dogs

Let’s Talk “Old School” for a Minute

Dog Blog

Sometimes I feel like an old dog. I’m in my mid-thirties and sometimes life has me feeling much older. I’ve been looking at old photos from my late teens/early twenties as I clear off an old hard drive and it made me even more aware of how much time has past since I was young and insisted that dog training was my only path in life. When I gave it up over a decade ago it was one of the hardest choices in my life and I really just pushed a lot of those feelings down. I told myself I was satisfied with just focusing on my own dog. I tried to ignore those deep, longing feelings whenever anyone talked about their dogs problems or just dogs in general. I bit my tongue. I only offered advice to people I was close with that I thought would actually be thankful for my advice. Otherwise, I just kept it to myself. I was essentially in the closet about being a dog trainer. Since I started training again I’ve had a lot of comments like “oh I’m so glad there’s a dog trainer in town now”. I’ve been here all along.

Coal and I at Dog Agility trial

I’m a bit behind on training theories and techniques. The good news is that dogs are pretty well the same they were 15 years ago, with a few added quirks here and there. I’ve been slowly reading and learning more modern ideas about dog training and I’ve thrown some of my old ways out the window, adopted some new ones, and tweaked a few others. I feel pretty confident in most of my methods.

Something I completely forgot about is how absolutely brutal dog people can be, especially online. From the time I was about 10 until my early 20’s I spent a lot of time on dog forums/message boards. Back when I first started social media wasn’t even a thing. It was just message boards, sometimes independent and sometimes as a part of a larger website, that were aimed at specific topics. The people I chatted with on those forums became long-time friends. Most of them have drifted away but there’s still a couple people I occasionally still talk to or casually follow on Instagram. SitStay was the first message board I frequented. I was obsessed. I loved their website and the forum. It felt amazing to engage in conversation with others about dogs. My family was utterly sick of my dog facts every day and I was asked to stop talking about dogs so much. So finding a group of people online who also loved talking about dogs felt really good for my preteen self. It made me feel accepted and normal. I was talking to total strangers when I was 10 and thinking back on it now it’s a little unsettling. I don’t ever remember coming across anyone weird or anything wrong, but I was probably lucky. Instead, I walked away with real friends. Not from SitStay, though. They ended up turning on me. Reminder; I was 10 years old.

Coal, Linkin and Zero

There was a time when my parents thought dogs belonged outside. They only ever let them in the house in the cold weather. It actually took years of my dog obsession to convince them otherwise. At first, they just let the dog in the boot room. Then he was allowed in the basement. Eventually the dog was allowed upstairs and before I knew it my dog was sleeping on my bed. This took several years to happen, however, and at the point in time that I was talking to the Sit Stay group, my dog wasn’t allowed inside. I came across a health problem, I don’t even remember what it was now? Hot spots, or something like that. But they found out my dog was living outside and they jumped on me. I had a couple people defend me and the fact that I was a child living under the rules of my parents, but most of these grown ass adults ran me down on that message board. They said I shouldn’t own dogs at all. They made me feel horrible. I felt so betrayed and ostracized. It took me some time, but eventually I found Dogo. Originally part of Dogomania, a large website that had a dog forum attached to it. This is the group that felt like family. I would chat with them every single day. I made real friends, even though I’d never met them face-to-face (though I did try once; but she never showed up then disappeared from my life and Dogo. To this day I have no idea what happened. Either she wasn’t who I thought she was, which is really creepy to consider, or her parents freaked out about her meeting a stranger). Dogomania was eventually bought by another company and the dog forum fell apart after that. We tried to build our own and it sort of worked for a while, but not everyone followed over and it just was never the same. I don’t really remember what happened. I feel like maybe there was some sort of falling out with these people as well? But mostly, I think it just sort of fizzled out. Became less active, and more and more people left. The core group I “hung out with” online were the younger ones and at this point we were all graduating high school, getting jobs, finding partners, eventually starting families. We just sort of outgrew Dogo, I think. It seems weird to connect so well with people you never meet face-to-face and look back fondly on hours I spent sitting in front of a screen; but it’s true. I spent a lot of time online not just talking to other dog loving people but learning about dogs and dog training. I felt hungry for knowledge about dogs and never could get enough.

