Drayton Michaels / CTC 2007

On Feb 4th 2010 in Hoboken NJ there was a dog incident that left three people injured and two dogs dead. Of course the press and the police have not released ANY information as to why the dogs acted so aggressively. The evening news flashed its obligatory “pit bull mauls” graphic and slanted the story to make it sound like the dogs were the ones at fault. http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/5800790/article--Police-update-Hoboken-pit-bull-attack-?instance=up_to_the_minute_hoboken

There are at least two accounts that the dog named Giant was subjected to an owner that was abusive and neglectful.

I am asking people to please contact the press and the authorities in NJ and request that the owner be investigated and the truth be told about the owner’s abusive history towards Giant.

One night as we were enjoying a game of Wii tennis and bowling, our dog Keyshia started barking. The dogs in our house are separated by a gate, so she was at the baby gate barking. I thought, “Well she is safe, and nothing bad will happen, so let her bark it out”. She continued for another 5 min, then as soon as she stopped for a good 5 seconds or so we heaped some praise on her and gave her a work to eat toy. Once that was dissected she was back to barking. We ignored her during both accounts. Again as last time as soon as she was quiet for 5 seconds, we refilled her Planet Dog Orbie and she went about her way working for the goodies.

We decided to play Wii golf and put up the visual barrier and all the barking stopped. Many times a simple antecedent intervention as Jean Donaldson calls it, will do the trick.

Here are some things to consider for dogs that may react to hectic video games.

As we embark on a new year I’d like to mention a few groups and organizations that have really made an impact on advocacy in 2009.

On December 1st 2007 I attended the American Bar Assoc. Animal Law Committee Regional Conference. The conference attempted to discuss dangerous dogs and what to do about reckless owners. After some 9 hours not a thing was concluded about actual dog behavior or ideas on how to educate dog owners and the general public! There were tons of stories and a whole lot of words; everyone agreed that owners should be responsible. There was an air of hopelessness about the whole affair, as if they had no way of explaining to people that are afraid of dogs that they are safe and they are not inherently dangerous. This can all be done based on factual evidence compiled each year by the CDC.

It’s often said many people either give the dog too much information, “stop no hey no agrh get off down…”, or perhaps do not do anything that has any real consequence or value to the dog, “That’s good old Buster he’s just a jumpy dog”. Either way the behaviors that the human is looking to decrease are getting rehearsed, thus becoming stronger.

Many times with clients I will explain that getting in front of the behavior is very important in having good timing. Being aware of the surrounding context and being ready is one of the major ways to keep dogs paying attention outside or even inside around hectic events such as door greetings.
 
Once you’ve established a good solid reward history and a humane consequence history what follows are some ideas to tighten up the training. Always factor duration and distance as well as level of distraction.
 

There is a corresponding video to this blog on Currenttv.com

http://current.com/items/90698388_vick-fair-shake-or-shake-down.htm

Pondering this thought I came to the realization that this can go many many ways.
The unique aspect of owning a dog is that it is a conduit to the truth. The agenda of the dog is one that is unfettered with unnecessary desires, unless we're talking about dogs who over eat! However even there you'd find something more honest than gluttony.
I would be willing to wager that even dogs that appear gluttonous are somehow driven by a biological need to do it, or something associated with not getting enough food at some point.

As we progress in the humane dog behavior sciences we're finding more and more that dogs are at the mercy of our behaviors, our actions, inactions and our understanding of them.
The denial aspect of human behavior is prickly patch in deed. It can be disastrous or funny. The same can be said of our relationship with our dogs.
 

This is the first part in a new series I’m calling Advocacy Overdrive. It will be a chronicle of happenings, events, and discussions surrounding The Pit Bull Hoax DVD and other subsequent media related advocacy projects. The purpose is to get more people involved, hence the word overdrive in the title. Past that it will be a way for people to better understand the subject matter at hand as well as who is behind the media.

What is the percentage of “pit bull” dogs?

The numbers that are associated with dog information is often times fuzzy. In some cases the math is fuzzy because the people involved are fudging numbers, sometimes it is because there is just no accurate way to arrive at a number so the results are distilled through research and let’s face it personal bias.

Often when I am working with clients there are questions about food rewards. The main concern it seems is “Will I have to use treats forever? The second question is the often misunderstood notion that the food is a bribe. It can be, if used in the wrong order.

Let’s first get a few things established. 1 – Shifts in context create behavior changes and secondly consequence drives behavior. Dogs do not do things simply because they are filled with undying servitude; dogs do things because it pays off in some way.

The age-old question of “how did they do it”, what was the method? This is a good question indeed. Let’s first start out by stating a few things up front that can define what it is we’re looking to do.


I am starting with the understanding we’re working with companion dogs as well as shelter dogs. The goal would then be to build bonds, not binds or bombs. We’re looking to train basic manners and get a few cute tricks in the repertoire of the dog. Let’s leave the hardcore behavior modification of fear and aggression issues off the table for now, though I’ll touch on fearful dogs and greeting people briefly. 


Bob Bailey one of the master animal trainers said, “Dog training is a mechanical skill”. I would like to add those mechanics are based on timing and accurately and legitimately recognizing the dogs behavior.