Dog Bite Prevention
This page is brought to you as a public service announcement from 
Dog Scouts of America

Ian Dunbar, respected animal behaviorist and DVM had this to say about dogs at a recent dog trainer's conference: "When they're upset, pissed off, or annoyed, they don't call their lawyer... they bite.  That's what they do."  He also said that 50% of dogs will have an aggressive encounter with you in their lifetime.

Dog bite statistics are alarming.  We need to do more to educate the public on what to do to avoid an aggressive encounter with a dog, and how to respond when you find yourself in danger of being bitten.

Each year at Dog Scout Camp, we have a guest lecturer come and speak to us about "A look into the mind of the aggressive dog."  Cheryl Carlson has been training dogs for many years, and her expertise and sense of humor are appreciated by the campers.  Cheryl travels all over giving similar, "Dog Bite Prevention" workshops to postal workers, meter readers, dog catchers and delivery personnel.  The information she shares with us is excellent, and I am going to share it here on the web page in the hope it will enlighten a few people, or prevent a few people from sustaining a harmful dog bite.

What makes Cheryl such an authority on dog bites?  She gets bitten by dogs for a living.  She trains Police K-9, security dogs, and personal protection dogs. She's a certified Campagne Decoy.  She works in a full body suit, where the attack-trained dogs are allowed to bite everywhere and anywhere.  Cheryl also teaches classes in protection training and trains other decoys.  She exhibits in and judges various protection competitions.  She is definitely an expert on how to get bitten by dogs.  Who better to teach us how NOT to get bitten by dogs?

During the talk, Cheryl demonstrates with some of her own or her students' dogs, just exactly how to get the dog to bite.  A perfectly friendly dog is brought out, who makes "friends" with the person acting as the decoy.  Then the decoy's demeanor changes.  They start crouching, moving erratically, and reaching toward the dog's head tentatively, as though they were afraid.  This turns the sweet-natured dog into a raving maniac.  The display put on by the decoy always reminds me of a nine-year-old child approaching a dog.  Children have the ability to behave exactly as if they WANT the dog to bite them--it's no wonder they often get bitten.

So, lesson number one is:  Teach your children how to approach dogs (and do the same yourself!).

First of all, children should be taught NOT to approach strange dogs at all, period.  If the dog is unknown to you, anything could happen.  I still recall an incident that happened when I was only a toddler.  The neighbor had tied a friend's dog that she was watching to the property line stake.  So the dog was able to come over into our yard (right next to the swing set).  I toddled up to that dog and tried to look at his tags.  The dog jumped up on me and knocked me OUT!  I still remember coming to, on my back, looking at the sky and the five swing sets circling above me!  By the time there was only one swing set, my mother came out and scooped me up.  Having a severe head trauma at an early age like that is not a laughing matter.  Also, I'm lucky it was a small, friendly dog, and that I fell BACKWARDS!  Or my mother might have been picking me up in pieces!

If the owner of the dog is there, and says it's ok, have your child stand still and let the dog approach the child.  I've been teaching community obedience training classes for 25 years, and my rule has always been to NEVER approach and touch a dog that doesn't approach and touch you FIRST (it's a good rule for identifying friendly people, too!).  If the dog approaches and is not afraid, the child can extend a fist for the dog to sniff (extended, grabby little fingers are frightening to dogs).  The child should be instructed not to pat the dog on the top of the head (most dogs actually hate this, anyway), because they usually do so in "attack decoy mode."  They reach out and then pull back when the dog moves to inspect the hand. This is the fastest way to encourage a dog to nip at hands.  Try to get the child to scratch the dog under the chin.

The best approach when introducing yourself to a new dog is a sideways one.  A sideways stance is less threatening to a dog.  Avoid direct eye contact.  Look away, or look at the floor and pretend to be disinterested in the dog.  This conveys a "calming signal" to the dog.  It portrays a picture of a being who is not going to try to chase him, grab him or hurt him.  If you look calm, the dog will be calm.  Other calming signals [Read "Calming Signals" by Turid Rugaas] include approaching by walking in an arc (the way friendly dogs greet each other), sitting or squatting, licking or smacking your lips, yawning, and sniffing (we humans don't sniff, so you could just inspect a blade of grass with your hand, or something).  Basically you are almost completely ignoring the dog.  This sets him at ease.  You're telling him, "You don't have to worry about defending yourself from me, because I mean you no harm."

Now, that will get you through an encounter with a non-aggressive dog.  What do you do if you find yourself suddenly confronted by a dog who thinks he is protecting his turf, or for some other reason wants to intimidate or bite you?  The first instinct you may have is to run.  That is the WORST possible behavior you could engage in.  If there is ever a for sure piece of advice,
NEVER, EVER RUN from a dog.

Dogs bite because they don't want you near them, or an area they may be "protecting."  Be it fear, or whatever reason, the dog wants to put distance between himself and you.  If a fearful dog can not distance himself by running away, he will try to distance you by putting on an aggressive display to intimidate you.  How you react can mean the difference of whether you get bitten or not.  I remember an incident 25 years ago, when a man came door to door selling apples.  When the man swung that apple crate up onto his shoulder to leave, my Doberman went into serious "alarm" mode.  He decided that guy had ill intent.  My Dobe was (like most Dobies), just a big cuddly lap dog, so I told the guy, "Aw, just stomp your foot at him, he'll go away."  WRONG IDEA!  Sundance just about came unglued, and I was lucky that he didn't actually bite the guy!  I had never seen him act like that!  He acted like he was going to rip his lungs out!  The poor man must have just about wet himself.  I felt so stupid!

Cheryl Carlson suggests that you never try to use intimidation to "chase away" an aggressive dog, unless you are sure that the dog is very fearful.  A fearful dog will respect and avoid a "stronger being", while they may attempt to bite someone who runs away.  First choice defense would be to activate the calming signals, while slowly backing off, sideways.  Cheryl also says (and she should know), that the flesh on the outsides of our bodies (hips, outer thighs, outer calves, upper side of arms) is tougher than the inner sides of those body parts, and if you're going to get bitten those would hurt the least.  As for a small child, Cheryl recommends that the child place the hands over the face, with the forearms protecting the throat.  She tells little kids that if they see a "big, mean dog," he wants to play hide and seek, so stand still, cover your eyes, and count to 50.  This places bone in front of the child's face and throat.  Lying down on the ground is not a good defense against an aggressive dog, but if the child should happen to fall down, or get knocked down, they should remain still, lie face down, and not scream.  NEVER, NEVER RUN!

If you're an adult, and you are faced with an all-out attack from an unfriendly dog, and all of the other stuff didn't work, what do you do?  Cheryl says to stand up straight (and sideways), and in your best, most authoritative, primal yell, blast the word "NO!!!!!" from your very bowels, just as the dog gets within striking distance.  This may take the dog off guard, as most dogs have been admonished with this word before (unfortunately).

Guess where most bites occur?  Right in our homes.  Sparky bites the child out of fear for his life (because the child has been taunting him).  Or, Fluffy bites anyone who comes too close to his food bowl (because he's been allowed or encouraged to guard resources).  These are what I would call environmental problems.  They can all be "fixed," with a little effort, because the dog isn't truly vicious--he's just been raised improperly, and/or the environment has not been managed properly.  It's unfortunate that these dogs usually get marched straight off to the dog pound.  Then, the people get another Cocker Spaniel and teach THAT one to be the boss, too, and they go right through the same thing all over again.  If people knew a little more about dog behavior to begin with, they wouldn't create these little "monsters."  And, if they were willing to seek and pay for the help of a behavior counselor, they could probably work out the problems.

Jean Donaldson has two excellent books out.  The first is called "Culture Clash," and it is absolutely MUST READ material for anyone who is even considering owning a dog.  This book has the answer to all of the behavior problems in the universe.  If this book were required reading to obtain a dog, there would be about 80% fewer dogs "thrown away" in the pounds (80% of dogs relinquished to shelters are given up for "behavior problem" reasons).  Jean's second book is called, "Dogs are from Neptune," and is all about dog aggression.  I highly recommend both of these books.

