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Part of my dog obedience program requirements for my certification includes shadowing classes. I’m required to observe one class, take one class with my dog and help teach one class. I started observing a “Mind Your Manners 1” (basic obedience for the most part) and Dixie and I are taking “Mind Your Manners 2” (Canine Good Citizen preparation). The first classes were great! The MYM1 has a wide variety of sizes and breeds so it is really interesting to watch. Dixie is so eager to learn so the MYM2 class is awesome! She knows basic commands pretty well but taking it to the next level with more distractions and pushing her just a bit further is so much fun! She loves to learn. Or she loves to do whatever it takes for food but either way works!! She is such a great dog, I love working with her! Getting her CGC certification brings her one step closer to becoming a therapy dog! I would love to do therapy work with her; I’ve always wanted to. I’m hoping to get her certified within the next year.

Today we took Onyx to a storefront that the rescue group will be moving into within the next couple of weeks. Onyx practiced ignoring strangers walking by the store and sitting with distractions. He did so well! He impressed us with how focused he was and how responsive he was to our cues. He is such a smart boy... when he feels like it.

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Stress signals in dogs...and why they are important!!

I was watching a video the other day of a service dog in training. He was heeling beautifully beside his handler in a department store, sitting on command, performing a long distance down stay, and just being a really good dog. The handler wrote a short bit about how proud she was for how well her puppy was doing with his public access training. However, my heart truly breaks for this dog.

What the handler failed to realize is how completely uncomfortable her dog was to be there. Despite him behaving near flawlessly, his body language was screaming he’d rather be anywhere but where he was right then. Unfortunately many dog owners fail to notice subtle, yet key, signs of stress for their dog. Without knowing how to read subtle changes in body language, you can easily cause your dog to go from mildly nervous or uncomfortable, to a full on panic or rage in a matter of seconds. This is what happens when people say their dog “just had a meltdown,” or even snapped at someone, for “no reason.” Ignoring stress signals is incredibly dangerous for everyone involved.

When out training with your service dog (or your pet dog for that matter), it is important to get into the habit of carefully watching your dog’s body language. It helps to write down in a training log exactly how your dog reacts to different stimuli. This way, you will be able to clearly see where your dog is solid, where your dog is not, where you are improving, and where you need more work.

Below are signs of minor stress signals for dogs.

When I say minor, this doesn’t mean you should continue what you are doing in hopes he will just “get over it.” What I DO mean is that these are the signals which are almost always overlooked… when key stress signals are overlooked by the handler, it can lead to much greater problems.

Lip licking when no food is present

Yawning when he didn’t just wake up

Rapid sniffing of the air or ground

Stiff movement or tense muscles

Slowed movement or a laggy heel

Lowered tail

Hyper vigilance (rapidly moving eyes trying to scan the environment)

Hardened facial features

Dog stops taking treats/food

Dog starts taking treats in a more hard/bitey manor

Hard eyes (fast/sharp blinking)

Weight shift changes

Panting when it’s not hot out

Slightly roached (curved) back

Ears back

Not responding to handler’s commands

Looking away from handler

Whiney and uneasy

Nibbling on treats but not actually eating them

Leaning on the handler

Scratching themselves

Now here are some major stress signals for dogs.

If your dog is experiencing any of these, it is not only time to remove him from the situation ASAP, but to also rethink your training plan. Many of these signals will occur just shortly before a complete panic and/or bite.

Tightly tucked tail

Whale eye (dog’s eyes go wide and you can see the white rim around them)

Pulling towards an exit

Pulling away from the handler

Spinning on the leash

Not responding to the handler’s commands

Not responding to the handler’s voice

Shaking

Urinating

Low/tucked body position with a roached (curved) back

Sweaty paws

Whining

Heavy breathing when it’s not hot out

Teeth chattering

Tense lips and incisors (front teeth) showing while licking at the air

Laying down on the ground with their chin down and not wanting to move

Your service dog depends on you JUST as much as you depend on him. As your dog’s handler, you are 100% responsible for his mental and physical well-being at all times. No matter what situation you find yourself in, your dog’s needs should always come first.

Pushing a nervous dog into a situation where he is uncomfortable is one of the absolute worst things you can do for your SDiT, and creates the potential for much greater behavioral issues further down the road. Thinking your dog can “just get over it” is an extremely outdated training tactic. Just because your dog appears to stop fighting does NOT mean he is comfortable in that situation… it simply means he has shut down. He’s still anxious and afraid, but he’s decided there’s no point in fighting anymore. This is one of the most dangerous situations your dog may find himself in. He appears “calm,” but a second later has the potential to lash out and bite.

