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Learn from a Dog

July 25, 2010 by teamineka

LEARN FROM A DOG

This article was originally published on my blog in September of 2009.

The following story is widely circulated on the Internet. I have no idea who wrote it and I hope the author does not mind if I take the liberty to use it here in this post.

A Dog’s Purpose, from a 4-year-old…Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion.

We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life, like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”

The four-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

(Robert Forto) I received this story from a colleague the other day and thought I had to share it. While I will always give credit where credit is due, I do not know who wrote this article so I am posting it anonymously. If you do know who wrote it please have them contact me directly at train@denverdogworks.com.

I struggle with this the context of the story every day. My old dog and my best friend is a 12 year old Siberian Husky named Ineka. It is supposed to mean “rescued friend” in a Northern Canadian language. Anyhow, Ineka has been through thick and thin with not only me, but my family, since we adopted him from a Washington shelter in 2000. They told us he was four at the time but I checked the wear patterns on his teeth and he was closer to two.

I have talked about Ineka a lot over the years in my articles, in my blog posts, and in my canine trainers classes at Denver Dog Works. I even dedicated my doctorate dissertation to him- Chasing the Dream: The History of Human-Canine Communication in the Sport of Dog Sledding (Forto 2005).

I will be sad when his time comes to pass over the rainbow bridge. Who am I kidding, it will devastate me for a long while. But I will pull through and his legacy and what he taught me will live on. As the young boy says in the story, dogs already know how to live the good life, like loving everybody all the time so they don’t have to stay long.

Ineka, well all dogs for that matter, share a special place in most people’s hearts don’t they? They are just the right fix when something is wrong, just the right size to hug when you are feeling blue, listen just long enough when you have a secret, have just enough energy to finish that hike, just enough strength to pull you through the day, just enough courage to keep you motivated, just enough tail wags to make you smile, just enough wisdom to teach the new pup the rules, and just enough love to keep you sane in the worst of time.

So I encourage all of you to get out and do something with your dog today, everyday for the matter. Dogs were put on this earth to teach us something about ourselves. Is that a way to learn or what?

Update: As many of you know our dear friend, Ineka, passed over the Rainbow Bridge on July 13, 2010. I re-read this story from my blog and thought I should re-post it. I don’t know how most of you feel about the passing of a beloved pet, but it is one of the hardest things I have ever went through. It just seems different when a pet passes compared to a person. I do’nt know why. Maybe its because pets show us such unconditional love. Maybe its because we are allowed to make the decision when it is time for them to go. Maybe it is because they can not tell us its time or they hurt or they simply can not continue.

I have had many pets over the years. They were all special. But none quite like Ineka. He was my inspiration for everything I do with dogs and in the worst of times he was my strength. Some say, he was just a dog. Hardly, my friends, hardly–Ineka was my Dreamchaser.

__________________

Dr. Robert Forto is the training director of Denver Dog Works and the host of a weekly radio program, The Dog Doctor Radio Show. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at http://www.denverdogworks.com/

Filed Under: Ineka, Team Ineka Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, denver dog works, dog doctor radio, dog doctor radio show, dog sledding, Dog Sledding Examiner, dog training denver, dreamchaser leadership, forto, Iditarod, ineka, Mushing, pet training denver, robert forto, team ineka

Exploration, Hunting and Trapping

June 29, 2010 by teamineka

Exploration, Hunting, and Trapping

Lead Dog RevengeChange comes slowly to the frozen North.  Harnesses were unknown in Alaska until the advent of the white man.  Captain Cook and his expedition of 1778 found the Eskimo dogs pulling sleds by the same leather thong around the neck that their predecessors had used thousands of years before.

The early explorers of the arctic region were required to learn “sledging” quickly; after all, falling below the learning curve in the northern environment often resulted in death.  These early explorers, along with hunters and trappers, were the first European mushers.  These men quickly discovered that the best way to traverse the arctic regions was the way the natives had traveled for centuries, by dog sled.

