Think about what you like to do in your leisure time. How would a dog fit into your routine? If you are the type who enjoys long runs or a bike rides on a daily basis, by all means acquire a dog who can join you. In this case, huskies, border collies, and any of the field dogs would make a good match. If you want company on the sofa when you watch movies, (Higher energy dogs are also great at this but you have to exercise them first!), you might want to consider a Pekingese or a greyhound. Many breed books rate the energy levels and exercise requirements of the various breeds. Give this information your attention; it is an important area of compatibility for both of you and will certainly influence the nature of your relationship with your dog to a large extent. Things can get stickier with mixed breeds and there’s no doubt that you are taking a gamble. But who knows? Maybe getting that mixed breed dog who is a ball of energy might be just the catalyst you need to get your own exercise routine initiated. But do be realistic about how much time and energy you can devote to exercising your dog; it is hard to change your habits. Young dogs under two years of age in some high energy breeds need a minimum of two hours of real exercise daily.

Young dogs under the age of two years in some of the more active breeds require a minimum of two hours of full-out exercise daily. That can seem like a huge chunk of time to a busy person.

A dog who does not have enough exercise will almost certainly get into plenty of trouble. The old saying “a tired dog is a good dog” is true. It’s hard get much in the way of doggy decorum from a dog who is, sometimes literally, bouncing off the walls. An inadequately exercised dog is also much less attentive and will certainly be harder to train in all areas. If you do have a high energy dog and cannot yourself provide enough exercise there is- if money is not an obstacle- the possibility of using a daycare or hiring a dog walker. Just be sure to ask for references and check them out. You want to be sure that your dog will have fun and also be safe.

It can also be a good idea to talk to people who already own the breed of dog that you’re considering. Visit dog parks; people, as a rule, love to talk about their dogs and for the most part will be honest about what life is like with them. Evaluating the energy level of a shelter or rescue dog is not difficult if the dog is no longer a puppy. Most puppies are pretty lively which makes it difficult to predict what they will be like as adults. If you are inexperienced at making these decisions take someone with you who is more knowledgeable.

It is worthwhile doing your homework on this one. Try to see beyond the inevitable cuteness factor and resist following impulses that you haven’t thought through. A dog will, hopefully, be with you for ten or twelve years or in the case of some breeds even longer. You want a companion with whom you are genuinely compatible.

Some of my dogs wear coats. Sometimes at night as I’m falling asleep all I can see behind my closed eyelids as I’m drifting off are dogs, scurrying along snowy paths in their coats. They are intent on their purpose of sniffing and peeing with a briskness they lack in warmer weather. Some of the puppies have irresistable urges to chuck themselves into snow banks and cavort in the bracing whiteness of it all. And it is invigorating for me as well. The dogs’ eagerness is contagious and I enjoy sharing it.

I have learned to dress for it, in layers. I have a glove and mitten “system”, involving multiple pairs that fit over or inside of each other. This year I spent what seemed at the time a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of boots but the investment has proven itself worth while. My feet are rarely cold even though I’m outside most of the day. I save my little packets of warmers for the days when it is really cold, -20 or colder, as I don’t want to get too soft, or too spoiled.

There is still vegetation visible in some places and the wind in storms breaks twigs and small branches off the trees. Bounty for the dogs who are stick aficionados. Snow also affords great digging possibilities and can be permitted; it isn’t a lawn in the winter,is it? This week’s big attraction has been the discarded Christmas trees that line the road side awaiting eventual collection. Most dogs need to give them a good sniff and possibly pee on them too. One enthusiastic young dog I was walking grasped a Christmas tree trunk in his mouth, already to haul it down the street; just the thing to spruce (!) up his crate. They do make me laugh, these dogs. Every walk is an adventure for them replete with new smells; life renews itself for them on a daily basis. They are not jaded or cynical as are so many of the humans of my acquaintance. They are not whining about the weather and longing for the spring or Florida. They are alive this winter. They inhabit the here and now; they are entirely present. I take a lesson from this.

Rio, a well-trained dog

How does one want to live with one’s dog or dogs? Is immediate compliance with “commands” or requests a high priority? And is this a realistic expectation or is it the objective of a power-hungry control freak ?

