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New York City Passes Laws to Protect Dogs

Thanks to the hard work of petition signers and concerned animal activists, New York City Council has passed two great legislations to provide more protection for dogs in the city.

The first legislation limits the number of hours a dog can be chained up outside to three. This legislation also puts strict regulations on how heavy the chain can be and completely forbids the use of choke collars. The fine for breaking any of these is up to $500.

The second legislation passed increases the unaltered dog license fee from $11.50 to $34. This fee increase will hopefully encourage dog owners to spay or neuter their pets. The extra money will go towards programs in New York that help control dog overpopulation.

These two new legislations are a huge success for dog welfare in New York and hopefully other cities will use New York as a model for responsible dog ownership.

350 feet beneath the Earth’s surface, Zak Anderegg goes from vacationing canyoneer to dog’s best friend.

The slot canyons along the Arizona-Utah border often appear on the surface as nothing more than dark, jack-o-lantern grins carved into the landscape. What draws adventurers and lovers of the outdoors to these natural wonders is what lies beneath the surface, sandstone waves, arches and curls which are the work of centuries of wind and rushing water.

Like many that flock to these sites, Zak Anderegg was on vacation, and armed with a Flip camera he planned to take in all the subterranean wonders that these canyons had to offer. The overhangs, the rock formations, the alleys of darkness punctuated by sunlight that is bounced from wall to limestone wall until it has achieved an otherworldly glow … the abandoned puppy …?

Nearly 350 feet beneath the rim of the canyon Anderegg had one of those moments where, had he not been clinging to a rappelling rope and a video camera, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Right before him, shivering in a deep pothole in the rock was a small, black dog that seemed to be on the verge of starvation.

Anderegg pulled himself to the surface in order to get the animal food and water, but one horrific thought kept nudging aside his initial shock at finding a puppy where no dog should ever be. “Falling from the rim would have killed him.” He tells KSL.com. “Every single time I work it through my head, I come up with the same answer: Someone put him there.”

When his new discovery proved unable to eat or take in much water, Anderegg climbed back out and drove to a nearby town to report the incident and rally a rescue team. The Subterranean Samaritan quickly found out that “To Protect, and Serve” doesn’t extend to dogs left to die in the bowels of a canyon.

“They told me flat out, ‘We’re certainly not going to send out the fire department or the sheriff’s department to help you.’ Anderegg recalls with a measure of disbelief.

Faced with such monumental indifference, Anderegg pushed aside his visions of leading a rescue party and made the equally heroic and matter-of-fact decision to go it alone.

“Alright,” he said to himself. “I’ll manage on my own.”

The next morning, Anderegg was back at the canyon, this time armed with a borrowed cat carrier and what could best be described as a whole lot of determination mixed with the inklings of a plan. He dropped back into the darkness and was soon face to face with his new charge, who was in much worse condition than he had initially thought.

“He was completely starved.” Anderegg says, “He was, by my best guess, 24 to 48 hours from being dead.”

Luckily, “Puppy,” as he has since been dubbed, didn’t have to face those final hours. Zak Anderegg got the emaciated dog into the carrier, and somehow rigged up a system to stabilize the two during their ascent. Once back on the surface, Puppy, who seemed to have resigned himself to his fate, was rushed to the Page Animal Hospital where he was brought back from the brink of not only starvation, but of canine distemper as well, with most of the costs being covered by the hospital’s Angel Fund.

While Zak and his wife, Michelle, have fallen under the spell of their miracle pup, theirs is already a pet-rich home. Despite all that they have gone through with “Puppy,” they gave him that name so that they would ultimately never become too attached to a dog they know they cannot keep. Their ultimate goal is to find “Puppy” that forever home that is infinitely removed from the darkness of that lonely canyon.

To that end, “Puppy” has his own Facebook page, and the Andereggs are accepting donations for the dog’s remaining veterinary bills, while they vet potential suitors (all apologies for the horrific pun). But don’t give up on the prospect of that ribbon-wrapped happy ending, as Michelle admits that the bond between herself and the dog she has since nicknamed “Shadow” grows each day.

“We’re so attached,” she says, laughing. “I walk, and I stop, and he bumps into me. He comes everywhere with me.”

As for Zak, the one-man rescue party, he still hasn’t gotten over the initial shock of finding the dog in the first place. His lingering astonishment tinged with the same attitude that repeatedly sent him back down into a canyon to save a dog that everyone else had given up on.

“I cannot believe that I found this guy down in this frickin’ pothole in this canyon,” he says with a chuckle.

Man Rescued Dog

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Really! Believe it or not, some 1,000 of the nation’s 500,000 house fires each year are caused by pets, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association.

