A Profound Experience Filming Dog Handling

I just returned from Seattle to film humane methods in dog capture and handling to train disaster responders.  My colleagues were former students, Shawndra Michell, who specializes in film making and Linda McCoy, who runs Happy Hounds Hotel in Sammamish, WA.  Linda’s hotel specializes in large dogs and can offer special care for dogs needing [...]

One Step at a Time – A Testimony from an ACO

I recently received the following wonderful email from an ACO who took my course in Massachusetts last month. “I just wanted to tell you that last night I used the “quiet” technique you taught us in class. Unfortunately I couldn’t use the Y pole as the dog could have bolted (not fenced in) and with [...]

Street Dogs Instantly Barking at the Dog Catchers – from a mere smell.

Dear Sujatha, Thank you very much for your valuable question. In my opinion, the important challenge may not be to address how dogs can smell the dog handlers, but how to change how the dogs are reacting when they are aware of the catchers.  Most dog catchers have very high and aggressive energy when catching [...]

Work Dogs The Way We Work Horses

I have just returned from working “in the field” with horses in South Dakota.  Actually I was working around horses and was helping Dave Pauli of Humane Society of the United States dart captive wild mustangs with an immunocontraceptive called PZP.  It is always a pleasure working with Dave and I love being around horses. [...]

Physical Restraint for Dogs. Part 1 The Scruff

Around the world, feral or street dogs are often handled strictly with equipment such as snare poles or nets.  In India, I once trained some great young men who were dog catchers for a spay/neuter program who had never touched a dog!  They had only caught and transported street dogs with nets. They were great [...]

Feral Dog Capture and the Energy of Conflict

Feral dog capture and handling is challenging and often intimidating.  TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) programs around the world struggle with this.   A vast number of these programs dedicated to animal welfare, with good intentions, actually create more suffering from their capture, handling, and transport methods. While sometimes the struggle with the dogs is unintentional, some animal control [...]