I wrote about this a long time ago. Back then I was calling it “Reverse BAT”. But, now I call it the Faith In Handler Drill. After that article, a ton of people have asked me to demonstrate it. Here’s a video of me showing to a dog/handler for the first time.
This is Firkin. She used to be super reactive. If anyone listens to the Podcast…. She’s the one that snapped the long line and went Zombie style on the door I narrowly exited.
But that was then…….
THIS. Is now.
This was outside a Starbucks in a strip mall. There’s a grocery store, a pet store, and a children’s bus stop there. No small feat!
Notice, the leash. Definitely prepared in case there’s a mistake…. But, loose from Firkin’s perspective. Not adding any negative energy. Her owner is learning to trust her ability to make good decisions.
New life for Firkin!
Good job.
Finish Forward Dogs presents…
Pack to Basics™ Advanced Socialization Solutions
with Chad Mackin!
When: Saturday April 26 & Sunday April 27, 2014
Where: 30 Spring Hill Rd. Saco, ME. 04072
Contact: Shannan Nutting, Jay Jack, and Amanda Buckner
info@finishforwarddogs.com
207-251-2296
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Both days, may run slightly longer.)
Fee: $349 per person/dog
*All spaces are on a first-come-first-serve basis, and space is limited.
A system that builds dogs’ social skills to balance their lives…
The key to Pack To Basics is to use the dogs’ naturally strong social behavior to reduce stress and fear; build confidence and language skills, allowing for many common behavior problems to slip away. This is an approach like none other! No punishment and no traditional training is needed to radically improve a dog’s behavior in and out of the home.
Dog aggression? Reduced or resolved in a couple of hours in many cases.
Rambunctiousness? Dogs quickly learn to moderate their own behavior.
Excess energy? Drain your dog of the frustration that causes destructive chewing, anxiety and much more.
Pack to Basics is a comprehensive approach to canine socialization, specifically geared towards dogs with known socialization issues. It includes everything from the initial evaluation to pre-training dogs before they can enter the social arena and preparing the questionable dogs to safely enter the socialization classes.
Pack to Basics is an advanced socialization process that focuses on the dogs that are typically excluded from doggie daycares and other socialization venues. Because of this fact, Pack to Basics offers us an opportunity to help dogs that otherwise might not be able to ever run with other dogs.
Our Pack to Basics classes are revolutionary in their approach and in their results. By allowing dogs with difficulties getting along with other dogs to interact with the right kinds of dogs, they learn not merely to control their aggressive behavior, but to actually enjoy getting along with other dogs.
The two day Pack to Basics workshop is a fun and informative workshop designed to enable dog trainers to share the benefits of Pack to Basics socialization with their clients and their dogs.
Pack to Basics is a unique system for socializing dogs who otherwise might not be allowed to socialize in dog parks and doggie daycares because of anti-social tendencies. We have seen amazing results in hundreds of dogs who have been labeled dog aggressive or dangerous by other dog professionals.

Included in your Pack To Basics Workshop:
• The causes of aggression, the number one reason dogs fight, and how to quickly stop a dog fight. • How to recognize true dog aggression versus bad manners and poor social skills.
• How to evaluate dogs, and their owners prior to the class.
• How to prepare dogs and clients who need some work before socializing.
• How to safely run a class, and how to recognize trouble brewing before it becomes trouble. • When to let things go and when to step in, as well as how to safely step in.
We use a combination of videos, live demonstrations, active socialization sessions, and discussion to reach all students. While the workshop is designed for dog professionals, many dog owners have attended these workshops over the years and all have learned a lot and had a great time. Running Pack to Basics classes is the most valuable thing I offer my clients and it allows me to quickly solve problems other trainers take months or even years to solve.
What is Pack to Basics?
Pack to Basics is the best answer to the socialization question. It is more than merely letting the dogs run together. It begins with proper evaluation of the dog, continues through pre-training dogs who aren’t ready to socialize off leash, and finally it ends with safely socializing dogs who are ready. Workshop attendees can expect two informative days about dog aggression, canine body language, canine socialization. Each day will include lecture, practical work, and video presentations. Every workshop is different because the dogs at each workshop will be different.
