The Association of Pet Dog Trainers has declared January to be National Train Your Dog Month.  Too often, owners relinquish their dogs to shelters because an untrained puppy is no big deal, but an untrained dog begins exhibiting behavior problems if the unwanted behavior is allowed to continue. How many phone calls have I received from owners complaining that their dog is attacking people at the front door or won’t come when called resulting in the dog getting into all kinds of trouble? When I ask these owners if they’ve taught their dogs what to do instead, I often hear a description of punishment for bad behavior instead of a description of how their own dog training efforts failed.

Now we know that if you’re reading this blog, you’re a responsible dog owner. You walk your dog, provide lots of environmental enrichment for your dog and train your dog. In fact, the best environmental enrichment for most dogs is training. When I ask owners what environmental enrichment they provide for their dogs, the first thing most owners mention is exercise. I know, I know, a certain famous dog trainer has convinced dog owners that they must exercise their dogs into the ground to be a responsible owner, but I’ve got good news. Domesticated dogs need 30 to 45 minutes of vigorous exercise per day, just like us. Have you ever seen wild wolves exercising? Geez. What dogs are missing in their daily, domesticated lives, is the opportunity to analyze, decision make, and act. You know this is true if you’ve ever tried getting your dog’s attention when he’s stalking or chasing a squirrel. January is a great time to think about exercising your dog’s brain. What better time to tire out our brains than when the weather is bad?

Owners don’t train their dogs for any number of reasons: I don’t have time, I don’t know how, training is boring, my dog is fine the way he is, etc. Well, let’s take these excuses one at a time. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 10,000 times, if we all just trained our dogs for 5 minutes a day, we’d have beautifully behaved dogs. Trust me, 5 minutes a day will get you the best trained dog in town.

If you don’t know how to train dogs, that’s OK. I don’t know how to fix my car, repair my plumbing, or remodel my house. If I had the inclination, I could buy books, DVDs or take classes to learn how to do these things, but I choose to hire professionals. That’s why we offer Day Training services to our Companion Animal Solutions clients. We train our clients’ dogs for them and then we conduct hand off sessions with our clients to teach them how to maintain the training that we’ve installed. Once most owners see how smart their dogs are and how quickly they learn, they become excited about training their dogs. Some even sign up for dog training classes to learn more.

If you’re the “do it yourself” type because of temperament or budget constraints, check out our Book and DVD Recommendations on the Companion Animal Solutions web site. If you want to take a class, search for classes that use positive reinforcement based training and don’t forget to look for fun classes like agility, fly ball, tracking or tricks.

Now for that pesky “dog training is boring” excuse; Of course dog training is boring if all you ever do with your dog is sit, stay, come, and heel. Try some trick training instead! Trick training is incredibly fun while you’re doing it but it’s also fun to show off your dog’s trick repertoire to your friends and family. If you want to learn how to teach your dog tricks, I highly recommend the 101 Dog Tricks book/DVD set. I also love the Take A Bow Wow DVD.

Lastly, the old, “my dog is fine the way he is” excuse; Well, yes, your dog is wonderful but your dog would be so much happier and the bond you share with your dog would be so much deeper if you communicated with your dog for 5 minutes a day. Training a dog (or any animal) is communication, pure and simple. It’s such an exhilarating feeling when you see the light bulb of understanding dawn on a dog’s face. You wouldn’t expect your relationships with your family members or co-workers to be sustainable without at least 5 minutes of communication a day, so why expect a truly good relationship with your dog to exist with less?

And for all of you cat and parrot owners out there, training is wonderful environmental enrichment for your pets too. Many cat owners are stunned when I recommend clicker training for their cat’s increased environmental enrichment (or to solve a behavior problem). Don’t let those cats fool you. They are highly trainable. Check out our Cat Behavior and Training Recommendations on the Companion Animal Solutions web site. I especially like the Clicker Training Cats kit for beginners. Let’s not forget the owners of our feathered friends either. We have Parrot DVD and Book recommendations for you too.

The same principles of training and learning apply whether you’re training a dolphin, horse, parrot, cat, or dog. So at Companion Animal Solutions, we’re declaring January to be Train Your Pet Month. Please send us your stories and videos of your training experiences. We’d love to share your journey of learning and bonding with your pets. We hope that one of your New Years Resolutions will be to get clicking!

Back in the fall of 2008, I presented a blog titled A Reading List in Animal Behavior, Part One. I went on in that article to say, “So here I present a highly personal reading list in ethology.  In this entry, I suggest some reading in basic ethology, and in a later entry, I will focus in readings in applied animal behavior.”

But it never happened.. no follow-up blog on the most relevant material, applied ethology!  So, forthwith, the rest of my list… the disclaimer, as before: this is a personal list.  These are the sort of readings, applied in this case, that I would, and have, “required of students of this field, beginning at the undergraduate level and right on through graduate or board-certification work in ethology.  These are the books that my students, graduate and undergraduate, read.  And these would provide the foundation for an excellent library in animal behavior.” Note: We’ve made book and DVD recommendations about dog behavior, cat behavior, and parrot behavior on the Companion Animal Solutions web site under the Books & DVDs section. For the books below, we’ve linked the titles of these books to places you can order them.

Applied Animal Behavior for the Lay Audience

These are books for the educated owner: I hope that most trainers, veterinarian technician and veterinarian with an interest in behavior have read these. The first three are simply classic, must-reads: I strongly encourage all dog owners, and all of my behavior-issue clients to read these.

Donaldson, Jean.  1997.  Culture Clash. James and Kenneth. This book focuses on the differences between primate [human] and dog behavior, social organization, and communication. Jean’s other fantastic books include Dogs Are From Neptune, Oh Behave! Dog From Pavlov to Pinker, and practical problem solving books like Mine! and Fight!

McConnell, Patricia.  2002.  The Other End of the Leash. Ballantine Books.  This book focuses on dog-primate communication, or the lack thereof.  Based on Trish’s PhD dissertation work and a lifetime of learning about dogs and humans.

Pryor, Karen. 1999.  Don’t Shoot the Dog!  The New Art of Teaching and Training. Bantam. This is the original book that defined the new field of positive-approach dog training.

