January is National Train Your Dog Month—an ideal time to address behavior problems that can diminish your relationship with your canine companion.
In some cases, behavior issues left unresolved can land a dog in a shelter not once, but multiple times.
Fortunately, in addition to one-on-one behavior counseling available from our veterinarians, our friends at Misty Eyes Animal Center offer training classes for dogs of all ages.
Read on to understand the serious potential consequences of unresolved behavior problems and how training your dog can come to the rescue.
The Research
In a study published on the National Institutes of Health website, researchers examined 2,836 randomly selected owner relinquishment records from 2018 through 2023 and found the most common reason for voluntarily relinquishing a dog or cat to the shelter was behavior issues.
According to the report, “the most frequent reasons cited were Behavior Issues (28%), Housing/Moving (18%), Unable to Care (16%), Too Many Pets (10%), Financial (6%), and Owner Allergies (5%).
“The most common behavioral reasons reported were Aggression (32% of behavioral surrenders), Social Conflict (28%), and Soiling (13%).”
The report continues, “Behavior issues were substantially and significantly more frequently reported for returns (readmissions, re-relinquishments), accounting for nearly 60% of animals returned to the shelter after being adopted, broadly consistent with other studies. This finding suggests that in-shelter behavior programs, post-adoption behavior assistance, or extending foster care stays may be helpful interventions for reducing return rates.”
In a paper from Frontiers of Veterinary Science, the authors detailed the potentially serious consequences of unresolved behavior issues for dogs. Key points from the paper’s introduction:
“Undesirable behavior is prevalent among pet dogs, with 72–85% of dogs estimated to exhibit at least one type of problem behavior. These behaviors may reflect normal canine behavior that owners simply find undesirable, such as barking, or they may arise from medical or behavioral pathology, such as generalized anxiety disorder or compulsive behavior.
“Canine behavior problems can often be indicative of a poor welfare state and lead to an increased risk of euthanasia.
“Undesirable behavior is the leading cause of mortality among privately owned dogs under the age of 3 years.
“Problem behaviors have also been associated with reduced owner attachment and satisfaction which may threaten the human-animal bond and place the dog at increased risk of relinquishment as behavioral issues are a leading cause of canine relinquishment worldwide.
“Many unsuccessful animal adoptions, in which animals are returned to the shelter post-adoption, can also be attributed to behavioral issues.”
In summarizing results, they wrote, “Potentially modifiable factors that explained the highest proportion of relinquishment were owners not participating in dog obedience classes after acquisition, lack of veterinary care, owning a sexually intact dog, inappropriate care expectations, and dogs having daily or weekly inappropriate elimination.
“Dogs with behavioral problems and little veterinary care were at greater risk of relinquishment than were dogs with regular veterinary care, and behavioral problems were associated with inappropriate care expectations.”
Training for Successful Relationships
The stated mission of animal rescue organization Misty Eyes Animal Center is “to end the needless euthanasia of domesticated pets throughout Indiana, to reduce owner surrenders and to teach responsible pet ownership and kindness towards all living things.”
As part of fulfilling that mission, alongside its animal rescue and placement operations, Misty Eyes offers training classes to teach owners how to help their dogs develop the life skills needed to function successfully as companions at home and in the community.
All training methods taught at Misty Eyes are based on positive reinforcement principles. Here’s what they have to say about their approach to training:
“We understand the history and use of punishments in training; however, science has proven positive reinforcement is more effective in every meaningful dimension. Positive reinforcement teaching techniques use non-confrontational methods of training to work a dog’s brain. The focus is on rewarding positive behavior, establishing rituals and training actions that are incompatible with negative behavior—lessening a dog’s anger and frustration while enabling the dog to feel good inside. If you reinforce a dog’s desirable behaviors, there is less of a chance that he/she will indulge in other undesirable behaviors. Decision-making is influenced without use of force, all while strengthening the trust between owner and dog through this non-threatening treatment.”
Misty Eyes course offerings include—
STAR Puppy Class for puppies 8 to 20 weeks old
K-9 Good Manners (CGM) for dogs six months old and older
AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and Therapy Dog training class to prepare dogs approaching one year of age and older for CGC certification—usually a prerequisite for therapy work. The dog must have previous training or have completed the Canine Good Manners course before enrolling in this class.
AKC Trick Dog class for dogs six months old and older with previous training or completion of the K-9 Good Manners class
Unless the instructor says otherwise, all classes are presented at Misty Eyes Animal Center in Avon in six weekly sessions, each typically lasting 60 to 75 minutes.
Private lessons are also available.
For more information about instructors and classes at Misty Eyes Animal Center, including fees, visit the training page on their website.
To register for an upcoming class, click the link at the top of the training page to access a page showing starting dates and times for upcoming classes. Links to class registration forms are also on this page.
We Can Help!
Our veterinarians can answer questions and offer specific problem-solving suggestions to help you address many common behavior and anxiety-related issues your dog may have.
