the longest memory

i reach my hand
gently and slowly towards you

and even after five lovely years together,

at times i still see an almost imperceptible head flinch
as you shrink ever so slightly away from my hand.

I imagine once again what your first year of life was like.

MANNERS ???? . . . . puh-leese

So what to do, for example, with that intact 9 month old who has zero impulse control, has no idea how to harness his energy, which is off the charts, and whom adopters pass by time and time again? We all know that the guy has lots to offer, but even volunteer dog walkers take a strengthening breath as they approach his kennel to get him out.

Bottom line is that manners, an essential component of environmental enrichment, impacts adoptability. And how many adopters can then go home with their new dog, and proudly say, “we got him from the shelter, and look what he can do!” Or doesn’t do, such as jumping up on everyone that he comes across. Better adoptions, more adoptions, less returns, good pr.

So you’re walking down the run, headed towards Sparkplug’s kennel, and he is barking and leaping about excitedly. You have your equipment with you, a fitted collar, a fitted front clip harness, and your leash. You stop in front of Sparkplug’s kennel, equipment organized in your hand, and wait for that millisecond when he settles. When he does, move your hand quickly towards the lock on the kennel. The millisecond is over as soon as he sees your hand move. You stop. Wait for another millisecond. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You both have the same end goal, you’re both totally focused on each other, but since he’s never been taught any impulse control, it’s going to take some time for him to learn the criteria that you have set for each dog to leave their kennel and get out.


Basically what we require for dogs to leave their kennels is to settle. That means that the dog waits for you to enter his kennel, put on his equipment, and waits for you to leave the kennel first. The likelihood of the process being picture perfect is highly unlikely! We don’t ask him to sit, or to be perfectly motionless, he can lick you in anticipation, he can wiggle some, but there’s no jumping up, no bouncing around the kennel, no shoving past you to get through the door, no frantic barking. Not acceptable behavior, but that is precisely what you’re working on. Your job is to have the equipment ready to put on, using a soothing/low cheerful voice to help settle Sparkplug, and treats aren’t a bad deal either, if you need them. If you sense that Sparkplug is approaching threshold, you have the option to stop and/or leave his kennel until he settles himself. Give him a couple/few moments, then try again. He will learn what behaviors will get him out of his kennel, although learning them all at one time would be like winning the lottery. (You should always have your body next to the door of the kennel; the dog should never be blocking your exit from the kennel.) Sparkplug will get it, maybe in small increments, for which he should be praised softly, but he will get it, and his reward is leaving the kennel. Each dog is different, and after learning the basics, you will able to adapt your methods to each individual as you better learn to read your dogs’ body language.


OK, you’re both out and you’ve shortened the leash so you have more control over him -- success! Now, as you walk down the run, your body is by the wall, not by the other kennels as you leave the run. Why? If anyone is planning a fence fight as you leave with Sparkplug, your body is not in the line of action if Sparkplug reacts to another dog’s arousal.

Our terminal goal is to get to our shelter park. We’ve gotten over the first hurdle, now we have a couple more impulse control exercises as we manouver our way there. We require a wait at each threshold prior to the dog getting through the door. We also go first. This does not stem from any misplaced sense of “dominance theory”; it has to do with safety. We want to know what or who is on the other side of the door before we let Sparkplug through. And the other factor involved in Sparkplug getting through that door is a nice settle – no jumping, no pawing, doesn’t have to sit, just has to show a modicum of impulse control.      

 I’ve found that asking for a “watch” is quite effective for that settle and quite often, the dog offers a sit along with the watch.  

They also do get better at waiting. Consistency is key – if you break and let Sparkplug through without maintaining your criteria, well, the next few times will be much more challenging for you. Dogs do, after all, teach us patience.

And then, of course, pulling. The front clip harness helps a lot, but what we’d really like is for Sparkplug to LEARN not to pull. There are many methods for teaching dogs to walk on a loose leash. Again, it’s up to you and what works best for the dog. Red light, green light is one way, with verbal cues to help your dog along. And he’s so eager, and you want him to get there to have some fun, and you have a gazillion more dogs to get out, but in the long run, all of these impulse control exercises are going to benefit every dog that you ever work with.


And with any luck, you’ll be the one who does the introduction to potential adopters or rescue organizations, and you can show them how you’ve worked with Sparkplug, as well as facilitate transferring his manners-in-progress to the people who are going to love him as much as you do.

Take a minute to help us out.

donations matter . . .

paypal has a pretty good job with our dogs(you can just click on the paypal banner on the home page of our website, and the dogs do take checks as well.

send directly to to their current (not by choice) abode, Give a Dog a Bone, 1200 15th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

cheers, woofs, wags, and deck those halls, eh? And drive safely, for the love of Mike.

