We don't know why the nutritional adequacy statements on the labels of dog foods are always so tiny; it's ridiculous that some of the most important on the label is printed so small. Every owner should know which nutritional adequacy statement appears on the label of the food they buy for their dogs or puppies.
If there is one thing that everyone knows, it’s that you have to start out puppies on puppy food. And then at some point later, maybe when the pup is a year old, you can switch him over to adult food. Right?
Well, no. There’s a bit more to it than that.
Let’s get the easy part sorted out first. Generally speaking, a dog is considered an adult when they reach full size, on average around 1 year of age. Small-breed dogs mature faster and can be considered an adult around 9 to 10 months of age. Large breed dogs mature more slowly; it may take them until 18 months or more to stop growing.
PUPPIES HAVE GREATER NEEDS
Growing puppies have greater nutritional needs than adult dogs. They require more calories per pound of body weight than adults – and they need a diet that contains a higher percentage of fat and protein (including higher amounts of many specific amino acids that contribute to the food’s total protein) than adult dogs. Their needs for calcium, phosphorus, and several other minerals are also higher than the amounts needed by adult dogs.
The legal minimum (and a few maximum) values for the nutrient requirements of puppies and adult dogs are enumerated in tables (called “nutrient profiles”) established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). One column lists the nutrient levels required for the “maintenance” of adult dogs; these are called the “adult maintenance” nutrient profiles. Another column lists the nutrient levels that meet the needs of breeding animals, pregnant or nursing females, and growing puppies. These are called the “growth and reproduction” nutrient profiles.
The phrase “puppy food” isn’t the guarantee of a product’s nutritional adequacy. Rather, it’s the “AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement” that indicates whether the food meets the legal requirements of a “complete and balanced diet” for puppies. If it does, the statement will either say the food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles “for growth” or “for all life stages.” AAFCO now requires that foods also specify whether they are appropriate for large-breed puppies with a statement that uses either “including” or “except for” the growth of large size dogs (70 lbs. or more as an adult).
“ALL” INCLUDES PUPPIES
Remember, there are only two Nutrient Profiles: one for “growth and reproduction” and one for “adult maintenance” (sometimes called just “maintenance”). So what’s this about “all life stages”?
“All life stages” includes growth and reproduction; a food that is so labeled must meet the requirements for puppies. Whether you feed a product that is formulated for “growth” or for “dogs of all life stages” – which, again, is the same thing – you could feed that product from weaning through your dog’s senior years. “Puppy food” may be manufactured with a smaller kibble size, but, nutritionally, it can be fed to a dog of any life stage.
ADULTS ONLY
The Adult Maintenance Nutrient Profiles have lower minimum values for protein and fat, so they usually contain less protein and fat. Protein and fat are the most expensive ingredients in a food, so if the manufacturer can put less of them in a product, they usually do. Less fat also means fewer calories.
You may want to consider switching your dog to a “maintenance” food if he’s both (1) fully grown and (2) overweight or gaining unneeded weight on the same amount of food you’ve always fed. Or, keep feeding an “all life stages” food, and just feed less of it!
Dog parks can be a great place to allow your dog to run, play, socialize with other dogs, and burn off excess energy - but they can also trigger fights, bites, and bad behavior. Photo by Hannah Steinke
Dog parks have never been more popular. They can be good opportunities for your dog to expend excess energy and have fun with other dogs. Unfortunately, as their use increases, so does the concern about dog fights. Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do that will dramatically reduce the chances of your dog getting into a serious altercation.
1. Ensure the park has enough space.
Some dogs need a generous amount of space, especially in the context of a dog park where high-intensity play is common and group dynamics are constantly changing as new dogs arrive and others leave. Don’t go to the park when it’s busy – and be prepared to leave early if it starts to get crowded. Avoid congested areas and give more space to dogs who seem stressed or highly aroused, dogs who are playing roughly, and dogs playing with toys.
2. Observe and assess the park conditions.
It’s important to understand that your dog may be at risk merely by being a bystander, so don’t hesitate to change your plan when you get there. It may be disappointing and frustrating if you don’t go in or have to leave early because of other park users, but at least your dog will come home with both ears.
It’s impossible to predict or control the behaviors of other park users – whether they have two legs or four – but you can watch for some indicators to help determine the risk of a dog conflict occurring. Lots of dog poop on the ground can indicate that the park has many users who do not follow rules or are lax in supervising their dogs. Caregivers who are sitting or standing around chatting or using cell phones are likely to be less effective at supervising and intervening before a fight happens.
Before you enter the park, observe the dogs that are there. Dogs who are comfortable have loose and wiggly bodies. Generally speaking, dogs who are uncomfortable either look stiff, perhaps with tails held very high and hackles raised, or look hunched and lowered, with tails tucked (beyond what is typical of the breed). Avoid dogs who relentlessly follow, chase, or hump other dogs despite the other dogs’ attempts to move away.
Other red flags to watch for include dogs excessively chasing or roughhousing, dogs ignoring the calls of their caregivers, and dogs in shock collars. Dogs wearing shock collars experience stress, even when not actively being shocked, and they may be at risk of redirecting their frustration, stress, anxiety, and/or anger toward the nearest bystander.
Not all Dogs Should Go to Dog Parks; Not All Dogs Want to Go
Before setting out for the park, carefully consider if your dog is a good fit. A dog park is not the place for a dog to learn how to socialize with other dogs; there are too many things that cannot be controlled to ensure that the dog has a positive experience. And overwhelming a dog is a sure way to sensitize her further to the proximity of other dogs.
Dog parks are meant for highly social dogs who enjoy the company of all sorts of unfamiliar dogs. A dog who merely tolerates other dogs or is selective about her dog friends might do okay at a dog park – or she may become sensitized to the experience and become less comfortable.
Be aware that senior dogs and young dogs are at a higher risk of dog fights. Some research suggests that adult dogs are more likely to be the aggressor in a dog park conflict and adolescent dogs (particularly males) under 1-year-old are more likely to be the victim.
A dog’s past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, but what about dogs with no previous experience in a dog park, or a newly adopted dog with an unknown or unreliable behavior history? Wait several months to get to know a dog before bringing him to a dog park, even if the rescue assures you that your newly adopted dog is good with other dogs.
Before your dog’s first visit to the dog park, find an opportunity to learn to recognize canine stress signals and appropriate play behaviors, and ensure you have good voice control of your dog in distracting environments. When you are out walking your dog, practice recalls with your dog on a long line.
Joining an on-leash walking group can be a safe option to assess and improve your dog’s emotions and behaviors around other dogs. You may discover you and your dog prefer private playdates with one or two familiar dogs or long-leash sniff ’n’ strolls with or without dog friends.
3. Use caution in the entrance area.
Most dog park conflicts occur within 100 feet of the entrance area, with about half of them within the first 20 feet.
Good dog parks display the park rules; great parks also offer signage that describes appropriate play behaviors and canine stress signals, to help educate dog caregivers who may not know what body language to watch for.
This is a high-risk zone because it’s usually congested with distracted caregivers chatting with others or looking at their phones while their dogs race around the area and mob the new arrivals. Some dog park designs make congestion worse by placing amenities like benches or water fountains in the area. Also, funneling all traffic to one entrance and exit, requiring tired dogs who are leaving to mix with over-excited dogs who are arriving, makes the entrance area a fight waiting to happen.
If possible, use an alternate entrance or exit. If this isn’t an option, do your best to wait until the congestion clears (or come back at a different time). Once through the gate, move quickly away from the entrance area and call your dog to come with you. Refrain from tossing a toy, chatting with someone, or being otherwise distracted until you are at least 100 feet from the entrance.
4. Keep your dog moving along.
Some caregivers simply enter the park and sit or stand there, expecting their dogs to play with unfamiliar or incompatible dogs. It’s better to move farther into the park immediately upon entering and continue to walk throughout the park, allowing your dog the choice to engage with, avoid, or ignore dogs along the way, and encouraging your dog to move along with you if her interactions with other dogs are unruly or uncomfortable.
Many dog professionals who are experienced in managing groups of off-leash dogs believe that conflicts are less likely to occur when groups of dogs are kept moving along rather than remaining in one area.
If you want to chat with someone, it’s likely safer to chat while you walk and keep your attention on your dog. Some dog parks are not well-suited to walking a route, such as “dog runs” or parks without a suitable substrate for walking (such as pea gravel). These types of parks are better for brief playdates with a small group of compatible dog friends or a quick romp when the park is empty.
5. Actively supervise your dog.
Effective supervision involves more than just keeping your eyes on your dog. Just like a supervisor at a school yard during recess, you’ll need to be actively engaged and focused on your dog and the other dogs in the area. A dog park is not the place to use your cell phone or catch up on your reading.
Bring your leash with you and watch for canine stress signals indicating your dog or other dogs are uncomfortable or over threshold. Even too much “happy stress” can lead to dog conflicts, especially when intense play shifts into frustration or “the zoomies” (frenetic random activity periods).
Dogs who are close to threshold will find it difficult to respond to cues, so stay attuned to your dog’s arousal levels and periodically ensure that your dog still responds to your cues. If your dog starts disregarding your recall cue, it may be time to change the activity, move to a different area, or leave the park.
It’s important to recognize inappropriate dog play and to be ready to intervene when you see your dog or other dogs exhibiting behaviors that could lead to conflicts. Just because your dog plays well with familiar dogs doesn’t mean your dog will play well with all dogs. Some dogs have incompatible play styles, and dogs who haven’t had much experience playing with unfamiliar dogs might be too rough when playing with new dogs.
Doing a simple consent test can help determine if the play between dogs is consensual or if you need to intervene: Interrupt the play and let the dog who is smaller, less assertive, or the one being chased choose to resume play or not.
Look closely: There are four dogs (one is tiny) demonstrating a nice distance "stay". They weren't asked for a position, just a stay, so one is in a down, one is standing, and two are sitting. Teaching distance behaviors in a group that contains at least one reliable veteran can help the rest "get it".
Basic good manners training (sit, down, come, etc.) is vitally important to help your canine family member learn how to survive in a world full of humans. However, training shouldn’t stop there; it’s just as important to continue training well beyond the basics.
Our second-level class here at Peaceable Paws is called “Beyond Good Manners,” and after that our students go on to “Super Dog” classes. In these advanced courses, we solidify basic-level skills, generalize them to more real-life applications, and introduce new training challenges for our dog-human teams to master. The addition of these skills improves communication and relationship between dogs and their humans, strengthens the reliability of the dogs’ responses to cues both at home and in public, and helps them to become better canine citizens.
Here are some of our favorite “Beyond” behaviors:
* DISTANCE WORK. In basic training we generally teach our dogs to respond to our cues when they are right in front of us (except for “Come” of course!). As a result, many dogs think “Down,” for example, means “Lie down at my human’s feet.” If they are across the room and we ask them to lie down, they come running over and drop to the floor right in front of us. Ideally, however, we might want “Down” to mean “Drop to the ground wherever you are when I give you the cue to lie down.”
