(00:00:00) Minnesota public radio's coverage of issues related to education is made possible in part by a major Grant from Ashland Oil Incorporated and it's super America stores throughout the region. It's five minutes past eleven now and we have something special on midday today, Minnesota Public Radio All Things Considered host. Gary. Eichten is at the Minnesota State Fair with the guests and some company could have a good morning Gary. Good morning, Jim and good morning. Everybody. Those of you who've joined us here at the State Fair. We have a whole stage full of guests. Actually Sharon Anderson who is a dog trainer extraordinaire operates the animal in at Lake Elmo and Golden Valley Egan Outlets as well. Well, she has brought with her Striker the golden retriever and Katie the border collie and they are here Cindy oddness has joined us. She's going to be showing us some dog tricks today some dog obedience a dog and obedience. Action also we're going to be taking questions from those of you here in our state fair audience and those of you in our radio audience. So if you have any questions whatsoever about dogs, this is the time to get those questions answered Sharon knows all about dogs. Let me let me give out those phone numbers. First of all those of you who want to call in some questions. You might want to jot this number down so you can call it your leisure in the Twin Cities the number to call with a question for Sharon Anderson about canines is 2276 thousand or if you're calling from outside the Twin City area call us on our toll free line. That number is 1-800-218-4243 nor 1-800 to four two two eight two eight Sharon give us a brief description. If you would have all of the various dog activities that you are that you're engaged in. What do you all do? (00:01:55) Well, I do a lot of things that dogs and enjoy all of them. Thank goodness. It was sort of my hobby that Turned into my job and now it was from training my one pet into having three training schools and some Pet Food Outlet stores, and we do a lot of different things to enjoy our dogs mix breed and purebred both want to be sure we stress that. I know you have a mixed breed and that they can do all of this just as equal with are purebred dogs. Now Striker is a two-year-old Golden Retriever and I show him in obedience and he does a little bit of field he enjoys that a great deal and Confirmation going in the Pretty Boy class, you know showing that he has properly built and looks correct to the judge. So those are the things he does plus he demo is with me all the time. He truly earns his bread and butter and then Katie was a cattle dog herd cattle and she is what we call a tri-colored border collie. Most of them are just black and white, but she is a tri-colored. She also has some brown in her and she's three years old and now she does The fun things we do is it's called flyball racing. Let's add and that's where they go over four jumps hit a box a tennis ball flies out and they come back as fast as they can. We do it relay race style. And in fact Cindy does it with her Cocker with full coat flowing over those jumps. It looks very nice and it is a Speed game and we do it for fun and we are doing it. In fact down at the Pet Care Center at the dog building way up on Machinery Hill and we'll be demoing that this afternoon at one o'clock if you want to see Katie race at that time, that's a good time to see it and I don't do that with Striker. He's a big heavy dog. So I go with the lighter bone dog, and I also do agility with Katie and that's where they go over Hoops ramps ladders tunnels shows their ability that they are agile and that's what Katie does and then I have a parade unit and we March in area parades and that also has a real educational thing we feel to the public is to show you. What average person did they came to class they train their dog, they found out they enjoyed it and then they've gone into my parade unit and we'll be Marching In the six o'clock parade tonight all the dogs after having demoed all day. So (00:04:16) do they March in step and everything? (00:04:18) I can't even get the people and staff let alone the docks pretty close, but they do a lot of tricks there and obedience now, I don't do too much in the way of Tricks, but we do have a Sheltie back over at the dog building. She does a tremendous amount of tricks and she adds and subtracts. We just have somebody in the audience give her a problem with the answer under 10 and the dog barks out the answer (00:04:45) and she does baby far away from here. She might end up with it as a radio (00:04:48) announcer. She might be a hit. I'll tell you the dog is very good. You know, we used to cue the dog so he knew when to stop we don't even kill the dog anymore. It just does that it gets a little scary isn't it to see how smart they Yet but we have a lot of fun with our dogs not we obedience is the base of everything but then we go on to a letter of their activities. (00:05:09) Well, let's see here a little bit. If you could give us a little demonstration introduced us to Katie (00:05:14) and I would have Katie go over here with Sandy, you know basic control on your dog is very important. And of course, we're in a little tiny stage not that our radio listeners can see that but our viewers sure can so it kind of limits the things we can do. But when I work with Striker I started out making sure he only thinks about me now. He's got a lot of faces to look at plus all this good food that's out in front of us and he's to watch me and pay attention and just think about me good boy. So I always start out making sure they watch and pay attention (00:05:46) Strikers a little more (00:05:47) rambunctious Strikers a nice high energy dog course, that's what I like because that's what keeps the dog happy and shows for a lot of years. So that's what he does. Okay Striker, let's show them how verbally obedient you are Striker. down Striker sit-stand nice boy and that's good verbal control. Everybody needs that sit wait, and I can't go PST speakers. I'll be careful. You tell me if I do Striker come in. He's to comment, huh? I got to get this out of my hand. Just a minute. That's his toy. That's what he plays with Striker heal. Every dog should come when they're called and I think that's one of the biggest problems we do have in our dogs today at in the average Pet Home