Articles on pet training/care by expert Andrea Arden. http://www.andreaarden.com Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:54:29 -0700 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Teaching your pup to roll on their belly for examination is often confused with an Alpha Roll whereby the dog is physically forced to lie on their back in an effort to make them submit. This approach is likely to create an adversarial response from the pup.Alternatively, teaching your pup to willingly roll over is a surefire way to ensure that future examinations will be as easy as possible and to create a relationship whereby your pup has enough confidence in you and themselves to be in a position that is potentially vulnerable for a dog.·Begin by sitting on the floor and holding your pup in your lap.·Gently tickle or scratch their belly and chest to cause the pup to open their flank and expose their belly. Allow your pup to lick from a food stuffed toy or offer a tiny food treat.·Repeat in 3-5 minute sessions until your pup is completely relaxed.·Try gently placing your pup on the ground and repeating the same process.·Practice in different areas of the home and with different family members. If children are in the home, they should always be carefully supervised during interactions with your pup. They can assist in exercises of this nature if they can follow instructions and are suitably gentle.·Invite friends to assist one at a time. Be sure to supervise and instruct them on how to handle your pup gently and reinforce the foundation you have set. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=242 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Once your pup is calmly accepting of brief, gentle touches, it is time to start working on helping them to enjoy handling which more closely resembles a veterinary or grooming exam. Not only will this endear you to the pet professionals who assist you in supporting your pup's well being but, these daily exercises will make life with your dog safer and more enjoyable for family and friends.Practice gently manipulating your pup's paws, ears, and mouth in exchange for their food. Lift an ear flap, offer a treat. Pick up a paw and gently examine in between the paw pads, offer a treat. Lift up your pup's lips and offer a treat. Gradually increase the length of time you spend on each body part prior to offering the treat when your pup's body remains relaxed and their demeanor calm.Introduce your pup to his brush by letting him sniff it and then offer a treat. Gently touch him on his least sensitive area (usually chest or side flank) and offer another treat. Make a gentle stroke with the brush and treat. Repeat in brief sessions of no more than 3-5 minutes. These mini-grooming sessions set the stage for future calm, safe, and stress free sessions, and also provide vital bonding between you and your dog.Practice in different areas of your home and consider purchasing a rubber bath mat which can be placed on an elevated surface. Start with a low table and gradually increase the height off the ground while making sure your pup is safely restrained. This will help your pup become comfortable with veterinary and grooming tables. Additionally, be sure to make plenty of visits to both professionals for the sole purpose of giving your pup an opportunity to become familiar with these environments while being rewarded with treats, praise, and play. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=241 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800 As a whole, dogs are superbly adaptive creatures. Just about everywhere you look you will see dogs of all shapes and sizes taking part in all manner of activity with their human companions. But, as impressively skilled as most dogs are at becoming part of the human world, life for a companion dog can be psychologically challenging due to all they must cope with.Providing your puppy with early and ongoing exposure to controlled, positive experiences with as great a variety of people, places and things as possible is what socialization and habituation are all about. Specifically, socialization refers to people and other animals and habituation to gradual exposure to stimuli such as traffic, vacuum cleaners, and different surfaces and textures. This early, positive exposure is comparable to a coach planning plenty of practice games that are intended to help prepare the players for the real game.Practice may not make you perfect, but it definitely helps you become the best you can be and the same holds true with socialization and habituation. Genetics plays a major part in a dog's personality, in the way they respond to stimuli (people, places and things). Some pups are genetically predisposed to be highly inquisitive and bold in the face of new experiences and others to take a more cautious approach. But, environment and education are highly influential and providing your puppy with the opportunity for exposure to all they will be expected to tolerate as an adult will help them more readily take things in stride, to be more easily instructed and guided, and therefore to have more predictable behavior.Socialization and habituation create a sort of catalogue of information for your dog to draw from throughout their life. The more positive information you install in this catalogue the better equipped they are to handle future experiences. For example, a potentially startling experience, such as a person hopping out of a doorway and popping open an umbrella, can be handled with good ‘bounce back' when a pup has been provided with adequate and on going socialization and habituation.A lack of early socialization and habituation can have far reaching negative effects on even the most even-tempered pup. In addition to stress, fear and even aggression, the poor emotional state of a dog like this inhibits learning and the ability to be guided by their people.Open the door wide for your pup to explore the world and participate in it with confidence by planning a socialization and habituation protocol that is the foundation of your pup's happy future. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=240 Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800 The word alpha applied to wolves has had a long history. For many years books and articles about wolves have mentioned the alpha male and alpha female or the alpha pair. In much popular writing the term is still in use today. However, keen observers may have noticed that during the past few years the trend has begun to wane. For example, 19 prominent wolf biologists from both Europe and North America never mentioned the term alphain a long article on breeding pairs of wolves. The article, titled “The Effects of Breeder Loss on Wolves,” was published in a 2008 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management. In the 448-page, 2003 book Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation, edited by Luigi Boitani and myself and written by 23 authors, alpha is mentioned in only six places and then only to explain why the term is outdated. What gives? This change in terminology reflects an important shift in our thinking about wolf social behavior. Rather than viewing a wolf pack as a group of animals organized with a “top dog” that fought its way to the top, or a male-female pair of such aggressive wolves, science has come to understand that most wolf packs are merely family groups formed exactly the same way as human families are formed. That is, maturing male and female wolves from different packs disperse, travel around until they find each other and an area vacant of other wolves but with adequate prey, court, mate, and produce their own litter of pups. Sometimes this process involves merely a maturing male courting a maturing female in a neighboring pack and then the pair settling down in a territory next to one of the original packs. In more saturated populations, this may mean wolves moving many miles to the very edge of wolf range and finding mates there that have similarly dispersed. This is the process that helps a growing wolf population expand its range. A good example is the ever-increasing wolf population in Wisconsin. There, not only is the main population in the northern part of the state continuing to fill the north with more and more pack territories, but wolves have managed to form a separate population in the central part of the state through this dispersal and proliferation of packs. Currently about 18 packs live in central Wisconsin. But now back to the family. As the original, new pairing wolves raise their pups, they feed and care for them just like any other animals care for their young. As the pups grow and develop, their parents naturally guide their activities, and the pups naturally follow. During fall when the pups begin to accompany their parents away from the den or rendezvous site and circulate nomadically around the territory, the pups follow the adults and learn their way around. The parents then automatically fall into the leadership role in the pack as they guide the pups throughout their territory. This leadership role, however, does not involve anyone fighting to the top of the group, because just like in a human family, the youngsters naturally follow their parents' lead. Certainly as the pups further develop, they begin to gain some independence, and individuals might temporarily stray from the group, exploring this and that along the pack's travels. However, the parents continue to guide the group as they hunt prey, scent-mark the territory, fend off scavengers from their kills, or protect the group from neighboring wolf packs they might encounter.As the pups continue to develop and reach 1 year of age, their parents produce a second litter of pups, which become the younger siblings of the first litter. Again, the parents continue to guide and lead the new litter along with the older litter and remain the pack's leaders. The yearlings naturally dominate the new pups just as older brothers and sisters in a human family might guide the younger siblings, but still there is no general battle to try to gain pack leadership; that just naturally stays with the original parents. Some of the older siblings will disperse between the ages of 1and 2 in some populations, and in others they may remain with the pack through about 3 years of age. However, eventually almost all of them will disperse, try to find mates, and start their own packs.Given this natural history of wolf packs, there is no more reason to refer to the parent wolves as alphas than there would be to refer to the parents of a human family as the ”alpha” pair. Thus we now refer to these animals as the male breeder and female breeder and as the breeding pair or simply the parents. So how did science get so far off track for so long and refer to the parent wolves as alphas? The answer is an interesting story that nicely illustrates how science progresses. Several decades ago, before there were many studies of wolves under natural conditions, scientists interested in animal social behavior thought the wolf pack was a random assemblage of wolves that came together as winter approached in order to better hunt their large prey. Thus to study wolves in the only way they knew how, these folks gathered individual wolves from various zoos and placed them together in their own captive colony. When one puts a random group of any species together artificially, these animals will naturally compete with each other and eventually form