DEXTER ENJOYING THE SHADE
Who is Leading Whom?
Luna loves to lead.
I think you get that if you’ve been reading these essays. It’s always been a challenge keeping her low in our pack hierarchy and I’m always reading and watching others to see which techniques seem to work with those dogs that are born alphas.
But this last week while at Woofstock 2016, in Chestertown, NY, I observed all types of dogs being handled by all types of owners.
Very interesting, it was.
The humans felt that they were the pack leader, this was evident; they would plead and cajole their dogs to “please do what I’m asking.’’ The dogs apparently felt that they were the pack leader because they would “do as they were asked” when they damn well felt like it.
Who is leading whom here?
It was a hot day, and we had a covered area with plenty of man-made shade and quite a few of the dogs would stop by and just drop in the shade (while also rutting around in the grass looking for LunaStics crumbs left by other dogs) to relax. Their owners didn’t really want to hang around and buy Stics, so they would start right up with “I don’t know what is up with her/him, she’s usually much more active.”
It didn’t matter, we certainly didn’t mind lending our shade and making new friends, there were LunaStics samples to share with the dogs and they were very appreciative to receive them. The people were okay, too! They would smile and be friendly and try to make small talk, but they weren’t really interested in buying treats. We knew who was leading whom, and as I said, we didn’t mind at all, of course; it was a very hot day even with the steady breeze.
One good source of dog knowledge that I found at Woofstock was a book written by a local author and fabler, Edward Pontacoloni. The book (http://www.roosterafable.com) is a great fable that features a real dog named Rooster, which is also the title of the book, and a sprite or pooka may be involved also! While it is a fable, the book describes dog training techniques that have been used successfully and it paints a great picture of the relationship between people and their dog(s).
Rooster, we miss you even though we never knew you.