Tazer Extras

Responsible pet ownership is probably the most overlooked yet most important aspect of owning a pet. There are many factors that go into owning a pet from deciding which pet is right for you to proper disposal of your pet upon its passing. Responsible pet ownership is a beginning to end and every day issue one must take into account when becoming a pet owner.

When deciding on whether or not you wish to own a pet you should take into consideration the time you have available to provide attention to that pet, the environment it will be living in, your family dynamics, and expenses involved in pet maintenance.

Choosing a pet IS NOT AN ISSUE TO BE DECIDED UPON TO CONFORM TO A FAD OR AN ATTEMPT TO DEVELOP OR MAINTAIN AN IMAGE.

A PET IS NOT A BABYSITTER FOR YOUR CHILD.

If you are wanting a pet but will not have much time to spend exercising it, you should choose a pet like a snake. Snakes make excellent pets for those with busy lifestyles. Snakes require very little exercise and can often go for long periods of time between feedings based on type.

If you wish to own a dog you should do some research on the characteristics of different breeds and find a breed that matches your lifestyle. It is unfair to expect a dog to conform to your lifestyle simply because it may be the breed you want. Both you and the dog you choose will have a much happier and rewarding relationship if your lifestyle and its breed characteristics parallel one another.

When choosing a method of confinement take into account your dogs physical characteristics. Short haired dogs should not be left out in the cold and long haired dogs should not be left out in the heat. Although there are many methods of confining your dog, tall privacy fences and indoor dwellings are preferable. 50% of all dog attacks happen on the owner's property. An overwhelmingly large percentage of these attacks occur when irresponsible children intentionally trespass, and in some cases, antagonize the dog. If you have children and as a responsible parent, it is your obligation to educate your children to respect other's property, belongings, and animals. No matter what type of confinement method you use, proper confinement is a necessary part of responsible pet ownership. Remember this is your pet and not your neighborhood's pet. DO NOT LET YOUR PETS ROAM. THE OFFSPRING OF A NEIGHBORHOOD INDISCRETION ARE UNNECESSARY AND PUT TO DEATH DISPROPORTIONATELY IN SHELTERS AND POUNDS. ALLOWING A PET TO ROAM IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PET IRRESPONSIBILITY.

If you will not be breeding it is advisable to have your pet spayed or neutered preferably before 6 months of age. There are millions of dogs and cats that die unnecessarily every year in shelters and pounds. Spaying and neutering can help eliminate the problem of unwanted breeding and spaying and neutering (especially before 6 months of age) can have many health benefits. To learn more about spaying and neutering please visit our health issues section.

When it comes to health care make sure that your pet meets all the required vaccinations for your area. Vaccination is the key to your pets long term health and happiness free of disease. Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is also a necessity to proper pet health. When buying food make sure it is nutritionally well balanced. Some dogs do well on scraps from the table, others do not. The Pit Bull in general seems to be one breed that does well digesting table scraps. However, every dog is unique and maintaining proper dietary control can promote a long and happy life.

Water is essential to all life, and most importantly to your pets. If you own a pet such as a dog or cat make sure it has plenty of fresh water daily.

Training and socializing your pet to other animals and humans should be provided regularly. A properly trained and socialized pet is much less likely to cause harm to others. Proper training and socialization can assist you in communicating with your pet more effectively which will relate to a stronger and more rewarding relationship for you both.

When disposing of a pet who has passed on, make sure to follow regulations for your area. Never flush fish. When burying a pet that has passed on make sure the grave is of sufficient depth to discourage scavengers.
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Dog Bite Prevention
This page is brought to you as a public service announcement from 
Dog Scouts of America

Ian Dunbar, respected animal behaviorist and DVM had this to say about dogs at a recent dog trainer's conference: "When they're upset, pissed off, or annoyed, they don't call their lawyer... they bite.  That's what they do."  He also said that 50% of dogs will have an aggressive encounter with you in their lifetime.

Dog bite statistics are alarming.  We need to do more to educate the public on what to do to avoid an aggressive encounter with a dog, and how to respond when you find yourself in danger of being bitten.

Each year at Dog Scout Camp, we have a guest lecturer come and speak to us about "A look into the mind of the aggressive dog."  Cheryl Carlson has been training dogs for many years, and her expertise and sense of humor are appreciated by the campers.  Cheryl travels all over giving similar, "Dog Bite Prevention" workshops to postal workers, meter readers, dog catchers and delivery personnel.  The information she shares with us is excellent, and I am going to share it here on the web page in the hope it will enlighten a few people, or prevent a few people from sustaining a harmful dog bite.

