.     PLEASE NOTE: BECAUSE PEOPLE HAVE FOUND IT HELPFUL, WE HAVE POSTED MY BLOG ABOUT THE DECISIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS WE MADE AT THE END OF LAKOTA’S LIFE, IN A NEW, PERMANENT LOCATION.  IT CAN BE ACCESSED AT THE “SAYING GOODBYE” BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGES OF THIS WEB SITE. WE HOPE THAT MAKING THIS AVAILABLE, AS A RESOURCE FOR PET OWNERS FACING THIS DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL TIME, WILL BE OF SOME HELP TO YOU.

FRUSTRATED DOGS

4/19/19

.     OK. I admit it. I’m going to vent. I wish I had a natural release feature like an Instant Pot, but I don’t, and I’m about to blow my lid. When it reaches the point that it’s not safe to walk with your dog in your own neighborhood, something truly needs to be done. Why do people get dogs if they don’t intend to do what is necessary to have a dog that isn’t a neighborhood menace? Why do people get dog breeds that are totally inappropriate for the life-style they are going to live? Why do people, who have so little time that they can’t take a few hours to educate themselves on dogs before they get one, think a dog is a good choice of a pet for them? And why do people get dogs that they can’t physically control?

.     Before I delve into these questions, I am going to explain the events that triggered this rant-uh-blog. Incident one occurred over two years ago when my dog was attacked by another dog. I have spent the better part of two years working on training her to not be leash reactive after that incident. We are about eighty percent of the way there. It has taken an enormous amount of time and patience and work to get there, and we are still not where I want to be—which is where we were before the attack. And the leg that was injured in the attack still gives her trouble.

.     We have two medium/large dogs on our street that want to rip every dog they see apart. The owner can’t hold on to them, and already one of them broke the owner’s grip and ran at another neighbor who was walking his well-behaved two dogs on leashes on the road. The man walking the dogs in the road had to put his dogs behind him and fend off the attack, until the owner of the dog that broke loose ran out and pulled her dog back. It just so happened that the man in the road was physically able to fend off the dog and protect his dogs. I couldn’t have physically done that, so now I have to get in my car and go where it is safe to walk my dog, and I am no longer comfortable in my own front yard.

.     The third incident occurred a few months ago in our community when a woman who was quietly taking a walk (she didn’t even have a dog,) was attacked by a large, powerful breed dog. The dog did serious damage to her wrist, hand, and leg. (Here comes the part that will astound you.) The whole attack took place while the dog was on a leash! The leash was held by a big, strong, middle aged man who owns the dog and who has no idea how to control it. To make matters worse, the leash the dog was on was a retractable. I don’t know if the woman filed charges, but the dog is still being walked through our community on the same retractable leash. If charges were filed, this normally wouldn’t be allowed.

.     In case you are wondering why I am citing the retractable leash as part of the problem, I will explain. If you do a little internet research yourself you will find many articles and the reasons why these leashes are a bad idea. Many of these articles are written by vets because they get to deal with the injuries caused by these leashes—everything from burns to horrific amputations and even strangulation. And those injuries are not exclusive to dogs: they extend to humans, too, such as the woman who was so badly injured in our community. Often the human injured is the owner of the dog.

.     This happens because, while the end part of the leash is thick, once it is released to a certain length that thick webbing turns into a thin cord. That cord is very capable of causing burns and amputations and even strangulations. And with your dog way out in front of you where you can’t possible control it properly, those things can happen quite easily. A chance greeting between two dogs can easily cause the leashes to tangle, tie two dogs together–who can then get injured by the cords or get into a fight and injure one another–or worse. When the owners try to intervene, they can lose fingers or have other serious injuries. And yet, that same thin cord that can cause all these injuries is not strong enough to safely hold a large, powerful dog to keep the dog safe and the people around the dog safe.

.     So why are these leashes so popular? The answer is: because people do not do their homework. If they did, they would discover the reasons that they think retractables are a good idea are based on illusion, rather than fact. The biggest illusion of all is thinking the retractable leash will give the dog “more freedom.” But that is a myth. If you make note of dogs on retractables, you will note they are all out in front of their owners, and most of them are pulling. A dog way out in front of its owner, pulling on a leash putting constant pressure on its trachea is not freedom. It is bad training…for a number of reasons, and contributes to behavior problems.

