Dog walk in Central Park juxtapositions the mundane and the macabre.
It is one thing to hear the news and another to see it when taking the dog for a walk in Central Park.
My morning walk with Pax’e usually takes us from Central Park West at Ninety Seventh Street across the park to Ninety Seventh Street and Fifth Avenue.
It didn’t come as a surprise that Mt. Sinai was setting up hospital tents in the park just north of Ninety Seventh Street at Fifth Avenue. But like anything we think we are prepared for, sometimes when we actually see it, we realize we are not.
In human history, crises like this one are so often outlined by the juxtaposition of the mundane and the macabre.
Pax’s poses for her picture while the hospital tents go up behind her.
You could almost miss them as you look at the cute dog in the foreground.
Teaching our dogs how to be happy on the other side of a gate or in their crate is pretty easy but will take a bit of attention and training.
In a crate or behind a baby gate is a lovely and secure place for dogs to spend time when you’re not at home or you can’t be watching them because you’re in the shower, taking care of a baby, or busy making dinner, just to name a few.
The techniques in the excerpt below will apply to crate and gate training equally. Whether you are crating for puppy potty and house manners, or gating so you dog can see your baby having floor time, the process will be the same.
Behind the gate or in the crate should be a safe place where your dog is not disturbed and where they can have fun with wonderful safe things like – toys, food, treats, a kong, a bone, and more. Remember if crating for puppy potty training, the size of the crate should be large enough for your pup to turn around, lie down, and stand up without crouching. More on puppy potty and manners in the Puppy 101 series.
An excerpt from:
Pg 52 – 54
Teaching our dogs how to be happy on the other side of a gate or in their crate is pretty easy but will take a bit of attention and training.
We begin by tossing a treat for our dog as we close the door of the baby gate (or crate) so the dog is on the other side.
Then treat him for being on the other side of the gate or crate. Take a step away, then return and treat him.
Take enough steps away so you cannot reach him and toss the treat.
Return to the gate and treat him. Then move farther away and toss the treat. Repeat this rotation of reaching out to hand them a treat and tossing him a treat from farther away. You don’t want him thinking you always have to be near the gate or crate for him to get something. He needs to never know when he might get rewarded except that it is when he is on the other side of the gate or in the crate. Once he has figured this out, you can move to the next step.
NOTE—if your dog starts to jump or bark, you should turn away, walk away, and IGNORE him—DO NOT TALK to him, DO NOT LOOK at him. As soon as he is quiet—toss the treat. Your dog will figure out quickly that quiet gets him what he wants.
If your dog will work for his kibble—great. However, if not, you will need a treat that is higher value. Please be sure to read the ingredients of the treats and look for treats that have meat as the first ingredient.
Once your dog is happily standing quietly on the other side of the gate or in the crate, then start asking the dog to settle there. Follow the settle directions from above adjusting for your being on the other side of a gate or crate.
Eventually you walk away from the gate or the crate and go do something. If you will be doing something that won’t allow you to intermittently return to the dog to treat him, or you won’t be able to toss him a treat, for example if you are taking a nap or a shower, leave him with a Kong, stuffed bone, or puzzle toy so he is happily occupied while you are otherwise engaged.
Eventually, when your dog is on the other side of a gate or in the crate, you will no longer need to interact with him because he will be content with this place and not need further assistance.
If your dog is really opposed to being alone, however, there will be some setbacks. You can always feed him his meals on the other side of the gate or in his crate while you are in another room in addition to working the above steps.
Pinball getting sleepy in his crate.
NOTE:
If your dog hurts himself in the crate you will want to try to build happy crate time following the steps above but at a much slower pace and only for occasional use. While you may not envision putting your dog in a crate regularly, there are situations in addition to management that will call for your dog to have crate time, such as: the dog is lost and taken in by Animal Control, or the dog is injured or must undergo surgery that requires them to be crate-rested for a period of time. If your dog finds himself in either of these situations and is unhappy in the crate, he will be extremely stressed and may hurt himself while crated and his crate fears will only increase. If your dog simply cannot adjust to a crate, do not force the issue.
For more tips on keeping dogs and kids safe together see:
Emma, a female Giant Schnauzer walks the Upper West Side of Manhattan off leash.
She outweighs my dog, Pax’e, by about twenty-five pounds and has gone-after Pax’e on multiple occasions.
These were targeted attacks, beginning with a predatory assault in Central Park which Emma would not break off until I intervened.
Subsequent attacks occurred on Ninety-seventh Street and the parking lot of Park West Village, each marked by escalating intent and aggression.
In an attack on December 29th, Emma ran across Ninety-seventh Street to bite Pax’e on the butt slamming Pax’e into a parked car on the street, then continued to peruse Pax’e. As I tried to get us away, Emma bit Pax’e again, lunging, growling, and snapping at her while I circled Pax’e to stay between Emma’s advances and Pax’e. This attack occurred in front of P.S. 163. What if children had been out there at the time?
Flaunting the leash law, Emma’s owner continues to walk Emma off leash on Ninety-seventh Street and probably others with little regard for the safety of dog or human. Today, January 6th, Emma entered Central Park off leash at 103rd Street after the 9 AM leash restriction was in effect.
I was able to keep Emma away from Pax’e, but shortly after Emma and her human continued towards the Pool at 100th Street, I heard a dog fight. Emma was attacking a Boarder Collie named Nikko. I checked in with Nikko and her owner, Cecilia, afterwards. As she does with Pax’e, Emma targeted and attacked Nikko who had been playing with Cecilia. After the episode, Nikko was visibly shaking with her tail wrapped tight to her belly. Cecilia was also visibly shaking.
These details are important to underscore that Emma’s attacks are not like the occasional dog greeting that turns into canine trash talking. Emma is targeting Pax’e and other dogs aggressively.
Events like these highlight a few of the rights that all New York City dogs and their humans have:
All NYC dogs have a right to not be targeted by another dog on the streets or in the parks.
All NYC dogs have a right to not be subjected to this kind of stress and the potential that this trauma will cause them to become fearful of other dogs.
All the dogs have the right to be safe from predatory or dog-aggressive dogs.
It is unlikely Pax’e and Nikko are the only dogs Emma has gone after.
All New York City dog owners have a right to walk our dogs out our front doors without the fear that this will be the walk when a dog like Emma seriously injures our dog.
Dogs need to be walked on leash in New York City for their own safety and in Emma’s case, the safety of others.
Any dog has a right to not like another dog, but they cannot be allowed to act on these feelings because of irresponsible handling.
I have worked with clients whose dogs have had much more reactive/aggressive behaviors than Emma. These handlers have been responsible. They’ve kept their dogs on a leash, done training and behavior modification, and managed their dog’s access to other dogs in order to keep their dogs and other dogs safe. I thank every dog handler in New York City who works to keep a dog-reactive dog managed and socially responsible.
I am reminded of the Siberian Husky named Charlie who killed one dog in Central Park in 2018 and mauled another one in 2019. Could these attacks have been avoided if there had been a recourse to alert dog owners in the area? There was no way Charlie’s two known episodes were isolated behaviors without prior actions that predicted harm.
Is there a resource I don’t know about?
311 says to call the police. The police can’t do anything until there is an injury to a human. And injury or death to another dog is a civil matter.
If you see Emma, please be careful.
And please remind her human to put Emma on a leash.
