The KC Dog Guy

In 2002 I put dogs at Wayside Waifs into small playgroups for the first time.  I had been a shelter volunteer since 1999 (a trainer since 2002), but there had not been an emphasis to let dogs socialize in a group due to fear of dog fights. At the time Wayside did not have a structured temperament test program as it does today, so the incident of dog-aggression occurred a little more frequently back then.   The first playgroups began as a method to get more dogs out of their kennels for exercise and bathroom breaks.  The shelter manager at the time and I played around with some dogs and based on the size of the Wayside play yards and came up with a maximum number of five dogs for playgroups. I still keep to this number today, but for different reasons and the idea of structured playgroups also changed with time to focus on more behavior modification and adopt-ability. Over the seven years, the concept of “structured playgroups” within the shelter industry is more prevalent. I think th

It's been a long crazy weekend. I spend several hours today working with the dogs of Wayside Waifs and Blue Moon Akita Rescue. Since I did not take my assistant Jade with me, I owed her a trip to the lake. I've worked hard to make Jade my "everywhere" dog. A dog that I can take in public, to the park, on consults and even to large scale dog playgroups. As we hit our spot at Smithville, a storm rolled in and the temperature dropped 15 degrees. It was beautiful. I've worked hard over the past 18 months to create a solid relationship with Jade.  I set defined rules and structure in the house and away.  She will tighten up her distance to me to a nice heel (our's is friendlier "Follow me") or with a simple okay she happily bounds 30 feet away.  While I don't give much faith to the whole pack leader or alpha role, I do make sure I maintain control at all times with Jade.  Our normal routine at the lake is, I walk and Jade follows, either behind or a

I have had up to four at time dogs at a time and almost an acre of backyard. My wife and I like a nice yard, but not necessarily a manicured lawn. The biggest plus of a nice thick lush lawn is a lot less mud and dirt comes in on the 16 paws. Our dogs have open access to the yard through a dog door all year around. People stop over and are amazed that the backyard is a thick lush green carpet of grass.  No dirt spots from the dogs digging and there are no discernible paths in the yard from 16 doggie paws walking their daily routes.  Know thy dog   Dogs are territorial by nature and creatures of habit. Each and everyday my four dogs walk the exact same route around the yard, stopping to pee on everything from a fence post to an old basketball .  If an animal has gone through the yard during the night before, the dogs feel the need track the varmints steps through the yard, often several times. Combine this with the occasional stray that runs the fence with them, the grass eventually get

When you work with as many dogs as I do in any given week, you're bound to have a few dog fights here and there. I always try to avoid them when possible and work even a truly aggressive dog slowly towards meeting another dog. However, in the process of re-socializing a shelter dog it can happen.  In most fights a quick sharp sound or simply moving between the dogs and giving a quick Look and Sit command resolves 90% of the snarks that happen. Unfortunately, the remaining 10% requires me to break it up with a bit more force. Those incidents always leave me with feeling bad. I always feel that when a fight like that occurs, I missed something to prevent it, or pushed the training too quickly. A friend of mine found that surprising, but here is my reasoning. Today I had worked with a dog who's dog skills deteriorated a bit since her time in rescue. I introduced her with some minor scuffles and lots of play. While I give little credence to  the whole male/male and female/female

It's been a little over a year with Jade. In that time I've become more involved in Akita rescue, started teaching classes again at Yappy Hour Pet Resort ( www.yappyhouronline.com ), and most recently lost my little man Tazz. Luckily, a constant in all of this has been Wayside Waifs ( www.waysidewaifs.org ) which is always my main cause. If it had not been for my Tazz, I would never have been a dog trainer or Wayside volunteer. When I adopted Jade my goal was to have an "everywhere" dog like I had with Michigan and Tazz. Michigan and Tazz went to schools, parks, Wayside and often both off leash when we could. Michigan was an Akita/St Bernard, but as I look at past picture he was a whole log Akita. I made mistakes with both dogs, Tazz was well trained, but could have been better with other dogs. Michigan, well I can't say he had any issues but he made me look like a much better dog trainer than I really am. One common theme between both dogs were they were both

TazzMan Buddy "Pooky" Gilbert 1996-2010 Rest in peace my little man On July 12, 2010  at 14 years, 3 months and 3 weeks my little buddy Tazzman Buddy Pooky King "The Man" BKT Gilbert crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to join his buddy Michigan. Tazz is the first dog my wife and I got shortly after we were married and my very first dog ever. We went to a little place in Kansas and picked him out at 4 weeks.Inhindsight the facility was a puppymill, but we still ended up with a pretty good pup. As a puppy Tazz didn't act like a puppy, he seemed more like a 9 lb dog in a puppy's body. Even though I had not yet began my life as a Wayside volunteer, dog trainer and knew nothing about dogs, I made my Tazz a constant companion. The first week we had him, we drove him down to Stockton lake for the weekend at 9 weeks old. Tazz was a fearless little puppy and enjoyed the lake and the many adventures we had over 14 years. As a puppy we knew he was special when on one eve