somerville dog: a weblog

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!

Posted by Michèle at 6:47 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Dogs and Business, Friends of somerville dog, Training
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The best way to keep people from proposing legislation to ban dogs is

1. to clean up after our dogs every time, and


2. to NEVER allow our dogs to greet anyone who has not asked specifically to meet them.

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!

previously posted to the Fells Dog Owner Group

Posted by Michèle at 11:42 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", Strummer, Training, Voter Information
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It's a new year and this year Somerville's Canine Good Citizens are sporting gold dog bones—2007 Somerville dog license tags!

Did you know that the Somerville Public Library was funded in part by dog licenses? I learned that on the Somerville Illuminations Holiday Tour. The tour guide on my trolley was Elections Commissioner, Nicholas Solerno. Did you miss the tour? Somerville City of Lights, a 36-page book illuminating the families and traditions surrounding Somerville's vibrant holiday light display, is available from local vendors.

Information about obtaining a dog license is available online from Somerville City Clerk's Office:

Residents of Somerville may obtain, in person or by mail, a dog license from the City Clerk's Office at the following address:

City Clerk's Office
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 625-6600 x4100

The City Clerk's Office provides dog licenses Monday-Wednesday, 8:30AM-4:00PM, Thursday 8:30AM-7:00PM, and Friday 8:30AM-12:00Noon.

The fee is $16.00 for a dog license, or $10.00 if the dog has been spayed or neutered. The City accepts checks or money orders only by mail, and checks, money orders or cash in person. Checks should be made payable to "City of Somerville."

For requests in person at the City Clerk's Office, bring the following information with you:

• the owner or owners' name(s), address(es) and telephone number(s).
  
• the dog's name, breed, color, age or date of birth, and gender (male/female).
  
• evidence of the dog's most recent rabies vaccine.
  
• evidence that the dog has been spayed (female) or neutered (male), if applicable.

For requests by mail, complete and submit an application, available from the City of Somerville website as a PDF file.

Here are five reasons why Strummer has a 2007 Somerville dog license:

1. It's the law.
2. If Strummer got lost (gods forbid), finding her, a kind soul could call the City Clerk's office (617-625-6600 ext. 4100), get my contact information and contact me so that I could bring her home.
3. I vote. There may be as many as 18,000 dogs in Somerville, but only about 900 dogs were licensed in 2006. The owners of 18,000 dogs have more political power than the owners of 900 dogs.
4. One of the rules for Somerville's off-leash recreational areas (OLRAs) is that dogs must have a valid license to enter the areas. Somerville's first OLRA opened in Nunziato Field in 2006!
5. I support the government's efforts to prevent rabies. Massachusetts law requires that all dogs, cats and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies (MGL c. 140, s. 145B). Through dog licensing, the City of Somerville, like all Massachusetts cities and towns, ensures that dogs in the Commonwealth are vaccinated against rabies.

Posted by Michèle at 9:40 PM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Friends of somerville dog, Somerville
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Britney Spears tops the charts of The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog as worst celebrity dog owner because she abandoned her three dogs. Am I the only one who recognized that Spears was a bad dog owner when she kept dogs as fashion accessories?

The title of Best Celebrity Dog Owner was taken by Oprah Winfrey, whose five dogs each have a personal nanny. While hired pet-care does not top my list of criteria for responsible dog ownership, the cause of pet-friendly lodging was certainly served when the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis arranged for “'special amenities' . . . for two canine companions of Oprah Winfrey when she came to town." Winfrey is also among the celebrities who "signed wooden 'dog bones' for a charity auction benefiting the Mississippi Animal Rescue League."

Posted by Michèle at 10:44 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Dogs in the News
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Tyler B. Reed, writing for the Framingham TAB, has a very balanced article about responsible dog-owner behavior as the critical ingredient for multi-use parks that permit off-leash recreation: "Teaching your dog to listen" (December 14, 2006). For his article, Reed interviews pet professionals whose voices were noticeably absent from the discussion about off-leash recreation at Callahan State Park at a public meeting in Framingham earlier this month.

Darlene Arden, a Framingham resident and member of the Dog Writers’ Association of America, Inc., observes that "the people who are really responsible with their dogs are suffering." She articulates a point-of-view that many responsible dog owners and responsible dog owner advocates share:

I love the idea of people out exercising with their dogs and having fun. [. . .] I have no problems with having areas where dogs can go on-leash and off-leash, but I want everybody safe.

Reed also speaks with Bryna Davidow, a trainer and owner of Framingham-based Must Love Dogs.

Davidow also supports off-leash recreation but is realistic about the necessary skills that dog owners must master before responsibly allowing their dogs off-leash in public open space.

It's certainly very scary when a dog is running up to a person who doesn't like dogs," she said. "I think being off-leash in a place where other dogs are also off-leash and having the dogs learn to play appropriately is a fabulous experience.

Is there a license that municipalities could use to reasonably assure that people have mastered the skills and the rules to recreate with their pets off-leash in public open space? In fact, there is. Arden points to the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen certification program. Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification has two requirements: 1) the owner must sign the Responsible Dog Owners Pledge, and 2), the dog, working in a team with his owner, must pass a test that covers ten skills that are necessary for dogs and their owners as upstanding members of their communities.

