Unintended Consequences

Oprah's show on puppymills was heartwrenching to watch - animals we love to love confined for their lifetimes, never to know a gentle word, loving touch, grass under their feet, what it is to be clean or something as simple as a enjoying playing with a toy.

For many, judging from our message board response, this was the first time they had ever seen some of the realities of the production end of things and the call to stop this business went out.

Again.

As someone who's been in the field for decades, I know that this issue is resistant to change and I think I might know why - at least a piece of why.

When the big push to spay and neuter pets began exactly I do not know. Being raised in the 1960's when we - an educated middle class family - had two cats who produced litters of kittens in the linen closet twice a year like clockwork, I'm guessing it was after that. Since pet trends often come on the heels of human ones, I'd guess that it was after birth control became a reality for us humans -- that would put it in the 70's.

For decades, this drive to spay and neuter had built until now, spaying and neutering is an assumed part of responsible pet ownership in many parts of the country. Pet people who do not are seen as suspect and/or woefully uninformed. It has been a huge success. So huge, that now, here in the Northeast, many rescues routinely bring in dogs to offer for adoption from the South and the Midwest where pet overpopulation is still more of an ongoing battle.

The era of getting your next dog or cat from your neighbor whose pet had a litter is long gone, around here anyway, and thank goodness! I am ashamed, in retrospect, of how many kittens our family cats routinely produced and understand full well that is is a bad thing for the cat, the kittens, and the community. All our animal companions are now neutered - without reservation or regret.

But the law of unintended consequence is in full play and now, where do people go who simply want a pet? As one e-mailer said to me: I don't want anything fancy just a healthy, friendly dog. I laughed out loud commenting to myself - don't we all, don't we all. He has no idea how rare a thing he is seeking.

Anyway, pet people have three basic sources for companions: breeders, rescues, and - the subject at hand - pet stores.

Breeders

There is a huge range in breeders from the enthusiastic but clueless to the experienced and informed. BYB I tend to call "producers" since that's what they do - produce pups. But for now, let's just talk breeders. Breeders - esp. good ones - generally have few pups a year, long waiting lists and very clear demands as to what sort of home is right for their dogs. As well they should! They know their dogs better than anyone else and know what has worked - and not worked - for their dogs in the past.

But the unintended consequence of this is that many modern familes are turned down or told to wait to get a pup. Some will accept this, some will wait, others will do neither. In some rarer and smaller breeds (who generally have smaller litters) pups can simply not be available.

Now, rejected or frustrated, the pet seeker might want to do a good thing and try to rescue a dog....


Rescues

Here we often run into much the same issues. In the well publized case of Ellen (tv host), Ruby (12 girl), Iggy (the rescue dog) and Mutts and Moms (the rescue) - the rescue's rules stated no one could adopt with children under the age of 14. Age limits for adoption are standard though generally younger than this.

If you work, you'll be rejected for a puppy or young dog. And who doens't work? There are a few but they are a "few"... literally. Fenced in yard? Other pets? References? Rescues have learned, often by hard experience, to have high standards.

"We are very strict. We turn down many, many applications," said Lawyer Lee Wheeler, of Hearts United in Nebraska. "It causes many hurt feelings, but in our opinion it is most important to protect the dogs."

Now, I happen to agree with a lot of these rules but that is not the point here - we're talking unintended consequences. With most families quickly rejected by both rescues and breeders, that leaves only two obvious answers (since not getting a dog isn't an obvious answer to people who want one).

Pet Stores and Bad Breeders.... these sources always have puppies and will generally sell "their product" to anyone with cash (or plastic) in their pocket.

I have no immediate solution to this. We can keep saying education, but we've been doing that for a long time and I don't know if a significant dent has been made. We can get upset with the pet store puppy buyers but being angry at and alienating people you're trying to educate is a poor plan.

Maybe Oprah's show will help. But unless other options are available to the average family for getting a dog, I fear that the very high standards good breeders and rescues set are the best thing that ever happened to the pet store.

I would love to hear creative ideas on how to break this cycle... thoughts?

