Most dogs are social animals, so why not help your dog fulfill its social aspirations?  Your dog will make more friends — with people and with other dogs — and it will gain confidence.  What better way to endear yourself to your dog than to help it make friends?  Which is something it desperately wants to do.

Here’s an article from WikiHow that has some suggestions on how to help your dog socialize.

And here’s one from about.com.

Callie’s very social — both with people and with other dogs.

On our morning jog, we often take shortcuts through the local golf course.  So Callie has become best of friends with Jeff, the assistant greens keeper.  Jeff occasionally gives Callie a newly found tennis ball, which, in Callie’s world, is every bit as good as a puppy treat — maybe better.  When we’re anywhere near the golf course, Callie is obviously looking for Jeff.  If there’s a golf cart within 100 yards, Callie focuses on it; she gets excited if she thinks it might be Jeff.  Yesterday, Callie did see Jeff in  his cart, but he drove away to do some greens keeping business.  It was obvious that Callie was very disappointed.  She pulled on the leash to chase after Jeff, ears back expressing her frustration.

Callie also likes to make doggie friends.  She has about a dozen regulars, but she’s always up for meeting new dogs.  Here’s Callie with one of her favorite regulars, Bub McLoughlin, the Goldendoodle cadaver dog.  Callie sees Bub every few weeks at Lake Arrowhead village, and every reunion between the two good friends is playful and sporting.

It’s kind of obvious that, if dogs are so social, it makes sense to let them socialize.  But I think a lot of owners mess this up.  They’re afraid their precious pet might get hurt.  So they don’t let it socialize.  Or they keep the leash so tight that the dog thinks the owner is afraid of the other dog — so the owner’s dog gets defensive and protective.

The best policy in these situations (outside a dog park and assuming leash laws apply) is to give both dogs lots of loose leash and let them “work it out.”  Chances are the other dog is a social addict, too, so they’ll probably enjoy getting to know each other.  You may have to work with the other owner to keep the leashes from getting tangled.  But the dogs will have fun.  On the odd chance that things do get out of hand, just pull your dog away and go find a more friendly companion.

Nurturing your dog’s personality is one of the best ways to build a stronger relationship with it.  Almost all dogs have a strong desire to interact with dogs and people.  Stanley Coren has an interesting way of saying this.  He says that dogs have the intelligence of a 2 1/2 year old child.  But he also says they have the social instincts of a teenager.  So help your dog be a teenager!

Callie and I were walking through the Lake Arrowhead Village on Sunday.  As usual, Callie made lots of friends — both people friends and doggie friends.  She even ran into Bub McCloughlin, the cadaver dog, again.   Bub is a Golden Doodle, and Callie really likes him.  They had a fun time sniffing each other and jousting doggie-style.  Here’s Bub’s picture from the first time they met, a few weeks ago.

As we walked closer to the “Center Stage,” Callie created one of those “why did my dog do that?” moments.  All of a sudden, she veered off the sidewalk and plopped down on the ground behind a cement wall.

At first, it didn’t seem to make any sense.  I couldn’t imagine what she was doing.  I assumed that she was sending me some kind of message, but I couldn’t imagine what it was.

So I started through my checklist of things to think about when trying to decipher doggie messages.  One item on the checklist is “remember, dogs have very acute senses of hearing and smell.

That was a far as I needed to go.   On the other side of the wall where Callie was lying, a rock band was tuning up for a Sunday afternoon concert.  And, man, were they loud!  The drummer must have been checking to see how loud he could get his drums.  It took a minute, but I had broken the code.  Callie was saying, “That music is way too loud for my sensitive ears.”  She had nestled down behind the wall to protect her ears.

A dog’s behavior can be rich with messages.  Sometimes the messages are obvious, but sometimes it takes a little detective work to figure them out.

You’ve heard the stories about dogs that showed up on their owners’ doorstep after being lost for months or years. Sometimes, these days, it’s because they have an ID “chip” that tells a vet or a pound where they live. We blogged about the “Return of Pickles on Chrismas Day,” on January 18. And just the other day, I overheard a conversation about another dog that found its own way home on Christmas Day.

How do dogs find their own way home after being lost? Do they have ESP? Here, from smalldogsparadise.com is an interesting three- part article about dogs and ESP.

Canine ESP: How It All Began

Canine ESP: Do Dogs Rally Have ESP?

Canine ESP: Can Dogs Sense Danger?

