Pooch Master

2008-05-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Dog Bite Question

Q: Should I discipline my dog if it bites someone?

A: NO. It won't work, and you might just cause your dog to bite you, too. You will not prevent a future bite, either. Dog training, and behavior modification, is more complicated than this kind of simple, emotional reaction. You need to hire a good dog trainer.

2008-05-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Cosmetic Surgery For Pets?

DOGS having liposuction? Pups with testicle implants? How about porcelain veneers for your canine companion? It may sound barking mad, but cosmetic surgery for dogs is a very real and lucrative business.

Ridiculous. This is part and parcel of what is happening when we start to imagine animals as little furry people

Why can't a dog be a dog? What's wrong with that? And why would you let your dog become Miss Piggy?

2008-05-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

Take The Keys!

A teen who stole a car from a grocery store parking lot also took a pet pug that was in the vehicle. Police said a 30-year-old Fond du Lac woman left the dog in her car when she went in the store about 11 p.m. Thursday, and she also left the keys inside and a window rolled down. When she returned the car was gone.

I have no problem with leaving dogs in cars when the weather is appropriately safe and the dog is safe from escaping... but... TAKE THE KEYS BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DOG ALONE!

Do people leave keys in their cars as a regular habit anymore?

In the old days, I remember being able to go and play with my best friend, Rusty, several houses away. I was 5 years old. Mom was out of sight. The neighborhood was safe. And that's the way we used to do things. Young adults today can't even imagine what it was like for me back then.

There was a Leave It To Beaver / Andy Griffith type of world back then for a lot of people. Nowadays, it is about bicycle helmets, not letting kids play with toy guns, not taking sugary snacks to school, no hugging your best friend, never letting your kids out of your sight, and on and on. Dogs have gotten the shaft, too. Leashes all the time, ridiculous barking laws, breed bans, height and weight restrictions in apartments, and on and on.

There was a better way back then, and a lot of people lived that way. Some didn't have it so easy, especially blacks and other minorities.

We just have to figure out how to get back to that place, but next time including everyone... and their dogs.

2008-05-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

Stuff I Don't Understand

An assessment was ordered on Friday to determine if a man who admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl and videotaping himself having sex with his dog should be declared a long-term offender or dangerous offender.

Why?

What causes people to be this way?

And is there any other choice but to lock someone up like this for the rest of their lives?

2008-05-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

How Goofy Are You?

Want to know how goofy people are?

I received a recent inquiry from someone wanting to know if their dog was vicious. Their dog bit them after they hit their dog. Duh. It's an ANIMAL. It's not going to let you just hurt it and take it.

Then I get the people coming to my blog trying to find pit fighting dogs. Unfortunately, my blog doesn't encourage barbarism, and I hope they get a good slap upside the head when they find out I hate dog fighting, and think those that do it are morons.

Or the people who are too cheap to go to the vet, so they are surfing the internet for answers instead. Some stuff you need a doctor. Got it? You can't wait. You can't treat it yourself. Your dog is suffering or dying. Get to the vet NOW!

Or the lazy, but well meaning, people that believe all the hype some dog trainers tell them, without getting references to check out the claims. There are abusive trainers out there. I know of a couple of liars and nutcases that I wish would just go out of business today. There are so-called trainers out there that will fry dogs with electric collars. But, it's not my job to go after them. Let the law do it. Let the media do it. Let them hang themselves. I know this: what comes around, goes around. I have a number of past customers who have told me stories that I won't print here about trainers that charged them huge fees and got nothing meaningful in return. I know of one customer who spent $3,000 to have her dogs house trained. The trainer came for 2 hours and left them with a pamphet. It didn't work. Check out what I charge to house train your dog. Any trainer that claims they can give a complete and permanent solution to any and every dog problem, and train any dog to do anything, without you doing anything, is a liar. And any person who hires such a liar will come to regret what happens to their dog. Why, there are guys out there that will claim they can protection train any dog. Sorry, if it was that easy, then the police wouldn't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to obtain specially bred dogs.

