My wife Tina and I recently learned a lot about what to do if a dog goes missing. I am writing this in hopes that it may help someone else who loses their dog.

On Saturday, September 24, 2011 we were camping in the Lakes Basin area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We left Penny, our beloved pit bull mix, behind to watch our motor home while we went for a hike. When we came back we found that she had escaped through a window. Penny came to us from the Oakland Animal Shelter, so we dont know what her previous life was like but we do know that she is very shy and depends heavily upon us for her emotional stability. I believe that she escaped to come looking for us. She didnt find us for six days.

We were devastated when we found her missing and immediately began searching the area for tracks and calling her name until we were hoarse. When it became apparent that she was nowhere nearby, we widened the search area and began putting up signs at campgrounds, stores, post offices, turnouts and everyplace where we thought people might see them. We did this until 1 a.m., when we decided that we had covered an area wider than we believed she could cover in that amount of time. Sunday morning, we resumed the search and widened the area to about a 30 mile radius, putting many, many more signs out and talking to everyone who would listen. There is no cell service up there, so we didnt get the message until about 5 pm that the Sierra County Sheriffs officer and two other people had seen Penny at about 9 am, about 5 or 6 miles away from where she disappeared. We immediately went to the area and began calling again. We didnt find her.

We were supposed to be back at work on Monday but took another day off to look for her. We couldnt bear the thought of leaving her up there. Penny has very short fur and gets cold easily, even inside the house. We moved our motor home to the area where she was last seen. We visited every house in the area where people were home and continued calling her. We left that afternoon to come home. There had been no more sightings of Penny and knowing that she was lost in an area strange to her and that there are mountain lions and curvy roads with cars, we feared the worst.

On Tuesday I went back to my job as a high school teacher and told some of my colleagues about what had happened. Many of them encouraged us and told us not to give up and were sure that we would find her. I was not so sure.

One very helpful and compassionate couple, Jeff Torquemada and his wife Wendy know Penny and know what a wonderful dog she is. Wendy left Wednesday morning and spent two days searching for her. There were still no more reported sightings.

My friend, Chad Cochran spent hours on the internet, checking with animal control and shelters within a very large area. He actually found a dog in Reno who looked remarkably like Penny.

On Friday morning, my friend and Colleague, Don VanNess and I left to resume the search. Tina was planning to come up after work. We lost cell phone service at about 11:00 am. We began retracing the route which we thought Penny took from our campsite to the area where she was last seen. When we got to higher elevation, we got into cell phone range and I had two messages. The first one was from Kate Reed, who has a cabin about one half mile from where Penny was last seen. She had Penny. We called and got no answer. I listened to the second message and it was the sheriffs office informing us that Kate had dropped Penny off there. Through the small town grapevine, our friends Glenn and Irmke, who live in Sierra City, six or seven miles away from where Penny was found, had already heard that the sheriff had her. They beat us to the sheriffs office by ten minutes. Eventually we caught up with each other and we were reunited with Penny. Below – Penny with Chris and Tina’s grandson Max.

So what did Penny teach us by getting lost? The first and most important thing is to get the message out as quickly and to as many people as possible that your dog is missing. Kate knew exactly who was on her porch Friday morning because she had seen one of our signs. We had given the sheriffs office our phone number and a description of Penny, so they were familiar with the situation. Also make sure that local animal control offices and animal shelters have her description. The second thing and also very important is dont give up. Keep looking and keep your dog fresh in peoples minds. Third is, rely on your friends for support and help. Don was absolutely sure that we would find her and we did. That kind of positive energy can only help! Fourth is get your dog a distinctive looking collar. The easiest thing to describe about her was her orange collar with daisies. Fifth is to make sure that your dog is micro chipped, so that if the collar is lost your dog can still be identified.

DONT GIVE UP.

I have made a donation to Bad Rap in Kate and Marshall Reeds honor. If they had not taken the time and effort to win Pennys confidence, she would probably still be lost and it is snowing up there as I write this. – Chris van Wolbeck
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Good work, everyone. We appreciate you sharing these important lessons – and huge props to everyone who stayed so determined to find sweet Penny, despite the insurmountable odds. In the spirit of helping more lost souls find their way home, your thoughtful gift is earmarked for a special stray on his way into our program. We’ll holler when he gets here!

It was easy to see why some shelters attract more rescue help and adopters than others – they know how to win hearts with a good photograph. Below are some dos and don’ts when capturing dog faces in hopes of attracting those solid homes.

Many thanks to Berkeley Animal Car Services, whose volunteers set the tone with some of the best examples of public shelter portraits on the Net. All of the appealing photos in this post are from their facebook page. I won’t tell you where the not-so-great photos came from!

