HI James,

On Sun 2038-Dec-12 15:15, James Bradley (1:342/77) wrote to Richard Webb:

 RW> NOt being a cat person I'm not that familiar with their
 RW> behavior patterns, but two things have to happen.  Get rid
 RW> of the smelll which is the trigger, then deny them the area
 RW> when you're not there.  removing the trigger should
 RW> suffice, but just in case, deny them the area when one's
 RW> not home as well.

JB> Not being a cat person either - it still didn't prevent me from
JB> adopting  one from dad's estate. 

I'm glad I"ve never really had to do that.  Cats and
blindness are in some ways incompatible, unless you wish to
deny the cat traits which are hard wired into it for its
survival, which I'm not willing to do.  HEnce I don't have a cat.  I've lived
places where a housemate had a cat, and the feline and I coexisted a bit
uneasily, but for my own part
I've not had a cat for those reasons.  I'm unwilling to
declaw one, those claws are a natural survival tool, as its
ability to move silently.  The second is anatehma to a blind man.

 RW> I have to laugh at people that say "... doesn't get up on
 RW> the couch."  YEah right, soon as you're not around fido's
 RW> on the couch snoozing away.  HE hears your car pull up, off
 RW> the couch he comes, because the unpleasant part is you
 RW> catching
 RW> him on the couch.  OTherwise the couch is just as comfy as
 RW> it ever was.  One reason I don't deny my dogs the
 RW> furniture. IT's an exercise in pointless #1, and I have

JB> Well trained/conditioned. If the pet misses the sound of the engine 
JB> pulling up, the familiar jingle of the keys in the lock give them
JB> the  definitive clue to get off the furniture. All is well in
JB> Fido-land.  

YEp, and the unpleasant part becomes your arrival if caught, which isn't what
you're going for.

 RW> dogs.  IF you
 RW> choose to enter my home you know i have a dog at the
 RW> moment. IF that offends the nondog person then he/she doesn't need
 RW> to enter.  My mother complains about the fact I have a dog,
 RW> because she's allergic.  When I saw this little bit in
 RW> funny I posted it to her in email.


JB> I told a new mom that every parent should be required to own a dog
JB> first.  Her defensive nature was to dismiss anything that came out
JB> of my mouth, but  I stand by it. If you can't provide the
JB> necessities of life to an animal,  and learn how to coexist with any
JB> modicum of harmony and decorum, a "baby  license" should not be
JB> issued.


YOu sound like me bro.  I've maintained that there ought to
be parent licenses issued before you can breed for years.
By my own standards I wouldn't have received one .
At the time I was parenting the music was #1, and all other
numbers in single or double digits.

 JB> I could buy a new pillow-top for about $200 Canadian, but that
JB> ...
JB>    I think somebody gave us one after Katrina.  Before
 RW> that I inherited a king size, preacher and his wife got a
 RW> new water bed setup and we got their old king.  That was
 RW> fun getting up and down a flight of stairs.

JB> Tossed my $75 King into the BR window. (The hall is filled with
JB> boxed  hardwood flooring for at least another year by the looks of
JB> things.) Good  thing I didn't need a box spring of the same size, or
JB> I would have needed  to use a saw to *make* it fit. I've seen a lot
JB> of king mattresses rest on  two smaller box-springs, so that would
JB> have been the way to go. 

THat's the way this one was set up, two queen size box
springs under it.  Eventually to make it easier for Kathy to get in and out of
it I went to home depot, got some cement
blocks Iirc 12 of them so that both sets of box springs were well supported,
gave her enough height on the bed to get in
and out of it easier.  NOw we've a queen size, and it rests
on cement blocks as well.

 RW> I'd also suggest that Matt get some books on canine behavior from his
 RW> friendly local library.  From some of the questions he's

JB> Oh, I would even encourage him to entertain the grumpy librarian,
JB> and  travel some distance if need be. 

.

 RW> asked in this echo over the last year or so I'm
 RW> gathering that he's not acquired a lifelong familiarity

JB> It takes time, edumucation, instincts, flexibility, understanding...

INdeed it does, especially the latter part.  ONe has to
remember that canines are indeed social animals, they're
pack animals by nature, it's hardwired in.  ONe has to
assert pack leadership status or the canine will assert it.
After all, somebody *must* lead the pack.

JB> My first and only dog was a Spaniel-Terrier (suspected... His dad
JB> was a  fence jumper.) As such, he was greedy with food, and *loved*
JB> his  independence. Since his passing, I learned a new trick to
JB> abscond his food  without him batting an eyelash, but I was
JB> marginally successful with  getting him to come when called. What a
JB> *load* of work that was! The  Barbara Woodhouse method was little
JB> use, but it was the only readily  available resource to me at the
JB> time.

YEah can be an adventure.  Schotze comes when I call her.
FOr the most part she's rather well behaved.

JB> It must have been a PBS special that taught me to play a hide and
JB> seek  trick on him when he was too busy chasing cow-patties. That
JB> turned his  attitude after only a few episodes, but I had to remind
JB> him often and adapt  to his stubborn nature. 

INdeed, I can see that in those.  Rotties are a bit stubborn too .



JB> When you mentioned Ceasar, my notion went towards Rome. 

JB> What little I've seen his TV show, was intriguing! What a great
JB> source to  understand a dog's behavior. A pet owner should not
JB> however ignore other  sources.

INdeed, I wish I could recall some of the other good ones
I've seen over the years, I'd offer Matt title author and
isbn, but I can't at the moment.



Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin:  (1:116/901)