Dog Bites, Fights, and Owning Multiple Dogs

About 4.7 million dog bites happen a year, according to the American Humane Association. But what statistics don't show is how many bites a year could have been prevented? There really needs to be more education and resources for the Average Joe on how to read what dogs are trying to subtly tell us. This chart from Boogie the Boston Terrier's blog is one I'm really fond of.

Just because a dog bites DOES NOT mean that they are aggressive, in often cases the dogs are so stressed or scared, that they are pushed over their threshold and they react the only way they know how. To bite. If you've ever been bitten by a dog, excluding any out of the blue occurrences, whose fault was it? I bet you 9/10 times signals were missed, or misinterpreted.  

 With owning multiple dogs, fights are something that's just gonna happen. The pack have had their arguments between themselves over the years, only one occurrence did we actually have to seek medical attention. I've also been bitten a fair number of times. Twice that I can recall when I accidentally backed a dog into a corner, ignored the hints, and was told to STFU HUMAN! But most of the time it's when I stick my hands into the middle of the Bash Brothers - Stryder and Lincoln.

I got a fair reminder this evening to not stick my hands near the sharp end when breaking up a fight. No punctures, but my thumb got chomped pretty good, and will be sore for a few days. This could've been easily prevented if I had, like any sane human would, not gotten near the sharp end (or shoved my hand into someone's mouth - sorry Stryder!). The majority of the time I do get bit is due to them redirecting onto me. I do not fault them for this, again it's just one of those things that happens.

Fights in general can be prevented, if you know your dogs triggers. Lincoln's trigger is food. If one of the other dogs get too close to anything he deems a possible food source (like the trash can), I better be handy. Tsuki and Kiba have their little Alpha Bitch scuffles. The Schnauzers don't start fights, but then again won't back down from one (it's a breed/terrier thing). These are all easily prevented by being vigilant when food stuffs is out, that the girls aren't guarding me one another one, and that any grrring with Schnauzers involved is dealt with quickly.

Hopefully someone out there will find this useful. Or just take it as a 3 am rambling of a girl covered in dog hair.

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks Charlie...

Black and White Sunday

No special effects needed! I'm already Black and White!.. or am I White and Black...

Looks like we missed the cutoff time for the Blog Hop, but you can look at the rest of the participates for Black and White Sunday on Dachshund Nola's Blog!

November's CPE Trial

This past weekend we trialed at Happy Tails in Portland, ME. I love trialing at Happy Tails, the drive is only 40 minutes, the facility is huge with an equally large crate room, and all of our friends are there!!

Tsuki sat this trial out. Being a three day trial, I wanted to focus on knocking off some Qs towards Kiba's C-ATCH. Not to fear, Tsuki will be doing TDAA with us next month and will be back in January in CPE. I've also decided that our next CPE trial Stryder will debut in a Fullhouse run, mainly because I want to see what he'll do, and the fact I've lost my ever-loving mind. We've got a couple of Fun Runs between then and now, and I'll (hopefully) be signing up for some private lessons with all three dogs as well.

Here's a general run down of our weekend for those interested.

Friday
Jackpot (4) - NQ and 4th. Enough points in the opening, Kiba is just not a Jackpot dog.
Standard (4) - NQ and 3rd. Over time by 9 seconds and faulted in the weaves.
Wildcard (4) - Q and 2nd. Last leg required for Wildcard (4)!!!
Colors (4) - NQ and 3rd. Over time by 8 seconds due to weaves.
Jumpers (4) - NQ and 3rd. Over time by 8 seconds.

Friday we did not run together at all. My mind was elsewhere over possible issues regarding our weekend and my head just wasn't in the game.

Saturday
Jumpers (4) - Q and 2nd. Last leg required for Jumpers (4) and our CL4-F mini title!!
Snooker (4) - Q and 2nd. 41 pt Snooker run, we did three 6s in the opening and made it through to 6 in  the closing. Kiba is such an awesome Snooker dog.
Colors (4) - Q and 1st
Fullhouse (5) - Q and 2nd. 34 pt run.
Standard (4) - NQ and 1st. I tried something different during our weaves (mock-jogging) and she        nailed the entry and made it to 10/12 poles before she popped out. It was an allowable amount of faults before she chose to go off course I accidentally directed her to the teeter. Very proud of this run!!

