Paying It Forward Continues – Teaching Our Kids to Respect Dogs

The Iowa Dog Trust is ALL about teaching our young people about the correct way to interact with dogs.

Yesterday I had a chance to work with two very nice young ladies. They are hungry for knowledge about dogs and I am more than happy to share mine with them.

The sisters, 5 years old, and 10 years old, both love dogs. The 10 YO wants her own dog in the worst way, but mom and dad want to wait until the 5 YO is older and more comfortable around them. (I applaud them for their wisdom).

Patchs and I spent a few hours yesterday playing with the girls and the girls got to safety interact with Patchs in a fenced-in area. I talked with them about using their voice to control dogs, taught them some basic commands, and showed them some basics of how to read a dog’s body language. Patchs and I will be dropping by again this afternoon for a little “refresher”.

It is very rewarding to me to “pay it forward” and I love to mentor kids about dogs. It is exciting to watch them as they learn and it is a great feeling when the “get it” and realize that they can communicate with an animal in a respectful and natural way.

I feel that it is extreemly important to teach kids how to properly treat animals, (and other humans for that matter) with love and respect at the earliest possible age. We have a responsiblity to give them all of the tools they need to become not only great pet owners, but responsible members of society. Teaching them to work with nature (not against it) will help them in all areas of later life.

Guard Dog on Duty

The following story was told to me by one of my friends in a Facebook Group. I thought you guys would like to read about a REAL Guard Dog. Thanks for sharing it Ann, I always enjoy your literary style!

My Audrey is a wonderful guard dog.

This morning I saw her sniffing the air… then her ears perked up. She can smell and hear thieves a mile away.

As they came closer, she began nudging my elbow… closer still, she grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and tugged. When I didn’t seem to understand that this was an emergency, she began barking… “Thieves are coming! Thieves are coming! THIEVES!!!!”

I could hear nothing, and it is still dark, so I could see nothing.

She persisted, barking louder and more fiercely as yellow lights came down the road.

Finally, I could see them. They stopped right in front of our house, causing Audrey to go WILD, spinning in circles, screaming at them, but it didn’t deter them. They took our trash anyway.