I’m really going to date myself here, but there was a time, when Google was new, where I knew what every major dog training page was. I knew every single one. I knew what all the high class breeders were, I spent hours researching about training methods and dog breeds. Oh, I spent SO much time learning about dog breeds. There was a time I would search for “dunker dog breed” and TWO websites would come up about the breed. Go Google it now; it’s endless. In fact, I just did a quick search and they’re not even really called dunkers anymore? It says ‘Norwegien hound”. So, I just learned something new.

As I start branching out into learning new, modern theories I am seeing how cruel people can be. One of my guilty pleasures is reading comments on social media. It is wild. Sometimes it can be so toxic, though. As I start following more and more dog trainers with different ideas I read things in the comments that make me feel so bad about the way I was trained and the ideas I grew up with around dog training. I remember talking about “old school trainers” and “old school methods” when I was in my teens and somehow now I turned into an old school trainer myself? In less than 20 years; that doesn’t seem fair. It makes me feel bad because it implies that I am being cruel to dogs. I used to feel so high and mighty about how I used new aged methods to train and those old school dog trainers were so cruel. I am not cruel. I have a bleeding heart when it comes to animals, especially dogs. So I’ve decided to stay out of the comments and just listen to the trainers and what they have to say. Some information I may really learn something new and some of it I just take with a grain of salt. I can feel my ideas and methods slowly evolving, but I can only learn so much so fast when I also have a home and family to look after.

Meanwhile, I’m also trying to start a new business dog training, I’m rounding out my old art hobby (I’ll continue the hobby but I won’t be pushing sales so much), and, oh right, I’m trying to revamp the entire town and nearby reserves animal control and animal welfare, and educate both communities about responsible dog ownership. I’m a bit swamped these days and my brain is a bit overwhelmed for retaining new info. I’m also not as young as I used to be, which becomes more and more clear each day, and learning doesn’t come as easy as it did back when I was roaming the internet for every scrap of information about dogs that I could find.

When my self-confidence is low I feel like I have no right to be here charging people for what I do. I had a rough puppy session recently, that made me feel this way. I struggled to get this puppy motivated at all. The owner was struggling with the same issue. I observed some red flags (bloated belly, listless attitude etc.) and I advised the owner to get him vet checked just to be sure nothing else is going on. That self-conscious voice in the back of my head whispered that maybe nothing was wrong with the puppy, maybe I’m just not as good of a trainer as I thought I was. I had been feeling pretty confident that I could take on any dog and I felt like I was due for a dog to take me down a peg or two. Perhaps this pup was it. Despite those negative thoughts I told the owner they should maybe get him checked, just to be sure. I vowed to myself a long time ago that I would ALWAYS say something if I suspected that a dogs behavior problems could be medical. I’m not a vet so it’s such a hard call to make. I don’t know medical stuff as well as I know the behavioral stuff. I made that vow in my early twenties after I worked with a pug who hated to sit. He was your typical happy-go-lucky pug who really did try so hard to be good for his owner but he was just a bit slow to learn new things. He was doing really well in all his other lessons but the automatic sit (or really, any sit in general) was not happening. We replaced it with a down and he seemed to do better with that, which made me a little suspicious because most dogs aren’t going to prefer to lay down over a quick sit when you’re in the middle of heel work. The owner also complained of house soiling and all of my recommendations to deal with that just weren’t working. Something I remember Floyd telling us at Canada West Canine Centre was that pugs can end up with spinal problems due to the curly tail. There was no limit on how that tail should curl in the breed standard, it just called for a “corkscrew tail” which caused a lot of spine problems in dogs who were over-bred for that curly tail. That horrible fact set off red flags everywhere for me. I told the owner get him checked out. At the time, I offered 4 weeks of a 1-hour a week session and we ended our sessions and walked away with that. She was happy with the progress he made and said she would get him vetted over the house soiling/not sitting. I saw her some time later and she told me I was right, that was exactly what was wrong with her poor pug and unfortunately it quickly progressed into paralysis and he had to be euthanized. I use that experience as a lesson to always trust my gut and advise the owners to get their dogs checked out if I ever see any red flags. So even though it could be true that the pup I worked with recently was just a lazy personality, or having an off day, it could be true he was just a tough nut to crack or I caught him at a bad time. I honestly hope that’s the case, over something actually being wrong with him, but I hope the owners get him checked out just in case. Better safe than sorry in these situations.

