, I'm sure she deals with that.

Genuinely sorry about your flowers, Mad.