Old Dog - New Tricks

One of our primary goals is to endure. One of our secondary goals is to endure with a high degree of quality. One of our tertiary goals is to do what it takes to create a structured, successful and enjoyable program with which to keep what we have worked so hard to obtain. Science and experience has suggested that the three main ingredients of this elixir are diet, exercise and stress management. It has been demonstrated many times that a balanced and consistent routine focused on the ‘big three’ will put you in a space appropriate for your tenure. Eventually, my friends, we will all face the day when we can no longer accomplish the goals, however mundane, that we once took for granted. Walking will become too painful, Running will be out of the question and even low intensity activities like getting the mail, driving the car or walking the dog will be challenging events.

Let’s pick one from that last seemingly fatalistic sentence, the part about walking the dog, and inspect it a little closer. It is widely accepted that the ratio of 7:1, dog years to human years, must take into consideration the size and weight of said pooch. Smaller dogs live longer. So do smaller people. This in itself might be inspiration enough to drop a kilo or two, but most people need more, sometimes much more. The one thing that separates man from his best friend is the amount of exercise our four-legged friends put in on a regular basis. When I house/dog sit, several of my canine clients ask three things from me: Exercise (stick, tennis ball or off-leash at the beach), food, and love. Or, backing up, diet, exercise and stress management.

The first two are self explanatory. How love fits into the glove of stress management I will leave for you to decide. I would like, however, to provide an example from this morning.

My latest clients are professionals tending to business, business travel and the care of elderly parents. This necessitates a regular travel schedule calling for my humble services of home and pet care. They have two standard poodles, siblings, three years old, a male and his sister. For whatever reason the sister and I got off on the wrong foot. She, for reasons uniquely her own, seemed to feel as if I was a serial killer come to inflict torture and agony upon them before I stole all the food. Worse, as much as I tried to calm her by offering treats and friendship, they more agitated she would become.

The first round of supervision was last week and today began another six days of care. The dog’s former care-giver is a bona-fide dog whisperer. Her Mom and Dad are clients. This morning she offered a hands-on lesson in dog training. We met at nine.

And by a quarter to ten, the world had been reset back to its normal rotation. For forty-five minutes, she demonstrated and I listened and mimicked her movements and methods. Ten minutes into the session I was already amazed at how badly I had misunderstood the psychology of the master to dog relationship. At the end of the session the girl who once barked and growled at my every move was sitting, staying, walking, and obeying like a champion show dog. As I drove off to deliver them to the day center, they, as I, felt like all was well both inside the van as well as outside it.

I learned several valuable lessons this morning. Many of the ideas I held as etched into stone had been shattered, ground into dust and swept from the floor. I no longer feel anxious about how they will react when the time comes for food, play, rest or travel. I get it now. They expect commands from me and respond as instructed. It is very binary and without unnecessary emotion.

This, I hear my inner trainer say, is a big part of stress reduction. Part of the reward that comes with a gentle, harmonious and sincere good dog treat.

Whoever said that one cannot teach an old dog new tricks, never tried.