Phoenix Dog Trainer and Behaviorist, by Sam The Dog Trainer; Sam Basso trains dogs and puppies in the Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, San Tan Valley, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Glendale, Gilbert, AZ and surrounding areas.
I have worked with numerous dog owners who needed to fly their dogs to some other location. We plan and train a lot to help prepare the dog. After all these years, my students haven’t had any bad experiences. But you can’t ever completely prepare a dog for a plane flight because the real experience will never match the training 100%.
There are a lot of things that can be done, however, in advance. Plan accordingly…
Family dog aids in rescue of 11-year-old owner after Helene mudslide in western North Carolina
Family rescues dog, dog rescues family...
The dog stayed near the collapsed home and alerted rescuers that the child was trapped under the debris. How many stories like this have we seen over the years? Many. A dog is more than a pet, more than just a furry rug that we feed.
Violent crime isn't down 2.1%, according to the FBI, it's up 4.5%
That is a LOT. That is a big increase in only a year.
Dogs can be more than companions, they can alert you to bad people and be a deterrent to criminals. There are a lot of dogs in rescue that would be great pets and increase your safety. Many people are going to shelters just to find a friend... maybe some people should also consider that some of these more watchful dogs might be a better fit in the long run. What you want is a dog that isn't so fearful that they won't fit into your home or life, but are suspicious when appropriate and will let you know (usually by barking) that something just isn't right.
Read the article. I don’t understand the man’s explanation.
You can’t abandon a dog like this these days and expect it will go well for you. People abandon dogs in the AZ deserts… we need more enforcement on those cases.
A lot needs to be arranged, discussed and planned when hiring a pet sitter. I am wondering if more formal training should be offered by these online services to prevent accidents. I don’t know the factual specifics of this case, but something went seriously wrong. Read the article.
If you take your dog for a walk in an area with cattle, you are in danger if they are not behind a fence. They see your dog as a threat, as a predator, and will act accordingly to protect themselves. Many people don’t know that. In AZ, there are cattle on BLM range land, and it is dangerous to hike with your dog in those areas.
Plan accordingly…
If you are deeply involved in animal welfare, then you should make yourself deeply aware of the economics of pet ownership and animal welfare. National and local economic trends play a significant role in adoptions and pet retention.
Regarding the meat of the linked article, I don't think you can use selective euthanasia to solve municipal shelter overcrowding issues. Instead, they should be privatized. Microeconomics add up to macroeconomics. All inefficiencies along the supply chain need to be eliminated.
Dogs are sometimes referred as the new kids. While I think it is great to own a dog, I think there is something wrong with society when it promotes the idea that a dog is the same as having a child. Dogs are dogs, great pets, every good family should consider having one. But they aren’t kids. Shouldn’t be treated as kids. Shouldn’t be placed in a role in the family as a child. It’s OK for a dog to be a dog. If you want a child, there are options for many... including adoption. Let's not confuse the two, regardless of how much we love our dogs.
The dogs attacked and killed the owner’s child. The stimulus for the fight wasn’t determined in the article. Often these cases are a result of getting into the middle of a dog fight, food guarding, pain stimulus, or some kind of teasing. But there can be other causes. You need to know your dogs before letting your dogs play alone with your child.
Setting that aside, note that sometimes you need to take extreme measures to stop a dog attack. I have spoken to people who were attacked by dogs, and they are traumatized that they were helpless to stop the attack. Sometimes, you can’t. You need the help of others and sometimes the only solution is to end the life of the dog.
Plan accordingly…
I’m fascinated by hunting dogs. I have considered getting a pointer and learning how to bird hunt. I’m also a fan of the Dakotas. Amazing part of the country.
It is about time this ban is repealed. It is nonsense to ban dog breeds. Normal people can raise and manage any dog breed. Bad people will do bad regardless of the laws.
I’ve been warning about this for years. In Yellowstone, the rule is to keep 100 yards minimum distance from wolves. As wolves are desensitized to being near human habitations, there will be deadly confrontations, and it won't just be over them eating pets and livestock. Just like with bears, they need to be managed and the public needs to better understand how to coexist. A fed bear is a dead bear. And I think the same is coming with the introduction of wolves to the West. I think we will hear that a fed wolf is a dead wolf. Wildlife officers will be sent out to dispatch dangerous wolves, and residents are going to have to take self defensive precautions. We are going to find out that they are not just benign creatures. They are formidable predators, like wolves and bears, and deserve the respect of that status.
This entire wolf thing has not been well thought out and the public isn’t aware or prepared for what is coming. More conflicts are coming.
What can I say? You can’t leave dogs like this alone in the yard. They are theft magnets. This is especially true as we approach the holidays. Your dog is at extra risk from now until New Years.
