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Last week, I was in Newport, Rhode Island, for my stepdaughter’s wedding. Beautiful town, nice weather, and my family and I were there a few days early, so we could help with little chores and get in some sightseeing, too.
My sister and I went for a walk among the mansions (“cottages,” they are called there) and along the way I saw a couple walking with an enormous Great Dane. As we got close, I could see that the dog was wearing a service dog vest with a handle on the back, and that the woman was using the dog for help with balance.
© Elizabeth Cummings | Dreamstime.com
I asked if I could take the dog’s picture, and explained, as I always do, that I edit a dog magazine and love to take photos of any dog I come across, if allowed. The people smiled and agreed; they also said that lots of people ask to take the dog’s picture, because she’s so big and bold-looking. The dog, indeed, was boldly colored (with a Harlequin coat) but also, she was much more strongly built than many Danes I have seen. She was not just tall, but also had very thick leg bones and was as bulky as a Mastiff. When I remarked on this, the people explained that they had imported her from Russia, especially for her job as a service dog.
I posted a picture of the woman and her dog on WDJ’s Instagram account (@dogsofwholedogjournal) with the caption #servicedogsrock. And didn’t think about it again until a day or two later, when I saw that a couple of people had commented critically about the collar that the dog had been wearing: a choke chain.
I deleted the post, rather than have a debate start there. But I have been sort of fuming about this for days.
I did notice that the dog had been wearing a choke chain when I took the picture. I take pains to avoid using pictures of dogs who are wearing choke chains, pinch collars, or shock collars in Whole Dog Journal. I firmly believe that dogs can be trained without these tools, and I want to show our readers well-behaved, well-trained dogs wearing flat collars in the magazine. I want our models to, for the lack of a better word, “model” the kind of training that we promote.
I probably wouldn’t have posted the picture of just any dog wearing a choke chain on Instagram. But for me, the value of the service this dog was providing to the woman, and the obvious good relationship between them, outweighed the potentially negative note sent by the collar. I was super impressed by the team. Here was a woman who was able to walk on uneven streets in a gorgeous, historic place, enjoying the same experience as me, by virtue of the fact that her service dog was there for support and balance. As someone whose mental and emotional health is strongly tied to the walks I take with my dogs, I was moved nearly to tears by witnessing the partnership that allowed the woman to do exactly what I was doing.
Yes, the dog was wearing a choke chain, and the leash was attached to the chain – but the dog was walking quietly and calmly with a loose leash. I’m not sure the chain collar was needed, but I also could see that it might make the woman feel that she had a bit more control over the dog if needed. If the dog did grow animated or pull, it was clear that – probably with or without the chain collar – the woman would not be able to prevent the dog from pulling away. The woman was slender, and the dog was enormous. I’m sure the dog outweighed her handler by a good bit.
But as much as I want to promote training without pain or physical force – and that is the only reason choke chains work, folks; they inflict pain – I do not want to participate in passing knee-jerk judgments on people for their choice of training equipment. Especially people who are physically vulnerable! Tiny people, older people, people who have had strokes or have Multiple Sclerosis, or some other challenge; do we really need to take these people to task because they aren’t handling their dogs with the kindest equipment possible? I was upset that anyone felt the need to do that. Was this photo the place to have this conversation?
Am I being too sensitive? Should service dog handlers not get a free pass on judgment, just because they are disabled? Should I be more concerned about the dog’s wellbeing; should service dogs deserve even more protection from potentially painful gear?
I’d be interested to hear what you think.
In last week’s blog post, I mentioned that puppies have no place being advertised on Craigslist or Facebook. Advertising one’s puppies for sale – oh, excuse me, I mean “for a rehoming fee” (give me a BREAK) – in these online forums is tantamount to telling the world you are a backyard breeder who will sell a puppy to anyone, anytime. Anyone who knows what they are doing wouldn’t ever buy a puppy advertised in this way.
That said, some breeders might belong to breed-rescue groups and breed-enthusiast groups who * are * on Facebook, and who * do * advertise on Craigslist. The difference is, they won’t be trying to sell puppies there, but are trying to connect with other people who admire their breed. They may promote an adult rescue dog on a page like that, or announce that a rescued litter is soon to become available to qualified applicants, but absolutely no legitimate rescue would offer to sell puppies to just anyone!
Responsible breeders are more concerned about placing their puppies in the right home, where they will thrive and be a blessing to their new families, than they are with making money. If it’s not a little bit difficult to find someone to sell you a puppy – to prove you are up to their standards – then you probably don’t want that puppy. Puppies bred specifically for sale, like produce, with the goal of bringing income to a family – you don’t want that puppy!
Why? Because profit-driven breeders are more interested in making a living than they are with making sure that the animals they produce are sound, healthy, and well-adjusted individuals that will bring joy and love to your home. They really don’t care if the puppies end up euthanized due to health or behavior problems before their first birthday. They don’t care if the dog turned out to be deaf or carries the genes for inherited conditions that will kill the dog before its fifth birthday. Profit-driven breeders have one goal: to improve their bottom line. The fact that their profits come at the expense of the mother dogs (for sure) and the puppies who are placed with anyone who can pony up the purchase price is of no concern to them.
Also, when you support profit-motivated breeders, you support the overproduction of unwanted dogs, the misery of the overworked mother dogs, and the suffering of surplus dogs. When you pay someone on Craigslist a “rehoming fee” for a pup from their “accidental litter,” you have provided a strong disincentive for that person to get the mother dog spayed. If the person who owns the mother dog can’t sell the “accidental puppies,” there is a far greater chance that pups will end up surrenders to a local shelter, where the law requires them to be vaccinated and neutered before they can be sold to the public. And at least THAT crop of “accidental puppies” won’t contribute to more and ever-more “accidental puppies” being born.
In contrast are responsible breeders. How do you identify a responsible breeder? Here is the hallmark: A responsible breeder has a written contract that states that if, for any reason whatsoever, you don’t like the puppy you buy or can’t keep the dog that puppy has grown into, the breeder will take the pup or dog back, without hesitation. In fact, the contract should insist that if you can’t keep the dog for any reason, you may not find another home for the dog, but must return the dog to the breeder. Good breeders don’t want their dogs to end up just anywhere. A truly responsible breeder will keep a list of people who want a dog from her stock, help a dog or puppy get past whatever led to his not fitting into his first family, and find another perfect home for him – or commit to keeping him forever.
