Tawzer Dog Videos filmed my 90-minute Behavior Adjustment Training seminar in Novato last month, and it’s now available for sale in our online store (click here). We ship orders out on Fridays only, so if you’re looking to get it as soon as possible, then get it from the Tawzer website, when it becomes available.

Here are some clips from the intro of that seminar:

(if that doesn’t work for you, you can view it on YouTube).

We should get copies on Thursday, February 11th, so orders placed this week will *probably* go out on Friday.

Through Sunday, I’ll be discussing BAT for fear and aggression and there have been a lot of great questions! You can read the forum without being a member, but you’ll need to join (quick and free) if you want to post a question or comment. Check it out!

Click to Play Interview

If you have a teen or pre-teen in your home, or are thinking of changing careers, I highly recommend Dreamlist’s main website!

Related Post: How to Become a Dog Trainer in Seattle

Bo Obama, the Portuguese Water Dog, seems to be enjoying his new home in the White House.  The Obama puppy’s big debut is Tuesday (tomorrow) but the press has already leaked his story.

And who wouldn’t enjoy being the First Dog, with two kids to love on you and great parents? When we were there for the inauguration, Jill and I checked out the size of that yard. Any dog in the DC area (heck, even a dog in Seattle) would be happy to have such a big space!

Now, the fence at the front of the White House isn’t ideal for dogs (big gaps for a dog to squeeze through), so I have a feeling the part I saw isn’t really where Bo Obama will romp around.  But still, it’s a pretty cool yard for a dog!

There’s a big controversy about whether Bo Obama is a rescue dog or not.  Well, sort of, sort of not. I don’t really fault the Obamas, either way, but it would’ve been nice to have a true rescue dog in the White House, one that didn’t give PR to a breeder, but to a rescue organization, instead. I like that they donated to the shelters that they’d been looking at.

Some great things about the choices made for the Obama Dog:

• They waited until the family was settled in to bring home a dog.
• It looks like they’re taking time to be with their new puppy before exposing Bo to the press.
• They looked at shelters, even if it didn’t end up working out with Malia’s allergies.
• Bo Obama is neutered.
• They have consulted with Ken Ramirez, a positive reinforcement trainer that runs the Shedd Aquarium and their new dog show.

Yes, that’s right! A positive reinforcement dog trainer.  Looks like we may get some great decisions out of the White House.  So the Obamas didn’t get a ‘proper’ rescue dog.  At least they’ve been doing some other things right!

What if they were in Seattle?

If the Obamas lived in Seattle, and were just regular people, what should they do with their new ‘rescue puppy’? Take a class at Ahimsa Dog Training, of course!  Bo Obama is too old for puppy class (should be 2-5 months) but is eligible for the Dream Dog program, which is basic and advanced training for dogs 5 months and older. They could start from scratch in Dream Dog, but Bo already has some training.  In Dream Dog, they could pick their own topics, so they wouldn’t have to waste their presidential time on things that Bo already knew, and it would work around their busy schedule.  And kids are welcome in our training classes.

And he’s the perfect age for the Teen Dog Play time in Seattle.

So if you see Air Force One land in Seattle, you’ll know why. It’s not the coffee, it’s the dog training!

Tomorrow (March 27) ABC’s Nightline is doing a big expose on puppy mills. I haven’t seen it, but I imagine it’s terrible and gruesome and will make you wonder why animals have put up with us for so long.

They interview an Amish dog breeder that has over 500 dogs in his ‘care.’ It’s sure to be a fascinating watch and will help you understand why you should never buy a dog from a pet store; by doing so you are supporting the puppy mill industry. There are so many other dogs that need homes, that ‘rescuing’ that one pet store puppy isn’t worth it – that just puts money in the pockets of these puppy mills.

Here’s the info from Main Line Animal Rescue:

“Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed, on camera, an Amish breeder while touring his facility – a first for network television. With approximately 500 dogs housed on his property, this commercial breeder speaks openly about an industry cloaked in secrecy and suspicion – the cruel factory farming of man’s best friend.”