Striker calm. Now whole I better go behind if I don't go behind he's going to hit the microphone Striker heal. Good boy, we always do a recall where they come and sit in the front strike her come and then the end up finishing by sitting at your side and a dog needs to come each and every time he's called and that's one of our most important problems that we work with in a beginner obedience (00:07:00) class. Now, how long does it take to teach a dog kind of the basics like that that you should come and (00:07:05) sit and well our basic course is 10 weeks and really we spend that Ten Weeks educating the owner and surely that is the truth. And then we spend the second Ten Weeks really perfecting it in the dogs, but a basic beginner course gives you at least something to work from at home and I really recommend it for every pet whether it's a purebred or a mixed breed. It's so much nicer to have a dog like Striker at home that you can walk through the crowds and he flies on the airplanes. He just showed in Denver Colorado and a big competition. He just gets on the airplane we go. We come back home. He stays in the motels probably. Cheesier than a lot of (00:07:44) children. Now, I have to say my my dog went through obedience class and kind of graduated from Junior High. I guess it was. Okay and she did. All right, except that as soon as the class was done as far as she's concerned. The training is over now time to play and has retained. Not a lot (00:08:01) of which is that right? Well some he has a harder one to train. Do I dare say that he has a husky Shepherd mix now, you have to remember the Husky is still a fairly, you know back to the wild type of duck. They have their our hardest breed to teach a good recall tool because they tend to want to run that is a very common thing in a husky or a malamute either one (00:08:25) strike. She is true to her nature now Strikers going to get a little (00:08:30) shit because I'm going over in the shade. He's no dummy but huskies are certainly a nice dog. But I think they're one of our better looking dogs also and the combination of husky Shepherd is a very common one. I work with the Humane Society and Golden Valley and those Huskies run. So we see a lot of husky mixes and they're certainly trainable but you have to keep working at it a little more because of the Husky side of it. (00:08:54) The owner was not trained (00:08:55) properly owner wasn't trained. That's we have to work harder on (00:08:58) him. What about Katy? No, Katy is standing by (00:09:02) here. Okay. I'm not going to demo with Katie Katie. Katie uses bigger areas to demo. So hopefully they'll come over to the dog building and watch that when we do racing we use a hundred foot long area. We're up on Machinery Hill and we're alongside all those big tractors and those big pieces of equipment and so we'll be demoing up there and then agility. We have a course set up and we have some pretty fantastic. Melody dogs, there are some very fast ones. There's one border. Collie there. They will take your breath away. When you watch that Doug do it. It's a lot of fun. (00:09:35) All right. Well, how about some questions ready for (00:09:37) concern? You ready? For some (00:09:38) questions. We're broadcasting live from the Minnesota State Fair. And this is Minnesota Public Radio is midday broadcast and Sharon Anderson is here who is a dog trainer and works with all kinds of dogs. She also and she mentioned is appearing regularly here at the state fair at the pet center, which is out at Machinery Hill. If you're coming by the fair anytime this week, we encourage you to stop by and visit us. We have a booth try to cross from the new bungee jumping Arc Arch rather and you can do two things at once I guess so come by. We're on right off Como Avenue and we hope you will stop by those of you who are in the audience right now. If you have dog questions, we've got a mic setup to take your questions. Don't be shy just come on up. A share in a question those of you in our radio audience. All you have to do is give us a call. If you're in the Twin Cities. The number is two two seven six thousand 2276 thousand or if you're outside the Twin Cities, you can call us at 1-800-222-8477 to eight to eight and a young gentleman has stepped up to the microphone. Good morning. (00:10:52) I have a Sheltie who's very immediate but when we leave him he starts crying and barking. Okay. I don't know if you leave them in a crate when you leave do you put them in a crate or is he just loosen the house? Sometimes we put my crane sometimes we don't one of the common problems people do it. It's very human nature to do. It is your comings and goings are made too big. They leave the dog and kiss him. Goodbye and say I'll be back and they create this nervousness in the dog. Oh my God, they left me. And you don't want that to happen. You want the dog to feel real comfortable when you go so ignore them when you're leaving you're going to Pat them do it five minutes before you leave them so that when you go it's a very matter-of-fact type of leaving and when you come home and I do this myself, I ignore the dog for the first five minutes. I'm home because I don't want them standing by the door. Just waiting for me to come back through the door. So you can take a lot of stress out of your dog just by how you leave them and return back home. (00:11:58) What does a dog do when you ignore him or her when you come home? (00:12:02) It's kind of hard to ignore mine. I have five of them and golden retrievers are very known for wanting something in their mouth. So actually one gets a person one gets a glove one get something because that's what makes them happy. That's their Heritage their retrievers are very oral. And so they like to have something in their mouth, but they get very used to it. They're very used to me not giving a big greeting. But then later. Five minutes ten minutes then I go to each one and say do you hope you had a good day except and I have to say one other thing. I'm very lucky in my quote job, which is really my hobby and joy, and that is my dogs go with me everywhere I go. It's that too often. They get left home. (00:12:43) I see we have a caller on the line. Good morning. Yes. I've got a timely question just last night. We bought a wire-haired fox terrier and I've got two kids one. That's 7 and 1 that's 4 and wondering