This is surprisingly easy to teach if your dog already has a solid “verbal down” – that is if he lies down quickly when you give the verbal cue without having to use a treat, hand signal, or any additional prompts. If not, go back to square one and work on that! (See “The Allure of the Lure, July 2018.) Here’s how to teach a Distance Down:
1. Start with your dog sitting in front of you. Cue the “Down” (just to warm up), click or use your marker word, and treat.
2. With your dog sitting in front of you, tell her to wait or stay and take a half-step back. Cue the “Down,” then mark, return to her and deliver the treat. If at any time during this protocol your dog doesn’t lie down when you give the cue, return to where she is sitting and prompt, mark, and treat. If she starts to get up to come to you, remind her to wait or stay.
3. Tell her to wait or stay, take a half-step back, and without asking her to “Down,” mark, return, and treat. If you ask her to “Down” every time you step back, she will start to anticipate your cue and will being lying down before you ask her to. She will think you stepping away is the cue to lie down.
4. Gradually increase distance – a full step, two steps, three steps, etc., remembering to intersperse frequent repetitions in which you return without asking her to lie down, until she will lie down on your verbal cue from any distance. Also release her from the wait or stay frequently so she doesn’t have to stay in one place for too long a time without breaks!
You can use the same process for any other cues you want your dog to respond to from a distance. Start with her in front of or next to you, ask her to wait or stay, and gradually increase the distance from which you cue her for the behavior.
You need a mirror or a partner to help you with “blind work”, so you can promptly mark and turn around to give your dog reinforcement when she performs the behavior you cued.
*BLIND WORK. We’re not talking about vision-impaired dogs here, but rather about having your dog respond to cues even if you aren’t looking at each other. Again, you have probably taught your dog to respond to your cues when you are facing each other. But what if your back is turned, or she is facing away from you? What if you are in another room? A well-trained dog will respond to those cues even if you aren’t making eye contact. Here’s how:
1. Have your dog sitting in front of you. Tell her to wait or stay and turn your back to her. Cue her to “Down.” If she lies down, mark, turn around to face her, and feed her a treat. (Since you cannot see if she lies down, you will either need an assistant in front of you who nods or shakes their head to tell you if she did or did not lie down, or you can do it in front of a mirror so you can see if she responded to your cue.) If she does not lie down, turn around, cue again, then mark and treat when she does it.
2. Again, turn around without cueing the down sometimes. As with the Distance Down, intersperse several repetitions in which you turn your back, mark, turn around and treat without cueing the down, so she doesn’t come to think turning your back is the cue to lie down.
3. Repeat Step 1 until she consistently lies down on cue with your back turned. If she seems to be having trouble understanding the concept, try cueing the down from a quarter turn so you are standing sideways to her, and gradually increase the degree of the turn over the course of multiple repetitions until she can do it reliably with your back turned.
4. Now add distance. Combine the Distance Down with the Blind Down for more real-life versatility.
5. Get help. Finally, for an out-of-sight Blind Down, either use a mirror so you can watch your dog, or work with a partner who can tell you if she responds.
Have your dog sit, tell her to wait or stay, and walk out of the room. Then cue her to “Down.” If she does, mark, return, and treat. If she does not, return, cue again, mark, and treat. Then try again. Remember to intersperse lots of “not-down” trials for every “Down” that you cue!
Teaching a combination of the Blind Down and Distance Down also gives you a valuable Emergency Down with which you can stop your dog in her tracks if she is headed toward danger.
* COME PAST DISTRACTIONS. When you have taught your dog to come to you in non-distracting environments, it’s time to up the ante. (See “Rocket Recalls,” September 2012.) You can do this by continuing to practice your Run Away (Let’s Party!) recall while gradually introducing distractions.
You can make it even better by introducing the Premack Principle, in which your dog learns that the way to get permission to investigate something she wants is to come to you first. The Premack Principle says that you can use a higher value/more likely behavior to reinforce a lower value/less likely behavior. This is also called “Grandma’s Law” – you have to eat your vegetables before you can have your dessert.
You can teach this informally in everyday situations. When you are out walking with your dog on leash and you can see that she wants to go investigate something, occasionally (not every time!) happily call her to you, and when she gets to you give a cheerful, “Okay go!” cue and run with her to the object of her attention.
You can also teach her the Premack concept more formally as follows:
1. Have a helper stand in the center of the room. Tell your dog to wait or stay and walk across the room past the person.
2. Cheerfully call your dog and run away from her. When she runs past the helper to get to you, pick up her leash, say “Let’s go see (person’s name)!” and quickly run with her back to the person, who then greets the dog with excitement.
3. Increase the distractions. As she begins to understand that coming to you makes the good stuff accessible, gradually increase the difficulty of distraction – have the helper sit on the floor, lie on the floor, hold treats, puts a plate of food on the floor (with a bowl to cover it if needed).
This extremely useful protocol teaches your dog to come to you in order to “win” the reward of running to play with another dog, going to visit a person with treats, sniffing a tempting pee spot, or chasing a squirrel.
Teaching your dog to go across a room or yard to touch a named item is an advanced task. This type of brain game is great for tiring out a “busy” dog who has too much energy – and who otherwise gets into trouble when she’s lacking enough interaction or stimulation!
* TARGETING TO OBJECTS. In basic training, we teach our dogs to touch their nose to our hand in a behavior known as “targeting.” If your dog loves the “touch” behavior, you can use the hand-target as an alternative to your recall cue, as she must come to you in order to target to (touch) your hand.
You can build on this behavior by teaching her to nose-target to a variety of other objects, which you can then use to send her away from you to an object or location, and as part of your repertoire of cognition games. Here’s how:
1. Start with your dog facing you, standing or sitting, and ask her to “Wait.” Hold the object you want her to touch in your hand and say its designated “name” out loud (Stuffy, Ball, Squeaky, or whatever you want to call it). If she starts to move toward it, tell her to “Wait” again. You want her to not touch it until you give your “Touch” cue.
2. Say “Touch,” and present the item several inches away from her (at first), at nose level or slightly below. When she touches the item, mark and treat. She may hesitate and be a bit confused at first since she was previously accustomed to touching your hand. Make it easy for her to reach and touch the item.
3. Add distance. When she reliably touches the named object with the two-word cue (“Squeaky! Touch!), start presenting it in your hand at a greater distance. Mark and treat every success.
4. Separate yourself from the item. Now place the object on a chair or on the floor, with your hand behind it, and ask for the touch. Mark and treat each successful touch!
5. Increase distance. Gradually move your hand farther away from the object over several repetitions, until she no longer needs your hand there to respond reliably to your “Object! Touch!” cue.
6. Vary the starting point. Gradually move away from the object with your dog and vary your starting point before asking for the touch, until you can send her away from you to touch the object from increasing distances.
7. Vary thelocation of the item. Next, randomly place the object in different locations so you can send her to touch it from various distances at various locations from different starting points.
8. Finally, generalize. Repeat the sequence with different objects at new locations (outdoors, on walks, at friends’ houses, etc.).
For a useful application of this behavior, you can teach her to target to the lid from a cottage cheese or yogurt tub; tape the lid to a wall, send her away from you to touch it, and then cue your Distance Down.
For more cognition games where you can use this behavior, see “Are Canines Cognitive?” October 2017.
* GENERALIZE A “WAIT.” We teach a basic “Wait” behavior using the dog’s food bowl, which instills polite behavior at mealtimes.
But “Wait” has many more useful real-life applications, including “Wait at the door until I tell you that you can go out.” This an important life-saving behavior, as it helps prevent door-darting and keeps your dog safely in your car, even with doors open, until you tell her she can get out. You can do this with your dog sitting or standing – whichever you prefer (I prefer sitting, as they are more “parked” in a sit):
1. At the door, tell your dog “Wait” in a cheerful tone of voice. Reach toward the doorknob but don’t touch it. If your dog starts to move, remind her to wait, then reach again, but not as close to the knob. Mark and treat when she holds that position for the several seconds that it takes to reach for the door and withdraw your hand.
2. Get closer to turning the doorknob. Do multiple repetitions, gradually reaching closer to the knob, marking and treating each time your dog holds the wait, until you can touch and rattle the knob without your dog getting up.
3. Begin to open the door very slightly. If your dog starts to move to go out, remind her to wait and close the door (be sure your dog won’t get caught by the door!). Repeat your “Wait” cue and try opening the door again. Begin opening the door a little bit, then gradually open it more and more. Mark and treat each repetition. Frequently release her from the “Wait” with your release cue (“Free!” “Break,” or whatever) as you do multiple repetitions.
4. Practice until it’s reliable. Continue cueing your dog to wait and opening the door until you’re able to open it completely and your dog reliably waits.
5. Have her wait while you go out and then right back in. Now cue her to “Wait!” while you step outside the door and return.
6. Mix it up. Once she’s able to wait reliably as you walk out the door, sometimes say your release word after you walk out and let her go out with you, sometimes close the door while you are inside with her, and sometimes close the door with her still inside while you are outside. (You can call your release cue through the door when you are outside since you won’t expect her to “Wait” when you are gone and the door closing when you are outside will eventually become an automatic release cue.)
7. Cue your dog to “Wait” every time the door opens. Consistency is the key to helping your dog learn quickly! This behavior will easily generalize to other situations, such as waiting when the car door opens, when she’s getting too far away from you on an off-leash hike, and if you want her to pause when she’s approaching someone or something.
*“TEMPTATION ALLEY.” Our basic “Leave It!” teaches your dog to ignore something in proximity to you, starting with a forbidden treat you place under your foot to prevent her from being able to eat it. In our world, “Leave it!” means she never gets to have that treat, at least not in that location. Once your dog has mastered the basic “Leave It,” she is ready for Temptation Alley, which generalizes the behavior to the real world:
1. Set up the alley of alluring items. Place a half-dozen or so items that your dog likes in a line, about four to six feet apart. The items should range from slightly tempting to seriously alluring – a box, a ball, a stuffed toy, a chew-treat, a piece of chicken, and so on. The goal is to walk alongside the line of items in a parallel path, about four feet away from the items.
2. Start walking parallel to the row of items but don’t let your dog reach any of them. With your dog on leash, start walking along the line, in a parallel path about four feet away from the items. Your leash should be short enough so your dog can’t reach the items. It’s critical to have a good grip and not allow yourself to have “bungee cord arms,” so your dog does not reach and get any of the items. (If she does, she unintentionally has been reinforced for pulling toward something you didn’t want her to have – and she will likely pull harder or more suddenly next time!)
3. As soon as she glances at one of the objects, cheerfully tell her to “Leave it!” I want to emphasize the “cheerful” part of this. We’re not trying to sternly warn the dog or intimidate her; we’re trying to teach her a cue for a specific behavior.
If she looks away from the item, mark the behavior (click or “Yes!”) and give her a treat and keep walking. Repeat for each of the objects she looks at (and away from).
