Does Your Dog Eat Grass?

Food
Dog Food Information

March 27, 2001

[Updated October 10, 2017]

Throughout the ages, veterinarians have developed theories to explain why dogs sometimes eat grass. Many believe that dogs are instinctively attempting to treat an upset stomach with the grass shoots; the fact that eating grass sometimes causes a dog to vomit lends some credence to this theory.

The fact is, fresh young grass shoots – like most fresh, young, green plant sprouts – taste good and are packed with nutrients. Why wouldn’t an “opportunistic omnivore” like the dog be attracted to eating grass?

Due to the environmental pollution and contaminants – not to mention the larval form of some intestinal parasites – that can be found on outdoor grass, we wouldn’t recommend allowing your dog to eat just any grass. However, you could do him a big favor by adding some healthy sprouts to his diet. There are dozens of seed and grain sprouts that are inexpensive to buy and easy to grow, as well as beneficial and easy to digest for any dog.

Sprouts are Full of Nutrition

If seeds are considered the first stage of life for a plant, sprouts are stage two, the tiniest stems of plants emerging from wet seeds. Most edible sprouts are ready to eat as soon as three days after germinating, although some are grown for as much as 10-12 days. At this stage of life, the little plants are loaded with nutrients; pound for pound, many plants contain far more digestible vitamins, minerals, protein, and enzymes in their sprout stage than they will as adult plants.

For example, by weight, alfalfa sprouts contain more vitamin A than tomatoes, green peppers, and most fruits. Thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2) and niacin are abundant in alfalfa, wheat, rye, and sunflower sprouts. All the sprouted grains – especially wheat, oats, and rye – contain about three times as much vitamin E as in the dried grain form of the food.

The minerals in sprouts are absorbed from the water used to rinse them while growing, and are “chelated” by the plant – that is, bound to amino acids in such a way as to make them maximally bioavailable to the body. Sprouts are good sources of calcium, potassium, and iron, as well as vital trace elements.

While the plant proteins found in sprouts cannot be used to replace animal proteins in a dog’s diet (they lack the complete amino acid profile needed for canine health), they can augment diet nicely, especially if the dog already receives fresh meat in his diet.

Because they are so rich in enzymes – the catalysts that help break food into simpler, more usable forms – sprouts are considered practically “predigested.” Some people who feed vegetables to their dogs add digestive enzymes to the food to help the dog digest them; this is unnecessary with sprouts. During sprouting, much of the starch contained in a plant seed is broken down into simple sugars by amylase. The proteins are converted into amino acids and amides by protease, and fats and oils are converted into more simple fatty acids by lipase.

In addition to these well-understood nutritional benefits, sprouts contain a wealth of chlorophyll, a protein compound found in green plants. Numerous nutritionists think that some dietary chlorophyll benefits humans and other mammals and the supplement makers have responded to the opportunity; there are a number of canine nutritional supplements that include chlorophyll from various sources (blue-green algae, wheatgrass, barley grass, etc.) on the market. Chlorophyll advocates claim the substance is unrivaled in its ability to stimulate the body to repair body cells damaged by wounds or abrasions. These effects are largely unsubstantiated – but if you’re a believer, eat some sprouts! The green ones offer chlorophyll in spades.

And, finally, sprouts contain a lot of fiber and water and, therefore, are helpful in overcoming constipation in man or beast.

Will Your Dog Eat Sprouts?

Most dogs who are accustomed to eating fresh foods will readily try sprouts of different varieties, although, like people, dogs do display personal preferences. Radish sprouts have a zesty, spicy flavor that some dogs love — and sends some dogs away to a corner, licking their lips and looking at you suspiciously. Alfalfa sprouts and clover sprouts are among the mildest and easy-to-grow sprouts, and most dogs lick these up with relish, even if they are simply stirred in with the dog’s food.

Many people who feed sprouts to their dogs prepare the sprouts in a blender or grinder along with the other components of the dog’s homemade meal. Kathleen McDaniel, of Burbank, Illinois, uses sprouts of organic red clover, radish, and peas in her four dogs’ meals, preparing the raw sprouts in a food processor along with other vegetables. “I first noticed sprouts while shopping for organic vegetables for the dogs — always paying attention to their health before mine! Very sad!,” she jokes. “I figured that I would buy some as well as try to find out some information about them. After some investigation and discovering that they do pack a vitamin ‘punch’ as well as being high in saponins, I do put them on salads for myself.”

McDaniel’s dogs range from 1 1/2 to 11 years old, but they all seem to like sprouts well enough. She comments that it’s difficult to say how much she feeds to each dog, since she makes food for her entire pack at once.

“I put about one to two cups of sprouts into the veggie mix that I feed my dogs, and I divide that between four dogs,” she says. Once they are processed, a cup or two of sprouts condenses into about a half-cup of juicy pulp that McDaniel describes as a baby food consistency. For the record, McDaniel says she has never tried to grow the sprouts herself, claiming she is “terrible with green things.” She buys her sprouts ready to eat “and always organic.”

Patty Smiley, of Pine Grove, California, also feeds sprouts on a regular basis to her pack of three dogs: a 13- (or so) year-old Border Collie/Springer Spaniel rescue, a seven-year-old male Flat-Coated Retriever who is a show/performance dog, and a two-year-old female Flat-Coated Retriever, also a show/performance dog.

Smiley says she has been feeding sprouts to her dogs for about seven years. “I first learned about sprouts years ago when the health food movement began. I eat them myself, although I like them only in salads and on some sandwiches. I don’t eat them daily like the furkids do!” she says.

Smiley does grow her own sprouts, rotating between alfalfa, various clovers, broccoli, radish, and mung bean sprouts. She adds the sprouts to the dinnertime veggie mix that the dogs get with their meat-based diet. “A typical meal might include a clove or two of garlic, an organic carrot, five or six dandelion leaves, about 1/4 cup of sprouts, and maybe a small bit of fruit with some water,” she describes. “I put all the ingredients into my blender, whirl them until well pulverized and then this mixture gets divided between the three dogs. It comes out to about a tablespoon, possibly two, for each dog.”

Sprouts are Easy to Grow

I’ve eaten my share of sprouts through the years, and though I thought they were “just okay,” I never enjoyed them until I grew and sampled some. Wow! What a difference! These three-day-old sprouts were sweet, crunchy, and fresh-tasting, not “grassy” or sour like some sprouts I’ve eaten. Now that I know first-hand how easy it is to grow them and how delicious they are, sprouts are definitely going to be added to the family diet – my Border Collie included, of course!

Though all sorts of specialized sprout-growing gear exists, all you really need to grow sprouts are seeds and water. There are all sorts of trays and growing boxes that allow for perfect drainage – but jars work just fine. Experienced sprouters use wide-mouthed gallon or half-gallon jars – but easier-to-find quart jars work well, too. I would suggest using what you have at hand until you see how easy the process is and how well your dog (and you!) like the sprouts before you go looking for sprout-growing kits.

I had to call a few health food stores before I found one in my area that carried various sprouting seeds; they also carried plastic-meshed jar lids that allow the sprouts to breathe and keep insects out of the jars. I tried in vain to find the wide-mouthed gallon or half-gallon jars and ended up using quart Mason jars – ones that my new plastic lids did not fit onto. I made do by covering the jars with cheesecloth fastened with rubber bands; this worked just fine!

Every source of information I had for growing instructions seemed incomplete – until I tried the process and found it really is that simple. Basically, you soak about a tablespoon or two of the seeds you have selected for a few hours (small seeds like alfalfa and clover only require 3-4 hours; larger seeds like wheat can be soaked overnight) in a jar filled with plain water. Then, strain the water off through the cheesecloth or meshed lid; gently slosh the seeds around as you pour so that the seeds settle more or less evenly across the side of the jar. Then, set the jar on an angle so any excess water drains out. I put my jars in the dish drainer next to my sink.

About two to three times a day (more in hot weather, less in cool), runs some cool water into the jar, allowing it to fill. I found it helpful to jiggle the jar so that empty seed husks floated out. Then, drain all the water out, and replace the jar on its side. It’s important to keep the jars angled so that the seeds are not lying in a puddle of water, which can make them rancid.

Avoid draining the seeds so quickly that you bash them about the jar; damaged sprouts will stop developing and begin rotting, wreaking your crop. In retrospect, I was excessively gentle with the tiny sproutlets on days one and two. By day three and four, I realized the resulting sprouts were sturdier than I had thought. Just don’t bang them around.

You don’t need to put the sprouts in a dark place, nor should you place them in direct sunlight; the heat tends to make the jars steamier and wetter than is good for the sprouts (they decompose before they are tasty). I smelled the jars each time I rinsed the sprouting seeds, and was encouraged by the fresh, clean odor emanating from the growing seeds. If I had smelled an “off” odor, I was prepared to dump that batch, but it didn’t happen.

Taste a few sprouts every day as they mature, and “harvest” them out of the jars when they taste good. For me, this happened on day three, when the clover, alfalfa, and radish sprouts tasted perfect. I gave them a final rinse, pulled them out of the jar with a pair of tongs (I didn’t use wide-mouthed jars), and put them in a crisper in the refrigerator, where they remained quite edible for a couple of days. After three days in the refrigerator they began to taste like store-bought sprouts, and I threw the rest out; I was spoiled by fresh-grown sprouts already!

I didn’t like the taste of the wheatgrass sprouts at all, not on day three, or five, or eight, when it had grown far too tall for my little quart jars and began to decompose. I’ll try wheat again in a bigger jar and wait the recommended 12 days before I pass judgement on wheatgrass.

But it’s what your dog thinks of the taste that’s important! For his part, my Border Collie was indifferent to little piles of sprouts in his food dish, but cleaned up all four types of sprouts when I ran them through the blender along with the dressing of vegetables and cottage cheese that I’m putting on his food these days.

Sprout Buying Tips

Are you convinced you have a “black thumb?” We truly believe that even you can grow sprouts – but it’s okay if you really don’t want to. Sprouts are available at many grocery, produce, and health food stores.

When buying mung bean sprouts, (the crunchy white sprouts often used in Chinese cooking), select white, unbruised sprouts. Brownish rootlets or signs of wilt indicates that the sprouts are past their prime.

When buying sprouts that are sold pre-packaged in a plastic container, go ahead and pop open the container and have a good look at the sprouts inside. Sometimes the sprouts look fine from the outside of the container, but when you look inside, you can see saggy or soggy-looking sprouts, or fuzzy white mildew growing between the sprouts. Don’t be disappointed at home, after you’ve paid for and hauled those sprouts back to your kitchen! Go ahead and take a peek at them in the store! Pass on any sprouts that look less than perfect.

Concerns Sprouting Up?

It’s interesting that Dr. Andrew Weil, author of many books on natural health as well as an enormous website of information on complementary health care, has single-handedly caused a huge rift in the sprout-eating community; most sprout advocates are familiar with the dispute.

Several years ago, Dr. Weil began citing a study conducted in the early 1980s that involved a toxic substance called L-canavanine, a precursor of the amino acid arginine that is found in the sprouts of legumes such as alfalfa and clover. In the study, monkeys were fed L-canavanine sulfate tablets, as well as biscuits made from raw, unsprouted alfalfa and immature (not-yet green) sprouts. The diet contained amounts of L-canavanine that far exceeded amounts that any human or dog could ever obtain through eating green alfalfa sprouts, and the test subject monkeys exhibited health problems similar to lupus, an autoimmune disease. Weil extrapolated information from that study to conclude that “the canavanine in alfalfa sprouts can pose a real danger to humans who are susceptible to autoimmune disease.”

However, numerous lesser-known scientists and nutritionists have stepped forward to refute the dangers claimed by Weil. Sprout advocate Steve “Sproutman” Meyerowitz, author of the books Sprouts: The Miracle Food, and Sproutman’s Kitchen Garden Cookbook, has published an article refuting Weil’s claims. Meyerowitz cites research that shows that once alfalfa and other legume sprouts reach the green stage – about three to four days following germination – the potentially toxic L-canavanine is reduced to a trace amount. Meyerowitz claims to have queried Dr. Weil about his statements against alfalfa sprouts and was referred to Dr. Bruce Ames, a toxicologist who told Meyerowitz, “There’s nothing wrong with sprouts.”

Meyerowitz also revisited the original study cited by Weil, and came to very different conclusions. “The thrust of the research was to explore the connection between this toxin (L-canavanine) and the autoimmune disease lupus. It was not a test of alfalfa sprouts . . .” Meyerowitz writes. He also quotes a specialist on lupus who was familiar with the monkey study as saying, “I wouldn’t discourage my lupus patients from eating alfalfa sprouts.”

Considering that Weil cites only one study, and one that does not seem relevant to people (or dogs) who eat only modest amounts of green sprouts, many sprout fans are quite confident that their favorite greens are perfectly safe. As dog owner and sprout-feeder Patty Smiley says, “I admit that some of Dr. Andrew Weil’s comments about alfalfa sprouts has me somewhat concerned, but I have added a rotating variety of sprouts to the veggie mix of my dog’s raw foods diet for seven years – and the prolonged inclusion of sprouts in their daily diet has not caused any apparent harm. Sprouts are green, fresh, and young; I believe they are beneficial.”

Smiley adds, “I can’t say that I’ve seen (sprouts) work miracles, because with the raw diet, and limited exposure to vaccines and chemicals, my dogs haven’t ever had any serious health issues!”

Sprouting Resources
• Sproutman Publications: Books on sprouting and sprout recipes, seeds, specialized growing equipment, etc. Ph (413) 528-5200; www.sproutman.com.

• International Sprout Growers Association: Information about nutrition, safety. Ph (413) 253-8965; www.isga-sprouts.org.

