Dog fight

We had another Sheltie gathering yesterday morning! At Bishan Dog Run. Not many turned up – just Cuddles, babies Reyla and Ruthie,  Buddy, Prince, Meteor and Shadow the Border Collie. I had great fun being the big brother to Reyla and Ruthie! I think they like me. We were chasing each other (they were chasing me more!) all over the place! A corgi mix that was from the SPCA scared the babies quite a bit, so Mother said I should play with them to get them over the bad experience. I hope they are ok – it was their first Sheltie gathering!

An interesting thing happened tho – I witnessed my first dog fight! Sort of. Prince, Meteor and Shadow were barking at each other as they dragged Auntie J towards the dog run. When they were let loose in the dog run, Shadow attacked Meteor!! Prince tried to intervene and save his buddy too. Auntie J quickly and firmly got hold of Shadow (respect mah authoritah!) then Cuddles papa tried to grab hold of Meteor but he got bitten in the hand by Shadow! He says he’s ok tho’. Shadow finally dropped poor Meteor who yelped painfully and ran off to a corner to hide. I’m sure he had puncture marks under that thick coat of his. EVERYONE at the dog run was looking at us! Shadow is a very dominant dog! Barking and posturing the whole time! Auntie J had to keep him on a tight leash. I didn’t like that he bullied Meteor so I ran up to Shadow and started barking at him! He’s a bad boy! Mother then put her arms on her hips and yelled at me to stop being a hero! She and Auntie J said be careful or I’ll be bitten too! Mother shooed me away to play with the baby girls instead. Pfft. I want to be a superhero not a babysitter!

Prince spent most of his time at the dog run barking at Shadow while Meteor was hiding behind a tree or hanging back in the corner. If anyone went near him, he’d yelp! Poor Meteor. Apparently they fight alot at home too and Meteor always gets picked on but Prince always saves him. I think there’s a power struggle in that doggy household. Both Prince and Shadow are very dominant males.

Went for obedience training too. The trainer wanted Mother to use a prong collar on me, what the trainer called a “training collar”, but Mother told him no. She said she didn’t want to use it on me and the trainer said ok, but added that it’s not as painful as it looks and that Mother will really see a difference. Mother doesn’t think so, and she doesn’t think I need it! She was given the collar yesterday and she tried it on her thigh. She didn’t think it hurt but thought it was unnecessary to use physical discomfort when a simple No associated with a bad feeling will do!

She also said to me that I am very obedient already – I always listen to her and she doesn’t have to yank and drag me all over the place. She doesn’t expect me to be friggin’ Lassie, thank god! She’s seen other dogs who have been using this collar since day 1 of obedience training and their owners still have to pull and drag and they don’t listen to them at all.

Mother isn’t convinced that it really works and she thinks that there are other more effective methods. She believes that she would rather I listen to her because I want to (and I do) and in any case, she’s doing agility (the trainer wanted her to use it for pre-agility classes too) not to join competitions or for fame and glory on her part but for me to have some fun! Using a prong collar would make it NOT fun and unpleasant, so what’s the point? She promised me that she will never use a prong, choke or electric collar on me ever.

And to prove Mother right, I performed way better than my classmates yesterday! Hah! Suck it people! We were made to stand our front legs on a short stool and move our backlegs only and go around the stool (like the hands of a clock!). I could do anti-clockwise better!