Get Working Dogs From Shelters – Not From European Breeders!
Photo by Universal K9
Why does the United States military – and various police departments around the country – continue to spend tens of thousands of dollars per dog to buy potential working dogs from Eastern Europe?
Not long ago on DOG TALK® I spoke to Dr. Karen Overall at the University of Pennsylvania vet school on the topic of the high cost to our police departments and military of continuing their practice of buying untrained dogs from overseas. Dr. Overall is overseeing a program to breed high quality working dogs right here in the U.S. However, this will take some time to get up and running as a reliable source of these much-needed canine workers.
Right now, there’s someone doing something with rapid results to bring more working canines into the community – while saving the lives of dogs in shelters. Brad Croft thinks we’re wasting valuable money and time in the United States when our shelters are full of canine candidates that can be transitioned to work with the military or a police force. Croft founded Universal K9, a company that identifies dogs in shelters who would be good prospects for police work – especially those high-drive, high energy dogs who didn’t work out as family pets. Where purebred young dogs imported from Europe cost $ 10,000-$ 20,000 each (and still require extensive training), Croft says dogs from shelters are an inexpensive and highly effective resource to help combat crime. Each shelter selects dogs to be donated to the program based on their personality traits.Traditionally, the Universal K9 detection dogs cost approximately $ 3,000-$ 6,000 each, factoring in the professional training period that usually takes 8 weeks.
This week on DOG TALK® I talked to Brad Croft about how he goes to shelters seeking these high-drive dogs and shapes them into valuable working dogs. Universal K9 exists solely to save dogs from shelters to train them for law enforcement and detection work, as well as for military veterans.
Brad also runs the Detection Dog Program at Animal Farm Foundation, where their mission is to secure equal treatment and opportunity for “pit bull” dogs, many of which Brad has taken from Animal Farm Foundation to transition into important work with law enforcement. Using AFF’s philosophy that all dogs are individuals and should not be categorized because of their breed, Universal K9 trains the dogs to prepare them to work with police departments helping them detect drugs, explosives, and weapons. Universal K9 has already placed 46 of these dogs from the Animal Farm Foundation Detection Dog Program into the field in a number of police departments across the country, where they are assisting police officers in fighting crime – while getting a new lease on life.
Tracie Hotchner is a nationally acclaimed pet wellness advocate, who wrote THE DOG BIBLE: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know and THE CAT BIBLE: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know. She is recognized as the premiere voice for pets and their people on pet talk radio. She continues to produce and host her own Gracie® Award winning NPR show DOG TALK® (and Kitties, Too!) from Peconic Public Broadcasting in the Hamptons after 9 consecutive years and over 500 shows. She produced and hosted her own live, call-in show CAT CHAT® on the Martha Stewart channel of Sirius/XM for over 7 years until the channel was canceled, when Tracie created her own Radio Pet Lady Network where she produces and co-hosts CAT CHAT® along with 10 other pet talk radio podcasts with top veterinarians and pet experts.
Tracie also is the Founder and Director of the annual NY Dog Film Festival, a philanthropic celebration of the love between dogs and their people. Short canine-themed documentary, animated and narrative films from around the world create a shared audience experience that inspires, educates and entertains. With a New York City premiere every October, the Festival then travels around the country, partnering in each location with an outstanding animal welfare organization that brings adoptable dogs to the theater and receives half the proceeds of the ticket sales. Halo was a Founding Sponsor in 2015 and donated 10,000 meals to the beneficiary shelters in every destination around the country in 2016.
Tracie lives in Bennington, Vermont – where the Radio Pet Lady Network studio is based – and where her 12 acres are well-used by her 2-girl pack of lovely, lively rescued Weimaraners, Maisie and Wanda.
The Buzz in Chicago: The Imminent Arrival of the NY Dog & Cat Film Festivals™ !
Pet lovers in the Windy City are about to have their socks blown off – because the 2nd Annual NY Dog Film Festival™ is returning to town on Sunday April 29th, this time to The Patio Theater. There will be two different programs, “Outdoor Adventures With Dogs” at 12:00 (tickets HERE) and “Who Rescued Whom?” (tickets HERE) at 1:45 PM. There are the collections of short films people loved last year, but now the many animal lovers who missed them the first time can have the extra added pleasure of it being a B.Y.O.D. (Bring Your Own Dog!) event! Dogs (the well-behaved ones who are good with other canines and with a crowd of people) are welcome with their humans for the first time, so it’s going to be one big happy party. Our beneficiary is One Tail at a Time Dog Rescue , which will be on hand and receive a portion of every ticket.
Let’s never forget that the Founding Sponsor of the NY Dog Film Festival™ was Halo, which believed right at the start in the idea of bringing dog lovers together, and their belief made the festival possible. The Petco Foundation carried on as the Presenting Sponsor and embraced the concept of giving back to shelters and others working for the welfare of all pets.
The NY Cat Film Festival™ will be making its Chicago debut on Saturday April 28th at The Patio – with two different collections of short films celebrating felines, “Nobody Owns a Cat” (tickets HERE) at 12:00 and “Little Works of Art” (tickets HERE) at1:30 PM. Chicago’s own pet expert and radio star Steve Dale will be on hand to welcome everyone on behalf of the WINN Feline Foundation, which has been funding research into cat illnesses for 50 years and is the national beneficiary of the NY Cat Film Festival™ – in Chicago they’ll be getting a portion of every ticket!
Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat is the Founding Sponsor of the NY Cat Film Festival™ and their devotion to the welfare of all kitties extends to supporting a community celebration of these fascinating felines.
