Unleashing pooch potential
Michael Gould runs the countrywide interactive pet care facility Hounds Town. He says: “Humans don’t control their behavior. Dogs self-regulate. That’s the essence of Hounds Town.
“I, a rookie cop, helped found NYC’s Police Department K9 Unitwhen crime was rampant. Central Park muggings, robberies. Two thousand homicides a year. A German shepherd and I worked Central Park, Flushing Meadows Park, Prospect Park. It’s six months to do NYC streets as a K9 working dog, longer than the human police academy.
“They smell things we can’t see — invisible cancer — run 20 mph, scale 6-foot fences, detect odors better than technology. Some more motivated than others can do magical things. I’m working with one now, hunting a person who went missing 25 years ago. He’s now looking for her remains. Exceptional is this dog’s desire to work.
“Dogs learn certain words. Never yell. Talk to your dog, tell it you love it, pet it, but they’re really responding to your movements and boundaries that you set. It’s physical.
“We take dogs that are blind, three-legged dogs. The point is, it’s a special place where we humans don’t project our emotions on the dogs, and we allow them to interact with one another.
“I’ll tell you a quick story you might find amusing.”
Pup given paws
Cindy: You gonna charge me?
Michael: “You’re my idol. You crazy? I’m having a dream right now that I’m even on the phone with you.
“So I get a call from this woman. She wanted to walk her little West Highland terrier every morning into Central Park. She said, ‘Some days she won’t walk home with me.’ I met the dog. Simple answer? When the sun came up, this little West Highland was afraid to walk into her own shadow. On a bright, sunny day, the sun rising cast a shadow that this little dog was afraid to walk because she saw herself. So once we realized what the issue was, the pet owner picked her up and walked the dog home.”
Cindy: I will let you see my dog but you can never have him because I love him more than anything.
The one thing I have succeeded in — we have taught him never to pee on my column. We give him another page. That’s what we do. But I am welcoming you. Whenever you can come here, I will give you a sandwich, a very small one. And I will let you see my dog, and if he loves you, good, but you can never have him.
Michael: “Cindy Adams, you’re my idol.”
China’s firm grasp
OK. Onward. I remember living and working for years in Hong Kong. The Peninsula Hotel. Great shopping. Great food. Busy — like New York. Rude — like New York. Nobody had time for anybody. But it was, in those days, the kept woman of China. For a little monetary handout, you could get anything you want. Now? It’s in the stranglehold of mainland China. What you can get now? Prison. Punishment. Journalists are now watched. What you can get today is what comes out of mainland China. They overhaul the news. They dictate your life.
Excuse me — but I was just thinking. All these countries warring, hating. Let us all be grateful that we live in the United States of America. United. Be grateful for whatever we have now.
Always in America, kids, always in America.
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