Most Recent Adoptions

Recently several animals have found their forever homes! Congratulations to our new adoptive parents!

• CeCe
• Aries
• Dauber
• 1 cat

Recent Adoptions

The following animals have recently been placed into their new forever homes:

• Jezzie
• Louie (on the same day as mom Jezzie!)
• Rachel
• Stewart
• Carl
• 2 kittens

Thank you to our new adoptive parents, and all our volunteers!

Fosters Needed!

We are currently in great need of foster homes! All of our fosters are very full. The more foster homes we have the more animals we can save. Please spread the word! You don't even have to foster for that long. Sometimes just a week or two is a big help. If you are unable to foster right now, please ask friends of yours if they would be interested. Thanks!

Articles: Separation Anxiety

Separation Anxiety – a common struggle for rescue dogs

By Maureen Haggerty, CPDT, The Canine Coach, LLC

Separation Anxiety is a common behavior problem but it has very serious ramifications for both the dog and caretaker. It also appears to be more prevalent among shelter, rescued, or otherwise re-homed dogs.

What is separation anxiety?
Separation anxiety is an emotional panic triggered by being left alone. How this panic is displayed varies by dog. Common behavior symptoms of separation anxiety include:

• Pacing, panting, trembling

• Behaviors which hinder the leaving process (e.g. hiding, guarding the door, keeping the person from putting them away)

• Incessant whining, howling or barking

• Destructive chewing and digging, usually around doors and windows

• Excessive drooling

• Defecation/urination from an otherwise housetrained dog

Some dogs begin to show signs of anxiety during the leaving ritual, such as gathering your things or putting work shoes on. All dogs with separation anxiety will show signs immediately upon being left. Often the panic continues until someone returns.

Separation anxiety is often wrongly suspected when there is destruction or barking simply because these behaviors only happen when the dog is alone. Barking and destruction often occur out of boredom. One determining factor is whether the behavior begins immediately after leaving (separation anxiety) or much later during your absence; a video camera will help resolve the mystery.

What causes separation anxiety?
Some dogs seem to have a predisposition to develop separation anxiety due to their temperament. These are the very “clingy”/attention seeking dogs. If their people feed this tendency by giving attention whenever it’s sought, and don’t work with the dog to develop independence and frustration tolerance, separation anxiety can develop.

For others it can be triggered by a one-time or re-occurring traumatic event while left alone. One example was where the dog was left in the laundry room, and the washer overflowed and flooded to room. Another example could be the dogs first thunderstorm experience happened when left alone.

In the case of surrendered or abandoned dogs, it could be the stress they experienced from being abandoned. For others, it is simply that they have never been alone. They came from a home with other dogs or a stay-at-home mom and a house bustling with activity.

Separation anxiety is also common among rescue and shelter dogs because it is a common reason for surrendering a dog due to barking complaints from the neighbors, the damage it can cause, and the expense of time and money in the training.

What can we do to help prevent separation anxiety?As foster families and new adoptive families we have to help our dogs from developing separation anxiety. One way is to not fall into the trap of feeling sorry for our “rescued” dogs and the desire to give them an abundance of attention and everything they want. Don’t do this to your dog.

This does two things. For one, you are painting a dramatic contrast between the hours you are home versus the hours you are not, increasing the dog’s desire for your return. Secondly, if your dog always gets what he wants when he asks, he does not build any frustration tolerance. A high frustration tolerance is necessary to handle being alone all day. Your dog has to deal with not being able to get outside the moment he wants to; seeing his toy with no one to throw it; smelling the treats with no one to get one. If he is used to being able to bark or paw and get what he wants immediately from you, it is very frustrating to be alone when he can’t get these things.

Build your dog’s independence (and frustration tolerance) by practicing exercises where your dog must stay a distance away from you while you are home, maybe even out of sight for periods. Practice leadership exercises where you insist your dog wait and be patient to get what he wants.

And keep your departures and arrivals very low key. Keep it to simple “goodbye” and “hello”, again, not to paint a dramatic contrast to when you are home versus gone.

Make the “special stuff” happen when you leave, not when you return. Your leaving should signal the time your dog gets a special long lasting treat, he only gets when you leave. Try leaving your dog with a stuffed Kong toy, or teaching your dog to find hidden treats.

What if your dog already has separation anxiety?If the dog you are fostering already has symptoms of separation anxiety, the above exercises under prevention will be a part of the treatment, but will probably not be sufficient.

In addition to the above, you will need to work with a trainer to develop a desensitization and counterconditioning program. With counterconditioning we slowly associate being alone with feelings of well-being. The training program may also require working with a veterinarian to get the dog on anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication to help take the emotional edge off to speed up the progress of the training. Unfortunately, medication alone is never sufficient to relieve separation anxiety.