There are some follow-ups to the themes described in the books above:

McConnell, Patricia.  Various. Trish has an extensive series of How To booklets, all of which are excellent: Cautious Canine, Feisty Fido, Surviving a Multi-Dog Household, I’ll Be Home Soon, et al.  These build, in more practical terms, on the ideas developed in her best-seller books.

Reid, P.J., 1996.  Excel-erated Learning: Explaining in Plain English How Dogs Learn and How  Best To Teach Them.  James and Kenneth Publishers, Oakland, CA

Ryan, T. 1998.  The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog. Howell Book House, New York.

These two books are by leading canine learning specialists, and build on the concepts of a positive reinforcement approach, and understanding the broader behavior of your dog, the context in which your dog behaves.

Wright, J. C. 1994.  Is Your Cat Crazy? Macmillan Publishing Co., New York.

Wright, J. C. 1999.  The Dog Who Would Be King.  Rodale Press,  Emmaus, PA.

And then, how does all this conceptual material come together: first, John’s books bring you into the world of a behavior specialist, an academic bringing the science that we have learned about dogs, and cats, to bear on specific behavior problems… and at the same time, educating about dog behavior and learning in an entertaining way.

Markowitz, H. 1981.  Behavioral Enrichment in the Zoo, Van Nostrand Reinhold. Finally, as an ethologist, I find this book to be fascinating: applied animal behavior principles, but with application to exotic animals.  This is the behind-the-scenes story of a series of imaginative, and highly successful, attempts to produce natural behaviors in captive animals.

Puppies and Puppy Selection

Then how about the big issue: what kind of dog should I get?  Here are two good suggestions for reading on this subject, again based on good science.

Hart, B.L. & Hart, L.A. 1988.  The Perfect Puppy. How to Choose a Dog by Its Behavior.  W.H. Freeman, New York.

Rutherford, C. & Neil, D.H.  1992.  How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With, 2nd Ed. Alpine Pub., Loveland.

More Advanced and Professional Books

There are many references used by behavior specialists, certified applied animal behaviorists and board-certified veterinary behaviorists: these are a few of the more accessible ones.

Askew, H.R., 1996. Treatment of Behavior Problems in Dogs and Cats. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA.

Bradshaw, J.W.S.  1992.  The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat.  C.A.B. International, UK.

Fraser, A.F.  1992.  The Behaviour of the Horse.  C.A.B. International, UK.

Hart, B.L. 1985. The Behavior of Domestic Animals.  W.H. Freeman and Co., New York.

Hetts, S.  1999.  Pet Behavior Protocols.  What To Say, What To Do and When To Refer. AAHA Press, Lakewood, CO.

Voith, V.L. and P.L.Borchelt, Eds. 1996.  Readings in Companion Animal Behavior. Veterinary Learning Systems, Trenton, NJ.

Serpell, J., Ed. 1995.  The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.

Thorne, C., Ed.  1992.  The Waltham Book of Cat and Dog Behaviour. Pergamon Press, New York.

Turner, D.C. & Bateson, P., Eds. 1988. The Domestic Cat: The Biology of Its Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Waring, G.H.  1983.  Horse Behavior. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ.

So that’s my reading list in applied animal behavior, from both an academic and a popular view.  Combining the books in this list with the previously listed readings in general ethology would generate an impressive library in ethology with a focus on applied animal behavior.

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a favorite book to recommend, or a question about a book you’ve seen or read, or a specific topic in animal behavior for which you would like a reading recommendation.  Time to read!

** I must credit my colleague, Daniel Estep, PhD, for developing the original form of these reading lists, which I have modified and annotated considerably.  Any changes and added editorial opinions are strictly my own, unless Dan likes any of them.

Our afternoon at the Entlefest involved participating in an experiment:  For the first time, a breed-specific European-style working temperament test was administered to Entlebuchers as part of a three-part breeding fitness exam.  (The other two parts involve structure and movement.)  Because so many owners wanted to participate, we divided the duties.  My wonderful assistant Jett judged the second half of the test, while I judged the first half.  The club committee had set up the test grounds very efficiently and practiced the choreography to move dogs through as quickly as possible.  In the end, about thirty dogs participated (nearly twice the number originally signed up).  We quit right after the sun had disappeared below the California horizon.

The test first involves a series of exercises to see how bonded the dog is to the handler and how the dog responds to social pressure.  We had the dog and owner walk through a crowd, walk along alone together, play together with and without toys, and sit quietly while a circle of people closed in.  We then had a helper hold the dog’s leash while the handler went to hide behind a tree at least 80 feet away.  We noted the dog’s responses both when separated from handler and when released to find the handler.  Most of the dogs watched intently as their handlers walked away (peering through a forest of knees) and made straight for the handler on being released.  It was quite windy and these dogs uniformly followed an arcing path downwind of the handler’s actual footsteps. It was neat to see such obvious nosework in action.

In the second half of the test, the dogs were exposed to a series of visual, aural and tactile challenges.  Most of the dogs handled these quite well, with perhaps an occasional startle if a sound came from behind.  Last was the defense test:  First a scary stranger approached while the dog sat with his person; second, the handler disappeared and scary strangers ran around waving sticks while the dog sat tethered.  Again, most of the dogs were remarkably stolid about this.  One moved into position between handler and stranger, and one (whose owner has been working on his reactivity for years) did some barking in both situations.  These Entles seemed less reactive and more thoughtful and quiet than many herding breed dogs of my acquaintance.  I was impressed.

This test was based on the test used by the Swiss Entlebucher club.  There, dogs must pass the test to earn breeding privileges.  Here, it is being used as a tool to help owners understand and evaluate their dogs.  No one passed or failed; each owner got a copy of his or her evaluation sheet with comments including training recommendations.  Only a very few dogs displayed really troubling temperament issues (fearfulness).  I found myself wondering, “Why is that dog intact?” in some cases, and “why on earth is that dog neutered?  He’s wonderful!” in others.  Of course owners have all sorts of reasons to neuter or not neuter other than breeding so I kept my questions to myself!

