Does He Bite?

Dog owners are very used to this question, commonly asked by people who want to pet, but perhaps aren't used to dogs or have maybe had bad interactions with dogs in their past.  Usually most pet owners will respond with a "No, he's very friendly!"  However, the truth of the matter is that any dog will bite if they feel they have no choice to defend themselves. 

I read a recent news story out of Connecticut about a horse that bit a child.  A mid-level Appellate Court has ruled that the horse belongs to "a species naturally inclined to do mischief or be vicious".  This ruling came as a result of the owner's testimony that while he didn't know of any prior situation where the horse had ever bitten anyone, "Scuppy was no different than other horses that would bite if a finger was put in front of him".

The ruling saddens me for many reasons.  First of all, it shows a severe lack of education in animal behavior.  Animals are not people, and should not be expected to behave as such.  When I'm asked by children in HAWS education programs if an animal bites, I've sometimes said "Anything with teeth CAN bite", and then I'll go on to explain that if the animal feels threatened, or if the interactions are inappropriate an animal can bite.  That's why it's very important to understand an animal's natural behavior and show respect in your interactions.

Secondly, if the standard of determining if a species is vicious is that they have a tendency to bite if presented with a finger, we have many other species that can be added to that list.  Guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters and rats will many times bite if a finger is placed in front of their faces.  

The bite by this particular horse sounds as though it was serious (the child was bit on the cheek and tissue was removed), however this type of bite is a very rare occurrence between equines and people.  If we start to move towards zero tolerance of animal to human injury, our society will be left without being able to have pets of any kind.  And if we used that same standard towards ourselves, we ourselves would be deemed a vicious species. 

Caring for Cosmo

"I couldn't work there, I'd want to take them all home".    Those of us who work or volunteer at an animal shelter here this comment constantly.  Truthfully most of us find it very easy to not "take them all home" because we know our personal limits, and because we know we are making a difference with the work we do.  Seeing an animal go to their new home also makes our jobs very rewarding.

One situation that makes an animal tug at our heartstrings are those animals whose stay is longer than it should be.   Any length of time in a shelter is stressful to an animal.  They have to deal with noise, constant activity, being handled by different people every day, and a constant stream of members of the public walking past their cages.  Those with a stay that extends past a few weeks have it even more difficult, and those who end up calling a shelter their home for months on end come close to breaking our hearts.

Cosmo was one such dog.  A nine year old pit bull mixed with Dalmatian, Cosmo came to HAWS at the end of March because his owner was no longer in a position to be able to care for him. 

It's difficult to place pit bull mixes because of their reputation and because it can be difficult to find affordable home owners or renters insurance. 

It's difficult to place geriatric animals because people generally want younger animals they can enjoy for many years; adopters worry about losing a pet only a few years after it's come home with them, the expenses a geriatric animal can incur, and because adopters many times want younger animals because they are perceived as being able to fit better in their homes and are more playful.

A geriatric pit bull mix is a perfect storm of difficult placement, and that proved true for Cosmo.  Despite the fact that he is an affectionate, calm, loving dog and has a fun loving personality, it seemed that people couldn't get over his age and breed.  Cosmo lived at HAWS for over 5 and a half months. 

During this time every department at HAWS contributed towards making his stay comfortable and low stress, and/or helped promote him as a wonderful, adoptable animal. 

Cosmo is known for enjoying a comfortable bed. Our kennel staff made sure that Cosmo always had a very large, plush dog bed in his kennel.  Many times Cosmo could be seen completely relaxed laying upside down on his bed snoozing away. 

Our adoption staff often welcomed him to share the front office.  This way Cosmo got additional attention, had a break from the stress of the kennel, and was more visible to members of the public. 

Our mobile adoption staff took Cosmo out on the road with them.  He visited a few nursing homes, and went on other mobile adoption events.   This helped to promote Cosmo to people who may not have visited HAWS or our website. 

The behavior department's Mod Squad volunteers worked with Cosmo on a regular basis.  Through training he became a better behaved and more adoptable dog.  Working his brain also helped him deal better with the stress of the shelter environment. Our regular dog walkers made sure he was exercised several times a day. 

Our communications department went above and beyond to promote Cosmo on Facebook, Twitter and used him several times as HAWS Pet of the Week. 