There is little doubt that the first modern contact of white men with native dog teams occurred during the sixteenth century, when explorers from European Russia forged east into Siberia.  These men traded with the friendly Samoyed tribes throughout the latter sixteenth century.  The exploration in the next two centuries brought the Europeans into contact with the less friendly tribes of Chukchi, as the explorers attempted to determine if their continent was connected to North America.

In 1820, Ferdinand vonWrangell, a Russian naval explorer, began the series of trips utilizing dog teams which ultimately proved that Asia and North America were indeed separate continents.  Before leaving the arctic vonWrangell decided on a final sledging trip.  It was nearly his last.  His group was traveling on solid ice an astounding seventy miles from shore, when a gale ruptured the ice they were traveling on.  The ice began to separate from the mainland, creating ever-widening lanes of black, icy water.  A frantic race for the shore ensued.  vonWrangell’s team persevered and won the race of survival, a feat that he attributed to the speed of his dogs, as well as, their ability to swim across the frigid leads of water.

Other voyagers were not as fortunate as vonWrangell.  Ill-fated expeditions were often ignorant of the natives’ survival techniques, and thus paid the ultimate price.  The 1845 Franklin Expedition was to be one of the ill fated, and arguably one of the most famous arctic disasters of all.

Twenty years earlier, Sir John Franklin had mapped hundreds of miles of the American arctic coastline by sea.  The British Admiralty again called on Franklin’s services and appointed him to sail again to search for the elusive Northwest Passage.  In September of 1845, Franklin’s ships were caught in the ice, and there they stayed.  After three winters, twenty-four men had perished, including Commander Sir John Franklin.  The remaining men began what was to be a death march into oblivion.  According to Coppinger, Lady Jane Franklin organized, and paid for “voyage after voyage to the Arctic, first to rescue her husband, then, despairingly, to learn of his fate.”

During the next thirty-four years there were an astounding forty-one excursions into the far north; all sponsored by Lady Jane in an attempt to wring the secret of her husband’s fate from the icy grip of the arctic.  Her due diligence was finally rewarded in

1859 when Leopold McClintock delivered precise information about the fate of her husband, and his crew. Coppinger writes the following about McClintock in The World of Sled Dogs:

“A careful observer of the Eskimo, McClintock is remembered as the master of arctic sledging, for he worked out detailed techniques which are still used by arctic explorers and scientists.  These tech-niques included the meticulous weighing of every single piece of equipment and calculating as closely as possible the amounts of supplies that would be needed.  In the autumn prior to the spring sledging trip he would cache food and equipment along the planned route so that in spring long distances could be covered with much lighter loads.”

The explorers of the icy regions of this planet began to depend more and more on the art of sledging to reach the North and South Poles.  When the brave men finally reached the poles, their courageous dog teams aided them.  These journeys to the very ends of the earth will be explored in more depth later in another article.

The explorers may have explored for purely scientific reasons, but their financiers were often more interested in potential profits than in any scientific discoveries.  The early explorers located and documented an abundant source of wildlife.  The hunters and trappers quickly followed the explorers’ footsteps, with the hope of striking it rich in the fur trade.

Traders that belonged to the Hudson Bay Company adopted native systems of travel.  These traders became very adept at using dog sleds in the winter, and canoes in the summer.  By the 1840’s most traders were traveling by long birch-bark toboggans that were better suited for the soft, deep snows of the forests.  These sledges were often pulled by four dogs, and were in those days referred to as “dog trains”.  More than one “dog train” traveling together was referred to as a “dog brigade”.

A “ dog brigade” in the 1880’s was, by all accounts, a “sight to see”.  The dog driver was often clothed in beaded moccasins, leggings and mittens, a colored sash about his waist, and his head was adorned with a brightly colored, knitted cap. His colorful arrival was heralded in advance by the singing of brass bells that were attached to the harnesses of the dogs.

