There doesnt seem to be any limit to what people will do for their canine companions. Ive heard stories about people paying hundreds of dollars for oil portraits of their dogs, thousands of dollars to put braces on their dogs teeth, and millions of dollars for a building dedicated in their deceased dogs memory. Why have we become so dog crazy?
The results of a survey of North American pet owners were published recently by the American Animal Hospital Association. Their numbers confirmed the fact that dogs are climbing the family tree. To wit:
76 percent of respondents feel guilty when leaving their pet at home.
41 percent of pet owners take their dog on vacation with them; 61 percent include them in holiday celebrations.
18 percent have provisions for their animals in their wills.
Why do we care so much?
Its got to be because they do.
As a species, dogs give and give and give. Faced with such constant love and generosity, most people whole people cant help but come around to their example.
I subscribe to a service that sends me stories about dogs in the news. Every day I read articles about dogs that have made a difference in the lives of the people around them.
Some of them are ordinary friendly dogs like Twiggy, a young Beagle mix and the delight of six mentally disabled women who live together in a group home in Lauderhill, Florida. The residents happily share the responsibility of caring for Twiggy, taking turns walking and feeding her. Twiggy joins them on the couch, treats them to plenty of doggy smooches and attends family meetings. Its easy for disabled people to get accustomed to being taken care of, say their counselors, whereas caring for another living being has motivated the women to start taking better care of themselves and their home, at least partly so they can spend more time with Twiggy.
Some dogs, like Chocolate Chip, a 10-month-old Dalmatian, bring special abilities to the relationship. Chip was trained to warn her people about a family members impending epileptic seizures. In her first week on the job at the home of Shanna Wilson, a five-year-old girl living in Statesville, Tennessee, Chip alerted Shannas mother to an impending seizure, so she was ready to assist Shanna.
Witness Luke, a three-year-old Golden Retriever in Minneapolis, Minnesota who searches for people who wander away from home. Luke was especially trained to search in big-city settings after a relative of his owner was diagnosed with Alzheimers. He gets so excited when he finds somebody, says his owner, Twin Cities veterinarian Mary McCormick. I dont think theres anything that makes him happier.
I read about these dogs, and I think about Rupe, my own devoted canine companion, who faithfully follows me from room to room all day long, spending long, boring stretches under my computer table. Try as I might, I cant explain why the relationship between dogs and humans is so strong, any more than I can articulate why Rupe and I are so bonded.
All I know is, with a nudge of his nose under my elbow, at least 20 times a day, Rupe reminds me hes there if I need him.
And I find that I do!
Heres the bottom line: Dogs dont need running water in their dog houses or diamond-studded collars. They just need us to be there. And what better way to be there for our companion animals than to equip ourselves with the knowledge and understanding necessary to take optimal care of them? The simple ideas and techniques described in each monthly issue of The Whole Dog Journal will help you prevent disease from occurring, or stamp it out if our best efforts at health maintenance fails. Knowledge, understanding, awareness, sensitivity: They really are the best things you can give your dog.
Every dog owner knows that getting rid of fleas can be one of the biggest challenges of dog-keeping. Few people know, however, that the process can also be the most damaging to their dog’s health. Specifically, the use of insecticides on the dog and all around the dog’s environment can cause nerve and liver damage, impair the immune system, and even cause cancer. And you have to wonder – if these effects have been noted in dogs, what effects do all these toxins have on the people who live with the dogs?
It’s a real problem, because if you have fleas in your home, you have to do something. They can make your dog (and you and your family) miserable through their tiny but painful bites, as well as the allergic reactions that many people and dogs develop to flea saliva. They are prolific, producing thousands of eggs during their three- to four-month life-span. In ideal conditions the cycle takes just two weeks, from egg-laying to larvae to pupae to hatched fleas capable of laying eggs of their own.
The chemical approach to flea control can involve use of a panoply of toxic powders, shampoos, sprays, bombs, dips, and collars. Not incidentally, its probably the casual use and mixing of several of these products that can pose the biggest challenge to the dog’s health, as his body strives to deal with his exposure to several different types of toxins.
Toxic families
There are a few major types of chemicals most widely used in the war on fleas.
Organophosphates, most of which are readily absorbed through skin, eyes, stomach, and lungs, are among the most common pet insecticides and are responsible for the majority of pet poisonings. Initially, overexposure can result in salivation, involuntary defecation, urination, and vomiting. This can progress to ataxia (lack of balance), convulsions, teary eyes, slow heartbeat, and labored breathing.
Carbamates are the second-most common compound in flea-control products. The effects of exposure to carbamates are generally less severe than organophosphates, and carbamates do not accumulate in the tissues. Dogs who are overexposed to carbamates will exhibit many of the same symptoms of poisoning as the organophosphate-poisoned dogs. Long-term, the chemicals can cause lowered production of bone marrow and degeneration of the brain.
Organochlorines, a third major class of insecticides, are not as immediately toxic as the first two, but do accumulate in the tissues and persist in the environment for years. (DDT, an organochlorine, was banned in 1972 but is still found in 55 percent of Americans.) Poisoning with this chemical may stimulate the dog to exhibit exaggerated responses to light, touch, and sound. Spasms or tremors can progress to seizures and death. Yet another class of flea-killing chemicals, pyrethrins, are often labeled as “natural,” due to the source of the poison: the chrysanthemum flower. But despite their origins, pyrethrins are still potentially dangerous, and have caused allergic dermatitis as well as systemic allergic reactions, vomiting, headaches and other nervous system disturbances.
How toxic are these pesticides?
An estimated 20,000 people receive emergency care annually for actual or suspected pesticide poisoning, and approximately 10 percent of these are admitted to the hospital. Each year, 20-40 people die of acute pesticide poisoning in the U.S. Also in the United States, most episodes of acute occupational poisoning are due to organophosphate and carbamate insecticide exposure. And there’s no telling how many animals succumb to pesticide poisoning.
