Washington Humane Society Blog

Inside Dog Tags: WHS Welcomes a New Class!

Last week, the Washington Humane Society’s Behavior & Learning Center welcomed its latest group of Dog Tags students into the program.  Launched in Spring 2008, Dog Tags is an innovative three-tiered program designed to teach military service members the basics of dog training, providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary for pursuing a future career in animal training and welfare.  Dog Tags pairs service members with shelter dogs, allowing them to gain hands-on training experience and the therapeutic benefits of spending time with animals, while providing the dogs with much needed training, socialization and affection. 

This new class of Dog Tags students includes five active service members from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, two WHS employees and a WHS intern.  Several of the students enrolled in the program have grown up with dogs, and want to apply what they learn to train their own pets.   Others have more extensive experience with training and dog behavior, such as one student who has trained and titled hunting dogs, and plan to use this class to further their training knowledge.  There is a wide range of experience with animals among the students, but they all share a love and connection to animals. 

In Dog Tags class this week, the students were introduced to the fundamentals of dog training and the ways in which dogs learn.  Putting this new information into practice, they got to work hands-on with some of the shelter dogs.  One of the students’ favorite activities was teaching a few of the young puppies their names.  The puppies were rewarded with a tasty treat every time they looked at the person calling their name.  By the end of the exercise, the puppies were alert and focused whenever their name was called!  The students also got to work with several of the more mature dogs, trying to figure out which kind of reward was most motivating to each.  The dogs were asked to sit, and either verbal praise, touch (petting), a toy, or a piece of food was used as a reward when the dog offered the sit.  The students gauged the reaction to each of the rewards, and determined which one worked best at getting and keeping each dog’s attention.   Shelter dog Blossom was most motivated by a toy, while food worked best for Colette, and touch seemed to keep Wally’s attention the longest.  This exercise helped to show that every dog is an individual, and as a trainer, you often have to vary your training tools to determine what works best for each dog. 

This is just the beginning of the 8-week Dog Tags session. Each week, the WHS Behavior & Learning Center will be taking you inside the program through our blog, introducing you to our students, dogs, and program activities.

If you would like to help the Dog Tags program and all of the other wonderful programs of the Washington Humane Society please consider donating today by clicking here

 

Is Your Fido Frazzled?

Many of you may be familiar with Katie, the dog who on the day she was adopted from the Washington Humane Society (WHS), pulled out from her collar and fearfully fled into the Maryland woods.  Thankfully, after much effort by WHS staff, volunteers and her new adopters, she was safely recovered days later – but that’s not all there is to the story!  In a surprising turn of events, days after Katie was found, Katie’s five puppies along with her brother, Rico, were surrendered to the care of our shelter.   

They were all adorable variations of shepherd mixes – some had dark hair, some had light hair, some were short… some were shorter – but they all undoubtedly looked like Katie and their uncle Rico. From the start, it was noticeable that the puppies, like Katie, were a bit under-socialized and timid.  Rico also had his moments of timidity and was stressed by the shelter environment, but luckily all of them appeared to be extremely friendly and social.  The staff began working with the puppies in particular, exposing them to as many sights and sounds as possible.    

Socialization deficits, along with inherent nervousness, can grow into a number of problems for a dog.  Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to socialize their dog from puppyhood, or recognize that they may have a “Frazzled Fido” on their hands or that there are a number of ways to manage their pet’s stress and anxiety.   From thunderstorm phobias to vet visits and meeting new people, learning how to recognize and manage stress in your dog can do wonders to help them. 

The Washington Humane Society’s Behavior & Learning Center will be presenting the seminar “Frazzled Fido: Recognizing & Managing Stress in Your Dog” where we will discuss how dogs naturally cope with stress, how to recognize subtle to severe signs of anxiety, behavioral techniques to reduce stress and so much more!

Frazzled Fido is scheduled for this Sunday, June 26, 2011 from 10:00am – 12:30pm at the WHS Behavior and Learning Center located at 7315 Georgia Ave NW.

Registration Fee is $20 and pre-registration is required.

Register online at www.washhumane.org/blc.

 

A Smarter Dog, A Healthier You

Training your dog is not only good for your dog, it’s also good for you! Besides the benefit of spending quality time together with your companion animal, training your dog may also improve your physical and mental health. Here’s how:

Stress Reduction

When you think about stress relief, you may think of yoga, meditation, or a day at the spa, but research has shown that having a companion animal in your life can provide stress relief. Studies have indicated that having a dog (or cat!) can lower blood pressure and reduce the heart rate, and that almost any form of physical activity can reduce stress by boosting feel-good endorphins, distracting you from daily worries, and lowering symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. Training your dog gets you moving, and mentally and physically engaging with your dog is an excellent way to take some time out and remove yourself from life’s daily stressors as you find yourself concentrating on teaching a cool new trick.