I see a breed club faced, early on, with a choice that has plagued many other working breed clubs.  A few of the dogs we saw were real working dogs: high in drive, tough, intense, intelligent and persistent.  They are not always the easiest pets!  Many were much lower-key and would not make good workers, but were wonderful companions.  Should breeders try to breed for versatility? Split the  breed into two lines?  Give up on working ability since it’s unlikely this breed will be called upon to work in the US?  Acquiesce to a split with the Swiss club’s breeding goals?  Aussie, Border Collie, Doberman, German Shepherd, Lab, and other breeders struggle with questions of this type all the time and I don’t know that there is any one right answer.  I wish these dedicated Entlenuts good luck in figuring it out.

At dinner, immediately after, we enjoyed yummy food and ice cream sandwiches for dessert (I swear, this was just a happy accident).  After covering some club business, our hostesses re-introduced us to the gathered Entle fanciers.  We were stunned and blushing when polite applause turned into a standing ovation.  After that, we went to bed feeling very cheerful!

The drive home was a lot like the drive to Tahoe… minus the police stop.  We rested in Tulelake to run the dogs in a schoolyard.  There, a group of preadolescent kids joined us on their bikes and after showing some initial timidity, got interested in throwing tennis balls for the dogs.  They were amazed by the fetching and had a positive dog experience.  When we drove away, we spotted this little “gang” a couple of streets away and we all waved goodbye at each other.  I spent the rest of the drive thinking that I could look up the significance of this or that geological formation “if only I had an iPhone!”  We ran into some intense snow showers passing over the Cascades and made it home an hour or two after dark.  All in all, we had a great time, but were exhausted and we’re still recovering.  (The dogs are fine.  They do not need any more recovery time, please!)

I see many, many new dog behavior cases each year and I love my work, but sometimes, I need to branch out and learn about the behavior of other companion animals. My partner in Animal Behavior at Companion Animal Solutions is Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB. Jim sees all of the cat and parrot cases that we take. I’ve been privileged to learn about animal and bird behavior by riding along with him on his private behavior consultations with our clients. The ride along opportunities that I enjoy the most are the parrot cases. I love cats, don’t get me wrong, but the parrot cases fascinate me. When I first embarked on my parrot behavior and training research, I was disappointed at how difficult it was to find quality information about parrot behavior and training. The internet is rife with dog training information (some of it excellent and some of it awful and downright harmful), but information about parrot behavior is harder to come by. After some time consuming research, I began to compile a list of resources that include the most respected researchers, veterinarians, applied animal behaviorists, and trainers. I wanted to share what I’ve learned with our readers interested in parrot behavior and training.

For those of you who live in the Seattle, Washington area, your first stop for finding like minded people should be the Northwest Exotic Bird Society. When I attended my first meeting, I was surprised and thrilled to discover that many of the people attending the monthly meeting brought their birds with them and many of those birds were getting the opportunity to socialize with one another and fly freely around the room! The members of NWEBS were very knowledgeable as well as being friendly and welcoming. I was hooked! I went right home, logged on to the web site and joined. Once you’re a member, you can attend the monthly meetings at the Lawn Bowling building at Greenlake, receive their informative newsletter, and gain membership to the yahoo group. Members of NWEBS also belong to the Northwest Avian Flyers. The Northwest Avian Flyers conduct “indoor free flight” sessions twice a month. The Northwest Exotic Bird Society’s website is full of scientifically correct and practically useful information about caring for, living with, and training your feathered friends.

The next stop on our parrot learning tour is Barbara Heidenreich, owner of Good Bird Inc. Barbara is a leading authority on parrot behavior and training as well as being a huge proponent of clicker training and learning theory based training for parrots. I was shocked to learn that there are “dominance” and “punishment” based training proponents in the parrot world too (so sad). Barbara is a voice of reason and practical alternatives to those outdated and harmful proponents. If you’d like to learn about modifying your parrots behavior or clicker training your parrot, Barbara Heidenreich is a necessary resource in your toolkit. If you’ve spent any time on the Companion Animal Solutions website, you know that we highly recommend Barbara’s books and DVDs. I’m a enthusiastic subscriber to Good Bird Inc magazine which now comes in electronic form (PDF) as well as the traditional paper copy. If that weren’t enough, Barbara writes a blog and produces Wings ‘n Things podcasts available on Pet Life Radio. Barbara just released a new DVD titled Get Your Bird Back! about what to do if your parrot flies away. This DVD contains a wealth of resources such as lost bird flyers, lists of people to contact and a variety of parrot calls.

When I contacted Barbara about listing her books and DVDs on our web site, I asked her if she had recommendations for other authors and she was gracious enough provide me with more resources. Here are some of Barbara’s picks for books, DVDs, and blogs: Happily Ever After with Parrots (DVD) by Ellen Cook, DVM,  Captive Foraging (DVD) by Scott Echols, DVM, DABVP, A Parrot for Life (Book and Blog) by Rebecca O’Conner, and bloggers Sid Price, and Linda Rasmussen.

Susan Friedman, PhD is a professor at Utah State University. Dr. Friedman’s specialty is behavior analysis and she offers online workshops for veterinarians, animal behaviorists, and trainers. The Behavior+ Works website contains useful information on parrot behavior, behavior analysis, and learning theory, just download the free PDF files.

Another nice online community for parrot owners and advocates is the Nationwide Parrot Place Organization. You can become a member of this 501(C) non-profit organization for an annual membership fee of $12 per year. A new online resource for beginning parrot owners has recently come online called The Parrot Forum. This is an online forum where owners can ask questions and learn important information about Health, Nutrition & Diet, Housing, General Parrot Care, Parrot Species, Basic Training, Trick Training, Recall Flight and Indoor Freeflight. As with any forum dedicated to helping people and their pets, please be polite at all times and thank people for the time and effort they spend answering questions.

I informed via the Northwest Exotic Bird Society group that Chris Biro will be presenting at their meeting on Thursday, November 19th at 7:00PM. His topic will be Parrot Training and Free Flight. This will also be the first time that a presentation will be webcast so that viewers can watch from home. The webcast includes a chat feature so that Internet viewers have the ability to submit questions to the speaker. The webcast can be found at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/chris-biro

That brings me to the end of my list of resources for parrot owners. Do you have other resources for parrot behavior and training you’d like to share? If so, please post a comment.

