August 30, 2010
Confession time… I’m waaaaaay behind in getting a blog done, and now I have a dilemma – there have been so many things happen that I’ve wanted to blog about, like the Humane Society of Washington County donation jar getting stolen from the table at Martinsburg Bike Night, and the subsequent exciting chase, capture of one suspect, and ultimate recovery of the jar with over $250 in it. (It was the father of the two juveniles who actually went out and found the jar!).
 Humane Society of Washington County booth at Martinsburg Bike Night Or my observations from the Humane Society vaccination clinic and flea-less market that drew a long line of dogs and their owners for rabies shots.
 Long line for rabies shots at the Humane Society vaccination clinic And then my good friend Don Hanson and his Greenacres Kennels in Bangor, Maine issued a Position Statement on “Dominance” and I realized I need to to do something similar… but that will have to wait a bit.
But of course, the Behavior Modification Academy wins, hands down, for training and behavior appeal and photo opportunities.
We offer several academies each year; usually three Level 1 Basic Training and Behavior, two or three Level 2 Behavior Modification, one Level 2 Instructor’s Course, and one Level 3 Advanced Behavior Study and Training (the first one of these is next month!). The groups are small – we accept a maximum of 8 in Level 1, 6 in Level 2, and 8 in Level 3. Occasionally we offer a Multi-Species Course. We had to cancel the Multi-Species this year and Sturgis the pig was most disappointed – he was hoping to be someone’s subject animal.
BTW – we have one opening for this November’s Level 1 Academy, and the 2011 schedule is up, so if you’re planning ahead, take a look and get your registration and deposit in!
Level 1 uses shelter dogs, but for the BMod Academy, students (we call them Interns) are encouraged to bring their own dogs to work with. Behavior modification doesn’t usually get done in one week, and if they bring their own dogs they can continue to work with them at home. For various reasons we ended up working with two shelter dogs and one Miller dog for this course, with only three Interns bringing dogs. Our players were:
Simone de Lima from Brazil, and Bonnie Miller.
 Simone and Bonnie. Love the T-shirt! Simone flew in from Brazil for the course, so couldn’t easily bring a dog with her. Bonnie, our Scorgidoodle, has been sensitive about having her nails trimmed since we adopted her at age 7 months, so I seized this opportunity to have someone work with her. I had done some counter conditioning work and she’s better than she was, but she could do better. (I could do better!)
Hugo Gasc from New York, and Jezebel:
 The beautiful Jezebel Jezebel is perhaps a Catahoula/Shepherd mix – very high energy, adolescent, surrendered by her owners to the shelter because they didn’t have enough time for her. She failed her assessment for resource guarding the week before the academy – she growled and snapped at the Assess-A-Hand – intense enough to make her ineligible for adoption. We were hoping to help her enough that she will be able to go up for adoption.
Petra Manis from New York, and Dakota:
 Sweet Dakota Some 7-8 years old, Dakota is a mature, sweet shelter dog (supposedly Pekingese/Shih-Tzu) who did some resource guarding during his assessment – not enough that he failed, but enough that the shelter thought it would be useful for us to work with him. Dakota growled at the Assess-A-Hand during his shelter assessment but did not snap. We all loved his underbite!
 They look like wax Halloween teeth! Marci Haw from Indiana, and Pippy Longstocking:
 Pippi the Rescue Rat Terrier - will be looking for her forever home Pippy is a rescue Rat Terrier that Marci brought with her. She expected to work on mild resource guarding, but found that Pippy has a high level of reactivity to the environment and sudden environmental change, so she worked on that instead.
Cindy Mauro, CPDT-KA from New Jersey, and her Pomeranian, Wiley.
 Wiley in a contemplative moment. Did you know Pomeranians used to pull sleds and herd reindeer? Wiley was a foster dog, and a difficult one at that. He came from an abusive home, with a broken front leg that had to be plated. When Cindy got him, any restraint at all sent Wiley into a ferocious frenzy. She didn’t even like him much – at first – but then ended up adopting him, and now calls him her heart dog. She wants to be able to trim his nails and he’s still very sensitive to touch and restraint, so she worked on that all week.
Our sixth student prefers not to be identified:
 Our mystery guest Students pair up each day with a different person so they have an observer and coach as they work with their dogs. By switching pairs each day they get to see the modification protocols as they are implemented for all the dogs throughout the week, so it broadens their experience here.
We also video the work sessions and review those during the discussion sessions, when the dogs are taking a break. Other discussion topics include the mechanics of doing behavior consults (my place or yours?), discussion of cases presented by the students, a review of learning theory, and mock client consultations.
By the end of the week, Wiley was enthusiastically offering his paw for holding and touching, tolerating pressure for several seconds, and accepting the presence of the clippers being opened and closed near his paw. Cindy used counter conditioning and desensitization to accomplish this, first touching his leg and feeding chicken, and very gradually moving down his leg to his paw. She deliberately started with his left front paw, since his right front leg was the injured one, and he’s even more sensitive, understandably, about that one.
 Don't touch me there!  Chicken? Did someone say chicken?  We love clippers - clippers make chicken happen! Marci worked hard on a Reactive Rover counter conditioning program with Pippy and had great success. From near-tears on Monday to a big grin on Saturday, Marci helped Pippy learn to cope with new stimuli and sudden environmental change. We found, happily, that while Pippy is quite aroused by new stimuli, she does habituate reasonably well, so by the end of the week she was handling the hotel well, and doing beautifully in her work sessions, with Marci carefully keeping her sub-threshold almost all the time.
 Bonnie in the background as neutral dog - Pippi loves chicken too! Petra and Dakota were starts with their efforts to counter condition the little dog’s moderate resource guarding. At first, Dakota was either too stressed or too distracted to even be interested in his cheese-stuffed cow hoof, and Petra was a little dubious that he even had a guarding problem. He did get more interested in his hoof as the week went on, and as Petra learned to stuff it with Vienna Sausage, chicken, meatballs, and freeze-dried liver. Over the week Petra did repeated pass-bys, then approaches, then actual interactions with Dakota’s guardable object, dropping chicken with each approach to convince him that someone approaching means good stuff! On graduation day, when Petra approached Dakota while he emptied his hoof he happily looked up at her and wagged his tail as she snatched the hoof away – and then dropped chicken for him.
