Friday, October 4, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
Phase 2 ahead at the Bob Chisholm Center
‘THE BOB’
DARREN GOOCH
I
t’s hard for me to believe that
summer has come so quickly
to a close here on the north
coast. As we head into the autumn
season with its crisp, cool morn-
ings and falling leaves, I can’t
help but wonder where the time
has gone.
It seems like just a couple of
months ago we were welcoming
a new year, yet we are only a few
months away from ushering in
another one.
Just a couple of weeks ago, our
Community Center Commission
members hosted a special din-
ner for a handful of the Main Hall
Refresh Project donors, City staff,
R.J. Marx
Bob Chisholm Center in Seaside serves lunch to local residents.
City Council members, and con-
tractors who helped work on the
project. The commissioners served
homemade lasagna and the dinner
was a great success.
Commission Chair, Kris-
tin Kabanuk took special care to
thank each of the contributors in
her address and also spoke about
some of the exciting things that
are yet to come here at the cen-
ter. One of those things is the
donor recognition tree that has
been recently commissioned with
local artist Jeremy Furnish. Jer-
emy is designing the body of the
tree from a black walnut slab and
adding wire branches. The wire
branches will be capped with laser
cut bronze leaves and each leaf
engraved with our donors’ names.
We are hoping to have the tree in
place by the end of November.
Another exciting development
is the donation of a wood slab by
High life Adventures LLC, which
will become a countertop at our
serving counter in the hall. This
was originally part of the project
scope, but had to be cut from the
plans to keep our project within its
budget. Having the folks at High
Life step up to donate the wood
slab is an absolutely amazing way
to cap off the Main Hall Refresh
Project.
Looking ahead, our commis-
sion members are already working
on planning for a Phase II proj-
ect and what that might entail. I
went through an exercise with the
commissioners several months
ago, where we looked at build-
ing needs. One item that seemed
to come up again and again was
the current stucco siding, which
local painter Randy Anderson
has offered to paint for free this
year as a donation back to his
community.
I am truly excited to see the
fi nal pieces of this project fall
into place and I am continuously
amazed by the generosity of our
community members. As we set-
tle in for the shorter, chillier
days ahead, it’s time to start put-
ting together a list of items to be
thankful for and my list starts with
all of you!
Every month, The Bob will
bring you information on current
events and items of interest here at
the center. See you next month!
When an aggressive dog bites, understanding the cause
I
have, in other essays,
bemoaned the bizarre expec-
tations of us humans that our
dogs should somehow under-
stand and follow our human rules
and mores as if they were human.
Especially given how the human
species rails against anthropo-
morphism — e.g., “dogs are not
children!” is a common chide —
you’d think we’d be more open to
respecting the differences between
dogs and humans.
In “The Culture Clash,”
renowned dog training expert and
educator Jean Donaldson pres-
ents the plight of our compan-
ion canines, and our own plight.
The fi rst edition of her book was
released in 1996 and though it is
still popular, the underlying prob-
lem she presents in it persists.
We haven’t properly adjusted for
thumblessness.
Since they don’t have texting
— no thumbs! — dogs settle dis-
putes with a variety of threat dis-
plays and sometimes biting. In the
dog world, these disputes are often
minor and soon forgotten. We
humans take threats and physical
altercations seriously. Perhaps we
partake in projection. The result,
says Donaldson: “There is incred-
ible stigma attached to dogs that
bite, as though they have charac-
ter fl aws and are qualitatively dif-
CANINE
CORNER
RAIN JORDAN
& DAHLIA
ferent from dogs who have never
bitten. They are not. There are not
two kinds of dogs: nice dogs who
would never bite and less nice dogs
who do. Biting is natural, normal
dog behavior.”
Don’t panic. This does not mean
dogs are readying to bite you. It
simply means that dogs have lim-
ited options for protecting them-
selves from threats. No thumbs
means no tool use — no self-de-
fense weapon-carrying dogs —
and being captive animals means
no ability to fl ee from threats. They
are at our mercy. As I’ve covered
previously, and as Donaldson’s
book explains, that means we who
are responsible for dogs must prop-
erly breed, socialize, manage, han-
dle, train, desensitize, care for,
and protect them from feeling and
being threatened so that they don’t
have to protect themselves.
Explaining how our dogs may
be set up for doom if we expect
them to protect us from danger yet
not be dangerous to us — attack-
ing robbers and muggers but not
our family or friends—Donald-
son suggests how our dog mythol-
ogy disadvantages our dogs: “The
mythical dog is one who can tell
the good guys from the bad guys,”
explaining what would be obvi-
ous, both in fact and in conse-
quence, once we stopped to ana-
lyze it. “Dogs are unaware that
mals, says Donaldson, if we are
going to hold them to a set of stan-
dards that is absurd and abnormal
for the species, it is our respon-
sibility to ensure they are gifted
the skills and support needed to
succeed.