These training programs are intensive and tedious. Further, you need to have a place to bring the dog every time you need to leave until his tolerance is built to a sufficiently long period to leave him at home. It takes a great deal commitment in time, energy and money to rehabilitate a dog with separation anxiety. A dog is not adoptable with separation anxiety. Let’s do everything we can to prevent it from developing in the dogs we are caring for so they dogs can quickly get into their forever homes.

Articles: Keeping Dogs Stimulated!

Keeping your dog busy and stimulated

by Maureen Haggerty

Dogs need activities to keep them busy. If we do not direct them to appropriate activities and keep their minds stimulated, your intelligent, healthy dog will find things to do on his own. Normal dog behavior includes chewing, jumping, digging, running, hunting, chasing, and tearing things apart. Dogs need to exercise these behaviors to maintain their health physically and mentally. We need to redirect these behaviors into appropriate activities we can live with.

Satisfying the need to chew:

• Nylabone!" make great chew toys for dogs that like to chew. I don't recommend using rawhides because there is a danger of the dog biting off large pieces and swallowing them, and these can cause internal obstructions which can lead to surgery or even death.

• You can also take rope toys and soak them in chicken broth and freeze them for a tasty, chilling treat during the summer.

• Dogs need a variety of textures to chew on: something that can be torn apart (rope, stuffed toy), something that has "give" to the power of his jaw (ball, rubber toy), and something that is very hard to scrape teeth against (knee bone, marrow bone, knuckle bone, hard Nylabone!").

• Some dogs love tennis balls, both chasing them and chewing on them. Do be aware, tennis balls made for the sport contain harsh chemicals which allow them to bounce better on the court, and these chemicals have been known to wear down a dog's tooth enamel after many years of chewing on them.

• Always assess your dog's toys for the dog's level of chewing. A dog that is an aggressive chewer should have toys made of sturdy, tough rubber with no little knobs or buttons that he can pull off and accidentally swallow. Some dogs will go nuts trying to tear squeakers or noise-makers out of toys so you want to be sure that you supervise play with these toys and remove them when they get damaged so that the dog cannot eat the squeaker.

Working for dinner. It's fun and natural:

• Get old rags or socks and wrap up your dog's dinner or treats, and let the dog work on tearing it up to find his dinner As your dog gets better at this, tie tightly with lots of knots and then put the bound rag inside a box or old Tupperware container, let him work really hard for his dinner, after he eats he will want to take a nap.

• Take your dog's dinner, go outside, and throw it chicken feed style all over the yard! This is a very fun and draining exercise for a dog. They get to use their natural instinct to sniff out food. A very large portion of a dog's brain controls their olfactory function, therefore, the more we create activities where they get to use their nose, the more stimulated and tired they will get.

• Purchase raw marrow bones or knuckle bones from your butcher. Give them to your dog frozen to make them last longer (and stay neater) and refreeze between use.

• Look for food dispensing toys at the pet store that can that be stuffed with your dog's food. There are balls, cubes, and various other shapes that your dog has to roll, whack, or shake to try and get their dinner out! There are other toys like the popular Kong which you can fill with something soft like peanut butter or canned food and kibble mixture. Again, try freezing to make it last longer for your dog.

Stimulating exercise, that doesn't involve a walk:

• Games that utilize your dog's nose are great exercise. A very large portion of a dog's brain controls their olfactory function, therefore, the more we create activities where they get to use their nose, the more stimulated and tired they will get. Teach your dog to find small dog biscuits around the house. Start really easy (where she can see where you put the treat) so she can catch on to the "Find It" game. Gradually increase the difficultly. As your dog catches on, work towards her not seeing where you put it and tell her, "Go find it!"

• Fetch, Hide and Seek, and Recall Games (ask me if you need explanation) are some fun activities for your dog. When done properly they are also excellent at improving your dog's obedience and attention to you.

• Teaching your dogs tricks is another fun activity that will stimulate your dog, and they're a lot of fun, particularly for children. If you teach the tricks with "free-shaping" (ask me) they are particularly draining as it makes your dog think!

• For dogs that enjoy digging, set aside a dirt or sand area that is a legitimate place for them to fulfill this need. Bury toys or treats in this area and teach your dog to search for them, which will encourage him to dig in this particular spot. If your dog begins digging where he is not allowed, use a startling "Eh!" and quickly bring him over to his digging spot where the buried treats will reinforce this place.