We believe any and all dogs and their owners can benefit from training based on positive reinforcement, and we recommend Misty Eyes classes as an excellent local resource.
Effective training—in class and at home—helps strengthen the human-animal bond while developing a calmer, more confident, better-behaved canine companion who’s a pleasure to have as a member of the family.
We encourage you to join us in celebrating National Train Your Dog Month this January with a resolution to train your dog. We know you and your dog will benefit!
Separation anxiety—manifesting as a pet’s exhibiting extreme stress from the time the owner leaves them home alone until they return—is among the most distressing conditions companion animals and their owners can experience.
It’s extremely stressful for the anxious dogs and cats and can have a substantial impact on their owners’ daily lives, often causing near-constant anxiety and requiring time-consuming clean-ups and costly repairs. Over time, some owners grow reluctant to leave home for dread of the mess and destruction that may await them upon returning.
In severe cases, if left untreated, separation anxiety can result in injury to the pet, damage to furniture, fixtures and the house itself, complaints from neighbors and, ultimately, the owner’s painful decision to surrender the pet to a shelter or even have it euthanized.
Fortunately, there are proven, research-based approaches our veterinarians can take to diagnose your pet’s separation anxiety and then work with you to formulate and carry out a treatment plan tailored to your pet’s individual symptoms, temperament and needs. With early and effective intervention, the prognosis in most cases can be quite good.
Understanding Separation Anxiety
Signs and symptoms of separation anxiety include:
Pacing and restlessness
Following the owner excessively
Salivating excessively
Shaking excessively
Loss of appetite
Vomiting
Destructive chewing
Barking, whining and howling
Urinating and defecating indoors
Digging and scratching at doors or windows in an attempt to escape and reunite with the owner
Excessive excitement when greeting the owner upon return
Self-harm
While we don’t know precisely why some pets develop separation anxiety and others don’t, we do know these are possible causes:
An extreme attachment to or dependency on the owner
A traumatic event
A change in routine
A major life change, like a move to a new home, a new baby, the death of a family member or other pet, or abandonment to a shelter
What You Can Do
If you suspect your pet is suffering from separation anxiety, a good first step is to learn more about the condition. To get you started, we’ve selected and linked to several authoritative online resources that will explain the condition in varying degrees of detail and help you do a better job of observing and reporting your pet’s behavior to us to facilitate diagnosis and treatment.
We recommend you begin with an excellent article titled “Separation Anxiety in Pets: Your Questions Answered” on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Veterinary Medicine website. The article covers both dogs and cats and features Dr. Loukia Agapis, director of the vet school’s Shelter Medicine Program, answering your most likely questions in an easily understandable way.
While published primarily for veterinary professionals more than a decade ago, an article in Today’s Veterinary Practice titled “Canine Separation Anxiety” offers more detailed explanations and advice that will provide you with a preview of how our doctors and technicians will approach diagnosing and treating your dog’s symptoms of separation anxiety.
The AKC article continues with specific training and behavior modification techniques you can use to begin helping your dog overcome its anxiety, along with a brief overview of drugs we may prescribe if needed. The article concludes with assurances of a high success rate for appropriate treatment.
The ASPCA® (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) website has a detailed article, titled simply “Separation Anxiety,” that covers the topic in detail.
We especially like the sections on medical and behavior problems for us to rule out before arriving at a separation anxiety diagnosis. We also find the distinction between treating mild cases and moderate to severe cases to be most helpful.
The ASPCA® article concludes with step-by-step training advice and suggestions for augmenting the training with multiple common-sense strategies to relieve your pet’s anxiety.
From PetMD, especially for our clients whose pets present more severe or advanced cases requiring a referral to a veterinary behaviorist, we recommend “How to Help a Dog With Separation Anxiety.” There’s also a useful section on medications that may be appropriate in some cases.
The article concludes, “Separation anxiety isn’t something that can be cured— there’s no quick fix or one-size-fits-all medication—but it can be successfully managed with patience and training.”
Finally, for those of you particularly interested in the hard science behind diagnosing and managing separation anxiety in dogs, we refer you to “Canine separation anxiety: strategies for treatment and management” from the National Institutes of Health veterinary medical research library. Although the publication date is October 30, 2014, the heavily annotated research remains sound, and author Rebecca J. Sargisson presents her findings in an easy-to-understand way. She describes her paper in the following Abstract:
Dogs with separation-related behavior problems engage in unwanted behavior such as destruction of property and excessive vocalization when left alone, causing distress for both the dog and the owner, and often leading to the dog being relinquished or euthanized. I review research on factors likely to predispose dogs to developing separation anxiety and on the treatments available. Although research is equivocal, dogs seem to develop separation-related behavior problems if they are male, sourced from shelters or found, and separated from the litter before they are 60 days old. Protective factors include ensuring a wide range of experiences outside the home and with other people, between the ages of 5–10 months, stable household routines and absences from the dog, and the avoidance of punishment. The most successful treatment for canine separation-related problems may be behavior modification that focuses on systematic desensitization and counterconditioning, which can be supplemented with medication in the initial stages. Where individual therapy from an animal behavior expert is not possible, advice to dog owners should be clear, simple, and contain five or fewer instructions to improve adherence. Advice is given for people seeking to adopt a dog, for new dog owners, and for existing dog owners who wish to treat their dog’s separation anxiety.
