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. 

Camp at HAWS

Since HAWS accepts all different types of animals, we get many species that other shelters don't experience.  It makes it interesting to work here and interact with animals I would never have had an opportunity to work with otherwise. 

This means that the education department also has the opportunity to share our knowledge and interactions with many different types of animals with the participants of our programs.  Since we've just finished our third week of HAWS Kids 'N Critters Summer Camps, we've been able to do just that with the campers that are attending our programs. 

Domestic rats are a personal favorite of mine.  They get a bad rap because of the poor reputation their wild relations have, but they are actually wonderful pets.  Not only are they entertaining to watch as they move about their habitat, but they are extremely smart and social animals.  If they're used to being handled they are very snuggly, and can be taught to do tricks and come when called. 


A new species to me is the African Sidenecked Turtle.  I first learned about these guys when one was surrendered to HAWS a few months ago.  Native to Africa they can't pull their heads all the way into their shell, so turn their head sideways. 
Voodoo the snake isn't available for adoption, but rather an education snake on loan from a fellow employee.  The kids really enjoy Voodoo the corn snake.  While he's 4 feet long, he isn't very wide and easily handled, which is why corn snakes make such great pets.  Many of the kids are interacting with a snake for the first time when they meet Voodoo, and find out that not only is he not slimy, but he's actually pretty fun to handle. 

Don't get the wrong idea.  The campers get plenty of times with dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs.  But coming to camp allows them to learn about other types of animals as well.  And we still have room in many of our up-coming sessions.  So if you know an animal loving kid who wants to have fun this summer give us a call!

Fun on the Farm

The Education Department has two seasons -- the school year and camp.  While we have already started our summer camp sessions,  I wanted to recap some recent adventures from our school year. 

The first was our Critter Club's recent field trip to Heartland Farm Sanctuary.   This was our club's second visit, the first being a year ago.  Many of the kids were new to Critter Club and this was their first visit.  The kids who had already been on the field trip were thrilled to be able to go again since they loved the experience so much the first time. 

The year the weather was much better and the kids had a great experience helping out with farm work.  They cleaned chicken coops, cleared manure from the goat pen, mucked out some stalls, and made sure that animals had food and water.  We left the farm that afternoon tired, happy, and feeling good about contributing our time to helping needy animals. 

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The next story is about a program I started at Saratoga STEM Academy in Waukesha.  Based on my success with working with kids from Hadfield Elementary during spring break camp and having them do a canine cognition study, I decided to see if I could get a similar program going at a middle school.  A STEM school seemed like the perfect place to implement such a program.  Luckily the staff at Saratoga agreed with me and were really excited about a collaboration.

My program ran during the Connect Session at the school over a period of 10 weeks.  Connect is the hour during lunch in which kids have options to engage in different activities, programs, or just do homework.   Ten students were interested in learning about dog cognition and enrolled in the program. 

During the course of the session I showed a lot of videos on cognition studies being done with various species of animals, talked about the difficulties that a person runs into with animals such as the "Clever Hans Effect", and had the kids come up with their own study to be implemented at HAWS. 

The study they came up with was a variation of the Social Eavesdropping study in which a dog observes someone begging for food from two individuals -- one of whom is generous and gives the dog food, and the other a selfish person who says "No".  The dog is then released to see which of the two individuals he approaches. 

The Saratoga group put an interesting twist on it.  They decided to see if the dog was more or less likely to go to the owner if the selfish person was the owner of the dog, rather than a stranger. 

While the sample size was only 11 dogs, the majority of the dogs did go to their owners rather than to the generous person.  The kids came to the conclusion that social interaction was more important to dogs than the opportunity to obtain a treat. 

I was really proud of the work they did on this project, and especially proud at their conclusion of the data.  I'm hopeful that I'll be able to do the program at Saratoga again next year, and perhaps even expand it to other schools in Waukesha County. 

Ask the Dog

It's Dog Bite Prevention week, although I personally believe that we should prevent dog bites every week throughout the year. 

The purpose of Dog Bite Prevention week is to educate people so that dog bites can be prevented.  I've been a humane educator for 9 years, and have gone through a lot of educational materials with this goal in mind.  The information I give children is constantly evolving as I try to decide what is most important.  I try to keep in mind that too much material will cause the message to be lost, and less is sometimes more.

A common aspect of most dog safety presentations is to ask the owner of the dog if a child want's to approach and pet the dog.  This is a really great habit for both children and adults to get into.  Some dogs are not comfortable with strangers and some are nervous around children.  Asking the owner first allows the owner to keep the dog safe if this is the case. 

Recently I've started to incorporate a new part to my presentation.  It's fantastic to ask the owner, but there's someone else who should be asked before a child pets a dog, the dog himself.  While a dog can't respond with a verbal "yes" or "no", it's true that actions speak louder than words.  I tell children that they should be standing several feet from the dog and owner, and after the owner has given permission they should pat their legs and greet the dog.  If the dog wants to say "hi" he will come to them.  If he doesn't he may stay where he is or walk away from the child.  Either way he's letting the child know if he wants to be petted or just isn't in the mood.

One of the things I like about this is that many times I've seen children approach the dog, start to pet, and ask all at the same time.  By telling them to allow the dog to come to them they truly have to wait for permission before they can pet the dog.  And it's always safer to let a dog come to you, rather than invade the space of a dog who may feel insecure or anxious about being unable to avoid the interaction. 