4. If she continues to look at any of the items after your “Leave it!” cue, or tries to pull toward an item, just stop, and, keeping a firm grip on the leash and no stretchy arms, stand still and wait until she eventually looks away; do not repeat your cue, or use any “no reward” markers or admonishments such as “Eh eh!” or “No!” When she looks away from the item, mark, treat and continue with Step 3 until you have passed the whole row of items. Then turn around and do it again.
5. Move closer to the line and repeat. When she will reliably pass all the items, either not looking at them or immediately looking away when you give the cue, you can walk in a line that is closer to the Alley and repeat.
It’s easy to see how useful this behavior is in real life. The aromatic bag of fast-food remains on the sidewalk, the tempting pile of kitty poop in the flower bed, the cookie in the hand of the toddler – the applications are endless! When your dog is a star at Temptation Alley, occasionally use your “Leave It” cue on your walks until she can do it anywhere, anytime, for anything.
For more about teaching your dog to “Leave It,” see “Leaving for Good,” June 2018.
Different things tempt different dogs. Nova walked right by the bowl of food and even the bag of McDonald’s food, but nearly put on the brakes for a favorite toy. The leash never so much as tightened, though, as Jessie was ready with a cheery “Leave it!” cue, followed by a mark (“Yes!”) and a treat.
ADVANCED TRAINING
These are just a few of the many Beyond Good Manners that will serve you and your dog well in daily life. If you’re not already working with one, search out a good, force-free trainer in your community who can help you and your dog have fun as you journey together through a lifetime of learning together.
Does he look happy in his Ruffwear Load Up Harness? Not particularly - although, of the four products in our review, this is the most comfortable harness for dogs to wear, and the one that restricts their movements the least. Of course, that means it offers less safety than the others. Owners will have to decide which feature is most important to them.
Cars were invented for humans to travel in, comfortably and safely. It’s only recently that we humans started bringing our dogs with us everywhere we go, and even more recent that we have become concerned about our dogs’ safety in cars, too.
Unfortunately, it’s a little late in the game to try to marry our dogs’ safety with existing car designs. Automobile seats and seat belts are designed to securely hold human bodies that are sitting upright and facing forward against those seats in the event of a crash. The technology is amazing; it works more often than not to hold drivers and passengers in place during the wildest crashes – but only human passengers. Dogs are still not faring well in car accidents.
The dogs who survive car accidents in the best shape are those who were contained in well-engineered and strongly built crates that were securely strapped to solid anchors or bolted to the car itself. These very expensive crates (starting at about $500 and going up, up, up) are, without a doubt, the safest way to transport a dog.
But many of us have cars that can’t accommodate a properly secured crate – and you are not doing a dog a favor by putting him in a regular crate – the kind you use around your home for short-term confinement – with the crate unsecured in your car. There are crash-test videos of regular crates with dog crash-test dummies inside and they are not pretty to watch. Household crates fly apart like matchsticks.
If they are unrestrained in a car when it crashes, dogs tend to fly through the air in the car like projectiles and often “punch through” car windows. In an effort to increase our dogs’ safety while riding in a car that can’t accommodate a strapped-down mega crate, we are stuck with the next best solution: trying to strap dogs onto car seats using a combination of harnesses and car seat belts.
The Challenges of Developing a Dog Car Harness
The companies that attempt to design, build, and sell a product that can accomplish this feat should be applauded; there is a huge and urgent need for a product that works to secure the dog – and many challenges to overcome:
✓ First, the company has to find a design and materials that are strong enough for the job. Again I will refer you to crash-test videos that show a great number of inferior products – products that probably seemed plenty strong before being subjected to a simulated 30 mile-per-hour car crash, but that ripped apart as if they were made with Velcro, sending the crash-test dummy dogs flying. Sincere thanks go to the Center for Pet Safety, a private organization that started making and releasing these videos to raise public consciousness about the lack of adequate safety products for dogs.
After seeing a few of these videos, we quickly realized that we couldn’t possibly include any product in our considerations that wasn’t subjected to a crash-test with video footage that is available for public viewing. This single criterion eliminated the vast majority of the products on the market today.
✓ Another challenge: Once crash tests have helped them find a design and materials that won’t break or tear, they have to deal with the next weak link: the dog’s body.
When you strap a relatively squishy and heavy body (a dog) to a far heavier object (a car) with unbreakable straps, and then subject the whole melange to strong forces, the effect that the straps will have on the dog’s body must be considered. Narrow straps will cut into the dog, so the straps need to be wide. A wide web – a chest plate – is needed to contain the bulk of the dog’s body, because a strap just can’t contain it.
✓ The final challenge: Because dogs’ bodies come in so many shapes, the whole thing has to be highly adjustable and not impossible to put on the dog. It’s a Herculean task!
Candidates for the Best Dog Car Harness
We sorted through ads and other reviews, looking for products to review. After applying the critical criterion for selecting a canine car harness – that the manufacturer has subjected the product to crash tests that are viewable online – there are just five candidates:
• EzyDog’s Drive Dog Care Harness
• Kurgo’s Impact Seatbelt Automotive Harness
• Ruffwear’s Load Up Dog Care Harness
• Sleepypod’s Clickit Sport
• Sleepypod’s Clickit Terrain
Of the two Sleepypod products, we selected the Clickit Terrain to test. The Terrain is beefier than the Sport, and since we were looking for the safest product available, we bought only the Terrain to try.
We got fooled by another candidate, the Reddy Road Trip Crash-Tested Dog Harness, which is made for Petco and sold there (though we saw it offered for sale on Amazon and elsewhere, too). We ordered the Reddy Road Trip and were well into testing it before we realized that we couldn’t find its crash-test videos anywhere, and so we eliminated it from further consideration.
Lesson learned: Just because the words “crash tested” are in the product name or in the product descriptions, unless those videos are available for viewing, the words are meaningless. Without proof to the contrary, we suspect that these products did not survive their crash tests intact.
WDJ’S TOP PICKS FOR DOG CAR HARNESSES
WDJ Rating
Product Name
Maker
Price
Available sizes
Comments
3 out of 4
Ruffwear Load Up Dog Car Harness
Bend, OR
ruffwear.com
(888) 783-3932
$80
5 sizes, for dogs with a girth (chest) 13 to 42 inches
This is the most comfortable and least restrictive of the harnesses we tested, giving our tall test dogs the least amount of anxiety (but perhaps also offering the least amount of safety). Ruffwear’s site says the Load Up harness has been updated and that all sizes of the exact model we reviewed will start becoming unavailable. In August, the new version will be available in all sizes. The only difference, a Ruffwear spokesman explained, is the buckles that are used to connect the back of the chest plate section to the back plate. The spokesman said that consumers found the current “nesting” buckles to be difficult to manipulate. She went on to say that the new buckles have been crash-tested and that video of those tests will be released when the new product is on the market.
3 out of 4
Sleepypod Clickit Terrain
Pasadena, CA
sleepypod.com
(626) 421-6818
$95
4 sizes, for dogs 18 to 110 lbs or girth of 16 to 40 inches
We believe this is the safest product we reviewed, due to its “Infinity Loop” vest-like design, which offers no potential points of failure in case of a collision. However, once buckled into the car, our test dogs also found it to be the most restrictive, due to the way the seatbelt presses on their backs. This is definitely worse for tall dogs; shorter dogs may not find this as oppressive. A D-ring on the back enables owners to attach a leash; smaller D-rings on the four corners are for the option of attaching a complementary “Terrain Pack” for the dog to carry when walking on trails. Sleepypod offers a “crash replacement program” and will replace or provide a replacement discount on any pet carrier or safety harness damaged in an auto accident, regardless of brand – WOW. See website for details.
2 out of 4
Kurgo Impact Seatbelt Automotive Harness
Salisbury, MA
kurgo.com
(877) 847-3868
$76
4 sizes, for dogs 10 to 108 lbs
We were impressed with the continuous, single-strap design of this product, which offers few points of potential failure in a collision. We wish the straps were a bit wider; it hurt to watch the crash-test videos, which showed the straps cutting into the test-dog dummy quite a bit (though the product held the dummy on the seat, as designed). Depending on where your dog fits in the range of sizes accommodated by each size of the product, there may be more or less excess strap forming the loop that the seat belt is threaded through. If the loop is too big, the dog will be less secure once belted in; try the next smaller size. Harness has double D-rings for leash attachment.
2 out of 4
EZYDOG Drive Dog Car Harness
Sand Point, ID
ezydog.com
(877) 339-9364
$115
3 sizes, for dogs 15 to 65 lbs or girth of 11 to 42 inches
Made with wide vehicle-tested seat belt webbing and a molded neoprene-padded chest and back plates. Straps have numbers printed on them to make it easy to adjust the straps on either side to the same length so that the product is centered properly on the dog’s body – genius! To fasten to the car, the car’s seat belt is threaded through two loops on the back of the harness, the most vulnerable point in this design. Harness has double D-rings for leash attachment.
Common Reviews on Dog Car Harnesses: Discomfort and Inconvenience
If you read user reviews of these products, you’ll see that many people don’t seem to fully understand the challenges that we’ve described above, and this lack of understanding leads them to complain about how heavy, bulky, stiff, and hard to adjust these products are. They also complain that it’s a hassle to have to put these harnesses on the dog for a car ride and then have to take it off and use a different harness or collar for walking the dog at one’s destination. Everyone wants harnesses to provide car safety and walking convenience.
Only one of the four manufacturers of products that we reviewed said no – it can’t be done. The Ruffwear Load Up harness is alone in refusing to add a leash attachment to their harness – and we actually support this choice. If the product is as strong and bulky as it needs to be for safety, it’s not likely to be all that comfortable for the dog to wear while walking. Putting a leash attachment on the product will just encourage people to use it for walking, too.
But the other manufacturers went the other way, giving their products a leash attachment point for convenience. We’ll just say that we would use these leash attachments for the convenience of, say, walking the dog from the house to the car – not for a long walk with the dog. Remember, these harnesses are built with strength as a primary goal; efforts to make them lighter and more comfortable may well make them weaker.
Ideal Designs for Dog Car Harnesses
One thing that all those failed crash tests taught product designers: Nylon-type straps don’t break; it’s the connection points that fail. How they are fastened to each other or to other materials makes or, ahem, breaks them.
Once this was clear, a design concept emerged as critical to the strongest products: Ideally, the design would use the fewest number of straps and connection points possible.
Ruffwear’s Load Up harness is the least successful at this concept; they apparently made different decisions. Their harness is made with several straps that are sewn to each other; inside and at the top of the chest plate, there is a steel ring that three different straps are sewn to. To secure the dog to the car, the car’s seat belt is threaded through a loop at the very rear of the back plate. This strap is sewn to a steel ring inside the back plate – and the security of the entire harness depends on this and the other sewn connections. It’s a vulnerability.
