Not two weeks ago, I posted a piece about the possibility that competition among the dogs in my “pack” had encouraged my dog Otto to develop previously unseen swimming and fetching skills. Here is the flip side: An un-socialized, formerly feral dog who I am fostering seems to have inspired both Otto AND Tito the Chihuahua to start chasing my cats off my property!
Otto has never chased my cats. Tito has, occasionally, but he’s the same size as my cats, and if they stand their ground, he halts in mid-charge and seems to pretend that he was in the middle of something else, like trying to remember his cell phone number. But suddenly, with the arrival of a mid-sized foster dog who has no qualms about chasing the cats, both Otto and Tito have decided that the activity *is* great fun. And I’m having trouble convincing one of my kitties to come home (from the far side of my fences) at all.
If I hear the sound of thundering paws across my back deck, I can step outside quickly and Otto, at least, will immediately change course and run for the house. Whoops! Sorry! If I catch Tito in the act, however, he persists in chasing the cat in question, in full hysterical Chihuahua cry, even if I’m running right behind him threatening his life. Only after the cat is over the fence will he turn around and face the charges, albeit defensively and without a shred of remorse. And the foster dog – well, as a former feral, he’s already got it all figured out. Sit pretty as long as the humans are around, but if they are busy inside the house, it’s on, kitties!
For now, it’s all about management. I have had to more closely monitor the location of all the dogs than ever before, and make sure that the three dogs are never all together in the backyard unsupervised at the same time. And at night, when the cats are most active (especially now, at the tail end of a hot summer), I’m crating the foster dog, Tito is sleeping inside, and only Otto – the most reliably cat-friendly dog – is free to wander the backyard with the cats.
So far, this is the only naughty thing my dogs have picked up from the foster dog, but it’s enough! I’m curious, though: Am I alone in this? Have one of your guest dogs ever taught, encouraged, or inspired your dog to behave badly?
I feel as if I have written this story a hundred times, but it’s worth writing again:
Please go check your dog’s collar RIGHT NOW and make sure that the numbers on its ID tags are current. And then, think about his microchip – he HAS an implanted identification microchip, doesn’t he? Is it currently registered with a microchip registration company? And if so, does the registry have your current contact information?
A good friend lost her dog last week, and only after he went missing did she realize that his ID tag on his collar has only the number for her landline phone – long since disconnected in favor of a mobile phone. As I walked her through some additional steps she could take to improve the chances that she gets him back, she realized that she needed to update the contact information for his microchip ID AND city dog license. At least now, if he gets picked up or turned into a shelter, she’ll get him back.
It was a tiny bit of comfort that, as her lost dog drama was playing out, our local newspaper was publishing updates about a dog who was turned into the same shelter where she updated her contact information. The dog had gone missing from his “grandpa’s” house in Kansas (grandpa was reportedly dog-sitting the dog while the dog’s family was on vacation). Apparently a transient found the dog, and brought her from there to California, where the transient then (inexplicably) turned the dog into a shelter. Fortunately, the dog had a microchip with CURRENT contact information for the dog’s owner, who lives in Colorado. One of the newspaper articles reported that the owners didn’t have enough money to fly the dog home, and local people chipped in so that the dog, Sara Bella, could be reunited with her family soon.
I hope my friend’s dog finds his way home more easily than this. I know it would help if his tags were current.
My dog, Otto, has never been all that excited about fetch. Certainly not like my previous dog, a Border Collie fetchaholic named Rupert. You could make Rupert leap to his feet and run around to look for a ball if you just mimed the very first part of a throwing gesture, drawing your hand back over your shoulder. Otto will chase something if you throw it – but then he may or may not pick it up, and if he does, he is unlikely to bring it back to you.
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Only when the planets are aligned just so — the fetch item is one of his favorite toys (only certain squishy balls and squeaky stuffed animals, once in a blue moon a flying disc); it’s not too hot; he hasn’t been for a run for a couple of days – will he reliably retrieve more than once or twice in a row.
This all changed since Tito revealed his previously hidden talent: he LOVES fetching sticks thrown in the water. Chihuahuas are not renowned for their fetching, and for the past year, we knew Tito to chase, but never return with the tennis balls he’s always carrying around.
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But then he discovered stick-fetching-in-the-water, and now he’s like a miniature Labrador, diving in again and again, and always bringing the stick back to you, dropping it on your feet and standing there dripping and shivering and whining until you throw it again.
Otto has NEVER chased a stick thrown in the water — until he saw Tito getting a lot of attention for it. And now he too fetches sticks in the water – although he’s still likely to come out of the water with the stick and run off with it, trying to elicit a game of “Catch me if you can!” from the other dogs (and dropping the stick somewhere you can’t find it when you’re not looking).
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Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor Pat Miller wrote a fascinating piece about “social learning” in the July 2004 issue of WDJ. Something called “local enhancement” is probably responsible for Otto’s renewed interest in fetch.
However, as a long-time and repeat anthropomorphizer, I think it’s the competition for attention that has turned my distracted wader into a hard-swimming retriever.
To start your dog back on the road to slimness, start by aiming for a 10 percent weight loss – or a rate of about 1 percent of his body weight per week. A slow approach is recommended both because it allows for a more gradual change in feeding, and because studies show that rapid weight loss can increase a loss of lean body mass, which in turn can contribute to weight regain. (Lean body mass, which includes organs, are the primary drivers of basal metabolism and burn energy at far higher levels than fat mass does. Reducing the amount of lean tissue can create diminished energy requirements, so a dog can regain weight even if he’s eating less.) In other words, forget the idea of crash diets for your dog; slow and steady wins this race.
The first step: weigh your dog. Next, calculate how much your dog actually eats. Begin by listing all the food your dog gets every day, including treats and table scraps, and add up the total calorie count. Some commercial foods carry calorie information on the label; for others, you may need to take the initiative and contact the manufacturer for more details.
Make sure you take portion size into account. If the recommended ration of your kibble is two standard cups a day, but if you’re using a 16-ounce Big Gulp container to measure out the food, you’re actually feeding your dog twice the allowance – and twice the calories.
For more details and advice on ways to manage your dog’s weight, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s downloadable ebook, Managing Your Dog’s Weight.
