K-9 Kristen to the Rescue: How One Woman is Leaving Her Pawprint on the Dog Community
By: Andee McKenzie
“But I don’t want to be the OLD dog”, I whimpered as tears streamed down my face into my mac and cheese. Not many people can say that they have clear memories of playing the old dog and the puppy with their best friend, but I do. I’ve known Kristen since preschool and, with that, I have known that Kristen’s obsession with dogs started from the beginning. They were everywhere. There was her family husky Sitka, the 25 to 40 stuffed dog toys in her bedroom, and when we played house, she was in charge of our imaginary dog. She even came with my parents and me to pick up our first puppy. As the balls of tiny brown fur barreled towards me, Kristen was there to show me the ropes. Trying to imagine Kristen without a dog is the same as imagining her without a leg. After leaving her animal science major to pursue what she lovingly calls “dog school”, she has worked for incredible organizations like Paws for Purple Hearts and is currently the Behavior and Training Coordinator for the San Diego SPCA Escondido chapter. For Kristen, dogs are not a lifestyle, they are a lifeline.
Aside from the age-old saying “Man’s best friend”, what, for you personally, makes a dog so special?
I was lucky enough to grow up alongside a dog ever since I was a baby. On the geeky side of the answer, dogs are so special because they’ve been bred by people for thousands of years and studies have shown that they notice human gestures even more than primates and wolves. They’re bred to understand us. They don’t judge you and they don’t lie to you. They live in the now and I admire dogs for that reason because they remind me to take those steps to slow down and be more present.
The Bergin University of Canine Studies is a truly one of a kind learning environment. What made you a successful student?
One thing that made me successful at Bergin versus other academic institutions I attended was that the environment was hands-on work. Although I was a great student in a traditional school, I struggled with finding a purpose in that kind of environment where the learning was pretty much theoretical. After every lecture class at Bergin, there was a practical skills class. You were learning as you were doing. I believe my focused field of service dog training made me more curious about what other possibilities there were with a career working with dogs and helped shape my interest in getting a master’s degree in Humane Education.
We were talking about how the dialogue around service animals as tools and resources is somewhat of an outdated model. How should we be thinking about the relationship between service animals and the people they serve?
One reason that I believe the dialogue around service animals specifically as a “tool” has had positive effects is for the relationship between the average bystander and a service dog in action. When a bystander is looking at someone else with a service dog, they should want to treat that dog almost like a machine and leave it alone to do its job. Though that cute fluffy Golden Retriever with the service dog vest at Target is tempting, you want to visualize the dog in a working state. Between the owner and their service dog, the relationship is completely different. It needs to be a working partnership and a balanced relationship where both parties get what they need from the other. There should never be an instance where you need to use aversive equipment, to enable your service dog. If that dog needs those things, then it really isn’t a partnership. The dog needs to choose the job. With positive reinforcement, the dogs learn to love the work that they do.
Can you describe your daily routine as the Behavior and Training Coordinator for the SPCA?
With my current role, I get to wear a lot of different hats. I do behavior assessments for animals that come into the shelter so I can get more information about them and help find the best place for them. Once I conduct the assessments, I find the animals that need behavior modification because they aren’t quite adoptable yet and create training plans for them. Often these animals are just very shy! I also conduct training consults with adopters for “behavior animals” on what they are taking home and how best to handle their new pet. One of the best parts of my role is that I provide enrichment programs for our animals.
What is an enrichment program?
Enrichment programs are programs designed to give ways for animals to do species-typical behavior. This helps make the shelter environment less stressful for the animals and provides them mental stimulation. For dogs, programs are playdates with other dogs, Kong toys filled with peanut butter, or smelling different animal odors on a towel. For cats, we play with wand toys, toilet paper rolls, or puzzle games. We get pigs at the shelter and a pig’s natural behavior is to take their nose and root in the ground. For one of our programs, we took a kiddie pool filled with plastic balls and put pig food at the bottom of it. When the pigs step into the pool and root around for their food, it helps engage their minds. Some studies have shown that dogs and other species get more satisfaction from their food if they put effort toward it, a concept called contrafreeloading. We also play soothing music for all animals.
You have to have had your fair share of unique animal situations at an SPCA campus as large as the Escondido campus. Can you tell us about some?