Pet Professional Mullings

One of the great things about the Internet is being able to develop a network of other dog pros for support, input and continuing education- which everyone needs. Doesn't matter how long you've been "in the field" or what you think you know - things change fast and often in the dog world. Whether it is diet, equipment, or standards of medical care, keeping abreast of things is critical. Without others to talk to, it is easy to miss what's going on, and very easy to become isolated in our lines of work.

As I was walking in our back field this week, I got to thinking about what I had wished I had known when I started. I asked this question on our message boards at www.mysmartpuppy.com and here’s some of the wisdom that came streaming in:

I wish I had known more about structure and body language when I started in rescue. Not that I am a structure pro now, but I at least would've known a bit more what to look for when pulling dogs from the shelter. - Sheltercat - Rescue

Isn’t that the truth! So many "problem" dogs – whether they are lingering at the top of an A-frame, growling when their rears are handled or snarky in play group - are dogs in pain or fearing pain. I’ve learned a great deal from Debbie Gross Saunders – enough to know I have a lot more to learn and to give a good eye to the dog before assuming too much. Structure and soundness should be an ongoing part of any dog pros education.

How quickly the owners could dismantle the training and then state that the dog hadn't learned a thing! - Susan Hunt

I tell people that getting their dog back from a trainer is a little like getting your PC back from the repair place. If you don’t know which buttons to push or codes to use, you won’t see any real difference. Every trainer who does board and trains can relate to this. Upfront and clear conversations early about how this routines the dog but that results are relational and require practice to access, etc.. etc…prevent mutual frustration later.

With the advent of inexpensive and good little video cameras such as The Flip (we own two), all trainers can now send home discs displaying what the dog knows clearly which limits unhappiness all round (not the least of which is the dog’s!)

As a pet sitter; time is not your own. You can't make your "own hours". The more successful you become can put a strain on your family life due to your schedule. – vegarose

True for all kennel people – holidays are your busiest times and, being a service business, people will happily take 26 hours of your day if you let them. Set reasonable hours and then close your doors. Your mental health is critical to the success of your business and there is rarely a reason for you to be open 24-7. Leave a machine on and screen your calls. Often it is fear that makes us grab the phone, fear that there won't be enough business, that we won't succeed. Fear is exhausting. Do good work and drop the fear.

I wish I had known that I needed to put as much (if not more) effort into honing my people skills...as I did with my caring-for-animal skills. – Begaul

Exactly. Dogs can change but we have to change first – and getting people to change is something courts, counselors, and clergy have wrestled with for thousands of years. It isn’t easy and the more skills you have in your inner “tool kit” for coping, the more successful you will be!

Just remember, you're at least 50% of any interaction, so someone who annoys you may just be hitting your buttons and probably not, in fact, be a "bad" person. Being professional means separating personal reactions from professional behavior. We are lucky that our work tends to attract really nice people to it but when we have a less than positive reaction, put it into business gear, do your job well and move on. Then try and figure out what triggered you and why, so things will be easier next time.

I wish I'd known that what matters most is what the owner's goals are, not mine for them and their dog. – Toni Kay-Wolff

Me, too! It took me about ten years to figure out that people didn’t want to be dog trainers, they just want a well mannered dog (by their definition and with nods to Toni's business name). So my enthusiastic descriptions of why something would work generally caused the same politely glazed expression as my mechanic detailings of the working of my spark plugs. This is when I dropped a lot of talking during classes in favor of doing and then wove my tidbits in when relevant. Talk for a few minutes, DO something, talk a little more, DO more… people love it and I got as much information across as before, just more effectively.

I am thankful that I'm gaining a Social Work background in school as it has already helped immensely in my training business. – Heather White

While not all of us are lucky enough to study such things, the information is out there and is a real treasure trove for how to speak to clients about implementing change. What isn’t written about our work IS written about counseling – esp. what is called Brief or Solution-Focused Counseling - as well as anything about coaching other sorts of sports. Go forth and read, your clients will benefit (you will benefit!).

I wish I had known that there was more than one "right" way to train, and many good tools out there that were humane and effective, despite what I had heard and read. I feel like I may have done some dogs and owners a disservice by not knowing more about the different tools and how they worked.

