Posts from the ‘How To’ Category
How to Find a Lost Dog
There are no words to describe the nightmare of discovering your dog has gone missing. I know. I have now lived it.
Many of you may remember a post a month ago about a socially backward Miniature Australian Shepherd named Madison who came into my care as a foster. (http://howlandstudios.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/when-history-repeats-itself/) Madison has responded remarkably well and a few weeks ago, Aussie & Friends Rescue officially put her up for adoption. Last week, I received notice that a wonderful couple down in Chandler was interested in Madison, and after visiting with them, my gut told me it was a good match. Last Thursday night, I said goodbye to my little temporary companion. It nearly broke my heart to look into those giant soulful eyes and tell her I was leaving her there. It nearly always does when the dog needs a lot of work. But it was time. Madison was just beginning to become too dependent on me and she needed for permanent people to come into her life and this couple seemed like a blessing. They were the right people at just the right time.
At 7 a.m. Friday morning, my phone rang. I knew immediately it was Madison’s new mom as the urgency of the ring fractured the quiet of the morning. I figured Madison was giving them some trouble. I know how she is. I expected it. I did not, however, expect that Madison would worm her way under a fence in their backyard. I’d warned them about that fence the night before and they thought they’d had it sufficiently blocked. I inspected it later. Even I wouldn’t have suspected Madison, the spider monkey/dog would be able to escape through there but she did. Kim, Madison’s new mom, noticed it immediately and ran out to see her running down the street. She did what I’d told her to do. She called Madison’s name. The dog looked back momentarily but continued running until Kim lost sight of her. So Kim rushed back into the house and called the only person she knew would understand. She called me. And she asked me what to do.
Now to be fair, I’ve never really lost a dog before so there was part of me that didn’t know what to tell Kim to do. That’s why I’m writing this blog. Someone out there is eventually going to go through something similar and I’d like them to be able to benefit from our experience.
#1 Act Immediately. Time is of the essence. The first thing I told Kim to do was jump into her car and start driving. At 7 a.m., we knew Madison was close. We just had to find her. And I might have been forty miles north of where Madison escaped but that didn’t stop me from throwing everything I thought we might need to lure her back into my car so I could head in that direction. There was no breakfast for me that day. No shower. No sunscreen. No makeup. The only thing I could think about was that Madison was probably looking for me and I had to find her before something tragic happened.
#2 Bring in the Troops. Your odds go up in finding the dog when you have more eyes looking. In addition to calling me, Kim also called a friend who lived close by. Within minutes of Madison’s escape, both of them were driving around frantically searching. Kim’s friend spotted Madison running into a gated community across the street. Kim and her friend each parked at the exits hoping they had blocked Madison in and waited until I could get there. Trust me when I say racecar drivers had nothing on me last Friday morning. I got there as quickly as I could and I thoroughly searched that neighborhood looking under every bush, looking through every crevasse, even looking in people’s backyards if I thought ten-pound Madison could get through their gate. By 10:00, Kim’s mother and another foster mom from Aussie & Friends Rescue showed up to help look. By 11:00, my husband had also left work to help in the search efforts.
#3 Put Together a Flier. Describing Madison as a little black dog was only going to get us so far. We needed a visual. Before leaving the house, I had quickly put together a flier with a photo of Madison, the word “Reward”, the location where we’d last seen her and my cell phone number. Kim’s friend was able to make one hundred copies of the flier and we obnoxiously posted it in as many places as we could find. By noon, we’d had another spotting of Madison in a neighborhood behind where we were looking. The fliers allowed us to spread out in ways we otherwise wouldn’t have been able. And I give people in that neighborhood a lot of credit. We had complete strangers driving around to help us look. One man brought us a bunch of bottled water. The mail lady began asking people if they’d seen anything while she was on her route. People were kind. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that.
#4 Search the Local Shelters. It would be unlikely for a lost dog to end up in a shelter within twenty-four hours of losing them but Aussie & Friends Rescue immediately sent out fliers to the two major shelters: both locations of Maricopa County Animal Care & Control and the Arizona Humane Society. I know Madison and I know the animal shelter system in this area. I knew the only way she would end up at Animal Control was if by some miracle they caught her (which I didn’t believe was likely…Madison is just too wily) or if someone managed to corner her in their garage or backyard and didn’t feel comfortable touching her since she would probably be growling, (which was a more likely scenario). I knew she would only end up at the Humane Society if the worst happened and she became injured by a car or a coyote or an owl. Of course, a well-meaning family could also keep her for a while, looking for her lost owners but if she was in a different area than we suspected, those people might never find us. In that case, she could end up at either location months after she was originally lost. Luckily, Madison had a microchip so if she ever ended up in a shelter or at a local veterinarian’s office, we were sure we would get her back. Still, we didn’t want to just wait around to find out.
