Books and Beliefs

Over my vacation I did some reading and listening to audiobooks. It started with "Merle's Door" at first I hated it, I am not a fan of  people talking for their dogs like that ( I prefer more the Terhune type dog voice) but I also didn't like his assertion that dogs must run free 24/7 to be happy, and dogs who don't are prisoners.
 I think my logo will be "Hylights, Home of the Happy Hostages"
 I then got into the research that he put into the book from behaviorists etc, and looked forward to those parts, but indeed never finished the book because it just started sounding so condemning of the majority of responsible dog owners.
 However due to Patricia McConnell's recommendation, whose books The Other End Of The Leash, and For The Love Of A Dog I loved,  I got Pukka's Promise, by the same author as Merle's Door,  this book was about how to help your dog live longer, and contains even more research he did into longevity from breeding to feeding etc. however he continues to interject his voice for his dog, continues to be irresponsible and let's the dog have 24/7 access to running, even though his previous dog Merle had playmates who had been shot and hit by cars and killed, and the ACO had brought him home and reminded him of the leash law. So I am still reading it in parts for the research that could be usable.
    This caused me to re-subscribe to The Whole Dog Journal, and I have been enjoying that even more as I can read the past issues digitally in iBooks. Ok here is lots of good , great information on feeding and training  and keeping your dog happy and long and Responsibly!
All Hail the Happy Hostage's!!!

A Collie Affair

I love Collies, I mean I am maybe just really soft in my old age, but I just love my Collies. When did this love affair start?

                  When I was 7 we lived in Waverly PA, farm country, surrounded by farms I brought home a farm collie and named him Brownie, that dog saved me from many perils in my youth, lonliness, being lost in the woods, the neighbors german shepherd, when I shot their son with a rubber arrow during a game of cowboys, the bulls we teased by daring each other to run through their pasture, until one day they got out and came after us. Brownie was my hero, I was reminded of that yesterday when one of those secure web sites asked me who my childhood hero was as a security question. Brownie was the stereotypical Collie, he walked me to the bus stop each morning, then returned home only to be back to meet the bus each afternoon. 2 years later when we had moved to Mass I was waiting for the bus and Brownie was across the street playing with another dog, I called him when I saw the bus coming the yellow lights were on as he came running, a red sportscar sped up hitting Brownie and sending him flying in the air to come crashing down on the pavement, all so he wouldn't have to stop for the bus. I sat in the road cradling my dying dog.

Later that year our parents bought us a purebred Collie, who we named Lassie of course, we walked her (on leash!) every day and trained her to do the things we saw Lassie do, but she was taken away a year later and I never trusted a Collie with my heart again, until eleven and a half years ago. 

        I fell just as hard for Roma as I had as a child for Lassie and Brownie, but I knew I needed more Collies, a buffer so I would never again be without a Collie. Yes, I was up to 5 Collies, it seemed just right. Then 3 months ago I lost one,  my sweet Keyna, and it has been just as awful as it was when I was a child, she too was too young to leave me, and I still think of her and miss her every day.

       This weekend I was at the Collie speciality and a friend told me I needed to get over my attachment disorder with my Collies, so I could send them off to be shown, or bred or let someone else whelp a litter. I understand what she says but  I don't think I can. You see last week I had a week of worry with a personal health scare, Inca was plastered to my side, she still is this week, she stays right next to me unless I'm at work, how could I send her away?
 I think my attachment disorder is going to require a service dog. Not to cure it, but to help me cope.
 Collies they get under your skin and directly into your soul!