About four years ago, when my 10-year-old son, Eli, first started asking for a dog of his own, I told him that we couldnt possibly get another dog until Rupert died. Rupe has never been all that interested in other dogs, preferring by far to spend time with humans. Today I understand that this is due to my failure to do all I should have done to socialize him. Nevertheless, he doesnt like it when other dogs come over to our house, or worse, stay a few days. And Ive always thought that, as a senior citizen, Rupe deserved to live as the undisputed canine king of his own home in his final years.
The problem (at least, as my son has seen it) is that Rupert has lived a lot longer than I originally thought he would! Four years ago, when I told Eli that he would have to wait for Rupert to pass before he could get a dog, I didnt think Rupe would last more than another year or so. Hes 13 now, and frankly, looking better now than he did four years ago.
Anyway, as Ive mentioned before, my sisters family dog came to stay with us for a few months last summer, as the family was cruising up the East Coast on a sailboat, and the long-haired Chihuahua was judged to be an unfit sailor. At the time, Mokie was just over a year old, and too full of energy (and too apt to chew on ropes and wires) to bring onto the boat. So they shipped him out here, and he got put to work testing training methods and products, modeling for photos, and, of course, winning my sons heart. Oh yeah; mine, too.
So, that explains why sharp-eyed readers have seen a certain cute Chihuahua face in the pages of the most recent WDJ issues. Mokie never went home. As it turns out, only my sister (not her husband nor her two teenaged daughters) missed him, and even she didnt miss him a lot. Really, they are all too busy for such a busy little dog.
Fortunately, the engaging little scrap doesnt seem to register on Rupes anti-dog radar. Could he be just too small (six pounds) for Rupert to really regard him as another dog? I dont know. For some reason, Mokie just doesnt set off Rupes jealousy or need to assert himself as the dominant dog. The two of them mostly pretend not to see each other.
Happily, the two kids (Mokie and my son) get along famously. Eli enjoys teaching the quick little dog to do tricks, and Mokie loves sleeping under Elis covers and wrestling over Beanie Babies. And, since Mokie is still apt to chew on things he finds on the floor, I no longer have to nag my son to keep his room picked up; I just say, Hey Eli, Mokie just got something out of your room!
As I scooped horse manure in my barnyard this morning, I heard a cacophony of dog noise over a nearby hill. My “dog radar” alerted immediately as I listened for canine distress sounds. Upon concluding that it was a pack of hounds that some hunter had let loose, joyfully giving voice to their pursuit of quarry, I returned to my rural exercise program.
My manure meditation was next interrupted by Tucker, our 75-pound Cattle Dog mix, whose guttural barks warned away the Australian Shepherd who routinely wanders over from three houses away and fights through the fence with Tucker. The ugly sounds ceased before I could intervene, and I made yet another mental note to go plead with the Aussie’s owners to keep him at home where he belongs.
Barn chores completed, I walked back to the house, and was welcomed by the staccato greeting barks of Katie, our Australian Kelpie. Her cheerful “Hello” always ends in a most endearing series of “woo-woo” sounds that brings a smile to my face. Entering the house, I could hear the irritating and persistent, high-pitched demand barking of Dusty, our Pomeranian, who knew that his breakfast was next on the morning agenda. As I let him in to stop his chatter, Dubhy, the Scottie, issued several gruff “alert” barks, announcing the arrival of the neighbor cat who gratuitously does rodent patrol in our barn.
Who says dogs can’t talk? In less than 30 minutes, I had been treated to five audible canine communications, each with a clear and distinct meaning and purpose. While dogs are, indeed, exquisite body language communicators, they are no slouch in the vocal communication department. It behooves us to pay attention to what they have to say, and to use it to our advantage to enhance our relationships with them.
When we discuss barking in a dog-training context we tend to focus on canine vocalization as a problem. However, like so many other dog behaviors that may be considered unacceptable or inappropriate in our society, barking serves a useful purpose to the dog. To him, it’s all appropriate bark-ing! Only when human and canine cultures clash does it become a problem.
Let’s look at some of the types of barking that dogs engage in, the reasons for the barking, and what we should do about them.
Territorial / Protective Barking
These utterances may start as low growls or barks that become sharper and more rapid as the intruder approaches. The dog’s posture is usually threatening – tail high, ears up and forward. While territorial barking may be diminished to some degree by spaying or neutering, surgery won’t stop it completely. Tucker and Dubhy, both neutered, were doing territorial barking this morning; one at a canine intruder, one at a feline trespasser. They also do protective barking at cars or delivery trucks that venture up our long driveway, and when visitors knock at the door.
A limited amount of protective barking may be a good thing. Backyard protective/territorial barking can be reduced by minimizing the visual stimuli – making the fence a solid privacy fence rather than chain-link see-through (or worse, electronic, non-visible.) Living in the country, I like to have a little audible deterrent for any trespassers who may have evil intentions. I suspect those living in the city do, too. However, whether city or country, indoors or out, it’s nice to be able to turn off the deterrent after two or three barks.
Don’t make the mistake of yelling at your dog for barking. He may well think you’re joining his attempts to ward off the intruder, and redouble his efforts. There’s no point in getting angry – it just gets your adrenaline pumping as well as his! Besides, he has no way of knowing who he should bark at and who he shouldn’t – it’s simply his job to alert you to the presence of a non-family member. The best way to turn off his bark is by teaching him a “quiet” cue. It’s easier than you might think.
I start by teaching a “positive interrupt” independent of the barking behavior. When your dog is calm and relaxed, say “Over here!” in a cheerful tone of voice, make a kissy noise if necessary to get his attention, and feed him a tasty treat when he looks at you, or comes to you. Repeat this exercise until your “Over here!” elicits a prompt and happy response every time. Now you are ready to try it out with the barking.
Ask a friend to help you. Have her come to your house and knock on the door to elicit the barking. Let your your dog bark three times, then tell him “Over here!” (remember to keep it cheerful). If he doesn’t respond, put a bit of delectably high-value treat (such as canned chicken) under his nose to turn his attention to you. When he stops barking, tell him he’s a good boy, and feed him a few more chicken tidbits. Then have your friend knock again. Repeat the exercise until he will respond to your “Over here!” cue as soon as you give it. Then take a break and invite your friend in for coffee and cookies. Remember to let your dog bark three times each time before you give the cue, or he may learn to not bark at all!
You might need to invite your friend back for a few more visits to get your dog reliably responding on the first knock each time. When he seems to have the idea, you can start calmly adding the word “Quiet!” or “Quiet, please” after the “Over here!” cue. Eventually you will be able to just say, “Quiet, please,” without the “Over here!” to stop the barking. I personally love the “Quiet, please” cue, and always follow it with a “Thank you!” You can easily generalize this to other protective barking situations, and over time, you can gradually randomize the treat reward, replacing it with praise and petting (if those are rewarding to your dog), with only an occasional treat.
Attention-Seeking / Demand Barking
This is the kind of barking that dear little Dusty does when he wants his breakfast. While we generally consider demand barking to be “bad,” it is also what Dubhy does when he makes a sweet little grumbling noise in his throat to tell me he has to go outside.
Many of our dogs use attention-seeking sounds and behaviors to let us know they have a need that they would like taken care of. Whining is another common manifestation of demand behavior, often with an anxiety component. If we are in the habit of meeting our dogs every demand, then yes, it can become oppressive. Properly managed, it can be a charming communication tool to help us understand our canine companions.
Dusty’s breakfast barking is the epitome of annoying little-dog yapping. If I wanted to fix it, I would need to very consistently ignore the behavior I don’t want (breakfast barking) and reward the behavior I do want (waiting calmly outside for me to open the door to let him in for breakfast). I know this, and I will confess that I have deliberately chosen simply to let him in to eat to stop his barking. It is the only time he does it, and the time and effort it would take to change the behavior just isn’t worth it to me.
Making a behavior go away by removing the reward that the dog enjoys for it is called “extinction.” It can be a very effective behavior modification technique, and I use it often with clients whose dogs liberally engage in demand barking. We see it most frequently in class, when the dog knows his human is in training mode and has treats at hand. (Since I almost always carry treats, my dogs don’t see this as a reliable predictor that they will necessarily get a steady flow of treats, hence, no demand barking.)
In class, I tell my students that they must consistently turn their backs on their dogs as soon as the demand barking starts, and then, when the dog is silent, say “Yes, quiet!” and turn around to give the dog attention and/or a treat. The dog must learn that it is “quiet” that earns attention and treats, not barking or whining.
When the human is consistent, the method works beautifully – especially if the person is savvy enough to recognize the behavior in its early stages, before it is deeply ingrained. However, dog owners have varying degrees of success with this, for several reasons.
A lack of promptness and/or consistency will decrease the effectiveness of this method. The quicker and more consistent you are in ignoring the dog, the faster the dog gets the message. Behaviors that are occasionally rewarded become very durable, so if you sometimes give in to the dog’s demand barking, even inadvertently, the dog will keep trying, and it becomes even harder to extinguish. Eye contact is attention, so if you just look at the dog before turning away, you have rewarded the barking behavior.
Another reason for varying degrees of success is something called an “extinction burst.” When you try to extinguish a behavior that has been very successful for your dog in the past, he is likely to engage in an extinction burst, which is akin to the temper tantrum of a spoiled child. He may bark louder, longer, and more insistently in order to try to get the behavior to work that has worked so well in the past. If you give in during the extinction burst, you have taught him to offer a much more intense level of behavior, and your life becomes even harder.
The degree to which you reward your dog’s quiet behavior will also affect your rate of training success. If your dog demand-barks for your attention, it is important to give him attention before he barks. Otherwise he will learn a behavior chain of: bark, get ignored, be quiet, then get attention.
I put up with Dusty’s demand barking because I don’t want to go through the headache of his extinction burst. I treasure Dubhy’s “potty grumbles,” but I make sure he’s not using it because he wants to go out, but because (I think) he really has to go out. He gets to communicate, but not control.
Play / Excitement / Greeting Barks
This can be a fun kind of barking, as long as it doesn’t get carried away. It’s sort of nice to have someone who is “woo-woo” happy to see you even if you’ve only been out of the room for a minute or two. It can, however, get out of hand, and it’s nice to have a turn-off switch. You can use the same “Quiet, please” cue that we discussed under the “Protective Barking” section.
This is also an ideal place to use the “Ask for an Incompatible Behavior” technique. Simply teach your dog to greet you (or others) with a toy in her mouth. Have a basket of toys next to the door, and when someone comes in, pick up a toy and toss it for your dog to chase and bring back. With her mouth full of toy, the best she can do is a muffled bark. She’s more likely to be focused on “toy” than “bark” anyway! Before long, she’ll be seeking out the toy to greet people with, and you won’t even have to throw one.
Play barking can be a tad more difficult. Some dogs – especially the herding breeds, seem to have a genetic predisposition to bark when playing with other dogs, and with rowdy humans. Actually, I suspect they aren’t really playing – with their workaholic personalities I am sure they are actually hard at work, trying to round up their uncooperative playmates. Your best recourse with these barkers might be to come to an understanding with neighbors about appropriate barky play-times, and perhaps passing out earplugs to the entire neighborhood. Seriously though, when excited play leads to over-aroused barking, time-outs are an appropriate remedy. I suggest using an “Oops” as a “punishment marker” when removing the vocal offender from the play group in order to mark the behavior that earned the time-out. In time, the barker may learn to control her own voice in order to enjoy uninterrupted play privileges.
For the hunter whose dogs I heard baying over the hill, the “chase” barking of his hounds is beautiful music, and he wouldn’t dream of trying to modify that behavior!
Fear / Startle Barking
Dogs who bark out of fear can generally be identified by their body language. Unlike the protective barker who leans forward with ears pricked and tail high, the fear-barker is likely to hold her tail low, flatten her ears, and back away from the fearful object. The best approach to modifying fear-barking behavior is to desensitize and counter-condition the dog to the things that frighten her. A puppy who is well-socialized during the first four weeks to four months of her life is unlikely to become a fear barker if her humans continue to provide her with positive social experiences throughout her lifetime. (See “Canine Social Misfits,” February 2000.)
Desensitization and counter-conditioning are modification techniques that help a dog learn to have positive associations with things that she previously viewed as negative and scary. The process involves presenting a scary stimulus at a safe distance, and associating its presence with something wonderful, such as canned chicken. As the dog learns to tolerate the scary thing – even look forward to it because it means something wonderful – the intensity of the stimulus is gradually increased. You may need professional help with this process in order to successfully desensitize your dog. Meanwhile, you want to try very hard to avoid putting your dog in situations that cause her to bark out of fear.
Health / Age-Related Barking
As our faithful friends age, they sometimes succumb to a condition only recently identified as Canine Cognitive Disorder (CCD), where they become disoriented easily and can get lost in their own backyards, trapped behind furniture, forget that they are housetrained, pace, stare into space, and not always recognize friends or family members.
According to Pfizer Pharmaceutical, 62 percent of dogs age 10 years and older experience at least some of the symptoms related to CCD. Along with this syndrome, or unrelated but also linked to age and its accompanying impaired hearing and vision, may come an increase in barking, whining, or howling, as the dog expresses frustration with the mysterious changes in her ability to function.
In either case, it can help to keep your dog’s world as simple as possible, and avoid making major changes in her environment. Understanding why the barking has increased can help you be sympathetic rather than angry with her, and give you the patience to simply extricate her when she barks because she’s stuck in the corner again. If you think your dog may be suffering from CCD, you can consult with your veterinarian about a new drug, Anipryl, which has been shown to alleviate some of the symptoms of aging.
Perhaps also related to some environmental frustration, or their own inability to hear themselves, deaf dogs are sometimes reported to be barkier than normal hearing dogs. A positive interrupt, using a light beam or vibrating collar as the interrupt signal, can also be effective in teaching deaf dogs a non-verbal “Quiet, please” cue.
