Misc.

[cliff]

I find these discussions very interesting. It seems that we have only become aware of canine "behavior problems" in the past few years. Mainly when leash laws came into affect. My wife had several dogs that were just let out in the morning, gathered up their dog pals, and showed up on the doorstep in the evening. They were all happy, affectionate and "balanced". They were all pound pups and never had problems with barking, chewing, separation, etCETERA. We encountered a dog like this when we stayed at a friend's house in Provence. She barely gave us a sniff when we arrived, we opened the door for her in the morning, and she joined us for wine on the patio when she returned at sunset, exhausted and covered with burrs ("Have a good time today Princess?")

Also, people were more tolerant of dog behavior generally. Some dogs were friendly, some were best left alone. So it goes.

Since we have decided to confine our dogs in the house and walk them on a leash, i'm glad the ND point of view has come along to "substitute" for roaming around and help us connect to our dogs— and them to us.

[neilsattin]

This actually also makes me think of "issues" that people have with their kids - now that kids are mostly housebound and supervised, compared to when they used to be able to just "roam the neighborhood freely".

Coincidence?

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Jaak Panksepp has done several studies showing a connection between lack of outdoor play and ADHD. He's an interesting guy. He was originally an evolutionary psychiatrist and is now a professor of veterinary medicine!

Stuart Brown has also done a great deal of research on the importance of rough-and-tumble play. He did some studies years ago showing that a high percentage of murderers never engaged in rough-and-tumble play when they were children.

A recent study shows that a 20 min. walk in the park reduces symptoms of ADHD. A walk in the city or a suburban neighborhood doesn't have the same effect that a walk in the park does.

LCK

(See some of my articles on play at My Psychology Today Blog)

[Henry]

Cliff, I agree completely!! I saw this first-hand with my own dogs growing up. My family had a dachshund mix that we would just let out the front door and whistle for her when it was time to come in. We did absolutely no training with her and she had zero behavior problems. Even when we moved, we did not do any additionally training. She just befriended the Schnauzer across the street and they wandered around together. She was hit by a car at age 16 one night right in front of our house. She was a smallish, black dog. We should have known better. I still can't believe that we would just let her out the front door. Were we crazy!!??

Then we got a cairn terrier puppy. We built a fence and started the training. Behavior problems galore!!

I'm very thankful to have found Natural Dog Training.

I'm off to read Lee's new article!

[Chris]

I also agree. As kids our family took on a 6 month old foxy/corgi stray who was very streetwise. Whenever my mother growled him for digging up her garden he just up and left home, crossing the busy highway that divided our small town. We'd get a phone call from time to time saying "Toby just gone by, he should be home in 20 mins' and he'd have a nice day visiting folks and his doggie friend.

He'd coming biking with me but if he wanted to go that way and I didn't he just did as he wanted and I met him back at home but most of the time he'd catch me up.

Now it's all leashes and fences. If anyone wants to read a great book about a dog living a free life get 'Merle's Door', Kevin even gets quoted in the book. it's a good read.