Education Abounds in Short Conversations

I love talking to people. A friend of mine from high school (and I do mean a friend) sent me a message on Facebook asking how I was and I replied. I asked a couple of leading questions to get the conversational ball rolling and then got this:

Message: "I am done with dog training... the course was a lot of fun. The only down side is the group is filled with mostly old women. Guys like me I do not think fit in. I have offered free basic training to everyone I know including friends and neighbors but no one has taken me up on the offer. Hell there are 3 new puppies in our neighborhood and ... nothing. I have also found out that people do not take dog training seriously enough and do not seek the help of trainers until there are big problems! And trying to fix a dog rather than train a dog is 3 to 4 times more difficult.

I haven't written much lately or should I say I haven't found anything to write about in while. Deb and the puppies are well. We have 13 chickens now and that is ENOUGH!!! We had to put one down, she was 3.5 months old and really sick. Another one got sick but we got her on medication and so far has been making a come back."

Answer: "Well, you've been busy! I guess this is proof of specific peoples getting into specific jobs: Vietnamese women doing nails, that kind of thing. I hate thinking that way. But yet, the proof is overwhelming.

I wouldn't have guessed that the world of dog trainers was mostly old women. How funny. I think guys like you can fit in - you just need to figure out their language and speak it. It will be harder than if they were all guys in our age range, but you'll fit in. I know you - chatty, friendly, effervescent - you'll wear 'em down!

As for puppy owners... well... most people are stupider than their pets - but think that becoming an animal who walks on his or her hind legs makes them higher up the evolutionary food chain. Turns out our cats and dogs are a helluva lot smarter than us.

I wouldn't use this as selling point, however...

You could go for gold and become a dog whisperer. That short Mexican guy does it and managed to get a telly show out of it. See that. And his waiting list is out the door because, as you pointed out, people think it is easy and wait until the bad behaviour is ingrained. By then, it is too late to easily fix the offending behaviour.

Normally I would not know that, but my mother made the classic mistakes. The first dog went to training with my father and then she wasn't serious about following through with the right responses. Subsequent dogs never got training. A common issue.

Chickens? Why?

Hey, I've heard that chickens are kind of gross, not the most friendly of animals - well, foul (ha, ha). Fowl. (Bad joke.) But maybe that is what people who raise them for farm reasons find them that way. It sounds like they are work, though. What exactly killed the first chicken? What illnesses do they get? I'm curious and know (first hand or any other way) very little about chickens. Lucky you - you get to educate me!

I like this. I think I will post this!"

I couldn't help it. The flow of the conversation was rich, fun, interesting. I can't wait to see the answer. And this friend can write - write for real. He brings words to life. He takes a regular subject and makes it fascinating. I want to do that. Few people can write like that and he isn't a writer by trade.

I can't wait for the reply!