Being Honest About Our Dogs

My close friends and I have an agreement, and I'm talking the pinky swear, Ya Ya sisterhood, Thelma and Louise type of pact that's meant to be taken very seriously. We've pledged to keep each other honest about our dogs' behavior and our relationships with them by immediately blowing the whistle when either of us attempts to make excuses for, fails to acknowledge, or attempts to overlook inappropriate behavior (on either our dog's or our part). We've promised to be each other's system of checks and balances, which everyone needs, because when we're in denial about our dog's behavior, we become enablers and the behavior will never improve. Dog trainers in particular, serve as that voice of reason for our students and clients, so it's very important that we have someone to serve in that capacity for us. In some ways, addressing our dogs' issues is even more difficult because people often expect our dogs to be near perfect, and when it's revealed they're not, boy do they let us hear it!

For example, not too long ago I ran my Maltese Andrew at an APDT rally trial where I was judging and during a Level 2 (off leash) run he got what I call the zoomies. Occasionally, out of nowhere, he just starts running in circles around the ring, maybe two or three revolutions tops, and oh yeah, he barks the entire time like a little kid who hears the ice cream truck coming down the street, and then, suddenly he comes right back to heel position and we continue on. He really doesn't do it that often, and I don't see it as a problem. When I'm judging he has to spend long periods of time in his crate, and he's just letting off some steam, and ....... wait ...... even though I'm safely sitting behind my keyboard in the comforts of my own home and none of my truth posse is here to call me out, I'll self-check myself and stop with the excuses. He does it because he can. And I've never done anything to discourage the behavior. In fact, I've reinforced it by not addressing it, even making light of it when he's done it during class. And rather than employing negative punishment by leaving the ring immediately and ending the fun, during trials I just continue on and finish the course. At the last trial he did this, an exhibitor who'd been having problems with her Beagle tugging on the leash during their runs, came up to me, thanked me, and said how happy she was to see my dog misbehaving in the ring because it made her feel better about her dog's performance! To which I could only respond, "you're welcome, I guess." That's one of those there is a compliment in there somewhere moments. But most importantly, it demonstrated how she expected a trainer, and a judge, no less, to have a perfect dog.

At the risk of sounding dismissive, let's face it, a dog getting the zoomies every once in a while in the rally ring really isn't a big deal, is it? Especially when that dog has had to sit in a crate for long periods of time while, oops, darn, sorry, there I go again. However I do have a couple of dogs with issues that I have no problem putting out there right now. Leo, one of my other Maltese, really doesn't like people, never really has, and he absolutely hates children. Would he bite someone? Maybe. He grabbed a little boys pant leg once, but that boy was completely out of control and running around like a crazy person. Leo was already almost 5 months old when we got him and he'd already developed that dislike. But he's a good dog, so sweet and loving to us. And then my Pharoah Hound Ramesses is a little skiddish, but that's pretty normal for a sighthound. They tend to be a little quirky. Plus during his critical period our son was hospitalized with lymphoma for nearly 6 months and we were back and forth to the hospital, plus trying to open our training facility, and just weren't able to get him out much. He's okay, though. Very sweet and gentle, and is fine once he's able to sniff you a bit. Hey, he has 4 breed points, it can't be that bad, right?

Uh oh, I have a feeling if any of my crew reads this, I'm toast. It's really not so easy to talk about our dogs' shortcomings and not make excuses. If you don't believe me, you go ahead, try it. I dare you!