So have you ever thought about what a dog would really think of their day to day lives with us humans? The next unit on my course covers the principles of learning theories and how dogs learn. Having learnt from experience, I've already looked at the assignment questions for this module and interestingly part of the assignment is to write from the dog's viewpoint So, if you were a dog, breed immaterial, what would you think of us humans and our human values, your training sessions, your walks, mealtimes, food, other dogs that you meet? What would annoy you, make you happy. So please share your doggy thoughts - good and bad
I'll make some notes as I think about this whilst doing some much needed dusting, that will make the dusting more fun.
Thanks Donna look forward to reading "your thoughts" , and you're welcome to come do my dusting as well
A little while ago there was a long-standing thread "started" by Bud (obviously dictated to his owner). A lot of us contributed our dogs' "thoughts" on life, humans, good days and bad days. Now obviously that was just for fun, and entirely anthropomorphic, but I actually found it rather helpful and insightful to think about life through my dog's eyes. You might like to have a look at that.....just for fun but maybe interesting! If you search for threads with "Bud" in the title you ought to find it. Meanwhile, I'll think a little bit about your question and post a more thought-through answer...
Thoughts of Chairman Pongo - part one: My human pack really doesn't understand how to do a good walk. They don't stop at all the interesting smelly bits; they walk along at a steady pace, they never go for a little run or stop for a pause. They look all around but never put their noses to the ground. It is almost as if they can't smell at all. I find this a bit odd; it doesn't worry me because I can still do all the sniffing I want to do. But I get VERY VERY frustrated when they tie themselves to me with that "lead" thing - I have to pull really quite hard to take them where I want to go. (I still get there though.)
http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/fifteen-dogs Not quite the answer but perhaps pertinent to your question is the 2015 Canadian Giller Award book, Fifteen Dogs, by Andre Alexis. I gave it to my niece for Christmas and am just starting to read it myself. Not your typical dog book but there is this quote about it in the reviews, 'A clever and beguiling study of human nature through the eyes of dogs.' — Largehearted Boy
Thoughts of Chairman Pongo - part two: My pack is pretty laid back. We don't do much. I make them come for a walk with me in the morning, and then later in the day I get their attention again by bringing one of their toys and pushing it in their laps until they come and play a bit. But otherwise they seem to just want to rest (usually with those "laptop" things on their knees). They'll rest all day just staring at one of those, very dull. While they do that, I rest too.... I am quite happy to switch off when there is nothing that needs to be done. I enjoy my dreams - my dream life is much more active than my waking life, it involves lots of barking, chasing, chewing, and even snarling (which is something I NEVER do when I am awake).
@Rosie Tell Pongo, many thanks for his thoughts on good walking. That's exactly the sort of doggy thought I'm interested in. If he has thoughts on anything else, I'm happy to pay attention to him. Juno says he deserves a lovely treat for being helpful. Also thanks for the 'Bud' reminder I'd forgotten those threads and definitely the sort of commentary I'm interested in.
Thanks for this pointer, @Snowshoe - I've just found it on amazon and it sounds like a good read! It is now on my kindle waiting for me to finish my current book...
Pongo is blushing and has gone into his corner to try to think up some more thoughts. Well....perhaps after dinner....a dog has his priorities after all.....