I’m guessing the dog was left outside because the dog isn’t house trained. That isn’t unusual.
This is a valid concern in AZ. People live in homes directly adjacent to the desert. Coyotes (and other predators such as bobcats) are incredibly athletic and able to scale fences and walls to get at pets.
There are a few things you can do and can’t do with regards to wild animals. Fish and game departments in every state will give you ideas. Generally, you can harass wildlife on your property, but many species are protected, and you often can’t legally use lethal methods. Ask about ways to run them off.
It is important to walk around your premises and see what kinds of vulnerabilities you have. How high are your walls and fences? Are they in good condition? Are you leaving out things that would be attractive to a predator, such as dog toys (chewables such as bully sticks, etc.)? Are you cleaning up feces? Are you leaving water and food bowls outside? Are you leaving edibles in open containers? Doggie doors are a risk; I'm not a fan of them. Coyotes and other predators have been known to enter homes and do their dastardly deeds.
Lastly, it is important to supervise your pets, especially if you have a large yard with places to hide. The smaller the dog, the more vulnerable. But even big dogs have been attacked. Two or more coyotes are more than a match for most pets, regardless of breed. There are some breeds that were developed to dispatch predators, but most people won’t have dogs that were specifically bred and proven to do this. Just because you have a Great Pyrenees doesn’t mean your dog has the genetics to do the job.
I’m surprised the number of people I speak to that blow off my warnings about predators. It is better to be prepared than in grief because you could have done something and didn’t.
"Lack of housing and affordability issues," huh.
In other words, the economy is crushing LA shelters. Inflation is the symptom of government mismanagement of the economy, and our pets are suffering and worse as a result.
Want to know why shelters are full across the country and why euthanasia rates are so high?
It’s this terrible economy. I see article after article about the cost of living and people having to relinquish their pets. The government can’t keep spending and printing money without a corresponding increase in productivity and goods. Real incomes are falling, everything has gotten more expensive, and rescues are going under, and the shelters are full. It doesn’t matter if you do more spay/ neuter if the public can’t afford to reimburse the cost of owning these pets. This isn't a problem with backyard breeding, either. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck, they are loading up their credit cards to pay for essential needs, and employment isn't what it used to be. The nation is in crisis.
I remember what happened during the Great Recession. The carnage in the shelters was horrible, and we are seeing the same thing now. We are heading towards a recession, and we are living in a bubble economy that is artificially being held aloft by unsustainable government mismanagement, both monetary and fiscal.
If you love pets, then you’ll pay more attention to economics, real economics like what is taught in college. Government is crowding out private enterprise in a thousand different ways. Don’t tell me you are an animal welfare advocate and you ignore the forces that are causing this dog holocaust.
“It's the economy, stupid.”
AKC Breed Standards:
French Bulldog: “Temperament: Well behaved, adaptable, and comfortable companions with an affectionate nature and even disposition; generally active, alert, and playful, but not unduly boisterous.”
Dalmatian: “Temperament: Temperament is stable and outgoing, yet dignified. Shyness is a major fault.”
What is the benefit of this cross? FB’s were bred to be companion dogs. Dals were bred to do a variety of tasks, but never specialized in any specific field: guard dog; ratter; hunter; and to fight dogs that would attack carriage horses, such as horses pulling a fire truck. They are supposed to be aloof with strangers, but I find Dals tend towards being shy, and that must be carefully weeded out in every litter used for breeding. What is the resulting cross going to be like? I don't think people will want a FB that has the traits of a Dal. And can you trust the creator of this breed to have done a good job?
Regarding the resulting color… Breed standards are there to weed out problems. Color and coat type can be linked to temperament and health, good or bad. We don’t know what this cross will do either.
Breed creation should be good for the dog and good for the owner. I’m not convinced that this cross will accomplish either. Time will tell. I would not be the first person to own this cross; I would not want to be burned, and I wouldn’t want to encourage something that might be harmful to a dog.
I notice few issues here that I would like more information about.
First, is understanding what set up this tragedy of 10 dogs ganging up on someone off their home property. My belief: never let your dogs get to someone without your knowledge. Even friendly dogs can turn into something else in a group that large. That means inspecting and validating your fencing, gates, yard, and supervision rules. These dogs somehow got into the neighbor’s yard. It is not clear to me how. No one is going to likely survive an attack by 10 dogs, regardless of the trigger and circumstances.
