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We Are Family: Are Your Dogs Family or Pets?

I have always disliked that word “pet”. It implies a relationship of servitude. Such a relationship is unequal in an unpleasant way. The existence of an animal for the sole purpose of the human. That’s not why I share my life with dogs. I want a mutual relationship with my dogs. They get a say in their life. I am their human parent. I am not their master.

One of Merriam-Webster definitions of pet when used as a noun is as follows: a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility. Further google searches for additional definitions might include the notation that the affection is typically returned by the “pet” to the owner. How generous of that statement as an afterthought! Choosing to share our life with dogs should mean that the pleasure of both parties is of importance as a standard.

I asked this question on the How Many Dogs Facebook page: are your dogs pets or family? I did not calculate exact percentages from the responses so this is only a guess, but approximately 98% said family without question. Some even questioned as to whether I was serious in even asking such a question. Obviously, the majority of that audience is not who I have to convince.

The concept of dogs as family is not easy for some to wrap their heads around. Old traditions die hard. The traditional role of animals in the life of humans placed the humans in what was once referred to as an alpha role. That perception of our role in a dog’s life has been disproved by science. There are plenty of people still willing to cling to that role, however. Inaccurate information presented on unfortunately widely available TV shows contribute to antiquated information maintaining a place in the public eye. This also contributes to the unbalanced relationships that many people have with their dogs.

Dogs aren’t left out when friends come to visit.

In human families, those who are closest emotionally are not always related by blood. Close friends are often considered family and non-traditional nuclear families are more common than traditional ones (with parents who are on their first marriage to one another with only shared children in the home). Blended families are far more common in this modern day and age.

Dogs are part of a blended family. You choose them. Unlike blood relatives, you have made the decision to add an animal to your home. In multiple dog households, that concept is even more front and center. A cohesive household should be your goal. There are always going to be spats in a family. Love doesn’t prevent other emotions. Conflict is part of life. Your goal as a dog parent is to minimize that potential. Be the parental figure. You can read more about that subject by clicking here.

There are hundreds of multiple dog households with dogs who don’t get along. It happens, but this is not the scenario that this article is about. I don’t judge households like this as inappropriate. Keeping the conflict to a minimum and keeping everyone safe should be a goal in such households. How do you create a more cohesive family if your current crew is unstable? An article’s recommendation can only deal in generalizations. The number one answer is get a professional behavior consultant to help you. Failing that, be a strong but kind parental type figure who creates boundaries and is observant and is present for all questions and answers. Provide the information that is relevant, provide training for all dogs who need it, provide safety as well as all the other basic needs.

Families celebrate each other’s successes and share each other’s pain. Families stick together when it counts. Families have fun together. Families mourn losses. If your crew is happiest when everyone is together, then you have succeeded in creating a family. If your dogs greet each other after one or more having been separated for one reason or another, then you have a family. If your dogs look out for each other in some way in some scenarios and have jealous spats in other circumstances, then you have a family. Pat yourself on the back, hug your dogs (if they enjoy that!) and celebrate your family. Give them the courtesy of calling them family rather than pets. I personally use the word dogs rather than pets when applicable. I am the human, they are the dogs. Together we are a family. No pets here.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this subject in the spaces below.

Tags: behavior, boundaries, cohesive, dog, dogs, exercise, get along, household, how, human, many, multiple, needs, pet, positive, relationship, social, train, training, unstable

Posted in: Projects

Safety Zone: Why Safety Is So Important to Dogs

You make sure that your dogs have a roof over their heads, food to eat and have appropriate vet care as needed. So you assume that they are safe. In comparison to a stray dog, they are indeed safe. But there is a lot more to safety than the basics that I mentioned.

Is any one dog in your home regularly annoying to another dog without consistent human intervention? Do any of your dogs bark constantly at other dogs/humans outside of your home while viewing them from inside? Do any of your dogs bark at other dogs/humans while on a walk? Do you have an invisible fence and allow your dogs unsupervised access to your yard, when it’s on a street with others passing by? Then your dogs might have an emotional safety problem.

There are different degrees of safety. What a dog with one personality may consider a minor worry, another with a higher strung temperament may consider worthy of a meltdown. Learning what your own dogs require in order to feel safe is crucial to having a smoothly running household.

This is what dogs who feel safe look like while relaxing.

Think about your own emotional state when you don’t feel safe. Do you feel anxious? Worried? Stressed? All of the above? It’s the same for dogs. Safety means something different for everyone. It’s a very individual but very important component of one’s life. How can you determine what safety is lacking in your household? Learning to be very observant about what worry in your own crew looks like and what creates that worry. Learn body language and signals and what questions to the humans of the household look like.