What makes Cheryl such an authority on dog bites?  She gets bitten by dogs for a living.  She trains Police K-9, security dogs, and personal protection dogs. She's a certified Campagne Decoy.  She works in a full body suit, where the attack-trained dogs are allowed to bite everywhere and anywhere.  Cheryl also teaches classes in protection training and trains other decoys.  She exhibits in and judges various protection competitions.  She is definitely an expert on how to get bitten by dogs.  Who better to teach us how NOT to get bitten by dogs?

During the talk, Cheryl demonstrates with some of her own or her students' dogs, just exactly how to get the dog to bite.  A perfectly friendly dog is brought out, who makes "friends" with the person acting as the decoy.  Then the decoy's demeanor changes.  They start crouching, moving erratically, and reaching toward the dog's head tentatively, as though they were afraid.  This turns the sweet-natured dog into a raving maniac.  The display put on by the decoy always reminds me of a nine-year-old child approaching a dog.  Children have the ability to behave exactly as if they WANT the dog to bite them--it's no wonder they often get bitten.

So, lesson number one is:  Teach your children how to approach dogs (and do the same yourself!).

First of all, children should be taught NOT to approach strange dogs at all, period.  If the dog is unknown to you, anything could happen.  I still recall an incident that happened when I was only a toddler.  The neighbor had tied a friend's dog that she was watching to the property line stake.  So the dog was able to come over into our yard (right next to the swing set).  I toddled up to that dog and tried to look at his tags.  The dog jumped up on me and knocked me OUT!  I still remember coming to, on my back, looking at the sky and the five swing sets circling above me!  By the time there was only one swing set, my mother came out and scooped me up.  Having a severe head trauma at an early age like that is not a laughing matter.  Also, I'm lucky it was a small, friendly dog, and that I fell BACKWARDS!  Or my mother might have been picking me up in pieces!

If the owner of the dog is there, and says it's ok, have your child stand still and let the dog approach the child.  I've been teaching community obedience training classes for 25 years, and my rule has always been to NEVER approach and touch a dog that doesn't approach and touch you FIRST (it's a good rule for identifying friendly people, too!).  If the dog approaches and is not afraid, the child can extend a fist for the dog to sniff (extended, grabby little fingers are frightening to dogs).  The child should be instructed not to pat the dog on the top of the head (most dogs actually hate this, anyway), because they usually do so in "attack decoy mode."  They reach out and then pull back when the dog moves to inspect the hand. This is the fastest way to encourage a dog to nip at hands.  Try to get the child to scratch the dog under the chin.

The best approach when introducing yourself to a new dog is a sideways one.  A sideways stance is less threatening to a dog.  Avoid direct eye contact.  Look away, or look at the floor and pretend to be disinterested in the dog.  This conveys a "calming signal" to the dog.  It portrays a picture of a being who is not going to try to chase him, grab him or hurt him.  If you look calm, the dog will be calm.  Other calming signals [Read "Calming Signals" by Turid Rugaas] include approaching by walking in an arc (the way friendly dogs greet each other), sitting or squatting, licking or smacking your lips, yawning, and sniffing (we humans don't sniff, so you could just inspect a blade of grass with your hand, or something).  Basically you are almost completely ignoring the dog.  This sets him at ease.  You're telling him, "You don't have to worry about defending yourself from me, because I mean you no harm."

Now, that will get you through an encounter with a non-aggressive dog.  What do you do if you find yourself suddenly confronted by a dog who thinks he is protecting his turf, or for some other reason wants to intimidate or bite you?  The first instinct you may have is to run.  That is the WORST possible behavior you could engage in.  If there is ever a for sure piece of advice,
NEVER, EVER RUN from a dog.

Dogs bite because they don't want you near them, or an area they may be "protecting."  Be it fear, or whatever reason, the dog wants to put distance between himself and you.  If a fearful dog can not distance himself by running away, he will try to distance you by putting on an aggressive display to intimidate you.  How you react can mean the difference of whether you get bitten or not.  I remember an incident 25 years ago, when a man came door to door selling apples.  When the man swung that apple crate up onto his shoulder to leave, my Doberman went into serious "alarm" mode.  He decided that guy had ill intent.  My Dobe was (like most Dobies), just a big cuddly lap dog, so I told the guy, "Aw, just stomp your foot at him, he'll go away."  WRONG IDEA!  Sundance just about came unglued, and I was lucky that he didn't actually bite the guy!  I had never seen him act like that!  He acted like he was going to rip his lungs out!  The poor man must have just about wet himself.  I felt so stupid!

