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Not to brag.. Rather looking for sympathy as apparently it makes spotty sleeping patterns even more spotty.
But I think 2+ years of being on full alert during walks with Ari, scanning all directions for deer, squirrels, people, cars, dogs, etc... - all that has finetuned and sharpened my senses to superhuman levels, at least when it comes to seeing/hearing animals and things around.
I couldn't sleep last night because, as snow is melting outside, water is dripping from the roof and I just couldn't help hearing this Drip... Drip... Drip.... And when in the morning, i complained to my dearest OH ("darn snow melting, water dripping, making noise"), she said "What water? What noise?"
Maybe I am becoming part dog.... And it's not even full moon yet!
Anyone else noticed any such physical improvements (if thats what they are) since getting a dog?
Ari_RR wrote:Anyone else noticed any such physical improvements (if thats what they are) since getting a dog?
Dunno about physical, but I certainly march to a different drummer.
I know the scenting conditions of every different place and day
I know the wind speed and direction
I know where the wildlife lies
I have my eyes on the ground looking for footprints and droppings; my eyes where meadow meets woodland and the wild things lie up
I see the tiniest unsoundnesses in movement, the smallest discomforts in rest
I know what dogs 'say' even when they are 100 yards away
I look into their eyes and hear their thoughts
I am puzzled when other people don't do this
Next full moon I may not come back in human form at all
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
Ari_RR wrote:Anyone else noticed any such physical improvements (if thats what they are) since getting a dog?
improvements? lets see, damaged tendon in the middle finger on the right hand (repetitive motion from thinning shears), right knee shot from dog shows. legs almost always in a state of bruising from schlepping dog crates about and of course from enthusiastic greetings, rather than chanel no 5, i generally have the heady fragrance of cheese or dehydrated liver, two slight chip on teeth from being bopped by hard heads, .........
so physically no improvements, but happier, mos def!
My reflexes are lightening fast
Charlie's impulse control is still a work in progress and occasionally he will still attempt to swipe food from plates.
OH always loses his dinner when Charlie tries this, I never do because I move the plate the second he launches.
I can also break up dog fights practically in my sleep
Not sure that's a useful skill to have.
I dunno about superhuman... but before Jasper arrived I had fibromyalgia and thought I was capable of, just maybe, managing two half-hour walks a day. Now I can easily do a three-hour walk and am fitter than I've been since my 20s.
What I would really like is the superhuman ability to detect dogs' b*****ks at 100 yards though.
Despite being horribly short sighted and frequently find myself cleaning my specs, only to discover the day is not in fact grey or misty...
I can tell if a walker half a mile away has a big dog, little dog or toddler on reins..
I can tell you, generally, if my dogs are tracking a fox, or a rabbit, or a badger (highly useful since getting one of those wrong would get me in VERY deep doodoo) or a hare (it does depend on which dog mind you).
I can spot a squirrel millions of miles off.
Even when not walking my dogs, I have a slight nervous tic particularly if a small dog (snacky dogs they are called as Rocky thinks they ARE a snack) appears from round a corner - I find myself shortening an imaginary lead, looking for where to take cover or reach for the treats or squeaky ball!
I pay so much attention in looking out for other dogs that I see and recognise LOTS of local dogs I have actually never met on a walk, I have just seen them from the car.
The best yet though, was spotting a MOUSE, dashing out of and then back into, the long grass on the road verge .... in the dark... OH had the headlights dipped as its a nasty corner for surprising oncoming drivers, and at 40mph..
So yep, I think being a dog owner, particularly an owner of dogs designed to hunt by sight, has sharpened some of my reactions and abilities up a great deal! In fact it surprises me when other people don't have these abilities!
bendog wrote:I can also break up dog fights practically in my sleep
Oh yes. Now we are down to one terrier, this skill isn't needed - but the anticipation still is. I can see a hard stare and the stiff-legged prowl almost before it starts. Luckily the other dogs don't pile in the way another terrier would - there is a low vibrating growl that is almost out of human hearing range, my cue to time-out a certain party.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
Before I got Odin, I lived in a pretty rough area. Cars were often damaged, bottles were broken from drunks heading home or having fights, the Housing Association didn't maintain their empty properties to the windows stayed broken and lights stayed dark. There were a lot of druggies around. Contrary to popular opinion, druggies like the quiet life and no trouble, but the problem with them is the theft and petty crime for paying for it. Altogether, it felt a really intimidating place, and you didn't want to venture out at night.
Then I got my yard for my business, then I got Odin. Life didn't change because I'd bought a big dog, for one thing he wasn't a big dog but a puppy, and I was more worried about him than myself round about the flat.
So what made the difference? Stepping outside my door. You had to go out as it was getting dark and through the night too sometimes. Walking every street round about the flat, and knowing where every lane or shortcut led to. I got to meet neighbours I'd never met before, and they seemed as happy to meet me as I was to meet them. People on the same street who weren't dafties. I got to know some of the kids, and Odin went down a storm. All of a sudden, seeing broken bottles in the gutter didn't intimidate you, they made you angry. It wasn't riot or civil disorder, it was some incapable youth who could'nt hold his drink nor the bottle which contained it. You'd sometime see the drunks stumbling their way home, and realise how pathetic they were to let themselves get in to such a state. It was sad to think the noise they might make was scaring the living daylights out of elderly neighbours. What was once threatening and intimidating was revealed as petty nuisance and irritations, but the unfounded fears were the product of not knowing the difference. Sitting in your flat, your ears can tell your imagination some mighty tall tales, but once your outside and seeing what's going on, there's nothing to fear. There are no ogres or monsters, just idiots who can't even stand up.
I don't live there anymore, but it was big lesson for me about facing up to fears and insecurities. You don't have reclaim the streets like a vigilante, but the world is a better place once you've seen the perils in real time eye to eye, not merely heard them from behind a locked door watching murderers and criminals on TV. It wasn't actually that rough an area, it just happened to be on the route home that a handful of drunks always took. If anything, the indolence of the Housing Association not to look after the place was probably more intimidating and a greater source of anxiety for the residents.
So, that is just one example of what my Odin has done for me. He got me to step outside my door when my instincts were telling me I probably shouldn't, but the world is a better place because I did.
I'm also very glad to have come across positive PR training. I've never had two such cooperative and obedient dogs in my life, but both are characters who make me smile every hour of every day. I can honestly say, I think it makes all the difference between content dogs and happy ones.
Oh, emmabeth, I had forgotten about the skill of being able to spot a person a mile off and predict whether they have a dog (even if the dog is off lead) from a distance! I spot people WAY before they are on my OHs radar.
And automatic body blocking at doorways or to steer a dog away from the fridge/oven without really thinking about it!
And knowing every public footpath within a 5 mile radius!
bendog wrote: I had forgotten about the skill of being able to spot a person a mile off and predict whether they have a dog (even if the dog is off lead) from a distance! I spot people WAY before they are on my OHs radar.
"What do you mean you didn't see that brief flash of tail between the cars?"
Mr. Wuf used to argue with me when I said "change direction there's a dog up there" as HE didn't see any dog, if he had the lead we were in trouble so I stopped letting him hold the lead when we were together and if I saw a dog I would turn and tell Honey "this way" Mr. Wuf would ask why and I would simply say "trust me". I was right so often that he stopped even bothering to argue Sensible man.
Operant conditioning rocks but classical conditioning rules
Nettle wrote:I look into their eyes and hear their thoughts
I've heard other people say this and I hope one day I can too.
Meanwhile yep, I can spot a dog on the horizon and whether someone has a dog or not (although I still check back with people I deem dog less until I'm sure). I can also spot when Ted realises there's a dog about for those pesky ones that slip through the net. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be an owner who just walks along paying no attention not a care in the world, I can't imagine it. I can also spot a perfectly still bunny hundreds of yards away
I swear, other dogs, strangers dogs, know I can 'see' what they are thinking at times.
Even if (especially if?) I have gone out without my dogs - people walk by on their mobile phones, dragging the dog along, ignoring the dog beside them walking nicely, yanking the dog pulling frantically - and that dog, 9 times out of 10 gives me a look, it says 'hi' and it says 'him on the end of the string, he isn't listening' and they tell me ' you look fun/this walk is boring/i wanna get home FAST/this traffic is a bit scary isn't it' or even just 'hey, how are ya'..
On the whole I am glad of it, but sometimes its hard to hear dogs telling you stuff you can do nothing about - I had a 'friend' and she had four dogs and one of them, for some reason I just connected with - they were all lovely dogs but this one black lurcher, with a dollop of labrador and god knows what else in the mix - there was something about her, and she clearly felt the same about me.
If we walked together, she would walk beside ME, if she was off lead, she would recall to ME, retrieve to ME, if her owner asked her to do something or told her off (she was VERY strict and and had some bizarre cast iron rules that made bog all sense), she would roll her eyes and look at me - for the most part her owner never noticed but this dog clearly was tolerating the person and the owner DID finally start to notice when her dog would purposely put herself in MY car not hers...
Its a tad awkward when a dog gets SO obvious about preferring someone else!
Guys... I don't have any of these superhuman skills (i'm pretty sure one or all of you moonlights as Batman, btw ) but the fact that you all have to be eagle-eyed for joggers, dogs, motorbikes etc makes me feel a lot better about having to do that myself. I'm sure there's a threshold after which I will stop anxiously looking out for small children and cyclists and it will just become routine and I'll be able to confidently handle it - I hope there is, anyhow!
jodieohdoh wrote:but the fact that you all have to be eagle-eyed for joggers, dogs, motorbikes etc makes me feel a lot better about having to do that myself. I'm sure there's a threshold after which I will stop anxiously looking out for small children and cyclists and it will just become routine and I'll be able to confidently handle it - I hope there is, anyhow!
Yep, it becomes first nature in no time at all. Then you wonder why other people can't see these things.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
) but the fact that you all have to be eagle-eyed for joggers, dogs, motorbikes etc makes me feel a lot better about having to do that myself. I'm sure there's a threshold after which I will stop anxiously looking out for small children and cyclists and it will just become routine and I'll be able to confidently handle it - I hope there is, anyhow!