Let’s address some of my examples individually:

Barking more than a little at strangers, from both inside and outside is frequently (but not always) due to anxiety on the dog’s part. Anxiety boils down to a lack of feeling emotionally safe. While this article cannot fix this problem in your dogs, it can give you an idea when you need professional help in order to better create safety in this area. If your dogs are reactive in these types of scenarios, quality professional behavioral help can effect change for the better. Feel free to contact us for a referral to a qualified behavior professional in your area.

I am sure that I will get some flack for my opinions of invisible type fencing, but it has to be said. Unsupervised dogs in most invisible fencing type situations are a recipe for a lack of safety on the part of the dogs, both inside that ‘fence’ and dogs passing by that ‘fenced’ yard. The dogs inside know that anything and anyone can enter their space but they are trapped and cannot get away from an intruder. There is no visible barrier so that passersby are generally seen as a credible threat. This can create and/or increase aggression substantially.

Regarding the subject of one dog annoying another housemate on a regular basis, I have written numerous articles, one on parenting available here and another on dogs who bully other dogs, available here. Knowing that the human(s) in the household will provide safety from being pushed around can allow a dog to truly relax.

This brings me additional clues that your dog doesn’t feel safe. An inability to relax easily around the house is a glaring symptom. Pacing frequently and being easily startled are clues as well. Being hyper-vigilant towards certain criteria such as doorways to the outside world and windows that look out onto potentially active areas of the neighborhood are yet others. A caveat about the interest in the outdoor activity; this can also simply be a habit that has been inadvertently reinforced. When that is the case, you will rarely see the other symptoms.

One of the easiest things that can be done to remedy a lack of emotional safety is to truly see your dogs. Their questions, that is. Dogs ask a lot of questions of their humans. The problems arise when the humans don’t see the questions. The dogs then are forced to deal with their fears in the best way that they know. Pro-active barking is at the top of their list. This rarely works out in a manner that is satisfactory to the humans, or the dogs for that matter!

Feeling safe isn’t limited to the examples that I gave. Other areas of safety include not exposing your dogs to scenarios where they could get into trouble that can be avoided. This can include using a leash when walking outdoors, having your dogs greet visitors away from the initial entry into your home as well as not allowing strangers to touch your dogs without your dog’s explicit permission. See more on that here.

As for the initial examples that were presented, such as meals, vet care and housing, there is lot to be gained from the expectation that basic routines happen predictably enough as expected. Another safety stressor is vast unpredictability on the part of the humans. Behavior wise, that is. If the humans do not behave in a predictable manner most of the time, it can cause instability on the part of the dog’s mental state. Anxious and mentally unstable humans can create or contribute to mentally unstable dogs. This is not always the case, of course. But dogs learn how to walk on eggshells, just like humans. That is not good for either species.

Dogs with rock solid temperaments can certainly safely be emotional or psychiatric service dogs for humans that have emotional problems or mental illness quite successfully. But these are dogs who are hand picked for such tasks, not your average shelter or rescue dog that has baggage of his or her own. However, such dogs will need to have regular breaks in order to remain successful at their task and stable.

In conclusion, with appropriate accommodations made for emotional and physical safety, what you will see is dogs who can roll with life’s challenges and changes. Your crew will trust that you are handling all of the scary things including the handling of scenarios that may worry them. They will trust that they can look to you with questions and get answers that they understand. They will trust that you will intervene when necessary. This allows them to truly relax and be themselves. Creating such an existence among your crew will provide long term peace of mind, not only among your crew but with the humans. Please take the spaces below to describe how you create a safety zone among your crew.

Tags: anxious, bark, behavior, body language, dog, fear, household, how, invisible fence, many, multiple, pacing, positive, relax, safe, shelter, stress, symptom, worry

Posted in: Projects

From the Frying Pan into the Fire: Adding a Dog When Your Current Dog Has Issues

Let’s say for the sake of argument that you have a human child who is difficult, with a personality disorder that needs professionally addressed. Yet you haven’t had the heart to take that step. Your child is antisocial towards everyone but your own family, and at times, including them. He is disruptive in school, openly hostile and pro-active about avoiding interactions while generally challenging any form of authority. Would you think it a good idea to suddenly decide to adopt another younger child to shower with affection? Would you expect the interactions of the new child and the troubled child to go smoothly?

