Dog Whisperer de Grenoble

There exists one. Here in Grenoble. He works for the City of Grenoble and he offers free obedience classes. How cool is that? So we went. Chana and I, together with our doggie buddy. We humans were not completely happy-go-lucky though, and could almost see each other's brain going: Geez. Hope he won't use a harsh correction on my dog!

We arrived at the designated meeting point, and there waited 6 other participants for the class. He is not a smiley, joyful, I-love-everyone type of person, but it took very short amount of time for him to include us into the group. He asked us some questions, our training background, our problems, etc, and after that it was quick. We just followed his orders, like a good dog.

One of the questions I addressed to him was Chana's pulling on the leash. As soon as we started group walking, he took the leash from my hand. My heart raced and thought to myself, "Please do not kick Chana!" Thankfully, it was not as bad as I expected. He did pop on Chana's leash quite a bit, but I have seen worse in Canada. And the technique he uses is probably the most common one: Turn around when dog is ahead of you, and make the dog pay attention to where you are going next. We have tried this technique, but we get tired after a while or when we are in a hurry we ignore the rule. As he did not suggest that we use a prong collar or choke chain, it is clear that the problem lies on our side for not guiding the dog "crisp and clear" (Barton 2009). However, one question remains, which I should ask him next time; Do you want the dog to do the "loose leash walking" or "attentive heeling"?

After the heeling exercise, we did many sit-stays, down-stays, and recalls. Of course Chana's recall was miserable, but in return, I attracted another dog a few times. For the recall, he told us to be excited and to praise the dog a lot for coming. He actually pointed out that we two foreigners were doing good job for being cheerful, so it looks like we added some positive feature to the class today.

There was a 4 months old Shiba cross, and the trainer kept saying that the owner had to be more gentle to the dog. He pointed out that the dog was afraid, and corrected the owner for being too harsh on the dog. He said that we had to understand the temperament of the dog and use the appropriate method. He also added that dogs are opportunist, and if we let them, they would assume what they can get. For Chana, I know for sure that the harsh correction does not work (Chana belonged to the dark side in 2008), but I do know that Chana pushes her limit. She only responds to my yells these days when told not to do stuff. There is a big different between being harsh and being firm. So I need to firm up! No more free melon for you Chana!

It was another sunny and hot day in Grenoble agains the odds. We are experiencing a bad drought over here. The dusty dog had a nice bath and is having a sweet dream.

Je suis gourmande!

J'ai trouvé un demi cantaloupe dans le parc et je l'ai mangé!

Luckily the "owner" of the cantaloupe was generous, and she said she would wash it... Her baby was adorable.

By the way, Chana cannot lick her lower lip.

L'examen du DELF

I believe that people perform better and are more productive when there is a goal. Even though Dr. Stephen Hawking insists that there is no heaven, if thinking there is one makes people behave better, why not keep that as the ultimate goal of humanity? Well, I believe in my grandmother who used to say, "If you behave badly like that, you will be a snake in your next life!" So I behave decently enough...probably a mammal at least...

Speaking of goals, exams here and there are good stimulators and rhythm keepers for our lives. Together with my teacher, I was prepping up for DELF B1 exam, and I just finished it today. Hooray!

Last Tuesday, I had the speaking part of the exam in which you are asked to 1) present yourself, 2) role play, and 3) express an opinion on the subject given. The role play part is very funny and truly French. They will give you a situation such as "You parked your car in the area reserved for the handicapped, and the parking officer gave you a ticket. You justify yourself and avoid paying the fine." It requires not only the language skill but also some nerves! The third part is the most difficult one as you only have 10 minutes to prepare your discourse. As they choose articles from recent publications, I was guessing the subject to be on 1) alternative energy (environment), 2) royal wedding (culture, politics), 3)kids (kids), etc. It turned out that my topic was mass tourism versus alternative tourism. I have no clue what I said and how I argued, and I felt a great need to work on my vocabulary.

I did the listening and reading comprehension and the writing part today. Listening was brutal, and I blame myself for not immersing myself in French media. The reading part was okay, thanks to me being Japanese, and the writing part, I managed somehow, but again more vocab would have been helpful.

