01/13/14

Clever Marketing Ideas for Shelters

Often, we hear about ‘the overpopulation problem‘ – the myth that there are too many animals in the shelter system to find homes for. Of those that argue that an overpopulation problem exists, they often point to shelter-euthanasia rates. The argument goes that if there was no overpopulation problem, then there would be no pets killed in shelters.

I call bullshit.

There are plenty of pounds in Australia that impound animals, hold them for the mandatory holding period, and then kill them with not a scrap of community engagement. They didn’t try to find the owner. They didn’t try to find a new owner. For whatever reason, there are many facilities in Australia that just do what they have to do (legally), and not what they should do (morally).

So what should impounding facilities be doing?

I argue that impounding facilities need to do each of these marketing and promotional steps for every animal in care, in order to get animals out alive.

“That’s absolutely my dog!” said no one ever. This is a genuine impound photo from an Australian pound – not very useful.

On Impound

Take a good photo and use it

When an animal comes into the facility, they should take a clear and appealing photo. The animal should not be obstructed by cages, people, or other animals.

Once a good photo is obtained, it needs to be distributed everywhere – Facebook, Gumtree, council offices, the local paper. While we would love for our good photo to find the original owner, it also, potentially, will find the pet a new owner once that holding period is over.

Correctly record details on the animal

Make sure that the impounded animal is recorded in a way that can maximise reclaim. In short: Record details correctly!

Try to minimise the emphasis on breed. Breed cannot be identified by looks alone, and owners may believe their pet is a different breed than the pound, making reclaims less likely. Bad!

So instead, details about the pet needs to be accurately recorded: colour and coat type, any obvious medical issues, its sex (please get it right!), and make a note of any tattoos.

Minimise disease risk

Administer relevant vaccinations immediately, upon intake, to minimise the chance of disease risk across the shelter. (And, obviously, protect that individual pet from contracting a disease, too.)

For more details, read the KC Dog Blog on “The First 60 Minutes“.

During Holding Period (i.e. Find the past owner!)

Check for identification

Obviously, facilities need to check the animal for details on the collar (e.g. stitched into the fabric) or the tag.

Animals need to be scanned for a microchip – but this needs to be done thoroughly and properly. This involves:

The scanner needs to be fully charged,
The scanner needs to be waved, slowly, all over the animal, but remain close to the animal at all times,
If no chip is found, a second fully charged scanner should be used, by a second person.

Basically, facilities should assume that every animal is microchipped, and work hard to find that chip.

Some animals have tattoos on their ears or groin, so these can also be used for identification.

Use all available information on past owners to full capacity

If you find any skerrick of information regarding the animal and the past owners, find out more! If the number on the microchip is no longer active, use their names to look them up on Facebook or the electoral roll. If you can find the phone number on their tag, Google it, and see if you can find a name associated. If there’s a number or word in the ear of a dog, find out what it pertains to. Do everything possible to make contact with the owners. Get that pet back home!

Know who’s lost

Shelters and pounds should use staff or volunteers to maintain a catalogue of lost pets. These individuals would check lost pet notices, online and in print, and record the details on a centralised system. If this resource was to be kept up to date, then it could mean that impounded animals could quickly be reunited with their people.

Be accessible for reclaims

Many people work 9am to 5pm, and find it difficult to access the shelter to reclaim their pet. Having opening times of 8am-8pm would allow working people to access the facility and reclaim their pets, or simply just come to the shelter to make sure their pet has not been impounded over the course of the day.

During Adoption Period (i.e. Find new owners!)

So now the animal has been in the shelter for the mandatory holding period – what now?

This is the kind of photo that gets pets adopted. Taken by Kimberley Gifford Photography, this photo of ‘Benjamin’ led my now-husband and I to adopt. (And we didn’t even want a cat at the time.)

Photos and advertising

Facilities need to seek the services of a professional photographer to take awesome photos of pets for adoption. The photos should be well lit, with an appealing background, with the pet looking happy. Once you have an awesome photo or two, share the bejesus out of it. Put it on your website, on Facebook, on PetRescue, on Gumtree, share with the press, whatever! Get it out there!

Use deals and events to lure in adopters

It’s no secret that people like a bargain, so facilities can offer financial incentives to potential adopters: Your pets are cheap, especially considering all the vet work that has been done. If you buy a cat, you get a bag of cat food free. If you adopt a kitten, get the mother free. Adult cats are free. Whatever needs to be done to get an adopter in, needs to be done!

