Now I know that everyone thinks that their dog is the cutest, best, smartest dog that ever lived…but a few months after we brought Oscar home, I really was convinced that he was some kind of dog genius. 

He learned all of the basic obedience commands and some impressive tricks.  He learned words we weren’t trying to teach him (food, treat, cat, etc.), that we’re usually going to ditch him right after we take a shower in the mornings and he even learned to manipulate us (okay, that probably wasn’t that hard). 

So, imagine my shock when I discovered that Oscar’s breed (the regal Brussels Griffon - originally bred as stage coach dogs in Belgium) ranked only 59th out of the 79 breeds ranked in a commonly referenced Ranking for Obedience/Working Intelligence by Breed!!  There must be some mistake…

Okay fine, I’ll give you the Border Collie, the Poodle, the German Shepard - everyone knows that these breeds are very smart.  But surely, the Brussels Griffon must be #4…or at least in the top 10.  But 59th!?!?  No…

Then I started to scroll up the list and see who was ahead of him (and this is where I’m going to upset some people) and I found our cousin the Affenpinscher (at 37), the Pug (at 57) and the Yorkshire Terrier (at 27)?!?!   Now I love all three of these breeds, but I can’t believe that any one of them could possibly hold a candle to my baby in terms of brains!

Fortunately, Oscar can’t surf the web, so he remains blissfully unaware of his breeds pitiful intelligence, but I took the news pretty hard.  A colleague of mine tried to console me by reminding me that there’s always more variation within a group that between groups.  A ha!  That’s it…there must be must be some dummies bringing the whole group down and Oscar is some type of super-prodigy. 

Another colleague helpfully told me that they heard that the true test of an individual dogs intelligence was to throw a towel/blanket over their head and see how quickly they find their way out.  With renewed optimism, I returned home to prove Oscar had smarts.  I confidently covered him with a large towel and then…nothing.  My formerly flesh and blood pet had turned into a statue.  I called his name, told him to come, even tried to bribe him with the T-word (treats). 

Finally, I pretended I was leaving…I loudly opened the door and stomped towards it saying, “see you later, Oscar”.  Suddenly - the statue came to life, but to my dismay he didn’t heriocally come bounding out from under the towel.  Instead, he staggered abruptly to one side and ran (smack!) into my dresser.  I rushed to untangle and sooth him, chastising myself for ever submitting him to this stupid test.

So, since then, I have been puzzled as to why Oscar seems so smart when all indications point so him being somewhat of a dummy.  Everyone who see his trick repertoire comments on how clever he is - are they just humoring us?  And sure, it usually takes a number of repetitions before he figures out exactly what you want him to do, but is it just my persistent training that makes him seem like some sort of doggie-mensa candidate? 

Well, unfortunately for poor Oscar, while I was writing this post, I came across yet another Dog IQ Test, so of course, I had to torture the little guy one more time.  Now I skipped Test #2 - I just assumed he’d get the lowest score because I didn’t want to subject him to the whole towel thing again…and I’m happy to report that Oscar came in just 3 points shy of genius!  He totally didn’t get why I was smiling at him for Test #3, but he nailed the four remaining tests.

So, it just goes to show…If at first you don’t like the results of the dog intelligence search you do on the Internet, search, search again.

Is your dog and Al-bark Einstein?  Or is he or she a little slow on the pup-take?

Did you know that Animal Haven recently opened a new shelter in SOHO? The shelter officially opened in late 2006, but the retail boutique just opened up earlier this year.

Start-up costs for the 7,000 sq ft center were provided by a grant from the Mayor’s Alliance as part of its strategic plan towards turning NYC into a “no kill” city. A high-end pet boutique helps generate revenues to maintain the shelter’s ongoing operation. 2000 square feet on the 2nd floor are used for training, agility, parties, and numerous other pet- themed events that also generate revenue for the shelter.