I get it, we are all excited to start public access training! However, the goal for service dog training should always be to create a mentally sound and stable dog in all situations. Subjecting him to situations which cause him fear or panic is just NOT the way to do that.

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Reasons why your dog pulls on their leash:

✔ they are excited

✔ they are faster than you

✔ they have far stronger senses than you and the world is super stimulating

They are NOT being:

❌ stubborn

❌ malicious

❌ “dominating”

Things you can do to enforce leash etiquette:

✔ utilise treats and life rewards

✔ tire your dog out prior to their walk by playing tug, fetch, etc.

✔ utilise mini-commands (sit at road, “this way”, etc)

✔ freeze or U-turn when your dog pulls

Rather than:

❌ choke chains/prong collars

❌ yelling/shouting

❌ yanking the leash

❌ “dragging” the dog (collar grabs, pushing down their butt to sit, pinning them between your legs, etc.)

We all want good leash etiquette, but there is no good reason to actively punish your dog for being excited about an exciting environment. Your own impatience and frustration (with a dog who is still learning) is not an excuse.

I work at a local pet resort. It is not your average pet resort; this place is a gigantic operation. We have two locations along the Jersey shore. We offer daycare, boarding, grooming and training, of course! We have multiple daycare play areas separated based on temperament, play style and energy level. In order to set everyone up for success in play groups, we evaluate each dog before they go to daycare. Yesterday, I did my first evaluation! This job is something I have been trying to do but for one reason or another, I hadn’t done it yet. I work in the front office dealing with our clients and evaluations are done in the back of the building; where I work, office people rarely see the back of the building! So I finally had a chance to get to the back to actually be with the dogs and evaluated this pretty girl, Bean! Bean is a sweetheart, estimated to be about 11 or 12 years old. She came in yesterday to test out daycare before she will be boarding with us for a few days next week. She was awesome! Our main daycare yards are north (calm dogs, usually older), middle (average energy level, usually young to adult dogs) and south (high energy, dominant dogs). The way we do evaluations is we start by just giving the dog time to get used to the building and the people. We let them settle in and then when they seem comfortable we move on to the next step. I knew Bean was older and could tell by how she reacted towards seeing other dogs down the hallway that she’d likely get along well with the north daycare dogs. I pulled 2 of the north daycare dogs into the hallway (large indoor play area, not your average hallway). Penny, a red Labrador retriever, and Molly, a chocolate Labrador retriever, were great friends for Bean and welcomed her nicely. She let them sniff her and she sniffed them back. They co-existed, didn’t actively play. I brought a few more of the higher energy north dogs in to see how Bean would react to dogs jumping in her face or actually trying to play. She couldn’t possibly care any less. I brought her outside to the group play area and she was so excited to sniff around. Her dad thinks she’s some kind of hound mix and she confirmed that notion. She spent her afternoon sniffing the entire surface area of the play yard. She did awesome! My first daycare evaluation was a success!

This handsome and grumpy looking young boy is Onyx. Onyx is 1 year and 2 or 3 months old. He is 92 pounds of pit bull type muscle and all 92 pounds of him wants to hug you and play with you. He is a foster dog in my area being homed by a family who is hoping to get him to pass the Canine Good Citizen test in the long run. For my dog obedience program, I am required to complete 10+ hours of volunteering with a rescue or shelter to train dogs helping to make them more adoptable. Onyx is my first project. He is a sweet boy who is full of love to give but he has no idea how big he is or how strong he is. He was found with his litter in a trailer behind an apartment complex; they were guessed to be 7-10 days old and not at all cared for. His father was euthanized as soon as he was brought to the shelter for aggression. His mother was left with the litter until they were only six weeks old and then she was euthanized for having not been adopted yet. The rest of his litter is in homes or with foster families. Onyx is very special. He is on a hell of a lot of Prozac to try to calm his nerves. Emphasis on “try” because it really doesn’t do much for him. He is wickedly stubborn. He cannot be left alone for a minute or he will destroy his toy, couch, table, etc. He hates being crated; he will be mischievous when you take him out and keep you up all night just as revenge. He has an insane amount of energy. He has good days and bad days as far as his mood goes. I worked with him for the first time 2 weeks ago (10/06/18) and he was a fabulous student. We worked on sit-stay, down-stay and leave it. His stays started out pretty rocky; he popped his sit or down as I distanced myself from him. By the end of only 30 minutes of work, I could ask him for a sit- or down-stay, walk away to where he could no longer see me, walk back to him and he’d still be a statue. One of his foster family’s biggest concern is that he is NEVER tired. The night of our first session, like I said only lasted for 30 minutes, I got a message from his foster family that he was passed out on the couch and they had never seen anything like it. Confidence booster!! I did it!! Today, we had our second session. I spent 2 hours with Onyx. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed for sure. He was very head shy, very mouthy and vocal, acted like he had never heard the “sit” command and had absolutely no interested in working on leave it or drop it. He got away with my bait bully stick and proceeded to run around the backyard eating it as he ran. All I could think of was if he choked while running, I’d never forgive myself. Luckily, he was safe as he happily ingested what I thought was my golden ticket to teaching him to drop it. He certainly threw me for a loop today. He didn’t want me to get too confident too quickly. Got it, Onyx, I’ll stay humble!