I would say I wish I hadn't been so extreme in my "method beliefs" so early on, but by moving all the way to the edge ("positive only") for almost a year (so far to the edge that I nearly fell off), I encountered obstacles that forced me to return to a more manageable middle ground. The greatest of these obstacles is that no tool or method works for every dog. Someone could have told me that extremism isn't any more helpful in training dogs than in any other belief system, but unless I experienced it myself, I might not have realized it. – PoochProfessor

I’ve always said, if you don’t regret what you did a few years back, even just a little, then you aren’t learning and growing. About ten years ago, I got a lot less “pushy” about my methods with other people and trainers because I realized they had evolved a great deal from a decade back and I certainly hoped they would continue to do so. Now I say is “What I currently do...” or “...currently believe…”

Regret is a badge of growth.

PoochProfessors words are wise ones – good ones for any pet professional to ponder as we head out into our days. Really grasping them allows us to be more supportive of our client’s inevitable learning curves. And since, IMO, we’re in the empowerment business, appreciation for where we have come can give us tolerance for where our clients are.

If they are asking for help, they are trying and effort should be saluted.

I wish I'd have known: that after a decent length of time in one place (currently 14 years) I'd become so attached to, and feel so responsible for, so many dogs who I alone have been grooming for their entire lives. I see them every one or two or three months for years and years. At a time when I'm going to be moving in the near future and leaving my business, I'm finding this to be, well, devastating to think about. – Neek, Professional Groomer

We go into this work because we care and here is someone, 14 years in, who loves her work and her clients. It is that attachment and sense of responsibility that makes us all good at what we do. The dogs you’re leaving will miss you, neek, and the ones you’re going to don’t know how lucky they are.

I wish I had known that there would be some owners who come to class but are totally resistant to actually implementing what I'm trying to teach them and seem unabashed when after 5 weeks their dog still can't/won't hold a sit stay for more than two seconds. If I had known, maybe I would be mentally more prepared for the frustration. – Lisa/eowyn

People really – REALLY – don’t know what to expect from training and come to class often thinking it has something to do with the DOG. ;)

Finding ways to change our expectations so we can genuinely support and applaud those two seconds is an act of spiritual calesthenics. We know what the dog is capable of but… it is not our dog. So we learn to be as positive and step-by-step with the people as we are with the dogs. When that happens – many other good things may start happening (or not, some people just aren’t ging to “do” but if they are happy, be happy!)

... as mentioned this is a people business more than a dog business. If you wanna train dogs (unless you do exclusive board and train and even then you must teach the people what you've done anyway) you'll need to know how to teach and deal with people. Came in realizing that as I did quite a stint of apprenticing.

I learned the "old school" way so my perspective may be different but I really wished I knew I didn't have to "correct" all the problems away way back when.– Doug/Underdog Pets Plus Dog Training, London, Ontario

Thank you, Doug! That was the time and that was the way, and the pendulum swung and went to from correct everything - the dog knows better - to correct nothing - the dog only learns through positives and negatives always ruin learning - and now it swings back a bit to a different sense of what "correction" means and everytime we swing along, we learn a little more (if we’re lucky – clearly you are)… It's been baffling at times but generally fun to watch the profession grow and change and grow some more and change some more…

Working with people and their dog is the best work there is – and some of the hardest. At its best, it makes demands on us emotionally, mentally and spiritually. We are better people for it.

ONWARD!

Fighting the February Funk

February – always seems like longest month of the year to me. After December and January, winter has lost its charm and now, like any other guest who has stayed too long, winter is becoming tedious and annoying.

So this blog is about making February interesting for our dogs (and, side benefit, for us as well). We pet owners can take a page from zoo keepers books and think hard about enrichment. How to enrich our dogs environment so they stay interested and entertained so they don’t find their own things that interest and entertain them like furniture tasting, cat annoyance and counter surfing.

Pip and I fight the funk in a parking garage. Here we work on our sidestep!

Here are a few options:

Making Meals More than a Minute
This is probably the most well-known and widely practiced enrichment activity in the dog world. What probably began with marrow bones (which many still use and I am not wading into that debate here) moved to Kongs. Kong really owned this niche for a long time but then others began to catch on. Recently Premier’s Busy Buddy toy line with the kibble dispensing the Twist-n-Treat has become my favorite. Adjustable to make kibbles of varying sizes easier or harder to get at, easy to open and completely clean – this toy has my heart. NOTE: Do not use peanut butter or such in this as dogs will like it and figure out how to unscrew it, this is just for kibble.