if they should go to the obedience (00:12:57) training. All right. That's an excellent question. I used to do children's classes on Saturday mornings and I learned the hard way not to do a children's classes on Saturday mornings very often. It's because Mom and Dad say they have to do it. This is your dog. It's misbehaving you must do it and it gets to be like do the dishes clean your room and it isn't what they really want to do. And so I have learned by experience not to do it that way and so at our training school the children have to be 12 or older with the stipulation that one parent comes with them each week. And of course that they can handle the dog. There's some pretty big 12 year olds and some pretty small 12 year olds and some pretty big dogs. I don't recommend it at that age. The other problem you have is you know, there aren't very many dogs that will respect a child under age 8. They just don't they treat them more like a Litter Mate like a puppy. And so to tell you the truth it they have to be closer to 12 to really respect the Handler anyway, so that's kind of what you're going to run into it that and Terriers are little more stubborn. So they're going to make those children work pretty hard. So to tell you the truth, you should do it. Let the kids watch (00:14:14) got another caller on the line and don't be shy here those of you out in the audience if you got a question for sharing Anderson step right up to the mic caller on the line. Good morning morning. I have a question. I have a four-year-old Chesapeake female and we got her when she was about two years old and prior to that. She was pretty much an outdoor dog. So we had to house trainer when we got her which was pretty successful. However, she started soiling again about six months ago, and I've kind of off and on pretty regular and so now we pretty much have to kennel her at night wondering if you have any suggestions for us, and I'm going to hang up and listen. (00:14:50) Well, you're certainly doing the right thing. I'm glad you are canceling her at night because you have no control over what you can't see you need to still catch a dog in the act of doing the soiling of the floor and probably she's picked a favorite place. So I would definitely limit her access to that area. But kenneling at night is a very common thing in dogs until they earn the right to be loose in my household. That's how it is and that's off until they're about a year and a half old and remembering I get my dogs as puppies. Only Katie is my rescue dog, and she's probably the cleanest neatest dog I've ever owned and so she or had the right right off the top to be loose in the house. I'm glad you're canceling her. Don't let her be loose in the house unless you're watching her because it's really retraining or forget. She's four years old pretend. She's four months and just start (00:15:40) over got a woman who stepped up to the mic here. Good morning, (00:15:44) and this summer we were on vacation and we were walking our dog in a strange neighborhood. And all of a sudden a pitbull pulled its chain and started chasing us ready for attack. We did not know how to respond and that's certainly a question not necessarily that breed of dog coming after any dog. Unfortunately can come after you while you're walking I used to bike with my dog's a lot and I don't do that anymore after you've had enough dogs run out at you and tip you off your bike enough times. You learn to stop doing that. Unfortunately, that's not complying to the law. You should stop still if you have a bicycle. I'd certainly put it between you and the dog coming up. If you aren't lucky enough to do that. The hard part is that particular breed is very oriented to aggression toward dogs. And so you're going to have to probably lift your dog up to save it. But the problem with that is then you're also bringing the attack up toward yourself a chained dog becomes more aggressive no matter what it is. And so it just creates And bigger problems when they do tire chain, a dog outside, I'd much rather see them get an inexpensive kennel read than chain any type of dog and it is much (00:16:59) safer. I have to ask a question for people who have big dogs. If you take the dog out and little dogs come after you the big dogs are no problem because they kind of work the thing out themselves and they stand there and everything takes care of itself. But the Little Nippers will come out that big dog and you sure can't let your dog loose but then you don't want the little Nipper biting. So what do you do (00:17:27) you Hope they've had some obedience so you can say no and they'll stop no means stop and that's one of your first basic things you learn if they haven't enough sense to do that. You can turn your dog around to face them and usually they're dominant enough to tell the little one to go away but some of those small Terriers they don't take no for an answer and so you are going to have to block them out with your foot, you know. Our in a dogs bite that a smaller such as your yapper type like a Yorkie Maltese small poodle. They have very little power and their bite and so personally I you know reach down and correct them, but then someone who isn't comfortable with doing that that's not a good idea. So I would definitely block with your leg or your shoe the bottom of your shoe, you know to hit them but I mean block them out in their face and say no you can always pick them up if it doesn't actually get your dog (00:18:19) another question here. Yes. I'd like to hear a little more about calling a dog to come to you. We have a two year old beagle and when he gets his nose to the ground after a squirrel or a rabbit he everything outside of he just forgets everything (00:18:34) else your Dealing with his background. I always say to people try and find out the background on the breed of the dog you like and he's doing what he was bred to do it. So he's a good Beagle. That's my best answer for that. The other is you really need to go to class and work on your recall situation. And first you'll start on a 6-foot leather leash and then you'll work yourself up to a 30-foot Check Line and working at the longer distance and you set it up once he understands the premise of the recall. Then you go out where there's a good trail and a good scent that you know, he's going to follow and that's when you take your 