When I need a model for a product shot, Otto brings Top Model professionalism to the job.
Some years ago, I read a short piece by one of our long-time contributors, Barbara Dobbins, talking about dogs she knew, including one of her own, who had achieved the age and status to have earned a “permanent hall pass.” I was so charmed by the piece that I asked Barb if we could publish it here as a blog post and she agreed.
At the time it was published, my darling Otto was five years old – in the absolute prime of his well-behaved life. And today, he is 13 years old, and I renew his permanent hall pass every few months, as it gets stained and torn with use.
Otto is always the first dog in a group to correctly perform any cued behavior – and is ready for the next cue.
Don’t get me wrong: Otto is still a Very Good Dog. If dogs are being asked to perform a variety of behaviors on cue and the prize is treats, he can still sit, down, stand, and back up faster than any other canine on the property. He wouldn’t dream of chewing up our human things, or jumping up on people rudely. And he’s always going to be WDJ’s top model – knowing just how to jump up on an object and hit a pose and even find his light.
But there are a number of things that dogs are not allowed to do here in my home or on my property, and Otto has decided, “To heck with it, I’m doing them!” And, precisely because of his long and distinguished record, we now look the other way when he sneaks a cookie off the coffee table, snarfs down the horse poop we come across on the trail, digs in the winter vegetable raised beds, or chases the mail truck along our fenceline, barking furiously the entire time. Oy! That last one is hard for me, especially because I am hosting an impressionable young foster dog who would absolutely love to join Otto in this fun activity (Coco now gets shut in my office at a certain point in the afternoon when the mail truck usually makes its rounds). But he has earned these privileges, in honor of his many years of near-perfect behavior.
And, bizarrely, because of course a dog doesn’t know about cameras, he always knows how to find his light…
I don’t know how much more time I will get with Otto, but I’m not going to spend any of it yelling at or even being annoyed by his new naughty behaviors, that’s for sure.
I am not a regular reader of or contributor to Reddit.com. But somehow I started receiving “digest” emails concerning dogs – it’s possible I subscribed for some reason that I can’t remember. I guess I can unsubscribe; I hardly ever read them. But every so often, I see a “subject” headline on the email that tempts me into clicking on the digest. Things like:
“Is it possible?”
“Please help, I’m desperate.”
“My vet said she has never seen anything like this in 20 years of practice.”
But it never takes long to click away from the post and all the advice that is offered by (mostly) well-meaning Redditors. Again and again, I find myself mumbling, “Oh for dog’s sake, please hire a trainer!” or “Why are they asking ordinary humans? Why are they not taking that dog to a veterinarian (or another veterinarian)??”
I see this on Facebook, too – people asking for free advice about their dogs on pages devoted to dog training or health. And more recently, I’ve begun seeing dog trainers of unknown education or experience posting training advice for dog behavior problems on Tiktok.
There is a lot of terrific support to be had online and on social media sites – but advice concerning a specific dog’s health, behavior, or general well being that is offered by people without credentials or references should be taken with a block of salt. On any given post, you’ll find (at best) a mixture of (often) conflicting information: good advice (often badly described) side by side with terrible, potentially dangerous advice. Sometimes, commenters will weigh in, “voting” for which tactics seem best and arguing with people voting for the conflicting tactics. Yikes!
I would just like to say: Please don’t solicit advice from the general public about your dog’s health or behavior! It’s rare that genuinely qualified people will offer sound advice for free on the internet – and what’s more, a well educated, experienced professional wouldn’t be caught dead handing out advice to someone without a thorough and individualized intake process that includes many questions tailored to that specific dog and his situation.
If your dog has a mysterious lump or strange response to a food, it’s your responsibility to get him to a veterinarian! If his behavior isn’t what you’d like it to be, don’t ask your friends for advice, but for a referral to a canine behavior professional. Ask why they hired a trainer and whether the trainer’s approach worked to improve their dog’s problem behavior, and whether the dog liked the trainer and the tactics or exercises prescribed by the trainer. And then ask for the trainer’s professional qualifications and experience. It should be more than just professional affiliations; a good trainer will have actual credentials and/or certifications.
When the mercury drops and the snow flies, you can almost hear a swish of canine hearts as they take to the sky. Most, that is, but not all of them. There are dogs that long to avoid even a hint of Jack Frost altogether. While others, look forward to this most wonderful time of the year, age and health conditions can start to make cold a more difficult foe to contend with.
To help our beloved friends we can add an extra layer of warmth for insulation, but when does a dog need a coat?
While it would be phenomenal to simply plug a few variables into an algorithm and find out if our four-legged friends are uncomfortably chilled and at what temperature they would appreciate an extra layer, unfortunately, the result would always be: it depends.
If your dog is cold, their behavior will tell you. Photo: munro1/Getty Images
When are dog coats needed?
Physiologically speaking, dogs have the ability to maintain their body temperature within optimal boundaries even when the surrounding temperature differs based, in large part, on several factors. Quite literally size matters and when it comes to body heat retention, typically, the bigger the dog, the lower the temperature they will be able to joyfully frolic in. In addition, coat quality, activity level, age, health, and the conditions to which a dog is acclimatized are also important factors.
Nature is full of surprising tricks that can change the equation, however, and rather quickly too.
Should a typically cold-hardy, extra-large Great Pyrenees, who was born and raised in Northern Minnesota, develop diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, or a hormonal imbalance (such as Cushing’s disease) – physiological conditions that make regulating body temperature a challenge—she very likely would benefit from the addition of an extra layer.
To help our beloved friends we can add an extra layer of warmth for insulation, but when does a dog need a coat? Photo: South_agency/Getty Images
Your dog will tell you if he needs a jacket
If your dog is cold, their behavior will tell you. They may seem reluctant to go outside, walk very slowly, exhibit whining or barking, even shivering or trembling. Should you share your heart and home with a stoic-dog who will endure pain and hardship without much fanfare, your job is a bit harder. You have to watch closely and look for subtle changes in their typical daily behavior and those that may seem totally unrelated to cold. It can take some sleuthing, but once you identify it, you’ll never miss it again.
The most important thing we can do for our four-legged friends is to become a keen observer, especially as the conditions change outside and within them over time. Like all relationships, developing this awareness takes work, but it’s work that is so worth doing.
Coco is a pretty girl, about 9 months old and currently about 32 pounds (small for her breed-mix). She's available for adoption from the shelter that I foster for, the Northwest SPCA in Oroville, California.
Since I last wrote about Coco, the little dog with the strange gait (her front feet move normally, but she can only bunny hop with her back legs moving together) who I’m fostering for my local shelter, she’s had a couple more veterinary visits:
She had a better x-ray than the ones she received when she was still a near-feral little wild child; this one, taken while she lay on her back in a V-shaped cradle – and without any sort of sedatives on board! Such a good girl! – ruled out any problems with her hips or pelvis. (In fact, the vet said her hips look great!)
She had blood taken for a test that would rule out a possible protozoal parasite infection that can cause neurological symptoms (Neosporum caninum) – but the test was negative.
She had an acupuncture treatment and some laser therapy for some tenderness in her back. (Honestly, I think this was less due to any adverse health condition than it was due to the rough and tumble wrestling/running/body-slamming games she plays with my 5-year-old, 70-pound, rock-solid pit-mix, Woody.) I didn’t see any change in her gait or level of comfort after the treatment.
At this point, my veterinarian was willing to consider some of the more exotic possible causes of her bunny-hopping gait, things like myelodysplasia, which includes anomalies of the skin, vertebrae, and spinal cord that are secondary to faulty closure of the neural tube in the puppy in utero, or pilonidal sinus (dermoid sinus, dermoid cyst), another consequence of faulty neural tubulation that appears to be inherited.
But each of these conditions requires magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, to the tune of at least $1,000!) to definitively diagnose them. Gulp. Since there is no treatment for any of these conditions, however, and because Coco is not in any amount of pain, my veterinarian suggested that I continue with physical therapy and daily massage for Coco. I scheduled an appointment with a veterinary physical therapist; there is a several-week wait to see her.
But then I got the results of a Wisdom Panel mixed-breed DNA test that I had impulsively decided to order:
Wisdom Panel estimated that Coco is 40% American Staffordshire Terrier, 38% Weimaraner, and 15% Labrador Retriever.
And suddenly, a condition called spinal dysraphism started to look like a fairly likely diagnosis. First, because it’s endemic to certain lines of Weimaraners. (There is actually a test, developed by the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California – Davis, that can determine whether a Weimaraner carries the gene that can cause this condition.)
Second, because affected Weims move just like Coco.
How do I know? I was Googling furiously – furious because though I found page after page of links, all the linked articles contained nearly identical brief, dry, and undetailed descriptions of the disorder – when, about four pages of Google results in, I saw a link for a Facebook group dedicated to the condition. I clicked over to the page with excitement, and saw that the owner of the page had posted a number of videos of not one but two Weimaraners with the disorder – and they moved exactly like Coco moves.
I feel in my bones that this is what Coco has – and this made me both happy and sad. Happy, because the condition is not progressive and not painful. Sad, too, though, because there’s no cure and not much you can do to improve matters. Physical therapy will be helpful for keeping her conditioned and limber, but it’s never going to make Coco walk normally.
Coco is happy to be Woody’s little brown shadow – which is why I have her spend time at my friend/co-foster person’s house, so she gets also exposure to the world without having to lean on Woody.
