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This weekend is the last weekend to enjoy Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea with dogs until October 2008. Dogs are allowed on Singing Beach from October 1 - April 30.
As a token of our appreciation for access to Singing Beach, dog owners may participate in the Manchester Community Center's city-wide clean-up on Saturday, May 10.
The season for dog owners is also ending at Good Harbor Beach and Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester.
On a recent Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to attend an in-home behavior training with Marjie Alonso of Somerville-based City Dog Training and Vera Wilkinson of The Pet Needs Company.
A young couple had recently adopted a young female Jack Russell Terrier and had contacted City Dog Training, because they were concerned that their dog's barking was disturbing their neighbors in their building.
"Bianca" (not her real name) barked at us and was in constant motion from the moment we entered the condo. She kept her distance from the three strangers (Alonso, Wilkinson, and me) and she kept her eye on all five of the humans in her space.
Alonso gave me a handful of bits of Redbarn Premium Food Food for dogs, and instructed me to toss bits of food, one by one, on the floor for Bianca. She and Wilkinson did the same so that, immediately after we arrived, all three strangers were tossing bits of food on the floor, while Alonso spoke with the couple about their daily routine with Bianca. Alonso was seated, Wilkinson and I and Bianca's owners were all standing.
After about five minutes there was a noticable difference in Bianca's barking behavior. She was no longer barking only to express the stress of having strangers in her home; she was also barking sometimes when there was a lull in the rain of treats hitting the floor.
The purpose of the rain of treats was not to get Bianca to stop barking, it was rather to communicate to Bianca that the strangers in her home were not (entirely) a bad thing. In that first five minutes, Alonso had already learned a couple of things about Bianca:
Bianca's discomfort with strangers in her home is not debilitating (a dog can be so frightened or stressed that it cannot eat; this was not the case with Bianca)
Bianca is food-motivated
Bianca had also offered a training opportunity: She was sometimes barking not because there were strangers in her home but because we weren't treating her fast enough; That meant that sometimes she wasn't barking. Alonso, Wilkinson and I took advantage of those moments when Bianca was not barking to toss treats on the floor, and we were less likely to toss a treat when she was barking.
At one moment, I shifted my weight, and my movement caused Bianca to startle and back away. Since the dog had already demonstrated that she could learn to face her fears in the presence of food, Alonso instructed us to move one foot slightly while tossing treats on the floor. Soon Bianca was comfortable with our moving--slowly and deliberately--in the room.
This whole process of making the dog comfortable with our presence is called "desensitization." Bianca was overly sensitive to the presence of strangers in her home, we had to desensitize her, first to our presence, then to our movements.
At this point Alonso introduced the first training exercise. She gave Bianca's owners handfuls of treats and instructed them to call her name and feed her a treat from their hands when she came to them.
It was fascinating for many reasons to watch her new owners interact with Bianca. At first, Bianca was more interested in the strangers in her home than her owners. Alonso explained that we had built up an expectation of treats, and that it was understandable that Bianca would not want to turn her back to strangers as well as to people who had been giving away free food for the past ten minutes.
Also, it was really hard for her owners to follow Alonso's instruction say her name only once. This is common training advice: In many cases, it's best to give the command only once. The reason is that you want to train the dog, in this case, that her name is "Bianca", not "Bianca. Bianca! Bi-aahhhn-ka! Here girl! Come here, Bianca!"
Once Bianca was convinced that her owners were (almost) as reliable a source of treats as her new (relatively safe) friends, Alonso had us stand around the room and alternate calling her and rewarding her with a treat when she came to us. We were coached so that we would not distress Bianca inadvertently with our body language. We turned our bodies slightly away from her, so that she could approach us from the side (not head on); We were crouching so that we didn't seem to loom over her; we delivered the treats from below her nose-level so that she did not see hands coming down at her head. We were also instructed to simply say her name and give her a treat. No petting or even saying "good dog" yet.
Bianca's owners were encouraged to invite friends over to play this game with them and the dog. This is a good way to help make a dog comfortable with different people, and, if you want your friends and family to visit you, it really helps to have a dog who is comfortable around a lot of different people!
Sounds like a lot of food, doesn't it? Alonso explained that during her training (which would probably take several weeks) Bianca would get most of her nutrition from "treats"--the rewards she gets during training sessions. She suggested that they reduce the amount of food they give her at meal time to about 1/4 of her regular serving size depending upon how much training the owners were doing.
You can also use your regular dog food for training treats (Wilkinson spoke to the owners about the importance of dog-food with high nutritional quality. In particular, she advised them to avoid foods in which the primary ingredient--the first ingredient on the ingredients list--is corn.)
Most dogs, however, will not work for kibble. Treats should be of high value to the dog, but also healthy. (Trying to train a dog with pupperoni, is like trying to train for a marathon and eating only McDonalds.)
I've heard some trainers say that during periods of rigorous training the dog should not get a single bite of food for "free". Meal-time is training time. Alonso demonstrated a nice training exercise for Bianca's mealtimes:
Alonso let Bianca sniff the contents of the food bowl, which for the purpose of the demonstration, was stocked with assortment of high-value treats. She then positioned Bianca on her left side while holding the food bowl in the air above her own head in her right hand (on the side opposite from the dog). She slowly lowered the bowl toward the floor until Bianca--who's only canine, after all--moved toward the bowl. The instant that Bianca moved, Alonso quietly said "eh-eh" and raised the bowl above her head again. When Bianca, by not moving, allowed Alonso place the bowl on the floor, Alonso praised her and let her eat the entire contents of the bowl.