• Sprouthouse: Organic sprout seeds, sprouting trays and jars, recipe books, and books about sprouting. Ph (800)-SPROUTS; www.sprouthouse.com.

Helping Dogs With Hip Dysplasia

Health
Other Diseases

Phyllis Giroux

March 27, 2001

[Updated February 7, 2018]

Could you publish something about hip dysplasia? We have a 14-month-old pit bull mix (with German Shepherd, we believe) who has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. She is a very sweet, loving, active dog whom we adopted when she was seven months old.

Evelyn Goodwin
Oakland, CA

We asked Phyllis Giroux, DVM, of Goldvein, VA, to answer this question. Dr. Giroux is a certified member of the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association. She and her partner also breed and train retrievers at their home, Deep Run Farm. Dr. Giroux’s response:

First, I need to make it clear that there are many types of rear end lamenesses that may end up being diagnosed as hip dysplasia, but you really can’t accept the diagnosis of hip dysplasia without hip x-rays. Hip dysplasia is a radiographic diagnosis, not a clinical diagnosis. That may be splitting hairs, but I see many dogs with conditions such as ruptured and improperly healed cruciate ligaments or lower back arthritis that have been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Only radiographs can determine whether or not a dog has hip dysplasia.

Radiographs are not necessarily definitive, however. Sometimes what we see on the radiograph does not correlate with the dog’s clinical signs. For instance, sometimes we see dogs that exhibit severe lameness but have only minimally visible arthritic changes in their hips, and sometimes we see dogs that exhibit minimal signs of discomfort yet have severe changes showing in the radiographs. A lot of it has to do with the individual, his tolerance for pain, and his exercise level. But in the case of a dog with severe lameness whose X-rays look OK, I am really tempted to keep looking for some other cause of his pain.

Typically the diagnostic radiograph for hip dysplasia is taken with the dog lying on his back with his legs extended. This is a non-anatomic position for the dog, but it offers one of the best views of the hip joints.

What is Hip Dysplasia?

In the dog’s hind legs, the head of the femur (or thigh bone) is shaped like a ball, and it is supposed to fit tightly into the acetabulum (socket); it’s a classic ball and socket joint. Hip dysplasia is a catch-all term for a variety of problems with that ball and socket joint.

Sometimes, we can see the socket appearing shallower than normal, so that the ball can not get well seated in the socket. The ball may become flattened or become distorted. Many times we can see changes where the joint capsule attaches to the neck of the femur; there may be calcium deposits collecting there. In more advanced cases, we can actually see the arthritic deposits in the radiographs, where excess calcium has been deposited along the rim of the socket, and sometimes on the head of the ball itself.

In a classic case, you may also see a number of accompanying signs, including a bunny-hopping gait in the rear limbs, a dog shifting a large proportion of his weight to his front legs, wasting of the muscle mass in the thigh area, stiffness and soreness when the dog gets up after resting, and a reluctance to jump up – to either jump up on his hind legs, or to jump up onto a couch or into a car.

Prevention Starts Before Birth

I raise retrievers, and so I have pretty strong feelings about preventing hip dysplasia. I believe that hip dysplasia prevention starts way back when a puppy is only theoretical – when the breeder plans the mating! If you are going to buy a purebred dog, as opposed to getting a rescued dog, you should start by looking for a puppy with good, healthy, sound parents. Take the time to do some research on the parents, and to make sure you are buying puppies from OFA-certified stock. (OFA is the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, established in 1966. It is a not-for-profit organization originally created to assist breeders in addressing hip dysplasia.) In certain popular breeds, such as Labradors, I think only those dogs with the higher ratings (OFA-Excellent, OFA-Good) should be bred. I won’t consider breeding even an OFA-Fair Labrador.

The OFA ratings are extremely helpful in selecting breeding stock, but you have to remember that the rating is not accurate forever. Hips, like all body parts, are dynamic. Many dogs who get an OFA rating at two years old, especially if it is one of the lower ratings, like OFA-Fair, will continue to show degenerative changes in those hips throughout their lives. Many dogs that will get a passing score with OFA at two years old are not able to pass when they are aged five, six, or seven.

In the best possible world, we would require recertification later in life, perhaps every 24 to 48 months. I think would give us a better handle on what we are doing. When you breed dogs at two years old, you don’t really know what is going to happen to them when they are eight.

I also suggest using dogs that have been evaluated by the University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program (PennHIP). A dog that is OFA-Excellent and scored in the top 90th percentile on the PennHIP scale is a good choice for breeding stock, assuming they have all the other qualities you want! Breeders have a responsibility to get as much information as they can about their breeding stock. They should feel confident that all the dogs that are breeding will remain sound throughout their lives. And if the offspring starts showing problems that appear to have some hereditary nature, the owners should stop breeding the parents.

Good Nutrition for Good Hips

Once you get your puppy or young dog, there are a number of things you can do to reduce the likelihood that he develops dysplasia, or improves the condition in the case of a dog who already has dysplasia. Proper nutrition is the first and foremost consideration.

All puppies and dogs should be fed a good quality diet with a balanced calcium-phosphorous ratio (about 1.2:1.0). Entire books have been written about what constitutes a “good quality diet,” but since this issue of WDJ already contains an article about choosing good dry dog foods, I’ll just say that good foods are rarely inexpensive. Quality sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fat – that is, foods that are highly digestible, easily absorbed and utilized by the dog – are more costly than low quality foods; there is just no way around it.

I use a couple of dietary supplements as a matter of course, including the antioxidant vitamins C and E. I have also had success using Perna canaliculus supplementation (I use a supplement called Glyco-Flex).

Perna is a food product containing 57 nutrients, among them glucosamine precursors. Perna seems to be effective for our joints in the same way aloe is good for wounds in the skin: as a complex of nutrients for which the whole result is greater than a sum of the parts. We start all of our puppies on Perna when they start on food, at five weeks, and keep them on this supplement throughout their whole lives. The puppies receive about 20 mg. per pound of body weight crushed in their food. I continue this throughout their lives, although I may double or even triple that dosage if they show evidence of certain problems.

Research has certainly proven that dogs that are kept significantly lean during their first year of life have a reduced risk for developing hip problems later in life. All young dogs should be kept thin – I call it painfully thin. They should look skinny. People who grew up in my era, people who were children in the 1950s, tend to feel very uncomfortable looking at puppies who are that thin. In our era, babies and puppies were all supposed to be chubby. Here at our farm, we keep our young dogs thin and active, and this approach has been very successful.

Hope for Dysplastic Dogs

But the reader’s dog has already been diagnosed with hip dysplasia; the horse is already out of the barn. Don’t panic; there are many things you can do for a dysplastic dog.

Start with all the things I mentioned for preventing dysplasia. A better diet, glucosamine supplements, and supplemental antioxidants will all help this dog. So will keeping the dog thin. Do not underestimate the importance of keeping the dog thin. I owned a Labrador who was a field champion – and, later in his life, severely dysplastic. The dog lived to be 12, and what made the biggest improvement in his quality of life during his last two years was being thin. When he weighed 73 pounds, he could not get up off the floor. He would stumble and fall, and we would have to resort to giving him cortisone injections to be able to get around at all. When he was down around 65 pounds, he got around well, he was quite mobile and felt good. Joints are made to move. If they do not move, they degenerate further.

Pain Relief is Therapeutic

Speaking of anti-inflammatories and other analgesic agents: My opinion is that if a young dog requires them in order to feel more comfortable and be more active, I think he should receive them. It’s true that these drugs can cause side effects when used over a long time. But exercise will build up the dog’s muscle tone, and strong muscles help support joints, whether they are normal or weak. Dogs who are kept quiet will only get worse and feel worse. Give the dog at least enough to get him fit and comfortable, and then taper or eliminate the dosage whenever possible.

Even if they are in pain, these dogs need exercise. Swimming is a great thing for dysplastic dogs, because it is nonconcussive.

Many veterinarians will tell you to let the dog rest, but that opinion is changing. I graduated from veterinary school in 1977, and at that time, they were still teaching us that abnormal joints need rest, just like broken bones and other injuries need rest. Today, we realize that we did a lot of harm with that advice. Certainly, as a chiropractor, I know that joints have to move. For a long time, deep in my soul, I knew that resting these things was not making them better. Even if we can’t make the joints right, we need to make them functional, so that we can help the dog preserve good muscle tone, good nerve tone, and good energy flow throughout the body.

To that end, regular chiropractic care can be of huge benefit to dysplastic dogs. Certainly it helps keep the body balanced and the joints functional. Many of these dogs are also helped by acupuncture, which is very effective to alleviate pain in dysplastic dogs. Plus, acupuncture has no deleterious side effects, and can be used for as long as it provides good results. And even if a patient quits responding to acupuncture, one could explore other possibilities, such as gold bead implants at acupuncture points.

Surgical Options

There are a number of surgical procedures that are of benefit to some dogs with certain types of dysplasia. Since this in itself is a rather large topic, I’ll discuss it in the next issue.

Training Foster Dogs to Walk Properly On-Leash

Lifestyle
Adoption
Training
Recalls & Leash Training

Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

May 17, 2020

My husband and I acquired two (temporary) canine foundlings last week. Julie is a five-month-old purebred Akita puppy that we rescued from our local shelter, where her cage card identified her as a Shepherd/Husky mix. Her prospects for adoption were dismal, given that the shelter euthanizes 85-90 percent of incoming animals.

Our second castaway, Princess, is a three-year-old Beagle mix. My husband and I were driving down a busy highway when we spotted her, hunched in the middle of the road, defecating while cars swerved around her on both sides. Princess was wearing a collar and tag, but her owners had moved, and she ended up staying at our house for several days while we tracked down their new phone number and location.

While Princess was with us, I took her out on several occasions to cruise the neighborhood where she was found, to look for her home and to tack up “Found Dog” signs. Each time we went for a walk, I was amazed by the determination with which this little 30-pound dog could pull on a leash. I work with dogs who pull all the time in my dog training business, and believe me, Princess is an Olympic-class puller.

In contrast, Julie (the shelter rescue) heels beautifully. From the moment I took her out of the shelter on a leash, she has shown no desire to pull. Her natural inclination is to stay close to me when we walk, and it was a simple matter, in one short week, to teach her to heel nicely by my side and sit every time I halt, whether she’s on or off leash.

The stark contrast between the walking styles of these two wayward woofers prompted me to ponder the whys and wherefores of leash-pulling behavior.

The gene pull
Dogs pull on their leashes for lots of reasons. Some leash-pulling is attributable, at least in part, to genetics. Scent Hounds – the category into which Beagles fall, and from which at least some of Princess’ ancestors claim heritage – tend toward pulling. They are bred to put their noses to the ground and go, ignoring the discomfort of brambles, briars, icy creeks, or the minor bother of a leash. (Indeed, I once had a Bloodhound, Otis, who was an invaluable hiking companion in California’s rugged coastal hills. When I felt my strength waning, I could put a hand on his collar and let him pull me up the steep paths.) The Arctic breeds – Huskies, Malamutes, Samoyeds and the like – were bred to haul sleds, and are also natural candidates for pulling. Akitas, on the other hand, were Japanese hunting and guarding dogs. They tend to be dignified and docile, albeit protective. Hence, Julie’s genes make her less likely to pull.

Genes aren’t the whole story, however. Genetics are responsible only for our dogs’ predisposition toward certain behaviors. The way we interact with them can influence them toward, or away from, their preprogrammed tendencies – at least to some degree. I know a couple Malamutes and Samoyeds who heel beautifully, and I’ve seen Akitas flying their owners behind them like kites.

Like most behaviors, it’s easiest to teach our dogs good leash manners if we start with blank slates – young puppies who have not yet learned to pull. All of the basic training principles we use in positive dog training apply to the leash challenge. Here’s a quick review of some of the key ones:

• All living things repeat behaviors that are rewarding to them. Behaviors that are consistently rewarded increase in frequency.

• Behaviors that are not rewarded will diminish and eventually extinguish.

• It’s easier and more effective to manage or prevent behaviors we don’t want than it is to correct them after they have become established. (This is why it’s easier to start with puppies, before they have already learned undesirable behaviors like pulling.)

• Rewards (or reward markers, such as the Click! of the clicker) must ideally occur when the behavior happens (or within one to two seconds) in order for the dog to associate the reward with the desired behavior. (See “Clicks for Tricks,” WDJ May 2000.)

• We can train more effectively if we think in terms of what we want our dog to do rather than what we want him not to do. Instead of thinking that we want our dog not to pull on the leash, think about wanting him to walk nicely by our side. Focus on the positive.

Taffy pull
Most dogs who pull do so, whatever their genetics, because we humans are relatively slow and boring. Dogs want to explore their environment, and they want to do it a lot faster than we can move. Think about it. If you take your dog for a hike off-leash, does he trudge along next to you, or does he range ahead, run circles around you, dash up hills and down vales, leaving you to eat his dust? Chances are good that unless he’s in his twilight years or physically impaired he’s still doing donuts around you even when you’re dragging your tired body back to the car at the tail end of the hike.

He also finds the environment to be infinitely rewarding. All the while he’s charging about, he’s being rewarded with great smells to sniff, deer poop to roll in and eat, squirrels to chase, ball and sticks to fetch, other dogs to romp with, ponds to swim in and puddles to splash in. We can only imagine all the spectacular sensory stimuli that thrill our dog during a good romp. It’s no wonder that a sedate walk on leash around the block is dull for him!

