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How to Survive Your Dog’s Arousal Biting

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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You’re frustrated with your dog. Maybe even a little frightened of him. Since puppyhood he’s been a happy and loving companion, star of his puppy training class, soaking up new experiences without turning a hair. You were even thinking of making him a therapy dog. But in recent weeks he has started offering new behaviors that have you puzzled and alarmed. When you try to take him for a walk on leash, he grabs the leash and shakes it, or – worse – grabs at your clothing. At home, he will occasionally launch at you with no warning, biting your pant legs or shirtsleeves. It’s getting worse – becoming more frequent, and he’s biting harder. He’s turning into a shark, and you have the puncture marks dotting your arms to prove it.

a "mouthy" dog

This alarming behavior can start early, even with puppies as young as six to eight weeks (See “How an Intense Behavior Modification Program Saved One Puppy’s Life,” WDJ April 2012), and even more commonly appears in adolescence – perhaps an interesting canine parallel to human teenagers running amok. It often erupts when there’s been a period of prolonged inactivity, such as inclement weather preventing outdoor exercise, or an owner working unusually long hours. There may be a number of additional influences on this sharky, biting behavior:

– Early experience in the litter. Singleton pups (those who have no littermates) seem particularly prone to hard mouthing, as do pups taken away from their litters too early (prior to the age of eight weeks). Since they have no siblings to let them know they are biting too hard, they may fail to learn good bite inhibition. (See “Teaching Bite Inhibition,” June 2010.)

– Inappropriate play with people. I counsel my clients to avoid roughhousing with their dogs in a way that encourages the dog to make mouth contact with human clothing or skin. Although not always, it is often male humans who take pleasure in games of growly rough-and-tumble. I do my best to direct those activities to appropriate games of tug, where the human can play rough and the dog learns to keep his mouth on appropriate play objects. (See “Tug O’ War,” September 2008.)

– Inadequate physical exercise. There’s nothing like excess energy to prompt a young dog to use his mouth in play. I have fostered several puppies and young dogs who hadn’t passed their shelter’s assessments due to excessive mouthing, and in every case, ample exercise was instrumental in modifying their behavior.

– Inadequate mental stimulation. Add “boredom” to excess energy and you have a surefire recipe for disaster. This is the dog who is seriously looking for something to do with all his excess energy, and discovers that he can engage you in his games by using his teeth. Not a good solution!

The good news is that canine sharks are not a lost cause. There are remedies at hand, and most are quite simple to implement if you are willing to invest a little time and effort.

Life in the Litter

If you plan to adopt a pup from a shelter or rescue, you may (or may not) have the privilege of seeing the litter interacting together. If so, at least you know there’s a litter, so the singleton pup concern is not an issue. If you are purchasing from a breeder, be sure to ask how many pups were in the litter and how long they stayed together. Might as well sidestep a problem if you can!

If you get to watch littermates playing together, watch how it works. Usually, if one pup bites another too hard, that pup yelps or snarls and moves away for a moment. The pup who bit will normally readjust his play, re-engage his sibling, and play will continue. A pup who continues to bedevil his littermates and continues to bite hard even when they let him know they don’t like it is likely a shark in the making. Pick a different pup, or be prepared to deal with the behavior.

The best behavioral solution for a singleton pup is for the breeder, shelter, or rescue group to find two or three “spare” pups from another litter and import them with careful introductions to mom, so the pup has brothers and sisters. This is preferable to removing the singleton and placing it in a different litter, since mom will likely grieve the loss of her baby. The exception would be if she isn’t adapting well to motherhood and is not taking good care of the pup, or has some medical issue that prevents her from mothering.

If you somehow acquired a pup prior to the age of eight weeks, ask your dog friends and animal care professionals (vet, groomer, trainer) if they know of any litters of a similar age that your pup could spend time with (daily!).

Tug O’ War

I already mentioned the wisdom of playing a hearty game of tug-o-war rather than physical contact sports. Some old-fashioned trainers still warn against tug with gloom-and-doom predictions about dogs who are allowed to show their “dominance” and resulting “aggression” in the game. I had a client just the other day whose prior trainer said exactly that. He and his dog were as happy as a kid at Legoland when I gave them permission to play tug. The rules are short and simple:

Dog is not allowed to rudely grab tug toy from your hand; have him wait politely for permission (the cue) to grab. I use “Tug” as my cue. If my dog grabs for the toy before I give the cue, I give a cheerful “Oops!” and whisk the toy behind my back.

Make sure the dog will “trade” (give you the toy in exchange for something else) – either on cue, or for a treat.

Take several “trade” breaks from tugging during the game, in order to solidify polite good manners.

Canine teeth touching human skin or clothing is cause for a cheerful “Oops, time-out!” This uses gentle “negative punishment” (wherein the dog’s behavior makes a good thing go away) to teach your dog that the funs stops if his teeth touch human skin, and gives your dog a brief arousal break – time to calm down before play starts again.

Give That Dog Exercise

The last thing you may want to do when you come home exhausted from a day of work is exercise the dog. Your dog, however, has been lying around the house all day just waiting for you to come home to play with him, and you – or someone in your family, or a dog walker – has to oblige. That was the contract when you got him, remember? His excitement over your return and in anticipation of his walk put him at a keen edge of arousal, and tug-the-leash is a natural game choice for him. But you mustn’t allow yourself to get drawn into a game that usually ends with your dog overstimulated and you upset (or frightened or hurt)!

It behooves you to get rid of some of your dog’s energy before you take that on-leash walk. Of course he has to relieve himself after being indoors for hours. If you have a backyard, allow him to relieve himself there, and then play with him there before you try to take him for a walk. Play hard. Throw his ball. Throw a stick. Have him go over jumps as part of his fetch game. If he’s so aroused already that he’s grabbing at you while you play, put yourself inside an exercise pen you leave set up outdoors for that purpose (or behind your closed porch gate) and throw toys or play with a flirt pole from inside the pen until he’s tired.

Alternatively, if your dog’s not the fetch-’til-you-drop kind, go out in the yard and scatter small but tasty treats all over. He will exercise himself as he criss-crosses the yard in search of treasure, working his nose. (Nose exercise is surprisingly tiring for a dog.)

If you don’t have a yard, you probably have to take your dog out on a leash at first to let him eliminate using one of the management solutions described below. When he’s empty, bring him back indoors and play physical inside games such as tug, chasing toys or treats down the hall, until you’ve taken the edge off. Then put the leash back on and go for that walk! (Note: If you just rush him back inside when he’s empty and don’t play, or don’t go for the after-walk, your dog may learn to “hold it” as long as possible to enjoy the outing.)

Brain Exercises for Dogs

Mental exercise can be every bit as tiring as physical exercise. (I remember in the early 1990s coming home from work exhausted after trying all day to figure out how these new-fangled “desktop computer” things were supposed to work.) On those days when you can’t play in the yard with your dog (or if you don’t have a yard to play in), take advantage of the multitudes of interactive toys now on the market. Or make your own: treats in a muffin tin with tennis balls covering the holes can work nicely to occupy your dog and exercise his brain. In addition, sign the two of you up for a force-free basic good manners class. If you’ve already done basic, go for the more advanced classes. Brain candy. Once you have taken the edge off with physical or mental exercise, give your dog 10 to 15 minutes to calm down, and then put his leash on for that neighborhood walk. If he’s new to the leash-tug game, that may be all you need to do. If it’s a well-established behavior, however, you may need some additional management measures in order to help extinguish the game.

Manage Your Dog’s Behavior

Management is always an important piece of a successful behavior-change program. The more often your dog gets to practice (and be reinforced for) his inappropriate/unwanted behaviors, the harder it is to make them go away. Here are some ideas to get you by until your shark has turned into a pussycat.

– Choke Chain. Yep, you read that right. I love to watch the shock and dismay on the faces of my academy students when I tell them that this is the one time I will actually still use a choke chain. Then I pull out a double-ended snap or a carabiner, and snap one end of the chain to the dog’s collar ring, and the other to the leash. Voila! You now have 12 to 24 inches of metal chain between your dog’s collar and your leash. When he goes to bite the nice soft leash for a fun game of tug he bites on metal instead. Most dogs don’t like that – so they quickly learn that tug isn’t any fun anymore and stop trying to bite the leash.

– PVC Pipe. Slip a 5-foot piece of narrow-gauge, lightweight PVC pipe over your 6-foot leash. Again, your dog’s teeth have nothing soft to bite on, and they will slide right off the pipe. Additionally, although it is somewhat awkward, you can use the stiff pipe-leash to hold him away from you if he is trying to grab you or your clothing.

– Two Leashes. Snap two leashes on your dog’s collar. When he goes to grab one, drop it and hold onto the other. If he goes for that one, grab the first one again and drop the second. The fun of tug is the resistance you apply on the other end (because you can’t just drop the leash and let him run off). If there’s no resistance, there’s no fun (no reinforcement) and the game goes away.

– Tether. This one isn’t for all dogs, but works for some. Put a carabiner on the handle end of your (heavy duty) leash. When your dog starts grabbing at you, tether him to the nearest safe and solid object and walk a few steps out of reach. (Don’t use this one for dogs who will bite right through their leash, or who panic if you leave them.) Make sure you do not tether him where he can run into traffic or assault pedestrians. Return to him when he is calm. If he amps up on your return, step away again. Repeat as needed.

– Head Halter. These are not my favorite piece of training equipment (most dogs find them aversive), but this is one of the few times when the head halter may still have a place in positive reinforcement training, because it does give you control over the dog’s head in a way that a front-clip control harness does not. With a head halter, you can actually use the leash to prevent your dog from grabbing you with his jaws by putting pressure on the outside of the halter, away from you. If you are going to use one, however, you must take the time to convince your dog that a head halter is wonderful before you actually start using it. (See “Teach Your Dog to Love a Head Halter,” next page.)

– Baby Gates. While much of this unwanted behavior tends to happen out of doors, especially when on a leash, some dogs expand their aroused biting to indoor interactions as well. Pressure-mounted baby gates (so you don’t have to put holes in your door frames) are a quick and simple way to put a barrier between you and your shark when teeth are flashing. You can even exercise your dog indoors using gates, similar to the method described above with the exercise pens. Just stand on the opposite side of the gate from your dog and toss your heart out.

– Redirection. You often have some warning before the biting behavior occurs. You see the gleam in your dog’s eye, or he does a couple of puppy rushes around the dining-room table. Perhaps it always happens in a particular room, or at a certain time of day. Be prepared! Have a plastic container of treats on an out-of-reach shelf in every room, and when you sense a shark attack coming on, arm yourself and start tossing to divert his attention, redirect his teeth and give him some exercise, all at the same time. Remove yourself to the other side of a baby gate, if necessary.

– Muzzle. If your dog still manages to grab onto you despite all your efforts, you may want to consider conditioning him to a basket muzzle when he is with you. (This sort of muzzle is not the same as the kind often used for restraint in vet offices; basket muzzles allow a dog to breath, drink, and even eat, but prevent him from biting. Do not leave one on him unattended, however.)

This requires the same conditioning process as the head halter, so it isn’t a quick fix – and there is some social stigma attached to your dog wearing a muzzle. You might elect to use it when there are particularly vulnerable humans present (small children and seniors). If you choose to use one, follow the same steps outlined below, to convince your dog that his muzzle is wonderful.

It would also be a good idea to explore other energy-sapping activity options for your dog. Investigate doggie daycare, if there is a decent one in your community and your dog is daycare-appropriate. (See “Doggie Daycare Can Be a Wonderful Experience” November 2010.) A well-run dog daycare will give him great opportunities for exercise and social interaction.

A professional pet walker is another option, assuming you can find one skilled enough to handle your dog’s mouthiness and willing to follow your explicit instructions about how to work with the behavior. If there’s no good daycare in your area, find some appropriate canine pals for your dog and arrange playdates. If you can find another dog who has a similar style of playing, they can gnaw on each other to their hearts’ content and come home tired, so your dog can behave more appropriately with you.

Of course, if after all that you think there is an element of real aggression in your dog’s biting, or if the behavior is too overwhelming, by all means seek out the services of a competent, force-free behavior professional to help you through the shark-infested waters. Properly handled, your dog can outgrow this phase, and the two of you will be on to smooth sailing.

Why You Never Hurt or Scare a Dog

It should go without saying that we would never advocate verbally or physically punishing your dog, but just in case, here are five reasons why physically hurting or scaring your dog is a bad idea:

1. You can cause physical harm to your dog.
2. You aren’t teaching your dog what to do instead of biting. You leave a “behavior vacuum,” which he is likely to fill with the behavior he knows – being sharky.
3. You can inhibit your dog’s willingness to offer desirable behaviors due to his fear/anticipation of being punished.
4. You can damage your relationship with your dog, cause him to fear you, and teach him to run away from you.
5. You can turn your dog’s easily managed and modified aroused/excitement biting into serious defensive aggression.

Introducing a Head Halter

Your best chance for convincing your dog his head halter is a wonderful thing is to pair it with high-value treats from the very beginning (this is classical conditioning). At first, and between steps, put the head halter behind your back. This process should take at least several sessions. If your dog is happily going along with the program, it’s fine to continue – but try to always stop before he becomes unhappy with the process. If your dog becomes anxious at any point, or resists the process, back up to an easier level and then figure out how to add more steps in between. If your dog starts fussing, distract him to stop the fussing, and then take the halter off after a bit and slow your training program. Here are the steps (repeat each step many times):

happy dog

1. Show the dog the head halter and feed him a tasty treat. Repeat until his eyes light up when you bring out the halter.

