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Can Dogs Drink Milk & Eat Dairy Products?

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can dogs drink milk
Many dogs enjoy milk and milk products as part of their diets and don't have any trouble digesting them. Yogurt and kefir, in particular, can be highly beneficial additions to a dog's diet. Photo Credit: Vitalii Shcherbyna / Dreamstime.com

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Any food fed to dogs will provoke an argument, but dairy products provoke more than most. 

Milk and dairy products are highly regarded because of their protein, calcium, potassium, vitamin D, B vitamins, zinc, and other nutrients. That, and the fact that most dogs love dairy products, means that milk and other milk-based products remain popular additions to canine diets.

Is Milk Bad For Dogs?

Healthy infant puppies have no trouble digesting their mother’s milk, but adult dogs are often unable to digest lactose, milk’s naturally occurring sugar. The lactose in cow’s milk is blamed for diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, bloating, flatulence, and other symptoms associated with lactose intolerance. 

Until recently, the dairy-for-dogs debate focused on how milk is produced and processed. Today’s dairy cattle are often raised in crowded conditions, fed inappropriate feed, and treated with hormones and antibiotics that leave residues and affect the quality of milk. People who consider milk a perfect food for puppies and adult dogs advocate a return to humane, organic, small-scale, grass-fed dairy farming

Pasteurization is also blamed for reducing the nutritive qualities of milk. Milk is pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria, yeast, and molds; ultra-pasteurization (treatment with higher temperatures) further extends shelf life. 

Critics of these procedures claim that pasteurization alters milk’s proteins and destroys its beneficial enzymes. Raw milk is touted by these folks as the solution. The Campaign for Real Milk (realmilk.org) provides updates, resources, and safety information about raw milk. Regulations vary by state, but in several states pet supply stores sell raw milk products for dogs.

Homogenizing has its critics, too. Fresh whole milk separates, with cream rising to the top. Some dairies sell whole milk that has a layer of cream on top but most sell homogenized milk, which has been treated under high pressure to break the cream into small particles, resulting in a uniform mixture. Because the fat molecules in goat’s milk and sheep’s milk are already small enough to create a uniform texture, they are not usually homogenized. 

New Theory About Lactose-Intolerance in Dogs

dog eating a puppuchino
It’s gotten popular for drive-through coffee chains to offer a free “puppuchino” for any dogs in your car. Typically, this is a paper cup filled with whipped cream, sometimes topped with a dog biscuit. Dogs love this treat, but whipped cream contains a lot of fat and sugar, and the serving size may be inappropriately large!

While milk production and processing methods remain key topics, the science of genetics has changed the dairy-for-dogs debate. About half of America’s dairy cows have a mutation that creates a milk protein called A1 beta-casein. Recent research has shown that A1 milk, which is produced by Holstein cattle, America’s most productive dairy cows, may be linked to human health problems such as allergies, indigestion, and even autoimmune disorders.

In contrast, cows such as Guernsey, Jersey, Charolai, Limousin, Norwegian Reds, and Brown Swiss cows have a higher percentage of the older, original A2 gene. More than 200 reports in the medical literature compare the effects of A1 and A2 milk, including “A Systematic Review of the Gastrointestinal Effects of A1 Compared with A2 Beta-Casein” in the September 2017 journal Advanced Nutrition. That study reports that A1 milk consumption is associated with digestive discomfort and inflammatory response markers in rodents and humans. 

While no conclusive studies have compared the effects of A1 and A2 milk on dogs, anecdotal reports from veterinarians, breeders, and owners describe dogs with dairy-related indigestion improving on A2 milk.

Milk that is labeled as A2 or A2A2 (which indicates that both parents of the cows that produced the milk had the A2-milk producing genes) is now easy to find in American supermarkets as well as natural food stores. 

Other animals that produce A2 milk include sheep, goats, bison, camels, donkeys, and yaks. Any of these milks can be added to food to help ill or aging dogs recover or used as a supplemental food for young puppies.

Can Dogs Eat Cheese?

Dairy products made from milk, especially cow’s milk, can produce no problems at all or acute digestive upsets in dogs. Upsets are usually blamed on lactose intolerance. 

Cottage, Swiss, and cheddar cheese contain far less lactose per ounce than whole milk. String cheese or young (rather than aged) cheddar training treats are easier for most dogs to tolerate than aged hard cheeses. Ripened cheeses contain mycotoxins that can be toxic to dogs, such as those found in Roquefort, blue cheeses, and Stilton. The fungi used to make these veined, fragrant cheeses produce roquefortine C, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and even seizures in dogs. 

Aged, hard cheeses have a high sodium content and so do feta and some other types. Too much salt can harm dogs with heart disease, Addison’s disease, advanced kidney disease, and other conditions that warrant a low-salt diet. Cottage, ricotta, mozzarella, Swiss, and goat cheese are usually low in sodium.

Another concern is the fat content of cheese, which can lead to weight gain and in some cases pancreatitis, a serious illness in dogs. Cheeses that are lower in fat include mozzarella, cottage cheese, and cheeses labeled “low fat” or “reduced fat.” Large quantities of any cheese can create problems, so moderation is your best cheese-feeding guideline.

Whey, a byproduct of cheese-making, has traditionally been fed to farm animals, including dogs. Powdered whey protein is sold as a performance-enhancing sports supplement for canine athletes and for dogs recovering from illness or injury. If your dog might benefit from a whey supplement, consult your veterinarian and adjust the dog’s diet as needed. Liquid raw-milk whey is sold at some stores and farms; see getrawmilk.com.

Dairy and Microbiome

As described in “A Better Biome: Fecal Transplants for Dogs,” WDJ February 2018, microbiome is an umbrella term that describes communities of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes in the body, especially within the digestive tract. 

“Friendly” or beneficial bacteria secrete chemicals that destroy harmful bacteria. If they are present in sufficient numbers, colonies of beneficial bacteria starve harmful microbes by depriving them of nutrients and space. A healthy microbiome is the immune system’s first line of defense. 

Lactofermented dairy products are probiotics that support the microbiome and are often recommended for dogs with yeast infections, inflammation, skin issues, allergies, and digestive disorders. 

 The most famous fermented dairy products are yogurt and kefir, and in recent years both have become popular foods for dogs. They help strengthen the immune system, aid digestion, and restore the body’s beneficial bacteria, especially after treatment with antibiotics. 

According to “Modulation of the intestinal microbiota of dogs by kefir as a functional dairy product,” a study published in the May 2019 Journal of Dairy Science, healthy adult dogs had improved gut bacteria after daily feedings of kefir for just two weeks. “Kefir could be further developed as a novel probiotic food supplement for dogs to improve the quality of life of dogs,” the study concluded.

Several types of yogurt and kefir are available in natural food markets and pet supply stores, including fresh or frozen cow’s milk and goat’s milk products, some with added ingredients (check labels). The most affordable way to feed plain, unflavored, sugar-free yogurt or kefir is to make your own, and the process is simple. 

Dehydrated live milk kefir starter grains and yogurt starters are readily available (see Amazon.com or CulturesforHealth.com). The fermentation process helps reduce lactose in milk, and so do active cultures, which continue to break down lactose during the cultured milk’s refrigeration.

Making yogurt requires a warm, steady temperature such as in an electric yogurt maker, while kefir ferments at room temperature. If available, try using organic, pasture-raised A2A2 milk or goat’s milk. Store yogurt and kefir in the refrigerator or freeze it for long-term storage. How-to videos at YouTube.com and other sites demonstrate the steps; search online for “make your own yogurt or kefir.”

Begin feeding these foods in small amounts, such as 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds of body weight added to your dog’s dinner. Wait 24 hours and watch for digestive problems such as diarrhea. If your dog enjoys the taste and feels well, add more the next day. Several experts say to feed up to 2 tablespoons of yogurt or kefir per 20 pounds of body weight per day, but many dogs in excellent health eat significantly more. Monitor your dog’s response and check with your veterinarian for the best results.

using kefir starter to make lactofermented dairy

Can Dogs Eat Ice Cream?

Dogs, like their humans, love frozen dairy treats – but frozen dairy treats may not love them back. Ice cream made with cow’s milk is likely to be high in lactose (and probably A1 milk proteins), sweetened with sugar, high in fat, and artificially flavored. Always check the ingredients; some ice cream contains xylitol, which is seriously toxic to dogs.

Ice cream products that are specially made for dogs are usually lactose- and xylitol-free but may contain sweeteners like maltodextrin, polydextrose, sorbitol, and other questionable ingredients. 

