Dogs And Illusions

Dogs can be subject to illusions. So can humans. A couple of weeks ago, I was outside to meet a couple for the first time with their dog. When the dog first saw me, he was happy and pulling my way. But, when he sniffed me, he startled, jumped back and started growling... (MORE)

Dogs And Predator Mistakes... Coyotes, Wolves, Bears, Cougars

“If you must feed your pets outside, do so in the morning or at midday, and pick up food, water bowls, leftovers, and spilled food well before dark every day,” WDFW notes.

If you have pets, it is unwise to keep unsecured wildlife attractants in your yard: food, water, toys, feces, treats, open garbage cans, or live chickens. Fruit trees can also be an attractant: pick up ripe fallen fruit, for example. Outdoor dogs are dinner for many predators.

 

Rural communities already know this. City folk seem unaware of how nature works. 

 

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And New Years Eve

It's here... New Year's Eve.

Is this going to be a dangerous day for your dog?

Fireworks.

Mischief from strangers.

Open doors and gates.

Startled dogs.

Lax house sitters, negligent when supervising your dogs.

Drones flying overhead.

Drunk and intoxicated people.

Guests who do stupid things with your dogs.

Toxic foods and other toxic items laying around your home and on the ground.

Public mayhem and violence... (my Spidey Senses are tingling)...

Go do a walk around your home and secure any escape points. If your dogs need meds to not melt down when the fireworks go off, and as drones fly overhead, get them ready. Exercise your dogs this afternoon and get the extra energy out of them. Feed them a bit earlier for dinner to prevent bloat and torsion. Supervise your dog in the yard to prevent them from jumping over the fence or digging under gates or fences or breaking through doors and gates. Lock your gates and outdoor fuse boxes.

It is too late to train your dog to tolerate the noise and chaos. If you must, put your dogs in the car and go for a long drive. Stay away from crowds with your dog. 

If you are going out tonight, have a plan for your dogs in case you don't come home.  

What is the address and phone number of your nearest emergency vet?

Do you have sufficient pictures of your dog in case you need to put up Lost Dog posters around town? Is your dog wearing tags and a license, and is your dog microchipped?

Plan accordingly. 

Should I Get A Malinois?

Periodically, I have students ask me if I think they should get a Malinois. 

My general answer is, "No." 

Why would I say that? It's because this is a working breed that is too much dog to be a typical pet. They are also very mouthy and not many people want to own an alligator. They can also frustrate easily, and they will then release that by biting just about anything nearby. I first considered getting one around 1999, but after a lot of research, I opted for another breed. Back then, they would easily bite, but many had confidence and "nerve" issues. I didn't want an unstable dog. While the dogs of today are better than what I was seeing back then, I still wouldn't recommend them to the average pet owner. 

Mals make even an average dog trainer look like a Master Trainer. They can learn and do most anything, and their performances look stunning on camera. They make a great marketing tool. But, if you look closely at many of these online demonstrations, most of these trainers are not showing you any advanced capabilities, they are just luring the dog with treats to run around them into Come/ Sit, then back to a Heel/Sit, then the dog goes in between their legs and Sits facing forwards. You can do that with a puppy and novice dog owner with most any breed. It's just that the Mal will do it with more enthusiasm, however it isn't much of a demonstration of advanced skill development. I have seen a lot of dog trainers who use their dogs for demonstration photos, but if you can get to know them, their dogs are a mess. So the dogs are put away most of the time. Or they are wearing electric collars the entire time they are free, just to keep the dogs within a 20 foot proximity, but the movements are uncoordinated and still don't show any higher level of training. This is a disservice to any working dog, especially a Mal.

Let's say you already have a Mal. I wouldn't give the dog away, but your dog probably needs some professional training. What I mean by that is you need someone to help you understand your dog so that you can do right by your dog. You have caused the problems, and your dog isn't going to solve them without help. Abandoning your dog to a shelter is most likely a death sentence. Your dog needs you to fix things in your home, not a needle in the arm and a resulting trip to the dump in a garbage bag.

With the ones I've worked with, since I specialize in pet dogs, the dogs first need some sorting out. Whatever is going on needs to be puzzled out. The last one I worked with wasn't as active, and didn't have as much drive, as a typical Mal, but would lunge at all passing cars. Unsophisticated owners, and average quality dog trainers, will think that the solution will be to suppress anything they don't like. While that seems logical, and sometimes works in the short run, if the problem is that you are actually fighting a Mal for being a Mal, those problems will break out again in some form. You can't fence temperament and drive forever. 

A Malinois should be bred to do professional work for sport, police and the military. The breeding should be purposeful and tested before breeding takes place. They shouldn't be bred as pets. Breeders should seek to find owners who will provide this kind of work for their dogs, and if they don't have a program to feed into that kind of pipeline, they should choose another breed. There are other breeds that can still do a lot of what pet owners want out of a big dog, but will live more peaceably in a pet owner's life. 

Plan accordingly.

Dog Training And Google Algorithms

Let's say you have a preconceived idea about the cause of your dog's problems. You go on Google, and you find out you were right! 

The problem is, Google software is designed to figure out what you want to see, and will deliver it to you. Every search is measured against your previous searches, the links you hover over, the time spent there, other internet surfing you do. Google is sniffing around all that you do and has a profile of you, probably knows who you know, who you are related to, where you shop, and a probability estimate of what they can show you to make them more money. 

While AI is going to play a good role for many things, it is also going to send a lot of people down rabbit holes full of articles, videos, and other links that will confirm their biases. 

Let the buyer beware. Do you want to screw up your dog even more?

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And Laser Pointers (Part 2)

I have worked with several dogs that developed light and shadow chasing behaviors after someone had them chase laser pointer dots. These dogs not only then continually chase the smallest flickers of light and shadows but also develop an anxiety disorder... (MORE)

Environmental Enrichment For Dogs In Shelters

I observe that environmental enrichment is not properly applied for animals in shelters, especially for dogs. For the most part, what is done is either a.) giving the dogs a stuffed Kong; or b.) letting them run around a play yard. 

That isn't environmental enrichment.

So, here is a goal: for each dog, your job should be to a.) maintain all normal behaviors; b.) do behavior modification for all abnormal behaviors; and c.) help the dogs acquire skills that will allow them to adapt into a new home. 

Just giving a dog a stuffed toy doesn't do this. Just letting a dog run around in a play area doesn't do that. 

Maybe I should write a much longer article on this, but for now, chew on what I've said here.

Plan accordingly.

Maybe A Dog?

1 in 4 remote employees say working remotely has led to a decline in their social skills

Remote workers say they struggle more now with feeling self-conscious, small talk, and maintaining eye contact

I have worked with students who got a dog to stop being shut ins, often because of PTSD. They want the companionship, and they want a dog to help facilitate creating new personal relationships outside of home.

I would recommend that some of these remotely working employees get a dog. Get a very social and friendly looking dog, and when work is over, take that dog places. Just remember, once you have those new relationships, don’t abandon the dog as if the dog was only a tool for your self-improvement. Plus, relationships come and go, but a dog's loyalty lasts for a lifetime.

