Anna Jane Grossman 2013-05-24T21:27:27-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=anna-jane-grossman Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Anna Jane Grossman Good old fashioned elbow grease. Positive Reinforcement vs. Positive Thinking (And Why Pollyanna Would've Sucked at Dog Training) tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2838927 2013-03-11T12:19:50-04:00 2013-05-11T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ branded manifesto). Most commonly, it is called "positive reinforcement training." That's fine with me, but the fact is that many people don't hear anything past the word "positive." The word so often stops people and sends them away. Hello, are you still reading this?

I think this is because the word "positive" can summon ideas of eyeroll-inducing gooiness, hearts and flowers and incense. All of that is fine, but it has nothing to do with dog training. That's why I so often find myself trying to explain to my clients that "positive reinforcement" has pretty much nothing to do with positive thinking or maintaining a good outlook. Otherwise said: Cynics can be very good positive reinforcement dog trainers.

I got to thinking about positive thinking after reading my friend Ruth Graham's Atlantic essay on the centennial of the book Pollyanna, which is about a chaffingly-optimistic little girl who goes around attempting to show everyone the bright side of horse poop. Ruth's piece wonders why Pollyanna's 100th birthday isn't being met with more fanfare, considering the fact that happiness is so friggin' in. She writes:

Her gladness is Gladwellian: It's not a state of mind, but rather a skill that becomes stronger with practice. As the freckled little guru herself put it, "When you're hunting for the glad things, you sort of forget the other kind." Welcome to the 21st century, Pollyanna. You'll fit right in.


I was raised by two very positive thinkers, both of whom have often been called Pollyanna, although that is neither of their names. My mom is so devoted to the adage that "there's always good that comes out of bad" that I used to suspect she thought the bad things happened so that good would come. My dad is more forward thinking in his positivity. He believes if he thinks good things, they will happen. If he's running late, for instance, he insists that if he imagines a cab coming, it will better the chances that it will appear. They are both aware that others sometimes mock their efforts to be positive. When I emailed them Ruth's article, each separately, dad signed his reply email Pollydada, and mom signed her's Mommyanna.

All this led to a confusing childhood where I'd attempt to picture good things happening, and then when they didn't, I'd work to see the good that came out of bad. This was an exhausting way to try to find contentedness in the quotidian. (Smoking is so much easier).

Indeed, I've grown resistant to this way of life as an adult, although it's something that I've tried. I've mouthed compliments and offered gratitude when I didn't really mean it. I've written inspirational notes and put them on my wall. I've tried to list reasons why something I don't want to do -- see a guy I'm not into, or finish an assignment that sucks -- is really good in more ways that it isn't. But, like my friend Ruth points out, it has always been more of an attempt at tool use than something stemming from an innately sunny outlook. And positivity is a tool with a variable success rate. Sometimes things just suck. And often, there really is no cab.

So, I feel a little funny when I suspect that a new client is trying to please me by saying something like, "I've been trying to stay positive." I might be a "positive reinforcement" dog trainer, but I operate in the realm of positive in the mathematical sense, rather than "positive" like trying to find the good in the fact that your dog doesn't come when called. As someone who spends an inordinate time cleaning up poop, I can tell you that one can be pretty grumpy much of the time and still have a well-behaved dog.

Positive, in the world of animal behavior, means adding something. Reinforcement means making something more likely to occur. So, "positive reinforcement" just means adding something to the equation to encourage that a behavior will happen again. We encourage the behaviors we like, and, by limiting the possible choices the animal has to make and using good timing and rewards, we can end up eradicating a lot of the stuff we don't like.

Of course, positive reinforcement isn't always used wisely. You can easily positively reinforce stuff that isn't nice -- stuff you don't like. For instance, when my neighbor's dog goes berserk, my neighbor yells at her. And the dog keeps barking. The fact that the behavior keeps happening means that it's somehow being reinforced. Of course, barking is reinforcing in and of itself. I'm pretty sure, if you're a dog, it feels good. But the yelling might also be positive reinforcement: To the dog, it likely seems like a dose of attention. Attention is being added to the equation -- yelling is the positive -- and it's bettering the chances that the barking will continue to go on. Likewise, feeding a dog from the table is "positive" because you're adding food to the dog's mouth. And encouraging the chances that he'll sit at the table and stare at you again at the next meal.

To make the wording of this kind of behavior speak even more confusing is the fact that there is also such a thing as positive punishment. Again, the "positive" here just means adding something. Imagine you were to call me something irksome. I don't know. A whore. A mean fatty. A Cesar Millan groupie. Whatever. Well, if the consequence to that behavior was me adding my knuckles to your cheek, that'd be a positive. And, if getting punched is something that will decrease the chance of you doing the preceding behavior (calling me a Cesar lover!), then my punch would be a form of positive punishment. Of course, if you liked being hit, then it'd only reinforce the behavior. For the masochist, punching may be a form of positive reinforcement.

But here's one point that Pollyanna had right. When you're thinking about good stuff, it's hard to also be thinking about bad stuff. So, I guess if you're thinking that about how much you love your dog, you're not also thinking about the fact that he peed your bed. I guess that's one way to deal with the problem.

This post originally appeared on TheDogs. ]]> Training a Cat Actor for Broadway? Better Understand the Peculiar World of Feline Motivation tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2813952 2013-03-07T11:56:12-05:00 2013-05-07T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ New York Times ran a story of the search for an appropriate feline to play the animal character, who doesn't get a whole lot of love in the script (the narrator describes him as "thug faced;" Holly Golightly refers to him as "poor slob without a name"). On Broadway, there are two cats sharing the role. Vito and Montie are being trained by Babette Corelli, one of the trainers at New York City's Dawn Animal Agency. Both cats are rescues. Yay rescues! It's worth noting, here that the dog Sandy in the current Broadway production of Annie, is also a rescue. The Times article suggests that animals that come from shelter environments are better able to deal with hectic environments of movie sets and theater stages. I think this is a bit of a dangerous generalization, not unlike making a statement like "foster kids are really great at adapting to change." But still...Yay rescues!

Cat training is a pretty misunderstood area. Dogs have evolved for tens of thousands of years to mooch off us. We've co-evolved. Studies suggest that they learn from us better than a chimp will learn from a human. This is because their survival has largely depended on their ability to understand us. Cats, on the other hand, evolved to eat the small critters that eat our garbage. This led to the evolution of a different kind of lifestyle. One where they could afford to be picky eaters and to do things on their own schedule -- there was a lot of garbage, and it wasn't going anywhere.

Training is just a game of finding a creature's motivation and then delivering it wisely. What makes cats notoriously difficult to train is the complexity of their reward systems. They are usually not as motivated by the two big things we use to train dogs: food and human attention. They are more interested in things that are harder for us to dole out in exact proportions: Curiosity, sleep, licking themselves. Lasagna.

In the film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Cat was played by Orangey, an orange tabby from Queens. Orangey was trained by Frank Inn. Inn was a Quaker from Indiana who hitchhiked to Hollywood because he wanted to be in the movie business. While sweeping on the set of The Thin Man, he noticed a trainer having difficulty with a dog and he offered to help. Inn had learned to train dogs when he was stuck in a wheelchair as a teenager after being hit by a drunk driver; he'd gotten his dog, Jeep, to help him out around the house while he was incapacitated. His work on The Thin Man led to a long career as a Hollywood animal trainer. He was responsible for getting Arnold the pig to play piano in Green Acres; he taught Benji everything he knew. In 1961, he was asked to find a cat suitable for acting opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In his book about the making of the film, 5th Avenue, 5AM, Sam Wasson tells of the casting process.
The production held an open cat-call at New York's Hotel Commodore, at which 25 orange-furred hopefuls appeared freshly preened and plucked. After an arduous round of auditions and callbacks, the twelve-pound Orangey, belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Murphy of Hollis, Queens, was named the winner. "He's a real New York type cat," Inn declared, "just what we want. In no time at all I'm going to make a method, or Lee Strasberg type, cat out of him."

For his work in the role, Orangey won the American Humane Association's PATSY award: Performing Animal Television Star of the Year. Orangey also plays the role of a baseball team owning millionaire in the 1951 film Rhubarb. 