Second, the dogs were housed at an alleged “drug house”. I go a lot of places and see a lot of things because I do private lessons in people’s homes. I sometimes also hear stuff from people. I remember several years ago doing an outdoor lesson at night. We were working on teaching this dog to not pull on a leash. About a block or so away from my student’s home, I smelled something chemical and terrible. She said that down a cul-de-sac, there was a drug house, and what I was smelling was them brewing illegal drugs. I was in another neighborhood, in another situation, where people were afraid to come to the door. Down the end of the street was a neighborhood park. Some kid had been killed there, and there was a known drug house on the far side. Cars and people were coming and going at all times of the day, almost like a gas station and people were waiting their turn at the park benches. Bad stuff can happen in those locations, and you can be harmed in any number of ways, including this kind of situation. No way was I going to do a dog lesson in that park. Not always can or will law enforcement help, so you either need to stay away or move away. I’ve stopped training dogs in some parks when I see shady people doing shady things. Sometimes my gut feeling is validated by some bad story in the news later.
Third, the article says that 9 adult and 15 puppies were removed by authorities. That is way too many dogs for an alleged “drug house.” In my experience, dogs like this are bred for money and protection. Plus, adult dogs are going to be more protective of the area if they have puppies. Good breeders can have that many dogs and not have any problems. My guess is that this will not turn out to be a “good breeder.”
I always recommend paying attention to things that seem out of the normal. A lot of things here would probably been clues of danger to me if I had sensed or been aware of them. Who knows what the victim did or didn’t know, however. That doesn’t automatically make him responsible for what happened. The police are trying to sort out more details, so the article is insufficient to really know what happened and why. I look at stories like this to extract life lessons that I can pass on to my students. Let’s see what develops.
The dog’s whereabouts were also unknown after it ran off during the suspect’s detainment.
One type of unnamed victim of an arrest is the dog that is left behind. In this story, the dog ran away after the suspect was taken into custody. A similar type of problem is the dog left behind after a medical emergency. 911 shows up, the person is taken away in an ambulance, and the dog is left behind.
For the dog, these situations are going to be very traumatic. The dog has witnessed something bad and that is going to most likely traumatize that dog.
I had a student that had a a medical emergency like this. When he finally came home, the dog was now very suspicious of strangers in the home. Prior to that event, the dog was a happy go lucky pit bull.
I don’t have any practical tips for first responders regarding the dogs. Maybe there should be rescue groups which are contacted to check up on the dog? Or in this case, to see if the dog returns and can be captured and fostered.
More than a few times, I've consulted with a dog owner that is getting demands that they get rid of their dog. And many times, the problem is that the owner is in a troubled relationship with someone they live with.
I spoke with someone several years ago with this exact problem. His dogs were fighting because he was fighting (arguing) with his live-in girlfriend and her daughters. They would do things around his dogs that would stimulate two of the dogs into fights. It was a troubled home. They vented a lot of this by blaming his dogs. It wasn’t the dogs; it was his troubled relationships. They wanted him to put the down or get rid of them. He told me he had considered ending his life over it. Yeah, it was that bad. I told him it wasn’t his job to make other people happy, and especially not doing it by harming himself or his dogs. I told him that I’d dump the girlfriend and keep the dogs. He did, and the problems went away and so did the dog fights.
My advice: stay away from troubled people. You can’t fix them. They are going to be bad for you and for your dogs. There are a lot of unhinged people in this world, but that isn’t everyone. Find the good ones and dump the neurotic ones.
** Sometimes the problem is the owner, and sometimes the problem is the dogs, but that isn't what this article is about. More about this other stuff later.
If you have animals, and especially if you have a lot of them, you need a pre-planned disaster plan. I would bet most animal shelters lack any such planning.
If I ever visit one, I’ll give you my verdict. For now, I’m agnostic on the concept…
I’d have more respect for them for these kinds of efforts rather than popping up near elections and hearing them speak out pre-prepared scripts advocating for this or that candidate or issue.
So here is the follow up to the story about the dogs that attacked the 1-year-old child, Jiryiah Johnson.
As a warning: everyone is innocent until proven guilty; these articles are allegedly telling the whole truth clearly about the situation, or a re-reading of the articles might reveal more details, so that’s all we must go on so far; you will need to dig, do your own homework, and verify what you find if you want even more details and perspective. If you want facts, then talk to the parties involved. The child is now dead. It is not your job to pile on and somehow make the situation worse.
Here’s my preliminary perspective from the linked articles and the previous articles I've read:
1. The dogs were aggressive in some way. A previous article stated that the dogs had been somehow deemed, prior to this incident, as being dangerous by the authorities
2. The owner of the dogs, the 36-year-old babysitter, knew or suspected the dogs had behavioral problems, or there was some other reason to want the dogs kept separate from the 1-year-old child
3. The child’s mother either knew the dogs had behavioral problems or didn’t know. The linked articles seem to conflict. The first article seems to indicate there was some kind of understanding, and the second article seems to indicate the opposite.