And on and on.

Common sense isn't so common, I guess.

2008-05-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

Dogs Do Prevent Crime

A family dog is being hailed a hero after it stopped an intruder from breaking into their Madison Heights home while two teenagers were home alone. Her dog ran to the intruder and cornered him behind the back door, preventing him from leaving.

There are legitimate reasons for a dog to attack. We should remember that when enacting laws. And we should ignore the dog haters who would ban dogs from our communities, parks, neighborhoods, apartment complexes, and so forth. And we should remember that when passing barking laws. Those barking dogs drive criminals away. I'd rather have some false alarms, hearing some neighborhood dogs bark from time to time, than have my home broken into, or a family member harmed, by some nutcase.

2008-05-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Slippery Slope

Another council has been caught using surveillance laws designed to combat organised criminals - this time to catch dog owners whose pets foul the grass. One MP accused the council of playing at "Dick Tracy" detectives. Brian Binley, Conservative MP for Northampton South, condemned his local borough council for employing the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), which is intended for use "in the interests of national security", saying "some semblance of sanity" needed to be restored.

We trust public officials to maintain public order. We also pass laws for specific purposes. Laws, however, can be abused by overzealous prosecutors. Here's a good example of that. If anyone thinks that prosecutors don't have too much power, all you have to do is look at the Duke lacrosse players incident. When you abuse the law as a public official, you cause people to lose respect for authority. Do you really think that the people in North Korea respect the leaders? Or are they just intimidated by them? What comes around, goes around in this world. Elliot Spitzer comes to mind.

We pass anti-terror laws to protect us against terrorists. Do this kind of thing with the law, the public will demand the law be repealed, and then the real criminals will eventually kill someone.

All this, just to clean up some dog poop?

Reminds me of this...

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

2008-05-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wash Your Hands After Handling Dog Food

Contaminated dry dog food contributed to a Salmonella outbreak in 2007 that sickened at least 70 people in 19 states in 2006 and 2007, many of them babies, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

A spate of Salmonella outbreaks in humans has been connected to handling pet treats such as pig ears or food snacks, pet vitamins, and raw-food diets. However, the CDC said the S Schwarzengrund outbreak is the first to be associated with dry pet food.

The CDC advises people to wash their hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds after handling dry pet food, treats, or supplements to avoid getting sick from contaminated pet food. It also advises keeping infants away from pet feeding areas and making sure young children don't touch or eat the items.

I didn't know that. I am definitely going to be more careful in the future.

2008-05-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Pet Insurance

Mike Pickard, head of pet insurance at esure, which commissioned the research, said: "Today's household pets are treated more like members of the family and this new attitude is reflected in the amount owners spend on their pet's lifestyle. "Despite this, many pets remain uninsured. Vets' fees can be very expensive and owners should bear in mind that, ultimately, their pet's health is more important than the latest dog accessories or expensive treats."

I used to be a skeptic of pet insurance, but no longer. I'm going to buy it for my next dog. I used to think that dogs were pretty healthy. Many people think that mixed bred dogs are healthier than purebred dogs. Wrong. Sorry. I've watched my customers have to spend just as much on their mutts as their prized show dogs. There is no documented study, to my knowledge, that proves that mutts are any healthier than pure breds. Thus, I'm sure this is another urban legend promoted by the animal rights wackos to destroy dog breeders.

2008-05-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

OH, Canada! What Is Wrong With You?!

The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday ruled that random drug searches using police sniffer dogs are unlawful, citing constitutional protections from unreasonable search and seizure... a man was arrested at a Calgary bus depot in January 2002 by officers on the lookout for drug couriers after a black labrador named Chevy sniffed drugs in his luggage. A subsequent search of the man, who was approached at first because he stared suspiciously at police, found 17 ounces (482 grams) of cocaine in his bag and a small amount of heroine in his pocket. "The sniff in this case was an unreasonable search since the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) officer did not have grounds for reasonable suspicion at the time the dog was called."

