My golden retriever, Callie, is so easy to please. She finds great pleasure in our day-to-day routine, which helps me to enjoy the simple things. She loves to jump on the couch with her favorite toys and roll around while I clap my hands.
I do think there are some dogs - although it's very, very rare - that do have to be kept away from all other dogs and all humans except for the one strong pack leader whom they trust. But I think I've run into less than a handful of dogs that were like that in my entire career.
Right now Jack lives with me. Jack is my Jack Russell. I also have a Yorkie named Ginger, but Jack and Ginger can't be in the same place at the same time because she is very jealous. Even if Jack's not in the same state, she would growl if she heard his name.
A dominant dog can get another dog to move out of its way just by the energy it projects. You can tell a lot about a dog's position in the pack by how they hold themselves around other dogs. When reading a dog's body language, you can't do it intellectually. You can only do it by using your instincts.
I've read that an average dog possesses a vocabulary of 200-300 words, which is enough for him to have his own Twitter account.
I speak with dogs frequently. They don't really talk, but I feel they're communicating.
I'm a small dog guy. I don't want to be pattin' with the big Rottweiler or Great Dane. I like those little guys that jump on your lap and don't knock you over when they do.
I love playing with my dog.
We found if you took the dog out for 45 minutes a day and worked with it that the solitary stress hormone, cortisol, went down. But then it went right back up again because they didn't keep doing it.