Who should attend P2B workshops?
P2B workshops are open to any adults who want to attend. While the workshops are geared for professionals, there is usually one or more dog owner attending who just wants to understand their dog better. The feedback from them is always positive. The program avoids a lot of jargon and instead relies on plain English to communicate ideas so people of all backgrounds can usually follow. However, the material is best-suited for those with dog experience.
Are you a dog trainer?
Learn how to cure your clients problems quicker than ever before possible in a way that will be fun for your owners and their dogs. Bring clients back over, and over again into your business by offering occasional social classes. Your services will be so unique that you should expect more referral business than ever before.
Own or work at a Doggy Daycare?
Learn how to evaluate dogs to determine who is safe to play and who is not. You’ll immediately benefit as you avoid damage to your clients’ dogs. By offering a solution for problematic dogs, you’ll turn unacceptable dogs into your customers…and those people will bring their friends. Also, bring your key staff members. Help them learn dog handling and dog safety rules for dogs at play. Keep your staff and your investment safer.
Are you a pet sitter or dog walker?
Know what to look for when socializing dogs together in your environment or theirs. Make progress with dog behaviors that the average sitter or walker will never understand. You’ll become the “go to” professional in your location.
Can I bring a dog?
Please do! While the workshop could be done without any dogs (we have enough videos to make up the difference) there is a real benefit to having dogs there for practical demonstrations and practice. Any kind of dog will be useful. Some dogs are not suitable for socialization sessions, but they are valuable for the workshop nonetheless because their evaluations are the most important. However, all dogs should be crate trained, attendees will need to provide their own crate.
Can I see video of what this all looks like?
You can see a video at www.packtobasics.com. The focus of the video is a dog named Ringo who was in danger of being euthanized by Southeast Texas Lab Rescue because of his aggressive behavior towards other dogs. After a little less than two weeks we shot the video of Ringo running with a group of other dogs in an 2,000 square foot room.
Who is teaching the workshop?
Chad Mackin will be teaching the workshop. Chad has been training dogs professionally since March of 1993. He developed Pack to Basics after being introduced to Large Field Socialization by Dick Russell. Chad immediately recognized the value in what was happening and set about finding a way to make it work in smaller spaces. Chad brought all his years of experience with difficult and aggressive dogs to the problem and over time Chad developed the program presented in workshops today. Chad is a former President of The International Association of Canine Professionals, as well as the current Director of Training for A+ Dog Obedience in Webster, TX. He has presented on Pack To Basics at the IACP Conference in Hutto TX, and at National K-9 school for dog trainers, as well as private facilities across the US and in Canada.
Please see his website for more information: www.PacktoBasics.com You can also join his on-line community at: www.facebook.com/Pack-to-Basics and www.twitter.com/PackToBasics
Will I receive a Certificate of Attendance?
A Certificate of Attendance will be provided!
When: Saturday April 26th & Sunday April 27th, 2014 Where: 30 Spring Hill Rd., Saco, ME 04072
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Both days, may run slightly longer.)
Fee: $349 per person/dog
To Register – Mail Check & April2014 – Socialization – Maine to:
Finish Forward Dogs Inc.
30 Spring Hill Rd.
ME 04072
For more information, please contact Jay Jack:
Email: 3badbullies@gmail.com
Phone: (207) 712-5955
I found a really cool article on Sacramento Dog Behavior on the 7 common mistakes people make in their Behavior Modification work. It’s really interesting. Check it out:
Are you afraid of spiders? Me too. But I’m not running around and screaming because of the freakishly large spiders in South America. Why? Because they’re too far away to present a threat to me.
Distance affects reactivity. The closer you get to something you fear, the greater your level of stress. Once the stress reaches a certain level, the brain tells us to react in some way that increases our chance of survival, which can include avoidance…or aggression. The other thing the brain tells us is to stop wasting energy on non-essential functions in that moment. Like eating. Or thinking.