On the one hand this seems to be a personal decision but on the other hand it’s not. Depending on where one lives and who lives in proximity to us our dogs’ behaviour is likely to impact other people and their dogs.

Having control of a dog is a matter of safety. This is the bottom line. A dog who bolts through  a doorway is vulnerable to a number of hazards and can cause harm to others as well. This also applies to recall; a dog that won’t  come when called puts himself and others at risk of injury and even death.

As far as what goes on in one’s own home and backyard there is more leeway. What is one willing to allow? Dogs on the furniture or not? Counter cruising? A little chewing on the stair railings? Holes dug in the garden? I personally don’t allow any of those things except digging and that is because I am not a gardener and my dogs exhibit such joy when they dig that I allow them that minor naughtiness. My husband, however refers to the holes they dig as a “man traps”. He sometimes fills them in with dirt or even gravel but they only get dug out again. It seems that there are a few spots in the yard that, from the dogs’ point of view, must have a nice hole. They use them to store balls  and other toys and to jump in and out of  when chasing each other around the yard. I don’t have the heart to deny them such a wonderful pleasure. I remember reading somewhere that to be fulfilled a dog needs to do three things every day: run, chew and dig. I suspect for many “bark” would have to be added to the list!

We ask a great deal of our dogs in expecting them to adapt to our environment and live up to our standards. It is true that dogs have been making these adaptations for thousands of years but that doesn’t make it any less astounding. They are brilliant at it. There are people who hold  the conviction that training “breaks” dogs and doesn’t allow them to be dogs. Humans, in the long history of  living with dogs, have always seen fit to train dogs, for example to assist in hunting and herding. The dog is uniquely equipped to learn from humans and work  with us. A dog needs a job. Although it is true that there is new and different work for dogs in contemporary society the principle is the same. Jon Katz does the topic of dogs and their work justice in his book “The New Work of Dogs”. Knowing what to do and when gives a dog a  sense of security.

Way back when, in the aftermath of the sixties laid back zeitgeist, I owned a dog whom I allowed to “just be a dog”. Fortunately for me, she was a sweet-tempered Lab/GSD who did not really exploit the situation. Of course I did house train her and it wasn’t so easy in a third floor apartment with no balcony. She was well attached to me and her recall was pretty good; she got to run with her doggie pals on a daily basis and we played our own version of hand (mouth?) ball in dead-end alley ways.  She was amazingly agile and inexhaustible in her younger years. When she was six our first child was born and she was gentle and patient with him as she was with the other babies that followed. But I had never trained her to walk properly on a leash and it wasn’t until she was about 10 years old that she finally  quit pulling me around. She lived to be sixteen and aside from her famous “garbage day escapes” she was no trouble. The kids loved her. I think that she did a pretty good job of being a dog.

But I wouldn’t do things that way now. For one thing I have three dogs these days. A multi dog household is quite a different matter. I enjoy being pack leader and my dogs seem to be quite happy to be “educated dogs” with nice manners. Times change. In my youth I had such contempt for anything or anyone that smelled vaguely of authority that taking on the mantle of leadership myself was a repugnant notion. Being a parent helped me learn that there is such a thing as benevolent leadership. And besides I’ve grown up somewhat since then.

It is a fact that the purists among the positive reinforcement trainers make the claim that any ” aggressive “action towards the dog on the part of the owner will certainly cause the dog to respond in kind. If this is the case any pinning (which could be termed aggressive but which I believe is actually assertive) would provoke aggressive behaviour in the dog. Improperly administered corrections, by that I mean corrections delivered in an aggressive manner, can and will open up the possibility of an aggressive response on the dog’s part. Animal trainers speak of “rehearsed aggression” ; I think it was a lion tamer who actually coined this term. Rehearsed aggression refers to aggression that is elicited in an animal by means of, or in response to a training method. Accepting as a genuine concern that undesirable aggression can be the result of training, it is crucial to note that it is improper training that can bring about this type of outcome.

