Is your dog cool?

I mean really, really cool?

Then sign him up for Spike’s Pack!

To submit your dog for consideration, submit a large photo and a short biography of your dog to spike@askspikeonline.com.

Mary Wild of St. Louis was found guilty on charges of animal abuse Friday afternoon.  Wild, a dog handler, left eight show dogs in a van overnight.  Temperatures peaked at 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Wild is subject to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.  http://bit.ly/aBdeMZ

One of my Mom’s favorite books is “To Kill A Mockingbird”. We have seen that movie so many times that Tax and I could play the major characters in a dog production of the book.

What does that have to do with rabies?

This is how my mom first learned about rabies. In chapter 10 of the book, Atticus is summoned home to deal with a “mad dog”. Atticus is given a rifle by the sheriff and shoots the animal, killing the dog with his first shot.  That is how they dealt with rabies back in the day, and that is how they deal with rabid animals today.

One day last week, a man got out of his car at a repair shop in Tyrone, Georgia. His greeting was less than hospitable.

A fox attacked him. The man fought back giving the fox a hard kick in the ribs. The hard kick had no affect on the fox. He simply rolled over and resumed the attack. The man later stated that he knew the fox was rabid from 30 feet away. The man tried to spook the fox, but the fox did not back off.  The fox bit the man on the arm.

Unfortunately, tests prove that the fox was rabid and now the man must undergo a series of shots to save his own life.

The fox moved on to the next door neighbors’. Gordon Sweet was trying to keep the fox contained in some wooden crates, but the fox bolted out and kept on attacking despite the fact that it was being sprayed with a fire extinguisher.  At last, a Tyrone police officer arrived to deal with the fox in the same manner used by Atticus Finch and now there are two men that must undergo those shots.

Shooting a fox is one thing. But what if you had to shoot the family dog?

Rabies is a disease that causes encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. The disease is transmitted by animals most commonly through a bite. If you are bitten by a rabid animal and you do not take the shots, you will die! The incubation period of rabies in humans is usually a few months, depending on where the bite is located in relation to the central nervous system.

97% of rabies cases are from the bite of a dog. Here in the US, animal control facilities have effectively eliminated rabies in domesticated animals through vaccinations.  The United Kingdom, Australia and Japan have eradicated rabies entirely in animals that live on the ground.  This is a serious problem and it gets worse every year in the US.

Getting your dog a vaccine to protect him and you from rabies is not an option! In fact, in most places it is against the law for a domesticated animal to remain un-vaccinated.

Today, there are some choices about how often your dog must have the injection. There are one and three year vaccines. Talk to your vet about the options most appropriate for your needs.

And yes, I do know the story of Old Yeller. I have elected not to mention this here because it always makes me very sad!

Call the vet, TODAY!

Every body has heard that song about Old McDonald, right?
It goes like this.
Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o
And on his farm he had some labs e-i-e-i-o
Here a Black Lab, There a Yellow Lab
Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere  a . . . RED Lab?

What? Red Labs?  

So, everybody stand up that knew there were red labs.

Now, stand up if you knew that red is not really a separate color but only considered to be a shade of yellow for labs!

Are you confused yet? I was. So I looked into the matter.

Original yellow labs were called Golden until the British Kennel Club began to register them. The Brits concluded that Gold was not a color, so they called them “yellow”.  The first yellow lab ever recorded was Ben of Hyde in 1899. People seemed to like the darker red/yellows until after World War II. Over the years, the lighter Labs became more popular. People kept breeding the labs lighter and lighter until some people called them White Labs. There is no such thing as a White Lab, so don’t get fooled into buying one!

Meanwhile, over in England, two breeders were interested in bringing back the fox red color. They succeeded eventually by creating Ch Wynfaul Tabasco, who is considered to be the father of the modern fox red Labrador.  He was a stunning red dog and the only modern fox red show champion in the UK.

Next, Wynfaul Tabasco was bred to Lady Bountiful and that litter was all fox red, proving the theory that breeding fox red to fox red will produce all fox red. Those fox red Labs also liked to hang out with royalty. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth owned one during the 1920’s.

Kelleygreen and Keepsake Labradors owned a big red import named Red Alert. Through this dog they have done a lot to bring the color back and Red Alert will likely be found in the pedigrees of most all of the fox red Labs of today.

If you have a fox red Lab, you may want to look through his pedigree to see if you can find such names like, Kelleygreen Kardinal, Scrimshaw Placido Flamingo, Tenor, Scrimshaw Duckless Fairbanks, Ch Lindall Mastercraft, Venture of Brattonsplash, Kelleygreen’s Lady in Red, Keepsake’s I Love Lucy or Keepsake’s Cajun.

It is said that Cajun was “everything a Labrador should be, a true gentleman in every sense of the word.”

So, now you know that there are really red Labs, you can learn more about them at Little River Labs or Keepsake Labs.

Just tell them Spike sent you!

Yeah, I’m talking about my nose and the noses on all the rest of us dogs in the world. We are all pretty proud of the things that we can do with our noses. I have written articles before about my fantastic ability to sniff out good things, but this is kind of a different approach.