So I think the next steps for Coco (unintentional pun) are to start taking interviews for her next home – which has me and my friend Leonora, who has been hosting Coco at her house some days and nights – a little tearful. We’ve both gotten attached to the happy, funny little dog, goofy gaits and all. She’s smart and affectionate, loves snuggling on the couch at night, and is game to go anywhere we go and do anything that we do. I just have to find a prospective adopter who won’t mind Coco’s funny gait. Ideally, it would be a home with a large enough yard or property, or access to off-leash trails. Like the Am Staffs, Weims, and Labs who were her forebears, Coco loves to run (and frequently gets the zoomies) and is best behaved when she’s getting a lot of exercise. And while she certainly can be walked on leash, I think she does best when she has the freedom to adjust her pace to her human handler without having to stay in the short span of a leash. It might be a tall order; we’ll see.
I’ve been posting lots of pictures and videos of Coco sleeping and playing with Woody, who always takes my young foster dogs and puppies under his wing. Because Coco looks so happy and bonded with Woody, there’s hardly a person who has seen these photos who hasn’t said what all foster providers cringe when they hear: “She’s so happy; you have to keep her!”
I’ll just repeat what I always say: If I keep this one, I really can’t foster any more. Three dogs is my household limit – and really, one dog more than my husband would prefer we have. That said, if I don’t find someone who adores this little dog, of course she can stay.
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If you're looking for a fun gadget to help monitor and track your dog's daily activity and general health - and don't need to rely on GPS tracking capability to help ensure your dog's safety, a pet health and activity tracker can be a fun investment. If your four-legged friend is a first-class escape artist, the wiser investment is likely an ongoing commitment to training, paired with necessary management modifications around the house and yard to keep your beloved canine companion safe.
I’ve been a FitBit user since 2013. When my dog is off-leash, I’ve often wondered about the overall distance of his adventures, since when we hike, he often runs ahead and doubles back, frequently checking in with me. If my FitBit says I hiked six miles, how far did Saber go if he spent much of the time running back and forth? I don’t really need to know, but I’ve always been curious.
So, for this and other reasons, I jumped at the chance to research and test a couple of consumer-grade pet health and activity trackers: Whistle Go Explore and FitBark GPS.
FITNESS NOT ABSENCE
While many dog owners are drawn to these products for their potential to help locate a dog who may have escaped, this is not their best use (see “Technology Is No Substitute for Training and/or Management,” page 19). The products are better at (and arguably more valuable for) monitoring and tracking a dog’s overall activity. This has many potential uses:
* Setting and helping meet daily exercise goals for a pet – especially useful if you’re trying to help your dog shed a few pounds or improve her overall condition.
* Better understanding when your dog is most active while you’re away from home. In some cases, activity patterns can be tied to health or behavior issues that are otherwise difficult to monitor when you aren’t home.
* Knowing when the dog walker arrives and how long your dog was walked.
* Knowing how often your dog is up at night. Potential health issues or insufficient exercise and mental stimulation during the day can cause restlessness at night, which can be missed if you’re a heavy sleeper.
Technology Is No Substitute for Training and Management
Some of the product reviews – and even some of the marketing materials – suggest that location trackers can be used to find escape-artist dogs. Sure, a GPS tracker might help you find your dog if he escapes, but perhaps not before he’s been hit by a car trying to cross a busy street.
If your main motivation for buying a GPS tracker for your dog is because he tends to jump or dig out from under your fence, we’d recommend that you spend your money on fortifying the fence, instead. Or, install an escape-proof dog run, perhaps with a top for the extreme jumpers or efficient climbers. (And if you have money left over, spend some on making the backyard a little more enriching; see “Five Ways to Make Your Dog’s Yard Safe & Fun,” WDJ September 2020.)
What about dogs who dart out the front door when you open it? Teach your dog a go-to-mat behavior and, if needed, use a baby gate in the doorway or an x-pen outside the front door as an airlock. (See “Put a Stop to Door-Darting,” WDJ September 2017.)
If owners of escape-artist dogs are employing smart training and careful environmental management, and choose to add a GPS tracker as an added layer of protection, great! Because, of course, accidents happen, even among the most careful pet owners.
Be aware, though, that while the GPS activity trackers we tested could help locate a dog within a day or two of an escape, lacking a connection to your WiFi, the batteries on these products don’t maintain a charge long enough to help you find him after that. They won’t help you locate a livestock guardian dog who occasionally takes off for days at a time or a hunting dog prone to following a scent too far.
THE CONTENDERS
We chose to review the two best-selling products in this category. The choice was also partially based on the amount of time their makers had invested in the ongoing development of the products (which were both introduced to the market in 2013). The products are:
* Whistle Go Explore. This is the latest device in Whistle’s three-product lineup. It succeeds the Whistle Go, offering longer battery life (up to 20 days vs. Whistle Go’s estimated 10 days) and features the addition of a light (controlled by the app).
* FitBark GPS. This is one of FitBark’s three health and tracking devices, and the only product that provides GPS tracking.
Both devices require an initial purchase price (the Go Explore costs $115 to $130, the FitBark GPS costs $70 to $100; both cost less when purchased from Amazon.com than from their makers) and a subscription fee. Whistle’s plans range from $10 per month (paid monthly, but with a one-year contract) to $7 a month (with a two-year contract, paid in advance). FitBark plans range from $10 per month (with no contract) to $6 per month (with a three-year contract, paid in advance).
HOW THEY WORK
Our test dog has been wearing both the Whistle Go Explore and the FitBark GPS for the past few months. These are the alerts that are sent to his owner’s mobile phone when he leaves home with her.
Both Whistle Go Explore and FitBark GPS are GPS-enabled accelerometers that track the wearer’s movement multiple times per second and use algorithms to identify movement as specific behaviors. Whistle Go Explore identifies movement as resting, active, walking, running, or playing, and can identify licking and scratching. FitBark identifies movement as resting, active, or playing.
For location tracking purposes, both products are assisted-GPS devices, meaning they use information from cellular towers (Whistle uses ATT’s network; FitBark uses Verizon) and satellites to triangulate position and transmit data to the user via proprietary mobile device apps. This means the trackers only work in areas with cellular reception, and they are subject to various conditions that can interfere with cellular wavelength transmission – from inclement weather to tall buildings or competing frequencies.
Both products function essentially the same way: When the wearer is in a predetermined “safe zone,” the device connects to a designated WiFi network and syncs in the background. In our test, I connected each device to both my home WiFi and the WiFi at work, since my dog Saber is frequently with me at the office.
When the device is taken from or returned to a WiFi-enabled “safe zone,” it sends an alert notification. If the device is within Bluetooth range of an authorized person, the alert will specify who the dog is with.
The devices can be linked to multiple authorized people’s mobile devices, which lends itself to custom notifications. For example, if the dog regularly leaves the “safe zone” with a dog walker, linking the device to the dog walker’s phone will allow you to receive a notification saying the dog has left with that specific person.
While out on an authorized adventure, the GPS function will report location at fixed intervals, so long as the device is able to get an accurate location. Whistle Go Explore’s reporting interval can be adjusted to every 3, 6, 10, 15, or 30 minutes. FitBark reports location every minute. Activity and location are tracked at the set interval and visible in real-time via the app. When the user returns to the designated WiFi network, the data is synced for record keeping, along with a map graphic depicting the area traveled.
When neither WiFi nor a recognized Bluetooth connection is available, and the device is outside of a “safe zone,” it sends a generic alert (“Heads Up! Saber has left Home Sweet Home”) and the tracking feature becomes available. If you’re aware that the dog is not with an authorized person, the notification would prompt you to start the tracking mode and go look for your dog.
When Whistle Go Explore is in tracking mode, it updates location information every 15 seconds. FitBark continues to update at one-minute intervals, but location data gathered in tracking mode is said to be more precise than data gathered when the tracker is paired via Bluetooth to an owner’s mobile device.
COMPARING THE PRODUCTS
While the two products we tested are similar, they both had specific strengths and weaknesses:
* Setup. Both products arrived with minimal packaging, and setup was quick and easy. The Whistle Go Explore successfully paired with the corresponding app on my phone during the initial charging session, allowing me to set up everything in one sitting. The FitBark required an initial charge before becoming “visible” to the app on my phone.
Both apps ask for basic information: owner’s name, phone number, and email; and dog’s name, breed, age, birthday, reproductive status, and weight. Whistle Go Explore also works through details related to the dog’s weight, body score, and diet, and uses activity monitoring to recommend daily feeding amounts using an impressive list of commercial diets. There aren’t options for dogs who are fed a home-prepared diet.
* Charging. The Whistle Go Explore uses a standard micro USB cable. The FitBark uses a USB-powered, spring-loaded clip that, when attached, aligns pins in the cable with the charging points on the FitBark. This is tricky to get just right – and if you don’t, the device won’t charge.
It’s also worth noting that to access the charging pins on the FitBark, one must first remove a very tight-fitting cover. This is no easy task and not likely to be accomplished solely by hand. In fact, FitBark even recommends using the handle of a pair of nail clippers to help pry the cover off the unit. I’m sure this tight fit has to do with maintaining the integrity of the device’s water-resistant rating, but the longer I had the device, the less excited I was about needing to pry the cover off.
* Design. The Whistle Go Explore is nearly square at 1.4 inches wide, 1.8 inches tall, and .07 inches thick. The FitBark GPS bone-shaped design has a sleeker look at 1.86 inches wide, 1.18 inches tall, and .61 inches thick. The Go Explore weighs 0.96 ounces; the FitBark weighs 0.60 ounces.
