More Poo Chronicles... or "Don't You Die on MY WATCH!"

It's not that I am overly fascinated by poo. As a matter of course, I am pretty repulsed by it.

I have become a wizard of the poop scoop 'flick' that can get even the most difficult or sticky poo off the ground and into the scoop shovel. Long grass and putty poo? No problem. Syrupy straining from stressed pups? Gotcha. I wholeheartedly prefer the easy, firm little turds of healthy, happy dogs, but occasionally, well... I don't get my way.

More disgusting yet; I scrutinize poop. I look at it closely. It is a harbinger of physical condition for it's donor and a quick screening can determine a lot about it's donor's health.

Although poop is good, no poop can also be a sign of trouble too. Especially if your poopee is a 'regular'.

In a previous blog I had written about the 'stuff' that dogs eat and the anguish that accompanies the 'passage' of said stuff.

I had 4 Residency Training dogs here at one time for being consummate consumers of stuff. For days, I leash walked these critters many times a day, each and every outing so I could do two things:

A) Be assured that they didn't eat more stuff

B) Be assured that what remaining stuff they had consumed prior to their residency was passed successfully.

I am not surprised at neither the quality or quantity of stuff I retrieve with my sooper pooper scooper the first few days of a dog's residency.

Most recent in the news is a dog who consumed about $400.00 and successfully passed it, much to his owners dubious delight.

I was not willing to determine the denomination of the pale green bills that were excreted by one of my recent guests. I guess I would have if I saw a few zeroes on what remained of the corners.
It may have been worth my while. But, then again....

One of my charges, the second half of a team of Labradors (like no-one saw THAT coming) came for his residency once he was released from the vet after his obstruction surgery over 3 weeks ago.

His owner was concerned that four days after his surgery, he was allowed to access a squeaky toy and yup, you guessed it; was able to eviscerate the toy and ingest the plastic bladder that makes the noise.

The owner was away at the time of the incident and the pet-sitter who was in charge of the dog dutifully took him to his surgeon over the weekend to x-ray the abdomen and see if they could find it.

They saw a staple from his most recent surgery but it looked like the plastic squeaky bladder was at the mouth of the small intestine and it was anticipated that the plastic bladder would 'pass' without assistance.

The sitter took that as a good-enough-for-her answer and returned the dog to his home.

The owner relayed this story to me when she dropped him off for his training with assurances (to the best of her knowledge) that the dog had in fact, passed the plastic bladder. She could not be positive however, as she was not there the weekend of the incident.

Goat Belly II (GBII) came in on the day his house mate, Goat Belly I, left. That will be 14 days ago tomorrow.

GBII settled in nicely, ate well, relieved himself with great regularity with nice healthy little ploops that you could have used as golf balls; grass free, debris free, money free, tylenol bottle bits free. Honest-to-goodness nice poop.

He settled into the training well, learned to "leave it!" and "out!" as well as the requisite obedience training that occurs here. His bowels remained tight and regular.

That is until Sunday night.

My husband took him out for his last ex of the evening and commented frustratedly on his spirited attempts at eating large clumps of the new grass that dot our landscape. "Leave it", "Out" and "DAMN YOU, STOP IT"!! were unsuccessful. He ended up hauling the dog back to the house, all the while trying to control his sudden voracious appetite for our grass.

I offered him water, put him in his crate and within minutes, he proceeded to demonstrate exactly how far an adult male Lab can spew his dinner across my dining room floor. He was fine otherwise. I cleaned him up, mopped my floor and kept a close eye, but his posture was normal, he was comfortably curled up in his crate, alert and fine. He has passed a normal stool earlier which I made my husband point out for me to scrutinize.

I was concerned, but not alarmed.

Monday morning, our routine remained much the same. I took out the small dogs, fed the breakfast eaters and watered them as they all returned from their morning constitutionals.

GBII had a nonproductive outing (odd, I thought. He always goes in the AM) refused his breakfast (Labs on their death beds still eat) and with only a tiny bit of water made available to him, proceeded to repeat the events of the night before. Resplendent plumes of gritty bile across my hardwood floors, only about 6 feet this time as opposed to the entirety of it's 15 foot length.

I called the owner, I called the vet, we were on our way within 30 minutes.

An exray revealed a vaguely familiar shape in the colon, well on it's way to the rectum.

Finally.

After 18 days, Goat Belly II finally passed his last artifact.

Defining Dogs

Here goes a tongue-in-cheek look at definitions created by the culture of dogs:

There is a Great Divide in dogs today. The interpretations below are based on the context of their use through the ages, dating back many decades wherever dogs and humans found themselves together.

In his book 'Fetch and Carry; A Treatise on Retrieving' by Bernard Waters (circa 1894) the argument was much the same. I can remember these discussions way back in the late '60's and 70's when I acquired my very first dog; an Irish Setter from a renowned breeder in my area. My brother and I hunted over this dog and his successors for years, something that would not be thought of today, with all that hair, with none of those brains...

Working Dog: a dog that has a job, like hunting, retrieving, scent detection, protection, stock work (more commonly called herding), Service and Assistance dogs, Search and Rescue, even diagnosing human ailments. Working dogs are traditionally bred to a purpose-specific task; their parents were Working dogs as were 90% or more of the animals represented in their pedigree.

They are genetically endowed with qualities that make it easier to teach them their life tasks since they have a genetic predisposition to do so. Working dogs can be but may not be purebred. They are often recognized by performance registries where the emphasis is not on racial purity, but in the ability to perform a specific task well.

Show Dog: a dog that may or may not originally have been bred for a task-specific purpose, is the product of breeding practices that are more focused on looks than performance to a specific task, may be attractive in the way Paris Hilton is attractive (pleasant to look at but vacuous and not a serious contributor to anything of real value), but are considered useless by Working Dog standards.

An occasional Show Dog may in fact be a Working Dog, but it does not occur with the regularity that it had in previous, even recent, generations. Some Show Dog breeders think that their Show Dogs are as competitive in working dog venues as intentionally bred Working Dogs, but they are truly not. Show Dog breeders adhere to a principal of function following form where Working Dog breeders adhere to the principal of function above all.

Show Dog people thing Working Dogs are ugly. Working Dog people thing Show Dogs are genetic cesspools and stupid. Show Dogs are always purebred, are recognized by purebred dog registries, are judged on the merit of their looks as conforming to a written standard overseen by parent breed clubs and giant registries like the American Kennel Club.

Pet Dog: can be a Working Dog, can also be a Show Dog, but is often heard as a term of derision from Show Dog communities who consider a 'pet dog' to be of little value and of less genetic quality. The Pet Dog is often a dog acquired for the purpose of 'being a pet' or companion to humans in a human environment, like a home.

Pet dogs can serve many purposes, are often recognized for incredible acts of heroism and bravery and there are approximately 70 million of them throughout the United States. (based on a census where the collected statistics were generated through the tracking of license purchases and subsequent registrations of individual ownership from reporting communities across the nation. It is not an accurate number of owned dogs, it is simply a numeric sampling of licensed dogs). Pet dogs outnumber Working or Show dogs, since most people just want A Dog, not a specialty dog.

Purebred pet dogs are the byproduct of what Author Donald McCaig calls "Victorian Excess".

Either way, there has grown a colossal market for the production of purebred dogs for a consumer market and most recently for 'designer breeds' of dogs who have been successfully marketed as somehow superior to purebreds.

Pet Dogs can come from many sources; Show Dog breeders really don't breed as many litters as some people would have you believe, but they supply more pets to the Pet Dog buying market than they do Show Dogs to the show dog buying market. Since it is not that easy to breed a Champion Show Dog, many breeders breed for years in pursuit of anatomical perfection with limited success.

Historically, there are very few multi-Champion litters of any breed, so the numbers of pet dogs produced from Show Dog litters is proportionately higher than pet dogs from Working Dog litters, which are known to produce proportionately higher numbers of Working Dog prospects than Show Dog litters are for producing Champion Show Dog prospects.

Got that?

A pet pup from a Show Dog litter is no guarantee of soundness, smarts or working ability, and the only thing you can be assured of is that they look like the breed they are supposed to represent. That is not to say that there are not good, versatile Show Dog breeders; there are. I have had several successful working dogs from Show Dog breeders who were judicious in their selection process of sires and dams, genetically screened all of their breeding stock and had a variety of genetic wells from which to dip from, either domestically or from overseas; preventing the genetic bottleneck that occurs with a lot of dog breeds that are over-bred (through popularity, which is the death knell for all breeds) and heavily used individuals (Popular Sire syndrome). There is a number of Sporting dogs who can still successfully fulfill the task of their original conception and purpose over other traditional working breeds, but these numbers are dwindling rapidly.

Although a pup acquired from Working Dog blood is no guarantee that he has what it takes to fulfill his original intent, Working Dogs produce working pups with high energy levels and a keen desire to work. Not all working bred pups will end up as working adults, but the percentages of carefully planned Working Dog litters yield more working capable dogs than the most carefully bred Show Dog litter yields Show Dog Champions.