.     The way a retractable leash works is by pulling constantly on the dog it is attached to. Whether the dog is wearing a collar or a harness, this constant tension is not comfortable. In order to tolerate it, the dog gradually becomes desensitized to pulling on his or her leash or collar. This is exactly what you don’t want to happen if your goal is to have a dog who walks calmly and politely on a leash without pulling. The dog being way out in front of its owner, pulling and being pulled also gets the dog excited from the constant tension on the leash. So you are training your dog to pull and be excited. Neither of those things is desirable behavior if you want to have a polite dog who is pleasant for you to walk and is not a menace to your neighbors. And excitement can morph into aggression. A calm dog is what you want.

.     So how do you give your dog “freedom?” You give your dog freedom by having your dog off-leash, in the proper environment, with the proper training. This can happen at a dog park, if your dog is suitable and the other dogs at the park are suitable. This can also happen in a fenced in yard, but it doesn’t happen automatically. You can’t just put the dog out in the yard. It will get bored and become a barking nuisance for your neighbors. You need to get the dog to run. The best way to do that is to play fetch games if the dog will fetch, do recall practice with tiny little training teats, or have play dates with dogs who will run around with your dog. You can also run with your dog, if you are a runner and your dog is a suitable breed. High energy breeds need, need, need to run. And this is the cause of most of the neighborhood dog aggression problems we have been encountering. People are getting dog breeds that are totally unsuitable for their lifestyle.

.     Why is this such a problem? It is a problem because high energy dog breeds need to be seriously exercised or their pent up energy can turn into aggression, pulling on the leash, compulsive barking, destruction in the home, or other undesirable behaviors. But most people pay no attention to what the dog needs when they get a dog. All they care about is what the dog looks like. “Oh, Australian shepherds are so beautiful—let’s get one! Oh, no, I want a German shepherd. I want one of those new designer breeds. Not me, I want to rescue a pit bull.” And so people get dogs that wind up being miserable because they are not living the life they were bred for, and the dogs become problem dogs.

.     When people get a high energy dog breed without knowing what this type of breed needs and without being committed to meeting the needs of a dog like this, they create problem dogs—for themselves and those around them and–especially, for the dogs. There is nothing wrong with these dog breeds. There is something wrong with the way they are being cared for that is causing the problem.

.     Some neighborhoods are beginning to fight back with legislation. One town in New Jersey has enacted a very restrictive anti-barking ordinance—one that could be a real problem for some dog owners and possibly results in some dogs winding up in shelters. It shouldn’t have to get to this point. So what do you do if you are the owner of one of these high energy dogs and it has become a problem! You do the right thing!

.     You must recognize what you have done and step it up. It is your responsibility as the dog’s owner to do this. First, a check-up is in order to rule our medical problems. Twice a day this dog needs serious exercise. Exactly how much for your particular dog will require a good trainer’s assessment. If you are a runner, running your dog with you for twenty minutes twice a day will suffice for most high energy breeds. Do not do this in heat or on hot pavement. You will need to find a shady place to run and do it before or after it is too hot. Do not do this with inappropriate breeds, such as pugs, bulldogs, etc. I am talking about doing this with dog breeds that need it.

.     If you aren’t a runner, two long walks—about forty-five minutes–at a good pace may be enough. Again, you will need to consult a trainer on your specific dog. Once you have done this and your dog’s pent-up energy is being released, then you will have a trainable animal. Then, take it to classes. Teach it to walk calmly and politely on a leash and to obey basic commands. Guess what? All of this is good for you! And if you have children, it’s good for them, too! That’s why dog owners are healthier.

.     I have a number of physical issues that making walking painful. If I didn’t have a dog, I seriously doubt I could motivate myself to do what I do every day. But my cattle dog mix needs exercise. So every morning, I run her off leash, doing recalls, and then do a mile hike up and down a mountain trail. It darn near kills me but it is probably why I am still alive and functioning well, despite my health issues. I have actually had people say to me that I am lucky that my dog is so calm. I always tell them, it’s not luck—it’s work and I earned having a dog like this, and so can you!