Linkin and I tracking at Canada West Canine Centre in Salmon Arm

This post ended up so much longer and deeper than I expected it to be, but I think it was something I needed to get off my chest. I think I’ll probably always feel like I’m “still learning” when it comes to dogs. I always want to improve and do better. I want to offer my clients all possible training methods that I feel are safe and effective so that I don’t run into a dog that just stumps me. I want to always keep my options open because while it might not be a method I pull out all the time it might be something that will help reach some dogs.

I dug up a lot of old photos of me and my dogs from my dog obsessed youth. I hope you enjoyed them.

Patrol Unit 724, me and my old guy Coal

Zelda Went to the Vets

Dog Blog, Vet Care, Zelda

I’m a bit delayed in writing this post, I wanted to write about it the day after it happened, but life kind of got in the way. As always, I am going to keep names in this anonymous (other than mine and my dogs, since you all already know that), and I won’t be naming the vet clinic. I’ve vetted my pets with them for probably close to 20 years now and I still stand by them as a very good vet clinic.

Zelda has had an ear problem for months. I tried to take care of it myself, trying to save us on money and the hassle of booking with the vet, but I was unable to treat her. I’ve had dogs for many years and have had several pop up with different kinds of ear problems over the years. They’ve almost always needed vet care because you can never really tell what you’re looking at until you look at it under a microscope (or rather, a trained professional does). But it didn’t seem THAT bad and I thought I could take care of it myself. I tried several times and I struggled to just look in her ear, never mind actually clean it out. She is part husky and I believe this contributes to her dramatic response. That, and, well… I learned during the K9 first aid training that I really dropped the ball on conditioning Zelda to touch. I hug on her and play with her, I’ve always groomed her myself, but I didn’t do everything I should have to make for a dog who will allow people to poke around at them when they’re not feeling well. I got Zelda when my first daughter was 2 and 4 years later my second daughter is almost 2. I’ve had my hands full. I don’t think that’s the best excuse, but it’s the truth. To properly condition a dog you need to spend time daily followed by weekly just sitting down and poking at your dog. Well, don’t poke your dog, but get your dog used to touch. This should be done from the time they’re a puppy, if possible. Touch their toes, praise and reward (use treats, especially to start). Touch their ears, praise and reward. Touch their mouths, praise and reward. Touch their tails, praise and reward. Get them used to physical handling of all kinds. I failed to do this with Zelda and as a result she is a handful in these situations.

I muzzled her and had my husband hold her while I tried and it was still a struggle. Finally, I caved and e-mailed my vet clinic to book an appointment (side note: I absolutely love that my vet will book via email). It was a 3 week wait, and in that time I tried one more time unsuccessfully to look at/clean her ear.

Since I injured my foot back in June, I haven’t been able to really drive myself. I just recently started driving again, and can only manage short trips. Since all vet clinics are located outside of our town, I had to drive a ways to get Zelda to the vet. This meant getting a ride. My husband worked all morning but got home just in time for me to leave. I asked my dad to drive us, since my husband would have to be home for our toddler and pick up our eldest from school. My dad told me he was just happy to have the chance to help me out. What are dads for, huh? He drove me and my very hairy dog (who left white hair all over the back of his car) to the vet clinic.

When I got to the vets I learned that I wasn’t allowed in with Zelda. They would come out and get her and then bring her back out when she was done. They’ve been doing it this way since COVID (2020), they said. They told me it was just easier to do it this way. I didn’t see how? Wouldn’t they need to talk to me? Usually they ask questions while they examine my animal. I had also warned them that she would be very dramatic and may need muzzling. My vet, let’s call her Dr Green, has known me a very long time and she has seen many of my crazy dogs in her clinic. I’ve had a lot of aggressive dogs over the years and when I got Zelda I had made the decision to get a puppy and raise it exactly how I wanted. I was tired of “second hand dogs” that had problems. Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing against rescues or rescuing older dogs. I am very pro rescue and Zelda is also a rescue dog. I am just a bleeding heart who always takes home the worst case I can, because “who else will?”. I focused a lot in off leash training and socialization with Zelda. She’s always been in good shape and I haven’t brought her to the vet since she was a puppy, and back then Dr Green didn’t even see her it was a different vet in her practice who administered shots. Just wait, it’s important that you understand that the last time Dr Green saw me I had one after another aggressive dog, or “problem” dogs.