Kongs are for the wet stuff – soak the kibble, mix with wet food or a bit of peanut butter (careful with the high fat items for waist reasons and waste reasons – a lot of fat consumed suddenly can cause diarrhea). Some freeze the Kongs making it even more of a challenge.

You can also stuff sterilized bones just beware hard floors and bones – this can be a noisy game and if you have downstairs neighbors this can be a game that creates conflict.

Food Finding
Another way to use food is to hide it – inside or out. Inside, having your dog down and stay (or having a helper hold your dog) then show your dog a treat, walk into another room and put it on the floor. Come back, tell him to “Find it” (or whatever words you wish to use) then go with him and cheer him on. Repeat, only each time make it a bit harder to find. NOTE: Unless you want your dog digging through the cushions, taking books off your shelves or rummaging in trash cans, don’t hide treats in those places. Keep hiding spots low and in areas that don’t require any destruction to get to them.

Outside, if you have snow, toss a treat in front of your dog where he sees it and encourage him to get it. Use a pole or broomstick and jam a hole in a snow bank, drop in some goodies and watch the fun!

Click
If you’ve never clicker trained your dog, give it a try. You’re bound to have fun and it will improve your timing as well as make you an avid hunter of rewardable moments – both good things. If it goes wrong, oh well. The world still spins and you can try it again.

Though purists would cringe, I say do whatever you need to do to get things going including (but not limited to) luring. The idea is to laugh and teach something new, not to defend your actions to a PhD committee. So, go play!

Bracken learns to put away her toys - useful and fun!


Novel Activities
This winter I taught Pip how to stand on the rungs of a horizontal ladder. Why? Why not! Well, truthfully the why is because she is quite straight front and rear so any game that causes her to have to balance herself builds up her muscles making her less prone to potential injury. I have a stability ball but find the ladder game easier for us to do on a regular and prolonged basis. Other novel activities that strengthen your dog can be found in Debbie Gross Saunders excellent DVD’s on the subject available at her website.

But you don’t need anything special to come up with ideas. Have your dog lie down on one stair (if he fits) or sit with his butt on a book, how about stand with his front paws in a box or on a box, how about making a tunnel with some chairs and a blanket and luring him through? Anything new that makes him think is just what we’re after.

Or teach novel things that are useful – have your dog carry things to family members by name, get you a roll of TP when asked, find your keys or the remote, close the door behind you, turn lights on or off at the switch – the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Not sure how to teach such things? Come by www.MySmartPuppy.com and ask us in Community. We’ll help!
Pip doing a Novel "Place" on a varikennel - in class. She found this interesting.


Have Some Class
This is a great time to take some local training class – a bit of agility or a round of rally perhaps? Get you both out and doing something new once a week? Give it a try!

This is also, depending on the weather, a great time for field trips. Car isn’t too hot and a stroll around a local pet supply store can be just what the Doctor ordered (I know, I know, purchasing will be involved but I can’t help that part).

Melissa Fischer takes her young Aussie, Petra, out to a Tractor Supply store with excellent results. :)

Be Silly
We all are predictable in our own ways. We touch our dogs, speak to our dogs, interact the same way every day often in routine ways hour by hour. Mix if up a bit. Doesn’t have to be fancy – sit on the floor for a cuddle, suddenly scoot down the hall laughing and clapping, sing, hide toys around and toss them over your shoulder as you go by (assuming you have one dog or, if more, that this won’t create havoc), suddenly duck behind a door and hide then call your dog. Side benefit: You may have a bit of fun yourself!

If you have willing helpers, a good game of hide and go seek is a romp. Teach you dog to find your kids by name. We hope you never need this but if you did, how useful would that be?

My goal, in the greyest of grey months is to make sure everyone in my household has at least a little fun every day and that includes me! We hold the keys to our dog’s well being which goes way beyond the physical.

If your dog is sleeping a lot more, seems listless and well, bored, maybe he is suffering for what we all suffer from these days – FEBRUARY FUNK!

Failure to be “bad” does not make a dog “good”

New show on TV – doesn’t matter which one, the point of this blog is to encourage people to hear past the hype and look for what they do not see. I’m going to focus on one particular adoption story.

