"all changed, changed utterly....."

Ok, so I've gone all literary on you with the title of this post - it's a line from a poem by the great Irish writer/poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), and it has particular meaning to me right now because things around my house have "changed utterly" - why? Because I took the plunge and added a third dog to my household - in other words: I adopted ARF dog Wilson two weeks ago! I guess I just couldn't resist his charm and that underbite any longer! I certainly wasn't planning on bringing home another critter, but I do think there's some truth to that saying "you don't choose your dog, your dog chooses you..." None of my Facebook friends were surprised though, as I'd been spamming them all with photos and videos of him for weeks on end!

A third dog really does add the "multi" into multi-dog household! Adding a new critter to your crew - feline or canine, changes the dynamic period full stop. Patricia McConnell, writer and well known Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, has written a little booklet called "Feeling Outnumbered" that has all kinds of tips on how to maintain harmony in a multi dog household. Making sure that all your dogs will reliably respond to cues such as "stay", "wait", "leave it", as well as good solid recall will go a long way towards staving off multi dog anarchy! I also advocate for ALWAYS separating to feed - that way no one has to guzzle their grub down and no one learns to guard or gets opportunities to rehearse guarding from the other critters.

As for myself and my house full of dogs, at the moment it's a balancing act of doing my best to adhere as much as possible to my other two dog's routines while at the same time introducing Wilson into the mix. I make sure all three get daily one on one time with me, and also some "down time" away from each other (baby gates and crates are invaluable for that) so that they can enjoy a Kong/Nylabone in peace. One thing I'm really enjoying is getting to know Wilson in a different context - he's no longer Wilson, shelter dog, he's Wilson, my dog! Here's some stuff I've discovered so far: he's all terrier, all the time, except when it's cold out, or rainy - then his chihuahua side emerges and he suddenly loses the ability to walk. He's bold and curious, and you've never seen anyone, man or beast, have as much fun with an old Snickers wrapper as he did on his walk yesterday - forget about all the toys waiting for him back at my apartment, as far as he was concerned that candy bar wrapper rocked! One thing I always say about my dogs is that they make me laugh on a daily basis, and Wilson is no exception - I reckon he's going to fit in around here just fine!

While we're on the subject of change, there'll be a new face around the Behavior office soon - we'll be hiring a new shelter trainer because Ana and Dara are returning to Brazil. We wish the both of them all the best in whatever life holds for them next!

Finally, the holiday season is upon us once again. As festive as things are, it can also be hectic and at times stressful. Not surprisingly it can also be hectic and stressful for our critters. So bear that in mind and think about giving them a nice quiet spot in the house to hang out in while yourself and your human family and friends get your festive on in another part of the house. Trust me, your pets won't feel "left out" - instead they'll be safe, with no opportunities to wriggle out your open front door as you great arriving guests, and no opportunities to ingest all the tempting food on offer. And because mishaps can occur, even when we think we've orchestrated everything beautifully, please make sure your critters have current id on them/register their microchip info/have current photos of them - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

p.s. the photo at the beginning of this post shows Wilson in a rare moment of "stillness" - here's one that more accurately captures his demeanor: perpetual motion!

playgroups + fieldtrips = happy shelter dogs!!

That's wee Wilson posing for a glamour shot at a recent small dog playgroup here at Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation. We've been having daily playgroups for the dogs at the shelter for a while now - we're lucky to have our awesome agility field at our disposal and every morning when 11 am rolls round it's play group time! Aside from being a fun way for the dogs to burn off energy, it also allows them to keep their play skills well oiled, so to speak. Play skills are kind of like a muscle - if you don't work out regularly, you muscles won't be strong, and similarly, if social, playful dogs don't get regular opportunities to play with other dogs, their play skills can get weak. Depending on the make up of the shelter population we'll design the playgroups based on the sizes, play styles and energy levels of the dogs, "big dog group", "busy small dog group" and "quiet small dog group" - that way the dogs that aren't into rampaging around can socialize with other low key wee ones, communally smelling stuff, sun bathing and hanging out with the staff and volunteers on play group duty for that day. We even had "productive small dog group" one morning when all of the dogs in that group just wanted to have a go on all the agility equipment! The best part was that some of the unlikeliest of candidates that day ended up being veritable agility addicts! Playgroup gives us an opportunity to learn more about the dogs, which means we have more information that we can pass onto adopters - we'll discover the dogs who are crazy about playing fetch, dogs who are potential agility prospects, dogs who like to wrestle in play and dogs who prefer "chase and be chased". It's also a great way for staff and volunteers to see dog body language in action, so playgroup serves an educational purpose as well!