 I could guard if I wanted to. Really. Hugo and Jezebel followed a plan similar to Dakota’s, but had to move with more caution. Jezebel gave some low-level warnings from time to time in the form of subtle freezes, so there was no question in Hugo’s mind that she would guard. He carefully stayed sub-threshold all week as he slowly increased the intensity of his approach, and on Saturday he, too, could successfully approach Jezebel, have her happily look up at him as he removed the hoof and then fed chicken. I will be re-assessing Jezebel tomorrow. Cross your fingers and whisper to the gods…
 Hugo doesn't need convincing Simone was working with a Dremel grinder with Bonnie rather than a clipper. Bonnie’s dense black nails are hard to cut and you can’t see the quick (a big part of the reason for her discomfort with clipping) so I had switched to a Dremel some time ago. Simone’s program for Bonnie was similar to Cindy’s with Wiley – slow counter conditioning to the touch and handling necessary for trimming, and gradual introduction to the trimming tool. I promised Simone I would continue with her excellent work. The next time she visits us from Brazil, Bonnie’s nails will be happily short.
 Simone taking notes on her most recent work session with the lovely Bonnie Perhaps the biggest lesson our Intern trainers learned this week was the importance of going slowly. As my friend and fellow trainer, Jolanta Benal says, “If you think you’re going too slow, slow down.” And the paradox to that is that when you go slowly, you actually make progress much more quickly – because you’re not going over threshold and sensitizing rather than desensitizing the dog to the stimulus in question.
 Pooh says, "If you think you're going too slow... slow down!" As for me, as much as I know – as I grok that counter conditioning and desensitization (CC&D) are powerful behavior modification tools that simply work when done well, it still thrills me to the bone every time I see dogs and their humans happily CC&D-ing their way to behavior success.
Great job, Interns – congratulations!
 L. to R. - Petra and Dakota, Hugo and Petra's Archie (Jezebel didn't want to do a group shot), Simone and Bonnie, me, Cindy and Wylie, Marci wihtout Pippi, and our mystery guest. Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
August 13, 2010
One of the things I do in my “spare time” is to write short articles about Pet Law for Examiner.com. From time to time I submit Legal Briefs for which I mine the Internet for reports of animal abuse and cruelty cases and present a short synopsis of some of them. While doing this recently I ran across two articles that stuck me as particularly noteworthy.
Marinated Cat
The first one was just bizarre. Gary Korkuc of Cheektowaga, New York (near Buffalo) had adopted a cat from a local shelter. Sunday night, Buffalo police pulled him over for running a stop sign, and heard a cat meowing from the trunk of his car. When they opened the trunk they found 4-year-old Navarro in a cage, his fur covered with oil, crushed red peppers, and chili peppers.
Korkuc told police at the time that he did it because the black-and-white tuxedo cat was ill-tempered, and he was going to eat him. He also reportedly told them his neutered male cat was pregnant. The officer took custody of the cat and charged Korkuc with cruelty.
In a news interview with a reporter, Korkuc insisted he was “not crazy” claiming the cat had “miscarried” and was sitting in his own blood, that he wasn’t planning to eat him, but was instead returning him to the shelter, upset that his cat had gotten pregnant after being spayed, and miscarried.
Navarro has been adopted to a new home, and renamed Oliver.
Baseball Bat
There’s no element of humor in the baseball bat case. In this horrific incident, a 20-year-old Fairborn woman and her 44-year-old boyfriend/fiancé beat the family dog with a baseball bat and then ran him over with their car, supposedly because he had been aggressive toward family members. Chastity Elliott and Robert Proffitt are due in court August 16th to face charges of animal cruelty.
One report says the Australian Shepherd mix bit Chastity’s 2-year-old brother in the nose six weeks earlier, and quotes her as saying Smokey chewed her brother’s nose “all to pieces.”
Smokey is in the custody of the Greene County Animal Shelter. Officials say he’s making progress, but his future is still uncertain.
So why am I writing about this? Prior to launching Peaceable Paws in 1996, I worked at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California for 20 years. For 15 of those years I was a humane officer, and part of my job was investigating and assisting with the prosecution of animal cruelty cases. Paul, my husband of 23 years, is also an animal protection professional, presently executive director of the humane society here in Washington County, Maryland.
 
One of the things I always said while working at the shelter was that it was never boring. Even after 20 years, you couldn’t begin to predict what each day might bring. I never investigated a marinated-cat case, but we did convict a man who killed a litter of puppies by smashing them in the head. I’ve continued at least peripheral involvement in animal investigations through Paul, and sometimes more than peripheral, such as when his shelter impounded 75 neglected and mostly-unsocialized horses in December of 2006. We took care of 32 of them ourselves on our farm and a farm across the street from us, (the rest went to rescue groups) and two of them remained as permanent members of the Miller family. (Remind me to tell you more about that case one of these days.)
 
When I see cases such as the two described above, I long to put that uniform and badge back on and go kick some animal-abuser butt. I can only imagine what Smokey must have been thinking, and feeling, as he was being smashed to pieces by the humans who were supposed to be caring for him. How can people be so brutally cruel? I often think there are different subspecies of Homo Sapiens, and that humans like Elliott and Proffitt must have evolved on a far distant branch of the tree from the people I associate with.
Korkuc, hopefully, does have some psychological problems – the scanty information from news reports certainly seems to indicate as much – and hopefully will receive treatment. Hopefully he won’t acquire any more animal companions, at least not until he’s able to properly care for one. While we still have to protect animals from people whose minds are functioning well, at least they don’t seem as purely evil as those who would brutally beat their dog.