To explore the topics introduced in the Abstract, read the complete paper on the NIH website.
Getting One-On-One Professional Help
Once you’ve conducted as much research as you feel inclined to do, the critically important next step in addressing your pet’s suspected separation anxiety is to schedule an appointment with us for a medical exam and diagnosis to rule out possible underlying medical conditions and determine the best way forward toward the most effective treatment.
Regardless of the particulars of your pet’s individual case, our veterinarians agree the right course of action will almost certainly involve a customized program of systematic desensitization and, if necessary, medication.
What we will never recommend:
Ignoring the pet
Punishing the pet
Leaving the pet to “cry it out”
These negative approaches are cruel and can damage your pet’s mental health. Besides, they don’t help solve the separation anxiety problem.
Are YOU The One Who’s Anxious?
We usually think of separation anxiety in connection with pets as experienced exclusively by pets separated from their owners. But a limited amount of research and lots of anecdotal evidence show owners can be the ones feeling anxious when separated from their pets.
Maybe you know pet-owner-experienced separation anxiety from first-hand experience.
In a June 2022 article in Psychology Today, author Hal Herzog PhD writes, “Separation anxiety has been extensively studied in pets, but few studies have examined separation anxiety in their owners.”
Herzog is a psychology professor whose research interests include the impact of pets on human health and well-being, attitudes towards the use of animals and the evolution of pet-keeping. He notes that separation anxiety disorder in humans was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 2015. For both children and adults, the condition is characterized by “unusually strong fear or anxiety to separating from people they feel a strong attachment to.”
The limited research Herzog cites in the article indicates pet owners can experience similar anxiety when separated from their animal companions.
In answer to a 2022 YouGov survey question, “Do you feel anxious leaving your pets at home alone all day?” 40% of a representative sample of American pet owners said “yes.”
Researchers in Australia used four standardized psychological scales measuring human-directed separation anxiety, pet-directed separation anxiety, attachment to their pets and perceived social support to explore pet-owner separation anxiety.
Among the general trends they found:
People who are prone to human-directed separation anxiety are more likely to experience separation anxiety directed at their pets.
Owners who are especially attached to their pets are more likely to experience pet-separation anxiety.
People who have less social support from friends and family are more likely to feel anxiety when separated from their pets.
Dog owners are more prone to pet separation anxiety than cat owners.
Pet owners who do not have children at home are more likely to experience pet-related separation anxiety.
In another study, anthrozoologists at Washington State University studied pet-related separation anxiety among college freshmen who’d left family pets behind at home.
The results:
75% of the 145 students who participated in the study reported experiencing at least mild pet-separation anxiety.
22% indicated moderate anxiety.
3% said their anxiety was severe.
Like pet owners studied by the Australian researchers, the college-student participants who were most attached to their pets were more likely to experience anxiety related to separation from them. Herzog notes, “the students who were highly involved in their pets’ lives—the ones who frequently petted and talked to their pets and let their pets sleep in their beds—tended to have high pet-separation anxiety scores.”
He concludes, “These studies suggest that pet separation anxiety is an important aspect of the human-animal bond that has been neglected by researchers. And I suspect it is surprisingly common.”
Starting the first Sunday of every August, we are called on to observe International Assistance Dog Week, an awareness campaign launched by Assistance Dogs International (ADI) to celebrate assistance dog trainers, program staff, volunteers and the dogs’ human partners.
In announcing the initiative in 2022, ADI Executive Director Chris Diefenthaler explained, “Everyone loves an assistance dog, and quite rightly the dogs tend to take center stage.
“International Assistance Dog Week is a chance for us to recognize and celebrate the people at the other end of the leash—those who devote their time and expertise to ensuring ADI-certified assistance dogs are trained and work to the highest standards.”
Now the world’s leading standards-setter and accreditation body for training assistance dogs, ADI was founded in 1986 as a coalition of seven non-profit programs training and placing assistance dogs.
As of 2023, ADI’s 159 accredited member organizations were supervising a total of 27,846 active assistance dog-handler teams, including 13,561 service dogs (49%), 11,930 guide dogs (43%) and 2,355 hearing dogs (8%).
Within the general service dog category, ADI’s worldwide 2023 census showed the types of services allocated this way:
Mobility service dogs 48%
PTSD Veterans Service Dogs 23%
Autism Service Dogs 18%
Psychiatric Service Dogs 4%
Seizure alert service dogs 3%
Diabetic alert service dogs 3%
Medical Alert Service Dogs 1%
ADI counted an additional 3,770 placements, including 2,172 facility dogs, 650 companion/therapy dogs and 948 “other types.”
