Fight BSL, It's a Matter of Survival
By Alex Wisienski

Our Rottweilers are second only to Pit Bulls on the list of dangerous dogs. EVERY owner should do something to protect their breed. 

There are already 75 breeds of dogs that are banned or restricted in cities across the United States. Breeds that include the Pug, Golden Retriever, and Labrador Retriever. No breed is safe from BSL. Just because a breed is not mentioned in a proposed bill, it doesn't mean it can't be added at a lower municipal level. 

Let the world know that just because we have a working breed and do Schutzhund or other controlled bitework, it doesn't mean our dogs are mean or vicious. Remind people every chance you get that bad owners are the cause of the dog problems we hear about. If someone sees a movie or a photo of dogs snarling or doing bitework and asks if our dogs are like that, let them know its only a movie or photo for advertising a product. Let them know that it doesn't mean the dogs are really mean. Take advantage of every opportunity to educate every person no matter how young or how old. If they are listening, educate them. Too many people are believing that BSL is the best thing to protect them and make for a safer community. The reason is because there are many news reports on dog bites and not enough information from responsible owners and breed clubs. Remember the old adage, “the squeakiest wheel gets the grease”. That means if you don't speak up, BSL will win and our dogs will be the biggest losers. When someone asks your opinion, or tries to tell you BSL is good, let them have it. 

• BSL WILL NOT stop dog bites or maulings until ALL dogs are banned or extinct. 

• BSL provides a false sense of security. 

• BSL DOES NOT stop or punish bad owners. They will just get another breed or buy a gun.

• BSL will increase the number of surrendered dogs to shelters and the euthanasia of healthy sound dogs. 

• BSL will force responsible owners to surrender or euthanize their beloved pet. 

A New Jersey legislator introduced a new bill in the Assembly. It is A3401 and it “prohibits certain breeding and selling of dogs and cats”. YES, cats too. It defines a “Breeding Facility” as “any building or area whether outdoor or indoor, in which more than one cat or dog is housed”. The key word here is `any'. This N.J. bill has a lot of support because people don't see between the lines. It appears to be a perfect bill to control puppy mills, which it would, but it is very vague and can be interpreted differently at lower municipalities. It would add a tremendous burden to responsible multi pet owners that are not mills. This too is BSL. BSL is real and it is a major threat to domestic pets as we now know them and a threat to our right to own and care for them. 

BSL and other breed ban policies will only legalize extinction. They fail to keep children and communities safe. Bad owners and criminals will continue to reek havoc in communities. BSL only punishes the good dogs and good owners. 

The average citizen needs to hear our side of the argument. They need to be educated. Educated people know that dogs are not the problem, bad owners are. 

I recommend that EVERY Rottweiler owner that has a website post BSL information and links to BSL information on their websites. It is a matter of urgence to get the message out. It is the responsibility of EVERY Rottweiler owner to do their part to protect our breed. Posting BSL information on your website won't take long and it won't cost anything either. That's the least you can do.

CAUTION - CHANGING A BREED STANDARD
By Patricia (Pat) H. Gilbert

If you open any Breed Standard to small changes, everyone has an agenda and big or inadvertent changes occur. We are working with a half dozen Parent Clubs on changes to their breed Standards that have this problem. The Havanese people are seriously close to splitting a relatively new AKC breed. Why? Members don't like each other and the breed has coat issues.

Standards are written by and for people who know dogs and their breed. They are a blueprint with room for individual interpretation and do not need to spell out everything. Basic anatomy is assumed. Four legs are not really mentioned in any Standard but as a judge show me a three legged dog and see what happens. 

The Afghan Hound breed is in great shape because the Afghan Hound Club of America (AHCA) left the Standard alone. It is untouched since 1948. It is not archaic. It is in "memory of ages past". It tells me the world each time I read it. Yes, there are traditions and additional nuances in the breed not spelled out specifically. It involves knowing the breed. It involves study.

Better to educate the public, owners, handlers, breeders and the judges. The AKC is not responsible for breed education. The Parent Clubs are responsible for breed education. 

The AHCA does have excellent programs for breeder's education, and judge's education. Ed and I presented The Heritage of the Afghan Hound in MN a few years ago at the National. We discussed mandarins, monkey whiskers, scented, etc. We discussed the nuances of the breed. We have a CD of the expanded version for sale to benefit Afghan Hound Health and Rescue Efforts.

There are books on the breed such as “The Complete Afghan Hound”, by Constance Miller & E. M. Gilbert Jr. (out of print).

Go to the AHCA website and read the excellent material there. It is written by some of the most prestigious past and present Afghan Hound people. 

The people, the material, the videos, and the CD's are out there. You can lead the horse to water, but...today's horses act more like camels with no thirst for knowledge.

I cannot imagine getting involved in owning or showing or worse judging a breed without study. Yet many believe, people do it every day and it is common. 

Yet some in the fancy really think the solution is to change a Standard for people who do not know what the words mean anyway. Change it for people who don't care enough to interpret the words? Change it for people who do not know basic anatomy? Change it for people who do not understand breed specific conformation or movement? NOOOOOO. Leave the Standard alone and educate the people. 

This is, as you can read, a hot point with me. Give them a copy of the Standard and then discuss the various points. Teach people how to read and interpret Standards. That is what Ed and I do at our seminars. 

Some advocate changing the Afghan Hound Standard to include allowances for the differences between puppies and adults. Some have stated: "The Standard doesn't differentiate between puppy and adults." Yet a reading of the Standard shows this statement to be untrue.

The AKC Afghan Hound Standard states: “Coat - ...the saddle...hair is short and close, forming a smooth back in mature dogs...Fault - Lack of shorthaired saddle in mature dogs.”

A study of the breed and semantics will show that a puppy is not a mature dog and therefore is not expected to have a saddle.

Education is the only change I want to see.

When it comes to breed Standards it is best not to open Pandora’s box.

Courtesy of Ed & Pat Gilbert's K-9 Seminars.
Copyright 2008 / Web site: www.gilbertk9.com

SLEEPING WITH ROTTWEILERS
Dogs & Chit Chat by The Silver Haired Lady

Beware Holiday Hazards For Dogs
by Tracie Laliberte-Bailey /For The Sun Chronicle

Cat is Mans Best Friend
A Rushford plumber and his Rottweiler pitch in to help, comfort after flood
By Elena Grimm | Winona Daily News
RUSHFORD, Minn. — You could say that Cat is man’s best friend.

Recognizing, Preventing, and Handling Dog Aggression
Lia Felabhoe 
October 11, 2007 

A dog is an instinctively aggressive creature. In the wild, aggression came in very handy: dogs needed aggression to hunt, to defend themselves from other creatures, and to defend resources such as food, a place to sleep, and a mate. Selective breeding over the centuries has minimized and refined this trait significantly, but there’s just no getting around it: dogs are physically capable of inflicting serious harm (just look at those teeth!) because that’s how they’ve survived and evolved. And Mother Nature is pretty wily – it’s hard to counteract the power of instinct! 

But that doesn’t mean that we, as dog lovers and owners, are entirely helpless when it comes to handling our dogs. There’s a lot that we can do to prevent aggression from rearing its ugly head in the first place – and even if prevention hasn’t been possible (for whatever reason), there are still steps that we can take to recognize and deal with it efficiently. 

- Different aggression types - 

There are several different types of canine aggression. The two most common ones are: 

- Aggression towards strangers 

- Aggression towards family members 

You may be wondering why we’re bothering categorizing this stuff: after all, aggression is aggression, and we want to turf it out NOW, not waste time with the details – right? 

Well … not quite. These two different types of aggression stem from very different causes, and require different types of treatment. 

- Aggression towards strangers - 

What is it? 

It’s pretty easy to tell when a dog’s nervy around strange people. He’s jumpy and on the alert: either he can’t sit still and is constantly fidgeting, leaping at the smallest sound, and pacing around barking and whining; or he’s very still indeed, sitting rock-steady in one place, staring hard at the object of his suspicions (a visitor, the mailman, someone approaching him on the street while he’s tied up outside a store.) 

Why does it happen? 

There’s one major reason why a dog doesn’t like strange people: he’s never had the chance to get used to them. Remember, your dog relies 100% on you to broaden his horizons for him: without being taken on lots of outings to see the world and realize for himself, through consistent and positive experiences, that the unknown doesn’t necessarily equal bad news for him, how can he realistically be expected to relax in an unfamiliar situation? 

