Dog exercise

There are thousands of, unfortunate, dogs that need re-homing throughout the U.K.  Many organisations put up dogs for rescue; many are destined to remain in rescue centres for long periods of time.

This is a question that troubles me. I wonder, WHY is this the case?  Rescue dogs are of particular interest to me.  I believe, they are often misunderstood, often resulting in difficulty in finding these dogs new homes. People are, simple, put of.

Visit any number of dog re-homing sites and you will see comments such as ‘not good with cats’ or ‘doesn’t get along with other dogs’ or ‘ must be only animal in home.’  Now, of course, there might be situations where this type of comment is true.  However, many times the opposite is the case.

I have, personally, re-homed ‘difficult’ dogs that were at ‘the last chance saloon.’ Often these dogs had, apparently, serious issues. However, with care, understanding and advice – these ‘difficult dogs’ lived long and happy lives and, overcame most of their issues.

Working with these ‘difficult dogs’ is what prompted me to train as a canine behaviourist. I had always thought I knew a lot about dogs. Well, I was wrong. Through properly studying canine behaviour I came to realize that my lack of knowledge had made it harder than is should have been to help some of the dogs in my charge.

Dogs that find themselves needing new homes, usually through no fault of their own, can’t speak up for themselves and let us ‘humans’ know what troubles them.  It is, therefore, incumbent on us to try to understand each and every rescued dog that needs our help.

I would urge, those, kind people, who wish to help a dog, NOT to be put of by descriptions on websites. Visit these dogs, take advice and ask questions. If you can, ask the advice of a canine behaviourist who, may be able to help you and your, potential, new canine addition to your family. Remember, introducing a new dog to your home needs careful thought and, needs to be done in the right way. It can be a challenge, but, believe me, it is one worth your time.

I was chatting to a lady today who was out with her young pup – around 6 months old.  She had been trying to train her dog and to do the right things at home. However, it was proving difficult. Her situation is one that is all too common.

Whilst, she was trying to do the right things; train her dog to sit, walk on the lead, not beg for food, etc, her partner wasn’t.

I see this quite frequently. A dog is brought ito the home. One person is very committed to the dog but, the partner isn’t interested. As far as they are concerned the dog is the responsibility of the other person, its’ their dog. This means they do not involve themselves in the development or the care of the dog. In fact, they ignore everything that the, responsible, partner is trying to achieve with the new dog.

For example – one person makes the dog lie down when the humans are eating, the other allows the dog to beg and rewards it for doing so.  One person stops the dog from jumping up, the other encourages it and rewards it by interacting with it.  I think you get the picture.

This situation is grossly unfair on the dog. It has no consistency, therefore it will become confused. Dogs’ need structure. Without this, they will not develop reliable behaviour and will struggle in the home and away from it.

The message here is do not bring a dog into your home unless, it is a decision agreed by all, the adults, that live there. It has to be a group thing – EVERYONE takes responsibility for the new dog – they ALL do the SAME things. If this is not going to be possible – do not get a dog.

Over the past week or so, I have met a number of  owners of ‘reactive dogs.’  Two different examples follow.

The first person had 2 dogs, one of which was a nervy, mildy reactive terrier.  He’d been attacked a couple of times and now snapped at other dogs.  Therefore, the owner tried to keep him away from other dogs. A responsible approach.

After chatting with me for a period, she understood more about how to help her ageing little fella.  I saw her a few days later and she had followed my advice – the difference in her pup was marked. He had made significant progress, in a very short time, and was much more relaxed around other dogs.  He still had his moments but, they were definitely improving.

The second individual, I encountered today.  She approached the water with a number of other dogs, all on the lead. Ziggy was splashing around with me in the water.  This owner, let one of her dogs off and kept one on the lead, adopting a very defensive attitude to Ziggy who was showing passing interest but, wasn’t getting near her dog. She explained that her dog had been attacked a couple of times and was now very aggressive to dogs it didn’t know. Therefore, she kept it on the lead. This lady was not open to any advice – her dog would get over it in time (highly likely, it wouldn’t without help).

Heres’ the thing, dogs, often, struggle to ‘get over things’ without our help. In these cases, simply keeping them on an extendable lead is NOT helping.  Seeking some professional advice and working with your dog is the way to go.

For example, my dog, Ziggy, has been attacked and injured twice.  She has not been kept away from other dogs but, has, instead, continued to be socialised, at the same time, keeping her away from potential problems.  Takes a little thought and effort but, it is worthwhile.  Not doing so, fails to address the needs of a dog.