#5 Put out Bedding, Food & Water. We weren’t sure if Madison would be able to find her way back to the house she ran from so we decided to put up a red flag. I brought her original kennel with me that morning, the one she had slept in every night she had lived with me. It smelled like her. And us. After we had a sighting of her around noon, there were no signs of her for the rest of the afternoon. It was eighty degrees that day. We figured she’d hunkered down somewhere quiet in the shade but we were counting on her waking up hungry. Around 4:30, we also added a bowl of food and water along with the kennel.
#6 Update the Web. While we were recuperating from the morning madness, we also hit the internet. There are three great places for you to place lost dog ads on the web. They are www.craigslist.com, www.petfinder.com, and www.pets911.com. You might also Google both Lost and Found pets for more options.
#7 Keep Searching! This is probably the most important point on the entire list. By 3:00, all of the original folks that began searching so early were exhausted…and frustrated. I’d been crying. Kim had been crying. We needed rest…and fresh eyes. Luckily, about that time, Kim’s husband came home early from work. He began searching the area on a quad so that he could get to places we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to go. More people from the rescue showed up to search. Kim’s adult children came over to help out and at 6:00 that evening, there was another sighting of Madison in the original gated community we’d been searching that morning. I had left the search party so I could rest up and try to get some sleep. I wanted to be fresh for the search the next morning but Kim kept me posted as a new glimmer of hope arose. We chatted away on the phone as they searched but as I looked out my window, I could see the sun setting in the distance. I knew time was running out. I knew we’d never find a little black dog in the dark. The realization that Madison was going to have to sleep out there in the unknown, alone and unprotected made my stomach clench. I tried not to think about it but everything went back to Madison and her gigantic eyes begging me not leave her. All I wanted was to hold her safely in my arms again.
The searching lasted by flashlight until 9 p.m. but my erratic attempt at sleep lasted all night. The alarm was set for 5 a.m. I got up, showered and began to prepare for an emotional day. By 5:30, I began to see the sun crest over the horizon and I thought, “I’m too late! She’s already on the move.” Frantically, I began to race around the house anxious to get back to south Chandler and then, at 6 a.m. my phone began to shriek. I picked it up on the second ring not knowing what type of news that call would bring.
It was Kim. She apparently hadn’t been able to sleep either and as soon as the sun came up, she was out checking to see if Madison (or another animal) had come by to eat the food that was left out. But everything was still as Kim had left it. She went back into the house shaking, not knowing what else to do. She finally decided to open all of the blinds on the front side of the house so they could see out more clearly and when she pulled up the blinds in the dining room, she saw Madison standing on top of her crate. Kim ran to the front door, opened it and called her name. She said, “Come on in,” and Madison did. She was tired. She was hungry. But she was okay.
By Saturday afternoon, Kim’s husband had plexi-glassed every nook and cranny in the backyard. I think we all love that little monkey dog, but it’s now been a week and we’re still getting over the heart attack that she nearly gave us.
Barking Dogs and How to Stop Them
Last week, I had lunch with a friend who mentioned they were having trouble with a neighbor whose dogs bark throughout the night. There may be nothing, and I do mean nothing, that steams me up more than a dog that barks ceaselessly outside. Do the owners not hear it inside the house? Honestly, I can’t think of anything more annoying…or anything that you can control less. And I’ve had friends on both sides of the fence: Those who can’t stand the barking and those being accused of housing the barkers.
So I did a little research and learned that if you can prove that a dog’s continuous barking is a nuisance with a petition signed by your neighbors and/or video evidence, then the penalty is a misdemeanor which carries with it a minimum of a $150 fine. http://phoenix.gov/LAW/barkreq.html
Of course, it also seems like the City of Phoenix would rather you mediate with your neighbors before taking such extreme measures. I’m sure they don’t want their courts tied up with these types of cases. So depending on your personal negotiation skills and the attitudes of your neighbors, this misdemeanor option might cause premature balding as you pull out your hair in agitation over the length of the process. Another option might be to contact your homeowner’s association whose judge and jury can often sweep in more quickly than the court system and depending on the association, be more intimidating. Some cities have ordinances on what times your dogs can bark (during the day) and what times they cannot. You’d have to check with your individual city to know the laws.
