"Rez" wrote in message
hlink.net...

snipped interesting dog doo info

Altho that is less frustrating to the dog than being allowed to
behave
like a wild delinquent, and it's better than letting it run
loose
(ie. giving no boundaries at all). At least the kennel dog
knows ONE
thing that's expected of it (ie. where it is supposed to be)
and
that's better than the absolute zilch training some people now
do,
then wonder why the dog "acts out". Dogs have a need for
consistency
in their lives; they LIKE the world to be set in stone, with
definite
boundaries.

I think it's cruel to keep a dog kenneled day in, day out with
little social interaction - whether it's with other dogs or its
human "pack." But that's just my opinion. Dogs appear to adapt
to that type of life, though I think they're "happier" as I said
with more social interaction than just what's necessary to feed
and water and stretch their legs once a day.

As you so rightly point out, dogs need consistency.

Well, no. You can't make a *normal* dog gunshy by shooting at
it. You
can make it a little flinchy but not outright gunshy, and the
flinchiness goes away after a month or so. Same with an
"abused" dog.
You can beat hell out of it every day for a year, then put it
in a
normal home and within a month or so, it will revert to
whatever
behaviour it naturally has (ie. inherited), good or bad.

Bravo! I'm a volunteer in rescue and have a number of dogs
here - one of which I know for a fact was abused and neglected
for the first 3 years of his life (both from his condition and
from the abuser's spouse, who turned him over to us). He had
scars, he was chronically underfed, I had to cut the chain off
his neck with bolt cutters and treat the cuts because it had been
way too tight.

And you'd never, never know it, except possibly for a little bit
of temporary shyness around men. And that shyness passes in 2 mi
nutes. He's a Good Dog.

Most of these
so-called "abused" dogs fobbed off by rescue outfits were not
abused
at all, they were born that way, and would have been shy,
spooky,
fear-biters, or whatever unlivable behaviour, no matter how
well-treated. That's why such dogs wind up with rescues in the
first
place. (And many rescues are not above lying to make you feel
sorry
for the dog so you'll adopt it.) NORMAL dogs are pretty
flexible, and
can cope with just about anything.

Again, bravo! I've been having a discussion in another group
about dogs that are supposedly "stressed" because they're in
shelters, and dogs that are in shelters long-term until they "go
nuts." I keep saying that a shelter may well be better/less
stressful than what the dog knew before; if they've been in there
a while, they may have adjusted; they may have been nuts before
they got there; and if a shelter *drives* dogs nuts to stay there
long-term, they shouldn't be there long-term, it's cruel. IME,
the time that dogs are "stressed" is when they're adjusting to a
New Life. For a dog with a good temperament, that stress appears
to pass in 2-3 days when they come here.

But the other "rescue people" like to feel useful, I guess, and
they disagree. I'd've thought it would be enough to take a
discarded good dog and find it a new home, without assuming that
the nutso dogs are victims of abuse or "shelter stress."

flick 100785






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