Making a healthier alternative can be as easy as freezing plain kefir or yogurt in ice cube trays, popsicle trays, or freezer pop molds. Fresh fruit, peanut butter, or other sugar-free flavorings can be added before freezing along with wooden sticks for holding the treats for your dog.

Let Your Dog Enjoy Dairy!

It’s well known that dogs love dairy! With carefully chosen ingredients, your pups can fall in love with milk-based products that love them back. 

Cataract Surgery For Dogs

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dog with cataracts
This dog has become blind from mature cataracts. Surgery to remove the cataracts may restore his vision if he doesn't suffer any complications. It will, at least, arrest the painful inflammatory changes in the eye that accompany cataract formation. Photo Credit: Phillip Kinsey / Dreamstime.com

As your dog ages, you may notice a bluish haze developing deep in his eyes, in the lenses, behind the pupils. You may start to wonder – does my dog have cataracts?

More than likely, if your dog is still able to see, this bluish haze is not a cataract, but a common, normal, aging change called lenticular sclerosis or nuclear sclerosis. 

Healthy lenses are completely transparent, meaning perfectly clear, and all light that hits them passes easily through to the retina.  With lenticular sclerosis, the lens fibers become compressed and somewhat degenerative over time, resulting in translucency. Translucent lenses are hazy or cloudy, allowing only partial passage of light. Lenticular sclerosis will not make dogs blind. They may not see fine details, but they will always see well enough to navigate without difficulty.

In contrast, cataracts are completely opaque.  This means no light can pass through to the retina, resulting in blindness.

Cataracts can develop in young and old dogs alike. Causes include inheritance (dogs with cataracts should not be used for breeding), metabolic disturbances (such as diabetes), trauma, nutritional (orphan pups on milk replacer), and chronic uveitis (an inflammatory disease of vascular tissue deep in the eye).

In addition to vision loss, chronic cataracts can cause excruciatingly painful, unmanageable secondary issues within the eye, for which our only recourse is enucleation – surgical removal of the eye. This happens because the lens continuously degenerates over time, sparking chronic inflammatory changes around it. These secondary issues include lens-induced uveitis, glaucoma (increased intraocular pressures), and lens luxation (dislocation of the lens within the eye). Chronic cataracts can also cause retinal detachment, which frequently results in permanent blindness.

Is Cataract Surgery For Dogs Worth It?

Restoring eyesight and avoiding the above-mentioned problems secondary to chronic cataracts are the two main reasons to consider cataract surgery for your dog. 

Are there reasons to not pursue cataract surgery? There sure are:

  • General health of the dog. Is he a good candidate for general anesthesia? Not always. The risk of the procedure sometimes outweighs the benefit, especially in older dogs with heart or kidney issues. Does he have reasonable life expectancy after surgery? Depends on his age, and other things such as his cancer status.
  • Condition of the eyes. Are the corneas healthy? This is important for a good surgical outcome and for vision. Are the retinas healthy? If they are not, the dog will still be blind, or will become blind, despite surgery.
  • Ability of the dog owner to commit to post-surgical care. Post-operative care after cataract surgery is pretty intense, with multiple medications and topical preparations needing to be administered frequently around the clock. Sometimes lifestyles and/or work schedules can get in the way of this.
  • Temperament of the dog. Let’s face it: Some dogs are difficult or even impossible to medicate/manage with such an intense post-operative protocol, both while in the hospital and at home afterward. This is unfortunately something that needs to be seriously considered.

What to Expect After Dog Cataract Surgery

Prior to surgery, your dog will have an electroretinogram (ERG) done to make sure that the retinas are healthy. It would be devastating to have a cataract removed to restore vision, only to find out your dog is permanently blind from retinal disease.  

The surgery is called phacoemulsification. Small incisions are made in the cornea and the lens capsule.  High frequency vibration is used to essentially pulverize the lens, which is then removed by vacuum. An artificial lens is inserted and the cornea is sutured closed.

After surgery, your dog will stay at the hospital for close post-operative monitoring for several days – longer if complications arise. The most common post-operative complications are protracted intraocular inflammation and glaucoma. Other complications include corneal ulcers, infection, and retinal detachment. 

Once your dog is home, expect to be treating him with several eye drops four to six times daily and several oral medications. An Elizabethan collar so your dog can’t rub or scratch at his eyes and activity restriction are important aspects of the post-op plan. Follow-up examinations are performed frequently in the early post-operative period, and patients generally require at least one topical medication and routine examinations for the rest of their lives.

To avoid complications and ensure a good outcome, don’t wait once your dog has been diagnosed with cataracts. Cataracts mature with the passage of time. Post-operative complications are more likely from surgery on mature cataracts. Mature cataracts are also more likely to cause lens-induced intraocular inflammation, lens instability, and loss of lens capsule integrity, which are all things that may make your dog a poor candidate for cataract surgery. If surgery is performed, these complications may lead to a poorer prognosis for vision and comfort following surgery and may interfere with the successful placement of an artificial lens.

One Eye or Two?

If both eyes are affected with cataracts, whether to operate one or both depends on the stage of the cataracts and the overall health of the eyes. Because cataract surgery in dogs requires general anesthesia, if both eyes have cataracts and are candidates for surgery, both eyes are usually operated as one procedure. Some dogs may only have one eye that is a candidate for surgery despite bilateral cataracts. 

If both your dog’s eyes are candidates for surgery, you may feel like well, maybe I’ll just have one done, since that would essentially restore vision, and obviously cost less than doing both. You can talk to your veterinary surgeon about this, but remember, untreated cataracts have the potential to cause worsening, painful damage inside the eye, which could end in enucleation. So there are more reasons to remove the cataract than just restoring vision.

Whenever possible, the best advice is to pursue surgical correction of cataracts, sooner than later. But if you or your dog are not good candidates for this, for the reasons described above, don’t lose hope. Talk to your veterinarian about instituting topical therapy with anti-inflammatory drops, to try to prevent cataract-associated ocular disease, and have your dog’s ocular pressures checked for glaucoma every four to six months.

Finally, do everything you can to make life as easy as possible for your blind companion. A resource worth checking out is Living With Blind Dogs: A Resource Book and Training Guide for the Owners of Blind and Low-Vision Dogs, by Caroline D. Levin. 

Cataracts in Diabetic Dogs

Diabetic cataracts in dogs are caused by high blood sugar. Excess sugar (glucose) in the lens is converted to sorbitol, which draws water into the lens. This causes the lens to swell, resulting in disruption of lens fibers and oxidative stress, which ultimately results in cataract formation.

About 75–80% of diabetic dogs will develop cataracts within a year of their diagnosis, regardless of how well their diabetes is controlled. Diabetic cataracts tend to form quickly and frequently cause severe lens-induced uveitis, which in turn can result in glaucoma. Glaucoma is notoriously difficult to manage in these patients and many cases end in enucleation. The best bet for a diabetic dog with cataracts is prompt surgical correction.

There is not yet a way to prevent cataracts from forming in the eyes of diabetic dogs. But Kinostat, by Therapeutic Vision, Inc., is a promising new topical ophthalmic solution on the horizon, with provisional approval to go to market in the near future.

The conversion of glucose to sorbitol in the lens is mediated by an enzyme called aldose reductase. Kinostat uses an aldose reductase inhibitor to block the conversion of glucose to sorbitol in the lens, thereby preventing the damaging influx of water into the lens. 

In a clinical trial, diabetic dogs treated with Kinostat were 85% less likely to form cataracts than diabetic dogs treated with placebo.

Help Your Dog With Allergies

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You can help your dog with allergies by learning what triggers them.
This dog's sneeze is cute but sneezing and a runny nose are a human's response to seasonal allergies. In contrast, dogs respond to allergens with extreme all-over itching. Photo Credits: Olgagorovenko / Dreamstime.com

Dogs are most commonly allergic to flea bites, and they can be allergic to certain foods, but environmental allergies often present the biggest challenge to caring owners who want to help their dogs. 

Preventing exposure to allergens is the simplest solution to a hypersensitive overreaction to a substance. But exposure to fleas can be controlled with flea-preventative medicines or pesticides, and exposure to allergy-causing foods can be curtailed as soon as an observant owner can identify which foods trigger the dog’s hypersensitive response. It’s much more difficult to prevent your dog’s exposure to pollen, fungal spores, and/or dust mites – invisible stuff in the air. 

Extreme itching is the classic sign of an allergic reaction in dogs, known more technically as a hypersensitive immune reaction. In a true allergic response, the dog’s immune system detects an ordinarily benign substance and treats it as a pathogenic invader. In the simplest terms, the allergic dog’s body produces chemical defenses to the erroneously identified “invaders,” prompting an acute inflammatory response. This, in turn, causes the dog to itch all over. 

Flea-bite hypersensitivity can generally be ruled out if you’ve never seen a flea on your dog or your other pets and you practice good flea prevention. Food allergies affect dogs year-round, so if your dog doesn’t have fleas, and his allergy symptoms wax and wane with the seasons, they are probably environmental.

Understanding Environmental and Seasonal Allergies in Dogs

Canine Atopic Disease (CAD), the veterinary term for environmental allergies, affects an estimated 15 percent of all dogs. Dogs with CAD itch and scratch. Any dog can have an occasional itch, but dogs with CAD will stop in the middle of eating or playing in order to scratch or chew their feet, rub their faces against carpets or furniture, lick their stomachs and groin areas, or scratch their “armpits.” The trigger may be pollen, mold spores, dust mite droppings, or other environmental antigens.

Constant licking can create new problems by damaging the skin and producing lick granulomas – thick, hairless red patches that may be accompanied by infection. Violent head shaking (a reaction to an itching sensation in the ear) can result in an aural hematoma, in which a blood vessel in the ear pinna (the ear “flap”) bursts, causing painful and disfiguring swelling. 

Another allergy-related symptom is the hot spot, an outbreak of pyotraumatic dermatitis, wet eczema, or a Staphylococcus intermedius infection. Painful, swollen, and warm to the touch, hot spots can emit pus and smell awful. In many dogs, hot spots mark the return of seasonal allergies. 

More Articles About Canine Allergies

For general information about canine allergies, see:
  All About Allergies,” July 2021
Prevent Ear Infections,” April 2021
  Allergy Relief Meds – The Next Generation,” November 2021

For information about flea allergies and flea control, see:
Quick, Make Dog Fleas Flea,” July 2021
  Flea Control Options,” April 2022

To learn about food allergies in dogs, see:
Elimination Round (Food Elimination Trials)”, March 2015
Limited Ingredient Dog Food – How to Find the Best Dog Food
for Allergies and Intolerances,” February 2022

Identifying Your Allergic Dog’s Allergens

Environmental allergies have many possible causes and triggers, so veterinarians spend time looking for and ruling out potential causes. You can help by being observant and keeping track of your dog’s medical history. Even a simple note on a calendar (“March 12: Leroy licking his feet”) can help lead to a diagnosis. Note any changes in your dog’s health, habits, or attitude, and keep your notes from year to year.

“You can find almost everything you need to know by taking a good history,” says Donna Spector, DVM, DACVIM, an internal medicine specialist who has practiced at leading institutions including the Animal Medical Center in New York. “There are good clues to be found in such facts as the environment the dog lives in, when the allergies started, the location on the body that is most affected, whether there is a seasonal component, the dog’s breed, and any medications he’s been given and what sort of response he had to those.”

Intradermal allergy testing, which is considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of atopic dermatitis, involves injecting small quantities of 40 to 60 different allergens into the dog’s skin, typically under general anesthesia. A visible swelling will occur at the injection site if a dog has a reaction to the allergen. 

Another testing method involves checking a blood sample for antibodies to allergens that are known to contribute to atopic dermatitis. The results of these tests can be used to formulate an allergen-specific immunotherapy based on the offending allergens. Note that blood tests for canine atopic disease are not reliable for diagnosing food allergies, although they are sometimes used for that purpose.

Preventing or Minimizing Exposure of Allergens

Your veterinarian will be an invaluable ally in helping you identify the cause of your dog’s allergy symptoms and recommend medications for relieving those symptoms (and treating any secondary infections caused by excessive licking or scratching). Also, she may recommend allergen immunotherapy, also known as desensitization. This involves gradually increasing exposure to relevant allergens through subcutaneous injections or drops given under the tongue, in order to help build tolerance to allergens. Immunotherapy may take up to a year to become effective but, when successful, its results are long-lasting. 

Veterinary care aside, there are a number of things that you can do to significantly reduce your dog’s exposure to the environmental allergens that wreak havoc on her body.

Prevention is crucial in dealing with environmental allergies, so consider when, where, and how your dog might be exposed to substances that trigger reactions. 

Indoors, forced-air heating and air conditioning can spread allergens such as dust (and dust mites) and pollen, so install filters that reduce their migration. Whenever possible (such as when vacuuming, or in your heating system) choose HEPA (high efficiency particulate-absorbing) filters to avoid reintroducing allergens back into the pet’s environment. 

Reduce indoor exposure to dust and dust mites with frequent vacuuming (with your dog in a separate room) and dust frequently. Consider removing dust reservoirs such as house plants, rugs, carpets, fuzzy throws, fuzzy toys, and pet beds. When it isn’t possible to remove or replace these items, do what you can to keep them allergen-free, by washing them frequently (and drying in the dryer, not on a line outdoors). 

Mold spores are another common allergen for hypersensitive dogs. Mold is often overlooked as an environmental allergen,but its multicellular fungi are present almost everywhere. Favored mold surfaces include wood, leaves and plants, air ducts, soil, and basements. 

Mold thrives in damp, humid environments, multiplying through microscopic spores that disseminate through the air. Dehumidifiers and improved air flow through your house can help discourage mold growth. Whenever possible, keep your dog and his bed out of damp basements or garages. Professional mold remediation may improve your dog’s health, and yours, too!

Spring and Summer Are Most Challenging for Seasonal Allergies in Dogs

These seasons are when pollen-related allergies spike. It only makes sense to limit your dog’s outdoor time during peak allergy seasons – don’t let your dog put her head out the car window while traveling, and don’t let her nap on a pollen-covered deck or porch. If you want to give her an opportunity to soak up some sunshine, spray the deck off first or put down a clean blanket for her to lie on. 

Keep lawn grass cut short to reduce seed and pollen production, and keep your dog off the lawn for one to two hours after mowing or when the lawn is wet.

You’ll probably be able to develop a sense for which type of pollen most aggravates your dog’s allergies. Is it the early-blossoming trees and plants? Grasses? During times of peak pollen levels of the offending plants, bathe your dog frequently using hypoallergenic shampoos, leave-in conditioners, cool water rinses, and soothing coat sprays. Rinse your dog’s paws when coming in from outdoors, and wipe her coat several times daily with a damp microfiber cloth to help remove pollen. And prevent her from licking her paws or coat (thus ingesting pollen) as much as possible. 

Which Is Best For You: Adopting an Adult Dog vs Puppy

child with puppy
This is the sort of image that many of us have in our heads when we adopt a puppy - a blissful scene of snuggling with an adorably compliant pup. While a fair amount of this can be expected, potential puppy owners also need to be prepared for not-so-blissful scenes, such as standing outside in the rain, waiting for a puppy to poop (or finding poop indoors), and throwing away your favorite pair of shoes after they've been chewed. Puppyhood has it all!

When I learn that someone is interested in one of my foster puppies, I know what they’re picturing: A tiny, miraculous little ball of fur, curled up sound asleep in their lap. The family is gathered ’round. The house feels so cozy. Nobody’s looking at a screen, and nobody wants to be anywhere but here. 

Those half-hours do happen with a puppy! And I would love for the potential adopter to experience them. It’s just that I want to be sure that the would-be new puppy owner knows there are 47 other half-hours in each puppy day – and some of them can be of a much less blissful nature. 

If you’re thinking about adopting a puppy, here’s my question to you: Is puppyhood, in all its intensity, right for you, right now? 

Are You Ready for a Puppy?

The appeal of a waggy, cuddly eight-week-old puppy is obvious – so obvious, in fact, that I spend a great deal of time trying to talk people out of a puppy. That may seem a strange angle for a person who has fostered 200 rescue puppies, but for everyone’s sake, I’m in search of a good match. 

When chatting with potential adopters, I try to help them discern whether their expectations of puppyhood are realistic and gauge their readiness level. I answer any questions they may have about puppy care – and I compare that to the experience of adopting an adult dog.

There are three possible outcomes to that conversation, all good ones:

1. The humans reveal how much they really do know about living with a puppy, and it’s clear that they’re actually ready.

2. The humans recalibrate, and then, after adjusting their expectations, decide they truly are ready for a puppy. 

3. The humans recalibrate and exclaim, What in the name of all that is holy were we thinking?” They decide to adopt an adult dog, instead.

Every one of those outcomes results in a better, happier transition for the puppy! (And of course, for the humans.)

Self-Exam for Determining If You’re Ready for a Puppy

Since I can’t conduct that conversation in person with you – usually I’d do this as you are covered in puppies and becoming dangerously smitten with my latest foster litter – we’ll just conduct yours here in these pages. 

Before we start, understand this: There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. People have surprised me again and again. Folks I thought were slam dunks with what seemed an ideal set-up (big fenced yard, plenty of time and money) have been overwhelmed by their puppy, and folks to whom I handed a pup over with some trepidation (recent college grad, working full time and living alone in an apartment) have ended up hitting it out of the park. So, these days, instead of attempting to do the sizing up myself, I just suggest folks talk through these questions, and afterward the right answer seems to surface.

Ask yourselves:

  • How many hours of the day is somebody at home?
  • Is the person at home the most the same person who is excited about caring for a puppy?
  • What’s the plan for when nobody will be home for two hours or more?
  • Picture a typical day in your home. Think about where the puppy would be and what the puppy would be doing, hour by hour. Don’t visualize a movie puppy who is sound asleep every time that’s convenient for the story. Add some jumping, tinkling, barking, chewing, and pooping to that vision.
  • Now picture a more challenging time in your home (a business trip, a soccer tournament, a remodeling project, hosting Thanksgiving) and think about how that would play out with a little puppy to manage. 
  • Do you have a “village” – friends and neighbors who might be able to cover for you at times? If not, can you afford to hire pet-sitters?
  • How do you feel about taking your puppy outside to potty almost every half hour, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., for the first few weeks?
  • If that sounds pretty terrible, then how does a puppy who’s not really potty trained yet at 6 months sound to you? (Sorry. Just trying to help.)
  • How good can your household be about keeping a pup in a contained area, and putting things out of puppy’s reach? 
  • If not so good, then how relaxed can you be about household damage (ruined carpets, gnawed furniture, chewed shoes)? 
  • Is someone in your household excited about training? Is someone looking forward to helping the puppy learn (through patient everyday teaching) how to live peaceably in the human world? 

If this list has you wavering just a bit – good! You’re on your way to a more solid decision, either way. 

Consider Adopting an Adult Dog

adopting an adult dog
Some worry that they won’t bond as well with an adult dog as with a puppy. Untrue! The author’s family has adopted three of their former foster dogs as adults, and couldn’t feel any closer to them. (Shown are Mojo and daughter Claire.)

Here’s a key bit of information that may have eluded you amid the puppy frenzy: There are wonderful adult dogs who won’t tinkle on your carpet. Not even once! In fact, they may be happy to lie around all day while you’re working, never chew a thing, and welcome you home with a nice wag. 

Sounds nice, eh? That will not happen with a puppy. 

There is a whole universe of beyond-puppyhood dogs out there, from adolescents just past the peeing-and-chewing stage, to sweet old-timers just looking for a couch for their twilight years. There are rescues and purebreds – and rescue purebreds – of all ages. Honestly, sometimes other people are better equipped to socialize and train a puppy than you are, and you can get very lucky having their dog land in your lap months or years later.

Now that you think about it, maybe an older dog sounds good after all, right? Except that you’re worried you and the dog won’t be as bonded if you miss the puppyhood stage together. Well, “BWA-HAHAHA,” say all of us who’ve had any number of adult dogs join our families. 

Then there’s the concern that an adult dog will come with problems. Sure. Could be. None of us is perfect, right? But – unless you are lucky and a perfect trainer – your supposedly blank-slate puppy (no such thing, really, what with genes and all) will likely have and/or develop some behaviors that you have to work through, too. 

One thing I have seen way too many times is the person who got an 8-week-old puppy because they wanted, at all costs, to avoid having a problematic dog – and then they ended up creating a dog with problematic behaviors because they didn’t have the interest and patience required to nurture and train a puppy. 

Just to wrap up this older-dog option: If the intensity of true puppyhood feels like a poor match for your life right now, how great that you can consider skipping that chapter entirely and jumping ahead in the story with an older dog! Maybe there will be a point later on where your circumstances are better suited to meeting the challenges of puppyhood, and your by-then wonderfully settled dog will then help you welcome an 8-week-old to the family.

Choosing a Puppy After All? Go All In

adopting a puppy
If you have fully considered all the “cons” of adopting a puppy, and are prepared to make the changes to your home and schedule that will be required to properly manage, socialize, and train her, congratulations!

Maybe, though, you’re ready. Maybe you looked at that bullet-point list of questions and winced a bit at first, realizing that this means you can’t go to Lisa’s for Thanksgiving after all and that you’re going to have to give up that fun softball league for a while. But after thinking through the implications, you came to the delightful conclusion that you feel more than ready to back-burner everything else. 

In that case, now I don’t have to hold back about the benefits of adopting a puppy. Only after I’m sure you’ve considered the downsides can I tell you my secret: While I’m theoretically prioritizing the puppy instead of my own needs for a while, it turns out that puppyhood-done-right grounds me in my happiest day-to-day life. Here’s why:

  • Suddenly, hanging out at home doing “not much” earns you a gold star instead of a guilt trip! Why? Because now, when you are just sitting on the couch snuggling with your puppy, gazing into her eyes, singing her a little song about how cute she is, what you’re doing is not categorized as wasting time, procrastinating, or being lazy. You are, in fact, doing the most important work you could be doing right at that moment: building your puppy’s bond with you. How swell is that?
  • Overnight, 90% of your conversations become about dogs, which feels about right to me. 
  • Socializing a puppy is an amazing excuse to have your favorite people over, and all you have to do is provide the puppy! 
  • You’re outside every half hour in the beginning and for longer periods once the pup can go on big walks. Life is better with more fresh air, sunshine, and trees.
  • There’s now a totally legit reason to skip those big shindigs you rather dreaded. 
  • It’s your job to give your puppy a great introduction to the wider world, and part of that is facilitating nice meetings with strangers. That means, even if you’re normally an introvert, for the sake of your puppy you’re going to have a bunch of chats with new folks on your walks. At worst, it is surprisingly lovely; at best it transforms your view of the world.

It turns out that once you temporarily back-burner part of your life to make way for the puppy, your front burner starts to overflow with things that – in addition to being critical for puppy raising – can bring you happier days, a more relaxed psyche, and a more hopeful window on the world. One of the unexpected outcomes of puppyhood can be a permanent re-arrangement of the burners.

As you embark on this adventure, know that the very same puppy can create two extremes of an experience. The difference is in the human mindset. You can choose to take a deep breath and love this. You know what happens then?

That tiny, miraculous little ball of fur is curled up, sound asleep in your lap. The family is gathered ’round. The house suddenly feels so cozy. Nobody’s looking at a screen, and nobody wants to be anywhere but here. 

Let’s do this. 

Benefits of Mixed Breed Dogs

5
nancy kerns with dog

In 2021, the Nationwide pet insurance company reached a landmark of actively insuring more than a million pets. At the same time, the company established a dedicated veterinary analytics team with the goal of using insurance data to promote better health for all pets. So far this year, the team has released two fantastic white papers that contain a treasure trove of information about the relative risks of various illnesses in various breeds and mixed-breed dogs. More releases are forthcoming.

The Nationwide team’s first release concerned dogs whose popularity has exploded in the past decade: Poodle-mixes. Poodle-crosses dramatically increased as a relative share of Nationwide’s pet health insurance policies, while the relative share of the parent breeds decreased. The number of Goldendoodles insured by Nationwide increased 347% from 2013 to 2021. Labradoodles increased 196%. All Poodle-mixes increased 160%. In contrast, the number of Standard Poodles and Labrador Retrievers each decreased by 32%. 

More significantly, as part of a larger study on relative cancer risk in 1.61 million dogs over a six-year period, Nationwide looked at Doodles and cancer. Relative risk for cancer claims is dramatically lower in Labradoodles and Goldendoodles compared with their contributing breeds (Standard Poodles, Golden Retrievers, and Labrador Retrievers). Goldendoodles were shown to have a 75% reduction in cancer risk than the parent breeds’ relative risk. Labradoodles had a 62% reduction in cancer risk than their parent breeds’ relative risk.

The second white paper released by Nationwide looked at the risk of cancer by breed and by body system. Purebred dogs as a group have a higher risk for cancer claims than do crossbred and mixed-breed dogs, at 1.9 times the relative risk.