But what if your dog is the one doing the barking? To answer this one I went to an expert. Kim Bruck is the mastermind behind Arizona Basset Hound Rescue and I figured if there was anyone that would know about barking, it would be Kim. Now, I love a basset hound. Well, I love hounds of all shapes and sizes but I mainly love how the hounds have that velvety deep bay. It can be beautiful but if it’s constant, it can also be massively annoying.
Kim’s dealt with this problem first hand. Her own basset, Joanie has had issues with her barking. Two years ago at Arizona Basset Hound Rescue’s Howlaween event, Joanie followed Kim around the entire event barking like a mad woman. It was a little embarrassing for Kim, the head of the rescue, to have her own dog acting out so she began using a citronella collar to train Joanie. The collar sprays a non-harmful liquid into the dog’s face when they bark. Kim now says that all she has to do to quiet Joanie’s excessive barking is to show her the collar and she quiets down. In fact, this year she took Joanie with her to their Howlaween event and everyone noticed the dramatic difference. But even Kim admits this won’t work for every dog because every dog is different.
Nora Skog, also of the Arizona Basset Hound Rescue has had her own challenges. While the citronella collar worked for one of her dogs, her other dog, Frankie, figured out that if he just barked enough that the citronella spray would run out and he’d again have free reign. Nora finally had to resort to a collar with six levels of vibration all the way up to shock and to this day, that particular collar seems to be working. But Susan Schmitz from A Dog’s Life Photo warns that once you’re done using the citronella and vibration collars, you must remove the battery immediately or it runs down. And if it runs down, it isn’t really helping your problem.
I’ve solved my own barking issues by refusing to give into the temptation of a doggie door. I’ve seen too many dogs hit that flap and race into the yard barking. I prefer to have control over who goes out and when. The rule in my house is that if you bark outside once, you have to come inside immediately…and it seems to work. I’ve had over thirty dogs rotate in and out of my house over the last five years and not once have my neighbors complained about barking dogs. But most people cringe when I tell them to get rid of the doggie door. Luckily, there other ways that work…which means there really is no excuse for a continuously barking dog.
How NOT to Potty Train your Dog
Confession: I’ve written three blog posts that I’ve scrapped on the subject of how to potty train your dog. I should have known better after my first attempt on this topic. I had been so proud of my effort. I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back, closed out the screen, opened the door to my office and there it was: a puddle of pee right outside my office door. It was as if my dogs were telling me that this is a subject I know nothing about.
But I was undeterred. I persevered. I revised that original post to include that humorous little anecdote in order to show my humanity. I am, of course, not perfect. But I am also an “expert”. After all, I am the super volunteer who gets calls from inexperienced fosters and pet owners all over the city. I’m foster mom extraordinaire. I should know what I’m doing, right? Right? But in my mind I could hear the laughing of animals in the background because really, what do I know? I have a beagle that I’ve had for thirteen years who still pees in the floor every time someone walks out the door. My solution? I took out all the carpet in my house and replaced it with tile. Yeah…I’m an expert on the topic alrighty. I can teach you how to live with those little quirks that you just can’t seem to correct. But potty training? Maybe you should find another expert.
And it isn’t just beagles. I’ve had a slew of Chihuahua fosters that no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get them on a regular peeing and pooping schedule. Sometimes they’d just wear me down and I’d throw a pee pad onto the floor. I tried that recently with a friend’s Yorkie who was staying with me for a couple of nights. She promptly curled up on the pee pad and took a nap. I took one look at her resting so comfortably and thought, “I don’t think this is working.”
I had another friend who left her Brussels Griffon mix with me for a few weeks. She told me ahead of time that the dog wasn’t completely potty trained. I laid out the pee pad and the only thing I knew for sure was that the dog would never go in the same room where the pee pad was placed. So I just started leaving them all over the house. My husband commented on my lack of interior decorating skill but I ignored him until I discovered that the little devil figured out my system. While driving her home, I thought, “Wonder if we could teach her how to ring a bell attached to the door.” I almost suggested it to my friend until I realized how stupid it would sound to lecture her when I’d had the dog for almost a full month and the dog still wasn’t potty trained. I kind of felt like an idiot.
I could blow a lot of theories at you for things like crate training, doggie doors, pee pads and revoking privileges but it would just be a lot of hot air. Some dogs get it on the first try but it’s usually those little suckers that put me over the edge. So my best advice is not to take advice from me on this particular subject unless you want to live your life with a roll of paper towels in your hand. Some days I think the dogs are smarter than I am because they just keep using my floor as a toilet and I just keep taking them in.
So good luck in your potty training endeavors! I wish you more diligence and consistency than I seem to posses.
