Barking dogs

Barking dogs are a nuisance both in the city or in the country.   I do a lot of reading and research on dogs and recently I came across a book by Pat Miller about positive dog training. She is an American dog trainer. I stumbled on these few lines in a chapter on barking. I am speechless.
"One of the most disgusting things humans sometimes do to their dogs is debarking. Dogs come with voices; it is up to us to train them not to be chatterboxes. Debarking a dog by severing his vocal cords is an abomination."
Ever heard of the word “debarking” ?  Or the practice?

Sochi stray dogs

Kelly O’Meara, director of companion animals and engagement for Humane Society International, was “very surprised” when she heard that Sochi officials planned to kill stray dogs roaming around the Olympic host region throughout the Games. Just last April, organizers scrapped that idea, and said they would build a shelter for the animals. Now, city officials have hired a private company to do the dirty work — its owner told ABC News that the dogs posed a public-safety and health risk and that they were “biological trash.”

Electric shock collars

The Kennel Club in calling upon the Government and Scottish Parliament to introduce an outright ban on the use of electric shock collars as devices to train a dog.  Subjected to an electric shock, a dog will respond out of fear of further punishment, rather than from a natural willingness to obey. In order for the devices to serve effectively as a training tool, the dog has to perceive the shock as painful - moreover if the dog does not respond, the punishment has to escalate, creating further potential for abuse.

A number of research studies have found electric shock collars to be unnecessary in the training of dogs.  These collars can cause negative behavioural and physiological changes in dogs and are open to misuse by users of them. Often owners may not even know how to use one of these collars.  When a dog gets shocked, it has no idea what has caused the pain and reacts fearfully.  It is likely to associate the pain with something in its immediate environment rather than with its own behaviour at the time, which is why it is common for dogs to attack other dogs, their owner or another animal or person close-by at the time of the shock.

Dogs with behavioural issues are a problem.  But we have to ask ourselves why some dogs problems.  Not properly trained in puppyhood, lack of leadership, abuse, disrespect, selfishness, congeniality.   Dogs want to please.  Dogs love unconditionally so why should pain be inflicted on them?  

Dogs in tights

The Sharp Daily, a Hong Kong news site, reports on an odd trend sweeping China.  Recently, dog owners in China have been posting pictures of their dogs wearing tights on popular social media sites.  “Pet owners have long been dressing up their pooches in anything from skirts to suits and elaborate Halloween costumes, so why not tights and high heels?” says the report.
I’m sorry, folks, but I think this is sick. 

National Puppy Day

It’s National Puppy day in the US today.  The day not only celebrates the magic of puppies, but more importantly, it's a day to help save orphaned puppies across the globe and educate the public about the horrors of puppy mills, as well as further the mission for a nation of puppy-free pet stores.

Puppy mills take advantage of naive consumers who are not aware of the treatment the fluffy pups in the window endure: "Puppy mills house dogs in shockingly poor conditions. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are often killed, abandoned or sold cheaply to another mill to try and get "one more litter" out of the dog. The annual result of all this breeding is millions of puppies, many with serious behaviour and/or health problems."

Puppy mills aren't the only challenge facing dogs. An estimated 3-4 million dogs and cats are euthanized each year in the U.S., due in part to owner abandonment and low adoption rates.

Puppy trafficking

I read this in today's Sunday Times: "Thousands of pedigree puppies are being brought into the UK illegally from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania and sold at discount prices. The relaxation of the pet passport scheme, which banned dogs from travelling for six months after rabies tests, has prompted the influx. Many of the puppies, bred in poor conditions, are being passed off as British-born, with fake papers, according to the Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest canine welfare charity. And not all are cheap. Fashionable breeds, including French bulldogs and chihuahuas, are being sold for up to £4,000 each, via the internet or by the roadside. British vets have expressed concern that they are seeing puppies, some a few weeks old, which have been forced to travel hundreds of miles across Europe. Many have been seized when they are taken to the vet and the owners are told their pet passports are fake". Ozzy's passport has been checked recently upon arrival in Dover. Surely DEFRA could set up a systems for checking dogs coming into the UK.

To dye for!

Dyeing pets is the latest craze in China.  Those chow chow dogs have been dyed black-and-white to look like pandas.  And at a recent dog show in Taipei a dog-dyeing competition was held but dyeing pets to look like other wild animals is a more recent development.  The trend demonstrates how quickly and dramatically attitudes toward pets — particularly dogs — have changed in many parts of Asia.
In Taiwan, for example, just 10 years ago, dogs were still eaten in public restaurants and raised on farms for that purpose. Traditional Chinese medicine held that so-called "fragrant meat" from dogs which could fortify one's health.
Now, eating dog is viewed by many as an embarrassing reminder of a poorer time.
With more money to spend, newly wealthy Chinese have embraced dog-owning culture with a vengeance. Dogs are brought into restaurants, fussed over in public, dressed up in ridiculous outfits and dyed to look like ferocious tigers.

