pet connection

The American Kennel Club recently began a program to recognize the good work that therapy dogs do. The AKC is not certifying potential therapy dogs but instead opened dialog with a number of organizations that already certify therapy dogs, and developed a program to recognize those dogs. I’m proud to say that my now twelve year old Australian Shepherd, Riker, was the first dog registered in this new program.

Riker began visiting retirement homes and Alzheimer’s facilities when he was just a year old. He accumulated more than 200 hours doing these visits and was always a hit with the folks he visited.

However, by chance I got a call from the director of a day care center for children who needed protection.  The director wanted to give a therapy dog a try but the dog would need to love kids, be very tolerant of the kids’ actions, and be able to react accordingly should a child be too rough. Many of these kids had never been taught how to be good to animals. In fact, many had been raised seeing people being cruel to animals.

In addition, because the kids were under various types of protection, the dog’s owner would need an extensive background check and clearance.

I decided to give Riker a try since he loves kids and I already had a background check and clearance from my Marine Corps and military police days. It just needed to be updated.

Once I got that taken care of, Riker and I began visiting this day care center. I’ve written about a few of our visits in previous posts, so in short I’ll say Riker found his life’s work. I swear he’s happier there than he is at home. He gives kisses when kisses are needed, snuggles when kids need a hug, chases the ball when they need to play, and makes the kids laugh on a regular basis.

I stopped counting his visit hours when he went over two thousand.

I’ve been watching Riker to see when he’s going to be ready to retire. He is slowing down and is sleeping more. However, he still brings me a toy so we can play every evening. He still enjoys going to the dog training yard. He even continues to demo during the therapy dog classes. At twelve years of age, when I bring out his therapy dog vest, he turns into a younger dog. He bounces, whining, and trying to stick his head through the opening of the vest. So he’s obviously not ready to retire yet.

I’m so proud of my old dog I could just bust!

Photo: Riker by Liz Palika

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Dr. Loretta Mayer needed to study human diseases in mice, so she was working on a drug that could induce menopause in her test subjects. What she found may have a broader and more important application. She appears to have hit on a medication that could create reliable, non-surgical sterilization in female dogs. From the Arizona Republic:

One of Mayer’s greatest hopes for the sterilization drug is to reduce animal euthanasia in Arizona, where shelters are overflowing and thousands of dogs and cats are put down every year.

Maricopa County ranks second only to Los Angeles County in pet overpopulation, according to Bretta Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Humane Society.

This past year, 94,889 animals entered Valley shelters. The Arizona Humane Society performed nearly 20,600 surgical sterilizations on cats, dogs and rabbits, costing nearly $2 million.

There is still a long way to go before the Food and Drug Administration approves the medication for broad use, but if it comes to pass, the nature of spay/neuter discussions could be fundamentally altered forever.

Worrying rise in parvo has economic roots: Veterinary clinics are reporting an increase in parvovirus, even though it’s easily controlled with an effective vaccine. The instinctive reaction is that the spread of parvo shouldn’t happen, until you think about one reason it is: more and more pet owners are choosing not to take their pets to the veterinarian because of the prolonged economic hard times. Shots are therefore not being administered, and so the deadly incidence is increasing. You can read more at the South Bend Tribune.

Africa’s Dog Whisperer’s dog attacks little girl: If I’m telling you about someone being attacked by a dog, there’s a deeper story. James Lech touts himself as Africa’s #1 dog expert. He calls himself Africa’s “Dog’s Whisperer.” While he was having lunch in a Johannesburg mall, he was accompanied by his Rottweiler. Lech claimed the dog was a service dog. That makes the video accompanying this story from the Times Live so much more disturbing. The Rottie attacked an injured a four year-old girl who was walking by the table. Although Lech claimed the dog was accidentally stepped on, the video indicates otherwise. There’s the background. Now, please read this outstanding response from my friend Nancy Freedman-Smith.

Challenging the veterinary status quo: It’s hard to go against the grain in a respected profession with experts in an established specialty.  That’s why it’s well worth reading this post by Pet Connection’s BFF Dr. Patty Khuly, from her “Fully Vetted” blog. More importantly, be sure not to miss the comment thread that follows.

Lethal heat: Over the past two weeks, triple digit temperatures have blanketed the United States. It’s been brutal for people…and we don’t have fur coats. Imagine what it’s been like for pets. From the Stamford Patch:

Animal Control Officer Chris Martel says that the smart thing to do is to leave the dog at home, even if you don’t have air conditioning. Leave plenty of water, and put on a fan if you have one.

