Welcome to Guilt Free Fido!

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This is Kinley. You may have met him at Banneker Dog Park here in Arlington. He’s the bossy handsome dog with the toy in his mouth. Kinley is one of three dogs (more about the other two later) who set me on this All Things Dog path.

Guilt Free Fido is a licensed, certified and insured Dog Walking, NAPPS Certified Pet Sit and APDT Member Dog Training business here in Arlington County. My approach to providing services to dog owners is a holistic one. Because I am genuinely invested in your dog, being able to walk and train and teach (and soon feed and massage!) your dog is a fantastic way for my work with your dog to be more effective, while freeing up time you’d spend trying to find a different person to meet all these needs.

This eliminates not only tracking several providers, but saves on travel time and provides you with peace of mind knowing there is one qualified person attending to your dogs needs.

For example, not sure what toys your dogs like? I know how frustrating (and expensive!) it can be to buy toy after toy and have it either ignored or destroyed in a matter of minutes. I provide a  free client service where I will shop for your dog, based on my observations and you can pick what you’d like to keep and I’ll return the rest. You simply reimburse me what I’ve paid.

I also offer Dog Safety classes in your home which cover basic dog language and ways in which adults and children can safely interact around the family dog as well as new dogs they meet. Feel free to invite a few of your children’s friends to attend at no additional charge.

This Fall I will be taking this class to local schools and libraries. Latest statistics show that fifty percent of all children under 12 are bitten, most by family dogs and many while hugging the dog or engaging in other unsafe behaviors. In my view almost all of these bites, often resulting in the dog being destroyed, can be avoided through education.

Keep posted as  I will be offering Canine Massage and Home Baked Organic Dog Treats!

Please read the About Me page for for information, well, about me. If you have any questions, please send me an email at guiltfreefido@gmail.com or give me a call at 703-672-DOGS.

Kinley

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I have no idea what the whole 1970′s technicolor thing is all about in these photos. Lets’ just say they are stylized and go with that. Those of you who know Kinley will recognize the all enduring orange dinosaur toy he is never without.

We have been playing outside the fence at the dog park for the last couple of weeks. He was bitten, twice in an unprovoked attack by a dog who really had no business being there, but I suppose I’m stating the obvious.

At the time, while I knew the intent was serious on the part of the other dog, i didn’t realize how badly he was bitten until we got home. He lost a couple patches of hair, the top layer of skin and there was skin broken on both bites. Thankfully, he is fast and assertive or it would have been worse.

I am gratified to relate that i have not seen the dog back and would use this as a cautionary tale. Please, if you have just gotten a dog from rescue, have it a couple months before you bring it into any dog park. Ideally, have it evaluated before doing so or bring a trainer with you the first time.

Anyhow, not surprisingly  this was a setback for Kinley and it meant then rather then doing his appropriate warning when a dog got in his face, I was concerned his fuse had gotten a lot shorter. it took years of work to get Kinley where he is. He is a very patient dog and appropriate in his communication but any dog can react defensively after being bitten.

So if anyone is wondering why I’m playing fetch with him by the side of the fence, well, that’s why. I have brought him back in when there are a few dogs that he knows but I’m not sure how long it will be before I am comfortable letting him in full time.

That first picture is him on one of the tables. He has this new thing where we HAVE to walk over to the table where he will then jump on top and then he will put his head on my shoulder and we will just stand there together having a moment. His tail wags the whole time.

The second and most technicolor of the two is after he’s played a bit. You rarely see him this loose and happy and I find it very fulfilling. His seizures have been breaking through over the last week, I am hoping it’s weather related and and about to start him on herbal therapy to complement the 13 pill regimen he is currently on.

You can see how muddy the park is. When I don’t want to take him I just think of how happy he gets and our table time and how eventually his brain dysfunction may win out. I’m not sure this post has a point really, other then to remind myself that it takes so very little to make our dogs happy and how huge the loss is when they finally go.

Things to consider

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There are three things I hear over and over from well meaning dog park goers. Because they are such common misconceptions and almost always end badly I’d ask you to consider the following.

1. My dog just need the other dog to tell him/her off.

Um, no. Your dog needs to be able to self regulate. Will there be spats, yes. But assuming other dogs are there to teach your dog the ways of the canine world is grossly unfair to everyone in attendance. Some people have spent a lot of time working with their dog to not be reactive. Setting that dog up to fail because you won’t intervene can set that dog back.

The assumption that the other dog will regulate their behavior is also very risky. What if my dog decides that ‘telling your dog off’ means hurting it? No one learns a lesson. Other then vet bills are expensive and people get really pissed off when you are not responsible enough to step in.

Your dog may not be willing to back off. Being allowed to get away with harassment is a self rewarding and reinforcing behavior. Eventually your dog will decide that it doesn’t feel like backing off (and why should it as you’ve never intercepted) and will escalate into aggressive behavior.

2. It was ok because when my dog did that the other dog just snarled and my dog stopped.

This falls under number one but it a different way. Dog’s have many, many ways of communicating. Snarling and growling are at the end of the line. This means your dog is either not savvy enough to read other dogs signals or is choosing to ignore them

In both one and two this may cause the dog that is being harassed to become reactive and understandably so.

3. My dog just wants to play.

Yes, this is my all time dog park hot button. Play is mutual. Play is not your dog getting in my dogs face and demand barking, nipping or otherwise harassing my dog. If I stand two inches away from your face and scream at you is that ok because I haven’t knocked you down?

Of course not, but I cannot tell you how many owners think their dog barking in another dogs face over and over is ok because it’s ‘just barking’.

There are also dogs for whatever reason will fixate on one dog. Please, if your dog does this it’s time to go. In the human world it’s called stalking or bullying. If I make it clear to you I don’t want to engage with you and you persist in following me around yelling ‘How about NOW?!’ Well, you get the idea.

If your dog bites offensively there is no second chance. Our dogs are not your dog’s ‘do-over’ and the liability you are assuming is a expensive and potentially fatal one. People get bitten trying to break up fights, dogs can be injured or killed. None of us can say our dogs will never bite, but I can assure you a dog who bit, unprovoked, will bite again given the same scenario.

Dogs do not bite by accident and the only scenario in a dog park where a bite is appropriate or acceptable is a response to being attacked or harassed to the point there is no alternative (for example items one through three). I have two dogs that I know longer bring so appreciate that it’s SO much easier when you can. But it’s not right, it’s not fair and it’s not safe.

There are so many things we just basically make up because it makes life easier but none of the above three misperceptions have any sound research to confirm them. In fact, everything that these behaviors eventually result in clearly point to the opposite.

Dog parks are not a natural order. If you rely on them then please, make sure you have a dog park appropriate dog before you open that gate.

Sometimes we get lazy, we don’t want to be the bad guy or whatever weird human reasoning we impose on a non human species. The next time you come up with something that sounds like it excuses or makes sense of an undesirable behavior, ask yourself, where that reasoning is coming from and what do you have to back it up?

I think you’ll find the answers interesting.