Winter Camp and 1000+ Words

Last week HAWS held our annual Kids N Critters Winter Camp.  32 kids between the ages of 6 and 13 years of age attended and were able to spend time with animals, bake cookies with animal shaped cookie cutters, make pinecone bird feeders, and get a short sled time. 

I know that wasn't 1000 words, but I thought I'd let some of the photos taken during the camp do the talking for me.  In the meantime I get to start planning for our summer camp that starts in June, 2013.  Enjoy!

 

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.

It's All Happening At the Zoo

Earlier this month the Critter Club took a field trip to the Racine Zoo for a program on careers with animals in a zoo.   After the program we spent quite a bit of time walking around and looking at the various animals in their exhibits. 

When we came to the bears I started reminiscing about going to the Milwaukee County Zoo as a kid with my family.  I happened to mention that we used to bring bags of marshmallows with us and entertained ourselves by throwing them to the bears.  The kids were amazed that the zoo allowed this, and it's a good reminder of just how far animal welfare has come.  Nowadays any zoo prohibits members of the public bringing food in to feed the animals.  And when you think about how many families visit a zoo on any given day, it clearly is not a good idea for bears to eat who knows how many pounds of marshmallows. 

The Milwaukee County Zoo was one of the early adopters of exhibits that attempted to provide animals with a more natural appearing habitat, rather than housing them in cages.  Over the years zoos have also become more aware of providing for their animals mental and emotional needs, in addition to their physical needs.  Good zoos have animal enrichment programs which allow animals to fulfill these needs. 

It makes sense when you think about the fact that in the wild an animal would spend most of it's waking time searching for food and some animals would also be searching for or building living space.  Captive animals have all of their needs provided for them, but they still have the instincts and habits in place that can cause extreme boredom and even depression if they aren't given an outlet for them.  

Zoos make an effort to constantly make changes to an animals environment, provide interactive materials as toys, and feed in such a way as to require the animal to hunt or forage their food.  Really great video and photo examples of these types of activities in zoos can be found at the Honolulu Zoo's website.

Zoos aren't the only organizations to make such changes to better the welfare of their animals.  In my next blog I'll talk about some of the changes that can be seen in animal shelters. 

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.  

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.   

Lad Lake and Tink

The Lad Lake program has started up again.  This semester we have a great group of 6 boys who are enthusiastic and fast learners. 

One of the dogs assigned to one of the groups is Tink -- a very small Chihuahau.  The boys learned very quickly that training an adult small dog can be a challange.   Many times they are difficult to lure into a down position, and in Tink's case, she was also difficult to lure into a sit. 

Quite by accident the boys discovered that she does a beautiful play bow, and they spent most of their training session with her on Wednesday perfecting this trick.  Within no time Tink was not only bowing reliably, but holding it for over a minute at a time while the boys reinforced her with tiny Chihuahua sized treats. 

It was fantastic that the boys went from frustration to pride at what they were able to train this little girl to do.   I'm sure it will make them look forward to future sessions of dog training at HAWS.

Critter Club Starts Again!

Summer is over, camp is a not so distant memory, and with the start of the school year HAWS begins again with our fall programs.

One of my favorite programs is Critter Club -- a club for students in grades 6th through 9th, in which members learn about animals, do special animal related projects, and volunteer on Saturday mornings helping at HAWS. 

Last night was the first meeting night.  Critter Club consists of 15 students.  Ten of them are returning Critter Club members, which speaks to how much fun the kids had in their previous semesters in the program.  It's nice to see familiar faces -- I've really gotten to know these wonderful kids during the time I've spent with them.  And I look foward to getting to know the five new members this semester as well.

HAWS Education Assistant, Megan Katzuba, is new to Critter Club as well.  Last night she did a great job training the kids on cat socialization, despite the rowdy mood that came from the kids reuniting with students they hadn't seen since the end of the last school year. 

After the brief training session the kids were given a quick tour of the cat area, had a chance to look at all the adoptable cats, and were allowed to take some of the cats out for a little bit of play-time.   

I'm really looking forward to this year's group of kids.  Many of them have attended HAWS Kids 'N Critters camps over the years, and I've watched them grow into some amazing people.  They are the future of animal welfare, and it's wonderful to see that they are going into that responsibility.