Social Isolation / Boredom / Frustration Barking
This is by far the saddest category of barking behavior, and probably the least normal. It is the incessant barking of the dog who is removed from the normal social interaction of the rest of his family, be it canine or human. It’s the dog who barks all day and all night in the backyard, bored and lonely. It’s the puppy who is crated in the basement, miserable, crying to be back with her littermates. It’s the dog who suffers from separation anxiety, who screams for hours, voicing his panic at being left alone.
In his normal, natural world, a canine lives with other members of his pack virtually 24 hours a day. It speaks volumes for the adaptability of the domestic dog that he can learn to tolerate being left alone. But if you have a dog whose barking falls into this category, then it’s time to examine your lifestyle and make some changes to better meet his needs for social interaction and stimulation.
If he’s a backyard dog, bring him in. If he’s a neighbor’s backyard dog, talk to them about bringing the dog indoors, or at least enriching the dog’s environment with interactive toys and other activities that will improve the quality of his life and reduce the need for barking. You can use crates, tethers, and pens to prevent chaos while the backyard dog learns house manners.
If the barking dog must be left alone all day, search out a daycare situation – perhaps a commercial doggie daycare, or a friend or neighbor who would like company, or whose home-alone dog might also like a pal. Take him to a training class – or several. Have him go jogging or hiking with you. Discover a dog sport that can showcase his natural talents. Join a dog club. Find a dog park in your community – or start one.
If your dog has separation anxiety, seek the help of a qualified trainer/behaviorist who can help you overcome his panic attacks. (See “Learning to Be Alone,” July 2001, and “Relieving Anxiety,” August 2001.) Make him a full-fledged member of your family, and he will no longer be bored, lonely, and frustrated.
The next time you hear a dog bark, rather than being angry or irritated, stop and try to figure out what the dog is saying. Enjoy the fact that dogs can communicate with us vocally as well as with body language, and decide if it’s a communication that merits reflection, a response, or just a smile.
Pat Miller, WDJ’s Training Editor, is also a freelance author and Certified Pet Dog Trainer in Fairplay, Maryland. She is the president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and recently published her first book, The Power of Positive Dog Training.
1. Look for glycerine-based tinctures made from organically grown licorice, or make your own topical licorice oil.
2. Check the contraindications for licorice listed at the end of this article.
3. Let your veterinarian know you are adding licorice to your dog’s healthcare regimen so that she can help you monitor its effects – and possibly reduce your dog’s other medications.
As in nature itself, there are no absolutes in natural medicine. The “silver bullet remedy” and “miracle cure” are only myths. A dermatological shampoo does not cure chronic eczema that stems from liver dysfunction; nor does an herb that contains aspirin-like compounds (i.e., salicylates) cure the underlying cause of a headache – they only suppress the uncomfortable symptoms of what may be a deeper problem.
Such “miracle remedies” allow us to temporarily push disease from consciousness during times when complete healing seems out of practical or philosophical reach. However, when opting to alleviate your dog’s pain and suffering, it is important to realize that suppression of symptoms will seldom constitute a complete cure – especially when the effectiveness of an anti-inflammatory or analgesic drug prompts us to forget the real problems. Of course, our decisions to use such remedies are based largely on personal freedom of choice.
But what about our animals? They don’t enjoy such freedom of choice. Instead they must rely upon us to make weighty decisions on their behalf, and as caring guardians who are tormented by the sight of a suffering companion, we sometimes find ourselves with the difficult choice of providing comfort over cure.
Of course we wish for our companion animals to have a long, healthy life, without the liver-damaging effects of anti-inflammatory drug therapies or the immunosuppressive results of corticosteroid drugs – but we also wish for them to be comfortable.
Fortunately, there are a few herbs that stand out from all others in their ability to address both sides of this difficult issue. Some herbs can provide not only a holistic therapeutic approach, but also a measure of comfort and relief during periods of crisis. In fact, one of the best of these “near-miracle herbs” is easy to find, grows like a weed, and tastes like candy.
I am referring to the Glycyrrhizza species, licorice, an ancient medicine with a multitude of modern applications.
Licorice’s Healing History
The ethnobotanical use of licorice dates back thousands of years, and its history in veterinary applications is probably just as ancient. In Europe it has been considered a valued medicine and trade commodity for at least a thousand years. By the 13th century licorice was already being cultivated for international trade. And in China, licorice is still used in more applications than any other herb – even more than ginseng.
Licorice root is useful for maladies ranging from stomach upset and ulcers to the treatment of cancer. And unlike many botanical medicines that are seen by science as anecdotal curiosities, contemporary herbalists and modern researchers continue to validate the effectiveness of licorice with modern science. Literal libraries of information have been compiled on the attributes of Glycyrrhizza – and it appears that we have only begun to scratch the surface of what this wonderful herb has to offer.
Licorice’s Anti-Inflammatory Action
Most people who have taken their animals to a conventional veterinarian for treatment of a chronic inflammatory disorder have witnessed the bittersweet use of hydrocortisone and other corticosteroid drugs (such as prednisone). In many ways these drugs are close to “miracle medicines” in their ability to relieve inflammation, itchiness, and even the symptoms of cancer and nervous diseases.
But almost as quickly as we embrace the wonders of steroid therapies we are forced to recognize that they are seldom a “cure” for anything. The side effects associated with steroid drugs may be worse that the disease we wish to combat; almost immediately we can expect to see acute water retention and weight gain, and as time passes (often within two weeks), side effects may also include hypertension, altered mood and personality, heart attack, osteoporosis, and chronic illness due to depressed immune function. In many cases, antibiotics, strong diuretics, and mineral supplements become necessary just to antidote the corticosteroids.
To illustrate the implications of corticosteroid therapies all we need to do is look at how cortisone-like drugs actually work: they suppress the immune system functions and inflammatory responses that are responsible for an animal’s discomfort. By decreasing natural production of lymphocytes and antibodies, and by altering normal defensive functions of the body, corticosteroids can often make disease symptoms disappear very quickly. However, continued use of corticosteroids will eventually induce a serious state of immune deficiency that can be very difficult to reverse, and can even be fatal.
Fortunately, licorice root may provide us with some safer options. Several studies have confirmed its usefulness as an effective, fast-acting, anti-inflammatory agent. In fact, many holistic practitioners use licorice as a substitute for anti-inflammatory drugs or to reduce an animal’s need for corticosteroids.
The anti-inflammatory activity of licorice root is primarily attributable to a chemical called “glycyrrhizin” present in the plant. Glycyrrhizin is similar to the natural cortisone that is released by the body’s adrenal glands. Glycyrrhizin effectively stimulates the adrenals into action, while introducing its own anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, immune-supporting corticosteroid-like actions to the body. As a result, licorice helps relieve pain, itching, and inflammation without completely bypassing normal anti-inflammatory functions, and without seriously compromising the immune system.
All of this makes licorice useful against a wide variety of inflammatory diseases. In a study where arthritis was induced into rats through injections of formaldehyde (I know this is terrible!), a by-product of glycyrrhizin called glycyrretic acid was produced in the body and was shown to have obvious anti-arthritic actions that are comparable to those of hydrocortisone.
Glycyrrhizin has also been shown to potentiate the effects of cortisone-like drugs in the body. This makes the herb a useful adjunct in corticosteroid therapies, as the drug-strengthening effect of licorice will allow for lower drug dosages without comprising therapeutic effectiveness. When used in this capacity licorice may help reduce the debilitating side effects of steroid drugs in long term therapies, and may also be useful in assuring safe withdrawal when the patient is weaned off of the steroids.
Licorice’s Skin Benefits for Dogs
The anti-inflammatory properties of licorice root are also useful when topically applied. Licorice tea, salve, or oil infusion can be used to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms of various skin disorders, such as psoriasis, eczema, contact dermatitis, and flea-bite allergies.
In this capacity, licorice provides a degree of relief while long-term holistic therapies are under way. For example, licorice may help alleviate a dog’s itching while a detox/allergy therapy consisting of internal doses of burdock, dandelion, alfalfa, or other alterative (blood-cleansing) herbs address the underlying metabolic causes through tonification of the involved body systems.
To make a simple oil infusion all you need is some chopped, dried licorice root (available at any good herb retailer) and some olive oil. Put the root into a glass jar and cover it with enough oil to leave a half-inch layer of liquid above the herb. Cover the jar tightly, put it a warm place (55° – 75°F), away from sunlight, and forget about it for one month. After a month, strain the oil through a sieve, and then squeeze what you can from the herb by wrapping it in unbleached muslin or cheesecloth. You now have sweet-tasting licorice oil that will keep for several months if refrigerated. Apply it topically to his skin as needed, but expect your companion to lick it off; it tastes like candy!
Canine Liver Benefits of Licorice
In addition to its powerful anti-inflammatory actions, licorice root is also useful in the treatment and prevention of many forms of liver disease. Over the past two decades, medical researchers in China and Japan have found (through animal studies) that extracts of licorice root are useful in the treatment of chronic and chemically induced hepatitis, and that the herb has liver-protectant qualities that are no less significant than those offered by the popular liver herb, milk thistle (Silybum marianum).
However, the mechanisms by which licorice root works in the liver are quite different from those of milk thistle. While milk thistle has been shown to resist liver cell destruction largely through protection of the cell walls and by antioxidant actions, licorice works through a broader diversity of effects.
In addition to a protectant action that glycyrrhizin has upon the liver cells, licorice also enhances interferon and T-cell production, two natural actions that are critical to liver repair and general resistance to disease.
In Chinese medicine, licorice is commonly used as a “liver detoxifier” in the treatment of obstructive jaundice. And in several studies licorice has been shown to benefit animals who are suffering from liver damage due to absorbed or ingested toxins, such as carbon tetrachloride.
Licorice’s for Dogs: Immune System Benefits
In a very recent study, the root of Glycyrrhizza uralensis (an Asian species of licorice) was found to have a potentiating effect on the reticuloendothelial system; the body’s first line of defense against infection. In essence, the reticulo-endothelial system is comprised of specialized cells whose jobs are to seek out and eliminate invading microbes and dead blood cells, and licorice helps to stimulate these little bloodstream warriors into action.
Using Licorice on Your Dog
Like all herbal medicines, a major problem with the use of licorice in animals is getting it into them, or keeping it on them. Here licorice affords us another comfort; it’s naturally sweet! In fact the sweet flavor of licorice is often used to mask the unpleasant flavor of other herbs.
The next time you give your dog an herb she hates, try adding a small percentage of low-alcohol licorice root extract (say 5 – 10 percent) to the total volume of the dose. You may find that the sweet flavor makes the administration experience more pleasant for both of you, and even if the “taste test” fails, you have potentiated your other herbs with the healing benefits of licorice!
In therapeutic applications involving animals, you are likely to find the best results when using liquid extracts (tinctures). Feeding dried, chopped roots to herbivores is fine if tolerated, but dogs and cats have very short digestive tracts that may not absorb the active constituents quickly and completely.
Herb tinctures are free-form medicines, with active constituents that are readily available and quickly assimilated early in the digestive process. This means that less active material will be lost during digestion, and more will end up in your dog instead of her waste.
Dosage is entirely dependent upon individual needs and circumstances and should be determined by a trained practitioner, but 12-20 drops per 20 lbs. of body weight, two times daily, of low-alcohol licorice extract is a conservative starting point for those who insist on proceeding without professional advice. You can double this amount if you are using a cooled tea (1 tsp. of the root to a cup of water).
Potential Licorice Side Effects on Dogs
Like all herbal medicines, the primary rule is moderation and insight when using licorice. Most herbalists and practitioners will agree that the risks of adverse side effects from licorice are limited to those who recklessly abuse it.
I have never seen a case of licorice-induced toxicity – but if used in large, highly concentrated doses (especially over long periods of time), it is conceivable that corticosteroid-like side effects could occur, including water retention, hypertension, and loss of potassium, sodium retention and other symptoms of adrenal hyperactivity. In human studies, the large majority of these side effects have been observed following the excessive consumption of European licorice candy, which is made from a very concentrated, pressed extract of the root. (Most licorice candy produced in America contains absolutely no real licorice, but instead an artificial flavoring or the extracts of other plants that taste similar). Nevertheless, licorice should not be used with reckless abandon or in normal doses for periods exceeding two weeks without the instructions of a qualified practitioner.
If a licorice therapy does exceed two weeks, then diet should be adjusted to accommodate increased needs for potassium, and to eliminate excess sodium. Dandelion would be well indicated here, as it works as an effective diuretic to prevent water retention while providing an excellent source of supplemental potassium. Animals with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions should not be given licorice without professional guidance.
Licorice has also been shown to have estrogenic properties that may affect uterine functions. Therefore, licorice should not be used in pregnant or nursing animals.
Camping means different things to different people, but to dogs, camping means fun!
Like most things with the word “camp” in them, dog camps generally take place in the country and involve sleeping away from home. The camps come in two main types: intensive training-oriented seminars and “fun camps,” where dog-oriented socializing and entertainment are the order of the day.
Camp Gone to the Dogs, the oldest and most famous “fun camp,” has offered week-long vacations for people and their dogs at Vermont school campuses and country inns since 1990. “When we feature sports like agility and obedience,” says camp founder and director Honey Loring, “the emphasis is never on competition. Our goal is to have fun.”
In training-oriented camps, the focus is on in-depth education in canine sports and occupations, including competition obedience, Schutzhund, agility, flyball, tracking, field training (hunting), search and rescue, water sports, sheep herding, mushing, backpacking, clicker training, disc dog (Frisbee), and more.
Whether your concept of a vacation with your dog is relaxing or intense, and your idea of “camping” is electricity-free or just free of cable TV, there is a camp for you.
Picking the Right Camp for Your Dog
In fact, the selection is so bewildering that we consulted veteran camp enthusiast Dana Crevling for guidance. Crevling has attended and worked at more dog camps than she can remember, starting with Jack and Wendy Volhard’s Instructor School/Training Camp in the mid-1980s. Her own Competitive Edge Sports Camp is now in its fourth year.
