The Circus

You've got to get out occasionally, or so I'm told... We took the wee one to the circus in Elizabeth City, our nearby metropolis. Elizabeth Town would be more accurate, but that was taken, and Elizabeth Large Town would be even more accurate, but is cumbersome. In addition to several auto dealerships, E City as it is affectionately know by outer bankers, sports a vintage (mildly decaying) National Guard Armory. This sleepy--gymnasium really--played host to the greatest show on earth last week. Now, it is possible that the Circus Pages Circus is not the greatest circus ever to be performed, but I am pretty comfortable arguing that pound for pound, it's pretty bad ass! Now, let's put aside our concerns for the strange lives of the circus performers and staff (mostly one and the same on this scale), and lets let the 300 LB animal welfare gorilla doze in the corner of the room, and let's--just for a moment--marvel. To not be impressed by this show you would have to be dead, or higher than a giraffe's buns. Let's do stats first. The Armory's open room had to be around 10,000-15,000 square feet (guessing). There are vacation homes with more space than that (big ones, granted). There were probably less than twelve professional performers, though they wore many hats, and about as many prop guys and poop--no excrement managers. There were: three lions, two elephants, ten or so ponies, a horse, two tigers, a globe of death with four, yes four motorcycles!, a trampoline act, an ariel acrobatics act, and something that was a cross between a bullfight and a wardrobe extravaganza (you gotta see that one to believe it). Perhaps most impressively, the lion tamer, the ticket girl, the face painter, the acrobat, the bikini clad lady in the globe of death, camel wrangler, and sometimes announcer were the same person! She wasn't the only one. One of the acrobats sold popcorn, funnel cakes, did crazy business on a trampoline, and then rode a motorcycle (upside down at least thirty percent of the time) in the globe of death. Oh yeah, and there were four trained camels. From what I understand they are ornery cusses so, there's that. The versatility, the ease of transition, and the complete lack of pretense (my kid was high as a kite on cotton candy and all over the place, no on once asked her to sit down or back away from the rail) were pretty stunning, but what was more compelling to me was the scale. I live a tiny life in a tiny town, and truth be told, I love our tiny E City. And here it was, a tiny circus in size only. Literally every trailer hauling all of this talent and animal grandeur was parallel parked in less than one city block. Elephants!! You get that? Elephants plural! Tiny footprint, huge show. I know I sound like a bit of a company mouthpiece here, but I payed full price (and then some) I assure you. It was truly like stepping back in time. We drove forty minutes and fifty years into the past. My daughter and I took an elephant ride. She rode a pony as well. We never once saw a release form! The whole show fit snuggly inside the Armory's walls, but it completely blew our minds. I hope the magic comes to a mini city near you. You can invite them if you would like.... http://www.circuspages.com

On Dogs

I quietly hold a controversial view on dogs. I own them. I love them. I care for them . . . if it suits me. I'm reminded of this as my new dog transitions from puppy to dog. He's turning out to be a great dog. This is not interesting accept that if he didn't "turn out," my inclination would be to find a replacement. I firmly believe that all dogs are service animals. Additionally they serve at the pleasure of their masters. If a dog cannot fulfill the responsibilities of its station, it is not worth keeping. That said, I hold the same standard for people. Many dog owners are not worth keeping. A dog, and its owner must be disciplined, above all else. I'm not sure that dogs must be dominated by their owners, but I am sure that dogs crave structure. Dogs crave direction. Structure and direction are the responsibility of the human. There are no exceptions on this. The true joy in mastering an animal comes after this initial commitment. Once discipline and structure are established, the nuance of dog mastery may begin. Tonight Harry, the aloof, sometimes difficult, always intent Spanish Water Dog greeted a pack of four dogs. Harry was not leashed. He greeted the leader of the pack, with grace and poise and worked his way down from there. What's more he tolerated a lower pack member's growl and bark. He ignored this fear based behavior. When Harry came to us, he was unsure, and seemed to be developing a fear based aggression that was not going to fit well in our family that included a three year old daughter and three cats. I was confident that I could work with him--then skeptical. As he was uncertain I bowed to our trainer's impulse to minimize negative reinforcement and concentrate on reward based training. However, after my favorite cat spent the night at the vet to the tune of $400.00, my patience had run out. Out of economic self interest I gravitated toward the dog training principle I'd grown up with. Produce the behavior you want, by any reasonable means, reward good behavior. No longer was I standing there with my treat, and what felt like my manhood, in my hands. The choke collar was re-deployed, the shock collar was introduced. By this point I'd been working with Harry for six months. In two weeks we had the results we needed. Now we are fine tuning. I must admit that the early confidence reinforcement is probably what made all of this possible. I know how to train a dog. I am less confident that I could rehabilitate an uncertain dog. In a perfect world though, no domestic dog would be afflicted with the injustice of a poor upbringing. A puppy is a world of potential. Not all dogs will become bomb sniffers or k9 cops. However no dog should be allowed to behave like a jackass. Our species have too much history together to allow a regression now. Train your dog. If you need help ask for it. There is no excuse for squandering the potential of a puppy.