Strangely, many people do exactly the canine equivalent of this. They are then vastly surprised that they have a problem on their hands. The expectation is that if you have two of the same species in the house, they should automatically get along. Why? All humans don’t get along. It would, of course, be great if that were the case, but humanity has a long way to go before we get to that point.

No one understands more than I do the temptation to add another canine to one’s household. But even I did not reach this point without planning. My last ‘singleton’ dog was adamant about remaining a singleton. I tried but at that stage of my training life, I was not skilled enough to ‘fix’ her. Layla’s behavior nearby other dogs in public was fine. I ‘fixed’ that very easily. She simply did not want to share her personal space with another canine and I grudgingly respected that. She had no other issues. She was a delightful and charming dog, enchanting every human she met. Everyone loved her and she them.

Adding another canine to a household with a dog who not only dislikes other dogs but also most humans, is a huge task to take on. Modifying that behavior won’t happen overnight. There are no magic wands. Consistency and parental boundaries are important. Because of my specialty, I get requests to help with such situations. I believe being truthful is important to achieving success. All family members must be on board in order for quality changes to take place. Realistic expectations are crucial and patience is key.

Teach delivers a correction to Tucker.

Managing the environment and setting each dog up for success is important. I often get asked, “How do I stop so and so from annoying so and so?” Easy, don’t let him do it in the first place. Setting up your household structure so that each dog feels safe and secure is important to success. Safety is high on the hierarchy of needs. Anxiety is off the charts without safety. The humans are in charge of safety. The dogs need structure, guidelines and safety. Reinforcing for appropriate choices and providing an incentive for such, helps to teach impulse control.

My job would be so much easier if simply integrating the dogs was my only requested task. Yet in so many of these cases, the resident dog in question *also* dislikes all human strangers so that has to be addressed before I can even attend to attempt to address the dog/dog situation. I do have to get access to the inside of the house, after all! (Edited to add in 2022: obviously, now I can offer virtual sessions for such and in many cases, that is indeed the better option. But honestly, in many cases that also means that I miss demonstrating some small things that can mean the difference between success and failure.)

In the worst scenarios, the owners have waited until the now larger and more confident dog has gotten fed up with the corrections he or she has endured at the paws of the other dog and has started to fight back. Get help before this point, please! Better yet, address your original dog’s issues FIRST, before you add gasoline to your fire. The amount of work that needs done once the deed is done is more than most people want to deal with. So do yourself a favor and think of what the resident dog needs rather than what you want.

If you lived through such a scenario, feel free to tell us all about it in the spaces below.

Tags: adding, anxiety, athority, behavior, confident, correction, dislike, disorder, dog, dominance, get along, household, how, human, many, multiple, needs, rescue, safe, skilled, social, training

Posted in: Projects

The Heat is On: Pressure to Add a Family Member

Dog lovers who can’t turn their backs on a dog in need, are regularly faced with this pressure. I am not talking about saying yes to every dog in need. I am talking about people who foster dogs for rescues or shelters and/or people who take in dogs they find wandering the streets.

Post a dog on Facebook that you have found, while you are trying to locate the owners and you will get the inevitable suggestion to keep the dog, when efforts to find the owner are not immediately rewarding. The commenters mean well and they use smiley faces to soften their pressure. But pressure it is. Phrases such as “it’s meant to be” and “you found him for a reason” are intrusive and assuming. Assuming because the person applying the pressure presumes to know better than the person who is not yet ready to add to their household.

The same phrases can be found on threads with photos of foster dogs. Fostering saves lives. If foster homes kept every dog that they foster, they typically can’t foster any longer. Foster failures are not a bad thing. Most people who have fostered have experienced a foster failure. Sometimes it is meant to be. But most times, it isn’t. The foster home is just a step along the path. It’s a very important and often life sustaining step, but a step nevertheless. It’s a wonderful thing.

Giving the resident dogs a break.

Equally wonderful is taking the time to capture a lost dog or a stray in need. Some people will find a new addition to their household by doing this, when the dog in question is indeed a stray. That becomes a joyous occasion for all involved. But it’s just as joyous when the lost dog gets reunited with his or her family of the stray finds the perfect forever home, once in safety.

There is no shame in not being ready to be the last step on their journey. Only the humans and the other canines/animals in the home can properly make that decision. Others can’t make it for them. It’s very stressful to be pressured like that. Pressure can make some people make decisions that are not right for them. That helps no one.