If your dog is exhibiting any type of avoidance or aggression in the presence of a dog, person, or other trigger, you are too close (early warning sign – your normally polite dog starts painfully ripping the treats from your hand). Anything you attempt at this level is only going to amount to temporary suppression of behavior, which is not the same as changing the underlying emotion behind the behavior.
Behavior modification happens at a distance the dog is aware of the trigger but not showing any negative reaction, often referred to as under-threshold. If your dog reacts, MOVE. Get her out of the situation and to a distance that she can give you a behavior you can reward.
So, you don’t like clickers because they seem gimmicky, and you don’t want to say “Yes!” because it sounds silly. Frankly, I don’t care what sound you use, but if you’re going to be effective, you MUST have great timing. You will never have great timing with just the treat in your pocket.
The point of a clicker (or “yes!” or a click of your tongue, or whatever) is that you have a unique sound that marks the moment of your dog’s brilliance. That sound has been consistently paired with rewards so that the moment your dog hears it, the reward centers of the brain start churning out dopamine, which feels good. So, even if you are caught digging around in the pocket of your jeans for the treat, you’ve still captured the behavior the instant it happened, increasing the chance that your dog will do it again next time.
Why not just use “good dog/boy/girl?” Well, because it’s slower but, more importantly, you probably don’t give your dog a food reward after saying it, so it doesn’t have the association needed to have that feel good effect. Worse, if you say “Good boy” before patting your dog on the head, which he hates, you could be using a marker that has a bad association.
Things can happen quickly with a reactive dog and if you don’t instantly capture that brilliant moment your dog looks at you the moment he spots a new dog, you’re going to end up rewarding the wrong thing.
Impulse control is one of the most common problems with “problematic dogs”. They see the squirrel/postman/dog/bike, and they are gone. You do not exist to them anymore.
And, the typical training responses are:
A- Correct them big enough so they will listen
B- If you get a high enough value treat, they would listen.
C- If they “respected” you, they would listen.
I’m sure there are more, but, you get the point.
Here are the problems with those.
They work. In the short term, they totally work.But they cost you in different ways.
A- You can correct the shit out of a dog and get it off of something. But….. Unless you have the hardest of the hard dogs, it going to damage the relationship. Never mind that it can damage the dog. But, you see this with old school trainers. Their dogs are obedient as hell, and totally under control. But, their squinting like they’re looking into a spotlight. Flattened dog. Not my idea of a good relationship.
B- You can put a handful of treats in the dogs face and “magnetically” draw them away from whatever got them nuts. Totally works. But you have to have higher value treats than the “distraction”. And you have to have them all the time. And your dog is excited by the food, and so you end up with this hyper, fat, stressed out dog. Not to mention the stressed out parents! There is a very familiar look on their face as the get to the bottom of the life saving bag of cheese.
C- If you live with the dog skillfully in your home. They wait for their food. They yield you space. They listen to you INSIDE. But….. OUTSIDE…… They’re a monster. I don’t think the problem is “respect”. If they didn’t respect you IN the house….. Maybe that argument would have legs. But, I see TONS of people who have angels in the house, and a devil on the streets. Those dogs (generally) don’t lack “respect” they lack impulse control. So, the “respect” camp will say “Rules, Boundaries, and “Limitations”. Obedience to correct behavior. And it sorta works. If they’re “downing” they aren’t chasing. But the problem comes with how you keep them doing these things when they get REALLY excited. And now we’re back to the bigger “Carrots and Sticks” issue of the above A, and B.
Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use food, or corrections. I use both. But you should use them to TEACH….. Not to “manage”. And that’s a HUGE difference.
Nice. Sounds good. So what.
Now that everyone is mad at me……
I’ll tell you what I do.
I teach my dogs to meditate.
Ok, that sounds like hippy shit….. But it’s kind of true.
The “Place” command is meditation for dogs.
