Diet and the Older Dog

By

-

November 2, 2006

We all want our dogs to enjoy the highest quality of life for the longest possible time. Proper diet, adequate exercise, weight control, appropriate supplements, and good veterinary care can all help our dogs remain active and vibrant well into their senior years.

Nutrition can make a significant difference in how long our dogs live, and how healthy they remain as they age, but there are a lot of misconceptions about what type of diet is best for older dogs.

Fundamental principles widely accepted in the past have been discredited by research done in the past 15 years. This research has revolutionized what we know about canine nutrition and profoundly changed our ideas about what older dogs need, not just to survive, but also to thrive and be as healthy as possible. It takes time, though, for this new knowledge to filter down into the veterinary, pet food, and pet owner communities.

Protein for senior dogs

Here’s a quiz: which of the following are the most important reasons for feeding a lower protein diet to senior dogs?

A: Senior dogs need less protein than younger adult dogs.

B: Lower protein diets help to protect the kidneys, especially in older dogs.

C: Replacing protein with carbohydrates helps to prevent older dogs, who may be less active, from gaining weight.

D: Carbohydrates help dogs being fed a lower calorie diet feel full, so they won’t be hungry and crave more food.

Answer: None of the above.

The truth is that there is no reason to feed a lower protein diet to senior dogs.

Whole Dog Journal - Dog Supplements — 288

While lower protein diets have traditionally been recommended for senior dogs based on assumptions such as those above, we now know that a protein-rich diet is especially important for older dogs, due to the fact that their systems are less efficient at metabolizing protein. Recent studies show that healthy older dogs may need as much as 50 percent more protein than their younger adult counterparts.

Protein is valuable for many reasons: it supports the immune system and the central nervous system, contributes to wound healing, helps build lean muscle, and is required for skin and coat health. When dogs are not fed enough protein, their bodies will break down their own muscle tissue to get what they need, leading to muscle wasting and other serious problems. Even mild protein deficiency can significantly impair immune function. Dogs who get too little protein are also more susceptible to stress, including stress from injury or infection.

But what about the kidneys? Doesn’t a low protein diet lessen the workload on the kidneys and help protect older dogs from kidney disease?

Again, the answer is no. Research done on dogs has now proved that protein does not damage kidneys, and feeding a lower protein diet does not protect them. In fact, senior dogs fed high protein diets live longer and are healthier than those that are fed low protein diets, even when one kidney has been removed. Studies conducted at the University of Georgia in the 1990s demonstrated that feeding protein levels of 34 percent (on a dry matter basis; see sidebar, below) to older dogs with chronic kidney failure and dogs with only one kidney caused no ill effects.

These same studies did raise the issue of whether low-protein diets may cause harm. The mortality rate was greater for the dogs fed 18 percent protein than for the ones fed 34 percent protein. Another study done on dogs with only one kidney showed that protein levels up to 45 percent of the diet had no harmful effect on the remaining kidney.

My own dog Nattie, who was diagnosed with early kidney disease at age 14, actually improved over the next two years on a diet that was more than 36 percent protein on a dry matter basis, before I lost her to problems unrelated to kidney failure.

More myths busted

The same is true of liver disease. Although low protein diets were recommended in the past for dogs with liver disease, recent research has found that protein is required for a healthy liver and a low protein diet can be harmful to dogs with liver disease. The only time that protein needs to be restricted is when hepatic encephalopathy (neurological problems caused by excess ammonia) is present.

So, if a lower protein diet is not necessary or desirable for health reasons, what about weight loss? Won’t lowering protein and increasing carbohydrates help prevent an older dog from becoming overweight? Doesn’t a diet high in carbs, such as grains and vegetables, help a dog on a low calorie diet feel fuller? Once again, the answer is no.

Protein and carbohydrates supply exactly the same number of calories: four calories per gram. Replacing protein with carbohydrates does nothing to reduce calories, but it does reduce nutrition.

Dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates, as even the veterinary textbooks admit. Diets high in carbohydrates contribute to inflammation, which increases arthritis pain, and can cause medical problems, including obesity and maldigestion.

It is far better to feed protein, which dogs efficiently convert into energy as well as muscle, than to feed carbohydrates, which are more likely to be converted to fat. In one study, 26 English Pointers ranging in age from 7 to 9 years were fed either 15 percent or 45 percent protein over several years. The dogs fed the high protein diet maintained a higher percentage of lean body mass and a lower percentage of body fat.

It is also likely that protein helps to satisfy the appetite more than carbohydrates do. Several studies done on people have shown that high protein diets reduce appetite, and a recent study found that meat, eggs, and cheese trigger a protein that makes us eat less.

While the pet food companies have added indigestible fiber to “bulk up” their foods so the dogs would supposedly feel fuller on a lower calorie diet, this turned out not to be true. A study done on dogs by the Waltham® Centre for Pet Nutrition concluded that the addition of soluble or insoluble fiber had no beneficial effects on satiety (feeling full), nor did they increase weight loss.

In Canine and Feline Nutrition, authors Case, Carey, and Hirakawa state, “Diets that contain increased levels of indigestible fiber and reduced levels of protein are not recommended for weight loss or for long-term weight maintenance of sedentary dogs and cats. If a diet is simultaneously high in indigestible fiber and low in fat and/or other nutrients, it is possible that long-term feeding may result in nutrient deficiencies in some animals.”

A family of Chows

Southern California resident Mindy Fenton, owner of the SeniorRawFeeding list on Yahoo, has raised several Chows, a breed that normally lives to between 10 and 12 years of age. Of Mindy’s last three dogs (none of whom were related to each other), two passed away while still extremely healthy at age 14 (one due to pet sitter negligence and the other to a fat embolism following surgery for a broken leg). The third dog, Maggie, lived to age 16 before passing away naturally on her own.

These were not dogs who were simply “existing” in their very advanced years; they had clear eyes, perfect hearing, and far more energy than many dogs half their age.

Whole Dog Journal - Healthy Older Dogs — 244

Even in their last years, these dogs had tremendous vitality, still racing around the house, jumping on furniture, and pulling to go faster during their walks. At the beach, Mindy and her husband could hardly keep up with the dogs, who would still run with the wind. People who met Mindy’s senior dogs could never guess their age. We should all be so lucky in our advanced years!

Mindy attributes her dogs’ ongoing vitality to feeding a high-protein raw diet. While we sometimes see dramatic changes in younger dogs who are switched to a raw diet, she believes the real payoff comes during a dog’s senior years after having been fed a raw food diet for many years. Common sense tells us that when a dog has eaten a lifetime of species-appropriate food, inherently his body is going to function better during those latter years.

Even dogs who are switched to a raw diet at an older age will benefit. Maggie, the Chow who lived to 16 years old, was nine years old when Mindy originally began feeding a raw diet. My oldest dog was 13 when I made the switch in 1998. While he lived only one more year, he became completely allergy-free during that year, after suffering from environmental allergies most of his life.

Mindy fed her senior dogs exactly the same diet as her young adult dogs. Specifically, her dogs eat a wide variety of proteins including chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, venison, buffalo, tripe, ostrich, quail, and duck. She use a mixture of ground raw food (meat, bones, and/or organ meat) and whole bones, extras such as eggs and dairy, plus organic vegetables that consist of no more than about 10 percent of the overall diet. Needless to say, her dogs eat a very high protein diet, which is consistent throughout their lives.

Weight control

All in all, there is nothing to be gained and much to lose by feeding a reduced protein diet to older dogs. Other dietary changes, however, may be beneficial. As dogs age, they usually become less active, and may put on weight if fed as many calories as they received when they were young.

It is important to keep older dogs lean and not let them get fat; overweight contributes to joint problems that may slow them down even more. This can create a vicious cycle, and make it difficult to return them to a normal weight.

To control weight, you can feed your dog less of his regular diet, or look for ways to reduce the fat if you are feeding a high-fat diet. Fat supplies 9 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories per gram supplied by protein and carbohydrates.

Limit the dietary fat to moderate levels for inactive dogs, but don’t feed a low-fat diet, which will make your dog feel hungry and crave more food. Fats are needed to maintain healthy skin and coat, support the immune system, and transport fat-soluble vitamins, so it is important not to reduce fat to levels that are too low.

Senior dogs who are underweight may benefit from a higher-fat diet, particularly because fat makes food more palatable, which may encourage them to eat more.

My dog, Piglet, will be 15 years old this month. She has severe arthritis in both elbows, which has slowed her considerably from her younger years, though she still takes one to two-hour walks every day. Piglet is fed a raw, home-prepared diet similar to what is described above. I continue to feed the same foods that I did when she was younger, but I have reduced the quantity that she gets, and I now remove visible fat from the meats and chicken backs and necks I feed her. I also remove some of the skin, which is where most of the fat in poultry is found.

I feed low-fat yogurt and cottage cheese rather than the whole milk varieties that I used to give her when she was younger. Her diet is not low fat, but it’s considerably lower than it was when she was more active and burned off calories more easily. In Piglet’s case, I use a scale to help me control her portion sizes. Due to her arthritis, it is critical that I keep her lean so that her bad joints don’t have to support any more weight than they must. I found that when I eyeballed her portions, she tended to gain weight. I purchased an inexpensive postal scale from an office supply store and now I weigh all of her food. The scale also makes it easy for me to adjust her diet if she begins to put on weight.

It is important when reducing the amount of food that you feed to do so gradually, in increments of about 10 percent or so every one to two weeks, until you begin to see slow, gradual weight loss. Once you reach that point, continue to feed the same amount as long as the weight loss continues, decreasing further only if your dog stops losing weight but still has some extra pounds to lose.

If you try to reduce the amount fed too quickly, the body will go into “starvation mode,” which changes the metabolism and makes weight loss more difficult. Slow and gradual weight loss is healthier.

If you feed a dry or canned diet, look for varieties that are moderately lower in fat and calories for your overweight or less active senior, while maintaining protein levels of at least 25 percent on a dry matter basis (see sidebar).

Unfortunately, the majority of senior and weight loss diets on the market are high in carbohydrates, sometimes using indigestible fiber such as peanut hulls to “bulk up” the food without adding calories. This does nothing to satisfy your dog’s appetite, despite the manufacturers’ claims to the contrary, and provides no nutrition; avoid those foods.

Exercise is also important for keeping your older dog fit and at the proper weight. Exercise should be increased gradually, as your dog becomes accustomed to it. Don’t push your dog past his comfort level, to the point where he is more tired or sore the next day. Two or three short walks may be easier than one long one. It’s a good idea to have your vet do a routine exam before beginning a diet or exercise regime.

Remember that weight gain can be related to physical problems such as hypothyroidism, Cushing’s disease (particularly if appetite has also increased), arthritis, and more. Your vet can help identify any conditions that may require treatment or restricted exercise.

Commercial senior diets

Happily, there are some newer senior diets on the market that do not feature decreased protein levels. This seems to be particularly true of large breed senior foods, probably because these formulas were developed more recently.

For example, Innova has two new senior dry foods: Large Breed Senior, which is 26 percent protein (as fed), and Senior Plus with 24 percent protein (as fed). Innova’s older product, Innova Senior, is 18 percent protein (as fed), which is much lower than I would recommend.

I see no reason why the higher-protein large breed formulas cannot be used for all dogs, as the main difference between them appears to be the addition of glucosamine for joint problems, which can benefit small dogs as well.

As with all commercial foods, there is a big difference between the high quality senior diets and the lower quality brands, which may have higher protein levels but are using poor quality plant proteins to achieve them. Avoid foods that contain corn gluten meal, a waste product from the human food industry that provides incomplete proteins for dogs. Its appearance, especially high on the ingredients list, is a hallmark of lower quality food.

High-quality foods have high percentages of protein from animal sources. If overweight is a concern, look for products that contain moderately reduced levels of fat – around 10 to 14 percent (as fed) for dry foods and 4 to 7 percent (as fed) for wet foods; less than that is excessively low in fat. For more tips on selecting high quality foods, see “Moist and (Probably) Delicious,” January 2006 and “The Right Stuff,” February 2006.

In addition to Innova Large Breed Senior and Senior Plus mentioned above, other senior diets that have higher percentages of animal proteins include Eagle Pack’s Holistic Select Senior Care Formula, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Senior Dog Formula (canned and dry), and Champion Petfoods’ ACANA Senior Light and Orijen Senior (made in Canada). Innova EVO now offers a high-protein, reduced fat version.

This is by no means a complete list of high-quality, commercial senior foods, and the number should increase as the knowledge that senior dogs benefit from high protein levels becomes more widespread. Remember that there is no need to feed a senior diet; it is fine to continue to feed foods approved for adult dogs or for all life stages.

Rather than trying to find a single, “best” food, choose at least two or three different brands, using different protein sources, and rotate between them every few weeks or every few months. Variety is always better than feeding any single food, as it helps to guarantee that all your dogs’ nutritional needs are met and is more interesting for your dogs.

It’s also a good idea to add some fresh foods to the diet, no matter what you feed, such as eggs and meat (raw or cooked), canned fish with bones (jack mackerel, pink salmon, sardines), dairy (yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese), and healthy leftovers. These foods can also be used to increase protein levels in a diet that might otherwise be too low.

Supplements for senior dogs

Some commercial senior diets, particularly those designed for large breeds, have added glucosamine for dogs with arthritis. This is fine, but if you have a dog with arthritis, it is best not to rely on diet to provide the glucosamine and related ingredients that can help to rebuild cartilage and restore synovial (joint) fluid.

Instead, give a glucosamine-type product separately. Start with high doses so that you will be able to tell whether or not your dog responds. If you see improvement, reduce the dosage to see if the improvement can be maintained on a lower dose.

If you don’t see any change within three to four weeks, try another supplement. Different dogs respond differently to the various supplements.

Some brands that have worked for dogs I know include Arthroplex from Thorne Research, Syn-Flex Glucosamine Complex, DVM Pharmaceuticals’ Synovi-G3, B-Naturals’ Flexile-Plus, and Liquid Health K-9 Glucosamine. You can also use products made for people that contain ingredients such as glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, green-lipped mussel (perna canaliculus), and hyaluronic acid. The use of manganese in the supplement may help with absorption.

Commercial senior diets also often contain antioxidants, which help to fight damage caused by free radicals and may reduce cancer risk. Antioxidants are provided by some vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C, E, and A, carotenoids such as beta-carotene, and selenium, found mainly in fruits and vegetables. Other antioxidants include CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid, lutein (which may help to prevent cataracts), and pycnogenol.

While adding antioxidants to commercial foods is a good idea, it is questionable how much value these additions to the foods offer. Dry foods in particular can have a very long shelf life, and lose some vitamins to degradation over time.

It may be more productive to add an antioxidant supplement, whether or not you feed a diet containing them. Suggested brands include Cell Advance 440 and 880 from Vetri-Science, and Small Animal Antioxidant from Thorne Research.

Herbs can also be helpful for senior dogs. Both of my seniors responded well to Animals’ Apawthecary’s Senior Blend, for example. Tasha’s Herbs also makes a Senior Support supplement. Invigor from The Honest Kitchen, Organic Green Alternative from Animal Essentials, and Genesis Resources Canine Antioxidant Formula are whole food herbal supplements that provide antioxidants and other benefits.

When is a dog a senior?

There is a chart in my vet’s office that compares dog ages to human ages. It shows the first year of a dog’s life being equivalent to 15 years in human terms, the second year equivalent to 24 years, and then they add 4 dog years to each human year after that.

This timeline is fairly accurate for a medium-sized dog, though larger breeds age faster and smaller dogs more slowly, once adulthood has been reached. The part that makes me chuckle is their division of the chart, showing middle age starting at 4 years (equivalent to a 32 year old person), and senior classification beginning at age 7 (equivalent to a 44 year old person). Can you imagine how you would feel if you were told you were a senior at age 44? A giant breed dog, such as a Great Dane, may be a senior at age 7, but many smaller breeds would still be in their prime of life.

So, when is a dog a senior? Is it when they start slowing down, becoming less active, sleeping more? While these things may come with age, they are often symptoms of conditions that can be treated and sometimes cured. Never assume that your dog is slowing down or sleeping more just because he’s getting older.

Arthritis may be decreasing his activity, but arthritis can be treated, both by natural methods that include weight loss and supplements, and by anti-inflammatory drugs when needed, so that your dog can continue to be active and enjoy his life as long as possible.

Sleeping more is often a symptom of pain and should never be dismissed as simply a sign of aging. Have regular vet checks done on older dogs, and discuss any changes you’ve noticed with your vet. If you see any sudden changes in activity level, sleeping habits, weight or appetite, etc., see your vet right away.

I’ve been surprised at how many signs of “aging” actually improve with proper care. Piglet’s arthritis has slowed her down, but I’ve continued to try different supplements and medications, and several have made a significant difference. For example, her lameness increased at age 11, but she improved when I added dl-phenylalanine (DLPA), an amino acid used to treat chronic pain. I use Thorne Veterinary’s Arthroplex, which includes DLPA, because it makes it easy to give the proper dosage for a medium-sized dog; you can use human DLPA supplements for larger dogs.

Piglet’s activity level also increased and she began taking much longer walks after she had a broken tooth removed. Teeth become more brittle with age, so even if your dog has never had problems with broken teeth before, you may find yourself dealing with them when your dog gets older.

We can’t stop our dogs from aging or make them live forever, but we can do a lot to ensure that they live the longest and healthiest lives possible. We can help our older dogs to enjoy their senior years with protein, exercise, weight control, supplements, and good veterinary care.

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 San Francisco Bay Area with her 14-year-old dog, Piglet.

Shots Fired: Professional veterinary associations call for a reduced canine vaccination protocol

By

Nancy Kerns

-

October 6, 2006

0

We’ve come a long way, baby – on paper, at least. In the past decade, the veterinary profession’s overall attitude toward vaccination has evolved to a point that can be tentatively termed progressive.

In 2002, the American Veterinary Medical Association issued a policy statement that urged veterinarians to “customize” vaccine protocols for individual patients, since there is “inadequate data to scientifically determine a single best protocol” for initial or repeat vaccinations.

A year later, the prestigious American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) released its landmark canine vaccination guidelines, which were updated in 2006. The AAHA guidelines separate vaccines into different categories – core, noncore, and not recommended at all and suggest that veterinarians revaccinate for core diseases such as parvovirus and distemper no more than every three years.

Most veterinary universities have followed suit, teaching their graduates that, depending on the disease in question, yearly vaccines are now the exception, not the rule.

But while the idea of “annual shots” should be as antiquated as wringer washing machines, it is alive and well among some veterinarians who either have not taken the time to understand the new paradigm – or have chosen to ignore it.

“We haven’t gone anywhere in some cases, and I think there are several reasons,” says veterinary immunologist W. Jean Dodds of Santa Monica, California. One of them is simply inertia.

“The veterinary profession has been convinced for so long that vaccines were essential,” and that sort of thinking is hard to change, particularly when vaccine labels can be misleading, says Dr. Dodds. “I think veterinarians assume the label [identifying a given vaccine as a one-year product] is a requirement, and interpret it more strongly than the vaccine companies intended,” Dodds says. “And the companies don’t try to dissuade them because that’s what the USDA has told them to say.”

Bureaucracy aside, many veterinarians and veterinary practice managers may be concerned that abandoning annual vaccinations will hurt their practices’ bottom line. Bob Rogers, a veterinarian and vaccination critic from Spring, Texas, refutes that fear. When he switched to a reduced vaccination schedule, “my vaccine income dropped 7 percent, but my overall income went up 20 percent. When people find out they don’t have to spend a whole lot on vaccines, they spend that money on something the dog really needs, like teeth cleaning.”

One impetus for reevaluating vaccine protocols has been concern over adverse vaccine reactions, both acute and chronic. All veterinarians recognize signs such as anaphylactic shock (a severe allergic reaction), or flu-like symptoms such as low-grade fever, malaise, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. But they may not make the connection between vaccinations and temperament changes (particularly after the rabies vaccine), seizures, autoimmune diseases such as hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia (reduced platelet count), or hypertrophic osteodystrophy (severe lameness in young growing dogs), which may surface weeks or months after vaccination.

And many owners are equally oblivious. “If an owner sees her dog hiding under the table after a vaccination, or the dog doesn’t want to be touched, they don’t call their vet with that information,” Dr. Dodds says, but instead might dismiss it as the dog having an “off” day.

Dr. Dodds notes that some advocates for minimal vaccination have done more harm than good by overstating the issue, implying that virtually everything is caused by what’s in that syringe.

“Many environmental challenges can cause problems, and vaccines are just one of them,” says Dodds, ticking off other possible suspects, such as topical flea and tick products, and environmental pesticides and insecticides.

Personal experience is a powerful motivator, and some vets insist on vaccinating annually for diseases such as parvo because they remember the widespread fatalities when the disease was prevalent decades ago.

Dr. Ron Schultz, chair and professor of pathobiological science at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, notes that the flip side is true, too: Veterinarians whose own animals experience vaccine reactions are reluctant to reflexively vaccinate.