VOTE EARLY!!!

ok, this is dorky and self-serving,
but I did it anyway.







Chase Community Giving is donating $5,000,000 to charities around the USA through Facebook.

Chase is donating $5 million to charities in your community, and your votes help decide where it goes.

Facebook users are voting for the recipients! And it's easy to do . . . .

Log in to Facebook and do a search for my name (Corinne Dowling), you will see a Chase icon on my wall, click on that to go to their link, and vote for us and any other 501(c)3) that you would like to support.

Muttville. Grateful Dogs Rescue. Wonder Dog Rescue. Gimme Shelter. Toni's Kitty Rescue. Home at Last. While I'm not sure that they are all on Facebook, when you go to the Chase icon, it is easy to search your charities of choice.

And - check out my notes and photos with captions on Facebook.

Non-Profits on Facebook

Be sure to cast your vote for your favorite non-profit in the Chase Community Giving: You decide What Matters campaign.

Cheers, woofs, and wags especially from the you-know-whos.

CIAO, BELLISSIMA

I woke up this morning thinking about one of our dogs. She had two stays with us, the last one lasting for seven months.

She was something else. A huge dog, nothing small about her at all. Intimidating. For weeks, she roared her displeasure every time one of us even opened the door to her run and walked past her kennel. When she stood, as she did every time during those weeks, she almost reached the top of the front fencing with her paws. She growled, she bared teeth, she lunged at us, and if one can take that as intent, well, our girl had already proven that she was serious. She was impounded on a bite complaint, and subsequent investigation showed that there had been more than one.

She wasn't born that way, she was clearly damaged goods, and as with pretty much all dog aggression that we encounter (if not all), as she began to let us in, the threat displays dwindled, and the fear that all of that had masked appeared in heartbreaking ways. We learned some of her triggers, but never all of them, and her unpredictability ensured that there would always be a safety barrier between her and us. We never touched her. I don't know how long it would have taken her to be comfortable with touch.

But we did get through to her. Greeting her cheerfully by name as we opened the door to her run to let her know who was coming was a good start towards forming our relationship with her. We would pass by at an easy pace, not looking at her, with gentling, quiet words, as we rounded her kennel. I had sheeted one end of her kennel for calming and although she dashed over to the other side as we passed, she became more curious about us. We were not invading her world, not being intrusive, not asking her to stop protecting herself.

We began taking a little longer on our pass-bys, tossing goodies on the floor, always stooping to do so, so she never saw a raised hand. We gradually stopped for longer and then even longer periods of time, meaning minutes. She determined how long it was safe for her to be with us - we always left as she began to show signs of reaching threshold, so she had some control over her environment. Her threat displays diminished over time, and got to the point where if we could see one coming on, we could just say in a normal voice, "oh, knock it off, silly", and we could almost hear her saying to herself, "oh, right, what am I thinking, no need for this", and she would stop.

Food helped a lot. On impound, all of her ribs were showing, and although she was very picky about what she ate, we discovered a high quality nutricious kibble that she loved, and she was fed frequently by each of us. There were rules of course - since our lassie showed food possession, we had to be careful how we fed her, and she learned to sit or down a distance away from the food bowl while we slid it into the bowl hole. And, yes, she filled out nicely.

She learned boundaries, something I don't think she'd ever had before. That made her comfortable, gave structure to her life. She also learned how to play - such a young dog not to know how to play, and how it made us laugh to watch her playfulness emerge. Not much, and not for long, it made her nervous initially, but as her confidence grew, she was able to play with us for longer times. She also learned to relax. One of the most beautiful memories that I have of her is the vision of her laying calmly on her bed, just looking at me, soft as could be.

She loved kongs, she loved music - a friend of GADAB had gifted us with a CD/radio and we played music for her all day - classical mostly, but she really enjoyed a wacky Norwegian CD that one of our volunteers had brought in. She also loved being sung to, and, this was amazing, some nights when I stayed late, I'd sit in front of her kennel and sing to her, songs that I love and can remember the words to, and here's what she would do. She would sit and look at me, then lay down, then put her head on her forepaw, and then, I would hear her snoring. Oh, baby mama.

I danced for her too and she play-bowed back at me and bounced around awkwardly in response. She learned to give paw from one of our volunteers and learned how to stand up on her hind legs on cue.

All of us loved her; many short or long visits from whoever was there filled her days. We made sure that she had the biggest quilts that we could find.

