My Ideal Clients:

Are almost always looking for solutions to help them with a new dog:

• Many have recently acquired a puppy.
• Many have adopted a dog from a rescue organization.

Most of my clients have owned dogs before.  But for some, this is their very first dog … a dream come true.

Many of my clients are starting over after having to say goodbye to a former dog, possibly one of the great loves in their lifetime.  Starting over is so very hard.  It is hard for the new dog, too, as the previous dog was a very tough act to follow.  The owners know they shouldn’t compare, but they do.  They want to love this new dog just as much, but that kind of love doesn’t happen overnight.  They appreciate my understanding and help through the early stages of this new relationship.

My ideal clients have oftentimes forgotten how demanding a new puppy can be.  The last dog, more often than not, was a mature senior when it transitioned.  Not only do they not remember the former dog ever having been this difficult but they are worried that there may actually be something wrong with this new dog.

My ideal clients see this new dog as different and perplexing.

My ideal clients’ circumstances may have changed:

• Sometimes they are in a new phase of life themselves, which requires new ways of dealing with things.
• One person may be a new mother and this is the first time she has had a puppy and a toddler.
• Another person may have been single before but is now in a relationship, with a partner to consider.  Perhaps other dogs, too!
• Then there’s the couple that always had children around to help them raise the new puppy, but now they are retired and their children have grown and have families of their own.
• Many clients have retired recently and are looking forward to doing things with their dog that they were unable to do before.  They may want the dog to travel with them, or perhaps they want the dog to volunteer with them as a therapy dog.
• Others had raised their previous dog at a home where they had land for the dog to run on and just be a dog; now they have moved into town and they need to walk the dog and manage it differently.
• Many owners have trained dogs before but it was a long time ago.  They, too, have the sense that much has changed in the dog training industry, and they are trying to sort through all of information that is out there.
• Some of them acquired a new dog through no planning of their own.  They have to get past that, on top of everything else.

My ideal clients are all human beings interested in learning how to teach, lead and manage a dog.

My ideal clients believe that we learn as much from our mistakes as we do our successes, and probably more.

My ideal client believe in using rewards as well as consequences when necessary.

My ideal clients are familiar with the road less traveled and know the benefits of taking it.

Sometimes they are humbled by the fact that they have to take time to earn their leadership.  They may have thought they were just entitled to it.  Learning to teach requires behaving in a patient manner.  Many of my ideal clients had former self-talk that declared, “I don’t have patience.”

The mechanics of dog training require a certain degree of coordination and learning new conditioned responses.  Many of my ideal clients have to overcome their former self-talk of,  “I’m a klutz and I’m no good at this.”

Being a great teacher can mean stepping up but leaving temper behind.  Anger shows up a lot in dog training.  My clients (like myself) learn how to manage it, and find that skill rewarding in all aspects of life.

Human beings are often afraid of stepping into whoever it is they need to be.  All human beings are full of emotions, and being a great teacher oftentimes means being who you need to be for someone else … regardless of whether it comes naturally or not.

This is a lot to learn, but once again, when we grow as teachers we grow as humans.

My ideal clients absolutely love watching me train their dogs.

My ideal clients are eager to learn.

They trust me to lead them where they want to go.

They are inspired by me … and many of them do love me.

They love the fact that I care as much about them and their life as I do their dog.

They agree with the way I approach their situation and they appreciate my ability to take an integrated approach.

My ideal clients have been touched by God’s love, if by no other source than a dog.

My clients love hearing my stories about the divine’s presence in my life.

My clients are open.

My ideal clients are committed to the outcome.  They are willing to be coached and make the changes necessary to get there.

They are willing to accept a new way of looking at their situation.  They feel enlightened and relieved.

My ideal students are ready for this teacher to come.

After people work with me they have new skills that they will take with them forever.  They now have a dog which is filling a need in their heart, and their lives are more harmonious.  Their very self-esteem has been bolstered because they were successful in accomplishing something they once had no idea how to master.  They are a little stronger in their faith that everything does indeed happen for a good reason.  They have heard over and over again to trust their own intuition.  They have learned that intuition is how the universe speaks to us.  They are not alone, and hopefully, they have also learned to have faith in a life hereafter.

