Humane Education Dogs

My dog Mystic has served as an outstanding education dog in my work at HAWS for the last 8 years.    Mystic started his career when he was only 9 weeks old, and I set out to create the perfect dog to help me in my work.  I knew I needed a dog who would be friendly and outgoing, tolerant of stressful situations and handling, confident in new environments and when meeting new people, and calm around children who's energy level might be an eleven on a scale of one to ten.  He's met literally thousands of children and adults through humane education programs and has been a great example of what a well trained and socialized dog can be.

Mystic is not retiring -- not by a long shot.  But recently I added another dog to my family and I'd like to add the new puppy to my education programs.  Quinn was adopted through Minnesota Border Collie Rescue almost two weeks ago.  They were a great organzation to work with.  I told them what my future puppy would be doing as a humane education dog, and what kind of temperment the puppy should have.  They found a puppy they thought would work, and so far, so good. 

I've started Quinn's education by socializing him to as many people as I possibly can.   Socialization is extremely important for puppies before they are 14-16 weeks of age, and the process should make socialization fun, not scary for the puppy.  Quinn's socialization includes having new people get down on the ground and giving him food.  The idea is that by teaching him that new people have treats he'll start to look forward to meeting new people. 

Here's video of Quinn meeting some kids at Waukesha's Blair Elementary School last week.  The kids are all being appropriate, feeding his food down low and with the treats in the palm of their hands so fingers don't go into his mouth, and he's having a great time meeting him.  I look forward to giving frequent updates on Quinn's progress. 

One of my first experiences with an animal shelter was a little more than 16 years ago.   At that time I had a sheltie and was considering getting another one.  An acquaintance  mentioned that she'd seen a sheltie at the local shelter.  The next day I stopped in to take a look.

By that time the dog I'd originally come to see had already been adopted, but I walked up and down the rows of caging looking at the other dogs that needed homes.  One of the dogs was housed in a cage on the second level of a stainless steel caging unit.  With her black and white markings and cute papillon ears, she was adorable.  When they took her out for me I knelt on the floor and she immediately put her front paws on my knees and leaned up to lick my face.  I was sold -- the next day Belle came home with me. 

When I think back to that visit it strikes me how much things have changed in animal sheltering in the southeastern part of Wisconsin.  

First of all, I was allowed to take Belle home without her having met my other dog at the time beforehand.  I don't know of any shelter in this part of the state that wouldn't require that the other dog(s) in the household meet the potential adoptee first.  This is to ensure as best as possible that the dogs will be compatible.  While it's difficult to predict this with 100% reliability based on a single meeting, now that I work at a shelter I can say that sometimes it rules out an adoption based on the extreme behavior by one or both dogs. 

Another difference is how Belle was being housed.  She was in a unit of cages on the second level -- something similar to how HAWS currently houses our cats.   In 2009 Wisconsin passed legislation unofficially dubbed the "Wisconsin Puppy Mill Law".  Aimed at improving the poor conditions in which many puppy mills keep their dogs, it applies to most animals shelters and rescues as well since it applies to any individual, business or organization selling 25 dogs or more a year.

The law dictates how big an enclosure should be for a dog based on the dog's size.   According to the current law, today the shelter would be required to keep Belle in an enclosure of 12 square feet -- much larger than the cage she was in when I first saw her. 

When I first started working at HAWS almost 9 years ago I heard stories of the way the dog kennels used to be about 5 or 6 years before that.  In those days every kennel was almost always filled, and most of the time our puppy pits contained at least one litter of unwanted puppies. 

Today we always have at least a few kennels, and many times only half of our dog kennels contain dogs.  It's very rare that a litter of puppies actually comes in -- and when we do have a litter of puppies up for adoption many times they were taken in from shelters in other areas of Wisconsin. 


Another change that I've seen occur at shelters in this area is an increased awareness for mental and physical exercise. All shelters that I know of have a volunteer dog walking program. As a matter of fact the new Puppy Mill Law requires that dogs got a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day. HAWS easily exceeds that with most adoptable dogs getting 2 or 3 walks, if not more, a day.

Most shelters also have some kind of program in place where dogs are given training or are on behavior modification programs. Not only does this make the dogs more adoptable, but it gives them an opportunity to use their brains, boredom, and allows them more time with people.

There are many more changes in animal welfare. While I've only talked about the changes for dogs, there are many extremely positive things happening for cats and other animals as well. The days of animal shelters being merely a "pound" where unwanted animals were housed with the hope that maybe they might get adopted are over. Shelters are doing a lot to make an animal's stay as positive as possible, and as a result give pets a better chance of adoption.

