On most days, I use my cell phone as a camera more than a phone. It’s small, lightweight, always with me, and mobile app technology can turn a so-so shot into frame-worthy art.
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Most smart phones now feature cameras that shoot in 6-megapixels or higher, providing photos with good resolution and detail. The large screens make it easy to compose a shot without holding the camera directly up to your face, which makes some dogs shy away. (My Whippet seems to hate when I point a traditional camera at her; it’s something we’re working on. I joke that she thinks it will steal her soul.)
There are countless photo editing phone apps to play with. The most popular offer a variety of filters that give photos a fun, nostalgic feel. I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with Retro Camera (Android), Streamzoo (Android) and Instagram (iPhone and Android). Some of my favorite pictures are shots I might have otherwise deleted if not for the ability to add filtering.
“There’s no reason in the world why you can’t use your phone,” says professional photographer Julie Poole, of Julie Poole Photography in Knoxville, Tennessee. “iPhones, for example, take really good pictures. I think phones are going to replace point-and-shoot cameras. If you have an iPhone or something similar, the pictures you can get and then filter through Instagram or various other apps are wonderful. Today, there’s no reason to feel ashamed that it’s just a phone photo. Some of my favorite pictures are phone photos because I always have my phone with me.”
Printing Camera App Photos As photo-related camera apps increase in popularity, new businesses are springing up to help users display the captured moments. Many of the apps produce square images, which are difficult to print via the local drugstore’s photo center. A quick Google search reveals a surplus of sites offering unique products to free your favorite images from the confines of your phone. For example:
-StickyGram.com – A custom printing service that offers a collection of nine images on a pre-scored magnetic sheet for $15, with free shipping.
-Blurb.com – Create a book of Instagram photos. Prices start at $10.95 for 20 photos.
-Zazzle.com – Print your favorite app-created square images as 4-inch by 4-inch photos, on professional-quality photo paper, for .10 each. Or try PostalPix.com for .30 each.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and when it comes to our beloved canine companions, we can never have too many memories preserved in perpetuity. Like people, dogs have unique personalities. Learning to capture your dog’s attitude, spirit and charm can make the difference between a so-so photo and a memory you just have to blow up and frame. The following tips will help you take your best shot.
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When you want jaw-dropping photos, it never hurts to let the true professionals work their magic by scheduling a professional photo shoot for your pet. Not only do professionals have the know-how and the equipment to achieve stunning images, working with a professional gives you the opportunity to be photographed with your pet.
While we strongly believe and have seen ample evidence that it’s worth the cost to arrange for some once-in-a-lifetime professional photographs of your dog, we’ve also learned that, with just a little knowledge and a lot of practice any dog owner can learn to take terrific, memorable pictures of their dogs. One of the advantages you have, after all, is your familiarity with your dog; no one else will have as many opportunities to capture his unique personality.
And that is the key to a great portrait. Ask professional photographers and dog lovers Rachele Valadez and Amy VandenBerg of Artis Photography in Snohomish, Washington, the difference between a good photo and a great one, and their answer is emphatic: Personality.
“I think a lot of times people don’t take the time; they get a beautiful dog portrait, but it’s not their dog. It’s a dog. It’s a beautiful portrait of a Dalmatian, but it’s not ‘Echo,’” says VandenBerg.
Whether shooting pets or people, capturing a subject’s unique personality is the team’s main goal. To help achieve this with pets, they often ask owners to engage their dogs in a favorite game in order to capture the joy of being a dog: running full tilt after a ball, jumping for a Frisbee, rolling in the grass, or chewing sticks.
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Similarly, Seth Casteel of Little Friends Photo in Los Angeles and Chicago (and who frequently tours the country taking portraits), specializes in lifestyle pet photography “embracing the at-ease mentality of pets on-location in their natural settings.”
“Each photo shoot I do is a unique challenge,” he says. “My goal is to showcase the dog’s personality through an image or series of images. Once I meet the little friend I am photographing, I find inspiration and ideas start to generate. I let the little friends tell me what kind of pictures best represent them.”
While posed pictures are nice, Casteel says a little creativity goes a long way to help unleash your pet’s inner rock star. Sometimes simply observing your dog in action (or in a state of inaction!) can help identify photographable moments. “Try something different,” says Casteel. “Play hide-and-seek with your dog. Ask him to sit and go hide in the house. Bring your camera and wait to be discovered.”
The last time Casteel tried something different, he was underwater photographing a diving dog. His underwater diving photos have since become a media sensation, going viral on the Internet and becoming the subject of his forthcoming book and 2013 calendar, both titled, Underwater Dogs.
Casteel dove into underwater photography quite by accident while shooting an on-land photo shoot with “Buster,” a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who wanted to spend his time chasing his ball into the backyard pool.
