Spirited debate dominated discussions on the renovation for nearly two hours Thursday night in the Cascade Room of Atwood Memorial Center during the last Student Government meeting of the semester.

Prior to pushing the new budget through, Student Government twice voted down the very budget which was approved last week. Jarrod Wiggins, MSUSA coordinator and president-elect of Student Government, made a motion to submit a new budget to Potter based on the original version of the budget with the inclusion of the $5 million Atwood renovation project.

The renovation project came to a halt earlier this semester when Sam Ivey, Student Government president, sent a letter of consultation to Potter which stated students were not in favor of funding the project.

In 2010, students voted down a $45 million Atwood renovation project by a vote of 1,088 to 623. A November 2011 referendum continued the pattern when a $15 million Atwood renovation was again voted down by students by a vote of 943 to 729.

By including the renovation on the fiscal year 2013 budget, students will be committed to paying back the bonding money for this renovation for nearly 20 years. According to Lauren Benney, Fee Allocations Committee chair, student fees will increase $1.33 per credit, up to 12 credits, beginning in fiscal year 2014.

SCSU’s fiscal year is July 1 to June 30 and is determined by the year in which it ends. This means if the addition to the budget is accepted by Potter students can expect to see the fee increase fall semester 2013.

Concerns were raised on either side of the debate and no one seemed willing to let the discussion die.

“I have so much faith in this body now,” Wiggins said during discussion on the renovation project. “We’re having the tough conversations because we want what’s best for our students.”

Ericka Blank, Student Government senator, said based on previous referendums which were voted down, students clearly do not want this now. Nicholas Garland, Student Constitution Review Committee chair, echoed those sentiments by saying he felt it would be irresponsible to move forward with the renovations based on previous students’ votes.

For every argument made for leaving the renovations off the 2013 budget there was another made in favor of the renovations.

“I know what it’s like to freak out every time I see fee increases,” said Courtney Downing, Student Government senator. “We have this opportunity afforded to us.”

Downing added she wanted to see the renovations happen because she wants students at SCSU to have a better experience.

Mable Fale, Student Government senator, said it would be great to have certain areas of Atwood renovated but this was simply not the right time.

“We were elected as student leaders to do what’s best for students,” she said.

What would be best for students was the heart of the debate and was brought up in discussion by those in favor of the renovations and those opposed.

The debate was heated and Chris Norton, Student Government vice president and president of the Senate, worked to keep the meeting within its procedural bounds.

“Everyone is out of order all the time,” he said.

The SCSU survey results from this year were presented earlier in the meeting and stated the biggest issues at SCSU, according to the students interviewed, were cost and rising tuition.

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And I’m here to tell you that the news industry is going the wrong way with its approach to the online world.

“Paywalls” aren’t the answer, it’s not the solution, it’s a knee-jerk reaction that the industry might very well regret in the future.

Make no mistake, I think the print industry has no choice but to find a way to turn a profit from its online presence. There’s no question that the digital world will eventually replace print — this coming from a man that loves the very feel and texture of a newspaper.

But throwing up a paywall isn’t the right mentality or approach.

News isn’t free. Information isn’t free. We would like to imagine that it is, to think that it is, but oftentimes it’s just a cost that’s been “footed” by somebody else. We just don’t see it or feel it ourselves.

But paywalls aren’t the answer.

Paywalls are the print industry’s equivalent to the entertainment industry’s DRM (digital rights management).

“I’m Kai, the online guy. I believe piracy is the way the public is voicing its discontent with the industry, not the manifestation of their wish to be thieves and crooks.”

The advent of the Internet threw the entire print industry into somewhat of a disarray.

For a really long time newspapers were in a rather comfortable spot, requiring minimal tweaks in the product, reaping in the profits.

But the onslaught of the Internet was an entirely different beast. It opened up an entirely different avenue for people and the product that the industry sold (read: the newspaper/magazine etc.) had to be re-thought and re-envisioned. The way it was produced, delivered and sold to its consumers had to be changed, but like the behemoth that it is, it shuddered at the thought of change and tried to hold on.

