In all of this I have been working on a static page -(hey-I think I finally got what a page versus post is generally supposed to be) I have forgotten just to write the occasional things down that happens day to day with Charley, and now with Stella Vader, who got caught in the El e-vator…. After all that is the reason I started doing a blog-thing was to highlight my main source of laughter – which on average we laugh maybe 11 times a day -and that I realized was Charley. There is such a dichotomy (love that word) that she gives me every day to day. We are talking about happiness, to frustration, to anger (which is being scared) to just pure living in the moment fun. She has contributed more to the living in the moment that sometimes I don’t realize when I am in the moment is that what I am living…..if that makes sense. That’s the beauty of it. When I can sit there and just be plain ass silly with my dog, and then comes the kitty, that I am not thinking about anything until I realize I’m not thinking about anything.
My static pages I’ve been trying to write about is how to survival guide to living with an extremely super scary smart and even more so energetic dog-thing that I’ve sometimes labeled a Cyborg, and realized that I may never be able to provide of one. Not only can I not finish one task on some days because I’m doing me and three but because the demands she places on all in our little household. I don’t live on a nice big farm with sheep or even a house with an enclosed back yard to alleviate some of her demands – which would in turn would turn into other demands I’m sure- so I just try to get by with what I have to work with. I’m just going to sum up right now that an Australian Shep/Border Collie is a match to be met, and to be able to make a lasting love relationship that works is that it takes work.
With this being said I do have to say that I had to finally give into getting Charley one of the training collars that people have talked so horribly about. The ones that are the chains from the leash that go around the neck. To be honest I never even thought anything about them when I’ve seen them on other dogs. I never knew it was a training tool. I just didn’t even know. All I knew was not to put a collar on a dog and just a leash and pull that leash so not to hurt the throat of the dog.
That is why I ended up getting the harness with the little loop that is on the back of it. There is a hook on front and a hook on back. Both claim that it is a pull-free harness which I want to call a big fat B.S. on that. I don’t care. I’ve gone through so many harnesses with Charley- ones that are just the strap walk-in harnesses, to the full chest harnesses, to the breathable harnesses to no harness just collar alone. I’ve done the “when your dog pulls, stop and walk it around” thing 80 times in a row. I’ve done the stop until your dog gives you some lax. I don’t care what anybody says to me at this point. I will say I’m not your hardcore “you must remain consistent” person and that might be my problem. Maybe if I would have stuck it out another 180 times and not gone back things would be different.
I am going to go light on myself and say I’ve got an extraordinary smart dog. How’s that. Makes me feel better. But I bet she’s got every dog licked. Ha-ha.
But, to get down to it, it got so bad last time I took her for walks that I dreaded even going anywhere with her. It wasn’t fun, and I told her that. She didn’t seem to care. “This is not fun for me,” made no impact on her wherewithal that I decided I had to do something that would make an impact on me. I was having a hard time.
After 2 people, and a few after, advised I get her a training collar I obliged. That thing was extremely difficult for me to first figure out. It comes on one long chain ( different sizes for the different measurement of dog’s neck) with 2 loops identical in size at each end. I was trying to figure out how the heck they are looped together to provide a loop to wrap around the neck let alone hold the dog back.
It was simple after I watched a few YouTube videos. Gotta love the YouTube videos. Lifesaver sometimes.
What I really concentrated on though after I broke down and bought one was how to use it correctly. I didn’t want to hold on to it and have her strain against it, like she did when I first put it on, causing her to cough. I was taught that the exact moment she lunges forward to give it a quick snab, what I call it, so it gives her a sensation that what she is doing is not right. Not that she knows what she is doing contributes to that right away, but after awhile she realizes when she lunges forward there will be a quick blurb to her senses telling her that maybe that wasn’t so cool.
I have to say it has been beneficial to me, and I guess I was trying to be what I viewed the “softer, gentler way” to train her to walk her on a leash. And I’ve done a lot, to reading every dang book out there, to trying every method. I guess I didn’t want to be looked down upon because I used to look down upon others that resorted to using methods that I thought I would never do if I owned a dog. I love being put in my place sometimes, and I don’t mind now if somebody judges me now for putting that kind of collar on her. At least she gets to go for a walk without me grumbling, and she doesn’t have to wear that blasted full body harness anymore. At least she is safe and so is my sanity.
With that, every dog is different and so is every pet owner. But I want to give a special shout out to people who have a Charley Waffle and were able to do so otherwise. Or I just want to give people who have a Charley Waffle dog a shout out to begin with!!!!!
CHARLEY WAFFLE 