Last week I traveled to Lake Tahoe to give a half-day presentation on Control Unleashed at the Entlefest.  I realize this requires some translation.  The Entlefest is the annual national breed club meeting for the National Entelbucher Mountain Dog Association.  An Entlebucher (Entlebuch Sennenhund) is one of the four Swiss Mountain dog breeds.  Many are familiar with the two bigger members of this group, the Bernese Mountain Dog and the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog.  The smaller members, the Entlebucher and the Appenzeller, are much less common and less well known.  The Entlebucher is rather low slung and powerful, and was specially bred to gently but firmly herd prized Swiss dairy cattle without knocking them off the numerous cliffs.  Entles in the US do not do much herding, but enjoy lives as pets, obedience dogs and sports companions (there are a few very fast flyball Entles).  The question most often answered by Entle owners is, “Is that a Beagle/Rottweiler mix?”

I was honored to be asked to present.  CU author and developer Leslie McDevitt personally recommended me to the NEMDA members who inquired many months ago.  Committee members Linda Planting and Leelee Stefanki were very patient with me as we worked out scheduling, programming, and accommodations.  I was even more excited when they asked me if I could add another activity for the afternoon of the same day:  Judging a European-style working temperament test for the dogs in attendance.  I will write about that separately.

Along with able assistant Jett Wyatt, her Aussie, Kiva, and my Border Collie, Mellie, we drove the 600 miles from Portland to Lake Tahoe the day before the presentation.  It was tiring and I’m very grateful to the nice policeman who decided not to ticket me for speeding near the Lava Beds National Monument.  We were hoping to arrive at the lake before dark so the dogs could have a good run, but we didn’t quite make it.  We stopped in Carson City to buy a good flashlight and the dogs got a short ramble on the beach before we collapsed.

The presentation started at 8:30, and I spent the first 20 minutes arranging the participants so that their dogs were in the most restful spots possible.  A very big part of CU is learning to set up your dog’s environment to reduce arousal and stress.  Instead of allowing participants to put crates in rows along the tent walls, I had them spread crates out to minimize strange-dog proximity stress.  Then we got started.

We had anticipated about a dozen working dogs, but in the end, nineteen dogs’ owners wanted to participate.  I decided to arrange things so that every owner got at least one participatory slot.  I selected six dogs to work all the way through (three sections), and then divided the rest into thirds and assigned each third to one of the three sections.  The owners’ questionnaire responses were invaluable in helping me to select which section would most suit each dog.

I talked about theory for about 15 minutes and then we launched into the first working section, which was about body language.  As each dog entered the “box” (the working space in CU), the audience called out their guesses about how each dog was feeling.  I was thrilled that so many members readily identified sniffing and lip licking as signs of stress.  We added some more signs for them to recognize and apply:  stretching, shaking off, yawning, and so on.  The last demonstration was possible because one of the applicants for a working spot had an elderly dog who’d gone blind.  We had her interact with a stable younger dog so that the audience could see what the younger dog did when the older one inevitable was unable to recognize early body language and continued into the younger one’s personal space bubble.  The older dog handled herself fine and I hope the lesson was clear:  Dogs are communicating by tiny body language signals all the time!  A lot is happening before there is a growl or snap.

We then moved onto demonstrating the Give Me A Break game.  This game is hard to visualize from reading the book.  We had the usual range of dogs who were Velcroed to their owners to dogs who needed really long breaks.  The audience was getting good at telling sniffing for information apart from stress (displacement) sniffing.  All the dogs shortened their “breaks” on their own and the owners started to feel the value of allowing the dogs to choose attention rather than trying to compel it.

Last we examined the Look At That game.  Probably the best known of the CU games, it’s a very useful one.  We supplied distractions to suit each dog as best we could.  I ran around one dog who sometimes grabs running children.  (She was great, very hard to distract!)  We brought in Mellie to tug, walk, or run near some of the other dogs.  We banged a crate door and dragged a chair for one dog who startles at sudden noises.  Finally, we worked with a formidable titled athlete who is obsessed with tennis balls.  We showed how we could get him to “LAT Tennis Ball” as a way to get him to leave it alone.  After five minutes, he was looking at the ball as Jett and I rolled it back and forth between us just a few feet away.  His owner was impressed and could see how to expand this result to a more normal situation.

With this dog I also detoured for a few minutes to show how to teach a good Out with a tug.  He is a mature, powerful dog who has spent 6 years being very hard to get toys from.  In five repetitions I had him releasing his tug extremely readily and was starting to put a cue on it.  Once I recovered my breath (we were at 6200 feet!), I could see that quite a few audience members were busy taking notes.

We wound up when the lunch crew was busy setting up tables.  Our tent had become the lunch tent!  People had lots of questions and I finally had to defer so we could give our hardworking dogs a break before the afternoon activities started up.  We were thrilled to notice one of the attendees playing Look At That dog in the parking lot.  I’m certain he’s on the way to agility success with his beautiful, athletic young Entle boy.

Today, October 15 2009, is Blog Action Day.  Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.  By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue. If you’re interested in finding more information, visit http://blogactionday.org and register your blog now to be part of the largest social change event on the web.  Today, the topic is climate change.  I feel it is the critical issue of our time and I want to put in my two cents worth.

There are three steps to changing the world:  awareness, education and choices. Everything begins with awareness.  Awareness is what brought you to read this blog.  Awareness is what has most likely made you concerned enough to want to do something.  Awareness is what prompts you to make the next step.

Education is the next step.  So there is where I would like to give you some things to think about in regard to your pet’s carbon footprint.  Using up the world’s resources is about what goes in and what comes out.  Let’s look at what goes in, first.

Where does pet food come from?  The majority of pet food is made by companies that produce products for human consumption.  The pet food is a way for them to use materials that can’t go into human food.   These are by-products, and they are listed on the pet food label as “by-products”.   This can be good, since it is good to use everything possible rather than going into a landfill.  But it can be not-so-good if we don’t know what is in the food.  I teach a nutrition section in a veterinary assisting program, and one question I ask my students is “What are meat by-products?”   The correct answer is “I don’t know.”

