I was at the park this morning. Just another Saturday. It's mid-December so here in Cleveland the wind has begun to blow. It won't stop until March or April. I was watching my dogs play with a group of seven foster Huskies whom are there most mornings as well. After being there awhile another woman came in the gate with her two dogs. She had a mixed puppy of maybe 5 months old and a Chocolate Lab who although he was probably already 80 lbs he seems to still be a puppy by nature. Kelly, the huskies' foster mom, began to speak with this woman about her dogs. Janet fosters with another local rescue which is how she came upon her newest puppy.
The Lab was big and silly and bouncy. As with so many labs he came rushing at me and went right into a jump at my face to "say hello" as so many untrained dogs do. I saw him coming so was able to turn my body and block him back down.
I decided a while ago that in public scenarios like the dog park I don't delve into training lessons with people. It only gets me into fights for trying to help. I try to remind myself that most people aren't receptive to training lessons unless they ask for it first. So I also end up treating some dogs in ways they would never experience from me at home. I wouldn't body block a dog in this way if they were fostered at my home. Mostly because my dogs don't get the chance to behave in such manners. Management management management. Any dog who enters my home starts with management. Even if the dog was a regular at the park I would quietly do my own training with the dog so he wouldn't jump on me.
Here is Charlie, half my own weight and just as strong plowing into me with a finishing vertical leap. I can handle this but quickly I think of all the people young and old who can't.... The owner then calls out "just knee him in the chest! We're working on getting him not to jump." I'm horrified at the thought but just give a half smile and reply "no worries."
Kelly continues her conversation with Janet. They talk about rescue, their dogs and then training again. Kelly asks if Charlie does this at home. Janet replies "oh no, just with new people and visitors at home. I haven't even come to the park in almost 2 months because I'm so afraid of him knocking someone down and injuring them." I cringe inside at the statement. I can't imagine how hyper Dahlia would be if I didn't take her to the park to run off energy on a weekly basis. I know that half the problem with Charlie is too much pent up energy. The other half is bad training.
I don't say "no training" because we are always giving training to our dogs whether we mean to or not. The real question becomes are you providing training which was thought out and planned ahead of time and is it humane training.
Janet goes on to say how Charlie doesn't jump on her mother. "She just uses a rolled up newspaper. She doesn't even have to hit him. She just shows him the newspaper and Charlie hides behind me." This time my brain asks how many times did she have to hit him with the newspaper for Charlie to know what was about to happen. And then I think how much my dogs do for me not because they want to but because they trust me to not ever hurt them. They trust that what I ask is for something good in the end. Even as we walk into the vet they know that walking out of the vet will be good.
What really ran through my head is this. I honestly don't know how to change people's minds about how they train. Janet isn't a bad person. She fosters puppies and genuinely cares about animals. So why doesn't she see that her dog doesn't have to learn by being threatened. Why doesn't she see that that her dog has approached her 30+ times in the 15 min she's been at the park which means she missed 30+ opportunities to reward Charlie for not jumping on her. Charlie has also approached other people 40+ times and probably gave 20 times a "no jump" reaction without our help which means she missed 20 opportunities to reward him for "keeping 4 legs on the ground" while walking up to other people.
How do I begin to teach others about how to train their animals humanely. How do I do this without get punched in the face. How do I help more animals.....
