Amber Burckhalter, a certified master trainer and the owner of K-9 Coach, recently attended the Association for Pet Dog Trainers conference.

Burckhalter is from Atlanta, GA and said everyone who saw her Atlanta name tag immediately commented on Michael Vick.  Recently there has been another local scandal, this one involving an animal shelter in Fulton county. The director has resigned due to allegations of abuse and mistreatment of the animals housed in the facility.  One of the reports alleges pit bulls were being caged with other dogs.

The point Burckhalter was trying to make,  not many dog owners realize that the professional dog community isn’t always what it appears.  Not only can anyone own a dog, they can also run a dog training facility.  Owners need to be trained to learn what to look for and what questions to ask.

Few dog owners realize that within the professional dog community there is a varying degree of what is considered acceptable training and treatment of animals.

Dog owners should aggressively seek out treatment guidelines, professional affiliations and certifications of everyone who comes in contact with their pet, just as parents do their due diligence on the qualifications of a potential child care provider. Owners should ask how the dog professional would deal with their specific situation to ensure that their practices are in line with an owner’s values. Owners should also ask themselves one basic question: Does this sound too good to be true?

Responsible pet ownership goes far beyond annual veterinarian visits and feeding. Owners should try to be more proactive with their dog and its behavior. All dogs should be able to socialize with other animals, children and adults in public to be considered safe. Working with a qualified dog trainer can give the dog and owner all the guidance needed to enjoy visits to the park and visitors at the home. It can also help with behavior problems such as aggression. Training is critical for dogs who have spent time in rescue homes, shelters or other arenas where the history of the dog is unknown.

There is no governing professional group for becoming a dog trainer even though there are associations such as the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP) and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), which offer continuing education updates for their members. It is frightening how many people complete an online course and hang out a shingle selling themselves as “dog trainers.” Just because a company has money and slick marketing, does not mean that it has the knowledge or experience to work with your dog.

“Now is the time for all of us — trainers, rescue groups, veterinarians and the public — to work together to take control of abuse and mistreatment of animals through proactive training, research and awareness,” stated Burckhalter.  I’ll second that.

I read this article and thought what a great idea.

There’s a Youth Canine Education program, presented by Paws with a Cause, that teaches kids to respect and not fear dogs.

Sebring,FL: The program teaches kids to respect and not fear dogs. Through Duke and Flash, students learned the proper way to approach a dog, how to recognize an unhappy dog and when not to go near one.

“We help them to appreciate animals — whether dogs or cats,” said Fiorito. “We show them how to care for dogs, how to approach dogs and other life-long lessons.”

The program consists of a  two week canine education instruction course.  Once completed the students receive  a “Certificate of Achievement,” along with pictures of the training dogs.

Useman likes to give out a sheet that details a “dog’s promise” and “our promise.”

A dog promises to bring unconditional love, companionship and protection, the sheet reminds students.

And the owner’s promise to his pet? Love and care, including, clean water and food; clean, dry and cool living and sleeping areas; regular washing and grooming, exercises and training; and medical attention when needed.

The promise sheet ends with an advice that many good dog owners probably know: And a little more love for their pets.

What a great way to teach kids the importance of being kind to animals and how special they are. The non-profit team regularly visits youth groups, schools, churches and daycare centers. Useman never charges a fee, and operates purely on donations.

To schedule a seminar, or to donate toward the cause, call Useman at 863-382-2728.

I think it’s safe to say we all wish we could understand exactly what our dogs are saying, don’t we? Sure reading body language works wonders, and sometimes a well timed whimper or bark will get a point across, but I still prefer the spoken word.

I remember one year for Christmas Lisa gave me the Bow-Lingual dog bark translator.  I’m sure many of you have heard of the device, but if you haven’t here’s a little snippet of marketing material for you.

The device is billed as a “translator” but it might more precisely be called an emotion analyzer. It is said to use technology to categorize dog barks into one of six standardized emotional categories.

Then, for fun, Bowlingual also provides an often humorous phrase representative of that emotion. But the product package clearly notes that the phrases “are for entertainment purposes only” and it seems that they are not meant to be true translations of each bark.

