She Doesn't Believe Me...and Happy Mutt's Day

(Did you know that today is Mutt's Day?  Yeah.  So...Happy Mutt's Day!  Go buy your four legged barky friend(s) a treat! Tell them ThatJanieGirl made you do it.)

My husband and my brother and a lot of my friends call me the dog whisperer (Move over, Cesar Milan).  My dog-walker often calls or texts for advice.  I don’t think I know that much, but I do try to “think like the dog”.  My sister-in-love is a dog rescuer and rehabilitator.  She’s the dog whisperer, I would say.

We’ve trained our dogs to go to the bathroom on command.  They’re hunting dogs, so we might be in Timbuctoo for a field trial, limited time on our hands, and they need to have voided prior to going in for their competition.  So we taught them to perform their “duties”, as it were, via the command, “Hurry.”  On leash or off, they’re pretty automatic.  (Hey.  Don't be hating.  It's better than being the only girl in a cadre of camo-upped guys at a competition, taking your dog to do his/her business, and saying, "Go pee-pee now, Zack*, honey.  Then go out there, be the man, and retrieve that bird."  Right?  Right?)

So, in conversation, I was talking to my sister-in-love about how going to the dog park is such a trip for dogs, and why they tend to ignore you, ignore commands, etc., off leash and at the park.  In speaking, I alluded to the dog park being like an overcrowded shopping mall for the serious shopper.  There is just too much going on at a super busy mall, crowded with kiosks, cookie booths, people selling, selling, selling - too many scents - there have been way too many people there and too much to see.  It's overwhelming.

Back to the dog park - take a dog to a dog park, he’s NOT going to pee or poop on command.  There have been too many “dogs” in what he now views as "His Park".  He’s going to go check their calling cards, right?  It's a dog rule.  It's the dog version of LinkedIn.  We could name it "SniffedIn."

Thus, the conversation, on Facebook, no less, last night.  She cracks me up.  

But I'm still right.  "Think like the dog.  Be the dog." And Lisa - I love you.

*Zack - our Wonderdog