While I have praised canines for being able to sniff out drugs, termites and even cancer, I recently learned about another use for canine noses.  Some are trained to sniff out “zebra mussels” and “quagga mussels”.

Zebra mussels were detected in 1988 in Lake St. Claire one of the smaller lakes of the Great Lakes. It is believed that the zebra mussels came in as stowaways in ships from Russia and the Ukraine. While the zebra mussels are striped, earning their name of zebra mussels, the quagga mussels are slightly larger, with less-defined markings.

Either one of these is bad news.

First they reproduce very fast. Both species attach to anything hard such as, ships’ hulls, propellers, irrigation pipes and in Lake St. Claire, they attached to the shells of the native mussels and have nearly made them extinct!

In Russia and the Ukraine natural predators are able to control the mollusks.  However in North America it seems that there are no natural predators to control them. The bottom line is that they are causing a lot of problems in the Great Lakes and now in California. Why should we care? Because their infestations are costing power industries billions of dollars and they are causing problems with the ecosystem.

Once again, canines will save the day!

While it takes many man hours for humans to inspect and detect the little trouble makers, dogs can speed up this process considerably. It is estimated that dogs can save approximately 800 personnel hours a year!

Commonly used dogs are Labs, German Shepherds,  and Belgian Malinois as they are extremely friendly with people.

Many states already have canine detection units. They are paired with wildlife personnel and live with the families of their handlers just like police dogs do. The dogs are trained to respond to five commands and only from their handler.

Just like with any program, it costs money to get this under control. It costs $5316.00 to train a dog for this type of work in California. But if you do not already have an animal the cost can increase to $9,500.00!

You may be able to help. Contact Dr. Robert F. Sahara at rsahara@pacbell.net .

I first heard about this problem in a previous interview. When I did my search, I located a great article by James A. Swan, Ph.D. His article was entitled, California going to the dogs—it’s a good thing. Check out his article for more information and tips for what to look for on your boat.

www.jamesswan.com

Every day we hear of encounters between humans and dogs. Unfortunately, not all of these encounters are pleasant. In fact, some can be deadly. I think that it is time for me to reach out and help to make these encounters as pleasant as they can be.  By “me,” I mean “my humans,” and by “my humans,” I mean “mom.”

Mom’s rolling out a new program called C.O.P.E..  C.O.P.E. is Canine Outreach Project & Education.  The program is designed to educate humans to better read canine communications.  It is geared toward Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H clubs and elementary schools or any interested organization.

If you would like to schedule a C.O.P.E. program for your group, call us at 404-323-1500 or shoot me an email at spike@askapikeonline.com. The program is free of charge.

OMG!  I have been so busy that I completely forgot to plug Bark in the Park at Turner Field this Sunday.

The Braves will be “digging” in to beat the Houston Astros.  Log on to Braves.com and treat you and your best friend to a Sunday in the park!

Just a reminder: on Memorial Day, which is Monday, May 31, the Beach Boys will be surfin’ into the Ted for a post-game concert. And on that note, you should check out Celtic Thunder’s Keith Harkin’s medley of Beach Boys hits. It’s great. And I hear that he actually surfs the waves of Ireland!

Better watch those rocks Keith!

Us dogs participate in very fascinating activities and bring many great things to this world.  As a result, I have decided to begin a new series on my web site.  I will call the series “Spike’s Up Close & Personal.”   When I hear of something that interests me, I shall dispatch one of my humans to investigate and report back their findings.

This is the first of Spike’s Up Close & Personal.

It has been a very cold and snowy winter here in the Atlanta area.  Following one of those cold, snowy days, my staff had scheduled an interview with Ashley Marratt, President of Interquest Detection Canines of Georgia, and her dog, Copper.  Ms. Marratt presented us with a wealth of information about detection canines.  Interquest serves schools, commercial and industrial facilities.  They do not search in any public spaces where they are not contracted to inspect.  Because they serve industrial and commercial facilities, a work day for an Interquest team can begin as early as 4 am!

Ms. Marratt explained that neither the dogs of Interquest nor the handlers are affiliated with law enforcement.  Police narcotics K-9’s are only trained on illegal substances.  Interquest canines like Copper are trained in narcotics as well as alcohol, medications and gunpowder, including fireworks!  This training enables the dogs to find the quantities and items that students are abusing most today.

Interquest has over 39 years of canine training experience   A lot of people believe that canines used for these types of services must be German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois, but not the folks at Interquest.  They only use Labradors and Golden Retrievers (a friendly, handsome bunch, I might add.)  Copper is a Red Lab.

Ms. Marratt chooses her canines very carefully.  Particular interest is placed on dogs with long noses, a high alpha personality and a good prey drive.  The dogs are trained in Houston, Texas. These friendly, well-socialized canines endure a full day of work, motivated only by a toy!  They average about 9 years of service, however, some may retire early.