The fantastic Bentley’s Pet Stuff stores are sponsoring both Festivals and will be there both days, handing out deluxe goody bags to everyone who comes.
I’m really thrilled that Chicago pet influencers have embraced the Festivals and are sharing the excitement with their networks and communities as well.
Real Dog Moms of Chicago, (a.k.a. Jes, Lindy and their network of awesome and fun dog loving mamas) started as an Instagram account (@realdogmomsofchicago) but has grown into an incredible force of dog lovers across Chicago who hold events, support local rescues and shelters and champion the canine kind in any way they can. Check out their web site at realdogmomsofchicago.com to find out all the latest dog happenings in the Windy City!
We’re super excited to know Paul Fehrenbacher, the chief mutt at Mutt Jackson. Now here’s a guy who loves dogs and loves people and really loves dogs and people together. That’s why he “got” and wholeheartedly embraced the NY Dog Film Festival™ concept right away! Paul’s working hard to find awesome ways for humans and dogs to enjoy each other. If you live in Chicago you’ve probably taken your pup to Montrose Dog Beach. Thanks to Paul’s tireless efforts, this already awesome beach now has a self serve dog wash. Last summer they washed more than 6,500 dirty, sandy pups! Talk about community service! Paul has a lot of very cool things up his sleeve for Montrose Dog Beach and beyond and we can’t wait to watch them unfold.
Cats and dogs and..fashion? Our new favorite blogger, Christine Nendick at Rescue in Style has combined two of her loves – fashion and rescue pets – into this delightful site that shows readers that animal rescue is always in fashion. She’s pawed in to the local Chicago rescue and shelter scene but travels the country visiting other shelters and rescues and reporting on trends she sees.
Back home she’s ruled by the search for the perfect pump and her two “foster fail” felines, Roni & Cheese.
Tracie Hotchner is a nationally acclaimed pet wellness advocate, who wrote THE DOG BIBLE: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know and THE CAT BIBLE: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know. She is recognized as the premiere voice for pets and their people on pet talk radio. She continues to produce and host her own Gracie® Award winning NPR show DOG TALK® (and Kitties, Too!) from Peconic Public Broadcasting in the Hamptons after 9 consecutive years and over 500 shows. She produced and hosted her own live, call-in show CAT CHAT® on the Martha Stewart channel of Sirius/XM for over 7 years until the channel was canceled, when Tracie created her own Radio Pet Lady Network where she produces and co-hosts CAT CHAT® along with 10 other pet talk radio podcasts with top veterinarians and pet experts.
Tracie also is the Founder and Director of the annual NY Dog Film Festival, a philanthropic celebration of the love between dogs and their people. Short canine-themed documentary, animated and narrative films from around the world create a shared audience experience that inspires, educates and entertains. With a New York City premiere every October, the Festival then travels around the country, partnering in each location with an outstanding animal welfare organization that brings adoptable dogs to the theater and receives half the proceeds of the ticket sales. Halo was a Founding Sponsor in 2015 and donated 10,000 meals to the beneficiary shelters in every destination around the country in 2016.
Tracie lives in Bennington, Vermont – where the Radio Pet Lady Network studio is based – and where her 12 acres are well-used by her 2-girl pack of lovely, lively rescued Weimaraners, Maisie and Wanda.
Best Dog Breeds For Families With Kids
Almost 75 million dogs have been adopted into homes that already owned at least one dog. Multi-dog homes are often good for families with kids. There are other dogs to play with so a dog is not expecting constant attention from your children, or you, all the time, and there is always another dog to play with when the family …
Dog’sHealth.com Blog
Gene flow between tazi and wolf in Kazakhstan
This image appeared on a Kazakh instagram account.
The wolf appears to be a steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris). In Kazakhstan, people keep wolves as pets and “guard dogs” fairly often, and according to Stephen Bodio, they are obsessed with wolves.
The dog is a tazi, a sighthound of the general saluki breed complex, that has quite a few wolf-like characteristics. The breed is usually monestrus, like a wolf, coyote, or a basenji, and females engage in social suppression of estrus and sometimes kill puppies that are born to lower ranking bitches.
I wonder if the wolf-like traits of this breed are somehow reinforced by occasionally crossings with captive and wandering wolves like this. As far as I know, no one has really looked into the genetics of the Kazakh tazi, but it is an unusual dog that lives in a society with a very strong tradition of keeping captive wolves.
We know that gene flows between Eurasian wolves and dogs is much higher than we initially imagined, but I don’t know if anyone is looking at breeds like these for signs of hybridization. The only study I’ve seen looked at livestock guardian dogs from the Caucasus, and it found quite a bit of gene flow-– and it was mostly unintentional.
It would be interesting to know exactly how much wolf is in Kazakh tazis. I would be shocked to learn that they had no wolf ancestry.
I seriously doubt that this is the only time a captive steppe wolf and a tazi were found in this position.
My Raw Dog Food Recipe
I don’t share this with just anybody (haha), but here’s the recipe I use for my Penny, an 11-year old Beagle who is allergic to beef. Mix together 3 pounds ground turkey, 4 – 6 cans drained tuna, 1 large can drained sweet potatoes, and 1/2 – 1 cup uncooked oatmeal. That’s all there is […]
It’s Monday – Time to Start a New Fitness Routine
This seems to be about right for me, too! Until next time, Good day, and good dog!
Win a copy of TRAIN YOUR DOG NOW!
I like lists. I like making lists. I like using lists. I like crossing things off of lists as tasks are completed. When I saw the new book Train Your Dog Now! Your Instant Training Handbook, from…
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