.     Last of all, is the question of what to do in inclement weather. The answer to that is to train your dog to a treadmill. This is also the answer if something happens to you and you can’t exercise your dog yourself or pay someone else to do it. On rare days that it is pouring without a break, I run my dog in the house playing fetch because I have wall to wall carpeting, so she can do that without getting hurt. Yes, you heard me right: wall to wall carpeting. That is the safest, best flooring for a dog. Hard floors contribute to arthritis because dogs slip and hyperextend their joints. I know I’m out of fashion with this, but guess what? They are safer and warmer and quieter for human, too. I have taken several falls on my carpeting and not gotten hurt. I would not have fared so well and hard floors, and I have some friends with broken bones to prove that.

.     That sums up my thoughts on what to do to meet the needs of a high energy dog. This is general advice. For some of these dogs it may not be enough. For some it may be more than enough. If you don’t have the time to meet the needs of a dog like this, don’t get one. There are many breeds of dogs that do well with less exercise. However, all dogs need some exercise and company. They are pack animals and shouldn’t be alone all day. They get lonely. They also shouldn’t have to hold it all day. Solutions if you work are to have more than one dog and get a dog walker. And you will need a back-up dog walker for when the dog walker isn’t available. Puppies especially shouldn’t be alone all day, and they need to go to the bathroom very frequently. If you can’t meet the needs of a puppy, there are many, lovely, adult dogs in need of homes. They also shouldn’t be imprisoned in a crate all day. There is a place for crates, locking a dog in one all day is cruel. Crating is illegal in Finland, so I am not alone in this opinion.

.     And finally, not everyone should have a dog. I can’t imagine anything more fulfilling, loving, and enjoyable than a close relationship with a dog, but you must think of what the dog needs, not just what you want. Maybe this is not a good time in your life for a dog. If you travel a lot it is rough on a dog unless you have family or friends where the dog is very comfortable. If you work long hours or have a long commute, a once a day dog walker is not be enough. You may need them to come twice a day. Be honest with yourself about what you have to offer a dog. If you live alone or are out a lot and want a companion, cats are a lot easier and can still provide companionship. A dog is a serious commitment for the life of the dog. Dogs are intelligent, sensitive, emotional living beings. When a dog has to be re-homed or surrendered to a shelter it grieves, just like you would if you lost your home and family. The dog is basically imprisoned for a crime it didn’t commit. Then, if no one adopts it, it will be euthanized. Think it through so you don’t cause this suffering to an animal that only wants to love you. Millions of dogs are in desperate need of a forever home. But a forever home needs to be forever.

STARTING OVER

Saturday, February 25, 2017

.     This morning went we went hiking with our friend and her dog. It was 65 degrees. In February. In New Jersey. An opportunity to hike in a flannel shirt in February, in the Garden State is a rare event, so we set out with great relish. We ran into several other dogs with their guardians and everybody off-leashed the dogs in the field. It was a joyous morning. Then we set off on our hike. Resting, (because we’re old!) after climbing the first steep hill, we were overtaken (because he was not old!) by another hiker. I asked him if he would like us to leash our dogs and he declined, saying he was fine with them coming to say hello. I told them the dogs were polite and gentle.

.     As he petted Kaya and her gentle Labrador friend, he told us he and his wife had just lost their dog. It had been a tough one-two punch, because they had lost their other dog less than a year before that. He said they were planning to get another dog, but were going to take a year off first. I handed him a W.W.T.S.O.L. card, wished him well, and kept my mouth shut about his plans. But the truth is, I doubted it would play out the way he and his wife expected.

.     The reason I think it won’t work out that way is that the right time to get another dog, after losing a beloved dog, does not necessarily fit into a prescheduled amount of time. Like losing any other member of your family, it is a process that must be worked through. If you are patient and sensitive to your own feelings, allow yourself to feel those feelings (however difficult that may be), and are observant of your healing process, you will be better able to choose the right time to welcome a new family member into your home. Making your grieving process fit into a pre-determined amount of time is interfering with the natural course of the process. In addition to the time factor, there is also the fact that dogs aren’t the only species who are pack animals and who are territorial; humans are too! After Lakota passed, I noticed when my friends’ dogs visited, it gave me a pain in my heart when their dogs lay in a favorite spot of Lakota’s. It was his spot—his territory, and I wasn’t ready to share it. I donated his tack and other items to rescue, because I couldn’t use his things on another dog—they were his, and by letting them go I removed them from my attachment to them as his, while still letting them help another dog. Of course, I kept certain items that held strong attachment to him in my heart, to keep in his memory box.