How to Find a Rescue Dog in Phoenix
I actually had someone come up to me this week and say, “I didn’t see the type of dog I’m looking for in the shelter, could you recommend a pet store?” Uh…no. Clearly this nameless person needed a bit of education, but then it occurred to me that I get this question a lot in one form or another. So let me be direct: With a little bit of patience and knowing where to look, you can find any type of dog in the rescue system. That’s right. I said you can find ANYTHING. And you don’t have to run around all over town to do it either. Well, maybe you’ll have to run around a little but certainly not as much as you would think.
First of all, you have to have a relatively good idea of what you want. For some, it’s a certain size, temperament or age. For others, it’s a specific breed. Just beware. The more specific you are the more patience it’s going to take to find what you are looking for. If you are looking for something rare like an Afghan Hound or a Portuguese Water Dog, you may be looking for a while, (although surprisingly I did find rescues for both when I looked). Once you know what you are looking for, all it takes is a computer and the point and click of the mouse to start your search.
In Phoenix, there are four main rescue organizations that list photos of their adoptable dogs on their website. They are:
Maricopa County Animal Control http://www.maricopa.gov/pets/
The Arizona Humane Society http://www.azhumane.org/
The Arizona Animal Welfare League http://www.aawl.org/
Halo Animal Rescue http://www.halorescue.org/
Still not finding what you are looking for? Most other smaller or breed specific rescues also have photos of animals on their websites. You can either try to Google for that specific breed or you can try http://www.petfinder.com/index.html, which is one of my favorite resources in trying to find a rescue dog. Almost every rescue group I know, including the ones above, lists their animals with them.
And did I mention that shelters and rescue groups get in every type of dog? That’s right purebred puppies too. Those are a little harder to find but they’re out there. One day a few years ago, I was up at The Humane Society and they had a three month old Puggle up for adoption. With up-to-date shots and sterilization, that dog would cost $160. That night I was at the mall and saw an identical dog in the window of a pet store. The dog in the pet store was also three months old, was not yet spayed and cost $1600. So be smart. Give a dog a chance. Please rescue your next pet. Rescues and shelters have just as much, if not more, variety and besides, pedigreed or not your dog will love you all the same.
Also, if you don’t happen to live in the Phoenix area, the process is probably similar. The internet has revolutionized the rescue system so be sure to take advantage of it.
How to Walk your Dog
There are generally two kinds of people you see walking down the sidewalk with their dogs: the ones that walk their dogs and the ones that their dogs walk them. And you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the difference. Most people who let their dogs walk ahead of them don’t have full control over their dogs.
Some people think getting your dog to walk properly on a leash is magic. It actually just takes some work. First of all, you need the proper restraint. The biggest problem most people have is that their dogs pull too hard. If your dog tends to pull too hard, it doesn’t make the walk enjoyable so depending on how hard your dog pulls here are a list of restraining devices you might try listed in order from “will work on a dog that only pulls slightly” to “Oh. My. God. I have to hold on for dear life.”
Regular leash
No Slip Collar
Harness
Gentle Leader
(I find the harness and the gentle leader often don’t work for dogs who are too enthusiastic about greeting another dog. Both allow you to lose control over the neck which is the first place that should be used to gain control over a dog.)
Martingale Collar or Choke Chain
(Do NOT use a choke chain unless you have been properly instructed on how to use one. It is a simple pull and release correction. Dogs that are pulling too hard on a choke chain can injure their trachea.)
Pinch Collar
All of these methods are humane if used in the proper way. The trick is to find the method that works but there are some breeds that work better with certain methods. For example, if is unlikely you would ever put a collie in a pinch collar. It is unlikely you would ever use a harness on a German Shepherd. It is also unlikely that you would ever use a choke chain for a Chihuahua. Be smart about the method you are using. The trick is to make sure the walk is enjoyable for both you and the dog.
Once you have found the restraint method that works best for your dog, you want to shorten the leash to a point where the dog is walking directly at your side.
Start off slow. If you are using a Martingale Collar or Choke Chain, there may be plenty of corrections along the way. If you find yourself or your dog getting frustrated, stop, put your dog into a sitting position and take a short break. Training can be frustrating but the walk is supposed to eventually be enjoyable.
If you find your dog is hyper stimulated by something (like people or another dog), don’t shy away from it or cross the street. Simply pull your dog to the side, put them in a sitting position and wait. use your body or treats to distract the dog from the object that is causing them to feel excitement. When the people or dogs have passed, praise your dog and continue on with your walk. You may have to do this several times during the course of your outing.