Great. So, I assume, if the dog smelled bomb material instead of cocaine, and the man was at an airport instead of at the bus station, then the Canadian Supreme Court would have let the man onto the plane, let him blow himself up, and let possibly thousands of people die.

We are in a period not unlike that prior to WW II, where the people let themselves be led by pacifists in order to avoid the reality of the fact that the world was heading towards catastrophe. Leftists leaders have led nations like Canada into a moral paralysis not unlike what the world saw in the 1930's. People have forgotten history, and are therefore, doomed to repeat it. Look at the ignorant statements of Barack Obama, saying the US should talk to its enemies, in the same manner as FDR, Truman, and Kennedy did. HUH? Did FDR negotiate with Hitler? Did they sit down and have tea together to discuss how best to roast Jews in the Nazi ovens? Hmm... let's see. Nope. FDR went to war against those fanatics and sent 5 million of those arrogant, vicious, preening, goose stepping cultists to death. It was the only way. Didn't Truman drop 2 nuclear weapons on Japan because there was no way to negotiate with the fanatics in power there? Didn't Kennedy take the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile crisis? None of these three were pacifists, and none of them disarmed the Western world when facing down ruthless enemies. We are toying with the ideas of the past that led to calamity because we don't want to face the fact that this is a dangerous world.

If a police officer can identify something illegal going on in a public place using a dog, then the police officer should act. You don't have a reasonable right of privacy everywhere you go. In this case, it happened to be drugs that the dog smelled. Drugs are serious business. They KILL people. Ever read about what meth does to people's lives sometime? Or cocaine? It's not a game. It isn't like drinking a beer while you are barbecuing some hamburgers for the family picnic. And what if next time it was a bomb or a chemical weapon? Then whose civil rights are more important to everyone? The rights of the fanatic or the rights of the thousands of people the fanatic is intending on killing?

And so what if this is Canada, some might say. Let them do what they want there and we'll do what we want here. That's all fine and dandy until a group of these nutcases board planes in Canada and sets off bombs simultaneously in some other country and kills thousands of people. Don't think that is a reality? This same scenario was stopped last year, only the fanatics involved were going to come flying in from Europe into the US.

This ruling should be reversed by the Canadian legislature, and those judges should be chucked out of office, leaving with the same shame that will forever be attached to Neville Chamberlain. Good people should not sit idly by and let evil have it's way.

2008-05-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

DMX Arrested On Animal Cruelty Charges

After a 7-month investigation, Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies arrested Earl Simmons, better known as rapper DMX, at his Cave Creek home early Friday morning on suspicion of misdemeanor animal cruelty and felony drug possession.

Deputies on Friday also confiscated marijuana that appeared to be packaged for sale, drug paraphernalia and weapons, according to a court document.

Read the article. A lot of dogs died in this case. DMX. What a stupid nickname. Now it is going to be ITLMV (In Trouble Like Michael Vick)... or something like that.

I think he's an idiot.

2008-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Dogs Are Not Playmates

“The grandmother said the teen was on the trampoline and could not get off because the dog was still trying to get him. Animal Control arrived and was able to subdue the dog,” he said.

“The teen told officers that he was playing with the dog when he decided to go inside the residence,” said Mitchell. “He ran toward the residence toward the back door when suddenly he was bitten on the leg by the dog and knocked to the ground. He had tried to get the dog off but that’s when the dog bit him on the head. He was finally able to break free but had to get on top of the trampoline where the dog couldn’t get to him.”

People just don't get the idea that dogs are not playmates. Dogs are dogs, and for some, if you treat them like playmates, you lose your authority with them and they will try to control you by force. There are ways to play with and enjoy dogs properly, and there are things that will get you in a heap of trouble with some dogs. I think the latter was going on here. Too bad the kid was bitten and too bad the dog will be put to death. That's why you should work with a dog trainer with every new dog you get. You'd be amazed at what stuff I see people do with their dogs that is unwise.

2008-05-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

Negligence

A woman locked a dog in a bedroom until it died of starvation because she was "too knackered" to care for it.

Negligence is defined as: failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances.

