I was examining a nice-looking harness at a pet products show when the sales representative caught my attention – hook, line, and sinker – by demonstrating the most unique feature I’ve ever seen on a dog harness: buckles that you can fasten and release with just one hand (and your eyes closed!). What is this sorcery?
The Belka harness straps uses magnets to strongly secure, and it’s easy to release when you’re ready to take it off.
Thanks to the magic of embedded magnets in the metal buckles of Curli’s Belka Comfort Harness, these buckles fasten themselves in a flash, lift off just as quickly by pulling a tab, and yet hold the harness on the dog super securely. While I like almost everything else about this harness, these quick-on, quick-off buckles make this a game-changer for anyone whose dog is difficult to dress, or who has difficulty manipulating regular metal or plastic quick-release buckles. (Here is a link to video of the buckles being fastened and unfastened so you can see the magic for yourself.)
The Belka provides two generously sized D-rings for attaching a leash: one at the back of the neck (better for guiding the dog) and one at the back of the harness (for use on a longer leash). It also features a large handle – great for lifting or just holding a dog closely in case of emergency.
The Belka harness doesn’t adjust around the neck, so measure your dog before choosing the size.
This harness comes in five sizes (XS – XL). The Belka slips over the dog’s head and is not adjustable at the neck (to keep the harness light), but it’s tailored nicely; as long as you check both measurements (the dog’s head circumference as well as his girth) on Curli’s online sizing chart, you’ll find it fits beautifully.
My dogs have the same chest size (girth) but Woody’s head and neck are much thicker than Otto’s. While the Large fits Otto well, the XL would have been a better for Woody, whose head measurement almost exceeded the sizing for Large, resulting in a too-snug fit around his shoulders. – Nancy Kerns
Most dog owners are aware of the threat of Lyme disease, which is caused by a pathogenic bacteria carried by ticks. But there are several more tick-borne bacteria that can cause other, equally harmful canine diseases. Preventing ticks from biting your dog is the key to preventing all of them.
Photo Credit: Zhbampton / Dreamstime.com
When we think of tick-borne diseases in dogs, Lyme disease is typically the first thing that pops into our heads. But there are other serious diseases transmitted by ticks that dog owners should be aware of.
Lyme Disease in Dogs
Believe it or not, of all the tick-borne diseases, Lyme is clinically the simplest. It typically causes limited, classic symptoms and is easy to treat. It rarely causes serious disease. The one exception to this is if it gets into the kidneys. This is called Lyme nephritis, and it is always bad.
Lyme disease in dogs is caused by spirochete (spiral-shaped) bacteria called Borrellia burgdorferi and is spread by Ixodes species ticks (such as the deer tick and black-legged tick). The incubation period (time from tick bite to clinical disease) can be as long as two to five months. The organism migrates from the bite sight to the joint capsules.
The blood tests used in veterinary hospitals for detecting Lyme disease are antibody tests (see “Tests for Tick-Borne Diseases”). Today, these are commonly combined with heartworm antibody tests. In addition to the index of suspicion a positive antibody test gives, a diagnosis of Lyme disease requires history of tick exposure, classic clinical signs, and a positive response to treatment.
Some dogs will show mild signs of fever, inappetence, and lethargy, but the classic presentation is lameness with a painful, swollen joint or joints.
The treatment of choice is doxycycline, an oral antibiotic, for four weeks. Response to treatment is rapid, with resolution of signs typically within 24 to 48 hours. The prognosis is excellent, as long as the infection doesn’t get into the kidneys.
Because of the possibility of kidney involvement, and the severity of that scenario, any dog testing positive for Lyme should have a urine specimen checked for protein loss.
Lyme nephritis is thought to be immune mediated in nature. When pathogenic organisms combine with antibodies targeting them, they form substances called immune complexes. These immune complexes damage the kidneys, resulting in proteinuria (excessive protein in the urine) and kidney failure. Aggressive treatment of these patients with antibiotics and immunosuppressive therapy is occasionally successful, but the overall mortality rate with Lyme nephritis is, sadly, very high. Fortunately, the incidence of Lyme nephritis is fairly low compared to the incidence of Lyme-infected dogs overall.
Vaccination for Lyme Disease
Should we be vaccinating dogs against Lyme disease? The canine Lyme vaccination was introduced in 1992, but believe it or not, after all these years, there is still no consensus on this. There are arguments both for and against Lyme vaccination.
Opponents of Lyme vaccination express concerns regarding inconsistent efficacy, duration of immunity, and cost of the vaccine. They point out that vaccination doesn’t negate the need for tick prevention. Because the vast majority of Lyme disease cases in dogs are mild and easily treated, vaccination opponents feel we shouldn’t be subjecting dogs to the inherent risks associated with vaccines in general. They express ongoing concerns as to whether vaccination might actually make Lyme nephritis worse, if the dog were to get it (although, I must add, there is no scientific evidence to support this).
Proponents of Lyme vaccination believe it provides a second layer of protection against Lyme disease and Lyme nephritis should your tick prevention fail. They point out that Lyme vaccines have been around for years and have proven to be no less safe than any other vaccine for dogs. Dogs do not develop a natural immunity after infection so they are always vulnerable to reinfection unless they are vaccinated.
As a practitioner, I recommend every patient have a personalized risk assessment, based on lifestyle and environment. If the dog has zero risk of exposure to ticks, I do not recommend Lyme vaccination. If the dog has risk exposure, I recommend the vaccine, in addition to diligent tick prevention. In my hands, this has been a safe and effective approach to prevention of Lyme disease in dogs.
Anaplasmosis in Dogs
Anaplasmosis is the name of two different clinical syndromes caused by different (but related) bacteria.
Anaplasma phagocytophilum bacteria infect white blood cells, causing Canine Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (CGA). Anaplasma platys infect platelets, causing Canine Infectious Cyclic Thrombocytopenia (CICT). Both types of Anaplasma bacteria are carried by the same type of ticks that carry the spirochete bacteria that causes Lyme disease, which means coinfection with anaplasmosis and Lyme is possible.
For either type of anaplasmosis, the incubation period (from tick bite to the dog’s illness) is one to two weeks. Signs associated with both syndromes include fever, lethargy, inappetence, pale mucous membranes, weight loss, lymph node enlargement, and splenic enlargement. Dogs with CGA sometimes present with lameness. Dogs with CICT frequently present with evidence of a bleeding disorder, including bruising, blood in stool or urine, and nose bleeds.
Diagnosis starts with the same screening antibody test that tests for Lyme disease. Again, this only implies exposure. The best definitive test for active anaplasmosis is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, although the cyclic nature of CICT may result in false negatives.
Treatment is doxycycline for at least 14 days. Anaplasmosis is an acute disease, meaning the organism does not stick around after treatment like some of the other tick-borne pathogens. Treatment is usually successful, and the prognosis is good.
Ehrlichiosis in Dogs
Ehrlichia canis and Ehrlichia ewingii are bacterial causes of this ehrlichiosis disease. They are spread by Rhipicephalus sanguineous (brown dog tick) and Amblyomma americanum (the Lone Star tick). The organisms infect circulating white blood cells. The incubation period is one to three weeks.
Acute symptoms of ehrlichiosis in dogs are like those of anaplasmosis: fever, lethargy, inappetence, lymph node enlargement, and splenic enlargement. With time, some dogs develop ocular and nasal discharge and lameness. Occasionally, an infection with Ehrlichia will cause neurologic derangements, such as incoordination and seizures.
A dog who makes it through the acute stage described above without treatment next enters the subclinical stage. During this stage, which can last months to years, the organism hides out in the spleen. The dog usually has no symptoms during this stage and either recovers spontaneously or moves on to the chronic stage where he becomes sick again.
The chronic stage, which carries the worst prognosis, can result in complete bone marrow depletion and secondary immune-mediated conditions resulting in bleeding disorders, ocular issues, and kidney failure.
As with anaplasmosis, the diagnosis of ehrlichiosis involves the point-of-care antibody test, followed by a PCR test. Treatment is doxycycline for 28 days. Acute cases typically respond quickly (one to two days) and carry a good prognosis. Chronic cases are much harder to clear and carry a guarded prognosis. It can take months of treatment, and some never respond. Monitoring involves serial PCR tests, complete blood counts (CBCs), and serum chemistry testing.
Babesiosis in Dogs
As with Anaplasma and Ehrlichia, there are two main bacteria that cause Babesiosis in dogs. Babesia canis is spread by the same tick (the brown dog tick) that spreads Ehrlichia, so coinfections are possible. This bacterium is most prevalent in the southern United States. A large percentage of Greyhounds from Florida test positive for Babesia canis.
Babesia gibsoni is also found in the United States. This one is interesting in that it is transmitted directly from dog to dog, through bite wounds, as opposed to tick bites.
Babesia organisms infect the dog’s circulating red blood cells. The incubation period is one to three weeks. Symptoms are like the other tick-borne disease described above (fever, lethargy, inappetence, lymph node enlargement, splenic enlargement), but the main symptom Babesia causes is anemia, which results in pale or jaundiced (yellow) mucous membranes and weakness.
Babesia cannot be detected in the point-of-care test that screens for the above-mentioned tick-borne diseases. A PCR test is required to detect infection with Babesia.
Fortunately, Babesia has low virulence, meaning it is not hugely aggressive as an infectious disease. Many infected dogs won’t even get sick. The ones who get the sickest are usually vulnerable (young puppies) or compromised (such as dogs who have had their spleens removed).
Asymptomatic, infected dogs are considered carriers, contributing to the spread of Babesia. The carrier state can sometimes evolve to a chronic state, as with Ehrlichia, where the dog becomes clinically ill and can develop secondary immune-mediated disease. These dogs take a long time to get better and sometimes require blood transfusions. The prognosis is guarded.
To make matters worse, treatment is complicated. It’s not our trusty doxycycline. Treatment usually involves an injectable medication called imidocarb diproprionate and/or a long course of multiple antibiotics or hard-to-find antiprotozoals, along with intense supportive care and treatment of secondary immune-mediated diseases. But don’t forget the upside, which is that many dogs infected with Ehrlichia never get sick.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) in Dogs
RMSF is caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia rickettsii. It is spread by Dermacentor species ticks (American dog tick, wood tick), the Lone Star tick, and brown dog tick. It causes acute, serious disease in dogs and humans.
The Rickettsia organism infects endothelial cells (the cells lining blood vessels). The damage to these cells causes systemic vasculitis, resulting in severe, widespread edema and tissue destruction. Fever, malaise, and neurologic signs are common. The incubation period may be as little as two days to as much as two weeks.
