The problem is *identified* - we need a solution: I give my chihuaua MIXED MESSAGES

[UTUSN]

That's her on the left, about 3 yrs ago. So, I don't pick her up a lot, but when I do, it is irrisistible to kiss her on the crown of the head, or the ears. Certainly not on the lips.

Now, that said, I can understand that she would want to reciprocate, that's what canines are all about. So, HER interpretation of this kissing business is to LICK CONSTANTLY, me on the face, the eyes, trying for the lips, neck, ALL THAT.

It would be all right if it were here, there, and OVER WITH. But she keeps on and on.

Oh, On Edit, the mixed message is that I initiate it by kissing her but sort of push her away when she KEEPS licking me.


Like, the other dog, the dude on the right, is fairly undemonstrative except during thunderstorms when he THEN follows me around. However, HIS insight is that when I HUG him, he interprets HIS response as LEANING on me (he doesn't have wrapable arms).

But the LICKING -----------(I'm looking for solutions)


On double Edit: I won't be surprised if, here in teh Lounge, somebody sez, "Get a cat."

[flvegan]

1. Licking is also a sign of submission.

Also, if you have some sort of foreign scent on you, many dogs will attempt to remove it (by licking) so that you smell like daddy in that spot again.

[UTUSN]

2. Thanks for that. n/t

[Tikki]

3. My Chi (Tikki the dawg) is lickity...

and hasn't outgrown it in 13 years.


Tikki

[UTUSN]

4. What I'm proud about is that mine is totallyhousebroken. At first,

(I'd never had a chi before, mainly Cockers), I was afeard she (her breed) would NEVER get 'broken.

It seemed like forever. And I ran into a girl with a chi in her purse who told me HER dog was "still struggling" after 7 mos or longer.

But I also encountered a big old fat man with a tiny dog who told me that HIS chi would be "totally embarrassed" if she had an accident inside.

Well, mine has gone, like, two years without any problems.

[RandomThoughts]

5. On the concept of mixed messages. Ignoring the dog part.

First off there is the comment of Tzu Sung where he said if the messages are confusing it is the generals fault.

But there is a far more important thing.

If a message can be seen two different ways, the way you see it tells what kind of person you are. A mixed message is not a way to give information but a way to receive it about the listener.

Also the concept of giving orders does not build a person up, but attempts to achieve a goal. It is not teaching, it is doing something. If the intent is to share thoughts, then telling people what to do is irrelevant. If the intent was to accomplish something, then a shift from teaching to ordering sometimes occurs.

During training of how to think, telling people what to think would not be training.

That's how I think on many mixed messages.


Different thread side note.
Ents move slow, because the slow knife penetrates the shield. Was going to write a story about temporal lore, where an effect added into a time line, if done where everyone learns it over many years, when it is shown to have meaning is not removable by another action due to saturation level. Although just a metaphor, it is part of a temporal lore story I want to write some day.

So if you memorized something, and it has some value, when that value is unlocked, it can not be just changed because so many people already know what it sounds like.

Note: I don't believe in temporal lore, but it can be used as a metaphor.

[Rosie1223]

6. This doesn't help, but

Your dogs are adorable!

[UTUSN]

7. Thanks, and *aren't* they though!1 I've never had these little things before

My main dogs were two Cockers (at different times of my life). Cockers are SO intelligent, SO loving, SO clown/playful.

I long for one but am getting "up there" and don't think I could keep up. Then there's the hair maintenance thing.

Now that I've changed the subject to obsessing over Cockers, here's one that a couple of years ago was featured in the Sunday newspaper feature for humane society adoption. He/she was TOTALLY PISSED to be undergoing the indignity of being in dog jail. When I called, it was already gone/adopted.