It’s pretty common knowledge now that there’s a link between people who are deliberately cruel to animals and the increased likelihood that they might also be cruel to humans. Fortunately, over the last 35 years I’ve seen a steady increase in the willingness of our judicial system to take animal cruelty cases seriously. Perhaps one day cases like Smokey’s will be a rarity. Perhaps someday all people will realize that abuse has no place in our relationships with the sentient beings who share our world, be they human or not-human. Perhaps when that day comes, all our animal companions will enjoy the benefits of positive training in a cruelty-free, force-free world.
Until then, they are depending on all of us, dog trainers and others, to protect them, and to keep moving our world toward a more humane society.
People sometimes ask Paul and I how we can do this work, and bear to see animals suffering. I can only answer, “How can we not?”
Keep Smokey in your thoughts and prayers…
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
August 8, 2010
Yesterday was the closing day of yet another Peaceable Paws Academy – this one our Level 2 Instructors Course. We tend to not get as much interest in this one as our Level 2 Behavior Modification (BMod is sexier), but it’s an excellent opportunity for trainers to hone their teaching skills – teaching humans is a very different skill set from training dogs. The students take turns teaching our Peaceable Paws Basic Good Manners exercises to each other, and as we do in our Level 1 Academy, students are working with shelter dogs.
This week’s group consisted of:
Bob Ryder, from Normal, Illinois, with 8-year-old Dixie, an owner-surrendered Lab/Chow:
Heather Smith (also a PPaws Apprentice) from Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, with Sierra, a 10-month-old Border Collie/Aussie (according to the shelter, but I’m convinced she’s a Kelpie, or Kelpie mix. Tell me what you think!):
And Alicia Williams, from Blacklick, Ohio, with 6-year-old Rocky, a Shepherd/Lab mix from the same home as Dixie (more about that later):
We also had two shelter employees, Heather and Kelly, attending the class, so our Academy students can get input from “real” humans as well as their co-students, and Shirley and me.
Heather worked with Princess, a 4-month-old awesomely-smart Puggle-something mix (already adopted!):
And Kelly worked with her own recently adopted and very adorable puppy, Pippy, one of a litter of three maybe-Pit mixes – Kelly calls her a Bulldog mix, but actually I think maybe Pit-Boston Terrier mix.
Each day we start the morning with a discussion about teaching-related topics, principles of behavior and learning, and/or review the previous night’s take-home quiz. When the shelter dogs arrive everyone gets to go for a hike to work out some of the shelter kennel stress. Then we convene in the training center for the day’s lessons. Each instructor teaches his/her exercises, then we break while everyone fills out their evaluation sheet for that teacher. Then the next instructor teaches. We video the sessions as well, so we can critique as a group later.
After lunch we do one-on-one coaching sessions, which are also evaluated and critiqued, and then end the day with more group discussion on a variety of topics including marketing a training business, developing a class curriculum (each student has to write up their own to present and hand in on Day 6), and ethical dilemmas. It’s intense, especially if you’re not accstomed to being evaluated and critiqued, but students tell me they learn a lot!
 Heather coaching Alicia, working on "'possum"  Bob coaching Heather on Sierra's much-needed polite greeting behavior On Day 6, Saturday, we start with the 2-hour written final exam. Although the quizzes are take-home, open book, the final is not. As students finish up the exam their dogs arrive for the last time from the shelter, and they get to take them for one more hike before the afternoon practical final. Good-byes are always teary as students load their dogs into the van to return to the shelter after the practical. The Humane Society of Washington County is a full-service, open-admission shelter, so while they have an admirably high adoption rate, adoption dogs are rarely but sometimes sadly euthanized. Occasionally a student even adopts her academy dog during the week, but not this time.
Side-note: This set of good-byes was particularly hard. Two of our academy dogs, Rocky and Dixie, were older, and owner-surrendered from the same home. Dixie in particular was having a hard time with the stress of the shelter environment, and tended to be quite vocal about it – a behavior likely to be a turn-off for prospective adopters walking past her kennel. We suggested the shelter keep her kenneled with her “brother,” Rocky, which helped a lot with the vocalization, and we are hoping they will doing a story on the pair to tried to get them adopted together as a “two-fur.” At PPaws the two were wonderful – we often let them roam the training center while we had our discussion sessions, and you barely knew they wee there. They would be a perfect adoption for someone looking for a ready-made pair of family dogs. (Spread the word!).
 Dixie (left) and Rocky (right) need a together-forever home for two wonderful ready-made adult dogs
For the Instructors Course, I assign each student three behaviors from the no-longer-produced but delightful My Dog Can Do That game. I give them their assignments on Friday so they can prepare, and they have to pick two of the three to teach to the class on Saturday. Among the assignments this session were:
Stand Tall
Sit Pretty
Pick Up Your Room (put toys in a basket)
And
Take a Bow
Heather Smith, now Heather Smith PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) came away from this academy with high-scoring honors. She has earned her PMCT by virtue of completing the Level 1 Academy (Basic Dog Behavior and Training) and both Level 2 Academies. We just started offering this title last year, and Heather is the 29th PPaws student to attain it. Congratulations Heather!!!
 Tradional PPaws group-class photo, high-scoring Heather on the far right  Oh - I forgot the part about Bob falling off the bench... After all our students had departed and Shirley and I finished tidying the training center, I decompressed with a ride around the farm on Mikey. Paul recently mowed a new trail with the tractor, and it was wonderfully relaxing to explore new territory with Monarchs, Mourning Cloaks and Tiger Swallowtails sipping nectar from wildflowers all around us, brilliant yellow goldfinches picking seeds from the thistles, and red tail hawks soaring overhead.
 Seeing the world from between Mikey's ears Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
PS – No entries in the contest from last week’s blog yet… anyone working on it?
August 1, 2010
Are you ready for a contest????
