November 2006 North Coast Dogs News Candi, Windy, Lorelei, and Cruiser

Special Events at NCD

NEW!! Retrieve Class!

North Coast Dogs has a special new class in December... "Retrieve Class" is a 2-week class that will focus on teaching a polite, well-mannered reliable informal retrieve. The following fun manners will form the basis of this class:

• Polite Exchanges
• Bringing the ball back to your hand (instead of playing "Keep-Away")
• Practice retrieving a variety of items

This class will meet for two weeks in a row, Saturdays 12/16 and 12/23 from 2-3pm. Cost is $45. Dogs should have completed Family Puppy, Family Dog, or equivalent. For more information or to register, call us at (216)221-3647.

 

NEW!! CAVAROMP!

On Saturday, December 9th from 2-4pm,
North Coast Dogs will hold it's first ever playgroup
especially for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels!

Cost is $8 per dog.

To register, call us at (216)221-3647.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The holidays are here, and with them come the time to think about sending holiday greeting cards to friends and family near and far. The Studio is now offering professional photo cards from portraits taken in the studio at our Lakewood/West Cleveland location!

Some features:

• Professional 4x8 Photo Cards
• Envelopes Included
• Photo session sitting fees start at $15.99
• 6 Designs to choose from – Each can be printed Horizontal or Vertical

Click HERE to go to our studio webpage for more information and/or to schedule your studio session, or email mari@northcoastdogs.com.

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"Provoked? Well, Maybe..." by Mari Dickson

Several years ago, I began three months of intense training for my Peace Corps service in the West African country of Ghana. I was in a completely unfamiliar country, with food, customs, smells, and languages different than anything I’d ever known.

One particular day, I had the great fortune to actually get a phone call through to my family at the tiny post office several hundred yards from the training center. Walking back with a couple of other trainees, we passed two elderly women sitting on the front stoop of their mud-brick bungalow. As we passed, a fury was unleashed! The women began waving their hands madly, shouting at us in the local language, Twi. This demonstrative display came completely out of the blue. We had done nothing at all to deserve this treatment...or had we? What we later learned in culture class was that it was not what we had done, but what we had not done, that had, indeed, "provoked the attack”. We learned that in Ghana, it is extremely rude to pass someone older than you without greeting. We had meant no ill will, but it was perceived as such.

Recently, there have been an increasing number of stories in the news about dog attacks. While I sympathize with the victims, it gives me pause when the emphasis is on the notion that the attack was “unprovoked”. MSN’s Encarta online dictionary gives several definitions for the word “provoke”. The first two are as follows:

• Make somebody feel angry
• Elicit response

Notice that with both definitions, we do not know if the person doing the provoking actually intends to do so. We see the disabled man pushing a walker down the street as harmless. A dog that has never seen a walker might not see it that same way. Therefore, if he lunges, he was indeed provoked. We just need to look a little deeper to see it.

So… What is to be done? First, as dog owners, we can and should take on the responsibility of learning as much about behavior as our busy lives permit us and, specifically, the clues that our own dogs give us as to what is going on in their minds. For example, my dog Lucy does not enjoy having a leash snapped onto her collar. How do I know? I watch her body language. I ask for a sit, she sits. I move towards her with a leash, and she closes her mouth then looks and leans ever so slightly away from me. Now, I should mention that, when she was a puppy, I had a large bag around my shoulder as I was leaning over to hook her leash onto her when “Whapp!” – Lucy was broadsided by a “boat-n-tote”!

The point is, the more we watch, really watch, what our dogs are telling us through their body language, the fewer behavioral surprises we will encounter. Finally, as people in a dog-filled world, we need to recognize that what we see as a threat and what a certain dog might perceive as a threat can often be vastly different. Just don’t come after my Lucy with a tote bag!

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Notes in Blue are Lakewood Classes

Notes in Green are Mentor Classes

November/December 2006
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
19	20 6:30pm - Competition Agility (ongoing)	21	22	23 THANKSGIVING	24	25 9:00am - Family Puppy
26	27 6:30pm - Competition Agility (ongoing)	28	29	30	1	2
3	4 6:30pm - Competition Agility (ongoing)	5	6 8:00pm - Family Puppy	7	8	9 9:00am - Family Dog 2 2:00pm - Cavalier Play Group
10	11 6:30pm - Competition Agility (ongoing)	12 6:30pm - Family Dog 8:00pm - Foundations for Agility	13	14 6:30pm - Family Dog	15	16 10:45am - Family Dog 12:00pm - Tricks & Games 2:00pm - Retrieve Class
17	18 6:30pm - Competition Agility (ongoing)	19	20 6:30pm - Family Puppy Extra	21	22	23 2:00pm - Retrieve Class
24	25 CHRISTMAS	26	27	28 8:00pm - Family Puppy	29	30 10:30am - Family Dog