The primary function of the dog’s hair is as a protective and insulating coating.
But if the eyes are the gateway or the window to the soul, the skin and hair are both gateway and window to the embodiment of an animal’s inner health and well-being. Shiny hair, that is, a hair coat that exudes a healthy and lustrous sheen, is an indicator of overall health of the animal. In contrast, a dull coat that lacks luster is an indicator that the animal isn’t as healthy as she could be.
A dog with flea infestation typically has a brittle, broken hair coat, especially in the area just in front of the tail head where fleas prefer to reside.
Natural flea control always involves a multi-pronged approach. It’s been estimated that less than 10 percent of a given population of fleas are found on the resident dog at any given time. Killing the fleas on the dog, then, is actually a small part of the job!
The bigger task involves removing larvae and pupae from your dog’s home and eliminating places where the flea eggs can develop. Accomplishing this requires what’s called an “integrated pest management” program.
For more information on what your dog’s skin and coat are telling you, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook, Healthy Skin & Coat.
Write a valentine to your dog? Why wouldn’t you? C’mon, join in. Don’t take more than five minutes, just write a quick bit of doggerel for your favorite dog. Mine are for Otto, of course!
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I could not love this dog more,
And then somehow I do.
Don’t forget about doggie valentine haiku! Remember, five syllables, then seven, then five:
I’ll bet that in the past 10 years, every Super Bowl broadcast has been spiked with television ads with dogs in them. Why dogs are such reliable pitchmen for beer, cars, and snack foods, I’ll never know.
Among the highest-rated ads that ran in Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast was an ad for Doritos, featuring a Pug, Doritos (of course), a nitwit of a boyfriend, and a glass door. When the commercial started, I was certain the punchline would be a computer-generated image of an even flatter-faced Pug. Happily, the dog is the winner at the end of the ad and it’s the nitwit whose face is smushed.
Still, I hope no real-life nitwits are inspired by the ad to try teasing dogs into running into glass doors while cameras record the results.
I was interested to learn that the ad wasn’t the work of a professional ad agency; it was made by an amateur, a 31-year-old part-time web designer who among the winners of a “Crash the Super Bowl contest” contest sponsored by Doritos and Pepsi Max. Reportedly, the guy spent $500 making the ad, which resulted in a $1 million prize from Doritos maker Frito-Lay.
Do you enjoy seeing dogs in advertising? Or do you wish that the ad agencies would leave our furry friends out of their work?
I came home on Sunday evening and played the messages on my answering machine. I instantly recognized my sister’s voice. She was sobbing. Though I could barely understand her words, I knew what had caused her such pain.
For weeks, she had been tending to Sophie, her 15-year-old Jack Russell Terrier. We’d had a number of conversations about what to do when it became clear that it was Sophie’s time to go. Sophie had taken a turn for the worse a few days ago; she stopped eating anything, barely drank water, and mostly just followed my sister around, wanting to be held. The vet agreed there wasn’t much she could do for Sophie, except provide for a humane euthanasia.
Sophie had always been scared and shaky at the vet, and my sister was determined that the little dog would have an opportunity to die at home, if at all possible; she couldn’t bear the idea that Sophie would die at the vet’s office. But she didn’t want Sophie to die in any discomfort, either.
Because I knew my sister would do whatever she needed to do to keep Sophie comfortable, I was not worried that Sophie would suffer. I was more concerned that my tender-hearted sister would be able to handle it if things got gritty toward the end.
From what I could understand, Sophie did die at home. My sister indicated that she was going to bed and I shouldn’t call her until tomorrow.
I’ve been at the deathbed of a beloved (human) family member who passed away at home and one who died in the hospital. If I had a choice, I know I would choose to pass at home instead of a hospital. But it’s a lot to ask of whomever is in attendance. The very end of a life can be rough to witness. The canine deaths by veterinary euthanasia that I’ve witnessed, in contrast, were very quick and seemingly peaceful, but each time I’ve arranged for and been present for one, I’ve worried that I’ve hastened the animal’s death before his or her spirit was ready for the transition.
I haven’t personally been through a dog’s death at home, unassisted by a veterinarian, and although it seems like this would be ideal for the dog, I’m not sure I could do it.
