• Whenever possible, work on the Animal in their home/a comfortable space for them.
• Make sure the Animal is free to move around during the treatment, and has access to water.

“‘At this point, I’d consider this dog unadoptable,’ I commented to the shelter volunteer who had brought Cracker, a recently-surrendered Beagle-Lab mix, to an open house event. I’d just spent ten minutes doing Tellington TTouch on Cracker. During most of that time he had resisted my efforts by hard mouthing, leaping in the air, and rolling onto his back to deliver rabbit kicks. ‘Here’s a dog who’s never learned to accept tactile contact, or to restrain himself in frustrating situations,’ I thought to myself; which was probably what landed him in the shelter at the tender age of one.”

In my classroom is a white, plastic bucket into which, over the past five years, I’ve thrown every item of equipment that has proven itself useless or unhelpful. The contents of my bucket are pointed out to everyone who comes in the door. “Help yourself!” I offer cheerfully. Funny thing, but that bucket is just as full as ever; no one seems interested in adopting anything that lives within its pristine circular walls. Maybe a good look at the contents will explain why this dog gear, for which good money was paid, is now nothing but useless junk.

Sonoma tried his best to negotiate the dog walk, a 12-foot length of 10-inch wide board elevated one foot off the ground, with a ramp on both ends. Despite his best efforts, the retired racing Greyhound couldn’t get all four paws on the board to walk in a straight line down the middle of it. He walked in two tracks, front paws on the board, back paws tracking on the ground to the right side of the board. Viewed from above, his back showed a curvature to the right in the lumbar spine. I was teaching a Tellington TTouch clinic, helping participants work their dogs through the “leading exercises” and “Confidence Course” unique to this system of training. I watched Sonoma, thinking to myself, “What if I do something with this dog’s tail . . .” As I approached the dog walk, Arlene, Sonoma’s handler, looked up at me, exasperation in her eyes.

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, and hundreds of canines are spreading across the landscape, chowing down at Mother Nature’s salad bar. For years we’ve asked the question: “Why do dogs eat grass?” I’d like to suggest some answers.

A lot of mythology surrounds how we feed our dogs. For example, many clients proudly tell me in their initial behavioral consultation that their dogs eat NO “people food.” Of course, they’re quite astonished when I tell them “people food” is precisely what their dogs should be eating! Another myth is that the higher the protein, the better the dog food. High protein somehow equates with quality of the product. In my experience, I’ve found high protein to equate with the quality of behavior problems. Dogs turn protein into energy and a variety of molecules that can cause a range of conditions from aggression to anxiety.

If I were the Queen of the World, and could have anything I wanted, every dog would be eating the food its body and brain were designed to eat; the food its ancestors way back when, before man invented fire; before man became agricultural, were eating — meat, bones, a little vegetable matter. Whew! That’s a long sentence, isn’t it? The stuff prayers are made of. I guess a big reason driving this wish of mine is the stream of dogs entering my office who not only behave in some bizarre ways, but also have a physical appearance and health history that bespeaks a diet of doggy junk food.

“One of the philosophies of our Education Network is to provide our students with a variety of opportunities to practice what they learn in class. One of our paths to accomplish this is by having them volunteer their services with a local animal shelter. We work with a local shelter (Chicago area) and have instituted a program where they provide us with cases involving animals who have issues that have kept them from being adopted. These issues run the spectrum of fear, anxiety, anger, and health concerns…”