The Meaning of Sit

As a "trainer" I get very frustrated when people use the words good sit. Humans will never understand that dogs do not get the nuances of our verbal language.

Human: sit
dog: huh?
Human: siiit
dog: flowers!!!!!yahoo!!!I want to sniff those!!!!
human: SIT!
dog: oh yeah, I know that one! but on the ground! got it!
Human: good sit
dog: wait. . .my but is already on the ground. . .what do I do now. . .oh look...butterflies!!!!

When we humans use the word sit we are asking the dog to do a behavior -the word sit is a verb, meaning TO DO. Sit to us means butt on the ground. If you are a good trainer, then sit will also mean butt on the ground to your dog as well. And while your dog may be very smart, he will never really understand the true meaning of an adverb. Therefore, your dog will never understand good sit. Even though you added the adverb, your dog will only understand the action that the verb requires. So, saying good sit, is like repeating a command (which you should never do) after your dog already followed the command in the first place (super confusing)

All that to get to my issue of teaching Abby to sit from a down. Abby *vaguely* understands the verbal command sit. She understands it enough to know that you can't truly sit from a down position; because, for Abby, sit means put your butt on the ground. And, since her but is already on the ground in a down position, it is difficult to put it down again for a sit. But, I really need to teach Abby to sit from a down position. So I tried and tried. No real luck. (I know, and even I don't get it at times!) A friend suggested that I use a different command. And you know what? It worked. I chose up because I wanted her to move her chest up off the ground. It was easy for me to remember. And, it was a completely different command for a completely different behavior, so it was easy for her to understand. And while many trainers have great success at teaching their dogs the nuances of language and can conjugate the verb to sit every which way; I cant. I can hardly keep from tripping over my dogs when walking. There is no way that I can teach them language and behavior at the same time. I am not a good enough trainer - and neither are most of the dodo heads that I see saying good sit.

Remember This Guy?

Look how much he has grown! 8 months old now and the *perfect* puppy.



I know it's blurry, but this is the only picture I could get of his face. The boy wouldn't hold still!




So handsome. . .paying attention to mama deb!






Its hard to believe that he has been out of my home for 6 months! I still think about him almost every day. He is turning into an amazing dog. I know that I am a bit biased, but he really is a fun boy. Sure he has naughty moments, but he is still a puppy! And a boy! I am so glad that his new mom is so tolerant of my butting in and allows me to continue to follow him as he grows.

Crash - Test Nightmare

I have this recurring nightmare where I am in a terrible car accident and my dogs are severely injured. Because my dogs come with me almost everywhere, the likelihood of them being in the car with me if I ever crash is extremely high. I worry about their safety at all times, but this is starting to become a serious fear - not as bad as my needle phobia, but slightly higher than a normal worry.

My dogs do not ride safely in my car. Pocket is usually helping me steer and Abby and mole are usually asleep on a bed in the back. I know that riding in this manner is not safe, but its easy. When you have three dogs that get into and out of the car about four times a day, ease of use often becomes the norm.

I have tried different methods in the past, but they have all failed. For starters, crates don't fit well in my tiny back seat. When I finally found a crate that did fit, the dogs got out of it. Yes, my perfectly crate trained dogs can get out of crates when they feel that they are being crated unfairly. Harnesses are difficult for many reasons. For one, I have three dogs and two back seats. Second, I have one dog that can't be in a harness anymore (old broken ribs) and one dog that will chew her way out of something uncomfortable. That only leaves one safely restrained dog - and while I do love him most, that doesn't mean I want the others injured.

On top of restraint issues, I have a second fear. . .this one is slightly more crazy than the first. . .I am afraid that something will happen and I won't be able to get my dogs out of their restraints. First worry: I drive off a bridge and they drown. Second worry: I get in a fiery crash and they burn. Third worry: I get car jacked and my dogs are stuck with a man with a gun. I know I am crazy, but these are serious fears, even if they are slightly irrational.

I bring this up because I saw a post on a dog forum today about crash-test dogs using different restraint methods. The video is in German so I am not really sure how fast the car is going or what the reporter is saying, but the images speak for themselves. And after watching this video I imagine that I will have a whole new batch of nightmares. But I am going to have to rethink my non-restraint methods.

Any idea would be greatly appreciated. . .