The other way manufacturers keep the cost of pet food low is to find the cheapest ingredients they can.  This may involve buying ingredients from China.  Not only did this result in a massive pet food recall in 2007, but think of all the miles those ingredients need to travel.  Even when the company imports high quality ingredients like lamb from New Zealand or sea meal from Scotland, these items still have to travel thousands of miles, using a lot of fossil fuels.  Your pet’s carbon footprint can increase by the bag of food you buy.  So what if you decide to make your pet’s food with local ingredients?  It isn’t as hard as it may sound.  Many people cook for themselves.  Cooking for your pet can be just as easy.  Maybe easier, since our pets aren’t as picky as some of us are.  Kidneys?  Sure.  Tripe?  Yum!  Two day old baked potato?  Yes, thank you.  People food is not a bad thing.  Most people eat it.  There are some things to keep in mind, though, if you want to feed your pet a homemade diet.  Cats are obligate carnivores.  They require animal protein in their diet.  Don’t try to make them vegan.  A veterinary nutritionist once told me that the best food for a cat was a mouse, if they ate it all.  It has the muscle meat protein, it has greens all nicely predigested and it has the necessary calcium and phosphorus in the correct ratio.  Keep that in mind when formulating a homemade diet for your cat.  Even though dogs in the wild are scavengers, they also need the correct calcium phosphorus ratio.  Don’t feed them just the muscle meat.  Not only is that not a carbon-friendly food (unless you live on a beef ranch), but also it is imbalanced.  Dogs need vegetables and fiber for vitamins and healthy digestion.

What else do our pets consume?  Very little, compared to a human.  Food bowls, toys, collars, harnesses and leashes, perhaps.  Even these few things can have an impact.   Consider where they originate.  Items made in the US travel less than items made outside the country.  It can be hard to find something that is not made in China, but it is possible.  There are many artisans who make ceramic food bowls and leather leashes.  Toys can be very simple and still fun.  Consider getting stuffed toys from the thrift store.  Just make sure the little swallow-able bits are removed.  Got any old clothes that aren’t good enough for the thrift store?  Braid, them, knot them and make a tug.  You can even make a food puzzle out of a cardboard box or two.

OK, now what happens on the other end of the pet?   We already know that picking up the waste is a good thing and keeps harmful bacteria and parasites out of our environment.  But where does it go after we scoop?  I direct you now to a website that considers all these alternatives.  The Snohomish County Public Works web site has a frequently asked questions section titled Pet Waste Disposal Methods, The good, the bad, and the yucky. This site discusses several alternatives.   So, which is best?   In a plastic bag?  In the trash?  In the toilet?   In a hole?  In the compost?

Which leads me to the third step in the process of changing the world: choices.  We are changing the world simply by being alive.  How we are changing the world depends upon the choices we make.  Choices result from not only how aware we are and how educated we are, but also from our priorities.   For example, if your veterinarian recommends a prescription diet for you pet, you have a choice between following that recommendation and feeding something more sustainable for the planet.  You also have a choice to feed something cheaper and more convenient.  Whatever you choose, it will reflect your understanding and priorities.

I am not here to tell you what choices to make.  Nor should you look at others and tell them what choices to make.  It may be that they are not to the awareness stage yet.  Trying to dictate to them what they should do will most likely backfire and close their minds.  Think of it as changing a dog’s behavior.  Force rarely works well.  You lead by example and reward small increment to the behavior you want.

So, start with yourself.  Become more aware of the issues.  Educate yourself about what you can do.  And make the best choices you can in your circumstance.  Even if the things you do seem small and insignificant, you will never know all the ripples you produce.  Let me close with a quote from one who did change the world.

“You may think your actions are meaningless and that they won’t help, but that is no excuse, you must still act.”  – Mahatma Gandhi

The city council of Bothell, Washington is considering enacting breed specific legislation that would ban residents from owning certain breeds of dogs. All of us at Companion Animal Solutions believe that Breed Specific Legislation is the wrong approach to making our neighborhoods and ourselves safe from vicious dogs. We believe that well written, well enforced dangerous dog legislation betters serves us all by protecting us from dangerous dogs and irresponsible owners without making criminals or victims out of safe dogs and responsible owners. Andrea Kilkenny recently wrote an article for us titled Fun Activities For You and Your Dog and Andrea has participated in them all… with her bully breed dogs. I’m please to present here the letter that Andrea sent to all members of Bothell’s City Council.

Dear Legislator,

Please reconsider your proposed law to ban the American Pitbull Terrier and related breeds, such as the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.  As an owner of three bull breed dogs, a Humane Law Enforcement Officer, and a dog trainer, I urge you to please read the information below as it may provide you with some facts you are unaware of.

There are many reasons why breed bans should not be enacted; and why, instead, legislators should focus efforts on dangerous dog laws that are not breed specific.  Legislation that encourages responsible ownership – and which also results in effective and enforced consequences for violators – would help solve many of the problems communities face with reckless dog owners.

From a logistical standpoint, breed bans are difficult to enforce.  One problem is the correct identification of breeds.  Many shelters and animal control facilities currently struggle with this task, and often mislabel dogs.  Often, shelters label any muscular, stocky, or wide-headed dog as a bull breed or bull breed mix, and incorrectly so.  There are many current cases in which DNA tests were conducted to prove a dog’s heritage, and animal control facilities and municipalities have been sued for misidentification. In addition, animal control personnel would be faced with the insurmountable task of having to remove, house, re-locate, and/or euthanize the dogs within a given region.  I have worked for many years in the shelter world, and served many more than that as a volunteer, and still do.  Shelters are already overwhelmed with conducting their day-to-day tasks with limited time, staffing, and resources.  To impose a ban, imposes a burden on them as well.  Best Friends Animal Society, a national welfare organization, has a fiscal calculator which helps estimate cost to cities if they enact breed discriminatory legislation.  According to their calculator, the city of Bothell would spend an estimated $44,000 per year to enact a breed ban.  Couldn’t this money be better spent on dog bite prevention programs, spay/neuter initiatives, and enforcement of animal related ordinances that encourage responsible ownership?