Several raw feeders contacted me after reading my homemade diet guidelines (“You Can Make It”) in July’s Whole Dog Journal issue. While their diets varied considerably, each had problems that are common with raw diets – but most are easily fixed.
For example, many raw diets are high in bone, which provides calcium and phosphorus. Excess calcium can lead to serious orthopedic conditions in large-breed puppies, especially before puberty. High-calcium diets are not dangerous for adult dogs, but calcium binds other minerals, including zinc and iron, so a diet high in bone may lead to other nutritional deficiencies. Too much bone can also cause constipation.
Most raw diets are high in fat, particularly those that use high-fat meats or include skin from poultry. High-fat diets can be appropriate for very active or working dogs, but too much fat can cause digestive upset and even pancreatitis in susceptible dogs. High-fat diets can also lead to obesity, or be nutritionally deficient when portion sizes are limited in order to avoid feeding too many calories.
Raw diets that are not supplemented will be low in vitamin E. Other nutrients may also be inadequate, particularly in diets that are missing or low in red meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables, and those that are high in fat.
Raw feeders wonder why this is true, since wolves don’t eat vegetables or take supplements, but we can’t really duplicate the evolutionary diet of the wolf, nor is it necessarily the best diet for our dogs. Wolves travel many miles every day, so a higher fat diet is more appropriate for them than for our more sedentary pets. Wolves eat whole large prey, including things like blood, brains, eyeballs, and a variety of glands that we don’t feed, so we have to replace those nutrients with other foods. Nature is concerned only with procreation, not with longevity. The antioxidants and phytonutrients found in fruits and vegetables may help our dogs to live longer and healthier lives.
How Much Bone? I recommend feeding 30 to 50 percent raw meaty bones, using the higher amount only if the parts fed are very meaty. The rest of the diet should consist of boneless meat, organs, fish, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and grains (optional).
Lori Lockyear, who lives in Michigan, has two dogs: Wilson, a 5 ½-year-old, 34-pound Labradoodle, and Woody, a 4-year-old, 40-pound Goldendoodle. She feeds them a combination of half kibble (Orijen 6 Fish) and half raw. The raw portion of the diet consists primarily of raw meaty bones, including ground chicken and turkey mixes that contain meat, skin, bones, and organs. She also feeds whole chicken thighs and backs (with skin and separable fat removed), beef ribs, and Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Frozen Diet (lamb variety), and adds vegetables, either leafy green or starchy (sweet potatoes or pumpkin), plus low-fat yogurt and egg yolks. She supplements with fish oil.
Because most of the raw half of the diet that Lockyear feeds is comprised of raw meaty bones, her diet is high in calcium. Chicken thighs are a better choice than backs, since they have more meat. She should replace some of the ground mixtures with lean, boneless meat, preferably red meat, since the diet is high in poultry. Beef heart would be an inexpensive choice, and she could also include a small amount of beef liver. Low-fat dairy can also be used; it has some calcium, but not nearly as much as bone.
Wendy Mayer, who lives in Alberta, Canada, feeds her three Golden Retrievers a diet based on Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats, by Beth Taylor and Karen Becker, DVM. Instead of boneless meat, however, two-thirds of the meat she uses is a ground product that includes bone. This product claims to be made from whole animal carcasses, but the varieties she uses (elk and bison) are high in calcium, over 1 percent as fed, which converts to over 3.7 percent on a dry matter basis (DM). The maximum amount of calcium allowed by the canine nutrient guidelines compiled by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is 2.5 percent DM.
Because Mayer feeds boneless meat one-third of the time, one way to reduce the total amount of calcium in the diet is to not add calcium when she feeds boneless meat. This will lower the overall percentage of calcium in the diet to within AAFCO guidelines.
How Much Fat? It’s best to use meats that are 10 percent fat or less, which is comparable to about 30 to 40 percent fat in kibble, since fresh foods are high in moisture. Most commercial raw blends are higher in fat than this, particularly if you consider that they often include organs and vegetables that should reduce the overall amount of fat.
Lockyear’s diet is high in fat, since the mixes she uses contain skin, and Nature’s Variety Instinct, like most commercial raw foods, is high in fat. Replacing some of these with lean, boneless meat and low-fat dairy will reduce the amount of fat as well as calcium in the diet. The two egg yolks fed to each dog should be replaced with one whole egg. Although Lockyear relies on the commercial part of the diet to provide fish, she could consider feeding one meal a week of canned fish with bones (sardines packed in water, jack mackerel, or pink salmon), which are lower in fat than the mixes she uses.
Karen Murad, a Washington resident, is an AKC Breeder of Merit of Papillons. She feeds a raw diet to some of her dogs, making large batches that include 4 pounds of boneless meat, 1 pound chicken necks, 1 pound organ mix, 2 eggs, ½ cup mashed vegetables, and a variety of whole food supplements, including NOW Bone Meal Powder, since her diet is low in bone.
Murad’s diet is almost 50 percent fat on a dry matter basis, partly because half the boneless meat she uses is high-fat ground beef (the other half is skinless chicken thighs, which are fine). At least half of the ground beef should be replaced with lower-fat meat, such as 90 percent lean ground beef, beef heart, canned fish, or additional chicken.
Murad also adds 3 tablespoons each of olive oil and coconut oil, neither of which are needed. All oils provide 4.5 grams of fat and 40 calories per teaspoon, which add up fast. The added oils should be eliminated or greatly reduced. I’d prefer to see her feed more eggs instead of so much oil, since the eggs have more nutritional value.
Keep in mind that when fat is decreased, the amount fed must be increased to maintain the same number of calories.
Supplements All raw diets need added vitamin E. I recommend giving 1 to 2 IUs per pound of body weight daily (larger amounts can be given less often). Murad could add one 200 IU gelcap of vitamin E to her recipe to provide all the vitamin E that her dogs need. Lockyear’s dogs get most of the vitamin E they need from the commercial portion of their diet, so giving each dog 200 IUs once a week would be ample.
If kelp is used to provide iodine, make sure the amount is appropriate. Murad was adding 1 tablespoon NOW Kelp Powder to her recipe, which turned out to provide almost 10 times the amount of iodine that her dogs needed. Too much iodine can suppress thyroid function, and kelp is also a source of arsenic, so best to keep amounts small.
Murad supplements with cod liver oil, which is preferable to fish oil in her case because her recipe does not include fish. (Another option would be to include one 15-ounce can of fish with bone in her recipe). One tablespoon of cod liver oil added to the recipe will provide appropriate amounts of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (make sure it includes vitamin D, which is removed from molecularly distilled products). Lockyear gives each of her dogs 1 gram of fish oil daily, which is a good idea, since omega-3 fatty acids likely don’t survive well in kibble.
After cutting the amount of fat in her recipe almost in half (by eliminating the unneeded oils and reducing the amount of high-fat beef), Murad should increase the amount she feeds by about one-third, so as to provide equivalent calories. This also increases all nutrient levels to adequate levels (with added vitamin E and cod liver oil).
Mary Straus is the owner of DogAware.com. She lives with her Norwich Terrier, Ella, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Imagine not having to worry about treat recalls or ingredient sources, or, for that matter, whether the actual ingredients match what’s on the product label. It’s not a dream; in fact, it’s well within anyone’s abilities. It’s easy, it costs less than commercial products, and as an added bonus, you get the peace of mind from knowing these treats won’t be recalled.
Heck, you have to go grocery shopping anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem to pick up the necessary ingredients while shopping for the other members of your family. Whether you shop at Safeway or Whole Foods, one thing is certain: the quality of the raw ingredients you’ll buy in human grocery stores is far higher than what is used in most commercial treats.
Making dog treats is amazingly simple. No special equipment is needed. You can use a dehydrator for dehydrating if you have one; but all you really need is an oven, which you can use for dehydrated meat treats or baked, cookie-style treats. My oven uses natural gas, and can be used at very low temperatures (under 200 degrees). That’s very useful for slow, even, and complete dehydration, which is what’s needed to make a good treat.
My oven is old, and has a pilot light, so I can even store my “ready to eat” treats therein. They will stay dry and not mold because of that pilot light, so they don’t require refrigeration. Don’t forget to remove them before preheating that oven for something else, however! If your oven lacks a pilot light, you will need to store your treats in the refrigerator or freezer.
For dog treats, “simple is best.” What do most dogs like best of all? Meat. One of the dehydrated treats I make is London broil (bought on sale for $3 to $3.50 a pound). I use London broil because it’s a lean cut of beef with good, solid texture. Fat is on the outside of the piece of meat, and so is easy to trim off. Visible fat must be trimmed. High-fat treats must be fed in limited amounts, and are at greater risk of rancidity if not fed within a few days.
After visible fat is trimmed, place the meat (which is usually about an inch thick) flat into a pan of boiling water until it firms up. This step is not essential; but it speeds the dehydration process, and makes it less messy as well. Cut the firm meat into cubes, between 3/8- and 1/2-inches square, and then place the cubes on a cookie sheet, not touching each other. Put the cookie sheet into the oven at an ideal temperature of 150° – 200°F. Check the treats every half hour or so, move them around on the cookie sheet, and if there is a lot of liquid on the cookie sheet, drain it off. The treats need to be really, really dry; as dry as kibble; moisture is your enemy.
I store the dehydrated treats in food-grade chewing gum dispensers that snap open easily for access. That way, they do not defile my pockets! And the dogs can’t immediately tell I’m carrying treats.
I can’t estimate what these treats cost someone else to make; I figure my out-of-pocket cost is $3 for the meat, which leaves me with an estimated 6 oz. of treats, after trimming and shrinkage. I have to allow for energy costs, so the true cost is higher than 50 cents an ounce; and if the meat is $3.50 a pound on sale, that increases the price, too. But I still think it’s the best bargain in town, and encourage you to try it.
Here’s a more complex recipe, with two ingredients. Don’t worry; it’s still simple. I came up with this recipe for baked liver-pumpkin cookies when I found that feeding liver-only treats often causes loose stool. Many people wish to avoid feeding grains, but to cut the effect of the liver, something had to be added. Pumpkin functions well as a binder and is palatable to most dogs, to boot. It’s just too good to be true that pumpkin acts to firm canine stools if they are too loose, and to loosen them if they are too firm; it’s the perfect companion ingredient for liver.
To make liver-pumpkin cookies, combine a can of canned plain pumpkin (not the kind that comes pre-seasoned for pies) and an equal amount of pureed lightly boiled liver in a food processor. Spoon drops of the mixture onto parchment paper-covered or lightly greased cookie sheets. Flatten out the drops so they are an equal height and will bake evenly. Bake in a slow oven (325° – 350°F) for 20 minutes or until firm enough to handle. Remove from the over, cut the spoon-dropped pieces into the size you want, and then continue to bake them until they are dry. Store in the refrigerator or freezer; they can be layered with waxed paper separators, or they can crumble a bit – the dogs won’t care.
Try one or both of these two recipes. You have nothing to lose but your worries about potentially harmful treats.
Shari A. Mann lives in San Francisco with her dogs Meg and Zebra. She currently mans the “help desk” at bullterrierrescue.org, enthusiastically supports dog rescue, and pursues a lifelong interest in all things canine.
Meaty treats may be 100 percent meat, or contain just one or two other ingredients. Animal muscle and organ meat ingredients are much more expensive than grain- or vegetable-based products, so meaty treats will generally cost more, ounce per ounce, than other types of treats.
Products may be quite dry (with a moisture content around 5 percent); or chewy, with as much moisture as 25 percent. The moist products necessarily contain ingredients known as humectants substances that promote the retention of moisture in the product. The low-moisture treats may be dried, freeze-dried, or dehydrated.
In general, the fewer ingredients used in these products, the better.
TREAT TRAITS OF A GOOD MEATY DOG TREAT
Meaty products should contain as much animal protein as possible! The animal product should be first on the list of ingredients and there should be few (or even no) other ingredients. The source of any animal protein or fat must be named, whether its a muscle tissue (in which case it will appear as chicken, beef, buffalo, etc.) or an organ (in which case it should specify which species it came from, i.e., chicken heart, beef liver, lamb lung, etc.).