A pup from a Working Dog litter is a better guarantee of soundness, smarts and working ability, and the one thing you can be assured of is that they perform like the breed they are supposed to represent. There is a disproportionate number of 'Working' and 'Herding' breeds of Show Dogs who are incapable of fulfilling the task of their original conception and purpose over individuals bred exclusively to purpose, and these numbers are growing rapidly.

True Working Dog breeders produce the lowest average numbers of puppies overall, breeding only to incorporate new blood into already successful breeding programs and to replace their aged working dog with a new pup. They are careful how they breed and how they place their puppies.

So where does one get a 'pet'?

There are a variety of places to get a dog, but first one must define what (s)he wants in a dog.

If you absolutely must get a 'Designer Dog', please be careful that you are selecting a pup from a breeder who has seen past the dollar and is selecting sires and dams that are genetically clean of the diseases that are inherent for their respective breed(s). Junk bred to junk will produce more junk, no less so than in purebred dog populations. Just because it has a hefty price tag, it is no guarantee of quality or soundness.

If you must have a purebred dog, the same rules apply. Research the breed and look for breeders who certify their breeding stock against the diseases that each and every breed is predisposed to. It is not so much that there are Champions in the pedigree, it is more important that the breeder is conscientious enough to carefully select good breeding partners who are genetically 'clean'. Expect to pay more. Careful breeders are more concerned with where their pups end up and maintain a responsibility for the pups long after they leave the whelping box.

If you have decided to graze a couple hundred head of sheep, are a policeman looking for your next K-9 partner or an avid hunter looking for the premier hunting companion to take afield, look to breeders who's breeding programs reflect excellence in performance in those events. Purposefully bred working dogs are not easy to breed, nor are they easy to come by. Increase your success rate of getting the dog you want by looking in the right place to begin with.

Thoughtful breeding always produces good dogs, whether they are Show Dogs, Working Dogs or just pets.

You increase your likelihood of finding a good dog if you research before you buy. Talk to professionals, like Groomers, Pro Trainers, kennel boarding facilities for input on what the 'easy keeper' breeds are.

Stay away from breeders who sell on the internet. Although an internet presence is often a means to view many of the dogs a breeder has produced, good sites don't offer dogs for sale through the site and will require you to contact them directly before any purchase is possible. Visit a couple of breeders in your area. Although many breeders do have stud dogs, most conscientious breeders will more often opt to breed their bitches to dogs from other breeding programs to enhance bloodlines they already have.

You should ALWAYS be able to see the dam of the litter and although she may be protective of her brood, look to see that she is well cared for and in good weight. If the sire is from another area, ask to see pictures, look online for awards he may have received or if possible, view video clips of him at work or in the ring. Through the popularity of the internet, much can be learned from databases created by many breed or performance dog clubs and as a result, massive online resources are available.

There are always shelters and breed rescues local to you as well. If you are looking for a pet, but are not interested in the commitment a puppy requires, there are always local alternatives for older dogs and even purebred dogs through these sources. Every dog is entitled to a good home and if you are willing to acquire a pet through a shelter or breed rescue, you would be amazed at the variety of animals available through these alternatives.

Under the heading of "What were they THINKING?"

"Dogs love them," Wuebker (President of Flexi USA) said. "They enjoy a little bit of freedom, but the pet parent still has them leashed. Pet parents love them because they allow their dog a little extra space to be a dog. They can sniff around and do their business."

Uh, OK. I'm not a 'Pet Parent'.

But I am a dog trainer, who sees the ramifications of the imprudent use of these retractable leashes and has experienced first hand the damages they can cause from the negligent application or inappropriate supervision of a dog on such a devise. As a management tool, they suck, as a training device they suck.

As a pathetic excuse of a device to ease owner responsibility to the correct management and appropriate training of their dogs, it excels.

As a tool that causes serious bodily harm to either it's user or the victi..., er people and/or animals in close proximity to it's user, it's stellar.

There are people who have lost fingers, required extensive reconstructive surgeries on ankles, wrists and knees from these things and I am all for their being pulled off of the shelves and destroyed in giant kilns with flames hotter than Hades for evermore.

We won't even venture into the injuries sustained by the dogs.

But for doG's sake people, Don't put a behaviorally challenged dog on one of these contraptions and expect to be able to manipulate the little lock mechanism in times of stress or this may happen:


"Heather Todd lost a portion of her left index finger in a Flexi retractable leash accident in 2005. Her yellow Labrador retriever, Penny, was hooked to a friend's retractable leash when the dog became excited. The 90-pound dog bolted after something and Todd said she lost control of the handle, which caused to cord to burn her arm. When she instinctively tried to brush the cord off her arm, Todd said her finger got caught and she was pulled to the ground and dragged for four or five feet.

"I look up and there's a finger tip right in front of me," she said, adding that she was in such shock she at first thought the finger was a child's Halloween-type toy. "I didn't comprehend, 'Oh, Heather, there's your fingertip laying there in the sand.'"

Wuebker intimated that this woman 'borrowed' the leash from a friend and didn't have the benefit of being able to read the 'warnings' on the directions that come with it. He also said that Todd's dog had 'behavior problems'.

But they settled for an undisclosed amount.

Tell me please, why would you purchase something as simple as a leash that comes with a waiver and directions for use?

There is a running joke about "Fluffy on a Flexi" in dog training circles and how friendly she really isn't.

But this story takes the cake.

It begins with common sense, for both the manufacturers of these things, the distributors of these things or the foolish users of these things.

Use a real leash, or better yet, train the dog.

Dilettante Dog Training or Worse Yet, Idiot Dog Trainers

There are a lot of things that really twist me up these days; politics, taxes, the cost of food, the cost of fuel, the increasing frequency of unemployment and the corpulent gasbags in Washington not seeing the bigger picture of the immediate needs of a suffering Nation, but painting one of their own with my tax dollars.

But this is a dog blog.

What has really been scorching my noggin are the number of calls I have been getting recently from people who are looking for help after having been failed by other "trainers". The quotation marks are on purpose. They indicate my derision directed at someone who takes peoples' money and cannot complete the job they were contracted for.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know the ratio of owners who are non-compliant from my own dog training students over the last 30 years and I know how 'life' gets in the way and certain events supersede the need or time for pet concerns. Priorities change and that is reflected in drop -out rates from both group classes and private training.

I am also fully aware of the owner who seeks absolution as opposed to putting forth any real effort and is more than willing to blame anyone other than themselves for their personal failure with any attempt at training, regardless of method or trainer.

But I'm talking about the deeply committed owners who have painstakingly sought the advice of a Professional Dog Trainer to help them with real problems. The kind of problems that prevent them from enjoying their pet reasonably and without concern. The kind of problem that can manifest itself as a serious risk to the owners or even the public.

I am speaking specifically of two types of dog "trainers".

The Dilettante "trainer" (referred to as a 'trainerette' by my colleagues) is often a second-career trainer, often coming to the trade as a mid-lifer looking for a change, may or may not even own a dog, has seen the exponential growth of the industry and figures that 'playing with dogs all day' would be a fun way to make a living or supplement an existing one. They are deluded into thinking that dog training is fun (it can be, but it is more often very hard work) and easy (richly rewarding when done well, which takes a degree of commitment that can never be called 'easy').

The Dilettante "trainer" is often educated by reading a few books written by popular* authors, maybe goes to a dog training 'school' for a week or so, belongs to one of the larger trade organizations and spends a few weekends out of the year at seminars by popular* speakers. Or takes a test drive through the newest fad in "Become a dog trainer TODAY" schemes popping up all over the country.

The Dilettante "trainer" usually finds employment at the local chain Box Store, where they must adhere to a one-size-fits-all training methodology passed down by corporate officers to mitigate risk, or bad press. They are often well-intended, but are most often sorely lacking in sufficient experience whether with the dogs themselves or with the dogs' owners, who know even less.

The Dilettante "trainer" can also be identified by their incomprehensible adherence to a philosophy that rejects any and all methods but their own as "dangerous", "inhumane", "cruel" or "ineffective/outdated/outmoded or otherwise disproved by 'science". Mostly through the indoctrination of their mentors; always offered as third hand accounts are the tales of cruelty at the hands of trainers; the kicking, hanging, beating or shocking of dogs.

I have a colleague who has a suspicion about these folks, but we won't go there....

The current rising popularity of "dog trainer" TV shows is another mitigant in the pervading fantasy that "anyone" can train a dog, any dog.

None of these things are inherently bad. Everyone has to start somewhere, but the risk comes in these people actually thinking that they have enough experience, that they are sufficiently prepared to handle anything beyond the socialization of puppies.

Nor is continuing education a bad idea, as long as the mind is not closed to the possibilities of learning from many different teachers. Remember the experiments in perception using an apple. We may all look at the exact same object, but our perspective will not allow us to get the whole picture, until we perceive it from every angle.