What can I do about it? 

The process of accustoming your dog to the world and all the strange people (and animals) that it contains is called socialization. This is an incredibly important aspect of your dog’s upbringing: in fact, it’s pretty hard to overemphasize just how important it is. Socializing your dog means exposing him from a young age (generally speaking, as soon as he’s had his vaccinations) to a wide variety of new experiences, new people, and new animals. 

How does socialization prevent stranger aggression? 

When you socialize your dog, you’re getting him to learn through experience that new sights and sounds are fun, not scary. 

It’s not enough to expose an adult dog to a crowd of unfamiliar people and tell him to “Settle down, Roxy, it’s OK” – he has to learn that it’s OK for himself. And he needs to do it from puppyhood for the lesson to sink in. 

The more types of people and animals he meets (babies, toddlers, teenagers, old people, men, women, people wearing uniforms, people wearing motorcycle helmets, people carrying umbrellas, etc) in a fun and relaxed context, the more at ease and happy – and safe around strangers - he’ll be in general. 

How can I socialize my dog so that he doesn’t develop a fear of strangers? 

Socializing your dog is pretty easy to do – it’s more of a general effort than a specific training regimen. 

First of all, you should take him to puppy preschool. This is a generic term for a series of easy group-training classes for puppies (often performed at the vet clinic, which has the additional benefit of teaching your dog positive associations with the vet!). 

In a puppy preschool class, about ten or so puppy owners get together with a qualified trainer (often there’ll be at least two trainers present – the more there are, the better, since it means you get more one-on-one time with a professional) and start teaching their puppies the basic obedience commands: sit, stay, and so on. 

Even though the obedience work is very helpful and is a great way to start your puppy on the road to being a trustworthy adult dog, really the best part of puppy preschool is the play sessions: several times throughout the class, the puppies are encouraged to run around off-leash and play amongst themselves. 

This is an ideal environment for them to learn good social skills: there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar dogs present (which teaches them how to interact with strange dogs), there’s a whole bunch of unfamiliar people present (which teaches them that new faces are nothing to be afraid of), and the environment is safe and controlled (there’s at least one certified trainer present to make sure that things don’t get out of hand). 

Socialization doesn’t just stop with puppy preschool, though. It’s an ongoing effort throughout the life of your puppy and dog: he needs to be taken to a whole bunch of new places and environments. 

Remember not to overwhelm him: start off slow, and build up his tolerance gradually. 

- Aggression towards family members - 

There are two common reasons why a dog is aggressive towards members of his own human family: 

- He’s trying to defend something he thinks of as his from a perceived threat (you). 

This is known as resource guarding, and though it may sound innocuous, there’s actually a lot more going on here than your dog simply trying to keep his kibble to himself. 


- He’s not comfortable with the treatment/handling he’s getting from you or other members of the family. 

What’s resource guarding? 

Resource guarding is pretty common among dogs. The term refers to overly-possessive behavior on behalf of your dog: for instance, snarling at you if you approach him when he’s eating, or giving you “the eye” (a flinty-eyed, direct stare) if you reach your hand out to take a toy away from him. 

All dogs can be possessive from time to time – it’s in their natures. Sometimes they’re possessive over things with no conceivable value: inedible trash, balled up pieces of paper or tissue, old socks. More frequently, however, resource-guarding becomes an issue over items with a very real and understandable value: food and toys. 

Why does it happen? 

It all boils down to the issue of dominance. Let me take a moment to explain this concept: dogs are pack animals. This means that they’re used to a very structured environment: in a dog-pack, each individual animal is ranked in a hierarchy of position and power (or “dominance”) in relation to every other animal. Each animal is aware of the rank of every other animal, which means he knows specifically how to act in any given situation (whether to back down, whether to push the issue, whether to muscle in or not on somebody else’s turf, etc etc). 

To your dog, the family environment is no different to the dog-pack environment. Your dog has ranked each member of the family, and has his own perception of where he ranks in that environment as well. 

This is where it gets interesting: if your dog perceives himself as higher up on the social totem-pole than other family members, he’s going to get cheeky. If he’s really got an overinflated sense of his own importance, he’ll start to act aggressively. 

