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Canine Athletic Competition and Sports Psychology

By
Lorie Long
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[Updated February 5, 2019]

Whether you and your dog are road-seasoned competitors in canine sports, just “playing around” in novice dog shows, or simply striving to train your dog to stop embarrassing you in public, you can improve your mutual performance and your relationship by learning and practicing basic sports psychology techniques.

When we work with our dogs, we communicate our wishes to them largely through our body language, posture, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

Agility dogs

Stress can vastly alter how our “messages” come across to our dogs. When we are nervous about going into the show ring or anxious about passing another leashed dog on the sidewalk, we are likely to inadvertently “tell” our dogs all sorts of things that we really don’t mean to or want to, such as, “Oh my God this is scary!” or “I feel like I’m going to be sick!”

Sports psychology techniques teach us how to get our brains and bodies under control, so our physical language exudes a relaxed confidence – which is enormously relaxing and confidence-boosting to our dogs, who operate best when they know they can trust a competent leader.

If I do say so myself, I’m sort of a “poster child” for the benefits of sports psychology, since I was absolutely stuck at a certain level of competence at agility with my two Border Terriers.

Sport Psychology for Dogs: What Brought Me Here

For me, it’s hard to imagine anything more fun than a weekend of dog agility competition with my agility partner, Dash. And, from watching the enthusiastic competitors at herding trials, obedience trials, flyball events, tracking exercises, freestyle performances, and other types of dog sports, I think most participants would agree with me about their chosen sports.

It’s also difficult to imagine an undertaking more holistic than dog sports such as agility. The effective combination of mind, body, and emotion, in the dog and handler individually and as a member of the team, holds the key to success. All elements are connected and interrelated to achieve peak performance.

Dash, my five-year-old Border Terrier and three-year agility competitor, and I earned the novice and intermediate qualifications necessary to propel us into competition at the highest levels of difficulty. Remember that line about being careful what you wish for?

Joking aside, as an aware and responsible handler, I created a regimen of training and healthcare to support the demands of high-level competition. I feed Dash a homemade, fresh food diet and augment her food with nutritional and herbal supplements that promote joint health, heart health, and strengthen her immune system.

Dash also receives regular chiropractic adjustments to prevent injury, and enjoys a superficial massage from me after competitions. These modalities increase the flow of blood and energy throughout her system after taxing it by jumping, turning, and racing through the agility courses. I combine training, resting, and fun in a mix that keeps her motivated but not tired.

Personally, I focus on eating and resting well, and shed a few pounds to make running the courses easier. In essence, I put together a well-thought-out plan to support our athletic endeavors.

When Progress Stops, Seek Outside Assistance

As new entrants into advanced levels of competition, we struggled with the issues of courses more difficult to navigate and faster time requirements, and our progress stalled. I made embarrassing mistakes at trials and Dash became frustrated with our clumsy runs. We qualified occasionally, but disappointment and frustration were settling in.

I wasn’t sure what piece of the holistic puzzle we were suddenly missing, so I began to carefully watch the top competitors at each trial and try to figure it out. Advanced agility competition presents only the slightest chance of redeeming a run after making even a small mistake of any kind. So I knew that competitors who qualified consistently were not just good at making up for errors made during a run. They were just plain good.

One of the first things I noticed about these top competitors was that their dogs were not faster than Dash at her best and the handlers themselves were not quicker than me when I ran in good form.

As I got to know some of my fellow competitors, I discovered that many had limited access to agility practice equipment and did not receive regular lessons from national level instructors. They had to juggle work, family, and travel, and some wore knee braces, had bad backs, or suffered from weak ankles or sore hips. Several were significantly older than me, and I have to look backward to see 50. Some of their dogs were rescued from abusive homes, so their intense agility preparation program as puppies was nonexistent.

My hopes of identifying any sort of “disadvantaged circumstances” as the root cause of our slow progress quickly vanished!

The Key to Dog Sport Success

The next thing I noticed was that these highly successful competitors were more poised, more focused, and more relaxed than most competitors. They rarely complained about the course, the weather, the footing, the judge, or whether Mercury was retrograde. And they spent more time interacting with their dogs than socializing with the other competitors at the trials.

I began to suspect that they had mastered the art of sports psychology, or tapping into the power of programming their minds to reach their highest potential of performance and to capture that level of performance from their dogs. By observing and talking with these competitors, and reading about the new concepts of sports psychology, a missing piece of the holistic puzzle for Dash and me has gradually taken shape.

Programming Dogs for Success

Agility enthusiasts are embracing the sport psychology techniques presented in books like the one written by Jane Savoie, an award-winning equestrian competitor. In That Winning Feeling, Savoie explains how the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between the real and the imagined. The subconscious mind reacts to information provided by the conscious mind and attempts to accommodate what the conscious mind sets forth as a goal or as reality, whether positive or negative.

For instance, my unconsciously controlled fear responses, like tight muscles and dilated pupils, kick in when I watch a horror movie, even though my conscious mind knows it’s not real. But the biochemical responses my body produces, as a reaction to my feelings of fear, are very real, and they cascade into a corresponding physical response that can impact my behavior and performance.

After viewing the movie, I probably will be much more hesitant to enter a dark room alone for a couple of days. And, if entering dark rooms alone is required in my life, I have just degraded my performance by induging in the negative imaging in the movie.

Savoie suggests that when we carry negative images of a particular activity (like a poor agility run) in our conscious mind, our unconscious mind believes those images to be reality, or a real goal of the conscious mind. The belief of the unconscious mind can provide desired or undesired cascades into conscious behavior.

Savoie also states that achieving peak performance results from mastering acquired skills, not from relying on genetic gifts. She believes that persistence, not talent, lies at the root of competitive athletic success.

Top competitors have learned to use the power of positive imaging and other precepts of sports psychology to their advantage in the agility ring and in many other competitive dog sports. Let’s take a look at some of their proven techniques:

• Banish negative visual images. One fellow agility competitor refuses to wear any of the popular, humorous agility T-shirts that read “Double Q Challenged” (Double Q refers to qualifying in both a regular and a jumpers-with-weaves run on the same day in an American Kennel Club agility trial) or “My Dog Needs a Faster Handler.” Her T-shirts read “Agility: an Army of Two” or “Agility: Fun on the Run” or, my favorite, “Agility Forever, Housework Whenever.” Don’t you get different feelings about agility just by reading each of these phrases?

• Banish negative verbal input. A national level agility competitor often walks the course carrying a CD player and wearing headphones. I asked him if he was listening to motivational messages. He replied that the CD player was empty. He uses the headphones to block out all of the negative conversation that takes place among competitors while they are walking the course. He doesn’t want to overhear folks talking about it being a course that favors big dogs, or requires unfair maneuvers, or has a particular “crash and burn” zone. He wants to focus on the challenges of the course and prepare his handling strategy.

This competitor also eliminates all negative words and phrases from his agility vocabulary. He replaces works like “try” and “hope” and “if” with “when” and “will.” He no longer “hopes to win if he’s lucky” but instead “he and his dog will do their best and put winning well within reach.” His agility “challenges” are defined by others as agility “problems.”

I have come to think of my course handling challenges as agility “obstacles” that I need to negotiate just like the A-frame and the weave poles are agility obstacles that Dash has to negotiate. And I remind myself to do so with the enthusiasm and confidence that Dash demonstrates when faced with her course (I discovered that my dog is a great role model, too).

• Learn relaxation and positive imaging skills. Practice deep-breathing exercises and muscle relaxation techniques to clear your head. Then paint mental images of successful agility runs, tracking tests, or obedience work on that blank canvas. Never paint mistakes or apprehensions. Mentally rehearse a successful performance several times, and then rehearse the especially critical parts again and again. Even visualize stepping up to receive your ribbon. Show your unconscious mind your conscious goals.

• Be prepared. There’s no substitute for training and practice, which provides the foundation for your positive images and confidence. Meet the basic needs of both you and your dog: rest, eat right, and find moments of mental and emotional serenity.

• Set training and competition goals. Make them realistic, but a stretch. Currently, my competition goal is consistency, not winning. But we’re almost ready to set our sights on regularly qualifying, the next step up for us from consistent performances with minimal mistakes.

I have also experimented with using a mantra, or a word or phrase repeated over and over to program my thoughts. When I notice that I’m over-managing Dash on the course I repeat the word “effortless” or “dancing” again and again before I enter the ring. I want the run to appear “effortless” to an observer, like Dash and I are dancing, and not like I have to work so hard. Somehow, the mantra settles me down and our runs become much smoother.

Dash and I submit to the natural cycle of agility to reduce stress and provide temporary relief from goal-driven thinking. The trials occur predominantly in the spring and fall. I keep Dash tuned up during our competitive seasons, train and practice skills during the winter, and work very little agility in the summer. Late in the spring I look forward to our coming rest, and, by the end of the summer, we’re both ready to go again.

• Learn to fake it. Even if you feel out-of-sorts, apprehensive, or worried, behave as though you feel rested, prepared, relaxed, and confident. The behavior alone triggers the unconsciously supportive responses that the actual feelings trigger. When you’re upset, direct your facial muscles to smile and see how long it takes your mood to change.

At our last trial the weave pole entries were very difficult to accomplish, but it was too late to go home and practice more tough entries. In our first run I panicked and “micro-managed” Dash’s weave pole entry, which she promptly fumbled. Before our second run I told myself repeatedly that her weave poles entries were always impeccable. During the run I directed her to the weave poles, let her find her own way in, and she aced it.

• Stay flexible and use rituals sparingly. Some competitors rely on a series of rituals, or repetitive behaviors, to calm their nerves and focus their thoughts before a competition. They might play with a specific toy with their dog, offer a particularly tasty treat, approach and enter the ring, ask for a down, then turn to run the course.

However, I have witnessed their panic when they discover they have left the tasty treat back in the tent. Keep your options open. A top competitor I know “doodles” before she enters the ring. She asks her dog for a series of random “tricks” to focus their attention, but never relies on an established sequence of behaviors or rewards.

• Get the most out of every competition. Besides running your event, observe and study the best competitors. It’s a real education. Pick a couple of role models and talk with them about training and handling techniques. Solicit feedback on your performances from trusted competitors.

Don’t forget to look for ways to enhance the bond with your dog while you’re spending the day together, fully focused on each other. The measure of the day’s success does not hinge on the ribbons. If you enjoyed yourself, and your dog is happy, it was a good day.

• Don’t totally disconnect from negative feelings. Suppressing negative feelings does not resolve them. Just deal with them after the competition, not during the performance. Need some worry time? Schedule it into your day, worry for about 20 minutes well before the competition, and then forget it until the next scheduled worry session.

