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Ace has been responding well to treats on our 20-minute walks. He will heel with his regular collar or with no leash as long as no other people or dogs are in sight. Of course, if he sees another dog, he wants to run and greet. He pulls, trying to get to the other dog, even with his pinch collar on.

For the rest of the week, I am going to practice having Ace sit and stay at my side when we see other dogs. I will make him sit until his is calm enough to heel normally. He heels the best when he has something else to focus on such as wearing his backpack or carrying a stick. When Ace pulls, he responds well if I just stop. Then I do not move forward until he backs up and stands at my side. I’m sure I look like a compete idiot, especially walking a dog with a bright, red backpack. But that’s OK. I think it’s worth it if I eventually have a dog that walks better on a leash.

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If you want a realistic approach to choosing, training and living with dogs, “Katz on Dogs” by Jon Katz is a good book to start with. It’s perfect for someone thinking about getting a dog, a first-time dog owner, or someone who has lived with dogs all of his or her life. I read it just before adopting my mutt, and it reminded me of some very basic, but important ideas to follow, such as doing research before getting a dog and making lifelong commitments to training and exercising a dog. 

The author stresses how often people make the mistake of running out to the pound and “rescuing” just any dog. A common mistake people make is feeling sorry for an abused or unsocialized dog and therefore adopting it only because they want to save it from being killed. These dogs often end up returned to the shelter because the owner was not prepared to take care of a dog, especially a dog with “issues.” So in my case, it was important that I took the time to really think about what kind of dog would be right for me before I adopted just any mutt. This was hard because I like all dogs.

Katz’s book includes his own examples of training his dogs by using food, positive reinforcement and repetition. He says we should practice patience, consistency and determination while training dogs. I found his advice easy to take because he comes right out and admits his dogs are not perfect, that he has made mistakes. I agree with him on almost all his ideas, such as the importance of daily walks and challenges for a dog, the positive side of using crates and remembering that dogs think like dogs.

A big problem between humans and dogs, Katz says, is how humans fail to understand dogs. It’s easy for us to humanize dogs, to believe they understand our conversations, to treat them like children, to spoil them. But Katz reminds us that dogs are dogs, and we should treat them like dogs. My mutt loves me, but it’s probably because I pay attention to him and feed him. He got along just fine in his previous home and adapted just fine to my home. I’m sure he could learn to love anyone who offers him a tennis ball. His mind is not all that complex. He wants rules, routine, exercise and food. Katz says we should provide our dogs with these basic things. He says there are no “good” dogs or “bad” dogs, it’s just that some dogs understand how we want them to behave and others don’t.

I want to comment on what one woman did a while back at the dog park. In the fall, my mutt and I visited the dog park often on Sunday afternoons. It was fairly busy at this time, with nice weather and a variety of people and dogs.

I am always amazed at how careless dog owners can be. One woman showed up with her dog while pushing a baby stroller. This alone might not have been so bad, but the woman actually pushed the stroller through the gate in front of herself and her dog. Then, ten or more large dogs inside the park rushed to the baby, smelling and pushing their faces in the baby’s face. They pushed each other out of the way, rambunctious and eager to see the small person. Some licked the baby in the face. Let me add that I also see plenty of dogs eating their own poop while at the park, among other gross things.

The woman showed no concern, and did not push the dogs away or tell them no. Not only that, but my friend and I were the only dog owners who did anything to restrain our dogs. My friend owns a 120-pound great dane and even though her dog is gentle, she is perfectly capable of knocking a stroller over by accident. Like my mutt, she is pretty much a klutz.

My mutt was interested in the baby, too. Like him, most of the dogs had probably never seen a baby before. Luckily, none of the dogs bit the baby or knocked the stroller over, but imagine what could’ve happened with a pack of dogs romping around, chasing, crashing into things and just being dogs. You never know how a dog will react, especially a strange dog. Trusting them around a baby is just plain stupid.