Finding the right camp for you and your dog, says Crevling, involves many considerations. For example, would you and your dog be more comfortable in a large, active camp, or a quiet, more intimate program?
“Large camps offer things that small camps can’t,” Crevling says, “like a wide variety of staffing and activities, while small camps provide a more personal atmosphere and individual attention. People who haven’t thought this through often choose camps that aren’t good matches for their personality or learning style. Camps can be overwhelming. How do you and your dog cope with stress, distractions, busy schedules, crowds, and other dogs? Will the camp’s activity level be comfortable for both of you?”
Next, consider your interests and experience. Do you and your dog enjoy obedience? Agility? Flyball? Would you like to try herding? Lure coursing? Tracking? Are you interested in canine behavior, clicker training, or training in general? Do you want to take a qualifying test for a sport or activity?
“If all you want is an informal introduction to something you haven’t tried,” says Crevling, “most camps that offer it will be fine. But if you’re already working at an intermediate or advanced level, or if you want specialized training or individual attention, you’ll want to be more selective.”
In order to do this, be clear about your goals. Do you want to relax and play with your dog? Shave two seconds off your agility time? Earn a credential? Work with a specific trainer?
“Defining your goals,” says Crevling, “helps prevent the nightmare of finding yourself at the wrong camp, in a class that’s too elementary or too advanced, in sessions taught by someone other than the person you wanted to work with, or in classes that are too large or too small for comfort.”
Once you’ve zeroed in on the type of camp you want to attend, you have to consider the possible locations. Many of us won’t fly our dogs, which makes distance a deciding factor. However you get there, consider the effect that the trip will have on you and your dog. For best results, plan your travel so as to arrive with enough time to begin camp feeling relaxed, not frazzled.
Considerations for Choosing a Dog Camp
Once you know what you want, it’s time to research camp programs. “To make a good investment of time, money, and energy, start with basic research,” says Crevling. Many camps have websites that describe activities, staff, and accommodations. Contact the camps’ directors for more information, including referrals to campers who attended the previous year.”
As you research, ask the following:
How large is the camp? Some camps accommodate more than 250 participants and auditors (observers). That’s big! And some are so small, they limit attendance to 6 or 10. What size best suits you and your dog?
How is the camp organized? What is the camp’s layout? Are classes indoors or outdoors? Nothing beats fresh air and beautiful scenery, but what if it rains all week?
Is the camp a day camp or sleep-over camp? Day camps provide classes, lunch, and in some cases evening events, but campers are otherwise on their own. Sleep-over camps offer a total package with more camaraderie but less privacy.
Accommodations range from tents to dorm rooms, cabins, motels, and RV hookups. “If you’re a real comfort person,” warns Crevling, “you won’t enjoy a camp where you need a flashlight to find the bathroom.” Day camps provide a list of nearby dog-friendly motels and bed and breakfast inns, and many sleep-over camps do the same for those who prefer a more comfortable or more private room.
How are classes structured? “In a tightly structured camp,” says Crevling, “you know what time each class starts and ends and who’s teaching it. In a loosely structured camp, you’re given general topics for the day, and people rotate through stations, working on each concept or project until they complete it. To someone who likes a specific schedule, the relaxed approach seems unfocused and vague, and to someone who likes the relaxed approach, a fixed schedule is too rigid and arbitrary. Check previous schedules, contact the director, and talk to campers who have been there to be sure a camp’s classes will be a good fit for you and your dog.”
How large are the classes? Class size will help you compare prices, especially in sports where one person works with the instructor and everyone else waits. The importance of class size depends on your sport, how the camp is organized, and how much individual attention you want.
What is the camp’s philosophy? At one camp the focus might be on deepening your relationship with your dog, with instructors who are skilled people trainers as well as dog trainers. At another the focus might be on performance, with instructors taking a more businesslike approach. Training methods differ, too.
CAMPS FOR DOGS
Contact camps for session information and dates. Abbreviations for various training offerings are listed below.
■ Policies vary from camp to camp, but sports and fun camps depend on campers to bring well-socialized dogs. Anyone with an extremely shy, fearful, or occasionally aggressive dog should consult with camp directors before registering. Dogs should not bark excessively.
■ Some camps require certain titles, training, or experience as prerequisites. Read contracts and waivers carefully before signing.
■ Bring appropriate equipment and food for your dog. Campers are expected to clean up after their dogs immediately and thoroughly. In most camps, dogs must be leashed unless specifically allowed off-leash. Dogs left in rooms must be crated and stay quiet. In most camps, state health regulations do not permit dogs in dining rooms, and some states prohibit smoking in all rooms.
■ In most cases, campers must be 18 or over, although some camps allow children age 13 to 17 if accompanied by an adult, and 4-H dog camps are specifically for children.
■ Most camps allow campers to bring two dogs, with an additional fee for the second dog. Some camps have special classes and play groups for puppies.
■ Females should not be in season. Vaccination requirements vary, but most camps require proof of rabies vaccination.
■ The more rustic or specialized the camp, the more campers are expected to be physically active.
■ Things you may want to bring: flashlight, alarm clock, lawn chair, camera, fan, tape recorder, sheet for placing under kennel, and cell phone (but keep it turned off during classes). Required at some camps: sleeping bag or sheets and blanket, pillow, and towels (for you and your dog!).
Other Considerations
“To compare camps fairly,” says Crevling, “you have to put them on an even playing field. How long does the camp last? Does the fee include your room and meals? Is there anything special about the food? Are classes limited in size, or is there open enrollment? Who are the instructors? What extras are included? What are your travel expenses? Will you need special equipment? Consider all the variables as you determine which camp offers the best value.”
ENROLL YOUR DOG IN CAMP: OVERVIEW
1. Make camp reservations as early as possible. Many summer camps are booked by the end of January, and most offer discounts for early enrollment.
2. If you and your dog are new to camping, look for a laidback program for your first experience. Camp can be overwhelming!
1. Be alert to physical signs of liver problems: allergies, inflamed eyes, seizures, chronic anal sac problems, and digestive difficulties.
2. Consider a liver disorder as a possible contributor to the sudden onset of behavioral problems such as fearful aggression and separation anxiety.
3. Consult with a holistic veterinarian. She can diagnose liver problems, direct treatment, and assist you in planning changes in your dog’s diet.
Maryann, guardian of a young female terrier named Salsa, made an appointment for her veterinarian to spay her dog in the winter of last year. A couple of weeks after Maryann brought Salsa home from the veterinary clinic, Salsa began to vomit up her evening meal occasionally. Because Salsa exhibited her digestive upsets only once every two or three weeks, Maryann chalked the episodes up to an occasionally unsettled stomach. However, over the next few months, Salsa vomited her evening meal consistently, once every couple of weeks.
Later, Salsa began to show a growing sensitivity to loud noises, although the bangs and crashes that punctuate everyday life in a busy household were never an issue for Salsa in the past. Now she jumped and cowered when doors slammed or when Maryann dropped a pot lid on the kitchen floor. When spring arrived, Salsa became frightened of thunderstorms and hid in the clothes closet whenever a storm approached. Although Maryann’s veterinarian prescribed a mild sedative to help Salsa stay calm during a storm, Salsa remained agitated until the storm passed.
Unnerved by Salsa’s digestive problems and newly acquired sound sensitivity, Maryann decided to consult with a holistic veterinarian about these conditions. The doctor talked with Maryann about Salsa’s medical history, observed Salsa’s general demeanor in her office, and checked Salsa’s pulse and tongue. To Maryann’s surprise, the doctor advised her that she would be treating Salsa, using acupuncture and Chinese herbal combinations, for a liver disharmony.
Liver Health and Chinese Medicine
One of the main tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine is that qi (also known as chi, and understood as life-force energy) courses throughout the body in pathways known as meridians. Each meridian follows and affects aspects of the physical systems of the body. For example, the liver meridian runs across and affects the actual liver, and travels throughout the body affecting related functions.
So, when a physical organ such as the liver is discussed, it’s implied that the organ’s associated “energy meridian” is also involved.
For this reason, a veterinarian who studies and uses Oriental Medicine may describe symptoms of different sorts of liver disease in terms of the organ’s physiological function (or dysfunction) and in terms of problems with the liver meridian’s energy flow. These problems may include an energy excess, deficiency, or imbalance.
Assaults or “insults” to any of the energetic meridians can cause a disharmony or imbalance in the organ and its associated system, which can manifest itself as a particular health problem in the dog.
Maryann’s holistic veterinarian explained that the anesthesia administered during the operation to spay Salsa probably caused an imbalance in the state of health of Salsa’s liver, the organ responsible for processing the anesthesia and eliminating it from her dog’s body. Most dogs can “right” themselves after they have experienced an assault of this kind to one of their organs, like the liver, but not always. If the imbalance is not treated, a dog may begin to display symptoms associated with a liver imbalance, such as digestive problems or certain inappropriate behavioral responses to her environment.
So, according to Maryann’s veterinarian, the disruption of the energy in Salsa’s liver, which governs certain bodily systems like her digestion, resulted in several physical and behavioral manifestations, most commonly referred to as “symptoms.” Although Salsa had received treatment to relieve her symptoms, in the form of a tranquilizer for her fearfulness, the root cause of her health condition remained unidentified and untreated.
Chinese Herbs for Liver Imbalances
Visit Dr. Chris Bessent’s website for information about Chinese herbal remedies. Holistic veterinarians prefer to meet their patients in person, but, if you do not have access to a local veterinary herbalist, you can order Chinese herbs with the guidance of an herbalist. After your dog has taken the recommended herbal combinations for several weeks, the herbalist will check on your dog’s progress and evaluate any changes in your dog’s condition. The herbalist will modify the recommended herbal remedy based upon this feedback.
Herbs that harmonize the liver generally decrease heat in the body, and are described as cooling herbs. Some herbal combinations contain minerals that calm the spirit, and some concentrate on moving fluids smoothly through the dog’s body. The following are some of the Chinese herbal combinations Dr. Bessent uses to rebalance a disharmonious liver:
LIVER SYMPTOM
CHINESE HERBAL COMBINATION
Aggression
Bupleurum and Dragon Bone decoction
Separation anxiety
Zizyphus decoctions
Allergies
Coptis Relieve Toxicity decoction
Inflamed eyes
Gentian Drain the Fire decoction
Anal sac problems
Gentian Drain the Fire decoction
Vomiting
Rambling Powder
Seizures
Gastrodia and Uncaria decoction
Diarrhea
Coptis Relieve Toxicity decoction
Liver Disease in Dogs Indicates Systemic Illness
Dr. Chris Bessent, a veterinarian and a certified veterinary acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, states that a majority of the cases she sees in her Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, practice have some liver involvement at some stage in the progression of symptoms. According to Dr. Bessent, our modern world introduces many stress factors into our dogs’ lives, such as the presence of toxins in the environment, treatment with repeated vaccinations or pesticides, emotional distress from lack of attention or training, and poor quality food or water.
Although conventional western medicine is slow to recognize that an excess of stress and extremes in emotions can translate into physical problems, holistic medical professionals have acknowledged this connection for a long time. It’s clear to holistic practitioners that there is a link between toxins or stress factors experienced by a dog to disharmony in the dog’s vital organs, which, in turn, may manifest in a seemingly unrelated symptom. At issue is the fact that conventional veterinarians may treat each individual symptom by suppressing it, such as prescribing a tranquilizer for a fearful dog, but they may not address the real, root cause of the problem.
Allopathic medicine offers few solutions to heal a diseased or malfunctioning canine liver. However, holistic medicine is very effective at treating the canine liver as the root cause of disease.
The Liver’s Role in Canine Health
The liver, located centrally in the dog’s body as the link between the breathing and circulatory activities of the chest and the digestive functions of the abdomen, works hard at its many tasks. The liver manufactures blood proteins and fat, and stores energy, fat-soluble vitamins, and iron. It removes drugs, chemicals, and other unusable substances from a dog’s body, and secretes the bile needed to digest food. The liver filters the blood to keep harmful bacteria from entering other parts of the body and prepares toxic waste materials for elimination by the kidneys. The liver operates as both a storage facility and a functional organ.
When Dr. Bessent sees a dog with health or behavioral problems for the first time, she diagnoses the dog using three resources or techniques:
• The owner’s account of the behavioral or physical abnormalities experienced by the dog, along with a physical examination of the dog in her office.
• Her own observation of the dog’s behavior in her office. A “disharmony of the liver” may cause an excess of heat in a dog’s body. An animal with a liver imbalance is always moving and does not sit in one place for very long. The dog may pant, drink more than usual, and/or exhibit thickened saliva.
• A tongue and pulse diagnosis. Taking the dog’s pulse on the inside of the dog’s rear legs, the doctor may feel that the pulse is taut, like a wire, sometimes called a “liver pulse.” The dog’s tongue may be purple or red, especially at the edges, indicating an imbalance in the liver.
When a dog’s liver is in a state of imbalance, she may present one or several behavioral and/or physical abnormalities. Although, at first glance, these abnormalities appear diverse and unrelated, their root cause can be found in the liver. Once Dr. Bessent has determined that a liver imbalance is the basis of the dog’s problem, she can treat the dog to rebalance the liver and relieve the root cause of the symptoms.
Liver Disease in Dogs
Behavioral manifestations of liver problems include both angry or aggressive responses as well as fearfulness. The emotions associated with the liver are anger, irritability, aggression, and frustration. A dog may display these emotions by excessively protecting her possessions, environment, or “space,” or by snapping or nipping. She may also display fearful aggression, like suddenly attacking a harmless visitor, separation anxiety, or a fear of loud noises and storms.
In essence, the dog is not settled in her world, and her actions are not responsive to normal behavior modification techniques. Dr. Bessent explains that harmonizing the dog’s liver, the source of these behavioral manifestations, can help normalize the dog’s reactions to its environment.
The physical manifestations of a liver imbalance include allergies, inflamed eyes, seizures, chronic anal sac problems, and digestive difficulties.
