Some of you will be very familiar with Fido, my cartoon dog friend who has (dis)graced the pages of Facebook since 2015.
For those who haven’t met him yet, here he is!
Fido is representative of the many dogs owned by probably well meaning but generally cloth-headed idiots who get their dog training knowledge from the TV or down the pub, or from Joe Blogs great grandads uncles friend who was a police dog trainer in 1903. You know the type!
Fido tells it like it is, with the swear words we dog trainers would like to use, but can’t because its not polite to swear in front of paying customers (who are after all, only doing their best) about the advice they were given by some total idiot.
Currently in the UK and many countries, the dog training industry is wholly unregulated and our TV features self-styled experts more often than it features genuinely qualified and respected members of the profession. As a qualified trainer of many years, I realised that most people seeking advice were looking in the wrong places (the pub, the park, Joe Bloggs uncle) and most of those offering really GOOD advice were offering it in places those in dire need of it weren’t aware existed.
Fido hopefully crosses that bridge, with cartoons that people WILL show to their mates in the pub, with advice that cuts through the crap and makes the receiver realise how silly some of the oft-spread rubbish is.
For example, purveyors of the outdated idea that dogs are pack animals because wolves are, like to suggest humans should go through doorways first and eat first because this is what a wolf pack would do with their youngest pack members.
In fact in real wolf families (which is what a pack is), the youngest members of the family experience the same relaxed rules tiny human offspring might, with access to quality food first, suspension of rules around manners on snatching/grabbing, and last time I checked.. there are no doorways in the wild, and by the time baby wolves are old enough to go out with their parents, it is the older more experienced animals who would investigate what is on the other side of that narrow gap or around that blind corner first, as they are better equipped to deal with any nasty surprises!
Trying to explain that to your half cut mate in the pub is likely to result in a glazed expression within the first few words, but showing your mate the cartoon might get the point across much more swiftly, and with humour.
For those who only need the image to get across the message, the single panel cartoons are great, very shareable, very memorable…
But for those who want to know the greater detail behind those toons, we’ve decided to start this blog.
