Dogs Gone Wild

This is an odd rant for Christmas day. But my God. After watching someone's dog walk around on the kitchen table and that person weakly "ask" the dog to get down then do nothing when the dog ignored her, well, when that's what was part of the Christmas meal I really have to come away slightly annoyed.

So I suggested to her that she get a trainer to come over and work with the dog.

She says, "We've worked with a trainer! Bitzy can roll over and shake and sit and everything!"

Ohmygod. There are only two dots here to connect: misbehavior + training. Wow.

A couple of weeks ago I was having dinner with friends, when one (very cool and intelligent, by the way) woman displayed the bite marks and bruises on her arms. Ya. Really. Bite marks and bruises from her husband's Cocker spaniel. It likes to randomly attack her. She covers her head in with her arms and screams; the dog goes to work on her arms. They claim there is nothing they can do about it. And again, suggestions of training? Nothing, no one home at all. And I have to admit that in that instance my training suggestion came after they looked weakly down at the table when I suggested flipping the dog over on its back, putting a hand on its throat and saying "No!" the next time it freaking attacked. And to continue doing this consistently. No go.

Apparently this assertion of authority in the face of a dog's physical attack is "cruel?"

I don't understand what's happening here. Do people want to be dominated by their tiny domestic animals? What emotional gain comes from this? Is this feeling of powerlessness, well, what is the need for this feeling/creation of powerlessness?

Dogs are pretty easy to train. They are generally good natured beasts, intelligent, and live to please their alphas. When they are given the alpha spot in a house of humans they tend to become insecure and weird and play all sorts of behavior games -- rather like a human child would in that situation.

I don't know. I'm just saying. What the hell is this about?