Kootenai's Climb

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A bone-worthy weekend!

Happy Saturday!

As you can see, I'm busy. Have a great weekend! -Kootenai

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tuesday Talk: Positive Reinforcent Training Vs. Alpha (Dominance) Dog Training

Hey furiends! The topic of today's Tuesday is Positive Reinforcent Training vs. Alpha (Dominance) Dog training. Aka: Victoria Stillwell from "It's Me or the Dog" vs. Cesar Millan from "Dog Whisperer."

Alpha Training, also known as dominance training, is based on a study of wolves. The idea of Alpha training is to establish a "pack order" within your household, with yourself (the human) as the pack leader. Alpha trainers believe the most important part of leading the pack is attitude. The attitude is usually referred to as 'calm and confident.' The dog will then be worked into a submissive state, where the mind is capable of doing what the human is asking the dog to do.

Positive Reinforcement Training is shown in detail on Victoria's show "It's Me or the Dog," featured on Animal Planet. Positive Reinforcement Training is about rewarding your dog for correct action, rather than punishing your dog for incorrect action. With this kind of training, you need to find something that motivates your dog. Whether it's treats, affection, or his/her favorite toy.

They both sound good, you say? Many dog enthusiasts would say otherwise.

Many dog enthusiasts in the United States are upset at the fact that "Dog Whisperer," a television series shown on the Nat. Geo Wild channel, is gaining viewers in exponential magnitude. WHY? Many trainers feel that Cesar Millan's approach to training is detrimental to the progress humans have made in training their canine companions. The overall technique used by trainers today is positive reinforcement training. Many animal enthusiasts feel that Cesar's method of Alpha training can lead the dog to be punished and act aggressively toward their human. Most critics argue that Cesar's show makes the viewer feel the dog can be fixed in a matter of minutes, when in real life, it takes multiple days of work to fix a dog's bad behavior. Some say that dogs are not wolves. They say that the domestic dog is an entire animal apart from the wolf, and wolves do things domestic dogs don't, and domestic dogs do things that wolves don't. Therefore, the study on wolves has been thrown out as a way to manage and train the domestic dog.

This is an interesting and controversial topic in the dog world today. Mom liked to watch both shows and idolizes both trainers. She uses the positive reinforcement method herself, but has met many trainers that are very successful with the Alpha training. Mom even had to use alpha training on my once because she tried and tried with the positive reinforcement idea with my food aggression, but it just didn't work. She tried so many different approaches, but none of them resulted in less growling or snarling. The first time I was flipped on my back was quite startling. She had to do it a couple of times, but I did stop growling at her. Now she uses the positive reinforcement to keep me from growling, but I did have to get shook up a little bit to understand that mom meant business.

What about you furiends? What are your likes and dislikes about these two training methods? Do we have any furiends that view both shows, like I do? Can't wait to hear your thoughts today!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Saturday Smile

This morning I woke up and went to Land Of Paws. Land of Paws is a delicious doggie barkery here in Kansas City. They also sell lots of doggie things. Ya know, like collars and foo-foo spray. I ordered a chocolate covered strawberry dog biscuit and a doggie burrito. Then mom stopped by the shelter here in Kansas City and signed a form to be a volunteer trainer for all those pups looking for forever homes. We'll see if they call her and accept her for the volunteer position. I think this would be a cool job for many reasons.

1. Mom would get to take me with her in the afternoons.

2. All those doggies would have a greater chance of staying with their new owners if they had some manners.

3. It will help Mom reach her dream of opening her own dog training facility someday.

You go Mom!

(All those puppies are in for some boot-camp work and they don't even know it yet. BOL!)

Happy Saturday furiends!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Rock Climbing with Dad

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tuesday Talk: Cloning your pet

Pet cloning in America. That's the topic for today. I'm not an expert on the topic. Tuesday Talk is about bringing up big/and/or controversial topics in today's dog world. Cloning is definitely a controversial topic. Just for clarity, according to Dictionary.com, a clone is a cell, cell product, or organism that is genetically identical to the unit or individual from which it was derived. Pet cloning is going on in the world around us today.

It does seem like a tempting idea, doesn't it? The idea of immortality. Immortality? I am still trying to wrap my little dog brain around it. Would I want my mom to clone me after my life here on Earth is over? Before I could make any decisions I had to do a little research. (I did say a LITTLE.)

My Friend Again is company that offers a link to a Korean Pet Cloning Agency. It features pictures and testimonials of people who are waiting and people who already have received their pets. I found out that after your pet has been in Heaven for more than five days, it is impossible to receive live tissue. It is best to get the live tissue needed when your dog is still alive. Biopsy kits from Texas cost about 1500 dollars. I guess I would just need a minor surgery to extract some live tissue. Then they would send it back to the Texas company on ice. You may be able to swab your dog's mouth too. I said I did a little research.

In an article called "Animal Cloning: Pros and Cons" by Lindsay Shugerman, Lindsay lists some of the pros and some of the cons of cloning your pet. In brief summary this is what she stated:

Pros:

1. "Control over Uncertainty-" the creation of exact duplicates is allowed. The stress of breeding and not knowing what traits will be dominated is eliminated.

2. Successful organ source with no rejection from the donor.

Cons:

1. Cloning is still very expensive and uncertain. Odds of receiving your animal are still low.

2. The certainty that animals that are cloned can be used as food is unknown. We do not know the dangers involved with eating cloned animals or eggs of cloned animals.

3. The ethical issues have been left unresolved.

The "The Dark Side of Pet Cloning" is an article focusing on what happens to the failed new fidos that were cloned. Failed as in they have deformities, heart failures, or they are aborted by the surrogate mothers before they come to full term.

Robert Lanza, cloner extraordinaire and chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, had this to say about pet cloning,

Anyone who wants to have their pet cloned should ask themselves if they are willing to have one or two defective copies of "Fluffy" or "Spot" put down in order to get their pet back. Of course, cloning is associated with lots of abnormalities and genetic defects--and a significant percent of newborn animals die in the first few days or weeks of life.

Anyone who thinks they might be able to get Spot or Fluffy back is mistaken. Cloned animals have distinct personalities, just like identical twins. We cloned a herd of cattle several years ago--they were all cloned from a single individual. Yet they developed a social-dominance hierarchy just like a herd of ordinary dairy cows. The cloned animals exhibit the full spectrum of behavioral traits, from curious and inquisitive to timid and shy. There's no doubt about it: each cloned animal has its own unique, individual personality.

Mom watched a show on television about dog cloning. It brought tears to her eyes because those people loved their doggies so much. She completely understood the loss, the feelings of utter loneliness, and grief associated with losing a pet. One of her worst fears is losing me. I'm her baby. (Literally, they don't have kids yet.) Mom loves me a lot, but she told me she could never clone me. The process of life is the process of life. Life is so precious because there is always the notion that today could be our last. She said she loves me more than words can describe, but she couldn't hurt another puppy to have another chance with me. The world works the way it does for a reason and when it is my time to go, I know she will find another RESCUE that will rescue her in a way I couldn't. That's what is so special about having so many UNIQUE pieces in the world. They make a beautiful tapestry of color. Besides, I will have a new job to do in Heaven. And when my mom's time comes to cross the rainbow bridge, I will be there, tail wagging to show her the way to God. To show her what I tried to show her all of those years on Earth: how to love unconditionally-just like God.

I'm so interested in hearing your bark-outs this week.

Kootenai