Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Dogs Poisoned in Washington State

Here's a story that should shake up everyone who has a dog. In Washington state someone is killing dogs using poisoned laced meatballs.

I've heard about this before and its one of those things that can only be explained as absolute idiocy.

Please watch the video and spread the word. There are ways to train your dog not to eat food from strangers, but it is a lot of work. I would suggest you keep you dog closer to your home than the fence in your yard and monitor him when he is out. IF, you should happen to know someone who is doing something like this, please report it to us or your local police department.

Giving a voice to animals,

Robert

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Revolution Has Begun




I received an email the other day and it floored me, I wanted to share it with you. I met Dennis through my good friend Kim a few months ago. He runs a pet store in Camarillo and his passion is saving dogs. He is a one of a kind guy and a real stand up person. He told me that he really loved the concept of Bound Angels, and had created a media center in his store that shows Bound Angels videos all day long. The center is beautifully created and a joy to visit. Everyone who walks into All Pet Headquarters in Camarillo can see the videos playing, learn about adopting shelter dogs, and NOW... adopt a shelter dog right there.

Dennis has dedicated an entire area of his store to puppies from kill-shelters that can be adopted from him instead of buying one. My hat is off to Dennis. The photo above is the marquee over the area where the puppies are house. He concept was a Knight riding in and freeing a dog and bringing him to a forever home. Here's a quick quote from the email which made my day:

"Robert, I truly like your work and think you do a great job with the videos and also believe the revolution has begun. A tribute to your work……Dennis"

Friday, February 12, 2010

Dealing with Fear Aggression

Last week a friend of mine asked me for some help in dealing with a pair of German Shepherds that were adopted to a very nice lady living in Santa Barbara. The best part of the story is that after these two a father and daughter had sat in the shelter for almost a year, they were adopted from a youtube video inspired by our Shelter Angel Video Program.

Well, it seems as though the girl, Lilly had a little bit of a biting issue. Some trainers had worked with her, but the lady was still a little pensive about how to handle Lilly. I offered to ride up with my friend and pay a visit.

This was a classic example of fear based aggression which is oftentimes mis-diagnosed as dominance. This is a very bad mistake and can be impossible to fix if not properly handled. Trainers who approach all situations with a blanket approach are the culprits of messing up more dogs than anything. I've seen motivational based trainers mess up dogs with serious dominance issues and correction based trainers mess up dogs with fear based aggression. I was happy to step in in place of a trainer who might screw this girl up any more.

I could see immediately that Lilly was very insecure without her dad Romi around. So I taught the owner how to build up Lilly's confidence and work from there. I will post an article over at www.blackbeltdogtraining.com in the next week on how to deal with fear based aggression in dogs.

The most important thing I would like to stress here is that it is crucial in dealing with a dog with aggression to determine the cause of it before you try to solve it. A good trainer / behaviorist will cost a bit more, but will solve the problem in a manner that is fair to the dog and it will work. I received an email that the owner already better understands how to deal with Lilly's personality and is doing the homework to get her on her way.