a type of dominance hierarchy. This is like the classical pecking order originally described in chickens. In such cases, it is appropriate to refer to the top-ranking individuals as alphas, implying that they competed and fought to gain their position. And so too it was with wolves when placed together artificially. Thus, the main behaviorist who studied wolves in captivity, Rudolph Schenkel, published a famous monograph describing how wolves interact with each other in such a group, asserting then that there is a top-ranking male and a top-ranking female in packs and referring to them as the alphas. This classical monograph was the main piece of literature on wolf social behavior available when I crafted my book The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species in the late 1960s. This book was a synthesis of available wolf information at the time, so I included much reference to Schenkel's study. The book was timely because no other synthesis about the wolf had been written since 1944, so The Wolf sold well. It was originally published in 1970 and republished in paperback in 1981 and is still in print. Over 120,000 copies are now in circulation. Most other general wolf books have relied considerably on The Wolf for information, thus spreading the misinformation about alpha wolves far and wide. Finally in the late 1990s, after I had lived with a wild wolf pack on Ellesmere Island near the North Pole for many summers witnessing first-hand the interactions among parent wolves and their offspring, I decided to correct this misinformation. By then, however, both the lay public and most biologists had fully adopted the alpha concept and terminology. It seemed no one could speak about a wolf pack without mentioning the alphas. Many people would ask me what made an alpha wolf an alpha and what kind of fighting and competition did it take to gain that position. Thus, in 1999 I published the article “Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs” in the Canadian Journal of Zoologyformally correcting the misinformation in the scientific literature. I followed that up in 2000 with the article “Leadership in Wolf, Canis lupus, Packs” in the Canadian Field Naturalist, further elaborating on the role of the parent wolves in the pack's social order. However, it has been said that it generally takes about 20 years for new science to fully seep down to general acceptance, including even new medical breakthroughs. Such seems to be proving true with the alpha-wolf concept. Several of my wolf biologist colleagues have accepted the update, but others suddenly correct themselves in the middle of their conversations with me; still others seem totally oblivious to the whole issue. It is heartening indeed to see newly published papers such as the one I cited above in the introduction to this article that have adopted the proper terminology. The issue is not merely one of semantics or political correctness. It is one of biological correctness such that the term we use for breeding wolves accurately captures the biological and social role of the animals rather than perpetuate a faulty view. One place where this issue becomes particularly confusing is Yellowstone National Park, where great numbers of the public spend much time observing wolves right along with wolf biologists and naturalists. Because the Yellowstone wolf population was newly restored and enjoys a great surplus of prey (6,000 to 12,000 elk, 4,000 bison, and hundreds of deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, moose and other prey), the pack structure of its population is more complex than in most wolf populations. There, young wolves disperse at a later age, when 2 to 3 years old instead of 1 to 2, thus making packs larger and containing more mature individuals than most packs do elsewhere. In these packs where both the mother and some of her daughters mature, all sometimes get bred during the same year, the daughters usually by outside males. When more than one female breeds in a pack, the females may become more competitive, so it is probably appropriate to refer to the original matriarch as the alpha female and to her daughters as “betas.” The Yellowstone observers commonly use this phraseology, but too often it becomes loosely applied to all the breeding wolves, even in packs where there are only single breeders. While it is not incorrect to use alpha when applied to packs of multiple breeders, it would be possible and even desirable to use less loaded terminology. For example, the top-ranking female could be called the dominant female or the matriarch, and her breeding daughters, the subordinates. Or individually if the females actually show a dominance order, the second- and third-ranking individuals could be called simply that. This approach would further reform wolf terminology and add to both science's and the public's more accurate perception of the wolf. Hopefully it will take fewer than 20 years for the media and the public to fully adopt the correct terminology and thus to once and for all end the outmoded view of the wolf pack as an aggressive assortment of wolves consistently competing with each other to take over the pack.L. David Mech is a senior research scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey and founder and vice chair of the International Wolf Center. He has studied wolves for 50 years and published several books and many articles about them. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=239 Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Generalizations are a tricky business. On the one hand, they are necessary in order for us to more easily understand our complex world. On the other hand, by definition, generalizations don’t provide detailed information, nor are they always accurate.When it comes to dogs, people seem to be wildly fond of generalizing. Trainers frequently hear people complain that their dog isn’t behaving as well as their previous dog of the same breed. This is one of the many examples of how we often assume that a grouping of dogs by breed or type is a surefire blueprint for behavior and personality. But, you know what they say about making assumptions. Or in this case, generalizations.Certain generalizations are harmless. "Dogs are cute" is one that I can really get behind, because it's implications could never result in anything problematic (except for maybe a child endlessly begging for a new puppy). However, other generalizations have much more serious implications, and perhaps none more so than the generalizations that surround pit bulls. Here are the two most dangerous ones:"Pit bulls are dangerous and a menace to any community""Pit bulls are the sweetest and best dogs in the world"Both camps of people who take an extreme stance on pit bulls are really doing this group of dogs a disservice. While a community that bans pit bulls does damage by potentially ripping apart people's homes and choosing to euthanize dogs with potentially terrific temperaments, it is just as harmful to put a powerful and possibly dangerous dog in an inappropriate home under the guise that every dog of a certain type is sweet and easygoing. People who are not physically able to control a large dog, or people who don't have the time to give their dogs adequate exercise and training frequently acquire dogs they have no business having because they have been sold on the idea of this type being "the best dogs in the world".The reality of the pit bull as a group (pit bulls are, in fact, not a breed, rather a generic term covering a wide array of mixed breed dogs of a similar physical type) needs to be discussed in greater detail than sweeping statements like those above. Ideally, dogs should be described and evaluated on an individual basis. But, that seems to be an unrealistic expectation of us humans. Generalizing about dogs seems to be the easy route (in the short term anyway). When it comes to pit bulls, a little education might go a long way to stop the generalizations that cause people to be misled and dogs and people to potentially suffer. One of the original intentions of the development of the pit bull type was for them to fight other animals. Pit bulls are also "high-drive" dogs. They can go from 0-60 in a heartbeat, and in terms of prey drive, they are in the upper echelon of the list of dogs most likely to chase smaller animals. This long history of selective breeding means some may have a strong propensity for this and will be more likely to be reactive towards other dogs. Any dog might have this problem, but the larger and stronger dogs can do more damage. We should also not ignore the fact that a pit bull with dog-human aggression problems poses a bigger threat than a smaller, less physically powerful type of dog with the same issues. But, pit bulls were not developed to be more prone to dog-human aggression than other dogs. In fact, they may even be less likely to have this issue (but, this is also a generalization, so again, the individual dog’s temperament should be of utmost concern). One hundred years ago, when dog fighting was more common, pure breed dogs like the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Staffordsshire Terrier, and the American Pit Bull Terrier were bred to be extremely friendly and gentle with people. Part of the reason was that even in a dog fight, handlers wanted to be able to get a hold of their dogs without etting bitten.  Due to this general trait of human friendliness, one century ago the Pit Bull was one of the most popular family dogs in America. Because pit bulls are so powerful, it is especially important that they be taught to be mannerly and social and to exhibit great impulse control using methods based on positive reinforcement by people well versed in this methodology. If all pit bulls were treated in this fashion, it might help some of those generalizations fade, simply by adding more well behaved pit bulls to the world. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=238 Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700 For the past 25 or so years there has been a lot of talk in the dog world about being your dog's leader. Some feel this aptly describes the role we should take with our dogs and others feel it is a word too closely associated with a sort of military approach to the canine/human relationship and implies a need for punitive training techniques. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=237 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700 A friend of mine was visiting recently and pointed out two things about me; That I get a wee bit competitive while playing cards and that my dog Nora sometimes ignores me. I embraced the former, but had a slightly defensive response to the latter. No surprise being that I'm a dog trainer who prides herself on having dogs who are happily cooperative and reliably responsive to requests. I decided to take a look at a typical day to help me better understand my friend's opinion and discovered something that might be shocking to some; My dog ignores me sometimes, and that is just fine.I start the day cooing at Nora "Who is the cutest puppy in the world?" Our morning walk gets delayed when I ask "Do you need another belly rub to start the day off right?" When we finally head outside she becomes deeply engrossed with a spot of grass that looks to me exactly like every other spot of grass within a half mile radius. "Did you find a good sniffy spot?" I ask. She keeps sniffing, no surprise what with so many