“PLEASE tell your friends, your family, your coworkers – ABC Nightline investigates puppy mills – this Friday at 11:35 pm (Eastern Standard Time). Please take the time to forward this to all the rescues, shelters, and legislators in your area.”

“And after you watch the program, please don’t hesitate to contact ABC and Nightline to thank them for casting such a strong light on the plight of our nation’s puppy mill dogs.”

You can watch it live or probably also online after March 27th.

At the risk of overloading your compassion circuits, when you watch this show, you might think about how the food on your plate is treated. Myself, I’ve been trying to use vegan dog treats like Farmstand and Fruitables or if those aren’t strong enough, vegetarian treats like Cheese Please, with my own dogs and whenever else I can get away with it. Every bit helps.

Yes, you read that correctly. Methods that have the goal of dominating the aggressive dog with force were likely to cause aggression toward the owner and other people or dogs, rather than preventing it.

That’s because those methods create more fear in dogs, which is the root cause of most aggression. So instead of adding sugar to your coffee, pinning your dog is like adding salt to it and wondering why it’s not getting any sweeter.

This is considered a pilot study, because it’s the first of its kind and because the method was to ask 140 dog owners about what they did and what happened, versus observing it in the moment. However, it’s very promising research to support those of us who have known, for a long time, that dog-friendly techniques that eliminate fear, rather than the symptoms, are the way to go.

Meghan Herron, a resident Vet at Penn and the leader of the study wrote, “In the behavioral field, they’re cheering [about this paper]. But we’ve been on this page for years. It’s the public … and the vets that we want to reach.”

The direct link to the UPenn article from this week is here.

“Positive” dog trainers throughout the Puget Sound can now celebrate a victory of science and learning over sensational TV.

Because Cesar Millan was coming to Seattle for Seattle Dog Winterfest, KOMO’s Problem Solvers began looking into the global controversy surrounding the methods used on the Dog Whisperer TV show. I was fortunate to able coordinate with the reporter and contribute to the story by providing details and Seattle-area contacts. They interviewed me, but my passion had me tongue-tied, so they didn’t end up airing it. Oh well…I have since thought of several quick sound bites!

Here’s a comment that I could have made, in response to the question of what I would say to Dog Whisperer fans: “Did you get a puppy to dominate, or did you get a puppy to love you? Dogs do whatever works. If your dog only gets his way for being polite, your dog’s inner Lassie will come out.”

Or maybe this: “Dominance is contagious. If you force your dog into submission, it may work for you in the moment, but stress may make her attack someone less pushy than you. Who wants to live in that war zone? In positive training, being polite is the only way the dogs get what they want. They work to win the Politeness Contest instead of the Dominance Contest.”

Of course, even those are too long for TV. I’ll get there someday on the sound bites. But that second bit is one of the reasons that the Dog Whisperer controversy continues. Dominance training turns the home into a group bent on dominance – it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

KOMO first talked with the American Humane Association, who said that they still agreed with their 2006 press release that the training methods on the Dog Whisperer show are outdated and inhumane.

KOMO 4 looked at the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s recent Position Statement saying that vets should never refer to trainers who rely on punishment and dominance-based training. KOMO also spoke with Professor Jim Ha from the University of Washington for the perspective from scientific research and got feedback from Brenda Barnette, the CEO of the Humane Society of Seattle/King County in Bellevue.

But best of all, they watched for themselves, as you can, to see what kinds of things are being done in the name of behavior modification and training. In case you think those techniques are necessary to rehabilitate aggression, THEY ARE NOT. Even “Red Zone” aggression cases, as he call them, can be rehabilitated without intimidation or dominance. Dogs do not need to be put in such extreme states of fear or arousal that they bite, growl, snarl, snap, etc. Putting a dog into a “Red Zone” makes for exciting TV, but flooding is not good dog training, and certainly not a technique that I’d hand to children via a G-rated TV show.

Even Cesar Millan admits, in his interview from Seattle, that this is not the only way. “It’s just my way,” he quips. It’s also the way of many other old-school trainers who worked before him, I might add, and they’re gradually getting replaced by people who keep up with science.