Negative thoughts disrupt the smoothness of physical actions you have practiced and that have become familiar to you and your dog. Practiced actions are the most efficient actions and are your finely tuned route to success in competition. Don’t undermine your long hours of practice with negative thoughts right before the event.

• Bounce back. Developing the ability to rebound from setbacks is much more useful than working to eradicate failure, an impossible mission.

My friend’s Corgi unexpectedly runs off course in a trial and refuses to be caught. He loves agility but occasionally gets “the zoomies,” which my friend finds very discouraging (and expensive). Once close to leaving the sport, she sought out training options and worked them hard. The zoomies have dramatically decreased and she has become a testament to the power of persistence and creative training. And she has many more alternatives in her training tool bag than most, because she had to work through a lot of them to succeed.

Don’t turn against yourself or your dog. You are the only two beings who can secure your success!

• Find the humor. At a recent trial a competitor, who works with a breed that does not traditionally excel in agility, had a terrible run. Not only did he and the dog make several serious mistakes, but the competitor tripped over a large panel jump, sent it sprawling in all directions, and landed on top of the pieces. He got up and completed the run. We all had a chuckle from the sidelines. When he exited the ring I heard him say to another competitor, “Even THAT was better than sitting at home!”

Evaluating Your Dog Sport Performance

If improved performance does not follow your mastery of the skills taught by sports psychologists, examine your motivations. If you don’t love the game more than the win, you may have established a pattern that undermines your enjoyment of the sport and your overall performance.

A competitor I know recently left agility. The sport did not appear to energize either her or her dog, but she was determined to own the first dog of that breed to achieve an advanced agility title. Her motivation impeded her success, rather than contributed to it, and she finally agreed that she should find another method of bonding with and enjoying her dog.

An agility instructor recently told participants in a seminar I attended that just stepping up to the agility start line with our dogs puts us in the top one percent of dog owners, win or lose, for we had cultivated a relationship few people experience with their dogs. And we were willing and happy to play our game together and in public!

I treasure that thought and use it to help me focus my thoughts and keep a smile on my face at a trial. His words always run quickly through my mind in that split second, right on the start line, just before I turn to Dash, catch her eye, and say “Ready? Let’s GO!”

Sports Psychology Techniques for Training “Ordinary” Dogs

One of the most ubiquitous sports psychology techniques used by human athletes is visualizing – mentally practicing – an ideal performance of some kind. While you don’t need to have competitive goals of any kind, you must have a behavioral goal for your dog to reap the benefits of this powerful tool.

Say your dog is a strong puller on leash, and it’s often a real struggle to walk him without getting dragged down the sidewalk. You should, of course, consult a professional positive trainer to help you develop a step-by-step program to help your dog learn more appropriate on-leash skills. But it will also help if you frequently mentally rehearse taking a calm, quiet, controlled walk with your dog. Imagine the picture down to the smallest details: Your erect but relaxed posture, your hands closed gently yet securely on the leash, your comfortable and purposeful stride, a smile on your face as you greet passersby and they murmur words of admiration for your dog. And the dog! Trotting on a loose leash by your side; glancing up to you every few feet for direction and affirmation; and his eyes, ears, and tail all expressing a contented trust in you and your leadership.

Once you have thoroughly visualized a picture of you and your dog at your mutual best, walk yourself through this vision for at least a full minute at least a couple times a day. Then, silly as it might seem, practice acting out your part of the picture – in the privacy of your own bedroom, at least at first! It helps if you have a full-length mirror you can use to assess your current posture and expression, and make adjustments so you start to resemble the person in your idealized picture!

Once you feel that you can inhabit the picture fairly accurately, practice this posture and movement around your dog. Try to adopt the same at-ease and self-assured stance and manner with your dog at all times.

If you go through with this, you’ll notice two important things. First, your dog’s behavior will start to improve. Whether or not we notice it, dogs look to us for clues about how they should act, and the cooler you look and sound, the cooler they’ll become. Really. Second, you’ll start to become more conscious of the moments when you aren’t acting “right” – when your responses to your dog become frantic or your voice becomes shrill. And noticing this is the first step toward stopping it.

SPORT PSYCHOLOGY FOR DOGS: OVERVIEW

1. Set and then visualize specific goals for your dog’s behavior. Wanting him to “be good” is too vague. For example: “I want my dog to be calm and friendly when greeting people, without jumping on them.” Or, “I want my dog to be able to walk by other dogs on leash as if he doesn’t even see them.”

2. Practice brushing off your dog’s (and your own) mistakes cheerfully. Don’t fixate on them.

Lorie Long is a freelance writer living in Oriental, North Carolina, with two Border Terriers, Dash and Chase. All three are addicted to agility.

Domestic Pets and Natural Disasters

By
Nancy Kerns
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New disasters quickly replace older ones on the news. Only rarely does the press check in with people who struggle to put their lives back together months after a catastrophe.

Here in California, the tragedy of last year was the storm of wildfires that scorched the southern half of the state in late October. Twenty-two people lost their lives and 3,500 homes burned in 12 separate fires that blackened more than 750,000 acres.

Untold numbers of wild and domestic animals lost their lives and many others were displaced. Domestic pets flooded area animal shelters as they were plucked out of evacuated homes and yards by rescue workers. Some had to be placed in shelters by desperate families, as many human shelters would not accept pets.

Holistic veterinarian Stephen Blake, a good friend of WDJ (who was interviewed in September for the article on colostrum that appears in this issue) was one of the thousands who lost everything in the fire: his home of many years and his home-based holistic veterinary practice, including an extensive library of books on conventional and alternative veterinary medicine. Early risers, Steve and his wife Charene alerted their neighbors to a precipitous shift in the fire, so that their whole neighborhood was able evacuate quickly, but with little more than the clothes on their backs (Steve grabbed his computer). Only two of 22 homes on their block were not destroyed.

I don’t mean to make the Blakes’ losses seem any greater than anyone else’s. In fact, as wise and philosophical people, with extremely supportive children and grand-children nearby to help them, they are in better shape than some. They are staying in a home that belongs to one of their sons and daughters-in-law, and friends (Greg Tilford of Animals’ Apawthecary and Joan Holden of Animals Essentials) have set up a relief fund for them. (Greg leaped into action, having lost his home and herb farm in a Montana wildfire three years ago.)

Give anyway
When I was in college, a wonderful professor once asked his class for permission to “stand on a soapbox for two minutes.” A devastating earthquake in Mexico was the disaster on that day. My prof said, “You have all heard pleas for help, from the Red Cross and other emergency relief organizations; here is one more. I understand that many of you are on tight budgets; you may even be poorer now than you will ever be. My suggestion is to give something now anyway, even if it’s just a dollar.

“People always think that they will give later, when they have more money. Somehow, no matter how much money you have at any given time, it never seems like you have enough to give away. But if you have enough for a cup of coffee, you have enough to help people who have nothing. Get into the habit of generosity now, while you are young and poor, and you will likely grow into a person who gives later, too.”

That two-minute speech was perhaps the most memorable of my college career. Time and again I’ve seen how right he was; it always is difficult to give when disasters come up, but rarely, after you’ve done it anyway, does the cost turn out to be more than you could afford.

As you read this, the holidays will be over, and many of you will have already given to charitable organizations. Just in case you didn’t, or you could give more, here are some worthy people and animal-friendly organizations that could use some post-disaster (or pre-disaster!) help.

Dr. Steve and Charene Blake Relief Fund
c/o Animal Essentials Inc.
2205 Faraday, Suite M, Carlsbad, CA 92008

PETCO Foundation Disaster Relief Fund
7262 N. Rosemead Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91775
(For more information, see www.petco.com, click on link at bottom for PETCO Foundation)

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, NW, Washington DC 20037
(202) 452-1100 or www.hsus.org

The American National Red Cross
www.redcross.org or (800) HELP-NOW

Also With This Article
Click here to learn more about the “National Disaster Search Dog Foundation”

Download the Full December 2003 Issue

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Whole Dog Journal’s 2003 Canned Dog Food Review

By
Nancy Kerns
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by Nancy Kerns

For some reason, many dog owners are biased against buying canned food and feeding it to their dogs. Is it the odor of “potted meat”? The gelatinous, gloppy texture of some canned foods? The generic brown color and unidentifiable ingredients? The cost?

Whatever it is, get over it. Canned foods (even the low-quality ones) tend to contain fresher, higher-quality ingredients than dry dog food. They almost always contain a higher percentage of meat than kibble (which is limited to a maximum of less than 50 percent meat by the limitations of the extruding equipment).

Also, canned foods usually contain way fewer chemical additives than dry foods, if any at all. It would be wasteful to use artificial flavors in canned products; because of the moist, fragrant nature of the meat-based contents, artificial flavoring and other palatants are not needed to entice dogs.

Unlike dry foods, canned foods generally contain a negligible amount of preservatives; they are unnecessary in the sterile, sealed, oxygen-free environment that a can offers.

This does not mean the foods are free of preservatives altogether; some ingredients arrive at food manufacturing plants with preservatives already added to them to prevent spoiling en route to the plant. As long as the maker does not augment the food with additional preservatives, this “hidden” ingredient does not have to be declared on the food label.

Note that because they lack added preservatives, canned foods must be kept refrigerated after opening.

Canned food also tends to have a higher energy content, ounce for ounce. Its high moisture content is helpful for dogs with cystitis or kidney disease. The high moisture content can also help a dog who is on a diet feel full faster.

Finally, ask dogs what they’d rather eat and the answer will be unanimous: Open the can, man!

WDJ’s selection criteria
Of course, not all canned dog foods are full of fabulous, healthy ingredients. There are dozens of low-quality and hundreds of mediocre products on the market, and a small group of top-quality products.

Here’s how we determine which foods are which. We required the following for a product to make it into the running for our Top Canned Dog Foods:

• We eliminated all foods containing artificial colors, flavors, or added preservatives.

• We rejected any food containing meat by-products or poultry by-products. (Please note: Some of our past selections of years past do contain meat and/or poultry by-products. We don’t think fresh or frozen by-products are bad; they just aren’t as good as muscle meat. In order to winnow down our list to the very best foods possible, we no longer include foods that contain meat or poultry by-products.)

• By-product meal is another story. That’s the meal that remains following rendering (essentially, the tissues are boiled down and then dehydrated) fresh or frozen by-products. Regarding meat proteins used in commercial dog food, our order of affections goes something like this:

Best: Fresh or frozen “whole” meat (muscle tissue)
Good: Beef meal, chicken meal, or lamb meal
Scary: “Meat meal” or “poultry meal”
Run, don’t walk: “Meat and bone meal”

• We rejected foods containing fat or protein not identified by species. “Animal fat” is a euphemism for a low-quality, low-priced mix of fats of uncertain origin. These ingredients cost little, and may not be handled as carefully as more expensive commodities.