4. There was some kind of attempt to keep the dogs the dogs away, maybe locked, from the child
5. The 36-year-old babysitter was called into work, and the child was left in the care of her 13-year-old daughter
6. The dogs were being kept in a bedroom
7. Somehow the dogs got out of the bedroom, and there might be indications the dogs had either gotten out of that bedroom before or during the incident
8. Once the dogs got out of the bedroom, they attacked the child and 13-year-old.
9. The 13-year-old fought with the dogs for several minutes, and was chased around the home by the dogs as she tried to escape with the child in her arms
10. The 36-year-old babysitter “faces felony charges of causing serious bodily injury to a child by omission.” There might be additional charges related to the injury(ies) to the 13-year-old daughter. These are grave charges.
LINKED ARTICLES
1. Mother of baby boy mauled to death by dogs opens up about attack
2. BCSO Sheriff says 1-year-old killed by dogs left alone with 13-year-old
MY THOUGHTS:
1. My sisters babysat kids at 13 years of age with no problem. I don’t think it is unreasonable for a 13-year-old to babysit a 1-year-old child.
2. There should be a clear understanding between a parent and a babysitter regarding the care of the child, and what to do if something unexpected crops up
3. Parents should interview anyone who is about to babysit their kids, including meeting anyone who would be in the home other than the babysitter who might do any of the babysitting. This could have instead resulted in a dog on dog tragedy, if these dogs had issues with other dogs and this was a dog housesitting situation instead of a child babysitting situation. I believe a lot of the ideas I have on this would seem to apply to that type of situation, as well.
4. Just like I do with a home where someone is going to house sit a dog, parents should do a walk through with the babysitter, indoors and out, to see the condition of the premises.
5. Babysitters should do an introduction of their pets with the owner and owner’s kids. If that can’t be successfully accomplished, I think that should disqualify that babysitter and the parents need to find someone else.
5. If the parents can’t find an acceptable babysitter, then don’t go to work or leave the kids there.
6. Know your dogs. Or test them in some way, if possible, but realize that sometimes tests fail to predict the future. If you own dogs with behavioral problems, especially if there are known aggression problems, then board the dogs off premises or don’t do any babysitting at your home. If the owner has dogs that have behavioral problems, especially if there are known aggression problems, then don’t agree to babysit the kids at their home, either. These dogs were put away in a bedroom for some reason.
7. From what I’m perceiving, I’m guessing that if these dogs had gotten out, and the 36-year-old babysitter had never left the premises, the dogs still might have attacked the child, and the adult babysitter would have been just as injured as the 13-year-old daughter.
8. Some dogs can break through or open normal bedroom doors. Typical suburban home doors aren’t designed to hold back a group of powerful and determined dogs, even if they start out in good condition. So, you need a proper kennel for some dogs. Some dogs can even break out of a normal kennel.
9. You are in for a major fight whenever you are dealing with a dog that wants to attack. Even your own dogs can turn on you if you are in the middle of it all. Dogs are extremely powerful when in a fight mode, and it takes a lot of force to stop them if you can’t get away. Also, in a fight like this, you aren’t going to be thinking very clearly. It isn’t fair to Monday Morning Quarterback this story and claim you know what you would have done. Your plan might have not worked either.
10. My belief is that the only thing that would have worked here would have been to not leave the child at this location under these circumstances. I don’t see indications that anyone had bad intentions.
11. The dogs should be put down. I would not attempt to rehome them. Some people would advocate the dogs going to a sanctuary. I wouldn’t do that.
12. This is now a criminal case, and nothing is going to stop the wheels of justice from rolling now.
More information is probably going to come out, and my thoughts and recommendations will probably change as a result. This isn't a fact finding article, but my walkthrough of what I'm seeing in these stories. This is a tragedy, and the purpose of reporting this is a way of informing others about how I look at something like this and how I process preventative measures someone might take in similar circumstances. Others might process this information differently and come to different views and recommendations. But, even if any of my suggestions, or any one else's suggestions, had been taken prior to this tragedy, it might still have occurred in a similar way. No way to know, we can't turn back the clock.
Many years ago, I had a student with a black Lab puppy. One day, she called the dog to come back into the house from the back yard, but the dog just laid there in the grass. Thinking her dog was being stubborn, she reached for his collar to get him going. He attacked her and tore up her arm.
Her neighbor was a "German Shepherd trainer", whatever that means. He told her if one of his dogs had done that, he would have beaten the hell out of that dog.
She contacted me. After evaluating the dog and situation, I told her something was wrong, and I recommended she take the dog to the vet for an exam. Sure enough, the dog had cancer.
Not all aggression is a behavioral problem.
