• Other Issues

July 2009

Dog Fostering Programs

Subscribers Only Had some prescient person warned me that I would spend nearly $1,000 on vet bills; miss out on a lot of sleep; experience many worried and tearful moments (and a certain amount of marital strife); and lose untold hours on observing, training, shopping for, and cleaning up after that puppy I was considering taking home as a foster; would I still have done it? Ah well, it’s a moot point. I did bring a puppy home from my local shelter, with the intention of spending a week or so socializing him to the world of humans (which he seemed to have little experience with), and then sending him back to the shelter to find a terrific forever home. And while I never sent him back to the shelter, I did find him a really wonderful forever home, so the story ends happily. I’m glad I did what I did, and I would love to foster another dog or puppy again someday. Knowing that I made a life-or-death difference for that one darling puppy still fills me with a warm feeling of satisfaction. But, to be perfectly honest, I’d want to be much better prepared before I fostered again. It was an experience I could barely afford – financially, emotionally, and in terms of the time I could spent on the pup. I made it work, but the experience took its toll. I’d want to be far more prepared next time, so as to maximize the joys and minimize the perils of the undertaking. My loss, your gain? Allow me to give you some helpful tips, in case you are thinking about providing a rehabilitative home, albeit a temporary one, for a needy dog or puppy. I can now share my own experiences, as well as those of a number of other foster providers (see page 22). If you are properly prepared for some of the worst things that can occur while fostering, you can prevent many of them, or at least be ready to deal with them in a graceful way. And that will make the joy of a successful fostering experience that much richer.

"Demand Behaviors" in Dogs

Subscribers Only Missy sidles up to me as I type and nudges her nose under my arm, lifting my hand off the keyboard. “I want you to pet me, now!” she says. As much as I’m reluctant to reinforce demand behaviors, her rakish one-blue-eyed, one-brown-eyed expression is irresistible. My hand drops onto the soft fur of her head, and I scratch briefly behind her ear before asking her to go lie down. She obliges, curling up under my desk. I laugh as Scooter, our recently rescued Pomeranian, stands on his hind legs in front of the sofa and waves his front paws at me. “I want up, now!” he says. Because he’s cute, and because I want to reinforce his affiliative social behavior, I reach down and scoop up his furry little body and deposit him next to me. These are “demand behaviors,” often frowned upon in the dog training world. Yet, from another perspective, they are simply my dogs’ way of communicating their desires to me. There’s a grey area between acceptable communication and unacceptable demand behavior; what’s perfectly appropriate to one dog-person may be annoyingly inappropriate to the next. Who gets to decide what’s acceptable for your dog? You do. A dog’s mission in life is to make his world work for him to get good stuff. His goal is to get as much good stuff as possible, perhaps including a safe, predictable environment, lots of attention from his human, opportunities to herd sheep or chase rabbits, plenty of bone-chewing time, hikes in the woods, running after flying discs, sailing over flyball hurdles, or a soft bed upon which to lay his body. Recognizing that those with opposable thumbs are more able than he to open doors, throw tennis balls, and operate can openers, a dog spends a good part of his time figuring out how to manipulate his humans into making good stuff happen. Although he’s never studied B.F. Skinner and the science of behavior, he knows exactly how operant conditioning works. He repeats behaviors that make good stuff happen or those that make bad stuff go away, and controls himself from repeating behaviors that make bad stuff happen or ones that make good stuff go away. (See “Operant Conditioning,” next page.)

Probiotics for Dogs

Curly, a five-year-old Standard Poodle, eats the best food his human can afford. Raw chicken, rabbit, and venison are his favorites. Tina, his two-legged companion, switches the meats every few days, mixing the protein with some sweet potato, carrots, an occasional stalk of broccoli, and always a good fish oil supplement. Plus, to be sure that Curly is getting full nutritional benefit from every delicious bite, Tina always adds a sprinkling of a probiotic and digestive enzyme supplement as a final touch. Everything Curly eats is the best of the best: human-grade ingredients, no preservatives, no by-products. But somehow, despite all of the good lovin’ and great food, Curly is a bit thin, won’t put on weight, and his stool is sometimes dry – making it hard for the poor guy to poop during his daily walks. Tina knows that something is amiss and she is worried. She was told that maybe the probiotics weren’t active, so she tried several different brands. But nothing has improved. So what gives; is it that the probiotics don’t work? Adding supplemental Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, or other probiotic organisms to your dog’s diet is almost always a good idea. This will support the resident microflora that are always present in Curly’s gut, enhancing digestion and absorption of nutrients, supporting detoxification and elimination processes, and helping to boost his immune system.

Dock Jumping for Dogs

Subscribers Only Barking dogs, speakers announcing the dog on the dock and who’s on deck, handlers pleading with their dogs to Stay, stay, stay, okay, go get it! SPLASH! The audience cheers, oohs, aaahs, and claps wildly in support of a sport that brings a smile to the face of anyone watching or listening. There are a few different types of dock jumping competitions, with new ones being invented all the time. In most events, some aspect of a dog’s leap off a dock into the water is measured, with the highest or longest jump winning the class. Long jumps and high jumps both start with dog and handler climbing a short stairway to reach the top of a dock measuring about 8 feet by 40 feet (there is some variation to dock sizes). The handler brings a toy, which has been selected based on A) the dog’s obsession with it, and B) the ease and predictability with which it can be thrown beyond the edge of the dock into the pool. For standard dock jumping (which measures forward distance), the handler leaves the dog at the far end of the dock and walks to the end closest to the pool. She then releases the dog and throws the toy into the pool as far as she can, in order to motivate the dog to leap far into the pool to reach the toy. The current record is 28 feet, 10 inches.

Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis in Dogs

The symptoms came on fast and furious. One day Chloe was a healthy, tail-wagging Labrador Retriever and the next day she was vomiting mucus all over the house. Then her vomit turned red with blood and then came matching diarrhea. Chloe had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, or HGE. Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis is a mystery disease. No one knows what causes it and there is no recommended prevention. It does not seem to be contagious from one dog to another, although dogs living together sometimes develop HGE at the same time, and some parts of the country have reported outbreaks of several cases. It’s most dangerous for small dogs, and although some veterinarians consider toy and miniature breeds between the ages of two and four the most typical HGE patients, males and females of all breeds and ages have been affected. There are few, if any, HGE warning signs. It is not usually accompanied by a fever. Diarrhea containing bright or dark red blood is the illness’s signature symptom. Vomiting, which usually accompanies the diarrhea, typically begins as mucus or bile and then becomes bloody. Affected dogs may eat grass and vomit that as well.

Door Darting Training

Ooops (expletive deleted), there he goes again!” Sounds like the frustrated human companion of a canine door-darter – a dog who slips out the tiniest crack of an open door every chance he gets. Frustrating for the human, dangerous for the dog, who likely romps around the neighborhood just out of his owner’s reach. Here are five things to do if your dog dashes out the door...

No Regrets

Subscribers Only I wasn’t planning on fostering; it was an impulse decision (mistake #1). I had spent all day at my local shelter, helping out during an “Adopt-a-thon” event that drew a crowd of potential adopters with extended hours and reduced adoption fees. I personally matched three families with appropriate dogs that day, and was feeling really good about that adoption accomplishment. At the end of the day, the shelter director and I were taking one last tour through the kennels, noting which dogs had been adopted and which remained, when we heard a staffer exclaim, “Hey!”