I get to make a lot of canine friends here at Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes. I like to tell people that your dog will never love me, but will respect me and become my buddy. After their first session they always greet me whenever they come in. I can usually tell who is coming to group by the joyful barks before they get in the door.
Last week I lost a friend. His name was Muggles.
My breeder friends often describe a dog’s passing as crossing over the rainbow bridge. If all dogs go to heaven, then you know when your time comes, they will be there to greet you.
Muggles was a pugle, a pug beagle mix. He was one of those dogs who give you marvelous stories to illustrate how wonderful a dog can be. And since I often teach by telling stories, Muggles contributes to the success of many other dogs.
Muggles was the source of two great teaching points. The first was how capable dogs are at solving problems.
In Manners in Minutes training one of our goals is to give a dog a job. The job we give them is to guard the home (which to them is your dog den), when you are gone. By putting a dog on a line while you are gone, along with something to lay on, water, and a bone or toy to chew on, the dog believes it is on guard duty while you are gone. Pretty soon you do not have to tie them, they just go to work when you leave. Their job is to remain calm and warn of danger.
Some dogs are resistant at first. Muggles was one of them. The first day Mom left him on point, but when she came home, he had chewed through his line and was at the door to greet her.
The cure for that is apple bitter. You can get it in most dog stores. About 90% of all dogs will not chew anything covered in it.
So Mom tied him the next day to a line covered in apple bitter and went to work. Again he greeted her at the door that night. Some dogs think of apple bitter is a condiment.
The next thing we try is Tabasco sauce. Again 90% of all dogs will not chew on something with Tabasco sauce. But some dogs think it is a condiment also.
Muggles was also at the door that night; the line had been chewed through. Muggles must have decided he liked it as much as apple bitter.
The next line of defense is to use a chain lead to secure the dog. And for a while that worked. Mom would come home and Muggles would be on his point.
Then one night she came home, and there he was at the door. He had figured out that if you twist the chain enough it will snap. He was very proud of himself.
Fortunately the local hardware store came up with a solution for her. They had her weave a piece of rope through the chain so Muggles could not get enough torsion on the line to snap it.
Muggles also proved how loyal a dog is and how it can have good values. Shortly after his first lesson he was out in a park with Mom. A man grabbed the purse of a nearby woman. Muggles, who wasn’t a big dog, had a big heart. He ran and grabbed the bandit’s leg tripping him. Then he held on growling until the police arrived.
I hope my friends are right about the rainbow bridge. So when my time comes I hope Muggles meets me there.
I’ll bet he will have figured how to get off his steady point line.
Doug
