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Vitamin D for Dogs

By
CJ Puotinen
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5
Vitamin d for dogs can improve your dog's bone health, and other organ systems.

We all need vitamin D – and so do our dogs. Without it, we suffer from bone diseases and a host of other problems. But vitamin D is controversial and not well understood. When it comes to deciding how much is required, which sources are best, and how to supplement safely, experts disagree. Learning about vitamin D can help you make informed choices for your best friend.

Vitamin D research began long before it was identified and named. Between 1880 and 1930, the bone disease rickets affected children in industrialized areas where infections, crowding, and a lack of sunlight were common. Rickets causes soft, fragile bones. Cod liver oil, which contains vitamin D, was shown to prevent and cure the disease, and studies conducted on dogs and other animals proved that a nutritional deficiency of vitamin D caused rickets.

A steroid vitamin which is also classified as a hormone, Vitamin D aids in the absorption of calcium and phosphate, increases bone cell activity, influences the formation and growth of long bones, and speeds the healing of fractures. But vitamin D does far more than build a strong skeleton. Adequate D levels may help prevent heart disease, joint inflammation, skin and coat problems, cancer, vision problems, depression, mental illness, infections, inflammatory bowel disease, dental problems, hyperparathyroidism, and kidney disease.

It is called the sunshine vitamin because sunlight on human skin produces vitamin D, which our bodies convert to a substance known as 25(OH)D, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, 25-hydroxy, or vitamin D3. Sunlight is not considered a significant source of vitamin D for dogs. We can help prevent canine vitamin D deficiencies with specific foods and supplements.

A dog rests in the grass with his tongue out.

Too Much Vitamin D is Toxic to Dogs

Vitamin D deficiencies in dogs can cause health problems over time, but so can an oversupply. Because vitamin D is fat soluble, it accumulates in body fat. Overdoses can be toxic and even fatal.

Most canine fatalities related to vitamin D stem from the accidental ingestion of prescription drugs that contain vitamin D, such as topical medications for human skin conditions like psoriasis, and from the ingestion of rodenticides, which are poisons designed to control rats, mice, and other rodents.

Cholecalciferol (synthetic vitamin D3) was registered as a rodenticide in the United States in 1984. Toxic doses lead to too much calcium in the blood, which can affect the central nervous system, muscles, gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system, and kidneys.

Although less common, overdoses of vitamin D from foods and supplements can occur. Excessive vitamin D causes hypercalcemia (elevated calcium levels); anorexia (loss of appetite and extreme weight loss); excessive thirst, urination, drooling, and vomiting; muscle weakness; soft tissue mineralization; and lameness. In growing dogs, excessive vitamin D can disrupt normal skeletal development as a result of increased calcium and phosphate absorption.

In 1999, DVM Nutri-Balance High Protein Dog Food and Golden Sun Feeds Hi-Pro Hunter Dog Food were recalled because of excessive vitamin D3 due to a feed-mixing error. This caused the illness and death of at least 25 dogs.

Seven years later, Royal Canin Veterinary Diet recalled four products due to a misformulation in the vitamin premix. Six dogs and five cats were reported to have clinical signs consistent with vitamin D3 toxicity.

In 2010, Blue Buffalo recalled packages of its Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon, and Large Breed Adult Chicken dry dog foods because of a sequencing error at the dry-ingredients supplier, which allowed a more potent vitamin D used in chicken feeds to contaminate the dog formulas and increase their vitamin D to unacceptable levels. Vitamin D3 toxicity from the error affected at least 36 dogs.

In March 2016, four varieties of canned Fromm Family Pet Food were voluntarily recalled because the company’s analysis showed that these diets may contain excessive levels of Vitamin D3.

Commercial Pet Foods Usually Lack Sufficient Vitamin D

Dog owners often believe that as long as they feed a commercial diet labeled as “complete and balanced,” their dogs will receive all the nutrients they need, in ideal amounts. But we can’t necessarily count on commercial diets for this!

“It is widely assumed that properly formulated commercial pet foods contain adequate D levels for canine health, but that isn’t true,” says Susan Howell, DVM, who provides veterinary technical support for Standard Process, Inc., a nutritional supplement manufacturer. “Foods are formulated to meet minimum nutrient requirements established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO),” she says. “They are not formulated to meet optimal requirements.”

Dr. Howell cites a 2015 Tufts University study funded by VDI Laboratories that examined the effects of diet on the serum vitamin D levels of Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and White Shepherds. Most of the study’s 320 dogs were fed commercial diets from 40 different manufacturers, and some were fed homemade diets or a combination of commercial and homemade diets.

As the report concluded, “Serum 25(OH)D concentrations in dogs vary widely, which likely reflects varying dietary vitamin D content. Notable differences exist among manufacturers and brands and may reflect differences in proprietary formulations. Given the variability of measured serum 25(OH) D concentrations in dogs and the importance vitamin D appears to have on health status, dietary vitamin D content should be optimized.”

The study found that dogs on home-prepared diets had some of the most deficient vitamin D levels.

“In addition,” says Dr. Howell, “I spoke to a representative from VDI who said they had recently tested three Golden Retrievers, all having the same body weight and all eating the same diet. Each dog had a different serum vitamin D level. This shows that every animal is unique. They are dealing with their own variances, particularly in their ability to absorb and utilize vitamin D. Vitamin D absorption depends on good digestion. In my opinion, if D levels are deficient or insufficient, it may be as much a matter of addressing digestion as an issue of providing more vitamin D.”

Measuring D Levels

Vitamin D levels in humans and pets can be measured with a blood test. Depending on the testing laboratory, results are measured in nanograms of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (Calcifediol) per milliliter of blood (abbreviated as ng/mL) or as nanomoles per liter (abbreviated as nmol/L). To convert ng/mL to nmol/L, multiply by 2.5; to convert nmol/L to ng/mL, divide by 2.5.

Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine began offering canine vitamin D tests to veterinarians in the late 1980s. “That’s when we established a reference range based on the D levels of healthy dogs,” says Professor Kent Refsal, DVM. “The test became a diagnostic tool that helped veterinarians identify dogs with rickets, gastrointestinal disease, or other symptoms of vitamin D malabsorption or insufficiency as well as dogs with excessive vitamin D levels.”

Professor Refsal and his colleagues consult with veterinarians about their patients’ test results. The MSU laboratory’s vitamin D radioimmunoassay reference range for dogs is 60 to 215 nmol/L, or 24 to 86 ng/mL. “We consider this range to be a general indication of adequate to normal vitamin D levels for healthy dogs of all ages,” he says.

Veterinary Diagnostic Institute (VDI), which uses chemiluminescence immunoassay, reports its canine vitamin D blood test results as deficient (less than 25 ng/mL), insufficient (25 to

In the May 2016 issue of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, veterinarians N. Weidner and A. Verbrugghe at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, reviewed the current knowledge of vitamin D in dogs. After discussing vitamin D tests for health screening, research on D levels and canine illnesses, and target D levels for optimum health, they concluded, “Further work is necessary before any consensus statements on blood 25(OH) D concentrations that define sufficiency in dogs can be made.”

In May 2016, researchers at Edinburgh University’s Royal School of Veterinary Studies in Scotland announced a series of research projects on pet dogs and vitamin D. Dr. Richard Mellanby, the university’s head of small animal medicine, explains, “Our research aims to understand whether dogs’ vitamin D levels fluctuate throughout the year, which is important for making sure we’re feeding our pets the right diet. We’re also interested in how vitamin D affects recovery after surgery and whether having less vitamin D is a cause or consequence of inflammation. Untangling this complex relationship will help us to devise new approaches to improve the welfare of animals after surgery.” Dr. Mallanby’s review article “Beyond the skeleton: The role of vitamin D in companion animal health” appeared in the April 2016 issue of Journal of Small Animal Practice.

Pennsylvania veterinarian Linda Stern, DVM, began screening feline and canine patients with the VDI test last fall. “Of the 24 dogs we have tested so far,” she says, “only 29 percent had adequate vitamin D levels.”

Dr. Stern checks her patients’ D levels, supplements as necessary, and retests after 10 to 12 weeks. “Dogs with arthritis tend to have significantly low vitamin D levels,” she says, “and when their levels improve, so does their range of motion. My general observation is that dogs feel better, have more energy, and look happier and healthier when their D levels are adequate. Some show dramatic improvement right away, which happened with one of our patients with liver disease. Monitoring patients with follow-up tests ensures that they maintain safe, optimum D levels.”

Increasing D Levels by Improving Digestion

Dr. Howell recommends feeding dogs a variety of meat-based diets that are free from corn, wheat, soy, rice, white potatoes, tapioca, and peas. “Those foods are alkalizing to the stomach, and dogs need an acidic stomach for food to be digested and nutrients like vitamin D to be absorbed. The other problem with these ingredients is that they cause inflammation, which decreases nutrient absorption. As animals age, their stomachs become more alkaline, which explains why older animals may have a harder time breaking down and absorbing Vitamin D from their food.”

For dogs fed dry food, she suggests adding bone broth or warm water before feeding. “Adding raw organic apple cider vinegar to food helps acidify the stomach,” she adds, “and it provides prebiotics, which feed gut microbes. Add 1/8 teaspoon to each meal for small dogs; 1/4 teaspoon for dogs weighing 21 to 50 pounds; and 1/2 teaspoon for dogs more than 50 pounds.”

WDJ contributor Mary Straus, whose dogaware.com website offers nutrition and feeding tips, recommends supplementing the diet with probiotics (active beneficial bacteria), prebiotics (foods that feed beneficial bacteria), and digestive enzymes to improve digestion and the assimilation of nutrients.

Like other fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin D requires dietary fat for assimilation. In the September 2006 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, John E. Bauer, DVM, compared facilitative and functional fats in the canine diet. Saturated fats are facilitative, he wrote, because they enhance palatability, provide fuel for energy, can be stored in the body for future use, do not pose a health threat unless fed in excessive amounts, and assist in the digestion and assimilation of fat-soluble vitamins.

Coconut oil and butter contain saturated fats and are often listed as good companions to fat-soluble vitamins. Consider adding 1 teaspoon per 25 pounds of body weight to your dog’s dinner to help improve his or her vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D in Home-Prepared Diets

While home-prepared diets may show the greatest variation in canine vitamin D levels, Dr. Howell notes that not every home-prepared diet has to be supplemented with vitamin D. “I’ll refer you back to the Tufts study,” she says. “Animals on balanced home-prepared diets may have sufficient D levels. It’s a matter of feeding foods that contain vitamin D, fostering healthy digestion, and possibly supplementing Vitamin D in a whole-food form or in a synthetic form if necessary. I worry that people may over-supplement unknowingly and cause a toxicity in their pet.”

For this reason, she recommends that owners ask their veterinarians for help with homemade diets or turn to Balance IT, a pet diet-planning website developed by a veterinary nutritionist at the University of California, Davis. Dogaware.com is another source of diet-planning information.

“I’m a big believer in animals getting their nutrients from real food,” Dr. Howell says. “Instead of supplementing with a synthetic form of vitamin D3, I think it’s worth getting some fresh foods into the diet that are good sources of D, such as salmon, liver, and eggs. It’s less likely that you will over-supplement if you give a food source of vitamin D rather than cholecalciferol, which is a high-dose synthetic form of vitamin D.

“If an animal with insufficient D levels doesn’t have adequate levels after trying food sources of D, I think it’s worth looking at digestion and then at a synthetic D supplement,” she says. “A conservative amount of synthetic D can bring an animal into the sufficient range. Some popular synthetic vitamin D supplements are from Rx Vitamins and Thorne Research. These products are liquid and easy to dose and administer to your pet. Both are available by prescription and should be monitored by your veterinarian in conjunction with the diet in order to avoid over-supplementation.”

D-Insufficiency Risks

Any dog can be D-deficient if his or her diet doesn’t supply the vitamin, but older dogs, dogs with compromised digestive health, spayed and neutered dogs, and dogs on corticosteroids, antacids, or anti-seizure medications are at added risk.

Dogs with illnesses like cancer, chronic inflammatory conditions, heart disease, renal disease, hyperparathyroidism, or inflammatory bowel disease are likely to have low vitamin D levels.

A 2014 study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine examined the vitamin D status of 31 dogs with congestive heart failure (CHF) and 51 unaffected dogs. The dogs with CHF had significantly lower serum D levels than the unaffected dogs even though their vitamin D intake per kilogram of metabolic weight was the same. The study concluded that low concentrations of 25(OH)D may be a risk factor for CHF in dogs, that low levels were associated with poor outcomes in dogs with CHF, and that strategies to improve vitamin D status in some dogs with CHF may prove beneficial without causing toxicity.

In human heart disease, vitamin D deficiency is associated with disease progression and a poor prognosis. A 2015 cross-sectional study of dogs at different stages of chronic valvular heart disease (CVHD) found a similar correlation. As reported in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, the affected dogs’ vitamin D status declined prior to the onset of heart failure.

In the previously mentioned Tufts study, German Shepherd Dogs were found to have a 26 percent higher median amount of serum vitamin D than Golden Retrievers. “This means that intestinal absorption of vitamin D differed according to breed,” says Dr. Howell. “Spayed and neutered animals were found to have lower D levels than sexually intact dogs, and intact males had significantly higher serum D levels than intact females.”

Synthetic Vitamin D

In the wild, canines obtain vitamin D from the fat of prey animals. In the supplement aisle, D can come from natural sources but it’s more often synthetic.

The pharmaceutical drug cholecalciferol (synthetic vitamin D3) is produced by the ultraviolet irradiation of 7-dehydrocholesterol extracted from lanolin in sheep’s wool. Unwanted isomers formed during irradiation are removed in a purification process, leaving a concentrated resin that melts at room temperature.

Ergosterol, also called provitamin D2, is found in fungi such as Saccharomyces and other yeasts, mushrooms, and Claviceps purpurea, which causes the fungal disease ergot, for which ergosterol is named. Ergot affects rye, barley, wheat, and other cereal grasses. Ergosterol is converted by ultraviolet irradiation into ergocalciferol, or synthetic vitamin D2.

In 2006, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology reviewed vitamin D studies in order to answer the question, “How much vitamin D do you need, and how should you get it?” Although synthetic vitamin D2 is widely used as a prescription drug and is added to some processed foods, the study’s authors concluded that vitamin D3 is superior to vitamin D2 because it is less toxic at higher concentrations, is more potent, has a more stable shelf life, and is more effective than vitamin D2 at raising and maintaining vitamin D blood levels.

Vitamin D Food Sources

If you’re interested in supplying natural vitamin D, it makes sense to look for foods that provide it, but finding them may not be easy.

Salmon is widely described as a significant source of vitamin D, but in 2007 the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology published an evaluation of the vitamin D content in fish. It found that salmon flesh does contain vitamin D, but farmed salmon – which is far more common and less expensive than wild salmon – had only 25 percent of the vitamin D of wild salmon.

The report explained, “It has been assumed that fish, especially oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and blue fish are excellent sources of vitamin D3. However, our analysis of the vitamin D content in a variety of fish species that were thought to contain an adequate amount of vitamin D did not have an amount of vitamin D that is listed in food charts. There needs to be a re-evaluation of the vitamin D content in foods that have been traditionally recommended as good sources of naturally occurring vitamin D.”

Salmon oil may provide some vitamin D along with the fatty acids for which it is famous. In the Tufts study mentioned above, dogs receiving salmon oil as a supplement had higher serum 25(OH)D (on average a 19.6 ng/mL increase) than those not receiving a supplement, but other forms of fish oil surprisingly had no effect.

Dairy products are not naturally high in vitamin D, but milk and yogurt are often fortified with synthetic vitamin D. Check labels to be sure.

Cod liver oil is the traditional food source of vitamin D. A hundred years ago, fermented cod liver oil, which can have a powerfully fishy smell, was the world’s most widely prescribed nutritional supplement. Perhaps your grandparents remember being coerced into swallowing a spoonful daily. Cod liver oil contains vitamins D and A, both of which are essential for human and canine health. But cod liver oil’s manufacturing methods have changed, and so has its vitamin content.

Fully cleaned and deodorized (e.g., molecularly distilled) cod liver oil to which nothing has been added contains very low levels of vitamin A and little or no vitamin D. Some manufacturers add synthetic or natural vitamins A and D to their cleaned and deodorized oil.

To compare brands, read labels – especially their vitamin A and D content – and check product literature or websites for information about manufacturing methods and the source of any added vitamins A and D. Vitamins A and D are measured in International Units (IUs). The vitamin A content of natural (unprocessed) cod liver oil is usually two to 10 times that of its vitamin D.

To make cod liver oil more palatable to humans, some brands are available in lemon, orange, cinnamon, mint, or other flavors. Most dogs enjoy the plain, unflavored oil.

Carlson Labs Cod Liver Oil, which is molecularly distilled and bottled in Norway, provides 850 IU vitamin A and 400 IU vitamin D per teaspoon. According to the label, its vitamins A and D, which are added after distillation, are derived from cod liver oil (500 ml or 16.9 fluid ounces, $55).

Garden of Life Olde World Cod Liver Oil, made in Iceland, is molecularly distilled and contains vitamins A (4,500 IU per teaspoon) and D (450 IU per teaspoon). According to the label, these added vitamins are naturally occurring (8 fluid ounces, $17).

Green Pasture’s Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil is made from fermented fish livers; the same process was used to make a health tonic widely used and valued in ancient Rome. Because nutrients vary in fermented foods, the manufacturer labels this product a food without listing its vitamin D content, but current values are available on request. Based on the past four years of test data, one teaspoon of fermented cod liver oil contains approximately 8,500 IU vitamin A and 3,400 IU vitamin D (8 fluid ounces, $44).

Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil is molecularly distilled and no vitamins are added after distillation. Each teaspoon provides 1,580 IU vitamin A and 6 IU vitamin D. While this cod liver oil contains natural rather than synthetic vitamin D, 6 IU is an extremely small amount (8 fluid ounces, $25).

Nordic Naturals Pet Cod Liver Oil and Nordic Naturals Pet Cod Liver Oil for Medium to Large Breed Dogs contain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin A (550 IU per teaspoon) but do not contain vitamin D; this brand will not correct vitamin D deficiencies.

Nutra Pro Virgin Cod Liver Oil from Norway is separated from fresh cod fish livers using cold-pressing and advanced purifying technologies without the use of chemicals. One teaspoon contains 5,000 IU vitamin A and 500 IU vitamin D (8 fluid ounces, $33).

Rosita Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil, or EVCLO, is manufactured in Norway from wild cod livers using an ancient extraction method that does not utilize heat, chemicals, fermentation, solvents, or mechanical devices. One teaspoon contains 3,000 to 5,000 IU vitamin A and 400 to 500 IU vitamin D (150 ml or 5 fluid ounces, $49).

Unlike “virgin” and “extra virgin” olive oils, whose labels reflect legally defined manufacturing and grading methods, the terms “virgin” and “extra virgin” have no specific meaning when applied to cod liver oil. They imply that the product is minimally processed.

The chemistry of naturally occurring cod liver oil is complicated. According to Christopher Masterjohn, Ph.D., assistant professor of health and nutrition sciences at Brooklyn College in New York, “Research in the 1930s suggested that there were at least four if not six forms of vitamin D in cod liver oil, and recent research has shown that fish metabolize vitamin D into at least three other compounds and probably more.” As conventional tests measure only vitamins D2 and D3, unrefined cod liver oil may provide significant health benefits that are not reflected by its D2 and D3 content.

Vitamin A Safety

Vitamin A is essential to human and canine bone growth, reproduction, immune system health, and vision. Like vitamin D, it is fat soluble. Synthetic vitamin A (retinyl acetate, retinol acetate, vitamin A acetate, vitamin A palmitate, retinyl palmitate, retinoids, or 13-cis-retinoic acid) should be used with care to avoid accidental overdoses, which can cause bone loss, hair loss, liver damage, and confusion.

Is natural vitamin A dangerous? According to some scientists and health experts, cod liver oil’s vitamin A content makes it potentially toxic. In 2008, Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council (vitamindcouncil.org) warned against using cod liver oil because of its vitamin A.

Other scientists and health experts disagreed, noting that vitamin A by itself (such as in molecularly distilled cod liver oil or cod liver oil containing synthetic vitamins) can be dangerous but that traditional cod liver oil contains a safe and effective ratio of naturally occurring vitamins A and D.

In reply to the warnings against cod liver oil, Sally Fallon Morell, founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, reviewed cod liver oil’s history and safety. “We at the Weston A. Price Foundation have continually pointed out that vitamins A and D work together and that without vitamin D, vitamin A can be ineffective or even toxic,” she explained. “We do not recommend Nordic Naturals or any brand of cod liver oil that is low in vitamin D. But it is completely inappropriate to conclude that cod liver oil is toxic because of its vitamin A content. Similar reviews could be put together showing the benefits of vitamin A and cod liver oil in numerous studies, including studies from the 1930s. Obviously the solution is to use the type of cod liver oil that does not have most of its vitamin D removed by modern processing techniques.

Cod Liver Oil Quarrel

Last summer fans of fermented cod liver oil were rocked by the online report “Hook, Line, and Stinker” by nutritionist Kaayla Daniel, PhD, in which she claimed that Green Pasture’s Fermented Cod Liver Oil is not a cod liver oil at all but rather rancid pollock oil.

Health researcher Craig Elding at the British site Health Cloud, American health writer Chris Kresser, and others examined these accusations in detail. See the Weston A. Price Foundation’s review of the controversy, including Morell’s November 2015 report titled “Hook, Line, and Thinker.” Years of independent tests have never shown Green Pasture’s Fermented Cod Liver Oil to have oxidative rancidity, and its source fish, Alaskan pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus), is not a member of the pollock fish family but rather a cod (Gadidae family) fish.

Cod Liver Oil in Home-Prepared Diets

One of the pioneers of home-prepared dog diets is Wendy Volhard, whose book Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog describes years of research she conducted with Kerry Brown, DVM, as they documented the effects of raw, home-prepared diets on hundreds of dogs.

“Since 1984, when I first published my recipes, it’s no exaggeration to say that thousands of dogs have been fed the Volhard way,” she says. “My diet recommends 1 teaspoon cod liver oil daily for a 50-pound dog. This dose was established in 1973, when I started feeding my own dogs a raw, home-prepared diet, and the amount was based on guidelines from the National Science Foundation.”

Volhard’s cod liver oil dose depends on the dog’s weight (1/2 teaspoon per 25 pounds). She says, “We have found no need to adjust the diet to a dog’s age or lifestyle. Puppies grow beautifully and old dogs thrive.” She does not recommend a specific brand but prefers minimally processed, high-quality cod liver oil containing natural vitamins A and D.

Vitamin K Connection

Vitamin K, another fat-soluble vitamin, influences proper blood clotting, healthy bone growth, the conversion of glucose into glycogen for energy storage in the liver, and healthy liver function. Vitamin K is thought to promote longevity and protect against cancers that involve the inner lining of body organs.

Vitamin K exists as vitamin K1 (phylloquinone), which is abundant in many vegetables; vitamin K2 (menaquinone), which the body produces in the digestive tract and which is provided by some animal products; and vitamin K3, the synthetic form known as menadione.

Vitamin K deficiencies can cause internal or external bleeding, most commonly resulting from the ingestion of rodent poisons containing warfarin or similar chemicals, and it is used as a first-aid treatment or antidote for dogs poisoned by blood-thinning rodenticides.

Vitamin K toxicity is unusual in pets, though excessive menadione (synthetic vitamin K3) can cause fatal anemia and jaundice. Menadione, which has been banned by the FDA for use in human supplements, is an ingredient in commercial pet foods, where it is labelled Vitamin K supplement, dimethylprimidinol sulphite or bisulfate, or menadione sodium bisulfite or bisulfate,

Supporters of K3’s use argue that natural vitamin K may lose its potency during processing, intestinal disease can prevent gut bacteria from making the vitamin, and not all pet foods contain green leafy vegetables. Opponents argue that synthetic vitamin K can promote allergic reactions, weaken the immune system, cause toxic reactions in liver cells, and induce red blood cell toxicity.

The leading food sources of vitamin K1 are green tea and dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, broccoli, lettuce, and cabbage.

Sources of natural vitamin K2 include meat, eggs, and dairy from grass-fed animals; high-vitamin butter oil, extracted by centrifusion from the raw milk of grass-fed cows; and natto (a traditional Japanese food) or MK-7 supplements made from fermented organic soybeans.

Because vitamin D works best in combination with vitamins A and K, some vets recommend supplementing dog diets, especially home-prepared diets, with natural sources of all three vitamins combined with an appropriate fat. Look for whole foods or supplements derived from whole foods. If a vitamin K supplement is used, adjust the recommended human adult dose for your dog’s weight.

In Review

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for canine bone, heart, joint, skin, coat, vision, dental, kidney, and immune system health. Low vitamin D risk factors include advanced age, spaying/neutering, digestive problems, illness, and some commonly prescribed medications.

Commercial pet foods vary in their vitamin D content and sources, and produce different D levels in dogs. Some home-prepared diets contain insufficient vitamin D. Although many dogs are deficient in D, the levels can be safely increased by improving digestion, feeding whole foods that contain D, using vitamin D supplements if needed, and monitoring vitamin D blood levels through testing.

Because vitamin D is fat soluble, it needs dietary fat for digestion and assimilation. Vitamin D combines well with saturated fats such as coconut oil and butter. Its nutritional partners are the fat-soluble vitamins A and K. Maintaining adequate vitamin D, A, and K levels is a simple but effective canine health strategy. Natural, unprocessed cod liver oil is a food source of vitamins D and A. Supplements containing synthetic vitamin D or vitamin A are more concentrated and require more careful monitoring.

CJ Puotinen is author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care and other books.

Resources

Vitamin D blood tests for dogs:

Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, Lansing, MI. (517) 353-1683

Veterinary Diagnostics Institute, Simi Valley, CA. (805) 577-6742

Vitamin D blood tests for humans:

Grassroots Health, Encinitas, CA. Information and affordable at-home vitamin D blood tests for humans. (760) 579-8141

Sources of vitamin D supplements:

Rx Vitamins’s Liqui-D3 supplement provides 2,000 IU synthetic vitamin D per drop. Sold to veterinarians.

Thorne Research‘s liquid synthetic vitamin D3, or D3 combined with vitamin K-2, provides 500 IU vitamin D per drop.

Sources for further information:

Weston A. Price Foundation. Information about vitamin D and cod liver oil.

Linda Stern, DVM, Healing Creatures Animal Hospital, Camp Hill, PA. (717) 730-3755

Susan Howell, DVM. Standard Process, Inc. Technical support for veterinarians.

Cited References

“Beyond the skeleton: The role of vitamin D in companion animal health,” by R.J. Mellanby. Journal of Small Animal Practice, April 2016

“Current knowledge of vitamin D in dogs,” by N. Weidner and A. Verbrugghe. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, May 2016

“The effect of diet on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in dogs,” by Claire R. Sharp, Kim A. Selting, and Randy Ringold. BMC Research Notes, 2015

“An evaluation of the vitamin D3 content in fish: Is the vitamin D content adequate to satisfy the dietary requirement for vitamin D?” by Z. Lu, et al. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, March 2007

“Relation of vitamin D status to congestive heart failure and cardiovascular events in dogs,” by MS Kraus, et al. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Jan-Feb 2014

“Vitamin D status in different stages of disease severity in dogs with chronic valvular heart disease,” by T. Osuga, et al. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Nov-Dec 2015

“The vitamin D questions: How much do you need and how should you get it?” by D. Wolpowitz and B. Gilchrest, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Feb 2006

“Facilitative and functional fats in diets of dogs and cats,” by John E. Bauer, DVM, PhD, DACVN. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Sept 1, 2006

Holistic Guide for the Healthy Dog, by Wendy Volhard. Howell Reference Books, 2nd Edition, 2000. Paperback, 336 pages, $17

Too Hot for Pups to Play

By
Nancy Kerns
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Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

It’s just about the hottest part of the day as I write this. In my part of the country, at this time of year, that’s between 5 and 7 p.m. My husband I don’t have air-conditioning, which strikes everyone we know as an odd choice, but it is a choice. We could afford it, but we both grew up with budget-conscious parents and have environmental concerns about everyone burning fossil fuels in order to cool themselves down all summer. We manage it “old-school,” by positioning fans in every other window to bring in cool air and blow out hot air all night long, and then shutting the house down tight all day. It preserves a cool bubble of air in the house – but this bubble heats up a tiny bit every time someone opens a door to come in or go out, or, more often, to let a dog in or out.

Let me just add that there are currently nine dogs in the house at this moment – another odd choice – so it’s warmer than it ought to be. Before you call an animal control officer from the local shelter, asking for a welfare check on the excessive number of dogs, keep in mind that most of these dogs belong to the local animal shelter! Six of the nine are fosters: Mama Great Dane and five of her 11 puppies. (The other six puppies are being fostered across town by a good friend.)

All of the puppies, and most of the dogs, sleep outside at night, but come indoors during the day to escape the heat. The pups play hard in the early morning and late at night, when it’s cool. Right now, though, it looks like someone melted wax puppies in my kitchen – there are literal and figurative puppy puddles all over the vinyl floor. I’ll put them outside in the shade soon, and start opening windows and mopping the floor. Than I can take my dogs for a swim in the icy cold Feather River, which flows right through my town, just blocks away. Ah, I can’t wait. But first, I have to finish writing this. What was I writing about? I can’t think, it’s so hot!

Happily, it has developed that my newish adolescent dog, former foster puppy Woody, is an enthusiastic swimmer. Given his youth and naiveté, buckling him into a canine life jacket has proven to be prudent, as he has, several times, combined his love of swimming with his interest in ducks, even those that are swimming hundreds of yards away. Lucky for me, I had a couple of weeks’ head start to read over WDJ contributor/dog trainer Stephanie Colman’s review of personal flotation devices for dogs, which starts on page 6 of this issue, so I could buy the best one for my happy, neoprene-covered Woody duck. Even friends who don’t really care for pit bulls smile when they see Woody goofing, diving, and splashing in and out of the river in his bright yellow and blue PFD.

Speaking of ducks, maybe Woody comes by his combined interests honestly. In preparation for an upcoming article on mixed-breed identification tests, I sent a sample of Woody’s (and Otto’s) DNA to different companies to be tested. Woody’s first result came back indicating he’s an American Staffordshire Terrier/Labrador Retriever-mix, and I think that’s likely. His mom looked like a black Lab with a slightly blocky head, and all the pups looked very “pittie.” The result from the second company agreed about one of those breeds, not the other, and added three more. You can guess, what they were if you want, but I won’t reveal the results for Woody’s second test (or Otto’s first and second tests) until the article is done.

And speaking of DNA tests, suspected “pit bulls,” and people’s perceptions thereof, I think you’ll enjoy trainer Linda Case’s article on the facing page. She turns a cool, scientific gaze on a hot topic, and produces great food for thought. You will have to excuse me for that mixed metaphor – it’s really much too hot in here, and the river is calling. Stay cool!

Dog Breed Stereotypes: Inaccurate and Damaging

By
Linda P. Case, MS
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1

Our youngest dog, Ally, has a “bestie.” Her name is Colbie and she belongs to our friend Amanda, a trainer who also works as an instructor at my training center, AutumnGold. Ally is a Golden Retriever. Colbie is a pit bull, adopted from a local shelter while Amanda was on staff there.

Being young girls, both Ally and Colbie wear pink collars, Gentle Leaders, and harnesses. For Ally, this is simply a fashion statement. For Colbie, given her breed and the breed stereotypes that she may encounter, it means a bit more. Amanda purposefully dresses Colbie in pink, hoping that such feminine attire will present Colbie as the sweetheart that she is.

Although Ally does not care about Colbie’s genetic heritage (or that she wears pink), many people do. Breed stereotypes are pervasive and impact local and state breed-specific legislation (BSL), homeowner’s insurance rates, rental property regulations, and shelter decisions regarding adoption and euthanasia. BSL in the United States and the United Kingdom specifically target pit bulls and other bully-type breeds, and either ban ownership of the breeds outright or impose strict restrictions upon ownership. These laws are based upon two assumptions:

1. Targeted breeds are inherently dangerous.
2. Individuals of the breeds can be reliably identified.

There is much controversy (and no consensus) regarding the first assumption, which is a topic for another time.

In this article, we look at the second assumption regarding reliable breed identification. Is there supporting evidence?

It turns out that there is quite a bit of science on this topic – and the results are quite illuminating.

A Dog Breed Guessing Game

Prior to the development of DNA testing, the only method available for identifying the breed of a dog whose heritage was unknown was visual assessment. A shelter worker, veterinarian, or animal control officer examines the dog and assigns a breed designation based upon physical appearance and conformation. Even with widespread availability of DNA tests, most shelters and rescue groups continue to rely upon visual identification to assign breed labels to the dogs in their care. Given the life or death import of these decisions for some dogs, it is odd that the question of the reliability of these evaluations has not been questioned.

Until recently.

Even the Experts Can’t Agree on Pit Bulls

In 2013, Victoria Voith and her co-researchers (reference 1) asked more than 900 pet professionals to assign a breed (or mix of breeds) to 20 dogs that they viewed on one-minute video clips. A DNA test was conducted for each of the dogs prior to the study, which allowed the researchers to test both the accuracy of visual breed-identification and the degree of agreement among the dog experts.

Results: Poor agreement was found between visual breed assignments and DNA results in 14 of the 20 dogs (70 percent). Moreover, there was low inter-rater reliability, meaning that the dog experts did not show a high level of agreement regarding breed assignments to the 20 dogs. More than half of the evaluators agreed on the predominant breed in only seven of the 20 dogs (35 percent). These results provide evidence that physical appearance is not a reliable method for breed identification.

You Say Pit Bull, I Say Boxer

The following year, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. collaborated and examined the consistency with which shelter workers assigned breed labels to the dogs in their care (reference 2). A group of 416 shelter workers in the U.S. and 54 in the U.K. were asked to assign a breed or mix of breeds to photographs of 20 dogs. They also completed a questionnaire that asked them to list the specific features that they used in their determination. Of the 20 dogs that were used in this study, more than three-quarters had a bully-breed appearance.

Note: An important difference between the U.K. and the U.S. is that all U.K. shelters are subject to the country’s Dangerous Dog Act, a law that bans the ownership of pit bulls. While such bans exist in the U.S., there is no universal law. Rather, select municipalities or states have various forms of BSL.

Results: Perhaps not surprisingly, U.K. shelter workers were much less likely to identify a dog with a “bully appearance” as a pit bull than were U.S. shelter workers. Instead, the U.K. shelter workers tended to label these dogs as Staffordshire Bull Terriers, a breed that is allowed in the U.K., rather than as a pit bull, a “breed” that is universally banned.

Despite this difference, results corroborated Voith’s study in that the researchers found a great deal of variation among shelter workers in their assignments of breed, and there was a lack of consensus regarding which of the 20 dogs were identifiable as pit bulls.

DNA VS. Shelter Staff

A 2015 study surveyed experienced shelter staff members at several Florida animal shelters (reference 3). At each of four sites, four staff members were asked to assign breed designations to 30 adoptable dogs who were housed at their shelter. Collectively, 120 dogs were evaluated by 16 staff members. DNA testing was conducted on all of the dogs. A primary objective of this study was to examine the reliability of shelter staff’s ability to identify dogs with pit bull heritage and to compare their assessments with DNA results.

Note: The DNA signatures that are used to identify “pit bull terriers” are those of the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, two breeds that are considered to be genetically identical. The companies that offer DNA tests for mixed-breed identification do not include American Pit Bull Terriers among the breeds they may identify.

Results: About one-third of the dogs who were identified as a pit-bull type breed by one or more shelter staff lacked any DNA evidence of bully breeds in his/her heritage. When inter-rater reliability among the participants was examined, agreement among shelter staff was moderate, but still included a relatively large number of disagreements.

What this means in practical terms is that a substantial number of dogs in this study were labeled as pit bulls or pit bull types and yet had no such genetic background. Even if the shelter staff agreed on a particular dog’s identification, this would be rather a moot point (for the dog) if they both happened to be wrong.

Breed DNA Doesn’t Always Show

How is it possible that a dog who appears to have the characteristic “pittie-type” head shape, muscular body, and other distinctive features, tests negative for pit-bull heritage? The conclusion that many people make from these discrepancies is that DNA testing must be unreliable, inaccurate, or just plain wrong.

However, the fact is that it is not uncommon for the results of DNA tests of dogs who have mixed heritage to identify a set of primary ancestor breeds that look nothing like the dog in question. This occurs because purebred crosses, particularly after the first generation, can result in unique combinations of genes that produce a wide range of features. When several different breeds are involved, some of these features may not be apparent in any of the ancestral breeds.

This occurs for two reasons. First, many of the breeds that we know today were originally created by crossing two or more existing breeds and then selecting for a small set of physically unique traits in subsequent generations. However, the dogs of these breeds still carry genes for a much wider variety of traits, even though the genes are not being “expressed” in the dog’s appearance. When these dogs are then bred to dogs of other breeds the hidden traits may become evident in their puppies.

A second reason is that less than one percent of the canine genome encodes for breed-specific traits such ear shape, coat type and color, and head shape. So, a dog could be a large part (genetically) of a certain breed, while not showing all of the breed’s physical traits, which may have been rapidly lost during cross-breeding with other breeds.

These three studies provide valuable evidence that the use of visual assessments to assign breed or breed-mixes to dogs is inaccurate and unreliable.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this information is of more than just casual interest for dogs like Colbie because pit bulls and other “bully breeds” are most frequently stigmatized by breed stereotypes and impacted by BSL and shelter policies that require automatic euthanasia. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that identifying an individual dog as a pit bull may be a matter of life or death for that dog.

Labels Matter in the Pet Adoption World

A recent paper published by researchers in Clive Wynne’s dog lab at the University of Arizona describes an ambitious series of experiments in which they examined the impact of breed labels on the perceptions of potential adopters and on the eventual outcome for the dog (reference 4). The studies were carried out online and at animal shelters in Florida and Arizona. Participants were asked to rate photographs, videotapes, or live dogs in their kennels. In some conditions the dogs were provided with a breed label and in others they were not.

Results: Two major findings came out of these studies. The first showed that stereotypes about pit bulls are alive and well, and the second showed how this stigmatization ultimately affects dogs:

1. People rated an image of a “pit-bull type” dog as less approachable, friendly, and intelligent, and more aggressive when compared to an image of either a Labrador Retriever or a Border Collie. In another experiment, labeling a dog as a pit bull negatively influenced the perceptions that people had about the dog. When visitors rated a dog who was labeled as a pit bull, the dogs were found to be less attractive in terms of perceived approachability, friendliness, intelligence, aggressiveness, and adoptability compared with when the same dog was not so labeled.
2. Dogs who had been labeled as pit bulls had length of stays in the Florida shelter prior to adoption that were more than three times as long as the stays of dogs who were matched in appearance, but had been labeled as another breed or breed-mix.

When breed labels were removed from the profile cards of dogs offered for adoption, adoption rates for pit bulls increased significantly, length of stays prior to adoption in the shelter decreased, as did euthanasia rates.

Interestingly, not only pit bull-type dogs benefited from removing breed labels from the kennel cards. Dogs from working breeds who were available for adoption, in particular Boxers, Dobermans, and Mastiffs also showed an increase in adoption rate.

Take Away Points

There is a lot to ponder here. We have learned that breed identification using a dog’s physical appearance, even when conducted by experienced dog experts, is flawed in two distinctive ways. First, experts cannot agree consistently about how to label an individual dog. One person’s Boxer-mix is another’s pit bull and is yet another’s Bulldog/Lab mix.

Second, DNA tests do not consistently confirm breed assignments that were based upon physical appearance. Labeling breeds for purposes of shelter retention, adoption, and euthanasia is a highly dubious process, and one that is most critical for pit bulls, American Pit Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and every other so-called “bully” breed and breed-mix.

We have also learned that potential adopters react to a pit bull label in ways that may adversely affect the outcome for the dog. Labeling a dog as a pit bull may increase her length of stay in the shelter, reduce her chances of adoption and increase her risk of being killed, simply because she was assigned a (possibly incorrect) label that changed the perceptions of potential adopters.

And last, we have evidence that removing breed labels from the cage cards of adoptable pit-bull-type dogs (and many other dogs) increases their chance of adoption, reduces the length of their stay in the shelter, and increases their chance of simply staying alive.

Colbie is pretty in pink, for sure. But it’s time that wearing pink becomes a simple fashion statement for Colbie, just as it is for her pal Ally.

What’s a “Pit Bull” Anyway?

Would it surprise you to learn that there is no such breed as the pit bull? This is why it’s not capitalized in WDJ; we do capitalize breed names. There are lots of dogs that are called “pit bulls,” however. Some of them might actually be one of these: The American Kennel Club (AKC) recognizes a breed called the American Staffordshire Terrier, and another called the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The United Kennel Club (UKC), established in 1898, recognized its first breed, the American Pit Bull Terrier, in 1898. The UKC also recognizes the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Pedigrees be damned, an individual of any one of these dogs would likely be labeled as a “pit bull” if he or she were found in an animal shelter.

As the studies discussed here show, the above-mentioned purebreds, as well as other breeds developed over the years (including the American Bulldog) – and the countless mixed-breed dogs that result from matings with them – are largely indistinguishable to most humans, and even to many dog training or veterinary professionals. If the dog has a blocky head, a muscular body (whether it’s short and squatty, or taller and chiselled), a short coat, and a whippy tail, he will likely be called a pit bull at some point – almost certainly if he ends up in a shelter. If he’s lucky enough to make it onto the adoption row and gets adopted, his savior finds she has also adopted a quandary: Most breed specific legislation, housing regulations, and insurance companies discriminate against any dog with a “pit bull” label – possibly the reason why those mixed-breed DNA testing companies don’t designate any of the dogs they test as American Pit Bull Terriers.

– Nancy Kerns

Linda P. Case, MS, owns AutumnGold Consulting and Dog Training Center in Mahomet, Illinois. She is the author, most recently, of Beware the Straw Man (2015) and Dog Food Logic (2014), and many other books about dogs. See her blog at thesciencedog.wordpress.com.

Cited References

1. Voith VL, Trevejo R, Dowling-Guyer S, Chadik C, Marder A, Johnson V, Irizarry K. “Comparison of visual and DNA breed identification of dogs and inter-observer reliability.” American Journal of Sociological Research 2013; 3:17-29

2. Hoffman CL, Harrison N, Wolff L, Westgarty C. “Is that dog a Pit Bull? A cross-country comparison of perceptions of shelter works regarding breed identification.” Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 2014; 17:322-339

3. Olson KR, Levy JK, Borby B, Crandall MM, Broadhurst JE, Jacks S, Barton RC, Zimmerman MS. “Inconsistent identification of pit bull-type dogs by shelter staff.” The Veterinary Journal 2015; 206:197-202

4. Gunter LM, Barber RT, Wynne CDL. “What’s in a name? Effect of breed perceptions & labeling on attractiveness, adoptions & length of stay for pit-bull-type dogs.” PLoS ONE 2016; 11:e0146857.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146857

The Best Life Jackets for Dogs: Summer 2016

By
Stephanie Colman
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With summer well underway, many of us are sharing water-based activities with our dogs, at the shore or in the family pool, or on boats, kayaks, or paddleboards. If you include your dog in water activities, it’s important to take steps to ensure his safety on or near the water. The easiest way to do this is with a well-fitted, good-quality personal flotation device (PFD) for your dog.

Many people think all dogs are natural swimmers; they are not! Even though all dogs instinctively “dog paddle” when they find themselves in water, that alone won’t always keep them safe off-shore. Some dogs dislike the water and are prone to panic when they suddenly find themselves away from dry land. Dogs with significant muscle mass or very little body fat are less buoyant and have a harder time staying afloat – as do older dogs who tire easily, or arthritic dogs. Some are just poor swimmers, bobbing vertically in the water, splashing so much with their front paws that they can’t see where they are going! What about in the case of a watercraft accident, where the dog might be injured? Even athletic, accomplished swimmers can struggle in the water when fatigue unexpectedly sets in after a full day of water play.

In each of these examples, a well-fitting dog life jacket can potentially mean the difference between a day full of happy memories or a tragic ending. Fortunately, there are many dog life jackets to choose from.

A proper life jacket should be bright, making it easy to see, and should have a snug fit. If it’s too loose, it can entangle the dog or come off, or it will float above the dog while the dog bobs along in the water. If it’s too tight, it can chafe and become uncomfortable, making it unlikely the dog will enjoy wearing it. A properly fitting life jacket should not restrict the dog’s movement in or out of the water.

And, of course, a life jacket should be well made, with strong materials and an adequate amount of bouyant material. Some are more buoyant than others – an annoying variable that is not quantified by the pet life jacket makers (see shoulder box at right). But more buoyancy isn’t neccessarily better; one of the most buoyant jackets we tested is also the least stable!

Dog owners also need to consider fit and other functions and features on the vest. Do you need maximum flotation ability for a poor swimmer? A vest that won’t get too hot for a dog who will be onboard a sailboat and needs it for safety, but who won’t actually be swimming much? Are you going to go paddleboarding with your water-loving dog, and need a sturdy handle to help him climb onto the board many times in the course of a boarding/swimming trip? Think about your planned water adventures, and buy accordingly.

We gathered an assortment of canine life jackets, some made by popular manufacturers of dog gear and some made by lesser-known companies with expertise in marine activities, and put them to the test with the help of three “test dogs”: Saber, a 60-pound Golden Retriever; Linus, a 63-pound Labrador Retriever; and Hope, a 28-pound Border Collie.

dog swimming with lifejacket

Top Pick Doggy Life Jackets

Two of the canine life jackets we tried on our dogs rose to the top of the test pool, but displayed different strengths. That’s why we are naming two products as our “top picks.” One is best for athletic, accomplished swimmers; the other is best for beginning swimmers and dogs who need more help in the water.

Our top pick for athletic, accomplished swimmers is the West Marine Neoprene Pet Vest. We included this vest in our review due to its sleek design and its maker’s good reputation as a purveyor of boating-related products. A medium vest fit all three of our three athletic models, though it did need to be adjusted to its smallest dimensions to correctly fit the Border Collie.

dog in lifejacket

The vest is lightweight, flexible, and very form fitting, more like a wetsuit than a life vest. It features a covered zipper closure along the dog’s back and a quick-release buckle at the chest, with a neoprene band reinforced with nylon straps under the dog’s belly. The wide band successfully kept the life vest in place, even as our dogs ran, swam, and repeatedly leaped into the pool.

On top of the vest is a handle with a reflective stripe and a plastic leash clip. While the handle seems to be well sewn into the jacket, I wouldn’t trust the neoprene material to not tear under the stress of repeatedly using the handle to haul a dog out of the water – especially a larger dog. This would not be our pick for a product that was going to be used repeatedly to lift a dog out of the water.

West Marine’s website doesn’t mention how to properly care for the life vest, but, since it’s made of neoprene, we’d expect care considerations to be similar to that of a wetsuit: to keep the neoprene from fading or drying out, rinse well after use in saltwater or chlorine, and avoid exposing to heat or direct sunlight for extended periods of time. Also, keep in mind that neoprene holds heat, which is great for keeping a dog from getting hypothermic in cold water, but could also help a dog overheat if he were to wear the vest out of the water for too long.

The interior foam layer feels thinner and covers less surface area than the other PFDs we reviewed. This is largely what makes the vest fit so nicely, but also means it doesn’t offer as much buoyancy as some of the other products we tested. West Marine says this vest is designed to “help provide swimming endurance,” meaning that it would not be the best choice for a dog who needs significant support in the water.

That said, we were easily able to observe an increase in our slowest swimmer’s in-water body elevation when she wore this vest, compared to when she swam without a PFD. It was more difficult to observe with the harder-charging Lab and Golden, but we suspect it’s a bit like using counterbalance weights to assist with pull-ups at the gym: you’re doing most of the work, but your effort is boosted just enough to increase your endurance.

For dogs who are novice or weak swimmers, our top pick is Ruffwear’s K9 Float Coat. We tested the medium size, which easily fit Saber and Linus; however, it had to be adjusted to its smallest size to fit Hope snugly; truthfully, a small might have fit her better.

whole dog journal approved lifejackets

The Float Coat features an adjustable, telescoping chest piece and an overlapping belly panel secured by two quick-release buckles. The excess length on the straps can be folded and held in place with an attached hook-and-loop (Velcro-like) closure, eliminating the need to cut the straps to size to prevent the excess length from dangling and potentially getting caught on something. The telescoping nature of the chest piece makes it less bulky than models where the chest piece overlaps.

The handle on top of the Float Coat feels significantly sturdier than the handles on other vests. There’s also a plastic leash clip (though we’re not sure we’d trust as a sole attachment point for restraining a strong-pulling dog), and an attachment point for The Beacon, Ruffwear’s watertight LED light (sole separately). The jacket is trimmed with reflective piping.

The internal foam feels slightly thicker than the foam in most of the other models we tried. According to Ruffwear, the placement of the inner foam panels is designed to support the dog’s natural swimming position, and all three dogs appeared to maintain a natural swim stroke while wearing the vest. The floatation benefit was most visible when the dogs jumped into the water, as they clearly didn’t submerge as deeply as they did when jumping in the pool with other PFDs.

Ruffwear’s K9 Float Coat looks and feels more durable than the other life vests we tested; it’s a good choice for rugged outdoor adventures.

3-Way Tie for Second Place

We’ll call another tie for the products that we like a bit less than our top picks.

Kurgo’s Surf-n-Turf Coat looks similar to the Ruffwear K9 Float Coat but there are many differences between the two products. The top of the jacket features two sturdy handles, sewn at right angles to each other, so a person who was at any angle to the dog she was trying to fish out of the water is assured to be able to grab at least one of the handles – a thoughtful feature. There is a metal ring for attaching a leash (better than the plastic ring on the Ruffwear vest). There’s also a metal bottle opener – a fun touch that adds a whole new layer to the always enjoyable trick of teaching the dog to fetch a beer!

The Surf-n-Turf Coat is secured by two straps with quick-release buckles under the dog’s belly, and the adjustable chest piece overlaps at the dog’s chest, secured with hook-and-loop and buckled straps. It’s longer than Ruffwear’s Float Coat, so we thought it would be more buoyant. Instead, the added length caused the end of the jacket to float up in the water, away from the swimmer’s body. When the Lab swam with this jacket, his stroke seemed awkward, and he didn’t appear to ride any higher in the water.