• We eliminated any food containing sugar or other sweetener. A food containing quality meats shouldn’t need additional palatants to entice dogs.

• We looked for foods with whole meat, fish, or poultry as the first ingredient on the food labels. Ingredients are listed on the label by the total weight they contribute to the product. Fresh or frozen whole meats contain lots of water, but in lower-quality products, water may be the first ingredient. (We know of one exception to this rule: Spot’s Stew, whose ingredient list starts with water and contains a whopping 88 percent moisture, but actually contains top quality ingredients. As the name suggests, the food is formulated this way so as to emulate a healthy stew, rather than a canned meat loaf.)

• We like it when a nutritious meat, poultry, or fish broth is used in place of water.

• We looked for the use of whole grains and vegetables, rather than a series of reconstituted parts, i.e., “rice,” rather than “rice flour, rice bran, brewer’s rice,” etc.

• Speaking of grain . . . We’ve discussed this many times, but there is nothing that says a canned food has to contain any grain. Grains are less expensive, and have lower-quality amino acid profiles than meat and poultry. And, unlike humans, dogs do not need carbohydrates to live; they can do fine with just protein and fat. We prefer foods with small (or nonexistent) amounts of grain.

• Bonus points for foods that offer the date of manufacture (in addition to the usual “best if used by” date), nutrition information beyond the minimum required by law.

• Organic ingredients bring a product to the front of the class. Dogs are exposed to far more chemicals than is healthy, so cutting out any unnecessary ones is brilliant.

Prove it!
This year, in addition to sharing our food selection criteria, and offering a short list of some superior products, we tried something new. We asked most (not all; we accidently omitted a few) of the companies on our past “Top Food” lists for some very sensitive information.

First, we asked them to tell us where their foods are made. We promised not to tell anyone; we just wanted to confirm that the manufacturing plants that they say make their foods are, in fact, physically equipped to handle the types of ingredients the foods are supposed to contain.

We also asked them whether they reveal this information to ordinary consumers. As we mentioned in “Made in a Secret Location” (January 2003) we like full disclosure. We worry when someone doesn’t want the public to know the origin of their products.

Finally, we asked them to provide us with documentation to substantiate any special claims they make about their ingredients. If they say they use organic ingredients, we wanted to see organic certification documents. If they hint that they use “human grade” ingredients (we’ll discuss that in a second), we asked to see USDA inspection certificates, or at least some receipts from growers. And if they said their products were made in a human-food facility, we really wanted proof of that; the only pet foods that can be made in a human-food plant must contain all “human-grade” ingredients.

Not all of the companies we sent the survey to returned it. Again, we missed some companies when we sent out the survey, and those are identified on the chart. We apologize – but the dry food reviews are coming up fast, and we’ll make sure we include them then.

“Human grade”
We’re afraid the above phrase is always going to have to wear quotation marks. You see, there is no accepted and codified definition of this phrase, when it comes to pet food, despite the fact that we all know what it’s supposed to mean: Real, top-quality people food.

But according to the law, if a truck headed for Safeway, full of frozen chicken intended for you and me, happens to get hijacked and taken to a licensed pet food manufacturing plant, the moment the truck’s doors are opened, that chicken is no longer “human grade.”

That’s just crazy, right? Even if an ingredient is the exact same stuff we’re eating, a pet food maker is not permitted, ever, to refer to it as “human grade” – not on the label, not on the company Web site, and not in the product literature. If he does, his product may be subject to a “stop sale” order by any state feed control official he has aggravated with his verbiage.

Wouldn’t it be useful to us, the consumers (well, buyers), to know whether a company uses the same sort of healthy, nutrition-packed ingredients we eat, rather than some sort of second-rate, castoff foods? Yes, of course. But there is currently no phrase or term accepted by the USDA and state feed control officials that can legally do the job.

This is why so many makers of top-quality foods hint about ingredients that “could have been put in product sold to humans,” or are “table-quality.” We’ll discuss this phrase and its permutations in a future issue. For now, we asked the food companies on our lists to send us documentation for any ingredients for which they made “special claims.”

Also With This Article
Click here to view “What’s the Best Dry Food For Your Dog?”
Click here to view “WDJ’s 2011 Dry Dog Food Review”
Click here to view “WDJ’s Approved Dry Dog Food List”
Click here to view “How to Shop Dog Food Labels”

-Nancy Kerns is Editor of WDJ.

Playing With Your Dog Increases Socialization and Relationships

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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[Updated February 5, 2019]

When Dusty, our elderly Pomeranian, comes in for his dinner, his tiny feet (slower now than they once were) do a little tap-dance in anticipation of his forthcoming food bowl. I get down on my hands and knees and play patty-paws with the 14-year-old – a game we have shared since he was a youngster. His eyes light up, he tucks his tail and he races gleefully around the room in a mad rush. I smile to see my aging pal’s inner puppy emerge, and reassure myself that there’s a lot of life still left in the furry old guy.

Playing does that. It reminds you – and your dog – of the joys in life; it makes your eyes light up and your tail tuck with glee; it keeps both of you active and young; and it strengthens that all-important bond that is so critical to your lifelong relationship.

Finally, play, and the resulting “feel good” mental response that comes with it, can add an important element of fun to your training program. If training isn’t fun for you and your dog, one or both of you will lose interest, and the end result will be that the program – and the relationship – are both at risk for failure.

Playtime for Dogs 101

Different dogs have different play styles. If I tried to play patty-paws with our Australian Kelpie, she would slink away in horror. Her idea of a rousing good time is to help me bring the horses in for their evening grain. Our Cattle Dog mix, Tucker, would rather fetch a stick or a tennis ball, or go jump in the neighbor’s pond. Our Scottish Terrier’s response to the paws activity would be a bored “Whatever . . . ” but he’d be delighted to engage in a game of “Let’s roust critters out of the drainage pipe!”

If you want to play with your dog, it’s important to understand his personal play style. Some dogs are happy to engage in a variety of games, others are pretty well fixed on just one or two. Let’s look at several different play styles, the dos and don’ts for each and some tips to help you determine the best way to play with your dog.

People-Oriented Play

These are games for dogs like Dusty, who want to engage with you. The toy, working, herding, and sporting dogs, bred to have close relationships with humans, are high on the list of people-oriented players. Chase, hide-and-seek, and tug of war are great games for people-oriented dogs.

Be sure and establish clear cues and rules for these games; they have the potential to be problematic if you don’t communicate well. You can be a little physical, as long as the dog doesn’t get “mouthy” or use the game as an excuse for body-slamming. Keep your physical contact at a low enough level that it doesn’t elicit aggressive responses. If your dog puts his mouth on your skin or clothing, you should immediately but cheerfully exclaim, “Oops!” or “Too Bad!,” and end the game.

One of Tucker’s favorite people-games is what my husband and I affectionately call “Growly butt scratch.” As the name implies, Tucker gets quite vocal when his rump is scratched, and will even swing his head around and bump his nose on your hand. He never bites, and his growl is a play growl. Nonetheless, this can startle unsuspecting visitors when they innocently reach down to scratch his offered hindquarters! If your dog has any similar games, it’s a good idea to pre-warn visitors.

Note: Some dog owners make the mistake of getting physical with a dog’s head – grabbing the cheeks, pushing and slapping at the face, and encouraging the dog to growl and bite back. This is a very bad idea, because it may encourage the dog to react aggressively when someone reaches for them – a response that could get them in serious trouble if someone misreads their intent even though they are “just” being playfully aggressive. The line between play aggression and real aggression can be fairly blurry, and if the dog crosses over the line to serious aggression, he’s in even deeper trouble.

Object-Oriented Play

These are activities for dogs whose idea of a really good time is to fetch a tennis ball, plush toy, or stick until they keel over from exhaustion. Lots of these dogs will also play with objects with other dogs, teasing a canine pal into a blood-pumping game of “Neener-Neener, I’ve Got the Toy,” which can morph into a canine version of tug of war when the teasee catches up to the teaser.

Some object-oriented dogs will even play by themselves, tossing a toy into the air and chasing or catching it, over and over. I know of at least one industrious Border Collie (and I’m sure there are more) who entertains herself by carrying a tennis ball to the head of a flight of stairs and pushing it off so she can chase it down the stairs and carry it back up, again and again.

Many of the herding, working, and sporting breeds are fond of object-oriented play. Games you can play with these dogs include fetch, find it, tug of war, and put it away. Be careful with this group; they sometimes don’t know when to quit. I had to carry my first Australian Kelpie back to the car on two different occasions – both long hikes – before I realized I had to stop throwing her ball for her when I thought she’d had enough; she would never stop on her own.

Speaking of stop, it’s a good idea to teach your object player an “All done!” cue, or they may bug you mercilessly to keep playing. I do that by saying “All done!,” and putting the ball immediately and firmly away in a closet or drawer.

Task-Oriented Play

These games are for dogs who need to do something meaningful. Terriers are great at this kind of play, as are the herding breeds, many of the working breeds, and some of the hounds. These dogs tend to take their play seriously; once engaged, it can be hard to turn them off.

Terriers can get quite excited about games like “dig it” and “let’s look for a small rodent.” They also excel at complex behavior tricks. The scent hounds, of course, are virtuosos at “find it”; they are limited only by your creativity. Herding dogs top the class at puzzle-solving and anything that resembles herding.

It’s easy to get caught up in the task-oriented dog’s intensity about their “jobs.” When you are using tasks as play, be sure to remember to keep it fun!

You’ve probably noticed that there’s a fair amount of overlap among these groups. Since our goal is to play with our dogs, we want all our games to be “people play,” at least to some degree. “Object play” often spills over into “task play.” In fact, while your dog may have a preferred play style, lots of dogs are perfectly willing to play whatever game you offer. You may have to help your dog develop his play skills in his non-native style, but he may surprise you with his heretofore hidden play talents.

Teaching Playfulness to a Dog

One of the saddest things about a dog who has never had a real relationship with humans is he may not know how to play. Backyard dogs and dogs who are institutionalized from early in life (puppy mill and poorly socialized kennel breeders, dogs who grow up in shelters without adequate stimulation) may not have had the opportunity to learn how to engage playfully with people. Many of them don’t even know how to play with other dogs! In fact, if you try to play with a dog like this you are more likely to scare him. You think you are acting playful and silly, but he just sees you as a human acting weird, and weird equals dangerous.

