Hi, I’m Chris Onthank, Canine Master, welcome to my show. I am so excited to welcome you to my new Pet Life Radio show. It’s all about living a better life for your dogs. I have a strong background in dogs. I come from a dog family. My grandmother was an AKC all-breed judge and so was my aunt - our whole family bred dogs. Growing up we had about 60 dachshunds and blood hounds downstairs. I grew up above the kennel house for the first few years alive and I have been around dogs my whole life. I started competing dogs while I was a kid both in obedience and in confirmation. My family put me in these confirmation shows and I’d get all dressed up and I looked quite funny. It is amazing what parents will make you do. But what happened was that I started getting a real love for dogs. I love dogs and let’s be honest… I really love dogs. I love everything about them. I wake up in the morning and am thinking about dogs, and I go to work and all I do is I train dogs. Let me tell you a little about what I did.
In the early 80’s I was marine mammal trainer, so I worked at an aquarium as an intern and then started working as a marine mammal trainer. I worked with blue whales and dolphins and it was amazing, the experience that I had. Because I came from a family where dogs and animals were treated a little more harshly than we do with our marine mammals. We would do what we call compulsion training. We would compel dogs through fear and intimidation to obey us. But I quickly learned from working with marine mammals that we don’t need to work with dogs that way, that we can work with dogs in a positive motivational approach. We can take basically any animal whether it’s a dolphin or a dog or a bird, and we can get the dog to have fun learning. So this was really where it all started.
I developed a two-pronged approach to training. I’ll never forget I came back to my grandmother Baba and I said “Baba look what I can do, I don’t need to uses a choke collar, I don’t need to use a prong collar” and she said “that is ridiculous, of course you do - dogs learn through correction”. And I said “you know what, dogs may learn through corrections but dogs also can learn in a positive motivational way”.
So we started working with clickers as I was working with seals and sea lions. I was using something they call the clicker which is a marker and it marked behaviors as correct. It was amazing that by using treats and a positive approach how quickly the dogs would learn. I can get a dog to do a down in moments where in years past, in my other training programs, I would be popping them down to the ground using a choke collar and forcing them down and they hated it. So using this approach I showed my grandma and she was quite amazed. The other thing is that people started saying well you have to walk around with treats in your hand all the time.
So I developed what we called a two-pronged approach. The two-pronged approach is on the behavioral side we are going to teach the dogs to want to have us lead them. We are going to be what we call good leaders to our dogs. Dogs want to follow in general, they like to be led but also dogs like to learn in a positive way, so not only are we teaching dogs to learn in a positive way but we are also teaching dogs that when they let us lead them, good things happen and life is really simple. So I will show you how that approach works with Canine Master.
But I am going to teach you guys how to understand dogs and how dogs learn and we are going to learn the best way to train them. I work with people everyday who have problems with their dogs. I wake up in the morning, I work on my farm, get all my animals fed and then off I go to work, working with people and their dogs. So I am really training two species at once. I think it is really one of the only professions that I know of except maybe being a horse trainer, where you are working with two species at once. So I am going to help you here on the Pet Life Radio and the Canine Master show with your relationship with your dogs.
Not only do I work with people and their dogs on daily basis, I also own an 11,000 square foot indoor facility for dogs, called Dog Gone Smart. And I started that about 23 years ago. I was one of the founders of doggie daycare in this country. One of the first ones that people used to think I was absolutely crazy to do doggie daycare. I used to go to a cocktail party and people will say oh my gosh, did you hear what this guy does? He has a doggie daycare and people would be in hysterics laughing and little did they know that this would turn into about a $5 billion industry here in the United States.
The other thing I do is that I own a pet products company, Dog Gone Smart Pet Products. And we have everything from the dirty dog door mat, to products like the Nano technology. We introduced the Nano technology into the pet industry where everything repels off the fabrics, no stains, no odors, everything stays clean. I get the great opportunity to travel around the world and I go to trade shows all over the world because our pet product company distributes to about 40 countries around the world. And I also get to go to countries where we are manufacturing the products, so I have an amazing time studying the street dogs on India, learning how the dogs interact around living with people like they did maybe thousands of years ago. So it is a really a neat opportunity and I am blessed to have this. So as I go around the world, whether it is a trade show, studying dogs or going to different factories, I am also bringing you guys with me. I am going to show you guys how people live with their dogs and what is going on around the world.
