Tom Shelby, who has trained dogs and their owners on Martha’s Vineyard and in New York City, answers readers’ questions about their problematic pooches. Got a question for the Dogfather? Send it to dogsrshelby@msn.com.
Dear Dogfather,You wrote a few weeks ago: “If anyone would like to see it again, write in asking how to get a reliable recall, and I’ll be happy to detail the steps.”
Yes, please! I’d love to know how to get a reliable recall. My sweet boxer comes immediately sometimes, but if she’s got something better going on, you can almost see her pause and weigh her options, and often she decides that she prefers to keep doing what she’s doing.
Thank you,
Joyce Kuzmin
Dear Joyce,
Although it’s pure sci-fi now, Bill Gates, one of the smarter people on the planet, suggested that as computer technology advances, artificial intelligence may actually become a real threat to mankind. Think of Hal 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. So far, we can still program computers to do our bidding without worrying that they may get pissed off and turn off our air conditioning on sweltering hot days. As for dogs, we can’t program them, but we can condition them. But a conditioned response is not a programmed response — it’s not guaranteed. Dogs, like people, have their own agenda. Not that they plan their activities weeks in advance — they basically live in the moment, following their agenda of the moment. So, Sweetbox is outside off-leash 20 feet away, and you call her to come. She knows what “come” means, and usually cooperates. However, at this particular moment, a very handsome golden retriever happens to be walking by. Sweetbox is now faced with a dilemma. She wants to obey you, but she also wants to introduce herself to handsome Goldy, and her response may very well be, “In a moment, Mom, I gotta check out this potential boyfriend first.” And you’re left standing there wishing you had gotten a goldfish instead of a dog.
This is much more likely to take place outdoors off-leash than indoors off-leash, because she knows you can’t catch her or enforce it outside, but in the house she knows she’s a captive audience. So start the training indoors to have success build on success. Fifteen to 20 times a day, when she doesn’t expect it, call Sweetbox to come with a happy, firm voice. Use her name first, then the command, “Sweetbox, come!” The split-second she starts to come, start praising her; it will keep her coming. The moment she arrives, she gets a treat. The first four times you do this she gets a treat, then gets the treat intermittently after that. That’s the strongest way to condition an animal. Her attitude will become, “Maybe there’s a treat, maybe not; I better go check it out.” If she doesn’t come, let her drag a leash, and when she doesn’t respond, go to her, pick up the leash and pull her to you and praise her when she arrives, but no treat. When her indoor recall is excellent, take it outside, ideally in a small fenced yard. Except now, you’re using people food as the treat. If she doesn’t come, let her drag the leash and make her come, as previously mentioned. Next is the great outdoors. Bear in mind that if the only time she gets real chicken as treats is when she comes when she’s outdoors, her conditioning is likely to be stronger. If need be, let her drag a 20- or 50-foot light rope attached to a harness so you can retain physical control if necessary. You may need a 50-foot rope for a fast standard poodle and a 10-footer for a Chihuahua, and it must be a harness outdoors. You don’t want her running flat-out dragging a line attached to her neck!
Practice these recalls a lot, and your dog will make you look like the Cesar Millan of MV.
Good luck,
The Dogfather
Dear Dogfather,
Your advice has been so helpful to us! Thank you very much. We would like to know: What do you have to teach us about ticks and how to protect ourselves from the diseases they may carry? What can we do to avoid getting ticks? Is there any natural and safe tick repellent for us and the dog? What do the ticks who can potentially carry disease look like? What should we do if we find a tick on the dog? How can we safely remove the tick from them? What should we do next? We wanna protect our best friend from getting sick, and we trust and rely on your judgment. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Jaqueline Lebre
Dear Jaqueline,
If you drew blood from every dog in the country, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them showed a tick-borne titer, meaning some concentration of having been exposed to tick bites. Unfortunately, they are a part of our world. However, exposure doesn’t necessarily mean disease. Here’s the bottom line. Ticks suck. All ticks. Forget about learning about the life cycle of ticks, and concerning yourself with the different types of diseases they cause. You don’t want any of them! The first line of defense is to keep the ticks from your dog. I use Frontline Plus. A few drops are easily applied once a month between the shoulder blades. It’s also supposed to work for fleas and mites. I read somewhere that even if a tick attaches to your dog, it can’t give him Lyme disease if you’ve applied Frontline. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s a nice thought. There’s a bunch of topicals similar to Frontline available, in addition to collars and pills that do the job. You may want to ask what your vet would suggest for your dog. As for removing ticks from your dog, I have the perfect tool. It looks like a little three-inch plastic measuring spoon, but the bowl has a pie wedge shape cut in it, and you remove the tick like you would use a hammer to remove a nail, with the tick ending up in the bowl ready to be dispatched. Go to tickedoff.com. As for yourself, if you’re so inclined you can spray your pants legs and shoes with a pesticide of your choice. My dog Mikey wasn’t able to tolerate any of the commercial pesticides, so I used to spray his legs with Neem Protect Spray. It’s derived from the neem tree, and is supposed to contain a natural pesticide. I’ve occasionally sprayed it on my pants from the knees down. Find it at arknaturals.com. Most important, when you come in from the great outdoors, thoroughly check every inch of your body for a tick. If you find one, use your ticked-off spoon to remove it, and then have a glass of wine.
Best of luck from a member of the same I HATE TICKS CLUB!
The Dogfather