Neither device seemed to bother Saber while they were on his collar. In fact, he wore them both throughout our eight-week comparison without incident. But the size of the devices could be an issue on toy-breed dogs. Whistle recommends the Go Explore for dogs weighing 8 pounds or more; FitBark is recommended for dogs 5 pounds and up.
The Whistle features a built-in night light, which can be activated via the app and set at always on, or at a slow or fast flash. This might be useful during nighttime walks in dark areas (though it will shorten battery life), but I can see it being especially useful when tracking a lost pet and closing in on their location.
* Collar Attachment. We strongly preferred the attachment options offered by Whistle Go Explore, which include a semi-permanent snap and a hook-and-loop removable option. Both options feature a plastic plate mount to which the unit attaches and twists to lock into place. This allows for easy removal when it’s time to charge the tracker.
In contrast, the FitBark attaches to the collar using thin little zip ties. Granted, this makes it pretty much impossible for the tracker to ever fall off the collar, but it also means you have to either cut it off and re-attach with fresh zip ties (10 additional ties are included in the initial package) or remove the entire collar for the duration of time needed to periodically charge the tracker.
* Water Resistance. Both devices are said to be waterproof, but FitBark recommends removing the cover after pool or beach play to dry the charging pins. Bring on the nail clippers to help remove the cover!
In contrast, Whistle tech support assured me the device would withstand enthusiastic leaping into the pool and fun ocean play, cautioning only against repeated sessions of pummeling the device with big waves.
Both devices have been repeatedly in and out of a pool and the ocean, and are still going strong.
* Application Reporting. Both devices suggest recommended activity goals based on specific owner-provided details such as age, weight, breed, and lifestyle.
Within the app, the Whistle Go Explore’s dashboard displays activity chronologically, categorizing motion into activities such as resting, low activity (which seems to be casually walking around the house), walking, playing, and running, and includes a map snapshot of where the user traveled while away from home.
FitBark’s activity dashboard categorizes movement as rest, active, and play, and shows total points earned against the goal, with total time spent engaged in each of the three activities.
Between the two devices, I found Whistle’s presentation of data generally easier to follow. I also noticed FitBark often registered time spent walking as “play” vs. “active.” I would think going for a walk, which offers a consistent pace, would register differently than playing, which is generally quite varied in movement.
Both dashboards display estimated calories burned and total distance traveled. Initially, while they never matched up exactly between the two devices, they were close enough for me to feel they were reasonably accurate in the data reporting.
This reporting glitch was amusing, since I could observe my dog, safely sleeping behind me in my office at work. But what if I received a similar alert when he was home and I was at work?
* Accuracy/Reliability. While the two products reported similar activity and caloric expenditure for the first month, this gradually changed over time. Near the end of the two-month trial, after an especially active day, I was surprised to see the FitBark register Saber’s activity as burning 1,838 calories over the course of 7.72 miles compared to Whistle’s report of just 1,176 calories over 5 miles.
We experienced other questionable readings, too. There were definitely days where activity reported didn’t seem to align with my observations. This was most noticeable during a record-breaking heat wave when, while we did make it to the park for 20 minutes of off-leash play early in the morning, the rest of the day was spent quietly lounging in front of fans. Whistle Go Explore recorded enough hours of “low activity” (vs. “resting”), and FitBark recorded enough “active” hours to meet the activity goal for the day, which I was skeptical about.
Granted, no accelerometer is perfect. My human FitBit often records gesturing as steps taken; passive activity adds up. It’s possible Saber was casually strolling around the apartment more than I realized.
Each product also delivered an occasional false alert. FitBark once sent a notification announcing Saber had left my office when, in fact, he was napping on the floor directly behind me. When I questioned FitBark’s tech support about this, they said it was likely due to a weak WiFi connection, causing the device to think Saber had left the property when he hadn’t. This reporting misfire was good for a chuckle as I watched Saber safely doze nearby, but if he had been home and I was at work, this same blip would have thrown me into a panic.
Similarly, the Whistle once sent a notification of Saber arriving at my office (one of our two “safe zones”) when he was with me in the car and we were a good 15 miles away.
* Tech Support. At one point, the Whistle app reported “not enough data available” to continue displaying certain health insights. According to support articles on Whistle’s website, this typically happens when the device hasn’t been worn for at least four days (it had been worn daily) or if the device fails to communicate with the WiFi network.
Whistle’s customer support is available Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST and 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST on weekends. When I connected with tech support, the agent helped me solve the problem, which was, in fact, related to a WiFi communication issue.
FitBark’s technical support is available 24/7 via its web-based chat feature. That’s impressive! FitBark’s representative answered several questions for me at all hours of the day and night during the test period.
HEALTH INSIGHTS
At the start of our test period, the Whistle Go Explore reported that Saber engaged in “elevated” levels of scratching and licking. This data seemed accurate, as Saber’s anal glands were in need of attention at the time. Since he comes to work with me most days, I know when Saber licks or scratches, but if he was home alone and I couldn’t monitor it myself, I’d find this reporting especially useful.
About six weeks into our test period, Whistle added “sleeping” and “drinking” to its reporting, rating drinking as below average, average, or above average, and rating sleep as restful, slightly disrupted, or disrupted. Historical reports of this information could be very helpful.
Eight veterinarians provide telemedicine support for Whistle. Late on a Sunday afternoon, I emailed a question about Saber’s licking and anal glands. I received a response early Monday morning and was pleasantly surprised to be asked questions to encourage additional dialogue; it wasn’t a canned response suggesting I contact my vet to address my concerns.
The telemedicine support feature certainly won’t replace in-person veterinary care, but it’s a nice perk that could offer supportive guidance.
USING THE ACTIVE GPS TRACKING FEATURE
Whistle’s device pinpointed my dog’s location in my friends’ backyard.
To simulate a lost-dog scenario, I had friends collect my dog and take him on an adventure. The Whistle Go Explore was the first to send me a notification that Saber had breeched the “safe zone,” allowing me to trigger the tracking mode within a minute of when he was taken from my house.
In contrast, FitBark’s initial notification took a couple of minutes to arrive, and it took an additional several minutes before the tracking feature became available. I couldn’t help but think of how every second counts in a lost-dog scenario and was frustrated waiting for FitBark’s tracking feature to kick in.
As my friends drove around with Saber in their car, I tracked their location using the apps and confirmed the accuracy of the reports by texting my friends. Data from both devices was disrupted as Saber traveled past a nearby radio tower. FitBark stalled a few more times during the test drive.
When my friends and Saber arrived at their destination, Whistle’s location was so accurate, it provided the exact street address and pinpointed Saber’s location as in the backyard. In contrast, FitBark gave a latitude and longitude and connected with Google Maps to launch driving directions, which led me to my friends’ neighbor’s house.
My friends also took a walk so we could conduct another test with Saber on foot. I was easily able to see where they were and determine their route of travel with both apps. The Whistle Go Explore reports location every 15 seconds in tracking mode, giving it a distinct advantage in determining an estimated path of travel compared to FitBark’s 60-second reporting.
ON THE ROAD
While testing both devices, I took a road trip, driving a couple hundred miles from home. Both devices were fully charged when we left home on Thursday morning. By late Saturday afternoon, the FitBark battery was down to less than 10% remaining charge, and the Whistle’s battery was completely depleted, causing it to shut down. What?!
Both devices rely heavily on WiFi connectivity in order for the battery life to perform well. Under normal circumstances, both the FitBark and Whistle would spend the majority of the day connected to an owner’s home or work WiFi; they are only disconnected when the dog is out walking. For most of us, that’s only a handful of hours, even on a super active day of hiking. A Bluetooth connection to your phone helps the battery last longer than being completely unconnected.
If you were counting on one of these devices to ensure your dog doesn’t get lost if separated from you when you are traveling, be prepared to regularly charge the device – perhaps even daily.
FINAL APPRAISAL
After spending two months simultaneously using both the Whistle Go Explore and the FitBark GPS, our overall opinion is that consumer-grade health and activity trackers are fun gadgets for tracking and monitoring assorted health metrics and daily physical activity, and as a potential added layer of security when working with a dog who might have escape-artist tendencies.
They are best employed for dogs who spend the vast majority of their time at home or, when not home, are most likely to be leash-walking with a designated “safe person,” in order to keep the devices connected to WiFi or a designated Bluetooth signal. In cases where the dog and owner travel (thus, away from designated WiFi) or the dog is safely given the opportunity to be off-leash and is out of Bluetoothrange of a handler’s mobile phone, we found the battery life to be frustratingly short.
Stephanie Colman is a writer and dog trainer in Southern California. She works for Guide Dogs of America in the puppy department, where she helps recruit and manage volunteer puppy raisers.
Penny, an 83 -pound Newfoundland who lives in Maine, recovered from a torn cruciate ligament with a brace from My Pet's Brace.
Ten years have passed since WDJ explored “conservative management” – the nonsurgical treatment – of knee ligament injuries (see “Saying ‘No’ to Surgery,” February 2010). Since then, although surgery remains by far the most widely used knee injury treatment, consumer demand for complementary therapies, including the use of custom-designed knee braces, has grown.
Nearly all veterinarians have experience with canine ligament injuries because they are so common. Depending on the injury’s severity, a dog may have a hint of hind-leg lameness, an obvious limp, or be unable to bear weight on the leg at all. The injury may be a partial or total ligament tear.
“Most veterinarians recommend surgery as soon as they diagnose a ligament injury,” says Jim Alaimo, a board-certified Prosthetist Orthotist, “but that’s because surgery is their most familiar option.”