I reluctantly handed Zelda over when they came out to us to get her (we had to wait in our car in the rain). Zelda looked back at me, hesitant to go but I told her it was okay and like a good girl she followed the lady into the clinic, didn’t even pull on the leash.

We waited an hour… I was really worrying at this point. Wondering what the heck was going on and why hadn’t we heard anything from them yet. It was routine exam, vaccines and ear exam. It shouldn’t take this long. We waited some time after an hour went by and then I had to pee. I decided to go in and ask if I could use their bathroom. The bathroom is located a bit within the clinic so you kind of have to see back there to get to it. When I walked in I heard Dr Green telling Zelda “NO, DON’T BITE ME”. I had to pee really bad so I told her to muzzle Zelda and I went into the bathroom. After I was done relieving myself I came out to the clinic and saw it was just Dr Green trying to hold Zelda and administer the ear cleaning at the same time. I was a bit taken aback by this and kind of thought “no wonder it’s taking so long”. Half of the reason I booked an appointment was because I knew I needed trained professionals to both hold and look in her ear. We needed multiple people who knew what they’re doing. So I asked “can I help you hold her?” she said sure. Dr Green asked me “are you completely at your wits end with this dog?” As soon as Zelda saw it was me her little tiny ears perked up and she had this look on her face that can’t be explained as anything except relief. It lasted a split second and then it was gone when she realized I wasn’t there to rescue her I was there to hold her through the torment. At one point Zelda reached her nose to my cheek and I looked at her and asked “what are you doing?”. Dr Green asked me “will she bite you?” I said “well, I don’t know. I mean, she’s a dog. She could, but I don’t think she will”.

Dr Green did muzzle Zelda, and with my help she was able to quickly clean out Zelda’s ears. She had already done her vaccines and swabbed the ear but had not looked at it under the microscope yet. She had made a comment to me that she’d seen dogs come in with RAGING ear infections that acted better than Zelda did when they tried to handle her. I was honestly pretty embarrassed about it. I apologized and admitted I hadn’t conditioned her as well as I should have. I kept thinking about what Dr Green had first said about being at my wits end with Zelda. I wasn’t even close to that. I adore Zelda and she’s honestly the best dog I’ve ever had (dare I say?). She is extremely well trained and behaves like a dream with my family (even the toddler who tries to step on her when she’s laying in her way). She is very faithful and an extremely sweet dog. She has her quirks and I believe that her litter wasn’t properly socialized during the first fear impact stage. I explained all of this to Dr Green. I tried to stress that Zelda is not a “bad dog”. I said she’s not aggressive, she’s just in pain and a bit on the dramatic side as well.

Dr Green looked at the ear contents under a microscope while I put Zelda’s usual leash back on her and gave her some well deserved treats and pets. She kept panting and panting. It was the most stressed out I have ever seen her. When Dr Green came back in the room I asked her for some water for Zelda. “I mean, we can try,” she said, “but most dog’s won’t drink here.” she put the water bowl down and Zelda lapped up nearly the whole bowl. In that moment I knew this whole experience didn’t sit right with me. I know my dog. I know she would have done better with me there holding her. She wouldn’t have been perfect, she wouldn’t have even been calm, but she wouldn’t have been as traumatized as she was.

The microscope didn’t really tell us much. Dr Green said there is mostly inflammation that’s the problem which could either be allergies or it could be something stuck in her ear. She prescribed Zelda steroids to help the swelling go down. She said she wasn’t even going to try to send me home with an ear solution because I wouldn’t be able to get it in there. Hopefully we could bring the inflammation down and it will sort itself out from there. If not, she has to come back to the clinic for a scope. Dr Green warned me she would need to be there a while because they’d need to sedate her. It’s a rigid scope and they can’t risk her thrashing about with it in her ear.

