Williams: Being honest about our dogs

As a dog trainer and behavior specialist, I feel it’s my duty to tell my students and clients the truth regarding my observations, even though at times it may be painful to hear. In running a dog daycare, I have to decide which dogs get in and which dogs don’t. Sometimes I feel like the basketball coach who has to explain why Johnny was cut from the team. I’m paid to be that voice of reason for others, but like everyone else, I need someone to be that voice of reason for me, as well.

My close friends and I have an agreement, and I'm talking the pinky swear, Ya Ya sisterhood, Thelma and Louise type of pact that's meant to be taken very seriously. We've pledged to keep each other honest about our dogs' behavior and our relationships with them by immediately blowing the whistle when either of us attempts to make excuses for, fails to acknowledge, or attempts to overlook inappropriate behavior (on either our dog's or our part).

For example, not too long ago I ran my Maltese Andrew at an Association of Pet Dog Trainers rally trial where I was judging and during his run he got what I call the zoomies. Despite him being depicted as a “perfect stuffed dog” on the CBS show “Greatest American Dog” last summer, occasionally, out of nowhere, he just starts running in circles around the ring, maybe two or three revolutions tops, and oh yeah, he barks the entire time like a little kid who hears the ice cream truck coming down the street, and then, suddenly he comes right back to heel position and we continue on. He really doesn't do it that often, but it does come out every now and then. When I’m judging he sometimes has to spend long periods of time in his crate, and I figure he’s just letting off a little steam, and, wait, even though I'm safely sitting behind my keyboard in the comforts of my own home, let me go ahead and check myself and stop right now with the excuses. He does it because I’ve reinforced it by not addressing it, even making light of it when he's done it during class.

I think it’s cute, and rather than employing negative punishment by leaving the ring immediately and ending the fun, when he does it, I just wait for him to come back and the laughter to subside and we continue and finish the course. Well after this last time, one of the exhibitors who’d been having trouble with her Beagle tugging on the leash during their runs, came up to me, thanked me, and said how happy she was to see my dog misbehaving in the ring because it made her feel better about her dog's performance! That’s one of those “there is a compliment in there somewhere” moments. But most importantly, it demonstrated how she expected a trainer, and a judge, no less, to have a perfect dog. No dog is perfect. All dogs (and people for that matter) have issues. Most times it’s just the little things that we tend to dismiss, but if it’s a potentially serious or dangerous behavior issue like aggression or anxiety-causing phobias, being in denial makes us enablers and the behavior will never improve.

Laurie C. Williams is a Stafford resident and business owner who appeared on the show, “Greatest American Dog,” with her pup, Andrew. Reach her at onesmartpocch@aol.com.