A Tribute to a Beautiful Friend

We are so incredibly sad to say that we lost a very good friend, Anne Krevet. Our thoughts are with her two beautiful dogs Ben, Charlotte, (Charlotte seen here in this picture with Anne) her husband Oliver and their families.

She was our dear friend. We will never forget Anne and how wonderful she was...ever. I have the best memories of Anne and her dogs.

It all started 4 years ago when Anne and Oliver adopted Ben. They already lived with Emma who was a very old Pit Bull girl that wasn't really that interested in goofin' around with other dogs.Ben respected Emma's boundries and they lived well together until Emma passed on of old age in 2007.

Believe it or not Anne was afraid of Pit Bulls initially. She's from Germany where they're banned. On top of that, Ben has this funny, cute look. He looks right at you like, "ok, so what do we do now?" When Anne was first living with Ben in their foster period he would look at her this way and then, well, she would look back at him. He would keep looking at her and she would keep looking at him. She would call me almost everyday at times for support and sometimes just ask me with her beautiful German accent, "why is he looking at me?". Of course I would have to tell her, "well,because you're looking at him!" "He's wondering why the hell you're staring at him!" "Oh", she'd say. She loved him and was learing how to understand his language in the cutest way ever.

Life went on with Ben, Oliver and Anne. Ben went through a stage that dogs go through of being goofy, jumpy, nippy etc. He became leash reacitive around other dogs as well. They also had a hard time with his teenage behaviors and goofiness in the evenings after dinner. He pulled on the leash and was just a bit of a bugger at times. This is completely normal adolescent behavior for dogs and it can sometimes be very challenging.

One day Anne and Oliver expressed to me that they had doubts as to whether or not they were good people for Ben. I didn't think there was any place better in the world for him, they just needed some guidance. So Anne, Oliver, Ben and I went to the park for an afternoon to do some training on handling him with other dogs around on leash. Luckily there were 6 small Chiuauas at the park that day so the training was tough for them at first! Then something clicked for Anne that day on what to do with Ben in these situations. Then it also clicked with Oliver. It seemed that there were no issues with Ben after that day. Anne often reminded me of this for a long time to come. One of the many things I loved about Anne is that she took this and ran with it. Ben ended up being the BEST trained dog! Anne was such a good person for Ben. She learned so quickly about what to do for her dog, it was amazing.

A short time later Ben acheived his Canine Good Citizen cert.....and he passed it just beautifully. A short time after that Anne, Ben and I went into rest homes to test/train Ben for therapy work. He then passed that with flying colors.

Recently Anne visited a Parkinson's clinic regularly with Ben and unselfishly helped people feel better with her beautiful Ben. She often talked about how much she loved him and what a great dog he was. She proudly told people how she used to be afraid of Pit Bulls but wasn't anymore. She wanted others to learn from her.

Anne and Oliver kindly fostered Charlotte for Our Pack who came from a dog fighting case then adopted her from us in 2008. Charlotte (also a registered therapy dog) and Ben are just good buds and live together happily due to having such a good home. She sent me many pictures of them snuggling, being silly or just hanging out.

I'm so proud of Anne and Oliver for their dedication to their dogs and sticking it out as some people don't through that teenage period....I'm just so damn proud of Anne. She grew through her dogs and they were her life. She would want us to keep up the brag about them!

I love Anne with all my heart. She was my friend. She loved scary movies like I do. We had so much fun watching the spooky stuff. I loved the way she would look at me at times when I would instruct her on a doggie issue like, "what, are you crazy?"

I want to publicly thank her for being her. She was generous and helped Our Pack tremendously. She helped her dogs live a lovely life and gave them heaven as a home. She helped sick people to feel better and forget about their illness for a time with her therapy work. She had the biggest heart and was always so willing to help. She was such a good person with an honesty I will always admire. She did so much that was good. She was truly amazing and she will be dearly missed....always.

Anne is now with her beautiful Emma....we love you....

A Moment of Silence

....for all of the people in Chile who lost their lives and loved ones.....