RMSF is not included in the point-of-care test that screens for Lyme, Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia. PCR tests are unreliable for RMSF, as the organism does not circulate in the dog’s blood. Instead, it adheres to blood vessel linings. The diagnosis is usually made using paired antibody tests, called acute and convalescent samples. A rise in antibody titer, combined with classic symptoms and a favorable response to therapy, is considered diagnostic for RMSF.
Because of the acute severity of this disease, treatment should be started right away, based on the index of suspicion. Doxycycline is again the treatment of choice for this bacterial infection.
The upside to this terrible disease? If caught and treated early, the prognosis is excellent. And the recovered dog often has a lifelong immunity afterward. In contrast, cases that are not caught and treated early typically suffer severe, life-threatening complications with a guarded prognosis.
Tests for Tick-Borne Diseases
There are a number of “point-of-care” or “in-house” and laboratory tests that can be employed to identify microorganisms that can cause disease in our dogs. Your veterinarian may suggest a test for tick-borne diseases as part of your dog’s routine annual examination; the test may be combined with a test for a heartworm infection. If your dog is displaying symptoms of disease that suggest one of the tick-borne diseases, a laboratory test may be recommended.
Antibody tests (also known as serology tests) detect the antibodies that a patient’s immune system produces in response to a disease-causing pathogen. Antibody tests tell us only if the dog has been exposed to the pathogenic organisms and has mounted an immune response against it. It does not confirm or refute active infection. Vets have several combination antibody tests at their disposal, including the Antech Accuplex, Idexx 4Dx (seen at right), and Zoetis Flex4 tests, each of which can detect antibodies to heartworms, Borrellia burgdorferi (the bacteria that causes Lyme disease), Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques detect pathogen-specific DNA from patients’ blood and is the preferred method for detection of several tick-borne bacterial infections during the acute phase of illness. PCR tests don’t work well for detecting the bacteria that causes Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever but can accurately detect Anaplasma, Babesia, and Ehrlichia.
How To Prevent Tick-Borne Diseases in Dogs
Keeping ticks off your dog prevents all these diseases, plain and simple. Avoid known heavily tick-infested areas. Keep your lawn mowed short and your landscaping clear. Check for and remove ticks immediately after returning from outdoor excursions. And most importantly, use a reputable tick preventative on your dog. There are many safe and effective tick prevention choices out there, including topical and oral products, or collars.
What To Do if Your Healthy Dog Tests Positive for a Tick-Borne Disease
An annual screening for heartworm disease and tick-borne diseases is recommended for all dogs. This is typically done at your dog’s annual wellness exam with the point-of-care test described above, which tests for heartworm, Lyme, Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia.
If your otherwise healthy dog tests positive for Lyme, Anaplasma, or Ehrlichia, don’t panic. Remember these tests imply exposure only, not necessarily infection. I recommend that any dog who tests positive for any tick-borne disease have a complete blood count (CBC), serum chemistry, and urinalysis run. If everything is normal, most veterinary authorities believe treatment is not necessary. Monitor closely for clinical signs. And ramp up your tick prevention!
For Lyme-positive dogs, some veterinarians may recommend a second test called a Quantitative Lyme C6. If the number comes back high, they may recommend treatment. There is no hard and fast rule on this at this time. Some veterinarians may recommend treatment for Ehrlichia-positive dogs, in the spirit of preventing a chronic state. Again, there is no hard and fast rule on this at this time.
If your dog tests positive for Anaplasma or Ehrlichia, and you would like to know for sure whether they are actively infected or not, ask your veterinarian to run a PCR test.
Does that hand signal mean "stay" or "touch"? Your pup can't do both, so make sure these two signals look different enough for your dog!
If you’re frustrated that your pup “doesn’t listen,” I urge you to consider what your dog is actually hearing each day. Take a minute to examine precisely what you’ve been asking and how you’ve been asking for it. You may well find that your dog’s listening skills are not the issue!
Anyone who’s tried to learn a foreign language knows the frustration of hearing the same word used in different ways. “Wait, I thought I knew what that meant, but now I’m not sure.” Sometimes, just as you think you know what to call something, you hear it called something else. “Ugh, nevermind. I thought I was getting this, but I give up.”
Alas, as we humans try to teach dogs our language, we often confuse them – slowing their learning – in just this way. Sometimes it’s because the various people in the dog’s life use different cues, and sometimes it’s because we haven’t thought through what a particular cue really means. Either way, it can result in a dog disengaging in the learning process because it feels like an unwinnable game.
TRICK QUESTION
Here’s a quiz: Which spouse is using the cue “down” correctly?
Dad walks into the living room, sees the dog on the sofa, and says, “Down!”
Mom is walking the dog when a toddler approaches. She says, “Down!” so the dog will lie at the child’s feet for easier petting.
This, of course, is a trick question; they are both wrong, because they haven’t gotten onto the same page about their cues! As a result, their poor dog is set up for confusion.
If you want your dog to have a solid response to “down,” it can’t mean both “remove yourself from that higher level area” and “lie on the floor.” Pick one, and find another word for the other behavior. (The sofa-snoozing cue could be “off,” or the toddler request could be “lay.”)
USE THE EXACT SAME WORDS
The solution is to get everyone in your pup’s orbit using identical word cues. Many frustrated dogs have to try to learn from different family members alternating between the following words:
Sit or sit down
Down or lay or lay down or lie down
Off or down
Stay or wait
Come or here
It doesn’t matter what you choose, it matters that you choose. Have a household meeting (or a meeting with your inconsistent self!) and decide once and for all what to call these behaviors. Then post that list on the fridge as a reminder.
The Problem with 'No'
Often clients tell me they need help because their dog “just doesn’t understand the word no.” Their instinct is to become more punitive (Say it louder! Meaner! Stomp off!) to make the meaning of the word more clear.
What we need to do is give the dog a “Yes!” to do instead. The problem with “No” is that it is a blank space, a vacuum. It’s hard to teach something that doesn’t exist!
The way to move from a day of frustrating “no’s” to one of happy coexistence is to figure out the impulse that drove the behavior that’s bugging you, and teach an alternative “yes” behavior that you like. For example:
If your dog jumps up to greet people, teach her to sit instead. Use a leash to prevent the jump, then reward the heck out of a sit greeting – crouch down and give all that nice physical contact she wanted. She will learn that sitting is the more direct route to her #1 wish.
If your dog begs from the table at dinner, teach him to lie down on his nearby mat instead. Toss a treat over there. Then, every time he steps on that mat during a meal, toss another one in that spot. Once he’s hanging out on the mat a little more, wait until he sits to toss that treat. Progress to tossing treats whenever he’s lying on the mat. Voila! Two weeks later you have a dog who zooms to his mat to lie down the minute your dinner is served. You’ve taught an alternate behavior to begging – one that actually pays off for him.
If your dog digs holes in your yard despite your endless corrections, give her an approved digging spot – a far corner of the yard, perhaps, or a kiddie pool filled with sand. Bury some toys in there. The next time your dog starts to dig up your daffodils, instead of the ultimately useless “no,” just lead her over to the new digging spot and get her going. (Mind you, it may need to be in the shade, because one of the reasons dogs dig is to get to a layer of nice cool dirt.)
Sure, these solutions take some time and effort. That’s frustrating. But, have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a dog – born with very strong instincts to jump, dig, and chew – and to have everyone mad at you all the time for being who you are?
It’s only fair to help your dog get to a “yes.”
DISTINCT DOG HAND SIGNALS
I ask my clients to send me one-minute videos of their training at home, mid-week after our lesson. There’s so much to think about – verbal cue, hand signal, body position, marker timing, treat delivery – that it’s easy to self-sabotage with one little mistake.
If that’s happening, then each day of slightly messed-up practice makes things worse. This week, I had to laugh because one of my favorite clients was asking her puppy to “touch” – while holding up the same hand signal she uses for “stay.” Talk about a puppy dilemma!
We could debate exactly which hand signals are best for different cues, but it comes down to personal choice. What matters most is that you think through what your hands are saying. Your pups are absolutely watching; body language is a more natural communication style for our dogs than our verbal cues, so it pays to be utterly clear and intentional with those motions. And have the whole household rehearse those signals together.
STAY VS. WAIT VS. PLACE
Think you know exactly what “sit” means? It’s not as simple as it sounds. Some people teach that a sit is simply when the dog’s bum hits the ground. But others teach that “sit” means to sit and retain that position until released with an “Okay” (or whatever your chosen release word is). My definitions don’t have to be the same as yours, but we both have to be consistent every single time we work with our own dogs.
That’s harder than it sounds. Perhaps the best example of the potential for confusing fuzziness comes with the family of cues that generally involve limiting movement: stay, wait, and place. Here are my own usages:
STAY. When I say “stay,” it’s like we’re playing that old freeze-tag game: Freeze! Pup should not move. No shifting from a sit to a down, or vice-versa. No inching forward. Head can swivel to watch me, but that’s about it.
PLACE. When I ask a dog to go to her “place,” she can shift positions and move around as much as she wants – as long as she stays on that clearly defined mat. She can inch forward to the edge of that mat, but not step over.
WAIT. My use of wait seems complicated, but dogs get it 100%! Essentially, it’s this: “You’re going to get that thing you want, but you need to hang out calmly for just a second, until you get my signal.” The circumstances (and the thing they want) vary quite a lot. I might mean that I don’t want them jumping into the car yet, or going through the gate yet, or eating their food yet, or grabbing the toy yet. With “wait,” I don’t care what position they’re in, and they can move around a bit. But until I say “Okay!” they can’t go for that one thing we both know they’re thinking about. It sounds vague, but the proof is in the behavior: The dogs get it, so it works.
These three cues illustrate how there can be a lot of similar behaviors that are not actually the same. Are you using these terms interchangeably? Are you using just one of these cues but rewarding as if there are different definitions in different circumstances? If so, I’d suggest that this is why your pup’s response is not yet rock solid!
It sounds nerdy, but truly: Take the time to write out your cues, and think through what they actually mean. Discuss the cues with the household. Then give your pup that nice clear direction, and reward accordingly. You may feel stunned – and a little guilty – when you see how smart your dog suddenly seems!
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Most dogs particularly enjoy the physical therapies of exercise, massage, dry skin brushing, and acupressure, all of which can help stimulate the flow of lymph. But don't discount the nutritional, nutraceutical, high, and energetic contributors to moving lymph.
Photo Credit: Viacheslav Iacobchuk / Dreamstime.com
Most of us appreciate the circulatory system and understand how the heart pumps blood through arteries, veins, and capillaries, but few of us know nearly as much about the lymphatic system. Well, it’s time to catch up! The lymphatic system is essential to health and well-being, so learning how to support this often-overlooked system will help your dog live a longer, more active, and healthier life.