I am really excited to hear about this but I am also excited to hear the different opportunities that you guys and experiences that you guys are having, here at the show, I am going to give you guys an opportunity to tell me about your experiences and to share my knowledge with you. And it is all about helping you build a better relationship with your dog, okay?
Well, today we have a great guest coming on the show, her name is Jill Rappaport and she is a network correspondent. So it is going to be exciting to hear what she is doing with rescues.
So today we are so lucky to have my good friend and fellow animal advocate Jill Rappaport. Jill is an amazing person and she gives her life to saving and rescuing dogs from around the world, around the country I guess in the United States, right Jill?
Jill: Yes, dogs, cats, horses, if it’s got four legs and a tail, you name it, I am saving it.
Chris: You are best known as a network correspondent and Jill has also become the voice of the voiceless for the animals in need. She is devoted to making a difference by shining a light on shelters across America. Jill and I met when I was helping you with your dogs, right Jill?
Jill: Yes, and first of all Chris, I want to say congratulations on your wonderful new show. So well deserved because you are truly the animal whisperer. You are amazing. Yeah, you came to my house. I never consider any situations with my animals problems because to me they’re all perfect. But there were minor little things and after one visit it was like they knew you were there and were like okay what can we do and how much better can we be? So yeah, we met, we bonded and I started to tell you about how my love of not flying and hitting the road and how that I take my little rescue dog Ruby everywhere to encourage people to rescue and adopt. And you couldn’t believe Chris that last year alone I put ten thousand miles on my car.
Chris: That was amazing Jill
Jill: Yea, I drove everywhere and that’s when the idea came up for the Ruby Roadie and we became partners on one of your wonderful beds for the most amazing cause. We like to say products with a purpose featuring one of my beloved rescues.
Chris: Yeah, I mean it is amazing. And I tell you, what is amazing is that your love for dogs is just unbelievable. And your being able to create a product that can help dogs has always been a great thing. You know Jill, tell us a little bit about how your love for rescue dogs began, how did you start out?
Jill: Literally, I have always said I am part animal. I have lived my whole life for saving animals and caring about animals. I am obsessed with them. Horses and literally growing up Lassie and National Velvet were my favorite TV shows. I know I am dating myself! I always say okay International Velvet, the later one with Tatum O’Neill not the one with Elizabeth Taylor, okay? But anyway I love those shows. I had dogs my whole life and I was like what do I have to say, I rescued animals at a time when people kind of looked at me like is she crazy? I mean I remember bringing home my dogs and finding animals and saying look what I found and people are huh, you are going to catch something, oh my God look how dirty that animal is. You know back then it was like are you kidding me? And I only rescued. I mean I don’t think I have ever in my life, even my parents, we never went to breeders. We found animals.
Chris: So you have five dogs now?
Jill: Well I had six and I lost two of my beloved. Chris, you were fortunate enough to meet Buck and Sweet Pea and I lost them within nine months this year. And I will tell you something, it is Buck’s one year anniversary, I lost him on July 7th and Sweet Pea this past April 2nd and the house, it sounds crazy because there are seven horses and four rescue dogs and the house is so lonely without them. They were kind of like the Ma and Pop - they kept everything in line. So yeah, I have four rescue dogs. I have Petey my American Bulldog who is 120 pounds, you met him, and wonderful Stanley that came from Laurie’s Little Florida Little Dog Rescue, my Standard Poodle.
Chris: Yeah, that’s where I got my dog Dave as well.
Jill: Yes, yes.
Chris: I think that’s actually how we first met.
Jill: Yes, exactly. And wild little Ruby that we have the bed named after - she was in the Los Angeles county and they kind of implied to me that that was going to be her last day. She had been there for a number of days and you know what happens. She was five years old when I rescued her and if anyone goes to those city-run shelters, you know this Chris, they are going in to look for a puppy so Ruby’s chances were not great. I was out there to get a Genesis Award which is the Oscars of the animal world and a friend of mine said to me - I need you to come look at a dog with me. And I said, really? It’s like asking a coke addict to go to a crack den. Do you really want me to do this? And I said in my one day I don’t know if I should. Well lo and behold we went there and we ended up rescuing 3 dogs. One was so sick he didn’t even live for 48 hours but at least we got him to a vet and he was surrounded with love and care, his last breath. The other dog, his brother ended up with Bryant Gumbel and I got Ruby.
Chris: And Rubie is such a great dog.
Jill: And you have a very wonderful relationship with Ruby because of the beds.