The Charles River Dog Training Club (CRDTC) is offering the Canine Good Citizen Test tomorrow evening, December 18, from 6:45 to 7:30 at University of Massachusetts Field Station, located at 240 Beaver Street in Waltham, MA. The CRDTC will offer CGC testing again on March 26, 2007 and May 19, 2007.

Posted by Michèle at 9:23 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Massachusetts, Training
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The Somerville Journal today printed a letter from park users, thanking employees of the Somerville Department of Public Works for the work they did earlier this month on improvements to the Nunziato Off-Leash Recreational Area.

Continue reading "Park Users Thank the Somerville Department of Public Works" »

Posted by Michèle at 10:13 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Friends of somerville dog, Somerville
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via e-mail

In the years that dogs have been allowed to run free in [New York] city parks, dog bites have decreased 90 percent

according to an op-ed piece in the New York Times today by Jonathan Safran Foer, "My Life as a Dog."

Whether or not the source is reliable is a good question: Foer intimates that his own dog, George, who "occasionally tries to eat [his] son" is one of the culprits keeping the decrease in dog bites in New York City from achieving one hundred percent.

Foer may not be a responsible dog owner, but he does have something worthwhile to say about the place of pet ownership in human communities. Pet ownership, Foer understands, is an inter-species relationship. From his relationship with his dog he has learned that "compromise is necessary to share space with other beings"— a lesson that applies not only in the myriad relationships individuals may have with one another, but also in relationships among groups and organizations of all kinds.

It's well and fine that Foer advocates "sharing our space with other living things," but the the off-leash hours policy in NYC parks is not about humans sharing public open space with dogs: It's about neighbors sharing space with each other; it's about park users sharing space with each other. People who enjoy off-leash recreation live in communities with people who do not like dogs. Public open space must accommodate park users who enjoy off-leash recreation as well as park users who enjoy basketball, frisbee, reading and soccer.

Yes, off-leash recreation is good for dogs. Off-leash recreation provides much needed opportunities for socialization and exercise, and dogs that are well socialized and that get enough exercise are better pets and better neighbors. They are less likely to develop inappropriate and destructive habits like barking, chewing, digging, lunging and jumping-up on people.

Off-leash recreation is good for humans, too. It provides an incentive for people to get out in the fresh air and to meet other people in the community who share similar interests.

Here in Somerville, MA, opportunities for off-leash recreation are provided in designated off-leash recreational areas according to posted rules. We have one OLRA, which opened almost eight months ago—the fully fenced-in OLRA at Nunziato Field. For the time being, one quarter-acre of open space must serve the 27,000+ people who live with dogs in Somerville. In New York City, overuse of the City's 40+ dog parks is mitigated by the Offleash Courtesy Hour policy: In public parks without designated areas for off-leash recreation dogs are allowed off-leash from 9 pm to 9 am.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Board of Health votes on December 5, 2006 whether to adopt amendments that will clarify the authority of the Parks Commissioner under the Health Code to allow dogs off the leash in City parks.

Posted by Michèle at 3:50 PM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", United States
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I recieved an e-mail from State Representative Denise Provost (Twenty-seventh Middlesex) about a dog-friendly event at the State House on the occasion of the proclamation of September 2006 as Responsible Dog Owner's Month in Massachusetts:

Today, September 21st, please join Representative Jennifer M. Callahan (Eighteenth Worcester), the MSPCA, AKC Chapter Members, responsible dog owners and their dogs as we proclaim September to be:

"Responsible Dog Owner's Month"

If you have a dog that is friendly and can handle the excitement of a press event with other dogs, you are both welcome to join us!

Thursday, September 21
1PM
State House steps (Beacon Street)

In honor of Governor Mitt Romney declaring September 2006 "Responsible Dog Owner's Month, " Representative Jennifer Callahan will be presenting the Governor's proclamation. Dozens of dogs and their owners will be gathered for the event. The MSPCA will be highlighting dogs that are available for adoption. Nationwide, throughout the month of September, the AKC holds events to educate the public on how to responsibly care for their dog. This is the first time the State of Massachusetts has declared "Responsible Dog Owner's Month."

Any questions, please contact Colleen in Representative Callahan's Office at 617-722-2130 or Rep.JenniferCallahan (at) hou.state.ma.us.

Massachusetts dog owner groups have been holding special events in celebration of Responsible Dog Ownership all month. The New England Dog Training Club is holding a "Meet-the-Breeds" event Saturday afternoon, September 30, 2006, from 2:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m. at the Cambridge Armory, 450 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.

To all the reponsible dog owners in Somerville and all of Massachusetts, thank you, and have a happy Responsible Dog Owner's Month in September 2006!

Posted by Michèle at 7:42 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Friends of somerville dog, Massachusetts
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Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, authors of the Freakonomics column in The New York Times Magazine consider a high-tech proposal to the address the urban nuisance of dog poop that was proposed by Lauren Mecka, a sixth-grader from Hoboken, NJ : DNA sampling ("Dog-Waste Management," October 2, 2005).