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Since it’s safe to say that most pets are not pyromaniacs at heart, what gives here? Last year, in Dog Daily News (the blog I put together before being recruited at Dogster), I wrote about a dog who accidentally turned on the griddle attachment to the stove, resulting in a fire that caused the damage in the photo above. The perpetrator, Alfie (on the left), probably only wanted a bit of bacon grease, and poof! The kitchen was toast.

The American Kennel Club and ADT Security Services have joined forces for the third annual National Pet Fire Safety Day to spread awareness about how pets can start home fires but more importantly how to prevent them. Here’s some info they’ve been sharing with the media. If Alfie’s people had read these tips, they might not be asking Alfie what it’s all about.

“Not many pet owners realize that their pet can actually be the cause of a devastating fire,” says AKC spokesperson Lisa Peterson.  “Simple preventative measures, such as flameless candles and stove knob covers, can mean the difference between life and death for your four-legged friends.”

Chris and Kay Wardlow of Oklahoma know that all too well.  Their curious dog Lucy was home alone and spied a cake on the stove top. As Lucy tried to get a taste, her paw accidentally hit the stove knob and turned on the gas burner that was under the cake pan. Within minutes, the house was filled with smoke, triggering the Wardlow’s ADT monitored smoke detector. Firefighters were called to the scene, the house was saved and Lucy was rescued.

“Planning for unexpected emergencies like home fires and taking these precautions are an integral part of responsible pet ownership,” Peterson said.

AKC® and ADT offer the following tips to educate pet owners on how to prevent your beloved pet from starting a fire, as well as how to keep your pets safe.

Prevent your pet from starting fires:

· Extinguish open flames – Pets are generally curious and will investigate cooking appliances, candles, or even a fire in your fireplace. Ensure your pet is not left unattended around an open flame and make sure to thoroughly extinguish any open flame before leaving your home.

· Remove stove knobs – Be sure to remove stove knobs or protect them with covers before leaving the house. According to the National Fire Protection Association, a stove or cook top is the number one piece of equipment involved in your pet starting a fire.

· Invest in flameless candles – These candles contain a light bulb rather than an open flame, and take the danger out of your pet knocking over a candle. Cats are notorious for starting fires when their tails turn over lit candles.

· Beware of water bowls on wooden decks – Do not leave a glass water bowl for your pet outside on a wooden deck.  The sun’s rays when filtered through the glass and water can actually heat up and ignite the wooden deck beneath it. Choose stainless steel or ceramic bowls instead.

Keep your pets safe:

· Keep Pets Near Entrances When Away From Home – Keep collars on pets and leashes at the ready in case firefighters need to rescue your pet.  When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.

· Secure Young Pets – Especially with young puppies, keep them confined away from potential fire-starting hazards when you are away from home such as in crates or behind baby gates in secure areas.

· Consider using monitored smoke detectors — which are connected to a monitoring center so emergency responders can be contacted when you’re not home. These systems provide an added layer of protection beyond battery-operated smoke alarms.

· Affix a Pet Alert Window Cling – Write down the number of pets inside your house and attach the static cling to a front window. This critical information saves rescuers time when locating your pets.  Make sure to update the number of pets listed.

In partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council, pet owners can obtain a free Pet Fire Safety Window Cling on National Pet Fire Safety Day, July 15th at local volunteer firehouses nationwide. For a list of locations, visit this site.  The clings are also free online and will be available this September at your local AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day.  This year’s flagship event will be held in Raleigh on September 25th.  Check here for more information on an event near you.

I recently read a letter in veterinarian Michael W. Fox’s newspaper column, Animal Doctor, from a woman whose dog was so bereft after her husband died that the dog pretty much stopped eating, and was clearly depressed for a long time. It wasn’t until she brought him to the grave of her husband that the dog started living life again. The man had died in the hospital, and their dog had never known exactly why he wasn’t coming home. The visit seemed to help the dog understand, and move on.

At the time I was putting together my story about dogs at cemeteries, and I had to focus on to more “brick and mortar” notions of pets running about graveyards. But the idea of an animal grieving the death of a loved one — human or other animal — stayed with me. So I contacted Dr. Fox, and he kindly consented to let me interview him on the topic. His insights and observations are fascinating, and will surely prove very helpful to some Dogsters as time marches on.

MG: So many people seem to forget about a dog when a loved one has died or is dying. But aren’t dogs sometimes deeply affected by the loss of a special person/owner? Is it safe to call it grief?

MWF: Some dogs grieve, but others, just like many people, show no evident grief when a loved one dies. While the people know of the death, the dog may not unless he/she sees the body; is present in the room where the person is dying; picks up on the emotions of the people seeing to the dying person either in-home or at the hospital. Some dogs actually know when the loved one has died at the hospital before those at home receive the phone call, because of evident sudden changes in behavior such as suddenly howling and becoming agitated, or giving up the waiting by-the-door or driveway vigil. Such “remote sensing” is behavioral evidence of the existence of what I call the “empathosphere,” which I document in my books The Boundless Circle and Dog Body, Dog Mind.