Description: below are 15 photographs taken during Pat Miller’s travels over the last several years to seminars, workshops, and on the back of the Harley. Your job is to correctly identify the locations of as many of them as possible. Identification must include city, state (if US), country, and a brief description as to what the photo represents or where in the city it is located. The contest will run for 3 months. If more than one person correctly identifies all 15 photos, the one with the most accurate descriptions wins. If there is still a tie, the winning name will be drawn after November 1, 2010. All entries must be received at our office by November 1, 2010. Decision of the judge (me!) is final – no whining allowed!
Prize: A collection of all five of Pat Miller’s books, signed to the winner or recipient of the winner’s choice, or a $100 gift certificate to a Peaceable Paws Academy, Workshop or Class held at the PPaws facility in Fairplay, Maryland.
Caution: I know this won’t be easy – I will be really surprised if anyone gets all of them right, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t get them all!
One entry per person please – multiple entries will disqualify the sender – and be sure to include your name, mailing address and e-mail address.
Submit all entries electronically to: pat@peaceablepaws.com
Peaceable Paws employees are not eligible to win.
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Ready… Set… Go!
Warm Woofs, Happy Guessing, and even Happier Training,
Pat
July 28, 2010
Always a popular class, we offer our Downtown Hound experience just once a year, when we can take advantage of the long summer evenings. It always fills quickly, with some of our favorite students. This year is no exception.
Our class is:
Katie and Brooklyn – an 8 month old Rottie/Shepherd mix (below):
Kristy, Bobbie and Grace – a 1 year old Belgian Tervuren:
Mary and Milo – a 2 year old Collie mix:
Lori and Pearl – a 1 year old Cockapoo:
Ronda and Shea – a 7 year old Australian Shepherd (foreground):
Karen and Cullen – a 2 year old Shepherd mix:
Last night was Week 3 of the class, and we met at the very dog-friendly Prime Outlet Mall just 10 minutes from PPaws. Week 1 is always here on the farm so I can see how everyone does outside the safety of the training center, but without uncontrolled public encounters. Week 2 is at the nearby C&O Canal, where public encounters are usually minimal – although last week we had two off-leash dogs – a Pitbull and a small Terrier mix, some running up the bank from their fisherpeople and play nosey-greetey with all the class dogs. Fortunately everyone handled it well.
We arrived at the Mall at 6:00 pm at our previously arranged meeting spot – between the Food Court and the kid’s fenced playground area. Katie had told me the week before that she couldn’t be there. By the time the 5 dogs and 6 humans had gathered, we were attracting quite a bit of attention. In fact, when I arrived at 5:55 pm, several of my students were already taking advantage of the opportunity to practice polite greetings with curious mall shoppers.
 Attracting attention at the Oulet Mall It’s always a good idea to give your dog a few minutes to get settled in a new place, then practice some basic sits and downs to get their brains in thinking mode. Targeting and Find It-Toss are also good for this. We practiced those, then did a little dog-weaving (having one dog move through the others, who are on a sit or down and being reinforced to attention to their humans).
 Kristy and Grace doing dog-weaves Then we strolled through the mall, taking advantage of various benches, chairs and grassy spots to sit and reinforce dogs for relaxing with us, as well as reinforcing them for walking past mall shoppers, and being walked past.
 Politely passing mall shoppers seated on bench At an open area of the mall we stopped, took a seat on a stone wall, and had each team demonstrate a trick.
 Pausing for a break and a round of tricks at the stone wall  Pearl's trick: standing on her hind legs to target to Lori's hand As we strolled back to the front of the mall we found a mechanical horse to play with (no, we didn’t put quarters in) and then a mechanical dragon that was even better!
 Mary introduces a cautious Milo to the horse. Note Milo's fearful body lsanguage - hind legs out behind him, tail down, ears back...  Cullen wants to *ride* the horse!  Grace needs coaxing to sniff noses  Cullen masters the dragon  Shea needs a little convincing We ended the class relaxing in Amish-built lawn chairs outside Legacy Furniture, and did one last round of tricks. They were such nice chairs Bobbie and I went into the store to find out the price. They ranged from $270 for the simple basic ones, to $700 for the rocking swing. We didn’t buy anything.
 Relaxing in Amish-built lawn chairs outside Legacy Furniture  Cullen says, "That was fun! Can we do it again?" I am so proud of this class! The dogs are great, the humans are doing an excellent job, and at the end, sitting in the comfortable Legacy chairs, no one seemed in any hurry to leave. Good work gang – CLICK!
Next week’s class meets in beautiful downtown Sharpsburg, with a planned stop at Nutter’s Ice Cream. Yum! And it’s a Level 2 Instructors Course Academy week. We’ll be busy!
This past weekend was also a Shaping Workshop at PPaws, with 5 participants. We struggled with extreme heat, and a thunderstorm that shut down all but one of the dogs, but it was still great fun. We started with shaping “Body Parts,” did “101 Things to do with a Box” and then substituted “Prop” for “Box” and began shaping for a specific behavior with the prop. Other behaviors included turning on a “That Was Easy” button, and “Go To Your Place.” This is always one of our favorite weekends – shaping is such a blast! Our 2011 Shaping Weekend dates are June 4-5 and October 29-30. Mark your calendars!
 Mini-Goldendoodle Riley does 101 things with a box I hope you and your dog are having a lot of fun this summer too!
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
 Artsy photo of the week: Luna moth on cypress at PPaws
July 22, 2010
Summer is certainly our very busy time here at Peaceable Paws, and the endless weeks of 90-plus degree heat seem to be making our academies and workshops more tiring than usual. So here it is Thursday already, the AC in my office is not working again (and it’s going to be over 90 again), and I’m waaaay behind on getting this blog done. I intended to get to it last Sunday, immediately after our Level 1 Academy, but Sunday was the Humane Society of Washington County’s “Bone to be Wild” motorcycle ride, and I was just too hot and tired when it was done to think about writing. So here we are… better late than never!
Academy week was terrific – hard work, and very satisfying. We had great humans and great dogs – always an excellent combination. The week is about half hands-on training – we work with dogs from the shelter – and half lecture and discussion.
