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Why (and How) Dogs Escape Fences

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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5

Responsible dog owners go to great pains to make sure their canine family members stay safe at home and don’t go roaming unescorted around the neighborhood. The risks for a free-roaming dog are legion, including, but not limited to: getting hit by a car, shot by an irate neighbor or a police officer protecting public safety, attacking or being attacked by other animals, being picked up by animal control, or simply vanishing, never to be seen again. Yet some dogs seem hell-bent on escaping – doing everything they can think of to get over, under, around, or through their humans’ containment strategies. What do you do when you have a dog who is dedicated to escaping his yard?

dog jumping tall fence

Felix Renaud | Dreamstime.com

Reasons Dogs Escape

Before we even address ways to stop your dog from escaping, we need to examine reasons why your dog may be so dedicated to breaking out of your yard. If all we do is to block his exits, he may put all his energy into finding new ways out. If we address his motivation for escaping, he may stop trying, or at least not be as dedicated to overcoming the new obstacles you put in his path.

Boredom in Dogs

Your dog may be bored. Adding more mental and physical stimulation to his life and his backyard might help him become more content to stay home. Kiddie wading pools offer a huge variety of entertainment options. If your dog loves water, fill the pool with water for actual wading and splashing fun. For a dog who loves to dig, fill the pool with dirt or sand and bury toys and treats for him to find. If you don’t want the mess of dirt or sand, fill the pool with plastic balls of various sizes and let him pounce among the balls looking for his toys and treats. There are now tons of puzzle toys that can keep him engaged in his yard; Kong Wobblers and other Kong treat-dispensing toys are some of my favorites.

By the way, speaking of boredom: your dog should not be left in the yard for long periods of time (long enough to get bored) and should never be left in the backyard all day (while no one is home) or all night (when he could easily be safely and happily indoors with you).

Arousal from Outside Stimuli

Getting stimulated by the sight of exciting things is another reason dogs are driven to escape their yards. Chain link and other livestock-wire fences are the scourge of good dog containment. They are certainly easier on the wallet than a privacy fence, but many dogs are compelled to escape when they are constantly overstimulated and frustrated by seeing a parade of dogs, humans, cars, trucks, motorcycles, skateboarders, bicyclists, mail carriers, and more passing by their yards. The added danger here is that an aroused, frustrated dog who escapes is likely to be aggressive when he finally has access to his targets.

If you can’t install a privacy fence, consider attaching something solid to your wire or chain-link fence so your dog can no longer see through it.

Male Dogs Looking for Sex

With the current trend to wait longer to sterilize (not a trend I necessarily support, but that’s another article), there are more dogs, especially intact male dogs, who are very motivated to escape to court the neighborhood female in season. The obvious solution here: neuter.

Canine Anxiety

This category brings up a whole different class of behavior challenges. Dogs who suffer separation or isolation anxiety or thunder phobia are driven to escape by their panic. Because severely stressed dogs can become destructive, owners sometimes leave these dogs outdoors to avoid damage to their homes. This is not an acceptable solution, as the panicked dog who escapes is even more likely to run in front of moving vehicles, bite someone who tries to help him, and/or run fast and far away, decreasing chances that he will be found and returned home.

You must treat the anxiety, often with medication as well as behavior modification protocols, and never leave these dogs alone outdoors. (See “Relieving a Dog’s Separation Anxiety,” July 2008.)

Dogs Just Want to Have Fun

Finally, with a history of reinforcement for escaping, your dog may simply have learned that it’s great fun to run loose, loot garbage cans, chase cats and other small animals, play with the neighbor kid, read pee-mail without interruption, romp with other neighborhood dogs, and engage in lots of other forms of canine mischief. Make it more fun for your dog to stay home, and keep on reading for thoughts on how to make it more difficult for your dog to breach your fence. (Note that I didn’t say impossible . . . .)

Management

Now that you understand some of the possible motivations for your dog’s obsession with escape, let’s talk about an overall management strategy.

First things first: If he escapes when you leave him in the yard on his own, don’t. You must always be with him in the yard, whether it’s a brief potty break or an extended “enjoy the sunshine” session. If he can escape, even if he doesn’t do it every time, he simply can’t be trusted by himself. Ever.

If he escapes even when you’re watching him, ignoring your calls to come back as he scrambles over or squeezes under, then he only goes out in the yard on a leash or a long line. Every. Single. Time. Remember, every time he gets loose and has fun chasing cats around the neighborhood, visiting his pals and getting into garbage cans, he has been reinforced for escaping, making it more than likely he will try that much harder to escape the next time.

You also need to make sure everyone in the household is on board with your management plan. It does no good for you to implement scrupulous management if your dear spouse or offspring blithely open the back door and turn Houdini loose to escape one more time.

Another important piece of management is teaching a fail-safe recall so if and when he does get out, you can get him back easily without reinforcing his “Catch Me If You Can” game of keep-away. (See “Reliable Recalls“, September 2012.) When you do get him back, make sure to do something delightfully fun with him so coming back to you doesn’t mean the fun is over. Then start improving your fence so he can’t escape.

Dogs Who Jump Over Fences

Some dogs are aerial artists, sailing over or scaling barriers with the greatest of ease. Although not exclusively, these tend to be the athletic herding, sporting, and working dogs, as well as the lean and lithe sighthounds – although some of those little terriers can surprise you with their physical abilities. If your dog is going over your fence, you’re most likely to succeed if you make the fence significantly higher. If you raise it by six-inch increments, you are simply training him to jump or climb higher and higher a small step at a time. Raise your four-foot fence to six feet in one fell swoop (assuming your local ordinances allow a six-foot fence) for the best shot at stopping your escape artist in his tracks. (Note: Also make sure there are no handy “launching pads” near the fence – a dog house, a firewood box, your child’s trampoline; even a tree can give your dog a head start over your fence.)

Some American Ninja Warrior dogs find it a simple matter to scale or sail over almost any fence, regardless of height. You can install the canine equivalent of the “warped wall” by adding an extension to your fence that angles inward at the top. This makes it much harder for your dog to judge the fence height, and ensures he can’t grab the top and pull himself over. The longer the inward extension, the harder it is for your dog to navigate a jump or climb.

If you know he is climbing rather than sailing over, consider the “Coyote Roller,” either the commercially available product or a do-it-yourself project, suspending PVC pipe on a wire at the top of your fence. Originally designed to keep coyotes out, it can be just as effective at keeping your dog in your yard. When he scales the fence and tries to grab the top to pull himself over, the pipe rolls, he can’t get a grip, and he drops back inside his yard.
Another tactic that works for some for jumpers (but not all) is to plant shrubbery inside the fence line at his take-off point, so his flight path is interrupted. Of course, bushes take time to grow, so this would be a longer-term solution.