It's a good proposal. Both a video and the text of Ms. Mecka's address to the Hoboken City Council is archived online at edmecka.com, "The Hoboken Community Activist Website."

According to Dubner and Levitt, DNA sampling has been proposed for dog waste management independently by civic leaders in Vienna and Dresden, where, unlike Hoboken, it is under consideration.

It might cost about $30 million to establish a DNA sample for all the dogs of New York. If people stop violating the law, then New York has spent $30 million for cleaner streets; if not, the $30 million is seed money for a new revenue stream. Unfortunately, there's a big drawback to this plan. In order to match a pile of poop with its source, you will need to have every dog's DNA on file - and in 2003, the most recent year on record, only 102,004 dogs [estimated to be 10% of all dogs] in New York were licensed. Even though a license is legally required, costs a mere $8.50 a year and can be easily obtained by mail, most dog owners ignore the law, and with good reason: last year, only 68 summonses were issued in New York City for unlicensed dogs. So even if the DNA plan were enacted today, most offenders would still go unpunished.

In fact, it stands to reason that the typical licensed dog is less likely to offend than the typical unlicensed dog, since the sort of owner who is responsible enough to license his dog is also most likely responsible enough to clean up after it. How, then, to get all of New York's dogs licensed?

How indeed? Mecka suggests

conducting an annual doggie- registration day, [which] could be sponsored by one or more of the major dog food companies held in the spring and promoted as a fun-filled day for pooches and owners alike.

Dubner and Levitt suggest paying people to license their dogs:

Instead of charging even a nominal fee, the city may want to pay people to license their dogs. And then, instead of treating the licensing law as optional, enforce it for real. Setting up random street checks for dog licenses may offend some New Yorkers, but it certainly dovetails nicely with the Giuliani-era ''broken windows'' approach to low-level crime.

Posted by Michèle at 9:40 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Dogs and Culture, Shooting the S--t
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The City Clerk's Office will be issuing dog licenses at Somerville's Sixth Annual Rabies Vaccination Clinic on Saturday morning, June 3, 2006, from 10:00 to 12:00, at the Animal Control Office in the Public Works complex on Franey Road, across from Trum Field.

The fee is $12.00 for a dog license, or $6.00 if the dog has been spayed or neutered. The cost for the vaccine service is $5.00. No prior record is needed, but vaccines will be for one year only unless a current rabies certificate is supplied. All dogs must be leashed and cats must be in carriers.

The Somerville Dog Owners Group (som|dog) is working to improve the rate at which Somerville residents license our dogs with the City. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires that dogs over the age of six months be licensed annually in their city or town. Through dog licensing, municipalities ensure that dogs in the community are properly vaccinated against rabies.

While owners are required by law to license our dogs, there are many other good reasons for Somerville dog owners to get our 2006 dog licenses now:

1. If your dog gets lost, a license tag on your dog's collar is the fastest way for local authorities to return him to you.
2. Your dog's license tag tells people in the community that you are a responsible dog owner: your dog is properly vaccinated against rabies.
3. A current dog license is required if you want to bring your dog to an Off-Leash Recreational Area in Somerville.
4. On July 1, 2006 the fee for a Somerville Dog License will increase to $16.00 (or $12.00 for spayed/neutered dogs)

Dog Licenses are issued at the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143, Monday-Wednesday, 8:30AM-4:00PM, Thursday 8:30AM-7:00PM, and Friday 8:30AM-12:00 Noon. Requests are also accepted by mail.

The City accepts checks or money orders only by mail, and checks, money orders or cash in person. Checks should be made payable to “City of Somerville.” For all requests, please include the following information:
- the owner or owners' name(s), address(es) and telephone number(s).
- the dog's name, breed, color, age or date of birth, and gender (male/female).
- evidence of the dog's most recent rabies vaccine.
- evidence that the dog has been spayed (female)or neutered (male), if applicable.

Posted by Michèle at 12:36 PM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Events, Somerville, Your Dog's Health
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It's time to renew your dog license(s)!

1. It's the law.
2. If Strummer got lost (gods forbid), finding her, a kind soul could call the City Clerk's office (617-625-6600 ext. 4100), get my contact information and contact me so that I could bring her home.
3. I vote. There may be as many as 18,000 dogs in Somerville, but only about 900 dogs were licensed in 2005. The owners of 18,000 dogs have more political power than the owners of 900 dogs.
4. One of the rules for Somerville's off-leash recreational areas (OLRAs) is that dogs must have a valid license to enter the areas. Somerville's first OLRA will be opening in Nunziato Field in 2006!
5. I support the government's efforts to prevent rabies. Massachusetts law requires that all dogs, cats and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies (MGL c. 140, s. 145B). Through dog licensing, the City of Somerville, like all Massachusetts cities and towns, ensures that dogs in the Commonwealth are vaccinated against rabies.
6. I support the Somerville Dog Owners Group's campaign to double the number of dogs licensed in the City by June 30, 2006.
7. The fee to license a dog in Somerville is $12.00, or $6.00 if the dog has been spayed or neutered. On July 1, 2006, the fee will rise to $16.00, or $10.00 if the dog has been spayed or neutered.

