Try to remember that you have to help your dog understand your cues.
I was volunteering at the shelter last Saturday, and in the course of the day, I showed several dogs and puppies to several different potential adopters. It struck me at some point that almost every person who takes a strange dog or pup out into a “get acquainted” room or grassy run will almost immediately tell the dog (or pup!) to “Sit! Sit! SIT! Siiiiiitt?” It’s as if they always assume the canine knows what “sit” means and is being willful in not responding.
It’s SO difficult for people to understand that dogs don’t know what we’re saying – and it speaks to our comfort and familiarity with them that we wouldn’t expect a chicken or a turtle or a camel to “Sit! Sit! SIT!” upon hearing the words. You wouldn’t approach a person in Laos and say, “Excuse me, can you tell me what time it is?” And yet, just about everyone seems to expect EVERY dog or puppy to instinctively understand and respond to spoken English.
What if someone – a human, or an animal of another species, even! — approached you and began barking, “Fwick! Fwick! FWICK!” and then appeared to get sort of angry because you just looked at them puzzled? Would you want to continue to try to figure out what this other animal wanted? *I* wouldn’t!
Most modern trainers know that the fastest, easiest way to teach a dog (or other animal) to perform a behavior on cue is to:
1. Figure out how to elicit the behavior (or “catch” the animal doing it) and immediately reward the animal with something significantly enjoyable (treat, toy, praise, petting . . . anything as long as it’s demonstrably enjoyable.
2. Start using the desired cue for the behavior at the same time the animal performs the behavior.
3. Then, start using the cue FIRST, and then waiting for a few seconds, to see if the animal makes the connection between the cue and the desired behavior.
This approach doesn’t assume that the animal can understand English or is hard of hearing. This is a systematic approach that builds a behavior in a certain fashion – and you’d be amazed at how fast dogs will learn new behaviors once they learn the pattern of new behavior acquisition. After they’ve learned two or three behaviors that you have built the same way – elicit, reward; pair with a cue, reward; use cue first, wait, reward – they are eager to “offer” new behaviors, in hopes of finding more and new ways to get you to reward them, and they pay keener attention to anything you are doing that may turn out to be a cue. Because cues turn into “shortcuts” – or early clues as to the behavior you’re waiting to reward.
As soon as you can reliably elicit the behavior from the animal, start using the word, sound, or gesture that you want to be the cue for the behavior at the same time the animal performs the behavior. Remember, it’s NOT a “cue” yet; at this point, it’s just something the animal will begin to associate with the behavior (and the resulting reward). You are simply pairing the signal with the behavior, so the animal will begin to associate the signal with the behavior. That’s all! So don’t repeat yourself or say it louder if you don’t get a response.)
Then, start using the cue FIRST, and then waiting for a few seconds, to see if the animal makes the connection between the cue and the desired behavior. Use the cue just ONCE, and WAIT for a few seconds. You should see the wheels start to spin in the dog’s head. “Why is he looking at me? What does he want? How can I get him to give me the treat THIS time?” If, in the early stages, the dog guesses right, and does the behavior from the cue alone (as opposed to doing it in response to whatever you were doing to elicit it before, such as using a food lure or positioning your body in a certain way (such as leaning in toward the dog to get him to lean backward into a sit), then reward him with a nice jackpot of treats.
But what if he doesn’t respond to the signal that you want to be the cue or “command” for the behavior? Don’t panic. He just hasn’t made the connection yet. Give the cue – once – and wait a few seconds, then elicit the behavior as you were before, and as he does the behavior, at the SAME TIME, use the cue again. Do this a few times before trying again with the cue first.
It should be obvious that untrained dogs don’t know what “Sit!” means – so it’s pointless to say it, repeat it, or shout it at them.
But what if your “trained” dog, who “knows what ‘Sit!’ means!” behaves as if she DIDN’T know what it means? It’s likely that you are giving her the cue in a context that she isn’t familiar with, or in the face of more distrations than she can handle. Think about it like this: You’ve taught a kindergartner how to add one plus one and other very simple math problems. Could she complete them in the middle of a street fair? Could she tell you the answer quickly if she was riding a tricycle at the same time? She probably could – with practice. If you want your dog to be able to respond properly to the “Sit!” cue when you are out on walks, for example, you have to start practicing (with rewards!) on small, quiet walks, and slowly build up to practicing on walks in distracting, hectic, loud environments. If you want your dog to be able to respond with a sit as a barely-restrained leash-aggressive dog goes by, or when an ambulance is going by with the siren on, you have to practice in those environments! Because as much as we like to think otherwise, dogs do NOT understand our speech and desires in the way we understand other English-speaking humans.
Duncan wakes me this morning as he usually does: with a jump onto the bed and a cool damp nose gently touching my cheek. I respond as I usually do: “Okay, give me a minute.” I wrestle to open my still sleep-induced eyes and start to get out of bed. I glance at the clock – because that’s what morning does – makes one acutely aware of time. But wait! It’s only 1:28! I tell Duncan, “No way!” and pull the covers back up. He seems to accept this and goes back to sleep himself.
Duncan is a 10-year-old rangy 60-pound B&W Border Collie. We’ve known each other since he was 5 1/2 weeks old. I think I know him pretty well, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped listening to him.
About eight months ago, Duncan began waking me up between 4:00-5:00 AM every morning. At first I thought he needed to go out to eliminate, and that he would do, because he is such a good boy. We’d go back to bed, but he couldn’t settle down. I’d cue him to “Go settle” and he would harrumph, move to the foot of the bed and wait 10 minutes. He had figured out that 10 minutes was the length of time on the snooze button – I had my very own organic alarm clock. The only problem was that it was programmed to go off at his set time, not mine.
It was one of those bleary-eyed mornings that I decided to go ahead with feeding him and his sister. After gobbling up their breakfast, I asked if they wanted to go back to bed. I know I did, it was 4:00AM! They scampered up the stairs and plopped themselves back on the bed. I crawled in between the 110 pounds of fur and the three of us were snoozing happily in minutes.
Before I realized it, Duncan had me trained in a new routine: he will softly nudge me awake some time between 3:00-5:00 am, at which point I get up with both dogs, take them outside, feed them and we all return to bed. (This process takes all of eleven minutes.)
When I shared this behavior with fellow trainer friends, they looked at me like I was nuts. Actually, it wasn’t just trainers; everyone I told thought I was nuts to be getting up to feed my dogs at those hours. And I may well be, but at least I understand why.
For those of you with herding dogs, you know that these dogs can power nap and the lack of daylight is of no obstacle when there is a job to be done. This particular job just happened to entail getting fed. I came to realize that Duncan was telling me he really needed to eat at this time. As soon as that need is met, he is as happy as a Border Collie with a ball.
I did try experimenting with feeding him very late at night, first at 10 PM, then 11 PM, then midnight; I gave him snacks before bed. I tried ignoring. I tried extinguishing the behavior. I even thought the routine might be disrupted when he went to stay with his dad while I spent three weeks in Africa. I had to wonder if it was just the relationship between a girl and her dog. I was secretly pleased when my ex-husband told me Duncan was waking him early every morning. It wasn’t me after all!
Our dogs are governed by our routines of when we get up, when we leave, when we have time to take them out to play. Duncan waits at home for me to return. He can’t come and go as he pleases. He can’t decide to go for a walk by himself. He can’t decide it’s time to go visit his buddies. He’s completely dependent on me to decide when he gets to do what. And then what if I’m typing away at the computer like I am now? He patiently waits for me to finish my thoughts because he trusts that I will try to fulfill his needs. Even if that means getting up at 3 AM.