A dog with liver-related allergies experiences itching, especially in her paws, abdomen, head, and face. She may be hot to the touch, have red skin, and have weeping pustules. The dog’s coat may have a heavy, or phlegmy smell. Some dogs develop “stinky” ears not caused by a bacterial infection. These allergic reactions are the result of the dog’s hypersensitive response to toxins in her environment, which disrupts the energy flow in the dog’s liver and entire body, and increases the incidence and severity of future hypersensitive reactions.
Most allergic conditions are complicated because, if the root cause of the allergic reaction is not relieved, the dog’s body develops a general tendency to overreact to environmental allergens, and the effect becomes cumulative over time. As the allergic reactions continue to cascade and escalate, they become more difficult to treat.
Frequently, conventional veterinarians prescribe antihistamines and corticosteroids (prednisone, for example) to relieve the symptoms of allergies in dogs. However, steroids have a profoundly negative effect on the liver, and may eventually cause more harm than good, as higher doses are needed as time passes to control the increasingly severe allergic reactions from the dog.
Dr. Bessent recommends addressing allergies early, as soon as they begin to emerge in a dog, especially in young dogs. She finds that it takes only a few acupuncture treatments to rebalance a dog’s liver and reverse the allergic cascade, if managed right away.
A disharmony in the liver will likely cause inflamed eyes in the dog, either alone or in combination with other symptoms, and includes the development of a chronic discharge.
Seizures often result from a liver disharmony. Epilepsy, a diagnosis often arrived at by the process of elimination, may have its root cause in a liver imbalance. Traditionally, after examining the dog’s blood tests, doctors label a seizure condition for which the cause is unknown as epilepsy.
Dogs experiencing seizures from a liver disharmony are usually older, docile, slow-moving dogs. Their coats may be dull and they may have arthritis. Often, when these dogs are vaccinated, the insult from the vaccine imbalances their liver and they demonstrate a dramatic reaction, or seizure, to the change in their health equilibrium.
Although phenobarbital may stop the seizures, it does not balance any underlying disharmony of the liver. In many cases, this condition progresses to activate other problems, such as allergies and inflammatory bowel disease. Phenobarbital will not affect the evaluation of a pulse and tongue diagnosis, so a liver imbalance can be recognized even if the dog receives the drug. And, if the dog requires phenobarbital to control her seizures after receiving acupuncture treatments and herbal remedies, the holistic treatment may enable the dog to avoid seizures with a reduced dosage of the drug, or stop the advance of the condition into other symptoms.
The liver controls the perineum, or pelvic and anal regions of the dog’s body. Chronic anal sac problems, chronic diarrhea, and bowel problems all indicate an overreaction of the liver due to an imbalanced state.
Holistic practitioners attribute many digestive problems to liver disharmony. Chronic vomiting, especially in the late evening, when the liver is most active, indicates the involvement of the liver. Dogs suffering from a liver imbalance often vomit bile, and develop a pattern of vomiting that persists for a long time. Though vomiting may not occur very often, a dog may vomit once a week or once a month, but does so consistently.
Treating Liver Disorders in Dogs
Be aware that seemingly unrelated patterns of behavior and health problems can come from the same root source, such as a liver imbalance, and the root source can be effectively treated holistically.
Provide good general health maintenance for your dog, including feeding the highest quality food possible and offering the purest water.
Provide moderate exercise for your dog on a regular basis. The liver maintains the smooth flow of blood and qi in a dog’s body, and exercise keeps the liver efficient.
Minimize the sources of frustration and emotional upset in your dog’s life.
Address health problems with a holistic veterinarian when they first occur. That’s when they are easiest to fix.
Learn acupressure techniques for use at home in preparation for a visit to a healthcare professional. Holistic support can help tip the scales in your dog’s favor at the very start of a problem.
Recognize and Minimize the Toxic Insults Sustained By Your Dog’s Liver:
Avoid elective surgical procedures that require anesthesia, or group them together. For instance, have a radiograph of your dog’s hips taken at the same time your dog receives anesthesia for a dental procedure.
Don’t overvaccinate your dog. Consider testing your dog’s titer levels to check her existing antibody levels before vaccinating her.
Minimize the use of environmental toxins, such as lawn chemicals, carpet cleaners, carpet and fabric deodorizers, and insect sprays in or near your home. Use nontoxic alternatives whenever possible.
Minimize the use of pharmaceuticals known to have a significant, negative impact on the liver, including Rimadyl and prednisone. Consider using alternative treatments, especially on young dogs, like acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and nutritional supplements like MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) or glucosamine. Use the pharmaceuticals, if needed, in your dog’s later years.
Feed Your Dog’s Liver:
Use good nutrition to help keep your dog’s liver healthy, or to help mend an imbalanced liver. Avoid feeding fatty dry foods that are difficult to digest. Generally, veterinarians suggest that a dog with liver involvement in his health problems should receive a low-fat, low-protein diet.
Feed more than once a day, preferably two (or three times for sick dogs) to manage and balance the load placed on the liver.
Choose easily digestible foods that nourish the liver and blood, such as non-oily fish, rabbit, chicken, beets, spinach, chard, kale, squash, broccoli, and cabbage.
Consult with your veterinarian about adding B-vitamins and lecithin to your dog’s diet. These nutritional substances support the liver by helping to digest fat and assisting in circulation.
The Holistic Approach to Healthy Livers in Dogs
A conventional western veterinarian will likely prescribe a pharmaceutical to suppress a dog’s symptoms, like a drug to coat and soothe an upset stomach. A holistic veterinarian like Dr. Bessent will treat a dog with acupuncture, and send the dog home with a recommended Chinese herbal remedy to rebalance the dog’s liver.
Holistic practitioners look for the root cause of a dog’s symptoms, although imbalances in one organ or system can throw off a related organ or system and create additional health problems. An imbalance of the liver manifests itself in certain ways that are distinct from the conditions manifested by imbalances of other organs and systems. For instance, swelling would most likely develop from an imbalance of the spleen, which is responsible for moving fluids through the body.
Dog owners can add adjunct measures, like nutritional support and acupressure, to the acupuncture and Chinese herbal combinations provided by holistic veterinarians to help heal or rebalance their dog’s liver.
Dr. Bessent cautions that liver imbalances are particularly difficult to harmonize in certain dogs. If a dog has what she describes as a “liver constitution,” then the dog may have a lifelong tendency to develop a liver condition as the result of any “insult” or problem elsewhere in her body. Throughout her life, her owner must work to strengthen the dog’s liver and quickly respond to an imbalanced state with proper treatment.
Older dogs, especially those with long-standing cases of liver-related problems, and who have been medicated for years with strong drugs that assault the liver, may not rebalance easily. The ultimate target for treatment success may be stabilization and the satisfactory management of liver-related conditions.
With the help of your holistic veterinarian, consider the role an imbalance of the liver may play in your dog’s health problems, and review the holistic care options available to help your dog rebalance her liver. Treatment is highly successful, and your dog’s liver will receive the support it needs to do its job for your dog.
Acupressure for Liver Problems in Dogs
The acupressure points for the liver are located on the dog’s back and inside the dog’s hind legs, with five points on the right side of the dog’s body, and five points on the left side.
Place the dog on her side in a quiet, comfortable place in your house. Get away from high traffic areas, the television, telephone, and other potential disturbances.
Using the photo below as a guide, feel for the deepest depression under your dog’s skin and press lightly on the depression, or massage the point in a circular, counter-clockwise motion.
Continue the treatment at each point for 30 seconds to two minutes. Treat each side of your dog’s body one time.
Acupressure is easy to learn and very effective. If done correctly, your dog will fall sound asleep, signaling the arrival of qi (or life force) in her body. Even if you miss the exact acupressure point, your dog will get a wonderful massage that will relieve stress, settle her mind, and make you both feel great!
Visit your holistic veterinarian for a thorough evaluation of your dog’s health condition and potential treatments.
Lorie Long is a freelance writer living in Oriental, North Carolina with two Border Terriers, Dash and Chase. All three are addicted to agility.
People who are interested in feeding a home-prepared diet to their dogs often delay the transition as they grapple with various concerns. Frequently, they have come to believe the claims that a home-prepared diet offers dogs superior nutrition and can result in increased health and vigor…but they are still beset by fears that their dogs will suffer a broken tooth or perforated intestines caused by eating raw bone fragments. Others worry that their dogs won’t eat the vegetable matter in the diet, or will be put off by the addition of supplements. Still others cite their lack of time available for preparing the food.
Happily, all of these concerns (and more) can be put to rest with the purchase and use of a food grinder!
Just about every experienced feeder of a home-prepared diet owns and uses a food grinder. Many use grinders to reduce the raw meaty bones they include in their dogs’ diets to a smooth, pulpy consistency. Grinding the bones enables them to offer their dogs every advantage of consuming the nutrient-rich food, without any of the risks often dramatically cited by opponents of home-prepared diets. Ground to a smooth paste, the raw bones cannot break or crack a tooth, or block or perforate a dog’s intestines.
In addition, grinding all (or most) of the components of a dog’s diet together makes it impossible for a dog to “pick out” the ingredients he may not like. Dogs who fuss over the addition of any sort of herb or nutritional supplement to their usual meals generally can’t detect it when it has been thoroughly ground together with delicious meaty bones.
Finally, using a grinder to prepare and mix the dog’s food – often in batches that can be portioned and refrigerated or frozen for feedings later that week or so – saves a lot of time. Ask people who have fed a big dog (or several dogs) a home-prepared diet for more than a year, and they will just about always tell you that their investment in a food grinder has made the food-preparation job exponentially easier and less time-consuming.
Which grinder?
The variety of grinders available today allows interested dog owners to try out home-prepared canine diets on a small scale, or to fully commit to the “bones and raw food” (“BARF”) feeding plan. The size and cost of the model they settle on for the long term tends to reflect the size and/or number of dogs they have to feed. But whether they make food for one small dog or a whole pack of bigger canines, experienced dog “chefs” list the same desirable features they look for in a food grinder. Listed in no particular order, the criteria include:
• Durability: The cutting pieces of any food grinder will certainly be made of a high carbon steel, but the housing and the “worm” (the piece that moves the food material through the grinder) may be molded plastic, aluminum, tin coated cast iron, or stainless steel. The quality of the materials and manufacturing will certainly impact the grinder’s durability, but so will the ingredients you use in your dog’s diet. Whole grains, hard vegetables such as carrots, and mammal bones are the usual suspects involved in grinder breakage.
• Ease of cleaning: Any part of the grinder that comes into contact with food – especially raw meats and bones – must be cleaned after each use to avoid bacterial contamination. If a part isn’t easy to clean, chances are it won’t get cleaned properly, and can then harbor bacteria, causing illness.
• Power or capacity to suit your needs: Again, the power and capacity you need depends on your dogs and the ingredients you employ in their diet. But in general, the more food you make, the more power you’ll want. Hand grinders (the old-fashioned kind that clamp onto a countertop) may be sufficient for preparing small amounts of food, but out of the question for those who make food for a giant breed or several dogs.
• Ease of operation: The easier it is to operate, the more likely it is that you will be inspired to use the machine. If making your dog’s food turns out to be an hours-long project – to feed the machine slowly, manage drippings, and clean the working parts – you’ll tend not to use the grinder frequently or spontaneously.
• Good warranty or service agreement: These agreements should be explicit, easy to understand, and provide for returns or repair in case of equipment failure. Many equipment suppliers tend to have a specified period refund policy (frequently 30 – 90 days), perhaps minus re-stocking fees, but some suppliers do not allow returns on food service equipment at all. Before you invest in a grinding appliance, check to see whether or not it comes with a supplier’s or manufacturer’s warranty for parts and/or labor, and what conditions of use are not protected under the warranty.
While the purchase of a small household appliance needn’t break the bank, you don’t want to purchase a big-ticket item that will take up space sitting unused on a kitchen counter. On the other hand, you don’t want to hamstring your efforts; if you are dedicated to preparing food with the best ingredients for your dog’s health and well-being, a more powerful, higher capacity (and expensive) grinder may be more economical in the long run. Consider your time, storage space, and economic resources as part of a cost-benefit analysis before deciding which grinder to buy.
From least to greatest
We asked a number of long-time BARF feeders to describe their experience with food grinders. Their comments are arranged below according to the cost of the grinder they use, from the inexpensive but useful hand grinder, to the undisputed king of home-prepared dog diets: The Northern Tool & Equipment 70-pound food grinder.
Hand grinders
Upstate New York resident Alex Murphy began her grinding career with a hand grinder picked up at the Salvation Army for $3. “It worked pretty well, but it was a chore to clean up because it wasn’t sealed. If you were to grind something that contained moisture – which was just about everything I used – the liquid would drip from the grinder onto the floor! I used to spread a vinyl tablecloth on the floor and the table, and set a bowl beneath the grinder. I also remember that when washing the grinder, I had to dry it really well to avoid rust spots.
“Other than that, it was great, especially with my husband doing the heavy-duty grinding for me. It was a little harder to grind the thicker stuff, such as pumpkin, since I use seeds, skin, and all. It was messy, but worth it for the first couple of months when I was deciding what I was going to buy!”
Heavy tin-plated cast-iron hand meat grinders can be seen at Pierce Equipment’s Web site (pierceequipment.com or 877-354-1265). Prices range from $50 – $100, depending on size (20 – 30 pounds).
Northern Tool also makes a hand grinder, which is rated to grind 5 pounds of meat per minute. This grinder sports a 4″ x 5″ hopper for easy loading, and sells for $35 (see northerntool.com or 800-221-0516).
By the way, when searching these manufacturers’ Web sites for food grinders, use the word “meat” in your search. For some reason, the grinders did not come up when we searched on “grinder.”
Small kitchen appliances
Alex Murphy now uses a grinder attachment on her KitchenAid mixer to make food for her large dog (and one cat). “For a while I made a ‘veggie slop’ with my food processor, but that took a lot of time. The KitchenAid mixer has an attachment made of heavy plastic with metal parts. I don’t think it’s as durable as a cast metal product; that’s why I won’t grind anything harder than chicken necks.” Murphy chops the greens prior to grinding. This keeps them from wrapping around the “worm” that moves the food material through the grinder.