.     So when are you ready to adopt another dog? In my opinion, even though a lot of people do it, I do not advocate getting another dog while you are still mourning the loss of your last dog. It is unfair to bring another dog, who has already been through an ordeal of losing its home—whether from a breeder or a shelter—to an owner with such sad, heavy energy. You need to heal first and then you will be ready to give a new dog the positive, strong leader it needs. For different people, the readiness may express in different ways. For me, the path is always spiritual and strongly guided. I believe Lakota and Zeak guided me to Kaya, and her to me. She really needed me—if she had gone to the wrong home, she would have been brought back the next day because of her issues. And, I really needed her. It was straight from my gut, on that Friday afternoon that the time was now and the dog was her. But I know not everybody has that process. What I do know is that it does not conform to any pre-set schedules. It is arrived upon by carefully examining your heart, your physical feelings, and the degree of honesty in which you have allowed yourself to feel the pain of separation.

.     When you know you are ready, I also believe you need to be patient and sensitive to the new dog’s feelings, allow yourself to sense his or her feelings, and be observant to the energy and behavior of the dog you choose; if you do, you will be more likely to welcome the right family member into your home. Far too many people do not realize the importance of this, and they wind up with a poor fit: bad for the owner, and bad for the dog. The most common reason this happens is that people choose a dog based on appearance alone, which doesn’t work any better than it does when choosing a human partner! The dog I spoke about in a recent blog, who attacked and injured Kaya, is a case like that. The owners bought the dog because they loved how it looked. But they did not do enough homework on the breed they selected and they did not spend enough time sensing the energy of the dog, so they got a high energy dog that they can’t control or train because they can’t give it enough exercise, and their personalities cannot provide strong enough leadership for this excitable dog, so the dog is insecure and can have outbursts of fear aggression. The dog has issues, and Kaya, as well as some humans, have paid the price. The owners are good people so the dog has a home for life, but the truth is, they are not as happy with the dog as they were with their last two dogs. Less committed people might have surrendered the dog to a shelter, and added another homeless dog to the already overwhelming number of them. So what are dog guardians to do when choosing a dog to be a member of their family?

.     Before you lock in on a breed, first decide what energy level dog you can handle. If you select a high energy dog—whatever the breed—you must be able to give it the exercise it needs or it will develop behavior problems. And while some breeds are more energetic than others, there is a wide range of energy levels within breeds, as well. If you want to rescue a dog, you may not know the breed of the dog you are going to take home with you. If you are an experienced dog person and can assess the energy level of the dog yourself, great. If you aren’t an experienced person, I strongly recommend you hire a trainer to go with you and help you select the right dog. Too often, when this is not done, there is heartbreak ahead for the people, and tragedy for the dog. If it’s done right, you can truly find a treasure in rescue. Some of the best dogs in the world are rescues, and some of the worst are purebreds! It truly can work both ways.

.     And, perhaps most important of all, spend some time with the dog outside of its cage. Take a walk with the dog and your trainer—if one is along; and the person from the rescue or shelter will probably want to go, too. How does the dog handle on a leash? After you walk and it has been with you for a while, do you feel a connection? For me, this expresses as a feeling of familiarity. I believe this connection is the most important ingredient.

.     If you are a first time dog owner, you need an easy dog. Make sure the rescue knows that. If you are a soft energy person, look for a soft energy dog. Do not take on an aggressive or dominant or excited dog that you cannot provide strong leadership to. You will have more information about a dog that has been in an experienced foster home, where the dog has been checked out in all different circumstances. If you are an experienced dog person and can put in the time, it is so rewarding to take on a dog with problems and help it. The one thing I don’t recommend is taking on an aggressive dog, unless you are a professional who is equipped to deal with it in all ways. Aggressive dogs getting out into the community and doing damage hurt the whole rescue movement.

