I walk all of my dogs on 4 foot leashes, with either a plain flat collar or a limited-choke/"Greyhound" collar. I will use a Halti if the dogs are particularly awful or large enough to need power steering. (I prefer Halti's to the 'Gentle Leader' because I feel the Halti has a better design, and stays in place better.) I don't like choke collars and I really don't like those prong collars.
I understand that harnesses look like a great idea, but to me they just say that you've given up on ever being able to walk this dog without them pulling. And dogs are really good at pulling. Think Iditarod. For thousands of years, dogs were used to pull carts and sleds. They were smaller than horses, could live in your house, and doubled as an alarm system. Rottweilers, Bouviers, and a number of other large breeds were all used to pull small wagons. Sometime in the early 20th century this was made illegal, on the argument that it was cruel for dogs to work as beasts of burden. In any case, like a lot of quadrupeds, dogs find it very easy to pull things along behind them. Putting a harness on them just makes it easier. Those new harnesses, with the attachment point in the center of the chest just suck, by the way. I have yet to see one of them actually work. It looks like something designed by someone who has never actually walked a dog.
I see a woman in Soho who walks her Lab puppy with a prong collar and a Flexi-lead. This is very scary to me. I don't like prong collars because I don't see the point. You should be able to control the dog without having to resort to that level of discomfort to get their attention. There is this intact male Dalmation that's walked with a prong collar. Whenever he sees another male dog, he lunges at them, throwing himself to the end of the leash, snarling. This is with the prong collar. I suggested to his dogwalker that he try a Halti for the dog, since the prong collar didn't seem to be working. He did, and the dog stopped lunging because the Halti made it easier for the walker to prevent and correct the behavior. Not to mention that it was more difficult for the dog. Unfortunately, they have a new walker now, who has gone back to the prong collar. And guess what? The Dalmation is back to lunging at other male dogs. Advocates of prong collars will tell you that pain is not the point, and that in the hands of an experienced trainer a prong collar is an effective training device. Great. The problem is, any idiot can buy one of these 'effective training devices' at any pet store and use them on their four month old Boxer puppy.
I use a four-foot leash because it makes sense. Watch someone with a six-foot leash, and chances are they either have it all doubled up or wrapped around their hand. If not, the dog is six feet in front of them, free to scavenge whatever tidbits come their way. The dog is too far away for you to grab, and if they charge forward they can jerk you off your feet. At four feet away, I can easily get the dog if I have to, and I can hold the loop end of the leash. In NYC, there is no reason for your dog to be six feet away from you while walking. Why? So they'll think they're free? They know perfectly well they're on a leash, please. I do not use Flexi-leads because for one thing, NYC law says that leashes may not be longer than 6 feet, and Flexi-leads usually start at 10 feet. Second, the hard case is difficult to hold when walking multiple dogs. It's not easy to hold with one dog. And finally, the dog does not need to be 10 feet away from me on a NYC sidewalk.
I believe that those chain leashes (you know the ones) should be outlawed. Only absolute idiots think these are a good idea. These are people who like to tie their dogs up outside while the go to the store, and worry that the dog will chew through the leash. Leave the dog home if you need to run errands like that. Or make sure you have current photos for the 'Lost Dog' posters you'll be making up. Wrap one of those leashes around your hand and I guarantee that you'll end up with broken fingers at some point. If you have the chain pulled through your hand, it will hurt. A lot.
I found I can get the same results, training-wise, with a limited-choke collar, without the risks of a chain choke. You need to be able to administer an effective correction without worrying that you'll hurt the dog. Plus, regular choke collars are normally put on the dog so that the collar only works when the dog is on your left side. If you're doing on-leash obedience work, great. I need my dogs to walk on either side of me, not just the left. So I need a collar that works no matter which side they are on.
When first walking a dog, I am very strict about where they walk (behind me) and I insist that they pay attention to me - not the other dogs, not the enticing smells in the gutter, not the skateboarder - me. I'm in charge of the show. If this means I spend the whole walk correcting them, fine. Once they have the idea, I can back off and let the rest of the pack be their guide.
Most dog owners do it the other way - they go easy in the beginning. Then they wonder why the dog ignores them on the leash. Duh. The dog is only following the rules you set. Begin as you mean to go on.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Snip!
The other day I was at a pet mega-store, and on the way out I encountered not just one, but two intact adult male boxers. The owners were conversing from about 12 feet away while the one dog strained mightily to get to the other (calm) dog. Neither one of them were show dogs - they weren't nice enough looking for that - and I found myself thinking: why aren't these dogs neutered?
Every rescue, vets' office, and shelter displays or somehow tries to convey the "Spay or Neuter Your Pets" message...and sometimes I think it's not working. Granted, a lot of times the people trying to deliver this message come across as shrill, so you tune them out.
Case in point: Back in '94 I was walking two Bulldogs, one a retired (intact) male show dog and the other a female puppy destined for the show ring (she later got her Championship). Personally, I think conformation classes are just big beauty contests with lots of backstabbing thrown in, but that's just me. Watch Best in Show if you think otherwise. Anyway, I'm walking down the street with these two dogs, and a woman approaches me to ask about them. Then she starts a rant about how come they're not fixed, and don't I know how many unwanted dogs end up in shelters and don't I care? I point to the dogs and tell her "they're not my dogs," whereupon she starts berating me for being a heartless bitch and not caring about the fate of these shelter dogs. Eventually, I got away from her, but she really pissed me off - at the time we had a dog and two cats and all three were fixed, as well as being rescues. Even our two horses were gelded. She was so focussed on getting her message across that she didn't listen to me at all.