Each of the chemicals mentioned above are intended to kill fleas via direct contact. In recent years, the focus of development of flea-killing chemicals has been on substances that affect only the fleas that actually bite a treated dog. These substances, which are either applied to or fed to a dog, are intended to linger in the dog’s body without affecting his own chemistry, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to any flea that drinks his blood. While these chemicals are proving to be far less harmful than the older flea-killing substances, and conventional veterinarians enthusiastically encourage their use, many holistic practitioners are less enthusiastic about the drugs. (See “Should You Get With the Program?”)
Natural flea control
Fortunately, there are many natural, effective methods of controlling fleas widely recommended by both conventional and holistic veterinarians. The most successful approach will utilize several indoor and outdoor methods. A pesticide-free battle takes a little more time to win than one that utilizes deadly foggers and shampoos, but it has the advantage of not killing your dog. Regular flea-combing is the most direct and low-tech method, and it works as a good flea-population monitor, too. Pet supply stores sell the fine-toothed combs that pull fleas through the fur and trap them. The comb is then dipped in warm soapy water to remove and kill the fleas.
Since fleas spend only a portion of their time on the dog, and eggs, larvae and pupae, are likely to be found in any area where the dog lives, most of your flea-eradication efforts should concentrate on your home and yard. This may not be welcome news, but the safest way to get rid of fleas is through fastidious housekeeping.
The length of the flea’s life depends on environmental conditions, but it can live out its entire cycle in as little as three weeks or as much as six months. Female fleas are prolific, laying as many as 20 to 50 eggs per day for as much as three months. Development of the larvae that hatch out of the eggs takes place off the dog, usually on or near the dog’s bedding and resting areas. Concentrating your efforts on removing the opportunities for the eggs to develop is the most effective population control strategies.
One way to remove the eggs’ opportunities to develop is to remove the eggs, and to this end, your vacuum will be one of your most valuable tools in the flea war. Vacuum all the areas that your pet uses frequently, at least every two to three days. Since fleas locate their hosts by tracing the vibration caused by footsteps, vacuuming the most highly-trafficked hallways and paths in your house will be rewarding. Don’t forget to vacuum underneath cushions on the couches or chairs your dog sleeps on. Change vacuum bags frequently, and seal the bag’s contents safely in a plastic bag before disposing. Some people place flea collars in their vacuum bags, to kill any fleas or flea larvae they vacuum up; this is probably the safest application for the toxic plastics.
The dirt on dust
Some people use diatomaceous earth (also known as DE or Diatom Dust), a non-toxic powder more commonly used in swimming pool filters and as a garden soil amendment (the latter kind is the form used against fleas). The powder acts as a powerful desiccant on the waxy coating that covers fleas, technically dehydrating them to death. It also kills flea larvae. DE can be sprinkled onto carpets and swept across wood floors (so it works into the cracks in the wood).
A couple of cautions: because it consists of tiny, hard particles, it can contribute significantly to wearing down your carpets, and some carpet manufacturers’ warranties won’t insure the carpet if you use a desiccant powder. Also, neither you nor your dog should inhale the powder, which can physically (rather than chemically) damage the lungs. Use a dust respirator when applying.
There are a number of powders and sprays that utilize pungent herbs or essential oils intended to drive fleas away. Eucalyptus is a common ingredient, as is peppermint. But unless these products are used in an overwhelming concentration, or in combination with other remedies, they are unlikely to be effective.
If your dog habitually sleeps in one or two areas, or has a bed, cover those spots with a towel or a small, washable blanket. Immersion in water kills both eggs and developing flea larvae, so wash the bedding every other day or so. Some people keep two or three sets of towels for bedding so the dog’s favorite spot is always covered – keeping the trap set constantly, as it were, for flea eggs.
Wash uncarpeted floors at least once a week. Wood floors are especially important to wash well, since the larvae tend to burrow into cracks in the wood. Similarly, steam cleaners (used without chemicals) can kill flea eggs and larvae present in short carpets. You probably couldn’t (or wouldn’t want to) get thick rugs wet enough to kill the eggs, however.
Taking the war outside
Outdoors, it’s easier to use water to your advantage. Most dogs pick out a couple of spots in shady or protected areas where they spend most of their time in your yard. Fleas, too, like these shady spots; in fact, neither the adult fleas nor the larvae can survive very long in direct sunlight. It’s unnecessary, then, to worry about the lion’s share of the landscaping or lawn areas around your house. At least once a week, wash down the areas your dog uses for sleeping and resting.
Other safe tools you can use in the outdoor flea war are beneficial nematodes, tiny creatures that seek out and kill fleas. Several companies raise and sell the nematodes, which are strictly insectivorous and cannot harm humans, pets, plants, or the beneficial earthworms in your garden. Application of the nematodes is simple. About one million nematodes come packaged on a small sponge pad, about 2-3 inches square. The sponge is soaked in about a gallon of water, and then the water is sprayed over the area to be treated. The nematodes should be distributed at night or on a cloudy day, since they die if exposed to direct sunlight. They also work best in a moist environment, so watering the yard well for several weeks after application helps them do their job most efficiently.
Nematode sources include The Bug Store, (800) 455-2847, and Integrated Biocontrol Systems, Inc., (888) 793-IBCS. Both sources offer can take your order over the phone with a credit card, and provide overnight shipping. These companies suggest using about one million nematodes per every 2500 square feet of garden or yard. Does this sound like a lot? Don’t worry! Costs range between $1-15 per million, depending on the source and quantity purchased.
Good holistic health care fulfills the needs of the whole animal being, physically, mentally, and emotionally. A sound, well balanced diet (along with fresh, clean water), appropriate exercise, and proper behavioral education just about covers the bases.
Or does it? Health is individual. Many people consider their animals to be healthy as long as they aren’t sick, but to me, a healthy dog is happy and expressive, exuding resilience. Whether our animal companion denotes health with a gleaming eye, a flashing coat, and an athletic leap for a Frisbee, or a half cocked ear, sly grin, and thumping tail from the Barcalounger, we can best ascertain the level of our friends’ health by observing over time what’s normal for each unique individual.
Healthy animals can and do get sick occasionally. Sometimes a “tincture of time” is the best remedy, as the dog’s body fights off an invading bacteria or virus and the “illness” resolves with the passing of time. Occasionally, you’ll need veterinary help for a pet’s acute or severe problem. But in other times, a minimal treatment provides a sufficient level of care to boost the healing response. That’s where herbal treatments shine.
Why should dogs have herbs?
Plants provide vital natural sources of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements that many of today’s commercial diets just don’t provide, what with poor-quality and over-processed ingredients. And in our increasingly urbanized environment, many dogs don’t have the opportunity to forage and ingest healing plants they instinctively seek out when feeling distressed.
From herbal treatments, animals can derive not only nutritional benefits, but also gentle, non-invasive medicinal therapy. Herbal medicine works by strengthening the body’s physiological systems, rather than treating only individual presenting symptoms. Because our culture is so accustomed to the methods of reactive, allopathic medicine, it’s easy to view herbal remedies as simply replacements for pharmaceutical drugs, but this is a mistake. Herbs aren’t a quick fix in the way drugs often are. Instead, they are usually gentler and slower-acting.
Below, we describe several common canine health problems that can often be quickly and easily remedied with herbal treatments. Even though herbs often serve as the raw material for refined and standardized prescription drugs, you’ll find some variance in the relative strength of plant materials, as well as products prepared in the same manner from different lots of herbs. For that reason, your approach to using herbs should be flexible. Monitor your dog’s behavior and symptoms, and be prepared to increase or decrease the amount you use accordingly.
There may not be one right method of herbal administration for your dog (or you!) but with patience, you may find the right combination of herbal treatments that will support growing wellness in your animal companion.
Arthritis
Just as in people, arthritis is probably the most common chronic health condition in older dogs. It is characterized by chronic inflammation and calcium deposits in the joints, leading to stiffness, swelling, and pain.
A classic herb tea for arthritis uses equal parts alfalfa, burdock, and white willow. The first two are excellent detoxifiers, and white willow is an effective anti-inflammatory and pain relieving agent. In addition, alfalfa is full of nutrients. This is best administered as a tea, mixed in with the dog’s food or water. The liquid has a pleasant taste, but if a dog refuses it, squirt a teaspoon of the mixture into his mouth two or three times a day.
Given that it is such a common condition, it’s a cinch that a number of herbal treatments have been recommended by veterinarians and herbalists. Dr. Richard Pitcairn, a well-known holistic veterinarian and author of “Natural Health for Dogs & Cats”, suggests adding one to three tablespoons of alfalfa to the daily diet, or using the herb in a tea. Juliette de Bairacli Levy, author of “The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat,” suggests feeding raw comfrey and chopped parsley in the dog’s food, and rosemary or nettles tea.
Herbalist Diane Stein, author of “The Natural Remedy Book for Dogs & Cats,” recommends feeding garlic to reduce arthritic symptoms. She suggests other herbs can be used for specific properties, according to their role in the individual’s arthritis. Yucca can be used for its steroid and pain-relief properties. Licorice root can display anti-inflammatory action. Horsetail grass contains silica and aids calcium absorption. For pain relief, Stein recommends valerian root, skullcap, St. John’s Wort, chickweed, or feverfew.
Diarrhea/Gastritis
Diarrhea is a symptom rather than a disease. Diarrhea with no other symptom in an adult dog can be safely allowed to continue for a day or two, as the process works to rid the body of causative agents. However, a dog with diarrhea accompanied by abdominal distention, projectile vomiting, dehydration, fever, or respiratory symptoms, should be seen by a veterinarian as quickly as possible. If the stool contains blood or is black and tarry, there may be intestinal tract bleeding; seek immediate veterinary attention. Puppies suffering from diarrhea also need expert attention – dehydration can quickly result in death to vulnerable pups.
Diarrhea can be caused by many agents or conditions. Toxins from flea collars or dips can cause diarrhea and vomiting. In this case, wash the dog with soap and water and remove the collar.
Sometimes animals eat plants that cause diarrhea to rid their bodies of wastes. Once the animal has removed the causative factor from its system, or toxin been removed, the diarrhea usually stops.
Diarrhea is often the result of your dog eating something laden with bacteria, such as spoiled food or dead animals. If you know your dog has eaten something he shouldn’t have, and suspect that as the main cause of his diarrhea, your first treatment should be to withhold his regular food until the diarrhea has run its course. Then give him one half to one teaspoon of slippery elm syrup or powder mixed with honey or water, three times a day for three days.
Unbeknownst to many people, the same bacteria that necessitates the use of water filters or purification tablets in the mountains (giardia) can cause diarrhea in dogs. If your dog has had the opportunity to drink from rivers or streams that may be infected by giardia, or if you are traveling far from home and the water may contain unfamiliar bacteria, goldenseal can be used to combat the resultant diarrhea.
Ear Infections
Head shaking, pawing, or scratching at the ears, a foul odor, brown discharge, and redness or swelling inside the ear flap all indicate infection. The causative agents may be a foreign body (tick, foxtail), bacterial or fungal infection, or even ear mites (these are usually not common to dogs, but are contagious to those dogs living closely with infected cats). A veterinarian’s inspection with an otoscope, and perhaps a slide prepared with a smear of the dog’s offending ear exudate will offer clues as to the source of his discomfort and subsequent treatment. Foreign bodies may require removal by your veterinarian.
Many flap-eared dogs have hair growing in the ear canals. Trimming this hair will help air flow and facilitate drying after bathing or swimming. A clothespin can be used periodically to hold back the ears of long-haired dogs (take care to close the pin on the long hair, not the tender ear flaps) to expose the insides of the ears to air and help heal infections.
To clean ears, make a solution of half witch hazel, half water, or half hydrogen peroxide and half water, wiping out the ear canal gently with cotton balls.
Mullein and garlic ear oil, readily available from health food stores, works well to clear up infections and reduce excessive ear wax. Clean the ear canal of discharge and wax daily before administering. This is especially useful when the infection is caused by yeast or fungus that is proliferating in the presence of chronic wetness inside the ears. Make sure you refrigerate garlic oil after it has been opened. Botulism spores can proliferate in garlic oil at room temperatures.
Another approach, recommended by Wendy Volhard and Kerry Brown, DVM, co-authors of “The Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog,” is to use a mixture of echinacea and goldenseal as a tincture after cleaning the ears. That mixture, as well as grapefruit extract, has anti-fungal properties that can help eliminate stubborn infections. Each of these are slightly caustic, so dilute the mixtures if the ears are inflamed.
Flea Allergy Dermatitis
The misery induced by flea infestations peaks with the mercury – summer is high season in the flea world. Incessant itching, scratching, and resultant “hot spots” can drive your dog and you crazy. If your dog has fleas, keep in mind that probably only one tenth of the fleas present are on the animal – the rest are in the carpet, in the upholstery, and in the yard, breeding more fleas. (To get the situation under control, see “Flee, Evil Fleas.”)
The itching, scratching, and resultant damage to the skin and coat caused by irritating flea bites are easily treated with a soothing tea comprised of equal amounts of fresh or dried calendula, nettle, red clover, rosemary, and yarrow brewed as a strong infusion that steeps for eight hours or so. If the herbs are fresh, use as much as a handful for each cup of water. Use one to two tablespoons of each dried herb per cup of water. Apply the cool tea to the affected area with a cloth or just pour it on directly as a rinse, repeating the application every few hours. This tea is so cooling and so healing that it reduces inflammation right away.
Comfrey can also help soothe skin problems of all sorts. The fresh or dried herb, or a comfrey tea or tincture can be added to the dog’s food; the latter liquid forms can also be applied to the skin.
Years ago I saw a cartoon in a veterinarian’s office. In the exaggerated illustration, an old cowboy held the fraying lead rope of a skeletal, wildly sway-backed old horse with a rough coat. Stars were plain to see in the sky, and a clock on the barn wall indicated that it was the middle of the night. A veterinarian dressed in pajamas covered with a long coat shook his head, and the old horse rolled its eyes as the cowboy explained, “I don’t know what’s happened, Doc. I came out to feed ‘em tonight and saw he had taken sick real sudden!”
I guess that it’s a common, bittersweet joke with veterinarians – being paged in the middle of the night to attend to an animal whose medical “emergency” was a long time coming.
In fact, we heard the complaint several times from the veterinarians we spoke with for our series on canine cancer. We heard it expressed again and again that one of the greatest frustrations of their veterinary careers is dealing with the owners of dogs who have just been diagnosed with wildly advanced cancer.
“There’s nothing worse,” one practitioner told me, “than being expected to work immediate miracles on a dog that has been exhibiting easily recognizeable symptoms of disease for weeks, months, and even years – symptoms like steadily growing lumps and persistent weight loss, and so on.”
Even I get a little impatient when I hear from a reader who wants my immediate advice on what to do with his or her dog, right now, for an advanced condition. Never mind that I’m a journalist, not a veterinarian!
I’m not cross. My heart goes out to these people. I understand how painful it is to look into the rapidly dimming eyes of a beloved animal companion and know that you do not have the tools or knowledge neccessary to help him.
And I am overjoyed to be in a position to point these folks in the direction of further resources, if it’s at all possible. I try to let them know when our next article on the subject will be published. And I offer my genuine sympathy; I’ve been there.
But I also strongly encourage them to call their own veterinarian and set up an appointment as soon as possible. If they are unhappy with their vet, I advise them to find another one – fast! If they are looking for an alternative or complementary practitioner, I tell them to contact the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA); they will send you a list of holistic veterinarians in your area (the contact numbers for AHVMA are listed in our “Resources” section, page 24, every month).
But these steps constitute closing the barn door after the horses get out. Every medical professional will tell you that early intervention is the key to all successful treatments. First and most importantly, be aware of your dog’s body, appetite, elimination, and dispositition. If a change occurs, talk to a veterinarian about it as soon as possible.
Step two: Cultivate a relationship with a veterinarian. If you don’t like or don’t trust one veterinarian, or his style of medicine (conventional or alternative), start looking now for another. I strongly recommend that anyone who currently lacks access to a holistic veterinarian contact AHVMA as soon as possible, so that, at a minimum, you have the phone numbers for experts who can offer you an alternate treatment option if the need arises.
This isn’t empty advice; I’m taking it myself. Earlier this week, when I washed my nine-year-old dog, Rupert, I found small lump on his side. I’ve already made an appointment with our favorite conventional veterinarian. If it turns out to be cancer, I already know which holistic clinic I’ll take him to for treatment. That’s why I’ve been able to sleep.
Plus, I don’t want to end up in some cartoon. I want the relationship with my medical advisors to be based on mutual care and respect, not frustration. I want to do anything I can to help them help Rupie.
My dog, Rupert, is so good, so fun to be around, and so low-maintenance, that I often forget about all the trouble he caused me when he was younger. I’m not just referring to his idiosyncratic puppy behavior – getting violently ill if he just got near a car, much less rode in one, chewing everything made of wool in the house, or piddling and running to hide in the bathtub if we raised our voices. All domestic chit-chat was reduced to a whisper unless we knew Rupert had been outside to empty his bladder in the last hour!
I’m also referring to the fact that he’s experienced a few serious illnesses in his lifetime, each of which has cost me a small fortune and uncountable hours of nursing. (He’s a dog who likes to have his paw held, so to speak, when he’s not feeling well.) But whatever it takes to make Rupert better when he’s not well, no problem; I’ll do it.
