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"Just 'cuz I'm a pit bull doesn't mean I'll hurt anybody!"
...So, are all pit bulls nasty? I know a delightful pit bull pup named Tater Tot who would disagree.
Here's the truth: Any dog can bite. Any dog can be made into an aggressive dysfunctional mess by misguided training, cruelty or abuse.
But on April 26, 2012, a Maryland Court of Appeals judge ruled in a civil case that pit bulls are "inherently dangerous," making pit bull owners more susceptible to lawsuits and liability in dog-bite cases. Essentially, that ruling means if your dog is a pit bull, there's a presumption of guilt, no matter the circumstances.
Opinions like this may be well-meaning, but they're based on false reasoning. It's like saying, for example, that V-8 muscle cars are inherently dangerous because they're involved in more speeding incidents and accidents. On the surface, such a statement may appear statistically true. But a rumbling black Mustang, driven responsibly, is no more dangerous than a whispering Prius hybrid.
It's the idiot behind the wheel -- or holding (or not holding) the leash -- that causes the problem.
Sure, fast cars appeal to dangerously-aggressive drivers, but that doesn't make the cars themselves inherently dangerous -- and it doesn't make everyone who drives one an aggressive knucklehead. And just because miserable sociopaths may prefer to own powerful pit bulls instead of toy poodles doesn't make every pit bull owner a sociopath nor every pit bull automatically dangerous.
Some dog breeds (or mixes) do have a genetic tendency to be more assertive, even aggressive, but tendencies are not certainties. Individual behavior covers a wide range, and the human element makes them wildly variable and unpredictable.
While I'm always watchful for individual puppies who may have behavior issues, 15 years as a trainer (working with over a thousand dogs of all breeds and mixes) has taught me that I can't generalize. Not only do I not want to exclude pit bulls from classes, I want those owners to learn how to use positive-reinforcement and clicker training techniques to raise happy, well-adjusted dogs with good manners.
Whenever I have a pit bull puppy in a class, I can see flickers of terror on the faces of other dog owners as they try to keep their puppies away from the presumptive monster. But, invariably, the baby pit bulls end up being the darlings of the class.
The aforementioned Tater Tot was typical: a happy, enthusiastic, silly girl with gold fur and a big grin who played well with her classmates and won the hearts of all the humans. Tater is likely to grow up to be an excellent ambassador for her breed.
Breed profiling is not fair, and it can create a false sense of security. Let's say pit bulls disappeared from the planet: Wow! We've been saved! Except that nasty people who get their kicks from owning the baddest dog in the neighborhood will choose some other breed to ruin.
The authoritative federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this on the subject of a 20-year study on fatal dog bites, listing the breeds involved:
It does not identify specific breeds most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic... There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill. Many practical alternatives to breed-specific policies exist and hold promise for preventing dog bites. For prevention ideas and model policies for control of dangerous dogs, please see the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Task Force report on Canine Aggression and Human-Canine Interactions: A Community Approach to Dog Bite Prevention
(http://www.avma.org/public_health/dogbi
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Take a Bow, Callie Birthday-Girl!
...So, today is our little Welsh Corgi Callie's 16th birthday. It's been a month since we lost our other adorable Corgi Mickey. And though we miss Mickey every day, we're so lucky to still have our little May Day puppy with us. Callie really does make us smile every time we look at her.
Although Callie doesn't see or hear too well any more, she still manages to be remarkably aware of everything going on around her. And she still supervises us when her stomach-clock goes off, making sure we serve all her meals and snacks at their appointed times. She doesn't look a day over five, and she still marches along on our morning walks. Her graceful adjustment to most of the creeping hardships of old age is nothing short of inspirational.
After 16 years, I could tell Callie stories all day long. So I'll just choose a few, remembering back to the fun Corgi Club picnic-parties we used to attend, at the Silver Spring home of a member of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of the Potomac. The hostess had a nice fenced yard, so once inside, the dogs roamed, ran around and played freely, while the humans visited, ate and laughed at all the cute dogs. Callie has always marched to her own drummer -- a quality never so apparent as in this picture below. When all the humans and dogs gathered for group pictures, Callie happily broke ranks to take center stage.