“Boy, are they ever believers,” says Dr. Schultz, who was a member of the AAHA task force that revised the 2006 guidelines. “As I often remind them, ‘When it was your animal, you didn’t care whether this occurs in one out of 10,000 animals, did you? It was your one.’”

Core vaccines
The 2006 AAHA canine vaccination guidelines single out four vaccines that are “musts” for every puppy: canine hepatitis (the adenovirus-2 vaccine), distemper, parvovirus, and rabies.

The guidelines recommend that the first three vaccines in that list be administered in a three-part puppy series, boostered at one year, then readministered no more than every three years.

Schultz notes that “no more than” could also be interpreted to mean “never again.” He points to studies that show that dogs properly immunized in puppyhood maintain lifetime immunity to canine hepatitis, distemper, and parvovirus.

“Every three years is probably a completely arbitrary number,” Dr. Rogers adds. “I’ve told my clients that after one year of age they don’t need to vaccinate anymore.” Rogers estimates that in nine years, he has used this protocol on some 30,000 dogs – “and I haven’t had one vaccine ‘break’ [failure].”

But he has seen a welcome decrease in adverse reactions. Dr. Rogers says he used to see at least one animal a week suffering from an adverse reaction to a vaccination. Now he’s down to three a year – almost always Dachshunds, a breed that he finds particularly vulnerable to vaccine reactions.

Other at-risks breeds include Akitas, Weimaraners, Standard Poodles, American Eskimo Dogs, Old English Sheepdogs, Irish Setters, Kerry Blue Terriers, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Even if a veterinarian is reluctant to stop vaccinating for these core diseases after the one-year booster, Schultz says that “every one of the major vaccine manufacturers has demonstrated that their current product, or one they’ve had for quite some time, has a minimum duration of immunity for three years,” regardless of what the label says.

“Only one company actually did it in a way that allows them to put ‘three year’ on the label according to USDA requirements, but it’s meaningless,” he says. In other words, parvo, distemper and canine hepatitis vaccines labeled “one year” have been proven to be effective for at least three.

Schultz also reminds that “other than rabies, there is no requirement to vaccinate with anything. And there’s no legal implication to any vaccine label with regard to duration of immunity, except for rabies.”

Why rabies is different
As those caveats suggest, the fourth core vaccine, rabies, offers far less wiggle room, because its administration is dictated by state laws – laws that were put into place to prevent this zoonotic disease from being transmitted to humans (see sidebar, left). An annual rabies “shot” was once the norm; in recent years, most states have changed their laws to allow a three-year vaccine, though there are a few stragglers that stick to annual rabies vaccination requirements.

The one-year and three-year vaccines on the market are actually the same product, capable of conveying the same duration of immune response. But vaccines that are labeled “one year” satisfy the legal requirement for rabies vaccination for only that long. Legally, a dog who receives a one-year vaccine must get vaccinated again a year later, even if he lives in a state with a three-year law, and even if titer tests indicate that he’s protected against rabies.

To defend your dog against needless (and in the opinion of holistic veterinarians, potentially harmful) overvaccination against rabies, it’s imperative that you know the rabies requirement in your state. If you live in a state with a three-year law, make sure your veterinarian administers a three-year vaccine.

Also be sure to check your records; in an effort to increase client compliance, some veterinarians mail out rabies revaccination reminders after only two years to avoid a lapse in the three-year coverage that a given state law mandates.

Dr. Dodds notes that the rabies vaccine causes the greatest number of adverse reactions. As a result, owners of chronically ill dogs, or those who have had previous vaccine reactions, might want to consider applying for a rabies waiver.

To obtain a rabies waiver, the dog’s primary-care veterinarian must write a letter indicating why vaccinating the dog in question would be an unsound medical decision based on his health status. Though a rabies titer is not required – and can be expensive, from $75 to $150, depending on your location – Dodds nonetheless recommends doing one.

“Let’s say down the road there is an allegation that your dog bit someone,” she says. Even if the owner has obtained a rabies waiver, it does not exempt the dog from the possibility of being euthanized so that his brain can be examined – the only definitive diagnostic test for rabies. “If you’ve got the titer as proof that the animal has immunity, then the animal won’t be automatically impounded or destroyed.”

Dodds notes that some municipalities, such as Los Angeles County, have decided not to accept rabies waivers. Others will tell callers that they do not, but on receipt of the vet’s letter and titer the responsible public health official will review the case and may issue one anyway.

Because relatively few people request them, rabies waivers are a murky area that municipalities handle on a case-by-case basis. But Dr. Dodds worries about those owners who apply for them even though they do not have a sick dog; instead, they simply believe that the rabies vaccine has a longer duration of immunity than three years, and that the law is requiring them to overvaccinate.

While Dodds might agree in theory (the proposed rabies challenge study she and others are actively pursuing hopes to prove just that), she can’t condone the practice. As their numbers grow, such noncompliant owners increase the risk of triggering legislation that might bar the practice of waivers altogether – and in the process force their ill and immunocompromised counterparts to submit to vaccinations that could make them sicker, or worse.

Noncore vaccines
While the AAHA guidelines do not consider core vaccinations negotiable, noncore vaccine are, with their use determined by a dog’s risk factors.

One looming consideration is geography: In many parts of the country, leptospirosis and Lyme disease are simply not prevalent. But in areas where these “noncore” diseases are endemic, owners are faced with tough decisions about less-than-perfect vaccines.

For example, leptospirosis, which is most often spread through contact with the urine of an infected animal, has 200 different serovars, or strains. Only four strains (icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, grippo-typhosa, and pomona) are covered by vaccines, which themselves are notoriously shortlived.

“The antibodies only last a short time n the body; they can be measured only by titers for one to two months, and [the titer levels] are low in the first place,” Dodds says. The vaccine manufacturers, in turn, maintain that a vaccinated dog is protected by its cell-mediated immunity, which cannot be measured by titers.

For dogs at high risk for leptospirosis, which has diffuse symptoms and can cause liver and kidney failure if caught too late, Schultz recommends using the four-strain vaccine instead of the two-strain product (which addresses the icterohaemorrhagiae and canicola serovars), first at 14 to 15 weeks (but not before 12 weeks), repeated two to four weeks later. Subsequent doses are administered at 6 months and one year, and thereafter every six to nine months.

Even so, Schultz notes, “I find there’s still a fairly high percentage of dogs that do not respond to the vaccine.” Plus, of all the bacterin vaccines, leptospirosis causes the most adverse reactions. (For this reason, many holistic veterinarianss administer it separately and weeks apart from other vaccines, a practice they recommend with the rabies vaccine as well.)

The pros and cons of the Lyme vaccine are not any easier to navigate. In some areas where the disease is endemic, Schultz says practitioners are no longer vaccinating because they believe they are seeing as many vaccinated dogs with clinical disease as unvaccinated ones.

Instead of administering the vaccine, some owners are choosing to treat their dogs prophylactically with antibiotics if they suspect a tick bite. Regardless, good tick preventive is key, whether it’s in the form of an insect-repelling herbal spray or a systemic flea and tick product, though the more holistically oriented tend to avoid the latter because it exposes a dog’s body to still more chemicals.

If owners choose to vaccinate for Lyme, both Dodds and Schultz recommend using the recombinant vaccine instead of the older bacterin one, which can cause symptoms similar to the disease itself, such as lameness and joint pain.

The recombinant vaccine does not contain the additional antigens that are in the bacterin vaccine, but instead contains only outer surface protein A, the antigen that inactivates the tick when it takes its blood meal, which is the point at which the disease is transmitted.

As a rule of thumb, Schultz does not recommend the vaccine for dogs living in an area where the rate of infection is less than 10 percent. “Greater than 50 or 60 percent, then give it some serious thought.”

In the case of both Lyme and leptospirosis, which can be treated with early invention and antibiotic therapy, Dodds says that involved, observant owners who note any early and sometimes vague symptoms can literally save their dogs’ lives.

The condition commonly known as “kennel cough” is addressed by other noncore vaccines, including canine para-influenza virus (notated as CPiV or simply called parainfluenza) and Bordetella.

Unfortunately, few dog owners understand that kennel cough is a complex syndrome rather than an individual disease attributable to one specific pathogen. In addition to a buffet line of various viruses and bacteria (including the two mentioned above), factors that make a dog susceptible to kennel cough include stress, humidity, gasses such as ammonia from unhygienic environments, and nitrous oxide from exhaust fumes. That’s why a dog who received a parainfluenza or Bordetella vaccine may well still contract kennel cough.

Dogs who get out a lot, such as those who visit dog parks or dog shows, will be regularly exposed to many factors that can cause kennel cough. These exposures, in essence, will “vaccinate” the dog naturally, as his immune system learns to recognize and mount a defense against the ubiquitous pathogens.

In contrast, dogs who lead highly sheltered, nonsocial lives may become quite ill in the rare event that they are exposed to the kennel-cough pathogens. “If any dog needed a kennel-cough vaccine, it would be one that’s never around another animal,” says Dr. Schultz. If such a dog had to be kenneled unexpectedly, a dose of the intranasal Bordetella vaccine might not prevent the disease entirely, but it could mitigate its severity, which is better than nothing.

According to Dr. Schultz, when properly immunized dogs are exposed to infectious material of those “core” diseases, he is confident they will not contract the disease. He can’t say the same for leptospirosis, Lyme disease, or kennel cough; the existing vaccines are just not that effective or long-lived. Dr. Schultz concludes about noncore vaccines, “No matter what you do, there’s going to be a risk. And that’s what we really have to measure.”

Not recommended vaccines
AAHA has various reasons for putting a vaccine in its “not recommended” category. One is simply a “lack of experience and paucity of field validation of efficacy,” which is the case with the vaccines for rattlesnake bites and periodontal disease.

The giardia vaccine is on the “no” list because it does not prevent a dog from getting infected – only from shedding the disease. Similarly, the adenovirus-1 vaccine earns the red light because it can cause “blue eye,” a clouding of the cornea, and because the core adenovirus-2 vaccine already protects against it.

In the case of coronavirus, the AAHA task force made the point that the disease is simply not prevalent enough to warrant vaccinating for it.

“People don’t have a clue that coronavirus doesn’t make dogs sick,” says Dr. Rogers, noting that puppies less than six weeks old develop a loose orangey stool that resolves on its own within 24 hours. “Puppies over six weeks of age are immune to it whether vaccinated or not.”

Indeed, he says, vaccine companies have had difficulty testing the vaccine on sick dogs because none can manage to contract it. But the vaccine can be licensed by the USDA because it does prompt a dog’s body to produce coronavirus antibodies.

Managing your veterinarian
Even if your veterinarian continues to recommend annual vaccines, as a client and consumer you have the right to request a different protocol. Depending on your approach, the veterinarian might be more willing to modify his or her suggested vaccine schedule. But some can prove to be stubbornly entrenched in their position on vaccination.

Schultz’s own secretary was fortunate when she was unable to get past her veterinarian’s insistence on revaccinating her dogs. In frustration, she handed the phone to Dr. Schultz, who has the same sort of name recognition in veterinary circles as Tom Cruise does in most American households. After a brief exchange, Schultz returned the receiver to his secretary, who now found the vet more than willing to accede to her request for a minimal vaccine schedule.

For those who cannot put one of the world’s foremost veterinary immunologists on the horn with their vet, Schultz recommends the next best thing: printing out the AAHA canine vaccination guidelines, highlighting the pertinent information, and bringing them along to the appointment.

“It really works; it helps,” he says. “AAHA is an esteemed organization that sets the highest standards for small-animal practice. Here’s what its expert panel recommends. How do you argue with that?”

The fact that you might have to argue – or at least debate – with your veterinarian to arrive at an appropriate vaccine schedule might be regrettable, but it’s hardly unexpected, given the very human resistance to change. “It’s an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one,” Schultz concludes. “Nothing is revolutionary in medicine.”

Donations to the Rabies Challenge Fund can be sent care of Hemopet, 11330 Markon Drive, Garden Grove, CA 92841; for info, see dogsadversereactions.com/rabieschallenge.html.

Denise Flaim has two raw-fed Rhodesian Ridgebacks. The New Yorker is the author of The Holistic Dog Book: Canine Care for the 21st Century (Howell, $17). See “Resources” for purchasing information.

How to Manage a Multi-Dog Household

By

Nancy Kerns

-

October 6, 2006

0

More than 30 years ago, I had an “only dog.” Marty was a tricolor Collie – the first dog I owned as an adult. We were inseparable. I had the good fortune to work at a stable where Marty could accompany me every day. I took him to obedience classes and started showing in AKC competitions, where my furry boy was a star – earning his Companion Dog degree in three shows with scores of 194, 195.5, and 196 out of a possible perfect score of 200 points. Then I entered into my first serious adult relationship, with a man who had a St. Bernard/Collie mix. The two dogs quickly became fast friends, and we soon added an Irish Setter pup to our pack and I learned how to manage a multi-dog household.

Since that time I’ve had as many as five, never fewer than two, and usually at least three or four dogs sharing my home and life. It’s hard for me to even imagine having only one canine companion in our home. I’m a confirmed multi-dog person.

But not everyone finds it easy to adjust to having more than just one canine companion in the house – and the bed, the car, the vet’s office, and so on! There are definitely things to consider before adding a second dog (or more) to your “pack,” and ways to make living in a multi-dog household more manageable.

Things to consider
When asked whether it’s a good idea to add a second dog to a family, my answer is always an unequivocal “It depends!” If you’re adding a second dog for the right reasons and your first dog gets along with others, it may be a fine idea. Here are some things to consider when you’re thinking of adding a second, third, fourth (or more) dog to your pack:

Are you getting the dog because you really want another? Despite the charming concept of “getting a dog for your dog,” you really should get another dog only for yourself. Getting a second dog isn’t likely to fix your first dog’s behavior problems, and may compound them. Besides, if you’re just getting a second as a companion for your first, you may not be as committed to keeping him if problems arise. And that’s not fair to dog number two!
Are you ready for changes in your relationship with dog number one? Not that you’ll love her any less, but every time you add another dog it decreases the amount of one-on-one time you have to share with each. That inevitably changes the relationship to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the dogs, and depending on you. With five dogs in our home currently, it’s impossible for me to have the same relationship with each of them that I had with Marty 30-plus years ago. That doesn’t necessarily mean better or worse – just different.
Does your dog enjoy, or at least tolerate, the company of other dogs? If not, you’re in for a serious challenge if you bring another canine into your life. I have clients who have resigned themselves to years of future management because one of their dogs is willing and able to do serious damage to their other(s). In some cases they knew this in advance and wanted the second dog anyway. In others, they found out after the new dog came home that the first dog had no wish to share his home.If you don’t know how your dog will be with another, you might borrow one from a friend for a week or two and see how it goes, before making a lifetime commitment to another canine.
Do you have the resources to properly care for another dog? Not just money – which is certainly a consideration – but time, energy, willingness, and space? One more dog doesn’t seem like much at the time, but sometimes the stars align to throw you several curve balls at once.This happened to us recently. Our most geriatric pack member (Tucker) was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and shortly afterward, our Corgi, Lucy, took an unwise leap off a stone wall and seriously injured two of her legs. This has added up to thousands of dollars in vet bills, as well as numerous three-hour (round trip) visits to cancer and orthopedic specialists. And this isn’t even counting all the annual well-pet checks that total several hundred dollars.
Are you being pressured? A friend or family member has to rehome their dog and is begging you to take him. You feel bad about leaving your dog home alone while you’re at work all day. Your kids are pestering you for a new puppy. A shelter or rescue group has contacted you about a dog who faces euthanasia if you don’t take her.Only let yourself be pressured into adopting another dog if all the other factors are right: you really want another dog, and it’s the right thing to do for all your family members and circumstances. When you do decide that another dog is in the cards, make a wise choice. It’s important to evaluate your own dog’s tem-perament and select a new family member who’s a good match for her personality as well as your own. This will make the transition much less stressful – and ultimately much more successful – for all concerned.

When the deed is done

Congratulations! As the proud owner of two or more dogs, you’re an official member of the “Multi-Dog Household” Club. You now have a pack to manage.

Pack management is as much an art as a skill. If you’ve always had multiple dogs, never had problems, and never thought twice about it, then good for you! You are one of the lucky ones – a natural. You’ve probably instinctively done all the right things to help your pack be well-adjusted. Many dog owners aren’t so fortunate.

Pack problems run the continuum from simple delinquent behaviors and poor manners to serious intra-pack aggression. While many owners tolerate the former, group bad manners can be the precursor to aggression. This is far more easily addressed before scuffles escalate to bloodletting. The basic tenet for a successful multi-dog household is simple: The more dogs in the home, the more “in charge” the human pack member(s) must be.

By the way, this does not mean you need to be demanding, forceful, or “dominant” in any way. You don’t need to eat first, go through doors first, roll your dogs on the ground, or any of the other ridiculous exercises that get carried out in the name of “dog training.”

A good leader doesn’t need to be violent; she simply needs to create an environment where it is easy and rewarding for her followers to comply with her wishes, and difficult for them to make mistakes. A successful leader/owner also controls valuable resources, and shares them with her dogs generously and judiciously. Appropriate behaviors earn rewards. Inappropriate behaviors do not. If resources are consistently awarded on the basis of desirable behaviors, and withheld in the presence of undesirable behaviors, desirable behaviors will increase, and the undesirable ones will slowly disappear. (See “Be a Benevolent Leader,” WDJ August 2003, for more information about leading your pack.)

The basic “in charge” tenet for pack management is closely followed by this corollary: The more dogs in your household, the better-trained and better-behaved the canine members of your pack must be.

If you have more than one dog, you’ll want to take each one through a complete, positive good manners training program, working with each dog individually. As they learn their lessons, train in twos, threes, and more, until they respond reliably to your cues in the presence of all pack members.

The other key to peaceful pack life is management. If you put good management programs in place early, you can sidestep potential pack problems. If you’re already facing pack behavior challenges, start by identifying the key areas of conflict, so you can figure out how to put a management plan in place to keep peace in the pack while you work on long-term training and modification solutions. Modification of serious intra-pack behaviors will probably require the assistance of a qualified, positive dog behavior professional.

Some of the skills and tools you’ll need for pack-management success include:

Baby gates. Gates are a super-valuable tool for managing housetraining (keeping pups and young dogs in areas where they can’t ruin a rug if they have an “accident”), puppy teething (ditto), doggie dinnertime (especially if meals are a guarding trigger for your dog), and for keeping dogs separate (if necessary) during the social adjustment period after you bring your new dog home. (For more information on choosing and using gates in your home, see “A Gated Community,” July 2002.)

Crates. Bedtime can be a perilous time when your dog feels he has to compete for the comfiest sleeping spot closest to you. Having the dogs sleep in your room, but in appropriately sized, well-cushioned crates, complete with a food-stuffed Kong or other appropriate chew toys, can help you keep the peace – and a piece of the mattress real estate! (See “Crate Difficulties,” May 2005, for more information on introducing your dog to sleeping in a crate.)
An elaborately managed feeding time. Properly planned and executed, mealtimes can be an ideal place to work on your dog’s (or dogs’) good manners and self-control; deference to you, the “pack” leader; and modifying resource-guarding behavior. The expectation is that each dog waits quietly (sitting, ideally) in his regular supper spot for you to prepare and serve his food, finishes it without guarding it from others, and is dismissed from the area without trying to eat anyone else’s meal. Again, routine and structure are your allies here. (See “The Bowl Game,” July 2005, for detailed information on teaching your dog/s good manners at mealtime.)
Knowledge about stress signals. Contrary to what the newspaper headlines often say, dogs rarely “attack without warning.” Experienced observers of canine body language can identify dozens of ways that dogs will telegraph their fear, anxiety, or discomfort with other dogs (or people).When you’ve added a new dog to your household, be alert to physical cues such as diminished appetite, gastrointestinal distress, decreased responsiveness to training cues, intolerance to being handled or groomed, or any displays of aggression, including “whale eye,” showing teeth, growling, snapping, or increased resource-guarding behavior. These may be indicators that your dog is stressed and feeling backed into a corner.Before your dog “loses it” and bites somebody, take appropriate steps now to defuse the situation, and give your stressed dog a little more physical space or a break from whatever is bothering him. (See “Stress Signals,” June 2006, for more information about recognizing signs of stress in your dog.)
Knowledge about resource-guarding. It’s common for dogs to defend their food from other dogs, but edible items are not the only things that dogs will keep from all potential rivals. Some dogs will defend their “ownership” of toys, a favored place to sleep, or the water bowl. Behaviorists and dog trainers call these protective behaviors “resource-guarding.”A dog who defends his food from other dogs is exhibiting a perfectly normal and appropriate canine behavior. Resource-guarding is far less acceptable, of course, whenever it’s directed toward us, or when the dog starts World War III over any of his coveted possessions. For our own safety, we want dogs to understand that everything they have is really ours, to use ourselves or to parcel out to whatever dog we choose.Fortunately, mild resource-guarding behavior can be managed, and dogs can be desensitized to the presence of other dogs or people around his food bowl. (A thorough description of how to accomplish this can be seen in “Thanks for Sharing,” September 2001.) If your dog exhibits severe resource-guarding, you would be wise to consult a qualified, positive dog behavior professional.