What do you think? What have you done when faced with this sad situation?
You can reduce the risk of damage to occasional ill-gotten items by teaching your pup to exchange toys for treats, using something he loves that he’s allowed to have, such as a favorite chew toy or a food-stuffed Kong.
The key to this game is he learns that if he gives something up, he gets something better in return and he gets the original thing back as well. Two rewards for the price of one! Then, when he has a forbidden object, he’s more likely to bring it to you to trade than to drag his prize to his cave under the dining room table for a leisurely chew. The rare occasion that he doesn’t get “the thing” back won’t be enough to overcome the programming you’ve done by playing the “trade” game with him frequently.
In order for this to work, you have to stop playing “chase the puppy” when he grabs the sofa cushion or some other forbidden object. This is often an attention-getting behavior; he’s learned that grabbing “your” toys and dashing off with them initiates a rousing play session.
Here’s what you do:
1. Offer him his well-stuffed Kong and say, “Take it!” Have him on a leash if you think he’ll run off with it.
2. Give him a little while to get fully engaged in chewing, and then say “Give!” or “Trade!” in a cheerful tone of voice and offer him a handful of irresistible treats, such as small bits of chicken or cheese.
3. Hold the treats under his nose and let him sniff. It may take him several seconds to think about it, but eventually he should drop his Kong and start eating the treats. Don’t let him gulp them! Hold the tidbits so he can only take them one by one.
4. When he drops the Kong, say, “Yes!”
5. While he is still nibbling, reach down with your other hand and pick up the toy.
6. Let him nibble a bit longer, then offer him the Kong again.
7. Repeat the exercise several times. Then end the game by giving him back his Kong and letting him chew to his heart’s content.
8. Play this game at every opportunity, whenever he’s engaged in chewing on his toys on his own, or whenever you feel like initiating the game, until he’ll give up his chew object easily on your “give” cue.
The sun finally came out in my part of California, on the northeast edge of the great Sacramento Valley. I had a number of invitations from friends hit the trails and I accepted almost all of them. As a result, I’m stiff and muscle-sore and my dog, Otto, is sleeping like a log.
The most beautiful outing was the hike on Saturday morning alongside the Feather River. Otto and I met my new friend Chris, owner of my recent foster dog, Chaco; Chaco herself; and Chris’ other dog, Indie, a Bloodhound-Border Collie-mix. Otto and Chaco were happy to reunite, chasing each other and wrestling along the way, while Indie – a little older and less athletic – was content to sniff her way along the trail and try to stay out of the youngsters’ way.
Chris and I stopped again and again to admire the view: the sun’s rays sparkling on the river; elegant blue herons wading on the river’s edge; the lush green grass springing up everywhere. The only thing that wasn’t quite perfect (at least from my view) was Chaco’s habit of flinging herself exuberantly onto and rolling around on every type of poop we came across: big gloppy cow patties, smaller but equally gooey wild turkey droppings, and even tiny, dried-up raccoon poop. She was literally green by the end of the walk and I was super-glad she wasn’t getting into MY car at the end of the hike. Chris is a great sport and a great owner, though, and she laughed it off, saying she had a crate in the car and she had already planned to bathe both her dogs later that day, so why worry?
I’m thrilled that yet one more of my foster dogs has found a terrific home, and I have a new friend and hiking partner – whose dogs are pleasant (if not pleasant-smelling!) and reliable off-leash. Talk about win/win/win!
A roomful of dog trainers will never agree on the best equipment for walking, training, or exercising a dog. How do you decide which training equipment is right for you and your dog? First, understand that you, alone, are responsible for choosing appropriate, humane, effective training equipment for your dog – not Whole Dog Journal, your trainer, spouse, your dog’s breeder, or acquaintances from the dog park. It’s your responsibility to make sure that the equipment fits your dog properly, and that it does not hurt or stress your dog. Ask for the opinion of dog- friendly professionals you trust, but don’t be pressured into using any gear that appears to bother your dog if you want him to trust you and enjoy your time together.
For more 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 and Leashes.