The seat belt is threaded through this loop at the back of Ruffwear’s Load Up harness.
In contrast, Sleepypod’s products are the most successful at meeting the design ideal of reducing connection points. Ballistic nylon cloth, rather than straps, provide the strength of this vest-like garment. Sleepypod calls this an “Infinity Loop” – its “energy-absorbing padded vest” will distribute the force of a crash across the entire harness.
The straps on both of the Sleepypod products are not involved with how the product connects to the car’s seat belt; they are there just to keep the “vest” in place and to provide that connection point for a leash that everyone seems to want. To secure the dog into the car, the car’s seat belt is directed under one side of the vest, over the dog’s back, under the other side of the vest, and then clicked into the seat belt buckle. In an accident, the seat belt will be pulling against both of the long sides of the “Infinity Loop,” helping to distribute the force of the crash.
It would be our prediction that of all the harnesses we reviewed, properly sized and worn, the Sleepypod Terrain is the most likely car safety harness to hold your dog on the car seat in a car accident without suffering a catastrophic failure.
The way the seat belt threads through the Sleepypod Terrain harness makes it highly restrictive, or secure, depending on your view.
A theoretically similar approach was taken by Kurgo’s Impact Seatbelt Automotive Harness. This product is made with what appears to be a single strap – actually, a “high tensile tubular webbing” – that winds in its own sort of continuous loop around the harness. The strap passes through four steel “nesting buckles” that slide along the strap easily for adjustment; the buckles “mate” with their other halves, which are sewn to a sort of back-plate. The ends of the strap are sewn, out of view, in the center of the padded chest-plate. This is hard to describe, but the ingenious design eliminates as many problematic connections as possible.
Side view of Kurgo’s Impact harness.The back of the Kurgo Impact harness. The seat belt is threaded through those loops.
The main body of the EzyDog Drive Harness would appear to be comprised of just two straps made of seat-belt webbing. These straps are much wider than the ones used on Kurgo’s or Ruffwear’s harnesses, making it less likely to press into the dog’s body under severe forces – nice!
These straps are sewn along their length to a molded chest plate, which appears to be a neoprene material in the inside, bonded to a ballistic nylon material on the outside. These straps get securely threaded through some beefy aluminum alloy buckles that are sewn onto two back plates; it’s as if EzyDog took the concept of a back plate and split it down the middle, creating a sort of step-in harness.
Once you have it adjusted to fit your dog (not the easiest process), you can have your dog step in, one front leg on either side of the chest plate, and then fasten the two sides of the back plate together with plastic quick-release buckles.
Each of the back plates has a sewn-on strap that makes a loop. To secure your dog in the car, you direct the seat belt through these two loops and then click the latch plate into the buckle. That makes the place where those loops attach to the back plates both a critical and vulnerable spot in this design.
Side view of the EzyDog Drive harness.The back of the EzyDog Drive harness.
Our Top Picks for Best Dog Car Harnesses
We’ve rated the Ruffwear and Sleepypod products as our top picks, for completely opposite reasons.
The Ruffwear Load Up harness offers the largest chest plate of all the products we reviewed, increasing its potential for distributing the force of a collision across more of the dog’s body. And it’s absolutely the most comfortable of the four products we tested. Due to the location of the seat belt attachment loop, way at the back of the harness, it’s also less restrictive of the dog’s movement and position changes, making it less confining – potentially less scary – for a dog who is used to being able to sit, stand, or lay down on the seat. For that reason, it’s also not quite as safe. The more the dog can move, the greater distance he can be thrown in an accident. When you add the fact that it has more potential points of failure (connection points), it must be considered the most vulnerable of our choices.
Conversely, what appears to be the safest possible harness we reviewed also seemed to be the least comfortable for our test dogs: Sleepypod’s Terrain harness. That is, it’s perfectly comfortable for a dog to wear around, but the way it attaches the dog to the car is highly restrictive. When the car’s seat belt is threaded through the sides of the harness and clicked into place, the seat belt itself acts like a back plate on the dog’s back. Our test dogs are tall and couldn’t or wouldn’t even try to stand with the seat belt fastened in this harness. Again, that’s almost certainly safer for them, but they also found it rather aversive. Shorter, more medium-sized or small dogs would probably not experience this difficulty.
Runners Up
We managed to have divergent reasons for liking and criticizing our two runners-up, too.
We found the Kurgo Impact harness to be more comfortable and less restrictive to our buckled-in test dogs. Also, with its nesting buckles that slide along the strap, it’s a bit of a hassle to adjust and fit properly each time you put it on and take it off the dog, though we got better at quickly making these adjustments with practice. However, we were impressed by the continuous, single-strap design, which offers few connection points that may fail.
In contrast, once it was adjusted and fit properly, the EzyDog Drive harness is a snap to put on the dog, and its wide straps and generous chest plate would certainly be kinder to a dog’s body in a collision than the narrower straps of the Kurgo. This product holds the dog more tightly to the seat, so he’d have less room to be thrown before the straps would catch him in a collision. But we would be concerned about the sewn-on straps that secure the harness to the car; though they appear to be well-sewn in several rows of stitching, this is a point of potential vulnerability.
That said, keep in mind that all four of these products are stronger than every other product on the market, as proven by crash-test video you can see with your own eyes.
Consider your own dog’s size and behavior in your car when selecting a product. If he’s an anxious sort that would panic if held too tightly by his harness and seat belt, as might happen when you have to brake sharply, one of the less restrictive products (Ruffwear or Kurgo) might be the best choice for you.
If your dog is secure and relatively stationary in the car, and absolute safety is your top priority, we’d recommend the Sleepypod harness, with the EzyDog a distant second.
Information about the Ruffwear product crash tests (from the Ruffwear website):
“Overall Test Summary: The canine restraint was dynamically tested under the conditions outlined in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 Child Restraint Systems (FMVSS 213). The canine restraint was installed on the canine crash test mannequin per the manufacturer’s (Ruffwear) instructions and then secured to the test bench restraint system. FMVSS 213 employs a standard bench seat that represents the rear seating environment of an automobile. The seat bench and add on restraint was then subjected to the 30 mph generic frontal crash pulse detailed in FMVSS 213…
“While Ruffwear’s Load Up Harness has been dynamically (crash) tested under the test conditions of FMVSS 213, the Load Up Harness has not been tested against The Center for Pet Safety’s Safety Harness Crash Test Protocol, which was published on July 15, 2014. The certification test did not exist when we tested prototypes of our Load Up Harness in April 2014 as part of Ruffwear’s product development process. Ruffwear’s Load Up Harness is not ‘CPS Certified.’
“Based on the results of our dynamic tests, the size Medium and Large/X-Large Load Up Harnesses would not meet CPS’s current certification based on the excursion measurement limits defined in the testing protocol. In order for the Medium and Large/X-Large Load Up Harness to test within CPS’s excursion limits, the seatbelt attachment point would likely need to be affixed higher on the dog’s back. We believe that Ruffwear’s seat belt attachment location produces the optimal approach when considering the safety and comfort of the dog.”
Information about the EzyDog product crash tests (from the EzyDog website):
“While safety testing and standards continue to emerge in the pet industry, our developers wanted to offer a product that was tested to the most widely recognized government safety standards. With product development primarily in Australia, we turned to the experts at the Automotive Safety Engineering in Australia. This particular testing facility is recognized by the USA (FMVSS 213) Europe (ECE Regulation 21) Australia (ADR42/04) for certification of Child Safety Seats.
“At EzyDog we make every effort to manufacture the best products to protect your pet, however there are no official standards or test requirements for Car Canine Safety products.
“We have chosen to base our product designs such that they conform to a combination of global child safety and vehicle interior standards. We then test our product and obtain conformance using these standards as a guide.”
Information about the Kurgo product crash tests (from the Kurgo website):
“Our Impact harness has been tested up to 108 lbs. at an established University testing facility using the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for child restraint systems. See below for a link to the crash test report and videos for specific harness sizes and results.
“Our Impact Harness initially passed for dogs weighing up to 130lbs at the University of Michigan testing facility in 2016. Since then, we’ve refined our dog dummy for accuracy, and improved our testing standards. The Impact Harness passed the crash test at Calspan in 2020 for dogs weighing up to 108 pounds using current PPSC testing guidelines. The new crash-test dog dummy has been vetted and will be the standard going forward for PPSC tests. In our effort to act as a leader in the dog safety space, we will continually update our crash-testing methods as industry standards change.”
All joking aside, a dog who smells bad will receive fewer invitations onto the couch (or even into the living room) and much less petting than one who doesn't have an odor problem. For the sake of your relationship - and his health! - take steps today to quench the stench. Photo credit: Brett Critchley | Dreamstime.com
Oh, my. What’s that smell? If your dog is in the room, it could be really bad breath, dreadful flatulence, leaking anal glands, skunk residue, malodorous dandruff, infected ears, wet dog odor, urine from scent marking, vomit, diarrhea, or something your pup recently rolled in, like manure, dead fish, or well-rotted mammal parts.
Some offending fragrances can be sprayed or washed away, but for others you’ll need more than a deodorizing air spritz. Here’s a look at what can help your dog, yard, house, and kennels smell better, with an emphasis on safe-to-use products that remove unpleasant odors at their source rather than those that cover unpleasant smells with perfumes or other strong scents.
MY DOG JUST STINKS
If your dog seems to smell bad all the time, schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to rule out medical conditions that contribute to unpleasant smells.
For example, canine body odors can be warning signs of cancer, urinary tract infections, parvovirus, or infections caused by bacteria, yeast, or parasites.
One obvious candidate for change is your dog’s diet. Switching to a higher-quality food – which usually means upgrading to better quality protein – may be all that’s needed. WDJ is famous for guiding readers through the world of raw, cooked, fresh, frozen, dried, dehydrated, canned, home-prepared, and commercial pet foods and treats. No matter what your budget, you can improve your dog’s overall health and body odor by feeding the best you can afford. Search the archives or click on “Dog Food Information” at wholedog-journal.com.
WILL SUPPLEMENTS HELP?
Probiotics are “friendly” gut bacteria that make up the dog’s microbiome and form a first line of defense against pathogens (see “A Better Biome,” February 2018). Prebiotics nourish probiotics and help maintain healthy populations of beneficial microorganisms. Enzymes such as protease, bromelain, and papain (which break protein into amino acids), amylase (which digests carbohydrates), and lipase (which breaks down fats) help prevent foul odors by assisting digestion.
Researchers disagree about whether these supplements are necessary, but users of probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes often report a reduction in symptoms like itching, scratching, bad breath, body odors, excessive shedding, dry or flaky skin, recurring ear infections, diarrhea, and loose or malodorous stools. (See “We’re ‘Pro’ Probiotics,” March 2012; “Praise for Prebiotics,” April 2012; and “Improving Digestion: Digestive Enzyme Supplements,” May 2012.)