Why? Because dominance and aggression are the exclusive rights of a superior-ranked animal. No underdog would ever show aggression or act dominantly to a higher-ranked animal (the consequences would be dire, and he knows it!) 

Resource guarding is a classic example of dominant behavior: only a higher-ranked dog (a “dominant” dog) would act aggressively in defense of resources. 

To put it plainly: if it was clear to your dog that he is not, in fact, the leader of the family, he’d never even dream of trying to prevent you from taking his food or toys – because a lower-ranking dog (him) will always go along with what the higher-ranking dogs (you and your family) say. 

So what can I do about it? The best treatment for dominant, aggressive behavior is consistent, frequent obedience work, which will underline your authority over your dog. Just two fifteen-minute sessions a day will make it perfectly clear to your dog that you’re the boss, and that it pays to do what you say. 

You can make this fact clear to him by rewarding him (with treats and lavish praise) for obeying a command, and isolating him (putting him in “time-out”, either outside the house or in a room by himself) for misbehavior. 

- If you’re not entirely confident doing this yourself, you may wish to consider enlisting the assistance of a qualified dog-trainer. 

- Brush up on your understanding of canine psychology and communication, so that you understand what he’s trying to say – this will help you to nip any dominant behaviors in the bud, and to communicate your own authority more effectively 

- Train regularly: keep obedience sessions short and productive (no more than fifteen minutes – maybe two or three of these per day). 

Why doesn’t my dog like to be handled? 

All dogs have different handling thresholds. Some dogs like lots of cuddles, and are perfectly content to be hugged, kissed, and have arms slung over their shoulders (this is the ultimate “I’m the boss” gesture to a dog, which is why a lot of them won’t tolerate it.) Others – usually the ones not accustomed to a great deal of physical contact from a very young age – aren’t comfortable with too much full-body contact and will get nervy and agitated if someone persists in trying to hug them. 

Another common cause of handling-induced aggression is a bad grooming experience: nail-clipping and bathing are the two common culprits. 

When you clip a dog’s nails, it’s very easy to “quick” him – that is, cut the blood vessel that runs inside the nail. This is extremely painful to a dog, and is a sure-fire way to cause a long-lasting aversion to those clippers. 

Being washed is something that a great many dogs have difficulty dealing with – a lot of owners, when confronted with a wild-eyed, half-washed, upset dog, feel that in order to complete the wash they have to forcibly restrain him. This only adds to the dog’s sense of panic, and reinforces his impression of a wash as something to be avoided at all costs – if necessary, to defend himself from it with a display of teeth and hackles. 

Can I “retrain” him to enjoy being handled and groomed? 

In a word: yes. It’s a lot easier if you start from a young age – handle your puppy a lot, get him used to being touched and rubbed all over. Young dogs generally enjoy being handled – it’s only older ones who haven’t had a lot of physical contact throughout their lives that sometimes find physical affection difficult to accept. 

Practice picking up his paws and touching them with the clipper; practice taking him into the bath (or outside, under the faucet – whatever works for you, but warm water is much more pleasant for a dog than a freezing spray of ice-water!), and augment the process throughout with lots of praise and the occasional small treat. 

For an older dog that may already have had several unpleasant handling/grooming experiences, things are a little more difficult. You need to undo the damage already caused by those bad experiences, which you can do by taking things very slowly – with an emphasis on keeping your dog calm. 

The instant he starts to show signs of stress, stop immediately and let him relax. Try to make the whole thing into a game: give him lots of praise, pats, and treats. 

Take things slowly. Don’t push it too far: if you get nervous, stop. 

Dogs show aggression for a reason: they’re warning you to back off, or else! If your dog just can’t seem to accept being groomed, no matter how much practice you put in, it’s best to hand the job over to the professionals. 

Your vet will clip his nails for you (make sure you tell him first that he gets aggressive when the clippers come out, so your vet can take the necessary precautions!). As far as washing and brushing goes, the dog-grooming business is a flourishing industry: for a small fee, you can get your dog washed, clipped, brushed, and whatever else you require by experienced professionals (again, make sure you tell them about your dog’s reaction to the experience first!)