Alaimo, who founded My Pet’s Brace in 2010, made the transition to veterinary braces after designing human prosthetics and orthotics for 25 years. Prosthetics are artificial replacements for body parts such as arms, legs, and joints, while orthotics are devices such as splints or braces that support, immobilize, or treat weak or injured muscles, bones, or joints.
“Surgery is often the best treatment for canine cruciate ligament tears,” he explains, “but in some cases a dog’s age, medical history, activity level, home environment, or the cost of surgery makes it unsuitable. A well-designed custom-fitted knee brace can help a dog recover from a torn cranial cruciate ligament by supporting the joint while scar tissue builds stability.”
Knee braces can also be used for arthritis and post-surgical cruciate support. Like tendons, ligaments have a poor blood supply and, as a result, heal very slowly. According to Alaimo, it’s the development of scar tissue that stabilizes the knee and helps an injured leg move normally.
An online search will bring up dozens of knee brace designs, but most veterinarians familiar with bracing recommend custom-built braces that are made for a specific dog’s injured leg using modern technologies. The key to success is the brace’s ability to hold the leg in a correctly aligned stable position while allowing the dog to move naturally.
Canine Cruciate Ligament Disease
“Torn ACLs” and “bad knees” are familiar phrases in the world of dogs. Understanding what these terms mean can help if your dog suffers a knee injury that requires medical attention.
In this article the term “canine cruciate ligament disease” describes various injuries that can affect the dog’s knee. In generic use, the term accurately employs the word “disease,” because even though it’s often a traumatic injury that causes an acute tear or rupture of the ligaments in a dog’s knee, the majority of ligament ruptures occur under normal activity.
Also, according to an article published in the 2011 World Small Animal Veterinary Association World Congress Proceedings (“Review of Cranial Cruciate Ligament Disease in Dogs”), a number of studies suggest that the majority of knee ligament injuries are the result of chronic degenerative changes within the ligament.
DEFINITIONS OF RELEVANT TERMS
Ligaments are bands of fibrous tissue that connect bones and cartilage while supporting and strengthening joints.
The stifle (knee) connects the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (leg bone) with a patella (kneecap) in front and fabella (a small bean-shaped bone) behind. Cartilage (the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus) cushions the bones, and ligaments hold everything in position.
The cranial (front) and caudal (back) cruciate ligaments cross inside the knee joint. The cranial cruciate ligament prevents the tibia from slipping out of position beneath the femur. The term “anterior cruciate ligament” (ACL) is used in human medicine and “cranial cruciate ligament” (CCL) is a veterinary term, but both terms refer to the same ligament and both are used to describe knee injuries in dogs.
Radiographs (x-rays) are commonly used to check for cruciate ligament disease even though they do not display soft tissue and cannot be used to diagnose a cruciate injury or differentiate between a partial and complete tear. They can, however, rule out bone cancer or other conditions that may be a cause of leg pain. Advanced imaging studies, such as an MRI, do display torn ligaments but are expensive and require anesthesia, so they are not usually used in dogs.
The main diagnostic tool for CCL tears is a procedure called the “drawer test,” in which a veterinarian holds the femur with one hand and manipulates the tibia with the other. If the tibia can be moved forward, resembling a drawer being opened, the cruciate ligament has been torn or ruptured. The drawer test can be inconclusive if an apprehensive dog’s tense muscles stabilize the knee temporarily, so anxious patients may be sedated before being tested.
In the tibial compression test, which is another way to check for ligament damage, the femur is held steady with one hand while the other hand flexes the dog’s ankle. A ruptured ligament allows the tibia to move abnormally forward.
A recent estimate quoted by several veterinary websites is that more than 600,000 dogs in the United States have cruciate ligament surgery every year.
According to the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (acvs.org) canine cruciate ligament disease risk factors include aging of the ligament (degeneration), obesity, poor physical condition, genetics, conformation (skeletal shape and configuration), and breed. Most ligaments rupture as a result of subtle, slow degeneration that has taken place over months or even years rather than because of an acute trauma to an otherwise healthy ligament. An estimated 40% to 60% of dogs with cruciate ligament damage in one knee eventually injure the other knee. The ACVS advises that, left untreated, partial tearing of the cruciate ligament is likely to progress to a full tear over time.
The ACVS states that CCL injuries can affect dogs of all sizes, breeds, and ages, with the Rottweiler, Newfoundland, Staffordshire Terrier, Mastiff, Akita, Saint Bernard, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and Labrador Retriever commonly affected.
Neutering before the age of 1 year has been statistically linked to torn cruciate ligaments. On July 7, 2020, the journal Frontiers of Veterinary Science published “Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for 35 Breeds of Dogs: Associated Joint Disorders, Cancers, and Urinary Incontinence” (Benjamin Hart, et al,) that showed significant increases in cruciate ligament risk related to the early neutering of male Bernese Mountain Dogs, Cocker Spaniels, and Miniature Poodles; male and female German Shepherd Dogs, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and Rottweilers; and female Saint Bernards and Australian Cattle Dogs.
The study concluded, “A likely mechanism by which early neutering may lead to a joint disorder is related to disturbance of the closure of the long-bone growth plates by gonadal hormone secretion as the animal approaches maturity. We have proposed that neutering much before the closure of growth plates allows the long bones to grow a little longer than normal, and may sufficiently disturb joint alignments in some neutered dogs to lead to a clinically apparent joint disorder.”
A related study, “Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for Mixed Breed Dogs of Five Weight Categories: Associated Joint Disorders and Cancers” (Frontiers of Veterinary Science, July 31, 2020, Benjamin Hart, et al), showed similar results in mixed breeds, especially for dogs weighing 44 pounds or more and neutered before one year of age.
Owners can’t change the status of dogs who are already neutered, but there is much we can do to protect the knees of our at-risk companions. As the ACVS website explains, “Poor physical body condition and excessive body weight are risk factors for the development of canine cruciate ligament disease. Both of these factors can be influenced by pet owners. Consistent physical conditioning with regular activity and close monitoring of food intake to maintain a lean body mass is advisable.”
HOW KNEE BRACES ARE MADE
Different manufacturers use different materials and methods to create custom braces, which may be called knee, stifle, ACL, or CCL braces. Braces are also designed for canine wrists, ankles, hocks, and hips.
The first step in custom brace design is a review of the patient’s size, breed, medical history, activity level, and environment to determine how strong the brace has to be to support the dog’s weight and activities as well as what special features the brace may require.
Next, casts or detailed measurements create a model of the dog’s knee. Jim Alaimo at My Pet’s Brace uses fiberglass to create a cast of the dog’s affected leg.
Alaimo describes, “We fill the cast with plaster, and that gives us a positive model of the leg. Then we remove plaster from some areas and add it to others in order to increase or relieve pressure as needed. We add knee joints, foam, and any needed reinforcements. Then we take polypropoline (a thermoplastic polymer), heat it, and vacuum-form it over the modified model of the dog’s leg. After it hardens, we cut it off, take it to the machine room, smooth out the edges, add joints and straps, and we have a finished brace. We use closed-cell foam and stainless-steel fasteners to make the brace fully waterproof.”
The final step is a fitting appointment during which any necessary adjustments are made along with videos and photos of the dog walking and moving in the brace. “During the eight or nine months that the dog wears a brace,” says Alaimo, “we schedule follow-up appointments to measure progress.”
After a break-in period, the dog wears his or her brace during waking hours. “Most dogs put it on in the morning and take it off in the evening before bed,” he says.
Penny, a lively 83-pound Newfoundland living with Regina Helfer in Maine, injured her right hind leg in September 2019, shortly before her ninth birthday. “She tore her ACL,” says Helfer, “and the vet on duty recommended immediate surgery.” Instead, Helfer asked Penny’s breeder (as well as the breeder of her other dog) for advice. Both breeders recommended My Pet’s Brace.
“We received the brace in September,” says Helfer, “and Penny did really well with it. She didn’t have any challenges at all. Penny is a therapy dog and a Reading Education Assistance Dog. She loves going to the library, working with kids, going for walks, and going for swims. We got her a hot pink brace and whenever we put it on her, she would stick her leg out to help.
“Penny wore her brace every day for nine months, by which time she had fully recovered. It’s here in case she needs it, such as if she goes on a long or challenging hike just to keep the leg stabilized, but so far she’s doing fine without it.”
HERO BRACES
At just 5 years old, June was diagnosed with arthritis and a torn cruciate ligament, with surgery recommended for the torn CCL. Her owners opted for a Hero Brace instead, and June recovered well. Her owners still use the brace when taking June on long hikes.
Ben Blecha has a personal as well as professional interest in leg braces. An osteosarcoma survivor whose leg amputation at age 21 inspired him to help others, Blecha became a board-certified Prosthetist Orthotist. Until 2005, when he was asked to help create a brace for a dog, all of his patients were human. He went on to partner with Wayne Watkins, DVM, to create Hero Braces for dogs.
Last year, June, a 5-year-old 100-pound German Shepherd Dog belonging to Ben Elsen of Dallas, Texas, began favoring her left hind leg. “June lives with her sister and littermate, Shiner,” says Elsen, “and they have always played hard every day. Starting two years ago, my wife and I were warned that June’s knee was beginning to show signs of wear and tear.”
Despite a reduced exercise schedule, June stopped jumping onto the bed and sofa. In October 2019, she was diagnosed with arthritis and a torn knee ligament. “Our veterinarian recommended immediate surgery,” says Elsen, “but we had misgivings, both about the cost and because June and her sister are always together, so weeks of rehabilitation would be stressful for both of them. When we asked about braces, our vet said he didn’t recommend them. But when he referred us to a surgical center, we met a rehabilitation specialist who thought highly of braces and recommended the Hero Brace.”
