There’s a Ladybug in my tea
I wonder does she think it’s a sea?
Can Ladybugs swim?
Was it just a whim?
That got a Ladybug in my tea.
There’s a Ladybug in my tea
I wonder was it just for me
Or was it the scent of Earl Grey
That enticed her over that way
And put a Ladybug in my tea.
There’s a [...]
Image via WikipediaAs I was writing a bit of code this week to perform a fairly simple task, I found myself making it much more difficult than it had to be.
I struggled with that bit of code for two days. I had even gotten to the point of emailing a forum I belong to that often has folks that are willing to help you out of jams like the one I found myself in, but it appears the forum is down right now, so I was stuck. Without my safety net (i.e. the forum experts), I began searching the web for my solution. While I found things that danced around my situation, I couldn’t find the exact solution — why? Because I had overly complicated the problem in the first place.
After smacking myself in the forehead a couple of times and getting my little bit of code tested and into production, I was left with some time to reflect on the events that surrounded my trying to make this thing into a mountain when it was truly just a grain of a sand.
The person who had asked for the code was someone who has a lot of angst in his conversations and correspondence to me. I know he has a large area that is difficult at best to manage and his customer is our largest and therefore most important. While he can be a fun guy, if he has a problem, he palpably transmits his emotions to me. He is never in any way abusive or demanding, he just puts off signals of distress that I pick up on easily. His problem was a complex one and this tiny bit of code is going to go a good part of the distance to alleviate some of his issues.
I can’t help but wonder if the intensity of his emotion didn’t influence my reaction and subsequent approach to the issue. One part of me knew it was a simple piece of code, but another part of me seemed to want to make it the same complexity that the problem was.
Or perhaps my issue was something totally unrelated to anyone other than myself. Perhaps I don’t feel challenged enough right now in my work, so needed to make this more complex than it needed to be. Perhaps, knowing that this simple solution was going to create a large feeling of relief on the part of my managers at having this tool at their disposal to make their job easier, I needed it to be as “big” as the problem it solved in order to let myself feel really good about it.
I know I catch myself sometimes making something harder than it really is because I don’t want to do it, but that wasn’t the case this time.
Do you find yourself making life harder by turning simple tasks into difficult ones?
What do you think triggers you to do that? Is it because you want to avoid the task all together or is it out of some kind of misconstrued desire to make it more important than it really is? What things do you do to snap yourself out of the loop?
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I found a little dog running down the road a few months back and, sucker that I am, picked her up and brought her home. Then, as is often the case, someone contacted me who wanted a small dog and so she went to xyz to live.
I try to stay in touch with the owners of the puppies and dogs I place and this person was very excited about my interest. We corresponded often and I also saw them around town from time to time and all seemed well.
Then, last week came the phone call “she won’t stop pooping on the rug and I can’t afford to replace my carpeting with tile, so I need to find her a new home” my stock reply is “I understand, I will come get her so that you don’t have to worry about a new home for her” and so she’s come back to us. Xyz told me that little dog will only eat this flavor and this brand of dog food, stresses terribly whenever xyz had to leave without her and loves her blue man toy and her pink dress. That’s not the little dog I sent to live with xyz.
I’m probably wasting my breath here as people like xyz will call me cruel at worst and unsympathetic at best but I’ve been around animals all my life and trained many of them to do lots of different things, so have a tiny bit of insight into the animal mind and specifically the mind of the dog.
Dogs, like many creatures, are associative learners. They cannot imagine scenarios based on what another dog “tells them” as their communication level is so much less than that. The word “if” is not within their grasp at all. Their world is totally defined by the word “when”.
I can’t tell you how often I’m told dogs are “little people in furry coats”. The only part of that statement that’s correct is the “furry coat” part. While they certainly experience love and hate, they are NOT people by any stretch of the imagination and to think of them in those terms is unfair to them.
So, without futher ado, here is a list of all the things you should do if you want a totally f*ed up dog:
You’re probably wondering why any of those things will f* up a dog. Here’s why.
