All things dog in Quesnel
333 Willis st 825131 Quesnel, BC, Canada

Tomorrow, Sunday

Amelia Milling was hiking in Alaska when she ran into trouble. Then, out of nowhere, a white dog appeared. The deaf college student from Tennesse credits Nanook the husky with saving her life.

It is all in how we raise them. This flawed logic has caused so much grief for farmers. You see, dog’s kill. We don’t like to discuss it, and rather pretend t...hat only ‘those’’ dogs kill, but that isn’t so. This summer I was witness to beloved family pets getting out and killing sheep. Dogs kill sheep. If they have never done it before, it does not mean they never will. And that is where this flawed thinking of ‘’It’s all in how we raise them’’, comes into play. If our dog’s aggressive nature is dependent upon how we raise them, then surely if we love them, take them out, socialize them, they they will never harm sheep or other livestock While this sounds great, there is not an ounce of dog-training logic in there. Dog’s are predators. Dogs as a species will chase and kill prey animals. Many dogs don’t show this trait until the day that they do. Our raising of them won’t help us in the least to deter this natural genetic pull from our dog’s ancestors. But training will We need to train our dogs in low-drive, then medium-drive, then high-drive. Most pet dogs only ever get trained in low drive, like getting them to look at you and asking for a sit. This is completely unhelpful when they are in high-drive. Teaching low-drive commands is like teaching a child to write; While it is a necessary skill and building block, in no way has this prepared them for writing their first university paper. Medium-drive behaviours are calling them out of a game at the dog-park. They are loping along chasing another dog, and you ask them to come back. This is an excellent skill that most don’t bother to achieve. But it isn’t until they pin their ears back against their heads, and gallop chasing something that you have high-drive behaviour. Can you call them before they get they get the toy you just threw for them? How about if they are racing at the beach? What if a person walks past your fence, as they are running towards them barking? Until you have taught a command in high-drive, your dog is not trained at a level to trust with wildlife. And that is regardless of how you have raised them. Monique Anstee Victoria, BC Author of As A Dog Thinketh, available from all fine bookstores and amazon.ca and com