The Dog Blog

The corresponding video to this blog is on You Tube http://youtu.be/fFR4xBhqrKU

In January of 2012 actor Nick Santino committed suicide after he euthanized his dog Rocco amid pressure from his condo board and harassment from his neighbors.

The NY Post reported that a Veterinarian had issued a warning that Rocco was “becoming aggressive†this has now been proven to be false.

Nick had Rocco euthanized at the ASPCA not at his regular vet. In NY State any pet owner can have his pet euthanized without too many obstacles.

By all accounts from people that knew Nick and Rocco, they all said Rocco was a sound, friendly dog and Nick was a great dog owner.

This film is not documenting any aspects surrounding this tragic event that deal with Mr. Santino’s personal life or the assumptions that have been made about his state of affairs.

We sincerely extend our condolences to his family and friends.

I'm generally pretty quiet with my dogs, other than chatting with them about my day or maybe what I had for lunch.  I’ll praise them when they do something I like and direct them in some way if I need to alter their behavior.  If we're on an off-leash hike, there are days that they might never hear a word from me, yet I’m still constantly asking them for behaviors and responses. 

My silence gives me leverage.  I want the sound and tone of my voice to mean something... I couldn't give two craps whether they understand my words.  If I'm walking one way and they go the other, I'm not going to yell "COME!†at the top of my lungs.  What leverage would that give me when it's actually important for them to respond?  How is the dog supposed to know that "This time he really means it!" if my tone is always one of urgency?

“Blaming individual bite victims for this almost universal ignorance, however, just seems cruel. If we must assign blame for this kind of thing, perhaps we animal care professionals and enthusiasts should start by asking ourselves why we have failed to make what seems like common sense to us truly common. â€œ

Jeff Silverman, The Blame Game: Who's at fault when dog bites Denver news anchor?

Hear!  Hear!  For a long time I’ve been frustrated with conversations among dog trainers about the lack of behavioral knowledge in the veterinary community, obnoxious behavior at dog parks, lack of puppies in puppy classes, owner non-compliance and the “stupid†things that dog owners do.

This weekend I was lucky enough to score some farm-fresh, organic eggs from pasture-raised chickens. They are delightful! For me, opening the egg carton to behold the soft palate of pastel-colored eggs of different shapes and sizes was akin to opening a treasure chest. Not to mention the thought of the rich, golden goodness that is waiting inside. Farm eggs look at taste nothing like store-bought factory eggs or even “free-range†eggs produced in giant industrial barns under deplorable conditions. They are more nutritious than industrially produced eggs too.

The woman who gave me the eggs mentioned that a visiting family member would not eat these fabulous gems. The colors and variety in size and shape freaked her out. The eggs were... dirty! They had just come out from underneath the chickens after all. This visitor went on to explain that she would only eat white eggs with an ink stamp of approval from whatever “farmâ€.

When a dog bit Denver morning news anchor Kyle Dyer in the face last week, it set the dog blogosphere and social media on fire. A high profile incident like this provides wonderful opportunities to help the general public better understand our dogs, how to be safe around them, and show them appropriate respect. The best example that I've seen of such education came from Dog Trainer Michael Baugh in a Houston TV segment that I highly recommend.  In most discussions other than Baugh's, however, I've noticed a disturbing trend. Almost every discussion (in fact almost every single comment) that I've read has focused on who to blame for this tragic incident. The dog trainers and animal welfare advocates who make up most of my Facebook feed have mostly blamed Dyer herself.

As a diehard dog trainer, I've found that more often than not I'm inhabiting my own planet when it comes to understanding dog and human interactions, interpreting behavior on both ends of the leash and avoiding dangerous doggie situations whenever possible. Thankfully I share this planet with many brave souls like you who speak the same language.

I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of people and thousands of dogs over the past 13 years as a licensed independent social worker passing herself off as a professional dog trainer. Privately, in group classes or both, I work on helping teach people -- of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities -- the skills and knowledge to make their human/dog relationships better. Sometimes with very difficult dogs, who become less difficult when the key to communication unfolds. Sometimes with very difficult people, who become less difficult when their defenses are lowered and they are open to taking greater responsibilities. My focus is teaching positive and non force based methods to help dog owners become benevolent leaders. A benevolent leader does not lead by force or threat, but by becoming someone the dogs want to follow because doing so is a good thing.

If you ask, "should we reinforce effort or the results?" you are liable to get as many answers supporting one idea as the other. Supporters of reinforcing effort sustain that reinforcing results creates emotional problems when one doesn't succeed and decreases the rate of even trying.

Supporters of reinforcing results maintain that reinforcing effort encourages sloppiness and cheating.

I shall proceed to argue for and against both theories and prove that it is not a question of either/or, rather of defining our criteria, processes and goals clearly.

There is one thing I tell my clients on a regular basis and this is to have a training plan.  Don’t just blindly find yourself in situations where you’re supposed to be training your dog, without first thinking through the possibilities for distraction, reaction, reward, and an all important emergency get out clause, if things get too much for either you or the dog. 

The challenge had been set, to get my teenage puppy Guinness to stop cocking his leg on everything and anything his testosterone filled body declared worth peeing on.  You may all be pleased to hear that on day one, this exercise resulted in a major failure on my part.  I would love to tell you all that as a trainer, I do everything one hundred percent correctly, one hundred per cent of the time.  But of course I don’t.  Last week was a great example of what can go wrong.