Dogs pull because we let them pull. More accurately, we teach them to pull. When John Q. Dog Owner brings eight-week-old Taffy home, he puts on the collar and six-foot leash and takes her out for her very-first-ever walk. A neighbor stops to admire the pup, and stands chatting with John for a few minutes. Taffy gets bored, and spots a beetle 10 feet away that catches her interest. She wanders to the end of the leash and leans into her collar. John eventually notices the pressure, and, still talking to his neighbor, moves in the direction of the Taffy pull. Taffy gets to play with her beetle, and files away a critically important bit of information in her puppy brain: “Pulling gets you where you want to go.” She’ll test this hypothesis several times, and each time it works – when she pulls on the leash to investigate something, John follows. Taffy is soon convinced that pulling on leash is very rewarding – it gets you what you want!

To make things worse, John subconsciously develops a comfort level with a tight lead. Tension on the leash lets him know where Taffy is. So even on those occasions when she is not pulling, John lifts his arm or pulls it back to keep tension in the leash. Taffy eventually accepts that a tight leash is the norm. Not a good foundation for polite leash-walking!

Pulling your own weight
Whenever you and your dog are together, one of you is training the other. The ideal arrangement is that you are the trainer and Taffy is the trainee, at least the majority of the time. From Day One, you need to make sure that Taffy gets rewarded for desirable behaviors, and that you prevent her from being rewarded by undesirable ones.

In terms of leash-walking, this means that you need to make yourself infinitely more rewarding than the environment, at least at first, in order to program “loose-leash walking is the norm” into Taffy’s puppy brain. You need to make a conscious effort to reward her for staying near you (loose leash) and not let her be rewarded when she goes too far away (tight leash). At the same time you have to avoid falling into the common trap of taking up the slack in order to keep tabs on Taffy. That’s what eyeballs are for. Let’s take another look at our friend John Q. to see how he can accomplish this:

John brings Taffy home, puts on her collar and six-foot leash, and takes her out for her very-first-ever walk. In his pocket he has a large supply of tasty treats and a clicker. He heads out the back door to practice in the back yard where he won’t be distracted by neighbors. As soon as he and Taffy reach the patio, he stops and clicks the clicker in his pocket. The sharp sound catches Taffy’s ear and she looks up at him, curious. He feeds her an irresistible treat. “Great game!” Taffy thinks, and keeps her eyes glued to John. He clicks and treats again, several times in a row.

Given this sort of interaction, Taffy has no interest in the surrounding environment – she’s enchanted by this living, breathing treat machine and the funny noise that signals to her that another treat is about to magically appear. She sits so she can watch the man’s face more easily, and the Click! happens again. Cool! She stands up to eat the treat, then sits again to watch John. Click!

A light bulb goes off in Taffy’s head. “Hey!” she thinks. “Every time I put my bottom on the ground, the Click! happens and a treat appears. This ‘bottom-on-the ground’ thing is a great gig!”

Now John starts to walk forward, making sure to keep his hand down by his side and a valley in the leash. Taffy, eager to keep the treat machine in sight, hustles to keep up with him. John clicks the clicker and feeds her a treat. He takes another step, and Taffy is right there with him. Click! and treat.

“Hey!” thinks Taffy. “There’s more than one way to get a treat! I’m stickin’ close to this guy!”

Pushing the envelope, slowly
Just then a leaf falls from a nearby tree, catching Taffy’s attention. The pup’s ears perk up, and she bounces toward the leaf. The leash tightens, and stops her forward progress. Taffy strains toward the leaf – she really wants it! John doesn’t budge. Finally, frustrated, Taffy backs up a step and sits. Click! John lets her know that a loose leash earns a reward. Taffy spins on her tail at the beloved sound and bounces back to John for the tidbit.

As soon as she eats the treat he moves forward quickly so she can reach the leaf without tightening the leash. She sniffs it briefly, decides it isn’t all that wonderful after all, and looks back up at John. He clicks and treats her for turning her attention back to him, then walks forward again, clicking and treating – every one to three steps – to teach Taffy that staying near him with the leash loose is a very rewarding behavior.

If she starts to move out in front of him, he sometimes turns around and goes the other direction. Now she’s behind him again, and he has lots more opportunities to Click! her for keeping the leash loose. He also talks to her in a happy voice, not a commanding one, so that staying near him is fun for her. If Taffy does reach the end of the leash and starts to pull, he stops again, waits for her to put slack in the lead, clicks, treats, and starts forward once more.

After five minutes of this, John stops, unhooks Taffy’s leash, and spends another 10 minutes playing “chase the squeaky” with her. Every once in a while he walks a few steps, and if she walks next to him, he clicks the clicker and feeds her a treat. Taffy starts to realize that it’s rewarding to be near John when she is free as well as when she is on leash. When she takes a time-out from play to pee in the corner, John clicks and rewards her for that as well.

“Wow,” Taffy thinks. “There are lots of things I can do to make that wonderful Click! happen and treats appear – this is very cool!”

Later that day, John decides to try Taffy on the front sidewalk, since she did so well in the back yard. As he works with her, the neighbor comes out to chat. John stops to talk, but keeps an eye on Taffy at the same time. As long as Taffy is sitting or standing quietly near him, he gives an occasional Click! and treat. He hands the neighbor a couple of treats, and tells her that when Taffy sits she can feed Taffy a goodie and pet her. Taffy has no desire to leave. After a short conversation, John politely excuses himself from the neighbor so he can return his full attention to Taffy’s training session.

John has already laid the beginnings for a very solid foundation for Taffy to grow into a well-mannered and well-educated canine companion. If he keeps it up, she will never learn to pull on her leash.

Pulling your leg
The same method that John Q. used for Taffy also works on adult dogs, but you can expect to take more time and make more of an effort to convince the adult dog that pulling isn’t going to pay off any more. The longer a dog like our foundling Beagle, Princess, has been reinforced for pulling, the greater the challenge to persuade her to stop. It can sometimes seem like pulling hen’s teeth – difficult to do and not very productive.

It can be done, however, especially with the help of the right preparation. You may need to find an arsenal of irresistible treats to compete with the known rewards of Princess’ environment. Freeze-dried liver, chicken, steak and roast beef generally rank high for most dogs. You will also need to start working with her in a very low-distraction environment, and graduate to the front sidewalk only after Princess seems to be getting the hang of it. You may also need the help of one of the many helpful no-pull products on the market.

There is a long list of products that – according to their makers – will single-handedly teach your dog not to pull. If you believe these manufacturers, I know of a lovely bridge for sale . . . In truth, no-pull products can help you control your dog while you reprogram her to adopt a more civilized walking style. Head halters (see “Head Halters, Right And Wrong,” WDJ June 2000 and “What A Drag,” WDJ July 1998), stretchy leashes, beepers, and no-pull harnesses can all offer a greater degree of immediate control. Unfortunately, they can also become a crutch – so that your dog will walk nicely while wearing the special equipment, but pull with just as much determination as ever when you take off the halter or harness.

This doesn’t mean that your no-pull equipment of choice is worthless. It can help you teach Princess to walk politely on leash – as long as you combine it with a positive reinforcement training program to teach her to walk nicely, with or without the crutch. Princess needs to decide that it is more rewarding to walk with you than to pull. Combine your favorite gentle control tool with clicks and treats, be consistent about never rewarding her for pulling by allowing her to get where she wants to go, and your Pulling Princess will, in time, be content to prance by your side instead of trying to drag you down the drive.

Our Princess didn’t learn to stop pulling during the short three days she was with us. She returned home to her family, people who love her just the way she is and don’t care if she pulls. She will be an Olympic-class puller for the rest of her life. Julie, the rescued Akita puppy, will be with us for a few more weeks, recovering from kennel cough and getting spayed before we place her in a new, carefully screened home with an owner who will continue to reinforce her good leash behavior. If you’d rather have a Gentle Julie than a Pulling Princess, get out your clicker and treats, and start your leash training program – the sooner the better.

-By Pat Miller

Pat Miller, WDJ’s Training Editor, is also a freelance author and professional dog trainer in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Frozen Raw Meat Diets for Dogs

Food
Raw & Home-Prepared

Nancy Kerns

March 30, 2021

About frozen raw meat diets for dogs: We’ve got some good news, and some bad news.

Here’s the good news: raw meat-based diets are really “what’s best” for dogs. With their sharp, tearing teeth, jaws capable of crushing bones, and short, highly acidic digestive systems, dogs are made to eat and thrive on diets that are made mostly of meat and bones.

Every holistic veterinarian we know suggests feeding a raw meat-based diet, both to improve a dog’s existing health, or to recover it. Vital amino acids and food enzymes, vital for superior digestion and nutrient absorption, are present in raw meat, and survive the freezing/defrosting process beautifully.

Many, many people today buy their own fresh, raw meat and bones to feed to their dogs. But others find this chore to be expensive or time-consuming or, frankly, so much more difficult than opening a container and serving a nutritionally complete food in one gesture that they just stick with dry or canned foods. And even though they know kibble isn’t the healthiest diet in the world, they buy the best dry food they can (or can afford), and rationalize that it’s the best they can do.

It’s OK! I’m right there with you!

The kernel of good news I promised? For all of us in this latter category, there are now raw meat-based diets available in frozen form, that can be purchased by telephone and shipped to our doors.

The bad news? These products vary widely in quality, formulation, and price. As usual, discerning consumers must know what they are looking for and use the products wisely in order for their dogs to receive the full benefits of this feeding method.

Know what you’re getting
Some of the products currently available are intended to be used solely as the meat component of a meat-based diet; you add your own vegetables, grains, or supplements as you see fit. While you could, of course, just go buy meat yourself, these suppliers have the advantage of buying in bulk (which may result in savings to you, even after shipping costs are figured in).

Also, as experienced “raw feeders” know, a complete diet that is based on raw meats should contain a mix of (mostly) muscle tissue, with a small but important addition of organ tissues (heart and liver) and bone, as well as as a certain amount of vegetables. While many of us are comfortable adding meat and vegetables for the dog to our shopping lists, it takes a very dedicated dog owner to purchase fresh raw organs and grind bones, so commercial sources of meat that include these components are worth the cost to many of us.

Some of the products are formulated as “complete” diets; labeled as such, they are required to meet the minimum nutritional profiles set by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

A few of the smallest companies formulate their foods as complete diets, but do not represent them as such, in order to duck under the AAFCO radar. In their defense, most of these appear to be good foods, but without a full-scale commitment to a professional commercial operation, consumers may be left wondering about the consistency and reliability of the foods.

Note: As WDJ went to press, we just heard some breaking news concerning the formation of the Raw Pet Foods Association (RPFA), the brainchild of one of the most professional raw/frozen food makers, Steve Brown of Steve’s Real Food for Dogs. Brown is attempting to form a coalition of raw food makers, retailers, and consumers (that’s us!) to share information intended to help manufacturers improve their products. Brown also visualizes the RPFA as functioning something like a political action group that can respond in an organized fashion to legislation or other regulations that may affect the industry down the road. (As this method of feeding dogs grows more popular, distant rumblings are arising from dry food headquarters around the country.

Several raw food manufacturers suspect that the kibble industry may begin to organize against the budding raw-foods industry soon. We’ll announce contact numbers for the organization as it takes shape; in the meantime, interested parties are encouraged to contact Steve Brown, at Steve’s Real Food For Dogs, listed on the next page.)

Finally, just as with dry dog food makers, the raw food manufacturers use meats of varying quality. Many claim to use human-quality meats; a few claim to use only totally organic, antibiotic-free, or growth-hormone-free meats. Again, each individual dog warrants a slightly different game plan. Holistic veterinarians suggest using the purest, most organic foods available for dogs with immune-compromised conditions. This is speculation, but we’d guess that, given the superior bioavailability of the nutrients in these foods, even meats of a lesser quality (not organic nor human grade) would be better for the average healthy dog than cereal-based dry dog foods.

Keeping cold
Let’s consider for a moment, the frozen state of food. Most of the companies sell their products directly to consumers in their local areas, and a few have freezer-equipped retailers that can widen their distribution direct from their freezers to yours. Blessed are those who live close to one of these manufacturers.

Those of us who will receive our frozen meats via UPS, FedEx, or even Priority Mail have more to worry about. Anyone who has ever purchased fresh food from a “shipped direct” manufacturer knows that sometimes, problems with shipping occur. Planes are grounded, storms close highways, etc., etc. About 80 percent of the samples sent to us by the food makers arrived to our editorial office in fine frozen form. Two arrived slightly softened, but still very cold. One, in a classic shipping company mishap, was delivered a day late, and to a neighbor’s door – a neighbor who wasn’t home for a few days. By the time we got the box, the ice packs within had all melted, and the food was thoroughly defrosted. (Good thing that the discovery coincided with our street’s garbage collection day!)

Before you order any product, we suggest that you question the maker closely as to the company policy on shipping problems. Who will pay for defrosted meat? Also, ask them to call you before they ship to give you an estimated time of arrival. It doesn’t do you much good to have a frozen box of meat dropped off on your front porch after you’ve left for work on a hot day!

Safety precautions
Remember: All of these foods contain raw meat, so all of the normal precautions of handling raw meat apply for you and your family, including:

• Keep the foods frozen until you are ready to feed them; then, defrost small amounts (only what your dog will eat within a couple of days) in the refrigerator. Don’t allow food to sit at room temperature.

• People who are immune-compromised should probably avoid handling raw meat.

• Discard any food your dog leaves in his bowl after eating.

• Wash your hands with hot water and soap after preparing the dog’s food.

• Clean countertops or any other surface in the kitchen that comes in contact with raw meat (chopping blocks, knives, grinders, etc.) with a disinfectant, such as a mild bleach solution.

• Wash all the dog’s bowls or other utensils that contacted the food with hot water and soap promptly.