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Danger Clues

There are going to be instances when a lesson that you have performed countless times with other dogs fails with a particular dog. You will misread the situation, setting up the same scenario that has always worked before, but the result backfires... (MORE)

Dog Training Mistakes

Have you ever committed a dog training or ownership mistake? If you haven't done it yet, you will. 

For some dogs, that is no big deal. For others, it is a setback that you have to remedy. 

I had a student accidentally do this with his Jack Russell Terrier. He was showing off how well his dog would come when called. He put the dog on a Sit/ Stay, walked about 100 feet away, and called his dog. Normally the dog came like a rocket all the way to him into a perfect Sit in front of the owner. But this time, his friend accidentally stepped on the long line as the dog was in a full run. 

After that one time, the dog would come any more. The owner was devastated, called me distraught, not knowing what to do. 

We had to start the Come command all over again, starting from just a foot away. Within a couple of days, the dog was back to normal. 

Another student was feeding her dog, using a decorative, cast iron, elevated dog bowl platform. Water bowl. Food bowl. In the stand. The dog had lowered her face to drink water, her dog tags got caught in the platform, she lifted her head, the platform had her trapped, she panicked and ran until the thing fell off. After that, the dog wouldn't eat in the kitchen, or out of the bowl, or eat that dog food. 

So, when I arrived, we started by putting small piles of food on the floor across the room. A little bit closer to the eating area and bowls each time. It took a few days, but eventually I had the dog eating out of the bowls again. But I did have her replace that platform monstrosity with something of a different design. 

I had a friend who accidentally knocked her young daughter out. The child tripped as she was rushing with her back to her car. She was devastated. It brought up all kinds of childhood memories, and she condemned herself as being a terrible parent. But, she was a good parent. 

Mistakes happen. If you have trained dogs long enough, you'll make them, too. The key is knowing how to turn things around and help the dog recover. Yes, you will probably beat yourself up because you never wanted something bad to happen to that dog, and you know that it was your fault regardless of the situation. 

Plan accordingly. 

Doggie Doors

I’m not a fan of doggie doors. I work with them when a student wants them, but they are not my preferred solution.

There have been incidents of wild animals entering the home and attacking pets. 

 

What if a wild animal gets into your home and goes after your family? Bears have been known to break into homes in Colorado. And here is a case where a raccoon came in and attacked an infant (it is not clear how the animal got in the home).

 

There have been numerous stories of burglars entering homes through doggie doors. 

 

There have been stories of dogs going out doggie doors, and the side gates were left open, and the dogs ran away. Dogs being attacked by predators in the back yard while the owners were away.

 

I don’t like ‘em.

 

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Drives

I think that grasping the concept of "drive" is very difficult for most people, especially people who spend a lot of time on logical problem solving.

I think it is hard to accept that we can be stimulated into behaviors that have their own momentum once initiated. Like guys acting dumb around a pretty girl, then feeling embarrassed afterwards and wondering why they made such a fool of themselves. 

Similarly, we view dogs as if they are a logic problem: put in the coin, push the button, and out comes the soda pop can. We take our dogs to lessons, teach them to Sit for treats, or a boot camp that will crack down on every bad response, and our logic says that is going to solve all behavioral problems. But then we find that the dog isn't controllable in that class (so we had to stop going, and the problem still goes on in the home or in public), or the dog is still doing whatever we didn't want (but maybe in a new way) once the dog comes back from that expensive boarding program. We also think we can make dogs feel this way or that by teaching them new skills... and it just doesn't work out.

For example, you can bore a Labrador if you overtrain them doing repetitive obedience exercises that have no purpose for the dog. Eventually the dog will move like a slug, if at all. On the other hand, you can play Fetch with a Lab every day, and they will never get lose interest. The second scenario involves a drive. The first one described doesn't. Similarly, you are going to do some things repetitively and get bored. Other things, you aren't going to be able to help yourself and you will always be motivated to do them. Like a dog, you have drives, too.

There are going to be situations in life that send you along paths that you might not understand. Same thing with your dog. Sometimes a drive is being activated, and without knowledge of what that is, you will never fully find a way of dealing with it. That is going to be true for you, and that is true for your dog.

Missing Dog Rings Doorbell

Family reunited with missing dog on Christmas Eve after pooch rings doorbell

I’m thinking… maybe we should teach all dogs to find their front doors and ring the doorbell. I wonder how many lost dogs get near home but can’t finish the location identification or alert the owners. 

 

Gotta think on this one…

 

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Early Attempts At Behavioral Predictions

There was a time when it was proposed that if you listed all the stimuli that an animal would respond to, and every response possible that an animal could do, you could predict with precision what stimulus would cause a specific behavior, or working backwards, pick a behavior and you could pick the specific stimulus that caused that behavior.

Attempts were made to make long lists of stimuli and responses. Guess how that worked out? 

It didn’t. 

This was an early attempt at creating a universal law for physiology that would also explain all behavior, and vice versa. There is a similar effort going on today. Scientists are studying biochemistry, as if some kind of pill could be invented to control behavior. Kind of like finding Love Potion Number 9.

It reminds me of the efforts the Communist government of the Soviet Union attempted to eliminate profits (assuming that private industry was ripping off the public) by controlling the costs and prices of services and goods. It failed spectacularly. The macro economy of a country is too complex, both laterally and horizontally. Micromanaging smaller enterprises is also impossible, and such micromanagement kills incentives and innovation. You can read about this history in Thomas Sowell’s, Basic Economics. 

The behavior of organisms is even more complex than economics. That is partly why I am concerned about the future implementation of AI. No computer can successfully manage life on this planet. (That’s kind of the point of The Matrix… ).

I find it interesting that many of the same advocates of mechanistic approaches to behavior also state there is no such thing as free will, because free will implies there are problems with their utopian ideas.  In other words, some propose that if we knew all the chemical reactions going on in a human, we would find that the entire existence of mankind was predetermined from the moment of the Big Bang. 

I don’t buy that argument. 

If all you try to do is memorize a list of actions and reactions, and try to make a dog fit your list, you will never figure out your dog and you will never become a good dog trainer. There is too much to memorize, too much to correlate when multiple factors are going on at the same time, and life is too dynamic to fit some kind of rigid model. While it is important and interesting to study stimuli and response probabilities in a laboratory, those general observations will unravel in the chaotic contexts of the real world.

There are better ways to learn about behavior and train dogs properly. 

Plan accordingly.

Why Doesn’t My Dog Obey?

Why doesn’t your dog listen to you? 

It’s not that you need to become your dog’s leader. 

 

It’s not that you need to create a calm state in your dog.

 

It’s not that you need to tune up your dog with some more work on the commands you worked on in puppy classes.

 

It’s not that you need some new special gadget, electronic or otherwise.

You don't need a dog whisperer.

 

The answer? Most of what you do with your dog matters to you, not your dog.