I’m sure you’re wondering, how well does it work? Well, while it may be an amusing toy for a child, for adults it’s one of those gifts, after a few hours use,  that you want to re-gift.  In fact, ours ended up on eBay. If I remember correctly, most of Bo’s barks translated into “I want treats”, something we already knew.

The Bow-Lingual does lead to a few interesting questions.  Just what words are in a dogs vocabulary and which command words do they respond to best?

So, in the name of scientific research, Dogster decided to create a poll on its homepage to determine what command dogs respond to the most.  The final statistics, results based on  3101 pollsters, are: Come! (31.57%),  Stay! (26.67%),  Shake (23.12%), None of the above (14.80%), and Heel! (3.84%).

Oddly, my suggestion of “Gotta Go Pee Pee?” didn’t make the list.  In retrospect, it is more of a question than command so I’ll let it slide.

Regardless,  you can still vote if you want, or head on over to check out the new poll.   As a dog owner which presidential candidate are you most likely to vote for?

I recently covered a story, Mayor’s Dogs Killed In House Raid, where Mayor Calvo’s house got raided and his beloved black labs were shot. Not only were his dogs innocent but so was the mayor, the raid turned out to be a horrible mistake. Many dogster readers left comments about alternative ways for the police to handle dogs, during a raid or any police situation, and today I came across an article on just that.

In Omaha, NE the Humane Society is working with the police department to help keep its officers safe around dangerous dogs. New police recruits will be taught how to handle dangerous dogs, to keep both officers and dogs safe.

OPD Officer Rich Kyler was attacked by a pit bull while responding to a car accident near 19th and Lothrop streets on June 13.

“These two fingers were completely in the dog’s mouth,” he said, demonstrating. “A large pit bull came out from under a tree and before I could do anything, it jumped and grabbed hold of my hand.”

Kyler broke free, but the pit bull charged him again. He drew his pistol and shot it.

“The last thing you want to do is shoot an animal, but the dog attacked me,” he said.

 That incident was just one of many which led the OPD to come up with a solution to help officers deal with these kinds of dangerous situations. Currently the program is only given to new police recruits, administrators said, but hopefully will expand to include all officers.

The Nebraska Humane Society has already provided aggressive dog training and equipment to Omaha’s emergency response unit.

“We provided a catch pole for the ERU to use and they’ve successfully used it,” said Mark Langan of the Omaha Police Department.

I realize this is just a start, but at least it’s a first step.  I hope this program expands to cover all police departments across the country  and will include all officers, not just new recruits.  An ounce of prevention may be the cure to stop what happened to Mayor Calvo’s beautiful black labs from happening again.

I just received a message from Dogster member, Julie, letting me know about a program where prisoners are working to rehabilitate dogs so they are adoptable.  This particular prison is the Wakulla Correctional Institution in Florida,  south of Tallahassee.

Three dozen inmates at the correctional facility are now trainers and guardians of homeless dogs from the Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment Adoption Center. The Wakulla Sheriff’s Department, Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment (CHAT) and WCI launched the PAWS in Prison program in June.

The prisoners in the program work with a professional trainer to help train these dogs.

Here’s how it works. CHAT hires professional dog trainer Jay King of A Good Dog Academy to work with the men and dogs. The animals are brought to WCI, where they stay for an eight-week training session. Each dog joins a team of three inmates who serve as trainer, caretaker and handler. The trainer is the team leader, the handler assists in putting the dog through its paces, and the caretaker is in charge of food and grooming. When the program is complete, the four-footed graduates are offered to the public for adoption.

“Warden Russell Hosford is instrumental in making the PAWS in Prison program a success. The program teaches inmates skills that can be useful after their release. Plus, it takes dogs that could have been doomed and places them in forever homes with approved families,” said Wakulla County Sheriff David Harvey.

The Wakulla Animal Shelter is a high kill shelter.  They euthanize over 700 animals a year, that’s roughly 1/2 of those impounded.  What a heartbreaking statistic. The goal of Paws In Prison is to eliminate this startling number.  The program is spreading to other prisons and it appears to be working.

“A similar program was instituted in Taylor County a year ago, with great results,” said Cathy Sherman, CHAT’s program coordinator. “An unexpected benefit is the improved relations among the inmates and the correctional officers. The caretaking of the dogs seems to better highlight the humanity in all of us. It’s definitely a win-win-win situation for the inmates, correctional officers and animals.”

