Dog Journal
8/8/03
Boy oh boy, did I slack on the dog journal. The big news is that we decided not to get a dog. What that meant for Natasha was that we fostered her until she was adopted in early July by a great volunteer from the shelter named Cheryl. That’s the short version of the story. I’ve been busy with law school stuff and my job (hence the delay in the journal entry).
Now the long version. First, we started calling her “Cobre” (pronounced kobray) which means copper in Spanish (because of her coloring). She continued to be very well mannered and slept in her crate every night until we got her a dog bed (she liked her crate, but did not like being locked in it). We learned that she could stay alone in the house by herself with no problems. Since she was already so
well mannered I only really worked on loose-leash walking (here is how I taught that), down, come, mat (meaning go to your mat) and wait. I hadn’t started on stay by the time Cheryl adopted her. I found clicker training to work really fast to teach her her name. And it was very strong too - Cedar could say her name while she was playing tug with me and she’d run over to him. I taught it by clicking for eye contact, then once she was making eye contact with me to get a treat, I started saying her name right as she looked at me (right before I clicked). 
Then I used her name before anything good would happen (before dinner, before throwing the ball, etc.). It was interesting, Cobre was very smart and quick learning some things, but slower on others. Overall I would give her a 7 on a scale of 10 for trainability (10 being the most trainable). For example, she learned her name very fast, she learned to sit for everything, but it took longer to teach loose leash walking. I think that was because the outdoors is much more distracting - it is analogous to someone asking you math questions while you are playing basketball. It’s not an easy learning environment. But she made good progress. I could walk about 20 steps with her walking right next to me. I didn’t go for walks every day (I didn’t want her to practice pulling - it was obviously a strong habit).
We also learned that Cobre was good with other dogs and enjoyed playing with them, even other 
females. She didn’t seem too status oriented, she was more interested in having fun. She and Timber (our friend’s husky/mastiff mix) played chase in the yard - boy was that a riot. Cobre would juke and fake and Timber would always be just about to catch her.
I do miss her. I waffled for the longest time about whether to keep her. (Cedar liked her, but since the dog was my thing, it was sort of up to me whether having a dog was the right thing). Basically I waffled right up until Cheryl decided she wanted to adopt her. 
Actually Cheryl fostered her for a week, assuming that she would adopt her if all went well. Which, of course, it did, so she adopted her. I knew that with me waffling, combined with how perfect Cheryl was, it was time to let her go to her new home.
The basic reason, I think, that I was waffling was simply because it wasn’t clear that this was the right time for a long-term commitment like a dog. We’re still pretty busy socially and still like to do things on the spur of the moment. When you are responsible for another being, you can’t just get up and go whenever you want. Also, I had small doubts about whether she was really perfect. I found myself more affected by her breed than I thought I might be. Meaning, I felt a bit encumbered by the extra responsibility of owning a pit bull. You can’t let your pit bull get in a dog fight ever because the pit bull will always be blamed no matter what actually happened. Since I wanted to be able to take her everywhere, including the Frisbee fields with lots of other off-leash dogs, 
I knew I’d have to always watch her. She also was uncomfortable with some toddlers - I don’t think she knew what they were. One little boy hugged her and she backed away. Her body language was tense and she barked at him later. I quickly removed her from the situation. But that was another small nagging thing - there are babies and kids all over, including at the Frisbee fields. I didn’t want to go through a whole kid desensitization training program with her. It sort of seemed that a non pit bull puppy would really be best given that we wanted a versatile, take it anywhere kind of dog. I still love pit bulls - they have great personalities. I think I’ll continue to support them, and maybe even foster now and then.
It was interesting and very annoying how deeply ambivalent I felt about having a dog. In retrospect it seems that two competing interests wouldn’t settle themselves out. My love of dogs is strong, but I also apparently value the part of my life that lets me go and do things whenever, wherever. Though it was frustrating to me to not be as gung-ho as I thought I would be, at least I know that we did a good thing for the dog. 
She was very unhappy in the shelter and she did not show well there (she did this high pitched yappy bark whenever someone walked by her kennel - I NEVER heard her do that bark in the whole month that we had her). Her new mom, Cheryl, is another shelter volunteer. The foster coordinator knew Cheryl pretty well and I liked her a lot. She is a sweet, quiet, dedicated person. She uses positive training methods. And I knew she would spoil the little meathead, just like she deserved. Cobre was the kind of dog you could spoil - she wasn’t interested in being dominant - she just wanted to have fun and be comfortable.
I felt really sad the first night after she left. I would definitely 
call it at least a light form of grief. But then the next few days I didn’t really miss her too much. Still, even a month and a half later, I’ll still miss her now and then and really want to pat her little head. She was a cool dog. But I know she’s happy and loved.
The tough thing now is that the part of me that wanted a dog didn’t go away. I still often want one. But I know that I’d probably feel the same way as I felt with Cobre if we got another one. Also I promised Cedar that if we didn’t adopt Cobre, we would wait for a long while (at least till after school) before doing this again. 
It’s frustrating that I can’t really make the decision in my head - I thought I was a decisive person. But I can’t get the scales to tip - it’s always an even fight between the desire for a dog and the desire to live life like I have been. What makes up for it is that I have years to have a dog and also that I am still volunteering for the shelter. In the next few weeks I’m hoping to get the shelter and its volunteers into clicker training.
So there you have it! The brief dog saga. And like the Star Wars movies, the next one will be a long time coming (but hopefully it’ll be a lot better than Episodes I and II!)
