Daisy's dog

We have a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, Kiwi, who was our baby for a few years before we actually had babies. She has a soft temperament and is friendly and easy going. But the pet experience I'm going to share today is the story of how we chose our second dog, a Golden Retriever named Sully. 

When Sully was born we had two kids aged one and three. We were just about to move into a new house and weren't even considering another addition to the family. But a lady who had previously looked after my kids announced on Facebook that her Golden was having puppies. Both puppy parents were small Goldens (about 50lbs) so we figured the puppies would also be on the small side. Also, I knew they would be raised surrounded by young kids so ours wouldn't come as too much of a shock. It didn't take much convincing and we were heading over to meet the 3-week-old pups and choose the one we'd welcome into our home a few months later. 

There were six puppies all stumbling around the room when we arrived. They were all adorable. The four of us (me, my husband and our two kids) all sat down in a circle around the dogs so we could pick our favourite. The puppies were wild, gnawing on toys, peeing on the floor, wrestling with each other. It was mayhem and hard to get them to sit still long enough to make a decision. Within minutes though, and amidst the chaos, Sully waddled over to our one-year-old daughter Daisy and plonked himself down in her lap. He remained there for the whole 30 minute visit as she gently stroked his ears. 

Obviously, there was no question. He was the dog for us, or should I say, for Daisy. A couple of months later, we picked up our (much larger) puppy and brought him home. Sully and Daisy have been the best of friends ever since. There's a bond between these two that doesn't exist between any other dog and human in our home. She's taught him how play gently and be mindful and respectful of children. He's taught her how to treat an animal and be conscious of their emotions and signals. They play, they cuddle and he always keeps a watchful eye out for her. 

Oh, also, he's now a strapping 85lb, 2-year-old puppy. So much for small! 


- Shannon Woodward, Mum to Kiwi & Sully (and a couple of human babies as well) 

What's in a Name?

Allow me to introduce you to my 8 month old Siberian Husky, his name is Loki. It occurred to me recently that naming a puppy is certainly a big deal and may require careful consideration. A new pet owner might strive to choose the right name that suits their puppies’ appearance, personality, sex, uniqueness, and breed.

The name Loki originates in Norse mythology, he was described by scholars as that of the Trickster God or God of Mischief. In my experience naming my new pup was a struggle, but Loki chose his name, and what an appropriate choice it was…

About a month ago I decided Loki was grown up enough to get a big boy bed. My neighbour has this really great bed for her dog that I decided I would buy for Loki. It’s large and plush and has a removable cover so it can be washed and is described as ‘indestructible’.

Excited, I headed out to the local pet store and made this fairly substantial purchase thinking this bed will last him YEARS and somehow he will appreciate that I purchased such a lovely INDESTRUCTABLE bed for him. Turns out he instantly took to his new bed. I spent about an hour with him, observing him with his newly claimed sleeping spot, and then headed out for work.

Now, I can’t exactly tell you what happened in the next 30 minutes… only Loki knows the truth, but I can speculate. At some point, and perhaps I attribute too many human qualities to Loki, but I believe a switch in the God of Mischief’s mind went off. I am certain as soon as he heard the front door close and my truck pull away, the wheels started turning and the Trickster God had a plan in mind. ‘Don’t tell me something is indestructible’ I imagine him thinking. Half an hour later, my roommate walked in to a destroyed indestructible bed, with Loki as the blue eyed center piece in the middle of a stuffing netherworld! There was no tail between the legs, no apologetic look on his face, no, he was grinning ear to ear, wagging his tail and proud of his accomplishment.

Needless to say it took my roommate just about as long to clean up the mess as it took Loki to methodically create it.

The next day I took the destroyed bed back to the store from whence it came, the store clerk looked at it and laughed. ‘What kind of dog do you have?’ he asked. ‘A 7 month old Siberian husky’ was my response; he immediately refunded me.

Remarkably Loki has not destroyed the $15 bed he had since I brought him home 5 months ago, and is quite content with its ‘destructibility’.

So what’s in a name you ask? In my case, amongst the 15 or so names I tried on him, Loki was the only one he responded to when called by said name.  Just goes to show you never know if a name will suit your dog or if your dog will suit his name. It seems that Loki has really grown into his, and this is just the start of our adventures…

Sheena Neel, Loki’s Mom

Petland Canada's Amy shares her personal pet experience - GAP

As far back as I can remember, there has been animals and pets in my life. I was born in Tilbury, Ontario, a small farming community where my family spent weekends at a friend's local farm. I loved visiting the farm and being around the animals, especially the piglets. I grew up surrounded by animals, I have many fond memories and really directed my passion to work with animals.

January 1998, I moved back to Winnipeg, leaving my family behind in Calgary. I searched for an apartment that was pet friendly. I was so excited to be able to have a pet that was my own. I made my journey to the Winnipeg Humane Society to adopt my very own cat. As I journeyed through all the adoptable I visited so many animals that needed to find their forever homes. It was overwhelming to make a choice, I asked myself how could I ever choose and leave someone behind. Then something amazing happened, as I washed around, an orange tabby reached out and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he was the one, then I realized that there were two. That day, Loki and Newton chose me and my life has never been the same. They also lived up to their names, Loki is the trickster and Newton my cat that figured everything out. Both so social and affectionate.

We have moved across the prairies together, they helped me through tough times, celebrated the good times and I have been caught having full conversations with them.

