This morning I am thinking about my dog and the experience we had last week with a group of children who wanted to meet him. The children were on bikes or scooters and they were noisy and excited. My dog, who is a little shy and unsure sometimes, hid behind me with his tail between his legs. This is sort of sweet, in retrospect, given his sheer size.

Rather than walk away with him, I decided to try and give him, and the children, a good experience. I had to be patient in explaining to the children, and explaining again, that the best way to meet my shy dog is to be calm and quiet and to understand that dogs "see with their noses".

It took them a while to get past the twirly excitement of seeing a big dog and wanting to cover him in cuddles to seeing Logan. Each time they approached wanting to overwhelm him with cuddles, he backed off. Each time he backed off, I turned him in a circle and walked him back towards the children, all the while repeating the mantra - "be calm and let him smell your hand."

After two or three tries, they listened and changed their approach and Logan responded by standing still and giving a little wag of his tail and once he had seen them with his nose he was happy for them to pat his head, neck and to run their hands along his back. As this was happening I gave him a biscuit or two to reward him.

This morning I am sitting watching the rain pounding down over Table Rock Lake, brought to us by Tropical Depression Hermine, and thinking about how much more we can connect with a person, or animal, if we take the time to see them for who they really are, rather than pushing our own needs and wants onto them and then being left behind as they run to the hills with their tail between their legs.

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Body Language originally appeared on Taexalia on September 9, 2010.

The year creeps slowly toward the shortest day and the worst of the weather is yet to set upon us. The sun rises when solopreneurs may still have the luxury of bed and a duvet - although not the luxury, it must be said, of remote control curtains. The sun sets before many of us are yet ready for the dark, not quite believing the sun could sling itself so low all day without dissolving in the river before us..

There is something magical about the chill in the still air and the way the Firth appears like ice. We walk the sand trying to take in The Teachings of Dog - that life in the moment is rich, fleeting and worthwhile. We try to exhale the past and our breath becomes visible as if the weight we have carried colours the air for a moment.

Later, when the pack has disbanded for another day, the last troopers make it home and find a surprise on the mat. Three inches square of christmas card contains a message of apology and a promise of hope. A small foundation of an unexpected bridge begins to glisten in a tired heart.

Later still, Greyhound inspires a walk before sunset and trust travels with the woman and dog... trust that the nightmares may be over, trust that the sun will shine in more than the sky and trust that dreams are achievable. A lead is unhooked and the hound seems not to notice much but then gently veers to sniff at the undergrowth. The woman strides faster, making distance, projecting calm and then turns to look just as the hound raises his head to see her. One word and he seems to smile from nought to forty-five in the beat of a heart.

It is the first time she has seen him run, the first time she has created this space for him and she can't decide which comes first - anxious panic that he may not stop or a little squeal at the power and speed. Too soon, or just soon enough, he puts on the brakes and slows - but he overshoots just a little and then turns and comes to her and the biscuit seems too plain a reward for it all... at least to her, not the dog.

The sun sinks...

... they return to the Den and a magic begins to stir in her soul.

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Light originally appeared on Taexalia on December 11, 2009.

I have become a bit of a dog person, truth be told, but then who can blame me when you look at those two faces?

Logan has been with us for five weeks and he seems to have settled in well. We were even blessed with the company of GemmaDog last week, which turned out to be a wonderful test of my pack leader skills - and also taught me more about Logan as a kind of secret bonus.

Things we have achieved:

• Walking at heel on a slack lead.
• Walking at heel off the lead - only in secluded out of town places, but no attempts to run off.
• Lying down - usually only needing a hand signal.
• Lying Sphynx or sitting - usually in response to the presence of Biscuit.
• Identifying which pocket the Postman keeps biscuits in.
• Going to the loo wearing raincoat - this involved one episode of going for a full walk, refusing to do anything and then demanding to get out again as soon as the coat came off - followed by a very swift squat.
• Lying quietly whilst meals are prepared and walking to the dish so as not to skid on the slidey kitchen floor.
• Going for walks without nervous halts in response to trains, traffic, roadworks, other dogs, loud noises.
• Ignoring the pack leaders when they are eating their dinner (mostly).
• Sleeping all night - although not sure if that is such an achievement for a Greyhound.

Things we are working on:

• Stairs - inside stairs are easy, as are most outside ones - but the ones from the front of the house to the street are still confusing. It should be noted that when GemmaDog was staying these stairs posed zero challenge and both dogs came straight down them without pause.
• Being calm when we meet other dogs. We expect dogs who get to meet us to be well mannered, but we are still learning not to get helicopter-like in response.
• Differentiating between Teddy Trump and soft furnishings.
• Differentiating between Teddy Trump and anything made from paper.
• Making oneself invisible when in possession of soft furnishings or anything made from paper.