These articles talk about:

• A Collie named Bob, who found his way from the East Coast back to his home in Orgeon,
• A mixed-breed named Henry who was left with friends when his family moved from Illinois to Michigan. Six weeks later, Henry greeted his family on a street corner in their new town in Michigan.
• Prince, a German Shepherd who swam the English Channel during World War I to find his owner in a trench in France.
• A mixed-breed dog named Daisy who somehow moved herself and four puppies 30 miles from to an apartment in New York City to re-unite with the people who had befriended her at a summer vacation resort.
• A German Shepherd in Georgia that “knew” when his owner had been injured in a plane crash in Pennsylvania. The dog lay motionless until its owner regained consciousness.
• A dog that saved the three children in his family from a forest fire burning five miles away.
• A dog in Virginia that sensed when his family, vacationing in Florida, was in trouble — they had been marooned in a flood.
• Gary Cooper’s dogs, who sensed the exact moment that he passed away.

Some of the scientific studies of parapsychology in animals are summarized in this article from empowerment.com.

Lots of people think they have an ESP connection with their pets. Not surprisingly, scientists say that the ability to have an ESP connection depends on the strength of the emotional tie between the subjects — in this case, you and your dog.

If you’d like to test your doggie-ESP, here are some experiments you can do.

And here’s a place where you can get your own ESP cards, although you may have to modify them a little for your dog.

Is this the ultimate test of the strength of your relationship with your dog? Whether you have ESP or not, it’s fun to try to “tune in” to your dog.

You may have read that there’s a new book that helps people figure out, if they were a dog, which dog would they be? Here’s a link to the article. The book is called, “Which Dog Are You?”

There are also some sites where a person can take an on-line test to see which dog they are. Here’s an example at www.ivillage.com.

Well, if people can have a “which dog are you?” book, I decided my doggie friends should have a “which person are you?” book. So I decided to start writing it, and I thought I’d use myself as an example for the first chapter.

According to the AKC, Golden Retrievers are supposed to be friendly, reliable, and trustworthy. I think I’m all of those things. But I decided to learn more about my personality, so I took an on-line personality test. You (my doggie friends) can do this at this web site.

When I got all done, I discovered that I’m what psychologists call an “ESFP.” The “E” means I’m extraverted, which could not be truer. The “S” means I live in the present, as opposed to in my intuition. The “F” means I react with my feelings, instead of thinking forever about stuff. And the “P” means I’m a perceiver, or reactive instead of highly structured.

You can learn a lot about these things on the “personality page” web site.

An ESFP, like me, is called “The Performer.” According to personalitypage, this means my “primary mode of living is focused externally,” where I take things in via my five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Yep, that’s me, OK.

I’m also supposed to have “strong inter-personal skills,” which I do, as well as strong inter-doggie skills. And I’m supposed to be spontaneous and optimistic and fun-loving. Boy, they got me just right.

The other part I really like is that they’ve figured out what careers are best suited to the different personality types. Well, one of the careers for me, as a Golden Retriever, is “social work.” Any wonder that so many Goldens are service dogs? We’re also supposed to be good at child care. Here’s a photo from “My Doggie Says… Messages from Jamie” that certainly proves that to be true.

Finally, ESFPs are supposed to be good consultants and photographers, which, I guess, is what I’m being by sharing these ideas with my doggie friends. You know from some of my earlier posts that I’m very interested in figuring out what jobs my doggie friends could hold.

So that’s a little look at my Golden Retriever personality. Stay tuned, Doggie Friends. I’ll write about other breeds in the future.

Thanks for listening,

Callie

Here’s a really sweet story about the return of Pickles, a four-year old Shih Tzu, that disappeared on Thanksgiving Day, 2006. Pickles showed up on Christmas day, this year, much to the thrill of Matthew, 11 years old, and Caroline, 9 years old, both of the Cusolito family of San Pedro, California.

Another victory for the micro-chip, although it took a while.

Click on the photo below to see the article in the Daily Breeze:

What a wonderful surprise!

We’ve experienced the thrill of having a lost dog show up just about the time we’d given up hope. The dog was our Renne, a mixture of whippet and beagle. At the time, Renne was our third, or “extra” dog, but we loved her for her spunkiness. Renne jumped over a fence and disappeared for several weeks.

During that time, Barbara visited all the local dog pounds, looking for Renne — over and over. Finally, she found Renne, a small dog, in the “large dog” cages at one of the pounds. We were elated to have our good friend back home again.

But imagine the excitement of having Pickles reappear on Christmas day, after a year’s absence. What a nice present. It makes you appreciate how strong the family-pet relationship can be.

Yesterday, I wrote about a lovely Christmas legend that the dogs all lie down and talk at midnight on Christmas eve.

This story pops up several places on the web, and one of them goes on to tell the story of Barrington Bunny, a Christmas story about the animals in the forest.