Irresponsible and reckless owners should be targeted, not a breed.  Owners should be held accountable for their actions.  There are many responsibilities that come with maintaining a dog; one of those responsibilities is following local animal ordinances such as those that guide proper containment, vaccinations, identification, leash laws, etc.  Most owners follow these and should not be unduly penalized for the actions of a few.  In addition, there are many responsible owners who have bull breed dogs who are more than just pets.  I am speaking of those owners of bull breed dogs, which provide valuable services to the community in a working capacity:  search and rescue, drug detection, animal-assisted therapy, and humane education.  They, too, should not be jeopardized for the actions of others.  To give you just a few examples of great working dogs that are bull breeds:

Popsicle, a recently retired drug detection dog, is also a rescued pitbull.  He was found – near death, in a freezer – when his owner’s premises were being investigated for illegal activity.  The puppy went from surviving trauma as a dogfighter’s baitdog to becoming one of the top drug detection dogs in our country.  Popsicle won a significant seizure medal when he helped federal Customs agents seize 3,075 pounds of cocaine.

Dakota, also a pitbull, is another fine example of a working dog.  Dakota and owner Kris Crawford have been involved in some of the nation’s high-profile search and rescue efforts including the Columbia mission and the Laci Peterson case.

In Columbia, Ohio, U.S. Customs Department recently “hired” a new recruit – Pete, also a pitbull.  Our own ferry system here in WA utilizes trained pit bulls for the purpose of narcotics and explosives detection.

Pitbulls excel in the areas of detection, search and rescue, pet therapy, and other working fields because of their high intelligence, affection and loyalty towards humans, and strong work ethic.  The United Kennel Club notes in their description of the American Pitbull Terrier (APBT) breed characteristics:

The essential characteristics of the American Pit Bull Terrier are strength, confidence, and zest for life. This breed is eager to please and brimming over with enthusiasm. APBTs make excellent family companions and have always been noted for their love of children.

The APBT is not the best choice for a guard dog since they are extremely friendly, even with strangers. Aggressive behavior toward humans is uncharacteristic of the breed and highly undesirable. This breed does very well in performance events because of its high level of intelligence and its willingness to work.

Similar characteristics can be found in the American Kennel Club breed description of a related breed, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier:

Its character is one of indomitable courage, high intelligence and tenacity. Coupled with its affection for its friends, and children in particular, its quietness and trustworthy stability make it an all-purpose dog.

Another fact to consider is that renowned and reputable animal organizations, such as the American Kennel Club (AKC), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) all do NOT support BSL.  Each of these organizations encourages dangerous dog legislation that is not breed specific.  Information about writing humane law, including dangerous dog laws, can be found on each of these organizations’ websites, or by contacting their national or regional headquarters.  In a 2001 journal article published by AVMA, their Canine Aggression Task Force suggest that community-wide dog bite prevention programs, not Breed Specific Legislation, is a better solution to preventing dog bites:

“An often asked question is which breed or breeds of dogs are most “dangerous?”  This inquiry can be prompted by a serious attack by a specific dog, or it may be the result of media driven portrayals of a specific breed as “dangerous.”  Although this is a common concern, singling out 1 or 2 breeds for control can result in a false sense of accomplishment.  Doing so ignores the true scope of the problem and will not result in a responsible approach to protecting a community’s citizens.”

In addition, please consider the idea that irresponsible owners will find another breed to train and handle for illegal or undesirable purposes when the current fad breed – the pit bull – is banned.  We are already witnessing this occurrence here in the States.  While the APBT maintains its popularity, there are a growing number of larger-sized dogs such as the Mastiff, Dogo Argentino, and Presa Canario being sought and even imported by irresponsible people.  Banning a breed does not solve the problem.  Historically, in our nation, different breeds have been wrongly generalized as ‘dangerous;’  the German Shepherd, the Doberman, and the Rottweiler have all been previous victims of media hype.

Furthermore, an increasing amount of research demonstrates that breed is not a defining characteristic in reported bites.  Instead, some identifiable commonalities seem to be:  intact dogs – of various breeds, including “unsuspecting” breeds such as the Golden and Labrador Retrievers, unsupervised situations involving children, and chained dogs.  Studies reported in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine Association, Pediatrics, and Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program clearly illustrate that there are identifiable and preventable circumstances under which any dog can bite.  In my many years of experience employed at a shelter in Iowa City, we saw dogs of all breed types who had been involved in bites.  No one breed should be singled out.  Each dog should be looked at individually and judged individually for its actions.  Those animals with aggression problems or bite histories that pose a threat to the community should be euthanized to prevent further injuries and to maintain a safe community.  Currently, the National Canine Research Council (NCRC) has done an outstanding job of documenting bite statistics, and providing information on the factors identified in bites.  Consider the difference between family dogs and ‘resident’ dogs as outlined by NCRC.  Resident dogs are yard dogs, dogs obtained for guarding purposes, dogs that are chained or kept outside; these are not family pets, and are often the victims of abuse, neglect, and mismanagement.  Family dogs would be unduly punished if breed specific laws are enacted.  Please consider visiting Karen Delise’s site for accurate, data-based materials on dog bites and dog bite prevention:

http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/

Lastly, as a responsible owner of two rescued pitbulls and one purebred Staffordshire Bull Terrier, I respectfully appeal to you on a personal level.  My dogs are well trained, supervised, abide by city laws, and are ambassadors for their breeds.  One of them competes in organized dog sports and competitions for flyball, disc, and agility.  All three of them have appeared regularly on a local TV show in Iowa City, aired on public access, providing dog training tips and humane education on a show created to foster adoption at the city’s shelter we used to work at.   My Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Rumble, and I are registered with the Delta Society as a Pet Partners team; he and I have participated in therapy, demos, and humane education at facilities for the elderly, schools, and neighborhood centers.   I think it is unfair that I, and other responsible owners, should suffer the consequences due to the inappropriate and often, illegal, actions of others.  Rumble and I are part of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Puget Sound which has members in Bothell, and we have competed in disc dog events in your city.  A ban would prevent us from being able to do so in the future.

I fully support efforts to create safer communities for both dogs and humans and I believe that non-breed specific/vicious dog legislation, when properly written in the law and enforced, can help achieve that aim.