In the Breakfast at Tiffany's, Orangey appears on screen for a total of six minutes and 40 seconds. Here is the entire film condensed to just those moments:



This post originally appeared on TheDogs.]]> What an East Village Puppy's Untimely Death Can Teach Us About Dog Safety on City Streets tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2733705 2013-02-21T17:59:41-05:00 2013-04-23T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
Alex was a 14-week-old lab mix who'd come to live with Manhattanites Jim and Amy by way of Social Tee Animal Rescue in the East Village. He'd been coming to puppy class with me at my training facility, School For The Dogs. Friday afternoon, I went over to Amy and Jim's to help them get him used to his harness, and we worked on getting him to be less fearful about doorways -- for whatever reason, he was scared to leave the threshold of their apartment door. By the time I left, he was waltzing back and forth through that door.

Amy and Jim were dream clients. They did everything right. They were educating themselves about dog parenthood from the excellent book, The Other End Of The Leash by Patricia McConnell, and were feeding Alex high quality food out of the "work to eat" toys my training partner and I always recommend. I left Friday's session feeling so happy that Alex had found this couple, that they'd found Alex, and that I was playing some small part in helping this family get started on the best possible foot. It was one of those I have the best job moments.

The next morning, I got a garbled voicemail from Amy. The only word I could make out was "truck." I called her back, fearing the worst. She told me that some girls had stopped to pet Alex on the street, and somehow, in playing with him, they managed to undo his leash. He ran into the street and was hit. He died right away. (As if my heart wasn't broken enough, she ended the call by telling me that, on their way out for that last walk, he ran through the apartment door like it was his favorite thing to do in the world.)



Alex, on his last morning.




Opening up your home and heart to an animal whose life is likely going to be shorter than yours means accepting that, at some point, there will be heartbreak. But you could say that about entering any kind of meaningful relationship. Whether it's a child or a lover or a pet, there's always that risk of loss, even if you're the most careful custodian. It's part of the bargain we make when we let ourselves love.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason here. No fingers to point or proscriptions to make. A puppy is dead, and it sucks.

Nevertheless, I've been digging in my brain to try to find some way to make sense of this tragedy -- surely there must be some lesson to impart that will help me swallow the sadness. So, in Alex's honor, and to make myself feel a little better, I offer a few suggestions on how we can keep our beloved puppies -- and adult dogs, too -- as safe as possible on city streets.

A leash is the most important safety tool any dog walker has. Retractable leashes, which can change length based on the click of a button, mean that the radius wherein a dog can go is not fixed. And that defeats the major purpose of having your dog on a leash to begin with. Also, many retractable leashes are made of very thin cords, which can snap or twist. And these leashes have a snapping mechanism, of which I'm not a fan: Their retraction means that, if dropped by mistake, it can snap towards the dog -- which usually means a big plastic handle hurdling toward the dog's face. Or, better case scenario, if you drop it, it'll hit the ground with a bang. Either way, it can spook a dog, causing him to run. It's more dangerous than if you just accidentally drop a nylon leash for a second. While a leash of this sort might be a nice way for a dog to have some autonomy on, say, a rural trail, I think they have no place on a city street. If you must use a leash like this, keep it in a locked position at all times.

2. Attach the leash to both a harness and a collar

If you are using a collar and a harness, clip your dog's leash to both. I didn't instruct Amy and Jim to do this, but how I wish I had. Some dog walkers I know affix a carabiner to both the collar and the harness. (Jessica Dolce of the blog Notes From A Dog Walker offers five excellent tips on improving leash safety with this one simple tool). I also know dog walkers who always walk their clients' dogs with two leashes, just in case one fails. Like doubling up on condoms, one walker friend describes this procedure as "kind of a drag." But much less of a drag than losing a dog -- and your job -- in one fell swoop.

3. If necessary, walk your dog with a muzzle

If you have any fear of your dog biting, or if your dog is a garbage eater, invest in a muzzle. Many people resist muzzles. But city streets are places where unexpected things can happen, and dogs who are scared are likely to bite. If you have even the smallest fear that your dog might nip another dog or a person on the street, or if you worry about your dog ingesting cigarette butts, a muzzle is a must.

4. Choose your walking path wisely

I know how anxious I feel when trying to maneuver 6th Avenue at lunchtime; I can't begin to imagine how your dog must feel trying to do the same thing at ankle level. To reduce walking stress, pick strolling paths that are as open as possible. There are a million things that could happen on a city street that could spook a dog, most of which you cannot control. The best you can do is try to guess what's going to be the quietest route -- the one with the fewest people and strollers and honking cars and delivery guys riding on the sidewalk.

Bonus points for walking on the building-side of the sidewalk, rather than by the curb. If your dog does get loose, that extra two or three feet will mean a little bit more of a buffer area where you might be able to grab him before he enters traffic.

5. Always ask for a "sit" at the curb

Your dog can have different cues for "sit." One might be the word "sit." One might be a hand single. And one should be a visual, environmental cue: The sight of a curb. Every time you get to any curb, cue your dog into a sit (use a food lure if you need to -- do whatever you need to do get their butt on the ground). You can then either reward the sit with a food treat, or with the real life reward of the opportunity to get up and keep walking when you say "OK." With enough repetition, your dog will associate the curb with sitting and it won't be something that you even have to ask for. The goal here, of course, is that, if ever given the opportunity to cross a street off leash, he will first sit and wait for your signal to go.

6. Carry treats

When you have a dog, you're not just training him to behave properly on the street -- you're training people to behave properly, too. "Proper" might be different to different people. My ex, for example, will never let anyone touch a dog when on a walk. "Would you let someone pet a baby?" he says. My rules aren't so stringent. I want my dog to be able to interact with people. But, I do think that people do a lot of improper things when greeting unknown dogs on the street. They often get in a dog's face, which is rude, or pick up a dog, which can be dangerous and unpleasant to the dog. They squeal and kiss, neither of which is necessarily polite in the dog world. The best way to avoid these kinds of interactions? When a person shows interest in your dog, hand him a treat and ask him to give it to your dog. Your dog shouldn't have to sit for it, or do anything for that matter. The "trick" they're being rewarded for is just the behavior of co-existing with a new human.  It'll help your dog build good associations with that kind of person (be it a giddy child, man with cane, or a woman with beard), and will give the person a safe way to interact with the dog.

7. Communicate with other people on the street before letting them, or their dog, interact with yours

Dogs can't talk, but we can. Before you let your dog greet another dog, ask the owner if their dog is friendly. Plenty of dogs can't do safe leash greetings with other dogs on the street, but that doesn't mean everyone involved can't leave the situation safely. Just ask: "Is it okay if my dog says 'Hi?' to your dog?" If the human says "No," it's probably not because he or she is an asshole. It's because they're looking out for their dog's safety. And for your dog's safety. And yours! That kind of person deserves a treat.

Likewise, many dogs don't want to be pet by strangers. The best way to judge if a situation is safe is simply to thank people when they do ask, "May I pet your dog?" Reward this behavior in humans, and more people will do it. And we will all be rewarded by creating a world where there are fewer dead puppies to cry about.

]]> How Humans and Dogs Can Learn -- and Suffer -- From the Use of Negative Reinforcement tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2598772 2013-02-03T13:10:20-05:00 2013-04-05T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ dog trainer, I can't help but think about how similar this reviled torture method is to some of the things we do to dogs.

I've written a good deal on my site, TheDogs, about some of the problems involved with using shock collars in animal training. But mostly, I've discussed the use of shock collars to stop behaviors -- behaviors such as running out of the yard, or barking, or going in the wrong direction while assisting a hunter. In these instances, the dog usually receives a quick but detrimental shock to the neck when he is out of bounds, or barking, or going in the wrong direction. If there are multiple shocks, they come one at a time. Fun stuff. The goal, in these situations, is to stop behavior. For this, shock collars may work... but the fallout is often not worth the benefit.

But there's an even worse application of this form of training: Using the shock to elicit desired behaviors. In this kind of training, the shock does not cease until the dog does the correct thing. For instance, I once met a poodle whose owner had taught him to go to his dog bed by giving him shocks whenever he was anywhere in the room that wasn't on his bed. The bed was the safe zone, and it was as if the rest of the room were filled with swarming snakes. The dog learned the task. But I wouldn't say it was a happy home.