“I thought, ‘I wonder what he looks like in there,’” recalls Casteel, who was so curious, he ran out and bought a waterproof point-and-shoot camera to capture Buster’s antics. Liking what he saw, and sensing he was on to something creatively, he decided to save up for a waterproof housing to protect his professional gear.
“It was a happy accident,” he says.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors Shooting outdoors offers the benefit of myriad backdrops and the advantage of natural lighting, which pros favor at certain times of day. When planning an outdoor photo adventure, consider shooting during what photographers call “the golden hour,” the hour or so just as the sun is rising or setting. The light during this period is softer and offers warm, flattering hues. Also, because the sun is lower in the sky, it reduces the degree of overhead shadow.
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Avoid shooting midday when the sun is directly overhead, as it creates harsh shadows that distort the image. If your dog decides to be a perfect poser in the park at high noon, look for a well-shaded area to help filter overhead sun.
Even cloudy days offer certain advantages, according to Los Angeles photographers Kim Rodgers and Sarah Sypniewski, authors of Dog Photography for Dummies. “Don’t write off a cloudy day,” they write. “Thinking that you can’t get good photos on a cloudy or overcast day is a misconception. In fact, this is sometimes the best light you can hope for, especially if you’re photographing a black dog. Clouds can act as a giant softbox that filters the sun to an even and dispersed state, so take advantage of those clouds and forget about the ‘high noon rule’ on a cloudy day.”
Dog photographer Ida Kucera of Lerum, Sweden, takes the “cloudy day effect” one step further and frequently photographs pets in inclement weather for a naturally dramatic effect. Her dynamic photos have also been seen making the rounds on Facebook.
“Don’t be scared of doubtful weather,” says Kucera. “Even a good blizzard or sand storm creates great effects in lighting and casts dramatic shadows. I enjoy a good, extreme weather situation – it brings natural drama and takes the pet ‘back to nature’ a bit.”
Photography Basics Whether using a simple point-and-shoot camera, or a more complex DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera, understanding a few basic concepts can help improve your at-home photo shoots.
Rule of thirds – This is a basic composition principle that splits the frame into a tic-tac-toe board with two vertical and two horizontal lines. Rather than position your subject directly in the center, place his face at one set of intersecting lines. Whether you use the top or bottom set depends on what you want to highlight. To highlight something in the background, place your subject on one of the lower intersecting points; to highlight the subject in the foreground, use the upper intersecting points. The rule of thirds is a subtle, but powerful way to make images more interesting.
Choosing a background – To help make your pet the star of the shot, watch out for distractions in the background. Pick up unnecessary items that don’t contribute to the story you’re trying to tell, and watch out for unsightly objects (for example, a dirty dumpster). Pay attention to items that appear to be “growing” from the subject, such as a light pole directly behind his head.
When photographing dogs outdoors, Casteel recommends looking for the “wall of magic,” a bank of attractive green bushes that can be especially flattering when the sun is shining through, yet the bushes create a shady spot for the dog. You can also look for colors that complement your dog, or patterns that are interesting, but not overly distracting (such as the repeating pattern of a brick wall or wood fence).
A new angle – For most pet portraits, shooting at eye-level produces the most flattering image. Get down on the ground and experience the world from your dog’s point of view. Extreme angles, such as shooting down on your dog from up high, or shooting up from ground-level offer fun, creative results, so don’t be afraid to experiment; it’s one of the biggest benefits of digital photography (you don’t have to pay for film and processing!). Also, don’t be afraid to rotate the camera from the traditional horizontal position to a vertical orientation to add additional variety to your pictures.
Flash – Most pros agree that using a camera’s built-in flash leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to pet photography. The burst of light reflects off the subject’s retinas, and creates an alien-like image of dogs with red and green laser beams as eyes. If your camera has a fixed flash, it’s best to avoid using it. If using a DSLR, consider investing in an external flash unit or a lightscoop. Both attach to the camera’s “hot shoe” (the square port on the top of the camera) and allow you to bounce light off the ceiling so it falls back on your subject from a softer angle.
Fill the frame – Don’t be afraid to get close to your subject. Filling the frame with your subject, either by physically getting closer or using the lens to zoom in, creates stronger composition by highlighting the subject and helping to eliminate the possibility of clutter. For an artistic effect, you can even try filling the frame with one part of your dog – like the pads on his foot or his snout.
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Black and white dogs – Predominately black or white dogs pose a special challenge for your camera’s automatic mode because the light meter attempts to adjust the exposure to a setting that represents the middle tone of a particular scene. As a result, details are often lost on dark dogs, and white dogs appear washed out.
