Keep Your Dog Safe and Protected from Thieves

I have heard horrible stories of dogs being stolen and never found again.  What can I do to protect my dog from being stolen?

In recent years there has been an increased level of dog theft.  Some organizations have indicated that dog theft has increased by as much as 32%.

People steal pets for a variety of reasons:

• Some are simply looking for a dog and dont want to pay the price charged by the breeder or pet store.  
• Others are looking for dogs that they can sell.  Dogs can easily sell for up to $3,000 or $4,000 on the open market. 
• Others steal the dog and then wait for the reward posters to be placed in the neighborhood.  It is amazing how often Fido just happens to wander into a strangers back yard with no tags or other form of identification.
• Dogs are stolen to use in fighting clubs. This is probably the most disturbing and distressing of all the reasons your dog is stolen.

Having a dog stolen is horrendous for both the owner and the dog.  A once well behaved dog, if found, can turn into a fearful/aggressive animal.  They can become aggressive around people or other animals.  They might attack with no warning or sit, shaking with fear, in the corner of the room.  Your once, happy companion, has returned to you with a level of anxiety and fear that might never be reversed.

So what can you, the pet owner do to try and minimize your pet being stolen?

• Make sure your dog is micro chipped and has a collar tag.  You also might think about a GPS locator on their collar.
• Never leave your dog in a public place.
• Never leave your dog alone for any length of time in the back yard or front yard.
• Be aware of any strangers who take too much interest in your dog.  If they are asking too many questions regarding your dogs breed, age, lineage, health, temperament; they might "be shopping".
• Make sure that you have thoroughly checked the background of your dog walker.  Are they bonded? What are their references? Does your vet know anything about them?

If your dog has been stolen/missing:

• Make sure that you contact the police or the appropriate local animal control authorities.
• Make flyers with your dogs picture and canvas the neighborhood.  Place flyers in vet hospitals, doggie grooming stores, pet stores, supermarkets, etc.
• Contact the local radio and TV stations to see if they have places on their web sites to post your dogs information.
• Contact and check the local dog shelters to see if your dog has been surrendered.
• Check Internet Databases such as www.FidoFinder.com to register your dog and to see if anyone has listed him as found.

Having anything stolen from us, especially our family dog, is a terrible experience. Getting them back is very difficult and many times, impossible.  The best solution is to proactively take the appropriate precautions outlined above.  Keeping your dog safe and secure provides for their well being and is just the smart thing to do.  As always, you can contact your local Bark Buster Dog Trainer for more information and suggestions at Best Dog Training in SouthFlorida.

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Jade Has Playtime With Pals

Jades been in some heavy duty training now for almost a year now, every single week, sometimes twice a week, to become the bomb-proof, solid Service Dog that she is.  Were getting ready to take the Certification exam any time now.  In fact, next week, our trainer is taking us to where we will be taking the exam to run through a few practice exams.  We also went through it once this week at the pet store, which isnt easy.  If youve ever taken your dog to a pet store, you know how difficult it can be for your dog to focus, with all the smells, sights, sounds, and other dogs.  Jade is doing amazing! Our trainer has been bringing her dog with her every week, a 150 lb Rottweiler, to train with us.  Hes a wonderful dog, so mellow and gentle.  Jade and the Rottie have become working pals, and are on duty together every week now, for several weeks in a row.  That has been going very well, and weve been practicing the Certification exam at the pet store with the trainers Rottie.  We are almost there.

Jade has been having more and more experiences with other dogs, and is doing amazing! Im so proud of her. Shes really become a very different dog over the past year.  She knows exactly what it means to help me, she knows when that vest goes on, playtime is over and its time to work. She helps me so much at home too, and shes always willing to jump up and do what shes told, whether its getting me a drink from the fridge, pulling the laundry basket into the laundry room, getting the clothes out of the dryer, fetching my cane, or my phone....or whatever else I need from her. Its so amazing having my own little helper, especially since shes been my best friend when I first brought her home at 11 weeks old.  Shes really developed into the most amazing dog!

Shes been fortunate enough to have some special play times as well with other dogs shes meeting at the park, when were out for our walks.  The first one was with a little Chihuahua/Pomeranian Mix we met at the park. It was actually off leash and so was Jade, because we were playing fetch at the time. Just cant play fetch on a leash.  So we were playing, and Jade was running for the ball and bringing it right back to me and dropping it right in my hand, like a champ, when this little dog comes running across the field to meet Jade. Right as I threw the ball, and Jade went galloping after it, the little dog was right behind Jade running for the ball with her. Jade got there first of course, but they played and chased each other, sniffed each other and had a great time for the next 30 minutes or so.  The little dogs owner and I talked and Jade got to meet her too. The owner talked about how shed just rescued the little dog a week or so ago from the shelter, as it was going to be euthanized. While Jade was meeting the owner, the little dog barked at her and nipped her in the butt, and we laughed as Jade tucked her butt and ran from the little dog.  It was hysterical and so wonderful to see Jade having such a great time playing with this little dog!

Yesterday, we met another Lab at the park.  A big, beautiful male Lab. He was only 11 months old and was as big as Jade.  He was gorgeous!  He came up and sniffed Jade, so I let her have some playtime with him.  They ran around in circles around me and the other dogs owners. We talked while they played.  I told them about Jades pit bull attack and they agreed that pit bulls are very dangerous dogs.  Most people agree with that, except pit owners.  Everyone Ive ever talked to about pit bulls say the same thing, unless of course, they own a pit bull.  Anyway...Jade had a nice play time with the other dog for a good 20 minutes or so and we took off on the scooter to finish our park time. Im really proud of how well shes doing with other dogs, and with performing her duties!

I never imagined that Jade could or would do the things shes able to do now. She is just an amazing dog, wonderfully smart, and such a willing and loving helper.  She really understands when I dont feel well, and stays very close to me always.  She knows her job and loves doing it.  I couldnt have asked for a better buddy!

Heres Jade getting me a drink from the fridge.

Napping in the back yard, while I water the plants. She loves the grass!

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The Difference Between A REAL Service Dog And A Fraud

Ive written several blogs recently on "Fake Service Dogs" and why people are attempting to pass their pets off as service dogs. Ive also discussed the negative impacts of doing such a thing (impersonating a disabled person and attempting to pass your pet off as a service dog) on the real service dog team community. I also read many other articles dedicated to the same topic, as this has become a very real problem.  It is also a problem for business owners and managers, as they are often too afraid of being sued to oust a "service dog" from their establishment, even when the dog becomes a nuisance or even aggressive toward other patrons/customers.  Ive read stories where customers have legitimately complained about a "service dog" in the establishment that was lunging at customers, barking incessantly, and being an all out nuisance, and the business manager refused to ask the "service dog" team to take the dog out for fear of confrontation and being sued.  Its become very clear to me that business owners/managers need to be properly educated about what a REAL service dog looks like, and how it should behave, so that they can more easily spot a fake "service dog" and deal with it appropriately.

Disabled people have rights, true.  They have the right to have a service dog and to bring their legitimate service dog into most any establishment, as long as the dog behaves as it should.  However, business owners and managers have rights too, and so do the other customers who use those establishments.

I think its pretty clear that a lot of people are on to the fact that there are some people out there who are stooping to new lows, and will stop at nothing to take their pets wherever they want to go.  However, in order to do this, they have to break the law; and make no mistake....impersonating a disabled person, and slapping a vest on your dog to call it a "service dog" without the proper training, is a crime. It is Felony fraud and will be treated as such, when, not if, but WHEN you are caught.

BUT...the big question out there is "how do you know if a persons service dog is a legitimately trained service dog, or a fraud?" Some people say theres no way to tell, since by law the ADA only allows two questions asked to the disabled/service dog team...1) Is that a service dog? and 2) What tasks does the service dog perform to assist you with your disability?

................THERE IS A WAY TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEGITIMATE SERVICE DOG AND A FRAUD................

Thats why Im posting this....This is GREAT information that will help anyone see the difference.....

IAADP Minimum Training Standards for Public Access
1. Amount of Schooling: an assistance dog should be given a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of schooling over a period of Six Months or more.* At least thirty (30) hours should be devoted to outings that will prepare the dog to work obediently and unobtrusively in public places.**
2. Obedience Training: a dog must master the basic obedience skills: "Sit, Stay, Come, Down, Heel" and a dropped leash recall in a store in response to verbal commands and/or hand signals.
3. Manners: a dog must acquire proper social behavior skills. It includes at a minimum:

• No aggressive behavior toward people or other animals - no biting, snapping, snarling, growling or lunging and barking at them when working off your property.
• No soliciting food or petting from other people while on duty.
• No sniffing merchandise or people or intruding into another dog’s space while on duty.
• Socialize to tolerate strange sights, sounds, odors etc. in a wide variety of public settings.
• Ignores food on the floor or dropped in the dog’s vicinity while working outside the home.
• Works calmly on leash. No unruly behavior or unnecessary vocalizations in public settings.
• No urinating or defecating in public unless given a specific command or signal to toilet in an appropriate place.

4. Disability Related Tasks: the dog must be individually trained to perform identifiable tasks on command or cue for the benefit of the disabled human partner. This includes alerting to sounds, medical problems, certain scents like peanuts or situations if training is involved.

For a definition of a "task" and "individually trained,” and “what is not a task” and many examples of tasks performed by different kinds of assistance dogs, Click Here.
5. Prohibited Training: Any training that arouses a dog’s prey drive or fear to elicit a display of aggression for guard or defense purposes is strictly prohibited. Non aggressive barking as a trained behavior is permitted in appropriate situations. (See IAADP’s ban on the enrollment of protection trained, attack trained or aggressive dogs as an assistance dog with our organization. Click Here)
6. A Trainer’s Responsibilities: Trainers function as ambassadors for the assistance dog movement. This includes a disabled owner trainer, a provider’s staff or a volunteer with a puppy or adult dog “in training.” It also includes an assistance dog partner or able bodied facilitator helping a disabled loved one to keep up an assistance dog’s training. At a minimum, you should:

• Know pertinent canine laws (i.e. leash laws and public access laws)
• Ensure the dog is healthy, flea free and the rabies vaccination is up to date
• Take time to make sure your dog is well groomed and free of any foul odor
• Show respect and consideration to other people and property.
• Use humane training methods; monitor the dog’s stress level; provide rest breaks.
• Carry clean up materials. Arrange for prompt clean up if a dog eliminates or gets sick.
• Be polite and willing to educate the public about assistance dogs and access rights.

* The 120 hours of schooling includes the time invested in homework training sessions between obedience classes or lessons from an experienced dog trainer. ** Eligibility for Certification from a provider who supports IAADP’s Minimum Training Standards for Public Access may require you turn in a weekly training log to document your dog received a minimum of 120 hours of schooling over a period of six months or more.

PUBLIC ACCESS TEST
How will you know when your dog is ready to graduate from an "in training" status to the status of a full fledged assistance dog with whom you are entitled to have public access rights?
An excellent tool for evaluating a teams readiness to graduate [e.g. finish up formal training] is the Public Access Certification Test (PACT) which can be found on the website of Assistance Dogs International at www.adionline.org The ADI Public Access Certification Test was developed over 15 years ago as a consumer protection measure by the ADI Team Testing Committee, which included input from both providers and IAADP Partner members. Overall, the goal of the test is to discover whether or not a particular team is ready to go places out in public without trainer supervision. The safety of the dog, the handler and the public were the main considerations in developing the specific exercises for testing the team.
This test creates a level playing field, since it does not matter whether it is a guide, hearing or service dog team being tested or who trained the dog. What matters is the team’s performance. Every ADI program is required to administer this test before graduating and credentialing a team.
Disability mitigating tasks or work are not critiqued during the test. However, to establish a dog’s eligibility to take this test to become an assistance dog, ADI programs would ask for a demo in advance of at least three service dog tasks, three hearing dog sound alerts or a series of tasks known as “guide dog work.” To document the dog performs tasks in the home such as seizure response work, alerting to an attack of hypoglycemia late at night or fetching a portable phone or beverage, a program may ask the client to submit a video tape of the task(s).
The Public Access Test evaluates the dogs obedience and manners and the handlers skills in a variety of situations which include:
A. The handlers abilities to: ( 1 ) safely load and unload the dog from a vehicle; ( 2 ) enter a public place without losing control of the dog; ( 3 ) to recover the leash if accidently dropped, and ( 4 ) to cope calmly with an access problem if an employee or customer questions the individual’s right to bring a dog into that establishment.
B. The dogs ability to: ( 1 ) safely cross a parking lot, halt for traffic, and ignore distractions; ( 2 ) heel through narrow aisles; ( 3 ) hold a Sit-Stay when a shopping cart passes by or when a person stops to chat and pets the dog; (4 ) hold a Down Stay when a child approaches and briefly pets the dog; ( 5 ) hold a Sit Stay when someone drops food on the floor; hold a Down Stay when someone sets a plate of food on the floor within 18" of the dog, then removes it a minute later. [the handler may say “Leave It” to help the dog resist the temptation.] ( 6 ) remain calm if someone else holds the leash while the handler moves 20 ft. away; ( 7 ) remain calm while another dog passes within 6 ft. of the team during the test. This can occur in a parking lot or store. Alternatively, you could arrange for a neighbor with a pet dog to stroll past your residence while you load your dog into a vehicle at the beginning of the test.

IAADP agrees with ADIs ethical position that the amount of training given to an assistance dog should NEVER fall below the minimum level needed to pass this Public Access Test.

**CERTIFICATION is not required in the USA. Many states lack programs willing to certify dogs that did not go through that program’s training course. The DOJ decided to foster “an honor system,” by making the tasks the dog is trained to perform on command or cue to assist a disabled person, rather than certification ID from specific programs, the primary way to differentiate between a service animal and a pet. It opened the door for people to train their own assistance dog, usually with the help of an experienced trainer, if a program dog is unavailable.

Testers: If you are not enrolled in a program or taking lessons from a trainer willing to administer the Public Access Test and provide ID on successful completion of the test, it is worthwhile to find a trainer who would administer The Public Access Test. You could recruit a local trainer certified through The National Association of Obedience Dog Instructors ( www.nadoi.org) or the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. ( www.ccpdt.org ) ,or an obedience class instructor, or a Canine Good Citizen test evaluator. Trainers usually will charge a fee for their time. You might ask a colleague, in a pinch, to video tape the test and score it, for scoring is self explanatory. Have the tester sign and date it, then keep the test with your training logs in case of an access dispute someday.

Hopefully, this will help someone to determine the difference between a REAL Service Dog and a fraud.

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How to Start the Great Relationship Between Your Dog and Your Child

I have a three year old son and a six month Golden Retriever.  I know that they really like each other, but how can I start to build their relationship so that my son will be a life-long dog lover?  Some of my adult friends are scared of dogs.  They tell me that it is because of some incident that happened when they were young and they can never get over it.  I just want to do what is right...

It is almost a universal law that little boys and puppies love each other.  They are both full of energy, want to play & explore, and have a natural trust of almost everybody and everything.  We need to take these qualities and create an environment where your young son and your little puppy, Wolfie, can build a bond of friendship, respect, and rules.

Before I go any further, I want to be crystal clear that you can never leave your young son and Wolfie alone.  You must always be in control of the situation no matter how well you think they are getting along.  Just one quick mistake can critically damage the relationship and put a fear of dogs with your son.

There are multiple training steps that you will need to accomplish to build your sons bond with Wolfie.  We would like to discuss one socialization and obedience technique that is great for both your son and Wolfie.  All we want to accomplish is to have a little "walkies" with your son and Wolfie.  This doesnt have to be a perfect march where Wolfie is buy his side.  Think of it as more of a "stroll around the yard".

First, you must do your homework to make sure that Wolfie is socialized with the leash.  This means that he doesnt go crazy every time he sees the leash.  He cant grab it in his mouth and run away with the leash.  You must be able to click the leash on him, drop the leash, and Wolfie will not pay attention to the leash whatsoever. 

Next, you must be sure that Wolfie can understand what a "walkies" is all about.  You must work with him so that he calmly walks by your side when you are the person walking him.  Walk him past any distractions you have in the back yard that might make him bolt or jump.  Make sure that he doesnt constantly have his nose to the ground looking for things or is constantly stopping and digging.  He must be well behaved for you before you pass him off to your young son.

Now we are ready.  First of all, make sure that Wolfie has his collar properly fitted around his neck so that he can not slip out of it.  Next, click a 20 foot training lead to Wolfies collar.  (This is going to be for you and will assure that proper safety precautions are in place.)  

Have someone bring your son up to Wolfie.  Have him calmly pet Wolfie until they are both calm and focused on each other   Have someone hand your son a 3 - 4 foot leash and have him click it on Wolfies collar.  (The reason that I suggest a shorter leash is to minimize it dragging on the ground and getting Wolfies feet and body tangled in it.)  Help your son, if needed.  Make sure that your son actually clicks it on himself.  This helps to build your sons sense of accomplishment and allows Wolfie to see who is taking charge. Give them a minute or two to continue petting and acclimating to the situation.

It is now time to have your young son walk Wolfie.  Remember, this is more of a stroll than a walk.  All we want them to do is to calmly walk around the yard while your son is guiding.

Ask your son to begin walking and to give Wolfie a little tug to show him where to go.  You will also be right there with the training lead, helping with the tug and providing guidance to Wolfie, as needed.

Ask your son to go wherever he wants.  Remind him to guide Wolfie with him and to always pay attention to Wolfie.  In the background, you are using your training lead to keep Wolfie next to your son and to correct/enhance his guidance with Wolfie.

Be very aware of any areas where Wolfie might want to run and go after something (duck landing in the lake, squirrel in the tree, bikes in the road).  Ask your son to stop and have Wolfie sit.  You can assist in this command and should also put Wolfie on a short leash in case he wants to go after that distraction.

Give your son massive encouragement and praise for being such a great dog owner.  Ask him to pet Wolfie often and to say "Good Doggie".  Do not give Wolfie treats during the walkies because this might create an inappropriate distraction and too much excitement from Wolfie.

Spend up to 20 minutes a day performing this little exercise.  Do it when Wolfie is in a "quieter moment".  Make a big deal about it during the day with your son so that he sees it as a great "play date".

As I said, this is just one exercise you can perform to build up the lasting bond between your child and dog.  We all have that wonderful, mental picture of the little boy with his fishing poll and his dog, walking down a dirt road to their favorite fishing spot.  This is what we are trying to accomplish here. For more information, please contact us at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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