The Dog Blog

I'm writing this in response to a discussion on a dog trainer's list that occurred recently.  As most doggy people know the use of crates as a form of dog management has increased monumentally over the last two decades.  Back in the day people used dog runs or cages to put their dog in for various reasons - but you wouldn't have seen crates sitting in bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms like you do now.  You wouldn't see so many dogs essentially living their lives in a crate until their owner comes home from work.
 
The crate can easily be misused - as so many dog trainers like to say, "It's not the tool, it's the fool".  Or, "any tool can be misused".  This is true and too many owners (and even many trainers, ouch!) see nothing wrong with confining a dog in a crate all day long and much of the night too.  "It's the quality time that matters", they say, "not the quantity".  I must disagree.

We have become a culture where low intelligence and shock value rules (think reality shows, dumb and dumber films), and judging others has become a spectator sport. Popular shows like American Idol ferret out real talent, yet there’s an awful lot of nastiness along the way. Let's face it, mean sells. Many internet sites have become festering forums of negativity where those who post their opinions would never dare say those things face to face to the person they’re maligning.

So in this Twitter, Youtube, let’s-all-share-our-every-thought era, I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that so many people jumped on the Obamas when they dared to purchase a dog from—gasp! A breeder! In this article-- http://www.prweb.com/releases/stop_animal_cruelty/puppy_mill/prweb244369...

Today one of my Danes had to have a lump on her leg removed. It turned out to be quite a nasty lump so to be on the safe side the vet took a wide margin. As a result she has a large incision in a really awkward spot across her elbow. It can’t be bandaged so she has to stay still and quiet for a couple of days (she is ideally suited to this job having recently attained her PhD in The Evolutionary Significance of The Coach Potato Mechanism).

Anyhow, when I went to collect her she was very excited to see me. She was still groggy from the anesthetic and I was concerned that she would hurt herself. Without thinking I asked her to Down and Stay while I settled the account, got her meds etc. Even though the dear was not quite “with it” she complied quite happily.

If you were going to wager a bet, which one of these dogs pictured would you guess is a service or assistance dog? Because we most often see Labrador and Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherds serving as guide dogs and/or assistance animals for the visually impaired or providing assistance to people in wheelchairs, most would probably pick the Labrador. However it is a huge misconception that assistance dogs must be a large breed dog. I received a call the other day from a landlord of a property that didn't allow pets, and wanted to know what certifications a dog needs to have to be a service dog. Apparently he was checking up on one of his tenants who he thought was trying to pass off her dog as service dog. So first I wanted to know why he thought the dog wasn't, in fact, an assistance animal.

He answered, "well, it can't be. It's a Yorkie."