When a human gets together with an animal, in this case I am referring primarily to dogs, in a training situation there are a number of variables which come into play.  A primary factor is the knowledge and experience of the trainer. This factor will govern expectations and direct actions. At least as important is the state of mind and intentions of the person doing the training.  As far as the dog is concerned there are also variables. The dog may be nervous, even fearful. He may well have a store of experiences and learned responses about which the trainer can only make educated guesses based on the dog’s body language and responses. Make no mistake about it; this is a complex and subtle business. Therefore, if the trainer is ill-informed, undesired and unintentional results are unfortunately all too common.

Consistency, a word frequently used in discussions of training, is key. The basis upon which consistency is built, regardless of the method or approach employed, has primarily to do with communicating to the dog consistent messages about exactly who is in charge.  A dog who is confused about the issue of leadership can be unstable. For example, one imagines that he is charge yet the dog lies in doorways and is reluctant to move and even resists being moved, or a dog charges past one on the stairs, or guards a position on the sofa with a bit of a growl; in all these cases the dog certainly thinks that he is charge. Dogs who have no manners, dogs whose rude behaviour is the object of human amusement, dogs who gain attention for bad behaviour are all getting the message that they are in charge.

A dog needs, and in the vast majority of cases wants,  firm consistent leadership. Believing himself to be in a leadership position can be extremely stressful for a dog. He cannot possibly control all the things that a leader needs to manage and therefore the dog becomes stressed. Take the example of a dog with separation anxiety. Imagine how it feels from the dog’s point of view to have his human, who is perhaps his whole pack, disappear out the door and leave him behind. It is similar to the way a human would feel if they were locked inside and their two year old child wandered off.  Frantic, that just about covers it. So the dog chews things because that is always a good stress reliever. Or he barks which is another good way to ease his anxiety. In extreme cases a dog will try to chew his way through the door, in order to be reunited with his missing pack because he believes that he is supposed to be in charge of them.  It is little wonder that a dog with his strong pack instinct is so distressed by this situation. He cannot do his job.

Obviously, the solution to the above type of problem is to communicate to the dog that pack leader is not part of his job description; he doesn’t need to worry about that. By consistently assuming a position of leadership one can be assured that the dog will be receiving a clear message. Body language, tone of voice and even one’s state of mind are all readily perceived by a dog. The training, which ought to be a continuous process integrated into every mundane situation, is the job that one gives a dog. At the same time it is very important to note that hectoring, bullying or any overt violence towards the dog should absolutely be avoided; it isn’t desirable or necessary. The owner, as pack leader, is always on. Dogs are quite brilliant at detecting subtle shifts in mood. One wants to project positive energy. A good leader is calm and confident and these are the qualities one would have the dog mirror. It isn’t hard to imagine then that  a dog would return aggressive and negative energy in kind.

Both of these adult dogs have been very clear in demonstrating to the newcomer that he is #3, at least for now. The puppy has been appropriately respectful but only briefly cowering. In other words he gets the message and is respectful of his elders. He certainly has not been traumatized by the corrections Benny and Cleo have dished out to him. It isn’t strange to him. He knows it is the way of the world; he comes from a large and rowdy litter.

So how is it that this puppy and I have found ourselves together? There are many wonderful stories about how people and their dogs find each other.One can only marvel at the workings of a mystical destiny that brings together a certain canine with a specific human. Jon Katz touches on this element of the canine human connection in his wonderfully moving book, “Orson, A  Good Dog”. I realize that things had to fall out just as they did to cause the intersection of our two lives.

I had planned to spend five days at the cottage in early July but on my last day of work before the little vacation I was laid off from my job at the doggie day care for at least a month and possibly longer. Suddenly all the pieces were in the air again  and the nervousness and exhilaration of change and uncertainty was percolating in my mind. The inner turmoil was buffered by the immediate hustle and bustle of a departure for the country with 2 kids, 3 cats and of course the dogs. I came to the obvious conclusion and decided to stay in the woods by the lake as long as I was able . Who wouldn’t?

