Its taken a number of years (and some significant missteps, in our opinion), but television producers are finally turning out programs that promote dog-friendly training and progressive dog care. For some time, Ive been a fan of British trainer Victoria Stilwells show on Animal Planet, Its Me or the Dog! In the course of each episode, Stilwell visits the home of some dog owner (or owners) who have a problem dog (or dogs). The dog/s are shown being unbelievably obnoxious and/or aggressive, and the owner/s are shown to be without a clue and at their wits end. Stilwell then explains how the situation has developed, demonstrates positive solutions (as the owner/s gape), and teaches the owner/s how to carry out the methods themselves.
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Its interesting to me to see the many ways that dog owners can inadvertently contribute to the development of serious and vexing behavior problems in their dogs; I also enjoy comparing Stilwells advice and suggested solutions to my own much-less-experienced ideas about how to fix the problems. The fact that I dont always agree with her approaches doesnt in any way diminish my appreciation for her promotion of dog-friendly training techniques methods that are based on behavioral science, not force or intimidation.
I just found another show that I admire (again, not without some minor quibbles). Underdog to Wonderdog, also seen on the Animal Planet channel, had its debut in January. In the course of each episode, a team of dog lovers rescues and rehabilitates a needy, homeless dog. The dogs physical, emotional, and training needs are addressed through veterinary care, grooming, positive training, and even some environmental enhancement in the form of custom-built dog beds, play structures, and designer dog-wear. Best of all, the team of experts finds a home for the dog and prepares the dog for his new family, and the family for the new dog.
Despite what one of my dog expert friends accurately described as a sickening amount of gushing over the dog in the first episode, I was pleased to see a major television production focus on the value of rescuing homeless dogs. The fact that they also addressed, albeit briefly, many of the issues that should be addressed to make sure that the dog recovers from the neglect or abuse in his past is icing on the cake, for me.
Mainstream TV shows are often shallow, sensational, repetitive, and fuzzy about the facts, in their effort to be entertaining. However, if you are at all interested in the content, they can be all those things and riveting, at the same time! Maybe its just me; its possible that Im just so grateful to see positive training techniques shown to a wide audience that Im overly forgiving of the shows flaws. Nobodys perfect!
Consult your local listings to determine when these shows are broadcast; Im willing to bet youll get hooked, too.
What’s the best food for your dog? It’s a question that only you can answer – because you are the only one who is in a position to gauge, on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis, how your dog responds to what you feed him.
That said, we can give you some tips to guide you into the right section of your local pet supply store – that is, past the lowest-cost, lowest-quality foods; past the higher-cost but still low-quality posers; and into the area where the top-quality foods are found. Take note: They are expensive, perhaps prohibitively so, especially for families with several large dogs to feed. But you can’t expect to pay hamburger prices for filet mignon, and it’s the quality (and thus price) of the ingredients that set the top-quality foods apart.
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Before we tell you what attributes to look for, though, we need to make a few points about the quest for the world’s best dog food:
• Dry food is not the healthiest diet for your dog. If you want to provide the very best, most natural diet possible for your dog, you’d feed a well-researched, home-prepared diet comprised of fresh foods. Or, next best, a well-formulated, commercially made frozen raw or dehydrated diet. Next best would be a top-quality wet food; even poor quality wet foods usually contain a higher percentage of animal protein (and a much lower percentage of grain) than good dry foods.
Of all of these forms of dog food, kibble is probably the least natural for the dog. But its popularity is mainly based on three factors: It is relatively stable and therefore very convenient for the owner to buy, store, and feed. It’s usually less expensive, calorie for calorie, than other forms of food with comparative ingredients. And most dogs do fine on a dry food diet.
Just keep it in the back of your head that if you want your dog to eat the ideal, evolutionary canine diet – because he’s got persistent health problems? because he’s a show or sports competitor and you want an edge? because you’ve lost your last three dogs to cancer and you want to know you did everything possible to give this dog the very best? – you’ll need to look to something other than kibble, even the highest-quality kibble available.
• No food is best all dogs. There is no single diet that works best for all humans, or every individual of any other species, so why people think there might be a single ideal food for every dog is beyond us!
To find the best foods for your dog, you have to try a lot of foods, and make it a point to observe your dog for signs that his diet is or is not agreeing with him. If he has chronic signs of compromised health, such as persistently goopy or runny eyes; infected or smelly ears; inflamed, itchy skin; severe gas; or frequent diarrhea, and these conditions improve, well, hurray! If these things worsen, try another food.
We strongly recommend that you keep some sort of diet journal – at a minimum, with notes on the calendar – to keep track of what foods you feed your dog, and what his response to each product has been. We keep a journal of health- and training-related events in our dog’s life, and note the date each time we open a new bag of food. We store dry food in its original bag until it’s all consumed, but once it’s empty, we cut out the ingredients list, “guaranteed analysis,” and date/code from the bag and tape these bits of packaging into the dog’s journal. This sort of journal can help you identify foods or even individual ingredients that are problematic for your dog; in case of a pet food disaster, it can also help prove what your dog ate, and when he ate it.
• Switch foods regularly. We know; you heard that you shouldn’t switch your dog’s food, or his stomach will get upset. If you ate only one food every day for weeks and months, and then ate something else, your stomach would get upset, too. But very few people eat a diet that never varies from day to day. Human nutrition experts agree that a well-balanced, varied diet is critical for human health; so why do so many people believe that variety is bad for dogs?
Say your dog eats one food, day after day, year after year. And say that food contains a little more of this mineral than is ideal, or not quite enough of that vitamin, or an unhealthy ratio of this nutrient to that one . . . Over time, lacking any other foods to help correct the excesses, insufficiencies, or the imbalances, these problems can contribute to the development of disease.
When you switch your dog’s food, do it gradually, over a couple of days. Start with 75 percent of the old food and 25 percent of the new food at one meal; slowly increase the amount of new food (and decrease the amount of old food) over a few days, until he’s eating only the new food. Try different varieties, as well as products from different companies. If you change foods often, your dog will adjust more and more smoothly.
One more thing: Don’t feed foods comprised of exotic proteins (such as rabbit, kangaroo, bison, pheasant, etc.) if your dog does well on the more common proteins (such as beef, lamb, chicken, and turkey). It’s extremely useful to have a few completely novel proteins held in reserve for use in an “elimination diet” (in which you feed him a diet comprised of, usually, a single novel protein and a single novel grain) in case your dog ever develops a food allergy.
What to look for Keeping the previous principles in mind (kibble is not the most ideal diet; no food works for all dogs; you should switch foods regularly), you are now ready to look for a few good foods for your dog. Top-quality dry dog foods can be identified by the following hallmarks of quality on their ingredients panels:
• Animal protein at the top of the ingredients list. Animal proteins are more palatable and are of a higher biologic value to dogs than plant-sourced proteins. Ingredients are listed by weight, so ideally a food will have one or two animal proteins in the first few ingredients.
The animal protein source should be named – chicken, beef, lamb, and so on. “Meat” and “animal protein” are examples of low-quality protein sources of dubious origin. Animal protein “meals” (i.e., “chicken meal,” “beef meal,” “lamb meal,” etc.) should also be named; “meat meal” could be just about anything.
Whole meats do not contain enough protein to be used as the sole protein source in a dry dog food. Whole meats contain as much as 65 to 75 percent water and about 15 to 20 percent protein. When a whole meat appears high on the ingredients list, generally another source of protein is also present, in order to augment the total protein content of the finished food. We prefer to see animal protein meals, rather than plant proteins, fill this role.
An animal protein “meal” is essentially cooked and dried (rendered) muscle meat, although a certain amount of bone, skin, and connective tissue is included. Animal protein meals are dried to a moisture level of only about 10 percent, and contain about 65 percent protein.
• Whole vegetables, fruits, and grains. Fresh, unprocessed food ingredients contain wholesome nutrients in all their naturally complex glory, with their fragile vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants intact. They are also less likely to be adulterated with impurities of any kind.
That said, formulators often use a concentrated (processed) constituent of a grain or vegetable to accomplish a specific task in a dog food. For example, beet pulp is frequently used in dog food for its ability to concentrate the dog’s solid waste (resulting in smaller and firmer poop). We’d rather see whole ingredients used for this purpose, but one or two food fragments won’t make or break the quality of the food, especially if they are lower on the ingredients list. The more of them there are in the food, and/or the higher they appear on the ingredients list, the lower-quality the food.
• Organic ingredients; locally sourced ingredients. Both of these things are better for our planet. Organic ingredients may be especially appropriate for dogs with cancer, chemical sensitivities, or other serious health problems, but holistic practitioners recommend them for all creatures.
What to look out for Here are some of the things a top-notch food should not contain:
• Meat by-products or poultry by-products. Some non-muscle parts of food animals (i.e., the internal organs) are highly nutritious – in some cases, higher in protein and fat, as just two nutrient examples, than muscle meats. But there are many other parts of food animals that have much less nutritional value – and are worth so much less (in dollars) to the processor, that they are considerably less carefully harvested, handled, processed, and stored.
Poorly handled meats (which contain fat) and fat sources can quickly become rancid. Rancid fats not only smell noxious and taste bad, they also speed the destruction of vitamins and other nutrients in a food. Worst, rancid fats are carcinogenic. ‘Nuff said?
In contrast, whole meats are expensive – too valuable to be handled carelessly. Their cost doesn’t rule out poor handling and resultant oxidation (rancidity), but it makes it less likely. So, for all these reasons, we suggest avoiding foods that contain by-products or by-product meal.
• Added sweeteners. Dogs, like people, enjoy sweet foods. Sweeteners effectively persuade many dogs to eat foods comprised mainly of grain fragments (and containing little of the animal protein that would be healthier for them).
• Artificial preservatives, such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin. Natural preservatives, such as tocopherols (forms of vitamin E), vitamin C, and rosemary extract, can be used instead. Preservation is necessary to keep the fats in the food from oxidizing and turning rancid. Natural preservatives do not preserve the food as long as artificial preservatives, however, so owners should always check the “best by” date on the label and look for relatively fresh products.
• Artificial colors. The color of the food makes no difference to the dog; these nutritionally useless chemicals are used in foods to make them look appealing to you!
Representative “top foods” Starting on the next page is our “top dry foods” list for 2009. All of these products meet our selection criteria – including our newest criterion, that the company discloses the name and location of its manufacturers. There are certainly more products that both meet our criteria, as described above, and whose makers are willing to answer questions about their manufacturers. Rest assured that any food that you find that meets our selection criteria is just as good as any of the foods on our list.
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 try some better foods.
Please note: We’ve listed the foods alphabetically, by the name of their manufacturers. Some companies make several lines of food. We’ve listed each line and each variety that we found that meets our selection criteria. We’ve highlighted one variety from each company as a representative product, to show what sort of ingredients and macro-nutrient levels (protein, fat, 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.
1. Investigate your local dog shelters to determine their organizational structure and identify what services they offer.