• A lot of dogs love water and providing them with a small kiddie pool is lots of fun for the dog. If you have a pool, many dogs enjoy swimming and playing "fetch" in the pool.

• Many dogs enjoy running an obstacle course as can be seen with agility competitions. You can create your own agility course in your yard. Tunnels can be bought from children's toy stores and you can make jumps very cheaply and easily with PVC pipe from your local hardware store. You can also purchase agility equipment often for great prices from Ebay or use your picnic table benches to go over and walk along, a table to go under, garden stakes to weave around.

Maureen Haggerty, CPDT, Owner The Canine Coach, LLC
www.thek9coach.com

Articles: Dog Aggression

Dog Aggression

by Maureen Haggerty, CPDT

It’s common.
If you have a dog that is showing signs of aggression, you are not alone. Aggression is the number one behavior issue facing dog owners.
It is very difficult when our beloved companion, who is so affectionate at home becomes a menace at the dog park, or barks and growls at guests in our homes. Some of you may be experiencing your dog growling at you, perhaps when you try and take a bone from him, or at your spouse when he comes to give you a hug or kiss.

It’s normal.
Aggressive behaviors is almost always a normal canine survival response. Your dog is not abnormal or misbehaving; he is doing what he is naturally programmed to do. However, it is a problem when dogs live in a human world. It is therefore our responsibility to teach them what is normal and safe in our world, and that they can rely on us for their safety and survival.

What is aggression.
Aggressive behavior is almost always a response to a perceived threat by the dog. Either the dog perceives that his personal safety could be in danger or that resources needed for survival will be taken away.

When your dog growls, it is his way of communicating that he is uncomfortable with something and is asking for more distance from the perceived threat. If his communication is ignored, he may ask in a louder more obvious growl. If still ignored, he may feel his only option is to aggress and lash out with a bite.

There are other reasons for aggression. Aggression between dogs in the same household can be status related. If there is a sudden onset of aggression, it is possible that there is a medical cause for the aggression and the dog should be thoroughly examined by a vet. There are many medical causes of aggression, including a change in brain chemistry, low thyroid levels, loss of sight or hearing, and pain caused by either a physical injury or illness. There is also something called redirected aggression which occurs when the dog is highly aroused in a display of aggression but cannot get at the trigger. The aroused dog may turn and bite the nearest dog or person. Redirected aggression toward a person can occur when one tries to break up a fight or prevent a dog from fighting.

What you need to do now.
If the aggressive behavior is new, get your dog thoroughly examined by a vet, including a full blood work-up, before seeking behavioral help.

Do not punish aggressive behavior; this will make it worse. Instead, until you seek help, you must avoid situations which will trigger an aggressive response from your dog. If he can only be comfortable with dogs at least 100 feet away, then you need to keep him that distance. If your dog growls when you take his bone or grab his collar, then you need to avoid these situations (don’t give him bones and find other ways to bring him to you). This is very important because you do not want your dog to practice the unwanted behavior. The more a behavior is practiced the more it becomes ingrained. Further, if you continue to do something with which your dog is not comfortable, you risk someone or another dog getting bit.

Make note of what your dog growls at or otherwise behaves aggressively toward. It is these things to which you need to slowly accustom your dog, teaching him they are safe (provided they are). If not done appropriately, you risk worsening the situation or doing harm to your dog.

There’s help.
There are ways to effectively and positively modify and manage most aggressive behavior. Find a dog training professional who is experienced in working with aggressive behavior using strictly positive, dog-friendly techniques. These techniques are called counter-conditioning and systematic desensitization. When done successfully, the results are amazing. You will see your dog’s automatic response to what was once a threat change to one of calm and happiness - or even anticipation.

Maureen Haggerty, CPDT, Owner The Canine Coach, LLC
www.thek9coach.com

Articles: Basic Training

Basic Training Principles

Almost everything you need to Know!
by Maureen Haggerty

• Dogs repeat behaviors that work for them.

• Reinforce behaviors you like.
  Make them fun and rewarding for your dog.

• Prevent behaviors you don’t like.
  Use management to prevent your dog from practicing these behaviors. If they are practiced, make sure the behavior is not rewarding, so it is not reinforced.

• Provide for your dog’s behavioral needs.
  Many behaviors we do not like are natural dog behaviors. Rather than suppress these behaviors, provide appropriate outlets for them. (See Keeping Your Dog Busy.)

Maureen Haggerty, CPDT, Owner The Canine Coach, LLC
www.thek9coach.com

Food for Thought

We will be posting some more information on recent adoptions soon. For now, a little tidbit . . .

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide the difference you want to make.
--- Jane Goodall