It took only about forty seconds for Bianca to allow Alonso to place the bowl the the floor without moving toward it. Alonso explained that, at least at first, it would take longer for her owners to be able to place the bowl on the floor, especially if the bowl were filled only with kibble, because the dog already has expectations about what happens at mealtime and it would take some time to break her of those expectations.
The benefit of this training with the food bowl is that it starts to establish some self-control in the dog as well as developing a gentle command, "eh-eh," that her owners can use when they need Bianca to stop doing whatever she's doing and look at them. This training is will come in handy, if say, your dog is pursuing a skunk and you want her to stop RIGHT NOW.
So, what about Bianca's barking, which is the reason her owners called City Dog Training in the first place? By helping Bianca to be more comfortable in her new home and more comfortable around different people, by helping her learn to pay attention to her owners, these training techniques will help Bianca be less nervous and less stressed and more calm and relaxed. When she is calm and relaxed, as we saw, Bianca doesn't bark!
The best way to keep people from proposing legislation to ban dogs is
Until a person has proven her- or himself dog-friendly by asking to meet my dog, I assume that if I let Strummer approach that person, she or he will introduce anti-dog legislation at the first opportunity. By waiting for people to ask to meet my dog, my experience is that everyone I meet likes my dog!
At the 2008 Annual Town Meeting this evening, the Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea voted to continue to allow families with dogs to enjoy Singing Beach from October 1 through April 30. A motion seeking to ban dogs year round was defeated as were two secondary amendments, one that would have extended the current five-month prohibition of dogs on Singing Beach by two months and another that would have given families with dogs two more weeks to enjoy Singing Beach together. Ain't democracy grand?!
My favorite part of the discussion was when a representative from the Board of Health told the Meeting that the Board of Health cannot recommend that dogs should be disqualified from beaches any more than they are from streets and parks! Feces in sand, he explained, poses no greater public health risk than feces on asphalt, concrete or dirt!
Early in the proceedings of the Town Meeting, a voter introduced a motion to take up Article 30 out of order.
Being a nonresident with no stake in the other articles on the Town Warrant, I wasn't paying close attention. I think the motion to take up article 30 was introduced after article 3. The motion was seconded and prevailed with more than two thirds of the meeting voting for it.
Patricia Morely who petitioned to put the year-round dog ban on the Town Warrant introduced a motion to amend Article X Section 28 (c) 3 of the General By-Laws of the Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea to prohibit dogs on Singing Beach throughout the year
Ms. Morley's motion was seconded, but in the course of her comments on the necessity of banning people with dogs from Singing Beach, she asked if the matter could be placed on the ballot for the Town Election in May. On the advice of the Town Moderator Morley withdraw her original motion and introduced a new motion.
Susan Thorne, Chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, then introduced a motion to amend the By-Laws to prohibit people from bringing dogs on Singing Beach from April 1 through November 1.
Another resident by the name of Brown introduced another motion to amend the By-Laws to prohibit people from bringing dogs on Singing Beach from May 1 through September 15.
There was relatively little discussion, largely because a motion to end the debate on the matter was carried by a necessary two-thirds vote.
Mr. Brown's amendment, which would have allowed us to enjoy Singing Beach with our dogs from September 16 through April 30 did not prevail.
Ms. Thorne's amendment, which would have abbreviated the time when dogs are allowed on Singing Beach by two months—from November 1 through March 30—did not prevail.
And Ms. Morley's motion did not prevail.
Thank you, Manchester-by-the-Sea, for welcoming people with dogs on Singing Beach.
UPDATE 8 April 2008: Patrick Anderson, reporter for the Gloucester Daily Times, got the vote tallies on the three amendments. For details see "Town Meeting backs keeping dogs on Singing Beach".
The Board-of-Selectmen recommends by a vote of 5-1 that families be banned from enjoying Singing Beach together with our dogs for two more months of the year from April through October. The Gloucester Daily Times is calling the suggested closing of the beach to beach-goers a "compromise".
Susan Thorne, Chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, believes that by allowing families with dogs to enjoy Singing Beach during the off-season, the town is going out of its way to accommodate nonresidents.
The insularism on the part of Chairwoman Thorne is more hurtful to residents than it is to nonresidents. As a nonresident, I visit Singing Beach about a half-a-dozen times during the off-season. Most people I meet at Singing Beach, however, are Manchester residents. Extending the dog ban will keep Manchester residents off the beach every day.
Chairwoman Thorne's insularism hurts more than families who come from other towns and cities to enjoy Singing Beach; It also hurts the local businesses we patronize when we visit Manchester-by-the-Sea between October and April.
To add insult to injury, Manchester-by-the-Sea wants a piece of money that residents of other cities and towns pay to support our municipal programs and services: Manchester-by-the-Sea supports state revenue sharing, a proposal that would let Manchester-by-the-Sea receive a portion of the property taxes that residents of other cities and towns pay to our local municipalities.
The Board of Selectmen's recommendation to extend the current five-month dog ban at Singing Beach by an additional two months is bad business for Manchester-by-the-Sea.
The Singing Beach Committee opposes a year-round dog ban, and the Vice Chairperson of the Committee says that the Selectmen's amendment does not improve upon the original proposal. The high season at the beach is between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The current rules, which prohibit dogs on Singing Beach from May 1 through September 30, ensure that there is a month before the majority of beach-goers appear and another month after they disappear when the beach is without dogs.