All these precautions are in place to protect you and your family from bacteria such as salmonella or E-coli, if it happens to be present in the food. Can these bacteria harm your dog? According to all the makers of commercial raw meat diets, the chances of a dog getting sick from such bacteria is very slim. First, because freezing reportedly kills these bacteria, and second, because dogs are equipped with powerful stomach acids that can kill harmful bacteria.

Professional advice
Last but not least: Experienced raw feeders will be able to look at the list of manufacturers below and know instantly which foods might be of use to them in planning their dogs’ diets. Those who are new to this method of feeding should, ideally, discuss the idea and plan an appropriate diet with their holistic veterinarian or a professional veterinary nutritional consultant who has experience with raw diets.

For more information on feeding raw meat-based diets, see “A Winning Diet,” WDJ November 1998, “The Meat of the Matter,” January 1999, and “Converting to a Raw Food Diet,” September 1999. The last article listed also contains a list of the best books available on raw meat diets for dogs. We’re sure that the companies listed below are not the only ones selling frozen, raw meat for dogs; let us know about any we’ve missed and we’ll update the list periodically. Please note that we have not ranked the products in any way; due to the “apples and oranges” nature of the products, we are merely sharing our observations and comments about them.

-By Nancy Kerns

Holistic Healing in The Form of Prayer

Care
Natural Remedies & Holistic Care

Nancy Kerns

March 30, 2021

The second attempt to find a home for Suki, a five-month-old Akita, had met with failure. The well-intended, very loving couple were in tears as they brought her back to the Akita Rescue Family in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. The normal expectations they had of her falling into place as the puppy of their “pack” had been quickly dashed. Suki had relentlessly attacked Lika, their 13-year-old spayed Chow mix, so viscously that the formerly “alpha” female became fearful and intimidated. She spent the last days of Suki’s short stay in a hiding place under the stairwell.

The woman who ran the rescue center from her home had an in-depth history with dogs. Her immediate family of 13 included dogs in a variety of shapes and sizes, but she adored Akitas. Over a 10-year period she trained them, showed in obedience, coached problem behaviors, and had researched their predisposition to certain health imbalances; she knew this breed well.

However, even after three years of experience in rescue work, she was completely baffled by this puppy. Without provocation, Suki would suddenly attack other dogs regardless of their gender, age, size, or social position in the pack. She was a perfect sweetheart with adult humans, but having her around children was out of the question.

Nearly at her wits’ end, the rescue volunteer asked for my help as an animal communicator and intuitive healer. She asked me to “tell” Suki that if she persisted in her aggressive behavior, “it will probably result in her death.”

Taking a deep breath, I bent my head in prayer. I knew that the hoped-for outcome – the desired intention – was out of my hands. But I prayed that things would work out for Suki.

About two months later, on an evening when I was in my office later than usual, the phone rang. It was the rescue volunteer calling with a report on Suki. The Akita youngster had just been placed in a new home, one with another dog and children. As I listened to the heartening changes that Suki had made, I closed my eyes, smiled, and nodded my head in gratitude. Suki had developed an attitude of graciousness with other dogs and overcame her need to challenge their pack rank. She had developed her ability to be more present in the moment and respond accordingly in each individual situation, rather than reacting from some “program” from her past.

Teamwork really helped this case along. Suki is an exceptional dog possessing a focused mind and a deep desire to act in a “correct” manner, one worthy of her high level of self-esteem. Her caretaker had the ability to put the insights and suggestions from our session into action immediately. My role was to provide prayerful intent, which, like a radio, fine tunes and amplifies the link between the good intention of a person, the challenges faced by an animal she loves, and the mystery of the Divine.

What qualifies as prayer?
Intention means fixing the mind to a particular outcome. Prayer can be offering devout, sincere praise or thanks to God (or any vision of a higher power), or making a petition or request for something in a humble manner. These two words have only subtle distinctions and seem to stem from the same core. In my mind, the intentions of our thoughts can be considered prayers. Most of us want “what’s best” for our animal companions, just as we want our human loved ones to be safe from harm and illness. Directing our thoughts of safety and wellness toward others is what’s known as intercessory prayer, and there have been a number of scientific, double-blind studies confirming that this kind of prayer can have power.

One of the most frequently reported studies, published in 1988, showed that heart patients who were prayed for had fewer complications than patients who did not receive prayers, even though the patients in the study did not know which group they were in (the prayer or no-prayer group).

Mental energies
A more recent report, published in the December 15, 1999 Western Journal of Medicine, confirmed the power of intercessory prayer. The study, conducted at the California Pacific Medical Center’s Complementary Medicine Research Institute, focused on 40 patients with advanced AIDS symptoms. For each patient, the organizers of the study recruited “volunteer healers,” people who would focus their mental energies on a single patient’s health and well being for one hour a day, six days a week, for 10 weeks. The healers were given only each patient’s first name and photograph, and the sessions were organized on a rotating basis with different patients being treated by a different healer each week.

The volunteer healers, who had not met the patients receiving their treatments, worked long distance from various locations throughout the United States and Canada. Between themselves they had an average of 17 years experience and represented eight different healing traditions including Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Native American, and Shamanic, as well as graduates of bioenergetic and meditative healing schools. Following the same rigorous criteria for double-blind studies established by the FDA for the approval of new drugs, neither the patients nor their physicians knew who would receive the distant healing. Since this method removes the possibility of the outcome being influenced by a belief or intention, doctors conducting research in this manner work under the assumption that the information collected provides more accurate results.

As this study drew toward its close the data showed that the patients who received long distance healing experienced fewer and less severe illnesses, a decreased need for hospital visits and had longer periods of improved mental outlook and emotional disposition. The conclusion establishes that healing through intention produced documented, substantial improvements in patients with advanced AIDS symptoms.

The science of prayer
At a 1998 course on “Spirituality and Healing in Medicine,” David Larson, of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, called the power of faith the “forgotten factor,” and says that it has been “neglected and mishandled” because of scientists’ attitudes toward religion. He also joked that such research can be called “the anti-tenure factor,” because if you study it, “you can actually go backward” in your career.

But the fact that the conference, sponsored by the Mind/Body Institute and the Institute of Religion at the Texas Medical Center, drew some 700 medical professionals to learn about the healing practices of several faiths, may be a sign that even scientists are opening their minds to the practice of prayer. William Tiller, Ph.D., a physics professor at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California, might seem at first glance to be an unlikely advocate of the power of something as obscure as prayer. However, his studies of quantum physics have led him to believe that one can explain consciousness mathematically, and that the power of thought can have a measureable effect on physical reality.

In his book, Science and Human Transfomation: Subtle Energies, Intentionality, and Consciousness, Dr. Tiller describes his studies of the fundamental subatomic building blocks of our universe and the processes which involve the transference or transformation of energy between these particles in an atomic or molecular state. Professor Tiller says that he has seen evidence which draws his attention toward the elusive link between thought and matter. “I think that consciousness will eventually be discovered to be a quality of the universe that has the capability of generating radiations which eventually beget matter,” Tiller says. Intention, he says, is “a desire to imprint from the level of Spirit.” Dr. Tiller has reported that he is convinced that even DNA (the genetic codes that make us who we are and instruct each cell in our body to perform their unique functions) are susceptible to intention.

Intercessory prayer
I have found that even though my clients usually have a desired result in mind when they ask for my help with an animal, I do not focus on any specific outcome. Instead, I pray that the situation be resolved in a way which provides the highest good for all concerned. In his book Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, author and medical doctor Larry Dossey calls this type of request an “open-ended prayer,” and claims that these open-ended prayers are the most powerful of all.

In Healing Words, Dr. Dossey describes a simple study of seeds that had been soaked in salt water before planting. This practice is harmful to most plants. The seeds were then divided into three groups. The first group received no prayers whatsoever. The second group received prayers of a very specific nature, with predetermined outcomes offered for them. These intentions directed the seedlings to reject the salt water, grow sound and plump, and encouraged them to grow to a certain height.

The third group received an open-ended prayer, to wit: “We surrender these seeds to the goodness of the universe, so they may manifest their highest potential and whatever is in the highest good.”

Dossey reports that the seeds that received no prayers died. The ones that received prayers pinpointing specific requirements and outcomes did much better; most sprouted and actually grew a little bit. However, the seeds that simply had open-ended, good intentions wished for them surpassed the others. Comparatively, those that received the attachment-focused prayers grew only a fraction when compared to the seeds that had been tenderly and lovingly surrendered to their highest good in the universe.

These results demonstrate the importance of being unattached to the outcome occurring in a specific way. Letting go of these ideas helps us build more trust in the process of life. This also allows the unpredictable synchronicity of life to provide us with an outcome that often surpasses our plans.

Emotional detachment
Acquiring the ability for being detached is vital when our intentions are focused on the well being of another we love dearly. Caring for and about an ill or emotionally unwell animal companion can be upsetting. The intense emotional waves rising within us are an integral part of us which must be accepted and honored in order to heal. But as physical beings, we must learn the value of expressing these powerful shifts appropriately, or they can begin directing our thoughts and actions.

When contacted to help with situations that can involve behavior, communication, or health imbalances, I stress that each individual (person or animal) chooses their own path to wellness. I cannot predict what their needed time frame will be. Some move forward one step at a time over a period of weeks or months; others benefit from annual check-ins. These situations produce the best results when periodic infusions of focused healing are provided. Others achieve such dramatic improvements that their stories of recovery are often described as miraculous.

Two years ago when Brightdot’s caretaker asked for my assistance, she was considering euthanasia for the older female Spaniel mix. Brightdot had endured the results of a stroke for several months. Watching her stumble when she walked, having difficulty getting up, and shifting into periods of mental confusion were sad indications that her quality of life was decreasing. Simply supporting the weight of her medium-large frame was strenuous for the Spaniel, and her guardian, who had cared for Brightdot since puppyhood, felt limited in being able to help lift or carry her.

I believe that each time I connect with an animal the work is Divinely guided. Every situation is unique in how I am led to help resolve the existing challenges for the highest good of all concerned. In this situation, Brightdot clearly had an underlying zest for life which aided her in completely transforming her situation. Within a few weeks her caretaker told me, “After your session with her all her problems just went away.”

Trust the outcome
What happens when prayers appear to go unanswered? I think that when the intentions of our prayers – important ones – are passed over, the answers we seek are still within us, not outside of us. Each individual is a unique blend of his or her past, present and hopes for the future, as well as physical, emotional, mental and spiritual qualities. Our attempts at communicating with the Divine can bring us moments of crystal clarity where we know, as if by instinct, what our Higher Self is directing us to do, while at other times we wander without direction or intent. What we believe, choose to turn away from, or are drawn toward is a significant part of our personal growth and development. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we carry with us the ability to return to our Source whenever we want. There are numerous religious and spiritually based practices which provide an opportunity for each of us to discover our own path.

The years have given me an approach for coping with the sense of disappointment that I used to experience when my carefully offered prayers rise like wisps of smoke, never to be heard from again. Although some insight can be gained from briefly asking why things turned out a certain way, little is gained by digging deeply into this question. Of course, each individual chooses his own path to wellness, even when his instinctive need is different from our desired intentions.

After moving through this, I accept the situation more and can begin relying on trust. I trust that the existence of synchronicity in our universe, which defies explanation, will prevail. I have an unquestioning belief that everything does happen for the highest good of all concerned. I have developed this understanding because I hold hope that one day I may be given clearer perceptions of why things happened the way they did. Through having repeatedly received the gift of hindsight, I have come to know that our perceptions limit us by only allowing us to see a small corner of the total view. Our spiritual petitions, giving acknowledgment, thanks or asking for help, serve as a vehicle for connecting us with the mystery of the infinite. Through this link we receive insights which help us grow in the knowledge that we are all a part of something much greater than ourselves . . . and sometimes our prayers are answered along the way.

-By Leslie Morán

Rev. Leslie Morán describes herself as a holistic animal intuitive and a natural animal care educator from Truckee, California. She is also a Reiki Master Teacher.

Why a Reliable Recall Is So Important

Training
Recalls & Leash Training

Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

March 26, 2001

Caper was a Spuds McKenzie-style Bull Terrier mix – white with a rakish black eye. She spent the first 18 months of her life running free in the small California coastal community of Bolinas, where resident dog owners eschewed leashes and threw bottles at trucks driven by animal services officers. As happens all too often with dogs who are given too much freedom, the energetic terrier got into trouble – she nipped a small child who tried to play with her on the beach. I adopted Caper upon her release from bite quarantine at the Marin Humane Society more than 20 years ago, and immediately enrolled her in an obedience class.

Caper excelled in class despite the fact that in those days I was still using compulsion-based methods. It seemed to me at the time that the vigorous yanks that I applied to her leash and choke collar didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for training in the slightest. When we ventured into the obedience competition ring she was always in the ribbons.

Her recall in the ring was superb. On the judge’s instructions, I would leave her in a sit-stay, march to the opposite side of the ring, wait for the judge’s signal, and then issue the clarion call, “Caper, come!”

Caper would rocket across the ring and slam her compact, muscled body into an unerringly straight sit at my feet, gazing into my eyes with adoration and anticipation. My next command invariably sent her into another faultlessly straight sit at heel position to complete the exercise – a picture-perfect show-ring recall.

Outside of the ring, however, the picture wasn’t quite so perfect. If Caper was within 40 to 50 feet of me, my “Caper, come!” command worked – a good 98 percent of the time. If she was farther away, however, the word “come” more often than not served to lend wings to her heels as she fled directly away from me on some compelling Bull Terrier mission. Was it a coincidence that our show-ring recall was also performed at a distance of about 40 to 50 feet? I doubt it.