When using a point-and-shoot camera or the automatic setting on a DSLR, the best bet is to avoid direct, midday sunlight in favor of an evenly lit shady spot or a cloudy day. Direct sunlight will cast shadows that destroy detail. If shooting indoors, daytime shots often work better because you can fill the room with natural light. For both black and white dogs, an external flash or lightscoop can be used to bounce light off the ceiling to help light the subject. Many photographers also use an external flash when shooting outside, especially in brighter sunlight, because the additional light can help “fill” areas lost visually to shadow.
Even with the help of an external flash, it often takes some tinkering with the exposure compensation feature to produce a properly exposed photo of a black or white dog.
Exposure compensation is a sliding scale, usually represented by -2.0 on the left and +2.0 on the right. When set at “0,” the camera is exposing the photo without any input from the photographer. Adjusting to the left (negative) makes the next photo you take darker; adjusting to the right (positive) makes the next image lighter. Exposure is a great tool to experiment with; a solid understanding of how exposure affects images can help you create far better photos – especially of dark or light dogs.
Understanding Your Equipment The better you understand your equipment, the more creative muscle you can flex in your photographs. Manuals can be daunting, but it can help if you investigate just one issue at a time.
For example, if your photos are always a little bit blurry, look in your camera’s manual for more information about shutter speed – the length of time that your camera exposes its digital sensors (or film!) to the subject that you are photographing. The faster your dog is moving, the faster your shutter speed will need to be to capture him in a nice, sharp image. If you are using a point-and-shoot, look for a “sports” or “kids and pets” mode, often depicted by a running stick figure or a child and an animal. These modes automatically selects a faster shutter speed, which will help freeze the action of your subject.
Or perhaps you’d like an artistically (and purposely) blurred photo of your dog running or jumping? Then you need to know how to slow the exposure. Check your manual to learn how to override your camera’s automatic features.
As another example, if you want an image where your dog is in focus, but the background is no more than an attractive blur, you will need to learn a bit about “depth of field,” which is the range of components in a scene that remain sharp, and how to adjust it using different apertures (the size of the hole in the lens, which, when combined with shutter speed, controls how much light gets into the camera) on the camera’s lens. In general, the larger the opening on the lens, the shallower the depth of field in the photo. On a point-and-shoot, this effect can be accomplished by switching from the fully automatic mode to “portrait” mode (usually marked with the image of a face or head). A shallow depth of field is great for photographing stationary subjects you want to stand out against the background.
Recruit a Friend Having a second person to help you handle your dog goes along way toward creating a successful photo shoot. Dogs move quickly and their facial expressions can change in the blink of an eye. You’re much more likely to catch the moment you’re looking for if you keep your eye behind the camera and your shutter-finger at-the-ready. Ideally the helper is someone your dog already knows and is comfortable with, but if not, let them get to know each other (treats and toys can work well to shorten introductions) first. During the photo shoot, the helper’s job can range from guiding a dog into position to displaying an array of antics to help elicit a bright expression.
Humans are drawn to photos where the subject is looking directly into the camera – and to those where the subject is looking completely sideways to the camera. The problem with taking photos in which the dog is making eye contact with the camera is that many dogs, like my Whippet, are uncomfortable looking into the camera – or looking at you when you have a camera obscuring your face! Have your helper perform her squeaky noises or toy-waving right behind your head, so it looks as much like your dog is looking into the camera as possible. Alternatively, position your dog, yourself, and your helper so that you get a beautiful profile, with your dog looking toward the sun, so that her eyes fill with light and sparkle.
Have Fun With It When it comes to getting the right “look” from your canine companion, don’t be afraid to look or behave ridiculously – and be creative! Come to the shoot prepared with lots of props. Some dogs light up at the sound of a squeaky toy. Some dogs prefer toys that rattle or grunt. Some dogs are easily captivated by the crinkle of a plastic wrapper – the sure sound that a treat is nearby. With many dogs, tossing the treat or toy in the air and catching it piques their interest. Others light up if you playfully pretend to stalk them or ask the ever-popular questions, “Where’s the kitty?” or “Wanna go for a walk?”
Photo by Artis Photography.
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Whatever techniques you use, remember to reward your dog for his participation, don’t forget to take frequent breaks, and watch for signs that your dog is becoming stressed. Frequent lip-licking, yawning, panting, or averting his gaze and refusing to look at the camera are all signs that your dog is becoming stressed by the situation. Rather than try harder to get his attention, it’s time to take a break.
Train, Don’t Complain Photo shoots, whether at home or in a professional studio, go a lot more smoothly when everyone is relaxed. In your quest to preserve precious memories, don’t forget your responsibility to keep your dog physically and emotionally safe. If he’s generally nervous in new places, consider building his confidence before expecting him to sit calmly in a photo studio full of strange people pointing strange equipment in his direction.
Similarly, consider brushing up on his basic skills before a photo session.
“If people want good pictures of their dogs sitting still and looking at the camera, a good ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ goes a million miles,” says VandenBerg. “It starts with training, for sure.”
