It’s August 1st, and the only picture I took today was one of a postcard from All State soliciting business from me. I took it because that was the first piece of junk mail I’ve gotten in years that caught my attention.  So much so, I turned it over and read what they wanted me to read.  The rates they quoted me looked good, so I might give them a call.

I’d seen All State’s plain white envelopes with slogans on the front aimed at getting my attention.  I’ve thrown them in the trash over and over.  This was really nifty. How long till other companies do the same thing, and it won’t be original and nifty anymore?

This reminds me of the first time I saw a man holding up a “Will work for food” sign.  It was in my hometown in Southern California at a strip mall close by my house.  I was leaving the mall, and there he was, looking dirty and tired, holding the sign up.  I rushed home and  yelled to my mom.  I told her all about what I’d just seen, and how I needed to get some canned food for the hungry man.  I did, and got back to that mall as fast as I could, but he was already gone.  I felt bad.

Shortly after that, I saw someone else with the same message on a sign.  All sorts of feelings flushed through me, most of all was that gullible feeling.  Many years have gone by since, and people on off-ramps across the country are doing the same thing with the same or similar messages.  It must be like that 100th monkey phenomenon with a sort of stinging quality to it.

On second thought, before I call All State, I’m going to check if it is one of the insurers who decidedly pulled out of the home owners insurance business in Florida, and dropped loads of my Floridian friends in the swamp.  There are some insurers who’ve done that, yet are being allowed to sell auto insurance in the state.  I won’t go there, if All State is in that group.  I’m not going to step into the gullible trap to support a company like that.  We’ll see.

Tonight Raven did a fabulous job on everything.  She would barely stop to let me congratulate her with more than clicks and treats before she was off to do whatever she could do to get more treats.  She had a hungry stomach and a one-track mind, which was to get thoses clicks and treats.  I trained her before dinner, which doesn’t always prove this beneficial.  Must be the moon as it blooms closer and closer to her full beauty.  Or it could be the steak in my treat bag.

Tomorrow I will work with Leissl.  She went on a space cadet ride tonight, and after months and months of working on weave poles, she still isn’t getting it.  It was as if she’d never seen them and had no idea what I was asking her to do.  Weave?  <sigh>  It’s a lot more fun working a Raven dog than a Leissl dog.  Though Leissl does what she likes to do magnificently.  Raven will do whatever she needs to do to get treats, and she also has a daredevil spirit and a locomotive drive.

My goal is to be patient and cherish who Leissl is, and realize she is going to get where she’s going at her own speed.  This diversity of personalities will make me a better dog trainer.

Helen

P.S.  My dogs really do work for food.