Don't Shave A Husky!

Author Karen Pryor wrote a book several years back called "Don't Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training." She grabbed your attention with that first admonition - don't shoot the dog! - and it alluded to her deeper philosophical point: all too often, when things go wrong, we blame the dog (wait... didn't quite mean to make that joke...) rather than the trainer, the training methods, the process that yielded the product.

Pryor argues that rather than shooting the dog (or taking it to the pound, but that made for a more cumbersome title), we should look at changing our own methods. Really, it's sort of an animal take on Ghandi: be the change you wish to see in the world. All right, that's kind of a stretch, but she did a good job driving home the point that training impacts the trained, and re-examination of our own methods when interacting with pets, children, co-workers, spouses, and so on, is generally more productive than just writing off said pets, children, etcetera.

So what do I mean by "don't shave a husky"?

Do I mean it as a metaphor for not just taking the easy way out? Because it is true that with the suddenly skyrocketed temperatures down here earlier this week, my husky Sofia started shedding like nobody's business, and it was making me crazy. So I took her to a groomer and asked them to give her a trim, so that maybe my house could be a little less hairy. Rather than vacuuming three times daily, lint-rolling my clothes constantly, and investing all that time in Sofia Hair Management, I took the easy route and let the groomers attack the root of the hair problem. So perhaps we can learn from this:

"Don't Shave A Husky!" It's the easy way out! If you've committed to a fluffy-haired pet, commit to its impact on your life!

"Don't Shave A Husky!!" Altering the natural, beautiful state of something just because it's inconvenient is a selfish, materialistic move. Are clean sofas really worth messing with another creature's appearance? Let's make the case for natural beauty!

"Don't Shave a Husky!!!" SEE! I could have a larger, transcendent point, just like Karen Pryor! Lessons from animals also apply to people! Don't take the path of least resistance!! The easy road leads to nowhere!!! Natural is beautiful!!!!

Well, now. Maybe there's something to all that.

But mostly, by "don't shave a husky,"I just mean that my dog got shaved today, and she looks really, really stupid.




*See how she won't even turn to face the camera! She is too ashamed! But imagine her still-fluffy head matched with a shaved little body. The tail should give you some idea. Look at the tail - my heavens, THE TAIL!