Dogs Who Dig Under Fences

Some dogs are masters at burrowing under fences. While no particular type of dog has a patent on digging, terriers and scent hounds do logically seem to excel in this behavior, given what they were bred to do. A quick fix for the groundhog dog might be to set heavy cement blocks (as in “so heavy you can barely lift them”) all along the inside perimeter of the fence. This might stop some of the more fainthearted diggers, but chances are it may only stall your dedicated digging dog while you plan and implement the more work-intensive project of burying wire 12 inches deep along the bottom of your fence, setting the cement block into the hole and covering it with dirt.

If you’re just putting up a new fence, be sure to bury it six to 12 inches into the ground to save later headache. If you want to go the landscaping route, try planting something with thorns along the inside of the fence.

Dogs Who Run Around Barriers

Beware the door dashers and gate crashers! Gate crashers are close kin to door darters, but perform their escape maneuvers from within the yard rather than the house, charging through the gate as soon as it is opened a crack by some unwary human. There doesn’t seem to be any particular type of dog that favors this behavior; any sufficiently motivated dog can learn the dash-and-run routine.

It’s not always the dog who is at fault; those most often guilty of aiding and abetting gate crashers include children, meter readers, visitors to your home, and other adults who aren’t fully committed to keeping your dog in his yard.

The best way to foil a gate crasher is to install a double-gate system like those used at many dog parks. This handily keeps the dog away from the gate to the outer world while the human enters the yard, secures the first gate behind herself, and then opens the gate into the dog’s inner yard. Other than that, your best option is to padlock all your gates and only enter the yard through the house.

Of course, you can teach your dog a solid “Wait” cue, and use it every time a gate is opened. But then you are relying on children, meter readers, visitors and non-committed adults to remember to use the “Wait” cue when they go in and out the gates. So, even better, teach your dog that the opening gate is the cue to “Wait” until he is invited out. While you’re working on that, though, better install those padlocks!

Dogs Who Go Through Fences

Then there are those dogs who just blast their way through a fence. Big, strong dogs (Rotties, Pitties, etc.) have the best shot at this escape technique, although if the fence is weak enough, smaller dogs can do it, too. Most fences seem to have boards nailed on the outside – probably for aesthetic reasons – so if nails are loose or boards are starting to rot around nail holes, a good shove from the inside can push them off.

To foil these escapees, either repair your fence so boards are solidly nailed on, or nail a solid barrier on the inside of the fence. If you are putting up a new fence, try nailing boards on the inside instead of the outside, or installing pre-built panels so boards are on the inside. Thorny landscaping might also help you here, but, again, plants take time to grow.

A Stay-At-Home Kai

Last year we adopted a year-old Australian Kelpie we named Kai. We knew our four-foot, somewhat dilapidated fence might not be adequate to contain this energetic, athletic dog. Fingers crossed, we let him into the backyard with our older dogs.

All was well for several days. Then, one morning as I was feeding chickens in the lower barn, I heard a ka-thump from the backyard. Next thing I knew Kai had joined me at the chicken coop. Clearly, he had found a way out. I prayed that he had gone through, not over. Tightening up our boards would be a much easier (and cheaper) fix than raising the fence or installing a new one.

I reported the news to my husband, Paul, also known as our farm handyman. Upon inspecting the fence, he found the loose board, and spent the afternoon re-placing and re-fastening any boards that were the least bit suspect. Kai hasn’t escaped since. Phew!

May your own escapee fixes be as simple – or at least as successful!

Book author and trainer 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.

Why We Don’t Recommend Electric Fences (Shock Collars)

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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5

The industry calls them underground containment systems. The public tends to call them by the most commonly known brand name – “Invisible Fence.” I unfailingly call it a “Stupid Underground Shock Fence” (SUSF). Because that’s what it is.

Sadly, SUSFs are popular for several reasons:

1. They are less expensive than a physical fence, easier and faster to install.

2. Many homeowners associations prohibit physical fences (don’t even get me started!) .

3. SUSF companies, other shock-collar companies, and trainers who use shock tools, have done a very good job of convincing many dog owners that these tools are effective and harmless, using deceptive terms such as “stim,” “tickle,” “e-touch,” and “electronic” to disguise the true nature of the shock. Incredibly, some even claim that they are using positive reinforcement when they use shock.

What Can Go Wrong with a Shock Collar?

SUSFs are, after all, legal to sell. They can’t possibly be that bad, can they? Yes, they can. Here are some of the bad things that can happen if you use a SUSF. I have seen the fallout firsthand and heard credible reports time and time again:

1. Some dogs become very aggressive, associating the shock with whatever was passing by at the time: another dog, a skateboarder, a child . . . I had a lovely Golden Retriever client who was ultimately euthanized as a dangerous dog because of this. Even after the SUSF representative came out and “retrained” her by putting a second shock collar around her groin to keep her in the yard, this previously aggression-free dog continued to run through the fence and attack dogs and humans passing by. Her aggression generalized to other non-fence situations, and her owners ultimately decided they could no longer trust her.

2. Some dogs are so traumatized by the shock that they are terrified to step foot into their own yards.

3. Some dogs are so traumatized by the warning beep associated with the shock that other, similar beeps – such as the beep of a camera, microwave oven, smoke alarm, electronic watch alarm – will send them into a total panic. I had a Greyhound client who was misdiagnosed with separation anxiety for this reason.

4. A SUSF doesn’t protect your dog from intruders (other dogs, humans) and hence puts her at risk from them (maybe an aggressive stray dog, a rabid fox who wanders into your yard, or a human with evil intentions), and puts innocent intruders at risk (a child, perhaps) especially if your dog has become aggressive due to the shock association.

5. Some dogs learn how to run through the fence. Some ignore the shock in a moment of high arousal over a passing dog, car, human, or other exciting stimulus. Some will deliberately accept the shock as the price they pay for their freedom. Still others learn to stand in the beep zone until the collar battery dies from the constant beeping and the dog crosses the fence line shock-free.

Positively Not Positive Training

Despite what those who market them might try to have you believe, there is nothing positive about an SUSF. Certainly they do work to keep many dogs contained in their yards, but at a high price. Shock is a very strong aversive. That’s not even open to debate. Even if you’re convinced you’d like to try one (shame!), you won’t know until it’s too late if your dog is one of the many who suffers one or more of the above-listed problems. The potential damage to a dog’s emotional health and physical safety should put these products in the “Never, Ever” category for any caring dog owner.

Inside SuperZoo 2016

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

I recently spent three days at SuperZoo, one of this country’s largest annual trade shows for pet product retailers. At the end of each day, my feet and back were sore, and I was mentally exhausted – and yet, so happy to be among our people – you know, obsessed, dedicated, creative, passionate, knowledgeable dog people!

I know this photo is small, and a lot of detail can’t be seen, but you don’t really need to see the details to appreciate the size of the show. The fine print at the bottom is a list of all the pet product companies who were there to promote products to owners and managers of pet supply stores and grooming shops; the map shows where they could be found on the Las Vegas convention hall floor.

