The Criminal & Responsibility
When my Mumu was small and being trained, I would come back to the Kitchen area EVERY SINGLE DAY AND IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS. He was hyper, tore up everything and pooped everywhere. I was paranoid to come home into the the kitchen area as I knew what was waiting for me…. Sometimes I would have to go out twice and when I get home, I would have to clean the kitchen again. It was like this for months. I even considered a few times to give Mumu away as it was just too much cleaning daily with no end in sight it seemed…..
I got a book, then I sat down and read and learned now to train Mumu and IT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. I realized what I was doing wrong to potty train him. Yes Mumu was hyper, but I was making the mistakes in training him. It was me. I was at fault.
And when I read the book, it really dawned on me that Mumu is like a little young boy, you have to patiently train / teach him. He does not know any better. Dogs are supposed to poop anywhere and everywhere….I was trying to make him human…putting human expectations on him..he is a dog and a puppy at that!! The book said something that really hit home for me. This is, “If you take the time to train your puppy up for about one year, you can enjoy him for the next 15 years’…THAT REALLY MADE SENSE TO ME. If you take the time to teach your kids while they are growing up, then when they are adults, they will be good people. It is up to you. It is up to me. Giving them away is not an option. Giving Mumu away is not an option. Of course the training is intense for the first few months, then it’s just reminder trainings from time to time to brush up for maybe a year. It doesn’t take one year to train…dogs are very smart.
Puppies are super cute and fun when they are tiny and their defacating everywhere is excusable but not forever I thought wrongly…. But they don’t know that. We know that and we have to train them. It is cruel, selfish and unfair to get rid of them because we were irresponsible and didn’t want to train them. This book helped me to realize that big time. Mumu is MY RESPONSIBILITY and I better own up to it. I did.
Once I started training Mumu, everything became so much better. My Mumu is adult now and EVERYONE comments on how cute, spontaneous, happy and well trained he is. Well alot of effort was put into that. Mumu knows where to poo and pee now and he is very clean…. He follows commands like stay, don’t jump, pee pee on cue, sleep sleep and he is very clean with himself…I sleep with him always and he gets up to go pee in his own toilet and then returns to sleep…and he snores very loudly…. I had special doors made within my doors that Mumu can easily go from one room to another.
When I see this video, it reminds me of how I LEARNED TO CHANGE MY ATTITUDE ABOUT MY LITTLE MUMU. I am the adult. I am the caretaker. I am the human. I am the one responsible for my Mumu. Don’t buy puppies if you don’t wish to take the responsibilities that come with it. They have feelings too. They can be happy, sad and depressed. They are living beings. Treat them like so and you will have a wonderful companion.
Read up and learn how to train/manage your lovely dogs. As a human, it is your duty to be kind to animals. Never buy a puppy, don’t train them properly and then just dump them somewhere… that is horrible karma.
If you are in Malaysia, you need a copy of this book, contact one of the 5 PO’s at the Ladrang (privateoffice@tsemtulku.com). They’ll give you one if you have a Schnauzer…otherwise get one from the pet store..PLEASE PROMISE TO READ IT FROM COVER TO COVER TWICE…it will make a TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE in the lives of your dogs and their relationship with you.
For any breed of dogs, get the appropriate instructional book, it might make the difference of you keeping or giving your dog away…don’t give them away.
Tsem Rinpoche
This is the book that made a HUGE DIFFERENCE in my taking responsibility for Mumu. It helped me to realize that how Mumu behaved was up to me….that if I loved Mumu enough, I will take the time to patiently train him. I did and I am VERY GLAD I DID. You will too….even if your dog is older, you can still do it….read.
Publisher: Kennel Club Books in the USA at US$11.00 or Interpet Publishings, UK…
Back of the Book….
I used to have Mumu (Yogi is his real name, Mumu is his nickname…Mumu just stuck) go on the treadmill for excercise. He loves it and loves the snacks…This video is about 5 years ago…
See this cute video…I love Mumu.
Mumu playing with his friends……
Mumu and the feather boa…cute..
Mumu and his new friend Oser….Oser is Mumu’s companion now…..They love each other a lot..Nice to see.
They play non-stop together….
