Sunday, October 24, 2010

How to Trick Your Dogs to Like Your Guests

I caught up with my friends Sanjay, and Kanika, and met a new friend, Rohit, yesterday. I hadn't seen Sanjay in years. I wasn't sure how the dogs were going to react. We have an American Greyhound, Grace, and two pure 'desi' Indian street dogs that we adopted almost a year ago. They're black and white (they look like they're wearing tuxedos) and they behave like Terriers. They actually look like Rat Terriers minus the bob tail and behave like Jack Terriers, very alert, very guard dog like in their senses and reactions. And they have scorpion tails black with white tips, and they wag in unison. It's the cutest thing in the world. I'm suspecting that they have a bit of Jonangi blood in them, but it's hard to tell, except when there's fish around. That's when they go crazy.

I say pure desi because, they're not like some other street dogs that look like mixed breeds of popular breeds like Labradors, and German shepards. It's a shame that people just throw their dogs away and face no consequences. Certain folks in India discriminate against street dogs, even if they're dog owners themselves. They also tend to treat bitches horribly compared to dogs.
Last night, my dogs were in their best behavior... no barking, no growling (well, except for psychotic Ethel for a short time because of food). And Grace whined a bit because she wasn't getting chicken. Now that they've grown a bit and both are healthy, it's hard to tell the two sisters apart. You have to look at the ears, Ehel has funny asymetric ears, while Eunice's look like a German Shephard's -- always erect.

My friends were really really impressed that "street dogs" can behave so well. HA! They were just keeping up appearances. Rohit at one point put something on the table for Grace and she wouldn't touch it. They were impressed about that, too.(And so was I!)

Best trick, if you have dogs that don't like strangers, give your guest(s) doggie treats and have them give it to the dogs. Works like a charm. It's like, "Oh, you give me treats, you must be a friend, I won't bark and growl at you, we're cool. Now, can you give me more treats?"

Posted via email from Yu Yu Din's posterous

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