Chris: Not only that, I mean Ruby is quite the personality. I have gone to benefits with you and seen Ruby in action and boy does she always get the attention. I mean she really is also the voice of rescue. But she is just a dog the voice of rescue.
Jill: Well Ruby doesn’t know she is a dog, okay. Ruby thinks she is royalty and if she could live right now with Kate and William, she would. Ruby walks around, she literally struts her stuff. She gives new meaning to that phrase, as you know Chris. And my American Bulldog who’s 120 pounds and Stanley who’s the size of a small pony they walk out of the room backwards because she rules the roost, that little one, right?
Chris: She sits on your lap and you can see it, she has the voice, she is unbelievable. But the great thing is that she is able to go with you, everywhere, in the car when you go from shelter to shelter to shelter. I mean that’s what’s amazing what you do Jill. I mean I can’t believe what you do for shelters across America. It’s really pretty exciting.
Jill: Wait! But what about what Ruby does? Because I’ll tell you something, besides her dominant personality, she happens to be a purebred beautiful red miniature dachshund. And listen, what’s amazing about that and I have all – I have mutts to purebreds is that the message here is you can get anything in the shelter so Ruby is so valuable in so many ways because wherever I go, people come up to me and they say oh, she is so adorable, oh my goodness. Then I say yeah, shelter dog and they say no way - she’s a pure bred dachshund. And I say what do you think is in shelters. You can find anything in the shelter. Her message is really resonating loud and clear because she is a purebred, because she is beautiful and you know when they get to know, okay, this is a little bit much.
Chris: No, she is great but you are so right. I mean rescue does not mean mixed breed necessarily. It can mean all different types of dogs and that’s important for us to know - that you can get a nice dog from a rescue and you don’t have to go to a breeder. You know lots of the best dogs are sitting there right in the shelters that really need homes.
Jill: Yeah, the other thing that really upsets me is that people think that shelter animals, and Chris you experience this more than anybody being the fact that you are an incredible trainer and you are so involved with rescue and having rescue animals, you know that they think they are second-class citizens. They always assume that if it’s a shelter animal it’s damaged goods. And what I tell people is, look we don’t know half the time, we hear these horror stories and many times sadly, unfortunately they are true. And many animals are left with remnants of the abuse no question but I also say the other side of that coin is they are so grateful when they have been saved, they are so loving and they know and they thank you every day. It’s a different type of animal, when they know they have been saved, the loyalty, the love, the commitment, the connection is like no other. So I tell people that you are so wrong and they know that you saved them and they thank you every day and what a great gift is that?
Chris: It is and you bring up such a great point. So many dogs between the ages of 7 months to 10 months they go through what we call that obnoxious teenager stage. You that know that most dogs are given up between 7-10 months old and they end up in rescues and then when somebody comes when the dog is like 12 months old, maybe the dog has been there for a few months, they look at the dog and then go, wow I can’t believe that this dog got let up for rescue and was taken to the pound. And it is unbelievable that there are such great dogs out there and they aren’t all problem dogs. Yes we’ll have the occasional problem dog. But a lot of training can go on and we can fix a lot of the issues that we are having if we just give them a little bit of time, it is amazing what we can do.
Jill: Yeah, give them a chance. I mean my goodness, they so deserve it. And I am telling you everyone that I have encouraged, I am proud to say I am responsible for Christie Brinkley’s rescue dog, Al Roker’s rescue dog all came from Main Line Animal Rescue as did Bryant Gumbel indirectly through the dog in LA – we were able to get that dog back and then Bill facilitated that from Main Line. It is unbelievable because they are flipping out how much they love these dogs. You know at first I think they were like we know, this is a wonderful thing to do and they open their hearts and homes to it and they couldn’t be happier. Bryant Gumbel was on a special with me, I don’t know if you saw that, Best in Shelter. He and his wife, those two dogs they love them so much and they have the best life Archie and Spencer and I feel so grateful that I had a hand in that and anytime that we can encourage and educate people about rescue and adoption, well amen because that’s what we have to do. Like I’m not just their voice we are all their voices.
Chris: Yes, but you are really Rappaport to the rescue. Let’s talk about the View on ABC. You have this reoccurring segment that’s starting to appear, don’t you?
Jill: Oh they have been so incredible. It started when they had me on as a guest because of my special Best in Show Jill Rappaport. We ended up doing that and now this will be Sizzling Seniors which is airing on Friday July 17th, it will be the third time. And I am telling you, I am also hosting their Mutt Special for them - pooches throughout the whole hour on July 31st. They have been so wonderful at the View. I mean I have to tell, first of all Whoopi and all the co-hosts, they are downstairs with us and the dogs for like 2 hours before the taping. They love animals, they love the cause, they love the message and embrace it a thousand percent. And Chris you know in television, if you can get 2 minutes, I have 8 or 9 minutes segment with them, every one of our dogs has been adopted.
Chris: That’s great! And you’re doing makeovers on these dogs right Jill?
Jill: Yeah make overs. We call them the makeover for life because it is not only a physical makeover but a new chance, a second chance at a new life. But they are the most wonderful group of people because they really get it and they support it and I am so blessed to have a vehicle to spread my message.
Chris: And you are going to shelters across America doing this aren’t you? I mean isn’t that part of the show as well, is what I understood.
Jill: That’s eventually. Now we’re supposed to be working on a new show. I’m working on it with another company to do a new show about that but right now we focus on like I did for quite awhile for seven years on the Today Show and I used animal care control with my lovely Rich Gentles who I adore. I am using one shelter Main Line Animal Rescue and I also work with Laurie from Little Dog Rescue because people they like the consistency, the continuity. And I am able to go to Philadelphia. Laurie comes in from Florida. It has been really wonderful. And the animals - oh wait till you see our Sizzling Seniors. We have a segment coming up. Now we have our Sizzling Seniors – these are therapy dogs. These dogs are going into nursing homes and helping the elderly. So the seniors are helping the seniors and these animals are up for adoption. You will cry when you see the story for the first time.
Chris: Wow! Well that’s so exciting. Jill we have to head out today but thanks so much for coming on the show today and I am so thrilled to have you as our rescue correspondent on Canine Master and I look forward to having you back.
Jill: Huh! Well Chris I have to tell you. Listen, I know you personally but I think you are kicking butt. I mean your very first segment on your very first show, you’re a natural babe.
Chris: Well! Thank you for coming on my show. I really appreciate it. Hey listen, I hope to see you and Stanley and all the dogs out in the Hamptons maybe this summer – we’ll get together.
Jill: Oh yes and the best of luck to you and continue the great work that you are doing for our fur angels.
Chris: Thanks Jill! That was so great to have Jill on the show and she is such a valuable resource for me and gosh it is just so great to see the great things that she is doing.
Today I want to talk to you about something that is a really important subject and people need to, I think people don’t put enough importance on this – it’s called socialization. Socializing your dog. You know it basically it can make or break a dog. I have seen dogs that come out of the box eight weeks old everything looks great and people don’t spend enough time working with their dogs. They get so consumed in getting them house broken, teaching them how to sit, how to down. Instead of, probably the most important thing is getting them socialized. There is a window of opportunity that we have when a puppy is young and that is between about 5-16 weeks. That is what we call our puppy imprint time. That is where a dog is made or broken.
Everyday there are about 4000 dogs being euthanized in this country and that’s what Jill is really working on but I want to tell you that 4000 dogs a day are being euthanized and many of them are being euthanized not because they are ill but because they didn’t receive the proper amount of socialization as puppies. The socialization time is between 5-16 weeks. It is so important and the problem that we see is a lot of veterinarians, we’ll call them old school veterinarians, who recommend not bringing your dog out into social situations until all of their shots are done. But the problem with that is, by the time all their shots are all done, it is 16 weeks and you have lost your period. You’ve lost the time in which you can really make a dog and fix them if they have issues.
Many times I will go look at a puppy and I will see this puppy is scared of heights or maybe I may evaluate a dog for police work or for search and rescue where I have to elevate the dog and I will see wow, this dog doesn’t do well in an elevated surface. So we counter condition that or give them treats when they are elevated. My point is that I can actually sort of change the viewpoint or the issues that we are seeing, we can sort of adjust them during that imprint time. So what is socialization?
Socialization is where we take our dog and we expose them to different stimuli, different situations and get the dogs used to them. So what will I do if I was socializing my dog? I probably will take my puppy down town. Now people are going to say you shouldn’t be bringing your dog down town. What if they get parvo? What if they get exposed to a bad disease? The chances of that happening are not as likely as if you were just being smart about it. Bring your dogs to places where dogs are not ill. Don’t bring your dogs to dog parks where your dogs can get exposed to disease. But bring your dog to places where areas are clean, where there are not a lot of other dogs running around. So bringing them downtown with some treats in the treat bag on your waist and exposing that dog to different sites and sounds, different situations.
I like walking my dog up to a big man with a big beard. If my dog seems a little scared, I am going to give that man a treat. I am going to sort of encourage my dog to go over there and meet this person. I am not going to force the puppy, that’s very important. Don’t force your dog in any scary situation but encourage them through the use of treats and encouragement, vocal encouragement, to go up to that strange looking man with that big beard.
As dogs go through life, especially puppies, you will find that they will be a bit fearful of certain situations. Well those are the situations that you need to be work on before your puppy imprint time is over. And I try to make all my experiences really positive. So let’s say I bring my dog and a negative thing were to occur. What would I do? Well the first thing is I wouldn’t do is dwell on the negative thing. I see this with people who go to a dog park which by the way, is a bad idea. Bringing your new puppy to a dog park is not a great idea because that’s where people test to see whether the dog that they just got is aggressive and your puppy may be the victim of that aggression.
So I really recommend at the very beginning, sort of making sure that you are very careful in what situations you put your dog into. So I am not going to force my dog into a fearful situation. If I see that my dog is getting nervous or upset, I am actually going to go back and work on those things. If you find that your dog is fearful or going up to a dog and he has a bad experience, like I said, we are going to redirect that experience. We are going to clap our hands and say yahoo, come here puppy puppy and get them out of that situation. Don’t sit there and pet them like oh my gosh, I am so sorry, you are scared. Because by encouraging that dog, you are basically encouraging him by giving him all these wonderful high-pitched noises and petting them because your dog had a bad experience. If you dwell on that experience, and how do we as people dwell on those experiences - we pet the dog, we talk nicely to them and in the dog’s mind what is he hearing? He is hearing this, “oh its okay for me to be scared”. My master, whatever you want to call us, we’re very much soothing the dog but we are actually teaching the dog that it is good that they are scared of the situation, not a good idea! So when you go out and you find your dog gets nervous about something, make sure that you don’t sit there and pamper them but sort of act like hey, that was no big deal, lets go. And you walk in the other direction or redirect them.
And again, finding a place to socialize your dogs with other dogs is important but I like to socialize my dogs with other puppies. That’s so important. Not necessarily with bigger dogs. Why with other puppies?
Well other puppies are going to teach your dogs what we call how to greet other dogs, how to teach bite inhibition which is so important. Years ago when I was a kid, a dog putting its mouth on any person was discouraged but now we know to actually the direct mouthing. We are going to talk about that in a later show. But basically when your dog is playing with another puppy, it is going to get feedback from that puppy. So if your dog bites too hard, that other puppy is going to squeal. If you did that with an adult dog and the dog bit hard, the puppy but hard, that adult dog may turn around and correct that dog and it may be over the top. So I am going to put my dog in situations where my puppy is going to get good experiences with other puppies learning how to greet. So lets talk about this, lets talk about first imprints.
First imprints are very important. So when I bring my puppy to meet another dog, if my dog has a bad experience when it meets its first other dog that is outside its little mate, I am going to make sure it is a real positive experience. But if I have a bad experience, many times that dog may become fear aggressive towards other dogs later in life. So make sure that whatever situation you put your dog in, that it’s a positive experience. And when you are at puppy class, we have puppy class at my Dog Gone Smart Canine Center but there are many places around the country that offer puppy classes. When you go to those puppy classes, if you are noticing that your 9-week or 10-week or 12-week old puppy is getting overwhelmed by another dog, take them out of the situation. No matter what! It is not normal for an 8-week old puppy to leave its Mom - let’s be honest. I mean we are taking these dogs at 8 weeks old, is that really a normal situation. So taking your dog into a puppy class you need to act like your dog’s Mommy and if it’s not appropriate, get the dog out of the situation. Think of it as your own toddler. Would you leave your toddler on the playground with an eight-year old boy and let them work it out, not a good idea.
So socialization, I am going to bring my dogs to different sites, sounds and surfaces and I think that if we can socialize our dogs in the right way, I don’t think, I know. If we socialize our dogs in the right way, you are going to find that your dog can go everywhere with you, is good at all situations and then your dog will look at life in a happy way and be a great companion for you.
We have some questions from our listeners and I want to get to those but first I want to talk to you about how you guys can become a bigger part of the show. Go to Caninemaster.com and ask me questions. You can click on ask the Canine Master and ask me anything, I will do my best to respond and I will get back to you. Even if you can post videos which is really cool, that gives me a lot of information. I want you guys to think of my show as your training and lifestyle resource. I will help you master your relationship with your dogs -that I promise. Okay, so Jaimee is my assistant. Jaimee is going to give me some questions from my readers, go ahead Jaimee.
Jaimee: Okay our first question asked about dog parks. Are dog parks safe and what can I do upon entry to a dog park to keep my dog safe while there.
Chris: Dog parks, we need to have what we call constant vigilance while there, we need to be looking all the time and reading the dogs that are coming towards our dogs. Dog parks are places as I talked before, where people will maybe adopt a dog and they will bring the dog to the dog park to see how it is with other dogs and this can be a disaster. I see this happen all the time. I’ve had situations in my life where I gone to dog parks and my dog was attacked. So when you go to a dog park, first the couple of things you want to look for. First of all, if a dog is coming up to you with his hackles, hackles is that hair that raises along the spine, if those hackles are all standing up, even from the shoulders all the way down or just on the shoulders, that’s a dog that’s coming in a little bit hot. So I am going to make sure that I keep my dog away from a dog like that. How do I keep my dog? Put the dog behind you. One of the best things to do when I am entering a dog park is I get my dog behind me and I become sort of the leader. I become that person that’s taking the brunt of the new interactions. And once I kind of get a read on what’s going on around me, then I can expose my dog to the other dogs. But again, if I see that it is not the appropriate situation, I am going to get out of there. I am going to take my dog and say bye bye or head to a different part of the park.
Jaimee: Okay Chris, our next question is about rescuing a dog outside of the imprint period. She asked: I have rescue dog who is six years old, she is just okay with other dogs but a bit unsure. Is it too late to socialize her properly since it is past the imprint period? What are the proper steps to save socialization at this stage?
Chris: So here is the thing. Can we still socialize a dog that is past the imprint time and the answer is absolutely yes. I mean you have a lot more time. We take dogs that are older than that and have had bad situations and work with them. So one of the things that we can do is that if you have a dog that you are taking and you want to socialize, the first thing we want to do is desensitize them. Desensitize them to different situations. How do I do that? If there is a situation and my dog is a but fearful, I might keep back from that trigger and might do what we call counter conditioning, giving them treats every time they go near that trigger. I might walk them behind me. I know that sounds crazy. But naturally, dogs do walk either in front or behind, so getting the dog to sort of walk partially behind you gets the dog desensitized to the situations that you are walking into. It makes the dog go hey I don’t need to deal with this, he is in front of me or she is in front of me and I can just sort of relax. So I would say that getting your dog into new situations when he is a little bit older, maybe you took him out of the shelter, you will find that if you continue exposing them in a positive way and you don’t force your dog into the situation, you don’t say oh he is scared of going on that metal grate on the side walk, I am going to force her on that. Instead, I might throw some treats on that metal grate. I might encourage her to take a few steps and then let’s keep on going. I think that if you work hard at it you can definitely go. It does take longer when the dogs are older but it absolutely can be done.
Jaimee: Okay our last question is about puppy socialization. He said I just got a puppy who is 12 weeks old and the vet is insisting that I should not have him around other dogs until he is fully vaccinated. I don’t want to wait that long, what should I do?
Chris: All right, so get yourself a new vet, I am sorry. That’s probably not true. But I would try to find veterinarians that are a little bit more progressive. Again, if we wait for our shots, we have lost that imprint time. And more dogs are being euthanized in this country because of under-socialization and getting basically parvo or other diseases. Be smart about it. Head to places that look clean, where there isn’t a huge concentration of other dogs, so dog parks are probably out. Make sure your dogs are exposed to good situations and watch out for those bad situations. But I will tell you again, more dogs are dying from being under-socialized than they are from not having their full round of shots. I will recommend people get their first round of shots, head to puppy class and do as much socializing as you can.
All right, well that was great. I was so happy to have Jill Rappaport on the show today. Next show we are going to talk about barking dogs. This becomes a huge issue. I can’t tell you, every week I get people call me saying my dog is barking. We are going to learn about barking. We’re going to learn why dogs bark and when to allow them, when not to allow them and how we are going to get rid of it. Be sure to visit us on Caninemaster.com. Click on Ask the Canine Master. Leave your questions for me and I am going to do my best to get back to you. I may even have you call into the show with your questions. So send me your videos, your photos and I can’t wait to see them. And I’m going to help you master the relationship with your dog. Take care.
