Socializing your dog is probably the most important thing you can do as a pet owner. Taking him on walks to meet people and other dogs prevents the kind of situation that a Pomeranian named Gizmo is now facing in Aspen, Colo.
A judge has threatened to order Gizmo to be euthanized if the 13-year-old dog bites anyone else. The dog was kept in an animal shelter for 10 days after biting a woman in August - clearly not the first time he's bitten someone.
"As a judge, the hardest decision I ever have to make is to take someone's pet away or euthanize it," Judge Brooke Peterson told Gizmo's owner, Melinda Goldrich, last week. "But you and I have been dealing with your dog since 2006 ... and your excuses have worn out my patience."
Peterson told Goldrich that it's curtains for Gizmo (not the dog pictured above) if he's seen in Aspen again. A friend in a nearby town has offered to care for the dog.
I blame the owner, first for not socializing her pet as a puppy, second for not making sure it could not bite anyone else after it became obvious the dog was vicious. It's every pet owner's responsibility.
Yes, even small dogs can be vicious.
If you live in California, you know all about the state's massive budget problems. State workers' salaries are being cut, social services are being pared back and various programs are feeling the pinch of a $24.3-billion deficit.
But now it looks like animal shelters - and the animals who are kept there in hopes of finding new owners - will also feel the brunt of California's fiscal woes.
Among the cuts proposed last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one that would end a state mandate to hold animal shelter strays for six days. Kiska Icard, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco SPCA, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the change - which is expected to save the state $24.6 million - would result in euthanizing more animals.
"Obviously, monies need to come from somewhere," she said, "but to do it on the backs of these animals is just really sad."
I've heard that shelters may euthanize animals after just three days. If that happens, it would be a major tragedy for thousands of dogs, cats and other lost or abandoned pets.
If you live in California and are thinking about adopting an animal from a shelter, now is the time. You could literally save the life of a cat or dog.
Dear Kelley,
I pray you can help me. Last year I rescued a dog, and myself + my family showered her with love. She had had a very distressing past history, this reinforced to us when she bit my Mother In Law on her third day with us. They were very serious bites and our vet said we had no option but to put her down as she had a high risk of re-offending.
We, as a family, found this incredibly difficult but had no choice. She was a beautiful 2 yr old collie and it was so heartbreaking. We recently re-homed a 6-month old German Shepherd who is a real sweetheart.
However we have just realized that our 12 yr old daughter is still traumatized by the incident with my Mother In Law (which she witnessed).
Krya jumped up to lick her and she had a panic attack. My question to you is "Is it better to put a muzzle on a dog we all love or let her move to a home where she does not have that restraint? She would get plenty of stimulation with us, walks beside a canal for 2 hrs a day, hill walking/climbing regularly with loads of love + attention. Please let me know which outcome would be better for Kyra as it is her welfare that is at the forefront of our dilemma.
Kind regards, Linda
Facts & Summary:
- "Kyra" is your new, 6-mo. old German Shepherd Dog.
- Your daughter, age 12, was recently witness to a severe bite inflicted by a different dog to a family member.
- The dog who bit was a 3-day, newly adopted, 2-yr old Collie.
- The Collie was euthanized for aggression as recommended by your vet.
- Although the new dog is friendly, she is rambunctious and untrained.
- Your daughter is having panic attacks whenever the dog jumps up on her, licks her or does both.
QUESTION:
Should you use a a muzzle on the new dog, so that your daughter will not have to worry about being bitten. Or, is this unfair to the dog?
First, let me say that if your daughters fear is severe, or getting worse, you may want to seek help from a mental health professional.
It is entirely normal to be afraid of large animals with big teeth! But it sounds as if you are describing a new change in your daughter that is drastically different because of a specific event.
Given the bite your daughter witnessed and the events that followed, I am not surprised that your daughter is having a difficult time bonding with your new dog.
If you can't manage the access the two have to each other with gates, crates, and tie-downs while still providing excellent opportunities for mental and physical exercise for the dog, then you may want to re-home the GSD.
If you are able to find professional help for your daughter and the prognosis is good, then it might be possible to temporarily manage the situation and work through the issue.
Having worked as a humane educator I do have some experience working with social workers and psychologists in controlled settings with dogs and children who were fearful of, or had had a traumatic experience with an aggressive dog. It takes time to recover from a bad experience and steady, slow progress is best.
From a dog-behavior perspective, "wiggly" & "overly-friendly" are encouraging terms. They mean that the dog is not afraid (potential fear-aggression), just untrained. Untrained is fixable with patience and a little work. The dog's temperament aside, the human needs to be comfortable too and wiggly/friendly can be just too much for a fearful person.
When working with people who are afraid of dogs, I have never started with a puppy! They are TOO-WIGGLY! A friendly, well-trained adult dog who listens well to commands is ideal. So, don't peg your daughters recovery on your puppy. Consider training the puppy and getting your daughter (at her comfort level) interacting with older, well-behaved, friendly dogs.
Regarding your specific question, I would NOT recommend muzzling the dog.
I only use muzzles when the is a clear indication that a bite is likely and/or a previously known history of the dog having bitten or fought.
If this is a concern (that the GSD may have some tendency to bite or nip) than it may be best to re-home the dog and focus on your daughter's feelings and concerns regarding dogs.
If the dog is not currently biting or showing signs of being fearful or aggressive, then it is your daughter whom you need to turn your energy.
Muzzling the dog will not fix your daughter's fear, but could give her a false sense of security.
Furthermore, your 6-month old pup will miss out on the opportunity she needs to learn what (toys) she is allowed to put her mouth on and when (never), she may place (even gently) her mouth on people.
If the dog is NOT biting or puppy-nipping then by all means, please use other management devices such as crates, pens or tie-downs to prevent the dog from jumping all over your daughter.
This is just good-sense for anyone with a rude, jumpy pup.
Preventing the dog from practicing the bad behavior is critical to training.
Finally, please enroll in a Reward-Based (no choke/prong collars) Training Class.
Don't forget to include your daughter in training the dog. The class may be overwhelming, lots of young, un-trained dogs, but your daughter could be included in the homework exercises.
In the beginning this may mean that someone else holds the leash and controls the dog from a distance, or that your daughter gives the commands or food-rewards.
All too often, there are stories in the news about cops shooting dogs - not because the dogs have clearly and viciously attacked an officer in the line of duty but because the officer, usually without justification, has felt threatened.
Are there repercussions? No. Apologies? No. Acknowledgements of wrongful actions? No.
This storyline came up again last month when Egypt, an American Staffordshire Terrier, was shot by San Diego undercover officers. It was not an isolated incident, and it's worth discussing here because police, far too frequently, shoot peoples' pets without cause.
By all accounts, Egypt was a happy, friendly dog. "She was the delightful nuisance of the neighborhood," Chris Victor told San Diego City Beat. "She'd see you and she'd wag from head to toe."
On Dec. 2, her owner, Demarkus Peeples, remembers hearing a knock at the door of the bungalow he shares with his mother. A group of men dressed in jeans and T-shirts - they were later identified as narcotics officers answering a call about a "chemical smell" -- was standing on the porch.
Unsure who they were or what they wanted, Peeples did not answer. Instead, he stood in the doorway of a bedroom and watched. Rather than identify themselves, two of the men opened a gate to the backyard and walked to the rear door.
"It looked like they were trying to case my house," Peeples recalled. After a few moments, the men returned to the front of the house without closing the gate. Peeples opened the back door and looked around. Egypt ran out the door, then continued past the gate when she saw that it had been left open.
What happened next changed everything. The dog ran toward the officers, who responded with shots. Egypt was hit three times (none of the shots was fatal) and was later euthanized by San Diego County Animal Control officers, who say Peeples gave them permission to put her to sleep. Peeples disputes that claim, insisting he told them, "Do not kill my dog; do everything you can to save my dog."
Amazingly, Peeples was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon - his dog. He remembers one officer saying, "Charge him with everything you can charge him with."
San Diego Police later acknowledged that Egypt did not attack the officers but said they were within their rights to shoot her. "The animal was charging the officers," a spokeswoman said. "They weren't going to wait to see if (she) was actually going to bite them."
There are similar stories. Blogger Radley Balko writes of a recent incident in Waldorf, Md., in which police shot a family dog in front of two small children while attempting to serve papers on a man who no longer lived at the address. And a Milwaukee resident who is suing the city after police shot her Labrador-Springer Spaniel mix in 2004.
It's puzzling why police should react so quickly when there is little indication they're in danger or are being attacked. A barking dog, or one that is simply protecting its property, is not always preparing to pounce on an officer. Perhaps, as Balko suggests, a little police training on how to deal with dogs might prevent more senseless killings of pets.
I don't know if you saw the story about the woman who recently adopted 27 dogs from a shelter to prevent them from being euthanized. When I first read it, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
I'm sure Colleen Spalioni's heart was in the right place. She lost her own dog in November when it was struck and killed by a car, and she wanted to find another that looked just like him. Her Internet search led her to Dogsindanger.com, a site that posts photos of dogs in shelters with the number of days they have left until they are euthanized.
Spalioni, who lives near Reno, hired a teenage neighbor to drive with her almost 800 miles to a shelter near Bakersfield, Calif., where she found a dog that resembled her own. But after seeing so many dogs in need of homes, she just couldn't help herself.
She adopted the dog she wanted - and 26 others, including one Chihuahua, 10 Chihuahua mixes, two German Shepherd mixes, two Miniature Pinschers, a Jack Russell Terrier and a Poodle. She loaded them into her truck and drove home.
Everything would have been fine, except that her new dogs did what dogs normally do. They barked -- so much, in fact, that the neighbors began complaining. And then she was told that a local ordinance allows no more than three dogs per household.
Since then, Spalioni has been looking for new homes for the dogs. So far, she's found places for almost all of them.
And, she said, "I learned my lesson. I promise I won't do this again."
Her concern for the dogs is admirable. I commend her. I'm sure others would love to do the same if they had the space and time to love and care for dogs in need.
But as someone who owns four dogs, I could have told her: It's a lot of work.