Compassion and Kids

Wade might not be the cutest dog at HAWS.  And he certainly isn't the most playful.  But despite his disability, or perhaps because of it, he has captured the hearts of several of our Critter Club members. 

At last nights club meeting the middle school aged members spent part of their time at HAWS training some of the shelter dogs.  Like many shelters, HAWS has a large number of ill-mannered adolescent aged dogs that benefit from training to make their adoption more likely.  The kids greatly enjoyed working with the dogs during the training session. 

The last half hour of the meeting the kids were allowed to socialize the animal of their choice.  Out of all the animals they could have chosen, Jennifer and Caitlin were excited to be able to spend some time with Wayde - an 8 year old blind terrier mix.  Expressing their love for him and how wonderful they think he is, the girls quickly brought him into an interview room and spent the next 30 minutes telling him how wonderful he is, and giving him non-stop petting. 

One of HAWS goals in our education program is to instill empathy for all living creatures.  I don't know if the programs are working, or if we just happy to be attracting kids who are already outstanding animal ambassadors to our programs.  Either way, it makes me happy to see young people be able to appreciate an animal who isn't young, cute and energetic.  It's spending time with kids like this that make my job truly worthwhile.   

Kids Training Dogs in the Kennel

One of the challanges I face with camp each year is trying to find new activities for the kids.  As much as we get very positive  feedback from the parents on our surveys, one of the things that comes up is a request for new things for the kids to do.  This request in itself is actually a compliment, because it tells me that kids enjoy coming to our camps so much they are repeat campers. 

One of the new activities this year for the campers ages 10 and up is training dogs in the kennel.  A problem that just about every animal shelter encounters is dogs who behave poorly when people walk past their kennels.  First impressions are very important, and a dog who is barking and jumping at their kennel door as people walk down the aisle are much less likely to have potential adopters ask to see them.  Sometimes these are extremely nice dogs who are calm in other contexts, but have developed bad habits. 

The training itself is very easy.  The kids walk up and down the kennels and ask a dog to sit -- the kids are instructed on what the visual cue for this behavior looks like.  If the dog sits, the camper throws a treat in the kennel and moves on to the next dog.  Additionally, the kids are told that if a dog doesn't want to approach the kennel door they should toss a treat in without asking for sit because this is most likely a shy dog who needs to learn that people approaching the kennel door aren't scary.

As simple as this exercise is the kids seem to really enjoy it and it gives them a way to help HAWS and the adoptable dogs in our care.  And as you can see in the video below, the dogs really love this activity as well.  

March Madness in WI

This has been the weirdest Wisconsin weather in March I can ever remember. I've lived here my entire life and I never thought that I'd have the windows open, be comfortable wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and be too warm hiking in the middle of March unless I were to move somewhere south.

I think the weather this month has taken a lot of people by surprise, and many haven't adjusted quite yet to thinking in terms of summer.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and as I was loading groceries into my car I heard a dog barking. As I always do, I looked around to see where the barking was coming from. I was horrified when I located the vehicle the next aisle over and saw that the windows were barely cracked. It was 75 degrees out, not a cloud in the sky, and the SUV was a dark blue color. It was the kind of situation that could kill a dog if left enclosed too long.

I went to the customer service desk of the store and reported the situation. They paged the owner of the vehicle, and I went back out to see if anyone came to get the dog out of it's automotive oven. 5 minutes later the dog was still in the car, and the owner wasn't in sight. So I called the police. The dispatcher promised to send an officer over.

It took 15 minutes for the officer to arrive. He took down the plate number, and the VIN number and asked me a few questions, and then told me I could leave. By the time I left the parking lot it had been a half an hour and the owners still hadn't shown up. The police officer was still by the SUV when I left, and I'm not sure what happened after that.

I have no doubt the owners loved their little dog. It appeared to be well groomed, and they thought enough to want to give it a car ride. But they weren't thinking about the fact that in 75 degree weather an enclosed car can quickly reach 100 degrees. And I'm sure they didn't consider that once they completed their shopping they may have returned to find a dead dog.

It might be March, but with the temperatures behaving as though it's June we need to think summer and how that impacts our pets.

Motivation Impacts Learning

One of the interesting things about the fact that I'm both a dog trainer and a humane educator is how many times things that apply to dogs is also relevant when trying to teach people.

My Lad Lake program this semester has been more challenging than the previous 2 semesters. For one thing the students are younger. Last school year the kids ranged in age from 13 to 18 years of age, while this semester I'm working with kids between the ages of 11 and 14. Also -- with the exception of one, this particular group of students really don't have a background with dogs. They don't have dogs, don't have a passion for dogs, and most have cats at home and are very much cat lovers.

