Lesson: Study Before Barking

I’m a little confused today.  My human says that rules are necessary for order and that we must respect authority.  She also says that there are times when you must rise up against authority because the people in those positions are abusing their power.  My question is:  When?  When do we stand up against it and when do we respect it?

Shasta says that it comes down to one simple thing.  If the people in power are using that power to further their own interests, or those of friends and family, instead of for the good of the community, that is when we are supposed to stand up and fight against them.  OK, that makes sense. 

My human says that even when we take a stand, we must do it in the proper way.  She says that we can’t just accuse those people of doing bad things, but that we must KNOW they are and be able to prove it.  She says that we should tell everyone we can and show them the evidence when asked for it.  She says that we look foolish if we just start saying things and can’t back up what we are saying.

My human also says that it ain’t just those politics people that abuse their power but those news type people too.  She says that’s why smart people don’t listen to them anymore and do their own research.  I’m not sure what research is, but I do know that my human spends a lot of time reading things from lots of different places even though it’s all about the same thing.  She says I shouldn’t take what somebody says as gospel just because they are on TV or in government, but that I should read about it myself and then make up my own mind.

So let me get this straight.  It ain’t enough to just bark about it, I have to prove what I’m saying or I look like a goof ball with no clue.  I know I’m just a puppy and like to chew up my human’s shoes (even though I know I shouldn’t), but that seems right to me.  What do y’all think?

Trying To Learn My Lessons

I’m trying to learn everything my human wants me to learn.  I really am.  But I just don’t understand some things.  Shasta says that I will never understand humans.  There is one thing that confuses me most.  Why do humans get mad when someone is trying to keep what belongs to them or keep from getting beat up?

There was this thing that my human was watching on TV and she said that everyone was mad at the wrong person.  She said that people need to know the facts about stuff before the do something called “jumping to conclusions”.  I don’t really know what that means.  I just know that when I do something wrong and I get hurt by Shasta…she doesn’t get mad at Shasta, she gets mad at me and puts me in timeout.  I really hate timeout!

Would it be ok to put those media type people in timeout?  Shasta says they are the biggest part of the problem.  She says that they report their opinion and not the facts.  Shasta also said that those political type people are just as bad.  They should go in timeout, too!!!!  Candi said that if we did that, there wouldn’t be anybody else left on TV and that the place she went to the other day would be empty.

I think what I’m supposed to be learning is to wait and study all the facts before biting somebody and that if I do something wrong I should be ready to go into timeout instead of the other dog.  Just one question…with all this growing up and the hard stuff that goes with it, do I have to give up chewing on shoes?

P.S.  Don't tell Candi I'm still chewing on shoes.  She hasn't found those yet.

Do They Really Do Stuff Like That?

Last night my human blamed me for not being able to find her wallet.  I admit that I like to hide things from her, but I was really not guilty this time.  As a result of her not being able to find this thing she said she had to have, she had to stay home with me and Shasta.  She decided she would try and relax to see if she could remember where it might have been lost.  We watched a movie.  She said I could learn something about corruption and human nature.  I didn’t!

The movie was “Runaway Jury” and it was about a jury that was being tricked into voting a certain way.  You had one really bad guy, one bad guy and one good guy.  But it turned out that the one bad guy, not the really bad one, wasn’t so bad.  I don’t understand.

“Patton,” Candi said, “what you have to understand is that the really bad guy has been paid to put a group of people together that he can manipulate into thinking a certain way.”

OK…still don’t get it.  I know I’m just a puppy, but I think that these people were just too scared to do the right thing.  The really bad guy was sending his bad people to tell the good people things that I didn’t understand.  Candi said it had to do with secrets.  Shasta said it had to do with money. 

Candi said the movie was a really good example of just one of the things wrong with society today.  Shasta said it was a lot like how those politics and news people do things.  They get people’s secrets and use them.  I’m totally confused now.  I don’t understand why the people we are supposed to trust do things like that.

I’m not real sure I want to grow up if this is the way humans do things.  Can anyone tell me if Shasta and Candi are right?  Do politic humans and news humans really do stuff like that?  I sure hope someone can help me figure this all out soon.