2. Visit the shelters to determine the quality of services they offer and animal care they provide.
3. Support and help the shelters that support your patronage.
4. Take steps to improve the ones where humans and non-human clients receive less-than-optimal care.
Say the words “animal shelter” to 10 different people and you’re likely to get 10 different reactions – from a warm, happy smile to sadness and tears to anger. Why the disparity? Because shelters take the “no two alike” approach to service providing, and those 10 people likely had 10 very different shelter experiences. When you’ve had one experience with a shelter, good or bad, you might think all shelters are the same. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Many people think that shelters must all come under some national governing body that regulates what they do, a universal “mother club” like Red Cross, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts. In fact, the exact opposite is true – with a few rare exceptions, every shelter is its own entity, complete within itself, with its own policies and procedures, its own governing body, and its own list of services offered – or not offered.
Many dog lovers are reluctant to visit their local animal shelters, to protect themselves from getting upset about all the needy animals. But the animals are there and will appreciate your help, whether you see them or not.
Various Services Offered by Animal Shelters
There is a wide variety of services that may be offered by your local shelter, depending on their mission and vision as well as available resources. We provide a partial list of possible services below. If you see services on the list that you’d like your local shelter to provide, talk to your shelter’s administrators about the possibility. Be prepared to help find ways to fund the programs if funding isn’t already available!
– Housing of unwanted/homeless animals
– Rescuing animals in distress: trapped in chimneys or trees; victims of natural disasters; fallen off cliffs…
– Animal cruelty investigations
– Animal “nuisance” complaints
– In-house adoption program
– Adoption outreach programs
– Post-adoption follow-up and counseling
– Volunteer programs
– Education programs
– Spay/neuter assistance programs for animals belonging to the public
– Spay/neuter clinic
– Well-pet assistance: subsidizing routine preventative care such as vaccines, worming, etc.
– Veterinary care assistance
– Low-fee/affordable veterinary clinic
– Low-cost vaccinations, microchips, tattooing
-Off-leash dog park
-Special events
– Food bank/pet meals on wheels
– Companion animal training and behavior modification programs
– Animal-assisted therapy
– Reading programs (children reading to pets)
– Prison dog programs
– Euthanasia services
With a sole exception, national groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the American Humane Association (AHA), Red Rover (formerly known as United Animal Nations), and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) do little to dispel the confusion. None of these organizations has anything to do with the management of shelters around the country; they are primarily educational organizations, offering training, materials, and conferences at a price to local shelters, and issue-based information to the public. (The exception? The ASPCA does have a single shelter, in New York City.)
Some of these organizations have offices around the United States and sometimes the world; many are heavily involved in lawmaking, sometimes pursuing legislation whether local agencies support it or not. The organizations have no direct role in how shelters across the country are structured or run.
All of these groups offer paid memberships. Well-meaning animal lovers often join and support these national organizations, believing that donation dollars sent to those groups somehow find their way back to help animals in shelters in their own communities. They may be dumbfounded to discover that this is rarely the case. Oh, once in a great while, during a disaster or a high-profile cruelty case perhaps, but not to assist with the day-to-day costs of feeding and caring for sheltered animals. Rarely a penny.
Types of Animal Shelters
Although every shelter is unique, you can group them into similar types according to how they are structured:
Municipal Shelter
This type of shelter is owned and run by your government – city, county, township, parish – and is completely supported by tax dollars. It usually has a name like “Chattanooga Animal Services,” “San Francisco Animal Care and Control,” or “Multnomah County Animal Control.”
The shelter is part of the municipal “animal control” program, charged with protecting citizens from animals. They are usually responsible for enforcing city or county laws and regulations regarding animals; they may also investigate cases of animal cruelty, and sometimes offer education programs. Their enforcement staff may be called “animal control officers,” “animal services officers,” “dog wardens,” or some other such regulatory-sounding name.
“Animal Control” may be its own department in local government, or can function under the umbrella of the police department, department of public works, health department, department of parks and recreation, or some other division. Priority of services often depends on what department oversees its work. If it falls under the health department’s control, a high priority is placed on “rabies control” efforts; if it is under the control of the police department, enforcement of animal control laws may take center stage.
If you travel up the organizational tree you eventually reach a board of supervisors, a mayor, or whatever office is at the top of your particular governmental hierarchy.
Full-Service Private Nonprofit Shelter
As the name implies, this is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization with a Board of Directors and by-laws that govern the mission and policies of the group. Its mission is to protect animals from people, which often includes a strong educational component. When applying for nonprofit status, in most states these agencies are incorporated for the “prevention of cruelty to animals.” They may have members, and members may or may not have voting privileges.
These groups have names like “Marin Humane Society,” “Houston SPCA,” “Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society,” “Denver Dumb Friends League.” Same type of organization – different names. Just to emphasize the point, understand that “SPCAs” across the country have no affiliation with the ASPCA.
Full-service shelters, also called “open door” shelters, usually accept most if not all animals that owners bring to them, and may (or may not) also accept stray animals of all kinds. These shelters usually keep animals as long as they can. They have active adoption, education, and spay/neuter programs, and strive for low euthanasia rates, but can’t always succeed.
While the most diligent of these may be able to achieve a sometimes tenuous “low-kill” status, by choosing to accept all animals that are brought to them, most are compelled to regularly euthanize animals for a number of reasons. These reasons may include poor health or behavior, and space (at least some of the time, if not on a daily basis).
Full-service nonprofit shelters may also be involved in humane investigations, rescues, and cruelty case prosecutions. Cruelty enforcement workers are often given titles such as “humane officer” or “cruelty investigator.”
At the top of the nonprofit organizational chart is the president of the board, chair of the board, or other such title.
Full-Service Nonprofit Shelter with Animal Control Contract
Some full-service shelters contract with local community governments to perform the function of animal control alongside their humane society mission. Under this arrangement, the shelter is still governed by its board of directors, but must respond to the contracting government over issues related to the contracted services.
The contract may be only to house stray animals for a municipal animal control agency, or it may be to perform field enforcement services as well as sheltering. Law enforcement services involve issues such as animals running at large, barking, and other “nuisance” complaints, enforcement of licensing and “sanitation” (pooper scooper) laws, etc.
Nonprofit shelters sometimes take on government contracts for financial reasons; some rely on government dollars to survive. Others contract with a local government agency for humanitarian reasons, in the belief that a nonprofit shelter can do a better job of caring for the animals.
Some have dual motivations: they need financial support from local government and believe they can do a better job than government. But because the two missions can conflict – one emphasizes the protection of humans, the other emphasizes the protection of animals – this arrangement can have a deleterious effect on community support for the shelter. Actions such as issuing citations for leash-law violations, charging a fee for people to reclaim their impounded dogs, and declaring dogs “dangerous or potentially dangerous” don’t endear the organization to potential supporters. The issues are often no-win for the shelter; regardless of the action taken, someone will be unhappy.
Animal control officers are sometimes maligned by the public due to their role as enforcers of local animal-related laws and codes. The fact is, their jobs are emotionally difficult and physically taxing, but they do it so they can help animals.
Nonprofit shelters with government contracts usually euthanize greater numbers of animals, since they are compelled to accept all stray animals as defined by the contract. This group of animals is likely to include some of the least potentially adoptable animals in the community.
Limited Admission Nonprofit Shelter
Also a 501(c)3 tax-deductible organization with a “protect animals from people” mission, this type of shelter is sometimes called “selective intake,” “guaranteed adoption,” “low-kill,” or “no-kill.” Note: Animal lovers should never assume that so-called “no-kill” shelters are the most praiseworthy, or provide the kindest care to their wards. Please see “What’s Wrong With No-Kill?” from this issue.
Also governed by a board of directors, this shelter limits the number of animals selected, usually with some kind of screening test for potential adoptability. There may be a long waiting list to place a dog or cat in one of these shelters, as the responsible ones only accept a new animal when kennel space opens up. Their low-kill or no-kill policies may mean that some animal companions occupy kennel space for many months – or even years.
Animal Rescue Groups
These may or may not be 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations, and they may or may not be so-called “no-kill.” Some rescue groups have an actual shelter; some house their dogs in foster homes and at boarding kennels.
Breed rescue groups that operate under the auspices of their breed clubs are usually not-for-profit with a governing board of directors. They are often realistic about euthanizing dogs who aren’t good adoption prospects – although not always. They tend to use scarce resources wisely, and make thoughtful and difficult decisions about how to help the most number of dogs with those limited resources.
Non-breed-affiliated rescues and mixed-breed rescues can run the gamut from 501(c)3 legitimate nonprofit rescues to private adoption agencies to hoarders that pass as rescues.
Measuring Your Local Dog Shelter Up to Size
Within each category, there are outstanding shelters and horrible ones. Quality of animal care doesn’t depend on a big budget – the basics of feeding animals, cleaning the cages and kennels, and keeping a shelter grounds uncluttered and tidy are within the budget of any legitimate shelter. Do you know how the shelter(s) in your community measure up? Here’s how to find out:
• Identify the type of organization. This information will help you understand how and why they do what they do, and how to best interact with them.
• Go to its website. Many shelters these days have a comprehensive Internet presence, and you can find a lot about an organization – or at least what it says about itself, by visiting its site.
• Visit each shelter. Keep your eyes, nose, and ears wide open. Do you see dirt, clutter, and lots of hazardous conditions, or are the facilities clean, reasonably odor-free, and well-maintained? Deferred maintenance could be a function of budgetary shortfalls but cleaning should not be short-changed.
• Watch customer service interactions. Are the staff members polite and helpful, even in emotionally charged situations and with overwrought clients? Or are they abrupt, rude, and disrespectful? Courtesy costs nothing, and there’s no excuse for rude shelter staff.
• Observe the animals in the kennels. Do they seem reasonably well-adjusted in the admittedly stressful environment of any shelter, even the best ones? Do they enjoy environmental enrichment, such as having beds in kennels, stuffed Kongs, toys, outside play areas, and opportunities to go for walks? Or do you see barrier aggression, obsessive/compulsive spinning, depression, and self-mutilation?
• Evaluate the population density. Are there one or two dogs per kennel, or 15? Do puppies and kittens have appropriate playmates? Do kennel-mates get along well, or are some intimidated by others?
• Find out what services they offer, then utilize their services. Walk through their adoption process. (Heck, you could even adopt a shelter dog!) Call for help with a stray dog, an animal in distress, or a neighborhood animal dispute.
• Become a volunteer. You’ll learn more about the behind-the-scenes operation of the shelter if you’re part of the scene. If you can’t handle being in the shelter frequently, volunteer in some other area, such as public relations, fundraising, education, or putting on special events. Suspend judgment for at least the first six months. If you come in like gangbusters, telling everyone how to improve, you’ll lose trust and credibility. Walk many miles in their shoes first.
• Ride along with an officer. Spending time with an officer in the field is a major eye-opener, guaranteed to give you a whole new perspective on the challenges of the animal protection profession.
• Watch the news and search the archives. Does your shelter regularly appear in the media or in your local newspaper’s letters to the editor? Are the stories and letters positive or negative? Go back in recent history (five to 10 years) to see what issues and challenges the shelter has faced in the not-too distant past, and how well they handled them.
You Can Make a Difference
When you’ve completed your investigation, you have several options. You can focus on the best shelter in your area and give it your support. Make an appointment to meet with the top administrator (executive director, not board president or city administrator) or her designee, and discuss your findings. Be positive! Start by praising all the great things you found out about the shelter. Then express your understanding and empathy for the difficult challenges almost every shelter faces: funding shortages, staff turnover, community conflicts . . . and ask how you can help. Then do.
As you gain the respect and trust of shelter staff and administrators, you can truly be effective in making the good shelter even better. Be sure to express your support with your checkbook as well, or even in your will.
Another option is to turn your attentions to one or more of the less well-run shelters and do the same. If they’re open to your interest and desire to help, work with them. If they’re not receptive to your advances, move up the organizational ladder until you find someone who is, and work from there. You can help draw community attention to the problems in a positive way, and aid in finding solutions.
If your advances are met with stone walls and silence, you may need to take stronger action, particularly if animals are suffering as a result. Document your concerns by writing letters – and keep copies for your own files. Perhaps more stridency with the powers-that-be can shake something loose. If necessary, promise to go to the media – and then do – and gather community support to pressure for change. If the shelter is a municipal shelter, remember that your elected officials are ultimately responsible for seeing that the right thing gets done – and you are a voter.
If you discover a hoarder posing as a rescuer, insist on enforcement action. Your research should have already informed you as to which agency in your community does cruelty investigations. Go to the head of the investigations department and present any evidence you have regarding the situation. Know that you may be called upon to testify in court if the agency isn’t able to resolve the situation more gently.
Don’t be swayed by the tears or protests of the hoarder/rescuer who professes to “love” her animals. They all say that. And she probably does love them. That doesn’t change the fact that animals suffer and die under her loving care – or lack thereof.
If the agency is reluctant to diligently pursue an investigation, climb the ladder to the top of the organization and the media, if necessary. The animals are counting on those who care, and who are brave enough and strong enough to take action.
Imagine a world where no dog is ever euthanized for being homeless. Where there are more homes than dogs, and lists of potential adopters are maintained at every possible dog-adoption-source, with families and individuals anxiously awaiting the next available canine. Where every dog is treasured, and the thought of “rehoming” one of these wonderful, valuable creatures is totally preposterous. Wouldn’t we all be delighted to see that?
That’s a lovely vision. But today, in the United States, it is just that – a vision. Despite the growing ranks of shelters that claim to be “no-kill” and the proponents who claim that it’s possible to turn every shelter into a “no-kill” facility, in reality, we are far from being a “no-kill nation.” The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that 3 to 4 million homeless dogs and cats are euthanized at animal shelters in this country every year. Thirty years ago, that number was 17 to 18 million. Taken in perspective, that looks like a huge improvement, and indeed it is – but 3 to 4 million per year is still a lot of dead dogs and cats. So, if more and more shelters are adopting “no-kill” policies, where are all these deaths coming from?
“No-Kill” Does NOT Mean “No Death Row” for Difficult Dogs
Given the number of euthanized animals, it’s clear that “no-kill” is a misnomer. The animal protection profession has generally accepted the definition of “no-kill” as “no euthanasia of animals who are adoptable, or who will be adoptable after medical or behavioral treatment or rehabilitation.”
This means that even shelters that call themselves “no-kill” may, in fact, euthanize animals that they deem to be unadoptable. One “no-kill” shelter may decide that a dog with mild resource-guarding can’t be rehabilitated because it doesn’t have staff to work with dogs who need behavior modification, or because its organization regards all aggression-related behaviors as legally risky. Another “no-kill” shelter may have an entire department of behavior experts who work with the shelter dogs, and commit significant resources to behavior modification. At the first shelter the dog dies. At the second, he lives. But they’re both “no-kill” by industry definition.
The same is true with physical ailments. One shelter may be able to isolate and treat a dog with upper respiratory infection, or one with a broken leg, while another might euthanize that same dog due to lack of resources, or different priorities for finite resources. Both call themselves “no-kill.”
Some limited admission shelters disingenuously call themselves “no-kill” by hiding behind the industry definition, even though their supporters probably don’t understand the distinction. Some also claim the “no-kill” designation because when an animal must be euthanized they don’t do it themselves – they send it to a full-service shelter.
In my opinion, even legitimate, well-run limited admission shelters that rarely euthanize should avoid describing themselves as “no-kill.” The best ones are frank with their supporters about what they do, why, and how. These shelters honestly admit that try as they might, there are times when their humane choice is to euthanize an animal that’s not thriving under their care. Or they at least acknowledge their debt to the other shelters in the community that do take on the responsibility for caring for – and euthanizing -the animals that they can’t or won’t.
Not Enough Resources to Go Around
Here is one serious problem with the recent popularity of the “no-kill shelter” appellation: Competition for donor dollars for animal protection can be fierce, and the appeal of the “no-kill” designation – whether it’s accurate or misleading- tends to attract more support from the limited donor pool. Full-service shelters are just as needy, if not more so, than no-kill shelters, and for many, it’s a huge struggle to convince their donors not to jump ship for organizations with a happier-sounding mission. And few donors are aware that their donations to “no-kill” facilities may actually help fewer animals than contributions to full-service shelters.
Perhaps the most tragic result of a poorly conceived no-kill policy, however, is that many “no-kill” facilities quickly become overwhelmed with unwanted animals, who, too often, are then subjected to overcrowded, sub-par living conditions for indefinite (sometimes years-long) periods. Quality of life takes a distant back seat for dogs in an overcrowded facility, and many dogs who are housed for life in a kennel suffer severe psychological distress resulting in depression, aggression, and/or obsessive/compulsive behaviors. Refusal to euthanize these dogs not only results in their mental and/or physical suffering, but also severely restricts the number of additional healthy, adoptable dogs these facilities could help.
Dedicated animal protection professionals made significant progress in their efforts to reduce euthanasia numbers well before the “no-kill” movement became widely popular a decade ago. Unfortunately, despite all of those efforts, as well as those of the “no-kill” proponents, euthanasia numbers have remained static in the past 10 years. (And, sadly, there has been a quantum rise in the investigation and prosecution of animal hoarders who have represented themselves as legitimate rescue groups. In many cases, they were the recipients of dogs from “low-kill” and “no-kill” shelters.)
Usually when something seems too good to be true, it is. Such is the case with the as-yet empty promise of “no-kill.” I do believe that someday, all animals who have potential to be adopted will find lifelong loving homes. That day hasn’t arrived, but I think it will. The achievement will require the continued hard work of dedicated and realistic animal protection professionals who continue public education, spay/neuter campaigns, and science-based animal behavior and training programs. It will take many more years. But yes, the day will come.
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Our 12th year! Wow! Where does the time go? If it wasn’t for the fact of making my son pose for photos for articles from time to time, I might not believe Whole Dog Journal is so old. But Eli was five when he first posed (with our darling old Rupert) for an article about the benefits of using reusable hand-sized heating pads for massaging muscle-sore or arthritic dogs. And he’s about to turn 17 – too old to model for our upcoming article about teaching young children how to positively train the family dog. (I did make him go with me to one of our new dog Otto’s training classes a few months ago, and took pictures of them together in class. He’s a hair under six feet –too tall to fit in the frame with the dog!)
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It’s been 12 years of progress in the dog world, though. The foods we review have gotten better, and the top-quality varieties have gotten far more numerous. Just look at how many types of healthy foods you can now buy for your dog! I’d probably eat any one of the products included in our review of wet foods (“Yes, We Can!”) that appears on page 4 – they are that good.
But I won’t eat them, and our newsish dog Otto won’t either. With this issue done, they go straight to our local animal shelter, which makes the absolute best use of every donation, no matter how large or small. Since we moved to this town and I first donated dog food (left over from a review), I’ve been such a fan of the facility (the Northwest SPCA) and its supporters, starting with its executive director, Rainy Green. She works daily miracles to improve the facility, add to her staff’s education, and do everything she can do for the shelter’s wards – all on a tiny budget in one of this state’s poorest counties.
And she finds the best people to help her! I recently photographed an employee of the shelter, Humane Officer James Harrison, for Pat Miller’s article about shelters in this issue (page 18). As I set up the camera, Jimmy told me about the two times he’s been bitten by a dog in the 12 years he’s worked for the NW SPCA. His first bite came in his first year of employment, but he still honors that dog’s memory – he used those words – as the animal who taught him to move slowly and gently and take his time with fearful animals. His second bite came in the midst of saving a Malamute who was hanging by a back leg that was wound in wire from the top of an eight-foot fence. He showed me the scar and said, “It was worth it! I saved his life, and saved his leg, too.”
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I hope Whole Dog Journal can bring you another 12 years of great ideas and products for your dog from great people.
Tick-removal tools are in constant use in our homes, because we spend a lot of time with our dogs in the woods. We like the simplicity of this little spoon-shaped tool. We also like that it can remove tiny ticks (like the one seen in the photo) as well as the large, disgusting ones that escaped early detection. Ticked Off Ticked Off, Inc. Dover, NH (800) 642-2485 tickedoff.com
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What’s the big deal? It’s a Kong; we’ve promoted Kongs forever! Ah! But this new Kong contains a squeaker! And it’s much more difficult to get out and “kill” than your average squeak-filled toy, which means many more hours of chewing enjoyment for your dog. Kong Squeaker Kong Company Golden, CO (303) 216-2626 kongcompany.com
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At last! An accurate, thorough health book by a vet who promotes the best of conventional veterinary medicine and is aware of its shortfalls, too. Dr. Nancy Kay, a veterinarian who practices in Sonoma County, California, explains the basics of responsible healthcare and what dog owners should know. But she also illustrates how owners must manage their vet/client relationship, and be assertive advocates for their dogs, for the best possible results. In her chapter on “Finding Dr. Wonderful,” the list of “deal breakers” (including “The vet vaccinates dogs for everything, every year.”) is worth the price of the book. Speaking for Spot By Dr. Nancy Kay. Available in bookstores and from DogWise, (800) 776-2665; dogwise.com
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This fetch toy is simplicity itself, which is probably why Otto likes it so much. Except for its garish color, it looks like a stick, throws like a stick, and floats on water like a stick. But it’s made of pure rubber (yay! no phthalates!), so it won’t break your dog’s teeth or clonk him on the head when he makes an exuberant but clumsy catch. Its maker, RuffDawg, includes the very responsible warning that The Stick is not a chew toy, and should be taken away from the dog at the end of a fetch session, as it shouldn’t be chewed or ingested. The Stick RuffDawg Worcester, MA (800) 772-3726 ruffdawg.com
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Premier’s Spill-Less Smart Bowl isn’t spill-proof, like one of our past “Gear of the Year” choices. But this product doesn’t need to be wrestled apart – it’s just one piece. That makes it much easier to keep clean. It’s perfect for dogs who usually flick water out of their bowls when they drink; its innovative rim redirects water (or food!) back into the bowl. Spill-Less Smart Bowl Premier Pet Products, LLC Midlothian, VA (800) 933-4702 premierpet.com
We like canned food for dogs. It’s more expensive than dry, but good varieties of canned food are arguably healthier than comparable dry foods, due to the higher inclusion of animal proteins and the higher moisture levels. Both of these things are closer to the dog’s evolutionary diet than dry diets that contain a lot of grain. Some dog owners stopped buying wet dog food following the spring 2007 recalls of foods that contained melamine and/or cyanuric acid. Given the fear and lack of information in the early days of the recall, this made sense. Now, however, we know more about the factors that led to the recalls, and we feel more certain than ever that wet foods offer health benefits to many dogs – and that our recommendations for choosing wet dog foods can help owners identify the safest, healthiest products available. Benefits
Wet foods offer your dog a few advantages over kibble:
• At levels of 70 to 80 percent moisture, canned foods are beneficial to dogs with kidney ailments.
• All that moisture can help a dog who is on a diet feel full faster – as long as you choose low-fat products. (Most wet foods are higher in fat than their kibbled counterparts.) High-moisture foods are also much healthier for dogs with kidney problems.
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• Preservatives are not added to canned or “pouched” foods. Their oxygen-free packaging helps them retain their nutrient value longer – two years or more. Artificial colors and chemical palatants are also rarely used in wet foods.
• High-quality wet foods contain far more animal protein (the dog’s evolutionary diet staple) than dry foods (which contain a high proportion of grains and other non-meat ingredients). More of the amino acids required by dogs are naturally supplied by animal proteins than plant-sourced proteins.
• Many dogs digest high-quality wet foods with fewer problems (such as gas, vomiting, and diarrhea) than dry foods.
• Wet foods with a high meat content are generally highly palatable, which helps when feeding thin, sick, or picky dogs.
Whole Dog Journal’s selection criteria How do we determine whether a wet food is a high-quality product? First, we look at the label. Not the front! Not the pictures, colors, cute names, or pretty logos! We look at the ingredients list for the following:
• We look for foods with whole meat, fish, or poultry as the first ingredient. This means that by weight, there is more of this ingredient than anything else in the food. Wet foods are generally around 78 percent to 82 percent moisture.
There are some good wet foods with water (or broth) first on the list, but since fresh meat is so high in moisture, most top-notch foods list an animal protein (fresh meat) first on the list, and water or broth (required for processing) in the second or third position. The point is to look for products that contain as much meat as possible. There has been a resurgence of popularity of wet foods that contain nothing but meat, water, and a vitamin/mineral supplement; many of these are labelled with a “95% meat” claim. And yes, they are complete, balanced diets. (Remember; dogs have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates!)
• If grains or vegetables are used, we look for the use of whole grains and vegetables, rather than processed fragments. This means we prefer foods that contain “rice” rather than “rice flour, rice bran, brewer’s rice,” etc. Also, if grains are used in a wet product, we sure don’t want to see a lot of them! Even a product with an animal protein first on its ingredients list may contain more grain than meat if it has several grains or grain “fragments” on the label, too.
• We reject foods containing fat or protein not identified by species. “Animal fat” and “meat proteins” are euphemisms for low-quality, low-priced mixed ingredients of uncertain origin.
• We reject any food containing meat by-products or poultry by-products. There is a wide variation in the quality and type of by-products that are available to pet food producers. And there is no way for the average dog owner (or anyone else) to find out, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether the by-products used are carefully handled, chilled, and used fresh within a day or two of slaughter (as some companies have told us), or the cheapest, lowest-quality material found on the market.
There is some, but much less variation in the quality of whole-meat products; they are too expensive to be handled carelessly.
• We eliminate any food containing sugar or other sweetener. Again, a food that contains quality meats shouldn’t need additional palatants to entice dogs.
• We eliminate foods containing artificial colors, flavors, or added preservatives. Fortunately, these are rare in wet foods!
Other ingredients Some ominous-sounding chemicals in a dog food turn out to be a source of a particular vitamin or mineral. Generally, all the vitamins and minerals on a good label are grouped together at the end of the ingredients list.
Wet foods sometimes contain some sort of thickener or binder. Various types of “gum” (such as guar gum, from the seed of the guar plant, and carrageenan gum, from seaweed) are common thickeners. Whole grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes also can be used to thicken wet food. Sometimes a carb fragment serves a dual role as a thickener or binder and a low-cost source of protein; think wheat gluten. Ahem.
What about products that contain a long, long list of vegetables and herbs and nutraceuticals? They make a food sound so appealing! Just keep in mind that the more of all this stuff there is in a food, the less room there is for meat – the main reason to feed a wet food, and the main thing your dog will find delicious.
Other criteria In 2007, we required pet food companies to disclose to us their manufacturers, for publication, in order to have their qualifying dry dog food products appear on our “top foods” lists. This is the first time we’ve asked them to disclose the makers of their wet foods – which was asking a lot, in the aftermath of the wet food recalls of spring 2007.
The last time we asked for this information, a few companies whose products had been on our “top foods” lists for years took exception. Only one was openly hostile! A couple had reasonable explanations for why they made it a policy to not disclose this information. (We discuss these in “Why We Want Disclosure; Why Some Won’t Disclose,” on the next page.) A few others simply did not respond to our requests for information. We suspect that some simply didn’t care enough to be included in our reviews to bother responding.
If you don’t see one of your favorite wet dog foods on our current list of “top wet foods”, don’t assume anything. Look for their toll-free number on the label of your dog’s food; is it there? Or not? Call them up. Did a human answer – or at least call you back within a day? If you reach a human, ask him or her a few questions about the company’s manufacturers, its ingredients, and its quality control program. This interaction (or lack thereof) will tell you a lot about the company’s commitment to quality.
Our list of “top foods” The attcched PDF entitled “WDJ’s top wet foods of 2009” is our official list for 2009. These are all products that have met our selection criteria and answered our query about their manufacturers. There are certainly more products that both meet our criteria, as described above, and whose makers are willing to answer questions about their manufacturers. Rest assured that any food that you find that meets our selection criteria is just as good as any of the foods on our list.
What if it doesn’t meet our selection criteria? It’s up to you. If you have been feeding it to your dog, and she looks and feels like a million bucks, we’d be the last ones to tell you to switch. If she has allergies, chronic diarrhea, recurrent ear infections, or a poor coat, we’d recommend that you check out something from our list. An improvement in the quality of his food could (and probably will) work wonders.
We’ve listed the foods alphabetically, by the name of their manufacturer. If you are looking for California Natural or Evo, then, you have to look under Natura Pet Products, their maker. Some companies (like Natura) make several lines of food. We’ve listed each line and each variety that we found that meets our selection criteria. We’ve also highlighted one variety from each company as a representative product, to show what sort of ingredients and macro-nutrient levels (protein, fat, 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.
Some companies also offer foods that are not “complete and balanced,” but are intended for “supplemental or intermittent use” only. We’ve listed some of these products, too, but only for use as described – not as a sole source of your dog’s food.
Rather than try to list all the ingredients in each food we highlight, we’ve listed the first six ingredients. Why six? No specific reason, other than that six ingredients gets you through the major contributors to the food, and gives you a good idea of what it mostly consists.
Remember, quality comes with a price. These foods may be expensive and can be difficult to find, depending on your location. Contact the company and ask about purchasing options. Some companies sell directly to consumers, or recommend mail-order outlets that will ship products.
Using the selection criteria we have outlined above, go analyze the food you are currently feeding your dog. If it doesn’t measure up, we encourage you to choose a new food based on quality, as well as what works best for you and your dog in terms of types of ingredients, levels of protein and fat, local availability, and price.
There are many health conditions in dogs that are best controlled with a low-fat diet, especially hyperlipidemia (high levels of triglycerides in the blood, even after fasting for at least 12 hours), which can lead to pancreatitis. Other conditions that may respond favorably to a low-fat diet include chronic pancreatitis, EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency), IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), and lymphangiectasia. In some cases, owners may choose to reduce dietary fat as a preventive measure for dogs who may be predisposed to pancreatitis, including those with diabetes or Cushing’s disease, or who are given anti-seizure drugs.
In “Healthy Low-Fat Diets” (December 2008), we described how to calculate the amount of fat in various foods, and offered guidelines for preparing a homemade low-fat diet. This month, owners who feed their dogs home-prepared low-fat meals will share their diet plans with us.
Low-Fat Dog Food Recipes
Steve Brown is the creator of See Spot Live Longer Homemade Dinner Mixes, and co-author of See Spot Live Longer. (Brown was also the creator of Steve’s Real Food for Dogs, though he is no longer associated with the company.) Brown gave me a sneak preview of his upcoming book, The ABC Way to Healthier and Happier Dogs. This fascinating book focuses on the various forms of fats and how a proper balance between them is needed
for optimal health.
Brown’s book includes information for both veterinarians and dog owners. He offers guidelines on what he calls an “ABC Day” for those who feed commercial foods to give their dogs just one day a week to improve the balance of fats in the diet. He also gives detailed instructions for how to balance the fats in various homemade recipes, both cooked and raw.
For example, meat from poultry is high in linoleic acid (an essential omega-6 fatty acid), while meat from ruminants, such as beef, lamb, and venison, is high in saturated fats and low in linoleic acid. Too much or too little linoleic acid can lead to skin problems that may be diagnosed as a food allergy, but are really caused by fat imbalance. Rotating poultry and ruminant meals daily or weekly helps to balance the fats. If only one type of meat is fed due to food allergies or intolerance, or if variety is limited because of cost or difficulty accessing other types of meat, it’s more important to balance the fats by adding other ingredients.
I asked Brown if he could modify his balanced fat guidelines for dogs who need a low-fat diet, and he responded with four recipes, all of which meet or exceed AAFCO recommendations for adult dog maintenance (puppies and females that are pregnant or nursing have different requirements).
“These recipes start with very lean meats, and then we add specific fats to ensure an excellent fat balance,” says Brown. “Domesticated feed animals do not have a healthy balance of fats, unlike wild prey animals.”
You may be surprised to see salt in some of the recipes, but iodized salt supplies iodine that is sparse and unreliable in most foods. Kelp is another good source of iodine, though the amount it contains can vary considerably.
Recipe #1: Chicken (no bones)
14 oz chicken thighs, skin and separable fat removed
1 lb sweet potato, baked in skin
1/2 lb broccoli stalks
2 oz chicken liver
1 oz chicken heart (or use 3 oz of liver and no heart)
1 level tsp eggshell powder
1/4 tsp iodized salt
40 to 120 IUs (2 to 6 drops) vitamin E
This recipe yields 1,007 kcal (31 kcal/oz) and has 22 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal. Omega 6:Omega 3 ratio is 7: 1.
Recipe #2: Beef
12 oz ground beef, 95% lean
12 oz white rice, cooked
6 oz red leaf lettuce
1 oz beef liver
1 oz beef heart
1.5 tsp bone meal
3/4 tsp hemp oil (or substitute 3/4 tsp walnut oil or 1.5 tsp canola oil)
1/4 tsp cod liver oil
1/4 tsp kelp
20 to 100 IUs (l to 5 drops) vitamin E
This recipe yields 1,015 kcal (24 kcal/oz) and has 24 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal. Omega 6:Omega 3 ratio is 4: l.
Recipe #3: Mixed
3 lbs whole wheat macaroni, cooked
2 lbs chicken thighs, skin and separable fat removed
1 lb ground beef, 95% lean
1 lb broccoli stalks
1 lb red leaf lettuce
1/2 lb chicken liver
1/2 lb beef heart
1 can (3.5 oz) sardines
egg white from 1 large egg
4 tsp eggshell powder (or 6,000 mg calcium from other sources)
1 tsp kelp meal
200+ lUs (10+ drops) vitamin E
This recipe yields 4,206 kcal (28 kcal/oz) and has 24 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal. Omega 6:Omega 3 ratio is 5:1.
Recipe #4: Chicken with bones (raw)
6 oz chicken necks, skin and separable fat removed
1/2 lb chicken thighs, skin and separable fat removed
1 lb sweet potato, baked in skin
1/2 lb broccoli stalks
3 oz chicken liver
1/4 tsp iodized salt
40 to 100 IUs (2 to 5 drops) vitamin E
This recipe yields 995 kcal (24 kcal/oz) and has 24 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal. Omega 6:Omega 3 ratio is 7:1.
Preparation of These Recipes
The meat without bones can be fed either cooked or raw (meat with bone must always be fed raw). Green vegetables should be either lightly cooked 0r pureed in a food processor, juicer, or blender. Starchy carbs should always be cooked.
Homemade Dog Food Portions
A moderately active 50-pound dog will consume around 1,000 kcal daily. A 25-pound dog will need a little more than half as much (around 600 kcal), and a 100-pound dog a little less than twice as much (around 1,700 kcal). Really tiny dogs require more energy for their weight; a 5-pound dog will need around 175 kcal daily. The amount to feed will vary considerably depending your dog’s activity level and metabolism.
Substitutions
Brown says, “I use chicken thigh meat instead of breast meat because thigh meats are higher in the long chain omega-3s. That’s why, for the chicken recipe, I don’t need to add a specific DHA source. Breast meat cannot be substituted for the thigh meat in these recipes without upsetting the fat balance.” With chicken thighs and necks, remove the skin and separable fat, but don’t remove the fat within the muscle, which is high in omega-3s.
Beef heart can be substituted for lean ground beef, which is fine as far as fats are concerned, but the recipe would then be low in zinc. It would be okay to use beef heart one day a week, but if fed more often than that, a zinc supplement should be added.
Almost any green vegetables can be substituted for the ones listed.
Any form of calcium can be substituted for eggshell powder at the rate of 1,500 mg calcium per level tsp of eggshell powder. You can also interchange bone meal and eggshell, but you need to use more bone meal than eggshell because of the phosphorus in bone meal. Substitute 1.5 to 2 tsp bone meal (6 to 8 grams) per 1 tsp of eggshell powder, and vice versa.
A Simple Acute Pancreatitis Dog Food Diet
Spenser is a six-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi with a history of digestive problems. His owner is Diana Thompson of Fulton, California. Following Spenser’s attack of acute pancreatitis last December, Thompson’s veterinarian tried feeding Spenser Hill’s prescription canned i/d, but Spenser would not even try the food, and the vet didn’t know what else to offer him. Here is Thompson’s account of what she found worked for her dog:
While Spenser was hospitalized, with my vet’s approval, I offered him homemade dilute chicken broth, followed by slushy steamed potatoes mixed with a broth made from lean ground sirloin beef. Next I gave him some low-fat yogurt, then bits of boiled chicken breast. I fed him a couple of tablespoons of food several times a day.
Once Spenser came home from the hospital, he ate five or six small meals a day. Meals consisted of slushy potatoes, boiled chicken breast, and yogurt, a little less than 1/2 of a cup at a time. I also offered him 1/2 cup of diluted homemade chicken broth (25 percent broth, 75 percent water) every hour, as he wouldn’t drink plain water. The broth was made from the water I used to boil his chicken breast, with fat skimmed off.
I continued to feed small, frequent meals for the next few weeks, slowly increasing the size and decreasing the number of meals, until he was eating three meals a day. Five weeks after the attack, his blood tests were back to normal.
Today, Spenser continues to get three meals a day (even prior to the pancreatitis, he did better with more than two meals a day). For breakfast, I usually feed him 1 cup (4 oz) of cooked rice mixed with 1/2 cup (2 oz) ground round beef, cooked in a skillet. About one meal in five I will either substitute baked potato with skin removed for the rice, or combine rice or potato with two small scrambled eggs (21/4 oz) in place of the beef.
For dinner, Spenser usually eats two raw, skinless chicken necks (3 oz). If we are out of these, I’ll give him the same mixture he gets for breakfast. At bedtime, he gets a half meal consisting of 1/2 cup rice or potato with 1/4 cup cooked ground beef or one scrambled egg.
Spenser gets slices of raw carrots to chew, and a small beef marrow bone once every couple of weeks. He also mooches from my husband’s plate, getting small amounts of just about anything that is not high in fat. I use Liver Biscotti and a few tiny kibbles of dry cat food for training rewards.
Spenser’s coat and energy are great on this diet, and he’s back to his normal weight of 30 pounds. I think feeding a simple, home-cooked diet with only a few ingredients at a time helps him stay healthy. If his stools become loose, I know that potato helps to firm them up. Now that he’s been healthy for a year, I’m planning on reintroducing The Honest Kitchen’s Verve soon to give him more variety.
Mary Straus comments on this diet: At first glance, this diet looks like it might be high in fat due to the chicken necks and eggs, but both are fed in small amounts so that all of Spenser’s breakfast and dinner meals have a similar amount of fat, ranging from 6 to 8 grams of fat per meal. The overall diet is 25 percent meat and eggs, 25 percent raw meaty bones, and 50 percent carbs, and averages out to 32 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal (GFK).
I agree that adding more variety would be an improvement, particularly since Spenser is not getting any organ meat, nor a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. Note that there’s no need to add calcium to this diet, because it’s provided by the raw chicken necks that include bone.
A Cooked Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency Diet for Dogs
Marilyn Wilson of the northern Adirondack Mountains of New York has a seven-year-old German Shepherd Dog, Annie, who was diagnosed with EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) two years ago. Wilson feeds a home-cooked diet that works well for Annie, though many dogs with EPI do not do well with fiber or grains. Following is Wilson’s description of what she feeds Annie per meal, twice a day:
I start with 1/2 pound of cooked meat, rotating between chicken, pork, beef, venison, rabbit, turkey, and fish (canned salmon, jack mackerel, and sardines packed in water). I’ve recently begun using chicken and beef heart along with muscle meat. I usually feed one protein for a week, then switch to another, with canned fish fed once a week. I grind the cooked meat in a food processor for easier digestibility because of Annie’s EPI.
I add 3/4 cup of starchy carbohydrates, rotating between brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa, spelt, and whole-grain pasta. I overcook the grains for better digestibility. Sweet potatoes are baked and fed with the skins. I also include 1/8 cup of fresh, raw veggies, herbs, and fruits, such as celery, spinach, parsley, cilantro, carrots, green beans, other dark leafy greens, and berries. These are pureed in a food processor. Occasionally I include nuts (such as walnuts, but never macadamias, which are poisonous to dogs), or canned clams or oysters.
I add 1 teaspoon of oil, rotating among fish oil, olive oil, safflower oil, and butter, with the emphasis on fish oil. I feed about half a pound of raw, organic liver a week, spread out over multiple meals, as too much at one time leads to loose stools. Annie doesn’t do well with eggs or cottage cheese, so I leave those out of her diet, but I often add some plain, low-fat yogurt to meals. I also give her appropriate human leftovers. Each meal is mixed with a cup of warm, filtered water, along with Annie’s prescription digestive enzymes.
I use bone meal for calcium, and give a human multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. I also give cod liver oil that provides 130 IU vitamin D twice a day during the winter when there is little sunshine.
Once a day, I add 1 tsp psyllium for fiber, human probiotics, and a sublingual (under her tongue) vitamin B12, as dogs with EPI have trouble absorbing this vitamin from their intestines. Annie was dealing with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which is common in dogs with EPI) for a long time, and using these supplements helped her to recover.
I cook food once every two weeks. I remove the separable fat from all meat, and skin from chicken, then boil the meat. I’ll cook a 40-lb case of chicken breasts in batches, using the same water each time. I put that water in the refrigerator overnight, then skim the fat off and use the liquid to cook the grains and pasta. I also bake sweet potatoes in large batches, buying 40-lb crates when they are on sale. I freeze the cooked meat in meal-sized portions, and the carbs in gallon-sized freezer bags.
I watch for sales and stock up on foods when I can. I sometimes buy whole shoulders and rump roasts. These come cryopacked, easy to freeze until I have time to defrost and cook them. When the hunting season starts, I ask hunters for any leftover venison from last year. I make training treats out of beef liver, boiling thin slices for ten minutes, then cutting into tiny pieces and microwaving for 10 minutes or drying in the oven for an hour at 150 F. I refrigerate a week’s worth and freeze the rest. I do Annie’s training right after she eats so she will still have the digestive enzymes in her system.
Both of my dogs look gorgeous and have great energy on this diet. Annie weighs around 70 pounds now, up from 50 pounds when she was at her worst. When I first started home cooking I was overwhelmed, but I actually enjoy cooking for my dogs now that I have the process streamlined.
Mary’s comments:
This diet has lots of variety and good proportions of meat and carbohydrates. When using bone meal, give an amount that provides 1,000 to 1,200 mg calcium per pound of food.
A Diet for Dogs with Hyperlipidemia
Keely, a five-year-old Miniature Schnauzer, is owned by Gail Roper, of Tucson, Arizona. A year ago, Keely’s right eye turned white. Her ophthalmologist diagnosed her with corneal fat deposits due to hyperlipidemia, which is common in Miniature Schnauzers, and advised putting Keely on a low-fat diet. Within a month, the deposits were gone. Here is Roper’s report of what she feeds her dog now:
Keely is an agility dog who weighs 19 pounds. She gets a lot of her food during training, so her meals are small. For training, I use chicken breast and London broil (both cooked), and non-fat feta cheese, which she loves. I boil the beef, then cut it up into quarter-inch squares and freeze it. I’ve had trouble finding heart, but my grocery store said they could order it for me, so I will be using that as well.
Breakfast foods include non-fat yogurt and cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, sardines, 93 percent lean turkey bacon (microwaved), and chicken wingettes with as much skin removed as possible. She gets 1/3 of a strip of bacon once or twice a week, one sardine twice a week, 1/2 hard-boiled egg three times a week, a tablespoon of cottage cheese and yogurt three times a week, and chicken wingettes once a week.
Dinner foods include skinless chicken breast, 93 percent lean ground turkey, salmon, and just a little bit of liver three days a week. I boil the chicken and liver, but feed the turkey raw. The salmon is left over from our meals once a week. I make 1-lb packages by mixing 9 to 10 ounces of raw turkey with 5 to 6 ounces of cooked and shredded chicken, plus a little yogurt to help with the mixing, then add 1/2 tsp ground eggshell per pound of meat for calcium. I add an ounce or two of liver to every other package. I then freeze each package in quart-sized freezer bags, which lasts my two dogs a couple of days. I add warm water at mealtime to make a stew.
Daily supplements include 1,000 mg fish oil, 200 IU vitamin E, 1,000 mg vitamin C, and Animal Essentials’ Multi-Vitamin Herbal Supplement. Three times a week I give a vitamin B-50 complex, and twice a week she gets 30 mg CoQ10. I hide some supplements in her food, but use a little bit of canned food for the rest.
Treats are EVO grain-free dog treats, Merrick’s dried beef lung, and homemade chicken, beef, and turkey jerky. To make jerky, I boil the meat, then cut it into thin strips and bake on a cookie sheet at 250 F until dehydrated. For recreation, I give Keely raw beef bones with marrow removed.
Mary’s comments: Even a diet without carbs can be relatively low in fat, if you’re careful about what foods you use. The dinner meal has about 36 grams of fat per 1,000 kcal.
A Raw Dog Food Diet for Acute Pancreatitis
Rowdy is a Rhodesian Ridgeback who was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis for 10 days at age 12. His owner, Jerri Langlais of Brentwood, California, was afraid to return Rowdy to a raw diet after almost losing him. Instead, she fed him Royal Canin canned low-fat prescription food.
Rowdy was troubled by borborygmi (loud intestinal rumbling noises) after eating this food and seemed uncomfortable, switching positions frequently. After three weeks, he started rejecting the prescription diet, even with added fat-free organic chicken broth or low-fat cottage cheese. Langlais decided to switch back to a homemade diet, hoping it would help Rowdy return to normal. Here is her story:
I started with grilled skinless chicken breasts, combining half a breast with a cup of white rice that was cooked with lots of extra water and fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth. When he did well with that, I began feeding him Verve from The Honest Kitchen for one meal a day, then 1/2 cup green tripe every other day.
Next, I added beef heart, then beef kidney, and then raw chicken breast to his diet. I rotated between white rice, quinoa, and oatmeal, feeding these as half his diet. I then began feeding the chicken breast raw, with the bone, and giving one chicken wing. Each time I started something new, I would wait at least three days, watching for any signs of discomfort, before making any further changes.
Rowdy’s stomach noises and discomfort after eating gradually diminished, especially after I began feeding raw food. I gave him slippery elm tincture and chamomile tincture when this happened, which quieted them down within 10 minutes. Adding Primal Defense soil-based probiotics also really seemed to help.
Two months after his pancreatitis attack, Rowdy had emergency surgery for gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV, also known as bloat). Fortunately, it was caught in time and the surgery was successful. The good news was that the surgeon said Rowdy’s pancreas looked normal. I fed him chicken soup, using chicken breasts boiled with white rice and grated vegetables, for five days following surgery, but he was able to resume his regular diet once his incision healed.
Rowdy dropped from 82 to 71 pounds after his stay at the hospital, and he looked emaciated. He had difficulty gaining weight until I began feeding him 5 to 6 ounces of raw pancreas every day. I had tried giving digestive enzymes with pancreatin, but they made him gassy. As soon as I added the pancreas, his energy level increased markedly and he started gaining weight and strength. It took about four months for him to return to his normal weight.
Rowdy’s current diet consists of a large meal in the morning, usually around ¨ lb raw meaty bones. He does best with raw turkey necks. I also feed whole chicken parts with skin and fat removed, or Verve from The Honest Kitchen.
His evening meal is smaller so that he gets a total of about a pound of food a day. I rotate among green tripe, raw pancreas (once a week), beef kidney, and I’m starting to try ground beef. I no longer feed lamb, which is high in fat. Beef heart makes his stools loose if I feed too much, so I just give a small piece with his meal. Raw liver also gives him loose stool, so I feed small amounts of cooked liver as treats. If he acts hungry in the afternoon, I give him 1/4 cup of nonfat yogurt. I use commercial dog cookies that are 5 percent fat.
For supplements, he gets wild salmon oil, probiotics, and algae/spirulina. Rowdy’s energy level improved dramatically when I began adding salmon oil. He gets one tablespoon three times a week, though I started with just 1/2 teaspoon and increased gradually once I saw that it wasn’t causing him any problems. I was alternating salmon oil with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, but I’ve discontinued the coconut oil now that he’s back to his normal weight.
Rowdy turned 13 years old in October, and is doing really well. No more stomach sounds at all, and he plays more regularly now. The longer he is on raw, the better he seems to feel.
Mary’s comments:
There’s no reason that dogs can’t return to a raw diet after recovering from acute pancreatitis, as long as you’re careful not to feed too much fat. Most raw meaty bones are high in fat, though turkey necks have less than any other kind. Rowdy’s diet is high in bone, but that’s what works best for him.
A Mixed Diet for a Dog Who Wouldn’t Eat
Rocky is a 31/2-year-old Yorkie-Poodle mix who has had digestive problems all of his life. From puppyhod, he was a picky eater and had frequent diarrhea. His owner, Danielle Flood, who lives in Crofton, Maryland, tried feeding all kinds of foods, but nothing seemed to work, and within a few days, he would stop eating again.
One of the vets Flood consulted believes that Rocky has both IBD and chronic pancreatitis, and suggested feeding a home-cooked diet, but Rocky wasn’t interested in a mixture of chicken and rice. Rocky was down to 13 pounds of skin and bones when Flood, desperate to find a food that Rocky would eat and that wouldn’t make him sick, came across the dehydrated foods made by The Honest Kitchen. Flood’s first success was with Preference, its low-fat incomplete mix meant to be combined with meat and other fresh foods:
I mixed just under 1/4 cup of Preference with hot water and added half of a boiled chicken breast. To my surprise Rocky devoured his entire plate and for the first time was begging for more food! Better yet, he didn’t start refusing the food after a few days, as he has with everything else we’ve tried.
A few weeks later, Rocky is still happily eating Preference mixed with chicken. We have also tried cooked chicken livers and very lean beef sirloin, and he loves those as well. He likes it best when there is a little more meat than mix.
We continue to give Rocky 1/8 tsp acidophilus with each meal. He also gets a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.
Treat options are very limited for Rocky, but he does very well with “chicken breast wraps” made by Free Range Dog Chews, which we cut into tiny pieces. With our vet’s approval, we have also started giving him tiny pieces of lean raw meat (beef sirloin), which I was shocked to find he loves.
This is the longest I have ever been able to get Rocky to eat consistently. He is so excited at meal times, which is a first, actually diving into his plate to eat, and finishing completely on his own instead of my having to coax him.
We have discontinued giving Pepcid, as he no longer has an upset tummy. His stools are now normal, which they have never been before. He has gained weight, over a pound in the first two weeks, and is now up to 16 pounds and looks wonderful. Our vet, my husband, and I are delighted and relieved to see Rocky healthy, happy, eating, playing, and in no pain.
Mary’s comments: This is a good example of perseverance paying off. There are many different types of foods available; if kibble and canned don’t work for your dog, try something else. Pre-mixes are a great way to feed fresh foods, without having to worry about balancing a homemade diet.
HOMEMADE LOW-FAT DOG FOOD: OVERVIEW
1. Feed a low-fat diet if your dog has hyperlipidemia or digestive problems that improve when fed lower-fat foods.
2. Experiment with different types of diets, including dehydrated, refrigerated, and frozen commercial diets, if your dog doesn’t do well on kibble or canned foods.
3. Don’t be afraid to feed a homemade diet, either raw or cooked, as long as you use appropriate ingredients and proportions.
4. Use a commercial pre-mix to make feeding fresh foods easier, without worry about calcium and balance.
Mary Straus does research on canine health and nutrition topics as an avocation. She is the owner of the DogAware.com website. She lives in the Bay Area.
Actually, that headline should read “Allow the president-elect’s daughters to pick their own dog!” but it wouldn’t fit. I hate to sound grumpy in the holiday season, but I feel very protective of Malia and Sasha Obama and their wish for a dog.
I wish it wasn’t such a big story. Just about every dog magazine or discussion group I’ve seen has asked its readers to “Vote on the breed that Obama should get!” Others are polling on the question of “Shelter dog or purebred?” (As if there were no purebreds in shelters; wouldn’t that be nice!) Celebrity trainers have weighed in. Headlines proclaim “Top Dog Will Have to Watch Step!” and “Doo the Right Thing, Obama, Forget the Dog!” When it comes to dogs – unlike the country’s economic troubles or the wars we’re fighting – it seems that everyone has advice for the next First Family.
If the Obama family still doesn’t have a dog as you read these words, good! People should take their time when choosing the next member of their family.
And consider this: Can you imagine being a dog-crazy 10-year-old girl who has been wanting, dreaming about, and working toward getting a dog for years, and suddenly having every aspect of that personal dream broadcast on every news station and newspaper in the country? For a real change, I wish the press would allow the child and whatever dog she selects to have some privacy!
“Why get so riled up about the Obama dog story?” a colleague asked me. “It’s a great opportunity to educate people about dogs.” But I don’t agree. Did the country learn anything after then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s dog, Zeke, escaped from the Governor’s Mansion and got killed by a passing car? Heck, not even the Clinton family seemed to learn anything from that! In 2002, Buddy, the Clintons’ famous chocolate Labrador, escaped through an open door from the Clintons’ home in New York, and, yes, was killed by a car. Were there any headlines that urged dog owners to keep their doors and gates secure? I doubt it.
How about the more recent story about Barney Bush, the outgoing President’s dog, who was caught on film biting a reporter? (After watching the footage on YouTube, given the dog’s behavior and that of his handler, I doubt that it was Barney’s first bite; both the dog and handler were too calm afterward, as if this sort of thing had happened before!)
Did the press rush to educate the public about the body language clues that most dogs give – like Barney did – when they are uncomfortable enough to bite a person? (If you want to learn more about this, see “Stress Signals,” Whole Dog Journal June 2006.) Did they discuss the significance of bites that break the skin, as opposed to bites in which the dog merely pinches the skin? (See “Bite Me Not,” October 2005.) Did any of the mainstream media discuss the best way to greet a dog, or how to train a dog to greet people? (See “Four on the Floor,” May 2008.) All the headlines I saw joked about the bite; none were educational.
I hope the Obamas find a lovely dog for their daughters. To help the rest of you, we’ll plan articles on how to live with dogs if you are allergic to them (like Malia Obama is), and how to help children train the family dog.
I have had a number of dogs, but Otto is actually the very first dog that I’ve gotten as a co-owner. A former boyfriend paid the $40 or $50 that a Bodega, California, sheep rancher wanted for my heart/soul dog, Rupert, way back in 1989, but the puppy was a birthday present for me; Rupe was always my dog. He stuck close by my side through the breakup of that relationship and the next few, too. When Brian (the man who later became my husband) came on the scene, he and Rupert formed a bond, but still, Rupe was mine.
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Later, a summer of dog-sitting my sister Sue’s long-haired Chihuahua, Mokie, turned into a several-year stay. Mokie has since gone on to live with my sister Pam, who won’t ever give him up; Brian was more than happy when I did so. He tolerated Mokie, but never fully embraced the idea of a yappy little house-dog, no matter how smart and cute.
So, while Brian and I have shared a home since 1996, we have never truly shared full ownership of a dog, like we do now. I selected Otto from a shelter, but Brian was the one who gave the signal that it was time for us to get a dog. When Brian and I got married, I kept my own last name, but Brian wanted to be sure that Otto took his surname, and even made sure the dog’s full name (“Otto Maddock”) was engraved on his ID tag. And Brian has been a real champ about sharing dog-care duties with me.
This is all good news, and I’m happy – I really am. I love my husband, I love our dog, I love that all three of us spend a lot of time taking walks and runs and hikes and drives together. I love the fact that Brian and Otto interact a lot – all on their own. And I really enjoy that Brian and I frequently discuss Otto’s behavior, and compare notes on how to best teach Otto to be a well-behaved member of the family, with full indoor and outdoor privileges. But it’s not all sweetness; it’s not all easy.
Battle of the sexes? I’m just going to come out and say it: Guys do things differently. I know that’s sexist. Not all guys are alike. But my guy is. Brian respects my knowledge about dogs and dog training, and he often solicits my opinion about how we should deal with some naughty Otto behavior or another. But sometimes he just wings it – in a very guy way.
For example, way back in July, when Otto had been with us for only two weeks, Brian decided to take Otto for a bike ride. He wasn’t going far, just six blocks or so to drop off the bike at a repair shop for a tune-up, and then he walked Otto home. Never mind the fact that I was working hard to teach Otto polite leash walking skills, and didn’t want him to practice pulling or running ahead. Forget about the fact that Otto was still shy and mildly anxious about meeting strangers, and that I wanted to make certain that all of his social encounters were positive, and all of his outings were carefully controlled to keep them fear-free.
If Brian had asked me what I thought about him taking Otto with him, running alongside his bicycle to the bike shop, I would have been adamant: no way, not yet! And I’m sure that’s why Brian didn’t ask what I thought, he just did it.
It was over before I even knew they were gone. I heard the front gate clang, and there they were, apparently back from a little walk. Brian fed Otto a treat as he unsnapped the leash and turned the dog loose in the yard. Otto happily trotted over to his water to drink and then to greet me, tail wagging and eyes dancing. “Where’d you go?” I asked Brian. He answered casually, “We just took a little bike ride. And then I dropped my bike at the shop for a tune-up.”
I’m sure I gaped. And then caught myself. This was not just my dog; Otto is ours. Of course Brian has every right to take the dog out without consulting me. So I tried to modulate my worried inquiries. I really wanted to say, “Darn it, I hope you didn’t hurt him or scare him. And if you set back his training or socialization, I’m going to have a fit!” But what I actually said was, “How did it go? Was he okay?”
Brian and I have been married long enough that he knows exactly what I wasn’t saying; he could probably read my real thoughts as if they were printed on my forehead.
“It went fine!” said Brian. “Otto didn’t really get it at first, he was nervous about the bike, but I went slow and he caught on fine. I only ran over him once!”
This last thing was not true; it’s part of Brian’s humor. It’s also how he catches me mentally flat-footed about a dozen times a day. I know I’m overprotective of the dog and I know I tend to take things too literally. But you would think I would catch on at some point.
“WHAT?!” “I’m kidding!” Brian laughed. “Otto was fine. We went really slowly. And I brought him into the store with me – I didn’t leave him tied outside; I know you don’t approve of that. I gave him a bunch of treats along the way and we walked back. He’s fine!”
Different parenting styles Okay, so it’s never as bad as I think it is. As a point of fact, Otto accompanies us on a lot of bike rides now: on-leash in town and off-leash on trails. In both situations, he’s well-mannered and just brilliant.
And Brian does listen to my endless lectures about positive training and behavior modification. He’s seen me have a lot of success with dogs in the past; he sees it working with Otto.
But I also know that in his heart of hearts he thinks that I make things harder than they need to be. I’m sure he thinks that living with a dog should be simpler, and that I needlessly anticipate problems and overanalyze minute bits of Otto’s behavior. You don’t have to read a hundred books on dog training to own a dog! The problem is, I have read a hundred dog-training books. I’m hyper-aware of all the ways we can screw up the dog, make him fearful, and undermine his training and his confidence.
And it’s always something with this guy! He wants the dog to do guy things, like ride in the back of the truck. He opens our front gate to enable Otto to chase a feral cat (who lives under the abandoned house on the corner) across the street and back to that abandoned house. When they hike in our local wilderness areas, he lets Otto chase any jackrabbit that they happen to come across. He often gives Otto his plate after dinner so the dog can lick it clean. When he sees Otto doing something he doesn’t approve of, he is apt to bellow, “Otto! No!” I, of course, have issues with all of those things!
Recently, the three of us took an off-leash hike. Suddenly I noticed that Otto had stopped for a third time in a few hundred yards to pee. One of the things I have really enjoyed about walks with Otto is that he hardly ever urine-marks; he’s usually fixated on moving on and moving out, getting some serious mileage on the trail. And excessive urine-marking is one of my dog-walking pet peeves; I really like walking fast and hate being pulled to a halt every 50 feet. So I kept walking and called Otto, giving him a treat when he caught up to my side. And I said to Brian, “When you walk Otto on leash, please don’t let him stop to sniff and pee whenever he wants to ‘mark’ something.”
“Huh,” said Brian. “But that’s what we do!” Meaning himself and the dog and all the world’s male citizens, I suppose. “Brian! Come on!” I insisted. “I really don’t want him to turn into one of those dogs who stops constantly, and pees on every other tree we walk by.”
“What’s the point of taking the dog for a walk if he can’t smell stuff and pee on things?” Brian argued. “That’s what dogs like to do! It’s natural! You’re going to take all the fun out of going for walks!”
I argued back. “He can do all of that stuff when we’re in a place like this, and he’s off-leash. But when he’s on-leash, I want him to pay attention to me, not the bushes, and walk without dragging me all over the place. He still has plenty of opportunities to have fun!”
I’ll spare you the rest. Suffice to say we have different ideas about dogs and dog training, and even though I am the editor of The Whole Dog Journal, since we are equal partners in owning this dog, I don’t always get my way.
You’d think I’d be used to working out our dog-care and -training differences, since we have kids and we have spent more than a decade co-parenting. Ah, but our kids pre-date our relationship, and I’m here to tell you that there is a difference between parenting a child of your own, and one who isn’t yours and doesn’t live with you full-time. We take a respectful back seat when it comes to major decisions concerning each other’s kids, letting the biological parent call the shots. But Otto is, in effect, our first child together. And somehow this means we have a lot of arguing to do!
My son is going to be 17 years old soon, which means that long before I ever read dog books, I read books full of parenting advice. I read – and learned – that all parents have different ways of caring for their babies and children, and that all styles of loving, safe guidance are valid and important for the kids’ development. A protective new mom might be worried about turning over her precious baby to her partner, for what might even seem like less-effective care, but it’s best if each parent learns and uses his or her own special way with the infant. I know all this stuff. That doesn’t make it any easier to share my dog!
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Back to school Here is another thing that I know a lot about, but am not necessarily good at: dog training!
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve read a ton of great dog-training books. And I can’t tell you how many hundreds of hours I’ve spent in dog training classes, dog sports events, and dog parks combined. I’m usually carrying a camera, and I have taken tens of thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands – of photos of dogs and people with dogs. I’ve developed a really good eye for canine behavior, and a solid ability to accurately predict what a dog is going to do next. In training classes, I can often spot and “diagnose” a dog/human communication problem before the handler realizes that he’s got one, and even make a good guess at what the class instructor will tell the handler to do to correct the problem.
But taking a class as a participant is another matter! It turns out that no matter how much you know, you still have to practice the actual skill of dog training in order to have much success with it. (Of course, I’ve heard dozens of trainers say that, but now I’m really getting it!)
Practice, not just knowledge, is necessary because you have to develop and improve your timing; the quicker and more accurately you can “mark” the behavior you want your dog to repeat, the faster he’ll learn how to do it on cue. You have to practice the physical skills of retrieving treats (from your bait bag or pocket or wherever) and delivering them to your dog in a manner and location that doesn’t draw him out of the position you are trying to reward him for attaining.
You have to practice in order for your hands to learn to be conscious of the leash, and not unwittingly rise in the air, floating like magic until the leash is unaccountably taut again, through no fault of your dog. It even takes practice to learn to walk again! That is, to walk with your hands low and leash loose, while watching your dog carefully, occasionally reinforcing him for being in the right zone by your side, and steering him to where you want to go without the leash, using only your clear, confident body language.
Believe me, these things don’t just happen; they have to be practiced and practiced. And that practice has to happen at home and in front of an instructor who can bring your attention to all the ways you are doing something that prevents your dog from getting what the heck you are trying to teach him. Sometimes it’s simple. “Try giving the cue again, but this time, take your hand out of the bait bag before you give him the cue,” my trainer said to me one night. I had to look down. Well, shoot! How did my hand get in the bait bag? I had no memory of that. Of course Otto will have a hard time concentrating on the signal from my right hand if my left hand is busily indicating “Here’s another delicious hot dog, coming right up!”
Learning good timing and coordination is no small matter with a dog who has learned “the shaping game” so well. After he receives a click and treat for something twice, Otto almost always “gets” what it is that he did that earned the treat, and he delivers it again, pow! On the night when we first tried nose-targeting in class, he had successfully touched the target stick with his nose three times in a row, and then I got sloppy and clicked too soon. I was listening to the trainer talk to someone else, and as Otto leaned his nose toward the target, I inadvertently clicked at the exact moment he took the end of the target stick into his mouth. Well, there’s nothing for it; if you click, you have to give a treat. The click (or other reward marker, such as a verbal “Yes!”) is supposed to always predict a treat. I waited a full minute before I held out the target again, but Otto is a dogged dog, and he knew just what to do; he immediately mouthed the stick again.
Fortunately, because he is so good at shaping, it was easy enough to undo the damage. I simply didn’t click or give him a treat when he took the stick in his mouth, and instead gently pulled it away, paused a moment, and then presented it to him again. After the third time that he took the stick and failed to get a click, he tried a nose-touch again. Whew! Click and a bunch of treats! And just like that we are back on track.