We first visited Animal Haven when we attended a Brussels Griffon meet-up (which we learned about on meetup.com). We had a blast! And all proceeds from the event went to support the shelter. Check out this video of some Brussels-Griffon crazy time in the Animal Haven space! (You might recognize the instigator as our very monkey-faced trouble maker!)

Check out our Dog Events in New York tab for some other cool events at Animal Haven.

Animal Haven also partnered with Andrea Arden Dog Training to offer puppy training, adult dog training, behavior problem solving, tricks, Canine Good Citizen and therapy dog training as well as Agility classes. We started taking a Beginner level Agility class just before Thanksgiving and we’re hooked! More about our adventures in agility later, but for now I’ll just leave you with one word…hilarious!

Blake Lewis (from last season’s American Idol) has some four-legged competition in the form of a beat-boxing Basset Hound! 

Okay, it’s not actually a real dog…just a creative marketing campaign for a Swedish telephone company.  Who knows what is says (anyone know Swedish?), but it’s fun to play with the interactive features and add sniffs, woofs & scratches to create your own unique doggy rap.  Check it out…click here to  try it out for yourself. 

If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1  through 4.  Back to our story where we just failed our therapy dog evaluation…

We ended up registering for the ASPCA’s “Go Say Hi” training, which helps prepare you and your pet for animal-assisted therapy. With the help of trainer Michele Siegel and her excellent team, Oscar sailed through the 6 week training class and we passed our Pet Partners evaluation with flying colors!

I would recommend taking the course even if you think your animal can pass the Pet Partners evaluation without it…the class emphasizes that as their owner, you need to be able to recognize when your animal is feeling stressed and reduce the stress or remove your animal from the situation. Michele did a great job of helping us to recognize subtle and not-so-subtle signs of stress with Oscar.

Finally, I would recommend the training because most people don’t have hospital equipment at their disposal to practice with. At first Oscar was terrified of most hospital equipment - walkers, wheelchairs, even crutches were scary to the little guy. The team at the ASPCA helped us make Oscar comfortable around the equipment in a controlled setting, so now when he visits the local hospital, it doesn’t phase him at all.

The ASPCA also helped match us with a facility to visit after we completed our training and they send us a newsletter that keeps us up to date with animal-assisted therapy activities and opportunities in NYC.

Finally, we had passed our Pet Partners evaluation! We were ready to start changing peoples lives! But wait, we’re not done yet? Nope, not by a long shot.

Today, when we visit people as Delta Society Pet Partners, we often get comments from patients who have dogs saying, “I’m going to be in the hospital for a while, I’d love to have my pet come visit. How can I get them in the program?” Or some people just think that the program is a great idea and want to know how they can get involved.

When we get these types of inquiries, we try to help people set realistic expectations about the time it takes to become registered with a therapy organization and start visiting. We let them know that we were pretty focused on the process and it took us almost 6 months from the time that we started seriously working towards becoming an active therapy dog team.

So, you’re wondering what’s next…well, now that we’ve completed the Pet Partners evaluation, we have to complete a 17 (or so) page registration booklet which includes a health screening by a vetrinarian (for the dog), a multiple choice test (for the owner) and several more pages of information about both the dog and owner. Then you send in your registration packet (along with a picture of you and your therapy partner and a registration fee) and a few weeks later you have your official Delta Society Pet Partners badge!!

 Tune in next time for the final chapter in our Becoming a Therapy Dog story - we’re almost there!

These days, I think everyone knows that it’s extremely dangerous for dogs to consume chocolate, but there are a number of other lesser-know everyday people foods that can have serious negative health impacts on your dog. 

A friend just passed along this very sad story about a dog that died after eating half a cannister of raisins.  There are a number of websites that list numerous (and sometimes conflicting) people foods that are extremely dangerous to your dog, but they all seem to agree on the following list:

Chocolate

Raisins/Grapes

Onions/Garlic

Alcohol

Coffee

Macadamia Nuts

 Here’s a full list of foods that are potentially poisonous to pets, provided by the Humane Society.  

