Festival season is upon us and the most prominent image in my mind is the blending of large groups of people and more specifically, lots of dogs and people. Given the impossibility to conjure a protective bubble around your dog if he/she needs a little bit more room to "breathe", there is a new way to communicate this expectation and it is picking up steam. Grassroot efforts like the one I share below is a bright spot on the horizon of human and canine relationship building. I think this is a wonderful, safe way to help build confidence in our dogs.
The Yellow Dog Project is a global movement for owners of dogs that need space. It hopes to educate the public and dog owners to identify dogs needing space, promote appropriate contact of dogs and assist dog parents to identify their dog as needing space.
Yellow Dogs are dogs who need space - they are not necessarily aggressive dogs but more often are dogs who have issues of fear; pain from recent surgery; are a rescue or shelter dog who has not yet had sufficient training or mastered obedience; are in training for work or service; are in service; or other reasons specific to the dog. Here’s a list of what a yellow dog is NOT.
{courtesy of The Yellow Dog Project}
The Yellow Dog Project seeks to educate appropriate ways to approach or make contact with a dog with permission of a dog owner only, whether or not a dog is a “yellow dog”. They also seek to promote the use of yellow ribbons to identify yellow dogs needing extra space.
As a not for profit organization, all of the monies raised/donated are used to buy more material for ribbons, t-shirts for representatives, and posters for display.
The Yellow Dog Project encourages people to find their local positive reinforcement trainer and look for programs to help their pets. From Grisha Stewarts “Behaviour Adjustment Training” to fearfuldogs.com; Victoria Stillwell to Karen Pryor; Ian Dunbar to Dr. Sophia Yin; and beyond - The Yellow Dog Project encourages all forms of positive training to help yellow dogs.
Warm Wags,
Misti Fry :)
That's a helpful and productive way to promote the welfare of dogs. Bravo!
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