We're also lucky to be less than 10 minutes drive from some lovely open spaces and we've been getting some of the dogs out for well deserved "field trips" during the week when we can. It's not just a physical workout for the dogs (and staff!) but also a mental one for them, as they take in all the new sights and smells. It's kind of like when you go on holiday to a different city - a long day sight-seeing can be pretty exhausting! Just like playgroups, field trips allow us to learn more about the dogs - for a start it let's us know what they're like traveling in a car! Here's a photo of shelter dog Kyle, enjoying an Indian Summer trail walk!



And finally, before we go, just have to give a shout out to some of the members of our awesome Animal Care team who make time in their busy days to take some of our extra active dogs jogging!!

can you hear me now?

Something I see all the time that continues to perplex me is this: Folks who are quite obviously using reward based training methods with their dogs yet who for some reason still feel compelled to deliver all verbal cues in stern/harsh tones of voice. The whole misconception folks have about needing to "use a firm tone of voice" so that the dog knows that you "mean it" is just mind boggling. It plays into the whole myth of dogs somehow being our "adversaries" and us needing to keep them in line. Here's something to consider: dogs are quite adept at noticing all kinds of nuances and components that make up a scenario, so it's easy to see how the vicious circle of "firm tone of voice" starts - the handler uses a "firm tone of voice" to deliver verbal cues hence that tone of voice becomes part of the whole training picture to the dog. Every so often the handler delivers a cue in a normal, non firm tone and the dog either doesn't respond, or responds more slowly. The handler assumes this is because they didn't use a "commanding" enough voice, whereas the more likely explanation is that the dog recognizes the cue when it's delivered in the "stern" voice and when it's said in normal tones the dog is unsure if it's the same cue because part of the picture has changed. Usually in this case the handler will then adopt "stern voice" and deliver the cue again and the dog has a lightbulb moment "Ah, I recognize that cue now!" and responds, thus perpetuating the handler's belief that they have to "sound like they mean business" all the time. Personally, given the choice of a lifetime of delivering cues in "stern voice" or one spent giving cues in "pleasant voice", I'm going to opt for the latter option. My dogs have learned all their cues delivered in a conversational tone of voice, and respond beautifully to it. If one of my dogs doesn't respond to a cue, then I'm going to make it easier for them to understand by following the verbal cue with a hand signal/lure. Or maybe I need to make the task easier, or find a location to work in with less distractions. When we're working with our dogs we're teachers, so what kind of teacher do you prefer to be - one who finds a way to communicate their message clearly, guided by patience and understanding? Or one who gets exasperated and resorts to anger and threatening tones?

Notice that I choose to use the term "training cues" vs. "training commands" - again, it may seem like much of a muchness to some, but there's a big difference to me - I'm not ordering my dogs around, or being the boss of them - we're in a partnership, and it's a pretty awesome one if I do say so myself. In a good partnership you work together and help each other out. In a bad partnership you bully, threaten and intimidate, which doesn't really sound like much of a "partnership" now, does it?

Summer is winding down here (not that you'd know it with the late heatwave we've been having!)and we've had a lot of great adoptions. Here's looking forward to the Fall, cooler weather, and more critters finding great new homes!