You'd think she was the only dog that we had, but not so. It's been crazy busy this year with all the dogs for whom we've cared, so, so many, and how do you pick one victim to whom you want to give every star in the sky? I can't say. Any one of us could write volumes about our buddies, and the time we spend with them, but tell me, where would that time come from?

How does her story end? No judgements from any of us on that; it's her life that counted.

Truly, the memories will always be an honored part of each of us, the happy more than the sad for me. I cried bitter tears when I learned that she was dead. I was almost inconsolable that I was not able to be with her during her final moments. There was nothing more I could for her. Nothing. I am left, however, with wonderful mental images that put a smile on my face when they come to mind. Thanks, baby.

Buona notte, Bellissima.

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

anticipation.

joy.

tummy rubs.
Not too long ago, I was contacted by Elizabeth Brock, of Zootoo PetNews, which is a national online site devoted to the animal world in which we are fortunate enough to reside.

http://zootoo.nypost.com/petnews/alonedetaineddogsfeelwomanslov-1413

This was a different kind of interview, done entirely by email, which gave me the opportunity to really reflect upon her questions, some of which I either hadn't thought about in a long time or hadn't thought about at all. I found myself in a place that I can't quite explain - jumbled feelings and memories that I had to sort out, as well as many clear, concise pictures of the past few years that came to mind, bringing up issues that appear over and over again. I really had to think about how to convey my world in a way that readers could feel the truth.

Truth.

"For me, dogs have always been a measure of our humanity, not only in how we regard and treat them, but perhaps, even more important, in how they help us to regard and treat our fellow humans. The miracle of dogs for me - and Orson was the living embodiment of this - is the way they brought me back to people. . . . Through him, I came to see that the work of dogs is not to lead us away from humanity but towards it." A Good Dog Jon Katz (http://www.bedlamfarm.com/)

People and dogs. Quality of life. Compassion. Humanity. Shelter dogs. Volunteers.

Our babies thrive on affection. Quiet time. Down time.

Shelter dogs, not surprisingly,
lose the ability to relax
in such a species
inappropriate
environment.

Just sitting with them is such a gift.

One stick, two road cones, and a young dog braves the leap, enticed by a treat in a volunteer's hand that holds good things. Learning that hands are good is huge for a lot of our dogs.

One of our buddies follows the treat hand as the other hand controls how slowly this homemade see-saw lowers. Our hesitant buddy learns confidence as the volunteer handler responds only to the dog's movements. And then we throw a party as our pal makes it on through to the other side. No hurry, pal, we're on your time.
One case of neglected demodex. This little guy was bald on intake, and in this photo is in the midst of traditional (our shelter vet) and alternative (GADAB) treatments, and now enjoys a good life with a full, healthy coat in a good home.

Real life "weave" objects and an enthusiastic volunteer handler allow our four-legged friends to become comfortable with everyday objects, some of them upside down, some with treats on them, and a big jackpot at the end with a sit. A hose? That's what I'm talkin' about!


This little fellow, a victim of sickening abuse, perches himself on a homemade tunnel that he has learned to jauntily run through with the encouragement of this volunteer, and next (not seen), he will balance himself, hind legs on the tunnel and forelegs on the fire hydrant, for a jackpot. Hey, what else can we do with this tunnel and this fire hydrant? Rehomed happily.

Dog with people. Quality of life for all of us. Make it so for all species.

SOMETIMES TREATS JUST AREN'T ENOUGH

Who would have thought that a dog would notice the small opening between the floor and the elevator? Most of our dogs have never given a thought to that opening but to this dog, not only did he notice the opening, he had severe misgivings about crossing over it. Just look at what his body language is telling us.

He considered the treat lures that were offered, but to him, the value of those treats (which he had thoroughly enjoyed just moments ago out in our shelter park) were not enough to overcome his fear of making it over that threshold safely.

So we covered the threat, a very simple solution to a very real problem for our buddy, and it worked for him. His body language in the second photo is telling us that it's not a done deal for him, but he succeeded. Bigtime. That's what this scenario was about - giving the dog control over his environment and giving him an opportunity for success. Kudoes to our brave buddy.

No pushing the dog , no dragging the dog with the leash, no carrying the dog, no loud voice telling him it's ok when he knows perfectly well that it's not, all of which would have exacerbated his fear and done nothing to change it. We created the beginning of a positive emotional response to this particular fear. Each small success leads to a more confident dog. Not to mention the trust factor that we're establishing

So, thanks, honeybunch, for giving us yet another tool to work with youse guys. (No, I'm not from the Bronx.)