Before you follow one of these links, I suggest you make sure you’re sitting down with some tissues in a place where you can cry without embarrassing yourself.

Here are several links. The stories are the same, but the photography is different.

The story of Barrington Bunny, from “The Way of the Wolf,” by Martin Bell, from dirtyolman.

The story of Barrington Bunny, from “The Way of the Wolf,” by Martin Bell, from geocities.

The story of Barrington Bunny, from “The Way of the Wolf,” by Martin Bell, from www.angelfire.com.

Hi, it’s Callie again. Fred’s travelling, so I’m filling in.

You probably know there are lots of things you can do with a dog. But just so you’ll know how a dog thinks about it, here are my “Top Ten Things to do with Your Dog.”

1. Take a walk with your dog. Here, from RubyGlen.com are “8 tips for a better walk with your dog.” This is all the stuff you should think about when you’re getting ready to take your dog for a walk.

2. Go jogging with your dog. I’m not old enough to jog yet. My vets says I need to be about fourteen months old, so I don’t beat up my hips. But I’m really looking forward to being able to jog instead of just walk. Here, from paw-rescue.org, is a pretty neat article about jogging with your dog.

3. Play soccer. See some of Fred’s earlier blogs for video of me playing soccer. Also, take a look at the link to the all-animal soccer time. I’m not the only dog who likes to play soccer.

4. Get into competitions with your dog, like dog shows or agility training. My Dad, Cutter, is an Agility Champion. I hope I look this neat when I grow up.

5. Buy toys for your dog. Actually, I think it’s great fun to go to the toy store. But read Fred’s blog about “The Doggie Toy Mystery,” before you buy a lot of stuff. I (and some of my puppy friends) take great pleasure in destroying “indestructible” doggie toys.

6. Give your dog a massage. Fred does this for me sometimes, and I really like it. I find it very calming. Here’s an article about some of the benefits of doggie massage.

7. Take your dog to a dog-park and meet other dogs and people. I don’t have a dog-park real close, but I enjoy meeting the other dogs at my puppy kindergarten.

8. Have a meaningful conversation with your dog. You might be surprised how understanding your dog is. Pay attention to your conversational style and try to communicate how you feel with the tone of your voice.

9. Let your dog sleep with you. Dogs can be really good snugglers. I still sleep in my crate, but I know Jamie slept with Fred and Barbara and I look forward to the day when I’ll get to do that.

10. Work with your dog on obedience and tricks. It’s fun for the dog, and it shows them (I shouldn’t admit this) who’s boss.

11. (For good measure) Dance with your dog. Yep, dance with your dog. If you didn’t see Fred’s post on Sunday, November 25, you should check it out. Lots of people are taking dancing lessons with their dogs!

Have fun with your dog! Your dog will appreciate it, and you’ll learn a lot about your dog.

See you next time!

It’s good to be reminded sometimes that dogs seem to have a “sixth sense.”

Here’s a nice little article about Kutty, a Labrador Retriever that lives in Mumbai, a city in India. Kutty recently won the Top Dog award in the Delta Society’s Internet poll. The Delta Society is a Washington-based organization that publicizes the efforts and good outcomes of therapy dogs. (www.deltasociety.org).

My geography’s not that great, so I had to look at a map to see where Mumbai is. It’s on a peninsula on the western coast of India, on the Indian Ocean.

Kutty works with mentally challenged children. According to Kutty’s owner, Shyamsri Bhosale, “Kutty’s nose for healing has worked wonders for these children drawing them out of their silent and confused worlds. She has taught the art of communication.”

Here’s another article, from the Times of India, about Kutty (spelled Kutti here) and the healing work that dogs are doing in India. This article talks about how “Animal Assisted Therapy” is being used in a lot of countries. It turns out Kutti is just one of a number of docs that are employed to help mentally challenged children at the Jidd School in Thane, a nearby town.

There are lots of dimensions to having a close relationship with your dog. Understanding your dog’s communication is important. But it’s also important to ask questions like, “Just how smart is my dog, anyway?” And, “What does its senses allow it to know that I might not know?” And, “How can I tune into the special talents that my dog might have?”

Kudos to the people who recognize that dogs can have such healing power!

Hi, this is Callie writing again. You know I like “top ten” lists, so I couldn’t resist sharing this one with you. It pupped up (yep, I like to invent new words, too) on CNN.com just this morning.

This article just reinforces my point that dogs are really important in world affairs. If you’ll remember, on October 4, 2008, I shared my list of “Top Ten Jobs that Dogs Could Do.” (You can find this post by looking under “Archives” in the right column.) It said, for example, that “dogs would make good ambassadors, because they have a way of making people feel really good.” I also wrote that dogs would make good psychologists, because “you always feel better after you’ve had a long conversation with your dog.”