Products that are certified by reliable third parties as containing organic, grass-fed, humanely raised / humanely slaughtered, domestic meat animals or sustainably sourced fish trump other animal protein sources. Nice example: The Honest Kitchens Beams (dried fish skins).
Preservatives, if used, should be natural, such as mixed tocopherols. The package should contain either a best by date and/or a date of manufacture.
TREAT TRAITS OF MEATY DOG TREATS TO AVOID
No animal by-products or unnamed animal sources (i.e., meat and bone meal, chicken by-products, animal fat).
Treats should contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Artificial humectants (i.e., propylene glycol) should be avoided.
Imported meats should be avoided. No ingredients from China; treats manufactured in China are also to be avoided (see pages 4-5 for rationale). Example: Canyon Creek Chicken Tenders.
COOKIE OR BISCUIT-STYLE DOG TREATS
In general, cookie- or biscuit-style treats are made with grain or another carbohydrate and baked. That said, this is a wide category of treats, and there are many grain-free products on the market.
Some biscuits use animal products (such as muscle meat, organ meat, fat, dairy products) as the principle palatant (ingredient used to appeal to dogs), but others use sweeteners or salt.
This style of product generally has the same range of moisture content found in dry dog foods about 10 to 12 percent. Chewy treats may contain as much as 30 percent moisture.
In general, the fewer number of least-processed ingredients used in these products, the better.
TREAT TRAITS OF A GOOD COOKIE-STYLE DOG TREAT
The source of any animal protein or fat must be named.
All grain, fruit, or vegetable ingredients should be whole or lightly processed.
Certified organic ingredients and local, sustainably farmed ingredients trump ingredients for which no claims are made.
Chewy, high-moisture cookies should contain natural humectants, such as maple syrup, honey, or vegetable glycerin. Nice example: Cloud Stars Soft & Chewy Buddy Biscuits.
Only natural preservatives should be used.
A best by date and/or date of manufacture should be on the package.
TREAT TRAITS OF A COOKIE-STYLE DOG TREAT TO AVOID
No animal by-products or unnamed animal sources (i.e., meat and bone meal, chicken by-products, animal fat).
Low-quality grain by-products should also be avoided; if the label does not simply say the name of a grain or grain flour, its a by-product.
Avoid treats containing propylene glycol, an artificial humectant.
Treats should contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Example: Beggin Strips (which contain all three).
Imported ingredients should be avoided. No ingredients from China; treats manufactured in China are also to be avoided (see pages 4-5 for rationale).
MISCELLANEOUS DOG TREATS
Dried fruit or vegetable chews? Frozen ice cream style treats?
TREAT TRAITS OF A GOOD DOG TREAT
These should contain only one or two ingredients, which are whole or lightly processed. These should contain only a few, readily identifiable ingredients. Nice example: Natures Varietys Sweet Spots.
TREAT TRAITS TO AVOID
Imported ingredients should be avoided. No ingredients from China; treats manufactured in China are also to be avoided (see our article on treats recall for rationale). A long ingredient list including many artificial ingredients. Example: Purinas Frosty Paws
There are nearly as many types of dog treats on the market as treats for humans: sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, meaty, fruity, fatty, savory, and so on. Despite the variety, top-quality dog treats should share the following two traits: They should pose zero risk of killing your dog. And they should be appealing to dogs by virtue of the quality of their food ingredients not as a result of chemistry experiments with 20 or 30 different food by-products and a host of artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.
Domestic Sources, Domestic Manufacture As to that first trait: Currently, the only dog treats that have been implicated in dog deaths and dog illnesses have been either made in China, or made primarily with ingredients that were imported from China (see news article here). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and many other parties are searching for an explanation an agent that could cause the illnesses that have been reported in thousands of dogs who were fed treats containing ingredients from China. We think its only prudent, then, to avoid buying any product that is either made in China or contains ingredients from China, until the specific causative agent is identified and can be avoided. In our opinion, there simply is no point in risking the life of your canine family member for a cheap treat.
Quality Defined As to the second trait of a good dog treat: What is a quality food ingredient? In our opinion, foods that you feed your canine family member should contain only ingredients that are:
-Unadulterated, unprocessed or lightly processed, wholesome foods that are . . .
. . . procured from local, traceable, reputable, inspected/audited sources
These latter two criteria eliminate almost every commercial dog treat you will find in chain grocery stores or big-box megastores. Thats one of the reasons we strongly recommend that you shop for treats in independent pet supply stores with educated staffers stores that refuse to carry low-quality products. Just as in the human food industry, the titans of the pet food industry (who make the products found in grocery and big-box stores) put a lot of junk into their junk foods.
And while a very occasional Cheeto or Pop-Tart (or Snausage or Pup-Peroni) is unlikely to cause immediate harm, no one can say they could actually be good for you (or your dog). Whereas a handful of dried organic fruit or fresh oatmeal-raisin cookies are the kind of snacks that are delicious and contain nutritional benefits for you; and dried meat treats or fresh oatmeal-chicken cookies can genuinely nourish your dog.
As always, you have to scrutinize those ingredients lists and be discriminating! Remember that your dog depends on you to make healthy choices for him. Dont be the pet parent who gives his kid the canine equivalent of sodas and Fritos every day. If you want a fit, long-lived canine companion, then everything you feed him should support his health, not undermine it. Theres no reason that treats cant be good for your dog in moderation, of course. (If you find yourself cutting back on your dogs nutritionally complete and balanced food in order to maintain his healthy weight, rather than cutting back his daily ration of nutritionally incomplete, unbalanced treats, your dog could end up fat and nutritionally deficient.)
Unsure that you can identify healthy ingredients? See the chart on the facing page for tips. If youre still in doubt after that, consider making your dogs treats yourself! We’ve included directions and recipes in the accompanying article “How to Make Your Own Top-Quality Dog Treats!“
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This is the sort of desensitizing exercise recommended for a dog with separation anxiety. The goal is to actually do the exercise so many times, in such small increments, and without ever allowing the dog to go “past threshold” (become anxious at all), that the dog becomes bored stiff with your behavior.