30-foot Check Line and go out and start working your recalls when he's least interested in you is a time you say come when you are in control, you can't work on it. If you're not on leash though. (00:19:22) This is midday on Minnesota Public Radio or broadcasting live from the Minnesota State Fair. Sharon. Anderson is our guest and Sharon is a dog trainer and dog expert if you have a question to ask Sharon about your dog. Or anybody else's dog. Feel free to give us a call or those of you here in the audience to step right up to the mic. We're going to take another call question here and then we'll get to some (00:19:46) calls sure. And you mentioned that Katie was your rescue dog. Can you tell us what you mean by rescue share? I did not get her from a Humane Society but one of our students was having some problems some health problems and this type of thing and I think there had been some abuse in the background on the dog and I think it was because he was having some mental problems. And so Katie came to me very frightened if anyone particularly a woman would reach down to pet her she would wet on the floor submissive wedding and she was pretty worried about a whole lot of things when I got her and you know some time and training and patience and love she goes everywhere now Katie goes to every place I go she sleeps on the bed so you can change a lot of those worries and fears that Dog does have through obedience training. And so yeah, she was two years old when I got her and took her out of a bad situation and I normally don't take dogs that way but I she's been just a great dog. And so I've been very happy with (00:20:49) that are some dogs more malleable and then (00:20:52) others smarter. Well now you're asking probably a person was fairly prejudiced on that subject. I think Border Collies are as smart as you can get they've come out with some recent statistics that say they are as smart as a 12 year old child. I sure hope that's not true because I know a lot of smart 12 year olds and that means training just got that much harder and then you'll hear other opinions that a golden retriever is dumb and they certainly are not at all. I think they're one of the absolute most trainable dogs that there is because they're so willing but the smarter a dog the harder it is to train I will be honest and I think Border Collies are absolutely one of the most difficult dogs to live with and I really don't recommend that to whole lot. People they're extremely active. They're used to working 12 and 14 hours a day. And if you go to work and their home 10 or 12 hours by themselves, they are definitely going to get into Mischief one day. I came home and my border collie have a small TV in the kitchen counter. It actually was had all four feet balancing on the top of that little TV looking through the air. I mean, they will dream up things to do. So it's not necessarily a good average pet if you're a jogger or running a real active person, but they chase feet they're not good with children because they want to herd them and nip their heels put them all in a group Strikers wonderful with children, you're sporting breeds. I think are all much more trainable and not necessarily smarter. I think most dogs are pretty equal. They're like a three-year-old child in on average. All right in a lot of three-year-olds know a lot of (00:22:27) things. Let's take a another caller morning. (00:22:31) Hello. We have two dogs one is about a four year old male half lab have conquered this summer. We got a companion for him about a she's about a three month old half lab half cocker. Although she has some like tan and black markings. Some people have asked if she's a Rottweiler. We hope not but (00:22:54) she's very active almost (00:22:56) hyperactive. She choose a lot she jumps up at you in nips. She's very playful. She's digging in the yard and she's even teaching the four-year-old male dog to do some digging as well. So I guess we wonder what does she need is she need obedience school or exercise or what both actually we have a puppy kindergarten class and that's for the two to four month old and it's to help you specifically with those type of problems right off the top if you wait until they're six months old before you go into the adult beginner class. They very often have started so many of their problems and have frustrated you beyond all living with them. Anyway, it's amazing to me. How many people come to the adult beginner class and say this is the last straw either this succeeds or I'm getting rid of the dog and as because they're so frustrated by that time and you don't have to do that go to puppy kindergarten that to perform on stage is excellent hyperness that can be in any breed. So you've probably got a combination that pulled out the hyperness and that particular dog (00:24:00) got a question come on up to the mic and feel free to ask Karen Anderson. Whatever you'd like about dogs. We've got another caller on the line. Good morning. I have I have a question. I understand that Sharon does not Advocate the use of the Gentle Leader that was developed at the University and I'm wondering why I will hang up and listen to her answer. (00:24:22) Okay, everyone has different opinions on different training methods than I can tell you my opinion on it. There are many people very in favor of the janitor leader. And that's fine for them. I don't use it for several reasons one is I don't like the dominance of the collar. I feel the collar is of its maybe they aren't understanding what it is. But it's a halter type of a collar. If it's very snugly up at the top height of the dog's head behind the ears and it comes across the muzzle. And that's a very dominant feeling for a dog such as the dominant wolf and the Wolf Pack would put their muzzle over another wolf smuzzle to say, I'm the boss. And so it's a constant dominance to the dog. I like to get my dog on a regular chain training collar so they can feel comfortable at all times and not dominated by me at all times. I like to keep an up. Happy attitude on the dog. If you have an over aggressive dog or one that's really pulling you around. Yes. It does. Stop that. It definitely does. I like something I can leave on them. And take out in public and not have people draw away from me and say gee it looks like that dog must bite because he's got a muzzle around his that's not