Animal charms

Nina Culver - Staff writer

Like any good counselor, Lisa Lucas sees the best in her clients. It doesn't matter that they happen to be dogs.

On a recent day at the Spokane County Animal Shelter, Lucas was working with a young shepherd mix, trying to teach him not to jump up on her and chew on her sleeves. "If you throw a ball for him, he'll go for the sleeve," she said. "That's how they interacted with him, I'm guessing."

The 4-month-old dog was adopted out of the shelter as a puppy, then returned when his owners were apparently unable to deal with his constant leaping and chewing. "He doesn't know what to do with himself," she said. "He could turn into kind of a nightmare."

By the end of their session she was able to get the dog interested in the ball and he even carried it in his mouth briefly. Lucas was optimistic that he could be trained out of his bad habits. "His core temperament is good. He just needs direction. This is a nice dog."

She rewards him with treats when he does something he's supposed to do, like sitting when told. She avoids using the word "no" when he jumps up or chews on her.

"He doesn't know what `no' means. When dogs are growing up, they need direction. `No' leaves a void. I'm trying to direct him off of me and onto the ball because he doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing."

The dog's official prognosis? "Right now we would not put him in a house with children," she said. "He's not ready to go out to anyone unless they really know what they're doing."

Lucas, who also teaches classes at Diamonds in the Ruff, began working at the shelter as a volunteer last year. Then the shelter got a grant that allowed it to hire Lucas part time, said shelter director Nancy Hill.

She's paid to work five hours every Saturday, when she tests the temperament of the animals, runs a class for new adopters and teaches the shelter volunteers to train the dogs. That way a simple walk in the exercise yard can be teaching a dog how to interact with people and how to behave on a leash.

"In the past we've had people come out and exercise the dogs without it being productive," she said.

The goal, said Hill, is not only to adopt out more animals but also to make those adoptions more successful. They want to stop the cycle of some dogs, like the young shepherd mix, being returned to the shelter again and again because of behavior problems. It seems to be working.

``I think the program probably has caused less dogs to be returned and more dogs are matched better,'' Hill said. ``You're much more likely to adopt an animal that has some basic manners rather than one that's a bucking bronco.''

Hill is thrilled with how Lucas is doing her job. ``She teaches you to look at the world through a dog's eyes,'' she said. ``She definitely speaks dog. Dogs just instantly respect her.''

There's only one problem. The grant is only for one year. ``My biggest struggle right now is to figure out how to maintain the program,'' she said. ``It's too good a program to let go.''

After Lucas is finished with the shepherd mix, she heads back in to test the temperament of several other dogs along with kennel maintenance officer Cindy Taskila. They see how dogs approach them when they are sitting down and what happens when the dogs are grabbed underneath their front legs and lifted off the ground. The women also put a rubber hand attached to a stick in their food bowl as the animals are eating.