Some negligence is civil, some is criminal...

Carlisle told the court: "I just couldn't hack it. I didn't have the time. I had to go to YMCA for a training course and had to get up early and sometimes I was knackered when I came back.

She was ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work, pay £250 costs and was banned for life from keeping animals.

Look, this person has got to be a total nutcase to do this kind of thing. This should have been treated as a criminal matter. We should arrest and jail people for intentionally starving helpless animals to death.

2008-05-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

Rent A Dog?

Animal welfare organisations expressed concern about a rent-a-dog service introduced in Britain which allows busy people to own part-time pets.

If I wouldn't let some stranger walk off with my dog, then why would I set up a business where strangers could walk off with my dog? Crazy. People don't take care of things to the same level of care that they do with things that are their own.

2007-12-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

Kids and Dogs... Another Bite That Could Have Been Prevented

A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl has been bitten on the ear and head by a long-haired labrador after she took away his bone on a country property in Victoria's north.

Was this a pit bull? No. Was this a Rottweiler? No. Just an average dog in an average town doing what dogs do.

Dogs and small kids SHOULD NOT BE LEFT UNSUPERVISED. This type of situation, where the kid takes the dog's bone is a sure fire way of triggering a bite. Small kids should not be messing with a dog's bone, and parents need to be aware of this and put the bones away when the dog and child are together. Similarly, kids need to be kept away from the dog's food bowl when the dog is eating.

Yes, I know you can do all kinds of training and socializing with dogs to try and prevent this kind of thing. But, you are still messing with nature and you are taking chances that you shouldn't be taking.

Watch dogs play sometime and see what the rules of the pack are. All the training in the world won't change the fact that dogs are dogs.

2007-12-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Off Leash Park Hazards

A greyhound was fatally injured in a collision with another dog at the off-leash park in Sequim.

I am sure there are a lot of unreported injuries at off leash parks. Some dogs and activities bring a lot of risk to some dogs. For example, some of the large breeds have a tendency to run and smash into the sides of other dogs, which can blow out the knee joint of the dog that was hit. I know a breeder who does not let her large breed dogs play at full speed together for this very reason. With smaller dogs, say under 70 lbs, this isn't typically a problem. They are more agile and usually have quicker reflexes. You just have to watch what is going on in such a situation and get your dog out of there if you see something that looks risky.

I am not opposed to off leash parks, just so you know... It is just that they are unregulated and managed by novices who might not see the risks before it is too late.

2007-12-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

Communism... Doncha Love It?

Outraged that his Internet posting about dogs had been banned, Chen Yuhua wrote to the mayor of Beijing. No answer. He wrote to the city council. Still no answer. When all else failed, he consulted a lawyer, studied China's civil code and marched into court with a lawsuit... it was also a sign that, beneath the ever more prosperous surface, some of China's educated elite may be growing impatient with a one-party authoritarian system in which anonymous bureaucrats decide what movies, plays, novels or social commentaries are safe enough for public consumption. Chen's posting was an attack on the Beijing municipal government's regulations barring any dog over 14 inches high and restricting each family to only one dog. These rules are unreasonable and are enforced arbitrarily, he contended in his essay. "It is so funny that people may have a 35-centimeter-high dog but may not have a 36-centimeter-high dog," he said. Criticism of government policies and nonconformist political views, however, are not taken lightly in China.

China is a great nation, and I highly respect the Chinese people. Hopefully, they will throw off the chains of Communism soon. This is how silly it gets when you try to over-regulate people. We even see this kind of garbage here in the good ol' free US of A... proposed pit bull bans, stupid anti-barking laws, and on and on. No one likes a world run by a bunch of busybodies.

Case in point...