Eating habits can be learned behavior
Dogs in “the wild” eat once or maybe twice a day and sometimes even go a day between eating if they gorged the day before. We can certainly put their tummies on a schedule, but we totally disrupt their desire for food by slipping them treats all day long. If you’re training your dog for something and are using treats as rewards, you need to cut out some of their daily ration of food to compensate for those treats because you’ll either end up with a dog that won’t eat it’s daily ration or that does and gets fat.
When faced with a new situation such as new family, new surroundings, etc. the dog may not eat. They are too worried about the change in circumstances and, so food becomes less of a concern to them than learning this new environment. Put the food down and if the dog doesn’t eat it within 15-20 minutes, pick it up. You could offer it again a bit later or wait 12 hours to offer it again. Missing a meal or two will not hurt the dog and they have enough sense of self preservation that they will not starve themselves.
Acting concerned over the dog eating transmits concern to the dog, but since she can’t understand English (most dogs only learn about a 30 word vocabulary) very well, she doesn’t understand that your concern is over her not eating, she only perceives that it has something to do with the food. In the wild, concern over a piece of food by the other pack members generally indicates that that food is spoiled or poisonous and so, instinct tells the dog to leave it along. That’s the message you give your dog when she won’t eat what you put down for her “this is bad food — don’t eat it”.
It’s hard to say Good-bye
I’m sure you’re all used to your dog greeting you happily when yo u get home and that’s normal pack behavior — greet the returning hunters from the hunt. When the hunters leave the pack to go on the hunt, it’s business as usual. They may touch a nose to say good bye, but there’s no wailing or extreme emotion. To have anything other than a pat on the head is telling your dog that you’re worried about something. Remember, the dog picks up quickly on the worry part, but doesn’t know WHY you’re worried. This leads to separation anxiety when it becomes a daily thing. Your dog only knows that you’re going into a stressful situation and that shes’ being left behind where she can’t provide protection or support. That anxiety on her part often translates into some unwanted behavior such as destroying blinds, furniture or soiling in the house.
Housebreaking has long been a misunderstood activity
All the books tell us that a dog won’t soil where she sleeps and they are correct up to a point. There are time and conditions in which this doesn’t hold true. When the dog is ill — she will go — she has no choice and no control. When she’s upset about something going on in her life that she feels like she can’t control. You have a new animal, a new boyfriend, your schedule changed or you’re ill. She may very well show her opinion of what’s going on by eliminating in the house. She came from a puppy mill situation where she was housed with siblings and mother in a small area where she couldn’t leave to eliminate and mother couldn’t teach her to leave to eliminate. We have to be enough in tune with our dog and know enough about her history to determine which of these might be in play. Then we have to teach the dog where it’s appropriate to eliminate and we have to be smarter than the dog about it.
Punishment is not an effective way to teach a dog. Remember, I told you the word “if” isn’t in their vocabulary. When the urge to eliminate hits, they are going to look around for a spot to go in and they’re not going to think about pottying before or after that urge is present.
Schedules are very good for dogs
They respond very well to structure, so you have to get yourself on a schedule with the puppy. Take her out immediately upon getting up in the morning, about 30 minutes after eating and right before bed. That may mean your morning shower and cup of coffee has to wait until you take the dog out, but if you want a reliable-in-the-house dog, you’ll make the sacrifice at least until she’s trained.
Go out with her
Shoving her out the door and expecting her to do it isn’t going to train her. For the first few weeks at least, you need to go out with her, have her on leash (even though you’re in a fenced area) and walk her around until she does “it” — remember, we’re waiting for the “urge”. Praise her for the task, then walk some more until it’s all taken care of. Some dogs pee more than once and poop more than once, so learn your dog’s particular bodily habits. Taking puppy out in bad weather isn’t fun for either of you, but it’s necessary in order to get that clean dog. And you may even need to play a game of fetch with puppy in order to get that urge to come a bit sooner — brisk physical activity often gets things in motion.
Unless you catch puppy in the act of eliminating in the house, it does no good to punish or scold her for inappropriate acts. She’s long forgotten the urge, so just clean it up with some odor eliminating product (white vinegar if nothing else is at hand) and go on. Make a mental note to yourself that you didn’t stay outside long enough and plan for a longer stay the next time.
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