2. Let him sniff/touch the halter with his nose and feed him a tasty treat. Repeat until he is deliberately and solidly bumping his nose into the halter.

3. Let him sniff through the nose loop of the head halter. Feed him the treat through the nose loop. Repeat until he eagerly pushes his nose into the loop.

4. Attach the collar around your dog’s neck (without the nose loop) and feed him a treat. Remove after one second. Repeat many times.

5. Attach the collar band around your dog’s neck (without putting the nose loop on) and feed him a treat. Gradually increase the length of time that the collar is on your dog.

dog head halter training

6. Let your dog push his nose into the nose loop. Keep the loop on his nose for one second. Feed him a treat. From now on, feed all treats through the nose loop.

7. Let your dog push his nose into the loop, gradually keeping it there longer and longer, until he is holding his nose in the loop for 10 seconds. Treat several treats. This should take many repetitions.

8. Let your dog push his nose into the nose loop, and then bring the collar straps behind the head for a second or two. Do not fasten them. Feed him a treat and remove the nose loop.

9. Repeat the previous step, gradually keeping the head halter on longer and longer, until you can hold it there for five seconds. Treat several times.

10. Put the head halter on and clip the collar behind his head (without a leash attached to it). Treat and remove the collar. Repeat many times, gradually leaving it on longer and longer. Treat generously.

11. Put the halter on (without a leash attached to it) and invite your dog to walk around the room. Feed treats.

12. Attach the leash and take your dog for a short walk – in the room at first, then gradually longer, and outside. Be generous with treats. Now you can use the leash and head halter to gently move his head away from you if he starts to get grabby.

Here is an excellent YouTube video of the wonderful force-free trainer, Jean Donaldson, conditioning her Chow, Buffy, to love a head halter.

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

Anyone can help

By
Nancy Kerns
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I’ve sort of turned into the volunteer coordinator at my local shelter. That’s the best way I can help the animals there – by trying to bring in, train, and support other volunteers. But I have to admit, I have been feeling kind of burned out lately. So many people come to our orientation, full of enthusiasm and good intentions. And they say they get a lot out of the one-on-one, hands-on training sessions that follow, with me or another long-time volunteer. But then many – to be honest, most – of them come to work with the animals a few times, and not long after, drift away.

I’ve asked other friends who volunteer at other shelters, and they all agree: regular, long-term volunteers are hard to come by. People have good intentions, but few stay for long.

At my local shelter, volunteers don’t do any of the “dirty” work; they don’t clean cages or kennels, do laundry, mop floors, or wash dog dishes. The staff does all those jobs, and very well. All we ask the volunteers to do is to spend time with the animals: sit in the group cat room and love on the cats, seeking out the stressed/shy ones who hide in the cat trees; take the individually caged cats out and pet them; take dogs outside to one of the outdoor runs to potty and chase a ball; take puppies who are too young to go out onto the (quite bacteria- and virus-laden) grass and dirt into the “get acquainted room” to play. We also show them how to teach the dogs in the kennels how to sit quietly (instead of barking and jumping up) in their kennels for treats. When prospective adopters come to the shelter, they are much more likely to spend more time considering our dogs when the kennel is quiet and the dogs don’t appear to be maniacal.

But being at a shelter is hard for many animal lovers. You witness a lot of sad things; there are many dogs who don’t deserve to be there, who are there due to extremely sad or stupid things in the human world. Old dogs who belonged to old people who died. Puppies who were born to the neglected dogs of drug addicts, and are infested with worms and fleas and are thin and sick. A child’s beloved little dog pet who has been surrendered because the family got evicted and is living in a different shelter. All sorts of heartbreaking stuff. So the turnover of volunteers is high, which discourages me, because their help can make SUCH a difference.

Also, we get a lot of people who say they would like to volunteer, but who, in reality, can’t do much for us, like the lady who said she can’t be on her feet for more than 10 minutes at a time – but who won’t go in the cat room, either (where I figured a sitting person could do a lot of good), because she doesn’t like cats. We seem to get a lot of people who say they have lots of time on their hands, but who don’t have transportation to get to the shelter very often. Or who don’t have anyone to watch their toddlers; can they bring them? (No!)

So I was discouraged again recently, when a recently retired lady was the only one out of six people who attended an orientation who then followed up with a hands-on training session. And I was discouraged again when, despite what the written instructions had directed, she arrived wearing an outfit that was explicitly forbidden in those directions: a nice low-cut blouse (when carried, untrained, overexcited puppies and small dogs can effectively undress someone in such a blouse in seconds!); big hoop earrings and other loose jewelry; and open-toed, heeled shoes.

We did what we could in that session, and it wasn’t much. It also turned out that she had very little experience with dogs, even though she really loves them. She was very overwhelmed by the puppies. She wasn’t fast enough or coordinated enough with leashes for me to feel confident in allowing her to take dogs outside. So that left mostly working with the dogs on sitting politely behind their cage doors (which she didn’t enjoy; she wanted to have her hands on dogs) and taking small dogs to the get-acquainted room for petting. THAT she was good at.

There was one dog in our shelter who had been on the adoption row since LAST MARCH. He was cute, a long-legged, short-haired, chocolate-colored Chihuahua-mix, about two years old, but he was also a reserved, scared, shut-down, shaky little dog – very institutionalized, really. He would approach people for a treat, but would take it quickly, without eye contact, and if you withheld the treat, to see if he would offer some behavior that you could reward (such as “sit”), he would just stand there shivering for as long as you could stand it. Trying desperately to find something for her to do, I asked if she could make him her special project for a while. Could she spend a whole hour with him every time she came to the shelter? Take him outside, into the lobby, the cat room, the employee break room, the get-acquainted room, into her car? He needed to spend happy time with people, just being petted and given treats, and getting more comfortable with humans. She was happy to have the project.

So, a happy ending. I was at the shelter the other day, dropping off some old blankets, and the little dog was missing. I asked, and was told that he had been adopted – less than two weeks after my new volunteer started spending an hour a day, several times a week, with him. He blossomed that much, learning to connect with people (instead of shivering at the back of his run), that he finally appealed to someone. (And the shelter staff made a good match, too; he went home with a young woman who said she suffered from PTSD and was looking for a quiet dog who would be content to just sit with her.)

Well, shoot, that’s worth it, then. For me AND for the volunteer. That dog had gone unadopted for over 10 months, and in two weeks, she helped him find a home. I sent her a note of congratulations, and encouraged her to ask the staff for another project dog like that one.

She responded:

“I just got home a little while ago, and your email really touched my heart. Thank you for being so kind as to send me such a thoughtful message. It truly inspires me, and gives me even greater incentive.

I, too, was thrilled that our little guy was adopted. I was all prepped to work with him some more yesterday when (the staff) told me he had been adopted. It warms my heart to know that socializing really does work, and am so moved that he is bonding with his new owner. Sounds like this person truly needed a companion.