I’m not alone. Many of us are devoted to our companions, but it seems to me that only in the last few years has it become socially acceptable to admit how much time and money we spend keeping our dogs happy and healthy.
Dogs are very big in my part of the country right now, and businesses are springing up everywhere to cater to the canine craze. Recently a business called “Every Dog Has Its Day Care” opened in the city of Emeryville, which is located at the foot of the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge. “People are working longer and longer hours and have less time to spend with their dogs,” says Lauren Westreich, the owner of the doggie day care. “People don’t want their dogs stuck at home all day.” The dogs get to socialize with other dogs, either in the center’s auditorium-like indoor playground, or an adjoining outdoor yard. Staffers wade through the customers like any day care workers, initiating games, smoothing over minor squabbles, and lavishing special attention on the shy dogs.
The concept is popular in San Francisco, too, where the SF SPCA opened a similar facility a few weeks ago and quickly found itself caring for 60 dogs, with a 100-dog waiting list.
More and more people are also taking their pets with them when they go on vacation. A number of giant hotel chains, including the Ritz-Carlton, Radisson, Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn, Red Lion, Doubletree, and Stouffer hotels now offer special “pets welcome” suites at selected locations through the country. Rural bed and breakfast inns are increasingly equipped with crates in the bedrooms and fenced paddocks available for their clients’ dogs.
The number and variety of dog care products and toys is also increasing at a rapid clip. At a giant all-breeds dog show at San Francisco’s Cow Palace recently, I saw vendors selling Canine Oral Hygiene Machines, slingshots that shoot tennis balls about three times farther than I can throw one, retractable leashes with built-in flashlights – tons of stuff you’ll be seeing in our Product News and Reviews column in the months to come.
People might think that even this publication is a response to the canine wave. Actually, it’s an outgrowth of another one of Belvoir Publications’ magazines, THE WHOLE HORSE JOURNAL, which is in its third year of delivering top quality articles about natural horse care and training and serves as a model and inspiration to us here. I hope we’re in the right place at the right time, and we can ride this wave to bring you strong, smart, commercial-free canine journalism as well as our sister horse publication has for its readers. In the meantime, tell your friends!
Wet-Weather Coats and Care As a mammalian physiologist, clothing designer, sled dog owner, and outdoorsman, I must disagree with your review of cold weather dog clothing (Coats for Chilly Dogs) in your October 1998 issue.
NONE of the coats you reviewed will keep an animal warm when they are wet. Polyester fleece is somewhat lighter per insulation value, and Thinsulate somewhat warmer per thickness, compared to traditional wool. But, when wet, all of these materials lose nearly all of their insulating value. (It helps in light rain that some of the Polarfleece now has a water-repellent treatment, sort of like the lanolin on the old Norse sweaters, but neither will work when you are really soaked and too exhausted to exercise to produce heat. )
And actually, if you have a dog with guard hair and underfur, like a Husky, adding an external layer in wet cold conditions will make the dog colder than if you left it alone. The outer layer will compress the natural insulation, reducing its effectiveness, and, if the dog gets soaked, will prevent it from drying itself by shaking off, lying in the sun, etc. If you want to warm a dog who lacks the Husky-type fur, there is really only one material worth looking at: nylon covered closed-cell neoprene foam, as used in SCUBA wetsuits.
I have seen ads for dog coats made of this material in hunting catalogs, and, if fitted snugly, they should work in most conditions, and also add a degree of floatation, which is useful if the dog is around water. And, since they do not absorb dirt, feces, urine, etc., as do woven fabrics, fleeces, etc., they can be easily cleaned up in the field.
Dogs metabolism is significantly different from humans, and when exposed to cold, they will acclimate and utilize non-shivering thermogenesis metabolic pathways in the liver. Some breeds bred for these conditions (Labs, etc.) utilize brown adipose tissue (BAT), burning more calories and thus increasing internal heat production. The single most effective means to protect dogs exposed to cold is to feed them more, preferably a medium protein (to reduce the need for water) and higher fat diet.
I have used bricks made of 22 percent protein commercial feed and fat by placing the feed in a non-stick cake tin, stirring in a mixture of fish oil and melted tallow, and letting it harden. Wrapped in butcher paper, the bricks keep in cold temperatures for quite a long time, stack easily for storage, and my dogs seem to do well on them, even for extended periods in low temperatures. Bring up the fat content slowly over several weeks in the fall, or expect a few days of loose stools until their digestive system gets used to the extra fat.
Hope this helps!
-Jack Sawicki and Snowshoe (135 lb. F malamute) Arlington, Virginia
I have to admit that as a California native, it never occurred to me to consider the clothing needs of dogs that are exposed to sub-zero temperatures when they were wet. We did say we werent including wet weather gear in our survey; however, we also said that our top pick in coats (the Polarfleece Snuggy made by Norman Equine Designs) would keep a dog warm even if wet. We appreciate the education.
Following up on your tip, we found the neoprene-style coat you referred to in two catalogs. Cabelas (800-237-4444) calls the coat a dog vest, and prices it at about $25. The product is intended for hunting dogs, so it is predictable that it is only available in safety orange, and camoflage green or brown. Dunns Supply Store (800-353-8621) sells a similar product for $30-40.
Editor
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WDJ Hits the Mark Again! I am a dog trainer (and a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers) in Southern California. My business is called Canine Coach. I do in-home training and group classes, and have been a trainer for eight years. I just wanted to let you know that I thought the recent article on Vitamin C (Oh Say, Can You C? WDJ September 1998) was great. My nine-year old male Pomeranian eats Solid Gold, and gets both Seameal and The Missing Link. I will order some Sodium Ascorbate powder and see how it does.
I also enjoyed the article in the same issue about customizing your home to suit your dogs (In the Dog House). Im including a picture of my dog with his Doggie Doorbell. We had a square cut out of the bottom of the curtain to accommodate his dog door, but now that the dog doors gone (safety reasons) its a perfect spot for the Doggie Doorbell. The things we do to accommodate our dogs!
