Dog Behavior 101

My sweet neighbor recently gave me a book about pups, since she realizes I help manage a dog rescue. The quote by Callie Smith Grant on the back of the cover is perfect and reads, " if this hound could like us, well... maybe we could trust ourselves ." Now, here's the rub. This only becomes a reality, when we approach this concept in reverse. Dogs need to respect us, like us, but not see us as assets, a doggie treat if you will. They need to see us as leaders—and this only happens when we begin to trust ourselves, guiding them in a confident, calm manner. This concept, the reason why wolves first started coming to our camp fires in the first place, must be understood before you become a dog owner. In other words, dogs are a two way street. In order to truly enjoy their affection, you must be a leader—or get off your biscuit and begin learning how to be one. For some of us, we are not confident, not feeling cozy in our own skins or maybe we are impatient. These trai...

By Gary Newcomb Gary is a contributing editor and works closely with The Little Red Dog as a volunteer and trainer. His own company PawsRMade4Walkin.com works with families who currently have problems with their pups. If you watch the news, then you have undoubtedly heard commentary on how inherently "dangerous" Pitbulls ( by the way, Pitbull is not a breed—rather a slang term that was used to describe any dog that was used for the cruel sport of bull-baiting ). It is true, pitbulls have killed people, as have Labs, Shepherds, Cattle Dogs, Dalmatians, and just about every other breed of dog. But this isn't really about dog attacks. It's about the misrepresentation by the media to make these attacks seem like a regular occurrence. According to a study conducted by dogbite.org there were 36 U.S. dog bite-related fatalities that occurred in 2018. With an estimated 89.7 million dogs (3.6 million being bully breeds), Simple math computes a 0.00001% chance of bei...