Day One we talk in the morning, then go to the shelter for a tour, and to select dogs. My wonderful husband Paul does the tour. I usually arrive at the same time as the students, but a storm was threatening, so I phoned to tell him I was delayed bringing horses in, and they went ahead without me.
Good thing! As Estie (one of our paid staff) and I were bringing horses in, Sturgis the pig decided to go walkabout. He usually sticks pretty close to the barn, but when the horses were all in their stalls, he was nowhere to be found. Estee and I spent a frantic 45 minutes calling, banging the garbage can lid (which usually brings him running because it means food) and searching for him. I finally found him halfway down the ½-mile long driveway. Just as I pulled up behind him in my car, I saw him nose the horse’s electric fence, give a piggy squeal and dash toward the road. Damn!
I headed after him in the car and he finally turned off into the edge of the woods. Phew! Now – how to get him back? I didn’t have his leash and harness with me, and didn’t want to leave him to go back to the barn for it. I had been toying with the idea of teaching him to walk up a ramp into the car, but hadn’t put that into his training repertoire yet, so that was out. When we got him last October I could pick him up, but I was pretty sure he’d grown too large for that. I gave it a try anyway, and ended up sprawled on the ground, hanging on for dear life, with no chance of lifting him.
Finally I engaged my trainer brain and used a little gentle negative reinforcement, swinging a leash behind him, annoying him just enough to herd him back to the barn and safely into his stall. Then I raced to the shelter, arriving just as Paul was finishing up the tour.
The seven Interns had 10 dogs to choose from. They get to spend a little time with the dogs, then each write their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices on a slip of paper, and I get to decide who gets whom.
This Academy, we had:
Gina Burger, working with Sparrow, an intense but very responsive Collie Shepherd mix.
Diane Curran with Brandon, a somewhat solemn Akita mix that I adore
Jana Frank with Bongo, a happy Husky mix with a great sense of humor
Joan Morse, CPDT-KA (high scoring graduate!) with Nook, an adorable, thoughtful Dachshund/Jack Russell mix
Tracey Peter, a shelter employee, started with Abby, a very attentive Border Collie/Chow, but Abby got sick on Day Two and Tracey switched to Guinness, a much more challenging Hound mix. Guinness finally agreed to lie down on Thursday.
Gayle Rojas, worked with Teddy, a remarkably wonderful Boxer. Academy assistant Steve Buckman is still trying to figure out how he could add Teddy to his pack of two Boston Terriers.
And last but certainly not least, Susan Duffy did an excellent job with Willow, a 4-month-old Lab mix pup who was almost as mouthy as Maggie, our recent foster Westie.
Tuesday through Friday we had a discussion session each morning until our dogs arrived from the shelter, and then everyone got a 45-minute hike around the farm to reduce stress and burn up shelter-kennel energy.
Then a group class, where we teach our 6-week Basic Good Manners curriculum in 5 days. There are additional discussion sessions each day where we sort out the mysteries of canine body language, operant and classical conditioning, schedules of reinforcement, laws of shaping, rules of stimulus control, business basics, ethical dilemmas, and more. We also do two additional training sessions with dogs each day, during which I work one-on-one with the Interns and their dogs. Students are invited to observe any of our evening that are going on during the week, and they get three take-home open-book quizzes.
Finally, Saturday morning arrives – time for the written final (not open book) and the practical exam, where each student demonstrates to the group what s/he has accomplished with her/his dog during the week. Finally, after tearful good-byes to the dogs, I meet individually with each Intern to talk about their academy experience, and how we can help them attain their goals for the future. Congratulations, Interns! Two Level 2 academies to go and you can add PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) after your name!
Left to right: Gina and Willow, me, Joan and Nook, Jana and Bongo, Susan and Willow, Tracey and Guinness, Gayle and Teddy, Diane and Brandon
I’m always a little sad to see everyone leave, but I know I will see many of them again – at future Peaceable Paws academies and workshops, and at seminars and conferences – Clicker Expo, APDT, and more. I am also always hugely impressed by how much humans and dogs can learn in just 6 days. I see students leave with a much better understanding of the scientific principles of behavior and learning, and with much greater confidence in their skills as trainers. The dogs go back to the shelter with a solid repertoire of basic good manners behaviors, and in some cases a new-found grasp of the value of having a relationship with humans. They also get a certificate for a free 7-week Peaceable Paws good manners class, and their new humans get a copy of the PPaws class training book so they know what their dogs have learned.
Now – onto the next events: a Shaping Workshop this weekend (one of my favorite things to do!) followed by an Instructor Academy the week of August 2nd.
Questions for the day: Will it ever cool off? Will it ever rain?
Oh, by the way, as of Tuesday, all the Academy dogs except Teddy had already gone to their new homes. That’s a record!
Warm Woofs and Happy Training.
Pat
July 7, 2010
I know I’ve about done the Maggie story to death, but I need to add that Westie Rescue did come and pick her up Saturday, and they report she’s doing well in her new foster home. They agree that her teeth are very sharp, and promise to let me know when she’s placed in her forever home.
 Thanks, Westie Rescue, for taking care of our girl! Here are some last-minute photos of her playing tug and hanging out while we waited for Rescue to arrive:
 Maggie's favorite game - tug  Lotsa different ways to play with a tug toy  You can even play all by yourself  Have a great life, little Maggie Faith! Other than that… IT’S HOT OUT! – in the upper 90’s the last several days – 98 here yesterday, and predicted again today, with more humidity as an added bonus. Who says there’s no global warming? We have a Level 1 Academy next week and I’m hoping it cools down some, or we will all be wasted. Academy weeks are pretty draining as it is, I can’t imagine…
Last week and this one have been a little slow, thank goodness. Our Reliable Recall class graduated last week, and it was heart-stopping to see how gorgeous Grace was, the Belgian Tervuren, stretching out full speed in response to Kristy’s call from the far side of the back hayfield. Grace ran, and ran, and ran – recall after recall, dragging a long line just in case – but she came beautifully, perfectly, every single time Kristy called her.