Lymph is a clear or milky fluid that flows through a network of vessels known as lymphatics as well as through lymph nodes, bone marrow, the thymus gland, and the spleen. Lymph contains fats, proteins, and white blood cells called lymphocytes. While often described as the body’s garbage or sanitation system, it also delivers nutrients to muscles and tissues.
The lymphatic system absorbs excess fluid and returns it to the bloodstream, absorbs fat from the digestive tract, transports white blood cells and certain proteins, and produces antibodies or immunoglobulins.
When lymph circulation is impaired because of illness or accidents, health problems develop. The most common lymph-related disorders in dogs include:
Lymphoma or lymphosarcoma (a malignant cancer)
Lymphadenopathy (a lymph node enlargement)
Lymphadenitis (inflammation of the lymph nodes)
Lymphedema (an accumulation of lymph in the soft tissues of one or more legs)
While those conditions require medical diagnosis and treatment, learning how to improve your dog’s lymph circulation can help prevent problems before they occur. Some signs of lymph stagnation include arthritis, painful joints, eye drainage, crusty or itchy skin, dull eyes, lethargy, and frequent infections reflecting low immune function.
Here are 10 approaches you can use at home or with the help of veterinary experts to give your dog’s lymphatic system a tune-up:
1. Exercise is, hands down, the fastest way to improve lymph circulation in dogs. Vigorous exercise stimulates the movement of both blood and lymph, increasing the supply of oxygen to tissues throughout the body and enhancing the removal of toxins from organs and muscles. Deep breathing increases the flow of lymph, which is why the rib cage is considered a major lymphatic pump and one of the reasons why breathing exercises are recommended for humans.
Dogs in motion have no trouble breathing deeply and activating their rib cages, so whatever physical movement your dog can comfortably manage will help. Sedentary dogs are at risk because when lymph becomes stagnant, pathogenic substances, inflammatory markers, and cellular debris can interfere with the immune response. Daily exercise, even at a moderate pace, can improve your dog’s lymph circulation, as can stretching and bowing.
2. Dry skin brushing is an Ayurvedic practice from ancient India that has become popular in alternative and complementary medicine. The lymphatic system is close to the surface of the skin, so moving the lymph doesn’t require the deep pressure used for massaging muscles. In humans, a coarse bristle brush, such as a traditional Japanese bath brush, is moved along the skin in sweeping strokes from the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands toward the heart.
Similarly, daily brushing with a firm-bristle grooming brush can stimulate your dog’s lymph system. Try brushing from the feet toward the heart, and brush gently over the abdomen’s bare skin.
3. Lymphatic massage is another popular lymph-moving technique, and it’s so effective that you may want to become an expert. In her book Canine Massage for the Athlete in Every Dog, C. Sue Furman, Ph.D., describes how to apply effleurage, the most frequently used Swedish massage stroke, to stimulate the flow of lymph.
Effleurage resembles petting, Furman explains, which is why it is referred to as “petting with a purpose.” Glide over the surface of the coat with your open hand, always moving toward the heart, which is how the venous blood flows. “This is why effleurage of the limbs is performed from the knee toward the hip and from the toes toward the knee,” she explains in her book. “This may feel unusual as hands move opposite to the direction that the dog’s hair grows, but it is important to maintain healthy vessels in the circulatory and lymph systems.”
North Carolina veterinarian Roger DeHaan, DVM, an expert on holistic pet care, recommends vigorously rubbing your dog’s right side, over the last three ribs, for 10 to 15 seconds once a day to stimulate the flow of lymph. Again, deep pressure is not required.
For a 10-minute demonstration of lymphatic canine massage using manual manipulation, check out the video by PetMassage founder Jonathan Rudinger at bit.ly/WDJ-dog-lymph-massage. He recommends simple motions such as gently lifting the dog’s legs, turning the neck, and rocking the body, especially for older dogs, those recovering from injuries, and dogs who may not be able to get much outdoor exercise.
A growing number of veterinarians offer acupuncture for their canine patients. This ancient modality has been scientifically proven to increase blood flow and reduce pain. Practitioners believe it can also stimulate lymph movement. Photo Credit: Sylvie Pabion /Dreamstime.com
4. Acupuncture is widely recommended for its stimulating effect on lymph circulation. “When a needle is inserted,” explains Montana veterinary acupuncturist Kelli Ator, DVM, “the initial mechanical stimulation to the cells induces a neurochemical release that causes biochemical and physiological changes through the stimulation of the nervous system. This neurostimulation results in both local and systemic effects resulting in vasodilation, thereby increasing venous and lymphatic return.”
To find a licensed veterinary acupuncturist, visit the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association at AHVMA.org, click on “Find a Vet,” and search for acupuncture. You can also find veterinary acupuncturists through the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, IVAS.org.
5. Acupressure is a form of acupuncture but without needles. It uses the same “acupoints” as acupuncture and applies gentle finger pressure to specific points for half a minute or so. Acu-Dog: A Guide to Canine Acupressure by Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis (2011, Tallgrass Publishers, 188 pages) is a good introductory/how-to book about canine acupressure.
6. Red light therapy, also known as Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT), Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT), or cold laser therapy, is growing in popularity for both human and canine patients. “Rather than using a mechanical stimulus,” says Dr. Ator, “a laser uses specific light wavelengths to induce a photochemical reaction in the mitochondria when the light photons are absorbed by the cell’s chromophores. The result of this cellular reaction is akin to the chain of events that occurs once the cells are stimulated by acupuncture, whereby the neurochemical process leads to improved circulation, decreased inflammation and edema, and decreased pain.”
Between 1967 and 2009, more than 100 phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials supported by over 1,000 laboratory studies investigated the effectiveness of Low Level Laser Therapy, leading researchers to conclude that further advances will lead to greater acceptance of LLLT in mainstream medicine.
Red light therapy is recommended for the treatment of lymph-related conditions, but the marketplace is confusing. There are so many options – not just lasers but also medical-grade LED lights and infrared red lights – and no clinical trials have been conducted to determine which device might be most effective for which specific conditions in dogs. Veterinary lasers can cost $30,000 or more, outside the means of most dog owners. The best way to try red light therapy may be to work with a veterinary chiropractor or veterinary acupuncturist who offers this therapy.
7. Improving the diet is a sensible strategy because inferior ingredients can interfere with lymph circulation. For dogs, upgrading the diet often means reducing or eliminating corn, soy, and other inexpensive grains while improving the quality of protein. WDJ’s reviews of dry, canned, frozen, freeze-dried, and home-prepared diets can keep you up to date on trends in canine nutrition.
Adding enzyme supplements, prebiotics, probiotics, and other digestive aids can help as well. Beets are known for their ability to help cleanse the liver, and Dr. DeHaan adds beets to food to help the lymph system capture toxins and transport them to the liver for removal. His recommendation for long-term administration calls for adding 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh raw beets per 15 pounds of body weight once a day for five days, letting the body rest for two days, and resuming in a five days on, two days off pattern for as long as desired.
8. Hydration is as important as nutrition when it comes to lymph circulation. Water is the principal ingredient in blood and lymph, so having enough of it helps the body transport oxygen, move infection-fighting white blood cells, and aid digestion.
Unfortunately, water from less-than-perfect sources can introduce contaminants such as prescription drug residues, preservatives, radioactive substances, heavy metals, organic chemicals, parasites, and harmful microorganisms.
Is your water safe to drink? Check with local sources to learn what’s in your tap or well water. You may decide to purchase bottled water (look for well-known brands that document their products’ safety) or purify your tap water with a whole-house, faucet, or counter-top filter, or investigate home water distillers. For options, see “Drinking the Purest Water Possible Is Important to Your Dog’s Health,” March 2002. Improving the quality of your dog’s water can pay important health dividends.
This glycerin-based cleavers tincture is available from iHerb.com
9. Medicinal herbs have been used for centuries to help people and animals maintain their health, and one of the herbs most associated with the lymph system is cleavers (Galium aparine), which is available freshly grown or as a tincture sold in natural markets, herb shops, and online retailers.
According to Mary Wulff and Greg Tilford in their book Herbs for Pets: The Natural Way to Enhance Your Pet’s Life, “Cleavers is used in virtually any condition that is characterized by general or localized swelling or in situations where lymphatic circulation has been impaired by the formation of scar tissue, ulceration, or infection. Although the activities of cleavers are subtle, the herb is believed to increase circulation of lymph in impaired areas of the body through dilation of small, almost cellular-level capillaries.”
A typical starting dose of a glycerin tincture of cleavers for dogs (preferred by many herbalists over alcohol tinctures when feeding animals) is 0.5 to 1.0 milliliter (10 to 20 drops) per 50 pounds of body weight, twice daily. Check labels to be sure your tincture was produced from the fresh (not dried) plant, as recommended by Wulff and Tilford.
Another lymph-friendly herb is calendula (Calendula officinalis), whose cheerful orange and yellow flowers brighten any garden. “Calendula tea or tincture is my favorite herbal treatment for lymph system support,” said Vermont herbalist Rosemary Gladstar in “How to Use Calendula on Dogs,” WDJ April 2008.
Wulff and Tilford recommend adding up to 1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh flower petals per 20 pounds of body weight daily to food.
10. Topical application of essential oils can support lymph circulation and immune function. Essential oils are the highly concentrated distilled essences of plants. Colorado aromatherapist Frances Fitzgerald Cleveland, who educates pet owners on the use of essential oils, calls grapefruit her go-to essential oil for the lymph system. She dilutes seven drops of grapefruit essential oil in 5 ml (1 teaspoon) safflower oil and stores the blend in an airtight glass container or in a 5-ml self-dispensing dropper bottle.
“I place a dime-size amount in the palm of my hand,” she says, “rub my hands together, let my dog sniff my hands, and then lightly place my hands on his hind paws and slowly and lightly move my hands up his legs, over his back, to the top of his head. I repeat this same touch from the back of the stomach to his chest, repeat on his sides, and repeat from the front of his paws up to his chin.”
Cleveland calls this treatment “feather massage,” and says her dogs enjoy it. “I use this approach for pain, lethargy, edema in the feet or limbs, sluggish digestion, support while taking pain medications, plus for comfort, insomnia, depression, and recovering from an injury or surgery.” To boost a dog’s immunity or to treat a specific condition, she recommends doing this once per day, and for routine maintenance, one to three times per week.
Recently, I was surprised and happy to receive some photos and a report from one of the families who adopted a puppy from the last litter I fostered for my local shelter. Predictably, their only complaint (if they could be said to complain about an already beloved member of the family) was his voracious appetite for chewing. Even the wood furniture was at risk, they said.
My former foster puppy with his family.
I had to laugh at that. When my dog Woody was a pup, he, too, was drawn to chewing on anything wood – and no, that’s not how he got his name. He was named when he was very small for his fantastic brindled coat, which looked like a gorgeous wood grain. When, a few months later, it developed that he was particularly drawn to chewing on anything made out of wood, it was just a bit of irony.
There are three main reasons why puppies chew:
To explore the world (remember, they don’t have hands to use to pick up things),
Because dogs have evolved as (mostly) carnivores who use their teeth to tear the flesh of prey animals and crack open bones to eat the marrow,
And to relieve what we can only guess is a strange and unrelenting sensation in their gums, caused by the eruption of their many pointy teeth. When puppies are so drawn to chewing, we call this teething, because we’ve observed that human babies, too, seem to experience discomfort from the eruption of teeth.
Usually, all the dog’s adult teeth have erupted by the time he’s 7 months old (though small-breed dogs, with very crowded mouths, sometimes have retained deciduous teeth that need to be removed by a veterinarian). But as dogs continue to mature and grow, their skulls and jaws grow, too, so their teeth continue to shift and settle throughout their first year. The puppy teething experience seems to persist well into the dog’s second year.
Most puppies and adolescent dogs naturally chew. If you pass them an unfamiliar item with a novel texture, chances are they will take it and immediately lie down to give it a bit of a chew. Some dogs prefer hard items, some prefer to chew up soft things. Some are drawn to leather, some like plastic. As I said before, Woody went for wooden items, ranging from a cute wooden dog house that I thought he might enjoy hanging out in when in the yard, to our deck, furniture, and even trees in the yard. The variation in chewing preferences is why we recommend making sure you have a variety of “legal” chew items for pups to explore; once you discover what textures they like to chew on most, you can get more of those things to occupy their time and teeth.
Woody’s dog house bears the marks of his wood chewing preference.
Everyone asks: What are the safest chews to give my puppy? The fact is, depending on their jaw strength and how much unsupervised time they have on their hands, or jaws, nothing is completely safe! Your job is to find items that they like to chew and that they cannot destroy too quickly, and to supervise them closely with these items. Some pups chew only to destroy, and swallow very little of what they are chewing up. Others swallow far too much of what they chew and can end up with intestinal obstructions or perforations (both are very bad things).
Take chew items away (permanently) if your pup can destroy them too quickly; while you always need to supervise, if the pup can’t be safely left with the item for a literal five minutes, with our attention-challenged days, it’s probably not safe enough for him to have at all! The same goes for items that are even remotely close enough to be swallowed whole. I take away chew sticks when they get close to six inches; that’s getting too small for comfort with any but the smallest puppies.
“Six inches?!” you may say. But half the stuff in the pet supply store is that size or less! Yes, I say, and I’m sorry. But I wouldn’t give 90% of what’s in pet supply stores to my puppies to chew.
Toys to chew on are easier to find than the animal-source chews that most dogs and puppies prefer. But animal-sourced chews are also the source of most chewing-related medical emergencies caused by puppies swallowing things they shouldn’t. People love to see dogs chomp up those dried (and brittle) pigs’ ears as if they were potato chips. I don’t! Those dried edges are sharp – and they get swallowed when still hard and sharp. And most rawhide chews or “bully sticks” (dried cattle penises) are sold in small sizes – far too easily swallowed.
Trees were not safe from Woody either.
I like to buy the most enormous chew items I can find, no matter what size the puppy is. In my experience, it’s best to find the largest fresh, raw, meaty bone you can find – something so huge that it’s impossible for your pup to get between his molars and break pieces off of. It’s difficult to find these! You may have to search high and low, asking local butchers if they can procure some for you. (Today, much of the meat supply is shipped to store already butchered and packaged; the shops that still cut up whole animal carcasses in their stores are in short supply.)
Until last year, I had a favorite source for giant, thick rawhide puppy chews – and it’s gone out of business. Rawhide is fraught with problems; it can be processed with toxic chemicals and contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. The one source I had used only American beef hides that were fresh from a slaughterhouse – not already treated hides from a tannery. Since that company went out of business, I’m not using any rawhide products! I haven’t found a safe alternative that I trust yet.
In the meantime, I look for rubbery alternatives that don’t come apart quickly even under the sharpest teeth. I have an Orbee Tuff toy made by Planet Dog that has lasted through at least four litters of foster puppies. The Zogoflex line of toys by West Paw is terrific. Recently, I found a line of natural rubber toys made by Indi Pets that I love.
There are lots of things you can do to direct your puppy and adolescent dog to appropriate chew items, and away from the apple trees and furniture. See these articles for help!
My just-turned 14-year-old dog Otto has lost most of his hearing. Our communication is very limited now. He can no longer hear me tell him what a good dog he is or how much I love him. True, I can shout these things at him, and speak them right into his adorably fuzzy ears, but a loving tone just isn’t the same when you have to raise your voice, or someone is speaking to you with their lips on your head! But thank goodness we have hand signals so I can help him understand what I want him to do.
Otto’s concentrating “What is she saying?” expression.
He can still hear the loudest of handclaps, and this is what I still use to get his attention when I need him to look at me – we won’t discuss how much these claps tend to make my husband jump out of his skin and swear under his breath. When I clap loudly enough, Otto will look at me for information. Then I can signal, “Stay!” with a crossing guard’s “stop” gesture; this now means everything from, “Don’t try to follow me outside, you’re not coming with me to the store,” to “Wait there for a second, I have to run back inside to get my coat.” (I’ve started using the “stay” signal followed by holding up my index finger in a “We’re number one!” gesture to mean something more like our old verbal “wait” cue.)
Relaxing into, “Yeah, I’m a good dog, I know.”
He’s always been rock-solid on the hand signals for “sit” and “down” and “stand” – but I honestly don’t ask him to do these behaviors much anymore. His arthritis makes it increasingly difficult to stand up from a down and to lower himself into a sit. Now he gets treats just for showing up and standing with us attentively when I ask my younger dog to sit, down, and stand. He likes that a lot!
I never really taught him a hand signal for “Come.” My cue has always been a verbal “Here!” or a whistle. That was a bad oversight, because “come to me” is something I ask him to do many times a day, especially now that it’s cold and I no longer leave doors open for him to come into my office or into the house whenever he gets around to it. Sometimes he stands outside 50 yards away, trying to decide if he’s going to hang out outside (he’s got the run of our fenced two acres) or follow me into my warm office. I stand in my office doorway grumbling. “All the heat is escaping! What are you going to do?” So I’ve started teaching him a physical recall cue. Spontaneously, it turned into something a bit theatrical. I reach my arms out toward him, and then pull them back to my chest, like an endangered woman in a silent film, imploring the hero to come back and save her. It looks a little silly, but he can see it from a good distance away, and he’s picked it up quickly.
Otto’s “Where’s my treat?” expression. He didn’t DO anything, he just gets treats for showing up when the other dogs are asked to do stuff.
I’ve long used a “thumbs up” gesture as an alternative to a click or “Yes!” to mark the moment he does a behavior I’ve cued or, to be honest, anything else that I like. I’m so grateful that I taught him that alternative to ”Yes!” because, basically, in my eyes, he can’t do anything “wrong” anymore. He’s always a good boy, and I give him the “thumbs up” and a big smile many times a day. Again, thank goodness he knows that one, because it’s one of the few things I can do now to make his “concentrating” expression soften and his tail wag.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to teach your dog hand signals – if for no other reason than as a hedge for his or her old age. You can thank me later.
Here are just a few of the many articles we’ve done on teaching hand signals for your cues:
We can't say for sure what our dog friends are thinking or feeling – but it's clear they do think and feel.
An author recently asked for the rationale behind an edit I made to her article. The sentence originally referenced something that worked well “in dogs and people.” I changed the sentence to read “…in dogs and humans.” I explained that “Dogs are people, too!” – but I don’t blame her for her confusion. Language constantly evolves to reflect the knowledge and ethics of the day, and we’ve taken some steps at WDJ that she was unaware of – and some of my writers have taken steps that I’m still not quite ready to take.
In most dictionaries, the definition of “people” implicitly means “humans” – so perhaps my edit was not necessary. But even dictionaries have to be taken with a grain of historical salt! I saw one definition that I scoffed at: “People: Human beings, as distinguished from animals or other beings.” (First off, humans are animals! And what “other beings” was the dictionary referring to?)
But I have a hard time differentiating between “personhood” and “people” – and I agree with the modern behavior scientists and ethicists who think we should extend our definition of “personhood” to our animal companions. There’s a great quote from the famed primatologist Jane Goodall: “You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.” Goodall started her career in an age when scientists were forbidden to attribute any sort of emotions or intentions to the non-human animals she was observing – this was termed “anthropomorphism” and was deprecated as indicating a lack of objectivity – and she found this limitation ridiculous.
Today, the idea that our animal companions should be referred to with the same terms as inanimate objects (“it”) is preposterous. This is one of the reasons we have always used gendered pronouns for dogs in the magazine (he, she, and if we don’t know the gender, they). And it’s clear to anyone who loves dogs that they also feel love, jealousy, rage, fear, anxiety, sorrow, joy, mischievousness, and more.
If we acknowledge that all dogs (and all animals) have a “personality” – a unique set of behavioral traits, expressions, reactions, and emotions – why can’t they be “people”?
This couple grew increasingly frustrated with their adolescent dog during a visit to a beach where dozens of dogs were running and playing off-leash. After she failed to heed their calls to come to them, the man grew angry and, after catching her, spent a long minute angrily chastising her. A better plan? Practice more at home with low distraction at first, slowly increasing them as she succeeds – and make “Come” the most exciting and highly rewarding game ever.
Congratulations! You’ve made it through the puppy months pretty much in one piece and hopefully laid a solid foundation for your many years together to come. You breathed a sigh of relief when the last of those needle-sharp puppy daggers were replaced by pearly-white adult canines as your pup turned 6 months. You posted photos on social media when she graduated with honors from her puppy kindergarten class with a repertoire of solid good-manners behaviors including sit, down, polite greeting, come-when-called, and more.
But suddenly, your lovely pup has turned into an apparent wild and crazy stranger. She’s jumping on visitors, no longer waits politely for her food bowl, she’s chewing up household items more than ever, and when you call her to come back to you on your hikes, she doesn’t even look over her shoulder as she takes off down the trail. What happened?
In one word: Adolescence. The scientific term for this is “adolescent-phase conflict behavior.” A 2020 study conducted by a team of researchers from several universities in the United Kingdom confirmed a reduced canine responsiveness to well-known cues during this period.
WHAT’S DRIVING THIS?
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development. It generally begins around the onset of puberty and ends when the individual is considered an adult. Though there are no hard and fast demarcations for these canine life stages (puppyhood, adolescence, adulthood), most animal behavior experts consider dogs to be adolescents at around 5 to 6 months of age. Depending on individual and breed development, adolescence usually finishes around 18 months to 2 years. (Smaller breeds tend to develop and mature more quickly than large-breed dogs.)
Dogs, like many other species (including humans), are programmed to start becoming more independent as they mature. This is a necessary part of mammalian development, as they cannot be dependent on their parents forever – they are supposed to grow up, leave home, and have their own adult lives. Their brains are programmed to prepare them for independence.
Here’s the rub: Most dogs – and other domesticated species – don’t ever really get to grow up and leave home. We don’t let them have their own lives or even make many decisions for themselves; we control almost every aspect of their lives and keep them dependent on us forever. They just don’t know that! And so, until their natural urges to pursue independence subside and are channeled into behaviors we approve of, our wishes often conflict with theirs.
THINGS THAT HELP ADOLESCENT DOGS
Of course, not all dogs seem to go through this phase – or, at least, not all dogs are as challenging during adolescence. And when there are variations within a population, researchers try to investigate the factors that account for those variations. That’s how the researchers in the study I referred to earlier found that adolescent conflict behavior was more likely to occur with dogs who have less secure attachments to their caregivers.
Sadly (but not surprisingly), the researchers also confirmed that this is the period of time when caregivers are most likely to relinquish their dogs to an animal shelter, often citing “not enough time” as the main justification – which could very easily translate to “I don’t know how to cope with this wild and crazy dog who used to be so sweet!”
The good news is that, if you’ve done all the right things with your puppy early on, you’re less likely to be overwhelmed by your adolescent dog’s natural, normal process of testing and maturing. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen – it just, we hope, won’t be as serious. If you’ve been consistent and diligent about training and properly socializing your puppy, it shouldn’t be as difficult to get her back on track when she’s experiencing adolescence. Keep in mind that she’s not being “bad.” Don’t get mad at her; she’s just being a teenager, and this too shall pass, aided by your continuing attention to training, good management, and relationship-building.
With these explanations for her “wild child” behavior in mind, let’s look at how you can negotiate some of the most frequent teen-dog behavior challenges with a secure relationship between you and your adolescent dog intact!
Housetraining and chewing
If you’ve done a good job up until now, your pup rarely has accidents in the house and has learned to focus her teeth on appropriate chew objects.Don’t stop now!
I don’t consider a well-managed dog fully housetrained until she is at least a year old. Don’t push your young dog’s limits; continue to take her out more often than she has to go. If you set her up to fail (have accidents in the house) during adolescence, she’s likely to be much less reliable about housetraining for the rest of her life.
As for chewing, while it’s easy to think that your dog will stop chewing now that all her permanent teeth are in, those teeth will continue to settle in her mouth for several more months. You can expect her to engage in intense chewing until she’s at least 18 months old. (Though most dogs will enjoy chewing for the rest of their entire adult lives, the extreme drive to do so fades a bit after adolescence.)
Until you see the intensity of her chewing start to diminish, continue to manage your dog’s environment so she has access only to appropriate chew objects. Then, and only then, can you stop holding your breath and start relaxing about leaving your valuables within her reach.
Beware the Adolescent Fear Period
It can be quite perplexing to have your outgoing, confident young dog suddenly start acting cautious and fearful in response to people and things she was previously quite comfortable with. Careful – she’s probably entering a fear period! It is critically important to pay attention to this.
While not as fixed as once thought, we now know that fear periods can occur anytime during the first 18 to 24 months of a dog’s life. The first fear period often occurs between the ages of 8 to 11 weeks. Your adolescent canine is well past that. One or more additional fear periods may occur between 6 to 24 months, depending on your dog’s individual rate of maturity and growth.
It’s important to be aware if your dog is entering a fear period (which will usually last two to three weeks) and to protect her from significant negative experiences during this time. During a fear period, a single intimidating or painful experience can have a lifelong impact on the way your dog responds to that stimulus. This phenomenon (referred to as “single-event learning”) means that it can take only one negative fear-causing incident with a particular trigger to cause an intense, permanent emotional response to that trigger in the future, regardless of the circumstances.
If your dog should, unfortunately, experience a negative incident during this time, studies indicate that the sooner you work to repair the damage, the better able your dog is to recover. This would be a good time to seek the assistance of a qualified force-free professional.
TEEN TRAINING
What about your previously well-trained, star-of-her-puppy-class who now seems to have forgotten everything you taught her? She hasn’t really forgotten; she has just put things on hold while attending to the biological priority of finding her place in the world. She’s not being stubborn, she’s not doing things to spite you – she is genetically driven to spread her wings at this time in her life (or her paws, as the case may be), and she can’t help it.
How should you deal with it? Keep training, while you add management safeguards – and remember to make training irresistibly fun!
Sometimes we get too serious during training and can end up turning it into a battle of wills about getting those cued behaviors the moment we ask for them, rather than a conversation and time enjoyed between friends. We want them to respond to our cues,but teenagers just want to have fun. To get what we both want, use lots of happy praise after the mark and treat. Play! Toss a toy, play chase, play tug, act silly, cheer on your dog – in every way possible, make your training super fun.
Here are some tips for getting through common training tasks during the adolescent phase:
Recall If your dog has suddenly forgotten how to come when you call her, put her back on a long line. This will both keep her safe and prevent her from enjoying the excitement of running away from you when you call. Instead, make your “come when called” practice even more fun with “run away recalls.”
Start with her close to you, say her name, and when she looks at you say “Come!” in your happiest voice and run away fast so she can chase you. For more fun and excitement, squeak a squeaky toy and toss it to her as she runs after you. Use high-value treat reinforcers so “Come” means “Chicken!” – or whatever her all-time favorite treat is.
Review. Do several short remedial review sessions daily with the basic good-manners behaviors your dog used to perform so reliably: sit, down, wait, touch, and polite greeting. Note that I use the word “short,” which means just a few minutes at a time.
If you practice only in “real life,” you risk distractions and lack of focus. If you practice in a controlled environment, you (and your dog) are more likely to be successful – and your dog will be better able to generalize that success to the real world. (And remember, keep it fun!)
Playing “Chase me!” games is a much better way to get your dog to come to you and/or with you in an environment that offers your teen dog many other fun options. If you’ve practiced at home, your dog should be familiar with this as a cue to the most fun.
Play. Find new ways to have fun with your dog. Since her brain is encouraging her to explore her world now, do things to encourage exploration, like scent work, solving puzzle toys, eating from food-dispensing toys, and cognition games. Play hide & seek, and let your dog use her nose to find you. Name her favorite toy, hide it, and ask her to find it. Hide treats around your house or yard and ask your dog to find them. Use your lawn as a grassy snuffle mat. Discover the fun of teaching your dog object, color, and shape discrimination.
Exercise. Providing adequate exercise will help minimize your dog’s high-energy adolescent hijinks. Structured exercise can help avoid ever-escalating arousal; this is easier than it might sound – just ask her to “sit” before you throw the toy or “wait” before you invite her to grab the tug toy.
Important note: Remember to check with your veterinarian to determine how much exercise is appropriate for your dog’s age; you don’t want to damage those young joints! Swimming is an excellent low-impact exercise for youngsters.
Play sessions with carefully selected compatible playmates are also an excellent exercise option and nurture your dog’s developing social skills.
And don’t forget mental exercise! Those previously mentioned cognition games are surprisingly tiring as well as fun.
Empowerment. A frequently overlooked piece of the adolescent puzzle is about empowering your dog to make her own choices as much as reasonably possible. At this point in her development, when she is programmed to become more in charge of her own world, the more agency you can give her, the more emotionally and behaviorally sound she will be.
We tend to exert tight control over everything our dogs do, much to their detriment. Think about how you would feel if your life were as controlled as most of our dogs’ lives are. Then ponder how you might be able to give her more choices. Which toy would she rather play with? Which treat would she rather eat? Which path would she rather take on your hike? Would she prefer to stay inside or go out in the back yard?
Combine empowerment with all the above suggestions for management and training, and you and your canine companion are likely to make it through her adolescence with flying colors, and your relationship not justintact, but stronger than ever. Go on, get started on it right now – there’s not a moment to lose!
“Understanding Your Dog’s Nose,” September 2019. Putting your dog’s nose to work is a fun and effective way to improve his behavior and responsiveness to you.
“Are Canines Cognitive?” October 2017. Dogs have greater powers of reasoning and intelligence than we usually give them credit for. Learn how to teach your dog to show you how and what he thinks! Teach your dog object, shape, and color discrimination.
“Training a Dog to Make Choices,” November2016. How empowering your dog to make small decisions in his life can lead to a big, positive change in your relationship.
I am most grateful for my local off-leash trails and hardly anyone out here on them with me, my dogs, and my family and friends (canine and human).
Like many of us dog lovers, my relationship with dogs started when I was just a lonely kid. My siblings were five, six, and seven years older than me. We lived in a rural area and the closest kid around my age lived a mile away – and when I was a kid, believe me, no parents were driving kids anyplace for play dates! But our family had a lot of dogs – too many! – and so dogs were my daily playmates, co-conspirators, troops to boss around (sorry, dogs), and source of comfort and solace when I had hurt feelings (and the baby in the family almost always has hurt feelings, right?).
Just out of college, I once reconnected with a friend I hadn’t spoken to for many years. He asked if I was still bringing dogs with me everywhere I went. “What?” I replied, not recognizing this absolutely accurate description of myself. I had to think about it; why was his experience of me so full of dogs? I guess every time I visited him at his house, I usually did have a dog or two with me . . . and every time he visited my home, there were three or four dogs (or more) . . . and when he used to come visit, we used to drive out to the beach near Bodega Bay and so of course I’d bring a dog or two with us to the beach! I realize now that young people don’t always see themselves the way other people see them; at the time, my friend’s assessment was a total surprise to me. Today, that’s hilarious!
My mother and her first dog, acquired shortly after she was married. I think the dog is posed thusly because my oldest sister is “on the way” and people didn’t used to take pregnancy pictures!
I’m not alone in this; everyone in my family loves dogs. I think we were conditioned by my mom, who was a huge animal lover who had never been allowed to have a pet as a child – and who got a dog the minute she was married and out of her parents’ home. Both of my parents were good observers of behavior, and very loving and indulgent of our dogs’ various quirks, and to this day my siblings and I enjoy watching our dogs interact and appreciating our dogs’ personalities. And of course, we dog-sit each other’s dogs when we travel.
When I have to leave town, my old dog Otto stays with my sister Pam. For many years, she and her husband Dean have enjoyed watching Otto as he forgets all his dignity and plays with their three little dogs in an unrestrained way he never displays at my house. My young dog Woody, who is like a bull in a china shop, used to have to always stay with my friend Leonora, because once, after an overnight stay at Pam and Dean’s home, Woody’s strong wagging tail and physical displays of affection left Dean (who was on blood thinners) absolutely covered with dramatic bruises. Dean passed away earlier this year from a stroke, and now my sister likes to have Woody come and stay with her; his affectionate attempts to be a lap dog (a 70-pound lap dog) and clownish antics, which inspire total bedlam among her barky little terriers, are a welcome diversion these days.
A traffic jam on the trail caused by my sister-in-law Lauren handing out treats to my dogs Otto and Woody, her Boxer Rosie, and my son’s dog Cole. Thanksgiving 2016.
Welcome to the family
My brother had been single for a number of years when he met a woman who sounded like she might be the one. He asked me if I would dog-sit his big, young, rowdy dog, Hannah, for a few days while he showed his new love around the San Francisco Bay Area. At the time, he lived north of Sacramento, and he picked up his friend at the Sacramento Airport, and drove with her (and Hannah) to my home near San Francisco (she could have flown into the airport in San Francisco, but I think she had the flight to see him before the SF plan was hatched). My brother drove a small pickup truck with a king cab, and Hannah rode in that behind-the-seats area for the hour-plus drive from the Sacramento airport to my house. Here’s how I knew my brother’s new girlfriend was a keeper: Hannah bounded out of Keith’s truck and up my front stairs – REEKING of skunk!
I said to my brother, “Oh my god, Keith!” and he said “What?” My brother had ZERO sense of smell – he either lost it as a child or never had it.
I said, “Hannah’s covered with skunk! She smells terrible! I’ll have to go get some peroxide!”
Now he looked at his new girlfriend with true puzzlement on his face. “Did you smell it?” he asked her. I looked at her, too – how did she survive that hour-plus drive in a small truck with that smell?!
Leslie calmly smiled and said, “Yes, I smelled it – and I knew that you didn’t. And there was nothing we could do about it until we got here anyway, and I love Hannah, so why get you upset about it?”
I can’t remember now whether I said it out loud or just in my head, but I distinctly remember thinking, “Oh my dog, Keith, you better marry this woman! She’s amazing!” Keith and Hannah have both left this earth; they passed away within months of each other almost six years ago, but Leslie is and always will be my beloved sister-in-law. And I dog-sit her tiny dog when she and my darling niece Ava travel.
My nice Ava (who obviously loves dogs) and Otto on the Thanksgiving trail in 2015.
Our other brother Keith
I was so excited when my husband’s younger brother (whose name, confusingly, is also Keith) and his wife Lauren bought a home and adopted their first dog. We hadn’t had all that much in common before they got into dogs, but now we can chat and laugh for days when they come visit with their dogs – a few times during the Thanksgiving week.
They jumped into the dog world with all four feet, volunteering for a breed rescue (they chose Boxers to be their breed), and soon, fostering and then adopting several Boxers whose placement prospects were made more difficult by health and/or behavior issues. Their first adoptee was Rosie, who had been hit by a car as a stray; the breed rescue had paid for her initial care after a good Samaritan brought her to a vet’s office, but she required numerous surgeries over several years (paid for by Keith and Lauren) to be returned to full health. Then came Filbert, whose boisterous behavior and mild dog-aggression had prevented his placement elsewhere. After Rosie passed away, they adopted Zoey, a white Boxer with severe allergies, who, despite her ongoing medical needs, has proven to be a joyous addition to their family.
When they have come up to our rural home during past Thanksgiving weeks, we would go for multiple car, many-dog off-leash hikes every day. When they first got Filbert, it was here and on a Thanksgiving-week dog-hike that they first dared to take off his leash, hoping that all the recall training and work on a long-line they had been doing in preparation would mean they could start walking him off-leash (in legal off-leash areas) safely. Our hopes all plunged when Lauren unclipped his leash and he immediately took off at high speed for the horizon. It didn’t matter one iota to him that the rest of the dogs didn’t follow him, or that we all ran excitedly making big party noises in the opposite direction. He just made a beeline out of our sight.
For the day after Thanksgiving in 2016, we took a gnarly mountain hike to a remote spot on a wild river, with my son and his dog Cole, and my sister- and brother-in-law and their Boxer Rosie.
Fortunately, there was a mile of open fields and a body of water between him and any roads; I was certain we’d find him soon enough if we just kept walking and occasionally calling. We walked that whole mile without a sighting, but as we approached the water, we could hear enthusiastic splashing . . . and as we called him from the lake’s edge, he came happily bounding to us. “You guys! Look what I found! A lake! For swimming! With ducks! Oh my gosh!” (I’m happy to report that he got more reliable off-leash with every hike that week. Our Instagram page has photographic evidence of Rosie and Filbert on a thanksgiving off-leash hike in 2017: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb7AQF4h5Y6/)
This Thanksgiving, I’m going to be missing Keith and Lauren and their Boxers, and even my son, his fiancé, and their dog Cole – they are all going elsewhere – but the Thanksgiving dog-walks will go on, Thursday through Sunday. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year: It’s all good company and good food, without any materialism present. We’ve got miles and miles of off-leash trails to hike, the skies have been clear here lately and the weather is perfect: not hot and not freezing, so if a dog feels like taking a swim in the lake or river we walk by, it’s not a problem, they should be dry by the time we get back to the cars. My sister Pam will have her three little dogs, and Leslie and Ava will be here with their tiny dog Alice. I’ll invite any of my local friends who aren’t traveling to come with their dogs on our walks, and hope to see Jake and Jessie and their dogs Nova and Nix (both of whom are my former foster puppies, from litters that were three years apart!) and my friend Leonora, who owns my dog Woody’s best friend, Samson. And as always, all of these dogs (and of course their humans) will be my comfort and amusement, my companions in fun, and solace in remembrance for those we have loved and lost and miss dearly at this time of year.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you have a chance to get out there and take your dogs for a nice long walk!
Learning to apply kinesiology tape works best if you have a dog who is willing to be patient and stationary while you practice. Reinforce him richly for his helpful behavior!
If you pay attention to sports, you know that athletes around the world are wearing colorful tape on their arms, legs, shoulders, and torsos as part of treatments to heal muscle sprains, prevent injuries, relieve pain, and enhance performance.
Kinesiology tape, which was developed in the late 1970s by chiropractor Kenzo Kase, D.C., gained an international audience when Dr. Kase donated Kinesio Tape to the 2008 Bejing Summer Olympics. Taping looked strange then, but it’s commonplace now wherever athletes compete. And the athletes aren’t all humans, for taping has become popular for horses, dogs, and other animals. Might taping make a difference for your pup?
Also known as elastic therapeutic tape or kinesiology therapeutic tape, kinesiology tape is made of thin elastic cotton with an acrylic adhesive. The combination of stretch and adhesion makes kinesiology tape different from elastic bandages that treat injuries by reducing blood flow and applying pressure to prevent swelling. Instead of restricting movement, kinesiology tape moves with the body and, unlike elastic bandages, it can be left in place for days at a time.
Kinesiology tape is stretched as it’s applied, so once in place it contracts like a rubber band that pulls the skin, an action said to create more space for the flow of blood and lymph, speeding healing by increasing circulation.
Does Kinesiology Taping Work?
These are early days in taping research, and the evidence so far is inconclusive. PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) cites more than 200 clinical trials that tested kinesiology taping on humans, most of which concluded that the tape did little to improve sports performance, prevent injuries, relieve pain, or improve proprioception, strength, flexibility, circulation, blood flow, or lymphatic drainage, all of which are commonly made claims. All of the studies were small – and none involved dogs.
This lack of evidence hasn’t prevented some advertisers from making dramatic, exaggerated claims, so it’s worth remembering that kinesiology taping is not a magic cure-all, it doesn’t work for everyone, and it isn’t a substitute for veterinary diagnosis and treatment.
At the same time, veterinarians, canine rehabilitation therapists, and canine massage therapists who routinely use kinesiology tape report that many of their patients improve as a result. Taping is easily incorporated into other hands-on treatments, most dogs quickly adapt to it, and it can be done at home by family members between treatment visits.
Angelique Barbara, D.C., a chiropractor for humans whose training includes a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science and a master’s in veterinary pathobiology, specializes in hands-on treatments for dogs and horses. Her online program for health-care professionals and pet owners includes courses in canine kinesiology taping (see holisticanimalstudies.org).
“I think kinesiology tape is a fantastic modality that is currently underutilized with animals,” says Dr. Barbara. “I would love to see it become more mainstream with pet owners. Animals respond really well to taping, and it can provide them with a form of natural pain relief and provide them with support that can help them heal faster and prevent injuries in healthy pets.”
Users of kinesiology tape frequently cut the tape into four main shapes (in order from left to right: I,X,Y, and Fan). Each provides support in a different way for a specific purpose.
HOW TO USE KINESIOLOGY TAPE
Most kinesiology tape is two inches wide and sold in a 13- to 16-foot roll or precut in various shapes and sizes. While convenient for human athletes, precut shapes seldom match canine anatomy, so a two-inch roll may work well for you and your dog. The tape is sold in different adhesive strengths and stretch capacities, which makes for a confusing marketplace. Some brands are labeled specifically for dogs or horses, but brands sold for human use often work well for dogs. One challenges in taping dogs is their furry coats, so consider tapes labeled extra-sticky or for use with horses, and if your dog swims, look for water-resistant tapes.
“It is important for dog owners to familiarize themselves with kinesiology tape before attempting to tape their dogs,” says Dr. Barbara. “There are specific ways to cut and handle the tape that will facilitate the application process. The more hands-on time they have with the tape, the better the experience will be. The great thing about kinesiology tape is that it is a really safe modality and if you do not get the application you wanted right away, you can remove the tape and try again.”
Armed with a roll or piece of kinesiology tape, practice cutting the basic treatment shapes with non-stick scissors. (The adhesive can collect on regular scissors and interfere with cutting.) Start by rounding the ends, removing sharp corners. The length of your strips will depend on your dog’s size and the area being treated.
The “I” Strip is a single piece of tape with rounded edges. An “I” strip can serve as an anchor if placed across another piece of tape, reinforcing and holding that tape securely in place.
The “X” strip resembles two connected “Y” strips with a base in the center.
The “Y” strip is an “I” strip that’s cut down the middle, leaving a base at one end.
The “Fan Cut” is a “Y” strip with additional longitudinal cuts creating a fan shape.
Kinesiology tape has a paper backing that tears easily. To expose the adhesive, pull both ends of the tape away from each other until its paper backing breaks, twist the center until the paper tears, or hold the tape vertically and pull the tape away from its paper backing from the top.
Stretching is an important part of the taping process, but how much should the tape stretch? While most brands refer to percentages, such as 10, 20, 50, 100, or 150% stretch, Katja Bredlau-Morich, a certified animal physiotherapist, prefers the terms light, medium, and strong. Becoming familiar with stretch takes practice and experience, she explains in her colorfully illustrated book Kinesiology Taping for Dogs, adding that kinesiology tape comes with a 10% pre-stretch on the paper backing, and this built-in 10% stretch is sufficient for many dog taping applications.
In general, canine muscles and fascia respond to tape that has been lightly stretched, while tendons and ligaments respond to light-to-medium stretch, and bones and joints respond to medium-to-heavy stretch. In many cases, less is more because too much stretch can cause irritation and discomfort.
To become familiar with your kinesiology tape, practice stretching it to different lengths and press it into position on a practice surface. Then rub the tape because friction helps activate the adhesive. Kinesiology tape cannot be reused, so whenever you practice applying it or whenever you apply tape incorrectly, remove and discard it. Always use fresh tape on your dog.
Most taping instructions recommend that you leave the tape in place until it falls off on its own, or, if it’s still in place after three or four days, remove it manually. To do so, peel the base with gentle pressure using one hand while pressing with the other hand to pull fur away from the tape, or pull the base away from fur and remove the tape strip in the direction of hair growth, or curl the base away from the coat while gently gathering or pinching fur between thumb and forefinger. Don’t yank the tape off. Instead, use gentle, steady movements to remove it.
WHEN NOT TO TAPE
While kinesiology tape is generally considered safe for use on dogs, it should not be applied over a skin disease outbreak, irritation, open wound, lesion, malignant tumor, infection, area of hair loss due to injury, or hot spot. Consult with your veterinarian before using tape on a pregnant dog or dogs with diabetes, respiratory infections, breathing problems, or ringworm.
Taping is not recommended for dogs with cancer, kidney disease, or any condition that could be worsened by an increase of blood circulation or lymph flow.
Remove tape at once if your dog shows any sign of discomfort.
Occasionally a dog chews off and swallows a piece of tape. If this happens, watch to be sure the tape passes through your dog’s system and contact your veterinarian if it doesn’t.
PREPARING YOUR DOG
Many dog owners find kinesiology tape to be a helpful, stabilizing adjunct to other therapies for torn ligaments in the knee.
For best results, your dog’s coat should be clean, dry, and well brushed because dust, mud, dirt, loose hair, humidity, and damp weather interfere with adhesion. If bathing is necessary, Bredlau-Morich recommends bathing a day before taping so the coat can be completely dry, and she warns that detangling sprays and similar grooming products prevent tape from sticking and should not be used before taping.
The easiest dogs to tape are those with short hair, but even dogs with medium-length or curly hair may not need special attention. “I have successfully taped Australian Shepherds, Poodles, and other fuzzy mixed-breed dogs without clipping their hair,” she says. “The tape stuck firmly and you could see the improvement in gait and posture.”
Very long hair makes taping impossible, so Bredlau-Morich recommends clipping but not shaving the coat in affected areas, leaving about half an inch of hair so that it rests flat on the body.
While some taping instructions recommend applying a medical adhesive spray when tape doesn’t adhere to a dog’s coat, Bredlau-Morich prefers to remove the tape, spread baby powder over the application area, massage it in gently, and after a few minutes thoroughly wipe it away with a dry microfiber cloth. When the powder is entirely removed, the hair is dry, and the skin no longer greasy or oily, start over with new tape.
POPULAR USES
According to Dr. Barbara, “General back pain, hind-limb weakness, and knee pain tend to respond very well to kinesiology taping. Most owners are able to successfully and efficiently apply these tape applications after minimal guidance.”
In an online demonstration (see bit.ly/WDJ_knee_support), Dr. Barbara tapes a dog’s knee to provide support and stability using Rock Tape made for horses. “It’s extra sticky,” she explains, “and it works well for dogs, especially when we’re taping the joint area.”
After cutting a Y strip, she removes the paper backing from the base of the Y. Because many people mistake a dog’s ankle for the knee joint, Dr. Barbara bends the knee to show the patella (kneecap) location. After placing the base of the Y directly on the knee joint slightly below the patella, she peels the backing paper from the two Y strips and presses them to either side of the leg above the knee. Then she adds an anchor or stabilizer by peeling most of the paper from an I strip before stretching the tape by 50% and pressing it over the patella. Her final step is to rub the tape to help activate its glue.
In his book Kinesio Taping Canine for Dog Lovers, Dr. Kenzo Kase demonstrates how to tape forelimb injuries, biceps injuries, chest wall and abdominal muscles, Achilles tendons, cruciate ligaments, knee joints, whiplash, abnormal spinal curvature, and numerous other conditions. Each instruction is illustrated with photographs and anatomical drawings that describe the injury, the respective positions of dog and owner, and the application of tape to the targeted tissue.
Katja Bredlau-Morich illustrates several taping applications in her book, such as the taping of muscle, lymph, scars, fascia, hematomas, and tendons, plus taping for decompression, stabilization, and proprioception. She concludes with a chapter of detailed case studies.
As the kinesiology taping of dogs grows in popularity and research continues, we’ll see more dogs wearing tape. To learn more, take advantage of books, videos, reports, and descriptions from experienced instructors. You may be inspired to learn how to apply tape to your own body in the process!
The Honest Kitchen pioneered the now-burgeoning market for human-grade dog foods. It took years of battling with regulators and a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Agriculture, who initially refused to allow the phrase "human grade" to appear on THK's labels, but the company prevailed. The court determined that the labels were not untruthful or misleading in any way.
In a world of commercial pet food industry-specific jargon that is often incomprehensible to the average dog owner, the term “human grade,” which is popping up on more and more pet food labels, would seem to be self-explanatory.
So, what is human grade dog food? In reality, while the term is in increasing use on labels and in marketing materials, “human grade dog food” has no legal definition. The regulated – legal – terms that are used to discriminate between foods that are processed, marketed, and sold for human consumption and those that are intended for consumption by pets and other non-human animals are “edible” (humans can eat) and “inedible” (animals can eat). Let’s clear these waters so you understand the difference between the legal terms and the potential for wiggle room provided by the use of the more casual phrase “human grade.” It’s important to know the difference
Still, when you see the words “human grade” on a dog food package, these words do have important meaning and should be given careful consideration – not least because, as one might expect, it turns out that these foods have something special to offer.
Foods that are edible are handled, processed, transported and stored under a set of regulations that are specifically designed to keep products both nutritious and safe. In contrast, inedible foods enter a separate supply stream that is demonstrably more relaxed in its requirements for preserving nutrient value and preventing microbial contamination during handling and transport.
Edible = Highly regulated; safe to consume as food; ends up in your supermarket.
Inedible = Less intensely regulated; not considered safe for humans to consume as food; ends up in pet foods.
For obvious reasons, the terms edible and inedible, while technically correct, do not sit well with most pet owners. Enter the term “human-grade.” Although the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) does not yet have a formal definition for this phrase, they have accepted its use in the pet food industry and allow it to be included on pet food labels provided the following standards are met:
“The term “human grade” represents the product to be human edible. For a product to be human edible, all ingredients in the product must be human edible and the product must be manufactured, packed and held in accordance with federal regulations in 21 CFR 110, Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food.”
Is Human Grade Dog Food Better?
So the bar is set very high for including this claim on a pet food label. Still, a number of companies are meeting these standards and are producing human-grade dog foods of a variety of types, including dehydrated, freeze-dried, and fresh cooked/frozen. The underlying assumption with all foods that carry a “human-grade” claim is that because of the types of ingredients, regulatory oversight, sanitation methods, and processing that are used, the end product will be safer and of greater nutritional quality than other foods that do not carry a human-grade claim.
Dog foods that are produced with human-grade ingredients have increased in number and popularity in recent years. In addition to containing food ingredients that are classified and handled differently than typical pet food ingredients, these products are usually less highly processed when compared with extruded kibble.
To date, there are only a few studies that have examined differences between traditional (pet-grade) foods and foods produced with human-grade ingredients. Here are short summaries of two of these studies:
Digestibility Assay Study1. A validated biological assay was used to measure macronutrient digestibilities of a set of fresh-cooked, human grade foods (Just Food For Dogs). Although dry matter digestibility values were not spectacular (possibly due to fiber content), the protein digestibility and amino acid availability values – indicators of protein quality – were very high in the human-grade foods.
Feeding Study with Dogs2. In this study, two varieties of Just Food For Dogs were compared with either an extruded dry dog food or with a fresh-cooked food produced with pet-grade ingredients. The two human-grade foods performed better than the extruded dry food and than the pet-grade fresh-cooked food. Digestibility values of the human-grade products were rock stars (greater than 90%), so less total food was needed to maintain dogs’ body condition, and the human-grade foods produced lower volume of feces.
Is Human Grade Dog Food Better Than Kibble?
Recently, another producer of fresh-cooked foods added their data to the growing science on this topic. The study3 compared the performance of four varieties of foods produced with human-grade ingredients (Nom Nom Now) to a chicken-based extruded kibble. The brand of the dry kibble was not identified. Dogs were fed each food for a period of 10 days. Collected data included measures of digestibility, energy, and fecal quality. The results of eating a diet of human grade dog food vs normal, dry dog food?
Digestibility values: When fed to dogs, the extruded kibble had significantly lower digestibility values for dry matter, protein, fat, and nitrogen-free extract (NFE, an estimate of carbohydrates) compared with all four of the fresh-cooked products. The differences were dramatic. For example, dry-matter digestibility of the kibble was about 82%. Dry-matter digestibility values of all four fresh-cooked foods were 90% or higher.
Protein: Similarly, protein digestibility of the kibble was about 85%. Protein digestibility values for the four fresh foods were between 92% and 94% (rock-star values again).
Feces: Dogs fed the fresh-cooked foods had significantly lower defecation frequencies (numbers of poops per day) and lower fecal volumes than when they were fed the kibble.
Human Grade Dog Food: Takeaway Points
As with the earlier studies, these results suggest that foods made with human-grade ingredients that are produced with minimal processing perform well when fed to dogs. This is information that dog owners can use when evaluating and selecting healthful foods for their dogs.