-Eugenia Williams Torrance, CA
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Searching for Cartiflex In the October issue, a letter to the editor mentioned a supplement called Cartiflex for arthritis. Where can I find it?
-Karen Thornton via e-mail
Weve been able to find it in only one location: a catalog called Valley Vet Supply (800-360-4838). They offer the product in capsules, chewable tablets, and powder.
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Trustworthy Food? In your review of canned foods (WDJs Top 10 Canned Foods, September 1998), you comment on Solid Gold: How did they manage to make canned food without added water for processing? We dont know, but . . .
Many years ago (probably more than 10) Equus magazine ran an article about how the FDA was trying to crack down on companies who were making unrealistic claims about their products. Solid Gold was one of the most flagrant abusers, claiming their products could cure just about everything. I believe they were one of the first companies to be prosecuted under a new labeling regulation and/or their violations helped lead to the new regulations.
A few years ago a friend was ordering their dry dog food. She got two bags of the same product one had a sticker placed over the ingredient panel with an updated (?) version of the ingredients, the other did not. Which ingredient panel do you believe? They both differed in one of the first three ingredients, the primary meat source.
This is just not a company that I would trust.
-Tracey Mini Lynn, Mass
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Reader Recommends Food When you reviewed the canned foods (September 1998), did you look at Evangers? Its made by Evangers Dog & Cat Food Company, Inc. of Wheeling, IL. Their Beef with chicken for dogs sells locally for 61 cents per 14-ounce can only a little more expensive than supermarket brands (Alpo, etc.). The ingredients are listed as Beef, whole dressed chicken, water sufficient for processing. Id appreciate any comments you may have on this or other Evangers products, as none of your top 10 are available here in High Point, North Carolina and all are much more expensive.
By the way, the pups on page 22 of the same issue do appear to have a little Border Collie in them. I recently acquired a new pup, Sparky, who has similar markings. His dam was a purebred Dalmatian and his sire was quick and in the night. He has the Border Collie markings, but the tail and eyes of an Akita.
Re: In the Dog House in the same issue. We have kept our pack at five dogs for some years now due to a local ordinance. We have a large fenced yard and a dog-door so the dogs can have easy access day or night. We have gates set up to keep the dogs out of the front room. The dogs have their own sofa and each has its own bed!
Choosing the right food for your dog is an important task, with both short-and long-term consequences. Many veterinarians have come to believe that the best foods for a dog are those that are closest to his ancestral diet: raw meat, in all different cuts and varieties, and a sprinkling of herbal or vegetable matter. But for many of us, providing that kind of diet is inconvenient, time-consuming and expensive. So, for those of us who have gotten used to the ease of feeding dried dog food out of a bag, WDJ can help you become an informed consumer.
This article is confined to a discussion of so-called “premium” dog foods, a classification we’ve established that includes those foods that are priced at $1 dollar per pound and up, and supposedly contain ingredients that surpass in quality the lower-priced brands. Our analysis found that there are big differences in the premium category. High prices don’t necessarily mean high nutritional value. And some so-called “premium” vendors still use artificial preservatives and coloring. Still, we found some very good buys at acceptable prices!
Why quality is important
Not all dried foods are created equal. Experts in canine nutrition, like experts in human nutrition, differ in opinion about what is best, and accordingly, there are dog foods of every conceivable combination on the market. How do you choose? Informed decisions rest on several factors, including the food content’s type, quality, and digestibility. Cost, too, plays a role. Dog foods with good quality ingredients are simply more expensive than foods containing only by-products.
How can you determine whether the ingredients are of the best quality? Admittedly, it’s hard, since the regulations that dictate what food products may and may not go into dog food have largely been made up by the pet food makers. Practically no food item or by-product is too disgusting, diseased, or rotten to be passed over for the manufacture of dog food. Condemned parts and animals that are rejected for human foods are often re-routed to pet food manufacturers.
In fact, there is a phrase, “4D,” for the types of meat that make their way from human food manufacturers to the pet food makers. It means, any meat that is dead, dying, diseased, or disabled. Even animals that have died and have begun to decompose are used. “Meat and bone meal” sounds innocuous, but it is primarily composed of meat that is too far gone to be considered for inclusion into pet foods that call for “meat.” Instead, it is sterilized and rendered, to be born anew as “meat and bone meal,” a major component of many pet foods.
What kind of nutrients, if any, can possibly survive such a journey? Not many, but don’t worry, they’ll add protein from cheaper sources, like corn gluten, soybean meal, and rice gluten, and then “fortify” it with vitamins and minerals, preserve it with artificial preservatives, make it better looking to the owner with artificial colors, and spray on a last-minute coating of vegetable oil to encourage dogs to eat it.
Fresh, wholesome meat and whole grains contain all the nutrients that dogs need, but it’s very hard to find dog foods that contain those things and nothing else. Pet food makers argue that it’s very hard to make a pet food with just those things and get pet owners to pay for it; the price would be too exorbitant. Some have started to move toward less-chemical laden foods with higher quality ingredients, but the shift in consciousness required is so huge, that these efforts are regarded by many holistic veterinary practitioners as next to useless. (See, for example, Dr. Christina Chambreau’s assessment of even the “premium” commercial dog foods.)
You’ve got to start somewhere
Here’s where WDJ draws the line. While some admirable souls in the trenches of holistic medicine insist that only raw meat will do, we recognize that many readers want to feed dried foods – and that some guidance may be helpful. At a minimum, WDJ recommends that you reject any dog food containing any of the following, each of which has been implicated in canine health disorders:
• Artificial color.
• Artificial preservatives like BHA, BHT, potassium sorbate, sodium nitrate (used for dual purposes, preservative and coloring) and especially, ethoxyquin.
• Sugars and sweeteners like corn syrup, sucrose, and ammoniated glycyrrhizin (added to attract dogs to otherwise unappealing fare).
