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Would You Take This Dog Out? | Video Comparison | Foe or Friend?
Working with shelter dogs can be so very rewarding ???? … and also beyond tricky. At times, even dangerous. ????
To give every dog the best chance of a happy outcome and to keep ourselves safe, it’s essential that we slow down and carefully observe body language.
Our Shelter Dog Houndtable group did just that, comparing two dogs with similar avoidance signals but one tremendous difference…
What else can we do when dogs are afraid, to help them come out of the kennels safely?
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6 Replies
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This is challenging stuff! Though I wasn’t at the roundtable on Tues., I’m glad I got to peek in on this video.I’ve been a volunteer at 2 different high-volume city/ county shelters (dog walker) and have seen both of these fear type reactions (and lots more) (usually though since I didn’t have “priviledge”s to walk the more “orange’ dogs this didn’t so much apply to me directly as I merely observed others interactions… Just wanted to say this was an excellent opportunity for me to revisit this, now as a student of dog body language – esp(and of CATCH right now) especially DBL that is fear-related- and as a hopefully future shelter trainer/ behavior specialist. Many thanks for posting this, and for the fabulous insight and perspective-enlarging stuff, @progamdev and @jenwalker! P.S. If it’s appropriate, can you at some point provide any “front story” on these dogs? How did it go for them, was Rocky able to adjust/acclimate after some time, or did not? I am curious, but realize it might not be okay for you to share further…
Nina
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Hi @beaglemania glad you are able to enjoy these videos and the ongoing conversation. I’m excited for your learning adventure and where you are taking all of this!
I’ll be honest; these videos are from awhile ago and I don’t remember the histories or what became of Rocky, the second dog. I do remember that Zena was adopted.
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I love these videos and i wish i could of participated. In 1982 when i started k9 school, the instructors would bring us into the kennels. There were hundreds of dogs in the kennels. They were all Shepard’s They all were lunging and barking like they wanted to eat us. The instructor would say, this is your dog Our assignment was make friends with dog and get inside the kennel and don’t let them bite you i knew nothing about dog body language I remember just sitting on the floor doing nothing but talking to dog we were not allowed to use food Several hours later the dog eventually came up to me and started sniffing me It took me the whole morning just to get inside the kennel The thing i learned is be patient, go slow and don’t look at the dog directly into his eyes and how important voice is when talking to dog.
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The k9 school was when i joined the Air Force
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Jeepers @bmacwatt that really does seem like trial by fire! You learned important lessons thought which i am guessing have served you well far beyond that first experience.
…be patient, go slow and don’t look at the dog directly into his eyes and how important voice is when talking to dog. -Bruce MacWatters
What about specifics about the use of your voice could you share with us?
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Great story, Bruce; thanks for sharing that.
So – these dogs were already working dogs and you got to be their new handler… It’s so fascinating that you all were able to “make friends and not get bitten” without using food, on dogs who were trained to be suspicious of strangers… Did most of the dogs/handlers get through it in a day or so, or did it take longer? I have so many questions!
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