 

In other words, you are a boring date.

Dogs And Behavioral Complexity

Dogs are enormously complex animals. I think that humans tend to think of them as very simple creatures… until a serious problem develops, and their simple solutions don’t work.

Imagine this scenario and tell me what is going on and how to resolve it.

 

Key Facts:

1. The owner has two dogs. Young, about a year old, male Border Collie and an older male Dachshund. Main dog in this story is the younger dog. Younger dog has always been friendly with strangers and other dogs on walks. Younger dog pestered the older dog as it grew up and sometimes grabbed at the older dog’s ears. The older dog isn’t very playful. The dogs mostly co-exist, but don’t play together. The dogs don’t have health issues.

2. Owner and dogs are about to leave to visit the extended family on a day off. 

2. Very excited and happy younger dog won’t eat breakfast as usual.

3. When the dogs arrive at the other home, the older dog wants to hang out with the owner, the younger dog is still very active, excited and happy.

4. Younger dog still won’t eat breakfast.

5. Numerous people arrive. Younger dog is friendly with them.

6. Older dog rests on the owner’s lap. This isn’t a new thing.

7. Younger dog plays vigorously and happily with a relative’s dog. That other dog is a happy, playful dog.

8. With no warning, no growling, the younger dog breaks away from playing with the other dog and runs over and bites the old resting dog on the neck, causing a significant wound requiring an emergency veterinary visit. 

9. This has never happened before.

 

What just happened? What is your proposed solution? (I won't disclose my diagnosis or recommendations here. This is a thought problem for you instead.)

 

This is a complex behavioral situation. This isn’t the type of scenario you’d expect to learn in a dog training class, book, or TV show. 

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

One main reason why it is dangerous for people to mess with dogs that are sleeping is because when they first awaken, they are still going to be drowsy, and that interferes with their ability to recognize you. Thus, you have startled the dog... startling triggers a fear response, your dog is still drowsy -- which interferes with your dog recognizing you... and BOOM, your dog will bite or even attack. The more you do this, the worse the response. These are fundamentally anti-predator and anti-competitor responses that should be respected.

Children, who are often a bit scared of dogs, often go and pet, lay on, or mess with sleeping dogs because it seems safer. It isn't. 

Ancient wisdom: Let sleeping dogs lie. 

This has been known for centuries.

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And Rogaine, Regaine, And Minoxidil

'It's so toxic that even the smallest exposure can be life-threatening, especially to cats, because their bodies don't have the ability to metabolise it,' he said in a recent video that's been viewed 790,000 times.

It would be good to know if there is an antidote... 

Plan accordingly.

Christmas Pet Holiday Returns?

Adopt wisely: Western Washington rescue warns of post-holiday pet returns: Some animal shelters and rescues are expecting pets to be surrendered due to families being overwhelmed with the responsibility.

If you adopt a pet, be an adult... take on the lifetime responsibility and don't return the dog to the shelter. You chose that dog. 

Many municipal shelters deem a returned dog as an "owner surrender". What does that mean? Well, the laws typically say if animal control takes in a stray, they have to keep it for 3 to 5 days before they can implement killing the dog. But, if it is an "owner return", even if it was originally brought in as a stray, they can immediately drag that dog into a room and kill it, put it in a garbage bag, and send it to the dump. 

This is the dishonest cruelty of municipal animal control adoptions and returns. It's not like returning a crock pot at a retail store. That returned dog is likely going to die.

Plan accordingly. 

The Application Of Science In Dog Training

I see a lot of dog trainers claim they are using “science” when training dogs. Let’s examine that claim.

Science, in simple terms, is something testable and repeatable. Very few things dog trainers do have been tested in an experiment. 

The behavior sciences always start out with introspection, which is self-examination of how a person supposes this or that phenomenon works. This is often done because there isn’t any science, or the existing science seems to have problems, whether explaining the neural, behavioral, physiological, or learning processes being considered. I do this. I try to think how I’d feel and what I would do if this or that was to happen to me, or a dog I know. That doesn’t mean a dog would perceive or respond in the same way, but it is a start.

Next, comes the attempt to generalize concepts: this step is called reductionism. The often-unrecognized problem with generalized concepts is that they must ignore specific contradictions, especially in the real world. At this step, simple experiments are conducted to collect sufficient trends or correlations to then describe working definitions of terms and processes. For example, B. F. Skinner put rats and pigeons in boxes to push or peck on levers for rewards, often with lids on the boxes so the animals could not be observed, to primarily and tightly focus upon the mechanically produced generalized data and graphs which resulted. He then proposed a set of "laws". Reductionism cannot ever be successfully applied to explain everything, however, since the focus is on divining general trends or concepts.

This is the point where a lot of dog trainers mess up. They are working off these generalizations as if they are final, unchangeable truths, working in all situations. Scientists, on the other hand, if they are good scientists, don't see it that way. Instead, they go back and test these generalizations and argue amongst themselves. It is interesting to see these debates, between living scientists and those from long ago, each trying to persuade the readers that their discoveries are correct. The idea should be to test them from so many angles that these proposed discoveries are either validated or tossed away, or a new synthesis is tested, and a new generalization is able to become the latest “science”. It is completely possible that humans might never understand it all, which is why there is never a scientific consensus in real science.

So, this is where we find ourselves right now regarding dog training. 

There is still the need to use introspection to try looking at problems from 10,000 feet up. That’s very useful. Our human need to attempt to grasp the Gestalt, the whole, of a problem causes us to want this kind of viewpoint. Then, from the bottom up, also using reductionist forms of explanation, to see the microscopic parts, and then up the levels that make up the proposed whole. 

There is also a need to explain the emergent properties of behavior. Adding the parts together often doesn't explain the reality. Once all the parts are working together, more is revealed. Much of this next level theorizing comes from the field of ethology, which is a comparative study of homologies and analogies within related species and widely different species. This is the kind of work that was done by Jane Goodall (chimpanzees) or David Mech (wolves). These are observational studies of behavior, again trying to sort out what is seen into generalizations. Reductionism, again. And attempts to define systems in general terms.

Then, as this simmers on the stove, comes the application of all of this by modern dog trainers to real world dogs, following a similar path of discovery: 

Introspection: Depending upon their knowledge and experience, they are somewhere along this chain in terms of how they apply all of this. Some are operating solely through introspection, without much real data or experience to back up their impressions. I see that the realm in the so-called “dog whisperers.” What they think is going on probably isn’t backed up with any real science at all and never will be. On the other hand, advanced dog trainers use introspection to answer questions when there is no science. 

