Dog Park Irritation

I ventured out to the dogpark yesterday with my family, only to be irritated and miserable since my arrival. You would think that I was irritated because of a bratty dog or puppy, but no, not this time. This time, my irritation came from humans. Please know, I'm not talking about my humans, because my humans are really good with us at the dog park. I'll first talk about a female human with her little dog, who was intact, but kinda handsome. They first came in and his human didn't take him off leash and any time a dog would come up and greet him she would pull him away mumbling something weird. I wanted to go and pull the leash out of her hand but thought that would look a little aggressive, so I waited until he was off-lead to go and say my hellos. After about five minutes she finally let him off his lead and boy, was he happy. You could tell that he didn't have a lot of self-control, but he wasn't the worse dog there. He would run all oer the place, checking out each dog, with his human doing what she could to follow him. Any time he actually tried to play, she would scream his name and any time he would attempt to play, she would scream some more. I couldn't help but wonder why she even brought him to the dog park if she wasn't going to let him play. I wondered why this human even had a dog, considering she didn't seem to enjoy him at all. To me, he seemed like one of those dogs that wait until the front door is open and out he goes, running as fast as he can away from this human. It all started to come together when I heard her cellphone ring and when she picked it up, she had the same tone to the human on the other end as she used with her dog. I guess she was just an unhappy person. When playtime was over, because she just couldn't control herself any more and I think she wore herself out more than he did, she went to get him and guess what, he wanted nothing to do with her. Humans, I have a piece of advice for you...

IF YOU HAVE TO SNEAK UP ON YOUR DOG TO GET HIM, GET A CLUE! MAYBE IT'S THE WAY YOU'RE COMMUNICATING AND MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP!

The other humans that were wearing me out, were a nice couple with a puppy. This puppy was actually a good pup, not overly obnoxious, unusual for a pup, but was enjoying the interaction with all the dogs. But each time this pup would try and get more than thirty feet from her humans they would start calling her to them. Again, why did you bring the pup to the dog park if you're not going to let her play?

Humans, I beg of you, please get some education on how dog's interact and the communication signals that we use. It will make your dog's happier and it will make other dogs like myself happier when I'm in your presence. I overheard my human #2 ask my human #1, "why do they bring their dogs here if they don't know what they're doing?" And my human #1 had the best response and it really opened all of our eyes, "they don't know they don't know what they're doing."

And a seminar is born. My human #1 has decided to rename her Dog Park Workshop to...

'You Don't Know What You Don't Know, A DogPark Seminar'

Be sure and catch one in your neighborhood if you're one of those humans! The next seminar on Dog Communication is January 2oth, in Belleview!

Congratulations to Who????

1st Place Best Dog Class for Real Life Rover™
2nd Place Best Dog Trainer

I'm very proud of Mama Nikki but I have to say, it gets a little old hearing people tell her congratulations all the time. I mean really, how do you think she got to the level of dog trainer? Where do you think the idea came from for Real Life Rover™? Let me help you people, it's all because of me! Since she's had me she's stepped up her game. I've had to teach her a lot about dog behavior and how to get dogs to actually pay attention. I mean, she couldn't do have the things she does if it wasn't for me. I'm the one that has to stand there and allow heathen dogs to bark and lunge on leash at me and I have to be good. I'm not allowed to bark or growl back at them so I just stand with my head turned to the side trying to be the good little assistant and if I even dare open my mouth to them guess who gets "the look". Have you ever had to stand there with your mouth closed while someone was being aggressive towards you? It's not fun and I must say, I have a lot of self-control when it comes to that. Yes, I may have a little self-control issue when I see a really pretty tail running by screaming, 'bite me', but I have self-control for all of those bad dogs barking and lunging at precious little me. You'd think I'd won 1st place assistant dog trainer but no, they don't have that category. Maybe I should write a letter...

Tbaa

Humans On My Mind!

Yes, another complaint.

Why, oh why is it that every time I stick my nose/head in between someone's legs, or at least attempt to, they always reply with,

'she must smell my dog?'



Exactly what was your dog doing there in the first place? Do you make it a habit to have your dog in between your legs at various times of the day?

People, really, I can smell your dog from ten feet away, why do you think I'm a search dog? I stick my nose/head in between your legs because it makes you pet me every single time!

Humans are so darn simple!

Tbaa

Protection Dog?

So I've got another complaint towards humans. I hear so many people about how they want their dog to be their almighty protector and Mama Nikki has even received phone calls on training their dogs to be their protectors. Natural breeds such as the Rockin' Rottweiler, the Diablo Doberman, the Shameless Shepherd and the Powerful Pyranees. People get these dogs and are either surprised at their "territorial aggression" or they want them to be less friendly. I have to say, I don't get it!

So really people, let me ask you this, do you really want your dog to be protective? This is the way I look at things and this is the rule that I live by. If someone comes to the house and I bark at them, if Mama tells me 'enough' then I stop because that's her way of telling me that she has it under control. If I bark at someone and she says nothing, I take it as she wants me to continue but this is the main thing, if I bark at someone and my mama's aren't home and that person I'm barking at comes into the house anyway then I know that they're packing something a little more dangerous than my teeth and I'm getting the hello out of there. Don't think I haven't run from a door opening that I didn't know who was on the other side of it and was obviously not disturbed from my barking.

So humans, trust that your dogs will take care of things if someone is really hurting you but if someone continues to come into the house while we're barking, do you really want us to stand there and get shot or would you rather us run and hide under the bed?

Just something to think about.

Tbaa

Why Did God Make Man the Smartest? Or did he?

Sometimes I just linger in my Mama Nikki's truck and watch people. Some strut around like they own the place, some slink so no one will see them and some think that everything and everybody likes them. Now, please know that I'm not meaning this blog to be mean to people because there is a lesson here, so just bare with me. (Seriously, does mama Nikki really think she's cool here? I love her but sometimes she's just a goof ball!)


Do you ever run into those people that just know all because they've been around? I see this a lot with people, especially during our PR events. My Mama Nikki will be talking to some family with a dog completely out of control telling them all about how much she could help them, I mean, can they not see me lying quiet and behaving like a good little assistant? Anyway, the mother always seems interested because she's tired of her Sunday best being ruined, the food being pulled off the counters, the front door with paw prints at eye level and this is all coming from their Jack Russell Terrier. All the while the father is standing there holding the little dog on a leash that's way too long, wrapped around his hand about twenty times forcing the dog to bounce around in the only spot the leash allows and scanning the remainder of the booths looking for a hot dog to fill his belly since the wife didn't make him breakfast because they wanted to beat the crowd. He then stops his searching, turns to Mama Nikki and says, "We don't need any help, the dog minds me just fine. I've had dogs all my life..." When I hear that last line I usually have to pop up my head just to see the face of the poor sucker that said it. I then glance at Mama Nikki as she puts on her fake "I'm really saying this in a joking manner way" smile and says, "I've had a toilet all my life but that don't make me a plumber." By then the sucker has checked out thinking about mustard and relish and the poor wife is there saying her apologies, taking a business card and saying goodbye.

This leads me into the real reason for this post. Look people, just because you grew up with dogs all your life doesn't mean you know jack about them. We're complicated animals that require many things, things that the average Joe doesn't even know about. For example, did you know that we need to socialize with other dogs? A lot! Yes, get us around your friends, around strange men in hats, around granny in her wheelchair but please, please, get us around our own kind so we can practice the skill of being a dog! Yes, we're dogs! And being around our sibling, the older dog of the household, isn't enough. We need dogs with different personalities, different play styles, different sizes and different attitudes. And another thing, we have fur, do you know what fur is? It's a very thick, heavy, HOT type of hair that covers our entire body! Not just our legs, our arms, our armpits and our head, but our entire body. This makes us comfortable in the winter and hot in the summer so please, please, stop dressing us up in your clothes. It may seem cute to you but it's suffocating to us. And last but surely not least, if there's a dog that is shying away from you, snarling his lip at you, or peeing just at the sight of you, DON'T bend over patting your legs making Kissie sounds, this does not make us want to come closer to you, tt actually makes us want to bite you even more. Not all dogs like you, not all dogs want to be petted by you and not all dogs want you to find the one spot that makes them kick their leg uncontrollably.

Good Day and God Bless!
TBAA

Speaking Dog: Ignoring

As a dog, there's a technique that we use when we want to avoid someone or to avoid conflict and that is ignoring. Anytime we feel someone or something is threatening we will turn our head, our body, do something else, basically, pretend they're not there. For example, when you try to take a picture of us you will squat down in front of us with that weird gadget in our hand that we don't understand and as soon as you push the little button for the picture we turn our heads. That is because the camera is weird to us and we see it as conflict, therefore, we're going to ignore it until it goes away. I, on the other hand love the camera and will always look to get my picture taken.

Another example is when someone is coming up to us in a confrontational way we will turn our head or body to make the person calm down, even if they're giving the "sweet dog talk" to us. Or when we're out in the yard and you start calling us to come but we don't necessarily understand the "come" command and so we don't and you start getting mad and your voice gets deeper and harsher, all that does is makes us do something else and ignore you until you calm down, I mean, who really wants to come to someone who's screaming like that? Get a clue humans!

Mama Nikki teaches owners how to use this valuable tool in training. She teaches them that when their dog jumps to turn away and ignore. It's amazing how hard this is for people. They will not pet but they'll stare at the dog or they'll push the dog off of them and that my friends is NOT ignoring. Ignoring is pretending like the dog isn't even there. It is a powerful tool because dogs understand it so well. Once the dog stops jumping on you and has had their feet on the floor for at least three seconds then you can tell them how good they are and pet on them. If they jump during that, stop petting and ignore. And remember, jumping doesn't just mean on you, it may be two feet on the couch or chair, two feet up on the fence or baby gate, jumping up and down to get you to throw the ball, etc. Jumping is when two feet are off the ground whether they're touching something or not. Humans just need to think. If you give us something that we want while we're doing a behavior then we're more than likely going too repeat that behavior. If we have two feet on the fence trying to see you and walk through the gate, you're rewarding us, even if you're ignoring us because we wanted YOU.

Okay, so, the next time your dog jumps on you, barks at you, paws at your leg, whines, sticks his nose under your hand to pet him or whatever annoying thing he does to get your attention, IGNORE him. If you're consistent, the behavior you don't like will go away. And I mean be consistent. There's a thing about dogs, we will try a behavior many times to see if it's going to get a reward, whether its a behavior you like or not, and if it gets rewarded one time, we will assume it's one that works and keep it. So be tough and consistent and ignore all those things you don't like. I'll write later about self-rewarding behaviors that you can't ignore and how you can handle that.

Have a great day!
Tbaa

Working my TAIL Off!

As many of you know I'm a search and rescue dog which means if you get lost, I'll come find you. Well, I also do recovery, if you drown or pass on land, I'll come find you. Yes, it's stinky work but I must tell you, some live smell just as bad. The past two weeks I've unfortunately been on two drownings, one in Maury Co. and one in Bedford Co. A mid 50's man went into the Duck River on his ATV, the ATV has been found but he has not. This happened at the end of March so he's been gone for awhile. The Duck River has also flooded twice since then. I worked for three hours on the boat a few miles on the Duck River on Tuesday of this past week and got nothing. The two guys that were in the boat with us were very nice and would pet my butt and head every so often which was nice. My Mama Nikki sounded so proud of me, she should have been since she got me up at 5am and after the search we had to work with a couple of clients with some pretty but a little obnoxious dogs, my opinion only because they bark at me. Anyway, the missing man still hasn't been found. We're praying for his family.

The lady in Maury Co. allegedley jumped off a bridge two weeks ago, she was also in her mid 50's. We were out searching for her within four days and this was the first water search I'd had in three years. Mama Nikki was a little nervous that I wasn't going to do my best because it had been so long but I tried telling her that just because I haven't worked on the water I still work cadaver and I know what I'm looking for. So, we started our search area and I immediately smelled what I was supposed to smell and so I laid down, which is what I do to tell my mama that I've found the scent. So I laid down and looked for my treat. She told me "good girl" and "get back to work" so I stood back up and smelled the appropriate scent and so I laid down again. I did get a treat that time. Mama made them turn the boat around and go back downstream to search that area again. I don't know why she makes me go back over the spot several times but she does. The second trip I alerted again and by the third time my Mama Nikki had the nerve to tell me, "I don't believe you, get to work." I have never...so, I did what any working dog would do, I looked her straight in the eye, growled and laid down. Needless to say, the look on her face was priceless. I earned my treat and we didn't have to search that area again.

Well, after I was finished my buddy Dingo got in the boat with his Daddy Bill and searched the same area of course neither one of them knew where I had alerted. Mama Nikki went with them and she saw Dingo alert in the same area. So now it was up to Mama Nikki to tell the detectives where this body could be located but she was having a problem giving a general area because of the differences in depth and the speed of the current, but she did the best she could and then we went off to work with clients. I'm happy to say that the body of our missing woman was located on Weds. and she was floating near the location we told them to look and Mama Nikki was really proud of me then!

So that is my two weeks worth of work. Drownings, SAR training, and clients with dogs that like to bark and lunge at me. I'm taking a break this weekend by staying with my ever so favorite Aunt Shirley for some much needed R&R.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday weekend!

God Bless.
TBAA