How to Be a Good Dog LLC.

MAY - Dog Bite Prevention

Each year in the United States there are approximately 4-5 million recorded dog bites.  This seems like a large number, but compared to the number of dogs living in the Unites States (about 60 million) this actually represents less than 2% of the population.  Most victims are children 10 years old and younger.  The Centers for Disease Control makes these recommendations:

• Keep children away from dogs with histories of aggression.
• Be sensitive to cues that a child is fearful of dogs.
• Spend time with the dog before adopting or buying it.
• Spay/neuter the dog.
• Never leave infants or young children alone with ANY dog.
• Properly socialize and train the dog.
• Do not play aggressive games with the dog.
• Immediately seek professional advice if a behavior problem develops.
• Teach children to:  

1. Never approach an unknown dog.
2. Never run from a dog and scream.
3. Remain motionless when approached by an unknown dog.
4. If knocked over, roll into a ball and lie still.
5. Never play with a dog unless supervised.
6. Avoid direct eye contact with a dog.
7. Do not disturb a dog when it is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies.
8. Do not pet a dog without allowing it to see and sniff you first.
9. And if bitten, immediately report the bite to an adult.

 I urge you to take these recommendations seriously.  As a child, I was attacked by a familiar dog.  The injuries resulted in emergency surgery to close the wounds on my nose, the inside of my mouth, and under my chin.  The bruising and scarring was very minimum compared to some cases.  The two pictures to the right are of me about a week or so after the incident.  Perhaps if these recommendations were discussed the incident could have been prevented.  Don't take a chance.

Every year thousands of United States mail carriers are attacked or bitten by dogs.  The United States Postal Service suggests some ways that customers can be more responsible for the care of their dogs:

1. Don't assume your dog won't bite.
2. Spay or neuter your dog.  Un-neutered dogs are three times more likely to bite.
3. Obedience training can teach your dog proper behavior and help you control your pet in any situation.
4. When your letter carrier comes to your home, keep your dog inside, away from the door in another room or on a leash.
5. Don't let your child take mail from the letter carrier in the presence of your dog.  Your dog's instinct is to protect the family, and it might misconstrue the handling of mail as a threatening gesture toward the child.

APRIL - ID For Your Dog

Have you ever really thought about the importance of having appropriate identification for your dog?  Probably not.  I myself thought that having my dog wear an ID tag on her collar was sufficient.  Boy, was I surprised!  Proper identification could mean the difference between a safe home-coming and never seeing your dog again.  ID tags are excellent forms of identfication.  They usually include the dog's name, the owner's name, the owner's telephone number, and address.  However, many times when dogs get loose, their collars become torn or slipped off.  Once your dog loses his collar he is just another stray.  With today's technology there are new ways to help ensure that your dog makes his way back to you safe and sound.  Microchipping is one method of identifcation that has been becoming more and more popular over the past few years.  Generally, a small microchip is inserted with a needle into the dog's muscle, usually between the shoulder blades.  The procedure takes mere seconds and causes minimum pain.  The microchip can then be picked up by waving a specific type of wand or scanner over your dog that then transmits a number.  This number corresponds with your contact information.  Most shelters and vets offices have the appropriate scanners.  However, in some cases the microchip will not fuse properly to the muscle and can slide down towards the dog's legs or belly.  This is not a problem unless the person scanning the dog only scans around the shoulder area.  Another problem is that different brands of microchips use different scanners and not all vets or shelters have every type of scanner.  A wonderful solution to this problem is a universal scanner, but once again, many shelters don't have this equipment just yet.  Another ID option for your dog is tatooing.  A number is tatooed to the inside of the leg, near the groin area.  This number is then put into a registry.  Although some people still don't look for tatoos and assume the dog is a stray.  Collars containing GPS tracking systems have recently been put on the market.  However, if the collar falls off, the dog will still need ID.  I would suggest you use two forms of identification.  Always use a collar ID.  This method is inexpensive and the most noticeable to anyone who would happen to find your dog while still wearing his collar.  Besides, your dog should be wearing a collar with his state license displayed anyway.  As a back up method microchipping or tatooing work well.  Ask your vet about these two forms of identification for your dog. 

MARCH - Help! My Dog Won't Quit Barking!

 Does your dog bark all the time?  Before we can control nuisance barking we have to look at why the dog is barking in the first place.  The biggest reason your dog barks is to express needs, to elicit responses from their humans (I need outside, I'm hungry, I want to play), or to set stake of their territory.  Barking is a completely natural and necessary form of communication for dogs, however, nuisance barking is another story.  Nuisance barking occurs when the dog barks without reason, if the dog continues barking after the owner asks it stop, or when the owner is absent.  Dogs nuisance bark for several reasons.  One of the most common reasons is isolation.  Dogs are highly social animals just like humans (That's why dogs and humans get along so well together).  Dogs see the family as a pack, and pack animals eat together and sleep together.  If your dog is isolated from the family members he will suffer incredible anxiety.  He relieves this anxiety by digging, chewing, nuisance barking, trying to to back to his pack, or even self-mutilation.  Dogs were not meant to be alone for long periods of time.  Another reason for nuisance barking is visual stimulation.  For instance, if your dog is kept in the yard and can see through the fence, he is likely to bark at people walking by, other animals, etc.  His frustration of not being able to reach those stimuli will lead him to nuisance bark.  Nuisance barking also occurs from accidental reinforcement.  Some owner's unintentionally reward nuisance barking by giving the dog attention.  Nuisance barking may also be a sign of seperation anxiety.  Depending on the cause of your dog's nuisance barking you can make the appropriate adjustments to quiet your dog.  Make sure to remove all accidental reinforcement for nuisance barking.  This means not giving the dog what it wants until it's quiet.  Next, although this step may not be easy, you need to remove excess visual stimuli.  If the dog is barking because it can see pedestrians, skateboarders, other dogs, etc. you may have to somehow make a see-through fence solid, keep the dog inside, or invest in some window blinds.  For a dog that is feeling isolated, allowing him access to the house will change things dramatically.  Also, remember to reward quiet behavior.  If the dog is playing quietly, praise "Good quiet" and give him a treat.  When you catch your dog engaging in nuisance barking startle him with a loud, high pitched "whooop," or a stream of water from a spray bottle (not in the face) and then redirect him to a more acceptable behavior that is incompatible with barking, such as chewing a bone, or playing with a toy.  If you commit to implementing these changes in your dog's environment you will notice your dog's nuisance barking fade away!

