Free Spirits

Free Spirits

Life in the country, in particular Metchosin, strolls along at a bucolic pace. With it comes a return to nature. This is a delightfully refreshing new experience for me as I had been a city slicker up until now. Nary a speed bump or stop light to impede a flow that makes these irritations redundant. There is a certain freedom here that comes from a bureaucratic big brother with hands too busy controlling the masses in the great metropolises to bother too much with the likes of bumpkins and neobumpkins away out yonder.
Dogs… they too do well without the myriad restrictions that human society wraps them in. However they do trade their freedom for food, shelter and a chauffeured ride to the beach now and then.
Our own dogs recently have earned their wings as they now have fully explored their territory and are keeping to their acreage. It has been our dream to be able to open the door and let them play in the unfenced part of our property without fear that they will get into trouble. Such is the life in the country.
Most dog owners in cities where there are enforced restrictions in the form of leash laws, off limit parks and bylaws against noise disturbances…etc., must take special measures to give as much of a sense of freedom as they can to their canine charges. So how can we give Fido and Fluffy an experience of their essential self?
I believe a dog should be controllable in our society whether in the country or the city. I believe that leash laws are in place because most people cannot control their dogs. My pet peeve is that in only a very few places the rules generously read: ‘dogs must be under control’ yet in most places instead they rules insist that dogs be leashed. Now, and finally here is my point: a disciplined dog can have more freedom than one with no training. Too often dogs on leashes, who have never been out of the house without being bound to their owners, are aggressive. They never experience the fun of play-time with a pack of fun loving members of their own species. I have been admonished by the ‘never say no to a dog’ crowd for being ‘mean’ to our dogs for actually making them to do something. These permissive types are a contradiction unto themselves. They want to believe that they do not make their dogs do anything that could upset their canine psyches. However, between putting their ‘babies’ in a smothering cocoon of ‘love’ and/or preventing their dogs from saying hello to new dogs, (for fear of the chance attack from an approaching beast), they grind their poor pooch’s spirit into the ground, turning them into neurotic messes. Their dogs, out of necessity take on the alpha role that they themselves won’t and are thus free to push the owner around. Fido might feel pretty free about having his/her human under the thumb and not having to obey but Fido will only experience freedom within a circle of a six-foot radius when out in a park. Our dogs, however, can play five hundred yards away from us and return to my whistle. It takes a lot of work to get to that point but I have yet to hear them complain about the restrictions I’ve placed on their canine rights upon their return.
Dogs do not push me around, they do what they are told and they are happy, balanced, fun loving, full of character, safe and healthy. Most of the dogs that I have come across that are neurotic, aggressive or lacking spirit are those whose owners didn’t realize or care to know what a dog really needs to thrive. As Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) lectures: Exercise, Discipline and then Affection… in that order. Without the discipline we couldn’t allow our dogs the space and freedom to exercise adequately. Dogs become unbalanced without exercise. So the more we fear for our dogs safety by leashing them so much of the time the less exercise they get and the more pent up and troubled they become. Discipline, whose root means to follow, and leadership are essential to giving our dogs the most freedom that they can get in human society.
Freedom to a point is all we can hope for for our dogs. I think the least we could do for them is to let them be able to play with other dogs at the other end of a large field and to have good recall no matter what the distraction. If the dog has issues of bolting or aggression then more training is required. I do know that there are dogs that are outside the norm and just couldn’t be trusted to obey but they are by far in the minority. An ill mannered dog gets that way because of human ignorance, abuse and/or neglect.
What I have seen with dogs is that with structure comes stability and with stability comes freedom. So let us all go to the dogs and give them our best so that they can live as naturally as possible.