The very fact that there are other ways to handle all kinds of aggression means that these intimidation- and pain-based techniques are not necessary. It is what makes them inhumane.

Cesar Millan commented thats the American Humane Association’s statement that his techniques are outdated and inhumane is just “their opinion.” This is the organization that rates all television shows, the ones that make the standards for the statement, “no animals were harmed in the making of this film” that you see on most movies with animals. Their “Opinion” is important and weighed carefully by experts.

You can view the Seattle Problem Solvers segment by visiting the KOMO 4 news website.

(Those of you in Ahimsa dog training classes in Seattle will recognize the training center in some of the clips).

As a person that has taught hundreds of students force-free methods for handling dog aggression in my Growly Dog class, I like how KOMO wraps it up: “Don’t Try This at Home.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

It turns my stomach to watch him “train” dogs on the Dog Whisperer show, but I force myself to watch so that I know what misinformation people are being fed.

Dog Trainers and Behaviorists who use positive reinforcement or LIMA (least invasive, minimally aversive) techniques can clearly see that these traditional theories are very outdated. We rehabilitate dogs all the time without these techniques.

So why does this big controversy exist in dog training? It’s not because there are good dog trainers and evil dog trainers or trainers who love dogs and trainers who hate them.

One big reason there’s a rift in dog training is cognitive dissonance. If people who have been training for years using these methods wake up and realize that they have been causing unnecessary suffering all these years, they couldn’t sleep at night! Our beliefs do not lead to our actions. Our actions lead to our beliefs.

There are lots of crossover trainers, who used to train using force, choke chains, etc., but now use positive reinforcement. I admire the people who have made this switch and hope that Cesar Millan becomes one of them. Once he learns about modern dog training, he will truly be whispering.

Another reason is that people are unwilling to learn about the newer (last several decades or more) techniques. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well, if your car gets 6 miles to a gallon, but still drives, would you say that’s broken? Probably not, but I’d still fix it!

But if dog trainers learned new techniques, they’d see they’ve been hurting dogs for no reason, and there comes our old friend cognitive dissonance.

Another reason that this rift exists is that people think punishment works on dogs, which isn’t supported by science.

The truth is that primates, including us, respond better to punishment than dogs do. We still learn better from positive reinforcement, mind you, so that’s the better way to train us all.

Dogs don’t understand punishment like we do. So if you train your dog primarily through punishment using pain or pressure, you have dog psychology backwards. In that case, you are trying to apply a human perspective, where punishment works fairly well. Don’t treat your dog like a furry person. Treat her like a dog, and train with positive reinforcement.

A final reason why people defend techniques used on the show so much is that some of the verbal parts of it are actually good. Many of the things he says about encouraging exercise, structure in the household, having rules and sticking to them, etc. are fine, though it can be hard for new puppy parents to sort out fact from fiction.

But it’s how those rules are enforced that boils my blood. So if you just listen to the show, rather than watch it, it’s not a terrible show. The problem is that those words and his friendly smile lull people into a calm submissive state (to quote Cesar), so anything he does is taken as a Good Thing, even if it’s putting dogs into a state of panic and then learned helplessness.

If you watch it with the sound off, you’ll see a lot of stressed-out dogs who eventually shut down and give up. The fear that caused the aggression is not gone. The dog just doesn’t have the energy or spirit left to defend itself. His “pack” is a study in Stockholm Syndrome, for dogs. (From Wikipedia: “Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed.”)

Related articles on our site:

• Dog Whisperer Training Techniques Inhumane
• American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviorists Position Statement

Here’s some info from their Position Statement on Dominance issued in December, 2008:

“AVSAB is concerned with the recent re-emergence of dominance theory and forcing dogs and other animals into submission as a means of preventing and correcting behavior problems. For decades, some traditional animal training has relied on dominance theory and has assumed that animals misbehave primarily because they are striving for higher rank. This idea often leads trainers to believe that force or coercion must be used to modify these undesirable behaviors.”