Finally, we wanted to share some pictures of some of our favorite dogs that we met while we were walking around Westminster.  We have no idea how they officially placed, but we give them our “Top Dog” honors.

First is Baloo, a 230 lb Bullmastiff.  Look at that face…

No need to be intimidated by his size - as you can see, he’s a sucker for a belly rub…

Tied for cutest Chihuahua are Simon (on left) and Tequila wearing sunglasses (on right)…

And finally a Maltese primped to perfection and a regal Rottweiler…

Whatever breeds are your favorites, they were sure to be represented at the Westminster Dog Show.  We highly recommend attending if you ever get the chance.  Even though we couldn’t bring Oscar, we did pick him up some complimentary doggie swag from sponsors (Pedigree & Petco), so everybody was a winner!

Before we get to the main event, we have to give props to the Brussels Griffons at the Westminster Dog Show.  What a fine looking group of Griffs!

I was cheering for the cute little guy in the middle - love those floppy ears!!  He didn’t win, but he came in 2nd - way to go little buddy!

And the 2008 Westminster Dog Show winner of Best In Show is…

The Beagle!!

It was some tough competition between the final breed groups:

Toy - Miniature Poodle

Herding - Australian Shepherd

Sporting - Weimaraner

Non-Sporting - Standard Poodle 

Working - Akita

Terrier - Sealyham Terrier

Hound - Beagle

But the crowd-favorite Beagle brought it home!  This is the 1st time that the Beagle has ever won Best In Show at Westminster.  Congratulations to all of the amazing dogs who qualified to compete in the Westminster Dog Show!!

Tune in tomorrow for one last installment with some more of our favorite pictures from Westminster.

So, Josh and I attended the Westminster Dog Show for the first time today - what an amazing experience!  We saw so many beautiful dogs and took so many pictures that I’m going to have to break this post up into a couple of installments. 

First are some pictures of dogs getting ready for their judging - who knew that hairspray, eyeliner and hair accessories would be involved?!?!? 

But not everyone was working hard…this cute little Pug was taking it easy…

And this beautiful Rottweiler was chillin’ with his person…

As I write this post, we’re watching the Westminster Best In Show judging.  Tune in tomorrow for the winners and lots more pictures! 

I don’t know how I missed this announcement from mid-Jan but apparently CBS is planning a new dog-related reality series.  It’s being described as “Big Brother” with dog talent twist. 

Looks like they are starting the casting process…here’s a post from Urban Hound trying to sniff out some talented dogs. 

I don’t know if Oscar’s tissue trick would be enough to secure him the title of America’s Top Dog, but we’ll be watching for sure!

I’m so excited…I just got my tickets to the Westminster Dog Show in the mail.  Although I’ve watched it on TV plenty of times, I’ve never been to any dog show in person.  And now I’m going to the grand daddy of ‘em all - I can’t wait!!!

So, the show goes for two days - Monday, Feb 11th and Tuesday, Feb 12th.  We’re going on Day 2 because that’s when the Brussels Griffons are competing (of course!) with the rest of the Toy, Sporting and Working dogs.  Hound, Terrier, Non-Sporting and Herding dogs are being judged on Monday.  You can click here for the full judging schedule. 

169 total breeds are being judged this year - 4 breeds are new to Westminster this year:  the Plott (Hound Group), the Tibetan Mastiff (Working), the Swedish Vallhund (Herding) and the Beauceron (Herding).

 It looks like there are still tickets available, but if you can’t make it to Madison Square Garden, you can always check out the live coverage on the USA Network & CNBC.

My sources tell me that Westminster is one of the best dog shows for live spectators because everyone can walk around and see the contenders while they’re getting ready.  Are there any veteran Westminster-ites out there with any tips to offer a newbie??

 I’ll have a full report of my first Westminster experience for you next week!