When asked whether she had plans to upgrade, Murphy responds, “I have no plans to buy a conventional grinder. This setup meets all my needs perfectly; it has good power, it’s easy to clean, the attachment takes up very little space, and as I already had the mixer – and the grinder attachment was only $50 – I’m really getting my money’s worth. So far, I am the only raw feeder I know who uses this attachment for BARF preparation, but I would recommend it for others who don’t make tons of food.”
KitchenAid mixers can be found in kitchen supply stores, in a range of models that range from the Classic ($200 for 250 watts) to the Artisan ($255 for 325 watts), to the Professional 6 ($365 for 525 watts). You can buy KitchenAid mixers in discount restaurant supply stores, or from kitchenaid.com, or by calling the manufacturer direct at (800) 541-6390.
Small motorized grinders
Several models generating a lot of buzz among BARF discussion groups are small in size (7 – 8 pounds), moderate in power (180 – 220 watts), easy to take apart and clean, and relatively inexpensive ($110 -$130). However, they may or may not be up to every dog owner’s food-grinding regimen. The longevity of the tools depends heavily on the amount and type of food put through the grinder.
Kristen Randall, a New Hampshire resident, started out by chopping vegetables in a food processor, and was thrilled to learn that her new grinder – the #5 food grinder made by Maverick – did a better job and was also much quicker. Elated, Randall reported her dazzling prowess with the grinder to a raw-feeding online discussion group one day, but posted dismal news the next; the grinder had hit a snag, melting down after a heavy session of chicken-neck and vegetable grinding.
“After my husband ground up about 10 pounds of necks and about an equal amount of vegetables, the grinder started making a loud squealing sound. He assumed it was a lubrication problem inside the grinding parts. But then I took that off and ran the motor alone, and it still makes that sound. It sounds just like an old fan I have whose bearings are shot.”
How could this happen? Confoundedly, the Pierce Food Service Equipment catalog urges buyers to “Grind up fresh bear, deer, duck, elk, meats, game, fruits and vegetables. Known to be good for grinding up pet food.” But it also states elsewhere, “If you are planning on returning this unit, it must be unused. It cannot be re-sold for new if you use it. You pay for return shipping to us. Pierce and Maverick do not state this grinder will grind bones, use at your own risk.”
Made in Poland, Maverick grinders (Maverick MM 1886 and Maverick MM 6386) are sold online by Pierce Equipment (www.pierceequipment.com or 877-354-1265) and many kitchen supply stores.
We found several other small motorized grinders in this category offered for sale online. S.D. Payton, who makes food for four Dobermans and two American Eskimo dogs, offered this review: “With the help of an experienced grinder friend, I chose the Moulinex DR7 from Small Appliance Service Company for around $117, a great grinder at the dollar amount I could afford. Moving up to the 440-watt (from my last grinder at 150), seemed to make a lot of difference in grinding chicken backs. I also like the reverse button just in case I need it.”
The Moulinex DR7 (440 watt) costs about $117 from Small Appliance Service Company Ltd. at www.edmart.com/SASCO or (780) 425-9550.
The Northern Tool & Equipment Co. offers a wide range of electric meat grinders. The smallest is rated at 250 watts and can grind two pounds of meat per minute. This four-pound machine comes with two grinding plates (coarse and fine), and is sold for $40. The 16-pound grinder is rated at 1000 watts, and comes with fine, medium, and coarse grinding plates. It is promoted as useful for grinding poultry, beef, vegetables, and more, and is priced at $100. The feed tube is 2 ½” at the top, large enough to feed in good-sized chunks. Northern Tool’s customer service representatives say that both grinders can safely grind chicken backs.
In our survey, we heard nothing bad about Northern Tool’s customer service or 90-day complete warranty. For an additional $6.99, you may purchase the manufacturer’s extended warranty, which offers to totally replace your grinder if it fails within one year. Northern Tool & Equipment Co., www.northerntool.com or (800) 221-0516.
Large motorized grinders
For 40 years and counting, Mary Stickney, of Cortland, Nebraska, has fed her pack of toy rescue dogs home-prepared diets. A huge advocate of the BARF diet, Stickney grinds an array of raw meaty bones (RMBs), including chicken wings, turkey necks, pork neck bones, turkey wings, lamb ribs, rabbit quarters, and organ meats such as beef heart, liver, and gizzards. She adds this ground RMB mix to ground vegetables and other foods in the following proportions: about 70 percent RMBs, 10 percent organ meat, and 20 percent vegetables, fruit, eggs, and ricotta cheese.
Stickney doesn’t add grains, explaining that several of her dogs are allergic to them. She presently prepares food for 10 small dogs and four cats. On grinding days, she fills a clean Coleman cooler with her mixture, which she then packages into one-gallon Ziplock bags and freezes for later use.
A frequent participant in online raw foods discussion lists, Stickney freely offers counsel to hesitant beginner and novice feeders. She feels that the one most important piece of advice for those just starting out is to “Get a good quality grinder to start with. I wasted $99 on a Maverick and broke it twice grinding lamb ribs. The larger Northern Tool Grinder is well worth the $269 purchase price. It eats chicken leg quarters whole like butter!”
Tori Muir, of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, concurs with the warm review. “The Northern Tool rules! When I was told that it would take a turkey neck with no problem, I had to get it. The machine is very sturdy, takes all but the hardest bones, and has no problems with fat, which clogs up other machines. It has lots of power, and a great customer service department if you have any questions. When the on/off switch failed, Northern Tool paid the shipping to return the machine, and sent me a new one!”
“I began feeding raw foods to my two 50-pound dogs about four months ago, starting off with whole RMBs. Upon finding large pieces of bone in Petey’s stools, I decided to go on a grinder hunt. I joined a bunch of BARF chat groups, and people guided me to the Northern Tool 1 horsepower/650 watt model. I started with chicken backs, wings, and necks. They all went through effortlessly. So I tried turkey; turkey necks went through easily if they fit through the feeding chute. Sometimes they needed to be cut or mashed first. Now I was having fun, so I tried pork and lamb necks. They needed to be split, but went through fine.”
Muir also reports that she has jammed the grinder with ox tails and beef ribs, and the large end of big turkey wings, so she quit using those RMBs. Those experiences did not darken her appreciation for the grinder. She describes how she recently ground 90 pounds of venison in an hour and a half, “Effortlessly,” she says delightedly.
With such glowing reports, could there be any downsides to the largest Northern Tool grinder? Well, considers Muir, “The unit is 70 lbs, and large to store. Mine has started rusting on the inside of the feed tube; I hadn’t thought about calling customer service about that. It can be difficult to clean, but I am one of the last people still without a dishwasher.” She adds, however, “Those negatives are negligible to me,” since the grinder performs so well.
Feeling grinder envy? I have to admit that I sure did after chatting with owners of the most productive and easy-to-use grinders. With volume production, reliability, and versatility in mind, you should now be armed with enough information to choose an appropriate model for you and your dogs. Good luck, and happy grinding!
-by Susan Eskew
Susan Eskew is a freelance writer (and wife of a veterinarian) currently living in North Carolina.
Frequently, we hear things about dog food companies that would curl your hair. And rarely, if ever, can we print anything we hear, because much of it is unverifiable and perhaps even untrue – lies made up or part-truths distorted by unhappy consumers or unscrupulous competitors. We take this stuff with a grain of salt.
But there is one troubling dog food industry rumor that we’ve heard numerous times, and from a couple of sources that we really trust. It’s troubling to us because it concerns a number of products that have appeared regularly in our “Top Dry Dog Food” reviews.
The rumor alleges that a number of the foods that we have promoted do not actually contain all of the fabulous ingredients listed on their labels. The scuttlebutt has it that some of the products are made in manufacturing plants that are physically unequipped to include ingredients that their labels claim they contain.
We’ll be more specific. We have repeatedly stated that containing at least one type of fresh, whole meat, fish, or poultry is a hallmark of a superior food. And in order to include fresh, whole meat or poultry in a food it manufactures, a plant must be outfitted with certain equipment, including refrigerated bins, “wet extruders,” and other apparatus not needed by manufacturers who use only dry ingredients. But some of the foods whose labels boast the inclusion of fresh meat were made at plants that – we’ve heard – lack the refrigeration and other units required to make such a food.
Hearing this sort of rumor about a number of foods, we were moved to call representatives for the food companies in question, in an attempt to confirm where the food is made. We then planned to call the manufacturing plant and find out whether, in fact, they are equipped to make a food that contains, for example, whole, fresh chicken. Investigative Journalism 101, right?
Unfortunately, this particular tack went nowhere, because to a man, the food company representatives said, “Gosh, sorry, I’d love to help, but we don’t disclose the location of our food manufacturing plant; that’s proprietary information.”
We don’t buy it
“Proprietary information” is a great excuse, one that most of us can understand. Corporations have to protect the things that make them unique and extraordinary, especially in a competitive market.
However, in this case, we have to press harder. Within the pet food industry, there really are not any secrets about the identity and location of pet food plants. Independent manufacturers advertise in trade magazines, for crying out loud! In our experience, every food company executive knows exactly where his competitors have their foods made.
No, manufacturing secrets are not being kept from competing food companies; they are being kept from us, the people who buy the pet food. Why would they want to do such a thing? Why aren’t companies who represent their foods as the “best of the best” proud and forthcoming about their products’ origins?
As it turns out, there are a few reasons why the companies don’t want us to know where their products are made. As whispered in the rumor mill, at least one of the reasons is dishonest and illegal: They don’t want us to know where the food is made because if we knew that, we’d also know that what they say is in the food is not in the food. And with pet food industry oversight and enforcement so incredibly lax, especially in some states, they run very little risk of getting caught.
Some of the other reasons why the origins of foods are often kept secret are more innocuous, but no more helpful to us, the consumers who buy them. To explore these reasons a little more, some background information is helpful.
Large and small companies
As a rule, the gigantic pet food conglomerates manufacture their own products in their own well-operated plants; they don’t make their manufacturing information a secret.
As with any sort of enormous-volume consumer goods producer, these huge pet food companies have made a science of churning out an incredibly consistent product. Open any bag of Purina Dog Chow, and the food inside will look and smell (and probably taste, although we wouldn’t test it) exactly like the contents of every other batch of Dog Chow – just the way a bowl of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes looks, smells, and tastes the same year after year after year.
Part of this is due to the fact that the manufacturing plants of the food industry giants are uniformly well-equipped, clean, and well-staffed. Part of it is due to the fact that these corporate giants don’t use the volatile, difficult-to-manufacture, fresh ingredients used by the “premium” companies.
Mostly, the giant companies, corporate cousins to the human food manufacturing industry, serve (partially) to spin figurative gold out of the “straw” leftovers from the human food side. The human food processors use the good parts, and the food fragments that would otherwise be wasted are put to good use in pet foods. The result is a consistent, inexpensive, not particularly healthy food that is readily available anywhere in the country.
In stark contrast stand the small pet food manufacturers, representing perhaps five percent of the total pet food industry. These companies have designated healthy pet foods as their mission, and they shun food fragment castoffs in favor of fresh, whole, and sometimes even organic grains, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, oils, and expensive vitamin/mineral premixes. It should be noted that this is a much more difficult manufacturing problem, and far more can go wrong with the process.
Once a company grows to a certain size, it makes financial sense for it to own and operate its manufacturing plants. Only a few of the largest “small” food makers have accomplished this – companies like Eagle Pet Products of Indiana, Old Mother Hubbard of Massachusetts, and Breeder’s Choice of California. Most of them manufacture more than one “line” of pet foods, each of them aimed at a different quality/price strata of the market, but all of them enjoying the quality control and oversight resulting from in-house manufacture.
Lacking the resources to own and operate manufacturing plants, smaller companies have to contract with independent plants to make their food for them. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this arrangement, although there are certain opportunities for bad things and good things to result.
Concerns and benefits of independent manufacturing
One big concern about independent food manufacturing is that the food company doesn’t have any control over the process. The owner of the food company can supply the plant manager with his list of ingredients and sources, and discuss the quality control techniques that will be used in his food’s manufacture, but the actual job is out of his hands.
Also, if the plant operators are unscrupulous, and substitute low-quality ingredients for the expensive ingredients the food company has asked for, the food company may be none the wiser.
On the other hand, there are some benefits to having an independent plant make the food for a small food company.
For one, it’s easier for a small food company to pay someone else to run a plant than it is to buy, staff, equip, manage, maintain, and run it themselves – especially when it takes only a couple of days a month to manufacture their entire month’s order of food. And if the plant fails to do a good job, the food company can always walk away and find a better-run plant somewhere else.
Another benefit is that the food company’s owner can shop for plants that are located close to the sources of the ingredients he wants, and/or the markets he wants to ship to post-manufacture. Since the focus of the “premium” food companies is high-quality ingredients, hiring a manufacturer close to the source of the expensive and volatile fresh food ingredients makes more sense than shipping them long distance.
Other reasons for prejudice
We discussed this topic with a number of pet food company representatives at the trade show accompanying the 2002 American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association conference. Some of the reps were salespeople; others were company owners and CEOs. We told each that we were planning an article about “where foods are made,” and asked, by the way, where are your foods made?
At one booth, a food company president and vice president told us they didn’t think it was fair to bring attention to the fact that not all companies make their own foods. Companies that use independent manufacturers, they said, experience considerable consumer prejudice against their products.
Russell Armstrong, president and cofounder of VeRus Pet Foods, of Abingdon, Maryland, agreed that there is some amount of prejudice against companies who don’t manufacture their own products. He thinks this is fallout from marketing pitches made by companies who do have their own manufacturing plants. “I’ve seen companies try to sell consumers on that very concept by asking rhetorically, ‘If a company doesn’t make its own products, how can they possibly have any quality control?’”