Shea, the Australian Shepherd, was also letter-perfect for Rhonda, and Estie’s Cattle Dog Annie, of course – Estie has a hard time getting far enough away from Annie to be able to call her!
Speaking of classes – new ones start next week. I get to teach the Downtown Hound class, and Shirley is teaching another of my favorites – Clicks for Tricks! Both are quite fun – the Downtown Hound class does two sessions on the streets of nearby Sharpsburg, with a planned stop at Nutter’s Ice Cream. We also go to the Outlet Mall, the C&O Canal, and City Park. Fun!
 Last year's Downtown Hound class at the C&O Canal I learned something new about pigs this week – some of them “blow their coats.” I’d always heard this term in relation to show dogs… but in just 2 days Sturgis lost almost all his hair – it was coming out in handfuls! I know pigs are quite susceptible to mange, so we were a little worried, but Internet research turned up the “blow their coats” tidbit, and his hair is already growing back in quite nicely.
We take a week off from classes for major holidays, so things are really slow this week. We even have time to find some wonderful farm creatures. The first one was alive, in the barn – Maggie thought it was a great puppy toy but I rescued it and set it free. The second Paul found on the ground, at the end of its short life span, and saved it for me. Beautiful! I love having a husband who understands that a dead moth can be a wonderful gift.
Stay Cool!
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
 Harley knows how to stay cool!  In living color  Memorex
June 30, 2010
Okey Doke – I promised you a follow-up on the Westie pup left abandoned in our driveway, so here it is. Never let it be said I don’t keep my promises…
 Maggie Faith Maggie spent the week while we were on our biker vacation happily making friends at the Humane Society of Washington County. They assessed her at the end of her stray holding time, and found that she was friendly, outgoing, resilient (as in nothing rattles her) and very quick to use her mouth. They weren’t sure if she was using it aggressively or not, so were not willing to make her available for adoption immediately at the shelter. I also wanted to explore her alleged crate-soiling behavior, as reported by her previous owner, who said Maggie absolutely refused to eliminate on grass, and would only urinate and defecate in her crate.
 I can *walk* in grass just fine! We brought her home to PPaws, where I found her to be a perfectly normal Westie pup. She does, indeed, love to use her mouth, but she just wants to play tug. Correction, she really wants to play tug. Correction, she ferociously wants to play tug.
I’m convinced that the previous owner who dumped her here incorrectly identified Maggie’s intense play-growling (while tugging on pants legs) as aggression, and hence applied the inappropriate (inappropriate response even if it was aggression) remedy of grabbing and holding her muzzle closed. Since the previous owner had also received more bad advice (“Don’t ever play tug with your puppy”) and Maggie is dying to tug, the pup’s only outlet for this highly desirable behavior was to grab pants legs, and yes, human hands. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
As soon as we offered her appropriate tug toys her pants and hand grabbing greatly diminished. Even now, just one week later, if she occasionally goes for clothing or skin we just have to replace the inappropriate object with an appropriate tug toy and she’s a happy camper. Easy Peasey. (See my “Rules to Tug By,” below)
We also worked on teaching her to offer sits and take treats without grabbing flesh. Ouch!
 Sit for a treat...  Oops! If you grab, the treat disappears!  Yes! If you're polite you can have it! As for the housetraining issue – no worries. She has happily pooped and peed on grass since her first day here. She makes every effort not to soil her ex-pen, has never soiled her crate (we put her food, water and toys in her crate) and pees on the grass as soon as we take her outside. Go figure.
 Guess what? I can poop and pee in grass just fine too! In fact, she’s had a wonderful week hiking around the farm, helping with barn chores with the Miller pack (Scooter hates her) and Sturgis, and soaking up attention from Shirley and all the PPaws apprentices.
 Hiking on the farm with the big dogs  Waiting her turn to roll in deer poop  Helping with barn chores  Hangin' with Bonnie and Sturgis So – she doesn’t need the Gold Paw program – there’s nothing to fix. They should all be so easy! Westie Rescue is coming to pick her up on Saturday, and she will be off to her new life, hopefully in the hands of someone who has a better understanding of normal puppy behavior and can give her the lifelong loving home she deserves.
Have a great life, Maggie Faith!
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
RULES TO TUG BY
By Pat Miller
I’m always surprised to hear there are still trainers who think “Tug” is a bad game to play with dogs. My dogs think it’s one of the best! Granted, there may be an occasional dog for whom I wouldn’t recommend it, but as a professional dog trainer and behavior consultant, I often suggest Tug as an appropriate and effective way to help a high-energy, under-exercised dog work off steam. Most of my peers in the positive training world agree.
We also agree that it’s a good idea to have rules by which to play the Tug game, to ensure that you’re reinforcing appropriate behaviors and not rewarding inappropriate ones:
- Keep the tug toy put away. Bring it out when you want to play tug. Your relationship with your dog works best when you control the good stuff.
- Use a toy long enough to keep dog teeth far away from your hands, and comfortable for you to hold when he pulls.
- Hold up the toy. If your dog lunges for it say “Oops” and quickly hide it behind your back. It’s your toy – he can only grab it when you give him permission.
- When he’ll remain sitting as you offer the toy, tell him to “Take it!” and encourage him to grab and pull. If he’s reluctant, be gentle until he learns the game. If he’s enthusiastic, go for it!
- Randomly throughout tug-play, ask him to “Give” and trade him the toy for a yummy treat. After he gives it to you, you can play again (see steps 2 and 3). You should “win” most of the time – that is, you end up with possession of the toy, not your dog.
- While you are playing, if his teeth creep up the toy beyond a marked or imaginary line, say “Oops! Too bad” in a cheerful voice, have him give you the toy, and put it away briefly. (You can get it out and play again after 15 seconds or so.)