Q. How do you approach a dog you don't know? A. You don't!

I was at a BBQ recently where I saw an all too common sight: A woman was restraining her chihuahua so that a 2 year old girl could come up and pet him. Problem was that the feeling wasn't mutual and the wee chi quite clearly did NOT want to meet the wee girl - he was alarm barking up a storm as she approached. His owner told the wee girl "It's all right honey, just put your hand out for him to smell..." Which the child did, resulting in more barking from the panic stricken chihuahua. At this point I intervened and told the owner that her dog didn't appear to want to interact with the little girl, and explained to her that he was trying to communicate that via his barking. The thing that really got me about this scenario was that the chi's owner KNOWS that he was never socialized with kids and doesn't feel comfortable around them, yet was still putting him in a situation that could have literally and figuratively ended in tears. It ends up that she thought that by asking the little girl to approach "the correct way" with her hand extended, that all would be well and her chi would stop barking. After all, she'd always read that that was the "right" way to introduce yourself to a dog. Later in the evening the wee girl's mum approached me and said that she'd been quite uncomfortable with letting her daughter approach a barking dog like that, but had gone along with it because the dog's owner had said it was "ok". We ended up having a great conversation about appropriate ways for kids to meet/interact with dogs. Here in the intake department we have a lot of experience meeting new dogs as on a weekly basis we interact with 100+ dogs at the source shelters on rescue run day. On thing you won't see us doing is sticking our hands out for the dogs to smell. Instead we enter the dog's kennels and let them choose (or not) to approach us. Legions of children (and adults) have been told over the years to "extend the back of your hand for a dog to sniff..." as a way of meeting strange dogs, and I have to say, every time I see it happen I cringe a little - if we as humans decrease distance when meeting a strange dog we've just removed one of the dog's modes of communication, namely choosing to create distance, so if that dog doesn't particularly want to interact with us what other methods does he have left to try to communicate that to us? The ones humans find alarming - namely growling, barking, snapping etc. Right now I'm sure there's a chorus of folks out there saying "Well I've always done that when meeting a dog without any problems...." and my answer to them would be "Yes, but you've probably been lucky enough to meet dogs who want to meet you - what happens when you finally come across the dog that doesn't want to meet you?"

Recently, our vet here at ARF, Dr. Heather, sent out a link to an online article about a study conducted in Hungary regarding dog growls. The article included three mp3's of different types of dog growls: a playful growl, a threatening growl, and a food guarding growl. Basically the study was trying to see if dogs understand and react to different types of growls. Dogs were played the sound of a "food guarding" growl as they approached a meaty bone and from the group of dogs used in the study, only one continued to approach and ate the bone, the other dogs backed off or if they did engage with the bone, walked away from it when the "food guarding" growl was played a second time. Interesting stuff. I played the mp3's of the different growls at home on my laptop to see how my own dogs would react. When I played the "playful" growl my Chow-Pug mix, Nugget got super waggy and animated. She didn't react to either the "threatening" or "food guarding" growls. But my corgi mix, Stella, who slept through the "playful" and "threatening" growls woke up and looked very concerned, scanning the room, when I was playing the "food guarding" growls. Stella, by the way, can be a wee divil about guarding stuff from Nugget. I'll wager that Stell knew EXACTLY what that growl meant, she's just not used to hearing it from another source! Play it for your own dogs at home and see what they think!

try walking around in your dog's shoes for a bit, they might be a bit small, but it'll be worth it...

Imagine the scenario: You see some friends walking towards you and they're with someone you don't know. This someone looks interesting/cute/unusual so you go up to say hi to them. But as you get nearer and extend your hand in greeting they start backing away from you - at first they're quietly saying "I'm warning you, don't get any closer...." but you don't notice because at that exact moment you look over to your friends and say "Who is this? They're so interesting/cute/unusual...." By the time you look back towards the person you're trying to greet they've started shouting at the top of their lungs "GET AWAY FROM ME!!! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST TIME??!! JUST BACK OFF, I MEAN IT NOW - GET AWAY!!!!" You don't understand because, hey, you're a nice person, don't they realize that? "It's ok" you say as you keep advancing on them, "I just want to say hi...." By now the panicked person has lost all control and before you know what's happened to you they've punched you in the face.

Seems like kind of a ridiculous scenario doesn't it? I mean, who amongst us would keep advancing on another person, that we didn't know, while they were shouting at us to get away? Some of us would've noticed the person muttering "I'm warning you, don't get any closer...." and thought to ourselves "No problem pal, I don't intend to!" And if we had missed that sign we most definitely would've backed off when confronted with a hysterical shouting person, right? Yet time and again folks DON'T show dogs the same courtesy - I walked by a situation involving a guy trying to say "hi" to his friend's new dog and it was basically identical to the one related above - only difference is that the dog DIDN'T bite - this time.... Next time though, the person saying "hi" might not be so lucky... Moral of the story? Folks need to try walking around in a dog's shoes and see things from the critter's perspective. Owners need to advocate for their dogs and recognize when they're uncomfortable/anxious/scared and then endeavor to get them out of that situation ASAP. It's perfectly ok to say "Sorry I don't think my dog wants to say "hi" right now...." And while we're dreaming of utopias, wouldn't it be great if the general populace could become well versed enough in basic dog body language to be able to recognize when a dog doesn't particularly want to say "hi" to them? Hey a gal can dream, right?

