The Dog Blog

I have been having a terrible time recovering from my knee surgery. It seems like every time I head in for physical therapy there's a new ache or pain in a newly discovered part of my right leg. The doctor tells me it all boils down to one problem: I'm not being consistent with my exercises. Without that consistency, I won't just fail to make progress. I'll continue to regress.

There's no secret to dog training, but there certainly is a key: consistency.

I often refer to dogs as "pattern matching machines." I'm being facetious – of course I think of dogs as more than machines – but dogs are very good at recognizing and storing patterns. It makes sense too: predators and scavengers that can quickly recognize where prey or food might or might not be are rewarded by nature.

This year National Dog Bite Prevention Week is Monday May 17 - Sunday May 23.

The CDC has some interesting information on their site.

As I have discussed before, children are the individuals most at risk for bites. But according to the CDC, men are bit more often than women. Interesting, especially given my post last week.

They also include a great list of tips for children. Here are a few of them.

 A 10 week old terrier mix puppy that refuses to go outside. A year old hound that bites three visitors on their faces within a two week period. A 10 year old, happy-go-lucky Golden Retriever who mauls the mailperson. What do all of these dogs have in common? They were all contained within electric fencing systems, a subject that I’ve blogged about previously in both personal and professional capacities. Something new and alarming has been happening within the past few months. I have seen a dramatic spike in the number and severity of behavior cases, all linked to dogs contained within electric fence systems. They were all seemingly sound, well-tempered dogs that began demonstrating profound behavioral issues after being introduced to electric fencing systems. The behaviors ranging from stranger anxiety, fear of the environment, all the way to multiple bites.

Over on my blog I have started a series called "The Real Man's Guide to Dog Training." The intent of the series is to use how and why I began a dog trainer as a way to explain basic training concepts, juxtapose them with many common myths about dogs and dog behavior, and hopefully attract some men to dog-friendly dog training.

In the first chapter I brought up the fact women far outnumber men in the dog training field and how I find this rather puzzling. This question was interesting enough that one commenter expressed disappointment that I didn't try to answer it in the second post.

Problem is, I don't have an answer!