It’s okay to be selfish in these cases. You have to be comfortable with your decisions. Don’t allow pressure from others to make up your mind about whether you add another canine member or not. Be true to yourself and what you can handle. Don’t let outsiders sour you on helping in your own way. Every little bit helps. It’s a wonderful thing to help an animal in need expecting nothing in return but the happiness in your soul. Don’t allow pie in the sky outsiders who have no concept of your situation to cause turmoil inside of you or sway you from playing your part in an animal’s journey. Play the part you want to play and be proud of what you have done. You deserve it.

Tags: add, behavior, decision, dog, dogs, foster, happiness, household, how, many, positive, pressure, rescue, selfish, shelter

Posted in: Projects

Great Expectations: Life Will Roll You on a Regular Basis

Things are running smoothly in your multiple dog household so you let your guard down and assume you now have a cake walk. Until one day you don’t and you are at the vet’s office with one of your crew. What happened, you wonder? Everything was fine, you muse. Well, you are right and you are wrong.

Life happens. Really. Google trigger stacking and you will get several wonderful articles by several wonderful trainers who will explain the dog version of a bad day. This equals ‘stuff happens’. Exchange the word stuff with what many of us say when something goes awry and you get the picture. Nothing is continually perfect. We all fluctuate with our moods and our tolerance levels. That is a perfectly normal occurrence.

Does that mean that the multiple dog parents can never relax? Of course not, But it does mean that you have to be skilled observers. This should be second nature with a multiple dog household. Nipping a problem in the bud early on will help things to be far more fixable than waiting until that vet visit is a reality.

Exciting situations are one of the triggers for conflict between housemates where there usually is none.

Several stressors in any given day can cause a shorter fuse in a dog than he or she would normally possess. This can include many things, among them not feeling 100% up to par, not getting enough exercise or mental enrichment that day, not getting something one expected that day, pain, being too hot or cold, etc. There are just so many variables. Even atmospheric conditions make a difference such as barometric pressure, temperature, rain, etc. It all adds up.

Every sentient being has scenarios that cause us to have shorter fuse than usual. Dogs are no different. Expecting our canine friends to have the same mood day in and day out is as unrealistic as assuming you will have the same mood on a daily basis.

Nothing comes out of the blue. I hear that periodically. “There was no warning”. There is ALWAYS a warning. It’s usually unseen except in the parts of the mind where the conscious mind doesn’t allow it to come to a full surface thought. And then it happens. Unfortunately it usually coincides with the dog version of a bad day. The perfect storm. The straw that broke the camel’s back. Choose your phrase.

What does this all have to do with preventing chaos? Easy, pay attention on a daily basis and your perfect storm trigger stacking days will be far less of an issue than they could be. It’s all about being present in the moment. Watch your crew for questions. Watch your crew for signs of needing assistance. Watch your crew for anything that feels off. Don’t expect perfection because they are great most of the time. Life is fluid. Life is motion. To be stagnant is not something that you should aspire to. The more in the moment that you are with your crew on a regular basis to prevent problems, the more that you can relax in the future with the knowledge that they know you are present and there for them.

Feel free to explain your in the moment skills with your crew in the spaces below.

Tags: bad day, behavior, canine, dog, dominance, exercise, household, many, mood, multiple, perfect storm, positive, stimulation, tolerance, training, trigger stacking

Posted in: Projects

Mythbusters, the Dog Training Edition: “Some Breeds Need a Firmer Hand”

Breed specific enthusiasts can have a narrow view on some aspects of their chosen breed. This is not limited to any one breed. I see it among many breed enthusiasts. Everyone wants to believe that their breed is more special than any other breed. So they say things like the above phrase to set their breed apart and in doing so, themselves as well. After all, they can handle this breed so they must be special too.

In truth, all dogs are special. There no need to make any one breed seem tougher than any other breed. To do so invites abuse of that breed in the name of training. This is unnecessary at best. It is a crime at worst.

Behavior is behavior. Modifying a behavior can be done with reward based methods regardless of the breed. Breed only matters in knowing where some behaviors MAY come from and in how to redirect them more effectively. Plenty of breeds were bred for a certain job. But that never guarantees that every member of that breed has that working instinct. It very much depends on the individual parents. But knowing what that job trait may be and how certain behaviors fit into such a trait are important considerations for behavior consultants. That doesn’t however, change the methodology that one should use to modify errant behaviors that are unwelcome. There are plenty of choices on how to implement reward based behavior modification.

No force is needed to handle these two Cane Corsos.

