Just a little tale today of an experience I had with my gorgeous Cockerpoo, Ben, yesterday.
People are ok, some are actually quite nice. Some people look out for others, want to help them and provide for them. Some are complete arseholes, only out for themselves at everyone else's expense, think the world owes them a living. Some are lowest of the low and really do need to be locked up.
Nearly all dogs, on the other hand, are wonderful. The only dogs that have aggression problems are the ones who have been brought up by the lowest of the low above. Dogs can be trained from the earliest age to be loving, loyal, caring, sensitive and that's before you look at working dogs, who are trained to be the eyes and ears of humans, to understand illnesses and react to a situation to prevent their human from getting sick.
My 5 year old daughter asked to take our dog in to school yesterday for her Show and Tell. There were a group of 30 four and five year olds sitting in her classroom when I brought Ben in. He was calm and slightly nervous, but I gave his lead to my 5 year old, and she gave him a treat and asked him to sit.
He was such a good dog, and sat still whilst my daughter spoke about him and had a question and answer session with her classmates. Then they all stood in a circle whilst my daughter walked around the inside of the circle and the children (who were all extremely well behaved too) patted and stroked him. One little girl was petrified and hid between the teachers legs, crying. My daughter steered clear of her with Ben. A few times Ben looked over at me for reassurance he was doing the right thing. This dog is so clever, he knows that the children are delicate and not to play rough with them, like he might do with family adults.
After my daughter had walked him round, the frightened girl said she might like to touch him. He sat as still as he could whilst she stroked his back, within a minute she'd stroked his head too. That evening she went home and asked her Mum for a dog of her own! The dog was so patient but also so grateful for all the compliments and petting he received. Because he was patient and calm, the children were also very calm around him. None of them got overexcited, one child did sing to him, but that was quite lovely.
When I brought him back home, he jumped up at me, which he always does so gently (he's never snagged my tights EVER) as if to say "didn't I do good!" and we had a big hug.
Why can't people be more like dogs!