I stumbled over a solution to Caper’s recall problem totally by accident. I acquired an Australian Kelpie – a breed with intensely strong herding instincts. Whenever Keli the Kelpie heard the note of hysteria in my “Come!” command that meant Caper was running off again, she would charge after the errant terrier on her lightning fast Kelpie legs and forcefully herd her back to me. Problem solved.

This, however, is not the solution I would use now, and it’s certainly not the one that I can offer my clients today for teaching their dogs a reliable “Come.”

Still a four-letter word
“Come” is perhaps the most important behavior we can teach our dogs – and the most difficult one. The average dog owner spends far too little time teaching “Come” as an exercise. We tend to use it mainly in real life, in situations when we really need the dog to respond, and then we get upset if he doesn’t. When does the average dog owner usually call her dog? When the dog is doing something he’s not supposed to do – something that is infinitely more fun and rewarding than returning to his human.

“Let me see,” ponders Rover for a tenth of a gigasecond. “Chase the deer or go back to my person, who sounds like she’s mad at me, and who is probably going to put me in the car and take me home? Roll in the dead squirrel or go back to my person? Eat horse poop or go back to my person?” The person loses every time! To make matters worse, she starts to use an angry tone of voice when she calls Rover, and “Come” quickly becomes a four-letter word. Rover learns, like Caper did, to run away from people when they use the bad “Come” word.

There is a much better way. If we condition Rover respond to a “Come” cue that means “wonderful things are happening here!,” even if the “wonderful thing” isn’t really as good as eating horse poop, prior positive conditioning can triumph over the allure of tasty horse poop, chasing deer, and perfuming oneself with dead squirrels.

We want our dogs to think that “Come!” is the best thing in the whole world. We do this by teaching a positive association with the come cue, and by making sure that the consequences of coming are ALWAYS positive. We NEVER punish Rover for coming to us, and we never resort to intimidation and threats to make Rover come to us.

Punishment is anything that Rover doesn’t like. This means that if Rover doesn’t like having his nails trimmed, don’t call him to you, evil nail clippers in hand, then nab him for a manicure when he arrives. If you do, you’ve punished him for coming, and he will be a bit more leery about coming to you the next time he is called. If Rover stays in the back yard while you are gone all day at work, but he’d really rather be in the house, calling him to you and tossing him in the back yard just before you leave for work is punishment.

Of course, you do need to trim his nails, and perhaps you do need to put him in the yard when you leave, so what are you supposed to do? You have several choices. You can call him to you, do something very fun for 10 to 15 minutes, and then say, “Oh, by the way, as long as you’re here, let’s trim your nails.” This way, the “bad thing” is far enough removed from being called that he won’t make the association between the two. If you do this too often, however, there is a danger that he may start to realize that bad things often follow being called, especially in a certain context, such as your preparations to leave for work.

You can also walk up to Rover, wherever he happens to be, feed him a treat, take hold of his collar and proceed to trim nails – although if you do this too often with negative things he will learn to move away when you approach. The most elegant solution is to convince him that nail trimming and going in the back yard are wonderful things, so that calling him to you to do those things is a good thing, not a bad thing. If you make it a point to go out in the yard and play with Rover before you leave, he will think going in the yard is wonderful. If you gradually desensitize Rover to the nail clippers with yummy treats, he may never love having his nails trimmed, but at least it will seem more good to him than bad. Meanwhile, you need to teach Rover to come on cue as a fun game, totally separate from doing negative things. Here’s how:

Short-distance, low-distraction come
Start with short-distance recalls in a low-distraction environment – a quiet room in the house – where you are by far the most exciting thing happening. Have a handful of over-the-top tasty treats that Rover doesn’t get during regular training sessions, such as squeeze cheese, string cheese, bits of ham or roast beef, baby food, or anything else that will really make Rover’s eyes light up. With Rover just a few feet away from you, say his name in a cheerful tone of voice. When he looks at you in response to his name, run backwards several steps and say the word “Come!” – also in a very happy voice. The message implied by your tone should be, “Hey, we’re having a party over here, and you’re invited!” Be sure to run backwards. Running triggers a dog’s chase instincts and increases your attraction potential to Rover severalfold over standing boringly still.

As soon as Rover starts moving toward you, use a reward marker that has already been paired with food, such as the Click! of a clicker, or the word “Yes!” You are marking the behavior of coming toward you, and letting Rover know that moving toward you has earned him a reward. This will also enhance the “Come,” since Rover is likely to hurry faster toward you to get his treat after he hears the clicker.

As Rover approaches, stop moving, and tell him what a wonderful dog he is. If he sits easily for you, lift the treat as he arrives at your feet. (Do not ask him to sit.) If he sits, great! Feed him the treat and tell him he’s fantastic. If not, go ahead and give him the treat anyway, and tell him he’s wonderful. It’s nice if our dogs sit when they come to us. It parks them briefly, so we can restrain them if necessary, and it is also much better than coming to us and jumping up. If sitting is a challenge for Rover, however, and we get into a sit-struggle when he comes, then we are punishing him for coming, and come is no longer positive and fun. If Rover doesn’t sit easily, give him the treat just for coming, and make a mental note to work on sit as a separate exercise.

Medium to long distance, low-distraction come
When Rover is happily playing the short-distance come game with you, gradually start increasing the distance between you and Rover when you call him. Remember to mark the desired behavior – coming toward you – with a Click! or “Yes!” as he is coming toward you, to encourage him to keep coming for his treat reward. Be sure to use lots of enthusiastic praise as well, to keep the party attitude.

The “round-robin” come
Now that Rover thinks that “Come” is a fun thing, you can include friends and family in the training game. Have several people in the room, each with a clicker and a handful of equally tasty treats. Take turns calling Rover, in no particular order. Each person Clicks! and treats Rover as he arrives, then another person calls him.

Note: If one person in a group calls Rover, the other people must ignore him if he comes to them instead. No eye contact, no petting, no treats, no talking to him. He’ll quickly learn that only the person who called him has any rewards.

Adding mild distractions
Here’s where most people start to lose the training game. Rover comes beautifully in the house, therefore, he knows what “Come” means and he is trained to come when called – right? Wrong! He is beautifully trained to come when he is called, in the house, if there is nothing more interesting around. Now we have to teach him to come in other places, even when there’s other good stuff happening.

For this exercise, put Rover’s leash on. You are not going to jerk him with it, you are just going to use it to prevent him from being rewarded for going somewhere else when you call him. Start small. Have a friend moving around in the room while you practice short-distance recalls. (Each time you change the rules of the game, go back to short recalls and gradually increase the distance.) Instruct your friend to ignore your dog if he approaches her instead of coming to you. When Rover responds to your “Come” cue even with mild distractions, drop his leash and start increasing the distance, until he will romp to you across the room, even with another person, a ball, a cat, or a child in his path. When he will do this, you’re ready to take the show on the road.

Adding major distractions
Until now, we’ve been working indoors. Outdoors is a whole new ballgame. There are all kinds of wonderfully enticing things for Rover to pursue outdoors – great things to smell, eat, see, chase, roll in – you are going to have to work very hard to make yourself more interesting than the nearest dead squirrel. Arm yourself with your tastiest treats, and go back to square one – short distance recalls on-leash. If you’ve done your homework well in less distracting environments, Rover will catch on quickly, and your progression to longer distance and Round-Robin recalls will happen much faster than your initial training. As you increase the distance, use a long-line to prevent Rover from getting rewarded by getting to run off and enjoy an unanticipated distraction.

Advanced recall challenges: The “Premack Principle”
The greatest challenge of “coming-when-called” is the reality that there will always be something out there that is more enticing than whatever we can offer Rover. In order to overcome this challenge, we use the Premack Principle, which teaches Rover that in order to get the wonderful thing at location “B,” he has to come to us first at location “A”. That is, if he wants to chase the squirrel up a tree, he comes to us first when we call him, then we let him go chase the squirrel.

You can teach your dog the Premack concept through controlled exercises. Start by having a friend stand with Rover, 20 feet away from you. The friend has a handful of yummy treats, and lets Rover sniff and lick her hands, but does not give him any treats. Call Rover to you. It may take a while for him to decide that he’s not going to get any treats from your friend. That’s okay – just keep calling him in your happiest party voice. If necessary, squeak a squeaky toy, jump up and down – do whatever you need to do to get Rover interested in you. When he starts to come to you, Click!, and feed him treats when he arrives. Your friend should follow behind him, and give him her treats after he eats yours. He gets a double reward for coming to you – your treats and her treats. When he will do this exercise easily, he’s ready for the advanced Premack challenge.

Empty a can of canned food (or something equally smelly and attractive that is not his normal food), and set it off to the side. Have your friend stand behind the plate with a bowl that she can use to cover the plate. Show Rover the plate of cat food, then put him on a sit-stay about 20 feet from the plate. Walk 20 feet away from Rover in a different direction so that you, the plate (and your friend) and Rover form the points of an equilateral triangle. Now call Rover. If he comes to you, great! Good boy, Rover! Mark that behavior (Click! or “Yes!”), give him a treat, and then run with him over to the bowl of special food and let him have a healthy mouthful.

But if he heads for the plate first, have your friend quickly cover the plate with the bowl to prevent him from eating the food. Keep calling him until he gives up on the cat food and comes to you. Good boy, Rover! Click!, treat, and run back with him to the plate for a mouthful of food. Keep practicing until he figures out that the onlyway to get the cat food is to come to you first. Now you and Rover are starting to achieve a really reliable recall!

A few final recall tips
If you are working with a dog like Caper, who already has a negative association with the word “Come,” you might want to switch to a new recall word. Some dog owners use “Close” or “Here.” You can use any word you want – it doesn’t have any meaning for Rover until we associate it with the “come” behavior. Just be sure to keep the new word positive, or you’ll be looking for yet another one.

Make a real commitment to teaching your dog a positive “Come.” It doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, it can take two or three years to teach Rover to come reliably in the face of his most enticing distractions – if you work at it; it doesn’t happen all by itself.

Meanwhile, don’t put your dog in a situation where his lack of reliable recall can endanger his life. That is, don’t take him off leash in places where he can run away and get into trouble, like I foolishly did with Caper. I was extremely lucky that Caper never got into serious trouble when she ran off, and I was fortunate to find a serendipitous solution to Caper’s recall challenge.

Caper has long since died – of old age, not from a failed recall, thank goodness. I would love to have her back again, to show her how much fun “coming when called” can be, but of course, I can’t. I’ll just have to make it up to her through all of my current and future dogs, through all of my clients’ dogs who come to me for training, and through you, the WDJ reader who can teach your dogs positive, reliable recalls. Let the recall games begin.

Canine Massage Used For Damaged Muscle Tissue

Care
Natural Remedies & Holistic Care

Nancy Kerns

March 30, 2021

Watching the smooth, even gait of a happy dog as it trots or gallops across a field is pure delight. It is obvious that all of the muscles and joints are working in harmony.

We don’t often stop to think about the importance of muscles as a dog stands quietly at our side, but the same muscles that act antagonistically to move joints as the dog runs must cooperate to stabilize those same joints and change the limb into a rigid support when standing. It’s really an amazing relationship.

In the forelimb, the triceps muscle is critical to maintaining the elbow in an extended position while the dog stands. As a matter of fact, three of the four parts or heads of the large, strong triceps muscle group are concerned with supporting the body weight against the pull of gravity. In a normal standing posture, the elbow is maintained in an extended position by isometric contraction of the parts of the triceps muscle that attach to the point of the elbow.

Isometric contraction means that tension is maintained in the muscle without actually shortening the muscle. The triceps works against the resistance provided by the dog’s weight which tends to flex or bend the elbow. If the muscles and/or tendons of the elbow are injured or not functioning efficiently, the dog may be unable to accept weight on that limb and will stand or move abnormally. Maintaining the suppleness of the triceps and associated muscles of the shoulder and upper arm is important for proper gait and posture.

Cross-fiber friction massage
The cross-fiber friction techniques employed in sports massage are very effective in working on the large muscle groups of both the fore- and hindlimbs. The term “friction” comes from the Latin word frictio which means “to rub.” In general, friction techniques are brisk, often heat-producing techniques. Remember that skeletal muscles are composed of many thin muscle fibers that run parallel to each other and parallel to the long axis of the muscle. Cross-fiber friction techniques work across the grain of these fibers in the muscle. These techniques increase blood flow to the area, are effective in treating many muscle injuries, and aid in breaking down adhesions by coaxing apart the adhered tissue.

Because the triceps and associated muscles are working to some degree whether a dog is moving or standing still, cross-fiber friction massage can have a positive effect by relieving tightness in the muscle.

Muscle texture
Before you begin the massage, take a few minutes to assess the general texture of the dog’s muscles. You can learn to test for muscle texture on your own forearm. Most adults have tight forearm muscles that feel like stringy ropes. Check out your muscles by resting one forearm and hand on a table. Place the pads of the fingers of your other hand on the fleshy part of the resting arm, about two or three inches below the elbow. Gently and slowly move the skin and underlying muscle back and forth. Continue working your way toward your wrist.

Some areas may feel fairly uniform in texture but you will probably find hard strings or ropes of muscle that are ¼ inch to perhaps ¾ inch or more in diameter. Since your arm muscles are not actively contracting or working, they should not be hard. The hard stringy texture indicates that the muscles are “resting” in a partially contracted state. Use digital circles or gently massage back and forth over the cords for a brief period. You should feel the cords relax and the muscle attain a more uniform texture.

