Interesting piece, Tony. And, by the way, "Happy New Year" all. I've been reading, but not posting for a little while. The article reminded me of an address given by Parker J. Palmer several years ago on leadership. I've tried to excerpt the key points, which means that this post is too long and perhaps a bit disjointed. Still I think there's some connections between Palmer's "shadows" and the "dark" tone of the Gehry article. Palmer sets his course this way: I'll give you a quick definition of a leader: a leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being m conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him or her self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good. I want to look at the shadow side of leadership. In the literature on leadership there are so many pamphlets and books which seem to be about "the power of positive thinking." I am afraid that they may feed a common delusion among leaders that their efforts are always well-intended, their power always benign. I suggest that the challenge is to examine our consciousness for those ways in which we project more shadow than light. I'm not talking simply about the heads of nation states, i'm talking, for example, about a classroom teacher who has the power to create conditions under which young people must spend half of their waking hours, day in and day out, five days a week. Have you ever walked into a classroom in which the leader is projecting light? Have you ever walked into a classroom in which the leader is projecting a huge and ominous shadow? That's the question, that's the choice. --"Leading From Within", Parker J. Palmer. That same choice, I would say, is made by architects, landscape designers, nursing home attendants, lawyers, janitors, and taxi drivers. I'm not sure I like the parenting imageI don't think it is necessary to infantalize your client in order to lead the process. But then, "parents" are the archetypical leaders. Any time an "expert" is dealing with a client there is a leadership dynamic at work. And, according to Palmer, that would mean that the shadows within a particular leader are also at work. Palmer suggests that there are many shadows within us, and then focuses on 5 of them: 1. Insecurity-- identity determined by function rather than innate value of one's life: " I go around the country talking to people in higher education, and wherever I go I ask students, 'When was the last time that you were asked to relate your life story to the things you are studying?' They say, 'What? Our life story doesn't count here.' The whole deal in higher education is to replace your 'little' life story with the 'big' story. The whole deal in an expert-dominated, technocratic form of education is to devalue those little parochial stories on behalf of the 'true' one. Reflected in that strategy I see a kind of leadership which is so insecure about its own identity that it has to deprive other people of theirs. "I've talked with some nurses and doctors who say, "Think of what we do to patients in a hospital. Talk about depriving people of identity so that leaders can have more for themselves!" This kind of organizational culture comes out of a profound insecurity on the part of people in power." 2. The perception that the universe is essentially hostile to human interests and that life is fundamentally a battleground: "As I listen to everyday discourse, it is amazing to me how many battle images I hear as people go about the work of leadership. We talk about tactics and strategy, about using our "big guns," about "do or die," about wins and losses. The imagery here suggests that if we fail to be fiercely competitive, we're going to lose, because the basic structure of the universe is a vast combat. The tragedy of that inner shadow, that unexamined inner fear, is that it helps create situations where people actually have to live that way. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." 3. Functional atheism--the belief that it all depends on me: "Functional atheism is an unconscious belief that leads to workaholic behavior, to burn-out, to stressed and strained and broken relationships, to unhealthy priorities. Functional atheism is the unexamined conviction within us that if anything decent is going to happen here, I am the one who needs to make it happen. Functional atheism is the reason why the average group (according to studies) can tolerate only 15 seconds of silence; people believe that if they are not making noise, nothing is happening! Functional atheism is an inner shadow of leaders that leads to dysfunctional behavior on every level of our lives." 4. Fear--many forms but Palmer singles out one as particularly damaging for leaders: "I think a lot of leaders become leaders because they have a life-long devotion to eliminating all remnants of chaos from the world. They're trying to order and organize things so thoroughly that the nasty stuff will never bubble up around us (such nasty stuff as dissent, innovation, challenge, change.) "ÂWhat we forget from our spiritual tradition is that God created out of chaos. Chaos is the pre-condition to creativity, and any organization (or any individual) that doesn't have an arena for creative chaos is already half dead. When a leader is so fearful of chaos as not to be able to protect and nurture that arena for other people, there is deep trouble." 5. Denial of death: "We live in a culture that just does not want to talk about things dying. You see this all the time in our institutional life. You see leaders all over the place demanding that they themselves, and the people who work for them, artificially maintain things that aren't alive any longer and maybe never have been. Projects and programs that should have been laid down ten years ago are still on the life-support system even though they've been in a coma for decades." Wellspring p.s. My dog, Winna, never barks.