Our dogs have only us. And we control almost every aspect of their lives. Duncan does have control over one thing: telling me what he needs.
We have the opportunity to listen. What does your dog tell you?
Follow proper guidelines to create a healthy diet for your dog, just as you do for your family.
For the past few months, I’ve been writing critiques of home-prepared diets for the Whole Dog Journal. My original intention was simply to review the diets and offer comments about what they might be missing or how they could be improved, but I ended up doing a full nutritional analysis of each diet to try to figure out why the dogs eating these diets were having problems, or to better understand a very complex diet.
My goal was two-fold: to find out how each diet compared to National Research Council (NRC) guidelines, which would be helpful to those experienced in feeding a homemade diet, and to help newbies get started with the recipes provided.
I was taken aback, then, when I received an email from someone who said that after reading the most recent critique, “It completely convinced me that I cannot home cook for my dog because I would be hopelessly lost and inept. . . . Variety was the point, but by the time a pet’s diet is so precisely fine tuned, you don’t leave much room for variation because it would throw everything off.” This was not my intention, and it made me stop and think about what I was doing.
In the past, my advice has always been to feed a wide variety of healthy foods in appropriate proportions rather than using spreadsheets to do nutritional analyses, but after completing a series of reviews on over 30 books about homemade diets (WDJ December 2010, January 2011, and March 2011), I was shocked at the bad advice I found in the majority of the books. Few of the cooked diets described in the books included calcium or organ meats, while those advocating raw diets were sometimes limited to almost nothing but raw meaty bones. I was also surprised to discover that when people did analyze diets similar to what I recommend and feed to my own dogs, they did not meet NRC guidelines.
That started me on an ongoing quest to better understand what might be missing from various types of homemade diets. Over the last year, I’ve been working with spreadsheets to determine exactly what NRC recommends (the numbers are not as straightforward as you might think), and which foods and supplements supply each nutrient. It’s a lot of work, and I’m far from done, but I’ve learned a lot.
I still feel bad about making someone feel that feeding a home-prepared diet to her dog is too complicated, when that’s not my belief. Yes, you need to follow certain guidelines, and it is important to make sure that some food groups and supplements (primarily calcium and vitamin E) are provided, but you don’t need to follow a recipe exactly, nor do I think this is an ideal way to feed your dog.
I’ve never analyzed the homemade raw diet that I feed Ella, my 8-year-old Norwich Terrier. Why? Because I feed so much variety that it would be just about impossible to do. I rotate between certain types of meals on a regular basis, making sure that she gets a wide variety of foods from all food groups with appropriate amounts of organ meat, raw meaty bones, vegetables, etc., and I work hard at controlling the fat content, since she has a tendency to gain weight, but I don’t follow a recipe and I don’t feed the same foods all the time. I do give her a multivitamin and mineral supplement, rotating between those as well.
Instead of my usual diet critique in the July issue of WDJ, I will offer dietary guidelines that can be used to create a home-prepared raw or cooked diet for healthy dogs. In the future, I’ll think carefully about how I approach these critiques so that I don’t continue sounding like it takes a degree in nutrition to feed your dog, any more than it does to feed your family.
In an exceptionally ill-considered decision, on April 26, 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals (highest court in the state) delivered a finding that not only held a landlord liable for a 2007 incident in which his tenant’s dog, an American Pitbull Terrier, escaped from a pen and mauled a child, but also declared that “a pit bull or any dog with pit bull ancestry shall be deemed hence forth vicious and inherently dangerous as a matter of law.”
While not banning pit bulls entirely (and not offering any answer to the question of how to conclusively determine if a dog actually is a pit bull or pit bull mix), the ruling has massive significance for all “big-headed dogs” in the State of Maryland. Not just the dogs themselves, but also their owners, and any humans involved with them in any capacity. Shelters and rescue groups are scrambling for legal opinions and advice on how to deal with the pit-type dogs already in their custody, as well as any that may seek refuge in the future. Pet sitters, veterinarians, trainers, groomers, pet-assisted therapy programs and other pet care professionals, in addition to landlords and owners, now face a huge liability burden if they provide services to pit bulls – or anything even remotely suspected of being a pit bull. Insurance companies, already touchy about pits and other breeds regarded as risky, now have a solid legal reason to refuse to provide homeowners insurance to Maryland owners of pit or suspected pit-type dogs.
The fallout is likely to be significant. The court’s findings even went so far as to hold anyone responsible who “knew or should have known” that the dog was a pit bull or pit mix, and offered services anyway. Not that they can’t rent, or provide services, but if they do and the dog bites someone they can be held strictly liable. Landlords and insurances companies aren’t likely to risk that. Pet care professionals may be more willing to take the risk, but with the “should have known” language, won’t be able to pretend, as has often been done in the past, that the dog is just a “terrier mix.” It’s probable that a lot of Maryland’s pit bull and pit-type dogs will die, as renters are turned away, homeowners face threats of canceled insurance, “no-kill” shelters refuse to accept them and full-service shelters decide they cannot bear the liability risk and on the advice of their attorneys, reluctantly choose to euthanize.
As this was a court decision, not legislation, it slipped under the radar of every group that watches the legislative process to combat breed-specific location. Animal advocates are now scrabbling for a legislative fix to this disaster that would take precedence over this otherwise binding decision that threatens doom for thousands of well-loved dogs in Maryland. Meanwhile, until clearer heads prevail, owners of pit-type dogs, or dogs who might be identified as pit-type dogs, might do well to avoid visiting, or even traveling through, this Mid-Atlantic state.
I haven’t spent a day in my local shelter for six weeks or more. I’ve been super busy, and then I fostered a really cute, really unsocialized dog for a while, which took up most of any extra time I had for a few weeks.
Saturdays are usually a big adoption day at the shelter, and there is only one other volunteer who helps with adoptions on Saturdays. When I heard that she wasn’t going to be at the shelter, I decided I’d better go, even though I had several invitations for fun events and a ton of work to do.
I walked into the shelter at 11:30; it opens at 11 on Saturdays but I was running late — plus I needed to buy some dog treats on the way. When I walked in, the shelter’s head veterinary technician caught my eye. “Can you go hang out with the lady with the Golden out in the outdoor runs?” she asked. “I’ll be out there in a few minutes.” No clue as to why she wants me out there, but I’m here to help.
It turns out to be one of those happiest of shelter stories. A woman who moved to the area recently came to our shelter because the one in her town (20 miles away) is closed on Saturdays – it was our lucky day. She was looking for a Golden Retriever. We had exactly one on our kennels at the moment – an overweight, white-faced senior dog badly in need of grooming. The vet tech asked the lady if she would consider a senior dog, and the woman immediately said, “I would love a senior dog!” The vet tech put the two of them together, and then immediately got slammed with other pressing matters at the front counter.
I introduced myself to the woman and explained that the tech would be out in a minute, and asked her, “What do you think?” The woman said, “Oh, I’m bringing her home. What a sweetheart! Why on earth is she here? Look at her ears! They are badly infected and need to be cleaned! She is so darling! I can’t believe this dog is at a shelter.” I laughed out loud with joy. This was going to be a great adoption. It turned out that she had Goldens in the past and was looking for an easygoing dog. We chatted while I started pulling off some of the dog’s abundant shedding coat (it’s spring, so I had my Furminator with me). I was happy to see the dog had beautiful, clean, white teeth and healthy gums. Eventually the tech took the dog back to the exam room and cleaned her ears, and a staff member gave the dog a quick bath while the woman filled out the adoption papers.