Once they are trained, the dogs are placed with a handler.  It is very important that the dog respects the handler.  Therefore, the handlers like Ms. Marratt must have a higher alpha personality and a keen ability to keep a dog motivated.  Lazy, laid back people need not apply!  The dogs also live with their handlers.

Copper sniffs trash cans, lockers and other such places.  In a typical outing, he is placed on a harness and taken to an area where Ms. Marratt will instruct him to smell.  When he alerts on an area, he will sit.  During the demonstration with Copper, Ms. Marratt would tell Copper to “show me”, and Copper would take the handler immediately back to the area he alerted on earlier.  That is fantastic!

Ms. Marratt also explained how the handlers will listen for a change in the dogs sniffing pattern.  Our demonstration revealed that Copper’s sniffing pattern became deeper when he approached locker #785, the one which contained the contraband.

When asked about her favorite part of the job, Ms. Marratt said that she really enjoyed the assembly programs with the students.  The students would ask all sorts of “What if” questions.  Usually to see if there was a way to fool the dogs.  (The short answer is, “Nope, dope!”)

Interquest’s program provides an orientation session for students, parents and faculty. From there, they conduct monthly, unannounced searches of lockers, parking areas, classrooms, gyms and other common areas of the school and grounds.

Ms. Marratt discussed the goals of Interquest’s service.  “The program’s focus is preventing substance abuse, not catching students doing wrong.  Our goal is to help students make good decisions.  My focus is to keep you safe and keep your school contraband free.  Ultimately, substance prevention is up to the students; the decision is theirs to make.  If you make good decisions, then there is nothing to worry about.”

The results for Interquest have been significant.  In one Atlanta area school district they have found a 20% reduction in drug related hearings, 72% reduction in alcohol related hearings and a 59% reduction in drug and alcohol distribution related hearings.  These results were from the 2003-2004 school year to the 2006-2007 school year and the district reports a 25% increase in their enrollment.

Interquest has over 100 dogs working throughout the United States and they are the largest private provider of this type of canines.

A few days ago, a friend on Twitter suggested that I weigh in on some issues of an all around “bad dog.”  The problems described to me include growling and bearing his teeth at the family’s 10 month old son and his 6 y old cousin.  He also has some potty training issues, as well as some chewing and scratching of household objects like furniture and door jambs.

I would like to address the issue of most concern to me, and that is the relationship between the dog and the children.  I like to remind humans that dogs and children are not always a good match, especially young children.  Young children have a knack for viewing everything as a playmate or a toy.  Some children simply play too rough, even hurting the dog.  Six years old is about the right age to begin teaching a child how to play with a dog properly.  If you need some direction about teaching your children about dog safety, check out this video.

My suggestion is to never, ever leave any child alone with a dog.  Just as young children do not know how to play with a dog, dogs do not know that they cannot nip and “chew” on children the same way they can with adults.  We play rough naturally, unless we are taught the right way to play.  Since children can also play rough, neither are too good at reading each others body language to know if their pending action will hurt the other.  Typically, children use quick, jerky motions that indicate to a dog that he needs to protect himself, which is a disaster waiting to happen.

Like dogs, children like to play chase, and when they catch their prey, they get very excited.  Often, this can result in the child falling on the dog or holding him against his will.  This is a situation that the dog does not understand this, and he may react negatively to it.  If the roles reverse, it is not just a game of chase for the dog.  Because of the smaller size, he can think that he is  hunting prey.  Dogs generally catch slower “prey” and if the “prey drive switch” is flipped on, he does not care if it is a rabbit or a small child!  As we all know, children are not prey, and due to their newfound mode of transportation, toddlers are especially vulnerable.  They are still learning to walk, and they have many accidents.  We are not aware of accidents, and we do not realize that a child does not mean to do us harm.  However, we will react and not always in a good way.

Your dog needs to learn proper socialization skills with humans, especially the smaller ones.  I suggest that you place a leash on your dog to control his actions.  Remember, YOU CANNOT TRAIN WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL. With the leash attached, you will be able to confine him to a timeout area if he growls and shoes teeth toward any human, regardless of size or age.  Dogs are among the most social creatures on the face of the earth, and we do not like to be banished away from everything.  You should use a stern “NO” as you pick up the leash, but nothing more.  You do not want to give him any more attention for a negative action.  After a few instances, he will associate growling and showing teeth with the banishment, learning that behavior is not a “good” one.  This is not something that will be learned immediately, so you will have to repeat this until he learns.  When you are training your pup, you cannot do something once and decide it did not work.  The bulk of training is repetition.

If your dog still poops on the floor, that means he is not fully potty trained.  That is no fault of the dog, because an untrained dog is caused by a bad owner.  My suggestion in correcting this problem is to consult my potty training guide, and if you run into trouble, there are several articles to support you here.

To tackle the chewing problem, you can do two things to correct the behavior.  First, as a preventative action, you should spray Bitter Apple or something equally poor tasting on the areas where he chews.  If you opt not to spray, you cannot correct him for it, unless you catch them in the act.  Now, keep your eye on him and if you catch him chewing, give him a firm “NO” and put him in the confined area we discussed above.

Keep me posted on your progress!