Think of a T-rex, if you would.

The entertainment industry has had to face similar problems in the past. When the VCR came out, when cassettes came out, when the Compact Disc (we know them as CDs) was released, there were lawsuits and battles to keep them away because it forced the entertainment industry to think differently.

They spent money on trying to fight the VCR, the CDs and the cassettes instead of thinking of ways to make it work for them.

Why? Because like the print industry, it’s a large lumbering beast that is comfortable where it is — right by the cave paintings.

With the internet, they fought with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and recently SOPA, ACTA and CISPA.

They’ve made entertainment in digital media ridiculously inaccessible at times. In the gaming world for example, DRM is synonymous with user nightmares. From the famous Tages and SecuROM softwares that brought software problems to its users to Ubisoft’s online authentication that kicked players out of games, DRM became a problem for legitimate users.

Now, the print industry isn’t anywhere as convoluted yet. Paywalls are fairly simple right now: if you pay, you get access.

But the ideology is somewhat of the same: let’s make our consumers go through more needless hoops.

The keyword here is the word “needless,” because to consumers, it’s really just needless. They can easily just hop off to another website.

Perhaps the news industry should look at Valve and their digital platform, Steam.

Steam started off on shaky ground but eventually catapulted into certifiable success. The difference with this platform and other DRM is that Valve’s approach is this: It’s not what you take away from your customers, it’s what you give them.

It made buying legitimate games a pleasure by offering a plethora of little conveniences and features that made life that much more enjoyable.

Valve’s approach is this: If you don’t mind a slightly longer elevator ride, we’ll give you the penthouse suite.

Most other DRM approach is this: Why don’t I kick you off the roof of this building with a parachute and wish you good luck?

The news/print industry may sell newspapers or magazines, but they make money mostly out of ads. With a few exceptions such as perhaps the New York Times, few others have print sales that can challenge their ad revenue.

Which makes it baffling that they’re trying so hard to nickel and dime readers by forcing them to pay online.

And you know what? There are ways around it. Even the less tech-savvy people can easily figure them out.

So what will the news industry likely do next? Tighten the security? And how will the masses respond? They’ll get sneakier. And security will tighten more. And soon we might see a piracy issue with the news too — if everything truly starts to get bleak.

“I’m Kai, the online guy. Stop putting up umbrellas and tents and let’s just dance in the rain.”

Forget about paywalls. The New York Times is doing it? Yeah, but even then the ideology behind it remains the same. They may be able to make it work, but it’s just pushing the news industry down the wrong path (ah, I guess there goes my future application to work there).

No, let’s think about how we can serve the masses, the public, the global community instead of how we can squeeze every drop of their hard earned money.

Let’s tell them this: If you don’t mind waiting longer, we’ll bring you a filet mignon instead of a Big Mac.

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The voices, chanting, “Hell no, we won’t go. We want Mahmoud back,” echoed through the halls of Atwood until the Cascade room rang with students who wanted little more than to be heard.

On Oct. 6, 2011, a group of students and faculty protesting the dismissal of Mahmoud Saffari entered the Student Government meeting to make their voices heard.

While Ivey, president of Student Government, did not want this event to define her presidency, she said it was a learning experience for everyone in the room and the experience was invaluable, adding it was the toughest part of her year.

The passion was palpable in the room, Ivey said.

“I walked through the crowd and I thought one of them was going to swing at me. That is how passionate these people were. I thought this could turn into a riot at any second,” she said, adding Student Government upheld their most important function as being a voice for students.

“After that there were so many open forums for students of color to go to and really air their grievances. And Student Government went to a lot of those,” Ivey said.

Chris Norton, Student Government vice president, said from the perspective of Student Government everything was handled as well as it could have been given the circumstances.

“I didn’t see the value in quelling the voice of the students. That’s definitely not our function. I think that’s contradictory to what we are doing,” Norton said.