Did you Know...

• ...in 2005 licensed dog owners received a mailing notifying them of a community meeting to discuss options for off-leash recreation
• ...licensed dog owners were mailed invitations to the Paws for Parks Fundraiser

Information about obtaining a dog license is available online from Somerville City Clerk's Office:

Residents of Somerville may obtain, in person or by mail, a dog license from the City Clerk's Office at the following address:

City Clerk's Office Somerville City Hall 93 Highland Avenue Somerville, MA 02143 (617) 625-6600 x4100

The City Clerk's Office provides dog licenses Monday-Wednesday, 8:30AM-4:00PM, Thursday 8:30AM-7:00PM, and Friday 8:30AM-12:00Noon.

The fee is $12.00 for a dog license, or $6.00 if the dog has been spayed or neutered. The City accepts checks or money orders only by mail, and checks, money orders or cash in person. Checks should be made payable to "City of Somerville."

For requests in person at the City Clerk's Office, bring the following information with you:

• the owner or owners' name(s), address(es) and telephone number(s).
  
• the dog's name, breed, color, age or date of birth, and gender (male/female).
  
• evidence of the dog's most recent rabies vaccine.
  
• evidence that the dog has been spayed (female) or neutered (male), if applicable.

For requests by mail, complete and submit an application, available from the City of Somerville website as a PDF file.

Posted by Michèle at 8:51 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Somerville
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Strummer had a bloody stool a couple of weeks ago. The veterinarian diagnosed "dietary indescretion" and prescribed a bland diet and an antibiotic, the latter to prevent any infection from entering the blood stream through the digestive track. For the next couple of days, Strummer got several small meals a day of steamed chicken and white rice and her antibiotic pill twice a day. After three days on this regimen, I had a new cause of concern: she hadn't pooped in three days. Back to the vet we went, and I learned that I hadn't been feeding her enough for her to make a poop. Though unintentional on my part, underfeeding is in fact a good treatment for an irritated digestive track. The veterinarian checked her out and said I could expect a poop within the next twenty-four hours. Sure enough, that very evening Strummer had a nice, well-formed poop, a little lighter in color than usual, but with good consistency—sticking together but not sticking to the grass—and easy to pick up with a plastic bag.

More information than you needed to know.

But if you're a dog owner, you know that poop speaks louder than words. You keep tabs on your dog's bowels, and if your dog has diarrhea for more than forty-eight hours, or if your dog has not had a bowel movement for forty-eight hours, you call the vet. You bring a sample of your dog's stool to your vet twice a year and have it analyzed for parasites.

But what do you do if you employ a dog walker? Do you get a poop report every day with detailed notes on color, consistency, amount, and time and location of the event(s)?

Your dog walker should be able to answer all these questions and one more equally important question about your dog's poop: Where is it now?

I was speaking recently with a Somerville dog owner, who told me about a dilemma in which she found herself. She has a dog walker, whom she likes a great deal and whom her dog likes a great deal. The dilemma arose because, while in a local park with her children, she happened to espy her beloved dog walker breaking the law by not cleaning up after the dog in her charge.

Your dog's feces is your responsibility. When you hire a dog walker, you should make specific arrangements for waste management. Explain where you keep extra baggies and, if applicable, any other implements for clean-up, where you dog has been trained to do his business¹, and where you dispose of the bagged waste. You should also make it clear that her continued employment is contingent on her upholding your standards as a responsible dog owner.

. . .

¹One of the most helpful pieces of advice I found when I began to research dog ownership is Sue Sternberg's advice in her book, Successful Dog Adoption, about selecting a potty area:

The potty area should be close to your door. . . . This way, when it rains or snows or you have the flu or sprain an ankle, your dog will be trained to eliminate within a few feet from your door, and you won't have to walk all the way to the park or all the way down the block (156).

Also, if you train your dog to "do it" before he gets to go for a walk, you dog will learn that he gets rewarded with a walk for doing his business. What you don't want is for your dog to learn that he gets "punished" for doing his business, which is exactly what he learns if "walkies" always end after he relieves himself.

Posted by Michèle at 11:40 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Shooting the S--t, Strummer, Your Dog's Health
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Last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, pet-columnist, Gina Spadafori, blogged a new reason every day not to give a puppy as a gift.

Here on the somerville dog weblog, I gave holiday shoppers this little thought experiment: "Imagine a puppy with a bow around its neck on Christmas morning. Now, imagine it's President's Day: Where is the puppy? Where is the person who got the puppy as a gift? How about on the fourth of July? Where is the dog next Christmas?"

If you're thinking of giving someone a puppy as a present, please use your imagination and think of something else.

That being said, if you're thinking about bringing a member of the species canis familiaris into the family, December in Boston is a great time to start doing research. This year, the annual Bay Colony Cluster Dog Show—a series of shows presented by five Boston area AKC dog clubs: Eastern Dog Club, Ladies' Dog Club, Middlesex County Kennel Club, Concord Dog Training Club and the Yankee Golden Retriever Club—runs from Thursday, December 8, through, Sunday, December 11, at the Bayside Expo.

