Hi folks, yours truly back from a quick jaunt down to the Mediterranean with friends and the dogs.
Holiday season is in full swing over here and the place was packed with tourists, many bringing their pooches with them.
As we walked up and down the shopping arcade so the girls could look at Tackarama (an Aussie expression which I love) I noticed not only the reaction of other dogs to my two, but also theirs to this brand new place packed with strangers and other dogs.
I couldn't figure out the pattern to how Kez and Pru reacted - either quiet and an air of "Please God don't hurt me" or occasionally a Travis Bickle "You talking to me?" bristling.
Did big dogs do it? Black dogs? One dog on it's own? None of these fitted the profile. I used to think that Kez got brave when he saw a smaller dog, a tactic which backfired on him once when he courageously barked at a little dog, only for him to discover to his horror that it was in fact a Newfoundland that was far away. He turned tail and ran behind me, looking out at the monster from between my legs. It was a proud moment for us both...
Anyway, the point of this blog was that as a dog listener I fortunately knew the right answer to the situation, which was it did not matter how the dogs reacted, rather how I reacted that was important.
In fact, that's the key to walking dogs wherever you are, holiday or not.
If a dog looks to its leader for reassurance and the leader is calm, then all is well. If the owner makes a fuss, then even if the dog does believe in the human's leadership, it will think there is a problem.
So I made nothing of it... and bought a beautiful painted shell ashtray... which makes no sense as I don't smoke. But when in Rome... Cheers, Tony Knight
This has got to be one of the stranger shaggy dog stories I have read from New Zealand. Make sure you read it to the end as I laughed out loud when I saw the last sentence about the identities of the pair involved.
It always seems to be that the summertime is when news "slows down" and there are more spurious stories around than usual, (but always remember that it is winter somewhere else).
Anyway, I better make sure I'm more careful around my two gundogs... Cheers, Dog Listener Tony Knight.
Hi, from an over-heated dog listener! Yours truly here currently sweltering in the most humid conditions I have ever known in France.
The last few evenings have been spent with the windows wide open and Kez doing his best impression of a steam train, puffing out his cheeks as he tries to keep cool.
I have tried to help by spraying him with water but he just looked at me like I was trying to kill him (mind you he always has that face, bless him).
If I am feeling the heat, how must the dogs be coping, as they refuse to take off their fur coats (well, not all in one go anyway - the tumbleweeds of dead hair that keeps making an appearance around the house are testimony to that).
I was out and about yesterday in the nearly 40 degree heat, when I saw an old lady struggling to make it down the road under the oppressive sun.
What made it worse was the sight of her poor pooch panting alongside her. Now as a dog listener, I always like to liberate people from the mistaken belief that they have to walk their dogs when it is raining, as the walk is not important to a dog (to find out what is, check out my coaching programme at http://www.dog-listener.com).
In this case, if a dog owner is liking the idea of taking the dog for a walk in the blazing sunshine, I will quote Alec Guinness in Star Wars... "Trust your feelings" (does that mean I owe George Lucas a pound now?).
So, in short, avoid hot dogs... and I don't just mean the canine type (did you see that TV show about what goes into them? Thanks Jamie Oliver!)
Glossing over the fact that some footballers will be flying to England from South Africa, and probably not to a good reception. Here's the latest progress of a Dog Listener's story of a far happier flight from South Africa to England.
For those of you who remember the story of Cerberus, the rescue dog that was on Death Row and not only was saved, but flown to freedom with his new owner Sam, above is the latest film to show his progress.
Even though as a dog listener I've been helping people and dogs all over the world for over a decade now, it's still a great thrill to see this kind of thing happening.
WARNING! As usual with a video from Sam there may be some tear-inducing moments, so have some tissues handy.
Hi folks, if you're like me you cannot help but notice the huge amount of dogs all around, wearing body harnesses of various complexity, and all pulling like crazy!
I recently saw the bizarre sight of two Yorkshire terriers dragging their poor owner down the street, and I am willing to bet a substantial amount of money that the owner bought the harness to stop the dog pulling in the first place!!!
Here's where the problem lies - and it is not rocket science. Imagine that you have a heavy load to pull... where would you want the load attached to you? Around your shoulders? We even use the expression "to put your shoulder into it" to mean give it some extra force.
If a dog can pull, wearing a harness only makes it easier for them to do so - the exact opposite effect for which body harnesses are produced and bought. The result is potential severe injuries for both dog and owner. It makes no sense, does it?
If you want to stop your dog from pulling, you need to do so by demonstrating decision making capabilities, using a lead that limits injuries, rather than increases the risk.
As Dog Listeners we've been looking for the answer and the Jan Fennell Amichien Honesty Lead is the result. It is the safe, pain-free and easiest way to successfully stop your dog from pulling.
More info on that coming soon...Trust me, the solution is not rocket science. Cheers, Tony Knight.
As a Dog Listener I'm always amused to see the pack animal in us on full display.
Just landed in England and while driving up to Sunny Scunny (check out that song on www.myspace.com/tripitakaboys) I was greeted with a plethora of St.George flags fluttering from hundreds of cars.
One house a few miles from Mum's (Jan Fennell) place is completely covered in one enormous England flag. Anyone would think there was a World Cup going on...
I always like to remind people that we share pack traits with wolves, and this is no exception.
An even better example happened on my recent trip to Sweden for a Dog Listener Event. I came out of a restaurant in Stockholm with Jenny, an ex-pat living there with her Swedish boyfriend.
Out of the blue two guys approached us and asked if we were English and where we were from. We barely had a chance to say anything before we were told that they were from Manchester, over in Stockholm for a try-out with a local football team.
