A Boston Terrier's Tale, an update

The most popular article on this blog, judging by the number of views, is A Boston Terrier's Tale.

I just got this picture from Moose's owner. I'd like to share it and his e mail with you.


Doug,

I wanted to wish everyone at PPMIM a happy holiday season and give you an update on Moose. I would imagine a lot times in your business, you work with a dog and then owner and K-9 disappear and you never know the rest of the story. Moose as you remember was an adopted dog and a very troubled one due to 15 months of abuse. He had severe
fear aggression toward large dogs and men. I 'm happy to report, thanks to PPMIM, Moose continues to be a success story. He no longer has any fear aggression towards large dogs or strange males and hasn't for over a year. All the group therapy and continually practicing the principles learned has paid off with huge dividends. Moose continues to be an ambassador for the Boston Terrier breed. At the dog park he spends the entire time racing from dog to dog as if he is the official greeter. He really has turned into an amazing dog. Moose has demonstrated a passion for frisbee and runs side by side with his sister Lily(lab pit mix) like a veteran. In his down time his favorite thing to do is snuggle. I have attached several photos of Moose doing what dogs are supposed to do.. just enjoy life. Thanks again for providing a safe and controlled atmosphere which allowed Moose to shed his fears and become a normal, life loving companion.

David

I'd like to take a lot of credit for this, but it was a good owner, comminted to his dog, hard work on both their parts, and a solid system that made this happen. I just got to see the results.

Doug

Testing Dog's DNA

In the last year or so, the cost of DNA tests for mixed breed dogs has gone down to the point where I am seeing more and more clients test their dogs. The results are almost always surprising.

I’ve found out that more often than not, a mixed breed dog is not what the owner was told. The exception of course, is a dog that you get from someone who owned both the parents. But almost every other mixed breed is not what the client was told.

Shelters and rescue groups often make an educated guess. They base the guess on the dog’s looks and sometimes its behavior. But on those dogs where my client has done a DNA test, the rule of thumb is that the guess only accurately gets one of the breeds.

Such groups also tend not to guess any of the breeds who are generally (and inaccurately) described as difficult or mean. I don’t think I’ve ever had a guesstimate mention bull terrier, even though the head shape gives that away.

But for the record, I don’t do much better. I rarely get more than one foundation breed right. And I tend to balance looks with behavior to make my guess.

I’ll give you some good examples. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent but these are dogs I have worked with.) The first is Kirby. He is obviously German Sheppard. His coat texture, coloring, and head give that away. But he is also very, very verbal. He tends to be grumpy and standoffish. And his torso is low slung. His bark is more of a baying than the sharp bark of a GSD. So I guessed he was part beagle,

I got that one wrong. He is German Sheppard, Labrador Retriever, Border Collie and at least five ancestors whose lineage is mixed to the point it cannot be determined by that type of DNA testing. That DNA test goes back three generations, the parents (2 dogs), the grandparents (4 dogs) and the great grandparents (8 dogs). Most of the DNA tests I have seen go that far back.

Another was Franklin. His owners bought him from a trainer and puppy seller notorious for selling dogs that are aggressive. He seems to make them that way to get you to keep coming back for more training until you run out of time, money, patience, or all three. When they got Franklin they were told he was a terrier mix.

Based on his color, his coat, and his size, I thought he was a Blue Kerry mix. However behaviorally he just was not right for a terrier. His aggression was always a bluff. And terriers rarely bluff.

When his DNA came in there was no terrier dominant. He was Schipperke, Papillion, Labrador along with the usual number of unknowns. The Schipperke explained the tough guy image. Schipperke is a non sporting breed that is a ratter on European river barges. This explains the terrier like traits. The Papillion, a toy, explains the worry about safety behavior. And the Lab explained the poor impulse decisions.

While its not necessary for you or the trainer to know what breeds are in your mix, it is a nice to have piece of information. At least you can get an idea where the behaviors come from.

By the way, when someone tells me they have their DNA results I don’t let them tell me what they are. Instead I have them bring it to the next Neighborhood Pack (my group) session so all of us can guess before we find out for sure.

So far no one had gotten more than one breed right.