So these Dilettantes have a few successes with a few easy dogs, consider themselves fit for public consumption and hang out a shingle as a Professional Dog Trainer.

And then there is the Idiot.

The Idiot dog "trainer" may have similar roots. They can be from military backgrounds or fancy themselves as such, may or may not have attended a school for dog training for any length of time; from the weekend fares offered by many successful trainers or the actual brick-and-mortar variety from a few weeks to a few months, read a variety of books on the topic, or just simply had a dog that they took through some other trainer's course and fancied that they could do that and how much easy money it would be.

The Idiot perceives the answer to every problem in one dimension and tends to think that dog training is a battle of subjugation and 'dominance'. Just as inept as the Dilettante, these Idiots are wholly responsible for the bad press and current legislation that injures the reputations of Professional Dog Trainers who ultimately are stigmatized by tool use or training methodologies.

The Idiot "trainer" can also be identified by their incomprehensible adherence to a philosophy that rejects any and all methods but their own as "ineffective". Mostly through the indoctrination of their mentors; always offered as third hand accounts are the tales..... You should know by now where I am going with this....

The Idiot "trainer" is the antithesis of the Dilettante and from where the Dilettante gets most of the fodder for their smear campaigns against tools or methods that in an of themselves are not harmful to dogs.

Idiot dog "trainers" are not always easy to identify until they have been hired by an unsuspecting public; and specifically relating to me; the troubling, worrisome accounts I receive from their victims....er... unsatisfied students. Their reputations usually get them in the end, or the lawsuits do...

I answered a call from a woman yesterday who had employed the services of a local Idiot and after several months of no progress decided that her dog getting traumatized by this bully was enough for her to realize that there was something profoundly wrong.

In another call, a young lady contacted me out of desperation for her large mix breed dog that had started showing aggression towards her infant. The dog had also displayed leash aggression towards other dogs and even humans and had a protracted history of aggression towards house-guests and even other family members.

The owner had engaged the services of a "trainer" previously to address these concerns prior to the birth of her youngest child with group classes. She had judiciously applied all of the training methods recommended for her dog, attended all of the classes offered and still was without resolution to her problem.

It was clearly obvious to me that this poor woman's needs were not only not met, but that the "trainer" in question had absolutely no problems with taking her money while offering no substantive solution to her problems.

I asked her if she had contacted the other "trainer" to allow them an opportunity to follow up with their training and was told that she was advised "...that she could continue to come for more group classes at a reduced rate." Needless to say, she declined.

Dilettante and Idiot dog "trainers" are a dime a dozen. A Dilettante "trainer" may be an Idiot too. It would seem that they are both being mass produced in record numbers these days.

Dog Training as a service is one of the last recognizable trades to be wholly unregulated.

It is easy to disguise any income from it.

It is easy to profess expertise since it is not regulated or licensed beyond 'certification' offered by different membership supported organizations. Each with their own Mission, Vision and Agenda.

And owners in the search for potential trainers have little if any information, expertise or guidance with which to draw upon in their selection process.

In an attempt to help with what should be a decision with as much importance as the next movie you want to see, the next new restaurant you want to try or what color your new iPod should be, here's some sound advice:

• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor will permit and encourage you to audit classes already in session or view dogs in training before you make a commitment to enroll.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor will protect the health and well being of the dogs in their care by requiring all participants to provide a verifiable veterinary record of all immunizations to date.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor will protect the safety of all participants by maintaining control over the class and the students in an effort to avoid conflicts that could result in injuries to either owners or animals.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor is approachable and willing to answer questions from the students and interacts confidently with the participants.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor will provide clear instructions and demonstrations of the behaviors being taught, either in written, oral or demonstration form.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor will aide students during training time to execute proper techniques in the teaching of behaviors to their dogs.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor is never abusive to their human or canine students.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor is familiar with and is capable of demonstrating the correct application and use of a variety of training equipment and avoids the practice of adhering solely to one training principal, as one size does NOT fit all.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor practices humane training principals, with their ultimate goal being the willing work and companionship of a well trained dog.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor welcomes interaction and participation of family members, and encourages exchanges of information to the benefit of all the participants.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor is committed to providing a positive experience for their students in a dynamic, interactive learning environment.
• A Competent Dog Trainer or Training Instructor should be prepared to provide additional assistance to struggling students to ensure a satisfactory experience that is both productive and worthwhile.

As an aside, if you become uncomfortable with something your trainer suggests, or something you see your trainer do, do not be afraid to question it, interfere with it or take your dog and leave.


*Popular: 1: of or relating to the general public 2: suitable to the majority: as a: adapted to or indicative of the understanding and taste of the majority popular history of the war> b: suited to the means of the majority : inexpensive popular prices> 3: frequently encountered or widely accepted popular theory>4: commonly liked or approved popular girl>

Just thought I'd let ya know...

Foreign Bodies and Colorful Poop

I have been getting a rash of desperation calls lately and I recently fielded a call from a potential client with two neutered male dogs aged 2 and 4.

She had previously lost a middle-aged dog to an emergency bowel resection that turned septic and had already experienced a few late-night emergency vet visits with both of her current dogs after they had ingested foreign objects that they were having difficulty 'passing'.

She regaled me with tales of their exploits with 'stealing' and the melee that usually followed pursuing the dogs and wresting the objects from them, or watching in dismay as they sucked socks like kids with their first bowl of spaghetti, consumed a half-pound of rich fudge brownies like a vacuum cleaner consumes a dust bunny and other articles as if they hadn't eaten in ages.

Or worse, growling from under the dining room table as the humans gathered around them in some sort of reenactment of a prehistoric fight for the last piece of edible mammoth meat for miles.

There are a bazillion hazards associated with a dogs' ability to acquire and consume articles not meant for digestion and of their owners trying desperately to reclaim these articles before they are destroyed or consumed.

I cannot count the calls I have received from owners who have lost objects as small as diamond earrings to cell phones, television remote controls, articles of clothing, whole baseballs, golf balls, pocket knives both open and closed, lighters, hats, you-name-it; gobbled whole by their pets in the blink of an eye with the appetites of garbage disposals. I cannot recount the number of owners who have vigilantly observed their dogs bowel movements for signs of the article's return to them and I cannot imagine the number who have waited hopelessly, vainly for the obstruction to pass unassisted.

Unfortunately I DO know the numbers of dogs who have died. I also know the number of dogs who have had the life saving intervention from conscientious veterinarians who open them up and fish out the erstwhile contents of their gullets, stomachs or intestines, patch them up and send them packing; back to their homes and the 'special diets' that await them as they recover from their surgeries.

To turn around and have to do it again. And again. And again. I can count those dogs too.

YouTube is resplendent with comical images of dogs with cone-heads that still manage to acquire articles unfit for canine consumption.

Which leads me to the point of this topic.

There are a lot of places I can start with this; but I'm going to start at the beginning.

• Put your stuff away, as in where the dog can't get it. That includes making your kids be responsible for their own stuff and put it away too.
  
• Supervise the dog appropriately (on a leash, with you, IN THE SAME ROOM AS YOU) so you can prevent him from getting your stuff, or your kids' stuff.
  
• If you cannot supervise your dog, confine him in a crate so he cannot get anything but his own stuff.
• If you are lax in your supervision and forget to confine your dog so he does manage to get your stuff, DON'T RUN AFTER HIM AND WRESTLE HIM TO GET IT BACK! To do so sets you up for any portion of the first part of this article, including the creation of resource guarding and the associated growling and biting and even faster consumption of stuff you would rather not have to fish through poo for in order to get back, or pay exorbitant fees for surgery you probably could have prevented if you paid attention to the first point and/or the second point.
  
• Provide appropriate toys! My rule is: man-made toys (you know, the ones you pay top dollar for made of stuff that your house and it's contents are made of) are considered interactive toys and are to be played with under the supervision and with the cooperation of the owner. This way the dog learns appropriate self control as far as acquisition, possession and relinquishment of toys in a controlled and fun way; gets interaction with his owner and equally important, exercise which will mitigate both attention seeking behavior and the boredom that leads to attention seeking behavior.
• Toys of a more organic nature can be used as pacifier toys and can be enjoyed by the dog either in his crate or during 'quiet times' (under supervision, of course). Pacifier toys are pretty limited to bones. Big bones. Hard-baked are best, the entire shank if possible, knuckle to knuckle. They disintegrate as opposed to splinter, are digestible and offer HOURS of fascination for most dogs. They can be used effectively for crate training and to help avert resource guarding behaviors if the dog is allowed controlled access either in his crate or while at large (under supervision, of course). Bleached shank bones are good too. You can stuff them with stuff. Stuff that you approve of, like peanut butter (out of a jar from a manufacturer that is not affected by the most recent recall) or pate' de foie gras if you want. It's up to you. Not the dog.
• Did I mention adequate exercise? They need to exercise their bodies, they need to exercise their minds. They need this routinely, as in every day, to some degree. For any dogs, young and old alike or any derivatives thereof; a walk around the block once a day or the expectation that he will 'self exercise' if his owners turn him out, unattended, in the back yard is just not going to satisfy the dogs' desire to chase, frolic, run, jump, wrestle, dig or otherwise act like a dog. Leave him to his own devices and he'll find things to do on his own, like strip the siding off your walls, or break teeth chewing the cinder-blocks or bricks that comprise your foundation.