One year, when they were still puppies, Mickey and Callie had a run-in with a cousin named Bootsie. Mickey was outgoing and fearless, but Callie was still a shy, skittish baby. Unfortunately, Bootsie was a bit of a handful (earning the nickname "The Bad Bootsie" among the humans, including her breeder) and Bad Bootsie decided this was a good day to bully Mickey. Quite to our surprise, baby Callie rushed to Mickey's defense, confronting Bootsie with her most fearsome bark: "Leave my sister alone!!" And Bad Bootsie did just that, scurrying away to bother other puppies who didn't have a gutsy little sister to stick up for them.
Corgis generally love pretty much all food. So, to keep the dogs from mooching, the party food was safely isolated on tables up on the porch, and a makeshift gate kept the dogs off the porch. Theoretically. The dogs would gather in frustrated little gangs (as seen above) desperately trying to figure out how to get up there. Clearly, this was a job for clever Callie, who was born with an uncanny determination to solve problems -- especially those involving access to noms! So, of course, Callie was the one and only dog who figured out how to breach security, triumphantly squeezing past the gate and bouncing around on the porch among the food tables.
Callie has given us so many great days, smiles and wonderful memories throughout her long and happy life. It's a privilege to take care of this amazing little doggie, and we cherish every day we have with her. Happy Sweet 16, Callie Berry!!
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January 25, 1996 - April 2, 2012
We had to have our beloved 16-yr-old Corgi Mickey put to sleep today. She was toddling along pretty well for an old lady, right up until yesterday. Then she started having seizures last night and this morning. Susan took her to the ER vet and we were told it was likely Mickey had a brain tumor.
With no real treatment options, we didn't want to put her through prolonged diagnostic hospitalization, and didn't want to wait until she was in pain. So we made the difficult decision to let her go with her dignity intact.
We sat with her in the examining room for a long time, giving her lots of hugs, pets, kisses and ear rubs, and she was very calm, comfortable and snuggly. She looked just like the 4-month-old baby puppy we fell in love with so long ago, though that seems like only yesterday. And the end was completely soft, sweet and peaceful. As any of you who've lost a pet know, we miss her very much.
We were so lucky to have her with us for so long, and she was the best dog anyone could ever ask for. She had a happy life, and she made us smile every one of the 5,800 or so days she shared with us. In Mickey's honor, please go give your own pets some special love!
As some of you know, we did a TV commercial with Mickey about 10 years ago, and that day was the most fun we've ever had. She was a superstar, worked her little furry butt off for hours, and did everything we asked of her. She was perfect! If you'd like to see our special little Mickey in her prime, one more time, you can see her commercial here. Thank you, Mickey, for so much puppy love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_0b4_Kgj
...So, OK, don't donate the cat! But there are other ways you can support your local animal shelter and the innocent, homeless critters hoping for a new forever home.
Most of us live near one or more shelters. Some are municipal, others private. But pretty much all of them are short of resources -- space, money, help, or all three -- and even moreso in these tough economic times.
We animal lovers can, of course, contribute money to shelters, humane associations and rescue groups. Most shelters can also use donations of clean blankets and towels. If your dog has toys she never plays with, the homeless doggies might appreciate them. And if you have food your pet didn't like, or no longer eats, many shelters welcome donations of fresh food as well.
Many soft-hearted souls say they can't even go into a shelter because they want to adopt all the homeless animals. But even if you can't do that -- or adopt even a single one -- there are other ways you can help make their lives more comfortable while they're waiting to become someboy's well-loved companion. To find out what your local shelter can use, please give them a call or check their websites.
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Mickey...the TV Star!...So, you bring a puppy home and you embark on an adventure. You never really know where it may lead, or how long it may last.
These days, the average doggie life-span is probably around 12 years. A little shorter for big dogs, a little longer for small dogs. But there are no guarantees. My niece Kimberly lost her big sweet rescue Great Pyrenees pal named Blake last year at age 5. And our friends the Wright family lost their wonderful Dutchess at about age 6.
So we are are infinitely thankful that our little Mickey is celebrating her 16th birthday today.
She was a 4-month-old wild puppy when we got her. She turned into a magnificent and dignified lady, and though she's sometimes a little confused these days and her long, lovely fur is now threadbare, she's never lost her essential sweetness. Mickey quite simply has never met a person or pooch she didn't like.