.     Something that puzzles me is why, when we are euthanizing hundreds of thousands of dogs, the dog-aggressive and people-aggressive dogs aren’t euthanized first, before they are put out for rescue. Why let some good-hearted person fall in love with, and take home, a dog that is going to do harm to someone or something, and cause that owner to suffer the consequences and liability of that? Meanwhile, some really nice dogs, with no problems at all, who would make wonderful, loyal, family members, are being euthanized because they—through no fault of their own–have lost their home, are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or are the wrong color: black.

.     All of my dogs have always been black or black with some white. The reason really nice black dogs get overlooked is partly because of the low contrast of their eyes: their eyes don’t pop and get people’s attention from a cage. Time and time again, the nicest dogs get passed by because of this; it actually has a name: black dog syndrome. Sometimes the most loving and loyal dog in the shelter gets put down because of this. Please open your heart and take the time to consider a black dog. I have always chosen them because, to me, they are the most beautiful and loving. Get them out of their cage and interact with them. Give them a chance. You could meet the best friend you’ve ever had, the most fun-filled playmate you’ve ever enjoyed, or maybe even the love of your life!

HOW TO HAVE A DOG AND A CLEAN HOUSE

July 26^th, 2018

.     The reason I have been A.W.O.L. from this blog a lot is that for the past year and then some, we have undergone major home renovations. At times it was so bad that we were living in one room and entering and leaving through the window. But it’s over now and we have a nicer, more reasonable space to live in during our senior years. And because we are getting older, we needed to make having a dog easier, so we renovated the dog yard too.

.     I am not a hard floor person. I don’t like the noise, I don’t want the broken bones that two of my friends have sustained since they put them in, slipped, and fell. And I don’t want the arthritis for my dog that is the result of dogs playing and hyper extending their joints when they slip on them. So my abode is covered with soft, warm, comfortable nylon plush carpet. My dog loves it. On rainy days I can exercise her indoors at a full run fetching things without her hurting herself.

.     But what about muddy paws, and bodily fluid accidents when a dog gets sick? For the latter, I have a pet-specific product that shampoos small areas, as well as a full size rug shampooer. For the muddy paws, I have designed the perfect dog yard so that I never have them. A lot of thought and a lot of experience went into this, and after giving it a test run for nine months, I am happy to say it is a rousing success and I am going to share it with the world.

.     Ninety-seven percent of days I get my dog out for a one mile hike. But because I am no longer a puppy, and because accidents do happen, I wanted a fool proof dog set-up that can pretty much make canine care a breeze. The wisdom of this became apparent a few months ago when I tore my meniscus hiking and couldn’t walk for three months. I hired a dog walker to give Kaya a morning walk, but what about the rest of the day? And what about days the dog walker wasn’t available? The answer was automatic pilot dog with the perfect dog yard.

.     It started with a 6’ high chain link fence around the entire back yard. I does not have to be chain link fence.  It can be any kind of fence that your dog can’t jump, climb over, chew through or dig under. Some people put concrete patio blocks around the bottom , if they have a digger.  You must be sure to get knuckle to knuckle chain link because, otherwise, your dog can rip his paw open on the sharp bottom wires. You will also need to put acorn nuts on all the sharp bolts that face inside the yard, or your dog can rip his/her face open on them. I unfortunately learned this the hard way, as described in WALKING WITH THE SHADOW OF LOVE, when both of my dogs required surgery because of my fence, and one of them came close to losing his eye.

.     Then we lined the bottom of the fence with rocks to prevent things digging in or out. An added nice touch is coyote roll or an electric wire on the top to discourage predators. A fenced in yard does not guarantee safety for our dogs. I never leave my dogs out if I am not home, and they can always come in through the dog door. When I go out somewhere, they are inside with the dog door closed. No yard is predator proof or snake proof, and human predators steal dogs all the time for pit bait and all sorts of horrible reasons. We keep our gates locked, but my dogs are never out in the yard alone and never in a car alone. I couldn’t live with myself if I did otherwise and they were stolen.