There’s confusion about dog
“bites” and “maulings”; this arti-
‘SINCE THEY DON’T HAVE TEXTING — NO
THUMBS! — DOGS SETTLE DISPUTES WITH A
VARIETY OF THREAT DISPLAYS AND SOMETIMES
BITING. IN THE DOG WORLD, THESE DISPUTES
ARE OFTEN MINOR AND SOON FORGOTTEN.
WE HUMANS TAKE THREATS AND PHYSICAL
ALTERCATIONS SERIOUSLY.’
they’ve been adopted into a cul-
ture where biting is considered
a betrayal of trust and a capital
offense. Incredibly little is actively,
consciously done to reduce the
probability of biting.” By this she
means aggression prevention train-
ing, which a good R+ trainer/certi-
fi ed canine behavior consultant can
provide. This is important, Don-
aldson explains, because we hold
“an absurd ideal” that there should
be “no bites, ever.” Since dogs are
animals—albeit really great ani-
mals—and biting is normal for ani-
cle is not meant to address seri-
ous occurrences where death or
mutilation have resulted. Donald-
son distinguishes between those
versus bites that are more akin to
“kitchen injury” level bites or less,
explaining that often “no effort is
made to distinguish dogs involved
in fatal and near fatal maulings
from kitchen injury level biters. In
human terms, this is exactly akin to
lumping sharp words with felony
assault and murder.” I know some
of you have been through great
emotional trauma related to this
topic. I’ve been through it in the
past, and I understand that this last
point may be a lot for some people
to hear. But please stay with me if
you are a dog lover.
I suppose I am lucky that my
dogs are meek and gentle. I am
also ever-cautious to protect them
from situations that might put them
at risk of having to defend them-
selves from a charging dog or an
aggressive person — or one who
doesn’t understand dog behavior
and subtle provocations. But there
are no guarantees. I suspect this
might be why Donaldson decided
to go brave or go home in her
book, hoping to increase under-
standing and motivation in dog
lovers all over the world, so that
we might improve our skills and
therefore our capacity to protect
our beloved best-friend species:
“Aggressive behavior does not
fracture relationships in dog soci-
ety,” she writes. “The problem
is that aggression often changes
things a great deal in dog-human
relationships. We routinely execute
dogs who bite. That’s quite the cul-
ture clash. ... I say execute rather
than euthanize because a biting
dog is not suffering and does not
need or want a merciful death. He
is killed because of transgressions
he has committed against humans.
That’s what an execution is for.”
HAPPENINGS IN BRIEF
Prayer conference coming to
North Coast Oct. 6–8
A conference to ignite prayer and unity
among Christians in Oregon is happening
from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 in Rockaway on the
North Coast. Christians interested in uni-
fi ed prayer for our nation are encouraged
to attend as much of this three day event as
possible.
The conference, called “Oregon Igniting
His Love” will take place in Rockaway at the
Twin Rocks Friends Camp. It is being orga-
nized by Pray Oregon, the National Day of
Prayer in Oregon, and facilitated by the Til-
lamook County Wide Prayer Team in a sup-
portive roll. Registration will be accepted
at the door or online at http://prayoregon.
brushfi re.com.
The Harbor wins grants
The Harbor received grants from Sea-
side, Astoria and Cannon Beach. Com-
bined, these cities award $30,800 annually
to support The Harbor’s work through-
out Clatsop County, including funds for
D/SART, the after-hours crisis response
team, which sends trained advocates to
local hospitals and police stations when
called on by law enforcement and hospi-
tal staff.
D/SART is shorthand for domestic/
sexual assault response team: a team of
trained people drawn from domestic and
sexual assault advocacy, medical person-
nel and law enforcement personnel.
The SART model is considered best
practice in sexual assault response by the
Justice Department and is the standard for
responding to adult and adolescent victims
of sexual assault. In Clatsop County, law
enforcement or medical personnel alert
The Harbor via the crisis line whenever
there is an emergency situation involving
domestic violence or sexual assault.
“Humility That Overcomes
The World”
Saturday•October 12, 2019•1:00pm
Astoria Library Flag Room
450 10th Street
A free talk given by Mark McCurties, C.S.
A member of the
Christian Science Board of lectureship,
The First Church of Christ,
Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts
Sponsored by: First Church of Christ, Scientist, Astoria
All are welcome, invite friends and hear this inspirational message.
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