Sincerely, Andrea Kilkenny

I live with Mojo. Mojo will be 9 soon, and shows no sign of slowing down. I have to say, he’s better than when he was oh say, 2, but at almost 9, if it weren’t for his graying face, you would not know he is a senior dog. I love my Mojo, but I also realize that many people would find him extremely frustrating, and I often wonder had I not adopted him, if he would have stayed in one home or been shuffled around from one exasperated owner to the next, or been returned to the shelter. Coupled with his energy level are some other factors that make him a challenging dog: high intelligence and strong determination. Put that in a sporty, lean, muscular high energy package, and you could have a recipe for disaster.

Over the years, and with the help of many great dog sport friends and trainers, I found I was able to better my communication and relationship with Mojo, and to find outlets for his energy. Here are some things that work for us:

Workout! I aim for a big 60+ minute walk daily, but I may not always get that in, and that is okay, because we have other options. Vary where you walk to keep things stimulating. The scents, sights, and sounds on a walk are mental stimulation. By changing your path or location, you can make the walk have that much more ‘bang for the buck.’ I like to try different parks.

Take a hike! Buy a backpack for your dog. Mojo sports the Ruffwear backpack – a gift from our friends Julie and Laurie at Leash On Life in Iowa City. I let Mojo carry all our stuff: extra leash, camera, water bottles, collapsing water dish, keys, cell phone, etc.

Get a weight pull harness and let him pull! You don’t have to enter a competition, you can have him pull for fun. Sled pulling has been a great energy burner for Mojo in those long Iowa winters. We recommend CDPits Harnesses. Tell ‘em Mojo sent ya!

Photo by Justin O'Brien

Work to Eat! I rarely feed from a bowl. Some of our favorite toys include Kongs, Premier Waggle, Premier Tug a Jug, Everlasting Treat Ball, Lucky Dog rubber turkey leg, Buster Cube. These toys can be stuffed with kibble and treats – we use a combination of both. Some additional tips: vary what you put in the toy AND vary which toy you give your dog. I rotate them to keep things interesting!

Have some class! Enroll your dog in an obedience class that uses positive reinforcement methods. Now, some of you with excitable dogs worry about what your dog will be like in class. My suggestions: talk with the trainer first, see if there is a smaller size group, and find out the trainer’s experience with excitable dogs. Over the years, I have found there are two types of trainer reactions to dogs like Mojo: instructors who don’t know what to do with a dog like him, and instructors who EMBRACE him.

Find a sport! Agility, flyball, disc, and tracking are just some of the fine dog sports out there. I have taken Mojo through a number of sport classes or club practices for the mental and physical stimulation. Again, do not feel your overall goal should be to compete; my Mojo has never stepped into a ring. We have taken classes for fun, to keep him learning new things, and for the exercise. Often times, people feel pressure when in sport classes, as if they must work towards a competitive level. Not the case. There are many instructors and training clubs out there who will let you work with your dog for fun.

Track! I was amazed after my first few tracking sessions with Mojo. Watching him work and focus on the scent, and seeing the change in his behavior from bouncy boy out of the crate, ready to work, to calm relaxed dog post-track was awesome! There are great books about tracking, and a fun beginner one we like is Fun Nosework for Dogs by Roy Hunter.

Very Tricky! Mojo is about the most non-retrieving dog I have ever met. Watches tennis balls and things sail over his head. Using a clicker, I taught him to retrieve a tennis ball, and gradually we shaped this with other objects, such as a dumbbell and even a frisbee. When I don’t have time for a big walk, we practice retrieves. He also has developed a rather large tricks repertoire, which are fun for him to show off and also for those of you with bully breeds, nothing breaks fear or stigma like a pit bull with cute parlor tricks. A few or our fave tricks are: take a bow, pray for the pit bulls, sit pretty, gimme your nose, etc.

Go Cruisin’, K-9 Cruisin that is! The K-9 Cruiser is a bike attachment that allows your dog to safely run alongside. I bought one for Mojo when he was about 6 or 7, and I almost cried during our first ride. He was grinning, and seemed to be saying, “this is the speed I’ve been wanting to go all my life!” I wish I knew about that handy invention when he was 2!

Swim! Find a canine pool (if you live in Seattle, I recommend Spawz and Bow Wow Fun Town) and get your dog paddling!

Let’s Play! Playdates with doggie friends or walks with doggie friends.

Wait for It! Practice self control exercises and focus work. We love Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt and In Focus by Judy Keller.

Please visit our Youtube site to see Mojo in many of the above activities:
www.youtube.com/pitzncatz

Do you have favorite activities you like to engage in with your dog? Leave a comment and tell us about it. Got pictures of your dog hiking, pulling, swimming, participating in dog sports, or just having fun? Submit them to us at info@companionanimalsolutions.com.

The writing has been on the wall for years. First came the September 2007 citizens committee report calling shelter conditions in King County “deplorable”. If you’ve followed the KCACC oversight committee education work being done at kcaccexposed.org, you know that the staff that works at Animal Care and Control and at the shelters are doing everything they can within a broken system. Many critics of the way KCACC has been run claim that the $1 million dollar one time allocation to fix the system wasn’t enough because of tragically bad management and failed oversight at KCACC. Now I’m reading the announcement on the Metropolitan King County Council web site dated September 24, 2009 that is titled Council member commends Executive for implementing their call to get King County out of the shelter business. What does this mean exactly? Well, as with all governmental issues, it means several things. (click on the image above to see video of the KOMO Problem Solvers’ story on this issue).

For one, it means that because the county is facing a $56 million budget short fall, it’s going to look for a private organization to fulfill the county’s public safety function of Animal Care and Control. “Last year, we stated publicly that the King County Animal Shelter system was so broken that it could not be fixed and asked the Executive to consider a new system. I commend him for taking decisive action to implement our request,” said Council Chair Constantine. “King County has been failing in its obligation to provide humane care for the animals in our custody. This solution will shift sheltering services to a proven community provider.” The problem is that our interim Executive is not implementing a solution. He’s simply shutting down the shelters, without an alternative solution in place, and he’s doing it soon.

