Please Announce Yourself When Passing Others

I've submitted this to the Forum as a Letter to the Editor - a whole new experience for me. Let's see if it gets picked up. I could say this all in much stronger language, and as dog people, I'm sure you've experienced similar instances of being surprised by people - and dogs - coming up behind you unexpectedly. I try to write as I train - using positive reinforcement and not alienating people before they get past the first sentence. Let me know!

Flood waters are receding and daylight lasts into evening. Mosquitoes are still minimal. Bicycles and snow blowers can trade parking spaces in the garage for a while. Spring is truly here. It’s time to walk the dog.

I enjoy walking through Fargo-Moorhead’s beautiful parks and neighborhoods, and just one simple addition would make it perfect: that cyclists, runners, and roller bladers announce when they are approaching from behind.

I appreciate knowing when someone needs to pass by me and my dogs. It’s de rigueur in other cities, and should be here too.

It’s really a safety issue. When I know someone is approaching, I can keep my dogs’ focus, move out of the way if necessary, and make sure leashes are short. You don’t have to slow down or swerve away, and there’s no worries a dog will suddenly dart across your path after a squirrel in a tree opposite.

Some dogs startle easily or have fear issues about certain situations. An owner who can minimize these stressors helps keep you safe, and helps their dog deal with the realities of city life.

So please, please, simply call out “On your left” or “Passing” to others.

There's always a choice...

There’s always a choice…

We all have choices. No one can say in a particular situation, “I had no choice.” We simply decide to behave in a certain way because of the consequences. Perhaps we know what’s going to happen. Perhaps we don’t know the consequences of an alternative action. But it’s consequences that guide our decisions.

No matter what method a person chooses when training a dog, the dog has choices too. He can sit, or not sit. Retrieve, or not retrieve. Come, or not come. Knowing the consequences, he can still choose what to do.

That’s assuming of course that he understands what it is you’re asking. And that’s a whole other ball game. For right now, we’ll assume we’re talking about known behaviors.

Here’s the thing: If my dog chooses not to sit, what does he do? Not sitting leaves a universe of possibilities open – he might lie down, stand still, run, jump on me, play keep away, bark, … you get the picture. All of those things are not sitting. If I choose to manipulate the consequences so he sits to avoid what happens if he doesn’t sit, I’ll be correcting him forever, anytime a new situation comes up. Eventually he will generalize that “sit” means the consequence of every other action is to be avoided. “Every other action” is a vague criterion, and since dogs don’t generalize easily, and it can take time to get there.

Instead, I want to manipulate his consequences so he wants to sit when I say sit -- not to avoid a consequence but toward a consequence. Yes, we still have to go through a process of generalization. Sit means sit, not sit means avoid every other action other than sit. Much simpler.

By respecting my dog’s right to choose, we become allies working together, rather than adversaries. The onus is not on me to prevent the “not”s, but on him to do the “do”s. There are a million ways not to sit. And one way to sit.   

Dogs have choices too. And for me the choice is clear.