FEBRUARY - Teach That Dog Some Tricks!

Many people think teaching tricks is a waste of time.  Perhaps they think tricks are frivolous activity that really serves no good purpose.  If you think this way, lighten up!  Dog training should be fun for both people and dogs!  Teaching your dog tricks is an excellent way to have fun with your dog, as well as, strengthen the bond between you and Fido.  The saying goes, "Dogs who know tricks don't go to the pound."  This saying just implies that people that take the time to teach their dogs tricks usually have a lot invested in their dogs and really enjoy having fun and interacting with them.  It's safe to say that most people have different attitudes toward teaching tricks and teaching obedience.  Teaching tricks sounds like "fun and games," while obedience sounds like strict schedules and hard work.  Because you are in a mood to have fun when you're teaching your dog tricks, your dog is much more relaxed and eager to learn.  Teaching tricks in a way is teaching your dog 'how to learn.'  Dogs learn much faster when they don't feel pressured or stressed.  I think that's safe to say for people too.  Teaching tricks is anything but frivolous!  It helps both you and your dog get into the perfect frame of mind for more advanced training!  Besides, once your dog learns some neat tricks you'll be anxious to show them off.  Who doesn't  like a dog that performs tricks?  Animal-assisted activities offer a rewarding outlet for showing off your tricks.  Residents in hospitals, nursing homes, and pediatric wards always enjoy waching well-behaved dogs come in and perform tricks!  Elementary school visits are also an excellent place to show off some tricks.  Dogs can make a visit to teach children how to behave around dogs and to be responsible dog owners.  Tricks help keep the attention of the children.  This is important, because after all, children are the future dog owners of America.  Even more importantly, if your visit prevents even one child from being bitten it is worth it!  However, keep in mind, dogs participating in animal-assisted activities must be clean, healthy, very well-socialized, even-tempered, and reliable.  Not every dog is cut out for animal-assisted activities.  However, every dog is cut out for learning tricks!  You can teach your dog simple tricks like "shake" or "wave" -OR- harder tricks like "turn on/off the lights" or "answer the phone."  Either way, just teach that dog some tricks!  The light, happy mood will fascilitate your dogs learning and strengthen the bond between the two of you!  Here's a great site that offers a variety of tricks and movies to help you understand the steps involved in teaching each one.   http://www.loveyourdog.com/tricks.html.  If you're really feeling ambitious, 101 Dog Tricks by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy (pictured at top) is a really neat book on the topic.  The book includes color pictures of each trick and the steps involved, trouble shooting boxes that cover common problems, and "build on" suggestions to help you make tricks more complex and advanced.

 JANUARY  - To Tug or Not to Tug?  

Playing "tug" games is a controversial issue of training these days.  Before we decide whether to play tug with our dogs or not, we should look at what a tug game is from the dog's point of view.  Remember, dog play imitates hunting and fighting.  Domestic dog tug-of-war games originated from two wolves fighting over a piece of meat.  In a wolf-pack, hierarchy is defined well enough that adult wolves do not fight each other for food, however, the juveniles are more equal and will test each others limits.  This behavior easily generalizes from meat to other objects (sticks, bones, etc.) and becomes a part of play.  In the wild, any behavior that increases survival in adulthood (winning a fight, winning a piece of meat, etc.) becomes a part of play and serves as practice for young animals.  Wolf pups use play to hone their fighting or hunting abilities.  Tug games also aid in the establishment of rank.  The strongest, smartest, quickest pup will win the tug game.  Your dog still retains some of these natural instincts.  Because of this, some trainers think that owners should never play tug games with their dogs.  These trainers fear that the dog will use the game as a challenge for dominance or that the dog will learn the true power of his jaws.  However, all dogs already know how to bite and are fully aware that their bite is powerful.  My only concern with tug games is that a dog who is already pushy or mouthy* will become even more so if it is allowed to play tug games.  A dog playing tug is learning to use aggression in order to take things away from humans.  Hence, the dog is learning a dominant behavior.  Now, is this going to lead to serious aggression problems?  Unfortunately for some dogs it can.  I would suggest that if your dog is naturally dominant, you should not play tug games.  However, if you have a dog suffering from low self esteem, tug can be a great confidence builder.  An excellent reference on this topic is Tamar Geller's book The Loved Dog.  In Chapter 12 Geller talks about why tug is an excellent game and specifies how to play tug with your dog.

     * mouthy refers to a dog that puts his/her teeth on human skin.  Mouthy dogs often nip when excited or when they are playing.  Certain breeds are considered more mouthy than others.

     Image courtesy Hannah Harris