Experiments: Some trainers, from beginning to advanced, have read the scientific studies that have been done with dogs. Then they experiment with methods to find out what works. That is great, unless taken too far. I say that because science experiments are not the real world, and the real world can't be like a laboratory. What can be done in a laboratory isn’t necessarily going to happen with an off-leash dog in public or in someone’s home. If you take a study from a science experiment, and place too much faith in what the author claims, someone who never trained dogs, you are going to see it doesn’t work out as described in the study. Further, most of the scientific studies are poorly written, and oftentimes poorly controlled. If you have read enough scientific papers, you’ll come to realize that many of these scientists should have spent more time learning basic English (or whatever their native language happened to be) and trained real dogs. Furthermore, the translators were often not as proficient as they ideally should have been. Unfortunately, I don't believe you will find a scientific study on how to best train dogs to be companions, police dogs, hunting dogs, or anything else. In fact, most studies on dogs were done that way because there was no ethical way to do that same experiment on a human. So, the results are going to be tilted based upon the scientists’ motives and what they were looking for. Almost none of it was to benefit dog training.

Ethology And Observational Studies: Not a lot of this work has been done by scientists, or philosophers of science, on dogs. A lot of what is believed is folklore, or theories that have not been tested. While it may be interesting to compare wolf societies to street dogs in India, that isn’t going to help you all that much when training dogs. Yes, you will get some good ideas, but it won’t specifically indicate to you why a dog ate your mobile phone yesterday, or what to do about it. It is good to compare breeds, lines of dogs, and make comparisons to wild canines. You may find some gold nuggets along the way, but it isn't going to be handed to you.

Philosophy of Science: Much of what it takes to be a good dog trainer can't be tested with a scientific experiment. Right and wrong, morally, isn't to be found in a test tube. Many science experiments were too harsh and inhumane... nice to know, but don't do that again. Much of what is needed in the real world are sound methods that work, tempered with a philosophy of science that reflects logic and morals.

You, as a dog trainer, might have a good grasp of all the above but then applying it in some way is not going to be science and it is not going to be easy. This is where science and reality clash. This is where real world experience has to be tapped into, tempered with whatever science is probably applicable and a philosophy of not doing any harm yet doing things well. 

Some dog trainers are well studied, others are great at copying what others have taught them, and some should not be training dogs at all (or at least not yet). Some have detailed knowledge of the above, and many don't. I will say this, most of the scientists cannot train a dog, have never trained a dog, and possibly have no interest in training dogs. So, you must take their work for what it is… their interests in their ideas in their field of study. It's not about dog training. 

Dog trainers get frustrated when the media or politicians or activists claim “science” to justify this or that, when the dog trainers have personal experience proving the opposite… especially on the inevitable dog fads that come and go. Further, when there isn't any "science" to back up these popular fads.

I think the way a dog trainer can get some coherent way forward through all of this is to get their own dogs and train them; do volunteer dog rescue for several years; study the science; train dogs for other people; develop relationships with people who have more dog experience than you do so you can “talk dogs” into the night; go talk to some professors and scientists; and come up with an ethical and defendable philosophy about dog training.

So, is there science in dog training? Yes. Is there science in all dog training… not yet. And maybe never.

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And Perception

Dogs don’t perceive the world the same way we do. You had better think about that when training, or making demands of, a dog... (MORE) 

Can You Train A Dog To Do Everything?

“But, unobserved, a ruinous logical error crept into behaviorist thinking: because only learning processes could be examined experimentally and since all behavior must be examined experimentally, then concluded those of the behaviorist school, all behavior must be learned – which, naturally, is not only logically false but also, factually, complete nonsense." – Konrad Lorenz, The Foundations of Ethology; p. 2

The biggest mistake I see from most dog owners is that they think that any dog can be trained to become anything. So many times, have I been requested to train an unsocialized dog and turn it into a service or therapy dog. Or the many times someone has acquired a dog of a breed that has X traits, but they wanted the dog to display Y traits of a completely different breed. 

 

It just doesn’t work that way. I also blame dog trainers who market themselves as gurus, claiming they can magically fix dogs, or train them to do just about anything. Even in the old books, there are trainers that claimed the same, so this isn’t a new thing. For example, one old trainer claimed in his book that he could train just about any dog to become a police dog. Today, there are trainers that claim they can protection train any dog, as well. Or the claims they can always “fix” dog aggression, whatever that means, and whatever the situation. 

 

For example, I was contacted years ago by someone who wanted me to train his Irish Wolfhounds to have brilliant obedience, protect his property, and have perfect manners in all circumstances. I turned him down. That isn’t what those dogs are… it’s a sight hound, meant to chase and kill ____ (Hint: wolves and large game). They are released in a small group of other Wolfhounds, released to chase a visible animal, grab and kill it. That’s it. Not much obedience necessary. Their brains aren’t programmed for that. Don’t expect to see a ton of high level, competitive, all breed obedience titles on Wolfhounds… they don’t exist. 

 

So, time to rethink. What is it that you want out of a dog? Get that dog. What is it that you want out of your current dog? Find that dog’s individual temperament, talents, and limitations and make the training program fit that.

 

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And Drones

I increasingly encounter drones when training dogs in public. Two problems so far...

First, some drone operators tend to be jerks. They will dive bomb the dogs and the dogs are aware or are fearful. I assume the drone operators think that is funny, or they hate dogs. Dunno. Not going to ask them. But there is a type of entitlement attitude that I'm seeing. Like two cyclists that go 10 mph, side by side, to hold up traffic.

Second, drones are becoming ubiquitous... they are going to be everywhere. We mostly think of drones as either these toys people are playing with, or the military or commercial types we read about in the news. But this is only the beginning. Drones can be made in many analogues to animals, humans and everyday machines: insects, birds, planes, helicopters, rockets, go carts, mobility scooters, busses, vehicles, trucks, fishing lures, fishlike, porpoise-like, whale like, rubber ducky, toy boat, canoe, boat, ferry, ship, battleship, spaceship, dog like, cat like, lizard like, human like, superhero like, weapons of all types, tools, machines... you get the idea. And our dogs are going to encounter many of these in the next decade. And it is going to freak them out unless we begin early socialization and exposure to these mechanical creatures when they are puppies, and ongoing training to be around them. I can imagine there were challenges when the first automobiles, trucks and planes were developed. We learned how to adapt and how to integrate our dogs with those new mechanical creatures. I do think this next phase will be more challenging, tempers are going to flare, and we are going to have to figure it out. Laws will inevitably follow.

The brave new world is here. Will your next dog be ready? Will you?

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Home Invasions

Berwyn father recalls moment triple murder suspect invaded his home, killed his dogs

What would you do?

 

Plan accordingly.

Daily Activities For Dogs In Shelters

What should be the minimum daily protocol of activities for shelter dogs (and dogs in foster homes)? What can be done to help ensure they don’t mentally break down? What can be done to increase their potential for adoption and reduce behavioral returns? And what can be done to create photo opportunities to market the dogs to the public?

Here are some suggestions. (This is a better example of what "environmental enrichment" should be for shelter dogs.)

 

Shelters should facilitate daily enrichment opportunities for each of the dogs. Housing a dog isn't like putting a turtle in a bowl. When dogs are confined and bored they will develop deep seated behavioral disturbances and health problems. Thus, dedicated "play areas" should be set aside to incorporate:

 

1. Exercise opportunities, such as treadmills. And if the shelters can be located adjacent to public parks, daily strolls are highly advised on alternate days. Don’t overtrain the dogs.

2. Designated training challenge areas to focus on home manners... have a fake door to practice greetings; a dog bed area to practice Place; an area to teach specific skills like Up/ Off, Sit, Come, Heel, Down, Speak/ Quiet. 

3. An outdoor run to practice Fetch/ Drop It (since dogs often get things in their mouths, are chased and cornered, and then they bite).

4. Parallel play areas so more than one dog can be worked so they get used to obeying, playing and exercising around another animal and person. 

 

The goals are to:

 

1. Reduce boredom. 

2. Reduce food guarding (since confined dogs often only find comfort through feeding, they become fearful of having their bowls taken away every day). 

3. Jump start some basic skills so they are adoptable (by anticipating what the dogs might need to know to reduce returns. 

4. Prevent anorexia (stressed dogs in shelters under eat and then go a new home and guard the bowl, get in the garbage, etc.). 

5. Use exercise to maintain their immune systems, reduce sickness, prevent or rehabilitate injuries, and lower stress levels. 

6. Maintain a social relationship until adoption. (Dogs can survive longer term in rescue if they can bond to and interact with at least one caring person). I highly recommend at least one outing per week away from the shelter to take the dog for a walk, or to decompress at a foster home, or go with for some daily errands. This person should also take pictures which can be used for marketing purposes.

 

All of this is needed… and possible. STOP WAREHOUSING DOGS. 

 

Plan accordingly. 

Evaluating Aggressive Dogs

Here are some examples of owner reports of typical dog biting situations: Barrier aggression; Bite at feet when walking; Bite when guests come in; Biting after being petted; Biting service dog; Can't touch paws; Fearful dog; Fighting in the home; Food bowl guarding; Food fight; Get in fights at the off leash park; Guard towel on the floor; Hates children; Lunges at other dogs; Male / Female ; Male attacks female; On leash; Ongoing fighting after first fight; Puppy biting; Resource guard wife; Runs out the door and attacks other dogs; Vicious with strangers; When restrained; When wearing a coat.

Remember when you were a kid, and you got in an argument or fight with another kid? What was usually the first question your mom or dad asked? “What are you fighting about?”

That is the first question that should be asked when evaluating aggressive dogs. 

Someone asked me the other day, “why do dogs bark?” I listed several reasons. There isn’t just one trigger. The same is true with biting dogs. There isn’t just one trigger. 

For many people, including trainers, their first response is to either punish the dog or to give the dog some kind of obedience command or obedience training. That just isn’t going to work. If you don’t know the why, then you can’t fix the problem. You might be able to block some responses with obedience training, but the root causes will not be addressed. 

“What are you fighting about?”

Get the correct answer and the right solution has a chance to work.

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Chain Link Fences

Years ago, I was driving past a grade school. To my right, I saw a black Lab climb up and over a chain link fence. 

I've seen a few dogs that could climb trees.

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And One Idea

It isn't unusual that some dog problems just need one new good idea. 

I've seen that countless times.

Plan accordingly.  

What Do Dogs Do With Their Time?

Have you ever considered what dogs do with their time? Their activities can be divided into two types. They are either 1.) “looking” to satisfy their biological needs or avoid danger; or 2.) processing and making adaptive responses to the stimuli they internally generate or encounter along the way... (MORE)

Dogs And Learning Curves

German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) came up with the concept of a “learning curve” while studying the effects of repeated performances of a task and its effect on memory. Generally, the more an activity is practiced, the more likely it will be remembered and repeated. Thus, you could plot the increased performance on a Cartesian graph, with one plane, call it the X axis representing the number of learning repetitions, and the other plane, call it the Y axis, representing the correctly performed repetitions, and a line that slopes upwards between the two axes representing the improved performance of that skill over time. Similarly, Ebbinghaus postulated a “forgetting curve”, which showed the opposite effect, which shows the down sloping curve, representing the deterioration of the skill when practice stops over time... (MORE)

Dogs And Christmas Safety

Can you ensure the safety of your dogs during Christmas? 

For example, are relatives bringing their dogs over to your place?

 

Are all your relatives good with your dogs? 

 

Have you sent out rules to parents with kids as to how to treat your dogs? Are you sure that everyone will treat your dogs safely?

 

Have you a plan for securing your escape points, such as the front door and side gates, including rules for everyone?

 

What about keeping the dogs out of the presents and wrapping paper?

 

What about the cat? Have you got a plan to keep your cat safe from your dogs?

 

Have you a plan to keep forbidden foods from your dogs?

 

How about the plan for potentially poisonous plants?

 

If you are taking your dogs with you to someone else’s house, have you a similar set of plans and rules? And do you have non-slip collars (such as a Martingale collar) and leashes for all the dogs as they ride in the car and go from car to house and back again?

 

IF NOT…

 

Plan accordingly… NOW 

Preparing Dogs For Babies

I found out that some past students, husband and wife, are expecting a baby! That’s awesome news. They are going to be great parents.

Good thing they have diligently trained both of their small dogs. I don’t foresee any problems at all.

 

I see way too many couples wait until the last months to figure out they need to do something with their dogs before the baby arrives. 

 

Look, you are going to have your hands full those first couple of months after delivery. Getting your dogs ready well in advance makes plenty of sense. 

 

Plan accordingly. 

Dogs And Anticipation

We set a lot of dogs up for failure by building unrealistic expectations about our dogs and in our dogs. An anticipation is a learned, sustained belief in some kind of good or bad outcome. So, let’s take that apart... 

Christmas Puppies

YES, it is GOOD to get a Christmas Puppy. It is also GOOD to adopt an ADULT DOG. 

IF you want a dog, and will provide a commitment to a good life for that dog... don't be a GRINCH, go for it!

Dogs And Managed Intake Animal Control Shelters

The latest fad in animal control operations is selling the public on the idea of "managed intake", meaning the shelter only takes in a certain amount of animals, and tells the public if they find strays to either hold them or release them back onto the streets. The rationale has even gone so far to say that most animals find their way back home if you let them loose. 

Do you really believe that?

Is managed intake is a moral solution? Is it an excuse not to modernize and improve operations?

Is it a sick joke, especially for lost dogs and desperate owners? What if stray dog populations are exploding across the country? Even when state laws mandate the intake of strays by animal control, is it moral to find ways of working around those laws with administrative rules?

Are there not other solutions? Aren't there professionals who have the management skills to turn this around? Is it easier to cover up problems and avoid the pain of reforms while at the same time collecting paychecks that somehow confirm incompetency and the ability to cover up what is really wrong? We should also be asking if this another reason why they can't keep volunteers, often those who complain when they see these atrocities. Is it easier to just shut them up? Is it easier to build bigger shelters that are really just great big warehouses to process euthanasias? 

Just my humble opinion... managed intake is an ineffective and inhumane answer.

Plan accordingly. 

Why Should You Train Puppies?