Junebug, I hope you have had a chance to speak with your friend about this. It is always better to hear sensitive views from a friend than from an angry neighbour. Bless your heart for caring. :) I am lucky to be at home 24/7 with my dogs and I live in a very dog friendly neighbourhood, not to mention I have had the same neighbours for mnay years. In fact, we live in a very sheltie thick area. My dogs bark as all shelties do although probably not as much as they have little to bark about when I am here all the time. That said, they can even get to me if they are having a particularly energetic day and none of mine are debarked! :) Many of my puppies have been adopted by previous sheltie owners who said they would never have another dog than the one they grew up with or the one who passed away. Many of these new owners lives have changed considerably since they last owned a sheltie, or at least a young or deaf one. I have often heard back that they will never have another sheltie and kids at the same time again! They go together but they make a lot of noise! :) My daughter being one of those owners and she grew up with a sheltie! Generally, the older dogs are a bit quieter and more settled as are my senior dogs. I can't imagine how it must be with a deaf dog and a puppy! I hope your friend can come to an acceptable compromise both for her family and the dogs. I don't think a bark collar will do any good and may actually add more anxiety to an already anxious dog. Debarking surgically may not be the answer for an aurically scarred dog. Ear, nose and throat are close and scar tissue is thick. Perhaps there is a sheltie rescue in your area. I have worked for sheltie rescue in the past and still do on a less hands on level. We know shelties and are generally more understanding of their "specialness". Lol! It is a sure sign of strength and character to surrender a dog you know is not a good fit for your family, IMO and IME. :) Ginny

Sounds like your mom can take care of all of this dog's needs except for exercise. A dog walker is a great suggestion, especially for a Cairn. They have tons of energy to burn. And you know my favorite saying... "A tired dog is a good dog." The only collars I know of beyond citronella and shock are the ones that operate with high frequency noises. Without training, I don't believe they'd work. Any dog could learn to ignore the noise. In fact, I have to believe that using any noise -- high frequency, cans of pennies, yelling "no!", etc. -- is a bad idea for barking. Dogs just think you're joining in on the bark party. If your mom is willing to try some training, she could use the method I used. She'd need a jar of tiny treats wherever she sits during the day. (I like Simon & Huey's Soft Training Treats, available online.) When he starts barking, she'd say "uh oh!" in a happy voice. The moment he looks at her, she'd give him a treat. She'd have to do this every time he started barking. Over time, her dog would see someone out the window and then look at her *before* barking -- a marvelous thing. In the dog's mind now, passersby = treats. In that split second, she'd say "good boy!' and then reach for the treats. Barking is the hardest behavior to extinguish because it's self-reinforcing. Hey, dogs like to hear themselves talk as much as we do. But the technique above has helped me immensely. My dog always looks to me when something concerns her. If I praise or reward her quickly enough, she won't bark.

I once had an 80 lb dog that was leash aggressive. It took me quite some time to find a way to stop this. Something like that you have to work on every day. It was hard work, but what a difference. A little less than a year ago we adopted an older dog. I was fully prepared to invest a ton of time fixing any issues she might have had. We visited the shelter several times and observed every dog. I had no particular type in mind, just one that would hopefully get along with the cat. Even though we know she wasn’t taken care of properly-picked up running loose, previous tendon injury, I can see she had stitches in her ear at some point, her ‘ owner was informed she had heart worm and he did not treat it. They when she was picked up as a stray again he left her at the shelter, cannot he crated-has an absolute meltdown-we suspect she was left in a crate for way too long periods of time ( we actually didn’t need a crate. She is cat friendly), same if she was put in a room with the door closed. Anyway-she’s the easiest dog we’ve ever had-does not bark , beg, eat trash, walks great on a leash, doesn’t jump,likes all animals but rabbits, housebroken-not one accident, doesn’t climb on furniture, doesn’t eat poop , loves the cat!!! Oddly enough she had never been taught any commands, not even Sit. She’s one of those dogs that one can take anywhere with confidence. It’s been such a great experience. I think I’m always going to adopt older dogs.