This dog, after weeks of training, doesn’t give his trainer the time of day. The trainer trots along behind the dog - the dog doing his own thing. What is missing? We’re missing soft looks, tail wags, greetings, leaning in for touch, seeking even more touch. The profession could debate the trainer’s methods and application of those methods till the cows come home, but what is not debatable is that a) the dog even with repeated exposure to a specific interested and friendly person doesn’t appear to be interested, let alone connected and b) that this trainer is more dog savvy than the average pet home.

In dogs, overt aggression gets a dog pros attention but so does lack of interest in humans. I’d much rather see a jumping, mouthing, silly, people-loving dog than an aloof, disinterested dog. Jumping is a behavior that can be worked on – lack of interest in people can be much more resistant to change. And why does it matter that a dog doesn’t especially like people? It matters because we all – dog and human alike – tolerate more from that which we love. A dog who barely cares about people may well barely tolerate them when stressed or upset.

The show gives us plenty of “cute” moments but if you mute the sound and just watch the dog, he is too often a passive backdrop to the human’s clownish efforts. In one shot, the trainer is on the floor, laughing and “playing” with the dog. But look – what do we really see? We see a laughing human rubbing toys against the dog’s face. The dog lies there. What don’t we see? We don’t see an interactive dog at play – we don’t see pawing at the toy, head movement back and forth, ears back, tail wagging, or any such engagement. What we see is a dog tolerating this from the human. People easily mistake such blank behavior as being “good” but it’s not. It is being blank and blank is not “good” – not by a long shot.

If we applied a little of what we know about people to dogs, we would be wiser. (In a trainer’s perfect world, people would apply dog knowledge but we start on common ground and work out from there.) Imagine watching someone trying hard to engage a stranger in play. The initiator smiles, laughs, shows toys. The stranger stares at the person – no smile, no comment, no looking away. Just sits there and stares. Would you watch that and say “Oh, he is such a good guy! He’s doing just great!” or would you say, “Uh, oh, what’s up with this?”

Most people think of “bad behavior” as being overly active behavior and “calm” behavior as “good”. So the impassive dog can become labeled as “nice” when he is in fact barely tolerant and not retreating. Failure to be “bad” does not make a dog “good”.

Next we watch the dog at an adoption event. The dog is hanging out in the pen looking calm and quiet. But look at what we do not see. We do not see tail wagging, ears back greetings. He’s parked, which probably means he isn’t a reactive sort but that doesn’t mean he’s a friendly “pet”. He may just be a confident dog who isn’t especially social toward people.

Who shows interest? A young girl. She’s entranced. Not the dog. As the family interacts with this impassive animal we hear the “trainer” chime out: He’s good with children! How does he know? It does not appear he’s ever seen the dog with children other than a toddler-sized doll. Does acceptance of a doll warrant a blanket endorsement? If he is wrong, it will not be he who pays. It will be the child, the family, and the dog.

The mother might have asked “Good with children? Based on what?” or “How do you know?” but she doesn’t. She trusts the “expert”. She neither knows to ask nor is she prone to asking, since she’s hearing what she wants to hear. Her daughter likes this strangerdog who, as of yet, has made no friendly overtures that we’ve seen. We see no ears back, soft eyed, tail wagging. We just see an adult dog standing there . I fear this dog is saying “You may interact with me if you must” -- not “Whee! People! And oooohhhh mmyyyyy CHILDREN!!! How lucky am I!!”

Again, the failure to be “bad” is seen as a proof of being “good” but no one present is reading the dog. He is, currently, a blank screen on which they can freely project and boy I hope he stays that way. If your child ran up to a strange man and he stared at her blankly. No smile, no greeting and she said “Oh, he is sooooo cute, can we keep him?” and his social worker of a couple of weeks said, “Oh, he’s great with kids” and he stood there blankly looking at you and your kid – no hand shake, no smile – would you say, “Good enough for me! Let’s bring him home!”

Then, the shelter trainer takes the dog to the home and “introduces” this animal by (apparently) walking him directly in to the backyard with the two small dogs who live there, including what looks like an intact male. Next scene we see is the dog tail up and stiff, trotting through the yard dragging his lead.