When this happens (and the Kent shelter is scheduled to be shut down on November 1st), the Seattle Animal Shelter, the Seattle/King County Humane Society, and every private rescue group in King County is going to be literally over run with homeless animals and all of these organizations are inundated already. The county has been talking to the Humane Society for years about taking over these responsibilities for the county, but how is the Humane Society supposed to pay for the services the county wants them to provide? If a $1 million infusion couldn’t solve the problem, how is a non-profit organization supposed to step up and solve the problem over night, with no additional funding?

Some county employees, volunteers, and animal advocates argue that the animals of King County would be better served by turning over Animal Care and Control and sheltering services to a private organization. I’m not disagreeing with this position. Across the country, we’ve seen privatization of the Animal Care and Control function handled well and we’ve seen it handled poorly. Really, no matter who takes over this responsibility, isn’t about having a plan in place before any decision is made? Isn’t it about transparency in the system? After all, we’re making decisions about a population that doesn’t have a voice, the animals.

If you think that this problem is only about treating stray animals humanely, that’s only part of the story. This is a public safety issue. If you want to see what happens when a county agency is stretched too thin and given too many mandates, read the Seattle Times article Dog attack victims wait days or weeks for response. Too often, when a county or city’s Animal Care and Control responsibilities are handled poorly, we see elected officials respond with harmful, unfair, and expensive Breed Specific Legislation which we believe is the absolutely worst response to the problem.

If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering what you can do about this situation. I’d like to make a few suggestions:

Our King County Executive is only serving in an interim capacity. Get involved and make the candidates for this open seat state their position on Animal Care and Control. Do either of these candidates have a plan? Contact Susan Hutchison and Dow Constantine and find out before your cast your vote.

You can donate money locally to the organizations who will be handling the problem that King County is throwing over the wall to them. Donating your money to the Seattle Animal Shelter or your local Humane Society means that the money will be used locally.

Lastly, if you can’t donate money, you can volunteer as a foster home. Both the Seattle Animal Shelter foster program and the Seattle Humane Society foster program need your help. Space is critical when it comes to saving the lives of homeless animals until they can be placed in their forever homes.

Please let us know your thoughts about King County Animal Care and Control being eliminated as a county government funded function. If you contact our candidates for County Executive, let us know what their responses were. Do you live in a community where this function was privatized? What was the experience like in your community?

Few of the regular attendees of the AVMA conference were aware of what was happening with Merial, a veterinary pharmaceutical company. Quite a controversy was created when a few weeks before the conference, it was brought to light that the company was using Cesar Millan in promotion of their Frontline and Heartguard products. As you may know, Mr. Millan’s show The Dog Whisperer is broadcast on the National Geographic channel. Mr Millan’s methods have come under intense scrutiny by the veterinary behavior community.

Dr. Andrew Luescher, DVM, PhD Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists previewed videotapes submitted to him by National Geographic. The following is excerpted from his report:

“I have been involved in continuing education for dog trainers for over 10 years, first through the “How Dogs Learn” program at the University of Guelph and then through the DOGS! Course at Purdue University. I therefore know very well where dog training stands today, and I must tell you that Millan’s techniques are outdated and unacceptable not only to the veterinary community, but also to dog trainers.”

The first question regarding the above mentioned tapes I have is this: The show repeatedly cautions the viewers not to attempt these techniques at home, so what then, is the purpose of this show? Is it an infomercial for Cesar Millan? I think we have to be realistic. People will try these techniques at home, much to the detriment of their dogs.

Millan’s techniques are almost exclusively based on two techniques: flooding and positive punishment. In flooding, an animal is exposed to a fear evoking stimulus (which sometimes results in aggression) and prevented from leaving the situation until the animal stops reacting. To take a human example, arachnophobia would be treated by locking a person in a closet, releasing hundreds of spiders into that closet, and keeping the door shut until the person stops reacting. The person might be cured by that, but also might be severely disturbed and would have gone through an excessive amount of stress. Flooding has therefore always been considered a risky and cruel method of treatment. What Mr. Millan calls “calm submission”, scientists describe as “learned helplessness”.

Positive punishment refers to applying an aversive stimulus or correction as a consequence of a behavior. There are many concerns about punishment aside from its unpleasantness. Punishment is entirely inappropriate for most types of aggression and any behavior that involves anxiety (see Dr. Jim Ha’s post titled Confrontational Behavior Modification Techniques and the Risk to Owners). Punishment can suppress most behavior but does not resolve the underlying problem; anxiety, fear, and/or aggression. Even in cases where correctly applied, punishment might be considered appropriate, many conditions have to be met that most dog owners can’t meet. The punishment has to be applied every time the behavior is displayed, within 1/2 a second of the behavior, and at the correct intensity.

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the Director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine of Tufts University agrees and has said that Cesar Millan’s methods are based on flooding and punishment. The results, though immediate, may only be temporary and can sometimes result in unintended behavioral fallout such as increased anxiety, fear, and aggression.

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior released two position statements on the use of dominance theory for behavior modification of animals and guidelines for the use of punishment in dealing with behavior problems in animals. These address the problems in many of Millan’s claims about dominance pack order, and how he sets limits. You can download these position statements from the AVSAB web site.

There is a grounding of science in the field of behavior which Mr. Millan does not address in his work with dogs. His methods are based on his own experience and not on science. He calls himself a dog psychologist, but does not talk about basic principles of psychology, such as perception, conditioning, and reinforcement. If he has any knowledge of neurotransmitters and their effect on behavior, he keeps it well hidden. Just stopping an unwanted behavior is not sufficient. It is necessary to teach an acceptable alternate behavior. No amount of drama generated by television show producers or loyal followers change the scientific facts.

For Merial to choose Cesar Millan to represent the veterinary field is akin to choosing a Hollywood star who believes that bloodletting is the best way to treat any medical disorder to represent a pharmaceutical company. His methods are outdated and can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

I enjoyed being at the AVSAB booth at the conference very much though. Not only was I able to educate my colleagues and other attendees about this controversy, but I was also able to show a more effective, safer, and humane alternative. We had videos playing of clicker training being used not only on dogs, but also on cats, chickens, a pig, and a tropical Hornbill. I wonder how well Cesar’s Way would work on those species?

In my next post, I’ll talk about the advances in veterinary medicine that I learned about at the conference.