Encounters with the ArchEnemy

A day in which I feel like Edward Abbey... cranky at the 'system', beat down by 'the man'...

So, we have this beautiful trail system here. And sabbatical seems like a good time to take the ol' pup for a walk around the 3-mile exercise loop every single day, before she's too old to enjoy it!

Cassie is one of THOSE dogs. Everyone who sees her cries, 'What a GOOD dog!' She walks at my side when I ask her to, comes when I call, sits on command, and generally is interested in two things---me, (or John), and the bushes. Other dogs hold limited interest. People are not interesting at all. I have to call her over to get her to pay attention to them. Generally, if I see someone I've not seen before, I'll call her over, have her sit, and wait until they walk by. That way, they can recognize that she's not a threat to them, and that some dogs are good dogs.

Contrast this with the bulldog I saw today. I was sitting on the bench, looking out over the valley, after climbing a little bit of a hill. Cassie was lying down at my feet. Three women and the bulldog came up the hill. As soon as the bulldog saw Cassie, it started straining at the leash. At one point, it was walking on its hind legs, leaning against its collar, trying to get to us. Cassie just laid there and watched. The woman had to choke up on the leash so tightly that she was leaning back against the dog. 'It takes two to pull', said an old trainer of mine. They got by without incident, but that dog is a threat to himself, his owner, and the rest of the planet. He thinks he's supposed to be in charge, and it stresses him out.

And then there was the hound I saw on 26th. This poor woman had two dogs on the leash, the hound and a beagle, one in each hand. They were headed down the hill on the North side of the street, and we were headed up the hill, on the South side of the street. If you've never been to Utah, let me explain that this is one of THOSE streets, about six lanes wide. Wide enough to turn an ox-cart around, with a little room to spare. So they were pretty far away from us, actually. The hound sees Cassie, and starts straining at the leash. He's yanking the poor woman around, and so she yanks back. Then she kicks him. He glances at her, and keeps straining at the leash. (Somehow he's supposed to know that what's happening with his neck is connected to what's happening with her feet?) She kicked him again, and at that moment, when her foot was off the ground, he pulled a little harder. She didn't quite fall down, but it was a close thing. Meanwhile, Cassie (who happened to be on the leash because of the street) sniffed at the grass, and trotted by my side, completely ignoring the chaos across the street.

Don't even get me started about the border collie cross who actually hauls his owner off of her feet and DRAGS her body along the pavement.

So when Cassie and I ran into the animal control guy, and she was patiently trotting about six feet in front of me, and both of us were minding our own business, I was annoyed. I suppose I'm not really annoyed with the guy---he's just doing his job, and I really do think that those other dogs need to be under control. I guess I'm just annoyed that we so often do the easy thing because it's quantifiable, instead of doing the better thing, because it's not. It's so easy to ask, 'Is your dog on the leash?', because the answer is yes or no, and you can tell just by looking. That makes the animal control guy's job easy. It's much harder to ask 'Is your dog under control?', because the answer is often 'no', even when they are on the leash; and the answer is often 'yes', even when they are off the leash.

And, I suppose, I am mad at clueless dog owners. And a little bit sorry for them. And a little bit indignant that they all think Cassie was just born that way. She used to pull on the leash. She used to rush out the front door. She used to bark all the time, and tear up the furniture. Then we got a really good people-trainer (a.k.a. dog trainer!), to teach us how to behave around our dog. And now she is the paragon of respectability that everyone loves. (Except for that whole counter-surfing thing---if we really cared, we'd change that behavior too, but it makes for too many good stories!) And so I wish that everyone would put the time into their dog that the dog deserves. They don't like to lean on the leash any more than people do. They just don't think there's any other way, mostly because they think that they have to be in charge. Sigh.

So, for all you people out there with dogs that pull, and rush, and jump and bark. Get thee to a people-trainer. Take charge of your dog so that we can all have a pleasant day and the animal control man will leave us all alone.

Fortunately, I got off with a warning. Because I would have been really, really, REALLY mad if I got a ticket, for having my dog under voice control!

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In other news, I finished looking at one environmental physics book yesterday. Completely out of date for the course I have in mind, but it had some nice tables and charts that would be helpful.

I also planned out my talk for the DaVinci Academy next week. Now I just have to sit down and make up my slides. I have an idea for a concept map that I think will really help to get across the idea that all areas of science are connected together, and that if you want to throw out the dates of moon rocks, you also have to throw out nuclear power plants, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the radioactive pellets they use to treat cancer. Oh, and the SUN. Chuh.