"It's good to hear English," one said. I pointed out that everybody spoke English there. "Yeah, but it's not ENGLISH, you know what I mean?" came the reply. We wished them well with the try-outs and went on our way.
We discussed what had just happened, and realised that these footballers had felt drawn to our accents, feeling more comfortable in a strange place. A pack animal believes in safety in numbers...
So, as the countdown to kick-off fast approaches, here is my favourite England football song. It says it all... Come On England (right up to the quarter finals...)!! Yours truly, Tony Knight
Hi folks, your dog listener here with the thought for the week... but to be honest it has been brewing in me for a while (so to speak).
While in Copenhagen teaching one of the Jan Fennell Foundation Courses, one of the students told me of her experiences as a massage therapist for dogs.
She told me that she had treated an awful lot of dogs with muscle strains caused by pulling excessively on the lead. This included many of them with injuries sustained with a body harness or halti put on them.
This reminded me of a dog event I was invited to appear at in Kent last year, where I saw hundreds of dog owners, all being dragged along by dogs wearing body harnesses and the like.
Now the manufacturers of these gadgets claim that they stop dogs from pulling, but quite evidently from what I saw (and my student has treated) that the only thing that is different from a lead that goes around the neck and one that goes around the body is the area of stress and, in a lot of cases, injury. That is if the owner does not know how to get a hang of the controls...
Dog Listeners have for years made a point of instructing dog owners on how to be happy and in control while walking the dog, and I am excited to announce that we have now developed a revolutionary concept to bring dogs to heel and take away all of the pain of aching muscles and joints (I am including owners in this too!)
Look out for an announcement in the coming week as we unveil our latest and most impressive aid to getting the dog you always wanted.
In the meantime, click below for a short informational film demonstrating one of the problems that the Dog Listener approach can successfully deal with. Hang on!! Best wishes, Tony
Hi folks, your Dog Listener here, keeping with the topical theme of the recent political activity in Britain (PLEASE don't go just yet!).
Honest, it links in very nicely with an experience in Yellowstone Park while studying the wolves.
On one day out in the park, we were lucky to see what looked at first like two separate packs of three wolves meet over some food.
At first it looked like there would be a confrontation, but what actually happened was much more interesting. The two groups formed one bigger pack almost immediately.
One of the experienced wolf watchers (there are some folk who will go out every day, no matter what the weather - that's love...) informed us that the two groups once belonged to the same pack, but split 6 months previously, and this was the first time they had met up again.
It seems they had decided to put any differences aside for the moment in order to give themselves a better chance.
This can happen in Nature with wolves; temporary coalitions (do you see where I am going with this??) are formed when needs must, and it is for the benefit of the groups involved.
These alliances are not forever, as there may come a point where the differences outweigh the benefits.
Soooooo, in a nutshell, it is no surprise that humans too can form temporary coalitions if it means the greater cause is served.
For example... if a Chelsea player scored the winning goal for England in the World Cup final, I think I would rather that happened than seeing us lose.
Oh, and maybe Mr. Cameron and Mr. Clegg may get along well enough too (getting my priorities in the right order as you can see...).
So getting back to my point - It's yet another way that humans act like wolves.
As a Dog Listener I like to make a point of highlighting that humans think like dog, and not the other way around.
The last week in Britain is a very good case in point....
To set the scene, I got myself sorted out with the spare duvet on the sofa, and settled down to watch the General Election (a bit sad maybe, but some people I know were standing and I have been known to be a bit of a political animal at times).
Anyway, the hours past, I drifted in and out of consciousness, and as the sun rose, there was David Dimbleby, looking slightly the worse for wear, what with sleep deprivation and overdosing on coffee (at least that's what I hope he was drinking), telling me that nobody was any the wiser as to who had won.
It turns out nobody won, and since then the mood has worsened. The stock market is dropping, people are getting anxious and the next government is no nearer being sorted out.
The point of this rambling is that when there is a gap between leaders, people feel uneasy, or worse. Nature abhors a vacuum, and just like a dog needs to know there is a leader of the pack, so do we.
Unlike us, a dog, upon seeing nobody stepping forward, will take the responsibility upon themselves. Although sometimes we do feel that we could do a better job than our illustrious leaders...
Dog Listener training in Holland has finished - but here's a quick question for you. Can you name 3 good things to come out of Belgium? Before last week I would have struggled after French fries (true) and Jean-Claude Van Damne (and that's not with much commitment).
However, one student on the Dog Listener Training Course in Holland was employed by the Belgian government to teach children how to behave correctly with dogs. Brilliant!! They go straight to the top of my list.
Of course, she had LOADS of questions, but it seemed she went away with plenty of good ways to use Dog Listener Training techniques to get an even better message across.
I don't know if there are other governments that have taken this initiative (as far as I know the UK government has shown no signs yet - maybe whoever wins next week will think differently), but it is a good start.
Of course, the first and most important message to give children and adults alike is simply "DON'T APPROACH DOGS; CALL THEM TO YOU".
This little piece of knowledge will drastically cut down the incidences of dog bites in the world. Check out my reference to owing pirahna fish on one of the blogs I did while in New Zealand for another way of looking at this subject.
So now I have French fries (still true), the Belgian Government.... and maybe Johnny Hallyday (but again that's pushing it a bit).
A que coucou, Tony Knight
P.S. For those who do not know who Johnny Hallyday is, think the French version of Cliff Richard!
Hi folks, yours truly back from a quick jaunt down to the Mediterranean with friends and the dogs. 