Interactive or distracted?

Trainers frequently hear stories about dogs that perform great in training class but then don't seem able to transfer the skills they learn to the home setting, or dog reactive dogs that are fine in class but reactive in all other settings. Aside from the fact that folks should always make sure to "proof" the trained behaviors in a variety of different settings (different rooms at home, the backyard, the front yard etc.) there are also a few other things that potentially contribute to this scenario:

The owner is "present": at training class owners tend to be a lot more "present" with their dogs - not surprising as they've paid for classes so have a motivation to be there, plus they have the eyes of the instructor on them. Out and about on neighborhood walks this sometimes isn't the case - you might be distracted by that "FOR SALE" sign that's just gone up in front of your neighbor's house, or your friend has just texted you about dinner plans, or you're just plain exhausted after a long day's work. All kinds of things can conspire on a day to day basis to make us less "present" when we're out with our dogs than we ideally should be. Training and working with our dogs is a team activity and if one or both parties are a bit "checked out" then the results are not likely to be gold medal worthy!

Predictability: in the case of reactive dogs, the predictability of the training class setting could be what contributes to their lack of reaction when there. It's a place where by and large the other dogs on site are engaged with their owners and not (hopefully!) charging up towards them invading their personal space - it's a controlled setting. The combination of their owner being "present" and fully engaged with them plus environmental predictability likely go a long way towards helping some (not all!) reactive dogs be able to not react to the presence of the other dogs at class.

Rate of Reinforcement: this means how often we reinforce reinforceable behaviors. In other words how often we pay up when our dogs do stuff we like. One of the differences between trainers and the general dog owning public tends to be that trainers pay more often, notice more reinforceable behaviors and in the process keep the dog attentive and engaged with them. Certainly in a class setting, where the instructor and assistants are actively coaching the attendees, some owners may indeed be "paying" their dog more often, and in that setting reaping the benefits of a focused and responsive dog. Possibly that's not always the case in the home or out in the world with their critter, hence the phenomenon of the dog who'll be attentive in class but not at home.

On the subject of being "present" when we interact with our dogs, I recall reading something that Patricia McConnell wrote once (I have a feeling it was in her book "For The Love of A Dog") about how she felt it was important that we try to get out of the habit of absentmindedly petting our dogs while we're busy on the laptop etc., and instead get into the habit of breaking our gaze from whatever is fascinating us online and spend some brief quality time with our critters when they approach us in those circumstances. She feels that our dogs are capable of distinguishing the difference between "distracted mom petting me.." and "attentive mom petting me.." I think she makes a good point - yes, we lead busy lives and when we come home from work we're all trying to cram in whatever "me" time we can in our limited free time, but it only takes but a minute to pause and have a proper cuddle and wee chat with your critter. The internet isn't going anywhere after all, it'll still be there when you log on in the morning, but our critter's time with us is finite. Take home message? Put down whatever you're doing right now and go tell your critters how awesome they are!

Another interesting bit of information, kind of connected to our topic concerns a study that was published in Applied Animal Behavior Journal - it was looking at the connection between perceived behavioral problems in dogs and whether actively training your dog and engaging in shared activities (playtime, belly rubs, walks, car journeys etc) had any effect on that perception. What they found, not surprisingly, is that folks who are "interactive" with their critters experience less problems and when/if problems do crop up, those same owners are inclined to work with the problem rather than perceive it as a deal breaker and surrender or rehome their dogs. The study found that folks who did the bare minimum with their dogs were far more inclined to perceive any problems that cropped up as deal breakers, and had less acceptance or tolerance for normal dog behavior. Also there was a difference in what less involved owners perceived to be problems vs. what the interactive owners considered to be problems.

