Worst Idea Ever

So, upon my nightly cruising of the internet I found an ad on Facebook that caught my eye. "Register your Emotional Support Animal". My first response was pretty typical of me..."What the heck is an Emotional Support Animal???" Then I realized what I was looking at.

It is a website that allows you to register your dog as a "service" dog and then buy certificates for it. I am floored by this! I have a friend who is a very nice all around guy who has a dog who he has had to fight to keep because of her breed and she helps him with his PTSD. He's a former Afghanistan Vet and she soothes him. The hell he has went through to keep her because of her breed has been insane but it has worked out. To see a "company" basically selling certificates just makes me queasy.

Dogs who are untested, unproofed, and basically not setup for success at being a service dog can now be a service dog. Wait! That makes no sense! This is a liability waiting to happen. This is a chance for the humans once again to screw it up for the legitimate service animals who are working their rears off for their humans.

Ever wonder why so many places don't allow dogs? It's things like this that cause that. The website is in no way affiliated with the ADA and I suggest that if you want a service animal you have your dog tested, trained and skilled in the ability they need. Otherwise, don't screw it up for everyone else!

Here is a link to the site should you wish to pelt them with rotten tomatoes...or just tell them they are going to ruin a good thing for so many deserving people! http://www.servicedogregistration.org/ Oh, and should anyone ever tell you "Fill out this webform and your dog can go anywhere it wants for free" is full of crap!

</Rant off>

Now, let's be fair...

A lot of times some other trainer will say "Well, my methods fix dogs and are easier to do!" Normally these trainers use pain or force when it comes to dog training. And, I will admit it just this one time...punishment does work BUT punishment must be done at the exact precise second, be the appropriate amount of punishment and let's be honest...most owners will fail on both counts. The punishment will come well AFTER the crime and the punishment will not fit the crime. 

That being said, you're probably wondering why I'm talking about punishment when I abhor it so much. Well, Kayla, my assistant went to the State Fair yesterday. She went and was looking at the dogs and most of the dogs there from Illinois Humane of Springfield and Springfield Animal Protective League had on prong collars and shock collars. Now, if these organizations are SO up on the times why are they still using methods from the 70s?? Kayla brought it up and next thing she knew she was being yelled at by some cocky trainer named Joe Blankenship who is toting himself as a behavior expert. (The website originally stated he was a canine behaviorist but it suddenly has been changed!) According to his facebook page he went into business in July of 2013. I'm sure that month of classes he's been holding has made him an expert! I should also mention that as soon as Kayla brought up the fact she is in school for dog training he went nuts and demanded the cops be called to remove her. I'm amazed at how professional this guy is! A little girl of 120 pounds scared him enough to make him start screaming for the police  WOW! Hate to see what he would do with a human aggressive dog. Oh wait, he would just hang it until it gives up or hold it down until it stops snapping at him. He is a graduate of Tom Rose Dog Training School. Good for him. Here is some of the reviews I found for that school:

  "All I know is, I've seen some pretty piss poor "certified" helpers come out of there."
  
  "The Tom Rose School is not far from where I live/work, so there are a number of the school's graduates working in my area. Please, please think about attending a different school. I've seen what happens to dogs those people have trained. Once perfectly confident, stable dogs suddenly develop all sorts of fear problems, complete with peeing all over themselves. I don't know what exactly is taught at the school, so it's possible the graduates aren't following the directions they were given, but I have to wonder why more than one of them thinks it's a great idea to start puppy training by sticking a shock collar on it and zapping it for every mistake. I know groomers and kennel workers who have worked alongside trainers who went through the Tom Rose School, and I've heard all kinds of behind the scenes horror stories that I could potentially get into legal trouble for if I repeated them here. "

Ouch! So, my question is simple...why is the Illinois State Fair still having people come in to help with dogs who have this kind of attitude? Even the gun dog trainer was speaking about positive reinforcement today! David Dodd who was one of the "experts" they had do demonstrations with Joe Blankenship was once dismissed from a court as a witness because the judge found he had no education or training in order to be a credible witness. Doesn't that speak volumes by itself? 

So, here's my challenge to the Illinois State Fair (Department of Agriculture), Illinois Humane of Springfield, AND Springfield Animal Protective League and EVERY OTHER ORGANIZATION who is using these types of methods. Man up and learn to train a dog. Learn to train a dog so you don't have to cause them pain. Learn to train a dog so you can bond with them and have a mutual level of respect. Stop taking the "easy" way out and damaging dogs. Furthermore  the AVSAB position statements can be found HERE!  So, no need to believe me! Go look for yourselves. You can clearly see that the American Vet Society of Animal Behavior has denounced dominance AND punishment. 

Now should you want to contact any of those people above who's voice makes a difference, here is their email addresses and how to contact them:

Department of Agriculture: agr.pio@illinois.gov
Illinois Humane of Springfield: jmcbridenator@gmail.com
Springfield Animal Protective League: http://www.apl-shelter.org/dotnetnuke/ContactUs/tabid/128/Default.aspx You can use the drop down box to change it to send the message to the president of the APL. 

Demand that these people use better training practices rather than shocking dogs and using torture equipment! 

Learning to Focus

Lately I've been working hard on organizing group classes. It's been a pretty good success. We had a lot of interest and our turn out has been good. I'm thankful the public is finally seeing that training is key to a happy and healthy dog.

I've also picked up more private session clients which means I am keeping busy. Between homework and clients and a day job, I'm pretty sure sleep is becoming more and more optional. We do not advertise. We have fliers and cards, but all our business comes from word of mouth (and perhaps my big mouth, but that's another story). We survive off client referrals and we are thankful for each and every person who refers us!

Let's see, in the last two weeks, I drove almost to Arkansas, met a dog who reminds me so much of Greyson it could be his long lost twin (other than she's 8 months old and no where near the same breed mix), had Greyson get extremely ill, had to tell a family their dog is dog aggressive and they shouldn't let him try to make new friends, oh and we secured a building for training classes.

Back to the whole dog aggressive thing though. It's something I have experience in. I live with it day in and day out. Sometimes it's called Dog Reactive, Dog Selective or downright Dog Aggressive. Greyson didn't start out this way. He played with the neighbors dogs when he was young. I thought he would be golden with all dogs. Imagine my surprise when he wasn't. It really made me step back and review what I could have possibly done wrong.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not what was done wrong. It's not what I didn't do with him. It's just...well...he's a dog. And just like humans, not all dogs like all other dogs. Greyson has playmates. He has Cupcake. Being that he doesn't enjoy 99% of the dog population doesn't mean that he can't have a full and happy life. It means we work harder to avoid situations that will set him up for failure.

So how do we do that and exist you ask? I taught Greyson to "Focus". We started out small. I asked for simple eye contact at first. Just glance at me and you get treats. Of course, Grey being Grey and being highly food motivated helps here. Look at me and boom you get cheese cube! Suddenly I had a dog who always wanted to look at me. Please note: I did NOT feed him cheese every time he looked at me. We did it to the point where Greyson was willing to play the lottery with me in hopes of getting treats.

As we slowly upped the ante, we moved out in the real world. Obviously just being in the living room wasn't going to work. He HAD to leave the house sooner or later. So, I sat down and wrote out a training protocol to train Greyson with a cue of "Focus". I then had it proofread by two others, one being a CPDT Trainer and the other being Kayla. Then I put that baby in motion.

In no time Greyson was making some great strides. Then we hit a plateau and we stumbled back a few steps. It was my fault though. Anytime you increase Distance, Duration, Different Environment, or Delivery of Reward you have to lower other criteria. I didn't do that. I realized it though and we moved on past it.

The "Jackpot" came at the pet store when someone with a small dog came around the corner as I was paying on a retractable. One quick "Grey Focus" and he was on it! He sat looking up at my nose like it was going to jump off my face and do tricks. As soon as I was done paying I think I shoved about 5 treats in his mouth as I was loving on him and "Good Boy"ing him like crazy. A situation that could have become very volatile VERY quick was saved by a single word and a lot of saying the word in sessions throughout a few weeks.

The kicker of this is even though Greyson knows the cue for "focus" it has to be practiced. Training isn't something you can do, chalk it up to being known and never work on it again. Training is continual. We have to keep up sessions with our dogs. It not only strengthens the bond with them but it keeps their minds active and honestly it's tiring to a dog. I'll never forget a session with a client and their German Shepherd where the dog was exhausted from working and went and laid at the door to go out. Keep the sessions short and focused. Use everyday events as a training exercise! Going for a quick stroll? Take your treat bag and work on "heel" as you go. Your dog will be exhausted and satisfied at the end!

So, in close, having a dog who doesn't like every other dog you meet isn't the end of the world. It doesn't mean you can't ever leave your house again. It means you have to have a very trained dog who is well behaved is what it means. Can you go to dog parks? Nope. Can you go off leash all the time? No (and there are laws against that anyway for a reason). Can you go to doggie daycare? Nope! But your dog can still go places with you. Your dog can be a Canine Good Citizen, a champion trick dog, or just a dog who his family loves and takes him on vacations with them. It doesn't change who your dog is, just changes what you teach him to do!

And for now I leave you with a picture of Greyson from this morning. He decided it wasn't worth it to get out of bed. Please ignore the goopy eye (he's still getting over being sick).

Aha moments and when management fails

Today has been a crazy day!

I ran all over the place searching for a possibly extremely injured dog and came up empty. The dog wandered into one of my clients yard where their dog was on his tie out. The dogs had an altercation and the strange dog ran off. I went on the hunt for the injured dog because temperatures are high and the land is pretty dry right now. Sadly, I never found the injured dog. I did check on my client's dog and he will be sore and has some gashes but overall he was in good spirits and was acting very normal by the time I stopped by.

There is a lesson to be learned here: NEVER let your dog out of your home unleashed and unattended! Accidents do happen though and I will get to more of that in a moment.

The other HUGE thing that happened today was one of my clients has a beautiful German Shepherd. He is a great dog; he loves children, isn't phased by a whole lot and he's terrified of getting into vehicles. Yep, it's a huge drawback when you want to take the kids and dog to the park and the park is all the way across town. He is a large German Shepherd too. The husband can lift him (for now since he's still a puppy) but the wife can not. So, in the last 12 sessions one of our major things we have worked on was getting in the car.

Up until today, it was still a no go. He was NOT getting in there unless he was picked up and sat on the seat. So, imagine our surprise when we were outside working on Canine Good Citizen testing and he hopped in the front seat of the car because the door was open. He got a TON of praise and played with for this! He hopped out and hopped right back in. Suddenly he figured out the game. "I jump in and I get love and attention and played with!" We repeated this several more times and needless to say he enjoyed the hot dog he got for his efforts!

Dogs have "AHA" moments. It's when the lightbulb flicks on and something amazing happens. I've seen it time and time again. In order to stop bad behavior I teach incompatible behaviors. Dog jumps? I teach the owners to have the dog down when someone comes in the door. You'll notice I don't say "I teach the dog". Why? Because I don't teach the dogs. I teach owners to work with their dogs. An owner who puts the work in like the family with the German Shepherd will see payoffs and it's more rewarding when the owners have it happen than when I do.

Now, I want to talk about Management. I have always thrived on management. My house is extremely managed because of Greyson. I have to watch who he interacts with because of him being reactive. When I got home from my client sessions I was still on a high from the car and the German Shepherd. As I got out of the car I was dancing along and realized I lost a $20 bill somewhere. I ran in the house and started going through my stuff to see if I dropped it into my bag.

One slip of not paying attention (and I'm very attentive in my house to what is going on around me) and I didn't notice the black dog walking out the back door. I shut the door behind me as I tossed my bag down to go through it. Once again, not noticing that I didn't have a dog jumping around me and going crazy because I wasn't paying attention! It only took a second for Greyson to waltz out the door.

I am lucky my deck has gates that Greyson can't get out of but what would have happened if someone had stole him? I know, it wasn't but a minute but see my point? If I didn't have that area secured Greyson could have escaped, been running and I wouldn't have realized it. Yes, accidents happen but it is our responsibility to set our dogs up for success every single time. It only takes a tiny slip of paying attention and a dog who is extremely reactive to humans and animals could have become a liability very quickly.

I've always heard "Management always fails at some point" and I've seen that a lot lately. People who have two dogs on crate and rotate having it fail and catastrophic damage to their dogs happening. People who always keep their dogs muzzled having an off leash dog confront them and their dog getting their muzzle off and almost getting out of their harness. We can only manage so much before it comes to the point of being a danger. Where do we draw the line? I really have no answer to that but I know it's something I need to start thinking more about.

In closing, I'm SUPER proud of my clients and all their hard work has paid off. I know it's frustrating when a dog can't do something that you want them to but I was able to give them options and through sheer determination and positive work their dog pulled it off!

 Syn and Jelani when they graduated basic obedience!

No, Uh uh, Tsch, Nah, and all those fun things

Lately I'm seeing an epidemic. It's dogs who are behaving badly because they have no clue what their owners are asking them for. It's the dogs who jump. It's the dogs who mouth. It's the dogs who run around like a spastic chicken while the owner stands there makes a noise that is supposed to mean no.

And here's the kicker....when did anyone EVER teach a dog what those things mean? I mean really, what is the purpose of all these weird things that you are raising your voice at your dog for? It makes you feel better, right? You feel by saying at the top of your lungs "UH UH" that Fido might possibly stop what he's doing because you are being firm. Here's a thought...maybe Fido stops what he's doing because he thinks you're out of your mind? Or you might be scaring the crap out of him with these odd things.

So, in the last few months, I've come up with a solution! And it's a fun one too. The conversation goes like this:

Me: Give me one word, a fun word that everyone in your family can remember.

Client (Well, it was their 4 year old actually): Pork Chop!

Me: Okay, here's the deal. Every single time you want to say "No" or make a sound like "Uh uh" you get to say that word. So, when Fido is doing something you don't want him to, take a deep breath and quietly say "pork chop".

Client: **baffled look"" We aren't supposed to yell at our dog is what you're telling us?

Me: BINGO! (Thank goodness the dog's name wasn't Bingo!)

It gets the point across though. Even yelling "pork chop" at the top of their lungs basically has the same effect as "No", "Uh huh", "Tsch", "No no no no". I'm just giving owners an opportunity to see the futile attempt at using the words to train a dog. In most cases the family sticks with the process of replacing the "no" word and they end up having fun with it. The family in my example actually used "Pork Chop" for the kids and everything. It's hard to be upset when you are giggling at the ridiculousness of it.

The best way to get your dog to stop doing something you don't want them to? Train incompatible behaviors. Dog jumps all over people when they come in? Train the dog to sit and get treats. Dog barks at the doorbell? Train the dog to go a room when the doorbell rings. (This one is especially handy if you teach them the doorbell means to kennel up.)

I recently assessed a dog who seemed very out of control. Within a few minutes I had him sitting at my feet calmly and taking treats as I clicked for good behavior. When I first got there, the person who was handling the dog would ask the dog to sit. "Can you sit?" and when the dog wouldn't sit she would "UH UH" really loudly and harshly. This sends very mixed signals to the dog. I like to keep all training very upbeat and even when I'm not training, I like to still use praise and rewards for capturing good behavior. Greyson laying down on the floor next to the couch still to this day can get a "Good boy! Good down!" even though he knows what "down" is and he knows he's a good boy, it's the playing of the lottery to get rewarded. Even if it's just a verbal praise!

Now, this is not to say I'm perfect. I lose my cool at times. I've been known to yell. There have been plenty of "What in the world are you doing?"s come out of my mouth. The idea is that you don't want to be constantly sending those mixed signals to your dog. Sooner or later, Fido isn't going to know if he's coming or going and that's normally when I get the phone call.

So always keep it upbeat, positive, and remember, you can't yell "NO" at your dog if you're giggling because you agreed to say "pork chop" instead.

Even I get it wrong

This past few weeks have been chaos. I have puppy classes running, private classes, planning on heading to Ohio in two weeks for a seminar. Even typing it makes me tired. Oh, and I'm setting up a new website AND planning basic obedience group classes. No rest for the wicked, I say! In the mix of all that, there is my personal dog, Greyson.

Grey greeted me every time I came home at the door with his tail wagging and seemed like a happy camper. I would lay down and he would curl up on the floor next to where ever I was. My first real afternoon and evening off, I curled up on the couch and encouraged Greyson to join me. Instead, he went into the other room and laid down. My first thought was that he was bothered by me being going so much.

I started to analyze how Greyson greets me. Tail up, wagging, loose body language, and typical good natured Greyson. There's never been a doubt in my mind that Grey didn't love me. I take good care of him, we've bonded through our training sessions, and he is happy go lucky with me at home. So why when I started not being home as much did I think he was changing his attitude towards me? Simple....I was feeling bad for what I was doing.

Greyson had adapted to my weird flip flopping schedule and while he still sniffs every inch of me when I come home to make sure I don't smell like a dog he knows, he never holds a grudge. And now that I look at it, dogs don't hold grudges! So how did I become convinced that he was upset? Well, I was feeling guilty.

So, after coming to this realization I started to look at other aspects of our lives with Greyson where I was wrong. Like the fact that he doesn't get to go to events with me. I always thought it was unfair to him to have to sit at home while I went to all these places, but I realize (and it was literally an AH HA moment) that Greyson doesn't care. Greyson is comfortable at home. He feels safe, no stress to make him panic (most days) and he is comfortable to be himself. Some dogs don't ever go out to events and be in the public all that much. I come home and love him, that's what makes his world tick. So once again, WHY am I stressing out about this?

I'm projecting my feelings onto Greyson. I see this a lot in dog training. "My dog is mad at me so he ate my shoes!" "I didn't come home when I was supposed to so my dog went potty in his crate!" "My dog didn't like that I wouldn't share my food with him so he dumped over the trash can!"

Now, let's look at each of these.

1)You dog ate your shoes? Did you leave them in his space? In other words, have you taught him what is his and what isn't his? Did you explain this to him in doggie language? Does the dog know that not everything in his domain (i.e. the floor) is his? Nine times out of ten the answer I get back is "Well, no." There you go! He isn't upset with you! He just simply doesn't know those aren't his to chew!

2) The dog went potty in his crate/bed/your bed/your floor? When was the last time he went potty? Did you feed him and then leave him to go in his crate or area of the house? Did you take him out to eliminate after he ate? How old is the dog and is he capable of holding his bladder for that long? If you depended on someone to take you out to potty and they didn't show up when you normally scheduled to go out, what do you think would happen? You would probably potty where you weren't supposed to.

3) Your dog knocked over the trash can? Does he normally do this after you throw something away? I prefer trash cans with lids or having the trash can where the dog can't get to it behind a gated area.

So we see that I'm not the only person who does this. We project how we think they feel onto our dogs when normally there is a simple answer for their behavior. In our case, Greyson is very happy being at home and not being taken places where he is going to be stressed out. He's happy to see me when I come home and he isn't pouting because I was gone. In fact he was probably pouting because during my nap I was snoring like a lumberjack! :)

And in the meantime Grey will continue to love life in a low stress environment!

Misunderstandings can kill a dog

This past week has been pretty crazy around here. Last Wednesday I got a call that a dog I had assessed and worked with a bit had been impounded for killing a cat. The family was going to pay the bail to my knowledge and life was going to go on. Well, needless to say, things never go as planned!

Louis, a beautiful American Staffordshire Terrier lost his home in April due to his owner going to jail. He lived with Rocky, a Chihuahua and another mixed breed dog. He lived with a child and was one of those dogs who was patient with the people he came across in his life and just loved to sprawl in the sun. Sadly Louie (as we all call him) needed a place to crash while his owner's family figured out where to house him. No one knows how long his owner is going to be in jail but Louie doesn't deserve to live in a kennel in a facility until that day comes. He hung out with Scott County Dog Rescue until arrangements could be made for him.

This is Louie in the home he went to after his stay at SCDR. He was happy, he was healthy, he was cared for.

Louie doesn't like cats though! That is his only downfall. He socialized with the dogs at SCDR and was fine. He grew up with children and he can tolerate a lot from them even when he shouldn't have to. While in his temporary home his family found for him he killed a neighbor's stray cat that roams outside. This is where the story gets crazy. People said he was running lose. People said he was chained to a tree during it. Everyone had a different story as to how this happened.

There is one more thing about Louie that is bad. He was taught to not like people in uniform. His original owner, the man in jail taught him to bark and growl at people in uniform. It was said that when the police came to seize him for the cat killing he growled and barked at the police officer. That is a learned behavior. He has been taught to do that. So, he must have it retrained. He needs to understand that people in uniform are not bad. And Louie has seen me in uniform. I, though, go in with a different posture. It's loose, friendly and I come with treats to give the dogs. Louie never growled, never barked at me, and in fact he snorted like a pig the entire time.

Animal Control deemed him dangerous because he was "Obviously violent". It was said he was wrestled to be controlled. Louie has bad legs. He limps severely. He has a massive body and his joints are taking the toll because of it. On Friday when we realized the family couldn't pay his bail, we all panicked. We all started leaving messages for the ACO, the Animal Control Administrator, and the State's Attorney office. Louie was going to die Tuesday at 1pm. Somehow we received a stay of execution and was granted a hearing.

Luckily I keep behavior assessments on every dog I do an evaluation on. I took it, my credentials, my references, and a behavior assessment on a dog who IS dangerous who has a very assorted bite history. My training partner, Kayla went with me. This was the first time I brought her with me. She went on the assessment of Louie with me and I felt her knowledge of Louie would help. I also needed as much moral support as I could get. Last time I was in this position, it didn't end well and I felt scared and lost.

It was a fiasco and no one in court could agree on anything other than if Louie could be deemed not dangerous he would be remanded to my custody and I would remove him from the county to a rescue who dealt only with pit bull type dogs. The sheriff though who is the Animal Control Administrator had to make that call though. The ACO agreed to let us see Louie after the hearing. We had a volunteer who has never met him go in first to see if he growled at her. Nothing. Wiggling rear end for attention is what we got. Typical Louie!

Louie after court with me. He grabbed my entire bag of food roll I had chopped up. I can't say I tried too hard to keep ahold of it. The look on Becky's face is priceless though. Kayla removed the bag seconds later from his mouth with no problem.

Wednesday Louie was deemed not dangerous and I took custody of him. We made the long journey north to his new foster home. As soon as he was in our SUV he passed out cold. He had probably spent the entire time in animal control not getting any rest and he was exhausted. He slept the entire 3 hours on my foot.

After we got him there, we bathed him, got him all settled in and he fell back asleep. Louie will now start a journey after his shutdown protocol. The good news for me is that I get to still be in his life. I work with the rescue as their trainer and get to make sure he is ready to go into a home and live a happy and full life. There was a lot of tears, stress, and fears while dealing with this. All in a days work for us here though. I've always said I would do what it takes to keep dogs in a home, I hadn't planned on being ready to walk into a courtroom at the drop of a hat though. I'm glad I keep such good records on the dogs and can help when needed. 

Louie all tucked in and ready to start his new life.

Pitties In Need Kennels has taken Louie on as a foster and he will be available through them for adoption after his shutdown protocol. They can be reached on Facebook or by contacting Rebecca Hill in Kewanee. I can never thank them enough for being willing to take him on. I met Rebecca by chance when I assessed her dogs and her drive to save these dogs as well as do right by them with training made a huge impact on me. Thank you Rebecca!

Do or Do Not, There is no Try

Goals...do you make them with your dog in mind? I remember one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was "Go home, make a list of what you want to be able to do with your dog. Make an entire list. They can be anything short term, long term, what you want to do tomorrow with him or a year from now. Write them all down." I did just that. The list was rather short. 

• Pass Obedience 101.
• Be able to go in the car without being puked on.
• Be able to walk in the park.

I went back to class and showed them to the trainer. She giggled and told me to please take the lesson seriously. I thought I had. I made goals. I did what she asked. Well, okay so I didn't put a lot of thought into it. I looked at Greyson as being defective and that was how I was writing the goal list. Shame on me. Shame on me for not believing he was capable of more than just walking in a park. 

“[Luke:] I can’t believe it. [Yoda:] That is why you fail.”

Have faith in yourself, in your dog and really reach for the stars. If I wrote that list today, over a year later, I'm pretty sure it would be a totally different list. In fact I know it would be. It would probably be a page and a half long. And now I know that Grey is capable of some very amazing things. 

See, it's all about putting what your dog is capable into perspective. By looking at short term goals and long term goals you have solid points you can cross off. They can be as simple as my "Be able to walk in the park" or as wild as "Gain a title as a champion trick dog". What I'm saying most though is, don't cut your dog short. Your dog is only limited by what you are capable of teaching him or her. Nowhere does it say you have to leave your house to gain a trick dog title. Nope, you can do that right from your living room! And if you think I'm kidding, I can explain further on how. 

The biggest lesson I learned though was to not cut Greyson short just by thinking he wasn't capable of things. I still remember how on a Pit Bull Zen Pack Walk I almost cried. Here we were, surrounded by dogs and other owners and Grey was just cruising along. Right next to other dogs and not a problem! People passing him on bikes, roller blades, people with their dogs and no problem! He did get tangled in his leash once and face planted but that was MY fault and not his. Here was my crazy, reactive dog and he was just being a dog, enjoying a great walk and was so exhausted afterwards he slept the entire way back to my parent's house. I was one proud mom! Granted he did introduce himself to another dog by slamming his paws into their face (AND that dog was blind) but the other dog just took it in stride and even spent a good amount of time walking with Greyson. He made me one proud Mommy ..and probably people thought I was crazy cause normally he just is a hot ball of mess with new people.

So, in short, make goals. Make them anything you want to. They don't have to be done in the next week, month or even a year from now. Now, take that list, and pin it to the fridge. You will be amazed at how quickly you start checking off those goals. Just keep at it. Keep working with your dog and see how many you can check off the list. 

And, while we're at it, here is some of the stuff on our list. :) 

Pass Obedience 101.
Be able to go in the car without being puked on.
Be able to walk in the park.
Go on a play date 
Learn focus protocol
Go an entire week without climbing into bed before morning.
Be able to complete day 15 of relaxation protocol in public.
Use focus protocol in public when necessary.
Learn 5 new tricks.
Learn 10 new tricks.
Pass CGC test.
Be left alone for 4 hours without dragging out my pajama pants.
Attend a party.
Attend a BBQ outside.
Attend a training clinic.

You get the idea...it's about making lists and then every chance you get to cross one off do it! Now, go make a list of goals and be as wild as you want to be! You never know what you'll be able to accomplish! 

Radio shows, fundraisers, and a two hour roadtrip being lost

This morning I was on WQNA with the Flyover zone show. I met Hugh and Lana at an art show I was showing last month. My shirts tend to catch attention which is a great ice breaker.
The question I get asked all the time is "Pit Bull Zen? Isn't that an oxymoron? " Well, today I got to answer that and more on air.
I was nervous and scared to death. I took my good friend and former client (she's the mom to Cupcake) Kayla with me. I needed moral support and possibly someone to push me in the studio. Face it, facing a room of pit bulls with behavior issues makes me less scared than the human population! Humans...scary breed, I swear!
Anyway, on the way there I caught the promo for me and was squealing in delight! "Dee Goings, jewelry artist and dog trainer will be on shortly. We have three words for you...Pit Bull Zen!" Since I've started this path, it still gives me butterflies in my stomach every time I hear my name and dog trainer in the same sentence.
The big question was what is Pit Bull Zen. Zen isn't just force free training. It's also about what I can give the breed. It's about showing true breed ambassadors and taking this breed that has been vilified by the media and showing what they are capable of into the community and showing people well trained, loyal, and loving dogs. These dogs are loyal and have been so mistreated and a true disservice has been done them by humans. Humans fight them, over breed them and don't rightly train them as they should. A dog untrained and I mean ANY dog is capable of being dangerous.
In short, I am Zen. The dogs are Zen. We are Zen together through humane, force-free training and we are Zen to each other. That to me is the definition of Pit Bull Zen.
Pit Bull Zen, created in Cleveland by Dawn Streator and Liz Wyant has become a haven for Pit Bull owners, dog advocates, and dog trainers alike. It is a community where we can discuss intelligent conversations as well as ask for help. Dawn and Liz hold a myriad of great classes and I suggest anyone within driving distance check them out.
Hugh, the host of The Flyover Zone brought up the fact that he is scared of dogs. He was attacked by a German Shepherd and has always avoided dogs since. The dog he was attacked by was running loose and went after him and his bike for 30 minutes. I explained that more than likely that dog was quite scared of bikes (moving objects with humans attached tend to be scary) and the dog probably lashed out in fear. I offered to bring Grey in and click and treat every time Hugh could look at him while slowly moving Grey closer. Hugh wasn't thrilled but the prospect of treats he was into. See, I'm the cookie pusher. I treat for good behavior and a thing called extinction tends to happen. Good behavior is repeated and bad behavior becomes extinct as a dog will repeat behavior it is rewarded for. It's amazing what I can get a dog to do when I have a treat pouch full of nummy food roll chopped up. Yep, I'm a cookie pusher and proud of it.
Hugh mentioned that he had caught a couple shows of a Hispanic dog trainer. I asked if he meant Cesar Milan. Hugh wasn't sure but I wanted to explain that those methods of intimidation, domination, invading a dog's space is dangerous, and can be deadly for the dog. Dogs who are punished for signalling can become shutdown. Would you rather be warned by a growl, baring of teeth, and snarl or just have a dog go for it. What I do is scientific and has been proven to work. Cesar Milan is entertainment and when the general public start using those methods, they are risking having their dog bite. I don't even consider it good entertainment. It's painful to watch the dogs be served a dose of Milan. I'll stick with having dogs signalling.
Signalling brought up another topic. What signals? How do dogs communicate with us? I like to use Grey as an example. As he's been relearning to signal he will prick his ears forward, portions of the white of his eyes (commonly called whale eye) present, lips pulled back in grimace, and tail high and wagging slowly with a stiff body. When I see this combined I know to remove Grey from the situation as he has moved out of his comfort zone and is showing me loud and clear that bad things can happen if threatened. We take dogs, put them in our homes and expect them to follow all these rules humans come up with. We owe it to these dogs to teach them what we expect of them.
I touched on Grey and his sisters, our two cats. All three of my highly managed companion animals are dear to me and I know with our training and consistent reinforcement we are a much happier family.
Oh and I had to vote Bacon or Tofu. I don't like Bacon so I went with tofu. According to my husband that means I'm a Communist and should be investigated. Ha!

The photo is Greyson performing a random down which is a touchy position for him being so close to a human. All through positive reinforcement training.

You can download a copy of the interview at http://www.flyoverzone. com in the archives section.