Parliament has just debated whether or not Staffordshire Bull Terriers should be placed on the dangerous dogs register (16/07/2018) . Fortunately, sense won the day and, the petition was rejected. In my opinion, rightly so.

This debate was forced by a petition from The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  They argued that the breeding of such dogs, encouraged their abuse. Therefore, banning them would sort this out.

Of course, this ignored the thousands of responsible owners of ‘the nanny dog.’ Anyone with a hint of common sense would understand that the problem is the owners who treat these dogs as trophies and status symbols. There are very few ‘bad’ dogs, there are many thousands of ‘bad’ owners.

ANY dog can become dangerous in the wrong hands. Is PETA going to insist that all breeds with potential, in their eyes, to exhibit uncontrolled and dangerous aggresion should be banned?  So, no more German Sheppards, Rottweilers and Dobermans.  All of which are beautiful breeds that need competent owners and, all of which are powerful and capable of harm. In the hands of competent owners, all of these breeds make great family pets.

It is, rarely if ever, the dogs fault for being encouraged to demonstrate aggressive and dangerous behaviour.  Organisations such as PETA should think, carefully, before seeking to impose draconian measures on responsible dog owners.

Finally, back to the Staffie.  This, lovely breed, is known as the ‘nanny dog’ for good reason.  They make great family pets and are, usually, great with children.  The, occasional horror story, involving this breed can, more often than not, be traced back to what a human has done to generate an extreme behavioural response from the dog.

Staffies are very gregarious, sociable and lively.  They are, however a powerful breed and, their temperament is such that they do not back down – if another dog gets in their face, they will fight. This can be said of most dogs – some react more quickly and decisely than others. It is up to responsible owners to do the right thing and keep their dogs away from potentially inflammable situations.

I am staggered by the number of dog owners I see that think it is acceptable to hit their dogs. (I will not be using any pictures in this post — they will be too upsetting for most caring dog owners).

I would recommend ‘How dogs learn (Burch MR et al, 1999)” as a good starting point for those interested in doing the best for their dogs.

Modern canine behaviourists and trainers adopt positive procedures to train dogs. The other end of the spectrum is the trainer who thinks ‘breaking a dog’ through physical punishment is the best way.

Frankly, I would hope that we have progressed over the past 50 years and, now take the view that physical punishment is purely just cruelty. Most of the incidents of this type of abuse are perpetrated by owners that are angry and, simply, lose it when their dogs does not do what they want. Often, they physically assault there dogs, simply because they can.

Two recent examples I have witnessed whilst out with my rescued deerhound:

a) A woman had two, lively (as is the norm for the breed), springer spaniels. In the space of a couple of minutes, this woman, clearly in a temper tantrum, struck one of the dogs, repeatedly with a leash, whilst shouting at it. Ridiculous and downright cruel.

b) A man, with two dogs behind a low garden wall — a boxer and a staffordshire bull terrier, struck both his dogs with a strap as I approached. From what I could see, their crime was to have just shown a little interest in my approaching dog. The dogs stayed behind the wall as I passed. A glance over my shoulder saw the man again strike the dogs with the strap. Why? I have no idea.

Physical punishment such as the above is simply cruel and ineffective — the dog learns nothing from such abuse, just fear of the owner.

Burch M R et al (1999) describes, in behavioural terms, punishers taking a number of forms:

1. Time out
   Withdrawal of attention / time out (separated, for instance: in another room or kept on the lead in a park away from the play of other dogs.
2. Response cost
   Removal of toys / removal of play time
3. Verbal reprimand
   Aahh!! / NO!! / Stop that!!, etc
4. Physical punisher
   Leash correction (jerk on the leash) — considered by many to be reasonable / hit / shove with foot to stop a behaviour / knee in the chest (stop jumping) / pinch collar / shock collar, etc
5. Natural punisher
   Bitten by another animal whilst sticking head down a whole, for instance

The issue of physical punishment is, for me, clear. Sometimes the gentle jerking on a leash might be required — but that is it. Any more than that is abuse. ALL of the other examples described in 4 above, are examples of abuse. NONE of them should EVER be considered.

A dog that is cruelly treated, for whatever reason the human (wrongly) thinks it is an appropriate response, will only learn to be fearful or aggressive, or both.

I strongly recommend that, if you really are a dog lover, you do some reading. “How dogs learn” is a reasonable starting point.

A positively well trained dog is a happy dog!

Reference
Burch, M.R. & Bailey, J.S., 1999, How dogs learn, Howell Book House.

