Imagine you are a four-year old child and a complete stranger comes up to you and grabs you and hugs you. You most likely would be terrified and would scream and struggle. Your parents would never let that happen to you. Even if it were someone they knew, if they saw you were frightened they would stop it immediately.

Now imagine the world from your dog’s perspective. You are in the park and a complete stranger comes up to you, bends over you, puts their arms around your neck and squeezes you, and keeps hitting you on the top of your head. You are afraid and have no idea what is happening. You can’t scream like a child but you try to say you are afraid by body language and then by growling. Your human family is oblivious to your signals. Finally you struggle and snap at the scary person to get them away from you. The scary person backs away, but now your human family is yelling at you and jerking you away.

Sometimes it is even unpleasant to be hugged by people we know. I remember as a child being squeezed and suffocated by hugs from my very large, matronly aunts. It was unpleasant but I tolerated it because my parents assured me it was okay. Again, imagine the world from your dog’s perspective. As a dog, if someone familiar hugs you in a way that is uncomfortable or scary, you don’t know it is okay because you don’t understand human language. If you are frightened enough and no one pays attention to your signals telling them you are scared, you just might snap or bite to protect yourself.

Our parents recognized when we were frightened and intervened to remove us from those situations. As dog owners, we have an obligation to recognize when our dog is telling us they want an interaction to stop because it is scary or unpleasant. Dogs say “No” and say, “I don’t like this” through body language signals. If you or someone else is interacting with your dog and he does one or more of the following, odds are he is saying “No!” by the following actions:
• Looks away or moves away
• Puts his ears back
• Shows the whites of his eyes
• Yawns, scratches, or licks his lips

A good way to tell if your dog is enjoying an interaction is to do a consent test. In the consent test, you stop the interaction. If your dog tries to re-initiate the interaction, he or she  is saying “Yes.” If your dog simply sits there, looks away, or moves away, he or she is saying, “No.”The consent test is nicely illustrated in a video by eileenanddogs.com:
https://youtu.be/-cGDYI-s-cQ

I believe dogs have a right to say “No” to interactions they find scary or uncomfortable. We humans should recognize when they are saying “No,” and respect it by intervening on their behalf. There was a time when women did not have the right to say no, but most of the world progressed. Perhaps it is time to progress a bit more.

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Emma, a true Heinz 57 Mystery Mutt belonging to Shawn and Earl Mathiesen, had her DNA tested to determine the main breeds in her mix. As a fundraiser for the Kent County 4-H youth dog club, Puppy Pals, people were invited to guess a breed in her mix, for $5.00 a guess, with correct guesses to be entered in a drawing for prizes. 25 guesses for the following breeds were submitted:
Bearded Collie, German Wirehaired Pointer, Glen of Imaal Terrier, Labradoodle, Labrador Retriever, Old English Sheepdog, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Poodle, Portuguese Water Dog, Jack Russel Terrier, Schnauzer, Scottish Deerhound, Scottish Terrier, Spanish Water Dog, Wheaton Terrier, Standard Poodle, Terrier, and Wire Haired Pointing Griffon.

And now, what we have all been waiting for, Emma’s Mix! She is an Old English Sheepdog/Weimaraner cross, crossed with a Weimaraner mix. The identified breeds and their percentages are: 25% Old English Sheepdog, 50% Weimaraner, 13% German Spitz, 3.5% Clumber Spaniel, 1.8% Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, 1% Pointer, 1% Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and 5% unknown. Wow, talk about a Heinz 57 mix! No one (including her owners) guessed the predominant breed of Weimaraner.
Three people had correct guesses. Contest winners will be notified by email. Thank you to everyone who entered and raised $125 for Puppy Pals. To see the complete DNA results report visit https://www.thepositivefactor.weebly.com/contest

Pet therapy is the original term for what is now officially called Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal Assisted Activities (AAA). Pet Partners (formerly called Delta Society), is an internationally recognized organization for promoting, researching, and setting training and certification standards for AAT/AAA.

According to Pet Partners, AAT is,  “a goal-directed intervention in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. AAT is directed and/or delivered by a health/human service professional with specialized expertise, and within the scope of practice of his/her profession.” (1).  An example would be a physical therapist incorporating dog brushing into a treatment program to improve motor skills in a stroke patient. AAA is primarily a casual “meet and greet” activity where a handler/pet team meets and interacts with people. An example of AAA is taking a dog to a nursing home to cheer up the residents. Although most AAT/AAA animals are dogs, any well mannered, controlled, predictable, clean, socially outgoing animal (Dog, Cat, Guinea Pig, Rabbit, Domesticated Rat, Horse, Llama, Donkey, Cockatoo, African Gray Parrot) is a candidate. Exotic and farm animals are not accepted by most animal therapy groups. The human part of the AAT/AAA team should be outgoing, compassionate, and have good social skills.

The requirements for becoming a therapy team are determined by the facility you plan to visit. A decade or so ago the requirements were minimal – simply introduce yourself and your pet to the facility director and get their approval. Nowadays, for liability insurance purposes, most facilities require therapy teams to be certified by a nationally or regionally recognized organization. At the least, dogs should have an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen certification. Many facilities also require that the handler/pet team be certified specifically for AAT/AAA. Achieving certification typically requires that the handler complete online or workshop based courses, a physical and behavioral health screening for the animal, a team evaluation by a certified evaluator, and registration paperwork and fees. Nationally recognized organizations that certify handler/pet teams include:

Pet Partners (https://www.deltasociety.org)
Therapy Dogs International (https://www.tdi-dog.org)
National Therapy Dog Registry (https://sites.google.com/site/nationaltherapydogregistry). This is a new and growing organization that includes rigorous behavior testing in their evaluation process.
A regionally recognized organization is Paws for People (https://www.pawsforpeople.org)

I brought my dog Rin (that’s her in the photo) to the Kent County Adult Medical Daycare facility once a week for seven years, until she retired in 2003. The clients loved her and Rin couldn’t wait to run through the door and visit the clients. She brought smiles to their faces, got them to laugh and talk, and brought dementia patients out of the past and into the current world. Those visits were fun and rewarding. If you are interested in doing AAT/AAA with your pet, I encourage you to learn more and work toward certification.

(1) www.deltasociety.org

We’ve all heard someone who has just been snapped at by a dog say, “but his tail was wagging!” Many people think a wagging or non-wagging tail is the extent of dog communication. Dogs, quite to the contrary, use rich, subtle, and complex body language to communicate wants, intentions, and emotion.

If you want to know what a dog is thinking and feeling, you need to observe the dog’s whole body. Dogs speak with their head, ears, eyes, eyebrows, lips, teeth, tongue, legs, paws, fur, tail, body orientation, body height, degree of curve in their back, degree of motion or stillness, and different combinations of all of the above.

A good example of the complexity of dog body language is the play bow, used to initiate play, versus the prey bow, used just before a dog pounces on prey. Prey bows may be used in play but only after play has already been established. A prey bow outside of established play is a threat. In both the play and prey bow, the elbows are down, rear up, and ears up. The subtle difference is the tail which is down in the play bow and up in the prey bow.

Dogs learn to read and display body language through extensive social interaction as puppies and adolescents. Dogs who miss out on that social interaction may misread another dog’s intentions and/or give misleading signals about their own intentions. Docking a dog’s ears and tail can hamper their ability to “speak dog”. Likewise, breeds with permanently curled up tails (Shar-Pei) or raised hackles (Rhodesian Ridgeback), may be misunderstood by other dogs.

In this two-part article we’ll explore some of the most common and important signals used in dog body language. We’ll only cover the tip of the iceberg, but will hopefully whet your appetite to learn more. If you want a thorough introduction to dog body language, Canine Body Language – A Photographic Guide by Brenda Aloff, is a great place to start.

Most of us know what a relaxed dog and an attacking dog look like. What many don’t and should know are the signals that tell you when a dog is moving out of a relaxed state and into a stressed, fearful, or threatening state. Let’s start with stress and fear signals. A dog giving these signals feels threatened and is saying,  “I’m not comfortable with what is going on here; I don’t want to interact and I need to get out of this situation”.  Stress and fear signals include:

•  A relaxed open mouth that suddenly closes and stays closed
•  Out of context, excessive behaviors like yawning, panting, snout licking, ground sniffing, or ground pawing
•  Eyes widened showing the whites of the eyes, pupils dilated
•  Brows and/or nose ridge furrowed
•  Ears held down and back
•  Looking away from the threat
•  Raised paw
•  Tail tucked down between the back legs
•  Rounded, lowered, backwards leaning body posture

Depending on the threat level, a dog may show a few or many of these signals. If the signals are ignored and the perceived threat increases, and the dog cannot escape, he may escalate to growling, barking, snapping, or biting. If your dog is displaying stress or fear signals, get him out of the threatening situation. If it’s someone else’s dog, back off and let the owner know her dog is feeling threatened.

In the next article we’ll discuss how dogs communicate threatening versus non-threatening intents.

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Dogs, like teenagers, fight for many different reasons, including:

• Lack of social and play skills – one dog is too pushy or plays too rough and the other too shy and defensive or inexperienced, and you have a fight. Extensive socialization of your dog as a young puppy and through-out his or her life is the best way to prevent this scenario.
• Bullying – yes, dogs can be bullies too. A dog park or neighborhood bully may harass another dog to the point of fighting back. If your dog is a bully, a trainer can help you teach your dog to better control himself.
•  Guarding a toy, treat, food bowl, yard, person from another dog – another easily preventable scenario if dog owners practice resource-guarding prevention exercises from puppyhood on.
• A genetic predisposition to fight – dogs selectively bred for a low dog-dog aggression threshold (i.e., bred for dog fighting) may provoke fights, or may be quick to fight back at the slightest provocation.

Preventing a dogfight is a lot easier than breaking up a fight. Most dogs give clear body language signals before a fight starts. Learn to read your dog and know when she is in a stressful situation and get out of dodge before a fight breaks out.

If you are likely to encounter loose dogs on your walk, carry some tools to scare off the other dog before they can attack your dog. Popping a big umbrella open will startle most dogs and scare them away, plus you can use it like a shield against the other dog. Make sure to desensitize your own dog to the umbrella ahead of time. Citronella spray is a great way to discourage a loose dog. Dogs hate the smell but it doesn’t harm them. Pepper spray is another option, but you risk severe nose and eye irritation to your own dog and yourself if you accidentally spray the wrong dog or spray into the wind. If you don’t mind startling the whole neighborhood, an air horn will work as well. If prevention fails and a fight happens, all of these tools can be used to break it up.

Okay, you are totally unprepared, have none of the above and your dog is in a snarling, lashing, biting, knock down, drag out fight. Now what? The worst thing you can do is to grab for a collar, kick, or put any part of your body near their heads. Fighting dogs are in a biting frenzy and will bite anything within reach, including you. Shouting and yelling will only stir them up more.

If there is a hose nearby, spray the hose directly into their eyes and nose. With luck they will release each other. Keep spraying one or both of them until they back off and cool off. If you can’t find a hose, grab a piece of plywood, a lawn chair, a trash can lid, anything you can force between them and use to fend them off of each other. Throwing a tarp or heavy blanket on top of them might smother the fight and let you safely pull one dog away.

As a last resort, grab one dog (the dog that is least likely to listen to you) by the back thighs near the groin area and start backing up as quickly as you can. If you keep moving and swinging the dog back and forth, he will be unable to swing back and bite you. As soon as they are separated, command the other dog to  “STAY!”  in the sternest voice you can conjure up.

In some cases a dog will lock its jaws onto another dog and refuse to let go. Jamming a stick in between the back of dog’s jaws and prying them open may be the only way to unlock the jaws.

Dogfights are terrifying. Having some strategies in mind beforehand will help you keep your wits and act quickly and effectively.

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Canine separation anxiety is clinically defined as physical or behavioral signs of distress exhibited by a dog when separated from the owner. Dogs with separation anxiety display consistent, intensive destruction, elimination, vocalization, salivation, and other biological signs of distress, and often injure themselves while attempting to escape from a crate or room (1). The signs of distress usually appear when the owner begins the usual departure routine (getting the car keys, putting on a coat, dressing for work), become most severe within 15 to 20 minutes after the owner’s departure, and typically continue until the owner returns. The key points in the definition are that the behaviors occur:

 

•  Only, and consistently, when separated from the owner
•  Are intensive (dogs with separation anxiety have been known to destroy an entire room and everything in it during their owner’s absence)
•  Begin before or immediately after the owner’s departure

Dogs who misbehave in their owner’s absence are not necessarily suffering from separation anxiety. They may simply be bored, inadequately trained, or have been left alone far too long to be expected to quietly relax and behave. The dog who relaxes for four hours after the owner leaves for work, then chews on a sofa and poops on the carpet, is not suffering from separation anxiety. The best tool for determining if your dog has separation anxiety is a video camera. Recording your dog’s behavior during your absence will tell you when the behavior starts and how long it lasts. Also, from observing the video, a behavior specialist can tell if your dog’s behavior was due to boredom or emotional distress.

Separation anxiety can usually be resolved by behavior modification (of both the owner and the dog). In some cases pharmacological intervention is needed to take the edge off the dog’s anxiety so that the behavior modification will be successful. If you suspect your dog has separation anxiety, there is an excellent booklet you can purchase through almost any online bookseller: I’ll Be Home Soon! by Dr. Patricia McConnell. This booklet will help you determine if your dog’s behavior is a boredom/training issue or separation anxiety, and provides a simple to follow behavior modification plan. If you still need help, contact your veterinarian and a behavior specialist.

(1) Overall, Karen L. (1997). Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals. Mosby, Inc., 1997, St. Louis, Missouri.

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To understand clicker training, you need to know two simple concepts of behavioral science:
· Rewarded behaviors are likely to be repeated
· The faster a reward follows a behavior, the easier it is for an animal to figure out which behavior is being rewarded (three seconds or less is the rule of thumb)

For example, if you want to teach your dog to sit on cue, you can encourage him to sit by luring his head up with a treat (which naturally makes the butt go down). The instant his butt hits the floor you shove a treat in his face. Do this a few times and your dog will figure out that butt-on-ground makes a treat appear. If you delay the reward and meanwhile your dog yawns, or stands up, or sniffs the ground, he is not likely to figure out that butt-on-ground makes a treat appear.

The instant reward approach works great if you are standing right next to an animal and can instantly deliver the treat. Suppose you want to teach an animal to do something but it is physically impossible for you to be right next to the animal and instantly deliver the treat? For example how do you train a dolphin to jump on cue? It would be difficult (if not dangerous) for the trainer to be right next to the dolphin and deliver the treat (the fish) the instant the dolphin jumps.

This is where the concept of clicker training comes in, which in fact was originally developed by marine mammal trainers. The marine mammal trainers taught the dolphins that whenever they heard a certain distinct sound (a whistle), a reward would follow. Then, when the dolphin jumped and heard the whistle, he knew that behavior would be rewarded with a fish in the near future. As long as the distinct sound is instantly delivered, the reward can be delivered later, thereby getting around the three-second rule. When the concept expanded to other animals, trainers began using a small device that makes a metallic click sound when a button is pressed (as kids we had toys like this called “crickets”), hence the name “clicker training”.

Trainers now use clicker training for human gymnasts, chickens, bears, horses, and every other kind of animal. You can use a distinct voice sound instead of a clicker, but it is more difficult to make a consistently distinct sound with your voice. With clicker training you start by “priming the clicker”. For about 20 or so repetitions, click and quickly give your dog a treat. Pretty soon your dog will start expecting a treat every time he hears a click. Once he knows that a reward always follows a click, you can delay the reward longer than three seconds and it won’t matter because he knows a click means a reward is coming.

Now you are ready to use the clicker for training. Suppose you want to train your dog to sit on cue even when you are at a distance from him. You ask your dog to sit and if he does you instantly click, then walk over and give him the reward. If you weren’t using the clicker you would have to deliver the reward within three seconds, which would be difficult from a distance. The clicker is mainly used for initially teaching a new behavior. Once your dog learns the new behavior, you can stop using the clicker for that behavior.

Clicker training takes some practice and mechanical skill, but once you are good at it you can teach new behaviors quickly. An expert in and early pioneer of clicker training for dogs is Karen Pryor. To learn more about clicker training, visit her website: https://www.clickertraining.com.

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