Check out the family-oriented dog demonstrations Saturday and Sunday from 11:30a-1:30p: Northeast Search and Rescue and the Department of Homeland Security Beagle Brigade will demonstrate their "dogs on the job" skills.

Local breed rescue organizations will celebrate dogs with a new "leash on life" in the "rescue parade."

Agility trials hosted by the Yankee Golden Retriever Club run all four days (until 2 p.m. only on Saturday and Sunday).

And if you're shopping for the dogs and dog lovers on your list, check out 100 concession booths displaying every type of "doggy bling-bling" imaginable: hand-knitted sweaters, specialty t-shirts and hats, grooming supplies, exercise equipment, digital photography, gourmet treats, handmade toys, safety products, bedding, custom clay pottery, fine jewelry and dog antiques.

Download the Press Release (.doc file).

Posted by Michèle at 8:44 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Events, Gear, Massachusetts
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I'm not a proponent of the let-the-dogs-work-it out theory of canine intra-species social relations. Sure, the dogs will work it out, but what they work out may be the ostracizing of one of the dogs from the pack or, worst-case scenario, the injury of death of one of the dogs. Our pets do not live in a fictional survival-of-the-fittest world. They live in our homes and in our neighborhoods.

Maybe the reason that otherwise responsible dog owners allow their dogs to gang up on other dogs is because they do not know what bullying looks like. I've seen it here and here. Yes, my little forty-pound standard poodle can bully with the best of them. I don't tolerate it, and I certainly don't encourage it.

Think about it. How many responsible parents do you know that subscribe to a theory of child-rearing that says "let the kids work it out." Bullying is anti-social (if not a-social). We don't tolerate bullying in our our playgrounds; we should not tolerate it in our dog parks.

Too often, what happens on the playground is that the parent of the child that is being bullied is forced to leave the park with her child. This does nothing to teach the lesson to our children that bullying is wrong. Likewise, any self-respecting owner of a dog that is being bullied will leave the dog park. This is a profoundly negative experience for the bullied dog: "Other dogs are mean, and other dogs mean I don't get to have any fun." What should happen, both on the playground and in the dog park, is that the adult who is responsible for the bully should put a stop to the undesirable behavior. A parent may be able to achieve the desired affect by telling Billy "Play nice or we're going home." A dog owner must say the same thing, but in that special language by which humans and canines communicate: training.

An effective training tool for dealing with bullies is "negative punishment." Don't be misled by the name: In this case, two negatives do make a positive. Negative punishment is a part of the positive training technique known as "operant conditioning." Most dog owners are familiar with operant conditioning in the popular training method known as "clicker training." Negative punishment is the humane way to train your dog to abandon undesirable behaviors, just as positive reinforcement—"click and treat"—is the humane way to train your dog to adopt desirable behaviors (Sit!).

Bullying is a natural behavior, but it is not a desirable behavior. Dog owners who advocate off-leash recreation as necessary for proper socialization of our dogs and then allow their dogs to bully other dogs are paying lip service to a politically correct buzz-word: They are not practicing responsible dog ownership.

Posted by Michèle at 9:22 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship
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Today is the last day of school vacation week in Massachusetts.

I was speaking with David Renna, Director of Animal Control, yesterday, and learned that he received a complaint on Monday (Presidents Day) from people who had taken their children to play in the snow in a city park. When they got to the park, other families were enjoying off-leash recreation in the park. The people with the children reported that they asked the dog owners to control their dogs, so that they could bring their children into the park, and the dog owners refused to cooperate.

When schools are closed, the ordinary schedule of park usage is affected. Whereas, on an ordinary week day, parks may be otherwise deserted during the day except for off-leash recreation, during school vacation children may be playing in city parks at all hours during the day.

The unfortunate fact for families with dogs in Somerville is that, currently, off-leash recreation is not permitted in city parks. When Somerville establishes safe and legal off-leash recreational areas, we will have places where we can enjoy off-leash recreation without competing with other park uses.

Until then: Beware of children playing!

Posted by Michèle at 7:32 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Somerville
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via Boston Dogs

The Christian Science Monitor ran an article on off-leash recreational areas on December 29, 2004, covering the conflicts that have arisen over off-leash recreation--such as the dog park in Fort Ethan Allen Park in Arlington, VA and Ohlone Dog Park in Berkeley, CA--and how dog owners, other park users and city administrators worked together to resolve them. The article also offers the success story of Fort Woof, a five-acre dog park in Fort Worth, TX, which "opened in April [2004], and has become one of the city's most-used parks."

Posted by Michèle at 10:14 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, D.O.G.s (Dog Owner Groups), Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks"
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If you are thinking about giving a dog as a gift this holiday season, please consider that you are not only giving a person a dog, you are also giving a dog a person. Imagine a puppy with a bow around its neck on Christmas morning. Now Imagine this: It's President's Day--where is the puppy? Where is the person who got the puppy as a gift? How about on the fourth of July? Where is the dog next Christmas?