All behavior -- including every behavior in which you are engaged right this moment! -- has a consequence that falls into one of the operant conditioning quadrants: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment. Technically this kind of shock collar training is not considered punishment -- it's negative reinforcement, "negative" because the presence of the desired behavior (sitting on the bed) takes away the bad thing (pain), which encourages the likelihood that the behavior will happen again in the future. (Eight most important words to remember when training a dog? Reinforced behaviors are more likely to happen again). Guilt and nagging are also negative reinforcement cohorts: If the behavior (say, calling your grandmother) results in the taking away of the annoying thing (your mother texting you hourly to tell you to call your grandmother), then I may be more inclined to do the behavior in the future. You might not enjoy calling granny, but the 10 minute conversation is less annoying than the constant notifications on your phone from mom mom mom mom mom mom.

Lili Chin shows how her dog Boogie's recall behavior could be affected by punishment and reinforcement.

Another example of negative reinforcement is water-boarding, the torture procedure that involves holding a wet cloth over someone's mouth until they beg for mercy. Apparently, the experience feels a lot like drowning.  Here is the late Christopher Hitchens going through the water-boarding procedure for Vanity Fair magazine:


The desired behavior (telling the persecutors what they want to hear) will result in the taking away (hence, negative) of something bad (the feeling that one is drowning).  It works. And every time it works, the torturers are reinforced. They got what they wanted. So they do it again! Because...reinforced behaviors are more likely to happen again.

But there's usually an unintended result to any kind of negative reinforcement: When all is said and done, your subject is probably not going to be to keen on you. The detainees are never going to buy their torturers a beer. Even if it isn't clear to your subject that you're specifically the one determining the presence or absence of the bad thing, he is still probably going to associate the bad stuff with you in some way, just because you are a part of the picture when it's happening. I guess that isn't such a big deal if you're in the CIA and you're using negative reinforcement against the Taliban. If you are waterboarding someone, you're most likely torturing someone you probably thinks should die anyway. Either that, or you're a terrible big brother. But dogs are, in theory, creatures we choose to have around because they love us. And we love them. So why the hell are we shocking them at all?

Of course, most of the collars we're talking about operate via remote, so you need not be that close to your dog feels the shock. But I don't think that will necessarily help him feel good about you. He might not directly associate your presence with the pain, but he may trust you less in any case. After all, it's because of you that he's at the darn training facility to begin with. Next time you try to get him in the car to go somewhere, he might not feel like getting in there with you.

In an excellent post on the problems of shock collars by Eileen of the site Eileen and Dogs, we see the process of using electric shocks in basic training. Fortunately, we're spared from seeing an actual dog try to maneuver this stressful situation. But the stuffed animal stand-in does a pretty good job. Someone get that dog an agent!



If you can stomach it, Eileen has a host of other videos on her site -- videos in which we can see the process as used on real dogs (some are promotional clips from Sit Means Sit, a training chain that is big on this type of training). Negative reinforcement can be effective in getting desired behaviors. These videos show that. But they also show countless dog body language positions that I'd say translate into something like:  Oh my god what the hell is going on! Make it stop!

So how do you get a dog to do something like stand on a turned-over bin without using a shock collar? So glad you asked! Here, Eileen shows us how to use the kind of smart positive reinforcement training I teach to my dog training students in order to manipulate behaviors quickly, easily and painlessly. This time, the dog she uses is real, and that wagging butt translates roughly into this: I love training, I love my owner, and I love standing on bins.  



This post originally appeared on TheDogs. Lili Chin's Operant Conditioning drawing used with permission.]]> 3 Tips For Using Dog Training Methods On People tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2302274 2013-01-23T12:00:05-05:00 2013-03-25T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/


Giving flowers is one way we use Pavlovian conditioning on each other.



When I meet someone new and say that I'm a dog trainer, the first question I usually get is, "Can you train my husband?" My reply is always, "Yep!"




Being a dog trainer is all about molding behaviors, and behavior is something that all animals have in common. I bet you're behaving right this second! With dogs, I use science-based, force-free methods to reward behaviors I like and to extinguish behaviors I don't. It absolutely works on people, too.

Here are a few dog training lessons that can be applied to some of the two-legged animals you love most:

1. Understand what your dog/human finds rewarding.


My very first instruction to a new dog owner is to make a list of things their dog finds rewarding. In training, you can use these rewards to encourage the likelihood that your dog will behave as you'd like him to. Behaviors that are reinforced are more likely to occur again. Dog rewards are pretty easy to classify. They are usually motivated by, among many other things, hot dogs, dried liver, water, tennis balls, a trip to the park and verbal praise. A hot dog will usually be a more effective reward than a "Good boy," but, if used properly, both can work to encourage desired behaviors.




Coincidentally, many of these rewards work on humans too. I mean, who doesn't like hot dogs and parks? However, in our realm, money is the most commonly used for reinforcement. It is usually more effective as reinforcement than a "nice job," although verbal praise has its place. No two animals find the exact same things rewarding. The trick is to find the equivalent to your dog's $100 bill and your human's freeze-dried liver snap.

2. Be clear about what you're praising.


Positive reinforcement dog trainers often use a handheld clicker, a little noise maker, to communicate to a dog that he has done something correctly. The sound is repeatedly paired with a reward, usually food (see above). It's used as a kind of pinpointing tool: When the dog hears the click, he knows whatever he was doing in that exact instant was correct. This produces more efficient and precise learning than, say, giving praise at the end of several trials, or trying to shove food in the dog's mouth the second that he successfully lies down.




This works for people, too. If my employee does something particularly good, a small bonus on the spot is going to be a lot more effective at getting more instances of that particular behavior, than giving a larger bonus at the end of the year.

3. Strive to be the source of good things their life.


One of the most famous animal trainers in history, Ivan Pavlov, rang a bell and paired it with food until the sound of the bell was enough to make the dogs salivate. This is learning by association -- a.k.a. classical conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning -- and it works on dogs and people. Be the source of good things in your dog's life, and you're paying into the bank of love. Then, when you end up doing something your pup might find punishing, like lunging at him to keep him from drinking anti-freeze, you'll have enough for whatever withdrawal you might need to make.




What is love but the repeated association of good things with another animal... or person (or even object)? This is why you arrive with flowers or wine if you're invited to someone's house, or pick up the tab for dinner when you're on a date. It's why we give a diamond to a lover and free pens to clients. It's all a ploy to get the person to associate the good thing (Wine! Diamonds! Pens!) with you. A single negative association can unravel a lot of positive ones. The one time I had a tooth drilled at the dentist left a much bigger impression than the dozens of stickers and free toothbrushes I received at every visit.

Featured illustration by Josee Bisaillon, used with permission. ]]> What Fiona Apple and Jimmy Stewart Know About Loving -- and Losing -- a Dog tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2167896 2012-11-26T17:55:19-05:00 2013-01-26T05:12:01-05:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
As a writer and a dog trainer, I have to say something that might sound snobbish. But here goes: I really don't like when people write about their pets.

"Twee" is the word that comes to mind when my brain scrolls through most of the pet writing I've come across. So much of it is done by people writing as if they were their cat or dog or whatever. Or they write to their dog.

I've read entries into these genres that have been excellent. E.B. White had a knack. The play Sylvia comes to mind.  And, of course, there's always Garfield. But mostly, this stuff is tweeeeeeeeeee.

I think that one of the reasons these writing ploys are so irksome to me is because they ring of the belief many harbor -- that secretly, dogs can talk. Or read. Some of the most intelligent people I know seem to believe this: "But my dog speaks English," is something I hear about twice a week. And I can only guess the beliefs of the least intelligent among us -- like the guys my dad recently overheard at the Nashville airport discussing which bullets work best to kill zombies.

Dogs can indeed understand some verbal language (although they're far more fluent in human body language). And, if you define reading as an understanding of symbolic language, they can also read. But, by and large, they don't have a great appreciation for literature, unless its bound in leather. Yummers.

Personally, being a writer, I love my dog's lack of talkiness. He communicates just fine without words. As someone who needs, like, 1,000 words to express the simplest thought, I really appreciate his laconicism.