Mickey also gave us the most fun day we've ever had -- the day we and Mickey made a local TV commercial together (for a self-service pet-wash and groomery). In a long day of hard work and shooting video, Mickey happily performed take after take until we got what we needed. But more often, she nailed it on the first try. Please watch the 30-second commercial at the YouTube link -- and pay special attention to Mickey's progressive surprise as she leaps off the chair at the beginning, and her brilliant hiding behind the curtain as her character tries to avoid getting a dreaded bath. Then look at her beaming little face on the grooming table. (Link: http://youtu.be/X_0b4_Kgjoc)
Mickey, we love you more than you can ever know, and we cherish every day we have with you.
Happy, happy birthday, little Mick!
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...So, this past Saturday, I was heading back home with our little old Corgi Mickey after our morning walk. And this guy in a big silver SUV pulls over to the curb to ask if I may have seen his lost female Siberian Husky puppy who'd escaped from his yard earlier that morning. He'd been searching all over the neighborhood for her. She was just a year old, small, black, gray and white, and he'd only had her for a couple of weeks.
As it happened, I had indeed noticed a nice neighbor couple walking an unfamiliar dog matching the lost puppy's description, not twenty minutes earlier. The mystery was soon solved when the neighbors came back with the happy Husky after they'd taken her on a walk to see if they could find her owner. So this story had a swift and satisfying conclusion.
Unfortunately, while we hear tales of dogs who miraculously trudge miles and miles over months and years to find their way home, that's rarely what really happens. The website Petplace.com says that shockingly few lost dogs are reunited with their humans -- as few as 5 percent! Most lost dogs get hurt or killed, or end up in animal shelters.
So what can we do to change that? Simple: make sure our dogs are always wearing snug-fitting collars with current ID tags, and/or have them micro-chipped by our veterinarians. Is one better than the other?
I don't know. It's true that tags and collars may come off a dog wandering through suburban shrubbery or woods and underbrush. But a snug collar is likely to stay on, and an ID tag will allow anyone who finds my dog to either call or return her to me. A micro-chip helps if a lost dog is taken to a vet or an animal shelter, where they know to scan incoming animals for an ID chip.
But if a dog had only the chip and no collar tag, someone finding that dog may not even know about micro-chips. That person might just keep the stray dog rather than bringing it someplace equipped to do a quick scan.
This little lost Husky was micro-chipped, but she didn't have an ID tag. In this case, an ID tag would have made it possible for the couple who found her to know exactly where she lived.
The best plan, then, is to make sure your dog has both an up-to-date tag and a micro-chip. Tags are inexpensive, easy to get online or at local pet-supply stores, and there's really no excuse for not having one. Your vet can answer all your questions about micro-chips, which are about the size of a rice grain and are implanted under the skin.
We never know when a leash might break, when dog might dash out an open door, or charge off after a squirrel. Dogs are natural escape artists who can climb over, dig under or jump fences. And if you think an invisible/electric fence will keep your dog from pursuing a cat who saunters by, think again. Given a compelling reason, dogs will zoom right through an electric fence-line without a second thought.
So be prepared with tags, or micro-chips...or both! Dogs do get lost -- but we humans can give them a fighting chance to make it back home.
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"No trick...I'm really dis cute!"
...So, yeah, this is a rerun -- but well worth reading again to keep your dog safe and happy when Halloween arrives in a few days.
Most of us don't actually dress up our dogs in costumes for the holiday. But having neighborhood kids constantly ringing the doorbell for Trick-or-treat can drive our dogs nuts.
Our solution: I go outside with the big bowl o' candy and intercept the Little Monsters before they can go up the steps, ring the bell, and launch Mickey and Callie into a barking frenzy. This works out well -- it spares the kids and their parents the trudge up our front steps, and it saves the dogs the stress of barking their little heads off every time the doorbell rings.
But if you don't want to do that, then try putting your dogs in a quiet room far away from the front door. Put up a baby gate, or close the door, and turn on the TV or some music for them (to drown out the sound of the doorbell). You'll not only save your dogs considerable "high-alert" stress, you'll also keep them from darting out the door every time you open it to toss some candy to the kids.
If you opt to take your dog out for an on-leash walk among the Trick-or-treaters, remember that kids your dog may otherwise know can look different or scary in their costumes. Take your own treats and clicker out with you so you can practice getting your dog to sit and stay and greet goblins, ghouls, Jedi Knights, princesses and Harry Potters calmly and happily. If every "Trick-or-treat!" encounter with costumed kids becomes a "Click-and-treat!" for your dog, then Halloween can be a fun experience for the dogs as well as the kids.
Most people know chocolate is toxic to dogs (NO candy is good for them). The smaller the dog, the more chocolate, the bigger the danger. If your dog nabs a single chocolate Kiss or a couple of M & Ms, you're probably fine. But here's the biggest risk: you leave your bowl of outgoing candy or your kids' incoming bag of candy where your dog can reach it, turn your back for a minute, and suddenly your dog can be nom-nom-nomming the whole candy supply -- wrappers and all!
So keep all that candy out of your dogs' reach...or keep your dogs far away from the candy...and you, your dogs and your kids should have a happy Halloween, free from tears -- or visits to the emergency vet!
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Howard Weinstein started Day One Dog Training in Howard County, Maryland in 1998. You can reach him through www.dayonedogtraining.com. He's also the author of Puppy Kisses are Good for the Soul & Other Important Lessons You & Your Dog Can Teach Each Other (available in both paperback and e-book at Amazon.com or www.dayonedogtraining.com).
"Go ahead! Gimme more pill nomz!"
Do you have trouble getting your dog to take pills without struggling and spitting them out?
Some dogs will happily vacuum up anything mixed in with their regular food in the ol' supper-dish. Others are experts at eating around any medicinal intruder, leaving nothing behind but a slimy pill or capsule in the bottom of the bowl.
We've found several effective ways to hide and deliver pills to our dogs.
1- Banana! Slice or bite off about an inch of a banana, then insert the pill into the center of the 'nana chunk until it's hidden. A small amount of banana is fine for dogs, and probably even good for them. Most dogs love the flavor. (Our Corgis Mickey and Callie expect a banana chunk every time I slice one up for my breakfast cereal, and they get very annoyed and impatient if I don't deliver the goods.)
2- A glop of peanut butter or cream cheese -- Just completely bury the pill inside...a little messy, but both of these usually work well. You can use the glop to top off a bowl of dog food, or give it separately.
3- Butter -- slice some butter off a stick, and fold it over the pill.
Our dogs think of these as special treats, and they don't even know they're taking pills. Much better than forcing stuff down their throats! Your dogs will probably appreciate appreciate their pill noms the way ours do.
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Howard Weinstein started Day One Dog Training in Howard County, Maryland in 1998. You can reach him through www.dayonedogtraining.com. He's also the author of Puppy Kisses are Good for the Soul & Other Important Lessons You & Your Dog Can Teach Each Other (available in both paperback and e-book at Amazon.com or www.dayonedogtraining.com).
"I hearz dis training stuff is gonna be fun, right? Right!"
...So, at my puppy class session this past Sunday, while we were watching the cute puppies happily playing with each other, one of the humans told me a story about a friendly but ill-mannered English sheepdog his family had some years ago. Fed up with a variety of misbehaviors, they contacted a trainer they knew who specialized in training attack dogs. My client asked this trainer if they could send their dog to him for a while to be properly trained in basic obedience.
The trainer kept their sheepdog for over a month, and when the dog finally came home, he would indeed respond to obedience commands with something approaching military precision. Unfortunately, he was also anxious, and even growled at the kids when they got rowdy with him -- something he'd never done before. As my client sadly said to me, "He was never the same dog after that. I guess I made a mistake sending him to this trainer."
While I don't know how long ago this happened, nor do know the trainer or the methods used, I'd bet this poor sheepdog was subjected to harsh, boot-camp-style coercive training: if you do something wrong, you get punished. Mercifully, many trainers have evolved beyond such stone-age methods. But a shocking number still use them. Why? Because it's what they know, it's what they've always done, and if it was good enough 40 years ago, it's good enough now!
And harsh training methods can yield apparently-desirable results -- that's why they got established in the first place, back in the dark ages when people thought they had to dominate animals by "teaching 'em who's boss." Such trainers probably mean well -- I don't think people go into this line of work because they hate and want to abuse animals. But (as I've written here before) it borders on malpractice when trainers refuse to open themselves up to other methods built upon new(er) information and knowledge about animal behavior. We humans with our big brains and opposable thumbs oughta better!
For dogs with no egregious behavioral issues, there's no imaginable reason to use harsh training methods -- which may indeed teach them to listen to us, while also teaching them to fear us.
For dogs with serious behavioral issues -- any form of aggression, destructive separation anxiety -- harsh training methods will almost certainly make those problems worse.
What my client observed and recalled with so much regret was a dog who'd been taught to fear the nasty consequences of not listening to his human masters: a painful yank from a choke or prong collar, a jolt from a shock collar, being yelled at or hit or intimidated. This robotic dog may appear to behave, but he will be an anxious ticking time bomb always seeking to avoid retribution...until some inevitable moment when his desire to lash out overwhelms his fear of punishment.
What we should be doing instead is teaching dogs to look forward to the positive consequences of good behavior: a treat, petting, a kiss on the head, a walk with his favorite humans, playtime. This dog, by contrast, has learned that good manners yield rewards -- he's been taught to think, and to believe he can make good things happen by doing things that make his human friends happy.
Which kind of dog would you rather have?
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Howard Weinstein started Day One Dog Training in Howard County, Maryland in 1998. You can reach him through www.dayonedogtraining.com. He's also the author of Puppy Kisses are Good for the Soul & Other Important Lessons You & Your Dog Can Teach Each Other (available in both paperback and e-book at Amazon.com or www.dayonedogtraining.com).
"Yoo-hooo, Hoomin... Howard sez itz NOT my fault!"
...So, sorry about the fine print there in the title. But I just had another one of those infuriating, mystifying phone calls from a dog-training client saying, essentially, "We don't know what we're doing, we don't know how to get our dog to behave and stop peeing all over the house, but we're not going to follow any of your advice because my husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend doesn't want to change, even though what we're doing plainly doesn't work...but thanks for your help..."
OK, so I added a little subtext to the actual verbal message. But that's pretty much the content, in a proverbial nutshell.
I don't run into these situations that often -- maybe a few times a year -- but in my 14th year as a pro dog trainer, they still both infuriate and mystify me: Why the heck would people reject helpful advice -- for which they're PAYING me! -- without even trying it? It brings me back to something I wrote in a blog some time ago: "You can lead a person to information, but you can't make him think."
And yet, even though I KNOW that, it still bothers me. And here's why: about half the dogs in any animal shelter at any time are less than a year old, which means they're puppies. How did they end up there? Because they're no longer little and/or cute, they're not potty trained, they tear up the house, they jump on Gramma...and it's easier for many people to blame the dog than blame themselves. Much easier to say, "Oh, that dog was too dumb to learn" than to admit, "Well, crap, I'm too dumb to teach him." That human inability to recognize our own ignorance/incompetence (hey, nobody's perfect) means many of these dogs will either be passed along (complete with behavior problems) to another owner. Or they'll be euthanized. It makes me both sad and angry that so many potentially great pets are ruined by careless humans.
But even more mystifying are folks who are clueful enough to know they need help -- and then they don't utilize the information they're given by somebody like me. Of course, I kinda know the reason for that, too: People often want you tell them what they WANT to hear, rather than what they NEED to hear.
Here's the truth everyone with a dog (or contemplating getting a dog) needs to hear: It's NOT the dog's fault! Whatever it is you don't like your dog doing, it's NOT the dog's fault. Let's repeat that once more for good measure: It's NOT the dog's fault! If your young puppy or older dog does stuff you don't want him doing, it's up to THE HUMANS to figure out how to replace misbehavior with better alternatives.
It's always easier to start out right, which means starting training the day your dog comes home with you -- either on your own or with the help of a trainer, in either group classes or private lessons. But problems can almost always be fixed or managed, so never assume you're stuck with a dog who is the product of your or somebody else's mistakes. Get some help!
When I work with clients, I never say "My way or the highway." I'll try to help them find strategies they can live with which also solve their problems. But some folks just refuse to be helped, and those are the ones about which I feel the worst. I can walk away knowing I gave it my best shot -- but I also know this dog and his humans are not likely to have a good outcome, and human bullheadeness means there was never anything I could have done to change that.
Howard Weinstein started Day One Dog Training in Howard County, Maryland in 1998. You can reach him through www.dayonedogtraining.com. He's also the author of Puppy Kisses are Good for the Soul & Other Important Lessons You & Your Dog Can Teach Each Other (available in both paperback and e-book at Amazon.com or www.dayonedogtraining.com).