I have no doubt that many beautiful human-canine relationships began with the dog wearing a ribbon around its neck. But the fate of many dogs who were wearing a bow when they entered the family is that of Ernie, "a fluffy, 10-week-old golden retriever with heart-melting eyes, [who] was originally a birthday present:"

As he went through the normal stages of retriever development--teething, mouthing, racing frantically around the house, peeing when excited, offering items the family didn't want retrieved, eating strange objects and then vomiting them up--the casualties mounted. Rugs got stained, shoes chewed, mail devoured, table legs gnawed. The family rejected the use of a crate or kennel--a valuable calming tool for young and energetic dogs--as cruel. Instead, they let the puppy get into all sorts of trouble, then scolded and resented him for it. He was "hyper," they complained, "wild," "rambunctious." The notion of him as annoying and difficult became fixed in their minds; perhaps in his as well.

A practiced trainer would have seen, instead, a golden retriever that was confused, under-exercised, and untrained--an ironic fate for a dog bred for centuries to be calm and responsive to humans.

Ernie did not attach to anybody in particular--an essential element in training a dog. Because he never quite understood the rules, he became increasingly anxious. He was reprimanded constantly for jumping on residents and visitors, for pulling and jerking on the leash when walked. Increasingly, he was isolated when company came or the family was gathered. . . . His walks grew brief: outside, down the block until he did his business, then home. He never got to run much.

Complaining that he was out of control, the family tried fencing the back yard and putting Ernie outside during meals to keep him from bothering them. The nanny stuck him there most of the day as well, because he messed up the house. Allowed inside at night, he was largely confined to the kitchen, sealed off by child gates.¹

¹ Jon Katz, ''Poor Little Rich Dog,'' I've linked to Ernie's story before: "Not by bread (or kibble) alone."

It's President's Day--Massachusetts school children are on vacation. Can the recipient of your holiday gift spend President's day with a puppy? Can they afford to hire a dog sitter or board the puppy? Does the puppy have his shots? Most kennels require that dogs be vaccinated for rabies, distemper and bordetella (kennel cough).

It's the Fourth of July. Is the dog at the family picnic? Has the recipient of your holiday gift trained the dog not to steal the burgers?

It's Christmastime next year. Does the grandmother of the recipient of your gift come to the family's holiday dinner? Or is she in the hospital from a broken hip from when the dog tackled her on Thanksgiving?

Continue reading "'Tis the season" »

Posted by Michèle at 10:08 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship
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Ahmed Tharwat, producer and host of the Arab/Muslim-American television show Belahdan in Minnesota's Twin Cities, describes his first social experience as a dog owner:

I noticed something new was happening out there, something Arab-Americans have rarely experienced since Sept. 11. People on the street, in their cars, in the parking lot, and at the supermarket were giving me a new look?a friendly one. Strangers who used to skillfully avoid eye contact now wanted to engage me in warm conversation. . . . . Families congregated around me with their children to see the cute puppy. . . .

Tharwat cautions dog-owners, however, not to use their dogs to reach out across the cultural divide to their Muslim neighbors:

In Islamic tradition, Muslims are prohibited from touching the saliva of dogs. If you do come in contact with a dog, you're supposed to wash your hands seven times before you pray. Most Muslims will avoid dogs at all cost to stay clean for their daily prayers.

Dog-owners are reminded that sit-to-greet is the preferred behavior of a dog that is being introduced to a friendly stranger.

Posted by Michèle at 9:02 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Dogs and Culture
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This morning, as the first snowfall of the season was dispersing, Strummer earned her Canine Good Citizen Certificate at Canine University in Malden.¹

To earn her CGC Certification, Strummer had to successfully perform ten tasks, testing her behavior when being greeted by friendly strangers, around other dogs, and when being handled by a canine care professional (i.e. a groomer or a veterinarian); her reliability with the basic obedience commands, "sit," "down," "stay" and "come;" and her ability to maintain her poise (i.e. not bark continually) for three minutes while her owner was not in the room. She also had to show up for the test with a responsible owner, who was required to sign a pledge to take care of her health needs, safety, exercise, training and quality of life and to show responsibility by cleaning up after her in public places and never letting her infringe on the rights of others.

Strummer is looking forward to enjoying the rights of citizenship! In an article on "Dogs and apartments," the Dog Owners Guide suggests that Canine Good Citizen Certification can assuage a potential landlord's concerns about renting an apartment to the dog's owner (see also "Locating Pet-Friendly Apartments") and "Tips for Renters with Pets". It would be great if, as a Canine Good Citizen, Strummer were allowed to accompany her responsible owner in Somerville's parks. And it would be great if there were safe and legal areas in Somerville where Canine Good Citizens could enjoy off-leash recreation under the supervision of their responsible owners.