Putting it all into practice

Here’s a description of how my husband and I live with our current five-pack, using all the tools and principles of positive training and management described above. The cast of characters includes:

• Katie, a 14-year-old, 45-pound, Aus-tralian Kelpie with arthritis and hearing loss. A typical herding dog control-freak, Katie cheer-leads when Lucy and Bonnie play, lifts lip, snarls, sometimes snaps when others invade her space. She has high-ranking aspirations, but is not an “alpha.”

• Tucker, a 13-year-old, 70-pound, Cattle Dog-mix with arthritis and prostate cancer. Tucker is our gentle, benevolent alpha. He sometimes plays fun-police role when the youngsters roughhouse indoors.

• Dubhy, a 6-year-old, 25-pound, Scottish Terrier. He’s quite a tough little guy, and tends to keep to himself. Dubhy is dog-reactive with dogs outside our pack. He will resource-guard things from his packmates; he took a pea-sized notch out of Katie’s ear several years ago, but there has been no blood spilled since.

• Lucy, a 2-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Definitely an alpha-wannabe, Lucy tries to control everything and everyone in the pack. She acknowledges Tucker’s higher status, but frequently challenges Katie. She also tries to control everyone’s movement, and does serious resource-guarding from the other pack members for food, toys, and space. She’s strong-willed, yet very sensitive to sounds and body language, exhibits distress when separated from us, and has lots of fear issues. She’s still recovering from her wall-jumping episode last winter, and limps slightly.

• Bonnie, a 1-year-old Scottie/Corgi mix. Bonnie has a super “soft” personality, and is perfectly content to let others be in charge. She’s the lowest-ranking member in the group, and a submissive urinator with other dogs and humans. She will resource-guard valuable objects from the other dogs with body blocking, not with aggression.

All the Miller dogs are moderately to very well trained. All can be off leash outdoors except Dubhy, whose outdoor recall is only about 50 percent reliable. A day in the Miller pack looks like this:

5:30 am: Alarm goes off. All dogs sleep in our bedroom, upstairs, with us. Lucy, who is prone to chasing cats and snarking with Katie over desirable space, is crated, as is Dubhy, who sometimes urine-marks in the house. Katie and Tucker sleep on magnetic beds (for their arthritis) on the floor; Bonnie sleeps on the bed or on the floor, whichever she prefers. Baby gates at the bottom of the stairs restrict Bonnie (and the rest) from total house freedom, as she still occasionally chews an inappropriate object, and once in a very great while has a housetraining accident. Paul dresses and heads to the barn to feed the horses.

6:00 am: I follow to the barn with the dogs. Going downstairs can be exciting, as Lucy and Katie want to battle over who gets to be first. It’s hard to converse with Katie due to her hearing loss, so I focus on Lucy, reinforcing her attention to me, and having her wait while Katie makes her way downstairs. Lucy, Bonnie, and I follow (Bonnie also very focused on Lucy’s reinforcers). Tucker and Dubhy, neither of whom feels any urgent need to be first, bring up the rear to the back door.

At the back door I put leashes on Lucy and Dubhy – the latter because his recall outdoors isn’t great and he’s easily lured away by resident groundhogs; Lucy to avoid Katie-snarking at the back door, and because her body-language and fear issues sometimes trigger her to avoid the barn.

The three younger dogs “Sit” and “Wait” at the back door in order to get the door to open. The older dogs, out of respect for their arthritic joints, aren’t asked to sit, but are expected to wait. Sometimes I give a general release and we all exit together; sometimes I use the door as an opportunity to practice individual releases.

Tucker, who was well-schooled in “Wait” as a youngster, and took his lessons to heart, is last again, as he waits for a personal invitation to pass through any doorway beyond our normal living area. So much for the high-ranking member always going first!

6:00 – 7:00 am: This is a significant piece of the exercise portion of our pack management program. While we feed horses and clean stalls, the dogs race up and down the barn aisle and chase each other madly around the indoor arena. Lucy and Bonnie, the youngest and wildest, run the hardest, with geriatric Katie cheerleading along behind. Dubhy rarely engages, preferring to observe. Tucker, with his delicious sense of humor, occasionally grabs Lucy’s toy to remind her that he can, then soon gives it back to her, laughing at her temper tantrum.

7:00 – 8:00 am: Breakfast time for the pack, and an important management/training opportunity in a multi-dog household. I gather up bowls and set them on the floor by the feed bin, then broadcast a handful of kibble across the kitchen floor for the young dogs so they can scavenge while I scoop food into bowls. Interestingly, all three of the young dogs resource-guard to some degree, yet share this task without any squabbling over kibble. They would sit and watch quietly while I scoop; this is just a fun activity.

Bowls then go on the counter for add-ins: chicken, canned food, glucosamine for joint health, Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids for coat and skin, a daily vitamin, and various medicines for all their various aliments and conditions. Dogs sit quietly at my feet during preparation. When the food is ready, they’re fed in their specific locations:

• Katie first, on the far side of the dining room. She gets hers first to prevent her from herding Tucker as he walks toward his bowl.

• Tucker next, on the near side of the dining room. He gets the most food, and since being diagnosed with cancer his appetite has diminished. He needs the most time to eat, and sometimes needs encouragement.

• Lucy, by the kitchen counter. She’s an eager eater, and must sit-and-wait until released when I put her bowl down, part of a good “say please” program, to remind her that I control the good stuff.

• Bonnie, about six feet from Lucy, under the kitchen clock. Bonnie also is required to sit-and-wait for her meal.

• Finally Dubhy, across from Bonnie next to the refrigerator. Dubhy enjoys mealtimes, and does an endearing little Scottie dance on the way to his meal spot. He, too, gets to sit-and-wait until released.

I watch as the dogs finish their meals. Tucker, who once protected his bowl without assistance, is less concerned about his food now. As the others finish, I call them to me and reinforce them for good manners behaviors so they don’t pester him.

Despite having several dogs willing to resource-guard from each other, our mealtimes are happily nonviolent. Lucy even allows Bonnie to help lick her bowl – probably because Bonnie is so low-ranking that Lucy perceives no threat from her. If we had “issues” over meals, we might put one or more dogs in separate rooms with doors closed, or in their crates, to manage mealtime aggression.

8:00 am – Noon: Everyone’s tired from the morning’s activities, and they all settle in for naps. Bonnie and Lucy crash in their crates in my office, Dubhy on a chair and Katie on a magnetic bed in the living room, Tucker sometimes in his favorite den: the nonworking fireplace in the dining room, sometimes on a bed in my office. Lucy used to fiercely resource-guard my office. Lots of counter-conditioning (other dogs in office make good stuff happen) has modified this behavior. I take time during this period (and/or the afternoon rest stop) to spend some one-on-one time with each dog – brushing, nail-trimming, a training session, or just cuddling.

Noon – 1:00 pm: Time for a potty break and some Frisbee action in the backyard. Sometimes Dubhy, Bonnie, and Katie play together in the yard for a while. Tucker and Lucy prefer being indoors.

1:00 – 5:00 pm: More quiet time in the house. Several times a week I’ll take the youngsters for a hike on the farm. Exercise does wonders for a peaceful pack. The two old-timers can’t handle the rigors of a farm hike; we do occasional gentle strolls around the fields.

Evenings: Dinner is much the same as breakfast. I feed dogs before we eat our dinner because A) the high-ranking members (hubby and me) don’t have to eat first; B) I don’t like to eat with hungry dogs staring at me; and C) once I eat dinner, I’m done for the night.

After dinner we all hang out in the living room, watching TV, working on the laptop, reading the newspaper, chewing on bones. This is the most likely time for pack conflict in our household.

If Bonnie and Lucy didn’t get enough exercise they’ll roughhouse, offending both Katie and Tucker. Katie, Lucy, Bonnie, and sometimes Dubhy may vie for prime space on the sofa, at my feet, or waiting for Paul to toss them some pretzel bits. Bonnie plays nicely with our two cats, but Lucy likes to chase them, and Katie wants to claim them as hers and guard them from the others.

I manage evening activities in various ways. Guarding behavior on or around the sofa earns timeouts for all players. I’ll take the two youngsters outside for extra play in the backyard if they need to burn off energy. Counter-conditioning has taught Lucy to look at me when a cat enters the room rather than give chase, and, with time, Katie has learned to share her kitties and now tolerates Bonnie’s gentle cat-play.

11:00 pm: Bedtime. I manage the trip upstairs, again reinforcing Lucy’s attention to me, to avoid stairway squabbles, and tuck everyone in until morning, when we get up and do it again. Amen.

Variations: Of course, I sometimes have other things to do besides play dog-referee. When I go to town to run errands, or walk out to the training center to teach, the pack usually stays home. This is raw-bone or chicken-wing time, and because our guarders will sometimes get uppity about high-value stuff, Bonnie gets hers in her crate (this is also a management step for her, as she’s not yet reliably housetrained), Lucy gets shut in my office with the crated Bonnie, and the other three compatibly share the rest of the house.

There are times when I reminisce about the simple days of just one or two dogs in my life. I may be tired in the evening and don’t feel like playing doorman for a pack of dogs. I’m sometimes tempted to yell at Lucy for her shrill barking. I have to remind myself that yelling doesn’t work, and that reinforcing desired behaviors is much more effective than losing my temper, and keeps me peaceful as well. Then I look at those five, wonderful furry faces, and know that I wouldn’t give any of them up for anything. It would be much too quiet with only one dog in our home.

Pat Miller, CPDT, is WDJ’s Training Editor. Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center.

Successfully Adding a Second Dog to Your Home

By

Nancy Kerns

-

October 6, 2006

0

If your dog is reactive to other dogs but you are thinking about getting another dog anyway, read the following for both a sober warning as well as cautious encouragement. It’s a wonderful case of a seriously dog-reactive dog improving enough to be able to live with another dog – but it took tons of the kinds of work described by Pat Miller in the previous article to get there, and the dog’s training and mangement is ongoing.

In the July 2005 issue of WDJ, we published an article (“Helping Hera Help Herself”) about a committed dog owner’s long journey to improve the behavior of her reactive Bulldog, Hera. Caryl-Rose Pofcher and her husband, Billy, adopted Hera as a puppy, and had immediately enrolled in a puppy training class, where Hera was quickly labeled as skittish, timid, and stubborn. As she matured, and continued in training classes, Hera developed the frightening habit of lunging at other dogs when she was on-leash. Her owners were strongly encouraged to use strong corrections with a choke chain, and later, a pinch collar, although they seemed to have little effect on the muscular Bulldog.

Hera’s off-leash behavior around other dogs grew increasingly reactive as she entered adolescence, as well. She became infamous for spontaneously focusing on some hapless play partner at the dog park, tackling it to the ground, and looking and sounding like she was tearing its throat out – although she had good bite inhibition, and never punctured another dog. Caryl-Rose stopped taking the young Bulldog to the dog park the day she heard someone say “Hera’s here!” as she entered the dog park gate, and someone else responded, “Oh well, I was just about ready to leave anyway.”

Unlike many owners, Caryl-Rose and Billy were cognizant that they had a “problem dog,” and they were absolutely committed to working through the problems. For the first four years of her life, they enrolled in class after class, hired a professional behaviorist for a consultation and private lessons, and dutifully practiced all the exercises that were recommended to them. But Hera’s behavior outside their home got worse and worse.

When Hera was four, her owners were fortunate to find an experienced positive trainer, who gave them the first truly effective tools for dealing with Hera’s scary behavior around other dogs on leash. Each daily walk was viewed as a training opportunity, and planned and executed thoughtfully. Caryl-Rose and Billy learned to identify and maintain Hera’s “launch point,” the distance she needed to be from other dogs to keep calm. Armed with a clicker and mountains of high-value treats, they slooowwlly decreased that distance until Hera could pass within a few feet of other dogs on leash without “going off.”

They also learned how to approach other dogs at an oblique angle, which seemed to help Hera refrain from feeling challenged by the other dog, and how to cue Hera to look away from – break her gaze and engagement with – another dog.

Another positive trainer took the family even further down the road of improved behavior, and as Hera improved, slowly, Caryl-Rose grew more and more interested in dog behavior and training. She volunteered as an assistant to a positive trainer, got a part-time job at a doggie daycare, read the “classic” books of the positive training genre (including titles by Jean Donaldson, Pat Miller, Dr. Patricia McConnell, and Karen Pryor), joined a number of e-mail discussion lists for both positive training and specifically, positive training for aggressive dogs, and attended the annual conference of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. And when Hera was seven years old, Caryl-Rose hung out her own shingle as a positive dog trainer.

Recently, we received exciting news from Caryl-Rose. Hera, former dog bully and aggressor, now 10½ years old, recently became a “big sister.” Three months ago, Caryl-Rose adopted a French Bulldog puppy, ’Pelli. As she has done with everything else she accomplished with Hera, Caryl-Rose diligently researched what she would need to do to make having a second dog work for everyone in the household, and she prepared her home and, most importantly, Hera for what was to come.

Update from Caryl-Rose

The following is a recent letter we received from Caryl-Rose, updating Hera’s story:

“Right now, the girls are lying on the rug behind me as I type. Their ‘Bully’ butts are touching (one a miniature reflection of the other). Their bodies are curved so their heads are facing in opposite directions – their ‘I’ve got your back’ position. “We’ve gone from them being on opposite sides of the room under close supervision, or on separate floors of the house, or ’Pelli crated if not supervised or even sometimes when supervised, to now, they sleep on the bed with me at night and cuddle with each other as well as with me.

“The first time ’Pelli touched Hera, Hera gave her an intense snarl, small lunge, and hard stare. I intervened immediately. We’ve come a long way. But it still takes constant vigilance and management.

“I was away recently from Friday through Sunday. ’Pelli was with me and Hera stayed home with a live-in-dog-sitter. When ’Pelli and I returned, there was great excitement and good spirits and Hera didn’t get overexcited and reactive. She stayed in control.

“Two hours later when we all started to go upstairs to bed, Hera, for the first time ever, guarded the stairs and blocked ’Pelli’s way. Hera bounded upstairs, glancing warnings back at ’Pelli who remained at the bottom. I intervened by asking Hera for a “sit” at the top of the stairs and giving a steady stream of low level treats for this. As I did this, I called ’Pelli upstairs to us. Hera glanced at her and then back at me and got a high level treat and a mix of high and lower level treats while ’Pelli made her way up the stairs.

“At the top of the stairs, I cued ’Pelli to sit near us. Both got great (but tiny) treats at a fairly high rate. I stepped back, called them to me and repeated. And did this in the bedroom, at the water bowl, and on the bed. I picked up all of ’Pelli’s puppy chew toys and put them out of reach.

“Later, when they were drowsily settled for sleep, I brought out only one puppy teething chew toy, reverting to our earlier routine of offering it to Hera, allowing her to refuse it as she always has, giving it to ’Pelli briefly, trading a low level treat for the chew from ’Pelli, offering it again to Hera, she refuses, gets a low level treat. We go back and forth half a dozen times and then it stays with the puppy. Gee, we haven’t had to do that in a long time! I’m reminded so forcefully how essential it is to always watch the dogs and respond to what they need, when they need it.

“Yes, I have containers of mixed quality treats scattered all over the house. I am rarely more than two steps away from one. And often I have them in my pocket as well. They are mostly dried meat or fish or good quality kibble. I factor this into their daily food ration and whether it is for training (sit/come/down) or behavior (counter-conditioning, desensitizing), they earn this part of their daily ration.

“I hope this gives others realistic hope. It wasn’t immediate and adolescence will bring its own challenges. I was prepared for the possibility that I might end up with two dogs, each living on different floors of my house. I had lots of plans and physical set-ups in place before bringing ’Pelli home. “Still, Hera has exceeded what I thought she could achieve. She’s relaxed with the puppy and sometimes they play appropriately. Heck, for a normal 10½ year old English Bulldog playing at all is an achievement in itself!!

“I love these girls! And what wonderful teachers they are, especially Hera-the-Wonder-Dog.”

Dog Antioxidants: Canines Benefit from Antioxidants Too!

By

Randy Kidd

-

October 6, 2006

0

Antioxidants are all the rage nowadays, seemingly good for anything that ails you or your dog. Antioxidants, natural and otherwise, are also widely used as preservatives in processed foods for pets and their people. With dog antioxidants having benefits that your canine friends can enjoy as well.

Antioxidants are, however, another of those things that the more the scientists learn about them, the more they learn they don’t know. This paradigm seems to repeat itself in the realm of holistic health!

Dog antioxidants offer a host of mechanisms that protect the body from a variety of diseases, and these benefits have been supported by thousands of scientific articles. On the other hand, the mechanisms of action of the antioxidants vary somewhat among species, and not all diseases respond favorably to antioxidant administration all the time; some dosage levels of antioxidants may actually increase the incidence and severity of certain diseases. Also, individual dogs may have different needs for antioxidants (both due to a differing ability to absorb antioxidants from the gastrointestinal tract and from individual metabolic needs. And the methods used to grow and/or produce the substance that contains the antioxidant has a direct bearing on how much of the antioxidant’s bioactivity is available to the animal.

Furthermore, the way antioxidants are supplied to the body greatly affects the amount of good they can do. For example, commercially prepared supplements are much less effective than whole foods that contain the antioxidants.

And finally, there is considerable evidence to support the concept that mixing antioxidants often creates a synergistic effect that is much greater than would be the combined effects of the individual antioxidants. Determining the best way to deliver the benefits of these marvelous substances to your dog, then, may require some study.

Dog Antioxidant Activity

The term “antioxidant” refers to the activity demonstrated by numerous vitamins, minerals, and other phytochemicals (bioactive chemicals found in plants) to serve as protection against the damaging effects of highly reactive molecules known as free radicals.

During healthy metabolism, carbohydrates and sugars are “burned” in the presence of oxygen to provide the animal with energy. Most of the raw materials involved in metabolism are converted to energy. In all energy reactions in the body, however, there are some molecular fragments that aren’t totally used up. Some of these chemically active fragments have an electrical charge due to an excess or deficient number of electrons. These charged molecules are called free radicals.

Because they have one or more unpaired electrons, free radicals are highly unstable. They scavenge the animal’s body to grab or donate electrons, thereby damaging cells, proteins, and DNA itself. Cell membranes of virtually all cells and cellular DNA are particularly susceptible to oxidative damage. Free radical reactions and oxidative damage have been linked to many of the diseases of aging such as arthritis and cancer.

Animal bodies aren’t the only victim of oxidation; this same oxidative process causes oils to become rancid, peeled fruits to brown, and iron to rust.

Normal aerobic respiration and food metabolism creates a constant source of free radicals–which the body can normally deal with–but excessive free radicals can be produced from a whole host of sources, including extreme exercise, inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, and abnormal cell growth associated with most types of cancer. In addition, free radicals come from many outside factors including pollution, sunlight, tobacco smoke, and X-rays.

The free radical theory of aging and disease promotion holds that through a gradual accumulation of microscopic damage to an animal’s cell membranes, DNA, tissue structures, and enzymatic systems, the animal begins to lose organ-system function, and then becomes predisposed to disease.

The healthy dog can process and eliminate free radicals with his body’s own antioxidant enzymes (including glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase), but excessive free radicals can produce disease. In the case of the athletic or working dog, oxidative damage may be elevated due to increased production of free radicals. In addition, animals who are already stressed, or aging animals with weak organ systems and waning immune functions may need some help to eliminate free radicals.

External sources of antioxidants are thought to be a useful antidote for an excess of free radicals. Many holistic vets feel that even the healthy animal can benefit from a balanced, daily dose of antioxidants. The majority of popular antioxidants appear to be extremely safe, at least in humans, where most of the safety studies have been conducted. Holistic vets have been using antioxidants for several decades now, with few or no apparent adverse side effects.

Claims for Health and Healing

Following are just some of the claims for the benefits of antioxidants:

Arthritis. Antioxidants, but particularly vitamin C, are vital to any arthritic therapeutic program. Vitamin C is involved in the building and healing of joint and bone structures and it plays an active role in the immune response.

Anti-aging. As an animal’s body ages, it undergoes a gradual accumulation of tiny bits of damage to cell and tissue structures and also to enzymatic systems important in the production of antioxidants. With age, then, the animal’s cells and organ systems no longer have the vital capabilities they once did. The result is an inability to deal with free radicals efficiently; antioxidants improve the efficiency of all the animal’s aging systems, resulting in a healthier old animal.

Cancer prevention.

Antioxidants protect the body from the damaging effects of free radicals, slow tumor growth, and/or help cellular DNA retain its normal configuration.

Heart disease. Antioxidants protect the heart and circulatory system from oxidative stress from free radicals.

Vision and eyesight. The antioxidants leutine and zeanxanthin are particularly helpful for supporting good eye health.