.     Now comes the part that makes it all so easy. Inside of the big fence is a smaller area with a four foot chain link fence with all the same safety requirements as the bigger one. This area is right outside our back door—the door with the dog door in it. It has no grass. It is two thirds pavers—with a nice picnic table and chairs and an umbrella in the summer—and 1/3 pea gravel. There is nothing in this area that can get paws muddy. I trained Kaya to use the pea gravel area to relieve herself. It is literally two steps from my back door stoop, so even when it’s icy in the winter, I only have two short steps on flat ground to pick up after her. The gravel is self-cleaning as long as you have a reasonable amount of rain and the area gets decent sunlight on it.  If we have a long dry spell, it can be hosed down.  In the winter, it isn’t necessary because I pick up snow/ice with the shovel I use for that season and it stays clean enough. One caveat: if you allow snow or ice to stay on the pea gravel area so the sun does not hit it, it can build up bacteria.  If this happens, I take a two gallon watering can and fill it with water and 1/2 cup of bleach, and water the gravel with it.  I let it sit in the sun for a few hours, keeping Kaya in the house with the dog door closed.  Then I hose it down and it is sanitized.  The rest of the year I use doggy bags and I always pick right up after her. It is much easier to do a clean pick up in pea gravel than on lawn. That’s why some dog parks are switching over to pea gravel.

.     No matter how hard it is pouring, my dog only has wet paws, never muddy. We have an absorbent mat inside the door to dry her feet as she comes in the door. I never have to do a thing. When it’s nice out, I open the inner gate and let Kaya enjoy her yard. When it’s a rainy mess, she stays in the smaller yard and stays clean. Yes, I invested some money and effort into this, but now I have such easy dog care, I wish I had done it a long time ago because it is would have made it effortless, especially with more than one dog. There may be times when I am injured or ill, but my dog can still relieve herself any time she wants, and the clean-up is a breeze…even with a torn meniscus!

.     If you are working and your dog is home all day, even if you can’t get someone to walk your dog, you may be able to get a local senior who can come over with a set up like this and let your dog out for a while and play with them or just sit out with them and let them relieve themselves and run around their yard. It is far better than making a dog hold it all day, which is painful and unhealthy for the dog. And even someone with limited energy or mobility may be able to do this, and might even really enjoy doing it.

.     If that much fencing is unaffordable (and it isn’t cheap,) another option would be to just do the smaller area with the taller fence—unless you have a small dog, in which case the four foot fence may suffice. And there is one caveat: the only situation I can think of in which this wouldn’t work is if you have a dog who WON’T GO IN PEA GRAVEL. And yes, there are some dogs like that—not many, but there are some. My Lakota was one of them, and nothing on this earth would get him to do it. To be blunt, he would not pee in the pea gravel. So be sure to find some pea gravel somewhere and make sure your dog isn’t one of them before doing this!

DNA VS. TRAINING

Saturday, July 15, 2017

.     In another month and a half it will be the one year anniversary of the day we rescued Kaya. In that time, she has gone from a panicked, obsessive-compulsive, blanket-sucking/tooth grinding, nippy, destructive, counter-surfing, car-hysterical, un-housebroken mess, to a trustworthy, calm well-behaved, obedient dog in most circumstances. She still has some issues interacting with some types of dogs, and I am working with her on that. One issue is that after she was attacked and injured by another dog soon after we got her, she has become reactive to excited dogs. It takes a long time and a lot of patience to fix that, and I am determined to do just that. The other issue is that she likes to herd other dogs. On that last issue, I may or may not prevail, due to D.N.A..

.     We are pretty sure Kaya is an Aussie Cattle Dog mix. She looks like a Flat-coated Border Collie, and like a Cattle Dog, but she acts and herds more like a Cattle Dog. Like most herding dogs, she herds from behind and from the side; but like a Cattle dog, when she wants to turn the animals she is herding, she does it by air-snapping at their heads. As much as I would like to provide Kaya with an actual herding outlet for this very instinctive behavior, it is too dangerous for me, as well as too dangerous for her. While she is in great shape, she does have a tight hip and an iffy shoulder that could compromise her ability to maneuver to the extent she would need to so she could remain safe in a real herding situation. So Kaya gets her energy out by running in the woods, jumping over trees, and doing recalls from a distance. In this manner, we can burn up her energy and maintain her calm state of mind and good behavior. It also forces me to get a lot of exercise that I probably wouldn’t do otherwise. It is my love of her that gets me walking, even though it hurts, or I’m too tired, or it’s a bad hair day, or it’s too cold/hot/humid/wet/snowy/windy out.