The specialist made a cast of June’s leg and 10 days later she was fitted with her brace. “She was fine with it from the start,” says Elsen. “We kept it on her at home and on walks, and her knee responded just as expected. We still use it while hiking, but otherwise, June is doing well without it. She’s back to jumping onto the bed and sofa, and she doesn’t favor her left side at all.”
TO CAST OR NOT TO CAST
Australian Cattle Dog Howdy, seen here in his Posh brace, was born with spinal bifida and suffered a cruciate ligament injury shortly after he was adopted at the age of 6 months.
Most custom braces are designed around models of legs that were cast in a veterinary clinic or at the client’s home with materials provided by the brace manufacturer. The resulting cast is submitted with supporting measurements so that the brace can be designed to fit. In some cases casting has to be repeated because of damage to the cast during shipment or because the cast was incorrectly made. If done in a veterinary clinic, the appointment adds to the brace’s cost.
The Posh Dog Knee Brace was developed seven years ago after Pasha, an 11-year-old, 77-pound Golden Retriever, injured her left hind leg. Pasha’s veterinarian diagnosed a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament and torn meniscus for which he recommended immediate surgery, warning that if left untreated, the strain would cause a similar injury to the right leg, result in severe arthritis, and prevent Pasha from ever living an active life.
Pasha’s owners, Florida residents Jim Morison and Beth Scanlon, could afford the $5,000 surgery, but they worried about Pasha’s age and medical history, which included an adverse reaction to anesthesia. Instead of scheduling surgery, they ordered a custom-made knee brace, and Pasha’s recovery began.
While delighted with Pasha’s progress, Morison thought that several features of the brace could be improved. He began designing adjustments and in the process launched his own knee brace company, which he named Posh, one of Pasha’s nicknames. Within six months of wearing her improved brace, Pasha was running through tide pools and swimming at the beach, and within nine months she had completely recovered.
“Posh started with the type of brace that requires a casting mold, but we now use a different design,” says Nikki Bickmore, who as lead veterinary technician at Posh, answers questions from clients, supervises the service department, and oversees production.
“In order to eliminate casting, Posh hired a team of orthotists and veterinarians to design a new system,” Bickmore explains. “The result is a semi-rigid brace instead of hard plastic, with multiple padding layers, so the brace works with the dog’s muscles as they move and contract. Ours is the only brace that uses Tamarack brand double-reinforced hinges mounted on two layers of plastic to improve the brace’s strength at critical stress points. The brace fits without any rubbing, irritation, or slipping and attaches with quick-release micro buckles found in high-end snow sports and water sports equipment.”
Using measurements instead of casting to provide a model of the dog’s leg both speeds up and slows down the ordering process. Once accurate measurements are provided, most braces arrive within a week, but because clients must study video instructions and take measurements with two people under the supervision of a veterinary technician during a live video conference, ordering takes longer. Before a Posh brace can be worn, it must be fitted in another video conference, again under the supervision of a Posh vet tech.
“What people most like about our braces,” says Bickman, “is that they are easy to use and fit well. They like our system of straps and buckles so there’s no need for Velcro, which can get tangled in a dog’s hair. The brace is comfortable because we use a soft rather than hard shell, and it allows for more freedom of movement, plus it’s durable and super easy to clean.”
Howdy, a 3-year-old Australian Cattle dog, was born with spina bifida and nerve damage in his hind end, as well as incontinence. “He’s a favorite of the Posh staff,” says Bickman. “Alicia McLaughlin adopted him at 6 months, and soon after that he injured his CCL, plus he had a luxating patella concurrent with the CCL tear. Many people thought he should be euthanized, but with bracing, and lots of love and patience, he now lives a happy country life in New York with Alicia.”
KNEE BRACES AND REHAB
The author’s active and athletic Labrador, Blue Sapphire (seen here), wore a brace for a month to recover from a sprain of her right knee; the author says the brace not only helped her dog heal from the injury but supported the weakened soft tissues and prevented an exuberant Blue from making the injury worse.
All of the manufacturers mentioned here provide detailed instructions for owners and caregivers regarding exercise, recommended activities, do’s and don’ts, and other guidelines.
“The success of a dog’s recovery depends on an educated owner,” says Jim Alaimo. “Owners have to be good observers and also use the brace consistently. Our goal is to provide a conservative treatment modality for owners so their dogs can resume a full, active lifestyle as quickly and comfortably as possible.”
Paul Brumett, DVM, is a Colorado veterinarian and Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner. Since 2018, as a representative and consultant for Hero Braces, he has presented educational seminars about braces to veterinarians. “Over the past 10 years,” he explains, “veterinarians have become more interested in learning about braces, partly because so many of their clients ask about them. Braces are not a cure-all, but not every dog is a good candidate for surgery, and I help veterinarians like myself understand the proper use and benefits of custom bracing.”
Dr. Brumett estimates that 25% of his dog patients suffer from cruciate ligament disease, and for 5% to 10% of them he prescribes a custom made knee brace.
“During the healing process,” he says, “dogs are helped by complementary therapies such as acupuncture, laser therapy, nutritional support, chiropractic adjustments, pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy, massage, stretching, and rehabilitation exercises that improve core strength and balance. The braces are waterproof, allowing dogs to exercise on underwater treadmills or swim while wearing their brace, and they can walk in the rain and enjoy snow as well.”
Dr. Brumett recommends a gradual break-in period that introduces the dog to his or her custom brace over a week to 10 days. Leash walks are kept short, such as 15 to 20 minutes in the beginning, and the pet wears the brace for longer periods each day.
“Many dogs need time for the muscles around the knee to get strong enough to support longer walks,” he says, “which is why it’s important to work with the prescribing veterinarian or physical therapist. Wearing the brace protects the knee from abnormal movement such as when the dog stands suddenly because the doorbell rings. We want the custom brace to be in place so it can do its job. Gradually, pets work up to eight to 12 hours of wear each day.”
“The main challenge owners have is actually using the product consistently and planning appropriate activities for their dogs,” says Nikki Bickmore. “It breaks my heart when someone forgets and lets a dog who’s been using a brace for two months run outside without the brace. That can result in a major setback. I know it’s hard, but keeping dogs in a conservative management program while their knees strengthen and the muscles come back is so important.”
MORE BRACING CONSIDERATIONS
If your dog begins to favor a hind leg, don’t assume the problem will go away on its own. It might, but it could be a symptom of cruciate ligament disease. Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to be sure.
Surgery requires careful consideration, but so does the use of a brace. The custom-fitted braces described here are not inexpensive, and their successful use depends on commitments of time and attention. Not every dog is a good match to bracing and neither is every owner. The key to making informed decisions is gathering information and having a realistic understanding of what’s involved.
To explore custom knee braces, visit the websites of companies listed here. Consider how the brace is manufactured, who makes it and what their qualifications are, what warranties the company provides, how customer support works, the cost of replacement braces, the company’s experience with dogs like yours, and brace color or decorative design choices.
Where available, read customer comments and watch videos that demonstrate brace fitting and use. Custom braces are made to last a lifetime. Some companies offer discounts if two braces are needed (one for each hind leg) or to convert a brace for use on the opposite leg at a later date.
Several of the manufacturers listed in the table on page 17 create braces or prosthetics for animals other than dogs as well as braces for other body parts. This list refers only to custom-made canine knee braces. For best results, consult with your veterinarian, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Specialist, or other expert for advice and recommendations.
Montana resident CJ Puotinen is a long-time contributor to WDJ and the author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care and other books.
Given that our canine companions are a social species, you might think introducing two dogs would be a simple matter of turning them loose together and letting them take care of the rest. If only it were so?! If you have ever been present when a canine meet-and-greet suddenly exploded into a whirlwind of growling, snarling, lunging dogs, you are probably aware there is more to it than just “Go play!”
Certainly, there are some dogs who are so socially adept that they can easily meet and greet new canine playmates with ease, but a significant percentage of our dogs can benefit from some assistance to effect successful introductions.
ORCHESTRATE GOOD GREETINGS
So then, how do you successfully introduce your dog to new canine friends?
For starters, you’ll want one handler per dog. One skilled handler, that is. Someone who panics and intervenes unnecessarily can botch the whole job by adding stress to dogs who are still sorting out relationships.
Barring skilled handlers, at least find handlers who are good at following instructions and don’t succumb easily to hysterical behavior. If you can’t find those, you’re better off with fewer handlers, although you should have at least one other person present, if for no other reason than to call 9-1-1 if the situation gets out of hand.
You probably already have a pretty good sense of your own dog’s canine social skills, and hopefully the other dog’s person does as well. Do they play well with others at the dog park? During playtime at good manners class? With their own canine family members? How do they act with doggie visitors to their homes? During chance encounters with other canines on the streets?
If you’re not reasonably confident that introductions will go smoothly, you might do well to engage the services of a qualified behavior professional to help your dog meet new friends, at least the first time or two. She will be able to help you read and understand the dogs’ body language and optimize the potential for success.
NEUTRAL LOCATION
Your best bet is to find a neutral, safely fenced, outdoor area in which to begin the relationship. Indoors is too cramped and confining – a less-than confident dog can easily feel trapped as the other dog backs her into a corner. Wide open spaces tend to work better.
A neutral spot (neither dog’s home) is ideal, so that neither dog feels defensive of his yard or people. If you can’t find neutral, your own yard might work, as long as your dog doesn’t have a history of reactive behavior in that space.