_________________

Dr. Robert Forto is the dog sledding examiner, a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the Mush! You Huskies radio show.

Filed Under: Mushing Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, denver dog works, dog doctor radio, dog sledding, dog training denver, exploration, forto, hunting, Iditarod, ineka, Mushing, pet training denver, robert forto, sled dogs, trapping

Predictions by Al Magaw

June 6, 2010 by teamineka

Predictions

By Al Magaw

“On December 26, 2004, an earthquake along the floor of the Indian Ocean was responsible for a tsunami that claimed the lives of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. In the midst of all the destruction, wildlife officials at Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park have reported no mass animal deaths. Yala National Park is a wildlife reserve populated by hundreds of wild animals including elephants, leopards, and monkeys. Researchers believe that these animals were able to sense the danger long before humans.There has been no conclusive evidence as to how animals may be able to sense earthquakes. Some researchers believe the animals at Yala National Park were able to detect the earthquake and move to higher ground before the tsunami hit, causing massive waves and flooding. ” (copied from various news sources)

Reports of strange behavior from animals were common prior to the tsunami – (the tsunami was caused by an underwater landslide that in itself was caused by an earthquake)

The belief that animals can predict earthquakes has been around for centuries.

In 373 B.C., historians recorded that animals, including rats, snakes and weasels, deserted the Greek city of Helice in droves just days before a quake devastated the place.

Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness.

There have also been examples where authorities have forecast successfully a major earthquake, based in part on the observation of the strange antics of animals. For example, in 1975 Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of Haicheng, a city with one million people, just days before a 7.3-magnitude quake. Only a small portion of the population was hurt or killed. If the city had not been evacuated, it is estimated that the number of fatalities and injuries could have exceeded 150,000.” (copied from National Geographic )

Research into this phenomena is “being held back not because of lack of money but dogmatism and narrow-mindedness” according to one expert

My own belief is that for phenomena like this to be understood, the mindset of 2 + 2 = 4 has to be forgotten and minds have to open to the idea that there are other things happening in the universe that can not be explained by conventional scientific thinking or religious beliefs.

Tags: Al Magaw | Robert Forto | Michele Forto | Iditarod | Team Ineka | Dog Training Denver | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Duluth Dog Works | Minnesota Dog Works

____________________

Al Magaw is a musher from Salmo, BC. Al keeps a medium sized kennel of 20 – 45 alaskan huskies as well as several pet dogs of various breeds. Al has been training and racing for the last 33 years. Before becoming involved with sled dogs, Al, along with his family, kept and competed with horses for many years. Al can be reached through his website at http://www.spiritofthenorthkennels.com Al is a guest blogger for Denver Dog Works and can be reached through our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com

Filed Under: Mushing Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, Al Magaw, denver dog works, dog doctor radio, dog sledding, dog training denver, forto, Iditarod, Mushing, pet training denver, robert forto

Achieving Success Using Mental Performance Training Part 1

June 1, 2010 by teamineka

Achieving Success Using Mental Performance Training Part 1

By Robert Forto, PhD

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

Japanese Proverb

Many competitive human/canine teams, whether in the ring, on the trail, or on the field, are so busy preparing and being busy that they have no idea where their busy-ness is taking them. In contrast, some teams have expressed their visions, but do not appear to be directing much of their activity to achieving them.

After a human/canine team (hereafter just referred to as ‘team’), has a well defined vision, they need to move on to making that vision happen.

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. What needs t happen for [vision]?
  1. Is there anything else that needs to happen for [vision]?

Repeat the second question until no further actions emerge, and then ask:

  1. What is the first thing that needs to happen?

After you answer this question the seeds are sown, and your team’s attention is on the vision and the steps you need to take to start to move towards it.

