The Honesty of Dog Owners

I don't know if dogs are sending telepathic ethical or moral messages to us when we sleep or if it's just their joy of living in the moment, even if that moment is fraught with naughty behaviors, but I just have to say that dog owners are overall the most honest group of people I know.

Dog people come from all walks of life with varying family dynamics and sizes, at different life stages, from all cultures, ages, genders, number of dogs and sizes or breed/breed type. From my experience, the clients I have known over the past 10+ years of carving out a rich career in all things dog, I have never known a group that reminds me when I have forgotten to charge their credit card or returned things I forgot I let them borrow. Or just just more decent, more responsible, more mentshy.

I feel better knowing that Bo is in the White House to give President Obama, previously not a dog owner sort of fellow, the loyalty and non judgmental feedback as Barack, not the leader of the free world. It will help keep our kinetic president honest, and that trickle down will bring a continuing and tangible benefit to the country, despite the naysayers.

PTSD in Dogs Redux

As Memorial Day has recently passed and May winds down, I make a mental note that I have one full year left to the biennial renewal of my LISW and have successfully received a few CEU's already by attending and even participating in a recent autism conference. Bean and I went to learn from other experts as well as share with others the benefit a well trained dog can provide clinically for children and teenagers and adults with special needs including but not limited to autism / Aspbergers or PDD/NOS diagnoses.

Ironically, my post in Feb. 2008 on the issue of PTSD in dogs has by far solicited the most private comments from people. I thought a lot about that as I tried to share with my kids the real history and meaning behind Memorial Day (no, kids, it's not about just a day off or shopping sales!)

Veterans of WWII are aging and dying off. My own father, a POW captured in the Battle of the Bulge in Dec. 1944, is himself, although hale and hearty, 85 now. I strongly suspect that being the child of a man whose most seminal event must have been the experiences he had as a young man, 19-21 years of age in war torn Europe -- from which such events helped mold him into arguably THE most optimistic person I've ever known -- trying to imagine the effect of such horror on different temperaments probably helped form the path to becoming a mental health professional.

Veterans of other conflicts and wars, including returning veterans of our current military operations, are often returning to civilian life showing symptoms triggered by connection to the horrors they were exposed. These horrors have affected their minds as much if not more than their bodies, and they deserve to get the treatment, as does anyone with PTSD, to get help when triggered by events that cause great distress.

My most fascinating dog training cases, from a clinical perspective, are dogs who by a combination of nature and nurture, have symptoms of PTSD. These dogs can be triggered by what appear to be benign things that can trace back to their original "traumatic event". The good news, in my experience, is barring any organic problems, a plan can be carved out to help produce a valuable, safe and enjoyable life IF the dogs are paired with people who understand. People who understand the quirks that such trauma (nurture) can have on the nature and thus the behavior.

When you can observe how the quirks manifest, you can absolutely fine tune, like a laser beam, those triggers that create the problem and modify them to work the dog through the reactive and thus non desired behaviors. Combining behavior modification with a holististic approach can, trust me, really work.

And if you are committed to your dog but can't figure out where to put that laser beam, seek out a qualified behaviorist/trainer to help you.

Ah, becoming a manufacturing expert

I remember from very early in my life a passion for all things animal and thought for a long time I wanted to be a veterinarian. Social science won over natural science and by the ripe old age of 31 I had acquired a diploma from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work declaring me a master's level social worker. I even managed to spend some time at the University of Pennsylvania's Veterinary School where I got to meet people I continue to greatly respect -- Alan Beck, now of Purdue, and Karen Overall.

Who know that a mere 18 years later I would be developing a skill set in the patent game as well as contemplating woven tag samples while wearing my soft goods manufacturing hat!

But here I am, one year post patent, doing that very task as I prepare for a new manufacturing batch of Har-Vests! So I've given the green light to produce 1,000 new tags. Let the manufacturing cycle begin!

Trip [The Light Fantastic]

While The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has been working double overtime lately as evidenced by the constant stream of H1N1 Virus (nee Swine Flu) discussion, reporting, analyzing, speculating and more, lesser known perhaps is that in late March of this year they released analyzed fall data and disclosed the following fascinating stats:


• 88% of fall related injuries were associated with dogs or one of their pet items such as a toy or bowl.

• 31.3 % resulted from falling or tripping over the dog (versus the overwhelming 66.4 % of cats being tripped over) which included falls from chasing after a dog with obviously poor recall (another one of The Six Things All Dogs Should Know!)

• 21.2 % from being pushed or PULLED by the pet.

• Women were TWO TIMES AS LIKELY to be injured as males. (Hmmmmm)

The little article that mentioned this in my morning paper caught my eye both because of my chronic emphasis to clients that loose leashing walking is one of The Six Things All Dogs Should Learn and that it's not natural. It is a learned skill that requires time, patience, opportunity, consistency and an awareness of The Three D's and How To Measure Change.

My definition of loose leash walking is not a forced heel or rigidity, it's simply the dog walks without tension and WITHOUT TRIPPING YOU. I might want my dog next to me, slightly behind, slightly in front, and with me in control, slight pulling to help me along when the surface is slippery as I trained Lily to do during the icy months.

Trip The Wonder Dog got his name because he is a real trip, he's little and I knew risk of tripping on him when he was young was a very real concern, and unknown at his naming, has a, shall we say, moderate to high light obsession, hence Trip The Light Fantastic!

For all of you out there, whatever the age or size of your dog or dogs -- Stay stable, be safe, be patient, take your time, and learn how to avoid scary things like tripping which can in fact have a huge negative ripple effect.

We Use The Internet; Dogs Use Their Nose

Yesterday morning after my youngest daughter woke up, she came into my bedroom and lounged beside me as I did my favorite Sunday morning ritual -- drinking coffee and reading The New York Times in bed. I had worked my way through the funner sections and was reading an article about Croatian crime dramas when she asked, "why do dogs have such long noses?" I had a quick flash to the witch with great sense of smell and poor eyesight in the fairly tale of Hansel & Gretel. Then I thought about how to make a wise and analogous reply.

Finally I announced,"we use the internet, dogs use their noses." And then I thought about what I had said as Sophie climbed down from the bed onto the floor and lay with the dogs. My little mixed pack settled in for a cuddle while I grabbed my laptop and did some internet searches with "how do dogs smell?" and "what about a dog's nose?" in which there was this line...

You’ve probably noticed that dogs’ noses are usually wet on the outside. This moisture first attracts and then collects molecules from lots of places—the air, the ground and from objects. The reason a dog often licks its nose is to keep it moist.

And I thought, because they can. Lick their nose. They can lick their elbows too which apparently, according to my daughter Callie some small % of people can and she's one of them; I'm not. I also learned studies conducted showing concrete evidence that dogs with car anxiety show great calming with lavender.

That reminded me of a recent site I stumbled on for herb filled collars and wondered if using that as an olfactory adjunct would aid in reducing manifestations of dog behavior that were unpleasant to me (mostly when Lily and Trip get over the top noisy whiny sometimes near-hysterical when getting ready to go for a walk OR when I try to increase their comfort with being locked outside for longer durations in the lovely fenced in backyard -- perhaps it would work better than saying, "how many times do I have to tell you whining and carrying on is NOT what I want when readying you for a walk" Or another favorite, "why can't you just be a dog who appreciates the opportunity to be outside WITHOUT ME BEING THERE?"

But this morning after I sort of patiently waited for them to be less crazed before heading out for a morning walk I realized that much like I get easily distracted when doing searches on the internet and can easily flick from topic to topic because I have fast internet access, I would allow them more opportunity this morning to use that heightened olfactory organ they each have at the end of their faces and allow them an opportunity to be on their own "computer" searches. So I did. And they learned a lot and left a lot of business cards and we all had a great time enjoying the warming weather and budding of plant life.

Is Your Dog Ivy League Material?

I spend a lot o'time in private trainings helping people understand how I grok how dogs think based both on my ongoing quest to always increase my learning both from the literature out there I get my hands on as well as hands on extensive and often intensive experience with dogs of all sizes, ages, breeds or breed mixes as well as environments. For example, why is Trip the only dog in my pack interested in TV and only in animal related programs and what could he be thinking when he watches underwater creatures like fish?????

Dogs whose owners I work with come to my personal attention because there is at least, in the mind of the caller, some problem that compelled them to finally call for professional help or the proactive person who wants to prevent problems by starting out right. Those who know me since embarking on The Six Pillars get to hear or read about fragile tabletops crashing to the ground in a metaphorical explanation for that tipping point that finally acknowledges the elephant in the living room. From initial contact they then have to decide if they are willing to hire me to help them in their quest to better understand how to achieve greater harmony with their dog(s). Since my greatest source of referrals are word of mouth, they must like what they hear because even in a downturned economy, business remains steady.

Now comes along an opportunity to get your dog into Harvard!

Confirm some of your current thoughts about dogs, dispel erroneous rumors and maybe the folks at the lab will even give your dog a diploma for participation.

Who Let The Cat Out of the Bag? Or is it Who Let The Dog Out? Or, what is this Leak?

It's official. There are leaky dogs who pee when overexcited, tires that need pumping up when deflated, pipes that leak and burst when you fail to properly insulate your home and it's wicked cold and...oops, I'm digressing, but trust me, those leaks can turn into bad news... and then there's information that spills no matter how hard you try to keep it on the down low.

Today's leak speaks to the latter category and so the cat is out of the bag, or in this case, the dog is in the White House. Black and White Bo is the newly arrived and now permanently installed 6 month old PWD (Portuguese Water Dog) gifted by Senator Edward Kennedy to the Obama Family (Bandit, the dog in the photo shown here, is one black and white PWD dog I know, sporting his non contrasting black Har-Vest he now wears with great pride).

Ever since Mr. Obama promised his girls a dog (I on the other hand have promised my 3 girls NO MORE DOGS for now since 3 is more than enough!) there have been countless and meandering discussions originating from dinner parties, pubs, blogs, internet searches; under shade trees by dog park venturing cognoscenti, across international waters and probably also on the space station where no dogs dwell -- all speculating on the canine beastie that would join the Obamas.

Other black and white dogs might look up to them (Hannah is a PWD wannabe but glows in her Havanese-ness nonetheless), others of any and all colors might find them fun to romp with or share a drink...




Some might like to take a dip in the pool (Milo here is a natural)


But whatever the activity, (gosh I hope to hear he's helping in the easter egg hunt at The White House!) Bo appears by all preliminary accounts to have been carefully bred, very well cared for, obviously began his training in confident and skilled hands, and handed over as a gift by a beloved political icon who endeavors to share his own love of dogs in general and the PWD specifically to the new camelotians on this wonderful month (check out April 18th girls!) of various events!

Congrats and godspeed. And Thanks, Obamas, for making a donation to help those less fortunate dogs -- mixed and pure, young and old, troubled and earnest, -- find their own place to call home. And, as always, if you ever want to know how to integrate it all into life, my girls and I are happy to help show the way!