• Not lastly, more like firstly, or anytime you forget any of the other important stuff here, never EVER run your dog down to get something back. You invite disaster. Maybe not that time, or even the next time, but I assure you; you are teaching your dog several important things:
• To defend articles with avoidance, escape or aggression
• To run from the bigger, scarier predator. YOU!
• To hide in the cubby under the bed, chair, couch, corner, closet, crate or anywhere the dog feels he is defensible from at least three sides, so he can consume his prize and drive you off more efficiently
  
• To chew harder and swallow faster so the bigger predator can't get it.

Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to wrest away that sock, or cramming your hand forcibly down a dogs throat after the other half of your sandwich or your kid's iPod. You invite disaster by thinking you will be successful. You may be once or twice, but try calling that dog to you after a few sessions like this and see what happens, or better yet, when you REALLY NEED him to drop something, and you move toward him, watch what happens. It ain't purdy, the things people inadvertently teach their dogs....

They say it is far easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission. In the case of dogs who ingest foreign objects, it is far easier to mitigate access and teach them to respond to some basic commands than it is to have to suffer the consequences and often heartbreak of having allowed them unadulterated access to your stuff.

Gratuitous Self Promotion

I was featured in a small portion of the Baltimore Sun newspaper on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 and by that evening the novelty of being a (very minor) celebrity had already chafed.

Odd stares at the grocery store from people I have never met, eyes questioning with that "do I KNOW YOU?" look and the occasional opportunist greeting me like an old friend for that little tidbit of info that will help make their own dog stop biting or stop pooping in the house or stealing their morning breakfast.

The "Hey, weren't you in the PAPER today!" at the top of one's lungs as I scurried to my truck launched more than a few head turns. Unnerving, that... No Paris Hilton, I.

There isn't a sound byte that covers the information they would need without observation and some serious questioning. Like I said in the interview "Don't wait until you're over your head. Seek help before you need it, as opposed to after the damage is done."

And don't think the answers will come at the check-out line of the grocers in the evening of what could amount to the biggest snow of the season.

I'm not being rude, really, but it's 7 pm and my son is at home and hungry and I have been training dogs all day and I would like to see my family at least for a little while. It's Movie Night at the ole' hacienda and there's pizza and sodas and fun family fare.... I would be more than happy to help you, here's my number, I am usually available after 6 pm most evenings and we can set something up to discuss your dogs' problem(s) further.

But that's not the answer they want to hear.

They want cocktail chatter about dogs and want to worship the problems they are having with them as 'charming' or worse yet, for me to wave my majik wand and chant an invocation that absolves them of their problem(s) as if miraculously, what I utter will release their hound from it's terrors and make the world right again.

It just ain't so.

I practice Forensic Dog Training. I have to sift through the interpretations, the conjecture, the 'evidence' in order to get a clear picture of what happens and why. I have to plot a meaningful course from the past to the present and take into account the owners, the home, the dog and the goals.

I have to denude owners of what they think they know in order to create a pathway to learning and understanding.

Then I have to marry the image of the dog in their minds to the actual dog at their feet.

This is not a job for dilettantes.

This is not a job for the faint of heart.

A few clarifications about the article:

When I stated that I "save dogs' lives", I meant that. Not that I am mystical, but that I prevent dogs from losing their homes and often prevent them from losing their lives. Any accomplished trainer does.

I have worked with shelters and breed rescues for years and I see firsthand the dogs that come in due to behavior problems that are wholly the making of their owners' inability, indifference or lack of information to prevent or resolve. I routinely field calls and correspondence that clearly state that the owner is on the precipice of surrendering his dog for XYZ behavior problem.

The job is physically demanding. It is not for the faint of heart. Dog training requires a level of physical fitness and stamina not really needed for an 'indoor' job. It requires that you be prepared to work in inclement weather, in less than ideal conditions, often with animals that are afraid, angry, physically more adept and not readily or profoundly affected by your majikal "whispering" skills. You get dirty, are often cold and wet and you will not ever be considered the font of fashion. You work in cities, on streets and sidewalks, on farm roads and in mud, blazing heat, driving snows and torrential rain. You come home smelling like your charges and often as hairy.

If you are crazy however, you will enjoy this.

If you are lucky, you will be able to do this with the best of the best; people who got their chops doing it the same way, through the same things and can share with you the benefits of their knowledge.

See, dogs don't get vacations. They still have to go outside, whether it's raining, snowing, storming or in blazing heat. Good dog trainers know that and they are well prepared.

I have been bitten more than two times. Real dog trainers have a tendency to forget the grips and the grabs and the nips and the tugs and any other euphemism for a bite that although may draw blood or leave a mark, does not require medical attention. Or if it does require medical attention, it does not require stitches.

I have had two serious bites that required initial medical attention and a bit of follow up. Not bad for three decades. If I had to enumerate each and every time I have been grabbed by a dog in a meaningful way, I would be lost.

Caveat: The first bite was entirely my fault. Almost every bite sustained by a professional trainer is from lack of preparedness. Really.

The second bite was from an owner who "wanted me to get the full effect" of his dogs' behavior firsthand. Even after I requested that the dog be confined when I arrived. That one pissed me off. Really pissed me off. I sustained a full mouth bite to the inside of my left thigh. It could have been uglier; I prevented it from being uglier. It was bad enough.

So please when your trainer requests that you confine your dog upon initial or subsequent visits, don't think for a minute that we are any more immune to bites than your neighbor, children or guests. We may be able to identify when and where and how, but our flesh is still as soft and malleable, our skin still scars, and yes, we too have lawyers.

When you are ready to find a Professional Dog Trainer, don't get muddled in the quagmire of the current political catch phrases. Successful Professional dog trainers do not "Hit, Kick, Shock or Hang" dogs. They wouldn't be in business for long if they did.

My colleague Heather Houlihan at "Raised by Wolves" offers the very best commentary on this topic that shames any attempt I could conceivably make. You would do well to read it.

As for what to look for in a trainer, don't buy into platitudes about what you should or should not do to your dog; it is usually presumptions offered by adherents to a mythological treatise regarding the applications of flawed "science" and other proselytizing balderdash.

Look for a trainer that can get the job done. Look for a trainer that can and routinely applies an appropriate method that fits each dog, not tries to fit the dog to any one method.

As with any "trade" like electricians, plumbers or contractors; the assumption that no guarantee should be offered for dog training is ludicrous. If your trainer cannot offer a guarantee that you can achieve certain skill sets within a reasonable time frame, or accomplish the resolution to specific behavior problems, run, do not walk, to a Professional that can not only safely assure you of reasonable results within a reasonable time frame, but can demonstrate the necessary skills in achieving these goals.

Finally, my philosophy: All paths do not lead to Rome. As an owner it is your obligation to at least look at the map. As a trainer it is my obligation to construct the bridge if you should happen to lose your way.

Prized Hound Dies in Shelter Dispute

Decision to euthanize Big Hitter could be symbol of troubles that imperil the sport

On a clear and frosty morning in late December, Big Hitter, a 5-year-old foxhound who hadn’t been in the woods for weeks, caught a scent and took off running.

He was fast.

His owner, Arnold Jones of St. George, had arrived for a dog drive at the Kingville Hunt Club in Lower Richland near 6 a.m. that Saturday, meeting up with about 35 guys and 50 hunting dogs.

Trevor Bedell poses with one of his hunting dogs, Rider

When Hitter hadn’t returned by 10 a.m., it was clear he had gotten into the Congaree Swamp.

The 6,000-acre hunt club is adjacent to the expansive national park, so it’s not unusual for dogs to chase deer into the swamp and keep on going.

What Jones couldn’t know then was that Hitter — who he’d bought for $750 and expected to produce a line of valuable offspring — would walk for four days and 20 miles, looking for his master, before ending up at the Columbia Animal Shelter.

There, he would die in a dispute over a city law requiring that dogs be neutered before being returned to their owners.

The death of this tricolor foxhound — something that probably would have been unheard of not long ago — has created a stir among hunters.

“There’s rules, surely,” said Trevor Bedell of West Columbia, who helped Jones try to retrieve Hitter, since his hunting buddy lives out of town. “But the animal shelter’s mission should be to protect the dog, when we were making efforts to get the dog.”

Interim city manager Steve Gantt said Hitter’s owners didn’t get to the shelter within the timeline spelled out to them.

“It’s a bad situation all the way around,” said Gantt, who hunted with hounds as a kid in Chester.

