Everyday Is A Party With A Dog!

We live in a very busy household. We have ~75 people in and out of our house every week. There are also the doorbell ringings of delivery people and fundraising kids. It can be a lot of work for a dog. The alert barking, the open door and guest greeting manners, the dance of being close by, but not underfoot - these all require skill to employ. We work on and refresh these skills daily. When there is going to be a party at the house, these skills need to be perfected.

I won't say we like "to entertain" necessarily because I'm not really sure what that means when you hear it on a home improvement or buying and selling show. I give three or four large parties each year with guests in the 20-30 people range, and I have a few people over for dinner 10-12 times each year. I don't even think about "what to do with" my dogs during a party, but I do know some people who feel they can't have anyone over for any reason due to their inability to predict or control their dogs' behavior.

So how do I prepare my dogs for a party? It starts LONG before the party. I'm not going to tell you how to train your dogs for every social instance, but I will highlight this week the situations that I think need your attention, and how having a group of people over may affect your dog, and your relationship with him or her.

Foster My Big Black Dog

My Fosse. Today is his 3rd birthday! We think.

Foster came to us through Almost Home No-Kill Animal Shelter in Southfield, Michigan. Some paperwork that came with him lists his birthday as March 10, 2009. That could be a guess, but we don't care. We're saying it's his birthday and it is a day to celebrate!

Almost Home had named Foster Jake, and he answered to Jake for the year he lived at the shelter. Being a social, sweet, tolerant, friendly Big Black Dog who looks like a Pit Bull, the shelter's workers and volunteers were prepared for a longer than average stay for him, but they could not understand how people were not falling in love with him after five minutes!

The only way I can explain how Foster became ours is to describe it as Divine Intervention. I had applied and listed a couple of dogs I was interested in meeting and learning more about. I arrived at the shelter in February 2011 to be interviewed, and to arrange a home visit before I could be approved for any dog I might consider. "Jake" greeted me, as was his job as "Office Manager," and after meeting a few staff members who each said, "Awwww, are you the one who's here for Jake? You are SO LUCKY!" I was asked, "So, are you ready to take this guy home?" I was overwhelmed, but not because he was a Big Black Dog. His appearance didn't even register with me until I learned about Big Black Dog Syndrome (BBD). I feel anxious thinking about how long my sweet Fosse waited and waited and waited for me to come to take him home.

Divine Intervention has given me each of my dogs and 4 of them have been big and black. Now that I know about BBD, I may "specialize" in doing my part to remedy the phenomenon, or when the number in our family is wrong, I may simply ask for the dog who has been waiting the longest for me to bring him or her home. I'm still said thinking about how long Foster had to wait for us...and I feel sadder for those still waiting for their families.

Big Black Dogs and A Walk In The Park

A friend of mine has a Doberman Pinscher. She adores her dog and takes her everywhere and to every kind of training class you can imagine. They do tracking and trick training and run 5ks and 10ks together. They're a great pair.



While walking with a friend and her Golden Retriever, my friend and her Doberman, Poppy, were ambassadors for the breed. Dobermans are Big Black Dogs who were originally bred to be guard dogs and have a reputation for being aggressive toward strangers and loyal to their owners. Because my friend is aware of, but saddened by, the belief that Dobermans are dangerous dogs, she is diligent about leash manners and socializing Poppy. She can take Poppy anywhere and feel secure that Poppy will be comfortable, friendly and safe.

The Golden Retriever Poppy was walking with was not so well-behaved. The Golden was on a Flexi-style leash and walking ahead of its owner, crossing their path back and forth with no control or input from the owner. Being in a park, on a walking and bike path, there was enough width to accommodate the Golden's unstructured walk, but when a bike rider approached, he rang his bell several times to get the group to move over a bit. My friend and Poppy stepped to the side of the path, stopped, and Poppy sat down and they waited for the rider to pass. The Golden was barking at the rider, and its owner had difficulty retracting the leash and getting her dog to listen to her. The rider could not get by because of the length of the leash crossing the path. The Golden's owner apologized saying she was trying to get her dog under control. The rider said, "It's not that Golden I'm worried about. It's that Dobe!"

The big black dog who was calm, polite, and following its owner's direction, was feared while the barking Golden Retriever who was not under any kind of safe control was not a concern. Big Black Dog Syndrome.