The other thing I like about this practice is that it allows the dog a choice.  Part of humane education is to help children develop empathy for living creatures.  Asking the dog shows them that dogs have feelings and preferences just like people, and will show children the feelings of others are important. 

Feline Safety Part II

In the last post I talked about cat safety and mentioned some of the things that both kids and adults should know about cats in order to keep human skin safe, and to ensure that the cat is comfortable with an interaction as well.  Here are a few additional pieces of information. 

When cats are lying on their backs they are in a defensive position – they are NOT asking for a belly rub.  In this position they have use of all their weapons:  4 claws and teeth.  Leave your cat alone when he does this.   Yes -- this was in the last post, but it's important enough to state another time.  A lot of people get bit or scratched when they mistakenly think the cat is asking for a belly rub. 

 

When cats get wound up because they see other cats or animals outside the window stay clear.  Sometimes cats get frustrated because they can’t get outside at the other animal and might bite anyone who gets close to them.  This is very similar to a person who's having a bad day and is crabby to the people around them, even if those people have nothing to do with why the day is going so badly.  While dogs will also display redirected aggression on occasion, it is much more common in our feline friends. 

Cats don’t wag their tails like a dog, however you can tell how a cat is feeling by looking at his tail. A cat with a tail that is rapidly twitching or lashing it back and forth is agitated and should be left alone.  A cat who is happy and relaxed will have a relaxed body posture and will slowly twitch his tail.  

Below is a diagram on cat body language which illustrates a little better how to read your cat's mood.   Now go grab that fishing pole toy and have fun with your feline friend!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feline Safety

A lot of humane education and animal safety material focuses on dogs.  This is understandable because our canine friends are more likely to come into contact with more people than any other pet.  We take our dogs out for walks, have them accompany us to pet supply stores, take them when we visit other people's home, include them in our vacations, and they tend  to be out when visitors come to our homes.  It makes sense that we'd want to focus a lot of education about being safe around dogs when so many children will interact with both their own dogs, and dogs that belong to other people.

It's quite a bit more difficult to find material on cat safety.  According to the Association of Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), cats are the number one pet in the United States, with an estimated 74 million cats being kept as pets and out numbering dogs by 4 million.  Cats may not pose as great a danger as dogs since they generally are kept in the house, and often will hide if they feel threatended.  However cats can defend themselves if they feel a need to, and their teeth and claws can cause a lot of damage to a child. 

Parents and humane educators should spend some time speaking to children about how to behave around cats, not only so that children are safe, but also to allow the cat to feel safe and free from harassment in his own home. 

The first thing a child should know is that cats get to choose if they want to play or be petted.  If a cat walks away or runs and hides, the cat is letting you know that he want's to be left alone.  Not only is this a great cat safety message, but it is also a great way to help children understand about respecting others!

Children should also know that cats can vocalize when they are angry or annoyed.  A cat will hiss or even growl when they are upset, and just like a dog growling, a cat is warning you to leave her alone or else.   It's important to listen to this audible warning, because the next step most likely will be the cat biting or clawing in defense. 

Just like a dog cats should not be disturbed when eating or sleeping, and people should never use their hands in play.  Cats are predatory creatures, and during play they use hunting behaviors including use of their claws and teeth to grab their "prey".  Using your hands is a really good way to get your cat to unintentionally hurt you.  When playing with a cat a toy should always be used.  A really great toy to use with a cat is a fishing pole toy where a toy hangs from a strong off of a stick.  Not only will this keep your skin safe, but cats love the unpredictability of the toy moving back and forth and up and down. 

Cats don't use as much body language as dogs do, but what they do display is important for children to know.  One important cat posture is unfortunately not well known by most people.  When cats are on their backs with all four feet in the air it is not an invitation for a belly rub.  This is a defensive position where all five of a cat's weapons (teeth and 4 sets of claws) are available to use on an opponent.  Many people are bitten or scratched by cats because they make the mistake of reaching down to pet a cat's belly. 

I'll post more tips and information about cat safety in my next blog. 

HAWS Alumni Reunion with Lad Lake

The second semester of HAWS PETS program for the Lad Lake students (a school geared towards at-risk boys) has gone very well.  Many of the boys this semester are returning from the first semester session.

Back in October the boys had several opportunities to learn about puppy development and play with some of HAWS adoptable puppies. One litter in particular was a favorite.  It consisted of 7 white and tan roly poly little pups that all had  "Jack" in their name in some form or another.

One of the puppies returned for a visit recently with his new owner.  Jack Dempsey has been re-dubbed Leo and at 6 months of age is much bigger than the last time the boys met him when he was a mere 8 weeks.   One of the kids knew who he was immediately -- without being told that this was a puppy he'd met once before.  And the boys were delighted to see Leo and have an opportunity to get to know him again. 

Leo's visit allowed the boys to not only meet up with an old friend, but also to use their training experience.  Leo's mom wanted him to learn to greet people politely, instead of jumping as many adolescent dogs do.  Additionally she wanted him to get a little more confidence as Leo is currently going through a developmental fear period. 

The boys have worked with many adoptable dogs here at HAWS while enrolled in the program and it was great for them to be able to see what happens after the dog is adopted.  The value of their work has been reinforced because the boys saw that what they do at HAWS makes a difference, and that the dogs go on to have wonderful homes with really great owners.