It reminds me of an incident that happened with my corgi mix, Stella, a few years back. She's a wee devil when it comes to chewing on hard cover books, so I had a tall bookcase where I kept the bottom three shelves empty, so that no books were within her reach. This worked out beautifully for awhile, and then one day I came home from work to discover that she'd somehow managed to get her paws (and jaws!) on this very old, out of print, rare and collectable book that a friend had given me for my birthday one year (a biography of an early 20th century English tattoo artist). She'd removed the book jacket and chewed up half of the cover, and nibbled on a few pages while she was at it. I was stunned mainly because I couldn't get over how she'd managed to reach it - it was on the top shelf of a 6 ft. tall bookcase! About a month earlier I had bought a little ramp to put beside the sofa so that she could get up onto it without jumping, out of concern for her back. Well, the wee rascal had somehow managed to move it (most likely inadvertantly while playing with my other dog) right up alongside the bookcase, then walked up it and my rare hardcover book was within easy reach for her. When I tell folks this story they usually assume that I must've got really mad at Stella, scolded her etc, and they're usually surprised to hear that I didn't, not at all in fact. Actually I was impressed with her ingenuity, the book jacket wasn't damaged so I was able to put it back on over the chewed up cover, I had a bit of a laugh about it, and that was that. Why on earth would I get mad at her? I was well aware that she finds hardcover books irresistible, and that I needed to keep them out of her reach. I thought I had done that, but hadn't accounted for the problem solving abilities of a determined corgi mix! But you know what? I'll bet if I was one of those folks who aren't interactive with their dogs, who do the bare minimum with them, then I reckon I would've perceived that whole episode as disastrous and possibly even deal breaking. I also would've likely perceived the incident as 100% the dog's "fault" - that was another thing the above mentioned study found, namely that folks who do very little with their critters tend to see problems that crop up as all being the fault of the dog vs. interactive owners who tend to recognize how they've played a part in setting up an environment where a problem might surface. Don't even ask me about the time I thought I'd use some rather pricey textbooks to elevate my laptop when I had it on the coffee table - suffice to say, laptop survived, textbooks are still useable albeit a wee bit rough around the edges, and dopey human (me) knows better now than to assume that Stella wouldn't notice two hardcover books sitting underneath the laptop!

We've had some awesome adoption weeks recently and it's been great to see so many of our critters here move on to the next phase in their lives! Summer time is usually quite busy for us adoption wise, so here's hoping that the pace keeps up and more dogs, cats, puppies and kittens find folks to call their own!

dogs aren't wolves, humans aren't apes, and the earth is round, not flat....

I recently stumbled across a great blog post from a UK dog trainer on the topic of why dogs aren't wolves and why we shouldn't be looking to "wolf pack theory" as a means to interact with our dogs. The blog was posted on the website of The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, a UK organisation who try to promote professionalism in the field of dog training/behaviour counselling, as well as the use of science based training techniques vs. pop mythology and outdated, outmoded, strongarm methods that rely on the use of force and pain. Here's a link to the blog post: David Ryan blog

It's amazing just how pervasive the whole "dogs were wolves once so we need to replicate pack structure in the home blahblahblah..." fallacy still is. I know people who've never even had a dog, yet they will spout off at length about "dogs needing to know who's the alpha etc etc etc.." and who'll bandy about the term "dominant" with wild abandon - mind boggling really. Entire careers have been made based on perpetuating this myth, by self styled "gurus" who want to instill a sense of unease amongst the dog owning public, making them think that their dogs are some kind of sly adversary, waiting for the right moment to stage a coup. Interestingly, none of these gurus have actually lived amongst and studied wolves in the wild. They also don't tend to have any background at all in animal behavior or learning theory. But hey, who needs all that academic guff when you've got marketing and celebrity culture on your side, right?

One fella who HAS lived with and studied wolves in the wild for 20+ years is biologist David Mech. Way back in the day, as a postgrad student, he too thought that wolves were governed by strict dominance hierarchies. He was studying captive wolves at the time, where he observed a lot of conflict going on. It was only when he went to study wolves in their natural environment that he realized that real wolf packs were actually family units, ma wolf, da wolf, the young 'uns, some adolescents who were still hanging around helping out but sometimes went off to start their own families. It also became apparent that the "man made" packs that he'd observed amongst captive wolves were just that - man made, not a natural family unit. It was just a bunch of non related wolves thrown together and expected to live with each other whether they liked it or not, in other words a completely unnatural situation, yet it's been used as the basis for "dominance theory" advocates ever since. David Mech pretty much hit the nail on the head when he made a statement to the effect that humans may be descended from apes but that doesn't mean that we look to Silverback Gorillas for tips on raising our kids - similarly dog owners shouldn't look to wolves for tips on raising their dogs. So after that rather long winded rant, what's the take home message? Simple really - your dog isn't your adversary: if your dog goes out the door ahead of you, he's not trying to exert his "dominance", he's just excited about wanting to go on a walk. If you don't like him barging out the door like that, ask yourself this - did you ever actually teach him to politely wait at the door instead? You can't expect him to do what he doesn't know.

