years ago when i had the "fab four" dogs, we went camping in northern New Mexico together. i prepared for this trip for several days. we had food..dog food for them...real food for me...water..the appropriate amount for three days..and firewood for our cooking fires. i had my down sleeping bag and plenty of bedding for them. it gets very, very cold at night in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
after a drive of almost two hours, we arrived and i let the dogs out of the truck...i had the short one, that's my avatar..the tall skinny greyhound named "smutty", Tippy (of course..who else would sit in the front?) and Henrietta Blue Tongue.....i had camped there before so i knew that this was on the edge of a small valley that the ranch cowboys drove hundreds of cattle through. no sooner had i started unloading the wood, i heard a noise that stood my hair on end...a mountain lion? a bear? no, i heard Henrietta drop and land in a big pile of green manure that was still exceedingly fresh. i screamed. she jumped up and got under the truck and i yelled and sputtered and carried on for 5 minutes. i had to use two gallons of our water to clean her up...her feelings were incredibly hurt. she was so embarrassed over her choice of what she thought was a perfectly appropriate thing to do.....that's what dogs do. they roll in things that disgust their owners. it would have made alot of difference for Henri if i had stopped and thought before i screamed at her. i was highly critical of her choice and she was hurt beyond belief. i had humiliated her in front of her peers..they stood there and watched her, with canine disdain written all over their faces. and the truth is that she saw the manure first or they would have rolled in it.

the point of a story about a dog rolling in *&^%? let's not criticize people's choices here on the forums. it hurts their feelings and sometimes causes a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation. pattynearlynormalnow........

[radio_flyer]

....... Great point!!!!!

[oksomaybeimnuts]

thanks for this fayerody

[Wants2Fly]

Hey Pat -- Great point and excellent use of anecdote to illustrate it.

I have my own dog story. I had just finished bathing my Doberman on a warm spring day when he took off for the woods in back of the apartment complex. He was not allowed to run loose. Aside from leash laws, a Dobe on the loose is scary for many people. When he got back, he was slathered around the neck with some kind of pooh. Unfortunately for him, there is no negotiation between his sense of what smells good and mine. But I was ticked to have give him another bath -- something that always sets my back to aching.

[nothemama8]

pattynearlynormalnow,
It's so nice to know we don't have to worry about getting our feelings hurt if we don't have the same opinion as others, and to know we have choices
Angie wise-in-himer

[nightdream]

Very true!

nightdream

[TgrsPurr]

LOL Pat. I responded to a post of yours to me in the bp forum by saying that I love the thought provoking posts you so often make. This is the perfect example! My Great Dane is my absolute bestest friend in the whole world. I couldn't love him anymore than had I personally given birth to him, lol. However, when many ppl see such a large dog they totally FREAK OUT!! This hurts my baby, to be treated like a freak when he's actually the most loving and gentle dog with absolutely everyone...men, women, kids, babies, other animals. My neighbors come to visit him, not me! I can see in his eyes and by the way he puts his ears back and lowers his head that he understands what they are doing. I use to get pretty pissed off about it, but now I realize that they are many ppl out there who have issues with dogs, especially large ones for a variety of reasons and I can use the opportunity to educate them and give them a positive doggy experience.

Thanks for the post Pat. I appreciate your perspective on things. TgrsPurr.

Yay Pat!!
I like your story and I so agree with you about the importance of not criticizing other people's choices.

Thanks for sharing!

Mandy

i had my choices criticized for so many years by my mother that i'm very sensitive to it here and IRL. it hurts me to see someone here post and open up and then someone comes barging in to be critical of their perception and/or feelings. we're all different, thus our choices and the reasons for them, are unique to us. if the greyhound had rolled in the cow *&^%, i could have said anything to him and he would have shrugged it off....it's like that IRL. it pays to step back and be kind in our responses because we don't know where our peers are coming from. thanks for your compliments on the post..it's really about us..not the dogs.
xoxoxox to all.

[emwell]

I loved your story and how you were able to apply it to human life. It is amazing what animals can teach us. I presently have two 5.5 year old beagles. I have had dogs since I was 5. The main thing that I have been taught is unconditional love.