In fact, using punitive methods on strong confident dogs can create a time bomb waiting to go off. At some point, said strong confident dog will get sick of being forced and choose to fight back. Is this the kind of relationship that you want to create with your dogs? I sure don’t. All of my confident dogs have flourished when I finally got a clue about how to inspire them effectively.

Status breeds can often the choice of some people who want to use the perceived status of their dog to elevate how they are viewed by the world at large. Being able to “control” such a “tough” dog makes them tough. So they use methods popularized by a certain TV “trainer” with little education in dog behavior. These old fashioned methods have proven to be detrimental to having a trust based relationship with one’s dog. They also often create more aggression and a defensive state of existing in the dogs in question.

Among the fallacies I have heard are that Pit Bulls have necks so strong that they can’t feel prong collars and their jaws lock so that you have to be forceful with them in order to prevent that. Of course this kind of false information creates an adversarial situation with a breed group that is already in a precarious position in the public eye right now. The truth is that this is one of the breed groups that is the softest with humans. They are often eager to please and take to reward based training very quickly. Thankfully most Pit Bull rescue and advocacy groups operate with modern methods these days, although sadly not all do. Do your research before supporting a Pit Bull rescue and choose the ones who choose to train with their brains. Without that reassurance, you can inadvertently support very old fashioned methods that rely on abuse and call it training.

Dobermans and Rottweilers are two more breeds where you often see a heavy slant towards the old fashioned methods among their fanciers. Progressive owners choose positive rewards-based methods because they work better, without a need for manhandling one’s dog. Merlin introduced me to the Doberman world and fortunately for him, I wound up on the path to reward-based training. I wish I could say the same for most Doberman fans.

Fortunately for Caucasian Ovcharkas, Kenzo’s breed, the original breeder in this country who wrote the book on the breed, was ahead of her time. Reward-based training and even capturing, is mentioned in her book on the breed. Unheard of that decade, this is a boon to the breed. This breed tends to be the picture that shows up on the internet if you google aggressive dogs. Large and powerful, yet perfectly easily trainable with reward based training, once again.

The same is true of all breeds. Behavior is behavior. Expecting to have to be forceful with your chosen breed sets up an adversarial relationship from the start. This causes defensive behavior on the part of the dog and resentful behavior on the part of the human. If you choose to see believe that you have to use a hammer, you will see everything as a nail. Build a relationship, not a battle. If you have a breed perceived as “tough”, feel free share your reward based training path in the spaces below.

Tags: abuse, behavior, breed, Cane Corso, canine, confident, dog, dominance, exercise, fight, force, household, inspire, many, modification, multiple, positive, relationship, rescue, reward, social, training, walk

Posted in: Projects

Puzzle Pieces: Choosing The Right Dog To Fit Your Lifestyle

A Westminster breed win causes the winning breed’s lovers to cringe for their breed. So can movies made about a particular breed. Dalmatians, Siberian Huskies and Chihuahuas to name a few, have already suffered through this fate. Backyard breeders pop up like weeds and rescues will be overflowing in the not too distant future. The same thing can happen when a particular breed is featured on the cover of a popular non-dog related national magazine. This recently happened with the Belgian Malinois.

It is especially harmful to a breed when the reputation is what can be seen as “bad ass” for lack of a better term. I imagine that the millions of Pit Bull type dogs that have lost their lives for varying reasons because of what has been done to them via public perception would have preferred to avoid the “bad ass” persona. Unlike the majority of dogs that perform a job for humans, Pit Bull type dogs actually do make great family dogs in most cases.

The same cannot be said of many Malinois. Or a working line Border Collie. Or a working line Australian Cattle Dog. Or so many other dogs that need a job in order to remain sane. Think of them as Type A dogs. Type A dogs are very much like your Type A friends who cannot sit still and relax unless exhausted. And even then, they struggle with this thing called the off switch. I know this. I am a Type A person.

Type A dogs need a job. Seriously, we are not talking just part of the day. We are talking most of the time. Dogs like this need almost constant mental stimulation or they will make their own and you may not agree with their interpretation of said mental stimulation.

So when a Type A dog breed suddenly becomes popular, people who are not planning on working their dog many hours a day decide to get the latest “cool” dog breed. While in a few cases, this will create a new fanatic of said breed, dedicated to their dog’s emotional stability, in most cases this ends up on the opposite end of that spectrum.

Typical of happens when Siberian Huskies — or other Type A breeds — aren’t kept busy.

The best way to prevent this scenario is to research, research and then research again when you plan on adding to your current crew. Areas of consideration include your lifestyle and your available time, your current crew’s tolerance level and likes and dislikes among other canines, your available finances and what a new addition would require, your available space and what your considered breed requires and even your plans for the future and whether an addition fits with them.