CHANGING CULTURE

Hitter could be a symbol for a Southern tradition that’s fading — hunters using dogs to flush deer from the woods, starting a fast and furious chase into the sights of waiting hunters.

It’s a way of hunting passed down in South Carolina families for generations.

But in recent years, the tradition has created bad blood among dog hunters, the more common “still” hunters and landowners.

Large tracts of property required for dog drives are being cut up and developed. The number of hunt clubs is dwindling, too, creating more situations where hunters clash.

Sometimes, dogs tracking a deer will run beyond the boundaries of a hunt club and onto private property, passing a hunter silently waiting in a deer stand.

Jones, who owns 35 to 40 dogs that he uses to hunt big bucks as trophies, can’t imagine hunting any other way.

“There is nothing more exciting than 25 hounds running the deer right at you,” said Jones, 46. “Your heart goes pounding in your chest. It’s an adrenaline rush, to have game coming at you that fast, and you have a matter of seconds to even try to shoot.”

Frank A. Boysia hunts on 3,000 acres he and his father own in Lee and Sumter counties. They farm and participate in wildlife programs that provide habitat for deer and quail.

But Boysia said trespassing dogs disrupt the “good and natural experience” he pursues outdoors.

“I’m sitting there in a peaceful situation with my son on a deer stand, in a food plot that I’ve planted — with my money, with my labor and my love,” said Boysia, 40. “It ruins your whole reason for even having property like that.

“So for me, it’s a property rights issue.”

HUNTING FOR HITTER

Hunters usually look for lost dogs along roads.

That’s because foxhounds know to wait there, said Charles Ruth, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

“They’re going to be out standing by the road, looking for their owner. A lot of time, they’ll start walking the road because they can relate the road to the truck to the man.”

That’s how Hitter would have ended up in Columbia.

The Saturday of the hunt, Jones went home to Dorchester County. Bedell, 31, said he drove down Bluff Road and through Lower Richland on each of the next three days, looking for Hitter.

The next day, Christmas Eve, Hitter wandered into Columbia’s Granby Park, his tracking collar and I.D. tag still fastened around his neck.

A city park ranger called the phone number on the tag and left a message for Jones, then called the Columbia Animal Shelter.

RURAL CULTURE, URBAN LAWS

Animal control laws in Columbia don’t acknowledge the tradition of hunting with dogs.

In Columbia, lost pets must be neutered before they can be returned to the owners with three exceptions — if they are sick dogs, show dogs, or guide dogs for the blind.

The spay-neuter program is the foundation of the shelter’s efforts to reduce the number of unwanted animals.

If a hunting dog steps outside the city limits into unincorporated Richland County, the law is different.

In more rural Richland County, owners of hunting dogs can take their dogs home without sterilization if they have a valid hunting license.

Richland County administrator Milton Pope said the dual policies make sense. People are allowed to hunt in the county, not in the city.

Years ago, a debate over whether to require hunting dogs to be spayed or neutered was among the sticking points in efforts to merge city and county animal control operations.

It was no longer an issue when the two jurisdictions decided last year to join programs under one roof — at the Columbia shelter.

The merger will occur in coming weeks. Gantt, the assistant city manager, said this might be a good time to compare policies and see whether they should fall more closely in line.

Still, Marli Drum, the shelter director, doesn’t anticipate problems keeping track of which animals are picked up in the city and which are picked up in the county.

Addresses are logged and city limits lines checked with care, she said, in part to ensure the city doesn’t foot the bill for any animal not in its jurisdiction.

‘A WELL-KNOWN HOUND’

The city’s neutering requirement was a big bone of contention once Jones and Bedell discovered the dog had been taken to the city shelter.

They did not want the dog neutered.

While Bedell had sold the dog to Jones, he said he retained breeding rights.

Jones said Drum first told him the dog had to be neutered, then agreed to accept proof that he had placed in four national trials — documentation that was hard to find during the holidays surrounding Christmas and New Year’s.

“A lot of people knew the dog,” Jones said. “He was a well-known hound. He came from champions.”

Jones collected what proof he could and faxed it to Bedell. Bedell acknowledged he never turned the paperwork over to Drum, saying the documents weren’t what she wanted.

In an interview, Drum said she didn’t have permission to discuss the case but would talk generally about procedures. The city also provided a Jan. 6 memo outlining her recollection of events, under the subject line, “EUTHANIZED DOG.”

Under city policy, lost or stray dogs are held for five days, Drum said. If they have tags, they are kept for two weeks. Once the owner is reached, however, the five-day hold begins.

Bedell said he went by the shelter once and called twice, trying to bring Hitter home.

The last time he called Drum was on Friday, Jan. 2, nine days after Hitter was picked up.

Bedell said he told Drum he planned to adopt the dog once Hitter became available to the public for adoption.

Drum’s memo said she explained he couldn’t adopt the dog just to get around paying the redemption fees, and that she reiterated the dog would have to be neutered.

The following Monday, Bedell went to the shelter only to find that Hitter had been put down, one of 43 dogs to be euthanized Jan. 5.

Drum’s memo said Hitter had developed kennel cough, a contagious infection. “Because of this, the dog could not be held any longer,” she wrote. “To do so would have put many other dogs at risk.”

Just last week, Bedell showed up at the shelter looking to help a friend, Lee Gross, retrieve his lost hunting dog.

The dog had been picked up in Richland County, around Hopkins, and was released to his owner after he produced a hunting license.

“There’s got to be some consistency,” Bedell complained.

“I don’t see how they can be executioner on one and let the other go with a ... hunting license.”

END OF THE HUNT?

Hunting with dogs is part of the culture of the Southeast, from Virginia to Arkansas, said the DNR’s Ruth.

In South Carolina, dog drives are allowed only in the 28 counties where it has the foothold of history, from Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties south and east toward the coast.

But deer hunting with dogs has declined over the past 20 to 30 years, part of an overall change in the number of people who hunt, according to DNR figures.

After peaking in 1980 at 203,170, the number of South Carolinians who took out hunting licenses bottomed out in 2006 at 154,078.

With tensions rising among hunters, legislators, led by Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Williamsburg, are trying to mediate.

Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers said two or three hunting dogs were shot to death in the woods a couple of years ago in a sign of the growing rift among hunters.

And a couple of “nuisance” lawsuits have been filed against dog owners in the absence of laws to regulate dog drives.

The Legislature stepped in last year, asking DNR to arrange a series of meetings in hopes of reaching agreement among hunters. “We did not come to a consensus,” Ruth said.

Hal Goodwin, whose family started the Kingville Hunt Club in 1962, expects his generation will be the last to hold deer drives — social events that start at daylight and usually include a dinner of game, like venison or catfish stew.

Oftentimes, the men stay overnight, sleeping in campers.

“You may call it a Southern thing, but it’s been going on hundreds of years,” said Goodwin, 59.

“I’ll probably see it go away in my lifetime. ... There’s a big move in South Carolina from a lot of people to do away with dog driving totally.”

But Boysia said he doesn’t want to see an end to the tradition of dog drives.

“I don’t think we’re like the Hatfields and the McCoys. I really do not,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re all hunters.

“We don’t want to drive people out of the sport.”

Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Regardless of how you feel about the sport of tracking game with dogs, regardless of how you feel about hunting at all; this is an issue that speaks to the heart of the matter regarding rights. This is a direct violation of personal rights regardless of how you view the substance of the article.

I am not opposed to hunting. If it weren't for the fortitude of my ancestors to provide for my bloodline, I would have never existed. These folk would do well to remember that and keep their city ways in the city. There is a compromise and there must be a means to achieve it before all our rights are vanished and all we have are the tattered remnants of our Constitution as it is interpreted by fools and self righteous charlatans.

And Now, the Rest of the Story, or Rub Your Nose in this $%#

This article appeared in a list serv that I share with many of my colleagues.

I will not give credence to it's title or it's content

It highlights the reports of "abuse" by a trainer in New Jersey and similar complaints that have surfaced in New York City, all with incidents that predate either the Minnesota or the New York State bills' attempts to regulate dog trainers.

What I find difficult to believe is that if these reports are true, where is the proof? We insulate ourselves with the trust that these reports are accurate when it is clearly suggested in the case of the New York dog walker/trainer that there may be a hidden agenda, and of the 300 alleged THIRD PARTY reports, no clear evidence exists. Oh, I get it, GUILTY until proven INNOCENT. Gee, what was I thinking....

Huh?

As for the guy in New Jersey, I remember the stink over this a few months ago. A cattle prod was found. A slingshot and a PVC pipe were also found. Early reports suggest that one of these items were found at a colleague's home, not on the property of the target of these charges. If there were concerns 14 years ago as one of the charges suggests, and six since then, why was something not done sooner?

Oh, that's right, it was only important when it suited the proper agenda, like Daschle's taxes or the new head of the Federal Treasury Department and others of the 'New Administration". It only serves a purpose NOW. Not in 1995 when the first alleged crime was perpetrated.

