Client updates, shoe info & looking for a bulldog

Check out this cutie Lola. She is a chi X that was rescued from a not so great situation. Now she is in a fabulous home with a wonderfully involved owner. I got an update from her the other day with this photo and things are going very well for them both.

I know I have been bad about posting client pics but the truth is I don't always remember to bring my camera. Sometimes I bring it and still forget to get a photo. I am there to help with training or behavior issues after all, not to make their dog a super model. Thankfully some owners are willing to e-mail me pics of their 4 legged family members like Lola's mom. I'll try to be better in the future because I love sharing the photos but now you know why some weeks are more photo heavy with client pics than others.

In other news I have discovered that crocs, the rubber shoe, is the best shoe available to step in dog poo while wearing. Why you ask? Well because not only are they easy to hose off, the treads are shallow enough that you can scrape them across the grass and it all comes off smoothly. Of course I try to avoid the dog bombs in the yard and am usually pretty good about daily clean ups but apparently I missed some the other day. Hence my "learning moment". Just thought I would pass it on.

Also an update on the Primal patties. It turns out the chicken ones have a much nicer smell than the beef. I also stumbled across a great new blog written by a raw food feeder. Check out Raw Pets. http://blog.zenthafghanhounds.com/ (also an added link on my blogroll) She makes me motivated to try some real raw in the future. Of course this means I would have to prepare stuff which may be challenging for me. Hey we all have our limits. And here is another cool website I found: http://www.rawfed.com/

My sister is looking to add a new bulldog to her home. Those who follow the blog may remember her boy Zeus who she lost earlier this year.

He had some behavior issues and also drew the genetic short straw. If anyone near Maine has any leads on a bulldog that needs a home please contact me directly at CanineHelp@aol.com They are willing to travel. The dog will need to be good with other dogs, because I will be babysitting for her when needed, and it has to be good with children. (They have a special needs child in the home.) I know, kind of a tall order. This isn't ordering a happy meal after all. She is also looking into reputable breeders. (a topic for another post I hope to make soon) I know some wonder if there is such a thing when you are talking about such a man made breed. Sometimes you do the best you can when you fall in love with a certain kind of dog and want another one. At least she knows what she is getting into with potential vet bills having been there and done that. She is a great dog owner and all leads are appreciated.

Progress report & photos

I think we are about two weeks in on the new raw food and one week for the dehydrated. Here is a photo of the Primal chopped and ready to go. I am adding some fish oil to Jacks portion as he is having some skin and coat issues. We had blood drawn last week for a thyroid test just to cover all of our bases since it can be an issue in akitas. Plus the fur is growing back really slow from his healing hotspot. Doesn't this look yummy?

And this is the dehydrated mixed and ready to go. They get this for breakfast and the primal patties for dinner. The Primal smells terrible to me, the dogs however seem to love it. The dehydrated doesn't have much smell and compared to the Primal is it a regular rose garden. But again I am super sensitive to smells. The dogs seem to like it all immensely so I will keep on with it. I will probably add some other raw foods as we go but for now the pre-mixed works great for my schedule. Even though Jenny HATES waiting for her breakfast in the mornings. The dehydrated needs to set for a few minutes so there is a wait time involved.

Here is a better pic of the prison dog Danno. Doesn't he look sweet? (excuse the nylon collar it is temporary til I get him a martingale)

I have some sad news to share about one of our previous graduates Diamond. He was the border collie we had on the program. It turns out he developed a fast moving cancer and had to be put down recently. At least his last year was one spent with a loving family and not at the end of his former chain.

Here is a pic one of the kids took of me during "puter time". While it isn't the most flattering photo of me, I thought it was cute to see all the dogs crashed out. Those are my favorite rubber ducky jammy bottoms. (Excuse the hair, I am in a growing out phase.)

You can see part of Jack's haircut. I vastly over estimated my skills with the clippers so he now has an appointment with his groomer to "fix" him. I'll post the embarrassing pics of him when I get him looking better.

Another pic one of the kids took. This seems to be her favorite crash position.

I caught them during a play session over the stuffed bear. I couldn't resist the pic because Jack rarely gets all the way on the couch. (Why do they always stop when I point the camera at them? Paparazzi shy perhaps?)

This is what Missy does when they start horsing around. This isn't even her crate but it had the chewie in it she prefers.

September 11

The new prison dog

Here are a couple of photos of the new prison dog, Danno. (Yes like, Book'em Danno!) Danno started today as the new K-9 Corrections dog for The Humane Society of Knox County. It took us awhile to find the right new handler but one finally turned up. He has owned Great Danes in the past and sounds like he has some good dog experience to bring to the program. Danno is abit reserved with people so getting some good one on one time with a handler and getting lots of positive attention (paired with food for some classical conditioning) from the population there will certainly help him learn that people are good. He was originally abandoned at our shelter so we don't have much background on him. He passed his SAFER test with flying colors though so we have high hopes he will do very well on the program. He certainly is a beautiful boy with that wonderful coat. I'll be sure to share more pics as we go. (The bandages in the photo above are from dewclaw removal they did when they neutered him. Apparently they were pendulous and getting torn regularly.)


P.S. I added some of my favorite pics of the dogs to the right sidebar. Scroll down to under the archives section to see them.

The never ending debate

This is Georgia, one of the rescued Michael Vick dogs. I fell in love with her when I watched her story on DogTown on the National Geographic channel. Yeah a good show (that showed POSITIVE training!!!) on the same channel that brings us (dun dun duhhh, music for dramatic effect) the "Dog Whisperer". (Tell me seriously, how can you not LOVE that face?)

Check out a great post, and the resulting interesting discussion about this show and how it compares to their other "training" show.

http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/dogtown-versus-dog-whisperer

My opinion of the DW is this, he is very uneducated (which he himself admits in some of his books) and uses outdated and sometimes dangerous methods. His dog language reading skills could use some work. If they were better he wouldn't get bitten quite so often in my opinion. (of course if he didn't use such extreme tactics the dogs wouldn't feel the need to defend themselves either) He has taken a true method of training, called compulsion or traditional, and bastardized it to suit his own needs. If you find the need to use compulsion in training, PLEASE use the Monks version, at least they use it more fairly for the dogs. (Their updated version where they recanted the Alpha Roll since it was originally based on misinterpreted wolf behavior.) Compulsion training does have it uses and does work, but timing is everything. And suppression of behavior isn't changing behavior for the long term no matter what you call it. (Dog psychology? Why doesn't this guy have to meet the same standards as other canine behaviorists?) Also be aware that traditional training started back when they trained dogs for wartime situations and needed to weed out "soft" unsuitable dogs. So there are some dogs it just isn't good for. Real training is about communication, not domination. There end of rant. Back to our reguarly scheduled dog info.

And the update on the stars of the DogTown show for those that watched like me:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/dogtown/3684/Overview#tab-vick-dogs-update

Updates of my own: As I left the shelter today little miss Angelica was being walked by a potential adopter. She's gonna go fast. I'm so happy for her but do hope she stays local so I can see her around. I wuff her!

Jack LOVES the new food, I used to have to add stuff to his kibble to get him to eat. Not anymore! My only negative comment is that is has a very distinctive odor I do not find all that pleasant. But in the defense of the food, I am a HORRIBLY picky eater. My husband says I don't eat anything with real flavor. If in doubt of a new food I smell it before trying and if it doesn't smell good I pass. Yeah I know. Not good, but understandable considering I grew up on plain meat and potatos almost every night as a kid.

Missy and Jenny also love the new food but their vote counts considerably less considering they also love the taste of their own poo. Just saying.

*Note to Hannah* I keep forgetting to say, Congrats on your engagement!!! Are they gonna be in the wedding? Apollo would look great in bowtie and Jenna could carry the basket and be your flower girl. I want pics of course. :-)

A new day, a new plan & dream girl pics

So I have made the plunge. After thinking about it for quite some time I have decided to try a raw food diet for the gang. I have always supplemented with raw meaty bones during hunting season (hubby runs a game butcher shop) but this is a much more defined long term plan. I am starting with Jack and Missy since they are about to run out of food. The plan is to feed them regular kibble in the morning and give them Primal Pattie for dinner. Then I will add the dehydrated food for their breakfast after the kibble is gone. (I was told you shouldn't feed both types in one meal since they digest it differently) It seems to be the best raw food option for me since I don't have the time, nor the inclination, to prepare food for the dogs. Heck I barely prepare foods for me and the human members of the family! One who knows me well might even be amazed I have kept them all alive to this point. (my secret is marrying a guy who cooks) So wish us luck with the new plan. I will certainly keep you posted. (Thank you Lauren for all your help talking me through the process. You rock!)

*

THIS is the girl I told you about. Isn't she just Divine? And her ears do the cutest things! Her name is Angelica.

Photos don't do her justice. I'm sure she will get adopted quickly. She is so sweet and good with other dogs too. And believe it or not she is afraid of cats. I guess she never read the dog handbook.

This poor sweet old girl is Misty. She was found stray. Can we say dumped? One of the smallest female dalmatians I have ever seen. We need to get her coat fixed up and some tumors removed. She is looking for a great retirement home to spend her golden years in. It looks like she had a few litters in her day as well.

I hate to admit but I forgot this boys name. He is 8 months old and a possible lab mix. (In person he looks possibly pit/pointer cross) Obviously in need of a neuter.

They are all available for adoption at our local shelter: http://humanesocietyofknoxcounty.org/

Yesterday I headed to Wal-Mart after a client in search of paper for my son. When I got there I saw something very similar to this.

On an 80 plus degree day squarely in the sun, tied to a bench was an older pit female waiting for her person to come get her. Now there are a few things I find wrong with this situation. One is the fact that she was directly in the sun on a hot day without water or shade. The other is that anyone had access to her at any time. Disturbing to me because we have some people in our area that aren't nice to animals and aren't totally stable. To ME tying a dog out and leaving it in this situation is a very bad idea for the safety of the dog. What if someone hurts the dog and it reacts by biting? What if someone lies and says the dog tried to bite them? Why put your dog in that situation if you don't need to?

So I stood there, using my body to provide some shade for the poor girl until her owner returned, over 30 minutes later. Somehow I managed to speak calmly to her and explained that it was to hot to leave a dog out in the sun for that long. Her reply was that it was better than in the car. My response to that was that while that was true she could have tied her on the other side where there was shade available. That is IF she was insistent on leaving her dog unattended where it's safety was in question. I told her I wouldn't trust everyone in this area to that degree. To her credit she calmly said thank you for the advise and said to have a good day. Hopefully she reconsiders this option next time even if she found me to be a meddling b***h. The dog was a very sweet older girl who's name I found out was Bella. I took a photo of her with my phone camera but have no idea how to download those on the computer.

Check out the new toy from the Loyal Biscuit. It is supposed to be a favorite with pugs and other small dogs. I figured Jenny and Missy would be pleased.

Jack and Jenny would disagree and say they are a favorite with ALL size dogs.

It is a good thing for Jenny that Jack doesn't mind sharing. Missy waited til they were both done then stole it and tucked it away in her crate with all the other hoarded toys.

Poor Jacks hotspot area is healing unevenly. To the point where I think it is time for a thyroid test. Thyroid issues are very common in akitas so it is something I recommend you do with your akita even if they don't show physical signs. It is also something I recommend for any dog with aggression issues to rule it out as a possible cause or exacerbation of an issue. (FYI Tufts university does a full thyroid panel on ALL dogs brought in for behavior consults dealing with aggression.)

Missy relaxing in her crate after I claimed all the toys back. (How can that be comfortable?)

You're not gonna believe this

I wish I had some photos. I will definitely try to get some soon to add to the post so you can see.

She is real and she is at our local shelter. I swear I couldn't make this up if I tried. A sweet, smallish, mostly brindle with some white markings pittie type. She looks and acts just like the girl in my dream. I have to admit it freaked me out seeing her there in the flesh. Her head has an interesting shape though that makes me think she has some bull terrier in her, right around her eyes. She ignored all the cats we tested her with and loves to be touched. Very submissive but loves to jump up high. (a great agility prospect for someone) Horrible on a leash, (strong!) but responds to attention well. Her name is Angelica. (unsure if she has been tested with other dogs yet) Could definitely use some training.

What I would love to do next, since my adopting her is out of the question, (I have spacial issues) is to put her in our prison program. Unfortunately they do not allow us to send pitbulls there. I have the wardens ok, but some of the other guards are resistant. Because of that we decided not to send any until people are more comfortable with the idea. The last thing we need is for someone to do something to a dog and jeopardize the whole program because they are ignorantly prejudiced. One person in particular threw quite a fit when he thought we were bringing those "vicious dogs" in to the facility. He found a bunch of myths off the Internet to prove his position. Yeah I know. I took a copy of "The Pitbull Placebo" by Karen Delise over to them in hopes he will open his mind enough to let us accept them on the program. He did see some video of a pit I was allowed to bring over to play with another dog we had there. He wasn't working that day and I was allowed to bring her because I was supervising/handling her and not leaving her there. (I figure every little bit helps!) He did admit that she seemed like a great dog. So maybe there is hope for him yet.

We will be starting a new dog soon. Please feel free to send good thoughts our way in hopes we will be allowed to train pitbulls there someday too.

Check out Zena and Zora. They are also available for adoption on Petfinder.com