How do you teach a dog to play? If you’re starting with a new pup, you’re lucky; with puppies, it’s pretty easy. Puppies are born to play! When they do silly, puppy things (non-destructive, non-dangerous behaviors that don’t undermine your good manners training), reward and reinforce them. Instead of always quashing your baby dog’s puppyness, direct it into acceptable outlets and encourage it.

For example, rather than reprimanding your pup for picking up stuff in his mouth, puppy-proof your house, and encourage him to include you when he plays with his toys. If he manages to pick up a forbidden object, invite him to bring it to you, praise him, and trade it for a treat. Bingo! You’ll have a pup who brings things to you. Don’t worry about making him give you the toy; if you get grabby he’ll learn to play keep-away – not a good game! Instead, trade him for a treat, or a toy of equal or greater value.

Starting from early on, show him a toy, hide it in plain view and tell him to “find it!” As he gets the idea, hide the toy in less obvious places. Teach him to find your hiding kids and you’ll have a game the whole family can play, as well as a useful skill in case your kids, heaven forbid, should ever go missing.

When his behavior suggests an undesirable game he’d like to play, figure out how to direct it into a more acceptable activity. Is he digging holes in the backyard? Build him a digging box, bury his toys and bones, and help him dig them up. Eventually you can add a “dig it!” cue and teach him to dig at whatever spot you indicate.

Games for Adolescent Dogs

If you’re starting with an adolescent canine companion, you still have plenty of puppy energy to play with, although you may have to work a little harder to get him to play with you, now that he’s discovered the rest of the world. Start with games that appeal to him.

If he won’t chase things that you throw for him (balls, sticks, etc.), start by tossing yummy, high-value treats, one at a time. Toss one to your right, then one to your left, so he has to come back toward you each time.

When he realizes that delectable yummies are flying from your fingers and is enthusiastically pursuing the tossed goodies, add a cue before you launch, like “Get it!” Remember, you are playing, so any cues you use should be uttered in cheerful, we’re-having-a-wonderful-time play voice. The length of time you play each session will depend on your dog. Always stop while he is eagerly participating, before his interest and enthusiasm flags.

The next step is to stuff a yummy treat in a treat-holding toy, such as a Kong or Goodie Gripper toy, available from most pet supply stores and catalogs. Show your dog the toy with the treat in it, and toss it a very short distance. Let him get the treats out of the holes, then show him another food-stuffed toy, and toss it a short distance, so he leaves the one he has for the fresh one. Remember to keep it fun, with lots of happy praise.

While he is emptying the new toy, retrieve the first one, and stuff it again. When he’s ready, toss it a short distance. Keep swapping, restuffing, and tossing toys. When it’s clear that your dog enjoys this game, add your cue. As he gets good at running after the stuffed toy for short tosses, gradually increase the distance of your tosses. Chances are he will start bringing the first toy at least part of the way back to you, for which, of course, you will tell him he is absolutely brilliant and wonderful.

From there, your dog should be well sold on the fetch game, and can graduate to non-treat toys.

Stodgy Adult Dog Doesn’t Like to Play?

With seemingly non-playful adult dogs, follow the same, gradual steps for teaching play. Look for behaviors that lend themselves to games, and reward and reinforce your dog any time he does them. Encourage puppy-like behavior. Start small, and don’t overwhelm him. If your dog is intimidated by large displays of enthusiasm, keep your reinforcements small but sincere.

For the greatest success, remember to reward your dog with something that he loves. If you do it well, eventually the game will become its own reward. Then you’ll have a wonderful training tool that will allow you to reduce your dependence on food rewards.

For example, if your dog has learned to love playing tug, whip out your tug toy after a great stretch of heeling, and play the game as his reward. If he’s a tennis ball nut, throw his ball as his reward for a super recall, or for a dynamite distance down. Suddenly your entire training program becomes a game!

If you aren’t letting your inner child out to play on a regular basis with your dog’s inner puppy, you’re missing out on one of the greatest joys of sharing your life with a canine companion.

Games You Should NOT Play With Your Dog

A few canine games have high potential for reinforcing undesirable behaviors. While some dogs manage to play these games without apparent ill effect, the risks are great enough that we strongly suggest you avoid them, and thus avoid the risks altogether. After-the-fact behavior modification may be time-intensive and ineffective. Here are a few games we suggest you and your dog pass on:

■ Rough physical games. In addition to the notrecommended face-grab game (described in the text above), some owners like their dogs to get very physical in play, encouraging behavior such as mutual body-slamming and jumping up on humans. The problem is, it’s very difficult for a dog to distinguish between ready-andable play partners and frail and frightened ones.

It’s best to redirect high-contact physical activities to acceptable games such as tug of war (with rules). If you must teach your dog to jump up on you, or into your arms (we’ll admit this trick is cute), be sure to teach her that she can do it only when you give her some obscure verbal cue or hand signal that your grandmother is never likely to accidentally exhibit.

■ Chasing laser lights.It is entertaining to watch a dog chase a laser light beam with frenetic intensity, but BEWARE! The dog who most delights in chasing a laser light is the very dog who is most likely to turn the game into an obsessive/compulsive behavior known as shadow chasing. Shadow-chasers become fixated on any movement of light, and compulsively chase any light, reflections, or shadows that happen to cross their vision.

Obsessive/compulsive behaviors are frightening in their intensity, and difficult to resolve once they occur. Be smart and avoid this game – and any others that elicit intense, compulsive responses.

■ High-energy indoor games. In general, indoor games should consist of activities that require the dog to use his brain, not his brawn. Games that involve mad dashes around furniture, bouncing soccer balls off noses, and burrowing for hidden treasures, are best suited for the great outdoors – not just because they can cause damage to family heirlooms, but also because, in general, encouraging your dog to be calm and self-controlled inside the house is a better idea.

If you live in an apartment with no yard and the only way to exercise your high-energy dog is with indoor play, keep the games very structured. For example, roll a ball down stairs or a hallway, don’t throw it; require your dog to “Wait!” before you release her to pursue the prey; and have her sit and politely drop the ball into your hand when she brings it back. Ask for another “Wait!” before you roll it again. Practice some “moving downs” while she is on her way to the ball, and on her way back.

PLAYING WITH YOUR DOG: OVERVIEW

1. If you don’t already know how your dog likes to play, observe him to figure out how you can best arouse his interest. Select games that are likely to appeal to his natural play style.

2. If your dog has any tendency toward an obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD), cancel any game that triggers his obsession. For example, chasing a laser light has set many a predisposed dog on the path to OCD.

Pat Miller, WDJ’s Training Editor, is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, and president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. She is also the author of The Power of Positive Dog Training and Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.

Safe Canine Weight Loss Tips

By
Nancy Kerns
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by C.C. Holland

Does your dog waddle when he walks? When he lies around the house, does he cover more floor space than your area rug? Does he have four legs – and two chins?

If so, you may have an obese dog. But despite the inclination to view fat dogs as happy or jolly, it’s no laughing matter.

Recent studies indicate that up to 40 percent of dogs in the United States may be obese. The risks associated with canine obesity include musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis, compromised immune function, problems during surgical procedures, delayed wound healing, skin infections, and diabetes.

For these reasons, it’s a good idea to get Fido back into shape. Improved health, quality of life, and longevity are some of the benefits of keeping your canine companion trim. Last year, the Purina Pet Institute completed a 14-year study that found that dogs who consumed 25 percent fewer calories than their litter-mates during their lifetimes maintained a lean or “ideal” body condition and lived longer – nearly two years longer, on average.

First: Is your dog fat?
Charts and tables might give you a general idea of your dog’s recommended weight range, but due to the variations found between male and female dogs and even within breeds, it’s not an exact science. If you have a mixed-breed dog, weight charts may be of no help.

Instead, most veterinarians and nutritionists advocate using a hands-on approach to assessing body condition (see sidebar). A healthy dog will have a waist when viewed from above, have a tucked stomach when viewed from the side, and will have ribs that are easily felt through a very thin layer of flesh. If any of these hallmarks are absent, your dog may be slightly overweight. If all are missing, and if you notice fleshy deposits over the chest, spine, and base of the tail, your dog is obese.

Causes of obesity
As with humans, there are many factors that cause or contribute to weight gain. A variety of medical conditions can predispose your pet to excess weight. For example, hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis, or ligament injuries can limit your dog’s activity and contribute to weight gain. Metabolic diseases such as diabetes or hypothyroidism can also cause obesity. The first step in treating any overweight dog should be a trip to the veterinarian, to rule out these possible disease-related causes.

Some breeds are predisposed to pack on the pounds. Among these are Labrador Retrievers, Beagles, Basset Hounds, Dachshunds, Cocker Spaniels, Cairn Terriers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and Shetland Sheepdogs. If you own one of these dogs, you will probably need to be more vigilant than the average owner to make sure your dog doesn’t put on extra weight.

In addition, when an animal is spayed or neutered, its energy needs decrease by about 25 percent, according to information provided by Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Many people believe that altered pets “automatically” become overweight. The truth is, the dog’s food ration should be decreased following neuter or spay surgery, as his or her body adjusts to lower hormone levels.

Age can also add weight. As body metabolism slows and older dogs are less active, lean body mass can decline and extra fat can creep in.

But by far the biggest reason dogs get fat is the same that humans do: they simply take in more calories than they burn. And for that, you can blame yourself.

“We are facing an epidemic of canine obesity,” said Dr. Nancy Peters, a veterinarian in private practice in Apex, North Carolina, who participated in a recent weight-management study by Purina Pet Products and North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. “And it is largely due to consistent owner behaviors, not the dog’s. We mean well, but we may not be doing what’s best for our pets.”

Feeding over-large portions and not providing enough exercise are the biggest culprits. But dogs who “scrounge” for extra food – the cat’s food, cat poop, dead things in the yard, stuff from the garbage, or compost heaps – can maintain bulk even when their “official” rations keep decreasing.

Also, dogs are quick to learn behaviors that reward them with tasty treats – and we’re not talking about the types of behaviors that the person tries to teach the dog; we’re talking about the behaviors the dog learns to “trick” the person into feeding him. Many people seem unable to resist large, pleading eyes watching them eat, and slip the dog morsels from their plates. Some dogs learn to pose and beg in front of the dog-cookie jar, causing their owners to say, “Aw! So cute!” and hand over a biscuit.

But while the equation of too many calories + too little exercise = overweight dogs seems simple, it can be anything but. Tony Buffington, DVM, dipl. ACVN, is a professor of clinical sciences at Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he and his colleagues have developed an obesity therapy program for cats and dogs. He says weight management sounds like an easy issue, but plenty of other factors complicate things. For one: stress.