Four or five people came to pick up dogs or puppies who had been spayed or neutered the day before – dogs they had previously decided to and paid to adopt, but couldn’t take home until they had been altered. Other than that, there were no other adoptions that day –no other potential adopters came through the shelter! Very odd for a Saturday. Maybe it’s the heat. It’s almost 90 degrees out – unusual for April here.
I spent the rest of the day taking dogs to the outside runs, and brushing hair off of the ones who were shedding the most. If I hadn’t hoped to send a few dogs home, I would have enjoyed myself more.
I was dismayed to see two dogs back in the kennels who had been previously adopted. One is a small, mixed breed dog who was in the shelter for about five months before he got adopted, several months ago. I never met his adopter, but I cheered when I heard he had gone home. He’s a cute but unusual-looking dog – long-legged and with a cropped tail, and sort of an odd color, and he’s a very high-energy guy. The shelter calls him a Pug/Chihuahua-mix. But apparently, the family who adopted him has another dog, who spent much of his time intimidating and beating up the new dog, so they brought him back (at least, that’s the story; you never know what’s really happened). Great – difficult to place, still untrained, and now, with baggage!
I felt even less hopeful about the other returnee – a VERY high-energy pit-mix pup, about six months old. The shelter staff notes on the back of her kennel card said, “Reason for return: Too much energy; needs training.” Well no duh. She had “too much energy” when they adopted her a month ago. She’s super cute, but badly behaved and very physical (jumping on you, mouthing you, pawing at you), with a very short attention span (like, a second). She also behaves badly in our kennels, leaping wildly against her cage door and barking when anyone walks by – and if you are walking a dog past her kennel, she adds snarling and snapping at the door in frustration to the repertoire. We know that she just wants to go outside and play and is hideously frustrated by her confinement, but most people just go, “Eeek,” when they walk past. I put her outside in a grassy run loaded with toys – she loves toys – and look for a dog who might be able to put up with her exuberant, rough play style. The vet tech suggested a much larger German Shepherd/Husky-mix with a thick coat she said he is playful and really good-tempered.
He turned out to be the perfect match; when the puppy leaps onto him, grabbing and pawing, he just bashes her to the ground with his big shoulders and hips in a playful manner. Within minutes of getting knocked down again and again in response to her pawing and biting, she abandons the rude play-style and initiates some more socially acceptable games: chase me, let’s play in the wading pool, you can’t catch me, and let’s lie on the ground and chew each other’s faces. I leave them out there together for the rest of the day; it reduced her frustration and got her tired. However, her problems are bigger than that.
The worst thing happened last. I had walked right by a hound-mix all day; when there are more dogs in the kennels than I can possibly take out by myself, I tend to take out the high-energy dogs first. Then I realized I had overlooked this somewhat depressed-looking dog who was also badly in need of bathing. Where I live, we have iron-rich red dirt, which stains any light-colored outdoor dog. This guy was a dirty pink color. I look at his card. He was adopted from our shelter two years ago, but returned a day or so ago. The “reason for return” on his card? “Moving, can’t keep.” Sigh.
“Hey buddy; want a bath?” I asked him. He readily came to the cage door, let me slip the lead on, and politely walked outside with me. When I turned him out into a grassy run, he went right out and went potty, numbers 1 and 2, and came right back for some petting. Calm. As I pet him, I notice he has ticks all over him, both implanted and crawling. Ay yi yi. Somehow, that escaped the attention of whoever admitted him.
Since it’s so hot out, I brought the bathing supplies outside and gave him a bath out there in the run. He was a good sport about the whole thing, standing still in the wading pool without a leash, wagging his tail and seeming to soak up the attention. He loved being rubbed dry with a towel, and looked a ton better. But when the vet tech came out to apply a topical flea/tick treatment, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. He had been calm and friendly the whole time I was working with him, taking treats nicely and wagging his tail. But as the tech started dotting the topical treatment on the back of his neck/shoulder area, suddenly he snarled and snapped at her, grazing her wrist as she quickly pulled away. “What?” we both exclaim. I walk him away for a minute, and he seemed fine. He wagged his tail again as I petted him and touched the area where the topical was being applied. “Maybe it’s you?” I proposed to the tech. She passed me the tube, and as I moved my hand toward the back of his neck, talking to him like I did through the whole bath — Good boy! Atta boy! You’re a good dog! – he snarled and snapped at me.
The tech looked grim. “You know,” I said, “He’s just warning us. If he had really wanted to bite either one of us, he definitely could have.” She nods assent and said, “Let’s give him a break and we’ll try again.”
Long story short: The dog was willing to go to war to prevent having the pesticide applied. We tried tact and treats; we tried again later with a muzzle. If we reached for his shoulders, he snarled and tried to bite. “I’m sorry,” the vet tech told me. She didn’t explicitly say that his behavior effectively marked him for euthanasia, and I didn’t ask, but I’m pretty certain that was going to be the ruling. There are currently three or four other hound-types currently in the shelter who don’t/haven’t showed signs of a willingness to bite.
In an area like the one where I live, there are precious few shelter volunteers, and I fully understand why, especially after a day like last Saturday. It’s emotionally difficult – and it doesn’t ever seem to get any better. For every victory like the placement a sweet senior Golden, there are probably three or four perfectly good, easy, “no-issue” adult dogs who will stay in the shelter for weeks before they get adopted; and for every easy-to-place puppy, there are probably two behaviorally challenging adult or adolescent dogs who might stay in the shelter for months. And this doesn’t even account for all the dogs with such serious behavior or health issues that they won’t ever get a chance to be seen by the public. In my local shelter, like many others, the reality is often too depressing for many pet lovers to face.
One of my young cats is sick. Last Friday, I noticed he was just being unusually subdued – particularly in relation to his littermate sister, who was bouncing around the kitchen and harassing/trying to engage the dogs in play. I picked up the quiet one-year-old cat and held him a while, feeling him all over for lumps or bumps or wounds of any kind. I didn’t find any, but I did notice that under his longish coat, he was a lot thinner than his short-haired sister. And did he feel a little warm? I called the vet and made an appointment.
Aside from a low fever, the vet couldn’t find anything specific. He took a blood sample and sent it out to test everything and sent me home with some antibiotics to give the cat, on the premise that he had some sort of infection that was causing the fever. Total cost: $230, and we have no idea of what’s wrong, but the test results and the cat’s response to antibiotics should tell us more.
An acquaintance’s dog was diagnosed with cancer only because she insisted on radiographs taken at an annual wellness examination of that seemingly perfectly healthy dog. This dog has been undergoing chemotherapy, which seems to have – at least for now – completely arrested and thwarted the cancer. The dog’s owner can’t say enough nice things about her pets’ health insurance. And I’ve been thinking about that ever since I read about her travails with her dog.
I wouldn’t DREAM of going without health insurance myself, or having a child without health insurance. But while I’ve been thinking about getting health insurance for Otto ever since I got him almost four years ago, I haven’t actually done it yet. With two cats and now apparently two dogs (Otto plus niece’s dog Tito, who doesn’t seem to be going anywhere), a couple of illnesses or accidents and a major health intervention for any of these animals would be quite a burden. On the other hand, it might be quite a burden to insure four animals.
I’m going to get some quotes today – and I’ll share what I’ve found with you later this week.
What about you? Do you have health insurance for some or all of your pets? How many? How much do you pay? Has it been worth it?
This issue contains, among other things, an in-depth article about canine diabetes. WDJ’s ace team of canine health researchers/writers, CJ Puotinen and Mary Straus, have spent months researching this vexing (and increasingly common) disease in dogs. What causes diabetes? What’s the best treatment for it? What should I feed my diabetic dog? They’ve reviewed veterinary texts and reference materials, analyzed the latest studies, and have distilled what they learned into sound, practical information for you.