Now check the texture of your dog’s muscles. Start with the triceps, which is very easy to locate. Place your hand on the dog’s elbow and move straight up toward his withers (above his shoulders). You will feel a prominent large shoulder muscle about half way between the elbow and the withers. This is the triceps. A relaxed muscle should feel firm but supple and elastic. Your dog’s muscles may have ropy cords similar to those you probably felt in your own arm or he may display a more generalized muscle tightness. A muscle should only feel tight or hard if it is contracting. Tightness in a “relaxed” muscle (not actively contracting) indicates the muscle is semi-contracted.

Angel wing technique
Now that you have located the triceps and assessed the muscle texture, you can use a cross-fiber friction technique called the “angel wing.” To perform this technique, hold your hand out and bend your fingers at approximately a 90-degree angle to your hand. Place the flat surfaces of your fingers against the dog’s shoulder. Now rotate your hand just as if you were “thumbing a ride.”

As the fingers follow the upward movement of the thumb, they make an angel wing pattern on the muscle. This works across the grain of the triceps to spread and separate taut muscle fibers. Tight muscles may be tender to the touch, so work gently, with light pressure at first. You can increase pressure as you assess the dog’s comfort level. Repeat the angel wing technique, moving over the entire shoulder and upper arm area. Avoid direct massage on any bony areas.

Don’t forget the massage techniques you have already learned. You can now give your dog a very relaxing whole body massage. Start by setting your intentions to benefit the dog. Ask the dog for permission to massage and proceed. Begin at the head and work toward the tail. Open each region of the body with effleurage (discussed in the December 1999 issue), continue with digital circles (January 2000) and/or the angel wing technique as appropriate. Close each region with effleurage and continue by opening the next region with effleurage. Remember to massage both sides of the body and thank your dog when you finish.

What about the little guys?
Mick, the Irish wolfhound in the photos on the opposite page, is a perfect candidate for the angel wing technique since he is big enough to accommodate the large areas covered by the back or four fingers. But what about the little guys?

A four-finger span can cover much more than the triceps area of one of the toy breeds like a Chihuahua or Toy Poodle. Yet small dogs can benefit from cross-fiber friction techniques just like their larger counterparts. Simply modify the angel wing to fit the dog. Instead of applying the entire back surface of all four fingers, use only one or two fingers to perform the angel wing. If that still covers too much territory, bend the fingers to use only the first two joints to make contact with the dog. Keep in mind that small dogs require much less pressure than a large fellow. Adjust your touch accordingly to stay within the dog’s comfort level.

Whether the dog is large or small, relieving tightness in the triceps and other shoulder and upper arm muscles will yield a smoother gait, a more comfortable standing posture, and a happier dog.

Also With This Article
Click here to view “Mastering Canine Massage Techniques”

-By C. Sue Furman

Author Sue Furman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, CO. In addition to her academic career, she is active as a free-lance writer and teaches equine and canine massage classes. This article is adapted from material in her new book, Canine Massage, that will be available in spring 2000.

Raw-Fed Puppies

Puppies
Puppy Food & Nutrition
Food
Raw & Home-Prepared

CJ Puotinen

March 26, 2001

When dog lovers switch their pets from commercial food to a well-balanced, raw diet, they typically report improved health, brighter eyes, a shinier coat, calmer behavior, and easier yard cleanup chores. A puppy’s first eight weeks set the stage for a lifetime of health or illness, so it isn’t surprising that puppies weaned on raw food grow up to out-perform dogs weaned on kibble or canned food, even if both are fed raw food as adults. Raw-weaned puppies nearly exhaust their breeders’ vocabularies, for these are the healthiest / strongest / liveliest / calmest / smartest / most wonderful pups that ever lived.

What is the best way to introduce raw food to infant puppies? And what is the best age for starting the weaning process? A survey of raw-food breeders shows that there are no hard and fast rules. Raw-food puppies seem to thrive on all kinds of “first foods” and weaning schedules.

Following the leader

Many breeders follow the guidelines Juliette de Bairacli Levy has published for half a century in her books on natural rearing. “A properly weaned puppy is a joy to see and possess,” she wrote in The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat. “It is each puppy’s right that it be fed foods which will not damage or degenerate its new body, but improve and safeguard its health.”

De Bairacli Levy believes that slow rather than rapid weaning is necessary, because the intestines and stomachs of infant carnivores cannot deal with solid food until after four weeks. She warns that grain-based “weaning foods,” such as commercial kibble, are especially likely to distend the stomach and create an ideal environment for worms and infectious bacteria.

De Bairacli Levy’s preferred weaning food is raw, unpasteurized goat’s or cow’s milk. To one quart of raw milk, she adds one tablespoon raw honey. Each four-week-old puppy receives a serving of honey-laced milk plus one teaspoon “Natural Rearing Tree Bark Gruel,” a blend of slippery elm tree bark, barley flour, dill, marshmallow, and other herbs that provide nourishment while soothing the digestive tract. This gruel is served lukewarm, at body temperature. Gradually, small amounts of shredded poultry or meat, pureed or finely minced vegetables, and other ingredients are added, and portions increase in size as the puppies grow.

Marina Zacharias, of Jacksonville, Oregon, distributes Natural Rearing products, raises Basset Hounds and is an honorary godmother to countless litters from other breeds. Following de Bairacli Levy’s guidelines, she introduces raw meat toward the end of the puppies’ fifth week, feeding early morning and noon meals of milk and gruel, then afternoon and evening meals of meat, green vegetables, and whole-food nutritional supplements.

“As the pups get a little older,” she says, “they receive fundamentally the same components I feed to my adults. The milk/gruel meals become the basis for the grain meal (I gradually reduce its milk content and thicken the gravy component), and the meat meal is changed as they grow and adapt from a ‘mushy’ meat to small chunks to normal adult-sized chunks.

“Then, at approximately eight weeks, raw bones can be introduced after the meat meals as a treat, not as a replacement for the meat. Chicken wings or necks work well for this purpose. Please remember, these bones are soft when raw. Never feed cooked bones.”

New leaders
Wendy Volhard developed her Natural Diet in 1973, based largely on Juliette de Bairacli Levy’s recommendations. Volhard says she tested the results on dogs at all stages of life for more than 12 years. “The testing consisted of complete blood work using serum chemistry profiles as well as feces and urine analysis,” wrote Volhard. “We are now on the fifth generation of dogs raised this way, and some breeders are on their seventh generation of Natural Diet dogs. From time to time we have tried other natural diets or combinations of commercial foods and natural feeding, plus one experiment where all the dogs were put on commercial food. Nothing comes close to producing the health, vitality, and longevity of the Natural Diet.”

Together with veterinarian Kerry Brown, Volhard wrote a book, Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, which was first published in 1995 and recently released in its second edition in softcover. The book offers detailed instructions for introducing raw food to four-week-old puppies, starting with four feedings per day of raw milk, honey, slippery elm powder, baby cereal, vitamin C, and, with the evening meal, cod liver oil. Volhard recommends separating the mother dog from the litter during meals, feeding each puppy from an individual bowl, making fresh water available, and letting the pups play in fresh air and sunshine after feeding. The puppies continue to nurse after meals until they are fully weaned.

At 36 days, the puppies eat morning and noon meals of raw milk, honey, slippery elm powder, baby cereal, and small amounts of vitamin/mineral and homeopathic supplements. In the afternoon and evening, they eat small amounts of fresh, raw meat, brewer’s yeast, bone meal, herbs or greens, kelp, wheat bran, wheat germ, cod liver oil, and nutritional supplements. The puppies continue on this diet until they are seven months old.

Experiment and adapt
Christine Swingle, who raises West Highland White Terriers in Bristol, Connecticut, followed the Natural Rearing method for several litters with good results. “Then I read various books about wolves,” she says, “and I thought about how the wolf mom and even some domesticated dogs regurgitate food to start the weaning process. Baby wolves don’t get goat’s milk and powdered barley flakes; they eat a partly digested serving of whatever their mothers had for dinner. Domestication, starting the weaning process too early, and other factors have silenced some of our dogs’ natural instincts, so the modern brood bitch doesn’t regurgitate to feed her pups. But why couldn’t I mimic the process? After doing more research, I began to look at weaning differently.”

Last June, Swingle let three-week-old puppies play with chicken necks after cutting them with scissors between the vertebrae to loosen the meat. “It was a good first exposure to raw food,” she says. “The pups didn’t have any teeth, so they weren’t really eating anything, but it was fun watching them gum the necks. Their mom assumed the necks were for her, and when the pups were finished, she got their leftovers.”

Swingle continued to give each pup a raw chicken neck every day, and just before they turned five weeks old, she introduced what she calls “mama BARF.” (The acronym BARF was coined by Australian veterinarian and raw foods advocate Ian Billinghurst, and stands for either Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.) To guide her puppy food preparation, Swingle says she tries to “keep in mind what might be in the stomach of a lactating wolf.”

Using her Vita Mix blender, Swingle combines ¼ cup lean, organic, free-range turkey or chicken, a few drops of Willard Water extract, a drop or two of flaxseed oil, one teaspoon alternating organ meats (chicken gizzard, chicken or beef liver or heart), and one teaspoon NR Treebark Gruel. After pureeing these ingredients, Swingle adds a sprinkle of Prozyme digestive enzyme powder and enough water to turn the sticky paste into a liquid soup, then lets it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Swingle started her four-week-old Westies on a teaspoon of the mixture three times a day, gradually increasing to six daily feedings of two or more teaspoons each by the end of the week.

“The pups dove right in,” she says. “At first I made the mistake of making the mixture too thick, and it stuck like peanut butter in their mouths. Once I diluted it with a little more water, all was fine. I allowed them to nurse as long as Hannah (their mother) wanted them to. I wasn’t concerned about the calcium content of their first solid food because they were getting the best possible calcium from Hannah’s milk.

“I kept this up, using lean chicken or turkey as the muscle meats and adding a variety of organ meats. The pups continued to nurse and, once a day, gum their chicken necks. By the time they were almost six weeks old, their teeth were beginning to bud through, and they were able to pull some of the meat from the necks.”

When the puppies were six weeks old, Swingle began adding ground chicken necks to their diet. “I bought an electric meat grinder,” she says, “which made my life much easier. I also began adding a different pureed vegetable every day, starting with ¼ teaspoon and increasing daily, and I added a small a amount of vitamin C.”

Soon the puppies were alternating between raw beef and poultry. Once they had teeth, they were given recreational bones to work on, such as lamb shank, beef rib, and veal neck. “These they relished with all the vigor of wolf pups,” says Swingle.

During the eighth week, the mother put an end to nursing, and the puppies were fully weaned. They ate the same variety of muscle meats, organ meats, raw meaty bones (small chicken necks work best for this breed), pureed vegetables, and supplements that Swingle feeds her adult Westies, only in smaller proportions. The supplements include natural vitamin E, vitamin C, Natural Rearing Seaweed Mineral Food, and a variety of oils.

“Hannah’s babies thrived and never had loose stools. They are solid, well-muscled, alert, intelligent, well-socialized, and never missed a beat. I think I’m onto something. Every day that goes by, I’m in awe of the condition and overall vitality of these Westies, all thanks to their natural diet.”

Works for big dogs, too
Janet Klapac, who raises Bernese Mountain dogs in North Lima, Ohio, researched researched diets before she raw-fed her dogs. “I planned to breed my female when she was two,” she says, “but I just wasn’t sure about feeding during pregnancy or introducing food to weaning pups. None of the diets I studied seemed quite right. I had real misgivings about the bone meal and grains that they called for.

“Then I read Give Your Dog a Bone by Ian Billinghurst, and everything fell into place. I put both of my dogs on the Billinghurst diet, and they thrived.” When they were four weeks old, Klapac quartered chicken backs and gave each puppy a piece. “They were just amazing!” she says. “They dug right in, grabbing and chewing. It was great to see them take to raw bones so easily and happily. Each day they ate more and more of the bones, not just the meat. A bit later, I introduced ground chicken and veggies. I make a frozen convenience food (Three Cheers Raw! Raw! Raw!), so this became the puppies’ lunch. At bedtime we called them into their big cage to gnaw on pork or beef bones. These pups were beautiful. They had gorgeous coats and solid muscle. Their stools tested clean, so we never even wormed them.”

Klapac also gives raw chicken necks to her puppies when they are about six weeks old. The enthusiastic pups sometimes swallow the necks whole, but have no problem digesting them. “Every now and then a pup would eat too much too fast or swallow a piece that was too large, but every single time, the piece came right back up and the pup would chew it again,” she says.

To help keep the puppies healthy, Klapac educated their buyers to the advantages of feeding raw. “I would not sell a pup to someone who was not open to trying raw food,” she says. “I gave them Billinghurst’s book and many reference lists as well as food to get them started. Young animals need the strongest immune systems possible. They are going through tremendous stresses – rapid growth, both mental and physical, weaning from mom, new sights and sounds, in some cases vaccinations, and the serious distractions of moving to a new home. They need the support of a natural, species-appropriate diet. And the best part is that natural rearing is the easiest way to go.”

Comparing raw-fed and traditionally fed siblings
Shelley Fritzke, who raises German Shepherd Dogs in British Columbia, has raised two litters on a raw, natural diet. One of them gave her a dramatic opportunity to compare puppies on home-prepared raw food with kibble-fed pups. “There were 10 puppies,” she says, “all of which were uniform in size and weighed the normal amount for this breed. For the most part, the delivery was very easy, but the mother began panting very hard the following day, and we took her to the vet. As a result of her medical treatment, she stopped nursing. The puppies did not belong to us because we had leased the bitch to a breeder who had asked us to whelp the litter. When we started bottle-feeding the four-day-old puppies, their owner decided to help out. She took six of the pups, and we kept four, including three of the smallest.