the purpose of it. But that's what it can look like and very often when I'm out in the public as much as I am that certainly would not look good either. I just feel for overall lasting training that short-term and the other is long-term (00:25:52) another caller on the line. Good morning. Good morning. I've got a four year old female lab mix and the problem we have with her is whenever we take her out for a walk. She's very well. She obeyed very well. But when she sees another dog, she becomes very aggressive. I mean to the point of lunging. I mean she completely blanks us are all the, you know, pulling on the leash and the hill set and she completely ignores us and you just want to get to the other (00:26:18) dog. And again, that's socialization, and when you do go to training class they have to learn to adapt to work with a roomful of every size dog, whether it's the upper dog, or the great big male me out. I mean they have to learn to adapt and that is part of the socialization process that happens in a beginner obedience class. If you have a dog that tends toward aggression. You really need to start working with it within a class structure. It doesn't. Do you any good to train all alone that you certainly need a group situation. (00:26:49) We are broadcasting live from the Minnesota State Fair. This is midday on Minnesota Public Radio. And if you have a question for Sharon Anderson, please feel free to give us a call. If you're listening to us on the radio. The number is two two seven six thousand in the Twin Cities 2276 thousand or if you're calling from outside the Twin Cities, you can call us at our toll free line and that number is Two for two two eight two eight 2422828 and again an invitation to those of you who come out to the fair do visit our booth. We have T-shirts caps free spring water for you and you get to see a show and while in this case Sharon Anderson who is a dog expert has joined us this morning and is a taking questions not only on the phone, but those of you who are in the audience can step right up and ask a question and I think we have another person ready to go right now. Do we not not quite let's take a caller morning. Good morning. Thank you for the show on dogs. I was (00:27:53) wondering what Sharon's views are on electronic dog training collars. I'm getting asked that question more and more. I guess it's becoming the age of the electronic color. I have real strong feelings about not using an electronic (00:28:10) collar. What is an electronic culture shock (00:28:12) collar? It's what they put on a lot of the field dogs because they're working 400 yards away from the owner and you're not in control and if they don't listen to you, you need some device to correct them and get them back. I'm a real believer in doing a lot of obedience trainer training Striker goes in the field, but I have a good obedience base and if I call and say stop and whatever he's going to do that what it often is is a shortcut and you don't have to do as much training because you have the backup of the electric collar. I always say if you're going to put it on your dog, you should be able to put it on yourself. And that's one of the feelings I have about whether it's a chain collar or A Gentle Leader or a shock collar. And if you ever put a shock collar on yourself, you would find out it doesn't feel necessarily real good. But then you've got some pretty high-powered field dogs out there that probably We are going to listen to a whole lot other than that through the years of the breeding and and showing if it's in the hands of an expert field type of trainer, who knows how to use it and condition a dog. That's one thing that unfortunate part that we're seeing is how many general public are buying it may be because the dog barks and they want it to stop barking or the dog doesn't come when it's called and so they're using that we're really basic obedience would suffice and a lot of those different places. It has a place for some but not so much as the in General Uses were starting to see (00:29:43) what do you what do you do to train a dog not to bark especially not to bark when you're not around (00:29:50) you can't stop it if you're not there. So you have to remove them from the situation in other words, if you've canceled them or just left them out in the backyard and they're stimulated by a whole lot of things which is very easy to do especially if they're bored waiting for you to get home. They will tend to bark I Only suggest if you're not there they go inside. I think a lot of your quote Outdoor Dog such as the Samoyed or the Husky or the mail mute are very used to being outside and they're not frustrated at being left out. Some breeds were absolutely not meant to be left outside to get to that point. I think a golden wood bark and howl and carry on because they're such a people oriented type of dog. So a lot of it depends upon the breed some breeds just bark a lot Shelties Collies, they are known for their constant barking. So a lot of training is involved but also that you've put them in a situation where they can't just free bark when you're not there. (00:30:45) What can you do to I need you to get them in the house or in the apartment and they still are barking and whining and crying and the neighbors are going crazy. And otherwise the dog is well. I know I know but it just out of control when you're not (00:30:57) around. I'll tell you three things. Okay, when you're doing The Obedience type of work, no mean stopper. No bark you work with the mouth. You can pinch. On a layup and tell them no bark just so you're directing the correction to the mouth. You can go to the produce department at a grocery store get one of those little squeeze lemons and when they bark you go out and say quiet and you squeeze it in their mouth and when they go doesn't taste so good. You say good dog nice quiet. And so they learn the command of quiet and understand it without it being a harsh correction. The second thing is you can get a no bark color. They are a much lower frequency and they will tend not to be a big as of jolt but the dog will understand it is set off by their bark. Okay in the third thing is and I know this will bother a lot of people but it is the truth and that a lot of the big kennels will do it when they have multiple Shelly Shelties or whatever and that is the clip the vocal