And last but not least for personal pets, Delilah! My dad bought her in August of 2015 when she was 4 months old. She is a preciously quirky German Shepherd Dog. She is very obsessive. She is too smart for her own good. She gets fixated on things like the neighbor’s dog or the oven door when it’s opened and closed or a knock on the door. She obsessively loves her Frisbee. The more she plays with it, the more hyped up she gets and wants to play more and more. She has seen a behavior specialist and an Animal Behavior Clinic where she was prescribed some anti-anxiety medications. What I’ve listed out may not sound so major but if you saw it in person you would understand how heightened her awareness is to every little noise and thing going on; she gets so fixated on little things to the point of stressing herself out over it. With medicine and a relatively consistent routine, she is a really good girl. She is very interesting. She can run forever and still not be panting. My parents have chickens in a coop in their backyard and Delilah loves to “play” with them (run from one side of their coop to the other along the fencing with them, they seem to enjoy it also!). If I plan to go to my parents’ house, they will tell her in advance that I’m coming and I swear she seems less surprised than when I come over unannounced. She listens best to full sentences rather than commands sometimes. She is brilliant and silly and adorably nosey all the time.

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My Dixie chick! Dixie is another story of “We’re Just Going to the Shelter to Look.” My boyfriend and I were hanging out in town; we went to the aquarium then to lunch then to the shelter, our typical kind of date. We walked through the shelter and everyone was barking their heads off. Dixie was sitting quietly and patiently in her room with another dog named Lady. We asked to take Dixie out to meet her. As soon as we got out, she went to the bathroom and we were told she never goes in her room. She got a toy and ran right over to my boyfriend and wanted to play. She chose him. Dixie and Lady had no relation, they were not found together. Dixie was in a shelter down south and I think she was born in the shelter based on the timeline I was told. She was in a high-kill shelter but luckily was shipped up to New Jersey where we found her. When she got here, she met Lady and although before they were both very anxious dogs, they calmed each other down. Sweet girls. Dixie was six months old when we adopted her in September 2014. Chris was her official owner but I helped when I could; we were in college so we did a shared custody ordeal. Dixie was so easy to train. Chris did most of the work since she lived with him. She was and still is so excited to do whatever you want, especially when literally any food is involved. She is now about 4 and a half years old. I am currently enrolled in a dog obedience program to earn my first certification. The first half of the program consisted of text book reading and taking exams. The second half, which I’m working on now, consists of at least 10 hours working with a shelter or rescue as well as shadowing a mentor trainer. I currently work at a pet resort so I will be shadowing our resident trainer. My mentor hours consist of one 7-week session taking class with Dixie, one 7-week session observing class and one 7-week session teaching with Ellie, our trainer. Dixie and I will be taking a Canine Good Citizen preparation class, hopefully getting us closer to our goal of doing therapy work. Dixie is the sweetest and most lovable girl I’ve ever met. She is such an easy to please dog. You should see how much she wiggles and wags for EVERYTHING and anything! I can just start smiling at her and she starts wagging because she’s so happy that I’m happy. I’m not even being biased, almost everyone who meets her tells us how amazing she is, too! Bragging rights!!!

My first three pups growing up! From left to right, we have Goliath, Buddy and Petey. Goliath was a rescue from the SPCA, guessed to be some kind of pit bull/pointer ish kind of mix, Buddy was a miniature schnauzer and Petey was an English bulldog.