Carrying out the work of ADI-member organizations as of the end of 2023 were 5,077 full-time and 1,911 part-time employees and 52,0215 volunteers. There were 10,969 dogs and puppies in training with ADI-accredited member programs and 8,481 potential clients on waiting lists.
Indiana Canine Assistance Network—ICAN
Established in 2002, Indiana Canine Assistance Network (ICAN) is our state’s only ADI-accredited assistance dog training program and is one of 42 ADI-accredited organizations worldwide operating prison-based training programs.
With locations in Zionsville and Fort Wayne, ICAN currently places three types of assistance dogs—
Mobility assistance dogs to help human partners who use wheelchairs, walkers or canes or who have balance issues. These dogs can also complete many other helpful tasks on cue.
Facility assistance dogs to do specific, skilled tasks to support people frequenting places like schools, hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.
Psychiatric service dogs, currently helping military veterans manage service-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma.
The total cost to raise and train each dog is $30,000.
After paying a $75 application fee, approved clients pay a $2,500 fee for their dog, with donations covering the remaining costs.
Veterans, who are most often referred to ICAN through the Veteran Affairs Northern Indiana Health Care System, apply for and receive their assistance dogs at no cost.
At the time it published its 2023 annual report, ICAN had 101 clients and active service dogs, a staff of 11, more than 270 active volunteers, more than 100 incarcerated trainers and 66 service dogs in training.
During 2023, ICAN placed nine graduate dogs and added 25 puppies to the program. There were 14 military veterans in the process of training psychiatric support dogs and four active graduated veteran-assistance dogs teams.
“We currently have 50 to 60 people on our waiting list, and we’ve been graduating 10 to 20 dogs a year,” noted ICAN Communications Manager Samantha Thompson.
This short (2:33) video, “About ICAN,” from the ICAN YouTube channel provides an overview of the organization.
What an Assistance Dog Is
“Assistance dog” is an umbrella term referring to a guide, hearing alert or service dog specifically trained to perform, in response to cues, tasks that directly mitigate the human partner’s disability. Assistance dogs may learn to respond to between 60 and 80 cues from their partners, including words, hand signals, gestures, sounds and medical symptoms.
Besides learning to perform specific tasks related to their partner’s mental or physical disability, assistance dogs also undergo hours of training and assessment to manage their behavior in public.
Guide dogs are assistance dogs who provide guidance and direction for people with impaired vision, making it easier to navigate streets and buildings, avoid obstacles, stop at curbs and use public transportation.
Hearing dogs assist by signaling particular sounds—like doorbells, alarm clocks, oven buzzers, telephones, crying babies and smoke alarms—to their hearing-impaired partners by making physical contact and leading them to the source of the sound.
Service dogs work for human partners with a range of disabilities other than blindness and deafness and include—
Mobility service dogs
Seizure service dogs
Autism service dogs
Psychiatric service dogs
Service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome
Medical alert service dogs
Among the many, but far from all the ways service dogs support their partners—
Providing balance or counterbalance needed to walk
Bracing against them to help them get up off the floor or move from a wheelchair to a sofa or bed
Retrieving dropped objects
Pulling wheelchairs
Opening and closing doors
Operating light switches
Reminding them to take medicine
Alerting them to a coming seizure or anxiety attack
Detecting and warning about high or low blood sugar levels
Barking to summon help
Finding and leading another person to the partner
More than just a presence in their workplace, facility dogs are trained to perform specific, skilled tasks to support a variety of people in commonly-occurring situations experienced in business, health care and educational settings. Facility dogs live full-time with a primary handler—most often an employee at the facility where the dog works.
Although they are deeply loved as part of their handlers’ families and among people at the facilities where they serve, assistance dogs are not pets.
They are working dogs.
What an Assistance Dog is Not
Therapy dogs are usually pets qualified through a therapy dog organization to provide comfort to people they encounter in settings such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes or disaster areas. They have calm temperaments and, perhaps, training in basic obedience skills, but they are not trained to perform specific tasks to address a human partner’s particular disabilities.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is any animal—often a dog—prescribed by a medical health care professional to relieve their owner’s symptoms of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression or phobias. While their presence is comforting to their owners, ESAs typically receive no special training to perform specific tasks or to behave well in public.
Therapy dogs and emotional support animals are not considered assistance dogs, and it is illegal in Indiana to pretend to have a disability and represent a pet as an emotional support dog.
Dogs whose owners keep them solely for protection, personal defense or companionship—while all useful canine services—are not assistance dogs.
Assistance Dogs and Public Access
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) grants people with disabilities access to public places—including places normally off-limits to dogs—with their service dogs. The service animal must be under the handler’s control at all times.
To be considered a service animal as defined by the ADA, the dog must have been “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.”