The relative risk for cancer claims in purebred dogs varies significantly by breed and size. Boxers, Beagles, and Golden Retrievers have the highest relative risk for a cancer claim in the top 25 breeds by popularity, while Pomeranians, Chihuahuas, and French Bulldogs have the lowest. Toy and small dogs of all kinds consistently had lower relative risks for a cancer claim.

The literature has long established that some purebreds are over-represented in specific cancer types. Nationwide’s data quantified those values and identified which breeds and body systems may be at greatest risk. If you own a purebred dog, it would definitely be worth your time to look up these white papers and check the data for your breed’s cancer risk, for greater awareness and so you can provide appropriate surveillance. See petinsurance.com/petdata and click on “Download the white paper.”

Where to Buy Dog Food to Save Money

10
how to save money on dog food
Joining a club or membership program is the easiest way to realize significant savings on your dog's food.

If you have a big dog, more than one medium or large dog, or, like me, you sometimes foster for a shelter or rescue group, it makes sense to reduce your food and other dog-care supplies by taking advantage of any savings program offered by the retailers you buy from. 

While the savings are sometimes just a dollar here and a dollar there, if you consistently use every money-saving option available to you, by the end of the year, your savings can add up to as much as an annual wellness visit to your vet, complete with blood tests! It’s well worth the minor trouble it takes to register for these savings.

Shop For Dog Food Locally When You Can

I am a huge proponent of shopping at local, independent pet supply stores whenever possible. Independent store owners and workers are usually knowledgeable and passionate about helping their clients find the best and most appropriate foods for their dogs – and they tend to be discerning, early adopters of new, novel, local, and top-quality products that are not sold in chain pet stores or online. 

I encourage dog owners to seek out stores that offer solid support and good advice along with their top-quality foods – but I also know that stores like this don’t exist in every town. (I know, because I live in a town without one!) 

If you are lucky enough to have such stores in your area, ask if the store offers any sort of “frequent buyer” or membership club discounts. If they don’t, let them know why you’re asking, and, if they’re interested, explain your situation and hopes for reducing the cost of feeding your dog the very best!

If You Lack Local Options for Buying Dog Food

If, however, you live where there are no such stores, or you are on a tight budget, buying better-quality foods at a chain pet supply stores that offer free shipping, membership discounts, and rewards programs can be a good way to save.

Most of the chain pet supply stores offer similar types of benefits and discount programs, but the chain with the most to offer is…

Petco. Petco currently offers a 10% discount off any order over $50 when you buy online and pick it up in the store. All orders of more than $35 can be shipped to your home at no charge.

Petco also offers a membership club, Petco Pals. All eligible Petco purchases, whether bought online or in a store, earn points at the rate of $1 spent = 1 point. The member earns a $5 off reward for every 167 points. One catch is that the rewards revert to zero is your account is not used for any purchases in 90 days.

If you sign up for “repeat delivery” – a subscription plan for your dog’s food, albeit one that you can change or cancel at any time without penalty – you will receive 35% off your first order. All future orders will be discounted by 5%. A bag of the food I’ve been feeding my foster puppies ordinarily costs $54.99, but if I bought it by subscription, I’d pay $52.24 ($2.75 in savings). 

Occasionally, the Petco website or app will offer additional savings if you buy more than one of the item you are considering. For example, the site currently lists a pet seat belt extender for $11.99, but says if you buy two, they will be sold at 30% off ($16.79 instead of $23.98). Check the “monthly offers” page for particularly good deals. I’ve found great pet beds on sale for $20, marked down from $40 and more.

The chain also offers a Petco branded credit card that gives you two points for every dollar you spend using the card at Petco (online or in a store), two points for every $3 spent using the card in grocery stores, and1 point for every dollar spent using the card elsewhere. You can get 20% off your first purchase at Petco using your new card.

The biggest benefit Petco offers – and one I haven’t found elsewhere – is available only through its phone app: In an attempt to drive consumers to the app, Petco gives you a free bag of dog (or cat) food for every seven bags (of greater or equal value) that you buy using the app. As a person who sits at a desktop computer most days, I’ve had a hard time remembering to order food using the app instead of the computer I’m already using, but when I can remember, it’s well worth the trouble. Of course, people who are more accustomed to using their phone apps for their coffee and grocery orders will have less trouble earning this perk! 

Petsmart. The Petsmart membership program is called Treats. Members earn Treats points for Petsmart purchases, at a rate of eight points per dollar spent in Petsmart stores or online. You can redeem the points for discounts on any in-store or online Petsmart purchases, or donate points to Petsmart Charities. Treats members receive exclusive offers via email and advance notice of sales and in-store events.

Petsmart offers free shipping on all orders over $49. 

If you agree to receive marketing texts from the Petsmart Treats program, you will be rewarded upon sign-up with 1,000 Treats points, and receive exclusive offers and sales notifications via text.

Petsmart offers an “autoship” (subscription) service, and offers 35% savings on your first autoship order. You’ll save 5% on all future autoship purchases. You can change items, adjust shipping dates, or cancel the program at any time without penalty.

Pet Supplies Plus. If you enroll in Pet Supplies Plus Rewards program, you will earn five points for every dollar you spend in its stores or its online shop. You can earn “bonus points” for activities such as taking a poll, watching a video, or checking out an article all on your Member Dashboard. You can also earn free products from select brands after qualifying purchases. 

Members of the PSP Rewards program get early and esxclusive access to special events and giveaways. You can redeem your rewards points on purchases for discounts or donate your points to support animal shelters or charities. Unredeemed points expire one year after they are earned. Pet Supplies Plus offers an autoship program with free delivery on orders of more than $35, but these deliveries are limited to locations that are seven miles or less from a PSP store.

Cost-Cutting Do's and Don'ts

Never buy the least expensive dog foods. Look at the ingredients and then compare to the ingredients of more expensive foods; the difference should be apparent (but you can also see our dry food reviews, in our February issues, and canned food reviews in our October issues, for more information about what to look for in a good-quality food). 

When buying dry (or dehydrated or freeze-dried) food, buy large bags. The price per pound of food is lowest in large bags. The exception to this rule is if you are feeding just one dog, especially if the dog is small. The longer a bag is open, the more the fats will oxidize (grow rancid). If it takes more than about three  to four weeks to get through a bag of food, buy the next size down next time.

Join any membership program that reduces what you pay. None of the chain stores charge for their membership programs, and the savings are significant.

Check for in-store specials and promotions. 

When shopping at national chain stores, check the online price of anything you are interested in buying. Often, the online price is less than the in-store price. Ask the store to match their online price; they usually will.

low price dog food
Think about what sort of food you can buy that costs only $0.40 per pound. The ingredients are about as poor as you can imagine: Corn, meat and bone meal, wheat, soybean meal, wheat middlings, poultry by-product meal, and animal fat – yuck!

Other Types of Discount Programs for Dog Food

Online-only retailers also offer subscription programs with discounts. Chewy.com offers free shipping on all purchases over $49. Its autoship (subscription) program allows you to schedule deliveries of any products sold by Chewy and reduces the cost of anything you buy by 5%. The items or shipping dates can be changed with every order and the autoship program can be cancelled at any time.

Some pet food makers also offer frequent-buyer and subscription programs. Of course, the fresh- and frozen-food makers have made pre-scheduled ordering and direct-shipping a cornerstone of that pet-food niche. But even some makers of dry foods offer discounts to regular buyers of their products. 

Download The Full May 2022 Issue PDF

  • Puppy or Adult
  • Dogs And Cataracts
  • Save $$$ On Dog Food
  • Growling At People
  • Got Milk?  Dogs & Dairy
  • Help Your Allergic Dog
  • Prescription Dog Foods: Do They Really Help?
  • Veterinary Dog Foods
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How Dog Ownership Has Changed

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dog agility training
Today, many of us dog lovers take classes and take part in training-oriented activities with our dogs just for fun! Only "dog show people" did that when I was a kid.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how different the experience of dog ownership is today than it was in my youth.

In the April issue, I wrote an article about the various flea preventatives (oral and topical, prescription and over-the-counter) that are available to dog owners. I mentioned in that article that many young pet owners have never even seen a severely flea-infested dog, whereas when I was a teenaged and then a young adult dog owner (in the late 1970s / early 1980s), pretty much all the dogs I was familiar with had at least some fleas. The preventatives that we have available to us today are so much safer and more available today than they were back then.