Across all parties, however, Ivey felt this situation could have been dealt with in a more productive way.

“There were jokes made by administrators that probably shouldn’t have been made. One of them said, ‘He could have been fired because, what if he was an alien from outer space? We don’t know. That could have been the reason,’” she said.

While Student Government continues to be a voice for the students of SCSU, Lloyd Sandstrom, Student Government senator, said the role has been greatly reduced since his first stint on Student Government in the mid-70s.

“I think they’ve allowed it to be reduced. We need to reassert our authority. We need to stand up and say enough is enough is enough,” he said.

Sandstrom said Student Government has surrendered too much and the administration has taken advantage.

“I don’t think Dr. Potter has taken one inch more than we’ve given him but we’ve given him a mile,” he said.

The relationship between Student Government and the administration is one of significant importance, Norton said, adding administration has been very supportive and willing to work with Student Government to do whatever they can.

“I think they are going to make extremely well-informed and researched decisions. Rarely are any decisions are made without student input,” he said.

Building up a rapport over the years and building up the trust of the administration has been essential, Ivey said.

“There have been times when we have just been flat-out told no, but they are always willing to sit down and talk with us and listen. They’re not our enemies by any means,” she said. “President Potter always wants to know what we think about something.”

One of the major implementations Student Government has worked with administration on this year is the Veterans’ Resource Center.

“In terms of setting the future students at St. Cloud State up for success, especially with the increasing population of veterans coming back, then yes, definitely, [it was the biggest success],” Ivey said.

A resolution was passed to put the vote to the students on the fall referendum. The resolution process does one of three things, Ivey said.

“Resolutions are a three-pronged thing: they are a direction to the president, they start a conversation and they get a foot in the door,” she said. Ivey said everything other than student opinion must go through President Potter.

“President Potter is the final signatory on everything: policies, budgets, even student fee budgets. Pretty much anything other than our opinion is signed off by him,” she said.

When conflicts arise between students and administration, more times than not, the short-term view masks the long-term view, Norton said.

“I’m not saying I agree with every decision they make, but thinking long-term it’s hard for me to say they have made any poor decisions. I do feel the right input has been put into those decisions. It is very research focused and they are trying to better serve the needs of the demographics here, but also our future students going forward,” he said.

Ivey, Norton and Sandstrom all agreed the flow of information to students needs to be improved.

We need to do a better job of disseminating information both ways, Ivey said.

“So much of what we do nobody cares about until it goes into effect,” Sandstrom said. “We have discrimination going on on this campus that nobody talks about and it needs to be addressed. We’ve got to get a better message out to the students. We need to stop the infighting, get a clear and consistent voice and the students will respond. But we haven’t had that.”

Sandstrom had no comment as to why Student Government hasn’t had that.

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When Norton first attended SCSU in 2005 he was not very involved, he said. He enrolled as a post-secondary student during his senior year of high school.

“It never struck me to get involved at that point,” Norton said.

He started a band and played some shows at the Java Joint, as well as some other places around St. Cloud, the whole time being enrolled in the National Guard, which he joined when he was 17 years old.

“A lot of that had to do with a developing philosophy,” he said. “It’s really been two things; The first being I’ve seen the affect of leadership on a lot of people around me … If I could do the job better of the person ahead of me then it was my job to do that regardless as to whether that was my responsibility or not.”

The second piece, Norton said, was more of dealing with the existential dilemma most people go through at that age.

“The root of it, I realized, was that if I build the Eiffel Tower, if I invent a cure for cancer and I’m the last man on Earth it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s your duty to fulfill your potential.”

After spending close to 20 months in Iraq over the course of two deployments and being promoted to the youngest Staff Sergeant in Minnesota, he returned to the states not sure of what was next, he said.

“I kind of floated around when I first got back,” he said. He went to visit friends and family and found boredom set in quickly.

“I’m not good at staying idle too long,” Norton said. Shortly after he began taking classes at SCSU again and he began to get more involved in the university. He got involved in Student Government and Phi Kappa Tau and began to branch out from there.

