[Dailydrool] Reasoning with Dogs....

[Menzie Campbell]

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I have NO idea if reasoning with my dogs has any effect or not, but I
do it sometimes.  Particularly, if we are going away somewhere.  I
will sit down with all four of them, and tell them that we are going
away for a few days, but that Miss Rhonda (their beloved petsitter)
will be coming to feed and play with them, and we will be home in just
a few days.

In more general terms, when Annabelle first lost her sight, I spent a
LOT of time talking to her; just nonsene, often, like telling er step
by step what I was doing " OK, now I'm getting the tomatoes out of the
fridge, and now I'm slicing them, and now I'm getting out the pot",
etc.  This was to help her learn to orient by sound, but I also think
it was comforting to us both.

Since that seemd to work for her, I have since, when fostering a
skittish or hyper basset foster, talk to them non-stop too, at least
for the first few days.  Oddly, it seems to calm them; maybe my calm
and happy tone lets them know that I am trustworthy (well, for a
human, at least...)  :)

-- 
Menzie Campbell
Save a Life - Don't Shop, ADOPT!
www.ombr.org
Owned by Pw. Annabelle, Hector TVL, Barney TPP, and Bozlee TOS