The culture of blaming the dog for his perceived short comings really needs to stop. We're the ones who've asked another species to come live in our homes, so it's up to us to develop relationships based on trust and partnership, not fear or the threat of force. The last time I checked dogs were unable to do a Google search for "waiting at the door 101", and similarly they aren't able to grab the laptop and go to Amazon to order "Living Harmoniously with Humans for Dummies". Someone actually has to step up to the plate and take the time to teach them the skills they'll need to live with humans, and that someone is us. All of this bogus dominance "you gotta be the alpha", threats of force or pain stuff is just too "caveman"-ish if you ask me. So three cheers for the 21st century and let's have a big round of applause for patience, trust, clear communication, partnership and most importantly, viewing dogs as our companions, not our adversaries.

Lots and lots of great adoptions recently - it was particularly great to see Bookworm, Tim Tam, Deeley and Happy go home in recent weeks. Here's looking forward to more of our critters finding their forever homes, and in the meantime all of us at ARF will keep on doing our best to keep them all happy and healthy with plenty of time for play, training, power naps and snacks while they're here with us!

Through A Dog's Eye's - don't miss this show coming up on PBS!

Just wanted to let everyone know about a program that's going to air on PBS in the next few weeks - it's called "Through a Dog's Eye's" and is about service dogs. If you go to the PBS website they've got some sneak preview clips up and it looks like it's going to be awesome! The thing I really love, from what I've seen of the sneak previews, is that the group the program follows, Canine Assistants, advocates the use of positive, reward based, pain and fear free training methods! At every opportunity they are promoting how effective these methods are, how dogs learn, and debunking myths like dominance theory etc. One of the trainers in one clip makes a particularly astute point when he mentions that many of the folks who'll be getting a service dog from them have limited mobility and need to be able to ask their service dogs for behaviors without having to use force or the threat of force. All the Canine Assistant dogs are clearly and quite visibly working for their handlers because it is a rewarding task for them, and not because they're afraid of being punished. I'm really looking forward to seeing the entire program when it airs - we need more shows like this on television, ones that encourage teamwork and building relationships with our critters based on trust, not intimidation. Our dogs aren't our adversaries, and this program is a great example of that fact. Here's a link to the program, tell all your critter loving friends about it!

Through a Dog's Eyes

UPDATE: Got a chance to see the above program last night (it aired earlier this week but you can still view it in it's entirety online). It was pretty cool to see all the stuff the service dogs can do, and all of it trained via positive training methods, and pretty inspiring to hear that the gal who is the founder of Canine Assistants herself suffers from MS. It was also interesting to see that even with 18 months worth of training, a few of the dogs were not able to handle the stressors involved in assisting someone with disabilities. I think it was important for that to be shown to the viewing audience so that folks could see that there isn't some "Lassie Saving Timmy from the Well" gene that makes service dogs superhuman (or more correctly "superdog") and therefore unaffected by stress.

This year's Business of Saving Lives conference here at ARF has come and gone and the consensus is that it was a roaring success. There were lots of great speakers on offer, great attendance and general excitement and enthusiasm about all of the information being shared. Jean Donaldson was the first keynote speaker on the opening day of the conference and she was brilliant - she spoke about some of the commonly bandied about myths regarding dogs and their origins and behavior. Presenting her information in engaging style, full of insights and humour, she was hands down my favourite speaker. In a world where media created celebrities try to outshine real facts and science we are lucky to have someone like Jean Donaldson flying the flag for facts, not fiction. Dr. Tess Kommedal's sessions appealed to both cat and dog folk and proved to be very popular. There were some great practical presentations, such as Bay Area dog trainer Kim Moeller, formerly of the Behavior Dept. at the SF SPCA, speaking about evaluating dog-dog skills in the shelter/rescue environment. For cat folk, there was Mikel Delgado and Dilara Goksel Parry, owners of Feline Minds, cat behavior consulting, talking about behavior modification for cats in a shelter setting. They too have a sheltering background, having both worked in the cat behavior department at the SF SPCA for many years. They were definitely another weekend highlight for me. Other presenters during the weekend covered topics such as volunteerism, internet marketing, nutrition and alternative medicine. This year's conference has certainly set the bar high for next year's one, so here's looking forward to BOSL 2011, and another stimulating and informative weekend!