Big Black Dogs and A Walk Down The Street

Once upon a time, a friend of mine had a Rottweiler. So sweet. Her name, the Rottweiler, was Roxy. My friend was an advocate against Breed Specific Legislation, and at the time, Rottweilers were particularly targeted. My friend liked to take her dog everywhere and she continued to when she had children. She told me about an upsetting day at the park when families were actively avoiding her dog, her and her kids. She tried to encourage people to see Roxy as a friendly, gentle companion, but no one at the park was going for it. I said, "Cindy, when people are afraid a dog is going to bite their heads off, they don't feel comforted by the idea of giving them a treat from their hand, you know?" Cindy just didn't understand why she was experiencing the shunning.



I understand not being able to think like a person fearful of dogs. I also understand being concerned that people are not in control of their dogs, but when I see a family interacting with its dog and the dog is calm and obedient and comfortable with people being near, I smile. It's a beautiful thing to see: dogs as trusted family members participating in daily family activities. I love it. Sadly, I see families making excuses for their dogs' unsafe behaviors - "Oh, he just wants to play!" or "Oh, she's just worried my little one is going to fall off the slide!" - when what the dogs are doing is barking, herding and guarding which can turn into nips, trips and bites. Especially when you have a powerful breed of dog like a Rottweiler, you have to be triply conscious of how your dog's behavior not only is being interpreted, but is potentially escalating into a fear creating situation.

There are wonderful Rottweilers in the world who are calm and obedient and socially comfortable breed ambassadors, but even those Rottweilers can be feared. People have told me they've observed other people crossing the street to avoid them as they walk with their big, black and brown, loving, friendly-to-everyone, completely-controlled-with-a-loose-leash, slobbery, tolerant-of-toddlers-pulling-their-ears Rottweilers. They see it as people crossing the street simply because they have a Rottweiler. I'm sure that's true, but I have my own experience.

A few years ago, I was walking with Luna in our Perfect Place of Glen Arbor. We were walking along the sidewalks of downtown and it was off-season, therefore, not many people; just the way we like it. Luna could have been off-leash, but I assumed there was a leash law, and it's just more polite for her to be on-leash. The leash was loose because she doesn't pull, and we were just traipsing through town, two girls enjoying the sun. A man was approaching, and we smiled and made some room for him on the sidewalk. At about 15 feet away, he crossed the empty street to walk on the other side until he was about 10 feet past us, then he crossed back again to go into a store basically right behind us. It took me a block or two to realize he had purposely crossed the street to avoid walking by us. He crossed the street so he wouldn't walk near me and my Black Lab. My Big Black Dog.

So yes, people are concerned about big Rottweilers and may avoid them, but it's not just Rottweilers. People are afraid of Black Labs too. My Sweet Luna. I can't imagine anyone being afraid of her, but I have to accept it. It exists. I saw it. I think it had to be Big Black Dog Syndrome.


My Big Black Dog Named Luna

Big Black Dogs

Whether we like it or not, people who encounter us with our canines make their own assessments of our, and our dogs', personality traits based on how our dog looks, acts and behaves. Have you ever heard of Big Black Dog Syndrome (BBD) or Black Dog Bias? It is a phenomenon experienced by shelters in which black dogs are passed over for adoption in favor of lighter-colored dogs. Predominantly dark dogs take longer to be adopted, and are often among the first to be euthanized, in comparison to their lighter counterparts. Also, large dogs tend to take longer to be adopted than small ones.

Theorized reasons for BBD:

1. Fear of certain breeds that are typically dark such as Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers.

2. Black dogs are often portrayed as "villains," dangerous and aggressive, in film and on television.

3. Their coloring is associated with evil or misfortune such as black cats being unlucky or ominous.

4. Black dogs' facial features are more difficult to highlight in photographs, and dark eyes against dark fur make it more difficult to read facial expressions, mood, or make an emotional connection when browsing the darker animals on shelter websites.

There is some validity to the claim that there are more black dogs in shelters because there are more black dogs in the world due to black coloring being a dominant gene. However, this does not explain why rescue workers find it much harder to find homes for black dogs than for dogs of other colors. For some shelters, the problem is so bad that they've developed special promotions to help draw attention to their black animals, such as reduced adoption fees.