That article also mentioned how these parasite control treatments have made it so much more appealing to live with dogs in our homes, on our sofas, and on (or in!) our beds. My parents loved dogs and we had a lot of them when I was growing up in the 1960s and’70s, but only a couple of our dogs (an intact purebred Cocker Spaniel and an intact purebred Miniature Poodle) were largely kept in the house – and this was probably more about keeping them from getting bred by random intact male dogs (though that happened more than once). But, as a child who wanted all the dogs to sleep in my room, I recall my mom citing everything from the possibility of fleas and worms to ringworm and mange as reasons the dogs could NOT sleep with me. Today, many (if not most) family dogs sleep in the rooms or on the beds of the dog-loving kids in the family, if not the parents’ room or bed!

kid with dogs
WDJ Editor Nancy Kerns and some of the family dogs, perhaps 1972?

Obviously, spaying/neutering was highly uncommon before the 1970s. Euthanasia rates at what are now called shelters (then commonly referred to as “dog pounds”) were very high – as much as 10 times higher than they are today. We can thank nearly ubiquitous spay/neuter – and of course, much more responsible and enlightened social attitudes about managing our dogs’ reproduction – for the reduction in the euthanasia of unwanted dogs.

I love the fact that dog-friendly, positive-reinforcement-based training is so common now. It was absolutely not the norm when I was growing up. If a dog was formally trained at all, it was with yanks on a choke chain, with no exceptions.

But I’m sad about the fact that canine separation anxiety is so common today. I never heard of a dog who panicked when left alone before I was 30! I don’t know why so many dogs seem to suffer from some amount of this anxious behavior now.

Dog-dog aggression also seems more common. Though it seems insane now, 50 years ago, most suburban dogs, some urban dogs, and nearly all rural dogs were uncontained most of the time. They wandered at will and worked out their own relationships with other dogs. I remember a few dog fights between neighborhood dogs, but I don’t recall any of the participants being labeled as incorrigible or repeat offenders.

kid holding puppy
Nancy  and a puppy in 1970. Nancy’s mom bred the family’s Cocker Spaniels and Poodle for purebred puppies at least once or twice. But the females also had a number of accidental mixed-breed litters. That was normal for the time.

About that “wandering at will” – getting hit by cars was so common when I was a kid, that veterinarians used an acronym (HBC) for the cause of a dog’s injury or death. My family alone lost at least a half-dozen dogs to traffic on the rural road we lived on from when I was about 6 years old until I was about 12. Today I think, how stupid and avoidable was that? But at the time, every family we knew had lost a dog by HBC. That’s so nuts!

Healthcare for our dogs when I was growing up was strictly limited to vaccinations and treatment for injuries or illness – and the diagnostic tools and treatments that were available seem rudimentary compared to today. If a dog survived being HBC, the vet was likely to x-ray him or her. Ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs – these are all commonly employed with great frequency today, but those tools only started to be made available to dog owners in non-university based veterinary hospitals in the past 20 years or so. Today, dogs are undergoing cataract surgery and liver transplants and treatment for every type of cancer imaginable!

This is both amazing and wonderful – and a guilt-inducing phenomenon for dog owners who can’t afford extensive treatments or high veterinary bills. “Economic euthanasia” is an evergreen problem that causes trauma and stress to owners and veterinary staff alike.

What are the most remarkable changes you’ve seen in your dog-owning lifetime?

An Update on Recent Foster Dogs & Rescues

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foster dogs
From left: Sophie the Maltipp, my dog Woody, Delilah the Great Pyrenees, and tiny Samson, my friend Leonora's dog.

I’ve been doing a lot of fostering and co-fostering and rescuing lately, and I’ve written about it here and on the WDJ Instagram page, and a bunch of the dogs have been placed now, so I’m going to update all their stories here:

In mid-January, my friend Leonora and I went to our local shelter to look at a few older puppies that were there – and we ended up bringing home a super shut-down Great Pyrenees who had come into the shelter as a stray and had been adopted and returned twice. We felt so sorry for her; she was just terrified at being back at the shelter. Leonora has a large section of her property fenced with a six-foot chain link fence, so we brought the dog to her house to hang out for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., three-day weekend – and this dog has turned into a larger project than either of us imagined she might.

Great Pyrenees Delilah
Delilah is about two or three years old. It looks like she’s had puppies in the past. She was brought into the shelter as a stray and has been adopted three times now, but keeps flunking for some reason. Her most recent adopter found her anxiety to be too much.

Leonora has a tiny dog named Samson, so we started calling the Pyrenees Delilah, just for fun. Delilah started out afraid of everything – we had to push and pull her through doorways to get her into and then out of the house, and she slept in Leonora’s bathroom at first. Sometimes she would run right to us for affection and petting – and other times, especially if she sensed you wanted to put her on a leash (whether to take a walk or get in the car), she would run away and refuse to come even for the nicest treats, pacing just out of our reach. Once she learned Leonora’s schedule, and anticipating being locked up either in the house or the very large outdoor yard (with shelter) so Leonora could go to work, she started running away (within the fenced acre) as soon as she would be taken outside to go potty. Leonora had to leash her on work mornings so she couldn’t delay Leonora’s departure. This annoying habit aside, she very slowly started to reveal more and more of her anxious but sweet disposition, and so Leonora kept her on for some weeks, allowing her to decompress from her past and apparently traumatic experiences.

At the same time, I was fostering a Maltese/Poodle-mix that a friend had adopted and then had second thoughts about. Sophie had been adopted from a home where she was neglected and insufficiently trained or supervised; she had lots of unpleasant behaviors when I first brought her home. She would get distracted and tense outdoors and not go potty, waiting until I brought her back in the house; then she would sneak off into a back bedroom and go. (Obviously, once I realized that was her pattern, I made sure to wait outside with her until she “went,” and only then would bring her back in.) She was prone to screaming when put in a crate, and had some separation anxiety. She would also bark and scream in the car, and let out a piercing BARK when anything startled her (which would startle a statue, I swear). I committed to keeping her for a month of training and then started looking for a good home for her.

I started her behavior-modification plan with TONS of exercise. We went for off-leash walks daily and played fetch several times daily, for a total of at least an hour a day. With her exercise needs finally met, her behavior improved by the day.

In early February, Leonora and I were taking our dogs (my old Otto and middle-aged Woody, and her middle-aged tiny Samson, plus our fosters Delilah and Sophie) for an off-leash (except for Delilah) walk in our local wildlife area near the Feather River, when we found a young dog who had been apparently dumped (or perhaps just lost) out there. He was adorable, and desperate to come with us, so we loaded him (somehow) into Leonora’s car and took him to our local shelter. I returned the next day and put up fliers in that area, and I checked the shelter website weekly, hoping someone would come to claim him, but no luck. The shelter named him River and he spent weeks and weeks on the adoption row.

shaved maltese poodle mix
Sophie was less cute all shaved down, but given her love of fetching and rough-and-tumble play style, she was constantly full of burs and mats. After it took an hour to get all stickers out of her coat one night, I brought her to a groomer for a total shave. She liked it!

The challenge of re-homing Sophie was that she looked like a gorgeous little lap dog for an older person – but behaved like a field-bred Labrador who wanted nothing more than to run for hours every day, preferably chasing a ball. I knew that if she were rehomed with someone who didn’t give her enough exercise, all of her not-very-enjoyable traits would come back.

I started promoting her through my personal Facebook page, with no takers. Another friend who has a nonprofit rescue offered to promote her through her group’s Petfinder account – and almost immediately we were inundated with emails and calls from older people. We had stated in the post that this was an active, barky dog who needed miles and miles of exercise daily, so almost every inquiry started, “I’m an active older person…” The problem was, all of these people went on to say they walk a mile a day, or they could walk her three miles a day and throw a ball in their backyard – and since I was walking her about 4 miles off leash every day (where she probably walked 6 miles) and throwing the ball all the way across my two acres with a Chuckit for about an hour day, none of those options sounded like enough. I didn’t want to set up Sophie for failure again, so I stuck to my guns (even though it was really hard, people were so nice!). But I felt strongly we needed someone younger and more active.