“There’s some evidence to support the link between stress and eating,” he says, drawing a parallel to how some humans respond to stress by chowing down. Also, a sense of power plays a part: “I think that animals’ perceptions of control of their environment also modulate their energy balance. We don’t have any idea to what extent we manipulate those perceptions and how that affects weight loss.”

In some cases, owners get some psychological benefits from poor feeding habits. For example, the owner who constantly spoils her dog with treats may enjoy a sense of bonding and closeness with her pet that she fears would be lost with a stricter feeding regimen.

On the other side of the coin, owner inattention can also result in a portly pooch. The owner who doesn’t have the time or the inclination to measure food might simply dump it into a bowl and refill it whenever it’s empty. If the same owner doesn’t pay much attention to exercise or interacting with the dog, the pet may simply eat too much out of boredom.

Trimming the fat
The good news: The dangers posed by obesity can be removed simply by shedding a few of your pup’s pounds.

“In most cases, a 20 percent weight loss will take even grossly obese animals out of the high-risk category for obesity-related diseases,” says Dr. Buffington.

To start your dog back on the road to slimness, start by aiming for a 10 percent weight loss – or a rate of about 1 percent of his body weight per week. A slow approach is recommended both because it allows for a more gradual change in feeding, and because studies show that rapid weight loss can increase a loss of lean body mass, which in turn can contribute to weight regain. (Lean body mass, which includes organs, are the primary drivers of basal metabolism and burn energy at far higher levels than fat mass does. Reducing the amount of lean tissue can create diminished energy requirements, so a dog can regain weight even if he’s eating less.) In other words, forget the idea of crash diets for your dog; slow and steady wins this race.

The first step: weigh your dog. Next, calculate how much your dog actually eats. Begin by listing all the food your dog gets every day, including treats and table scraps, and add up the total calorie count. Some commercial foods carry calorie information on the label; for others, you may need to take the initiative and contact the manufacturer for more details.

Make sure you take portion size into account. If the recommended ration of your kibble is two standard cups a day, but if you’re using a 16-ounce Big Gulp container to measure out the food, you’re actually feeding your dog twice the allowance – and twice the calories.

To calculate calories in non-packaged foods, such as peanut butter, table scraps, and so forth, Dr. Buffington recommends visiting the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (see www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR16/sr16.html), or using one of the various food-value books on the market today. An excellent reference is Bowes and Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used, by Jean Pennington, et al. (At $50, this is a costly book, but useful for researching dietary concerns for your whole family. A paperback version is due out in early 2004.)

Once you have arrived at the total calories ingested by your dog, it’s time to calculate how much weight your dog should be losing – and how many calories to subtract from his diet. Again, if your dog is overweight, you should aim for a 10 percent weight loss overall, at a rate of about 1 percent per week.

If you’re inclined to pull out your calculators, here’s how the math works: If you have a 100-pound dog, a 1-percent weight loss would be 1 pound per week. One pound is equal to 3,500 calories. Thus, you’ll need to reduce his food intake by 3,500 calories per week, or about 500 calories per day.

For a 50-pound dog, the goal is to lose ½ pound per week, which means trimming weekly 1,750 calories (or 250 calories per day).

Or, there’s an easier method. Dr. Buffington uses a general rule of thumb: “Multiply your dog’s current weight by 5, and subtract that number from its current (daily) calorie intake.” In the example above, then, the 100-pound dog should have 5 x 100 calories, or 500, subtracted from his daily diet – the same figure you arrive at by doing the complicated math.

Make dietary changes
You can begin feeding at the new levels either by reducing the total amount of food you give your dog or by changing his diet. For example, you can replace high-calorie snacks with lighter fare (such as carrots, apple slices, or broccoli); reduce or eliminate table scraps; feed mini-meals throughout the day rather than two main meals (this can help reduce begging); or switch to a lower-calorie food formulated for weight loss.

Switching your dog to diet food is not a requirement, says Dr. Buffington: “Most people could feed less of the same food and they’d be fine,” he says. But he warns that cutting back too far can lead to problems. “In some animals, you’ll get to the point with the amount you’re feeding so little that they actually become at risk for nutrient depletion, especially in older or sedentary animals. So cutting back too much can be risky,” he says.

If you’re concerned about this, talk to your veterinarian. In cases like these, Dr. Buffington says, owners might be told to feed a puppy formulation, which is more nutrient-dense. And if you prepare your dog’s meals yourself, Dr. Buffington strongly encourages consulting a nutritionist and including a vitamin/mineral supplement.

If you do decide to try a commercial, low-calorie canine diet, you’ll notice that some tout their low-fat formulations; others trumpet high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate combinations. Dr. Buffington says the last thing you need to worry about is whether your pet should be on the South Beach diet or the Atkins plan.

“It’s completely irrelevant to the health aspects of obesity therapy,” he says. “The relative percentages of carbohydrates to fats to proteins in diet are pretty meaningless.”

Pay attention to how much weight your dog is losing. If the weight loss is greater than two percent in a week, you may be cutting back too drastically; if it’s less than one percent, you may need to trim back further. Slow is the name of the game – remember, your pet didn’t add all the weight overnight, so don’t look for a quick fix.

Add in exercise
Exercise can be an important adjunct to nutrition in promoting weight loss. Which one plays a more important role in the slim-down program depends in part on the owner, says Dr. Buffington.

“The most important thing is what the client wants to do the most, because that’s what they’re most likely to do,” he says. “If you want your dog to lose weight, the animal needs to have a negative calorie balance of 5 calories per pound of body weight per day. You can either take 5 calories out of his bowl, exercise 5 calories out of him, or any combination of the two.”

If your dog was only slightly overweight to begin with, you can increase your dog’s exercise from the get-go. Add in a short walk each day. If he’s young and not prone to joint problems, increase the intensity of his exercise as he loses weight, by playing fetch in a hilly area. Feed your dog part of his rations in Kongs or other stuffable toys, so he has to expend energy while eating.

If your dog is quite obese, exercise should be introduced gradually. Too much activity can be dangerous to a very fat dog. Ohio State’s obesity-therapy guidelines suggest setting a goal to increase the pet’s activity by 1 minute a day until a goal of 10 minutes a day is reached. Once that level is attained, the duration can again be slowly increased.

Work for the long-term
The goal in an obesity therapy program is not primarily to lose weight; it’s to keep weight off. That means you’ll need to keep an eye on your dog’s waistline for the rest of his life. (Ideally, weigh your dog at least once a month, rather than waiting to notice physical signs that the dog has gotten fat.)

As your dog ages and his metabolism slows, he may require fewer calories to maintain his weight. If you notice weight gain, adjust his food accordingly, and if you’re concerned about him not getting adequate nutritional support, see your veterinarian. On the flip side, if he’s losing weight, that could signal an underlying illness. Consult your veterinarian before you increase his rations.

And don’t forget daily walks and games of fetch as part of his weight-management routine. Your aging dog may not appear as interested in exercise – but don’t let that keep you from giving it to him.

“Older animals are less spontaneously active, but they’ll participate if they’re invited to be active,” says Dr. Buffington. “Young dogs will often come to you with their leashes in their mouths. Older dog won’t necessarily do that. But if you bring the leash to an older dog, he’ll undoubtedly get up and head out the door.”

Reality check
Finally, suggests Dr. Buffington, if you think your dog is carrying a bit of an extra load, don’t panic and put him on a starvation diet.

“I’m not promoting overweight, but the truth is, the health risks of obesity in dogs and cats are lower than those in people,” says Dr. Buffington. He worries about people who get “overscientific and underemotional” about slimming their dogs. After all, food and bonding often go hand-in-hand, he says. “I would rather see an owner with a really happy dog who’s slightly overweight than one who destroys her relationship with the dog to give it six more months of life.”

-C.C. Holland, a frequent contributor to WDJ, is a freelance writer from Oakland, California.

Your Dog’s Bad Breath Can Signal Oral Health Problems

By
Gregory L. Tilford
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[Updated December 18, 2018] Once again it is time to get on a plane and leave for another herb lecture. As always, Willow, my 12-year-old Shepherd cross, has figured out that I am leaving. Her big, brown, sad eyes melt my heart as I lie down on the floor with her to say goodbye. “I’m sorry, sweetie. It just isn’t practical to take dogs on business trips like this,” I tell her as I snuggle close and kiss her soft snout.

dog with plaque on teeth

Immediately I am rewarded with a pardoning dog kiss. Right on the lips – and her breath is bad. Really bad. Kinda like rotting meat. Although Willow’s breath can be temporarily freshened by a few drops of a ginger-mint herbal tincture, the persistence of her bad breath suggests that it may be time for a periodontal checkup.

Signs of Periodontal Disease

– Foul breath – Yellow-brown tartar at gum line – Red, swollen, bleeding gums – Drooling – Blood in the saliva – Broken teeth – Reluctance or hesitation to chew bones or hard foods – Loss of appetite Chronic bad breath is not a normal, healthy condition. Even though it is true that dogs will sometimes eat UFOs (Unidentifiable Fetid Objects), unpleasant things collected from unspeakable sources that can make their mouths smell unbearable for short periods of time, their breath should never remain foul. And while hal-itosis (bad breath) is sometimes caused by indigestion or other imbalances deeper in the digestive tract, it is more commonly attributable to plaque; a buildup of anaerobic bacteria on the teeth and gum tissues. If left unchecked, the plaque will become mineralized, forming hard tartar that will serve as a breeding ground for even more bacteria. Eventually the gums may become infected, causing gingivitis. Even worse, an infection in one or more tooth sockets (periodontitis) may occur, which, if left untreated, can spread to the kidneys, heart valves, or other vital organs. Willow’s halitosis is not uncommon. According to the American Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS), 80 percent of dogs will develop some form of periodontal disease by age three. That’s an astounding figure, especially when we consider that most dogs in North America eat commercial kibble – which, according to most manufacturers, “cleans the teeth and promotes healthy gums.” Why then, does the AVDS insist that we have our pets’ teeth cleaned at least once, preferably twice, per year? The answer to this question might be answered next time you turn on the television or open a magazine to view images of wild carnivores eating a carcass. Snarling, flesh eating wolves, coyotes, and wild cats bearing needle-sharp, glistening white, perfect teeth and healthy pink gums. These animals do not eat kibble. Nor must they endure anesthesia to have their teeth cleaned. Obviously, they eat foods that support dental health. Dental hygiene is maintained in animals much the same way it is with humans – by cleaning the teeth regularly. Much of this is accomplished when dogs eat the food types their bodies require: Raw bones, high quality meat, and foods that are rich with the enzymes and probiotics (beneficial bacteria) that are necessary to maintain a healthy “working environment” in a dog’s mouth.