.     None-the-less, this herding behavior is a problem sometimes when she interacts with other dogs. If she meets a large, calm, confidant dog, she is as polite as can be. She approaches calmly from the side, politely sniffing and sensing the dog’s energy, and circling slowly and quietly. However, if she meets an excited, hyper, fearful, nervous dog or a puppy, she darts and snaps at them. She has never connected a snap, and I’m sure if she wanted to she would have. But, of course, I find this behavior unacceptable, and am working diligently to put a stop to it. I have reached the point that if I sit her a reasonable distance from an oncoming dog, with a loose, relaxed leash, keep feeding her tiny treats, and tell her to leave it, she will do that. But as soon as I try to upgrade from that to actually interacting with another dog, if it is not a calm, confident, large dog and she is on a leash, it doesn’t go well. When that happens it is a huge setback, so I am carefully avoiding all but the most calm, balanced dogs.

.     If the other dog protests her behavior, she backs right off, so I know she is not aggressive. When she started trying to herd our friends’ little Shitsu, the little dog snapped right back at her, immediately putting Kaya on notice that she wasn’t going to put up with this behavior. It took a few times, but now Kaya approaches this dog with polite respect. The problem is that there are not many calm, confident dogs around. Most of the dogs we meet are the worst case scenario: on retractable leashes out in front of their people, pulling, pulling, and pulling. For whatever reason, most of the dog owners we meet do not have the desire to spend the time teaching their dogs to be polite members of society. So I am continuing to teach her to ignore these dogs. However, this is not always easy and sometimes is downright impossible. And so I ask, and I mean this is the nicest possible way, “What the hell is wrong with people??!!!???”

.     The reason it is difficult or impossible is that there are people out there who do not respect boundaries. In the world, this can manifest as horrible wars. But as a person trying to walk my dog and teach her to be calm and well behaved, it plays out in a different manner: I am walking my dog calmly at my side up the trail. I see a dog dragging its owner down the trail. It is on a retractable leash (they should be banned) about ten feet in front of its person. The person—who happens in this instance to be a man—calls out, “Say Hello?” (meaning he wants his dog to interact with my dog)

.     I reply in the negative. At that point he says, “Why not—isn’t your dog socialized?” Obviously, this was none of his business, but I answer that my dog is a rescue and I am working with her on her dog interaction skills. At that point, he just allows his dog—a year old Labrador pup who is excited, barking, and lunging and so-o-o-o-o not socialized—to contact my dog and jump on—all over her. Kaya responds by snapping at the pup and backing it off. I pretty much did the same thing to the owner, telling him in no uncertain terms that it is rude and unacceptable to refuse to respect peoples’ boundaries, and could prove really dangerous to his dog. His dog approached Kaya in a totally inappropriate manner, was obviously not socialized or he wouldn’t have approached an older dog like that, and would have gotten attacked if it approached one of the several dog-aggressive dogs that walk at the park. As the obnoxious man and the pup continued on their way, I saw it lunging and barking at another, calm, well-behaved dog down the trail a little. The pup was well on its way to becoming a big problem, and with its clueless owner would only get worse.

.     I’m quite sure this encounter did not do my blood pressure any good, and the worst part of it was it set back months of training. This was not the first time this had happened to Kaya and me. During past winter, a man charged at us with his over-excited Golden Retriever, and while I yelled, “No contact!” just ignored me and let his dog jump all over Kaya, scaring her, and making my work harder. I was beginning to feel picked on, until I ran into our local dog-walker at the nail salon. As we were chatting, I mentioned what had happened. She looked at me, sighed, and said, “Welcome to my world.” I asked her if she had encountered situations like that, too, and she told me that it happened to her all the time. She would be walking a dog that was not dog-friendly or fearful or even aggressive, and tell that to an approaching person with a dog, and they would just charge right over. Sometimes it had nasty results. She was wondering what was wrong with people that they think it is OK to do this. The same question had been going round in my head since these incidents had happened to me.