MG: How do they manifest this sense of loss?

MWF: Grief or mourning behavior in dogs has many similarities to separation-anxiety and associated depression and disinterest in food and life as seen in dogs who are boarded, and whose lives may be at risk without empathic attention and recognition of their condition.

Some dogs may search from room to room for the deceased, or become hyper-vigilant especially around the time when the deceased used to come home from work. The deceased may have been a source of security for the dog (including another companion dog whose death is being mourned), so the dog becomes more anxious and withdrawn, or may follow a family member from room to room and fear being left alone.

The period of mourning can last for weeks: Signs include lethargy, disinterest in play, toys, walks; bouts of whining, whimpering or howling even during sleep; loss of weight due to anorexia associated with depression. If not given full attention and encouragement to re-engage in normal activities, physical deterioration may set in and the dog could die from a “broken heart.”

MG: Is there a way to handle the dying or death of a dog’s beloved human so the dog can start healing?

MWF: Many people are so self-involved with their own grief and with the business of funeral arrangements, estate details etc that they do not engage with other family members, including dogs, who are not coping well with the death of the loved one. This is especially true when the loved one was another animal and people do not comprehend how much others may suffer from such loss, be it a child or spouse or surviving dog in the family.

It can help significantly for the dog(s) to see the dead body. This is also true for many cats. Allowing them this opportunity to “view the body” helps them come to terms with the reality of another’s demise. How and what they process cognitively in terms of death we can only guess. But we do know that many animals showing distress before they view the body become more settled afterwards.

I do not like the over-used term “closure,” like shutting a lid on emotions that will re-surface at any time unexpectedly in the future. Our dog Batman, for example, who mourned the death of his buddy-dog Xylo for close to a month, refused to go on a walk with me along one of Xylo’s favorite haunts when we returned for the first time some six months after her death.

MG: That’s really something. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap it up?

MWF: It is also interesting how many dogs and cats react when a family member is confined to bed and how protective and attentive they can become: this is yet more evidence of their emotional intelligence and ability to empathize.

Not only do dogs and cats grieve the loss of a loved one, be it a companion animal or a human being, but also horses, geese, chimpanzees in the wild and bears in captivity, to mention but a few of the species who share this emotion with us. A wider recognition of the depths of emotion our fellow animals share with us should move us to respect their basic rights and entitlement to humane treatment. Animals were not created for man’s use. They are only “ours” in sacred trust.

Dr. Fox is a graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, and holds doctoral degrees in medicine and ethology/animal behavior from the University of London, England. He is author of more than 40 books, writes the nationally syndicated newspaper column, Animal Doctor, is a member of the British Veterinary Association, American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and Honor Roll Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association. You can learn more about him at his website, Two Bit Dog.

Prevention and management

Witnessing a dog fight can be frightening. It’s violent, loud and when gets the sense that one dog is trying to kill the other. If you’re the owner of a dog-aggressive dog you know first-hand how stressful simple events such as taking your dog for a walk can be.

While many skirmishes may appear as if one dog is attempting to kill the other, most often such fights are little more than loud displays of posturing and rarely do they result in serious injuries.

If wounds are sustained such injuries appear as a torn lip, ear tear or a puncture to the neck. When a dog truly intends to kill another its actions are swift and death can occur in as little as 15 seconds. Attacks intended to kill are most often are directed at the victim’s stomach or on the neck behind the head (an effort to break the spinal column), not in areas around the face or shoulders. Bites and injuries around the face, shoulders and neck are meant as a correction — one dog conveying to the other that enough is enough! If left to their own devices the fight usually ends fairly quickly and there will be a clear winner and loser. In fights between two average (non-fighting breed) dogs the loser is almost always allowed to walk away and it will avoid future conflicts with the victor.

Assessing Injuries
When assessing dog fight injuries it’s important to take into consideration that an average dog has the ability to crush bone with a bite that can deliver over 500-700lbs of pressure per square inch. German Shepherds, Rotties and Pits in excess of 700 lbs. Armed with such knowledge it’s easy to then understand that even deep tears to the face, neck and shoulders aren’t considered to be those inflicted by a dog with the intention to kill. However, any bite should be considered serious enough to seek the help of a professional trainer.

The Neutering Debate
Dog-on-dog aggression (DODA) is more common among males (often referred to as inter-male aggression), however, females can get into fights too, but it’s less common.
The difference between the two sexes is that male fights are usually nothing more than loud posturing displays and hardly anyone gets hurt, while females may fight to the death—particularly if the two have a history of fighting with each other.

Quite often non-neutered males will aggress toward intact males. This is because non-neutered males smell like males and neutered males smell like females. Regardless of how friendly an intact male may be, non-neutered males are aware that these dogs retain the ability to mate. This poses a serious threat to non-neutered males.

While neutering won’t affect behavior or personality of the dog it can have a profound positive impact on the way non-neutered males perceive him, which can affect positive changes in inter-male exchanges. On the medical side, there are many benefits to neutering. Neutered males live longer. Neutering also helps reduce the dog’s chances of developing some forms of cancer. If the dog is sexually active the risk factors are dramatically reduced. However, if the dog is not sexually active the risks increase.

Common Causes of Dog-on-Dog Aggression
Most dogs squabble over valued resources such as food, territory, water, for mating rights, as well as to establish dominance. Altercations between males is more common when females are present in the social group. In all-male groups males fight less than they would if females were present. This holds true in most species—including lab mice and rats.

In pet dogs another common cause is lack of appropriate social interaction with members of its own species during puppyhood (poor socialization). Pups who are not exposed to all sizes, shapes and ages of polite dogs before 12-weeks of age have a greater chance of developing such social issues with conspecifics (same species) when they mature. In addition if a pup experiences a traumatic event in the presence of other dogs that can become a contributing factor as well.

Another cause is inappropriate play interactions with conspecifics during early puppyhood and adolescence. Rough play with older, larger dogs or at the hands of their humans may contribute toward elevated levels of stress and hyperactivity and can affect a dog’s nervous system for the rest of its life. In fact, there’s compelling scientific evidence that adverse social stresses can cause permanent damage to neuro-connectors in the hyppocampus of the brain—the area of the brain responsible for storing good and bad memories. Such damage also effects the learning process.

Prevention

When I work on fighting cases careful attention is focused on accurate note-taking regarding the dog’s past experiences. This history-taking helps narrow down possible causes/triggers of aggression and may reveal where and when the behavior started. This is helpful because training programs are influenced by the length of time the dog has been suffering.

However, no matter how compelling a dog’s history may be the most important task is changing the dog’s behavior going forward. On that end management will play a key role in future training processes. The most important rule to such success is that the owner make every effort to ensure the dog does not get into any more fights.

In almost every case I work on clients report multiple encounters—as many as several times per week. It’s critical to the dog’s behavior modification plan that every effort is made to keep the dog calm (and safe) by avoiding such encounters. The less aggressive encounters he experiences, the better.

One element of fall-out from repeated encounters is elevated corticotropin (fear hormone) levels in the brain. Most often it takes nearly 48 hours for these levels to stabilize, which may explain why some dogs become hyperactive, or even destructive, in the days following a thunderstorm, or why one fight seems to closely follow another.

Environmental Factors
Environmental factors play a huge role in how your dog reacts. For example, if most fights occurred on-leash, anxiety may begin building the moment you pick up the leash for a walk. It’s common to mistake a dog’s hyperactivity for happiness when in fact it’s experiencing a tremendous amount of stress-related excitement. Such excitement can easily teeter over into aggression.

An example is two hyper dogs in a dog park who chase each other to the point of exhaustion and roll each other. These often are the dogs that end up in skirmishes at some point during the play session.

A dog also may become reactive or hypervigilant in areas where fights occurred in the past. For instance, my German Shepherd becomes more reactive the closer we get to the baseball field near our house—the site of his last altercation two winters ago. As we approach the field he begins to pull on the leash and engages in frantic ground-sniffing (calming signal).

An owner can influence their dog’s behavior by concentrating on their own behavior. Are there particular areas where you get stressed while walking your dog? Do you start to lose patience in specific areas when your dog becomes excited? Quite often our own behavior negatively effects our animal.

Pack Mentality Myth
There are some who place great emphasis on “pack mentality.” In order to fully understand what this terms means one must first learn a bit about canine social structures as it pertains to our pet dogs.

As a general rule, domestic or even feral dogs do not have complex social structures or hierarchies such as those observed in their wolf cousins. In observations of free roaming dogs—particularly in a 1989 study (Daniels and Bekoff) of over 154 free-roaming dogs in Newark, New Jersey, compelling evidence was revealed that these dogs lack any organized or complex social structures or leaders—or what some refer to as “pack mentality.”

The term pack mentality is a vague description that some use to describe leadership. The word mentality means “character or disposition,” so when someone in the training world uses the term pack mentality to describe how the dog interacts with humans, the term lacks any information pertaining to actual leadership skills and everything to do with personalities and overall emotional state of a group of dogs.

In my opinion, the term pack mentality means nothing unless you’re discussing a very specific group of dogs and you can somehow read the mind of each dog in that group to arrive at a conclusion on their intent or goals, disposition or character. What these individuals are trying to convey—and rather poorly—is the concept of leadership, which has nothing at all to do with disposition or character. A leader controls the good stuff.

Recently a woman asked me how could she go about teaching her dog to understand that her baby is the pack leader. Let’s see. Dogs don’t have complex pack structures, the child is not a dog, doesn’t look like a dog, smell like a dog, act like a dog, play like a dog, communicate like a dog, doesn’t compete for the same resources as a dog. When I asked to see how she was going about teaching it she poked the dog in the neck (for no reason).

This woman, along with countless others have been mislead by certain people in the training community who insist humans must act like a dog in order to convey the concept of leadership to their pet dogs. Complete hogwash!

Dogs perceive a leader as the person who controls all the good stuff—treats, food, toys, etc. Period. If you are looking to establish leadership you do so by controlling valued resources and having the dog work for them (reward-based training). You also establish leadership by setting up boundaries and rules. When you control the good stuff your dog will look to you for what happens next.

If you think you’re already an effective leader try this exercise: Ask your dog to sit for you as your friend takes the leash out of the closet. If your dog remains seated congratulations, your dog was trained exceptionally well. If your dog jumps up and runs to the person holding the leash you have just learned the power of controlling the good stuff.

In our homes there are many leaders and thusly, leadership roles change constantly. Depending on what time of day it is one leader may be switched with another. My husband is disabled and stays at home during the day. He sleeps in. I’m the one responsible for taking the dogs for walks and feeding them in the morning. For those two valued things I can get my dogs to do quantum physics if I wanted to. It doesn’t matter if my husband calls them to him, it doesn’t matter if he grabs a squeaker toy to distract them—they only have one goal: to get me to walk them and give them the good stuff.

When I leave, however, my husband controls the good stuff—games they play during the day, treats, etc. When I walk through the door at night leadership roles change again.

Role reversals and exchanges are also common among dogs living a feral life together, or domestic dogs who gather together in temporary groups. This is especially observable during play. Each dog takes a turn being dominant while the other is submissive. And such roles are continually exchanged during play.

Another pack mentality myth is that the pack leader walks in front. Really? It does?
Take any two dogs for a walk out at the same time and tell me if there is a strict protocol between the two regarding which dog is out front. There is none. No protocol exists in free-roaming dogs either. The concept that a dog has to walk on your left side and make eye contact with you (heel) was developed for the show ring and for schutzhund training (protection work) and its goal is to keep the dog from being distracted by its environment, not because it has a lower status.

The point of this section is if you want your dog to start paying close attention to you then start controlling all the good stuff, and stop giving it away for free. It doesn’t matter how many people in your home are perceived as leaders so long as your dog(s) understand that these individuals are the ones that make things happen.

Establishing leadership should never involve scaring your dog, hitting your dog, yelling at your dog or speaking to it in a deep growl-like voice—nooooooooo! It’s just controlling everything and offering wonderful things when it does something that pleases you that makes a great dog.

Generalizing
If the dog’s level of aggression has been escalating over time toward a particular size or color of dog and it begins bleeding out to other breeds there’s a pretty good chance the dog has begun the process of generalizing. Dogs are usually poor at making generalizations. But, when it comes to chaining events that involve fear they are very good at it. For example, a dog who was bitten in the past by a small white dog or had altercations with small light-colored breeds may begin reacting toward blowing white bags in the street.

Similarly, one who experienced multiple encounters on leash may begin to aggress toward strollers or other moving objects that appear to be connected to a human especially if those objects resemble the shape of a human and dog walking together.

Set Goals
Set realistic goals for your best friend. Establish short-, mid-, and long-range goals. For example, John wants Rover to play with familiar dogs. There’s a very good chance Rover may develop enough skills to play with familiar dogs, but that may not be feasible for two years or more.

Rover may first need to learn short-term goals such as walking calmly in the neighborhood without becoming hysterical when he sees another dog two blocks away (short-term goal); Then work toward the point where Rover learns to focus on his owner while they’re on a walk with dogs present at a closer distance (mid-range goal); Then to teaching Rover how to come to his owner or walk away when he’s getting stressed (long-range goal).

Learn Dog Language/Practice New Skills
There is no miracle cure for dog-on-dog aggression. Working with such behaviors takes time. You will have to work toward very small victories and build upon those until larger victories can be achieved.

As far as I’m concerned, I feel learning canine body language is vital to success. I’m not saying you need to get a PhD in ethology, but learning some basic body language signals can go a long way in understanding the dog’s emotional state.

A professional dog trainer can help you learn such skills, or you can teach yourself by reading some books. At the end of this article I make book recommendations for that purpose.

Even though some dogs seem to spontaneously engage in fighting there are clear warning/calming signals they send out indicating it’s experiencing stress long before it reacts. Such signals may be as subtle as licking of the lips, yawning or sniffing the ground. Having knowledge of what to look for can arm you with precious knowledge that can go a long way in helping you to prevent encounters and rebuild some of the trust that may have been lacking in your relationship.

As far as being able to predict when your dog will react, it’s helpful to establish the dog’s threshold as a starting point for retraining. Threshold is the point of reactivity—the point where the dog reacts. When working with such cases it’s imperative to keep the dog below threshold at all times and systematically increase its tolerance to stressful stimuli.
As an owner you play a vital role in keeping your dog below threshold and you can achieve that goal be learning his body language.

Another way to keep the dog below threshold is to begin walking it at off-times—meaning times of the day when there is a lesser chance of running into other dogs and their owners. As the dog begins to experience uneventful walks it may begin to relax a bit.
Your trainer will teach you techniques on how to “get out of Dodge” quickly if you run into other dogs so you will want to set up training sessions at these off-hours and practice walk-aways, pair a pleasant stimulus to areas that may generate stress and more.

When you become more aware of your dog’s emotional state you may begin noticing stress signals in areas around your home.

My German Shepherd is dog-aggressive. To be honest, my big 120-lb boy is afraid of little dogs. Over the years him and I have become aces at reading each other. On walks he becomes a bit hypervigilant (overly alert) whenever we approach a particular baseball field near our home—the site of his last dog fight two winters ago. I know he’s becoming stressed because he starts licking his lips and yawning. So, to change his emotional state when we arrive he gets hot dogs. The baseball field starts to take on a whole new meaning. We also change direction if we see a dog approaching us.

Types of Training
Your trainer may choose many techniques while working with your dog. If they have experience with stressed dogs they most likely will rely on two powerful learning techniques—classical conditioning, which is pairing a pleasant experience/sensation with something fearful; and operant conditioning which is based on the concept that every action has a consequence. You must make every effort to ensure that your dog is trained positively. No scary stuff.

Scary stuff to me is harsh training methods that rely on leash corrections and physical punishments. Such methods often make aggression worse—especially if the behavior has its foundation in fear. Other scary stuff to avoid is flooding. Flooding is the term used to describe forcing an individual to face its fears until it surrenders. An example would be forcing a person who’s terrified of spiders to lay strapped to a table (no escape) as spiders are poured on top of them. They will panic, scream, fight, beg it to stop, cry, seem to give in then fight once more (extinction burst) until finally they shut down (learned helplessness) or they pass out. Flooding should never be used in fearful dogs.

Helpful Tips
The key to success in helping a dog-aggressive dog is multifaceted and includes the ability to read canine body language, actively practicing avoidance techniques and working to change the dog’s emotional state as it relates to other dogs.

Before you engage in any training it’s vital to rely on an experienced professional for advice and guidance so you don’t make mistakes that can make the dog worse. You should look for an individual who understands the science of learning and behavior to teach you new skill sets that are based on positive methods.
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350 feet beneath the Earth’s surface, Zak Anderegg goes from vacationing canyoneer to dog’s best friend.

The slot canyons along the Arizona-Utah border often appear on the surface as nothing more than dark, jack-o-lantern grins carved into the landscape. What draws adventurers and lovers of the outdoors to these natural wonders is what lies beneath the surface, sandstone waves, arches and curls which are the work of centuries of wind and rushing water.

Like many that flock to these sites, Zak Anderegg was on vacation, and armed with a Flip camera he planned to take in all the subterranean wonders that these canyons had to offer. The overhangs, the rock formations, the alleys of darkness punctuated by sunlight that is bounced from wall to limestone wall until it has achieved an otherworldly glow … the abandoned puppy …?

Nearly 350 feet beneath the rim of the canyon Anderegg had one of those moments where, had he not been clinging to a rappelling rope and a video camera, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Right before him, shivering in a deep pothole in the rock was a small, black dog that seemed to be on the verge of starvation.

Anderegg pulled himself to the surface in order to get the animal food and water, but one horrific thought kept nudging aside his initial shock at finding a puppy where no dog should ever be. “Falling from the rim would have killed him.” He tells KSL.com. “Every single time I work it through my head, I come up with the same answer: Someone put him there.”

When his new discovery proved unable to eat or take in much water, Anderegg climbed back out and drove to a nearby town to report the incident and rally a rescue team. The Subterranean Samaritan quickly found out that “To Protect, and Serve” doesn’t extend to dogs left to die in the bowels of a canyon.

“They told me flat out, ‘We’re certainly not going to send out the fire department or the sheriff’s department to help you.’ Anderegg recalls with a measure of disbelief.

Faced with such monumental indifference, Anderegg pushed aside his visions of leading a rescue party and made the equally heroic and matter-of-fact decision to go it alone.

“Alright,” he said to himself. “I’ll manage on my own.”

The next morning, Anderegg was back at the canyon, this time armed with a borrowed cat carrier and what could best be described as a whole lot of determination mixed with the inklings of a plan. He dropped back into the darkness and was soon face to face with his new charge, who was in much worse condition than he had initially thought.

“He was completely starved.” Anderegg says, “He was, by my best guess, 24 to 48 hours from being dead.”

Luckily, “Puppy,” as he has since been dubbed, didn’t have to face those final hours. Zak Anderegg got the emaciated dog into the carrier, and somehow rigged up a system to stabilize the two during their ascent. Once back on the surface, Puppy, who seemed to have resigned himself to his fate, was rushed to the Page Animal Hospital where he was brought back from the brink of not only starvation, but of canine distemper as well, with most of the costs being covered by the hospital’s Angel Fund.

While Zak and his wife, Michelle, have fallen under the spell of their miracle pup, theirs is already a pet-rich home. Despite all that they have gone through with “Puppy,” they gave him that name so that they would ultimately never become too attached to a dog they know they cannot keep. Their ultimate goal is to find “Puppy” that forever home that is infinitely removed from the darkness of that lonely canyon.

To that end, “Puppy” has his own Facebook page, and the Andereggs are accepting donations for the dog’s remaining veterinary bills, while they vet potential suitors (all apologies for the horrific pun). But don’t give up on the prospect of that ribbon-wrapped happy ending, as Michelle admits that the bond between herself and the dog she has since nicknamed “Shadow” grows each day.

“We’re so attached,” she says, laughing. “I walk, and I stop, and he bumps into me. He comes everywhere with me.”

As for Zak, the one-man rescue party, he still hasn’t gotten over the initial shock of finding the dog in the first place. His lingering astonishment tinged with the same attitude that repeatedly sent him back down into a canyon to save a dog that everyone else had given up on.

“I cannot believe that I found this guy down in this frickin’ pothole in this canyon,” he says with a chuckle.

Man Rescued Dog

Pampered Pooch Parties Easy Dog Recipes and Crafts to Create a Howling Good Time, is a great book for dog lovers.

Pampered Pooch Parties

Patricia Griecci has written a fabulous guide to the perfect pooch party.  If you are one of the millions people that celebrate their dog’s birthday, and you would like to celebrate in style, then this is the perfect fit for you.  You will find everything you need to know to start planning, decorating, making homemade treats, doggie goodie bags and even what to serve your human guests.

Pampered Pooch Parties guides you through the easy steps needed to throw your own successful pooch party.  It includes great ideas for specific types of parties such as birthdays, holidays, play dates, pool parties and even a doggie spa party.  Once you have decided what to celebrate, let the planning begin.  When it’s time to bake and decorate, this guide will walk you through it.  Included are many healthy recipes for birthday cake, Ice Cream Cone Cookie, Apple Cinnamon Bone Cake, Bark Cookies just to name a few. Included in the back of the book are templates for some fun doggie party favors.  There are also some great ideas for doggie spa get-togethers, including recipes to make your dogs smell great. I loved the real color photographs of dogs enjoying their celebrations throughout the book.

Socialization is so important to a dog’s happy and healthy lifestyle, and what better way to socialize than to throw a party.  This book is a great help for someone who loves his or her pet as a family member.   There are so many ways to celebrate with your pet and this book guides you through the in and outs. I highly recommend, Pampered Pooch Parties Easy Dog Recipes and Crafts to Create a Howling Good Time by, Patricia Griecci. It is the perfect guide for everything you need to pamper your pet and their guests in an easy to follow format.

Reviewed on 04/18/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Michelle Poe

Although a dog’s ears need to be regularly monitored for his entire life, a little basic maintenance is generally all that’s required to keep them clean and healthy.

Canine Anatomy

Because of the twisty, curvy design of a dog’s inner ears, it’s easy for parasites, bacteria and yeast to hide and thrive in them. This also means that any debris in the canal must work its way up to escape. Infections can result from trapped debris. Dogs with allergies are particularly vulnerable, as are those with floppy ears, like Cocker spaniels, basset hounds and poodles.

Routine Care

Your dog’s regular grooming/maintenance routine should include regular ear checks. This is especially important for dogs who produce excessive earwax or have a lot of inner-ear hair:

• If your dog’s inner ears appear dirty, clean them with a cotton ball dampened with mineral oil, hydrogen peroxide or a solution formulated specifically for this purpose. Inner-ear skin is delicate, so allow your vet to demonstrate the proper method for cleaning your dog’s ears.
• Do not clean your dog’s ears so frequently or deeply as to cause irritation, and take care to NEVER insert anything into your dog’s ear canal.
• If your dog sprouts hair from his ear canal, you or your groomer may have to tweeze it out every few weeks to prevent problematic mats and tangles from forming. Please discuss with your vet whether this is necessary for your dog.

Wet Behind the Ears?

If you’re not careful, frequent bathing and swimming can lead to irritation and infection. To prevent this from happening, place cotton in your dog’s ears before baths, and be sure to dry her ears as thoroughly as you safely can after all water sports and activities.

If your dog is prone to ear infections, you might want to pour a tiny amount of an ear drying solution made for dogs into her ear canals to help evaporate any water trapped inside. These ear washes, usually witch hazel-based, are available at better pet supply stores.

Danger Signs

Contact your veterinarian if you notice any of the following symptoms affecting your dog’s ears:

• Ear discharge
• Bad smells
• Redness
• Swelling
• Crusty skin
• Hair loss

Please also be aware that brown or black ear wax-and dry, dark wax resembling coffee grounds-are classic indicators of microscopic ear mites. Only your vet can tell for sure, so please don’t delay bringing a gooey-eared pooch in for a checkup.

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Patricia Griecci Pancreatic Cancer Foundation

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Pampered Pooch Parties: Easy Dog Treat Recipes, Birthday Party Templates and Crafts To Create A Howling Good Time

Pampered Pooch Parties

Author
Patricia Griecci
Publisher
CreateSpace
Buy From Amazon

Why a Pooch Party? People have always gathered together to celebrate special occasions.

If you party with Fido, you’re not alone. Every year, 19 million people celebrate their dogs‘ birthday, according to the American Pet Association. Some 1 million throw parties and invite other pets.

Parties give an opportunity to have good times and create fun memories. In fact, parties are an essential part of family life. Whether it is simple or elaborate, for many or a few, whatever the occasion, these parties become part of your family traditions.

Writing this book forced me to evaluate why I included my dog in all of my celebrations as well as my accomplishments and major milestones. I realized that my dog was part of my family and I wanted to include him in my traditions as well as create rituals to show my love.

Family traditions celebrate the special events in our lives including holidays and special accomplishments. These are opportunities to have “good times” and create fun memories.

Reviews

Pampered Pooch Parties Easy Dog Recipes and Crafts to Create a Howling Good Time, is a great book for dog lovers.  Patricia Griecci has written a fabulous guide to the perfect pooch party.  If you are one of the millions people that celebrate their dog’s birthday, and you would like to celebrate in style, then this is the perfect fit for you.  You will find everything you need to know to start planning, decorating, making homemade treats, doggie goodie bags and even what to serve your human guests.

Pampered Pooch Parties guides you through the easy steps needed to throw your own successful pooch party.  It includes great ideas for specific types of parties such as birthdays, holidays, play dates, pool parties and even a doggie spa party.  Once you have decided what to celebrate, let the planning begin.  When it’s time to bake and decorate, this guide will walk you through it.  Included are many healthy recipes for birthday cake, Ice Cream Cone Cookie, Apple Cinnamon Bone Cake, Bark Cookies just to name a few. Included in the back of the book are templates for some fun doggie party favors.  There are also some great ideas for doggie spa get-togethers, including recipes to make your dogs smell great. I loved the real color photographs of dogs enjoying their celebrations throughout the book.

Socialization is so important to a dog’s happy and healthy lifestyle, and what better way to socialize than to throw a party.  This book is a great help for someone who loves his or her pet as a family member.   There are so many ways to celebrate with your pet and this book guides you through the in and outs. I highly recommend, Pampered Pooch Parties Easy Dog Recipes and Crafts to Create a Howling Good Time by, Patricia Griecci. It is the perfect guide for everything you need to pamper your pet and their guests in an easy to follow format.

Reviewed on 04/18/2011 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Michelle Poe

Dogs are Social Animals

Dogs today are not just a member of the family, but have become another tool used for social networking. Dogs use to have the job of protecting the house, hunting and keeping the kids entertained. Those days are long gone. Gone are the days of when dogs live outside in a dog house or eat scraps from the table. Dogs are pampered, and loved like children. A dog’s life is as comfortable as his owner.

Owning a dog nowadays is like a raising a child. It is common for dogs to go to school, have a sitter, have medical insurance, and attend doggie day care. No more teaching your dog to sit, roll over, and fetch without him or her receiving a diploma.

A lot of dog owners work long hours and have to leave their dog home for many hours. Owners use to get up early and walk their dog before going to work and leave food and water out for them and walk them again when they returned home. Lots of owners today live in condos and cannot keep their dogs cooped up in the house all day without them having a mishap in the condo, therefore, they hire a dog walker to come in and take the dog for a walk while they work. Some owners have resorted to putting their dogs in Doggie Day Care to alleviate the problem. It is even common to see dogs at the owner’s workplace.

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