Raw, Meaty Bones for Dental Health

Although many kibble foods are quite hard, all break down into soft particles when chewed or dissolved in the mouth. In terms of cleaning and strengthening teeth and gums, none can replace raw, meaty bones. Bones contribute calcium that is necessary for building strong teeth and bone tissue. They also provide the perfect natural chewing medium for keeping your dog’s teeth and gums clean and healthy. But that’s not all – raw bones also offer nutritional elements that heat-prepared commercial foods cannot – live probiotic bacteria and natural enzymes that are needed to maintain healthy populations of bacterial flora in the mouth. In essence, this oral flora of “good guy” bacteria fight and kill harmful bacteria such as Streptococci, Actinomyces, and other pathogens before they can multiply and cause gingivitis or other infections. A healthy flora also helps with the breakdown and removal of food particles that remain lodged between the teeth after each meal. The beneficial bacteria in your pet’s mouth also produce the chemistries needed to maintain pH (acidity) balances in the mouth. This makes for a less favorable environment for the reproduction of harmful microbes. Regardless of whether you are feeding a raw diet, canned food, or kibble, consider feeding your dog a raw bone each week – it will work wonders toward keeping his teeth clean and his oral environment in balance. In addition, feeding fibrous vegetables such as unpeeled organic carrots, broccoli, or celery (at mealtime or as snacks) can serve as natural, probiotic, enzyme-rich flosses. Leafy green vegetables and kitchen fresh herbs (parsley, dill, etc.) can also be mixed with the food, to contribute antioxidant, breath freshening chlorophyll. It is also wise to add a good digestive enzyme powder and a probiotic supplement (acidophilus, bifidus, etc.) to each meal, as these measures will greatly help with the maintenance of healthy bacteria and pH levels in the mouth. Animal Essentials, Dr. Goodpet, PetGuard, and Prozyme are among my favorite brands.

Brushing a Dog’s Teeth

If your companion eats a well-balanced natural diet all the time, she will likely have strong, clean teeth and gums throughout her life, even without brushing. An occasional brushing is a good idea anyway, even if her teeth and gums appear perfectly healthy. If your pet does not eat raw foods or bones on a regular basis, plan on brushing at least once a month. If her teeth appear yellow and prone to plaque, then brushing should occur at least weekly. Have your veterinarian examine your companion’s teeth at least twice a year. Toothbrushing is not a veterinary procedure; you can do it yourself. Honest! The process begins by choosing a toothpaste that is made specifically for use in pets. There are dozens in the marketplace – find one that you think your companion would enjoy eating. Do not use toothpaste that is made for humans, as many contain foaming agents that can cause stomach upset in animals. Use a brush that is designed specifically for dogs, as these brushes are specially angled and have a longer reach for use around sharp teeth and long jaws. Start by brushing the outer surfaces of just one or two teeth per session, concentrating on the upper portions of each tooth and along the gum lines where tartar typically collects. Don’t worry too much about the inner (the tongue side) of your pet’s teeth. These surfaces are well protected by the saliva and oral flora, and are much less likely to develop tartar. After your pet is accustomed to having a couple of teeth brushed each week, start increasing the number of teeth cleaned at each session. The idea is to make him feel comfortable, non-threatened, and looking forward to his next cleaning.

Herbal Remedies for Dental Health

A variety of herbal products are available for prevention or even treatment of minor cases of gingivitis in dogs and cats. Some are also useful for animals that flatly prohibit brushing. Most of these products come in liquid forms that can be sprayed or wiped onto the outer gums and tooth surfaces. Virtually all are strongly antibacterial, and are especially useful in circumstances where bad breath, slightly reddened gums, and plaque formation serve as telltale signs of an early-stage infection. Among my favorite herbs for knocking down early onset gingivitis are myrrh (Commiphora molmol), thyme (Thymus spp.), and fennel seed (Foeniculum vulgare) extracts, as all have well-documented antibacterial and tartar-fighting activities. I also use goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) extract, which helps reduce gum inflammation as it knocks down infection.

Disinfectant Herbal Gum Formula

Combine the following herbal tinctures: 1 part myrrh tincture; 1 part fennel tincture; 1 part thyme tincture; 1 part goldenseal tincture. With a clean cotton or foam swab, wipe this mixture across the outer (lip side) surfaces of your dog’s teeth and gums once or twice daily. Antibacterial products intended for mixing into an animal’s drinking water should only be used if there is an infection behind the teeth (tongue, inner gums, throat, etc.). This is because some of the strong antibacterial herbs and other ingredients in these products may not discriminate between good and harmful types of bacteria; they might reduce flora populations that are needed for a balanced, disease-resistant oral environment. For freshening breath and improving digestion, I like using a combination of ginger root, parsley leaf, peppermint, fennel, and chamomile. This formula, although not as strongly antibacterial as the one previously mentioned, will help maintain healthy balances in the mouth – and relieve flatulence, too!

Herbal Fresh Breath & Tummy Formula

Combine the following: 2 tbsp. dried parsley; 1 tbsp. dried peppermint; 1 tbsp. ground fennel seed; 1 tbsp. dried chamomile; 1 tsp. minced, fresh ginger root. Bring 16 ounces of water to a boil in a glass or stainless pot. Add all of the above ingredients, stir well, and reduce to a low simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool, then strain and press through a mesh sieve. To use, draw a small amount (10-20 drops) into a squeeze dropper and squirt directly into your companion’s mouth. If needed, add 1-2 tbsp. of honey to the completed 16 ounces of formula to improve palatability. Get more ideas for freshening your dog’s breath and improving her dental health at Dogster.com.

DOG HALITOSIS: OVERVIEW

1. Feed raw bones at least once a week, to help clean your companion’s teeth. 2. Add probiotic and digestive enzyme supplements at each meal. 3. Brush your dog’s teeth, and take him to the vet for a dental checkup at least once a year. 4. Learn the signs of periodontal disease, and check your dog’s mouth at least once a week. Greg Tilford serves as a consultant and formulator to holistic veterinarians throughout the world, and is CEO of Animal’s Apawthecary, a company that develops herbal products specifically for use in animals. Tilford is also author of four books on herbal medicine, including All You Ever Wanted to Know About Herbs for Pets, co-authored with his wife, Mary.

Dog Gear of the Year: 2003

By
Nancy Kerns
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by Pat Miller

Why is it that most of us dog owners love buying dog-related stuff? I’ve never examined the impulse, but I’ve certainly given in to it. A novel new toy for my dogs to run and play with, a leash that feels just right in the hand, a spill-proof water bowl . . . I never know what I’ll find (and immediately want) in the aisles of my local pet supply store, on line, or in the latest catalog deposited in my mailbox.

All of us, however, hate it when the object of our affection turns out to be shoddy – such as the toy that

gets destroyed in one quick session, the leash that proves difficult to clip onto a collar or breaks, the “spillproof” water bowl that leaks!

This is why we devote several pages of each WDJ issue to the results of independent testing and trials. Our goal is to recommend sound, long-lasting products designed to improve the quality of your life and relationship with your dog.

Here are our favorites from 2003. Some might serve as perfect holiday gifts for your dogs and dog-loving friends.

Training tools
Only one new training product made our top pick list this year, but it is a huge winner. The SENSE-ation Harness, produced by SofTouch Concepts, is taking the positive dog-training world by storm (see “A New SENSE-ation, WDJ October 2003). Although it was introduced in 2002, we failed to try it out until we ran into a large, obstreperous, intact male Doberman.

Wow! It’s not often that a new anti-pulling product impresses us, but this one knocked us off our feet. Or, more literally, kept the Dobie from pulling us off our feet! We were instant fans, and have since used the harness on many dogs and recommended it to many clients.

Because the leash attaches to a ring on the front of the harness rather than behind the dog’s neck, the SENSE-ation Harness provides a similar amount of physical leverage that a head halter does, but it applies the pressure on the dog’s shoulders rather than his head. Dogs accept it without any of the objections that many offer to the head halter. Every dog we have tested it with walks on immediately without a struggle; there’s no acclimation period or process.

Also, there’s no risk of a sudden snap to the neck if the dog lunges to the end of the leash; the impact is distributed across the dog’s chest and shoulders, which are far better able to absorb the shock than is the spine.

We also appreciate how simple it is to put the harness on the dog – no complicated straps to run under armpits and through rings.

Of course, like any other no-pull product, you must train the dog to walk on a loose leash by positively reinforcing that behavior with clicks, treats, praise, and other goodies if your goal is to wean the dog off the harness.

We did miss one feature of this great new product in our October article: You can clip your leash to the harness ring and the ring on your dog’s collar simultaneously to give you greater control, if needed, and to prevent your dog from stepping out of the harness if he is prone to do so. (We haven’t had that happen, but have received reports from owners whose dogs have managed to do that.)

Contacts – SENSE-ation Harness: $20 – $26. Made by SofTouch Concepts. Sold directly by manufacturer and by trainers. See www.softouchconcepts.com or call (866) 305-6145.

Management tools
In the August 2003 issue, we tested a variety of alternatives to classic Elizabethan collars (“Canine Coneheads”), the bulky, cone-shaped collars that dogs sometimes have to wear in order to prevent them from licking or chewing on some healing body part.

While some dogs adjust to Elizabethan collars easily, others simply hate it. We found four alternatives that we liked, depending on the dog and the location of the surgical incision or wound you are trying to protect. Our test dogs varied widely in their ability to reach different body parts with the various collars, and in their ability to eat and drink with the collars on. For short-term use, the classic cone shape seems to be most effective for protecting any wound, but may have to be removed for eating and drinking. For long-term use, a dedicated owner may have to try more than one product to find one that is comfortable and effective for a specific dog.

The Pet Botanics E-Collar is very similar to the traditional cone, but is made of translucent plastic so dogs can see through it, thereby reducing their tendency to bump into walls, doorways, and furniture while wearing the cone. It is lighter-weight than the standard, veterinary-issued Elizabethan collar, has vinyl padding around the neck for added comfort, and comes in translucent colors as well. It’s our top pick for short-term use for any dog.

For longer-term applications, the Soft-E-Collar softens the Elizabethan collar concept with a donut-shaped, vinyl-covered foam pillow that fits around the dog’s neck. Because it is flat rather than cone-shaped, it doesn’t interfere as much with the dog’s daily activities; he is less likely to bump into things, and it’s easier for him to eat and drink.