How can you FIND a responsible breeder? Use Google. Look for breeders, check out their websites, call them up and ask them questions. Go to dog shows and/or performance events and ask everyone who has a dog of the breed you are interested in who you should talk to about puppies of that breed. Look up local breed-enthusiast groups and breed-rescue groups and ask everyone about the best way to get a puppy. Look for people who are super fussy about who they might consider placing a puppy or adult rescue dog with.
We have some great articles about how to find responsible breeders, and some articles that offer guidance on choosing the best dog or pup for your family:
It’s true that there are far fewer responsible breeders or legitimate rescue groups who have puppies than there are families who want puppies. To which I say, TOUGH.
I understand that it is frustrating to have to WAIT to find a puppy to add to your family, especially in this day of being able to use the Internet to order a left-handed widget in red, not blue, and have it delivered to your home the next day. I understand that it would be nice to get that Poodle in apricot (your favorite color) and a female (because you grew up with a female Poodle), and between 8 and 12 weeks right at the beginning of your kids’ summer vacation (when the nanny will be available to help potty-train the pup before the kids go back to school in the fall) and I understand that you could probably find and pay for a dog that purportedly meets that description on the Internet right this minute. But PLEASE DO NOT.
In the September issue of Whole Dog Journal, author/trainer/training editor Pat Miller describes how she obtained the latest canine addition to her family – via a posting on Craigslist. She wrote:
“Look – I have warned people about the very real and significant dangers of trying to sell or adopt pets through Craigslist. Scammers get dogs for free or cheap from unsuspecting owners, and then charge exorbitant fees to adopt them to others as “rescues.” Or worse, hoard or abuse them.
“But I would be at the other end of the equation. I would be a responsible human trying to adopt a dog for our legitimate home, perhaps even saving a dog from one of those awful fates.”
I recently advised another friend to look on Craigslist, too. My friend Mike is looking for a young dog (not a puppy), who is between 30 and 40 pounds (he and his partner live in a tiny house, but have always had bigger dogs and don’t want a small one), and who has a very short coat (they live in the Sierra foothills, where there are lots of stickers and ticks). He and his partner have been scouring shelters and rescue groups for months without finding just the right dog. I am proud of their patience, because they take being responsible owners very seriously; their new dog, when they find him or her, will be very well cared for. But they also are retired, and they don’t want what could conceivably be the last part of their lives burdened with a dog who is unsuited for them. The perfect dog for them has not popped up in a shelter just yet, so I suggested that they also look at Craigslist posts for dogs who need new homes – and I went looking there, too.
Be forewarned, though: Looking at the “pets” section of any city’s or area’s Craigslist page can be upsetting, not least because of the sheer number of people who are looking to rehome their dogs for any of a host of reasons. At least they are trying to find a new home for their dogs, and some people, apparently, do find great new homes for their companions – look at Pat Miller!
However, in order read the listings for individual dogs in need of homes, you have to wade through dozens of ads from backyard breeders. The more time I spend on Craigslist, the more angry and aggravated I get.
Why so mad? Well, according to Craigslist’s terms of service, “the sale of pets is prohibited, though re-homing with small adoption fees is acceptable.” We’ve seen “small adoption fee” described as the approximate amount of money that the lister has spent very recently on the animal’s care, but the fact is, there is no formal limit as to what comprises a “small adoption fee” – and so, perhaps due to the lack of either definitions or enforcement, listings for dogs and puppies (and every other type of companion animal) are present by the dozen on any local Craigslist you may see. Literally ALL of the ads for puppies tout the “small rehoming fee” they want for the pups that, in most cases, have been bred deliberately in order to make money.
I am in no way against responsible breeding, conducted by knowledgeable people with suitable dogs, with care taken to raise, socialize, and provide medical care for the puppies. But that is just NOT what you see on Craigslist. Instead, you find hundreds of mixed-breed and unregistered but purportedly “purebred” pups, photographed in dirty environments (with the blank gazes of unhandled neonates), being made available to anyone with the money for the “rehoming fee.” What is clear to me is that many of the dogs purchased in this way (or who have gone too long unpurchased) will end up in my local shelter and shelters everywhere.
Overrepresented in particular on Craigslist are puppies for sale from pitbull-type dogs of every description. The ads try to make them sound exotic and special – so-called red-noses and blue-noses and dogs of bizarre dimensions, large and small. The fact is, far more of these “bully breeds” are being bred than anyone can find homes for, and these sorts of dogs are also represented out of all proportion in probably every shelter in this country – and every freezer full of euthanized dogs at the shelters that still take on this unthinkable task. When I look at the ads for these puppies, I am just filled with sadness and rage.
What can a person do? Craigslist’s recommended solution is “flagging” ads that violate its standards. There is a small chevron-shaped box with a grey “X” in it that users can click to make an ad that violates the Craigslist prohibition on selling puppies (or stud service) disappear, at least temporarily. I know people who make it a habit to check Craigslist in their area daily, flagging all the ads for puppies they find. It’s a start, but it sure seems like a task that could easily be automated, Craig Newmark.
And today, frankly, there is a larger platform that needs just as much reform. In the past few years, user groups dedicated to selling certain types of dogs and puppies or selling puppies in certain areas mushroomed in size and number – despite Facebook’s supposed prohibition on selling animals or animal services on Facebook.
For years, Facebook didn’t seem to take any action against obvious violators of its prohibition on animal sales, but reportedly in 2016, when it launched its Marketplace feature (where anyone could list many things, though supposedly not animals, for sale), Facebook began using algorithms meant to detect and delete ads for live animals.
Facebook also added a mechanism for users to report ads for puppies and other animals for sale – but users take evasive actions, such as listing their puppies for sale on “discussion” boards, rather than on the page for “items for sale.” The task of flagging these ads is just like it is at Craigslist: a bit like playing “whack-a-mole.”
You may ask: Is there a place or way for responsible breeders to advertise their puppies? Of course there is, and I’ll talk about that more in next week’s blog post. But, in my opinion, neither Facebook groups nor Craigslist ads should be considered a source for puppies.