This is the most risky way to intro strange dogs and is a horrendous model for pet people – walk a strange large breed dog into the yard with your two small dogs and let him go. Eek!

In the next few minutes of shooting, that tail does not come down, we see no soft greeting behavior – again, the dog appears impassive and way too confident for my comfort level.

The last scene we see the dog, open mouthed, and one of the small dogs comes by, there appears to be a flash lip retraction - a minuscule display but it shows intent and state of mine – the tail is still up. I did not tape it and could not play it back but I am pretty sure that’s what I saw. End of scene - the shelter trainer leaves them all… assumably happily ever after.

I hope so but it is pure hope. My experience tells me there is a high likelihood that this dog is going to have low patience for intrusion or interruption by kids or dogs and that there will be tension – or worse – in that household.

But I can not know. I know it is presented as a “happy” adoption story but after all my years in this work, I see it as one more story where both the good intentions and the safety of the family are being put at risk.

This probably makes me a grinch. No one is supposed to question to “good work” of shelters – as if good intentions are enough when placing dogs. I will go to bed every night this week hoping I am a grinch who is wrong. I hope so for the family, I hope so for that dog. And I really hope so for that little girl.

From here on out, whenever you watch any such show on TV, look carefully at what you are actually seeing. Don’t mistake calm for friendly, don’t mistake impassive for “nice” – look for dogs who clearly like people, who show immediate and sustained interest. Whenever an animal is involved, listen to what they say first, what the human says second. And let these words float in your mind: Failure to be “bad” does not make a dog “good”.

Labeling Liabilities

My "gang" walking along the rim of our "bowl" - PJ out in front in the Scout position - as always.


Watching my crew power through the softening snow here in New Hampshire (it is 50 degrees today) I thought about the journeys I have taken with each of them. And one of the things rolling around in my mind for the last week or so is how we all use labels – on our dogs and on each other.

Understanding dogs and people as unique individuals – each a snowflake in their own right - is key to working with them successfully. The slippery slope worth avoiding is labeling that which we personally find difficult or annoying as problematic, or in its worst incarnation, as pathology.

Yes, there are many real issues out there that dogs and people struggle with but there are fewer real issues than we have real labels. As teachers – and each of us training our own dogs is just that – it is important to separate our own preferences and limitations in ourselves from our students. The ones who press our buttons may be someone else’s dream dog. We can, if we’re not careful, pathologize the normal and when we do, we create problems for ourselves and our dogs.

Patholgizing seems to be a bit of a U.S. habit. And the cynic in me thinks this can be traced directly to the companies who medicate our illnesses. There are many real issues that benefit from medication, I am not debating that in the least. Just, as above, I think there are more pills than we have actual individual problems and pills are mega-big business. We’re not encouraged to tease out the reasons for things, to take action on controlling issues ourselves, to change what we do to change what we get - nope – once we have a "symptom" we, too often, seek a label rather than a solution. Once we have a label, more often than not, we get a pill to go with it.

The same is happening for dogs. Billions of dogs have lived hundreds of generations with us before we had drugs to treat behavior. We follow the same course with dogs as we have followed for ourselves. Tack a label on it: hyperactive, reactive, aggressive, has separation anxiety -- the labels can overwhelmed and make people feel powerless to change it. They remove the dog from the context of his life, then, the owner seeks out a white coat to medicate it. By then it moves out of our control/influence and becomes just “the dog”.

Are there dogs in each category who benefit from meds? Absolutely!
Are there owners of dogs in each category who benefit from the dog being on meds? Absolutely.
But do people seek out meds and labels more often than I’ve seen necessary? Without a doubt.

I could have labeled mine – and I have from time to time only to catch myself and work to change that mental habit. We all have to use words to describe our animals, just watch for the moment when terms change from character traits to “illnesses”. The “hyperactive” dog in the city may be the perfect ranch dog, hunting companion, jogging buddy or agility star. The “reactive” dog may be incredibly sensitive and bright, just in need to a leader he can count on to bloom into the companion he is capable of being, the “aggressive” dog can be threatened, fearful, hurting or feeling like he is protecting his person. It’s rare just the dog. It’s almost always the interface between the dog, the environment, and the person/people.