For three days, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (well, 3 p.m. on the third day; the show closed early on the last day), I walked up and down the aisles, stopping briefly at booths that had products that I thought WDJ readers might be interested in: food, of course, but also gear for the training, health maintenance, and comfort of our beloved dogs. I picked up catalogs and fliers that described new products, I had ever-so-brief conversations with the company representatives in about a quarter of the booths I visited . . . and in the final minutes of the show, I discovered (to my dismay) that there were still aisles I hadn’t explored.

As fun and interesting as it might have been, I didn’t have time to have in-depth meetings with representatives of pet food companies or gear makers; as it was, I barely had time to hear the briefest of presentations about their newest products! And oh my dog, I’m not even counting the hundreds of booths I that walked right by – not to be rude, but because they were selling stuff that we don’t talk about in WDJ very much: costumes and “dress up” clothes for dogs, gifts and housewares, including dog-themed art, dishes, blankets, apparel, magnets . . . you name it. Some of it was nice! But there just wasn’t time, and besides, it’s not stuff that you need our help to evaluate.

Anyway, suffice to say, I’m prepared to really boost our offering of product reviews in many, many categories, and I have dozens of cool new products to feature in our annual “Gear of the Year” article in January…if I can wait that long!

SuperZoo 2016

Retained Testicles Can Be Dangerous for Dogs

By
Stephanie Colman
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10

If dogs hung out in locker rooms, swapping stories, I’m pretty sure my Golden Retriever, Saber, would take every opportunity to impress his pals with this gem: “Ya know, when I was younger, my testicles were such a big deal, I had to be neutered TWICE!” The best part? Saber’s story is completely true!

dog sniffing grass

When I adopted Saber as a 2-year-old, I was told he was neutered, and he certainly appeared to lack testicles. However, a thorough review of his medical records, obtained from his previous owner, revealed that Saber had undergone neutering surgery, but only one testicle was found and removed; he still possessed a single, “hidden” testicle!

Cryptorchidism in Dogs

Cryptorchidism (from the Greek crypto, meaning hidden, and orkhis or orchid, meaning testicles) is the medical term for the condition that occurs when one or both testicles of a male dog fail to descend into the scrotum. It’s not an extremely common condition; various sources offer an incidence of between less than 1 percent and 10 percent.

It’s also variable as to whether it affects one testicle or two. When one testicle fails to drop, the condition is described as unilateral cryptorchidism; if neither descends, the dog has bilateral cryptorchidism. Many people mistakenly refer to unilateral cryptorchidism (which is more common) as being monorchid, which is incorrect. Monorchidism refers to the complete absence of a second testicle – only one ever developed – and it’s so rare, we’ve yet to find a vet who has ever seen a monorchid dog!

“There’s always a second testicle,” says Suzi Milder, DVM, of Chatsworth Veterinary Center in Chatsworth, California. It may be difficult to locate, but if the dog is being neutered, Dr. Milder says, “It’s the responsibility of veterinarians to find it and remove it.” Sometimes, this is quite a challenge, as was the case with Saber. The veterinarian who performed his first neuter surgery tried, but failed to find Saber’s second testicle. Fortunately, this was noted in Saber’s medical records, which I received from his previous owner a month or so after I adopted him.

I was lucky to learn about Saber’s condition; had he been a previously stray dog without medical records, I wouldn’t have known that I needed to schedule a second surgery to complete Saber’s neutering. (I’ll explain why I went to the considerable trouble to do so in a minute.)

How Dog Testicles Develop

How does it happen that testicular descent fails to occur in some cases? As the canine fetus develops, the testicles are formed in the abdomen, near the kidneys. Usually, as the puppy grows – initially, in utero, and then, after his birth – his testicles are gradually pulled from the abdomen, through the inguinal canal (a passageway through the abdominal wall), and into the scrotum by the gubernaculum, a ligamentous cord connecting the testes to the scrotum. Typically, the testes pass through the inguinal canal within a week or two after birth, and reach their final scrotal position by 6 to 8 weeks of age.

However, in some cases, the gubernaculum isn’t formed properly, or doesn’t function properly, and the testicle stays in the abdomen, Dr. Milder explains. “It can be anywhere – up by the kidney, in the canal along the pathway, or even in the subcutaneous tissue next to the scrotum.”

The right testicle is retained more often than the left, due to its more forward-starting position in the abdomen. Retained testicles are smaller than scrotal testicles, and abdominally retained testicles are smaller than inguinally retained testicles.

Dr. Milder says it’s even possible to have a late bloomer, where one or both testicles don’t reach the scrotum until up to six months old. If a testicle hasn’t “dropped” into the scrotum by six months of age, Dr. Milder and many of her colleagues say, it most likely won’t.

Cryptorchidism is genetic; it’s caused by an autosomal recessive gene that can be inherited by offspring. Research shows several breeds commonly known to be affected, including Standard Poodles, Boxers, German Shepherds, Weimaraners, English Bulldogs, Shetland Sheepdogs, and many of the toy breeds, such as Chihuahuas, Miniature Dachshunds, Pomeranians, Miniature Poodles, Maltese, and Yorkshire Terriers.

“There’s definitely a higher prevalence of cryptorchidism in small and toy-breed dogs,” confirms Brooke Neece, DVM, of Columbus, Ohio. “In larger dogs, there is a higher prevalence in the brachycephalic breeds such as Boxers and English Bulldogs.”

retained testicle in chihuahua

© Joel Mills

Problems Associated with Cryptorchidism in Dogs

Poor Saber. As if one neuter surgery wasn’t enough, when I learned he had a retained testicle, I planned a second surgery. Why go to all that trouble? Because cryptorchidism carries significant health risks.

Most seriously, dogs with cryptorchidism can develop torsion, an extremely painful condition where the testicle twists upon itself, inhibiting blood flow. The testicle swells as it becomes engorged with blood. This condition typically presents with abdominal pain and evidence of a firm mass in the stomach. The pain can be so severe it causes the dog to go into shock. Immediate removal of the testicle is required to provide relief.

dog training

used through Wikimedia Commons

Dogs with cryptorchidism are also at a higher risk of developing testicular cancer later in life. According to a fact sheet provided by the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California, Davis, testicular cancer is the second most common cancer in older male dogs, and the risk among dogs with cryptorchidism increases by about 13 percent. While the incidence of testicular cancer is fairly low in the United States, due to the prevalence of neutering, an Italian study of 232 dogs (post-mortem) showed 27 percent had one or more testicular tumors.

The most common testicular tumors are Sertoli cell tumors, interstitial cell tumors, and seminomas. According to Daniel Denger, DVM, a board-certified veterinary surgeon with Animal Surgical Center in Flint, Michigan, metastasis occurs in about 10 to 20 percent of testicular tumors.

However, even when metastasis has not occurred, Milder says certain tumors can cause plenty of other problems, from mild to life-threatening. For example, Sertoli tumors produce estrogen and similar hormones, which can cause skin and coat problems, and even wipe out a dog’s bone marrow. While removal of the testicle or testicles is often curative, as with many things, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure.

“In my head, whether the tumor is malignant or benign, it would be much easier to perform major abdominal surgery to remove a retained testicle on a healthy, younger dog, than on a dog who is experiencing health problems because of a tumor,” Dr. Milder says. “Waiting can make things a lot more complicated and risky for the patient. It’s not a good answer to say, ‘I’ll wait until he’s sick,’ because then you’re adding a whole new layer of complications.”

Dogs with cryptorchidism typically display the same hormonally driven behaviors as dogs with descended testicles. They are often especially interested in intact females, and are capable of impregnating them in some cases. (When testicles remain in the body cavity, the increased temperature negatively impacts sperm viability. Dogs with bilateral cryptorchidism are almost always sterile or infertile, but some dogs who are unilaterally cryptorchid may have viable sperm.) In cases when a dog’s neutering history is unknown – even when the dog appears outwardly neutered – and the dog exhibits the libido or other hormonally driven behaviors typical of intact male dogs, the possibility of a remaining, retained testicle should be considered.

Finding the Dog’s Retained Testicle

While most vets feel six months is the age of “last call” for testicular descent, some make a case for watching and waiting much longer. “Classically, by the time a dog reaches six months of age, if he does not have two scrotal testicles, he is considered a cryptorchid . . . but, realistically, with the vast differences in age at puberty between breeds, this is probably not a reasonable expectation,” says Cheryl Lopate, DVM, of Reproductive Revolutions in Aurora, Oregon, a diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists.

“Based on the average age of puberty for any given breed, one would expect to have both testes in the scrotum within two months of attaining puberty to be considered normal. This means that for large and giant breed dogs, testicular descent may not be complete until well over a year of age. Small- and medium-breed dogs should still be considered cryptorchid if two testes are not in the scrotum by six to eight months of age,” Dr. Lopate says.

In recent decades, veterinarians have typically recommended that male dogs who are not going to be used in a breeding program are neutered around six months of age; this recommendation stems from a desire to prevent unwanted reproduction (population control). But because the condition can be passed down to a dog’s offspring, most veterinarians recommend that even purebred dogs with cryptorchidism who were otherwise destined for a breeding career to be neutered. This is partly due to the fact that research suggests dogs with cryptorchidism are more likely to have other congenital problems as well.

“Because we would like to, ideally, eliminate this negative trait, I recommend neutering between six to 12 months so there’s not a chance of an accidental breeding where it’s passed on,” Dr. Milder says. “From a responsibility standpoint, the best thing to do is neuter sooner rather than later.”

However, when owners are confident they can prevent accidental breeding, and when they wish to maximize potential health benefits associated with neutering at a slightly older age, some vets are comfortable waiting until as late as four or five years old.

Finding an undescended testicle can be tricky, as it can go off-course at any point along its intended path. Dr. Neece says testicles in the inguinal (groin) area can often be felt with careful palpation. They typically can’t be felt in heavier dogs, nor can they be felt when in the abdomen. An ultrasound by a highly skilled technician will sometimes reveal the location, but is not always successful, since retained testis can be tucked away behind other anatomy.

When the retained testicle’s location is known, surgical removal is similar to spaying a female, in that an incision is made in the abdomen. If the location is unknown, surgery is exploratory. Some veterinarians, including Dr. Neece, prefer to start near the bladder, by the inguinal ring. “In my experience, I have found more abdominally retained testicles further down in the abdomen,” she says. If a retained testicle cannot be found in the vicinity of the bladder, a second incision is made higher in the abdomen, closer to the kidneys, where the testicles begin their development.

Beyond the typical risks associated with any surgical event, Dr. Neece says the most likely complications associated with neutering a dog with cryptorchidism are bruising and seromas (swelling caused by temporary fluid build-up at the surgical site). “You often have to dig around a little, in a small area, to find the testicle,” she says.

Re-Neutering a Dog With Cryptorchidism Is Worth It

Nobody like subjecting her dog to surgery – especially for a second time, as was the case with my dog! And there’s always the occasional piece of anecdotal evidence suggesting that dogs with cryptorchidism can live to a ripe old age without surgical intervention or complications. For me, however, the combination of my vet’s recommendation to re-neuter Saber by age four, the gnawing fear of cancer, and some unwanted, hormonally driven behavior (insatiable sniffing), solidified my decision to pursue the second surgery – which was successful. (And, I’m pleased to report the excess sniffing stopped almost immediately; I wouldn’t have believed it could happen so quickly, had I not witnessed the remarkable change.)

“It’s important for dog owners to understand that cryptorchidism is a real and potentially serious issue,” Dr. Neece says. “These dogs should absolutely not be used as breeding dogs. When dealt with at a young age (or, we would add, at an age deemed appropriate for your situation, by your vet), the prognosis is great and there aren’t any long-term effects of cryptorchidism.”

Dr. Milder agrees. “I’ve seen what can happen when cryptorchidism is untreated (torsion, tumors). It’s tragic and so preventable. One time is too many for me,” she says.

Is Our Dogs’ Behavior Genetic?

By
Jessica Hekman DVM, MS
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0

Dr. Ilana Reisner wanted her new Australian Shepherd puppy, Asher, to have a rock-solid temperament. She knew how tough it is to live with a fearful or aggressive dog because, as a veterinary behaviorist, she works with reactive dogs and their owners for a living. So she did everything that she advises her clients to do: she found a puppy whose parents had lovely personalities and whose breeder provided excellent socialization experiences; she brought the puppy home between eight and ten weeks of age; she continued his socialization herself; and she enrolled him in a well-managed puppy class so that he would have a chance to learn good social skills with puppies his own age.

Given that Dr. Reisner did everything that behavior experts recommend to create a confident, well-socialized puppy, she was surprised when Asher showed anxiety around other dogs in his puppy class – nervousness that only increased as he matured. Then she had some bad luck when, at age four months, Asher was jumped by an out-of-control dog, and it was a really scary experience for him. By the age of eight months, Asher was showing clear signs of fear of other dogs.

great dane puppies

Dr. Reisner has continued to work with him over the ensuing years, but he hasn’t improved; she describes him as a whirling dervish when he sees unfamiliar dogs. And yet she did everything she could to avoid this issue. Is it possible that, due to genetics, Asher’s behavior problem was inevitable? How much influence did Asher’s environment have in the development of his temperament?

Our Dogs’ Genetics VS. Their Environments

In the complex interplay between genetics and environment, sometimes genetics takes the upper hand. Researchers have tested just how far genetic influences on personality can go by breeding animals for particular temperaments and absolutely nothing else.

This sort of study is, by necessity, very long term and therefore fairly rare, but there are two well-known examples in canids. A group in Russia has bred two lines of foxes over three to four decades, selecting one line for fearfulness of and aggression to humans, and the other line for friendliness to humans.

A similar long-term project in the U.S. has resulted in a line of pathologically fearful pointer dogs. In both these cases, the lines of animals breed true, meaning that if a fearful animal is bred to a fearful animal, all of the offspring are fearful without exception, even when raised by a non-fearful non-biological mother.

How relevant are these findings to pet or working dogs? It turns out that personality is influenced by many, many genes, and if you breed for any other traits in addition to temperament, like looks or performance, then your ability to guarantee particular results in the puppy goes out the window.

In the real world outside the laboratory, genetics rarely confers absolutes; instead, it confers risks. Outside the lab, behavior problems are almost never truly inevitable. They may, however, be extremely high risk.

Which leaves us with what we have: dogs who are bred for many different traits, and as a result produce puppies with personalities mostly similar to their parents’, but sometimes quite different. Sometimes the results are wonderful, and sometimes not so much. We can decrease the risk of unwanted traits like fearfulness through careful breeding, but we can never completely weed those traits out.

Our Dogs’ Experiences

Just as we don’t have complete control over the genetic contributions to a dog’s personality, we lack complete control over the puppy’s environment. By the time the breeder and then the owner are formally socializing a puppy, the little canine brain has already gone through massive amounts of development, and as a result has gone down some roads and abandoned others. The uterus is a rich source of experience for the fetal brain, which is profoundy affected by both reproductive and stress hormones. Early life in the nest with mom and siblings is also chock full of experiences that mold a young mind. The puppy is learning his place in the world and how to interact with other dogs from very early on.

All we can do, then, is our best. We can provide innumerable positive and varied experiences for puppies to teach them that the world, in all its sometimes unexpected variety, is safe for them.

Just as importantly, we can prioritize giving dogs as solid a genetic background as possible. Temperament should be the highest priority in breeding, closely followed by physical health. Animals with questionable temperaments should not be allowed to pass on behavioral problems, either through their genes, through stress hormones in the uterus, or through modeling fearful behavior to their puppies in early life. Temperament is more important than preserving stellar conformation or spectacular performance; in fact, in breeds with small gene pools, bringing in genetic diversity from outside the breed is preferable to breeding dogs with questionable temperaments.

So the question “Is this dog’s problem genetic?” may not be meaningful, because all behavior problems are caused by genetic risk plus life experiences. However, the question “Can this dog be helped?” absolutely is.

We have powerful tools at our disposal to help dogs live in this complex human world: thoughtful breeding practices, positive socialization experiences, and loving training and management. These are the tools Dr. Reisner uses with Asher to help him live a comfortable, happy life despite his fears. There’s a lot we can do to make good dogs from the raw materials we’re given.

Jessica Hekman, DVM, MS, completed her internship in shelter medicine at the University of Florida’s Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program in 2013. She now studies the genetics of dog behavior in Illinois, where she lives with her husband and two dogs. Check out Dr. Hekman’s Facebook page, where posts about dog brains and behavior (and sometimes shelter medicine).

Starting on September 12, Dr. Hekman is teaching an online course, “From Domestication to Inbreeding: Population Genetics and Companion Animals,” for the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. 

Download the Full September 2016 Issue PDF

By
Nancy Kerns
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Nobody like subjecting her dog to surgery - especially for a second time, as was the case with my dog! And there's always the occasional piece of anecdotal evidence suggesting that dogs with cryptorchidism can live to a ripe old age without surgical intervention or complications. For me, however, the combination of my vet's recommendation to re-neuter Saber by age four, the gnawing fear of cancer, and some unwanted, hormonally driven behavior (insatiable sniffing), solidified my decision to pursue the second surgery - which was successful. (And, I'm pleased to report the excess sniffing stopped almost immediately; I wouldn't have believed it could happen so quickly, had I not witnessed the remarkable change.)
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Super Products at Superzoo, the Pet Product Trade Show

By
Nancy Kerns
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Early this month, I had the pleasure of attending a huge pet products trade show called Superzoo. I haven’t been to one of these trade shows in a few years, which made it that much more exciting, as so many new products come to market. I gathered information from hundreds of manufacturers, in preparation for a number of articles and products reviews over the next year or so.

It may sound juvenile, or seem to impart a lack of seriousness, but I was perhaps most excited about some of the dog toys I saw. There were countless manufacturers of dog toys at the show, but most offered the same old sorts of toys that have been around for a long time, with only minor variations in quality. However, I also saw a handful of truly unique and engaging new toys, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you in the coming months.

Similarly, there are now dozens of “slow feeders” on the market – products designed to force dog who eat too fast to eat more slowly. Most are obvious knock-offs of the first one on the market a decade or so ago. But I found a couple that are truly unique; one is featured in an article about gastritis in the September issue!

I also started collecting samples of various products that launch or help you throw fetch toys farther and/or with far less effort; I’ll review all the ones I was able to find in a couple of months.

I also found a new source of one of my all-time favorite tug toys, a long wool rope, which is sweet, because its original manufacturer disappeared within the past few years and I gave away the last one I had, not knowing I wouldn’t be able to find a replacement. Now I can get a bunch!

Another interesting development I noticed at the show: There were at least half a dozen companies selling products for pets that are made with cannabidiol (CBD), an extract of cannabis that has shown promise for the treatment of various health problems in humans and other animals. As we stated in “Dogs Going to Pot,” (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/health/dogs-going-to-pot/
), medical marijuana – or more specifically, CBD – has great potential for use in dogs to relieve chronic pain and/or anxiety, and perhaps for treating other conditions, such as epilepsy and cancer.

There is so much variation in how the CBD extract is being sourced (from commercial hemp farms in China to backyard gardens in Colorado and everywhere in between) and extracted (with everything from industrial solvents to water), and how much of the CBD is used, and what sort of product it has been mixed into (everything from topical balms to edible treats), that it’s hard to say which, if any, of them might help a dog with a specific condition. But we’ll be looking at the products that are on the market and talking to the manufacturers for an update on our previous article.

There was a lot more to see and talk about in the future, but can I leave you with information about a unique product I saw that might be of use to any of you with carpets and a dog prone to “accidents”? I’m not sure when or where else I can recommend the product, but there’s no time like the present – especially since the makers of cool products like this tend to disappear if they can’t sell enough of them in the early days.

Inject•N Clean looks a bit like a bent nail, but it’s hollow. The idea is, you can poke the sharp end through your carpet in the middle of the pet stain. Then you pull up, tenting the carpet above the pad below, and insert the tool’s “injection bottle” full of your favorite enzyme-based odor-neutralizing liquid in the top of the tool and then squeeze the bottle. This enables you to deliver the odor-neutralizing liquid under the carpet and all over the carpet pad. Simple but effective! Check it out at injectnclean.com.

Dog Names and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

By
Nancy Kerns
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Shortly after deciding to keep my first-ever “foster failure” (a dog who was meant to be a foster only, but who found his forever home with me), I asked my husband to take some care with his name; he’s the namer in our family. I’m terrible at naming animals; he’s terrific and funny. But given that this was going to be a dog that we’d have for a long time, not a foster dog just passing through, I had some criteria I wanted him to take into consideration.

Although I would technically have veto power if he came up with a name I hated, he can be quite persistent in calling a dog something he has decided on, despite what the dog’s subsequent owners later decided to name the dog. For example, a couple of years ago, I fostered a short, middle-aged Border Collie-mix who had recently had puppies, and had a rumpled, pudgy appearance. She was surrendered to the shelter where I volunteer as “Mary,” but Brian decided she looked more like a “Brenda,” I have no idea why, and he still calls her Brenda when he sees her, when my friend who adopted her comes to visit. So I really didn’t want him to get attached to a name I didn’t like.

My criteria were these: Nothing scary-sounding or ironic; I wanted something unambiguously friendly and approachable, like the dog I was hoping my puppy would come to be. Because, as the largest puppy in the litter of pit-mixes, he was obviously going to be a big, strong dog, I wanted something non-threatening – not anything like Bane, Thor, Atlas, or Butch. Nor did I want to over-correct with something wimpy, like Angel or Bubbles. I was looking for something nice and neutral.

The night we had the naming discussion, we were looking at the puppy in question, who was lying sprawled at our feet, his brindle coat gleaming. Without even one misstep or “bad” name, after a few moments of contemplation Brian said, “How about Woody? That coat looks like wood grain, like the side of an old Woody station wagon.”

I loved it immediately, and it was pitch-perfect. It certainly did describe his beautiful wood-grained coat, and it was friendly and approachable, like the cowboy Woody in the Toy Story movies.

Never did I consider the whole self-fulfilling prophecy thing.

Never have I owned a dog so drawn to chewing up wooden things.

It started with table legs and chair legs, and the corners of tables. That got him put outdoors more often, where he graduated to the corners of our deck and deck railings. That prompted the purchase of a portable kennel, erected in a shady corner of the yard, and outfitted with a nice, new doghouse. Keep in mind he’s not being banished there for any length of time; it’s just a safe place to put him when I go to the store or gym, say, and no one is supervising him. Like an idiot, I didn’t consider the folly of buying that really cute, comfortable wooden doghouse.

His recent fascination: living wood. It started with some scruffy old rosebushes in the front yard. As I watered them, I noticed that some branches had wilted and turned brown. That happens when the stems are chewed through. Whoops.

But then I started noticing green leaves on the lawn under our young apple trees, and, looking more closely, saw that he had apparently jumped up and grabbed the ends of low branches and chewed them. Maybe he saw the little, green, growing apples as balls he could play with, I don’t know. My husband is not that observant, so I neatly clipped the ends of the chewed branches and picked up the leaves and hid them in the yard waste bin. This happened a few times, but I still somehow wasn’t ready for the sight of the bark chewed off the base of the tree. THAT sight made me instantly nauseous. Five years of watering that tree, through a drought, no less. Five years of anticipating our future apple crops, and the tree might not survive its debarking.

In my defense, I should add that Woody is not, as it sounds, left without supervision all that often; it always happens in a short window of time, when I’m distracted with something else. The other day, I left Woody chewing a giant rawhide on a mat on the deck on the side of the house while I watered shrubbery in the front of the house – which took maybe five minutes. When I came out back to water the garden in the back, I found some chewed-off branches on the tomato plants – and yet Woody was there, lying on his mat on the deck, chewing the rawhide, as if he had been there the whole time (but clearly wasn’t).

I know this is a phase and it will pass, and I’m trying everything I can think of to manage and contain the teething part of adolescence. I run him almost daily. I’ve gone through several large bottles of Bitter Apple. He has a million other things to chew on, things of all types and levels of hardness: rubber, plastic, rawhide, bully sticks, dried yak cheese, for crying out loud! His preference is wood. And I just did not see that coming.

Have you ever named a dog something that turned out to maybe be a mistake?

Looking for a New Home for Ruby, the Dog

By
Nancy Kerns
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One of these days, I’m going to have to count the dogs I’ve fostered and placed in homes over the past 9 or 10 years, since I moved to this small northern California town and found myself living close to a nice, clean shelter run by a smart, dedicated director. The number would look super impressive if you counted the litters of puppies I’ve fostered, but that’s cheating; puppies get adopted from the shelter quickly, and I have little to do with their placement.

Often, people want a puppy, and I get the appeal, but sheesh, there are so many advantages to adopting a dog who is already a known quantity: You know how big she’s going to be, what her coat is like, and you have a pretty good sense of what her behavior is like, or could be like. And yet, it takes a long time for so many adolescent and adult dogs in the shelter to find homes.

Mickey

On occasion, I’ve seen a dog in my local shelter that I just knew I could find a great home for – or, more frequently, one that has been at the shelter a long time, one who I thought I might be able to find a great home for IF the dog had more training and was better socialized to other dogs and humans. Those are the dogs that are the most satisfying for me to foster – dogs like Mickey, one of the funniest-looking dogs I’ve ever fostered, who was in the shelter for two months before getting adopted, was returned after a month (because the adopter’s other dog kept beating him up), and then spent another four months in the shelter without any interest from anyone. I decided I HAD to find Mickey a home, and spent a few weeks training him and teaching him how to get along with other dogs, before taking him down to the Bay Area for a weekend full of appointments with friends and acquaintances who were looking for a dog. I stayed at the home of one of my best friends that weekend, and ventured out with Mickey to meet four different families, each of whom  turned him down, whether due to his goofy looks or his relentless energy or for engendering their other dog’s immediate hostility. By the end of the weekend, my host/friend was both so sorry for Mickey, and so taken by his sweet, affectionate (though quirky) personality, that SHE adopted him. Yay! (Although, her family still complains a bit about being saddled with such a goofy-looking dog.)

Riley

Riley was another satisfying adoption. Unlike mixed-breed, funny-looking Mickey, he was a handsome, purebred Lab, but he had been picked up as a stray (and his owners never came looking for him), adopted to a family who quickly returned him, complaining that he was loud and rude and jumped fences. Believe it or not, the latter complaint can be the most serious, as far as my shelter is concerned. A dog who can’t be contained by average fences has a much harder time finding an appropriate home. Over the years, they have observed that hard-to-contain dogs are so much harder to place (or, rather, to be placed in a home with a family that can properly contain and supervise an escape artist), that they sometimes condemn the dog as “unadoptable” from the first complaint of “jumps fences.” Riley had some separation anxiety, which drove both the noise he made when penned up and his desire to conquer any sort of containment. Given his stature and athletic ability, he was a challenge.

It took a while to train better manners into the big, boisterous Lab, and to reduce his anxiety about being left home alone enough so that he didn’t feel compelled to try to escape wherever you put him when you went to the store. And finally, a great home appeared in the form of a nice couple with a large piece of property, a pool (Riley LOVES to swim), someone home most of the time, dog experience, and a lot of patience.  I bump into Riley’s “mom” in town frequently and she always has a funny story to tell about his latest antics – but she tells it with such affection that I know he’s never going to end up in a shelter again.

Ruby

Alas, I’ve had my first (to my knowledge) adoption failure. Ruby is a now-five-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. She’s spent the past three years in an adoptive home with a couple who had a few problems with her. Like a lot of Corgis, Ruby is an opinionated little dog, very self-confident, who thinks that most other dogs should stay out of her way and do what she tells them to do, or else. I wouldn’t call her dog-aggressive, but she’s not going to take any guff from any other dog, no matter its size, and if she thinks the other dog is rude, she won’t hesitate to straighten him out. And if the dog objects to her correction, she’ll escalate into a fight – and leave some dandy bites on her foe. The latter is really the biggest problem here; Ruby seems to have very little bite inhibition. When she bites, she punctures.

I hadn’t seen this behavior when I fostered her three years ago, but she’s apparently been practicing. She’s cost the couple a couple of sizeable vet bills ­- for injuries to other people’s dogs – and I’ve counseled them several times over the years about how to best train AND manage her to avoid these traumatic events. But now the couple is divorcing. The mom got custody of Ruby, but a variety of factors stacked a few of Ruby’s triggers to the point where she recently had another bad interaction with an off-leash dog who ran up and got in her face. Now, with another bad dog fight on Ruby’s record, her owner felt overwhelmed and unable to manage her anymore. She let me know that she was going to be returning Ruby to the shelter.

I met the owner at the shelter, half expecting to see a markedly more dog-reactive dog than the one I helped place in a home three years ago. After all, she’s had a number of opportunities to get into a scrap with other dogs – and win! I was fully prepared to see a dog who now met the fatal “unadoptable” designation.

I was surprised to see the same cute, sunny, tough little dog I fell for three years ago – absolutely no more overtly “aggressive” than when I saw her last. When she sees other dogs, she acknowledges them calmly, but with a very momentary stiff glance that says to dogs who speak fluent canine body language, “Don’t mess with me.” Of course, not all dogs are fluent in their own language! And few owners are alert to these signals, and take proactive management steps to avoid confrontations between dogs.

 I talked it over with the shelter staff, and agreed to foster her again for a time, so I could evaluate her behavior with other dogs using my own dogs – carefully! And so here I am fostering again – less than two weeks after saying “Not again, at least for the rest of the summer.” But I hope I will find some explanations for Ruby’s behavior, and perhaps, be able to help make a better placement for her, one with fewer opportunities to hurt other dogs or scare her owners. So far, she’s minding her manners with my dogs, even adolescent Woody, who doesn’t yet always see or take heed of the “Keep back!” signals that other dogs send him. I think she’d be happiest in a home with no other dogs, or only other dogs who are content to let her run the show, but these homes can be hard to come by. Wish us luck!

Don’t Swallow that Dog Toy!

By
Nancy Kerns
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I’m afraid I have “one of those dogs” – the ones that swallow things. The ones that inspired the annual x-ray contest among veterinarians, x-rays of dogs with things that are stuck in their digestive tracts. No, Woody hasn’t had an x-ray yet, but unless I get a grip on this behavior, he’s going to be in the contest one of these days.

This little colorful trifle is a toy for tiny puppies. It was the first toy my sister bought for her young Jack Russell-mix when she first adopted her from a Jack Russell rescue group three years ago. Daisy loves the little toy, which has a fabric-covered squeaker in both ends, which are held together by a strip of what used to be colorful ribbon.

Woody first found the trifle at my sister’s house about three months ago, picking it out of a basket of bigger toys and tossing it in the air repeatedly. My sister and I were talking and he was enjoying himself. The next day, in the middle of the work day, with all three of my dogs lying quietly around my office, Woody started making the noise that signals an impending vomit. I leaped up, rushed him outside, and he promptly vomited up this toy, intact (though gooey).

Horrified, I called my sister and told her what just came out of Woody. She said, “Oh shoot, no wonder Daisy kept looking through all her toys last night! She knew it was missing!” I rinsed it off and tossed it in a pile of puppy laundry in the laundry room (I was fostering a litter of puppies at the time). It came out of the washer looking brand-new – and with the squeakers still squeaking! – so I gave it back to my sister.

A couple of weeks ago now, I brought Woody with me on a visit to the San Francisco Bay area, and he spent one night at my son’s house. He went counter-surfing there, and the next day, vomited up a candy wrapper and, uh oh, another squeaker. This time, one that he had chewed out of one of my son’s dog’s toys. It was sewn into a fabric pouch, and the whole thing was intact (and still capable of squeaking). My son and I shook our heads, and I resolved to make sure that Woody doesn’t have access to any more squeaky toys without supervision.

Last weekend, my husband and I went camping, and my sister volunteered to dog-sit Woody (my other dogs stayed home with my son-in-law in charge). She prepared for his arrival by putting all of her dogs’ most vulnerable toys, and the ones with squeakers, up in a cabinet where Woody couldn’t get them. Woody had a great time there, where Auntie Pam allows all sorts of things that aren’t allowed at home, like running full speed down the hall (she has carpet, I don’t) and leaping over the back of the couch, back and forth, with toys. (My husband would have a stroke.) And it seems the only thing he wrecked was the screen door he didn’t see closed and ran into at top speed, which promptly folded in two and bounced backward, along with Woody, out of the frame. (I’ve ordered her one of the curtain-type screen doors, which she had been saying she wanted to get anyway. Sorry!)

But a day after we returned, with me sitting at my laptop working at home, Woody started making that noise again. I rushed him outside, where he promptly vomited up Daisy’s trifle again! And a hunk of some other toy.

I called my sister. “Has Daisy been looking for something?” I asked.

“Um, maybe . . . she has been looking around a little, but I haven’t noticed anything missing!”

I told her that Woody just barfed up the trifle toy, and she was properly horrified. I hosed it off for the photo, but while we agreed that while it looks to be in renewable condition, we also agreed that it needs to be thrown away. Hopefully, Daisy will forget about it soon.

I’m grateful that for now, Woody’s digestive tract is doing the right thing in rejecting non-edible items that end up in there. But joking aside, I (and my sister) will be keeping a closer eye on what that dog has in his mouth (or is on the floor and under the beds), lest we have an entry into that contest.

Here’s a link to the 2015 edition; hoping not to be in the 2016! http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/2015Xraycontestwinners/

 

My Less-than-Stellar Puppy Socialization Efforts

By
Nancy Kerns
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There is nothing like realizing that you need to take a bunch of your own advice. In my case right now, I need  to do things with my own dog that I have been telling others to do for nearly two decades. Sheesh.

I started fostering my young dog Woody (and his eight siblings) in November. He was my first so-called “foster fail” (meaning, I decided to keep him) in nine years of fostering for my local shelter. But since I adopted him, I’ve fostered several other large litters of puppies, one after another, and this task has kept me tied pretty close to home. So I haven’t taken Woody to as many places as I would advise everyone else to do with their dogs.

I did take him to two rounds of puppy kindergarten classes with my trainer/friend Sarah Richardson (thecanineconnection.com), for a total of a dozen classes, and a few “puppy social” sessions that Sarah offers as sort of bonus sessions to puppies who are currently enrolled in her classes. And I have taken him on a few errands to Home Depot, pet supply stores, and to a board and care home (sort of like a convalescent hospital, but with just six residents, one of whom is my cousin), and, of course, to the homes of a few local friends and relatives. That’s not enough!