The place command, is asking your dog to lay in a bed (or whatever) and stay there until you release them. But, it really goes much deeper than that. For them to be ABLE to stay in their spot, they have to have some self control. They have to be able to stay calm, even through temptations. Now, that is good for your ability to manage them. But, honestly, it’s really just good for them to have that kind of emotional control. Dogs are cute wound up, and playing…. But…. For their own sanity, and health, they really should be ABLE to bring it down for a bit. A long “stay” is a great way to develop those skills. They end up working the same kind of skills as people when we meditate. They learn to relax into this spot, and stop fighting the urge to get up. They learn to have a thought enter their head and try to steal their attention, and let it go without having it break them. They learn to center themselves, and allow distractions to come and then go. No shit, it is meditation for dogs.
Now, I chose “Place” and not a “Down” because I’m way more concerned with geographic location, and emotional state than a particular position. The “Place” command allows them to stand up. Stretch. Circle around. Whatever. Just stay on the bed, and stay cool. Now, they don’t have to stay there forever. But, should be able to stay there for at least 30 min. Then when they can manage that, you go to novel places or add other distractions!
Yes, you food and corrections to shape this skill, but the point is to get to as little food and corrections as possible. Ideally, I want the relationship (Social +R and -P if you want to get fancy) to be the motivator.
The whole point of this isn’t to have the “Place” as a management tool. That’s just a cool side effect.
The point is to help the dog literally increase their ability to SELF REGULATE. It is just like meditation for people.
And, just like meditation for people the benefits will show in areas off the Place/Meditation mats….
That improved impulse control can solve a ton of issues. From separation anxiety, to different types of reactivity.
It allows the dog to be able to display their respect for you, and listen to you ask them to ignore the squirrel/postman/dog/bike.
So, teach your pup, the long “place”. Understand what it’s for.
Teach your dog to meditate.
Hell, you could learn how and do it with them.
Probably wouldn’t kill you to learn to relax a little yourself!
From the Pack To Basics Facebook page:
I call it The Golden Road to Rehabilitation and it goes like this: Let the old path become overgrown and difficult to navigate while making the new (preferred) path easier and more accessible.
This may sound trite at first, but this simple expression contains a complex and far-reaching truth. As you will see, we are not merely dealing with things on behavioral level. This approach actually approaches rehabilitation on a physiological level.
This Golden Road requires that we deal with two powerful motivating factors. Most behavior modification approaches focus on the fact that most beings will consistently seek out the path of least resistance. But there is one significant exception to that principle which can throw a serious wrench in that approach. That is when we are dealing with habitual behavior. We will often cling to habits that are inefficient and create more stress and chaos because, well, that’s the nature of habits. Habits become ingrained physiologically in a specific part of our brain and become somewhat involuntary. For example, people will often reach for a light switch in a room and flip it a few times even if they know that the bulb is burnt out. Or in another situation, stand outside an elevator and see how many people press the button when it is already lit. So we cannot rely on simply creating an easier path to the desired goal when the problem is habitual.
This is why the first component of the Golden Road is “Let the old path become overgrown.” You see, this “path” is not merely a metaphor. I am speaking of neurological pathways. As behaviors are reinforced and practiced they change the physical characteristics of the brain. So when we are changing habits we are re-organizing the brain. By denying the use of specific neural pathways we literally make it more difficult to perform the undesired behavior. When I say to let the path become overgrown this is what I mean. We stop traffic down those neural pathways (as much as we can) in order to diminish their usability.
There are a number of ways we can do this, but the consistent thread must be that the dog (at the very least) can no longer engage in the unwanted behavior. That may mean we anything from simply taking away the opportunity, to interrupting each attempt to the application of an appropriate aversive. Whatever the situation calls for and whatever you, as a trainer/handler are comfortable with.
