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By
Nancy Kerns
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Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

I’m using this space in a novel way this month: as both an editorial and an article. Usually, my editor’s note is confined to this page alone, and is comprised of my personal thoughts, opinions, and notes about dogs and about what’s in this issue. This month, my personal thoughts and opinions about something I learned recently (having to do with the “complete and balanced” claims that appear on the commercial foods we all feed our dogs) have led me to the conclusion that WDJ needs a drastic overhaul of its dog food reviews. The explanation for that decision, and describing how our reviews will change, can’t fit on this page, nor even this page and the next one! So, I’m breaking the usual format this month, and giving you opinions and facts about pet food companies and what they have to do to represent their products as “complete and balanced.”

I won’t beat around the bush. Here’s the fact I learned recently that completely astonished me: Pet food companies don’t have to prove that their products contain the minimum amounts of all the nutrients that are considered essential for dogs before labeling and selling their foods as “complete and balanced” diets. In fact, in all likelihood, some of the products on the market today – perhaps your dog’s food? – may not meet some of the legal requirements of a “complete and balanced” food, even though their labels say they do.

To help you understand how this is possible, I have to dive into a lot of facts, and explain some things about the pet food industry and how the whole notion of “complete and balanced diets” is legally defined and regulated. So, here is the “article” part of the editorial/article.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials: What It Is and Isn’t

A national advisory group, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO, pronounced to rhyme with “laugh-coe”), is responsible for creating and overseeing the evolution of the standards and definitions that are used to guide the players in the pet food industry.

It’s important to understand that AAFCO is not an enforcement agency in any way; by its own description, it “provides a forum whereby control officials and industry meet in partnership” to address animal feed (and pet food) standards and regulations. State feed regulators are voting members of the group, but it invites input from pet food industry participants, veterinary nutrition experts and researchers, and even (recently) consumer representatives.

Pet food is regulated by the feed control officials in each state, and each state’s feed control officials may adopt regulations unique to their own states. However, for the most part, AAFCO’s “model” guidelines and definitions for the regulation of pet food are uniformly adopted by each state.

Defining “Complete and Balanced” Dog Food

Over decades, AAFCO originated and continues to refine the description of what constitutes “complete and balanced nutrition” for dogs. The AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles, incorporating decades of canine nutrition research, establish minimum (and a few maximum) values for the nutrients that are known to be essential for dogs at various life stages. As per AAFCO rules, the “life stage” of the intended recipient of any food must be stated on the label. The canine life stages that may be referenced are:

  • Adult maintenance
  • Gestation/lactation
  • Growth
  • All life stages (this one would indicate the food meets the requirements for all of the preceding life stages)

The profiles are occasionally changed when new research prompts needed updates. For example, recent research has led to the reduction of the maximum amount of calcium that will be allowed in dog foods that may be fed to large-size puppies (those who are expected to mature to more than 70 pounds as adults). This change was published in the 2016 AAFCO Official Publication and will be reflected in formulation and labelling changes over the next two years.

Assessing the nutritional content of a food is just one method that AAFCO allows to substantiate a “complete and balanced” claim. There are actually three ways that pet food companies can substantiate a “complete and balanced” claim. The three methods are:

1. Feeding trials

2. A “family product” claim

3. Nutrient levels

Let’s look at each of the methods used to substantiate the nutritional adequacy claims.

1. Dog Food Feeding Trials

In feeding trials, a prospective product is fed as a sole diet to a population of dogs for a given length of time, while the dogs are monitored for various indicators of health. If the product sustains the test dogs for the requisite period of time, with various parameters for the test dogs’ health being met (such as the maintenance of certain blood values, and no weight loss), the product can be labelled with the claim, “Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate the (name of product) provides complete and balanced nutrition for (name of dog’s life stage).”

Chicken Soup for the Soul wet dog food label

Wellness Chicken and Sweet Potato dog food label

Note that the products that use a feeding trial claim don’t have to meet the parameters established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles. They sustained the dogs; the dogs didn’t decline in health or weight; that’s it.

An “adult maintenance” trial lasts at least 26 weeks. A “gestation/lactation” trial must start before female test dogs come into heat, and continues through breeding and pregnancy; the test is concluded when the puppies are four weeks old (so the test is a minimum of 13 weeks). For a “growth” trial, puppies no more than eight weeks old (at the start of the trial) are fed the product for a minimum of 10 weeks.

For an “all life stages” claim, the food must be used as a sole diet in a gestation/lactation trial, followed sequentially (with the same test puppies) by a growth trial.

Feeding trials are expensive to conduct – about $20,000 per food per “life stage.” Feeding trials are routinely conducted by the largest pet food companies, but are not commonly undertaken by smaller companies.

2. Family Member

For this method of substantiation, a prospective diet is shown to be “nutritionally similar” to a lead product that passed a feeding trial. The nutritional similarity of the family product must be established by AAFCO’s “procedures for establishing pet food product families.” If this can be shown, the food is permitted to be labelled with the claim, “(Name of product) provides complete and balanced nutrition for (dogs of named life stage) and is comparable in nutritional adequacy to a product which has been substantiated using AAFCO feeding tests.”

In our view, this is the weakest of the three methods of substantiation. The products labelled with this claim are neither tested with a feeding trial, nor do they have to meet the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.

3. Nutrient Levels

This is the most common method used to substantiate the nutritional adequacy of foods made by smaller companies, including almost all – perhaps all? – of the ones that make the sort of foods we like. And now we are getting to the nitty-gritty.

If a company uses this method to substantiate that its products are complete and balanced, it will state on the label, “(Name of food) is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for (name of life stage).”

The AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles establish minimum values – and a few maximums – for the nutrients that are essential for dogs. Minimum values are given for crude protein (as well as all of the constituent amino acids required by dogs); crude fat (as well as the constituent omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid); and the 11 vitamins and 12 minerals for which there is a consensus of current scientific evidence to support their designation as essential for dogs.

There are actually two AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles: one for “adult maintenance” and one for “growth and reproduction.” They are very similar, but the minimum amounts of protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and chloride in the growth/reproduction profiles are higher than the minimum values in the adult maintenance profiles. If a nutritional adequacy claim references “all life stages,” the product must meet the minimum nutrient values in the growth and reproduction profile.

No Proof!

Until recently, I was under a false impression – and no pet food company representative hastened to correct it! I thought if a food had a “nutrient values” claim on its label, its maker would have to submit proof that the food inside the can or bag actually contains nutrients in the required amounts. I guess I assumed the products would be tested by third party laboratories and the results would be filed with state feed control officials.

I was wrong.

The actual requirement is this: A company representative must sign and have notarized an affidavit that states, “This product meets the nutrient levels established in the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for (growth/reproduction, maintenance, or all life stages).” And then they have to keep a copy of that affidavit.

That’s it. Seriously.

No lab test results or analysis of the nutrients confirming that the statement is true are required.

And the affidavit doesn’t even get filed with the state! It just has to be kept “on file” in the company’s own files!

No kidding: The company has to, in effect, pinky swear that their products meet the required nutrient levels. And consumers have to just trust that the products do.

Editorial: I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think that’s sufficient.

Why This Matters

This matters because most dogs get most (if not all) of their nutrients from commercial food. They are a captive audience, literally. They are not free to select their own foods, they can’t follow their instincts to drive them to ingredients that contain any nutrients they may be lacking. What’s more, many owners are warned by their veterinarians and other pet professionals against feeding any table scraps or “human food” to dogs. And pet food companies encourage owners to feed their products and only their products, and to use extreme caution when switching products, lest the dog explode (or something) from diarrhea (or something).

Put another way: If most dogs eat a single type of food and nothing but that food, shouldn’t their owners be able to verify that the food truly contains every nutrient their dogs need?

Raising the Bar

I’ve long believed that, for the reasons above, consumers ought to be able to ask for and readily receive a complete nutrient analysis of their dogs’ food – to make sure that the diet contains adequate (and not excessive) amounts of the nutrients that experts agree dogs need – and that was before I knew that it was possible that products that are labelled as “complete and balanced” might not be.

Last year, we surveyed the dog food companies whose products met our selection criteria and asked this question: “Do you make a complete nutrient analysis for each of your products available to consumers? If so, are the analyses available only upon request, or is this information on your website?” As it turned out, very few of the companies had nutrient analyses readily available, and some of the ones that said they had them available were not able (or perhaps not willing) to produce them.

So, this year, we sent the pet food companies whose products have been on our “approved canned dog food” list an email that said, “There will be one significant change in how we will select and present the ‘approved’ foods on our list. This year, we are asking each company to provide us with a fairly recent (within the past year) ‘typical analysis’ for each of the canned dogs foods that they offer, and we will be comparing the values with the AAFCO nutrient profiles for dogs. If we do not receive the analyses, the foods will not appear on our ‘approved foods’ list this year.”

The Results

A few companies promptly sent us what we asked for, and these companies now constitute our gold-star picks – our top-rated producers of canned foods. See the “2016 Canned Dog Food Review” for a list of these companies.

In contrast, there were other companies we didn’t hear back from. We are more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt; maybe they didn’t receive our email? Maybe our phone message got lost? If they respond in the next few months, we will update their information here.

We heard from a few companies that said they would be happy to get this information to us, but they needed more time. So, for them, too, we’re going to reserve space in the next few issues to update their information.

Quite a few companies sent us something that’s close to what we asked for; quite a few sent us nutrient analyses of their products that were generated by computer software. Different companies use different programs to generate these analyses, but they all work in a similar fashion: The programs are loaded with nutrient values for every dog food ingredient you can dream of, and then a formula for a given dog food is entered – so many pounds of this, so many ounces of that, etc. – and the software calculates the amount of nutrients that will be in the resulting food.

Literally every company has these software-driven analyses – projections, really – of their formulas, because that’s how pet food is formulated today. The concern is, how do these projections pan out when compared to actual laboratory analysis of the nutrients?