cord surgically and then all that comes out is like this little tiny tiny coffee bark. And so it doesn't hurt the dog. They don't know they don't have a bark. It's (00:32:06) Was (00:32:06) awful. It sounds awful. I know a lot of people don't like it but it is done. (00:32:10) All right, Sharon Anderson is here and has a couple of guests whether Striker the golden retriever who's kind of wandering the Shangela moment little board with the program. I think and Katie the Border Collie who standing by watchfully. We have a person here at the at our booth who's had a question. Good morning. (00:32:30) Hi. I have a German Shorthair lab cross and she's pretty laid-back usually in the house. But when I let her in from outside, she just tears around the house and snags the carpet and I have one other question too. I don't know if you've covered the pincher collars with the prongs. I haven't talked about that. I guess that is one of the colors I didn't mention we have what we call a prong collar or a pinch collar and I'll be honest I start my dogs on those and sometimes people think they look just terrible I do it because I don't want to cut up their neck hair and it has little prongs on it and it It goes so far and stops if you pull it tight, like on a chain collar people could choke somebody, you know choke a dog if they continue to pull and pull which hopefully they have enough sense not to do that. And if you're at a good training school, they won't let you do that and the pinch collar is also an equalizer if I have a 90 pound lady at a hundred and fifty pound dog. I have to have an equalizer and that will do it. It gives you more control. A lot of people think they are Humane and I happen to think they're more Humane than any of the things that are out there because they don't pull so hard they don't push against the trachea. They just stopped because it is a little bits there flat prongs. They don't hurt, you know, they don't puncture or anything and I use a little tiny one on him a little tiny one and it's kind of like power steering on your dog and I like it but a lot of people wouldn't use it because they think it looks cool and I don't think it's cruel at all. Actually the dog that comes in and tears around when you let him in the house, I'd change your routine. He's obviously set up his own routine of how he comes in the house. So I would go outside hook on your leash and collar or just your leash assuming he has on some identifying type of collar and then walk in the house quietly. In other words. Go outside get him get him under control and walk in and change your routine with him. He has set up his own pattern. (00:34:30) We have about oh 10 to 15 minutes left to go. So if you have a question, feel free to get up and ask it Sharon Anderson is here. She will answer all your questions about dogs. Meanwhile, we've got a caller on the line. Good morning. That's good morning. We just adopted a beagle cross about a week and a half ago. And this dog is about a year and a half old. Our biggest problem is that we live in rural Minnesota when this dog gets a chance to run free he's gone and be gone for anywhere from a couple hours to a day or two before he comes back. Do you have any good techniques of breaking a dog from running the dog is neutered by the way, and I don't know if there's any other good ways of working on getting him to keep them running. I'll hang up and listen. (00:35:11) Thanks. Where are you in rural or did he hang (00:35:13) up our current? Well, no, we're in Walker Minnesota. And there's a lot of woods and rural areas that he just kind of goes exploring. (00:35:20) Okay. I was trying to think if you are close to a training school in that area I could recommend and I don't know any right off the top from that area. You really do need to find The proper way to give a correction for the dog coming when called and again, it can't be that he's loose and on his own you have to have him on a leash one of the products. I really like is called a flexi lead and a flexi lead automatically expands and retracts all on its own. And so what you should do is have that when you're outside walking with them so you can get your correction in and let the dog know what he can and cannot do when you're in charge if he gets to just run off on his own you're in trouble and you've only had them such a short time that I wouldn't even begin to let him outside alone or off leash because you don't have control over him yet at all. You're probably looking at three four months before you can do that. You need to work with the dog and spend some time with (00:36:15) them. I have a quick question and we'll get some more callers if you don't like dogs or you go visit somebody whose dog is totally out of control. What do you do? I mean the dog comes running at you. You don't know if it's going to bite. You knock you down jump up and get Clothes dirty. Is there any anything a person can do they're not (00:36:35) run. My best advice is definitely don't run. But if you're going to some friends house and their dogs jump all over you you definitely can express to someone I'd prefer you put your dogs away before I came to your house and that's a perfectly legitimate thing to ask of someone if they don't have their dog under enough control. They shouldn't allow them to do that to people coming up to them anyway, and if they want a more sobering thought on that if they read the paper this past week, you know, Minnesota has one of the more stringent dog laws of all over the country and our dog law is that if a person is injured with contact with your dog your fur suit, okay, so if they were even at my training school and a dog bit somebody their fur suit, even if I was holding the leash and that dog bit somebody else they're still for a suit. So that's my first thing to say to you have your dog under good control. The second thing is the In the newspaper this past week there were two cases where there was not even dog contact, but an injury was caused and those people were awarded very large suits one of which was a man riding a bicycle a dog charged him. He went to jump off the bike to put the bike between he and the dog but he probably panicked a little and he fell and he injured his shoulder and he got like 37 thousand dollars and that was not in the dog stopped and turned around and when he stopped and got off