Returning a Book and Your Pants Fell Off

From the desk of Tarma Shena

I thought about where to put this post, as a breeder and trainer I feel it is poor ethics to put down other breeders or trainers. I try to stay in my lane and focus on my sh!t. But the truth of the matter is an inability to keep your dogs separated does not make you a breeder and owning a dog does not make you a trainer.

Those of us who put in the work to become responsible breeders and knowledgeable trainers need to stand up. In the current age of "social media influencer" misinformation is rampant and the dogs are paying the price.

We all know I watch a lot of the TV show Bones. Whoever writes this is a genius and has created a gold mine of quotable one-liners.

In one particular episode a young and rather rambunctious couple are caught having sex at the office. The boss walks in, is shocked of course, and everyone retreats hastily. But later in the episode there is a conversation wherein the young lady is trying to provide an explanation and apology of sorts, and I quote:

“I don’t want you to think we are dating again, that was purely accidental intercourse.”

“You had intercourse accidentally? What were you trying to do, Ms Wick?”

“I was returning a book.”

“And your pants fell off?”

Now whenever I run into a situation where someone is trying to justify or explain their actions my brain will pop up and say, “You were returning a book.”

Inevitably the person I am talking to has no idea what the hell that means but it makes me laugh, sometimes out loud. I don’t care if you don’t get the joke, it’s still funny.

Why is this relevant you ask? Don’t worry I’m getting there.

In checking my notifications this morning I was mentioned in a post wherein the person “Got these two unexpectedly yesterday for free”.

My brain immediately wondered if they were trying to return a book. How does this happen to a person I ask myself. On the other hand I did wind up with two rabbits for a bit but I don’t think that is quite the same and I’ll tell you why.

There is a crisis going on in the LGD world right now, as with anything that becomes a fad, I often wonder if the dogs will survive human whim, ego, and the need for instant gratification.

That post is simply the last link in a chain of bad decisions. Why are they free? Because someone had two dogs and because we are humans and have egos the size of Jupiter, owning two dogs means we have the right, no! the responsibility, to make MORE dogs and sell them to people who will make even MORE dogs. “We’ll sell the litter and that will pay for the adults.” I also have a bridge for sale if you are interested.

Except they didn’t sell. Social media is swamped with advertisements for entire litters not far off from their first birthday.

Why didn’t they sell?

Because making more dogs is not the same as making GOOD dogs and you are running out of uneducated first time buyers who don’t know it’s a lemon until it’s too late. Your half acre “homestead” and six chickens do not need an lgd any more than my nephew needs a tractor with a boom attachment and a flail mower for his little lot in town but I’m sure I could find someone willing to sell him one.

Are they BAD dogs? No. What they are is poorly bred, poorly placed dogs. Set up to fail from the moment they hit dirt. It breaks my heart to be honest.

For those of us who actually need working dogs and dogs who work, we don’t want the equivalent of a cheap plastic tool from China. Real farmers and homesteaders understand that in the long run cheap tools are not a bargain.

I will give you a brief example from yesterday when a lady introduced the adult lgd she just acquired and I asked for more information so I’ve got a history when the questions come around.

To summarize that conversation: it’s her first lgd, never owned one before. It was sold to her as ASD but she has already determined that it may not be true because of its temperament and structure that she did extensive research on before purchasing. Might be a non-lgd mix. But she has plans to purchase a second and let the possible non-lgd mix dog she bought train it up because they work better in pairs.

As it turns out, she didn’t need or want our help, she wanted validation for the decisions she had already made. She already knew everything she needed to know, we were just supposed to say congratulations and move on. Sorry I don’t work that way.

Pan and I went to our first barn hunt lesson last week. You know what I did not do? I did not tell that trainer how to do her job because I have never owned a terrier before, have never done barn hunt, and although I read up on it the whole reason I drove two and a half hours was because I DO NOT know everything but I do know how to shut my face and listen to someone with more information.

Try it, the results can be amazing.