Chlorophyll, a green plant pigment that became popular in the 1950s as a whole-body deodorizer said to work from the inside out, can be added to a dog’s food as a liquid or powdered supplement derived from chlorella, spirulina, wheat grass, or other green plants (follow label directions), or add finely minced fresh wheatgrass, parsley, mint leaves, or dandelion greens in small amounts, gradually increasing to 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds of body weight. (Parsley is not recommended during pregnancy.)
Coconut oil, which has proven anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and antiviral properties, has been promoted as a deodorizing supplement for dogs. While no clinical trials have tested those claims, coconut oil enthusiasts report improved skin, coat, and breath odor in dogs who receive small amounts in their food.
Start with 1/8 teaspoon per day for small dogs or puppies and 1/2 teaspoon for large dogs. Gradually increase the amount every few days to the optimum dose, about 1 teaspoon per 30 pounds of body weight daily, or 1 tablespoon per 100 pounds.
Introduce coconut oil in small amounts in divided doses, and reduce the amount or stop feeding it if your dog seems uncomfortable or has diarrhea. For more, see “Crazy about Coconut Oil,” WDJ October 2005.
ROUTINE MAINTENANCE
While long-haired dogs need more frequent brushing than dogs with short coats, brushing distributes the natural oils and releases dirt in any coat. Daily inspections make it easy to remove burrs, weed seeds, and parasites such as fleas or ticks. Check with a highly recommended local groomer to find the right combs or brushes for your dog. Removing tangles as soon as they develop helps prevent matting, which, if neglected, contribute to body odors by trapping skin-infecting bacteria.
Spraying your dog with a coat deodorizer or using deodorizing pet wipes may make a difference, especially after swimming. Dozens of products sold for home and salon use are described as “between bath” treatments that help your dog’s coat look and smell better. Some are called dry shampoos or waterless bathing sprays, and while most are scented, a growing number are fragrance-free.
Most product instructions say to spray or wipe a dog’s coat starting behind the ears (avoid the eyes) and work toward the tail. Massage to distribute, repeat if necessary, let dry, and then brush.
When your dog rolls in something awful or is just due for a shampoo, it’s time for the tub. The frequency of your dog’s need for bathing depends on her activities, coat condition, and body odor. For best results, groomers recommend diluting shampoos and conditioners, using more water than product. Repeat, then rinse thoroughly.
The faster a dog’s coat dries, the better he’s likely to smell. Short hair can dry quickly with towel rubbing and fresh air, while long, dense coats may need a professional groomer’s high-velocity dryer. When you’re on your own, use a large supply of the most absorbent towels available.
STINKY BREATH
An estimated 80 percent of companion dogs develop periodontal disease by age 2, and resulting toxins that drain from the mouth to the rest of the body contribute to systemic diseases of the kidneys, liver, and heart.
You can do a lot to prevent gum disease by brushing your dog’s teeth daily with a toothpaste formulated for dogs (never use human toothpaste). If you can manage just a little brushing, concentrate on the outer surfaces of the dog’s molars, where most of the tartar accumulates.
Many dog owners swear by the practice of feeding raw meaty bones to their dogs. “I can often tell at a glance whether a dog chews on raw bones,” says Tia Nelson, DVM, in Helena, Montana. “Bone-chewing dogs generally have better oral health, better smelling breath, and healthier gums. I believe it’s from the stimulation of the entire oral cavity that occurs when dogs chew bones. They should be appropriate to the dog’s size; and bones that are small enough for the dog to swallow whole should be avoided.” Note that dried bones, such as those found on pet-store shelves, are never recommended, as they are too hard and may break teeth.
Chronic bad breath may point to gum disease and other oral health problems but not always. See “Bad Dog Breath? Maybe Not!” July 2018, for problems incorrectly assumed to involve dental disease.
Pet-water additives sold as breath fresheners claim to enhance digestive health, improve nutrient absorption, and help dogs smell better all over. A small amount, such as a capful, is added to every bowl of drinking water (but always offer plain water, too). Some contain probiotics, digestive enzymes, micronized minerals, or ingredients known to minimize plaque and tartar buildup.
Unfortunately, some of these products contain xylitol, a sweetener that is toxic to dogs. While the small amounts used according to label directions are considered safe for dogs, some veterinarians are concerned that the daily ingestion of xylitol may pose a risk. Check labels and company websites for information and avoid products with xylitol or undisclosed ingredients. Oxyfresh is an example of a product that lists its ingredients and contains no xylitol.
Success with drinking water additives often depends on how they are introduced to your dog. Start with smaller-than-recommended quantities and respect your dog’s preferences.
SMELLY EARS
In addition to smelling bad, canine ear infections are painful and deserve a visit to your veterinarian for help. But by checking your dog’s ears frequently and keeping them clean with a safe ear rinse (see “Prevent Ear Infections by Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears,” April 2021), you can make your dog’s ears inhospitable to yeast and bacterial overgrowths. Avoid potentially painful ear rinses that contain vinegar or alcohol when treating chronic inflammations or ulcerated ear canals.
Here’s an ear rinse that’s safe, effective, and easy to make: Combine 1/8 teaspoon therapeutic-quality lavender essential oil with 3/4 cup distilled witch hazel, 1 tablespoon powdered boric acid, and 1/4 cup pure aloe vera juice or gel. Shake well before applying.
Another is Jake’s Remedy, an aromatherapy product designed to treat itchy skin and paws, hot spots, dry skin, hair loss, fungus, and ring worm. Jake’s Remedy works well as a soothing ear flush when applied with an eye dropper.
MY DOG GOT SKUNKED
Skunk-spray odor ranks as one of our most-disliked odors and it seems to last forever. That’s because the spray’s thiols and thioacetates, which are natural sulfur-containing chemicals, bind to other molecules, making them easy to spread and difficult to eliminate. Anything your skunked dog touches will get skunked, too.
Canned tomato juice and vinegar are traditional treatments that dog lovers still use, but neither neutralizes those annoying thiols and thioacetates. In addition to not working well, tomato juice can change the color of white or light-colored coats, and vinegar has its own distinctive odor.
Fortunately, there’s a home remedy that does the job. Mix 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide (the kind that’s sold in grocery stores and pharmacies) with 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 teaspoon liquid dish soap. The mixture is chemically unstable, so it can’t be made in advance (closed containers can explode), so keep a supply of the ingredients on hand for skunky events.
Wearing protective gloves and avoiding your dog’smouth and eyes (it stings!), massage this soupy mixture into your dog’s coat. Because the chemical reaction is instantaneous, and because prolonged exposure can bleach dark coats, fabrics, wood, and other porous surfaces, don’t leave it on your dog for more than a minute or two. Rinse well, shampoo, and rinse again. In most cases, a single treatment is all you’ll need, but repeat the procedure if necessary.
Other products recommended for de-skunking pets include:
• Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor Remover. The company says this product “binds with and removes odors using a bio-enzymatic formula.”
• Skout’s Honor Skunk Odor Eliminator. The company says it “breaks down odor molecules with a plant-derived surficant and molecular deodorizer.”
• Alpha Tech Pet Skunkaway. The company says that when combined with water, the product “creates a chain reaction that disassembles odor molecules and reassembles them in an odor-free matrix.”
Ingredient Information
Many dog-deodorizing products claim to be made of natural or naturally derived ingredients, but while all-natural products may be safer for dogs and puppies, they don’t necessarily work better than products containing synthetic ingredients.
And what does “natural” really mean? Polysorbate 20 may be listed as a natural ingredient, but it’s an FDA-approved synthetic flavoring agent. DMDM hydantoin is an organic compound found in hair care products, where it acts as a preservative by releasing formaldehyde. Sodium cocyl gluamatae and other cocyl ingredients are derived from coconut oil, though they are very different from that source material.
More controversial are ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, petroleum-based fragrances and phthalates, synthetic dyes, parabens, and isothiazolines, which have been criticized for being harsh on skin, potentially toxic, disruptive to hormones, or damaging to marine environments.
Some labels list what products don’t contain, such as sulfate-free, alcohol-free, xylitol-free, detergent-free, paraben-free, no triclosan, no mineral oil, no petrolatum, no drethanolalamine (DHA), no phthalates, no chlorhexidine, no propylene glycol, or no added colors or dyes.
By itself, the presence or absence of natural or synthetic ingredients doesn’t determine whether a product will work well for your dog, so check product reviews, consult groomers and other experts, and keep notes as you experiment.
Most of the manufacturers mentioned here welcome customer questions, provide educational information, and offer money-back guarantees. The dog-deodorizing industry, already enormous, continues to grow.
FRESH SURROUNDINGS
Some of the most interesting and versatile deodorizing products are fragrance-free odor removers derived from natural sources. Read labels carefully because some products are designed for use on pet bedding or other surfaces but not for application on pets. Most of them dry odor-free but may contain a rapidly evaporating tracer fragrance to help users identify treated areas.
Natures Odor Control or N.O.C. products contain amino acids, vitamins, and trace minerals derived from a culture of blue-green algae. Liquid N.O.C. products become active for eight hours when mixed with water. Recommended applications include the treatment of vomit, urine, feces, and other unpleasant odors. N.O.C.’s dry granules can also be used to neutralize odors. Its Pet Powder is brushed or massaged into the dog’s coat for improved body odor; it’s also indicated for eliminating skunk spray.
Odor-B-Gone products eliminate skunk scent on animals, urine odors on concrete floors, and odors trapped in carpets, upholstered furniture, and bedding, using an extract derived from yucca plants. Its Spot Stain and Odor Remover releases and removes tough stains, even old ones.
Zero Odor says its spray products “use molecular technology to bind with odor molecules in the air and on surfaces, transforming them into odorless molecules.” While the company says these products are safe for use on dog beds, collars, and other equipment, they are not recommended for direct application on dogs.
Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover by Biokleen combines live enzyme cultures, citrus extracts, and plant-based surficants to deodorize pet accidents and more. Apply, let stand for at least five minutes, then blot with a clean cloth. Not recommended for direct application on pets.
Simple Green Outdoor Odor Eliminator uses natural enzymes to eliminate odors at their source on grass, turf, gravel, concrete, and outdoor carpets. The bottle features a hose attachment for easy outdoor spray application. This is a scented product. It is not recommended for direct application on pets.
Jokes aside, flatulence can result from gastrointestinal problems, so if the problem is chronic, check with your veterinarian, in case it results from food sensitivities, irritable bowel syndrome, parasites, pancreatic disorders, or other sources of inflammation.
Sweetening your otherwise healthy dog from the inside out takes us back to diet. Try upgrading protein sources, experimenting with meat-based, low-carbohydrate foods, and staying away from frequently blamed ingredients like soy, corn, wheat, and dairy products. In addition, adding probiotics, prebiotics, and enzymes to food can reduce flatulence by improving your dog’s digestion.