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One of the things they did not do was repeat information they found on the Internet. Why? Because on certain complex topics, there is so much contradictory information – with at least half of it wrong! – that it’s almost impossible for someone to determine which information is reliable. Matters are made worse when the topic is freighted with a higher-than-average amount of popular “knowledge” and a lot of emotional baggage.
Diabetes is perhaps the perfect example of what I’m talking about. Almost everyone knows someone who has diabetes. Almost everyone knows that obesity puts people at higher risk of diabetes, and that diabetics need to be extremely careful about what they eat. So, as just one example, you will find site after site stating that fat dogs are at a higher risk of developing diabetes than thin dogs – but they are not! If you go to more solid sources, such as the veterinary reference book Encyclopedia of Canine Clinical Nutrition, you will read statements like, “Although obesity causes insulin resistance in dogs, there are no published data clearly indicating that obesity is a risk factor for canine diabetes.” And, “Despite the evidence that obesity causes impaired glucose tolerance, it appears that very few dogs develop overt diabetes as a consequence of obesity-induced insulin resistance.”
Here’s another example: On the Internet, author after author states that diabetic dogs will require an expensive prescription diet for the rest of their lives, as an important part of their disease control. Not true! In diabetic cats and humans, diet plays a critical role in reducing insulin resistance, so that additional treatment may not even be needed; in dogs with diabetes, no diet can eliminate the need for insulin.
The further you drill into the details, the more erroneous information can be found online. I can’t tell you how many writers – even veterinarians! – discuss canine and feline diabetes as if they should be treated the same way (not!) or discuss type 2 canine diabetes (dogs don’t get this form of the disease).
Everyone makes mistakes. But when I’m looking for reliable information to help with my dog’s health or treatment, I count on Puotinen and Straus – that is, after I’ve driven them both crazy with fact-checking and double-checking and rewriting and reorganizing and checking it all again!
All dogs need digestive enzymes in order to break down their food, making the nutrients available for absorption. In most cases, the pancreas produces ample enzymes and no supplementation is required. Older dogs and dogs with digestive disorders may benefit from enzyme supplementation. Dogs with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), where the pancreas is no longer able to produce enzymes, require prescription-strength enzymes in order to survive. Digestive enzymes might also help dogs with food allergies and intolerances.
How Digestive Enzyme Supplements Benefit Dogs
Digestive enzyme supplements can benefit dogs who are unable to produce enough of their own enzymes due to pancreatic damage linked to acute or chronic pancreatitis, EPI, or diabetes. Older dogs produce fewer enzymes as they age, and may also benefit from the addition of digestive enzyme supplements, especially if they are underweight. If your dog suffers from gas, borborygmus (rumbling noises from the gut), frequent diarrhea, soft or voluminous stools, or stools that contain a lot of mucus, digestive enzymes may help.
Enzyme supplements are derived from plant, animal, and microbial sources. Animal-source enzyme supplements contain pancreatin from the pancreas of pigs or cows. Pancreatin provides protease, lipase, and amylase, used to digest protein, fat, and carbohydrates, respectively. These supplements may work best for dogs with pancreatic damage.
Microbial and plant-derived enzymes are frequently used together. Microbial enzymes are usually synthesized from fungal sources via fermentation, and have strange-sounding names, such as various Aspergillus fermentation products, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, and Rhizopus oryzae. Plant-derived enzymes include papain (from papaya) and bromelain (from pineapple). These enzyme products often supply lactase (used to digest lactose), cellulase (cellulose), and other enzymes in addition to protease, lipase, and amylase. Microbial and plant-derived enzymes are often combined with probiotics (beneficial bacteria) for more complete digestive support, and are usually less expensive than pancreatin products.
Digestive enzyme supplements may help reduce coprophagia (eating feces), both by making the stool less attractive, and by increasing nutritional absorption so that the dog may no longer seek to eat stools.
Cautions To Take with Digestive Enzymes
While many dogs benefit from the use of digestive enzymes, they can also cause undesirable side effects. If you give your dog a digestive enzyme product that causes loose stools, gas, vomiting, or signs of discomfort after eating, discontinue right away. You might try a different type of enzyme product to see if that works better for your dog. Problems are more common with pancreatin products; microbial and plant-derived enzymes are less likely to cause any adverse effects.
Enzymes are deactivated by temperatures above about 120 degrees, so do not warm foods after adding digestive enzymes, or add enzymes to hot foods.
Enteric-coated products made for humans might pass through a dog’s shorter digestive tract without being utilized.
Digestive Enzyme Dosage for Dogs
There are no specific dosage recommendations for digestive enzymes other than the prescription-strength enzymes needed for dogs with EPI, which are often highly concentrated (for example, 6x means it is 6 times stronger than plain pancreatin). These products should not be used for healthy dogs. Follow label instructions when using products made for dogs, or adjust the dosage of human products for the size of your dog (e.g., half the human dosage for a dog weighing 50 to 60 pounds).
Practice calm breathing with your dog at home, and as you and your dog gain competence, practice in gradually more distracting environments.
Radio talk show psychologist Dr. Joy Browne offers her listeners a stress-reducing “Square Breathing” technique. To relax before or during any potentially anxiety-producing experience, try square breathing: Inhale to the count of four, hold to the count of four, exhale to the count of four, and hold for four. With practice, you can increase each side of the “square” to a count of eight or even 20; the longer the count, the slower and more calming the breathing.
Meanwhile, Karen Overall, VMD, PhD, Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and director of the veterinary behavior clinic at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 12 years, teaches a similar behavior for stressed canines. Teaching a dog to take a breath works exactly the same way that it does for us. The intake of a deep breath gives both species a chance to take in oxygen and pause long enough for our brains to begin to work instead of react.
(Editor’s note: Dr. Overall talks both about asking the dog to “hold his breath” and to “breathe.” Obviously, he can’t do both at the same time. When he stops panting and closes his mouth, he is “holding his breath.” Then, when you see his nostrils flare, he is breathing. Both help to stop his panting, slow his respiration rate, and decrease his stress.)
According to Dr. Overall:
Dogs, like humans, cannot learn new behaviors if they are distressed. In fact, we all best produce the needed brain chemicals to make lasting memory if we are attentive enough to watch carefully but not so attentive that we are overly concerned. Most dogs about whom clients are concerned and/or who have truly pathological behavior are not calm enough to learn and use new information, especially if part of that information is learning to be calm.
Heart rate, attentiveness, and respiratory rate are all linked. If we can teach a human or a dog to take slower, deeper breaths, they relax, their heart rate decreases, and they can be more attentive to focusing on the task at hand. These responses are all coupled to changes in hormonal and other chemical signals that shift the brain’s and body’s reactivity from a system ready to act on a threat to one ready to focus on learning, not reacting.
The first step for dogs is to teach them to hold their breath as a way to learn deep breathing and focus, as follows:
1. Start to teach the dog to take a deep breath by asking the dog to sit and ‘look’ at you for a food treat held near your eyes.
2. Next, quickly move the treat from your eyes to a point a few inches in front of the dog’s nose, without giving the treat. Say the word ‘breathe.’ Watch carefully here to ensure that the dog remains calm. If the dog becomes more agitated, you will benefit from working with a trained, certified dog trainer or trained veterinary professional who can help you to desensitize the dog to food moving toward his nose.
3. The dog’s nostrils will usually flare as he smells the treat, and because he cannot sniff something and pant at the same time, the dog will hold his or her breath.