The other option is to run big events. Invite the media to mega adoption days, where you hope ‘100 pets in new homes before the end of the day’, or whatever it may be. Make a spectacle.

Also, make sure at least some of your adoptions can occur off of the shelter. Many people find a shelter environment depressing, and so may not be inclined to visit the shelter to find their new pets. Using pleasant, external environments is likely to encourage adopters to take pets home.

Be accessible

This flows from off site adoption days – facilities need to make sure their adoption events are off site and are in different geographic locations, so people from many areas can get their hands on a rescue pet.

Just like I advocate shelters being open 8am-8pm for reclaims, adoptions can also happen in these extended hours too. This means that the average-worker can adopt a pet without having to take the day off work.

Having an online site, listing pets available for adoption, also means that people can access potential-new-pets in the comfort of their home – online shopping, for pets!

Make the pets you have better

Clearly, not every pet that enters a pound or shelter is going to be ‘the perfect pet’ on intake. Facilities need to run programs that make them more adoptable. Does that cat have a skin problem? Put her on medication and fix her up. Is that bunny a bit scared of people? Get him onto a regular handling program. Does that dog jump up? Engage in some behavioural modification.

Sometimes, some pets need a lot of work to improve their adoptability, and these pets may be better suited to entering foster care or a different rescue…

Use rescue groups

Rescue groups are valuable to shelters and pounds. They can help relieve the pressure of bigger facilities by taking in pets and rehoming them. As they are often smaller, they can often more intensely treat medical and behavioural issues. As they normally hold pets in foster homes, for animals requiring long term treatment (for example, mange), then a foster home may be more humane than a shelter environment.

In short, rescues and pounds need to use rescue groups to their advantage.

Use compatible animals to maximise kennel space

Many pounds claim that they need to kill pets for space. An alternative to this is doubling up compatible pets in the same run.

But, but, but…

People keep saying to me that pounds can’t afford to do this. I argue that if they stopped killing animals, they probably would gather community support. It’s not a secret that people don’t like volunteering at places that kill pets. If you stop killing pets, you’ll attract volunteers, who will be able to take sexy pictures of animals, will be able to put them online for you, and will be able to staff your front counter during your opening hours. The possibilities are endless.

Further, successful shelters don’t shame the public. They don’t call people irresponsible for surrendering pets. They don’t criticise people when their pets get lost. They don’t black mail the public, telling them that if they don’t adopt, pets will die. All these things get the public off side – and the public is a very important friend.

Also, the public is more likely to donate to pounds that don’t criticse them, and don’t kill the pets in care. So fundraising will be easier.

In summary, shelters kill pets because they don’t bother finding their owner or don’t bother finding a new owner. And if they just stopped killing pets and blaming the ‘irresponsible’ public, perhaps the public would like them more and volunteer and donate, and then there will be less dead pets.

Pound’s nonchalance to getting pets out alive is the real bullshit here.

Further reading:

10 Ways to Get Pit Bulls Adopted from ThatMutt.com

The First 60 Minutes from the KC Dog Blog

What a Good Pound Does from Dog Rescue Association of Victoria Inc.

The Seven Deadly Sins of ‘Overpopulation’ from SavingPets

01/10/14

Pet Blogger Challenge 2014

A whole year has gone by since the last Pet Blogger Challenge (kindly hosted by GoPetFriendly.com and Will My Dog Hate Me). I enjoy having a formalised way to summarise our experiences over the last year, and hopefully you find it enjoyable to read, too.

Amazingly, this is actually our third Pet Blogger Challenge. We participated last year, in 2013, and the year before, when we were very new to blogging, in 2012.

Most of all, I love connecting with a new lot of bloggers each year – finding new blogs to follow and getting all enthused about blogging.

Without further ado: The questions!

1. How long have you been blogging? Please tell us why you started blogging, and, for anyone stopping by for the first time, give us a quick description of what your blog is about.

It seems crazy to say that this blog has been going for 4 years now. It certainly doesn’t feel like that long – I still enjoy the blogging experience, and I feel proud of this blog’s content.

I started blogging simply because I think a lot about dogs, and wanted to structure and share these thoughts with the wider community. I also have a big interest in dog science, and wanted to share some evidence based conclusions on this blog, too. I find the dog world is a bit bogged down with myths and anecdotal evidence, and that just doesn’t wash with me.

