... in a word Temperament

I have been talking a lot with a couple of experienced dog trainer-breeders about temperament. A couple of online definitions to get me started...

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temperament says temperament is:
"the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition."

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temperament says

"characteristic or habitual inclination or mode of emotional response" 

We all know what we don't want. But it is possible we aren't really sure of what we do want. People will say they want a good temperament on a puppy to take home. We're pretty sure this means a puppy who won't attack their kids. It takes a lot of conversation to try and figure out what they do want. It's even harder to figure out whether they really want what they say they want. Especially with people who are inspired to try performance. They certainly don't want a dog who just wants to eat and sleep all day. They hear of something called drive and they think they want it.

I found this great video of a puppy who has high drive. It's a Belgian Malinois baby, 9.5 weeks old. 

 high drive puppy

and at 13 and 15 weeks with LOTS of intense training

working puppy 13 weeks

working puppy 15 weeks 

While we all want to have a dog that looks as fun to be around as the 15 week old it really needs to be appreciated that a high drive dog needs to be working virtually every moment it's awake or not eating. And it may need to be working while it eats and who knows what they're dreaming about. 

I think people need to consider if they are high drive themselves. And if the rest of their life allows them to actually be interacting with their dog as much as this requires. There are varying degrees of drive and ideally we can find a dog with a drive that matches our own.

Another key ingredient to temperament is biddability. While it may be argued that the puppy in the videos is biddable I'm learning that may not be true in the strict sense of the word. The videos don't show the rest of the 24 hours of living with Endy and so I wonder how it goes when Cindy has to deal with the rest of her world.

What exactly is biddable? http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biddable says:

 "easily led, taught, or controlled"

 
One of my mentors spoke of one of his dogs in explaining biddability. When he takes his dogs out on the road and he hears a car coming he tells all of his dogs to go to the side of the road and lie down. There's one young dog who is so sure of what his feeder-walker wants that now when he hears a car, and since he's a dog it is way sooner than when his trainer can hear it let alone give a command, he goes to the side of the road and lies down. That's biddable! 

Another aspect of a herding dog is instinct. This link is an excellent article on distinguishing herding instinct from prey drive. And it also goes into drive and biddability.

We're learning more and more that these traits are heritable. While environment can modify the traits one way or the other, they have to be in the DNA. So breeders will breed for a temperament they want. But the question is: Since there really aren't enough herding and performance enthusiasts out there what traits should we focus on? In my mind the highest priority should be biddability. And something else too.

That something else that isn't brought up very often is attitude. A dog can be high drive, biddable and have wonderful instinct but still have issues. A dog may want to please its owner but more out of anxiety than out of joy in doing so. Just like people dogs can be motivated from both places and you can tell. The anxious dog can't relax, has a more difficult time with playing. Or they can have separation anxiety where they have to be with their person in order to be calm on some level. 

This last item I think is in a grayer area of nature vs. nurture with nurture (environment) being critical in the early life of a puppy and becoming more cemented in the older dog's nature. A dog that grew up in an anxious home might always retain a certain level of that no matter where they live. Conversely, I do think it's possible that a puppy can grow up in a happy environment and still be a worrier. I learned in my genetics class that environment can cause certain genes to remain dormant or be expressed. Maybe this is the way it works with attitude. I do believe you can teach an old dog new tricks but it might be limited to how much change can be had. It depends on the dedication and skill of the trainer and the degree of intensity of the environment that shaped the behavior traits and what the genes say about the essential dog.


I'm by no means an expert on this stuff. But it was an interesting bit of dialog and I felt compelled to share it and open it up to others to share their thoughts.

vision testing

Sometime last spring I went in to get my eyes checked. I knew I needed glasses. Just for reading. But when the lenses were placed in front of my eyes and everything near and, even more so, distant, came into focus I felt like crying. I had been missing so much detail. And not just for reading. Maybe not blind exactly but I had lost my focus.

I thought about that experience the other day after taking Kismet into Portland to spend some time with a couple who wanted to open their home and share their lives with a special dog.

