27 August

Welcome To Human Obedience Class

by Jon Katz
Human Obedience Class
Human Obedience Class

Welcome to human obedience class,

the class will meet every Tuesday night for four weeks,

do not bring humans who do not like other humans,

or cannot communicate in a civil way, this means

no Congressmen, people of the left or right, bankers,

tech support or customer service reps or

radio or TV talk show hosts.

We will teach basic obedience:

come when called, stay when told, feed when commanded.

The class will instruct you on  basic obedience:

how to get humans to stop

when you want to sniff something, pee on a bush, growl at a squirrel

or a cat, walk in a crooked line, throw a ball when looked in the eye

and given the command of three barks. How to make a  human take you into

bed, let you on a sofa, buy those gourmet bones.

In class two, we will learn how to maintain eye contact with humans,

triggering the “guilt response,” where humans say “awww, puppy”

and offer a treat, a hug, walk or a meal.

In the third class, we shall learn to move pull humans along a path while

they curse and shout and make curious noises. We will

teach them to wait patiently while we sniff for food and sniff other dogs.

Class four is about learning to not emotionalize humans.

They are not like dogs,

they have poor instincts, are easily confused,

possess few natural hunting or survival skills,

and generally impaired senses of smell. It is impossible to train them

well if they are emotionalized, they are simple, elemental creatures,

very needy, with very short attention spans. They are not only

willing to be manipulated by dogs, they seem to love and need it.

Classes are important if you wish to live with humans.

Training is not about obedience, but communication.

We need to show them how to be safe in our world.

First, we will learn to read human body language,

how to read their posture, facial expressions, rear ends

when they move.

Humans make a wide variety of sounds, they are given to shouting,

waving their arms, making loud gutteral and whining noises,

especially when they are running after dogs, shouting commands.

They are nearly helpless when left alone, especially outside,

they have no instincts to speak of, speak too much and

need exercise several times a day.

Among the lesson topics: how to communicate with rescue humans

who have been abused – most humans seem to be – how to choose a human.

We all love humans here, and want to help them.

We believe the only way to choose a human is, in fact, to rescue one,

there are so many of them in desperate

need of a dog, it is almost immoral to choose a happy and healthy one.

Be prompt, bring leashes and some treats for training – humans call them donuts.

27 August

Dogs As Optimists

by Jon Katz
Dogs As Optimists
Dogs As Optimists

Dogs are the world’s most determined optimists. There is nothing more optimistic than a border collie waiting for the pasture gate to open up so he can go to work. Or the Lab waiting for a food bowl to fill. Or most dogs waiting to go for a walk. Or sitting by the door waiting for their humans to come home. Hope never dies in dogs, they are always waiting for us to care for them, give them love, give them work, give them play.

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