I asked for de-wormer for my cats, and Dr Green responded with a sigh and said, “if I can get someone to get it. Everyone’s busy with appointments.” to which I thought, I’m an appointment too.

I brought Zelda out to the car and told Dad I still needed to pay, but wanted to get Zelda out of there. When I open the lift gate on the car she is usually cautious and waits for me to tell her ‘allons-y!” (I’m sure any Doctor Who fans reading this will appreciate that). This time the gate was hardly halfway up and Zelda was already in there, ready to go. I went back inside and waited, and waited, and waited. By the time we got out of there, we had been 2 hours longer than I expected to be.

When I went home the whole thing just didn’t sit right with me. I looked at Zelda who slept the whole way home and then some, and I felt like I failed her. I failed to condition her to this sort of treatment but also I failed to advocate for her. I should have said something, I should have tried harder to go with her instead of just handing the leash over. I should have advocated for her. I lost sleep thinking about it all night. The next morning I sent my vet an email and explained all of these thoughts and feelings in the most respectful way I could manage. I told them I was disappointed and didn’t feel Zelda got the kind, patient treatment that I expected from them. All because of some left-over COVID rule. I explained it a lot nicer than that, I promise, but this was how I felt.

I was surprised when Dr Green phoned me back right away. I missed her call, I am terrible for not answering my phone as it’s always on silent and I was busy getting my eldest ready for school. Dr Green left a message and explained that she read my e-mail and she was disappointed to read it but glad I brought my concerns forward. She explained about her comment with the cat de-wormer and the reason I couldn’t go in with Zelda from the start was because they are absolutely so overwhelmed (which I made sure to mention in my e-mail that I understand that’s part of the problem). Too many people want to chat and visit while they’re there and it makes appointments go longer. She said since COVID their caseload has increased by 300%. She said the main reason they don’t let owners in is because people want to chat and visit and it just takes too long and they can’t get through all the patients if they do. Fair enough, I totally understand this. But I think Zelda ending up with just one person handling her while also administering the ear cleaner made the process a lot slower as well. If I was there sooner to help hold her, I truly feel it would have gone faster. As I said in my e-mail, admittedly, I didn’t know what happened before I walked in. Maybe they were all holding her for all I know, but I know what I saw when I came in. It wasn’t proper technique for a dog reacting the way she was. She needed it to be over as quickly as possible. Dr Green also explained that right before Zelda was a really flighty cat that was also a nightmare to deal with. She said once she understood the history I gave her she said she thinks Zelda actually did quite well, all things considered. This is also another point I have, with the owner there you can learn these things sooner. She was treating Zelda like she was a snarky aggressive dog. That’s just not Zelda, and I could have explained that from the start.

I totally get that Canadian vets are completely overworked now. This is a multi-tier problem. It is contributed by an increase in pets after 2020, but mainly it’s due to a lot of older vets retiring (baby boomers are all retiring now) and there’s not enough new vets taking their place. Vets in BC are now required to travel to vet livestock and this takes up a lot of time. There is also not a lot of options for vet schools in Canada and it’s a long, slow process for education. We are waiting for more vets to graduate. Vets are stretched thin and there’s just not enough of them to go around. I know this and I feel for them, but I also feel like it’s all the more reason to let me in with my dog. I don’t think every single vet case requires this, but the ones that do and say ahead of time “my dog/cat is dramatic and will require a muzzle or may be harder to handle” should be considered. Another pair of hands never hurts in these cases and you have the owner there to answer questions. I don’t expect to be involved in any complex procedures and I certainly don’t expect special treatment. I want all animals who require a little more handling to have this option. Tell the owners upfront that this isn’t a social call. I get it, I wanted to chat with Dr Green too, it’d been a long time since I’d seen her. But if they told me they don’t have time to chat, I’d respect that.

I tried to phone Dr Green back that morning she left a message, but she was already in surgery by then. I sent another email and said I understand their side, I just want to be able to come in with my animals when they need it, in the future. I hope we can reach a middle ground that benefits everyone, especially the animals.