the bike the chase Instinct was over in the dog stopped, but because he fell because he was worried they still won the lawsuit. That's our first non-contact award and the second one was the mailman was coming into the yard and the dog ran a circle around them. And when he twisted to watch the dog, he told he injured his back and so he was I think was like over a hundred thousand dollars. He received in both of those cases were non contact. Of the dog. So Minnesota's laws are getting Tighter and even harder so it does this mean if my dog runs and charges the door and you're walking down the street and he hits his feet against the door and you get startled and fall down that we're still sued, you know, so it's opened up quite a big of can of worms right now for non-contact lawsuits also (00:38:49) should make an interesting debate at the legislature. I would think this next (00:38:52) year. I think it's going to make quite a big one in the courts because I think it's going to block up those dockets even more. (00:38:58) Let's get to a few more callers. Good morning. You're on the air. Good morning enjoying listening to show very much. I have a question. I have two dogs and I we have fled problems with both of them, but they're different problems. One dog is an eight year old German Shepherd that the white German shepherd purebred had him since he was a puppy about a year ago. He started we have about a four foot four and a half with fans chain link fence around the backyard which which is where the Normally, I'd during the day the German Shepherd started jumping over the film's when he hears either Thunder which is kind of understandable. But also when one of the Neighbors start their lawn mower only one t charges over the backyard (00:39:48) and the other one is going to follow (00:39:51) I believe he's related to my dog actually and it happened. It doesn't happen all the time. Like I said only one neighbor who which is about three three houses down. So your question is what can you do about how what should I do? And what causes that? (00:40:05) Well honestly, the first instant reaction I have is raise your fence height is a simple one, but really you only have to put like even one wire strand higher in surprise him the one time but the other proper way to train your dog for a fence is you have someone stand on the other side of the fence. You have your leash and collar on and certainly you've gone and learned how to give a proper correction. Not just Them willy-nilly type of Correction. Hopefully you've gone to a training school and you have the person on the other side of the fence, encouraging the dog to jump over piece of hamburger. Whatever to say to Doug come up on this fence and you're standing on the opposite side with the leash and collar on and you're going to pop them and say off or whatever you're working command will be in other words, you are teaching him that he is not allowed to go up to that fence jump at or put his feet on it. It's just a working exercise. Somebody's teasing them to do it. Whether it's the man with the lawnmower and ask him if he'll lawn more outside your fence for half hour. So you can work on this problem or if he will just kindly call you each time. He's going to start that lawn mower so you can go out by the fans put on your leash and collar wait for him to start it. And then correct the dog and say off or stay or whatever word so that the dog whatever the stimulus is, he learns that he can't react to it. (00:41:25) Another caller on the line. Good morning. Good morning. I have a two-year-old Boston Terrier and he's a real obedient dog in the house. But when I take him outside, he loves Chase birds and squirrels no matter what I do. I can't get him to stop I'll hang up and listen. Thank (00:41:42) you. And that's very similar to just the previous one. If it's the birds and the squirrels that are stimulus. I'd get the flexi lead to stand inside the door. When you see a squirrel is going to be out there. Let him just take off for it and let him hit the end of the flexi lead say no come and give them a good pop and those Flex these are excellent for training that way. So (00:42:01) in other words dog's neck or anything. (00:42:03) They're probably going to feel it a little but we've never had any any big injuries over anything like that dogs are smart, or at least you hope they are and I always say my dog tells me his mommy didn't raise any dummies and if they get one quick good hard correction. It usually takes care of it (00:42:21) another caller on the line. Good morning. Hello. Year, you betcha. Hi (00:42:26) Sharon. We're about to get a family dog. And we wanted the a family pet and inside dog. (00:42:32) Could you share your ideas about which (00:42:34) breeds you think adapt especially well to family life. And also, how do you tell me a little bit about yourself ayahs as well about a sandwich. Do you have a small house big house fenced-in yard not fenced in a pretty big house and a fenced-in yard. Okay. And do you mind coming dog hair or not? No, we don't mind that. Okay, great. All right, if you the sandwiches are great, and if you have a fenced-in yard, that's nice. They have gorgeous white coat that needs to be brushed a lot. Otherwise, you have a tremendous amount of shedding twice a year just like any other breed but I think they're one of the cuter prettier very Snow White type of breeds that there are again. It's a northern breed. They don't like the heat. So Minnesota is probably a good place to be and you just will have to brush them more often. I like them living in the house. I know some people have them live outside. They don't stay that pretty white if they do that. They certainly can go out in your fenced-in backyard. But I prefer that they would be a house dog. There's very few. In fact that I'd recommend that aren't any way she'll tease are nice house dogs, and they do require some brushing but they're smaller less demanding. You don't have to walk so much you get a northern breed. You're going to have to do some real serious walking with that dog to prevent barking or digging or whatever. The boredom factor is on the dog. My favorite breeds golden retriever. I mean, I'll be honest. That's the most easy dog to live with overall. They're good with children. They're easy care. They don't shed a tremendous amount. They shed twice a year