Friday, I saw a dog that looked to be a Chow/Corgi cross. She seems friendly, but man, who let that happen? To a certain extent, urban dogs who spend their lives leashed or indoors, rather than unattended in backyards, seem less at risk for unintended breeding. I have heard of dogs getting it on at dog runs - some moron brings his bitch in (I thought she was too young to come into season!) and the obligatory intact male dog gets to her before their oblivious owners have a clue. Female dogs in heat are pretty obvious, both physically and behavior-wise.
People still believe the myth that speutering (spaying + neutering = get it?) young will stunt their dogs growth. How big your dog will get is determined by genetics and influenced by nutrition. Stuffing your puppy with high-protein food in an attempt to make them bigger will most likely result in a fat puppy with joint problems later on in life, but isn't going to make them any taller than they are destined to be. Conversely, a puppy who doesn't get all the nutrients they need at a very young age may be stunted - but we're talking starvation here, not which brand of kibble.
I see an intact male Dalmation around on a regular basis, and more intact Labradors than Westminster. Why? It's not like this is a rare breed, and they can't all be show dogs. I know the Dalmation isn't. Jack Russells, too, and considering that many of those are hyper-agressive to start with, why aren't they neutered? Because they're little? Spare me. I see an Otterhound too, and oddly enough, I believe he is neutered. There are fewer than 40 intact male Ottterhounds worldwide, and only around 1000 Otterhounds altogether. That's a rare breed.
I believe that a lot of this has to do with human notions of freedom. Most people seem to think that it is their right to breed, and I know very few people who would consider having themselves and their partner genetically tested before having a baby. I loathe people who mortgage their lives to the hilt to afford some exotic form of AI resulting in quintuplets - while living in a two bedroom house and barely getting by on two salaries. The mutiple mouths that they can't afford to feed and clothe are invariably referred to as "God's precious gifts" - no, I think you had a teensy bit of medical help. How is it that it wasn't "God's will" that you not get pregnant? Phew, got off on a bit of a rant there.
There are still people who believe that speutering is unnatural, unneccesary and expensive, whether through ignorance or arrogance. The result is the same. Dogs do not understand the concept of abstinence when it comes to sex, and I don't think they ever will.
Unwanted dogs (and cats) end up dead, one way or another. We need to either prevent unwanted puppies and kittens from happening or make their exit from this world as humane as possible. No-Kill shelters are a lovely idea, but they do nothing to address the problem of animals that are too aggressive or too damaged one way or another to ever live with people again. I have a huge problem with rescues who spend thousands of dollars on a crippled/severely physically damaged animal with the idea that all life is sacred, when that money could have been used to save twenty other healthy animals.
My husband and I adopted a cat from a shelter in NJ several years ago. Our much-loved cat, Jack, had to be euthanized when his vocal-fold tumors could no longer be managed by medication and surgery was not a viable option. So, we adopted this handsome 10 year old Maine Coon, and named him Simon. Once we got him home, we discovered that he was incontinent, and at some earlier point in his life had a perineal urethrostomy (my spelling might be a bit off, but google it anyway). Our vet was unable to explain the reason for the urine dribbling, other than stress, and by that point we were committed to keeping him. Over the next four years, our lives became a nightmare of trying to prevent Simon from leaking all over everything we owned. One night he began bleeding rectally (or so we thought), and as a result, we changed vet practices. Our new vets were, eventually, able to determine that the original PU surgery was badly done, and bacteria from his feces was causing constant urinary tract infections. Over the years, this had caused scarring, which contributed to the incontinence - which would have been present since the surgery. (Imagine, if you will, the pain Simon was in for years with chronic UTI's.) We tried about 6 months of drug therapy, and in the end decided to have him euthanized. His original owners had to have realized he was incontinent, and in fact, he was surrendered to the shelter with the understanding that he would be euthanized. If we had known his problems, we would not have adopted him, plain and simple. His owners should have had the guts to make it clear to the shelter what his problems were, and the shelter should have noticed that he leaked urine. More simply, his owners should have taken him to a vet and had him euthanized. Loving an animal also means that you do your absolute best to keep them free of pain, and that you have the courage to realize when that pain is chronic and unmanageable.
I got a little off track here, but the message is the same. Be responsible. Think.
Every rescue, vets' office, and shelter displays or somehow tries to convey the "Spay or Neuter Your Pets" message...and sometimes I think it's not working. Granted, a lot of times the people trying to deliver this message come across as shrill, so you tune them out.
Case in point: Back in '94 I was walking two Bulldogs, one a retired (intact) male show dog and the other a female puppy destined for the show ring (she later got her Championship). Personally, I think conformation classes are just big beauty contests with lots of backstabbing thrown in, but that's just me. Watch Best in Show if you think otherwise. Anyway, I'm walking down the street with these two dogs, and a woman approaches me to ask about them. Then she starts a rant about how come they're not fixed, and don't I know how many unwanted dogs end up in shelters and don't I care? I point to the dogs and tell her "they're not my dogs," whereupon she starts berating me for being a heartless bitch and not caring about the fate of these shelter dogs. Eventually, I got away from her, but she really pissed me off - at the time we had a dog and two cats and all three were fixed, as well as being rescues. Even our two horses were gelded. She was so focussed on getting her message across that she didn't listen to me at all.
