The Little Bear Dog Blog

Does your family have a favourite saying?  There might be a few.  Sayings we grow up with and find ourselves repeating parrot fashion years later for no apparent reason? One of the favourite ones I remember hearing a lot growing up was  ‘Well never mind, at least you’re all in the same boat’.

Now this made no sense to me even then.  Before I’d learned to smile and nod politely at platitudes, the teenage me would huff sarcastically and say something like  ‘So, if we were all going to hell in a handbasket it would be okay as long as we had some company?!  Pah!

The idea seemed preposterous and with the same naivety with which I vowed never to eat myself past a size 8, I confined it to the ‘things old ladies say to stop teenagers whining’ box. 

The lure of good food meant I gave up on the size eight thing a long time ago and now it seems I have to admit that there might be some truth in the idea that being in the same boat can, in some circumstances be comforting.

I read Emma Parson’s excellent Click to Calm the other week and was on the verge of tears before page 3 of the introduction.  Here was a dog professional, an obedience trainer by trade who despite doing everything we think of as right in terms of positive puppy raising, found herself having to deal with a fearful, aggressive dog whose behaviour seemed to materialise out of the blue.

Now Little Bear isn’t such a serious case, but the thing that really struck me was how much better I felt reading about Emma’s problems with Ben.  Now that pains me to admit as I’ve never taken pleasure in anyone else’s misfortune, but there was an undenieable sense of relief on reading her story.  Here, at long last was someone else in my boat. 

Inspired by her account of a much calmer, happier Ben, I read the book cover to cover. My plan to use the clicker training methods described in the book with Little Bear however had to be adapted as, surprise, surprise, he’s afraid of the clicker.  Even the soft tone version clicked behind my back and accompanied by a generous portion of still warm roast chicken sent him scurrying upstairs to hide in his bed, after throwing me the ‘how could you?’ look over his shoulder.

So it seems that there is some truth in the old saying after all. There’s solace to be gained from knowing that whatever our dog’s problem, we won’t be the first, nor the last to have to deal with it.