“It can get over 100 degrees in a car in minutes in the summer,” Martel says.

If she sees a dog in a car in a dangerous situation, Martel says, she will not hesitate to issue a summons for cruelty.

If she can’t find the owner of the car, and the dog is suffering, she is allowed by law to break the windows of the car and get the dog out. She can also have a warrant issued for the arrest of the owner of the car, and she says she will not hesitate to do so if the situation calls for it.

If you see a dog – or any animal – locked in a car in a situation that you think is dangerous, you can ramp up your courage and seek out the owner of the vehicle and explain why he or she should get the dog home.

Blog post of the week comes from our friend Heather Houlahan at Raised By Wolves: “Not your stick.”

Video of the week: The kitten is named Visa. The Pitt Bull is named Spike. They fight like, well, cats and dogs. But in a good way. Thanks to Phyllis DeGioia for the tip.

Picture of the week comes to us from my pal Maria Goodavage at Dogster. A Dogster reader named Laura Hickman sent in this picture of an English Bulldog named Elliott. He was the lucky recipient of a cool new bed when neighbors emptied their cooler in an Ohio driveway on a roasting hot day.

Special programming note: Next week, the news wrap will be preempted by special Pet Connection coverage of NoKill 2011. We’ll be live-blogging next weekend from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., bringing you conference sessions by luminaries in the No Kill movement. The presenters will include Nathan Winograd, Ryan Clinton, and our very own Christie Keith. Stay tuned all next weekend!

I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories.  Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.

Image credit: Dr. Loretta Mayer, azcentral.com. Elliott, dogster.

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It’s no surprise that many people are caught off-guard when their children enter adolescence. While it’s certainly normal for teenagers to behave as if their bodies have been invaded by aliens, it doesn’t make living with teens any easier for their parents. While no doubt many parents muse on the possibilities of military school for their obnoxious offspring, the vast majority deal with this often difficult time as best they can, muttering “this, too, shall pass” under their breath while dealing with the routine challenges of adolescence.

The same is true of most dog-owners as well, of course. Many dogs go through a difficult adolescence, one that that strains the bonds and — if the supply of young adult dogs in shelters is any indication — occasionally breaks them as well. Adolescent dogs, like adolescent children, are often impulsive, thoughtless, rude, destructive, hyperactive and prone to shifting gears with little warning. Oh yes, and they can also be sweet, attentive and loving.

You can have faith that I know all about this. Because of … Faith.

Faith is a handful, to say the least. And she actually did go to “military school” — to her co-breeder’s training facility in Texas, while I was on the book tour — and came back not that much different from when she left. On the plus side, she now understands that “here” and “fetch” are not suggestions but words meant to be followed by actions. On the negative side, she still thinks the table on the back patio is there to allow her a better look inside the back window when I put her out, and that underwear is something most fun when shared with company. And she still goes from 0 to 60 in .5 seconds.

She’s not a bad dog, by any means. Just a big ol’ bag o’ adolescent crazy beans. What she needs, I know, is exercise (daily), training (more, regularly) and patience (mine, unending).

The exercise she’s getting, in exhausting daily doses, from a source I wouldn’t have imagined two weeks ago: A horse named Duke.

Duke is the horse I’m now leasing, a sweet 21-year-old gelding who has seen it all and done it twice. He has taught countless beginners to ride and worked as a summer camp horse as well. He’s a nondescript brown Appendix (or, if you prefer, a quarterhorse-thoroughbred cross) who greets everyone as if she has a carrot in her pocket (for which he will check). His current owner jumped into ownership after a few lessons convinced him he loved riding. He bought Duke after the woman who was giving him lessons looked around for an older, near-”bomb-proof” horse and found Duke in need of a new home.

For the last year or more I’ve been looking around on my own for a horse like Duke, not to buy but to lease.  I’ve looked at a half-dozen horses, maybe more, but until Duke not one was the right fit for me, in one way or another. But I knew that leasing (either full-time or half) is a great way to get into riding, or back into riding, as in my case. So I kept looking until last week, when … I met Duke.

