Sf 1 KNOW there are mighty events loose in the world. The Big Crack has appeared in the Antarctic ice cap. Mike Harcourt is losing his cool, The New Democrats were hurled out of office in Ontario. The French are testing nuclear bombs again. And a million: hectares of Canadian forest have burned already this year. : Meanwhile, i in the Hunter household, we got a dog. We haven't had a dog for nearly “six years, The last dog we had, _ Baylea, named after Conan the Barbarian's sexy pirate queen lover, Was a purebred German shepherd, ; ». The problem with Baylea was -2, She didn't like being left alone. ~* She dug up everything in sight, “tried ceaselessly to tunnel her way under the fence, and became so excited when we got home that she” would jump all over us, especially ‘my daughter,-who_was then about seven, forcing her to flee into the house, ; Baylea couldn’ t come indoors because my wife and son are aller- gic to. dogs. She had a tovely dog- house, but she whined all night, “ ‘wanting to be inside. Looking back, I can see that we were stupid and cruel, We were - trying to make ‘the dog serve our purposes without serving any of ‘hers. She was defined as Guard Dog Who Lives Outside Alone. .. «What a miserable existence. .. . We lucked out: A friend came over with a magnificent slightly - . * older purebred male German shep- herd named Apollo... “The'dogs fell madly, in love. « My friend was looking for a female companion for Apoilo. We ‘quickly arranged the marriage, and Baylea moved ‘away to life with" - her perfect mate and a couple who. had no allergies, no children, and . plenty. of time to ‘do things with® their dogs.:Happy ending. - Prior to that, we had adopted a’ St Bernard who had been raised in a hippie commune, and had no. , concept of the, world except. that it, "2413 MARINE DRIVE: “WEST VANCOUVER 7 foryour. WINDOWS & HOME + Blinds. ~ ° Drapery . . © Bedding ,Re-Upholstery and 7 more... FREE CONSULTATION 922- 4668 _ ra gin Flunter strictly personal must obviously belong to her. Fortunately, she was a gentle qucen, and when she passed away after many years we all wept as though a member of the family had died. What prompted the decision to get another dog was my belated discovery that people who are allergic to dogs are actually only allergic to certain kinds of dogs, _ namely the mutts who shed hair. In a handful of species, the hair __ simply keeps on growing until cut, | like ours. One of these species is the Shih Tzu, a dog that dates back at least to the Tang Dynasty in ancient — China. ; ; ‘The Shih Tzus spent most of their history as pampered court’ ' dogs inside the walls of the '- Forbidden City of Peking. They were almost wiped out in the 1920s when the Communists took . power and slaughtered them as symbols of imperial rule. Only a handful were rescued and taken to England. ; 1 gasped at the price of a vA “ month-old Shih Tzu. And the price - of all the special starter equipment and supplies. The shots. And,: most of all, I was dismayed by the dis- covery that my wife and Lwould have to attend an hour-long train-- - sing session. os Not for the dog. For US, | “And that would be followed by, -a mandatory. three-hour course in dog psychology. and dog care. © _. Personally, found al] this pan- dering: -to- -the-dog stuff to be a bit over the top, but it was a condition ; ‘of being ALLOWED to purchase Le can “ : hi 1 Year ae 2 Year 6.50%" the costly little imperial biological lreasure, Well. The moment our daugh- ter, now If, opened her eyes on her birthday to find the Jittle Shih Tzu looking up from the floor in front of her, tiny tongue a-dangle, toy-sized body quivering with the urge to be cuddled, she actually cried, she was so overwhelmed with happiness, One of those Great Family Moments. . We decided to name her Sonja, after Conan the Barbarian’s other warrioress-companion, the sword- wielding, scantily-clad, buxom “Red Sonja, who vowed she would never sleep with a man unless he had bested her in battle, and so far, not even Conan had. It turns out that taking the course in dog psychology was one of the best things that ever hap- pened to us, The dog, we Jearned, is a pack creature who adopts her human family us a surrogate pack, and immediately tries to figure out her place in it, It is important to establish the hierarchy right from the start. And to make sure the dog doesn't end up feeling like the lowest member ofthe pack, you give her a toy dog to attack when she wants to take out her frustrations on someone. Dogs have short memories, so disciplining’ has to be done al the mornent a crime is committed, Positive’ Teinforcement is the ttick when she does something right. No hitting, although she can be shaken by the scruff of the neck/as her own mother would do. _ It’s amazing the effect this, knowledge has had on the rest of Us, Now, when any of us does / something wrong, the others wag their forefingers, establish eye contact, and growl: “Bad girl!" Or: “Bad Dad!” “Bad Mom!" It has worked wonders, I'm _ actually getting my daughter.to _ clean up her room. - ~ She, in turn, is getting me to clean up iny sometimes-inappro- priate adult language. Dog psychology? The big secret is that it works on humans, _ As a.pack, we're even learning to turn off the lights and not leave’ the TVs going when no one is watch- ‘ing. Wow! 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