His guilt is assumed, and if he is found so through DUE PROCESS and not the court of public opinion, then we as trainers in our secular community will be justly served as he and his ilk deserve proper punishment for their crimes. Or will we?

Will it be that we are no longer able to practice our craft unless we are supervised by the government to assure that "no harm was done"? Who will be the judge of what constitutes "harm", "inhumane" practices or "abuse"?

What about the owners deeply committed to their dogs who are not served by the government's proposals to endorse certain types of trainers and not others? Will they be forced to give up their dogs because they could not be trained with methods beyond the scope of their definition of approved? How full are the shelters in this country now? How full do you think they will get in the near future if it should come to pass that only "government approved" methods are used?

This is not an endorsement of "punching, hitting, kicking or hanging" dogs by any means. I think such tactics do constitute abuse and I do not personally know of a trainer in my acquaintance who would use such tactics.

It is not the METHOD that defines TRAINED, it is the END RESULT of the training itself. Physically abusing an animal does not constitute a method and defining abuse is the dichotomy. Collars don't abuse dogs, PEOPLE DO. TOOLS are not the issue, who wields the tool is. The banning of tools is the lowest common denominator in all of this and will only serve to be as effective as New York City's current gun control policy.

I see this as a personal vendetta mounted as a political agenda and offered up in a time and place where the controversy can be utilized to it's greatest effect.

The importance of knowing all the facts seems to escape most reporters these days; they are too wrapped up in currying favor amongst their own breed of lobbyists in the political hotbed that surrounds pets and the BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR their ownership generates in income for hundreds of thousands of people, businesses and, yup, you guessed it, politicians.

It is inconceivable to me how a party or parties can be so deluded by the fervent scree of a few individuals without the basis of FACT, only the emotion laden mutterings of a few misguided, uneducated bleeding hearts who think they know "inhumane" or "abusive" practices based solely on weak evidence and lots of speculation. And, as I said, perhaps a hidden agenda or two.

Tell me, who is more "abusive"?

Linda Kaim
www.lionheartk9.com

Minnesota Prepared to Enact New Dangerous Dog Act

On January 14th of the current year, District 66A Representative John Lesch ( rep.john.lesch@house.mn ) and Representative of District 64B Michael Paymar ( rep.michael.paymar@house.mn ) introduced a bill that would require owners or those individuals identified as owners of 'dangerous or potentially dangerous dogs" to participate in responsible dog ownership classes. Additional information on this bill indicates that yet again the government is insinuating itself into the affairs of the people without truly addressing the needs of the community at large.

Read more here: https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0115.0.html&session=ls86

You may have to copy and paste the above link.

I have taken the liberty of posting the whole sordid mess here:

H.F. No. 115, as introduced - 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010) Posted on Jan 14, 2009

1.1A bill for an act
1.2relating to dogs; requiring certain dog owners to take responsible dog owner
1.3classes and pass certain tests; requiring maintenance of a database; proposing
1.4coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 347.
1.5BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 Section 1. [347.57] DEFINITIONS.
1.7 Subdivision 1. Applicability. The definitions in this section apply to sections
1.8347.57 to 347.67.
1.9 Subd. 2. Animal control authority. "Animal control authority" means an agency of
1.10the state, county, municipality, or other governmental subdivision of the state which is
1.11responsible for animal control operations in its jurisdiction.
1.12 Subd. 3. Class training manual. "Class training manual" means the materials used
1.13to train the facilitator and the materials used by facilitators to train the dog owner.
1.14 Subd. 4. Dog owner. "Dog owner" means the owner of a dog that has been declared
1.15dangerous or potentially dangerous.
1.16 Subd. 5. Facilitator. "Facilitator" means a person who teaches the responsible dog
1.17owner class and administers the test to the dog owner.
1.18 Subd. 6. Program manager. "Program manager" means the person who oversees
1.19and coordinates the responsible dog owner class, trains the facilitators, and handles
1.20recordkeeping of the classes.
1.21 Subd. 7. Responsible dog owner class. "Responsible dog owner class" means a
1.22class for owners of dogs that have been declared dangerous or potentially dangerous
1.23under section 347.50.

2.1 Sec. 2. [347.58] RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNER CLASS.
2.2(a) The owner of a dog that has been declared dangerous or potentially dangerous
2.3under section 347.50 must take and pass the responsible dog owner class lasting
2.4approximately four hours. A photo identification of the dog owner is required at the time
2.5of the class to confirm ownership of the dog. The dog owner must enroll in a class within
2.630 days of the dog being declared potentially dangerous or dangerous. The dog owner
2.7must attend the class at the next scheduled class date. The class is for the owner of the
2.8dog only; dogs are not allowed in the class.
2.9(b) Dog owners who own dogs that were previously declared dangerous must
2.10take the responsible dog owner class. The dog owner must attend the class at the next
2.11scheduled class date after the effective date of this section.
2.12(c) The Department of Public Safety must charge the dog owner a reasonable fee for
2.13attending the class.

2.14 Sec. 3. [347.59] PROGRAM MANAGER.
2.15(a) The program manager must be:
2.16(1) a veterinarian in good standing in Minnesota with a minimum of three years
2.17experience; or
2.18(2) a person with a minimum of five years experience working in an animal-related
2.19field, including knowledge and training of dog behavior and education of the public on
2.20dog behavior.
2.21(b) A background check must be performed on a person applying to be a program
2.22manager. The applicant must pass the background check without any violations prior to
2.23being appointed. No person who has been convicted of animal cruelty under Minnesota
2.24law or any other state law may be a program manager.
2.25(c) The Department of Public Safety shall employ the program manager and
2.26determine how much the program manager shall be paid for providing program manager
2.27services.

2.28 Sec. 4. [347.60] FACILITATOR.
2.29A facilitator must have a minimum of five years experience in dog training or in
2.30educating the public on dog behavior. A background check must be performed on a
2.31facilitator and a facilitator must pass the background check without any violations prior to
2.32that person being appointed and trained. No person who has been convicted of animal
2.33cruelty under Minnesota law or any other state law may be a facilitator. A facilitator must
2.34receive retraining by the program manager every three years to remain a facilitator.

3.1 Sec. 5. [347.61] TRAINING.
3.2Ongoing training must be provided by the program manager to facilitators, including
3.3updating the class training manual and teaching facilitators current information.

3.4 Sec. 6. [347.62] ANIMAL CONTROL AUTHORITY DUTIES.
3.5The animal control authority that declares a dog dangerous or potentially dangerous
3.6must provide the following information to the program manager and the Department of
3.7Public Safety:
3.8(1) name, address, and telephone number of the dog owner;
3.9(2) description of the dog;
3.10(3) a tracking number to identify the case; and
3.11(4) any other pertinent information.

3.12 Sec. 7. [347.63] NOTIFICATION.
3.13The program manager must send a written notification to the owners of dogs
3.14declared dangerous or potentially dangerous that they must register for a class within 30
3.15days, how to register for the class, and any other pertinent information.

3.16 Sec. 8. [347.64] CLASS TRAINING MANUAL; FORMS; CURRICULUM; TEST.
3.17(a) The class training manual and curriculum must address the basic needs of the
3.18dog, both behavioral and physical, and include education on dog care and dog behavior.
3.19The class training manual, forms, test, and curriculum must be prepared in consultation
3.20with a study commission and printed by the Department of Public Safety.
3.21(b) Upon completion of the responsible dog owner class, a facilitator must administer
3.22a multiple choice test to the dog owner and grade the test. A dog owner who fails the
3.23test must retake the test within two weeks.
3.24(c) If the owner of a dog declared dangerous fails the test twice, the animal control
3.25authority must seize the animal and provide for disposition of the animal pursuant to
3.26sections 347.54 and 347.541.
3.27(d) If the owner of a dog declared potentially dangerous fails the test twice, the
3.28animal control authority must make the determination as to disposition of the dog.
3.29(e) If a dog owner fails to register for a responsible dog owner class or fails to appear
3.30for the class and take the test, the dog owner must be considered as having failed the test.
3.31(f) A facilitator must provide a certificate of class completion to a dog owner upon
3.32successfully passing the test. A facilitator must forward a verification of completion or
3.33non-completion form and the tests to the program manager. The program manager must
4.1verify the information and forward it to the animal control authority and the Department
4.2of Public Safety.

4.3 Sec. 9. [347.65] LOCATION OF CLASS.
4.4Responsible dog owner classes must be offered to dog owners at locations
4.5determined by the program manager on a quarterly basis, as needed.

4.6 Sec. 10. [347.66] TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP.
4.7If ownership of a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog is transferred to another
4.8person, the new owner must take a responsible dog owner class and pass the test.