Meaning, say, that the Dog Whisperer is using outdated techniques and repackaging them as useful. (My interpretation, but you’ve got to admit, ‘dominance’ seems to be the root of all dog misdeeds in the Dog Whisperer show).

“In the last several decades, our understanding of dominance theory and of the behavior of domesticated animals and their wild counterparts has grown considerably, leading to updated views. To understand how and whether to apply dominance theory to behavior in animals, it’s imperative that one first has a basic understanding of the principles.”

“Applying Dominance Theory to Human-Animal Interactions Can Pose Problems,” writes the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.

“Even in the relatively few cases where aggression is related to rank, applying animal social theory and mimicking how animals would respond can pose a problem. First, it can cause one to use punishment, which may suppress aggression without addressing the underlying cause. Because fear and anxiety are common causes of aggression and other behavior problems, including those that mimic resource guarding, the use of punishment can directly exacerbate the problem by increasing
the animal’s fear or anxiety (AVSAB 2007).”

“Second, it fails to recognize that with wild animals, dominance-submissive relationships are reinforced through warning postures
and ritualistic dominance and submissive displays. If the relationship is stable, then the submissive animal defers automatically to the dominant individual. If the relationship is less stable, the dominant individual has a more aggressive personality, or the dominant individual is less confident about its ability to maintain a higher rank, continued aggressive displays occur (Yin 2007, Yin 2009).”

So if you do need to alpha roll your dog, it’s because you’re a bad CEO – a less confident individual, for example.

Lest you decide to still think your problem with heeling is that your dog is too dominant: “Most undesirable behaviors in our pets are not related to priority access to resources; rather, they are due to accidental rewarding of the undesirable behavior.

I’ll conclude with their recommendation (my emphasis):

“The AVSAB recommends that veterinarians not refer clients to trainers or behavior consultants who coach and advocate dominance hierarchy theory and the subsequent confrontational training that follows from it.”

“The AVSAB recommends that veterinarians identify and refer clients only to trainers and behavior consultants who understand the principles of learning theory and who focus on reinforcing desirable behaviors and removing the reinforcement for undesirable behaviors.”

For more info, visit the AVSAB web page on Dominance.

Related articles on our site:

• Dog Whisperer Training Techniques Inhumane
• Don’t Try Dog Whispering at Home

UPDATE 10/20/08:

They did it! The motion to consider the ban on long-term chaining has been passed unanimously by the King County Council.

Here’s what I got from Councilmember Larry Gossett:

“On Monday October 20, 2008 the King County Council unanimously passed a motion requesting Executive Ron Sims to study the feasibility of implementing a ban on continuous dog chaining and tethering.  The Council has requested the report with findings and recommendations by February 28, 2009 so that the Council can develop legislation.”:

“Furthermore, the motion requests that the Executive receive input from a variety of sources including the King County Sheriff’s office, King County Animal Control Officers Guild, National Animal Control Association, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and community members.  The motion also requests other elements including humane standards and expectations in King County, costs of implementation of recommendations, public education and awareness and experiences of jurisdictions that have implemented chaining and tethering be contacted and interviewed.”

“I look forward to receiving a recommendation from the Executive for whether or not he believes we should move forward with tethering legislation.”

CALL TO ACTION: If you have data that would help King County make this a feasible, enforcable law – for example, if your county has anti-chaining laws, please contact Councilmember Julia Patterson, who introduced the motion to look into a bill banning continuous chaining.

If you want a Chihuahua, great! Just be sure that you know that Chihuahuas are still dogs, in a little package. The tinier the package, the more likely a Chihuahua will have health problems. They’re cute, but Chihuahuas can be feisty (translation: fear aggressive) with people and other dogs and need socialization and training to be good companions.  You may be tempted to get a Chihuahua puppy, but there are a LOT of Chihuahuas at shelters.  They are the 5th most populous dog at shelters, in fact – though a lot of them are then taken by groups like Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue and fostered in homes.

If you’re reading this post by email, you just missed a little star-studded video about adopting Chihuahuas in the wake of the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie.

