The Dog Blog

Socialization, building a dog's ability to adapt to new experiences without fear, is recognized by most people as the fundamental skill a pet dog needs to acquire.  It's a time-consuming process, but fairly simple.  Your dog is rewarded for choosing to experience new things.  Temple Grandin expressed the idea beautifully:  fear and curiosity are opposites.  Build curiosity, dampen fear.

If you wanted to make your dog completely anti-social, how would you do it?  You'd convey the idea that anything new or interesting, anything that arouses curiosity, is very, very dangerous and painful.  Every time your dog approached something, you'd zap the hell out it.  If you were lazy, you'd construct a machine to do it for you.  Lucky for you, such devices already exist:  the Shock Collar "Fence".  It's easier than ever to give your dog some serious fear-biter potential.

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.

The issue of trust is often discussed when it comes to dogs.  It is often a topic of discussion when a family pet creates turmoil by doing something “out of the blue” or very unexpected.  The scenarios can be various, but the general theme is the same.

The dog accompanies the family to a soccer game.  He has been there before and has seemed to enjoy himself, according to his family.  He looked relaxed and was polite and well mannered to the kids.  He lives with 2 children, and has never had any issues at home.  All of a sudden, a toddler rushes up to him and gives him a big hug.  The dog tried to retreat, but the toddler holds on.  The family thinks it is cute.  Out of the blue, the dog takes a nip at the toddler, and in the blink of an eye, the family no longer trusts their dog.

WHY DO PEOPLE USE THESE TOOLS?

In my own practice, I don't condone the use of coercive training tools like prong collars, choke collars, and shock collars.   My experience and education has led me to the conclusion that such tools are not necessary and that at best, they are a band-aid and at worst, they are fraught with side effects, often worsening the problems they were supposed to correct. 

Having a new dog has gotten me out to the park mostly every day, rain or shine. This has been a good thing for both of us. I enjoy being outdoors and socializing, and Sierra loves to run, play, and wrestle with the other dogs. Many trainers are not fans of dog parks; I am, as long as they’re well planned and people are vigilant about controlling their dogs. The park we frequent is large and completely enclosed, has a double-gated entry system, dispenser with free poop bags (along with plenty of shovels and garbage cans), and a separate area (also double-gated) for small dogs. What it also has from time to time, unfortunately, are owners who believe their dog-reactive dog will become less so simply by letting him romp with other dogs.

Reading canine body language is often one of the most difficult skills to teach humans.  "Wild" is one of the adjectives that can be used for anything from euphemizing aggression to describing a dog's athleticism.  So, what IS the difference between "wild", what I call "high-octane", and "wild", a dog with a genuine social problem?

Each Puppy is an Individual

So I wanted to spend time with each puppy individually for a couple of reasons:

I know I keep going on about this but, in case you didn’t all know, a can be a little obsessive and compulsive myself!  It’s an occupational hazard of academia. Anyhow, I thought I would send on the well-written link to a NYT article about our gene discovery because the writer makes the point way better than I ever could.  Maybe this will be more intelligible than my ramblings…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/science/19dogs.html?ref=todayspaper

I know this second link may be a bit on the heavy side but some may enjoy and perhaps even appreciate our latest contribution (link below) about a new treatment for HUMAN obsessive-compulsive disorder that Dr Louis Shuster and I developed here at Tufts as a result of our findings in ANIMALS (including dogs).

There seems to be a double standard going on.  We devote quite a lot of time (and rightfully so) toward counseling prospective dog parents on selecting the right dog for their family and individual situation.  In fact, right now on amazon.com there are over 20 titles of books and dvd's on that very topic.  Most focus on matching dogs and humans based on a certain dog breed's characteristics and the human's lifestyle.  Criteria such as size, temperament, exercise requirements, trainability, coat type and grooming requirements are taken into account.  If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you're steered away from breeds that need more activity such as sporting breeds and terriers.  If you live in an apartment, smaller dogs and dogs that don't require much room are suggested.&nb