Rarely are aversives necessary in this process, and strong aversives even less so. This is especially true if the first path you steer the dog away from is the path of adrenaline and instability. I point this out because it was solving the adrenaline paradigm that forced me to realize that the two-fold approach is the most effective way to get the job done. The adrenaline pattern isn’t strictly a behavior issue, nor is it an entirely voluntary process for the dog, and it is almost always habitual by the time the dog gets to see me. So we are dealing with a strong, largely involuntary habit that is not about a specific behavior but about a state of mind. To successfully and consistently deal with this issue, requires a good understanding of the Golden Road (if only an intuitive one). As I started to really get into this process the details became more clear and my intuitive understanding of the give and take of these two goals grew. But it wasn’t until I was reading a book about behavior on a neurological level that an intellectual understanding became more clear.
I used to say behavior modification was all about changing habits, “The first thing you have to do to stop smoking is to stop lighting cigarettes. Until you do that, you haven’t begun to quit. And the moment you start lighting them, you’ve stopped quitting.” This approach served me well for years. And I helped a number of dogs and dog owners by simply getting their dogs out of the old habit. The problem with that is that habits take time to break. It worked, but it required a lot of persistent management from my clients. A few moments of lapsed attention could set them back weeks because the dog had no internal motivation to change and plenty of motivation (habit) to revert to the old behavior.
So while the first step is to weaken the power of habitual behavior, making it easier for the dog to choose an easier path, simply weakening the habit will not finish the job in many cases. We need to add another process.
This is where”Do this instead” comes into play. We teach the dog an easier path to gain what he wants. This is a valuable tool, but on it’s own, it can’t always break a habit. Without the first part, it may not do anything at all.
Regardless of how hard we try to slow traffic down those neural pathways or deny the intended reward if we don’t build that new path, we may never get rid of the old habit. Consider the habit of looking at your watch to check the time. I haven’t worn a watch in years, but I still find myself looking at my wrist from time to time especially if I am wearing a wrist band of some sort. This is because habits are not always diminished when the reward is diminished or removed. However, I have a new habit that is more prevalent. I search my pockets for my phone. This is a much more complicated ritual than looking at my wrist, and if both produced equal results looking at my wrist would be superior by far. But the the former doesn’t produce the desired result so it has stopped being the default. However, if I didn’t have the phone, I would likely still be looking at my wrist every time I wanted to know the time.
In this case, we are adjusting the the neural pathways in the brain through consistent use. We are making the desired behavior not merely more desirable, but physiologically easier to perform.
As you can see, the combination of these two valuable principles creates a situation that will ultimately result in the dog choosing a different set of behaviors when faced with old triggers.
The dynamics of the process will vary from dog to dog, case to case, and trainer to trainer, but these two goals are at the heart of all successful rehabilitation regardless of the method or approach used, and regardless of whether the rehabilitator understands them on more than an intuitive level. With a full understanding of the principles of the Golden Road, and the resolve to succeed, there are few problems that are unsolvable.
Apparently, there’s a little “controversy” going on regarding “calming” signals.
Some people call them calming signals, and mean that they are signals that the dog is calming down. As in, they are self soothing, and those are the “tells”.
Other people say that they are “stress” signals. As in, the dog is worried and feeling anxious, and those signs are their “tells”. I’m not talking about ALL “stress signals”. I’m talking about the overlapping ones. Obviously, “Whale Eye” isn’t a “Calming Signal”. The arguments occur in the overlapping ones. “Yawning”, “Shake Offs”, Etc…..
Still, other people say that they are trying to calm other beings down. This is popular socialization circles. They see the dog doing “Shake Offs” and feel like it’s not a “tell” of their feelings, but that they are actually trying to signal the other dog to calm down.
These discussions can get heated.
(Of course….. everything gets heated on the internet)
So…. Who’s right?
They all are.
Dogs use signals for all of those reasons.
Communication evolves. And here is my opinion of how these developed.
Dogs naturally display certain indicators of relaxation. These are the classic indicator type of calming signals. The dog isn’t consciously doing them. They are “tells” of their deepening relaxation.
When this is done enough….. Dogs have trained themselves in conditioned relaxation. As in, they associate those actions with a deepening sense of relaxation, and when they start feeling stressed, they do them in an attempt to induce the sensation associated with it. It’s the same signals designed to self soothe. Same signals….. Drastically different causes.