This is just the first installment in a series that I am working on for my first book, Run With Poodles. The book is about creating success in your business and personal life through the eyes of a dog team. I am a professional musher and I am training for my first Iditarod in 2013. I am also a practitioner of Neuro-Linguistics (NLP) and I am using my training to harness the power of my team and teaching others leadership through empowerment.

If you would like to learn more about leadership through empowerment please feel free to contact me a leaddog@teamineka.com

Tags: NLP | Denver Dog Training Examiner | Robert Forto | Michele Forto | Iditarod | Team Ineka | Dog Training Denver | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Duluth Dog Works | Minnesota Dog Works

__________________

Dr. Robert Forto is a professional musher training for his first Iditarod racing under the Team Ineka banner. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at https://teamineka.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, denver dog works, dog doctor radio, dog sledding, dog training denver, dreamchaser leadership, forto, Iditarod, ineka, leadership, Mushing, NLP, pet training denver, robert forto, run with poodles, team ineka

Cylus by Al Magaw

May 16, 2010 by teamineka

Cylus

By Al Magaw

This is an exerpt from the chapter “Cylus” from my unpublished book , tentatively titled, “Best Friends”

Cylus was my first leader, an obedience dog, intelligent, all heart, and full of bounce – we think he was a Collie/Aussie cross. Cylus was a last minute rescue from euthanasia when he was ten months old – this story took place when Cylus was four or five years old and he and I had shared many things together.

One evening, my wife Carol was putting our kids to bed, and I was playing with Cylus in the living room. I was getting ready to have him do some of his tricks, but he wasn’t waiting for me to give the command. He would do the trick as soon as the idea entered my head. I stopped and wrote down a series of tricks that Cylus knew. I called Carol to come and see what was going on. I asked her to watch to see if I was unconsciously giving  any signals by my body language. I silently read the first trick on the list. Cylus did the trick. We went through the whole list. Cylus did each trick in the order that I silently read them . I was not aware of giving any signal at all, and Carol could see no motion on my part. It was so eerie, that it sent shivers up our spines…

While driving home from work one evening I hit a deer on the highway. I wasn’t hurt, but the deer was dead and the truck was not drivable. I was able to catch a ride home with the next following vehicle. I arrived home to find that some friends had come to visit. Everybody was sitting around the living room having a pleasant conversation. Cylus was on the floor beside Carol. I sat in my usual chair and listened for a few minutes to catch on to what the conversation was about. When I did start to say something, I didn’t have more than two words out of my mouth, when Cylus started to moan and wail. He crawled towards me, belly down on the floor, this horrible moaning/wailing sound coming from deep in his throat. Carol asked, “What on earth is the matter with that dog?” I replied  that I had hit a deer on the way home.

I didn’t think I felt particularly stressed, and I sure wasn’t hurt. But Cylus had picked up something in my voice and had reacted with a huge concern for my well being.

In my very first race, Cylus in single lead, at the crest of a hill, I couldn’t see where the trail went. Cylus, who was about thirty feet in front of me, facing away, felt my uncertainty. His head and his ears came up, he hesitated and slowed for a moment until I could see where the trail went. Immediately that I was confident that we were on the right track, his ears and his head went down and he was back to full speed ahead –

These are just a few examples of how that remarkable little dog seemed to live inside my head. Cylus lived to be 18-years old, and although he’s long gone these many years, I still miss him badly.

Do you have a remarkable story about one of your dogs? Contact us at live@dogdoctorradio.com We would love to hear from you.