I am sure that I am preaching to the choir with my readers, but dogs are not fads nor are the meant to be disposable. They should be a lifetime (of the dog) commitment. Careful consideration that you have the right situation for the breed that you lust after is important to future happiness for everyone involved in the decision. Adopting or purchasing a puppy, especially a backyard bred version, of a Type A dog without having all the puzzle pieces in place will be a disaster in the making. Save yourself some angst and spend quality time matching your lifestyle and your current crew to what fits best, rather than basing your decision on the cool factor or an attractive face. That doesn’t work well for human pairings, it doesn’t work any better for choosing the canines in your life!

Tags: behavior, breed, choose, choosing, crate, dog, dogs, dominance, exercise, how, impulse control, job, Malinois, many, multiple, popular, positive, puppy, pure bred, relax, sit, stability, stimulation, train, working

Posted in: Projects

Balancing Acts: Work, Play, Dogs, How Do You Fit It All In?

Recently it was made clear to me that I had been neglecting my dog’s playtime. I had a friend come over to put my window air conditioners in and we had to go upstairs to my finished attic to get one of them. This also happens to be the location of my dog’s playroom. When that door opened, they were all up there in a flash. Even Siri, who often had to be persuaded and cajoled when we made this a daily event. I was chagrined.

It had been weeks, if not a month, since we had made the trip up there. Don’t misunderstand, we had most definitely played, but in the yard and in the living room. Those venues don’t generally invite the same intensity of play. And of course, we walk on a daily basis. But the attic playroom is where they are permitted to wrestle like idiots. They had clearly missed this time and I felt like a horrible dog mom.

I made sure that we headed up to that room two days later for a good hour or so of no holds barred play. Even Siri joined in and it had been a couple of months since she had shown an interest in joining in. She usually chose to lay on a dog bed next to me while watching. We stayed up there so long, that eventually Kenzo ran downstairs to get a drink. That was a rarity! I chose that as our cue to call it a day. I vowed then to not let life get in the way of play again. My dogs are only here a finite amount of time. I want to make that time memorable.

I see so many clients who confess to me that they rarely walk their dogs. But they make a point in telling me that they play with their dogs for hours in the yard. That’s great. But it’s not a substitute for getting their dogs out of their element. I wrote a blog about the importance of that, that you can read here in this website. My point here is about balance. Spend some of that playtime walking your crew outside of your own property. One method of stimulation isn’t enough. Playtime is aerobic exercise depending on how you are playing. Walking may be physical but it’s the mental factor of it that is important to your dog.

The crew in their playroom.

The playing portion is engagement with you as well as physical. I can see on my dog’s faces how happy they are when they get to really engage with one another and play unfettered. My mistake was trying to force that interaction daily. I was deluded into thinking they were no longer interested because I tried to enforce play daily. The true story was that they didn’t need it daily, Maybe your dogs do, maybe they don’t. I am certain that my dogs need a daily outing, away from our element. I need this as well. But they don’t need to wrestle like idiots daily. Younger dogs probably do. When Merlin and Kera were alive and younger, the crew played almost daily. But Kenzo is a low activity two year old. And Trent is nine going on ten and Siri is twelve and a half.

The message here is look for what your own individual crew needs. Look for balance. Make time for what they need. The time they have with us is limited. It’s not nearly as much as with the humans in your life. Before you know it, it’s gone. Life is hectic for most humans in this day and age. But I cannot think of a better way to slow it down than to force yourself to live in the moment for your dogs for some portion of every day. Take a realistic look at them and what their needs are. Carve that time out on a daily basis, some days more, some days less. You will be happier and so will they.

Feel free to share how you balance your dog’s lives. We all need fresh ideas.

Tags: balance, behavior, dogs, exercise, happy, hectic, household, how, intensity, many, multiple, needs, physical, play, positive, social, training, walk

Posted in: Projects

Graduation Day: Kenzo Transitions Out of the Crate

Today we folded up the crate and put it away. This was by no means an overnight decision. It has been on my mind but I had not taken any steps to start the process until a month or so ago. That was when Kenzo put his big boy pants on in a manner of speaking. He turned two years old. Coincidently he chose this same time frame to start protesting being crated when I left the house long enough for clients.