What have I seen regarding the differences, other than physical, between puppies and adult dogs? When I evaluate a puppy, or any dog, I am looking at the cumulative past experience that dog has had, which will be the interplay between innate abilities, maturity, and acquired learning. 

Dog Training And Suppression

I see way too many dog training programs that rely on suppressing everything that makes a dog a dog. 

For example, novice dog training classes that are focused on immobilizing dogs on a dog cot. Or classes that focus primarily on forcing dogs to do long Down Stays and leash walking, all based upon using Negative Reinforcement and Punishment. 

I had a student with a 12 week old puppy. The significant other decided the puppy was too active, so they sent the pup to a board and train program that focused upon the above. Yes, the dog came back less active. But was that fair to a young puppy? Can't be a puppy, just needs to lay there and not do anything?

I do not support the idea of trying to make a puppy act like an old dog. Something is wrong when people want this result, and something is wrong with a dog trainer that would agree to do that with a puppy.... IMHO... 

Plan accordingly. 

Australian Cattle Dogs?

I get the most interesting stories from students that have Australian Cattle Dogs. They are super smart. You hear about crazy stuff they figure out. I like them.

They aren't everyone's cup of tea, however. Do your homework. Some can be quite suspicious of strangers, and that might not work for your lifestyle and home. 

Dogs And Tolman's Cognitive Maps

In 1948, Edward Tolman proposed the idea of cognitive maps. The concept was that the brain learned about spacial relationships, such as navigating a maze, without reinforcement. Such talk at the time, was considered heresy by the S-R (stimulus-response) crowd, and his work was forgotten. Eventually, scientists took a second look at his ideas and decided they were quite relevant. 

 

Here is the basic idea. Take a population of rats, put them each in mazes and let them look around. Later, take each of those rats, put them at any entry of the maze, and let them figure out that in a certain room in the maze, there is food. Take a second population of rats, put them in mazes they have never been in before, and let them figure out that in a certain room, there is food. Now have the rats enter other doorways to the same mazes and have them find the room with the food. Result? The rats that had the chance to look around first learned to finish the mazes faster. Some of the second group of rats never learned how to navigate the maze test.

 

Why is this important? Because the S-R crowd said all learning required some kind of reinforcement first. Reward for going this way, punishment for going that way. The map idea meant that an animal could learn about an area without needing reinforcement to find their way.

 

Now, a real-world example. I think I have all the details correctly remembered. A student of mine took her dog for a regular 1-mile walk to a nearby park frequently. One day, at the park, she tied the dog's leash to a chair and went into a building to buy an ice cream treat. While she was in there, something startled the dog, it moved, the chair fell over, that startled her, and she ran off. She saw her dog running away with the chair bouncing along behind her. She tried calling her to Come, but she was too afraid. The chair eventually became untangled from the leash, but the dog kept running. 

 

The owner was in a panic as she ran after her dog, but try as she could, she was too fast, and she lost her. The owner looked all over the park. Discouraged, she went home. Her dog was at her front door. This dog had not only run across the park at an angle that the dog had never walked before, but it had also run across a very busy road, and through her neighborhood, and made it home. 

 

That dog, I'm 100% convinced, had developed a mental map of the area and that facilitated how that dog got home. 

 

This idea of mental maps is why I am a big advocate for taking your dog for walks all over your neighborhood. Think of it this way. If it was relatively safe to allow your dog to roam the neighborhood, your dog would most likely come home every day. They would know the neighborhood. Outdoor cats do this all the time. In suburban and urban areas, it isn't safe to do this, but a dog can still develop a mental map of where they live. I also believe that these walks shouldn't be like a military parade in which the dog can only just be glued to the owner's side and not have a chance to sniff and look around as you take a walk. 

 

Does this guarantee that your dog will find its way back home if it gets out the door? I can't guarantee that. But I do believe it probably increases the probability they can do so. I also think there are some exercises you can do with dogs to help them find home, such as off leash nature walks, tracking/ trailing training, hunting dog work, and some special obedience work (especially in the neighborhood). If a dog has never had a chance to discover how to find you, that hinders them. And if a dog has never had a chance to explore the neighborhood, I think the chances of them returning on their own are even less likely.

 

I had a second student that had something similar happen. In this case, the front door was left open by her roommate. Her little white fluffy dog got out into the neighborhood. We had been doing exercises prior to that in the lessons for her dog to find her. She called her dog several times, kept calling. The dog came home. She saw her pop her head around a corner over a block away, and it ran to her. I think all of this contributed to helping her dog come back. 

 

Something to consider. 

 

Both dogs were fine in the end. The first dog was a bit shaken up, but a few days of fun and the dog was back to normal. The second dog hadn't been through such a traumatic event, so there wasn't a need to help her recover.

Another French Bulldog Theft

Surveillance footage captured the dog-napping in action, and Jason Bitonio is now using it to publicly ask the thieves to bring home the 12-year-old French bulldog – no questions asked.

Got one? Thieves want it. 

 

Plan accordingly.

Dogs And Falconry

I have studied dogs for a long time. Before I started training dogs professionally, I would check out library books about dogs… dog history, uses, breeding, breeds, training (of course), fiction stories, and such. I also purchased (and sometimes lost) a lot of dog related books and materials over the years.

But, even with all of that, there is no way I could, or anyone could, know everything about dogs. So, I was interested when my YouTube feed showed me a video about hunting small game using dogs and falcons. I didn’t know that was a thing. I picked up a few interesting details, such as types of dogs. For example, some dogs might be vulnerable to a large raptor. The bird might be a danger to the dog. Didn’t consider that. There was a discussion of this person’s preferred breeds. I was surprised a bit on the choices. That was also interesting. Then I found some other videos of hunters using other bird species with dogs. All very fascinating.

 

In AZ, small dogs are at risk of being attacked by large birds, such as owls and hawks. But in other parts of the world, there are some very large bird species used for hunting that could take down an animal much larger than just a small dog or large rabbit. So, one of these birds could most likely kill a German Shepherd sized dog. That's amazing.

 

I haven’t studied if you need to raise the dogs and birds together from a young age to get them to accept one another. I’m guessing that plays a role. I’m sure there are other things you must do for the dog to not mess with or hurt the bird, and vice versa.

 

I know dogs have been used to hunt game for centuries, same with birds. In modern society, we don’t see much of that. In fact, city folk try to ban hunting using dogs. Ignorant people detached from nature. But in the Old World, hunting is still practiced the old ways. It is clearly a specialty, probably taught old style from father to son. I'm sure you couldn’t successfully hunt this way without experience and learning, and I'm guessing there aren't such classes at the local box pet store in those rural areas! I might take some time to learn more. Not that I’m planning on hunting with a dog and a bird, but to understand the dynamics involved. I don’t know what I might uncover, some new insight that would be useful for what I do. 

 

Go check it out. Very interesting (to a dog enthusiast like me).