Above – Look into My Eyes – Which dog do you feel connected with? Unless you want to send potential homes running straight to the backyard breeders, avoid using photos of distracted dogs in bleak and dismal backgrounds. Eye contact is golden and easy to get with a dog treat and a silly sound at the right moment. Black dogs photograph best in the early morning or close to dusk. You might end up taking 20 photos to get that winning shot, but with digital cameras, who cares? That one winning shot you spent 10 minutes trying to get will empty your kennel much faster then the bad photo you grabbed in a fast hurry.

Above – Touch Me. Adopters are rightfully hoping to find family dogs who welcome touch, but institutionalized settings only serve up the heebie jeebies. Get that pooch outside where he’ll look (and feel!) more like herself. If your subject is shy or uncomfortable with the camera, a warm embrace can make all the difference in her experience as well as the viewers’ opinion of her.

Above – What a difference a pretty background makes. This photographer was smart – it looks like she waited until her subject was back from her walk and ’smiling’ before she pulled out her camera. Dogs that are tied to walls might beg up sympathy from a select few, but the fearful body language that comes along with being tied will send the more discerning dog shoppers to websites where it “feels good” to look for dogs. You can’t blame them.

Above – Ouch. Did that dog on the left do something bad to land him to jail? Probably not, but the chain link mimics the photos news outlets use of dogs who’ve been involved in bites. Compare to the photo of the happy dog who wants to show us how much fun her adopter will have with her.

Finally, I had to end on this most inviting shelter photo. It says, “Yep. I’m an older, brindley mixy girl. But I’m loved here at the shelter and I’ve got a lot of life left to give. Come on down and get me!” The gentle hand on her flank, the splash of color with the bandana, the smile that came from (probably) taking photos after she’d been exercised. And note how she’s standing on her handler’s shoe. Love it.

Here are more tips from fab photographer Lori Fusaro on ways to grab a digital masterpiece. And, more examples from Berkeley Animal Care Services. Good luck!

The video shows a (dog powered) carpet mill. We’ve had the most experience with these, although some homes like the motorized treadmills. If you do a search on Amazon.com for ‘dog treadmill,’ a few motorized options will pop up. We prefer the quiet of the dog powered mills. The one in the video is a Grand Carpet Mill. We can also recommend the Colby Carpet Mill.

One harness option comes from the sled dog folks – here – and the one Star was filmed in came from here.

Many thanks to Letti de Little for the demo, and to Uba for loaning his precious mill to Star while he recuperates from knee surgery.

It’s as much wisdom as we can possibly squeeze into four pages for introducing a new dog into the household. Good enough for pit bulls – good enough for all breeds! Use it, Copy it, Share it, Link it. Spread the knowing.

A New Dog in the House

Right: Oh the misery. Patsy the Pup learns about tie-downs and rules.

‘Fetch’ – a SF-based paper that catered to dog issues – has folded, but we’re still grateful to them for running this piece on lessons from the Vick case. Since the info is still contemporary, I’m re-posting it here so it can be shared around as needed. (That, and because the hand out from the article has such small type that it makes my eyes hurt!) It’s understandably popular for breed advocates to point out the growing number of Vick dogs who’ve earned therapy dog titles. Another stunning but oft’ overlooked lesson they brought to the dog world comes from the undeniable success the adopted dogs have been enjoying with other dogs. Their lessons can be applied to ALL breeds when contemplating the all-too common behavior of canine interspecies aggression. Enjoy.

Right: Former Vick dogs Grace and Audie enjoying a first play session after leaving VA. Photo: Nicole Rattay.

Dog vs. Dog – Donna Reynolds. First published in Fetch the Paper May 2008

Dog on dog aggressive behavior has become a hot topic in recent years. Entire workshops, obedience classes, and pet columns have been devoted to discussing the nuances of this natural, but challenging canine behavior. It’s hard to know if our pets are being positioned to argue more with other dogs or if society is just becoming less tolerant when they do.

We can certainly blame the rising popularity of housing multi-dogs in tight urban quarters for some of the strife. Smaller living spaces and less-than-responsible dog owners serve to create the same kinds of stress and challenges that we humans face when struggling to live peaceably with our own kind. Dogs are only human, after all.

Added dilemmas to dog-dog harmony: The now-raging chihuahua fad is amplifying the age-old tensions between tiny dogs and large dogs (ouch!), under-worked canines are taking matters into their own paws and creating their own entertainment, and chaotic dog parks are creating as much trouble as benefit for all breeds. Perhaps the biggest set-back of all is our loss of understanding of canine behavior. As society becomes divorced from our roots on the farms and ranches of yesterday, we’re quickly losing the wisdom that used to guide us in all-things-animal.