There is no need for the dog to wear a vest, leash, harness or collar identifying it as a service dog. When it is not obvious a dog is a service animal, the ADA allows only two questions to be asked:
Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
The questioner may not ask for documentation for the dog, ask about the nature of the disability or demand a demonstration of the task by the dog.
The ADA website warns, “There are individuals and organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online. These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal.”
Therapy dogs and emotional support animals are not considered service dogs under the ADA because they are not typically trained for specific tasks or duties to help a person with a disability.
Owners of prescribed emotional support animals do have rights under the Fair Housing Act to “reasonable accommodations” for the animals, even in buildings that don’t allow pets.
Preparing an ICAN assistance dog for work as a mobility service dog or a facility dog is a collaborative effort shared by multiple qualified volunteers, staff members and inmate handlers that takes about two and a half years from the dog’s birth to placement with a client.
ICAN owns a number of breeder dogs of its own and also diversifies its gene pool by participating in ADI’s ABC Breeding Cooperative, along with other ADI-accredited service dog organizations.
Most ICAN-bred dogs are purebred Labrador Retrievers or Golden Retrievers or cross-breeds of the two.
The breeder dogs live with volunteer breeder caretakers who foster the dogs throughout their reproductive years and have the option to adopt them at the end of their breeding careers.
After observing and assisting with birthing litters and caring for newborn puppies, volunteer litter hosts take pregnant breeder dogs into their homes in the weeks before the litter is due and oversee the puppies’ birth and care during their first eight weeks.
Litter sitters volunteer to spend several hours at a time with new litters as the puppies begin to be weaned and learn how to be away from their littermates, how to eat solid food and how to accept being handled and having their paws and ears touched.
Volunteer puppy raisers care for the puppies between ages eight and 16 weeks, teaching house manners and basic cues while socializing them to the world of unfamiliar surfaces, smells, sounds and situations—experiences crucial to building social skills and confidence.
At 16 weeks of age, the puppies go to the correctional facilities to live with their assigned inmate handlers, who are fully committed to caring for and training their dogs.
ICAN’s inmate-handlers are incarcerated at Indiana Women’s Prison—a maximum security prison in Indianapolis, Pendleton Correctional Facility—a maximum security prison for adult males in Pendleton, and Correctional Industrial Facility (CIF)—a medium-security prison in Fall Creek Township near Pendleton.
As with most jobs available to inmates, the Department of Corrections pays ICAN’s inmate handlers for their services, providing modest compensation that can be used for purchases from the prison commissaries.
ICAN’s Indianapolis-based staff training manager visits the three prisons regularly to teach the inmate handlers how to train the dogs to be mobile assistance and facility service dogs.
Every six weeks, the in-training dogs leave the correctional facilities to spend three-week visits with furlough volunteers who take the dogs into their homes and expose them to everyday experiences and real-world situations they are likely to encounter beyond prison walls.
Indiana law permits people handling service dogs in training to enter public facilities accessible under ADA regulations to fully-trained dogs, allowing furlough volunteers to visit stores, restaurants, theaters, hospitals and other locations the dogs will likely encounter once they are on the job.
While they don’t teach the dogs any new cues, furlough volunteers practice cues the handlers have already taught the dogs in these varied locations and circumstances.
These alternating six-week periods in the correctional facility and three-week periods on furlough continue until the dog is two to two and a half years old and ready for placement.
As each dog matures, ICAN’s client success manager consults with the training manager to determine what work will best suit the dog, and the inmate handler begins to focus on teaching the cues that will prove most relevant and useful once the dog is placed in that role with an ICAN client.
Finally, the client success manager matches the dog with the selected client who spends five days at the prison in team training, learning from the inmate handler how to work with the dog.
“After team training, we have an informal graduation when the handler hands over the leash to the client,” said Thompson. “It’s a very emotional day.”
Once placed, ICAN assistance dogs remain in service an average of eight to ten years.
ICAN’s Fort Wayne-based training manager works with veterans and foster volunteers to train dogs for psychiatric service work. These dogs may be purebreds or mixed-breeds from shelters or rescue organizations, chosen for their aptitude for providing the services needed. If suitable for the work, the veteran’s own dog may be trained as a psychiatric service dog.
Psychiatric service dogs are typically matched and placed with veterans when they’re about a year old based on the dog’s skills, temperament and size relative to the veteran’s needs. Once the dog is living in the veteran’s home, ICAN’s Fort Wayne training manager works with the veteran for six to 12 months to train the dog. After the dog passes assessments, the veteran and the service dog graduate from the ICAN program.
All training is based on “Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive” or LIMA techniques. See our post “Training the LIMA Way” for more information about this enlightened approach to dog training.
See “What Is ICAN?” for a 4:45 look at assistance dogs at various stages of training and development.
For an overview of the roles volunteers play at ICAN, see 4:07 video “Become an ICAN Volunteer.”
To understand the impact of the ICAN program on inmate handlers, see the 5:58 video “ICAN Handler Program 2023.”