“Both of us bottle-fed the pups with a homemade formula. I decided to wean my four pups at 3½ weeks. Had the pups been on their mother, I would not have weaned them so early, but under the circumstances, it seemed like the right thing to do. I started them with pabulum and goat’s milk, just to ease into the raw, natural diet. I also fed their mom at the same time. She stayed close to the pups even though her milk had dried up.

“By the second day of weaning, the pups ignored their pabulum and ran straight to Mom’s bowl. They dove into it and she let them. I took her food and watered it with a bit of goat’s milk and fed them that. The pups loved it, and that is what they ate for the next two weeks, with less and less goat’s milk added to it.

“These pups had shiny coats, were very active, were very content, and their stools were perfect. At 10½ weeks, we brought all 10 pups back together so they could spend the next two weeks with Mom. I believe it is important for puppies to be with their mother during this time as she teaches them a lot of important things.

“When the owner arrived with her six pups, I was shocked. These puppies were half the size of mine, their coats were dull, they had little pot bellies, their eyes were runny, and they all had the runs.

“She had weaned them at four weeks onto puppy kibble soaked in water. They were still getting the puppy formula in a saucer. She said they would not drink plain water, while mine had been drinking water since three weeks of age. All the pups were checked for worms, coxidiosis, and giardia, and the results were negative.

“Before she saw my four pups, the owner said that hers were doing well and that they looked normal, like her eight previous litters. She had told me that 3½ weeks was way too early to wean the puppies and she did not approve of the way I was feeding them, but even she was surprised at the difference between the two sets of pups. I was so shocked that I had another breeder come to look at them. She has since switched her dogs to a raw, natural diet. I also videotaped the pups.

“Meanwhile, the puppies’ owner decided that the difference was due to the mom dog feeding the puppies that stayed with her. This was not the case, which my vet can verify, for she saw the pups and their mother every two days for the first three weeks of their lives. The owners’ pups had an extremely hard time digesting any kind of food. Her vet says that is because they were not on their mother, who would have given the pups digestive enzymes and other nutrients through her milk. I do not doubt that this is true, but my pups did not receive her milk, either, and they thrived on their raw food.”

While the two groups of puppies lived together, Fritzke tried to feed them separately, because the owner wanted her kibble-fed pups to continue eating kibble. “It was nearly impossible to keep them in their separate bowls,” she says, “so I gave up. For the next two weeks, all the pups received some raw food and some kibble. By the end, they were all eating mostly kibble, and the six smaller pups were looking much better and catching up in size. Unfortunately, I could not get their stools stabilized before they left again. They had some good days, but then their diarrhea would return.

“To keep a long story short, by the time the pups were five months old, all six of the kibble-weaned puppies had cataracts, including some in both eyes, while the four I weaned on raw food are fine and healthy. I asked to take back the pups with cataracts because I believe that this condition can be cured 100 percent with the right nutrition and supplements, but the owner refused. When I looked into juvenile cataracts, I found that the main cause in puppies is malnutrition and a lack of B vitamins. My four pups got an abundance of these vitamins in their raw meat, and earlier, when they were being bottle-fed, I gave them a liquid vitamin called Vitamino. The owner had refused to give this to her pups.”

Recently, Fritzke has been working closely with a friend’s six puppies. “They are bigger than kibble-fed pups and, like my raw-weaned puppies, they’re very content and alert,” she reports. “Pictures of them at two weeks show them looking like four-week-old puppies. At three weeks of age, they go right away to Mom’s dish of food to join in. They are allowed to have a bit of her food along with their nursing. My friend has decided to use a commercially prepared raw diet as the concept of natural feeding is new to her and she does not feel comfortable making it up for the puppies herself.”

Fritzke follows Ian Billinghurst’s diet and the suggestions in his book Raise Your Pups with Bones. “I usually start the weaning process with raw, green tripe (cow’s stomach) as the protein source,” she says. “It is full of digestive enzymes and many other good things, and I feel it gives the pups a boost as their bodies learn to digest solid food. From there I move to beef, then to chicken. I also feed the pups ground chicken necks and backs.”

No health problems
In Dacoma, Oklahoma, Asian Shepherd breeder Pril Zahorsky follows the Billinghurst diet fairly closely. “I do not breed very often,” she says, “so I have weaned only one litter of this giant-sized farm dog on raw food. After that litter, which was about two years ago, I will never use commercial food again.”

These puppies did not have to be “introduced” to raw food, says Zahorsky. “They already know raw food and bones. When they got their first taste of raw, meaty bones, they began a series of almost wolf-like, satisfied vocalizations. It was like sitting in the forest and hearing a wild, natural litter.”

Zahorsky started her pups on raw food at about 2½ weeks. “I buy chicken necks, which I beat with a hammer a la Billinghurst, so they are mushy,” she says. “Then I stand guard to watch as they attempt their first meals. Sometimes I have to pull a chunk out of one of their mouths, for they don’t have enough teeth as yet. They literally chew off more than they can bite. My tiny puppies growl when others get too close, and some of them roll and tumble to a secluded corner, where they can gnaw on their chicken necks in peace.”

The raw-weaned Asian Shepherds controlled their bowels and kidneys sooner and better than other litters, says Zahorsky. “Cleaning up after them was sooo much easier. To protect their joint health, we do not put our puppies on any slick surfaces and use only old, soft blankets in the whelping box so their little feet do not touch hard or slippery surfaces. I have to do a mountain of laundry to keep those old blankets clean, but it is much easier dealing with BARF feces. This was a charming, easy litter, full of fun and really easy to care for. The puppies are almost two years old now, and we have had no reports of any health problems at all. Their dispositions are partially the result of good parents, and partially, I suspect, a result of their raw food. All of the puppies’ owners are feeding the BARF diet.”

Improving the wild diet
In the wild, infant wolves, coyotes, foxes, and other canines are weaned on whatever food their mothers regurgitate and whatever game they have access to after the rest of the pack has eaten. There are no hard and fast rules about the puppies’ age, serving portions, or the contents of their first meals.

This flexibility enables generation after generation to survive in times of scarcity and abundance. Although different experts propose different schedules and formulas for the weaning of domesticated dogs, raw-fed American puppies, like their cousins in the wild, seem to thrive no matter when and how they are introduced to the food they will eat as adults.

-By CJ Puotinen

The Best Dog Beds on the Market!

Lifestyle
Dog Gear

Nancy Kerns

March 30, 2021

We’ll admit it: We’ve been sleeping on the job. Our test dogs – and their test families – have been trying out dozens of beds, seeking to discover the qualities that contribute to a pooch’s good night’s sleep . . . and which construction details help us keep the beds clean and in one piece. We’ve identified a list of features that a good bed’s gotta have, and a few things that make some beds hard to live with.

We’ve also developed some favorite products. (You know a product is a winner when you can’t seem to get it back from the testers. “Well, how much IS that one? Maybe we could just keep it?”) Over the next few pages, we’ve pictured our top picks, and described what exactly it was about them that we (and our dogs!) liked so much. When one of our selections had faults, we discussed them, too; few things in life are perfect, but you alone are qualified to determine which flaws you are willing to live with.

We weren’t being egotistical when we had just one model (Rupert, our 10-year-old office dog/resident tester) pose on each of the beds for our photos. We thought it would be funny, plus, we rationalized, this way you would have some sense of scale, comparing the size of each bed with the same-sized dog. What that dog won’t do for the Whole Dog Journal! Thanks, Rupie.

Consider your dog, first
It goes without saying that before you select a bed, you have to know what sort of sleeping style is preferred by your dog. Does she like to stretch out in a flat sprawl? Curl up in a cozy ball? “Dig” and shape her nest? Be surrounded by a comforting wall? It’s no good buying a flat futon for the dog who likes to dig, or a dished-out nest for a sprawler; you’ll just see your money go to waste. Know your dog, keep the “princess and the pea” in mind, and buy accordingly.

Also, you might want to measure your dog before ordering. Some beds are available in only a few sizes, and you want to make sure that the one you order is not too small. “Not quite big enough” seemed to be one main reason our test dogs rejected certain models.

How to select a bed
The first rule of dog-bed buying is: don’t buy the cheapest beds. Shoddy workmanship, and paper-thin fabrics abound in the realm of inexpensive beds. This is one place where you definitely get what you pay for. Most dogs are fairly hard on their beds – scratching and digging at the fabric, and maybe, taking an occasional nibble. Plus, you just have to wash these things fairly frequently, so the fabric has to be able to hold up. Don’t skimp; you’ll regret it after the third washing.

Speaking of washing, if you’re battling a flea problem, you have to wash your dog’s bed at least once a week, cover and all. Water kills flea eggs, which fleas habitually lay in the dog’s bed. It’s no good washing only the cover; these tiny specks can sink right into foam rubber and through seams. So, to fight fleas, choose a bed that can be dried, so you will wash it as frequently as you need to, without putting Fido out for the night. In our estimation, a bed must also offer the following:

• Covers that are easy to take off and put on after washing. Sincerely, we’ve known beds that literally had us in tears, trying to get the covers back on. Look for beds with covers that have the zippers on the long sides.

• Ability to replace or refill the stuffing. Many dog beds are stuffed with polyester filling, sometimes supplemented by cedar shavings or other loose material. With these beds, which are frequently popular with dogs who like to nest, the inner pillow should always have a zipper or other closure, enabling you to replace or refresh the stuffing when it gets compressed.

• Quality foam (in foam beds). Most beds deemed “orthopedic” are made with eggcrate foam inside, but the quality, density, and thickness of this foam varies a LOT. Many beds dubbed “orthopedic,” we found, had foam so thin that we could squish it between our fingers to paper thinness. What’s that going to do for an arthritic dog? The manufacturers that label these products thusly should have to sleep on them for the rest of their lives! If you decide to buy an orthopedic bed, look for one with the thickest, most dense foam available; it has to be thick enough that your dog’s weight doesn’t crush the foam to the floor.

• Cedar for just those dogs that like it. You can’t assume, just because a catalog tells you it’s true, that your dog is going to love the cedar scent; some dogs hate the scent. Cedar was first introduced to dog beds for its reputed ability to repel fleas, and to cover doggie odors.

We’ll just say this: If your dog has fleas, cedar won’t make them go away. And if your dog smells, give him a bath, and consult your holistic veterinarian! A healthy dog should smell good; if he doesn’t, something is wrong. (Why should a dog be any different from a person? If someone you knew smelled terrible, you’d automatically think they had an endocrine disorder or something. The same goes for dogs.)

• Ability to be returned. Sometimes, no matter what, our dogs just don’t like what we buy. That’s a dog’s preogative. Place your dog’s new bed on a clean sheet, and cover it with another one for the first few days. If you don’t find your dog snoozing on the bed every morning, uncover it, brush it off, send it back, and try again.

• Attractiveness. You’ll note that this is last on our list; “matching the decor” is no reason to buy, just a nice bonus. Nor is the bed’s resemblance to Cleopatra’s velvet couch, or other nonsense. When people choose dog gear based on that criteria, they get what they deserve: a big credit card bill, an untouched dog bed, and a dog who sleeps on their bed. Wait a second, that last one is not so bad, after all! But it does defeat the purpose . . .

-By Nancy Kerns

Petrissage – Another Massage Technique for Your Dog

Care
Natural Remedies & Holistic Care

Nancy Kerns

March 30, 2021

In the last issue, we discussed the importance of effleurage for increasing circulation and preparing muscles for deeper work. Effleurage is often followed by one of several petrissage techniques. Petrissage is another French term that means “to mash or to knead.” Unlike effleurage, the hands do not slide over the tissues. Instead, the tissue is lifted from underlying structures or compressed against them. Also known as “digital circles” or “digital kneading,” this is a very common and useful petrissage technique.

To perform digital circles, hold the hand in a loose cupped position with fingers spread. Contact the coat with finger pads (not finger tips) and make a slow clockwise circular motion. Your touch can be firm, but do not pinch the tissues. The technique increases circulation, relaxes muscles, and loosens adhesions.

It is also an important technique for learning about your dog’s muscles. Go slowly and listen to the messages your finger pads send concerning the texture of the muscle and the presence of spasms, knots, tight spots, depressions, and cool or hot spots. Special attention to these areas with slow gentle digital kneading should help relieve these conditions.

Hands-on how-to
Putting it all together takes a little planning, but can provide a massage session for your dog that may address some problems like sore muscles or spasms and will certainly promote relaxation and reduce stress.

Start by preparing a place for the massage. A small dog can be placed on a sturdy table that is at a comfortable height for you. Be sure the table has a nonskid surface or cover it with a rubber-backed throw rug so the dog doesn’t slip. Large dogs are usually most conveniently massaged on the floor. You can place a large, clean, rubber-backed throw rug in a quiet, comfortable part of your home. This gives the dog a sense of the area that you have set aside for the massage, and it provides a cushion for your knees as you kneel to work. Some folks like to use gardeners’ knee pads for comfort.

Continually be aware of the position of your body. Keep your back straight and your legs in a comfortable position. Don’t get so involved with working on the dog that you finish the session with a stiff back or a cramp in your legs.

When you are ready, greet your dog and let him know that a special treat is in store. Set your intention for the good of the dog and begin. Your dog can remain standing if that is most comfortable for him or he can stretch out. Even dogs that start a massage session on their feet often melt to the floor as they relax to your touch.

Opening act
You should “open” each body region with effleurage. Start with the face and head and stroke gently to increase circulation and bring oxygen and nutrients to the tissues. Three or four effleurage strokes are sufficient to open the area. Using gentle pressure, make a number of digital circles on the large masseter or jaw muscle. Most dogs find this very relaxing – but if your dog is uncomfortable with this or any other area of her body, move along to the next area; don’t feel compelled to correct her in any way. Remember, this is about her comfort.