As for a quick description of Some Thoughts About Dogs: We love dog science, but we feel compelled to write about dog politics more often than not, and sometimes we can’t help but share more personal stories and thoughts.

2. Name one thing about your blog, or one blogging goal that you accomplished during 2013, that made you most proud.

One of my blogging goals last year was to recommit to the dog-research focus we originally strived for. However, looking back over the year, I only posted about four dog-research posts (and one of them was a guest post), which is a bit sad. One of the downsides of research blogging is that I often read research articles, and they end up not being very interesting, so do not make it to the blog.

That being said, many of the political posts I make, including submissions to government, are very research based, and involve a lot of references – so arguably, the evidence-based approach still runs true.

However, for 2013, what I would be most proud of is my post ‘How to save a swimmer puppy‘ and its success in Google rankings and its hits. When I had a swimmer puppy back in 2010, many websites online suggested euthanasia of swimmer puppies, which I knew wasn’t the only option. So, I am proud of my swimmer puppy post because I’m hoping that its view rate means that a number of puppies have been saved from alternative fates.

3. When you look at the post you wrote for last year’s Pet Blogger Challenge, or just think back over the past year, what about blogging has changed the most for you?

My employment status has changed in the last 12 months, and is likely to change my blogging. I am now working more, and working in a non-dog job, which is likely to change the availability I have to blog, and the content that comes to me. That being said, I have recently launched my own dog training business (Dog Consultancy) and so I am likely to be blogging on dog training matters a little bit more.

4. What lessons have you learned this year – from other blogs, or through your own experience – that could help us all with our own sites? If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one challenge you’re having with your blog, what would it be?

This is a difficult question, but for other bloggers, I’d mostly encourage other blogs to follow many blogs in order to see plenty of content, which will hopefully inspire you for your own blog. I know that after having a read a few blog posts I am normally a little jazzed up to get going on my own blog.

I would like more traffic on my blog, but I also know I’ve been a bit lazy in blogging and in promotion this year – so while lack of traffic might be a ‘challenge’, it’s a self-inflicted challenge that I can’t complain too much about before I make a better effort!

5. What have you found to be the best ways to bring more traffic to your blog, other than by writing great content?

Commenting on other blogs! The pet blogging community has a very good reciprocal commenting thing going on, where (generally) if you comment on a blog, they’ll comment back.

Also, according to Google Analytics, some of my puppy posts seem to be a little bit popular, and it seems they get shared on forums a lot… So make posts like that?

6. How much time to do you spend publicizing your blog, and do you think you should spend more or less in the coming year?

Like, no time of late! So I can only spend more time from here.

7. How do you gauge whether or not what you’re writing is appealing to your audience? How do you know when it’s time to let go of a feature or theme that you’ve been writing about for a while?

With difficulty. My blog gets about 100-200 hits a day, but then I get very few comments or interactions on my blog, and everyone knows that’s the stuff that bloggers live off.

I almost don’t really care at the moment. I just want to produce content I’m proud of and that hopefully holds relevance over time. I’m not very interested in my audience right now. Maybe I’ve just become disheartened as I’ve tried to create an audience, and failed.

I stop blogging on a feature or theme when I’ve finished! Otherwise I feel like it’s an incomplete book.

8. When you’re visiting other blogs, what inspires you to comment on a post rather than just reading and moving on?

I often comment when I disagree with something, or if it’s content that makes me think, or if it describes something in a way that is more powerful than I’ve read before.

9. Do you do product reviews and/or giveaways?

If so, what do you find works best, and what doesn’t work at all?

If not, is this something you’d like to do more of? What hurdle is getting in your way?

Yes, I’ve reviewed a few products and a few books. I find products really hard to review, as I’m a rather simple kind of dog owner, and so many products are just things that wouldn’t interest me. That being said, I have dogs that are hard on toys, so I enjoy showing how pathetic some toys are out there (and encourage others to save their money!).

I haven’t done any give aways, but I am open to it. Indeed, I’m open to doing a lot more reviews, I just need to be approached. Come at me!

10. When writer’s block strikes and you’re feeling dog-tired, how do you recharge?

I don’t really get writer’s block – so far I’ve had plenty to say! But I do get lazy. Unfortunately, I just do what I want, and whenever I cease to feel lazy is when I blog. That being said, if I read something online that is dumb, I normally have to write a counter-post.