¹You'd think Malden, the home of Canine University, would be a great place to be a dog, but Malden is considering breed-specific legislation, that would require owners of "pit bulls, rottweilers, chows, Doberman pinchers, shar peis and [wolf] mixed breeds, or any other dog whose behavior endangers a person's welfare . . . to apply for a special permit costing $100 and keep the animal leashed and muzzled whenever it leaves their property" (via Canine University News, November 2004). Of course it makes sense to hold owners of dogs "whose behavior endangers a person's welfare" accountable; it is the part of the legislation that targets dogs on the the basis of breed rather than behavior that is flawed. Did you know that the American Kennel Club does not recognize the pit bull as a breed? The AKC does recognize the American Staffordshire Terrier, as well as the Bull Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The United Kennel Club, on the other hand, recognizes the American Pit Bull Terrier, as well as the Bull Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, but the UKC does not recognize the American Staffordshire Terrier.

Posted by Michèle at 10:55 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Strummer
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I like dogs. . . . They do not tell lies because they cannot talk.

. . .

I don't like proper novels, because they are lies about things
which didn't happen and they make me feel shaky and scared.

On the very first page of Mark Haddon?s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher John Francis Boone discoverers a body. It's not a murder mystery like Arthur Conan Doyle's, The Hound of the Baskervilles:

Two dogs were killed in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the hound itself and James Mortimer's spaniel, but . . . they weren't the victims of the murder, Sir Charles Baskerville was.

Every good crime-fiction reader knows that to prosecute a suspect, you need to establish method, motive and opportunity. Method, in this case, is pretty obvious. To establish motive, Christopher resorts to the statistical evidence that "you are most likely to be murdered by a member of your own family on Christmas day." If his murderer's motive was to make Wellington's owner, Mrs. Shears, upset, he reasons, his prime suspect would be the one person he knew who didn't like Mrs. Shears: her husband, who had left her two years ago.

I want to take a moment to consider "opportunity" in this case. Given that Mrs. Shears's dog was murdered in the night-time in her yard, everyone in town that night had the opportunity to murder Wellington. And, given that her dog was murdered in her own yard, Mrs. Shears had the best opportunity of all.

A responsible dog owner Mrs. Shears is not. The only thing she is responsible for is her dog's death: Wellington was murdered because Mrs. Shears left him unattended in her fenced-in yard. Yet, like most evil masterminds in related genres, Mrs. Shears evades prosecution: she is not even on Christopher's list of suspects.

If all of the characters in the story were as responsible toward and respectful of other species as Christopher, their own inter-personal relationships wouldn't be so dysfunctional. Like the odyssey of Dorothy and her little dog, Toto--which, I have argued, would have been averted if Toto had had a responsible owner--if Mrs. Shears were a responsible dog owner, there would be no murder and no murder mystery in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Bad dog owner; good novel.

Posted by Michèle at 11:58 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Literature
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Fortunately, I don't have my own cautionary tale about the risk to dogs riding unrestrained in cars, but my friend, Dave Trowbridge, does. Dave's story has a happy ending: his German Shepherd Dog, Oka, was properly restrained in a VariKennel and survived the accident unscathed.

But Dave's admonition is one that responsible dog owners should take seriously:

If you have a serious accident with your dog unrestrained in your car, your dog will die. If you have any sort of accident with your dog tethered in the back of your pickup truck, your dog will die. (And if you carry a dog in your pickup truck without restraint, you should be publicly flogged.)

Worse, it's all too likely your dog will suffer horribly for quite some time before it dies: you may not leave the scene of an accident, even if you can, and there are no provisions for severely-wounded animals, save the doubtful mercy of a peace-officer's gun. Very few people know how to quickly and painlessly kill an animal with a firearm (draw a line from each ear to the opposite eye, and fire into the point of intersection), and it generally can't be done with a frightened, thrashing dog, anyway. How will you feel, when it's all over, knowing that a $100 crate could have prevented a horrible, prolonged death for your beloved pet?

In my compact four-door sedan, however there just isn't enough room for a crate that can accommodate a standard poodle. I asked a member of the Poodle Club of Massachusetts how to travel safely by car with my dog, and she said: the best vehicle restraint harness for dogs is Ruff Rider. With a tensile strength of 9300 lbs., it surpasses SAE standards for human seat belts, and its design is orthopedically sound, ergonomically correct, and warranteed for the life of your animal.

Restraining a dog in a vehicle insures the safety not only of the dog but of the human occupants of the vehicle as well. The owner of Ruff Rider, Carl Goldberg, says "If you brake hard at 30 mph, a 60-pound dog will fly forward with a force of 1,200 pounds per square inch." That's a dangerous projectile--at only 30 mph: even on short, local drives, say to Sheepfold in the Middlesex Fells or to Canine University in Malden, I exceed 30 mph.

In my car (as in all things), I try to do right by my dog. Strummer travels in the Roadie LX, and she loves to go for rides!

Posted by Michèle at 9:35 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, DogNet, Gear, Strummer, Your Dog's Health
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Today the movie, Benji: Off the Leash opens around the country, but last night the City of Somerville watched The Wizard of Oz. I can't help but think that, had Dorothy (Judy Garland) had her Cairn Terrier, Toto (Terry, handled by her trainer and manager, Carl Spitz), on a leash, the whole situation would have been averted.¹

If Dorothy had had Toto on a Leash, he² would not have gotten into Miss Gulch's (Margaret Hamilton) garden or chased her cat; Miss Gulch would not have been able to hit him with a rake, and most importantly, he would not have been able to bite Miss Gulch. Call me a wicked witch, but I agree with Miss Gulch: Off-leash, "that dog's a menace to the community". Sure, Auntie Em (Clara Blandick) says, "He's really gentle -- with gentle people, that is," but the fact is that communities have laws to protect people whether they're gentle or not.