[TgrsPurr]

LOL, I'm sorry Pat. I do understand that this is about us and you make an excellent point. But how can a dog lover possibly pass up the opportunity to share a related story about my beloved, lol? I do apologize if I took things in the wrong direction. TgrsPurr.

well said.......

[(JD)]

would it be appropriate here to restate one of my "favorite" prayers? You've heard it before... but I think it applies...

Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

i meant that the story about my dogs was really about us...xoxoxo

[sqrlb8]

What a marvelous post Pat, really great! The story, the point to be made, ah, what a fine post, a pleasure to read. Sort of like putting a pill in a meatball for a dog sometimes, huh?

thank you, dear squirrel.......that's a pretty cool compliment..."you left me standing, in the doorway crying".........p

[Topher]

This is so funny pat, I was just admiring your dogs on photo. I even wrote a comment about the passions in your life. When I think of travelling with my kids we have fun but there's always bickering and complaining about who gets what air mattress, mosquitos, no TV, stuff like that. The only thing my dog complains about is when I don't pay enough attention to him. He could care less about Play Station. Your steer story notwithstanding, I bet you had fun with the fab four gazing at the desert stars that night.

Oh, and your tale gives new meaning to the phrase - s h i t happens!

thank you, toph!! i had so much fun with those dogs...Tippy would get so mad at Henri, at night, because she would "hear" every twig break, every little noise and she would growl....and growl...she lived to guard me...i might not have gotten much sleep, camping with her, but i sure wasn't scared of anything. one time we were camping on 20,000 acres, wild horse refuge, and Henri caught a jackrabbit and i couldn't get it away from her for three days....yuckk...and yes **** happens..

[Kathyanita]

one of my dogs Maxie is acting like a littlre old lady and for a while we assumed she is deaf because she wouldnt answer for dinner or take credit for pooping on the floor. But then we caught her hearing when it was something she wanted to hear- she only comes if she hears the OTHER dogs leash being snapped on the collar- then she comes running all pushy because she is not getting her turn first. They do act like people and I read how we have the communion with dogs because we have a similar limbic system so the brains are talking to each other on a non verbal plane or something.

[Mahali]

Great post Fayerody. I agree it hurts to be criticized for our choices and put down when they make perfect sense to us.

We are all unique.

( ps I have 4 fabs right now)

Good post. Take care.

[mortimer]

You're so neato. XD That was a funny story, and it had a good point. ^___^

XD I hope I'm not a big bad person about that, but like everyone I guess I'll try harder now. ^__^ Thanks.

Aww... XD Go pet your dogs for mee...

[Dolfin]

Pat,

Thank you so much for the perspective. AWESOME!

I too have myself a four-legged protector named Apollo. He's a 70lb Chow/Black Lab mix, with a heart of gold, but mischief on his mind.

I also have two cats, Shaienne and Chelsea, who have gotten used to "Big Brother" being around, much to their chagrin. Chelsea is my recluse, you only see her at dinnertime, or bedtime. Shaienne, she's everywhere. She plays like she doesn't like Apollo, but nobody's fooled.

One day this past winter, I was out shovelling Mother Nature's offering, and I heard a crash come from the house. I came inside to find Shaienne, sitting pretty as you please, next to the glass top of the coffee table, and Apollo is nowhere to be found.

A search of the house found him cowering in my bedroom, like a deer in the headlights. Further investigation revealed it was, in fact, my cat Shaienne that had upended the table by jumping too close to the edge. I put the table back in its place, and headed back out to clear my driveway.

No sooner do I pick up the shovel, and I hear all Hell breaking loose in the house. I come in to find Apollo had cornered Shaienne, and she wasn't happy, snarling and hissing her little black butt off, but Apollo wasn't letting her outta his sights.

Apollo wanted to prove to me that he didn't do anything wrong, it was Shaienne. He was tattling on her!

So, I too have learned that my 'protector' also does his best to cover his own butt, much like children do when they do something wrong.

Jenn

there's so much we can learn from animals.......pat