Blame it on progress. Our great-grandparents’ rural perspective afforded them a highly practical and realistic understanding of natural law, including animal law. We can’t go back, but how do we swing our dog-think into balance and apply it to today’s world so our dogs can succeed?

As it turns out, pit bulls may be the perfect teachers to help re-educate society on the finer points of managing and avoiding dog-dog aggression. They’re especially good at challenging our ideals on just about everything. When it comes to current notions about canine inter-species aggression, the Michael Vick dogs got busy with breaking all the rules: They weren’t supposed to be salvageable, they weren’t supposed to be safe with kids and they certainly weren’t supposed to be able to co-exist with other dogs. After all, these were reported to be fighting dogs, hard-wired for battle and hell-bent on anti-social behavior with dogs. (New York Times) But are they? Almost one year (edit: four years) after the initial fight bust, nearly two dozen Vick dogs are living in homes with other dogs and succeeding as normal, every day family pets.

So what happened? Why aren’t they following “the rules” about fighting dogs and dog-dog aggression?

The answers are easy: Dogs are individuals and many defy the selective breeding efforts meant to create certain traits. We humans have been too busy blaming dogs for behaviors that we ourselves set into motion.

The families now enjoying the Vick dogs understand this. When any dog fights, it’s because a careless or heartless human has accidentally or intentionally set them up to engage in combat. That situation could be a staged battle in the pit or a rushed greeting with an inappropriate play partner at the dog park. When dogs DON’T fight – as in the case of the Vick dogs now living in homes – they’re following the designs of a good leader who is consciously setting them up for nothing but success. The mechanics of this success involve respecting each dog’s individual limits with other dogs, proper socialization to increase dog tolerance, and clear guidance so each dog knows what’s expected of him. It’s not entirely unlike dealing with with a boisterous three year old child in a rough and rowdy play group.

Above: Former Vick dogs Uba and Jonny Justice have maintained a friendly relationship since they were (properly) introduced by their adopters in 2007. Below: Despite Hector’s fighting scars, he was one of the most dog social dogs that came off of Vick’s yard. Shown here with his adopters, Roo and Clara Yori and their dog family.

To be fair, this success-through-management drill is as true for our ball-possessive Husky as it is for the Vick dog in an adopter’s house, as it is for the __name your breed__ dog in your house. All breeds can fight, and all can be managed so that potential never surfaces. The choice is ours. Some dogs need more management than others and because all dogs are individuals, it’s true that some yellow labs need more management than some pit bulls – without question.

One way to make peace with this big responsibility we’ve taken on is to dig back into our cellular memory to a time when wild wolves first came to live in our camps. No matter how we dress them, our foofoo pets are still wolves at heart, and we’re still the ones that decided to wrangle their animal instincts so we could co-exist. You can take the dog out of nature, but you’ll never be able to take nature out of the dog. Nor would we like them much if we could!

Everybody Calm Down! 8 Tips to Avoid Dog-Dog Conflicts

1. Spats Happen! It’s a fact of Dog Life; even those dogs that generally get along can break into an argument if one or both are offended or challenged.
2. Study your dog. Understand his body language so you can know when he might be reaching his limits with another dog. If a real fight does happen, learn from it so it doesn’t happen again.
3. Prevent triggers. As with children, fights can spark up from the most seemingly insignificant triggers, even between dogs that are buddies. Some common triggers: Arguments over toys, food, favorite dogs or even favorite people (resource guarding). A perceived challenge such as intense eye contact, tug-o-war game or rough play can set a dog off. Know your dog’s triggers and work with a trainer to desensitize him to these as much as possible so they lose their charge.
4. Nix nose-to-nose greets. In the quest to make dogs more dog-social, resist the temptation to allow your dog to do rushed nose-to-nose greets between dogs he doesn’t know. Instead, create a ritual of slow, uber-relaxed intros that include side-by-side walks in neutral territory. Taking your time will give you the chance to read signals that say, “I don’t really like this dog.”
5. Be leash savvy. Leash reactivity – an annoying behavior of lunging at dogs or growling on leash – can start when dogs become ever more frustrated about greeting other dogs. Handlers can create fast improvements by curbing leash greets and taking on the new role of confident clown and animated leader. Look for training classes that teach pet owners how to motivate their pets and capture their attention with fun and rewarding distraction exercises that teach a dog that other on-leash dogs are off-limits.
6. Know the realities. Studies (Cornell University, NY) have shown that same-sex housemate pairs, especially females, have more problems than opposite sex pairings. Excitement is one of the biggest fight triggers between dogs of all breeds. The same study indicated that conflict in the home is much more common between female dogs while males were more likely to instigate fights outside of the house. Treatments most often recommended for household aggression are desensitization with counter conditioning and obedience training.
7. Know your dog’s tolerance level. Do you know your dog’s limits with other dogs? Does he has a short fuse, a long fuse or somewhere in between? Be realistic about what he can put up with from other dogs and what kind of play or behavior he will not tolerate.
8. Protect your dog from a bad dog-dog experience. Not all dogs want or need to be friends with other dogs. Smart socializing involves respecting your dog’s quirks and and limits and setting him up for only success with other dogs. Appropriate play partners and positive dog-dog interactions will increase his tolerance for all kinds of dogs and dog behavior. The more positive interaction any dog gets with other dogs, the more likely he will develop and maintain dog-tolerant behavior for life.