Whether you plan to shoot at home or in a studio, make sure you practice any skill or behavior you know you want from your dog in the weeks and days before the shoot.
“Do not stress, do not yell, do not get frustrated,” says professional photographer Julie Poole, of Julie Poole Photography in Knoxville, Tennessee. “That will only torque up the dog.”
Poole, who breeds and shows Whippets, has been photographing pets since 2006. “I started in animal photography because I was showing horses and enjoyed photographing them even when I wasn’t showing,” she says. “Being a competitor, I knew more of what people wanted to see in their shots, and what not to shoot.”
A love of and familiarity with the subject is a huge advantage of working with a professional photographer who specializes in animal photography. Not only are they more likely to be patient with and attuned to the special needs of non-human subjects, they understand how to bring out the best in the animal.
“There’s something good about every subject that’s put in front of you. It’s up to you to bring it out in them,” says Poole.
Just Do It “People take photos for many reasons,” Poole says. “The most important one is to preserve memories. At some point, the dog will be gone and memories are all that is left. It doesn’t have to be a Picasso or a Pulitzer to mean the world to you.”
VandenBerg agrees. “Document your dog throughout his life. Don’t wait,” she says. “I can’t count how many clients who have called and said, ‘I’m so glad you photographed my dog because we lost him the next day, or next week.’ Whether you choose to use a professional photographer or not, you just can’t have enough pictures.”
Stephanie Colman is a writer and dog trainer in Los Angeles. She shares her life with two dogs (whom she enjoys photographing), and actively competes in obedience and agility.
A friend called one day to complain about his dog’s latest vet bill: $300 to remove a foxtail that the dog sniffed up his nose on that morning’s walk.
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If you live on the west coast, you are likely cringing with recognition of the problem. If you live on the east coast, chances are you have no idea of what I’m talking about.
Hordeum jubatum (informally called “foxtail barley” but infamous as “foxtail grass”) is a perennial plant species in the grass family Poaceae. It grows like, well, a pestilent, abundant weed all over California. When the grass is green in the spring, it’s pretty; it produces these lush heads that resemble a finer version or wheat or barley. But the moment the plants start to dry in the later part of the spring, the heads start to fall apart – and each tiny segment of the luxuriant heads becomes a danger to any dog who goes near it.
If you dissect just one of those heads, it falls apart into hundreds of individual arrows, each tipped with a hard seed and trailed by several long tails. Each thread of those tails are constructed like a file; they are covered with tiny fibers are aligned in one direction. If you run your fingers along the fiber one way, it’s smooth, but you can’t run your finger (or anything else) along the fiber in the other direction; it snags. These microscopic, one-way fibers make the awns practically walk on their own, always in one direction. A breeze and the slightest contact with anything makes them move in the direction of the seed head.
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So when your dog snuffles in the dirt or grass that is loaded with foxtails (or mown foxtail grass), and one foxtail seed (known simply as a foxtail) makes contact with his nose, it’s like to get sniffed into his nasal cavity, where its irritating barbs cause him to sneeze and rub his face on the grown and paw at his nose. He may cough, vomit, gag, and sneeze some more. All of those actions simply make the foxtail move farther and farther into the dog’s body – into his sinuses, throat, brain, or stomach (if you’ve lucky). Dogs also get them lodged between their toes, in their ears, in their genitalia, or, if they are unlucky enough to have a thick or curly coat, anywhere on their body. It can cause an infection anywhere it lodges. I’d bet that a full quarter of veterinary visits in Northern California in the summer are related to foxtails. Practically every stray and neglected dog and cat who comes to the shelter in the summer has foxtails embedded in some parts of their bodies. Owners like me, who have foxtails in their yards and trails, check their dogs daily for the horrid stickers. And we dread the sound of our dogs sneezing.
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If you have foxtails on your property, you doubtlessly try to eradicate them. Good luck. If you mow your yard or use a weed-whipper, you are doing foxtails a huge favor, busting up the seed heads and helping them break up and disperse themselves. Pretty much the only thing that works to eradicate foxtails is pulling up the entire plant before they produce the seed heads, or, if you’re too late, pulling them up while carefully holding the seed heads in your hands (to keep them from falling apart) and transporting them straight into your green recycling bin or compost pile. I lived in the same house in the Bay Area for 12 years, and by the 7th year of doing this to the entire overgrown backyard annually, I finally eradicated the pest. Now I have a new backyard, one where the foxtails have a several-decade head start on me. I feel like taking a flamethrower to the whole lot.
And of course, they are all over the wild outdoors. There are several trails I just don’t take with my dogs for several months in the summer, until the rains come and the foxtails aren’t a threat.
