Long-time WDJ contributor Mary Straus and I are working on some articles about the cases of canine dilated cardiomyopathy that have been discussed in every dog-related setting for many months now. One of the next issues of WDJ will contain the first of the pieces that we have been collaborating on. But I just thought I would share something interesting that I noticed in the process of gathering information from various pet food companies.

We wanted to see what sort of response a consumer might get from writing to pet food companies about a problem with their foods. We went to the websites of 39 pet food companies and looked for email addresses to send a note to, and found, to our surprise, that only seven listed any kind of email address. Instead, the majority of companies offer a web form for consumers to fill out – you know, the kind of thing where you fill in your name, email address, perhaps phone number, and then a comment/question, and then hit “submit.”

Why did I find this interesting? Because it leaves the consumer with no way to prove they had ever sent a letter or question to the company! Or provide them with a dated copy of the letter or question they sent!

My letter to pet food companies

This is the letter I sent to the 39 companies:

“Hello, I am trying to gather information about the response of pet food companies to the FDA’s announcements/updates about the apparent increase in cases of canine DCM, especially in dogs who have been fed diets containing peas and other legumes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Your company was among those whose products were named in reports to the FDA by consumers as being potentially implicated in their dogs’ disease.

Would you please tell me if or how your company has chosen to respond to the news of this issue?  Have you made any changes to any of your formulas? If so, what were those changes, and to which/how many of your products?

If you have not made any changes to your formulas, could you explain your justification for this?

If you have already released a pertinent response, could you please direct me to or send me a copy of that statement?”

Responses to my inqueries

I received responses from 25 of the 39 companies. Now, take this with a grain of salt, because I made a custom email address for the companies to respond to, and it’s possible that at least some of the companies wrote back because the email address clearly identified the inquiry I sent them as being from Whole Dog Journal (InquiryFromWholeDogJournal@gmail.com). Also, within a few days, five companies sent me personalized responses, based on the fact that my inquiry had been forwarded to someone at the company that knew me, either from manufacturing site tours or meetings at pet product trade shows or something.

Also, I received phone calls from representatives of three companies, each of whom I had met personally at some point in the past. My cell phone number was present in the letter I sent to each company, but only people with whom I had spoken in years past actually called me to discuss the letter I sent.

I received what appeared to be automatically generated responses from 24 companies – the kind of email that says, “We got your note, we’ll get back to you within 48 hours (or some such).” And like I said, one company’s representative called me right away, and two more called me within a few days, and about five more responded within days with a personalized response. But two weeks later, six of the companies who responded with these automatic responses still have not gotten back to me. At least (most of them) provided toll-free phone numbers to call if I was interested in getting a quicker response.

Of the 19 companies whose responses I have not yet described, a few were so generic as to be completely useless, or suggested that I call the company instead. For example:

“We would be happy to speak to you about this matter… Our Customer Care Specialists may be reached at 888-XXX-XXXX.”

How about this one? It sounds like the company is addressing my inquiry, because it uses some of the same words in my inquiry, but it doesn’t answer anything I asked! “We appreciate you bringing your concern regarding the canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy and we are happy to answer your inquiry. Please know that as a leader in pet nutrition, we stand behind the safety and quality of all our foods and meet or exceed every major food quality and safety standard including those issued by the FDA, USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and AAFCO. We also have not been contacted by the FDA regarding any cases involving our products.” (The response was longer, but didn’t address any of the questions that I asked.)

By the way, of the three companies whose representatives (including two company owners) who called me in response to my inquiry, none had spoken with anyone from the FDA regarding the cases of DCM that had reportedly implicated or mentioned their products. The two company owners I spoke with told me that they had tried to reach someone at the FDA, but had zero success.

I’m happy to report that a few companies did respond directly to my questions. The rest tended to refer me to statements on the company websites that they had already prepared in response to the issue well ahead of my inquiry. Those statements, of course, don’t necessarily answer my questions directly.

Try It Yourself

I’ll be trying to reach the companies again via their toll-free numbers and will report on whether that effort is more or less successful.