As for Auntie Em, she may be "a Christian woman", but she's not an especially responsible guardian to Dorothy--and not because she sends Toto away with Miss Gulch to be destroyed. Contrary to Dorothy's plea--"He didn't know he was doing anything wrong. I'm the one that ought to be punished!"--Dorothy cannot be held responsible for Toto's transgressions any more than Toto can. Dorothy is a child, and, even for a child, no paragon of responsibility: Dorothy runs away from home. "While children can help with some age-appropriate responsibilities, pets require adult caretakers," advises the Partnership for Animal Welfare in Greenbelt, Maryland. The AKC also recommends that an adult take primary responsibility for a pet dog: "Involve your child in the dog?s day-to-day care, but be realistic about how much responsibility he or she can handle." In The Wizard of Oz, it is Auntie Em and Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin), who are irresponsible.

For dogs the human world is probably a lot like Oz: "some of it [isn't] very nice... but most of it [is] beautiful". Whether your dog is in Oz, in Kansas, or in Somerville, he or she should be on-leash except when supervised in a place where there isn't any trouble. Like Dorothy, Somerville needs "some place where there isn't any trouble": Somerville needs safe and legal off-leash areas, where dogs are protected, both from suffering and from inflicting harm.

¹I'm not the only one who thinks so. See "Are You a Good Owner Or a Bad Owner? A Pop Quiz From the Wiz" by Anne Leighton.

²Toto, like the new Benji, is played by a female.

Posted by Michèle at 10:05 PM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Literature
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training each other in acts of communication we barely understand

The book that was most influential in our family's decision to adopt a dog was, without qualification, Donna Haraway's The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Haraway's representation of the human-canine relationship helped me convince my husband--who has pet allergies, who never had a pet as a child, and (the most significant obstacle to his being persuaded) who frequently complained that the problem with people who have dogs is that their only topic of conversation is their dogs--that owning a dog would enrich our lives. One of Haraway's explicit goals in the book is to offer "even the dog phobic--or just those with their minds on higher things-- . . . arguments and stories that matter to the worlds we might yet live in" (3). Strummer was in a small way made possible by Haraway's work.

I heard Haraway speak about companion species twice in 2002. Her emphasis on the problems that arise for both dogs and for people when people treat dogs as furry children or as animated stuffed animals rather than as adult members of an other species impressed me for its common sense. The Companion Species Manifesto, covering in relatively few pages a wide range of topics relating to dogs--from their co-evolution with humans to their current situation coexisting in the world with humans who do not necessarily acknowledge that co-evolution and co-existence--serves as a handy reference to other works of interest to dog-people. Haraway does an excellent job of addressing ambivalence in general, cautioning that "companion species cannot afford evolutionary, personal or historical amnesia" (82). In particular, the later sections, covering the breeds the author lives with and loves, Great Pyrenees (livestock guardian dogs) and Australian Shepherds (herding dogs), as well as dogs needing, with a nod to Virginia Woolf (Wolf, Woof), "a category of one's own" offer a little food for thought on the controversies surrounding both purebred and rescued dogs.

An historian of science, feminist theorist and a poet of a kind, Haraway writes in a style that may be off-putting to the reader who is first-and-foremost interested in doing right by her or his dog, but Haraway's labored language highlights the kind of effort that must be invested in any attempt to understand a being that does not speak your language. "The recognition that one cannot know the other or the self, but must ask in respect for all of time who and what are emerging in relationship is key" (50). Kinda reminds you of Rilke:

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see each other whole against the sky.

Haraway also explains the problems I've been having teaching Strummer to fetch a ball: Strummer may in fact be, like Haraway's mixed-breed dog, Roland, a meta-retriever.

Posted by Michèle at 9:03 PM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Dogs and Culture
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A caller to Speak Out in The Somerville Journal last week raised the issue of dog urine damaging grass, and a member has also raised this concern on the Somerville Dogs Bulletin Board.

Urine (of all carnivores) has a high nitrogen content, which temporarily burns grass. That same nitrogen is, in fact, a fertilizer that promotes grass growth. If, immediately afterwards, you pour water over the spot where your dog has urinated, you can dilute the nitrogen content, minimizing the burning potential and maximixing the fertilizing potential of the urine ("'Dog-On-It' Lawn Problems").

Strummer has a "litter box," about four feet by four feet square filled with gravel, so there are no urine burns in the grass in our yard. Our yard is not fenced-in, and my guess is that the reason that we don't have urine burns from our neighbors' dogs in our front yard is either that their owners are responsible and don't allow their dogs to urinate in our grass; or that the dogs don't urinate in the same place all the time, and we've had enough rain this year to dilute what urine has been left in our grass.

Posted by Michèle at 11:42 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Shooting the S--t
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