I had to desensitize Sam’s “She’s leaving me!” triggers. For Sam, this was walking toward or reaching for the door; being a former street dog, he hadn’t yet learned that an owner who was picking up keys or putting on a coat equaled leaving. I included these things anyway. During these exercises I was in “robot mode”- showing no emotion at all and ignoring Sam. I was keeping a very close eye on him though – making sure he showed absolutely no sign of anxiety. My goal during these exercises was for him to become so bored with my comings and goings that he stopped paying attention to them at all. Here is the sort of thing that I would do:
Calmly and while ignoring Sam, pick up keys, sit back down. Repeat every few minutes (keeping time variable). Pick up keys, stand up, take a few steps toward door. Put keys down, sit down. Repeat. Adding more steps toward the door until I could touch it.
-Keys, touch doorknob, sit down.
-Keys, touch doorknob, turn doorknob, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door a smidgen, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door a few inches, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door a foot, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for two seconds, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for four seconds, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for eight seconds, shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for five seconds, step out with one foot, step back in and shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for five seconds, step out with both feet, step back in and shut door, sit down.
-Keys, turn doorknob, open door wide for 10 seconds, step out with both feet, step back in and shut door, sit down.
-And so on and so on. Or rather, until Sam falls asleep or goes about his other business, completely bored with my antics and unconcerned with my whereabouts.
I get several calls a week from people whose dogs are suffering with varying degrees of separation anxiety. The dogs may exhibit mild isolation distress, where they are uncomfortable at being left alone; a severe form of anxiety, where they go into a full-blown panic when left alone; or anything in between.
Separation anxiety is a serious condition. Dogs suffering from the more severe forms may salivate, pace, bark, howl, and/or urinate and defecate in panic. They can destroy cars, homes, and possessions at an incredible rate, and dig and chew their way out of windows and doors. They sometimes resort to self-mutilation when left alone. Just think about how intensely frightened you’d have to be to lose the contents of your bowels when left alone, or to rip out the walls of a room to escape. These dogs are suffering immensely and miserably. They need help from a patient and understanding owner – and the owner needs professional guidance from an experienced, educated trainer who understands the behavior and the necessary steps to overcome it. What I didn’t realize until early this year was that, in order to help a dog triumph over a severe manifestation of this condition, extraordinary support for his owner is absolutely crucial.
First Signs of Severe Separation Anxiety
I learned this the hard way: first-hand. Though I had no intention of doing so, I adopted a dog that I had cared for at an animal refugee shelter in Thailand. Siam Sam was one of hundreds of street dogs left behind in an evacuated city about 50 miles north of Bangkok. His was one of the cities hardest-hit by record floodwaters. The human residents had been evacuated from the disaster zone, but the abandoned dogs – street dogs as well as family pets – were left behind and had nowhere to go to get away from floodwaters. They climbed onto any surface that was above the water level.
Sam and several other dogs were spotted by an animal rescue team organized by Soi Dogs and the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) and photographed as they peered out from the second-story window of an unfinished building. It was their safety zone from the floods, but there was no food and they were facing certain death by starvation or disease, not to mention being easy targets for poachers of the dog meat trade. Sam was one of the lucky ones rescued and evacuated to a shelter.
I met Sam in one of these emergency shelters in Thailand when I went there to do relief work. He was one of hundreds of dogs housed in a cattle quarantine facility with four or more dogs to a stall. I can’t say exactly why, amidst all of the hardship in the shelter, Sam stood out to me. He made me laugh every day. He was silly, but in a noble kind of way, like he was clowning around to lighten the mood for the other dogs and the volunteers. He didn’t seem to be affected the same way a lot of other dogs were; as the days of close quarters in the shelter stretched into weeks, many of the dogs got more and more stressed. Fights broke out constantly. Several dogs succeeded in chewing their way through the bars in efforts to escape; some withdrew and shut down. Sam seemed calm in comparison; he smiled and did something goofy each time I went inside his stall.
It was grueling work to take care of hundreds of dogs in such a crude facility in sweltering heat, with just a handful of volunteers – and yet Sam was able to make me smile every day. He began to really grow on me and I knew I’d miss him the most.
Two days before I was to fly home, I went inside Sam’s stall for the nighttime feeding and he grabbed onto my waist with both paws, buried his head in my hip and wouldn’t let go. He repeated this behavior every time I went into his kennel for the next two days. I knew that dogs who were unclaimed a few weeks after the cities were repopulated would be returned to those city streets – and I found that I simply could not leave Sam to an uncertain future on the streets of Thailand. I made arrangements to have Sam shipped to me if he wasn’t claimed.
About 30 days later I flew to Los Angeles and met him at the airport. I was excited to see him again, but concerned about how he survived the flight. Sam was visibly shaken from the 20-plus hour flight and I couldn’t tell if he recognized me or not. He had become quite thin since the last time I saw him and he had lost a lot of hair. Since I said goodbye to him in Thailand, he had been moved to two different shelters while waiting to get his papers in order. He was well looked after, but I think his mental state deteriorated from all of the stress. I rented a luxury sedan so that he would be as comfortable as possible and Siam Sam and I drove home to Berkeley, California.
I spent the next week or so slowly getting him used to living in a house. He was afraid of being indoors and walking through any kind of doorway. He was happiest outside, so we spent a lot of time going into and coming out of the house. I offered him his choice of three different sizes and shapes of comfy plush beds and he chose to curl up on the cold floor each and every night (now he will not even consider sleeping on any bed less than six inches thick!).
Once it seemed that he was getting comfortable, I decided to leave him (and my other dog) for about 20 to 30 minutes while I went to the store. This was a big mistake. I should have tested a shorter absence first. I came home to the frightening spectacle of Sam hysterically screaming and frantically panting. His forelegs were bloody and his pupils dilated. The kitchen doors and windows had claw and teeth marks indicating where he tried to escape. Curtains were chewed and fecal matter was spread all over the floor and walls. My heart sank – but I hoped that it was a short-term problem that I had caused by leaving him too soon and for too long.
I tried again a couple of days later, but this time it was an experiment, rather than a real departure. He had been crated a lot during his stay in the shelters in Thailand and had been fine, so I thought he might do better in a crate. I put him in a crate with a food-stuffed toy, walked out of the house and spied on him from a window. His reaction was immediate and heart-wrenching to observe. He again became hysterical and frantically tried to chew through the bars, and then started chewing his legs. All this within minutes.