I will admit a bias toward companies that have phone numbers on their labels and websites and email addresses on at least their websites, to make it as easy as possible for consumers to reach them in case of a dog food-related health issue. And of course, my bias is even stronger toward companies who are staffed with knowledgeable people who can respond appropriately and directly to inquiries in a timely manner. Don’t assume for a second that this rules out all the so-called boutique pet food companies, or qualifies all the giant pet food stalwarts.

Try it yourself! Write to or call your favorite dog food company and ask something simple, such as “Have you always included taurine as a supplement in your dog diets? Do you do so now?” or “Can you tell me how much taurine, or cysteine and methionine, is in (name of food you feed your dog)?”

If you ask the latter question – and they have an answer! – make sure you ask also whether the amount is expressed “as fed” or on a “dry matter basis.”

Let us know how it goes!

I read a recent article in The Atlantic about some scientists who taught rats to play hide-and-seek as part of a larger study about the neuroscience of play. I’m riveted by animal behavior, I’m a huge fan of play, and I find neuroscience interesting, so an article like this can send me straight down a rabbit hole of further reading, investigation, and thinking while gazing out the window.

The abstract of the study, which was originally published in the magazine Science, concludes, “The elaborate cognitive capacities for hide-and-seek in rats suggest that this game might be evolutionarily old.”

Animal behavior experts have long speculated about the purpose of play; it is thought to be a sort of behavioral practice time, when predator species practice stalking and hunting prey, and prey species practice escape tactics (such as running and dodging) and rudimentary self-defense behaviors such as kicking or biting. And of course, all species tend to engage in playful social behaviors, such as social grooming. The play of humans incorporates all of these things!

All mammals play the most when they are young, and most species spend less and less time playing as they mature. Interestingly, humans and dogs are two species who retain a greater than average interest in play well into their senior years, though the “games” may change greatly over time. This is why good dog trainers frequently recommend using play as a reinforcer for a dog’s behavior that the owner likes or wants more of. Mutually enjoyable play also helps strengthen the bond between dogs and their humans, and keeps them engaged and motivated to pay attention to and work with us.

Interestingly, hide-and-seek is a favorite game of many humans and their dogs, me and mine included. Both my dignified senior dog, Otto, and my always goofy, playful four-year-old Woody will leap to their feet and stare at me if I signal the start of a game by just looking at them and then pantomiming an exaggerated sneaking out of the room: Oh, it’s on! they seem to say. They know to wait for me to whistle before starting their search, without me having to tell them to “stay.” I never taught them this, but if they come and find me before I’m actually hidden, I just tell them, “Aw, you wrecked it!” and resume doing whatever it was that I was doing before I initiated the game. So they learned that if they wait for the whistle, I’m both more difficult to find and I almost always let out that inadvertent squeal of joy and surprise that humans almost can’t help but make when they are discovered hiding by their intensely seeking dogs. And then we all celebrate with laughter and a little bit of roughhousing.

Mutually enjoyable play is so reinforcing for most dogs, that I would hazard a guess that people who play with their dogs would rate their dogs’ behavior – or at the very least, the strength of their relationship – more highly than people who don’t play with their dogs. Shoot, if I were a scientist with time and money to spare, I’d try to find a way to test this hypothesis. Instead, I’ll just ask you guys: Do you play with your dogs? How and why?

We had a little practice fire drill here last week. I mean, there was an actual fire, and the mandatory evacuations that were ordered were close enough to have me putting my “go bag” by the back door and putting the dogs’ collars on and their go bags in the car. But we didn’t have to evacuate, and the fire crews got the fire subdued within 48 hours of its eruption, so that was all good.

However, I had the opportunity to help another friend who did have to evacuate, and we learned a few lessons together.

Lesson #1: Always Have Backup Phone Numbers

When I saw the location of the fire on the maps published by Cal Fire (the fire-fighting agency that responds to all fires in California that happen in the spaces between other fire-fighting jurisdictions) on Twitter, I texted my friend Dorothy right away; she was right in the path of the thing. No response. Then I called her. The call went straight to voicemail. Lesson number one: Have backup phone numbers! I have only her cell phone number, not her home phone number, and she only carries her cell when she’s not home. So, knowing that ahead of time as I did, I should really have made more of an effort to get her home number programmed into my phone.