It was only 10 months ago when Celie surprised me by whelping the first of her “Luck” litter out in the dog run. Barking like crazy she got me out to find her firstborn black boy squeaking and wet. It was very lucky I found him, rushed him and mom inside and waited for the rest to come. That little boy I named Kismet and later Toreth’s Synchronicity.

As he grew I saw good things. Big, round bone. Perfect turnout. Wonderful expression. Huge ears. And the sweetest temperament. I also saw the challenges but knew I could work with them. I know I could finish him, get Celie some ROM points maybe. And then as he grew I had thoughts of breeding him.

No one said anything against his quality. At least not directly to me. In fact, judges told me how beautiful his front was and gave me unsolicited grooming advice regarding the coat. Friends were supportive.

Then one day recently it was like someone put some corrective lenses over my eyes. I saw my little group of dogs. I have three lovely girls who will only have a few opportunities to be bred. I realized I wouldn’t use Kismet myself and I doubt anyone else would.
I saw the resources of my time, energy and finances split between all the dog stuff and the non-dog stuff. It was time to get real.

A breeder, a responsible one, has to be hard sometimes. With a twinge of guilt and a tiny edge of jealousy I hear puppy buyers tell me that when they bring a dog home it’s for life. A breeder has to let go of that particular ideal while holding onto the bigger picture. And I remind myself that dogs don’t feel exactly the way we do about relationships.

So I let it be known to a few dog friends that I was letting Kismet go. And before long I received an email about him from this great couple who had lost a Cardigan and a Pembroke this year. They were missing the company only a dog can give and Carolyn sent them my way. (Thanks my friend!) Everyone seemed to know it was simply meant to be. Like kismet. Like synchronicity.

Here’s what I saw: I saw a happy, proud little dog go in and make himself at home. With the couch, the toys, and their hearts. I saw him work that canine magic on the nicest people I could ask for any of my dogs.
And I learned all over again that when I get a little perspective and let go a little I get to see beautiful things like that.

A dog's job...

I have come to the undeniable conclusion that dogs are meant to drive us crazy.

This afternoon I carried Karma out to go potty and she could barely stand and then it took her 4 attempts at squatting before she could go without falling down.

Then an hour ago she heard it was dinner time and I found her standing in her crate. I let her out and she was getting around and barely limping.

I've learned there are many options. Some surgeries ranging from $700-3800. It's been suggested too that I just give her meds and keep her crated and maybe it's going to resolve on its own. I will continue to monitor her and learn as I go and do what I think is best. But it'll just be my best guess in the end and hoping I do the right thing.

Sigh. It's been a crazy day.

I have discovered Basil Hayden's... smooooooth.

Tripping Down Mammary Lane: A Lesson in Inspiration

Well, it seems everything is fine and I am living a while longer. With as much assurance as anyone else. But I have recently been dealing with an annoying reminder that I am mortal. Yes, in spite of all my best intentions with regard to diet, supplements and fitness I had to face the fact that I can't be all too sure I'll have at least another 45 years. Before I go on though it's important you know that I'm fine. For now. LOL, as far as I know.

It started with a routine doctor's exam including the whole breast thing. I have fibrocystic breast condition (FCC), which basically means the tissue is difficult to do a monthly on. There's always something. So when my doc found a lump I already knew it was there and I wasn't worried, but it had been a while so we decided it would be wise to get a mammogram. That was way back in April.

Another fine feature of FCC is it makes the tissue really hard to read. The tissue is dense making it whiter and anything that would be of any concern is also white. So it's kind of like looking for a polar bear in a blizzard. So we did an ultrasound on the lump and saw it was indeed just a cyst. Yay!! But the radiologist said he thought an MRI would be a good idea for me to get a baseline.

Ok. Except the insurance company didn't agree it was necessary, i.e, "we don't want to pay for it!" My primary care doc went to bat for me. It took us two months but finally I went in for the MRI. A week later I get a phone call. "We'd like to do another look with ultrasound at one particular area in the other breast. There have been changes since the mammogram you had 5 years ago." Oh really? This was Thursday and the appointment was scheduled for Monday.

Of course there was a dog show that weekend. I was a nervous wreck. In spite of my best efforts to be cool about it I found myself snapping at my kids over stupid things. I'm sure I snapped at lots of people without meaning to. The boobs were no big deal, right? But everything else then became enormously intolerable. sigh... Letting my human weakness go. But more on that later.

