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Do you know why we bark at the mailman?

It's not because we are being dogs. It is because everytime I bark at him, he goes away! And like all dogs, I love success!

There's a lesson there in positive reinforcement.

And you thought I was being bad? Learn to look for the good!

Emma

Listen Up

I just want to be famous. I want people to know me, notice me. I want to have more recognition then I already do. I want to be famous.

I don't want to be a movie star. I don't want to walk up and not be able to walk around dog park. But I want to be a star! I don't want to do paw prints at signings or stand in the light on a red carpet. But I want them to say there she is!

I want to be famous. I want to be famous so I can have a louder voice and people who listen. As I climb the tree of recognition I have met humans with hearts as big as dog! Some save, some teach, some humor. Some help, some assist, some ride! If I were famous more people would hear. I love to sing a song of praise and I have so many wonderful friends to sing about. I want to be famous.

No one told me that is what fame was. No one told me that fortune was in the presentation of others. No one showed me that recognition gave you the ability to introduce. I love it!

I am good at it.. I am proud to do it. And I want to be famous!

A moment in self absorption.

Emma Zen

It wasn't me

Last week I witnessed something that was sure different this week in my own house. You see, last week Mom and I walked into a friends house, with the friend and she saw this bowl of flowers on the floor shattered and laying in the water on her wooden floors and the first words out of her mouth were, "Baxter, What did you do!!!" She was mad. Me and Mom just sat quietly in the corner while she cleaned up and stayed out of her way. While Baxter sort of slumped in the corner.

Today while I was home alone the shower door shattered into a million pieces, literally. They were all the way down the hall. When Mom walked in she said in her normal calm voice "Em Emm where you at?" and up I walked and she hugged me and asked me if I was okay?

Here within lays the difference. Not the difference in a dog (Baxter reminds innocent until proven guilty and the cat wasn't talking.) but the difference between humans. Not that one is good and one is bad. But one lives not looking for someone to blame all the time. I am not here to explain all of that, it is for you yourself to learn how to live happy and free. But I do want to point out that your state of mind does make a difference in how you see me or see your own dog.

So if you fall into Baxter's Moms situation, I have one thing to say. In doing your best to take care of your animals, take better care of yourself. It trickles down, believe me!

Emma Zen

Scary Noises

Emma, can you tell me why my 16 year old basset hound is horribly afraid of vacuum cleaners?

Well, in a word, "no."

I assume all dogs and people can be afraid of the same thing for different reasons. The best I can do is to share my own experiences.

I am not real fond of the vacuum cleaner but I use to shiver every time I heard a hair dryer! It could be the noise? Sounds, pitch that we animals hear that you don't. I don't much prefer the hum of leaf blowers either. Even when I am inside the noise just gets to me. My human had a few tricks though to help me overcome my fears.

1. Whenever I am afraid or unsure of something, she turns it into a massage! When the hairdryer or the vacuum cleaner is off the nose or the nozzle can double as a great tummy scratchier! I have learned that these machines I still don't prefer on, our not half bad when they are off! She has tricked me over the years this way too. You know that thing they sell on TV that files your dog nails, heck I thought that things was muscle relaxer for the first two months.

2. Then I learned to not fear the hairdryer when she was using it but if it was my turn to get blown dry I would still be so hesitant to enter the restroom. Thinking it was the noise she put these big human ear muffs on me. (They are the kind you use when you shoot a gun.) I have taken them to a gun range, a live blasting and the race track) I am sort of fond of them now.

3. I believe you humans call all that "desensitizing". If this doesn't work understand one thing. The vacuum cleaner IS scary! Have YOU ever laid on the ground and watched that thing come at you?

4. Maybe a dog can be afraid due to insecurities? Crate him/her when he is scared. If you are not use to crating your dog you should know that the only person that thinks the crate is cruel our humans. Us dogs love the security our own tight little space can bring us.

5. If all else fails, remove me. Have someone take me on a walk while you clean. As much as you want to teach me it's okay, I just may be better off outside.

Note: Speaking of "teaching me it's okay" remember saying "good girl" or "it's okay" while I am shivering up a storm because you have the monster running. Is only teaching me that my scared behavior is correct. Don't use human words of encouragement to try and calm me down. I am a dog and we do not respond to that emotions. Give us reinforcement when we are in a calm state around the object of fear. My human made me sleep with the bicycle trailer for two weeks when we first got that stupid thing! Now, I love it!!! Just a note.

Emma Zen

Facebook | Emma Zen Chiapuzio Did you know? That what a human calls "personal space" a dog calls a "fear circle". A lesson in understanding dogs.

Facebook | Emma Zen Chiapuzio Did you know? That what a human calls "personal space" a dog calls a "fear circle". A lesson in understanding dogs.

Use your own "I" sentences (appropriately)

I think I am special.

I have no trouble saying that line. I think I am special. All my canine friends can say the same line too! Yet, I have never seen a dog with it nose in the air. I have seen a dog point is sniffer upwards but it's not the same thing.

So why is it? That I, the common dog think I am so extraordinary, yet remain so humble? What's the trick to that one? Answer that question and your human race would be so much happier and healthier.

I think it is because when we use the world, "I" we mean "I". We stand only on our own merit and do not judge ourselves against others.

Let me give you an example. I have a friend who can bark so much better than I. I hope one day she makes a CD. I have a friend who can run so much faster than I. I Love to watch him burn up the dog park. I have a friend who rides a motorcycle just the same as I. I love his ears in the wind they are so much more Basset then my own. I have a friend who has been a therapy dog longer than I. I admire the lessons he teaches.

See, dogs we just are who we are in comparison to no other dog. The only ones trying to make us out do each other are you humans. Please, learn to be proud of yourself!

I am a dog who is good at being in the wind and making others smile.

Emma Zen

Being me

What's my thing? How many of you have asked yourselves that one?

At first I saw others who stood tall in paw prints and I wanted to follow a particular path of dogs. Then I started standing in my own. It took time, it took: effort, it took: being myself, before I looked back and realize I had my own story to tale.

I was: A Biker Dog!

And with that came notoriety and fame, a gift which can be used to help others. My human said that is what fame is for. Self surviving fame is, well, it's not dog.

To give is to know love. Maybe that is why a dog has such a great being, we do give more naturally then our human counterparts.

So what's my thing? Being myself. Being Biker. Being leader: showing those where to help and how to help all the canines in the world and in turn becoming a better human.

It's a big task and I am up for it.

Emma Zen