The Bite Not Collar from Bite Not Products is a well-padded plastic brace-like collar that fits snugly around the dog’s neck, very closely resembling the cervical collar used for whiplash in people. It fastens with Velcro, and has a nylon chest strap that fastens behind the front legs to hold the collar in place. There was no negative reaction at all to this collar from our test dog; since it doesn’t extend out from his neck, it does nothing to impede his movement, play, or most other activities. Although it worked very well to prevent our test dog from licking a wound on his rear end, it was less successful at keeping him from licking his front paws. Also, this type of collar can’t prevent a dog’s from rubbing or pawing at his face, so count it out for use with ear hematomas or eye infections.

If you can’t block the dog’s mouth from reaching a body part, you may want to try a different approach – cover it up! K9 Top Coat’s Lycra Bodysuit does just that; it’s a full body suit made of stretchy Lycra that completely covers the dog except for his head, feet, tail, and between the legs (so as not to inhibit elimination). It’s easy to put on and take off, you can toss it in the washing machine, and it’s very durable. It’s obviously not indicated for head or foot wounds, but may be ideal for long-term conditions such as hot-spots and allergies.

Contacts – Pet Botanics E-Collar: $10 – $21. Sold in some pet supply stores. Made by Cardinal Laboratories, Inc., Azusa, CA. (800) 433-7387 or www.cardinalpet.com; Soft-E-Collar: $17 – $50. Made and sold by The BonaFido Company, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. (949) 770-6516 or www.bonafido.com; Bite Not Collar: $20 – $25. Contact manufacturer to find local retailer. Bite Not Products, San Francisco, CA. (800) 424-8366 or www.bitenot.com; Lycra Bodysuit: $59 – $78. Sold in a few pet supply stores and veterinary clinics and by manufacturer. K9 Top Coat, Talent, OR. (888) 833-5959 or www.k9topcoat.com.

Safety
There are lots of things you can do to reduce the risk of ever-present environmental dangers to your dog, and we discussed a handful of them in “Better Safe Than Sorry” (May 2003).

One everyday dog safety product that we like quite a bit is the KeepSafe™ BreakAway Collar made by Premier Pet Products. The collar features a safety snap that pops open under pressure, preventing such strangulation tragedies as hanging on fences or twisting around another dog’s jaw during play. It also has an override feature so you can safely attach a leash without worrying that the collar will pop off. At $16, the cost is well worth the protection it provides your dog and the peace of mind that it gives you.

Every dog who sails, canoes, or rafts with her owner should wear a lifejacket or “personal flotation device (PFD). When we reviewed these products (“Unsinkable,” July 2003), we found two that were easy to put on and adjust, fit well, had adequate flotation material in front of the dog’s chest to buoy up the front end, and stayed in place when the dog was swimming.

Like all the innovative products we have tested that are made by RuffWear, of Bend, Oregon, their K-9 Float Coat is exceedingly well-made. It’s also easy to put on and adjust, with a tab of Velcro on the front to hold the buoyant chest strap in place. The handle on the back of the PFD is well positioned so that it keeps the dog’s nose up if you lift him out of the water.

The handle on our other top PFD pick, Outward Hound’s Pet Saver Lifejacket, is positioned slightly too far back. When you lift the dog up out of the water it tips his nose downward and he may start to struggle. Other than that it is well made, fits snugly, stays in place well in the water, and has the added benefit of two thin reflective strips along the back of the coat – a big help if you are out after dark.

Contacts – KeepSafe BreakAway Collar: $16. Sold in some pet supply stores and by manufacturer. Made by Premier Pet Products, Richmond, VA. (888) 640-8840 or www.premier.com; K-9 Float Coat: $50 – $70. Sold in some pet supply stores, some sporting good stores, and by the manufacturer, RuffWear, Bend OR. (888) 783-3932 or www.ruffwear.com; Pet Saver Lifejacket: $15 – $35. Sold in pet supply stores only. Outward Hound, distributed by Kyjen Company, Huntington Beach, CA. (714) 841-1950 or www.kyjen.com.

Books and videos
We’re pleased that new books and videos on positive training and behavior modification continue to find a market with caring dog owners. We’d like to introduce you to three of this year’s most notable additions, all available from DogWise (800-776-2665 or www.dogwise.com):

Click for Joy! is a great resource for novice and advanced clicker trainers alike, as well as for those who are curious about this clicker-training thing but have never tried it. Author Melissa C. Alexander, who manages a very popular Yahoo Groups e-mail list on clicker training, has put all of her list’s most frequently asked questions and answers into the book and added trainer anecdotes as examples. The result is a very useful and readable volume. If you train with a clicker – or aspire to – this is a must-read. 208 pages, $25.

Feisty Fido: Help for the Leash Aggressive Dog. Co-author Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D., is one of our favorite behavior experts and authors, and her series of short, to-the-point, and affordably priced booklets on specific behavior challenges holds a special place on our bookshelf. She and co-author Karen B. London, Ph.D., don’t disappoint with their newest volume. Feisty Fido addresses the issue of dogs who are aggressive toward other dogs while on leash, when the arousal and restraint frustration becomes too much for dog and owner to handle. It is an extremely common behavior problem, and this book will be the answer to many dog owners’ prayers. 59 pages, $8.

The HOW of BOW WOW is the latest training video by Virginia Broitman and Sherry Lippman, makers of the “Take a Bow, Wow!” series. This clicker training video takes you step-by-step through the foundation skills all dogs should know, and presents advanced clicker training concepts as well. More relaxed and low-key than their two prior productions, it contains the same charming humor and easy-to-follow explanations and demonstrations as its predecessors, as well as the same cast of brilliantly trained dogs (plus some new ones) to illustrate the concepts.

Do yourself and/or your clicker training friends a favor: add this video to your holiday shopping list. When you watch it, be sure to stay for the outtakes at the end! 84 minutes, $35.

Travel

Personal experience flying our small dogs in late 2002 led us to seek out a top quality dog carrier for under-the-seat airline use. When we found the Pet On Wheels dog carrier by Tutto, we were thrilled. It is beautifully crafted, with three zippered entrances (top, front, and side). The three vents have flaps that can be snapped into place in cold or windy conditions. The carrier has a sturdy, lightweight frame to protect the dog inside – it’s even strong enough to sit on while waiting in airplane lines. Finally, it has wheels and an extendable handle, making it a breeze to navigate through even the largest airport. (See “Fearless Flying, March 2003).

Contacts – Pet On Wheels: $130 – $140. Sold by Mascot Metropolitan, S. San Francisco, CA. (800) 949-1288 or www.petonwheels.com.

Reinforcing Our Beliefs of Positive Dog Training

By
Nancy Kerns
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Interview by Nancy Kerns

Regular readers of WDJ are aware that we advocate a positive approach to dog training, that is, using only dog-friendly methods to teach our canine companions how we want them to behave in our homes, our cars, our arms – our world. We eschew methods that hurt or frighten dogs, even in the name of the supposed “greater good.” We think there are plenty of dog-related examples to justify this stance, but occasionally, we also find it useful to look beyond the dog-training profession for reinforcement for our beliefs.

The professional animal trainers we interviewed recently offered us tons of substantiating evidence of the efficacy and wisdom of an all-positive training approach – about three tons of affirmation, in fact. That’s the average weight of their most famous pupils – the killer whales who perform at the nation’s SeaWorld parks, and who are trained with all-positive techniques.

Thad Lacinak is vice president and corporate curator of animal training for Anheuser-Busch Entertainment Corporation, parent company of the nation’s SeaWorld and Busch Gardens adventure parks. Lacinak has 30 years of experience working with marine mammals and other animals at SeaWorld’s parks, and oversees all the Busch trainers.

Chuck Tompkins has worked as a SeaWorld trainer with Lacinak for 25 years. Today, he is vice president and curator for SeaWorld, Orlando, and oversees all the SeaWorld trainers at that park.

Lacinak and Tompkins were featured speakers at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers’ annual conference, held recently in Orlando, Florida. Tompkins delivered the keynote presentation on the opening day of the conference; the trainers co-presented a talk about reducing animal aggression on the second day; and on the third day, Lacinak hosted a special presentation for the APDT trainers at SeaWorld.

At these venues, I got to hear the trainers’ positive prescriptions for a wide variety of animal behavior issues, from dealing with serious aggression in carnivorous mammals to introducing a puppy to a family.

After APDT members received a special performance and backstage tour at SeaWorld’s “Shamu Stadium,” I shadowed the duo as they chatted with dog trainers and signed copies of Whale Done: The Power of Positive Relationships, a 2002 book they coauthored with Ken Blanchard, business consultant and author of The One Minute Manager and dozens of other books.

Finally, I had an opportunity to talk to Lacinak and Tompkins about dog training – specifically, positive dog training.

It’s clear that Lacinak and Tompkins have been friends and coworkers for a long time; they playfully interrupt each other and finish each other’s sentences constantly. This can be annoying when talking to people who contradict each other, but the trainers are so clearly on the same wavelength, that they strengthen and support each other’s statements and explanations.

———-

WDJ: Let’s talk about positive training. Tell me why people shouldn’t just smack their dogs when they jump up.

Tompkins: We’ve been training animals for a long time – long enough that we, like most trainers 30 years ago, used to employ both positive and punishment-based training. We’ve seen the pros and cons of both approaches. It’s true; you can get immediate changes in behavior using punishment. Sure; you can get a dog to stop jumping up on you if you smack him. But what else have you done? You’ve torn down your relationship with that dog, and you have shown him that you are aggressive and unpredictable. And none of this is beneficial to the learning process.

Lacinak: Right. Negatives will work. But they also teach the animal to not want to be around you. If he doesn’t want to be around you, how are you going to teach him anything in the future? Think of your best teacher in grade school. The teacher you learned the most from was probably a person you really enjoyed being with. He or she probably kept your interest – not by hurting, scaring, or belittling you – but by making you feel good, by being entertaining, by making the whole process of learning a positive experience. And that’s what you have to do with your dog, or any animal.

Tompkins: Negative training methods cause all animals, humans included, to exhibit a stress response – fight or flight. The chemicals released in the body in this state impede learning and retention . . .

Lacinak: . . . and increase aggression.

WDJ: Speaking of aggression, Chuck, you told a harrowing story in your opening address, about one of the first times you ever got in the water with Ramu, one of SeaWorld’s first killer whale stars. This was way back when you – like most marine mammal trainers then – still used punishment with the whales. What were some of the aversive techniques used back then?

Lacinak: Twenty, thirty years ago, it was pretty standard to take things away from the whales when they weren’t cooperating. This tactic is known in behavioral terms as “negative punishment” – not what popular culture would call punishment.