But some people who write about their pets really write about their pets -- and they do it in a way that speaks to the hearts of other humans who have also had significant interspecies relationships. Most of the finest pet odes I've come across have been elegiac. If there is one way in which being a dog owner is harder than being a parent to a person, it's that it's a relationship that a human knows will very likely end in heartbreak: The unevenness of our lifespans is a bitch.

Here's an entry into the pantheon of those who can write about animal love in an honest, anti-twee manner: Fiona Apple. I was touched today when I read the note she wrote to her fans when she decided to cancel her tour because her dog is dying. She writes, in her letter:

"Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone. I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time."



Her epistle reminded me of Jimmy Stewart's poem about his dog Beau, which he read on the Tonight Show in 1981. It's such an honest account of the impending loss of a loved one.




We so often put the love for our pets as a peg or two lower in importance than the love we are supposed to feel for people. I can imagine many thinking it frivolous to cancel any kind of trip or business obligation because of a pet dying. In some situations, maybe it would be. But I can only applaud someone who can so eloquently express what it means to feel a deep love for an illiterate, non-verbal species that licks its own butt. I wish it were that easy for us to love each other.

Here is Apple's letter in full.

It's 6 pm on Friday, and I'm writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet.
I am writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later.


Here's the thing.

I have a dog Janet, and she's been ill for almost two years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She's almost 14 years old now.I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then, an adult officially -- and she was my child.

She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face.

She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders.

She's almost 14 and I've never seen her start a fight, or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She's a pacifist.

Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact.

We've lived in numerous houses, and jumped a few make shift families, but it's always really been the two of us.

She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head.

She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me all the time we recorded the last album.

The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she's used to me being gone for a few weeks every 6 or 7 years.

She has Addison's Disease, which makes it dangerous for her to travel since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and to excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death.

Despite all of this, she's effortlessly joyful and playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago.

She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is.

I can't come to South America. Not now.

When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference.

She doesn't even want to go for walks anymore.

I know that she's not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That's why they are so much more present than people.

But I know that she is coming close to point where she will stop being a dog, and instead, be part of everything. She'll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go.

I just can't leave her now, please understand.

If I go away again, I'm afraid she'll die and I won't have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out.

Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to pick which socks to wear to bed.

But this decision is instant.

These are the choices we make, which define us.

I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship.

I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend.

And helps her be comfortable, and comforted, and safe, and important.

Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone.

I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time.

I know that I will feel the most overwhelming knowledge of her, and of her life and of my love for her, in the last moments.

I need to do my damnedest to be there for that.

Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I've ever known.

When she dies.

So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel.

And I am asking for your blessing. I'll be seeing you.

Love, Fiona


Featured illustration by Joyce Patti, used with permission.

This post originally appeared on TheDogs]]> All Dog, No Bark: The Pitfalls of Devocalization Surgery tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2160971 2012-11-20T17:00:44-05:00 2013-01-20T05:12:01-05:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ Editor's Note: This post contains graphic video that may be disturbing to some readers.

Too often, we jump to take extreme measures to try to "fix" dogs, rather than changing their environments -- and our standards -- in order to better accommodate their natural tendencies. Take, for example, a common issue I hear about at my dog training school: nuisance barking.

Barking is not a dog problem -- the four-legged set is generally not bothered by vociferousness of any kind. Rather, it is a human problem. It's a problem to us because we find it annoying, but it's also a problem we have largely created. Dogs descend from wolves, who don't bark. One of the roles that humans very likely played in dog evolution is to have selected for barkiness. Up until just a few generations ago, a majority of dogs were working dogs, and one of their main jobs was to warn off intruders. They excelled at this task. Today, we unwittingly encourage this trait we selected for by putting dogs in dwellings full of human-caused noises that trigger them to alert us to danger: sirens, UPS men in the hall, door bells.

As a dog trainer, I do what I can to help people see barking as a modifiable behavior, and silence as a behavior, too. The more you reward your dog for the behavior of keeping quiet -- you can use a pinpointing tool like a clicker or a marker word to "capture" those quiet moments, which sometimes may come and go very quickly -- the more your dog will be likely to keep his mouth shut. However, the difficulty of untraining barking is that barking is a behavior that is rewarding in and of itself. Your dog might learn that he'll get bacon for being quiet when the mailman knocks, but the joy of barking may win out over bacon.

For this reason, I preach the virtues of problem management: If you have a crazy barker, don't force him to live in an environment full of stimuli. Have guests call you instead of ringing your doorbell; keep your dog confined to a room that is far away from the noisy hallway. In the very worst cases, I might suggest an owner consider finding a new home for their dog -- somewhere that isn't full of triggers that are going to make him go hoarse. Otherwise, you're just fighting an uphill battle against more than 10,000 years of evolution.

Getting rid of a dog that barks is a sad and unfortunate thing to have to do.  But I think it's a management approach that is far kinder than another unfortunate route that I've seen people take: cutting their dog's vocal cords.




This surgical procedure, which is called debarking, devocalization or ventriculocordectomy, involves removing a dog's vocal cords with an incision made either through the mouth or the neck. It doesn't stop a dog from barking -- obliterating their ear drums would probably be more effective. Debarking just makes the barks harder for your neighbors to hear. I recently fostered a dog who had been debarked. She sounded like a veteran smoker who'd swallowed a tincan of coins. It was painful to listen to and far more annoying than run-of-the-mill barking. Several potential adopters told me they couldn't take her because the sound was just too gut-wrenching. I had to guess that her talkativeness led to her previous owners performing the surgery, and probably to their relinquishing of her. Had they taken the inevitable step of giving her up before they'd taken away her voice, she might've had a better chance of finding a home.

Silencing a dog isn't just sad -- it can also lead to other behavior problems. A bark can be a dog's warning signal to people and dogs that are too close for comfort. Deprived of the ability to alert in a natural way, a dog is likely to revert to another form of saying "back off" -- biting. Ohio actually prohibits devocalizing dogs that are considered "dangerous," since their barking can be crucial in warning someone who might otherwise get close enough to be bitten.

Some other problems with devocalization: It can lead to a buildup of scar tissue in the larynx, compromising a dog's ability to breathe and/or swallow food without choking, it can lead to chronic irritation and coughing that can cause infection, and it can lead to swelling of the throat and other obstructions of the airway that can cause heatstroke.

Fortunately, there seems to be an increase in awareness about the problems that this surgery can cause. The governments of the U.K. and 18 other countries have signed the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals into law. This convention also prohibits ear cropping, tail docking, and declawing (in cats).  In 2010, Massachusetts outlawed the procedure, following a bill filed by a teenager. New Yorkers are hoping a similar bill will be passed next year. 

In the U.S., however, many vets defend debarking -- a 2010 New York Times article featured a vet who did it to his own dogs, as well as a Q&A with a vet who is in favor of the procedure, calling herself one of its "big, big, big proponents." It also quotes Westminster Kennel Club host David Frei talking about the frequency of the procedure in the show dog circuit.

Indeed, there are plenty of breeders who defend their choice to debark their dogs; some even offer it as a service to their clients, in tandem with services like ear cropping and tail docking. Perhaps they fear that an infringement on their "right" to subject dogs to debarking could impede their ability to do perform kinds of voluntary and cosmetic surgeries. Some claim that it helps keep dogs out of shelters, since problem barkers might otherwise be relinquished. Studies, however, suggest that's not necessarily the case. The National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy's research on the subject indicates that barking is not one of the top five reasons people tend to give for dropping off their dog at a shelter. What's more, a devocalized dog may require additional medical care and attention. That, on top of the terrible sound, is enough to make many a potential adopter pass over a silenced dog in favor of one that still has its voice.

Those wanting to take a stand on this issue can sign a petition asking the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to change their stance on debarking.  Currently, AVMA condones devocalization as a "final alternative" to owners dealing with barking issue, but that designation is often misconstrued as encouragement. I'd say a more appropriate "final alternative" might mean either finding more tolerant neighbors or investing in some good earplugs.

Thanks to Gretchen Icenogle for assistance with this post.]]> What Sandy Did for New York City's Shelter Animals tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2082002 2012-11-06T15:45:57-05:00 2013-01-06T05:12:01-05:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
There were definitely losses in the last week. Pets up and down the coast were separated from their owners. But, thanks to the fact that the city welcomed pets into its shelters, I don't think as many New York City animals suffered during this crisis as people might think. Hearts should probably be bleeding less for the furry things, and more for the reptiles who went without heat lamps and the fish whose tanks forwent aeration. But folks weren't asking me about how to help the pet bearded dragons and guppies. They wanted to know what to do for the cats and dogs.

