| Year Twelve |
| The year was 1999, I was Twelve, and Blue was Eleven. He had a hole in his heart, arthritis, and was obese, so we all knew his time was to come soon. It was a tough year, Blue was my best friend, and I was watching him slip away each day. The only thing that kept me in a positive mood about him was the fact that he lived Twelve happy years. Since Blue was getting old, I had gotten a puppy. It was hard to think of �replacing Blue� but I knew no dog could ever take his place. Her name being Hazel Nut Meg (Hazel) and she was born December 3rd 1999. Hazel is an Australian Shepherd crossed with Border Collie (red). I say �is� because she is still alive, obviously. Hazel�s first year was spent in training, and bonding with Blue and me. She looked up to Blue, and I could tell, just by the way she moved. A dog�s emotions are mainly shown through Body language. Sadly, on January 6th, 2000 Blue passed away. His heart got too bad, and he had fluid in his lungs. We took him to the vet, where he was put to sleep. Although Blue is now gone, his memories will surely, live on forever. Out of all the dogs I have had, Blue was, with no doubt in my mind, the most respected. |
| Year Thirteen |
| When Hazel was 6 months old, I had started her in Dog Agility Classes. From the start, I knew she had behavior problems. She always played aggressively, and snapped at strangers. By halfway through her first year, I knew for sure that she was aggressive. This became a big problem. Aggression in dogs is caused by different situations that accrued to them when they were young. For Hazel, her aggression was caused by improper socialization. Was I started to really get into Agility, and knew of Hazel�s aggression, I was hopping that the socialization with the other dogs and handlers would make up for what she had lost as a puppy. Unfortunately, it didn�t. Class was closed down over the winter, and Hazel was back to being at home. Living out of town is hard on a dog, when it comes to situations like Hazel�s. There�s not too many people around, and the ones she does meet, she doesn�t trust. During that Christmas Break, we decided to go on holidays to Calgary, to visit relatives. We dropped Hazel off a kennel in Vanderhoof. I put her in the kennel, told her I�d be back soon, and turned to walk away. She started yelping, crying, and making a noise I had never heard her make before. She was leaping on the door of her kennel, and carrying on like I had never seen! When we got back into the van, I picked up the book I was reading, (�How to Speak Dog� by Stanley Coren) and looked up the noises Hazel had made. According to the book, she meant �Stop it, don�t do that�. I laughed, and felt so sorry for Hazel at the same time. I thought it was the neatest thing that she was yelling at me for leaving her! This is a great example of emotions in dogs. Hazel was showing fear, fear of me leaving her forever maybe. I�m not sure. Dogs can�t understand when we say �I�ll be back soon� and so therefore, the only explanation I can think of, is that they think we are leaving them forever. Even dogs who have owners that routinely wake up at a certain time, leave, then come home at a certain time every night, those dogs still don�t know if you will be back. Say you have to pick up something after work; your dog doesn�t know that! He can only suspect the worst; �she�s not coming home�. Many people say, �my dog acts as if he thought he�d never see me again every morning I get up�. Well that�s because he didn�t really know if he would ever see you again! |
| Index / Training / Australian Shepherd / Border Collie / About Hazel / Pictures / Other Pets / Credits and Links / Contact Me / Aggression / Awards/ Agility / Agility Madness / Health & Nutrition / Writen Work / |