.     I had another encounter on the trails soon after Kaya was attacked. She had a badly sprained front leg, and was on orders from the vet to take it easy on it. We were taking a quite walk with a calm, older dog friend when this wild, large puppy, who was much larger and heavier than Kaya, charged over and was jumping all over my dog with her injured leg and slamming into my fragile knees. When I first saw the dog approaching, I asked his owner to please call and leash his dog. He did neither because he had no control whatsoever over the pup. So why was it allowed off leash? He had to come over and grab its collar to remove it from our space.

.     I know I am not alone in mourning the loss of consideration, compassion, civility, dedication, and manners that is taking place in our current society. I know people are busy. I know people are rushing. I know people are stressed. But what I don’t understand is why they think being rude to their fellow humans—and their animals– is going to ease their issues. Far too many people are becoming self-absorbed, inconsiderate, rude, and obnoxious. And since our dogs absorb and reflect our energy, so are their dogs. People are spending too much time with their devices and not enough caring about other human beings. Whether it expresses as dog rage, road rage, war, gang violence, crime, a lack of work ethic, or politicians who do not represent the people and don’t seem to have any guilt about that, it can be hard to hold out hope for this planet when one encounters this behavior frequently. I have heard wise people say that the pendulum always swings back when it gets too far in one direction. I wish it would hurry up.

RUN AWAY DOGS

Wednesday, March 15, 2018

.     Yesterday afternoon I needed groceries, so I got in my small SUV and headed for the supermarket. I was approaching the light on the highway—a very busy three lanes in each direction affair with fast moving traffic—when I noticed two dogs running loose heading straight for the highway at a fast clip. They were only a dozen or so feet from the busy road and if they ran into it, it would surely cost them their lives. I prayed for help as I put my car in park and got out, only to see the dogs run around the corner into a gas station right on the highway. I got back in to my vehicle with my heart pounding, and slowly pulled into the gas station.

.     Another woman had seen the dogs and had also pulled into the gas station. We both got out of our cars and tried to coax the dogs to come to us. The large brown one did, and the woman put him in the back seat of her car, with the intention of taking him to the local animal shelter. But the little white dog was frantic and would not approach either of us. I crouched down on the ground sideways and made comforting sounds encouraging him to come to me, but to no avail. I had exhausted my bag of tricks. Every time the little dog ran towards the highway I could feel my heart thumping in my chest—I was terrified for him. I prayed for help again. And then, in a moment of stillness, I could feel what the little white dog needed—what he was frantic about. He needed to be with his buddy. I told the woman that and said, “Open the back door of your car and block the other dog from getting out—the little one will jump right in.” And, he did.

.     The odd thing about the whole thing was that the process by which I realized the solution, did not involve thought at all. It could have been arrived at that way…but it wasn’t. I actually felt the information when I got quiet and focused on the little dog. And that was why I had been put in place to be there at that exact moment. And while I have known for some time that I am an empath—especially with animals—this is the first time since I was moved to find and rescue Kaya, that I have found it useful in the real world.

.     I have never had a dog that was mine run away from my home. I considered why this was so. There were emotional reasons and there were management reasons. The emotional reason was the bond between my dogs and me. Because of this bond, at any given moment my dogs want to be where I am. I have had them get on a scent in the woods and follow it and had to call them several times to get them to come back, but they have never left home.

.     Management reasons are a bit more complicated. The most obvious one is neutering and spaying. Training your dog that the door being open doesn’t mean he/she can go out is another. Having your dog chipped is good security. A rock solid recall is the third on one my list. But the way I set up my home is also important. I call it the “air lock system”. I got this term from Sci-Fi movies. It refers to a separate chamber that exists on space ships so that there is a zone between air and no air where you can suit up. The way this applies to dogs is as follows:

.     Neither the front door or the back door of my home is just a door—there is always a secondary barrier. In my current house, the front door opens onto a screened-in porch with a second exterior door. The back door opens to a fenced in dog yard. One of the most common ways that dogs get out is people other than their owners let them out, inadvertently. Children, contractors, delivery people, non dog aware family members…the list goes on. With the air lock system, if you dog is let out by a third party, he/she is still contained and safe. I will add to this that fencing doesn’t have to be expensive for this purpose. And it beats the vet bills and suffering if your dog is hit by a car and the never-ending guilt if your dog is lost and never comes home…and you have to wonder what horrible end he/she might have come to.