Meet Jackson

Jackson is an amazing little guy with a story I wish I knew. I found Jackson on Wednesday at the Berkeley Animal Shelter while I was out temp testing dogs. While there were many available dogs at the shelter, there were none that fit into our program at the moment. And while I did not take Jackson home with me right away, I made a mental note to tell my ED about him. Once she heard about him, I knew that HAR would take him in! Little did I know that she would fall in love herself and foster him in her own home.

Jackson is somewhere between 9 months and 1 1/2 years old. He is probably a pure bred Yorkie, but it is obvious that he was poorly bred. He has a genetic (non-contagious) skin condition called Demodectic Mange. This is what has caused his massive hair loss. And while demodex doesn't itch, it still causes skin irritation which has contributed to his secondary skin infection. This mite/infection has made it's way to his eyes causing some corneal scaring. Jackson also has a malformed jaw which caused him to retain many of his baby teeth and which also causes his tongue to hang out constantly.

Jackson looks like a mess. . . and probably feels like a mess. His medical bills are adding up quickly and he still has a long way to go before he gets better. If you would like to read more about Jackson, or if you would like to donate to his medical fund, please click here.

Great Idea. . .Needs Work

Let me first say that I love Smartdogs. They are a training facility in Minnesota that focuses on communication with your dog rather then obedience. And like most trainers, they understand that when you can communicate effectively with your dog, you will have a more obedient dog. Smartdogs also has a weblog that I read frequently. They post a lot of news stories regarding animals or animal rights but they also post a fair amount of thier own personal thoughts/opionions.

Recently they created "DO-TAG" or Dog Owner Threat Assesment Guide. You see, dangerous dogs aren't the real problem. . .the owner is. And it is the management by the owner that either creates or allows the dog to cause a problem. According to their website:

The goal of this draft guide is to provide a free, easy-to-use tool for authorities to employ in assessing a given dog owner’s risk to his dog and the public. The guide could allow local authorities to identify potentially problematic dog owners with regard to their real or potential threat so that limited resources can be focused on those dog owners most likely to have unplanned litters, encourage aggressive behavior in their dogs, let them run at large or otherwise engage in potentially dangerous and/or antisocial behaviors.

That sounds like a fantasic idea, but sounds difficult to implement so they came up with an assesment sheet. A simplt 10 question test to determine the owner's risk factor. I was interested, so I went ahead and took the test. And, according to the test, I am either an annoying dog owner or a dangerous dog owner - depending on how truthful I am with one of the questions.

1) When you call your dog does he:
I would never let my dog off leash! -7pts

2)When you are gone your dog is:
Loose in my house where he doesn’t get in trouble. - 0 pts
Crated in my house because he’s destructive and can’t be trained. - 6 pts
(I gave myself 3 pts here since its a little of both answers)

3)When you walk your dog on leash:
He constantly drags me down the street no matter what I do. -8pts
(I gave myself 5 pts for this one since we are working in it . . .for a year!)

4)When you groom your dog:
He doesn’t like it but he puts up with it. - 2pts

5)When your dog misbehaves:
I usually discover what he’s done after the fact. - 8pts

6)Your dog is:
A dog with a dog’s needs and desires. - 0pts

7)When children are around:
I lock up my dog. He hates kids. - 7pts

8)I have two or more dogs because:
I know that I can take better care of them then anyone else - 20pts (and I may be a hoarder)
I have the time, energy, space, money and other resources I need to enjoy them all. - 0pts

9) Your dog was:
Spayed or neutered before I got it. - 0 pts

10) Your dog obeys commands like sit, down, and stay:
Only if there are no distractions around. - 8 pts

I consider myself to be a good dog owner. I think that most of my friends would consider me to be a good dog owner. But according to this, I am, at the very least, an annoying dog owner. Those of us that know Abby, know that in this case, it is the dog. . .not the owner. . .that is the problem in this relationship. But as an good owner, I know that I can manage my problem dog safely in society. But, also as a good owner, I know that if I could not manage her safely, then I would also have to make some tough decisions so that everyone in our life would remain safe.

I think that this DO-TAG is a really great concept and when I read it I wanted to scream FINALLY! It would be wonderful if we could come up with an easy way to red flag owners so that the owners could be managed better; and, in turn, both the dogs under their care, and the general public could stay safe. This is a much better idea then mine idea of taking the dumb owners out back and having a "come to Jesus meeting. " I don't think that it would go over very well once the media got involved. . .