One company has come up with a partial solution – which is better than anyone else has done. It’s a California-based company, of course. The Outfox Field Guard is sort of like a beekeeper’s bonnet for dogs who are going to work or walk outside in a foxtail-rich environment. It protects the dog’s nose and ears (and mouth – often dogs swallow the stickers). Of course, it does nothing for the dog’s paws, which still have to be checked after each walk around the infamous stickers. I bought one for my friend to try on his dog, after his $300 vet visit (removing a foxtail from a dog’s nose or ears almost always requires full anesthesia). He reported that Bucky didn’t seem to mind the bonnet much, although he thought it made Bucky pant more on their morning walks on warmer days; whether because the mesh is black or restricts the flow of air every so slightly, he imagined it might be hotter inside the bonnet than out of it. The Field Guard should not be left on an unattended dog; it’s just for walking or working with the dog outdoors with supervision. Bucky hasn’t gotten another foxtail yet, and he walks frequently on the trails I’ve given up for the summer. Check it out: www.outfoxfieldguard.com.
After a lifetime of washing my dogs myself, always, I’ve become addicted to taking my dogs to a groomer for even simple baths. Oh, I might still wash Otto on the back lawn in the middle of our 100-degree summers, but at any other time, I’ve decided it’s oh-so-worth it to have the groomer handle the whole mess. Even little 10-pound Tito, with his short coat – off to the groomer with you.
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It started last fall sometime. Someone had been forced to surrender a litter of backyard-bred (in the worst way) Labradoodles to my local shelter, and the chocolate brown puppies were thin, wormy, flea-infested, and, at the tender age of about 10 weeks, shaggy and matted to the skin in spots. (Some of them also had foxtails in their ears.) They looked like a bunch of dirty mops, and they were lingering in the adoption kennels day after day. I asked the shelter director if we could possibly afford to take them to a groomer to be bathed and clipped and made to look like dogs. “Well,” she considered, “There is a groomer in town who sometimes will take one of our tough cases and groom them for free . . . .” Long story short, the groomer agreed to volunteer her shop’s services without charge, and I transported two of the matted pups across town in the morning, and picked up one of the gorgeous, fluffy pups in the afternoon to bring back to the shelter; one of the groomer’s employees adopted the other pup! The groomed puppy got adopted the next day, and we transported two more pups to the groomer the day after that. They were adopted quickly as well.
Out of gratitude, I decided to bring Otto and Tito to the groomer’s shop for baths, just to let her know that she gained at least one new client for life, and to let her know that I’d be telling everyone I know about how great the folks are at Bark Avenue Grooming at 2045 Park Avenue in Oroville, California. And when I picked up my dogs, who weren’t even that dirty, and saw how great they looked and smelled, I thought, that is the best money I’ve spent all week. Their nails were clipped, Otto’s beard was shaped a little bit, and their coats were so fluffy and clean, I kept finding myself running my hands through their hair.
Though I’m very capable of clipping my dogs’ nails, and I generally do a good job, I hate doing it. Otto is actually quite relaxed about the whole thing (which is amazing, because he’s got so many other odd neuroses). But I’m the one who agonizes over every snip; the “quick” in a thick, black nail (the only kind Otto has!) is impossible to see. I’ve only nipped the quick once, making Otto startle and the toenail to bleed, and that was enough for me. My groomer throws the nail-trimming into the mix – and squeezes the dogs’ anal glands, too. Enough said.
And when, in frigid December, Otto found and rolled (and rolled and rolled) in a weeks-old dead salmon on the banks of the Feather River, where we walk pretty much daily, I did not freak out. We walked home, and I left him outside while I went indoors and called the groomer. “Charge me any amount, but can you take him now?” Then, I loaded him into the back of the truck; if we hadn’t had a truck, I would have walked him to the groomer. No way was he getting in my car with greasy dead salmon all over him. That bath was worth a fortune to me, and it cost me $40.
I’ve heard horror stories about dogs being treated badly by groomers, and I’m sure there are bad apples in the barrel. But I love my groomers – my back loves the groomers — and thanks in part to the bags full of yummy treats that I bring along and the groomers feed to Otto and Tito throughout the process, the dogs love the groomers, too. I can’t imagine living without them anymore.
My husband and I recently went on vacation for a week. I hired an acquaintance to house-sit and take care of all the animals while we were gone. She had performed this task for us many times before, although not for about two years. But she and our dog Otto were familiar with each other, and she knew all the plants in our yard and garden that needed watering (the last time we went on vacation, we had hired someone else, and half of our azaleas died for lack of water while we were gone), so it seemed like a good idea. She is actually between jobs and staying with a friend right now, and told us that she’d appreciate having a place of her own to live in for the week. The one possible hitch in the plan was that she was bringing her young Pit-mix dog.