Here are selected videos showing clients and their ICAN assistance dogs:
“Rex and Lunar” 1:04
“Nicholas & Purdue, a Client Testimonial” 1:29
“ICAN Celebrates International Assistance Dog Week!” 3:12
“Emily, Mary and Olivia – ICAN Brings Hope!” 4:41
“Forest the School Dog” 2:39
“Facility Dog, Rainier at Community Hospital Anderson” 2:54
“Meet Suzanne Smith: An ICAN client and Army National Guard veteran” 4:43
Applying for an Assistance Dog
The ICAN website’s “Apply for a Service Dog” tab on the main menu leads to a page listing eligibility requirements and outlining the entire process of securing a mobility assistance dog from application through graduation.
This page also leads to information on applying for a facility dog.
The average wait time from application to being matched with a service dog can be one to three years, depending on the applicant’s needs, the number of clients on the waiting list and the availability of a dog that’s right for the applicant.
The goal for veterans’ wait times is no more than a year.
To see if you qualify before applying for an ICAN dog, visit the Service Dog Eligibility and FAQ page.
The ICAN website directs veterans to a different form as their eligibility and application process is specialized for their particular needs.
“The way our Fort Wayne office operates to serve veterans is a little different from our traditional program,” said Thompson.
“Right now, we are placing psychiatric service dogs with veterans in a 10-county area surrounding Allen County, where our Fort Wayne branch is located,” said Thompson. “Longer term, we expect to expand to serve veterans living anywhere in Indiana.”
According to ADI, “It is a buyer beware market for consumers looking for a reputable assistance dog program.”
“If you need something other than a mobility assistance dog, a facility dog or a psychiatric service dog and ICAN is not a match, we will refer you to the ADI website where you can find the nearest member program that has dogs to fit your needs.”
“If anybody comes to us looking for a different type of dog, we always refer to ADI,” said Thompson. “It’s always best to go with an accredited program. You always know they’re reputable if you go with an ADI-member organization.”
To Get Involved
To become part of ICAN’s mission to provide independence, break barriers and help Indiana children, adults and veterans overcome challenges by breeding, training and placing assistance dogs, consider—
“Our president always says our mission is irresistible,” said Thompson. “However you choose to get involved and to what extent, you can be sure you’ll be making a difference that transforms many lives.”
The second full week in April—the 7th through the 13th in 2024—is National Dog Bite Prevention Week®. In this post, we consider why dogs bite and what you can do to cut your own and your child’s risk of being bitten.
A Serious Health Risk—Especially for Children
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, with 800,000 of them requiring medical attention.
At least half of those bitten are children, who are more likely than adults to be severely injured as victims of dog bites.
Half of all children have been bitten by a dog by the time they are 12 years old.
Most young children bitten by dogs were engaged in everyday activities while interacting with familiar dogs.
Any Dog May Bite
A dog of any breed, size, gender or age may bite if provoked—especially if they’re sick or in pain or just want to be left alone.
A dog in a stressful situation may bite to defend itself or its territory.
A dog may bite because it feels threatened, scared or startled.
A dog may bite to protect something it values, like its puppies, its food or its toy.
A dog may bite when overly excited during play.
Preventing Dog Bites
Fortunately, most dog bites can be prevented.
To prevent your dog from biting—
Starting in puppyhood, socialize your dog by introducing people and other animals in multiple settings so he or she learns to feel at ease in a variety of situations.
Using humane, reward-based training, teach your dog to obey at least a few simple, basic commands. For more information, see our post, “Training the LIMA Way.”
Provide regular exercise.
Provide adequate health care, including spaying or neutering.
Never leave young children and dogs unattended.
Do not allow your children to ride or sit on your dog or pull its ears or tail.
Supervise your dog when outdoors, even in a fenced yard.
Don’t allow your dog to roam free.
To keep from being bitten, the American Veterinary Medical Association recommends avoiding approaching or attempting to pet any dog in these risky situations—
The dog is not with its owner
The dog is with its owner, but the owner did not give permission to pet the dog
The dog is in a car
The dog is on the other side of a fence or tethered
The dog is running loose
The dog is sleeping or eating
The dog is sick or injured
The mother dog is resting with her puppies, seems protective of her puppies or anxious about your presence
The dog is playing with or chewing on a toy
The dog is growling or barking
The dog appears to be hiding or trying to be alone
Read the Body Language
Learning to read a dog’s body language can also help reduce the risk of being bitten by a dog who’s feeling anxious, fearful, threatened or aggressive. It’s best to withdraw from any dog whose body language indicates potential trouble.
Aggressive dogs often try to make themselves look bigger, with their ears up and forward and the fur on their back and tail standing on end. Their tails may stand straight up and wag. Their stance may be stiff and straight-legged. They may stare at or move toward the perceived threat, baring their teeth, growling, lunging or barking.
Fearful dogs may try to look smaller by crouching to the ground, lowering their heads and putting their tails between their legs. They may repeatedly lick their lips, flatten their ears back and yawn. They may look away to avoid direct eye contact. They may stay still or roll onto their back to expose their stomach. They may try to move away from the perceived threat.