I was stunned. I knew he might have a hard time adjusting to his new life and that it would take patience, time, and understanding – and I was totally on board for that. But I wasn’t prepared for the severity of his disorder, and I wasn’t prepared for the hardship of helping him overcome this affliction. The first couple of times I left Sam were hell for him. My hell began after that.
Keep Separation Anxiety Treatment Slow and Steady
I have helped hundreds of owners of dogs with mild separation anxiety (SA). I could probably recite in my sleep the steps that an owner needs to take in order to modify mild to moderate SA behaviors. However, when a client came to me with a dog who had a moderate to severe case, I would refer them to another trainer. It’s not that I felt I was unqualified to help owners through this process; I understood the theoretical steps to modify the behavior. Honestly, it was that I couldn’t imagine standing in their shoes.
Seriously. I couldn’t fathom never leaving a dog alone throughout the lengthy training process and making all the difficult life changes necessary. Rehabilitating a dog suffering from severe SA may require months of painfully incremental steps of desensitizing the dog to his fear of being left alone and/or confinement. During this tedious process the dog should never be left alone. I couldn’t picture myself spending hours each week of mindlessly dull, repetitive desensitizing departures with the dog’s success measured in seconds! So how could I advise someone else to do it?
Well, that was then; this was now. Now I was the owner of a dog with severe SA. I needed to get over regretting Sam’s adoption and feeling sorry for myself and get to work.
Here is what I knew I needed to do, and what I immediately started doing for Sam:
-Made an appointment with a veterinarian, to make sure he was well and didn’t have a health problem that could be contributing to the issue – and, just as importantly, to get a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication for Sam.
-Increased his daily exercise.
-Started “alone” training, to begin helping him to be comfortable away from me. (I have another dog, but as in most severe SA cases, Sam couldn’t have cared less whether my other dog was home with him or not; he was anxious about being away from humans.) We worked particularly on minuscule stays, “go to your place,” and rewarding calm behavior.
Started using counter-conditioning, by giving him food-stuffed Kong toys to work on while I was in another room.
-Started desensitizing pre-departures and departures, getting him accustomed to my leaving. I endlessly picked up my keys and walked toward the door – and returned. Tediously. Until we were both exhausted and bored with it.
-Used any “can’t hurt/might help” remedies I could think of, including the flower essence remedy called Rescue Remedy, “dog appeasing pheromones” (DAP), a Thundershirt, and the calming music CD Through a Dog’s Ear.
-Used “shaping” exercises such as “101 things to do with a box,” to encourage him to engage his brain and offer behaviors that I could reward. I did not want him to always look to me for a cue; I wanted to encourage his independent thinking.
-Resisted cuddling and “babying” Sam because I didn’t want his attachment to me to become even stronger. And I didn’t want to reinforce his anxious behavior.
Your Needs are Important, Too
I also had to modify my own life quite a bit so that Sam was never left alone. I knew the drill too well: from this moment forward, until he was well on his way to being cured, I would not be able to leave him alone, not ever. My life had just changed dramatically. I was now standing in those shoes that I could not imagine being in before. I was about to enter into an undetermined period of isolation from friends and family, endless hours of desensitizing protocols, ordering all my supplies and groceries online, and the hardest part for me: relying on others for help.
I called a friend of mine who specializes in SA and pleaded with her to help me. I felt dazed by the colossal tasks I was facing and I needed someone to get me started. “Get a support system in place,” she said. “You cannot do this alone.”
I was daunted by what lay before me, but I had no choice. I didn’t want to ask for help, but I knew she was right: I couldn’t do this alone. I have a training business to run, and couldn’t possibly take him with me to every class I taught. I had to find some paid and volunteer dog-sitters; I couldn’t afford to pay professionals for all the time I needed sitters!
I sent out a somewhat dramatic email asking for help (I was in a panic!) to a group of friends – and was amazed to find several patient people willing to watch him on a regular schedule while I worked. I organized a different sitter for each day I was gone so as not to put too much strain on one person; I needed these people to be in it for the long haul.
Not all of the sitters worked out. I had to find people Sam was comfortable with and who I could trust to keep him safe from any extra stress. It was critical that he never be left alone, that he never be punished or stressed or else it would cause a major setback. I had to find people who understood Sam’s condition and took this seriously. Some people don’t understand the severity of the condition, or believe that it’s just attention-seeking behavior, boredom, or “brattiness.”
Oddly though, I felt that I could understand the sensation of pure panic suffered by dogs with severe SA, like Sam. One summer when I was about 5 years old, my brother and I were playing around with an old cedar chest. We loved looking at the old photographs and keepsakes my mother kept inside. At one point my brother suggested that I climb inside it and report to him how dark it was once the lid was closed. I remember protesting but then decided it was safe when he crossed his heart, hoped to die, and swore to God he wouldn’t lock it. Click. It locked automatically and the key was long lost.
I became panic-stricken. I screamed and kicked and pounded with my fists from the inside. I heard my brother yelling for help as he desperately tried to pry open the lid. My fear grew worse with every moment I was trapped inside. Extreme panic suffocated me; I felt that I couldn’t breathe. I began to try and claw my way out with my bare hands. I will never forget the uncontrollable fear that overtook my mind and body during this incident. It was more than just being scared; it was sheer terror.
This, I imagine, must be close to what a dog with severe SA feels when left alone. I was trapped in that chest for probably five minutes. Most dogs with SA are left alone for 8 to 10 hours a day, five days a week, and for many weeks or months before their owners seek help. Unimaginable! The lucky ones have an owner who finds a trainer or behaviorist who understands the disorder and can coach them through treating and modifying the behavior.
Most, unfortunately, will get bad advice from all sorts of people (trainers included) who do not understand this complex condition, causing the behavior to get worse, and will end up being relinquished to a shelter and/or euthanized.
In the past few months, I’ve heard stories from other owners of SA dogs who have been advised to crate the dogs and rap sharply on the crate when the dog screams or paws at the cage walls; to spray the caged dog with water; to use a shock collar to “interrupt” the anxious behaviors; and more. It makes my skin crawl to hear these stories, and to imagine how this treatment must make a dog feel when he is already blind with panic and terror.
