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| Maria Alomajan has the best job in the world. |
This month SAT interviewed Maria Alomajan, author of Dogs in Action: Working Dogs and Their Stories. Lets be clear: working dogs work hard (some of our readers are today attending the inaugural Working Dog Alliance Australian Working Dog Conference - we don't need to tell you guys!). Maria spent a lot of time getting to know and working with working dogs around the world. She was even dug out of a snow cave!
Tell us a bit about yourself - how did you become a writer?
I
live in Auckland with my boyfriend and a moveable menagerie of animals that I
share with my mother, 3 dogs, 4 cats and 4 fish. They’re all rescues and each
has their own quirky personalities and preferences for each other, or not as
the case may be which makes life interesting. My long-term ambition is to move
to the country where I will be able to surround myself with more animals, I
think that’s what makes Peter hesitant about it, funny that. The love of my
life was a young elephant, but that’s another book.
I’ve
always loved writing, right from early school days. Dogs are a passion of mine
and being able to combine the two in this project has been a dream. I have
enjoyed writing this book more than anything else. Surrounding myself,
literally and figuratively, with these awesome dogs and their humans every day
for around a year was a profound pleasure.
Your latest book, Dogs in Action, is about working dogs
in many contexts, from police dogs to cancer-detecting dogs, sledding dogs and
assistance dogs. Where did your love of dogs come from?
I
have to say I have always loved dogs, so it must have come from my mum and my
grandfather who both also love dogs. As far back as I can remember dogs have
always been present and participants in my life.
When
it comes to working dogs, my grandfather’s dog Topsy a slightly neurotic
Doberman, would walk up the drive, get the newspaper out of the letterbox and
bring it back. That seriously impressed me at a preschool age!
Then
our first family dog, Kurt was a failed police German Shepherd. The word
‘failed’ didn’t mean anything to us, the fact that he held that association
gave him a lot of ‘cred’ with us as kids. We thought that made him extra
special amongst dogs and very, very clever. (Actually I have to admit I’m still
seriously impressed with police dogs.)
Many
dog professionals and pet owners will say “if only I had that dog now” and in
this case I would love to have that time again with Kurt knowing what I do now
about dogs. I know I’ve talked about this in the book but it’s such a huge part
of my primary school memories. Kurt would track us and turn up at school. We’d
be sitting in class and see him walking around or standing on the field and
just shrink with shame knowing that we were going to get in trouble again.
Sadly, but understandably, his presence wasn’t very welcomed and we would
always get told off and then asked to take him home at lunch time or tie him up
to the school fence or someone would call mum to come and get him. And being a
german shepherd, no doubt there was probably a fair amount of barking that
accompanied his visit. Of the hundreds of students at the school no other dog
did this and I wish we could have appreciated how special his behaviour was and
what we must have meant to him. It’s very special to be able to honor him in
this book, and tell the world some of his very naughty antics!
Crashing
through a large pain glass window to try to get to a bitch on heat miles away
was the most dangerous thing he probably did. Or, perhaps stealing the
neighbour’s roasts off their dinner table on Sundays in front of them could
have been more dangerous! Alerting us to the kittens a feral cat had birthed on
our bedroom floor was probably the gentlest. We were going to bed and he was
sniffing and licking what we thought was his poo and I recall yelling to mum
that Kurt had pooed on the floor. Surprised at this as he had never done it
before the soon discovered it was a litter of kittens still in their umbilical
membrane. My stepfather peeled it off and have them mouth to mouth and they
lived! That’s how awesome my animal childhood was.
Later,
I loved watching Wonder Dogs, a tv show here in NZ where dogs would compete in
a number of trials that consisted of things like agility, article selection and
bring the sausages back without eating them! Eventually they got to the winner.
From the first time I saw that show wanted a wonder dog!
It
would take a few years but I finally got one better.
You aren't just a writer -
in your spare time you help dogs. What sort of things do you do?
I’m
lucky in that my schedule is so fluid and my time gets divided depending on the
greatest need. I love working with dogs and continually study canine behaviour
and science. I have a particular passion for rehabilitation of what most people
would label ‘difficult’ dogs, dogs that have sadly been damaged in some way by
humans. Dogs that other people won’t or can’t work with. I do also get involved
in basic training, hopefully helping people create what I like to think of as
‘a dialogue’ with their dogs to enable them to live happily and peacefully
together.
I’m
involved in rescue and re-homing dogs, particularly with life chained or caged
dogs and dogs that have been rescued from animal testing and puppy milling.
Facebook makes it so much easier to support groups around the world, which I
like to do. And, when I can I travel to Thailand where I work with street,
temple and pound dogs, and of course battle the dog meat trade. It’s
heartbreaking stuff and it feels like there will never be an end to the cruelty
in this world, but then you have a success, a perfect adoption or you see again
how resilient and forgiving dogs are and it inspires you on.
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| Maria with dogs in Thailand. |
In order to research the
book, you had some unique experiences with dogs. What did you get to do?
Where
to start…I had yeehaa, raise the roof with excitement experiences while
researching this book.I got to mush a sled of dogs and it was even more awesome
than I expected!! The speed, power and drive of the dogs was truly something
that has to be experience to understand. What an amazing feeling being pulled
along under a blue sky, white mountains and 6 incredible dogs doing what they
do best. It’s the only thing with dogs that has ever made me nervous as the
number one rule of mushing is NEVER let go of the dogs, no matter what happens!
So the responsibility fell heavy on my shoulders as Ray entrusted me with his
team. If you have heard of the great races like Iditarod or Yukon Quest, the
reason many mushers never get to finish is not because of the dogs but because
of the human just isn’t strong enough or fit enough to hold onto the sled with
all that pulling power.
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| Mushing. Humans can't always keep up. |
Volunteering
with search and rescue dogs was a huge eye opening and challenged my
clostrophobia and fear of heights. I got to cross the river on a small boat in
Bangkok with dogs and handlers in the early hours of the morning. Hid under
large chunks of filthy concrete rubble in the cold, dirt and rain in Auckland
while heavy machine thumped away. I “sucked it up” and was buried in a snow
cave up on Treble Cone in Wanaka and tramped through bush in the Waikato. If
you let yourself go for a minute and truly believe you are experiencing each
terrifying situation of being buried or lost, it really is an extraordinary
relief to hear the scuffing, deep inhaling, the pawing and then finally the
loud barking of a dog coming to find you. Even right in your ear it’s a joyous
thing.
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| Maria is dug out of a snow cave by a rescue dog. |
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| When you're trapped under rubble, this must be the happiest site. |
I
must mention here that what astounded me the most is that these incredibly
committed rescue workers who regardless of weather of family commitments train
all year round and are volunteers! I wonder how many people know that?
Another
thing I have always wanted to try was a bite suit. One of those sleeves or body
suits used when training dogs to apprehend someone. So I was extremely excited
to get the opportunity to have a go at being a run away ‘baddie’ for a young
very handsome police dog only in his third week of training. Well didn’t I just
provide the most hilarious lunchtime story for that squad! All I remember is
looking back at this boy running at me, I’m grinning from ear to ear because
this is so much fun, recalling my instructions to let my arm go with the dog
but I went one better, I let my whole body go, over and over, several times,
before coming to a stop.
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| It takes a special lady to don a "bite suit" in the name of good journalism. Not sure I would have it in me! |
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| Yep, I would be more like this. |
Realizing even the dog had let go because he’d never
seen that happen before and neither had any of the guys, I quickly re-raised my
arm for the dog to grab, just in case he was looking around for something else
and to the surprised constable, who was doing a great job of not laughing, said
“that was awesome, let’s do it again!” I told the squad I was merely helping
build confidence in the dog but apparently what I helped more was the ego of
the handler who could now claim to have the best dog in training. Envious yet?
You highlight the role dogs
play in a range of contexts. Most people are at least aware of Guide Dogs and
Police Dogs, but were dogs involved in any kind of work that you hadn't
expected?
Absolutely,
and even now I am still learning new and exciting ways dogs are helping the
world. The jobs I hadn’t heard of before I started researching the book were
things like seizure alert, illegal dvd tracking and water rescue dogs. Whale
scat detectors, elephant poacher trackers and bed bug sniffers - all these jobs
seem so obvious for a dog once you learn about them but most people have no
idea dogs are out there doing this work!
Do you think working dogs
are adequately recognised for the work they do? If not, how do you think we
could do it better?
In
general, they are absolutely not recognized for the work they do. By the people
working and living with them they are totally. In fact, all dogs are under-appreciated
and misunderstood. As far as working dogs are concerned, I think one thing we
can do and hopefully this book is a start, is educate people on what dogs are
doing, right next door and in the far reaches of back and beyond, and hope that
they look at them in a whole new light. I’ve had people say to me they don’t
really believe dogs can do some of those things, like detect cancer and I think
that’s great because it most probably means that they go on to discuss it with
others or research it further themselves.
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| Anyone who lives with dogs knows how incredible they are. But this book will increase your respect. |
There
are still some ‘old school’ ideas about how working dogs should be housed and
taught but thankfully even working dog trainers are getting up to speed with
new science and training. Certainly all of the dogs in this book have great
handlers and trainers.
Working
dogs save lives. They make our jobs easier. They do things that neither people
nor machines can do. They’re happy about it, they’re keen to do it and need so
little in return. Personally, I think the world is indebted to dogs.
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| Maria is not afraid to get close to her subjects. |
For
dogs worldwide, the best thing we could all do is accept that they are ‘just’
dogs, do our utmost to understand the nature of their species (which is far
from human!) and do our best to fulfill their species needs as best we can. As
for domestic pets in many urban situations I think we could reduce the needs of
our species on them and allow them to be dogs. My dream would be that people
read this book and look at their own dogs in a slightly new light and get out
and do more with them.
Why do you think it is that
we bond so tightly to dogs?
To
be a bit boring for a minute, I think there is both a bit of science behind our
bonding and as well as plain old emotions. To begin with, we share an
evolutionary history with canines that we don’t have with any other species
which means we’ve spent millennia being around each other. I certainly think
dogs have done a way better job of it that we have but we’re catching up
now…Dogs generate the production of oxytocin while lowering cortisol, which
physiologically means they should illicit feelings of love from us. And those
are just a couple of key “science based” reasons.
On
a more emotional and personal level, they are one buddy that will happily come
most places with us, will stand by in the ups and downs, will look at you and
tilt their head but not open their mouths, that will run up and lick your face
when you fall over to say sorry even though it’s not their fault, will howl at
nothing while you yell at the TV during sports, will eagerly sit in the car
waiting while only smelling the delicious aromas coming from the café where you
stopped for a treat, will turn summersaults when you get home whether you’ve
been out to check the mail or working sixteen hours. How people could not bond
with a dog or worse abuse a dog is way beyond my comprehension.
Can you tell us a bit about
your own dogs, who are featured in the book?
Brats,
all of them!!
Jet
is the youngest and has what could be classified as the best work drive. He is
so much fun to “work” with and train. He was rescued from the middle of the
road as a beaten up, starving young puppy who was terrified. I had hoped he
could be a proper working dog, search and rescue but turns out he was terrified
of large machinery, the dark, the rain, strangers…need I go on?
He
did however come into his own for photo shoots, although I discovered recently
only if he can see me and for TV commercial work. I was so proud of him when he
did his first ad. Have I mentioned yet that I’m quite competitive when it comes
to my dogs? A bulldog was required for an ad but it was proving difficult to
train one to do what was required so behind the scenes I trained Jet up for 2
weeks to do the desired behavior of holding a phone in his mouth while looking
at the camera for 7 seconds. Well, hello “Omen”, all that head spinning was nothing
compared to what Jet did when I first suggested he put this offensive hard
plastic thing in his mouth!! We finally got there, I generalized the behaviour
in numerous situations scared he would fall apart on set with all those strange
people, big lights, equipment etc. I never got a wink of sleep the night
before, you know what they say, never work with…
Anyway,
to my utmost bursting pride, two hours had been booked to get the shot and my
boy had it down in 4 takes!!!!!! Awesome!!!!
After
meeting certain dogs in the book I thought I’d try some truffle detection –
well Jet’s truffle career started and ended as soon as I opened the pottle!
Drool! Fight to get into it instead of accepting an ultimate rewards means
fail. Possum tracking, he loves that. I wish I hadn’t started it because
anywhere we go he likes to clear the area for possums now! Jet is a staffy,
collie, boxer type cross mutt dog and the most handsome of the pack.
Jesse
is a red golden retriever type, not sure what else but he has a ridge, and he
is the optimist of the pack. I believe that is the only thing that kept him
alive during the six years he was chained! I rescued him off the chain
starving, furless, covered in fleas, no muscle mass thus he couldn’t walk much
or even jump on the bed. Jesse loves food and is the dog for tricks and
anything to do with water. Jesse kind of looks up to Jet and defers on all
things except toys and bones and spends lots of time at my house. My mother
failed fostering Jesse and kept him after bringing him back to life although my
five-year-old niece claims Jesse as her dog, and like to play ‘training’ with
him. Jesse the kind of dog who likes to be all over you.
Lulu
is the kind of dog who likes to be all over you only if she feels like it and
while she watches what everyone else is doing. She is an old (but very young
looking) Rotti that we rescued from a druggie going into rehab. From what we
can gather she had never had any vet care, had old open weeping wounds,
untreated arthritis, was terribly underweight as she only got fed if and when
there was something to throw her and had lived much of her life in a shed being
milled for puppies - that were mostly sold to pay for drugs. Lulu is a very
high status dog and likes to make sure everyone curtails to her. She likes male
dogs more than females but has come a long way in accepting females over the
last few months thanks to the help of staff at a place here called K9 Heaven.
She was even reunited with one of her pups (now five years old) recently at K9
Heaven. Lulu would have been a great mother and now loves to sleep under the
duvet with her face on a silk pillow! So would I!
Although
I have lived with bigger dogs I lover smaller ones too and the tiniest dog in
my life was a teacup terrier who I used to foster and at his best he only
weighed around one kilo!
You mentioned that working
dogs work hard and play hard - with handlers ensuring these dogs enjoy their
work. Do you think as humans we can learn something from this?
Totally.
Dogs can switch from one mode to the other in an instant without any baggage,
and all work for them is fun. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t do it, they would
shut down. Dogs don’t ruminate on what they could or should have done, what
will come tomorrow, if they will succeed or not, or what so and so things
or said about them. They do the work when it’s there and they play when it’s
there (and sometimes even when it’s not) and rest in between. To work well they
need to be balanced, they need to eat well, stay mentally agile and physically fit.
Don’t we all?