scent particles and so little time. Back inside I plan to get to work. I ask Nora "Should I answer emails or get to work on my new book?" No response is forthcoming, so I choose to surf the net for a bit. I take lots of breaks to ask her "How did I get so lucky to get a dog as cute you? Do you know how much I love you?" In addition to these practical, fact finding questions, I also spend quite a bit of time on sweet nothings such as "You are a scruffalicious, little monkey." So far, it seems my friend has made a valid point; Nora is bombarded with my chatter throughout the day and ignores most of it. Of course, there is the occasional tail wag as if to say "Yes, I know, you love me lots," or an adorably raised eyebrow, which reminds me of a teenager rolling their eyes and saying "Oh Mom, enough already!" But, more often than not she just continues with her previous engagements (i.e. napping, chewing a toy, or sniffing).Out in the yard later that day, I spotted a little brown bunny and hoped Nora wouldn't notice. But, she raised her head and twitched her nose at which point it was clear she had caught the bunny's scent. Like most little terriers, Nora can go from 0 to 60 in about 2.5 seconds. She was across the yard and about 15 feet from the bunny (frozen in "I'm not here!' fear) by the time I called her. When she whipped around and flew back to me I beamed with pride and asked my friend "So, do you still think my dog ignores me?""Yes, she definitely ignores you. Just not when it counts," Stephanie wisely responded.I clearly have some smart, observant friends. Nora, like most dogs, has learned to ignore much of my constant chatter. Tuning me out a bit as I go on and on about how cute she is, or how much work I have, is not only acceptable, but perfectly understandable. People are verbal creatures (especially with our best canine buddies) and dogs not so much. Nora has clearly learned that there are loads of times, in fact most of them, when my banter is just that. An almost constant stream of one sided conversation that doesn't require much, if any, response from her. Although the occasional tail wag, or cute little tilt of her head surely makes my day.Stephanie asked me how Nora learned to discriminate between when she can ignore me and when she must pay attention. I think it comes down to setting a good foundation of a trusting relationship and taking the time to teach even just a few skills (such as name recognition, hand targeting, come when called and sit, stand and lie down on request). When your dog understands to respond reliably to these requests you know you have a solid foundation of communication to keep your dog (and neighborhood bunnies) safe, and to ensure their overall well-being and happiness, as well as your own. At this point, a dog like Nora is pretty clear about what requires her attention and what doesn't. So, she is free to go about enjoying her day as best she can with the almost non-stop background soundtrack of my chatter. She is clearly confident about her understanding of when her attention is required and I am confident that I can embrace the fact that the friend who I chat with most often is also the one who is most likely to ignore me a lot of the time, and that's OK. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=236 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 One of the great joys of sharing your life with a dog is the fact that they have the potential to act as ambassadors for making new friends and acquaintances. People are far more likely to strike up a conversation with you when you are with a dog. On the down side, people are also likely to make comments and offer advice without solicitation.I recently had a third lesson with a lovely woman who had adopted a five-month-old Newfoundland puppy from a rescue group. A few minutes into the lesson, I realized that her eyes were welling up with tears. She explained that she was feeling terrible guilt about her puppy. It seems that someone had stopped her on the street to let her know how horrible they thought it was that she had such a large dog in the city. I assured her that her puppy was lucky to have been adopted by her. Not only was she being diligent about his education and socialization but, she had carefully chosen a pup with a low-key nature whose activity level was relatively low, especially compared to many smaller dogs. It seemed this pup was superbly suited to apartment and city life.She had also chosen to adopt a special needs puppy that, due to a medical condition, would need to have a carefully controlled and somewhat limited exercise routine for the next 6-12 months. The rescue group was surely thrilled to have found a woman who was a stay-at-home writer, with loads of time to provide for this dog's special needs care. They also rightly assumed that this dog would do well in a city environment. I assured her that she had nothing to feel guilty about.Contrary to what some people suggest, large dogs can be superb apartment dwellers. In fact, in many cases, more so than some smaller dogs who may be highly active and vocal. While the size of your living quarters is of some concern, it is far more important to be sure you can provide a particular dog with the exercise, training and socialization required. With that said, spending time (ideally over the course of a number of visits on different days) with an individual dog will give you some idea of their activity level and suitability for your family. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=235 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Once you have your general list of what you think would be the makings of a good canine match for your family started on paper, plan to visit local dog training schools to make a more specific assessment of types of dogs that you might consider most suitable for your family. This is a great place to meet loads of puppies and adult dogs, and to learn a bit more about training and socialization prior to bringing home a new pup. You can also stop by local dog parks and dog events so you have the opportunity to become familiar with lots of dogs of different temperaments, shapes, and sizes.A shelter or rescue group is one of the best places to find a canine companion. These pups were abandoned by someone, but that is no fault of their own. Puppies are surrendered due to the fact that people are often unprepared for the effort it takes to raise them or because people are negligent in regards to spaying and neutering their dogs which results in unwanted litters. But, with love and guidance a formerly abandoned puppy can become your best friend.Local shelters have hundreds of mixed and purebred puppies waiting to be found by their new family. If you have your heart set on a particular breed, even the most rare has groups that focus on finding new homes for that specific type of dog. If you decide to choose a pup from a breeder, find someone whose top priority is to produce dogs with good physical health and temperaments, above their looks. Puppies should be raised in the home, their living quarters should be clean, and they should have had plenty of handling and socialization with the family and visitors by the time they are 8 weeks-old. Ask the breeder about any potential health issues the breed may be prone to (they should do genetic testing when available), and meet as many adult dogs from their line as possible (they should be friendly and well-mannered). Genetics plays a large part in behavior. So, getting to know one or both of the parents will give you an indication of the general temperament of this canine family. Also, carefully observe all the pups in the litter to get a sense of the range of personalities. Of course, the final decision is based on spending plenty of time with an individual puppy. Carefully observe how a puppy interacts with you and the environment. All puppies are cute, but beauty is as beauty does. That is, their temperament and personality are of paramount importance. Consider how the pup reacts to the following:When you enter the room.When you attempt to engage them in play.When you attempt to engage them in play with a toy.Being held and handled all over his or her body.Being brought into a new area of the house or yard.Unexpected, loud noises.Interacting with other animals (especially a dog you already have).A puppy temperament test will not result in any absolutes in regards to the dog's future behavior. However, genetics is at the core of a dog's personality and behavioral tendencies and the temperament of a puppy will remain with him or her throughout their lifetime. This is the foundation of who they will become as an adult dog.In addition, the environment a puppy is exposed to will have a great impact on future behavior. For example, the difference between a Golden Retriever that is raised in a loving family that focuses on socialization and motivational training and a Golden Retriever who was allowed to sit idol through puppyhood and adolescence with little or no regard for training or socialization is likely to be dramatic.Young puppies are usually remarkably flexible in regards to their behavior. However, inadequate socialization and training mixed with a temperament that is not a good match for a family can quickly lead to normal dog behaviors becoming serious problems that put the canine/human relationship at great risk. With that said, one of the most important parts of your search is to find a modern, reward-based trainer to assist you in providing your dog with an education based on fun for all. Take a look at the trainer search page at www.APDT.com to get started.The search for a puppy can seem as daunting as finding a suitable partner in life. But, once you have found your puppy, your heart will be filled with love and you are sure to enjoy many years of the joys that come from having a canine companion by your side. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=234 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Anyone who has spent a Summer in New York City can understand why most urban dwellers anxiously await the coveted invitation to visit a friend in the country for a weekend. While the drive out of the city is sure to be a test of mental stamina for even the most experienced city driver, the destination brings with it the peace and quiet that is so highly sought after and scarce in the lives of most city folk. I recently spent one such weekend at a friend's beautiful cabin in upstate New York. Things started off as any dog loving city escapee would hope for. My dogs and I were welcomed with open arms and a dog biscuit or two and our host assured me that the dogs could run freely and safely in the fenced in yard. She even gave the A-OK for the dogs to lounge on the furniture! I pulled my dogs aside for a puppy pow-wow and explained that they must be on their absolute best behavior as a repeat invitation to this rural heaven was on the line. Saturday started off swimmingly, both literally and figuratively. After breakfast we all headed down the road to a neighbor's property for a dip in their pond. While we floated on rafts the dogs bounced around the edge of the pond in a futile attempt to catch a frog or an insect. It was the start of a superbly lovely, lazy Summer holiday. After a couple of hours we headed back to the house for a picnic lunch. Once finished, we lay about reading and talking as the dogs investigated the yard. Then it happened. http://www.andreaarden.com/article.php?id=233