Deodorizing dietary additions such as chlorophyll supplements or finely minced green herbs may help, as can “carminative herbs.” Ingesting the latter relaxes stomach muscles and relieves intestinal gas. Ginger, fennel, dill, cayenne, thyme, and peppermint are widely used examples of carminitive herbs. Sprinkle small amounts of dried or freshly minced carminatives on your pet’s food to see if they make a difference.
If your dog eats everything in a hurry, she may swallow air along with her dinner, which worsens the problem (and can cause bloat). Slow her down by placing a large obstacle in her bowl, or try feeding her from a specially designed dog dish, snuffle mat, or other arrangement that slows food consumption (see “Savor the Flavor,” November 2020 for a review of slow-feeder products). In multiple-dog households, try feeding dogs in separate rooms to reduce competition that results in gulping.
And when gas happens, be ready to spray the air with a fragrance-free odor eliminator.
LEAKING ANAL GLANDS
Now there’s an unforgettable fragrance. Dogs who scoot on, lick, or even bite their hind ends may be trying to relieve the heat, inflammation, swelling, and pain of impacted anal glands as well as the abscesses (bacterial infections) they can produce.
Overweight, sedentary, and small-breed dogs are more frequently plagued by anal gland problems, but the issue can develop in physically active, slender, and otherwise healthy dogs of all breeds and sizes. If your dog appears to be in pain or is obsessed with licking under his tail, make an appointment with your veterinarian to make sure your dog doesn’t have a ruptured or infected anal gland.
Some veterinarians and groomers consider manual expression (pressing on both sides of the anal glands to release their contents) a routine treatment while others discourage that approach. Whether you do or don’t express your dog’s anal glands,preventive measures like increasing his active exercise and dietary fiber intake may help. Deodorize bedding and other affected surfaces with appropriate products, some of which (check labels) are safe for direct application to your dog’s anal area.
Products Mentioned In This Article
• Alpha Tech Pet Odor products, alphatechpet.com; (800) 222-5537
• Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover, biokleenhome.com; (800) 477-0188
• Jake’s Remedy, FrogWorks, frogworks.us; (303) 973-8848 (this number has been corrected)
• Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor Remover and other pet odor products, naturesmiracle.com; (800) 645-5154
• Nature’s Odor and Germ Control pet products, nogc.com; (888) 884-6367
Ever wondered 'can dogs eat asparagus?' Here's what you need to know. Photo: Rasa Petreikiene/Getty Images
The green stalks usher in spring, making for an ideal addition to everything from omelets to salads. But can dogs eat asparagus? And, if your dog eats some off the floor, is it cause for concern?
“Generally, dogs can have asparagus,” says Dr. Anthony Hall, DVM, an expert affiliated with the pet telehealth app AirVet.
Is Asparagus Bad for Dogs?
The green stalks of asparagus that humans eat are non-toxic for dogs. However, if you walk by wild asparagus or grow it yourself, you’ll want to keep your pup away from it as Dr. Hall says asparagus berries or flowers can be toxic. He suggests putting up a fence around your garden, if you grow asparagus.
Is Asparagus Good for Dogs?
Asparagus is full of zinc, which Dr. Hall says is good for immune support.
Cooking reduces the nutritional content of many vegetables, including asparagus – but dogs can’t benefit from those nutrients in raw asparagus; it needs to be cooked in order to make the nutrients available to dogs.
Pay special attention to your dog for a day after feeding asparagus. If you seen any signs that it did not agree with him, you probably won’t want to give it to him again.
“As with anything eaten, if they have a sensitivity to it, vomiting and diarrhea are the biggest things you’ll see,” Dr. Hall says.
“If it’s one bout of vomiting and they vomit the asparagus, don’t feed it to them again,” Dr. Hall says. “That should take care of it, although you can still feed something bland like boiled chicken and rice.”
If the symptoms continue, Dr. Hall suggests calling the vet.
Over the 23 years Whole Dog Journal has been published, we’ve discussed pet food recalls due to contamination with Salmonella a number of times. It was in the news again recently, with Midwestern Pet Foods having to recall a number of their foods due to potential contamination with the bacterial menace.
The Salmonella bacteria is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in humans. More than a million humans in the United States will get sick with salmonellosis each year, and about 450 will die from the illness.
Salmonella is found in the intestines of many animals, including pigs and poultry, and it’s spread through their feces. Of course, when these food animals are slaughtered and their intestines are removed, feces can get splashed around and contaminate the meat products that are being processed.
Salmonella can also be spread through irrigation to many food crops. Human food recalls due to Salmonella have involved everything from alfalfa sprouts to cucumbers to apple juice. Dairy products and seafoods have been contaminated, too, presumably by humans who came into contact with the bacteria and didn’t wash their hands properly as they worked with those food products.
But here is an interesting fact: There is a legally allowed percentage of Salmonella contamination in human foods that are meant to be cooked before consumption, such as raw poultry. There are two reasons for this: Salmonella is very hard to eliminate entirely from meat supply, and because cooking renders the bacteria harmless.
Foods that may be eaten raw, such as nuts and lettuce, however, have no “allowable” amounts of Salmonella. Those are zero-tolerance foods. Contrast that with the raw chicken that you buy for your family barbecue; as much as 7.5% of any given lot of raw chicken is allowed to be contaminated with Salmonella without triggering any sort of enforcement action to the producer or retailer, much less a recall.
Now, let’s talk about dog food: Because dog food is not cooked before it’s fed to dogs, and because humans handle it (scooping the food, feeding kibble with our hands, washing bowls, etc.), NO Salmonella is allowed on dog food; it’s also a zero-tolerance product. The irony is that very few dogs actually become sick with Salmonellosis.
This is not to say they don’t become infected; some of them do. But it doesn’t always sicken dogs. And when it does, it may cause a mild and transient case of diarrhea. According to the World Small Animal Veterinary Association World Congress Proceedings, 2007, as reported on the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) website, research has shown that if you test a population of adult dogs and cats who do not have diarrhea, about 0 to 2% will be found to harbor Salmonella, and from 0 to 1% of animals with diarrhea will be found to harbor the bacteria. It would seem that most of the time, this particular pathogenic bacteria is not all that problematic in most dogs.
Some vulnerable individuals may suffer illness, however; you can find cases of dogs who were ill and treated for Salmonella and who recovered – and perhaps, even cases of dogs who did not.
But what you very rarely see, and have not seen in this most recent specific instance of the Salmonella-related recall of a number of foods from Midwestern Pet Foods, are cases of dogs who have been sickened by the recalled foods. As with every Salmonella-related recall that I can personally remember, no dog illnesses or deaths have been reported as linked to the recall.
Representatives of the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will be the first to admit that Salmonella-contaminated food poses more of a threat to human health than canine health, which is one of the reasons that the agency offers instruction on safely handling pet food that nearly none of us dog owners follow. But knowing what you now know about Salmonella and pet food, perhaps we should. Certainly, humans who are immune-compromised would be wise to follow those tips and wash their hands after every exposure to pet food – and, even more helpfully, raw meats.
Drinking from a puddle in a wildlife area, this puppy is at high risk of becoming sick with leptospirosis. The bacteria that cause this illness originate from the urine of infected animals; deer, raccoons, and skunks are common carriers of the bacteria, which can live for weeks or even months in puddles, ponds, and even mud.
Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria shed in the urine of infected wildlife. Deer, skunks, and raccoons are the biggest reservoirs, although rodents like mice and rats carry it too. Leptospirosis typically causes severe kidney and liver damage, which can sometimes be fatal. It is a zoonotic disease, which means it infects humans as well.
For all of these reasons, it’s important for dog owners to be aware of this disease, understand how it is spread, know what signs to watch for, and most importantly, learn the best ways to prevent it.
BACTERIAL VILLIAN
The leptospire is a particular type of bacteria called a spirochete. It’s unique from other bacteria in that it cannot be easily cultured in a laboratory, which makes it a challenge for your veterinarian to definitively diagnose your sick dog.
The leptospire multiplies in the kidneys of reservoir hosts, such as deer, skunks, and raccoons. Reservoir hosts are those that have adapted to this organism and therefore do not fall ill with disease; they merely carry the organism and shed it in their urine. The leptospire doesn’t multiply once it’s shed into the environment, but it can survive for weeks or even months in warm, wet conditions. It loves stagnant water, puddles, and muddy soil – this is where you and your dog are most likely to encounter it.
Species who become ill with leptospirosis are called incidental hosts. These include both dogs and humans. The leptospire enters the incidental host through mucous membranes (either when swimming or drinking from mud puddles) or through breaks in the skin (again, either through swimming or just tracking through mud with cuts or open sores).
Once inside a susceptible host, leptospires multiply rapidly in the bloodstream, where they immediately start damaging the lining of blood vessels. This blood vessel injury then leads to organ damage. The kidneys and liver are most commonly affected, but leptospirosis can cause injury to the lungs, eyes, and central nervous system.
RISK FACTORS
The risk to your dog depends on your geographical location, home environment, lifestyle, and time of year.
Leptospirosis is a global disease, most prevalent in areas with high rainfall and warmer climates. In the United States, Hawaii is the biggest hot bed for leptospirosis, but cases have been documented all over the country. Numbers are high on the West Coast, in the upper Midwest, as well as in the Northeast, Southeast, and mid-Atlantic coastal regions. Case numbers in the United States peak in late fall.
Home environments with a high neighborhood wildlife population pose a greater risk, especially if your yard is not fenced to keep larger animals like deer out.
If your lifestyle includes hiking, camping, or walking in parks or wooded areas with your dog, your risk of exposure to leptospirosis is higher. If you live in an urban area with a more sedentary or indoor lifestyle, your risk is much lower, although mice and rats can be carriers.
While a rise in leptospirosis cases in urban areas has been documented, I’m hard pressed to believe that the amount of urine a mouse leaves behind is as significant as that of a deer in terms of exposure. No risk, however, is better than low risk, so rodent control in urban environments is recommended.
SIGNS AND DIAGNOSIS
He’s no search-and-rescue dog (he’s not even looking or smelling in the right directions!), but this photo indicates he’s clearly at risk of exposure to leptospirosis, given the proximity of raccoons and their ability to enter his yard. The raccoon is in a tree now, but it was in his yard just minutes before the picture was taken.
If your dog becomes infected with leptospirosis, the signs can be variable but almost always include lethargy and loss of appetite. Fever, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst, and urination are common. Icterus (yellow mucous membranes) frequently occurs when there is liver involvement.
Less common but possible signs include muscle pain, abdominal pain, and inflammatory eye conditions. If the lungs become damaged, difficulty breathing and coughing up blood can occur. Lung involvement, which carries a much graver prognosis, is fortunately not common.
Diagnosing leptospirosis in dogs is challenging. Your veterinarian will use a combination of history, physical exam findings, blood tests, and urinalysis to arrive at an initial index of suspicion for this disease. If it’s high enough, the next step includes submission of blood for a test called a microscopic agglutination test (MAT). This test looks for antibodies against leptospirosis. Sounds simple, right? It’s not!