So, if you are asking, “How to you blog when you are unmotivated?” The answer is, “Get annoyed about something online and write a rebuttal. Or else just remain unmotivated.”

11. Have you ever taken a break from your blog? How did that go?

Have you ever thought about quitting your blog altogether? What makes you stay?

I’ve never taken a formal break from blogging. Sometimes I just haven’t posted for a while. This has never been a decision I’ve made, it ‘just happened’.

I don’t think about quitting this blog at all. I’d probably be pretty unhappy if I didn’t have somewhere to share my opinion when the moment strikes. I stay because I like my blog, and I like sharing my opinion, and I feel it somewhat motivates me to keep engaged with research material. All good things.

The only ‘bad thing’ about blogging is sometimes I feel slightly guilty about not blogging. But it’s very temporary.

12. What goals do you have for your blog in 2014?

Again I’ll say that I’d like to go back to the original focus of research blogging.

I’d like to commit to three posts a week: One The Week in Tweets, one research, and one ‘something else’.

But instead I’m just going to keep doing whatever I feel like at the time. I feel guilty about enough in my life – the blog’s not going to be one of them!

Until next time – thanks for stopping by.

01/10/14

CECS in Border Terriers

Regulars of this blog will know that I breed border terriers, and I am excited to share with you some new and ground breaking research within the breed.

In December, the Journal of Small Animal Practice published an article on canine epileptoid cramping syndrome (or CECS) in border terriers. This is exciting because it is the first academic article to consider this condition in border terriers, and it therefore documents and legitimises the condition.

This is Chip (Au & NZ Ch Dalshoj Chippendale ME TD). He does not have CECS but he is a border terrier.

Research Design

A small study of 29 border terriers.
There were 33 respondents in all, but 4 dogs were excluded for not meeting the criteria.
Recruitment took place through veterinarians, using dogs that had diagnosed and treated for CECS.
In 14 of the cases, owners were questioned about their dog’s episodes. In 15 cases, videographic evidence was used.
In order to be included in the study, dogs had to:
- Have a one year history of episodes (i.e. abnormal involuntary hyperkinetic movement)
- These episodes did not include epilepsy-like symptoms (like loss of bladder or bowel control, hyper salivation, or loss of consciousness)
- Have other medical conditions ruled out (if possible)

What happens before a CECS episode?

18 out of the 29 owners felt they could predict the onset of an episode.
11 out of the 29 dogs became ‘quieter’ before an episode.
6 out of the 29 dogs sought comfort in their owners before an episode.
4 out of the 29 dogs would vomit bile or eat grass before an episode.
While most episodes were unpredictable, some owners felt that excitement, waking from sleep, and stress were all triggers.

So what does a CECS episode look like?

Generally, an episode lasts from 2-30 minutes.
All owners felt their dog was uncomfortable during the episode.
Most dogs had difficulty walking (27 of the 29 participants).
Most of the time all four limbs are affected (25 of the 29 participants).
Most dogs had at least some time that they were unable to stand (22 of the 29 participants).
Most had a mild tremor (21 of the 29 participants).
Most had the head or neck affected (21 of 29 participants).
Most had dystonia (muscle tremors) (22 of the 29 participants).
Many had the back and abdomon affected (16 of the 29 participants).
Some licked the air (14 of 29 participants).
Some excessively stretched (14 of 29 participants).
Some had all four limbs go rigid (14 of 29 pariticpants).
Some had the tail affected (11 of 29 participants).
Some dogs got a rumbly tummy (11 of the 29 participants).

What happens after an episode?

Most owners (18 of the 29) described their dogs as acting similar after an episode as before.
11 of 29 respondents were quieter after an episode.
4 of the 29 participants sought human company after an episode.
2 of the 29 participants were hungry after an episode.

What helps reduce symptoms?

Most owners found the condition could be managed by diet. 19 of the respodents changed their dog’s diet as a result of their condition, and over 50% thought that this helped.
Drugs did not help the condition (including phenobarbital, potassium bromide, and buscopan).
Once an episode had started, none of the owners in this study thought they could change the course of the episode.

What is CECS correlated with?