Duke’s in a fantastic little barn just south of the University of California, Davis, on a quiet, set-back piece of property surrounded by miles of protected farmland. With light traffic, I can get to the stable in 20 minutes, and I plan my trips to the barn for the off-peak times to avoid the crush of commuters. The lease works for Duke’s owner because he has a work project that’s making it hard to find any time for Duke, much less get out after work to care for him daily. So I’ve got a horse for the next three months, and then … we’ll go from there. Chances are Duke’s owner will want to have him back full time, or share him 50/50, but who knows? Sometimes leases turn into buys, but either way you get to try the horse without committing for life.

I’m finishing my first week with Duke, and it’ll be another week and change before I tack him up and ride on my own. I wanted to start by taking care of him, by going out just after dawn and taking him from his stall and turning him loose on pasture while I cleaned his stall, dumped the old shavings and manure and then put down fresh shavings.  I wanted to spend time grooming him, fussing over him and giving him treats, and working in the round pen on his responsiveness to me.  Yes, I’m anxious to ride, but I’m more interested in laying a good foundation for our future partnership. I want us both to feel comfortable with each other.

Everything is going according to plan, with the added bonus of how good Duke is with Faith.

The second day out to the barn, I brought Faith, intending to leave her in the truck until I was done with Duke, then walk her around the stable on leash to see her reactions. She was so good on Day One that  I let her drag a long line for a couple of days. When she continued to impress with her good manners,  I let her off-leash and was delighted to see her react calmly to her surroundings, which aren’t really that strange since she spent the last four months on a cattle ranch, and previously stayed on a friend’s farm visiting with the horse there. She has not bothered any horse, has greeted people and other dogs with a wagging tail and has responded to every request for “here” and “heel” promptly and enthusiastically.

Best of all, Faith has come back  home every day exhausted, which is about the best thing an adolescent dog can be. When I start riding, she’ll be going with me, since the farm roads  behind the barn are far from any traffic and she is built to cover distance in a smooth, effortless trot.

I expect a good summer for us all … me, Faith and our new pal, Duke.

(Top: Faith, exhausted. Above: Duke, unimpressed.)

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On Sunday, May 22, Kindred Spirits Dog Training hosted the Love on a Leash therapy dogs for a day of fun, food, and continuing education. This was the second year for this activity and the North County chapter leader, Connie Kelly, is certainly getting the hang of organizing and hosting this event. Connie is also a trainer at Kindred Spirits so she wears two hats.

The goal was to help therapy dogs and their handlers keep their skills sharp. The dogs and owners had a chance to work on some obedience skills, especially with some distractions. Last year Kate Abbott, a KS trainer and president of the board for Love on a Leash, devised her ‘gauntlet of distractions’ as she called it, and she set that up again this year. There was a flapping kite, a billowing trash bag, some wind spinnners, an animatronic parrot that made noise, and a horrifyingly lifelike ape head that moved, made noise, and reacted to sounds and movement in its space.

Bashir had seen the ape last year and didn’t seem bothered by it at all this year. However, Sisko was not at all happy with the ape. He went up to about a foot away from it and stared at it, hard, growling very deep in his throat. There was obviously something very wrong. A talking head on a table just doesn’t compute in the World of Sisko.

The goal was for dogs and owners to walk through these distractions. The dogs didn’t have to ignore them; in fact, the lesson was to help the owners learn how to help their dogs when their dog reacts to something so out of the ordinary.

KS trainers Dawn McMahon and Melissa Duffy also held a Canine Good Citizen test for dogs who either hadn’t passed it or who wanted to re-take it for the practice. Attendees also got to play with a variety of Nina Ottosson and other smart toys. You could see the dogs trying hard to figure out how to work the toys. Some other games included tic tac toe, using dogs on sit or down stays as Xs and Os. This is a great way to practice obedience training with distractions, too.

Deb and Dan Jensen provided lunch for everyone and it was welcome. Deb’s chicken salad is great but her lemon bars are awesome.

Dog owners were also given a chance to ask questions about visiting, visit skills, problems, training needs, and anything else they needed help with. Attendees included some experienced dogs and owners as well as some new therapy dog teams so a great deal of sharing happened over lunch.

Last but certainly not least, Walter the Wonder Dog demonstrated a number of his tricks. His human partner, Kate, assisted him. Plans are already in the works for next year’s continuing education day.

All photos by Sheri Wachtstetter. Top: Dogs and owners playing tic tac toe. Middle: A therapy dog investigates the ape head. Bottom: Walter the Wonder Dog and his human assistant, Kate.

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