“Danger, Will Robinson”
I was raised by a mom who was a bit of a worry wort; actually she seemed like a certifiable lunatic, if I’m being honest. She saw danger at every turn and when you’re only 5 years old, it changes your perception of what should have been an idyllic Disney-movie life and instead turned it into a horror show always looking for monsters hiding in the closet.
I remember walking to kindergarten with six of my buddies when it started to rain. One of their fathers saw us while he was driving and offered to rescue us from the storm, but NOOO, I was told never to get into cars with strangers, which while great advice, didn’t allow for any exceptions such as the “stranger” was my friend’s father! So I walked in the storm all by myself, risking getting clobbered by lightning or worse, I could have been kidnapped, since I was the only one on the street that morning. Thanks Mom, for the fear mongering!
If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you’re probably waiting for me to explain what the hell this has to do with dog training, and yes, I will digress…
Fear is a good thing; without it, our species would not have survived. We need a system that tells us not to jump off a cliff, as in the rhetorical parent question, “If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do that too?” We also need parents to remind us not to pet the bison in Yellowstone Park…Oh well.
The point is that a reasonable amount of scare tactics are good, and thanks to the movie Psycho, I always bolt the bathroom door when showering. Frankly, I think Mom’s paranoia would have been better spent giving me karate lessons so I could battle the monsters instead of worrying about them, but as it turned out, some of her warnings have been an asset to my business.
Pets are family, and many of us understand that they need our protection much the same way we would protect a child, so I have come to assess my clients’ homes, the way a SWAT team would “sweep” a potential dangerous building. And thank goodness because I see danger in every corner…
That tennis ball is just the right size to get lodged in your dog’s throat. Coated with dog slime and heat, it can expand and with no air holes, it can suffocate a dog.
What dog doesn’t love a food-packed Kong to provide hours (or minutes) of problem solving fun? But have you checked your growing puppy’s mouth to make sure the “Puppy-Size” Kong won’t choke him?
That identification tag dangling from your dog’s collar, is just waiting to get caught on a floor air-grate, or the bars of a crate, just to mention a few places that are potential strangle zones.
During play with another dog is another potential catastrophe should they get paws, toenails or teeth caught in the collar or its ring!
That stuffy toy, filled with cotton type filler and a squeaker is going to be a very expensive operation, if Fido ingests the “stuff”.
Read labels lately? Peanut butter is only one source of Xylitol. This artificial sweetener, aka Birch Sugar, can be fatal to dogs and it is found in a myriad of products, including toothpaste and over the counter medications such as some forms of Benadryl…Who knew?
I remember too well the client who rolled her eyes at me when I cautioned against giving her dog a deer antler. Well several thousand dollars later (and no insurance which I advised her to purchase), she rushed her dog to the veterinary clinic where he was diagnosed with a sever abscess and cracked tooth from chewing on “something” she gave him!
We are social beings, so it seems right that we feel the need to walk our dogs up to other dogs on the street as a way of socializing them. I don’t know about you, but the last thing on my mind is walking up to strange humans on the street to meet them, so why we think it’s a great idea to walk up to strange humans with their strange dogs is still a mystery. To name a few disasters waiting to happen: the dog may not be well; he could be a savage, (regardless of the owner’s glowing report of how friendly he is); your dog may not like the other dog, however, the outcome of dogs’ leashes getting tangled in a “meet & greet” is a frequent occurrence, where not only dogs panic and bite each other, but the humans almost always get injured trying to break up the fight!!!
So yes, I am a total buzz-kill, warning clients of the dangers that lurk about, much like the Robot from the retro TV series, Lost in Space, protecting the youngest voyager with the catchphrase, “Danger, Will Robinson!”
You can thank me later!
HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2024