I wasn’t actually that worried about the dog. I had met him about a year and a half before, when he was a little puppy, and it seemed like she was socializing him well. Otto generally does well with young, playful dogs, and the dog lives with a cat, so I figured my cats would cope. However, I was surprised to see, when she showed up at our house – only about 10 minutes before we had to leave for the airport, instead of the hour I had asked for – that the dog was still intact. Ah, she had been meaning to get around to neutering him, just hadn’t found the time or money at the right time.
As I said, we had only about 10 minutes to gauge how well the dogs would get along – and go over all of our instructions – before we HAD to be on the road to the airport. The first indications were good. The young dog seemed friendly and playful, and bounced around with Otto, offering a few play bows. Tito the Chihuahua bristled and growled at the much-bigger dog – and the dog backed off. “Okay, fine, you’re no fun.” Otto himself seemed interested and playful, too – no bad vibes. The cats were up on a table on the back porch, and the dog gave them a few glances, but didn’t have a “cat killer” kind of intense response at all. I had to cross my fingers and get in the car.
Several times while we were gone, I texted the house sitter and asked about everyone. She posted a few pictures of a happy Otto to her Facebook page and said everyone was “fine.”
When we got home after midnight a week later, Otto and Tito were overjoyed to see us. They looked fine, and the whole garden, azaleas included, looked great. The chickens were fine. But there was no sign of my cats. And no sign that the cats had eaten ANY of the food I left. Oh crud.
I woke up super early the next morning (still on east coast time) and went outside and called for my kitties. One appeared rapidly, meowing up a storm and startling at every little noise. She was much thinner than when we left (admittedly, she was a little overweight previously). The other cat took a few more hours to venture back into my yard. He, too, was noticeably spooky and thinner. So, the guest dog obviously spent the week chasing the cats out of their own yard. I was hoping that was all the bad news.
Then I got a report from one of my next-door neighbors. “Otto was so sad while you were gone!” she told me over our fence. “He barked and barked and barked all night! I kept going outside to tell him everything was ok, but he just kept barking!” Otto doesn’t really like her, so this wasn’t a tactic that was bound to work; he barks at her once or twice every night in the wee hours, when she goes out in to smoke cigarettes on her patio, adjacent to the deck where Otto sleeps. Then she added that another neighbor (who also smokes outside late at night!) had asked her if she knew why Otto was barking; Otto was keeping him up all night. I asked, “Didn’t our house-sitter come out to talk to him or bring him inside?” and she said, “Well, I don’t want to tattle, but she wasn’t there every night.” Grrr.
I received the final bad news from my next door neighbor on the other side of our house a few days later. Apologizing in advance, I asked her if she had heard much barking. She said she hadn’t noticed it much (she’s on the far side of the house where Otto sleeps). But she mentioned that she saw that the guest dog was chasing my cats out of my yard into her yard, so she fed them whenever she saw them. (THANK you!) And then she added that one day, with the house-sitter absent, she heard a commotion and went into her back yard to see what was going on; she saw the guest dog and Otto in a fight that lasted over a minute – and that Otto was definitely the loser. “I felt so bad; he ran off yelping. I couldn’t do anything with the gates locked,” she said. Well, she could have CALLED ME; she has my cell phone number! Poor Otto! I thanked her for looking out for the cats, and apologized for the barking again.
I can’t tell you how bad I felt for Otto (and my cats, and the neighbors). Unwittingly, I made a number of errors in trying to do the right thing for my animals while I was on vacation. Using a house-sitter has always seemed like the best thing to do for a whole house full of pets. However, next time, I would definitely say that no other dogs were welcome. Period. (Even though another time I used another house-sitter – a couple, actually — and they brought their dog, and it worked out fine… But no more. And I guess if I ever hire a house-sitter again, I would make it crystal clear that I expected the sitter to actually stay there all night, each night. And I would explicitly ask all of my neighbors to call me if they observed anything awry while I was gone!
Have you ever had similar issues with a house sitter, whether as a paid service or a friend or relative? What lessons did you learn that could prevent future problems?
My son was visiting recently and we took the dogs for a walk: Our mixed-breed, Otto; Tito the Chihuahua, a relative’s dog who came to live with us “temporarily” a year ago; and Tule, an obese Labrador I was fostering for a few weeks on behalf of my local shelter. It was the evening of a hot day, and we walked to a nice spot along the river that flows through my town.
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Otto likes to wade, just up to his elbows. He’ll also swim a bit when he gets particularly exuberant, but it’s uncommon. Tule also likes to wade deeply, and to plunge her muzzle under the water and blow bubbles. I hadn’t seen her swim, though, in a half a dozen trips to the river. Tito, who has been to the river scores and scores of times, has never gone into the water more deeply than his tiny Chihuahua ankles, although he’ll sometimes wade into a land-locked puddle a tad deeper than that.