What do you think? Have you had an experience, good or bad, with buying or selling puppies in one of these forums?
I realize that not everyone who reads these blog posts are Whole Dog Journal subscribers. Current subscribers have access to all back issues of WDJ, and thus, access to all of our annual reviews of dry and canned dog food, and occasional reviews of freeze-dried, dehydrated, raw frozen, and other less-common forms of dog food. Since I try to make sure that every nutrition article we publish contains unique and helpful information about feeding dogs in the safest and most healthful ways, there are lots of small facts about selecting, buying, storing, and feeding your dog that many of you might have overlooked or missed. Allow me to take the opportunity to share 10 of them with you!
1. We recommend that owners switch foods frequently. Many food makers suggest switching foods slowly, by replacing a small amount of the dog’s old food with a new food and slowly increasing the percentage of new food over a week or two. If you feed more than one type of food per day to your dog, and switch frequently, you will likely find that these “slow switch” schedules are completely unnecessary. Why? Because dogs who eat a varied diet are already accustomed to a variety of foods; their bodies are already making a nice mélange of digestive enzymes that support the sort of mixed population of microbes needed to break down all sorts of foods. It’s only when you have been feeding only one type of food for a long time that you need to be so slow in introducing a new type of food.
2. That said, when choosing new foods to rotate among, make sure each product offers a similar amount of fat and protein. Dog foods vary a LOT, and if you double or triple the amount of fat (in particular) in your dog’s daily diet, you can certainly trigger unwanted weight gain at the very least, and an attack of pancreatitis or worse.
3. Check, too, the caloric content of the food, and keep his daily portion in a range that has been working for your dog. Some foods might contain twice as many or half as many calories per cup as other foods. Adjust the amount you feed accordingly!
4. We are huge fans of adding healthy fresh foods to a dog’s diet. This can help promote a robust and varied microbiome and keep a dog from being bored stiff with his diet. Feel free to share healthy leftovers from your own meals – skipping anything that’s very high in fat (such as bacon grease, chicken skin, fat from steaks, etc). Think steamed vegetables, pasta, soup, bits of fruit, eggs, yogurt, toast crust – avoiding, of course, anything that contains ingredients to which your dog reacts poorly.
These additions shouldn’t exceed about 25 percent of your dog’s daily caloric intake. If you add fresh foods to your dog’s diet, make sure to dial back the amount of commercial food you give him accordingly, so you don’t contribute to unhealthy weight gain.
5. Always check the “best by” date on any commercial product in order to buy the freshest food possible.
All foods break down over time. The fats in dry foods are subject to oxidation (which makes the fats go rancid). The vitamins degrade; microorganisms can begin to grow. All of these reactions are slower in frozen and much slower in canned food, but even these products undergo changes that affect the nutrient quality and palatability of the food over time.
Some manufacturers use only a “best by” date – the date through which the product should perform as it was intended to. Others also include a date of manufacture, which we find particularly helpful, since, otherwise, consumers are left to guess when the product was actually made.
Pet food makers designate varying periods of time past the manufacturing date of their products as the “best by” date. Dry foods that contain only natural preservatives (such as mixed tocopherols) will have shorter “life spans” than artificially preserved foods – but in any case, the fresher the food is, the closer to its date of manufacture when you buy it, the better. So while you should look for a “best by” date that is as far away as possible (indicating it is close to its date of manufacture), unless you know exactly how long that company expects its products to last, without a date of manufacture also on the label, you can’t be certain how old that food is.
Some companies, such as Wellness, state on their websites how long they expect their foods to maintain “freshness.”
6. Store dry foods in their bags. We know, we know, it’s easier to scoop foods out of those nice big plastic food storage bins than out of the bag. But did you know that the fat in dry dog foods can actually interact with many plastics, and cause chemicals to leach out of the plastic and into the food? So-called “food-safe” plastics (plastics made especially to store food) are safer than any plastic not so-designated, but ALL plastics are capable of reacting with fats. In contrast, food makers keep improving the quality of the food-safe materials used to contain dry food and keep it as fresh, dry, and protected from insects as possible. Put the bag inside your plastic food bins; it will stay fresher.
7. Also, keep these containers in a cool, dry place. Heat is the enemy of high-fat foods; dry dog food degrades much more quickly in high temperatures. And moisture kicks all sorts of unhealthy processes into action.
8. Look at and smell your dog’s food daily, as you put it into his bowl, slow-feeder, Kongs, or what-have-you. If it looks moldy, contains anything that looks foreign (metal, plastic, insects), or smells “off,” don’t feed it! Check the “best by” and/or date of manufacture, and try to figure out what went wrong. Did you accidentally purchase an out-of-date product? Contact your retailer and perhaps also the pet food maker to report your issue (and perhaps get a refund or new product, depending on what happened).
9. If your dog normally eats his food without being fussy, but suddenly declines to eat what you have fed him, DON’T “dress it up” in order to make him eat it. If he turns up his nose at the same type of food two meals in a row, examine the food more closely, smell it, check the package dates, etc. And talk to your retailer about a refund or exchange.
10. If you feed your dog in a bowl every day, use a clean glass or a high-quality stainless steel bowl. These are inert materials that don’t leach harmful chemicals into the food (like plastic or low-quality ceramic bowls). Wash the bowl frequently with dish soap and hot water and allow it to dry completely. (Raw feeders should wash and dry bowls after each meal.)
It’s that time of year again: Your vet’s office has called to schedule your dog’s annual visit and wants that dreaded sample.
A fresh stool sample is no one’s favorite to collect, but it’s important for a lot of reasons.Parasites are not the only thing that can be seen on a fecal check. Whether done as part of a routine screen or when a pet is sick, poop contains a lot of good information.
Worms that live in the intestines are the most common reason for checking a stool sample. Gastrointestinal (GI) parasites can be picked up from other animals or from the environment and range from a mild nuisance to quite dangerous. Some are easily detectable, such as tapeworms (who leave small segments that look like grains of rice in the stool or around the anus). Others are more difficult to notice and require specific tests performed on a fresh stool sample. Hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms are among the most common parasites that are picked up in the environment.