This past Christmas, Newton's wonderful life came to an end. This was the first time that I experienced this and I was not prepared. This has made me an even better pet person as I can now empathize and share my experience. I was also so worried about Loki, as he lost his brother, we worked through everything together and this has brought Loki and I even closer.

Since I adopted Loki, he has never left my side. Every day, he greets me at the door, follows me around the house, talks to me and sleeps above my head. They have been a huge influence and such a positive impact on my life. Pets really do make life better. J

Susan from PIJAC Canada and Catch - GAP

Twelve years ago I had a call from a colleague I used to work with at the Ottawa Humane Society. She was the behaviourist at the time and had a dog come in who needed a quiet foster home. This particular dog was terribly scared, but had a gentle nature and seemed to want to be with people. My husband and I had previously discussed fostering as he had not grown up with dogs like I had and I had been hoping to bring one into our family eventually. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to lend a hand and also see if having a dog would work for our family in the long term. 

A couple of days later we went to the shelter to pick her up. Let me tell you she was skinny, had a terrible looking coat and was about the most unattractive dog I had ever seen. We sat quietly beside her and with a wag of her tail and lick on the hand we began our journey. 

As far as could be told, she was about one year old, had most likely never been indoors and there were signs she had been mistreated. When we brought her home she stayed close to us and eventually explored her surroundings learning about soft beds and tasty treats. Despite not knowing what to do with a ball, she was quite proficient at catching mosquitos and after a day or so, Catch became her name. 

Over the weeks, we spoke gently, moved slowly and were amazed to watch her as she came around. She learned to play, master the stairs and discovered the joy of going for a car ride. One cool thing for me was to watch the development of the relationship between my husband and her, they learned together and bonded very quickly. We of course adopted her. 

All these years later Catch has been our constant companion. She comes to the office regularly, loves the mail carrier, attends family dinners, watches over our daughter and has had her fair share of road trips. Thinking back it is hard to imagine how that skinny, scared pup would become the healthy, (much better looking) people lover she is today. It all started with a phone call and we’ve never looked back.

Side note: True to her name she did eventually become quite good at catching balls too!

Susan from PIJAC Canada

HomeSafe Guest Author Program

Guest Author Program

Much like our other blog InfoStream, we've always had a plan to use Guest Authors on HomeSafe. A week or so ago I put out the call to some of the Urban Animal Industry folks and asked for some stories about their pets. My theory is, the more we know about each other and our love for animals the easier it will be when we have to discuss topics we might not agree on.

Watch for any posts with the -GAP after them and get to know the people who work in this industry and the stories that surround them.

If you'd like to be a Guest Author please contact me.

Lisa Milton, Squish's Mom, @summitLisa, lisa.miltonwork

Off-leash dog park skills

Barbara Walmer CPDT-KSA, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, ACDBC
InfoStream Guest Author 

As off-leash parks become a more popular destination for urban dogs it’s essential we keep them enjoyable and safe. Educating the public about dogs is crucial to accomplishing this goal. Most problems do not come ‘out of nowhere’ and people need to understand more about dog body language to avoid these issues. Aggression commonly occurs as a result of not reading the dog’s body signals or as a consequence of inadvertently putting too much social pressure on dogs. Space can be a major factor!

People also have to teach their dogs a recall. This not an easy skill to teach, but it is a very valuable one. We can work on teaching dogs to check-in and come when called by rewarding successive approximations and using management tools, such as a long line. Dogs will do what gets them reinforcement and this poses a problem with social dogs that run all over at a park. Whether their owner calls them on or not the dog wants to play with other dogs, meet new people and smell new things. After all, they get to spend the rest of the day with their owner and often, being around their owner predicts leaving the park.

To teach recall we need to start by working on the behaviour away from the park or distractions enabling the dog to become comfortable and understand that turning away from distractions are what we want. This takes continual practice. In the beginning this skill can be taught with any dog at home and progresses to being on-leash outside. When your dog turns his head away from a distraction, pay him for it. Payment can be made using treats, a game with a toy, special social interaction with praise and touch that your dog enjoys, or access to a new direction he wants to go. We start with just adding reinforcement to the behaviour of turning away and then add a cue to that behaviour; for example, “come” or “here”.  Avoid using the cue until the dog displays this behaviour consistently at a high frequency. Using recall cues by saying them when our dog is distracted and cannot listen only encourages them to ignore it. The more dogs are around low-level distractions in a controlled environment, the more they learn that reinforcement happens for certain behaviour, and they will be able to function in greater distractions. We can help dogs understand that the goal behaviour is for them to come to us, by rewarding them in our general vicinity. 

The biggest problem with teaching a dog recall is that we want to gradually increase the level of distractions while keeping them successful with displaying the ‘turn away’ or ‘look at me behaviour.’ We progressively increase distractions and then add in distance, as the dog is successful with the each approximation.  Always have a management tool, like a leash or long line, to be able to influence your dog as  we want to avoid the dog not getting the opportunity to indulge in the external reinforcement at the wrong time. Allow your dog freedom and reward him lavishly for any contact with you.

What often happens is we use our recall cue in our house a couple times and give our dogs some verbal praise. Then we take Fido to the park, let him off leash and say our cue and Fido continues to run around and ignore us. The changes in criteria between the house and the park are vast, and the behaviour we are wanting looks very different to the dog due to the distance and distraction level. Start training your dog today for this very important skill and you will see improvements in your dog’s recall behaviour and your dog park visits will be safer.