Bob's Dog Blog

I wanted to take a moment to comment on responsible dog ownership. Although this subject can take many forms, today’s topic is dog containment. Since I mostly write about working dogs, please take this into consideration when reading the article.

Having recently moved to a new area, my first major action was to scope out my property and determine what had to be done to make it safe for dogs and humans. This is a rural area, but near a couple of upscale subdivisions.  Young children play nearby, so safety is a big issue.

The first observation made after two days was that nobody, I  mean nobody, has put up a barrier of any kind to contain their dogs. No fences, not even kennels, yet dogs all around. In the first week at my new place, no less than three dogs owned by neighbors had wandered onto my property. I started looking and found people do not even use leashes to control their dogs. Dogs, as large as Danes, walking around the streets, loose as can be.

As I began the task of building an enclosed, fenced in area for my dogs, I began to realize why there were no other fences or barriers for dogs in the area: it actually costs some money and involves hard work to get something like this done! (Note: If you feel it’s too much work to keep your dog and others safe, then owning a dog may not be a good choice for you)

Just to expound a bit, the property liability laws are pretty clear in most states in the US.  If someone comes onto your property and is injured, you, the owner, are still liable, whether the person is invited or not (I’m not talking about criminal trespass here..). That alone makes it very clear to me why it is vital for one to safely contain their dogs on a permanent basis. Other situations, such as dogs breeding bitches that are in heat down the block, annoying your neighbors due to your dog crapping on their lawn, dog fights, are among a long list of reasons for containment.

Okay, so here is the rest of my lecture on responsible dog ownership: If you own a dog, one of the first things you need to do is construct a safe barrier for your pet to be in, whether it is a secure back yard, a paddock, an enclosed kennel or a completely fenced in property. I am not advocating tying out a dog all day, by the way. That is just ridiculous, lazy and potentially harmful to the dog.

To those of you who insist that kenneling or crating a dog is ‘cruel’, just imagine what it would be like for your dog to get hit by a passing car or the lawsuit you’d have on your hands when the dog bites your neighbor’s child. By the way, good obedience training and socialization also helps immeasurably in controlling a dog’s actions, but that is another topic altogether.

To those of you who have already done the above, congratulations! You are true friends to your dogs and your neighbors.

To the remaining dog owners who are continually bailing your dogs out of the pound or getting threatened by a neighbor for your dog’s misbehavior, please  consider implementing responsible containment for your pet.

It seems that everybody is a dog trainer. I just came back from socializing my dog and a guy came up to me, proceeded to tell me all about how I should train my dog. Some of it was okay, but most of it was nonsense. I didn’t tell him anything about myself or what I do with dogs. I allowed the guy to pet my dog and while she was in a sit, let him stand next to her. It was invaluable socialization. The rest of the conversation was pretty unproductive.

This is not the first time an incident like this has occurred for me. It’s as routine as the number of times I have taken a dog off the premises for socialization/fun time.

Again, I have nothing against people talking with me about my dog, but what I do find amusing is the pedantic nature of the conversation. “You need to………….”. “Your dog is…………”. And so on. Like I said, everyone is a dog whisperer or a show judge.  The false information, idiotic conclusions and faulty advice that I have been given over the years could fill a small book. Yes, it used to bother me to no end. And yes, I’ve gotten my own self confidence up enough that this stuff doesn’t ruin my day, but it took a while and quite a bit of handler training to have enough knowledge to get past these little encounters.

So, the problem isn’t so much the stuff that comes out of these ‘expert’s’ mouths. It’s whether or not you can take all of it with the objectivity that it deserves. In other words, take what people say and decide for yourself whether it merits further handling or inspection. Don’t reject it out of hand, but don’t sit there and develop issues for yourself and your dog because so and so said something you didn’t like about your obedience.

This is most insidious with dog trainers and more specifically people pretending to train dogs. I worked with someone recently who had been told all sorts of things about her dogs, all from experienced trainers. Some of the statements were true, but because the people who gave her the advice or critiques had some kind of authority on the subject, she decided to become neurotic on the subject of training her dogs. This got directly in the way of her learning how to correctly train her dog, because she was more concerned about what people thought than just getting down to the task of getting the dog to sit. Now, granted, a person like this is always concerned about what other people think, so there’s a bigger issue than dogs here. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that you are the only one, as the handler, who can either observe your dog’s faults objectively or wait for some ‘expert’ to tell you something that you don’t want to hear.

It’s up to you. I personally prefer to take matters into my own hands and work to develop an objective, honest viewpoint about each dog I am handling, with the end in mind of correcting as many faults as possible within a reasonable time period. I am more than willing to listen to what someone has to say, but I try to simply and only take what I need out of the conversation or incident and leave the rest behind.