You can get a poster-sized PDF of the Beverly Hills Chihuahua Adopt image above at this link.

We also have an article on How to Pick a Shelter Dog, with lots of local dog rescue contact information. It may turn out that the best dog for you isn’t a puppy, or even a Chihuahua.

Still convinced you need a Chihuahua Puppy? Click here for info on getting a puppy. Hint: That pet store that sells puppy? Keep walking by. Don’t go in, or you may end up falling for the cuteness and buying a puppy. But if you do, you’re supporting Chihuahua slavery, as the mothers are bred over an over again in puppy mills. If you get a Chihuahua puppy from a pet store, you may help that particular dog, but you’re paying the people who breed the mothers in awful conditions. And if you can’t meet the parents, you don’t know what kind of temperament you’ll get. Pet store puppies are also *much* harder to house train, as a general rule.

I have to counter that statement. One, any dog can be trained to do a task, given enough determination on the part of the owner/trainer. Two, I’m pretty certain the word she wanted there was “bred” to run, not “trained.” If it were trained to run, wouldn’t that make it a trainable dog? Who is she to say whether the greyhound she saw had been trained to do the tasks required by that person?

Statements like these are no more than blatant racism. Dogs are dogs. Their genetics do make them awfully hard to train to fly, but certainly they can be trained for service dog work, especially since every disability requires a different set of skills from the service dog. If she wants to make it so that no aggressive dogs are on the street as service dogs, I’m fine with that, more than fine! You’d have to do temperament tests to certify the dogs themselves, not wipe out an entire set of breeds in a racist way. And if you require all service dogs to be professionally trained, than many people who need them would not get service dogs, because of the $5,000-$10,000 price tag.

Click here to see the interview which includes me training my dog, Sagan (a Boxer/Greyhound mix), to do a service dog tasks, picking things up for me. I’ve had a bad back for years and some days it’s better than others. I don’t need a service dog to take out into public right now, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a dog ready if things do get worse. And she’s very handy around the house already!

A final comment – American Pit Bull Terriers had a passing rate of 84.3% when tested by the American Temperament Testing Society. Golden Retrievers had a passing rate of 84.2%. If a pit bull does something bad, it makes the news, and the breed is in the headline. When a Labrador Retriever does something bad, like kill a baby, the headline skips the breed and says, “Dog Kills 2-Month-Old Left Alone in Swing.” Please don’t let the media brainwash you and poison you against a family of breeds like pit bulls.

There’s a big 3D picture in the Seattle Metropolitan magazine (page 96). Thanks again to the puppy class students for putting up with the photo shoot!

I don’t know the rest of the trend (maybe 2007 was a really low year?) but the AKC is worried and so am I.

Some of the thefts are from breeders or pet stores, so most of us have nothing to worry about there. “Incidents have included armed robbers entering a breeder’s home, tiny puppies being stuffed into purses at pet stores and most recently, purebred pets being snatched from cars in parking lots and even shelters.”

I have to imagine that those of us with mixed-breed dogs don’t report thefts to the AKC, so there are probably more than 30 thefts.

Some tips to keep your dog safe? For starters, know where your dog is at all times if they are outside, don’t leave them in a yard with an unlocked fence unattended, and don’t tie them up while you go inside a store if you can’t watch them all the time. Last year, I know a dog was stolen from a car near Seattle, so always lock your car if the dog is inside – and of course, don’t leave a dog in a car when it’s even a little warm out, for a different safety risk. Cars heat up faster than you think!

Even without worrying if your dog will be stolen, leaving them in the yard all day can teach your dog to be the neighborhood barker, and getting honked at, tripped over, or deliberately kicked while tied up can create problems with fear and aggression. Dogs tied up outside in Seattle are technically “at large” according to Seattle’s legal code, so if your dog does bite or threaten someone, they’re doing so while breaking another rule…

There’s a big article on this on the website (click here).

I’m going to find some GOOD news for my next article. Anyone have some?