Cheryl Carlson suggests that you never try to use intimidation to "chase away" an aggressive dog, unless you are sure that the dog is very fearful.  A fearful dog will respect and avoid a "stronger being", while they may attempt to bite someone who runs away.  First choice defense would be to activate the calming signals, while slowly backing off, sideways.  Cheryl also says (and she should know), that the flesh on the outsides of our bodies (hips, outer thighs, outer calves, upper side of arms) is tougher than the inner sides of those body parts, and if you're going to get bitten those would hurt the least.  As for a small child, Cheryl recommends that the child place the hands over the face, with the forearms protecting the throat.  She tells little kids that if they see a "big, mean dog," he wants to play hide and seek, so stand still, cover your eyes, and count to 50.  This places bone in front of the child's face and throat.  Lying down on the ground is not a good defense against an aggressive dog, but if the child should happen to fall down, or get knocked down, they should remain still, lie face down, and not scream.  NEVER, NEVER RUN!

If you're an adult, and you are faced with an all-out attack from an unfriendly dog, and all of the other stuff didn't work, what do you do?  Cheryl says to stand up straight (and sideways), and in your best, most authoritative, primal yell, blast the word "NO!!!!!" from your very bowels, just as the dog gets within striking distance.  This may take the dog off guard, as most dogs have been admonished with this word before (unfortunately).

Guess where most bites occur?  Right in our homes.  Sparky bites the child out of fear for his life (because the child has been taunting him).  Or, Fluffy bites anyone who comes too close to his food bowl (because he's been allowed or encouraged to guard resources).  These are what I would call environmental problems.  They can all be "fixed," with a little effort, because the dog isn't truly vicious--he's just been raised improperly, and/or the environment has not been managed properly.  It's unfortunate that these dogs usually get marched straight off to the dog pound.  Then, the people get another Cocker Spaniel and teach THAT one to be the boss, too, and they go right through the same thing all over again.  If people knew a little more about dog behavior to begin with, they wouldn't create these little "monsters."  And, if they were willing to seek and pay for the help of a behavior counselor, they could probably work out the problems.

Jean Donaldson has two excellent books out.  The first is called "Culture Clash," and it is absolutely MUST READ material for anyone who is even considering owning a dog.  This book has the answer to all of the behavior problems in the universe.  If this book were required reading to obtain a dog, there would be about 80% fewer dogs "thrown away" in the pounds (80% of dogs relinquished to shelters are given up for "behavior problem" reasons).  Jean's second book is called, "Dogs are from Neptune," and is all about dog aggression.  I highly recommend both of these books.

To avoid dog bites in the home I recommend the following advice:

    1.  Properly socialize your puppy.  I can't begin to emphasize this enough.  BEFORE the age of 16 weeks, your puppy must encounter all of the things he'll see in his adult lifetime.  If he doesn't, then, in all likelihood, he'll be terrified of those things later when he encounters them.  You must introduce him to friendly adults, children, old people, teenagers with blue hair, disabled people, people with beards, hats, bald heads, abnormal gaits, crutches, canes, and funny mannerisms.  You must safely introduce him to cars, bicycles, veterinarians, loud noises, other animals, toddlers, stairs, water, vacuum cleaners, people in gorilla suits and other strange things.  If the dog is not afraid of it, he won't try to attack it to defend himself.  A well-adjusted dog is not a biting dog.  I can't stress this strongly enough.  There's only about an 8-week window, here.  Get those puppies out and socialize them to everything!

  2.  Teach your children to respect life.  Show them how to properly touch, pet, and handle a dog.  Young children should not be allowed to carry puppies.  They want to, because they see you doing it, but they don't know how to yet, and they lack the coordination to properly support the dog and keep him from falling.  This terrifies the puppy, and if you want the puppy to grow up thinking, "When I get my adult teeth, Bobby, your butt is MINE!"  Then just go on ahead and let your child continue to abuse the dog in this manner. NOT a good idea!  You must teach the child that handling the puppy in this way is not comfortable for the puppy, and the child must not try to hurt the puppy, because he is a living, breathing, loving organism.  There is a direct correlation between children who abuse animals and those kids, grown up, abusing or killing other people.  Teach your children well.