“Everything started to get crazy,” he said. Sam Ivey asked him to run as her vice president. He didn’t know her well and he wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into.

“I ended up remembering her name as Sam With the Earrings because she always wore these pearl earrings,” Norton said. When Ivey asked him he said he was very surprised. Shortly after he decided to run with Ivey he was elected president of Inter-Fraternal Council.

Ivey said she thinks Norton has been the best vice president she has seen in her four years on Student Government.

“What people don’t see is the main part of his job. I’m not saying just his job description on paper … A majority of it is being my personal adviser and figuring out what goes where and how the pieces fit. That’s really made this year a success because he’s been able to identify things,” she said.

Jonathan Foss, assistant director for Campus Programs, has worked with Norton through his involvement with the Inter-Fraternal Council.

“I really enjoy [working with Chris],” he said, adding he has his own unique, thoughtful and laidback style. “It’s good to have leaders like Chris.”

This summer Norton said he plans to write a book. He said the book will be based on a social value theory which builds into an idea of social evolution. It will be non-fiction with a lot of primary data. He said he has a lot of research to do in the summer and he hopes to have something presentable by the fall.

“Innovation and efficiency are … the things that really produce social value,” he said.

“It’s my dream to run something that goes from idea to product to market in six months,” Norton said. “It’s a really short time scale, but I would really love to see that happen.”

Ivey said Norton is very strategic and he is as objective as you can get.

“Chris has done so much for the Student Association and I’m really glad he’s finally getting the recognition for it, because he’d rather hide under the desk,” Ivey said.

“It’s kind of like I slipped in a puddle and just started swimming. That was more or less how I got involved,” Norton said.

“I’ve worn many hats in my day,” Norton said. “I dig it.”

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The event they hosted on the SCSU campus was cause for a counter-demonstration, sanctions by the state’s Republican party and silence from the university itself.

“We are a public institution,” said Judith Siminoe, special adviser to the university president, “and because we are committed to the ideals of free speech and particularly students having the opportunity to hear and respond to different ideas, we try to foster free speech. You have to protect speech, even if it is hateful, wrong and if it makes people uncomfortable, that’s not a reason you can use to suppress speech.”

Siminoe elaborated that the views of the College republicans and of Bradlee Dean and his ministries may not be similar to her own, but that the university cannot, by law, restrict speech that does not pose a physical threat.

“If someone is expressing distaste or hatred toward a group of people, that’s probably hurtful to those people, but they don’t have to be there,” Siminoe said, “and we would not try to stop that, because people can express wrong opinions.”

Siminoe went on to say that the university’s concern was for keeping within policy on this event as with any event.

“That particular space – this evening, Ritsche Auditorium and the foyer leading into the auditorium – has been reserved by a student organization for a particular event and so it’s our responsibility that that event is able to go ahead without disruption.”

Siminoe stressed the fact that free speech can only be restricted in cases of physical danger to individuals. It has to be provable that speech is directly linked to harmful action.

“We have to take care that the speech that we prohibit is actually linked to conduct or behavior that could cause injury,” she said.

United States law stipulates that all speech is protected under the first amendment except that which poses an imminent threat to individuals.

Additionally, the university’s open space policy prevents speech that may cause a panic or disrupt classes.

“That policy is certainly intended to embody the principle that we’re a public place and we want people to express ideas and think about them and come up with responses,” Siminoe said.

Dean is perhaps most famous for his outspoken criticism of homosexual behavior. Some of the protesters outside Tuesday’s event were present in opposition to that particular aspect of Dean’s ministry.

“We do not want to have individuals, whatever their affiliations and groups and interests and the things that matter to them, their identity, we don’t want to have students made to feel unwelcome on our campus,” Siminoe said when asked what the university would say to gay rights activists and the LGBT community.

Dean has been quoted condemning homosexual acts, but maintains that neither he nor his group has ever called for the harm or killing of homosexual people.

His mission, according to his website, is to show love by warning: warning homosexuals that their behavior is sinful is, according to his organization, showing them love.