4. As soon as you see that the dog has held his breath and/or flared his nostrils, immediately deliver the treat and praise your dog.
5. Practice for a few minutes until you are certain that you know what you are looking for and that your dog is giving it to you. It can be difficult to see nostril flares in dark-faced dogs, but once you learn what a nostril flare looks like on your dog, you will know it.
6. As your dog gets better at responding to the ‘breathe’ request, start to delay the delivery of the treat a few seconds at a time.
7. Within a short while you will have a dog who holds his breath and slows his heart and respiratory rate, and so becomes more focused and relaxed. If you only reward the most focused and relaxed states, your dog will progress nicely.
It does not usually take more than five minutes to teach a dog to hold his or her breath, even if the dog is very hairy or the nose is dark, making the nose tough to see, but it may take longer for you to recognize and encourage the behavior. You will need to be observant and quick, and not linger with presenting the food as an olfactory stimulus.
– Avoid dog-dog greetings when your dog is on-leash to prevent frustration aggression.
– Identify the motivation for your dog’s on-leash aggression and address it accordingly.
– Teach yourself and your dog to practice deep breathing to reduce both your stress levels when faced with an approaching dog.
If you hang around with other dog owners, you’ve no doubt heard the same comment I have, over and over again: “My dog is fine with other dogs when he’s off-leash; he’s only dog-aggressive when his leash is on.” You may have even said it yourself.
The reason it’s an often-heard comment is that it’s a common behavior: A lot of dogs who are fine with other dogs when left to their own devices become aggressive if they are leashed when they meet other dogs.
We know that aggression is caused by stress. (See “Understanding Aggression in Dogs,” WDJ October 2010.) Clearly, there is something about being on a leash that a lot of dogs find stressful enough that it prompts aggressive behavior. There are several reasons for this. Let’s take a look at each of them.
Leashes Interfere with Dogs’ Normal Social Interaction
Picture in your mind two dogs meeting and greeting, off-leash. They engage in a social dance – advancing, retreating, moving around each other, sniffing various body parts, giving body language signals intended to keep the interaction civil. Sometimes the movements are slow; sometimes they are quick. If one dog is cautious or fearful of the other, he can retreat as he wishes, using social distance to keep himself safe.
Now picture those same two dogs meeting on-leash. The dance is stilted, inhibited by the restraint of the leash. One dog tries to circle the other, and the leash tangles around his legs. The cautious dog would like to retreat to safety, but knows the leash restricts his movement, and elects to act out his second option to increase distance – a growl and a snap to signal to the other dog to move away – who cannot, because he is leashed. The fight is on.
In the future, the cautious dog will offer a growl and snap before he’s close enough for the other dog to make contact. The best defense is a good offense. Alarmed, owners move away from each other, and the fearful dog’s aggression is reinforced by the increased distance. Behaviors that are reinforced repeat and increase, and the cautious dog’s aggression escalates as he realizes that it’s a successful behavior strategy for him – it keeps other scary dogs away. You now have a leash-aggressive dog. Absent the leash, he still chooses to move away from the other dog – his first behavior choice.
Leash Restraint Frustration
This is the dog who would love to visit with other dogs, on- or off-leash. In fact, you have reinforced his “I wanna go see the other dog!” behavior by frequently allowing him to greet other dogs on-leash, being careful to keep the leash loose, as your instructor showed you in class, to avoid having the leash interfere with the dogs’ normal social interaction. However, sometimes owners of approaching dogs give a clear indication that they don’t want to allow their dogs to greet yours. You politely comply, restraining your dog with his leash to hold him back.
Your dog, who suffers from low impulse control and low tolerance for frustration, becomes highly aroused when his desire to greet the other dogs is thwarted. His frustration and arousal turn into aggression, and your dog is labeled as “reactive.” Absent the leash, he would have happily greeted other dogs without any frustration or aggression.
When the Dog Owner is a Stressor
Stories abound of dogs who are ferocious if the owner is in the room, or holding the leash, yet turn into pussycats when the owner leaves or hands the leash off to someone else. One possibility is that the dog is protecting his owner. Another more likely one is that the owner’s presence gives a fearful dog enough confidence to act aggressively, but the dog shuts down when the owner leaves. Yet a third and perhaps most likely explanation, is that the owner is stressed in anticipation of the dog’s behavior in the proximity of other dogs, as well as other coming events – such as obedience ring competition. The stress of the human is an added stressor for the dog who is well aware of his owner’s emotional distress (they are masters at reading human body language, remember?) and that’s enough to put him over his aggression threshold.
Prior Negative Association with Events that Happened On-Leash
If you ever made the mistake of punishing your dog for inappropriate behavior toward other dogs on-leash, you may have given him a negative association between the leash and the presence of other dogs. Verbal corrections, a jerk on the leash or, horrors, a zap from a shock collar, are all stressors that your dog might now associate with the presence of another dog when he’s on his leash. That added stress can cause him to be aggressive when he otherwise might not have been.
Perhaps he was attacked by another dog when he was on his leash. Attacks can create very strong negative associations; you will often see a dog who is on-leash-aggressive toward a particular breed, type, or color of dog that reminds him of a prior aggressor.
Tightening of the Leash as a Stressor/Trigger
Sometimes introductions seem to be going well until one owner turns to leave, and pulls on the leash to get her dog to come along. Suddenly a fight breaks out for no apparent reason other than the leash tightening.
If things were already a bit tense between the dogs, the tightening of the leash can easily trigger an aggressive outburst. For one thing – it’s a stressor. Imagine if you were engaged in conversation with someone, and someone grabbed your arm – or worse, your shirt collar – and tried to pull you away. Annoying, yes? Well, annoying equals stress – perhaps enough stress to trigger an outburst.
For another, picture two dogs standing nose-to-nose, with some tension between them. Now envision the dog’s body language when his owner pulls back on the leash. The opposition reflex (scientifically named “thigmotaxis”) causes him to lean forward, tighten his muscles and stand a little taller – all of which mimic an assertive, perhaps aggressive body posture in a dog. If the annoyance-stress isn’t enough to trigger aggression in that dog, his offensive body language is likely to trigger an aggressive response from the other dog. You can find an excellent example of this phenomenon on this YouTube video.
What to Do About Leash Aggression
Each of the causes for on-leash aggression has its own remedy. Some require preventative action – proactive steps that reduce the likelihood of future aggression. Others respond well to intervention in the actual moment of potential aggression. They all require that you keep a cool head when you identify possible trouble spots.
Leash interference with normal social interaction:
I make it a pretty strict rule not to introduce dogs while still holding leashes. My dog-to-dog introduction routine involves letting the dogs see each other from a distance and, if all appears copacetic as the dogs near each other, dropping leashes and letting the dogs interact normally, without human interference. If the meeting unravels, we can grab leashes and separate the dogs without risking a close encounter with flashing teeth. If all goes well, however, we remove leashes after a moment or two of greeting, and allow the dogs to play freely.
Leash restraint frustration:
My rule about “no greetings on-leash” works well to proactively prevent leash-restraint frustration. Because my dogs aren’t in the habit of routinely greeting other dogs on-leash, they don’t develop that expectation, and therefore don’t become frustrated when it doesn’t happen. I teach my dogs that when they are on leash, they are with me, and their job is to pay attention to me. Only when and if I drop the leash and give them the “Go play!” cue do they expect to interact with an approaching dog.
For this reason, we do not teach an on-leash greeting exercise in our good manners classes (greeting humans, yes; greeting dogs, no). We aim to convince our students of the value of the no-greeting rule from Day One of their first class, in part to decrease the potential for on-leash frustration-aggression. (If your class instructor wants you to participate in an on-leash dog-to-dog greeting exercise, feel free to politely decline.)