But maybe you don’t have a safely fenced yard, or your dog does have a history of reactive behavior in your yard. A large, uncluttered garage or warehouse space might work. Perhaps a friend, neighbor, or co-worker has a fenced yard you can borrow for a bit.
Absolutely No Nose-to-Nose, Leashed Greetings!
The Labrador on the right is a gregarious, friendly dog who gets overexcited every time he sees other dogs – and highly frustrated when he can’t dive in and greet them boisterously. Unfortunately for him, many dogs misinterpret his “incoming missile” approach as an attack, and he’s provoked many dogs into defensive aggression. Leashed, nose-to-nose greetings like this just add to his frustration.
It seems intuitive that it would be safer to hold your dog’s leash during greetings, so you can separate the dogs easily if it doesn’t go well. However, there are a number of reasons why this practice is fraught with hazards (and why I don’t allow this at Peaceable Paws, my training center):
* Leashes restrict a dog’s ability to behave naturally during greeting. If a dog is uncertain about meeting another, she might normally move away. But if she is restrained by a leash and knows she can’t move away, she’s more likely to behave defensively aggressive. In a normal, leash-free greeting, dogs might circle and sniff, retreat, and then approach again. Leashes get in the way of all that – and also tangle quickly if one dog suddenly tried to initiate play – and the other dog might panic at the sudden proximity she’s forced into by the tangle. Ack!
* A tight leash adds stress, and stress causes aggression. I have seen more than one greeting that appeared to be going well until one or both humans tightened their leashes and – boom! – triggered an aggressive response from their dogs.
* Routine on-leash greetings can create an expectation for your dog that she will be able to greet every dog she sees. This may result in frustration reactivity on those occasions when she isn’t immediately allowed to meet and greet. Often, these dogs get along beautifully with others off-leash at the dog park, but become extremely aroused – even at a considerable distance – when they are on leash and see another dog that they can’t run up to greet. I’d estimate that about one-third of the dogs who come to my Reactive Rover workshops exhibit this frustration reactivity. These are almost invariably dogs who frequently have been allowed to do on-leash greetings with other dogs.
START WELL APART
With the space secured, the process I use and recommend to clients is to start with dogs on leashes on opposite sides of the enclosed space. Keep the leashes loose, if possible. Watch the dogs’ behavior. They should seem interested in each other, alert without excessive arousal. Ideally, you’ll see tails wagging at half-mast, soft, wriggling body postures, play bows, ears back, squinty eyes, and no direct, hard eye contact. These are clear expressions of non-aggressive social invitation.
Warning signs include stiffness in the body, standing tall, ears pricked hard forward, growling, hard direct eye-contact, stiffly-raised fast-wagging tails, perhaps even lunging on the leash, and aggressive barking.
If you see appropriate social behavior, proceed with the approach until the dogs are about 10 feet apart. If they continue to show unambiguous signs of friendliness, drop the leashes and let them meet.
Yes, I said drop the leashes. I prefer not to let dogs meet and greet with handlers holding the leashes. Leashes tend to interfere with the dogs’ ability to greet normally, and can actually induce dogs to give false body language signals. For example, a tight leash can stiffen and raise a dog’s front end, causing her to look more tense and offensive than she means to be, which in turn can cause the other dog to react offensively. A defensive dog who wants to retreat may feel trapped because of the leash and act aggressively because she can’t move away.
Leave leashes on the dogs initially, dragging freely on the ground, so you can grab them and separate dogs easily if necessary.
Keep monitoring the greeting. You are likely to see some normal jockeying for position and some tension, as they sniff and circle and then erupt into play.
As soon as you can tell that they’re getting along, remove their leashes and let them play unencumbered.
Choose Your Dog's Friends Wisely
When you select your dog’s playmates, it’s important to consider what sort of dogs might make good personality matches – and which might be a disaster.
If your dog likes to assert herself, you’re wise to choose a play pal who’s happy to maintain a lower profile. If your dog is a shrinking violet, she’ll be happiest with a new companion who doesn’t come on like a freight train or bully her playmates mercilessly. If you have one of those canine gems who gets along with everyone, then you have more playmate options. If you want your gem to be able to be “queen of the hill,” then look for soft, appeasing-type dog friends.
If you don’t care where your easygoing dog ends up in the new relationship, then you have the entire canine personality continuum to choose from. Of course, you should avoid dog-aggressive dogs who might give yours a bad experience that could color her future canine relationships.
IF IT STARTS TO GO BAD
Watch that the play doesn’t escalate into excessive arousal (which can lead to aggression) but remember that it’s normal and acceptable for dogs to growl and bite each other in play. As long as both dogs seem to be enjoying the action, it’s a good thing.
If arousal levels escalate, especially if one dog starts to appear concerned about the arousal level, cheerfully call the dogs away from each other for a calming time-out. Take a break until they are both quite calm, then release them to play again.
If you see warning signs as you approach with the dogs on leash, you’ll need to go more slowly. If you observe behavior that looks like outright reactivity or aggression, you’ll need to make a judgment call about whether the intensity of the behavior is such that you need to stop and seek professional assistance, or mild enough that you can proceed with caution.
If you do decide to proceed, interrupt prolonged hard eye contact by having each handler divert her dog’s attention with bits of tasty treats. Continue to work with the dogs in each other’s presence, watching for signs of decreasing arousal.
Walk around the available space with the dogs at maximum distance, gradually bringing them closer together until they are walking parallel to each other. You might take them for a walk around the block, maintaining safe parallel distance. It’s important that you stay calm and relaxed during this process. If you jerk or tighten the leash, badger one or both of the dogs with a constant stream of warnings (“No … no! Be nice! Don’t even think about it! No growling!” etc.), or yell at them, you’ll add stress to the situation and make it harder for them to relax.
When you see signs that the dogs have relaxed with each other, spend a few (or several) more minutes sitting quietly near each other, far enough apart the dogs aren’t trying to interact. When they continue to appear reasonably relaxed, you may choose to end the introduction for the time being. Do several more on-leash sessions over a period of several days before dropping leashes. Alternatively, you may decide to proceed with dropped-leash greetings. This is where your experience and instincts come into play. It’s generally better to err on the side of caution and do several more on-leash sessions to make sure the dogs are comfortable with each other.
Again, if you’re not confident in your judgment about canine body language, you may choose to enlist the help of a professional at this point.
NO SUCCESS?
Keep in mind that while dogs are a social species, humans are, too – and we don’t get along with everyone we meet! It’s unreasonable to expect our dogs to want to play with every dog they meet. Respect your dog’s opinion and don’t try to force a relationship between on a dog who is clearly saying “I don’t want to hang out with that guy!”
If tensions between the dogs escalate or maintain at the same level of intensity despite your on-leash work over several sessions, the wise choice may be to look for a different playmate. If, however, you are trying to introduce your dog to a dog that you really hope will become a compatible friend – perhaps because the dog belongs to a good friend, dating partner, relative, or co-worker (in the case of dogs who come to work), or perhaps even one you’re considering adopting – this would be a good time to do ongoing work with a behavior professional to try to make the relationship work, knowing that management may be a large part of the relationship for the foreseeable future.
Be careful if you see no interaction between the two dogs you’re trying to introduce. What appears to be calm acceptance may in fact be avoidance behavior – neither dog is comfortable with the other, and they choose to deal with it by not dealing with it. The problem with this is that sooner or later the dogs will interact if they’re in each other’s presence frequently, and the discomfort may well develop into aggression. I really want to see some interaction between dogs in order to be comfortable that they will play well together.
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
I’ve had clients ask me, “If dogs are a social species, why don’t they all just get along with each other?” My response is, “We humans are a social species, and we certainly don’t all get along!”
Fortunately, the majority of our dogs can have canine playmates, although we sometimes need to help them be friends. Even dogs who don’t normally do well with other dogs can, with careful introductions, learn to accept new canine friends and family members. And if you have a dog who can’t, accept him for who he is. He’ll probably be much happier if you stop trying to get him to like other dogs.
More Tips for Successful Introductions
Here are some additional things you can do to increase your potential for successful introductions:
✔ Exercise both dogs before initiating introductions. Happy, tired dogs are more likely to interact well than those who are bursting with energy.
✔ Be sure to remove toys and other high-value chew objects from the introduction area to minimize potential for guarding incidents.
✔ Use extra caution when introducing a puppy to an adult dog to avoid physical injury or psychological trauma to your pup. While many adult dogs recognize the importance of being gentle with baby dogs, some do not. Some will play too roughly and some will be actively aggressive. A bad experience with an overly exuberant playmate or an aggressive dog can have a significant negative influence on a pup’s future social behavior.
✔ Use extra caution when introducing a new dog to a senior dog, especially if the new dog is a high energy adolescent or a puppy. Protect the senior dog from being physically damaged – bumped, bruised, body-slammed, or knocked over by a rambunctious pup. Keep the youngster on leash or use baby gates to keep them separated until the pup learns to modulate his behavior around the fragile, perhaps grumpy senior. Geriatric dogs shouldn’t have to defend themselves from overwhelming attentions from fractious youngsters. Unless this is a new dog you are introducing to your own family, you are better off selecting more appropriate playmates.
✔ Consider size. Noted trainer and behavior professional Jean Donaldson recommends no more than a 25-pound difference in size between dogs in a household or play relationship. More than that, she warns, and you risk injury to the smaller dog if the larger one is too energetic or aroused.
✔ When working with particularly large or strong dogs, or dogs who have been involved in any past incidents involving aggression, it’s a good idea to have some tools within easy reach, in case you need to interrupt an aggressive interaction. These tools might include:
• Loud noises, such as a loud yell, banging two metal pans together, or a marine air horn.