Friday, I saw a dog that looked to be a Chow/Corgi cross. She seems friendly, but man, who let that happen? To a certain extent, urban dogs who spend their lives leashed or indoors, rather than unattended in backyards, seem less at risk for unintended breeding. I have heard of dogs getting it on at dog runs - some moron brings his bitch in (I thought she was too young to come into season!) and the obligatory intact male dog gets to her before their oblivious owners have a clue. Female dogs in heat are pretty obvious, both physically and behavior-wise.
People still believe the myth that speutering (spaying + neutering = get it?) young will stunt their dogs growth. How big your dog will get is determined by genetics and influenced by nutrition. Stuffing your puppy with high-protein food in an attempt to make them bigger will most likely result in a fat puppy with joint problems later on in life, but isn't going to make them any taller than they are destined to be. Conversely, a puppy who doesn't get all the nutrients they need at a very young age may be stunted - but we're talking starvation here, not which brand of kibble.
I see an intact male Dalmation around on a regular basis, and more intact Labradors than Westminster. Why? It's not like this is a rare breed, and they can't all be show dogs. I know the Dalmation isn't. Jack Russells, too, and considering that many of those are hyper-agressive to start with, why aren't they neutered? Because they're little? Spare me. I see an Otterhound too, and oddly enough, I believe he is neutered. There are fewer than 40 intact male Ottterhounds worldwide, and only around 1000 Otterhounds altogether. That's a rare breed.
I believe that a lot of this has to do with human notions of freedom. Most people seem to think that it is their right to breed, and I know very few people who would consider having themselves and their partner genetically tested before having a baby. I loathe people who mortgage their lives to the hilt to afford some exotic form of AI resulting in quintuplets - while living in a two bedroom house and barely getting by on two salaries. The mutiple mouths that they can't afford to feed and clothe are invariably referred to as "God's precious gifts" - no, I think you had a teensy bit of medical help. How is it that it wasn't "God's will" that you not get pregnant? Phew, got off on a bit of a rant there.
There are still people who believe that speutering is unnatural, unneccesary and expensive, whether through ignorance or arrogance. The result is the same. Dogs do not understand the concept of abstinence when it comes to sex, and I don't think they ever will.
Unwanted dogs (and cats) end up dead, one way or another. We need to either prevent unwanted puppies and kittens from happening or make their exit from this world as humane as possible. No-Kill shelters are a lovely idea, but they do nothing to address the problem of animals that are too aggressive or too damaged one way or another to ever live with people again. I have a huge problem with rescues who spend thousands of dollars on a crippled/severely physically damaged animal with the idea that all life is sacred, when that money could have been used to save twenty other healthy animals.
My husband and I adopted a cat from a shelter in NJ several years ago. Our much-loved cat, Jack, had to be euthanized when his vocal-fold tumors could no longer be managed by medication and surgery was not a viable option. So, we adopted this handsome 10 year old Maine Coon, and named him Simon. Once we got him home, we discovered that he was incontinent, and at some earlier point in his life had a perineal urethrostomy (my spelling might be a bit off, but google it anyway). Our vet was unable to explain the reason for the urine dribbling, other than stress, and by that point we were committed to keeping him. Over the next four years, our lives became a nightmare of trying to prevent Simon from leaking all over everything we owned. One night he began bleeding rectally (or so we thought), and as a result, we changed vet practices. Our new vets were, eventually, able to determine that the original PU surgery was badly done, and bacteria from his feces was causing constant urinary tract infections. Over the years, this had caused scarring, which contributed to the incontinence - which would have been present since the surgery. (Imagine, if you will, the pain Simon was in for years with chronic UTI's.) We tried about 6 months of drug therapy, and in the end decided to have him euthanized. His original owners had to have realized he was incontinent, and in fact, he was surrendered to the shelter with the understanding that he would be euthanized. If we had known his problems, we would not have adopted him, plain and simple. His owners should have had the guts to make it clear to the shelter what his problems were, and the shelter should have noticed that he leaked urine. More simply, his owners should have taken him to a vet and had him euthanized. Loving an animal also means that you do your absolute best to keep them free of pain, and that you have the courage to realize when that pain is chronic and unmanageable.
I got a little off track here, but the message is the same. Be responsible. Think.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
He doesn't mean it. Really?
Several years ago I was walking a St. Bernard along Prince Street when a small Dachshund came flying out of nowhere. No leash, no human. This kamikaze dog went right for the St.B's face, snarling and barking. Now the St.B was a nice dog with people, but unpredictable with other dogs, especially yappy ones. I did a quick dance step to push the St.B out of the line of fire and block the trajectory of the weiner dog, who continued to snarl and bark. A woman appeared, and assured me that the dog "didn't mean anything," and scooped up the irate little sausage. I asked her if it would be OK if I let the St. Bernard do the same thing to her dog. She scurried off.
People dismiss behavior from small dogs that would have a large dog sent to the animal shelter faster than you can say "bad dog". And the excuses are endless.
"He doesn't mean it," is my personal favorite, followed by, "Big dogs make him nervous." Imagine the uproar if an 85 pound Labrador started barking and spraying spit while lunging at a Maltese. Saying, "Small dogs make him nervous," would sound exactly like the lame ass excuse it actually is. I really don't care if the dog is 5 pounds, 15 pounds or 150 pounds, the standards of behavior should be exactly the same - it's a dog. Treat it like one.
True, the Maltese can't jerk you off your feet if it lunges at something. Which brings me to the other idiotic-small-dog-owner thing: picking the dog up when it misbehaves. This wrong on so many levels, it's scary.