The education department had students do some dog training with him during the school year, and had the camp kids play, bathe and walk him during the summer.  This helped him remain social to children and gave him a way to alleviate some of his stress. 

Our SNIP clinic veterinary staff cleaned his teeth and extracted a cracked tooth.  They also removed a growth off of his leg and gave him a complete physical before he went to his new home. 

The fact that all of our staff and many of our volunteers worked hard on Cosmo's behalf is what allowed him to live at HAWS successfully and eventually find his real home.  While this may not be the case for all of our animals since most of our adoptable animals go home within a few weeks of arrival, it is evidence that HAWS cares about our residents. 

Cosmo finally went home earlier this week to a family with two other dogs.   The report from the family said that he's doing great, is getting along with the other dogs, and is a pleasure.  The photo they sent shows Cosmo lounging on a comfortable dog bed.  Some things never change. 

Quinn and a Camper

Camp is coming to an end, but this last week was one of the most rewarding weeks for me.  A few days ago one of the campers attending our two-day camp burst into tears and started to panic when the counselors brought a Yorkshire Terrier puppy into the room.  It turns out that several years ago she was attacked by a dog and has a severe phobia to dogs. 

We decided that anytime we had a dog out the camper would be given the option to leave the room and go with a group that was visiting with a different animal.  And that worked really well the first day of camp.

The second day of camp as the kids were arriving I let the kids train my dog Quinn as I described in the blog post from a few weeks ago.  The girl with the phobia hadn't yet arrived, and when she approached the door to the room where we hold camp, one of the counselors reminded me about her fears.  I told her that we could have one of the counselors take her to another room with a guinea pig until the kids were done working with Quinn.  To my surprise she decided to come into the room, and took a spot as a human tunnel. 

After a time she started to visibly relax, and I was amazed when it was time for the kids to take turns becoming the "trainer" when her hand shot up.  She actually wanted to work with Quinn, and she got that chance.  While she wasn't 100% relaxed, she had a smile on her face as she led Quinn through the room and clicked and treated him for stepping over the kids laying on the floor as "logs" and through the legs of the kids acting as "tunnels".   We think that she felt comfortable with Quinn because he is a very low-key mellow dog. 

While I wouldn't recommend that parents use HAWS Kids 'N Critters Day Camp as a way for their children to work through animal phobias, it was nice to see a girl who is afraid of dogs enjoying herself with Quinn -- a dog who has a few fears of his own. 

Kids 'N Critters at Cozy Nook Farm

During the summer our week-long campers take a field trip to an animal related location.  We go to different locations throughout the summer so that repeat campers get new experiences. 

One of our favorite field trips is to Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha.  Cozy Nook is a small family owned diary farm with 65 cows and a couple of goats. The kids get to learn about life on a diary farm; milking the cows twice a day, how calves are raised, the work it takes to bring in crops of hay and corn, and other cow related information. 

For some of the kids this is their first visit to a diary farm and while the start out a bit cautious while interacting with the cows, after a short time they're enthusiastically hand feeding hay and petting their soft noses. 



It never fails that the campers are excited to see the barn cats -- which always astounds the counselors since they just spent most of the previous week at HAWS with many cats and kittens.  But one of the nice things about Cozy Nook is that all of their cats are spayed and neutered.  This helps support the message we give the kids the importance of spay and neuter to combat the cat over-population problem.  As a matter of fact Cozy Nook has used HAWS Project Guardian Program which offers free spay and neuter services for barn cats and other cared for out-door cats. 

One of the final aspects of this field trip is a hay ride to see the hay, corn, alfalfa and corn fields, and Cozy Nook's honey bee boxes.  The kids learn just how important bees are to pollinating crops. 

Hopefully our campers think about all the work that goes into their food the next time they drink a glass of milk or take a bite of cheese. 

Kids N Critters Camp and Dog Training

One of the benefits of my job at HAWS Waukesha is that not only do I get to bring my dogs to work with me, but I get to have use them in our education programs.  This turns out to be a win both for my dogs and myself, but also for the kids since I know my dogs will be safe for the kids to handle.   

During camp the kids take my dogs on walks, give them baths and help with training.   Over the years campers have helped me with honing Mystic's tricks, helped me proof him in behaviors such as stay and leave it, and have been entertained and educated as I used him for training demonstrations. 

This summer has seen the addition to my household of Quinn, a 9 month old border collie mix, which means that Quinn has also been an addition to our camp program. 

Quinn is a very different dog than Mystic.  He's a bit more mellow and laid back, but he also lacks confidence.  While he really loves kids, I've started to see him become more cautious in new situations.  Adolescent dogs can go through a fear period in which they exhibit fear in situations that they wouldn't have been afraid of when they were younger.  When this happens it's important to help them develop more confidence in these situations. 

The most important thing to remember about fear and animals is that it's not wise to force them to interact with something that scares them.  Locking me in a room for an hour with hundreds of spiders isn't likely to make me love spiders, but may actually traumatize me further and cause me to be even more afraid.  Helping me feel more comfortable around spiders by encouraging me and allowing me to make progress at my own pace is much more likely to be effective. 

Recently Quinn started displaying fear by barking and backing up at a park when he saw a woman who had been doing sit ups suddenly stand up.  I decided I needed to address this before his fear people doing unusual things escalated, and since we have so many kids at camp it's the perfect opportunity.  Additionally using the kids allows them to learn about dog training, and actually do some training with a dog themselves. 

Below is video of Quinn at camp.  One of the kids is his trainer luring him over kids who are laying on the ground.  Quinn is starting to enjoy this game, gain some confidence, and the kids think it's a lot of fun to not only be stepped over, but to have a turn as his trainer. 

Kindness Tickets

Part of humane education is teaching children respect and empathy for all living things, including people.  While we encourage kids to be respectful of each other, our curriculum has been focused on teaching children about animals.

This year HAWS started a new program at our camps called Kindness Tickets.  The first day of camp each camper is given 10 tickets and they are asked to write their names on the tickets.  They are encouraged to give the tickets to each other for any acts of kindness they might observe their fellow campers performing.  Counselors are also encouraged to hand out tickets. 

Several times throughout the week Kindness Tickets are counted and campers with the most tickets are rewarded.  Their own tickets don't count towards the total, nor can they count more than two tickets collected from the same person.  This prevents kids from swapping tickets in an effort to win.  Once they've been awarded a prize the winner's tickets are disposed of and they start without any, although they can win a second time. 

Initially our rewards were items from a prize box, but the enthusiasm for the program was lukewarm.   Then the dog trainer in me thought about what would really motivate the kids.  The answer is time with animals -- which is why the kids attend camp at an animal shelter to begin with.  Kindness ticket winners get 15 minutes with the animal of their choice with the option to ask a friend to share their animal interaction. 

Campers have told me that they really like the program.  One girl told me that at the beginning of the week she made an effort to be nice because she wanted to earn enough tickets to win, but by the end of the week she was being nice because it seemed like the right thing to do.    Maybe coming to Kids 'N Critters Day Camp will help kids learn to be kind not only to animals, but to each other. 

Stereotypes and Breeds

This blog post was written by a guest blogger.  Madison is 11 years old and has been attending HAWS Kids 'N Critter Camps for many years.  As a matter of fact she enjoys it so much she usually comes 4 or more weeks every summer. 

Madison is currently attending our Camp Gone to the Dogs in which a group of 3 campers is assigned an adoptable dog to care for during the week.  Yesterday Madison told me about something that she saw happen at the shelter that made her angry, and I asked if she would mind writing about it. Here it is in her words:

Hi, my name is Madison and I come to a lot of HAWS summer camps every year.  This week I'm in Camp Gone to the Dogs. 

While I was putting my dog back in his kennel there was a lady looking for a puppy, so one of the other campers told her to look at Bailey, and adorable pit bull mix puppy. 

The lady said, "Oh, you're cute!!!".  Then she looked at Bailey's information card and saw "pit bull mix".  The lady then said "pit bull mix! I thought you were cute!!!" in a snotty way. 

It shouldn't matter the breed of the dog; if the dog is cute, the dog is cute.  I felt sad for Bailey and angry at the lady for saying that about her.  I feel sad for Bailey and other pit bulls that may be getting passed up for adoption because of false stereotypes about the breed.  This is why people need to be educated about pit bulls and other misjudged breeds.  If this lady would have been educated or more open minded about pit bulls, Bailey could have had a much higher chance to get adopted soon.