Lucky is Not Liking My New Rule

I declared a 'No Paws On Me' rule awhile back. I am still trying to pull a Dog Whisperer. If I want to have peace and harmony in the kennel, I have to be the pack leader.

I have been walking the dog that think they are in charge on a lease to change their minds. That has worked pretty well with most dogs, no real effect on Millie last week. The other thing I decide to do was not tolerate any dominating of me. Thus, the 'No Paws On Me' rule.

This is particularly upsetting to Lucky who likes to be petted while he is up on his hind legs with his fore paws on your chest. I think I was giving him a complex telling him to get down. So yesterday, I called him over, I had him sit and then I ordered him 'Up' and then I gave him a big rub down. He seems to be back to his old self and I am back to having to throw an endless number of slobber covered, mud caked balls.

And I am very happy about that.

I still think this is a good rule, I get to keep my position of authority, my coat is staying a bit cleaner, and I don't have nearly the number of bruises that I usually sport.

Scooter, Scooter, Scooter

Scooter is a Beagle and so cannot be blamed for his no stop barking. So no blame, but I am working on calming him down and trying to get him to be a dog and not a furry car alarm.

Scooter barks so much that he goes home hoarse, and his owners don't like that. So they send him with doggie downers, but I can't sedate a dog for 2 weeks.

So I am hoping the Dog Whisperer's techniques can help even Scooter. I have been taking him on a leased walk and that really seems to calm him down. Problem is that it doesn't stick. I have to do this pretty much every play time. He is good for most of the day, but by late afternoon, he has worked himself back into a tizzy of non stop barking.

I have two weeks maybe I can get him to relax and interact with the other dogs. Right now all he does is stay by himself and charge and bark whenever two dogs are wrestling.

I did see him 'smell a butt' yesterday so maybe there is still a little dog left in him. I know he will be happier and a lot less barky if he would just 'BE A DOG!'

Well, This was a Pretty Good Weekend

We had a great group of dogs that all played well together and no photos to prove it, as I can still not find the camera.

Molly and Leo came back and Leo is still acting the big brother, which means he is annoying his little sister to no end. Whenever Molly finds a dog to play with, Leo gets put out and has to break it up. He tried this last time with Molly and Tinker, but they were just too determined to have fun and they just ignored him.

I found the solution to getting Molly out from under Leo's watchful eye. Leo likes to play fetch and he even brings the ball back to me, so the game was on. Leo is a bit too serious about fetch. Once when BB swooped in and stole the ball, I thought Leo was going to take a chunk out of her. BB seems to have realized the same thing, because I have never seen her NOT swoop in a steal a ball like she did all weekend. Not single other time to Leo or anyone else for that matter.

Tessie who has never shown an interest in balls other than to steal them to get chased suddenly joined the game and gave Leo a run for his money. She even brought the ball back to me. This is a huge transformation in Tessie. I did try my 'dog whisperer' technique of taking Tessie for a leased walk around the kennel. It really seemed to calm her down, but how in the world did it give her an interest in fetch and teach her the rules at the same time. Another 'Doggie Miracle'

I just had the best play time, ever!

That Dog Whisperer stuff really works!

I have been 'one with the couch' for most of this week. When I could wrestle control of the remote from the kids, who where also home sick, I would switch from Nickelodeon to episodes of the "Dog Whisperer".

He was helping a family with a beagle that grabbed everything and anything and just ran with it. Remotes, phones, magazines, newspapers, glasses, toys - if it wasn't nailed down they were chasing him to get it back. This transformation was something I really wanted to see. I have so many dogs that won't release a toy back to me.

I know I can't yank these toys out of the dog's mouths. Tug of war is not a game I am ever going to win. What I didn't know was that I shouldn't even try to pull the toy out, the dogs should be giving them to me voluntarily. The pack leader doesn't snatch something out of another dog's mouth, they expect the dog to drop it and relinquish it to the leader. This I am going to try, but after I am feeling better. I figure that I am tired, sick, and not cut striking figure as the Leader of the Pack this week.

But an opportunity presented itself. I was sitting and BB walked up with a toy in her mouth. I tried Cesar's 'claw' technique. You make you hand into a claw and poke the dog in the next just under the jaw line. This is like a 'bite' from us and that is how a dog would communicate to another dog. One poke and BB dropped that toy into my lap. I could not believe it. I thought it had to be a fluke it happened so fast. When it worked a second time I knew I was onto something.

I had a dog that wanted to play fetch, but whenever Remy would bring a ball back, Daisy or BB would steal it. This makes for a very short game of fetch. I did my best Cesar impersonation, I touched Daisy and said, "SHHH!" and she dropped the ball. This has never happened before. BB got smart and started to stay out of touching range, but I had Daisy bring the ball back to me over and over again.

Best part, they were still releasing balls the next day. Now, I have to get the owners to continue my good work.

Timing is Everything

I already knew that you can change a dog's behavior for doing something wrong unless you caught them in the act. Dog only have two modes of thought NOW and BEFORE. Only the NOW matters to the dog, BEFORE is already long gone.

Babies and toddlers also function only in the NOW, but that will have to wait until another post.

What I am learning from the Dog Whisperer show is that if you want to stop your dog from doing something to need to discipline them when they are DECIDING to do the act, not during it and clearly not after the fact.

If you dog dumps your garbage can, and you point at the spilled garbage and say, "BAD DOG!" Your dog is only going to think that spilled garbage is named Bad Dog and thank you for introducing them. You have to interfere just as your dog is switching from normal, ordinary, cutting through the kitchen, 'just happy to be here' dog, to 'Hey there is something interesting here!' mode. Because dogs go from neutral, to interested, to action pretty quickly. You can short circuit this process at interested very easily, but not at decided and acting.

I will give you an example on my walks. If I spot Vector veering off toward the pile of deer bones, all I have to do is call her and she comes back to the path. If I miss the veer, and she is already picking out a treat, I have to walk up to her and make her, "SPIT THAT OUT!" Stopping her approach is a call, and "SPIT THAT OUT!" is a shout.

I had a friend trying to stop her dog from chasing deer with an electronic collar. I think that she failed because she was hit the zap after the chase had begun. You need to teach the dogs not to make the decision to chase, not to stop the chase. If you do the former, the dog won't start the bad behavior and you won't need the collar every time you walk your dog.

I am thinking this is going to be a very important when my kids become teenagers. If I only knew how to apply it to kids.

I tell Dog Stories, He does Dog Impersonations

I got a free preview of the National Geographic Channel this month. So, of course, I have been recording all the of Dog Whisperer episodes. I love to talk about my doggies, that is why I started this blog - I was boring all of my non-dog friends and had to find another outlet.

I watch Cesar on his show and he becomes the dog. He mimics their expressions of fear, aggression, timid, excited - all perfectly. But when he does a particular breed, it sending me into hysterics. He is the dog, it is the funniest thing.

He does a wiggle that starts at his shoulders and going all the way down his body - his is a Labrador.

He snarls and nips - he is the terrier.

He puts his head forward and glares - he is a boxer.


I love this show.

This had me worried

I had to get used to Cesar’s use of energy in describing dog behavior. His book keeps repeating that if you want to be in charge of the dogs you have to have the highest energy. That does not bode well for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a slug most of the time. The dogs should be all over me, but I am in charge for the most part. There are a few dogs that have to be reminded that since I pay the mortgage I get to be the alpha dog – including my own dogs. I might not have the energy to run with a pack of dogs like Cesar does but I must have the air of authority to my kennel dogs.

How I win over the shy ones

When I get a very timid dog, I don’t try to win them over with love. Loving on a freaked out dog will only add to the freak-out. You have to let the dog come to you. My technique is to sit in my chair and let my hands just dangle. That allows the dog to come up from behind me – no pressure from me – and sniff at my hands. If he comes up with the courage to walk by me I will swing my hands out slightly to rub down the dog’s side.

“No sir, that wasn’t a pet, I am not trying to love on you, no sirree, I am just sitting here, no threat, no pressure, just doing nothing all by myself”…Well, the dogs actually buy that act.

This works like a charm for me, I haven’t had a dog that I cannot win over with this technique. Thanks to the Dog Whisperer, now I know why it works.

I never thought about this before seeing that Dog Whisperer show. When I rub my hand against the dog’s side, I am getting my scent on him and his scent on me. And in the dog world is “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

And now back to obsessing over Cesar Millan's book.

I am really fixated on this book.

One, I can't wrap my head around the idea that there is someone else who spends seven days a week with dogs.



Two, even I don't going running in the hill with a pack of dogs. I may be nuts, but I do have my limits. I can't run.

Three, I am endlessly pleased that I have been doing the right things all along and even more pleased to understand why they work.

Four, I can't stand how easy it was to get my doggies to get along so much better. I thought they were good before, now things are really great. And my own dogs' behavior has greatly improved.


That photo is from the National Geographic photo gallery
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/bestofngcweek/images/gallery/photo_dogwhisperer.jpg
He must just shock the BLEEP out of people who meet him on the trails.
People would really be talking about me if I headed into the hills with my wards.

Packs don't have Vice Presidents

This is something that I learned from Cesar's book. I thought that packs had a pecking order from the alpha dog down to the weakness member. But it is more of a family organization then a corporate one. The is the top dog and sometimes a mated pair of dogs are the leader, but after that everyone is equal. This was a big eye opener for me.

I run into trouble with dogs that are just too aggressive in their play. I can usually solve the problem by controlling the mix - I figure out who can play nicely with who, and then I just separate the dog groups. Or if a dog is still too rough, they get a time out. This has served me pretty well and I determined long ago that time out work so much better on dogs than my kids.

I decided to try out Cesar's theories on dog behavior - if I insist that I am the top dog then all the dogs in the play yard automatically become equals. So for the past two weeks, whenever I had a mounter, or a herder, or any dog that growled while playing, I put them on a lease and walked them around, I had them sit for me, and for a couple of them I laid them down on the ground and held my hand over their necks until they relaxed.

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, at least that is what Cesar says...I say you might have very good luck with your dog.

I noticed that as soon as I let the dog off the lead or up, he was ready to play and at a much more acceptable level. It was freaky how well it worked. Only for some of the dogs, herders in particular, did I have to do it over and over again. Testing the limits, is what I call it when my daughter tries to see if see can get away with something - this time.

I tried with two of my problem dogs, they can't play with anyone else they are becoming a menace in general. I thought I had done some good with the first short session on the lease, but they were even more aggressive during the next playtime. I told their owner to go get some professional help training their dogs - they are a dog bite just waiting to happen.

Hey, I am not the Dog Whisperer after all, just the babysitter.

Dominance, Submission, and Discipline

Sorry folks, this is a PG blog and that only refers to your relationship with your dog. I was thinking about Cesar Milan's book again. He talks endlessly about dominance, submission, and discipline in how to treat your dog. He admits that these terms get him in trouble with modern American society. We think of all these terms in a negative connotation. We don't want to dominate our dogs we want to love them.

(We don't want to discipline our kids either, we want to be their friends.)

Well, this doesn't work well with dogs because dog are born with a innate sense of how a pack should be run. To dogs, these words are not bad, they are how the world works and works well for them.

(And you all, can tell me how that friendship thing is working with your kids. I was not surprised to hear that Cesar gets letters saying that they tried his way with great success with the dogs, so they are trying it out with the kids.)

Dogs want a pack with a strong leader. If you won't be the leader the dog feel obligated to take on the job. In his mind, someone has to do it. Now, you dog innately knows his place in a pack. Deep down he knows if he is leader-material or if he is not. So if you are abdicating your spot at the top and letting your dog take it, you may have promoted him beyond his temperament. I am sure you have worked that kind of manager. He has the job, but not the skills to handle it. You have created a boat load of stress for your poor dog.

You need to be the top dog and let your dog be just a dog in a pack. That is where he will be the most happy.

Coming up: Why there are no 'coup de etat' in the dog world, and How to be the Top Dog in your pack, Packs don't have Vice Presidents

There is actually someone who spends more time with dogs than me!

I picked up Cesar's Way, a book by the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan.

I can't tell you how great it feels to find someone who is crazier about dogs than myself.

Cesar stresses that the best thing for our dogs is to let them be just a dog amongst other dogs. A pack existence is what our dogs were designed for and long for. Most of my dogs are a single dog in a house full of people. They haven't been with other dogs since they were puppies.

Owners often tell me that their dog is better behaved after staying at my kennel. Since I know I didn't do any training on the dog, I alway figured it was just because the dog was worn out. But after reading this book, I think Cesar might be right; getting to be just a dog, with a bunch of other dogs, and finding that there are people who think just like you, must be heaven.

I know it did me a world of good to know I am not alone either - Thank you, Cesar!