I had been thinking about finding a third dog for a while. My sweet old girl, Jessie had passed away in early April. I had been very sad and the pack felt diminished. Three was the number of dogs that felt right to me and pleased me. Three seemed a manageable number of dogs i.e. the number of dogs I could live with and still meet all of my other obligations, enough dogs to create an interesting pack dynamic, enough to be a bit of challenge on walks and dog park visits and definitely enough for my long-suffering husband. I had questioned whether or not I had the time or energy needed to raise a puppy. I was pretty sure that I ought adopt an adult dog. I had been religiously trolling the websites of various shelters and rescues in my vicinity. Just looking to feel that spark of recognition that would tell me, ‘this is your dog!’ Any dog that I adopted would need plenty of training. Jessie hadn’t but I couldn’t expect to be that lucky again. At least I could spare myself the demanding task of house training not to mention the middle of the night trips to the potty zone. That was what I was thinking.

Because I had extended my stay in the country I soon ran out of that essential staple, kitty litter. This necessitated a trip to the pet supplies and feed store in town where I saw a hand written ad that read, “Husky mix puppies. $20. Mountain Grove” . And  a phone number. I was consumed with curiosity. Husky crossed with what? Husky shepherd, I knew those guys. Was I ready for a dog like that? Or husky malamute, I’d passed on one of those last year and faintly regretted it ever since. He was an exceptional puppy, smart, tractable and sweet-tempered. I’d often wondered how he’d turned out. Pretty large, that much was a certainty.

I called that afternoon and was told by a teenaged boy that his mother was not home. He didn’t seem to know much about the puppies except that they were husky Labrador mixes and that there were twelve of them. I called again in the evening and left a message.

The next morning was a grey one and pouring with rain. The phone rang early as I was having coffee after taking the dogs on their first outing of the day. It was the woman from Mountain Grove. She told me that she had someone coming at 11 that morning to see the puppies and maybe I’d like to come around then too.  She also mentioned that she still had the whole litter. What an opportunity! I didn’t tell her that I was already intending to be there by 10:30. I wrote down the directions. I knew where it was.

As we drove along Bell Line Road in a downpour I explained a few things to my twelve year old daughter. I made it very clear that if any of these puppies looked sick we would not be taking one home. I also let her know that I, as pack leader, had the absolute final say on this whole matter. My daughter was so eager to have a puppy to cuddle and play with that she would have agreed to pretty well anything at that point. I reminded her that in the final analysis looks are not very important in a dog and in the case of mixed breeds hardly at all. They are far out weighed in significance by temperament and personality. What we were looking for was a healthy well balanced puppy who had not been traumatized and who had experienced plenty of positive interactions with people. We did not want a nervous puppy who shrank from the touch of a hand. In my mind, as the wind shield wipers worked overtime, I reviewed all the red flags that came to mind from the shy little creature with her back pressed into the corner to the bully who beats up all his litter mates.

We found the place easily and were met there by a  friendly well-spoken country woman with a tanned face. She had the look of someone who spent much of her time out of doors. Her place was small but quite beautiful with chickens, goats and horses. The countryside, hung with mist and rain, was rolling shades of green to a horizon ringed with trees. The dull skies made the colours more saturated. A lovely pastoral scene. No shadows. Unfortunately no camera either. I was far too preoccupied with trying to remember all the methods for evaluating puppies that I had ever read or heard about. I was wondering if I had actually learned anything. I so wanted to get it right. Just right.

