Ok, so the title makes it sound as if I beat my dogs and that is not the case but if you have ever owned a Chessie, you would know that they are VERY STRONG WILLED dogs, VERY EXCITABLE, HARD HEADED as well as being LARGE and STRONG. There are times when you need to get control now and sometimes that takes brute force. I know this because I have 1 and ½ chessies. Rudy is part ½ Chocolate lab and ½ chessie and 90 pounds of muscle. He loves to announce every person that walks down our street. But even worse, is what he does when someone actually comes to our door. (We have teenagers so this is almost every day). He barks, and jumps and makes sounds like he is going to tear whoever they are apart – I have witnessed many grown men (UPS drivers and so on) RUN back to their trucks when they have heard Rudy. We haven’t even talked about what I have to do in order to let someone in. But before I go any further, I need to say that Rudy is a GOOD BOY, and even though he may sound vicious, he is so sweet and gentle and has never hurt anyone that we have let into our house. But I have no doubt that if a stranger were to break in – Rudy wouldn’t hesitate to live up to his reputation that has been bestowed upon him by delivery men. Anyway, back to beating my dog. In order to get him to calm down enough to let someone in, there have been a few times when I have had to raise my hand to get him to back off. And this I will say, it literally hurts me more that it hurts him. His bones are made of titanium and I have had bruises to prove it. He’s getting better at not being such a spaz but he has a way to go.
My other chessie is technically still a puppy. At almost 15 months she is about 75 pounds of pure energy and muscle. So the other day as I am preparing to take one of the other dogs on a walk, in her excitement she was jumping up on me and in order to keep from getting jumped on, I put my foot up and kicked at her (not intending to connect) but my shin hit one of her reinforced steel bones and left me with a bump and a bruise that still hurts 3 days later.
Now I am not condoning beating your dog but at the same time, certain breeds need to be reminded of proper behavior and who is boss – that should always be the owner. Like I stated before, I am usually the one to get hurt and the only thing that gets hurt on my dogs is their pride (for about 30 seconds). I love my dogs and I don’t think that anyone out there would ever think otherwise, in fact I’m sure most people would think that I spoil my dogs – which I do!