Then move on to the ears. Continue with a series of slow, gentle digital circles starting in front of the ear and move on in a path around the entire base of the ear. Both sides of the head can be done or you can wait and massage the other side when you move to the other side of the body. When you have completed working on the face and head, “close” the area with effleurage to move toxins out of the area.

Continue the effleurage along the neck and the length of the spine to open this area. One-handed effleurage is fine for a small dog while two-handed effleurage is probably better suited to a large dog.

Next, locate the vertebral column. Work on the muscles to the side of the vertebrae (never on the vertebrae!) and begin a long series of digital circles starting at the neck and continuing to the tail. This is more than a mechanical exercise. Your finger pads should be like eyes searching for spasms, knots, cool or hot spots, depressions, or bumps in the muscles. GO SLOWLY! It takes time to really “see” what is going on in the muscle you are touching. Always keep your second hand on the dog to monitor changes in general muscle tension or changes in the body. Using light pressure, gently continue digital circles in problem areas. Once you have reached the tail, you may wish to move a half inch farther from the spine and make a second series of digital circles. On a large dog, a third pass of digital circles slightly farther out is appropriate. Complete the work along the spine by closing with effleurage.

Now you can use effleurage and digital circles on the limbs. First effleurage up the front leg. Digital circles on the large muscles of the upper limb can relieve tightness there. Around the elbow joint, digital circles can identify swelling or tenderness and may reduce stiffness by relaxing the muscles around the joint. Support the limb with one hand if the dog is lying down. Close the forelimb with effleurage from the toes toward the shoulder.

Massage of the rear limb is similar. Open with effleurage from the toes toward the hip, than use digital circles to relax and relieve any spasms or knots in the large hip and upper leg muscles. Support the limb with one hand and massage the stifle. Close with upward effleurage.

With massage on one side complete, it is time to ask the dog to roll over so you can repeat the moves on the other side. It is often necessary to coax a large dog to stand so you can reposition him to work on the other side. Once the massage is complete, be sure to thank the dog. He may express his appreciation with kisses and a tail wag or he may show it by taking a long snooze.

By C. Sue Furman

Author Sue Furman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, CO. She is also active as a free-lance writer and teaches equine and canine massage classes. This article is adapted from material in her new book, Canine Massage, that will be available in spring 2000.

Getting in Touch

Editorial

Nancy Kerns

April 30, 2019

Recently, I attended the annual conference for the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. Our lead writer on training, Pat Miller, has been an active member of the Association for some time, and the founder of the organization, Dr. Ian Dunbar, has been a generous contributor to WDJ. Both Pat and Ian have encouraged me to attend the conference; they said it would be right up WDJ’s alley.

Of course, they were right. The APDT promotes the use of positive reinforcement in dog training, and encourages its members to minimize the use of aversive training techniques, and its educational seminars featured some of the best-known dog trainers and animal behaviorists in the world. The lectures and demonstrations were fascinating.

I was particularly interested in the discussions among the trainers as they shared the gentlest and most effective ways to teach dogs and people how to get along safely and enjoyably. One person would bring up a particular training challenge – for instance, how to train a family dog to be safe around a new baby, if the mother is blind – and 10 people would offer suggestions that would help the family cope. It was a great reminder that with dogs (and people!) there are usually dozens of ways to solve any problem.

I have to apologize to our readers about an ongoing typographical error that has appeared just to the right of Rupert’s and my photo on this page. I have accidently reported several erroneous versions of the email address that a person can use to either subscribe to WDJ, or to change their mailing address. Today, I definitely determined the correct address. It is:

wholedogjl@palmcoastd.com.

Why is there a “d” at the end of palm coast? I just found out: It stands for Palm Coast Data, the name of the company that provides our subscription services. Why is “Journal” shortened to just a small letter “j” and a small letter “l” – the latter which looks like the number “one” in every font in the world? I don’t know. But I can tell you how many ways I have messed this up in the past three months (three), and tell you again how sorry I am for any inconvenience this may have caused.

While I’m at it, I may as well explain all of our contact numbers and addresses. As I said above, to buy or renew a subscription, problems with subscriptions (billing errors, magazines not received, etc.), or to let us know about a change in your mailing address, you should contact Subscription Services at (800) 829-9165 or wholedogjl@palmcoastd.com.

To purchase back issues, you should contact our Customer Service department at (800) 424-7887 or customer_service@belvoir.com.

For editorial questions, you can contact me at (510) 749-1080 or wholedogj@aol.com. I can’t help you with either your subscription or back issues (nor, I should add, can I help you with health or training problems with your dog – I’m not a vet or a trainer!), but I can refer you to people who can do all these things.

However, if you do have a problem with your dog, you should know that my first advice is always the same! For health problems, contact the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA) for a referral to a holistic veterinarian near you. The contact numbers for AHVMA have been listed on page 24 of every issue of WDJ since its inception.

And for training issues, consider contacting APDT for a referral to a non-force-based trainer near you. I’ll list APDT’s contact numbers in ‘Resources’ in every issue of WDJ from now on.

-Nancy Kerns

Pharmaceuticals for Dogs: There Is No Magic Pill

Health
Common Medications

Nancy Kerns

March 23, 2001

Pet pills are big business, raking in an estimated $3 billion last year and growing by 20 percent each year. Pharmaceutical companies have found they can modify human drugs for pets without much additional research expense. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 15 new behavior-altering drugs for veterinary use in the last year and a half. The two new canine drugs receiving the biggest ad blitz and the most mainstream media coverage, Clomicalm and Anipryl, both were adapted from human drugs.

The mainstream media have run numerous stories on these “miracle cures” for destructive doggies with separation anxiety and bewildered beasties with cognitive dysfunction syndrome. But most of the coverage has focused either on the novelty of “Prozac pups” or on the business of marketing drugs for companion animals. There’s been little reporting on the medical history of the drugs or their side effects, and virtually no examination of our drug culture that believes all problems can and should be fixed with medication.

Is this emphasis on medication the best way to ensure your dog’s good health and happiness? In the face of a marketing onslaught, will pet owners take the time to examine why their dogs need pills, or will these drugs be handed out like biscuits?

Why Do Dogs Get Anxious?

Dogs are pack animals, so being left alone can be very stressful for some of them. Separation anxiety-induced misbehavior – from destructive chewing to excessive barking to inappropriate elimination – accounts for an estimated 20 to 40 percent of vet visits for behavior problems. These behaviors are also common reasons for dogs to be given up or euthanized.

Clomicalm (clomipramine hydrochloride) is the drug now being touted to help rid animals of their anxiousness. The drug, made by Novartis Animal Health, a subsidiary of Novartis, Inc., is based on the human drug Anafranil, which treats obsessive-compulsive behavior. Although the exact workings of the drug are not understood (reason enough for caution!), Clomicalm is believed to act on the central nervous system (CNS) as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI, similar to the human anti-depressant Prozac. This action reduces the clinical signs of separation anxiety. Although it can cause lethargy in some dogs, it does not function as a sedative. The drug is not designed to work as a “cure” for depressed dogs, but instead it reduces anxiety in dogs to make behavior training easier. The Clomicalm web site includes some basic behavior training tips, but refers people to their vets for more information on training.

The FDA’s study of the drug involved about 200 dogs, half given Clomicalm with behavior training, and half given just behavior training and a placebo. After one week of treatment, 47 percent of the dogs on the drug showed improvement, while only 29 percent of the dogs just receiving training improved. This speed is the drug’s main selling point – the early success of the drug may encourage owners to continue treatment and training instead of getting rid of their dog. But the numbers leveled off after eight weeks of testing, with just 65 percent of the Clomicalm dogs showing improvement compared to 55 percent of the placebo dogs. Based on the FDA study, it seems behavior training alone is almost as effective as the drug.

Getting Your Dog a Proper Diagnosis

One big issue, not well-appreciated by many dog owners, is that not every misbehaving dog actually has separation anxiety, and not many veterinarians are experienced enough with behavior problems to be able to recognize and diagnose the problem – or, more importantly, be able to determine which behaviors are rooted in true separation anxiety and which are the products of poor dog training and management. Ask any professional dog trainer; few have great confidence in veterinarians’ ability to properly diagnose this complicated behavior problem.

According to the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, “Separation anxiety is a complex behavior disorder displayed when the owner or someone the dog is attached to leaves the dog . . . Proper recognition of clinical signs, which comes from compiling a complete patient history and assessment of the dog’s household environment, is essential to accurately diagnose and treat separation anxiety.” In other words, it’s not just any dog who trashes the house when left home alone. Plus, Clomicalm is not a permanent solution for separation anxiety. It’s designed to be used for a few weeks with training, and then the dog must be weaned off. And it has not been tested for use of more than 12 weeks, so the long-term effects are not known.

Pharmaceutical Side Effects

Like most drugs, Clomicalm does have its share of side effects, warnings and contraindications. Side effects noted in the FDA study include vomiting (seen in 25 percent of the dogs in the study), diarrhea (11 percent), lethargy (10 percent), increased thirst (five percent), and appetite fluctuations (three percent).

The drug is not typically used to treat aggression (certain exceptions exist), is unsuitable for male breeding dogs because of an increased risk of testicular hypoplasia, and is not for puppies less than six months old. Dogs with cardiovascular disease, narrow angle glaucoma, or a history of seizures should also not use the drug. Clomicalm is also not to be combined with other drugs that act on the central nervous system, such as general anesthetics, and should be discontinued as long as possible before elective surgery.

According to the Clomicalm website, “When used in conjunction with the Preventic collar or Anipryl tablets an undesirable reaction may occur.” That “undesirable reaction” is not specified on the site or in Novartis’ disclosure statement, but according to Pfizer’s disclosure statement for Anipryl, combining the two drugs can lead to “severe CNS toxicity including death.”

Cognitive Dysfunction in Dogs

Canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome, sometimes mistakenly called senility in dogs, is commonly observed in middle-aged to older (geriatric) dogs. There is some resemblance to Alzheimer’s in some pets. Clinical signs of the disorder include increased sleep, increased restlessness, getting “lost” and stuck in a corner, wandering aimlessly, vocalizing for no apparent reason, changes in greeting behavior, changes in interaction with people, or a lapse in housebreaking.

There is no simple diagnostic test for the disorder. Rather, it’s a diagnosis of exclusion – doctors need to test for other problems such as organ dysfunction and thyroid disease to make sure these problems are not causing the clinical signs.

Anipryl (selegiline hydrochloride) is made by Pfizer Animal Health, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. The drug is based on Deprenyl, which is used to treat Parkinson’s disease in humans. Anipryl is a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, increasing the levels of dopamine, serotonin and other substances in the central nervous system. It’s commonly prescribed for both CDS and pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism (PDH, or Cushing’s disease). As with Clomicalm, researchers are not wholly certain how the drug actually works in the body. Anipryl’s product literature warns that the MAO system of enzymes is “complex and incompletely understood and there is only a limited amount of carefully documented clinical experience with selegiline.” Once the diagnosis is made, Anipryl must be given daily for the life of the dog, or until it is no longer effective. The drug is expensive: a one month supply for a 30-pound dog costs about $125.

Nearly 70 percent of dogs in the FDA study showed improvement in at least one symptom while being treated with Anipryl. Short-term side effects include vomiting (seen in 26 percent of dogs in the test group, although Pfizer’s literature says this may be alleviated by giving the drug with food), diarrhea (18 percent), hyperactivity (12 percent), anorexia (eight percent) and lethargy (six percent). The drug has been tested in dogs for only one to two years, so long-term side effects are not known. One of the adverse reactions, ironically, (which resulted in the dog’s dismissal from the test group) was “an increase in destructive behavior in a dog with separation anxiety.”

The Holistic View on Drugs

In his book, The Nature of Animal Healing, noted holistic veterinarian Martin Goldstein, DVM, writes that he has used Anipryl for treating Cushing’s disease. The drug “is reputed to work (for Cushing’s) indirectly by making the dog feel better – a psychological effect that may produce physical improvement.” But after seeing three dogs who suffered “unfortunate side-effects,” he stopped using the treatment.

Lost in the hype over these drugs is whether or not they’re really necessary. Most common illnesses and behavior problems dogs face can be improved with good nutrition, consistent training, and safer, natural remedies. Being advocates for our dogs’ health means not always taking the easy way out, but seeking out the cause of the problem and finding the safest way to help.

As Dr. Peter Breggin, author of Talking Back To Prozac, commented to Newsweek recently, “Instead of meeting our pets’ needs, we’ll just drug them. It used to be that we petted our dogs and hugged our kids. Now we can give both of them a pill instead.”

Without a doubt, there is legitimate medical technology that can help our dogs live longer and healthier lives. But how many of these drugs, like commercial foods and other “miracles” of modern pet care, are for the convenience of humans and not the health of our dogs? In the name of short-term convenience, will we jeopardize our dog’s long-term health with incompletely understood drugs?

Amy Carlton is a freelance writer from Oak Park, Illinois.

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

Sprouts are Full of Nutrition

Will Your Dog Eat Sprouts?

Sprouts are Easy to Grow

Sprout Buying Tips

Concerns Sprouting Up?

What is Hip Dysplasia?

Prevention Starts Before Birth

Good Nutrition for Good Hips

Hope for Dysplastic Dogs

Pain Relief is Therapeutic

Surgical Options

Why Do Dogs Get Anxious?

Getting Your Dog a Proper Diagnosis

Pharmaceutical Side Effects

Cognitive Dysfunction in Dogs

The Holistic View on Drugs