Doug

Catahoula dog

I trained my first Catahoula dog about a year ago. A couple brought in an eight week old puppy for puppy class. They said the female was a rescue and that they had been told she was a Border collie mix.

In the Manners in Minutes system we do not train puppies. We do however show you how to condition the puppy so it is ready to fully train at 16 weeks.

When the dog came back eight weeks later, I remarked to the owners that I would have expected a Border collie mix to be larger at four months. They told me that when they took her to the vet he told them he thought she was a Catahoula. Then as they were leaving a man recognized their dog as a Catahoula, since he owned two of them.

The Catahoula is a dog bred in Louisiana. The dog is used for both herding and hunting boar as well as other game. It is descended from Native American dogs. They come in a wide range of sizes and coats. One distinct feature is their webbed feet.

The dog is very intense and very pack oriented. But they are herding dogs and are easy for me to work. This dog turned out to be a very nice student.

Since then I had only seen one pure bred Catahoula and one Great Dane/Catahoula mix.

Earlier this week a Border collie mix that is deaf came in for an assessment/demonstration. When I looked at the coloring, I asked her if the dog might be a Catahoula mix. She did not know. However when we checked his feet, we found they were webbed.

I asked her where she got the dog. She got it from a rescue group from the San Luis Valley area in central south Colorado. It was the same group the first dog came from.

Then yesterday I got a call from a woman with a blue heeler mix. It sounds like the dog has some serious pack order confusion. She is coming in later today for an evaluation. I asked her where she got the dog. It was a rescue. After talking some more about the dog I began to think that the Catahoula breed might be involved. She checked with her husband and although this dog was adopted from a shelter in Pueblo, it originally came from the San Luis Valley. Then they checked his feet. They were webbed.

Now with a dog that has unknown lineage, the only way to know for sure is DNA testing, and expensive and usually unnecessary procedure since the dogs are not going to be used for breeding.

But I am beginning to suspect there is either a lot of Catahoulas in that part of Colorado, or one very promiscuous dog running around.

Doug

Why I like Pit Bulls

When I first started training the only group of dogs I worried about were the bull terriers. I started my police career in the 80s. Back then the pit bull was very popular with the people who were making and dealing drugs. The would often have several dogs staked out with overlapping circles. The theory was that the dogs would delay the police if they came to raid.

I have a fellow deputy who once had to shoot a pit bull off his arm when the dog would not let go. We were particularly wary of their reputation for the strength of their jaw. I listened to more than one bandit brag about how he had bred his dogs for the aggression.

Fortunately for me, the first bull terriers to come into my center were four American Staffordshire Bull Terriers. They belong to my friend and groomer, Kris. She has been raising and showing these dogs for some time and the male she brought in was in the top ten for the breed.

Knowing that Kris is also a trainer and has very good control of her dogs lessened my worries. I found them to be sweet, easy to train and eager to learn. Now Kris does not train in the Manners in Minutes system, but wanted to see it for herself since like many good trainers she is always looking for something to make what she does better.

When I commented on how nice the dogs were to work with Kris explained that when the dogs were still fighting in the pits before it was outlawed, they were too valuable to let them fight to the death. So the owner had to be able to go into the pit and get his dog out without getting bit by either dog. By breeding they are gentle and sweet to humans.

Later when discussing training bulls with the developer of Manners in Minutes training, Pat Muller, Pat also added that during the period when the dogs were still fighting, they were the family pet during the rest of the week. At the first sign of excessive aggression, especially around the owners children, the dog was put down. So over time only the gentlest and sweetest of the bulls (around humans) were bred.

Since then I have worked with a number of Staffordshires, Am Staffs, and Pit Bulls. I look forward to everyone of them. They have all trained well and are some of the best dogs I have turned out were from these breeds.

The lesson from all this is that any dog is dangerous if it isn’t properly trained and socialized. Pit Bulls aren’t more likely to bite than any other breed. As a matter of fact, the most popular breed in this country is the Lab. And Labs are also the dog breed most often reported to the police or animal control is the Lab.

Books shouldn’t be judged by their covers, and dogs shouldn’t be judged by their breeds.