All dogs need training, at least in basic manners. That’s why the Dog Star Daily’s Digital Dog Training Textbook is a handy reference:

Dogs will be dogs. They are guaranteed to pee, poop, chew, dig, bark and bite. So if you invite a dog to live in your home, it is up to you to teach them where, when and how.

Raising a puppy can be a wonderfully enjoyable, or horribly frustrating experience, depending on what you know. We believe that proper dog training information is so important that it should be freely available to all, with the hope that dogs (and their humans) will be happier and healthier because of it. This is why we have created the: The Dog Star Daily Online Digital Dog Training Textbook

What do you think of it?

I can only link to this 13 minute TVNZ video — Prison pups:

Mobility dogs in training. Still from TVNZ video.

Some of New Zealand’s worst criminals are finding unconditional
love behind bars: meet the prison puppies said to be helping both
society and cell mates.

A group of women in prison in Auckland, New Zealand, have been specially chosen to provide initial training for mobility dogs, as part of the work of the Mobility Assistance Dogs Trust:

The MISSION of the Trust is to “enhance the lives of people living with long term physical disabilities by providing trained mobility dogs to increase independence, confidence, self esteem and participation in New Zealand communities”

The women find friendship and purpose in their training work. With plenty of time at their disposal, they can provide a commitment that may be hard to find elsewhere.

It seems like a perfect partnership: training the puppies brings benefits for prison inmates; the trained dogs bring benefit for people with disabilities.

There are some lucky dogs in Las Vegas. In southern Nevada more than 40,000 animals are euthanised each year. A few of the dogs avoid the death sentence in favour of prison, thanks to the Heaven Can Wait – Pups On Parole programme:

Prison dog. Photo by JuanRax.

Pups on Parole has been a huge success! Not only are the inmates rehabilitating the dogs, but the dogs are rehabilitating the women who work with them. The resident dog handlers have gained a new sense of confidence in themselves and learned a valuable new skill.

The dogs are taken into the care of prisoners at correctional facilities, and are trained up for release into the care of families.

Inmates at the prisons take on one dog each. They train the dog, socialise it, often help it regain lost trust in people.

And on the other side, the prisoners gain too. I suspect in the following quote, the word ‘retribution’ is meant to be ‘restitution’:

“We’ve been able to track them, and we’re finding that they’re not recommitting crimes. They’re not violating parole,” Kearse said.

Heather Hanley, serving time for armed robbery, said training dogs like 4-month-old Rottweiler Chief is giving her a chance for retribution.

“If I can produce a pet that is not just a great dog but a dog that’s going to be given to a family, that’s going to strengthen their family bond and be a welcome edition to their family, then maybe I’ve done something to give back for all the mistakes I’ve made,” Hanley said.

[Via : Inmates Train Abandoned Dogs For Families - Family News Story - KVVU Las Vegas.]

These kinds of prison training programmes seem to be a win for everybody involved.

Refurbished Pets.

When a dog can help a person, that’s a win. When the person they’re helping can also help them, that’s a win-win for everyone.

That’s what’s happening in a programme devised by Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan:

Everyone is touched by a second chance. Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan (RPSM) was organized in spring of 2007 because of high euthanasia rates at Branch County Animal Control. A brilliant plan was later worked out where dogs would be given a second chance; with the assistance of the local prison complex, Lakeland and Florence Crane Correctional Facilities, the first and only stray shelter dog Correctional Companion Program in Michigan was implemented. The otherwise unwanted dogs are thoroughly vetted and vaccinated, and then, specially educated prisoners work to train and foster them. Upon successfully completing their tenure with the prisoners, the dogs are then adopted into loving families.

[Via : Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan.]

This programme takes strays who would otherwise be euthanised and puts them in the care of prisoners. The prisoners care for them and train them up so they can be adopted out.

The prisoners and the overall prison facility benefit from the dogs, and the dogs get a second chance at a life in a loving home.

While some of us keep dogs as pets and companions, others put them to work guarding, sniffing out items of interest, protecting, guiding, and generally working hard.

In Australia the University of Sydney is carrying out a survey to find out just what working dogs do, how they are trained, which breeds are best suited to which tasks, and just how many dogs are ‘employed’:

dogs of all shapes and sizes are under the magnifying glass for Australia’s first working dog survey, which aims to find how to get the most out of man’s best friend.

The data on various types of canines — from military mutts to sporting dogs — will then be passed on to the Federal Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, which wants to make consistent national policies.

The study quizzes the owners of government, service and sport dogs about how they train, handle, house and care for their animals through an online survey.

Co-ordinator Nick Branson says the study will find out how many working dogs there are Australia-wide and why some training programs work better than others.

[Via : Working like a dog: spotlight on man's best friend - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).]

There’s no doubt that dogs play an important part in our society. It’s good to see this attempt to draw data together.

When you and your dog are at the park, do you look sideways at certain breeds? Are you anxious that a dog from a particular breed may attack you or your dog?

A recent study in the Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances shows it’s the owners rather than the breeds we need to worry about:

… contrary to popular belief, breed has little to do with a dog’s aggressive behaviour compared to all the owner-dependant factors.

… According to Joaquín Pérez-Guisado, the main author of the study and a researcher from the UCO, some of the factors that cause aggressiveness in dogs are: first-time dog ownership; failure to subject the dog to basic obedience training; spoiling or pampering the dog; not using physical punishment when it is required; buying a dog as a present, as a guard dog or on impulse; spaying female dogs; leaving the dog with a constant supply of food, or spending very little time with the dog in general and on its walks.

… approximately 40% of dominance aggression in dogs is associated with a lack of authority on the part of the owners who have never performed basic obedience training with their pets or who have only carried out the bare minimum of training.

[Via : Dogs Are Aggressive If They Are Trained Badly.]

That part about physical punishment had me concerned, but the article does talk about that a bit, and is not advocating beating dogs.