I do not get anything out of this exam except for my self satisfaction (or dissatisfaction), but I am glad I took the exam to find out what I need to work on. Oh, I also took DELF A1 (required by the OFII), which is exactly the same style but 120% easier. I am also glad that I had to take A1 exam because I now clearly know that I am not in that level. The result of B1 will come in a month or so, and I will start working toward DELF B2 (even if I failed B1!).

On a side note, those who talk during the exam with their neighbours, those who keep writing after the time is up, those who cheat! Shame on you! I could not believe how people behave poorly under such strict circumstance. Dr. Stephen Hawking, I think I agree with you now. The existence of heaven or hell seems to have no effect on our behaviours. God, you should have created us with a "Pinocchio function" or at least some sort of justice meter attached to our body. With all the money we are spending on scientific researches, can we not make that as one of the goals?

Alpine Flowers

Happy Mother's Day to my North American and Japanese moms! In France, mother's day is not until the end of this month. Interesting!

Our doggie friends invited me for a hike up in Chamrousse from Bachat Bouloud up to Lac Achard. It could not have been better in terms of temperature, scenery, level of exhaustion, etc. I got to see some alpine flowers including wild tulips, pulsatile printanière (the fuzzy one, a type of anemone), gentiane (Japanese "rindou") and many violets.

Grenoble's altitude is around 450m and I was above 1900m today to see those flowers. This is a small hike in the afternoon.

Doggie Health

When we were living in Waterloo, we had an excellent veterinarian for Chana.

Among hundreds of vets, we chose Michelle because of her location and her website. It was certainly a practical choice rather than a logical one, but in the end we really lucked out. She was also an animal chiropractor, and most importantly she prescribed homeopathic medicines. Focusing on keeping Chana healthy by raw-food diet, we were really happy with Michelle's expertise in alternative medicines.

Here in Grenoble, there are also milliards of vets, and we again chose ours for the practical reason: 5 minutes walking distance. He has a very small practice; no receptionists, no vet techs nor vet assistants. His waiting room is usually busy, which I take it as a good sign. Using my fieldwork skills--i.e. visit as often as possible even for a minor thing, I established a fairly good rapport with him. He even let me leave without paying one time, as telling me to come back the following week for the paperwork.

For me being a mild case OCPD (self diagnosed), I had some difficulty at first to comprehend the veterinarian practice here. After all, it all comes down to the French laxness and individualism, and of course my excellent ability to imagine the worst case scenarios. Here are some case studies.

Q: Chana's rabies vaccination is valid until 2012. How does it work here in France?

A: In France, the rabies vaccination is administered annually, and it is the law. HOWEVER, it is the same vaccine as you get in Canada, so if you prefer not to give her, I guess that's okay too.

→Um, did he just say that I can ignore the law? For sure I prefer not to inoculate Chana unnecessarily, but does this mean that there are many people out there who do not care about the rabies vaccination? Maybe I should get vaccinated...

Q: In Canada, we had Chana on the heartworm prevention. How is the practice here?

A: You don't need it. HW is not common in this area, but in southern France. On the other hand, if you go to the mountains, you should probably use some tick prevention. It is up to you though.

→Um, where does "southern France" start? Do mosquitos (carriers of the disease) know not to cross the border line? Is this map just another marketing tool for the pharmaceutical companies? Mountains? Do I see a mountain 100m from our apartment? Why did I not study veterinarian medicine? Okay. I will choose a product which repel both mosquitos and ticks, and time for herbal and nutritional home remedies.

Q: Chana was using homeopathic nosodes for canine cough prevention. Do you have it?

A: No, but I have regular vaccines. Wait. You only have one dog. You don't need it unless you see other dogs regularly.

→Um, many dogs run loose in this country, and doggies like to greet each other. Those dogs probably don't have rabies vaccination, carry bugs, and who knows what. Chana! You have to get this one.

Well, I still trust this vet, and I will keep him as Chana's home doctor. I trust my doggie nose.