However, Armstrong feels that the prejudice can easily be overcome when consumers hear the flip side, and learn about the advantages enjoyed by companies who don’t make their own products.
“From the perspective of a small food company, especially one that is new to the market like I am, owning your own plant would be an expensive distraction,” says Armstrong. “Instead, we’ve been able to focus on finding and selecting a plant that has the capability and history of making good quality foods, and access to the sources of the top-quality raw materials that we wanted to use in our pet food.”
Armstrong’s opinions were seconded by another food company owner and CEO, Steve Brown, of Steve’s Real Food for Dogs, located in Eugene, Oregon. Steve’s Real Food for Dogs is a raw, frozen, meat-based diet, but Brown has years of experience in many aspects of the pet food industry.
According to Brown, “Extremely big companies have three or four manufacturing plants across the nation; you don’t want to have to ship either the ingredients or the finished product very far. Small companies can achieve the same effect by contracting out the manufacturing to one or more select plants,” he says.
In Brown’s view, small companies like his that are focused on quality actually enjoy an advantage by using independent manufacturers. “I can find great quality meat processors throughout the nation and use their expertise; I know that, properly supervised, they can do a better job than I can. I choose my plants carefully and specify everything. I confirm that they are using the ingredients that I asked for, inspect the plants frequently, and make surprise visits. And so I feel great about the job they do.”
Suspicion by association?
Some food company executives fear that if consumers learn that a food originates from the same plant as a low-quality food, they will conclude that the foods are equally poor. There may be legitimate reasons for this concern; in this case, birds of a feather may well flock together.
“Smaller plants have only so many bins for storing so many ingredients,” warns Armstrong. “I’d worry that one allegedly ‘premium’ food originating from a plant that doesn’t make any other top-quality foods does not really contain the ingredients it says it does.”
Another reason that similar-quality products might tend to originate from the same manufacturing plants – even if they were formulated by different food companies with different ingredients – has to do with the abilities of the manufacturing plant itself.
“There are probably 1000 dog food plants in the country right now. And of those 1000 plants, I’d say only about 15 or 20 are capable of make what I would consider to be decent food, and make it consistently,” says Armstrong. “I think every plant can probably make a good batch of food, but the inconsistencies get them down. I see lots of plants that don’t have the quality equipment, reliable sources of ingredients, and/or personnel to do the job right every time.”
When an independent manufacturer has made the investments needed to do a top-notch, consistent job for its food company customers, its prices will necessarily be much higher. Food company executives who are not appreciative of this quality are unlikely to be willing to pay more for their foods to be made there. In fact, only food companies whose owners are fully committed to producing the best possible food – and who are willing and able to pay more for its work, are likely to be found doing business at such a plant.
And, unless the ingredients of the food are of the very best quality, the food buyers – remember us? dog owners? – won’t be willing to pay the top prices that the product will necessarily cost. The food companies who do business with an expensive, top-notch manufacturer must have an amazing formula, marketing plan, or both, to be able to command the prices that such a food will cost.
For his part, Armstrong has made full disclosure an integral part of his sales pitch for his VeRus dog and cat foods. “We’re proud of our products, which are being made by people we trust in a place that we feel good about,” he says. “I can only imagine that those things are not true when someone won’t tell me anything about the origin of their products.”
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Each fall, I have the pleasure of attending two dog-related conventions, one for the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), and one for the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). This year, the meetings overlapped on a weekend, forcing me to miss one day of one and another day of the other, but I wasnt complaining; they were held in the same state, only a few hours apart, so it didnt take long to drive my rental car from one to the other.
These meetings serve several purposes for me. First, I have the opportunity to meet in person many individuals (dog trainers and veterinarians) with whom I generally speak only through e-mail and on the telephone. I generally schedule interviews with experts who live far from me. I attend lots of lectures, looking for ideas for articles and expert sources for information on dog training and healthcare. I browse through the exhibit halls, looking for products and foods to review. And I get to meet a lot of you, WDJs readers, and hear your feedback about the magazine. Its great. I come home filled to bursting with ideas, news, and inspiration.
Of course, there are challenging moments. Every so often I bump into someone who has a real bone to pick with WDJ. Getting cornered by a sales representative who is promoting a dog food that I have criticized harshly is probably my least favorite experience ever. And, for me, getting chewed out by someone about something I consider to be unimportant such as our interchangeable use of the phrase dog guardian with dog owner is not unlike a Chihuahua scratching on a sliding glass door. Im sympathetic, but I cant take it for very long.
There are some difficult moments, however, that I really do learn from. For example, I had a veterinarian dress me down for WDJs lack of articles on kinesiology. This is a diagnostic tool used by some holistic practitioners that Ive always considered to be far too woo-woo for us to talk about. Somewhat flippantly I told the veterinarian, Oh come on. I just dont buy that it works! He proceeded to demonstrate how the method works, on me. What could I say? Uh, well. Okay! I guess Ill be assigning an article about this to one of my writers real soon. (And thanks for opening my eyes and mind!)
I also had a reader tell me that she loves WDJ, but is sometimes uncomfortable with what she perceives as an anti-veterinarian bias in our articles. Wow. Thats certainly not anything we feel. We rely on and appreciate the contributions of committed, creative veterinarians so much that I feel I should apologize, whether or not that reader is right. And Ill certainly look out for any traces of this in the future.
Few issues in veterinary medicine are as controversial as the debate about administering annual vaccinations to our dogs. Long considered part of the standard of baseline, responsible veterinary healthcare, and credited with conquering some of the fiercest canine viral and other infectious diseases, vaccinations now are also suspected of creating vulnerability to illnesses and chronic conditions such as anemia, arthritis, seizures, allergies, gastrointestinal and thyroid disorders, and cancer.
As we’ve previously discussed in numerous articles, few people advocate refraining from the use of vaccinations altogether, but increasing numbers of veterinary experts recommend administering fewer vaccines to our dogs than was suggested in recent years. The current wisdom is to vaccinate our animal companions enough, but not too much.
Does this seem a little arbitrary? It could, especially since the veterinary profession lacks complete information about exactly how long the effects of canine vaccines last. (We bet you thought that most vaccines “last” about a year, which is why you are supposed to bring your dog to the vet for more shots every year, right? Well, you’re wrong, and we’ll explain why below.)
Fortunately, there is a tool that veterinarians and dog owners can use to determine whether or not a dog really needs further vaccination at any given time. It’s called a “titer test,” and it’s readily available, not terribly expensive, and offers multiple advantages over the practices (intentional or not) of over-vaccination and under-vaccination.
To understand what a titer test is and what it can do for you and your dog, you need a little background information about vaccinations and their use in this country.
History of “recommended vaccine schedules”
As lifesaving vaccines for various canine diseases have been developed over the last 50 years, veterinarians and dog owners gladly embraced them. Many diseases were prevented, and a new industry was born. Like any industry, it soon set about making itself indispensable. Increasingly, veterinarians were sold on the concept that if some vaccines are good, more are better – for their patients and their bottom line. So it came to pass that for decades, vets followed the label recommendations directing that canine vaccines be administered annually.
In the late 1970s, a deadly parvovirus epidemic killed thousands of dogs and wiped out whole litters of puppies, eventually halted by the mass administration of the parvovirus vaccine. This episode emphasized the important role of vaccinations in canine healthcare and labeled veterinarians who challenged the annual administration of vaccines as mutinous.
And there was, in fact, a small population of insurgent veterinarians who had doubts about the necessity of frequent vaccination. Many holistic practitioners – who often see patients with complex, mystifying symptoms of poor health, patients who have not been helped or even diagnosed by conventionally trained veterinarians – suspected a link between vaccines and immune disorders. In their minds, it was easy to surmise that there might be a connection between agents that are designed to provoke an immune response and their patients’ poor or inappropriate immune responses.
But while drug companies are motivated to fund studies that can develop more vaccines they can sell for a profit, they are understandably disinclined to spend money on studies that may discover their products’ potential for harm, or how few vaccines our companion animals really need for disease protection. As a result, only anecdotal evidence provided by “vaccine rebels” – owners and veterinarians who either do not vaccinate or vaccinate on a reduced schedule – seemed to suggest that dogs and cats might be better off receiving fewer vaccines. But until recently there was little scientific evidence that supported this idea, perhaps none that was accepted in the conventional university veterinarian research community.
Then, in the early 1990s, laboratory researchers at the University of Pennsylvania noticed a connection between the marked increase in the number of sarcomas, or cancerous tumors, under the skin at the site of rabies vaccine administration in cats. Later, researchers at the University of California at Davis noted that feline leukemia vaccines seemed to cause the same results. Taken aback by the inflammatory nature of the animals’ reaction to the vaccines, veterinary researchers began to suspect that immediate reactions to vaccinations, delayed reactions to vaccinations, or the combined effects of multiple vaccinations, could be risk factors for other ailments and chronic diseases in cats and dogs.
As vaccines and their long-term effects became a (at least minor) topic of mainstream veterinary interest, one small but important fact came to light: there is no universally accepted “standard vaccination protocol” that has the approval of say, the American Veterinary Medical Association and/or the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. The prevailing vaccination recommendations and schedules that most veterinarians and veterinary colleges recommend have been based on the research and suggestions of the manufacturers – not on independent scientific research. This point had long been recognized by the vaccine rebels, but disregarded by most conventional veterinarians.
Why more is not better
Jean Dodds, DVM, a highly respected veterinary hematologist, and founder and president of the nonprofit Hemopet, a California-based animal blood bank, pioneered the vaccine debate decades ago and is now considered one of the leading authorities on canine vaccine protocols. According to Dr. Dodds, many recent studies confirm that the vast majority of dogs, in most cases at least 95 percent of the subjects, retain immunity after vaccination for many years after the administration of a vaccine. She states that the “evidence implicating vaccines in triggering immune-mediated and other chronic disorders (vaccinosis) is compelling.”
Adverse reactions to conventional vaccines can be the same as reactions to any chemicals, drugs, or infectious agents. Immediate (or anaphylactic) reactions can occur in the 24-48 hours following exposure to the vaccine. Delayed reactions can occur 10-45 days after receiving vaccines. Symptoms include fever, stiffness, sore joints, abdominal tenderness, nervous sys-tem disorders, susceptibility to infections, and hemorrhages or bruising. Transient seizures can appear in puppies and adults.
More long-term harmful effects can result in permanent damage to the dog’s immune system, which increases the dog’s susceptibility to chronic, debilitating diseases affecting the blood, endocrine organs, joints, skin, central nervous system, liver, kidneys, and bowel.
In addition, vaccines can overwhelm a chronically ill dog, or a dog that has a genetic predisposition to react adversely to viral exposure, even from the modified live viral agents or killed virus in vaccines.
So, given the possible health risks of administering too many vaccines, especially when a dog likely retains the immunologic protection supplied by previous vaccinations, how can a responsible dog owner decide on a safe and effective vaccine schedule for the life of their dog? As we suggested earlier, the answer is titer tests.
Understanding titer tests
The term “titer” refers to the strength or concentration of a substance in a solution. When testing vaccine titers in dogs, a veterinarian takes a blood sample from a dog and has the blood tested for the presence and strength of the dog’s immunological response to a viral disease. If the dog demonstrates satisfactory levels of vaccine titers, the dog is considered sufficiently immune to the disease, or possessing good “immunologic memory,” and not in need of further vaccination against the disease at that time.
Titer tests do not distinguish between the immunity generated by vaccination and that generated by natural exposure to disease agents. A dog may have developed immunity to a viral disease by receiving a vaccine against the disease, by being exposed to the disease in the natural environment and conquering it, sometimes without having demonstrated any symptoms of exposure to the disease, or by a combination of the two.
Therefore, titer tests really measure both the “priming of the pump” that comes from vaccines, and the immunity resulting from natural exposure to disease during a dog’s lifetime. Only an indoor dog that has been totally sequestered from the natural environment is likely to have developed all of its immunity from vaccinations.
Although the magnitude of immunity protection received by vaccination only is usually lower than by vaccination plus exposure, it doesn’t matter how your dog developed its strong immunity to specific viral diseases, as long as the immunity is present. By “titering” annually, a dog owner can assess whether her dog’s immune response has fallen below adequate levels. In that event, an appropriate vaccine booster can be administered.
Which titers tests?
Some dog owners, aware that there are dozens of vaccines available, are concerned that they would need to order titer tests for each vaccine. Actually, measuring the titers for just two vaccines, according to Dr. Dodds, can offer the dog owner a reliable “picture” of the dog’s immunological status. Good immunity to canine parvovirus (CPV) and canine distemper virus (CDV), she says, indicates proper “markers for the competence of the dog’s immune system.”
Although the laboratories will also perform vaccine titer tests for other canine diseases, such as coronavirus and Lyme, Dr. Dodds deems these tests a waste of money. Protection from coronavirus, Dr. Dodds explains, depends on the current state of health of the dog’s gastrointestinal tract, not on what’s in the dog’s blood, so serum tests are not conclusive. Lyme is regionally based and not a significant threat to the general canine population, so only dogs in a high-risk environment need titer testing for Lyme.
Dr. Dodds emphasizes that titer testing is not a “guess” at immunological response in a dog; when dealing with CDV and CDP, there is absolute correlation between certain high titer values and what is frequently referred to as “protection” from the diseases in question. In this case, the animal’s owner and veterinarian can feel quite confident that the animal possesses sufficient resources for fighting off a disease challenge.
When the tests reveal that the animal has borderline or low titer values, the owner and veterinarian should consider revaccinating and then testing the titers again. It may turn out that the animal simply needed a booster to stimulate a stronger immune response. Or, maybe the people involved learn that the animal lacks the ability to respond normally to vaccines, that is, by mounting a proper immune response. In this case, the owner and veterinarian have gained very valuable information about the dog’s compromised immune status – information they never would have gained by simply vaccinating and assuming the dog was “protected” as is usually the case with healthy dogs.
