Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Rottweilers are from Pluto

We got "percepted" yesterday, or at least they tried. We have a growing Rottweiler puppy, (15 months), that descends from world champions. Not surprisingly he is spirited. So far, I have been able to manage him, but he constantly challenges Kathy, my wife. There is a dog training couple on island that have a Rottweiler.

Yogi at the Dog First Aid and CPR tent at Paws on Parade Kilauea

Kathy, wanted to have him evaluated and get some training other than what we do at home; ok fine. So she filled in a four page application and provided all sorts of insights.

Karen Tolodziecki of Bark Bark Backyard is highly trained, worked with Caesar Millan and Heather Beck and is certified as a AKC Canine Good Citizen assessor. In Yogi's one day assessment they taught him how to run on a treadmill. She sent a video of his first run, that alone is worth the price of admission.

So where is the perception management? During the debrief she led off with, "The problem is that you are trying to use human psychology on a dog." (Kathy mentioned in the application that she had certified in teaching learning disabled, emotionally disturbed and gifted and talented student from K -12). Then off into a canned speech about human psychology that included Men are from Mars, Woman are from Venus and they are all still human, how much harder to communicate with canines. During the fairly long speech her husband, RJ, would pipe up from time to time, (while yelling at dogs).

"Good thing you got to us when you did".

"Glad you got here before it was too late"

"It will be at least a year before he can pass his Canine Good Citizen", (Yogi is already an AKC Star Puppy).

I don't mind, I really don't, weapons of influence are part and parcel of daily life, hence this blog. But the theater was not necessary. And it hit Kathy hard, she started saying things like: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Rottweilers are from Pluto, (which I thought was a nice turn of a phrase). Maybe we will start calling Yogi Pluto from time to time, but hard sell was not needed, we are sure bets, we want to attempt Canine Good Citizen when we get back to Washington.