BSL, Little People and Saving America's Dog from being banned.

The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind.  As we enter winter months group classes in the park have wound down and we have been picking up more private sessions than anything.

A couple weekends ago we were at the St. Louis Pet Expo. It was my first huge expo and while it went well, events like this is a huge amount of stress for me. Seeing dog after dog in choke, prong and shock collars is rough on me. Seeing those dogs on tight leashes going nose to nose with random dogs they don't know is even more stressful.  I saw small dogs snapping at large dogs, and large dogs getting yanked and cranked on their leashes. Yes, I needed a shutdown protocol after all that.

I did get to talk to Shorty Rossi of Animal Planet's Pit Boss show though and meet a lot of people who want to remove BSL in Missouri towns.

Shorty, Hercules and me at the St. Louis Pet Expo

The next day one of the people here who had adopted a husky contacted me. They wanted to know if there way any way I could help a family in Missouri. The family lives in a town where there is a breed ban and they had been given a week to remove their dogs from the town. The dogs were rehomed and the family is doing everything possible to try and get the ban lifted. 

There is a reason BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) doesn't work. People who own pit bulls and pit mixes who use them for bad will simply just house them in a basement or where they can't be seen. Meanwhile, the families who have well behaved dogs, who have never hurt anyone or anything are ripped apart and have to rehome their family member. BSL doesn't punish bad owners, it punishes the good owners who have done nothing wrong. 

The cost to maintain BSL is very expensive. Animal Control Officers are constantly having to go on calls burning up fuel in their trucks, being paid after hours, and if they take a dog who is CLEARLY not a pit bull, then they have to fight a very expensive legal battle. Most owners, even who have done nothing wrong will simply hide the dog. Now you have a person who doesn't want to break the law breaking the law. The city now has to pay to euthanize healthy dogs. For every shot they use, every turning on of a gas chamber it costs money. Training is expensive for officers and animal control officers. 

To identify a pit bull dog is very difficult. Even people who have the breed can't agree. How is Animal Control and Police Officers supposed to identify a pit bull? What percentage of pit mix makes the dog fall under the ban law? Is every square boxy head going to be confiscated? Where does it stop? So a lab who is bulky will be banned? Most dogs are mutts and they obviously don't come with a pedigree. And DNA testing? DNA is not all that reliable. I've seen dogs who look like pit bulls and the DNA comes back that they are part Papillion. 

BSL started to stop dog bites. Responsibility stops dog bites. Education stops dog bites. Leash laws and Spay/Neuter stops dog bites. Banning an entire breed that can't even be recognized on sight does NOT stop dog bites. It's not the dogs who are dangerous, it's the person holding the leash (or in a lot of cases not holding the leash) is the danger. It starts with education and showing the public that these dogs are not demons. 

Talk to your councilmen. Show them your well behaved dogs. Talk to your community. Get out there and educate people! Bring in trainers who can show what fun a well trained pit bull can be. Teach your dog manners so when out in public the dog isn't a hot mess. And NEVER EVER bring a dog to a rally or an event who has the potential to be a headline in the making. I KNOW they can be good dogs! I see it ever day with clients, shelter dogs, and friend's dogs. 

Now, if you would like to see the dogs from Florissant, MO that have been removed from the city you can go HERE. And I caution you about EVER taking a banned dog into a city that has a breed ban. When I was trying to save two dogs in my breed neutral town here in Illinois, the Animal Control Administrator said to my client "If it was any other breed, we wouldn't be having this talk". Those two dogs are dead. 

Now, for fun....go to Pick The Pit and play the game. I got it right on the first try, but as the statistics state, the average is 9 tries to get it right! Leave a comment here on the blog and let us know how many tries it took you! 

Wedding bells and 18 hours in a car

So, a week ago Kayla and I packed our bags and headed to the land of Cleve. Otherwise known as Cleveland, Ohio. Also known as place I used to spend my misspent youth. Cleveland houses Pit Bull Zen and we were given a chance to take some classes, spend time with friends and their dogs and get some much needed vacation time in. So we drove 9 hours to my parents and crashed for a couple hours before heading into town to walk with the Pit Bull Zen.

Zen walks are always magical for me. I see dogs who are normally scared or shy transform and walk along proudly or in my case calmly with the people and dogs. The last time I walked my own dog, Greyson, it started off a little rocky (he paw slapped a blind dog in the face) and then walked next to the same dog with no problems. There's a reason walks are a "no leash greetings" zone.

This walk was magical for me for another reason though. Her name is Polly. I know her foster mom through Facebook. Hope has done amazing things with Polly and while Polly still has a ways to go, they took a chance and came to the walk. Now, Polly has never met me. She is still very nervous around new people but this was the end result of our meeting.

 Yep, that is a Polly on a leash with me holding it and the leash is loose. When we would start getting too close to the other dogs she would shy away and start to move in the other direction. I would stop, let her sniff and happily say "Let's go!" and off we would go again. She only started eating my treats at the end when we were all wore out and sitting in the grass. 

And here we are sitting in the grass! And look, there is another dog, Inara, within feet from us and Polly is too tired to care. (That and the turkey sausage that I lured her with.) So yes, the Pit Bull Zen walks are magical. And, you can read Polly's journey by visiting her mom's blog! 

So, in two days we saw dogs, worked with dogs, learned from Laurie Schlossnagle with Side By Side Dog Training, did some PBZ accounting, Kayla got to attend CLASS with Calvin (who wilted like the delicate flower he is from the heat), and saw two new PhD's for CLASS earned. Oh, and we drove 18 hours in there somewhere. Was a whirlwind weekend. Lots was learned, lots was done, and the best part of the weekend for me was meeting this guy...

BonZai!! Bonzai was one of the "27" who were taken into custody when they were found in Collin Rand's home in December of 2011. He was adopted by my friend Sandy Smith and while she fostered him for Pitty Love Rescue, Sandy fell in love and became a foster failure. I can't blame her after meeting him. He climbed right into my lap and licked me and licked me. I didn't mind one bit. When I went to thank Sandy for loving him I started to tear up. Watching his progress from a far has been amazing. He has made leaps and bounds. Sandy has used Positive Reinforcement with him and Bonzai had no problem welcoming Kayla and I into his home and showing us love while we loved on him. Again, thank you Sandy for loving him! And thank you Cleveland Police Department for acting on a tip! 

Well, the weekend was over and we came home safe and sound. While we were in Cleveland though Kayla decided that it was finally time to get married to her fiance of quite a while. Kayla's pit mix, Cupcake, was one of the first reactive dogs other than Greyson I worked with. I still remember meeting them in the park and we were just going to walk our dogs and see how it went. I couldn't get within eyesight of Cupcake without the lunging and barking happening. In the past year I've watched an amazing transformation happen. 

Through positive reinforcement and BAT, we were able to have Cupcake at Kayla's wedding. A dog who in the past was so human reactive you would think she was trying to eat your face off was able to flip on her back and ask for belly rubs from the guests. Her trigger which has always been males, no problem! Teenagers who normally terrifies her, no problem! Kayla has busted her butt working with Cupcake and following every crazy idea I've thrown at her and this is the result...

In the middle of the park, surrounded by strangers and things that have always been her triggers, she was calm and she was excellent. (I'm sure Kayla would appreciate if I mentioned the black lab, Sasha, has always suffered from Mange and skin allergies. She has been having a flare up and she looks 100 times better than she had in the past.)

I have to say I'm highly impressed with Kayla's drive to succeed with not just her own dogs. Kayla also finds feral kittens and brings them home, socializes them, gets them spayed and neutered and then finds them wonderful and amazing homes. It was suggested on my Facebook page that this was a wedding for a dog and a cat. Nope, Kayla just happens to give her heart to every animal she helps. While I can't bring another animal in my home because of Greyson's reactivity Kayla makes up for that by seeking out the feral strays in her area. AND she starts classes shortly with Dognostics for Professional Dog Training. Kudos to you Kayla and ignore the people who just want to rain on your parade. 

In closing I leave you a picture of Greyson. Greyson doesn't play well with most people but this picture means a lot to me. A reactive dog taking his toy to a child to ask for play. This is a first for Greyson. And while I am proud, I am still vigilant as any parent should be with a dog and a child.

My dog doesn't like your dog...and I'm fine with that.

A lot of times I get people who say, "I want my dog to like everyone he meets!" And, people tend to look at me like I have three heads when I reply, "Why? Do you like everyone?"

All dogs are individuals. They each have a unique personality and just like humans, sometimes those personalities clash. We have to step back and not look at breed standards or what we expect out of a dog, and instead; look at what the dog is capable of. If you had a dog who was shy would you pair him with a dog who was over the top and always in your shy dog's face? Probably not! But, what if your shy dog started to come out of his shell more because of the other dog being so over the top? It is up to your dog and what he/she will accept.

You can also make the transition of a new dog coming into your home a lot smoother by using a shutdown protocol. Imagine, you come from one home, to a rescue and into another new home. That would be pretty confusing. I know I would feel shuffled and unsure if it was me. Sometimes, people complain that the shutdown is unfair to the dog. A dog in the first two weeks needs time to shake off the stress and start to adapt. By using the kennel and not just tossing two dogs together, it's a much easier process.

Now, what do you do if your dog truly just freaks out around other dogs? I like to ask questions about the environment the dogs were introduced in. Was it a tight confined, place? Was the dog on a tight leash? Was there somewhere open that they can meet? Was it a nose-on-nose meeting? My number one question is: If the dog had to choose between flight or fight, did he/she have enough space for flight?

Now if your dog is just dog aggressive, there are still options. I live with a dog aggressive dog, and he has playmates. They are carefully selected playmates whom he gets along with. They all play well with him and surprisingly enough, their personalities range all over the place. We took a lot of time selecting his playmates and it was a very slow process.

There is also BAT (created by Grisha Stewart) and I use it not just with Grey, but also with a few clients. I use this is conjunction with a focus program and have seen first hand how a dog can self soothe as well as focus on me as I remove them from the potential of a dangerous situation.

So, in short, there are options and I never like to deprive a dog from playing with another dog, but if my dog doesn't like your dog, I'm perfectly fine with that!

The picture is Spudz. He has taught me that having only a handful of playmates is A-okay!