Buster, Holli, Spike & Belle

Cesar cures Spike's depression with a new friend. Buster, an eight-year-old blue heeler/Australian shepherd mix, is supposed to play the role of family alarm dog, but he does his job a little too well. An American Staffordshire terrier's unconventional skin graft gives Cesar ideas for a different kind of rehabilitation—as a "Biker Dog."

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Overprotective Guard Dog

Some scientists believe that guarding and alarm barking were
among the many reasons humans and dogs “joined forces” thousands
of years ago. The dogs surrounding the humans’ camp would bark
and alert them to danger. Today, we often take advantage of that
quality in dogs. But it’s important from the beginning of the
relationship for the human to set limits and determine how much
is too much regarding guarding.

Guarding is an activity, just like digging and barking. So as
pack leader, you have to condition him when to start and when
to stop. A police dog, for example, is conditioned to go after
bad guys, but when there are no bad guys around, he must know
he is not allowed to attack. That behavior is controlled by the
handler.

Biker Dog

A dog with three legs, one eye, or hearing-impaired does not
see him- or herself as disabled—they just instinctively learn
to adjust, as you will see with Holli the Motorcycle Dog. And
it is important for those of us who have disabled dogs not to
feel sorry for them. Remember, they do not think of themselves
as victims unless that is the energy we are projecting onto them.

Grieving a Lost Friend (Virginia Madsen)

I can’t even begin to count the number of clients
who call me in with problems they’re having with a dog they’ve
brought home right after another has died. This segment features
one of them—my friend, actress Virginia Madsen.

In the natural world, grief is a very weak energy.
What happens when the new dog meets his new family, who haven’t
finished grieving their previous pet? He reacts to their very
low energy level, often leading him to feel the need to protect
and dominate this weak energy.

How do you know when the grieving process is
finished and you are ready to take a new pet into the family?
Well, I think of grief like a glass of water. Only when you are
finished do you want the glass to be refilled. And like some
people nurse a drink, people can nurse grief for weeks and months
until it finally subsides and they are ready to move on.

The difficult truth is that we simply live longer
than our pets. The key to learning to deal with the death of
a pet is not only accepting it as a part of life, but also knowing
you provided them a life that they enjoyed to the fullest.