Disagreements about dogs. Are they good?
Dear Darcy, It seems to me that a lot of people who love dogs disagree with each other about what is the right thing to do in feeding and training, especially training. I see this all over the Internet, not just at your blog. I don’t like the disagreements or confrontation and would rather see everyone agree. Just get along. What do you think? Peg
Dear Peg, Wouldn’t that be nice! Especially if we’re on the agreeable side!? The world doesn’t work that way and in my opinion, it shouldn’t. What a terrible thing for me if I had to agree to use shock collars even when I am so against their use. And what a terrible thing for someone else to have to give up their shock collars if that’s working for them without turning their dog into a mass of jelly….no wait, I take that back, that’s not a good argument….LOL!
Disagreements aren’t necessarily bad and they can be very, very good. Some people have to weigh all sides before they make a choice, to do that they need to hear all sides.
Oh, there will be a few bad apples in the barrel who want to raise some ire for the sake of starting a fight but those people are few and far between and in my experience are excused by most of us as argumentative and not worth listening to much. We let them stick around because every once in a while they say something sensible and worth listening to but most of the time we kind of roll our eyes as if our crazy old Aunt Tilli had just farted in church, it’s just the way she is and we don’t pay it much mind.
Most people want to hear about things that they don’t know about yet or why what they’re doing isn’t working as well as something else. Gosh, if nobody listened to what might be a better solution because they think they have it all figured out, nothing would change for the better. And will that happen? Sure, it happens every day. Some people will never be budged away from what they think is right, right or wrong.
I say that everyone should get a chance to speak their piece and share their experiences. Of course I don’t like anger, resentment, or harsh words and if the posts are bad enough, they get deleted from the discussion. We don’t ever have to be mean to each other to talk this stuff over. The Dish by Darcy and SitStay’s Facebook are all about sharing what we know with each other. It’s a good thing.
I’m not the end all of the dog world and you won’t be either, none of us are, I’m sure there’s agreement about that. What I do know is that I do what I do by writing The Dish and sharing with our Facebook friends to share what works for me and what I know has worked for thousands of my friends and customers who want a better way to live with their dogs. It’s why I’m here, to share. I don’t put myself on the line every day just to have people agree or disagree with me. I do it because I care about people and the dogs they love. I want to be loved and accepted just like I love and accept everyone else. It’s my nature to want to help. I can’t help it, it’s what I do. Again LOL!
If we don’t all put our two cents in and listen to each other, what use is it to have a public discussion or even to know each other at all? We don’t have to always agree. I think we should always listen. Good things come of people coming together for a good cause. What better cause than the dogs? Well kids, maybe, but mine are all grown and doing well so I don’t have much to say about that any more. 
I’ll always be on the side of the dogs and I’ll always do my best to answer and argue and share with love. For me, it’s the only way.
Thanks for the question. It’s a great one. Stick around, we’ve been doing this for over 14 years and we’re still going strong. You might learn more than you ever realized existed. It’s a great big old world out there and there are tons and tons of people working with and loving dogs every day. That’s a lot of information. – Darcy
Prong collar, not necessary.
Dear Darcy, I had to call you today (Yes, I have her private cell number!) to tell you what I’ve done. I talked to you at the dog expo last week and you showed surprise that I was using a prong collar on my girl. You hugged me and smiled and you were very nice about it but you told me that you were surprised to see me using a prong collar because you know I bought this book from you a few years ago. I admitted that I bought it, took it home and put it on the shelf. You shamed me gently into actually finally reading the book.
When I got home from the expo, I took the prong collar off and started reading. Then we started using the training from the book, My Dog Pulls What Do I Do? OMG! Within minutes of starting the training she isn’t pulling any more! Even my granddaughter can walk her.
Sunday morning, I pulled the prong collar off the shelf to put it on and she sat and looked at me, then she shook her whole body as if to say, “What! Have you gone mad again?!” That made me remember that we didn’t use that nasty old prong collar any more and off we went with her on the cat’s leash, threading it through the handle. On the cat leash!!
I’ll get a pretty new soft dog collar for her and of course it will be from SitStay!
I still can’t believe the change in her, that fast change is hard for me to realize. She’s more cuddly and she’s sitting politely to go out when it’s time. I wonder if that has anything to do with me being smarter than I was last week! I’ll be in town on Monday, I’ll give you a call when I get there. – Beth
Oh Beth, I’m so glad! Yes, our dogs do know and respond differently when we aren’t hurting them any more. Metal hurts. And dogs who pull usually simply don’t know what we want instead. Open the lines of communication and you and your dog will live such a wonderful life together. It doesn’t take harsh training to make it so. You’re a good woman. Thanks for calling and letting me use this in The Dish. And thanks for letting me have some time with your girl, too, she looks so much like our old girl. See you Monday. – Darcy
Help with cat diet, please!
Darcy, Please excuse me if I am posting this in the wrong place. Yours is the first blog I’ve followed, and I’m not really sure how blogs work. But I have a question about cat nutrition. I have an approximately 20-year-old torti, Nermal, who is a total sweetheart. She moved in under my porch with her 3 kittens 17 years ago, and then into our hearts and house. I also have one 17-year-old daughter. Nermal always had tooth problems, and no amount of dental care kept them from needing to be pulled a few at a time. Last November she lost the last of them. Since then she has been losing weight. I’ve always given them canned food twice a day and free choice (what I thought was) quality kibble. She turn up her nose at the canned food, and still tries to eat the kibble. In her life, she has never turned down a tidbit of leftover meat, fish or fowl. I want to start feeding her more fresh meat. Her kidneys are starting to fail, and I want her last months to be happy not hungry. But I’m concerned about her getting the nutrients she needs, especially Taurine that I understand from what I’ve read is hard to supply in fresh meat. Is there a supplement I can give her, (that doesn’t need to be chewed) that will give her the nutrients she needs to be as healthy as possible? Cathie
Dear Cathie, I’m not going to be much help I’m afraid. I know dogs, I don’t know much about cat nutrition. We do carry high quality cat foods for the convenience of our dog lovers. The cats who live in my house aren’t mine so I’m not the one who feeds them, they eat the foods from SitStay.com and they catch and eat mice, they’re doing great but they all still have their teeth. Here’s what I know about cat diets. Taurine is not a true amino acid but is essential in a cat’s diet. It’s found in many foods especially seafood and meat, and the less processed, the better. Processing of food kills Taurine and is why cat foods are supplemented with Taurine, you’ll see it on the ingredient list. Cats shouldn’t go over 24 hours without food. Truly that’s about all I know about it. We all get one life and we don’t have time to learn everything. That would be me, I don’t know everything.
Can anybody help Cathie with her sweet old cat? Sorry, I wish I knew more but it’s why I have a dog supply store. – Darcy