Renewal Of Dog Problems In Bad Home Environments

A person lives in a bad home environment, then leaves to get their life sorted out and live with another family that is loving and functional, our they kick out a bad person to get their life together. In the bad environment, this person was not at their best on many levels. In the new safe environment, they make healthy and appropriately adaptive changes, and the goodness happens. They then go back to living in that bad home environment, there is a good chance they will relapse into old behaviors that they never wanted to experience again. 

Part of changing from a bad home environment is setting up new ways of doing things. Good behaviors are possible and then rewarded appropriately. The other part is the new context in which these new ways are practiced. However, the context of any living situation greatly influences the success or failure of any such program. Thus, if you take someone who has changed for the better, and put them back into a bad situation, the old ways are very likely going to come back. In a similar way, if you bring someone into your home that has a lot of problems, they can undo all the good in your home.

An old saying talks about not putting new wine into old wine bottles. That destroys the new wine.

Likewise, let's say you take a dog out of a bad home situation, train the dog properly, and get everything sorted out. Now, put that dog back into that bad home situation, and all those fears, anxieties, bouts of aggression, obnoxious behaviors and actions, are all likely to sprout up again. Or, you take a well trained and adjusted dog, and bring in a bad influence, whether a dog or person, that has significant unresolved problems and you will most likely see your dog deteriorate and your family have lots of problems. This is partly why I am not a supporter of board and train programs because what might work at the trainer's facility doesn't necessarily carry over if the dog is put back into a home where the original conditions haven't changed for the better, or a new bad influence has come into the home, and the residents don't have the combined skills, motivation or care to treat the dog differently. 

Plan accordingly. 

Five Years Prison Time For A Dog Attack?

Morris' five loose dogs attacked and killed Stanley Hartt, 64, of Tucumcari as he walked near Mesalands Community College in February 2023.

There is a serious stray dog problem in many metro areas across the country. Some of these dogs don't have an owner. Some do. 

Let your dogs run stray? It's not smart. 

The owner is now going to prison for 5 years. 

Plan accordingly. 

The $100,000 Dog

Ever since I got into dogs, I've seen breeders tout their Elite Jedi Master Of The Universe Superhero Executive Protection Dog®, or some other such nonsense. They offer to sell these dogs for astronomical amounts. 

For the ones I've checked out... uh... what is going to happen one day when this dog doesn't do what it is claimed, someone dies, and the dog turns out to be the equivalent of a walking carpet? 

Dogs And "Shadow Syndromes"

Dog owners often don’t detect that their dogs are suffering from low levels of fear, stress, or anxiety. 

About 20 years ago, a friend gave me a book called Shadow Syndromes, by John Ratey. While the book was about humans, I could see the applicability of the concept to dogs. Often mood and emotional states are running just under the surface. I envision it kind of like a submarine, you usually don’t see one as it glides under the surface of the ocean… but it is still there. But occasionally, it will poke up its periscope above the surface of the water. Similarly, dogs can be experiencing fear, stress or anxiety, often undetected by their owners, veterinarians, or trainers. Except those occasions when it pops up more visibly in terms of behavior problems. 

 

The problem is that behavior problems are the result, but are often undiagnosed or misinterpreted, and are just considered actions that need to be punished. But the punishments never work, and the problems continue.

 

This is why it is important to get a sufficient background on a dog before testing a remedy. You must look for clues, test the dog, and track the results. 

 

I saw a couple of dogs like this over the weekend. In one case, a German Shepherd Dog that is chasing his tail. The other, a young Rottweiler that can’t seem settle down and is a nuisance in the home. There is more going on in these cases, and I explained that the reason their corrections weren’t working was because they aren’t getting at the root cause of what they are seeing.

 

Dogs can’t figure this out for themselves. Dog owners are the ones who are supposed to pursue answers to odd behaviors, often requiring them to get expert advice.

Dogs And Seattle

"Pepe and I are all each other has and I can't get over the look in Pepe's eyes when the dude was running and Pepe was looking back at me in total fear," said Holder Monday back at the scene of the crime Broadway and Republican." It's my best friend, loyal, loves me...she is all I have...it's like kidnapping."

Seattle man stole a dog from the owner in Seattle.

 

Seattle used to be considered the Emerald City. It was gorgeous, safe, fun, adventurous, innovative. Now, it is a crime ridden socialist hellhole in a doom loop. Voters went along with destroying what used to be wonderful. I’m glad I got out. 

 

I had the best times growing up there. It used to be the best. Now, it isn’t the Emerald City, it is The Green Toilet Water Slum. I won’t go back unless they change. They won't.

 

I hope this lady gets her dog back, but I wouldn’t count on it. The police aren’t valued there anymore, and everyone knows it. 

Dogs And Baboons

When you are dating someone, you should ask them if you had a dog, what would they expect in terms of training, lifestyle, exercise and such. You need to find out if you are dealing with a baboon. 

Baboon males are tyrants with the females in their harems. It is even dangerous for a female human to befriend a male baboon. They are tyrants.

Live outside all the time with no interaction? Can't talk to the dog? Can't pet the dog? No toys for the dog? No treats for the dog? No comfort for the dog? No companionship for the dog? No walks? No money to be spent on medical care? That person is going to be the "alpha" and that dog better listen or else... 

If your significant other is going to be a tyrant... time to go. Leave. End it now. 

Don't date or marry a baboon.

Get Away From My Dog!

I was on vacation, walking my dog in Ketchum, ID after dinner. A man asked if he could pet my dog. I said yes. He petted my dog, and then invited him to jump up. Then he started to bear hug my dog... hard. Now my dog was scared, trying to get away. It went from a friendly street encounter to this guy getting weird and aggressive with my dog.

"Let him go! Get away!" Had to repeat that a couple times. He was then offended. Whatever. This guy was a creep. I learned that day there was not a good reason to let most strangers pet my dog.

Plan accordingly.

How Many Dogs Should You Have?

There are many considerations I recommend before adding an additional dog to your home.

 

First, how well behaved is your current dog? While I think almost all dogs benefit from having a companion dog in the home, I don’t think you should add an additional dog into the home until the first dog is in order. At a minimum, the first dog should have been socialized, over 16 weeks of age, and had at least some beginning obedience training, I personally think that the first dog should be at least 6 months to a year old before you get the second dog.

 

Second, would your current dog(s) accept another dog in the home? If your current dog hates other dogs, I wouldn’t get another dog. If you have multiple dogs already, but one dog would not accept a new dog, then don’t add the new dog. 

 

Third, what is your experience level with owning multiple dogs? If you are a novice, then don’t get a second dog… yet. Spend a good year getting your current dog through training. There are things you will learn as you grow with your dog, going places, getting experience, doing vet visits, giving your dog a bath, buying toys, cleaning up, and such. Otherwise, you are going to experience chaos. I also wouldn’t add other animals into the home during this time, whether a cat, dog, goat, bird or lizard. Focus on this new dog.