- If your dog’s teeth touch your clothing or skin, say “Oops!, Too bad” and put the toy away for a minute.
- Children should not play tug with your dog unless and until you are confident they can play by the rules. If you do allow children to play tug with your dog, always directly supervise the game.
- Only tug side-to-side, not up-and-down (up-and-down can cause injury to the spine), and temper the vigor of your play appropriately to the size, age and personality of your dog. You can play Tug lots harder with a 120 adult Rottweiler than you can a Rottie puppy, or a four-pound Chihuahua.
- When you are done playing, put the toy away until next time. You control the good stuff!
Happy tugging!
June 22, 2010
I hope you’ll excuse a blog that has little to do with dog training this week. We just got home from vacation – where I spent the last eight days and 1,840 miles on the back of Paul’s Harley. Yes friends, if you weren’t already aware, this dog trainer/behavior consultant is also a biker chick.
So, I fully intended to keep a daily journal so this blog would be a quick bit of editing and push-the-button done, but of course that didn’t happen. My intentions got soggy the first day and never quite dried out. Of course, I always take pictures of dogs wherever I see them, so there are a few canine bits to follow…
We left Peaceable Paws about 9:30 on a warm, sunny, Sunday morning – final destination, Laconia, New Hampshire Bike Week – me in a sleeveless shirt, a little worried about getting sunburned (but not much worried).
 Day One - heading out our driveway  No helmets required in PA! (But we always wear ours...) We hoped to make it to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, by 1:00pm, in time to go on a fund-raiser ride for the SPCA of Luzerne Co., a shelter that used to be run by a friend of Paul’s, Ed Gross, until he retired a few years ago. According to our trusty GPS we were just going to make it, until the skies got ominously dark and the clouds opened up to deliver four inches of rain in one hour. Paul dashed off the Interstate and under an overpass to try to keep us dry, and in the process hopped a divider and broke the kickstand spring. A couple of hours, one bungee cord, and a stop at the SPCA later, we finally caught up with the ride finish at Bentley’s, where we hung out with Ed, had a couple of drinks, and tried to dry out.
 Meeting up with old friend Ed Gross (Didn’t help my frame of mind any to discover, when I dragged out my rain gear, that inside of my rain jacket was a soggy wet musty mess. At some point in the past a water bottle must have leaked in my saddlebag and been absorbed by the jacket liner. Yuck.
 Stereotypic biker dog - but we also saw a lot of Pomeranians... Leaving Wilkes-Barre the next morning, it was still cloudy and damp. I had dried my jacket lining with the motel hair dryer, but the odor still clung. I put it on, holding my breath, and climbed on the back of the bike, to make our way north to the Adirondacks. We stopped at the Harley dealer in Binghamton, NY, for a couple of hours to get the kickstand fixed, the exhaust welded, and a new rear tire. Consoled ourselves over ice cream at Friendly’s next door… We weren’t planning to arrive at Laconia until Wednesday, so we had plenty of time to wander our way north and east, through small towns, including Lake Placid, former winter Olympic site.
 We find a friend in a shop in the Adirondacks. While the Dobie didn't look thrilled about customer interaction, the Lab on the right was even less so.  We have our photo taken with a fellow biker in Old Forge (I think?), NY.  Finally, some wildlife! First, a turkey...  One of many tiger swallowtails...  Sharing lunch with an adorable chipmunk (only gave him unsalted nuts and multigrain bread)...  A moment of contemplation at Fifth Lake in the Adirondacks  Then on to Vermont via ferry boat! Upon crossing into Vermont, our nostrils were immediately assailed by the overpowering odor of confinement dairy cows. Seeing those poor Holstein girls standing and lying down in six inches of their own waste made me reconsider my addiction to cheese and ice cream – vegetarian crack, as they are sometimes known. I wonder where Ben and Jerry get their milk from…?
Wednesday dawned cool and cloudy again. Would we get any serious sun this trip? I’m still wrapped in several layers to ward off the cold. It seems reasonably warm out, until you get on the back of the bike and the wind starts whipping. Haven’t put on the thermals yet, but they are in the pack, just in case. Today was endless miles on the bumpiest road I’ve ever been on, at least on the bike. Thought we would never get there, but finally pulled into the parking are outside our rental cabin-by-the-creek in Lincoln, NH, 45 minutes north of Laconia, and home for the next three nights. We unpacked quickly, and decided to head for the action. Radar showed a little rain, but not supposed to arrive until 9pm – we should have time to go find bikes and food.
No such luck. Not much going on in Laconia (we found out that night that the bike stuff is really in Weirs Beach, east of Laconia) and we got rained on again heading back to our cabin. Dang. I looked at New Hampshire online and discovered that it looks like Swiss cheese. The lacy kind. Like it was really just water and someone dropped in a few blobs of dirt here and there so they could dock their boats and build vacation homes. There’s a lot of water there. Everywhere!
We woke up to clouds and sprinkles again Thursday morning, and hung out at home base, sleeping in and waiting for things to clear a bit. Finally headed for Weirs Beach around 11am and did one side of the biker party, dropping in at the Harley dealer, scoping out vendors, buying a scarf to keep the wind from whistling down my neck, and scrounging something that passed as vegetarian food for lunch. Then back on the bike to head north to Mt. Washington, the biggest must visit attraction of the area. This is the highest peak in the Northeastern US, and it’s an 8-mile climb from 1,000 feet to 8,200 feet on a partly-paved road. The road was closed to cars today so bikes to make the trip safely.
 In the fog, top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire  The view on the way down Blessedly, the sun came out on the two-hour ride to the mountain, and stayed out for the rest of our trip. I finally got warm! We did see a moose on the way (yay!) but I missed getting a picture (darn!). Although at 8200 feet with 30-mile-per-hour winds it wasn’t exactly toasty at the top. The ride and the view were exhilarating. The whole cold, wet, rainy trip was worth this one event. As we neared the top, clouds started whipping across the road, and then we were totally fogged in. The fog parted briefly for us up at the top, where, on a clear day, you can see 5 states, Canada, and the ocean. So they say. Apparently it’s rarely clear up there, so it’s hard to prove. The trip back down was every bit as beautiful, but the gate was closing at 6:45, so we couldn’t dawdle. Dinner, and tumble into bed, with plans to see the rest of the Bike Fest Friday.