• Aversive sprays, such as lemon juice in a spray bottle, Halt! dog repellent spray, or a blast from a hose or a fire extinguisher.
• A separating board. Keep your hands out of the danger zone by using a physical object to break up a fight. (You have to plan for this in advance.) Attach two handles to a sheet of plywood. When a fight happens, lower the board between the sparring dogs. The board will push them apart and provide a physical barrier between them to prevent a new grab.
• Blankets. Tossed over fighters, one over each, blankets muffle outside stimuli, reducing arousal. This also allows humans to physically separate the combatants by picking up the pups-in-a-blanket and pulling them apart with less risk of a serious bite; the blanket will cushion the effect of teeth on skin if the dog does whirl and bite.
• A “parting stick” (also known as a “break stick”). This tool can be inserted into the mouth of a dog who won’t unclench his jaws and let go of another dog. Often carved from a wood hammer handle, the stick is tapered to a rounded point at one end. When dogs are locked in combat, the parting stick is forced between a dog’s teeth and turned sideways to pry open the jaws. Caution: Parting sticks can break teeth, and a dog whose jaws have just been “parted” may turn on the person doing the parting.
This dog's collar and tags represent accidents just waiting to happen - accidents that are quite easy to prevent.
I’m not one of those dog owners who has her dogs wrapped in cotton wool, constantly looking to protect them from any and all possible hazards. I walk my dogs off-leash in rattlesnake habitats. I sometimes feed them raw eggs. I allow them to swim without wearing life jackets, and so on.
Some of my willingness to expose them to potential health risks might be due to my generation. As the youngest of four kids raised in the 1960s, I grew up unseatbelted – in fact, most of the time I sat on the hump between the two front seats! My generation was subjected to many more potentially life-endng risks than are even legal today.
But there are a couple specific risks I absolutely will not take with my dogs, and they have to do with their collars.
STANDARD TANG BUCKLE
The first danger I won’t expose my dogs to is a collar with a regular metal buckle – you know! The kind that has a frame and a tang or prong that fits through a hole on the collar and is secured by the back of the buckle frame. Why have I taken a stand against such a ubiquitous piece of dog equipment?
The answer is: Because in a terrible emergency, when a dog’s collar is caught on something and he’s choking to death, the only way to unbuckle that buckle – to get that metal prong or tang out of its hole – is to pull it a little bit tighter. And you will have to believe me when I say I know, from personal experience, that when a dog starts choking to death, he won’t be holding cooperatively still in perfect understanding that you need to make his discomfort worse for a moment in order to save his life.
The dog who nearly choked to death in my hands was not my dog – he belonged to a neighbor. But I ran to help when I heard the sound of dogs and women screaming, and was confronted with a writhing tangle of gasping, screaming, urinating, panicking canines. Two dogs had been playing when one grabbed the other by his collar and then rolled over; the collar twisted, pressing his tongue into his own lower teeth – and tightening to the point of choking his playmate.
I and the dogs’ owners, both young women, tried frantically to figure out how to untwist the dogs, but they were big, strong dogs in a full panic, and we couldn’t do it. I dug my hands into the dogs’ fur, looking for buckles to unbuckle. One dog was wearing a quick-release collar – but it wasn’t the collar that was tight. I finally found the buckle for that collar, and it was partially in the mouth of the dog who was twisted, impossibly tight – too tight to be able to tighten it more in order to get the tang of the buckle undone.
As I was working to find the buckles, one of the other women ran into the house and got scissors. She managed to hack through the thick nylon collar, releasing the dogs just a moment after the choking one lost consciousness and released his bowels. About two seconds after the collar was cut, he took a gasping, ragged breath, and then another, and slowly came to as we sobbed and patted him and the other dog and hugged each other.
PLAY NAKED
There is a second lesson to be learned from my nightmare story: When dog friends are playing bitey-face games, they shouldn’t be wearing collars at all. Playful dogs who are left home alone together shouldn’t be wearing collars, either.
TAG, YOU’RE IT
As I was completing this article, I saw an Instagram post by Tricia Case of Trailblazing Tails. An assistance dog that Tricia is raising got her tag stuck in a bathroom floor vent as Tricia was, um, in the bathroom. Real life! Tricia shared the photo to warn others of this potential danger.
Here’s the other thing I don’t like to see hanging from dogs’ necks: Metal or other rigid ID tags – because it’s easy for tags to get caught on things, pinning a dog in a scary position and causing her to panic.
The last time I used tags was on a foster dog I had crated in my kitchen. I heard a ruckus and found her thrashing; her tags had somehow slipped through the ventilating slits on the side of the crate (perhaps when she was turning around?) and got stuck.
More commonly, dogs get stuck when they lay on a floor near a floor-mounted vent, either warming or cooling themselves, as appropriate for the season. Their tags slip through the vent as they lay on the floor, and when they try to get up, the tags turn and get stuck. Hysteria generally ensues. Best case, someone is home and rescues them. Worst case? Don’t ask. Awful.
SOLUTIONS
Personally, I am comfortable having my dogs collar-free most of the time. If they escaped my home, say, in an earthquake or something, I know that they would readily go to my neighbors or even strangers for rescue. They are microchipped and the chips are registered to me with current contact information.
But if keeping ID on your dog is more critical to you, perhaps because your dog might be a major flight risk if she got loose, there are a few safer solutions.
As an alternative to using ID tags, I buy collars that have side-release plastic buckles (easy to unsnap in an emergency) and have my phone number stitched into the fabric. However, even these are taken off when I am not home or when I am fostering a dog who might play with my younger dog (my older dog doesn’t play).
Silicone tags, such as the ones from Silidog.com, are a safe alternative. They are strong but flexible; even a spindly, tiny dog would be able to pull free if his silicone tag got caught.
I am aware of one collar that closes with a patented break-away buckle, which can tear apart if a dog gets caught by the collar. It’s called the KeepSafe Break-Away Safety collar, and is available from breakawaycollar.com.
Please consider employing at least one of these alternatives if you currently use a standard buckle collar and/or metal tags on your dog.
Our foster alum Cocoa is a classic Pandemic Pup, adopted in June 2020 to a wonderful family that's been home with her much more than they imagined they'd be.
See that dog surfing your counter as you read this? You know, the one who jumps on you during your Zoom calls? That’s your ticket to 2020 happiness. The opportunity to “quarantrain” your furry friend – whether a new “pandemic pup” or your long-time pet – is one of the most positive ways you can direct your energy right now.
Dog training is more fun, and dramatically more effective, when it doesn’t have to be shoved into an inconvenient, stressed-out window of time. Those of us lucky enough to have a “new normal” that features being home a lot in stretchy pants have a golden opportunity – a chance to use our household routines to prompt a handful of simple one-minute sessions throughout the day.
Try it! This is a huge silver lining to grab from this pandemic. It’ll hardly feel like you’re doing much, but a month later, you will have an utterly transformed relationship with your dog, an addictive new hobby, and some unexpected moments of delight in your house.
THE SECRET OF DAILY REINFORCEMENT
Want to know why quarantraining works so well? The answer is in “sit.” Everybody’s dog knocks it out of the park when it comes to “sit.” Unfortunately, for many dogs, that’s about it. “Down” is a blank stare. “Stay” is anything but. And as for lying calmly on a mat while somebody’s cooking? Forget it.
Why, then, is “sit” always a solid skill?
Here’s the key: It’s the one thing that all owners work into their daily routine. Every single time they feed the dog, they ask for a sit first. Dog does behavior A; dog gets reward B. Reinforcement each time, 365 days a year. That makes for a rock-solid behavior.
Quarantraining finally gives you a chance to naturally apply that same approach to a host of other cues. You can create an association in your dog’s mind between things you do every day and behavior that they can be rewarded for, so that your daily movements become cues for canine behaviors you enjoy. A month from now, report back about the new way your calm dog is gazing at you, and how you’re cracking up while you text videos of your dog’s new tricks to your friends.
CUP OF COFFEE & “DOWN”
Every time you go into the kitchen for a coffee refill, glass of water, or a snack, practice a quick “Down” with your dog. You’ll be amazed at how fast you’ll get a solid behavior.
How many times do you pour a cup of coffee, juice, or water each day? How many times does your dog pad after you, ever hopeful that you might be getting a snack out of the fridge, one you might share with him? Here’s how to turn that habit into an easy training win.
Keep a cute ceramic container of your dog’s kibble or treats on the counter. Every time you go into the kitchen to fill your mug or glass, lure your pup into the down position with a piece of kibble or treat. In a week, your pup will be throwing a fabulous “down” every time you venture near the treat jar, which will make you laugh and exclaim, “Yes! What a good dog!” Now the “down” is just as strong as the “sit,” and you’re on your way.
BREAKFAST & “WAIT”
You’ve already got the nice sit before the dog bowl. How about adding a “wait” cue? Your pup is sitting, and you’re holding the bowl. You say “wait,” and pause a second or two while pup holds that sit, then put the bowl down: “Okay!”
After a week of taking just seconds to focus on this each day, you will have taught an incredibly helpful cue to your dog. Now you can take that “wait” out for a spin. Each day will hand you a dozen opportunities to ask for a “wait.” Practice it when your pup is about to barge out the door, shove through the gate, launch into the car, or careen onto the couch. Your pup still gets access to those things, but now they come as a result of heeding your cue.
Guess what happens after a month of that non-official training? You can add “wait” to the solid column. What’s more, you’ll have fewer of the micro-frustrations that were sneaking into every day at home.
