Best Friends

Last weekend I had the great honor of helping out at the Best Friends Super Adoption Weekend in Livingston, NJ. It was a truly amazing experience that I will not soon forget. My job was to help people find the right dog for them, answer behavior questions and assist with introductions between dogs.

There were over 40 rescue groups there from all over the East Coast, over 500 hundred dogs and a tent full of more cats than I could count. There were also educational booths with information on everything from the horrors of puppy mills to the greatness of pit bulls. For those of you unfamiliar with Best Friends Animal Society, they are the ones on the National Geographic TV show “Dogtown” and the organization responsible for rehabilitating the Michael Vick dogs. Many of the Best Friends people working the event came all the way in from Utah and worked tirelessly to pull an event of this size off.

Once the doors opened the whole area was a buzz of activity. People and dogs everywhere you turned. It was exhilarating. There were so many great people working so hard to find every last animal a home. Everyone was united in the cause to find homeless animals the happily ever after they so deserved.

And then there were the dogs. Oh the dogs. There were rows and rows of kennels housing every size and breed of dog imaginable. I was lucky enough to be stationed right next to the Best Friends pit bull educational campaign booth, so spent my weekend with many fine representatives of my favorite breed.

I can’t tell you how hard it was not to take them all home. My wife, who was home watching my twins, kept texting me, cautioning me not to come home with anything that woofed. It was not easy. They were all so lovable and so very deserving of a better life. When the sun finally went down Saturday, 200 dogs and cats had found new homes.

Before I went home for the night I walked up and down the rows of kennels and smiled at all the empty cages. But on Sunday morning when I returned, the kennels were all full again. Just like that the empty spaces were filled with so many more homeless dogs. I didn’t have much time to dwell on that fact though – there was work to be done.

Sunday was another happily exhausting day. Even though the end of the day was punctuated with hard rain, the event went on and more dogs and cats got their homes. At the weekends close 310 dogs and cats had been adopted. Before I left on Sunday afternoon, I put my hood up to protect me from the heavy rains and walked the rows of kennels again, gazing upon the empty spaces. There was no smile on my face this time though. My eyes didn’t focus on the empty cages, but instead lingered on the dogs still left homeless. The event was over and there chance to finally get a home here was over.

So although the adoption event is over and was a huge success, there remains much work to be done. The empty cages are so quickly filled and the dogs and cats now occupying them are in dire need of a hero.

As I walked past the lonely faces behind the metal cage walls I made them all a promise. I promised them that I would do everything in my power to make sure that their day would come, when they could feel the warmth of a home and the love a family. I’m in the process of becoming a Best Friends Training Partner and hope to be a part of their amazing team, helping animals in need when they need it most. I strongly encourage you to do whatever you can to help out. There is no sum of money too small and no amount of time too short. Every single dollar and minute you can spare to help out these great homeless dogs and cats will go a long way.

Please help your local animal rescue groups and shelters and check out and support Best Friends Animal Society www.bestfriends.org.

Lots of Feedback

I have news for you; living with us humans is not that easy. Our dogs are tremendously patient with us and put up with all of our bizarre customs and wacky ways. They have abandoned their life in the wild to come into the human world and live with us. Although they don’t understand our language, can’t comprehend our lifestyle, and have absolutely no idea why we keep making them sit when they’re really not tired. In spite of all this, they still happily bound into our lives with endless unconditional love.

We on the other hand, are not so accommodating. We expect our dog’s to immediately understand a foreign language; to innately know that although we go to the bathroom indoors, they need to relieve themselves outside – no matter what the weather; and not put a tooth on any of our kid’s stuffed animals, even though they may look identical to their squeaky toys.

We simply don’t cut our dog’s enough slack. If you got relocated to Japan and had to stay with a Japanese family until you found a place to live, how long do you think it would take you to learn the customs and understand what everyone was saying to you? I’m thinking more than a few months.

We give your dog some realistic time to figure things out. And the process can move along so much quicker if we help him out along the way. Sure our dogs may learn how to live in the human world on their own, but it can be greatly expatiated if we just point them in the right direction. Too many dog owners concentrate on correcting the mistakes, and forget to praise the little victories. Constant feedback is always good and will really give your dog confidence, instead of being frustrated.

If you have a dog that jumps up on anyone and everyone, make sure you give him a “good boy” any time he’s got four paws on the ground. Learning is so much quicker with both positive and negative feedback (is he getting hot or cold?). As a general rule you should be praising your dog ten times for every correction you give. He needs to know when he’s doing well and when he’s on the right track. Just don’t be stingy with the praise. In my experience, even the worst behaved dog still does more things right than wrong. Remember, not doing anything wrong is right – so standing there, not jumping, is good and deserves praise.

Your pooch is not a mind reader. The more feedback you give him, the quicker he will get whatever it is you’re asking of him. Give it a try and you’ll quickly see how much quicker Fido will learn.