Tags: Al Magaw | Robert Forto | Michele Forto | Iditarod | Team Ineka | Dog Training Denver | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Duluth Dog Works | Minnesota Dog Works

____________________

Al Magaw is a musher from Salmo, BC. Al keeps a medium sized kennel of 20 – 45 alaskan huskies as well as several pet dogs of various breeds. Al has been training and racing for the last 33 years. Before becoming involved with sled dogs, Al, along with his family, kept and competed with horses for many years. Al can be reached through his website at http://www.spiritofthenorthkennels.com Al is a guest blogger for Denver Dog Works and can be reached through our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com

Filed Under: Mushing Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, Al Magaw, Cylus, denver dog works, dog doctor radio show, dog sledding, dog training denver, dogd doctor radio, forto, Iditarod, Mushing, pet training denver, robert forto, sled dogs, sport racing, team ineka

Influential People in the Development of Learning Theory Part I

May 11, 2010 by teamineka

Influential People in the Development of Learning Theory Part I

By Robert Forto, PhD

Huxley and Darwin

It is unclear when formalized studies of learning actually began, however, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) birthed the theory of association in the early 1870’s.  Professor Huxley stated that “It may be laid down as a rule, that, if any two mental states be called up together, or in succession, with due frequency and vividness, the subsequent production of one of them [mental states] will suffice to call up the other, and that whether we desire it or not.” This observation may very well have laid the groundwork for later studies in respondent and operant conditioning.  Huxley was an outspoken advocate of the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882).  The professor was so passionate in his defense of Darwin’s theories that he was often referred to as “Darwin’s Bulldog”.

In Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotion in Man and Animals, Professor Huxley’s influence was evident in Darwin’s observations of the emotions of man and animals.  When studying animal expression Darwin was vividly aware of the challenges associated with those observations.  He writes, “The study of expression is difficult, owing to the movements being often extremely slight, and of a fleeting nature.” Nevertheless, Darwin’s careful observations were of immeasurable value to later researchers.  Darwin continued where Huxley left off by recognizing that movements, no matter how complex, can be performed with little or no forethought and minimal efforts when they have been performed with enough frequency.  This premise was the foundation for Darwin’s Principle of Antithesis, which reasons, that states of mind lead to the performance of “habitual actions”, when a “directly opposite” state of mind occurs, there is a “strong and involuntary” tendency to perform movements and actions of a “directly opposite nature”.  This principle is of special interest to observers of canine communication techniques, and can help the astute observer decipher the signal being sent and received by a canine, whether it is intra- or interspecies communication.  Darwin states further  “that gestures and expressions are to a certain extent mutually intelligible.”

Darwin speaks of his own dog’s “hot-house” face and reasoned that the opposite expression displayed by his dog was innate and not a deliberate attempt at communicating his desire to not go to the “hot-house.” He further states, “hence for the development of the movements which came under the present head, some other principle, distinct from the will and consciousness, must have intervened.”

While the vast majority of canine communication is accomplished via body language, there is some evidence that canines posses at least a limited verbal vocabulary.  While most canines in the wild do not bark, but howl, this is not the case for the domesticated canine.  According to Darwin “…some animals after being domesticated have acquired the habit of uttering sounds which were not natural to them.  Thus domesticated dogs, and even tamed jackals have learnt [sic] to bark, which is a noise not proper to any species of the genus with the exception of the Canis latrans of North America, which is said to bark.”  In regard to the Principle of Antithesis “…the bark of anger, and that of joy are sounds which by no means stand in opposition to one another;…”  This lack of observable difference between barks is likely the reason that canines rely on body language so extensively.  Canine body language has been studied extensively and is well documented.  These postures or lack of them have been discussed in-depth in chapter three.

This is will be a multi-week series on the influential people in learning theory and the dawn of modern dog training.

If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear from you at live@dogdoctorradio.com

Tags: Robert Forto | Michele Forto | Iditarod | Team Ineka | Dog Training Denver | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Duluth Dog Works | Minnesota Dog Works

___________________

Dr. Robert Forto is the training director of Denver Dog Works and the host of the Dog Doctor Radio Show. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at http://www.denverdogworks.com


Filed Under: Mushing Tagged With: #dogs, #dogtraining, denver dog works, dog doctor radio, dog sledding, dog training denver, forto, Iditarod, ineka, ineka project, leadership, learning theory, Mushing, pet training denver, robert forto, sled dogs, sport racing, team ineka

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