Buddy came to our family first. I was in kindergarten at the time. I was sitting at my kitchen table one morning eating breakfast before school, frosted cheerios actually, when my dad walked in holding something. My sister was next to me and neither of us saw anything because he was so small he blended in with my dad’s sweatshirt. My dad bent down and put Buddy down and we went crazy. He was such a great puppy. I remember dog trainers coming to our house and being so interested in what they did and said. Buddy learned the basics but nothing over the top. He lived as an only dog in the family for about 7 years and change. That’s when Goliath came into the picture.

For Christmas in 2006, the top of my wish list was another dog. I obsessively researched online during computers class and wrote a persuasive essay to my dad begging him to let me get a dog. I did my research on pet insurances, on grooming fees and I knew this time I wanted to adopt a dog from a shelter. I don’t remember what made me want that, honestly I think it was because it was a much cheaper option than going to a breeder. My parents said no but my dad told me we could gather some items around the house to donate to the shelter instead. We brought some blankets and towels to the shelter and when we arrived, we were told that the building was under renovation so they were not accepting donations at the time. We put the stuff back in my dad’s car and he told me we could just walk through to look around. Famous last words: I’m “just looking around” at an animal shelter. I’ve lost 0-2 on that one so far. My dad and I ran into a woman and her mother going around giving treats to all of the dogs. The woman told us that her mother had recently lost her dog but was too old to adopt another one so every weekend they go give the dogs treats together instead. She gave me a treat and told me to give it to whoever I wanted to. We walked by Goliath’s room and something about him caught our eye. He was lying in the corner in his owner urine, clearly horrified. We learned later that he had been rescued with his mother (who had already been adopted); he was being used as a bait dog in a fighting ring. He was estimated to be about 2 years old at adoption but I think he was closer to 4 or 5. I tossed the treat in and he barely even moved for it; we learned later how uncharacteristic it was for him to ignore a treat. A volunteer came to tell us more about him and take him out for us to meet him. I remember he sat right in front of me for a picture. I sent it to my mom because my dad and I were already sold. She was so against getting another dog at the time. My dad put in an application anyway. They told us he was scheduled to be neutered on Sunday so depending how he’s healing he could go home Tuesday or Wednesday. He healed wonderfully and my dad convinced them to let him adopt him Monday. He went to adopt him while I was at school so I was totally surprised when I got home and saw him on our front lawn. My mom (and sisters) fell in love real quick. Goliath was absolutely amazing. When we first brought him home, he had some fear aggression. He guarded his food, barked loudly at people walking by and was leash reactive towards neighbors. He was territorial of our home and was notorious for stealing food off the counters. We took him to training group classes at PetSmart. We hired local in-home private dog trainers. With a whole bunch of TLC, time and patience he evolved into the biggest couch potato who just wanted to run around or snuggle with you. Eventually he let me take away his food mid-meal and just sit there patiently for me to give it back. He got better on leash and accepting people into our home. He was strong as hell. He was so forgiving of what had been done to him in his past and showed such gratitude to live in a home with a loving family. One time, he got out of our backyard. We knew because he was sitting on the front stoop at the door looking as if he was thinking, “I lived life as a stray, I didn’t like it, let me back in!!” He and Buddy got along relatively well...only a few minor “disagreements.”

In June of 2008, my close friend’s family’s bulldog, Daisy had a litter of adorably mushy puppies. She invited me over and I got to meet all of the wrinkle faces. When my mom picked me up, I invited her in to meet the puppies and she was head over heals in love from the start. We adopted Petey in August. He was your typical English bulldog. He was grumpy and sassy. He was not a fan of Buddy but we were the kind of family who decided that once an animal comes home, they don’t leave. We had gates up around our house to keep everyone happy. Goliath could be with Petey. Goliath could be with Buddy. Buddy could not be with Petey. Petey could not be with any dog other than Goliath. They were best buds. Petey hated sharing his space with other dogs; he got very nervous when he felt his space was being invaded and he would pounce on other dogs to take his frustration out. He and Goliath slept in my parents’ bed together side by side; Petey didn’t care about sharing his space with Goliath.

These three dogs collectively brought out my love and passion for dogs. I love how kind they are, how forgiving they are and how much they can teach us. My long-term goal here is to be able to do some kind of specialty training like for service dogs or behavioral modification. I want to help dogs. I want to help make shelter dogs more adoptable. I want to make a difference in as many dogs’ lives as I can.

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