DINNER & TRICKS
For pup’s dinner, you could also practice the sit and wait. Or . . . you could use that time to teach and practice something else. How about asking for a shake before the bowl goes down? Or a spin? Or how about eventually developing a little routine? Perhaps a spin-sit-shake-down-wait, then the bowl?
The result? Smiles for the entire family, daily. Again, a nice upward swing in the psychic feel at home. Somehow this pup just gets cuter and cuter!
TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME? WORK ON SOME RECALLS
Every car trip is a chance to practice a polite “wait” before jumping in the open door , or jumping out of the car back home.
Any chance anyone’s family is spending way too much time in front of screens? How about playing a fun, raucous game – outside, if you can – every night after dinner for 10 minutes? Load up with something yummy, cut into tiny pieces. (Tonight’s leftover chicken? Cheddar cheese?) Split the treats between all of you, get into a big circle, and call your pup back and forth between you. She gets one delicious nibble whenever she runs to the person who just called her. So simple. So effective.
More often than not, owners fail to actually practice the recall cue. But they sure use it! They use it to call their pup away from all of the fun stuff – the dog park, the neighbor’s yard, the deer they’re chasing. All that does is turn that cue for “come” into something your dog is sure to ignore.
But if you take 10 minutes every night to play this game with happy voices, lots of cheer, and always the very best treats, suddenly that word is going to perk up your pup’s ears when it counts. It just might save her life one day.
ZOOM CALLS & “PLACE”
Mojo learning to hang out on her “Place” while I work on my laptop. (She’s looking more anticipatory than she would ordinarily, mistaking my movement to pick up my cell phone camera as a move to deliver her next treat!)
It’s like clockwork: the second the Zoom meeting starts, the dog is pawing at your elbow. You push her away, and she jumps up on your thigh. Your colleagues were amused when this was new. It is no longer new.
This is a golden opportunity to teach “place.” Put a mat near your desk. The first day, every time you see your pup go near that mat, toss a piece of her kibble or a treat on it. She will start hanging out near the mat more. Once she does, toss the treat only when she actually steps on the mat, then only when she stands completely on the mat, and finally only when she lies on the mat. Once she’s reliably doing that, call it “place.”
Eventually, when you start a Zoom call and she paws at you, you can say “place” and she’ll know the most rewarding spot she could be in at that moment is her mat. Want to make that behavior rock-solid? Put another mat in the kitchen. Practice “place” every time you cook, or sit down to eat a meal.
Gosh, she’s starting to seem like such a well-behaved dog, isn’t she? Like a movie dog. Now the whole family is looking at her lying there, and suddenly feeling really lucky. What a nice thing to feel in 2020.
BATHROOM & “STAY”
Does your dog follow you around the house all day? Like . . . all day? It’s okay. You can admit it: You always have company when you go to the bathroom. Let’s turn that into some multi-tasking!
If your dog has a beginning “stay” where you can step just a foot away for a moment, this is a perfect opportunity to turn that into a stay you can ask for when the relatives are unloading the food for the holiday and the gate is wide open!
Once again, we prep by keeping a little jar of treats on the counter. As you approach the bathroom doorway, turn around and ask your dog for a “down.” Reward with a treat, and ask for a “stay.” Step a foot into the bathroom, then come right back and reward. Repeat a dozen times over the next few days until pup has the hang of lying in a stay at the threshold to the bathroom.
Now you’re ready to use it for real. Have to use the bathroom? “Stay.” Pup now knows each of these moments is a chance to get a treat, just by lying quietly at the door.
Once you get to a very solid indoor “stay,” you’ll be ready to make the most of the everyday walk to the mailbox! Clip a long line to your pup’s collar, and ask her to stay in a down on your front step. Then take a few steps out toward the mailbox, but come right back and treat. Then do it again, but go a bit farther. Repeat until you can go all the way to the mailbox and back, giving pup a great treat each time she keeps that stay until your return.
See how this is way more fun, for both you and the dog, than just shoving the door shut in her face and trudging out to the mailbox? Dog training = happiness.
DOG TRAINING AS A WAY OF LIFE
Most people vaguely think they might train with their dogs if only they had the time. The thing is, how much time does it take to ask for that “sit” before the food bowl? Right.
That’s the secret to quarantraining. With a tiny bit of preparation and intention – but very little time – you’ll discover you and your dog can do amazing things together. Just try it and see! There’s so much ahead for you both.
Writing something for this page is almost always the last thing I do before I send the issue to the printer. This time, though, I was several days away from having the issue completed and working in the wee hours of the morning, when my power went out.
I have a battery backup for my desktop computer, and it gives me a few minutes of power so I can save all the files I’m working on and shut down the computer. But once that was done, I realized that everything I had in progress was trapped on the now-powerless desktop machine. I was tired, but I had been drinking coffee all night, expecting to work for a few more hours. The only thing that wasn’t started already was the editorial. Well, I thought, I have a charged laptop; I can write something before I quit for the night.
I was working in my little office, an outbuilding that’s 50 yards or so away from my house. The laptop was inside the house, and as I got up to walk there, the dogs got up, too, thinking we were all headed inside to sleep, I’m sure.
As we walked across the yard, we all spontaneously stopped. The power outage was affecting my whole neighborhood – there were no electrical lights burning within view – but there was a nearly full moon shining brightly. All three dogs – senior guy Otto, “fun uncle” Woody, and my latest foster project dog, Coco, stood clustered around me, sniffing the air and looking around.
At some point my gaze dropped from the moon and the stars and fell upon the dogs. I watched them experiencing the night with their whole bodies – the chill in the air prickling their skin, the sound of a dog yelping off in the distance – or was it a coyote? – pricking their ears. Their noses lifted as they drank in the scents on the air. Otto puffed his cheeks in and out, eyes shining, gazing toward the neighbor where all the feral cats seem to emanate from. Woody sat down, and then lay down in the gravel. He’s content to do whatever I’m doing, even if it doesn’t make sense. Little Coco shivered a bit and earnestly looked at me for a clue; why are we all just stopped in the middle of the yard in the middle of the night? As she looked up at me, her face filled with concern, her floppy ears flopped backward and upright, which gave her such a comical, flying-fox look that I laughed out loud. And with that, the moonlight spell was broken.
I fetched the laptop and raced the dogs back outside to the office, re-energized and determined to try to share the moment with you. The gifts our dogs give us – the wildlife they help us see, the weather they help us feel, the scents they lead us to, the warmth and humor and companionship they offer us so freely – these gifts have more than enough power to get us through the long dark nights of winter, if we just take a few moments every so often to feel them.
The last time my senior dog, Otto, had a wellness examination, our veterinarian recommended that I start giving him a medication that treats arthritis pain – at least on the days when he exercises more than usual, like when I take him on off-leash hikes. She recommended a newish drug, Galliprant, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that works with a slightly different mechanism than most NSAIDs prescribed for dogs, and is supposed to have less of an impact on dogs’ kidneys and livers. I ended up taking home a bottle that contained 30 chewable tablets of the medication.
I’ve been giving the medication to Otto occasionally, on days when we’ve taken a hike, or when he seemed particularly stiff or gimpy in the morning. This has been happening more frequently with the cold weather, and I was down to just a few tablets, so I picked up the bottle the other day to call in a refill.
As I waited on the phone for the veterinary receptionist to help me, listening to the clinic’s “hold” music, bottle of medication in my hand, I idly scanned the label, looking to identify the prescription number. To my horror, I saw this:
“Give on Empty Stomach.”
I have been giving the medication to Otto in the morning, with his breakfast – despite a yellow banner on the label that said to give the medicine to him without food.
I don’t know when or why I started giving him the medication with food. Did I not listen to my vet’s instructions? Was I distracted when we were discussing the medication? All I remember hearing is “one tablet given once daily.” Why didn’t I review the label instructions before I gave him any? How could I not notice the yellow label?!
Fortunately, as it turns out, this particular instruction wasn’t critical. When the receptionist came on the line, I told her I was looking for a refill but also wished to speak to the veterinarian briefly about the “empty stomach” instruction. When the doctor became available, she reassured me that the medication could be given either way – but that in her personal experience, she thought it was more effective given on an empty stomach. As long as it was working for Otto, she wasn’t concerned.
Still feeling like a bad dog mom and not to be mollified that easily, I pulled up the drug’s website, which states pretty clearly that it doesn’t matter whether the drug is given with food or not. So now I feel better.
But the issue scared me enough to pass along this advice. Take this opportunity to check the label of any medications your dog receives, right now! Check the dosage and number of pills, the number of times a day your dog is supposed to receive them, and the expiration date (if applicable) of any medication he receives only “as needed.”
Still troubled about my (as it turns out, harmless) screwup with Otto’s medication, I mentioned my error to a couple of friends – and one admitted she once, a few years before, dosed her dog with half of the medication that the label called for, at least half-way through the bottle. It was a two-week prescription, and only when it seemed like the bottle wouldn’t be empty in a week’s time did she examine the label more carefully. The dog was supposed to get two capsules, twice a day, and she had been giving only one capsule twice a day. She admitted her error to her vet, who told her to come and pick up more of the medication, so the dog could receive the full dose for the entire recommended period, as a half dose wasn’t likely to be effective.
I recently fostered a dog who first greeted me at the shelter that I sprung her from by jumping up on me. I spent the first two days with her almost exclusively working on preventing her from jumping. When I introduced her to a friend, my friend immediately held her arms out and greeted the dog’s enthusiastic jump up with a big hug, petting, and cooing