After all, not everyone can own Rin-Tin-Tin, can we?

I just wanted to do a quick post on dog training and specifically, how handlers behave when they are working their dogs with a trainer (or without one).

Over the years I have personally been subjected to some of the craziest techniques and attempted transferences of weird behavior, compliments of the local dog ‘trainers’ and obedience ‘gurus’. Well, I have to tell you, there were some things wrong with the way these ‘teachers’ imparted knowledge and technique regarding training people how to train their dogs.

First of all, the basic element which I believe reverses any good things these trainers are doing is that they are not allowing the handler to comfortably work with his dog.  Breaking this down, this problem arises when the handler/dog team are not allowed to get comfortable before beginning a lesson. Omitting this step results in missed commands, lack of observation and a host of other problems that will arise from the fact that the handler is not ready to do the work with his dog. It adds insult to injury when the trainer asks for his money at the end of a horrible lesson.

The second half of the problem is caused when the trainer constantly interrupts the handler while doing the lesson. All this does is make the handler and dog exasperated and prevents the handler from actually figuring out how to do the exercise. I once had to spend two weeks straightening out this very thing with a handler who had been in some class where the trainer was constantly correcting her with no chance for her to figure out the actual exercise for herself. (The opposite happens as well, where the trainer completely ignores the handler to the point where neither they nor the dog have a clue)

What is happening here is that the trainer has never allowed the handler to take the time to actually work out how to COMFORTABLY BE THERE WITH THE DOG while training their dog. In order to train a dog, the handler must be comfortable and at ease with what he or she is doing. This does not require constant badgering, corrections, interruptions, comments, invalidations or whatever other techniques the trainer uses with his students.

The correct method is to first get the handler and dog comfortable,  patiently show the handler the exercise and then HAVE THE HANDLER WORK OUT HOW TO DO THE EXERCISE, REGARDLESS OF HOW LONG IT TAKES.  Occasionally fix the positioning of the dog or timing of the command/correction/reward. That’s it. Just give the handler the damn exercise and let them have at it. The handler and dog team will figure it out, believe me. If not, the handler will give up and never touch a dog again for the rest of his or her life. In which case it was never meant to be.

Either way, you have thus allowed the handler to retain enough of his own personality and comfort to get the exercise completed with his own dog. There are so many combinations of personalities between both humans and dogs that its just best to give them the room to work things out together without the constant interruption and evaluation of some trainer who may be good with dogs but has no understanding of people.

I mean, that’s where all the fun is with dog training, isn’t it?

Let me begin by stating that walking your dog is not a complete exercise regimen.  At best, it is a way for you to get out of the house and for your dog to go to the bathroom.  So, for those of you who own Rottweilers, German Shepherds and other working breeds, let me see if I can give you a fresh viewpoint on the subject of exercise and health.

It is a known fact that most people do not exercise themselves enough on a daily basis.  Just take a look at yourself in a full length mirror if you don’t agree. Now, do you think a dog is any different than a human in this respect?  Over the life of the dog, proper and adequate exercise, diet, training and socialization have a tremendous impact on its longevity and well being.

I’m not going to get into any general statements about what was done elsewhere to draw this conclusion. After over a decade of raising working dogs (Rottweilers, German Shepherds) I can intelligently conclude that these type of dogs require daily, constant, hard exercise to stay in shape, develop good muscle tone, properly digest and metabolize food, keep vital organs oxygenated and live long, healthy lives.

I have always wondered why pet owners will sometimes have a multitude of issues with their dogs,  mostly health related. I used to think it was due to poor diet alone, but I no longer subscribe to that idea.  Taking a look at my own dogs, mostly kennel dogs and bitches, I have observed that without exception, they are healthy, in shape, high energy and long lived. The average life span of one of my dogs is 11 years old. Yet, I hear from people how their dog was put down at age five or six from an assortment of ailments. Why is that?

Okay, I know I’m not doing a scientific study in the purest sense of the word and that I am not a doctor and so on. That does not make me any less qualified to look with my own eyes and draw intelligent conclusions from my observations.

So, based on my own observations over fifteen years of raising working dogs, I am concluding the following:

1. Daily exercise is vital and critical to a dog’s present and future health. This must not be limited to daily walks, as this does not help the dog metabolize his food nor does it help it develop muscle mass/tone, organ development, correct conformation, tissue, ligament and muscle  growth around joints, a strong immune system, and so on. A working dog needs to have at least one good workout per day, for at least five to ten minutes, done when it is NOT too hot, and NOT just before or after eating its meal. Gauge your dog’s stamina and DO NOT OVERDO IT when beginning. Build the dog up, just like a human would build up stamina running or doing other exercise routines. In other words, get the dog in shape and then keep it there by maintaining the daily routine.

