Comments on: ‘Marley and Me’: Don’t try this at home

By: Leslie-Ann

Leslie-Ann — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:21:26 +0000

Do you know how to be anything other than condescending? I am neither 5 nor stupid! You win. You are all knowing and all seeing!

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:36:57 +0000

Well, Leslie-Ann … I afraid we’re going to have to agree to disagree. I still didn’t like the book. I’m still not wasting my time on the movie. And I still think well-mannered dogs should be welcome in many more public places. That’s not “attacking”; that’s disagreement.

I am, however, really happy you like your dog. And your boyfriend. And thanks for the tips about retrievers. Very kind of you to offer them. I’m also sure the ones in “Marley and Me” are well worth buying the DVD just to get.

By: Lis

Lis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:32:44 +0000

Leslie-Ann, the paragraph break is your friend.

By: Leslie-Ann

Leslie-Ann — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:22:07 +0000

See Gina, you didn’t read my post you decided what you wanted to see and turned and attacked! I don’t have an ill-mannered dog! Neither do I want one. I have worked VERY hard with a dog that was not bred by a good breeder. He is a Field Lab and was locked in a barn for the first five months of his life, ALONE, becuase he didn’t sell with the rest of his litter and became a cost not revenue! He had no contact except two people that came with a once a day feeding, he was near to starving and is fearful of sticks, brooms, rakes, shovels etc. So we are sure that he was hit with one or the other. So what I have is a fearful dog. Which we have worked day in and day out to fix. We have a dog that has seperation anxiety which we have worked day in and day out to fix. I walk him two hours every morning before I go to work. When I come home the first thing I do before anything else is walk him for at least half an hour. Then before bed it’s another hour long jaunt round the block. I am neither irresponsible nor un-dog-savy. My boyfriend has him in the back yard every chance he gets fethcing, chasing and we go to the cottage most week-ends where he swims and retrieves from the water! I have worked in shelters both as a volunteer and employee. I know what humans do to their dogs. I for one don’t think dogs should be in Home Depot or at the patio at your local sandwich shop anymore than people should be allowed to smoke in those places. Because the other people around may not appreciate it whether your dog is behaved or not. I further don’t believe that a dog should ever be outdoors off leash. It is not fair to those around you. I have a phobia of snakes and well if I was walking around Home Depot and someone had one around their neck then I would literally have a heart attack. I should not be subjected to that because you think it is cute to have it with you! I still do feel that dog owners need to tone it down a bit Like you feel one bad dog spoils it for the rest of the good ones, I so feel one over vigilant owner spoils it for the rest of the just content to have a good dog owners! Maybe we should all take a deep breath and see Marley and Me for what it was. A story and a movie. Also if you take the time to watch what you preach about, there are in the DVD pamphlets with regard to Labradors and other Retreivers that spell out just how hard to handle they are, if not trained, exercised or balanced this is a deterant as best I have seen. There was nothing like this when the live action version of 101 Dalmations came out!

By: Lis

Lis — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:19:43 +0000

Leslie-Ann, Marley wasn’t ill-behaved because he was a previously-abused rescue with issues his new owners were still working on. He was bought as a puppy from a good-enough breeder (but not an excellent one, or she wouldn’t have sold a field-bred puppy to first-time dog owners with no plan for his adequate exercise), and his owners just never gave enough of the right kind of attention to his training.

I adopted a year-old dog with Issues, who is now able to make therapy pet visits to nursing homes—but there are many, many places she can’t go with me, not because of her behavior, but because of the behavior of other dogs whose owners never adequately trained them. Her life is poorer because people like you think it’s cute to have a dog with no manners.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:58:14 +0000

Well, Leslie, if you want to have an ill-mannered dog, then I say knock yourself out. Better you than me.

Except, well, see the thing is that your ill-mannered dog is the reason why my well-behaved dog is no longer welcome in the local Home Depot … or the patio at my local sandwhich shop, etc.

All dogs go to heaven. Well-trained dogs can go everywhere.

I know which I’d prefer having.