• Anything with the term “flavor” in the ingredients list (like sugar, this indicates the contents doesn’t have enough of its own good flavor – not the hallmark of quality ingredients).
• Propylene glycol, which is used to keep certain foods moist.
• Foods with corn (one of the least expensive grains available to food makers) and/or corn by-products listed more than once in the first five ingredients.
Consider, too, the types of meat in the food. If a food has one or more questionable source of protein (see the link for “What’s in the Bag: A glossary of dog food ingredients.”), it should be rejected. Foods that have whole meat (listed simply as lamb, chicken, beef, etc.) in the top three ingredients are recommended.
Look for whole foods like rice, wheat, and eggs, and foods that are kept fresh with natural preservatives like vitamin C and E (often listed as mixed-tocopherols).
Also, look for something called AAFCO approval; it’s not a very tough standard, but it’s the only one for dog food there is (the standard is fully explained in “Who’s in charge here?”).
And – we can dream on, because we have yet to see a food that offers it – if you were ever to find a dog food that offered certified organic meats, grains, and vegetables, we’d suggest you buy a lifetime supply and put it in a refrigerated vault.
Test your knowledge
Below, you’ll find a list of 13 dogs foods commonly known to the average dog owner. With the exception of Kibbles ‘N Bits, they are considered “premium” foods by the pet superstores (and priced accordingly), and a few are what must be considered “superpremium,” formulated and marketed toward those looking for the very best. Kibbles ‘N Bits represents the high end of low-cost foods, and we’ve included it for comparison purposes.
We suggest you look over the ingredients (we’ve listed the first 10 ingredients only) and nutrition information. Then, though you’ll probably be able to take on this task when you’re done comparing) we’ll tell you which ones we like, which ones we don’t, and why.
You’ll notice four basic values are also presented for each food: the minimum percentage of crude protein and crude fat, and the maximum percentage of crude fiber and moisture. Federal law requires that these values are printed on all dog food labels.
The percentage of protein in a food must always be viewed in context with the actual protein sources in the food. It’s possible for the manufacturers to “load” a food with crude proteins that are virtually indigestible, and thus, useless to the dog. If the protein level of a certain food is higher than average, look for its source in the list of ingredients. Rich in essential amino acids, meats are considered the best source of protein.
The amount of protein and fat a food has should be roughly proportional, since there are metabolic interactions between the two. The more protein a food has, the more fat it should have.
The amount of crude fiber and moisture in each dog food is expressed on the product labels and in our chart on the next page as a maximum percentage. Crude fiber is basically the indigestible matter in the food. Moisture is the amount of water in the food; all foods need a certain amount of moisture to be palatable.
We’ve arranged our sampling of dry dog foods in the chart below according to their price per pound, since the cost of the food affects and informs most dog owners more than any other factor.
Each brand of food is packaged in a variety of sizes; we’ve selected similar weights to compare prices. Just as when buying human food in bulk, these dog foods are less expensive if bought in larger amounts.
Where possible, we sampled the same type of food, choosing each company’s lamb-based product, so you could compare differing but equivalent formulations. Again, before you make buying decisions, review the terms defined on the next page. Your opinion of some foods may change when you learn the meaning of some common phrases on dog food labels. For instance, why is the word “Formula” in so many dog food titles? As you’ll find, it means that the ingredient or combination of ingredients named in the title constitute anywhere from 25 percent to 94 percent of the contents. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know whether the total is closer to 25 or 94 percent.
WDJ Recommends:
CALIFORNIA NATURAL
This food is our clear-cut winner, based on small and simple list of top quality ingredients. In fact, its advertising boasts the irrefutable fact that California Natural has the shortest list of ingredients in the industry. This food contains no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors, and is affordable to boot. It can be found in selected health food stores and independent pet stores. to find a dealer near you, call (800) 532-7261.
FLINT RIVER
Another top-quality food with less than the top price. At risk of limiting their sales, the maker of this food does not make it available to pet store shoppers. Instead, it must be ordered directly from a company representative and is shipped directly to you from the factory, ensuring the ultimate in freshness. The manufacturer claims their ingredients are all human-grade foods. For information, call (408) 464-1178.
PETSMART LIFESPAN
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to pick the most expensive food or the one with the highest protein levels as a candidate for quality ingredients. The maker claims the chicken used is human-quality and free of growth hormones. So far, so good. But why so much corn? To locate a local distributor, call (800) 874-3221.
Not Recommended
KIBBLES ‘N BITS
It’s not fair to compare this with the rest; it’s not considered a premium food. But after the product was called a “winner” in Consumer Reports February 1998 issue for being the unanimous favorite of their panel of test dogs, we had to comment. In a taste test of people on the street, who wouldn’t choose a sugar-filled candy bar over a nutritionally complete granola bar? It sure doesn’t mean you ought to feed that person candy bars from now on.
Kibbles ‘N Bits is the canine equivalent of Twinkies. The ingredients are led off with corn, and each of the animal-protein ingredients are very low quality: beef and bone meal, animal fat, animal digest. Water and corn syrup also appear in the top 10 ingredients, explaining the high moisture content; propylene glycol keeps it sealed in.
BREEDER’S CHOICE AVO-DERM
A much healthier concoction, but we’re not crazy about two things. First, this was the only dried dog food we could find that opted not to pursue feeding trials approved by AAFCO. Instead, its manufacturer sought the lesser AAFCO approval and had its nutrient requirements verified in the lab only. That, and its scarcity of animal proteins (it does contain fish meal, fairly low on its contents list), make us wonder about its palatability. This lack of meat could be used as a tool to market this food to owners of dogs with meat allergies, but interestingly, its packaging makes no note of this absence. To its credit, the food contains no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
WALTHAM LAMB MEAL & RICE
Despite its high price, often indicating quality ingredients, this food features a nutritionally empty vegetable filler (beet pulp), two questionable meat sources (lamb digest and animal fat), and salt (another taste-tempting ingredient) in the top 10. Topped off with not one but three artificial preservatives – on behalf of our dogs, we’ll decline.