“They’re in the barn,” she said, “I was going to let them out before you came but then I thought if you decided to take one… ” “They’d be wet,” I finished her sentence and we followed her into the barn. In one corner of the huge old barn was a makeshift pen. A dozen vigorous puppies tumbled and jumped and yipped in their eagerness to greet us. It was a little overwhelming. Where to start? What about the little blue-eyed blonde one? Or the reddish-brown one with very distinct husky facial markings and green eyes? And that one over there who so resembled a small bear….  It was not easy to think rationally. I am a sucker for puppies one at a time but this was intense! They were all beautiful, exuberant, and full of charm. I was not left to flounder for long. “Seven males, five females. That’s the pick of the litter.” She pointed out one of the three mostly black puppies. My daughter picked him up and began to admire him. Mean while I picked up a little blonde male and flipped him onto his back. Cradling him, I gazed into his eyes. He didn’t squirm at all. He just lay there and gazed directly back at me. Nice, I thought. With some dogs eye contact is not so easy to achieve. His looks reminded me a lot of Benny as a puppy. Maybe he’d even grow up to look like Benny’s brother….I stopped myself. It could be that this puppy was too passive. I went back out into the rain to get my dogs from the truck.  As we entered the barn Benny’s hackles rose. The sound of all those squealing puppies made him edgy. Cleo was more interested in sniffing the amazing variety of smells in the barn than checking out the puppies. The two puppies we were considering were out of the pen in a large open area. There was basic polite sniffing and Benny’s hackles went down. Cleo was too busy running in her usual basenji circles, nose to the ground, to do more than a perfunctory check. The blonde puppy crept away, tail between his legs, his body curled in a nervous appeasing gesture. The mostly black one made eager play bows to Benny and yipped excitedly. When Benny didn’t respond in kind and ignored his advances the puppy was unfazed. He bounced over to me and stretched up and pawed my leg. I bent down and he became a wagging fool. He had selected himself for us. We handed over the token $20 and said our thank yous and goodbyes. The woman said that she would keep the puppies for a maybe a month and then take them to the Humane Society in Kingston. By then their size and agility would have robbed them of the greater part of their cuteness and some important things wouldn’t have happened for them in the realm of bonding. Poor puppies! Such is the fate of  mixed breed puppies, if they don’t get adopted very young their chances are not that great of a happy forever home.

The conversation on the way home revolved around names. His litter name had been Mickey. I had trouble with keeping that name; I knew a dog called Mickey and the name could only evoke his image in my mind. My daughter was eager to name the new puppy Zorro. “He’s mostly black,” she said. “No, not Zorro.” I said, exercising my parental power of veto. I didn’t relish shouting “Zorro come!” at the dog park. Over the next couple of days we tried out “Oscar” but that didn’t quite fit him either. My husband favoured Carlos the Jackal because the puppy was, in the first few weeks before he had learned “gentle”, quite free with his little teeth. I wrote  down lists of names of people I admire composers, photographers, writers too. Can you name a puppy J.S.Bach? Ansel ? Eventually, he became known as Arlo. The name resonates with me as Arlo Guthrie, son of the great Woody, was a seminal figure of my youth what with Alice’s Restaurant and the Pickle Song. It does suit him as he is quite a muttly looking little guy. He has the open honest face of what I like to call “a good old dog”. Just the puppy to be named after a folk music icon.

Arlo’s summer was spent largely at the water’s edge. He drank the lake; he pulled things out of the lake. He discovered insects, frogs and snails. He found out how they taste. He learned to play fetch with a ball. If he fell in,he swam efficiently to shore and clambered out. Thunder storms provoked no fear in him. He learned about riding in vehicles. He bonded with his new pack. The second two months of his life were a period of intense learning which parallelled his development. There were structured learning sessions a few times each day to practice the basic stuff, “gentle”, plenty of puppy push ups, ” leave it” along with the much more joyful ” take it” and of course the eye contact and name recognition games were played daily. By the time we got back to Ottawa he was reliably house trained and crate trained. Leash walking was not going too well. Barking was under control, mostly, and he had some familiarity with basic commands. Arlo was still the same confident little character I had chosen from his litter of a dozen but now it was pleasant to be in a room with him. He didn’t mouth hands or bite clothes. He still needed a lot of supervision and reminders about staying off the furniture and counter cruising. The seeds of self-control had been sown and were beginning to sprout.

Reading this over at a remove of nearly three months it is interesting to remark that what I saw in Arlo then and the assumptions I made about him at the time are still true. What you see is what you get. That doesn’t mean that the puppy can’t be molded by education and experience but that each individual, human, canine and others, arrives in the world with certain preset parameters. Watching Arlo adapt to his environment when we finally returned to the city at the end of summer has been very interesting. It was not a difficult transition for him. It seemed to me in those first weeks back that Arlo was relying on the fact that his pack was intact to keep himself stable. His interactions with me were constant, training sessions, play time, feeding and affection. He knew were he stood with Benny and Cleo. These relationships were fixed constellations by means of which he could navigate any new situation. None of the rules had changed; “leave it” was still “leave it” and the almighty “sit” was still “sit”.

Coming next: the puppy becomes a teenager!

Rocky is a wonderful dog. My friend Dale is fostering him for BARK, Bytown Association for Rescued Kanines.Dale is a dog person who specializes in huskies. I met Rocky when I went with Dale to pick him up at the vet after his neuter. He had just been surrendered to BARK by his owners who apparently did not have time for him. He’s a year old. I sat in the backseat of Dale’s car with Rocky’s head in my lap and his eyes held my gaze all the way home. Although he was very stressed (Who wouldn’t be given the day he’d had!?!) he seemed to be calmed by quiet talk and gentle stroking.

I see Rocky most days when I take my dogs to play at Dale’s. He’s settled in very nicely. I wince to think that he will have to make another major adjustment when he gets adopted.  He really is a people oriented dog and loves interaction, a good candidate for lots of training and the bonding that flows from it. Rocky knows some commands in French but it will not be hard to make him a bilingual dog.  I must admit that he loves coffee and tries to lick the lid of my travel mug any chance he gets. When he makes eye contact with me, which happens a lot, (That’s a trait I always love in a dog because a dog who’s watching you is paying attention and is ready to learn and follow.) I imagine that he’s asking, “Am I your dog? Are you my person?” He’s so ready to bond and become someone’s best friend.

I have three wonderful dogs. If I had unlimited resources I suppose I would have more dogs, lots more dogs. I do love dogs and find their company rewarding; training dogs is something that I find very gratifying. If it were possible I would take Rocky home in a blink. We connect. It’s great. But I can’t. The point is that I’m sure there is someone out there for Rocky to bond with who can take him home. Meanwhile he’s in an excellent foster home where he is learning lots of important lessons. He feels secure there.But it’s not his forever home. So I’m planning to tell everyone I can think of who might be interested all about this fantastic dog who’s waiting for “his person” and his forever home.                                                                                                                                                                           There is a happy postscript to this tale! This week Rocky went home with his new owner, a young man who wants a jogging partner. I wish them years of good companionship. But I’m missing communing with Rocky over a coffee in the morning at Dale’s!

Dogs really are most interested in each other. They love to play and just hang out together. My three are having a great time in the backyard in September. Benny is the big blond; Arlo is the puppy and Cleo is the basenji. Observe all the “dog” being spoken in these shots!

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A great deal of life certainly unfolds with amazing rapidity for a  mother of ten who also shares her life with three cats, three dogs and a long-suffering husband.  All this activity drastically cuts into the time available for creative pursuits such as playing Bach on the piano, photography,  not to mention writing. Still there is an urge to write and blogging seems to be a more approachable form than say writing a novel or even a dog training manual. The thought of a large scale writing project is intimidating enough to produce a massive case of writers’ block.

So I’m intending to set forth here something in the form of a  journal, a record of my life with dogs, mine and other peoples’. I’d like to talk  about dog walking as that is what I’m doing these days.  It an activity that affords many opportunities for observation of the environment. The weather is hard to ignore when you’re out in it all the time.  The sky, the trees and plant life in parks and gardens provides a constantly changing scene. There is definitely a meditative quality possible for a dog walker and a special link that occurs between human and dog on a good walk. The walk has replaced the hunt in the contemporary dog’s repertoire. It is a bonding time for the pack. I think that it is good if the dog is given some food upon returning home, to the den. You should feed this snack to the dog with your hand thereby reminding him that you are a good leader and provider. If he associates your scent with the things that are desirable and even necessary to him he will bond with you and accept your leadership.

I’m thinking about leadership and pack dynamics quite a bit right now. Having a growing puppy in the pack makes for lots of interaction and drawing of lines in the sand. It is the best policy to avoid interfering most of the time in dog to dog interactions.  Manners always need to be corrected either by you or another of the dogs. Pack members join forces to raise a pup. Among the most satisfying interactions I’ve had to date raising Arlo are those instances in which I’ve seen Benny using good judgement in disciplining the puppy.   Arlo has been misbehaving, indulging in  what I refer to as “senseless” barking.  Benny will growl and show teeth and sometimes even lunge but not connect. Senseless barking ends immediately and puppy does a down. Benny will then make eye contact with me and I say, “Good work.” It only makes sense; Benny knows that barking like that is not allowed. Benny, who uses his barks sparingly and was taught to speak to request a door be opened, is not about to tolerate much in the way of “senseless” barking. In fact he enforces the rules as he has been taught them. That’s a real plus for me; if Arlo doesn’t know what I’m saying because I am less than perfectly fluent in ‘dog’ he never fails to get Benny’s meaning. Dog speak is nothing if not succinct. Pack leaders do not whine or plead or cajole. It’s crucial to remember that when dealing with your dog. A whining leader has zero credibility. Keep it short and to the point. Use your body at least as much as your voice. Dogs understand dog talk. They can learn words in any language as triggers for various behaviours or objects but when it comes to asserting leadership body language is the most effective.

As I see things now I need to make some strong leadership statements as Arlo grows up. He may challenge Benny and Cleo but not me. There are moments when it is tempting to give into his puppy cuteness and silliness and laugh at his naughtiness but that would be a big mistake. Of course he’s trying it all on.  I only have to imagine what he’s thinking. Maybe humans really do like to be jumped up upon. Maybe they really do want to chase me all over the house to recover their socks! Maybe they think my counter cruising is cute and that my tearing between their legs in the doorway is only puppy stuff. But no, his antics need to be interrupted firmly and consistently in a manner that gives puppy no reward for his undesirable behaviour. The “leave it”  command is invaluable and off is a big help too. I like to put him into a down when he gets silly. That doesn’t mean that I can’t play and be a little crazy with him but it happens outside, it happens when  I want it to, it doesn’t involve objects that aren’t toys, and I decide when it’s over.

I recently encountered a large rambunctious puppy who had been slapped in the face in order to discipline him. The owner was pursuing a dominance-based training method. The predictable result of this kind of interaction, of course, ensued and the dog has become hand shy. What does this mean? What this means is that he now snaps or actually bites when a hand comes near his face.

This dog is quite tractable and seemed to be coming along nicely. He is only a year old and still working on basic commands. He has a rock solid sit which is always a good place to start, a foundation upon which further training can be built. What has been lost here is significant, the owner will not be able to stroke his cheeks to calm him nor give him reassuring ear scratches. Touch is one of the most important ways we can communicate with our dog. This loss of trust is particularly sad in that it results in a dog who is fearful of  human hands. As far as I’m concerned this is exactly opposite to the lesson we need to teach a pup; the dog must see our hands as the source of all kinds of wonderful things, food, toys, and affection.

I suppose the question that naturally arises at this point is whether or not this unfortunate mistake can be repaired. Can this dog be taught to trust again? The short answer is yes I believe it is possible. What must happen to clear up the confusion in this dog’s mind? Going back to kindergarten ie. about 8wks of age is what needs to  be done. Go through all the puppy basics with calm assertiveness. But this time do the gentle exercise [*] at least 30 times a day in sets of 5 or six. If you feel as though your dog is avoiding  you it might be useful to try the umbilical attachment – clip the leash to your belt and keep the dog with you all day if possible. Smile a lot at your dog; it helps. And don’t forget to be generous in your praise. Look for opportunities to give praise. Make sure that he has plenty of exercise and try to keep his encounters with other dogs low key. Demonstrate your leadership by giving him a structured life that meets his various needs and upon which he can rely. The value of consistency in this process cannot be over estimated. Give the dog his own space, a bed or a crate. He should sleep in your room but not on the beds.

It seems possible that if the above regime were to be carried out with calm assertive energy over a relatively long time, (Fact: There are no quick fixes.), this situation could be turned around. If not dealt with the outlook isn’t very promising, an escalation of the violence which could cost the dog his life. This is not a problem that will go away with time. It will not get better, only worse. This situation rings alarm bells for me.

Link to relevant Science Daily Article

[*]  The gentle is a simple but effective tool for teaching a dog to be gentle with his mouth. Hold a small food treat with your thumb and first two fingers. Have the dog sit and extend your hand towards his mouth while saying “gentle”. The only way the dog should be able to taste the treat is by licking at it. In order to lick, the dog must relax his jaws. Once he’s licking give him the treat and praise him. Repeated use of this little routine will condition the dog to relax his jaw upon hearing the word “gentle”. Wonderful for young mouthy puppies!