Sunday
Fullhouse (5) - NQ and 2nd. Short by 1 pt due to being late to the table. We were late this morning and didn't get a chance to walk the course. I also tried something new again this run. Kiba will sometimes get frustrated at me and redirect to yelling at me on course, resulting in her losing focus where she is going. Instead of stopping and messing around I'd duck behind her keep running. This actually worked and got her head back in the game!! This is one of the issues we've had for years and are continuing to work on, though she is 110% better since we've started up with our new trainer.
Standard (4) - Q and 2nd. I again tried the mock jogging, and she had TWO SETS OF PERFECT WEAVES. One of the most enjoyable runs to date, our last also being another Standard course.
Wildcard (5) - Q and 1st. Our first Level 5 Wildcard!
Colors (4) - Q and 3rd.
Jumpers (5) - Q and 1st.

This weekend also had a lot of serpentines, tunnel entrances next to the dog walk/a-frame, and lots of flipping around and onto the dog walk. I'm proud to say I actually looked ahead during the day and tried to layer runs that would benefit later in the day. It's only taken 5 years!!!

I am 98% sure I will soon be dropping her down to Enthusiast in CPE. This means she will be able to drop one class. Kiba is not a Jackpot dog, she loves to run with me, and fact of the matter is we haven't really done much distance work. If I drop her to Enthusiast we need 4 more Qs to finish off Level 4, and 39 Qs to her CT-ATCH. If I don't drop her, we'll need 8 and 42 respectfully to finish. Part of me is struggling with the decisions, that we're cheating to accomplish our goals, while the other is yelling (quite loud) that it's all about having fun. Kiba doesn't know she's earning titles, or pretty ribbons (RIBBONS! *drool*), she's just out there having fun and getting fed yummy food.

Any who, that's the short version of our weekend (lol) and we'll end with a picture of Kiba and her swag.

Mum, I think we need a bigger chair...

Saturday Pet Blogger Hop

This is our first time participate in The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. Looking forward to meeting new people and adding more blogs to our Roll Call!!

Guest Author

Mum has been having some issues getting posts to go through, but now it looks like we're back up!! She's busy typing up the next post and posing my poor brothers and sisters, so I figured I'd ask for help let you guys know we're still around!

See what I mean...

She also added some additional buttons and do-dads around the blog, for those that like to use Twitter, Networked Blogs, and Google+. The other pups and I would like to thank our friends that suggested adding these features to the blog!

~Kiba signing off~

Trial Results (March - October)

Well it's been awhile since we've last posted, but damn if we're not back full force now with a whole new revamp to the blog. We've done a handful of trials over the summer, including our first USDAA trial in 5 years! Other than that we've been fairly quite with training, but then again we don't do much during the Summer due to the heat. Hot weather and Black Dogs don't mix!

Kiba and I have had a blast running agility together this year. Together we've become stronger with both our listening and handling skills. I've come to love her attitude during our runs, it lets me know where I'm messing up, though she does have her share of wtfness-insubordination. I've leaned she'd rather be pushed than pulled, and is really not a distance dog. She loves to run with me, and I with her (and boy do we RUN!), so we'll see what that does in terms of achieving her C-ATCH this Spring. If I have to, we'll drop down to Enthusiast and continue to have fun together instead of worrying over Qs.

CPE
Level 3: (2) Jackpot Qs, (3) Snooker Qs
CL3 Title on 6/23/12
Level 4: (5) Standard Qs, (3) Fullhouse Qs, (1) Colors Q, (2) Jumpers Qs, (3) Wildcard Qs,
               (1) Snooker Q
Level 5: (2) Fullhouse Qs

CPE Qs

USDAA
PI - Gamblers Q, Jumpers Q

USDAA Qs

TDAA
(3) Games I Qs, (3) Beginners Qs
TG1 title and TBAD titles (not pictured, awaiting ribbons)
(3) Games II Qs, (1) Intermediate Qs
TG2 title (not pictured, awaiting ribbons)

TDAA Qs

Tsuki started trialing back in April in both CPE and TDAA. I'm focusing on keeping it fun and becoming a stronger team, so we're easing into trialing slower than I did with Kiba. I've noticed that each trial we do, the more confident Tsuki becomes. We've gotten the chance to start doing more fun runs and I am already seeing a *huge* difference in her. She'll be back in the ring this winter as we work towards her TG1 and CL1 titles.

CPE
Dilly Award

TDAA
(1) Games I Q

The Dilly Award is presented to dogs that NQ in all entered runs