I decided to head to her house. Already, there were California Highway Patrol cars parked in the area, blocking access to a number of roads near her – but fortunately her road was still accessible.

As I pulled my car into the front of her house, she was just getting out of her own car. It turns out that she had just gotten home from a long day out of town and was scrambling to catch up to the whole situation (and she never turns her phone on when she’s driving). She heard about the fire on the radio as she was driving home, and heard that there were mandatory evacuations on roads very close to her home. I gave her a hug and said, “Tell me what I can do.”

I should probably mention that my friend is 80 years old. She’s a very active 80-year-old; in fact, she is my horseback-riding buddy. She has three horses and still competes in endurance races. But she also has a 92-year-old husband who is not quite as active and able as she is, three cats, and one not-very-well-trained dog. We had some work to do.

The good news: Her horse trailer is always hooked up to her truck and ready to roll. It contains a dressing room that has a place for humans to sleep and a miniature kitchen and bathroom, so the cats and dog and humans can camp out in the there, too. The bad news: It’s a two-horse trailer and she has three horses.

She told me that she would send her husband to a friend’s house to stay. She could use some help to clean out a dog crate for the cats, and to get some feed for the horses and halter them. She would look for the cats and get her own things together. She said, “I can take the two horses to Camelot (a stable, the evacuation site for large animals in our area), drop them off, and come back.” OK, we had a plan.

Lesson #2: Always Have Important Addresses On Hand

I grabbed her dog, Maddie, who was already running around barking at everything, and put her in my car. I figured Dorothy would be able to catch the cats much more easily without Maddie underfoot. I filled up a bunch of buckets with hay cubes, and put halters on the horses. I tried to check Twitter, to see how the fire fighters were progressing, but I can’t get a signal at Dorothy’s house.

I said, “Let me take Maddie to my house. I have a big crate I can put her in. I will also get news about the fire and see if I can find another spot in someone else’s trailer for the third horse. Then I will call you on your cell, or text you anything important, so put your cell in your pocket.” She agreed.

I can’t get a signal until I am about two miles from Dorothy’s house. That’s why I got a little discombobulated when I reached another friend who has horses and who might have been able to pick up Dorothy’s third horse – and I realized I didn’t know Dorothy’s address, only how to get there. Lesson two: Make sure you have the physical address of the people you are trying to help!! I could neither ask Dorothy nor look at her street sign nor the number on her fence. I explained Dorothy’s location to my friend on the phone as well as I could, and said I would call her back and let her know the address for sure. I hoped we wouldn’t need the ride for that horse, that Dorothy had enough time to take two trips.

As I drove toward my home, I realized that I had recently loaned the crate that I intended to put Maddie in to another friend, who was out of town. Yikes! So I had to drive to that friend’s house, load the pieces of crate onto the top of my car and tie it down (it’s a Great Dane-sized crate made of flat panels that get fastened together in the corners with long rods), and then drive home. Once there, I checked the fire maps online. They hadn’t changed – but whether that was because the fire fighters were holding the line or because the news hadn’t updated yet, I did not know. I texted Dorothy a few times, with no response. I left Maddie in the big crate and headed back to Dorothy’s house.

Lesson #3: Always Have Backup Keys

By now, it was pitch dark outside. But as I pulled into her driveway, I could see that her husband’s car was gone; he had already left to stay with their friends. And two of the horses were in the trailer, and the cats were in the big dog crate, in the back seat of her crew-cab truck. Good, good, good! But Dorothy looked distraught and was near tears. “I lost the key to the truck!” she told me. “I had it with me, but now I can’t find it!”

Lesson number three: Always have a backup key to your getaway vehicles!