Here Bracken asserts herself with Pip, who, ears back says "Yes, Ma'am" and PJ looks on- tail slightly stiff and slightly raised for her - considering bouncing in. I would have stopped that if she had, but she did not... life moved on.



I was chatting a couple of weeks ago with a service dog trainer, and he mentioned how a pup in his care was “sound reactive” – this was a new pup from a breeder he did not know. I counseled him to be careful, that we didn’t know yet if this was the case or if he was just undersocialized by the breeder and so having normal responses to a new world.

Why does it matter? It matters because once you have labeled your dog in your mind (and heart) as, in this case, “sound sensitive” instead of “normal” then when he reacts to sounds, instead of helping him with joy, the handler is likely to have a more resigned or anxious response to the pup and that resigned or anxious response is likely to leave the pup more unsure than a happy, jollying one.

People also give up sooner on the labeled dog. “What can I do? He’s X”

Next time you have the urge to label, try reframing instead. Reframing is just that – hanging the same issue in a different “frame”. Easy ways to reframe include:

• This is a normal phase…
• This is normal for the breed…
• This is normal for the age…
• This is a normal response to this situation…

“Normal” doesn’t mean you live with it, just that you have faith that this isn’t a big deal and that it can be changed. When you go in with that attitude, you are less likely to psyche yourself out and the last thing any confused dog needs is a trainer who’s given up on him before she even starts.

Way back in the late 1980’s when Brian and I were running a large training facility on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a woman crossed my path with a pet store pup. This pup was terrified of everything she met or saw. I did my best to help but privately, I held little hope for this dog. In my opinion, she was beyond repair. Luckily, the owner didn’t share my opinion. They went on to get an AKC obedience degree together and while this little dog never would be what I would call “confident” she tried her little heart out for her person and her person had a world of faith in her and what she could become. My opinion about this dog would have limited my success with her. Those two beings – so happy together – remain a lesson for me to this day.

Those two helped to prepare me for both PJ and then for Pip, to see potential and when I didn’t see it, look harder. Celebrate the journey, try new things, try old things in new ways and, if that didn’t work, to try again. Not every dog is workable, but most are and none are without someone at the end of the lead to work them. I wish I remembered that woman’s name or her dog's, but I remember the best of them and carry that memory with me into my work today.

So I walk the rim of our land and I watch my crew whirl around me as the words I could have stuck on them forever whirl around in my head. I could have given up. I could have thrown in the towel. Thought about it with a couple of them more than once, but we found our way and in finding our way, I found greater understanding for them and for myself.

Resist labels that limit your dog – no matter who applies them. See things as workable and hopeful. If you get discouraged, talk to someone who will inspire you. Dwell on the gifts each dog brings into our lives. See a challenge as a chance to learn about new things and new ways. Don’t let your life with your dog become about the “problem”. Every creature is more than any label. Have fun.

Onward!

Good Deeds, Bad Roofs, and Big Questions

Needed to scoot back over to my friends house to cat tend and plant water today. Gray day with "mixed precip" but the cat has been waiting longer than I can tolerate (though she is well set up with food, water, and litter boxes).

Decided to bring PJ. Always hard to bring one of the group but PJ, as the bottom rung of our canine totem pole, really needs one-on-one time with me or rather, really, no other dog time. She is sensitive and steps back easier than forward so when she is on her own with me, she positively giggles with delight.

PJ is a friend - a calm, sweet, wickedly smart, friend. She is not a dog I "own", she is a dog who decided a while back she likes me and treats me that way. It's a funny thing, unlike any other relationship I've had with a canine, and I've had a few. You know the wonder of having a wild animal pause and watch you for a bit or a bird land near you and not fly away? That's what it is like to be with PJ.



She's a good friend, too. She doesn't dote or cling, but she's always aware of what's going on and if I am even remotely in a bad spot, she is there - swift silence - asking with her eyes, Do you need me?

Restrained - present - sensible - gentle... I doubt I will ever be graced with such a companion again. She came to us as a post 9/11 foster in 2001 and, in a tale familiar to fostering families everywhere, she never left.

Our friends place is way back and up a rather major driveway. Not trusting the way to be anything but slick, I parked below and put on my ice boots (with metal pegs in the bottom) and off we went.