By: Leslie-Ann Guiney

Leslie-Ann Guiney — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:49:40 +0000

Yes actually I am new here and I have to say I love Milan and I have used many of the techniques I have learned on his show and in his books with my Brody. But I stand by my feelings about dog owners. If you don’t see it or do it their way, you are wrong. If your dog doesn’t do what their perfect dog does it is bad. This attitude is VERY evident in all of your comments here, as in other peoples. The fact that you keep going after and after and after Emily is a prevelent shining example that because her opinion of something you think is the gospel differs you are going to keep on until she changes her point of view. This is what turns people off…. I too have worked in The largest Canadian Shelter and have seen what humans do to dogs. BUT. Honestly I don’t feel lording over my dog is the right way to have a relationship with him. I feel that there has to be mutual respect and that he does what he is told not only because he HAS to because I am the master, but because he wants to. If running around the back yard like an idiot for 15 mins rather than coming when I call him is what he wants to do then I can wait for him to come for 15 mins. After all he does what I say every other time since he pretty much has to. If dog owners would stop jumping on band wagons and going for broke to get EVERYONE to come around to their newest point of view then maybe others would not be so quick to giggle when they tell stories about their dog eating their way out of the basement door! Which my dog did. You have no idea what is going on with owners. My dog was abused for the first five months of his life and I have had to deal with the after affects every day for the last two years. Seperation Problems, People Scaredness problems. Object Fear problems. So when I am walking my dog and a person comes near us with a stick, sometimes he just can’t handle it and we have to walk out onto the road. We have done all we can to get him through this but just like with many humans deep seeded terrors are hard to leave behind and you don’t know what or when they will be triggered. However if you saw him pulling me you would look at us as a bad owner and an untrained dog. BUT you have NO IDEA of our back ground! Maybe if you saw that everyone has a different type of relationship with their dog and what works for them is fine, then people like me would not feel the need to send messages like the last one I did. You are not a better dog owner than me because I let my dog walk in front of me when we are walking and you have yours at your side. We just do things differently. I like him to be in front so I know what is going on with him. I like to be able to pay attention to him. I don’t want him behind or beside where I can’t see what he is walking on, in or picking up. Further. I see so many people who would tout themselves as GREAT dog owners. Listening to iPods while walking their PERFECT dogs. Isn’t walking a time to bond to spend time with and pay attention to your dog. Can’t you listen to your iPod when you are on the public transit? But hey maybe iPod wearing while walking works for you. I am not a better dog owner than you because I sacrifice my time to listen to the backstreet boys for my dog! See my point here and run with it. You may learn to be a little less holier than thou about your posts!

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:28:23 +0000

New here?

By: Leslie-Ann Guiney

Leslie-Ann Guiney — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:36:59 +0000

No one is perfect, some with human children and some with furry children. I loved Marley and Me the book. It has to be on the top of my fave book list. I can say this because it was more about the fact that they darn well just loved that dog more than anything else. I didn’t look at it from the point of view that well they were rubbish owners to a good dog that just needed some training. See it for what it is a book about a man who just simply loved his dog! Dog owners are THE more self rightous set of people I have ever seen in my life, if your dog is not just exactly as perfect as they would have theirs be the down the nose looking starts. I have a dog EXACTLY the same as Marley. He is the love of my life next to my boyfriend and two cats. He had a ROUGH start to his life and so we have been working it out slowly. He ate our couch before we decided to crate him. We all live and learn! NO ONE IS PERFECT THEIR FIRST TIME AROUND! Even the most militant of trainers has made one mistake here and there. As well the message here is that you need to train and work with your dog. If you get to the end of the book it tells you that they did things very differently with their next dog Grace! Just my point of view! I like my mixed up crazy dog! If you don’t then you don’t have to be with him! It’s just that easy! Get down from your high horse! Enjoy something other than your perfect existance!

By: Mahjoob

Mahjoob — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:55:04 +0000

I agree. you are absolutely right.I was not amazed while watching the movie at all.Marley was an uruly dog deprived of lessons helping him learn how to live among people.he was poor more than being naughty and sweet.