Strategies for Managing Your Own Stress
I am incredibly blessed to have such a wide circle of dog-loving friends, who became Sam’s “staff” and looked after him so I could do the bare minimum of work away from home. But because I wanted to minimize how much I had to lean on these valued friends, I cancelled everything else that required me leaving the house without Sam. I stopped making appointments for private consultations with training clients. I also stopped going to the gym, hair appointments, movies, dinner out, and gatherings with friends. I cancelled all my doctor and dentist appointments and professional meetings. I couldn’t even go to the store! I ordered all of my groceries and supplies online.
I remember one pathetic moment when I ran out of a few things and my next delivery wasn’t due for several days; a friend brought a tube of toothpaste to my workplace for me. I felt very isolated and depressed. My friends slowly stopped including me in get-togethers and I missed five important milestone birthday celebrations of close friends. It seemed at times I would never lead a normal life again. I felt trapped in my own home.
I kept it up, however; I was fully committed to this dog! I was the one who brought him here – I had to see him through it! If behavior modification protocols to treat SA are not followed carefully and correctly, the dog will suffer and have major setbacks.
Here are the things I put into place during this period:
-I found and frequented only the stores/places that allow dogs; for groceries and other things available only where dogs are not allowed, I found stores that would make deliveries.
-I set up a rotating schedule of dog-sitters for Monday, Thursday night, Saturday, and Sunday, during the hours that I teach dog-training classes. (Kim, a a friend who is from Thailand, and her husband Vince, offered to dog-sit Sam on Thursday nights, and began a tradition of cooking an elaborate Thai meal that would be ready to share with me – and Sam! – when I got home from teaching my night classes. We started calling this event our Thursday night “Ditch and Dine.” Their kindness, generosity, and gracious company brought me to grateful tears many times.)
-I used Web cameras (and later, a program on my iPhone) to monitor Sam’s behavior when I stepped outside my front door, so I could calmly return before he had even a few seconds of anxiety about my absence. In this way, I could stretch my “departures” out as long as possible, without risking a setback.
-I turned down invitations to anything where my dog was not allowed (missing events with friends/family).
-I kept Sam safe from stress.
I was videotaping each “departure” training session so that I could go back and watch to make sure his body language was calm while I was outside the door. Live streaming also made it possible for my trainer friend who specializes in SA to log in and watch the footage on her computer, too. It was helpful to have an extra pair of eyes and I welcomed her opinion. It was really important to have her validate my progress and keep my sanity in check.
After a month of practicing every day, I had tediously worked my way up to 90 seconds – a minute and a half when I could consistently walk out the front door and not have Sam become anxious. Then, suddenly, our progress was stopped in its tracks. Sam was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and needed 6 to 8 weeks of chemotherapy. He had an 80 percent chance of remission with this treatment, so it was a no-brainer for us. However, this was a big setback for our SA work and he had major regression. It was extremely stressful for him to have chemo, and for the next two full months, Sam made no progress whatsoever. He obviously felt unwell, and even with his daily Prozac, he was clingy and anxious.
This was incredibly disheartening and depressing for me. My spirits were pretty low at that point. I felt like I had wasted three months of tedious work in total isolation, and I was daunted by the process of starting over from scratch. I was also terrified that I was going to lose my support system. My wonderful dog sitters had already been on the job for three months and now I was back to square one. I was going to lose my mind!
I was lonely, trapped in my own home, and I was tired of being misunderstood. People in my life who were supportive at first were also starting to become skeptical. “Why is it taking so long? You’re being neurotic and making it worse. Just leave him and go to the store, for goodness’ sake. He’ll snap out of it!” I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I couldn’t face another day of it.
Enlist Your Friends’ and Family’s Support for Your Dog’s Separation Anxiety
Then, one day, I came to the realization that if I, a seasoned trainer, was feeling this way, how on earth do other people who have SA dogs cope? I knew of at least four students in my regular classes who were struggling with SA dogs. They had heard me talk about Sam in class and confided in me that they, too, were battling this problem. That’s when I decided I should start a support group for people with SA dogs – and it was the best thing I’ve ever done.
I found a nearby pub with a large outdoor area and a dog-friendly manager, and invited those clients to join me for drinks and sympathy. We had a great time at the first get-together and word began to spread. Many people found out about it and pleaded to join. I then started a Facebook group so we can support each other in between pub meetings.
My SA Support Group is comprised of people who are all dealing with or have dealt with a dog with SA. It’s important to understand that the unpleasant feelings are normal, that we aren’t alone, that we are not going crazy, and it will get better. We listen to each other’s struggles and encourage each other to carry on. We congratulate the tiny successes as the major milestones that they really are! Who else is going to get excited about a 30-second increase in the dog’s ability to stay home alone?
The group makes the struggle less of a struggle. Even though I’m a dog trainer, and often find myself giving dog-training advice to others in the group, I can honestly say that our meetings are as therapeutic for me as they are for anyone. I was going bonkers from the lack of socializing! A support group makes the experience far less isolating and validates the hard work that we all do. It also is a big relief that no one is judging us, and we can talk freely without the worry of being labeled as obsessive or neurotic. We all look forward to it; it’s fun and it gives us fuel to carry on. Some of us have already won the race and we find satisfaction in helping others still struggling through it.
It astonishes me that, in my 20-plus years of dog training, I haven’t seen a serious discussion of how life-altering (in a bad way!) dealing with a SA dog can be. One of my fellow “SA club” members (interestingly, another dog training professional who rehabilitated his own dog with severe SA) baldly stated, “It can drive grown men to tears.” The fact that this condition is generally misunderstood by most people can further add to feelings of isolation.
It baffles me, because this is such an important piece of the puzzle. If the owner, who is already isolated, confused, and distraught about the situation, is not getting support, then she won’t be motivated to continue with the lengthy training required to get the dog past his fear. If she doesn’t do the work, then the dog doesn’t get better. If the dog doesn’t get better, the owner is miserable, the dog gets returned to the breeder or shelter and either lives in misery or dies. It seems to me that support should be at the top of the list!