"Subject: Barking dog

Dear Sam,

Hello. Wondering if you have any ideas for the following situation? I have a neighbor behind my house, who happens to be a deputy sheriff who do not want my dog to bark AT ALL; and has nearly gotten me a MISDEMEANOR with potential jail time, because of my barking dog. I have a 5 year old dog who is mainly an in-doors pet. I adopted her from the dog pound 4 years ago. This dog barks when the door bell rings, when hears someone comes into the yard, loud noises etc) and has a rather loud bark. --I don't believe it barks excessively or constantly, nor any of my neighbors, except for the one deputy neighbor of mine. Who called the police to my home 7 times since I moved to the neighborhood, left nasty notes at my door, and ultimately landed me in court to face a poss. misdemeanor, which I fought and got dismissed. I've tried citronella sprays, shock collars, anti-bark devices, correcting the dog immediately when it barks etc. Despite all that an my best efforts to keep her quiet, the dog still barks (though not excessively) for the above reasons... What else is there to do?? I am at a point that I am about to take the dog back to the pound. My kids are in tears every day about it, and that is not really what I'd like to do, but this neighbor has managed to harass us constantly that we live in a continued stress and worrying that the dog may bark. I've heard about a surgery where the dog's vocal cords can be removed. Is that recommended in a case such as this?? And, what is involved with doing that?? I would appreciate your advice."

I'd do what this guy did in China... Maybe it will work here. Banning barking and making it criminal is no different than banning dogs. Dogs make noise, folks. Get used to it.

2007-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Cause?

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- A Paulden man slit his dog's throat after complaining that the dog was staring at him, then assaulted the deputies trying to arrest him, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.

Drugs? Mental Illness? Who knows what causes people to do things like this. I wonder how many pets suffer at the hands of people who are addicted or who need professional psychiatric help.

2007-12-13T04:36:00.000-08:00

Dogknapping!

A Yorkshire terrier snatched from the arms of its 13-year-old owner in Hawthorne remains missing four days after the theft. Hayes' daughter was walking home with two friends about 3:30 p.m. Friday in the 4200 block of 116th Street when they were approached by a woman who asked to see the dog, named Lil-Man. Ishii said it is uncommon for dogs to be stolen right from an owner's arms; pet thieves usually take dogs from backyards. However, recently there have been a string of pet thefts in the Los Angeles area, including an incident last month at a La Mirada pet store.

Most crimes like this are to support a drug habit or some kind of organized crime related to drugs, is my guess. I wrestled for a long time over whether or not to legalize illegal drugs. After seeing what it does to to people, knowing of people who have died, and how it affects society, I am solidly convinced that illegal drugs should stay illegal.

I know that people can get into desperate straights in life. I know that young people can do dumb things to try and fit in, and abuse drugs and alcohol. And I have compassion for them. Yet, once hooked, they harm themselves and others. The greater compassion is to not enable them to further injure themselves or others.

(By the way, notice that dogs are increasingly being stolen in LA, and what filth happens there eventually moves out across the rest of the country. and mostly from back yards. Don't leave your dog unsupervised in the back yard, especially if it is a purebred or pit bull!)

2007-12-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

What About Prong And Chain Collars?

Some things in dog training don't make sense to a novice. There are a lot of things like that in life.

And here is the real life irony of all of this: I was being interviewed by a potential customer the other day about training their two little one-year-old bratty, out of control, aggressive, dominant, barking, peeing miniature dogs. First, they told me how they spank their dogs for a variety of things, and then they asked me if I was going to use a prong collar when training dogs! Here they are, novices who know nothing about dog training, HITTING THEIR DOGS, and they are wondering if Sam The Dog Trainer, a professional, is going to be the one hurting their dogs! What if I went around and said I had a new method of training dogs that involved slapping little fuzzy dogs around, do you think anyone would hire me? Yet, they are doing this very thing, and not thinking anything about it, yet they are worried I'm going to hurt their dogs using a correction collar. Whose advice should I follow, the novice who slap their dogs around, or the master trainers that I learned my craft from?