I also told Dr Green that I’d work on conditioning Zelda, and that next time I need something extra I’ll try to make sure I ask them for it before the appointment.

I feel like with the right dialogue back and forth, we should be able to come to some sort of middle ground where everyone gets their needs met. It’s important to have these kinds of discussions. Too much these days people run to Facebook or other social media outlets to complain about businesses and a mob mentality grows. I don’t want that, which is why I’m not even going to name the vet clinic. I respect my vet, but I don’t respect policy that is blindly followed when it doesn’t fit all scenarios.

The Most Emotional Pack in the Park

Dog Blog, Pack in the Park

Today I experienced my most emotional Pack in the Park yet. My biggest fear when hosting these things happened today. Part of what makes Pack in the Park successful is being able to do it in a public space where there are people, dogs (preferably leashed) and traffic. Most dogs need to have more exposure in these environments. It’s why we do Pack in the Park: to get that exposure in a way that is as controlled as we can make it. Of course, I have no control over the other people frequenting the park with their dogs.

So far, it hasn’t been a problem. When an off leash dog is nearby they’ve either been under control of the owner or they’ll run off when I yell at them. Usually owners apologize and grab their dogs. Today was the first time I had an owner walking by with an off leash dog that outright refused to leash her dog.

Today’s Pack in the Park had only one owner and dog. It rained heavily this morning and I think that kept most people away, but it had cleared off just enough and for just long enough for us to meet at the park. The owner told me her dog’s incredible story. She was born blind and spent most of her life blind until quite recently when the owner was able to fundraise enough to get her dog the surgery she needed to 100% restore her sight. Can you imagine being blind and then suddenly regaining your sight? Everything would be so overwhelming. She was a bit of a skittish dog who you can tell was overwhelmed easily and certain things (like a person reaching to pet her head) really freaked her out because they were brand new experiences to her. To keep with the anonymity of my blog, let’s call them Jackie (person) and Skye (dog).

I was enjoying the one-on-one with Jackie and getting to know her and her beautiful dog when I saw an off leash dog with a person walking by near the beach. The dog began to approach, so I tried to chase it off. This was not successful at all and frustrated, I called after the owner to leash their dog. It took me a while to realize I knew these two, as she was a ways off and I work with a variety of dogs all the time, it’s hard to always remember them and their owners. She was someone who I had worked with before I began charging for it. She was someone I really liked and I really liked her dog and their story. In the moment though, I was just mad and frustrated.

I used to have a dog aggressive dog in the past. Many times I experienced off leash dogs approaching my dog, I would ask the owners to leash their dog and they’d tell me “oh don’t worry, he’s friendly”. But the problem was, my dog wasn’t friendly. If a fight broke out my dog was the one who would start it. I’d shout back “my dog isn’t friendly!” and 9/10 the owner just didn’t make the connection or understand why I was so upset about their “friendly” dog. I think a lot of my emotional reaction stemmed from those experiences.

The owner got close enough we could speak face-to-face and we exchanged heated words back and forth. Neither person feeling heard or understood with a huge difference in views on the situation. Meanwhile, her dog (let’s call the human Lilly and the dog Fido) was approaching Jackie with our two dogs. Jackie had offered to hold Zelda while I exchanged words with Lilly, and I trusted in that moment that Jackie could handle both dogs as well as that the dogs would get along well enough for her to hold onto both of them. I quickly made that judgement call when I handed her Zelda. Which honestly, thinking back on it, I was putting a huge amount of trust in Jackie, whom I’d pretty well JUST met. We had chatted a bit on messenger before but this was the first time we met in person. I don’t trust my dog with just anyone, especially in a situation such as this. So when I looked over and saw Fido approaching them, my heart jumped. I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt or lasting trauma to any of the dogs.