Owner presence as a stressor:
This one might be more about you than it is about your dog. I generally counsel my clients not to leave their dogs in the hands of strangers – even veterinarians. Without you there to protect your dog, some may resort to inappropriate use of force to coerce your dog into cooperating. Forcible restraint is likely to exacerbate your dog’s stress and resulting aggression. Your veterinarian may be able to get the job done, but your dog’s behavior could escalate and worsen with each subsequent encounter.
You need a two-pronged approach to this behavior – modification protocols for your dog and you. Meditation, yoga, biofeedback, and other self-calming procedures are useful to train and remind yourself to stay calm during interactions that might otherwise cause your dog to react to your stress with aggression. “Square breathing” is one simple technique you can use to calm yourself and reduce your own stress. You can also teach your dog to breathe, and then ask him to breathe on cue – reducing his stress – and giving you something to think about and do, which also reduces your stress. (See “Teaching Your Dog Calm, Slow Breathing“.)
Prior Negative Association with On-Leash Events:
The greater the intensity of the prior negative association, the harder you will have to work to overcome it.
If your dog has perceived that the presence of another dog causes pain or discomfort to his neck – from the shock of an electronic collar, the pinch of a prong collar, or even the choking of a flat collar – start by changing the equipment.
Then implement a counter-conditioning and desensitization program to other dogs. Dog at a distance makes chicken happen (the other dog needs to be far enough away (“sub-threshold”) so as not to elicit an aggressive response to your dog). Let him look at the other dog; feed him chicken. Let him look again; feed chicken. Look – feed. Look – feed. Over and over, until, when he sees another dog his brain thinks “Chicken!” – and he no longer stresses over the presence of the other dog.
Then gradually decrease the distance between your dog and the other dog, and increase intensity of the stimulus in other ways: multiple dogs, more movement from the dogs, direct eye contact with the other dogs, offset walking (walking in the same direction but not right next to each other); parallel walking (next to each other, dogs on the outside humans on the inside); offset approaches, and finally, direct approaches.
If your dog was actually attacked by another dog on one or more occasions, the negative association may be even more intense, and modification even more of a challenge. If the mere presence of another dog is a very strong stressor for your dog, you may want to seek the assistance of a behavior professional for your modification program, and a veterinary behavior professional, for a discussion of behavior modification medication.
Leash Tightening as a Stressor:
The solution for this is absurdly simple: just teach your dog that the tightening of the leash reliably predicts wonderful stuff. You need your dog, on-leash, and a large supply of his favorite treat, cut into pea-size pieces. Now pull gently on his leash – and feed him a treat. Do this multiple times, until a tug on the leash prompts your dog to turn happily to you in anticipation of a goodie. Then increase the pressure on the leash, and the duration of the pressure. Next, practice the “leash pressure equals treat” game in the presence of increasing distractions, and finally in the presence of other dogs.
Identify and address the specific cause of your dog’s on-leash aggression; manage his on-leash behavior to prevent the frustration, arousal, stress, and fear that are the root causes of his undesirable behavior; give him new associations with the presence of other dogs; and keep him safe from inappropriate social interactions (canine and human), and he will be well-positioned to succeed.
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. She lives in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center, where she offers dog training classes and courses for trainers. Pat is also author of many books on positive training, including, Do Over Dogs: Give Your Dog a Second Chance at a First-Class Life.
Hypoglycemia is a serious risk factor in diabetes management. Recent studies suggest that approximately 10 percent of diabetic dogs experienced hypoglycemic episodes that required hospitalization. One large survey found that the majority of diabetic dogs presented for hypoglycemia were receiving high doses of insulin (0.7 units or more per pound of body weight).
Overdosing, double-dosing, and persistent dosing despite weight loss or reduced food intake are common iatrogenic causes of hypoglycemia. (Iatrogenic diseases are caused by medical treatment.) Strenuous exercise or maldigestion caused by EPI, bacterial overgrowth, inflammatory bowel disease, or other digestive disorders can also lead to hypoglycemia in diabetic dogs.
If you’re ever uncertain about whether insulin was administered, the safest option is to withhold the injection. The consequences of missing a single insulin dose are negligible, while overdosing can be fatal. Never add more if you are unsure, including if some insulin spills while you give the injection.
Changes in body weight may require insulin dosage modifications. Dietary changes, particularly reduced carbohydrates, may require a reduced insulin dosage to prevent hypoglycemia.
Severe hypoglycemia resulting from too much insulin can cause seizures, irreversible brain damage, and death. Warning signs include nervousness, hyperexcitability, anxiety, vocalization, muscle tremors, lack of coordination, wobbliness (the dog may appear drunk), and pupil dilation.
If these signs are seen, the dog should be fed immediately. If the dog can’t or won’t eat, rub Karo syrup, pancake syrup, honey, or even sugar water on her gums before calling your veterinarian. If immediate improvement is not seen, transport your dog to the vet after feeding for further care, such as intravenous glucose. Don’t give any more insulin until you have consulted with your vet, as insulin may need to be reduced for a few days, or long term.
When your pet’s condition stabilizes after a hypoglycemic episode, a glucose curve can help to determine why this happened and what a more appropriate insulin dose might be. A glucose curve is a series of blood sugar measurements made after insulin is given. Typically, blood samples are taken every 1-1/2 to 2 hours for 10 hours, or until the effects of the insulin injection can be determined. For ease of understanding, measurements are plotted on a graph whose points usually form a curve. Glucose levels can be monitored at home, improving the accuracy of the data.
Cerebral edema caused by insulin overdose can result in temporary blindness or behavior changes. These signs often resolve over several weeks or months.
If a concurrent illness causes prolonged loss of appetite, the patient should be hospitalized for blood glucose concentration monitoring and treatment with rapid-acting insulin and intravenous fluids supplemented with glucose and potassium.
I’ve had my share of litters – and not just canine ones. You see, I’m the mother of triplets. When Stephen, Allie, and Krista came into my life – in that order, a couple of minutes apart – I had two middle-aged Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Blitz and Diva had certainly met children before, and didn’t mind them, but the arrival of the babies rocked their world.
Pre-kids, when my husband Fred and I went to work, the dogs lazed around our suburban Victorian, maybe getting exorcised over the occasional oil delivery or Fed Ex dropoff. But post-kids, there was a literal village tromping through the house – grandmothers, babysitters, visiting aunts – and these . . . creatures.
Diva, an old hand at motherhood herself, decided avoidance was the best option. Anytime I sat down next to her with a baby in my arms, and a tightly balled fist or bootied foot grazed her, she got up without so much as a sidelong glance and, well, left. It was as if she had concluded that I didn’t appreciate her messing with my litter any more than she would appreciate me messing with hers.
Blitz, on the other hand, was a basket case. Like many intact males, he had what one behaviorist I talked to eloquently called Old Bachelor Uncle Syndrome. He reacted to my newborn children the same way he did to newly whelped puppies presented under his nose for inspection: “Uh, what are these things? Ew, they smell weird. I thought I wanted to know, but – actually – no . . . ” Backing away . . . backing away . . . .
When my triplets started to toddle, he looked at them whale-eyed, just as he did with newly weaned puppies barreling around the room, running in between his legs, millipedes with fur: “What are these things? They still smell weird. Is one of the going to grab my testicles?” (A concern that proved prophetic.) Growling . . . growling . . . .