This happens when they interact with other Dogs. They feel stressed, and so they display those signals. The other dogs see this and (if they aren’t rude little shits) back off a bit. Dogs see the pattern, and realize that those signals can induce relaxation in others. Now they are using them as a communication. Same signals…. Another TOTALLY different cause.
Damn…..
That doesn’t seem helpful.
If they can mean all three things, how are you supposed to know what they mean?
Ah….. The same way that you know your wife is pissed, before she says a word. The same way you know your best friend has a secret they’re just dying to tell you. You get to fucking know your dog!
The same expression can mean they are getting calm, and that calm is leaking out. They’re getting stressed and trying to self regulate. Hell, they can literally be asking you for help with that same signal! As in “Mom….. help! I’m scared of that!”.
Your main job in this relationship (hell in ANY relationship) is to learn their communication. It’s about very subtle differences, and context.
If my dog is laying in front of a fire place and yawns….. He’s probably deepening into “relaxed”. That’s a calming signal.
If I’m having him face some of his issues during training and he yawns. He’s probably self soothing. And that’s a stress signal.
If he’s playing in the yard with dogs, and yawns out of nowhere, and that’s just before play stopped for a second. That was a calming signal as in “hey let’s take it down a notch”.
You have to go through training and life experiences with your dog until you “know” what they’re saying.
So, they’re all right.
Pay attention to your dog, and let them tell you what they mean.
Next time you are on the internet with someone over the meaning of dog signals….
Quickly look over your shoulder and see if your dogs isn’t sitting there just trying to tell you something.
It’s a relationship. Go relate.
Apparently, this is my long lost heavily accented relative. Agree with everything!
By now, you’ve all seen the “Yellow Dog Project“.
You know…. The yellow paraphernalia that indicates your dog needs space.
At first I thought this was a good idea. You know, very polite way of saying, “please don’t molest my dog”.
The problem that I find developing, is two fold:
1. Most “non-dog” people won’t know what the hell it is. And let’s face it….. the less “dog-people” they are, the more likely they are to to molest, this, now, “cutely adorned” pup. OK, that’s obvious. That’s the YDP’s mission right now. Spread the word. Fine.
2. Here’s the “Cobra Effect” for this particular conundrum: IF people DO learn about the YDP….. They will naturally assume that dogs without yellow are OK to molest! Think about it….. Your talking to someone. You’ve worked for MONTHS to get your troubled little mutt well behaved enough to be out in public. They are in a down stay, on a 3 ft leash. Out of nowhere, someone decides your cute dog “needs a kiss”. Goes into a pushup in your dogs grill…… And gets “bit” (don’t get me started on what constitutes a “bite” I’ll do that in another post). “WTF……! Why didn’t you have YELLOW on that dog? I would have never done that if I knew he was sketchy?!?!”.
And that right there is the problem. The YDP is inadvertently perpetuating the “Lassie Myth”. You know…. Every dog is Lassie. Awesome, and loving, and friendly. Every dog, just CAN’T WAIT to be hugged and caressed by every person they see. Well, every good dog. Except for the really F**ked up ones. And they should never go out of their house. Well, at least without yellow on so good people know to avoid them.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
Why do I have to put a symbol on my dog to alert you to the fact that I’d prefer you not invade their space without my knowledge or permission. How ’bout you don’t molest other beings without invitation as a general rule? Or, if you’re one of those “animals are property, and not autonomous beings” folks….. How ’bout you don’t touch MY shit without asking!?
Really….. Is that too much to ask?
Look, I’m not trying to blast YDP. Honestly, I applaud them for trying to help the “non Lassie” dogs of the world. I don’t have a better idea, or I’d be promoting THAT.
I’m wrestling with this issue myself RIGHT NOW.