I ran back to Jackie and the dogs and shoo’d Fido away. For those unaware, I injured my right foot back in June and it’s been a problem ever since. So running after this dog in my husband’s sandals that are way too big for me (because my foot is so swollen I can’t fit it into my shoe) definitely had my foot hurting for the rest of the day. I got Fido to return to his owner and she agreed to talk to me and I agreed to talk to her but only if she put Fido on a leash. She agreed, leashed Fido, and burst into tears. She explained that Fido gets aggressive with other dogs when he’s on leash but not when he’s off leash, and that she wants him to make doggy friends. I tried to explain that Pack in the Park is totally perfect for him then, except he HAS to be on leash and can’t meet the dogs nose-to-nose. I invited her to join us but she told me, “I can’t afford it” to which I replied “it’s free!”. I explained Skye’s situation and that she could be overwhelmed by Fido approaching her. Lilly told me “I had no idea! Why didn’t you say that?” and I told her, “well that’s kind of hard to shout across the park”. We hugged, apologized to each other and Lilly asked me to apologize to Jackie for her, I said come over and talk to her. So she did, she apologized to Jackie herself. I took Zelda back from Jackie and we stood about 6 feet away from each other and discussed the situation. We explained to Lilly that you don’t always know a dog’s story and while you have good intentions with your dog not all dogs feel comfortable with that. “I think the important thing to learn from this is consent,” said Jackie, and I agreed. It’s important to ask the owner if it’s okay for your dog to approach. We also talked about the motives behind our emotional reactions, I explained that I think I may have jumped into panic mode because of my previous experiences with my unfriendly dog. We even talked about key animal control issues in our town and the solutions we’d like to see. By the end of it I told Lilly “look at Fido, look at how relaxed and chill he is. He’s on leash, around other dogs and he’s just chill. This is exactly what he needs.”

Lilly was very thankful and apologized more before she left. I asked her to come to the next Pack in the Park (with Fido on leash) and gave her one of my pamphlets to help her understand a little more what it’s all about.

In a lot of ways, it was a very humbling experience. My anxiety got the best of me at the start. My panic made me respond irrationally and I forgot to use my most generous interpretation. I didn’t recognize Lilly and Fido at first, but regardless, I should be treating all people the same way. You just really don’t know everyone’s situation and I think that, and consent, were the big takeaways from this morning’s experience.

The lesson here that I want all dog owners reading this to walk away with is also that you don’t need face-to-face interactions for your dog to get a lot of social experiences. If you have a dog who needs work on leash then you need to put the work in on leash. If you have a dog who needs more expose, whether it’s with dogs, people or whatever, then you need to get out there and expose your dog but do it slowly and in a stress-free way. We want our dogs to have positive associations with these experiences. We want them to see that it’s no big deal if there’s another dog over there in the park (on or off leash). They don’t NEED to run up to them and meet them. They don’t NEED to play with them. If you want a dog who is comfortable with NOT running up to others then you need to teach them that it’s totally cool if they don’t meet someone. If you want a calm, confident dog then you need to expose them in a way that helps them feel calm and confident. Face-to-face interactions usually don’t create those feelings in most dogs.

When Pack in the Park was over, Jackie told me Zelda was very well behaved and is a well-trained dog. Hearing that was like the cherry on top of the whole experience. We were there for the dogs but I think all of the humans walked away with a lot of growth today.

The Dog Who Was Lost 925km Away

Dog Blog, Dog Rescue

Today’s topic is a bit of a deep dive into responsible ownership and the SPCA. As always, names are changed to protect people’s identity. The fact we live in a small town, people can easily figure out who I’m talking about. So my disclaimer is this: I’m not here to place blame or point fingers. I’m here to discuss WHY this happened and how to avoid it from happening again. We are only humans doing our human thing. We learn a lot of lessons the hard way, unfortunately, and I think this is one of those cases.

Here’s the story: a woman (let’s call her Cheryl) posted on a local group that her dog Fred was missing. Fred wanders frequently and covers a large distance but he’s friendly, he always comes back home, and as far as the owner understand he’s never been a problem to anyone so therefore the wandering habit isn’t something she feels needs to be fixed. But when Fred didn’t come home from his usual adventures, Cheryl became worried and started to look for him. She shared on local groups that he was missing, with his photo in case anyone has seen him, and she talked to people who said they spotted him. She was able to track him down to an SPCA 925km away from home. WHAT. THE. HECK? This was the question on everyone’s minds when hearing the news that Fred had made it so far from home. How did he get there in just a few weeks? Clearly, he didn’t walk himself there, he must have found a ride (meaning somebody knows something).