(The staff members) have been so lovely and helpful. All of you are true testaments to the wonderful work you do. I am so proud to even be of help on the smallest of scales. I so appreciate the time you spent with me.”

Really, the whole thing was just what I needed to stay motivated myself. As discouraging as shelter and rescue work can be at times, moments like this are so gratifying, they can hold us over through the low points. But you have to stick around in order for them to happen.

(Postive Perspectives 2 #1)Without Provocation

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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Almost every “Dog Mauls Toddler” headline is followed by an article that includes, among other things, these two phrases:

1.“The dog was always good with children,” and,

2.“The bite was unprovoked.”

Both statements make me cringe. Most people who think their dogs are “good with children” don’t realize that many dogs only tolerate children – the dogs are actually stressed in the presence of children, at least to some degree. These dogs usually show low level signs of stress that would warn an observant owner that they really don’t think little humans are all that great after all. Dogs who are truly “good with children” adore them; they don’t just tolerate them. They are delighted to see children, and, with wriggling body, wagging tail and squinty eyes, can’t wait to go see them. Anything less than this joyful response is mere tolerance.

With the very rare exception of idiopathic aggression – aggression for which there is no discernible cause – every bite is provoked from the dog’s perspective. We, as humans, may feel the bite wasn’t justified or appropriate, but rest assured the dog felt justified in biting. In many cases the provocation is pretty apparent from the news article: the dog was kept on a chain; the dog had a litter of puppies; the toddler was left outside in the back yard with a dog who had just been fed. In each case, the dog was stressed beyond his or her ability to control his bite.

Raise your stress awareness. Examine news reports about dog attacks to see if you can identify the possible stressors and provocation in each incident. Then be sure to protect your own dog from those potential bite-causing circumstances.

For more on identifying stress signals in dogs and ways to handle this stress, read Pat Miller’s Positive Perspectives 2. Click here to purchase from Whole Dog Journal.

Can’t find a certain food on our “Approved Foods List”?

By
Nancy Kerns
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It happens every year: In our February issue, we review dry dog foods, and list the companies that make the dry dog foods that meet our selection criteria in our “WDJ’s Approved Dry Dog Foods” list. We list the foods by company, because if we listed them by the name of the food, we’d have to repeat the company information for some companies many, many times. Companies like Diamond and WellPet, for example, have four lines of approved foods each. So instead, we put all the lines made by each company under the companies’ names, like thus:

Diamond:

– Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
– Premium Edge
– Professional
– Taste of the Wild

WellPet:

– Holistic Select

– Wellness Complete Health

– Wellness Core

– Wellness Simple

We also say in the text: “The foods that we like and that meet our selection criteria appear on the chart under their maker’s name. These companies are listed alphabetically. So, for example, please don’t freak out when you don’t see Orijen under the O’s; it’s listed under the name of the company that owns it: Champion Pet Foods.”

I almost always use the example of Orijen and Champion because I get the most letters from people who are upset that Orijen wasn’t on our list and WHY? Orijen ALWAYS IS ON OUR LIST UNDER ITS MAKER, CHAMPION!

This year is no different, however. I have already received dozens of letters asking why Orijen is not on our list (it is) as well as Taste of the Wild (it’s listed under its maker, Diamond) and why have we de-listed Prairie (we haven’t; it’s listed under its maker, Nature’s Variety).

The list of approved foods already takes up 7 pages of the magazine; I am loathe to make it even longer by repeating some of the company information several times so that the list can be ordered alphabetically by product name rather than company name. But a needlessly long, repetitive list is not the only thing that keeps me from reordering the list in this way.

In order for someone to be concerned that they didn’t see a certain food on the chart that is actually there, two failures had to occur. 1.) The reader had to fail to read the article that accompanies the list – which spells out exactly why we have put some foods on our list but not others, and which explains that the foods are listed alphabetically by company. 2) They failed to either see or understand that the list is ordered by company, or to know the name of the company that makes the food they wondered about. And I worry terribly about those failures.

It’s far more important for me to educate people in the article about how their dogs’ food can be evaluated, and some of the critical factors they might want to consider when choosing a day-in, day-out diet for their dogs, than it is to list the ones that meet our selection criteria. I’d rather people know and understand why the foods that are on the list are on the list, than to give them the list itself. The worried inquiry about “Where is Orijen??” tells me that someone only cares that “it’s on our list” and no more. It shouldn’t be enough to be on our list; it should meet your own and your dog’s own criteria, too. 

Also, every dog owner should know the name of the company that makes their dog’s food! It’s simple when you feed Canidae; the name Canidae appears above the name of each of its foods. You’d have to read the fine print on a bag to know that Orijen is made by Champion . . . but you need to read the fine print on each bag of food you feed your dog!

Anyway, as my husband says, that’s my rant for the day. Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions that would solve our annual dilemma and forestall confusion. Should I just give up and list “what’s in” and “what’s out” and no more?

Work That Body!

By
Nicole Wilde
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The following tips on human’s body language are applicable when interacting with any dog, but are especially important when dealing with a fearful dog. Adopt mannerisms and teach others who interact with your dog to do so as well. 

1. Let the dog come to you. If your dog is frightened, she must be allowed to decide whether or not to approach. Don’t restrain your dog and force her to accept contact from others. Remember the “fight or flight” response; if you take away the opportunity for flight, your dog’s choices are limited.

2. Turn to the Side. Facing a dog directly is more confrontational than keeping your body turned partially or completely to the side; even turning your head to the side will make a frightened dog feel less anxious.

3. No staring, please! A direct stare is a threat in the animal kingdom (and on New York Subways!). It is perfectly fine to look at your dog; just soften your expression and don’t hard stare directly into her eyes. Do not allow children to put their faces near your dog’s face or to stare into her eyes.

4. Don’t hover. Leaning over a dog can cause the dog to become afraid and possibly defensive. The one time I was bitten while working in a Los Angeles city animal shelter happened when I went to return an adorable, fluffy white dog to her pen. While placing her on the ground, I inadvertently reached over equally adorable little pen mate-who jumped up and bit me in the face.

5. Pet appropriately. Approaching dogs by patting then on the head is ill-advised. Envision the interaction from the dog’s point of view; a palm approaching from above can be alarming. I do a demonstration with kids to teach them how to pet dogs properly. The child plays the role of the dog; I tell the child that I will pet him in two different ways, and he is to tell me which is nicer. First, I reach my hand slowly towards the child’s cheek and stroke it, smiling and softly saying, “Good dog!” Next, I bring my hand brusquely palm-down over the child’s head and repeatedly, while loudly saying, “good dog, good dog!” Kids almost invariably like the first method better. If dogs could answer for themselves, nine out of ten dogs would love vote for the first methods as well! It’s not that dogs should never be petted on top of the head, but that head-patting (or petting over the dog’s shoulders, back, or rump) should not be used as an initial approach. It is wiser to make a fist, hold it under the dog’s nose is to allow her to sniff, then pet the dog on the chest, moving gradually to the sides of the face and other body parts, assuming the dog is comfortable. Likewise, a hand moving in quickly to grab for a dog’s collar is more potentially fear-inducing than a hand moving slowly to a dog’s chest, scratching it, then moving up to take hold of the collar.

6. Stoop, don’t swoop. Small dogs in particular are often swooped down upon when people want to pick them up. Fast, direct, overhead movements are much more frightening than slow, indirect ones. To lift a small dog, crouch down, pet the dog for a moment, then gently slip your hands under her belly and chest, and lift.

7. Watch your smile. While humans interpret a smile as friendly, a dog might not be as found of seeing your pearly whites. A show of teeth is, after all, a threat in the animal kingdom. A friend of mine once accompanied me to visit the wolves at a rescue center. She patiently sat on the ground, motionless. Finally, a large, black wolf approached to investigate. Unable to contain herself, she broke out in a huge, toothy grin. The wolf darted away as though she had raised a hand to hit him. The lesson? Save the dazzling toothpaste for charming your dates and accepting rewards. Smile at canines with a closed mouth.

For more on owning and training a fearful dog, purchase Help For Your Fearful Dog:  A Step By Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer His Fear by Nicole Wilde, CPDT. 

Socializing the puppy, the right way

By
Nancy Kerns
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I got to dog-sit my son’s new puppy, Cole, this weekend, while he was out of town at a tournament with his sports team. I actually pulled rank on my son’s girlfriend, who volunteered to be the one who dog-sat Cole this weekend. I wanted to see how Cole’s training was coming along; my son shares his college home with four other young men, all of whom love dogs and have dogs back at their parents’ homes, but who all have varying amounts of proper dog-training knowledge and experience. I was curious if Cole’s good manners, installed with great effort here at my house, were surviving his new living situation. (As one example of the challenge that Cole’s behavior faces, my son told me about coming home from class one day and finding one of his roommates and Cole sitting on the couch practicing howling together. Since Cole’s mama is an American Black and Tan Coonhound, howling is a foregone conclusion, but one we were hoping to keep under wraps as long as possible. My son is training Cole and his roommates.)

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Also, my dog-walking friends, who enjoyed six or so weekends of hikes with Cole and our packs of dogs before my son took custody of the pup, were clamoring to see Cole again. All of our dogs are adults over four years old, and none of us can believe how much we miss a puppy’s antics out on the trail.

This trail time is a fantastic opportunity for Cole to be schooled by a variety of sane, well-adjusted adult dogs in the many subtleties of canine language. Dogs communicate with each other with every posture, motion, angle, and tensing of their bodies, and to be a true master – a dog who can go anywhere and get along with any other dogs – an individual needs to be exposed to lots of other dogs: playful ones and grumpy ones, big and small, furry and short-haired, long-tailed and bob-tailed, ones with pointed ears and dangling ones, smoosh-faced ones and long-nosed ones.

There is almost no better place and way to do this than off-leash on a trail. When dogs get taken to a dog park to play, many of them arrive full of pent-up excitement (and often, frustration); their expectation is to run and play like maniacs every time, and they often start screaming or whining with excitement blocks away from the park. In contrast, when my friends and I take our dogs to one of our favorite trails, the dogs know we are going to be walking somewhere; the focus is on the trail and the journey, not necessarily on each other.

Sometimes I go alone, with just my two dogs and Cole, but I have two different friends I walk with a lot, and one has two dogs, and one has three, so the “pack” may be five or six dogs. A few times, we’ve all met and had a total of eight dogs walking together. But no matter whether it’s just my three or more, when we get there, we immediately head out. The interaction with the other dogs happens along the way.

In the beginning, Cole pestered any dog he was near, licking at their faces and trying to gain their attention and/or get them to play with him. Exactly none of these adults want to play with him; they are all busy with the trail and paying attention to their own packmates and owners. So he gets the brushoff in many, many different ways. The Chihuahuas — mine (Tito) and my friend’s (S’mores) – pull out the big guns from their outset, and snarl and attack him like tiny wolverines. Early on, this behavior scared him so much that he’d often fall down while trying to run backward. Now he understands how small they are and how big he is, he has fun staging mock attacks on them, just to get them to rush him with all their teeth showing, so he can romp away with obvious enjoyment. They would be better off ignoring him, as the big mixed-breed matrons of our packs (Matilda and Indi) do. Both have taken to turning their heads away from Cole so thoroughly that they sometimes spin in an entire circle of avoidance, then cantering off, tails wagging the whole time. The reaction is such a non-event, Cole gives up almost immediately.

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Chaco, one of my former fosters, sprints away from Cole every time he is near – and through him, if necessary. She’s built (or fed) a bit like a barrel, and she seems to have learned that the puppy is still quite uncoordinated, and she can knock him off his feet with enough brio. After being rolled a few times in their encounters, Cole pretty much leaves her alone!

Cole gets the most education from following and trying to engage Otto and Otto’s favorite friend, Lena. A mixed-breed who is nearly the exact same size and height as Otto, Lena had ACL surgery two years ago. Her vet told her owner that Lena’s hips are both awful, too, and will probably require surgery at some point. In an effort to help Lena last as long as possible, my friend keeps Lena lean, and we often keep her on a long-line on these walks, so she doesn’t sprint and turn and romp her way to an earlier surgery date. She and Otto both use fantastic facial expressions to help control Cole’s behavior: lifted lips, wrinkled brows, stiffened ears held back, and so on. If he doesn’t see or read these properly, neither dog will hesitate to growl/snap/lunge at him. Bit by bit, he’s learned the proper range of responses: to get out of their faces for minor infractions of the polite canine behavior code for a puppy, or, if his offense is of the highest order, to throw himself onto the ground and roll over in apology/obsequiousness. And because both dogs are sane and well-adjusted themselves, he’s learning the whole range.

When I was a kid, my sister had a very dog-aggressive Chesapeake, who terrorized all of our other dogs (my parents were super irresponsible dogs owners, and we had a lot of dogs) and was eventually euthanized for his crimes against other dogs. I had a Kelpie-mix who grew up under the Chesapeake’s reign of terror, and while he was never as criminally insane as the Chesapeake, his acquisition of canine language was definitely warped by his upbringing under a tyrant; he became a lesser tyrant himself. Whereas the Chesapeake could see a dog a mile away and go into a rage, my Kelpie would fly off the handle “only” if another dog made eye contact with him – a sort of Travis Bickle “You lookin at ME?” response. Managing him around other dogs was a chore for all 13 years of his life (especially because I didn’t know training techniques for improving such behavior then that I know about now).

Another thing that I didn’t know then is that interactions with “normal” dogs who respond with “normal” canine behavior are required in order to transform a normal puppy into a well-behaved dog, capable of polite “conversation” with other dogs. I’m incredibly grateful to have good friends with good dogs in my social circle, and glad that Cole is reaping the rewards of these relationships, too.

(Don’t Leave Me #1) – Separation Problem or Sock Party?

By
Nicole Wilde
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So how do you know whether your dog actually has a separation issue? After all, many dogs seem hyper-attached to their owners, and when left alone, destroy things. But where one dog may be sad as his owners leave, another appears to be thinking, Whoohoo! They’re finally gone! Par-tee! While the results of a Poochapalooza can look a lot like the aftermath of a bout of anxiety, one should not be mistaken for the other. Destruction, inappropriate elimination, and incessant vocalizing are some of the most common signs of a separation issue, but they must be assessed in context with the rest of the dog’s behavior. 

Many times the aforementioned activities are attributable to a lack of training, or are manifestations of boredom due to a shortage of mental and/or physical stimulation. If your dog is left alone with a reservoir of unspent energy and no “legal” ways to vent it, any resulting barking or destruction should not be viewed as certain proof of a separation issue.

In some cases, destructive efforts will be focused on exit points such as doors and windows, or on items belonging to owners. For example, you come home to find that your dog has chewed up a paperback book you were reading or a hand towel (items which retain your scent). Or your dog claws or chews at the door where you exited or the window that offers a view of your car pulling away. Those behaviors are more likely to be related to a separation issue than would an act such as chewing up a picture frame (unless it holds a photo of you and your dog cuddling, in which case you have an extremely clever and melancholy dog). Still, even scent-related or escape-focused actions are not conclusive evidence of a separation issue and must be assessed in context. 

One identifying factor in the diagnosis of a true separation issue is that stress-related behaviors occur each and every time the dog is left alone. 

For additional help on recognizing and solving separation anxiety issues, purchase Don’t Leave Me! by Nicole Wilde from Whole Dog Journal.

Mourning the loss of an “easy” dog

By
Nancy Kerns
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I know a couple who adopted a shelter dog, and, some six months after that fact, have decided to give the dog up following an incident with the dog. The wife took the dog to a friend’s house, and due to a lot of factors (that were entirely predictable to anyone knowing much of anything about dogs, but apparently, undreamed of by the inexperienced owner), the adopted dog attacked the dog who lived in that house. The resident dog and her owner both required treatment for punctures –nothing major, not surgery or anything drastic. But the entire event was traumatic enough that the owners can no longer imagine living with their (aggressor) dog.

It’s very sad for me to hear about, because the dog is an only dog, is very affectionate and well-behaved with her humans, doesn’t share the house with other dogs or cats or anything but adult humans, and yet, because of this episode of easily preventable dog-dog aggression, is about to lose her home and be returned to a shelter, where she may or may not be given a chance to find another family.

The couple has been offered services by a trainer who worked with them shortly after they adopted the dog – and declined those services. They don’t want to “work with” the dog, they just want her gone, as soon as possible.

I was thinking about this, and a conversation that I had once with a close relative came to mind. Her daughter suffers from schizophrenia. My relative has struggled for over a decade to get help for her daughter, as doctors have struggled to find medications that give the young woman some peace from the paranoia and voices that plague her, and enable her to distinguish reality from delusions – or at a minimum, resist responding to those delusions. My relative once told me, one of the hardest parts of dealing with her daughter’s illness is letting go of the image of the perfect girl her daughter had once been – extremely bright, communicative, creative, and athletic. She told me, “It’s not that I can’t deal with the illness; it’s that I find myself constantly mourning the loss of the person my daughter was before the illness.”

When one of our dogs develops a serious health or behavior disorder, mourning the loss of our image of our relatively carefree, healthy dog is often the first step that we need to take in order to get on with the treatment. Whether the dog is going to require lifelong testing and medication for a thyroid disorder or diabetes, or surgery and rehabilitation for dysplastic hips, or management and training to deal with a budding aggression issue, the first step is accepting this new reality: The future with that dog is not going to be as cheap or easy as one hoped.

The big difference, of course, is that it’s somehow an option for people to not only decline to treat their dog, but also, give up on it altogether, whereas one can’t walk away from a child in need of treatment so easily. And sometimes, I really hate this difference.

I would be more understanding and compassionate toward these people if they couldn’t afford the training or management tools, or had no time to invest in the project, or had other vulnerable parties – another dog, or cats, or small children – that they needed to protect. But all I have heard is that it’s too traumatic to consider.

I’m not dismissing the idea that witnessing (and having to break up) a dogfight is traumatic. It’s also humiliating and upsetting to suffer the judgment or anger of the owner of the victim dog in a dog fight. And it’s very uncomfortable to feel guilty for failing to pay enough attention and prevent something bad that your dog does. In my lifetime with dogs, I’ve suffered every one of these feelings. They are not fun.

But dang it . . . it’s still your dog. 

(Holistic Remedies #3) – Causes for Hot Spots

By
CJ Puotinen
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Your dog has a weeping, oozing wound on her leg or a yucky red blob on the top of her head, and at first you wonder how she injured herself. But if you’ve been around the dog-care block, you realize that it isn’t a cut or a scrape. That gooey mess might be diagnosed as pyotraumatic dermatitis, wet eczema, or a Staphylococcus intermedius infection, but it’s what everyone calls a hot spot.

Most veterinarians treat hot spots after clipping and shaving fur around the lesion, a process that in severe cases can require sedation or the use of a local anesthetic. The area is washed with a disinfecting soap or rinsed with a liquid antiseptic. Astringents, anti-itch agents, antihistamines, hydrocortisone sprays or creams, drying agents, or antibiotics may be applied. In some cases topical treatment is accompanied by steroid infections or oral medication.

Because conventional therapies can have serious side effects and because hot spots are notorious for recurring, holistic veterinarians look beyond their obvious symptoms to their underlying causes.

According to Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD, author of Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, skin disorders stem from:

  • Toxicity, most of it from poor-quality food and some from environmental pollutants or topically applied pest-controlled chemicals.
  • Vaccinations, such as routinely administered multiple vaccines, which can induce immune disorders in susceptible animals.
  • Suppressed disease, the remains of inadequately treated conditions that were never cured and which may cause periodic discharge through the skin.
  • Psychological factors such as boredom, frustration, anger, and irritability.

So rather than focusing 100% on the symptoms, Dr. Pitcairn says “It is possible to alleviate or even eliminate skin problems simply through fasting, proper nutrition and a total health plan.”

For more information on holistic approaches to common canine conditions and illnesses, purchase and download the ebook Holistic Remedies from Whole Dog Journal.

Food Issues

By
Nancy Kerns
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Recently, an acquaintance posted some pictures of her dog on Facebook. The dog is super cute, but I couldn’t help but notice that something was wrong: the little dog’s hair was completely absent from his chest, neck, top of his head, and paws. “Hey, what’s up with Charlie?” I asked her in a private message. “What happened to his coat?” She responded that it happens to him periodically – and did I think it could have anything to do with the food she had recently switched him to?

Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

Well, yes, I know for a fact that Charlie’s hair loss (and, no doubt, a torment of itching and scratching) absolutely could have been caused by his diet. And since its onset was so close to the time that she switched his food, I’m certain that it can be cured by another change in diet (only, it’s going to take a bit of detective work to identify the problematic factor in the food).

My previous dog, a Border Collie named Rupert, was horribly allergic to flea bites. Whenever he would start itching and scratching (and chewing and rubbing himself on anything handy), I would go into a fit of cleaning and searching for fleas, which, half the time, I couldn’t find any sign of. It turned out (after many years of fighting phantom flea infestations and misguided trips to the vet for steroids), that he was also horribly allergic to chicken, as well.

Diet affects more than the skin and coat, however. Over time, it can affect everything having to do with your dog’s health, especially his digestion. (Digestion is a huge category. Is he always hungry? Never hungry? Often gassy? Frequently constipated? Have loose stools? Go too frequently? The possibilities for problems are endless.)

We talked for a while, and I made some suggestions for keeping track of what Charlie was eating, and for some foods that my friend might want to switch him to as soon as possible (such as something with a novel protein and a carbohydrate that he hasn’t encountered in his diet so far – the start of an allergy elimination trial).

All of that said, a trip to a veterinarian is in order for Charlie, too. While a change in diet certainly could have been the trigger for the skin and coat problems he currently suffers from, it could also be that he has another serious health problem brewing; perhaps the dietary change was the final insult, and his already stressed and overburdened body just couldn’t cope with it.

As for what specific food my friend should feed her dog? What do I recommend? That’s easy: I suggested she check out this issue, which contains our annual dry dog food review.

Correction: In an article entitled, “Toss Those Cookies” in the January 2014 issue, we reported an incorrect dosage of hydrogen peroxide to administer to a dog if and when you were trying to make him vomit (in case of an accidental poisoning). The correct dose is 1 teaspoon per 5 lbs of the dog’s body weight, with a maximum of 3 tablespoons. There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, so the maximum dose for dogs who weigh more than 45 lbs is 3 tablespoons per dose. Our veterinary emergency care expert assures us that even at the incorrect dosage stated, if the maximum amount that we correctly reported (3 tablespoons per dose) were abided by, no harm should come to a dog of any size; the dosage we originally reported is just more than needed for very small dogs. We regret the error.

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Buying & Feeding Dry Dog Food

By
Nancy Kerns
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The vast majority of dog owners feed dry dog food to their dogs – and quite a few of them select and store the bags of food in a way that turns a wholesome food into a health hazard for their beloved companions. Are you handling your dog’s food in a safe manner? Or do you regularly make the following mistakes?

1. Grabbing and buying the first/top bag on the shelf.

Always check the date/code on the bag, and buy the bag with a “best by” date that is as far in the future as you can find. And don’t buy bags that are within a few months or closer to their “best by” date.

Most foods that are made with natural preservatives are intended to be consumed within 12 months of manufacture, although companies extend this to as much as 18 months. But dry food is far less nutritious (oxidation slowly decreases the vitamin activity), and has far more potential to be rancid, the more time passes post-manufacture. (Note that foods that are packed in vacuum-sealed bags and flushed with nitrogen keep fresh longer.)

So, for example, if its February 2014, a bags that was just manufactured and placed on the shelf should have a “best by” date of February 2015 – buying that bag would be ideal. In contrast, avoid the bag with a “best buy” date that indicates the food should be consumed within the next few months.

2. Buying giant bags for your small or medium dog.

It’s fine to buy the biggest bag if you have several large dogs, but the point is, you should be buying bags in sizes that are small enough so that the food is entirely consumed within two to three weeks, no more.

The longer the food is exposed to oxygen once the bag is open, the faster it oxidizes. While buying very large bags makes the most economic sense (the price per pound is always less if you buy in large bags), it may not make the most sense for your dog’s health. Many dogs start turning up their noses at a food by the time you reach the bottom of the bag, because by that time (especially if you have a small dog!), the fats in the food may be quite rancid – and dogs’ noses are far more sensitive to the odor of rancid fats than our noses are. Veterinarians have a phrase for what happens when dogs are not fussy and eat rancid food, suffering digestive upset after meals: “bottom of the bag syndrome.”

3. Storing the food in a warm or damp place.

Read the label; it will almost always suggest storing the food in a cool, dry place. Again, this is to preserve the wholesomeness of the food and to retard the process of oxidation. Look for a cool, low cupboard or shelf in the pantry.

4. Dumping the food into another container.

I know, I know, it’s far easier to scoop food out of a plastic bin than it is to scoop it out of the bag. But there are several problems with bins. First, many are not made with “food-safe” plastic – material that is resistant to degradation caused by contact with fat (keep in mind that dog food is a relatively high-fat food). Fat can cause the type of plastic used in things like plastic garbage cans and totes to accelerate the rate at which BPA and other plasticizers leach out of the container and into the dog food.

Second, if you don’t completely empty and clean out the bin in between each bag of food you dump into it, you are effectively “seeding” each new batch of food with rancid fats that are in the old food in the bottom of the tub and the fat that covers the container. It’s far safer to keep the food in the bag, and keep the bag in a container.

The practice of dumping the food into another container leads to the next mistake you should avoid . . .

5. Throwing away the bag before your dog has finished all the food.

If your dog becomes ill, the type of food and its date/code number will be critical information to have on hand. Your vet will want to know what exact food you fed the dog. If it develops that the food causes a serious illness or death, the manufacturer and the FDA will need the information to conclusively tie the food (and the specific lot of food) to the problem. If you are not absolutely certain and/or can’t prove what variety of food you fed to your sick dog, it’s will be very difficult to make the company take responsibility for the problem.

Make Positive Training Fun!

By
Lisa Rodier
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What do you want, you crazy dog?” Jennifer Wade said with a smile to her diabetic alert dog, Raven. Wade, 30, had just eaten a meal at an office luncheon, so she knew her blood glucose level (blood sugar) had to be okay. But Raven persisted, tugging her, and getting in her face. She guessed that the food-crazy dog just wanted an apple from the party, and her co-workers encouraged her to allow the persistent black Labrador Retriever to have a bite. Wade relented, but the chow hound declined the offer. In a hurry to get back to work, Wade exclaimed, “Now what?! You’re not going to eat? What is wrong with you?”

dog high five

www.leahvalentine.comService Dog of Virginia

Raven tugged at Wade’s wrist strap, jumped up on her, and eventually sat and stared at her with big, sad, brown puppy eyes and began whining. “Okay, if it will make you happy, I’ll check my blood sugar, you silly dog.” Sure enough, her blood sugar level was low. She gave Raven the signal to let him know he was correct, and he lit up, dancing around with excitement . . . and ate the apple.

I know my blood sugar is dropping when I start to feel cranky or fatigued. Fortunately, I can ride out my discomfort until I have a moment to grab a snack. But imagine you have no indication that your blood sugar is dropping. For diabetics who have “hypoglycemia unawareness” – a condition in which a person with Type I diabetes doesn’t experience the usual warning symptoms of hypoglycemia – the consequences of not acting immediately on a fast-dropping blood sugar level can be fatal.

Cue Raven, who entered Jennifer Wade’s life in July 2011, nine years after her diagnosis with diabetes – after struggling for nine long years to maintain appropriate blood sugar levels. A Type I diabetic, Wade found herself falling asleep at night, but not waking in the morning due to precipitously low blood sugar levels. As a single mother of a five-year-old boy, Wade (who has since married), was distressed that the burden to be sure that Mom was okay – including summoning 911 emergency assistance – might fall to her young son. Diagnosed as having hypoglycemic unawareness, she stopped going out in public unless accompanied by another adult.

A Dog’s Nose Knows

Trained by Service Dogs of Virginia (SDV), a 501(c)(3) non-profit service dog organization, Raven signals Wade when her blood sugar is on its way down or low, presumably based on a scent that diabetics emit when blood sugar levels begin to drop. Raven’s alert is to tug on an elastic band that Wade wears on her left wrist.

Peggy Law, founder and director of SDV, says that while diabetic alert dog programs are in their infancy, dogs have always smelled low blood sugar. “We don’t teach them to smell anything – we teach them to tell us when they smell it. The dogs just didn’t know we cared!”

Law trains and places diabetic alert dogs only for clients diagnosed with hypoglycemic unawareness – folks who have a greater than usual challenge in managing this tricky disease. She explains that dogs seem to notice when a human’s blood sugar drops rapidly, “even if the client’s level isn’t yet low.” When the dog alerts repeatedly as the level continues to drop, the client can immediately take action (eat, drink) to prevent a drop to an unsafe range.

When the client’s blood sugar decline is very gradual, dogs tend not to notice until the level is low. Given this, says Law, SDV’s goal is to train the dogs to alert when the client’s blood glucose level is at 70 mg/dl or below, but before the point of no return when the person can’t think clearly enough to eat or drink on her own. “We want the dog to alert while the person is still functioning so she can fix the situation.”

Before Raven was placed with her, Wade had been employing a risky strategy in managing her blood sugar levels. “When I started having episodes, I was afraid to keep my sugar at normal levels; I was so afraid that’d I’d pass out [if her blood sugar got low], so I kept it high,” Wade describes. While the outcome of high blood sugar in the short term is not as deadly as a precipitously low level, consistently abnormally high blood sugar causes long term damage that can lead to outcomes such as amputations and blindness. But now that Wade has an emergency backup indicator in Raven, she feels safer with lower average blood sugar levels than before. “Having Raven and knowing that he does his job well gives me confidence to keep my sugars where they should be. Since getting him, my average blood sugar (A1C) has been the lowest [most normal] that it’s ever been.”

The Magic of Positive Training

When Wade first brought Raven home, the dog was legitimately alerting Wade four to five times a week. Now, with her blood sugar under better control, she’s down to two to three alerts per week.

Service Dog of Virginia training

When Raven alerts, she’ll tell him, “OK, let me check my sugar.” The Lab knows the routine: he lies down, stares at her, and waits. If she’s low or on a downward trend, she praises him with a “Good dog! Let’s get a treat!” while she gets him a treat and grabs some juice for herself. His response? “He thinks he’s the cat’s pajamas! He’s all excited and thinks he’s the best dog in the whole wide world,” Wade laughs.

A diabetic alert dog’s road to reach that point is long. Raven came to SDV from a breeder at eight weeks of age and lived with a volunteer puppy raiser for his first year of life. During that year, SDV’s goals are to ensure the dog is comfortable in public, and to work on basic good manners behaviors, in order to establish groundwork for advanced behaviors. Then the dogs come back to live with an SDV trainer to embark upon advanced training for another year.

SDV utilizes positive training methods and clicker trains most behaviors, including alert training. Law and Wade appreciate the engagement, motivation, focus, and “think on your feet” attitude this method of training cultivates in dogs – an attitude that might mean the difference between life and death.

For example, one day Raven found Wade on the floor beside her bed, “sleeping.” Raven was in SDV’s second class of diabetic alert dogs and had not been formally trained to get help if Wade didn’t respond to his alerts. (This behavior has since been included in the program.) Wade vaguely recalls the dog repeatedly tugging on her wrist strap – and pushing him away. Frustrated and determined, the dog left the room and alerted Wade’s husband, who called paramedics.

SDV takes a slow approach to alert training that calls upon the dog’s strong clicker-based foundation. Alert training starts by “charging” the scent, rewarding the dog whenever the scent is presented to him in order to make it significant to him, and then teaching him to perform a specific behavior when the scent is presented. Eventually, he learns he will be rewarded for performing that behavior (now called an alert behavior) whenever he detects the scent.

The tasks increase in difficulty, with the scent being presented randomly, in all sorts of different situations and environments. Through months and months of repetition, working through false alerts and a gradual increase in the difficulty of the “game,” the dogs understand that being right leads to a party: big rewards (SDV uses food rewards) and lots of praise.

Relationship is Key to Training Dogs

SDV spends close to two weeks working with clients to “transfer” the dogs to their people. Law describes it as learning to dance with a partner. “The dog knows how to do the dance, but they can’t lead. The person has to learn to lead the dance, but they have to learn the steps first.” The client gets instruction on lots of dog training basics, and, at the same time, the relationship starts to build. “The dog is hanging out with them during training, and therefore has the opportunity to alert. The first few times it happens, the client is shocked,” Law explains.

Part of client orientation includes imparting an understanding that the dog is not an alert machine. Law says, “When you have a dog with you at work, the grocery store, and everywhere you go, you develop a deep knowledge of one another if you listen to and observe your dog. That can only help strengthen the dog’s persistence and determination when needed. The bond is a two way street: many people want a dog just to work, but forget that the dog has to be provided for physically and emotionally.”

And she stresses that, “Any time you’re training service dogs, it’s not just about the task (the alert); it’s about the dogs being very comfortable in public. There’s no way they can do this job if they’re not comfortable being out there. You also can’t expect them to work 24 hours a day. They’ve got to be able to have some down time.”

Positive Training Works

We still don’t know exactly what chemicals these dogs detect in order to be able to accurately alert to a low blood sugar level. Despite the fact that there is proof in her numbers, validated by her endocrinologist (who is a big supporter of diabetic alert dogs), Wade has been confronted by skeptics who assert that the dog is just guessing and happens, on occasion, to be right. Wade’s response? “My sugars have been the best they have ever been, my numbers reflect that, and I’m more confident than ever before. If it’s all in my head, so be it, because not only are my levels a lot better, my life is a lot better, too!”

SERVICE DOGS OF VIRGINIA – Charlottesville, VA.

Lisa Rodier lives in Georgia with her husband and Atle the Bouvier, and volunteers with the American Bouvier Rescue League.

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