So now we get this article from CNN.com that lists some dogs that did really important things. Things like helping presidents make decisions, being the first therapy dog, and saving Napoleon.

And, now, I’d like to propose an 11th (for good measure) “Dog that changed the world.” It’s me! Callie. Because my blogs are going to help people have a better appreciation for “man’s best friend.”

See you next time.

Hi! This is Callie writing. Fred’s been up in Silicon Valley for a few days, so he asked me to fill-in. Happy Halloween!

I thought I’d share with you how I feel about some of my toys. First, here I am with a few of my favorites — my stuffed trout, my favorite “stinky,” my black and yellow barbell, and my (now legless) dodo bird.

So here are my Top Ten favorite toys:

1. Black and yellow soft barbell is pretty fun. It feels good to chew on, and it’s heavy enough that I like to flip it back and forth.

2. Little stuffed bear. This little guy can be pretty relaxing to just munch on — very gently. I don’t want to hurt him, so I don’t ever bite hard. It’s almost as good as my “stinky” for calming down in the evening.

3. The new funny little thing with rope loop handles. This is a new toy that Fred and Barbara bought me last week. I don’t know what to call it. It has about three very hard, colored circles of rope that act like handles. So it’s a really good toy for playing “give and take” with Fred. I offer it to him and he grabs hold, but he doesn’t pull hard. He just holds on for a minute, and then he lets me take it. I really like it when we do this.

4. Green jacks. This one is about eight inches square, and it looks like one of those little metal “jacks” that kids play with — it has four little sticks with knobs on the end. I like this one because it’s easy to grab in my mouth. But it’s not a real good chew toy; there isn’t much to hold on to.

5. Orange fire hose toy. Some doggie toys are made out of old fire hose, so they’re supposed to be indestructible. Well, the fire hose is pretty tough, but the handles they put on these things are easy to chew through. So all my fire hose toys are just fire hose these days. These are really good for flipping back and forth. I like to play with my toys this way sometimes. I get them flipping back and forth real fast and then, if I time it right, I can launch the toy clear across the room!

6. Stuffed trout. This isn’t the kind of stuffed trout you’d eat for dinner. It’s the kind of doggie toy that is stuffed to make it soft for a doggie. It’s pretty amazing that I haven’t chewed through this one, because it’s one of my favorites. I spend a lot of time with it, but it’s tough. This is a good “flipper” toy, too. When I get it going real fast, it looks just like a trout jumping in Lake Arrowhead.

7. (Legless) Dodo Bird. My legless dodo bird isn’t supposed to be legless, but it is. The legs were made of rope, and I un-ravelled them a few weeks ago, so Barbara just cut them off. But I still like the dodo bird. It’s good for cuddling, and sometimes I use it like a pillow in my crate.

8. Soccer ball. This is one of my favorites, because it’s something I can do with Fred. When he lets me out in the back yard, I run right to it, and invite him to play soccer. Fred kicks the ball, and I run fast and trap it under my tummy. Then he kicks it loose, and I run and trap it again. Sometimes he throws it real high, and I jump way up in the air and bump it with my nose. It’s really good exercise!

9. Floppy disc (water frisbee). Boy, we’re really getting to my favorites now. This is the “floppy” (just like Jamie’s in “My Doggie Says…“) that I retrieve when I swim at Lake Arrowhead. After all, please remember I am a Golden Retriever. I’m not as good as Jamie yet, but I really love to swim and retrieve this floppy.

10. So here we are at my absolute favorite — my “stinky.” Fred calls it my “stinky” because that’s what his granddaughter, Lauren, calls her security blanket. My “stinky” is a little stuffed puppy that belonged to Jamie. I’ve enjoyed it ever since I moved in with Fred and Barbara in March. It’s pretty amazing that it’s survived all this time, but I’m very gentle with it. I don’t really chew on it. It’s more like “gumming.” Sometimes I like to hold it in my mouth and just nibble at it a little. It’s very relaxing. Most nights, when I’m about ready to go to bed, I settle down with it. It helps me calm down after bouncing off the walls.

11. (For good measure) This one is so much like food it’s unfair to call it a “toy.” It’s a kong toy. It’s a small, hard chewie thing with a hole in the center for dog food or puppy treats. I can chew on it, but the real challenge is to try to get the puppy treat out of the hole. Like I said, it’s too much like food to really qualify as a toy.

So there you have my favorite toys. See ya’ next time!