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/

Speaking of Training

Speaking of Training....and Management

This is Dawn one of our wonderful students who brought her sassy, starting to be leash reactive Pit Bull pup to class. Wooooo hoooo was he a goofy-pants!

Patiently Dawn started work her lil guy in our classes. He came around very quickly. At first he didn't really get this being quiet and not staring at all the dogs in class stuff.

After a while though he began to realize how nice it is to go to class and have fun without being a big dweeb.

Tyeson has grown since then a bit and now we see a more mature, handsome, VERY well behaved teenager. This is so rewarding for all of us, especially Tyeson. He's actually so much happier having Dawn as a leader to show him the ropes and he's much more calm walking on his leash nicely around other dogs.

Dawn also has applied much of the management techniques and continues to manage him around her other animals at home. Here's a video of Tyeson and his sister cat.
Note: these animals have been properly introduced over a period of time and know each other well. They know each other's limits and most importantly Dawn is a good manager. We love you Dawn!! Keep up the good work.
For more info also see http://www.ourpack.org/otherpets.html

Training Tips on Dog Manners in Public

Dogs will do what we set them up for. We set the stage for good greetings, bad greetings, fights at dog parks, snarks on the street on leash OR we set them up for good greetings, no fights and no snarks on the street on leash.

The first thing to do is cut the "phone line" when your dog begins to communicate to another dog from a distance or across the street. The problem is is that he won't be able to greet the other dog appropriately the way dogs normally would so a frustration begins on the leash. He may exhibt behaviors such as lunging, whining and barking. After a while this is what he has learned to do while on leash around another dog. He's not born this way.

Setting the stage for a calm interaction would be to have your dog focus on you and give lots of praise, treats or take out a toy. Be interesting to your dog.

Many of you already know this and it's probably old hat. But sometimes it's good to review, stay practiced and have it nice and smooth. Many times I see that timing is off. One thing that is important is to make sure your not waiting for your dog to be in the "I don't hear anything or care about anything because I'm making a stink right now" mode. It's too late to ask for your dog to come back to you and focus on you at this point. Try it BEFORE he gets lost in this.

Check out our Dog Aggression vs Leash Reactivity article on our site and our Dog to Dog Introduction article for more info.

Here's one of the very simple exercises done at our class to help with these issues among others. Notice that the dogs completely ignore each other as communicating in this setting without greeting sometimes causes the above frustration we talked about. These dogs are taking direction from their people and not the other dogs in class. Gomer by the way started out a bit leash reactive and loved to have a good fence snark when he was at the shelter. Here he is being a perfect gentleman. And of course Bella is doing very well too as you see - hint, hint they're both up for adoption!!

I'd like to thank Anna in this video. She's one of our certified trainers who's done a great job with our intermediate class! Thanks to Judy, Christina and Thad! Great job to you guys as well.

The Toughest Souls

The Toughest Souls

Working with dogs that come from abuse cases is very rewarding. It can also be very heartbreaking. It's hard when you work with a dog and the dog seems to be better. Then one day there's regression. (Which by the way is part of healing). Sometimes, not always, impingemnet has to occur for recovery to take place and for a dog to completely get better he as to be ABLE to RECOVER. It's not just getting over the ONE thing. It's the ability to get over THINGS. It's the ablility to recover that needs to be regained or gained.

Sometimes though we see dogs that have just been so damaged they've somewhat lost this ability to recover and they need that extra boost or the extra amount of time to realize that "nothing bad's going to happen".

So we go on..... But......what about the damaged people that are damaging the dogs? Have their souls been so tormented by life that they must carry it on? We see people that come from homes that are great and sometimes those people don't do that well. We see people that grow up in abusive homes that come out fine. Are they just tough souls?

We see the same thing with dogs. They are so individual in how they respond to environments. Some come out of abuse cases like the world is working just fine. Others take much time to get over what has happened to them. Some never get over what happened. To me, all of these types are tough, tough souls. The weak souls are the people involved in abuse cases.....the people who hurt the animals. Hurting animals is not tough though, it's cowardice. True blindness in my opinion is a society that turns it's head to these activities. What if we just keep letting these things happen, won't we end up with people who can't recover? People with no remorse left for much at all because they are so desensitized to the idea of pain being inflicted on animals? This is a scary thought to me.

The toughest souls from my experience have been the ones that are in our dogs. To be able to go on and love and work and play after everything that has happened is true courage and strength, EVEN when scared and fearful about the adventure of a new life without abuse.

We usually like to have positive fun stories and pics but I feel that these issues are improtant to look at too. Sorry if this is a bummer but animal abuse has GOT to stop. I know I've said it before but at this time maybe it can't be said enough. I do know it's being said already but.......

Thanks so much for the tough souls here and out there that support animal rescue!

Thank God for the toughest souls that keep us going on.... and that's the dogs!

Pups, Pups, Pups

Here's Dexter again, now with Hailey with the pups from Humane Society Silicon Valley. Stay tuned for more info on how Our Pack will offer to help the 'lil guys as they grow.

In the meantime...