So, we have a bit of a heat wave in the UK. Unfortunately, there are, as usual, many dog owners that do not understand that extreme heat and dogs don’t mix well.
I was at the beautiful North Norfolk Holkham beach at the weekend. The weather was forecast to be fine and hot. So a trip to the sea was in order with Ziggy. A trip not to be taken lightly.

Here’s the thing — dog’s have fur coats. They wear them all the time. They can’t strip down in the heat. They struggle to regulate their temperatures. Therefore, it is up to us to help them.

So, back to Ziggy. We got to the beach early, around 10am — an early start for us humans but very important for Ziggy. We went to the beach and had a couple of hours fun in the water. By midday it was very hot. Time to get back to the air-conditioning of the car, more food and water for us all. Then back home. Yes — a fairly short trip but a very enjoyable one.

What was everyone else doing? Well, clearly, after having a nice lie in and a leisurely trip to the beach, the great unwashed were turning up now the temperature was really getting hot. There were tiny children, countless dogs all swarming to the now boiling beach. The small children were already crabby. It seems that many dog owners are not listening or, are not prepared to adjust how they do things when they have a dog or, a child for that matter.

Dogs can suffer with heatstroke, a potentially fatal condition. Something that is entirely preventable. Some of the signs:

• Heavy panting or rapid breathing
• Lethargy, drowsy or uncoordinated
• Excessive drooling
• Glazed eyes
• Weakness or seizures
• Vomiting
• Bloody diarrhoea
• Seizures or collapse

How to avoid it:

Never leave the pet in a parked car, even for a few minutes, and break the window if you see an animal trapped in a vehicle who is clearly in trouble (you might be in a little bother with the law but, you may save the dog’s life) .

Walk your dog before the sun comes up in the morning or after sunset and, if they are outside in the day make sure they have access to complete shade and plenty of water.

Avoid long car journeys.

Stay off hot pavements. As well as burning your dog’s paws, heat rising off concrete and asphalt can overheat smaller breeds.

Limit the walks. Too much physical exertion in hot weather can cause heatstroke.

Make sure your dog has plenty of drinking water to stop them becoming dehydrated and ensure they are drinking it.

Gently hose or sponge them down with cool water to lower their body temperature.

Consider using a rectal thermometer to take your dog’s temperature

If your dog is showing signs of heatstroke, do the following:

The RSPCA say for the best chance of survival, dogs suffering from heatstroke urgently need to have their body temperature lowered gradually.

• Move him/her to a shaded/cool area.
• Immediately douse the dog with cool (not cold) water, to avoid shock. If possible, you can also use wet towels or place him/her in the breeze of a fan.
• Allow the dog to drink small amounts of cool water.
• Continue to douse the dog with cool water until his/her breathing starts to settle but never so much that he/she begins to shiver.

Once the dog is cool, take him/her to the nearest vet as a matter of urgency.

Failure to act promptly could result in the dog’s death.

Final thought — prevention is better than cure. Think about your dog before venturing out on hot days.

I make no apologies for posting this again.  Only yesterday, I saw 3 large dogs in the back of an enclosed truck – the sliding windows a few inches open.  It was extremely hot, however, the dogs owners – a few yards away, were queuing for coffee, while the’re dogs were, clearly, overheating.

THINK ABOUT YOUR DOGS!

Time – 11.30 – Temp – 30C.  This is NOT the time to take dogs out.  I have seen multiple idiots today with their dogs – walking them in extreme temperature on hot pavements, in the blazing sunshine. NO! NO! NO!

I make no apologies for posting this article again.  What is it that idiot dog owners do not understand – heat can KILL a dog.  In temperatures like we are experiencing at the moment – take your dog out early or a lot later in the evening – when it is COOLER.  Better still. get of your butts and take you dog to the nearest river, stream or sea and get them in the water to cool down.

C’mon people, THINK!

I came across a chap with his terrier type dog this morning whilst out with Ziggy. He proceeded to behave, somewhat, oddly with his dog.
As we approached, he turned away from us, shortened the dogs’ lead and made him sit, all the while blocking the dogs’ line of site to us. During our approach he was also constantly feeding his dog treats.

As we reached him, he continued to try to get between his dog and us. Of course, I asked him what he was doing. ‘Stopping my dog looking at your dog’ came the reply. Strange indeed.

He explained that his dog could be a little unpredictable. I asked him to relax and allow his dog to relax a little also – as the dog sat, calmly, I offered him and my dog a treat – duly taken by both dogs.

I have seen this type of behaviour replicated a number of times now. In my opinion, this is a disturbing trend in how to deal with ‘reactive’ dogs.  In fact, it is counter-productive.  Instead of dealing with a behavioural issue, owners are encouraged to take this, rather drastic, avoidance action.  This doesn’t serve the dog well – in fact, this may prevent him from getting over his behaviour issue.

What should be happen is that the dog with reactive issues should be exposed to dogs in a controlled manner – at distance and then ever closer as the dog begins to calm when in proximity of other dogs – desensitisation.

There are always exceptions to the rule. Some dogs are extremely reactive and it can prove very difficult to help them modify their behaviour.  These dogs need to be dealt with very carefully by experienced handlers.

However, the majority of dogs, can be helped with careful desensitisation to the issue that challenges them.  Simply, stopping the dog from experiencing other dogs or situations naturally is a flawed approach.

So, think carefully before adopting the ’out of sight, out of mind’ approach too readily.

I met a couple with a very excited dog today.  It reminded me of my time in the Royal Navy.

Way back in 1982, after 9 years, I found myself drafted to my first ship.  This was, of course, en route to the Falklands Islands and a conflict going on in those chilly waters..

I had been used to the RN focus on exercises and drills.  Stay with me, I get back to the dog a little later.

During the 7000 mile passage to the war zone, we were exercised and drilled relentlessly. Action stations, crash landing, man overboard, fires, casualties, the list goes on.  At the time, it seemed a pain in the neck. However, there was a serious point to all of this,  By the time, there was any real incident, the exercises had made the ships’ company’s responses automatic, second nature. It could be the difference between life and death.

So, you may be wondering, what does this have to do with the owners and their excitable dog? Well, quite a lot, actually.

The owners of this dog, had done some training but, now didn’t bother that much. This is the point, right there. Unlike, the Royal Navy, this couple did not understand the importance of repetition.  Dogs will not retain their training if it is not reinforced by repetition throughout the dogs’ life. This is fundamental to the approach adopted by the Royal Navy. It is no good just doing some training, maybe repeated a couple of time. It has to be practiced to make it stick.

Dogs are no different.  If you want a dog to change its’ behaviour and to respond appropriately in any situation you must practice. There is no BIG RED BUTTON that does the job.  It is through the owners effort, commitment and persistence that a dog learns what is required of it and, how to live with another, very strange species, US.

In April 2018 the Times newspaper reported there were 130,000 dogs in UK rescue centres. a staggering number of animal, I think most sane people would agree.
Perhaps it is time that the rescue centres revised their re-homing policies. I’ve visited some of the bigger charities websites such as the RSPCA and the Dogs Trust – both advise that there is no lower age limit for children.  However, I meet quite a few prospective re-homers that have been advised by these organisations that they do not allow dogs to go to homes with children below a certain age (this varies).

A recent example, that came to my attention, was a friend of mine with a daughter aged around 2 ½ years. He is very experienced with dogs and clearly knows what he is doing.  Nevertheless, he was turned away from quite a few centres because of his daughters’ age.

I understand the reservations displayed by rescue centres. They re-home and something happens – they find themselves with negative publicity and, possibly, in court. No good for anyone.

There are many ‘behaviourists’ dotted around the UK.  Rescue centres should, maybe, call upon them to carefully assess dogs for their suitability for re-homing with young children.  This should be supported by a program aimed at helping the re-homing family to understand their dog and to do the right things to integrate it into their family home.

I know this is quite simplistic.  However, we need to try to find reasons to re-home these unfortunate dogs rather, than find reasons not to.

In every vet surgery, pet shop or any store selling pet supplies you will see them.  Hanging in their rows and plastic cases, promising the owner the perfect answer for walking their dogs.

Why, with these leads, you need never fear your dog running off again and, they get to have a good walk on their extending lead.  Fantastic right?

Well…No.

These types of leads are aimed at those owners that are not prepared to put the time in to train their dog properly.

Using these leads prevents a dog from experiencing a free run and a walk, free from the umbilical cord tethering them to their owner. Dogs needs to be able to explore their surrounding, be it woodland, the beach or any other area that allows them to be a dog or, indeed, to socialise properly with their own kind.

Many owners point out to me that their dogs enjoy their walk on these leads and get plenty of socialisation at the same time.  This is delusional.  The ONLY reason these leads are used are for the convenience of the owner, NOT the well-being of the dog.

These types of lead never control the dog, they just can’t run off.  They, in my opinion, represent a danger to other animal and humans; they wrap round arms and legs and cause injuries.

It is the responsibility of owners to make sure their dogs are properly trained in lead walking and recall.

So, please, stop making excuses – if you are unable or unprepared to do what is right for your dog, think carefully whether the dog is getting the quality of life it deserves.