We put this question to a number of pet food experts – including formulators and pet food company owners – and the answer was, it depends on a lot of things, including:

  • How closely the food manufacturer hews to the recipe for the food;
  • What software is used to analyze the recipe;
  • Whether or not the software takes into account chemical reactions between ingredients that take place when the food is mixed or cooked – reactions that might cause certain nutrient values to test at different levels than the software would predict; and
  • Whether the pet food company routinely tests their raw ingredients in a laboratory and enters updated nutrient values for those ingredients into the software.

All of these are reasons why computer-generated analyses might return very different values than a laboratory test of the actual dog food.

So, even though these computer-generated analyses are not exactly what we asked for, we’re going to give the companies that sent them to us the benefit of the doubt, too. For now, they still appear on the list of our “approved canned dog foods” that starting on page 8. If they, too, send us actual laboratory test results for their products, we’ll upgrade their status to our gold-star list in upcoming issues.

But we’re also giving all the companies a heads-up: Only the pet food makers that provide lab analyses of their products will appear on our list of “approved dry dog foods” in the February issue.

2016 Canned Dog Food Review

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

Why do you want to feed canned food to your dog? Compared to dry dog food, it’s expensive – and it might even be prohibitively expensive if you plan to feed it as your dog’s sole diet, especially if he weighs more than just a few pounds.

Many owners who feed canned food make that selection for a specific reason, for a limited period of time – for example, to motivate an elderly dog or a dog suffering from a health condition that causes weight loss and a poor appetite to eat more. The one exception might be people with very tiny dogs, who may have trouble chewing or swallowing kibble, and whose caloric needs are so minimal, that it might take two days or more to consume a single can.

It’s too bad that it’s so costly, because, fed in appropriate amounts, canned food is a very healthy choice for dogs. Its moisture content is far closer to that of so-called evolutionary diets for dogs, the sort of food dogs ate before they came to rely on us to feed them. Good-quality canned foods generally contain far more meat than dry foods; meat, the most natural canine ancestral diet ingredient, often accounts for as much as 95 percent of a good canned food! And meat is incorporated into canned foods in a much less processed form than the meat used in most dry foods. In top-quality canned dog foods, real, fresh meats from named species are the rule, not the exception. That’s awesome!

But in order for her dog to enjoy these advantages, an owner has to be able to identify these top-quality products! She has to be capable of picking them out of the crowd of lower-quality foods, which may have labels that are just as beautiful – and which, undoubtedly, have lower prices.

You don’t have to be a genius to sort the wheat from the chaff – or, I should say, to sort out the meat from the wheat! You’ll probably need some reading glasses or a magnifying glass, though, because to accomplish this task, you have to read some very fine print on the product labels. And the labels on cans are much smaller than the labels on bags of dry dog food! So, equip yourself accordingly when you head to the pet supply store, and we’ll tell you what to look for.

wet dog food cans pet food aisle

Our Selection Criteria

Since the main advantage of canning is its ability to deliver a diet with a very high percentage of animal protein in a shelf-stable and bacteria-free form, the first and foremost indicator of a canned dog food’s quality is the amount and type of meat included in the formula.

Water (or broth) as required for processing is often among the first few ingredients listed on a canned food label, but a whole, named animal protein (or two) ought to be right next to it.

“Whole” means no byproducts – although you should be aware that when you see “chicken” (or any other named whole meat) on a label, it doesn’t mean the chicken breasts or legs you might ordinarily associate with the phrase. The official definition of each type of meat includes fat and “the portions of skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh.” The legal definition of poultry (chicken, duck, and turkey) includes flesh and skin, with or without accompanying bone.

In contrast, “meat byproducts” include lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, fat, and stomachs and intestines that have been “freed of their contents.” Poultry byproducts include heads, feet, viscera (“free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice”). We do not consider foods that contain animal byproducts for our “approved food” lists.

“Named” means a specific animal species – such as chicken, beef, or pork – as opposed to “meat,” which can be just about anything.

Because we are looking for products with the highest possible inclusion of top-quality animal proteins, we’d choose a product with meat first on the label over one that listed water first and meat second.

We also want to see named animal fat sources, such as “chicken fat” or “pork fat,” rather than “animal fat.” That could be just about anything – and a mix of everything. If your dog has allergies or food sensitivities, avoiding ingredients with unknown constituents is a particularly good idea.

If vegetables, grains, or other carb sources are used, we prefer to see them in their whole forms, rather than by-products (potatoes, rather than potato starch, for example).

The use of grains and other starches should be limited in a canned food; there is little sense in paying canned food prices for carbs! So a food that contained just one grain or non-grain carb source (such as sweet potatoes) is preferable to one that contains multiple grain or non-grain carb sources. And one that contains a whole grain or vegetable is preferable to one that contains grain or vegetable by-products (such as oat bran, potato starch, or tomato pomace).

Traits of Lower-Quality Foods

There are a number of traits that automatically disqualify a canned food from our consideration. The first and most important is the inclusion of an unnamed animal source, such as:

  • “Meat” or “meat byproducts”
  • “Poultry” or “poultry byproducts”
  • “Animal fat”

Wheat gluten is the next disqualifier. Wet foods often contain some sort of thickener or binder. Various types of “gum” (such as guar gum, from the seed of the guar plant, and carrageenan gum, from seaweed) are common thickeners. Whole grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes also can be used to thicken wet food. But wheat gluten (and some other glutens) are generally used in wet foods to both augment the protein content of the food (albeit with lesser quality amino acids) and to act as a binder, a substance that holds together artificially formed “chunks” so that they resemble chunks of meat. In other words, it’s a cheap replacement for a greater amount of animal protein. If chunks of meat are present in a wet dog food, they should be actual chunks of meat, not a meat facsimile.

Sugar, molasses, or other sweeteners used in a canned food is another automatic strikeout. A food that contains quality meats shouldn’t need additional palatants to entice a dog’s appetite.

Finally, as always, we disqualify foods that contain artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. These are rare in wet foods, but do appear on ingredients lists from time to time.

Your Unique Needs

Remember, there is no single “best” food for every dog. Your task is to find the best-quality foods that are within your budget that suit your dog.

As discussed in the Editor’s Note of this issue, make sure you look for the statement of nutritional adequacy (a.k.a. the AAFCO statement) on the product label. Pay attention to whether it references adult maintenance, gestation/lactation, growth, or dogs of all life stages. Remember that if it says it’s for “dogs of all life stages” it is formulated to meet the higher nutrient levels required by puppies and pregnant or nursing moms. Make sure you are selecting a product that is appropriately formulated for your dog’s life stage.

dog food guaranteed analysis label

So, keeping that foremost in your mind, the next thing you want to look at on the label is the “guaranteed analysis” (GA). By law, the GA must contain four things: the minimum amounts of protein and fat (they usually actually contain higher amounts, which we’ll discuss in a minute), and the maximum amounts of moisture (water) and fiber.

These four nutrients (and only these four) are legally required to be present on the label, as a consumer protection of sorts. From a nutrition standpoint, protein and fat are the most important factors in feeding an animal, so minimum amounts of these must be guaranteed by the pet food maker. If present in excessive amounts, nutrient-free water and fiber crowd out more valuable ingredients, so maximum amounts of these must also be guaranteed by the pet food maker. The majority of regulatory surveillance and enforcement is focused on these values.

Protein and fat levels in canned dog foods vary widely, so you have to look at the label for a clue as to whether the product you are considering is appropriate for your dog. We used the word “clue” deliberately, because the product might actually have far more fat and at least a little more protein than is stated on the GA. This is done partly to make sure that no matter what sort of variation there might be in the protein and fat levels in the formula’s raw ingredients, the food will reliably deliver at least the stated amount of protein and fat.

A food that contains a higher amount of protein than expected won’t harm the vast majority of dogs, so we don’t worry about the possibility that a food that states it contains 8 percent protein might actually contain 10 or 12 percent. However, a product that says it contains 5 percent fat but actually contains 10 percent or more fat can really cause problems for a lot of dogs, particularly dogs prone to pancreatitis.

The prevalence of under-reporting the fat (and to a lesser extent, the protein) in canned dog foods is just one more reason why we are now insisting on seeing the full nutrient analyses for food that we will include in our “approved foods” lists. Which brings us to our “approved canned dog foods” for 2016 . . .

A Distinguished Class

As I stated in the editorial page linked in the previous section, for this year’s review of canned dog foods, we asked all of the companies that produce our previously approved foods to send us laboratory analyses of their products. We are awarding a higher level of distinction to the products that meet all of our selection criteria, old (as seen in “Hallmarks of Quality,” top right of this page) and new (lab results). The companies that were quickly and readily able (and willing) to share lab analyses for their canned dog foods appear in a separate table of “approved foods”.

A greater number of companies sent us theoretical, software-driven analyses of their formulas, with nutrient values that they expect from their recipes. As stated earlier, however, there are many factors that can cause a lab analysis to return nutrient values that are significantly different than what was expected or forecast by the software that formulated the food.

For now, we are recognizing these companies for their good-faith effort by continuing to include them on our “Approved Canned Dog Food” list. We’d be happy to upgrade them to our “gold star” list if they produce those lab results in the next few months.

whole dog journal approval

Also on our “2016 Approved Canned Dog Food” review, we’ve listed the companies whose products were previously on our approved foods lists (based on our selection criteria involving ingredients), but who either didn’t respond to our inquiry about lab analyses or who asked for more time. If or when we receive lab test results from these companies, we will add them to our “gold star” list, which will be updated in the next few issues.

Two final notes: Depending where you live, the foods on our “approved foods” lists may be difficult to find; most are sold in independent pet supply stores, or high-quality “pet specialty” chain stores. If you can’t find any of the listed foods in your supermarket or pet store, you can still use WDJ tools to help you make a buying decision. See “Buying the Best Canned Dog Food: Behind WDJ’s Approved Wet Dog Food List” for detailed guidelines. And don’t forget that these foods are going to be more expensive than canned dog foods you may find in a grocery store or giant warehouse-type store; quality ingredients really do cost more than low-cost fillers like wheat gluten and animal byproducts.

WDJ’s 2016 Approved Gold Star Canned Dog Foods

By
Nancy Kerns
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1

The following companies not only offer products that meet our selection criteria, based on their ingredients, but also provided us (as requested) with independent, third-party laboratory nutritional analyses of their products – analyses confirming that their products are not just “formulated to meet,” but do actually meet the AAFCO Canine Nutrient Profiles.

best wet dog food 2016

© Junojess | Dreamstime.com

In our opinion, these companies constitute an elite group – a “gold star” class of companies who are willing and readily able to prove that their products are “complete and balanced” – something we think that all  companies who make dog food should be required to provide.

Avoderm

(Breeder’s Choice, Central Garden & Pet), Walnut Creek, CA; (888) 500-6286

Avoderm is available in 10 varieties. Eight are meant for all life stages; two, including the company’s vegetarian formula, are for adult maintenance only. Note: We don’t approve of vegetarian dog foods for any dogs other than one with a veterinary-confirmed allergy to multiple animal proteins (something we have yet to come across). Four varieties are grain-free. Foods range from 7% to 8% protein and 4% to 7% fat.

Bravo Pet Foods

Manchester, CT; (866) 922-9222

This product is new to our list! Bravo, a long-time producer of frozen raw diets, just came out with this very nice line of canned dog foods. There are 6 varieties, with 9.5% to 11.5% protein and 4.5% to 9% fat. Three are “95%” recipes, with animal proteins comprising 95% of the formula. All six varieties are intended for dogs of all life stages.

Canidae Corp.

San Luis Obispo, CA; (800) 398-1600

Canidae has 2 lines of foods. Canidae Life Stages has 6 varieties, all suitable for dogs of all life stages with 1 intended for puppies. The foods range from 6% to 9.5% protein and 4.5% to 7.5% fat). The Pure line has 5 grain-free varieties, all suitable for all life stages. They range from 7% to 10% protein and 6% to 8% fat.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Cos Cob, CT; (800) 658-0624

Chicken Soup has 2 lines of foods. The grain-free line has 4 varieties, 3 suitable for all life stages and one intended for large-breed puppies. These foods all contain 8% protein and 2.5% to 8% fat. The second line, Life Stages, has 3 varieties (puppy, adult, mature). They range in protein from 7.5% to 9%, and 4% to 6% in fat.

Eagle Pack

(Wellpet), Tewksbury, MA; (800) 225-0904

Eagle Pack offers 4 foods for dogs of all life stages. These foods all contain 9% protein and 6% fat.

Lotus

Lotus Natural Food, Torrance, CA; (888) 995-6887

Lotus offers 2 lines of foods; all of them grain-free and intended for dogs of all life stages. The Just Juicy line has 2 varieties, with 15% protein and 5% fat. The Canned Stew line has three varieties, all of which have 10% protein and 4% fat.

Holistic Select

(Wellpet), Tewksbury, MA; (800) 225-0904;

Holistic Select offers 7 grain-free foods for dogs of all life stages. These foods range from 11% to 12% protein and 6% to 8% fat.

Nature’s Variety

St. Louis, MO; (888) 519-7387

Nature’s Variety offers 3 lines. The first is Instinct Original, with 7 grain-free varieties; all are suitable for dogs of all life stages. They range from 9% to 11% protein and 4.5% to 7% fat. Instinct Ultimate Protein has 2 varieties; both are grain-free and suitable for all life stages. They range from 10% to 11% protein and 5.5% to 6.5% fat. The third line is Prairie Homestyle. These varieties do contain grain, and all are suitable for all life stages. They range from 7.5% to 8% protein and 4% to 5% fat.

Petcurean

Abbotsford, BC, Canada; (866) 864-6112

Petcurean has 3 lines. Go! Daily Defense offers 3 varieties suitable for dogs of all life stages. They range from 8% to 10% protein and 4% to 5% fat. The second line is Go! Fit + Free, with 2 grain-free varieties suitable for all life stages. They both contain 8% protein and 4% fat. The third line is Go! Sensitivity + Shine, with just one grain-free variety that’s suitable for all life stages. It contains 8% protein and 6% fat.

Pinnacle

(Breeder’s Choice, Central Garden & Pet) Walnut Creek, CA; (888) 500-6286

Pinnacle offers five grain-free foods, all of which are suitable for dogs of all life stages. They range from 7% to 8.5% protein and 5% to 6.5% fat.

Solid Gold

Greenville, SC; (800) 364-4863

Solid Gold offers 12 grain-free varieties of canned foods; 11 are suitable for dogs of all life stages and 2 (Hund-n-Flocken and Green Cow Beef Tripe varieties) are for adult maintenance only). They range from 7.5% to 9.5% protein and 3% to 9% fat.

Taste of the Wild

Diamond Pet Products , Meta, MO; (800) 442-0402

Taste of the Wild is the only line of canned foods that Diamond makes that is approved by WDJ. Taste of the Wild comes in 5 grain-free varieties, and all are suitable for dogs of all life stages. They range from 7% to 8.5% protein and 3% to 4.5% fat.

Wellness

Wellpet , Tewksbury, MA; (800) 225-0904

Wellness has 6 lines. Wellness Complete Health has 6 varieties. One (Senior formula) is for adult maintenance only; the rest are for dogs of all life stages. They range from 7% to 9% protein and 3% to 8% fat. Wellness Core has 19 grain-free varieties, 3 of which are 95% meat recipes. Twelve of these are for adult maintenance only; 4 of these (the Hearty Cuts recipes) are not suitable for large breed puppies. They range from 6% to 13% protein and 2% to 8% fat. Wellness Petite Entrees has 11 grain‑free varieties; note that all of these recipes are for adult maintenance only. They range from 6% to 8% protein and 2% to 5% fat. Wellness Simple Limited Ingredient has 4 grain‑free varieties that are for adult maintenance only; each of these recipes features only one animal species in the ingredients. They range from 7% to 8% protein and 3% to 8% fat. The Wellness TruFood line has 6 grain-free varieties; all of these foods are for adult maintenance only. They contain 4% protein and 2.5% fat.

WDJ’s Approved Canned Dog Foods

The following companies provided us with computer analyses of their products’ formulas, rather than results of independent lab tests of their foods. In contrast to our gold star list, the companies below provided us with only computer analyses of their products’ formulas, rather than independent lab results of the products themselves. Because their foods meet our selection criteria based on their ingredients, however, they remain on our approved canned dog food list for 2016. This may change in the future.

While the computer analyses of the product formulas provided by the companies meet the AAFCO requirement for a “complete and balanced” claim, they don’t prove that the resulting foods, in fact, contain all the nutrients, in proper amounts, that are required to sustain our dogs. In our opinion, it is better for consumers to feed products with nutrient values that are independently verified.

We will continue to ask pet food companies to provide this assurance; further, we strongly encourage dog owners to ask for this information, too.

Whole Dog Journal

Addiction

Kent, WA; (425) 251-0330

Addiction is available in 9 grain-free varieties, all of which are suitable for dogs of all life stages. They range from 8% to 9% protein and 2% to 6% fat.

Whole Dog Journal

Castor & Pollux

Merrick Pet Foods, Hereford, TX; (800) 875-7518

Castor & Pollux offers 4 lines of food. The first one is Natural Ultra Mix, with 8 different varieties for dogs of all life stages; Six of the foods are grain-free. They range from 8% to 9% protein and 3% to 5% fat. The second line is Organix, with 4 varieties containing organic ingredients. All of the Organix foods are suitable for adult maintenance only, with 7% protein and 6% to 6.5% fat. The third line is Organix Grain-Free, with 4 grain-free organic varieties for dogs of all life stages. They contain 7.5% protein and 6% to 6.5% fat. The last line is Organix Grain-Free Butcher & Bushel, with 5 organic varieties for dogs of all life stages. They contain 7% protein and 3% to 4% fat.

Whole Dog Journal

Evangers

Wheeling, IL; (847) 537-0102

Evangers has 5 lines of foods. The Classic line has 4 varieties, one of which (Senior/Weight Management) is for adult maintenance only; the rest are for all life stages. They range from 9% to 10% protein and 4% to 8% fat. The Grain-Free Hand-Packed line has 4 varieties for all life stages, with 8% protein and 4% fat. Evangers Organic offers just 1 grain-free, all life stages food, with 8% protein and 4% fat. Evangers Signature Series has 4 grain-free all-life-stages varieties, with 6% protein and 5% fat. Evangers Super Premium has 5 varieties for dogs of all life stages. Four are grain-free, and contain 9% to 10% protein and 4% to 8% fat. The last variety is a vegetarian food, with 7% protein and 2% fat; this one is not grain-free.

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FirstMate

North Vancouver, BC, Canada; (800) 658-1166

FirstMate has 2 lines for dogs of all life stages. The first line is 50-50, with 3 grain-free varieties. They range from 10% to 11% protein and 5% fat. FirstMate’s second line is called Limited Ingredient, with 4 grain-free varieties, ranging from 10% to 12% protein and 3% to 6% fat.

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Fromm

Fromm Family Pet Food, Mequon, WI; (800) 325-6331

Fromm offers 2 lines of foods. The first is Fromm Four-Star, with 3 grain-free varieties of foods meant for dogs of all life stages. They contain 7% protein and 2% fat. Fromm’s Gold line has 3 grain-free varieties. Two are suitable for dogs of all life stages and one is meant for large-breed puppies. They contain 9% protein and 6.5% fat.

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Halo, Purely for Pets

Tampa, FL; (800) 426-4256

Halo has 5 lines. The first one is Halo Grain-Free Small Breed, with 2 varieties for dogs of all life stages. They range from 9.5% to 11% protein and contains 5% fat. Halo Senior has 2 varieties, for adult maintenance only. They contain 8.5% protein and 4.5% fat. The Spot’s Choice Shredded line has 4 grain-free varieties for all life stages; all varieties contain 9% protein and 5.5% to 8% fat. Spot’s Stew, Halo’s original line, has 4 varieties, for all life stages. All these foods range from 4.5% to 6.5% protein and 2.5% to 5% fat. Halo’s Vigor line has 3 grain-free varieties, for all life stages. These foods range from 8% to 9% protein and 6.5% to 7.5% fat.

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Health Extension

Melville, NY; (800) 992-9738

Health Extension has 2 lines of foods for dogs of all life stages. Health Extension Grain-Free has 3 varieties, which contain 8% protein and 4.5% to 5% fat. Health Extension Holistic has 4 varieties; 3 are grain-free, and the fourth is a vegetarian food. They contain 7% to 8% protein and 2% to 6% fat.

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Newman’s Own

Westport, CT; (203) 222-0136

Newman’s Own has two lines of foods for dogs of all life stages. The first line is Newman’s Own Organics, with 7 grain-free organic varieties. Three of those contain 95% meat. They range from 9% to 12% protein and 2.5% to 7.5% fat. The Newman’s Own Premium line has 4 varieties, three of which contain organic ingredients. They contain 8% protein and 5.% to 6% fat.

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Merrick

Amarillo, TX; (800) 664-7387

Merrick has 6 lines of all-life stages foods. Backcountry has 11 grain-free varieties, 2 of which are 96% meat recipes. They range from 7% to 10% protein and 3% to 5% fat. Merrick Classic Recipe has 18 grain-free varieties. They range from 8% to 10.3% protein and 3% to 5.5% fat. Merrick Grain-Free has 4 varieties, ranging from 9% to 10% protein to 5% to 7% fat. The Merrick Lil’ Plates Grain-Free line has 9 varieties, ranging from 8% to 8.5% to 3% to 3.5% fat. The Merrick Limited Ingredient line has 6 grain-free varieties, ranging from 8% to 9% protein and 4% to 5% fat. Merrick’s Seasonal Limited Edition line offers 15 grain-free varieties, ranging from 7% to 9% protein and 3% to 5% fat.

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Pet-Tao

Fairview, TN; (615) 934-3832

Pet-Tao has 2 lines with foods for dogs of all life stages. The first line is called Harmony, with 3 grain-free varieties, containing 8% protein and 6% fat. Pet-Tao’s Solutions line has 2 grain-free varieties, ranging from 8% to 10% protein and 5% to 8% fat.

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Whole Earth Farms

(Merrick Pet Care), Amarillo, TX; (800) 323-3353

Whole Earth is Merrick’s budget-friendly line, with 10 grain-free varieties for dogs of all life stages. They range from 8% to 10% protein and 3% to 6.5% fat.

Puppy Vaccines: Why Your Puppy Needs So Many Shots

By
Nancy Kerns
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16

The first rule of puppy vaccinations is that there are no hard and fast rules for puppy vaccinations; the best way to make sure a puppy is fully immunized against the most common contagious diseases totally depends on the health and past history of the puppy’s mother, his age, and his environment. A puppy being raised by a responsible breeder may require only one combination vaccination in order to become immunized; whereas a puppy raised in a shelter might be given as many as six or seven combination vaccinations before being declared fully protected.

There are several reasons why puppy vaccination protocols vary so wildly, but the most important one to understand is that every puppy is an individual, presenting a unique and unpredictable immunological history to his veterinarian. If you understand the reasons that veterinarians recommend multiple “puppy shots,” you will be better prepared to both protect your puppy from risky exposure to contagious diseases and, possibly, help reduce the number of vaccinations the puppy receives on the road to becoming fully immunized.

Few new dog owners understand why puppies need multiple “shots.” Most veterinarians recommend that puppies are vaccinated for distemper, parvovirus, and adenovirus (hepatitis) a number of times, starting when they are about four to six weeks old, and again every three or four weeks, with their last “puppy vaccination” given after they are about 16 to 20 weeks old. The most common guesses as to why puppies need all those vaccinations?

A) Because it takes at least four vaccinations for full immunity.
B) Each shot “boosts” the immunity from the first shot.

The actual answer would be C) Neither of these. Repeated puppy vaccines do not increase or “boost” the immunity in any way. Vaccines are repeated in order to make sure the puppy receives a vaccination as soon as his immune system is able to respond as we want it to – to respond by developing antibodies to the disease antigens in the vaccines. Let’s do a bit of review, to make sure all the terms used here are understood.

Dog Vaccination Terminology

Let’s do a bit of review, to make sure all the terms used here are understood.

An antigen is a substance that induces a response from a body’s immune system. In this discussion, when we talk about antigens, we mean a form of the diseases that commonly infect puppies and dogs.

A vaccine is a form of disease antigen that has been altered in some way so that his immune system will recognize it as a foreign invader and respond to it by destroying substances that resemble that antigen in the future. Some vaccinations are made with “killed” viruses; some are genetically altered so they resemble the disease antigen but cannot make the animal ill (“modified live”); and still others are highly weakened, live strains of the disease.

Antibodies are the immune system protective substances that recognize and destroy the agents of disease (antigens).

When we administer a vaccine to a puppy, we are in effect training his immune system to recognize the disease antigen and mount an immune response to it – to form antibodies that will recognize and destroy those antigens whenever the dog comes into contact with them again.

When a puppy has been vaccinated and his immune system has formed antibodies to the disease antigens in the vaccines he received, he is considered immunized against those diseases.

How Maternal Interference Affects Puppy Immunization

Immunizing puppies is a tiny bit more complicated due to a mechanism called maternal interference.

All puppies who are nursed adequately by their mother in the first two or three days after birth receive some of her protective antibodies from drinking her “colostrum” – the yellowish substance that the mother produces before she starts actual milk production.

The mother’s antibodies protect the puppies for a highly variable amount of time – anywhere from about three weeks to about 12 weeks. These antibodies gradually “fade” from the puppies’ systems as the puppies’ own immune systems develop.

When a puppy is vaccinated during the period of time that his mother’s antibodies are still active in his system, those maternal antibodies will detect and destroy the disease antigen in the vaccine, rendering that particular vaccine useless to the puppy. He can’t develop his own antibodies to disease antigens until his mother’s antibodies have faded from his system. Also, while some puppies may have received a whopping dose of antibodies from their mom, others may have received few or none. If the mother was never vaccinated herself, and never came into contact with those disease antigens, she would have none of these antigens to pass along to the pups in her colostrum.

So, should puppy owners just wait to vaccinate puppies, until the time when any amount of maternal antibodies are sure to have faded (12 to 14 weeks is generally considered as the outer limit of any maternal interference)? The answer is NO, because we don’t know when any given puppy’s maternal immunity is going to fade, and he would have no protection from disease in the period between the fading of his mom’s antibodies and receiving his first vaccination.

A mother’s antibodies might fade when he’s three weeks old, when he’s 12 weeks old, or any time in between. If the protection he got from his mom fades at three weeks, and we don’t vaccinate him until he’s 14 weeks old, he is vulnerable and without any protection whatsoever, until at least a few days after his vaccination. That’s too long to go without protection, unless you plan to raise him in a sterile bubble. And there are many compelling reasons having to do with his behavioral development to not just keep him home.

Why Puppies Might Receive Excess Shots

Instead, we give the puppy a series of vaccinations, about three to four weeks apart, starting when the puppy is four to six weeks old. The idea is to try to reduce the size of the “window of opportunity” when the mom’s antibodies fade (leaving the puppy unprotected) and the next vaccine is given, to reduce the chances that he comes into contact with disease antigen when he is unprotected.

It might be that the mother’s antibodies faded early, and the first vaccine was given at four weeks, and he developed his own protective antibodies. In this case, he doesn’t actually need any further vaccines, but we don’t know that, so he is given additional vaccinations every three to four weeks until he’s about 20 weeks old. It’s more than he needs, but at least he was protected.

Or it might be that the puppy was vaccinated at five weeks, again at eight weeks, and again at 11 weeks, but his mother’s antibodies were still circulating until he was about 12 weeks old. The mom’s antibodies would have neutralized all those first vaccines, so when the antibodies finally faded, he was left without protection from disease until his next vaccine was received at 14 weeks. This is actually the worst-case scenario, because many puppy owners are taking their pups into high-risk environments at this age, thinking, no doubt, “He’s had three shots already; he must have at least some immunity by now!”

There is no practical way to know whether the mother’s antibodies are still circulating in a puppy’s body or when they have faded. And each mother and each puppy is an individual; she will pass along a variable amount of antibodies, and these will fade at different times in each puppy. So we vaccinate several times, until we are past the point in time when any maternal antibodies can interfere with proper immunization.

Dog Shelter Vaccination Protocols May Vary

Puppies who have been bred and raised by a professional, responsible breeder are likely to be given far fewer vaccines than puppies who came from a shelter environment. In a professional breeding program, the mother dog’s vaccination status will be known, and her first nursing session will be observed, so better assumptions can be made about how much protection the puppies will receive from her maternal antibodies. Further, the breeder will likely have experience with keeping the puppies from being exposed to disease antigens, by requiring visitors to remove their shoes, wash their hands, and so on. These protections may allow the breeder to administer the first puppy vaccines at eight weeks or later, and perhaps just one or two more vaccines (with the last one given after 16 or 18 weeks).

Puppies who have the misfortune to be born in or surrendered to a shelter after birth may not receive any antibodies from their mothers; if their mothers were not vaccinated or otherwise exposed to the core diseases, they wouldn’t have antibodies to pass along. Also, puppies may not have had sufficient access to colostrum. In addition, shelters are often teeming with infectious disease agents. For all of these reasons, puppies who are born and/or raised in a shelter environment may be vaccinated much more aggressively – some might say excessively – than puppies who were born with more advantages.

Shelters often vaccinate puppies for the first time at just four to six weeks of age. At four weeks, the puppies’ immune systems are just barely mature enough to develop antibodies following exposure to disease antigens; this is done in an effort to immunize puppies who didn’t receive any maternal antibodies as quickly as possible.

Another vaccination protocol common in shelters is vaccinating every three weeks until the puppies are 16 to 18 or even 20 weeks of age. In this case, it’s the possibility that the puppies received far more than the usual amount of maternal antibodies than usual that causes shelters to take this tack.

If an unvaccinated dog contracts and then survives a disease like parvovirus, she actually develops far stronger immunity to the disease than she would had she been vaccinated against the disease in the first place – and she will pass along this very robust protection to her puppies (as long as they receive an adequate amount of her colostrum). Her antibodies will likely take the longest amount of time to fade in her puppies, so her puppies need to have their final vaccines a bit later in order to prevent this strong maternal antibody interference.

Finally, there is the sad fact shelter staffers often have to guess at the age of the puppies in their care. Shelter immunization protocols are usually designed with enough overlap to ensure that a puppy has every possible chance of receiving adequate protection from contagious disease.

Finishing Your Puppy’s Vaccinations

A puppy is considered fully immunized against the “core” (the most common, and most problematic) diseases of adenovirus (hepatitis), distemper, and parvovirus when he has received a vaccination for these diseases after the age of 16 to 18 weeks. (Note: Until recently, the “puppy shots” were considered complete when the last one was given at 16 weeks. New research states that final puppy parvovirus vaccine should be at or after 18 weeks of age.)

Rabies is another “core” vaccination, but it is not given to puppies before 12 weeks of age. A puppy can receive his first rabies vaccine at 12 weeks (but no sooner), and should be given another rabies vaccine a year later. A vaccination is required by most states every three years afterward. (This is a matter of state law, put in place for the protection of human health; a dog who has received two or more rabies vaccines is likely protected from that disease for life.)

Until the final “puppy” vaccines are given at 16-18 weeks, the puppy should be protected from potential exposure to disease antigens, but this doesn’t mean he shouldn’t ever leave the house until the time of his final “puppy shot.” It just means that his exposure to the outside world should be carefully considered. Do bring him to the homes of relatives and friends whose dogs are demonstrably healthy, vaccinated, and friendly. Do not take the puppy for walks in places that are highly trafficked by unknown dogs, such as sidewalks, parks (especially dog parks), pet supply stores, and so on.

Also, if someone in your home has tracked through places that are likely to be covered with agents of contagious disease – such as a dog park or veterinary clinic – keep their shoes outside the front door, and ask them to wash their hands before they play with the puppy.

If you attend puppy training or socialization classes, be sure the instructor takes the following precautions:

  • The puppy school should require each puppy’s vaccine records, to make sure all the puppies are in the process of receiving veterinary care and proper protection from either catching or spreading disease
  • A puppy with any signs of illness (such as lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or an increased temperature) should be disallowed from attending class.
  • There should be equipment on hand so that every “accident” that a puppy has in class can be quickly cleaned up with a proper antibacterial solution.

Passing the Puppy Titer Test

The vast majority of puppies will be successfully immunized after the series of vaccinations described here, but a tiny percentage will be what are called “non responders” – incapable of developing protective antibodies in response to vaccines. These dogs will be vulnerable to infection by these diseases, no matter how many times they are vaccinated, and thus should be protected from high-risk environments (wherever a lot of dogs congregate).

There is a way to determine whether the final vaccination (at least) that was administered to your puppy triggered his immune system to develop protective antibodies for the “core” diseases he was vaccinated for. At least two weeks after what is hoped will be the puppy’s final vaccination – at approximately 18 to 20 weeks of age – you can ask your veterinarian for a “vaccine titer test.” A blood sample is taken, sent to a laboratory, and tested for the presence of antibodies that protect the puppy against parvovirus and distemper. If these antibodies are detected, he’s done with his core vaccinations.

However, if the vaccine titer test comes back with a negative result, it’s recommended that the puppy be vaccinated one more time, perhaps with a different brand of vaccine than was used previously. Two weeks later, the vaccine titer test should be repeated. If the result is still negative, the puppy will be considered a non-responder, vulnerable to contracting any of the core diseases he may be exposed to.

Vaccine titer tests are being increasingly used by knowledgeable owners who want confirmation that their puppy is protected from disease, but there are still many veterinarians who are unfamiliar with the tests, and/or skeptical of their usefulness. Some clinic managers may be unable to quote a price for this test, or unsure of what test to order from the laboratory they use. We’ve heard of clinics charging as much as $200 for the test, which is ridiculous. In contrast, highly progressive clinics may offer a SNAP (in-office) test that will reveal the results within a half-hour.

Alternatively, ask your veterinarian to take a blood sample, and send it to the Dr. Ronald D. Schultz Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) School of Veterinary Medicine. Price for distemper/parvo vaccine titer test is currently $40 at the CAVIDS Titer Testing Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Nancy Kerns is the editor of Whole Dog Journal.

Download the Full October 2016 Issue PDF

By
Nancy Kerns
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0
Fed in appropriate amounts, canned food is a very healthy choice for dogs. Its moisture content is far closer to that of so-called evolutionary diets for dogs, the sort of food dogs ate before they came to rely on us to feed them. Good-quality canned foods generally contain far more meat than dry foods; meat, the most natural canine ancestral diet ingredient, often accounts for as much as 95 percent of a good canned food! And meat is incorporated into canned foods in a much less processed form than the meat used in most dry foods. In top-quality canned dog foods, real, fresh meats from named species are the rule, not the exception. That's awesome!
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Fleas and Dogs Just Aren’t a Good Match

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

I was visiting a friend recently, and had brought (with her permission) my adolescent dog Woody along for the ride. Her (quite elderly) mother asked me, as we entered the home, “Does he have fleas?” I assured her he does not, but the brief exchange did bring up memories.

Years ago, I had a Border Collie, Rupert, who was incredibly hypersensitized to flea bites. I’ve met dogs with more severe flea allergies, but I can’t imagine living with one. I, too, grilled my friends at the front door about their dogs’ flea-bearing status. If they professed not to know, or were avowed non-users of flea-control products, they could forget coming into MY house. We could go for a walk together instead! I had to protect Rupert at all costs.

I recommend that everyone use the spot-on and other flea control products with care. Unless you live in an area that’s infested, I wouldn’t use them every month; where I live now, I’m lucky enough to need them only once or twice a year in order to immediately put an end to any random appearance of fleas on any of my pets. But you can bet that I immediately declare war if I see a flea on any of my cats or dogs: everyone gets a spot-on, and I go on a rampage of vacuuming and floor washing, all the pet beds and blankets get washed – even the CARS get a thorough vacuuming. In the old days, I’d know if Rupert got ONE flea bite, because he’d start scratching and chewing all over, especially the spot where the bite occurred. He’d have an inflamed, runny sore within hours – and often, I’d have another nice vet bill within days. So, I was careful about bringing Rupert to places where there might be fleas (including friends’ houses!) and was stringent about the dogs who came to my house!

I did have a little flare-up of fleas a few months ago, when the Great Dane puppies I was fostering all went up for adoption. It took four days of viewing at my local shelter for all 11 to find homes. Each evening, I’d take the ones who hadn’t been adopted that day back home, so they could relax and play (and potty) outside, after a long day in the small concrete kennels. On one of those days, one (or some) of them picked up fleas; perhaps from a neighboring kennel? At any rate, all of a sudden, the remaining puppies were all scratching like mad, and when I turned them over to check their tummies, they were CRAWLING with tiny fleas! Yikes! They (and all my dogs) got a dose of Capstar (an oral medication that kills all the fleas that are one them at that moment), and a spot-on. A great house-cleaning commenced, and the flea riot was stopped in its tracks.

I followed this up with Seresto collars for all of my dogs – my first experience with these. (They are expensive in stores, but the prices are far better at online retailers. It might not matter if you have just one dog, but it’s a big chunk of change if you have several.) So far, so good; I haven’t spotted any fleas, and you can believe I’ve been looking. I want my dogs to be welcome anywhere I want them to go with me, and I don’t want to have to worry about them picking up unwelcome visitors from my friends’ homes, either.

This may make me sound like a shill for the pesticide companies, but my dogs have had far more health problems related to fleas than the flea-killing products. And I’ve never had much luck with the plethora of natural remedies out there.

How about you guys?

Playing Hide and Seek with the Dogs – Everybody Does It, Right?

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

This is going to sound a little bananas. I think you guys can take it, however.

The most fun thing I’ve been doing lately with my dogs is playing hide and go seek. I’m a behavior geek anyway – I love watching dogs (and other animals) work and play and interact – but I can’t tell you how entertaining it is for me to watch my adolescent dog learning how the game works, and try to anticipate my hiding strategies.

The house that I use as an office has three bedrooms upstairs. Sometimes, my husband and I rent them to students who attend a local trade school. In the past couple of years, though, we’ve had various relatives staying in the house on and off. At the moment, no one is living here, so I have both three rooms to hide in upstairs and no one to watch me at this ridiculous game! (Lest this sound rich – my second house! – let me assure you that the area where I live is so economically depressed, that the mortgage on this house costs us less than rent on office spaces in town.)

And (at risk of sounding defensive), it’s not like I’m playing with my dogs all day; I’m just using the game on breaks, to both stretch my muscles and refresh my brain. I will admit I played a lot over the past couple of weeks, when I was working on the canned food review that will appear in the October issue. I put in some long days and nights on that piece! When I would get up from my computer to take a snack break or bathroom break, sometimes I’d sneak upstairs afterward, hide behind a door or curtain, or step into a closet, and then whistle for the dogs.

Otto, my older dog, has a poor nose and terrible vision (I think); his strategy has always been to listen for me. He runs up the stairs, and will stop in the hall, standing stock-still and listening for the slightest noise – a floor creaking if I shift my weight, or breathing (if I ran up the stairs too fast). If he hears something, he will race into a room and then stand still again. If I’m successfully quiet and still, he will sometimes be inches away from me before turning and running into another room to check on the noises there. Only after he’s checked each room for sounds, will he start using his nose to try to track me down, and it seems like he uses his eyes last of all. Sometimes he’s been sniffing practically at my toes before he recognizes the sight of me standing behind a door.

Woody, my adolescent pit bull-mix, takes exactly the opposite tack. He races about, looking first, and he’s quick to recognize the sight of even just a part of me that might be unconcealed – my elbow sticking out from behind a curtain, for example. Only if he can’t spot me after a quick survey of each of the rooms will he slow down and start using his nose.

Interestingly, given that dogs are supposed to be such brilliant smellers, both dogs seem to use their noses last.

One evening, standing in shadow in a closet that has no doors on it, I watched, fascinated, as both dogs stood just feet away from me, trying to use their noses to work out where I was. They had already run from room to room and Woody hadn’t seen me, and given that the loud whole-house fan was turned on, Otto couldn’t hear me, either. Both dogs had worked out that I was in that room, but because the ceiling fan in that room was also turning at low speed, sending my scent around the room in waves, their noses were giving them mixed signals. I watched as both dogs stood, turning their heads this way and that, up and down, sniffing. It took a good 30 seconds of concentrated sniffing before Woody followed his nose and turned in my direction, and then his face lit up as he finally saw me.

It’s the most fun when they light up like that. “Gotcha!” they clearly say, and erupt into wiggles and wagging. Otto starts play growling – he vocalizes a lot – and Woody leaps into the air and bashes about. “Good dogs! Wowie, you did it!” I tell them, and we celebrate as we all run down the stairs together. And then I go back to work!

Tell me I’m not crazy? You play hide and seek with your dogs, too, don’t you?

Special Puppy Friends

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

I’m incredibly lucky, because my 10-month-old pit bull-mix, Woody, has a special friend, one who is almost exactly the same age. Samson belongs to one of my best friends, so our pups get to play together and walk together when my friend and I get together to walk or talk. We took our youngsters to puppy kindergarten 1 and 2 together, and this weekend, we will be taking them together on a walk that raises money for a local shelter.

The funny thing about the relationship between our two adolescent dogs? How unlikely it is, given that Woody weighs about 60 pounds, and Samson just barely tips the scales at four pounds, after he’s eaten breakfast and before he goes out to poop!

At the request of my local shelter, I fostered Woody, his seven sisters and one brother, starting when they were about three or four weeks old, and ended up falling in love with and keeping Woody, the largest pup in his litter. At exactly the same time, my friend was fostering Samson and his five brothers for the same shelter. She ended up falling in love with and keeping tiny Samson, who was the smallest pup in his litter! Because the pups have been seeing and spending time with each other on a regular basis since they were very young, they have developed into the best of friends.

I was also fostering a young adult American Black and Tan Coonhound named Maebe when Woody was just a little more than a month old, and she was the most amazing “teenaged babysitter” for, initially, his whole litter, and later, when the rest of the puppies got adopted, just for him. She played with Woody day in and day out, and it was a sight to see. Their play was raucous, and energetic, involving wrestling and face-biting and tug o’war – and yet, she never made the much smaller puppy squeal in pain or fear. She was wild yet gentle, patient yet firm. He learned such great things from her before she was adopted!

I fostered several consecutive litters of puppies after Woody’s litter, so, for a few months, he also had the continuous opportunity to play with pups who were much younger and smaller than himself. He had to be supervised, of course, and I had to separate him frequently when he started to play a little too roughly with the puppies, but that experience (as well as the time he spent with Maebe) seemed to teach him everything he needed to know about playing with his tiny buddy, Samson.

Today, Woody almost always immediately throws himself onto the ground when he sees Samson; it’s both an invitation to play and a necessity for play, as he really can’t play chase games with Samson without hurting the little guy.

The two young dogs will roll around and wrestle together, with Samson leaping all over Woody, diving under his head and neck, and biting his lips and ears. Woody tolerates almost all of this, only occasionally flattening Samson with a long leg and a heavy paw, pinning him to the ground when he is behaving too much like a rabid weasel. Then they will often chew a bone or rawhide together, before curling up together for a nap. Woody is incredibly gentle with Samson – a point that one can most appreciate when you see him playing with an adult dog or another large adolescent; he can (and likes to) play super rough when he has a play partner who will indulge in that sort of thing. 

I’m so glad Samson can come over at least once a week or so for a few hours of play. I hope they will be friends long after their interest in puppy play is over.

Does your dog have a good buddy with a compatible play style?

Panhandling with Dogs or Other Pets

By
Nancy Kerns
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1

How do you feel about people who panhandle with a dog – or dogs, or a cat? I’m conflicted every time I see this.

On one hand, if I were ever homeless, you can be darn sure I’d have a dog with me. It seems like many dogs who live on the streets with their humans are some of the most unflappable, well-socialized dogs around. And I’d have to say that dogs who spend almost all of their time with their humans are likely to be far happier than well-fed dogs who sleep on cushy beds in climate-controlled homes but alone all day.

On the other hand, I worry that some people are using their pets as tools to elicit more sympathy, and thus more money, from passersby – that the pets are not truly loved or cared for, but simple tools for begging, and mistreated or neglected when their owners are not visible.

Panhandler with dog

There is a man who is homeless in my town who can commonly be found “working” at the foot of the highway off-ramp on the main road through town. He’s almost always accompanied by two large pit bull-mix dogs – except when he goes on a drinking binge, passes out in a public place, and is picked up by paramedics. When this happens, the dogs are taken by animal control officers or police (who know the dogs by name) to the local shelter. The dogs have spent so much time at the shelter that they are perfectly comfortable resting there until their owner gets out of the hospital, returns to the highway off-ramp, and raises money to pay the shelter’s fees.

Sometimes this takes a matter of hours, but sometimes it takes him weeks to return. In the meantime, at least, the dogs are well fed and safe, and have (over many visits) received vaccinations, deworming, flea prevention, and treatment for wounds. Shelter staffers can’t be blamed for being annoyed that the owner’s “Need $$ to get my dogs out of jail” sign is one of his most successful fund-raising campaigns – and that the shelter has received calls from people who have seen the guy and his sign and who are calling to scold the shelter for keeping the dogs “from” their owner.

I have to admit that seeing this guy’s dogs in the shelter so many times has hardened my heart a bit to seeing people with pets asking for money. But neither do I like my instinctive negative reaction.

Are you more likely to give money to panhandlers with pets?

How Tula the Dog Made Her Way to Her Forever Home

By
Nancy Kerns
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Many hands make light work

One of the things I love about my favorite rescue group, the American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue (ABCTR, www.coonhoundrescue.com), is that the group is large enough and organized enough to offer people who want to help any number of ways to dive in and do something.

Too many rescue groups depend entirely on one or three exhausted humans, who are run literally ragged, financially and emotionally spent, by the overabundance of dogs needing help and not enough people to do the work that needs to be done. Sometimes, this is attributable to the group’s leaders, and their inability or unwillingness to cede control of certain tasks. But sometimes it’s simply because they hadn’t thought to ask people to take on small jobs. If you get enough people doing small things, it can truly add up to more dogs saved.

Three dogs resting

For example, a couple of weeks ago, I transported a dog from the ABCTR’s West coast coordinator’s center of operations (a terrific dog boarding and daycare facility, www.paradisedoggiedaycare.com), to another person about five hours away, part of a chain of volunteer transport people who delivered this darling hound over 600 miles to her new owner. It was fun, and so very rewarding! I got to take a fun road trip with a friend, and both of our adolescent dogs rode along and enjoyed some new experiences along the way. Neither had been in a car for that long, and because we stopped multiple times at highway rest stops, they got to meet and greet strangers and strange dogs in several places – a great experience for our adolescents!

Dogs waiting at Million Air

The person I delivered the dog to was a pilot, who flew the dog as many miles as I had driven, but in a fraction of the time. We met at an airport in Medford, Oregon. Because it was a hot day, my friend and I brought all three dogs into the lobby of Million Air, the “fixed base operation” at the general aviation part of the airport – where the pilots of small planes can come inside and arrange for parking and fuel and so on. It was delightfully air-conditioned in there, and the staff all seemed to be dog lovers. People came out of offices and off the tarmac to meet all of our dogs, and pose for pictures with them!

Transport plane

Best of all, by the next morning, we started seeing a stream of photos of the dog in her new home, enjoying her new sofa and toys and mixed-breed dog “brother.”

And because the ABCTR had the means to place and transport this hound girl to an owner hundreds of miles away, a place opened up in a foster home elsewhere, for another hound who needed to get out of a shelter and start the decompression process.

Tula and her new owner!

Financial donations, fostering, training, photography, web design, transport – good rescues can use people for any and all of these tasks. Consider looking for a good rescue group to help today. It’s a great feeling.

A New Great Dog Treat Bag

By
Nancy Kerns
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I haaaate it when this happens: We review a category of products (in this case, “The Best Dog Treat Bags You Can Buy,” August 2016), and then, after the issue comes out, a brand-new contender in the same product category comes out, and it is even better than our top pick in the review that the ink is still drying on. Argh!

OllyDog Treat Bag Pro

That’s exactly what happened this month with the OllyDog Treat Bag Pro, a product with one very significant improvement on both Ollydog’s older and smaller bag (the Treat Bag Plus) as well as every other treat pouch on the market: A belt that threads through the fabric of the pouch itself, rather than just the plastic clip that is riveted to the bag. On most bags, if the plastic clip on the back of the bag breaks (or breaks off the bag), the bag is rendered useless. On Ollydog’s Treat Bag Pro, even if the plastic clip broke (and it’s less likely that this could even happen, because of the way the clip on this bag is riveted inside the bag), the belt would still work fine. Genius lies in small details!

This bag is also big enough to hold enough treats for more than one dog on a long hike, making it ideal for both professional trainers or people walking with several dogs. And yet, it’s not as unwieldy or as heavy as the next-deepest bag we reviewed (Doggone Good’s Rapid Rewards Pouch). Also, the magnet that closes this main pouch is strong enough to prevent the treats from bouncing out of the bag, even if you run while wearing it – or to prevent a naughty dog schnozz from snuffling its way into the bag, helping himself to treats – but is not so strong as to necessitate the use of two hands in order to get to the treats. Perfect!

OllyDog Treat Bag Pro

In addition, the front pocket is large enough to hold a tennis ball, and the hidden, zippered pocket in the back is large enough to hold a large cell phone. The side mesh pockets on Doggone Good’s bag are too small to hold anything but a clicker or a waste bag or two; just as a test, I jammed my large (Samsung Galaxy S5) phone in the pocket of the Ollydog Treat Bag Pro to see if it could fit; it did, rather snuggly, but quite securely!

At $25, this product is priced among the most expensive in the category, but given its thoughtful features and fine construction, it should last for years.

RANK PRODUCT/PRICE/CONTACT FEATURES
1
OllyDog Treat Bag Pro; $25
(800) 655-9364
 Magnetic closure. Fastens with belt (maximum 45 inches) or plastic belt clip. Belt has best tactic for attaching the bag to the belt of all bait bags we’ve seen. Main pocket is roomy and deeper than most. Second zippered pocket on back of bag is large enough for a large cell phone. Mesh pockets on sides of bags are large enough to hold clickers, keys, or waste bags; elastic straps at the top of these pockets don’t close the pockets, but provide enough security for most items. Front pocket has hook-and-loop closure and easy-open tab. About 8 by 8 inches. Comes in two solid colors and three colored patterns.

 

OllyDog’s Other Treat Pouch

OllyDog’s smaller bait bag, the Treat Bag Plus ($17), is very similar to a product that tied for third place in our review last month, the EzyDog Snak Pak Treat Bag. However, both of these products would have been bumped down a notch in our review – tied for fourth – had we included the Ollydog Treat Bag Pro from the get-go. If you wanted a smaller bag with just one compartment, you might still consider it. As for me, now that I have the “Pro” model, I’m not looking back.

The Cues Our Dogs Learn All By Themselves

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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In the June 2016 issue, I shared descriptions of some unique and useful behaviors that some of my trainer friends had taught their dogs – mostly by noticing, capturing, and reinforcing behaviors that their dogs had started doing on their own. They had taught their dogs to do things such as guiding them to hidden poop in the yard (at pick-up time), to drop “inside toys” inside the threshold (before going outdoors) and drop dirty “outside toys” outside the door (before going in the house), to come and sit to “take a pill” at medication time, and to stand in a certain spot and pose to have the dog’s hind end cleaned (for a dog with chronic diarrhea). At the conclusion of that article, I challenged our readers to share some of the neat, cute, or helpful behaviors and cues they had taught their dogs – or that, more precisely, their dogs had learned on their own through association!

I have to say, I didn’t expect many. As a prize for one randomly selected response, I offered something small – a copy of one of my training books. I certainly didn’t expect hundreds of submissions, but that’s exactly what we received! Wow! Thank you! And great job to all of you amateur and professional dog trainers! Developing these skills in our dogs takes – first and foremost – an owner who is interacting with her dog and paying attention to what the dog “says” in the conversation. That’s the very foundation of a good relationship between two individuals of any species!

The following are some of my favorite submissions from among the hundreds that WDJ subscribers sent in – including one selected at random to win one of my books! We had to make a random selection; there were too many great submissions to choose “the best” one!

“Take a Break”, “Car”, “Not Optional”

I loved the article on “Unconventional or Unintentional Cues” in the June issue. I especially liked the idea of teaching dogs to “find the poop” – brilliant!

I talk to my dogs all the time, explaining what we are doing, naming objects, actions, places, etc. Dogs can learn so much and I think it enriches their lives to keep learning new things. I have used various unconventional cues over the years. Here are a few of them:

One cue was for a ball-crazy Boston Terrier who is no longer with us. Peaches loved playing with her basketball so much that I had to teach her to “take a break” so she didn’t become exhausted and overheated. At first I had to take the ball away and put it out of reach, giving it back once she had rested and cooled down. Eventually all I had to do was say, “Take a break!” and she would stop, look longingly at the ball, then come in for a rest, knowing the ball would be there when she went out to play again later.

I walk my Sheltie-mix on a country road that is generally quiet, with little traffic. It is narrow, curvy, and has only a very narrow shoulder between pavement and ditch. For much of the walk I let Sasha range on a long leash ahead of me, sniffing as we go. She now knows when I say, “Car!” to move over into the ditch and wait for the car to pass. Often she will move over as soon as she hears a vehicle coming before I even have a chance to give the cue.

Sasha likes to lie out on the back deck. Often, when I open the door and say, “Come on in!” she will duck her head and look hopeful that maybe I will let her stay out awhile longer. If I am not in a hurry for her to come in I will say, “Okay, you can stay out,” and she relaxes. But if I say, “Not optional!” she knows that she has to come in.

– Pam Kutscher, Falmouth, KY

sleeping daschund

“Snooze Button”

Here is one of the accidental but useful cues I’ve taught my 13-year-old miniature Dachshund. Chile has an internal alarm clock that she generously uses to tell me when it’s time to get up (and feed her). But every good alarm clock also needs a snooze button!

Chile sleeps in her own orthopedic bed on the floor by our bed. Every morning she comes to my side of the bed; for some reason, she thinks my husband deserves to sleep in more than I do! She puts her paws up and whines until I lean over and pet her. Since I’m often not ready to get out of bed yet, I started petting her and then saying, “I want to snooze!” I didn’t want to use “back to bed,” because that is a trained cue I use at other times, and she often gets a food reward for that behavior. She quickly figured out that after I said “snooze” she would get no further attention until I got out of bed, so she would go curl up in her blanket. This bought me an extra 10 to 20 minutes of time before I had to get out of bed.

Now that she understands that “snooze” means she’s done her job by waking me up, she goes back to her bed and takes a little nap until I’m ready to get the day started and, of course, feed her!

– Tina Flores, KPA-CTP, CSAT, Doggy Einsteins Training, San Diego, CA

The Mail Carrier

My German Shepherd, Eli, started to grab at the mail when I went to the mailbox, so I would hand him a piece of junk mail to carry. At first he would want to rip it up, so I would take it away and he did not get a reward. When he carried it in the house without ripping it, he got jackpot rewards.

He also started to want to carry deliveries from UPS. If he can fit it in his mouth, he can carry it: boxes, grocery bags, mail, etc. When he does a good job, he gets his jackpot reward.

For Eli, this is all self-taught; I just captured it and rewarded it. Plastic grocery bags are still a challenge since his teeth punch holes and then the bags tear, so I don’t let him carry bags with anything soft or fragile. But I always know when the mail or UPS guy comes!

– Jill Pinder

The “Friends” Dancer

The article made me think of my much-loved yellow Labrador, Sonny, now departed for many years. He was a young dog when the television series “Friends” was popular, and we were regular viewers. Every Thursday, at 8 p.m., we were in front of the television (prior to the DVR days!). When the peppy theme song came on, Sonny and I would jump up from the couch and dance around the living room. It didn’t take too long before Sonny recognized the theme song himself, and he would jump up and give me that “Are we going to dance?” look.

As he got older, and the series went into reruns, we watched the reruns, and he always looked at me with that sparkle in his eye when the theme song came on, even if we didn’t dance so much because of his arthritis. Makes me happy and sad at the same time now. Sonny passed many years ago, but whenever I hear that theme song now, it still brings the sweet memory and a smile to my face.

– Rhonda Klick

three dogs

“Can’t Reach It”

My Lab-mix loves to play fetch. She’s so great at chasing a tennis ball anywhere. She will always come running back with it and kind of toss it back at me to throw again.

If we’re playing in the backyard and I’m sitting down and she tosses it out of reach, instead of getting up from my chair and getting the ball I simply say, “Can’t reach it.” She has learned that means I can’t reach the ball to throw it to her again. When I say, “Can’t reach it,” she will go and get the ball and drop it right at my feet so that I can reach it and throw it for her again.

When people see us do this, they all think it’s the craziest, coolest thing! I didn’t actually train her to do it, but, boy does it come in handy!

– Debbi Merrill and Gumbo, Bartlett, IL

The Sock Remover

Apache, my soon-to-be 13-year-old Sheltie, takes my socks off for me at night. When he was younger he liked to chew on socks. So I simply held my foot out for him to pull the sock off before he could chew it. Then I would have to “buy” the sock back with treats. Otherwise he would keep and chew on it. In all the years that he’s been doing this, he’s never hurt my foot or toes at all. Sometimes if the sock is a little damp he has to work at getting it off, but he is very gentle doing it.

I’m trying to get him to teach my 14-month-old puppy, Scout, how to take the socks off, but Scout isn’t sure he wants to take over as the official “sock remover.”

– Ruth Ann Furze, Kansas City, MO

“Behind”, “Spin”

Like some other readers, I inadvertently taught my Papillon boy, Remy, “Inside/Outside” going to and from our backyard for potty breaks. Last week Remy shot past me out the front door straight for the street. His recall (which is “Here!”) isn’t rock-solid yet, so I faked a cheerful “Inside!” Fortunately, this turned him around and got him back indoors safe and sound.

While learning his “Inside/Outside” cues, Remy learned “Behind,” too. That’s what I say when he looks behind him and finds the treats I’ve tossed that fall short instead of out in front of him.

Remy will also “Spin” on cue, which is not only cute but useful for drying his feet on the patio rug coming in from a rainy bathroom break. Spinning is one of Remy’s natural expressions of exuberance, so I didn’t have to wait long to capture this behavior and put a cue on it!

– Anu Roots, Dog mom to Remy

“Can’t Reach It” #2

My dog, Phoenix, always drops his ball at our feet for us to pick up to throw for him to play fetch. After a back injury, I was unable to bend over to pick up the ball. I would say, “Sorry Buddy, but I can’t reach it.” He eventually realized that if he would pick it up and put it in my hand, then I would throw it.

Even though my back has long since been better, I continue to say “I can’t reach it!” (just because I’m too lazy to bend over to pick it up). He will then pick the ball up from the ground at my feet, and place it into my hand.

– Sarah

“Put Her in Her Kennel, Please”

I don’t know if it was inadvertent conditioning or just that she had a sublime command of English, but my girl, Boo, learned the phrase “Put her in her kennel, please.” If I asked my husband to do that, she would quietly get off the sofa and go stand in her kennel until my husband came to close the crate door.

Since this was not something she ever got reinforced for doing in conjunction with that phrase, I’m not sure why she was willing to go, but she was!

– Always Training

“Go Get Sadie”

Sadie is my older Cocker Spaniel; based on the shelter’s guess, she’s 16 years old, plus or minus two years, and her eyesight and hearing are failing. Her best buddy is my Ozzie, an 8-year-old Spaniel-mix. When Sadie is laying down resting or circling around at the park to make sure where we are (I’m never far away), I tell Ozzie to “Go get Sadie.” He runs to where she is and punts her in the muzzle and they both come back to me for a treat.

This is really handy, especially when we need to leave and she’s snoozing on the lawn or getting distracted on which way to go. The other people at the park enjoy it, too.

Ozzie will also “Go get Sadie” at home from her hide-away resting spots when it’s time for a meal, go in the car, or just to find her. Oz really takes care of his older “little” sister.

– Sharon

Doorbell Dodging and Closet Treats

We greatly enjoyed the June article about inadvertently teaching your dog something useful. Here is our story, with one unintentional behavior taught, and one unconventional solution to nip a problem in the bud.

The behavior that we unintentionally taught our dog, Leah, was to go out to the back porch when the (front) doorbell rings. Our last two dogs (one of whom is 11-year-old Leah) always exhibited high arousal when our front doorbell was rung, with loud barking and charging around the house. Since usually the doorbell represented the arrival of an uninvited stranger or someone coming to perform work, the dogs were not allowed to go to the door; instead, we would first shoo them out to the back porch.

After our older dog passed away, we started to try desensitizing Leah to the doorbell sound and training her to remain in place for rewards when the bell was rung. That training got sidetracked by some other events, including health problems. Fast forward to a few months ago when the front doorbell rang, and Leah started barking as usual but went straight for the back porch door. At that point I realized that we had actually trained her to think, “That sounds means I should go out on the porch and mind my own business; I don’t need to be involved with the activity out front.”

This is a better solution for Leah behaviorally, since she is not good at greeting people and is wary of strangers. I plan to try to reinforce the response by having treats near the back porch door so I can throw some out there as she goes out. She’s highly food-motivated so this would be meaningful to her.

Which leads us to our next trick! The unconventional behavior we taught her was to expect treats from the bedroom closet. Leah sleeps in our bedroom in a small ex-pen. The master bedroom has a closet with sliding doors on wheeled tracks. A month or so ago, she reacted fearfully to the rumbling sound of the closet door opening after she had been confined in her pen for the night. She is sound sensitive and afraid of thunder, gunfire, etc., but this sound had never appeared to bother her before. We had to come up with a solution to reverse this.

We started with treats dropped on the floor near the closet, then inside it; at first, she was a bit hesitant about retrieving them – but not scared enough to shy away. We stored a small container of treats in the closet, and made sure she saw that the treats came from this container and that it was put away there after she had a few. Then we started giving her a treat any time she was within earshot of the closet and we opened the door, to associate the sound with a treat.

Almost needless to say, she now comes to the closet for a treat when she hears the door open. If the door is already open and she shows up in the bedroom, she goes to the closet to see if there are treats on the floor. No more scary closet; now it’s a pantry!

– Marlys Ray


Greenies dog chews

Our Winner: “Beat Up the Bed”, “Wanna Greenie?”

I had to laugh when I saw the title “Fun and Useful Unconventional Cues and Behaviors.” Our Shepherd-mix, Captain Awesome, picked up two that are quite interesting.

First was something that we called “beating up the bed.” Whenever Captain was excited about something, he’d go into bow position and beat up whatever was underneath him – he’d dig and scratch and scrunch up a bed, rug, or blanket. Unintentionally, we said every time, “Captain, you’re beating up the bed!” One day, I said, “Hey, Captain, beat up the bed!” – and he did!

The second one was “Wanna Greenie?” When Captain Awesome was a puppy, he loved Greenies. We’d always ask if he wanted one. We kept the wrapped ones in a basket, and whenever we said, “Wanna Greenie?” we’d go grab one from the basket. One day, I asked Captain, “Wanna Greenie?” and he went to the basket, grabbed one himself, and brought it to me. What a good boy!

– Jennifer O’Neil Cote

“Off Limits to You!”

Buddy, my Golden/Lab/Collie-mix, wouldn’t stop digging up my flower bed around the corner of the house. While I sat on the patio, reading my Whole Dog Journal, Buddy would dig up the soil. Every time I removed Buddy from the flower bed, I would tell him, “Off limits to you!” and take him away from the area to a grassy spot that he likes.

One day, too lazy to get up, I simply called his name and said, “That is off limits to you.” He looked at me for a moment and then walked away to the grassy spot. Curious, I started using “off limits” when I didn’t want him somewhere. Now he turns around and goes to a spot that knows is “on limits” for him. Truly, one of the easiest commands he has mastered, probably because he doesn’t associate it with anything from obedience classes!

– Karen Wentzel

“Call Spur!”

As a 10-year-old with no knowledge of learning theory, I inadvertently taught my dog to go find another family member. Growing up, we had a 55-acre weekend farm. Our German Shepard, Spur, always went with us. Our family was often scattered in various locations around the farm. There were occasions when Spur would follow me down to the boat dock, but I would not want her to get caught in fishing lures and hooks, so I would shout out to my parents to call Spur. They would call her and she would go to them.

It didn’t take her long to figure out that “Call Spur!” was the cue to go to the distant family member, without them ever calling her. This became a useful behavior in the pre-cell phone world!

Spur became a great courier. For example, Mom would place a note on Spur’s collar and then give the cue “Call Spur.” She would come running to find me with a note that would say something like, “Dinner will be served at 6 p.m.”

– Jen

“Who’s Got Muddy Paws?”

When I walk my four dogs in inclement weather, only one of them has sufficiently furry paws that she requires rinsing off in my walk-in shower. One morning after such a walk, I removed the harness from my Golden Retriever-mix, Mandy, at the door. I asked playfully what I must have absentmindedly said many times before: “Who’s got muddy paws?” I finished removing harnesses from the other dogs and wiping their paws with a towel.

When I looked up, Mandy had disappeared. I walked down the hall and into the bedroom, where I saw a trail of muddy paw prints on the carpet going back and forth from the shower. Since I had delayed, Mandy had gone into and out of the wet shower multiple times before I arrived! Now I know whenever she hears “muddy paws,” she’s headed for the shower (and I get there faster!).

– Marty Metzler


dog sitting on balloon bag

“It’s Time to Do Your Job”

I am a balloon pilot and have been for more than 30 years. My husband, Peter, who passed away 12 years ago, was also a balloon pilot and taught me how to fly. We’ve had Golden Retrievers for many years, and a year and a half after my husband died I got a Golden puppy, Sam (Samantha). I took her along whenever I went ballooning – not in the balloon, but in the chase vehicle, where she was well looked after by my incredible crew.

At the end of each flight we pack the balloon envelope back into its bag. The fabric tends to hold air, so after the envelope is in the bag and tied securely, we usually have kids or crew jump on it to get some of the air out. When Sam was almost a year old she started, on her own, jumping up on the bag and sitting there, posing for pictures.

At times I would land in a field or park and Sam would be sniffing around within sight of us, and all I had to do was say, “Sam! It’s time to do your job!” and she would stop whatever she was doing, and, to the surprise and delight of my passengers and spectators, she would run and jump on the bag, patiently waiting until we were ready to load it back into the chase vehicle. During this waiting period, there were many pictures taken of her – alone, and with the crew, passengers, and spectators.

Unfortunately, Sam passed away in early March of this year ,after a short bout with cancer, just short of her 10th birthday. She was very social and petted by thousands of people.

– Susan Stamats

“It’s the TV”, “They’re Our Friends!”

What a fun subject! I have two examples. The first one was taught by, of all people, my hubby, who is not a trainer by any means. Our German Shepherd, Gus, would bark when he heard a doorbell or dog barking on TV. My hubby would just say, “It’s the TV!” in a normal, conversational tone, and to my surprise – no treats involved! – Gus quickly learned to ignore everything on TV. After his initial, brief bark, when he heard “It’s the TV!” he would shush, though he still had that look in his eyes like, “I am not sure if I believe you!”

Our current German Shepherd, Danja, has a strong prey drive and used to bark at the sight of deer in our yard. Whenever she saw a deer, she’d bark, and I would go to her, pet her, and say, “They’re our friends!” Again, there were no treats involved, as these situations came up so unexpectedly. Now, when she sees a deer, Danja still might bark very briefly, but then she will look at us and we say, “They’re our friends!” Then she’ll be quiet while we watch them together.

I’m impressed how dogs can learn so quickly with these casual methods. And even more impressed with my husband teaching Gus to be quiet at the TV sounds. It is the only training I have ever seen him do in all the 35 years I have known him!

– Irma Kapsenberg, GOOD DOG! Gentle Training, Corvallis, OR

Thanks, WDJ Readers!

All we can say after reading all of these (and hundred more!) submissions is: Training rocks, whether it’s on purpose or accidental! Thanks to everyone who submitted an account of their dogs’ behaviors and cues, and keep up the great work!

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I have never owned a dog with separation anxiety, thank goodness. The condition is hard on the dog who suffers from the condition and hard on the dog’s caretakers, too, including owners, vets, groomers, pet sitters, and dog walkers. Care must be taken to prevent triggering the dog’s panic at being left alone—in severe cases, even just long enough for the person caring for the dog to use the restroom!
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