Many dogs express confusion and conflict by exhibiting a combination of aggressive and submissive body language. To minimize your risk of being bitten, avoid any dog showing any combination of fearful, anxious or aggressive body language.
Teach Your Children Well
To reduce the risk to your children of being bitten by a dog—including your family pet—teach them about why dogs bite and the high-risk situations they should avoid.
Some rules to emphasize—
Always ask, “May I pet your dog?” before approaching a dog on a leash.
Do not run toward a dog.
Never tease, bark or growl at a dog.
Leave sleeping and resting dogs alone.
Don’t bother very old dogs.
Don’t dress a dog in play clothes.
Don’t hug or kiss a dog or pet them on the top of the head. Many of them don’t like it.
Don’t hang on to a dog who’s trying to get away.
If approached by an unknown, overly friendly or hostile dog, stand still “like a tree,” with your arms close to your body.
If a dog jumps on you and knocks you down, “be a rock” and tuck into a crouched position, covering your head with your hands.
Let Us Help
Take any aggressive behavior by your dog seriously, even if no one gets bitten. Our veterinarians will help you address the problem and find the help you need to manage the behavior safely and effectively.
January is National Train Your Dog Month, sponsored by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).
The association has a website dedicated to the event and filled with free resources to help you train and care for your dog. On the home page, you’ll find links to several episodes of Speak!, ADPT’s podcast for pet owners. Below the podcast section, you’ll find links to videos offering a range of training tips as well as more general advice on dog care.
The Tips tab takes you to a page linking to 11 informative training-related handouts—all downloadable as free PDFs.
The Resources link takes you to a collection of blog posts on the Association of Professional Dog Trainers’ main website. The posts are of interest to trainers as well as pet owners. To narrow your selection, choose the most relevant category listed at the top of the page.
Training the LIMA Way
Many leading professional dog trainers adhere to Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive —LIMA—techniques.
According to an APDT position statement on LIMA, “LIMA requires that trainers and behavior consultants use the ‘least intrusive, minimally aversive technique likely to succeed in achieving a training [or behavior change] objective with minimal risk of producing adverse side effects.’”
In elaborating further, the association maintained “there are no training or behavior cases which justify the use of intentional aversive punishment-based interventions in any form of training ranging from general obedience and tricks to dealing with severe behavior problems. This is in agreement with the American Veterinary Society for Animal Behavior and available literature.
“Trainers who use aversive tools such as choke collars, prong collars, shock collars (including ‘stim-collars’ and ‘e-collars’), bonkers, shaker-cans, citronella spray, water spray, leash-pop/leash-corrections (with any type of collar/harness), yelling, or any other technique designed to cause fear, pain, or startle in the dog are not practicing LIMA as described and used within APDT.
“Trainers who are unable to train a specific behavior or to a specific outcome without resorting to aversive techniques should use resources such as the APDT community pages to contact and work with trainers who do.”
As of 2021, APDT has required its members to certify they will follow LIMA principles. The Brownsburg Animal Clinic team wholeheartedly supports this approach to training.
Whether you train at home on your own or choose to work with a professional trainer or behavior consultant individually or in a class, we recommend you learn to train the LIMA way. Before hiring a trainer or signing up for a class, ask if they use any of the aversive “old school” tools and techniques named above and if they do, keep looking until you find a more progressive, enlightened professional.
As always, our veterinarians are happy to answer questions and offer guidance about behavior problems and anxiety-related issues your dog may be experiencing.
With a sound, positive approach to training your dog, you can vastly improve your dog’s and your own quality of life, build a closer bond and have fun while you’re doing it! We wish you success!
We came across this very insightful TED* talk by Ian Dunbar, a veterinarian, dog trainer, animal behaviorist and author. Over the past several decades, Dr. Dunbar has written many books and DVDs about puppy and dog behavior and training, including AFTER You Get Your Puppy, How To Teach A New Dog Old Tricks and the SIRIUS® Puppy Training video.
For much more information and free resources by Dr. Dunbar, including a comprehensive online dog training textbook, visit Dog Star Daily.
*TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged.
Why does your cat behave as he or she does? This 5-minute TED-Ed video, called “Why do cats act so weird?” has some answers.
Written by Tony Buffington, a veterinarian and professor with a special interest in cats, the animated video covers a number of common feline behaviors, tracing them back to their evolutionary roots. It’s fun to watch, too!
We came across a Psychology Today blog post in which author Stanley Coren suggests that most dogs find hugs stressful.
The research involved analysis of photographs posted on the Internet. More than 80% of dogs being hugged showed signs of discomfort, stress or anxiety.
We encourage all our dog-owning clients–especially those with children in the household–to read the article. If your dog shows any signs of discomfort when being hugged, it’s a good idea to find other ways to show your affection.