We've had some notable adoptions this past few weeks - wee Caboose, the unofficial Behavior Dept. supervisor went home finally. It's been brilliant to watch her morph from an overwhelmed wee thing to the sassy and brassy Caboose that we all know and love. We're delighted that she finally got the happy ending that she so richly deserved! I miss watching her gallop around the office playing with her foster brother, Lincoln. Denver our big goofy boxer guy went home as well, as did little Tim Tam - hurrah!

Shelter dog Fred, ready for his close-up and earning his CGC!

Here, as promised is some video we shot of shelter dog Fred earning his CGC a few weeks ago - Fred wants us to remind you all that CGC stands for "Canine Good Citizen", so make sure you address any fan mail to him accordingly! Fred rocks!



For more information about the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Program, click here!

cars, guitars and dogs....

I was recently car shopping. I've always previously had great luck buying used cars, never got a lemon or a money pit, always dealt with honest and straightforward folks who were simply trying to sell their old cars. But this most recent experience was another story altogether - I saw a car with a big crack in the engine and a very bad weld trying to camouflage it, I saw cars leaking copious amounts of oil, and cars described as being in "mint" condition only to discover that they were dented up, and needing lots of $$$$ worth of work done to them to get them road worthy. And that was just one weekend! But it was enough to put me off looking for a used car via craigslist - a few days later I went to a car lot and got a car there. Having always had great luck buying via private sales, it's interesting that I was so quick to turn to a car lot. But here's the deal: I've had 5 cars in my entire life - and while each purchase was a good and positive experience for me, there just weren't enough of those to offset my weekend's worth of bad experiences. My faith was easily shattered because it was only built on 5 used car purchases.

Now compare that to something else I've invested money in over the years - guitars. I've likely owned anywhere from 75-100 guitars, always choosing to buy used to get more value for money. Of that number, I've bought a few that were duds, but did that stop me from buying another used guitar? Nope, not at all. Probably that's because I'd had so many successful purchases that I just chalked the bad ones up to experience, didn't get knocked out of my stride at all, and continued on my merry way.

Ok, now for the dog content: the same thing applies for socialization - you've got to pad your puppy with positive experiences, so much so that when the odd crummy one happens it doesn't knock your dog out of his stride, he just gets up, dusts himself off, and continues on his merry way! Sometimes folks will say that their dog was "around kids all the time" as a puppy, but there's a big difference between being "around" kids and having kids actively handling that puppy all over and it being a fun experience for the pup. Was the puppy around kids of all ages, or just the family's ten year old son and his similarly aged pals? Or take the example of the vet's office - our dogs generally only see the inside of a vet's office once a year for vaccines/check ups, so is it surprising that they don't tend to have very positive associations about the place? Compare that to the dog who's owner drops into the vet's with him regularly just to say hello and get treats from the staff. The yearly vaccine jabs will quite likely still be a less than joyful experience for the dog, but one that is potentially outweighed by the dog's accumulated previous learning of "This is the Place Where My Friend the Receptionist Gives Me Cookies...."

Moral of the story: when socializing your puppy, think about padding, nice, comfy, resilient padding, and as much of it as possible, so that stuff like "Big Needles at the Vet.." or "Small Loud Child Pulling My Tail...." bounces right off it.

Big news last week: Shelter dog Fred earned his CGC!!! How awesome is that?! And not surprisingly, his stubby tail was wagging the whole time! We filmed the whole thing so we'll get some video of it up next week so folks can see our big happy fella showing off his skills! Well done and a huge thank you must go out to volunteer Debbie R., who devoted so much time to taking Fred through the CGC prep classes and also came to the shelter every day to go over his "homework" with him - cue cyber applause now!

What a Difference A Week Makes!

The trainers here at ARF have continued to work with Shelby on impulse control with the flirt pole. Check out her "Leave it" and "take it" now!

Flirt Poles and The Terrier

We have a great dog here at the shelter named Shelby. She is an awesome dog with a load of energy. Because she is a bit of a steamroller with other dogs, we were looking for a way to bust her energy and work on manners training with her. Intro the flirt pole and we have our answer!

Essentially it's a PVC pipe, with a rope inside and a pom-pom on the end... but to Shelby, it's the most fun ever! Many dogs love this activity and will expend multitudes of energy chasing and pouncing. It's also a great opportunity for impulse control.

Here is a video of Shelby from last week playing with the flirt pole. Fast forward to this week, she has learned to "leave it" until instructed to "take it" and her sits and downs are cleaner than ever! By the end of our flirt pole session, she is ready to take a power nap in her condo! Energy busted!