With smoke hanging thickly in the air, we searched for almost an hour. In her house. In the barn. Down the driveway. In the car. In the cab of the truck, the back of the truck, the dressing room of the trailer. I even opened the horse trailer door, where the horses waited impatiently and looked around their feet, in case she had dropped the key while tying their halter ropes. We were nearly in despair when I found the key in a place that Dorothy had already looked: under the hay that she had thrown to the horse that we were leaving behind. The horse had been eating this whole time, and the key and its ring was nearly buried in the dirt and picked-over hay, but I have never been so happy to see a glint of metal in a horse’s food in my life.

As I write this, days later, Dorothy and I have had a discussion about our little fire drill. I have put her address and home phone number into my phone. She is having a spare key made for her truck, and is going to hide it in a location in the barn that she will disclose to her sister (who lives nearby and also has horses) and me. We both are going to post a “to do” list of things that we don’t want to forget in the event of another evacuation or emergency. (She forgot a cell phone charger and her prescriptions, which fortunately weren’t absolutely needed to survive for the two days she stayed evacuated. When I went to her house in the dark, I forgot the flashlight that sits next to my back door, and nearly ran my cell phone down to zero battery by using its flashlight function instead. Dumb!)

Important Emergency-Preparedness Link

Here in rural Northern California, wildfire is always going to be a possibility, so all of us in this situation have to keep an evacuation plan in mind – for ourselves and for all of our animals. In other parts of the country, you may have to be ready for other natural disasters: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, avalanches. Even those who live in cities should have a go-bag packed and ready with certain items, and a checklist of things to take along in case of a disaster. I can tell you that there is a huge difference between how much you will forget when you are thinking about it right now, while you read this in comfort and security on your computer or tablet, and how much you will forget if you are in the dark with the smell of smoke swirling all around and your beloved pets and family counting on you to get it together. So let this be my annual reminder to you! Make a checklist! Put together a go-bag! Update your phone and address book!

Here are some emergency-preparedness links I hope you find helpful:

https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/disaster-preparedness

https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/emergencies/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ffeatures%2Fpetsanddisasters%2Findex.html

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1553273223562-797451b5cb0bee8d35d3e4e85e3830d6/Checklist.pdf

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1555704332614-dd584fec0c9724656c0292313bcd5da6/Important_Documents_for_FEMA_Assistance.pdf

A couple nights ago, I awoke in the middle of the night to that one sound that no dog owner can ignore: that lurching sound of an impending vomit. I leapt out of bed and saw my younger dog, Woody, standing near my bed, trembling. He looked exactly like a toddler who woke up feeling crummy and sought out his mom so he could barf in front of her. Well, that’s exactly what he did do; he and my older dog Otto always sleep in the living room.

“Oh, puppy,” I said. “What happened?” I grabbed my phone and smashed buttons on it, trying to find the flashlight option through bleary eyes. I scanned the room with the light but couldn’t see any actual puddles of vomit, so I got up and walked him outside, in case he had to throw up some more. He walked out onto the lawn and peed, went to the outside water bucket and drank a little water, and then came back inside. No more trembling. He settled back onto the couch and I went back to bed.

In the morning, with clearer eyes, I found the vomit. It was, of course, on one of the only two rugs in the house, an antique Persian carpet runner in my bedroom. In the weak beam of my phone flashlight, I couldn’t differentiate between the pattern in the rug and the small (now mostly dried) puddle. There was some slimy stuff that was most certainly just digestive juices, bits of nearly digested kibble, and . . .  a blob of something. I used some paper towel to pick it up, examining the blob closely.

A mystery from the depths…of Woody

At first I thought it was a piece of bone or glass, but it was soft, with rounded edges. It was rubbery – if not actual rubber. I took it to the kitchen sink and rinsed it off. It was for sure a hunk of something rubbery and opaque. I could make out some molded edges.

If this happened two or more years ago, I wouldn’t have even blinked. Woody chewed up lots of things when he was a puppy and adolescent dog, and he vomited up everything that was indigestible, usually within a day or two. I had a few surprises – as when he vomited up a piece of something I hadn’t even known was missing – but mostly I was able to say, “Ah, that’s a piece of that old Kong toy,” or “Finally, that chunk of the flying disk he ruined.”