In short: Not much!
Dogs appeared normal despite: blood tests, magnetic resonance imaging, cerbospinal fluid collection and analysis, and neurological examinations.
“No significant underlying metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, orthopaedic or other neurological conditions were identified in any respondent.”
15 of the 29 borders also had skin disease.
There is “an apparent association” between CECS and digestive or food intolerance issues.
CECS is not epilepsy. Dogs who have CECS differs from epilepsy as affected dogs remain conscious during an episode, have longer episodes, and do not respond to medication.

Implications for Breeders

Most dogs had their first episode before 3 years. This may mean that only breeding borders 3 years and older, who are asymptomatic, is a way forward. (But some dogs started cramping at 0.2 years, and some at 7 years, so there’s no guarantees.)
10 of the 29 owners (34%) felt that CECS had a negative impact on the dog’s quality of life. While this is a significant number, it is reassuring to think that most owners (66%) therefore did not think that CECS negatively impacted on their dogs life. This is not a way to justify breeding CECS affected dogs, but it is reassuring to know that the condition does not seem to be incredibly debilitating in many situations.
Skin disease is correlated with CECS. Any dogs affected by skin disease should not be considered for a breeding program.
For those trying to determine the inheritance of CECS, it is important to note that CECS is not epilepsy. A condition that can be controlled by medication is almost certainly not CECS, and it would be hazardous to lump the two conditions together.

Congratulations and thank-you to those border terrier people who have been campaigning and working behind the scenes for research like this for many years.

I hope this is the first of much research to come.

This is Clover (Ch Burrowa Blue Flame ME TD DWDF.S) and Chip (Au & NZ Ch Dalshoj Chippendale ME TD). Neither of them are CECS affected, but they’re pretty cute.

Reference:

Black V, Garosi L, Lowrie M, Harvey RJ, & Gale J (2013). Phenotypic characterisation of canine epileptoid cramping syndrome in the Border terrier. The Journal of small animal practice PMID: 24372194

01/2/14

5×4 Blogging Summary 2013

So last year we posted a 5×4 blogging summary where we looked at our five favourite blogs, blog posts, on here, and on the world wide web. I hope that you mind find some new blog posts or blogs that you find enjoyable.

Top Five Favourite Blogs of 2013

SavingPets – A front runner again. Shel blogs on companion animal welfare in Australian shelters and does a fantastic job highlighting facility incompetencies. When I see that SavingPets has posted new content, I always get a little excited.

Offbeat Bride – It’s been a little quiet, but I got married in 2013, and so I really enjoyed getting wedding-y fun things from Offbeat Bride. No, not dog related, or even sheltering related, but still a fun blog that I spent a lot of time on over the course of the year.

ThatMutt – I have no idea how Lindsay posts as often as she does, and as much good content as she does, but I know I can hardly keep up with reading it. Lindsay blogs a lot about rescue and sheltering, and these would be my favourite posts – but her content is certainly not narrowly defined.

Denise Fenzi – Denise’s blog looks mostly at formal obedience, and training dogs for competitive sports, but I like it. Her posts are often quite heavy and indepth, so I have to sit down and concentrate on them, but it always gives me something to think about. She also honestly presents her own training videos, and dissects them, which is refreshing and educational.

Veterinarians Behaving Badly – I really enjoy getting a ‘vet’s perspective’, especially when it’s delivered in a humourous and dark way as this blog does. And hearing stories about horror clients is fun in its own way, too!

Top 5 Favourite Blog Posts of 2013

“Raising them right” and “Bad owners” from Beyond Breed – I really love this post. It talks about how the idea that nurturing is the only thing that matters for dogs is harmful, including for rescue. Love this post!

Passionate statistics: pie charts – parallels to Florence Nightingale and how she used statistics to analyse ways to make nursing better… And how sheltering can take heed from this. To quote, “Without an evidence-base, without research, without the numbers, without the statistics and without a strategic understanding of the wider scheme of things rescuers are doing the equivalent of … bandaging over the wounded with out-dated paradigms when they should be opening the windows and flushing out the drains of old thinking.” Very well argued post that is well worth the read.

Common Knowledge – Denise Fenzi talks about all those things that are often considered just ‘common knowledge’ when it comes to training dogs – and how they shouldn’t be simply taken for granted.

What to do with a milk-seeking missile? The four most important things dog breeders can do for newborn puppies – Four steps that breeders can do for producing fantastic, stable puppies.