Several complicating factors make a single MAT insufficient for definitive diagnosis of leptospirosis. First, antibodies are not always identifiable early in the course of a disease. It takes time for the immune system to form antibodies.
The best way to know for sure is to look at paired samples, one taken right away (the acute titer) and one taken two weeks later (the convalescent titer). If this shows a fourfold or greater increase in titer, it is considered diagnostic for leptospirosis. But we can’t wait two weeks to start treatment for leptospirosis! It’s imperative that your dog be started on appropriate antibiotic therapy as early as possible.
To make matters worse, antibiotic therapy may dampen the rise in the antibody titer we use for making a definitive diagnosis. So while it may well be leptospirosis, it might not look like it, based on a lack of rising titer in the paired samples. This is frustrating, but I have learned that as long as the initial index of suspicion is high enough, the patient receives early appropriate therapy, and makes a full recovery, it’s all good. We just won’t be able to say it was definitely leptospirosis in this situation; we can only say it probably was.
Here are two more factors that can confound diagnosis: Vaccinated dogs can still succumb to active infection! And dogs who have been vaccinated for leptospirosis will display vaccine-induced antibodies on a titer test!
This means when a vaccinated dog comes in with signs suggestive of leptospirosis, and has a positive titer on the MAT, there’s no way to differentiate active infection antibodies from vaccine-induced antibodies. Does he have leptospirosis or not? Only time will tell. In the meantime, you can bet I’m treating him for it.
A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which looks for the actual DNA of the leptospire organism and is not affected by vaccination status, is currently available. These tests can identify disease earlier, but their accuracy is still under investigation. This means that if the PCR comes back negative, it would still be prudent to initiate treatment if the veterinarian’s index of suspicion is high.
TREATMENT
While diagnosis can be tricky, treatment is more straightforward. The leptospire organism is not sensitive to many antibiotics, but fortunately it is highly sensitive to a few. This means if your dog gets a swift, accurate diagnosis, and appropriate treatment is started early in the course of the disease, you can usually expect a good outcome; as many as 80% of dogs handled in this manner will make a full recovery.
Appropriate antibiotic therapy is paramount to a successful outcome. Penicillin, or its derivative ampicillin, is usually instituted early, as these drugs eliminate the bacteria from the bloodstream. Doxycycline is typically given for at least two weeks, as this antibiotic helps clear the organism from the kidneys. Anti-emetics (anti-vomiting) and pain medications are administered as needed.
Treatment almost always involves admission to the hospital for several days or longer, depending on the severity of disease. Kidney and liver involvement requires aggressive intravenous fluid therapy and close professional monitoring. Patients with severe kidney failure who fail to respond to intravenous fluid therapy should be referred to a specialty center for dialysis.
Once discharged from the hospital, your dog will require close monitoring for several months, although a good prognosis can be given at this point.
Your veterinarian will advise you on how to safely handle your dog’s urine at home, which includes wearing gloves when cleaning it up. Routine household disinfectants with bleach are effective against this bacteria, so using a yard sprayer and a bleach solution to spray each place where your dog urinates in your yard would be prudent.
If you have other dogs, be sure to ask your vet about proactively treating the others with doxycycline, just in case. I know my dogs drink from, and track through, all the same puddles when we are out and about. If one becomes infected, there’s a good chance the other has been exposed.
PREVENTION
Effective rodent control, indoors and out, is always a good idea. A fenced yard will help keep the larger wildlife reservoirs like deer from urinating where your dog goes out. Other than keeping your dog in a bubble, there is always an environmental risk of exposing your dog to leptospires!
This is where vaccination comes in. The canine leptospirosis vaccines that are currently available all protect against four serovars of the bacteria. While the four serovars in the vaccine are not the only serovars your dog may encounter in the United States – more than 200 different leptospirosis serovars have been identified – they are the most common. Furthermore, the vaccine provides some cross-protection from the other serovars. Even better, there is some evidence that vaccinated dogs who become infected with leptospirosis may experience less severe disease.
I recommend waiting until 12 weeks of age to start the leptospirosis vaccine. The initial series requires two doses, given three weeks apart. Thereafter, an annual booster is given. In locations where veterinarians see a lot of cases, your vet may recommend boostering more frequently than that, perhaps as often as every six to nine months, based on their clinical experience.
ADVERSE EFFECTS?
You may have heard about or had your own negative experiences with the leptospirosis vaccine in the past. As a practicing veterinarian, I can attest to the fact that years ago, this vaccine seemed to cause significantly more, and significantly worse, adverse reactions in dogs than other vaccines. The smaller breeds, especially Pugs and Dachshunds, were definitely over-represented when it came to reactions associated with the leptospirosis vaccine. Breeders of small breed dogs would frequently warn their puppy buyers of the danger of this vaccine and strongly advise against it.
Fortunately, with the markedly improved vaccines in use today, this is no longer the case. Recent studies have shown this vaccine to be no more reactive than any of the other routine canine vaccines.
Vaccination, however, is never without risk, which is why I recommend a disease risk-assessment for each individual dog before deciding which vaccines are appropriate for that dog. Any time you or your dog receives a vaccine, you are accepting a certain amount of risk. Reactions range from mild (just not feeling well for 24 hours) to moderate (hives and/or vomiting and diarrhea) to severe (life-threatening anaphylactic shock). Vaccination can also have delayed reactions that show up weeks later in the form of auto-immune disease.
That’s why, if your dog has minimal or no risk of getting a disease, it might not make sense to expose your dog to the inherent risks associated with vaccination. The current American Animal Hospital Association Vaccination Guidelines support this idea by listing leptospirosis as a “non-core” vaccine, meaning it may not be appropriate for all dogs. Examples of core vaccines, which are recommended for all dogs, include distemper, parvovirus, and rabies.
The bottom line is, don’t be afraid of getting a leptospirosis vaccine for your dog, but do a thoughtful risk assessment, considering your environment and lifestyle, before deciding. If your yard can be accessed by skunks, raccoons, and deer, or you have aheavy wildlife population near your home, your dog’s risk is higher. Dogs who are taken camping or hiking in areas where wildlife is present are also at a higher risk.
Ultimately, whether or not to vaccinate your dog for leptospirosis is up to you. As always, the best advice for you and your dog comes from your veterinarian.
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Most of us dog owners want to preserve and promote our canine friends' quality of life for as long as possible - and, should it come to that, end our friends' suffering sooner than later. Veterinary hospice and palliative care providers are the experts who can help see us through this difficult phase of life with dogs.
In my 13 years as a veterinarian, I’ve worked in emergency and general practice, as a freelance writer, a volunteer with the homeless population and most recently, as a palliative and hospice-care doctor.
While all of these positions were rewarding, working in palliative/hospice care has been deeply life-altering and fulfilling. It’s a gift to make end-of-life care as painless as possible. This includes supporting the patient – and owners – in a pain- and fear-free manner.
Formation of a New Field
Perhaps you didn’t even know that this service existed for dogs. The idea of hospice for pets has been around and in practice since the late 1990s. Alice Villalobos, DVM, was a pioneer in the field, and coined the term “pawspice” to describe veterinary hospice work in 2004. The first International Symposium on Veterinary Hospice Care was held in 2009.
Also in 2009, the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care (IAAHPC) was founded with the goal of promoting animal end-of-life care education, research, and discussion amongst veterinarians and their clients. IAAHPC remains the driving force in advancing hospice care for pets. In 2016, the IAAHPC began offering a course in this work for veterinary practitioners, the Animal Hospice and Palliative Care Certification Program. You can search for certified practitioners at iaahpc.org.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE SERVICES?
While closely linked, palliative and hospice care are different. Both are concerned with the complex web of emotions and decisions surrounding the care of a beloved companion. This includes considering the social, economic, psychic, and physical demands of care.
They differ in that palliative care seeks to minimize suffering and maximize comfort at any stage of life and with any disease process. In contrast, hospice focuses on patients that are terminally ill and helping with a transition to a peaceful, assisted death.
It may be difficult to know when your dog is ready for palliative care or hospice. In the case of a terminal illness, hospice is best started when definitive options have been tried and failed, if there are no definitive treatments, or if you are not interested in aggressive treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiation.
An example of this is when an inoperable tumor is found and the dog is otherwise stable and relatively healthy. Hospice care includes monitoring the tumor and providing pain relief, comfort measures, and other care as the cancer progresses. When quality of life is declining, a peaceful passing can be planned.
Palliative care is different in that it can be started at any time and continue in conjunction with other treatment from your veterinarian. Osteoarthritis is an excellent case for palliative care. While it is a chronic and progressive condition, it does not cause terminal illness. Palliative treatment will focus on supplements, physical therapy, and pain management.
Veterinarians are starting to offer this concurrently with more definite therapies, but you can also find many mobile services that can come to your house for this care. This is helpful for older animals who are stiff and have trouble with car rides or those who suffer anxiety in a veterinary clinic environment. You can ask your veterinarian for a referral (if the service exists in your area) or often directly contact the hospice vet yourself.
Palliative Care for 17-Year-Old Finn
With a palliative-care plan, 17-year-old Finn is feeling more comfortable – and looks less like an old dog!
Finn is extremely handsome and quite old at 17. He is a mix of Border Collie and Australian Shepherd. To look at him, you would never guess his age – that is, unless you watched him walk up some stairs. Finn has advanced arthritis in his hips and pelvis. As a result, climbing stairs and running can be difficult for him. He still loves to walk and hike with his owners, but as he’s aged, Finn has started slowing down and having longer periods of stiffness after exercise. He also started throwing up and having loose stools and a gurgly stomach occasionally. His veterinarian examined him and conducted diagnostics that included bloodwork and x-rays.
Those x-rays confirmed bone changes consistent with arthritis but also a fuzzy, indistinct area that suggested a tumor in Finn’s abdomen. Finn’s owners discussed these findings with their veterinarian. At Finn’s advanced age, they weren’t interested in extensive diagnostics and treatments, which they feared would be invasive. Finn’s owners called our office and asked for an assessment from our palliative care team.
Finn was a perfect candidate for this care. While his arthritis can be limiting due to the discomfort it causes, and he has intermittent GI upset, his overall quality of life remains good. He eats well and wants to interact with his owners, including going on walks. As a result, we decided together that there were several measures that we could implement to improve his quality of life.
For his arthritis, we started Finn on a low dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication to be given daily. While it is tempting to give medication for pain only on a dog’s “bad days,” with chronic conditions such as arthritis, it’s better to keep a patient on this medication daily. We also included gabapentin for further pain control. In addition, Finn was started on Adequan, an injection administered on a tapering schedule that is the only FDA-approved disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug. This means that it modifies the progression of the arthritis. It can be beneficial even in dogs with advanced bone changes.
For his GI disease, since his bloodwork and x-rays did not show a clear cause, we took a symptomatic management approach. I recommended switching Finn to a novel protein diet (meaning one that he had not been exposed to before – in his case, lamb), adding probiotics to his food daily, monitoring his time outdoors to prevent dietary indiscretion, and medicating his nausea symptoms when they arose with Cerenia, a potent anti-emetic.