The flirt pole is easily constructed and can be used for dogs big and small- you just need to adjust the size of the pole and pom-pom to the size of the dog.

rambling thoughts about dog training in the new decade, with a tip of the hat to the internet....

So we're only a few weeks into the new year and there has been all kinds of activity here at Intake and Behavior: Shelter trainer Lindsey is back from maternity leave and we're delighted to have her around the office again, as are all the dogs I'm sure. We've also expanded the department, adding a third Intake and Behavior Specialist position and this week have welcomed Alicia P. to the team! She's moved over from Animal Care and it's going to be awesome having an extra person on board! Hopefully now that we're fully staffed again, and the hectic holiday season is past, we can get back to posting here more frequently!

So, like many trainers, I subscribe to all kinds of training and behavior related online mailing lists, message boards and forums. It's kind of mind boggling how the internet has opened up so many avenues to the dog training community - there are online groups for folks who own/work with: shy dogs, dogs with separation anxiety, dogs who resource guard, reactive dogs. There are groups and message boards for clicker training enthusiasts, agility aficionados, shelter trainers etc etc. I recently got the online newsletter that British trainer Kay Laurence sends out - she is, to quote Karen Pryor, "one of the world's top clicker trainers....". There was one particular sentence in it that jumped out at me: Training is a process, not an event. Kay was writing about how people sometimes have the misconception that training is an event, something that begins when you enter training class and ends when you walk out the door. Or that it begins when you pick up the clicker, and ends when you put it down. So not true. Kay's goal is to get her students to shed that mindset, so as to better train their dogs. Humans continue to learn for their entire lives - we learn the best routes around town to avoid traffic, we learn new skills via new jobs/new hobbies & interests, we gain new knowledge from reading about topics that interest us. Learning didn't stop just because we left school. Similarly our dogs continue to learn for their entire lives. Therefore training, which is learning, is something that should be seen as ongoing, part and parcel of sharing our lives with dogs. If we fail to recognize that then I don't think we'll be able to get the most from our relationships with these amazing critters. It also got me thinking about something we say a lot as regards working with dogs with behavior problems - that when you're working with, for example, a resource guarder, you should be either training or managing at all times - you're actively doing behavior modification training with your dog, or when you can't, you are managing your dog so that they can't continue to rehearse the undesired behavior. Kay's quote reminded me that ideally we're doing this (training or managing) with all dogs, whether they exhibit problem behaviors or not, because training is a process, not an event. When we can't train, because let's face it, there are times when life happens, then we need to manage the environment and our dogs, to set them up to succeed, by not giving them opportunities to learn or enact the wrong behavior.

So how does this rather rambling post relate to shelter dogs? Simple: many dogs end up in shelters because their original owners never took the time to train or socialize them properly. On top of that, it's likely that their owners didn't know how to manage their dog's behavior either, to prevent it from escalating. As Dr. Ian Dunbar said when he spoke at the Business of Saving Lives conference here last year "Shelter dogs are created..."

Speaking of Dr. Dunbar, if you haven't yet checked out his DogStarDaily website, you really, really should - there is new content added all the time: blogs, photos & video clips submitted by members, downloadable training manuals (Before You Get Your Puppy & After You Get Your Puppy are both available for download), all kinds of training tips and advice, and "DogStar TV". An interesting and enjoyable way to while away some time online and a must for new dog owners - I have a friend who lives with his family in the rural Irish countryside. They've been wanting to get a puppy, but live literally hundreds of miles away from the nearest trainer. I love the fact that I'll be able to send them to DogStarDaily to learn everything they'll need to know about raising their new critter! See how I've cycled this post back to my opening paragraph about the mind boggling possibilities the internet has opened up for the dog training and owning community?

So as we embark on a new decade it's pretty clear that there's never been more access to information and support for the average dog owner. Here's hoping that folks take advantage of the wealth of information out there and utilize it. In the sheltering world we commonly set ourselves the goal of wanting to rescue more animals each year. Well I'll let you in on my secret wish - it's that as the decade progresses I'd like to see shelters like ourselves save less animals, because if more dogs get the socialization and training that they need as puppies, and ongoing throughout there lives, then there will be less animals needing to be saved. Combine that with continuing to spread the message about spaying and neutering and the possibilities are mind boggling to say the least.

Here's to the new decade!