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My son is 20 years old, but still a boy in that the first thing he did when we reached the water’s edge – at least 15 seconds after the two big dogs had begun wading – was pick up a rock and throw it into the river. To our utter shock, Tito the Chihuahua unhesitatingly leaped into the river and began strongly swimming out into the current, clearly looking for the rock!! We gaped at him, and then at each other, and then back at the circling Chihuahua, who was losing a bit of ground to the current.
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I said to my son, “If he goes downstream, you’re going in after him!” But my son was already putting a different plan into action. He quickly cast about for a stick, broke it in half, and then, calling “Tito! Tito!” he threw the stick into the river, about halfway between Tito and the shore. The tiny dog immediately swam for the stick, grabbed it, and swam strongly ashore. Then, like a miniature Labrador Retriever, he dropped the stick at Eli’s feet, and stepped back with an eager expression that clearly said, “Throw it again!”
I was still agape. But my son laughed out loud, picked up the stick, and threw it into the water again. Without a moment’s hesitation, Tito leaped into the river again, and again. By this time, I recovered from my surprise enough to take some pictures. Neither Otto nor Tule looked the slightest bit interested in fetching.
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At home, Tito likes playing with a ball, and he chases any ball you throw. But he rarely brings it back; he’ll pick it up and then go play with the ball on his own. I’ve never seen him pick up a stick before. And yet, there he was, shivering with cold, and begging my son to “Throw it again! Throw it again!” Of course, we stopped the fetching game after 8 or 9 short fetches and left the river’s edge to allow the little guy to warm up again on the walk back. I have to say, he looked a little taller – and our admiration for the tough little guy grew even larger.
Did your dog ever shock you with a previously hidden talent?
Most holistic veterinary practitioners recommend switching any itchy dog to a complete and balanced home-prepared diet containing “real foods.” This will decrease the dog’s exposure to unnecessary or complex chemicals and give his body the opportunity to utilize the higher-quality nutrients present in fresh foods. Whether the diet is cooked or raw, the increased nutrient quality and availability of fresh whole foods will improve the health of any dog who currently receives even the best dry or canned foods.
“Feeding fresh, unprocessed, organic foods provides more of the building blocks for a healthy immune system,” says Dr. Lisa Pesch, a holistic veterinarian in Sebastopol CA. “Dogs who have allergies are more likely to be deficient in trace proteins and sugars (proteoglycans) that are used by the immune systems. Deficiencies in these nutrients will increase allergic response.”
For more information on diagnosing and treating allergies in your dog, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook Canine Allergies.
Whole Dog Journal is against the use of shock collars under any circumstances. As our mission statement asserts, “The methods we discuss will endeavor to do no harm to dogs; we do not advocate perpetrating even minor transgressions in the name of ‘greater good.’
Shock collars were initially used primarily for the administration of harsh “positive punishment” and/or “negative reinforcement” . If your dog didn’t come promptly when you called, you’d hit the button and keep the button pressed, delivering a constant and unpleasant stimulus until the dog came and sat in front of you; then you stopped pressing the button. This is “negative reinforcement”; the dog’s behavior of coming to you makes a bad thing (shock) go away, and the behavior of coming when called increases. “Dog-friendly” trainers primarily use positive reinforcement and secondarily negative punishment, and only rarely and/or as a last resort use positive punishment or negative reinforcement. That would seem to rule out the use of shock collars.
For more information on Whole Dog Journal’s thoughts on electronic training equipment and details and advice on how to select the best collar and leash for you and your dog, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook Guide to Collars & Leashes.
A conventional treatment for the discomfort of joint pain in dogs is the administration of pain-relieving non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin, as well as Rimadyl, Deramaxx, and EtoGesic. These pharmaceuticals temporarily relieve pain but may also produce significant, unwanted side effects ranging from gastric upset and bleeding to liver damage and seizures. All of the NSAIDs have been plagued by reports of serious health problems resulting from their use. But they continue to find a following among veterinarians and dog owners who value their potent and fast-acting pain relief.
Unfortunately, many people do not understand that pain relief drugs may mask escalating joint problems. These products do nothing to heal or stabilize the joint’s destruction; as soon as the drugs are discontinued, the dog again experiences all of the discomfort associated with joint deterioration.
For more information on your dog’s joints, ways to improve their health and prolong an active lifestyle, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook Remedies for Canine Arthritis.
Clinical signs of Cushing’s, no matter its primary cause, may include one or most of the following:
• Polyuria (increased frequency of urination), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyphagia (increased, ravenous hunger).
• Weakening and atrophy of the muscles of the extremities and abdomen, resulting in gradual abdominal enlargement, lordosis (sway back), muscle trembling, and weakness.
• Weight loss. While most dogs appear fat, they may actually lose weight due to the loss of muscle mass.
• Fat deposits in the liver, resulting in diminished liver function.
