On Friday June 25th, Violet the Wonderdog, my almost constant companion for more than 14 years, died peacefully in my arms following euthanasia. And although the temptation looms large to go on and on about her in an effort to vanquish the pain of loss more quickly, it seems more in keeping with who and what she was to share less weepy thoughts that occurred following her death. More specifically, those thoughts elicited by two quite different sources: the Summer 2004 edition of Dartmouth Medicinenewsletter and The Old American, a novel by Ernest Hebert (Hardscrabble Press). Like many owners
Read more →Two months ago I began exploring the incredible power of serenely doing nothing and allowing animals to figure things out for themselves. In Part I I discussed how the most successful animal adults spend the least amount of energy when training their young. In Part II I looked at ways to convert an energy-hogging, reactive (subordinate) owner mind-set into a sleek, energy-efficient leadership one. This month we’re going to consider the different factors that come into play when an animal behavioral meltdown occurs. Consider this common scenario: one day Snuffy growls and maybe snaps when someone attempts to move him off
Read more →Last month I talked about how the most successful animal adults expend the least amount of energy when training their young. One particularly effective technique involves calming ignoring the pushy, attention-seeking youngster until the latter recognizes this approach isn’t working and chooses to give it up. Because those who choose to do the right thing—as opposed to being forced into doing it to gain a reward or avoid punishment—internalize what they learner more quickly, this also saves the adult energy. Alas, we live in a terribly reactive society. We personally may find it boring to stay one step ahead
Read more →Because so many factors that may require considerable time and effort to resolve often come into play when problem animal behavior occurs, I think a lot about ways to prevent it. When I do this, one thought keeps recurring: The most valuable skill we can develop to prevent problems is the ability to serenely do nothing with confidence. Doing nothing with confidence. Given the pace of most of our lives, who wouldn’t want to do nothing and improve their pet’s behavior and their relationship with that animal at the same time? Well, as it turns out, even though many
Read more →Like everything else, human-animal relationships also change with the seasons. During the long winter, the dogs and cat stick much more closely to me. Granted they probably all do this for warmth to some extent, especially at night when the temperature plunges. But in addition to that, the pets function as animate lights, brightening those long, dark days of winter in a manner no lamp can. In fact, we create such an atmosphere of human-animal coziness, I invariably succumb to the illusion that this interspecies combined We will last forever. The illusion vanishes as it always does, losing one
Read more →Those of you who read the monthly commentaries may have noticed that I finally replaced the picture. Aside from the previous picture being so out-dated it came dangerously close to violating truth in advertising laws, this particular picture has a story behind it that continues to haunt me. It all began when I needed a photograph to accompany a series of articles I write for a veterinary journal. As luck would have it, the weather was brutally hot and humid and the first photo session ended in a pictureless disaster. However, it did include one photo I treasure in
Read more →A fundamental principle of healing that goes a back to Hippocrates if not longer reminds us that the success of any treatment relies on the patient’s faith in his or her own ability to heal the self. Faith in any professional overseeing the treatment ranks second, and faith in the treatment itself comes in third. When our animals develop medical and/or behavioral problems, we must add a second part to step one: Not only must we have faith in our animals’ ability to heal themselves, we must have faith in our own ability to properly support them throughout this
Read more →Did you ever read something that struck you as so profound that you immediately made it part of your personal philosophy, even though you never even realized you had a personal philosophy until that moment? That’s what happened to me many years ago when I read Norman Cousin’s remarks about differing world views in Celebration of Life: A Dialogue on Immortality and Infinity (Harper and Row:1974). Cousins wrote that, when we believe that the world is flat, the farther two people go, the greater the distance between them. But once we realize that the world is round, the farther
Read more →Normally I find I can keep the dogs reasonably clean with routine brushing, but the day we stepped outside and the scent of skunk hung so heavily in the air that I could almost see it, I knew they would need a bath before the holidays. Just walking through that skunk-scented cloud instantly tipped their coats from acceptably dog-scented to a scent that would cause me find some reason to move in the opposite direction any time they approached. Although I’m sure neither of them agreed, the dye (or should I say “scent?”) was cast. Come hell or high
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Pariah Cats and the Human Penchant for Redefining Animal Behavior to Meet Human Emotional Needs
Did you ever hear a word or phrase you’d never heard before and suddenly it seems to crop up everywhere? A few years ago, the phrase “pariah cat” had this effect on me. I forgot all about this until recently when, almost as if it has its own natural cycle like Pluto crossing the heavens, the phrase suddenly cropped up again. Although the cyclicity of ideas and terminology is an intriguing phenomenon in and of itself, what the label “pariah cat” tells us about the nature of the human-companion animal bond intrigues me even more. According to those who
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