I remember hearing Barbara DeAngelis say that wisdom is a digested form of information.  I believe that my experience brings with it a lot of wisdom.  My ideal clients are grateful for it.

For a kid, one of the advantages of going to school in India is that almost every other week there was a day off from school to celebrate one of India’s religious holidays.  It was on one of these days off that mother and I set out with our driver to go shopping.  We had only driven a short way when we found ourselves stuck in traffic and in the midst of a sea of people celebrating: millions of people parading beautiful statues of the Gods they worshipped through the streets.  They were all headed towards the same destination, which was to release these beautiful statues to the sea.  Most would walk with their statues out into the ocean as far as they could go, while other, more affluent people, were in boats which could travel out farther to release their precious symbols of their faith, a gift of recognition to their Gods.

I remember looking at my mother as we sat in the back seat of the car.  I was puzzled because of what I had been taught in the church where I had grown up in Des Moines.  I had always heard that you had to believe in Jesus Christ to enter the kingdom of God.

So, as I looked at these millions of people who were celebrating a different faith honoring different Gods, their Gods, I had to ask my mother, “Mom, since these people don’t believe in Jesus Christ does that mean that all of these people are going to hell?”  My mother looked at me and then looked back at the multitudes of people celebrating.  She shrugged her shoulders in an “I don’t know” fashion while shaking her head.  But I got my answer!  I knew in that moment that there was a whole lot more to religion than what I had been taught.  I knew that worshipping God was what was right, and that each of us learns about God through different means.  It was then and there that I came to understand the meaning of “God is everywhere!”

How does a dog experience time?  We humans can only observe and speculate.

Without a doubt, true stories abound of how a dog knows exactly what time it is.  When dogs were allowed their freedom (and the world was simple then), a man might walk to work, escorted by his dog, only to see his loyal companion arrive back at work’s door step precisely at the time his day was done, his loyal companion there to escort him home again.

When times were simple, many children also had their dog escort them to the bus stop on the way to school only to find their dog sitting there waiting at the precise time the bus brought them home.  Without a clock and without numbers, the dog still knew what time it was.

Anyone who keeps a rigid schedule feeding their dog at the same time, going to bed or getting up at the same time, has observed how their dog knows exactly what time it is.  Dogs live in the present.

What then of the naysayer?  The naysayer doesn’t understand how his dog can act so full of joy upon his return, having been gone for only a few minutes.  The naysayer believes that if the dog truly understood time, then his dog would not act joyful in the same way it does if he had been gone all day.  The naysayer believes the dog should behave differently and show different levels of joy for the different amounts of time.

The naysayer is a human being requiring someone being absent from his life for a longer period of time to experience that level of joy.  Whereas, the dog still lives in simple times.

We kindred spirits experience time as an emotion.  When our time is full of fun and joy the time goes by so quickly.  When worries fill our human minds, time goes by so slowly.  When trauma happens people recall it as if time stood still for a moment.  We experience time as an emotion.

The dog experiences your return as an emotion too, an emotion full of joy.  You see, it didn’t matter how long you were gone.  Your dog experiences your return with the same level of joy each and every time.  Lucky dog!!!  Ahhh … to be a dog for just one day…..

In order to have a healthy perspective on the subject let us first remember that we love our dogs because they are dogs, and that digging is an innate behavior in dogs.  A dog’s natural ability to dig allows it to perform certain rewarding tasks:

• Digging helps a dog hunt for creatures living underground.
• Digging can lead to treasures buried in the ground (for example: those black tubes we call drip systems).
• Digging creates more comfortable living conditions because the ground is always cooler a few inches down, especially near concrete foundations.
• Digging can be a way of escaping an environment.
• Digging lets a dog store something so it can be found later.
• Digging may be purely recreational.

So, what can you do?

If and when your dog’s digging is presenting you with a problem remember that fixing the blame on the dog will never fix the problem. You will feel empowered when you accept responsibility for controlling the environment and managing the behavior.