To avoid dog bites in the home I recommend the following advice:

    1.  Properly socialize your puppy.  I can't begin to emphasize this enough.  BEFORE the age of 16 weeks, your puppy must encounter all of the things he'll see in his adult lifetime.  If he doesn't, then, in all likelihood, he'll be terrified of those things later when he encounters them.  You must introduce him to friendly adults, children, old people, teenagers with blue hair, disabled people, people with beards, hats, bald heads, abnormal gaits, crutches, canes, and funny mannerisms.  You must safely introduce him to cars, bicycles, veterinarians, loud noises, other animals, toddlers, stairs, water, vacuum cleaners, people in gorilla suits and other strange things.  If the dog is not afraid of it, he won't try to attack it to defend himself.  A well-adjusted dog is not a biting dog.  I can't stress this strongly enough.  There's only about an 8-week window, here.  Get those puppies out and socialize them to everything!

  2.  Teach your children to respect life.  Show them how to properly touch, pet, and handle a dog.  Young children should not be allowed to carry puppies.  They want to, because they see you doing it, but they don't know how to yet, and they lack the coordination to properly support the dog and keep him from falling.  This terrifies the puppy, and if you want the puppy to grow up thinking, "When I get my adult teeth, Bobby, your butt is MINE!"  Then just go on ahead and let your child continue to abuse the dog in this manner. NOT a good idea!  You must teach the child that handling the puppy in this way is not comfortable for the puppy, and the child must not try to hurt the puppy, because he is a living, breathing, loving organism.  There is a direct correlation between children who abuse animals and those kids, grown up, abusing or killing other people.  Teach your children well.

  3.  NEVER trust your young child alone with your dog or puppy, EVER.  I don't care how good or well-trained you think your child is, when you're not looking, the child is wanting to do all of the things you won't let him do when you're around.  "Well, let's see... I wonder what REALLY happens when you pull the dog's ears, or poke him in the eye with a pen..."  The child is usually "low man on the totem pole" in the household, and if he can have control over the dog, it makes him feel less powerless.  You may not realize your child is pestering the dog until the day Bobby comes running to you, dripping blood, saying, "Doggie BITE!"  At this point somebody's usually in trouble, and the dog usually takes the heat.  He can't defend himself and he didn't have witnesses.  This is when you go and get a rolled up newspaper and swat yourself on the head a few times, repeating, "BAD Parent!  BAD Dog Owner!  Bad!  Bad! Bad!"

  4.  If you have toddlers, create a safe "haven" for your dog.  Use a baby gate or something that the dog can get over or through that the child can not.  When the dog does not want to be bothered with the child, he will escape to his safe place, and everything will be fine.  If the dog is not able to get away from the thing that terrifies him, remember that "Plan B" is to try to get that thing away from HIM.  This usually involves lip lifting, growling, snapping, or biting, all of which are proper social signals to avoid REAL aggression, by communicating that the dog wants to be left alone.  However, children are not puppies, and do not understand this language, so it's important to give the dog a place to go where the child absolutely can not follow.

  5.  Don't tie your dog out.  Tied dogs are frustrated dogs.  They experience "barrier frustration" all day long.  This tends to make them hyper and testy.  A child entering the area where a dog is chained could be easily knocked down or bitten.  If one or more of your neighbors ties a dog out, don't let your children go near these dogs.  They are an accident waiting to happen.

  6.  Don't play "idiot" games with your dog.  Some people think it's cute to tease dogs by pretending to beat up another family member (or a date)  in front of them, or by playing "games" like "slap-boxing" with the dog.  These mindless ways of torturing your dog are non-productive, and could cause the dog to become aggressive, or at the very least, teach him to snap at hands.  Teenagers are usually the guilty parties in this scenario.  Teenagers are children in adult bodies and that makes the teen years particularly difficult for kids.  They feel all "grown up," and yet they are forced to continue to live in the "nest" and are bossed around by other adults all the time.  Sometimes the only other being they can have control over is the family dog.  This is a scary thought.  From childhood, if you encourage your kids to put themselves in the dog's "shoes," and treat the family pets with the respect and love that they deserve, you won't have a problem as your child becomes an adult.

7.  Enroll your dog (and family) in a home obedience course.  This will help establish you as the leaders and give the dog a job to do.  If your dog knows how to perform a few simple control behaviors on cue, you can have him "go to his pillow" or "lie down" when company arrives, so that he doesn't get over stimulated in a barking frenzy at the door.  A dog can't lie down and bite the mailman at the same time.  Use productive behaviors to counter competitive, non-productive behaviors.  Your instructor will also show you how to stop your puppy from chewing your hands and teach him that gnawing on your body parts is "off limits."

8.  If you start to see any resource guarding behaviors, call a pet behavior counselor immediately.  You can not allow these behaviors to continue, as they often escalate.  Resource guarding means the dog might growl at someone walking near his food dish, or might not let you take a bone away from him politely, or might even guard YOU so that other family members can't get near.  Your trainer will put you on a training program where you will desensitize your dog to the things that are "triggering" his behavior now.

9.  Get your dog used to having you touch and groom him at an early age.  Dogs have to have a lot of care and grooming throughout their lifetime that involves touching, stroking, holding or restraining.  If your dog does not allow you to touch him in certain ways or in certain places, this problem must be addressed.  He may only be warning you with a growl, now, but if you let it be, there will come a time when you absolutely have to trim his nails, give him medication or otherwise restrain him, and he's liable to bite.  From an early age (as soon as you get him), accustom him to having you hold and touch his paws, stroke him and hold him on his side.  By teaching him that this contact is not-threatening and not harmful, he will accept it without a second thought.  First impressions are important, and you want first associations to be pleasant ones.  Before you actually trim your dog's nails, for example, practice holding the paws, rubbing the pads, touching the nails, and touching the nail trimmer to the nails.
 

Your Dog Doesn't Have to be an Outlaw

--Your dog spends all day making choices that he hopes will result in your attention or some other form of reward for him.  You spend all day ignoring all the good behaviors, waiting for the dog to do something bad so that you can “correct” him.  You are systematically teaching your dog to choose bad behaviors.  Is it any wonder that so many people live with unruly dogs?

"Will this potentially wonderful puppy grow up to be a Doggie Outlaw?"

How does this sweet, angelic puppy turn into the monstrous bane of your existence?  It’s simple.  Just don’t do anything to raise him right, and you’ll teach him to be an outlaw.  You’ll have a carpet-wetting, couch eating, child chasing, food stealing, hand biting, garbage raiding, yard digging, barking, wandering outlaw.

You may actually develop an adversarial relationship with your dog, until you say to yourself, something’s got to give!  You are living with a creature that seems to have it in for you and is doing something “bad” every minute of his waking day.  One of the dictionary definitions for the word “outlaw” is an uncontrollable animal.  But the word suggests someone who is living outside the law.  How can your dog break the “laws” in your family if you’ve never showed him what kind of behavior was expected from him in the first place.  You have to set up the laws by which you want your puppy to live within your family.

There are just millions and millions of dog owners out there adopting cute, innocent puppies, and then dumping them in shelters six months later because they were out of control.  Well, who was in charge of controlling the dog?  These people erroneously expected the dog to control himself. It happens every day.  People adopt a canine into a human family and are aghast when the little guy insists on behaving like a canine!  How dare he!  The people somehow get the idea that all you add is love, and the little cutie will grow into a charming, subdued, noble and judicious guardian of the family.

