George Graham Vest

George Graham Vest (1830-1904) served as U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1879 to 1903 and became one of the leading orators and debaters of his time. This delightful speech is from an earlier period in his life when he practiced law in a small Missouri town. It was given in court (c. 1855) while representing a man who sued another for the killing of his dog. During the trial, Vest ignored the testimony, but when his turn came to present a summation to the jury, he made the following speech and won the case.

Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.

BENEFITS TO DOGS FROM VITAMINS AND EXERCISE

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports on trials which indicate exercise and a diet fortified with vitamins, fruits and vegetables improve learning in older dogs. The full report can be viewed at http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1284690.htm

AN EXPLANATION OF RETRIEVING TRIALS IN AUSTRALIA

Robert Tawton explains Australian Retrieving Trials, including a summary of the major similarities and differences between US Field Trials and Australian Retrieving Trials.
The full article can be read here

TODAY'S SNIPPETS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE LABRADOR

No-one really knows who the forebears of today's Labradors were and how they got from Europe to Labrador and Newfoundland. Mary Dalgarno's research suggests that those forebears might have been French farm dogs.

TODAY'S OBEDIENCE TRAINING HINT

Once a dog gets an exercise right, don't repeat it until the following day. Quit while you are ahead. previous obedience training hint

TODAY'S RETRIEVER TRAINING HINT

I have just been teaching Ben to 'speak' (bark) when he is a long way out, say 100m, and not in view, using a short blast on my no 3 whistle as the command. I started by teaching him to speak on command by saying 'speak' whenever he barked; soon I could reverse this and he would bark whenever I said 'speak'. Next I got him to do this when sitting a few metres away, then when sitting 50 m away. Next I added in a hand signal as I said 'speak (the signal is a bit like the way an orchestra conductor sweeps his/her hans together and upward as the orchestra is about to start playing). When he was responding well to 'speak' and the simultaneous hand signal while sitting 50-60m away, I started substituting a short whistle blast for the word 'speak'. I am just starting to do this when Ben is sitting behind a tree instead of out in the open where he can see my hand signal. It could be very useful in a retrieving trial to be able to give a short blast on a particular whistle and locate your dog by the sound of his bark. Some judges might take points off of course but you would still be better off than not knowing where your dog was. Doug Previous retriever training hint

THE LIFE OF BEN

Ben has been having foot trouble. A month ago he had to have a toe nail pulled out by the vet (OUCH!) when it split right back to the quick. No sooner had Ben's toe healed than he cut the pad on his signature foot - probably a broken bottle left by a fisherman. Ben looked pretty smart with a red bandage on his foot for a few days, but was really glad when everything healed up. One of the worst things about dog injuries is that you can't explain to the poor things just what is happening to them and when they will be better again. Previous episode in the life of Ben

PROFILES OF GREAT LABRADORS

In the 1960s, two Labradors were imported from England who subsequently had a major impact on the breed in Australia---Ch Wendover Jonah and Ch Sandylands Tan. A number of breeders found that by blending the blood of the two, stock of very high quality could be obtained. In retrospect, it would seem that Jonah was able to hand on to his progeny: excellent front angulation, with well laid back shoulders and good reach of neck, good toplines and short coupling, together with exceptional working ability, intelligence and character. His descendants are usually neither lazy nor placid, but tend to be active dogs as required by the standard. He was dominant black (BB) so all his progeny were black. He also contributed size/height. Sandylands Tan, on the other hand, was able to hand on to his offspring and descendants, excellent hind angulation together with very good rear movement, density of coat, good thick otter tails and, most importantly, balance. oth dogs had thick, strong bone, broad skulls, well-chiselled heads and a nice dark eye colour. Breeders who combined the blood of these two with success included Mr and Mrs Carlin ("Balloch"), Mr and Mrs Behm ("Kampieon"), Mr R. Jensen ("Glamwyr"and, later, "Glaronda"), Mr R. Clarke in South Australia ("Roycourt") and Maj A. Everingham ("Ellenarta").

PROFILES OF WINNING DOGS

Jake Christensen's Sam - National Retrieving Trial Champion Cobargo Captain CDX won over 500 Championship Points in his life. He came second in the National before he was two years old and won it in 1984 and 1988. While Sam was a truly great retriever, he could be beaten on his off days. Sometimes, and you could see the other competitors praying for this, he would perform a manouvre known in retrieving circles as "going out the back door". This meant that he would drive hard and fast to retrieve the game but, if he didn't hit it spot on, he would just keep going...and going...and going.

INTERESTING DOG TRAINING EXPERIMENT

In Chicago in 1910, Walter hunter trained some dogs and other animals along Pavlov's lines. They were taught that when a light came on over one of three tunnels out of their cage, that tunnel would be open; they could escape down it, and were rewarded with food if they did. But once he had fixed that conditioned reflex, Hunter added to it a deeper idea: he gave the mechanical experiment a new dimension, literally---the dimension of time. Now he no longer let the dog to the lighted tunnel at once; instead he put out the light and then kept the dog waiting a little while before he let him go. In this way Hunter timed how long an animal can remember when it has last seen the signal light to its escape route.
The results were and are staggering. A dog or a rat forgets which one of three tunnels has been lit up within a matter of seconds---in Hunter's experiment, ten seconds at most. There were many faults with these experiments, yet the fact remains that an animal cannot recall a signal from the past for even a short fraction of the time that a man can.

LINKS TO OTHER DOG SITES

While Ben does not maintain an extensive collection links to other dog sites on the net, Dick Neville does. In fact, Dick's links are probably the most comprehensive Ben has found on the net. On this page you will find links on topics ranging from puppies to a pet cemetery and most things in between. Ben can only congratulate Dick on the obvious effort he has put into compiling and maintaining this list and recommend it to you.
Dick Neville's Dogs On The Web

BEN SAYS:

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a human

BEN'S FAVOURITE POEM

Ben writes a little poetry himself but is too shy to present it publicly. Here's a poem by William Hart-Smith which Ben thinks is spot on.

Relativity

The main reason why dogs
love to sit in cars
is because
when a dog's inside
a car doesn't move.
When the doors
of the small intinate room
with master and mistress in it
close
the room bucks
and barks and makes
most unusual noises
and odours
then houses get up and run
trees get up and run
posts get up and run
and telegraph poles
in fact everything does
with his nose thrust out
bang in the eye og the galoping wind
his right ear streeaming
like a strip of rag in a gale
he for a change can sit still
chin on the window sill
and let the world do all the running about

William Hart-Smith

CRIME WAVE

When Ben heard about the high rate of crime in the area he decided to start practising his anti-burglar bark. Click here to hear Ben barking.

BEN TURNS ELEVEN

Ben turns 11 on the 17th of March 2003 and to everyone's great joy he is as fit as a Mallee bull, as fit as a fiddle, as fit as a ball of clocksprings. He goes running and exploring every morning with Doug in the bush on Mount Majura and every evening enjoys a more sedate walk around the Lake Burley-Griffin or along Sullivan's Creek. He enjoys swimming when it is hot and lying by the fire when it is cold. He has breakfast (a hanful of rolled oats with milk and a B+C tablet, lunch (a small piece of Doug's egg on toast)when Doug is home and dinner (meat, milk and a handful of kibble). He finds old bones in the bush most days and has a good chew. Kimmy comes to vist 2-3 times a week and other dogs sometimes appear. He gets told frequently what a beautiful clever dog he is and he sleeps on the bed in winter. Clearly Ben is already in dog heaven. Like all creatures he wil get sick and die sometime and that will hurt but not enough to wipe out the joy of having lived with this glorious animal for 11-plus years.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN