About a year ago, I became acutely aware of the fact that there are increasing numbers of animal “rescue” organizations that are doing anything but “rescuing” animals. I’m not talking about real rescue operations, where animals are well cared-for, the facility does not take on more animals than it can support in a healthy fashion, and the organization has a well-established and successful method of finding permanent homes for its charges. I’m talking about the places that end up in the newspaper, the ones that have spun out of control with too many animals, not enough money or caregivers, where the animals are found to be reproducing, sick, or dead.
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Some of these fake rescues blatantly use homeless or unwanted animals to beg for money – supposedly used to support the animals, but mostly used to support the “rescue” operators. Others may have started as an honest attempt to help animals, but somehow developed into a nightmare/fantasy of an animal hoarder.
I’d read news articles about this phenomenon, but I never saw the grim results of such an operation until 100-plus dogs from one were brought into my local shelter, the one where I volunteer in the kennels and on the Board of Directors. With a single exception (an emaciated St. Bernard), all the dogs seized from a local “rescue” were all small dogs. (This didn’t make sense to me until our Executive Director explained that small dogs are the easiest to place and cost the least to feed – handy if you’re profiting on the “adoption fee” charged for the dogs.)
Almost all of the dogs were thin; some were skin and bones. They were starving – which caused immediate logistical problems in caring for them. Because there were far more dogs than my shelter had individual cages or runs, we had to kennel them in groups. And it became immediately apparent that the dogs were accustomed to fighting for their food. To prevent fights from breaking out over the food, we had to leave completely full bowls of food in the kennels at all times for a few weeks – and leave more bowls than there were dogs in each kennel. Sometimes, in those first few days, the dogs would spontaneously start fighting over any bowl that was placed on the floor of the run, even if there were half a dozen other full bowls of food already present.
Something else I never realized: Full bowls of food all day X 100 dogs = cleaning kennels ALL day for weeks on end.
We also had to keep these little dogs completely segregated from the rest of the dogs in the shelter, which turned out to save the lives of all the dogs in the shelter, after some of the new dogs proved to have distemper. Most shelters have a standard protocol in place calling for euthanasia of all the homeless animals in the facility if distemper breaks out. Through assiduous infection control, we were able to contain the infection. Only the seized puppies that were less than six months old had to be euthanized.
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Puppies? In a “rescue” operation? Yes. There were several litters, and several more pregnant dogs seized from the “rescue.” Reproduction is an abomination in an environment with more dogs than one can feed.
The dogs had a wide array of health problems, such as mange and other skin ailments; cuts and bite wounds (no doubt from their desperate fights for food); infected ears and eyes and paws. One sweet old Cocker Spaniel had end-stage cancer. Another mixed-breed senior couldn’t stand up, her arthritis was so bad.
I’m writing about this for two reasons: One is that the case I’ve described above is about to go to trial. I plan on attending; several of the animal control officers and shelter staffers have been subpoenaed.
The other is because I just received a link to an article about an even bigger case, involving almost 350 dogs confiscated from “One More Chance Rescue and Adoption” in Piqua, Ohio. Seventy six dead dogs were also found on the property.
I receive articles like this at least a couple times a month. Cases like these can strain legitimate animal control agencies or shelters to the breaking point.
Whatever you do, please don’t offer any financial support to “rescues” or “sanctuaries” that you haven’t seen personally, or that are not open to the general public for frequent inspection. You may be inadvertently supporting a death camp for dogs and cats instead.
There’s a common misconception that dogs jump on people to establish dominance. Balderdash! Dogs jump on people because there’s something about jumping that is reinforcing for the dog – usually the human attention that results from the jumping. If you want your dog to stop jumping on people, you have to be sure he doesn’t get reinforced for it. Here’s what you can do to prevent your dog from jumping on people:
Educate. Tell friends, family and even temporary acquaintances what you want them to do if your dog starts to jump up. Insist they not reinforce jumping up behavior – even those friends who claim they don’t mind! Educational options include telling them to:
Greet your dog before he jumps, perhaps even kneeling to greet a small dog.
Turn and step away from your dog until he sits, or at least has four feet on the floor, then turn back to greet the dog.
Ask your dog to sit and reinforce by petting him if/when he does.
Back away from your dog (if you have your dog on leash) and wait for him to sit before greeting or petting him. If he jumps up while you are petting him, simply stop the petting and take a step backward. Resume petting only if he sits.
Toss a toy conveniently provided by you to redirect the dog’s behavior before the jump happens.
Walk away from your dog through a gate or door and close it behind them to keep the dog on the other side.
Over the past few months, I’ve read more than 30 books on homemade diets for dogs. Many offered recipes that were dangerously incomplete; a smaller number provided acceptable guidelines but were confusing, unduly restrictive, overly complicated, or had other issues that made me recommend them only with reservations. A few were good enough to recommend without reservation.
This review is about the cream of the crop: three relatively new books (or new editions of an older book) whose authors have taken the time to analyze their recipes to ensure that they meet the latest nutritional guidelines established by the National Research Council (NRC). All three books offer boneless recipes as well as some that include raw meaty bones (RMBs), giving you the option of choosing either style of feeding, or a combination of the two, depending on what works best for both you and your dogs.
These three books take an approach that’s very different from the books that focus on just raw meaty bone diets, which I reviewed in December (“Reliable Guides for Raw Diets”). Those books provided dietary guidelines rather than recipes, relying on common sense and mimicking the evolutionary diet of the wolf rather than nutritional analyses to provide diets that are complete and balanced. I believe such an approach is valid and follow it myself, but the guidelines are often misinterpreted, leading to diets that are missing critical ingredients or overloaded with others, and thus nutritionally unbalanced and incomplete.
The books reviewed also differ from the boneless diet books I reviewed in the January issue (“No Bones About It”): none of those books provided recipes that had been analyzed to ensure that they met NRC guidelines. The best of those books gave good guidelines for creating a complete homemade diet, but each required careful attention to the text to ensure that nothing was left out. People who just follow the recipes are likely to end up feeding an incomplete diet.
The three books included in this review are quite specific about what you should feed and what supplements you need to add. They offer peace of mind for those concerned that the diet they’re feeding may not meet all of their dog’s nutritional needs. They provide a reliable alternative for those who are not able to feed, for whatever reason, the wide variety of foods needed to provide a complete and balanced diet without supplementation. They offer help to people whose dogs are experiencing health problems that could be related to their diet. And for those of us who just want to understand more about where essential nutrients come from in the diets that we feed, and what might be missing, the information they provide is fascinating.
Two of these books provide recipes that meet requirements for all life stages, while the third can be used for adult maintenance only. It’s important to pay attention to this factor when you’re looking for books to help you feed your puppy or pregnant or nursing female.
I can’t recommend these books highly enough, not only for those interested in starting their dogs on a homemade diet, but also for people who already feed one. Reading through them has made me look more carefully at the diet I feed my own dog and the dietary guidelines that I give others, particularly regarding supplements. When I’m done with the book reviews, I plan to write about the changes I’m making based on what I’ve learned from these books.
A new approach
Two books published fairly recently include recipes for both boneless and raw meaty bones (RMB) meals. These two books have similarities, as the authors have worked together in the past and relied on much of the same research. Both are particularly appropriate for those concerned that their homemade diets meet NRC guidelines, as all recipes have been designed and analyzed to ensure that they do.
These are the only homemade diet books that address the issue of balanced fats, going beyond the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Modifying fats may be beneficial for dogs with skin problems and other inflammatory conditions. Both books stress feeding lean meats, which they recommend feeding raw, but light cooking is acceptable for boneless meat. Both also advise using bone meal, or other supplements that combine calcium and phosphorus such as MCHC or dicalcium phosphate, rather than plain calcium to balance the boneless recipes. The extra phosphorus is needed to meet requirements for puppies, as the recipes are designed for all life stages.
Both books omit dairy products and grains (except for one recipe with a small amount of oat bran in Brown’s book), and limit the amount of starchy vegetables. This can be beneficial for some dogs, particularly those prone to weight gain or inflammation from health issues such as allergies and arthritis. Carbohydrates, however, reduce the cost of a homemade diet. Those with large dogs who do not feed RMBs (which are usually less expensive than muscle meats) may find these diets cost-prohibitive. Very active dogs and females used for breeding can also benefit from more carbohydrates in the diet.
The winners are:
1.Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats is the perfect book for those who want simple, clear recipes that meet NRC and AAFCO requirements for both puppies and adult dogs. I loved the 2009 edition that I originally read, but I’ve also had a chance to preview the 3rd edition and it’s even better. The basic recipes are the same, but the new edition provides many more details, including nutritional analyses of all recipes. The authors still recommend feeding all of the foods in their original recipes, but the new edition offers options for omitting certain foods, telling you what additional supplements need to be provided in those cases.
2. For those who really want to understand the whys and wherefores of homemade diets, Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet is ideal. Author Steve Brown delves into the ancestral diet of the dog and compares it to the latest NRC guidelines. Brown is the creator of Steve’s Real Food for Dogs (he no longer owns the company) and See Spot Live Longer Homemade Dinner Mixes. Step by step, he investigates the nutrients supplied by different foods, and how to go about combining those foods to achieve balanced meals that meet NRC guidelines without the use of synthetic supplements (he adds vitamin E and also includes bone meal in recipes that don’t include bone). Particular attention is paid to ensuring that fats are properly balanced, going beyond the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.
3. Monica Segal’s book, K9 Kitchen, offers guidelines and sample recipes for diets based on raw meaty bones, cooked diets, and combinations of the two. Segal’s moderate approach encourages you to pick the style of feeding that you’re most comfortable with and that works for your dog. Sample weekly recipes for all three styles of feeding are included for dogs of various weights and activity levels.
Mary Straus investigates canine health and nutrition as an avocation. She is the owner of the DogAware.com website. She and her Norwich Terrier, Ella, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A barking dog is a valid reason for a neighbor to complain. Defusing the situation is the best response.
The natural thing to do when a neighbor complains about dog barking is to get defensive. “My dog? Causing a problem? How dare you?!”
Don’t go there. Defensiveness exacerbates hostilities, escalates tension, and encourages your neighbor to make a mountain out of what you perceive to be a molehill. Remember, it’s all about perception, and your neighbor’s perception is his reality. Instead of being defensive, try these things:
1. Listen intently to your neighbor’s complaint.
Unless one of you plans to move, defusing the situation beats all-out war. Set defensiveness aside, and listen to what your neighbor says. Assume there’s some nugget of truth to his complaint. You need to find it, so you can figure out what to do with it. He says your dog barks all the time, underneath his bedroom window, and wakes him up. That may be an exaggeration, but chances are your dog is barking some of the time, especially if you leave her out in the yard, or if she has free backyard access through a doggie-door.
2. Empathize and apologize for your dog barking.
Without admitting guilt, empathize with your complainer. “It must be frustrating to have to listen to barking dogs when you’re trying to sleep.” Be sincere. Tell him you’re sorry he’s being disturbed by barking. Reassure him that you don’t want your dog to be a nuisance, and you want to help find a solution to his concerns. Ask him to bear with you while you work on the problem. Bake him chocolate chip cookies.
3. Investigate your dog’s nuisance behavior.
Ask questions that won’t make your neighbor defensive. “Is there a time when it’s most annoying?” “Are there other dogs that are barking too?” “Other than giving up my dog, what would make you happy?” Set up a video camera or voice-activated tape recorder to document your dog’s activities when you aren’t home. Alternatively, take a day off and watch your own house from a distance, to see what goes on that might make your dog bark. Check the neighborhood to see if there are other dogs whose barking might be blamed on your dog. Ask other neighbors if they hear your dog, and if so, when and how much.
4. Respect all community dog laws.
Make sure your dog is currently licensed, and obey all local animal control laws. Maybe your neighbor is complaining because your dog runs loose and he feels threatened (even though you know your dog is a pussycat), or because you don’t clean up when you take her for walks. Those are legitimate grounds for complaint (as is excessive nuisance barking) even if your dog is a pussycat. You don’t want animal control to find you in violation of anything. Obey leash laws and scoop laws, and respect your neighbor’s discomfort with your dog – don’t let her off-leash even if you’re just walking out to your car. If she runs over to happily greet him, you’ll fuel the fires.
5. Take action to modify your dog’s behavior, and your own behavior.
Make changes to accommodate your neighbor and protect your dog. If his complaint is early-morning noise and she’s barking when you let her out at 6:00 am while you shower, alter your routine. Get up earlier and go out with her. Let her eliminate, then play with her. Keep her quietly occupied rather than leaving her to find her own entertainment. If it’s random throughout-the-day backyard barking while you’re away, bring her in and close the dog door. She doesn’t have to be outside all day. If things get ugly, leaving her out unattended exposes her to great risk from an irate neighbor. If necessary, pay someone to let her out for a noon potty break. If the complaint is about barking even when you are home, behavior modification is in order. (See “Modifying Your Dog’s Barking Behavior“.) If it’s something other than barking, determine how you can modify the situation to mitigate the problem. Some examples:
-Your dog charges the fence. Your neighbor fears for his children’s safety. Make the fence solid, or put up an inner fence so there’s an “airlock” between dog and kids. See, “Solve Fence Aggression with a Better Designed Dog Fence,” for more info on fencing.
-Your dog came over and attacked his dog. You think your dog was just playing, but whatever. Vow that your dog is never off her leash in your neighborhood. Even just walking to your car.
Keep your neighbor informed of your efforts to address his concerns. Document your actions in a journal in case you do have to face animal control. Ask your neighbor to let you know if he sees improvement – and document that. Save receipts for anything you buy to modify your dog’s environment. If you see your neighbor deliberately antagonizing your dog, document that with a video camera. Keep your dog safe. Be considerate. Keep baking chocolate chip cookies.
It’s awkward at best, devastating at worst, when your trainer or other animal care professional wants to do – or actually does – something to your dog that goes against your strongly held beliefs about how dogs should be treated. This is most often something involving the use of coercion or force, but also includes other things, such as feeding something you don’t want your dog to ingest, and reinforcing a behavior you don’t want rewarded. Professionals, at least good ones, are supposed to be well-educated and know what they’re doing. Who are you to object?
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Actually, you’re the only one who can object. You are your dog’s protector, that’s who, and he depends on you to do what’s right for him.
So what do you do when your trainer, veterinarian, groomer, or other professional starts to do something you find disturbing?
-Intervene. You have the absolute right – no, the moral obligation and duty – to stop someone from doing something inappropriate to your dog. It doesn’t matter who they are, or how many letters they have after their name. Be assertive. In a loud, clear, firm voice, say, “Stop!” Then calmly take your dog from the person and keep him with you while you and the person discuss the situation, and your concerns. A true professional will respect you for standing up for your dog’s best interests, even if they disagree with the basis for your concern.
-Discuss. Do your professional the courtesy of discussing the situation with her. Calmly explain why you are uncomfortable with what she was doing, or about to do. Let her explain to you why feels she needs to do whatever it is. Listen to her explanation with an open mind. Ask if there are any alternative ways to accomplish the goal before you, and see if you can agree on a different approach. If so, be sure she is completely clear that she is not to use the tools or methods that you find objectionable.
-Think critically. As you listen and discuss, I suggest you use three filters to evaluate the information your trainer gives you about the tool or technique she wants to use that triggered your concern.
-Scientific filter: Does her explanation of the procedure or piece of equipment make sense?
-Philosophical filter: If something is scientifically sound but you’re not comfortable with it, don’t use it.
-The reality filter: Let’s say that after listening to your professional’s explanation, you decide that you’re comfortable proceeding. You can still stop the procedure at any time if you don’t like what you see, or even if you agree that it’s benign, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Each dog is different, and what works for one may not work for another, even if it’s philosophically acceptable.
When you’re done filtering, you can advance your status as a critical thinker by educating yourself further on the issue. Read books, join online discussion groups (whether it’s about training based on positive reinforcement, natural diet, or holistic healthcare) and consult with other professionals whose perspectives you respect.
-Trust your instincts. Don’t let your animal care professional make light of your concerns, or talk you into something you don’t want to do. Trust your instincts. Countless dog owners tell me they regret succumbing to pressure and letting a trainer, vet, or other professional convince them to allow them to use a tool or method that they objected to. Still others regret not speaking up at all, until it was too late. Stand firm. You are your dog’s protector.
-Walk away. If you and your professional can’t find a compromise, or you don’t think she can be trusted to respect your feelings and beliefs, fire her. You can do it nicely; just calmly explain that you feel the two of you are philosophically too far apart, and that you need to find an animal care provider whose approach to training and handling is more closely aligned with yours. Then calmly walk away, forever your dog’s superhero, protector, and defender.
Over the past few years, owners have become uncomfortably aware that their pets’ food can be suddenly declared dangerous, due to contamination of the product or its ingredients or some sort of processing malfunction. What should you do if you learn about a recall of your dog’s food?
1. Check the brand, variety, package size, and lot numbers.
If you hear about a recall of food involving a company whose products you recently fed your dog, you need to do some further (and fast) research. The best source of information is the Food and Drug Administration’s website, where recalls are announced. That’s unfortunate for those of you who don’t use a computer. You can call the FDA, but it might be difficult to get through, especially if the recall was extensive. The goal is to determine whether the product you have in your possession is truly involved in the recall. You’ll need to compare the variety, package size, and lot numbers of the recalled food.
This is why we recommend that owners always keep their pets’ dry food in its original bag. There are a number of problems that can arise from dumping dry dog food into another container; not having the package (and lot numbers) in case of a recall is a big one.
Not long ago, I a brand of food I was currently feeding my dog was recalled. It turned out that I had the same brand and variety as one that was recalled, but the bag size and lot numbers were different. I put that food aside for another few weeks until I was certain that the recall didn’t expand to include the lot I had.
2. Stop feeding the recalled food.
If you determine that you do have possession of the product being recalled, don’t feed any more of it to your dog! You may even do as I did and hold off feeding a product that is the same brand and variety, but a different size or lot number, until the involved parties (pet food company, FDA) are certain they have identified all the affected product. Buy another product to feed your dog for now.
Also, don’t throw the recalled food away, but keep it in a place where it can’t be eaten or accidently fed to your dog.
3. Check your dog for signs of illness.
Your urgency on this point should be congruent with the reason for the recall. If the recall was caused by the discovery of Salmonella on your dog’s food, and he hasn’t had diarrhea since eating the food, there is little cause for concern; most dogs can handle a little brush with Salmonella.
However, if the recall was due to a more serious threat, such as such as aflatoxin (a toxin produced by fungus) or a dangerous excess of a potentially toxic nutrient, such as vitamin D or copper, you might want to schedule a veterinary examination. If your dog’s health has been sketchy, or you’ve noticed any change in his well-being or activity since feeding the food, ask your vet for an immediate appointment.
4. Contact the food’s maker.
It may be difficult to get through to the pet food company’s toll-free number, but persevere. If given the opportunity to leave a message, speak slowly and clearly, and give your name, phone number/s, mailing address, and e-mail address. Keep the dog food package near the phone, so you can confirm the brand, variety, size, and lot number to the representative. Inform the company how much recalled food you have, how much you have left, and what condition your dog is in (seemingly fine? not quite right? seriously ill?). Ask what they will do next, and what you should do with the product that you have left over. They may ask you to send some of the food to them for testing; don’t send all of it.
5. Follow through with the pet food company.
If your dog becomes ill after eating a recalled food, follow through. The manufacturer has a legal obligation to report adverse affects caused by their products, but it might not be easily convinced of its culpability. Go ahead and file a report with the FDA; there is a simple (but long) form for this purpose online. Keep assiduous records of your dog’s ongoing health issues and save your veterinary receipts. Keep the pet food bag and the receipt for the food (if you have it). Send copies of these things if requested, but don’t lose the originals. Stay in constant contact with the pet food company until you have been reimbursed for the food and for any vet bills you’ve had to pay.
Over the past few months, I’ve read more than 30 books on homemade diets for dogs. Many offered recipes that were dangerously incomplete; a smaller number provided acceptable guidelines but were confusing, unduly restrictive, overly complicated, or had other issues that made me recommend them only with reservations. A few were good enough to recommend without reservation.
This review is about the cream of the crop: three relatively new books (one is a new edition of an older book) whose authors have taken the time to analyze their recipes to ensure that they meet the latest nutritional guidelines established by the National Research Council (NRC). All three books offer boneless recipes as well as some that include raw meaty bones (RMBs), giving you the option of choosing either style of feeding, or a combination of the two, depending on what works best for both you and your dogs.
These three books take an approach that’s very different from the books that focus on just raw meaty bone diets, which I reviewed in December (“Reliable Guides for Raw Diets”). Those books provided dietary guidelines rather than recipes, relying on common sense and mimicking the evolutionary diet of the wolf rather than nutritional analyses to provide diets that are complete and balanced. I believe such an approach is valid and follow it myself, but the guidelines are often misinterpreted, leading to diets that are missing critical ingredients or overloaded with others, and thus nutritionally unbalanced and incomplete.
The books reviewed below also differ from the boneless diet books I reviewed in the January issue (“No Bones About It”): none of those books provided recipes that had been analyzed to ensure that they met NRC guidelines. The best of those books gave good guidelines for creating a complete homemade diet, but each required careful attention to the text to ensure that nothing was left out. People who just follow the recipes are likely to end up feeding an incomplete diet.
The three books included in this review are quite specific about what you should feed and what supplements you need to add. They offer peace of mind for those concerned that the diet they’re feeding may not meet all of their dog’s nutritional needs. They provide a reliable alternative for those who are not able to feed, for whatever reason, the wide variety of foods needed to provide a complete and balanced diet without supplementation. They offer help to people whose dogs are experiencing health problems that could be related to their diet. And for those of us who just want to understand more about where essential nutrients come from in the diets that we feed, and what might be missing, the information they provide is fascinating.
Two of these books provide recipes that meet requirements for all life stages, while the third can be used for adult maintenance only. It’s important to pay attention to this factor when you’re looking for books to help you feed your puppy or pregnant or nursing female.
I can’t recommend these books highly enough, not only for those interested in starting their dogs on a homemade diet, but also for people who already feed one. Reading through them has made me look more carefully at the diet I feed my own dog and the dietary guidelines that I give others, particularly regarding supplements. When I’m done with the book reviews, I plan to write about the changes I’m making based on what I’ve learned from these books.
A New Approach
Two books published fairly recently include recipes for both boneless and raw meaty bones (RMB) meals. These two books have similarities, as the authors have worked together in the past and relied on much of the same research. Both are particularly appropriate for those concerned that their homemade diets meet NRC guidelines, as all recipes have been designed and analyzed to ensure that they do.
These are the only homemade diet books that address the issue of balanced fats, going beyond the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Modifying fats may be beneficial for dogs with skin problems and other inflammatory conditions. Both books stress feeding lean meats, which they recommend feeding raw, but light cooking is acceptable for boneless meat. Both also advise using bone meal, or other supplements that combine calcium and phosphorus such as MCHC or dicalcium phosphate, rather than plain calcium to balance the boneless recipes. The extra phosphorus is needed to meet requirements for puppies, as the recipes are designed for all life stages.
Both books omit dairy products and grains (except for one recipe with a small amount of oat bran in Brown’s book), and limit the amount of starchy vegetables. This can be beneficial for some dogs, particularly those prone to weight gain or inflammation from health issues such as allergies and arthritis. Carbohydrates, however, reduce the cost of a homemade diet. Those with large dogs who do not feed RMBs (which are usually less expensive than muscle meats) may find these diets cost-prohibitive. Very active dogs and females used for breeding can also benefit from more carbohydrates in the diet.
Simple Yet Complete
Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats is the perfect book for those who want simple, clear recipes that meet NRC and AAFCO requirements for both puppies and adult dogs. I loved the 2009 edition that I originally read, but I’ve also had a chance to preview the 3rd edition and it’s even better. The basic recipes are the same, but the new edition provides many more details, including nutritional analyses of all recipes. The authors still recommend feeding all of the foods in their original recipes, but the new edition offers options for omitting certain foods, telling you what additional supplements need to be provided in those cases.
Boneless recipes for beef, chicken, and turkey are included in both editions. The 2009 edition also has recipes for egg and sardine meals, with instructions that these can be spread out over a week rather than fed all at once. The new edition provides further details on how to integrate eggs and sardines into your weekly meal plan rather than feeding them separately. Along with the original recipes, the new edition also offers simplified versions that omit hearts and gizzards from the poultry recipes and allow you to use chicken liver with the turkey recipe, since it’s easier to find than turkey liver.
Recipes for meals that include chicken and turkey RMBs are provided as well. These recipes also include boneless meat and organs.
All recipes are 75 percent meat and organs, and 25 percent vegetables and fruits. Following the suggested rotation, the meat portion of the diet is about half poultry with the other half mostly beef, plus substantial quantities of eggs and sardines. In addition to muscle meat, some recipes also use liver and heart. No grains or dairy products are included in the diet. Two versions of each recipe are provided for making small or large batches, designed to feed a medium-sized dog for either one day or a week to 10 days.
In the 2009 edition, each meal includes its own veggie and fruit puree, while the new edition offers guidelines and three suggested recipes for putting together your own mixtures. There are separate sections for dogs and cats in the new edition, rather than combining the guidelines.
All recipes include a vitamin/mineral mix, essential fatty acids, and a “bone replacement supplement” such as bone meal for meals that don’t include RMBs. The new edition provides a range of calcium to give, since puppies require more calcium than adult dogs do (the 2009 edition just gives the higher amount that can be used for either puppies or adults). Detailed instructions are provided for putting together your own supplement mixture; additional supplementation options will be provided in the new edition, and the authors hope to offer a custom-made vitamin and mineral supplement designed to complement their recipes soon.
In the 2009 edition, krill oil is added to all meals, with additional flax oil in poultry meals and hemp oil in beef meals, to properly balance the fats. The new edition offers fish oil alternatives to krill oil, and has cut back on the need to add flax and hemp oils unless you are not able to feed both beef and poultry.
Clear guidelines are given for how much to feed adult dogs and puppies, and how to make the switch from commercial to homemade. Several chapters discuss specific types of foods and additives, including suggestions for substitutions in the recipes. Other topics covered include preparation, equipment, and storage; commercial treats; and commercial frozen foods. The new edition has added chapters on “Optimizing your pet’s diet” and “Side roads, pitfalls, and problems.”
While the supplements may seem daunting at first, these recipes are easy to follow once you have your supplies in place. I particularly like the homemade vitamin/mineral mix, which is easier to use than measuring out individual supplements each day, and helps ensure that all nutritional requirements are met.
In-Depth
For those who really want to understand the whys and wherefores of homemade diets, Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet is ideal. Author Steve Brown delves into the ancestral diet of the dog and compares it to the latest NRC guidelines. Brown is the creator of Steve’s Real Food for Dogs (he no longer owns the company) and See Spot Live Longer Homemade Dinner Mixes. Step by step, he investigates the nutrients supplied by different foods, and how to go about combining those foods to achieve balanced meals that meet NRC guidelines without the use of synthetic supplements (he adds vitamin E and also includes bone meal in recipes that don’t include bone). Particular attention is paid to ensuring that fats are properly balanced, going beyond the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.
Brown provides one recipe for boneless beef, one for poultry that includes RMBs (chicken necks, whole or ground), and one that combines both. Other ingredients in the recipes include heart, liver, vegetables, fruits, sardines, eggs, oat bran, and oysters. Supplements include bone meal, hempseed oil, salt, kelp, chia or flaxseeds, vitamin E, and coconut oil.
Brown suggests rotating the recipes, using various ruminant meats (beef, lamb, bison, venison) for the first recipe, and different poultry meats (chicken, turkey, duck, pheasant) for the second. Substitutions for other ingredients are offered as well. Two variations of the combined recipe are offered for puppies and adult dogs; the others can be used for all life stages. Detailed feeding guidelines are provided for each recipe. Four additional low-fat recipes are also included in the appendices.
Brown does not include substitutions for the RMBs in his chicken and combination recipes. Since some people are reluctant to feed whole RMBs and may not have access to a grinder or pre-ground products, I asked him if it might be possible to feed these recipes without the chicken necks. He responded that they can be replaced with the same amount of boneless chicken thighs or breast with skin and fat removed, plus 1 ounce of human-grade bonemeal or comparable calcium/phosphorus supplement that provides about 8,000 milligrams of calcium (the next edition of his book will include this information).
For those looking for a quick and easy way to improve their dog’s nutrition and health without having to feed a homemade diet, Brown also offers what he calls an “ABC day,” meals to feed one day a week to dogs who otherwise eat commercial foods. These meals do not meet NRC guidelines, but are instead designed to complement and improve the diets of dogs fed dry food, canned food, or frozen raw foods. Two recipes are provided: one for dogs fed traditional high-carb dry food, and the other for dogs fed high-protein, high-fat dry, canned, or frozen raw food. Both recipes use beef hearts, sardines, eggs, vegetables, and fruits.
Additional chapters provide information on food storage; the effect on the body of protein, fat, and carbohydrates; and how to calculate the percentage of calories that come from each. This book is more complex than many people want, though you can certainly use the recipes without following all the details about why each ingredient is used and exactly which nutrients it provides. Those of us who want to learn more about canine nutrition will find this book a real eye-opener. I refer to my copy frequently and find the information invaluable.
Raw or Cooked
Monica Segal’s book, K9 Kitchen, offers guidelines and sample recipes for diets based on raw meaty bones, cooked diets, and combinations of the two. Segal’s moderate approach encourages you to pick the style of feeding that you’re most comfortable with and that works for your dog. Sample weekly recipes for all three styles of feeding are included for dogs of various weights and activity levels.
Segal’s recipes use a variety of foods and supplements. Recommended foods include red meat, poultry, fish, organs, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and grains. Not discussed in the text but included in some of the recipes are dairy and legumes. Recommended RMBs include chicken necks, backs, wings, and carcasses; turkey necks and thighs; whole rabbit; and lamb rib.
Most weekly recipes contain between 7 and 14 ingredients, plus supplements. All recipes use kelp, zinc, and vitamin E; most use vitamin B compound and wild salmon oil; many use magnesium and manganese; and a few include cod liver oil, safflower oil, flaxseed oil, copper, multi-mineral complex, salt, and NoSalt. Calcium sources include calcium carbonate, ground eggshells, bone meal, and dicalcium phosphate.
This completely revamped 2nd edition of K9 Kitchen improves on the original in many ways. Gone are the frequent warnings about excess vitamin A and most of the overly precise recipe measurements. Recipe amounts are given in ounces rather than a mixture of ounces and grams. More sample recipes are provided, and all are weekly diet plans rather than daily recipes. Grams of protein, fat, and carbs are given rather than percentage of calories from each. On average, diets are higher in protein and lower in carbs.
Segal’s book contains a great deal of useful information, especially regarding dogs with diet-related health problems. It is a wonderful resource for those whose dogs have issues they suspect may be related to diet, including allergies, digestive upset, skin problems, and more. A chapter on stool problems and another on a variety of other health issues can help determine possible causes and dietary modifications to try.
My biggest concern with this book is that it makes things overly complicated for people with healthy dogs. Segal became interested in homemade diets thanks to her dog Zoey, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with a multitude of serious dietary issues. I suspect Segal’s impulse to control all aspects of Zoey’s diet resulted in her being overly concerned about details that are not an issue for healthy dogs (just as a parent with a chronically ill child might worry more about that child’s diet).
Segal makes many recommendations that I feel are unnecessary if your dog is healthy or has health issues unrelated to diet. For example, she says you must input any modifications to her recipes into a spreadsheet to ensure they meet NRC guidelines. NRC-recommended amounts for minerals must be matched exactly. She advises asking manufacturers for independent laboratory analyses of all supplements.
My feeling is that if this isn’t something you would do for yourself or your family, there’s no need to do it for your healthy dog. Substitutions of similar foods could be made without the need to create a spreadsheet, as long as the dog does not react negatively to the changes. NRC recommended amounts don’t need to be matched exactly any more than our own diets must be made to match recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals.
It should also be acceptable to substitute comparable calcium sources. Dicalcium phosphate and bone meal are similar. Ground eggshells are primarily calcium carbonate.
There’s no need to be quite as exact as these recipes specify. Measurements to the quarter of an ounce over a week’s time are unnecessarily precise. Recipes for dogs weighing 52 to 53 pounds can be used for dogs that weigh 50 or 55 pounds. Vitamin B amounts can be increased, if that makes it easier to give daily. Round supplement amounts as needed for convenience; you needn’t worry about giving exactly 56, 105, or 595 mg of magnesium, for example, just give 50, 100, or 600 mg.
Pay attention to the section “Before You Use a Diet Plan” when using these recipes. Wild salmon oil capsules in the recipes are 500 mg, so you will need to give half as many if using the more common 1,000 mg gelcaps. Eggshells must be ground to powder, not just crushed. The amount of calcium in bone meal varies considerably between products; adjust amounts accordingly if the bone meal you use has different amounts of calcium than the 667 mg per teaspoon used in these recipes.
Mary Straus investigates canine health and nutrition as an avocation. She is the owner of the DogAware.com website. She and her Norwich Terrier, Ella, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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I was casually reading an online article this morning from BayAreaParent DOG Gone It , thinking “Yeah, yeah, yeah, another sad failed dog adoption story.” You know, newlywed couple buys Labrador Retriever puppy, gets pregnant, doesn’t train the dog, dog is out of control, gets banished to the back yard when the baby comes, dog is miserable, owner gets pregnant again, blah, blah, blah…”
Then I got to the part where the owner said, “Norm threw the ball and Josie wandered toward it. I guess she got in the way, because all of a sudden Chance bolted towards Josie and very deliberately knocked her down the embankment.”
They ultimately contacted rescue and rehomed the dog, after concluding that they had adopted the wrong dog to start with, at the wrong time (“the Humane Society says to wait until children are 5 years old to adopt a dog”) and that Chance had purposely tried to harm their daughter.
I was so disturbed by this outrageous statement that I had linked to the article on my Facebook page. An interesting discussion ensued.
I started it off by saying, “First of all – they didn’t pick the wrong dog. They forgot to train the dog they picked. Second – they didn’t pick the wrong time – she wasn’t pregnant when they got Chance – they failed to make good use of the first year to train their dog. Third – I doubt the dog “very deliberately” knocked the baby off the cliff. Dad threw ball. Dog chased ball. Baby was between dog and ball. Crash. Bad throw, Dad!”
Yep, I was critical of the owners for their poor choices, and the first few FB responses took a similar view.
“Sad… it happens all the time.”
“People need to do their homework before getting a dog.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking as I read the article.”
But then an interesting thing happened: some of my trainer friends started defending the writer of the article. At least, they said, the owners recognized they weren’t meeting the dog’s needs, and did the responsible thing by rehoming her.
“Chance’s owners finally did act responsibly and intelligently when they realized they were not up to having a dog.”
“I liked this article and how she took responsibility for not doing right by the dog.”
“The article was redeemed for me by her understanding of Chance’s misery and of the fact that her family had failed to meet the dog’s behavioral needs. (When was the last time you read the phrase “behavioral needs” in an article by a layperson??) ”
“I’m betting she gets a lot of very hostile response to this piece, and I admire her for accepting responsibility for the human screw-up.”
So there you go. We who are so good at forgiving our dogs for making mistakes sometimes have to be reminded to forgive other humans for doing the same. We are all, after all, only human. I’ll try to be better about remembering that next time.
We do know that aggression is caused by stress. With the very rare exception of idiopathic aggression – at one time called “rage syndrome,” “Cocker rage,” or “Springer rage” and grossly overdiagnosed in the 1960s and ’70s – aggression is the result of a stress load that pushes a dog over his bite threshold.
It’s often relatively easy to identify the immediate trigger for your dogs’ mutual aggression. It’s usually whatever happened just before the appearance of the hard stare, posturing, growls, and sometimes the actual fight.
When you have identified your dogs’ triggers, you can manage their environment to reduce trigger incidents and minimize outright conflict. This is critically important to a successful modification program. The more often the dogs fight, the more tension there is between them; the more practiced they become at the undesirable behaviors, the better they get at fighting and the harder it will be to make it go away. And this is to say nothing of the increased likelihood that sooner or later someone – dog or human – will be badly injured.
My husband has kind of an obscure occupation. He’s a steel detailer; he creates detailed drawings of structural steel pieces for companies that fabricate the pieces and erect buildings out of them. His father learned the trade as a young man in the 1950s, and, early on, practiced his profession in a shirt and tie in the highrise offices of titans of the American steel industry. Late in his career, as an independent contractor for smaller steel fabrication companies, my father-in-law worked at a drafting table in his home and sent his drawings – in the form of thick, heavy rolls of paper – to his clients via FedEx. It was during this phase of his career that he taught the trade to my husband, who, today, uses a home computer to create the “drawings” and send them instantaneously to his clients via email.
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The world is changing. I get it.
Sometimes it feels as if it’s changing far too quickly. My husband often receives email messages from people in India and China, offering to do his job for less money. These messages suggest that he could make a good living just by sharing his contracts with workers who will earn less than he does. If he finds the jobs and shares them, the emails hint, he won’t have to “work” at all.
But my husband likes his work, and these emails aggravate him no end.
I received an email this morning, forwarded from a friend who manages a pet food company. I gather that my friend is feeling just like my husband. “Dear Sir or Madam,” said the email. “We have a new freeze drying factory, Tianjin Ranova Petfood, in Tianjin, China. Do you have time to visit us? We got ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 (HACCP) certified. Please see the attached pictures of freeze dried Pet Treats and prices. The prices have already included costs for irradiation. Are you interested in these products?
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you and best regards.”
I wrote back to my friend, joking about how lucky she is to have such a good opportunity to buy irradiated pet treats from China! It was gallows laughter, though. She responded gloomily, “I get these emails daily. How many U.S. companies are already selling these treats? And then my clients complain because ours are too expensive!”
I never studied business. But I’ll never understand how common food ingredients can be shipped halfway across the planet and sold for half the price of domestically grown and processed ingredients. It certainly begs the question of the quality, freshness, and purity of the product.
I know what kind of products my friend’s company sells. They are top of the line. She can tell you the provenance of every piece of meat in her plant. But will her business survive this sort of pressure? And has the maker of your dog’s food and treats resisted it?
I would like to know if you investigated Orijen dog food. I did not find it listed as one of Whole Dog Journal’s approved dry foods of 2011. Yet I noticed it pictured on the front page. Janet Jaob
In the February issue with the approved dog foods, I see on the cover a bag of Orijen dog food (which we use), but I don’t see it in your approved list. What is your opinion of this food? Is it not good? Denny Mosesman
We have been feeding our dog Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul for a couple of years and he seems very happy with it. Last year, that food was on your recommended list, but in the February 2011 issue, it was not. Is there a problem of any sort with the company? We try to do our homework, and are unaware of any problems with the food. Ken Vasek and Susan Sims Pisano
I’ve just finished reading the newest edition of Whole Dog Journal and was surprised to see Taste of the Wild dog food omitted from you recommended list. I wonder if there is a reason it was omitted from the list? Kathy Keating
To these and many more inquiries: The foods are listed alphabetically by the name of the company that makes them. Taste of the Wild and Chicken Soup are made by Diamond Pet Foods. Orijen (and Acana) are made by Champion Petfoods.
UNDISCLOSED MAKER
I was looking over the “Approved Dry Foods” list in the recent issue of WDJ and I was curious as to why Halo brand food did not make the cut. Kristin Mason
I was wondering why Newman’s Own Organic Adult Dog Food didn’t make the list. The ingredients seem to match the list of what’s good and what’s not. Just wondering what I’m missing. Patricia Klein
Both of the foods mentioned in these letters meet our selection criteria, except for one: the companies do not disclose their manufacturers. We list only those products whose companies disclose the manufacturing location.
As we discussed in our dry food review in February 2008 (the first year we asked the companies to disclose – for publication – the site of their manufacturing operations), there are a couple of legitimate reasons why a small company would not want to disclose its co-manufacturing partner. (There are also some disingenuous ones.) If you really like the products these companies make, and trust that the company will disclose pertinent manufacturing information about its products in case of a recall or other problem, you should by all means continue to support those products.
NEW TO US
I am curious as to why Nutri Life Pet Products didn’t make your list. Although I am no scientist, veterinarian, or similar, I have been diligent over the years in my selection of dry foods for my five beloved hounds and believed that Nutri Life produced a good quality food. As a lead volunteer for my greyhound rescue group, I have recommended this food to many former “Purina feeders,” so I hope I have not done this in error. Jennifer Laughman
We’re sure there are many products (especially some that are made and sold in just a single state or a small area) that we’ve never reviewed. Please compare the product’s ingredient label to our selection criteria; you can easily see whether the product would measure up to the products on our “approved” list. If it meets the criteria we listed on page 5 (“Hallmarks of Quality”), it’s as good as the others on our list.
P&G?!
I fed my dog Natura’s Innova for many years. Last year my son and his wife put their two dogs on Innova. After a few weeks one of their dogs had symptoms of a food allergy. My son had found out that Natura was sold to P&G earlier that year. They switched to Dogswell and so did I. Susan Lenahan
We won’t worry about P&G “ruining” Natura’s foods unless it actually happens, and it hasn’t happened yet. That said, some of the formulas have changed, but the formulation changes were in the works before P&G’s purchase, and none that we have seen reduced the quality of the products.
All companies tweak their formulas occasionally. We cut out and retain the ingredient lists from bags of foods that we feed so we can see what sort of shifts the companies make.
Whenever a dog reacts negatively to a food, it’s important to retain that ingredient list and make a note of the symptoms and date. If you switch foods a few times a year (and we think you should), you may be able to identify certain ingredients that your dog doesn’t tolerate well, which can help guide future purchases. Feeding just one food for long periods of time is also asking for trouble. Think about it; if it was ideal to eat the exact same diet every day, with no exceptions, year in and year out, don’t you think someone would be recommending this for humans?
We’ll answer more questions about our dry food review in the next issue.
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!
