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Date: Thu, 09 Oct 1997 11:32:54 -0400
From: "Bruce A. Martin"
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Subject: [Fwd: CANINES]
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Subject: CANINES
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Before we went to Hungary and Romania, our first dog was a small, mixed
breed terrier. After we returned, my father bought a female
shepherd-wolf mix from a sailor. She became my dog and I named her
Beauty. Her howling may have annoyed neighbors, but it was music for my
ears. Beauty was aloof and dangerous to all but the family. Her affect
on me has lasted all my life and my favorite dogs were German shepherds.=20
Years later, after my marriage to Edythe and the arrival of our first
son, Bruce, I bought a shepherd pup from Margo Mor, who had given up
flying and was raising German shepherds. Through her I met Dr. Sachs, a
veterinarian and a director of the Seeing Eye Foundation. For many
years, as a hobby, I raised and donated shepherds for the Seeing Eye
Foundation. Kutcha (dog in Hungarian) was a former Seeing Eye dog and the
last dog I owned. He died at age fourteen in our Garden of Edythe home
in Merrick in 1994. . .=20
While the children were growing up we only had shepherds. All female
shepherds we named Dexe, and all male shepherds were named Kutcha. They
were trained to obey silent hand signals as well as voice signals.=20
Certain commands were in German, mainly the attack orders. All dogs we
owned were trained to only take food that we gave them, and only if we
gave them the order to eat. We could put a steak in the floor and leave
it there, even if we left the area, and the dog would not eat it until we
would give the command to eat it. All food eaten had to have the smell
of our hands on it before they would eat it. This prevented someone from
intentionally poisoning them. Only once did this prevention fail. There
were only two other dogs we owned while we had shepherds that were of
other breeds, a white-eyed Weimaraner and a miniature Pincher. =20
The Weimaraner was a beautiful male but never as trustworthy as the
shepherd. When we lived in Laurelton, we had a fenced-in back yard.=20
Someone had thrown in pieces of poisoned meat. The shepherd would not
eat it. The Weimaraner could not resist the temptation and died. Dr.
Sachs tested the meat and found it was laced with cyanide.
The miniature Pincher, Trystie, a bitch in every sense, was a vigorous,
curious, bundle of energy, scarcely larger than a Chihuahua, obedient but
with an untrustworthy disposition typical of large Doberman Pinchers.=20
Trystie often bit children that came to the house or the boat. Trystie
would annoy and tease Kutcha, our large tolerant shepherd. Trytie had
never seen male canines before we got her, and she copied one of Kutcha=92=
s
urinating habits. Kutcha would lift a hind leg when he urinated, and the
female, Trystie, would do the same. As a joke, I trained my dogs to lift
their right forelegs when I raised a forefinger. I usually gave the
signal and said, =93Heil. Hitler,=94 and I would remark that it was typi=
cal
of a German dog to be a Nazi. It did not matter if I said, =93Happy New
Year,=94 or any words, the dogs would respond to my hand signal. One day=
I
was at the marina where I docked my trawler, Tryst. Little Trystie was
coming down the dock after relieving herself in the dog run. As she
approached me, I signaled her and said, =93Heil Hitler.=94 Three boats
away, a man sitting in the stern of his boat got up and faced me with a
smile as he sad, =93Heil Hitler.=94 He had not seen the little dog trott=
ing
astern of his moored boat and thought the greeting was for him. I
learned that I had an anti-Ssmite and Nazi sharing the marina with me. I
pointed to the dog on the dock and he leaned over his stern transom and
saw little Trystie trotting up the dock. As he turned to me his puzzled
look became a scowl as I said, =93I was greeting my dog. I name all my
dogs, =91Hitler=92.=94.
=20
Dog training has many ramifications anhd some of them may seem humorous
or cruel, depending on one=92s views. Pavlov initiated many concepts of
animal responses to stimuli. Pavlov=92s and Skinner=92s methods have bee=
n
applied to animal training. Rat and mouse traps were part of the
equipment that Dr. Sachs and Margo used to quickly train dogs from
sleeping on the sofa, beds or areas where they are not to go. First the
traps are set and sprung accompanied by a stern, =93No.=94 The dog woul=
d
soon associate the snap of the trap with a command to stop from
continuing a particular procedure. The traps would then be set and
placed under sheets of newspapers in areas where the dog was not to go.=20
When the dog would leap on a sofa or bed that had a set trap hidden under
newspapers, the trap would snap under the newspapers without harming the
animal. The dog would leap from the sofa or bed and soon learn that
certain items were out of bounds.
The paper matches from matchbooks are used to housebreak dogs, preferably
puppies. After feeding, the ideal time, or before retiring for the
night, I would stand over and grip the dog between my knees with its
head behind me. I would hold four or five unlit matches by the heads,=20
and insert the matches in the dog's rectum. With small puppies, I would
hold them on my lap and proceed with inserting one or two matches. Then
I would quickly take them outside. The response is immediate. The dog
tries to expel the match suppository, and this stimulates the flow of
fecal matter. A few applications of this procedure are usually adequate.
When the canine in training would see me tear off a few matches, the dog
would race to the door, often pawing at it while impatiently waiting to
be let out. =20
Leading a dog=92s life is not bad, if the animal is accepted as part of t=
he
family.=09
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