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How should you select a food for your dog? Over the years, we’ve spoken to literally thousands of owners and industry experts – and they have at least a few hundred different approaches to the task. We’ll briefly discuss some of the most prevalent factors used by owners to support their dog food buying decisions – and then we’ll tell you how we recommend choosing your dogs’ food.
Price – There is a correlation between the price of a dog food and its quality, but it’s most accurate at the low end, and less certain when you get to the upper price points.
What is certain is that inexpensive food is not what’s healthiest for your dog. Think about it: Cheap food is made with cheaper ingredients. We shudder to think of what sort of ingredients go into a product that sells for 25 cents a pound. Think about what is commonly called “4-D” meat: animals that are dead, dying, diseased, or disabled. Think about grain by-products of unknown provenance being shipped all over the planet – rejected for use in human food and languishing in warehouses while ingredient brokers try to find a buyer.
Good- and top-quality ingredients cost more, and the companies that use them have to charge more, so a high price can be an indication of quality. But higher prices can also be indicative of a company’s advertising budget, or the higher costs associated with running an independent pet supply store in a remote area.
At the top of the price range, there’s a bit of wiggle room. We’ve seen hamburger-quality foods that are sold for filet mignon prices. The market tends to correct matters if a company leans out too far, seriously overrepresenting its quality and overpricing its mediocre foods. Such a product can’t perform as well as one that’s really that good. Even just a few dozen owners whose dogs have persistent diarrhea after eating a really expensive food can stir up quite a storm on the Internet.
Ingredients – We hope that you do use the ingredients list to help you choose the food. But there are people who look at ingredients differently than we do.
For example, some owners insist on buying only those products whose manufacturers can provide proof (or at least, allege credibly) that all the food’s ingredients are domestically sourced – no ingredients from China. In the wake of the melamine recalls, I don’t blame those people one bit. There is no doubt that there are some really crummy food ingredients steaming across the oceans heading for American pet food plants.
On the other hand, we’ve also had pet food companies exhaustively describe the quality controls they employ to ensure that their Chinese-grown chicken (as one example) is as safe, wholesome, and less expensive than any fowl grown in North America. As a result, we can’t justify making a blanket recommendation for or against food based on the country of origin of their ingredients alone. In our view, this is a matter that has to be considered case by case. If a company won’t either confirm the origin of its major proteins and grains or explain the quality control processes it employs to guarantee the purity and wholesomeness of its foreign-sourced ingredients, we’d take a pass on its products.
Then there is the concept of “no” – as in “no corn, wheat, or soy…” “No fillers.” Or our personal favorite: “No allergens” (that’s impossible, folks).
There are a few ingredients that are commonly identified as undesirable in dog food: corn, wheat, and soy, most frequently. Some authors (or competing pet food companies) go so far as to allege that dogs can’t digest these ingredients, which is just plain silly; dogs digest these ingredients every day. None of these ingredients is inherently unhealthy for all dogs. Each has some benefit – for some dogs, in moderate amounts, and in the least-processed form possible. A certain percentage of dogs – a minority, for sure – may be allergic to (or more likely, intolerant of) one of the those ingredients. This doesn’t mean the ingredients don’t offer some value for most dogs. That said, we like to see them serve in a supporting, not a leading role. The protein and fat they offer have more nutritionally valuable (and of course, more expensive) counterparts in other ingredients. Their appearance in any of the top few places on an ingredients list signals a less-expensive, poorer-quality food. But their presence in a food lower down on the list doesn’t “kill” that food for us – unless we are feeding a specific dog who doesn’t tolerate one of those ingredients.
We’ve also seen screeds against beet pulp, tomato pomace, alfalfa meal, and other ingredients. Each of these ingredients offers some nutritional or functional benefits, such as helping to regulate the dog’s stool quality. Again, we don’t mind seeing them serve a supportive role in an otherwise healthy food.
Finally, there are a number of other factors having to do with ingredients that some people use to make the buying decision for their dog’s food. Some owners look for food with ingredients that are organic, local, non-GMO, or humanely raised and killed. Each of these can be found in some products; each raises the price of the finished food exponentially.
Our view is that if ingredients of this quality are important to you, you should forget about kibble; you could certainly prepare a more healthful diet for your dog using fresh ingredients. (Installments of Mary Straus’ series of reviews on the best books about various types of home-prepared diets were published in the December 2010 and January 2011 issues of WDJ; the next article will appear in the March issue.)
Past history – This is another place where we may differ with some of our readers. Some people won’t buy any product that has ever been recalled, for any reason. Other people won’t buy foods that are manufactured at a plant that made another food that was once recalled. After all, accidents can be an indication that the company’s quality controls are lax.
We certainly understand the fear that drives the consumers who make buying decisions based on a company’s recall history. And yet, we’re aware that sometimes, it’s the folks who have made a costly mistake who do the best job of ensuring that they won’t ever make another one. Companies tend to make huge investments in training and safety protocols after a recall.
Any company can suffer one manufacturing accident. That said, if accidents or recalls happen more than once . . . well, where there’s smoke, there is often fire.
Size of the company – Some people don’t trust corporate giants like Procter & Gamble (owner of Iams, Eukanuba, and more recently, all of the Natura Pet Products foods) or Colgate-Palmolive (owner of Hill’s Science Diet).
It’s the nature of manufacturing that always seems to pit quality against production efficiencies. We love the care and attention that small pet food companies can put into procuring top-quality, local, organic (or at least sustainably grown) ingredients. We appreciate their relentless drive to innovate healthier foods for dogs. But we worry about the manufacturing irregularities that can result in small plants (which are often running outdated equipment and inadequate quality control tests). We’re also concerned about products that are formulated by amateurs in animal nutrition and marketed without enough feeding trials to determine that the foods will perform as well in the dog as they did in the nutrition software.
In contrast, the giant food companies can put some of the most educated veterinary nutritionists to work in their research and development departments, furthering the industry’s knowledge of animal nutrition. They have the resources to build and maintain glistening state-of-the-art food manufacturing facilities, and hire, train, and retain armies of food production workers that produce consistent, safe products. But they don’t usually develop and support top quality products.
Either way, we consider the size of the company that’s behind each product we buy for our dog and retain the information as background when considering its potential merits or faults. But the company size doesn’t make the buying decision for us.
Company-owned manufacturing plant vs. “contract manufacturer” – As recently as a few years ago, pet food companies who used contract manufacturers (also known as “co-packers”) were often reluctant to admit they didn’t make their own products. But there are some real merits to not owning the plant, especially for small companies – precisely the ones who often bring something new to the industry or who have formulated unique and/or atypically high-quality foods. The costs associated with buying, equipping, and maintaining pet food manufacturing plants are enormous, but paying a co-packer for a bit of time on their machines can benefit both parties.
The challenge, though, is keeping a close enough eye on the co-packer, to make certain it uses your specified ingredients in the specified amounts, keeping accurate batch records, keeping your product separate from the other products in the plant, etc., etc. A pet food company’s reputation is incredibly vulnerable if it fails to monitor and audit its co-packer (though the co-packer will surely be blamed for anything that goes wrong with the food, even if it followed its client’s instructions to the letter).
Is it better, then, if the company owns its plant? In some cases, yes. But only if the company is big enough to maintain the plant well (we’ve seen some incredibly scruffy little manufacturing plants). And as we previously discussed, sometimes the biggest, cleanest plants produce some of the lowest-quality foods around. They do it well, though.
For these reasons, the actual ownership of a pet food’s manufacturing plant isn’t a selection criterion for us, though it is something we want to be aware of.
Method of confirmation of nutritional adequacy – Most veterinarians come out of school promoting the superiority of foods that have undergone Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) -compliant feeding trials (versus those that have been “formulated to meet the nutrient levels” recommended by AAFCO). It’s no wonder; veterinary nutrition textbooks have been written and/or published by the company whose products are all tested in these very expensive trials.
But the fact is, foods should be tested on dogs before they go to market; some products that seem brilliant in theory just don’t perform well in actual dogs.
All foods that purport to be “complete and balanced” (as opposed to “for supplemental of intermittent feeding only) must bear a statement on the label that indicates which method of confirmation was used to support the claim. (The type might be really small; look carefully!)
When buying a food confirmed as “complete and balanced” by the AAFCO “nutrient levels” method, ask the maker of your dog’s food whether and how the product was tested on dogs – for how long, and on how many dogs. Some companies conduct their own (non-AAFCO-compliant) feeding trials on dogs that they maintain in private kennels; others use a network of breeders or shelters who volunteer for these tests (free food!). (For a more complete discussion of the relative merits and faults with the various methods for proving nutritional adequacy, see “Take It With a Block of Salt,” WDJ February 2007.)
Picking a food for your dog
We’ve discussed a lot of factors we don’t necessarily use to choose our dog’s food. So how do we make our selection?
First, we try to shop locally. (This may not be possible for people who live in remote areas, but there is always online shopping and mail order, and fortunately, there are numerous companies with good products that available via direct shipping.) We try to scout out every location that sells pet food in our area, to get a sense of which ones carry which foods. We also talk to the shop owners or staff, in order to get a sense of which stores seem interested in serving our type of dog owner: motivated, educated, and willing to spend more than the average customer for really good food.
Then we look at the product labels, examining the ingredients lists. We use the criteria outlined below (“Hallmarks of Quality” and “Signs of Corners Cut”) to determine which (if any) of the foods carried by the store are in the range of quality we’re willing to pay for.
We note the products that meet our selection criteria, and write down the names of any companies we’re not familiar with, so we can do a little more research on them once we’re back home.
If there are stil several products in the running, we then look for the one that best matches our dog’s needs for protein, fat, and calories, using his body condition (fat, thin, or just right?) and activity level (highly active or couch potato?) to choose a product in the appropriate range. Unless he’s emaciated or obese (and in need of a high-calorie or “light” food, respectively), we look for a product whose calories, fat, and protein levels are in the middle range of the products that are still in the running.
At this point, we’ve decided which brand and variety to buy, but before we grab the bag from the top of the pile, we look for the “best by” date on the bag. Most naturally preserved dry foods are given a “best by” date that is 12 months from the date of manufacture. Try to find a bag that is as fresh as possible, rather than one that is near, at, or past its “best by” date. If every bag of food of the variety you selected is nearing its expiration, we’d recommend choosing another variety, or asking a sales associate when she expects a new shipment to arrive. This stuff is too expensive, and your dog’s health too important, to buy potentially rancid food.
Make a note on your calendar when you start feeding a new product to your dog, and note any changes in his health. Adjust accordingly.
“Approved foods” Click here to see this article in its entirety with Whole Dog Journal’s 2011 list of “approved foods”. Please note that we have listed the foods alphabetically by company; they are not rank-ordered.
Some companies make several product lines. We’ve listed each product line that meets our selection criteria from each manufacturer. We’ve also highlighted one product from each company as a representative, to show what sort of ingredients and macro-nutrient levels (minimum amounts of protein and fat, and maximum amounts of fiber and moisture) are typically found in that maker’s foods. Be aware that some companies offer dozens of different products with varying nutrient levels and ingredients. Check the company’s website or call its toll-free phone number to get information about its other varieties.
We say this every year, but it bears repeating: What if your favorite dog foods don’t meet our selection criteria? It’s up to you. If you have been feeding what we would consider to be low-quality foods to your dog, and she looks and appears to feel great, good for you! She’s one of those genetically lucky animals who can spin straw into gold, digestively speaking. But if she has allergies, chronic diarrhea, recurrent ear infections, or a poor coat, we’d recommend that you upgrade.
The eight products listed in our chart which you will find under Resources for this article (to the right) are intended to appeal to dog owners who are interested in a “holistic” and/or “healthy” food for their dogs. None contains artificial colors or artificial preservatives. But none can hold a candle to the products on our “approved foods list“. Each misses that mark – some miss by just a bit, and some miss by a country mile.
Procter & Gamble Pet Care, owner of Eukanuba and Iams, seems to be making a genuine effort to formulate decent products as their entries in the “natural” or “holistic” category. Their products, the first two products in the chart below, come the closest to meeting WDJ’s selection criteria. If either one had a quality animal protein as the second (or even third) item on the ingredients list – boom, they’d be on our “approved foods” list. They wouldn’t be the best products on our list, but they’d be on the list.
