I Have a Theory...

First, I hope you like the new, fall-themed look of the blog.  I loved the previous blog background and it carried me ably through spring and summer but, with the advent of cooler temps and falling leaves, I felt like it needed a change.  Thanks to Elizabeth at The Chronicles of Cardigan for the inspiration.  You'll notice there is a new quote in the header and another quote in the right sidebar.  I'm going to try to change these out regularly as there are literally hundreds of great dog quotes out there.

Now for my theory.  This is a theory I've held for several years.  It's one that UHM says I should never talk about in public but, UHM is a human resources professional so she has to say things like that.  I believe that all the principles you use to train your dog can be applied to managing people who work for you.  There, I've said it.  I think you should treat people like dogs.

I'll go into more detail in subsequent posts but, right now, what are your thoughts on my theory?

Awards, Interviews and An Observation

First, a big thanks to my friend Karen of many blogs including Shaggy Dog Stories, Dog Show Newbie and Blog Dog to name a few.  She nominated my little ol' blog for a Versatile Blogger Award.  I would happily put the award/badge in this post but I am a total blogging idiot and can't seem to figure out how to make that happen :(  So I'll leave it at a flattered, thanks!  You and the Beardies are some of my favorite folks.  I know there are some rules associated with receiving the award but I pride myself on being a rule-breaker so I'm going to ignore those :)

Good news on the the job-hunting front.  I have two phone interviews this week.  One is this afternoon w/the hiring manager for the position I applied for.  If I do well, it might result in an invitation to visit the company offices.  The second is a screening/first interview with an HR person to see if I can put together an intelligent sentence or if someone else wrote my resume :)  The two positions are similar -  planning managers - but the two companies are very different.  One is primarily brick & mortar and the other is exclusively web. One is in the midwest and the other is in the mountain west.  Right now I'm feeling like one is a better fit for my skill set but the other might be a better fit for my personality.  We'll just have to see.

And now for the observation.  In dogs we talk a lot about operant conditioning - where a dog offers a behavior and it is reinforced with a reward.  There is also classical conditioning - where something occurs and that causes the dog to react in a particular way.  The most famous example of classical conditioning is Pavlov's dogs - I really hope I don't need to explain what that is.  Anyway, we've had some classical conditioning going on here that I hadn't noticed until yesterday and it's pretty damned funny.

I've mentioned before that Sam now wears a wacker packer, weenie wrap, belly band - whatever you want to call it - most of the time.  He's not having problems with incontinence, he just seems to have forgotten that marking in the house is NOT allowed and with new carpet in the living room, I'm not taking any chances.  Sam's man-thong is secured with Velcro, which makes a distinctive ripping noise when it is pulled apart.  Again, I really hope I don't need to explain this....

Yesterday, UHM was getting ready to go outside to do some yard work.  She was putting on her work gloves, which have Velcro fasteners at the wrists.  As she opened the fasteners, Moira went crazy.  She ran to the back door, barked and carried on like her world was ending.  Moira going crazy and barking is nothing new but I was puzzled why she acted like that when no one had made a move toward the back door.  And then the light bulb came on over my head.... The sound of Velcro.  Since Sam doesn't wear his weenie wrap outside, the sound of Velcro being ripped apart precedes every trip the dogs make outside.  When UHM put on her gloves, Moira assumed everyone was going out.

That story is really only sorta funny but it does serve to illustrate that we train our dogs every day in lots of little unintended ways.  Think about that the next time you can't figure out why your dog is doing something......