So then came Monday. Never saw this particular radiologist, just the tech who after she came back from seeing him and said, "You're fine. He just wants you to get another MRI in 3 months." He apparently couldn't bother with answering the obvious why that would come with that response.
But I told myself I had made a big deal out of nothing.

That was almost 3 weeks ago. I came home on this past Thursday to a message to call the clinic where I had the original mammogram. Calcifications in the right breast. An MRI or ultrasound can't see those. You need to come in for another mammogram. blah!

So I went in yesterday. (Sidenote: It's completely amazing a breast can ever go back to its normal shape after being crushed by that machine. And whoever designs the stupid things seems not to realize most women have a head because the camera housing is right where that would be if we were even able to stand in a normal posture with a breast in the clamp. ow.) Yet another radiologist sat with me afterward and apologized for all the confusion. He says another MRI in 3 months is too soon but a mammogram and MRI in the spring would be wise. For while the calcifications appear benign breast cancer can be deceptive.

So I'm fine. For now.

Oh and the Lesson in Inspiration? I'm taking a medical terminology class. Loving it. I read this week that another word for inhalation is inspiration. Loving wordplay I have latched onto it.
I am almost 46 and am still learning to be consciously grateful for every breath and every second chance (and 3rd and 4th and, yes, I probably need several more as flawed as I seem to be). To create, to experience, to learn and to be with those I love. Oh and to let go when I need to too. As you may have guessed the opposite of inspiration is expiration. And a necessary part of the whole living thing is remembering to exhale. Letting go of what no longer serves me. Not holding on to whatever belongs in the past. This way I have room for all that inspiration heading my way in whatever time I have left.

And that includes another dog show next weekend! Enumclaw with Rogue. It's going to be good. Whatever happens...

Learning My Lessons (or conscious dog ownership)

As some of you know I'm studying yoga. I will get my teaching certificate pretty soon. And I just did some special training around yoga therapy. Along with the physical postures there's a lot of discussion about philosophy. I'm too skeptical to be into a lot of woowoo but I do think it's important to live consciously, with awareness and full ownership of what I do. In yoga classes we talk about ownership of our thoughts. Our feelings. And of course our actions. It struck me tonight that while we talk of the dogs we own how many of us really consider what ownership means in terms of responsible choices as far as their welfare is concerned? Without blame and other excuses?

My daughters and I took the remaining four to a puppy class tonight. Its focus is on pure socialization. A conformation handling class offers some of this but this is really in their face interaction with lots of different shapes and sizes of dogs and people, as well as ramps and things with wheels and all sorts of textures and other stimuli. They also help get us started on some clicker training and simple commands such as "sit" and "down."

I got a discount having more than one dog but not for all of them since only two will be staying long enough. In the end it will cost $200 for 4 weeks of classes for two of them and 2 weeks for the other two. But it's so important at this age between 8-16 weeks that they get exposure to as many different people and experiences as I can possibly provide.

While there something was emphasized I really thought important to pass on to those of us with more than one dog and particularly those of us with littermates where the bond is established from birth. It was said that for every hour dogs have together they need 5 hours of time with their humans. It was said that ideally this should be each dog in alone time with us. You do the math. More than 2 dogs and you run out of daylight pretty quick. Hold a job that takes us away from them for the better part of the day and it's just an impossible standard to uphold.

So what happens is things like this are said, not to be a hard and fast rule, but rather a way to make a point. And I have to ask myself how many dogs do I have real time for? How fair is it to ask my daughters and husband to help when this hobby is my idea? When I have a few other aspirations and goals set for myself too?

My family is pretty willing luckily. In fact the one least fond of beasty things with lickery tongues announced she had a great time tonight. And as I lay them all down to sleep I found all my young, both canine and human, went to bed tonight without complaint and quickly fell asleep.

But here I am awake and wondering if I can keep my life and everything and everyone I care about in it balanced, flexible and strong...

I'm told it starts with caring for myself and that quite likely starts with a healthy amount of sleep. So now I turn off the light. Good night.