In mid-February, I was at the shelter, training a new volunteer, when some people came in with a big plastic Rubbermaid storage tub. We dread seeing tubs like this; they are always full of puppies and this was no exception. ELEVEN puppies, to be exact. Of course, the people said they “found” the puppies, who looked to be about five weeks old. The shelter staffers and I were dubious about this – I pick up strays all the time but have never found a litter of puppies! – but the shelter would rather have people bring unwanted puppies into the shelter than abandon them or sell them, unfixed. But given that we already had three litters of puppies at the shelter, and since I already had a foster dog keeping me mostly at home, I said I could foster the litter until they were old enough to get adopted. The staff took the pups into the treatment room to deworm them and get “weights, temps, and pics” of each pup. I kept working with the volunteer.

scruffy dog with puppies
Scruffy and some of the 11 foster pups pups. They 11 were about five weeks old when brought into the shelter. Scruffy was maybe 8 or 9 weeks old.

About an hour later, someone else brought another, older puppy into the shelter, saying they found him sitting in the middle of a street. A staffer came to find me, where I was still working with the volunteer. “Look,” she said, “It’s a baby Otto!” And indeed, the scruffy-faced youngster, perhaps about 8 weeks old, did look like Otto. “Could you take him home, too? What’s the difference between 11 and 12 puppies?” she asked. I said, “Sure, ok, but I better get out of here before any more puppies get brought in!”

Thank goodness for a mild spring. I was able to set up all the puppies in a large covered pen outdoors, with a special heating pad for dogs at the bottom of the dog house for cooler nighttime temperatures. I put down a thick layer of wood shavings on the bottom of the pen, and let them out to eat morning to eat from the puppy “donut” pans while I pick up all the poop in the pen. Every few days I remove all the shavings and hose the pen and let it dry completely before bedding it again.

puppies eating from donut pan
Early meal of food soaked with formula, eating from the “donut pan,” which has a round trough and a raised center. This is supposed to keep the pups from walking in the food, ha ha.

My son was born in early March, and he turned 30 this year – astonishing because he was just five when I was hired to edit the inaugural issue of Whole Dog Journal. His fiancée threw him a surprise party, and I hired a young person I know, who used to rent a room from me at my office/house, to look after the puppies for a night so my husband and I could go to the Bay Area and attend the surprise party and see some friends. The adult dogs got split between my sister’s house and Leonora’s house. My husband had fun telling everyone, “Well, we have to get home. You know Nancy has 15 dogs at home, don’t you?” Shoot, he was right: Otto and Woody, the Maltipoo, and 12 puppies. Oy!

newly adopted maltese poodle mix
A newly shaved Sophie with her new family, hurray!

In mid-March, I received an application for the Maltipoo from a couple who lived about four hours from me. They appeared to be in their late 40s, no kids. They worked at home. They lived on acreage. They walk a lot – and had owned hunting dogs in the past, as well as little dogs in the very recent past. To make a long story short, I ended up driving to their house and meeting them and their other little dog, and was satisfied that they were home enough, committed enough, active enough, and knowledgeable enough to take on Sophie and all her crazy behaviors. They loved her at first sight and I left her with them that day. They love and appreciate her sweetness and activity level and interest in playing and learning tricks. It was a perfect adoption, and I’m grateful to my friend for sharing her post.

Then another friend who runs a small rescue group contacted me about the litter of 11, offering to take some of them for her group to adopt. I contacted the shelter and asked if they’d like to transfer some of the pups to this other group. This would make things much easier when it came time to adopt them all; we wouldn’t have such a glut of very similar-looking puppies. My friend’s group took four of the pups – and I couldn’t believe how much easier it was to feed and clean up after eight puppies than 12 of them.

2 dogs laying in grass together
Scruffy and Woody, hanging out.

I started keeping the unrelated, older puppy with me and my adult dogs for much of the day. The age difference between him and the smaller, younger pups meant that they were starting to whine and run from him when he bounded toward them. I let him work that out with fun Uncle Woody, who was happy to roll the chunky pup over and let him blow off some steam by chewing more-or-less gently on each other’s limbs.

By this time, my friend Leonora had been fostering Delilah for two months. The beautiful dog was completely out of her shell now, racing in and out of the house with ease. She had finally become comfortable with every room in the house, would enter the living room and sleep on the couch, get in and out of the car with ease, and was getting a little better at meeting new people without running or freezing. We started promoting her on the shelter’s social media, emphasizing that she needed a soft landing due to her past failed placements.

great pyrenes and puppy
Delilah has been a dream babysitter with Scruffy. They sleep together in my office at night. Note Otto keeping a safe distance in the doorway on his no-slip mats.

The shelter took a call from one person who sounded great, who had a very securely fenced property of more than five acres; if she could live with horses, goats, chickens, barn cats, and other dogs, she could live there! Leonora and I drove her for an interview, to see how she would do, and it appeared as if she would be happy to live peacefully with all of those other species. We warned the adopter that with yet another change of home, she might be anxious again for a while. We begged her to give the big dog some time to adjust, but the adopter struggled with Delilah’s unpredictable, on-and-off habit of being hard to catch and difficult to convince to, alternately, come into the house or go out of the house. After not quite two weeks, she pulled the plug and returned the dog. This time, she came back to my house to stay here for a while.

But by now, the puppies were old enough and big enough for spay/neuter and adoption. The shelter had me send three puppies a week to the shelter, starting with the biggest ones, and they got snapped up as quickly as they got altered, with the last ones (except for the scruffy guy) going to their new families this week.

adopted dog with new family
River and his new family.

And get this! I went by the shelter on Monday evening, the one day they are open late, to bring in the last pup who was going to get neutered – just in time to see a young couple walking out the door with a dog they just adopted: It was River, the stray Leonora and I rescued from where he had been (presumably) dumped out in the wildlife area! A happy ending for that guy, too.

So what about the scruffy guy, who has been big enough and old enough, really, to go back to the shelter for adoption ever since his “stray dog hold” expired, a week into his stay with me? He’s got a predictable hold on my heart – predictable because dang, he looks so much like a baby Otto. I sent out his DNA to Wisdom Panel, and he even has some similarities in his VERY mixed mix.

Otto’s Mix (according to Wisdom Panel)

12.5% American Staffordshire Terrier
12.5% Australian Cattle Dog
12.5% Border Collie
12.5% Chow Chow
12.5 German Shepherd Dog
37.5% Breed Groups: Asian Terrier, Sporting, Guard

Scruffy’s Mix (according to Wisdom Panel)

36% American Staffordshire Terrier
29% American Pit Bull Terrier
6% Boxer
6% German Wirehaired Pointer
5% American Bulldog
4% Great Dane
3% Australian Cattle Dog
2% Chow Chow

I’ve been wrestling all this time with the decision: To adopt, or not to adopt? If Otto had already passed on, there would be no question; I’d love to keep him. He’s an extraordinarily calm, even-tempered pup, smart and confident without being at all cocky. He’s affectionate and playful – everything I’d want in a puppy!

scruffy puppy
Eye contact is ALWAYS a clincher for me. I am having a hard time resisting this pup.

But as Otto slows down and the puppy grows, there have been more moments where the puppy has annoyed Otto, or made him have to stop or turn suddenly. Otto hasn’t particularly enjoyed puppies since he was a very young dog, and in the past few years, he’s been openly impatient and intolerant of them. When they get within 10 feet of him, he starts growling; within four feet and he starts snarling and grrrrRUFFing at them. It’s been easy to keep the little puppies mostly away from him; they’ve come into close contact only outside, where there are plenty of more fun things for them to do and plenty of places where he can escape them. But obviously, if I keep the scruffy guy, the pup will be integrated into the household, where Otto can’t help but cross paths with him many times a day. I don’t want to see Otto unhappy.

I can’t say I’ve made a decision yet, but I’m starting to promote the scruffy pup to people I know, and asking them to promote him to dog-savvy people they know. In the meantime, he and Delilah have been spending nights together in my office; during the day, my office door is open and all the dogs – just four now! – can roam my two acres or snooze in my office with me while I work. We’ll see what the next few weeks bring.

Protein and Senior Dogs: Does My Dog Need a High, Moderate, or Low Protein Dog Food?

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best dog food for senior dogs
Should your senior dog be eating a high protein or low protein dog food? A moderate protein diet is likely best.

I just used WDJ’s new searchable dry dog food database to look for potential new foods to feed my 14-year-old dog, Otto. One goal when feeding most senior dogs is to find a food with a moderate amount of high-quality protein. I used the “minimum protein content” column to help me zero in on the foods that contain the amount of protein I want to feed Otto, and then looked at the ingredients of each of the candidate foods. All of that information, organized for you (and me!) in one handy place!

But allow me to explain those italicized terms a bit.

