FreeMan FreeDog

A dog that enjoys the five key freedoms knows what being free really is. Freedog.

We need to start thinking more...

As behaviour practitioners and trainers, our mission is to help people and dogs. We work with the goal of helping dogs to have the best lives possible and devote our energy and time to share knowledge and skills so that dogs and their humans can have fantastic relationships and enjoy stress-free, happy living.

Unfortunately, the decisions that are made before we encounter so many of the dogs we are asked to work with, very often make this job almost impossible. There are sadly so many problems that we cannot resolve, because situations have arisen that simply do not have any favourable outcome – at least not in the sense of what people are hoping for.

I love working with dogs – that is why I do what I do. However, increasingly, I am preferring to devote my time to teaching and training that PREVENTS problems from arising and am finding myself less inclined to spend emotional energy trying to fix the unfixable or persuade owners to change course when they are going down a road that I know is going to end in disaster when they are not readily inclined to take advice. Daily, I scroll past comments where I am tagged in posts on various dog forums where people are asking for help for the most ridiculous problems – I say ridiculous because they are situations which common sense dictates should never have arisen and usually some nasty punishment is being considered for the dog who did not ask to be in that situation in the first place. From the beagle barking all day when left alone for 8 hours straight in a flat (who is about to be de-barked or fitted with an anti-bark collar) to the Rottweiler obtained as an emotional support dog during lockdown, who received zero socialisation, but is now expected to love and accept everyone and everything, to the umpteenth person with 3 or 4 pit bulls who are now literally tearing each other to pieces and wants to know how to make them all get on – I honestly despair.

As much as we want to help, there are just some things we cannot undo, so this is another post appealing to people not to make the following mistakes:

1. If you get a puppy the only time for socialisation is during the socialisation period i.e. before 14 weeks of age. This will not wait until after your holiday, all your puppy’s vaccinations, busy schedules, your kids extra mural activities or until you feel like it. You will never get that time back and we cannot “socialise” a 6, 8- or 18-month old dog for you in the true sense of socialisation. It is too late.
2. If you want to have 9 dogs in a normal suburban home, please understand that something is going to give. There will be pressure for resources and we do not have happy pills which will magically make everyone get along and relieve the stress of living in such chaos. All the CBD oil in the world will not help you and your dogs.
3. If you insist on getting multiple dogs genetically selected for the work of fighting with other dogs, please understand that there is a high likelihood that this is exactly what they are going to end up doing. We can advise little else except permanent separation, which really is not a fun way to live.
4. If you work all day and are barely at home, please do not be surprised when your dog develops separation related distress or barks as a result of extreme boredom. We don’t have a magic enrichment toy that will keep your dog amused for 8-10 hours. We simply have no way of making up for that huge empty hole in your dog’s daily life.
5. If you choose to take on a rescued dog who has not had the benefit of socialisation, please understand that we cannot change your dog’s history. Your dog may never be dog park or off-lead beach material. Your dog may never be overjoyed with visitors in your home. Your dog may need to be managed carefully in certain situations for the rest of his or her life. You may need to accept some limitations and be willing to give your dog a life that they actually need, rather than the life that you envisioned for them.

Dogs are awesome, but they are living, sentient, emotional beings and cannot be moulded to our every whim. Raising an emotionally and behaviourally healthy dog takes careful forethought, commitment and hard work. Having a peaceful household with multiple canine family members requires wise and sensible decision making. We have to start seeing more of this and less unresolvable situations that never should have arisen in the first place.

Putting this up here because I think all the world needs to envision this . . .

This is a photo of female dogs used for only breeding purposes at a puppy mill. They never once leave those cages. Ever. Their paws will never touch the grass that is beneath their feet. Their puppies will be sent to pet stores around the country.

The next time you or someone you knows buys a pet store dog, remember this photo. You are NOT rescuing a dog from a life in a puppy mill. You are buying a dog and lining the pockets of the puppy mill owner so he or she has the means to continue doing this and the pet store owner who pays a small price and marks up the profit hugely. You ARE allowing this abuse to continue.

In rescue, we refer to these people as 'backyard greeders'. Most all the 'greed' stock are never handled or given any kind of medical care and many are chronically ill, given poor quality food and then dumped at pounds when bred out or left to die in their cages.

This pic is actually not the worst of the worst, sad as it appears. The conditions often are much more deplorable and inhumane. Most of you likely could not handle those greeder pics. It is the same in every state.

What I am asking here is that you have the compassion in you to share this with others, that you do not buy from pet shops selling 'cute' puppies because all puppies are cute when taken out of the conditions and put up for sale at extravagant prices.
That you spay/neuter your pets and do not litter and ALWAYS adopt, don't shop until all unwanted/discarded animals have their forever homes.

And, remember, if you can't commit, don't get! Pets are family and a lifetime commitment.

Let's empty the pounds/shelters! Responsible pet owners can make this happen. Be a voice for the voiceless!

It takes a Village!

~Picture by Jenn Nagle