With many thanks to the survivors of Bad Newz Kennels for reminding us all of what we already knew to be true about dog behavior.

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The Vick dogs’ integration into real life has been meticulously covered by all kinds of media. We try to gather up most of the stories about the 10 dogs that moved though our program here. For more tips on managing the dogs in your life, check our collection of links at the top of this blog: Favorite Links

We are incredibly grateful to the panel of experts who value this work and who put our group on this prestigious list. This honor certainly fuels our fire to move this organization forward into the future. Our best hope is that this recognition signals a collective wish from the animal welfare community for a better day for dogs we call “pit bulls.”

That is, if you live in the SF bay area and find a lost pit bull type dog on the streets, our trainers will support you with free classes in our weekend Pit Ed classes should circumstances allow you to foster it rather than take it to the shelter. All we ask is that you do your due diligence first: File a “Found Dog” report with your local Animal Control, then show us a photo-copy of the notice along any flyers you’ve posted as proof that you’re working to reunite the dog with her owner.

So often, that little bit of support makes all the difference in a dog’s survival. Corinne was never able to locate her foundling’s former home and then couldn’t find a suitable adopter. She was overwhelmed by her initial behavior with other dogs, and after Lady did a quick stint in her local shelter, was told by her animal control that she wasn’t kenneling well enough to stick around.

And so they came to Pit Ed, very discouraged but determined. After enjoying impressive success with building new manners, Lady went on to earn her Canine Good Citizen certification. As you can probably guess, this orphan found a home for keeps with Corinne, thanks in part to her improved manners. We like to think they were always meant to be together. Corinne brought us a bottle of champagne on the day Lady earned her CGC … The sweet bubbly and happy ending never tasted so sweet.

Motivated Good Samaritans sure enough make the world a better place. If you’re one of the good guys trying to help a dog in need, contact us here: Found Dog.
More info if you’ve found a stray and aren’t sure what to do: Help for Strays

I sure struggled getting started on this painting. I kept asking…

As part of the conference, attendees will have an opportunity to attend a BADRAP sponsored Open House and see first hand some of the country’s most effective solutions to contemporary challenges facing pit bull type dogs. The scheduled field trip will take you to Berkeley CA. This town of rebel rousers and change makers has been celebrated by Maddies Fund and others for their progressive community-based solutions that have brought a nearly 100% live release rate to its public shelter’s treatable dogs including “pit bulls” – and we’ve been very proud to be active participants in those efforts.

On Sunday morning, November 13, conference attendees will meet a community of people who are facilitating positive change for the dogs. BADRAP’s Pit Ed training classes will be in full swing during the Open House, and attendees will watch as dogs get their manners smoothed out and adopters with little or no previous dog handling experience find the support they need to embrace their pets as responsible homes. Attendees will also have an opportunity to tour Berkeley Animal Care Services, hear about their policies and pick the brains of both BR and BACS staff. And we’re serving lunch, too … Our mamas raised us up right, you know!

Thanks to the generosity of Animal Farm Foundation, there will be free transportation to and from SF to Berkeley, where you’ll be greeted by up to 50 dogs and their handlers. The dogs you’ll see represent a variety of behaviors and backgrounds – but more importantly, you’ll see Berkeley-style solutions at their best. You might even sneak a peek at some of those former Michael Vick dogs (they always seem to show up at the best parties).

We hope you decide to attend this Open House along with the many wonderful presentations that will be rolled out at the conference. As expected, this opportunity is limited to SAWA Conference attendees only. The public is invited to see the same at one of our Open Houses – dates to be announced.

We’re grateful to the board and conference organizers of SAWA for providing such a wonderful venue for animal welfare professionals to share their ideas and experiences.

For more info, check out the SAWA Conference Brochure.