I laugh and laugh at myself in class; I just can’t believe how dopey and uncoordinated I am in class sometimes. My trainer, Sarah Richardson (shameless plug: The Canine Connection in Chico, California, thecanineconnection.com), is a great sport and she laughs with me as I fumble with the leash, the treats, the clicker, and the dog.
I also laugh at the looks on Otto’s very comical and expressive face as he offers various behaviors, figuring out which position or motion will make me give him a treat. He doesn’t seem to be offended by my laughter; I think he knows it’s all in fun, taking a new language class together.
Nancy Kerns is Editor of Whole Dog Journal. She (and her husband) adopted Otto from a shelter on June 13, 2008.
Lucy, come!” I call, as I walk across our front lawn toward the old barn to feed the ponies housed there. Our Corgi beelines across the driveway, low to the ground, ears flat against her head, as she speeds to join me. My heart warms. There is nothing more gratifying to a dog owner than a canine companion who comes flying as fast as her paws can carry her in response to the recall cue. The recall response seems to come naturally to some dogs. For others, it’s a hard-won behavior. The Miller pack has some of both.
A solid recall is a valuable behavior for dogs of all sorts, including dogs who compete in sports, do therapy or assistance work, or provide the valuable service of being someone’s beloved companion. The better the recall, the safer he is when off-leash, and the more he can enjoy off-leash freedom with his human. One good off-leash hike is worth at least 10 on-leash walks around the block!
I’ve been blessed throughout much of my life with dogs who have had naturally solid recalls. Maybe it’s due to my predilection for herding breeds, who seem to have a genetically programmed tendency to stick close to their humans. But then there was Josie, the best dog ever, a terrier-mix who never once entertained a “run away” notion during her 15 years as a beloved member of our family.
Still, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that on our farm, Lucy the Corgi and Missy the Australian Shepherd can be off-leash at will, while Dubhy the Scottie and Bonnie the Scottie-mix require closer monitoring. The two terriers have outstanding “situational recalls.” They will both come beautifully sometimes, in some places – not surprisingly, the places we’ve practiced the most – but not with the generalized reliability that Missy and Lucy demonstrate.
I used to teach “Come” the old-fashioned way, in which you put your dog on a sit-stay, walk to the end of the leash, turn, face him, call him, and jerk on the leash. I look back on those days and wonder that we were able to teach recalls that way at all! What a negative association those dogs must have had with the come cue: “Come means run to my owner fast so I don’t get hurt.” Not to mention that to a dog, the body language of a direct frontal position is assertive and intimidating, a position that threatens, “You may be risking bodily harm if you approach.” Yikes! Now I know why Marty, my tricolor obedience competition Collie, always trotted to me with his head down when I called him. He always came, but he wasn’t happy about it. “Workmanlike,” I think the judges called it then.
My Bull Terrier took it one step further. As long as Caper was within the 30-40 foot distance that we practiced for show-ring recalls, her “Come” response was faster than a speeding bullet. But if she was beyond range of my normal leash or long-line correction distance, my “Come!” cue caused her to run as fast, or faster – in the opposite direction.
Teaching happy recalls
We’ve raised the standard since those obedience days some 30-plus years ago. Nowadays we want recalls that are not just reliable, but that are happy and fast as well. We want dogs who come because they want to and love it, not because they have to.
The good news is it’s not as hard as you might think. It just takes a commitment to regular practice, keeping it fun and happy.
• Start by “charging” your “Come” cue. This will be a word that will always mean to your dog: “Absolutely wonderful stuff is about to happen and you better get over here fast or you’re going to miss out!” Say “Come!” in a loud, cheerful voice and feed your dog a very high-value treat – chicken, steak, whatever he thinks is totally wonderful. Repeat many times, until your dog’s eyes light up when he hears the cue. Remember, he doesn’t have to “come” for this part – he’s just hanging out with you, eating treats.
Note: If you’ve already taught your dog that “Come!” sometimes means “bad stuff” then you’ve “poisoned” your cue, and you need to pick a different word. See “The Poisoned Cue” on the next page.
• Now, with your dog walking by your side on leash, say “Come!” loudly, in a cheerful tone of voice, and run away fast. You and your dog are running together, in the same direction. Run 10-15 feet. Reward him with a treat when you stop, or even better, a toy – play a quick game of “Tug” or toss a ball for him to catch. If you keep your rewards high-value and unpredictable, your dog will find your recalls irresistible. “I wonder what exciting thing she’s going to do next!”
By the way, “fast” is relevant. If you have a Labrador Retriever, “fast” is probably “fast as you can.” If you have a Yorkshire Terrier, “fast” is considerably slower. “Fast” should only be as fast as your dog can comfortably run.
• After several days of practicing the previous steps, try this: Wait until your dog is a few feet away from you (still on leash). Say “Come!” (cheerful and loud!) and run away fast. Run 10-15 feet and reward her at the end. Exciting and unpredictable! If your dog stays very close to you, drop a few yummy treats on the ground, walk to the end of the leash, wait until she’s eating the last one, then say “Come!” and run away. Practice this step for a week or more.
• When your dog consistently runs to you and with you when you say “Come!” and run, start a little off-leash work in a safely enclosed, low-distraction area, such as a hallway in your house, or large den. When he’s not right next to you and not deeply engrossed in some highly rewarding activity (such as gnawing on a bone), say “Come” (loud and cheerful) and run away. Remember to reinforce with an exciting, unpredictable toy or several treats when he comes.
• Avoid calling your dog when he’s not likely to come! At best, you’ll teach him “learned irrelevance” – that your recall cue is meaningless. At worst, you’ll get angrier and more insistent with your recall cue and poison it. Then you’ll have to pick a new cue and start over again. Make sure you have his attention before you call him. Say his name first and wait for him to look at you. If you call him and he doesn’t come, do something else: make a kissy noise or squeak a squeaky toy, and make sure you have his undivided attention before you call him again.
• You can practice longer distance recalls outside with your dog on a long line – a leash that is 20 to 50 feet long (not a retractable leash!). The long line keeps him safe and prevents him from leaving, but do not use it to pull him to you. Remember to turn and run away fast – at least at first. If he’s now flying to you happily every time, you can face him to greet him and reward him when he gets to you.
• When he reliably comes to you on the long-line in a safely enclosed location, start working on off-leash recalls – still in your safely enclosed location. Repeat the two previous steps. Take care not to call him if he’s involved in some highly rewarding activity such as eating deer poop in the garden. Always call him in a loud, cheerful tone, and use a high-value (and unpredictable) reward when he comes.
• When your dog will run happily to you even when you take only one or two running steps, you can add an automatic sit. This parks him when he gets to you.
If you’ve already done a good job of installing a “default sit” by reinforcing “sit” so much that he offers it easily and automatically, this part is easy. As he runs toward you, turn to face him, and when he gets to you pull your shoulders back, lift your chest and, if necessary, raise your hands to your chest. This body language will often elicit a sit. If he sits, reward him. If he doesn’t sit, reward him anyway for coming, and then ask for a sit.
• When your dog’s recall-sits happen easily and automatically, occasionally reach for his collar, gently, under the chin. Give him a yummy treat, and then toss a ball or toy for him to chase. This teaches him to happily accept you reaching for him after a recall for those occasions when you need to restrain him. We’ve all seen those dogs who dance just out of reach when their owners are trying to capture them. Don’t let that be your dog!
• Now you can add Round Robin Recalls with other family members and friends. Supply each player with a stock of toys and yummy treats. Take turns calling your dog and running away fast, with each person rewarding him each time they call him, with a high value (unpredictable and exciting) treat or fun game with a toy.
• As long as your friends and family are around to help with your training, ask them to create distractions while you call your dog. Small ones at first – standing between you and your dog; walking across his recall path; talking to him as he runs by – and then bigger ones: sitting on the ground between you and your dog; holding treats in their hands (but not letting him have them); holding a toy, eventually tossing it in the air and catching it as you call your dog – and finally, huge ones: running across his recall path; throwing a ball on the ground as he runs past; or walking across the yard with another dog on-leash.
What should you do if your dog fails to resist the temptation to investigate one of the distractions? First, try to stop him from engaging with the distraction (the other dog, a ball, another person with treats), put your dog back on-leash, and make a note to yourself: your dog is not yet ready for that level of distraction off-leash!
With your dog back on-leash, go back to work, but with a less-challenging distraction. Ask your distraction volunteers to stand farther away, or to be much less exuberant in their efforts to distract your dog. Also, increase the value of your reinforcer. Bring out the very top-level treats you possess, or the toy that your dog loves so much that it will overcome almost any distraction.
Your goals, as always, are to prevent the dog from being reinforced for behaviors you don’t want (failing to come to you); and to reinforce the behavior you do want (coming when called) with rewards that are very meaningful to your dog (not just kibble).
• If you and your dog have been successful at the previous steps, you can start working on generalizing your dog’s recalls in new locations. Each time you go to a new place, practice recalls on the long line until you’re sure he’s really reliable, even in the presence of big distractions. When you’re confident he’ll come every time you call, and as long as it’s legal and safe, you’re ready for long off-leash hikes in the hills – the best adventure and exercise any dog could ask for.
You may be surprised!
Sometimes our dogs are better than we think they are. While Dubhy’s and Bonnie’s recalls aren’t as solid as Lucy’s and Missy’s, I am sometimes reminded that they’re pretty decent after all. When we hike on the farm, I do let Bonnie off-leash. She bolts off after a flock of crows and I watch her disappear into a hayfield. Since our house in the middle of 80 acres surrounded by neighbors’ woods, I’m not too concerned that I can’t stop her in her tracks and that she ranges a little farther than I’m truly comfortable with. I give her several minutes of running time, then call her. Sure enough, her happy panting face soon peeks out from the tall grass, and we hike on.
Dubhy the Scottie stays on his long-line for our hikes and we practice safe recalls a lot. I know from experience that his recall is great unless he’s halfway down a groundhog hole where he might choose to stay for quite some time.
However, his recall worked like a charm this past July when he discovered a gate he could pry open in the backyard and he escaped into the darkness. When I called the dogs in from their final evening potty-break, Dubhy was nowhere to be found. I grabbed a flashlight and headed out to hunt for him in the woods, knowing how futile it would be to look for a small black dog in the dark, especially if he was down a groundhog hole. I anticipated sitting up all night, going out every 15 minutes to call him, hoping he’d stay out of trouble.
To my surprise and delight, I hadn’t even gotten to the woods when I heard doggie paws rustling through the horse pasture. It was Dubhy, speeding happily back to me in response to his “Come!” cue. Our long-line practice recalls on all our hikes paid off. I’m half-tempted to let him off-leash on our next farm-hike!
Thanks to Sandi Thompson, CPDT, owner of BravoPup! of Berkeley, California, for demonstrating these techniques. See “Resources,” page 24, for contact information.
Pat Miller, CPDT, is Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor. Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center. Pat is also author of The Power of Positive Dog Training; Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog; Positive Perspectives II: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog; and the brand-new Play with Your Dog. See “Resources,” page 24, for more information.
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.