The woods were winter quiet, just the sound of my breathing as we climbed - PJ was silent - of course. As we crested the rise I saw what I did not expect - the roof of their covered building, folded in on itself - collapsed under the weight of the recent snow and ice.



PJ and I walked the perimeter for not real reason. I wasn't going in, that's for sure, but you kind have to go a look - like slowing down when passing a wreck. Nothing I could do - nothing they can do. So after snapping a few pix to forward on, I went and tended the very happy to see me cat.

As I scooped her boxes, stroked her purring belly and got rubbed up against as I laughed... I pondered a thread over at MySmartPuppy while I also pondered Maya Angelou's wise words "When someone shows you who they are, believe them."

When your dog snaps at your child - believe them. Believe them 100%, they cannot speak more plainly and yet people dismiss it. I don't know why. Well I do. The blindness of love - they think because they love their dog and their dog loves them that the dog must be a "nice dog".

Nope. Not if you believe what a dog tells you, and you should.

It's hard to watch - I call this "Picnicking on the railroad tracks." The train whistle is blowing in the distance - but getting closer and closer. But they don't move. The tracks rumble and they share a finger sandwich.

So many bites on children could be avoided if parents just took dogs at their word. If they had a babysitter in the house who spun on the child, grabbed him and snarled in his face that one more step and she'd stab him but good - said while she brandishes a knife to his face - I doubt any parent on the planet would say "Oh, okay, well, she's such a nice woman and she's so nice to me that we're keeping her!"

Sigh... the question is how to get this message across before the child needs facial reconstruction and the dog faces a one way trip to the vet.

Not happy thoughts. As I lock the house back up, I glance down at my funny little girl and feel grateful. Grateful that I believe what she tells me and she tells me good things.

We wander back down the driveway - past moose tracks and dung, bare birches and drooping pine branches - and take in this moment of peace together.



We can only do what we can - and, at least today, we do it together.

Onward - Sarah

A walk in the woods on a snowy day...

and I took the road less walked upon... wait a minute, that sounds familiar somehow...

Up on the coast of Maine today. A group walk through the December woods was planned but napping and sitting by the fire felled one person after another, so I had the delight of heading out "alone" - if you can be a lone with four of your beloved companions.

A friend lets us stampede her private road down to her private cove. Warm today, much had melted so the walking was easier than yesterday. We could go, wordless, together. The two shepherds trotting ahead but age and stiffness kept them to the road. Pip and PJ felt no such restrictions and dashed back and forth like swallows ahead of, around and behind us. Breaking the trudging sounds of us older folk with their joyous launching and landing through the winter crunch.

We moved as a group - no calls were made and yet we were connected through out. When we got to the cove, it was low tide. Rocks and seaweed laid bare, the grey winter ocean lapping some ways a way. Pip lost no time getting to the water's edge and wading back and forth, clearly just for the fun of it. The other's took a more dry land approach.

They suggested a walk around the point. By suggest, I mean they cut that way out of sight, then came back into view and looked at me, went back out and came back - "what do you think? How about this way?" and with no human to discourage my trek, off we went.

The rocks were ocean slick and tippy but I've clambered on Maine rocks since I could walk and know how to go with care. Taking this rather whimsical winding way made my body feel more like 7 than 47 - having to focus on each step, making sure the moving foot had a safe planting before shifting my weight.

Pip and PJ able to romp ahead, down at the water's edge. Confident that we were the only one's out, I could let them go hundred's of yards ahead without concerns. Watching them be the dogs they are, made me smile many times as I would pause to look at some ice formation or admire a tide tumbled rock.

The shepherds, of course, escorted me - concerned and close as we went along. Doing what they do best, tending their flock of 1 and I tended them. It works for us.

When we finally reached what passes for beach in Maine, tumbled rocks egg sized or smaller, I could pause- - take in the pines and earth, the rugged cut of Maine's landscape which taught me early to love harsh terrain and the people who lived in it.

Walking back toward the car, the terriers had no slowed a bit, the shepherds had a little, but the bounce in their step and the light in their eyes makes me happy we took the less travelled road today.

It is Christmas Eve, 2007, and it is good to spend a part of it this way.

Happy Holidays!