As you can see, in reality, simply administering vaccines to dogs every year is more of a guessing game than using titer tests to learn about the dog’s immune competence. Studies worldwide support titer test results as comprehensive information about a dog’s immunological response capabilities.
Now more affordable
Because the more widely recognized benefits of titer testing have caused an increase in the number of titer tests performed at veterinary laboratories, the price is coming down and the tests are available from a wide range of providers.
Veterinary laboratories offer traditional vaccine titer testing by looking at a blood sample from a dog and identifying a specific level of actual immunity in the dog. Reputable laboratories use commonly accepted immunological techniques that have been validated against original test techniques and found to be accurate. Be certain your veterinarian sends blood samples to a major professional veterinary laboratory such as Antech Diagnostics (www.antechdiagnostics.com), Idexx Laboratories (www.idexx.com), Vita-Tech Laboratories (www.vita-tech.com), or one of the major university veterinary laboratories, including Cornell, Colorado State, Michigan State, Tufts, and Texas A&M.
In early spring 2002, Synbiotics Corporation, a San Diego-based manufacturer of diagnostic materials and instrumentation for the veterinary market, rolled out an innovative tool that should make titer testing even more readily available and affordable. TiterCHEKTM is the first in-office titer test licensed by the USDA for use in veterinary clinics. TiterCHEKTM tests titers for canine parvovirus and canine distemper virus, registering the degree of strength of the immune response in varying color shades. If the test results denote a weak immune response level, blood samples can be sent to a veterinary laboratory for more comprehensive testing. Dr. Dodds estimates that more than 95 percent of in-office tests will indicate a satisfactory immune response present in a dog that has received its puppy vaccinations and one-year boosters, so follow-up is rarely required.
Expect to pay your veterinarian from $40 to $100 for CDV and CPV titer testing from a laboratory, and slightly less for an in-office test, for which your veterinarian must purchase the TiterCHEKTM test kit.
Resisting vaccine titer testing
As practicing clinicians, veterinarians are hesitant to adjust any clinical regimen they have adopted until they see research study data that they judge to be functional and applicable in the real world. Many veterinarians resisted rethinking the annual canine vaccine regimen based upon the early findings of researchers.
However, the increased evidence linking over-vaccination to acute and chronic diseases in dogs has finally caused a mainstream conviction that vaccination protocols are not a one-size-fits-all healthcare decision. Indeed, Dr. Dodds, once considered a rebel by the veterinary profession, now speaks to standing-room-only audiences at the most prestigious professional conferences in the country.
The perceived need for annual vaccinations used to motivate many dog owners to make appointments with their veterinarians for their dog’s annual wellness checkup. Veterinarians now hope that annual titer tests will perform a similar function. Having your dog examined by a veterinarian at least once a year is critically important for detecting, preventing, and treating any diseases or other ailments as early as possible. Adding the ability to check your dog’s immunological health and custom-tailor his vaccine schedule to his actual needs will impressively augment this important task.
It has been estimated that only about 60 percent of pet dogs receive the minimum disease prevention vaccination protocol. Ironically, in an attempt to provide their beloved animal companions with the best possible care, many highly motivated owners arrange for their dogs to receive several times the necessary dose of vaccinations, to the point of risking the adverse effects of over-vaccination on the health of the dog’s immune system.
Consumers who do care about managing the effectiveness of their dog’s immune system against the most dangerous canine viral diseases now have the means to do so without risking their dog’s health in the process. When you and your dog visit your veterinarian for an annual checkup, take the titer test.
Lorie Long is a frequent contributor to WDJ. She lives in North Carolina with two Border Terriers, Dash (a three-year-old female and agility queen) and Chase (a five-month-old male with an agility future).
Everybody knows that early detection and treatment of disease is vital for a quick and successful recovery. That’s why humans and their canine companions are supposed to see their doctors at least annually for a complete physical examination.
Of course, if a human happens to notice a strange lump or other abnormality on his own body, he can (and should) get on the phone and make an appointment to see his doctor right away. The doc could check out the abnormality, and either put the person’s mind to rest that it is nothing to worry about, or order tests and/or treatment.
In contrast, if a dog happens to develop a lump or other abnormality, it might take quite a bit of time before anyone notices it – least of all, the dog! And, unfortunately, there are numerous health conditions that can develop and present a real danger to your dog in between annual veterinary examinations.
The good news is that you can detect many early signs of disease if you know how. By performing a quick but methodical monthly physical on your dog, you can monitor ongoing problems (or things that may become problems) and be alerted to any new issues. This examination can take as little as 10 minutes, helps you and your dog bond, prepares him for veterinary attention – and, if he is developing a dangerous health condition, it just may help save his life.
Do the same thing
It’s best to follow a consistent routine, so your dog becomes comfortable and relaxed with the procedure, and to increase your familiarity with his body, lumps, bumps, and all. Write out and follow a short outline, to remind yourself about each part of the dog’s body you want to check.
It would be ideal to devote a small notebook to chronicling the results of your examinations, as well as your veterinarian’s findings. Dated notes about any abnormalities can help your vet diagnose or monitor ongoing problems.
While the monthly examination should take only about 10 minutes, allow for half an hour or so for the first exam, so you can write a brief descriptive note about the location and appearance of each abnormality you find. This will serve as a baseline from which you can compare any new developments. Try to describe each finding in terms you will immediately understand the next time you undertake the exam. For example, if your dog has a growth on her eyelid, try to think of something that is the same size, and note the comparison: “Growth on left side of right eyelid, about the size of the head of a pin but oval-shaped. Same color as her skin.”
Sit in a well-lighted area for optimum viewing. Make sure both you and your dog are comfortable and relaxed. Gather all the materials you need so you don’t have to get up several times. A good supply of treats for rewarding cooperation and a notebook and pen are the bare minimum. You can add some ear cleaner, cotton balls, a thermometer, and a watch with a second hand and a stethoscope, if you want your exam to be as complete as possible.
We recommend starting your examination at the front of the dog and working your way back.
Mouth
To check your dog’s mouth, start by rolling her upper lip back. You want to see clean, white, whole teeth and nice pink gums, and the dog’s breath should be tolerable. If you see a dark or brown tooth, rub it with your finger to determine whether it is simply discolored or whether it is caked with calculus. A buildup of tartar will result in inflammation of the gums, called gingivitis, which will make the gumline appear a darker red color along the teeth.
A buildup of tartar, especially if the dog is already showing signs of gingivitis, should prompt you to make an appointment with your veterinarian for a teeth-cleaning, because the periodontal disease that can result from tartar buildup and gingivitis can profoundly affect a dog’s health.
According to Frank Verstraete, DVM, and a Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College, periodontal disease can cause bacteria and toxins to enter the bloodstream with potentially destructive effects on the dog’s internal organs. Conversely, overall poor health may exacerbate periodontal disease.
In addition to tartar accumulation and gingivitis, you should also look for any broken or cracked teeth. Like humans, dogs have highly sensitive tissue (pulp) inside their teeth, and if a tooth cracks or breaks, exposing the pulp, the dog can suffer excruciating pain and distress. If you find any broken or cracked teeth, you should have your dog seen by his veterinarian as soon as possible for treatment.
Any unusual tissue growth in the mouth should also trigger a call to your veterinarian. Oral cancer is fairly common in dogs, but can be treated successfully if caught in its early stages. Oral tumors may appear as a prominent mass, or as an ulcerated sore that just won’t heal.
Old dogs may have teeth that are worn right down to the gumline. Generally, this condition does not cause a dog any pain or sensitivity or result in infection. Unless the dog’s breath is very bad, the gums around the worn teeth are very red, or he exhibits sensitivity when you press on the teeth, this is not cause for alarm. Ask your veterinarian what he thinks about the teeth at your dog’s next annual examination.
Nose
The saying that a dog’s nose should always be wet and cold is just an old wives’ tale. In the course of a normal day, a dog’s nose will vary quite a bit, from warm and dry, to wet and cold, and other possible combination. Seasonal temperature and humidity changes may affect your dog’s nose as they do yours; you just want to check your dog’s nose for discharge that’s more than transient, again noting any changes from the usual.
That said, if your dog’s nose is always dry and cracked, scabbed, crusty, or raw, he should be seen by your veterinarian. There are numerous dermatological conditions that can cause the nose to appear this way, and most of them will worsen without treatment. A thick or greenish discharge could indicate your dog has a respiratory infection or a foreign body in his nose or sinus.
Eyes
Bright, clear eyes are a sign of good health in any species. There are several conditions that can cause dogs to develop cloudy eyes as they age; ask your veterinarian what condition is causing your dog’s eyes to cloud at your dog’s next annual exam. Then, just monitor the progress of the clouding.
Check for growths on your dog’s eyelids. Briefly lift the dog’s upper eyelid to look at the sclera, the white part of the eye. While some blood vessels may be visible, the sclera should be nice and white. Scleral injection, or colored sclera, could indicate metabolic changes. Yellow sclera may indicate jaundice, an indicator of liver dysfunction. These signs, or blood vessels that suddenly appear larger than normal, are things you should ask your vet about at your dog’s annual exam.
Many dogs – especially breeds with bulgy eyes – have more or less constant “tearing” or eye secretions. This is not a cause for concern, but any sudden change in the amount or quality of the tears should be investigated. If your dog suddenly begins to rub at her eyes, if the lids become red and inflamed, or if the discharge becomes thick or green, your vet will need to examine her. These signs may indicate something as trivial as seasonal allergies or blocked tear ducts, something that requires a quick surgical procedure (such as inward-growing eyelashes or turned-in eyelids), or something that may require ongoing treatment, such as glaucoma or keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS, or “dry eye”).
Ears
Dogs with upright or sparsely furred ears seldom seem to have “hidden” problems with their ears, but breeds with ears that hang down or have lots of hair on, in, and/or around them seem to suffer lots of ear infections. You want to lift the ear and find pink, clean, non-smelly ears. In contrast, discharge, lots of waxy dirt, and strong smells could indicate foreign bodies or infection, changes that need further veterinary attention.
If your dog frequently has goopy ears, you should clean the outer parts of the ear with some soft cotton balls and a commercial ear cleaner to prevent a buildup that can cause infection. For routine ear care, we especially like gentle cleaners such as Halo’s “Natural Herbal Ear Wash” (www.halopets.com) and Ark Naturals’ “Ears All Right Gentle Ear Cleaning Lotion” (www.arknaturals.com). Both of these products may be found in or ordered from better pet supply stores or health food stores. They contain herbs that soothe irritated, inflamed skin and seem to promote a healthy ear environment.
Dogs with long or thick hair can sometimes develop mats behind their ears, which can interfere with the normal movement of their ears or cause a sore on the skin. Check the hair around the back of the ears carefully, and clip away any mats you find.
Body
Checking the body of a dog with a short coat is a lot easier than a thick- or long-haired one. Thin-coated dogs such as Weimaraners or German Shorthaired Pointers are easy to stroke, feeling with the fingers for any bumps, changes in the normal musculature, and sensitive spots.
On dogs with long or thick coats, you will have to proceed more slowly, deliberately feeling every inch of the dog’s neck, shoulders, back, ribs, abdomen, and back legs. Pay special attention to places that are difficult to see, such as the armpits, under the tail, and under the dog’s collar. As you progress, look and feel for bumps, swellings, lumps, or hardenings.
Lumps and bumps can be any number of things, including benign, slow-growing fatty tumors or fast-growing malignant tumors. By making a note of the location, size, and growth rate of the lump, you’ll be able to give your veterinarian good information so he can decide whether or not urgent removal of the lump might be necessary.
As you palpate your dog’s body, remove any plant materials, such as burrs, sandspurs, foxtails, or other stickers that may be lodged in your pet’s coat. All of these stickers can cause matting or migrate through the dog’s coat, irritating ears, noses, toes, and “armpits.” If not removed, these plant materials may cause local, then systemic infection.
Little bumps may be revealed to be ticks, biting parasites that can transmit Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Fortunately for us, the insects take their time finding attachment sites, and even then, take a while to inject the disease vector. Comb through your dog’s hair to spot and remove loose ticks as soon as possible after a hike or walk.
Attached ticks can be removed with a pair of tweezers or a special tick-removing tool, by grasping it firmly as close as possible to the dog’s skin. Look carefully at the tick after you’ve removed it; if it appears to be missing its head, keep an eye on the site of attachment on the dog for a week or two, using dilute Betadine solution or other antiseptic scrub to ward off infection.
Feet
Examine each one of your dog’s paws individually. Hold each paw in both of your hands, spreading the toes to look and feel in between them. This is a common location for sores caused by stickers or aggravated by excessive licking. Turn her foot to see the pads, feeling for invasive stickers or unusual roughness.
If your dog has long hair on her feet, make sure you pull it back and take a good look at her nails. Many long-haired dogs develop excessively long nails, because no one looks closely enough to realize they need to be clipped. If your dog has dewclaws – the little vestigial “toes” high on the inside of his ankles – be sure to check the nails on them to ensure they are not too long. Because these nails don’t come in contact with the ground, they will sometimes grow inward and irritate the dog’s skin.
If you don’t regularly trim your dog’s nails, you should at least take him to a groomer every month or so to have someone else trim them. But it’s not that difficult to do yourself. See our review of various nail clipping tools in “You Nailed It!” WDJ February 1999, and directions on how to train your dog to tolerate nail trimming on page 22 of this issue.
Under the tail
Last, but not least, run your hands over and around the rump area, and down the tail. This is a private area, and some dogs don’t relish having their anal area examined. Lift the tail and look for redness, irritation, swelling, or other signs that your dog is paying unusual attention or licking a reddened area on or near the genitals or anus.
If you see little white things that resemble grains of cooked white rice, remove them with a paper towel (or wearing rubber gloves) and dispose of them. Then, go ask your veterinarian for a dewormer. The little white things are tapeworm eggs. Dogs acquire tapeworms by ingesting fleas, usually in the act of biting themselves in an effort relieve itching fleabites. To thoroughly control tapeworms, you must control fleas. (See “Eliminate Fleas Without Poisons: Integrated Pest Management,” WDJ March 2002.)