"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." - Edward Hoagland

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Logan’s Learning, So Am I originally appeared on Taexalia on December 7, 2009.

I have long felt that dogs are dogs and bad dogs are simply the result of bad dog owners. I have often indulged in a bit of judgemental talk and voiced ideas along the lines of it takes a person to teach a dog to be aggressive. I still agree with that idea, but I'm not so sure that all aggressive dogs become that way because their owners want them to - rather that they just allow their dogs to get away with it or unknowingly encourage it.

I've never really had to think too much about dog ownership, other than to curse about the massive numbers of people who pave the streets with shit and fail to pick it up. Now that I've got a dog in the house I'm riding the learning curve of dogs, dog behaviour and responsible dog ownership. Of course I pick the poo up* but there's more to it than that, isn't there?

While I'm learning to speak dog I'm paying attention to what other dogs and their owners are doing and noting the things I might try and the things I want to avoid. I'm also observing Logan as he meets and interacts with other dogs and noticing which dogs he is happy to meet and which dogs he is not so taken with.

I'm of the opinion that an awful lot of dog owners are absolutely clueless about dog etiquette. Dogs are, after all, around 99% wolf despite thousands of years of breeding and domestication. If you pay attention to any of the documentaries about wolves in the wild you are going to see something much different from the behaviours of many of the dogs running around in your local park.

It's really very bad manners for a dog to come careering out of nowhere and explode all over your dog and, having been walking with the Pack** for a few weeks now, I have seen the difference in dynamics between the dogs without boundaries and the dogs who are calm-submissive and know how to meet other dogs. I'm guessing I don't have to point out which meetings are the more pleasant and successful...

Yesterday Logan and I were out on a long walk that I purposefully chose because he had never been there before. I had only been so far along that particular path and so we stepped out into the unknown together after an hour or so of walking.

We found ourselves on a farm track, having followed the direction of the way-marker. I could see the track was leading towards a house and I was wondering if I had missed a turning for the path. Just at the right moment I saw a man coming towards me and I smiled at the great timing. Then he started shouting and my first instinct was that he was shouting at me and that I had missed the path and he was doing a get orf my land thing. Then I realised he was shouting at a dog.

The dog, a stocky collie cross, appeared round the bend in the road at a hare's pace and as soon as she saw Logan she started barking. The man kept shouting and screaming at her. I rather think that alone encouraged her although I'm sure he didn't mean to.

Logan began to dance on the end of his lead like a prize thoroughbred horse faced with a crisp packet on a windy day (trust me, I know...) and I could see his response was flight. Thankfully I have my greyhound attached to the lead with both a halti and a collar - their build means they are apt to slip their collars at moments like these and the halti gives a much gentler way to lead.

The crazed dog sensed his fear and launched herself at his side. It was an attack but more with paws than with teeth. I had a momentary flashback to the crazed Akita that bit Gemma a few months ago, and instinct somehow got me in between the collie and Logan. Once he was behind me I didn't feel him trying to dance although my main focus was on this mad dog in front of me.

All week I have been trying to get Logan to respond to my hand signal for stay and the best way I can frame it is that he hasn't figured it out yet However I was acting with instinct, as well as this calm-assertive energy I had been faking since we left the house so, having gotten in between crazy collie cross and Logan I found myself holding my hand out to signal this dog to stop and stay. I found myself focusing my whole being on telling this dog she could not pass go and could not collect her pound of Logan.

She sat down.

As her owner ran up all a fluster shouting this way and that, I stood there with his dog totally under my control whilst my mind was doing the "how are you doing this?" dance. The owner grabbed his dog and, out of the four of us, he was the one who was visibly shaken. He was very apologetic and explained they never see anyone up that way and his dog isn't used to other dogs. For some reason, perhaps because I was still somewhat stunned by my own success at controlling the situation, I did not get all huffity at him about how he should have his dog under control. Instead I was the picture of calm as I assured him Logan was fine and  enquired about directions. It turns out I was on the right path and, after I had given his dog a sniff of my hand, we set off and found a really lovely overgrown path with wonderful trees and the sense that very few people pass by.

Later we turned back and re-traced our steps and I was aware that we might have another encounter with the collie but I felt confident that I would be able to assert myself with her. The way I look at it, if your dog comes into my space it's in my pack territory and I am the one who decides how that turns out.

Had we met her, Logan would have yet another message that I am the leader who protects her pack. I think he is figuring it out

*coming soon a blog about dog poo paraphernalia

**I should really commit to writing about this too!

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Dealing With a Dog Attack originally appeared on Taexalia on November 7, 2009.

