Happy Halloween 🎃🐾

 

Snow dogs

We had nine inches of snow that day in 2009, a rare occurrence in central Virginia. Murphy and Cody had a blast. Cody, as always, was in charge. What a pair. 💖

Murphy and Olivia

It started with an email. "I would like to expand our volunteer programs to include therapy dogs. If you would consider creating a therapy dog program at our domestic violence shelter, please let me know."

What an amazing opportunity! 

First, I took 30 hours of mandatory volunteer training. Next, Murphy and I gave a presentation to the shelter staff about the difference dogs can make in people's lives using animal assisted therapy. It didn't take much convincing. I took Murphy's leash off and he proceeded to charm the room. The atmosphere changed immediately. People smiled, some laughed and nearly everyone sat up from their business meeting slouch and leaned forward, reaching out for Murphy. Their body language was clear. "When do I get to pet the big brown dog?"

With approval from the higher ups we were ready to begin. We sat down with the director of client services to come up with a plan. We talked through the possibilities and decided to start with visits when group counseling was offered. When Moms brought their kids along, there was a playroom for them, overseen by a volunteer. Those kids would soon meet the shelter's first canine volunteer.

We arrived for the first visit and headed to the playroom where Murphy was introduced to the kids. One little girl, 5-year-old Olivia, walked right up to 90-pound Murphy and hugged him. He turned to look at her, wagged his tail, and she giggled. 

In those days, I carried a special backpack when Murphy visited folks. It had his favorite toys and games, extra gear, his water bottle and treats. Olivia was a regular and liked to pull everything out of the pack. She played the muffin pan game with Murphy. She played tug. She brushed him. She played with his tail. She watered him. She gave him dog cookies. And she wanted to walk him. When Olivia reached for my leash, I asked her to wait a moment - that I had one just for her. It was a short leash, easily managed by a child. I clipped it to Murphy's collar and off we went, me on one side with his regular leash attached to his harness, Olivia on the other with her leash attached to his collar. She led Murphy all around the offices, talking a mile a minute. She showed him every room, chair, wastebasket, and picture. And Murphy, as always, did his job, walking and wagging, happy hanging out with his new friend.

One moment in particular was a wow: Olivia leaned over Murphy, hugged him tight, laid her head on him, and said "I love you, Murphy." Then she let him win at Chutes & Ladders.

Are you raising a trashcan dog

This is an excerpt from my book, Puppies chew shoes, don't they?, available on Amazon.

Anthropomorphism refers to the interpretation of animal behavior as looking like human behavior. How many times have you heard someone say something like "He got in the trash again. When I walked in the door he looked guilty, turned around and left the room." Guilty? Perhaps not. Here is the dog's perspective.

7:03 a.m. 
Zach is still a puppy at 10 months. He has had breakfast, a drink of water, a poo and a pee. His Mom left the house, bidding Zach a good day. Zach settles in for his morning nap.

8:45 a.m. 
Trash trucks coming. Zach wakes up, checks out the noise, woofs, gets a sip of water, goes back to sleep.

9:17 a.m.  Zach wakes up, stretches, cruises the house. Finds his tennis ball. What good is that without someone to throw it? Something moved in the corner of the bedroom. Spider. Check it out. Gone. Where'd it go? Oh well. Moves on to the kitchen. The squirrels are in the backyard. Can't get to them. Woof. Back and forth in front of the sliding glass door . SQUIRRELS! Woof woof woof. Ugh and oh well. Zach lays down, watching the backyard, falls asleep.

10:12 a.m.
Phone rings. Zach wakes up, stretches, gets a drink of water. Wait. What is that tantalizing smell? His people sometimes put yummy stuff  in that tall box in the kitchen. Fish from last night? Did they leave some in there for the dog? They are SO good to him. Zach knocks the trash can over and starts the most fun game of the day: a treasure hunt. Finds the fishy smelling paper towel, eats it; finds the potato peelings, eats them; finds the mostly empty chocolate pudding container, licks it clean and chews on the container. Not much else of interest. Another sip of water and a nap on the couch.

Fast forward to 5:48 p.m.
Mom gets home from work to find the contents of the trashcan all over the kitchen floor. Zach greets her as always, tail wagging. But wait. He takes one look at her body language and knows she is not happy. Why? Did she have a bad day? Why is she yelling at him? Her hands are all fisted and she's wearing her mad face. Zach tries to figure out what's going on when she yells "Bad dog" in her really mean voice. Zach gets the heck out of there as fast as he can. 

When telling a friend about the the latest trashcan incident, the dog owner will swear Zach knew he'd done something wrong because he looked guilty.

Zach lives in the now. He got into the trash hours ago. It was self-rewarding. He connects his owner's anger with her homecoming not with the scattered trash. Do you really want to teach your dog to stop joyously greeting you at the door? Of course not. You want him to stay out of the trash.

There are lots of training solutions for trash-eating dogs. But let's keep it simple. Remove the source of the problem. And the problem is not the dog. Put the trashcan somewhere Zach can't get to it. AND provide Zach with a richer daily life so he doesn't go looking for something to do. Consider a dog walker, doggy day care, interactive toys, and perhaps even another dog to keep him company.

Understand your dog's motivation, body language, and responses to his environment and you can successfully address any issues you may have with him. 

Medical emergencies

When your dog is bitten by a snake* on the Sunday after thanksgiving - that’s not the time to be frantically searching for an emergency vet. So put these numbers in your phone right now. Include the address so you can use your GPS to get there. If you’re leaving town with your dog, find yourself an emergency vet where you’ll be staying and add info that to your phone.

• Your veterinarian
• Local emergency vet (24/7)
• ASPCA poison hot line - 888.426.4435. There is a consultation fee that's worth every penny. 

While you're at it, go ahead and upload your dog’s vet records to the cloud for easy access when you’re seeing a vet other than your own. Learn about health insurance for your pup here.

*My writing is based on my own dogs and the dogs of friends and clients. So the snake bite thing ... that was Cody. She stuck her nose where it didn't belong and was bitten on the side of her muzzle. Her face and neck started swelling almost immediately, so I tossed her in the car and broke every speed limit getting her to the vet. They treated her, the swelling stopped and was completely gone in a few days. This is a really good example of when immediate treatment is required. 

UTIs in puppies

Have you been working diligently to potty train your new puppy and still she pees in the house? Often. Everywhere. My advice, gained from working with hundreds of puppies, is take her to the vet and have her urine tested. She may well have a UTI. Ever have one of those? They cause a lot of discomfort - the same kind your puppy has but she has no way of telling you.

Buckle up, Fido

How can you keep your dog safe when you hit the road? The simplest thing is a harness on your dog in the back seat attached to the vehicle's existing seat belt system. Another good solution is a crate secured in the back of an SUV or van or in your back seat if it fits. 

Why is this a thing? If you're in an accident, your dog can be badly injured getting ricochetted all over the inside of your car. And think on this: when first responders arrive at the scene of an accident, their job is to tend to humans. They open a door to get to said humans and your scared-shitless dog hauls ass out of your car as fast as she can. Her safe space has suddenly become a very scary place. A dog on the loose after a traumatic event is unpredictable. She'll likely run blindly until she wears out or finds a place to hide. If that running takes her into traffic she may well not make it back home. The following appeared in our local paper.

Family seeks help finding dog ejected from overturned vehicle 

Family members are asking for help in finding a dog that went missing after it was ejected from a vehicle on the the interstate. The driver suffered a broken clavicle and a dislocated shoulder when her car overturned yesterday morning, said the woman’s sister. The family is seeking help locating the dog, a 6-year-old golden retriever mix named Chloe. “The dog is absolutely everything to her,” her sister said. “The whole family is just devastated.”