In my opinion, we still need controlled studies that tease out and quantify the respective influences of food processing versus initial ingredient quality. However, we do have a growing body of evidence telling us that both processing and ingredient quality matter in pet foods – a lot. (Remember, science loves replication.) Moreover, these papers, published in academic, refereed journals, and either conducted or supported by actual pet food companies, provide great examples of industry transparency that is sadly often in short supply. Which brings me to my soap box…
Cited Studies
1. Oba PM, Utterback PL, Parsons CM, Swanson KS. “True nutrient and amino acid digestibility of dog foods made with human-grade ingredients using the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay.” Journal of Animal Science 2020; 4:442-451.
2. Do S, Phungviwatniku T, de Godoy MRC, Swanson KS. “Nutrient digestibility and fecal characteristics, microbiota, and metabolites in dogs fed human-grade foods.” Journal of Animal Science 2021; 99
3. Tanprasertsuk J, Perry LM, Tate DE, Honaker RW, Shmalberg J. “Apparent total tract nutrient digestibility and metabolizable energy estimation in commercial fresh and extruded dry kibble dog foods.” Translational Animal Science, 2021; 5
Show Us the Studies on Human Grade Dog Food
The three previously described independent studies of commercially produced, fresh-cooked human-grade dog foods identified the companies and the brands that were tested. The data they reported included total digestibility values, protein/amino acid digestibility information, defecation frequency, and fecal scores (important to many dog folks), among other values.
The first study showed mixed results, while the latter two demonstrated some clear wins for human-grade foods. Moreover, although there were limitations, one study helped to tease apart the influence of ingredient quality versus that of processing. This is all good, practical, applicable information needed by dog folks and nutritionists alike.
So, here’s my beef (pun intended).
A common and highly (overly) shared assertion today regarding pet food selection centers on nutrition research and who exactly is doing that research. A frequent form that this “advice” takes is something along these lines (I’m paraphrasing):
“It is the large companies that employ nutritionists and that are conducting all of the research on pet food and nutrition. Therefore, consumers should trust those companies to produce safe and nutritious foods.”
There is a problem with this belief: It is not true.
The type of information that we need to know about the foods that we select for our dogs is not being provided by the large multi-national companies. Really, it’s not.
In contrast, in recent years, academic researchers (and to a lesser degree, small companies) have been providing us with boatloads of practical information about dog nutrition, pet foods, and pet food ingredients. The published research includes evidence regarding protein quality, the digestibility of dried-protein meals, damage due to processing, fish oils, the type of starches that are used in pet food, new processing methods such as freeze-drying and freezing, the effects of high-pressure processing (HPP) on raw foods, the potential health risks of excessive copper, mercury, and contaminating thyroid hormone in pet foods, and most recently, data regarding the use of new ingredients such as insect proteins and human-grade ingredients.
In contrast, with the exception of a single paper (published by nutritionists with Hills) that questioned current protein levels in pet foods, I have found no published studies by the large companies that address the nutritional value, digestibility, ingredient quality, or safety of their foods or their food ingredients.
For all of the marketing gimmicks, label claims, and emotional appeals that we hear from the multi-national corporations regarding the superiority of their products, where are the studies that report digestibility values, protein quality indices, and poop scores? Where are the data to support claims of nutritious and healthy foods? If we are expected to believe their marketing claims, then it is time for the companies (and their nutritionist spokespersons) to step up and show us the data.
Human Grade Dog Food Brands
The following companies manufacture and market foods for dogs that carry a label or website claim of “human grade” – a term that regulators have accepted for now as the same as the legal term, “(human) edible.” This means that all of the ingredients in the product must be human edible and the product must be “manufactured, packed and held in accordance with federal regulations in 21 CFR 110, Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food.” Some of these companies own and operate their own “kitchens.” Some have their products made in plants that also make human foods!
COMPANY INFORMATION
DESCRIPTION OF FOOD
COMPANY CLAIMS
CARU
Vero Beach, FL
(855) 330-2278
carupetfood.com
Canned food (stews), cooked in Tetra Paks. Made in the USA by a family-owned company. Eight varieties available.
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed detailed documentation and concluded that Caru Natural Stews for Dogs are made with 100% human-grade ingredients. The FDA further concurred that these recipes are processed and handled in accordance with FDA regulations for human food. This means that we offer the only ready-to-eat dog food that is made with 100% human-grade ingredients and is prepared in a human-food-grade facility.”
EVERMORE PET FOOD
Oakland, CA and Brooklyn, NY
(718) 596-6788
evermorepetfood.com
Four varieties of cooked food, steamed and then frozen in vacuum-sealed pouches, are available. Made in Evermore’s own USDA/FDA-inspected kitchen in Oakland, CA.
“Gently cooked in a USDA ‘people food’ kitchen. Evermore uses only humanely raised meats; 100% grass-fed beef and lamb; free-range, antibiotic-free turkey and chicken; and eggs from pasture-raised chickens. Formulas include many organic ingredients, no GMO ingredients, and no ingredients from China.”
JUST FOOD FOR DOGS
Irvine, CA
(866) 726-9509
justfoodfordogs.com
Just Food For Dogs offers six varieties of cooked diets that are sold frozen in sealed pouches and eight “Pantry Fresh” stew-like varieties that are cooked and sold in Tetra Paks. For an additional, one-time formulation fee, owners can also have the company’s veterinary nutritionists customize a diet for your dog.
“Our food is crafted by hand in our open-to-the-public kitchens that you can visit, as well as in our own kitchens in Irvine, California, and New Castle, Delaware .... Human-edible ingredients. All of our daily diets for dogs have passed AAFCO-protocol feeding trials at Cal Poly Pomona. JFFD is the first pet food company ever to conduct humane feeding trials at a major university using faculty and student dogs living happily in their own homes.”
NOM NOM NOW
Oakland, CA
(415) 991-0669
nomnomnow.com
Four varieties of food are cooked in vacuum-sealed pouches and then frozen and shipped direct to consumers. Made in Nom Nom Now’s own kitchen facilities in Nashville, TN, and Pittsburg, CA.
“Every meal is prepared fresh in kitchen facilities we own and operate in Nashville, Tennessee, and the San Francisco Bay Area .... We only use whole-food ingredients, processed in the USA and fit for human consumption.”
NULO
Austin, TX
(512) 476-6856
nulo.com
Three canned food varieties – Nulo’s “Challenger” Stews – are cooked and sold in Tetra Paks. (Note that Nulo’s canned foods that are cooked and sold in standard cans are not human-grade.)
“100% human grade. Produced in a human-food facility.”
OLLIE
New York, NY
(844) 886-5543
myollie.com
Answer an online questionnaire about your dog first; then pricing for the four varieties offered by Ollie becomes available. Food is packaged in “modified atmospheric packaging” that is airtight to keep the fresh-cooked food fresh; refrigerate after opening.
“Custom meal plans: We tailor your dog’s plan based on their weight, age, breed, activity level, and allergies, recommending a precise portion according to how many calories they need.... Human-grade: You could eat it with a fork. (But save it for your pup!).... Minimal processing: Whole foods, gently cooked to preserve nutrients.... We carefully source our ingredients, cook them at low temperatures in small batches at our facility in New Jersey, and hand-pack them.”
OPEN FARM
Toronto, Ontario
(833) 399-3403
openfarmpet.com
Open Farm offers four varieties in its “Gently Cooked” line. The food is cooked “sous vide” in its sealed pouches, then frozen and shipped. Open Farm also has six varieties of “Rustic Stews,” cooked and sold in Tetra Paks.
“Gently prepared with minimal processing and 100% human-grade ingredients.”
PET PLATE
New York, NY
(855) 981-6109
petplate.com
Answer an online questionnaire about your dog first; then pricing will be available for two weeks’ worth of food. Each day’s serving is packaged individually in an appropriate amount for your dog. Four varieties available.
“Our meals are made with 100% human-grade ingredients and are kettle-cooked in a USDA kitchen, following the same safety standards used to make human food.... Every meal is hot-filled to ensure safety and flash-frozen to lock in freshness.”
Two varieties of dehydrated, grain-free, “just add water” varieties are available.
“Human grade means that our products are made using only human grade food ingredients AND that our food is made to the same standards required for human edible food. You won’t find any feed grade ingredients like chicken meal, lamb meal, or fish meal here.... We believe knowing where your dog’s food comes from is just as important as knowing what’s in it. That’s why we go right to the source, working closely with small family farmers across the USA. Our farmers raise their animals the right way, feeding them an all-vegetarian diet and never using antibiotics.”
STELLA & CHEWY'S
Oak Creek, WI
(888) 477-8977
stellaandchewys.com
Six stew varieties, cooked and sold in Tetra Paks, are available. (Note that S&C’s canned foods that are sold in cans or plastic tubs, and toppers sold in pouches, are not human-grade.)
“Wholesome, nutritious, and 100% human-grade recipes cooked in small batches..... The animal proteins in our recipes are always grass-fed, cage-free, wild-caught, and farm-raised and responsibly sourced from trusted partners.”
THE FARMER'S DOG
New York, NY
(646) 780-7957
thefarmersdog.com
Answer an online questionnaire about your dog first; then the company recommends several customized recipes of food, cooked and sealed in pouches and shipped to you fresh.
“Real Food: Human-grade meat and veggies in simple recipes, made for dogs... USDA Kitchens: Safety and quality never before available to pets.... Human-grade food in human-friendly packaging. Less processing, higher safety standards, and easy serving.... Your food is delivered to you within days of cooking. Never deep frozen. Never stored on a shelf for months.”
THE HONEST KITCHEN
San Diego, CA
(866) 437-9729
thehonestkitchen.com
Originally, The Honest Kitchen made dehydrated food mixes; you’d just add water before serving these complete and balanced diets to your dog. They still make *18* of these foods, including varieties that contain grain, are grain-free, and some that are limited-ingredient. Today, they also offer nine varieties of “Clusters,” a kibble-like food that is mixed, cold-pressed, and dehydrated; five varieties of “One Pot Stews,” which are stew-like canned foods cooked and sold in Tetra Paks; five varieties of “Butcher Block Pâtè,” which are loaf-style canned foods, also cooked and sold in Tetra Paks; and 13 “pour overs” and meal “toppers” – all of which are human-grade.
THK was first dog food to earn the right to label its foods as human grade, way back in 2003. “Unlike feed-grade pet food, which is a lower quality than human food, being human-grade means a whole host of extra measures to ensure the quality and safety standards for all our complete and balanced foods. Since our foods, supplements, and toppers are actually made in plants that conform to all human food standards, our quality-assurance program is designed to attest to the necessary standards that would apply if a human were to be the end consumer.... No matter how popular we become or how many products we offer, we’ll never move away from our original goal of bringing the highest quality standards of ‘people food’ to pets. It’s something we call ‘The Honest Difference.’”
