Weeding and Reading

I had plans for Tuesday but somehow, what happened is that the kids played Zoo Tycoon and I did a bit of reading and a bit of weeding, and then Roo came home and presto, end of day.

My kids, innocents that they are, have never actually played this game before. They have seen it at someone else's house a few times but they have never played it. And this isn't Zoo Tycoon II - nope, it's the first version, out in 2001, borrowed from the library. One of the many benefits of letting your children play computer games only a couple days out of the year, is that they are easily amused by software that is SO out of date that no other self-respecting kid would come anywhere near. Which is just how we like it. At this rate, they won't be asking for Grand Theft Auto until they're in their 30's.

So, while the kids were busy with lions and zebras, I was speed reading the 2nd time through the books I mentioned yesterday - Dima's Dog School and the How to be Your Dog's Best Friend by the Monks of New Skete. I also spent a fair bit of time at this site: The Doglistener. Dima and the Doglistener are both in the UK and I find both sources refreshing because of their positive attitude to rescue dogs. (The Doglistener is not a writer. Don't be put off by the fact that he struggles with run on sentences and it's/its. I think he knows dogs. I can teach my dog the rules of English usage myself. I just need help walking past strange dogs - which Lucky managed to do this morning without a single bark. Yay. We did a very weird little dance on the other side of the street with me encouraging and leading and treating and circling, but in the end, the dog walked past, Lucky did not bark at all, and her hackles only went up a bit.)

Here's the thing you'll notice very quickly if you start dealing with dogs and training - it's just like having children. Everybody has an opinion, and everybody wants to share it. Even the lady who has never had a dog but her uncle once looked after his friend's poodle for a weekend, even she will tell you how it needs to be done. There are huge long debates about methods and tools, and ongoing arguments about where the dog should sleep and how he should be fed. See? Just like having babies.

When you have meet a group of parents, all you need to do is drop words like Ferber, Ezzo, homebirth, Attachment Parenting, breastfeeding, La Leche League, homeschooling, and corporal punishment into the conversation & huge raging arguments will erupt.

With dogs, the trigger words are BARF, home-cooked, choke-chain, alpha, corrections, treats, Halti, pack behaviour and dominance theory.

In the end, it's like everything else in life - you consider the information, evaluate the source (like, who pays for nutrition seminars for both medical and veterinary doctors?), and use your own head.

Yesterday in the afternoon, we went out into the backyard where I did a bit of weeding while the kids played with water ballons and got totally soaked.

And while I hacked out dandelions and harboured homicidal thoughts towards the moss in the lawn, and the sun burned the back of my neck because I didn't put the sunscreen down low enough, Lucky relaxed on the deck and I thought, this is good.