The routine up until this time had always been that Siri and Trent were loose in my bedroom and Kenzo was crated in the same room with that door closed. I have long since considered my bedroom the quietest and calmest seeming room in my house. Living in the city with guarding and guardian breeds meant that I tried very hard to reduce their need to feel that they had to guard the homestead while I was out. The bedroom has always been the logical choice to avoid the majority of the sounds of activity in my neighborhood.

Before Kenzo, Merlin, Kera Siri and Trent were loose together in that room for most of their life together when home alone. When Trent initially joined us, he was crated in that room until I was comfortable with their interactions.

For about the past year when I only planned on being gone an hour or two locally, I often left them all loose with the run of the entire house. I initially started that process with quick trips to the store down the street and progressed from there. That set up always went well, but my thoughts on that were that because they had the entire house to move around in, they were less likely to have any bad interactions between them. Kenzo would never harm Siri and vice versa but Trent is insecure and I wasn’t sure whether I was comfortable with them in less space when alone yet.

Trent likes to hang out upstairs a lot and Siri and Kenzo hang out in the kitchen unless we are all in the living room or bedroom. But when Kenzo initially refused to go into the crate after smacking himself in the bum with the crate door accidentally as I was leaving for a client, I was unsure how to handle it. He spooks easily about things like that and I knew he wasn’t going back in without some work on my part that I did not have time for at that very moment. So I settled on the whole house set up for the first couple of days. On day three, he again went into the crate but day four he said no again.

Day four gave me a new set up to try that I had been mulling over for several months. I left them all loose with access to both upstairs bedrooms and baby gated the top of the stairs. This solved the problem of the too close of quarters in the one bedroom for three dogs, with one male being twice the size of the other. And it also solved the problem of potential activity on my back porch where the mail and packages would be delivered, causing a need to guard the castle.

Kenzo in the spare bedroom with his Kong

Kenzo automatically went into the spare bedroom to get his Kong as this is where he usually laid down while I showered. I gave the other two their Kongs in their usual spots. I had already set up another water bowl in the spare bedroom. I sprayed calming lavender essential oils and left many of Kenzo’s favorite toys and antlers out. The only thing that I worried about was Kenzo knocking the baby gate down to go downstairs. I needn’t have worried about that. Kenzo respects barriers. He also spooks easily about things such as that and if he had knocked the gate over, he would have steered clear of it and stayed upstairs.

So now we have a new routine and Kenzo no longer heads upstairs with reluctance when it’s clear I am heading out for a bit. They are calm and happy and this makes me happy. So the message here is integrating can happen easily if you take it step by step. Trust is earned. Good interactions between your crew members are crucial for such a step. Your crew must have some manners between one another before even considering something like this. Impulse control is key. As is trusting your instincts. Some households may never have the dogs loose together when home alone and that is okay. Do what is right for your own situation and you cannot go wrong.

Take a moment below to share how you handle your crew’s home alone set up.

Tags: access, behavior, calm. harm, canine, crate, dogs, dominance, door, exercise, force, household, how, many, multiple, positive, quiet, rescue, routine, social, three, training, trust

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Saving Them All: At What Cost?

No Kill. This is a buzzword in the rescue and shelter community. But to the majority of said community, it is an offensive term. The use of this term implies that all else but no-kill aficionados are to be scorned. No one wants euthanasia. But the sad reality is that it’s not possible to save them all responsibly.

The above paragraph will cause a huge uproar among some rescue circles. But not the responsible ones. Don’t misunderstand me. All lives are worthwhile. But there are worse fates than euthanasia. Warehousing is sadly common among the save them all fans. What does warehousing mean? Unfortunately, it entails keeping animals technically alive but with little regard to quality of life. This can include crating or kenneling for long periods without human interaction and without enrichment. Endless hours without physical exercise or mental stimulation is not healthy for any living being. Why would it be okay for an animal? Is alive really better in this circumstance? Would the animal experiencing this agree with the no kill crowd if asked? I tend to doubt it.

Yet there are ‘rescuers’ who only care about whether a dog is alive. They consider this a win. Dog after dogs are taken in by some rescues, into foster homes that already have too many to meet all their needs. Dogs are crated, with little interaction and exercise. Their emotional and physical needs are only marginally met. They spend long hours with little to do. In other scenarios, they are placed into any home that offers, with little to no screening to determine suitability. These homes often are fickle in their preferences and when the dog isn’t perfect, the dog is given up for the next ‘save’. These dogs go from home to home, often being given away with no regard to where they land. The emotional toll this takes on an animal can be permanently damaging. The lucky ones find a place that is home for life, hopefully a home that is good to them. The unlucky ones are victims of abuse and neglect, worse off than their life wherever they started from.