 Bikes in Laconia  Puggle/Bulldog enjoying the biker scene in Laconia  Baby bikers at Laconia From rags to riches – Friday was sunny and in the upper 80s. Perfect for riding on the bike, hot for walking around. We toured the rest of the vendor booths, picked up out HOG member Laconia pins, and spent the day relaxing. Then back to the cabin to pack up for an early-Saturday departure. I was excited – we planned to meet my cousin Jeb Barnes, who lives in Gloucester, for breakfast in Lowell, MA. She was my favorite cousin when I was a kid, and I hadn’t seen her in 21 years, since my sister Meg’s wedding.
On the road at 7:30am, Saturday, for breakfast at the Four Sisters Owl Café in Lowell. GREAT food – best of the trip. My spinach and Swiss cheese frittata was delicious, and it was indescribably wonderful to see Jeb. We promised to get together again soon – Massachusetts isn’t really that far from Maryland!
 Me, on the right, cousin Jeb on the left Seven long, hot hours on the road Saturday. Have to get to Paul’s Dad’s in Hanover, PA for Father’s Day on Sunday, and then make it home to pick up the reins and leashes of farm and dog trainer life, in time for evening feeding.
We spent Saturday night in Port Jervis, NY – former home of our wonderful PB Pig, Sturgis, then up and out Sunday morning early to see Dad. We got there at 2pm, right on schedule, hung out two hours, and split for home and the kids.
 Happy Father's Day! Although one week felt way too short, it was, of course, marvelous to be greeted with wagging tails and smiling faces. Even Dubhy, our undemonstrative Scottie, was clearly happy to see us. And now, biker togs are safely stowed in the locker in the garage (except for the rain suit, which is waiting its turn in the washing machine), I’ve sorted through the 1000-plus photos I took from the passenger seat of the bike, and it’s back to life as a dog trainer/consultant.
It’s great to be home!
Maggie the Westie comes home with me tomorrow from the shelter, so I can evaluate her, setup her behavior program, and find her a Gold Paw foster home. More on her progress next blog…
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
 Home Sweet Home!
June 11, 2010
You just never know what surprise is waiting around the corner.
I was wrapping up a private consult at about 5:30pm yesterday when one of our 6pm class students arrived and informed Shirley that there was a dog in a carrier halfway up our driveway. Since our drive is about a half-mile long, there’s no chance this dog crate bounced out of the back of a passing pick-up truck; someone must have left her there deliberately.
 Maggie Faith, too-cute-for-words.. abandoned in our driveway PPaws apprentice Jenn Rutter and I hopped in my van and drove down to investigate. We found the world’s most adorable 12-week-old Westie pup in the world’s flimsiest soft crate, set off the side of the driveway in the grass, in the shade. Along with the pup, the owners left a dog bed, toys, food, a plastic food/water bowl, and a six-page letter explaining in great detail how much they love Maggie Faith and how much it hurts them to give her up, but because of her “serious behavior problems” they simply couldn’t keep her.
Of course I scooped Maggie up and took her back to the training center, where I sat down to read the whole letter. As I slogged through it I wondered what horrible behavior problems could possible be hiding in this wonderful, friendly, outgoing, adorable pup.
The first clue was when she expressed her admiration for the Monks of New Skete. “Ah,” I thought. Punishment.” She mentioned a 3-year-old child, and I went to “punishment for puppy nipping.” When she castigated the breeder she got the pup from for keeping puppies in crates, I thought “housetraining.” And sure enough, she’s convinced this pup is aggressive and can’t be housetrained.
 Chewing on a cow hoof I gave her - not a *drop* of resource guarding tension when I messed with her and took it away from her (and gave it right back) Her comment: “Maggie is aggressive. She doesn’t recognize me as the dominant figure despite my following the training guide (Monk’s) to a T. (Why do I guess she probably watches Cesar, too?) Then she says, “We always stepped in and corrected her, initially with the ‘NO BITE” command. Within days we realized how serious it was and had to grab her muzzle and say the words.”
Then she says “It’s gotten progressively harder to handle.” Why am I not surprised?
The final irony is that she said, “I think that someone who can handle these issues needs to have her or else she will end up in a shelter and I can’t handle that thought.”
Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I work closely with shelters and my husband is the director of the Humane Society of Washington County here in Hagerstown. So the first thing we did was call to have an officer come pick her up and transport her to the shelter, where she is now, safe, warm and well-fed.
Of course, I can’t just let go. There’s a good chance Maggie does have some inappropriate behaviors after 5-6 weeks of muzzle grabbing, and from the owner’s description is sounds like she’s also a good candidate for reverse crate training, once we rule out a urinary tract infection. So I e-mailed Debbie McClain, shelter manager, and suggested that Maggie would be an excellent candidate for the shelter’s not-yet-officially-launched “Gold Paw Behavior Foster Care Program.”
Debbie responded: “I just went to meet this little girl….What a Doll Baby!!! She’s definitely a mouther, but like you say, that is easily corrected. (She loves a belly rub!) At the end of her stray period, staff can do an assessment and have her ready to move her into the GOLD Paw Program.”
So, in short order, Maggie will be ready to go to a Gold Paw foster home.
 Maggie Faith says, "Yay, I get to be a Gold Paw puppy!" And, of course, I’ll keep you posted here on her BMod progress.
Have a great weekend! Or as my good friend Lisa Waggoner of Cold Nose College says, suggesting that you have control over your own happiness, “Make it a great weekend.” (I love that, Lisa – thanks!)
Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
PS – If anyone happens to have any information who might have dropped Maggie off in our driveway, please feel free to let me know.
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