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. 

Puppy Movie Night

She was enormous by the time she came to HAWS -- ready to give birth any day. Champagne ended up having 15 puppies in her foster home, an extremely large number of puppies for any dog to have to take care of! You can read about Champagne and her puppies on her blog.

A few weeks ago HAWS behavior manager Claudeen McAuliffe, Ph.D. mentioned that she really needed help with socializing the puppies to kids, and since I work with a ton of kids she was hoping I could help. And so we decided to host a night where kids could come to HAWS and socialize the puppies, socialize with each other, and have fun.

Our first "Puppy Movie Night" was last Friday evening. Forty-nine kids between the ages of 6 and 14 years of age came to play with puppies, eat pizza, watch a movie while munching on popcorn, and play with puppies again. By the end of it the puppies were tired, and the kids told me what a wonderful evening they had. As a matter of fact, many became very excited when I mentioned that we may have a "Kitten Movie Night" in the future.

Research and Responsibility

One of the things I attempt to teach children about being responsible pet owners is that the responsibility begins even before you bring the pet home. Learning as much about a the required care, behavior and handling of an animal before you get it helps a person be prepared to be a good pet owner and be able to provide for the needs of the animal.

Guinea Pigs, for example, are decended from the cavy in the Andes Mountains in South America (cavia aperea). Since they live near the equator the temperature is consistent and fairly warm -- with only about 12 degrees in variation from season to season. Guinea Pigs can very easily become sick if exposed to drafty or cold weather, and it's recommended that they be kept inside in an area away from open windows or air conditioning ducts.

Recently HAWS had some Guinea Pigs surrendered to us, and it was obvious that the owners hadn't done even rudimentary research before they brought them home.

The previous owners told us that they thought Guinea Pigs were outdoor pets, and so they housed them in a fenced in yard with a dog house for shelter and a heating lamp. When he called he said that he thought he had 8 of them to bring in, however after he rounded them up discovered that there were 11 total. It's amazing that they were still alive after being housed outside in Wisconsin in January!

The reason for surrender was that the owners decided that Guinea Pigs just weren't the right pets for them --mainly because they weren't social, however HAWS was told that the guinea pigs weren't ever handled either. Animals can only learn to be social if someone makes an effort to socialize them.

After being treated for lice, mites and fight wounds the males were neutered and are currently being socialized by our small animal volunteers. They are available for adoption -- but will require an adopter who understands that patience will have to be practiced since they are still afraid of people. The females are in foster care for a few months while we wait to see if any are pregnant.

While this scenario is a bit extreme, surrenders because of a lack of education are one of the biggest reasons shelters get animals. People purchase pets because they are cute or cool, and then get home and reality sets in. Shelters will continue to exist as long as there are people who obtain pets they don't know much about.

Rascal Went Home!

Something I hear on a regular basis from people who don't work at HAWS is "I could never work in a shelter". While it can be sad and heartbreaking to deal with the issues we see daily in an animal shelter, seeing animals go to new homes with good families makes it all worth our while. Earlier this week our entire staff was overjoyed when Rascal finally went home after living here for 5 months.

Rascal was brought to HAWS on August 5, 2009 because his owners couldn't have him at their new place. As a Pit Bull his breed automatically made him a difficult placement. Not only are people leery about adopting them due to their bad reputations, HAWS also has additional restrictions on them. Many insurance companies will not provide home owners or renters insurance to families with pits as pets, and so one of our requirements is proof of insurance. We also do a little more scrutiny on potential adopters since we want to make sure our adopted dogs actually end up as beloved members of the family -- rather then fighting other dogs.

Unfortunately Pit Bulls get a bad rap. Yes -- they are large powerful dogs, but then so are Labrador Retrievers and Malamutes. Yes, they can cause damage when they bite, but then so can Border Collies and Dalmatians. Pit Bulls are one of the breeds that lead the lists for bite statistics, but those statistics are misleading.

Are Pit Bulls more dangerous because they make the list, or do they make the list because there are many more of them in the USA than there are, as an example, Old English Sheepdogs? It's difficult to know. The AKC lists the top 10 breeds in the USA each year, but Pit Bulls are not an AKC breed and so wouldn't be listed since they can't be registered. As a matter of fact, Pit Bulls aren't really a breed, but more of a type and include the American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers and their mixes.

One of HAWS functions is as a bite case facility -- we quarantine animals who have bitten a human breaking skin to ensure that the animal does not have rabies. Many times we have at least one or more dogs in our kennels with "bite case" signs on their cages. Very rarely are those bite case dogs Pit Bulls (we see many other breeds such as German Shepherds, Cocker Spaniels, Jack Russel Terriers, Border Collies, Poodles, etc). On the other hand it's not uncommon for anywhere from 25%-50% of our adoptable dogs to be Pit Bulls or mixes thereof.

Pit Bulls were bred to be tough dogs who could physically with stand the damage incurred by fighting other dogs. But they were also bred to be extremely tolerant of human interaction -- with aggression towards humans being bred out of them. Historically Pit Bulls have been highlighted in a positive manner. Sergeant Stubby is the most decorated dog in US military history for his work in WWI. Petey in the Little Rascals movie was a Pit Bull, as was Tige from the Buster Brown advertisements. Helen Keller had a Pit Bull as a pet, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's dog, Jack the brindle Bulldog is believed to have been a Pit Bull.

Pit Bulls are not a breed for everyone. They do have strong powerful jaws and they physically are strong animals. They should be well socialized as puppies, and go through training so that they have good manners. HAWS only places dogs we feel will be safe members of the community -- and that includes Pit Bulls who go through the same behavior evaluation that our other adoptable dogs go through.

Luckily Rascal passed our behavior evaluation. Boys from our Lad Lake program worked with him twice a week to instill some training and help him with his mental exercise. And our wonderful dog walkers made sure that he got out every day, sometimes three times a day, for exercise and attention. We would have preferred that Rascal find a home in less time than five months. However he is a great dog and we're happy we could give him a chance. We wish Rascal and his new family many years of love and happiness.

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.