Learning from TV, Practicing with Puppies

In a conversation with my brother today,I heard about a sweet dog who jumps a lot and whose human has a hard time handling him. Our conversation made me think of how I had tried out a technique I had seen on "It's Me or the Dog."

Basically, the episode showed two dogs who always jumped on people when they entered a home. A lot of dogs do this and a lot of the owners I know just put up with it or pull the dog away. I've always just let the dogs jump because it didn't bother me to have dogs jumping on me. However, it can be upsettin for people like my mom who are afraid of dogs. If I get a dog some day, I want my mom to feel comfortable visiting me so this particular technique really interested me.

Victoria started with teaching the dogs to "wait" to the side of the door with enough room for a person to come in. This involved training the dogs having someone come to the door, ring the doorbell, and wait patiently for the dogs to sit and wait properly. Then, when the dogs were calm, the person came in and the dogs were allowed to politely sniff (not sure if my mom would deal well with this, but if I promised sniffing instead of jumping, it might help). If they started to jump, the person was to turn around so they were jumping at the backside of the person. The dogs miraculously would return to the ground when the person's back was turned.

I was handling a sweet one year old Pit Bull/Bull Dog mix. She was a sweetie but kept jumping on me and other people. Thankfully most potential adopters understand that shelters dogs often have basic training, but not the greatest manners. I did try the turning trick though whenever my dog would jump. What was really cool--it worked! Whenever I turned, my dog returned to her feet and would stop jumping on me.

So today you get advice. If a dog is jumping on you and you don't want him to do so, try just turning around. They'll lose interest and stop. I tried it with two of the other dogs and it worked. Let me know how it goes for you!

Daily Dose of Cute

Meet Matilda and Sangria. Sangria also greeted a calico cat this way through the bars of her cage.

Let's Get Along

In a time when we have negative campaign ads and vicious politics highlighting how little people get along with members of their own species, there comes hope from the animal world. Feuerstein and Terkel published the results of a study exploring the relationship between cats and dogs in Applied Animal Behaviour Science .

An old cliche about people who don't get along is that they "fight like cats and dogs." We categorize people as cat and dog people partially because we think cats and dogs don't naturally get along. Many people even use this as a criteria for who to date. When Ted in How I Met Your Mother states "I'm a dog person, I'm attracted to other dog people" and then is shocked to find out that his girlfriend loves cats, few viewers found his reaction odd.

I think they're both right. I'm a cat and dog lady. Cats and dogs can get along. It is not unnatural or abnormal for cats and dogs to form social bonds. Well, no more unnatural than training them to come to their names, sit for treats, or put up with a good brushing (my cat does all of those and is described by others as being dog-like because of this). Consider it animal bipartisanship.

Feuerstein and Terkel support this idea with their results. Their study showed that cats and dogs can become friends, especially when the animal's first meeting with a member of the other species is at a young age. Feuerstein and Terkel even found that dogs could understand a cat's body language, even when the meaning from a dog would be the complete opposite of that from a cat. Cats were able to do the same. The gender of the animals didn't matter at all in terms of how they get along.

Can this translate to human beings? Not all cats and dogs are able to get along with members of the other species. I doubt that there will be a day when all humans are able to get along with all humans. I do think that we can learn from cats and dogs how to understand behavior that seems completely opposite to us. Cats understand dogs best when they meet them at a young age. Let's work on this with kids. Let's introduce kids of all types and let them play in the sandbox together. Diversity works for dogs and cats, I bet it'll work with humans.

PA Puppy Mills About to Shape Up!

Pennsylvania, previously known to many in the world of animal welfare as "the puppy mill capital," has passed HB2525 to clean up, reform, and cut down on puppy mills throughout the state.

The Humane Society of America has recently stepped up their campaign to shut down inhumane puppy mills that force dogs to pump out puppies like factories. I've seen and worked with dogs that come out of these places. The dogs are constantly being bred, living in wire cages stacked high, never feeling grass or even solid floor beneath their paws. One breeder dog who was rescued from a mill in Tennessee and brought to DC had misshapen paws from the wire. Most don't even know how to be dogs. They don't know how to play or interact with people or even other dogs. Seeing the dogs who come out of these mills is one of the most heartbreaking sights I've encountered in volunteering with the shelter.

There is good news though, when these shelters are closed down and the dogs sent to shelters around the country, they can be rehabilitated. While only a few of the dogs who came to my shelter in DC were able to be immediately adopted, the rest were placed in foster homes and now, just a few months later, are playing with families and other dogs in their "forever homes."

The Pennsylvania bill bans stacking cages and wire flooring, requires exercise, twice-yearly veterinary care, and humane euthanasia from licenced veterinarians, in addition to doubling the allowable cage sizes. While I still recommend getting your new dog from a shelter (cheaper, healthier, and helping to cut down on the overpopulation problem), this bill helps make life a little better for the specialized dogs being bred to meet consumer demand. The only thing that will eliminate these mills forever will be a change in demand from purebred puppies to healthy mutts and mixed-breeds from shelters.

The legislature passed the bill on October 8 and the governor signed it into law on October 9.

Walk for the Animals 2008

The third annual Humane Society Walk for the Animals raised over $97,000 to benefit The Humane Society of the United States and the Washington Humane Society's efforts to end pet homelessness, close puppymills, and conduct humane education outreach. Almost 2400 sponsors helped raise this money. The great thing is that the Walk raised so much, the sad part is that it's still below the Walk's goal of $150,000. However, although the Walk and activites were this past Sunday, October 5, donations will still be counted through November 7, 2008.

Want to give? Go to http://www.humanesocietywalk.org/ and donate.

What happened at the Walk? Humane education, great live music, Doga (yoga with your dog), doggie obstacle courses, catnip treat toy assembly, and of course lots of barking, tail wagging, people licking, and playing by the hundreds of assembled dogs and their owners. Yes, the owners wagged their "tails" as part of the pre-walk warmup. They also "pawed the air" and "kicked up dirt" as led by a certified fitness instructor.

The Walk is held every year near the National Mall and is a fabulous fundraiser that helps also raise awareness of the many issues facing animals through the nation as well as in the capital.