Alas, because I feel the experiment can speak volumes more than I can, here is the link to Discover News: Born Animal so you can see it for yourself at their blog.

Beside the exciting fact that I’m finally going to see my parents, and the rest of my family, I guess I’m also going to finally see my dogs again. My mom has led some cruel and unusual punishment because she hasn’t sent me one picture but after this week it won’t be necessary because I’m finally going to see them again. They’ve probably missed me since nobody babies them like I do. Maybe they are offended because I haven’t talked to them…

Gosh! I’ll have to make it up to them.

What is not so common is finding actual people blogging about dogs on a blog search in google. It seems most blogs are on politics and for some reason or other they enjoy calling themselves dog related names. Interesting.

Well the point is today I found an actual blog about an English lady and her dogs. It was titled “Out and About With Your Dog Blog“. It seems yesterday she wrote a blog titled Dog training begins and I was ectstatic about finally finding a person who writes about the trivial things in life with a passion. Furthermore, I saw the pictures of her dogs and they were just adorable. It makes me miss mine so much since I’m away at college…

Hopefully, in the future I’ll find more people with actual dog blogs as I too participate in this rather small genre!

Still, children can only benefit by being taught responsibility through the demands of a living animal. Furthermore, it instills in our next generations a sense of nurture and care for other living creatures. Once a child sees an animal suffer it might push for the child to care for these creatures and ultimately, humans.

I guess what I’m trying to come up with is an idea or an experiment that would help our society become a better place by reducing crime and increasing charities to help the people around us. I wish people would try to become a little less narcissistic and more humane in the way we treat the people around us. The only way I believe society can improve is by each of contributing to help make it a better place. No society can call itself perfect until it rids itself of all the poverty and suffering around it, until all crime disappears and jails are no longer necessary. Boy am I dreaming right?

Still, I hope dogs do enrich the lives of children just like they help enrich me…

As one wise person once placed it,
The more I know society, the more I love my dog.

Furthermore, President Elect Obama and his family want to rescue a dog from a shelter which is an idea I am thoroughly applauding. I myself rescued my Angel from a dog shelter and both I and him don’t regret it. Some of those dogs waiting to be rescued have some of the greatest personalities since they have been waiting so long to be loved.

While perusing through the mountains of articles on this interesting topic, I found RateVin wrote a blog called Portuguese Water Dog Obamas Candidates For First Dog. It seems in this blog they claim one of the most agreed upon dog breeds for the next first family is the Portuguese Water Dog. RateVin quoted Claire McLean, founder of the Presidential Pet Museum. She says that the Portuguese Water Dogs are “very intelligent, have a good reputation, they’re easy to train, and they’re good with kids. And they don’t shed.”

Another dog RateVin seems to agree upon is the poodle since they are also hypoallergenic but McLean disagrees. I myself think that in the end, no matter what dog breed they do choose, Obama’s daughters will have a learning experience of their lifetime. Dogs teach us to love as they do, unconditionally. Furthermore, they teach responsibility and the beautiful frailty of life.

Why does it always seem to be accompanied by the anguished howl of a dog?

It is almost as if they feel the very pain,

the agony,

the despair.

Why do I feel a stab of fear go through my heart?

Why do I feel my chest go tight and my throat constrain?

Could it be that we never know who that siren is singing for…

We as creatures that barely like dealing with our own fecal matter are much more prone to dislike the even abhor a dog’s fecal matter in our dwellings. Consequently, countless methods have been developed in order to deal with this as least as possible. Hence, the potty training.

To better inform myself on how to potty train I found myself reading several blogs and I found them to be quite informative. Furthermore, I learned potty training definitely requires time, patience, and effort. In Dog Potty Training I found a blog with ten tips to teach your dog to urinate outdoors. I did find some rather useful rules to potty train puppies. Some of these included the need to always speak firmly to your dog but not to scream as this might scare them. Furthermore, I did find that there are commercial products to help potty train your puppy such as repellents that make him not want to urinate in certain areas.

The biggest surprise though was to find in The Ultimate House Training Guide a blog titled House Training and Sleep Deprivation that said that in order to adequately train a puppy, you need to treat them like a baby, since they can only hold their pee for up to 2 to 3 hours and it is necessary to take them outside if you want to potty train them adequately. Talk about dedication and sleep loss for a while.

My research also lead me to find a technique called crate training. Again The Ultimate House Training Guide came in super handy by informing me this was actually a really nice way to train puppies and definitely not cruel as the Crates and Puppy House Training blog informed. This is because, according to them, puppies already seek to be in dens for safety so placing them in one can actually be quite comfy for them. Furthermore, it keeps them from doing their business in there as animals don’t really like sleeping in their own feces.

My conclusion though is, that whatever technique you try, you better be prepared to place effort into this type of work as it is like training a small child. As I said, this is the wonderful world of potty training.

I understand one of these problems is that she grew nervous around masses of people, like in football games and that she once bit her handler after having her tail stepped on. I understand these problems are not to be taken lightly but I also wonder just how much at fault the previous Reveille was and just how much at fault her handlers were.

While I feel sorry and am truly apologetic to the person who got bitten, I really also do feel that if we as human beings were suddenly startled and scared, wouldn’t we also be reduced to our first instincts? Isn’t it natural for us to expect that a dog will always be a dog and they feel fear and happiness just like we do. So why should we point fingers and look at Reveille VII with disapproving faces when she was only acting like her nature dictated for her to do. Moreover, shouldn’t we also try to keep those problems from recurring again?

This semester we in Aggieland enjoy a new mascot. Her name is Reveille VIII. My room mate says she saw her yesterday and she looked scared amongst the masses. So is Reveille VIII going to have to be scared too. I hope not. And I hope that if she is scared, we try to make her feel safe and comfortable because just like I’m a freshman here at Texas A&M, I suppose Reveille VIII is too and just like I sometimes feel lost in this new campus, I imagine so must she.

We must remember Reveille VIII lived in a smaller home before she came here and therefore, we must accept the fact that as an animal, she may someday get scared and react as her true nature dictates and therefore we shouldn’t judge her because humans do act in similar ways too.

Its been three months only and gosh do I miss everything.

I miss their joyous faces.

I miss their smelly bodies.

I miss their mischievous nature.

But most of all I miss their love.

Boy I can’t wait till Thanksgiving.