I've struggled with getting the current group of boys motivated to work with HAWS dogs, and show the enthusiasm for training and canine behavior that the other two groups had. And I've had to apply a principle that dog trainers use all the time -- if the dog isn't learning and doesn't appear to be motivated try something else.

My original format consisted of a 20 minute PowerPoint with the remainder of the hour having the boys split up into two groups -- each working with their own designated adoptable dog. A few weeks I knew I was in trouble when I heard a couple of the boys complain that they were bored and didn't want to work with dogs. Part of it was frustration, and part of it was just that the program as it was set up was not working.

So I've changed a few things. I had them doing a competition to see who could get the most sits out of Mystic in a minutes time. I won at 25 sits - while each of the boys was able to do only 9 or 10 sits. And I used that as an opportunity to show the boys how to keep the dog engaged in training by holding his attention. Then they worked with their dogs and did the sit competition again, and really seemed enthusiastic about interacting with the dogs.

Another thing I did was to put together a case history for a dog named Jenna. Jenna is at HAWS, but currently isn't adoptable because she needs some training before she'll be ready for adoption. She is a very young dog who gets mouthy when she's frustrated or overly excited. HAWS Mod Squad -- a group of dedicated volunteers who have been trained to do behavior modification with HAWS shelter dogs, has been working with Jenna, but I also wanted to get the boys involved in her training.

I video taped her behavior and did a case history presentation. Then I asked the boys to brainstorm with me and talk about what her behavior problems were. I was amazed that all the boys were raising their hands and participating -- normally only one of the boys is eager to participate. And even better they made very valid contributions as to what her inappropriate behaviors were.

Then I asked them what we could do with training to improve her behavior. And again I was floored at the wonderful suggestions each of them came up with. They suggested that we train her to sit when people approach, work with her to be calm when petted, and teach her to be calm when her harness is being put on or taken off -- among other things.

The last few weeks we've still had a PowerPoint presentation, but then as a group we work with Jenna on those items for 10 or 15 minutes, and then they work in the two groups with their own dogs. And this seems to have made a huge difference in their attitudes towards the program. Not only are they seeing a tremendous difference in Jenna's behavior, but they are much more interested in working with the other dogs as well. And I even caught them working as a team and complimenting one another.

Wagging Tails

One of the myths I hear quite often from both children and adults is that a when a dog wags his tail it means he's happy. Unfortunately this is a misconception that can be dangerous to someone who thinks it's safe to approach a dog simply because he's wagging his tail.

The truth is that a wagging tail by itself only tells us how excited or aroused a dog may be. To know whether is a dog is friendly, aggressive, or fixated or something behaviorists and trainers look at other parts of the dog.

Learning how to "read dog" is not an easy thing to do. Professionals go to seminars, read books, watch videos and observe dogs for months or even years before they feel comfortable enough to say they are good at reading canine body language. "Reading dog" consists of looking at the eyes, ears, mouth, facial expression, tail and body posture. What makes it even more difficult is that some body language is fleeting and you need to be very focused and observant if you are watching a dog who is overly excited or aroused since you can easily miss a split second change in expression. (People have this too -- called "micro-expression". This was first discovered by Dr. Paul Ekman and is the basis for the TV show Lie to Me.)

While I talk extensively to children about when it is safe and when it is dangerous to approach a dog, I talk very little about body language since it's difficult enough for a professional to learn how to read. One thing I do tell them is that you can't just look at a wagging tail to tell you if a dog is safe or not. A happy friendly dog wags not just his entire tail, but his body as well.

In the videos below I have examples of two different tail wags. The first video is of my dogs. They aren't overly excited, but their whole bodies move along with their tails. The second is of a dog who is overly aroused by the movement of the scooter going past. His body is stiff as he runs back and forth, and his tail is held high and wags stiffly as well. Which dog would you want to pet?

How to Raise a Puppy

Although the majority of my blog posts are about the programs I do with children, I actually do work quite a bit with adults. While I truly enjoy spending time with kids and being able to pass along my knowledge and passion for animals, I also love that I get an opportunity to make a difference with grown-ups. And lets face it -- when you spend a lot of time with kids it's sometimes refreshing to be able to relate to someone in your own age range (although it goes the opposite way sometimes as well!)

Working at an animal shelter we see many cases where an owner gives up on a pet because they cannot understand why the animal won't conform to their expectations. In some cases their expectations may be unreasonable. In other cases it may just be a matter of showing the owner how to train their pet so that they fit into the household better.

Some of the programs I present involve education for dog owners. While I love animals in general and know quite a bit about many pet species, my background is in dog training and behavior. As a Certified Pet Dog Trainer it gives me a great deal of pleasure to be able to help dog owners understand the canine members of their family and find ways to make it easier to live with them. Let's face it -- we are two different species and what each species finds "normal" can be two very different things.

Today it was my pleasure to be able to run my "How to Raise a Puppy And Keep Your Sanity" workshop. 9 puppies, 3 kids, and 10 adults all came together for an hour and a half to try and learn a little bit about each other. We talked about socialization, housetraining, nipping, chewing, and toys.

The most fun was allowing the puppies to play off leash. It was actually more than fun -- it was an opportunity for the pups to play with each other in a safe environment, and learn how to interact appropriately with members of their own species.

The hour and a half went way too quickly -- there was so much more information I would have liked to have shared with the new owners if I would have had the time. But hopefully I gave them enough information to get a good start, and many of them intend to sign up for the puppy socialization classes HAWS offers -- which will give them an even better opportunity to create well mannered, well adjusted dogs living in their homes.

Animal Safety

I'm full swing for education this time of year. April and May are when all of the scouts want to schedule tours, when schools hold their "High Interest Day" or "Try It Day", and when teachers ask me to come in and do presentations for their students.

One of the presentations I do annually for the first graders of Lake Country Elementary School in Hartland is an animal safety program. This is actually a timely program to do at the end of the school year -- Waukesha County Humane Officers tell me that the incidence of dog bites goes up when summer vacation first begins. Dogs are used to the peace and quiet they get most days when the kids are in school, and the tend to be less tolerant when the kids are home more (the parents tell me they feel the same way!)

When I first took the job of Humane Educator 5 years ago I did research and did my presentations based on the animal safety material that is out there. The trend seems to be based on two things -- "May I Please Pet Your Dog" in which children are instructed to ask before they pet someone else's dog, and "Be a Tree" -- which instructs children to stay still, look away from the dog, and be quiet in case they encounter a stray dog.

I do use "May I Please Pet Your Dog". Kids are many times not aware that some dogs will be less than thrilled by their love, and it's another way of instilling polite behavior.

However, over a period of years I started to question the "Be a Tree" portion of the program. According to the website Dog Bite Law run by attorney Kenneth Phillips who is widely recognized as the nation's leading authority on dog bite law, "the vast majority of biting dogs (77%) belong to the victim's family or a friend."

Additionally, I started to notice when talking to kids who had been bitten by a dog that none of them had ever been bitten by a stray dog. The dog was almost always their own dog, or a dog that belonged to someone they knew.

As an educator I know that there is only a small amount of information that will be retained after I'm gone. I decided to focus on the information that was more relevant to keeping kids safe with dogs that they know.

My current presentation includes information about signals that animals give when they want to be left alone, times when children should leave animals alone (when eating, sleeping, chewing on a toy, etc.), and having respect for an animal who is running away from you - animals like their space too!

I also emphasize that dogs DO NOT like to be hugged. This is something that most adults don't know, and something that is very natural for children to do when they are feeling affectionate. Many children get bit in the fact when they go to hug a dog who really doesn't understand it's a friendly gesture. (For more information about this and other canine emotions read Patricia McConnell's book "For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend".) When one dog places his paw over the back of another dog it's actually a status seeking behavior -- and so some dogs may not appreciate a child seeking higher status. Many dogs also do not like to be restrained -- and that's what's going on during a hug!

Mystic an I had fun the last two days at Lake Country Elementary School. The teachers were amazed at how well behaved and calm he was in the school -- especially in the hallway as most of the children were on their way to lunch. And the kids just loved him -- as you can see by the photos.

A Good Friday Visit

It always amazes me to realize that there are those out there who aren't animal lovers, and others who don't feel they have any value to people. Luckily science is on our side.

Studies show that contact with pets can decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels (Allen, K 2001 & Anderson 1992). Alzheimers patients who have regular contact with pets have "fewer episodes of verbal aggression and anxiety and fewer mood disorders". (Fritz, Farver, Kass & Hart, 1995)

Today HAWS had a visit from some of the residents of Congregational Home in Brookfield. Accompied by three staff members, the ladies toured our dog and cat adoption areas, and then spent some one on one time with several animals.

It was very rewarding to see how much joy the animals were able to give -- and we didn't need science for that observation. I think the photos speak for themselves!

In the photo above is HAWS adoptable Griffin -- 5 years old and doing a wonderful job being handed from person to person.

Little Shelly (to the right) -- our chihuahua-dachshund mix was a huge lover -- giving kisses and getting love from everyone.

I was proudest of Mystic - who truly was the hit of the visit. He's a big dog, and yet was extremely gentle with our visitors who needed a gentle touch.

After petting him the first time, the woman on the right in the photo below asked that he come back so that she could pet him some more. One of the staff who came from Congregational Home told me that she is normally afraid of dogs. Mystic truly lives up to his name.