We’ve discovered an organization dedicated to teaching dog lovers like you how to educate children—and adults, too—about reducing the risk of being bitten by a dog.
This website belongs to a non-profit organization called Doggone Safe, founded to promote education initiatives to prevent dog bites and increase child safety around dogs. The organization also provides tools and resources for professional dog trainers, behavior consultants and pet care professionals to support dog bite prevention education.
You don’t have to be a pet care professional to become part of Doggone Safe’s efforts to prevent dog bites. We encourage you to visit the Doggone Safe website to find out how you can become a certified Dog Bite Prevention Educator right here in the Brownsburg community.
Over the upcoming extended Independence Day weekend, chances are at least 40 percent of our canine patients will experience anxiety during the celebratory fireworks—the most common trigger for dogs with noise aversion.
Fireworks are a source of suffering for 81% of dogs diagnosed with noise aversion. That’s why the busiest day of the year for intake of runaway dogs in animal shelters is July 5 and why we strongly recommend that you not take your pet to any holiday celebration that includes a fireworks display.
Unlike most people, noise-averse pets do not enjoy fireworks, and may become anxious enough to break free and run away. Trying to find a lost pet after dark in a large, crowded public space is a challenge we don’t want any of our clients to face!
Summer thunderstorms can trigger similar fears, causing panic and dangerous reactions, destruction of furniture and fixtures, self-inflicted injuries and frantic escapes.
Cats can be noise-averse, too, but their fear responses are usually not as pronounced. A cat may retreat to a favorite hiding place when frightened by noise, but otherwise appear unfazed. So most of our clients’ concerns about noise anxiety involve dogs.
Diagnosing Your Dog’s Noise Aversion
The manufacturer of Sileo, a drug we prescribe to treat noise aversion, offers a checklist you can download and print to diagnose your dog. (Hit the back button on your browser to return to this page.)
Home Remedies for Noise Aversion
Home remedies we recommend in mild to moderate cases include playing soft music to mask the noise and carrying on as usual. It’s tempting to comfort a fearful dog, but a better approach is to signal all is well by engaging in normal behavior. A little cuddling is fine, but anything you can do lighten the mood is most helpful. If you can, just be present to your dog.
You may create a “safe spot” for your pet in a windowless interior room, like a closet or bathroom, complete with bed and blankets, where he or she can feel secure while riding out the storm or fireworks display.
Making favorite treats and toys available can help—especially toys that might distract, like a peanut-butter-filled Kong toy. In administering treats, just be careful not to reward fearful behavior.
Thundershirts, which work by applying gentle, constant pressure to the pet’s body, similar to swaddling a baby, are also popular and have helped many dogs and cats.
Helpful Medical Treatment
If noise makes your dog anxious, and home remedies aren’t working as well as you’d like, we can help.
For more severe cases, there are drugs we can prescribe to reduce anxiety and keep your dog relaxed and safe during fireworks, storms and other noisy conditions.
The drugs we most often prescribe to alleviate anxiety symptoms are Xanax and Sileo, and for the best effect, we recommend administering them 30 minutes prior to the anticipated noise.
If home remedies are not effective and you would like to see if drug therapy is indicated, the first step is an office visit to assess the severity of the anxiety and discuss treatment options with you.
While we can’t promise a quieter summer, we may well be able to provide a calmer, more relaxed summer for your noise-averse dog. If you’d like our help, call to schedule an appointment today.
With Independence Day fast approaching, are you prepared to protect your pet from the anxiety and injuries that can come with exposure to fireworks?
Fireworks are Noisy!
While most humans enjoy the lights and sounds of a fireworks display, many pets experience the noise as unnerving or even terrorizing.
If you think your pet may be afraid of fireworks, see our recently updated post about how to diagnose and treat your pet’s noise anxiety.
Order Anti-Anxiety Refills Now
If your pet takes a prescription drug to manage anxiety, we encourage you to call in your refill request today to make sure we have the drug you need in stock and are able to dispense it well before the fireworks begin.
Fireworks Can Burn!
Lighted fireworks can cause severe burns and trauma to the face and paws of a curious pet. Keep your pet safely away from the area where fireworks are being ignited.
Fireworks Can Be Swallowed!
Unlit fireworks can be swallowed, obstructing your pet’s digestive tract and introducing potentially toxic substances, including potassium nitrate, arsenic and other heavy metals. Make sure any fireworks you’ve purchased for your celebration are stored safely out of reach of pets (and children).
Are You Ready?
We encourage you to protect your pet from fireworks this Independence Day! If you have questions or need our help in evaluating your pet for noise anxiety issues, learning about home remedies or discussing medical treatment, call now.
Sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association, National Dog Bite Prevention Week® takes place during the third full week of May each year. The goal is to teach people about preventing dog bites.
The AVMA’s web site has a page dedicated to dog bite prevention. We encourage you to visit the page and learn more about how you can lower the risk that your dog will bite. There are also tips on how to avoid having a dog bite you or someone you love.