In its behavioral definition, negative punishment is where an undesired behavior makes “good things” go away; it was widely considered to be quite benign. Say we gave a cue and the whale did not perform the desired behavior; we’d use a tone to signal a warning that he was about to lose something good – food, toys, companions, interaction with us. If he still did not perform at least an approximation of the behavior we wanted, we’d take “the good stuff” away.

We also used positive reinforcement when they did things right. But as we learned more and more, we came to realize that methods like this really do hurt the relationship. And they definitely induce tension and aggression in the animals.

Tompkins: Yeah. One of the first chances he got, Ramu showed us exactly how he felt about having things taken away from him, and how he felt about us.

One of the first times I got in the water with him, he grabbed me by the waist, dragged me to the bottom of the pool, held me down there until I almost passed out, brought me up for a breath – and then did it all over again. He shook me, tossed me around, raced around the pool with me in his mouth. When he had made his point, he literally spit me out onto the deck.

WDJ: Yikes. And the conclusion you drew from this was?

Tompkins: I said to Thad, “Oh my god! This whale hates me!” It hit us both like a ton of bricks. When push came to shove, we had no real relationship with that animal. It was a revelation.

WDJ: And that’s when you decided to try an all-positive training program with the whales instead?

Tompkins: Yes. We realized that if we were ever going to be able to safely get in the water with the whales, we would have to get them to genuinely like us, to build a relationship with them. We had to be able to trust them, and they had to be able to trust us. So, no more punishments.

We went to the boss, a guy who was then the director of training, and said we wanted to try something new. Fortunately, he gave us the time and space to work it out. We immediately stopped all negatives in our training. When Ramu didn’t respond to a cue, or did the wrong thing, we just ignored it. And we kept up all the positive reinforcements for the behaviors we wanted.

WDJ: What happened? Was this successful right away? (Tompkins and Lacinak both laugh.)

Tompkins: Not right away. The whales went on strike for about three days.

Lacinak: Again, in behavioral terms, that’s called an “extinction burst.” They were testing the new program; there were no “Shamu” shows for three days.

Tompkins: (Smiling broadly and waving) “Everything’s fine! This is working! We’re okay! Don’t worry about it!”

WDJ: But it did work, right? You ended up establishing a good relationship with Ramu?

Lacinak: It was a long, hard process, and there were quite a few bumps and bruises along the way. There were a lot of times when he forgot, or when we made mistakes.

What’s amazing is how much better our relationships are with our whales today, the whales who are treated right, right from the very beginning. Training these whales – it’s a piece of cake! They like us, they enjoy training, they offer behavior very freely, they aren’t aggressive.

WDJ: A lot of dog trainers refer to animals like Ramu as their “crossover” dogs – dogs they started with old-fashioned, punishment-based methods, and then switched to positive training when they learned about that. They say the crossover dog is very different from a dog who never experienced punishment.

Lacinak: It’s very hard for an animal to get over being punished. We’ve learned that you just have to make sure you don’t go there in the first place. And it’s hard; I’m not saying it’s easy. But it works; it works with every species, even some of the most aggressive animals in the world.

As we learned with Ramu, large, aggressive animals don’t easily forget or forgive punishment. People get away with punishing dogs because they can; dogs are smaller and so forgiving.

And here’s a cruddy fact: punishment is accepted in society. You’re allowed to smack a dog, you’re allowed to use choke collars, electric collars, all those things. So unless you have a dog who becomes aggressive as a result of punishment – and it happens often enough, we consult on cases like this very frequently – you may get away with it. But you won’t have the best relationship with the animal that you could have.

WDJ: Perhaps you guys are more able to strongly advocate for all-positive training methods, on the strength of the dramatic “fallout” of punishment-based training that you have experienced. It’s dramatic when a dog becomes aggressive, but probably not as sensational as when a killer whale tries to hurt you!

Lacinak: Right. The fallout from punishment is dramatic – but so are the rewards of all-positive training.

WDJ: So let’s talk about that.

Lacinak: Well, you saw some of our animal shows. What did you think?

WDJ: Frankly, I was blown away. I was very impressed with the complexity of the behaviors, of course, but I also really enjoyed seeing the way the trainers are with the animals. They look like they really love the animals; they are so engaged with the animals. They constantly pet, hug, and kiss the animals. They exude positivity. It looks genuine . . . or is that show business?

Lacinak: Well, we are in the entertainment industry; of course we want the trainers to look like they are having fun. But the animation and focused engagement with the animal is also a hugely effective training technique. It’s stimulating and reinforcing to the animal. Marine mammals thrive on that attention.

Tompkins: All animals do. Wives and husbands and kids do, too.

Lacinak: And employees and coworkers. That’s what Whale Done is all about.

WDJ: So, food is not the only reinforcer you use . . . Lacinak: No way! Years ago, all we used was food. But we learned there are many situations where food is not the best . . .

Tompkins: What are you going to do if the animal doesn’t want your food? If that’s all you’ve got to work with, you’re stuck!

Lacinak: For example, we use about 100 different reinforcers with the killer whales. We use different types and amounts of food, yes, but also toys, the opportunity to go play with a buddy, the trainer jumping into the water to play with them. We also keep track of which whales like to be scratched where. They all have favorite spots.

Plus, the opportunity to work with us at all becomes a reward in itself. They want to be with us. At the backstage tour, you probably saw how the whales come right over to the walls of the tank every time a trainer walks by. If they don’t do that, we’re in trouble. Just like if you come home and your dog doesn’t get up and greet you, you have a problem!

Tompkins: A lot of dogs are bored stiff by their owners. Their owners are too predictable, or detached. There is no incentive for the dogs to pay attention to them. Or, if an owner uses punishment when the dog does something wrong, there is actually a disincentive for the dog to get involved with the owner. He stops wanting to even try. But an engaged, fun, non-punishing person invites participation.

Of course, this is true with people, too. A few years ago, after years and years of using positive methods with animals, I realized I needed to use positivity with people, too. I used to be one of those dads who would come home and try to “fix” everything at home. “Hey son! Is your homework done? Then you had better get on it. And pick up your toys while you are at it. Honey, why is the laundry sitting here? And what’s for dinner?” I realized that I had effectively trained my family to see my car in the driveway and be all, “Dad’s home! Run!” Even the dog used to hide when I got home!

That wasn’t what I wanted; I wanted my family to be happy to see me, to greet me at the door. To do this, I had to learn to stop “correcting” everything that I saw that was “wrong,” and instead, start reinforcing all the good things I saw in my family. I had to practice being engaged and enjoyable to my family. Now when I come home, everyone says, “Yay! Dad’s home!” And my dog doesn’t hide anymore, either!

Lacinak: With animals, humans included, you have to be conscious of what you project. We’ve painstakingly taught our trainers to project positive engagement. But it takes practice, it takes time.

Tompkins: It’s funny; people will put lots of time into solving their dog problems, but they rarely put the effort into preventing problems in the first place. It might just take five minutes a day . . .

Lacinak: And thank God, because that way they will always need professional trainers!

Tompkins: But the rewards of doing things the positive way are so great!

Lacinak: It’s more productive, and way more fun. It doesn’t feel good to punish. But it feels great to be able to communicate with and understand another being, to have them want to work and play with you . . .

Tompkins: That’s why we say that success with training is success with relationship-building – no more, no less.

Canine Book Review by Nancy Kerns

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

DogWise, WDJ’s favorite catalog of dog-related books, recently published a fantastic new book by WDJ Training Editor Pat Miller. Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog includes a fair amount of information that first appeared in Miller’s articles for WDJ and other publications on dog training and care, updated and reworked for this volume, as well as original material on modifying canine behavior.

288

Miller is extraordinary in her commitment to safe, effective, dog-friendly training methods – a trait that has made her a favorite with WDJ readers over the past six years. Some people pay only lip service to “positive” training, riding the wave of its current popularity without much knowledge of the animal behavior or learning theories that can make it so effective. In contrast, Miller offers the real deal, with true dedication to training methods that work without ever compromising the all-important relationship between dogs and their owners.

As an experienced writer, Miller excels at presenting theories and applications in an easy-to-understand manner and with a friendly, encouraging tone. With 30-plus years’ experience as a dog trainer, she also offers plentiful “real world” examples that help relate the material to their own dogs.

Positive Perspectives ($19, 258 pages) is available from DogWise. (800) 776-2665 or www.dogwise.com.

Download the Full November 2003 Issue

By
Nancy Kerns
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Old Dog

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0

I haven’t talked about my senior dog, Rupert, for a while. He’s living with my dad out in the country, but I get to see him about once a month. He’s completely happy living with my dad, and far more comfortable there than at my house.

Rupe likes to follow his favorite people like a shadow, which has gotten somewhat problematic in his creaky old age. Our last visit to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California at Davis pinpointed the source of Rupert’s declining mobility as his knees, whose ligaments were frankly described as “blown out.” At 14 years old, with cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, and failing kidneys, he’s not a candidate for surgery. As my dad says, “Once he gets up, he gets around. Just like me!”

When I first sent Rupe to stay with my dad, I saw it as a temporary deal. My mom had just passed away, and I knew my dad would benefit from Rupert’s constant offer of love and attention. But Rupe has benefitted from the arrangement as well.

At my house, my office is down a flight of stairs, and I’m up and down the stairs all day. This left poor Rupie either standing and staring, disconsolate, at my office door (he’s also pretty deaf, and his vision is not all that great, either), staggering up the stairs, or coming down them in a more or less controlled fall.

My dad’s house doesn’t have even a single step. Plus, my dad is retired, which gives him lots of time to pet a deserving dog. Plus, when Rupe goes outside, there are sticks absolutely everywhere – not a surprise, as my dad lives in the woods, but it makes Rupie’s heart sing to find crunchable toys everywhere he turns.

Rupert is happy to see me when I show up at my dad’s house for a visit, and he whimpers excitedly as he greets me, tail wagging and eyes shining. But I notice that he doesn’t follow me every time I go outside; he only makes the effort to get up and go out when Dad goes out. And at bedtime, he sleeps at the foot of my dad’s bed, not on my sleeping bag with me on the floor of the living room, like he used to when we would visit.

On the other hand, Dad says that Rupe would absolutely not allow him to undertake all the grooming that I perform on the furry old dog every time I’m there. I give Rupe a bath, pick the foxtails out from between his toes, clean his ears, cut his nails, and check the current size and location of all his fatty tumors. He looks like a star when I’m done, and smells and feels so good I can’t help but kiss his shining head again and again.

I don’t know if Rupert will make it through one more winter; we’ll see. For now, he’s in the best possible place, and even though I miss him, I’m happy he’s happy.


-Nancy Kerns

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