Valerie

I was working on a speech about Learning vs Teaching that I'm giving
at the Sacramento conference this coming weekend. I paused to
continue "the education of Maelu," my nine month old dog.

I've been trying to get her to shake my hand but without much luck.
It's never been difficult to teach that to a dog before, so I
decided to sit back and really watch her for signs that I was doing
it wrong.

Well, I'm right-handed, so I always put out my right hand. She'd
just look at me, at the treat in my hand, and wait me out.

Finally, I had a DUH moment and held out my LEFT hand. She politely
put up her left hand and shook.

Guess she taught me something... or did I learn something? <g>

love, Valerie
www.ubpub.com

Elizabeth Roberts

I had never thought that maybe dogs have a preference
for one paw over another similar to humans! That's
cool!

Elizabeth

--- Valerie <valerie@...> wrote:

> I was working on a speech about Learning vs Teaching
> that I'm giving
> at the Sacramento conference this coming weekend. I
> paused to
> continue "the education of Maelu," my nine month old
> dog.
>
> I've been trying to get her to shake my hand but
> without much luck.
> It's never been difficult to teach that to a dog
> before, so I
> decided to sit back and really watch her for signs
> that I was doing
> it wrong.
>
> Well, I'm right-handed, so I always put out my right
> hand. She'd
> just look at me, at the treat in my hand, and wait
> me out.
>
> Finally, I had a DUH moment and held out my LEFT
> hand. She politely
> put up her left hand and shook.
>
> Guess she taught me something... or did I learn
> something? <g>
>
> love, Valerie
> www.ubpub.com
>
>




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mamaaj2000

--- In [email protected], "Valerie" <valerie@u...>
wrote:
> I was working on a speech about Learning vs Teaching that I'm
giving
> at the Sacramento conference this coming weekend. I paused to
> continue "the education of Maelu," my nine month old dog.

Well, this must be my opening to ask about unschooling dogs! Yes,
it's silly, but I'm really wondering. It seems like most people I
know who have dogs keep them in cages a lot of the time. And my
neighbor got a puppy and worked hard to get him on a schedule, which
is so, ya know, un-AP!

I know dogs are different than humans, though. We will get a dog
someday and I've never liked the idea of animals in cages. Heck, we
had birds (and my mom still does) that were rarely in their cages and
did NOT have their wings clipped...

--aj, happily avoiding real issues today

[email protected]

In a message dated 8/19/2004 9:49:15 AM Central Standard Time,
mamaaj2000@... writes:

Well, this must be my opening to ask about unschooling dogs! Yes,
it's silly, but I'm really wondering. It seems like most people I
know who have dogs keep them in cages a lot of the time. And my
neighbor got a puppy and worked hard to get him on a schedule, which
is so, ya know, un-AP!



~~~

I don't know about a schedule, but using a crate is a really nice way to
live with a dog. I don't feed my animals on a schedule. We use autofeeders
and the food is available all the time. None of my pets are overweight, but I
would guess if I had one that woofed its food down that I'd think twice about
autofeeders. But I'd probably leave it out and see if the dog would ever
get full. I'd bet it would relax after a while and not be so crazed about
getting it all.

My son and his wife have rescued 3 cats, and everyone of them are really,
really overweight now. They dole out the food once or twice a day, and it's
even weightloss food. The cats don't eat it all at once. But they live in a
small 1 bedroom apartment, so the cats don't have as much room to roam as mine
do. My son and I are trying to figure out why his cats are so fat (all
about the same age) and mine are not. I think it has to do with the very idea
that the food supply is controlled for his cats and not for mine. I think his
cats eat more because they know sometimes the bowl gets empty, and they never
know when it might be their turn to visit the bowl after the last cat just
ate the last morsel. So they gobble.

Our house is open to the pets. We have a pet door into the kitchen, and
they have the whole acre lot fenced in for their to use. (The cats don't stay
in the fence, though.) My dog would leave the yard and visit around the
neighborhood if there weren't a fence, but she'd come back because she knows where
her bed is.

We're about as AP <g> as you can be with animals, but they ARE animals, and
not children.

Karen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Valerie

> Well, this must be my opening to ask about unschooling dogs! Yes,
> it's silly, but I'm really wondering. It seems like most people I
> know who have dogs keep them in cages a lot of the time. And my
> neighbor got a puppy and worked hard to get him on a schedule,
which
> is so, ya know, un-AP!

***** Maelu runs free in the backyard and in the house. We only put
her collar on when we go for a ride in the car to get her an ice
cream cone. I had to teach her to sit for her treats and when I'm
outside with her. She's big enough to knock me down. The handshake
was just for me. <g>

love, Valerie