Protein levels in Dog Food: Low, high, moderate

The minimum requirement for crude protein in an adult dog maintenance diet is 18% on a dry matter basis, which (assuming an average moisture content of 10%) is 16.2% “as fed” (as it is in the package). The minimum requirement for crude protein for dogs in a “growth/reproduction” phase (or “all life stages,” which includes puppies and moms) is 22.5% dry matter, which is 20.25% “as fed” (assuming 10% moisture).

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) does not state a maximum level for protein.

We’d define “moderate” as something near the midpoint between the legal minimum and the highest amount of protein you can find in any dry dog food on the market.

Using the WDJ searchable database of approved dry dog foods, you can click on the top of the “minimum % protein content” column to make all the 1,100-plus foods appear in order by protein content. When ordered so that the foods with the lowest amount of protein appear at the top, you’ll see just a few products with just 17% and 18% protein – and these are mostly “weight control” foods. (However, a few of them are labeled as being appropriate for senior dogs, which, in our opinion, is sad. Senior dogs definitely need more protein than the minimum allowed.)

By clicking on the top of that column again, so that the foods with the highest amount of protein appear at the top, we can find products with very high amounts of protein in them, with numbers in the low 40s (43%, 42%, 41%).

The exact midpoint, in this case, is 30%. We think this is a good, moderate amount of protein for most senior dogs.

Note that there are more opinions about protein levels in dog food than there are veterinary nutritionists. This shouldn’t be a surprise; there is little consensus among experts in human nutrition about ideal protein levels, too.

Older veterinarians tend to regard foods with even moderate protein levels as potentially dangerous, or, at a minimum, a waste of money. When you feed a lower-protein diet to a dog, you decrease the amount of nitrogenous waste delivered to the kidneys for excretion in the urine; it was speculated that one could preserve the dwindling kidney function of dogs with chronic kidney disease by giving their kidneys less work to do (by feeding a lower-protein food to the dog).

However, according to veterinary nutritionists Andrea Fascetti and Sean Delaney, “the effect of protein restriction on the progression of renal damage in dogs and cats remains controversial and no definitive study exists on this matter.” (Quoted from “Nutritional Management of Chronic Renal Disease” on the website for the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.)

While it’s been demonstrated that some dogs with chronic kidney disease improve when their dietary protein is moderately restricted, this has frequently (and tragically, in our opinion) been extended to all older dogs, whether or not they have any kidney problems at all. Today, it’s well-accepted that most older dogs actually benefit from diets that contain more protein – as long as it’s a high-quality protein – than young adult dogs.

However, there is newer evidence, based on newer criteria, very high protein dog food diets is potentially harmful for dogs to eat. (See this post by Linda Case, MS, Canine/Feline Nutrition, for details.) This give us even more confidence in our advice to look for foods with moderate protein levels.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Whole Dog Journal’s 2022 Approved Dry Dog Foods

What constitutes a high-quality protein?

Broadly speaking, the quality of a protein depends on its digestibility and its amino acid profile – that is, whether it contains adequate amounts of the amino acids that dogs require. In general, animal-sourced proteins contain more of the amino acids that are essential to dogs (and they are supplied in proper ratios for benefitting dogs) than do plant-sourced proteins.

The digestibility of ingredients depends on a number of factors, too numerous to explain here. (If you’re especially curious, read Linda Case’s 2017 piece for WDJ about digestibility here.) The bottom line: Pet food companies typically conduct digestibility studies on their finished products; they should know how digestible their products are, and they should be able to furnish consumers with that information. We should all be asking for this information!

A final thing to keep in mind

The amount of protein listed on a dog food label is the guaranteed minimum present in the food. It may contain much more! To be certain, ask the company for the amount of protein in their products – a number from an actual nutrient analysis.

Pet Food Companies: Show Us the Analyses of Your Dog Foods

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nancy kerns with dog

Last month, I encouraged you to ask the makers of the foods you feed your dogs for complete nutrient analyses of those products. If you found companies refusing to answer or representatives without information, know your attempt was not wasted. You helped make manufacturers aware we want answers. 

The purpose of the exercise was not to frustrate you or to annoy the pet food companies. What I hoped to do is to highlight the fact that the industry whose products are fed to 95% of the dogs in this country can’t be bothered to provide consumers with accurate, understandable information about those products. I am outraged at that fact – and I hope that more of you will join me in my fight, in hope of pushing the industry to change. The idea that even companies with billions of dollars of annual sales can’t or won’t make nutritional information about their products available to consumers is appalling. 

While researching the article that appears on page 22 of this issue (“Drilling for Dietary Copper”), I checked the websites of every pet food maker on our “Approved Dry Dog Food” list, and found “typical” nutrient analyses on only about a third of their websites. I also searched the websites of the largest pet food companies in the world, whose products generally do not get included on our “Approved Foods” lists. Even fewer of their sites include typical or “expected” nutrient analyses for their products – and nobody provides “actual” nutrient analyses, which are the results of laboratory tests of their finished products. 

A pet food company representative, irritated with my questions, once asked me, “Do you get this information from the makers of the canned soups or breakfast cereals in your cupboard?” No, I don’t, I told him – but then, my diet mostly consists of home-prepared fresh foods. By eating a wide variety of foods, I can readily achieve “nutritional balance over time.” In contrast, the dogs who subsist almost entirely on commercial dog foods are solely dependent on the makers of those products for all of their nutrients. If there’s too much of something potentially deadly in the food that dogs eat every day, year in and year out, something that can accumulate in the bodies of some dogs, such as dietary copper – well, I’d like to know, so I can avoid that product – or at the very least, lobby for change. Or start feeding my dogs a home-prepared diet, which I should be doing, anyway!

Doesn’t it seem reasonable to ask that the companies that ostensibly provide “complete and balanced nutrition for dogs” show us, the consumers that provide their ever-increasing annual earnings, what that nutrition actually consists of? 

Please Don’t “Alpha” Your Dog

owner with dog
Author, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, is WDJ's Training Editor and author of many books on dog-friendly dog training. See "Resources," page 24, for book and contact information.

For over a decade, the scientific behavior community has been telling us that trying to be the human “alpha” is a seriously flawed approach to changing your dog’s behavior. Despite this, there is still a plethora of information online and in books that purport to teach you how to be an alpha to your dog. 

Reading through some of that advice in preparation for writing this article, I feel physically chilled. I can’t imagine living in a home where I had to “demand respect” and “assert my dominance in everything I do” around my dog, to “make him get out of my way” if he’s lying in my path, or other equally absurd recommendations. And I don’t think I’m alone; I don’t know many dog owners who want to live in some sort of canine detention center, where the dogs must be reminded at every turn that I’m the boss! 

I’m not going to go on and on; I just want to give some encouragement to anyone who has fallen prey to this sort of indoctrination. If you have been intimidated by an instructor into yanking on your dog’s leash, or told that your “softness” is the reason your dog is misbehaving, know this: These are outdated methods that are no longer recommended by today’s behavior experts. 

WE CAN ALL JUST GET ALONG

Today’s humane, successful, and enjoyable approach utilizes methods that create a relationship with your dog based on mutual trust, love, and respect. Real leadership looks like:

  • Showing and teaching. Use lure-shaping to teach your dog to lie down on cue, rather than pushing on her shoulders or pulling down on her collar. Or “capture” the down by “marking” it with the click of a clicker or a verbal marker, such as the word “Yes!” and giving her a treat whenever she lies down on her own, until she understands this is a great way to win more rewards and starts offering the “down” more frequently. Then just add your cue! (See “The Allure of the Lure,” WDJ July 2018, and “How to Get a Dog to Behave,” August 2014.)
  • Understanding. Recognize that when your dog doesn’t do something you ask her to do, it’s because something is interfering with her ability to do so – she may be stressed, distracted, in pain, or simply hasn’t learned the behavior as well as you thought.
  • Empathizing. Comfort your dog when she is stressed, hurting, or confused instead of insisting that she perform.
  • Forgiving. If your dog did something that upset you, whether she soiled your carpet or snapped at you when you picked up a shoe she had snagged, don’t hold it against her. Our dogs are doing their best to make sense of a human world that often makes no sense to them. They are, however, really good at reading our body language, and if you stay angry about something your dog has done she’ll know you’re upset with her (and be stressed about it), but she won’t know why.

Do your dog a life-enhancing favor and eschew the use of force and intimidation in favor of cooperation and trust. In the end, your role as a benevolent leader rather than an alpha dictator will make life better for both of you.

Author Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT‑KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor and author of many books on dog-friendly dog training. See “Resources,” page 24, for book and contact information.

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