  3.  NEVER trust your young child alone with your dog or puppy, EVER.  I don't care how good or well-trained you think your child is, when you're not looking, the child is wanting to do all of the things you won't let him do when you're around.  "Well, let's see... I wonder what REALLY happens when you pull the dog's ears, or poke him in the eye with a pen..."  The child is usually "low man on the totem pole" in the household, and if he can have control over the dog, it makes him feel less powerless.  You may not realize your child is pestering the dog until the day Bobby comes running to you, dripping blood, saying, "Doggie BITE!"  At this point somebody's usually in trouble, and the dog usually takes the heat.  He can't defend himself and he didn't have witnesses.  This is when you go and get a rolled up newspaper and swat yourself on the head a few times, repeating, "BAD Parent!  BAD Dog Owner!  Bad!  Bad! Bad!"

  4.  If you have toddlers, create a safe "haven" for your dog.  Use a baby gate or something that the dog can get over or through that the child can not.  When the dog does not want to be bothered with the child, he will escape to his safe place, and everything will be fine.  If the dog is not able to get away from the thing that terrifies him, remember that "Plan B" is to try to get that thing away from HIM.  This usually involves lip lifting, growling, snapping, or biting, all of which are proper social signals to avoid REAL aggression, by communicating that the dog wants to be left alone.  However, children are not puppies, and do not understand this language, so it's important to give the dog a place to go where the child absolutely can not follow.

  5.  Don't tie your dog out.  Tied dogs are frustrated dogs.  They experience "barrier frustration" all day long.  This tends to make them hyper and testy.  A child entering the area where a dog is chained could be easily knocked down or bitten.  If one or more of your neighbors ties a dog out, don't let your children go near these dogs.  They are an accident waiting to happen.

  6.  Don't play "idiot" games with your dog.  Some people think it's cute to tease dogs by pretending to beat up another family member (or a date)  in front of them, or by playing "games" like "slap-boxing" with the dog.  These mindless ways of torturing your dog are non-productive, and could cause the dog to become aggressive, or at the very least, teach him to snap at hands.  Teenagers are usually the guilty parties in this scenario.  Teenagers are children in adult bodies and that makes the teen years particularly difficult for kids.  They feel all "grown up," and yet they are forced to continue to live in the "nest" and are bossed around by other adults all the time.  Sometimes the only other being they can have control over is the family dog.  This is a scary thought.  From childhood, if you encourage your kids to put themselves in the dog's "shoes," and treat the family pets with the respect and love that they deserve, you won't have a problem as your child becomes an adult.

7.  Enroll your dog (and family) in a home obedience course.  This will help establish you as the leaders and give the dog a job to do.  If your dog knows how to perform a few simple control behaviors on cue, you can have him "go to his pillow" or "lie down" when company arrives, so that he doesn't get over stimulated in a barking frenzy at the door.  A dog can't lie down and bite the mailman at the same time.  Use productive behaviors to counter competitive, non-productive behaviors.  Your instructor will also show you how to stop your puppy from chewing your hands and teach him that gnawing on your body parts is "off limits."

8.  If you start to see any resource guarding behaviors, call a pet behavior counselor immediately.  You can not allow these behaviors to continue, as they often escalate.  Resource guarding means the dog might growl at someone walking near his food dish, or might not let you take a bone away from him politely, or might even guard YOU so that other family members can't get near.  Your trainer will put you on a training program where you will desensitize your dog to the things that are "triggering" his behavior now.

9.  Get your dog used to having you touch and groom him at an early age.  Dogs have to have a lot of care and grooming throughout their lifetime that involves touching, stroking, holding or restraining.  If your dog does not allow you to touch him in certain ways or in certain places, this problem must be addressed.  He may only be warning you with a growl, now, but if you let it be, there will come a time when you absolutely have to trim his nails, give him medication or otherwise restrain him, and he's liable to bite.  From an early age (as soon as you get him), accustom him to having you hold and touch his paws, stroke him and hold him on his side.  By teaching him that this contact is not-threatening and not harmful, he will accept it without a second thought.  First impressions are important, and you want first associations to be pleasant ones.  Before you actually trim your dog's nails, for example, practice holding the paws, rubbing the pads, touching the nails, and touching the nail trimmer to the nails.
 

Your Dog Doesn't Have to be an Outlaw

--Your dog spends all day making choices that he hopes will result in your attention or some other form of reward for him.  You spend all day ignoring all the good behaviors, waiting for the dog to do something bad so that you can “correct” him.  You are systematically teaching your dog to choose bad behaviors.  Is it any wonder that so many people live with unruly dogs?