Unlike most of us, dogs love to exercise. Taking your dog on daily walks will bond them to you like nothing else. I promise. I pooh-pooh’ed the power of a good walk for a long time until I experienced it myself, but you won’t be able to have that bonding experience unless you make it enjoyable for both you and the dog.
How to have a Fostering Mentality
Four years ago, my friend, Angie and I had a habit of trekking up Piestewa Peak once a week for both the exercise and the girl chatter. That was the year we both started volunteering for the Humane Society. Our services were needed in different areas so we often compared notes but one day Angie surprised me. She’d decided to take home a little Chihuahua with an eye injury to foster him and nurse him back to health so he could later be put up for adoption.
Lots of rescues and shelters routinely use foster homes to house their animals when space isn’t available and every year, thousands of animals’ lives are saved by the generosity of people opening their homes to them. That day on the mountain, I applauded Angie’s decision. It was a wonderful thing for her to do – but not for me. First of all, I knew my husband would never go for it and secondly, I didn’t know how I would ever be able to give them up. I didn’t think fostering was for me on that day but at least the seed had been planted.
It took almost nine months and a barrage of emails entitled “Foster Alert” hitting my inbox before a little bluetick coonhound caught my eye. I won’t tell you how I eventually conned my husband into it because every spouse is different, but c’mon, don’t we all know what to say to our spouse when we really want something? I believe the biggest fear people have about fostering an animal in their home is that they will become so attached it will be difficult to part with that animal. And that isn’t an unrealistic fear.
Well-intentioned foster families have to stop fostering all the time because they can’t bear to give the animals up. We lovingly call them “foster failures” but eventually, their homes just become too over-crowded. That isn’t the essence of what a foster home should be. It should be a temporary safe-haven with the emphasis on temporary. In order to accomplish that, one has to enter into it knowing that giving up the animal is going to hurt but there are ways to be prepared for it.
One of the best ways I know to take some of the sensitivity out of the situation is to start volunteering with a rescue or shelter for something other than fostering activities. Most of us have a limited experience with animals. We own a few. Our friends and family have a few. It’s easy to have strong feelings for a few but when you see the overwhelming numbers of animals who find themselves homeless every year, it does begin to desensitize you. And it isn’t as sad as many might assume. Most of the ones a volunteer has contact with will find good homes. There are also few things I’ve found more rewarding than being a part of that special moment when a human bonds with an animal and you know its love.
It’s also a good idea to have a plan in place if you want to foster. Many times an animal will need to be sequestered from your own pets for a few days. How are you going to do that? Will you crate them? Will you put them in a little-used room in your home? The shelter or rescue can give you suggestions particularly if you work outside of the home. And let’s face it, most people do. You’ll also want to think about what types of animals you can handle. Dogs or cats? Specific breeds? Specific genders? Large or small? You’ll want to consider whether you want to foster for a shelter or a rescue group. A shelter will often be able to take an animal back if you are in a pinch. A rescue is more likely to let you specialize in a particular animal or breed which will allow you to become an expert more quickly. And if you aren’t comfortable with the group you are working with, look around. Every shelter and rescue I know is looking for additional foster homes. The right one is out there but sometimes you have to look for it.
And finally, you have to go into fostering with the mentality that no matter what, you are going to give the animal up. Now this is the painful part. I can’t tell you how to bring an animal into your home and not treat it like your own. There will be tears. That’s inevitable. I’ve seen the toughest of men crumble at the thought of giving up their foster but everyone understands. I’ve notoriously shed huge crocodile tears in the middle of the Arizona Humane Society’s foster department and there are always tissues available. The trick is to do it quick. Rip it off like you would a Band-Aid. Try not to think about it beforehand. There should be no long, tearful goodbyes. Long tearful goodbyes aren’t good for the animal and they aren’t good for you. But the best advice I can give is this: Nothing heals a broken heart like getting another one. You’ll cry for your first foster but as soon as they put a new furry baby into your arms, you won’t forget about the first one but it will hurt a lot less.
My goal today is to inspire you just like my friend, Angie inspired me. I know there will be naysayers. I know there will be people that say it isn’t for them and truthfully, not everyone is cut out to be an appropriate foster home. My goal is to just get you to think because four years and twenty-nine fosters later, my life has changed for the better. Every time I pick up a new foster I’m as happy as if I was opening a gift on Christmas. Every time one of my foster dogs is adopted, I know that’s another life I saved. And now I’m a pro. There usually aren’t any tears. It has gotten easier as time as passed but there’s still a lot of work left to do. Right now, during the summer, the rescues and shelters are packed. They need more available foster homes now than at any other time of the year. So please consider it. There is a fuzzy four-legged friend out there somewhere who is just waiting to be saved by you.