Another excerpt about the “Dog Whisperer” TV show: “It also does a disservice to all the show’s viewers by espousing an inaccurate message about what constitutes effective training and appropriate treatment of animals.”Visit the American Humane Association website for the full text of their press release about Cesar Millan’s Dog Whisperer show, including how he has asphyxiated dogs while pinning them. He’s also used shock collars on the show, without mentioning it to the viewers. In one such episode, the dog redirected and bit the owner, it was so freaked out from the pain.I just talked with a client from my Growly Dogs class in Seattle, who said that his wife was bitten while pinning her dog, as she had seen Cesar do on the show. I’ve seen episodes where he was bitten, himself.

That problem of redirection is part of what caused trainers in the last few decades to look for alternatives and evolve beyond the use of corporeal punishment. And it’s certainly part of the reason for the statement on the show, to the effect of “Don’t try this at home.”I also have an article on Side Effects of Punishment-Centric Dog Training. Or click here for my training philosophy.Related articles:

• Beyond the Dominance Paradigm, by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. (“The next time someone tries to seduce you with bad science by saying that “ethology justifies using force to control your dog,” don’t hesitate to challenge them.”)
• The Dog Whisperer Controversy, by Lisa Mullinax, CPDT – lovely details.
• He Ought to Call Himself the Dog Screamer by Steve Dale

UPDATE: On January 9th, 2009, I went to look for the full text on the website of the American Humane Association. It was missing! (They have since told me they deleted it because they thought it was “old news” and have said they’ll be putting it back up).I’ll reprint it here, as I did manage to find it in Google’s cache.

‘Dog Whisperer’ Training Approach More Harmful Than HelpfulDenver (September 6, 2006)The training tactics featured on Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer” program are inhumane, outdated and improper, according to a letter sent yesterday to the National Geographic Channel by American Humane, the oldest national organization protecting children and animals.

In the letter, American Humane, which works to raise public awareness about responsible pet ownership and reduce the euthanasia of unwanted pets, expressed dismay over the “numerous inhumane training techniques” advocated by Cesar Millan on “Dog Whisperer.”

Several instances of cruel and dangerous treatment — promoted by Millan as acceptable training methods — were documented by American Humane, including one in which a dog was partially asphyxiated in an episode. In this instance, the fractious dog was pinned to the ground by its neck after first being “hung” by a collar incrementally tightened by Millan. Millan’s goal — of subduing a fractious animal — was accomplished by partially cutting off the blood supply to its brain.

The letter requests that National Geographic stop airing the program immediately and issue a statement explaining that the tactics featured on the program are inhumane, and it encourages National Geographic to begin developing programming that sets a positive example by featuring proper, humane animal training. In its letter, American Humane said: “We believe that achieving the goal of improving the way people interact with their pets would be far more successful and beneficial for the National Geographic Channel if it ceased sending the contradictory message that violent treatment of animals is acceptable.”“As a forerunner in the movement towards humane dog training, we find the excessively rough handling of animals on the show and inhumane training methods to be potentially harmful for the animals and the people on the show,” said the letter’s author, Bill Torgerson, DVM, MBA, who is vice president of Animal Protection Services for American Humane. “It also does a disservice to all the show’s viewers by espousing an inaccurate message about what constitutes effective training and appropriate treatment of animals.”Torgerson noted that the safety of a woman and her German shepherd were jeopardized in one episode by the use of an electric shock collar, which forced the tormented dog to redirect its aggression at its owner, biting her arm. “Furthermore, the television audience was never told that Mr. Millan was attempting to modify the dog’s behavior by causing pain with the shock collar,” he said.