“The university isn’t supporting that message,” Siminoe said. “The university is supporting the activity of that student organization and their ability, like all student organizations, to have speakers and conversations and to explore ideas.

“Were not condoning the message, we’re just supporting the activity.”

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According to their website, Earthbound Media Group, or EMG, is an adaptive marketing and communications agency that was founded in 1999.

“Originally it started off in more of the marketing production end and then it just slowly evolved into having a multi-tasked adaptive marketing agency over the years,” said Damien Navarro, co-founder, chief visionary officer and managing partner at EMG.

Since then, the agency has partnered with clients across multiple industries including Fortune 500 leaders, clients within higher education, healthcare, technology, travel, CPG, entertainment and non-profit sectors. Some of the agency’s recent clients include State Farm, Scottrade, Wells Fargo Advisors, Stanford University, Loyola Marymount University, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Universal Pictures and Best Friends Animal Society.

“EMG really relies on its values to create really authentic relationships that allow us to expose that particular brand. Some other areas, that cater to more personal marketing, is communications planning, advertising, media development, media placement, and then finally we have an overall website production, a website development,” Navarro said.

The agency’s overall mission is to “foster positive change within organizations and clients that they respect.”

“We’re not simply just a branding agency,” Navarro said. “At the end of the day, EMG is an adaptive marketing agency that wants to help people to continue to evolve and meet the demands and interests of their continuing market.”

EMG was chosen out of a variety of other companies that received SCSU’s Request For Proposal Project (RFP) late this past spring.

“One of the things that was really attractive out of this group was that, while they do higher education work, they don’t focus entirely on education so there’s less likely to be a cookie cutter approach and their approach is far different than any firm I’ve worked with before, and I’ve worked with six or seven different higher education marketing firms,” said Loren Boone, assistant vice president for marketing and communications at SCSU.

As of late this past spring, SCSU has been in contact with EMG in hopes that they will help refocus the university’s image and messages to all of its audiences.

“We actually come into organizations like St. Cloud with a very clear agenda that is built around helping the organization understand who it is and then communicating those values and that attitude toward their audience in a much more clear way,” said Ashir Badami, senior content strategist at Earthbound Media Group. Badami has been working on the SCSU project since the very beginning stages.

EMG and SCSU addressed faculty and students during the Fall Convocation Ceremony, unveiling the branding initiative in hope to change the university’s reputation and other’s perception.

“With St. Cloud we saw a lot of different voices on campus,” Badami said. “At the early stages, what we recognized as that there were a lot of perceptions of the University, whether they were based on its approach to the student body, the quality of its education, things like that, that really weren’t matching up with what we were learning, not only from current students, but also from community members and faculty and just various stakeholders.”

“We wanted to make sure that we were articulating the values and the plans that the university had both within the context of the overall MnSCU’s strategic realignment and St. Cloud’s strategic alignment,” Navarro said.

As a marketing agency of the 21^st century, EMG “conceptualizes highly engaging transmedia campaigns and manage millions of dollars in behaviorally-driven digital advertising,” according to their website. With SCSU they have started rebuilding the main website as part of the first stage.

“Our focus is really the top level pages at this point,” said Amanda Vande Brake, EMG’s vice president of client services and business development. “So our first stage is the top 70 pages, and we’ve also run an advertising campaign for the admissions group to generate leads and recruitment prospects that was invested in this last calendar year.”

The changes to help rejuvenate SCSU’s image are still in progress and will slowly be implemented throughout the year. In the end, SCSU admissions will decide on all changes that EMG puts forth as ideas.

“We have all of these ideas and concepts and strategies but then we do bridge that, the face between our strategies and actual implementations and work with them and empower the client to take that on effectively,” Vande Brake said.

Branding any company entails a lot of change and different perceptions. EMG assures that the project is to reveal SCSU’s true identity.

With the help of EMG, SCSU will make the next step into branding and creating a new image for all audiences.

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Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps’ dreamy sounds were shared with the audience at the Pioneer Place.

The Good Night Sleeps sound isn’t the only thing that charmed the audience. Smith’s comedic shtick brought laughs amongst somber melodies and dreamy repasts.

“This song is about loves lost. I was young and I thought I was in love, but we all know how that works out,” said Smith before her song “Strong Shoulders”.

The combination of her loveable, small-town charm meets tough, punk city kid attitude gives her a unique character.

Unlike many artists – who struggle to entertain and captivate between songs – Smith’s stand-up-comedic and public speaking skills keep the audience fully engaged the whole way through.

Even the interview was a fan-fair, with many laughs and a lighthearted aura.

It isn’t just Smith who knows how to get big laughs.

During the interview, keyboardist David Earl stormed off stage and slammed a set door behind him after getting his name skipped in the introduction. Smith doubled over laughing with the audience following suit.

“Working with Chad Wise on my first album was amazing. Chad is currently working with Mason Jennings and Death Cab For Cutie, two of my favorite bands. I wish I was on tour with them!” said Smith about her first album.

Caroline Smith got her start at the age of 18. Shortly after moving from her hometown of Detroit Lakes Minn., Smith took up residence at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis.

While working at the 400 Bar, Smith met drummer Arlen Peiffer (of Cloud Cult), along with Bassist Jesse Schuster and keyboardist Earl.

Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps debut album, “Backyard Tent Set”, was recorded with Chad Weis of the Devil’s Workshop. The album went on to be a big success, gaining air time on KVSC, The Current and many other Midwest radio stations.

From there the quintet has been carving out a slice of the pie, growing in popularity after every event.

After Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps left Pioneer Place to make an appearance at the Electric Fetus, Adam Hammer and Friends began doing sound checks and prepping the final touches for their performance.

“We don’t need any special treatment! We’ve been around town enough, so they (audience) don’t need to hear our stories again,” said Hammer.

Hammer ­­– a Henning Minn. native – has been making music since he was 12 years old, beginning his professional music career while living in Nashville in his twenties.

“I was just here (Pioneer Place) for my new CD release two weeks ago,” said Hammer.

“Broken Like You” – Hammer’s new album – provided a wealth of material for his MNL performance.

The songs “Let it Burn”, “The Drive” and “Ballad of Lucy” (from Broken Like You) were featured during Adam Hammer and Friends set.

Adam Hammer and Friends’ sound is an eclectic mix of bluegrass, rock and blues. Their sound can be likened to Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen and early-era Black Keys.

The stage set at the Pioneer also added to Adam Hammer’s performance. The stage was composed as an early 1900’s stately manner home, which made the show feel intimate and reminiscent of the sound.

Dave Cofell, one of Hammer’s long-time collaborators makes up part of Adam Hammer and Friends. Cofell – a Collegeville Minn. native – also performs solo while off stage with Adam Hammer. Cofell also released a new album “No Substitute (For You)”.

More information can be found at thegoodnightsleeps.com (Caroline Smith) and tattooedfolk.com (Adam Hammer).

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Shun Jie Yong | Photographer

Dean is the founder and executive director of You Can Run But You Can’t Hide ministry. He also hosts the radio program Sons of Liberty. Dean is the drummer for the band Junkyard Prophet.

The show was sponsored by the SCSU College Republicans and consisted of Dean’s band and a speech by Dean. The College Republicans received threats from the Minnesota GOP, who are officially opposed to the College Republicans’ decision to bring Dean to campus. The event was paid for through the College Republican’s private account and cost $2,000.

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“We receive alleged violations of the student code of conduct from various areas,” said Gerald Bulisco, assistant dean of students for Student Life and Development. “It could be a write-up by a CA, for example, or it could be from the St. Cloud Police Department.”

The way Student Life and Development handles each procedure is dependent upon the severity of the action.

“Let’s say we have a first time offender, underage consumption,” said Judith Siminoe, special adviser to the president. “We would likely have an informal meeting. If the student accepts responsibility we try to figure a reasonable consequence.”

For more severe cases, such as distribution of narcotics or assault, the matter would be brought to a conduct board. This board would discuss the issue at a hearing, look at both sides and make a decision.

The board is made up of two faculty members and three students.

During review of the alleged violation, SCSU is able to provide necessary information regarding the violation. They can bring in witnesses to the violation, if there are any.

They are also able to bring in any persons who are considered the victim in special accounts.

The student being brought up on sanctions also has the opportunity to defend themselves and give any evidence that would support their argument.

“This is not a court,” Bulisco said. “This is administrative procedure.”

Once the student has provided information, if they choose to do so, and the university has done the same, the decision is left to the conduct board. The board will then discuss if one of the codes in the Student Code of Conduct has been violated.

If the board rules that one or more of the codes has been broken, they then refer back to SCSU administration and the student. The university then makes a recommendation for discipline, whether it be suspension, probation or another form. The student then makes their own recommendation for discipline.

Once both parties have made a recommendation, the board then meets separately again to decide the appropriate sanction.

An important aspect of these sanctions is to “keep the door open” for students that have been suspended or dismissed.

“A student might have done something that deserves suspension or should be off campus for a year or two,” Bulisco said. “There’s usually a period of time and some conditions to be met before a student can be let back.”

The decision of the board can weigh on several things, most of which involve academic or misconduct records.

Factors that could tip the board’s decision include grade point average, number of violations as well as considered majors.

They will also ask the student questions such as, “How often do you drink?” and “When you do, how much do you drink in a night?”

The aim of these meetings is to get a feelings for the student’s lifestyle, and whether or not the violation under consideration could happen again.

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So maybe I’m not the best one to talk about this, but I remember, very vividly, the commercials on the TV for that movie. They featured a yellow lab behaving like it had a death wish. He ate chocolate cake, and climbed out of a moving car’s window.

And somehow this was worth not only a book, but also a movie. Because people were okay with this behavior from a dog.

I know it was meant to be funny, a way to make the end touching when he dies, but I don’t find misbehaving dogs funny. At all.

Growing up, Dad wanted a hunting dog, so he got a golden retriever he let me name Rose. She turned out to be gun shy (afraid of sudden, loud noises like a gunshot) so we got Rip, a yellow lab, two years later.

When Rip died nine years later, we got Raven, a black lab. Dad made sure that our dogs were well-trained, because he understood that untrained dogs are dangerous to themselves and others.

Dogs live in a world that is controlled by humans, and runs on human logic. Things that exist in this world, especially if they exist in human homes and communities, must conform to that logic.

Unfortunately for our best friends, they aren’t about to pick up human social structure on their own. We have to translate the rules from human to dog. Rules like “don’t eat my food,” “don’t leave out the car window,” and “don’t bite strangers” are rules that dogs need to understand because breaking each of these rules can lead to their death.

Humans that bring a dog into their lives need to understand how dogs think, and why they act the way they act to they can translate ‘don’t run into the street’ so that their dog understands not to run into the street.

That means that you must have an obedient dog. Dogs aren’t smart enough to understand that running in and out of the road is dangerous, but they are smart enough to understand that they shouldn’t leave the house unless their owner says they can.

Obedient dogs don’t see themselves as the leader of their pack, which means that they don’t have to worry about things that alphas would normally worry about, like territorial invasions. They will assume that because you let this person into the territory, they’re probably not a threat, so they won’t try to bite guests or growl at them, and will be friendlier.

They won’t steal food (or anything that might seem edible, but actually isn’t) from the counters, because they know its not theirs.

They don’t have to worry about figuring out what’s going on, or anything else, because they believe you will take care of them.

It sounds like a very relaxed place to be, mentally.

Understanding your pets’ behavior is an important part of pet ownership. Feeding your dog may keep it alive, but knowing what goes on in their head will help improve their quality of life immeasurably.

Unless you’re willing to commit to learning it and working with it, then please don’t get a pet.

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