As of today, Finn is doing very well with his palliative care. He has more energy, less stiffness, and fewer episodes of upset stomach. His owners are very pleased with his progress.
WHAT TO EXPECT
A typical patient in a palliative-care or hospice practice will be seen anywhere from weekly to every few months. We may need to see an arthritis palliative care patient only once every three months or so, whereas a dog with terminal cancer may require weekly check-ins to adjust his medication.
We start by asking for the client to have their pet’s medical records sent to us so we can review detailed information about the dog’s condition, test results, and treatments. Then, in the practice I work for, a client’s initial appointment will be made with one of the veterinarians, who will do a preliminary assessment of the patient. That appointment is about an hour.
During that time, we meet the dog and owners and discuss the client’s goals for treatment. We describe both our palliative-care approach as well as the “nuts and bolts” about how to reach us after hours and what to do in an emergency. We then go over a plan to improve the dog’s quality of life. This plan differs for each patient and for each medical condition.
It is important during that initial visit to be clear about what your goals are in seeking palliative care. As doctors, we strive to provide relief of pain and improved mobility and cognition. But we need to do this within the boundaries of your ability to provide care. Being very clear about goals and limits is extremely helpful for us when caring for your dog.
From there, our clients communicate with us via text, phone, and email. We are available all day, but our clinic does not take emergency calls. This is different with every service, and it is important to know who to contact in case your dog has an after-hours emergency. Here, we refer to our local emergency hospital.
After the initial assessment, if a patient requires ongoing care with subcutaneous fluids, injections, or frequent bloodwork or blood pressure measurements, one of our technicians will take over those appointments, while keeping in contact with the veterinarian on the case.
QUALITY OF LIFE SCALE
As palliative care continues, the team will check in often to ensure that your dog is doing well and your concerns have been addressed. There are several scales that have been developed to help assess quality-of-life concerns, and these can be very useful in forming an objective opinion on your dog’s condition.
The scale that I use the most is the HHHHHMM scale, which was developed in 2004 by a veterinary hospice pioneer, Dr. Alice Villalobos. The acronym stands for hurt, hunger, hydration, hygiene, happiness, mobility, and “more good days than bad.” A score of zero to 10 (10 being ideal) is assigned to each category. A total of more than 35 points represents “acceptable life quality to continue with pet hospice.” The scale is a helpful tool for reducing the blinding emotion of evaluating your dog’s comfort and happiness.
END-OF-LIFE DECISIONS
Once care is no longer providing comfort and quality of life for your dog, your veterinarian will start the difficult discussion of planning your dog’s transition. It is unfortunate, but an unassisted death is rarely smooth and peaceful for animals or humans. As a result, having a plan in place is very important.
Veterinarians can help ease your dog’s passing with pain medications and profound sedation before administering the euthanizing drug. While every practitioner has a preferred protocol, most euthanasia involves an initial medication (injectable or oral) to provide pain relief and relaxation. This is followed by an injection of a solution that slowly “turns off” the central nervous system. This leads to a deep coma followed by death. It’s as if your companion went to sleep. Done properly, it’s as painless and peaceful as possible for such a sad experience. Having a plan in place and discussing the sequence of events with your veterinarian ahead of time will help ensure that it goes smoothly.
Not Just a Job - A Calling
I never imagined I would take on this work; in fact, it seems implausible – ludicrous, even – that I would accept such a position.
You see, in 2017, I found myself facing the decision of whether or not to continue life support on my terminally ill child. He had been in palliative care since birth for a condition that had no cure. As he aged, he became ill and dependent on many medications and a ventilator to sustain his life. When he was 5 months old, he developed serious complications after an illness and was hospitalized. He deteriorated, and my husband and I were faced with a terrible decision – the hardest that I have ever made. It was the guidance of our son’s pediatric palliative care team that helped us let go. Our son died with peace and dignity.
In 2020, a job opportunity – working in a veterinary hospice and palliative-care practice – fell into my lap. Initially, I was repelled by the thought. Why would I want to put myself in a situation where I was reliving the same conversations and decisions that I’d made for my beloved son, with distraught pet owners? It sounded like a particular type of torture.
Despite this, a small voice in my mind insisted that I might excel at this. I listened to that voice and took the chance, diving into the field and learning as much as I could. I quickly fell in love with the work – the animals, of course, but also their deeply caring owners and guardians and the stories that they shared.
Sitting with people in intense grief, guiding them and giving them peace about their decisions has helped heal my heart. It is an honor to be a steward for people and their beloved companions at the end of life.
A dog gets scanned for a microchip at an animal shelter.
I heard a crazy story recently: My son’s neighbors lost their cat. It was an indoor/outdoor cat and just went missing; one imagines the worst. A few weeks later, the owners get a call from a veterinarian in a town about 30 miles away. The vet’s office representative asked, “Are you missing a cat?” They said, “Yes!” The vet staffer asked, “Can you provide proof of ownership?” They said, yes, they can send their adoption agreement from a shelter, their vet records, photos of the cat, and their “lost cat” fliers.
Long story short: The cat was brought into the vet’s office by someone who said they recently got the cat and wanted to have it vaccinated and microchipped. Before implanting a chip, however, the vet did what vets (and shelters, rescues, etc.) are supposed to do and checked the cat to see if it already had a microchip, and lo and behold, it did. Fortunately, the microchip was registered and the phone number was up-to-date. We can probably thank COVID for the fact that the cat was safely in protective custody inside the clinic when these discoveries were made, with the client waiting outside in the parking lot.
As most of us are doing during COVID, the vet called the client on the phone to say, “Hey, this cat already has a microchip, and can you tell us where you got the cat?” When the person couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, the vet told them, “I’m sorry, the cat already has owners who have been looking for their cat.” The way I heard the story, the client stormed out and the rightful owners of the cat were able to recover their friendly kitty later that day.
What are the veterinarian’s legal responsibilities?
This got me wondering, though: What is the veterinarian’s legal responsibility in this case?
It turns out that this is a bit of a grey area.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recognizes that veterinarians routinely recommend that pets be microchipped as a way of proving their identity and ownership – so they are stakeholders, as it were, when it comes to the question of a vet’s responsibility if they check for a microchip and discover that their client is in the possession of a lost or potentially stolen pet. The AVMA has a microchip policy which contains this text:
“A veterinarian is expected to exercise his or her professional judgment on ownership before establishing a Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR). In those circumstances that raise suspicion that the presenting person may not actually be the lawful owner of the animal, a veterinarian should ask for documentation of ownership, such as governmental registration, bill of sale, adoption documents, or microchip documentation.”
The veterinarian in the story I heard about my son’s neighbors’ cat did just that, which is great. And the cat’s rightful owners were easily able to prove that not only were they the cat’s owners, they had been actively looking for the cat.
But the AVMA also recognizes that a veterinarian has zero authority to refuse to return an animal brought to them by a client – and a vet who did so may well be sued by the person who brought the pet to them. It’s dicey all around.
As I researched this a bit, I came across multiple accounts of pets who were found to contain two microchips, with different registered owners. What then??
Have you heard a story about unclear ownership of a dog that microchips possibly made more complex, rather than solving?
At 13 1/2 years old, Otto now spends way more time on the couch than he used to. He also has a much heavier coat than he used to grow - and more hair to shed!
My stepdaughter and her son are coming to town for a visit. Hurray for vaccinations! They live in New Jersey, and haven’t been to this coast since her son was a newborn, five years ago. We moved into a “new” house three years ago, and they haven’t seen it yet! So my husband and I have been doing an extra-good job of mowing and our usual spring yard work outside and a deep clean inside – to try to restore a little of that new-house luster. (It was built in the 1950s, but even so, it’s the newest house we’ve ever lived in, and it had been professionally cleaned and painted before we moved in.)
Here’s the thing: In Northern California springtime, the grass grows a few inches a week. We’ve been mowing and weed-whipping and weed-pulling. The mornings are dewy. Add those things together and throw in a dog, and you have grass clippings and muddy feet getting tracked into the house all day. So you think, ok, the floors are the LAST thing we’ll clean.
I’m accustomed to a few red-dirt paw marks on the outside doors, down low. But when foster dog Kiki learned to open this door by jumping up and pawing the handle, the red stains got a lot higher on the door.
I noticed that the doors are still muddy outside from where my little foster dog (still happily ensconced in her new home, hurray!) was in the habit of pawing at them to get let inside. Or let herself inside, once she discovered that the kitchen door has one of those handles that you just have to paw at to open. I wiped all the doors down, noticing with some dismay that our local red dirt has stained the white paint – but the wiping took the mud down a notch, anyway! That is, until Otto got scared by the backfire of a neighbor’s lawn mower and frantically pawed at the same door to get let into the house. No problem – wiping it down again!
In the living room, where the dogs spend most of their time when they are in the house, there is another problem of order. The room needs a really good vacuuming, aaaallll the way into the corners and under the couches, and the book shelves really need to be dusted, too. You should vacuum before you dust – because vacuuming tends to make more dust – but the last thing that needs to be done is vacuuming again, because it’s spring and the hair coming off the dogs is just relentless! The couches, especially, need this. If someone could please invent a self-vacuuming couch, I’ll put in an order now.
This has been going on for days now! I wiped all the windowsills –and turned around to see water drops all over the kitchen windowsill; Woody is in the habit of drinking and then meditatively gazing out the window as the last of the water dribbles from his lips. Washed the floor mats inside the doors – and found a big grassy vomit all over the one inside the kitchen door (the dogs have been eating the spring grass like they were grazing cattle). Back into the wash it has to go. I swear, the dogs have never been so dirty!
Woody has a habit of carrying his last mouthful of water away from the bowl and letting it leak out of his mouth (all over the floor and windowsill) as he gazes out the kitchen window.
Cleaning my car took more time than anything in the house. Usually, I’m the only one driving it; my husband prefers our pickup, even just for errands. And I drive my dogs to our favorite walking spots, at least several times a week – and when I have adolescent foster dogs, daily! So I do tend to let the dog hair and dirt build up in the car; it’s too hard to keep it even kind of clean. After I pulled out all the sheets and blankets that usually cover the seats, it still took me about four hours with a Shop-Vac and towels and hair-rollers to get the car about 90% dog-hair free. And I will NOT allow the dogs back inside the car until our guests leave. We’re doing home-based recreation and exercise for the duration, because that was just way too much work.
Of course, the truth is, I don’t usually notice every single bit of dirt and grass and hair shed by my dogs – and especially after a year of virtually no visitors, I haven’t worried about it too much. Don’t get me wrong, our home is usually quite neat and fairly clean, but there is nothing like having a non-dog-owning guest, especially a non-frequent visitor, for giving you the incentive to do a nice deep clean. I just wish I could put the dogs in little hermetically sealed space suits until the guests arrive.