It Is Like Childbirth

What if I told you that it is sometimes safer to take a knife and cut open a woman's stomach than for her to have a child naturally? But, that is what a caesarean section is all about, right? For a guy, that kind of thing seems completely outrageous. We think to ourselves: "Man, I wouldn't cut myself open for any reason, and I sure don't want someone cutting my wife open. Can't she just have the baby like my grandmother did 100 years ago?" But the truth is that for some women, a vaginal delivery could put the mother's or baby's life at risk, and the surgery is the safest option. So, being a novice makes you cringe at the thought of a woman being surgically opened up to deliver a baby. But, to a doctor, it makes them cringe if they know a baby is dying during delivery, and is clearly in distress, and some novice is telling them that they should make the mother have the baby naturally anyway.

Who Is The Master And Who Is The Student?

I have always loved martial arts movies. It is also one reason why I have always like Star Wars. Yoda was the Master and Luke was the student. Then there was that old TV series, Kung Fu, with David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine. Sigh. I miss those shows. Remember all the flashbacks, when Caine would question his masters and he found that what he thought to be true wasn't?

Caine asked, "Master, do we seek victory in contention?" His Master Kwan responded, "Seek rather not to contend." Then Caine questioned the logic of his Master, "But shall we not then be defeated?" But his Master knew better and said, "We know that where there is no contention, there is neither defeat nor victory. The supple willow does not contend against the storm, yet it survives."

I love that stuff.

You have to make a decision. If you believe I know what I'm doing, then you are going to have to trust me that I won't harm your dog, and I'm going to use safe and humane methods to train your dog. You have already received a few references from me, or you have been referred to me by someone you trust who can vouch for the fact that I trained their dogs safely and humanely. You are the novice, not me. I am the one with years and years of experience training all types of dogs, even little cute, fuzzy, cuddly dogs like yours. You are the one hiring me because you don't know what to do to train your dog properly, not the other way around.

You can read more here.

2007-12-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

Dog killer gets 30 days in jail

During the trial, jurors heard testimony of how one man held down the miniature Yorkshire terrier named Gizmo while Crawford got a running start and kicked the animal high in the air.

What kind of person do you have to be to do something purposeful like this?

2007-12-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Freak Accidents

Firefighters said a grease fire that left $50,000 in damage to a Topeka home erupted after a dog shut a woman out of the house while fish was frying on the stove.

Sound like something that can't happen to you? I know of a similar situation that happened to someone I know earlier this year.

2007-11-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Enjoy yourselves!

By the way: 1.) Keep holiday foods away from dogs. Much of it can kill a dog, especially fatty things like the turkey skin; 2.) Watch escape points from the house so your dog doesn't run away; 3.) Protect your dog from guests and your guests from your dog.

2007-11-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Can You Tell Me How This Makes Sense?

Woman gets a dog (pit bull) two days ago

Dog is left in the yard and it digs up the plants

Woman hits dog

Dog bites woman

Dog is taken by animal control and the dog is going to be put to death.

Why should it be OK for someone to hit a dog and then it not be OK for the dog to defend itself from someone that isn't its pack leader?

2007-11-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

Kids And Dogs

Follow me and see where I'm going... The first story is about a dog who attacked and killed a kid in Phoenix:

A family is grieving after learning their pet dog is responsible for mauling their four-year-old loved one to death. Sheriff's deputies say initially the dog nipped and grabbed at Tori's arm when she and her sister were alone in the backyard. The two girls were in the presence of three other dogs, including a pair of terriers that were staying at the home temporarily. When Rachelle went to get help from the nanny inside the home, the dog started grabbing a Tori's throat. A close family friend, Dani During, said she believes the dog got jealous of the two terriers that had been staying at the house.

During said that the dog seemed friendly and would jump on and lick visitors to the home. The family adopted the dog about a year ago. During contends the bulldog may have become jealous when he attacked because Tori was playing with other dogs the family was keeping temporarily.

Then here is the second story:

Police are still looking into what exactly happened in a Waukegan apartment early Sunday morning when a dachshund chewed off the genitals of a 4-month-old boy. The father of the boy told police he was visiting his girlfriend with his son when the infant fell asleep on a couch. The girlfriend had placed blankets around the child and the two went into another room to sleep. Police said the girlfriend’s dachshund may have smelled urine in the child’s diaper and began to chew away at the diaper. The dog continued to destroy the diaper until he mutilated and ingested the child’s genitals. The girlfriend awoke to the child screaming and immediately called 911.

