The Art of Raising a Puppy

396 Pages·5.19 MB·English

by  The Monks of New Skete

THE MONKS OF NEW SKETE
THE ART OF RAISING A PUPPY
COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED
Little, Brown and Company
NEW YORK BOSTON LONDON
Begin Reading
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
The loneliness and solitude of man can be dispersed by spiritual
intercourse, but man is of the earth too, and Nature lives in him
and holds him fast. She is his mother, and just as in all young
things that stray from home there is a yearning after
associations which recall the color and the atmosphere of the
old home now lost, so does the solitary man seek Nature, a life
in Nature, Nature’s answer, the animal that understands his
voice and can respond to it.
—F. J. J. Buytendijk, The Mind of the
Dog
There is a word from the time of the cathedrals: agape, an
expression of intense spiritual affinity with the mystery that is
“to be sharing life with another life.” Agape is love, and it can
mean “the love of another for the sake of God.” More broadly
and essentially it is a humble, impassioned embrace of
something outside the self, in the name of that which we refer to
as God, but which also includes the self and is God. We are
clearly indebted as a species to the play of our intelligence; we
trust our future to it; but we do not know whether intelligence is
reason or whether intelligence is this desire to embrace and be
embraced in the pattern that both theologians and physicists
call God. Whether intelligence, in other words, is love.
—Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams:
Imagination and Desire in a
Northern Landscape
Abba Xanthias said, “A dog is better than I am, for he has love
and does not judge.”
—The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Introduction
Monasteries are not as otherworldly as you might imagine. If they appear
secluded and removed from the mainstream of society’s activity, it is only
because they attempt to create a climate that fosters an authentic
engagement with life at its most profound and human level, something
often lost amid the noise and distraction of today’s world. When we are
quiet enough, freed from all our inner noise and chatter, we can see with
new respect the natural beauty and wisdom of the world around us and
appreciate our ties to it. Such perceptive silence opens up our lives to
healthy reverence and awe for all things; it creates a capacity for acceptance
that is both humanizing and life-giving.
So what does all of this have to do with raising a puppy? A great deal,
we believe. Our monastery is set in a quiet, rural area in upper New York
State. For more than forty years, as part of an effort to support ourselves,
we have been actively involved in the breeding and raising of German
shepherd dogs. We have also operated a training program that is open to
dogs of all breeds. During this time we have worked closely with numerous
professional breeders, trainers, and veterinarians to deepen our
understanding of all facets of canine care.
We have learned that our monastic environment offers us a unique
perspective. Here we are forced to reexamine our attitudes about
everything, including dogs. We are constantly challenged to become more
open to the language dogs use to communicate with us. This experience
confirms our deepest intuitions about the relationship of human beings not
only with their dogs but with every aspect of the world in which they live.
In our book How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend, we took what we had
learned about dog behavior and training and made it available to other
people and their dogs in the varied and diverse environments in which they
live. We hoped to foster in our readers a more realistic understanding of
their dogs and an increased awareness of the benefits of canine
companionship. Drawing on our own experience here at New Skete, we
described how dog training actually goes far beyond the elementary
instruction of basic obedience commands; it must encompass a whole new
attitude and lifestyle with your dog. It must touch on the levels of a dog’s
own life that have often been ignored. This is why we explored the broader
issue of companionship itself.
We still firmly believe in this approach, and the years since the
publication of our first book have deepened our understanding and
commitment to the principles we discussed there. We continue to be
energetically involved in the breeding of healthier, sounder German
shepherds, as well as in working with owners of many breeds on a training
basis. These are demanding tasks, and the fact that we are a close-knit
community permits us to pay careful attention to these concerns and learn
from them.
But we still see that, elsewhere, ignorance on a vast scale continues to
make dogs the victims of human thoughtlessness and abuse. As anyone
seriously involved in the field knows, working with dogs and their owners
is a bittersweet experience. It regularly forces us to witness the collision of
philosophy with reality. The remarkable little puppy so filled with the
capacity for life and companionship one week can easily become an
incontinent, destructive, and hyperactive annoyance the next. We have seen
this happen repeatedly. Poor management all too often leads to irritating or
even dangerous behavior problems that quickly sever the human-dog bond
before it ever has the chance to develop. While most of the dogs we deal
with are intelligent, happy, and well-adjusted, some are not. Every day we
encounter dogs who have serious behavior problems and for whom
obedience training has been described as the “last chance.” Usually they
clearly manifest signs of a bad start in life: poor breeding, limited handling
and socialization as puppies, and lack of owner understanding concerning
the importance of proper diet, exercise, discipline, and obedience training.
As we work with these cases, we cannot help being convinced that most of
these dogs, had they been treated more carefully and intelligently as
puppies, would never have developed the problems that now beset them and
their owners.
If we look honestly at the way many people manage their dogs today, we
are faced with a staggering reflection of irresponsibility and lack of
compassion. It is difficult to refer to a dog as “man’s best friend” when
more than six million unwanted adult dogs and puppies are euthanized