"Will this potentially wonderful puppy grow up to be a Doggie Outlaw?"

How does this sweet, angelic puppy turn into the monstrous bane of your existence?  It’s simple.  Just don’t do anything to raise him right, and you’ll teach him to be an outlaw.  You’ll have a carpet-wetting, couch eating, child chasing, food stealing, hand biting, garbage raiding, yard digging, barking, wandering outlaw.

You may actually develop an adversarial relationship with your dog, until you say to yourself, something’s got to give!  You are living with a creature that seems to have it in for you and is doing something “bad” every minute of his waking day.  One of the dictionary definitions for the word “outlaw” is an uncontrollable animal.  But the word suggests someone who is living outside the law.  How can your dog break the “laws” in your family if you’ve never showed him what kind of behavior was expected from him in the first place.  You have to set up the laws by which you want your puppy to live within your family.

There are just millions and millions of dog owners out there adopting cute, innocent puppies, and then dumping them in shelters six months later because they were out of control.  Well, who was in charge of controlling the dog?  These people erroneously expected the dog to control himself. It happens every day.  People adopt a canine into a human family and are aghast when the little guy insists on behaving like a canine!  How dare he!  The people somehow get the idea that all you add is love, and the little cutie will grow into a charming, subdued, noble and judicious guardian of the family.

What I find equally unacceptable is that the ones that aren’t dumping their canine miscreants on someone else, are living with them!  These people are accepting a life of daily combat with their dogs, because they don’t want to dump them in a shelter.  They just think that dogs are supposed to be rude, wild, fiendish idiots.  People see my well-behaved dogs in public and they are always astonished.  It’s as though they are looking at an anomaly of nature.  What is shocking to me is the description of their own dogs that they immediately start telling me about.  “My dog would never be that calm in public,” they say.  “He’d be jumping all over the place and probably biting people.”    These people have made for themselves a life of hell, and they have made their dog a prisoner by not teaching him the simple things that I taught mine.  To them, my dogs look like extraordinary departures from reality.  They look flawless.  Flawless dogs are made, not born.  And it doesn’t take a genius to create one.  EVERY DOG can become a well-behaved, model citizen.  Every single dog in the world can be a wonderful pet. 

People think it is beyond their capability to transform an unruly puppy into a perfectly behaved adult dog, but it is SO EASY!  The fact that people just continue to not do anything to shape their dog’s behavior, and are content to live with an atrociously out-of-control beast really grieves me.  So many people have lost hope that “Sparky” will ever be socially acceptable, so they do what they think is one step better than sending Sparky to the shelter.  These millions of dogs get locked in the garage or basement, or are relegated to be chained in the back yard, like a prisoner.  This is so distressing to me, when I know that these dogs could be mannerly family members.

Everyone has the capability of shaping a life.  It’s a very simple matter of rewarding acceptable behaviors and ignoring or punishing unacceptable behaviors.  If people can’t work this out with creatures as easy to mold as dogs, then what on earth are they doing, trying to raise children?  All of the principles for raising dogs and children are the same.  You don’t need to buy a special collar for the dog and go to an obedience class and learn to apply various punishments, as if you were taming a wild beast.  Dog training is like child training.  It is a 24-7 operation.  You do it all day long, every day, with very little effort. 

Every single decision your dog makes requires a choice.  You simply have to teach him to choose wisely.  To do this you apply consequences to each thing your dog does.  Traditional training (yuck) relied on waiting until the dog did something wrong so that you could punish him.  Well, guess what?  From the dog’s point of view, he’s making choices based on what rewards he gets.  Oops!  We’re working against each other here!  The dog tries lying quietly at your feet.  Well, rats!  That didn’t do him any good...  “Let’s try another behavior to get some attention,” the dog thinks.  “I  think I’ll sit here and not cause any trouble.  I’ll not bark and I’ll not jump up.  I’ll just stare adoringly at my master.”  Oops.  “That’s not working, either, I can’t seem to get any attention from my owner.  Not a glance, not a stroke, not a word...  I wonder what on earth I can do to get someone to notice me around here...  I think I’ll run at the glass door and bark at the squirrels.” 

