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. 

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.

Abandoned!

One Monday last January I was walking out to my car in the parking lot here at HAWS, and I saw something moving behind my wheel. It was small and initially I thought it was a cat. As I got closer I realized it was a puppy.


She tentatively came out from behind the wheel of my car and I picked her up. The temperature that day was only 17 degrees and she was shivering. I shoved her under my jacket and ran her back inside. We ended up calling her Roo -- short for Subaru.


Roo was lucky that I happened to go out to my car at 3:30 in the afternoon while it was still light out, rather than 5:30 when I would leave for the day. Had she been able to survive for another two hours it's likely that I would have either run her over with my car, or just plain never noticed her, leaving her to freeze to death. She ended up being adopted by a family -- a very lucky puppy indeed.

A few weeks ago someone brought in two boxes of rabbits that she found at a local park. There were 6 adult rabbits, and 2 babies -- so tiny that they looked like blind, hairless mice. The two babies didn't survive.


Recently several cages of rats were brought in. A guy came back from vacation only to find that his roommate had moved out but hadn't bothered to take his pets with him.

Last week we got a call from a local store -- there was a domestic rabbit running around their parking lot, and they were afraid it would get hit by a car. They requested that HAWS come out to get it.

All of these animals were abandoned by the very people who were supposed to be taking care of them. And these are probably the lucky animals. We really don't know how many abandoned pets DON'T survive.

Animals who have been raised to rely on humans for their every need generally don't have the survival skills to make it in our world. They risk starvation, getting hit by cars, attacked by other animals or succumbing to the weather or illness. I would guess that most die a horrible death.

One of the reasons HAWS was created was to provide a sancturary for animals who had no place else to go. I'm always in awe at the professional demeanor of our adoption staff; when taking in adopted animals they are very non-judgemental and try to make it as easy as possible for people who can longer take care of their pets, or just plain no longer want them. No matter what the reason for surrender, I have never heard them berate someone giving up their pet.

While giving up an animal may be emotionally difficult, or just plain embarressing -- the best thing for the animal is to ensure that they are given to someone who can care for them properly and keep them safe. If the only options are abandonment or facing your fears by bring them to a shelter, then please do the right thing for your pet and bring them to the shelter. Not only can you give your pet the final gift by doing the right thing, you can also give us information that will allow us to find the right home.