And here is Ozzy Chinese style.  What do you think?

Not again!

Before you read on:  this is my 400th post since starting this blog. 
Sgt Craven left two dogs, a working Belgian Malinois and a German Shepherd puppy, in an unventilated car at the Met's dog training centre in Keston, Kent, on Sunday. He went to a meeting off-site and called colleagues to alert them when he realised the animals were trapped. The dogs were taken to an emergency veterinary surgery but they both died of heat exhaustion. This happened on Sunday when temperatures in the South East reached 30° which means 50° in an unventilated car parked in full sun.
Sgt Craven is an experienced police dog handler.
How is this possible?

German Shepherd Puppy

Belgian Malinois

Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence. There was an identical incident last year in the Police Force in Nottingham.

This is 2011. Or is it?

A Jewish rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a stray dog it feared was the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted its judges, reports say.
The dog entered the Jerusalem financial court several weeks ago and would not leave, reports Israeli website Ynet.
It reminded a judge of a curse passed on a now deceased secular lawyer about 20 years ago, when judges bid his spirit to enter the body of a dog.
The animal is said to have escaped before the sentence was carried out.
One of the judges at the court in the city's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighbourhood had reportedly asked local children to carry out the sentence.
An animal welfare organisation filed a complaint with the police against a court official, who denied reports that judges had ordered the dog's stoning but a court manager told Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot the stoning had been ordered as "as an appropriate way to 'get back at' the spirit which entered the poor dog".  according to Ynet.
Dogs are considered impure animals in traditional Judaism.

Shock collars - The Shoking Truth

      

There are now a number of ‘quick fix’ products available to dog owners who wish to modify the behaviour of their pet. One such device is the electric collar. The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors feels that the use of devices that rely on pain or discomfort to modify behaviour are inappropriate as they have the potential to seriously compromise the welfare of dogs, and ruin the relationship with their owners.

Shock Collar Risks

Despite advances in our understanding of dog behaviour and training, and the general move towards reward-based training techniques, some people still continue to recommend the use of punishment as the best method of training or dealing with behaviour problems. While shock collars can work to suppress behaviour, their use comes with unacceptable risks, and inevitably the underlying reasons for the problem behaviour are not dealt with. Even in experienced hands, it can be difficult to deliver shocks at the right moment and to predict the level of discomfort or pain experienced by a dog; in inexperienced hands the use of shock collars can often result in poorly timed intense electric shocks that induce fear and ongoing anxiety in the dog. Owners are often unaware of the high levels of pain that they may be causing their dog.

Aggression and Shock Collars

One of the most common behaviour problems encountered with dogs is that of aggression. In many cases, aggression is motivated by fear. When a dog is nervous or frightened, a natural behavioural strategy is to use aggression to get rid of the “threat”. Placing a shock collar on such a dog to stop it being aggressive can result in the dog becoming even more fearful of the situation, which can make the aggression more likely in the future. The use of a shock collar to try and stop aggressive behaviour can also suppress the warning signs displayed by a dog before it is aggressive, which can make the behaviour of the dog less predictable and more dangerous.

Barking and Shock Collars

The risks of using an electric shock to modify behaviour extend to the treatment of other behaviour problems in dogs such as barking. Dogs learn by association - when using a shock collar there is always a risk that the dog may associate the shock with something other than the behaviour that people are trying to stop. For instance, if a shock is administered for barking, there is a danger that the dog might associate a nearby child with the pain of the shock, rather than its own barking. This could lead to the dog developing distrust or even fear of children. Another significant risk with the use of shock collars is that rather than linking the shock to the wrong thing, a dog may not be able to link the shock to anything at all! This often results in the dog becoming totally confused, anxious and stressed as it repeatedly suffers the pain of the electric shock for no apparent reason.

The APBC feels that behaviour problems can be best addressed through behaviour modification programmes based on an understanding of the motivation for each dog’s behaviour, and the use of humane, reward-based training methods.

Reference: http://www.apbc.org.uk/

Electric shock

Today when I took Ozzy out for a walk in a wooded park, we came across a Malinois. He was off the lead and went for Ozzy. He tackled Ozzy into a submissive position and started biting him in the neck whilst growling furiously. Quite impressive. I remain calm in situations like these and walk on and call Ozzy to me. This usually diffuses the confrontation. Not this time. I managed to call Ozzy to me without showing any distress but by asserting control. The owner started sreaming at his dog and said "you'll get it in the neck, mate". This is exactly what happened. The poor dog was wearing an electric shock collar and his owner was so angry, he pushed the button for such a long time the dog started shaking and frothing at the mouth. This was obviously not enough for him. He took the lead and started beating his dog with the end with the buckle. The dog whelped. By this time Ozzy and I were at a safe distance. Luckily Ozzy is very sweet natured and trusts me so he was not affected by the scene. I did not think it was wise to make a comment to the man but I was upset for the poor dog and very angry with his owner. Poor Malinois, obviously in the wrong hands.