What I find equally unacceptable is that the ones that aren’t dumping their canine miscreants on someone else, are living with them!  These people are accepting a life of daily combat with their dogs, because they don’t want to dump them in a shelter.  They just think that dogs are supposed to be rude, wild, fiendish idiots.  People see my well-behaved dogs in public and they are always astonished.  It’s as though they are looking at an anomaly of nature.  What is shocking to me is the description of their own dogs that they immediately start telling me about.  “My dog would never be that calm in public,” they say.  “He’d be jumping all over the place and probably biting people.”    These people have made for themselves a life of hell, and they have made their dog a prisoner by not teaching him the simple things that I taught mine.  To them, my dogs look like extraordinary departures from reality.  They look flawless.  Flawless dogs are made, not born.  And it doesn’t take a genius to create one.  EVERY DOG can become a well-behaved, model citizen.  Every single dog in the world can be a wonderful pet. 

People think it is beyond their capability to transform an unruly puppy into a perfectly behaved adult dog, but it is SO EASY!  The fact that people just continue to not do anything to shape their dog’s behavior, and are content to live with an atrociously out-of-control beast really grieves me.  So many people have lost hope that “Sparky” will ever be socially acceptable, so they do what they think is one step better than sending Sparky to the shelter.  These millions of dogs get locked in the garage or basement, or are relegated to be chained in the back yard, like a prisoner.  This is so distressing to me, when I know that these dogs could be mannerly family members.

Everyone has the capability of shaping a life.  It’s a very simple matter of rewarding acceptable behaviors and ignoring or punishing unacceptable behaviors.  If people can’t work this out with creatures as easy to mold as dogs, then what on earth are they doing, trying to raise children?  All of the principles for raising dogs and children are the same.  You don’t need to buy a special collar for the dog and go to an obedience class and learn to apply various punishments, as if you were taming a wild beast.  Dog training is like child training.  It is a 24-7 operation.  You do it all day long, every day, with very little effort. 

Every single decision your dog makes requires a choice.  You simply have to teach him to choose wisely.  To do this you apply consequences to each thing your dog does.  Traditional training (yuck) relied on waiting until the dog did something wrong so that you could punish him.  Well, guess what?  From the dog’s point of view, he’s making choices based on what rewards he gets.  Oops!  We’re working against each other here!  The dog tries lying quietly at your feet.  Well, rats!  That didn’t do him any good...  “Let’s try another behavior to get some attention,” the dog thinks.  “I  think I’ll sit here and not cause any trouble.  I’ll not bark and I’ll not jump up.  I’ll just stare adoringly at my master.”  Oops.  “That’s not working, either, I can’t seem to get any attention from my owner.  Not a glance, not a stroke, not a word...  I wonder what on earth I can do to get someone to notice me around here...  I think I’ll run at the glass door and bark at the squirrels.” 

What a tragedy!  While you were waiting for the dog to do something which needed a correction, your dog was making lots of choices (many of them GOOD ones), but you weren’t rewarding them.  You didn’t see the dog as DOING anything.  But in fact, he was doing plenty.  He was NOT barking, NOT jumping, NOT destroying something and NOT getting into trouble.  But what did you do?  You ignored all of those good behaviors.  Instead, you were waiting for the dog to make a mistake, so that you could “punish” him.  When you yell at him for throwing himself against the glass door (the first excitement he’s had all day), he says, “Well, FINALLY!  Something got a rise out of my deadbeat owner.  From the attention I’m getting, I guess this is a pretty worthwhile behavior.  I’ll choose to do it more often!”  

Let’s review.  Your dog spends all day making choices that he hopes will result in your attention or some other form of reward for him.  You spend all day ignoring all the good behaviors, waiting for the dog to do something bad so that you can “correct” him.  You are systematically teaching your dog to choose bad behaviors.  Is it any wonder that so many people live with unruly dogs? 

When you see your dog doing something good, give him a reward.  Interpret “something good” as the ABSENCE of something bad.  If you don’t reward these instances of what you might call “non behaviors,” they will go away and be replaced with a behavior that you probably won’t like.  We’re used to a society that leaves you alone when you are remarkable or good, but climbs all over you when you make a mistake.  For this reason, “punishment training” makes sense to us.  But, do you like to be treated this way (by your boss or spouse)?  Would you want your kids’ first-grade teacher to work in this way?  Positive reinforcement (rewarding good behaviors with pleasant consequences) works so much better than punishment.

With your guidance (no special training and no expensive training equipment needed) your dog will seek to perform the behaviors that earn him attention and rewards.  And by controlling the consequences, you can be sure that he will want to choose the behaviors that keep him in the “reward zone.”  You don’t even have to worry too much about punishment.  The behaviors that aren’t rewarded will go away on their own.  From the dog’s point of view, why repeat something that’s not working out for you?  If you think that by not punishing something that you are rewarding it, you are wrong.  Ignoring a dog is like a punishment for him.  Remember the dog’s formula for making choices: 

Is it working?  Do I get favorable consequences for doing this?  What’s in it for me?  Will I get attention?  Will I receive a cookie (or a click that means I will get a cookie)?

Is it not working?  Do I get no response from my owner?  No cookie, no praise, no dirty looks, not even yelling or chasing.  Do I really want to pursue this behavior when it gets me NO attention?

Basically, the dog’s mind says, if it’s working, I’ll keep it in my repertoire.  I’ll do it more often.  It may even become my favorite behavior.  If it’s not working, it will go by the wayside.  It’s not a behavior worth repeating.

With this formula, it is ridiculously EASY to have total control of your dog’s choices.  He makes the correct choice because you manipulate the consequences, providing positive consequences for good behaviors or the absence of bad behaviors.  Remember, your dog has no idea which is which.  Your dog hasn’t a clue that sitting calmly in the corner during dinner is good and begging at the table is bad.  So don’t wait for him to form choices based on OUR notions of what is good or bad.

The thing that is so WRONG about traditional training methods is the waiting.  While you’re waiting for a behavior you can punish, to teach the dog a lesson, you’re ignoring the hundreds of lessons that could be taught on a day-to-day basis if you were to reward all of those instances of “non-bad” behaviors.  And, when you finally give the attention-starved animal the tongue-lashing he deserves for some misdeed, he’s thinking this is the “good stuff.”  He doesn’t perceive it as punishment at all, because whatever you do to him, it’s better than the constant ignoring of all behaviors that you have been doing.  The dog decides if something is a reward or a punishment, and a dog that only receives attention when he’s wrong, will think that this is a pretty good way to get noticed by the owner. By waiting for a bad behavior, that’s exactly what you’ll get.  The dog will exhaust all of the possible GOOD behaviors and get nothing, so he will invariably start trying bad behaviors, and “bingo,” he hits the jackpot.  See why so many people end up with “the dog from hell?”

With positive training, that sweet, angelic puppy will remain sweet and well behaved his whole life long.  He will offer only the behaviors that have resulted in positive consequences.  He doesn’t entertain any thoughts of naughty or unseemly behavior, because you have made sure to reward only the nice and appropriate behaviors.  With hardly any effort, you have wound up with the dog you deserve.  He’s not an outlaw.  You can take him with you, and he’ll be on his best behavior.  You will hear people say, “Look at that lovely dog!  My dog would never be that calm and obedient in public