Heide Clifton, founder and vice president of CHAT, said a goal of her organization is to have no animal euthanized unless extreme medical conditions render it unavoidable. CHAT works closely with the Wakulla Sheriff’s Department animal-control unit in rescuing strays, returning wandering pets to owners and finding homes for the homeless animals. “We were able to find homes for 600 animals last year,” Clifton said. “We now have a Web site with a pet finder section. Families looking for a pet can view online the animals we have for adoption.”

There are similar PAWS In Prison programs around the country.  Hopefully, this program will continue to grow and be so successful that eventually high kill shelters will no longer exist.

Thank you Julie for being such a caring and compassionate Dogster member.  Let’s show her our support by helping get the word out about these programs,  we can help make a difference.

So you’re out and about running your errands when in the distance you spot a cute, adorable dog. You take a few moments out of your day just to be able to pet that dog and give it a few “He’s so cute!” compliments.

If you’re this thrilled with a chance encounter with man’s best friend, imagine how a young child feels when confronted with the same situation. No not the running errands thing, but seeing the fuzzy dog thing.

As we all know there can be some danger in having a child approach a strange dog and pet it. The Victor Valley Daily Press has a good story on ways to teach kids to pet appropriately as well as warning signs to be wary of.

Some experts suggest having the child putting out a closed fist or a hand with palm upraised, others say just stand there. But all agree: let the dog decide whether to approach the child. Don’t hold a dog still in your lap for petting, and respect the dog’s decision if it turns away or moves behind the owner.

If the dog does approach, observe the body language. Don’t concentrate on the tail, it can be hard to read. Pelar says, “I tell people that if they’re looking at the tail, they’re watching the wrong end of the dog.”

Instead, the mouth can give a lot of clues. A dog that’s licking lips, panting excessively, or yawning, is showing that he’s not comfortable. These are oral self-soothing behaviors much like sucking your thumb, says Pelar. In contrast - opposite of the common maternal fear of the teeth showing - if the dog’s mouth is open, that’s a sign that it’s relaxed.

It’s worth the read, especially with all the potential canine - kid encounters bound to happen over the summer months.

As dog owners we all know our fuzzy pals are smarter than the average bear. Now a golden retriever has upped the ante for all our loved ones by receiving a bachelor’s degree.

Ada, Ohio (AP) - A well-trained golden retriever will receive a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Northern University today along with the rest of the graduating class.

Zeeke, a 1-year-old dog, will earn his bachelor’s of science degree in canine companionship. The canine has spent thousands of hours training as a Canine Companion dog as part of a senior’s honors project.

This makes me wonder how my three treat seeking machines would fare in higher education.  Let’s take Bo, my chow-retriever mix, first.  He’s stubborn, aloof and likes to do things his way.  With his attitude my guess is that he wouldn’t make it out of high school, most likely kicked out in 10^th grade for smoking in the boys room.

Copper, my ridgeless Rhodesian ridgeback rescue, is sweet as could be. She follows the rules and is of above average intelligence. As long as she didn’t fall in with the wrong crowd, for she’s easily influenced, I could see her getting an associates degree in animal husbandry.

Logan, our Bernese Mountain Dog rescue, is a wild card.  He’s cute and brilliant but scared of the world. If he can learn to trust humans, a bachelor’s degree and, dare I say it, world peace may well be within reach.

That’s my humble analysis of the dogs that run my house.

Let me hear about your loved ones and how far you think they can go in the world of higher education.

The New York Times wrote a very touching story about how dogs are saving both hardened inmates and brave soldiers handicapped from their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Each year almost a hundred dogs, all Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers, are trained by dozens of inmates, mostly all women, as highly able service dogs to be given away free to vets in need.

And it’s all done and organized by the amazing organization Puppies Behind Bars, founded in 1997. Please take the time to click through and learn more about you can help this great group.

This quote from an incarcerated member of the program sums it all up.

“What I’ve done is put a year of love into this puppy who in turn will give a lifetime of love to Bill and his wife,” she said.

How is it not shocking at all that in a world gone mad, dogs are still saving all of us?

The photo above is from the NY Times website. Click it to see a great slide show of inmates training dogs.