First thing I notice, as a dog trainer, is that in both situations THE KIDS WERE LEFT ALONE WITH THE DOGS! Kids and dogs SHOULD NOT BE LEFT UNSUPERVISED WITH A DOG, EVER! I don't believe a child under 12 years old should be left alone with a dog. The whole social situation changes when the adults leave the area, and behaviors that would be inhibited by the presence of the adults are no longer restrained. The behavior of the kids changes when the adults aren't present, and they will do things they shouldn't do. The behavior of the dogs changes when the adults aren't present, too, and they will do things that they shouldn't do.

Second, I am especially concerned about the set up of the first story. In this situation, there were new dogs introduced into the home. That can, and probably did, set up a competitive situation. That is one reason why we don't let strangers enter into the daycare area at Paws To Play doggie daycare without our direct supervision. Even friendly dogs can do bad things when ignorant people do dumb things with them.

There is a way to enter a pack of dogs. First, you establish your leadership, and then and only THEN should you consider giving any affection. Most people do it the other way around, and that can set up either a dog fight or someone being bitten. This little girl was apparently playing with the two terriers. Most people don't know how to read dog behavior in a situation like this, and don't realize that a fight is about to break out. Kids have a tendency to nurture dogs that are being picked on by bigger dogs, or to gravitate towards the vulnerable looking dog. Kids MUST be supervised, because you have to know how to approach and interact with dogs that have not formed a pack. This is also why you should never let your kid go unsupervised into a friend's backyard when dogs are present or into a leash free dog park.

I notice that in the first story, the dog was known for being rude to guests: "the dog seemed friendly and would jump on and lick visitors to the home." Dogs that are rude to guests are more likely to engage in a dog fight when a competitive situation arises. Many people interpret jumping up and licking guests to be a friendly behavior set. It isn't. It is rude and often says something about the dog's status in the home. I recently entered the home of a potential customer, the dogs started jumping up on me, the owner was telling me how friendly they were, I was starting to say how rude they were (and was about to tell him to separate the dogs), when a dog fight broke out. The jumping up on me wasn't friendly at all. I think it very possible that this kind of competitive situation happened with this little girl who was mauled to death. Spoiled dogs often are the rudest of dogs. I have written about them before. Spoiled dogs don't have proper leadership, and that can lead to a situation such as this. Spoiled kids can also trigger such an attack. I've offended a number of customers when I told them to modify how their kids interact with the dog. I lost a potentially good customer the other day for that very reason. Let's just hope that something tragic like this never happens in their family.

Third, if you read the stories, you'll find that the kid that was mauled to death was playing on a swing set. I have evaluated a handful of dogs that were overly stimulated by kids on swing sets, and would bite at them as they were swinging or when they got off the swing. I think swing sets stimulate a dog much the same way as swinging a rag around can stimulate some dogs. It activates their prey instincts, and when that drive isn't satisfied, it frustrates the dog, and frustration can lead to aggression. If you watch a protection dog trainer run around a dog, back and forth, to try and stimulate the dog to bite, then you'll see what I mean. I think that swing sets can do the same around some dogs.

Who knows? There could be alternate reasons why these horrible things happened to these kids. News reporting can oftentimes leave out important story details since reporters aren't dog behaviorists or trainers. They just tell the story that was told to them. But, I think my take on the story is probably the best explanation of what happened given what we know at this juncture. And now that the dogs are dead, and we aren't there to set up an evaluation, we will never know.

I will say this: If you get a dog, and you don't train it, enforce proper manners, exercise leadership around the dog, supervise the dog when it is loose, and contain the dog when it can't be supervised, then you are asking for trouble. This is more than just getting some treats and going through a couple of classes at your local pet store. And if you have a kid: never leave the kid unsupervised with a dog, and teach the kids how to act around a dog. Don't let your kid be unmannerly around a dog, or you could be very sorry one day.