Sam would definitely be wondering why we eat three meals a day, whilst he has two , he would find this unacceptable
Hi, my name is Dexter and I am 10 and half months old and came to live with my two humans when I was 8 weeks old, they are now my mum and my mate. I’m with my human mum mostly whilst my mate is at work. I enjoy being with them both together and separately as I get to do many different things. When I was younger, I use to travel in the car sometimes and didn’t like it very much. I would bark and howl as I wanted to be up front with my humans. One day my mum left me on my own, I didn't mind this as I snuggled down in my crate and slept. When mum came home she took me for a ride in the car where she had put a car crate in the boot for me. I liked this very much as I could see out the back and side windows and also lay down if I want to. It’s not too big and helps me to feel secure and snug. I didn't like the window wiper though when it rained, I have a good bark at that as it’s very close to me, I am getting better though and don’t bark nearly as much as I use to. Mum did some click & treating with the wiper going, it helped as I usually always love food and this food was particularly yummy. But one day we went out for about an hours journey and it rained very much so mum had to keep the wiper on a lot, this made me bark to start with but as mum kept quiet, I soon realised that I couldn't make it stop by barking and it wasn't hurting me so I went to sleep instead. I do stuff that mum calls training, I’m not sure about the word training, I like it to be called learning whilst playing and having fun. Sometimes my mum wants me to stay with her but I just can’t help myself at times and run after another dogs ball, well other dogs did this to me first so why can’t I do the same? It can be very confusing, one minute you can chase a ball and then you can’t. Isn’t a ball a ball, apparently not to humans. Anyway, my mum is helping me with this by playing fun games in the garden. I can sit still when mum asks me to using her hand signal and she throws a ball, then lets me to chase another ball. I love this game but it takes all my effort to keep my bum on the ground as I really do want to chase the ball and chew it as it makes a great squishy noise. I’m very good at waiting to have my meals from a bowl, I can wait until mum or my mate say “OK” and that’s easy now as I know I will get my food. My humans wouldn't make me wait and then not let me have it and I trust them with this. With the ball it’s different as I can’t always have it and that makes it harder for me to understand. Still I’m only 10 months old so I think in time I will get the hang of this stuff my humans talk about, safety because another dog might not like me taking their ball or it’s bad manners to do it. I didn’t like my first harness going on as it went over my head and I’m not keen on things going over my head, I don’t like my head being patted really anyway. I do like my tummy rubbed though that’s much more fun and makes me smile. When I was very little, my humans didn’t like my biting, I use to do it to my mum a lot. At first she started to pin me down, I didn’t like this and it made me frightened so my mum got some advice and was told this is the old fashioned way and stopped doing it. My mum had had an operation and had this thing on her arm called a sling, well I stayed away from that, I knew that it was strange but it had a clicker on it so I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to chomp on my clicker. Mind you, I could not stop myself from biting my mums other sleeve or arm, I thought it was great fun as mum couldn't get me off so I found it hard to stop doing this. In the end mum would manage to get me behind a gate and get her jacket off or get me into my crate and shut me in, I didn’t much like being shut in the other room when mum would leave me for a while to calm down. I didn’t do this to my mate as he could pick me straight up, put me in my crate and walk away. This wasn’t as much fun as playing tug on mums sleeve. I thought it was a game but my humans say nope, it’s not. I did grow out of it once mum got the use of both arms, so my humans won in the end. I learnt that my mouth is not meant to be used on humans, very strange but true. I like going out for walks with my humans but don't like too much chatter as it’s just a load of noise and I get too excited to listen and miss my cue. Blah blah blah “sit’ blah blah, what’s that all about. Oh and don’t get me started on people coming to the house! Some come in and don’t talk, look or touch me, thats great, gives me chance to sit and flop, I like to do this so the visitors know I’m ready and they can stroke my belly. Others come in blah blah blah, stroke head stroke head, blah blah blah, well I get all excited and jump up and then they say “no down, no, no”, oh why do they not listen to my mum like I do? What is it with humans, do they have no self control, respect or manners? Sorry, I got a tad carried away
Why do they talk in a language I cannot understand and get cross when I don't do what they want me to do. I try so hard, why cannot they just talk in body language.
I love my people, but sometimes I don't understand them. Sometimes they prefer the tappy thing when any fool knows that sticks and tennis balls are much more fun. They really don't understand the importance of a good roll or the taste of fresh poo. And when it comes to zoomies they are complete amateurs. I'm very proud of my double zoomie with mudslide turn, its taken months of practice to perfect it. They just splash through the puddles like uneducated puppies. Most mornings dad goes out and I feel really miserable. I like having all my family around, and hate it when one of them's away. On the other hand, they let me share their bed. And they tickle my tummy and scratch my ears, which is wonderful. And dad takes me to some great places with good ponds plays silly chasing games in the garden. I'm sure that they love me, but they have some very undoglike ways of showing it.