It was a little unnerving having a 90-pound intact male Ridgeback vibrating like a tuning fork around my little swathed bundles of pinkness. But with my favorite remedy – tincture of time – and some hard-earned experience, we eventually overcame this reluctance. That first year of mixing dogs and babies was stressful, but it taught me more than any What to Expect… book could.
In fact, nobody really tells you what to expect when you bring a new baby home to an older dog. The advice books tell you what to do to prepare your dog for the arrival, but there’s not much information about how to prepare yourself for what happens when things get a little bumpy.
Here is some hard-earned advice about both sides of the fence: acclimating dogs to little kids, and teaching little kids to share a home with four-legged siblings. And while it goes without saying, I’ll of course say it: If at any time you are concerned about your dog’s behavior, consult a qualified trainer or behaviorist.
Raising Dogs and Kids Together Will Never Go Perfectly
The advice books are only a starting point. Walk around the house with a doll and talk mindlessly to it. Yes, do the whole blanket-from-the-hospital shtick. But it’s no guarantee that your dog is going to seamlessly transition from life before baby to the new nuclear-family reality.
Let’s face it: Dogs are smart. They know the doll isn’t a baby. They also know that everything in their world is changing: As your pregnancy progresses, everything about you starts to morph, from your gait to your hormones to your routine. New furniture shows up. Rooms get rearranged. Your anxiety level peaks.
Any major life change requires an adjustment period, and dogs are no different. Just assume that this will be the case, and provide your dog the space – both mental and physical – to figure things out. When things get hectic, or out of control, give your dog crate time with a good chewie. Don’t expect the Norman Rockwell painting out of the gate; for the first few months, it may be more paint by numbers.
Advice For Training Dogs and Kids
Listen to the dog people. Babies and kids make people emotional – no way of getting around that. Fledgling grandmothers who in other aspects of their lives are unflappable turn into frantic Oracles of Delphi when your pooch so much as looks sideways at the new arrival.
Amid all the confusion and exhaustion of a new baby, it’s easy to let other people get into your head. If it’s an experienced dog person, that’s one thing. But if it’s someone whose sum total exposure to canines is a collection of German bisque Dachshunds, then keep that in perspective. People who understand dogs understand canine body language and instincts; people who don’t are liable to misinterpret even friendly gestures – “He’s LICKING HER! Oh, my God, HE’S LICKING HER!” – and can offer some rather insane advice.
Last week, on a visit to the periodontist, the chairside chatter turned to the assistant’s newborn granddaughter, who was coming home from the hospital later that week. Concerned that the family dog was not going to accept the baby readily, the plan was to tranquilize him. I almost swallowed my cotton batting, and as soon as I could come up for air I pointed out that this was a supremely bad idea; in fact, being woozy and out of control of his own body likely would put the dog more on edge, not less.
Center yourself. Dogs read your body language, your pheromones, and the animal communicators would say, your thoughts. If you are anxious and worried about your dog’s reaction to the baby, you are in a sense encouraging him to be anxious and worried, too. Find that sweet spot between vigilant and freaked out. Practice feeling it. Practice breathing normally and not holding your breath when the two are in the room together – that’s the first sign to your dog that there is something to be worried about.
Don’t run film loops in your head about the worst-case scenarios. Do try to envision a calm, serene encounter. This sounds simple, and in theory it is, but in practice it can be the most daunting hurdle you face, especially if you have a dog who’s having difficulty with the new-baby transition.
Take baby steps. The most important thing to remember with anything involving dogs or kids – or dogs and kids together – is that you can’t expect a finished product right out of the gate. Plan out your encounters between dog and child (no matter what the age) and start simple: Create tiny successes and build from there.
In my Blitz’s case, he exhibited a whole spectrum of emotions, starting with excitement, leaping, and snuffing. When he smelled the babies through the bars of the crib, he breathed in their scent so deeply he sounded like an Electrolux. Once the novelty wore off, and the babies became a fixed part of our routine, bewilderment set in. He was fine as long as they didn’t touch him. If they did, panicked looks and grumbling ensued.
We dealt with his behavior in a number of ways. To help center his emotions gently and without drugs, I added some appropriate flower essences to his water, like Walnut for dramatic life changes, Mimulus for fear, and Rescue Remedy to kick it up a notch. (In my experience, when I have found the individual essences that work, adding Rescue Remedy often amplifies their results.) Whenever Blitz was around the babies and he reacted without fear or concern, he’d get a click and a treat. To encourage him to make contact with them, I’d balance a piece of string cheese on, say, the baby’s blanket-swaddled feet. (He was the gentlest dog when taking food; don’t try this with a chomper.)
Corrections don’t work when fear or anxiety is at the root of the problem; they only make things worse. But if I heard a grumble when I sat beside Blitz on the couch with a baby and bottle, he was calmly but firmly ejected from his spot.
Fast forward five years. Blitz was asleep in the parlor; our babysitter was playing a boisterous game of tag with the kids, chasing them around the kitchen island. When their delighted screams reached his ears, he bounced off the couch, trotted to the babysitter, and took her forearm gently between his powerful jaws. She stopped, the kids’ screaming died down, and he released her without so much as a tooth mark. Rather than being taken aback, she was pleased: He told her, eloquently but wordlessly, that he was worried about his children, and the screaming needed to stop. Now.
When those babies first came home, I would have never thought that scenario possible. But many dogs, like people, just need an adjustment period.
Crate expectations. The books all say it, and its importance cannot be understated: Your dog’s crate needs to be his sanctuary, and it is off limits to kids. I can tell you from experience that preschoolers think a crate is the coolest kind of playhouse; it’s small, it’s snug, it’s forbidden, and therefore irresistible.
I reserve the sternest kind of rebuke for any kind of messing around with the dogs’ crates – not only going in them, but opening them without permission. My children grew up understanding that letting a dog out of his crate at the wrong time could have serious consequences. Being a multi-dog household with frequent visitors who don’t always get along with the resident dogs – or who are in various states of reproductive readiness – there are cases where having the wrong two dogs out together could potentially result in disaster. I don’t sugar-coat it: If you do this, this and this could happen, and that would be A Very Bad Thing.
Kids aren’t the only ones who can mess up in this regard: If you have babysitters, nannies, or visiting relatives who take on dog care as part of their household helping, you can’t rely on them to be as vigilant as you would be. In those cases, a snap lock on the crate with a note – “Do not let out!” – reminds them in your absence.
Train the human puppies. Just as dogs need to be trained, so do children. At the earliest age, you can begin to teach the fundamentals of respecting animals and their boundaries. A staple around our house was Tails Are Not for Pulling, by Elizabeth Verdick, whose title is a handy catchphrase to repeat when a yank of any body part looks imminent.
In my house, however, the anatomy did not generalize. One day I found 3-year-old Allie crouched beside Blitz, who was sprawled out on his side, long past his initial trepidation about the kids; in fact, as the babysitter story shows, he now fancied himself their personal mascot. As I walked by, Allie reached out to Blitz, who jerked his head up suddenly, then sighed and dropped it to the ground, resigned.
“What did you do?” I asked Allie, who looked very pleased with herself.
“I squeezed his butt,” she announced proudly, pointing at his dangly bits.
That occasioned an impromptu “Testicles Are Not for Tugging” discussion, which in turn led to an exploration of physiological gender differences. That’s the great thing about having dogs: Being naked all the time, they are great springboards for the “birds and bees” discussions that make some adults so very nervous.
Reality check. As Allie’s game of tug demonstrates all too clearly, potentially dangerous situations between kids and dogs happen. Even the best-behaved child disobeys now and then, even the most trustworthy decides to see what it feels like to break the rules. I was fortunate that I had a well-temperamented dog with a high tolerance about his personal space among his “pack.”