2. Obedience training, socialization and play can easily be worked into this regimen, so you can get the most out of the time with your dog.

3. Begin this when the dog is a puppy and continue for the life of the dog.

There is no substitute for proper daily exercise in the life of a dog. (Of course, this doesn’t mean that you run the dog ragged and have it stroke out either!)

Use common sense and help your dog build itself up to be the canine athlete it was bred to be.

Working dogs have needs specific not only to their particular breed type, but to their particular grouping in the dog world. In this case I am referring to Rottweilers, German Shepherds and other breeds listed in the Working Dog Group.

As such, nutrition, exercise and development should be geared towards the actual purpose and functions of each breed type and group. Working dogs have been bred specifically to perform tasks. This is not just a label. It is a fact of life and to ignore this fact or sidestep the importance of raising a working dog AS A WORKING DOG is to violate the actual reason for the dog’s existence.

All dogs have the same basic parts, but the way each is dog bred will determine how those parts are used and meant to be used.  The less they are used, the more prone the dog is to injury, illness and other complications (this includes dysplasia, in spite of what the vets will tell you about it being 100% genetic)

Here is an image of a Rottweiler, with labeled body parts:

Alright, now here is a picture of an Italian Greyhound. This dog is a sight hound and as such has been bred over the centuries to run and chase game. Notice the way this dog is physically centered around that basic function:

So, different dogs have different needs. With working dogs, the needs have everything to do with building muscle tone in the front and rear of the dog, to develop strength in the legs, feet, hindquarters, forequarters, hips, elbows, pasterns, chest, and so on. This is because working dogs have been bred and developed as dogs that do a multitude of tasks, not just one type of job. So, because of this, their muscle and bone development is more demanding in order to potentially perform these tasks.

That is why, when I ask people if they exercise their working dog and they tell me ‘Sure, I take him for a walk every day,” I laugh.  Walking a dog once a day is not exercise. They need to run, jump, sit, lay down, get up and do all of the types of exercise that will develop strong muscle tissue and bone growth. Just like body building with humans. Every day. Look at the muscle groups of the Rottweiler again. That did not come about from laying around the house all day and going for a walk at dinner time.

So, the next time you hear someone tell you all about how horribly prone working dogs are to dysplasia and other issues, think about this article. If I raised a dog that had no muscle tone, no endurance, no immune system, I wouldn’t have a kennel.

Anyone working on training their dog in basic obedience or competitive obedience has at one time or another used motivation to get their young dog or pup to follow a command. Some dogs like the food more than the toy and other dogs really like the toy so much that they can go pretty far with the toy alone. Of course, training without motivation gives you a dog that simply goes through the motions, either through fear or submission.

However, sometimes using the toy isn’t enough motivation. For example, I have some pups that easily climb up steps to go into the house (you’ll see why later in the post). The problem came when we tried to get them down those same steps. There just wasn’t motivation for them to follow the toy as the stress that had to be overcome in figuring out how to climb down steps was greater than their drive for the toy. So, in this case, dropping bits of kibble on each step with a big kibble reward and lots of praise at the bottom did the trick right away. Five or sex reps later and they are getting the hang of it. At some point, I will move over to the toy/praise to continue conditioning and motivate to do the action called for. Which brings me to the next issue.

If you attempt to use food for motivation while doing, let’s say, heeling or leash work, then the pup will start to anticipate food as the motivational tool every time heeling or leash work is begun. They will expect the food and when you bring out the toy, they are suddenly not interested in the toy at all. This is not a drop in drive, but a conflict that the dog now has as regards the game you are playing. I mean, you just spent a week using kibble or hot dogs or whatever food to get the dog to heel or sit and now you are trying with a ball. At this early stage of training a dog, you are mixing basic drives and the dog may become confused.

The solution is to learn to think with your motivational tools. For example, I use food in the house, getting pups or young dogs to sit or come or load up in the crate. This gets the pups really excited about coming in at the end of the day, loading into their crates, etc. I already gave the example of walking down steps.

Outside, on the field, I use the toy most of the time, especially in the first stages of puppy training.  Some times I switch things up. For instance,  we sometimes use a bit of food on the field to motivate the pup in heeling, for position or to train more precise movement.  This is not consistent, so the pup is not always expecting food, so it is not conditioning the pup to constantly expect food on the field.

You will need to experiment with both methods to see where your pup or dog does best. This is a lot of fun as you can also learn a lot about your dog’s drives and motivation, which in turn will help you in getting your dog to do what you want, which is the point of dog training!

And, remember to always praise your pup for doing the command, regardless of the motivational tool.

Have fun!