Dreamstime
Parasite eggs can be found in the soil or in stool of an affected animal. We all know dogs love to stick their noses in things that stink and what better than the poop of another animal? When a dog ingests the eggs (whether from eating stool or just licking his nose after closely smelling poop), the eggs will go on to hatch and grow into adult worms that live in the gut. These parasites can cause diarrhea, poor weight gain, and even hair-coat changes.
Note, however, that not all dogs may have outward signs of a parasite infection. Some are asymptomatic carriers, meaning that they may be infected, but don’t develop illness. This is why it’s important to check, even if your dog seems fine.
If you need any more reasons, consider this: Many of these parasites can be transmitted to humans, and they all can be given to other dogs. As a conscientious dog owner, routine parasite checks ensure that your dog is healthy and not putting anyone else at risk.
Diarrhea can be triggered by most GI parasites and is frustrating for dog owners and vets alike – and the first thing I want when a client’s dog has diarrhea is a stool sample. I want to check for parasites, of course, but I also want to evaluate the poop’s bacterial population. Even if it isn’t the root cause of diarrhea, an unbalanced gut biome will perpetuate the problem.
Worms and bacteria are not the only parasites that vets see on fecal checks. I’ve diagnosed skin mites, protozoa, and a range of other things all from a simple fecal sample. Skin mites, especially scabies mange mites, can be very difficult to find. Sometimes, we will have a high index of suspicion, but a skin scraping comes up clear. It’s not common, but I have found mites in the poop of affected dogs, who inadvertently consume the mites when they chew at their feet or sides.
Giardia and coccidia are small, single-cell protozoa that can cause explosive diarrhea. Giardia especially can be missed on a standard fecal float, but when diarrhea just won’t go away, a giardia screen should be checked. Dogs who board or routinely drink from puddles or ponds are giardia’s most frequent victims. Note that dogs can be asymptomatic carriers of giardia. They may exhibit no signs but shed giardia in their stool, so it’s a good idea to check to make sure they aren’t passing along little friends when they go out to play (and poop)!
Before heading to your dog’s check-up, head out into the yard with a clean plastic bag and snag a fresh little present for your vet. If the containment of a single bag gives you the willies, put the bag into a jar or plastic container, double-bag it, triple-bag it – whatever it takes. I’ve even had stool samples dropped off in gift-wrapped boxes! Just make sure to label it, so we know which dog to credit for the gift.
After graduating from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011, Kyle Grusling had internships in small animal clinical medicine and surgery, then practiced emergency medicine for three years, before deciding to pursue a career in general practice at Northland Animal Hospital in Rockford, Michigan.
I’ve always been neurotic about the safety of living beings in my care – more so since I became a mother of two at a young age. This only increased when I became a professional trainer. I consider the care and safety of our children and animals to be of utmost importance – and good supervision is at the crux of this, especially in our fast-paced world, where we are all distracted by technology and are fantastic multi-taskers.
I believe that supervision is never more important than when observing our dogs in social settings, whether it is introducing new dogs, exercising our dogs at a dog park, bringing our dogs with us in the public domain, or just living in multi-dog households. When I say “supervision,” I am talking about adult management by someone who is knowledgeable about dog body language.
I would venture to say that many people think they are great at overseeing their dogs, but in reality, they don’t really have a firm grasp of what ideal supervision means. Further, many people lack information about their dogs’ body language – so, even if they are actually actively watching their dogs, if they can’t recognize their dogs’ stress signals, they won’t be able to help the dogs.
Some time ago, I saw a graphic about various levels or types of supervision, created by Family Paws Parent Education – a wonderful organization dedicated to educating the public about child and dog safety. With their permission, I revised their graphic to the one below, to reflect proper supervision for the safety of dogs in the presence of other dogs.
Let’s explore the difference between supervision that keeps all the members of a household safe and the kind that either does nothing or actually makes things less safe.
It’s absolutely fine to leave multiple dogs together, unsupervised, when they are familiar with each other and have a (properly managed) history of peaceful interactions. But if you bring a new dog or puppy into the family, have a friend’s dog over for a play-date, or a family member stops by with their dog, leaving the dogs unsupervised can lead to one or both of them getting injured physically or emotionally traumatized.
In the absent-supervision scenario, a child might be distracted with an electronic device, while the family dog is happily chewing on a shoe – or perhaps there is no one around at all to notice that the sleeping dog is being bothered by the other dog.
Things can happen in an instant and in the end, it’s the dog who will suffer, by either being punished (or even just shunned) for chewing on something or for pestering the other dog into an altercation.
Mighty Dog Graphics
This is when we are in the room but not really paying attention or supervising at all. We are distracted with other things, and won’t necessarily notice right away that one dog is not happy with the interaction and showing signs of stress. Even if we are savvy about canine body language, if we aren’t even paying attention, we will miss the signs that an intervention is needed to help one (or both!) of the dogs stay safe.
If one dog wants to rest while the other is instigating play, even in a friendly way, the situation can go awry in minutes. Now imagine that the dog who is resting in the crate is also a little muscle-sore from a long play session that morning, or is an older dog with everyday pain from arthritis, and the younger dog keeps invading his resting space. Without supervision, the senior dog is left to his own devices to protect his space. This is a set-up for failure and an unecessary risk.
We are all guilty of this at one time or another. We are present, we are watching, but we haven’t proactively managed the situation and something has happened. In this situation, we react out of fear.
Be aware that when we are reactive, we create a negative association for our dogs. Our stress makes our dogs stressed – and everyone’s behavior deteriorates under stress.
Say your dog is eating and your new puppy runs up to the dog happily; the pup is not yet aware that this could turn south in a second. Your son or daughter, who knows your older dog doesn’t like to be bothered when eating, sees what is about to happen and yells and runs to grab the puppy before he gets any closer.
Dogs often react to our reactions. When we get upset about something, it triggers our dogs to be on the alert that something is not right and they better be on the alert, too.
The adult dog may or may not have had a problem with the oncoming puppy; left to his own devices, he may have been about to display some great non-violent communication that would help teach the puppy some boundaries. But since we have reacted negatively to the puppy running up to him, the dog may well be sparked into perceiving that the puppy rushing him is a bad thing; given the reaction of the small human, he may feel he has to respond in a dramatic way, too.
Or say you are holding a smaller dog (or a cat, or baby) on your lap when your big dog comes rushing in to greet you enthusiastically. If you are surprised and not thinking ahead, but simply reacting, you may yell at the oncoming dog while whisking the smaller dog (or cat or baby) out of reach. Again, this sends a negative tone to the oncoming dog, who may, in turn, develop negative associations to the little one.
This is getting close to the best type of supervision. We realize that in order to keep everyone in a household safe, we need to manage the environment and calmly head off potential problems well before unsafe interactions happen. This is crucial to the process of having dogs get along safely, while maintaining a positive association with us and each other.
While the adult is playing with or training one dog, the other dog – perhaps a less-experienced youngster, one with poorer impulse control, or a dog who is new to the household – is laying safely on the other side of a puppy gate. Taking turns playing and training dogs while you are still in the process of learning about the dogs is key to future safe interactions. Teaching each dog to be patient – making sure they each get a turn at individualized, reinforcing attention – will go a long way toward building a true bond with and between your dogs.
In the next image, an adult stands between the dogs while they are eating. This is an alert, proactive way to manage the situation that can be created if one dog finishes first and begins casting about for more food. With the adult watching over them and physically creating a barrier between them, both dogs feel more secure.
This level of supervision is really good – but don’t stop here! There’s an even higher level that will provide even greater rewards for all the members of your household.
Active supervision is the best and highest level of management. These adults understand dog behavior and body language and are fully present and actively teaching and interacting with the dogs.
In the scenario discussed earlier – with the adult with a smaller dog in her lap – she hears or sees the excited dog rushing into the house. She is prepared with high-value rewards and ready to calmly and clearly ask the oncoming dog for a sit, then reward him with a treat or toy and warm praise when he does the requested behavior. Her body language and voice are calm and deliberate, showing no signs of reactivity or fear when the dog approaches.
Setting boundaries through teaching builds the dogs’ trust in the adult and helps foster calm and pleasant interactions between the dogs. Boundaries help dogs feel safe.
In the active supervision image, you see two adults teaching each dog to sit. The adults are enthusiastic and engaged, and this in turn helps the dogs to engage with them, building the dogs’ trust that the humans have created a safe environment for everyone.
In case any of this seems over-the-top, you should be aware that the most common reason that dogs are relinquished to shelters is due to behavioral issues. It just makes sense to learn as much as you can about canine body language (especially stress signals) and proactive management of your dogs, and to practice calm, reward-based training on a daily basis. These things will reduce our dogs’ stress, increase their sense of security, and, critically, prevent tragic behavioral outcomes.
Have you ever seen a dog with chronically runny eyes? I have – many times. I used to be surprised that the owners of these dogs thought it was strictly a cosmetic issue, but perhaps this misconception is so common because the condition that causes the irritation isn’t frequently discussed. Let’s fix that!
Many cases of drippy, irritated eyes are caused by entropion, a general term for a condition in which the eyelids roll inward. It can occur at the upper or lower lid but also along the sides of the eyes (medial and lateral). This causes irritation to the cornea and can result in chronic ulcers and painful, squinty eyes. It is a common condition of young, rapidly growing purebred dogs.
There are three types of entropion: inherited/genetic, spastic, and acquired.
In the acquired form, the eyelids roll inward as a result of changes to the eye or the muscles surrounding it. Anything that weakens the eye muscles or shrinks the “globe” of the eye can lead to inward rolling. This occurs as dogs age or develop ophthalmic problems. Conditions such as end-stage glaucoma can also lead to a shrunken globe.
Spastic entropion can occur when there is any painful condition (such as a corneal ulcer or uveitis) in the eye.
Spastic and acquired entropion can occur in any breed at any age.
Inherited entropion is the most well-known form. There are many susceptible breeds. Most of them are known for having “extra” skin folds or drooping eyes such as the Shar-Pei and Chow Chow. In these breeds, entropion is generally present at birth.
The signs of entropion include visualization of rolled inward eyelids, excessive tearing, squinting (called blepharospasm), photosensitivity, rubbing and pawing at the eyes, and in some cases, corneal ulceration and dark brown pigment formation on the cornea. Some breeds do not seem particularly bothered by entropion – particularly the brachycephalic breeds – while it can cause significant discomfort and corneal trauma in others.
Diagnosis is made through a straightforward visual exam of the dog combined with knowledge of breed-specific tendencies.
Puppy entropion, as seen in the “wrinkly” breeds mentioned above can be managed in two ways. In the first technique, the eyelids can be rolled outward by the owner at home several times a day. This is an attempt to overcome pulling from the orbital muscles.
In the second, a temporary “tacking” procedure is conducted by a veterinarian. This may need to be repeated more than once as the dog grows. Generally, by two to four weeks after placement, the sutures can be removed. In some cases this does not work, and a permanent procedure must be done.
In cases where temporary tacking does not resolve the entropion, a procedure called a Hotz-Celsus will be done. This is rarely done in puppies less than 6 months of age, as they have not achieved their final head conformation. In general, a Hotz-Celsus (also called a blepharoplasty) is when a wedge-shaped area of tissue is removed and then the area is sutured closed, to pull the eyelids outward – similar to an eye-lift in humans! It can be modified to be used in any area of the eyelid and is done under general anesthesia.
Acquired entropion may or may not respond to treatment. It depends on the underlying cause and whether it can be resolved. An example of acquired entropion would be a dog with an eye that has reached end-stage glaucoma and has shrunken into the socket. In this case, the entropion is a result of the small globe and will not improve.
Spastic entropion will generally resolve with application of topical pain relief and treatment of the underlying condition. An example of this would be a dog with a painful corneal ulcer. Once the ulcer is treated and resolved, the entropion will resolve as well.
Brachycephalic breeds such as Pugs and Bulldogs develop entropion at the medial canthus of the eyelid (near the nose). This can be corrected with a procedure known as a medial canthoplasty. In this surgery, the opening of the eye is actually made smaller so that the eyelids do not rub the cornea. Without this, the fur and eyelashes will frequently irritate the cornea, causing a dark brown pigment to form. This change is usually permanent and very common in brachycephalic breeds with untreated entropion. It can also lead to chronic eye ulceration.
Similarly, a lateral (away from nose) canthal entropion can develop in German Short-Haired Pointers, Rottweilers, and Chows. There are several, relatively complex surgical procedures that can correct this type of entropion.
Dogs with very droopy eyes such as St. Bernards, Great Danes, Bloodhounds, and Mastiffs often have a combined form of entropion and ectropion – a condition in which the eyelid rolls outward. This forms what is known as “diamond eye.” There are several surgical techniques for management of this condition, but due to breed conformation, failure occurs fairly often. It is important when pursuing surgery that you discuss with your veterinarian the failure and success rate of this procedure. It will help avoid miscommunication and manage expectations.
Breeds with extra skin such as the Shar-Pei and Basset Hound may also benefit from tacking of the forehead. The extra skin of the forehead leads to drooping of the eyelids and secondary entropion.
Unfortunately, entropion is seen most often in purebred dogs. It is recommended that dogs with entropion not be bred, as the mechanism of inheritance is not well-understood. Further, the American Kennel Club does not allow showing of dogs with previous entropion repair.
It’s important to consider breed predispositions when adopting a dog. Entropion can be managed and generally has a good to excellent prognosis, but it can also be frustrating and require multiple repair attempts in some breeds. In occasional cases, despite excellent medical and surgical management, entropion recurs. It is always important to have an open and frank discussion with your veterinarian when deciding how to manage entropion.
It’s been a rough year. In the space of six months, my husband and I lost three of our beloved animal companions, with each death coming quite unexpectedly. First we lost our pot-bellied pig, Sturgis; a week later, our 14-year-old Corgi, Lucy, was diagnosed with and died from cancer. In my grief I turned to Bonnie, our wonderful 13-year-old Scottie/Corgi/Poodle-mix, and only half-jokingly told her she would have to live forever.
And then we lost her to cancer, too – also suddenly and unexpectedly. That left us bereft, with only our four-year-old Kelpie, Kai. He was young and healthy, but for the first time in over 40 years we were living with only one dog. Our house felt sad, quiet, and empty.
I had just started thinking about looking for another dog a few weeks before Bonnie died. I had also just started to realize how challenging it might be. For 40-plus years my husband Paul and I have worked at or with animal shelters. We never had to go looking for a dog; sooner or later one would arrive at the shelter and clearly say, “I’m yours.”
In the past, we would have looked no farther than our local shelters for our next dog; I have long been a vigorous proponent of shelter adoptions. Today, though, most of the shelters in our immediate area are so-called “no-kill” shelters. While the goal of reducing euthanasia is a great thing, it often results in shelters housing too many dogs who are highly unsuitable for adoption, and we had no interest in supporting this. Our preference is to support open admission shelters (and we did eventually make the trip to a good one).
Additionally, most shelter kennels in this area are filled with pit bull-type dogs, and while I am not anti-pit bull and I vehemently oppose any breed bans, they are simply not the dog for us.
In past articles in Whole Dog Journal, I have advised people who are thinking about adopting a new dog to develop a list of attributes that they must have, would like to have, would prefer not to have, and really do not want at all – and then to use these lists as search criteria. And yet, here we were, not really sure of what we were looking for. Another herding breed? We already have a Kelpie, so maybe, or maybe not. A Bonnie-type terrier-mix? Maybe, but they didn’t seem easy to come by.
Trainer friends in the surrounding area promised to keep their eyes and ears open for a candidate for us, but since we couldn’t give them much information about what we wanted, this wasn’t very helpful. One friend contacted me regarding her neighbor, who was looking for a home for a great 4-year-old German Shepherd Dog. “Yay!” I thought. We had a terrific shepherd in the past (Paul’s dog Smokie, many years ago when we first met). But Paul said no; I’d sold him on the benefits of smaller dogs over the years, and he didn’t want a big dog.
We tried Petfinder and other adoption websites, but photos on a computer screen don’t do much for me – even cute ones. I did click on one photo of a Cattle Dog-mix, supposedly with a rescue group just five miles from us. Funny, we know all the rescue groups around here, and I would swear there’s not one within five miles. Sure enough, when the site opened I read, “All of our dogs are in foster homes in Alabama…” You had to adopt sight-unseen, pay the adoption and transport fees (over $500), and when the dog got here, he was yours, whether you liked him or not. Obviously, that is not something I would ever do.
I looked on Petfinder for a couple of weeks, getting more and more disillusioned. I found ample evidence that a scam that I have heard about many times was still in frequent use: so-called rescues that post pictures of cute dogs that they don’t actually have, and when someone contacts them about a particular dog, they say, “Oh shoot, that dog just got adopted, but we have another just like it!” Then they find a shelter dog (often procured at no cost to them from a self-proclaimed no-kill shelter eager to place any dog to any so-called rescue), and then charge you an outrageous adoption fee for their very low investment in acquiring the dog.
A friend who works at the open-admission shelter run by the Frederick County Animal Control contacted us about a young Cattle Dog-mix there. We went to see him, but he wasn’t “the one” – too big and rowdy to be a good companion and playmate for our 30-pound Kelpie. All the other dogs at this shelter were pit bull types, Labs, and hounds. Not for us. I cried for Bonnie, missing her sweet presence, and wondered where else to look.
Then I thought of Craigslist. Look – I have warned people about the very real and significant dangers of trying to sell or adopt pets through Craigslist. Scammers get dogs for free or cheap from unsuspecting owners, and then charge exorbitant fees to adopt them to others as “rescues.” Or worse, hoard or abuse them.
But I would be at the other end of the equation. I would be a responsible human trying to adopt a dog for our legitimate home, perhaps even saving a dog from one of those awful fates. I went on Craigslist, looking for dogs in our surrounding area.
I found an 11-month-old intact Pomeranian listed four days prior, in our town. We had two wonderful Poms (Dusty and Scooter) in the past. Perhaps we needed another? I sent an email to the person who posted the dog and she answered. They were giving him up because her 15-year-old daughter had wanted to breed Pomeranians but had changed her mind. However, another woman was coming to see him tomorrow. If she didn’t take him, the lister would contact me back.
When I didn’t hear back, I emailed again, just in case. Sorry, I was told, the other woman did take him. “But,” she said, “I looked at your website, and if he doesn’t work out there, I would really like you to have him. I think you’d be perfect for him.”
I checked Craigslist over the next couple of days, but nothing interested me. Mostly puppies for sale, at retail puppy prices. Nothing on Petfinder. Then, an email. “She doesn’t want to keep him. Are you still interested?”
YES!
The Craigslist poster said she would bring the dog to meet us the next afternoon. She was picking him up from the other lady and didn’t want to take him back home if she could help it. She arrived the next afternoon and exited her car in Mennonite dress, with the dog in her arms – only, he is clearly not a purebred Pomeranian. He is at least twice the size of a Pom (or four times the size of a tiny Pom!).
She carried him into my training center (her daughter had not succeeded in teaching him to walk on a leash) and set him on the floor. His nose was longer than a Pom’s, his body was twice the length of a Pom’s, and his coat was straight and long rather than Pom-fluffy – but he was beautiful.
I sat on the floor, and Paul sat on a chair. The little dog eyed me warily and was clearly even more worried about Paul. He warmed up to me quickly but continued to be suspicious of Paul. My heart sank. Paul surely wouldn’t want him, since the little dog was barely approaching him. I was certain his decision was going to be “no.”
After a time, the owner cleared her throat and said, “So what do you think? I do have an appointment I need to get to…”
I looked at Paul, and he smiled at me and nodded. Really? I expected the owner to ask for money, but she smiled, stood up, thanked us, and left. He was ours.
It took us a week to name him. Sunshine is wonderful. As I write this, he’s been here just two weeks. He hung out at last week’s Academy and did his first work for Peaceable Paws one evening, socializing perfectly with a fearful Maltese/Poodle-mix. He starts training class tonight, but has already learned to walk on a leash, sit on cue, and lie down for a lure. He’s cheerful and brave, learning not to chew cords or lift his leg (and will be neutered soon), and is making peace with Paul.
Kai seemed a little put out at first (I think he was enjoying being an only dog) but now the two of them happily romp, play, chase, tug, and wrestle. I love that Sunshine is not all Pom and that he’s bigger than a Pom (16.2 pounds at our vet visit this week). He’s probably Pom and American Eskimo (we call him a Pomskimo). He’s getting better about not barking when left alone, and he’s going to be just fine. He brought sunshine back into our world. I keep singing songs with “sunshine” lyrics, smiling all the while. I just told him he has to live forever.
Author Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT‑KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. She and her husband Paul live in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center. Miller is also the author of many books on positive training. Her newest is Beware of the Dog: Positive Solutions for Aggressive Behavior in Dogs.
Actually, corrections first:
In “Fresh Dog Food: A Review of Refrigerated Dog Food Sold in Stores,” an article about fresh, cooked commercial dog diets in the August issue, we made a couple of errors in the description of Just Food For Dogs (JFFD), a California-based company.
JFFD has pioneered a novel (and handy) strategy of installing USDA-approved kitchens in pet supply stores, so shoppers at these stores can watch the food they buy for their dogs being made. However, the article stated that Petco had the first stores that hosted JFFD kitchens; it was actually a small chain of California pet supply stores – Pet Food Express – that launched these in-store kitchens. We love Pet Food Express and apologize for the error.
Also, we failed to mention that, in addition to the six “daily” recipes that are offered by JFFD, the company also makes a number of prescription diets and will formulate and manufacture a veterinary-prescribed diet just for your dog. All of these things have been corrected in the online version of WDJ.
Speaking of the online version, we have added another manufacturer or two to the table of companies that make these fresh, cooked diets. Check the Fresh Dog Food page for updates.
– Nancy Kerns, Editor
I can’t find the article you ran about the dangers of grass awns getting into dogs’ skin. There was a mask featured in a sidebar that I want to try on my Springer, since she is now at the vet for the second time this summer getting seeds taken out of her ears.
Love your magazine, please help!
Chris McGonigle
via email
Hi, Chris. The article was probably “Foxtail Grass: Awns of Destruction,” in the June 2018 issue, although we have run a number of articles about foxtails over the years.
The “mask” is the Outfox Field Guard, and we can’t recommend it strongly or frequently enough, so thank you for giving us the opportunity to do so again. It can be purchased in many pet supply stores, as well as from Outfox directly. Call the company at (800) 261-7737 or see their website.
Dena Stephens
I just read that horrible article saying that if your two dogs can’t get along after trying all of her [the author’s] steps then it’s okay to euthanize them. That’s disgusting, and she shouldn’t be allowed to have anything she has written published.
You people are very clearly not dog lovers and shouldn’t pretend to be.
Any monster that says a dog should be murdered because it can’t conform the way they want it to should do the world a favor and put themselves down.
I will never visit your site again, and I’m telling everyone I know how phony you are. Gross! Get some morals, people!
Llia Eskridge
via email
I guess, since I just recommended that those interested in the fresh, cooked foods review should revisit the table for additions to the chart, that I should also mention that subscribers to WDJ can access all of our past articles. And that some of our past articles are also available to nonsubscribers.
The article that the writer above is referencing (“Dog-on-Dog Household Aggression“) was originally published in the April 2010 issue. It was recently updated and set “free” on our website.
The article contained more than 4,000 words about how to try to peacefully resolve conflicts between dogs in your family, as well as links to a dozen other articles containing even more training and management strategies for dogs with aggression issues. At the end of the piece, the author wrote:
“No one wants to think of euthanizing an otherwise healthy member of their canine family. Still, if you’ve done all you can reasonably do given the limits of your abilities and resources, and you’ve not been able to create a safe environment for your family and one of the dogs can’t be rehomed, then euthanasia is not an inappropriate decision. It will be terribly painful for you, and you may always feel guilt and regret about not finding the solution to the problem, although perhaps not as much guilt and regret as you would if one of your dogs badly injured or killed the other, or worse, a person.”
We stand by the article. Its author, Whole Dog Journal‘s Training Editor Pat Miller, still writes for us.
On May 23, 2018, my young dog Woody got skunked for what I think (and hope) will be the last time. Late in the evening, both of my dogs ran out of the house barking (we have a curtain screen door that allows them to do this). I got up to call them back indoors – and as I approached the kitchen door, that classic skunk stench was already wafting into the house.
As I came back to the kitchen door, my senior dog Otto was standing there, panting and looking proud of himself. I leaned down to give him a careful sniff, and then a deeper smell. He wasn’t the one who got skunked.
I went outside and called Woody, and heard nothing, though the skunk smell was VERY strong. I called again, and started getting a little alarmed when again, I heard nothing. And then I heard…something. I turned around and saw that Woody was standing almost right behind me, trembling, licking his lips, and drooling foot-long strings of drool. His mouth was all foamy, like he had been eating shaving cream. He must have gotten hit RIGHT in the mouth.
I ended up giving him not one but two baths with the so-called “magic anti-skunk solution” (1 quart 2% hydrogen peroxide, ½ cup baking soda, and a dash of dishwashing liquid, stirred together and then sponged generously over the freshly skunked dog). His head in particular still really smelled bad after the first bathing, so I repeated it, trying to get his face as wet with the solution as possible, without getting the stinging solution in his eyes and nose and all over his lips.
Like any dog, he licked his lips a few times while he was getting this bath – which is likely why, after I had rinsed him clean, toweled him dry, and turned my attention to cleaning up all the towels and empty peroxide bottles, I heard my husband yell from the living room, “Woody just threw up in here!” Oh, great! More to clean up.
Yes, I started shutting the kitchen door at night.
Not quite a month later, I was staying in Marin County overnight at a friend’s house. In the middle of the night, my friend’s German Wire-Haired Pointer, Luke, had started scratching at the door to go outside into her tiny backyard. She let him out, and went to the far end of her cottage to use her bathroom. I didn’t know any of that; I was sound asleep when I was awakened by a series of outraged-sounding barks, and then, darn it, that sickening skunk scent. I felt for Woody; he was sitting up on the bed next to me. I heard my friend call her dog from the bathroom, and I yelled back, “JAMIE! Luke got skunked!”
“Oh no! Luke!” she yelled back. I jumped up and, fumbling in the dark in the unfamiliar room, finally managed to turn on the light as I coughed and choked. The light revealed her dog standing in the bedroom with me, sneezing and sputtering. The difference between this skunk event and Woody’s last one was that Woody had been skunked at some distance from my house. Luke got skunked literally under my friend’s living room window, and in the tiny cottage, the smell was so strong that all of us present could barely breathe for a little while. I gagged as I ran for the front door, it was that bad.
But the most traumatized being in the cottage, I think, was Woody! After my friend and I had spent a couple of minutes turning on fans at either end of the cottage, trying to direct the bad air outside, and she got the peroxide and baking soda and a bucket and towels ready to give her dog a bath, I looked for Woody and found him cowering in a little heap of blankets on the couch, shaking hard and drooling long strings of drool. “Did he get skunked, too?” my friend asked, as I leaned down to smell him (as well as I could smell anything at that point). No, he wasn’t any skunkier than anything else in the house; he was just traumatized, I think, by the whole thing: the smell, the chaos, the bathing preparations. I ended up going back to bed before my friend was done with her bath, and to stop Woody’s trembling, pulled my sleeping bag over him and hugged him tightly, until we fell asleep again.
A few nights ago, my husband and I were watching TV, when Otto heard something and went bolting outside to bark. I got up to investigate; it was someone walking next to the road by our house and the crunching of gravel made Otto think someone was coming in the driveway. I called him back inside, and as I sat down again, I could feel the entire sofa shaking. Woody, who hadn’t even gone outside, was shaking and drooling with fear and apprehension over the potential skunk attack.
I’m very sorry that he’s been so traumatized by those two skunk encounters, but I really, really hope it has cured him of participating in these nighttime animal investigations, wherever we are.
Do you know any dogs who learned to not go after skunks? Did this education stick with them?
One of the worst moments in my life came about a year and a half ago, when the dam that looms over my town – the largest earthen-filled dam in North America, mind you – was proclaimed in an emergency broadcast to be in danger of imminent failure. I was 20 miles away, perfectly safe, with my younger dog, Woody.
But my husband and my heart dog, Otto, and my son’s dog, Cole, were all at my house, just five short miles downstream of the dam, and three blocks from the river channel that would likely be obliterated by the 3.5 million acre-feet of water behind the dam. My mouth went dry and my heart was pounding as I tried to call my husband. Despite the fact this requires pressing only two buttons, with shaking hands it took me over a minute to make the call.
No answer. No answer. No answer. He had been planning to mow the lawn that afternoon. I could just picture him trudging back and forth with the mower and then the string trimmer, phone in the house. I practically screamed at his voice mail. “Brian, grab the dogs and get into the truck and get out of town! NOW!” I sobbed. I sent him texts, too, and paced in circles, trying to catch my breath. THINK, Nancy, I told myself.
I finally reached him by calling each of my neighbors, and asking them to please go yell at him as they packed their cars and tell him to pick up his phone. He finally did look at the phone, and only when he saw my panicked texts did he realize he had been seeing a lot of police cars and fire trucks going up and down the streets of our town. Don’t get me started about men who can focus on only one thing at a time.
As it happens, we were more or less prepared for the several-day evacuation that followed. We had filled a pickup truck with our most precious possessions, important paperwork, and spare clothes, and parked it upstream of the dam at a friend’s house. I had leashes and dog beds and dog food in my car. When Brian called me to confirm that he had the dogs and had joined the traffic jam of thousands of people who were ordered out of the way of the potential wall of water, I could finally breathe, safe in the knowledge that we had friends we could stay with out of the way of danger.
As I write this, dozens of friends and acquaintances have been evacuated out of the way of wildfires that are scorching hundreds of thousands of acres in California. Dozens more are volunteering at human and animal shelters, assisting the evacuees. The most prepared victims managed to bring all the members of their human and animal families with them; the less-prepared have had to bring pets to shelters for safe-keeping, and – the tears start rolling down my face as I even think about it – the most unfortunate had to leave pets behind. My heart breaks for them as I check to make sure my own family’s emergency evacuation kit is ready to go. Is yours?