like most breeds do but they don't shed a lot. And so they're one of the easier braids to live with Unless you're going to a field line be very careful. If you buy any sporting breed. If you're going to the field line remember, they're going to be much more high-powered and maybe not as easy to live with it home. (00:44:24) And that would be what kind of a field breed (00:44:26) your well like if you had Labrador Retrievers and they've all been like field champions in the background. That means they're more high energy. They're a little tougher a little harder headed because they have to be to go in that ice cold water and get that duck that's going to pack on more whatever. I mean he has to be a little tougher harder type of dog, so it'll be good breeding for that but not necessarily good breeding for (00:44:47) just at home. They have their own game plan. They have their own game plan. You're right. I think we've got time for at least one more and maybe two more questions caller on the line. Good morning. Yes, good morning. I've got a mix out of the Humane Society. She's four years old. Now. We got her a female companion, which is 7 months old, but she's got this when she sees another dog. This is horrendous howling that she does that she's well trained and Does everything I wanted to do but when she sees another dog, she just will not shut up. No matter what I do. I'll hang up and (00:45:20) listen. Well, probably some Terrier in there. They tend to be a little more dog aggressive and not necessarily. I mean that they go up an attack, but they just react more to other dogs. If you can get someone kindly walk back and forth in front of your window to set it up that's when you'll correct it but if you go to obedience class your with a whole room full of dogs, and it takes a lot of that stress of seeing just the one dog away from them. And so I would highly recommend a group situation for that dog. Definitely (00:45:53) another caller on the line. Good morning. Good morning Shannon. I am a dog guide user and my question is not any sort of a problem with my dog. What I would like is some backup from you as a professional dog trainer to talk to people and explain to them that training is not magical. I have a wonderful high energy yellow lab and she's young. And I really enjoy working with her where I'm (00:46:16) high energy to and we're a great team. (00:46:18) She requires correction sometimes and she's also terminally cute and this can cause a lot of problems with the public who love (00:46:26) dogs and think that I'm being (00:46:28) abusive when I give her a leash correction. Sometimes she sees a squirrel it needs to be a pretty severe high collar type correction also understand that people (00:46:38) understand that the fact that this (00:46:40) dog is trained doesn't mean that they can do whatever they want to hurt in terms of riding bicycles on top of her trying to pet her feed her stare at her all that kind of stuff causes a lot of problems for me and I understand that they're like dogs, they're interested in dogs all that sort of thing. But you know, I'd like them to have some respect for me (00:47:01) as a user as well. It (00:47:02) can maybe just to remind them all the reasons that they it is not good for me or my dog for them to do that sort of thing. (00:47:09) Thanks sure. And that's a good call and we appreciate that when dogs are. Things such as a guide dog or a hearing your dog. That's what they are. They're working. They're they're taking care of their owner. And I know it is hard to resist touching those dogs, but you really should because they are to be concentrating and and thinking all the time you want to see how intelligent dog can be watch one of the guide dogs. They're amazing. And so that that is true. You shouldn't Pat a working dog a dog in harness that's being a guide dog or these dogs with a bright orange colors on that are the hearing are dogs. And I don't mean a hunting collar. I mean, these are the plastic shiny orange colors, they're working and so they should be left alone. I correct my dogs. I mean there is no other way dogs cannot reason dogs are not little people in fur coats. They really aren't I can't come home and say you partied on the floor. I really didn't like that. Don't do that tomorrow. It doesn't work if it worked we'd all be Geniuses and Boy, wouldn't this be easy? But that isn't how it works dogs have to know Pleasant and unpleasant experiences. It takes a correction to say you cannot do that. They still are animals. They have not even as much as we love them in as much as I spoil mine. If they do something wrong. They are corrected. I take my leash in my collar. I give it a jerk and I release it. It's not horrible the strength put into it depends upon what the offense was if it was aggression. It's pretty hard (00:48:43) Sharon. We bought run out of time here. Would you remind everybody where you're going to be now? You're at Pet Center through the through the duration of the fair right? (00:48:50) Come on up on Machinery Hill up by the gate to entrance where Hoyt comes in off of Snelling. We're up on Machinery Hill will be demos demonstrating with all these dogs today at 1 3 and 5 at 6 o'clock weather permitting will be marching in the parade that goes circles all the way around back. We come right up the street I think and so we'll be marching in that parade at the end of the day. So come and see the results of what people have done with their own (00:49:16) dogs. Thank you. Sharon Our Guest today on midday Sharon Anderson who operates the animal in in the Twin Cities special guests today Striker the golden retriever and Katie the border. Collie and Cindy Adams was kind enough to come along as well to oversee operations here. Thanks so much to those of you who have joined us here at the fair and thanks to those of you been listening on the radio calling in our producer is Sarah Mayer handling the phones Dorothy Hanford our Engineers Mike Osburn Alan Baker and Cliff Bentley. This is Gary eichten at the Minnesota Public Radio booth at the Minnesota State Fair and back to you know, Jim wishing. Okay Gary. Thank you very much. We should remind listeners that midday on Saturday is sponsored in part by the Oriental oriental rug company specializing in sales and services of handmade oriental rugs and located in Minneapolis at 50th and Bryant.