 

Fourth, what is your level of skill and ability to manage a dog? If you aren’t skillful, and have the ability, don’t yet a new dog yet. Spend a year getting that skill and ability. In a related way, if you have a disability, consider if now is the time to get another dog. Figure out how you will manage more than one dog before you take that next step. There are lots of workarounds. Make sure any new dog you put into your home won’t overload you. Many people with disabilities are fine with multiple dogs, and you probably will be as well. Don’t compromise your health or safety. I see many people fail when they have, say, 7 dogs in the home. But I know people with over 10 dogs in the home and it is fine. Success depends upon skill and ability... and willpower.

 

Fifth, can you afford it? 

 

Sixth, do you have enough room? Overcrowding leads to a wide range of behavioral problems, including fights. If you are in a tiny apartment, especially if you don’t live an active life with your dog outside the home, then hold off. I’ve lived in an apartment with more than one dog. It can be done provided you make them a high priority and you don’t put too many pets in a smaller space. More thinking also has to be done if you live in a high rise building in an urban area. Let the buyer beware.

 

Seventh, is the rest of the family in agreement? If not, don’t do it. Dogs can feel the hostility when they aren’t wanted. It often backfires.

 

Eighth, will you provide a happy home and life to your dogs? If not, then don’t make a dog miserable. Take responsibility to fix whatever is wrong in your life, regardless of the effort or pain it will entail.

 

Ninth, if a puppy, do you have time to do the intense socialization, house training, and puppy training for the new dog for the first couple of months? If an adult, you should assume the new dog will take at least 3 months of purposeful work to fit into the home Do you have the will and ability to do that? 

Dog Fights And People Fights

When we were kids, we were taught to avoid trouble. We were taught that fighting was always a last resort. I still hold to those values as an adult. 

A woman was allegedly injured, and her dog is now dead, related to a reported dispute about off leash dogs in a park. 

 

Here are my thoughts on incidents like this. I obviously don’t know all the facts of the linked article, so I can only draw my own opinion upon this one article to pick apart the issue of having dogs off leash anywhere. Reporters are notoriously bad at getting all the details of dog stories, so this is post is not to be used as a factual determination of who did what to whom and who is responsible. This is about staying out of trouble with YOUR dog.

 

1. You are not the police. I don’t think it is wise to get involved in police activity, or animal control activity, of any sort. Let the authorities do that work. Call them and stay away from trouble. I don’t think the police or animal control should encourage the public to do police type work. We pay them to do that job, let them do it. We are not in an era where citizens can get involved and not have a ton of bricks fall on them if it goes sideways... right now the Daniel Penny case is before a jury and no one knows how that will turn out. 

 

2. If you know off leash dogs are at a park, and you are concerned about the safety of those dogs, don’t go to that park. 

 

3. Don’t take your dog off leash anywhere you can’t control your dog, whether it is legal or not to have your dog off leash. Does your dog have sufficient training to be off leash in public? 

 

4. Some arguments are not worth having. Is that true for everyone in this incident? Now, let’s say something similar happens in your neighborhood park and someone is hurt, another dog is dead, another bad pit bull story is published, another pit bull is possibly going to be put down, and the owners of the next pit bull might be charged with a crime and might also be sued for a lot of money. Cases like this have happened before… My point is, when you have a fight, can you state that it was a last resort? I think if the answer is no, then walk away from trouble if you can.

 

5. Even if you are obeying the law and your dog is on leash, that doesn’t mean your dog is going to be safe from other animals, dogs or wildlife. Do you have a plan for that?

 

6. Cities need more space dedicated to park areas where dogs can obtain exercise. While I’m not a big fan of off leash areas, there could be parks designed for controlled walk paths and play areas for dogs. That is a concept that needs further development. It is also important to know that it isn't unusual for human fights to happen at off leash parks when the dogs get into a fight. Let the buyer beware.

 

7. Dogs will pick up on human strife and that can set the stage for nearby dogs to fight. 

 

Plan accordingly. 

The Current State Of Science In Dog Training

I was listening to an interesting video on my morning walk today, "Science is in trouble and it worries me” by Sabine Hossenfelder, a German theoretical physicist. This video confirmed a lot of what I have observed over the years about the science we study… it is greatly flawed, and a lot of the good science stopped by the early 1960’s. We are living on the fumes of the work of long dead scientists. Innovation is grinding to a stop, and a lot of current research is creating nonsense.

 

Here is my abbreviated list of problems when claiming that a dog training program is science based. The problems with that “science”, and the studies, are as follows: 

 

1.) Questionable methodology

2.) Small sample sizes

3.) Scrubbing of data that didn’t support the researcher’s preconceptions or grudges

4.) Poor quality writing

5.) Studies that haven’t been able to be replicated

6.) Lots of “noise” concerning research that has little applicability

7.) Written decades ago, before current other research invalidated some concepts

8.) Lack of agreement on terminology

9.) Limited number of species tested: rats, mice, pigeons, rhesus monkeys

10.) Mostly performed in laboratories

11.) Genetic lines of animals that have been inbred for decades

12.) Mostly male animals

13.) Even many professors don’t have a good understanding of the topic

14.) Current research grant programs are overly bureaucratic

15.) Lack of innovation

16.) Studies need to be redone to confirm earlier conclusions

17.) Science that was never meant to be converted into a dog training program

 

What to do? I think you read the science, especially the major studies. You then compare that to what you have learned through years of experience and then come to your own conclusions. As a community, we are operating on faulty data. This is why current good dog trainers are now questioning the “science”, and saying they know things these scientists don’t know.

Dog Attacked By Owl?

As he walked out to the backyard, he saw an owl swooping down from the trees in the direction of his dog. The owner instantly reacted by shouting at the bird and it flew away just inches from grabbing the dog.

 

Yes, big birds are a big risk, especially to puppies and small dog breeds.

 

Plan accordingly.

Petition To Ban Hound Hunting In AZ

The petition calls to ban dog assisted hunting for bears, mountain lions, cottontail rabbits, foxes and other mammals.

 

While I understand the emotional appeal of this proposed ban, I am against it. Traditional dog hunting has not been the cause of the endangerment or extinction of any of these species. I want laws that are fact based, not emotion based.

 

Years ago, a hound hunting ban was imposed in Washington State (I don’t know the status of hound hunting in WA today). In the meantime, the professional hound hunters gave up their dogs and the shelters were filled. Hunters had been called out when a bear or mountain lion was menacing human areas. That role was then given over to the state, who also was using hounds. Total hypocrisy. The law was repealed when mountain lions started hanging around grade schools. And note the increasing number of big cat attacks on children and joggers throughout the West in the past decade or so.

 

Wildlife needs to be managed; populations need to be regulated to remain sustainable. The use of dogs is humane. Sorry if that hurts your feelings. 

(BTW... Petitions are often created by interest groups to drive people to the polls in upcoming elections. Statisticians associate what type of voter most likely will turn out to vote, and they target that group with a petition. The bigger goal is to favor one Party over the other, and it isn't really about the topic of the petition. This was done more than once in Colorado, first to bring in wolves into the state and second to ban "trophy hunting". The wording of the bans was not for the betterment of wildlife management. Don't let yourself be used.)