Ask Professor Boo
Professor Boo likes to collect articles, information, and occasionally contribute his own material to this page in the hope that folks will browse and learn or be reminded of things they may have forgotten.
If you have a question that you would like to ask Professor Boo, please feel free to contact him at professorboo@threedogstraining.com.
Thanks for stopping by Professor Boo’s page! We just wanted to take a moment to point out that we’re in the process of slowly changing the way that we’re going to be presenting the Professor Boo questions and answers.
Rather than having them all be on one page like we have in the past we’re now going to be giving each Q&A its own page. We believe that this change will make it easier for visitors to both read the various Questions and Answers as well as find the ones that they’re interested in.
The first couple that we’ve moved so far are listed in the first column to the right in the Ask Professor Boo section.
Aggression Toward Babies Skunk Wash Formula
Q: Professor Boo, I have an 11 year old female german shephard and a 10 month old baby at home. My dog has always been friendly towards my baby girl and usually kisses her and licks her a lot. My baby is always after the dog, using her as a “ladder” to stand up, grabs her tail and face and usually my dog just walks away but today was the first time she growled at her and showed her teeth when my daughter tried to grab her(my daughter was in my dog’s sleeping area). Does that mean she might bite her? I love my dog dearly but my baby comes first. What do I do?
A: This is fairly common when little ones begin to toddle around and use the dog as a walking “helper” as it were.
Please remember all dogs can bite anyone if they feel they have no other way to stop something that either scares them or hurts them. Cute as it may be to see baby loving the dog, most dogs are not really comfortable with this kind of grabbing as most little ones don’t have really good grip control and can hurt when they pull and tug on an dog especially an older dog.
It should not have to come down to a choice for you between the dog you love and the child you love. It really just has to come down to always remembering that baby doesn’t know she may be hurting the dog and your dog is telling baby with a growl “please stop.” Your job is to stop baby before doggie gets to the point where she feels the need to “correct” the baby. There are some simple rules that will help.
Please start out by thinking of your dog like an open pool in your back yard. You would never turn your back on your baby around an open pool. You would never let her dangle her feet in the pool without you right there next to her. You would always be right there to catch her if she fell, etc…
So in light of that – please follow these rules:
a. Dog and baby are never alone together and you are always right between them for now
b. Baby can only touch dog when you are right there guiding baby as to how to gently touch dog
c. Dog is never used as a walking helper for baby
d. Dog is never chased by baby – not with walker, not with toys and not on her own
e. Baby never wakes the dog, pokes the dog or lands on the dog when dog is sleeping
In addition to all of these I would suggest some review of basic skills especially the recall command. Very often parents find it easier to call the dog away from baby then to ask baby to stop advancing on a resting dog. This may mean some new or review training either individually or in a classroom.
Too many dogs are euthanized each year because they are viewed as aggressive to their toddler. Much of this can be avoided if we try to understand that for most dogs toddlers can be scary. Most dogs try to warn the toddler away and too many parents punish the dog for the growl. This leads to a dog who feels like they have no alternative but to bite.
Please remember “the 1st rule to keeping your child safe from your dog is keeping your dog safe from your child.”
Your dog has given you a great gift – she has told you she is uncomfortable with some things baby is doing. Take that gift and return the favor to your dog by following the rules above and teaching or reviewing some really basic skills to keep everyone safe.
Summer Encounters with Skunks, or Love Stinks
Q: Professor Boo, being small and black with a white stripe do you find yourself having to deal with unwanted attention from female skunks?
A: Being the intellectual, female skunks are generally more attracted to my wit and outgoing personality than they are to the in-your-face physicality of my brother, Dante. While I’ll regale them with stories about studying in Paris, Dante will sprint toward them to say “hi!” and more often than not ends up with a mouth full of skunk spray.
When that happens, we happen to have a homemade Skunk Wash formula that works just as well as any store-bought solution and is made out of ingredients nearly everyone has in their pantry:
Skunk Wash Formula
1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/2 cup of Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
1 teaspoon of liquid soap
Mix together to make a shampoo for your furry pal.
Rinse well to remove the shampoo from the fur after vigorously shampooing.
You may need to double or triple this recipe depending on the weight of your dog.
Because I enjoyed answering this question, just for fun I’ll pass along a Professor Boo Fun Fact: In French, the word for shampoo is “shampooing” and is pronounced sham-PWAN.