Surviving Puppyhood At Christmas time, and sometimes at other holidays, people often like to give gifts of puppies. This is a very bad idea. The holidays are usually very busy with people rushing about, guests coming to visit and much hectic activity. This is not an ideal time to bring a new puppy into your family, unless of course you totally devote your time to making the holiday frenzy a totally positive socialization experience for the new addition. Take him with you as you shop. Let him meet only calm, dog savvy individuals who are interested in helping form your puppy into a confident pet (no puppy gropers or screaming children). Call your holiday parties or functions "puppy showers", so the focus is on the new "baby" and make his welfare the central focus of everything. Basically, it's not too likely that this is going to happen. So let's go back to plan A: Don't give puppies as holiday gifts. When the newness wears off, many times the puppy becomes forgotten (like many of the child's other "toys"), and his welfare goes by the wayside. Children who begged for the arrival of a new puppy become tired very quickly of all of the responsibility that goes with it, especially when there's so much else to think about during the holidays. Family members are not going to line up begging for their turn to take the Christmas puppy outside to do his business in the freezing weather.  Another reason NOT to give a puppy for Christmas, is that the recipient needs to be instrumental in the selection process. The pup needs to be a choice the recipient can live with. I know of a person who bought his elderly mother a Newfoundland puppy because HE wanted one. Soon the dog was bigger than the frail little old woman, and he took her off her feet one day on the icy steps and literally dragged her, face down, halfway down the block. Not a pretty picture. This was a relationship destined for failure. The best thing to do if you have little ones begging for a puppy from Santa is to get them all of the "accessories" for Christmas. Buy them the bowls, the leashes, the bed and the puppy food, and give them a photo of a cute puppy attached to an I.O.U. to be redeemed after the craziness of the holidays is over. Or, give them a stuffed dog to go with those things, until you can get the real one, later. This is the best advice I can give you. But, alas, many people will not heed my warnings, and you may somehow become the recipient of a Christmas puppy. Now what do you do? Here is my Christmas gift to you: Everything you always wanted to know about surviving your dog's puppy hood. "He's chewing everything up!" "He's shredding the children's pant legs and untying their shoes!" "He's stealing my socks and eating magazines!" Well, of course he is. He's a puppy! He's a little predator-built to use his jaws like our hands--for grabbing and inspecting things.  He will also start "teething" soon after you get him, and he will be compelled to munch on everything within his reach. It is a NATURAL thing for puppies to want to explore their world with their mouths. It's your job to make sure he only has access to appropriate things. If you fail to keep your eye on him constantly, knowing that the whole world is nothing but "chew toys" to your puppy, then get a rolled-up newspaper and hit YOURSELF several times, as you say, "BAD OWNER!-What were you thinking?"  You can't STOP a puppy from chewing. Puppies are practicing the mechanics of predation (hunting, shaking, shredding, and consuming), and exercising their teeth. Make sure your puppy has plenty of appropriate choices for chew toys. Nylabones, rawhides (if you feel they are safe), hooves, pig ears, hard rubber toys, and stuffed Kong toys should all be available for your puppy. A safe, soft rope toy is also a favorite with puppies. They like to shake and kill it. Better that than your socks and other personal items. My first husband and I came home one day to find that our Doberman puppy had devoured my husband's wallet. He had just cashed his paycheck, and all the money was in there. We thought we were going to have to dissect the dog to get the money back, when we found the folded cash in a neat little heap, behind the large urn. Fortunately, "Sundance shook and killed" his wallet dinner before eating it, and the wad of cash and important papers went flying safely into the corner. Manage your environment. Pick up your socks. Put away your magazines. Don't let your children make themselves fun targets by running and screaming. The act of chasing them is self-reinforcing, just as is chewing and eating. Remember, that's what predators are programmed to do. You must reward the ABSENCE of all of the behaviors you want to get rid of. "He's peeing in the house!" "He's sneaky and takes a dump behind the couch." "He won't go potty outside." Of course he is. Inside on carpet is more convenient, more absorbent, and warmer and drier than it is outside. Wouldn't YOU choose the carpet? He's not sneaky. Dogs don't know how to be sneaky. He's being smart. You must have punished him for going inside the house, and he didn't understand the message. He still has to go, but if you see him, he'll get punished, so he deliberately goes where you can't see him and "catch" him. You need to get that rolled-up newspaper again and swat YOURSELF a good one, saying, "Bad Owner!-You've taught the puppy to go behind the couch!"  What's in it for the puppy to go potty outside? What kind of "payoff" does he get? Do you think it's FUN to stand in the cold, with the wind blowing in your face and your toes freezing? Try it sometime. Why do you think we invented indoor plumbing? There has to be some kind of rewarding consequence for going potty outside, or the puppy will never develop the desire to stop using the living room carpet. I recommend clicker training, giving the dog a signal and a treat when he has done something right. Give your puppy plenty of opportunities to empty his bladder and bowels, especially after eating, playing and waking. Go out with him, and reward the proper behavior. Keep him in your sight at all times in the house, so if he starts to make a wrong choice, you can interrupt him and whisk him outside. Never punish your puppy for going in the house. He can't possibly imagine that there is anything wrong with his choice of location, he just learns that you become an abusive monster when you see him trying to perform a normal body function. This is incomprehensible, because he's GOT to go! You know it and he knows it. Punishment REALLY confuses him. It makes no sense. SHOW him what you want, and reward the behavior. "He's jumping up on the kids." "He plays too rough." "He's mouthing our hands-he's turning them into shredded meat!" Well, of course he is. Dog social behavior dictates that puppies should lick the other pack members' mouths upon greeting them. It's kind of hard to reach your mouth, when you walk on your hind legs all the time. It's fun to get petted, too, but it's hard to reach those hands when they're so high up off the floor. It is very frustrating being a short little puppy. The only thing he knows is to leap up. He wouldn't keep doing it, though, if it wasn't WORKING for him. You didn't inadvertently PET him when he jumped up at some point in time, did you? My heavens! Get the rolled-up newspaper! This time as you smack YOURSELF, say "Bad Owner!-I've taught the puppy that jumping up is wonderful!" Now you have to "undo" what you've taught the puppy (you liar!). Teach him that jumping up isn't wonderful-sitting politely for petting is wonderful. Only pet him and give him your attention if he sits. If he tries to jump up, move away and ignore him. Act like he has "kooties." Remember, you have to REWARD the behaviors you want to encourage. If you reward a behavior by paying attention to it, don't blame the puppy if that behavior persists. When you decide that jumping up is a bad idea one day when he's 10 months old and covered with mud, and you have on your good clothes, it's not fair to suddenly start punishing him for something you had previously been rewarding. It's not only not fair-it's too late. The behavior already has a reward history. Do not play rough with your puppy. If you do, you will teach him that you are very tough-like his littermates, and that you enjoy being bitten. If your puppy mouths your hands, you must pretend you are very frail and fragile. Do not yank your hand away (puppies like to snatch at things when you play "keep away" with them). Hold still and in a high-pitched voice, say "Owww!" This sounds like the noise that his littermates made when they meant, "You're biting too hard!" The puppy will usually stop and become immediately "apologetic" when he hears this screech. He will think that you are really a wimp. But that's ok. He will stop mouthing and biting if you do this. I have pinpointed what I think are the three major complaints people have about their puppy's behavior. These are all NORMAL, natural behaviors that your puppy WILL engage in because he is a puppy. Not because he's a "bad seed" or a naughty dog, or spiteful because he thinks you love the cat more... He is doing these things because he is programmed to do these things. He does not have human manners or a conscience that tells him right from wrong. He doesn't realize that ANY behaviors are considered "bad" by you. Now that you know what to do to get your puppy started off on the right foot with learning your peculiar human manners, don't you dare blame the puppy if you disregard this information and choose to let his normal dog behaviors persist until he becomes an unwelcome vexation in your home. There are not too many valid excuses for turning a dog in to the shelter. If you visit a shelter and just read the cards on the cages, it will make you sick. Look into the loving eyes of that energetic adolescent lab puppy and read the reason for surrender: "Too hyper-Jumps on kids." That's what lab puppies do. Someone adopted him and promised to love him because he was a lab puppy. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain and TRAIN him, and now, they're getting RID of him for the same reason-because he's a lab puppy. Dog Scouts of America tries to work like preventative medicine. We try to eradicate the CAUSE of dogs being dumped at the shelters. Eighty percent of the adolescent and adult dogs are turned over to the shelters because of behavior problems. By educating the owners about dog behavior and how to modify the unwanted behaviors by replacing them with good behaviors, using positive, non-abusive methods, we are keeping dogs OUT of the shelters in the first place.  The key to fighting the huge unwanted animal problem in this country is by tackling the "unwanted" part of the equation. Turning a dog in to a shelter and hoping someone else might adopt him and be better equipped to handle the dog's normal behaviors is not an answer. The shelters are killing millions of dogs each year. Owners feel like a shelter is not a certain death sentence for their dogs, or they probably wouldn't take them there. People hold onto the hope that the pet that they've grown tired of will somehow live "happily ever after" with some wonderful new family. This delusion is what enables normally kind and humane people to dump their pets at shelters. The sad truth is that MOST of the older dogs that end up in shelters must be put to death. The ones that have already learned persistent behavior problems are doomed. DSA wants to keep you with your pet-for life. We hope you have enjoyed these tips on coping with puppy behavior. We hope that this "gift" of advice will bring you a long and happy relationship with your new family member. Now here's the commercial: We get fan mail all the time, thanking us for our work. One family told us that if they would have known what we taught them two years ago, a dog that they had to have put to sleep because of aggression problems would probably still be alive. If they would have known how to socialize and prevent aggression problems from developing, they could have turned him into a better pet. Another family that rescued a "problem dog" said that we literally saved that dog. This was a dog who was learning (being allowed) to do as he pleased with his former family, and had a multitude of bad habits. Even after adoption and proper training, the dog was hard to handle. If not for the skills she learned from DSA, the owner says, she would have been totally beside herself and would have given up on the dog's rehabilitation. We love hearing success stories like this. Shelters have statistics on how many dogs were successfully re-homed, and saved from death. With preventative work, we have no idea how many millions of people benefit from our teachings and learn to cope with and improve their dog's behavior. We don't know how many have become responsible dog owners and spayed or neutered their pets, keeping more unwanted dogs out of the shelters. I strongly feel that we have more of a chance of saving dogs on the "going in" end than we do trying to save them once they're in shelters.  DSA is a non-profit educational and charitable organization. If you (or an organization you belong to) wish to donate funds to further our work, please see our home page for the address where you can send your tax-deductible donations or you may use our secure, online donation form. More Puppy Info at: How To Raise A Puppy Dog Scouts of America Membership Application Scouts of America Dog Scout Camp.