Staying Mentally Active

Dog training not only exercises your dog’s mind, but yours as well. There’s always a new behavior or trick to train your dog, and the concentration needed to time your treats and praise so that your dog understands exactly which behavior earned him the rewards requires you to stay focused, alert, and fully engaged with your dog during your training session. Research indicates that learning and practicing new skills is a way to keep your mind sharp, and training your dog is a skill that will require learning and practice for both you and your dog.

Physical Fitness

An important piece of the training process is expanding your dog’s skills outside of your home. The perfect sit/stay you get in your living room won’t likely happen at the park until you have practiced there. Teaching good leash manners means getting out for lots of walks in order to practice, practice and practice some more, which means getting outdoors and getting active. Dog sports such as Agility, Freestyle, Tracking, and many others also require a lot of physical activity on the part of dog owners, requiring us to get off our sofas and start moving!

To help you get started on training your dog, the WHS Behavior & Learning Center is offering a $20 discount on 1-hour private training sessions through the months of July & August. We can help you with everything from basic manners to trick training, clicker training, or whatever interests you and your dog. Contact us at 202-723-5730 x122 or AskTheTrainer@washhumane.org to schedule your lesson today! Appointments are filling fast!

By Diana Foley, Behavior & Training Counselor

Catching Katie!

 Update on “Help Find Katie” posted May 31^st, 2011

For almost a week, Katie had been seen all over the park near her new home and visiting all of the other dogs nearby. Over the past 6 days since Katie went missing we received nearly a dozen calls reporting her whereabouts. A small army of WHS volunteers, most from our PACK program (People & Animal Cardio Klub) and some of her friends from the shelter including Penny (Who is still searching for a home of her own) went to go see if they could find her but by the time someone arrived, she was gone.  Scott Giacoppo and I started to look at the maps of all her sightings and we both figured where Katie was hanging out in. We consulted with one the nation’s top organizations for finding lost pets, The Missing Pet Partnership and with their help we devised a search strategy.

Today, Saturday, June 4th, 2011, I decided to take my sidekick Blazer who has the good habit of finding new dog friends where ever he goes. So with his search harness on we headed out and found a few deer paths that looked promising near where Katie was last seen. Walking through the heavy woods, full of mosquitoes, poison Ivy, more mosquitoes, thorn and sticker bushes, and even more mosquitoes we only found the tracks of deer, raccoons and surprised a few snakes that were not expecting us to be creeping around the woods. We found no dog tracks and nothing that gave us any hope. We began our mile long walk back and stopped to speak to a few people and some university police officers that had not seen Katie, but promised they would call if they did she her. Blazer and I looked at the map again and decided to try the wooded area on the other side of the search area we were in so we filled up on water and drove off to the next area.

As we rounded the corner to Rosemary Lane, we noticed a woman looking at the lost flyer. When I stopped and asked if she seen Katie, the woman said “yes, she was just here 10 minutes ago. “ She was close! I decided to go back to the house she was just spotted at, and there she was, just sitting in the yard like it was her house!

Now there are 2 ways to catch a dog, you can chase the dog and try to wear it out, that’s the hard way. Dogs tend not to like you afterwards and get very stressed out. Not a good way of catching a dog and I wanted Katie to like me, so the better option was to slowly approach her and with many treats and being as non-threatening as possible.  Ask any Animal Control Officer; they know how read what the animals are saying to them.  Katie was telling me that she would stick around because I had food but not to get too close. So I laid down on the ground and started feeding her treats. For about an hour I crawled on my hands and knees, and then slowly belly crawled closer and closer to her. As I inched up to her I never made eye contact with her, I was always looking past her or out of the corner of my eye. I made no sudden movements and even rolled over for her a few times, All the while being attacked by every gnat, fly and mosquito in the county. She realized I wasn’t there to hurt her so she laid there with me in the shade as I got closer. When I was a foot away she started to sniff me and I began to scratch her under her muzzle.  Katie was my friend then and there. I placed the lead around her neck and we slowly walked back to her new mom where Katie’s new harness and leash were put on and drove her back home to where she was finally able to be in her new home.

Katie had a lot of great people and neighbors looking out for her while she was out exploring, but stories like this don’t often get happy endings like Katie’s. Please make sure your pets are licensed and have register microchips. If your local Animal Control Officer does find your pet, they can get them home quickly. Pet parents should also talk with trainers and make sure their pets know their names. If your pets are trained to come when called those rare times when they might push the gate open or they run past the UPS man, you have a better chance of getting them back inside. Blazer knows his name because we constantly train and positively reinforce the cool things he learns.  Katie’s new mom is starting work on that right away and is just happy she is safe and starting her new life.

Katie’s new mom wants to send a big thank you to everyone involved in her search & rescue, and WHS wants to thank the Missing Pet Partnership for their assistance in developing a plan to catch Katie.

If you every do lose your pet, please contact your animal control department immediately and file a report then visit www.lostapet.org for the most helpful tips and techniques.

Submitted by Liam Hughes, Director of Animal Control Field Services, Washington Humane Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liam and Blazer