But this time? He hasn’t chewed up anything for ages and ages. I can’t even remember the last time he chewed up a toy or a forbidden item. And I don’t at all recall any toy that we have ever had that was this particular color, a sort of a slightly translucent, light root-beer-bottle brown.

Could this thing have been in there for months or years? Is that even possible? Perhaps, once upon a time, it was colorful and had sharp edges from being chewed up, and it has lost color and gained smooth edges from marinating in digestive juices for years?

This was the theory proposed by my husband, anyway. “What are you talking about, he never chews up anything anymore?” he asked me, incredulous. “He chews up his Squeak balls all the time!”

On the hunt for damaged toys

That is not exactly correct. Both of my dogs like to chew on their favorite toy, the Planet Dog Squeak Ball, like they are chewing bubblegum. The Squeak appears to be the perfect texture, or offers the perfect amount of resistance for their jaws. But I don’t think either dog is exactly bent on destroying the Squeak balls; they just chew the balls so much, that eventually, the balls crack and start to fall apart. And when they start to fall apart, then one of the dogs (usually Otto) will lay down with the ball and chew it up into bits. It’s a process that takes months, but that goes fast at the end.

To test my husband’s theory, I hunted around the property, looking for all the Squeak balls in various stages of repair. I did actually find one that had a missing chunk that was vaguely the same shape as the perplexing lump from Woody’s midnight misadventure. But, no: It wasn’t a credible match. The baffling item is about twice as thick as the “walls” of the Squeak.

So the mystery lives on. What is that thing? How long has it been in there? Where did it come from? Is there more in there? I might never know.

Dogs!!  

Someone sent me a link to this news story about a Texas dog owner being caught on video (taken inadvertently by a neighbor’s Ring security camera) beating her dog. The person whose security camera caught the event posted the clip on a social media site, where it was viewed by neighbors – and eventually, a local law enforcement officer. The local police department shared the video even more widely, asking for the community’s help in identifying the woman. Eventually, the woman was identified and questioned. Her explanation for her behavior? “Police say the woman admitted she hit her dog after she was forced to chase him when he ran from home.”

Well, beating and kicking him is a great way to make him want to be home. (SARCASM ALERT.)

It should be obvious that hitting and kicking a dog teaches a dog NOTHING (except perhaps to run faster from his or her abuser next time).

It’s strange to me, however, that many people struggle with keeping their dogs inside when their doors or gates are open – and with being able to recall their dogs from some tempting fun.

Train a recall often and make it fun

When people come to my house, they will undoubtedly be met at the door by my canine greeters. When I open the door, many (if not most) people who don’t know my dogs personally will initiate some sort of blocking maneuver, as if to prevent the dogs from escaping out the door. I am forever saying, “It’s okay! They aren’t going anywhere! Look, they come right back!” (Of course, I could tell my dogs to stay inside instead of allowing them to go outside when I’m letting someone into the house; they’re perfectly capable of holding a sit-stay or down-stay indoors – but I rarely consider this, as it’s not even slightly a problem if they slip outdoors; I can call them back without fail.)

I’m not bragging; their recall is something we practice constantly, if not daily. And it’s not a chore or a drill, I keep it fun! Often when I call them, it’s to initiate a game of fetch or hide-and-seek. Sometimes they get lunch meat, or scraps of my lunch. Sometimes I call them in from chasing a squirrel – and their reward for a prompt recall is encouragement to go chase the squirrel again! I keep our recall practice unpredictable, enjoyable, and always rewarding in some way.

Here’s how to train – and maintain – a solid recall

For more about keeping your dog’s recall fresh and quick, see the following WDJ articles:

Training an “Extremely Fast” Recall: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/leash_training/training-your-dog-to-execute-an-extremely-fast-reliable-recall/

Using a Long Line to Teach Off-Leash Recalls: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/on-leash-training-blossoming-into-off-leash-reliability/

Rocket Recall: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/leash_training/rocket-recall/

Games for Building a Reliable Recall: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/leash_training/games-for-building-reliable-recall-behavior-for-your-dog/

Also, here is a good one about stopping a door-dasher, without any beating or kicking required:  https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/put-a-stop-to-door-darting-dogs/