Dexter's Corner

Dr. Dexter here to talk about how people seem to see dogs lately. My person was working with a Pit Bull owner today and the owner had been treated in another training class as though her dog was a "problem" - as though the dog was a species from another planet. Her dog was jumping excessively and trying to engage rudely. This is a 10 month old "teenage" dog! That's what teenage dogs do.
I undertand newspapers, media etc over report and the public can get the wrong idea but when the trainers of dogs can't see the difference between CANINE issues and PIT BULL issues it scares me. If we can't have teachers of the people understand dogs what do we do?
People used to live and work very closely with us dogs. Dogs were outside a lot but so were people. Then work moved inside, the dogs didn't necessarily (and that's another blog). People seemed to understand us animals AND it was OK! It was ok that we were animals. Now (possibly due to movies like Lassie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua etc) dogs are suppose to not have drives or have any senesitivity to other dogs (God forbid) and they're suppose to be very well trained already as a puppy. If they're jumping and acting goofy AND they're a Pit Bull like me well then heck....it's a big problem.
I think folks need to get what we are and normalize to themselves real canine behavior. I work with the dogs at the shelter all the time. I don't think there's anything wrong with them, I just try to send the right signals to get the right response. It's not that dogs need to BLEND into the people world, it's that people need to GET the dog world and understand that it's up to them to help us make the best of ourselves, to set us up for success. When we see someone acting goofy in a pack we don't blame and judge them because they're Foo Foo or such-and-so breed we give them a signal of some sort to help.
Try sending your dog some signals to help him calm down if he's having that issue. Sometimes it may be just doing nothing when he's goofin' too much.
Here's some ideas on calming signals that some of us dogs use with each other. Good luck. http://www.canis.no/rugaas/
Dr. Dexter
Add a caption
Dr. Dexter here to talk about how people seem to see dogs lately. My person was working with a Pit Bull owner today and the owner had been treated in another training class as though her dog was a "problem" - as though the dog was a species from another planet. Her dog was jumping excessively and trying to engage rudely. This is a 10 month old "teenage" dog! That's what teenage dogs do.
I undertand newspapers, media etc over report and the public can get the wrong idea but when the trainers of dogs can't see the difference between CANINE issues and PIT BULL issues it scares me. If we can't have teachers of the people understand dogs what do we do?
People used to live and work very closely with us dogs. Dogs were outside a lot but so were people. Then work moved inside, the dogs didn't necessarily (and that's another blog). People seemed to understand us animals AND it was OK! It was ok that we were animals. Now (possibly due to movies like Lassie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua etc) dogs are suppose to not have drives or have any senesitivity to other dogs (God forbid) and they're suppose to be very well trained already as a puppy. If they're jumping and acting goofy AND they're a Pit Bull like me well then heck....it's a big problem.
I think folks need to get what we are and normalize to themselves real canine behavior. I work with the dogs at the shelter all the time. I don't think there's anything wrong with them, I just try to send the right signals to get the right response. It's not that dogs need to BLEND into the people world, it's that people need to GET the dog world and understand that it's up to them to help us make the best of ourselves, to set us up for success. When we see someone acting goofy in a pack we don't blame and judge them because they're Foo Foo or such-and-so breed we give them a signal of some sort to help.
Try sending your dog some signals to help him calm down if he's having that issue. Sometimes it may be just doing nothing when he's goofin' too much.
Here's some ideas on calming signals that some of us dogs use with each other. Good luck. http://www.canis.no/rugaas/
Dr. Dexter

Daddy Dies at age 16

There are varying opinions about Cesar Milan's method of training dogs. But whether or not you agree with Cesar or not his dog Daddy was awesome and a great ambassador for the breed.
RIP Daddy.
Here's the article. http://www.cesarsway.com/newsletter/announcements/daddy.html

Bonding and Training

Part of training is having a dog that is bonded to you. One that likes working with you. So at the end of every training class we like to have our bonding massage time. This way people can tell their dogs how much they appreciate their work and bond. Also, this further reinforces the relaxed behavior around other dogs ...- "it's ok to lay down, relax and get a soothing massage by my person around strange dogs" sort of thing. Here's Josie with her dog Daphne relaxing after class. Daphne is actually smiling...so cute.

Annie and Training

We think training for dogs should start very young. Socialization should start as early as possible and is just as important if not more than training. Here's Annie about 5 months old at training even with a handicap. She was hit by a car before coming to the shelter and as a result one of her front legs unfortunately had to be amputated. Annie is now being fostered and she's in good spirits in this video working with her wonderful foster dad who's volunteerd from Humane Society Silicon Valley to take her to Our Pack classes to give her the best start possible on good manners and leash skills around other dogs. Better to prevent behaviors now rather than correct them later!.
Annie ended up stealing the show with her fancy hot pink coat and of course her post surgery e collar (ya know, they're really more like lampshades). Her face is adorable poking out of the lampshade!

Scary!

Michael Byant is quoted as saying, “We shouldn’t have these animals on civilized streets.”
Let's look at Posie's face in this pic full of soul and say this is a sane statement! See article.
http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/canines-issues/worldwide-canine-issues/canada/