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How to Raise a Puppy 
(that you will never want to part with)

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How To Socialize Critical Periods of Socialization for a Puppy (And what you should be doing with your puppy during each of them...)  This page is provided as a public service from Dog Scouts of America Birth through 3rd week (1 – 21 days):  Puppy needs mother and littermates.  They can’t regulate their own temperatures very well, so they must have a warm place to sleep.  Training is not effective at this stage.  They have yet to open their eyes and ears and do much besides crawl around.  Their instinct is to cry when separated from the warmth of the litter (so that mommy will save them).  Do not handle more than necessary.  Fourth Week (21 days to 28 days):  Eyes and ears should be open by this time.   Ability to form an attachment to humans is forming at this time, so gentle handling is recommended.  All handling should be supervised, and children should not be allowed to pick up the puppies.   DO NOT remove the puppies from the litter.  Do not wean at this age.  If complications with the mother dog require early removal from the litter, do it BEFORE 21 days or AFTER 28 days.   Do not allow negative events to take place during this period.  This could result in shyness or other unwanted qualities in a puppy.  Fifth through Seventh Week (28 – 49 days):  The mother will be in the process of weaning the puppies.  It is important that you let her do her job.  If you abruptly remove the puppies from the mother, and begin feeding them puppy food, they will have missed out on a VERY IMPORTANT life lesson.  By allowing the mother to wean the pups, gradually, they learn that RESOURCES ARE NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE.  Sometimes the resource (mommy) is there, but is not available to the puppy (she’s not in the mood to feed them).  You should supplement her feeding with moistened puppy food, during this time.  But, if you go directly from mom providing food on demand to YOU providing food on demand, the puppies will get a distorted view of reality (they’ll be “spoiled”), and will not easily accept the disappointment of limited access later in life.  Give daily individual attention to each puppy, getting him or her used to positive human interaction.  Puppies at this age can begin to learn potty training, and will try to “hold it” until they can go on an absorbent material, away from their sleeping area.  If you provide them with such, housebreaking will be a breeze.  DO NOT remove puppies from the litter.  Wait until after 7 weeks of age to let the new homes take the puppies.  While it is important that the puppies get time separate from the litter on a daily basis, if you remove them entirely, they will lose out on more IMPORTANT LIFE LESSONS.  Puppies learn to inhibit their bites by biting their littermates.  When they bite too hard, the littermate will squeal, and either bite back in retaliation, or ostracize the bully, and refuse to play with him.  This teaches the pups not to be too rough, and while they’ll still play fight and wrestle, they will bite down softly, not injuring the other puppies.    A dog that does not learn this lesson could cause serious harm to a person or child later in life.  When they bite, they don’t inhibit, and an uninhibited bite will require stitches.  A dog can do a lot of damage with its mouth, and it is important that it remain with the litter to get this “weapons safety course” from its brothers and sisters.  This training takes place between the ages of 6 and 7 weeks, so if the puppies are adopted before then, they are an accident waiting to happen.  The puppy is also learning other very crucial skills at this age.  He’s learning to speak “dog.”  He’s learning the social skills that will enable him to interpret unspoken messages from other dogs and give appropriate replies.  Things like calming signals (a kind of a friendly, submissive gesture) are learned at this time, and this will help your dog to communicate with other dogs all through his life.  If he is removed from the litter, unequipped with this vital information, he could possibly get “picked on” or attacked frequently by other dogs when they don’t receive the information they need from him.  If he doesn’t “speak the language”, it will be hard for him to express himself.  He could also become a “bully” himself, because he won’t understand the signals to “back off” that the other dogs are giving him.  This could also lead to a nasty fight.  The worst case scenario is that the puppy would not understand that it is a dog, and would fear all other dogs (as if they were aliens or something, which basically they would be for him).   Eighth through 12th  Week (49 – 84 days):  At this age, you will take over the role of being the “mother” to your new puppy.  The puppy will cry when separated from the only caretaker he has known for his entire life.  This is only natural.  Especially when you consider that we as humans are a far cry from his doting canine mother.  When he cries, she is usually there in a heartbeat, to see what is wrong.  Humans on the other hand, tend to bring home a puppy and just stuff him in a crate or in the garage the first night, and then wonder why the poor baby is screaming inconsolably non-stop.  To make the first few nights easier on your new puppy, I recommend allowing the puppy to be VERY near to you.  I don’t care what your future “hard-nosed rules” are going to be for the puppy, or even if he is going to remain an outdoor dog, separated from the family he will learn to love.  Those first few nights should hold as little trauma as absolutely possible.  If you lock up your puppy away from you when you get home with him, he’s going to assume he’s been LOST or abandoned, and will cry to be rescued.  You merely have to assure him that he simply has a new home, with a human parent, and that you can be just as loving and comforting as his real mother (almost).   By VERY NEAR, I mean body contact.  The choices are: ¨       Put your puppy in a crate or pen with open lid right next to your bed, with your arm dangling down into the pen to cuddle your puppy to sleep, where he can see, hear and feel you. ¨       Put your puppy in bed with you – (NOT RECOMMENDED)  This is difficult for multiple reasons:   The puppy is not yet housebroken    The puppy could fall off the bed and injure himself    The puppy could chew up your bedding    The puppy could start to think that the bed is HIS bed if you continue this past a few nights             (however, it is still preferable to listening to him squall, or terrifying him by abandonment) ¨       Put your puppy’s crate right in the bed with you (this prevents accidents, chewing, or falling, and gets the puppy used to his crate.  You can still open the door and stroke or cuddle the puppy.  Once your puppy realizes that he merely has a new address, and that he has NOT been doomed to be locked up in a cold dungeon with no human contact for the rest of his life (what a dismal existence that would be!), he will not need to sleep on the bed with you, and his crate can be moved to another part of the house where it is more convenient for you.  The puppy is going to spend a great deal of his time in the crate, until he’s old enough to be allowed full access to the house, unsupervised.  So, you should put the crate where he can see you throughout the day as you move about the house.  If, for some reason you are foolish enough to let the sweet little furniture-eating, carpet-soiling, electrical cord-chewing puppy loose to wreak havoc in the house, because you didn’t think you needed a crate, then don’t you dare be upset at HIM when the little cutie raids the garbage, shreds your possessions, craps on everything, and TP’s your house.  The crate also acts as his personal playpen, keeping him from injuring himself doing things that little puppies have no business doing.  Mothers can’t watch babies or puppies ALL the time, that’s why they gave us playpens (crates) to keep them contained out of harm’s way.  Tossing the puppy outside is NOT the solution.  Why did you get him in the first place?  Even if you plan for him to be an “outdoor” dog, it is a good idea to socialize your puppy to being indoors, and potty train him, if later on in life he moves up in the world.  This is the start of the socialization period where puppies need to meet as many kinds of new “nouns” (people, places, and things) as possible.  This means more than just the company you might have over, or the immediate back yard.  You must expose your puppy to all kinds of things in the world so that he will not fear them as an adult.  The rule of Sevens says that you should introduce your puppy to AT LEAST seven new kinds of surfaces, seven new kinds of people, seven new kinds of foods, seven new kinds of sounds, and seven new places by the time he is 12 weeks old.  All new situations should be introduced in a neutral or positive way—nothing frightening or hurtful.   The puppy is experiencing his FEAR IMPRINT PERIOD between 8 and 9 weeks of age, and any traumatic encounters will stay with the puppy for his whole lifetime, if you allow them to occur.  You may think about postponing ear-cropping surgery or other traumatic events until after the ninth week.  