Each of the next two products on the chart has something going for it but not quite enough for us to be enthused about. The Rachel Ray product starts out nicely: a fresh, named animal protein at the top of the list, and a nice, named animal protein meal to bolster the total amount of animal protein in the food. Why, oh why, then did the company dump a really crummy fat (“animal fat”) into the food? “Animal fat” could be anything (and everything), from used fat collected from fast-food restaurants to road kill. The Nature’s Best product also bolsters its fresh animal protein (chicken) with a nice animal protein meal (chicken meal) – but why is that ingredient so far down the ingredients list (sixth)? That product clearly contains a lot more grain than the Rachel Ray food. At least it has a nice (named) fat source.
The next pair of foods, both made by Purina, are more than just one step below the previous products in terms of quality. We suspect that each has a different target buyer; the Chef Michaels packages make the products resemble home-cooked meals; the ONE packages and marketing have a more professional look, as if only experienced dog owners should purchase them. But neither offers anything of value past the good first ingredient.
The Whole Foods store brand (365) dog food surprised us. People who are accustomed to buying healthy (and expensive) foods there might take it for granted that the Whole Foods 365 dog food is also high-quality, and fail to look at the ingredients list. Never fail to look at the ingredients list! Because there is almost nothing good in this food. (And the “lean” formula is even worse; “powdered cellulose” is sixth on its ingredients list!)
What’s the worst food we know that might be mistaken for something healthful? Ah, but that honor always seems to fall to a Beneful product, with its beautiful bags adorned with photos of fresh whole vegetables and glistening chunks of marbled meats. The Healthy Harvest variety is missing the meat, however; its protein comes from corn, corn gluten meal, and soy protein. There is so little fresh food in the product that water is added to the dry food (7th ingredient!). And how about the appearance of sugar in the 10th spot? Wow! Nothing healthy in that harvest.
This has been a rough month or so for my dog-loving friends. Dempsey the Boxer lost his fight with cancer just before Christmas. His owner summoned a veterinarian to put him out of his pain, but said that there was barely a flicker of life left in him by the time the vet arrived.
A couple of weeks later, a friend’s Akita, who had been born with neurological defects that affected his ability to walk and his coordination, began suffering frequent, long seizures. My friend had rescued the dog from euthanasia when he was a puppy, hoping to give him as long a life as his condition would permit. His condition proved to be degenerative, however, and the moments of his life that had any quality were increasingly outnumbered by those that were painful and scary for him, my friend also made that call to a veterinarian.
Most recently, my friend Sarah reached the end of her long road with Lenny, a mixed-breed dog with whom she had shared 15 New Year’s eves. When I first met Lenny almost five years ago, he was starting to decline, but a switch to a high-quality raw diet brought him back to peak health. A couple of years ago, Sarah made the decision to have a large mass surgically removed from Lenny’s abdomen – a tough decision with an old dog, putting him through a long surgery. But Lenny again rebounded and improved after the surgery. He stayed vital and active right until the end, which came last week.
All three of my friends suffered tremendous pain and sadness over the loss of their canine companions. All three have other dogs with whom to continue to share their love and lives, but the memories of losing their special dogs will undoubtedly flavor this season for years to come. I lost my “heart dog,” Rupert, in the darkest depths of winter in 2003, and I think about him and miss him especially at this time every year.
Do we lose more of our canine friends in winter? Or does it just seem like the saddest season?
Fat has more than twice the calories per gram of protein or carbs, so the amount you feed should be limited. Fat, however, is also what satisfies the appetite best. A diet that is too low in fat will leave your dog feeling hungry all the time, making it harder for you to stick to the diet plan and potentially leading to food-stealing or even poop-eating. It’s better to feed a diet with moderate fat and reduce the portion size as needed rather than feeding a low-fat diet.
If you are feeding kibble or other dry food, look for a minimum of 25 percent protein. More is better: generally, the higher the protein, the lower the carbs. There is no harm in feeding high protein diets to puppies, seniors, or healthy adult dogs; there are only a few specific health conditions that require protein to be limited.
For more details and advice on ways to manage your dog’s weight, purchase Whole Dog Journal’s ebook, Weight & Fitness Handbook .
I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies.