i think living with a bunch of animals is hard...

but it ain't that hard. i know i should be more respectful of the title of rescue we hold. i should at least pretend that we are knowledgable and experienced and can train totally messed up dogs to be perfect little human companions with our eyes closed and our hands tied behind our backs.

but i don't. so much of what we perceive to be problems just ain't a problem for the dog. it is perfectly normal and natural behavior and it isn't a problem for them...unless we make it their problem..then i think they should run for the hills.
quick, escape you guys..get out of dodge..we want you to be little human robot toys and act just like a perfect and well behaved human child should...."open wide...say ahhhhh.... here let me grab that eraser for you."
oh right..i am a nurse, been there, done that...the kid screamed and tried to bite me too!

apparently...suzie with her face in the food bowl with a snarl on her lifted lips, giving someone the hairy eyeball is not considered good behavior in a dog.
why is that?
i think it is great that she communicates clearly, that the other dogs understand exactly what she just said..."piss off you impatient little buggers, i am still eating in here."
clear and effective communication, dogs are masters at it IF we let them.

then the impatient buggers say.."oh, sorry, didn't mean to crowd you, we will just wait quietly over here til you are done."
very polite behavior...no enemies made.

apparently, copper 5 years ago should not have bitten me when i stuck my hand down his throat to retrieve those turkey bones i didn't want him to choke on. he should have just patiently let me do it. well let's be honest here... if he stuck his dirty paw down my throat..i bet i would have bitten him too.
even if it is necessary to stick your appendage down someone's throat..it still happens to be personally invasive and quite unmistakenly rude.

did you ever wonder how impossibly difficult we make it for dogs to live in our world? no wonder so many are stressed out fruitcakes..they know how to be 4 legged dogs, not 2 footed humans.
people have problems with their dogs because they do not have a clue that their dogs do not think like we do. they try really hard, but our heads are just too filled with crap for them to figure out all of our human rules.

sit, down, come, stay, don't bark..here you pee now in this particular space...don't argue with that dog, don't play too hard either, actually, don't play at all, lets practice ignoring the fun around you and sitting still because i told you to....ok... go run really fast and get that ball right now give it back to me right now too..jump thru that hoop, turn to the left, no...turn to the right, don't stare at me when i am eating roast chicken, i fed you dry boring stuff 10 hours ago.
dogs have really got to feel that they are at the bottom of any human totem pole...and yet they try so really hard to do the really weird stuff we want them to do....good dogs!

and really when you think of it...ok so dogs sometimes bite...so do humans..they say and do the meanest things to others..they have to hurt or crush or push past someone weaker or someone who is a threat to be the top dog in town.
that is why some asshole beat the shit out of rosie and broke her ribs. that is why people like to beat up on each other on internet forums, that is why some jerk will give you the finger when you are just happily driving along..it is why people yell at cashiers in the grocery store, or treat their kids like dirt or any of the other things humans do when they are feeling angry inside.

and it ain't because we got to the food bowl first and simply want to finish our dinner undisturbed..it is because if we push someone down, around, over...we think we stand taller in the eyes of the rest of the world.
to me, emotionally balanced dogs are way more basic and honest...they just want a quiet bite to eat before they find some other dog thing they need to do next....so they clearly just tell someone who is rushing them to please piss off.

there is no way on god's green earth that i could live peacefully with thirty humans i just met at the pound..but i can live peacefully with 30 dogs that just popped into my life in a blink of an eye...does that say something about them or me?