You should introduce your puppy to safe, calm children, and supervise the interaction carefully.  Do not let the child hurt or frighten the puppy.  The best way not to let a child accidentally drop a puppy is to not let them pick it up in the first place.  They don’t mean to drop it, but try to explain that to the poor puppy who is scarred for life, and now runs from children.  Do not isolate the puppy from humans at this age.  To do so will create a dog that is maladjusted for life, and one who is not a good candidate for the bond with humans which is a necessary part of training, and life in general with your dog.  Now is the perfect time to reinforce the puppy’s natural desire to be clean in the house.  The use of a crate, scheduled mealtimes, and a reward-based training regime will maintain the clean habits your puppy has already started to develop while with the litter.  If you allow the puppy full access to the house, and do not supervise him, or do not make it beneficial for him to eliminate outside, you will cause the puppy to start to be confused about where to “go.”  So many people complain that they just can’t get their puppy housetrained.  But, after playing foster mom to several litters of young puppies, I have come to realize that the puppies have themselves potty-trained before they leave the litter.  It’s when they get into their new homes that the new owners confuse the puppies about where they should go potty.  The new owners often take a perfectly clean puppy and teach him to soil the house by doing everything all wrong.  NOW is when you should begin training your puppy.  DO NOT wait until the dog is 6 months old.  The puppy is a learning “SPONGE” at this age, and to not give it structured training is to allow it to learn BAD habits.  Puppies have a full adult brain at 49 days of age.  There is absolutely no reason to wait longer than that to teach the puppy proper behavior.  It is much easier to install correct behaviors than to let the puppy grow up like a wild savage and then try to “untrain” the bad behaviors later!  In the past, I think people recommended that the training did not start until 6 months because many training classes used “punishment” methods to teach obedience.  Now, we realize that positive methods are so much more effective.  Even a tiny puppy can learn the basics of sit, down, stay, come and heel without even putting on a collar or leash!  The dog no longer needs to be 6 months old to withstand the harsh corrections given out in the name of “training.”  If you find a training class and discover that they use corrections to train, RUN AWAY!  If they tell you that they use a “praise” method, also be very skeptical.  Praise alone is meaningless for a puppy that does not speak English, and without pairing it with something positive (like food), it is worthless.  Many punishment trainers use “praise” alone as a positive reinforcement.  In this context, the praise takes on the meaning of a “no punishment” marker.  It’s not really a positive reinforcement at all.  It just means, “You’re not going to get jerked right now.”  So the dog is still working to avoid aversives.  With positive methods, the dog is rewarded with something he actually wants, as his reward (imagine that!).  He will work very hard to receive this reinforcement and will soon be doing exactly what you ask (gleefully).  No punishment required.  For more information on positive training methods, see other articles on this web site.  Keep on socializing your puppy up to 16 weeks of age.  You should also continue to socialize your dog after that time, but it is never more important than the time period of between 8 to 12 weeks.  You have a very brief window in which to get your dog acclimated to the big wide wonderful world.  Don’t let the grass grow under your feet!  Get that puppy out!  Not just to the puppy class once per week, either.  I mean really make an effort to introduce your puppy to as many positive situations as possible.  Here’s a list:  ¨       Take your puppy to the Vet when he doesn’t need a shot.  Just hang out and feed cookies and have fun! ¨       Take your puppy to pet shops (most of them allow pets).  You’ll meet a lot of dog-loving people who will be happy to introduce themselves to your pup.  The puppy can possibly also meet other puppies and animals there.  (Don’t take your puppy close to any “for sale” dogs at a pet shop—they come from puppy mills, and they are often very sick.  They could transmit something to your puppy.) ¨       Take your puppy to a park (not a dog park—you don’t know what manner of germy, psychopathic dogs with inattentive owners are running out of control at a dog park). ¨       Take your puppy to a training class, or puppy playgroup. ¨       Take your puppy to daytime outdoor sporting events (for short periods) ¨       Take your puppy anywhere and everywhere that the proprietors will let him come in.  The important thing is that the puppy needs to get out for more than just a walk in the woods (or around the block).  He needs to meet new people, sights, sounds, smells and environments every day.  You have to be particularly diligent about this if you have another dog in the house, or if you have adopted two young puppies at the same time.  The puppies each need to spend time with you, separate from one another, so that bonding can occur.  If they bond to each other, what do they need YOU for?   Sixteen weeks and beyond...  As I mentioned, you should continue to get your dog out to socialize with other dogs and people on a regular basis his whole life long.  You don’t want him to forget important social skills and proper greeting behaviors.  But you can never make up for a lack of socialization during that critical age of puppyhood (between 8 and 16 weeks).  That’s why they call it critical.   You may find your dog enjoys regular romps with some of his doggie buddies.  Or, maybe he’d like to join a flyball team and become an athlete!  He might enjoy a trip to dog camp with you.  At the very LEAST, he’ll want to accompany you on vacation.  If you socialize and train him well, this should not be a problem.  Socialization is the KEY to a well-adjusted, calm and happy dog.  Training is great, too, but contrary to the old “wives tale,” you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.  You can’t, however, give an old dog the socialization he should have had as a puppy.  Knowing what you now know about socialization, it should be clear that it would be optimal to adopt a puppy who has had proper early socialization.  If the puppy’s past is unknown, as is often the case when you adopt a pup from a pet shop or a shelter, it’s a gamble.  You could get lucky end up with a very confident dog, or you could get one who has many sensitivities (through no fault of its own).   I’m not saying that shelter dogs are all automatically going to be liabilities.  I’m just trying to emphasize the important role that early socialization plays.  Please don’t misunderstand me… I’ve gotten “hate mail” over this.  I’m just trying to share information that will help you choose a dog that will have the best chance to do well living with a human family.  I would be remiss if I did not share this material with you.  If you have already adopted a puppy with an unknown past, and are having good luck with it, good for you!  If you didn’t have this information, and ended up with a dog that has many sensitivities, your life with this dog may be a little more challenging.  I’m not telling you to give up on the dog.  I’m not necessarily promoting professional breeders, either.  I don’t breed, and the last two dogs I adopted were mixes.  But, sometimes breeders take special care to give their puppies the best socialization possible.  Some breeders (not all) understand the importance of keeping the litter together until 7 weeks of age so that they learn bite inhibition and same-species socialization.  Not all breeders are responsible breeders.  You don’t have to have any knowledge or training to breed a dog (unfortunately).  Many people do not know the information contained in this article.  If they did not see to the proper raising of the pups (up until 8 weeks of age), then you could be worse off than if you got a puppy with unknown early socialization history.  My new bundle of joy is 13 weeks old as I write this.  The breeder she came from raised the puppies outside.  My guess is that food was given to the mother once a day, and that the puppies were not handled and cuddled much, or spoken to one-on-one by humans.  While I don’t have to worry about her bite inhibition, because she stayed with the litter long enough to learn doggie social skills, I am going to have to work very hard to get her to pay attention to me, because I believe that she formed the early opinion that people are inconsequential and their words are meaningless. When students enroll in my obedience training classes, I require certain information on the intake form.  One question I ask is, “what age was your puppy removed from the litter, and what age did you acquire your puppy?”  If the answer is that the puppy was removed prior to 7 weeks of age, I automatically “red flag” that dog’s behavior profile.  Chances are, that dog will end up biting someone, and when they do, it will not be an inhibited bite.  I do not handle people’s dogs that have been removed from the litter too early.   