There seems to be only anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon, and I will share some of my experiences this week.

Sources:

"Travels With My Dog Casey: Black Dog Syndrome," by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, 2012

Black Dog Rescue Project

NY Times Opinion Pages, October 13, 2009

Luna, J & Foster - We are, apparently, a Black Dog Family

STAY & HIDE

Once you've expanded your dog's ability to both Stay, and Stay When You Are Out Of Sight (Patience, Praise, Put back into exact place if he breaks the Stay), you can now Hide! Your dog may watch you the whole time as you walk away to hide. That's ok. Like babies, dogs have object permanence so they know you're still around even when you are out of sight (We have phrases that I know they know the difference between. "I'll be right back" means just that. "I'll see you in a little while" means go lay down and have a nap until I get back.), and they know how to Stay until you "release" them either by returning or directing them to come to you.

Hide somewhere that makes it easy for you to be found. As you and your dog become more experienced, you can increase the difficulty in hiding spot as well as the time until you call him, but unless your dog sprouts thumbs or is trained as a search and rescue, you probably shouldn't hide inside cupboards or behind latched doors.

Hide with some treats in your hand or pocket and then direct your dog to find you. To reinforce the Come command, you can say "Luna! Come!" To create positive associations with a new name, you can call out "Luna!" I like my dogs to respond to their own whistles like the Captain's children in "The Sound of Music." This is an advanced skill because if both of my dogs came to the whistle assigned to one of them, I would be hidden and unable to correct the mistake. Therefore, Hide and Seek is not a game to reinforce whistle recall with multiple dogs and whistles, but it is a good game for which to utilize whistle recall. Hide and Seek reinforces Sit, Stay, and Come/Recall. It is also fun so it's a positive bonding experience that provides mental and physical exercise for your dog. We love it and play it for 10-15 minutes a few times per week. As we did in Florida, we utilize it as an activity for when the weather doesn't allow us to safely be outside: too hot, too icy, too cold, etc.

Recap: Dog sits, Dog stays, Human hides, Human recalls dog (can be done more than once if dog needs support in locating human), Dog uses her brain, ears, eyes, and nose to seek out human, Dog finds human, Human gives dog a treat and lots of praise! Fun is had by all.

SIT & STAY

For Hide and Seek, your dog needs to be able to sit, stay with you out of her sight, and come to a command, whistle or her name.

SIT

If your dog cannot sit, it's really easy to teach. Weeks old puppies sit on command. Luna and Foster know hand commands so I don't have to use a verbal command. Dogs usually get it really quickly. To teach Sit, treats are helpful.

1. Show your dog the treat.
2. Say "Sit" and bring the treat above his eyes - not too high so he has to jump up to get it, but maybe two inches or so above his eyes and head.
3. When he sits, give him the treat and lots of praise.
4. Practice it several times each day.

Some trainers will recommend you push your dog's butt down if he doesn't sit upon command. I think dogs can figure this out without your pushing them down (Dogs trained as show dogs can have more challenges learning this "trick" as they've been taught to stand more than sit, but they figure it out too.). What I caution is repeating the command over and over if your dog doesn't sit at first. What your dog tends to learn is that he doesn't have to sit until the fourth time you say "Sit."

Recap: Hold the treat above your dog's head. Say "Sit" (or whatever you want for the action) once. Maybe twice. Your dog should figure it out. And give him that treat when he sits! You may find he sits without you even saying anything!


STAY

Attach a leash to your dog's collar. You can have her sit first or not. Sitting first can be helpful, but it's not essential. Stand next to her and say "Stay," or whatever you want to use for the action. The hand signal like "Stop" is basically a universal Stay command. Use this at the same time as you say "Stay." When she stays in place for a few seconds, praise her with words and/or a treat. If she doesn't stay in place, you can say something like "No" or "Hey" or "Ahh" and use the leash to put her back into the exact same place.

Practice and increase the distance and time you step away. Step to the side of your dog. Step in front. Use increasing lengths of leash or rope. When she stays, return to her with praise and/or a treat. If she "breaks the Stay," use the leash to put her back in the exact same spot and start again. Patience and praise lead to success!


BIG IMPORTANT TIP

End your training session on a success. If it's not going well, don't say, "Oh forget it!" Breathe, relax, try one more time, and end when you and your dog have a success!