I made what suggestions I could. I directed people to check in with Best Friends Animal Society, the large Utah-based rescue and advocacy organization, which is collecting supplies for pets this week in Manhattan at 80 East 11th Street, Suite 301A, and at 560 West 43rd Street. I told people about Bobbi And The Strays, the wonderful Freeport, Long Island, shelter that was severely hit. They're currently taking donations and are welcoming handy volunteers who can help replace the sheet rock and rebuild the copious kennels that were ruined by flooding and mold.



Then I suggested that they call their closest shelter and inquire about pets that might be in need of a foster home -- providing a temporary shelter for an animal that might otherwise be put down for lack of space in a shelter. But this last bit of advice was only masquerading as a timely suggestion. Really, I'd advise people do this any day of the year.

A DIVIDED CITY OF HAVES AND HAVES NOTS

In talking about the storm this weekend, Mayor Bloomberg pointed out that it's possible to laugh, cry and grieve all at once. Honestly, that's how I generally feel about pets in New York City. Some of them make me laugh endlessly -- I'm a professional dog trainer, and pretty much every dog I spend time with can elicit a giggle form me. I don't just laugh with pets, however: I laugh at them, too: in a city of dog costume parades, pet booties and puppy-only swimming pools, you have to have a sense of humor. I don't worry too much for so many of the pets I meet. For better or worse, they're often treated like beloved, ersatz children. I wasn't worried about how they'd make it through the storm and the blackout. The black week meant that many pets I know only got to spend more time with their owners. And, heck, some of them could probably have benefited from short fast.

But I do feel grief whenever I think of all the adoptable animals who are euthanized using city money every day. And I can't say I shed more tears for them last week than any other week. If anything, I shed fewer tears. Yesterday was the first time in years that New York City euthanized zero dogs.

At least, this is the report from Karen Pepp, the founder of the Facebook group Urgent Part 2. For nearly  two and a half years, she has been posting the "at risk"  list, a.k.a. the euthanasia list, that is dispatched nightly by the Manhattan branch of New York's Animal Care & Control, the city's Department of Health' underfunded shelter system. When the Animal Care & Control lost power, they stopped sending out the list for several days. Last week, Pepp posted to the group, which has 53,000+ followers, that she feared the shelter's lack of power and the absence of a euthanasia list meant that animals were being put down at "an alarming rate." But her fears were allayed by volunteers who corrected her: "Yesterday, no animals were euthanized at the Manhattan ACC," she told me when we spoke after both of our power had come back on. "As far as I know, that's unprecedented."

I called contacted AC&C to verify this and to find out what happened -- they get a lot of bad press, but this seemed like a moment they could boast. But they didn't get back to me. So what's the reason for no list? Pepp said she thinks it's because, in the face of a crisis, there were simply more hands on deck. The normally understaffed facilities last week welcomed back "volunteers who hadn't been there for months. People are wanting to take in fosters. When there's a tragedy, everyone wants to help. If we can do this during the tragedy, we should be able to do this the rest of the time. But these are the moments when everyone stands up."

This is why, as an animal advocate, I am feeling a little bit of the mixed emotions that must have been experienced by workers at post-9/11 blood banks. Their facilities overflowed with recruits after 9/11. In the end, there was no greater need for blood after than there was before 9/11. But we all wanted to do the right thing. I stood in line with a raised sleeve at Manhattan's now-shuttered Cabrini hospital the afternoon of the towers' collapse, watching the staff bustle around to try and control the zigzagging line going into the normally vacant donation room. As they dusted off previously unused boxes of crackers, I remember seeing a hint of a smile on the bank's directors' faces. It would've been churlish, but I'm guessing they would've liked to high five.

The fact is, when it comes to pets in this city, we are in a constant state of emergency. Euthanasia is a fate faced by about a third of the animals that make it into New York's Animal Care & Control. Up to a thousand cats and dogs are euthanized by the city each month, many of them at the Manhattan bastion on East 110th Street. Animals there are put down by the dozen per day because they're deposed by owners unwilling or unable to keep them, or they're picked up by the city, usually because they were either abandoned or born stray. Many are put down because of illness, but with space as tight as it is, and with new intakes arriving daily, the definition of "illness" can sometimes be flimsy. Kittens and puppies, which require extra resources, are often put down right away.

The faces of need can be seen in the Urgent Part 2 postings. Let me tell you, any one of them would love to be in a 10 floor walk-up without power or running water. They even love canned food!

From what I'm hearing, the city's no kill rescues -- the foster groups and handful of brick-and-mortar places that take animals from the city's ACC pound --  are turning on the lights this week to find they've been inundated with foster applications from people who were reaching out during the blackout to help those less fortunate. (Of course, this is sort of a misplaced charity sentiment, since cats and dogs are largely power independent.)

On Friday, I walked by the Brooklyn Animal Rescue Coalition, which is a no-kill, non-profit shelter in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I was staying a couple of blocks away. I asked the shelter manager, Robert, how things were going there. "Great!" he said. It wasn't the response I'd been expecting. "Have you had a lot coming in?" I asked. I was referring to animals -- I thought they may have picked up an extra load on their regular rounds to wrangle dogs and cats from Animal Care and Control. But he misunderstood my question. "Yeah, you know, everyone is off work this week so we have lots of people coming in to walk the dogs," he said. Twice as many people had come in to help out with their 16 tenants than in an average week, he said.

BARC doesn't put down the dogs and cats it takes in. Those who have found their way there are among the luckier homeless animals in the city. And they were especially lucky last week. There was not a day last week where I didn't see someone happily trotting by the North Brooklyn waterfront with Dolores, a five-month-old boxer-ish shepherd/collie-y mix that has been at BARC since someone in Bushwick threw her out of a window when she was two months old. Here she is with first time BARC volunteer walker, Amber.



As I walked into the shelter, a fellow waltzed in with Melissa.



I asked Robert to tell me a little about her:
We found her in Bushwick. It was a fight club. It's gone now -- all the dogs are gone. They all were adopted except for her. When we found her, she had her upper body in a box. Only her butt was showing. The males were going at her. They were raping her. She was pregnant, and the [people breeding her], they put her in a box and let them do it because they thought it would pump more blood into the babies. She was pregnant but the city aborted them. There were seven, and three were already dead inside of her. So, she never had puppies. She'd had six litters before then. She has two best friends here. She gets really excited sometimes with other dogs. She's five.  We've had her two years here. But when I walk her in the wrong neighborhoods, all these people want her. I tell them she is fixed, she can't have more babies, and they get mad that I'd fix a dog like this.

He paused, invited her up on the table, and then put his whole head in her mouth.

I call this "The Shark." 

These are the dogs of Hurricane Sandy. Their part of the city didn't lose power. Thanks to this possible spark in the hearts of well intentioned animal lovers, I have hope that they'll make it through many more storms to come. And through the dry times, too.

 

Featured photo by Ed Van Der Hoek, available for purchase on Etsy]]> What Do You Do With Your Dog During Hurricane Sandy? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2040467 2012-10-29T17:22:49-04:00 2012-12-29T05:12:02-05:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
Dog Vs. Hurricane Sandy, Oct 29th, Norfolk, VA.


If you are in the pathway of Hurricane Sandy and you are a dog owner, here are some quick tips to keeping your furry friend safe.

If You Are Home and Your Dog Is Stressed Out By the Storm

The noises of the hurricane and the changes in barometric pressure can cause your dog to freak. Add in the fact that he is probably picking up on your nervousness, and it might net you a very unhappy pup. Whether or not your dog is panicking, here are some measures you can take to make him comfortable:

- Play calming music. Download the Through A Dog's Ear simplified classical music tracks, which can have an amazingly soothing effect on dogs. (It works on people, too). If the power goes out, a classical station will be a fine substitute.

- Put your dog in a tight shirt. Constant pressure over the mid-section of the body has been found to be extremely calming to many anxious dogs. If you have a Thundershirt -- a garment specifically designed to relax stressed dogs -- get it out. If not, you can fashion something similar by either tying a regular T-Shirt so that it is very snug on your dog, or wrapping an Ace bandage around his shoulders and chest.

If You Are Low on Provisions

- Remember that your dog can eat human food. In fact, to him, everything is dog food. While a disruption in your dog's regular diet should be avoided during times of stress, do what you need to do to keep him hydrated and sated. If you are feeding them your own food, try to stay away from things that are highly processed or include more than three ingredients. Meat may be fed cooked or just par-boiled. Things that you may have in your pantry that can be safely fed to your dog: rice, peanut butter, eggs, canned pineapple, canned pumpkin, and canned vegetables in small amounts. Avoid feeding nuts, avocado, onions, garlic, chocolate, grapes, raisins and anything containing xylitol, caffeine or excess salt. See here for a full list of foods that may be poisonous to dogs.


Seymour and Possum survey the situation, Oct 29th, Maryland.

 

If You Need to Evacuate

Do not leave your dog behind! See below for a list of shelters that are accepting dogs in the Tri-State area. If you cannot bring your dog with you, you can leave him at the Brooklyn or Manhattan branches of Animal Care and Control, both of which are open and operating. However, this should really be a last resort, as resources at both of these public animal shelters are limited, and you will very likely compromise your dog's health and sanity. Unfortunately, most of the dog daycares we reached out to this afternoon are not currently taking in dogs, with the possible exception of animals who have already been kenneled at the facility before.

Most of the New York City evacuation shelters are accepting pets that are properly contained, muzzled, and have vet records. There are also a number of New York City hotels that still have vacancies and are taking dogs. See here for a list of several dozen pet-friendly hotels located in safe zones.  

Before you head out:
- Pack all medications your dog takes.


- Bring whatever licensing or medical records you can find.





A dog and his owner evacuate from Lower Manhattan, Oct. 28th, NYC.



- Have on hand at least one good photo of you and your dog -- ideally a printed one, so that you can still show it if your phone or computer were to lose power. Often, a photo is the best way to prove ownership over a dog, and in an emergency situation, do you really want someone questioning who your dog belongs to?



- Bring a crate if you have it. If you can stuff your dog's bed into it, all the better. In a new environment, it'll be helpful to have a comfortable and protected place for him to stay. A sheet that can be used to cover the crate is also a good idea, as this is a way to cut off some of the visual chaos that might make a dog stressed out.



- Muzzle your dog. Your dog has never bitten anyone? I don't care. Muzzle, muzzle, muzzle. If a dog has teeth, he can bite, and in a situation where he is stressed, the chances of a bite are significantly raised. When others are anxious, they're not going to be so mindful of your pet's comfort and space. Everyone is safer if bite opportunities can be avoided. If you have a muzzle but your dog is not used to it, try to have someone else feed him treats as you put it on. Continue to feed treats while he has it on -- you want to create a positive association. ("Oh, I like this muzzle! I get treats when it's on me!") If you don't have a commercial muzzle, you can make one out of a strip of fabric, nylon leash or shoelace.


Make a fabric muzzle:




Make a lace or leash muzzle:



- Pack hydrogen peroxide. If you don't already have a good pet emergency kit on hand, this is the one item you should try to grab. You can use it both to clean wounds, or you can dilute it with water and put it down your dog's throat if he eats something he needs to throw up.

Tri-State Area Shelters Accepting People With Their Pets
Connecticut

Long Lots Elementary School

Old Saybrook High School

Daisy Ingraham School

Hamden High School

Carrigan School

Fitch High School

East Lyme Middle School

Kelly Middle School

Coventry Animal Shelter

New Jersey

Buena Middle School

Buena High School

St. Augustine Prep

Sussex County Community College

West Deptford High School

Pine Belt Arena at Toms River High School North

New York

Brentwood Rec Center

Suffolk County Community College's Eastern Campus,

Southampton Animal Shelter

Nassau County Mitchel Athletic Complex

North Hempstead Town animal shelter

NYC AREA SHELTERS AND HOTELS ACCEPTING PEOPLE WITH PETS


View Pet Safe Havens During Hurricane Sandy in a larger map

(Featured image of dog in raincoat via DoxieOne on Flickr)]]> A Problem Faced by Both Retirees and Dogs, and a Common Solution tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1540762 2012-05-25T20:00:35-04:00 2012-07-25T05:12:18-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
Really, this isn't such a different issue than one that many humans face, particularly ones who are out of work. Today, I listened to a new Marketplace podcast about how people who retire later tend to live longer; what's more,  retirement postponement is also thought to lead to better mental health. They quote economist  Josef Zweimuller saying: "Among blue-collar workers, we see that workers who retire earlier have a higher mortality rates and these effects are pretty large." Retirement researcher Mo Wang says: "Working actually gives you a way to structure life, and that's very important. Usually, people travel right after they retire. But then after one or two years, they sit at home watching TV."

Eventually these people are carted into nursing homes. And what to they do there? Mental work that serves no outward purpose: Think jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, Wheel of Fortune.  Readers, these are the happiest people in the world! Okay, probably not. Maybe if they're still allowed to smoke.

Usually, right after people get a puppy, or even after they first take in an older dog, there's lots of interaction and stimulation. Everything is new for everyone. You're out discovering dog parks and pet stores. Maybe you're taking classes. Your dog is probably alone pretty rarely. Exploring his new environment is a fulltime job. But then, he gets more settled in. The couch no longer smells quite so exciting. If you have a puppy, he's getting bigger, which can mean adolescent energy, and a new set of teeth that need a workout.  Next thing you know, he's chewing on crossword puzzles. Desperate for a job, he appoints himself neighborhood  watchdog and barks his heads off at people in the hallway. He chews parts of his bodies raw. In short: The dog becomes unhappy, anxious, destructive, annoying, bored and paranoid. And he certainly isn't allowed to smoke.

We can help our domesticated canines satisfy their natural urges to chew and problem-solve by giving them toys that make them work for their food.

Fortunately, there is a plethora of these kinds of toys available to dog owners.  They're generally called "work-to-eat toys," "puzzle toys," or "enrichment" toys." I've found that putting all or most of a dog's daily rations into these goodies can be the solution to many behavior problems, from separation anxiety to unwanted chewing and beyond.

Here are some of my favorites.

The Kong

The granddaddy of all work-to-eat toys, the Kong is a chew toy made of nearly indestructible rubber. It was originally based on a part of a Volkswagen bus' suspension device that the creator's German Shepherd found particularly irresistible. Kongs can be stuffed with a wide variety of yummies. Kong sells especially shaped treats and different things you can squeeze inside, but you can  stuff it with whatever your dog's weakness might be: cream cheese, Cheez Whiz, wet dog food, peanut butter, liverwurst, frozen blueberries, hamburger meat. Yummers.

There used to be a great product that operated on a timer and dispensed Kongs at intervals, so you could stuff four of them and then leave for the day and your dog would get them doled out at neat intervals. The product was discontinued a few years ago, but you can occasionally find a used one on Ebay, and they're well worth the $100 or so that they usually sell for. Search the 'Bay for Dogopolis KongTime Automatic Dog Toy Dispenser.

The Bob-a-Lot

This genius little device is weighted on the bottom, so it wobbles all around like those inflatable "bop bags" we had as kids. It comes in a few different sizes. The yellow part at the top screws off, allowing you to put kibble inside, or any kind of small and fairly hard treats.  If you feed your dog kibble, you can put his entire meal in this thing. It makes mealtime last 10 times as long, which is a good thing for reasons both behavioral and healthful. My dog eats about four of his meals from it each week. A tiny sliding door over the outside hole and a movable flap covering the internal one makes it possible to basically set it to different levels. Kong makes a similar toy, the Wobbler, which is just as good except that there are no doors or flaps, so levels can't be changed.

Here, Amos demonstrates how to use it. I had the outer door flap mostly closed here, so you'll see there isn't much food coming out at a time. Eventually, he did get it all.



The Tricky Treat Ball

The Tricky Treat Ball is similar to the Bob-A-Lot. There's a single hole in which you put in kibble or treats and they fall out as the dog pushes it. Much enjoyment will ensue. Your dog will continue to play with the ball after all the treats are gone -- he'll be holding out hope that maybe there's still one lodged in there somewhere. He'll also keep playing with it because, like so many humans, dogs like balls.

The Tug-a-Jug

Here, the human puts dry food (kibble, treats, Cheerios, whatever) in the toy, which unscrews at the bottom. The food comes out of a narrow hole at the top, which has a rope sticking into it. As the dog pulls on the rope, some food gets dragged out. Your pup will great fun swinging this around and tugging at it. It comes in several sizes to accommodate different size dog mouths. I find that the rope usually doesn't last too long, but Premier does sell replacements -- and sticking an old knotted sock halfway in pretty much does the same job. (I only recommend this toy if you have carpeting or really tolerant downstairs neighbors -- it can bang around a lot.)

The Waggle

Stuff dry food into the sides of the barbell-shaped Waggle and the bits will fall out intermittently as your dog holds the middle part in his mouth and shakes it. Well, that's supposed to be how it works, at least -- my dog prefers to just kind of roll it around with his paws until the treats come out. That works too. There are rubber teeth on the sides that can be snipped out in order to reduce the level of difficulty. Premier also makes the Chuckle, which is similar but a little sturdier and has a squeaker inside.

The Dog Casino

The Dog Casino is a one of the many toys by Nina Ottosson, a genius Swedish pet toy inventor of interactive puzzle toys, which come in a variety of levels of difficulty and in both plastic and wood. This one is the first that my dog Amos tried out, and he loves it. I started out by taking out all the bone-shaped light blue pegs until Amos learned to pull open the drawers with his paw. When he got that, I put some of the pegs in -- they act as locks. So then the dog has to pull out the peg before the drawer can open.

Here he is with just one drawer left to unlock:



Many of Ottoson's line of toys require that you work with your dog a little bit to help them figure them out. It's really fun to watch them solve the little mystery of each game, and to figure out how to help them get it. With Amos, I first rewarded him for just touching the handles with his paw or nose. When I withheld a few rewards, he started to get antsy and his pawing increased until he managed to get it open just a bit. And that led to the big reward inside the drawer. The magic of learnin'! To help him figure out to life up the pegs, I smeared peanut butter under them. Now that he's a pro at this one, I often put his entire dinner in it -- wet food or dry. But I only put them in some of the drawers. That's why this is called The Casino. Amos would indeed fit in at the old age home. He just needs to learn doggie Mah Jong.

For more by Anna Jane Grossman, click here.

For more on pet health, click here.

Flickr photo by OakleyOriginals]]> Long Live the Queen... Of Good Dog Training? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1534664 2012-05-25T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-25T05:12:18-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
Her pack accompanies her nearly everywhere; it's been reported that she takes her breakfast with them each morning (they on the floor, she at the table... one would hope) and that she keeps miniature dog figurines in her purse as good luck charms. Several of her biographers have noted that injustices involving poor treatment of her dogs result in much more emotion from her than any matter of national importance. Biographer Ben Pimlot quotes a royal insider as saying:

"She has a temper... throwing a book on the floor, that kind of thing. She might ring up and say something like, 'Oh, the stupid vet didn't completely get the thorn out of the dog's foot!' But if you told her the Japanese had invaded Cornwall, she'd just say, 'I must let the Lord Lieutenant know.'"

Even before she took the throne 60 years ago, the Queen's breed of choice was the Welsh Corgi (and the so-called Dorgie, a breed name she coined - a cross between a corgi and adachshund). The Corgi was at its height of popularity when Elizabeth was in her teens. Her father George VI, bought one called Dookie, and shortly after that got Jane, who had puppies: Crackers and Carol. He gifted Princess Elizabeth her first Corgi, Susan, as an 18th birthday present in 1944. Elizabeth became queen, and Susan became a matriarch in her own right: Elizabeth has owned ten generations of her descendants, some of whom (Monty, Willow and Holly) are still occupying Windsor Castle.

But the Royal Mum isn't just a dog owner: She's apparently a gifted dog trainer. The Daily Mail reports that she is wise to how to effectively use positive reinforcement training to get her brood to follow her rulings. Her reward of choice? A healthy treat that I often recommend my clients use: carrots. Her number one horse trainer, Monty Roberts, tells the Mail:

"If we're having a meeting about the horses and the dogs come in, she can just talk to them and they do whatever she wants. She can tell one to go out, one to come in, all go out, all come in. Philip's good with them too. They really have a special affinity with animals.


"I sometimes help with the corgis but, let me tell you, she can do phenomenal things with those dogs. When she comes in from a ride, they line up for her in the Royal Mews and she feeds them carrots. They actually line up, even though some of them belong to other people - they're not all hers. I said, 'Your Majesty, you must be soaking them in bacon grease - dogs don't eat carrots.' And she said, 'Watch this', and then she names them, Fred, Joe whatever. And they line up, bam, bam, bam, bam, and she says, 'Now, don't be rude now. Are you ready?' Then she feeds them in a line. One day, it might be four or six - one day my wife Pat saw ten."

While the Queen may have passed down her love of dogs to her children, her progeny seem not to have inherited her effortless control over her pets: In 2003, one of Princess Anne's bull terriers bit a maid and fatally mauled one of the Queen's corgis. The previous year, the Princess was brought to court and fined when her dogs attacked two children in Windsor Great Park. Someone needs to get their hands on some carrots.

This post originally appeared on TheDogs. ]]> Dog Shock Collars: They Can Punish Humans, Too! tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1492713 2012-05-08T18:22:25-04:00 2012-07-08T05:12:08-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ permanently embedded in his neck.

In 2010 they were outlawed in Wales. Last summer, the country prosecuted its first offender, fining him $3,000 for using one on his pet collie.

Last year, Bryan Lynn of OutDoorLife.com's Gun Dog blog wrote a piece defending the use of shock collars on dogs. The post was a response to Gizmodo's relaying my shock at the news that the GPS maker Garmin was buying a top American shock collar manufacturer, in what seems to be an effort to beef up their own line of shock-collars. As an animal trainer, I'm dismayed that tons of dog owners and trainers continue to use these modern-day torture devices when there are so many other tools that are available to us.

There are several kinds of shock collars. Some give a shock that is triggered by the vibration of the dog's throat. These are used to discourage barking. Others are part of an electric fence system; a few beeps warn the dog as it approaches the invisible fence, and then shocks him if he crosses the barrier. Then there are remote control operated shock collars. Most collars of this kind are used by "gun" dogs who accompany their owners on hunting expeditions.

Shocking a dog while he is doing something he thinks is fun -- something they've been bred to do for thousands of years -- seems particularly cruel, since it can forever link that pleasurable thing with the fear of an occasional unexpected jolt. What's more, there is a degree of imprecision when training any animal, especially one that doesn't speak your language. You might be shocking for one thing (barking, say) but the jolt comes just as your dog steps on his dog bed. You might have just deterred him from going to his bed, but he thinks barking is safe. What if he barks just as the shock stops? For all you know, you've helped erroneously communicate that the bed is bad but that barking after stepping off the bed can make the pain go away. Barking is therefore good. Even I'm confused, and I'm a human.

However, as Brian Lynn points out, I really don't know much about hunting and I've never received any kind of professional instruction on using electric collars. Also, as a non-vegetarian making a case for animal rights, I would go so far as to label myself a hypocrite. Here I am treating my little poodle mix like a baby doll while I pick at a plate of fried bacon.

So, I'd like to abandon any kind of animal rights argument in favor of this one: Shock collars can be dangerous to people. A common retort that people often have to shock collars is: Would you treat your child that way? Yes, apparently some people would. YouTube hosts literally hundreds of people shocking themselves and their loved ones with electric collars made for dogs. Many of the victims are children.



It makes me wonder about all the dark things people are doing with shock collars to each other in situations that aren't fit for YouTube primetime.

(This post originally appeared on TheDogs)]]> A Brief History of Pet Transportation Makes Romney's Dog-on-Roof Method Seem Almost Humane tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1443825 2012-04-22T17:06:43-04:00 2012-06-22T05:12:02-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
"He would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation. It was, to me, a kinder thing to bring him along than to leave him in the kennel for two weeks," she says. Sawyer brings up the fact that, during one twelve-hour sojourn with the family in 1983, Seamus got diarrhea and his poop dripped down the rear window, much to the delight of his five young sons.

One of them repeated the story to a reporter in 2007, and that's when the subject of dog poop made its way into politics in the most serious way since the hubbub surrounding New York City's 1970s Pooper Scooper law. I don't think the son, Tagg, was trying to skewer his father by recounting this family anecdote. It's just that more than twenty years later, it was still funny.

In the ABC interview, Ms. Romney points out that the diarrhea incident only happened one time out of the many, many times that Seamus took the upper deck. And it was only because he'd just previously stolen a turkey off the kitchen counter. Said the possible future First Lady: "He had the runs."

This has been no small issue. A Public Policy Polling found that 35 percent of voters said they were less likely to vote for Mr. Romney because of his dog-handling. The New York Times' Op-Ed page has mentioned the incident more than a hundred times in the last year. In January, Obama political consultant David Axelrod tweeted a picture of the president holding his dog in a limo and wrote, "How loving owners transport their dogs." Last month, The New Yorker ran a cover that showed Romney driving a car with Rick Santorum strapped to its top. Dogs Against Romney super PAC on Facebook has more than 40,000 members who are hoping to dissuade potential Romney voters by posting Photoshopped photos of dogs strapped to Romney's head and selling bumper stickers that say "I ride inside."

Dog Lovers in Defense of Romney?

I love my dog. I've never put my dog on the roof of a car. But I'm not sure he'd totally mind it. Have you ever seen a dog stick his head out of the side of a car? Best thing ever.

The idea of a twelve-hour road trip without a break is inhumane, yes. And we don't really know how well Seamus was strapped up there, or if he was scared or not. Maybe Ms. Romney was right: He really did like it and just that one time happened to get sick. People, and dogs, sometimes get sick even when they're riding inside.

But it's unusual that we should be so worried about the dog's feelings. The fact is we often treat pets in ways that they probably don't like. I'm not even talking about the four million cats and dogs who perish each year in this country's largely ill-kept shelters. I'm referring to ones that we have already sanctified as furry family members worthy of transportation -- ones that we want to transport with us because we love them. Horses don't cheerily trot into their trailers. It might be safe, but no one has explained car mechanics or the federal highway system to the equine population.

Several dozen animals die each year in plane cargo. (PetFlight.com lists every reported incident.) And there are probably tens of thousands of tiny puppies flying overhead right this moment, taken away from their puppy-mill-resident mothers and siblings at a few weeks old and flown, alone, to pet stores in other parts of the country where they face unknown fates at pet stores. It's sadder than Bambi! Then there is the sad fact that many dogs don't do so well inside cars: Countless dogs die from overheating in parked vehicles. In the grand scheme of things, Seamus didn't have it so bad.

A Better Future for Pet Transportation
We live in a world of increasingly thoughtful pet ownership, and for this I'm glad. Dog owners have many great dog safety products at their disposal: There are many lines of doggie seat belts, in-car safety guards and even booster seats. There are special comforting shirts and herbal sedatives you can get for a dog who is anxious about being in a car. But this is all very new. Even seat belts for humans have only been around a few decades. Not long ago, we transported animals in ways that were, by today's standards, very weird.

In 1932 there was the Bird Dog's Palace, an insulated-steel cage for dogs that was locked to a car's running board. "The barred door slides upward, permitting the dogs to be released without the driver having to leave his seat."





A 1936 canvas getup, also designed to be hinged to the running board, seemed to offer more protection to the car than it did to the dog.





In 1955, Dewey Blanton of Columbus, Ohio, debuted his method of both exercising his dogs and traveling to his destination (at speeds up to 35 miles-per-hour.)





By 1975, things were starting to get slightly better for road tripping dogs: A Florida woman, Marie French, patented a pet trailer designed to be towed behind a car.



In comparison to these condoned dog transport methods, the possible candidate's homemade affair seems... not so bad.

I wouldn't vote for Romney, but not because of how he treated his dog. I'm with the missus: At least the dog was going on a trip with a family he loved. Really, she's the one I feel bad for. Twelve hours in a car with five kids and Mitt Romney? I'd rather ride on the roof.

This post originally appeared on Motherboard.Vice.Com.]]> Animal Lover Dick Clark's Office Had More Dogs Than Any Other in Burbank tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1436284 2012-04-19T16:31:19-04:00 2012-06-19T05:12:01-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/
Clark was a big-time dog person. He designed his Malibu home so that it could accommodate all his dogs -- he sometimes had as many as five at a time. The showers were extra large so that he could wash the pups himself, he told LA's Pet Press in 2001. It was even his dog, he'd said years earlier, who'd picked out the place: His lab, Mort, got loose one afternoon on the beach, and Clark found him on a beautiful piece of beachfront property. He liked it as much as Mort did, so he called the owners and arranged the sale. There, he and his wife Kari celebrated each dog's birthday with plates of meatballs with candles in them. Kari was in charge of the party hats. He would take photos.

2012-04-19-120418otrcdickclarkthroughyearsdogmar1982.jpg
Photo credit: AP Photo/ LENNOX MCLENDON

In recent years the Clarks had a pug named Mrs. Jones, and Henry VIII, a 110-pound Weimaraner. There was also Lucille, a Dalmatian who was a gift from Gloria and Emilio Estefan -- they flew her to him via private jet. Bernardo was a Dachshund mix the Clarks found on the streets of San Bernadino. They dropped him off at the pound and then made a U-turn and picked him up. (He would become their fourth Dachshund.) Many of the Clarks' dogs were named for songs: Maybelline was a pup birthed by Mort's girlfriend, Molly; Eleanor Rigby was a stray who the Clarks took in.

In the office of Dick Clark Productions in Burbank, dogs roamed as they pleased. They took the elevators rather than the stairs; they trained human staffers to push the buttons for them. They also convinced all Clark's employees to feed them leftovers, leading Clark to affix "Don't Feed Me" signs to his charges when they made the rounds in the office.

"There are a few people that don't like dogs, so they don't pay any attention to them. But for the most part people pet them, feed them, bring them presents, and talk to them. It has a nice effect on a place that tends to have a lot of tension," he told The Pet Press' Lori Golden. "When the dogs enter, it breaks the ice. I'll say sorry, we're in a meeting, and they'll turn around and leave. But everybody sort of laughs and it loosens up the meeting."

"They're pressure relievers," he continued. "You'll be on the phone at work dealing with something stressful and they'll just walk up and want a pat."


As his health began to decline in 2004, Clark told the Associated Press that he didn't think that he'd had a stroke; when he awoke partially numb one morning, it was a feeling he was familiar with: He thought a dog had slept on his side.

2012-04-19-2003_Fall_article_clark2.jpg

Photo from Healthy Pet U


In the 1980s, a then seemingly unaging Clark had several popular TV programs. Although he tended to keep his own brood off camera, he occasionally invited other people's dogs on his shows. Here, on Live! Dick Clark Presents he interviews Spuds Mackenzie, Bud Light's Bullterrier mascot. He asks his pretty (and very '80s) handlers about a vicious rumor he'd heard: Spuds was really a woman. The ladies deny it, but Clark was actually correct -- "his" real name was Honey Tree Evil Eye.



On his Friday Night Surprise show in 1989, Clark orchestrated one of the most charming kid/dog segments I've ever seen on the boob or YouTube. Witness Dick Clark's Surprise Talking Basset Hound.



This post originally appeared on TheDogs.]]> Obama Raising Campaign Funds by Selling Officially-Branded Dog Apparel tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1417836 2012-04-11T16:46:09-04:00 2012-06-11T05:12:02-04:00 Anna Jane Grossman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/ do spend money on their dogs. Below, some of the campaign-fundraising items now on sale at Store.BarackObama.com.
A dashing Obama bandana adds a touch of Western flair to any Democrat's wardrobe.
The dog answer to a patriotic tie: a "Barack's Best Friend" collar.



An empty dog bowl with the campaign logo at its bottom seems an ominous sign.



Dog in pajamas. Dog looks displeased. Perhaps he's a Republican?





A "Barack's Best Friend" leash: A commentary on Wall Street's treatment of Obama, or an accessory for a walk in the park?




Bo Obama shilling for his master. Again. Because just keeping his own blog hasn't been enough.


The iconic Obama Dog sweater is actually too small to fit Obama's dog.



I'm hoping there's a larger version of this: "I Bark for Barack When I Have To Pee."
]]>