Dealing with an SA dog can also cause strife in friendships and relationships. Many couples have confessed at our group sessions that they argue a lot about the dog and that both parties have periods of feeling envious of, or bitter toward, the other. It is common for one person in a relationship to do most of the work with the dog while the other goes about their life – and this, too, can cause a lot of resentment. A friend struggling with an SA dog told me, “As I kissed my husband goodbye in the morning, I remember thinking how lucky he was that he escaped from the building that had become my prison.” Several have even admitted to me that the other party gave them an ultimatum; that if the dog didn’t improve soon, then the dog would be gotten rid of. I can’t imagine the extra amount of stress this would add to an already horrible situation!
Some “SA Club” members confessed to feeling guilty for somehow causing the separation anxiety in the first place. Some expressed feeling resentful toward the dog and then feeling guilty for being resentful! Several admitted to almost losing their jobs because of consistently being late for work or not coming in at all (because of a pet-sitting snafu or general depression).
One thing has become clear to me, as a constant attendee of this club: If an owner does not get support throughout this lengthy process, relationships become strained, employment suffers, motivation wanes, and training stops. Everyone loses in the end, most notably the dog.
This knowledge has helped me through the past few months of working with Sam. I’ve now learned to stay away from people who are not supportive! If a friend tells me that I should “Just let him cry it out!” or “Just let him deal with it while you go to the store!” I avoid discussing Sam with them, or avoid them altogether.
It Will Get Better
I never could have gotten here without my support group and my dog-sitting friends, including Colleen Kinzley, who watched Sam for me at the location where I teach on Monday nights – which also happens to be the place she works every day, and her night off! With the help of all of these special people, I’ve been able to continue Sam’s training and he’s been able to make more and more progress. As Sam has improved, and the amount of time that he can be left alone has increased, I have been able to “release” some of my dog-sitting friends from their duties (though I don’t know how I will ever repay them for their great kindness).
I still use a camera app for my smartphone, so I am able to watch Sam in real time on my phone when I leave the house. I now have three cameras set at different angles so I can watch him and be ready to come back home if he starts to get upset.
Last night I went to work and left Sam home. I had my cameras running and checked in on him in between the classes I was teaching. I was gone for 5½ hours. He mostly slept the entire time.
I think we’ve crossed the finish line. It was unspeakably hard, probably harder than anything I’ve ever done. But I have to say that through this difficult journey some beautiful things have happened: I’ve made a lot of new caring friends. Even today I cannot believe the selfless efforts that these people made to help Sam and me. I could not have done it without their support and the support of the group I created. I am more grateful to them than I can ever express.
Before this started I was afraid of separation anxiety. Now, because of this journey with Sam, I have a newfound sympathy and understanding of what owners of SA dogs are going through and feel confident and uniquely qualified to help others through this.
Many people have asked me, “If you had known about the SA before you brought Sam home, would you have still brought him home?” I can answer that honestly and without hesitation: No. Had I known what was in store for me I would have tearfully said goodbye and walked away.
But if you ask me now, “Would you do it again?” I’d say absolutely, unequivocally yes. My life is better after all the struggles in so many ways, but mostly it is just better with Siam Sam in it.
Sandi Thompson, of Bravo!pup, is a dog trainer and a long-time model for training articles in WDJ. She shares her home in Berkeley, CA, with Siam Sam and her little dog, Turtle, who sometimes gets mistaken for WDJ’s Otto.
I live in a small town that is surrounded on all sides by either farm land (west and south of us) or foothill woodlands. The historic center of this Gold Rush-era town is located on the banks of a river, and thanks to a large state water project, including a huge dam and lake just above the town, and a man-made recreational lake just below town, there are miles and miles of trails on public lands adjacent to all that water. It’s heaven for an off-leash dog walker like myself.
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Except, of course, there are hazards aplenty that can befall a dog who lacks training and/or common sense. A dog without a solid and well-proofed recall could disappear without a trace if he chased a deer or rabbit or other critter off into the woods. One who dove in and overzealously pursued a river otter, beaver, duck, or goose could easily drown in the river. And at the time of this writing, there are rattlesnakes literally everywhere. Me and my dogs have had two close encounters with rattlers in just the past week.
In the first encounter, my husband and I were out for an evening walk with our dogs Otto (who was visually scanning the field to the right of the trail for deer, since he had a memorable experience with scaring up an entire herd of deer there a year ago) and Tito, who was carrying a tennis ball and kept dropping it at our feet as we walked. Otto occasionally angled into the tall grass, trying to subtly leave the trail in favor of sniffing through the field, and I kept calling him back onto the trail; it takes forever to brush out all the little burrs that get in his coat from fields like that.
He was about 10 feet ahead of us when, in one of his mild attempts to edge off into the field, he evidently stepped right near a rattlesnake – the loud sound of which cannot be mistaken for anything else.
Fortunately, Otto was both too distracted with his imaginary deer-stalking to give the snake anything more than a curious glance and completely responsive to my immediate cue of “Otto! Off! Off! Off! Come! Come! Come!” (I didn’t need to repeat myself, it just came out like that as I hovered about six inches off the ground, just like in the cartoons.) And Tito didn’t even seem to notice the sound (or smell, if there is one) of the snake; with a ball in his mouth, he’s in his own little world. We all just kept walking, although now I was scanning the ground more than the sunset.
In this morning’s encounter, I was actually talking to a friend on my cell phone when I heard that distinctive rattle a few feet off the singletrack trail, as my dogs trotted by, oblivious. I let out a little shriek and a jump and we all just kept going.
It seems to be all the rage these days to use a shock collar to train dogs to avoid snakes. I am not insensitive to those who have lost dogs to snake bites, but I can’t imagine going that way with my dogs. Way too many things can go wrong with that approach, including the injection of fear and mistrust into dogs I’ve spent years drawing those out of.
Instead, I’m in favor of daily training to reinforce my dogs’ “rocket recalls,” as WDJ’s Training Editor Pat Miller calls them in the article on that topic on page 9, as well as daily practice of the “Off!” behavior (discussed in numerous back articles in Whole Dog Journal) – and close observation of my dogs on the trail. If I didn’t feel completely confident in their immediate, proper responses to these two cues, and my ability to keep them close enough to immediately respond to an encounter with a snake (or herd of deer or whatever), I wouldn’t have them off-leash in rattlesnake country.
I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies.