Immune function Antioxidants are known to enhance healthy lymphocyte production as well as offering protective factors for other components of the immune system.

Exercise tolerance. Studies indicate that there may be a protective effect from long-term exercise. When exercising produces an excess of free radicals over time, the body learns how to produce an excess of antioxidants, thus developing the ability to respond better to free radical excess in the future.

How to Dose With Dog Antioxidants

There is considerable evidence to indicate that antioxidants from a natural, dietary food source are much more effective than those taken in a supplement or pill/capsule format.

It’s a bit more complicated to try to sort out the controversy involving natural vs. synthetic forms of the vitamins. Often the synthetic form of a vitamin is an isomeric chemical–structured in a mirror image of the natural form of the chemical, but the same in every other way. Thus the natural form of vitamin E is labeled “D” and the synthetic form is labeled “D,L.” It is said that the synthetic form is only half as active as the natural form. Some nutrition experts think this isomerism is significant, and that synthetic forms should be avoided; others think it is meaningless and the nutrients are equivalent.

Most antioxidants found in foods are made more readily available after the foods have been pureed and/or naturally heated–the antioxidant lycopene, found in tomatoes and other food sources, is an example here.

The exception to this rule is vitamin C which is destroyed by heating. Drying foods usually diminishes the amount of vitamins and antioxidants available to the animal–the amount of decrease in activity depends on the food source and the method of drying. It is also thought that microwaving destroys many nutrients, including most, if not all, the antioxidants.

Many of the antioxidants work synergistically; the sum of the activities of several different antioxidants is often many times higher than would be obtained by adding the sum of their accumulated effects together.

Perhaps the most important thing to appreciate about antioxidants (and actually any other nutrient) is that they often work in a balanced fashion.

Some antioxidants, if given in excess, may disrupt the balancing act of other antioxidants, or one antioxidant may actually interfere with a vital function of another antioxidant. Or, one antioxidant (or other cofactors) may be necessary for the proper functioning of an unrelated antioxidant.

For example, an excess of vitamin C may cause a general “unbalancing” of the oxidative system resulting in oxidative damage. It is well-known that vitamin E and selenium are virtual “cofactors” and their dosage needs to be balanced to make either one effective. And zinc, considered an antioxidant by itself, is a vital component of several other antioxidants and enzymatic systems.

This all boils down to a few general rules: ¡ Whenever possible, use natural food sources known to be high in antioxidants. ¡ If it helps make the food more palatable for your dog’s taste buds, go ahead and chop up vegetables, fruits, and herbs, heat them naturally, and hide them in some of your dog’s favorite foods. ¡ Use several sources to provide a mix of antioxidants; herbs, vegetables, fruits, and berries are all excellent sources, and many of these will provide a healthy stew of a variety of antioxidants. ¡ Do not overdo any one antioxidant. A healthy balance is the key, again best provided by giving a mixture of many antioxidant sources in the diet.

Popular Dog Antioxidants

There are four key antioxidants–vitamins A, C, and E, and selenium–and many others have been recently popularized.

Vitamin A is a group of compounds that play an important role in vision, bone growth, reproduction, cell division, and cell differentiation. Vitamin A helps regulate the immune system, and it promotes healthy mucosal surface linings of the eyes, and the respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts.

Vitamin A found in foods that come from animals, known as preformed vitamin A, is absorbed in the form of retinol which is one of the most usable and active forms of vitamin A. Rich sources of this type of vitamin A include liver and whole milk.

The vitamin A found in colorful fruits, vegetables, and herbs is called provitamin A carotenoid. Common provitamin A carotenoids found in plant-based foods include beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Among these, beta-carotene is the one most efficiently converted into retinol, the most active form of vitamin A.

Of the over 600 carotenoids found in nature, about 40 are present in a typical (human) diet; most of these have antioxidant activity, but only 14 of them (or their metabolites) have been identified in human blood and tissues. Of all these, B-carotene is the most studied, since it is the most common carotenoid found in fruits and vegetables.

Lycopene and lutein are two carotenoids that do not have vitamin A activity, but have other health-promoting properties. More information on lycopene and lutein can be found below.

Carotenoids can promote health when taken at dietary levels, but they may actually have an adverse effect when taken in high doses by certain individuals. (Human subjects who smoke or who have been exposed to asbestos may have negative results from high levels of antioxidants).

The exact mechanism that explains all the activities of the carotenoids is not known, but we do know that most have a potent antioxidant activity. Other mechanisms may include: a provitamin A activity (promoting the production and/or activity of vitamin A); activation of the gene responsible for cell-to-cell communication; and modulation of certain enzymes (especially lipoxygenase) that help remove free oxygen radicals.

How much carotenoid is available to the animal depends on: the source of the food and other dietary factors, food particle size, and location of carotenoid within the plant¡¯s cells. Mixing carotenoids with other antioxidants in the food (e.g., vitamin E) can increase their activity.

There is a large body of scientific evidence that consistently reveals beneficial effects of taking carotenoids to help prevent cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract and respiratory system.

The term vitamin C applies to water-soluble substances that possess activity that protects against scurvy, a disease that results in bleeding gums, poor wound healing, and other symptoms. The terms vitamin C, ascorbic acid, and ascorbate are used interchangeably by most nutritionists. Calcium ascorbate (used in the patented product “Ester-C”) and sodium ascorbate are not acidic (and so do not upset the tummies of sensitive dogs) but, being salts, have a salty flavor. Most animals (but not humans) are able to manufacture their own vitamin C. However, holistic practitioners have long noted that some dogs–especially those undergoing severe or chronic disease states or those exposed to high levels of stress–seem to benefit from supplemental or therapeutic levels of vitamin C. Many of the symptoms of scurvy are due to vitamin C’s role in the formation of healthy collagen, the fibrous substance in skin, tendon, bone, cartilage, and other connective tissues.

Vitamin C is also involved in modulating iron absorption, transport and storage, and it is involved in the biosynthesis of corticosteroids and the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that is found naturally in green and red peppers, citrus fruits and juices (and other fruits such as strawberries), and many vegetables and herbs. Vitamin C is a primary factor in the healing of all wounds, helping tissues repair and regenerate, and it is a potent anti-tumor factor, offering both protection and supplemental help for treatment. Vitamin C also has been shown to have antiviral activity as well as acting to help modulate the body’s allergic response and immune system. It apparently has specific protective activity for the respiratory system and the eyes, and it is antihypertensive and protects against atherosclerosis. Vitamin C also helps with the detoxification of heavy metals and other toxins. Vitamin C is absorbed in inverse relation to the amount in the diet. That is (in humans) at a dietary intake of 30 milligrams daily, the vitamin is almost completely absorbed; at 30 to 180 mgs dietary level, about 70-90 percent is absorbed; about 50 percent of a single dose of 1 to 1.5 grams is absorbed; while only 16 percent of a single dose of 12 grams (12,000 mgs) is absorbed. Vitamin C (as D-ascorbic acid) may be added to food as an antioxidant preservative. Cooking destroys vitamin C activity.

I was taught in vet school that dogs do not need supplemental vitamin C because they are able to manufacture it on their own. This may be true, but holistic vets have long recommended that extra vitamin C be given routinely, and most of us feel it is especially beneficial for the animal with a chronic disease or one undergoing stress. Additionally, there is growing evidence that vitamin C may be beneficial for preventing and treating hip dysplasia in dogs. One trial of a small number of dogs gave vitamin C to dysplasia-prone dogs–to the dams throughout pregnancy and until weaning, and to the pups from weaning until they were two years old and none of the dogs developed dysplasia. In addition, several trials have been conducted that show improvement of dysplastic lesions and an apparent lessening of pain when vitamin C is given. In addition many vets–now including conventional and holistic vets–have found that high levels of vitamin C may help an animal recover from acute diseases such as distemper and parvovirus, and chronic diseases such as cancers may also be helped with additional vitamin C. When given orally, calcium ascorbate and sodium ascorbate seem to be the preferred forms of vitamin C for dogs, as it is more quickly absorbed, and it doesn’t cause acidity of the gastrointestinal tract. Suggested doses vary; check with your holistic vet, keeping in mind that many conventional vets still adhere to the ancient concept that vitamins are not necessary since the commercial foods (that they sell) provide all the nutrients that your dog will ever need. Many over-the-counter supplements combine vitamin C with bioflavonoids, or simply flavonoids (sometimes referred to as vitamin P). Bioflavonoids are typically derived from citrus fruits, although many other fruits and herbs are also high in flavonoid content. Studies (in vitro) also show that the flavonoids work synergistically with vitamin C to create an enhanced antioxidant activity. Flavonoids include quercitin, hesperidin, and rutin, along with several others.

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that exists in eight different forms; alpha-tocopherol is the name of the most active form of vitamin E in humans and likely in dogs. The natural form is labeled “D”, while the synthetic form is labeled “D,L.” Vitamin E activity and metabolism are directly tied to adequate levels of selenium and zinc, and animals unable to absorb fats (animals with inflammatory bowel disease or persistent diarrhea, for example) may become deficient in vitamin E. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant and adequate levels of vitamin E are protective against cancer, cataracts, and heart disease. Healthy levels of vitamin E are also required for reproductive health. Food sources rich in vitamin E include wheat germ oil; almonds; sunflower seed kernels; sunflower, safflower, and corn oils; and many vegetables. ¡

Selenium is an essential mineral that is required in trace amounts. Selenium functions as an antioxidant, and it is an important component for helping to create healthy heart muscles. The functions of the thyroid and immune system depend on adequate amounts of selenium, and studies indicate that proper levels of selenium help protect against arthritis and several types of cancer.

Plant-source foods are the major dietary sources of selenium, although the amount of selenium in plants depends on the selenium content of the soil where the plants are grown. Selenium is also found in some meats, seafoods, and nuts.

Excessively high levels of selenium in the body can result in a condition called selenosis, a condition that causes intestinal upset, hair loss, garlic breath, fatigue, irritability, and bone abnormalities. For this reason alone, selenium (and other mineral sources of antioxidants) should not be added to the diet without the guidance of your veterinarian. Also, the activity of selenium is closely coupled with that of iodine, vitamin E, and the amino acid methionine, and it is important to have all these substances balanced for healthy, whole-body functioning.

Zinc is an important mineral found in every cell of the body, and it is a vital constituent of more than two dozen enzymes involved in digestion and metabolism. By itself, zinc is an active antioxidant, and, in addition, it is an essential element in antioxidant enzymes. Zinc also stabilizes cell membranes, provides cofactors for many enzymes involved in visual function, and is necessary for a healthy functioning immune system. ¡ In my opinion, the very best and safest sources of antioxidants (for dogs and people) are culinary herbs, spices, fruits, berries, and veggies.

Almost any of the herbs used in herbal remedies have at least some antioxidant activity, and some herbs come loaded with antioxidant capability. For example, oregano, basil, sage, peppermint, thyme, lemon balm, clove, allspice, and cinnamon all contain very high concentrations of antioxidants; many herbs actually have higher antioxidant activity than equivalent amounts of vitamin C. In addition, herbs are typically high in vitamins C and A, and most have additional antioxidant activity from their selenium content.

Fruits, berries, and veggies are likewise rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. The key is to find the fruits, berries, veggies, and herbs that your dog likes. Be creative: mix the nutrient-rich goodies with your dog’s favorite foods, cook or warm them for enhanced palatability, and try several different foods until you discover the ones that your dog enjoys most.

Lycopene is a carotenoid that makes tomatoes red, and it is actually the most abundant carotenoid found in the U.S. human diet–most coming from tomato sauce and juice, pizza, and ketchup. Lycopene is also found in red or pink-colored fruits and vegetables such as watermelon and pink grapefruit.

Studies have shown that lycopene is a potent antioxidant, and it has the ability to protect against cardiovascular disease and several types of cancer. Lycopene also helps protect the skin from the damaging effects of the sun’s rays.

My own dog, Pokey, illustrates that there’s more than one way to “skin the dog” and get him to eat his antioxidants. Pokey will devour with gusto almost anything that has been on a human plate . . . anything, that is, except fresh tomatoes. My wife and I have tried to hide a tomato slice under or in his favorite foods, to no avail. The next day we find that the tomato slice has been nudged out of Pokey’s food bowl, and he looks at us with total disdain and disgust for even trying to trick him into eating it.

This is all a bit unusual, because Pokey loves pizza with all its tomato-rich topping, and whenever we bring one home he sits there staring at us in anticipation, with drool running out of his mouth like a faucet. However, I’d rather not feed him too much of the fattening pizza (it’s okay for Sue and me, mind you), so I looked for other ways to entice him to eat his tomatoes.

Turns out it was not so difficult. I simply diced up a piece of tomato, added a pinch of oregano (also rich in antioxidants), heated the concoction a bit, and tried it out in Pokey’s dish. Eureka! Pokey loves my non-fat pizza, antioxidant-rich, tomato gruel.

Leutine and zeaxanthin are yellow-pigmented carotenoids found in high concentrations in egg yolks, yellow fruits, and vegetables as well as in dark green, leafy vegetables and herbs. In particular, spinach, kale, and collard greens contain high levels of these two carotenoids.

In the body leutine and zeanxanthin are found in highest concentration in the macular region of the eyes (the back of the eye were the retina is located) where they are believed to help filter out damaging blue light and prevent free radical damage to the eye.

These two antioxidants are especially good for supporting normal eye health; they may help prevent glaucoma and cataracts.

Other popular antioxidants include superoxide dismutase (SOD), coenzyme Q-10, pycnogenol (pine bark from the tree, Pinus maritime), green tea, mushrooms, raspberries, blueberries, red wine (okay, maybe not for dogs!), and many others.

If you follow the media, you’ll note that the popularity of specific antioxidants comes and goes, seemingly with the tides. Look more closely, though, and what usually happens is that some scientist, closeted in an obscure hidey-hole/laboratory, does a trial on some specific nutrient, and what do you know, s/he “discovers” that that fruit or berry or herb has loads of antioxidant activity. So, following the need to publish or perish, the scientist gets the article published, the media latches onto that particular fruit or berry as the savior of mankind, and commercial production (and a vast advertising campaign) is set into motion.

For those of us who don’t have our heads in the sand, however, this should be much easier. Simply feed your dog a varied diet that includes more fruits, berries, and veggies, and add some spice to his life by adding a pinch of any of a number of culinary herbs every so often.

The KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) way to add antioxidants to your dog’s diet: Start with vitamins A, C, and E, and add small amounts of the most natural form of the vitamin to the diet of all dogs. For a 20 to 40 pound dog, dosages might be in the range of 250 mg daily vitamin C; 100-200 mg vitamin E, and 2,000 I.U. vitamin A a couple times a week.

I still recommend additional vitamins on the theory that all critters in this day and age are exposed to more environmental pollution than our ancestors, and because our dog’s food sources are usually not as natural as they should be.

If the dog is undergoing excess stress or a disease of any kind, I might increase the antioxidant and/or vitamin dosage for a short period. In all cases, I want to try to balance the nutrient input–making sure there’s a balance with selenium and zinc, for example, and this often requires a daily multi-vitamin and mineral product.

And finally, I’ve learned to doublecheck all medications and supplements that the dog is currently being given, to be sure he isn’t receiving a toxic overdose of any one supplement.

So, vitamins may be important, but, to my way of thinking, the real key to providing antioxidants and vitamins is to enhance the dog’s diet with a variety of herbs, fruits, berries, and veggies. Mix them up, vary the diet, add some spice to your dog’s life, a little pinch at a time–and help him stay healthy in the process.

Download the Full November 2006 Issue PDF

By

Nancy Kerns

-

October 6, 2006

0

…

Teaching a Dog to Play Fetch

By

Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

-

October 5, 2006

0

Last week a trainer friend stopped by to visit with her three dogs: Star, Kaiya, and Lhotse. As we were chatting, Laura confessed to me that she thought she’d ruined Star’s “fetch” with the clicker. “She had a great retrieve,” Laura said, “until I started clicking her for it. Now she just drops it as soon as I click. I stopped working on it because I knew I was messing it up.” I chuckled to myself. I knew this would be a fun – and easy – training fix. We set to work, and in three short sessions, Star and Laura were well on their way to rehabilitating their great retrieve. There’s a small ceramic plaque sitting on my bookshelf that depicts a spotted dog running with a stick in his mouth, and the inscription, “Born to Fetch.” It’s a constant reminder to me that dogs are very oral creatures. They are, indeed, born to put things in their mouths, as any puppy owner can attest to. When you don’t have hands with opposable thumbs, the next best way to transport objects is with your teeth. So why all the angst about teaching dogs a behavior that comes so naturally to them?

For starters, mouth behaviors are one of the first that owners tend to suppress. The majority of the time when a puppy picks something up, he gets yelled at. He learns to restrict his teeth to a small list of legal chew objects, knowing he could be in deep doo-doo for picking up anything not on the list. Sometimes mouth behavior isn’t suppressed by punishment. Instead, a pup may learn that picking something up in his mouth is a nearly foolproof way to get humans to play “chase-me” games, as his owners flail wildly after him trying to rescue valuable or harmful items. He’ll still pick things up, but any inclination to bring them back is long gone. It’s no wonder so many owners tear their hair out and give up when they try to teach their dogs to fetch. They’ve unintentionally taught their dogs to “not-fetch.” The retrieve is such a useful behavior, it’s a darn shame we make it so hard for our canine pals. A dog who retrieves can:

-Be kept easily exercised and amused with long sessions of “Fetch the Ball” in the backyard, or even in the house in inclement weather. Exercise is a great behavior modifier: a tired dog is a well-behaved dog.

-Be taught to find and bring back lost objects.

-Compete in obedience trials and other canine competitions.

-Learn to do other things with his mouth, including open doors, pick up dropped objects, pull wagons, carry groceries, remove items of clothing, and more. Having a dog excited about retrieving also gives you a tool for keeping his attention around distractions, and for getting really sharp recalls and other operant behaviors. A highly valued tennis ball can be a great reinforcer for spiffy recalls and downs, among other behaviors.

Informal v. formal retrieves

There are different types of retrieves. The majority of dog owners are delighted with a dog who dances in anticipation of the ball, chases after it the instant it’s thrown, maybe runs around with it for a bit, then eventually brings it back, and drops it at the owner’s feet. Compare that to the formal show retrieve, where the dog sits motionless in heel position while the owner throws the dumbbell, dashes forward when the owner gives the cue, grabs the dumbbell by the center bar, returns quickly to the owner, and sits in front, perfectly straight, waiting for the cue to release the object carefully into the human’s hands.

Even if you’re not interested in a formal retrieve, consider taking advantage of a good game of fetch as an opportunity to reinforce good manners behaviors. Consistently ask your dog to “Sit” before you throw the ball, until he starts offering to sit without being asked. “Sit” makes good things happen! It’s also a deference behavior and a good “self-control” lesson. When he’s good at “Sit for the ball!” try doing the same thing with “Down for the ball!” You can also use a valued fetch toy to install an off-switch for your dog. When it’s time to stop the game, use a cue like “All done!” or “That’s all!” and immediately put the ball where he can’t see it – in a pocket, drawer, or cupboard. Turn and walk away – totally ignoring any attempts on the dog’s part to reengage you in the game. In time, your “All done!” cue will not only serve notice to the dog that the fetch game is over, you’ll also be able to use it to end other behaviors. Whether you’re interested in an informal fetch or a formal retrieve, your task will be easier if you encourage rather than discourage retrieve-related behaviors early in your relationship with your dog. When he has something in his mouth, praise him – tell him he’s a good dog. If it’s something he shouldn’t have, cheerfully trade it for a high-value treat, divert his interest to a “legal” toy, and make a mental note to increase your management efforts to minimize his access to things he shouldn’t fetch. If it’s something he’s allowed to have, sometimes praise and let him be, and sometimes say “Give,” trade for a treat, and give him the toy or chewie back again.

Dogs who are eager to pick things up are the easy ones; it’s just a matter of shaping the retrieve you want, and if you’re going for that formal retrieve, “chaining” or “backchaining” the fetch behavior into the whole show ring retrieve routine (see “The Shape of Things to Come,” March 2006, and “Higher Education,”April 2004). It’s the ones who don’t want to use their mouths who present the biggest challenge. If your dog is not a natural retriever, don’t despair.

Designate his most favorite toy as his fetch object. He only gets to play with it when you do the fetch game. Now set it on the ground; don’t throw it! If he picks it up, click! a clicker (or use another signal or marker, such as the word “Yes!”) and give your dog a delicious treat reward. But if he only sniffs the toy, or even just glances in the object’s direction, click! and reward. In the beginning, the goal is to reinforce him just for paying attention to the object. In any series of “attention” trials with the fetch toy, he may sniff or touch it, just look at it, put his mouth on it, or maybe even pick it up. Once he understands the game you can up the ante (“raise the criteria”); you click! and treat only if he touches the toy. Then, later, you click! and treat only if he actually puts his mouth on it, and finally only if he picks it up. Once he is picking up the toy routinely, add your verbal cue of “Fetch!” (or “Take it!” or “Get it!” or whatever you plan to use). If at any time he “quits” – that is, he stops playing the game – you may have raised the criteria too quickly, or you may have trained for too long.

Training sessions should generally be five to 15 minutes in length, several times a day. If you get two or three really good responses in a row, stop the session with lots of praise and a “jackpot” – a whole handful of treats, one at a time. It’s always better to stop when you and your dog are having fun and winning, rather than when one or both of you are bored or frustrated. While certain breeds are genetically programmed to be more oral than others (Golden Retrievers and Labradors, for starters), virtually any dog can learn to fetch. Although Scottish Terriers are not known for their natural retrieving ability, my little black Dubhy surprised the heck out of me one day. I had been reinforcing the young Terrier for bringing things to me rather than chewing them up, but we hadn’t really worked on retrieving. I was tossing a ball for Tucker, our Cattle Dog-mix, in the backyard, and overestimated the older dog’s endurance. Tucker quit mid-fetch, leaving the tennis ball halfway across the yard. Dubhy, who had been watching from the sidelines, perked up, trotted across the yard, grabbed the ball, trotted back to me, and dropped it neatly at my feet. “So there!” was the only comment I could interpret from his slightly smug expression. And yes, we’ve since put his retrieve on cue, and used his “hold” behavior to teach him “Pups in a blanket,” where he lies down on a blanket, grabs the corner, and rolls over to wrap himself up. Just one more creative application for a good “fetch” behavior.

Shaping success Laura Dorfman, owner of Kona’s Touch, Inc., in Chicago, is a dedicated and talented “crossover” trainer; early in her career, she used force-based techniques. Laura began her crossover journey several years ago, attending conferences and seminars, and reading a long list of books to enhance her positive training knowledge and skills. She currently has three dogs benefiting from her positive-only pursuits: Collie/Lab-mix Star, Terrier-mix Kaiya, and Beagle Lhotse. Like many trainers, while Laura skillfully assists other dog owners with their furry family members’ training and behavior, she sometimes has doubts about her own dogs’ training programs. She brought her pack to me to address several behavior concerns, including Star’s retrieve. “Nothing to be ashamed of,” I assured her. “Even world-class professional athletes, equestrians, and yes, dog trainers, work with coaches to improve their performances. None of us are so good we can’t benefit from another pair of eyes and another perspective.” Here’s how we rehabilitated Star’s lost retrieve:

– First session: 15 minutes We decided our criterion to start would be any attention to a stuffed toy. We placed the toy on the floor. When Star sniffed it, Laura clicked a clicker and gave Star a high-value treat. We kept clicking any time Star looked at or sniffed the toy. After a dozen clicks, Star lifted the toy a few inches off the floor. Laura happily clicked and treated – and then made a common mistake. Because Star lifted the toy once, Laura wanted to immediately increase the difficulty of the desired task to “lift the toy.” Instead, I suggested we put “sniff the toy” on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement, meaning that sometimes Laura would click and treat for sniffing, sometimes not – but she would always click and treat for mouthing or lifting the toy. An intermittent schedule makes a behavior durable, and often elicits a more intense behavior. That is, Star would understand that if she kept trying she would eventually still get clicked, and her frustration at not getting clicked might induce her to mouth or lift the toy more frequently. This is an important step before raising the criteria. If a dog suddenly stops getting clicked for a behavior, she may just quit working, thinking the behavior’s no longer paying off. On the intermittent schedule, Star began putting her mouth on the toy much more frequently. Toward the end of this session we upped the ante again: Laura would click and treat for any mouthing or lifting of the toy, but stopped clicking for just a sniff. We ended the session after several consecutive mouthings, a number of which also included lifts, with some of the lifts to Star’s full height. Good progress!

– Next morning: 15 minutes Laura did not practice with Star between yesterday’s session and this morning. When we started working, Star consistently mouthed the toy, and lifted it off the floor a few inches or more at least 75 percent of the time – working above the level that we ended on the prior day. This illustrates the phenomenon known as “latent learning” – where the dog’s (or other subject’s) brain actually processes information while at rest, and learning can advance as a result. This is why it’s helpful to “end on a good note” – as the brain appears to process most what it absorbed last.

We set our initial criterion at “any mouthing,” then put that on an intermittent schedule, and soon after expanded the requirement to “opening mouth wide enough to grasp the whole toy.” By this time Laura had really grasped the concept of shaping, and stopped trying to raise the criteria too quickly. Her clicks were well-timed, and she was making good judgmentsabout which behaviors to click without my nudging. She and Star were both learning! Star proceeded quickly to consistent “wide open mouth behavior,” which we then put on an intermittent schedule before setting the bar at “lifting toy a few inches off the floor.” Of course, as we began to click! and treat Star for “lifting toy a few inches,” more and more frequently Star lifted the toy to full height. Although we had planned for several intermediate increases in the criteria, we realized that Star was going to skip several steps for us. We started putting “lifting the toy a few inches” on an intermittent schedule, and halted the session after several consecutive full-height lifts. By this time Star had come to love her “fetch” toy, and actively sought it when we put it out of her reach, but still in sight. We used her “All done!” cue and put it out of sight.

– Same afternoon: 10 minutes Once again, Star and Laura dove right into the “fetch” exercise. Star became quite enthusiastic about this game, and consistently lifted the toy to full height. We raised the criterion to “full height,” consistently clicking her repeated successful full lifts. Next we introduced time as a criterion, intermittently reinforcing full lifts, but making sure to click all lifts and holds that lasted one second or longer – as opposed to lift/drops or lift/flings. As our last step for this third session, we increased our requirement to one-second holds, no longer clicking for lift/drops or lift/flings, ending with several consecutive successes. Our plan beyond session three was to continue raising the time criterion for the “hold” behavior, and then add movement, as the next criterion. Laura tells me that Star is continuing to make good progress in her fetch rehabilitation program. Both of them are having fun with fetch now, and Laura, more confident with her shaping.

Pat Miller, CPDT, is WDJ’s Training Editor. Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center.

Strange Excitement

Editorial

By

Nancy Kerns

-

October 5, 2006

0

Tell the truth: Who among you would get elated at the possibility of taking a trip to Utah, say, to visit a dog food factory? Oh, never mind; you guys are probably just as weird as me! I guess this is a backhand way of bragging that I got to go to Utah and see a pet food canning plant! Yippee!

And, to make the holiday season complete for me, I get to go to Chicago and see another cannery (and attend the famous H.H. Backer pet products industry show), and then go to New York and see some more dry dog food get made. Im so excited.

Part of the thrill for me is getting to see processes that Ive only read and interviewed people about. Its definitely a different experience to go and see something for yourself. No matter how assiduously I have questioned a pet food executive, asking him or her to slowly but metaphorically walk me through a plant, describing each manufacturing step and challenge along the way, and no matter how enthusiastic that person is about proper pet food production, its not as educational as actually walking through a plant.

For one thing, in this and the handful of other plants Ive gotten to tour, Ive gotten to see the raw ingredients of dog food: huge tubs of chilled chicken, giant blocks of frozen meats, bins of granular poultry meal. Silos of grain flour. Sacks that are bigger than my car, full of potatoes. In the case of a company whose foods contain carrots, apples, and cottage cheese, I got to see the boxes of carrots, bushels of apples, and immense tubs of cottage cheese. Not that I doubted it, but, hey! It was all great to see. Seeing the areas and the machines and the people that do the processing is helpful, too. How clean are the floors, and the machines themselves? Where are all the places that a foreign object could possibly contaminate the food, and what can and does the manufacturer do to stop that? Its one thing to have that conversation on the phone, and another to have it while standing on the production floor next to a clacking assembly line of shiny cans, full of dog food, whizzing along to the part of the machine that seals them closed.

There are so many details that Im finding fascinating. What sort of laboratory testing do they do, where is the equipment, who operates it, how often and what happens if they get a poor test result? Can the pet food company executive find her way from one area of the contract manufacturing plant to the next? Can he explain the advantages of the shiny new mechanism the plant manager is showing us? And the people working on the line do they have a busy, absorbed, competent demeanor, or are they wandering around with that temp worker look of being lost?

Ill be discussing what Ive learned on these tours in upcoming articles. Suffice to say for now, as you could guess, Ive been nothing but impressed by the facilities Ive seen so far. But the places Ive seen are the places that invited me, not the ones who steadfastly refuse to allow any observers in their plants.

Your Dog’s Anal Glands and Sacs

By

CJ Puotinen

-

September 7, 2006

6

Dog anal glands can experience a range of uncomfortable issues.

[Updated December 3, 2018]

Oh, the smell! Anyone who’s ever been in the same room when a frightened dog “blows” her anal glands or a veterinarian manually expresses them will never forget the malodorous experience. As will anyone whose dog has suffered from impacted, infected, or abscessed anal glands It’s wise for dog owners to be aware of the problems that can arise with dog anal glands, so they can seek appropriate remedies on their dog’s behalf. Preferably before they become a serious issue.

Get a brief overview of anal gland problems in dogs from Dogster.com.

About Dog Anal Glands and their Problems

Dogs have two anal glands or sacs, one on each side of the anus, between the internal and external anal sphincter muscles. Technically, it’s the anal gland that produces fluid and the anal sac that stores it, but most veterinarians refer to either or both when they mention anal glands or anal sacs. Also called scent glands, these organs produce a brown or yellow liquid that is usually thin but which can thicken to a paste-like consistency. In small dogs, the glands are normally the size of a pea, while in large dogs they’re the size and shape of a kidney bean. At least, unless something goes awry.

Dogs, wolves, and other canids aren’t alone in having anal glands; cats, weasels, skunks, and various territory-marking mammals have them as well. Except for skunks, which routinely use their scent glands for defense, most animals release the contents of their anal glands only when they defecate or when extreme fear causes involuntary muscle contractions that expel fluid from the anal sacs. Anal gland secretions are what make dogs smell fascinating, at least to other dogs. As dogs circle and inspect each other’s hind ends, they’re savoring anal sac fragrances.

In healthy dogs whose diets contain sufficient fiber or roughage, anal glands do nothing more than give fecal matter its distinctive fragrance. As stool is passed, the sphincter muscles squeeze the anal sacs and force their contents onto the stool’s surface. But when sphincter muscles don’t exert sufficient pressure, or if something blocks the flow of fluid, problems develop.

Signs of Impacted Anal Glands in Dogs

The most common early sign of overly full, blocked, or impacted anal glands is scooting. Dragging her rear end over carpets, grass, or other rough surfaces is your dog’s attempt to stimulate the release of anal fluid. Affected dogs may also lick or bite the anal area in an effort to relieve their discomfort.

Abscesses are boils, pockets of pus under the skin surface caused by bacterial infections that produce heat, inflammation, swelling, and acute pain. If your dog whimpers or cries while attempting to defecate; if there is blood, pus, or swelling close to the anus; or if he is in obvious pain when sitting or moving, he may have an abscessed anal gland.

In many cases, impacted and even abscessed anal glands can be treated successfully at home, but it’s always a good idea, especially if you’re not yet familiar with anal gland problems, to have your veterinarian take a look. Some abscesses drain on their own while others need treatment.

Infected anal glands may require oral antibiotics, lancing, flushing, or other medical attention. For example, open channels or fistulas around the anus can result from infected anal glands, making the condition difficult to cure.

In severe cases, infected sacs can be so painful that the dog requires anesthesia before the sacs can be treated. Emptied anal sacs can be rinsed with a disinfecting liquid from an irrigation syringe and then filled with antibacterial ointment, a treatment that may have to be repeated several times. The most serious cases are resolved by the anal glands’ surgical removal.

What Causes Anal Sac Problems?

No one knows why some dogs are predisposed to having impacted or infected anal glands, but overweight and physically inactive dogs tend to have more problems than slender, physically fit dogs. In obese dogs, fat skin folds may block the pores and prevent them from draining. It may also be more difficult for obese dogs to groom themselves and encourage natural drainage.

Small dogs are more at risk than large dogs, in part because their small glands have tiny openings. But even giant breeds can develop anal gland problems.

One of the most important factors in anal gland health is diet. According to Juliette de Bairacli Levy (see “Grandmother Nature,” July 2006) in her Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, most sufferers of anal gland problems are overfed pets. “The trouble would not occur,” she says, “if dogs were fed a natural diet which always included sufficient roughage.”

Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD, lists three main causes of anal gland problems in his Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. The first is overcrowding at home, which creates inadequate space for exercise and exploration as well as frustrated attempts to establish a territory. The second is constipation or infrequent bowel movements, especially as a result of inadequate outdoor exercise. Third, he blames toxicity resulting from poor diet and inadequate exercise. In the last cases, skin disorders and ear infections may occur as well.

To repair these problems, Dr. Pitcairn recommends improving the dog’s diet and providing adequate exercise, the opportunity to go outside and have frequent bowel movements, and psychological “space.” Many holistic veterinarians recommend a raw diet that contains either the roughage of vegetables or raw bones. Opinions differ as to whether vegetables should be served in large chunks or pureed, how much vegetable matter should be mixed with meat, and whether bones should be whole or ground, but any of these additions can provide bulk that stimulates anal glands.

Levy recommends feeding raw meat in large chunks, never ground, explaining that ground meat requires little exercise on the part of the stomach and digestive tract. Foods that are too soft or too easily digested can contribute to anal gland problems.

Another helpful addition to the canine diet is coconut. Now that coconut has become a popular health food, most natural foods markets and several online retailers carry coconut oil, unsweetened shredded dried coconut, and coconut flour.

Coconut oil is especially helpful to dogs with anal gland problems because it lubricates the intestines, acts as a stool softener, and contains medium-chain fatty acids that kill yeast, fungi, viruses, harmful bacteria, and parasites, making the dog who ingests coconut oil every day a less likely candidate for anal gland infections. Start with small amounts and gradually increase to about 1 teaspoon of coconut oil per 10 pounds of body weight, which is 1 tablespoon per 30 pounds, per day.

“In addition to coconut oil,” says Bruce Fife, ND, coconut authority and author of Coconut Cures and other books, “coconut flour and shredded coconut are very good for dogs with anal gland problems because they are excellent sources of fiber. You can soak coconut flour or shredded coconut in water, broth, or other liquid so that it’s well hydrated, then add it to your dog’s food. Start with small amounts of coconut flour or dried shredded coconut and gradually increase to about 1 teaspoon coconut flour or 2 teaspoons dried shredded coconut per 30 pounds of body weight. Soak it well before mixing it with the dog’s main meal.”

Soaking is also recommended for more familiar sources of fiber, such as wheat bran and powdered psyllium husks. Any fiber supplement can contribute to constipation and intestinal blockages if given without sufficient fluid. The easiest way to prevent problems is to soak bran or psyllium overnight or for several hours so that it doesn’t absorb fluids as it moves through the digestive tract.

Juliette de Bairacli Levy recommends soaking 2 tablespoons fenugreek seeds in 1 cup warm water, letting it stand for 24 hours, then giving the liquid as a drink and mixing the seeds into the dog’s food. All of Levy’s recommendations are appropriate for dogs weighing 40 to 50 pounds. Use more for large and giant breeds, less for small and toy breeds.

Another addition that seems to work well is dried fruit, such as prunes, apricots, or figs, which can be added to the dog’s meals. For large dogs, try 2 or 3 dried prunes, apricots, or figs per day; for small dogs try 1 or 2 every other day. These dried fruits have a mild laxative effect, but their main benefit is their fiber. Like other high-fiber foods, they increase the size of fecal matter, producing larger stools that exercise the anal glands and help prevent their blockage. For dogs eating dry kibble, it’s a good idea to soak dried fruit before adding it to food.

English Setter breeder Joan Mizer in England told canine nutritional consultant Linda Arndt of Albany, Indiana, about a Rottweiler whose anal glands were chronically impacted until the dog’s owner started giving him three pitted prunes daily. “After that,” said Mizer, “the dog never again required anal gland emptying.” When Mizer heard about the Rottweiler from her veterinarian 10 years ago, she had two English Setters whose anal glands had to be emptied frequently. She started adding three dried prunes to their food once a week and they haven’t had an anal gland problem since.

“It is a lot easier to scatter a few prunes on food than to physically empty anal glands,” she said. “Friends who have tried giving prunes to their dogs have experienced the same happy results.”

The only exception to the dried fruit recommendation is the dog who suffers from a systemic yeast infection, such as candidiasis. Linda Arndt warns that many dogs diagnosed with allergies are in fact suffering from yeast overgrowth, a problem made worse by foods containing sugar, which includes all dried and fresh fruit. Sources of fiber other than fruit are recommended for dogs with chronic allergies, frequent ear infections, and other yeast infection symptoms.

Additional recommendations from holistic health experts include adding finely minced wheat grass or other green herbs to the diet at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight (1 tablespoon per 30 pounds) per day. Alternatively, you can feed chopped vegetables, such as carrots or celery; add aloe vera juice or gel to food at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds of body weight per day; or add a chlorophyll supplement to the dog’s food according to label directions.

Express Dog Anal Glands Yourself

Even in dogs who have never shown symptoms, anal glands should be checked periodically just to be sure that everything looks normal. Veterinarians are used to expressing canine anal glands, which is a smelly but simple procedure. If it’s ever necessary for your dog, have your vet show you how. This simple procedure can be done at home on anal glands that are full and not releasing fluid on their own, but do not attempt to express anal glands that are painfully infected or abscessed.

Expressing impacted anal glands is often easier after the area has been treated several times with a hot herbal compress or fomentation (see next section).

Professional groomers often perform this task when they are bathing the dog, to reduce the potential for creating a smelly mess, especially on long-coated dogs.

When you have experience with this task, you’ll find that it may be most efficient and clean to hold a warm, damp washcloth or gauze pad over the area as you apply pressure to the glands. This is so the expressed fluid can be easily wiped away and won’t squirt out and land on you – which is definitely an experience you won’t forget. But when you are a beginner at this task, the washcloth can make it difficult to see if you are squeezing in the right place, and whether anything is coming out! In this case, have gauze or cotton at the ready – and consider putting on some safety goggles or glasses. Really!

Raise the dog’s tail and take a look. If the dog’s anus was the center of the face of a clock, the glands would be located at around the numbers five and seven. The idea is to gently palpate the area with your thumb and forefinger to locate the glands. Think of them as small grapes embedded in the dog’s flesh; you want to squeeze the juice out of them, without expelling the “grapes” themselves. Firmly press your thumb and forefinger into the dog’s flesh, outside of the area where the glands are located, and slowly squeeze the fingers together. If you do it right, you’ll immediately see a thick fluid expressed on or around the dog’s anus. Wipe away any expressed fluid with the tissue, gauze, or cotton. Check the fluid for blood or pus, either of which indicates an infection.

Again, it may be easiest to have your veterinarian or groomer show you how to do this. And you definitely want to seek the attention of your vet if the glands appear badly infected or abscessed. Karen Doyle of Dogs Gone Grooming in Suffern, New York, has dealt with thousands of anal glands in her 26 years as a dog groomer. “I didn’t learn how to express anal glands in grooming school because they didn’t teach it,” she says. “I learned by doing it on my own dogs. But even though it’s a simple procedure, it isn’t something I do routinely. With small dogs, impacted anal glands aren’t usually serious, but whenever I see impacted anal glands in a large breed dog, especially on two consecutive visits, I suggest a visit to the veterinarian to find out what’s going on.

“You can get acquainted with your dog’s anal glands just by checking them from time to time,” she continues. “Lift the tail, take a look, and gently touch the area. You’ll be able to see at a glance whether the hair looks worn or bald from frantic licking or biting, and you can tell by touch whether the anal sacs are full or empty. Pay attention to whether the area is hot to the touch, looks inflamed or swollen, is obviously causing discomfort, or produces a thick rather than thin discharge. These are all symptoms that need attention.”

Herbal Treatments for Impacted Anal Sacs

Juliette de Bairacli Levy’s favorite way to relieve a dog’s impacted anal glands is to apply herbs internally and externally.

Brew dandelion tea using leaves and/or flowers, she says, and add this to the dog’s food and water as often as the dog will accept it. To brew the tea, use 1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh dandelion per cup of boiling water, cover, and let stand until cool.

Fomentations are hot compresses, made by brewing and straining a strong herbal tea. When applied to impacted or abscessed anal glands, they loosen, soften, and stimulate the glands and their contents, helping glands flow on their own. For most dogs, fomentations produce immediate relief from discomfort. Impacted anal glands may immediately begin to drain, or applying another fomentation several hours later may release trapped fluid.

Fomentations can help abscessed anal glands by encouraging the abscess to come to a head, burst open on its own, and drain.

To prepare a fomentation, add 1 tablespoon dried herbs or 2 tablespoons fresh herbs to 1 cup boiling water, cover, and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes. If desired, add 1 tablespoon unrefined sea salt, which has its own healing properties.

Pour the hot tea into a bowl. When the tea is cool enough to touch without burning yourself but still very warm, saturate a clean washcloth or other absorbent fabric. Wring it out slightly so that it doesn’t drip. If necessary, hold the washcloth open and exposed to the air to let it cool slightly. Test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it isn’t too hot. Fold the fabric in half and in half again. Hold the hot, wet cloth in place for three to five minutes, or until it begins to cool. Don’t press hard, but apply just enough pressure to keep the fabric from shifting. Remove, soak the cloth again, and reapply for another three to five minutes.

Dr. Pitcairn recommends applying hot calendula fomentations twice a day for three days or longer. Other holistic health experts recommend hot chamomile, stinging nettle, lavender, red clover, or yarrow fomentations. Like calendula, these dried herbs are available in most health food stores.

For anal gland abscesses, add a teaspoon of coconut oil, 1 drop of lavender essential oil, and/or several drops of grapefruit seed extract to any of these hot teas. All of these additions have disinfecting properties. Obviously, if your dog has a really painful abscess, this treatment may not be appropriate. Use a fomentation or hot compress only if your dog is comfortable with it.

Once an abscess begins to drain, the area can be left alone, treated with a warm or cool compress, or sprayed with an herbal tea or with a mixture of 1 cup medicinal-strength tea and 1 tablespoon unrefined sea salt. A tissue, gauze, or cotton ball can be used to gently wipe draining pus from below the affected area.

As mentioned, serious cases may require medical intervention. Consult your veterinarian about any abscess or impaction that does not respond to home treatment or that has progressed to an advanced stage.

Aromatherapy

Although many essential oils that have disinfecting properties are not recommended for use around mucous membranes (because they can irritate or cause pain), some essential oils, when diluted with carrier oils, are gentle enough for application to abscessed or impacted anal glands.

The secret is to use a therapeutic-quality essential oil that has both disinfecting and soothing properties, such as lavender or sweet marjoram essential oil, and to dilute it in a carrier oil that is quickly absorbed, such as jojoba, grapeseed, or sunflower oil. Hydrosols or “flower waters” are produced during steam distillation, and they combine minute traces of essential oil with the distilled plants’ water-soluble constituents, making them safe and effective for pet use.

When used as a disinfecting hydrosol, essential oils that can otherwise irritate mucous membranes, such as tea tree or oregano, can be safely sprayed on the area to help heal the infection. (For instructions and recommended resources, see our aromatherapy series, published in the December 2004, January 2005, April 2005, and August 2005 issues.)

Jake’s Canine Remedy, a topical spray developed by aromatherapist Frances Fitzgerald Cleveland, can be sprayed onto abscessed, infected anal glands. In addition to helping clear infection, inflammation, and itchiness, its essential oils have analgesic properties that help relieve pain. “If one of my dogs had abscessed anal glands,” she says, “I would definitely use it.”

Homeopathy

For abscessed or infected anal glands, Dr. Pitcairn, founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy and a classically trained homeopath, recommends Belladonna 6C. “Give one or two pellets every four hours for a total of three treatments,” he recommends. “Give no food for 10 minutes before and after treatment. No further homeopathic treatment will be needed for the next 24 hours. If your dog is not noticeably improved by then, give Silicea 30C only once, providing no food for one hour before and one hour after treatment. The Belladonna helps with the initial inflammation and Silicea promotes the discharge of pus and encourages healing.”

An Ounce of Prevention

Anyone who has had to deal with anal gland problems knows that preventing anal gland problems is well worth the investment of time and effort. With the simple methods described here, you can help your dog enjoy a comfortable life free from the pain and discomfort of impacted or infected anal glands.

Anal Gland Problems in Dogs: Overview

1. Get in the habit of checking your dog’s anal glands for swelling, infection, or other problems.

2. To help prevent problems, improve the diet and add fiber.

3. Have your veterinarian show you how to express anal glands so you can do it at home if necessary.

4. Report any infection or anal gland complications to your vet.

A long-time contributor to WDJ and author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care, Natural remedies for Dogs and Cats, and other books, C. J. Puotinen lives in New York with her husband, a Lab and a tabby cat.

Teaching Your Dog to Read

By

CJ Puotinen

-

September 7, 2006

2

[Updated March 26, 2018]

TEACH YOUR DOGS TO READ: OVERVIEW

1. Make flash cards for the five behaviors your dog knows best and start teaching your dog to read.

2. Work in short sessions, progress slowly, and give high-value rewards for success.

3. Think of different ways to incorporate reading into your dog’s life and training.

Curling up with a good book? Maybe your dog would like to read one, too.

Don’t laugh. If Bonnie Bergin, EdD, has her way, dogs all over the world will soon be reading – maybe not books and articles, but individual words or sets of words strung together. Now president of the Bonnie Bergin Assistance Dog Institute, the world’s only academic college that awards associate and master’s degrees in dog studies, Dr. Bergin originated the service dog concept when she founded Canine Companions for Independence more than 30 years ago.

The dogs she worked with were so intelligent and responsive that from time to time she thought about teaching them to read. The idea stayed in the back of her mind until 2002, when she began a canine reading experiment. Now she has written a book, Teach Your Dog to Read: A Unique Step-by-Step Program to Expand Your Dog’s Mind and Strengthen the Bond Between You, which invites everyone to join her. “It’s an exciting project,” she says, “because we’re on the brink of a revolution. Dogs who can read are the dogs of the future.” In the future that Dr. Bergin envisions, dogs and their human companions will have a means of communicating that goes far beyond what’s possible now. Dogs may, for example, combine their exceptional sense of smell with their ability to read and help medical doctors identify specific diseases, such as different types of cancer.

Service dogs working with the visually impaired will be able to recognize and look for exit signs, appropriate restroom signs, and other important markers. Pet dogs will recognize and pay attention to signs that warn them away from furniture or kitchen counters, just as they will look for signs that invite them to relieve themselves in designated areas at highway rest stops. Dogs participating in reading programs with children, adolescents, or adults will inspire and encourage those who are struggling to read by showing how they are learning to read themselves. Most important, she says, will be the deepening of everyday communication between dogs and their humans.

“I have been training my own dogs to go to posted signs saying water, treat, or pet me, to tell me what they want,” says Dr. Bergin. “We’re still in the early stages of this two-way communication, but it has incredible implications. Dogs who can read will find it much easier to share information, and the possibilities are endless. In every way, teaching your dog to read can help your dog be a smarter, better companion, and it will deepen and strengthen the bond that connects you.”

How to Get Your Dog Reading

Puppies raised at the Assistance Dog Institute are introduced to the written word at just a few weeks of age. They literally grow up reading. But while puppies and younger dogs may have an easier time learning to read, it’s never too late (assuming that vision problems don’t interfere) to teach old dogs new words. Your first reading lesson can be this very afternoon. All you need are your dog, yourself, and a sheet of paper.

For those who would like to use Dr. Bergin’s flash cards, her printed cues and cartoon stick figures can be downloaded from her website. But you can make your own flash cards by printing words by hand in large, dark block letters or by using your computer’s largest, darkest font (avoid fonts with squiggles, serifs, or other elaborations). Print one word or cue per page in black ink on plain white paper, printed sideways (“landscape” orientation). You can laminate the cards for durability. Begin with a cue that your dog knows well. “But don’t start with sit,” she suggests. “Everyone always starts every training session with sit, and it’s a pattern dogs come to expect. I suggest starting with down or some other command.” Make a list of 5 or 10 cues that your dog responds to readily when you give a verbal instruction. Dr. Bergin’s list includes down, sit, stand, roll (roll halfway over and expose stomach), turn (spin), shake, speak, bow, up (place paws on the edge of a table, countertop, desk, or wall), kiss, and go to bed. Save behaviors that involve a prop (such as placing paws up on a table or fetching a particular toy) until the dog is adept at reading other cues, because positioning yourself near a prop is a dead giveaway, and you want your dog to focus on the card and its word, not on your body language. “We know that dogs can learn to read up to 20 written words,” she says, “from three-letter words that represent the most basic commands, to five-letter words that call for more dramatic responses, such as shake or speak, to three-word sentences such as ‘Get the shoe.'”

Start in a quiet room with no distractions. Clicker-trained dogs or dogs trained with positive reinforcement, says Dr. Bergin, are most likely to offer a variety of behaviors when they’re motivated to earn a reward, and motivated dogs who offer different behaviors learn quickly.

Day 1 Lesson Plan

Dr. Bergin recommends following these five steps in your first reading lesson (“down” is a perfect first word) and whenever you introduce a new word.

1. Get ready.

Hold your flash card in one hand behind your back. Hold a treat, ball, toy, or other favorite reward in the other, or, if you’re holding a clicker, place the reward where your dog can see it or knows it’s there.

Without touching your dog or giving any cues ahead of time, have your dog stand in front of you. Then:

2. Present the card, and 3. Immediately say the cue.

“Timing is essential,” says Dr. Bergin. “Your dog should get a glimpse of the word a split second before you say it. Also, if your dog is more used to hand signals than verbal commands, give the appropriate signal with one hand just as you bring the flash card out from behind your back with the other.” Avoid making eye contact with your dog, as that is a distraction. Look down at the top of the card or past your dog (see photo, below left).

4. Hold the card.

Hold the flash card still. Be sure you’re holding the sign with your fingers away from its letters. Don’t move. Wait for your dog to lie down.

5. Reward your dog.

As soon as your dog lies down, say “Yes!” in an enthusiastic, high-pitched voice. Dr. Bergin recommends clipping the “Yes!” so that it almost sounds like “Yesp!” as this will help you say the word faster. If you normally use a clicker to mark the end of a behavior, click as soon as the dog lies down.

While saying “Yes!” or clicking, move the card behind your back or set it on a table where your dog can’t see it. Leaving the card in sight is like repeating a cue after your dog has already performed the behavior.

Reward your dog with praise, a vigorous pet, a food treat or toy, or all of these so that he feels appreciated and looks forward to doing this again.

Repeat the exercise by doing the same five steps in exactly the same way. Then repeat it again.

During the fourth run-through, if your dog has been responding readily to the verbal cue, present the card but don’t say anything or give a hand signal. Instead, just hold the card in front of you. Don’t jiggle or move the card. Hold still, exactly as you did in the previous exercise.

If your dog hesitates for more than a few seconds or seems confused, go back to step 3 and say the word “down” or give your hand signal. With time and practice, you’ll learn whether it’s more helpful to repeat a cue or to wait and let your dog figure it out. As soon as he lies down without any prompting from you in response to of the “down” card, celebrate! Now is the time for over-the-top treats, praise, and enthusiastic rewards.

“Dogs love, need, and crave emotion,” says Dr. Bergin. “That’s why I prefer the word ‘Yes!’ to the click of a clicker. Charged feelings, preferably positive feelings, reinforce behavior. So shower your dog with praise.”

End today’s practice session on a high note and continue tomorrow. Limit each day’s training to six to nine exercises per flash card, no more than 15 minutes total. With young puppies, do considerably less, working in shorter sessions.

Introducing a Second and Third Word

To determine whether your dog is ready for a new word, test her to see if she responds to the “down” flash card without a verbal prompt or hand signal three out of five times. To introduce a new word, such as “sit,” follow the same five steps as before.

Most dogs anticipate the card that they already learned, so don’t be surprised if your dog lies down. If that happens, don’t correct or punish her. Simply move back, encouraging your dog to follow, and repeat the sequence of actions.

Many dogs sit before lying down, so if this happens, you have a split second in which to click or say “Yes!” while she is still sitting.

As soon as your dog successfully sits, remove the card and reward her. Do the exercise two or three more times to reinforce the “sit” cue.

Now that your dog recognizes the word sit, start to mix things up. Without breaking stride or indicating in any way that something different is about to happen, show her the word down without saying anything.

“Most dogs respond correctly by lying down,” says Dr. Bergin. “They get it! They can discriminate between the two words. If your dog responds this way, congratulations are in order. Give a resoundingly positive ‘Yes!’ and be generous with praise and high-value food treats.”

If your dog doesn’t recognize the difference between sit and down, practice with each card a few more times and help out with verbal cues if needed. If your dog offers an incorrect behavior, either ignore the behavior or say “No” in a calm, serious, low-key voice. Saying “No” in this way tells the dog that this isn’t the behavior you want, so try something else. Put a lot of emotion into your “Yes!” whenever your dog does something correctly, and keep emotion out of your “No” when she does something else. (See “Opinions About ‘No Reward Markers’ Vary,” below.)

End on a positive note – when your dog does the behavior you asked for, with or without a verbal cue, and you make a big fuss – and continue tomorrow. Limit each day’s training to about six to nine exercises with each card, and with puppies, do less.

“It’s important to stop while you’re ahead,” says Dr. Bergin. “It’s easy to become enthused, especially if your dog catches on fast, but if you push too hard, you’ll exhaust your dog, feel disappointed, and you’ll both burn out. The best thing you can do is end early, end on a high note, and let your dog’s mind grapple with this new challenge while sleeping. A good night’s rest can improve the next day’s performance.”

Continue to work in short training sessions. When your dog knows three words, start mixing them up and present them randomly. Always be sure your dog responds correctly to each word at least three out of five times before adding a new word. Use the same procedure for introducing each new word.

“Be patient,” says Dr. Bergin. “Whenever you introduce a new word, your dog’s overall performance will decline. Your dog knows sit, down, and stand, but when you introduce the card for bow, he forgets everything. This is when reading becomes an effort for your dog, just as it was for us when we were kids. Be patient, stick to the program, work in short sessions, review the cards, and give verbal cues as needed. Your dog will be stretching his mind in new ways, and that’s hard work. Do everything you can to make the experience rewarding.”

By the third word, many dogs express their frustration by barking or vocalizing. Don’t correct or even acknowledge this, just ignore it.

Motivated dogs may offer every behavior they can think of in an effort to win the treat or reward. If your dog runs through her repertoire by sitting, lying down, standing up, spinning around, waving, bowing, rolling over, and so forth, don’t smile or laugh. Keep a straight face and calmly ignore or say “No” to each wrong answer and give a highly enthusiastic “Yes!” for each right one.

Some dogs begin shutting down when they feel confused, becoming less physically active and offering fewer behaviors. “You have to counteract that lethargy by being a good coach,” says Dr. Bergin. “Use whatever tools you have to infuse your dog with your infectious energy and enthusiasm for the upcoming exercises. Really cheer your dog on, wave favorite treats and toys, and make the whole experience positive, upbeat, happy, and rewarding, not a boring chore.”

A lack of interest at the beginning of a reading session is a bad sign, suggesting that your dog may be on the brink of burnout. If she turns her head away, walks away, or just doesn’t want to practice, take a break. “If I had to choose between burnout or stopping prematurely,” says Dr. Bergin, “I’d stop prematurely. Put the cards away for a few days or a week. Renew your dog’s enthusiasm for life and training with favorite activities. And when you resume, keep your sessions short and positive.”

In her book, Dr. Bergin provides detailed step-by-step lesson plans, training tips, and advice for preventing and solving problems. One chapter helps volunteers train their dogs for work with children in schools and libraries.

She also describes how learning to read will help dogs conceptualize, understand new ideas, make new connections, communicate more effectively, and enhance their relationships with humans.

Opinions About ‘No Reward Markers’ Vary

In this article, Dr. Bergin describes using the word “no” in a specific way: as a “no reward marker” or NRM. This is a unique and neutral signal that lets the dog know that the behavior he is exhibiting is not the desired one, so he should try something else to find the desired behavior, for which he will be rewarded. Dr. Begin recommends keeping any emotion out of your voice when using “no” in this way, so the dog is not discouraged, but merely understands that he should try something else. The word is offered as information, not as punishment. “A firm “No” should not sound threatening, angry, frustrated, or disappointed,” says Dr. Bergin. “Use it to inform, redirect, and guide.”

However, the success of the word “no” as an NRM may hinge on more than just the owner’s scrupulousness at saying “no” in a neutral way. Unfortunately, many dog owners use the word “No!” to stop their dogs from doing anything the owner doesn’t like – chasing a cat, sniffing a countertop (preparatory to jumping up and snatching some food, perhaps), barking at someone through the living room window. That’s why some dogs develop an unconscious negative association with the word; it becomes a precursor to being punished, or is experienced by the dog as punishment itself. When these dogs hear “no,” even in a neutral tone, they may just give up, thinking anything they do next will be wrong.

If your dog “gets” the concept of the neutral NRM, and keeps trying various behaviors when you mark his incorrect attempts with the word “no,” you’re doing a good job, just as Dr. Bergin describes! However, if he “shuts down” or stops offering different behaviors when you use the word, try saying it more brightly and cheerfully. Or, better yet, try a different NRM, one without any negative associations for the dog. Some trainers use a word like “Oops!” which naturally comes out of most people’s mouths cheerfully. Other suggestions include “not!”, “try again!” (or just, “again!”), “next!”, or “cold!” (from the children’s game where a person tries to find a hidden object and is told “warmer” or colder” based on his movements as he searches).

Understanding Reading

After her first reading experiment with dogs being trained at her Assistance Dog Institute, Dr. Bergin spent the summer of 2003 studying the history of human reading. She learned that humans began their written communication by drawing pictures, which eventually became stick figures, which were eventually turned on their sides, which is how they became phonemes (symbolic sounds) and letters of alphabets.

“Our dogs were already recognizing words made of letters,” she says, “so I moved on to cartoon stick figures, which I created on my computer. I was amazed at how quickly the dogs made the connection between their word command flash cards and the stick figures that illustrated those commands. I could show them a stick figure and they all did the corresponding behavior without being taught.”

Dr. Bergin then brought a Stanford University researcher to the Institute to help her explore the canine mind with regard to reading. “I learned that printed words are hard for dogs to understand because they are abstract shapes that have to be identified and responded to, while stick figures might be easier to decipher but understanding them involves a higher level of cognition.”

What amazed Dr. Bergin the most was the ability of reading dogs to conceptualize, to make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.

“I know that there are people who still believe dogs can’t think,” she says, “despite all kinds of scientific evidence to the contrary. Well, up to this point I knew dogs could think, but I didn’t think they thought very much. I would hear stories from people who got assistance dogs from me about how brilliant their dogs were, and I’d always take those stories with a grain of salt. I tended to dismiss them as anecdotal reports, nothing based on objective science, and I didn’t pay much attention. Now I realize that the reports were probably quite accurate, not the exaggerated claims I had assumed them to be, and I wish I could turn the clock back and hear them all again. I would pay much more attention.”

Dr. Bergin also learned that people who don’t read cannot conceptualize the way people who read can. “This helps explain why people who can’t read are so often stuck and unable to change their lives. It’s because they can’t imagine anything different. Learning to read unlocks all kinds of possibilities for them. I’m convinced that the same will be true for dogs and that dogs who can read will demonstrate degrees of intelligence, problem solving ability, and talent that we can’t begin to imagine.

“The possibilities for reading dogs are endless,” she says. “We just need to keep exploring them. Reading dogs are revolutionaries – and by teaching them to be literate beings, we can participate in their revolution. When you teach a dog to read, you’re not just teaching him a cute trick to show your friends. You’re developing his mind and helping him become a better problem solver. My hope is that these simple training techniques will transform your expectations about what your dog can learn and do at home, and that it will change the way that veterinarians, dog trainers, and breeders approach dog training forever.”

Dogs Help Promote Reading Skills in Others

Not only can dogs learn to read, they can actually help kids learn to read. Since 1999, registered therapy dogs have been visiting schools, libraries, and other facilities as Reading Education Assistance Dogs® or R.E.A.D.® Program participants. Founded by Intermountain Therapy Animals in Salt Lake City, Utah, the R.E.A.D. program is dedicated to improving the literacy skills of children of all ages by providing them an opportunity to read aloud to a dog in a setting that is supportive and nonjudgmental. After all, the presence of dogs helps lower blood pressure and relieve anxiety – and dogs never correct your pronunciation.

In a pilot study conducted at a Utah elementary school in 2000-2001, children in grades 2 through 6 significantly improved their reading scores. In addition, teachers reported that the participants experienced decreased absenteeism, improved self confidence and self esteem, a sense of pride in their accomplishments, increased participation in field trips, clubs, and other extracurricular activities, improved hygiene, kinder and more respectful interactions with animals, better grades, and increased use of the school’s library. R.E.A.D. program volunteers work throughout the U.S. and in parts of Canada. The program is open to registered therapy dogs and other therapy animals.

WDJ contributor CJ Puotinen and her Labrador Retriever, Chloe, are members of the Hudson Valley Humane Society Visiting Pet Program, which is a R.E.A.D. Program affiliate. They live in New York.

Determining Your Dog’s Health Through His Feces

By

Susan Weinstein

-

September 7, 2006

0

You can learn a lot about your dogs’ health from their poop. Its color, consistency, contents, odor, amount, and frequency can give you valuable, up-to-date information about their health. For example, it can provide early warning that your dog’s diet may be unsuitable, or that she may be grappling with parasites, viruses, unfriendly bacteria, bad water, emotional upset, food allergies, or serious illness.

So try to check it out every day. Don’t be shy! You might use a twig to poke it apart, although picking it up carefully with a bag or scooper may yield a similar opportunity to observe its qualities. This way, you’ll come to know whether your dog’s poop seems right or wrong, and when you need to do something about it.

Anytime you are not sure of what you’re seeing, check with a vet, an expert in canine nutrition, or your reliable home library. Those specialty pet supply shops that actively promote the raw diet and sell ingredients for it often have staff who are very well-informed. But there’s no getting away from it – competent doggy-doo divination begins at home. And to recognize a problematic poop, we must start with a concept of the ideal excrement.

The perfect poop

A dog’s feces varies somewhat according to whether he eats kibble, canned, or home-prepared food. But all well-formed dog poo shares certain characteristics. First, healthy stool should have a relatively inoffensive odor. For another, it will typically be brown and of an even, well-digested consistency.

Pet food industry professionals use a scale of 1 to 5 to rate poop quality. Usually, 1 means liquid diarrhea, whereas 5 indicates a hard and dry stool. The industry generally agrees that 4 is ideal, says Claudia A. Kirk, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVN and ACVIM. Dr. Kirk, an associate professor of medicine and nutrition in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, describes the perfect 4 as “a light- to dark-brown stool that is well-formed, firm but malleable, moist, and does not fall apart when picked up.”

Understand that every dog has her own version of “normal.” To be able to distinguish the good from the bad, you need to know your own dog’s poop when she’s absolutely radiant with good health!

A Twix candy bar is pictured to simulate a log-like dog poop. — “Normal” poop for each dog varies. Ideally, though, it is neither too hard nor too soft, and not terribly smelly.

Feces facts

Poop is the by-product of the digestive process. Food is broken down into basic molecules in the stomach and small intestine, enabling the small intestine to absorb them. Enzymes break down proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into sugar molecules, and fat into cholesterol and di- and tri-glyceride components.

Food particles not absorbed by the small intestine pass into the large intestine (the colon), along with gut secretions, pancreatic enzymes, bile salts, discarded intestinal cells, mucus, intestinal bacteria, secreted water, minerals, and vitamins. This substance is typically green and soupy.

The party is not yet over when this matter (known as the “ingesta”) reaches the colon, which absorbs much of the water, many minerals, some vitamins, and most bile salts. Any food that is still undigested provides nutrients for the normal microbes that live in the lower gut. Fermentation of these nutrients occurs there, producing volatile (and often smelly) gases, altering the pH of the colon, and even changing some of the food into short chain fatty acids, which are very important for the health of the colonic epithelial cells (colonocytes).

Fermentation is a normal part of digestion; it produces essential vitamins such as vitamin K. Vitamins, short chain fatty acids, certain minerals, and bile acids are absorbed across the colon along with large amounts of water. As the “leftovers” move toward the rectum, removal of the water concentrates the ingesta into what we know as feces.

By the time it comes out of the dog, poop is made up of unabsorbed nutrients, cells, bile pigments, volatile fatty acids and organic compounds, mucus, water, electrolytes, and additional metabolic waste products.

Factors affecting stool quality

How wonderful it would be if we could catalog wayward types of feces and simply cross-reference them to find out whether a dog needs a new diet, more exercise, a particular remedy, or a medical procedure!

Unfortunately, poop defies neat and tidy classification. Problem poop can give us a helpful heads-up about a dog’s possible ill health, but taken as a sign by itself “it can rarely pinpoint the cause or severity of the problem, since there is huge overlap across the disorders,” states Dr. Kirk.

All kinds of things can upset the digestive system, including food with low digestibility, an out-of-balance bacterial population, intestinal disease, toxins, pharmaceuticals, botanicals (herbs), vitamin supplements, nutritional oils, nutraceuticals, food allergy or intolerance, vaccinations, exercise, and emotional stress.

How can we tell the difference between feces affected by what a dog ingests as opposed to those reflecting the presence of viruses, bacterial infections, parasites, systemic or organ disease or failure? “Unfortunately, (the latter) will look just like poop from dietary indiscretion, food allergies, and so forth,” Dr. Kirk says. So we need to look at all of these different factors.

- Food digestibility

The amount of food molecules entering the colon depends on a variety of factors. One is the dog’s ability to digest an otherwise satisfactory meal. Another is the inherent digestibility of the food provided. If the diet is digestible, fewer molecules end up in the colon and fermentation is minimal. But when lots of undigested nutrients enter the lower small intestine and colon, fermentation can be profuse.

Whereas the colon normally extracts water from digested food, changing it from liquid into something solid and well-formed, the production of large amounts of gas and short chain fatty acids, when severe, will draw water back into the colon. “This is the same process that occurs in people with lactose intolerance – producing gas, diarrhea, and flatulence,” Dr. Kirk explains.

Doggy diets vary considerably concerning contents, combinations of foodstuffs, and degrees of processing. Nevertheless, Dr. Kirk offers a few generalizations about some common pet food ingredients that can affect stool quality.

Fibers constitute an important component of the diet. Some are fermentable and others are not. The type, amount, water solubility, water holding capacity, and fermentation rate of a fiber source significantly affects stool quality.

However, opinions differ about good sources of fiber for dogs. Dr. Karr-Lilienthal, companion animal specialist and lecturer in Companion Animal Science at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, recommends oats, carrots, and brassica vegetables such as broccoli. She likes beet pulp, since about half ferments in the gut, where it’s easily broken down by friendly bacteria, and because the indigestible half improves the stool quality.

Jennifer Lennon, founder of Healthy Paws, a Toronto company that produces raw diets for dogs and cats, favors ground whole black oil sunflower seeds, including the hulls; ground whole veggies, particularly roots such as beets and carrots; and ground whole pumpkin seeds.

Corn often gets blamed for causing voluminous, gloppy stools. However, Dr. Karr-Lilienthal believes that the story is a little more complicated. “Corn has a bad reputation partly because it’s a fairly common food allergen,” she says. She believes that while corn offers some nutritive bene-fits when used to provide fiber, a problem arises when pet food companies use corn – or other cereal grains – as a primary source of protein.

On this basis, she says there’s a positive correlation between the amount we pay for our dogs’ nutrition and its quality. The cheapest foods, such as generic store-brands and others, are usually formulated with inexpensive plant-derived proteins; their fiber sources may be low-cost wheat middlings or peanut hulls. The nutrients in foodstuffs like these aren’t readily available to the animal, she warns.

“It’s actually more cost-effective to feed a more expensive, higher quality diet. You have to feed a lot more of those really cheap foods to get the right amount of nutrients into your animal. As a result, more comes out the other end that they’re not able to utilize. Sometimes those animals are more gassy, too, because of the poorly digested proteins reaching the large intestine – a lot of odor comes from that.”

But not all plant proteins create the same problems. Soy is highly digestible; its issue (besides being another common allergen) is that its carbohydrates are too fermentable and can cause flatulence. Dr. Karr-Lilienthal believes that dogs need a minimum of 4 percent good quality fiber; most pet foods provide a range of 4 to 10 percent. A raw diet that regularly includes ground whole vegetable matter will more than meet this requirement.

- Bacterial population

The bacteria that inhabit a dog’s gut play an important role in her food’s digestion and fermentation. The balance of intestinal bacteria is affected by both diet and drugs such as antibiotics.

Over time, intestinal bacteria adapt as much as they can to what the individual dog eats. A dog who dines on the same brand and type of commercial food daily will normally adapt to that diet and produce consistent stools.

In contrast, the poop of dogs who regularly consume a variety of foods, as those who feast on raw victuals usually do, tells a somewhat different story. The stool quality of such a dog usually falls within a consistent range of what’s normal for that individual. In either case, changing the diet too quickly or adding something new can cause bacterial overgrowth and excessive fermentation, resulting in diarrhea. This is why it’s important to allow a dog time to adjust to new ingredients in the diet, or to new brands or types of commercial foods.

- Intestinal disease

Any disease that affects the intestine, whether caused by parasites, malabsorption, ulcers, tumors, food allergies, bacteria, viruses, or other culprits, can contribute to vomiting and altered stool.

- Toxins

Toxins can come from many sources. Normal foods, plants, excess bile salts, metabolic by-products, and even the dog’s own bacteria can produce them. Toxins can block absorption, alter motility, destroy normal intestinal cells needed for digestion, and stimulate cells to secrete excess water and electrolytes, all of which can create problem poop.

Keep in mind that any time your dog has a persistently abnormal stool, seek professional advice early.

- Pharmaceuticals

Anything that upsets the tummy can affect stool quality. Chemotherapeutic drugs and laxatives (obviously!) are good examples. Antibiotics commonly disrupt the normal intestinal bacterial population, producing side effects such as diarrhea. Opioids often cause constipation. Medications containing iron may cause constipation and darken the stool.

There are too many examples to list here. Always find out about the possible unintended effects of any drug before you give it to your dog!

- Botanicals (herbs)

Again, the possibilities are many. Some herbs may cause toxicity in an individual animal depending upon the dosage and other factors. Others, like nettle, alfalfa, or flaxseed, may cause digestive upset (and dermatological reactions) if given in large quantities. As with drugs, learn all you can before using any herb, and administer it responsibly.

- Vitamin supplements

Supplemented in appropriate amounts, vitamins shouldn’t cause a problem. However, Wendell O. Belfield, DVM, and others following his lead recommend using the sodium ascorbate or calcium ascorbate form of vitamin C. This is because the ascorbic acid form is hard on some dogs’ stomachs. Oil-based vitamins, such as E and A, may soften stools as oils tend to do. Large doses of B vitamins may cause stomach upset and vomiting or, less commonly, diarrhea.

- Nutritional oils

Large amounts of oils (for example, flax, fish, corn, and others) will cause greasy stools and possibly diarrhea if added too quickly or if given in excess. Introduce them gradually to your dog’s diet.

- Nutraceuticals

Some will cause diarrhea. MSM, ursodiol, SAM-e, and chondroitin sulfates have reportedly caused GI upset in some dogs. Again, introducing them slowly may help.

- Food allergy or intolerance

Food allergy or intolerance can cause intermittent to frequent vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, loss of appetite, itchy skin or ears, eosiniphilic plaques, and a number of less common disorders. Feces quality can range from normal to diarrhea and with or without mucus or blood, depending on the severity of the allergy and what part of the intestinal tract is most affected. Stools will often be lighter in color, and diarrhea obvious, but not always.

- Vaccination

According to Dr. Kirk, a dog should not normally have a stool change immediately following vaccination; a reaction may indicate an allergic reaction to the vaccine. This would usually produce diarrhea that may or may not include mucus or blood, and (or) vomiting, vasculitis, and hives. She states that vaccines for leptospirosis and rabies are most commonly associated with this kind of reaction. Note that allergic reactions and vaccine anaphylaxis have many other clinical signs, including acute respiratory distress and death – or, later, immune-mediated phenomena such as thrombocytopenia or anemia. If you observe any change that makes you suspicious of an allergic reaction following any vaccination, inform your vet right away. Subsequent exposures tend to get worse and could result in death.

- Exercise

Dogs need regular exercise for their digestive health. Not enough physical activity can encourage constipation, as it does in people. But suddenly increasing a dog’s exercise level can cause diarrhea and lead to dehydration, according to Dr. Karr-Lilienthal, “because it really stresses the animal out (physically). Instead, slowly build their condition.”

- Emotional stress

Never underestimate the effects of emotional stress on a dog’s well-being and digestive processes, no matter what her age. As Dr. Karr-Lilienthal says, “Anytime a dog is stressed he’s more likely to have diarrhea. Dogs are very emotional creatures!”

Common dung disorders and how to treat them

There is also quite a long list of the ways in which a dog’s poop can diverge from a normal appearance and consistency. While treatment for these conditions will vary based on the individual and the severity and duration of the abnormal poo, the following are some generalized descriptions and treatment recommendations.

A glob of dark chocolate pudding is used to simulate dark, tarry stool. — Black or tarry stool that resembles this dark chocolate pudding, may indicate bleeding in the upper GI tract.

- Diarrhea and loose stool

Diarrhea is the most common sign of digestive disturbance. While it’s often of little concern, it can be serious. Diarrhea’s causes are almost infinite, including infections, an ill-suited diet (one containing ingredients that the dog is allergic to or intolerant of), emotional upset, ingestion of toxic or bacterial-laden substances, worms, and many more. A lot of dogs can’t digest the lactose in milk products and get diarrhea from that.

Diarrhea results when things move along too quickly for the colon to extract enough water for the stool to take form. If it occurs only once or twice and then resolves itself, the dog’s body was probably clearing itself of material that was inappropriate, irritating, or teeming with unfriendly bacteria.

However, you’ll need to be concerned when diarrhea is severe, contains or smells of blood, contains raspberry-jam like mucus, is accompanied by other signs of illness, or continues for more than a couple of days. In these cases, it could be telling you either that the diet is wrong for the dog or that the dog may be – perhaps urgently – ill. Even in less dramatic cases, dehydration is always a danger with diarrhea; and chronic diarrhea can lead to malabsorption and long-term degradation of health.

In general, if diarrhea appears simple and uncomplicated with no other symptoms, wait a day or two. Provide plenty of water! Give your dog’s immune system a chance to do its work. Think about what she might have gotten into that she shouldn’t have. If the diarrhea doesn’t clear up, start looking to either the diet or illness for answers.

Consult with a vet anytime you see additional symptoms, after two days with no improvement, or immediately if your young puppy has the runs.

Constipation and dry stool

Possible causes for constipation include feeding a very high-fiber diet to a dog who doesn’t drink enough water to hydrate the fiber; lots of bone meal in the diet; iron supplements; opioid drugs, or consumption of indigestible items like wool, hair, plant material, rocks, or kitty litter. Lack of exercise, obesity, diseases that decrease water intake or increase output (such as diabetes, renal disease, liver problems, etc.), and hypothyroidism can all cause constipation.

More possible causes of constipation include neoplasia (growths) in the GI tract, motility disorders, and abnormal anatomy. Anatomic issues such as a broken pelvis, narrow pelvic canal, rectal or anal strictures, perineal hernias, and an enlarged prostate can constipate a dog. Any pain, including postural, can discourage a dog from defecating. A dog locked in the house all day may also become constipated from holding onto feces too long.

Ideally, every dog should have available a source of fresh water at all times. This is true even for dogs who eat raw diets and canned foods, which contain lots of moisture. However, if you’re gone all day or if you crate your dog (and especially if you feed dry kibble), provide water in the morning and assure unrestricted access to it in the evening and at night, so that he can drink until satisfied.

See if you can arrange things so that your dog is not alone and indoors all day. Old dogs, especially, need enough fiber in their food and a predictable routine to support their regularity.

For constipation, well-known animal herbalists Mary Wulff-Tilford and Greg Tilford suggest offering organic, live-cultured yogurt. If the dog is straining, they recommend ground flaxseed, psyllium husk, or marshmallow root to lubricate the intestines; give 1/4 tsp. of any of these herbs for each 20 pounds of body weight plus lots of water. Fresh chickweed may also help.

If constipation is chronic, reevaluate what you’re feeding your dog. If the digestive system has suffered long-term damage, you’ll need to do further research for more lasting solutions. Thoroughly check out the safety of any herb or drug you consider giving to a pregnant animal.

Should people give their dogs human-style laxatives for constipation, or drugs for diarrhea? “Not without your veterinarian’s input and instructions for appropriate dose,” cautions Dr. Kirk, because:

1) Some of the most familiar drugs for humans are toxic in dogs and cats. For example, the common painkiller Tylenol can cause acute liver failure in both animals.

2) Some medications may contain other drugs that pets shouldn’t have, but they are listed in a form that owners would not recognize.

3) Determining the correct dose for a dog is more complicated than it appears. One does not necessarily scale up and down drug doses on the basis of weight alone. On top of that, there are species differences in tolerance and doses. “So while Kaopectate, Lomotile, and Pepto-Bismol can be used under certain circumstances,” Dr. Kirk says, “check with your vet first to make sure of the correct dose, and that the drug does not interact with other disease conditions or medications the pet may be taking.”

4) Over-the-counter human drugs are designed to be used for 1 to 2 days, often following a dietary indiscretion. Long-term use is not advocated.

From a holistic view, it’s far better to look for and deal with the cause of poor stool quality or digestive unpleasantness instead of using a drug to control or prevent symptoms. For short-term disturbances, such as uncomplicated constipation or diarrhea, fasting is often the best answer.

Dr. Kirk advises, “For dogs with dietary indiscretion, a 24-hour fast with only clear liquids, followed by slow reintroduction of the normal food, or starting with a bland diet such as cottage cheese and rice, or giving a therapeutic intestinal diet, works better than drugs.” A number of holistic dog care books describe how to fast a dog safely, reintroduce foods afterward, and create natural therapeutic intestinal diets.

- Straining

Anything that causes constipation could cause straining, plus any inflammation of the colon, rectum, or perianal region. Also seen with lower urinary tract disease. You must figure out whether the straining is related to defecation or urination, as urinary obstruction can be rapidly fatal.

- Poop that is flat on one side

An enlarged prostate can press against a male dog’s rectum, causing him to strain and then pass a stool that appears flat on one side due to squeezing past the obstacle. It may also have a squishy or mushy consistency, for the same reason. If you see one-side-flattened feces, have your dog’s prostate checked.

Greasy feces

A sign that your dog is not digesting the fat in his food. If it continues, look into possible causes of malabsorption, including pancreatic trouble, parasites, or others.

Extremely stinky

Excessively stinky stools can occur for a variety of reasons. In Dr. Kirk’s experience, high meat diets typically produce the worst odor due to the skatols and sulfides produced during meat breakdown.

In any case, feces should never smell alarming; a scent of blood or severe rancidity should alert you to something amiss. Beans and some cruciferous vegetables may cause flatulence, due to certain starches that break down poorly in the intestinal tract. Food allergies or sensitivities can result in smelly gas and stool, too. Intestinal parasites, such as Giardia, create their own end-products that also smell. Viruses, such as canine distemper, have a specific effect on the GI tract, as well. Both are examples of conditions that produce distinctive, identifiable stool odors.

- Odd contents

Poop may at times contain indigestible food chunks such as raw carrot, whole nuts, or unchewed (whole) seeds. Grass is also common; dogs eat it for many reasons, one of which is to help them clear out troublesome matter from their digestive tract. However, nonfood items such as bits of plastic, wood, or other intriguing things can cause a blockage or other problems. If their appearance is only occasional, you probably don’t need to be concerned. Do, though, look for ways to stop your dog’s access to nonfood “extras.”

A pile of refried beans, containing some whole beans and mashed beans, simulates dog feces where undigested bits of food are present in the stool — Poop containing chunks of undigested food, especially difficult-to-digest ingredients such as raw carrot, is not a cause for alarm. Chunks of plastic or wood should trigger a hunt for and elimination of the nonfood items from the dog’s reach.

- Hair

Dr. Karr-Lilienthal points out that when a dog’s poop contains significant quantities of his own hair, it can indicate a problem – but one involving the skin, rather than the digestive system! If you see a lot of hair, think: possible allergies, fleas, or insufficient grooming – by you or by the dog!

- Mucus

Mucus means an irritated colon. The trouble can range from mild to severe, and is caused by common culprits – “wrong” bacteria, parasites, viruses, sticks passing through, etc. If it doesn’t clear up after a bowel movement or two, you’ll need to figure out what’s up.

- Absence of stool

If she otherwise seems perfectly fine, don’t worry if your dog occasionally fails to defecate for a day or two. But if she hasn’t passed any stool or gas for a couple of days, or is vomiting, dehydrated, and/or her abdomen feels tender and hard, she may have an intestinal blockage. If blockage is total, your dog will need immediate surgical intervention, as this condition quickly becomes life-threatening.

Signs of partial blockage include slightly bloody or watery brown feces, which may indicate that the intestine has telescoped in on itself. Swallowed objects that can block the intestines include stones, bones, toys, or, according to Dr. Karr-Lilienthal, chunks of hard chew items such as “Greenies.” By the time you notice it, the damage caused by blockage may already be quite severe.

Odd colors

When everything’s in balance, look for a range of light to dark browns – anything from ocher to mahogany. A complex mix of healthy digestive secretions color feces this way. Stool produced by a dog on a raw diet will vary more in hue than will that from commercial food. Be aware that dyes used in some foods or treats can stain feces almost any color. Fresh-ground raw beets may innocently stain poop a deep red that can look (and ooze) almost like blood, whereas commercial diets that contain beet pulp probably won’t have the same effect.

Yellow, hard stool often results from a diet that contains a lot of bone meal. Soft yellow stool can indicate a serious problem like a viral infection, especially if it’s yellow diarrhea, with or without vomiting.

Green may not always mean there’s something wrong, but it can indicate imbalances. These may be momentary and caused by something recently eaten, or reflect longer-term problems such as parasites or an organ issue.

White or very pale and hard. This is often produced by dogs on a raw diet containing bone meal. It may appear in one feces but not in another on the same day. It may be slightly difficult for the animal to pass, as it can be comparatively hard, but is not usually a cause for concern.

The addition to the diet of good quality vegetable fiber can help to ease the situation. Some raw food advocates maintain that harder solids such as bone meal or undigested bits of carrot in the stool help keep dogs’ anal glands healthy by stimulating them to express as the poop passes by.

Bloody (red). This is an emergency situation. It could have been caused by the dog having swallowed something that’s causing damage in the GI tract, or by a severe food allergy. It can also signify other problems, such as cancer. Frank red blood or mucus that looks like raspberry jam can indicate life-threatening disease. When you see bloody stool, have your dog seen by your vet right away.

Black or tarry. Tarry or black stool, possibly resembling coffee grounds, may signify bleeding from the stomach or from high in the small intestine. Blood from high in the GI tract gets digested on its way through, which is why it comes out black. This is obviously an emergency. However, a meal of raw organ meats, such as brain or spleen, may also produce black feces in healthy dogs. Dr. Kirk adds that Pepto-Bismol can cause very dark stool. If you don’t know why your dog’s stool is black, get qualified help, quickly.

Poop proud

So, dig in and get a load of what you can learn from your dog’s poop. What it has to tell you could save your dog’s life, and will certainly give you guidance about how to best support his health. And don’t feel too self-conscious! Most likely, the only one who will stare at you while you’re scrutinizing what he left behind is your dog, himself. While he might find your sudden interest a bit curious, he won’t think it’s weird. After all, poop is one of his favorite subjects. Don’t you care more about his opinion – and his well-being – than what anyone else thinks?

Holistic Puppy Care Starts With The Parents

By

Randy Kidd

-

September 7, 2006

0

Maybe I am what my wife calls me: a grumpy old man. I know that her assessment of me is close to right whenever I see a litter of puppies – admittedly so cute, so precious, so darling – and the first thing that comes to my mind is “Think ahead!”

There is simply no phase of a dog’s life that demands more preparation than when our cute little puppies are making the transition from a life in the womb to a life of personal independence and social interdependence with the family of man.

Responsible, holistic puppy care begins long before the puppy arrives at the homestead. In fact, the first step to creating a healthy puppy is the selection of the puppy’s parents! The best predictors of long-term health of puppies are the health history and personality of the parents. Breeding stock should be proven to be sound in body, mind, and socialization.

The next step has to do with the care and feeding of the mother, which has a huge impact on her puppies’ health. If your family will be a part of the dam’s pregnancy and whelping, your preparations should actually begin long before she is bred. By strengthening the mom’s organ-system and immune-system functions, you will help ensure that she is able to “build” uncompromised, healthy puppies.

In the womb

After fertilization, the eggs spend several days migrating from the oviducts and forming firm attachments to the wall of the uterus. Fertilized eggs that attach to the middle portions of the uterine horns are in the best position to receive the dam’s transferred nutrients; larger and healthier placental attachments provide better nourishment for the developing puppies.

Puppy development in the uterus is rapid. During the first two weeks the embryonic cells differentiate into all the cells that will be needed for the body’s development. At about two weeks of age the fetus is tiny, but has a head, spine, limb buds, and tail. At this stage it is still being nourished by the yolk sac, an attachment to the fetus that develops from the ovum. This early time is the most critical stage of development; any drugs or diseases in the mother now can severely damage the fetuses.

By the end of three weeks, all of the tissues and organs necessary for life have developed. At about three weeks the fetuses can be felt if the mother is reasonably thin.

By day 35 after fertilization, all of the puppy’s body characteristics are apparent. By day 40 the eyelids, claws, hair, and skin color are visible, and the puppies’ skulls can be felt through the mother’s abdominal wall. At 42 to 45 days of fetal age the pups have the form of miniature dogs, and their skeletons can be seen on X-rays. From this time until birth, three weeks later, the fetuses simply continue to grow.

Most pregnancies last 62 to 65 days, but there is considerable variation. Large litters often have shorter gestation (perhaps 57 days or even shorter), whereas small litters may not be delivered until 67 to 68 days (or more) into gestation.

A certain amount of emotional development also occurs during gestation. We know that human infants are influenced in the womb by their mothers’ personalities and lifestyles. I’m not sure that we need to chant calming mantras throughout our dog’s pregnancy (although it can’t hurt!), but I am convinced that puppies born into a calm and nurturing household typically end up being calm and healthy themselves.

Vaccination

Whether or not to vaccinate is a delicate subject for holistic-minded caretakers, and the question of vaccinating during pregnancy is even more controversial. We want the mother to pass the maximal possible level of antibodies against common diseases to her puppies, and vaccinations are one way of assuring this.

As a general rule, modified live virus (MLV) vaccines are contraindicated during pregnancy, but some veterinarians believe that many of the killed vaccines are relatively safe to give during the last few weeks of pregnancy. By giving appropriate vaccines about two weeks before whelping, they argue, we assure that the maximal amount of vaccine-produced antibody will be present to be passed on to the pups. However, killed vaccines typically yield the highest percentage of allergic reactions.

Another argument against vaccinating the mother during pregnancy is that, since her immune system has been altered to allow for the presence of developing puppies (which are actually foreign bodies of a sort), gestation is a time of maximal immune compromise – and vaccines given then may not be effective. Vaccinating a female when she is in heat may also prevent the vaccine from being fully effective.

As a holistic practitioner, I like to see puppies adequately vaccinated against the predominant diseases when they are puppies. Immune-competent dogs will develop all the immune-ability they are capable of with these early vaccines, so once titer tests confirm the pup’s antibody response to the vaccine is adequate, I don’t feel further vaccines are necessary.

Once again, for breeding stock, the most important thing is to know the history of the parental stock and to know whether they have been reasonably disease-resistant in their lifetimes. When in doubt, vaccine titers should be used to evaluate the breeding dog’s immune status before she comes into season or is bred.

Internal parasites

Internal parasites are another concern during pregnancy, as much for the human children that may handle the puppies as for the puppies and their mother.

The larvae of the roundworm (Toxocara canis) lie latent in the mother until around the 42nd day of gestation. Then, when the mother’s natural immune system is suppressed by hormonal changes, the larvae cross the placenta into the puppies, most of them setting up residence in the puppies’ livers. Some larvae also migrate to the mother’s mammary glands, and these can be passed to the puppies through her milk.

Dogs can also be infected by consuming eggs from the soil in the environment (generally through normal grooming) or by consuming a prey animal (usually a rodent) that is carrying developing worms. Larvae can live in the soil for months.

Ancylostoma caninum is the most common hookworm of dogs (and cats) in the northern hemisphere. Hookworms suck blood from the intestinal wall and are considered the most pathogenic (harmful) parasitic infection of young dogs. Severe infestations can lead to profound anemia and death in puppies.

Most dogs are infected initially by oral contact with larvae, which crawl out of infected feces and move to the surface of the soil or vegetation. Puppies can also become infected by ingesting the milk of infected mothers. Larvae can live in the soil for months – a continuing source of infection.

Humans are not a normal host of the canine hookworm, but on contact with infective larvae, they can develop a condition called creeping eruption or cutaneous larva migrans (itchy skin). Almost all puppies (experts estimate 90 to 100 percent) are born with roundworms and/or hookworms, or will be infested with them shortly after birth, even if the mother has tested negative for worms. (Detection during pregnancy is nearly impossible for several reasons.) With this in mind (and considering the potential for infecting children who will come into contact with the puppies), some vets recommend de-worming the mother several times during her pregnancy and de-worming the puppies several times, beginning about 3 or 4 weeks after birth.

Whelping

Unless you want the newborn pups to arrive on your new satin bedspread, construct a whelping box a few weeks before the pups are due, and get Momma Dog accustomed to using it. Position it in a quiet, secluded, draft-free place. Line the floor of the box with a thick layer of newspapers, cover this with a warm layer of heavy towels or a mattress pad, and provide a heat source that will produce 85° to 90°F at floor level. Make sure there is adequate space in the whelping box for mother and pups to escape from the heat if they want to.

A whelping box for a large dog can be about four to five feet square; a smaller dog’s box can be about two to three feet square. One side is low so the mother can easily get out; barriers are also put in place to enable the pups to get away from their mother when they need to.

Prepare family members for their potential role of cleaning and drying the arriving pups, but make sure everyone understands that most mothers will simply want to be left alone. In fact, a whelping female can stop the birth process until gawkers (or, in the wild, predators) leave the area.

The female about to give birth may become nervous up to 36 hours before parturition (“parturition,” the act of giving birth, is from the Latin parturire, to have the pains of labor). She may pace, appear anxious, and try to build a nest or dig a hole in the ground. She also stops eating and may shiver or even vomit. Hormonal influences usually cause the mother’s temperature to drop to less than 99° F within about 24 hours of the onset of parturition. There is a normal sequence of events that will occur during the birthing process, and whelp-ologists divide these into three stages. Stage I, cervical dilation, is marked by uterine contractions that are due to an increase in estrogen, accompanied by a decrease in progesterone and pressure against the cervix. The dam will be restless, turning around in circles and panting; she may also vomit. All signs increase in frequency and intensity for up to 12 hours as this stage progresses. She will then alternate between Stage II, expulsion of the fetuses, and Stage III, expulsion of placentas. After delivering a pup, the mother licks the membrane off the pup and severs the umbilical cord with her teeth. (Mothers that have a dental structure where the teeth don’t meet may not be able to chew the cords – yet another reason to look at her physical characteristics before you have her bred.) Within 5 to 15 minutes after each pup is born, its placenta is passed. It is normal, but not necessary, for the mother to eat the placentas – although she may vomit if she eats more than one or two.

Pups are typically born every 30 to 60 minutes. They may be delivered head first (about 60 percent are delivered this way) or tail first; either way is considered normal. The birth of the first pup should occur within four hours after the mother is in strong labor, and the normal interval between pups only rarely goes beyond two hours. Veterinary assistance may be required if these basic time lines are exceeded.

If the mother ignores the pup or doesn’t clean it, you may need to assist in the process. Tear the placental membrane and remove it from the puppy’s head and nostrils. Gently suck (a large-sized syringe is a good tool here) and swab fluid from the mouth and opening of throat, and then gently swing the puppy headfirst in a downward path while supporting its head and trunk in a dry, warm towel. If respirations don’t begin spontaneously, the pup may need chest and facial massage with a dry warm towel.

To encourage breathing, stimulate the acupuncture point Governing Vessel 26. GV 26 is located on the midline of the nose, on the upper lip just below the nostril openings. This point is an acute emergency point – good for treating shock, anoxia (lack of oxygen), cardiac arrest, or collapse. The point can be stimulated with anything sharp at hand: the point of a knitting needle, the nail of your index finger, or an acupuncture needle, if you happen to have one. Newborn puppies are not equipped with a great thermoregulatory system, so they need to be kept warm and dry. Usually a 25 watt bulb hung over the whelping box will provide enough heat. During the first week, the temperature under the heat lamp should be about 85° to 90°F. This should gradually be decreased to about 75°F over the next three weeks. If a mother leaves her pups for half an hour in a typical room temperature of 72° F, their normal body temperature of 100°F drops to a chilling 94 to 95°F.

Colostrum is a specialized milk the mother provides for a short amount of time after giving birth. It is rich in nutrients, but most importantly it supplies protective antibodies to the puppies. Since a puppy’s immune system does not develop until several weeks after birth, the pup relies on its mother’s antibodies for whatever immune-capability it will have. About 80 percent of the immune-capability that the puppy receives is from colostrum; the remaining 20 percent is passed through the placenta during pregnancy. It is thus absolutely critical that puppies receive the colostrum within hours after birth; production of colostrum occurs only shortly after birth, and a puppy’s digestive system is set up to absorb it for only a short time.

Shortly after whelping, the mother will gather all the pups to her and feed them. This is a good time to observe general health; a newborn pup may look and move like an amoeba, but it should actively seek a teat to suck. Once there, the pup should be able to latch on and suck strongly.

After the first feeding is a good time to give the puppies their first exam. All pups in the litter should be approximately the same size. An unusually small puppy may be an indication that it has some sort of genetic defect. The runt of the litter may require supplemental feeding for normal development. Even though they are tiny creatures, pups should have a sturdy feel of substance about them. They should have an active sucking reflex; and they should not persistently cry or whine.

If the mother refuses to feed the litter (or one member of the litter), or if she is not providing enough milk (indicated by persistently crying puppies), you may need to provide supplemental feedings. Commercial milk substitutes are available; check with your vet.

Birth to weaning

From birth to weaning can be the most enjoyable time of all because the mother will do most of the work, including the feeding and cleaning up the puppies’ feces – so long as she is given enough fuel to get the task done. You have three main jobs: a) monitor the pups to see that they are growing normally; b) give the nursing mother plenty of good-quality nutrients (to feed the litter the bitch may require more than 150 percent of the nutrients she needed for herself); and, c) make sure that all the pups get handled on a many-times-a-day basis.

A puppy’s eyes are shut and her ears are sealed at birth; they begin to open at 10 to 16 days of age. By 28 days, a pup’s vision and hearing are almost as good as an adult’s. Pups can sit up at two weeks of age and stand at three weeks. Pain sensation is present at birth, but it may take several seconds for pain to register with the brain. By three weeks, a pup registers pain as quickly as an adult dog. The growth rate of puppies varies widely, depending on the size of the dog. Birth weights can multiply more than tenfold within the first seven to eight weeks, and energy needs are about twice that of adult dogs the same size.

Smaller-breed puppies have a higher metabolic rate per pound and reach maturity quickly; medium-breed puppies grow at a moderate rate. By the time he reaches adult size, a smaller-breed dog may have multiplied his birth weight 25 times; a larger dog’s weight may have increased 100 times. Large- and giant-breed puppies normally grow at a slower rate. If we attempt to speed this rate (by feeding a diet containing excess calcium or other nutrients, as the most common example), the puppies are more vulnerable to developmental diseases of the skeletal system.

While physical aspects of the growing puppy are important, equally important is his social development. The mother will have a primary impact on her puppies’ early social skills. She controls puppy behavior by licking, nipping, growling, biting, and leaving the vicinity. The amount of control the mother exerts early on will help to mold the pup’s personality as it develops into an adult. Good mothering skills will show the puppy what is expected without applying corrections too aggressively. If the mother is too aggressive, the pup may grow into a dog that is less active socially; such dogs also tend to perform poorly on tests of mental ability. Human contact is also crucial during the growing phase and social development. Exposing the puppies to an enriched environment is important. As they mature, frequently taking them away from the mother to areas that offer a safe, slow, but ever-increasing amount of mental stimulation will also prove valuable.

Weaning is a natural and gradual process that mother dogs have been doing for eons. Our job is to provide food for the puppies. Beginning at about three to four weeks of age, mix up a watery gruel of the puppies’ food, and let them nose into it. You may need to encourage some of the pups. As they all get the idea, you can gradually decrease the fluid in the food.

Weaning should be complete by six to eight weeks of age, and puppies will be ready for a new home at eight weeks. Both of these are critical time frames. Pups should stay with the litters and their mother until they are at least eight weeks old; the primary time for learning socialization skills from their mother occurs when the pups are between six and eight weeks old. About eight weeks of age is the perfect time to be totally weaned away from mother and move on to another home. If a pup stays with the mother and litter past 10 to 12 weeks of age, it becomes more difficult to socialize to the family of humans.

Of course, we can’t always control the factors that will go into producing the healthiest puppies (although, I might argue, we can try, by planning to purchase a puppy from a breeder who can prove she has taken care of all of the above!). For many of us, those factors are out of our control – like when we adopt a puppy from a shelter. Even so, there is still much we can do to help assure that the puppy we intend to make a part of our family reaches his or her potential.

Acquiring a puppy

Preparations for a puppy’s arrival will support your training efforts and his long-term health. For starters, don’t choose on impulse; give some thought to the selection process. The cute little bundle of fur will be with you for 10 to 15 years or more. Be realistic about the type of dog that will fit into your family environment.

If at all possible, get a puppy that a) you can socialize, or b) has already been well-socialized. There’s only a small window of time during which a puppy is most accepting of new people and experiences: from 8 to 12 weeks. Puppies who were sequestered throughout that period usually grow into fearful adults.

Your puppy-to-be should pass your own physical exam. Pups should have bright eyes, a shiny coat, and they should move easily with no limps or gimps. Compare one pup to others in the litter and check for symmetry of body parts. A healthy pup will feel substantial when you pick it up, squirm a bit, and eventually relax in your hands. Make sure your purchase is contingent on veterinarian approval, and take the pup immediately to your vet for a final check.

Things that can go wrong

Most puppies are raised to weaning without any major problems. However, sometimes things do go wrong.

Although most whelpings go without a hitch, it is a time of stress, and things can go wrong. Hypoxia (reduced oxygen supply) or lack of proper nutrition are the most common causes of death in neonates (newly born), and these two factors are compounded if the pups become chilled or wet.

Studies show that about 17 percent of puppies die before weaning, but after weaning the rate falls to 4 percent. Most of the puppy losses (56 percent) occur during the first week of life; there is another mortality peak at weaning. Thus, the puppy’s first week is the most critical, and it is the time to monitor progress of all the litter members closely. Experienced breeders identify puppies with special neonate collars, and weigh each individual daily. If any of the puppies seem to be failing to thrive, the mom and the entire litter should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible.

Bacterial infections (neonatal sepsis) are more common in puppies with parasites, those who were not kept warm enough, failed to receive adequate nutrients from the dam, or were born with defects of the immune system. A variety of “bugs” may be responsible; usually gram negative bacteria predominate. Affected pups may have an unusual clinical presentation or signs may be virtually absent. They often cry and become restless and weak, or develop hypothermia or diarrhea. Failure to thrive is a common symptom, but may be difficult to assess without further testing, including at least a CBC and possibly other tests. Treatment consists of warming the puppies, fluid therapy if necessary, and antimicrobial therapy. This is one time when the big guns of Western medicine are indicated.

No matter what therapy is used – natural medicines or conventional drugs – it is important to note that drug/biochemical distribution in puppies younger than five weeks old is different from adults. Compared to adults, puppies have a lower total body fat, a higher percentage of total body water, lower concentration of albumin, and a poorly developed blood-brain barrier. Dosages need to be reduced by 30-50 percent of adult dose and/or the frequency of administration will need to be changed. Most drugs ingested by the mother will appear in her milk, but generally only at about 1 to 2 percent of her dosage.

Malnourished puppies are smaller, lighter, exhibit feeble attempts to suck, and/or are not attaining the expected weight gain for their age. High-pitched, constant crying or inactivity with an accompanying weak sucking reflex are advanced indications of malnourishment. When you handle these puppies you may also be able to detect reduced body tone and muscle strength.

These puppies often respond well to added nourishment. Commercial milk replacers are available, and the pups can be fed using a feeding tube or small baby bottle. As a rule, extremely weak puppies, those without a sucking reflex, or pups with a body temperature under 95°F do not have good survival rates, no matter the effort expended.

Puppy hypoglycemia is an idiopathic syndrome in toy breeds of dogs that is seen in the first six months of life. It seems to correspond with a relative immaturity of the liver, but can usually be managed by providing frequent meals of a commercial puppy diet. The problem usually resolves as the animal matures.

Fading puppy syndrome is actually a catch-all, descriptive term that includes many or all of the diseases that cause a puppy to fade or not thrive.

As the dog moves from puppy to adolescent, we humans become more and more involved in its healthy progression through life. The pup’s developing immune system is now ready to be stimulated in specific ways; vaccines and wormers will have to be considered; he will have to adapt to new routines and new foods; and he needs to become house trained and further socialized to other people and animals – all within a very short few weeks.

Dr. Randy Kidd earned his DVM degree from Ohio State University and his PhD in Pathology/Clinical Pathology from Kansas State University. A past president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, he’s author of Dr. Kidd’s Guide to Herbal Dog Care and Dr. Kidd’s Guide to Herbal Cat Care.

Whole Dog Journal reviews dog food, dog toys, and dog health and care products, and also teaches positive dog training methods.

Dog Antioxidant Activity

Claims for Health and Healing

How to Dose With Dog Antioxidants

Popular Dog Antioxidants

Subscribe to Whole Dog Journal

Subscribe now and save 72%! Its like getting 8 issues free!

Already Subscribed?

About Dog Anal Glands and their Problems

Signs of Impacted Anal Glands in Dogs

What Causes Anal Sac Problems?

Express Dog Anal Glands Yourself

Herbal Treatments for Impacted Anal Sacs

Aromatherapy

Homeopathy

An Ounce of Prevention

Anal Gland Problems in Dogs: Overview

TEACH YOUR DOGS TO READ: OVERVIEW

How to Get Your Dog Reading

Day 1 Lesson Plan

1. Get ready.

2. Present the card, and 3. Immediately say the cue.

4. Hold the card.

5. Reward your dog.

Introducing a Second and Third Word

Opinions About ‘No Reward Markers’ Vary

Understanding Reading

Dogs Help Promote Reading Skills in Others

Latest Blog