Unbelievable

Appalled Canadian authorities are investigating the slaughter of up to 100 huskies used to pull tourist sleds. An employee at a British Columbia company says he was ordered to kill scores of healthy dogs when business dropped off after the 2010 Winter Olympics. The killings came to light after he was compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder. "It wasn't always a clean, one-shot kill. Inevitably, he ended up seeing and having to put the end to some horrific scenes," said the worker's lawyer.
Animal welfare groups say the dogs were killed in a brutal manner and dumped in a mass grave. "Any dog sledder who culls dogs at the end of a season should be culled himself, as far as we’re concerned,” the head dog sledding guide for an Ontario company told the Globe and Mail. “You don’t go out and cull dogs," he said. "We’re part of the largest dog sled operation in the world with 40 dogs, and we never cull dogs. We retire them, they’re adopted. There are a lot of alternatives.”

Poor innocent dogs

Islamic terrorists tried to down a US cargo plane using exploding Bulldogs, it emerged yesterday.
Two animals, stuffed with bombs and detonators, were found by US officers at Baghdad airport. The bombs had been primed to explode during the aircraft's flight to LA.
But the dogs were never loaded on board as they had been killed by the lethal substances inside them.
The discovery, kept secret for two years, was revealed in France, days after explosives were found inside printer cartridges last week on a cargo plane from Yemen.

Ugliest dog 2010

Princess Abby, a grey, brown and black Chihuahua with a curved back and legs and a scrunched-up left eye, was named 2010 World's Ugliest Dog before a packed crowd at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. Entrants came from across the US including Arizona, Florida and New Jersey. Princess Abby's owner, Kathleen Francis, won first prize of $1,000, but will have many new opportunities for fame as she and Princess Abby will be guests on television shows throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Princess Abby was picked up five months ago on the streets as a malnourished, flea infested stray. Francis adopted the dog from her vet. Other entrants in the contest have similar hard luck stories and stand out as strong survivors of abandonment and neglect. Their owners and the contest help to carry the event’s organisers’ message: ”Princess Abby is the poster child for spaying and neutering your animals. Her looks probably stem from being inbred."

Burned alive

This unknown dog was found by a woman who was walking her dogs in a town in Sicily. Around the scene a group of children was playing quite happily. Apparently this is the fate of stray dogs who are burned alive by bored youngsters. This happens regularly and these crimes are not sanctioned.
Can you believe such cruelty?

Skinned dog

Animal cruelty is extremely offensive in the US and in Europe not in China, it would seem judging by the numerous photos, news reports, and videos of cats and dogs killed with horrific cruelty, even sold in restaurants for human consumption--skinned alive, boiled alive--and the cat and dog fur trade employing most painful, hideous and archaic methods. News of these brutal practices travels far and wide across the globe.
Eighty-five percent of the world's fur comes from fur farms. China has become the world's largest exporter of fur, largely due to the country's absence of animal welfare protection and surplus of cheap labour. And despite our awareness of animal cruelty and anti-fur lobbying, demand for fur from China, mostly from Europe and the United States, has grown in the last ten years.
But do we really know the horrors inflicted on animals at Chinese fur farms? These farms hold between 50 and 6,000 frightened and abused animals each. Red foxes, Arctic foxes, raccoon dogs, minks, cats, dogs and rabbits. These animals are so traumatised they manifest pathological behaviours, symptoms of a lifetime of abuse. China's lack of animal welfare standards allows millions of animals to live out their entire lives cramped in rows of tiny wire cages. These caged animals pace, nod, and circle their heads repeatedly in signs of extreme anxiety. Others, overwhelmed by the conditions, develop learned helplessness, huddling in their cages and demonstrating no signs of interest in the activity around them.
Before sale at markets, animals are removed from cages with metal tongs around their necks and carried by their hind legs for skinning and slaughter. Instead of killing the animals humanely, workers often stun them with repeated blows to the head using wooden clubs, or by swinging them by the hind legs and beating their heads on the ground.
Witnesses to such scenes reported that a significant number of animals were still alive when the skinning process began—starting with a knife at the rear of the belly and ending with the fur being pulled over the animal's head. After the skin is removed, animals are thrown on a pile of carcasses. These animals are often still breathing, have a heartbeat, and continue moving and blinking for between five to ten minutes.
So why not write a letter to both the Chinese Minister of Commerce and the Chinese Ambassador to your country to express your concerns and to urge them to recognize that the inhumane treatment of animals on Chinese fur farms shows a lack of understanding of acceptable animal husbandry techniques. As the largest exporter of fur, and the biggest fur trade production and processing country in the world, China has the opportunity to make an enormous, positive impact on the lives of millions of animals.

Addresses of Chinese Embassies can be found on the Internet but here is the address of the Chinese Minister of Commerce:
Minister Bo Xilai
No.2 Dong Chang'an Avenue
Beijing, China 100731