Kurgo markets the Surf-n-Turf Coat as a life jacket and three-season shell in one. A zipper along the base of the jacket allows the removal of the inner flotation layer, turning the outer layer into a waterproof coat. Upon closer examination, the flotation layer seemed flimsy, and it suddenly made sense why, even though the Surf-n-Turf Coat is larger, overall, than the K9 Float Coat, it didn’t appear to offer improved buoyancy. The inner layer of the product we tested had several loose threads and a seam that was partially undone.

It was easier than expected to zip the flotation layer back into the jacket, but, overall, we’re not thrilled with the idea of being able to remove the potentially life-saving layer. It feels like this product is trying to be too many things at once.

We tried two different products made by budget-friendly Outward Hound: the H2Go Neoprene Life Vest and the Pupsaver Ripstop Life Jacket. Each product had strengths and weaknesses and features that may be more valuable to some users than others.

The foam in the H2Go Neoprene Life Vest is very thick. There are five foam cells in the vest: two on each side of the dog, and one that sits at the dog’s chest.

Pupsaver Ripstop Life Jacket

While the Ruffwear and Kurgo vests are designed with flaps that extend down the sides and cover the dog’s belly, the H2Go vest has only a small patch of neoprene attached to the belly straps. This little patch is important because, when properly fit, it helps anchor the vest on the dog to prevent slipping.

To properly fit this vest, one adjusts the belly straps on both sides to make sure the belly patch is centered under the dog – not coming up the side of the dog. We suspect this design element has to do with making sure the dog doesn’t get too hot – a definite consideration with any life vest, but especially one made out of neoprene, which holds heat like a wetsuit. The vest has a similar design at the dog’s chest; rather than extend the vest as a wraparound piece, the H2Go vest has 1-inch nylon straps that connect to an adjustable foam bar that is positioned in the center of the dog’s chest.

Here, again, we have concerns about the durability of a handle sewn into neoprene, when it must have the potential to hoist 85-plus pounds of wet dog out of the water. Pulling the handle on dry land just once or twice exposed stitching between the handle and the jacket. We’d like to think it would hold up in an emergency, but we suspect it would likely be a “one and done” situation. Not the end of the world, so long as the handle holds up when you really need it, but we wouldn’t select this jacket for applications where we’d need the handle to repeatedly lift a dog, as one might do when paddleboarding with a dog who likes to swim.

Buoyancy-wise, the H2Go offered a lot of visible “lift” in the water. It was almost too much for my strong-swimming dog, Saber, who naturally swims very high and horizontal in the water. At times, it almost looked like the excess lift along his body was tipping his head and chest toward the water line. This might not have been the case if the vest had more flotation material at the chest, rather than just the single bar. Dogs who tend to use their front legs more than their back legs when swimming, with their back ends more under water, might benefit from this vest the most. Seeing how well this vest lifted the bulk of my dog’s body, I can imagine it working well to help level dogs who haven’t yet developed a more efficient swim stroke.

Outward Hound’s Pupsaver Ripstop Life Jacket is similar in design to the Kurgo and Ruffwear vests, but offers a less-contoured fit, especially along the dog’s back. The Pupsaver has neoprene flaps that fully wrap around the underside of the dog, secured by both hook-and-loop fasteners and quick-release buckles. The vest’s interior foam continues in the overlapping chest piece, which is also secured with a hook-and-loop fastener and a buckle. Unique to the Pupsaver is an additional “flap” of foam that lies over the chest closure. The website describes this as a “front float,” which is designed to “keep your pup’s head above water.” This “front float,” plus the foam inserts in the chest piece, definitely gives this vest a lot of flotation material at the front end of the dog.

This vest also has two handles, a thoughtful detail to help better distribute the dog’s weight while being lifted, and to make it possible for two people to work together to lift a heavy dog, if needed. While I would question the long-term durability of the handles if used often, the ripstop nylon seemed stronger than the neoprene handles on other products.

Even when properly sized, this vest looks boxy compared to the higher-end models. It reminded us of the PFDs that are given to a person when renting a boat for a day as opposed to the type you might buy for yourself if you were a regular participant in water sports. Appearances aside, it offers nice buoyancy without appearing to over-lift the dog’s back as compared to the chest/head and seems like a fair choice if your dog needs a life jacket for occasional use.

RANK PRODUCT/PRICE/CONTACT SIZES; MEASUREMENTS
1 (tie): Ranked first for dogs with strong swimming skills. West Marine Neoprene Pet Vest
$40-43; (800) 262-8464		 Available in S-XL. Size using combination of chest, length and body weight measurements.
1 (tie): Ranked first for novice or poor swimmers. Ruffwear K-9 Float Coat
$79; (888) 783-3932		 Available in XXS-XL. Size using chest measurement.
2 (tie) Kurgo Surf-n-Turf Coat
$35-$60; (877) 847-3868		 Available in XS-XL. Size using combination of chest, length and neck measurements.
Outward Hound H2Go Neoprene Life Vest  $21-$30; (800) 477-5735 Available in XS-XL. Size using combination chest, length, and neck measurements and body weight.
Outward Hound PupSaver Ripstop Life Jacket
$17-$26; (800) 477-5735		 Available in XS-XL. Size based on body weight.
Not recommended Kong Sport Aqua Float Dog Flotation Vest
$29-$50; (818) 717-1116		 Available in XXS-XL.  Size based on chest measurement.
MTI UnderDog Pet Life Jacket
$42-$60; (800) 783-4684		 Available in XS-XL. Size based on body weight.

Not Recommended

We wouldn’t recommend buying either of the final two products we tested.

dog swimming with lifejacket

0)]

The overall design of the Kong Sport Aqua Float Dog Flotation Vest is almost identical to the Outward Hound Pupsaver Ripstop vest. However, on closer examination, its features appear to be of lesser quality. For example, the quick-release buckles that secure the belly flap are unnecessarily large in size, yet feel somewhat flimsy when in use. The buckle securing the chest piece was smaller, but the nylon strap kept slipping (negating the correct fit) when very little pressure was applied.

The Kong Sport Aqua Float vest covered the most surface area on the dog of any of the vests, and it has the widest belly flap. The extra width of the belly flap meant we really had to cinch it in on the narrow waist of our athletic Lab. Our model, Linus, was at the bottom of size range for the large vest; it’s possible a medium vest might have fit better. Still, it seems like the design of this vest would better accommodate an overall wider dog with a less-defined waist.

The bigger issue is this vest’s lack of flotation support. Even though the product itself is bigger and covers more surface area on the dog, the interior foam feels thinner, and we didn’t notice any obvious support from the jacket as our dog moved through the water.

But the performance of the last vest we tested was potentially far worse. We were actually really excited about trying the MTI UnderDog Pet Life Jacket, because, unlike just about every other pet life jacket, with flotation support located on the top of the jacket, the UnderDog is designed with the flotation material underneath the dog. According to the company’s website, “by moving 90 percent of the effective buoyancy under the chest and neck, the vest is designed to allow a more natural swim angle with the hind legs lower than the front.”

While this might be a common swim angle among dogs who aren’t as comfortable in the water, or who aren’t as skilled in their natural swim technique, I disagree that it’s more “natural” for dogs to swim with their hind legs lower than the front. In my experience, the ideal, efficient swim technique is one that keeps the dog’s body fairly horizontal in the water. Still, a jacket designed to focus on lifting the dog’s front end seems to make sense from a safety perspective.

And so, the design of this vest is opposite that of the other products we’ve described. A mesh panel stretches across the dog’s back, securing the flotation cells underneath the dog, and is secured with hook-and-loop fasteners and plastic quick-release buckles. Another mesh piece extends from under the dog toward his neck, where a thick foam-filled “collar” snaps into place. This vest has, by far, the thickest foam of any of the vest we tried. The foam on the body portion of the vest is 1½”, and the foam in the neck piece is ¾”. With this much sturdy foam, we expected our experienced swimmers to practically walk on water!

Unfortunately, that amount of flotation material makes the vest extremely boxy, and challenging to achieve and maintain a snug fit. We were surprised by how tight we had to adjust the vest to keep it in place underneath the dog’s chest. It’s hard to imagine such a fit being comfortable, even though the under-body flotation did cause Saber to swim noticeably higher in the water.

The real problems started after a short amount of calm swim time. Despite the tight fit at the start, the vest still managed to slide toward Saber’s waist. A difference of only a couple of inches appeared to cause Saber to float almost uncontrollably! In that position, the body of the vest seemed to dramatically counteract his natural movements. If his weight shifted to the left (for example, when turning to go after a toy), the buoyancy threw him to the right; he’d try to counter the shift, which instantly left him fish-tailing like a big rig truck about to jackknife on the highway!

We’re perfectly willing to accept that we might not have achieved the perfect fit with this jacket. It felt snug and looked correct on dry land, but maybe the fit was still off? Also, we wonder if this jacket would do better to support a wider dog? Our test dog is lean and narrow, which meant the vest fit underneath him at a more pronounced angle. On a heavier, more log-shaped dog, the angle would open up, potentially creating greater stability/less overall shift in the water. We’re still intrigued by the design, but, having seen better results with other products, we would not recommend the UnderDog at this time.

Stephanie Colman is a writer and dog trainer in Los Angeles.

The 10 Most Important Things to Teach A Puppy

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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14

I don’t care what breed or mix of breeds you’re talking about, puppies are inarguably, impossibly and adorably cute. You have to be pretty hardhearted and cold or otherwise emotionally damaged not to get gushy over baby dogs, with their innocent faces, sweet puppy breath, satiny ears, and soft pink paw pads. It’s no wonder that people adopt or purchase them, take them home, and then all too often don’t know how to properly care for them.

It shouldn’t surprise me but it does, still, that there are far too many people out there who don’t seem to have a clue about how to properly raise a puppy. Whole Dog Journal readers are not likely to fall into the “completely clueless” category, but in case you haven’t had a puppy for a while – or ever – and recently adopted or are thinking of adopting, here’s a refresher course for you on the topic of the 10 most important things you should teach your puppy.

1. Socialize Your Puppy to Many Situations

If you teach her nothing else, teach your puppy that the world is a safe and happy place. The formal name for this process is “socialization,” and it means taking your puppy lots of places, exposing her to different sights, sounds, surfaces, humans and other animals, and making sure she’s having a good time while doing so. You want to give her a positive classical association with the world and all things she’s likely to encounter in her dog life. Lots of people understand the part about taking their puppy lots of different places for socialization. They sometimes miss the critically important part: making sure the puppy has a good time.

The primary socialization window is alarmingly small – from three to four weeks to about 13 to 14 weeks. If you get your pup at age eight weeks, half that period is already gone – so hopefully the owner of the pup’s mother has already laid a good socialization foundation. Now it’s your turn.

Take your puppy to safe places where you can control the environment to a reasonable degree. Loud parties and crowded street fairs are not a good idea. Small social gatherings, controlled groups of children, and well-run force-free puppy classes are. Find businesses that welcome pets (many hardware stores and outdoor cafes are pet-friendly) and take her shopping with you (but don’t leave her in a hot car!).

If she seems fearful at any time, move her away from the fear-causing stimulus, let her observe from a safe distance, and feed high-value treats to help her have a good association with the thing, whatever it is. Then make a mental note (or keep a written list!) of things you want to help her become more comfortable with by doing focused counter-conditioning sessions.

For more information, see “Properly Socializing Your Puppy.”

2. Prevent Separation Anxiety by Leaving Your Puppy Alone

Dogs are social animals. In a world not controlled by humans, our dogs would spend most of their time in the company of others. Feral dog populations show us that, while not a true pack in the “wolf” sense of the world, wild dogs tend to exist in loose-knit social groups and do choose to be in the company of others of their own kind. In contrast, in our world, a significant population of canines are “only dogs” and are left home alone for eight to 10 hours or even longer. The incidence of separation and isolation anxiety behaviors (SA and IA) in our canine companions is sad testimony to this.

To avoid inducing SA or IA in your pup, introduce her to “aloneness” gradually. Include crate or exercise-pen training during this process so she can be left safely confined while you are away. Plan to take at least a few days off work after your pup arrives so you can help her get accustomed to longer and longer periods alone. Play with her first so she’s tired, then put her in her crate or pen, give her a food-stuffed Kong or other yummy chew, and sit nearby, reading or working on your computer. Slowly increase your distance from her and the length of time you leave her alone, until she is calm and relaxed on her own.

See “7 Separation Anxiety Myths,” and “Relieving a Dog’s Separation Anxiety.”

3. Housetrain Your Puppy to Relieve Himself in Designated Places and/or Times

Once known as “housebreaking” – “housetraining” is a better term; what were we “breaking” anyway?! – the process of teaching your pup to eliminate where you want her to go is critically important. The process is very simple – but not always easy. Successful housetraining requires ultra-management: You simply never give your pup the opportunity to go to the bathroom anywhere other than the desired place(s).

Leashes, tethers, crates, baby gates, exercise pens, and eagle-eye supervision all come into play as your pup learns that “outdoors = bathroom” (or, for those who choose to teach their dogs to eliminate indoors, bathroom = pee pads or a sod box). The key is to take your pup to her potty spot more often than she has to go, and reinforce her when she “does her business.” At first take her out every hour on the hour, then gradually increase the length of time between bathroom trips.

It’s also a good idea to encourage her to go on different surfaces. Dogs develop “substrate preferences.” If you have her go only on grass you may find that she won’t go on gravel or dirt on those occasions when grass isn’t available.

After she goes, play with her for a bit; if she discovers that elimination makes the outdoor fun stop, she may learn to “hold it” as long as possible to prolong her outside time or interaction with you.

When you are sure she is empty, and after a bit of play, you can bring her back inside and give her some relative house freedom for 15-20 minutes, then put her back under your direct supervision or confinement until the next scheduled potty trip. As she comes to understand the concept of pottying outside, you can increase the length of time she gets post-potty house freedom.

In addition to her regular bathroom breaks, keep in mind that puppies usually need to eliminate not long after eating, and after any strenuous play sessions.

If you do catch her making a mistake, give her a cheerful, “Oops! Outside!” and escort her out to finish there. If you react strongly with a loud “No, bad dog!!” you may teach her that it’s not safe to go where you can see her, and she’ll learn to go to the back bedroom or behind the couch to poop and pee. Punishing accidents may also result in a dog who is reluctant to eliminate for you on leash, for fear that you will punish her. Just don’t.

See “How to Train Your Dog to Go to the Bathroom Outside.”

4. Let Your Puppy Chew Only on Designated Chew Objects

Just as dogs develop substrate preferences, they also develop preferences for certain things to chew on. If you manage your pup’s environment (with tethers, leashes, baby gates, exercise pens, and direct supervision) so she has opportunity to chew on only “legal” chew objects, you will be able to give her house freedom much sooner, with much more confidence that your valuables are safe.

Different dogs like different kinds of chews, so provide her with a wide variety of chewable items until you find what she likes. Remember that a dog’s need to chew goes far beyond puppyhood, so keep those chew objects handy throughout her life.

My general rule of thumb is that my dogs don’t get house freedom until they are at least a year old, and then only for short periods of time until I know that I can trust them not to chew.

See “How to Stop Your Dog from Eating All Your Shoes.”

5. A Positive Training Foundation Means an Obedient Dog

When force-free training was new to the dog world, 20 years or so ago, positive trainers had to endure a little (or a lot) of criticism about using treats for training. Now that positive training has come into its own, bolstered by studies that indicate that force-free training is faster and more effective than old-fashioned force-based methods, there is no need to be stingy with or defensive about food rewards.

I always have cookies in my pockets so I can always use treats to reinforce my dogs when the opportunity presents itself. Remember that all living creatures repeat behaviors that are reinforced. We all want to make good stuff happen! If you are good at reinforcing the behaviors you want, and making sure your pup doesn’t get reinforced for behaviors you don’t want (there’s that “management” thing again), your pup will spend lots of time trying to figure out what she needs to do to get you to give her treats. That’s a good thing.

See “Building a Strong Positive Training Foundation,” “Keep Dog Training Fun and Playful,” and “Dog Training Using Positive Techniques.”

puppy sitting nicely

6. Show Your Puppy It’s Fun to Learn New Things

Today’s skilled trainer knows that it’s important to make the whole training process fun for your pup. Along with treats, we want to incorporate happy voices, toys, and play as part of the training process. When you are selecting a training professional to work with you and your pup, either in private training or group classes, make sure you find one who is on board with the force-free, fun approach to training. Your pup’s eyes should light up with joy when you tell her it’s training time!

See “Fun Dog Activities.”

7. Teach Your Puppy a Fast Recall

Recalls (coming when called) may just be the single most important behavior you can teach your dog. A dog who has a solid recall can be given more freedom to run and play in areas where dogs are allowed off leash. Dogs who get to run and play are generally much healthier, both physically and mentally, and much easier to live with, as they can burn off excess energy by running around. A tired dog is a happy owner!

Use a recall cue that always means “good stuff” – such as a chance to play with a highly coveted toy or high-value treats – and never call your dog to you to do something she doesn’t love, like giving a pill, treating ears, or putting her in her crate. Certainly never call her to you and then punish or even just scold her. You never know; a solid recall might just save your dog’s life someday.

Unlike old-fashioned training, where you face your dog, command her to come, and jerk on the leash if she doesn’t, today’s positive trainer teaches the recall as another fun game to play with humans. I teach a “Run Away Come” by calling the dog and then running away fast, so the dog comes galloping and romping after her human, and gets to party with treats and/or toys when she catches up. The dog learns that “Come!” is an irresistible invitation to play the chase game.

See “Rocket Recall,” and “Training Your Dog to Execute an Extremely Fast Recall.”

8. Help Your Dog Associate Human Touch with Love

Our dogs have to put up with a lot of human touching throughout their lives, and they don’t always like it so much. You can hardly blame them; a lot of the touch is unpleasant, and combined with forced restraint and pain.

You can make life a lot easier for your dog if you teach her as a pup that human touch makes good stuff happen (basic classical conditioning), and minimizing restraint to that which is only absolutely necessary. There is a new movement in the veterinary world to use low-stress handling techniques, so dogs don’t have to be forcibly restrained for routine exams, blood draws, and vaccinations.

Begin by pairing non-invasive touches to your puppy with tasty treats; start somewhere non-threatening, perhaps with a touch to the side of her neck. Touch-treat. Touch-treat. Look for her eyes to light up when you touch her, and her head to swivel toward your treat hand. This is a “conditioned emotional response” (CER); it tells you she understands that the touch makes treats happen.

When this happens consistently, move your touch to other parts of her body that she might be less comfortable with: her ears, paws, or under her chest or belly. Make sure you get the CER at each new spot before proceeding any further. If she actively pulls away from you, you have proceeded too quickly; back up and go more slowly.

This process is invaluable, and will help you with everything from nail trimming to grooming to treating injuries.

See “Step-By-Step Training for Your Dog’s Next Vet Visit,” and “Force-Free Nail Trimming Techniques.”

9. Condition Your Puppy to Enjoy Car Rides

It’s very sad when a dog doesn’t ride well in cars. It limits our ability and willingness to take her places, and makes it very not-fun when we do! Fortunately, you can teach your pup that the car is a wonderful place, and set her up to love going places with you for the rest of her life.

Part of the problem is that for many pups, that first car ride is very traumatic. It may be the first time she’s separated from her mom and littermates, and the stress of the separation and movement of the car can cause her to get carsick. Bingo! She now associates the car with stress and vomiting. If possible, ask your pup’s breeder to give her some short car rides with some of her siblings so she has a better association with the event. You can also request that the breeder, shelter, or rescue group not feed your pup for a few hours prior to your scheduled pick-up, to reduce the likelihood of carsickness.

If it’s too late for all that, your next best bet is to work to change your pup’s already negative association with the car. Start by sitting in the car with her; don’t even turn on the engine. Give her yummy chew toys, play some training games with her – make the car a fun place to be.

When she’s happy about just being in the car (this may take several sessions; take your time!), turn the engine on and repeat the fun-and-games process, without driving anywhere. Then, with a helper doing the driving for you, continue to play car games while the car moves a very short distance. At the end of the ride, take her out of the car and do fun stuff with her, then put her back in the car and travel another short distance. Gradually have your driver take you longer distances, with fun stuff happening at every destination. In time, your “Want to go for a ride?” query will be met with happy wags and a dog who voluntarily hops in the car in anticipation of fun stuff.

If you have a dog who gets carsick even after all that, try giving her a ginger snap or two before the ride, and/or ask your vet for medication that will help calm her stomach.

See “What to Do if Your Dog Gets Motion Sickness,” and “Dogs Riding Safely and Calmly in Cars.”

10. Reinforce Your Puppy’s Trust

After her puppy socialization, this could be the most important thing you teach and affirm to your dog throughout her life. You have an obligation to be your dog’s advocate, and not allow anyone, no matter who they are, to do things to her that go against your gut instincts about how she should be treated.

If you are committed to force-free, fear-free, and pain-free handling and training, don’t ever let anyone talk you into treating her badly. No leash jerks, no collar shocks, no alpha rolls. Ever. Stick to your guns; there is always another way. If your animal care and/or training professional insists that the use of pain or force is necessary, find another one. There are plenty of professionals out there who will support and respect your wishes when it comes to handling your dog. She cannot speak for herself; she is counting on you to speak for her.

See “Reinforcing Your Dog’s Training Throughout His Lifetime,” and “Less Stressful Vet Visits.”

It’s Worth It

These lessons sound like a lot of work. Well, puppies are a lot of work. Fortunately, because they are so danged cute, there are plenty of humans who are willing to do the puppy stuff. If you are one of them, make sure you do it right, so your pup will grow up to be the dog you hope for and keep for the rest of her life in your loving home.

Author Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. She and her husband Paul live in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center.

Download the Full July 2016 Issue PDF

By
Nancy Kerns
-
1
Prior to the development of DNA testing, the only method available for identifying the breed of a dog whose heritage was unknown was visual assessment. A shelter worker, veterinarian, or animal control officer examines the dog and assigns a breed designation based upon physical appearance and conformation. Even with widespread availability of DNA tests, most shelters and rescue groups continue to rely upon visual identification to assign breed labels to the dogs in their care. Given the life or death import of these decisions for some dogs, it is odd that the question of the reliability of these evaluations has not been questioned.
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Fun and Useful Unconventional Cues and Behaviors

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

WDJ Training Editor Pat Miller wrote an article for the June issue of WDJ about unconventional or unintentional cues – things that people taught their dogs that are far from the ordinary sit, down, stay-sort of behaviors. In the article, she and other trainers describe how they taught their dogs things such as locating a pile of poop that needs to be picked up, standing in a certain place and a certain pose that’s convenient for grooming, and coming when it’s time to take a daily medication. My favorite was, “You’re not going!” – which is what Pat taught her Kelpie, Kai, to indicate he shouldn’t get excited about going for a car ride, because he’s not invited on that impending trip.

Pat asked readers to send in descriptions of the unconventional cues and behaviors they had taught their dogs. I’m going to post some over the next couple of weeks; we’re getting a lot, thanks! You guys are an unconventional bunch, apparently! And Pat will be selecting one – perhaps by random, because there are so many great ones to choose from! – to win a prize.

I’m going to share my own secret cue – which is a behavior many people teach their dogs, but is particularly useful to me. Many trainers teach their dogs “Look at me” so their dogs will watch them for the next cue. I use “Look here” with my dog, Otto, when I need him to look at me so I can get a good photo for the magazine!

Here are the first few submissions from readers:

Diana Liebich:

While reading WDJ in bed before going to sleep, my two dogs think this is a good time for pets and cuddling.  I tell them, “Shhhh,” and they curl up and settle down.

I have a special spot in my heart for that one!

Julie Thomaa:

I just read the article on Unconventional or Unintentional Cues and would like to share a few I’ve used for my dogs.

1. I often teach my dogs, “Out!” after I had unintentionally gotten them to leave the room by yelling out. Now I teach it and generalize it to mean leave the room we are in at the moment. It’s very useful in the kitchen when they get under foot while I’m cooking. It’s especially useful when a glass breaks on the floor. I know they’ll leave immediately and don’t have to worry about paws stepping in glass.

2. When my Sheltie was recovering from a broken elbow- which couldn’t be casted, I had a lot of trouble with him anticipating being picked up. After a scary incident with the dog walker when he anticipated and jumped before she was ready, I put a command to it – “Up!”  He learned over time to turn his rear toward me & wait for the “Up!” command to lift up for my arms. 

I also use “out!” with my dogs at home. It’s also great for keeping a clean floor temporarily clean.

Candace Liddy:

Here are some words and phrases we use:

1) We live in the country and have a very large fenced area for the dogs but dirt, mud, and grass are normal after romps. However during the winter or when it rains, they can get pretty grungy. I have arthritis so cleaning up large dogs each time they come in was a chore. I laid several soft mats in the front hall and when the dogs come in dirty or wet we say “Muddy Dog ” and they promptly go lay on the mats. They stay on them until they are dry. We taught this by asking the dog to lay on the mats and giving them a treat. If they leave before they should we just put them back with no treat but still give the cue. Doesn’t take them long to figure it out. The time spent on the mat was lengthened until they can stay  there indefinitely.  

2) Our driveway is close to 300 feet long and the daily newspaper is tossed at the end in a plastic bag. Going up each day, in bad weather or winter was not fun, so we taught our latest dog to “Get the Paper.” We started with a newspaper in the plastic bag and rewarded him each time he put his nose on it. Then we went to actually having him hold it  and finally tossing it on the floor with the cue. Eventually we could throw it far away and he would get it. Now he roars up the drive and roars back with the paper and loves his “job.”

3) When we leave the house and everyone is excited to possibly go along we say “Sorry” and they know this is not their trip and relax. 

4) We also taught them to run to the front door and bark if we ask “Who’s here?”

 
5) Several of our dogs learned to bring groceries into the house after we had shopped. It started with their curiosity about what we had purchased and they would greet us at the car door and check out the bags. We started giving them something simple like a can or box and told them to “Take it in the kitchen.” They would follow us in and were asked to drop it on the floor and then we would go out and repeat with other items until all the groceries were inside. Now we just hand our dog an item and he runs right in and comes back for more. One of our past dogs, Zeke, was so terrific at this, we experimented with the kinds of things he would take in. He could grab a plastic gallon of milk by the handle very gently so as not to puncture it and take that in. Five-pound bags of potatoes, loaves of bread, and, yes, even meat packages were safely carried in!

 
We also use “enough” and “go lie down” all the time so it was fun to see others use those words too!

I may have to put “Who’s there?” into place at home, especially when I see solicitors approaching the door!

Jim Dilda:

Bessy, our first Bernese Mountain Dog, lived with us in an apartment at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.  The woman in the end unit took meticulous care of the yard immediately adjacent to the building. Even if we “bagged” meticulously, we were alerted by our neighbors not to dare allow Bessy to poop anywhere near the building.

 Sometimes it required a mad dash, but we taught her that she couldn’t stop until we had gone “All the way” to the edge of the yard, near the woods.

That cue stuck with us through moves to California and North Carolina, even when Bessy was off leash in her own backyard.  If we said, “All the way,” she kept moving until she reached a safe area and we gave her the cue, “Find a spot,” at which time she took care of business.

Our current dog, Sadie, is the third Berner we have taught that cue. It’s especially helpful if we’re out in public – with or without a plastic bag – and need her to hold off until we can find someplace discreet. 

Love it! Does anyone know if service-dog trainers teach some sort of cue for “you may not pee or poop now”?  Or is that behavior just expected? I like the cue for “not here, not now, but over there is ok!”

We’ll be posting a lot more of these in the coming days. Remember, you have until June 15 to send us your description of a useful or fun unconventional or unintentional cue and behavior. Send to WDJEDitor@gmail.com.

 

 

Keep stickers out of sniffers (and every other part of the body)

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

We’re well into foxtail season in California. “Foxtails” are what people call any number of grasses that have bushy spikelets that look like a fox’s tail, but the most common culprit in my home state is Hordeum murinum. This grass is a ubiquitous volunteer in the rainy months, springing up anywhere and everywhere, including cracks in sidewalks, the edges of roads, alongside trails, and in pastures. It could even be called pretty, especially as it develops its distinctive, thick foxtail spikelets, and these turn a sun-brushed tan color as warm weather dries the grass and the state turns summer brown.

Even one single “foxtail” contains enough material to make a whole kennel full of dogs miserable. Each “tail” is made up of dozens of hard, pointed seeds, each trailing an individual filament that is studded from tip to tail with microscopic barbs set in the same direction. Anything touched by the filament pushes the filament in the direction of its pointed seed. Even when the grass is green and you pick a tender foxtail, you can feel the microscopic barbs; it’s like rubbing a rasp – your finger can slide along their length in only one direction. If you try to stroke them in the opposite direction, the filament catches, bends, and breaks. And when the plant dries out, the barbs become even stiffer and more resistant, and the “foxtail” starts to come apart, with every seed in the “tail” springing away if the plant is touched.

Foxtail

If you walk through dried foxtail grass wearing sneakers, you will quickly experience the problem; the sharp seeds get lodged in the fabric, and every step you take pushes the seed head deeper, through the fabric of your shoe, then your sock, and into your flesh (if you are able to ignore it and keep walking).

Dogs don’t wear sneakers, but they are prone to getting the seeds in their noses, ears, eyes, between their toes, in their vaginas, urethras – anywhere there is an opening. If the dog’s coat is matted or curly, the foxtails will enter the mat or curl, and then start to dig into the skin.  The seed heads are so hard, they resist bacterial breakdown, even if they have managed to get imbedded under the dog’s skin. They can travel great distances in the dog’s body; you hear about foxtails that went into the skin between the dog’s toes, and weeks or months later, caused a pulmonary embolism when they emerged into a lung. But it doesn’t take weeks or even days to know when your dog has gotten one lodged in his eye, ear, or nose. The results are dramatic.

I pull up, by hand, as many of the plants on my property as I can, but there are far more than I can get each year. My husband and I also use a mower with a bag that catches most of the mowed grass, and that helps to reduce the number of dried foxtails that my dogs will have the opportunity to sniff up or sit on or roll around on.  My husband didn’t always appreciate my near-hysterical objection to the use of his preferred tool, the weed-eater, but, with enough time, he observed the result – essentially, helping the foxtails broadcast themselves over a wider area. If I could, I’d take a flamethrower to each plant I see, but the only practical way to reduce their numbers is to carefully pull the plants up by hand, capturing each and every “foxtail,” and disposing of them (we have green waste cans that get hauled off by the city; people say they can resist composting, and I wouldn’t even try it). 

My son spent a couple nights in town last week, before leaving his coonhound Cole to stay with me for a few days while he traveled with his team over the long weekend for his sport. On his second day in town, as we were standing in front of my house and I was introducing him to a friend who had stopped by, Cole managed to sniff a foxtail into his nose. Right in front of us. Within about three seconds of walking out the front door and sniffing. You generally know exactly when it happens; the dog sneezes repeatedly, violently, and then pauses, with his nose all twitching and crimpled on one side, or he starts rubbing it violently with a paw or front leg. Cole did all that.

I bid my friend a hasty farewell and called my vet; the clinic was jammed and I couldn’t get an appointment until the next day. So we ended up taking Cole to the urgent care clinic a town away. Time is of the essence with foxtails in the nose. Sometimes the seed can go in the nose, but travel just the right way so that it ends up being swallowed, no major harm done. That is, I HEAR that can happen; it’s never happened to a dog of mine! You also hear that the seed can travel in such a way as to enter the dog’s brain and kill him. Thankfully, that’s never happened to a dog of mine, either, because I rush them all to the vet when I hear that distinctive, violent sneezing.

Foxtail removed from dog's nose

While you can sometimes remove a foxtail from a dog’s ear or other body part with tactful restraint, noses are too sensitive and the “nasal turbinates” too complex to visualize simply. The vets administer a sedative, so the dog is completely unconscious before they try to insert a long otoscope into the dog’s nose.  When they see the filament of a foxtail, they use forceps to grab and remove it. It can be tricky, because the “foxtail” can come apart and the vet may have to go in several times to get all the pieces. After the foxtail is removed, a reversal drug is given to the dog, and he can go home generally within an hour. The charge for Cole’s nasal foxtail removal: $400.

We were lucky. While we waited for our turn in the waiting area, another black dog came in with her owner, who said he was also there for a foxtail in his dog’s nose . . . for the third time in two weeks. Ouch.

Once in the exam room, the vet confirmed that she has seen practically nothing BUT dogs with foxtails for the past few weeks. Something about the heavy rain we got after years of drought, maybe.

This seems like the perfect time to remind people about the only thing I’m aware of that can keep foxtails out of a dog’s nose, ears, and eyes: the Outfox Field Guard – essentially a mesh bag that the dog wears over his head on walks or when out in his yard during the height of the foxtail season. Despite the funny look of the thing, dogs don’t seem to mind wearing them, and they can see, breathe, pant, drink, and even carry toys while wearing them. They can’t take treats, though, and the dog’s paws (and other body parts) are still vulnerable. But the grass awns can get into the most common and very sensitive parts of the dog’s body. See outfoxfordogs.com for purchasing info. Scenthounds like Cole may be best off rocking one all summer!

Wish us luck in getting through this summer with no further grass attacks.

 

Too Busy to Write

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

As I mentioned last week, I’m fostering a very skinny Great Dane mama dog and her 11 puppies. After this litter is healthy and ready for spay/neuter and adoption, I’m going to take a little break from fostering for a while, even if I have to block the phone number of my local shelter. This is a lot more work than anything I’ve taken on before.

(I’m kidding about blocking the shelter’s number, of course. I couldn’t be more grateful for the very hard work they do for the animals in this community, year-round, whether they are exhausted or not, broke or not. The hard-working employees don’t slack off because they are tired of the animals’ needs, or because the animals have cost them a lot lately. I have a choice, and I feel privileged to be trusted and able to help when I can.)

This mama was picked up as a stray by a county animal control officer on a Monday. It was obvious mama had puppies somewhere, but where? On Friday, the shelter got a call from the person with all the puppies whose mother was missing. He saw her photo on the shelter website, and called to say that the shelter had his dog, but he didn’t want her OR the puppies, who were now – obviously – in a lot of distress. This is not out of the ordinary behavior, in my area. When I moved here, in the upper Sacramento Valley, about 10 years ago, it felt like I had moved back to the 1960s, at least in terms of typical dog-keeping practices. Spay/neuter rates are low, lots of dogs live outdoors (some on chains) 24/7, wandering/loose dogs are super common – and lots of people seemingly never think to go look for or recover their dogs from the shelter.

Anyway, the first week I had the mom and her puppies, she LOST five pounds, despite the fact that I had a high-quality kibble in front of her all day and night, and was feeding her about four cans of food a day, and letting her drink any puppy formula that I made that the puppies didn’t drink. And some of the puppies were doing way better than some of the other puppies. Two in particular refused to try any supplemental food of any kind, and weighed more than a pound less than their littermates. So I separated the six fat ones from the five skinny ones, and put the skinny ones with mama. She was far more able to feed five than 11, and has since gained back those five pounds and a few more.

One of the fat pups started to drop weight in the pen when he was cut off from Mama, so he went back to the skinny group. There is another puppy that is the fattest of the skinny ones, who I tried in the fat pup group, but he, too, started to sink, so now Mama is nursing six and still holding her own.

The fattest five are doing well and seem stable, so this week, I’m going to send them to a friend’s house. My good friend Leonora, who took on a litter of six tiny Chihuahua/terrier-mixes in November (and foster-failed the littlest one), and took half of the litter of the nine Cattle Dog/pit-mix puppies that I fostered in February, is going to take on the fat group for a few weeks. That will help immensely. Keeping not one but TWO puppy environments clean, and feeding two groups with very different appetites, is, as I said before, a lot of work. It would be one thing if I had a purpose-built environment for doing this – and maybe someday I will! – but my efforts are centered around exercise pens and a portable kennel and a lot of shavings; it’s not perfect by any means. But it’s not a damp concrete pen surrounded by barking dogs at the shelter, either.

It may sound nutty, but this week, the addition of one more dog lessens my stress, rather than adds to it. Cole, my grand-dog, is staying with me for a week while my son travels across the country for his sport. Cole has grown into such a lovely young adult dog, gentle and well-mannered – AND still young enough that he is willing to play with Woody, my now-six-month-old puppy. Neither of my eight-year-old dogs will play with Woody for even a minute, so Cole’s playfulness is a valued commodity. Plus, Cole is already teaching Woody when enough is enough, a terribly important thing for adolescent dogs who are going to mature into big, strong dogs to know and accept. He’s worth his weight in gold to me right now.

By the way, thanks for all your comments and discussion on the last blog, about pediatric spay/neuter and shelter adoption. As more than one person said, there is no single right answer to the pet overpopulation problem; I hope that the combined and different efforts of the people who care about such things and are working to help dogs will keep the tide turning until no so-called adoptable dogs are euthanized anywhere in this country, ever.

 

29 Dog Breeds Predisposed to Hypothyroidism

By
Nancy Kerns
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2

More than 70 percent of the 140 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club recognize hypothyroidism as a major health concern. Below is a list, in order, of the top 30 breeds most affected, according to Michigan State University. Remember, however, that breed alone should not rule out hypothyroidism as a possible diagnosis. Dogs of all breeds can be affected.

1. English Setter

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

2. Polish Lowland Sheepdog (PON)

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

3. Havanese

Wiki Creative Commons

4. Old English Sheepdog

Solipsist | Wiki Creative Commons

5. Boxer

Pedro Ribeiro Simoes | Wiki Creative Commons

6. American Pit Bull Terrier

Steph Skardal | Wiki Creative Commons

7. German Wirehaired Pointer

Sheltieboy | Wiki Creative Commons

8. Tibetan Terrier

Mr407SW | Wiki Creative Commons

9. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

Malgorzata Korbel | Wiki Creative Commons

10. English Pointer

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

0)]

11. Maltese

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

1)]

12. Beagle

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

2)]

13. Dalmatian

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

3)]

14. Giant Schnauzer

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

4)]

15. Cocker Spaniel

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

5)]

16. Kuvasz

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

6)]

17. Rhodesian Ridgeback

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

7)]

18. Walker Hound

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

8)]

19. American Staffordshire Terrier

Angela | Wiki Creative Commons

9)]

20. Welsh Springer Spaniel

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

0)]

21. Golden Retriever

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

1)]

22. Malamute

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

2)]

23. Shetland Sheepdog

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

3)]

24. Chesapeake Bay Retriever

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

4)]

25. Irish Setter

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

5)]

26. Brittany Spaniel

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

6)]

27. Siberian Husky

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

7)]

28. English Cocker Spaniel

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

8)]

29. Gordon Setter

Franciszek Vetulani | Wiki Creative Commons

9)]

Why I Am Not Against Spay/Neuter

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

On April 1, I was at the shelter, dealing with some paperwork aftermath of a bat encounter with my cat, when one of the front desk people asked me, “Are you going to take the puppies we got yesterday?” Keep in mind, the last of the nine cattle dog/pit-mix puppies I had fostered from about three weeks of age to 12 weeks had just gotten adopted. So I was like, “Naw, I think I’m going to take a little break.” But then of course I asked, “What kind are they?”

So I went to look at them, back in the isolation section of the shelter. It’s such a misnomer. It’s the most crowded, loud, stinky part of the shelter, because it’s where all the dogs from the unincorporated areas in my county are initially held when they are picked up as stray, or brought in as purported stray, or surrendered by their owners. Also held here are dogs from my town in identical situations, and dogs from two outlying Native American reservations. If they go some days (sometimes weeks) without being claimed, and they are judged as adoptable, and they have recovered from the inevitable kennel cough that is always present at the facility, in waxing and waning amounts, the lucky ones get moved into a second part of the building, the adoption kennels.

One look and of course I said I’d take the puppies: seven pups, about four weeks of age, that looked like German Shepherd/hound mixes, with maybe an Akita thrown in for good measure. Two had fluffy coats – a disaster in a shelter pen, where dogs and especially puppies are going to be wet for a good part of every day; there is no way to keep a crowded concrete kennel clean without hoses, and with seven pups in one pen, a certain amount of walking through each other’s poop and pee is expected.

We had some ups and downs. For the first week, the pups were really missing their mom, and didn’t want to eat anything I had to offer, and I offered them EVERYTHING: puppy formula of course, but also various types of canned food, soaked dry food, rehydrated dehydrated food, and tons of things from the fridge. My sister roasted a chicken and brought broth, and then rice she made with the broth, and the chicken itself. It took a while, and a lot of incredulous looks from my crew of dogs, who enjoyed a lot of rejected puppy food, but eventually they all started eating, and finally gaining weight, strength, and health. And they went back to the shelter, and were altered. Five were adopted within days – two to two different friends of a person who adopted one of my six foster pups from LAST summer!! – but I held two back from shelter placement, hoping to find homes for them with someone I knew personally.

I fell in love with these two, and had prospective homes for them: one with a friend who has a four-year-old daughter, and one with my trainer friend Sarah Richardson, who has an excellent training business (The Canine Connection) in the next town over from me.

As it turned out, neither home worked out, and both puppies found perfect homes anyway. My friend’s daughter, though she talks a lot about dogs, seemed indifferent to both the puppies and to my own friendly dogs. She meowed a lot, though; Dad, I think she’s trying to tell you something! And Sarah decided that now is not the time for a puppy.  This past year, she’s lost two of her senior dogs, but felt an addition to her pack now is not right. Instead, she endorsed the puppies on her Facebook page, and within days, had found them both really amazing, perfect homes with former clients.

But her photos and discussion of the pups initiated one comment that jolted me – just as it has jolted me every time I’ve mentioned in this blog the pups that I’ve been fostering, pretty much nonstop since November. When I’ve discussed raising the pups until they are big enough and strong enough to return to the shelter for spay/neuter surgery, so they can be adopted, someone ALWAYS says, “What a shame they have to be altered so early, it’s so bad for their health.” Sometimes, the person adds, “Shame on WDJ for promoting this.”

Occasionally, I explain that this page is a blog post: a place where I can have personal discussions and ask for personal reflections and opinions from other dog owners. It’s not a Whole Dog Journal “article,” which would offer facts about practices like the pros and cons of pediatric spay/neuter. We did that article in the magazine in 2013: “Risks and Benefits to Spaying/Neutering Your Dog“.

My personal opinion is this: Yes, it’s absolutely healthier for any individual animal to be intact, not altered, particularly at such an early age. It’s not ideal. But neither is the fact that my shelter ends up with so many damn puppies in the first place. But state law (here in California, anyway) requires that all dogs and cats that are adopted from a shelter are altered. While some rescues might have the means to foster puppies until they are far older, my shelter is not. I am sort of it for my shelter’s ability to handle large litters of puppies (without losing any) at all.

Great Dane Mom

People who have lost a dog to a certain cancer, or lost time/money/health to certain conditions that may be related to early spay/neuter, such as joint disease, or a CCL rupture, may well feel strongly that dogs not be altered early, or perhaps not at all. I sympathize with that stance. But as long as the incoming tide of puppies and dogs into my shelter is bigger and more relentless than the outgoing tide of adopted dogs and puppies, I will always adopt altered animals, and encourage anyone who isn’t in the market for a purpose-bred dog from a responsible breeder to save an altered shelter dog, instead.

Literally the day after my last foster pup’s adoption was finalized, I had a text from my shelter’s veterinary technician. “We have a starved Great Dane mom and her 11 puppies. Can you help?”

Of course. But dammit.

Become a Dog Sport Champion – At Home!

By
Stephanie Colman
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0

There’s a saying that is widely known among certain circles of competitive dog sport enthusiasts: “If judges made house calls, we’d all have obedience trial champions!” The phrase speaks to the challenging nature of getting a competition dog “ring ready” – that is, training to the point where he can perform successfully not just at home or at the local training center but also in unfamiliar, distracting locations common to dog show environments. The expression has been made a little less relevant, though, by the advent of “video titles.” Many dog sports enthusiasts have embraced technology and its ability to offer a variety of remote performance options, allowing dog and handler teams to demonstrate performance skills via video submissions rather than in-person at a dog show.

Trick Dog Champion

Nicole Vaughn

Today, dog-and-handler teams can earn video-based titles in rally obedience, freestyle, obedience, tricks, assorted training skills, and parkour.

Similar to participation requirements for traditional, in-person organizations, most video-based titling groups require handlers to register their dogs for a fee, plus pay an entry fee ($20 to $30) for each video entry to be judged. Some titles require multiple qualifying runs, while others can be earned after successfully demonstrating mastery of skills at a certain level.

Video-based performance opportunities offer a variety of benefits. They are ideal for dogs (and their handlers!) who enjoy training, but for whom demonstrating their knowledge in unfamiliar settings is difficult.

For some dogs, becoming “ring ready” is about learning to ignore myriad distractions in favor of the performance task at hand. For other dogs, the biggest challenge to ring readiness is tolerating unfamiliar people, places, and other dogs – working through emotional issues such as fear or aggression. Often, despite a handler’s best efforts, such dogs fail to progress to the point where they can comfortably (or, in some cases, safely) perform in a traditional dog show environment. In the past, these dogs would often be “washed out” by handlers. Dog-sports organizations that allow “video titles” enable these dogs and owners to continue working toward specific achievements.

Fan and Founder

“For me, it all started with my reactive dog,” says Jude Azaren of Willingboro, New Jersey, who founded Cyber Rally-O, one of the first video-based titling organizations, in 2011. “He was an adopted foster who was initially so sweet, but became aggressive.”

Rally obedience (often called Rally-O) competitions are similar to regular obedience, but instead of waiting for a judge to tell the competing team what to do, the handler directs her dog around a “course” that consists of 10 to 20 signs, each describing a specific behavior.

The signs typically include simple behaviors such as a sit/down/sit sequence, and heeling behaviors that require challenging food refusals, backward heeling, and assorted obedience “finishes,” which require the dog to move swiftly into heel position. Cyber Rally-O adds challenges not often seen in other venues, such as figure-eight jumps, sending the dog to jumps from a distance, and sequencing multiple jumps with retrieving.

So far, the organization has awarded an estimated 300 titles over five levels in two rally divisions, and recently added a separate dance division.

Dog Sport Organizations That Offer Video Titles

AGILITY Virtual Agility League
ASSORTED TRAINING SKILLS Wag-It Games
FREESTYLE Cyber Rally-O (despite its name, offers titles in freestyle too!)
Dogs Can Dance
Musical Dog Sport Association
Rally Freestyle Elements (offers titles in freestyle AND a rally/freestyle combination sport)
World Canine Freestyle Organization
OBEDIENCE Non-Competitive Obedience Association
Fenzi Training Excellence Assessment Modules (TEAM) Note: Currently in development. Emphasis on excellence in training versus finished behavior chains.
PARKOUR International Dog Parkour Association
PRACTICAL TRAINING SKILLS Dog Scouts of America
RALLY OBEDIENCE Cyber Rally-O
TREIBBALL American Treibball Association
TRICKS Do More with Your Dog

 

Rules Vary

Like any organization sanctioning in-person events, each video-based organization sets its own rules. For example, Cyber Rally-O teams are allowed to use food rewards during a run, but only when the team is stationary, after completing one task and before moving to the next task. Visible food is not allowed; food must be hidden in the handler’s pocket until it can be given at the appropriate time, such as between exercises. If a handler feels safer using a long-line during a distance exercise, that’s fine, too.

While performance “traditionalists” might scoff at the idea of using food during a run, or at the need for a leash as a “safety net” for fearful and/or reactive dogs, Azaren says allowing the judicious use of such training tools is all about accessibility.

“What’s the difference?” asks Azaren. “If the dogs can do the behaviors, why shouldn’t they participate? They aren’t competing against each other, they’re competing against a standard, so let’s make it accessible for people.”

In the spirit of accessibility, Cyber Rally-O does not have required jump heights for elements requiring jumping. Handlers are free to set jumps as low as is needed for a dog to safely and comfortably execute the obstacle. If that means the dog can’t technically jump (such as participants using mobility carts), that’s fine, too; handlers can simply guide the dog through the jump uprights.

Trick Dog Champion

Nicole Vaughn

0)]

Increasing Access

For many people who live in remote areas, traditional dog shows are inaccessible for practical reasons. Exhibitors often must travel long distances to attend in-person performance events, complete with overnight hotel stays, dining out, gas, and the occasional need for a pet sitter to check on other animals back home.

Laurie Graichen of Catawba, South Carolina used to travel up to three hours (one way) twice a month to attend agility trials with two of her Belgian Tervurens, Dillon and Bravo. After a company buy-out led to a 40 percent drop in her income, she had to do some serious re-budgeting, and travel to dog shows was one of the first things to go.

“I no longer have the luxury of an extra couple hundred dollars per weekend to trial,” she says. To stay active with her current dog, Extra, the pair has earned a novice and intermediate Trick Dog title with Do More With Your Dog, and she has plans to explore video-based rally, obedience, and parkour titles.

American Treiball Association

A Different Goal

Critics of video-based titles often say it’s “too easy” to earn a title in the comfort of your own home, specifically because it doesn’t require the same level of generalization or the ability to withstand the various pressures associated with performing successfully at an in-person event. While training to the standard typically required to attain success at in-person events is different from training behaviors that stand up in the privacy of one’s backyard, one goal need not be considered better than the other – they’re just different.

And, just because remote sport runs are videoed in the comfort of your own home or local training center doesn’t mean it’s a cake walk. Organizations that offer video titles for sports that require a sequence of behaviors (such as obedience, agility, rally, and freestyle) generally require video submissions to show the behaviors as a continuous sequence; most disallow editing that stitches together the best attempts from multiple tries.

Also, in agility, rules often stipulate that markers must show proper ring size and contact zones must be clearly visible. Many exhibitors say it can be difficult to find the best camera angles to appropriately demonstrate each required element; this technical challenge may be beyond the ability of some participants. And just because handlers are often working alone, doesn’t mean they don’t get nervous during performances. Just hitting the record button on the camera often introduces ring nerves!

dog obedience competition

“There’s a lot to be said for showing up to a trial where someone else has set up the ring, you do your one run and you go home, for better or for worse,” says Azaren. “With video trials, there’s added pressure. Often, you’ve rented training space for an hour and you need to set up the course, warm your dog up, and repeat the course however many times until you get every station correct. It’s a lot to do.”

Most people we spoke with support the idea of video-based entries as a way to encourage people to spend time with their dogs.

And that’s what it’s all about, says Azaren, who explains how one’s relationship with a dog often changes once the pair begins to explore dog sports.

“As close as I’ve always been with my pet dogs, when you have a dog who is also your teammate and partner, it’s just a whole new dimension, and it’s so much fun!”

Stephanie Colman is a writer and dog trainer in Los Angeles.

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I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies.
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