First off, if you have a small breed dog, it will always be a small breed dog. The sooner it gets used to that idea, the better. As a puppy, it should be introduced to large (friendly) dogs as much as possible. If you, as the owner, freak out and snatch them to your breast at the first glimpse of another dog, pretty soon your little bundle of fluff is going to think that other dogs are an occaison for fear and not fun. Growling and barking will follow.
Now that you're clutching Fluffball and glaring at the big scary dog, I bet you're petting them, too. All the while crooning something like, "It's all right, Fluffball, don't be scared, that's a nice doggy, " in a high-pitched voice. You may think you're being reassuring and kind. What you are actually doing is telling Fluffball that yes, the big dog is scary, and being afraid is exactly the right thing to do.
Chances are also pretty good that Fluffball never gets any discipline ("but he's so small!"), and believes that he is the king of all he surveys - including you. If you are afraid of the big dog, Fluffball needs to protect the pack and drive this monster away. Cue barking and growling. Now before you start saying, "Aww, he's trying to protect me, how cute," think about this: Would you think that it would be OK for a midget to hit you with a bat if they felt threatened by you in any way? I don't think so.
As to whether or not Fluffball "means it," of course he does. Dogs are capable of deception while playing - feinting right and running left - but not emotional deception. A dog will not "pretend" to be happy to see you. If Fluffball is growling, snarling and snapping at the other dog he means exactly what he's saying: Back off or this will get ugly. If the other dog is your average Fido, they'll keep going and ignore the theatrics, which just reinforces the notion in Fluffball's head that he has driven them off.
However. Fluffball's luck may run out. One day, he might pull this stunt with the wrong dog and end up seriously hurt or dead. I'm not saying that would be right, but there are lots of badly behaved dogs out there of all sizes, and a tiny Maltese or Yorkie can be mauled just as easily by a Jack Russell or Cocker Spaniel as a German Shepherd or Golden Retriever.
Nothing makes me happier than when my pack cruises past some spitting, snarling bundle of rage without so much as a sideways glance. Good dogs!
People dismiss behavior from small dogs that would have a large dog sent to the animal shelter faster than you can say "bad dog". And the excuses are endless.
"He doesn't mean it," is my personal favorite, followed by, "Big dogs make him nervous." Imagine the uproar if an 85 pound Labrador started barking and spraying spit while lunging at a Maltese. Saying, "Small dogs make him nervous," would sound exactly like the lame ass excuse it actually is. I really don't care if the dog is 5 pounds, 15 pounds or 150 pounds, the standards of behavior should be exactly the same - it's a dog. Treat it like one.
True, the Maltese can't jerk you off your feet if it lunges at something. Which brings me to the other idiotic-small-dog-owner thing: picking the dog up when it misbehaves. This wrong on so many levels, it's scary.
First off, if you have a small breed dog, it will always be a small breed dog. The sooner it gets used to that idea, the better. As a puppy, it should be introduced to large (friendly) dogs as much as possible. If you, as the owner, freak out and snatch them to your breast at the first glimpse of another dog, pretty soon your little bundle of fluff is going to think that other dogs are an occaison for fear and not fun. Growling and barking will follow.
Now that you're clutching Fluffball and glaring at the big scary dog, I bet you're petting them, too. All the while crooning something like, "It's all right, Fluffball, don't be scared, that's a nice doggy, " in a high-pitched voice. You may think you're being reassuring and kind. What you are actually doing is telling Fluffball that yes, the big dog is scary, and being afraid is exactly the right thing to do.
Chances are also pretty good that Fluffball never gets any discipline ("but he's so small!"), and believes that he is the king of all he surveys - including you. If you are afraid of the big dog, Fluffball needs to protect the pack and drive this monster away. Cue barking and growling. Now before you start saying, "Aww, he's trying to protect me, how cute," think about this: Would you think that it would be OK for a midget to hit you with a bat if they felt threatened by you in any way? I don't think so.
As to whether or not Fluffball "means it," of course he does. Dogs are capable of deception while playing - feinting right and running left - but not emotional deception. A dog will not "pretend" to be happy to see you. If Fluffball is growling, snarling and snapping at the other dog he means exactly what he's saying: Back off or this will get ugly. If the other dog is your average Fido, they'll keep going and ignore the theatrics, which just reinforces the notion in Fluffball's head that he has driven them off.
However. Fluffball's luck may run out. One day, he might pull this stunt with the wrong dog and end up seriously hurt or dead. I'm not saying that would be right, but there are lots of badly behaved dogs out there of all sizes, and a tiny Maltese or Yorkie can be mauled just as easily by a Jack Russell or Cocker Spaniel as a German Shepherd or Golden Retriever.
Nothing makes me happier than when my pack cruises past some spitting, snarling bundle of rage without so much as a sideways glance. Good dogs!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
I'm OK with Labradoodles...sort of.
Up until a week ago, I lumped Labradoodles in with all the other idiotic designer dogs. Ads for "Labadoodles" and "Labbadoodels" just reinforced my distaste. While walking a Portuguese Water Dog, people would ask me if it was a Labradoodle, and Wheaten Terriers were mistaken for mini goldendoodles. WTF?
Granted, John and Jane Doe usually can't tell the difference between a Golden Retriever and an Irish Setter, and ask me if that Weimaraner is a Greyhound. Well, it's grey (sort of) and hound-like (sort of but not), but it's not a Greyhound. Next contestant, please.
After doing a bit of research, I discovered that Labradoodles were first bred in Australia by a guy trying to come up with a hypoallergenic guide/service dog for a blind woman whose husband was allergic to dogs. That makes sense to me. Most dogs touted as being non-shedding and hypoallergenic are too small to be a guide dog, and I wonder if standard Poodles are steady enough to do the job. While he was trying to find good breeding stock to cross, he was told by the various breed clubs that any dogs he used would be struck from their registries. This made absolutely no sense, I mean, it's not like the dogs would be contaminated in any way. So the Poodle got knocked up by a Lab. That doesn't mean her next batch of puppies by a Poodle will be affected. Seems kind of harsh, to me.
Anyway, the idea of a guide dog for people with pet allergies is a great idea. Unfortunately, people will take an idea and turn it to their own purposes, churning out "Labadoodels". Don't have a handy Labrador? No problem, how about Goldendoodles? Or mini Goldendoodles for those of you with less room. And what really pisses me off is that most of the people who buy these crosses have absolutely no freaking idea that there are breeds already out there that would satisfy their need for a non-shedding, hypoallergenic, family-friendly dog. They are perfectly willing to spend $750 (and up) on a mixed breed dog but seem to have done no research on dog breeds. How likely is it that someone who can't spell "Labrador" has had their dog tested for hip dysplasia or any of the other problems you find in Labs? Or Poodles?
I'm sure that there are reputable breeders out there producing marvelous, healthy Labradoodle puppies from genetically tested, OFA certified parents. I just think that they are probably the exception. And I bet they can spell "Labrador".
Granted, John and Jane Doe usually can't tell the difference between a Golden Retriever and an Irish Setter, and ask me if that Weimaraner is a Greyhound. Well, it's grey (sort of) and hound-like (sort of but not), but it's not a Greyhound. Next contestant, please.
After doing a bit of research, I discovered that Labradoodles were first bred in Australia by a guy trying to come up with a hypoallergenic guide/service dog for a blind woman whose husband was allergic to dogs. That makes sense to me. Most dogs touted as being non-shedding and hypoallergenic are too small to be a guide dog, and I wonder if standard Poodles are steady enough to do the job. While he was trying to find good breeding stock to cross, he was told by the various breed clubs that any dogs he used would be struck from their registries. This made absolutely no sense, I mean, it's not like the dogs would be contaminated in any way. So the Poodle got knocked up by a Lab. That doesn't mean her next batch of puppies by a Poodle will be affected. Seems kind of harsh, to me.
Anyway, the idea of a guide dog for people with pet allergies is a great idea. Unfortunately, people will take an idea and turn it to their own purposes, churning out "Labadoodels". Don't have a handy Labrador? No problem, how about Goldendoodles? Or mini Goldendoodles for those of you with less room. And what really pisses me off is that most of the people who buy these crosses have absolutely no freaking idea that there are breeds already out there that would satisfy their need for a non-shedding, hypoallergenic, family-friendly dog. They are perfectly willing to spend $750 (and up) on a mixed breed dog but seem to have done no research on dog breeds. How likely is it that someone who can't spell "Labrador" has had their dog tested for hip dysplasia or any of the other problems you find in Labs? Or Poodles?
I'm sure that there are reputable breeders out there producing marvelous, healthy Labradoodle puppies from genetically tested, OFA certified parents. I just think that they are probably the exception. And I bet they can spell "Labrador".
Monday, January 7, 2008
A pug and a beagle walk into a bar...
I have a problem with Puggles. Here you have two perfectly nice breeds of dogs, each with their own loyal band of followers, why mess them up? I originally thought that Puggles were an accident, a famous person somehow ended up with one, other famous people wanted one, regular people wanted one because a famous person had one - and so on. Not so. Turns out Puggles were created by Wallace Havens, who owns Puppy Haven in Wisconsin. This is a puppy mill. He also offers Cairnese (Cairn x Havanese), Shnoodles (Schnauzer x Poodle) and maybe another dozen bizarro crosses. And why not call them Poozers? Think they wouldn't market as well? Not to mention some suspiciously impure looking purebreds. Does that Rat Terrier look like a funky colored Chihuahua or is it just me?
Growing up, spaying and neutering was pretty much a non-issue. All of our dogs ran around intact until in the mid-70's, when my mother got a 9 month old female Cairn Terrier (free, through a local paper). The neighbors had a German Shepherd/St. Bernard cross and he trashed our fence to get into the yard when she went into heat. She was spayed as soon as possible after that. Despite dire predictions of bizarre behavior and obesity resulting from this unnatural surgery, the dog remained her quirky funny self until she died some 14 years later.
In any case, mixed breed dogs abounded. Shepherd/Collie crosses were everywhere, so were Lab/Shepherd crosses. No one suggested creating a new breed because of this. You had junkyard or garage dogs, true mutts, products of a dozen random breedings. Those dogs had hybrid vigor - living outside, with no vet care, only the healthiest dogs survived to breed. I'm not advocating random breeding or no vet care - all of my mammals are spayed or neutered where species appropriate.
Breeders of designer dogs *eyeroll* claim that their dogs have hybrid vigor. Um, no. Straight crosses - Pug x Beagle, Poodle x Schnauzer - are still going to be at risk for all the diseases/genetic defects of the two breeds. Especially if the two dogs haven't been tested to see if they carry any of the problems that affect their breeds.
A dog that I walked for all 14 years of his life, Hobbes, was a Shepherd cross that his owners got through North Shore Animal League. He was not a designer dog, just the randomly bred product of irresponsible suburban pet owners. In the genetic crap shoot of life, this dog got snake eyes. He had exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which meant that he couldn't digest a whole lot of things (including protein) without having an enzyme added to his food. This condition is present in German Shepherds and Rough Coated Collies. Next, he was diagnosed as hypothryroid. Then anemic (hmm, perhaps a beagle was involved there, too?) and much later in life he began having seizures. Here was a family who tried to do the right thing by adopting a dog through a shelter/rescue, thinking that a mixed breed dog wouldn't have all the problems you associate with purebred dogs, and they got screwed. Big time. Yes, Hobbes got the best medical care throughout his long life. But I have to think that the dogs who created him must have shown signs of all of these problems.
Back to Puggles. Most of the ones I've met on the street are not social with other dogs, are overweight, and not particularly attractive. I did meet one friendly female who showed appropriate behavior, but I still think the whole Puggle thing is just ridiculous. Beagles are cheap, get one of those if you can't afford a pug. Go to Pug Rescue. Just don't support puppy mills. Buy from a responsible breeder with a track record of healthy dogs and a rational, humane sales contract.
Next time? Labradoodles.
Growing up, spaying and neutering was pretty much a non-issue. All of our dogs ran around intact until in the mid-70's, when my mother got a 9 month old female Cairn Terrier (free, through a local paper). The neighbors had a German Shepherd/St. Bernard cross and he trashed our fence to get into the yard when she went into heat. She was spayed as soon as possible after that. Despite dire predictions of bizarre behavior and obesity resulting from this unnatural surgery, the dog remained her quirky funny self until she died some 14 years later.
In any case, mixed breed dogs abounded. Shepherd/Collie crosses were everywhere, so were Lab/Shepherd crosses. No one suggested creating a new breed because of this. You had junkyard or garage dogs, true mutts, products of a dozen random breedings. Those dogs had hybrid vigor - living outside, with no vet care, only the healthiest dogs survived to breed. I'm not advocating random breeding or no vet care - all of my mammals are spayed or neutered where species appropriate.
Breeders of designer dogs *eyeroll* claim that their dogs have hybrid vigor. Um, no. Straight crosses - Pug x Beagle, Poodle x Schnauzer - are still going to be at risk for all the diseases/genetic defects of the two breeds. Especially if the two dogs haven't been tested to see if they carry any of the problems that affect their breeds.
A dog that I walked for all 14 years of his life, Hobbes, was a Shepherd cross that his owners got through North Shore Animal League. He was not a designer dog, just the randomly bred product of irresponsible suburban pet owners. In the genetic crap shoot of life, this dog got snake eyes. He had exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which meant that he couldn't digest a whole lot of things (including protein) without having an enzyme added to his food. This condition is present in German Shepherds and Rough Coated Collies. Next, he was diagnosed as hypothryroid. Then anemic (hmm, perhaps a beagle was involved there, too?) and much later in life he began having seizures. Here was a family who tried to do the right thing by adopting a dog through a shelter/rescue, thinking that a mixed breed dog wouldn't have all the problems you associate with purebred dogs, and they got screwed. Big time. Yes, Hobbes got the best medical care throughout his long life. But I have to think that the dogs who created him must have shown signs of all of these problems.
Back to Puggles. Most of the ones I've met on the street are not social with other dogs, are overweight, and not particularly attractive. I did meet one friendly female who showed appropriate behavior, but I still think the whole Puggle thing is just ridiculous. Beagles are cheap, get one of those if you can't afford a pug. Go to Pug Rescue. Just don't support puppy mills. Buy from a responsible breeder with a track record of healthy dogs and a rational, humane sales contract.
Next time? Labradoodles.
Friday, January 4, 2008
I did love dogs...before I was a dogwalker.
I guess it's like being a kindergarten teacher. Five year old humans are easy to love in the abstract, harder to love when there are thirty of them screaming in an enclosed space. *shudder*
Being with a dozen different dogs every day changes how you view them. Plus, I have certain requirements: no eating things off the street, no pulling, no barking, you do what I say when I say it. I don't care that the dog coming at us is barking hard enough to spray spit onto passersby, or the toddler next to us has just dropped a hot dog directly in our path. Whether I'm walking one dog or eight, I expect them to proceed calmly down the street. In order to do this, the dogs need to respect me and my rules and I need to pay attention to what's going on around me.
Sometime during my second year of dog walking I realized that loving dogs wasn't enough. Yeah, they all greeted me with wagging tails when I came to pick them up, but they also had no trouble ignoring me when we got outside. I was dead weight on the end of the leash.
Now, my husband and I have horses, and there is absolutely no way we would have tolerated that kind of behavior from them. Horses weigh 1000 pounds and more, so there isn't any way you can physically make them do what you want. OK, before anyone says 'oh, you can use a whip and put a chain over their nose and force them to do what you want - just like those poor circus horses, blah blah blah' I'd like to point a few things out. If you try to use pain - real pain - to force compliance from a horse, chances are they will panic. And when they panic, they will hurt you and themselves, whether they mean to or not. YouTube is littered with videos of people who have forced horses into a fight-or-flight situation and it ain't pretty. With horses, you learn early on that you just don't have the physical strength to make them obey you. So you need to think, and handle them in a way that keeps you and them safe and calm.
Back to dogs. I started walking bigger dogs, and found that treating them like horses made them walk better on the leash. Part of this is being proactive about correction. Instead of waiting for the inevitable bad behavior to actually occur, I nipped it in the bud. Picture this: you and your dog are walking down the street and there is another dog approaching you about a block away. Your dog begins to slow down, his tail comes up, his body stiffens. The other dog does the same. If you just continue walking, it is very likely that the two dogs are going to lunge at each other, barking. If either owner is not paying attention, the dogs may actually make contact. Dogs that do this over and over again are walked by people who believe/hope that this time their dog will behave. Look at their faces - sheepish surprise, followed by an apologetic "oh, Binky, stop that". Meanwhile, Binky has been rewarded by being able to bark at the evil intruder dog.
Rewind. Your dog sees the other dog, his tail comes up, his body stiffens. Instantly, you give the leash a sharp sideways tug, hard enough to rock your dog. At the exact same time you growl, "I don't think so," or whatever else comes to mind. Ideally, your dog will look up at you when you tug, and you deliver your warning while leaning a little forward. Your dog's body language will change - the tail will droop and his body will relax. If your dog ignores you and stays focussed on Binky, bump him in the shoulder with your leg, then repeat the tug and warning. The idea is for your dog to look at you, switch his attention from the approaching dog to you. By now, if your dog is still ignoring you, you need to up the ante. At this point, the problem is that your dog doesn't view you as any kind of authority figure. He's in his own doggy world and you don't exist except to give out food and minister to his every need. And it's your fault. But what to do - Binky is still approaching and your dog has gone to red alert.
Grab your dog by the scruff of the neck and make them look at you. You can do it, whether they weigh 15 pounds or 150. Just depends on how serious you are. Use your body to block them and their view of Binky, and force your dog to pay attention to you. Some dogs, if they've been allowed to get away with this sort of thing for a few years, will actually try to push around you to get at the Binky demon. If the dog I am with has gotten this far, I lay them down on the sidewalk. This may involve some wrestling - a dog that believes they are in charge is not going to go down quietly. Doesn't matter, they are going down, and they are going to hold that submissive posture until they calm down. On my part, I'm not angry, just determined. The alpha dog isn't cruel or capricious, there are rules and those rules need to be obeyed. Discipline has gotten a bad reputation these days - people seem to believe that being kind and gentle will solve everything. There's nothing wrong with kindness and gentleness, and beatings don't really get the right point across. But an admonitory swat on the haunch may make your point far quicker and more permanently than endless pleading.
So do I love dogs? Yes, I do, but in a more realistic way. They're dogs, not furry people, and I treat them like dogs. I still get greeted at the door when I pick them up to go out, except now it's a proper greeting, more like one dog to another instead of mindless excitement. I still get kisses. But the best moments are when I am walking the whole pack, eight dogs, and we are walking down the street as a perfect group, past toddlers flinging hot dogs, past skateboarders, past the snarling barking Binky's of the world - and nothing happens. We just keep walking.
Being with a dozen different dogs every day changes how you view them. Plus, I have certain requirements: no eating things off the street, no pulling, no barking, you do what I say when I say it. I don't care that the dog coming at us is barking hard enough to spray spit onto passersby, or the toddler next to us has just dropped a hot dog directly in our path. Whether I'm walking one dog or eight, I expect them to proceed calmly down the street. In order to do this, the dogs need to respect me and my rules and I need to pay attention to what's going on around me.
Sometime during my second year of dog walking I realized that loving dogs wasn't enough. Yeah, they all greeted me with wagging tails when I came to pick them up, but they also had no trouble ignoring me when we got outside. I was dead weight on the end of the leash.
Now, my husband and I have horses, and there is absolutely no way we would have tolerated that kind of behavior from them. Horses weigh 1000 pounds and more, so there isn't any way you can physically make them do what you want. OK, before anyone says 'oh, you can use a whip and put a chain over their nose and force them to do what you want - just like those poor circus horses, blah blah blah' I'd like to point a few things out. If you try to use pain - real pain - to force compliance from a horse, chances are they will panic. And when they panic, they will hurt you and themselves, whether they mean to or not. YouTube is littered with videos of people who have forced horses into a fight-or-flight situation and it ain't pretty. With horses, you learn early on that you just don't have the physical strength to make them obey you. So you need to think, and handle them in a way that keeps you and them safe and calm.
Back to dogs. I started walking bigger dogs, and found that treating them like horses made them walk better on the leash. Part of this is being proactive about correction. Instead of waiting for the inevitable bad behavior to actually occur, I nipped it in the bud. Picture this: you and your dog are walking down the street and there is another dog approaching you about a block away. Your dog begins to slow down, his tail comes up, his body stiffens. The other dog does the same. If you just continue walking, it is very likely that the two dogs are going to lunge at each other, barking. If either owner is not paying attention, the dogs may actually make contact. Dogs that do this over and over again are walked by people who believe/hope that this time their dog will behave. Look at their faces - sheepish surprise, followed by an apologetic "oh, Binky, stop that". Meanwhile, Binky has been rewarded by being able to bark at the evil intruder dog.
Rewind. Your dog sees the other dog, his tail comes up, his body stiffens. Instantly, you give the leash a sharp sideways tug, hard enough to rock your dog. At the exact same time you growl, "I don't think so," or whatever else comes to mind. Ideally, your dog will look up at you when you tug, and you deliver your warning while leaning a little forward. Your dog's body language will change - the tail will droop and his body will relax. If your dog ignores you and stays focussed on Binky, bump him in the shoulder with your leg, then repeat the tug and warning. The idea is for your dog to look at you, switch his attention from the approaching dog to you. By now, if your dog is still ignoring you, you need to up the ante. At this point, the problem is that your dog doesn't view you as any kind of authority figure. He's in his own doggy world and you don't exist except to give out food and minister to his every need. And it's your fault. But what to do - Binky is still approaching and your dog has gone to red alert.
Grab your dog by the scruff of the neck and make them look at you. You can do it, whether they weigh 15 pounds or 150. Just depends on how serious you are. Use your body to block them and their view of Binky, and force your dog to pay attention to you. Some dogs, if they've been allowed to get away with this sort of thing for a few years, will actually try to push around you to get at the Binky demon. If the dog I am with has gotten this far, I lay them down on the sidewalk. This may involve some wrestling - a dog that believes they are in charge is not going to go down quietly. Doesn't matter, they are going down, and they are going to hold that submissive posture until they calm down. On my part, I'm not angry, just determined. The alpha dog isn't cruel or capricious, there are rules and those rules need to be obeyed. Discipline has gotten a bad reputation these days - people seem to believe that being kind and gentle will solve everything. There's nothing wrong with kindness and gentleness, and beatings don't really get the right point across. But an admonitory swat on the haunch may make your point far quicker and more permanently than endless pleading.
So do I love dogs? Yes, I do, but in a more realistic way. They're dogs, not furry people, and I treat them like dogs. I still get greeted at the door when I pick them up to go out, except now it's a proper greeting, more like one dog to another instead of mindless excitement. I still get kisses. But the best moments are when I am walking the whole pack, eight dogs, and we are walking down the street as a perfect group, past toddlers flinging hot dogs, past skateboarders, past the snarling barking Binky's of the world - and nothing happens. We just keep walking.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
In the beginning...
No one sets out to be a dog walker. You will not find us at Career Days. It's usually something you do while waiting to do something else. 2008 is my 15th year of walking, the job I've done longer than any other, so this is my "something else."
Oddly enough, people sometimes tell me that they want to be a dog walker when they retire. Really? I so do not want to walk dogs when I retire. By the way, no one ever approaches me in February, in the freezing rain, and says, "boy, I wish had your job!". That only happens the first nice week in the spring or fall.
Before I walked dogs, I had an office job, with air-conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. I could wear nice clothes and not worry how dog spit would look with that shirt. I wore high heels. I carried an umbrella. I also wished that I could be outside on nice days, hated corporate life, and fantasized about a job I would actually enjoy doing. Fortunately, I have the best husband in the world, and he encouraged me to find that job.
My sister was walking dogs for a service in NYC, and I commented to her that what I really wanted was her job. By coincidence, the company was hiring, and the next thing I knew I was freezing my ass off in the winter of '94, getting shin splints and passing out as soon as I got home.
Like a lot of dog owners, I was under the delusion that if I had a relationship with the dog I was walking that it would behave. I thought that making the dog like me would make everything OK. Love is not the answer. Sorry. Some of the dogs I walked were well-behaved on the leash, but most of them had no problem imitating sled dogs at the start of the Iditarod. The training books I read were no help, since they were a)geared for suburbia, b)assumed that the dog was a puppy and c)that you had more than 45 minutes a day with the dog.
By the time I left the service and went off on my own, I knew that I needed a better system for managing my dogs. The only way to make any money walking dogs is volume - this is my job, not a hobby, and the point is to make money. A lot of dog walking services advertise that they provide individual service, and personal attention - "no risky pack walks". They can do this because they have lots of walkers, most of whom, by the way, can only walk one or two well-behaved dogs at a time without falling apart. Walkers like this come and go, moving on when they get a "real" job or a steady gig as a musician.
This blog is the story of how I learned to walk a pack of 8 or 9 dogs and make it look easy, and also a chronicle of my frustration with the idiotic things I see people doing with their dogs.
Oddly enough, people sometimes tell me that they want to be a dog walker when they retire. Really? I so do not want to walk dogs when I retire. By the way, no one ever approaches me in February, in the freezing rain, and says, "boy, I wish had your job!". That only happens the first nice week in the spring or fall.
Before I walked dogs, I had an office job, with air-conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. I could wear nice clothes and not worry how dog spit would look with that shirt. I wore high heels. I carried an umbrella. I also wished that I could be outside on nice days, hated corporate life, and fantasized about a job I would actually enjoy doing. Fortunately, I have the best husband in the world, and he encouraged me to find that job.
My sister was walking dogs for a service in NYC, and I commented to her that what I really wanted was her job. By coincidence, the company was hiring, and the next thing I knew I was freezing my ass off in the winter of '94, getting shin splints and passing out as soon as I got home.
Like a lot of dog owners, I was under the delusion that if I had a relationship with the dog I was walking that it would behave. I thought that making the dog like me would make everything OK. Love is not the answer. Sorry. Some of the dogs I walked were well-behaved on the leash, but most of them had no problem imitating sled dogs at the start of the Iditarod. The training books I read were no help, since they were a)geared for suburbia, b)assumed that the dog was a puppy and c)that you had more than 45 minutes a day with the dog.
By the time I left the service and went off on my own, I knew that I needed a better system for managing my dogs. The only way to make any money walking dogs is volume - this is my job, not a hobby, and the point is to make money. A lot of dog walking services advertise that they provide individual service, and personal attention - "no risky pack walks". They can do this because they have lots of walkers, most of whom, by the way, can only walk one or two well-behaved dogs at a time without falling apart. Walkers like this come and go, moving on when they get a "real" job or a steady gig as a musician.
This blog is the story of how I learned to walk a pack of 8 or 9 dogs and make it look easy, and also a chronicle of my frustration with the idiotic things I see people doing with their dogs.
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