Methodical approach is best
Many of us are shocked when we take our dogs to the veterinarian and she points out troubling signs of disease or illness. “My gosh,” we are embarrassed to admit, “I never noticed that!” We feel even worse to learn that the dog’s condition could have been prevented or treated much more easily had it been discovered earlier.
By looking closely at your whole animal on a regular basis, singular physical, attitudinal, or behavioral changes should be more noticeable to you, which can help you and your vet narrow down potential sources of problems. By consistently and routinely examining their pet, establishing a health baseline of normal for that individual, guardians may be able to further narrow down the timing and physical origin of problems.
-by Susan Eskew
Susan Eskew is a freelance writer (and wife of a veterinarian) currently living in North Carolina. She wishes to thank Kristen Chaney, a senior veterinary student at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a community practice help-line volunteer, and Kim Hombs, DVM, a holistic veterinarian from Charlotte, NC, for their help in preparing this article.
Hang around with dogs long enough, and sooner or later you’re likely to encounter a dogfight.
It might be a battle over resources – food, toys, territory, or your attention – or one dog taking offense at another’s physical communication style. It could be a struggle for position within the social status hierarchy, or simply a matter of a dog being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Perhaps it’s a case of redirected aggression – Fido really wanted to attack the stray dog on the other side of the fence but couldn’t get to him, so he turned on Snoopy instead. Or you may have the misfortune of experiencing one of the most frightening dogfight scenarios – when an aggressive stray dog attacks yours while the two of you are taking a simple walk on leash around the block.
It pays to think about what you would do if a strange dog attacked your dog when you were out walking together – before an attack actually happens. If you are mentally prepared and equipped with some kind of tool that can help, the odds are good that you will be able to get you and your dog away from trouble without injury.
Dogs fight. Despite the genetic programming that generally allows dogs to live harmoniously in groups, from time to time the harmony is shattered and a real fight occurs. When it does, it can be terrifying and dangerous – to the humans as well as the canines who get involved in the fracas.
Your first instinctive response may be to yell at the top of your lungs to try to break up the battle. Your second is often to reach in and attempt to bodily rescue your canine pal – especially if it appears he is getting the worst of it. Neither of these actions is likely to be effective. Yelling often adds fuel to the stress and arousal that led to the fight in the first place, and only intensifies the battle. Reaching into the fray more often than not results in your receiving multiple lacerations – sometimes inflicted by your own dog, who is too engaged in the battle to recognize or respect his own person’s hand, arm, or face.
Of course, you can’t just stand back and watch when a ferocious dogfight is in progress, especially if your tiny teacup Poodle is getting mauled by a Mastiff. So, what should you do?
Dog Fight Prevention: Manage and Train Your Dog
I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve said this, but as always, prevention beats cure. It is imperative that you manage and train your own canine family to minimize the risk of serious dogfights. Identify situations that are likely to light the dogfight fuse, such as fence-fighting or resource guarding, and figure out how to avoid them and/or modify the behavior that causes them.
In addition, you must establish a calm home atmosphere. Dogs who live in a structured environment – where it is clear which behaviors are allowed and which are not – are much more likely to live in harmony than those who live in homes where chaos reigns. Something as simple as requiring all dogs to sit politely before the door is opened to the backyard can help instill order in the pack and respect for you as the benevolent leader of the family.
It’s fine to allow your dog to play in groups at places like dog parks, daycare, and neighborhood dog romps, as long as you make sure that members of the social groups are appropriate playmates in terms of size, personality, and play style. Play group opportunities help to keep dogs well-socialized, which helps prevent dogfights.
Most dog parks have rules that require their canine park users to “be nice.” Politely ask human guardians of inappropriate members to remove their dogs from the group. If they refuse, remove your own dog(s), and report the offender to the users’ group or other authority responsible for monitoring dog park use. If your dog has trouble being “nice” around other dogs, then you will need to take a pass on these social outlets.
If you live in an area where aggressive stray dogs are common, request that your local animal services agency step up their patrol efforts so that you can safely walk your dog. If Animal Services is reluctant to step in, speak with your elected officials about what needs to be done to make the agency more responsive to community needs. If you can identify owners of the errant dogs and feel comfortable approaching them, explain that their dogs are causing problems, and politely ask them to keep the dogs at home where they belong.
Protecting Your Dog Against Other Dogs’ Aggression
You can’t always predict and prevent incidents of serious dog-dog aggression. You can, however, be prepared to intervene safely to protect your dog – and yourself – should the necessity arise. Familiarize yourself with various tools and techniques that have the greatest chance of successfully quelling doggie disputes with the least injury to all parties. Then determine which are most appealing to you, and be sure to have them on hand (and in your head) should the time come when you need them.
These tools and techniques range from small and simple to big and bold. It is important to remember that none of them are foolproof; they all involve some inherent risk to the dogs who are fighting and to the humans who are trying to intervene, and they all can be applied with varying degrees of success. You will need to weigh the odds and decide, in each case, if the risk outweighs the potential for injury from the fight itself.
The topic of breaking up dogfights came up recently during a discussion between Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) members, and generated an interesting list of suggestions. Let’s look at some of them and see how useful they might be (or not!) for the average dog on the street.
Avoiding Dog Fights Altogether
Prevention means making wise decisions about dog husbandry that will keep you in the best position to avoid dangerous conflict.
Beverly Hebert, of Sugar Land, Texas, no longer walks both of her German Shepherds at the same time, so she can better manage a situation if it does arise. She realized that having more than one dog on leash puts her at an impossible disadvantage if she and her canine friends are approached by an unfriendly dog – or pack. She feels much more confident about her ability to use appropriate tools and techniques to protect one dog than two.
While shopping for a plain umbrella that we could paint big eyes on (to make a scary or surprising aversive), we found this umbrella in a children’s clothes shop.
She also tries to use good sense about when and where to walk her dogs. She says, “When we were on vacation with our dogs in Taos, New Mexico, my husband wanted to go for walks with the dogs down a mountainside road in an area filled with dogs. He thought I was a ‘Nervous Nellie’ because I wouldn’t do that, but every time we passed a home with no fence and a loose dog I heaved a sigh of relief that our dogs weren’t with us.”
Using Aversives to Stop Dog Fights
Aversives are tools that a dog finds offensive to the senses – smells, sounds, and other stimuli that are strong enough to stop a behavior. In general, aversives can be most effective if used to interrupt fighting dogs prior to full arousal in an altercation; their effectiveness decreases as arousal levels increase, although they may still succeed in stopping many full-scale fights. Aversives should also be considered primarily a tool for crisis intervention – I don’t recommend using them as basic training tools.
Marni Fowler, of Gainesville, Florida, reminds us that blasting dogs with water from a nearby hose is a tried and true method of separating fighting dogs. She’s right – and it often works – assuming a hose happens to be nearby with a powerful enough spray to do the job. A good tool to keep in your arsenal for the right time and place – like your own yard. Not particularly useful, however, when there’s no hose handy!
One of the easily-portable aversive sprays, such as Direct Stop™ (citronella) or Halt!™ (pepper spray) might be an effective alternative to the hose. Of the two, Direct Stop, available from Premier, is the safer choice, since pepper spray products are more corrosive, and the spray can drift and affect innocent bystanders – humans as well as dogs. There are laws in some jurisdictions requiring that users of pepper spray products complete a training course and carry a permit. In a pinch, even a fire extinguisher, while not easily portable, might just happen to be a handy and effective aversive tool.
Debi Davis, of Tucson, Arizona, trains service dogs from her wheelchair, and is always accompanied by one or more of her own service-trained Papillions. The dogfight topic is of great interest to her, both because her dogs are small and more vulnerable than many others, and because her own mobility and ability to protect them is limited.
Davis has an air horn attached to her chair that makes 10 different sounds, including sirens, horns, barnyard animals, etc., and she can crank the sound up to a deafening level. Air horns (available at boating supply stores) can be effective at warding off attacking dogs, but your own dog has to be desensitized to the cacophony, or you are likely to lose him as well! You can also risk damage to eardrums, both canine and human, and you do take a chance of frightening your own dog beyond repair.
Nicole Wilde, of Gentle Guidance in Santa Clarita, California, says that she had good success most of the time with air horns when she worked at a doggie daycare center several years ago. Wilde says they were quite effective in breaking up fights in a majority of the cases.
Using Physical Objects to Stop Dog Fights
A number of trainers suggested intervention with a physical object of some kind. If fights are a regular problem in your household you might attach a handle to a sheet of plywood so you can lower it between two sparring dogs and force them apart.
Dogfighters – and some pitbull owners who don’t fight their dogs but know the breed’s potential – carry a “parting stick” or “break stick” with them wherever they go with their dogs. This is usually a carved or whittled hammer handle, tapered to a rounded point at one end. When two dogs are locked in combat, the parting stick can be forced between a dog’s teeth and turned sideways, to pry open the jaws. Parting sticks can break a dog’s teeth, and a dog whose jaws have just been “parted” may turn on the person doing the parting. Like many other techniques offered here, this method should only be considered for dire emergencies.
A blanket can also be a useful tool. Tossed over the fighters (one over each works best), it muffles outside stimuli, thereby reducing arousal. This also allows the humans to reach in and physically separate the combatants by picking up the wrapped pooches with less risk of a serious bite – the blanket will also cushion the effect of teeth on skin if the dog does whirl and bite.
Laura Van Dyne, CPDT, of The Canine Consultant, LLC in Carbondale, Colorado, suggests a defensive technique she saw demonstrated at a conference by Trish King, Director of the Behavior and Training Department at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California. King paints big eyes and teeth in bright paint on an umbrella – the kind that explodes open at the touch of a button – them carries it, folded up, when walking in places where stray dogs are a threat. When an aggressive dog approaches, whoosh!, the “Defend-A-Brella” leaps into action and wards off the threat. You would, of course, need to desensitize your own dogs to the umbrella action prior to using it in real life. This is not as likely to stop a fight in progress, but may well forestall an attack from an approaching dog.
Keep in mind that your goal is to avoid getting bitten, at all costs. Dog bites can cause pain and deep bruising (as seen above in the picture of a week-old bite on the forearm) as well as nerve damage and other long-term effects.
Janet Smith, Behavior Program Manager for the Capital Area Humane Society in Lansing, Michigan, offers a somewhat drastic technique, reminding us that when a dog’s life and limb are at stake, drastic measures may be called for. Smith says, “You can wrap a leash around the aggressor’s neck or get hold of a collar and twist to cut off the dog’s airflow, until he lets go to try to get a breath of air, then pull the dogs apart.”
Of course, this could be more difficult than it sounds. It might be a challenge to get a leash around the neck of a dog who is “attached” by the mouth to another dog without getting your hands in harm’s way, and grabbing a collar to twist also puts hands in close proximity to teeth.
Using Your Body to Intervene a Dog Fight
Jackie McGowan, of Click Start Dog Training in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, attended a seminar given by Turid Rugaas, and reports that the highly respected Norwegian trainer had few suggestions for magic techniques for breaking up fights. According to McGowan, Rugaas said that she usually gives dogs a chance to work it out, but if it is apparent that this is not going to happen, she will try and walk between and/or gently pull one dog away by his collar. Rugaas also cautioned seminar attendees that she would not recommend this to others handling a fight because the risk of injury to the human is high.
Carla Baker of A to Z Training in Olympia, Washington, recalls a rather drastic technique she observed in action at a dog show some 20 years ago. “Two dogs got into it and were going to cause some major damage,” Baker says. “The elderly judge was a very tiny woman, and she had the handlers both grab their dogs and hold on tight. Then she went up and took the dog on top by the tail and jammed her thumb up his rectum. He let go in an instant and whirled around to see what the heck was happening. The judge excused the two dogs, calmly washed her hands, and then continued her classes without a hitch – just as if it happened every day.
“Don’t know that I’d try this myself,” Baker concluded, “but it sure did work!”
Valerie Poulton, of Val’s Good Dogs in Omaha, Nebraska, offers one more approach to physical intervention; one that could be a little difficult if the aggressor is a 150-pound St. Bernard, but sounds worth trying with a smaller dog. This method was demonstrated at Poulton’s training club last year by author and trainer, Suzanne Clothier. Poulton has since tried it herself and reports that it worked for her on two separate occasions with her own dog – but only in a one-on-one dog brawl; she would not recommend it in a multi-dog fight situation.
“Lift the rear of the clearly-identified aggressor so that he is suspended with his forefeet barely touching the ground,” Poulton explains. “The dog lets go, and the target can scoot free. ”
Poulton cautions that her dog is dog-aggressive only, and will not turn on a human. “Supposedly, in this position the dog is not able to turn on the human suspending him, although I cannot say I have used it with a dog who might try.”
Equipment for Dog Fight Break-Ups
Now, all you need to do is stuff a canister of Direct Stop in your pocket, hang an umbrella over your arm, attach a parting stick to your belt, carry a blanket over your other arm, balance a sheet of plywood on your head, wear an air horn around your neck, and be sure you have at least two friends with you to hold dogs while you put your thumb in private places, and you are ready for anything.
Seriously, if and when that next fight happens, take a deep breath, resist your instincts to yell or leap in the middle of the fray, quickly review your available options, and choose the one – or ones – that are most likely to work in that place and time. When the fight is over and no one is being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, remember to take a moment to relax and breathe, and then congratulate yourself for your quick thinking.
1. Train your own dogs to respond to your cues, even in the face of a chaotic melee.
2. When walking your dog, or when playing with him at leash-free parks, carry some tool (umbrella, etc.) that you feel comfortable with and capable of using in case of an emergency. The tool you choose should be suited to the environment; pepper spray is not appropriate for use in dog parks, but perfect for defending yourself from the stray fighting dogs that wander in some urban neighborhoods.
Years ago, I had high hopes for participating in dock diving sport with my now-9-year-old dog, Woody. But it turned out that my high-jumping, strong-swimming dog absolutely hates getting water in his ears!