Know the opposition: ‘Why are you blaming the shelters?’ – As Christie describes, many of those in rescue blame breeders or owners for animals ending up in shelters and dying, while giving shelters a free pass. Christie disputes this free pass.

My Top 5 Favourite Blog Posts of 2013

Where do puppies come from? – A lot of research went into this post. I was motivated to find out the information myself, and then motivated to share it. While the conclusion (that most puppies come from backyard breeders) is what I expected to find, the data overall is interesting and (I hope) easily presented.

Select Committee SA replicates faulty animal welfare legislation – This is mostly here because it was so painful to write. It took me hours and hours to dissect the report, and I was just so angry that the public’s recommendations could be disregarded on such a large scale. While this post was specific to the South Australian report, it talks about errors in animal welfare legislation seen around the country.

Do dog dreams matter? – I am a little disappointed that this post didn’t receive the engagement I had hoped. I partly wrote this post because I think about this all the time! But also, I hoped that I’d stop thinking about it. Sadly, I still think about this all the time. Basically this posts asks if a dog’s dreams would influence their behaviour.

Are you willing to be wrong about that? – This post asks how many dogs could Australians accommodate in their lives. It argues: A lot, and overpopulation doesn’t exist.

Rescue Vs Breeders – I have long found it frustrating that people identify themselves as a ‘rescue’ and pigeon hole me as a ‘breeder’, and use these labels to predict my opinions and motivations. This post argues that such classifications are not productive to the dog community.

‘Reader’s Choice’ Top 5 Favourite Posts of 2013

According to Google Analytics, these were the most popular posts of 2013 on Some Thoughts About Dogs:

Oral Flea Treatment Most Effective In Dogs – This was a guest post, and so I am pretty grateful that Aussie Professional Pest Control could provide a post that was so popular! This post looks at research that shows that oral flea treatment is most effective.

How to Save a Swimmer Puppy – I am so happy that this post has become such a hit. I made this post as I found the information available about swimmer puppies to be very negative and disheartening, and it just doesn’t have to be as swimmer puppies are very saveable.

Golden Retrievers: Cancer if you do, cancer if you don’t – I’m also really pleased that this post is so popular, and I hope it encourages critical thinking on spay/neuter, especially at an early age. Maybe the controversial title helps to grab the attention of readers, too.

Why I don’t want Oscar’s Law – This post was on the books for a long time, but only this year did I get it published. I am also very pleased that this post has gained so many hits, as, again, I hope it elicits critical thinking in the readers.

Classical Conditioning in Dogs – I’m not quite sure why this simple post has had so many hits, but I can only take it as a compliment that it is a clear explanation that others have found easy to follow.

Thanks for reading throughout 2013. I hope I can keep your interest in 2014.

12/24/13

The Week in Tweets – 17th December

This is our (almost) weekly segment where we review the content posted on our Twitter over the course of the week. It’s a long post! So make sure you grab a coffee and prepare yourself for some serious reading.

But before we start, you might remember Bandit – I blogged about him in July, and he’s still waiting for his perfect home. I made this video to try to get him some exposure.

Tweet of the Week

So, unashamedly, I am a border terrier fan. I really enjoyed reading ‘Breed Priorities: The Border Terrier‘. I also equally enjoyed reading TerrierMan’s critique of this: ‘The dog that chases ribbons‘.

Sheltering and Rescue

From YesBiscuit!: ‘Brevard Co Oops Kills Microchipped Pet‘ and ‘New study indicates vasectomies might reduce feral cat populations most effectively‘.

From the Winsconsin Watchdog: The Jigsaw Puzzle.

From SavingPets: ‘Getting 2 Zero – Saving Pet’s Preso – The opportunity cost of killing‘, ‘Starving, neglected pets find no safety with the RSPCA‘, ‘Vets – better at being shelters, than shelters‘, and ‘Thousands of pet microchips faulty‘.

From ThatMutt: What are no-kill shelters doing differently?

A video of AWDRI on Better Homes and Gardens.

Good intentions, but the wrong focus.

They want ’em, they really do! (on pitbull types in rescue)

Assumptions about future behavior of shelters dogs seen as food aggressive are unfounded.

Dog Training and Behaivour

Two CPDT Study Sessions from Crystal at Reactive Champion: ‘Ethical considerations and humane treatment‘ and ‘Puppy Development‘.

Is food really the problem? asks the Fearful Dog blog.