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Originally Posted by matese  It breaks my heart to even hear or see little Misa's name. Anyone that knows dogs / Yorkies can tell Misa is not a happy baby in any of those videos, she has no life in her little eyes. There was always a bowl of food or treats in these videos, never did Misa get a food reward, you can see Misa look at the food or treat wanting it but never getting it. Misa was a working dog only, not a loved one and it showed in her eyes. People think what a wonderful trainer she had and how cute Misa was, but if you really looked at the dog her eyes told the story, she was not a happy yorkie. Over working a wee lil pup like Misa to me is animal abuse. |
Couldn’t agree more. To bait a dog with nearby food and not allow her to have a treat, if not after every ‘trick’ , at least after a set of tricks, is akin to abuse to me. Dogs equate our sharing our resources with them as a pack member does when each dog gets his share of the ‘kill’, as their right as a valid, card-carrying member of that pack. Even if they aren’t part of the hunters/killers of the pack’s food, they each do their part in service of the pack. After partaking in the work of performing her tricks, akin to her part of the group kill or babysitting a newborn litter while mama dog takes a food, play break, Misa felt entitled to her rights to eat for her work. I sometimes even refer to Tibbe’s reward treats as his paychecks. He’s earned every right to his treats and his dinners with his endless work managing every detail he can of my life, happily doing what I ask of him willingly and protecting his domain, a task he judiciously takes to heart.
Little Misa never glowed with joy at doing her ‘work’ as Tibbe does when he performs obedience and his couple of tricks. He baits me several times a day throwing trick behaviors to train, he loves it so much. He’s so cute begging to train we do it even on days he’s feeling his arthritis and I modify my obedience requests accordingly. We don’t do sit-ups or his left forepaw wave or high five anymore as his left shoulder is arthritic, though he throws that behavior at times to bait me to work with him! So endearing but I try to stop him before he hurts himself, always with happy distractions so he won’t think I’m displeased with his performance.
Misa just never showed that utter enthusiasm in her work and if that’s missing, so is the fun and camaraderie, team-spirit any dog doing tricks should show if his trainer makes training fun, a big win. Poor little thing, hope she’s not really dead, unless her life was unhappy and fearful. In that case, she’d be better off out of that home entirely!