4.9 Sec. 11. [347.67] STATEWIDE RECORDS; REPORTING; DATABASE.
4.10A database must be maintained by the Department of Public Safety containing
4.11records of all dogs in Minnesota declared potentially dangerous or dangerous, and
4.12owner information, including any convictions for violations of section 347.51; 347.515;
4.13347.56; 609.205, subdivision 4; or 609.226, subdivision 1 or 2; and any dogs owned
4.14by that person that have been ordered destroyed under section 347.56, as well as other
4.15information pertinent to enforcement of sections 347.50 to 347.565. The database must
4.16also contain information regarding the test results of the responsible dog owner class.
4.17The commissioner of public safety, in consultation with animal control professionals,
4.18must determine what information will be kept in this database. This database must be
4.19accessible, only for purposes of law enforcement, to all police and sheriff departments
4.20and other local government departments responsible for conducting or overseeing animal
4.21control operations in their jurisdictions, with the exception that private animal control
4.22authorities contracted to local government agencies may only access these records
4.23through, and with the permission of, those local government agencies. All Minnesota law
4.24enforcement agencies and animal control authorities must report in a timely manner to the
4.25Department of Public Safety any information required under this section.

4.26 Sec. 12. EFFECTIVE DATE.
4.27Sections 1, 3 to 6, 9, and 11 are effective the day following final enactment. Sections
4.282, 7, 8, and 10 are effective six months after that day.


*AUTHOR'S NOTE*

This bill was introduced one week prior to the State of New York bill that I had addressed last week.

It would seem to me that the lawmakers might want to consider enforcing their existing laws as opposed to this dreck which has absolutely no provisions for what constitutes responsible ownership, who makes that determination and who is responsible for the selection criterion for "Program Managers", "Facilitators" or what constitutes appropriate curricula?

A state pronouncement does not extol one with the necessary virtues of either the actual training of a dog, nor the skills necessary for the instruction of a dog's training.

What are these people smoking?

New York Dog Owners/Trainers Soon to be Howling at Albany

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York Dog Owners/Trainers Soon to be Howling at Albany
January 7th, 2009
Albany, New York

New York District 39’s Assemblyman Jose Peralta has initiated a bill (A01540) into the New York State legislature to compel dog owners to comply with new licensing requirements, including a provision requiring them to attend and complete dog obedience training.

The Bill will also have a profound effect on Professional Dog Trainers conducting commerce in New York State; including those who participate in a wide variety of dog training disciplines from training hunting dogs, competitive obedience dogs and protection dogs as well as those who make their livelihood on the misbehaviors of man’s best friend.

This Bill is attached to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Marketing and the provisions within it rely heavily on “...the Commissioner to establish requirements for basic obedience courses for dogs and their owners that must be completed successfully...”, all without mentioning the consequences should they (owners) be found not in compliance. In addition, the provision in 113-A requires that “...the Commissioner shall establish requirements for Dog Obedience Schools which are ‘authorized’ to provide the basic dog obedience courses for dogs and their owners...”, again all without clarifying the language that will address that authorization.

Upon contacting the Assemblyman’s office, it was implied that those “authorization prerequisites” could possibly come in the form of ‘certification’ for dog trainers in order to meet this criterion and continue to conduct commerce by offering training help to dogs and their owners in the state of New York.

Certification has long been a ‘bone’ of contention amongst the dog training community with disagreements from what qualifies a dog trainer to what would constitute a trained dog, by any standards. It has been long established that dog training has been largely unregulated and it has historically been identified as a diverse group of individuals who practice a variety of dog training disciplines.

With the recent growth of schools for Dog Trainers, professional organizations and other dog training communities, many long-time Professional Dog Trainers are feeling the heat of this pending legislation.

Up until only a few short years ago, there was no such thing as ‘certification’ for dog trainers and today its value depends largely on the certifying body, and the organization that endorses the certification.

Many Professional Dog Trainers have practiced their craft for decades, through the traditional institutions of apprenticeship and practical hands-on training, where even the most well known organization that recognizes Professional Dog Trainers (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) established in the mid ‘90’s offers only a multiple choice questionnaire and a minimal number of hands-on hours before granting a certification. The National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors established in 1965, requires an essay examination of practical skill sets and video portions to identify these skill sets in order to be endorsed; the International Association of Canine Professionals established in the late ‘90’s affords a voluntary process for it’s members to elect a certification program that contains not only an essay portion, but a video portion as well as endorsements written by students of the applicant, something neither of the other organizations require.

With an inability to determine what constitutes “basic obedience” in a meaningful way, logic suggest those already in place, a certification determining the safe behavior of the dog is a far better alternative to regulating dog owners and Dog Trainers. Such an option to amend a community’s licensing requirements with “Good Dog” tests such as Rockville Maryland’s Section 3-23 “Animal Off-Leash with Permission” offers a meaningful alternative to New York’s proposed difficult to implement, difficult to enforce legislation.

Reasonable legislation can be drafted to promote responsible dog ownership without forcing impositions on already responsible men and women who own dogs and Professional Dog Trainers who offer training services without the benefit of questionable ‘certification’.

Responsible New York State dog owners cannot help but be failed by this proposal and the Professional Dog Trainers who currently serve them should not be restricted from conducting their trade by a state mandate that can only be damaging to dog owners and their dogs.

Coeur d’Lion K9 Behavior Management
Linda I Kaim
1443 Old Taneytown Rd
Westminster,Maryland 21158
410-857-0555
717-880-4751
coeurdlionk9@gmail.com
www.lionheartk9.com

If Pets Could Talk, Would We Love Them as Much?

I was on my way to a dog training client's home in Adams County Pennsylvania this weekend and I saw those words on a sign in front of a Veterinarian's Office.

The incongruity of the question didn't hit me until later when as I passed the same office on my return home, I saw a morbidly obese Lab exiting the office with it's owner.

I thought that the question should read "If our Pets could talk, would THEY love US as much?

A thousand years ago I had a dream about one of the dogs I owned at the time; a bright, intuitive German Shepherd Dog named Rose. She and I were inseparable for many years and we shared many things. She was the consummate mother to countless litters not her own, was a master of surprise and possessed a sense of humor equal to or greater than most people. She was one of a kind on so many levels.

Anyway, in the dream I was sitting on the first landing from the steps that led to my cellar and she was leaning against the washing machine with a cigarette and a brandy snifter, elbow leaning on the top of the appliance, upright on her hind legs like a human, lower legs crossed at the hock.

Her long saber tail is draped around her feet in a very vintage 20's coquettish fashion, as she asks me to explain to her the differences between she and me.

"Well Rose" I start, "you are a dog and I am a human".

She sips her brandy with strangely articulated paws, draws on her cigarette and says "Nope".

"Oppose-able Thumbs".

She sets down her glass, puts out her cigarette, walks to the stairs and past me on the landing sashaying like a queen.

I remember waking up with a start and trying to remember where I left the car keys in fear that she and her partner Indy had decided to steal the credit cards and take a trip to Atlantic City without me.

Somehow I seriously doubt that our pets would love us as much if they could talk, since it would also have to include the requisite criticisms we must face as a result.

I would have to wonder how many of us would make it to enduring friendship with an animal that could talk. Would our long association abruptly end as a result? Would we end up in a Planet-of-The-Apes type scenario where humans became the targets of exploitation, extermination and mass sterilization?

If our animals could talk, would we love them as much? Somehow I think we would fear them, or at least some of us would.

I for one am glad they don't, but anyone who really KNOWS dogs, know that they can easily convey their emotions. Rose for example, is certainly NOT a dog I would want capable of speech. But all the same we always communicated.

I could hear her voice now, regarding the poor choices I made in men, (she was quite capable of making the right decisions even when I was not) in jobs (when I had jobs that left her at home, they were always bad choices, not because they created separation anxiety in her or any of the other dogs, but because of the withering glares I would get when I got home, "where have you been, what have you been doing, you smell like other dogs") in vehicles (there's not enough room for ALL OF US) in food (Popcorn, MAKE POPCORN! Pizza? Did someone say PIZZA?) and friends of either sex ("She smells funny". "Whaddya mean I can't do THAT? How else am I gonna know if SHE'S RIGHT?")

She was an indiscriminate giver of love and a harbinger of great fear to anyone canine or human that she chose, but she was always right.

Hated my first husband, pleaded with me not to marry him and took great pleasure in giving the poor man a few less heartbeats every chance she got. She never tried to bite him, just treated him with the greatest disdain. Used to deliberately lay in wait for him so she could scare him every chance she got. Usually when he was coming up the steps from the basement of our house in New York. She would wait to hear his footsteps on the wooden stairs and position herself just behind the door so that when he tried to open it he couldn't because she was laying up against it. When he began to recognize her trick, he would leave it ajar so that he could see if she was laying there. In those instances, she would wait far enough back so he couldn't see her shadow or her form and just before he could reach the handle to push it open, she would slam herself against it and shut it in his face.

She would walk away from these episodes like she had just accomplished climbing K-12. She was the greatest show on earth.

She worshipped my second husband. They were best friends from the moment they met. She was in the drivers seat of my Blue Ford van as a matter of fact, working to roll down the window and come looking for me when the both of us came out to the parking lot together as she was vaulting out the window.