What a tragedy!  While you were waiting for the dog to do something which needed a correction, your dog was making lots of choices (many of them GOOD ones), but you weren’t rewarding them.  You didn’t see the dog as DOING anything.  But in fact, he was doing plenty.  He was NOT barking, NOT jumping, NOT destroying something and NOT getting into trouble.  But what did you do?  You ignored all of those good behaviors.  Instead, you were waiting for the dog to make a mistake, so that you could “punish” him.  When you yell at him for throwing himself against the glass door (the first excitement he’s had all day), he says, “Well, FINALLY!  Something got a rise out of my deadbeat owner.  From the attention I’m getting, I guess this is a pretty worthwhile behavior.  I’ll choose to do it more often!”  

Let’s review.  Your dog spends all day making choices that he hopes will result in your attention or some other form of reward for him.  You spend all day ignoring all the good behaviors, waiting for the dog to do something bad so that you can “correct” him.  You are systematically teaching your dog to choose bad behaviors.  Is it any wonder that so many people live with unruly dogs? 

When you see your dog doing something good, give him a reward.  Interpret “something good” as the ABSENCE of something bad.  If you don’t reward these instances of what you might call “non behaviors,” they will go away and be replaced with a behavior that you probably won’t like.  We’re used to a society that leaves you alone when you are remarkable or good, but climbs all over you when you make a mistake.  For this reason, “punishment training” makes sense to us.  But, do you like to be treated this way (by your boss or spouse)?  Would you want your kids’ first-grade teacher to work in this way?  Positive reinforcement (rewarding good behaviors with pleasant consequences) works so much better than punishment.

With your guidance (no special training and no expensive training equipment needed) your dog will seek to perform the behaviors that earn him attention and rewards.  And by controlling the consequences, you can be sure that he will want to choose the behaviors that keep him in the “reward zone.”  You don’t even have to worry too much about punishment.  The behaviors that aren’t rewarded will go away on their own.  From the dog’s point of view, why repeat something that’s not working out for you?  If you think that by not punishing something that you are rewarding it, you are wrong.  Ignoring a dog is like a punishment for him.  Remember the dog’s formula for making choices: 

Is it working?  Do I get favorable consequences for doing this?  What’s in it for me?  Will I get attention?  Will I receive a cookie (or a click that means I will get a cookie)?

Is it not working?  Do I get no response from my owner?  No cookie, no praise, no dirty looks, not even yelling or chasing.  Do I really want to pursue this behavior when it gets me NO attention?

Basically, the dog’s mind says, if it’s working, I’ll keep it in my repertoire.  I’ll do it more often.  It may even become my favorite behavior.  If it’s not working, it will go by the wayside.  It’s not a behavior worth repeating.

With this formula, it is ridiculously EASY to have total control of your dog’s choices.  He makes the correct choice because you manipulate the consequences, providing positive consequences for good behaviors or the absence of bad behaviors.  Remember, your dog has no idea which is which.  Your dog hasn’t a clue that sitting calmly in the corner during dinner is good and begging at the table is bad.  So don’t wait for him to form choices based on OUR notions of what is good or bad.

The thing that is so WRONG about traditional training methods is the waiting.  While you’re waiting for a behavior you can punish, to teach the dog a lesson, you’re ignoring the hundreds of lessons that could be taught on a day-to-day basis if you were to reward all of those instances of “non-bad” behaviors.  And, when you finally give the attention-starved animal the tongue-lashing he deserves for some misdeed, he’s thinking this is the “good stuff.”  He doesn’t perceive it as punishment at all, because whatever you do to him, it’s better than the constant ignoring of all behaviors that you have been doing.  The dog decides if something is a reward or a punishment, and a dog that only receives attention when he’s wrong, will think that this is a pretty good way to get noticed by the owner. By waiting for a bad behavior, that’s exactly what you’ll get.  The dog will exhaust all of the possible GOOD behaviors and get nothing, so he will invariably start trying bad behaviors, and “bingo,” he hits the jackpot.  See why so many people end up with “the dog from hell?”

With positive training, that sweet, angelic puppy will remain sweet and well behaved his whole life long.  He will offer only the behaviors that have resulted in positive consequences.  He doesn’t entertain any thoughts of naughty or unseemly behavior, because you have made sure to reward only the nice and appropriate behaviors.  With hardly any effort, you have wound up with the dog you deserve.  He’s not an outlaw.  You can take him with you, and he’ll be on his best behavior.  You will hear people say, “Look at that lovely dog!  My dog would never be that calm and obedient in public

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www.DogScouts.com
Copyright © Dog Scouts of America
5068 Nestel Road
 St. Helen, MI  48656
(989) 389-2000
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Children and Dogs 
Attention all Guardians of Children and Dogs!
What you need to know about bite prevention:

By Lonnie Olson