• Skin lesions are common and are often the most recognizable symptoms of the disease. The skin may thin, or mineral deposits may occur within the skin, especially along the dorsal midline. The dog may also exhibit hair loss in a non-itchy “hormonal pattern” (bilateral and symmetrical hair loss, not patchy as typically seen with allergies, and often associated with thinning of hair and poor regrowth, rather than a complete loss of hair). This hair loss may be concentrated over the body, groin, and flanks, and spare the head and extremities. In chronic hormonal conditions the hair thinning may be associated with a thickening and a black discoloration of the abdominal skin called acanthosis.
• Behavior changes: lethargy, sleep-wake cycle disturbances, panting, and decreased interaction with owners.
A tentative diagnosis may be inferred from the clinical signs, but positive diagnosis requires laboratory confirmation. Differentiating pituitary-dependent from primary-adrenal Cushing’s is impossible without lab tests.
For more detailed information on the diagnosis and treatment of Cushing’s Disease, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook Cushing’s Disease.
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It is not easy to figure out how much fat and other nutrients are really in the food you feed, whether it’s kibble, canned food, or a home-prepared raw or cooked diet. Here are some tips that can help.
Methods of Nutrition Measurement
There are three different ways of measuring amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and fiber in foods:
1. Percentage of dry matter
2. Percentage of calories (does not apply to fiber)
3. Grams per 1,000 calories
Dry matter percentages are easiest to use for commercial foods. Grams per 1,000 calories or percentage of calories are simpler ways to measure nutrients in a homemade diet.
When Feeding Your Dog Commercial Foods:
Pet food labels give you some, but not all, of the information you need in order to really know the nutritional composition of your dog’s diet.
-The percentages of protein, fat, and fiber shown on dog food labels are guaranteed minimums and maximums, NOT actual amounts. The real amount of fat in particular may be much higher than what is shown on the label of some canned and raw diets. If your dog needs a low-fat diet, look for products that are lower in calories than similar foods.
For more accurate information, contact the company that makes the food you’re interested in and ask them for a nutritional analysis showing the actual amount of protein, fat, fiber, ash, and moisture, as well as the number of calories in the food. Editor’s note: Some pet food makers (particularly small companies) may not have a complete nutritional analysis of their products. In our opinion, this reflects a lack of adequate research and investment in the product. When feeding a special needs dog, we’d look to a company who has this current information on hand.
-The percentage of carbohydrates is not included on most labels or nutritional analyses. To calculate the percentage of carbohydrates in a commercial diet, subtract the percentages of protein, fat, moisture, crude fiber (an indigestible part of carbohydrates), and ash from 100. This percentage may be shown as “nitgrogen-free extract (NFE)” on a nutritional analysis.
-Total dietary fiber is likely much higher than the crude fiber shown on the label. If dietary (soluble plus insoluble) fiber is not shown on a complete nutritional analysis, there is no way to calculate it.
When Feeding Fresh Foods:
When feeding a home-prepared diet comprised of fresh food ingredients, it can be a bit more challenging to calculate some of the nutrient values that you’d like to know when feeding a diabetic dog.
-To calculate the caloric content of the food, look up the ingredients or enter a recipe on NutritionData.com. The number of calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrates, along with the total calories, are given in the “calorie information” section, and the calorie percentages are shown in the “caloric ratio pyramid.”
-To calculate the grams of protein, fat, etc., per 1,000 calories, divide grams of any nutrient by total number of calories, then multiply by 1,000 to get grams per 1,000 kcal. For example, raw skinless chicken breast contains 6.5 grams of protein, 0.3 grams of fat, and 30.8 calories per ounce:
6.5 ÷ 30.8 x 1,000 = 211 grams of protein per 1,000 kcal
0.3 ÷ 30.8 x 1,000 = 9.7 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal (GFK)
“As Fed” versus “Dry Matter”
The percentages of protein, fat, etc., shown on a pet food label are expressed “as fed” – meaning, as the food is delivered in its package. Some percentage of the food is comprised of moisture (water), which of course contains no protein, fat, fiber, or other nutrients. Kibble generally contains about 10 percent moisture; wet foods (canned, frozen, or fresh) contain as much as 80 percent or more moisture.
So, think about it: When a label says that a food contains (for example) 4 percent fat, in order to really understand how much fat you are about to feed your dog, you also have to know how much moisture is in the food. What you really want to know is how much fat (in this example) is in the food part of the food – the “dry matter.” Any serious discussion of nutrition, or comparison of dry and wet diets, then, requires the conversion of the nutrient values from “as fed” to “dry matter.” Don’t worry; it sounds technical, but it’s easy to do.
-To calculate dry matter (DM) percentages, first determine the amount of dry matter by subtracting the percentage of moisture from 100. Then divide the “as fed” percentage by the amount of dry matter to get the dry matter percentage. For example, if a canned food has 75 percent moisture and 4 percent fat:
