Wordless Wednesday

At the risk of seeming anthropomorphic

For the record, anthropomorphism is the act of equating human emotions to an animal.

So at work yesterday an 8 week old pug puppy came in. The owner had just picked him up yesterday from the breeders home. Somehow I ended up holding him for a few minutes. (yeah my job is so tough) I'm sure it won't surprise anyone that I thought he was super cute. I didn't think to much more about it until later.

Once I sat down at home to relax our pug Jenny gave me the super DOOPER once over. It must have lasted 10 minutes. This is a dog with a fabulous nose as her tracking experience can attest to. Now I have held puppies at work before, along with other animals routinely. I'm sure I smell interesting to my dogs most days. What was it about this smell that was extra special?
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I came up with a possible theory that sparks a debate about what our dogs might think about if they do indeed recall memories at will. I mean we know dogs have memories. That is why some are consistently afraid of specific people or items. They remember. (and can be why the fear period developmental phase leaves such a lasting impression dogs)
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It occurred to me: What if this puppy came from the same breeder that Jenny did? Could she be smelling something familiar?? The puppy had only been in the new home for one night. It can still smell like the previous home (to another dog) in that time period. I have no idea what breeder Jenny came from originally. We adopted her from Pug Rescue of New England. Her second home was fostering with a rescue person. We are her third port of call and final home. I know that my theory may be a stretch but it got me thinking more about memories in dogs.
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The only other time I considered dogs and memories was when we found our foster frenchie Dash his forever home. Before he left I worried that he would be confused about going somewhere else. Would he ever think about us later? Would he wonder about the change? Was he happy here and (initially) not happy about leaving? I didn't worry about the new home, they were a great match, as much as his feelings about it. But my real question is do dogs think about incidents, places, and people from their past like we do? I know we have no way to measure that answer. But it certainly is an interesting one.


Our frenchie Missy also had another home for 4 years before she came to us. Does she think about the dogs there? Does she miss the people in that family? Does she think about the people or dogs? (missing is an emotion, thinking about is the memory question) The only time I ever saw her get reactive was to a friends black and white male frenchie. Was it because she mistook him for a dog she knew before or did it spark a memory? (good or bad)

So maybe Jenny wasn't remembering something from her past due to a smell. Maybe it was just a reaction to the strong smell of a very young puppy. Even we humans recognise the difference in the smell of a puppy and our noses aren't nearly as good as our dogs. But there is room for a "maybe" to the question. I'll never know. As a trainer we are always dealing with addressing behavior issues by teaching people that dogs live in the moment. I do believe that is true in a training context. But does that mean they never think about their past? Ever?
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I would love to hear other peoples opinions to the question: Do you think dogs think about their past at all or are they always living in the moment?

Jenny thinks my husband tastes great after coming home from a day in the meatshop.

A post about poo, and a solution

Today I came up with a poop solution I thought I would share in case others are having the same problem. When I take any of my dogs on a real walk outside of my own yard I have to drive them to a different area. This is because I live in a weird spot with no sidewalk along a very busy high traffic road. I typically stick to walking on main streets as I find there are fewer loose dogs to contend with on them. This also bypasses any issues of territorial or reactive dogs in their own yards that don't always stay in their own yards. To many incidents in the past have made me slightly leery about neighborhood walking. I can control my own dog, I can't always control a strange one in a reactive charge. The reactive dogs in main streets are almost always on leash or contained in a vehicle at least.
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The problem I have encountered with walking on the main street in my own town is a lack of trash receptacles. I find that odd since everyone is always complaining about the dog poop that is left behind. Responsible owners always pick up after their dogs. (and those of you that "pretend" to pick up, we know about you and are watching) Because of the lack of trash cans, I end up having to carry my dogs deposit along with me for the rest of the walk. And in some cases bring it home in my car to throw away. (always extra fun in winter with the windows rolled up)
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Well it dawned on my today to use an old training/bait bag to carry the "deposit" in. (by old I mean one I won't be using bait in again, ever) At least this keeps it out of my hand and out of sight. I can even slide the bag behind me to keep the smell, shall we say, downwind. The other bonus is that I can also snap it to the rack on the top of my vehicle when I drive home keeping the lovely fragrance outside where it belongs. Geez, now why didn't I think of that sooner? Oh well, better late than never I guess.
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And since this is a post about poo I share with you all this gem:

Courtesy of my sisters dog who got a little to close to the house to do his business. What can I say, the boy has talent. Now you can say you have seen everything possible on a blog. (We won't speak about the fact that I immediately thought about blogging it and took a photo. Nope, we won't say a word.)

He looks so innocent doesn't he?

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P.S. K-9 Solutions Dog Training Inc. has it's own Facebook page now. Come be a fan. (bear with me as I am new to the whole page thing)

Product review - The Freedom No Pull Harness

One of the cool things about being a trainer is that sometimes I get free stuff. I like free stuff. The downside to offers of free stuff or invitations to link exchanges is that some of them are things I wouldn't promote even if you paid me ridiculous amounts of money. Some things are just not happening here. (go hawk your e "training" collars elsewhere please and oh you might want to READ the trainers site before you ask silly questions thank you very much) But I digress.

About a week ago I got a request from a company to send me a free sample to try and give an opinion on. It was the Freedom No Pull Harness from http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/ I am always interested in new (pain free) products to help owners with dog training so I said yes. Here it is straight out of the package:

I took some photos of the harness on Jenny but it can be seen more clearly on their site here: http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/products/harnesses/keystone/HF_KY.htm

Now my Jenny isn't a super puller (normally) but the principals of the harness are very sound. I'll explain those in a minute. The few times she did pull during our "trial walk" it was effective in stopping her with no extra direction from me.

The first thing I really like is that the configuration of the buckles make it super easy to put on AND figure out each time. Some harnesses are confusing to the average owner (in my experience) and I can't count the number I have seen a certain no pull harness on upside down and in two cases even backwards. Here are great photos on putting it on from the brochure that comes with it: http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/products/harnesses/keystone/Freedom_no-pull_Ins.htm

The other things I like about it include the velvet chest strap. My Jenny is quite nekkid under her front legs to I worry about chaffing. Of course any material can chafe given the right circumstances but I certainly appreciated the softness.

The harness comes with a double ended clip leash with a sliding handle so it can be clipped in a number of ways. Two clips to the front ring, or both on the back loop, or one clip on each the loop and ring for extra control. Or one clip to the harness and the other to a collar. Heck you could even use it as a leash for two dogs at once! How's that for options? I like a longer leash so I came up with another. I clipped one end to the loop under the handle to lengthen the leash so only one clip was attached to the harness. (disclaimer-this is not how the manufacturer intended it to be used. I am just a master of jury rigging.)

So back to those principals I mentioned. The strap that goes around the chest has a loop on the back that tightens as the dog pulls. This works to apply pressure around the dog which is a helpful deterrent to pulling. It is similar to a product called the Weiss Walkie: http://www.emilyweiss.com/arquan/arcart/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductID=3 This is also a trick you can do with a long leash paired with a martingale collar in a pinch.

The front ring is also helpful to bring a dogs body around when they pull too. Much like an Easy Walk harness but without the loop that tightens to make the dog off balance. Because it lacks the front double loop it doesn't hang down and get in the way like the Easy Walk harness does on some dogs. http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/easywalk/productdescription

I also really liked that it came with a brochure that was well written and super clear with training tips included. They do not believe the product alone is a cure for pulling. It is simply a tool to help give you more control during training. No one likes getting dragged down the street after all. Their point is that you still gotta do the work needed to teach your dog how to walk properly on leash. (Bravo for this!)

Because my dogs tags are on a removable clip so I can switch collars and still have my dogs id attached, I also liked using the front ring for her tags. It just seems like a better spot than on the back loop like her other harness.

Jenny and I took a trip to our favorite local dog store to show the harness off and hint that she might want to carry them there. (She looks good in pink no?) I will definitely be recommending them to clients and friends in the future. Aside from the harness the company also makes some drool worthy collars and leashes too. (leashes with my favorite scissor clips and my favorite collar type: the double loop also known as a martingale) Go check them out and see for yourself. I will totally be ordering one in the near future. The harness also comes in different types as well as other colors and patterns. It's nice to have choices.

So I report that Jenny and I give this product a 4 paws up. I love it. Happy walking!!

(P.S. The Weiss Walkie and Easy Walk are also good products that I have used and recommended in the past. I just really like the flexability that this product offers and the ease in which it can be used by the average owner. )

Wordless Wednesday

Same tree only 1 week later. Winter she is a comin!

(new harness review coming soon)

Happy 234th Birthday

Semper Fidelis!!

Because I don't have enough to do already.....

I totally want to do this with Jenny:

Seriously I think she would love it. It combines her tracking ability and my enjoyment of the sport with her drive for finding food. A perfect match for everyone. And since I have access to plenty of deer parts, thanks to my husbands game butcher business, I have everything I need to get started. Well except for this book. (yet)

Order the above book here: http://www.born-to-track.com/book/order-info.htm

And here are some more websites with info on bloodtracking:

http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/

http://www.born-to-track.com/

http://www.deersearch.org/

I have added the born-to-track news blog to my blogroll. Check it out: http://borntotracknews.blogspot.com/

It's official, I think I have dog trainers ADD.