Ask yourself why your dog digs.  What reward is your dog looking for?  In spite of what you may think, I promise you that this is not just a covert means your dog has discovered as a way of irritating you.  People can be spiteful, but not dogs.

Redirecting the Behavior

• If you know that your dog is digging to find a cool comfortable place to lie down, perhaps you can create such a place.  It could be an alternate digging spot where you actually wet the ground down to encourage your dog to dig there instead.

• If you know your drip or watering system is motivating the digging then it may be helpful to change the timer, which may also reduce the temptation.

• Perhaps it’s time to create a cool comfortable place on the porch or in the shade. Hammock style dog beds keep dogs up off of hard surfaces, which is also better for their hips.

• When your dog is digging for treasures and entertainment you could purposely bury some toys or bones in an area you would prefer it to dig in.

• Burying dog stools (lots of dog poop) in areas that are unacceptable to dig in is a natural deterrent to digging for a dog.

• If you believe your dog’s digging behavior is motivated by frustration and boredom then an exercise plan and a daily routine it can count on will help.
• Leaving your dog indoors during the heat of the day could definitely reduce its motivation.

• Installing a dog door gives your dog the ability to get in out of the heat.

• Another popular solution is to remove the temptation by installing an Invisible Fence® Brand solution.  This will support you by giving your dog the freedom it needs and protecting those landscaped areas at the same time. 
  

• Know that this too shall pass!

And what shouldn’t you do?

• Don’t take it personally.
• Or … scold your dog in the aftermath.
• Or … let your dog watch you fill in holes that it has dug.
• Or … let your dog watch you plant flowers or bury drip systems.
• Or … let your dog watch the landscaper plant flowers or work on drip systems.
• Or … give your dog access to freshly laid sod.
  

Arguing with a dog’s natural instincts is arguing with Mother Nature!

 You will lose! 

 The solution is always found by showing good leadership!

You can control the environment and manage behaviors.

In my work as a dog behavior specialist, I see numerous cases of inappropriate dog aggression. Most dogs have some degree of natural protective instincts, and this is a good thing!  Being protective is part of a dog’s divine nature.  If it is appropriate for a dog to be protective of its home and property, then when is it too much of a good thing?

It is a rule of life is that too much of anything is not good.  The key is moderation. For people, the secret to living a fulfilled life is about balance.  Dogs need levels of moderation and balance in their lives, too.

One of my favorite stories is about a Native American Chief speaking to his grandson, teaching him about life’s lessons.  “Grandson, inside of every person there is a good wolf and a bad wolf.  The good wolf possesses those characteristics that you would think of as good qualities in a human being:  love, forgiveness, caring and sharing, integrity and honor.  All of these qualities that are good for the human spirit are what the good wolf is made of.  The bad wolf possesses other characteristics:  jealousy, anger, hatred, dishonesty and violence.  Characteristics that injure our souls.  All human beings have both a good wolf and a bad wolf inside, and throughout their lives they are going to battle.” The grandson inquired, “Well, Grandfather, which one will win?”  The grandfather replied, “Whichever one you feed the most.”

Lao Tzu was the first one to teach us to watch our thoughts.  As thoughts become our actions, our actions become our habits.  Our habits become our character.  Our character becomes our destiny.

This insight is also true for dogs.  Here we are kindred spirits.  Yes, dogs have thoughts that lead to actions, which become habits that influence their very character and can become their destiny as well.

The dog’s spirit also has a good wolf and a bad wolf.  The good wolf has all of the characteristics that we love about the dog:  intelligence, desire to please, loyalty, devotion, protectiveness, and most of all, their gift of unconditional love.  The bad wolf on the other hand has other  characteristics:  fear, anger, distrust and a willingness to injure another.  The bad wolf acts out as it rehearses aggressive behavior.

Statistically, we know that dogs on chains can have a greater propensity for biting.  This is a huge part of the reason that we have outlawed it in our community, as have many communities around the United States.

Residential dogs that behave in the same way are equally dangerous.

What is the connection to aggression and being tied up or confined all the time?  For many dogs it is the boredom factor that increases the aggression.

