As we’ve done 16 times before—spanning five-plus years–today’s program involved setting aside the usual “Talking
Animals” format in order to present the show-length feature, “Ask The Trainer.” In each session of ATT, listeners are invited to call or email (or text) questions about their dogs or cats. The Trainer these listeners have an opportunity to consult is Glen Hatchell, the retired Behavior and Enrichment Manager at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, and veteran, accomplished dog trainer and behaviorist. He is also a former WMNF programmer, and occasionally guest hosts “Talking Animals.” In today’s edition, before responding to the first listener question, Glen—noting that gambling has exploded into a humongous cultural phenomenon (countless sites will gladly help you place a wager on darn near anything)—articulated a parallel between betting (and sometimes winning, sometimes losing), and a dog sometimes receiving a treat and sometimes not. He continued to develop this parallel–this notion of “variable reinforcement”—drawing on passages from two books, “Decoding Your Dog” and “How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves.”The first 
listener question came from a caller at wit’s end about a year and a half old Golden Retriever with a serious biting
problem; the caller (temporarily) took the dog from a friend, who had experienced the dog doing a lot of biting, including nipping at a young kid in the house. Given all this biting, within such a short history, Glen felt the prospects were bleak for this dog correcting the biting problem: “This dog’s a risk”…an emailer explored, in what turned out to be a two-part missive, what remedies—apart from being “snipped”– there might be for a young, intact pitbull that was frequently “humping” not only the smaller female dog there, but humans living in, and visiting the home…Bob from Sun City Center called in about his adopted female beagle, who had just turned two, and was behaving differently in ways that Bob thought suggested “she was acting like a teenager”…Cindy called in with questions about her five-year-old Chow, who was “very prey driven,” wondering if “there was any way to train this out of her?” Glen felt that might be impractical, suggesting Cindy instead try lure courses….…And so on. We present “Ask The Trainer” every two to three months, and you’re welcome to submit a question for Glen ahead of the next show—probably in July or August–via this website.
COMEDY CORNER: There was no Comedy Corner today.
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.
AUDIO ARCHIVE:
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