I also “red flag” any dog that was acquired after the age of 16 weeks, when the owner doesn’t know where and how the puppy spent his critical socialization period.  For all we know, the pup could have been in a cage at a pet shop or puppy mill during much if not all of that period, being isolated from human contact except at feeding time.  This is definitely not an optimal situation.  People need to know this.  Insurance companies need to know this.  Instead of giving certain particular breeds of dog a bad rap for having a tendency to bite, people should face the fact that any fearful dog will bite.  And the less socialized, the more fearful the dog will be.  Instead of banning Pit Bulls and Rottweillers, for homeowner’s coverage, people should get a discount on their insurance coverage if they can determine that their dog was properly socialized! What do you do if you’ve ended up with one of those dogs who lacked the socialization he needed as a puppy?  All is not lost.  This article was meant to drive home the critical importance of early socialization, but I don’t want to alienate people who may already have a dog with a “social setback.”  I would be remiss if I did not try to help you rehabilitate and resocialize your dog, but I’ll do that in another article.  I just want to say this:  Don’t give up on your dog!  My favorite dog (an adorable Cattle Dog/Border Collie cross) in the whole world (next to my own dogs, of course), is such a dog.  He was a raging monster.  He “went off” when ever another dog came within 50 feet of him.  His owner was beside herself.  She enrolled him in my friend Brenda Aloff’s “Re-Socialization” class.  The progress he has made brings tears to my eyes.  Just this past weekend, I ran into them at an obedience trial, where he sat amongst hordes of dogs comfortably.  He continues to go to resocialization class, and is the subject in many of the photos in Brenda Aloff’s new book, Aggression in Dogs (available at our online store).  His owner continues to stay on top of things, and always carefully manages the dog’s environment.  He has come an awfully long way.  I never thought I’d see him sitting calmly at ringside at a dog obedience trial.  My advice to you if you love such a dog is to seek the help of a knowledgeable, behavior consultant who uses positive reinforcement to rehabilitate dogs. Please read related article on this site:  Adopting Dogs with “Issues” ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Children and Dogs  Attention all Guardians of Children and Dogs! What you need to know about bite prevention: By Lonnie Olson In a perfect world: All children would be taught to respect a dog’s space and never approach a dog without asking the owner (if there is one present). All dogs would be temperamentally sound, calm and stable around children, letting them into their personal space to poke and prod without fear or defensiveness. The first ideal is what dog owners would wish for.  The second is what parents of small children would hope for. The fact is that neither one of these ideal situations is often the case in the REAL world.  Most parents don’t take the time to educate their children in respecting animals and not approaching them at all or at least approaching them intelligently.  And most dog owners don’t realize the importance of properly socializing their puppies to become well-adjusted, confident dogs who do not fear new environments, situations or people.  The end result is that a lot of children are bitten by dogs. Society currently deals with bite prevention by talking to the kids in school for a half-hour each year on how not to get bitten, and by locking up (or euthanizing) “dangerous” dogs.  This is a lot like trying to deal with crime prevention by teaching victims how not to get shot in a hold up, and locking bank robbers away in the penitentiary.  It’s not going to save the people who have already been shot, and it doesn’t prevent the human race from pumping out more new bank robbers every year.  This is what I want to address:  The new bank robbers.  But, since this is an article about dog training, we’re going to talk about potential biting dogs. Humans and dogs are driven by consequences. These bank robbers probably started out when they were 8 years old, stealing candy and gum from the corner store.  Somehow, they got away with it (where were their parents?).  So the child learns a lesson:  “The consequence for stealing something, rather than paying for it, is that I get the candy, and I get to keep my money.”  The child is beginning to develop a reward history for theivery.  This goes on until, as an adult, this human becomes a felon—a menace to society—someone who must be locked up away from others to prevent harm to the innocent masses. The biting dog starts out at 8 weeks of age with the new owners.  Like the child, his is a blank slate.  If he experiences no positive interactions with SAFE, non-threatening children, or worse, is allowed to be subjected to groping, hurtful “attack children,” he will develop a fear or perhaps a strong dislike for children.  Because he either doesn’t know what children are (never having been exposed to them during the critical period of socialization) and thinks they could harm him, or he KNOWS they are evil and he is SURE they will harm him (having been allowed to have a previous frightening consequence of being approached by children).  Where were his “parents” during this critical stage of his development?  The dog, like the child, is forming positive and negative associations, based on the consequences he has experienced in life. Obviously, if we want to have fewer dog bites, we need to stop leaving it up to the children not to get bitten.  It is every dog owner’s responsibility to socialize their puppies to children and all other kinds of humans during the critical socialization period.  Once this period is passed (after 16 weeks), you will make little or no impression on the beliefs your dog holds to be true about the universe.  I can not stress this point strongly enough.  Socialization of your puppy is the first step in becoming a responsible dog owner.  If you are there to guide your pup though the critical stages of his socialization by introducing him to as many kinds of people, places, sights, sounds, smells and surfaces as possible in a positive and non-threatening way, your dog will not fear novel stimuli as an adult. At the same time, I implore all parents to please CONTROL young children.  They are not capable of controlling themselves.  During their early socialization periods, they simply do not know better than to do many “dumb” things.  Any dog can bite.  I know that insurance companies think that it is the “breed” (Pit Bulls and Rottweilers) that is responsible for the tendency to bite, but this is absurd.  It is the fear from lack of socialization or bad early experiences that makes a particular dog a prime candidate for a defensive biting incident, not the dog’s breed.  You can’t tell by looking at a dog what kind of socialization it has had as a puppy.  Even the cute ones could be potential fear-biters, so parents need to keep their toddlers AWAY from all dogs, unless they know the dog and know how it will react to the sudden movements of the child. The dog that is near and dear to my heart must be watched like a hawk when small children are near.  She would never go out of her way to go after a child.  She wants to distance herself from children as much as possible. I must always be sure that she has an escape route when children are present.  As long as she can get away, she has no need to defend herself from the “attack child.”  When she was almost 9 weeks old (at the end of her fear imprint period), I had her out in a store trying to socialize her to as many new things as possible.  The problem was that I had a broken leg and I was in a wheelchair at the time.  A friend was holding my puppy’s leash, when suddenly an uncontrolled toddler came screaming at my puppy.  The kid literally trampled my little baby puppy, as I watched from 20 feet away.  To this day, she thinks that all toddlers are going to hurt her and kick and stomp her to death.  Silly, I know, because she’s bigger than a toddler and should not be afraid, right?  Wrong.  What happens during a puppy’s critical socialization period stays with it for the rest of it’s life.  I felt so bad that I wasn’t at the other end of the leash to get between the rampaging toddler and my innocent, impressionable puppy.  Trust me, I would have done ANYTHING to deflect this child from inflicting permanent psychological damage on my puppy.  If I could go back in time and change one event of my life, it would be that moment.  Because, despite my best efforts to continually expose my dog to calm, safe, non-invasive children, she remains terrified at the sight or sound of an approaching toddler.  The people responsible for puppies and small children need to act more responsibly.  It is my fervent wish that all “parents” of new puppies expose their young charges in a positive way to safe, calm children which are under control.  And that all parents of small children expose their toddlers to safe, calm canines which are under control, so that the two kinds of “kids” will form positive associations with one another.  