Some dogs, being bored and lacking freedom, begin entertaining their bad wolf selves by barking at passers by.  Here comes a person, the dog barks, “This is my territory,” and the passerby leaves.  Very rewarding for the dog!  “If I bark they leave! My barking works!”  Of course the dog will get bored with its own performance and notice that if it acted a little tougher it might scare people as well.  How fun that is!  Scare them and they leave!  “I am so tough.  I am so powerful.”  With all of this comes the adrenaline rush that makes it so rewarding.

The residential dog rehearses:  “If I could get over this fence I would bite you. There may be a glass window between us but if I could get out there I would bite you.”  The residential dog that rehearses this behavior from its home, to extreme levels (it’s the dog’s favorite form of entertainment and it does it frequently), becomes as dangerous to our community as the dog living on a chain behaving the same way.

Whatever the dog repeats becomes a habit, and habits become character, and character becomes the dog’s destiny.  Being so aggressive only increases the likelihood that the human guardian (not knowing what else to do) keeps the dog on the chain and/or the residential dog at home.  Unless someone intervenes!

Dogs That Live on Chains  &  Dogs That Live Behind Fences or Windows

Same Behavior    EQUALS     Same Result

What can you do?  Can you intervene?  Sharing this insight with people you know is a great start.  Most of our community is unaware.  People know to be wary of dogs on chains but they don’t realize that the residential dog rehearsing the same behavior is no different.

If you own one of these dogs, seek out a professional dog trainer for solutions.  We know how to put an end to feeding the bad wolf and how to start feeding the good wolf.

Finally, if you have dogs like this in your neighborhood, by all means take another route on your walk.  Most dog attacks that happen to people and people out walking their dogs are in residential neighborhoods.

You don’t want to feed the bad wolf!

Most people would agree that they would do almost anything to keep their dogs safe at home. We love our dogs; they are important members of our family. The idea of anything happening to them is horrifying. Yet thousands of dogs, even well trained dogs are still running away from home. What’s with that?

Dog owners are certainly better informed and more sophisticated than ever before. They seemingly have all the right tools to raise happy, well-trained, well-socialized pets. Many communities now have dog parks to help socialize and exercise your young dogs. Puppies are starting training at that critical age of eight to ten weeks. Most dog owners take their dogs thru obedience training to make sure they teach their pets to come when they call them. As a matter of fact the key reasons people train their dogs is to ensure that the dog will come when they call them so that they don’t have a dog that will run off.

So why then, when you did the puppy training, you went to obedience training, you even took your dog to doggy day care does this same dog take off when it gets out the front door? How did they learn that? One possible answer is that You may have been sending mixed messages. You may have taught your dog to do that.

When you and your dog go out the front door what do you do with them? If you’re like most dog owners you leave the property with your dog and take them for a walk. You’re the one that taught them when we go out front we just keep on going. That’s what’s fun! That’s how you get exercise! That’s how you see the world. Here in then lies the mixed message. You don’t want a dog that leaves the property but that’s what You always do with them.

It may be time for you to send a new message! Even better if you have a new puppy it’s a great time to teach your puppy what you really want them to know which is when we go out front we turn around and come back in. The good news is that you can retrain and establish new habits. A great exercise to do with your dog would be to go out the front door, go check the mail and come back in. Go out the front door and come back in through the garage door. Go out the garage door and come back in the front door. Go out, come in, go out, and come back in. This is what you want to communicate, and demonstrate. If you have flowers in the front yard, go out with your dog, water the flowers and come back in. Practice your obedience training in the front yard putting your dog in a sit stay and then calling them back in the house. You want your dogs experience to be predominantly that when you take your dog out the front door you end up turning around and coming back inside. It’s all about balance. Be creative and send the right message!

• How to Stop Jumping Up
• How to Stop Chewing
• Dog Behavior Problems (followed by a list of dogs’ innate behaviors such as chewing, barking, licking, digging, etc.)
• Correcting Bad Dog Behavior

The problem with this kind of language is that it has influenced ways of thinking to the point that people actually believe that not only are these behaviors bad, but that the dog is bad for doing them. The words we use create thoughts. Our thoughts about things are reflected in our behavior. It is an illusion and bad instruction to insinuate that anyone can stop all jumping. This just leads dog owners to believe that either they are failures, or there’s something wrong with their dogs. Once again, this kind of language suggests there is a problem within the dog.

Today, I have clients coming in saying things under their breath as if confessing to their dog’s sins. “My dog puts his feet up on me, isn’t that bad?” “My dog digs in the back yard; it doesn’t bother me, but isn’t that bad?” “My dog’s a jumper!” What have we taught these people? What have we done to the dog? This madness needs to STOP!!!!

Behavior Overview
Do you realize that all behavior is either innate or learned? This is true for people as well as animals. Innate behaviors are never going away for good, but they can be managed. Only learned behaviors can be extinguished.

Let’s take a person for example: Is breathing innate or learned? The correct answer is innate, and we will breathe our entire lives. Now let’s take the example of a person smoking cigarettes. Would this behavior be innate or learned? The answer is learned, of course, and yes, a person can quit smoking cigarettes once and for all.

Now back to the dog, and let’s take barking for example. Is it innate or learned? It’s innate! Barking, licking and digging are all innate behaviors that are manageable, but they are never going away for good.

Likewise, to the dogs’ defense, all jumping for joy cannot be bad either. Expecting a little dog to never jump is about as ridiculous to me as a person who expects a dog to never bark. When we argue with Mother Nature we will lose!

The real message here is to live our lives accordingly … according to what is appropriate at the time. If Bobby, your twelve-year-old next-door neighbor, is coming to visit and he loves it and laughs and giggles when your dog greets him jumping and licking, then let it be. It’s not as if killing their fun would erase your dog’s desire or natural tendency to be a dog.

On the other hand, if it’s ninety-five-year-old Aunt Louise coming to visit, and just your dog bumping into her could knock her down, then you want to show good leadership and manage your dog. But you don’t get to holler, “Sorry Aunt Louise, that dog knows better!” He doesn’t know better. He is a dog.

What’s Consistent Is What You Say Goes!

One of my favorite mentors is Dr. Wayne Dyer. He is well known for the saying: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Believing the dog knows better places the responsibility on the dog and sets you up for disappointment. Assuming you need to manage your dog’s behavior will empower you. Once again, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!”

After all, the dog was created perfectly divine, just the way it is!

I rang the doorbell, which triggered a huge fiasco.  This family actually owned a number of dogs.  There were several English Pointers barking and running to the door, and a Border Collie.  The youngest daughter, who I’m guessing was probably nine or ten years of age, was screaming, “Don’t let the dogs out!”  This, of course, gave me some insight as to the state of things, as I squeezed my way in, heeding the daughter’s advice.

What I noticed immediately was that Malcolm, an older Border Collie, had a ton of staple stitches which went all across the back of the base of his head and continued underneath to the front of his throat.  This was a fearsome injury!  This was life- threatening damage, and in a moment, I knew that if the dogs were fighting to that degree, one dog needed to be placed in another home.  This ranked as some of the worst damage I had ever seen!  Nevertheless, I hid my initial shock, didn’t say a word about the injuries, and knew not to have my mind made up until I knew more.

Whenever I first enter a client’s home, I’m always looking to set up my workstation.  In other words, I like to sit at a table with chairs so that I can begin asking questions and make my notes.  We worked our way toward the kitchen table, and the whole family joined in, including the husband, wife, and two daughters.  As I was trying to get everybody corralled to the table I couldn’t help but notice the youngest daughter, almost hysterical about the dogs getting together, and worried about a fight.  She was yelling, “No!!! Don’t let the dogs get together!  They are going to get in a fight!”  And the mother’s reaction to this was even more peculiar.  She was very, very calm and said, “You know what? Don’t worry about it, honey.  They only fight when we are gone.”

What was very weird was looking at the youngest daughter, who was legitimately terrified about these dogs getting together and fighting, while both parents and the older sister were very calm and not even concerned.  Really?  Once again, the mother repeated in her calming voice, “Honey, don’t worry.  They only fight when we are gone.” Looking at the life-threatening injuries I wondered if the youngest daughter was the only one with good sense, or what the heck was going on here?