This is Logan. He is a two year old blue fawn greyhound and he is BIG. He is also our new dog and has been living here for six whole days. He was lucky enough to be living in a place where one of @'s friends (my friend too) works while he was waiting for a new home to appear. This friend happened to notice that we were enjoying our stint looking after Gemma and that Gemma's extended stay had prompted us to think about getting a dog of our own. This friend is basically the angel of the piece as she was the link that connected the dog with his new pack and us with a rather large canine.

Logan is not Gemma. This is probably obvious to everyone. Even me. The idea that having a dog would be like having a GemmaDog dissipated very quickly. Gemma is thirteen and easy, Logan is two and, well, new. And big. And trying to figure out who is the pack leader. So am I.

I am sure I am not the only person who has a copy of Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan and I am sure I am not the only person who is waving it around saying "This is my bible!" - except when I am retrieving it from Logan's mouth as he tries to pinch it for a quick shredding. Which, in fairness, he only did once.

I have only watched a couple of episodes of The Dog Whisperer, and I have only read half of his book, but one of the basic tenets of Cesar's theory that I have picked up is the idea of being the Pack Leader with calm-assertive energy. I can't argue with the theory and I have come to the conclusion that my biggest challenge in being Logan's pack leader is not at all with Logan, but with myself.

My self-confidence has been at an all time low and there are some perfectly understandable reasons for that. Those reasons are now in the past and here in the present there is a dog who needs a calm-assertive pack leader - so even though I'm not feeling very confident or calm-assertive I'm going to bliddy well have to fake it til I make it.

Logan has been pretty fantastic to have around. He had been kennelled on a farm and he has had to meet lots of new things, people and dogs this past week and considering he is a shy dog he is doing very well.

One of the things that I assume he has never seen before is a flight of stairs. When he arrived in Burntisland we got out of the car about ten minutes from the house and I walked him the rest of the way to let him "migrate" to his new home and get a bit of smellavision of his new area. When we got to our house we had to climb the stairs from the pavement to the garden and he simply didn't seem to know what to do.  We brought GemmaDog out and he very gingerly climbed up. Later that night we resorted to a treat on each step to coax him up to bed.

Throughout the week steps have become The Thing - the place where he stops and I need to coax him. Burntisland is full of hills and steps and there's no getting away from steps. I developed a technique of letting him smell a biscuit and giving him the biscuit when he got to the bottom.  He didn't just stop at steps, sometimes he would stop when he saw something like a new set of roadworks traffic cones. I wasn't very sure about doing the biscuit thing then, but it was suggested that I was rewarding him for coming to me.

Then last night he had a wee growl when I went to take his rawhide bone away before taking him up to bed. I realised that this could be a sign that he is trying to dominate me. I don't want a dog that growls at me and I have to be able to remove things from his mouth at any time, so I went to bed considering whether I was doing as good a job at being a pack leader as I had thought.

I woke up with a migraine. This meant that @ decided to go out and get me some tablets and take Logan for his morning stroll. A few minutes later I got a picture text of Logan lying sphinx-like across the threshold refusing to move. Knowing that @ was limited for time, I threw on some clothes and went down. I didn't think, I just walked out the door past Logan clicking my fingers and telling him to c'mon. We were both at the bottom of both flights of steps before I even realised we weren't going to have The Stair Thing.

Off they went and I returned to bed with my migraine and the message that maybe I had been taking the wrong approach altogether with Mister Logan's Insecure Stoppages. I realised I had been unintentionally teaching him he'd get a treat for this behaviour and I realised I needed to re-assess my leadership messages.

Once the migraine had passed into fluffy brain syndrome I decided to take Logan for a walkie with a difference. This time I was mindful over who went out the door first (me!) and also ensured that he walked behind me. This was easier than I thought and quite a lot of the time he was doing this with a slack lead, although I held the lead closer to his head at the times he did try to get in front. I lead, my pack follows...

He did do The Stop Thing on several occasions and I do think it is to do with him feeling unsure about something and not always to do with him trying to choose our direction (through gorse after a scent of fox!). I tried a different version of the Nose-Eyes-Ears (or Scent-Sight-Sound) pointers from Cesar's book - I would put my hand under his nose to catch his attention with my scent and when he was focused on my hand I would move it to indicate the direction we needed to walk and then give him some calm-assertive voice coaxing.

We navigated several flights of stairs, two fields of curious cows, a tractor and an aggressive dog* before we turned around and navigated it all for the return journey (minus the dog). When we got home he was half-way up the steps before he remembered to stop

I think he's teaching me how to be a pack leader whilst I am teaching him how to be calm with everything he encounters. It's a good exchange

*aggressive dog tale tomorrow

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Learning To Speak Dog originally appeared on Taexalia on November 6, 2009.