One of our dogs, is a naturally HYPER dog. And he thinks the best way to show affection is to press his face into yours as hard as he can. Which, wouldn’t really be a problem if he did it slow. But….. Stupid, doesn’t do ANYTHING slow. And so some would call this more of a “muzzle punch” than a kiss. We know this is problematic. We are working with him with professionals. He is NOT allowed unsupervised around unapproved people. And anyone that is allowed inside his 3 ft leash radius is warned, and guarded. The problem is with that pesky word “allowed”. See, I can’t stop people from invading his space. I mean I “can” (remind me to tell the story about me pushing an old woman into a display of cat food at a PetCo), but I can’t catch everyone, ALL the time.
That example I gave earlier, was not made up. In fact….. What actually happened was even more ridiculous. I had to take our little hyper ball to the vet to have a bandage removed and staples replaced in his leg. And I KNOW he’s problematic. So, I ask for him to be sedated to get through this as easily as possible. They say no. After wrestlefucking the bandage off and seeing his level of stupidity, they agreed to sedate. Vet returns with a tech, and all the gear. We put on the local, and are waiting for it to work, when the vet just puts in a staple. All hell breaks loose. After wrestling my now CRAZY dog into submission. I ask what happened to the sedative. “Oops….. Forgot…… Most dogs don’t need that.” “Should we sedate him now?”. Screw it. Just staple him. He’s already pissed, lets just get it done. Three staples later….. My dog is WOUND. I mean, no exercise for a week, in pain, traumatic experience at the vet WOUND THE F**CK UP. When we get done. I IMMEDIATELY take my dog to the other side of the room and start running obedience to get his brain back on me. It works. About a minute or two, and he’s back. I go back over to the vet. Put him in a down And hold my 3 ft leash. As I’m discussing aftercare with the vet….. The tech decides my dog needed a kiss, after doing so well. Seriously. She really did. Of course he punches the holy shit out of her. I correct the hell out of him, and re-down him. He holds it. Of course he cut her. Muzzle punches do make teeth contact many times. Whatever. According to the vet, the tech, and unfortunately the law….. My dog just “attacked a person, and bit their face”.
This puts me in a prolonged discussion with my local Animal Control Officer. Who has to inform me that my dog now has a “bite history”. And as I describe the incident, he acknowledges that the circumstances suck. He tells me the only thing I could have done better was to have my dog in a muzzle. I explain that a muzzle wouldn’t have done anything. He still would’ve punched her. Probably still cut her. Hell if he’d have had a “basket/metal” muzzle on, it would’ve been WAAAAY worse. It was at that point he enlightened me. See, the muzzle isn’t for the protection of the people. It’s FOR THE DOG! 90% of the bites this guy sees are from dogs that are PHYSICALLY UNDER CONTROL, that someone WITHOUT PERMISSION tries to kiss/pet. The muzzle prevents that. No one wants to pet the dog with a muzzle. Hell, no one wants to be near a dog in a muzzle. This ACO, actually told me “you CANNOT stop people from touching your dog without permission. So if your dog even has a chance of reacting poorly to a kiss from a stranger….. Either, don’t take them out in public to avoid it. Or muzzle them so no one will approach”.
Screw the Yellow Dog Project….. Just muzzle them.
He’s right. I usually have to ask people not to approach my little problem dog, and it’s hard. Cause he’s so damn cute. Last time I took him in to the vet for his “bite quarantine” follow up. he was muzzled because they required it. And you know what….. No one wanted to pet him. Hell one guy literally stood up on the bench to avoid him. A kid started crying because she was scared. Awesome.
So much for elevating the opinion of the breed.
What are we teaching people?
I know this will never work, cause people suck…..
But couldn’t we try, just not screwing with beings or property without invitation?
Probably not.
I’ll just get all our dogs muzzles.
And one for me too. Since honestly it would be really convenient for people to just avoid me too.
Wow. I may have just created the perfect social tactic. Next time you’re in a bar, and don’t want to get hit on, or on the bus, and don’t want to socialize…..
Just break out your Hannible Lecter muzzle, and enjoy the privacy.
But just to be sure…. I’m gonna put a yellow ribbon on mine.
Can’t be too careful.
3 Bad Bullies 