Homeless, but not hopeless

Though I work with dogs and their people throughout the entire Bay Area, I live in Downtown San Francisco. Being a large city, there are a number of homeless people around, and almost daily I see some of them who are caring for pet dogs.

I’ve always been amazed at how well-behaved and calm these dogs are. While I didn’t get a photo of him, just the other day I saw a man on the center median of a very busy 4 lane street with a sign asking for money. This person had a large dog that could have been anywhere from 1 to 5-years-old with him. Despite the busy traffic, and even a dog in a car stopped at the light barking at him, this dog was calmly sitting with his person, off-leash.

The love and devotion these people, who can scarcely take care of themselves, show to their pets is a

mazing. They make incredible sacrifices to keep their animals with them. There’s no way they can get into a shelter for the

night, and probably don’t use the number of dining rooms available to the homeless for meals.

But why are their dogs

so good? I seriously doubt that they can afford to hire dog trainers or take their dogs to class. I don’t see many of them reading books about training and behavior, and I’m willing to bet they aren’t spending their

time at the library surfing the internet looking for training tips. I wonder how many of these dogs actually know more than a few commands?

I think it boils down to the fact that these people have an absolutely consistent relationship with their animals. They aren’t receiving conflicting ad

vise on how to handle or care for their dogs. They seem to act on intuition. It’s that consistent relationship that creates the bond of trust between the dog and human. This is why these dogs are so calm. Of course it helps that the people are with their dogs pretty much 24/7, but having a calm and content animal doesn’t have to require decades of professional experience or a degree in animal behavior. Did some of these dogs come to these people with behavior issues? Since many of them had been strays themselves, I’m quite sure they did.

If your dog is having aggression issues, anxiety issues or just doesn’t seem calm or focused, don’t let anyone tell you that it’s a complex or complicated matter to correct. It doesn’t have to be, and often it isn’t.

T.M.I.

Too Much Information!

Last week I had a conversation with a new client on the telephone that is very similar to the type of call I receive countless times every month. This person had adopted a young adult dog a few months ago who was beginning to show aggression and protesting behavior to a degree that was causing genuine concern. They were already working with a trainer, but had started to get on the Internet to look for advice and other trainers when this trainer’s suggestions didn’t help. (In fact, he told me the dog had become progressively worse.)

In the mid 1990’s, two particular things happened that I feel effected dogs profoundly--their behavior and their people's behavior. The first change involved a new approach to dog training that was a complete opposite of what was then called “traditional” training. Through many circumstances, this also led to a proliferation of so-called “professional” dog trainers hanging out their shingle.

The second is that the Internet became much more user friendly, hitting a tipping point where the majority of households were online. People were able to post content easily and quickly, which began to lead to many, many trainers posting training --tips, advise, do’s and more often than not, don’ts--regardless of their experience.

In addition to working with a trainer, the client I was talking with had consulted many websites, and had spoken on the telephone with several trainers, each one contradicting the other. They would try a little of this, then a little of that, all without success.

I began my dog training career as a military dog trainer, and as a trainer of pet dogs in 1991. Back then, I can honestly tell you I never encountered the level of behavioral issues, specifically anxiety and aggression issues, that I run into today. In the early 90’s, you'd hardly ever hear about dog rescue groups having to deal with all of the surrendered dogs that are out there. (Most of which are surrendered because of behavior problems)

But the information revolution has happened, and there’s no shortage of advice, help or access to professionals who can help people with their dogs and their behavioral issues. I often wonder what the ratio of professional trainers to dogs is today, versus 20 years ago. You’d think I’d be seeing less behavioral issues instead not more, right? (This photo is of the books I found on the coffee table of a former client who consulted me after two dog trainers for her one-year-old dog’s aggression problems.)

In my opinion, based on many hours of coursework with some of the leading professionals in the business, (in fact, three of the four authors of those books, among others) as well as 19 years of personally working with an average of 100-150 difficult dogs and their families per year, (not to mention the hundreds of dogs that are trained each year by trainers that I’ve taught) I believe one of the leading causes of behavioral problems in dogs, including aggression, is inconsistency. With the wrong dog, this inconsistency can cause tremendous anxiety issues, which comes out in the form of aggression and other behavior issues.

(As an aside, I don’t believe in posting general dog training advise on the Internet. There are so many different dogs out there and so many different situations, I feel that there are just too many variables to be comfortable with someone following my advice when I haven’t had the chance to properly evaluate the dog, the family and the entire situation. What might work with one dog in one household and not work at all for the same dog in a different household.)

I’m convinced that the massive amount of (often conflicting) information that is now available to dog owners is one of the leading causes of this inconsistency, therefore a leading cause of the increase in behavior problems I see as a professional trainer. (One could continue down the slippery slope and say that this may cause the increase in surrenders, the dramatic increase of dog rescues, etc.,etc....) I'm also convinced that no dog training at all might be better for many dogs, as opposed to the wrong type of training.

Look at my past posts and you’ll see a recurring theme. When I work with older dogs, I'm often working with people after one, two, or even more trainers. Because of this, and my commitment to continuing to learn about other techniques and theories (whether I agree with them or not) I have developed a talent of being able to first help my clients in this position by understanding and processing the massive amount of information that’s out there, as well as the advice they've been given. I feel this is always the first step before I set up a situation to help them correct their dog’s issues in a permanent, life-long way, and I believe that this is one of the main reasons why I have had the type of success that I'd have over the years.