The 11 Great Dane-mix puppies and their Great Dane mom I had been fostering for the past couple of months were finally well, altered, and ready for adoption, and they flew off the shelves of my local shelter; the entire dozen were adopted in less than a week. So, suddenly, I was free to travel, and I celebrated by immediately jumping into my car with Woody and taking a weekend trip down to the San Francisco Bay to see my son and a few friends.

The first thing I knew we needed to work on more is greetings. Despite my best efforts to ask for a controlled entrance, Woody entered each of my friends’ homes like he was home from the war and couldn’t wait to see all his loved ones again -especially the loved ones sitting on sofas in their living rooms. Those people were greeted with full-on leaps into their laps! But of course, he had never met any of these people before and had never been there before.

Fortunately, I had only enough time to visit my very BEST friends on this visit, and my very best friends are all dog lovers, so I think Woody and I are still welcome to visit again another day, but if the first two things hadn’t been true, I’m not sure the welcome mat would be getting rolled out again any time soon. And I’m sure not going to take him to see any elderly relatives until we’ve worked on this a bit more.

The other surprising thing to me was Woody’s reaction to certain people on the street as we walked. I’ve tried my best to introduce him to lots of different types of people – young, old, tall, small, black, white and every color in between – but there seem to be gaps in his understanding that humans are okay unless their actions prove otherwise. Walking around in Berkeley one day, he startled several times at the sight of elderly Asian ladies, twice at white kids who were wearing baseball caps, and once, quite dramatically, at a baby stroller.

Each time he hesitated as he saw certain people, growled, or started putting up his hair (raising his hackles), I call him, step or turn away to put more distance between whatever he was anxious about and us, and pop treats, one after another, into his mouth. I’d praise him for turning to look at me, to come with me, and to sit on cue. 

In the case of the stroller, it was still at least 50 feet away when he noticed it coming toward us and it spooked him. He stopped suddenly and puffed up quite defensively, growled and let out a loud, startled WOOF! I stepped quickly off the sidewalk onto the grass (we were walking by a park), calling him away and putting more distance between the lady and the stroller, and then allowed him to turn and watch as the lady who was pushing the stroller (who he couldn’t see at first, since the stroller was big and the lady was small!) walked by. As soon as he realized there was a person behind the stroller, his hair went down and he wagged his tail, but because his woof had clearly spooked the lady (and why wouldn’t it?), I kept him sitting until they were well past us.

I didn’t only respond to him when he was having a bad reaction. I’d also proactively say his name brightly at random times – whether someone was coming or we just passed someone, or sometimes for no reason at all – and popped a treat into his mouth. And he wasn’t all bad; there were some things I was very proud of accomplishing with him. He did really well at walking with me on a loose leash, and turning toward me or looking at me EVERY time I said his name.

We walked to a terrific pet supply store that I miss living nearby – the Holistic Hound (http://holistichound.com) – and he was a big hit in the store, greeting all the employees and fellow shoppers with a huge, waggy tail and decent manners, considering his enthusiasm for the merchandise. I was able to tell him “Off” and he complied every time, even though this meant not putting his mouth on the many toys, chews, leashes, and bags of treats that were right at mouth level. A few things got licked briefly, but he didn’t grab anything. I also left him with a store employee for a few minutes while I used the restroom, and I don’t think he even noticed I was gone – that’s a good thing, in my book. (I’m doing everything I can to make sure he doesn’t develop any sort of separation anxiety, which is one of the toughest things I see some of my friends dealing with in their dogs.)

An outtake from a photo session

One last thing he did well: I spent a little time on the trip taking some of the final photos to use in the WDJ 2017 calendar, and he modeled like a pro. Otto would have been proud of his sit-stays – this one on top of my car, the better to capture the sunset with the San Francisco skyline behind him! I got a better shot with another model (my son’s dog, Cole), but Woody did good!

So, all in all, I’m giving Woody and myself a “C” – on average, we did no better than averagein our first trip out of town together. And that means we have a lot of homework (and reading some back issues about socializing) to do.

 

Letting Go of the Dogs We Love

By
Nancy Kerns
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My sister and I were having a tearful debate about what’s worse: Preparing oneself emotionally for the death of an old, beloved dog? Or sending puppies that you have raised out into the world for an uncertain future? Neither one of us won the debate; we just boo-hooed and laughed through our tears until we could go on with our day.

Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

My sister and her husband have three dogs. Once upon a time, they had three senior dogs at once, and that was a sad time, watching all three decline in mental and physical function, and then dealing with their deaths fairly close together. Today, their dogs’ ages are staggered a bit more, with a three-year-old Jack Russell-mix, a four- or five-year-old Chihuahua-mix (one of my former fosters, actually), and then Bo, a fuzzy gray terrier-mix, about 30 pounds, who is about 15 or 16 years old.

Bo came to them as a golden-years foster dog about five years ago from a friend in crisis. He settled into their household so smoothly, it seems like he’s always been there. Today, though, it seems like he’s not going to be here much longer. He’s had a number of minor strokes lately, and after each one, he’s a little less sharp; his expression looks like he understands less and less of the language being spoken in his household. On the other hand, he still loves to eat, and his elimination habits are still good, so they are just sort of loving him as much as possible and letting him be for the time being. He’s never been my sister’s favorite dog in the house, but now that he’s declining, she’s getting quite emotional about all they have been through together in the past half-decade.

It’s not a competition, but I’m certain that my situation is sadder. Each time I take on a litter of puppies to foster for my local shelter, I say I’m not going to get attached – and it almost seems possible that I could maintain that reserve in the beginning, when the puppies are little poop and pee machines – when I’m exhausted from spending far too much of my day trying to push food into one end of puppies and cleaning up what’s coming out of the other end. Finally, though, they get the eating thing figured out and are able to go more than an hour without making a mess on the floor and they start developing personalities, and before I know it, I have a favorite and a second favorite and actually, come to think of it, every single one of them is a little genius. Darn it!

This week, they officially became up for adoption at the shelter – meaning, I’ve had to take them to the shelter and put them in those concrete runs in that loud building. If there is a dog who can look sadder than a Great Dane puppy, I don’t want to meet him or her; this has been hard. I bring them in with toys and treats, and I stay and play with them for a while. But at some point, I have to kiss them goodbye and wish them luck in finding a family during the day – and then the shelter staffers laugh at me (in a kindly way) as I weepily leave the building.

I can’t leave them there overnight; I just can’t!! So I go back each evening to pick them up and bring them “home” for the night. (That way, they can play outdoors with my adolescent dog and decompress from the stress of the shelter.) There are fewer pups to bring home each evening, and that’s a good thing, I know, I’m happy for them . . . but oh my goodness, it’s hard, too. Dog good-byes are the worst.

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