For more information about humane training techniques, please visit click here.About the American Humane AssociationFounded in 1877, the American Humane Association is the oldest national organization dedicated to protecting both children and animals. Through a network of child and animal protection agencies and individuals, American Humane develops policies, legislation, curricula and training programs to protect children and animals from abuse, neglect and exploitation. The nonprofit membership organization, headquartered in Denver, raises awareness about The Link® between animal abuse and other forms of violence, as well as the benefits derived from the human-animal bond. American Humane’s regional office in Los Angeles is the authority behind the “No Animals Were Harmed”® End Credit Disclaimer on film and TV productions, and American Humane’s office in Washington is an advocate for child and animal protection at the federal and state levels. American Humane meets the strong, comprehensive standards of the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance and has been awarded the Independent Charities of America “Best In America” Seal of Approval. Visit www.americanhumane.org to learn more.Here’s the cache version of the Dog Whisperer press release:Related articles on our site:

• American Veterinary Society Position Statement on Dominance

Absolutely, “TopDog” Seattle! I saw their classes and several others when I was choosing, and Ahimsa was the best.

So we’re going to stick with that!

Click here for more about the somewhat fuzzy concept of Best in Seattle.

But back to the fool and how she created this problem. Rather than being part of her family, her dogs where chained up outside. Chains can make any dog aggressive. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be, day after day, to be tied on the end of a rope while dogs, people, and fun pass you by? Pit bulls have thin fur, so aside from the usual misery of being chained up, they were also probably cold in the northwest weather. Neighbor children may have taunted, dogs may have barked, who knows. All I know is that dogs who are chained up outside have a MUCH higher probability of being aggressive.

This woman, Shelly Wilson, also admitted to breeding these dogs. Responsible breeders do all sorts of things that I doubt she did – breeding only dogs of solid temperament, for starters, socializing the dogs (early and often), and giving them love and care. She may think she loves her dogs, but I’ll tell you – I sure don’t want to be reincarnated as one of this woman’s dogs! She was somehow completely amazed that her dog would do this, even though Betty had already attacked a Papillon in a similar fashion – running into a house and finding the dog. So that final mistake was giving the dogs a chance to repeat their previous forays. If you have a dog that’s going to get into trouble, then manage and train it to keep it out of trouble! Certainly she must have had a door on her own house? If the dogs had been inside their own home, they never would have made it into Sue Ann Gorman’s house.

So what do we do about this? First, I think that in cases like this, part of the punishment for the human should be that they are not allowed to have their own dogs any more, or they have to go through some kind of program to make them responsible owners. I think chaining dogs outside, unsupervised for more than, say, 5 minutes, should be illegal. That would make a huge difference in the lives of so many suffering dogs out there. The offending dogs should probably be put to sleep. My reasoning is this: 1) Shelly Wilson should not get them back and 2) anyone who adopts these dogs will end up needing to put in a ton of work to rehabilitate them, and time put into these two is better spent educating the public and finding homes for the many, many lovely pit bulls out there.

I do *not* think we need a breed ban, although I’m sure this incident is bound to spark off another round of proposed BSL (Breed Specific Legislation), especially in Gig Harbor, where this happened. Somehow, we need to figure out how to outlaw the fools, rather than punishing the rest of the responsible pit bull owning populace.

If you have a bully dog, kiss her forehead and tell her how much you love her. Vow to keep her safe.

In the Seattle Dog Play Classifieds, you just list your dog or search for friends, based on play style, age, location, etc. The service is completely free and is used by dogs, puppies, and their humans throughout the Puget Sound. It’s open to the public, not just students of Ahimsa Dog Training.

I originally created this service as a way to find play friends for my own dog, and it worked! I’m glad to have a chance to help other dogs find friends, too!

Click here to visit the Seattle Dog Play Classifieds.

I was called up by King 5 to shed some light on the recent tragedy. Unfortunately, I needed a bit more time than prime time news can give to explain what should be done.

Resource guarding tends to show up in puppies and people think the dog will “grow out of it.” They don’t, but dogs can be taught that humans approaching their bones is a win-win situation. For more info, please read my article on Resource Guarding.

See the King 5 News Interview.

The dog in the interview is my dog Peanut, who is a resource guarder by nature. Note that he allows me to take the Very Valuable Dinosaur Bone (okay, it’s Ostrich). The interview was at the Mud Bay Granary in Burien. The news crew went to Ballard, called me, and then found out I was in Burien. They then drove all the way down to interview, which gave me enough time to buy Peanut the ostrich bone from Mud Bay.