We don’t have proper animal control in our community (something myself and others are working on), so Fred wasn’t picked up by AC here. What they think happened, based on talking to people who’d seen him, is that Fred was sold to someone in town and then somehow made his way to a nearby city where he was picked up by animal control as a stray. I don’t know what happened to him between being sold and being picked up by AC. Maybe his new owners tried to move him there and he escaped their yard? There’s really so many possibilities. Animal rescues transport animals between rescues all the time. Some shelters are full while others have room and so dogs who struggle to find placement or who they just don’t have room for will transport to other rescues. Dogs can travel across Canada and the United States in this way. Fred ended up in a city 925km from home. He was well taken care of by shelter staff and was even neutered and put up for adoption (keep in mind, he’d been missing only a few weeks). By the time Cheryl and her family found him he was to be adopted out to another family the NEXT DAY. Cheryl’s mom was able to go to the shelter and identify him, but the SPCA would not release him to her, only his rightful owners. They compared photos and videos of him and were able to confidently declare him as Fred based on several distinct scars on his ear, muzzle and leg. Purebred dogs can be difficult to tell apart at times, but there’s no denying that many factors. The SPCA told them the dog was not a match and that if they wanted the dog they had to come adopt him. They spent the next 24 hours scrambling to raise money to go get their dog.

This story has a happy ending. They were able to raise the money they need and they SPCA decided to let the dog go to the owners who rightfully claimed him. The last update I heard was that the owners were on their way to get him.

Here’s my two cents, as a dog trainer/enthusiast… I think both parties are in the wrong and the poor dog is the one who had to suffer for it. I think that if you let your dog wander, especially without any identification, you’re just asking for something to happen to them. What happened to this dog is a pretty extreme, and probably not a super likely scenario, but it’s a good reminder that you just never know what’s going to happen. The least you can do is put a tag on your dog’s collar with their name and your phone number on it. Better yet, have your dog tattooed or micro-chipped.

I also think that the shelters that handled this dog were in the wrong. There was not a long enough window of opportunity at either shelter for the dog to be properly claimed (especially since he came from a different town). When the owner did come forward with identifying the dog and proof that it was her dog, the SPCA should not have denied that it was Cheryl’s dog. Why was it so difficult for them to ID him, when even I could see this was the same dog? I understand their need to recoup some of their costs to care for and neuter him, but the really short time-frame with an ultimatum of either pay for the dog within a day or he’ll be rehomed, was pretty heartless. Even though I feel the owner was misguided in the way the dog was left to wander, I do believe they deeply love their pet. They wouldn’t have gone through SO much trouble to find and get him back if they didn’t. The SPCA is here to help animals, but it should also be here to help people too. Help reunite animals with their owners so that you’re not adopting out dogs that already have a home (which takes a home away from a dog who does need it). It should take this as an educational moment and teach this owner how to be responsible instead of just using money as a teacher. Do you job and explain to the family how to keep Fred safe at home from now on. Give them resources such as local dog trainers (hello!) and information that can help them be better dog owners so that something doesn’t happen to Fred again.

I saw a lot of people suggested that Cheryl takes Fred’s story to the news and calls out the SPCA for the way they handled this situation. I agree, I think she should too. I understand how difficult rescue is, I understand many of the rules they have around adoption etc. are there to keep the animals safe. What I don’t understand is how they can be so black and white and not realize there’s a LOT of grey in-between when it comes to people. It’s not always so simple as this person is good and this person is bad. We are complex animals taking care of other complex animals (dogs). They need to consider other factors when it comes to adoption as well as reuniting pets with their families. I tried to adopt a dog to bring with me to dog training school and they wouldn’t let me because I had another dog at home who had guarding issues with food. An issue I worked on with him for years and by the time he was an old dog nobody knew he had these issues. The dog I would have adopted would have had a chance to be trained in a professional setting, with someone who loves dogs SO much I wanted to make a career out of it. This was just one of many experiences I’ve had or heard about with the SPCA that makes me shake my head and wonder are they really doing all they can to help animals? Or have they become too possessive over animals?