We do get a lot of hoarding cases. There was a woman whose minivan was getting towed and before she got it towed, she came to the SPCA to relinquish her rats. It turns out there were over 300 rats living with her in that van. We were so overrun with rats that we had a promo for dog adoption and getting a rat, sort of like a buy one get one free situation. We had someone surrender their 150-pound pig who was living in an apartment and the pig was sitting in the backseat of the owners Toyota Camry when they dropped her off.
What is your first step in figuring out a strategy for an animal that has been at the shelter for an extended period?
Personally, I will take them for a walk and start teaching them tricks. You would be surprised, a dog that just knows how to sit automatically makes them more adoptable. We also have a great multi-media department and I’ve partnered with them to take videos of the dog doing fun things. We put these videos on our social media sites to generate more traffic for the dog. Sometimes, we get invited to the local news stations and have brought what we call our “long term residents” to increase their chances of adoption.
As an essential service during this crazy time, the SPCA has done some extra good works in addition to their normal services. What are some of these new projects and how can the public assist?
We are giving out free dog and cat food to anyone who needs it in the community. It’s funny, a lot of people will drive up with all their pets in the car because they think that they have to “prove” they have pets. We are fostering to get animals out of the shelter so we can have fewer staff members and keep everyone safe and healthy. At this point in the pandemic, you are more than welcome to reach out to your local SPCA for foster opportunities. On top of that, we are doing virtual adoptions where all the consulting is online. It’s been a weird adjustment, but people are enjoying the service. If you need to re-home your pet and it’s not an emergency, please hang on to your pet until this is all over. Our goal is no to just adopt animals out, we want to keep animals in their forever homes.
The first week is crucial for any new pet owner. What do you think are the keys to establishing a healthy relationship with your new pet early on?
The first thing I recommend is to not expect anything of the pet during that first week because change is stressful. The best thing you can do is, ironically, kind of “ignore them”. Give them a quiet space and bring objects and items from their previous environment to make their new situation seem somewhat familiar. Sit near them, talk to them, read a book aloud to them. Let them interact with you first and make sure they can take their own space when needed. Establishing a routine to slowly carry out during week one is also key. In that first week, you don’t want to reprimand them or punish them. You want to start a positive relationship with them after all!
Your personal pets are both rescue dogs. If you could describe Hewie in one word and Susan in one word what would they be?
For Hewie, he’s super sweet to new people and will always want to come up to them and cuddle, but with people he is comfortable around he can sometimes be a grumpy asshole. He will be asleep on my husband’s spot on the bed and if we try to move him he gives us a little growl. Susan is zesty for life, she loves everything with her whole heart.
You often hear the phrase “It’s in their genes” for an “Aggressive Dog Breed”. As someone who sees dogs come in all shapes, sizes, conditions, and backgrounds what is your take on nature versus nurture when it comes to dogs?
This topic is the number one topic that I think about every day. There are generally two big camps of people: It’s all in their genetics or it’s all in how you raise them. I never listen seriously to anyone that has either of those opinions that are totally unwavering. It is always both. For dogs, research shows that the more stressful the environment is for the mother, the more likely the puppies are to have fear issues later in life. The environment already has an effect on the puppies inside the womb. You wouldn’t think that nurture is in play yet, but it has already affected their genetics. As a trainer, my job is to literally change behavior and you would think I would be in the nurture camp. The longer I do dog training, the more I realize how important genetics are. Your environment affects the way your genes get expressed and your genes affect the way you experience your environment. If we are talking about something like a pit bull, they have, tragically, been bred to fight. My advice for “aggressive dog breeds” is to socialize them really well as puppies. People don’t realize that the prime window for dog socialization is four months old and some research says it is even younger. If you get the dog as an adult, look at their body language. Instead of over-thinking situations like “Is this because of their past environment?” Or “Are they like this because of their genetics?” Ultimately, who cares. With any dog that I work with, of course, I am extremely curious if it is nature versus nurture when I analyzing their behavior. However, the reason it doesn’t matter to me is because I will go about my job the same way. We need to focus on how to make their lives better in the present moment.
To learn more about genes and experience, Kristen recommends Matt Ridley’s Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes us Human.
Please consider donating to your local SPCA during these times and if you want to keep up with Kristen’s shelter chapter, please visit San Diego Humane Society’s Escondido Campus website!