Rescue can be an addiction, like so many other addictions that cause the people acting on them to feel good when they ‘win’. Numbers are more important than quality to so many. The need is for self approval and self importance, not the improvement of a dog’s life. Rescuers patting themselves on the back, the worse the story, the more attention they get for the ‘save’. Then the ‘saved’ dogs get shipped off to some foster home that is no better than a warehouse and the hell begins anew.

I am truly sorry if this comes off as cynical but it’s a sad reality for so many more than it should be. This doesn’t mean that the most shared stories of dogs in dire straits are bad rescuers. Each situation is individual and most rescuers who take in dogs who were victims of terrible circumstances are just trying to do a good thing. But there are many others who are looking for their 15 minutes, less about the dog, more about them.

These are the same individuals and groups who think every dog can be saved, no matter the cost to the rescue, the community and the other dogs who will die because of the effort to save one. Let me preface this by saying that I will be the first one to offer to help when a dog with a committed family wants assistance with modifying his or her issues. A committed family willing to implement proper management and a proper behavior modification protocol in order to make things safer for the community and their dog is to be commended. That is best case scenario for a successful behavior modification.

The same type of issue in a dog who is available for adoption is not going to be as workable in many scenarios. Consistency makes for a successful outcome. Consistency is often lacking in rescue and shelter scenarios, when the issue is severe. Situations such as severe stranger aggression or severe dog aggression pose a danger to so many. Placing a dog who has already killed another dog and seriously attacked others, leaves a very small and unrealistic criteria for a successful adoption. Yet there are people who rally for dogs like this to be shipped to some imaginary unicorn location where they can be ‘fixed’ fast. That isn’t even a possibility yet some ‘trainers’ make such promises.

I hear these ‘rescuers’ say that human errors caused the dog’s issues. They did indeed but we are not placing dogs with aliens. Until we accept that we are all humans and all capable of these errors and stuff happens, then we will continue to make mistakes. These mistakes mean that we place dogs who are simply not fixable in the situations they are in, into a household unequipped to handle them.

I see post after post on Facebook about dogs that ‘need some work’, just needing a place they can go with ‘no other dogs, no cats, no kids, no men’, etc. I see post after post about dogs that need to ‘live with a single woman who never has visitors’. Sure, these homes exist but they are few and far between and they are the ones who already have that dog. There are people taking in dogs like this who have other dogs, who crate and rotate dogs in different parts of the house. This is a very stressful way to live. Accidents happen. They really do. Humans will be human. And then we are back to the lack of appropriate enrichment for the dog with the issue and once again, quality of life rears it’s ugly head.

Lest you declare me as advocating for mass genocide of dogs, I am wholeheartedly supportive of proper attempts at behavior modification with the appropriate commitment level, with the dogs that fit these descriptions. If there is a place where this can happen and given the proper attention, then almost every dog deserves a chance. But here is where the attention to common sense and reality must come into play. If you have done everything that could be done and the dog you are trying to help is not improving, despite appropriate attempts at behavior modification, medication, vet screenings for organic causes and people and/or animals in your care have been seriously injured, then you owe it to those people and other animals to take a long hard look at the situation. No one should be pressured to not give up just because others don’t share their own common sense. Pressure from others to ‘try just one more thing’ causes guilt on the part of the person trying to help. That is hardly helpful.

Every life is worth putting an effort to save. But an effort should not involve placing so many others in danger in any given foster home or the public at large. It also should not be mean that perfectly lovely dogs with wonderful temperaments in overcrowded shelters be placed in danger of euthanasia simply because of space. What about their right to being saved? I realize that this is an extremely controversial subject and emotions run very high on both sides. But we all need to stop and realize just how many good dogs are dying because of our choices. We need to consider quality of life and not just being alive.

Everyone has different personal beliefs about life after we leave this earth. I don’t expect anyone else to agree with mine. But mine are that this is only but one realm of our existence and that nothing is to be feared about leaving this realm. I believe that leaving this realm doesn’t mean an end to consciousness. Perhaps that helps me make hard decisions easier than some who don’t share this belief. In any case, I believe we have an obligation to the animals in our care to do the best that we can by them while we are with them and that includes letting go when we should. Peace to you all in your own decisions on this subject. Feel free to share your thoughts on this subject in the spaces below but I ask that you please keep it classy.

Tags: behavior, bully, canine, danger, dogs, dominance, fix, force, interaction, life, many, multiple, peace, positive, rescue, sad, save, shelter, training

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