AS THE TAIL WAGS The Palmetto Dog Club Newsletter March 2014 INTRODUCTION A warm welcome to all PDC members. This is our first newsletter and we hope that you find it entertaining. We look forward to articles and photos from you so that everyone will get to know each other and what you do with your dogs. It would be a pleasure to report on any competition you may have participated in and what the results were. Please send us stories of how you got your dog and what you do with it. We would like to know if you recently acquired a new dog or lost a beloved friend. Until we can collect personal articles from you we will have to keep the focus of this newsletter more generic. We will bring you news of the club as well as training information on all disciplines. Feel free to ask any questions or offer suggestions that might help the membership and their dogs. You can use email or the "suggestion box" at the field. PLEASE let us know what you would like to read about - training, nutrition, grooming, stories etc.
CLUB NEWS As you know we have started Spring Classes and we are happy to report that registrations were much better than anticipated with the storm keeping everyone so busy including us. The field is beautifully cleaned up thanks to a great group of volunteers and new lights have been installed due to the generosity of Andrew Bailey, one of our new members. Andrew has an adorable Rottweiler puppy and unfortunately Freddie has OCD in one of his shoulders and has to have very expensive surgery. Our good thoughts for speedy recovery to Freddie and Andrew. Judy Alexander, one of our obedience instructors has been breeding and showing Blood Hounds for years and recently lost one of her males, Feldman, to cancer only 4 ½. We all extend our condolences, Judy. On a good note one of Judy s pups, Odetta, is receiving acclaim on the TV series Person of Interest as John Goodman s dog the bloodhound for the FBI. Judy is also the proud owner of a rescue dog called Peanut that she is bringing along in agility. Andrew has also revived the dog walk and we have applied new skins it looks brand new. We plan on adding some game accessories if the interest is evident. We are organizing a Dog Show/Play Day for April 27. We think it will be a lot of fun and raise a few dollars to keep our equipment up or buy new items. You will receive a separate program for this event explaining everything along with a registration form. We can only provide this fun day if we have enough participants. For anyone interested in having a shirt monogrammed with PDC logo, you can have it done here: Carolina Embroidery Screenprint, 4110 Trolley Line Road, 648-7788. The cost is $8.00.
Please mark your calendars for May 3, 2014 for Woofstock being held at the new County Animal Shelter (FOTAS) with proceeds to benefit the new facility. It's a fun day with lots of activities and vendors and supports a much needed service. PDC will be doing an agility and obedience demo. You are invited to join the demo or just come and cheer us on. It runs from 10:30-3:00 and we will be the first demo around 10:30. We will be offering the Canine Good Citizens test for those who are interested in getting this AKC designation. The charge is $10.00 and will be held sometime after spring classes. We hope you will take advantage of this service. For those of you that have an exceptional dog (friendly, quite, laid back) this designation is a prerequisite for any type of Therapy or Service Dog training. Below is an article explaining the differences from the AKC. ARTICLES Service, Emotional Support, PTSD, and Therapy Dogs: What is the Difference By AKC Canine Good Citizen Director Mary R. Burch Three calls from last week went like this: Where can I buy a vest so I can take my dog places? (And by places, she meant anywhere she wanted.) I want my dog to be a therapy dog so he can fly on the plane with me when I go on trips.
I started explaining the differences in therapy and service animals to a third caller. I said, And then there is an Emotional Support animal, at which point she said, I know all about that. Those are PTSD dogs and I haven t been in a war. Here are some clarifications related to service animals. The information below on service dogs and ESAs (Emotional Support Dogs or animals) can be found in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Canine Good Citizen- CGC gives a dog (or the handler/owner) no special access privileges. CGC is a test of good manners. While passing the CGC test is a prerequisite for many therapy dog organizations, CGC is not a therapy dog test. Therapy dogs- Therapy dogs (along with their owner/handlers) have no special access privileges in public places. These are dogs that with their human teammate (usually the dog s owner) volunteer in settings such as hospitals, assisted living schools, etc. to help other people. Service Dogs- Service dogs have full public access rights. Actually, to be technically correct, the rights are given to the person the service dog user who has a disability. If the dog were being handled by a non-disabled person, public access rights don t apply. Service dogs are dogs that are individually trained to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. Service dogs have specialized training. Examples include guiding people who are blind or alerting a person who is deaf to a sound. PTSD dogs are service dogs. There is a category of service dog that is gaining a lot of attention and that is the PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) dogs who are working with people with PTSD. PTSD can result with any major trauma; this is not only military veterans as the caller above thought. PTSD can be the result of war, rape, witnessing a violent crime, being the victim of a violent crime or abuse, etc. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)- ESAs do what their title suggests. They give emotional support in the way of comfort, the ability to calm the person, and to provide company. ESA s do not have full public access rights. They have only two legal protections, which are 1) to fly with a person who has an emotional or psychological disability, and 2) to qualify for no-pet housing. Airlines and housing authorities may request a letter from a physician or mental health professional that prescribes the ESA for a specific mental disability that limits one or more life activities.
5 Insights from an Animal Behaviorist By AKC Canine Good Citizen Director Mary R. Burch 1.The dog is not the problem it s the owner. We ve all heard the classic break-up line, It s not you, it s me. There is a similar line we d sometimes like to say to dog owners, It s not your dog, it s you Most of the time, the dog is not the problem. The problem is the owner; specifically, an owner who needs some help learning how to communicate with the dog or puppy, and how to use good training practices. A positive, consistant owner will end up with a happy well-adjusted dog ready to give positive pleasure for the duration of it's life. It's worth the effort. 2. Personality goes down the leash. Many owners seem to pass their own personality traits and emotional needs right down the leash. We often see Toy breeds (the tiny dogs) being dressed in clothes and carried everywhere they go. Owners with a need to be needed treat their dogs like babies; owners who have a serious need for attention always carry their dressed-to-the-nines canines so that people will take notice, and some owners have a macho dog to improve their own selfesteem. A good instructor can be an advocate for the dog and teach owners about canine needs. To teach the dog, you have to start by teaching the owner. 3. Most behavior problems aren t behavior problems. My Border Collie is so hyper, is a typical call at the AKC Canine Good Citizen Program. This case isn t a dog with a behavior problem; it s a situation where an owner needs to understand the exercise needs of this particular breed. I need an animal behaviorist. My puppy chews everything in sight! The puppy doesn t have a behavior problem. Chewing is developmental and related to teething. The teething pup needs plenty of appropriate chew toys. As for the owner who leaves shoes laying around now that s a behavior problem. 4. Early training prevents behavioral issues later on. Research shows that the majority of dogs relinquished to shelters have had no training.
Training enhances your bond with your dog and prevents behavior problems later in the dog s life. 5. Animal behaviorists and dog trainers aren t magicians. An owner called in tears to tell us her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was painfully shy. We explained that socialization, exposure to new experiences, and basic training in the presence of other people and dogs were the answer. I m really busy, the owner said. I just want a few tips for what I can do at home. If your dog develops a behavior problem, in order to solve it, you may have to invest time, work hard, and attend training classes. Your dog deserves it. Keep your dog's tail wagging - it's infectious happiness.