As some of you know, school has started this week. I've gone through the headache of attending all of my classes at least once, and all I have to say is I will miss spending all my time at the livestock center (however 2/5 classes are there this semester).
I jumped into Feeds & Nutrition and skipped taking the college algebra and chemistry requirements. I understand chemistry pretty well, considering I've never had a formal education in it, and let's face it - if you can't do algebra, you're an idiot. But it seems like I may be usurped in this decision, for today I will be talking to Dr. Waddoups about going on the graduate school.
I feel I'm standing at the fork in the road of my life. I've narrowed what I want to do to two options, and I'm having a hard time figuring out if I should choose Brain Path: Veterinary School, or Heart Path: Animal Behavior Doctorate. I've always love animals, and the two subjects I most definitely excel at are animal behavior/handling, and anatomy/physiology.
My father has always had a love of psychology, and understanding why people do what they do. I think this curiousness has rubbed off on me. Except I love understanding the creatures not speaking to me. It's a bit more of a challenge, and is quickly becoming a more advanced field. We're grasping intangible concepts such as energy, which I describe as body language meets intention. Cesar Millan describes it as your state of being at all times. Are you calm? Are you acting like a leader? Are you frustrated? That's your energy, and your dog reads it all the time. That's what makes them so unique when communicating with us.
Speaking of Cesar, I'm reading "Cesar's Rules" at the moment, and this last chapter I read last night struck a chord with me. I've worked very hard at making Apollo balanced and submission. He's not perfect, he still snaps at Addea, barks at the neighbor's dogs, and gets too excited about certain subjects (i.e. food). But he listens to me at all times, he's very submissive on walks, and understands correction very quickly (oh, I shouldn't jump on you when you're feeding me). But Cesar was regaling a visit with Dr. Ian Dunbar, and how all tricks needed an end. I've always used my energy to release Apollo from a trick, but it's never consistently worked. I've never trained him that after the "sit" trick, there should be a "stand" trick. I felt a humongous "DUH" moment when reading that. Why had I never done that?
Another important thing Cesar talks about is off leash training. I've never been confident in letting Apollo off leash outside an enclosed area, partly because of my fear that one day he may take off running. He's never shown any indication that he would do this, and I feel like a fool going against my own wisdom (whatever you believe will happen, will) but I think if Apollo's recall or "sit" command was more reliable, I would feel better. Apollo has a bad problem of just looking at me when I tell him to come. I have the bad habit of asking nicely (meekly) and have to work my way up to a commanding "Apollo, come!" until he listens. He always waits for me to be a leader, and I kick myself for not being that at the beginning.
Another problem I've worked with over the years is asking him to be quiet and calm when a guest arrives. He barks, and jumps, and I've never been consistent with correcting that. One of my main problems is our family has sanctioned off our kitchen and living room as dog zones. It's hard to answer the door and correct the dogs at the same time when we are in separate rooms. It would be nice to place a sign on the door "Dogs in training, please be patient. The door will be answered shortly" Maybe even a "Be calm when entering this house! Don't look, don't touch and no eye contact with dogs!" People may get the wrong idea, our dogs are not aggressive in any way, but if they were in a calm state of mind when entering the house, it helps take away excited energy and makes training the dogs that much easier. The signs would be temporary, because I don't expect everyone who enters our house to conform to an energy that is not natural to them.
Anyway, these are just some thought I had this morning, and I'm glad to get them off my chest. There's really no use in thinking about what I can do with Apollo right now, he's half the country away. But it's good to have a game plan!
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