She walked over to us, gave him her regard, nodded her approval and jumped back into the van. Through the driver's side window. The same one she had exited. My future husband thought that was amazing. I told her to stop showing off.

Back in those days, electric windows were a luxury for the wealthy. Since I was not so, my windows were the manual kind. I figure she had taught herself through trial and error to do it, but she was always prudent in her use of it.

At a Dog Show in York Pennsylvania a few years later, she let herself out of the van while my new husband and I watched an entry of mine in the ring. There is no way she could have seen us but she found us none-the-less, skirting dog show officials and those who wished to catch the LOOSE DOG! LOOSE DOG! on the show grounds. She came straight to us, plunked herself at our feet and looked at me with those shrewd Rose eyes that told me in no uncertain terms that it was late, she was lonely and why is this taking so long? People came running at us to chastise us for the LOOSE DOG!!! and command us to collar her up so that she doesn't get hurt. And on and on as some fools will do. Hurt? Me? she said. Pah!

Gritting my teeth from the embarrassment of it all, I led her away at heel only to be told again that she needed a collar and leash. "Well, no not really, I comment. "She is that mythical creature of legend, a TRAINED dog, see"?

I never attempted to stop her from doing it. Some may recriminate me for that, but she would exit the van to seek me, not trouble. She would sometimes exit to relieve herself and then jump back in. I had no problems with either and neither did the times. To allow this today would invite disaster with the Humaniacs and PETA Nazis.

She would patrol our little bit of ground morning noon and night and announce an all-clear after each and every search. She could tell me of visitors, how they got there, how they left and practically what they did. She warned of intruders and forbade me entry into my own home until she was thoroughly convinced that no-one was there but those that belonged.

She greeted guests like a diplomat and would coyly encourage them to give her things like a good politician. She was selective in her attentions to the best bratwurst, spare-ribs and steaks at parties and loved it when I made it rain popcorn. She worshiped children and I mourned that she would never meet my only child.

She suffered the loss of her best friend for years after Indy's untimely death and rejoiced in the birth of each and every puppy even if they were not her own.

She was my best friend on the face of the planet for years and I still miss her today so many years after her passing.

I always wondered what she would say to me if she could talk and I am not sure some of those words would be so kind.

In the dream she had a deep, resonant voice. No accent, just plain English.

In reality it was much the same.

Yeah, Rosie.

Oppose-able thumbs indeed.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and other Fictional Tales...

After much prompting by my colleagues and friends, I broke down and bought the book written by David Wroblewski in the hopes of finally finding a tale worthy of my limited time.

I love to read and in earlier days made a practice of reading as much as I could on any topic I found of interest (to the point that what parts of my home which are not allocated to the housing of dogs, people and all of their accoutrements but to books; hundreds and hundreds of them).

The vast majority of my book space is divined for works of non-fiction but occasionally I will allow a fictional piece to reside there in a collection that ranges from archaeology to astrophysics. Every letter of the alphabet is represented although of late I tend to shove them in any available space and in no particular order. If I have to find something in particular, I have to search each and every spine, looking at each and every title.

Someday, I will treat myself to organizing them in such a way that they are cataloged in some reasonable fashion. Something tells me however, that is not likely to happen anytime soon. Still they proliferate; on nightstands, coffee tables, office desks, kitchen counters, chairs, beds and dining room tables. I cannot pass a bookstore, library or antique shop without buying SOMETHING with pages and text.

I need a bigger house. The Library of Congress or the archives of the Vatican will do nicely.

What drew me to this story of course is the dog component. A genealogy that begins and ends with one family who painstakingly creates a recognizable type of dog based on an intangible virtue.

The founder, John Sawtelle is captivated by a dog he meets by chance in a town distant from the one he lives in, based on how the dog regards him. How the dog looks at him.

In the era of Albert Payson Terhune and his books about the life at Sunnybank Fam, I guess the term that best describes the quality of dog that Sawtelle envisions is 'sagacity'.

I suppose every dog owner would feel that way about their dog, but as a reproducible quality?

He acquires a dog of indiscriminate ancestry through a trade and the Sawtelle dogs are born.

I imagine in the early foundation of all recognizable dog breeds, something similar had to have taken place and the thought becomes not so idyllic after all, but the story unfolds with the principals essentially creating a strain of dogs whose no greater purpose is to be good pets. Or as referred to in the book, 'companion animals'.

There is much of value in this read; of training dogs, rearing dogs, breeding dogs but then the story veers dangerously into a treatise of why 'show dogs' will never be selected as breeding stock but then great importance is placed on (what otherwise should be maintained as arbitrary structure or if you prefer; conformation, of) the Sawtelle dogs.

So why is structure given so much emphasis? My initial thought was that this passage was going to lend itself to the argument of form following function and at least the suggestion of breeding dogs for a purposeful task, but I was mistaken as the story continues to unfold.

Although the story abandons the pretense of being a 'dog story' pretty early on, Mr Wroblewski had an interesting collection of material to work from, but still some of what is portrayed in the book can only come from one who has experienced it first-hand. I read somewhere that Wroblewski had a relative that bred English Springer Spaniels for field trials, but I have not been able to confirm that claim.

There is no illusion about the book being other than a novel, but it is rich with language and descriptions comforting to 'dog people' everywhere. It resonates with the reader that is familiar with dogs and the dog culture. The language is deeply descriptive, warmly familiar and relatively responsible with issues that are germane to breeders, trainers and other dog professionals.

The book never loses enthusiasm for responsible practices and lends insight to much of the concerns surrounding the politics of 'dog'.

The Sawtelle dogs undergo rigorous training and handling from birth to placement and the regimented protocols are documented in such a way as to give clear and concise information on not only their heritage, but their growth and development both physically, mentally and emotionally.

Much of what is done mirrors the processes of conscientious breeders and trainers throughout the ages and one can read this novel and come away with a feeling that there IS someone out there that KNOWS what it's like to handle a great dog from the moment of it's birth to it's passing.

Much of what is written should be done for ALL DOGS, representing goals all dog breeders should aspire to, all trainers should aspire to accomplish at all levels of obedience.

But the story takes it's departure from our personal beliefs through a dialogue remembered by the central character regarding a conversation about the breeding to "show dogs" and how that 'must never occur' in the grand scheme of the Sawtelle dogs. Another about the value of the Sawtelle dogs as it relates to the value of a pup from a 'show ring Champion'.

I do not disagree with the concept, as most dogs of pure breeding today are rife with hereditary defects that disable their abilities to function in the capacities that they were developed and maintained for. My departure came when I realized that the Sawtelle dogs were specifically created for 'that one-in-a-million' quality that is so intangible that it cannot be measured by breeding for or training for. These mythological beasts were created out of whimsy to satisfy one man's quest for 'sagacity'.

The current definition of a show dog is pretty much like what you see at the Westminster Kennel Club's annual show in New York. It is an arbitrary adherence to an arbitrary standard of physical perfection (conformation) without the rigorous testing that only a standard of FUNCTION can determine.

What was originally intended to identify the physiology of exemplary working structure borne by merit of performance has been reduced to the production of Beauty Pageant contestants.

As a dog professional, I understood the derision and the reference, but I got lost when I realized that the description of the Sawtelle dogs became one of an esthetic standard. If not in physiology, then one of the mind.

And then there's the line as remembered by the son Edgar about what a dog 'meant'.

The construction of the dialogue with Fortunate Fields and the correspondance over what the founder of the Sawtelle dogs called the "next dogs".

All interesting hypothesis that ends up tragically wasted by the ending of the book.

These qualities that Sawtelle sought are those of the mind. I got the impression that what he was trying to create was literally a mind-reading dog, or one so perceptive to it's owners needs that it could interpret human behavior and engage it on a cerebral level.

The final portion of the book has the lead character literally releasing the dogs into the wild where they take up with a feral dog that is written about intermittently throughout the story.

The reader is left to come to his own conclusions regarding the outcome of the dogs, the genetic endowment and the painstaking work to create them in one final cataclysmic blow.

It's a good read for a lot of people. Dog folks too, if you can suspend your disbelief and remember that it is a work of fiction.

I am ambivalent about the book. I liked the story until it grinds to a screeching halt undoing anything I had personally hoped for regarding the outcome of the magnificent Sawtelle dogs and their rich, inspiring history.

I hated the fact that it played on the dubious fortune of randomly breeding dogs for a reason that is, to me at least, a bit pretentious. This train of thinking is what has given birth to the capitalization of 'new breeds' of designer dogs instead of preserving the working qualities of the dogs at hand.

I was left thinking about the concept of the "next dogs" and what ramifications that could possibly have.

As for what a dog "meant" all one has to do is ask a dog owner who has painstakingly created a relationship with his animal, a breeder who has chosen judicious selection to a standard of performance over the contentious fad breeding of the show dog populations and the trainer, who has endured to understand dogs through observation, effort and compassion.

I have already found a home for my copy.