Gone to the Dogs

Camp Gone to the Dogs is the most popular summer camp held at HAWS each year.  The camp is geared towards kids ages 10-14 years of age and limited to 15 campers.  Campers are placed in groups of three, and each group gets a shelter dog to work with and care for the week.  This summer the campers got to take care of puppies! And caring for puppies, while a lot of fun, brings with it special challenges and responsibilities other than frequent clean-up.

Puppies under 3 months of age benefit greatly from socialization to people, other animals and new things in their environment as long as it isn't overwhelming or scary, and they are allowed a choice as to whether they want to engage with whatever it is they are being exposed to. 

Our campers therefore had a great opportunity to help our adoptable puppies with socialization.  The fact that they spent all week with kids over 10 years who were playing, feeding and walking them allowed them to be socialized to older kids.  But our campers went beyond that!

One of the things we did was have "Crazy Dress Up Day".  Dogs can sometimes become very
frightened of people wearing clothing or costumes outside of what they've experienced.  We told the kids to come with winter clothing (summer puppies sometimes freak out when they are adolescents and people start wearing heavy jackets, scarves and hats), different hats, sunglasses, Halloween costumes, and anything else they could think of.  The kids put on their crazy clothing and spent time playing with and giving treats to the puppies. 

Another thing we did was a few days of environmental socialization.  We placed as many different types of things on the floor as we could think of; exercise pens laid flat, a tire, crinkly plastic - anything the puppies could safely explore walking on, over and into the objects.  The campers were instructed not to force the puppies to do anything.  An important part of socialization is allowing the puppy to make a choice and encourage him to be brave without pressuring him to do something he isn't comfortable with.  And of course lots of cookies were given for being brave and trying new things. 

HAWS camp is finished for the summer; in a few days the kids will start school, and the puppies have already gone to their new homes.  But we hope the kids who attended our Camp Gone to the Dogs learned something about how to properly socialize puppies.  And we know that the efforts they made  during camp have created a lifetime of benefits for the puppies they worked with. 

Fears and Anxiety

Last Friday night we had a meeting for KHAWS -- a HAWS program for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years of age that meets once a month.  The presenter this month was a dog trainer who came to tell the kids about dog sports, and she brought her very well behaved choclate lab to visit the kids as well. 

One of the kids who attends this program is a girl who was attacked by a dog when she was younger.  As a result she is terrified of dogs, and her mother enrolled her in KHAWS so that her daughter would have an opportunity to spend time with safe dogs in a controlled environment and hopefully, eventually get over her fear.

The mother stayed during the program and I was extremely impressed with how she helped her daughter.  The dog was about 25 feet from the girl at all times, but the girl was still afraid.  We left the door to an adjoining room open to her so that she would have, as she called it, a safe place to go when she was feeling overwhelmed with anxiety at the presence of the dog.  The little girl took advantage of the safe place any time she saw the dog move or even stand up from a down. 

At one point the presenter mentioned that her dog had developed a fear to something.  I overheard the mother telling the little girl, "See, even dogs are afraid sometimes".

By the end of the evening the girl remained in the room -- albeit at the 25 foot distance from the dog.  But the dog was up and moving, and being greeted by the other children, and the girl chose to remain.  Her mother remarked that her daughter's behavior around a dog was the best it's been that evening. 

As a dog trainer I'm well versed in helping dogs confront fears that they may have.  Common convention is that forcing a dog to confront something it's afraid of is the worst thing you can do -- it can backfire and cause the dog to be even more afraid than it was to begin with.  Dog trainers much prefer to work at what we call a "threshold" -- an exposure that causes the least amount of fear response from the dog, and as the dog recovers at a particular threshold we expose the dog to their fear item at a stronger and stronger threshold, until the dog is capable of coping with whatever previously caused them extreme anxiety.

Dog trainers also use "safe places" as well.  It provides an opportunity for a dog to remove himself if the threshold he's being worked at becomes a little too much for him.  A dog who is empowered to make his own choice when nervous is more likely to be able to deal with his fears.  A good example of a behavior modification model that uses this is Behavior Adjustement Training (BAT) developed by Grisha Stewart.

The empathy the mother displayed for her daughter and the decisions she was making on her daughter's behalf were right on target.  And it's a good reminder that no matter if you are a human being or an animal, we all have fears.  And what seems silly to one person (I can't imagine being afraid of all dogs) is very real to another.  So whether you're a dog who's afraid of men with beards, no matter how well intentioned the bearded man is, or a little girl who's afraid of dogs - no matter how well behaved the dog might be, it's not silly at all.  

Kids 'N Critters in the News

Laura Langemo from Fox 6 News in Milwaukee was kind enough to feature HAWS Kids 'N Critters Camps in the interview portion of the Fox 6 WakeUp yesterday morning.  We knew she was coming and that the segments would all air between 7:15 and 8:45am, which is before the 9am start time of camp.  Because she was going to profile our Camp Gone to the Dogs kids, I e-mailed the parents requesting that if possible they bring their kids to HAWS at 7:30am.  I figured that we'd maybe get 4 or 5 kids from that request.  To my surprise all 16 kids were able to attend! 

The whole morning was wonderful.  The first segment was of HAWS Public Relations extraordinaire -  Jennifer Smieja talking about the history of HAWS camps going back to the 80's.  The kids had their dogs to work with and during my interview they did some training in the background, and the camera man even walked around and got shots of the kids training their dogs.  Laura was kind enough to make the third segment about the kids -- she walked around and talked to the kids and the campers showed a trick that they were working on with their dog.  It made me pretty proud to hear one of the campers talk about "putting the trick on cue". 

The last segment was an interview with me while I talked about the final activity of camp, which is Mystic's performance.  My interview was followed by showing off Mystic's "kid agility" course using the kids.  Laura even got into the act by standing in as two of the weave poles.  The video of that last segment is embedded below. 

I'm very proud of HAWS camps, and it's wonderful to get the word out about what we're doing here.  And I'm very grateful to Jennifer Smieja for working so hard to promote HAWS, and especially for helping to promote our education programs.  I'm also grateful that Laura Langemo saw this as a really great addition to Fox 6 WakeUp and was willing to profile us. 

All 4 of the segments can be seen the Fox 6 website. 

Eavesdropping isn't Always Bad

Fifteen 4th and 5th graders, an emphasis on science, and a week at HAWS = HAWS annual Spring Break Camp.  This year's camp was made possible due to the generosity of an Arrowhead High School's DECA donation which covered all of our expenses and enabled HAWS to offer 4 days of camp free to Hadfield Elementary Boys and Girls Clubs. 

Last year I blogged about the adventures of the 2011 Spring Break Camp.  This year, as in last year, the kids had an opportunity to observe our veterinary staff in action, spend a lot of time with animals, and put together an experiment.  This year's experiment was based on an actual study on "Social Eavesdropping in the Domestic Dog" (Marshall-Pescini et al. 2011. Social eavesdropping in the domestic dog. Animal Behaviour (2011), doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.02.029).   Julie Hecht, MSc is a researcher of canine cognition and was kind enough to suggest this as a study might interest the kids -- and she was right since the kids really had a good time with it!

Social eavesdropping involves an individual watching interactions between other individuals.  In some cases it can provide information that will benefit someone in a decision making process.  In the social eavesdropping study the dog observes a person begging for food from two different people -- one of whom is generous and hands out food, and the other is selfish and refuses.  The dog is then released to see if he's learned which of the two individuals is more likely to give him food.  

The original study consisted of 100 dogs and found that most dogs went to the generous person after eavesdropping on the interactions between the beggar and the two individuals with food.   Our goal with the kids wasn't to replicate the study and have it pass a scientific peer review, but to teach the kids about how experiments are conducted, and show them that science can be fun.  For our purpose we only used eight dogs, and the goal was to find out if age made a difference in being able to socially eavesdrop. 

The kids really enjoyed the experiment and I was very proud of how much effort they put into it.  And while good experiments only have one variable, we had to work with the dogs that were available and there ended up being two.  The dogs two years and younger were shelter dogs, and the dogs three years of age and older were staff owned dogs.

I didn't think the kids would notice that discrepancy, and was initially dismayed when one of the girls pointed out that this could be a factor in why the older dogs were better at social eavesdropping than the younger dogs -- that having owners could have made a difference.  But when I thought about it a little longer it made me proud that at least one of the kids took in the information about keeping all the aspects of an experiment constant except for one variable, and that she was perceptive enough to notice we hadn't done that. 

Here's video of the experiment with the kids talking about it. 

Unscheduled Lessons

It's that time of year at HAWS -- summer camp time. Last year we held three sessions of "Camp Gone to the Dogs" and it was overwhelmingly successful. This year we added another two weeks and they were the first sessions to fill.

I love this specialty camp because it allows me to share my passion and knowledge of dogs. The kids not only get to spend time with their shelter dog for the week, but they learn about training, socialization, and puppy mills -- among other things.

In my over seven years as a humane educator I've come to realize that sometimes the best lessons are those that aren't planned, and of course this was the case during last weeks camp.

On Tuesday one of the dogs started limping, and by Wednesday Ashland was having difficulty getting up. The kids were extremely concerned about her, but felt better when we assured them our vet was going to check her out.

Ashland was diagnosed with Lyme's Disease and treatment was started immediately. However I had to break it to her three campers that they might not get to work with her for the rest of the week. They were really good sports about it and very understanding. Fortunately the antibiotics were fast acting and Ashland was feeling well enough on Thursday that the kids could spend time with her -- even though they had to limit her activity.

The good feeling I was having when that that problem was resolved was short-lived, however. Chops the cocker spaniel was scheduled to go to his new adoptive home on Saturday, but there was a lump on his chest that needed to be removed. I met with his campers and explained the situation and asked if they would mind if Chops had the surgery and they were given a different dog to work with -- possibly for the rest of camp. I was very proud of them -- they unhesitatingly agreed that Chops should have the tumor removed (it was benign), and worked with another dog without complaining. And later that day begged to go see him in recovery so they knew he was ok. Chops was feeling well enough by Friday morning that they were able to get him back.

The campers learned that when working with animals things don't always go as planned, and that the animal's welfare takes priority over everything else. I'd say the first week of camp this year was a success!

Future Female Ph.D.s

Back in December I applied for a mini STEM Grant from the National Girls Collaborative Project for HAWS Education Department. STEM stands for "Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and the goal of NGCP is to link organizations that offer STEM programs so that they can share resources and help develop gender equality in STEM -- in other words get girls interested in science and math!

Our grant was for a program to be run during spring break and was based on one of the Kids N Critter Day Camps we offer during the summer called Gone to the Dogs. The program was tweaked a bit so that it would conform better to the STEM requirements. Our collaborative partner was the Boys and Girls Clubs running out of Hadfield Elementary in Waukesha, WI. We were told that the grant had been awarded at the end of February, and the camp ran this past week.

Eleven girls between the ages of 9 and 11 spent Monday through Thursday at HAWS. They spent 3 mornings in HAWS vet clinic watching surgery, learning about veterinary medicine, listening to heartbeats through a stethoscope, and observing our vets and vet techs with the animals. Dr. Meyer told them that if they were interested in becoming veterinarians they needed to pay attention in science and math and should volunteer in shelters once they're old enough so that they get animal handling experience.

The girls learned about the importance of socialization in puppies and then got to play with the litter of dachshund puppies we happened to have this week. They learned about positive reinforcement, and were able to practice training some of the dogs.

I also had them put together an experiment based on the pointing studies that many researchers who are interested in canine cognition have already published. (Click here to watch a video on work being done in Germany.) The girls designed the study with a little coaching by me, and decided to compare whether dogs that had an owner or dogs that lived in a shelter would be better at following a point. They then actually implemented the study.

I'll be the first to admit that the implementation of this study won't adhere to the strict criteria that science requires. The girls were really rooting for the dogs and hated to see them fail and sometimes gave them a lot of leeway on whether they were successful or not. It was also difficult for them to keep quiet during the testing and that caused the dogs to become distracted. But the whole point of their time at HAWS wasn't to become perfect scientists. The point was to show them that science can be fun, and I know we succeeded in that.

Below is a video of the experiment with the girls talking about what they did.

What Smells!

This year's annual spring seminar hosted by HAWS was a huge success, and Sunday's topic was one of the most interesting presentations we've ever had. While it's well known that dogs have a phenominal sense of smell, it's not something that most people do as a fun activity with their dogs.

Up until now there really hasn't been much for the dog owner who wants to train their dog to use their nose, but doesn't really want to get into obedience, search and rescue or tracking. That's all starting to change. Dog trainers are starting to understand that because dogs have such a natural tendency to use their nose to explore their world, we can use this as a way to help dogs tire out mentally and as a bonding activity between owner and dog. A sport called K9 Nose Work recently developed and has started to become popular.

Steve and Jennifer White were HAWS featured speakers last weekend. Steve has a background in training dogs for law enforcement K-9 units, and Jennifer has decades of experience training a variety of species and working in behavior modification of canine behavior problems.

Our introduction to scent taught us that scent isn't stationary -- it moves according to the environment it's in and can be affected by surface type, temperature and wind. A good dog handler understands this, and should learn how to evaluate the environment in order for the dog to be the most successful.

A good handler also learns to trust the dog -- because after all humans have only 5 mllion scent receptors in our noses, while dogs have between 125 and 300 million -- depending on the breed.

The highlight of Sunday was the demo. I was very proud of my dog Mystic who found the scent tucked away in a film canister and placed on an upside down chair after minimal training.








Dixie wasn't quite as successful -- her extensive training as a hunting dog most likely made her dismiss the scent of almond extract as being irrelevant. Her nose has been trained to find birds, not nuts. But she sure had fun playing with Steve!

Star of the day was Bryn -- a schipperke with a nose that kicked in. Here's video of her enthusiastic report that she had successfully located the almond extract.


Thanks to Steve and Jennifer White for the video, and stills taken from the video. And for showing those of us in attendance on Sunday a whole new world as smelled through our dog's noses.

Winter Camp is Here Again

It's that time of the year again - when the snow is on the ground, when it's gotten cold enough that you can see your breath, and when in Wisconsin in December it can get up into the 40's and drizzle. It's also the time of year when kids have a break from school and HAWS holds Winter Camp.

This year HAWS had two sessions of camp -- a two day session on Monday and Tuesday, and a three day session running Wednesday through Friday.


We've done a lot of the traditional activities that HAWS Winter Camp schedules such as making pine cone bird feeders for the kids to take home and put out for the wild birds, and learning about sled dogs and getting a dog sled ride curtesy of HAWS Executive Director Lynn Olenik and her huskys.

This year I added walking HAWS adoptable dogs to the camp scheduled. This is an activity that the summer campers partake in, but it's a first for our winter camp. I came to the realization that many dog owners don't have the option to skip exercising their dogs just because the weater is cold and snowy. And this is a lesson that I wanted the kids to learn as well.

This decision actually was a win-win for me personally. I'm fostering a dog for HAWS named Jenna. About a year old with more energy than I know what to do with, and with an obsession for chasing a ball, it made sense to have the kids help me tire her out.

Jenna is very obliging -- she really doesn't care who throws the ball as long as she can chase it. And it has been really nice to have the kids throw the ball -- it's allowing my developing tennis elbow to heal before camp ends and I have to go back to throwing the ball again.

(Don't) Smooch Your Pooch

One of the newest children's book releases is entitled "Smooch Your Pooch" and has an illustration on the front cover of a little girl planting one on a dog's cheek. Amazon has some great reviews from parents who state that it's a cute story, has great rhymes, and their kids really love it.

It's also come on the radar of veterinarians, dog trainers and behaviorists, and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. The biggest problem are the pages that advise children to: "Smooch your pooch to show that you care. Give him a hug anytime, anywhere."

While these words sound innocuous enough to most people, to a professional in the world of canines they evoke horror. A display of affection by kissing and hugging is a part of what we humans do. But this kind of display can and does end up with children getting bit. When a dog puts his paw over the back of another dog it is not a friendly gesture. And many dogs do not like being restrained -- which is what a hug really is. Kissing can also bring problems since it usually places a child's face right next to a dog's teeth.

Yes -- I do hug and kiss my dogs all the time -- and they tolerate it because I am their human, and because I know when they are not in the mood for me to do it and want to be left alone. I think many dogs are the same way -- willing to tolerate the silliness of the people they live with. And I think it's unrealistic to expect people - especially children, to NOT ever display affection by hugging and kissing their dogs.

Dr. Sophia Yin wrote a really fantastic review of the book on Amazon detailing why this is an inappropriate book and I don't want to use my blog to re-write something that she already put so concisely. I'd rather address some of the reviews that were written after hers and those who concurred with her concerns.

Many of these reviewers stated that the book does not advocate that children go up to strange dogs and hug and kiss them, and so didn't see why the book was a problem. The problem is that children should be taught that even THEIR OWN dogs really don't like to be hugged and kissed, and that children should respect their own dog's feelings. The line, "Give him a hug, anytime anywhere" doesn't take into consideration the fact that no one wants a hug anytime, anywhere!

Additionally it's my thought that children who have extremely tolerant dogs at home are more likely to get bit by dogs in the homes of others. They many times have not been taught that not all dogs are as tolerant as their own, and that they need to behave differently around other dogs.

Some of the Amazon reviews stated that the book was a good opportunity for parents to have a discussion about appropriate interactions with dogs. The problem with this comment is that many adults don't understand dog behavior and don't realize what inappropriate human/dog behavior is.

A case in point is the reviewer who stated that the book "...does not encourage kids to kiss strange dogs or dangerous dogs." Another stated that "...adults can take proper precautions by explaining that it is not a good idea to hug or kiss any strange animals." In their minds the only dogs that would take offense to their children kissing or hugging them are dogs they don't know, or dangerous dogs. Would they be surprised if kids were bit hugging the neighbors dog? What about a dog owned by a relative that they visit frequently? Most kids are bit by dogs they know -- not by stray dogs.

When I do education programs on dog safety I hear many stories of people who have been bit by dogs. They aren't all children - one parent told me that she had been bit by a friend's dog when she went to hug it, and a child told me that his Mom had been bit by a dog after she hugged it -- no, it was not the same woman! And most of the children who get bit by dogs were attempting to hug them when it happened.

My last concern about this book is that it apparently does have cute illustrations and the rhyming makes it fun to read. Kids are so impressionable and if they enjoy the book may want to act it out -- with perhaps negative consequences.

Again -- I want to state that I do think it's unrealistic that people and their kids won't kiss and hug their own dogs. But children and their parents need to be educated that dogs really don't like this type of affection, and they need to respect their furry family member's feelings and keep that kind of affection to a minimum at times when the dog is in the mood for it. And this book really doesn't help them do that.

Patience is a Virtue

I think more than anything else in my life, working with dogs has had the biggest impact on my capacity to be patient. Dogs really can humble you -- once you think you have them figured out, they throw you a curve ball.

And I haven't learned to just be patient when working with dogs -- patience has permeated other aspects of my life. I've learned to empathize when dog owners are experiencing behavior problems, and when they're struggling to teach their own dog something new. I've also learned to be more patient in the non-doggy aspects of day to day living.

The current semester of PETS (Positive Empathy Training for Success) program I'm doing with Lad Lake -- a school for at-risk kids, has been underway for a month now. This is the third semester I've done this program, and this is the youngest group of kids that have participated. They range in age from 11 to 14 years of age.

PETS involves 20 minutes of PowerPoints on training, behavior and other dog related topics, and the last part of the hour has the kids working with shelter dogs. I've had to be more patient with this group of kids because they are younger, and so it's a bit more difficult for them to understand some of the concepts in the presentations. I've had to learn to go a bit slower with them, and to review concepts and terms as we go.

Some of the kids are students at Lad Lake precisely because they lack self control and don't have much in the way of patience. This is very evident with one of the PETS participants in particular. He is an extremely bright kid who loves to participate in discussion. He has very good problem solving ability. But he's a bit bossy with the other boys and interrupts when someone else is talking. He has so much promise if he can just learn some patience.

That's what the PETS program is all about. We still have 3 months to go in this semester, and I hope working with HAWS dogs can make a difference for him.

San Francisco SPCA

I’m away from HAWS for the week, but definitely not away from animals. Each year I travel to a different city to attend the annual Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference. This year it’s in San Francisco – a city I’ve never visited before.

A lot of shelter employees like to visit shelters in other areas out of curiosity to see what others in the sheltering world are doing. The San Francisco SPCA is fairly well known for having a state of the art, beautiful facility – with housing for the animals that is just as nice as the Marriot where I’m staying this week. I was interested to see if they actually lived up to all the hype.

I honestly have never seen such a gorgeous place for dogs and cats. The animals don’t stay in caging, but in rooms with glass windows and doors – honestly they were really more like suites. Most of the dogs and cats shared space with another of the same species, but they had so much space they really didn’t seem to mind. The dog rooms were about 8 by 8 feet, and the cat rooms only a little smaller. Most of the rooms were decorated with wall hangings, and had several beds. Some of the rooms even had TV!

Here’s a video of a cat watching a squirrel DVD.

Campers Training Shelter Dogs

One of the camp activities that the older kids enjoy doing is dog training. We put the kids into groups of three, and each group is given a dog to train. Many of the dogs haven't ever learned anything from their previous owners, and many are a challange to work with.

The kids enjoy being able to spend time with a shelter dog, but they also learn that training a dog can be much more difficult than it looks. Some of the dogs truly want to figure out what the kids want, but just can't figure it out. It's a typical case of inter-species failure to communicate.

We don't tell the kids what they have to teach the dogs -- this is camp after all and it's meant to be fun. But we do show them how to teach whatever interests them, and sometimes make suggestions.

This summer HAWS adoptable dogs learned how to sit and lay down (and some learned to calm down in the presence of kids -- an invaluable lesson!), spin, shake, rollover, go through a hula hoop, crawl beneath chairs, and just look so cute that the kids had to give them free treats.