This will lead to fewer dog bites, lower insurance rates, and a better society as a whole. Oh, and if you happen to be the parent of a human child, do society a favor and don’t let him go into the corner store unsupervised... ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Communication Listen to your Dog! He may be trying to tell you something important! Dogs are canids and humans are primates.  We do not have a common language to communicate with each other.  The only means of communication we can use are telepathic (through pictures in the mind) and body language and vocal sounds (through actions, sounds and gestures).  Most of us have lost the ability to communicate with our dogs telepathically since childhood.  This leaves body language as the only way they have of communicating with us. I often give demonstrations on the use of service dogs for PAWS With A Cause, where I work as a field instructor and presenter.  I say that the dogs "alert" the owners, when they hear sounds they have been taught to respond to, or in the case of some seizure alert dogs, when they know the person is about to have a seizure.  The question I get from the audience is always "HOW does the dog communicate this to the owner?"  I usually explain by using the analogy of the television series, "Lassie."  Timmy was always falling in the well or something, and Lassie was forever having to go get someone to help.  If you've ever seen that "Timmy's in the well again" body language on a dog, there would be no question in your mind that the dog were trying to convey something important.  It's like the doggie version of "charades." My friend Joanne has a seizure alert dog, Willie.  Willie is a Golden Retriever, and loves to be petted, and he adores Joanne, so he often performs the "Golden Paw" maneuver to get attention, or he'll try to thrust his head under her hand to get it stroked.  These are the same basic behaviors he performs to let her know she's going to have a seizure.  How does she know the difference?  The difference is very obvious to a "dog person."  The head nudging and pawing take on an "exclamation point," which gives it that "this is a message of an urgent nature" twist. When dogs try to communicate something to us, they often do something they don't normally do.  For instance, if my dog, Karli, comes running into my office for no apparent reason and tries to crawl under my chair, I know that there is either something that scared her, like thunder, or a bear in the living room, or the other dogs are doing something that is "not allowed" and she is trying to establish an alibi, by being with me at the time the crime was perpetrated.  I can usually tell if it's thunder or a bear in the house by giving a quick listen.  Ruling out the first two, I realize that this particular action on her part means, very clearly, "I didn't do it mom... I didn't have any part in it.  It was all the other dogs' ideas and I wasn't even in the room at the time."  Whereupon I jump up and go out to find that Gator is trying to pull a pan with dinner leftovers off the top of the stove, or the puppy is chewing something she's not supposed to, or someone relieved themselves in the house.  It's pretty nice having a dog that acts as a "tattle tail." Your dog has a repertoire of behaviors and vocalizations which are usually used in particular circumstances.  The dog may have one bark that means, "yippie, we're going to get something (dinner, taken for a walk, etc.)."  There is a completely different bark that means "the postman is here," and one that means "there's someone at the door."  There's one that means "I hear something unusual" and one that means, "let's play."  I'm sure that if you thought about it, you could identify a dozen or more different kinds of vocalizations that your dog makes.  Each one varies in tone, intensity, duration and volume.  Each one carries a different message.  Pay attention to what your dog is "telling" you. I have a personal example of how listening to my dog's communication attempt saved our lives and our home.  I was in the office, working, as usual, when I heard Karli, in the kitchen, bark once.  Karli doesn't bark much at all, but the barks she gives are all identifiable.  This bark didn't have a meaning.  I stopped what I was doing and listened.  I thought, "That's queer."  She doesn't bark when she wants water, and that's not her "I see something out the back door" bark.  It was definitely not the "someone's here" bark, or the "give me my toy back" bark.  I thought, what could she be trying to tell me about in the kitchen?  Then, with horror, I realized that several minutes earlier I had left some garlic bread covered with cheese in the broiler of the oven.  I had forgotten all about it, distracted by my work (out of sight, out of mind!).  I ran to the kitchen and opened the oven door to find the cheese on fire, with flames shooting up into the electrical components at the top of the oven.  I hadn't smelled the smoke or anything, but Karli did, and she thought it was something she might want to mention.  This could have been a serious electrical fire, that could have destroyed the house, but instead it just became another embarrassing cooking lesson moment, thanks to Karli, and thanks to my habit of paying attention to my dog's attempts at communication. Dogs have senses which are far more acute than ours.  I believe they can sense things that we, as primates, have no way of detecting.  It's interesting to read the stories about the dog heroes.  These dogs often find ways of communicating remarkable things to their owners. Fortunately, the owners listened.  One example was a Pit Bull Terrier on vacation with his owners in their Jeep.  The dog started doing the "Timmy's in the well" thing, and the owners couldn't figure out what was wrong.  In the dog's final attempt to get through to these people with "doggie charades", he jumped out of the back of the jeep and ran ahead and physically blocked the road and wouldn't let them go further.  They decided to go elsewhere to camp for the night, and turned their vehicle around.  As it turned out, the gorge where they were headed flooded that night.  A dam broke, if I remember right, and the valley was suddenly filled with rushing water which wiped away all of the people who had set up camp there for the night. My message here is "Listen to your dog!"  A few years back, I read an article about some break-ins that were occurring in California.  They all took place during the night, in homes where people had dogs.  The dogs didn't alert the homeowner to the presence of the intruder in the middle of the night. This is probably due to the fact that when dogs bark at night, the owners usually just tell them to "shut up!"  When I was a teenager, I was vandalizing a friend's house (toilet papering) one night, when the people suddenly let their dog out.  The dog was saying, "Hey there's about a half a dozen vandals out here in our yard, hiding behind the cars and stuff!  Come quick!  Get the baseball bat!"  The owners just hollered "Shut up and get in here right now, you stupid dog!"  They did not recognize the increased amplitude and intensity of the dog's bark as anything out of the usual.  Bummer for them. Probably the most subtle way dogs "communicate" with us, is when they have a physical ailment.  They may not intentionally "tell" you that something is wrong.  Dogs are pretty stoic, and sometimes endure amazing amounts of pain or discomfort, without letting on.  It may just be that they don't know how to tell you.  You have to use your own powers of observation.  Watch for stiffness in the dog's gait.  Watch for abnormal behavior, like licking or pawing a certain area of it's body repeatedly.  Watch for head shaking.  More than an occasional shake may indicate an ear problem.  Inactivity is a major indicator.  If your dog's activity level suddenly decreases, it could be indicating that he doesn't feel well.  It's hard to know what could be the cause, but it would be a good idea to keep your eye on the dog's stool, checking for parasites or foreign objects.  Go over his whole body feeling for any unusually warm areas, which might indicate a swelling or infection.  Check the pads of the feet (if they're hurt, he's not going to want to move around much).  Take a look at the anal sacs.  Dogs which regularly require grooming services probably get their anal sacs expunged at the groomer's.  If you bathe your dog at home, you may not realize that you should be checking his glands periodically.  If they become filled or impacted, it can become very uncomfortable for the dog.  You may see him playing "sleigh ride" (scooting his butt along the carpeting), to try to relieve the problem. I challenge all of you to spend some extra time observing your dogs.  Watch what they do everyday.  Identify their normal array of behaviors and vocalizations.  The only way to determine when something is out of the ordinary is to know what is ordinary.  When ever your dog does anything out of the ordinary, you should investigate.  It could be an emergency.  He could be exercising the only means he knows how to communicate something important to you.  You need to be listening.

IF YOU HAVE READ THRU SOME OF THE PRESCEDING INFORMATION AND FEEL THAT THE APBT  IS THE RIGHT DOG FOR YOU THEN TAKE THE TIME TO FILL OUT THE QUESTIONAIRE  I  HAVE

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