Different takes on training dogs

My wife and I enjoy watching TV together. One of our favorite shows is the Dog Whisperer starring Cesar Millan. What that guy does with animals is simply amazing. They used to call him El Perero in Mexico. That means "the dog man".

Dogs have been a big part of my life since I was a kid. Seems like we've always had dogs. Sometimes they can be hard to train but most of the time they pick up on what you want them to do after a while. Dogs are pretty smart but I didn't realize all those years that I was being a pack leader.

There's all sorts of people offering dog training these days. It seems to be a big business. I know I don't know enough about it to do it but I'm glad there are people out there teaching owners how to handle their dogs.

What really blows my mind though is this government page on dog training for labs. So if you work with animals you have to learn how to train them to live in a lab environment.

I wonder how Cesar would do in a government lab.

This post is Copyright (c) by Frank Welch. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for reading 5 Daily Items.

Dark and stormy waters of business

I'm not a businessman. I just do my job and go home at the end of the day. But I have some buddies who talk about starting up businesses. A couple of them have done that through the years. It's just an odd way of doing things to me. You have to fuss over taxes and licenses and hiring people. I'd rather just do my job and let someone else worry about all that.

But a friend of mine said last week he was thinking about starting an offshore company. I asked him what it would do. He said it could be used as a tax shelter for his investments. Sounds kind of risky to me.

In fact I have read that offshore companies have colorful history. But there are some offshore companies that are completely legit. They tend to be subsidiaries and investment partners.

A good offshore company should have a real business function. Maybe you can use offshore companies to manage your tax liabilities better but you still need to act like a business.

I think my friend was joking. If he has more than $50,000 to invest in an "offshore" company I'm in the wrong business. I need to work at his job, which doesn't pay too much in my opinion.

Every company needs to have a purpose. It seems there are three basic purposes: to provide goods, to provide services, or to manage the flow of money. Some money management businesses are fine. Those are called "holding" companies. But remember Enron and its offshore companies? I wouldn't go near one of those deals with a ten-foot pole.

If you're looking for a good place to invest your money, in my opinion you should stay away from offshore companies. If you don't know what you're doing you could find yourself in a heap of trouble.

This post is Copyright (c) by Frank Welch. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for reading 5 Daily Items.

Of Herbs And Medicines

I don't know anything about herbs. My wife cooks with them. My grandmother used to talk about treating wounds and illnesses with them. And I hear about them on the Internet. I see them in health food stores.

Herbs are not really food and not really medicine so what are they? They're like magic fairy dust. They are supposed to do all sorts of things and I have no idea of what's really making the stew delicious or me feel better.

My son tells me that pharmaceutical companies use some herbs to make drugs. He also says the food and drug administration doesn't review medicinal herbs. That is a little disturbing. But I think things are changing.

So while some people still use herbs for cooking, other people have begun looking at medicinal herbs in a scientific way. Maybe in another ten years the government will get all these herbs sorted out and we'll know what works and what doesn't.

Until then, add a little more garlic to your stew and call your doctor in the morning.

This post is Copyright (c) by Frank Welch. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for reading 5 Daily Items.