Enjoy your pets by being kind to them, always start by patiently training them from pups….and contrary to the old adage, old dogs CAN LEARN new tricks…
Tsem Rinpoche
my.. my… after surveying tis page acidentaly.. i cant bear the toughts of not hvin a dog anymore.. lol…
those vid r so……….. so tempting.. lol
watchng d vid would b more enjoyable if it comes wit some song~
Indeed, things fall apart, when we shirk our responsibilities. As parents, teachers, leaders or children, we all have our individual role to play – play it well, we have a happy ending! However, many people prefer to shirk their responsibilities but blame others or expect others to solve their problems – society falls apart! Rinpochela is right – it’s time we be RESPONSIBLE! People must stop to poop around and expect others to clean up after them. If dear Mumu can learn, so can we. Thank you Rinpoche for an important lesson.
Mumu is a really cute dog. This blog post is telling me to show more responsibility when it comes to taking care of my pets as I have to show that I actually care about them then they will be able to become a good pet for the rest of their life. They would just be like children then when I grow up and have children I would be able to bring them up properly just as I have brought up my dogs or my cats. The videos of Mumu playing are extremely cute.My favorite is the one of Mumu on the treadmill. Hehe.
Whatever Rinpoche says about his experience in training Mumu is absolutely right. When Rinpoche got Mumu he was staying in the Ladrang in Bandar Utama. Off and on Rinpoche will invite me to visit him at the Ladrang. And I see Rinpoche training Mumu with patience and understanding him as a dog. Rinpoche believe that whether you are an animal or a human being you still can be trained and there will be results.You will not beieve it but its true. I have seen Mumu in one occasion prostrating to the Rinpoche’s Altar in Rinpoche’s room. And now Mumu has a another companion called Oser who can learn good example from Mumu and at the same time Mumu need not be lonely.
Dear Rinpoche
The above videos are so cute. It reminds me of my dog Gizmo Om Mani Peme Hung that I love so much. When I am at home, I played and kissed him many times. He has a wodden house, two beds, toys, clothes, etc.
Every week, my Assistant bath him with luke warm water and gave him a good massage. My mom is also giving him a massage almost on daily basis. Gizmo Om Mani Peme Hung loves massage so much.
My cook made him gourmet vegetarian food made especially for dogs (e.g., brown rice, corns, boiled eggs, carrots, potatoes). He also loves snacks, biscuits, vegeta jerky, his Nutrident toothbrush, Nutriplus, Animal Parade vitamins, etc.
He followed me around whenever I go. When I eat, he sits and played near me. I also love playing with him. I just need to call his name before he run to me.
I bought him a toilet with a stand especially made for male dogs. But toilet training him is still a challenge for me. He hardly uses it. I almost cried on the first few days I adopted him due to the poo and pee. Hopefully, the effort to toilet train him will be successful in the near future.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these videos Rinpoche
Valentina
shelly on November29,2010 at4:32
What my guru said is true be a responsible for your pet as well as for your kids. Teach them well when they are young do not wait until they are adult.
Animals are like humans – bringing up a puppy dog is similar to bringing up a baby, if not harder. You need endurance, patience, love wisdom and most of all compassion. For animals have feelings too, just like any living beings. With good or bad behaviour habits, coupled with sad, happy, depressed and playful moods, it takes a lot of patience, time and committed responsibility to train them. Many a times in their animalistic curiousity, they would want to follow the things that you do, like mumu following our guru to go onto a treadmill to do exercises. How wonderfully cute mumu is. Today mumu has since become a close companion to Rinpoche, who has accorded so much love,patience, care and the best of attention to mumu to make him such a well-behaved intellegient dog like what he is now. Perhaps by now, literally he may have more dharma than many of us too, through following our Rinpoche so obediently and devotedly.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for this important reminder about responsibility.
Reading your words, one can get a sense of the meaning of responsibility and the responsible response.
The subject reminded me of the television show The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan. He is someone who really understands dogs and their needs, psychological and physical. There are some remarkable videos of horse whisperers too. I remember one time Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche mentioned this phenomenon, and when I saw it later, it was very touching and sincere, the trust and respect and mutual acceptance between them.
Rinpoche’s idea of keeping a Dharma diary is also very interesting, thank you for that kind suggestion. I think it will be very useful for showing progress, showing mistakes for correction, providing inspiration, a repository for questions, etc. It will be nice to create a few pages on retreats, teachings, daily life practice, etc. as an aid to remembering. In fact, there are some prayers I would like to put in there, too, and some practices, such as Lama Tsongkhapa and Vajrasattva. It would be nice to put some colour photos there to help with the visualisation.