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Show weans best friend Has battle of the sexes cone to the docjs? th ts been said a By Caroline Arien mans best his dog. As for women, they have diamonds. Blit, nowadays, anyone worth their weight in Dog Chow knows this sort of thinking went out friend with wood-panele- is station d wag- ons and bouffant hairdos. Dogs are no longer the domain of men. More and more women (many of them single) arc turning to dogs for companionship and protec- tion. And were not just talking poodles and shitzus here. Were talking the lumbering, slobberhairy kind with ing, barks that rattle window panes. tccth-barin- g, Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the West, where big dogs have plenty of room to roam. Where women - who fanev themselves a bit more inde- pendent than those in other would just as soon regions come home to a rollicking dog than a man. And where maybe, 4 - just maybe, a dog can be a womans best friend, too. Of course this observation begs the question of who the dogs prefer. Do men and women raise, train and treat their dogs differently? And if so, is one approach better than the other? To find the answer to this probing question and unravel the bond between girls and their dogs, Cross Currents sicced writer Caroline Arien (who aside from being a girl, is also single and owns a large dog) on the subject. What she found is there really is a difference in rearing techniques. Whether it makes one iota of difference to the dog, well, thats still up for debate. But one things certain, it sure makes for a good bone of contention. - Missy Votel 6 Cross Currents - March 3, 2000 Momma's deg or alter-ego- : Why women live vicariously through their dogs My big dog, Finnegan, and I were frolicking on a lawn when intruders arrived. A woman opened her truck door and two snarling German shepherds raced toward us. Finnegan made a brief show of fangs then tw irled behind me, stuck his snout between my knees and, from this safe place, proceeded to growl and gnash his teeth. Nowr, keep in mind when I got Finnegan, 1 had been trying to decide between a dog and a gun. So, when I looked down at his snarling nose and realized he had put me between him and the enemy, I thought, Theres something wrong with this picture." Of course it should be noted that after I got I showmy ered him w'ith baby talk and lavished him with Cheese Doodles when he learned to sit on command. Dr. Susan McGinness, a counselor at Fort Lewis College, says when people get dogs as puppies, their nurturing instincts inevitably kick in. And these instincts are more pronounced in women. Women tend to be more comfortable than men with showing attachment and affection," she says. Dogs pick up on that and they react to it. In other w'ords, dogs learn that tenderness, even to a extreme, is not only okay, but deal. of the part a veterinarian Becky James, Durango notes that single women and childless women are especially likely to matcr-nalitheir dogs. And spoiling them rotten without apology is fine, she says. Where it might not be okay to spoil a child, I see nothing wrong with spoiling a dog," says James. And although women may tend to not be as disciplined with their dogs, theyre more responsible about their care. In a family, it is usually the woman who sees to it that the dog goes to the vet and puppy school." Part and parcel of the mother-chil- d bond women have with their dogs, however, is worry, parental guilt and insecurities. In her book. Pack of Two, Caroline Knapp tells the story of a woman named Joan going on vacation, temporarily abandoning her dog, Emma. Joan feels so guilty that in the days before her trip, she showers the bones and dog with rawhide-treat- s, table scraps. By the time Joan leaves. face-licki- ng ze Emma looks miserable and lethargic and wont eat her dinner. Joan assumes she is depressed about her impending departure. But in fact, Emma had developed a painful gastrointestinal block and has to be rushed to the vet. In addition to allowing women to play nurturer, dogs also provide a venue for good girls to be bad. McGinness says when she asked her colleagues what role they thought her dog played in her life, they said, Your shadow side. "My dog did things I wanted to do but didnt, because it was inappropriate. He once chewed a hole in the fence to escape and go play. I didnt want to chew my fence, but I did want to get away, she says. You can actually learn a lot about a woman by asking about the worst thing her dog ever did. In many Native American stories, In the coyote is a smart mischief-make- r. Tarot, dogs have the ability to sniff out honesty and good character. They sit at deaths gate to be sure the soul is properly prepared. Either way and whether youre a man or a woman it kind of makes you want to shower your dog with biscuits, - dont it? - |