I remember several years back, covering a tragic story for the newspaper that I worked for at the time. A little girl had been strangled to death in the backyard by the family Golden Retriever. The dog was playing tug with her scarf; it was a complete freak accident.
I interviewed experts and behaviorists at the time, one of whom announced definitely that parents should ensure that children and dogs are never left unsupervised. I asked if she had kids. Of course, she didn’t.
If you have kids, you know that sometimes it’s just unavoidable to leave the two species together – if only for a minute to run some laundry to the basement, or check the dinner on the stove. Life happens. Constant supervision is the ideal, but sometimes you just can’t be in control of everything. That’s not resignation – that’s reality.
And 99 percent of the time, things go absolutely perfectly. But then there are those rare, tragic events that remind us that there are two parts to the term “companion dog.” Love them as we do, these are animals, with sharp teeth and instincts that we sometimes cannot predict. Always err on the side of caution. You do both your children and your dog a favor in being as conservative as possible, and supervising as much as you can, especially with visiting children in the house. When in doubt, use the crate. A bell cannot be unrung, an egg cannot be unscrambled – and some “mistakes” on the part of an otherwise stable and loving dog can exact a heavy toll.
Teach kids to speak dog. At every age, kids will have new questions about their interactions with the family dog, and you need to keep your antennae primed for them. Just this week, Stephen, now 8, woefully informed me that our newest puppy, Gigi, no longer liked him because she was nipping at him. When I told Stephen that Gigi was getting mouthy because she had been playing with her visiting brother Duke, and dogs wrestle with their mouths just as he and his sisters do with their hands, he broke into a big grin. Gigi not only liked him, he realized; she was trying to play with him.
At an early age, I taught my kids the command “Seek high ground.” This is useful when they are nibbling on a cheese stick and are surrounded by a throng of red fur; standing on the couch, mozzarella held aloft like Lady Liberty’s torch, they have a chance of keeping it. But the “high ground” cue also works when dogs are playing and the action is intense, or a new dog comes over and is introduced into the pack. The children now understand that when there is a lot of excitement among the dogs, they need to get out of the way, lest they get mixed up and inadvertently hurt if things escalate.
Another thing they learned was how their behavior could elicit unwanted reactions from the dogs. If they squealed and ran, chances are the new puppy would pursue, and seek to engage them with those pin-sharp baby teeth. They learned how to redirect puppy nips by offering a toy, and, as they got older, how to dissuade a humper. (Issue a loud, deep, “NO!” and bop on the head, more than once if necessary. I’m all for positive reinforcement, but when I have a 90-pound male Ridgeback looking for a hormone hug with a 70-pound second-grader, we do what works. And that works.)
Harness the helpfulness. Younger children love to be helpers, and mine vie to do even the most mundane tasks: stuffing Kongs with peanut butter; wetting, wringing, and freezing washcloths when teething is going full tilt; filling the water bowl up – and up, and up!
Because I feed raw, I won’t let the children help with mealtime. And until they were four or so, I cooked the dogs’ food, because I was worried about cross-contamination. The kids have learned to ask, “Have the dogs eaten yet?” which is a signal they are debating whether to permit a doggie kiss on the lips. Our home rule is no face contact for one hour after the dogs have eaten.
When I have a litter, I could not ask for better puppy socializers. My kids are in the whelping box constantly. They delight in handling the puppies, naming them, noting their differences in appearance and temperament. They are never present without adult supervision, and have been taught to be gentle; if they break any rule, they lose their “box” privileges. The frequent contact with the kids results in puppies who are programmed to love children; as adult dogs, when they see a little human, even on the horizon, their bodies waggle and wiggle in delight.
It’s important to remember, though, that kids, like dogs, are individuals. My youngest daughter, Krista, could take the dogs or leave them. I suspect both nature and nurture have a hand in being “doggie” – some kids are just more drawn to these furry folk than others, and that’s okay.
Chicken or the egg? What’s the better approach: Get your dog first, and then add the kids? Or acquire the dog as a puppy once the children are old enough, so that there are no adjustment issues?
Tough call, and a very individual one. Your mileage may vary, but, having done both, I have to say – with younger children, at least – the former worked best for me, hands down. I have added three Ridgebacks to my household since I had my kids, and I can honestly say that the amount of time I spent training and socializing them was significantly less. Not to say that my later dogs are hooligans, but in the push-me-pull-you that is parenthood, you can’t do it all. Having dogs first gives you a chance to enjoy them fully, learn their quirks and idiosyncrasies, and lay the relationship groundwork for the challenges that come with kids and an expanding household.
Another advantage to bringing kids into a household with dogs is the immune-system benefit. Studies show that children who grow up with dogs (and cats) are less likely to develop asthma and allergies to a wide variety of allergens, but – here’s the clincher – exposure during the first year of life is key. After that, the preventive benefits are severely decreased.
Know your breed. Ridgebacks are the consummate family dog, and once mine recalibrated their definition of our family, we were in for smooth sailing. My babies were foreign things to Blitz until, over time, he came to realize they were ours. Once he understood that, he became their companion, their protector, and their dear friend.
Other breeds may have different default settings. Mastiffs, for example, are hard-wired to adore women and children, even ones they do not know; they may be quicker than my Ridgebacks to embrace new human pack members. Terriers, by contrast, sometimes have less patience with small children. Your breeder or a reliable trainer can help you sort out some of these questions, or give you an in-depth evaluation if your dog is a mix or a rescue of any breed or combination whose history you may not know.
Taking it to the next level. Because I spend so much time at dog shows, I wanted to make them a family affair. I have a special “dog-show bag” in the car that contains games and books that can be played with only at a dog show. This not only keeps the kids distracted when I am showing – frantic calls of “Mommy! Mommy! He hit me!” do not do much for my ring presentation – but also provides incentive to go in the first place.
Stephen and Allie have started to go to handling classes, and I try to reward them with positive reinforcement: A trip for a celebratory smoothie, or a chance to interact with (and sometimes do a few laps with) other dogs in class, including “exotic” breeds like Leonbergers and Bernese Mountain Dogs. The biggest pay-off for them, however, is being told by the instructor that they have done a better handling job than I have. Ahem.
Learning the mechanics of any dog sports, from agility to obedience, can be overwhelming – so many nuances to master – and in this the basics of dog training apply: Break the task up into small pieces. Teach the pieces backward. Reward every accomplishment. Don’t fixate on the imperfections. Don’t drill. Make it fun.
Step back. Kids and dogs are a lot of work, both can make spectacular messes if not supervised properly, and it takes a lot of time to raise them properly. They bring to the surface all your shortcomings, and in the crunch of bringing them up you confront old patterns and programming that makes you work on yourself, too.
But their gift is their visceral delight in the world that many of us adults lost sight of long ago. When you watch a relationship between a child and her dog – the whispered confidences, the gleeful playbowing, the sheer joy of running in the grass together – you rediscover what it’s all about.
And as the dogs turn gray and then white and then are no more – Blitz passed last year, and Diva grows older by the minute, it seems – I don’t have any better explanation for the children than the one I give myself: The dogs leave to make room for the new ones to follow, to give us a fresh infusion of joy and wonder at this marvelous, unfolding miracle called life.
Denise Flaim of Revodana Ridgebacks in Long Island, New York, shares her home with three generations of Ridgebacks, three 8-year-olds, and a very patient husband.
Years ago, I had high hopes for participating in dock diving sport with my now-9-year-old dog, Woody. But it turned out that my high-jumping, strong-swimming dog absolutely hates getting water in his ears!