My interest was certainly peaked!  Getting to the truth of the matter, I learned that the owners believed that one of their dogs, Winchester, a one-and-a-half-year-old unneutered male English Pointer, had injured Malcolm, the eight-year-old Border Collie, while they were out of town.  They had a house sitter staying at the house, and she came home to find Malcolm torn up in the yard. Winchester was the only dog with him, and he also had a considerable amount of blood and stool on him.  This also meant that Malcolm was so terrified during the fight that he had let go of his bowels.

The husband shared that he had purchased Winchester as an eight-week-old pup. Winchester came from excellent breeding, and his sire and dame were award winning hunting dogs.  Winchester was purchased to be a hunting dog.  Malcolm and Winchester had lived together since Winchester came into the house at eight weeks. Truly, Winchester did seem happy, well bred, soft mannered and very stable.

My next question was, “What do you mean they only fight when you’re gone?”  They explained that the only time there had been a fight with injuries was this one time while they were out of town.  The owners acknowledged that there had been some growling going on over food and toys.  So my next question was, “Were there ever any injuries?” The answer was, “Oh no, no, just a little minor growling, and we would separate them, and that would be the end of it.”

So now, this is getting even more peculiar.  The types of injuries that Malcolm sustained are not first-fight level injuries. What I mean by that is that the level of force and injuries sustained during fighting tends to escalate with fights.  In other words, the very first fight between two dogs usually begins with noise and no injuries.  Then, as the fights continue, both fighters get more and more proficient and the degree of injuries escalate.  It might go from minor scratches to puncture wounds to lacerations requiring stitches.   I know that the level of injuries like the ones Malcolm had are not with a first-time fight.  Not that anything is impossible, but let’s just say it was highly improbable.

The next thing that made no sense is that dog fights are much more likely to occur when people are present, as opposed to when the owners are gone.  As a matter of fact, it’s suggested statistically that approximately 90% of the time, fights only occur when people are there. The reason is, people tend to enroll themselves in fights in a way that dogs actually find rewarding.  A more common progression would be that there would have been a number of fights when the owners were there, and that the fights would have escalated to the degree that there are injuries.  First, it starts with minor injuries, and then the injuries get more and more severe until the dogs and owners are going to the vet for medical attention.  Even at this level, the owner’s negative reinforcement is a huge reward, but there is still hope for help.  Once I hear that the dogs are now fighting even when the owners are nowhere around … now you have two dogs that have grown to truly dislike each other, as opposed to doing it for negative attention.  This really adds to the severity of the situation.

Two dogs fighting with no one around indicates I am dealing with two dogs that really do hate each other.  This wasn’t the case.  These dogs didn’t hate each other.  They were running around together.  The whole story was very, very peculiar.  So, what really did happen?  The owners don’t know.  They were out of town on a vacation.  They had a house sitter at the house.  The house sitter came home and found Malcolm injured …  in the backyard … lots of blood everywhere … defecation on him … and the only other dog that had both blood and stool on him was Winchester.  The house sitter surmised that Winchester must have attacked Malcolm.  The backyard was very secure and a coyote could not possibly have jumped into this yard.

They took Malcolm to the veterinarian.  The veterinarian’s report was that it looked like two crushing blows with four different puncture wounds in different areas and two bites. The crushing blow description was due to the fact that the tissue in that area was dead, and that the ear was injured so badly that they had to do reconstructive surgery to get it back in place.

Assuming that Winchester had done this to Malcolm, the house sitter didn’t dare bring Malcolm back to the house.   As a matter of fact, Malcolm went to stay with the owner’s family while he was recovering, and once he had recovered enough he recently returned home. The owners called me in because, of course, they wanted to avoid another dogfight.

Things are just not adding up!  I look at Winchester, and Winchester is a bird dog.  He is a well-bred bird dog.  Winchester has a very gentle mouth.  As a matter of fact, the owners say of all the dogs, Winchester has the gentlest mouth. This dog was bred to retrieve a bird without crushing it!  Nothing was adding up, and as I looked at Winchester I was even more convinced that he is not even physically capable of doing that kind of damage.

Nothing about this story was making sense.  It didn’t make sense that their first fight with those kinds of injuries occurred when the owners were gone.  That would occur with two dogs that hate each other.  I didn’t see that at all.  Winchester did not look physically capable of inflicting the kind of damage or crushing blows that were described in this assault.  Then next question was (because behavior never lies), “When Malcolm came home, was he afraid of Winchester?”  The answer was, “Absolutely not.  No. They are not afraid of each other at all.”  Now, considering two dogs that have been in that kind of fight, and Malcolm with those kinds of injuries:  Malcolm would have come home and been terrified of Winchester.  And he was not.

My conclusion … Winchester did not do it.

What I visualized, I said, was that Malcolm was in the backyard, basking in the sun.  They said, “Of course, he always does.”  The other dogs were probably indoors.  I looked around the yard.  There was no way a coyote got in the yard.  The conclusion had to be that a bobcat, or perhaps a mountain lion, jumped in the yard and attacked Malcolm with crushing blows, whereby Malcolm had bled and defecated.  He knew that he might die.  Winchester was probably the first dog out the dog door followed by all the rest of the dogs, which sent the bobcat, or whatever the assailant, running.  The likelihood is that Winchester was the only one that had blood and stool on him because he enrolled himself in the fight to save Malcolm.

The family was totally relieved, and this made a lot more sense.  The youngest daughter rejoiced.  There was no way in the world Winchester was guilty of the crime he had been accused of.

The evidence did not add up.

The dog she has now is a huge, powerful, unneutered, young male Doberman that she may or may not breed.  He really is a stunning specimen of a dog.  Her challenge with him is walking him on-leash in the morning.  He gets all supped up, and I do mean supped up, when it’s time to go for a walk.  I need to add here that he’s very manageable on-leash under all other circumstances. It’s only the morning walk, and specifically, in their neighborhood, where he loses it.

Now, I haven’t seen it, but she says he stands on his hind legs and just screams when he sees another person with a dog.  Apparently, he also wants to chase cars and joggers – and heaven forbid if a rabbit runs by. He creates a big scene, and she is afraid to walk him for fear of being hurt.  When I say fear of being hurt, that goes for both of them; she is afraid of being injured, and she is also afraid of him injuring himself with the equipment she had tried so far.

When he was a puppy, she had clicked, and treated him for keeping the leash loose, but it wasn’t long before that lost his interest on the morning walks.  There were too many other things that were much more interesting.  So she tried the head collar, the slip chain and the prong collar as well, all to no avail.  It was very clear to me that the electronic training collar was going to be the equipment of choice; plus, it would give her the off-leash control she needed around her own property.

I might add that she, like most people, struggled with the idea of using an electronic consequence.  So I prepared her and her dog well over a week in advance by having her put the collar on and off with no rhyme or reason.  The purpose of doing this is that we want the dog to have a positive association with the collar.  This particular collar also has a pleasant tone feature that we use the same way as you would use a clicker.  The collar would go on. At some point she would do some training, using food as a reward and pushing the tone button in association with feeding.  Doing this in advance ensures that the dog will only associate the new consequence of unpleasant electronic stimulation with his behavior in the moment, not with the collar itself.  It all went smooth as silk.  He received a consequence timed perfectly with inappropriate behavior, he understood, and it was no big deal. It was both safe and effective.  The owner was thrilled, and they can now go for safe walks in the morning.  All of her neighbors that showed up with their dogs as a planned distraction were equally impressed.

Near the end of our walk, along came a man with his two dogs, a Jack Russell and a medium-sized mixed breed.  We could hear him start yelling at his dogs as soon as he saw us.  Both dogs were wearing harnesses and both were pulling like crazy, especially the Jack Russell.  That neighbor’s management tool was his temper, and it didn’t work at all.  Evidently the whole neighborhood is used to hearing him scream at his dogs.

Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?  I guess it’s just a choice!