As a professional dog trainer, and as someone who teaches other people how to train their own dogs, I find that with the proper instruction, most people can effectively train their dogs with nothing more than a plain buckled collar and regular leash. Contrary to the manufacturers’ claims, no collar, leash, or harness will ever work an effortless training “miracle” on your dog.
However, I have found certain pieces of training equipment to be helpful in specific cases. (A good example is the “head collar,” discussed in “Gear of the Year,” WDJ November 1998.) This month, I looked at several “special purpose” collars and novel leash attachments.
No-Slip Collars
No-slip collars are another special-purpose training tool that can be valuable in certain cases. I use only positive reinforcement training methods, and generally don’t allow the use of choke chains in my training classes. But occasionally a student explains that she uses a choke chain because her dog slips out of a regular collar unless it is tightened to the point of the dog’s discomfort.
In the interest of helping people who have found themselves in similar circumstances, I tested three collars designed to prevent dogs from slipping away. However, these collars prohibit unlimited choking, making them much more humane options than standard choke collar.
CAUTION: Slip collars can choke a dog that is tied up. This risk is less than of choke chains, but regardless, you should Never tie a dog that is wearing a no-slip collar.
WDJ Approves
The Premier Collar, Premier Pet Products, Richmond, VA; phone (804) 379-4702. Also available at most pet supply stores; about $7.
The Premier Collar is the most common of the no-slip collars. It consists of two pieces of nylon linked together by sturdy metal brackets. The main piece is similar to a standard adjustable nylon collar, while the second piece forms a loop that slips through brackets that are sewn in to the two ends of the first piece. The leash ring is sewn into the loop, so that when a dog pulls back on the collar the loop tightens, which tightens the collar around his neck and prevents him from slipping free.
The collar comes in a wide variety of sizes and colors. I liked the concept of the collar, and tried it on several dogs, none of whom objected to the mild tightening. I found it decidedly preferable to a choke chain. All collars were adjusted properly, so that abusive choking was impossible.
Not Recommended
The Check Choke, Coastal Pet Products, Inc., Alliance, OH; available at pet supply stores; about $10.
The highest priced of the three no-slip collars I found, the Check Choke was also the one I liked the least. Instead of a nylon strap, the Check Choke uses a chain as the second loop. Worse, the instructions that come with the collar encourage “a quick, short jerk” on the collar as a correction – something I do not use or approve of in my training. The collar appears well-made, but even the name implies the intent of its use as a force-based, coercive training tool.
WDJ’s Top Pick
The Lupine Combo Collar, Lupine Company, Conway, NH; phone (800) 228-9653l; about $8.
This was my top choice of the three no-slip collars I tested. Although almost identical in design to the Premier Collar, there are two notable differences. The Lupine Combo Collar has a “dead ring” sewn into the collar just next to the loop. When the leash is attached to the dead ring, the collar acts like a regular collar. Nice option!
Also, the quality of the Lupine collar is superior to the Premier, with sturdier, softer nylon and better stitching. Although both collars appear suitable, I like the Lupine better and feel it is well worth the extra dollar, especially since Lupine also offers a lifetime guarantee replacement or refund policy.
Other special-purpose collars
We’ve all seen reflective dog collars, which are usually billed as “designed to protect dogs from being hit by cars,” but what are dogs doing loose in the street at night (or any other time, for that matter) anyway? However, the reflector collar could be a useful safety feature for an owner who walks or jogs along a road with his dog at dusk or in the dark – in which case we hope the jogger also wears reflective clothing!
The most useful refective collar I’ve seen yet is one that boasts a “glow in the dark” feature in addition to the reflecting property.
WDJ Approves
The Safe-T-Bright Collar, The Dog’s Outfitter, Hazelton, PA; phone (800) 367-3647; about $5.
This adjustable nylon reflector collar glows in the dark for more than 20 minutes after exposure to light. I’ll admit that the glow-in-the-dark element was helpful for keeping track of my dark brown dog in the woods at night, but since the glow only works for the first 20 minutes or so, its usefulness seems a bit limited.
However, I can think of one perfect application: How about the dog who “disappears” into the dark corners of the backyard when he’s been let outside to go to the bathroom at night, trying to extend his evening explorations? The Safe-T-Bright collar could help locate the dog more quickly.
“Convenience-leash” collars
Many of us like to drop the leash when off-leash play is appropriate, but it’s also nice to have a quick way to re-secure the dog if need be. A few years ago, I saw a collar with a built-in retractable leash that I thought was quite charming. But even after an hour spent leafing through a tall stack of dog product catalogs, I couldn’t find one! I did see a couple of collars that came close. They, too, were designed to provide a hold on the dog that could be dropped and regained quickly.
WDJ Approves
The Hand-E-Lead, The Dog’s Outfitter, Hazleton, PA; phone (800) 367-3647; about $10.
The “Hand-E-Lead,” a small (2” diameter) retractable lead that attaches to the dog’s collar, came the closest to duplicating the retractable-leash collar I saw years ago.
The Hand-E-Lead attaches to the leash ring on your dog’s collar. According to the package, it’s designed to always be carried on the dog’s collar – a nice idea, but I wouldn’t leave it on all the time. On my 45-pound dog, it hung down and banged on her chest when she moved, which would surely get annoying over time.
The attraction is this: When the handler drops the leash, it retracts, staying conveniently available, but out of the way. However, while it’s compact and easy to use, it is just a little too big to be used on a small or small-to-medium sized dog. The chest-banging might not bother a larger dog, but since the retractable cord is said to “hold up to 150 pounds,” it might not be strong enough to hold a large, exuberant dog. In addition, the handle that you hold is small, which could make it difficult to grip, and therefore, unsafe to use on a hard-to-control dog.
Even given all of these limitations, I have to say that I would attach and use this for specific outings on a relatively well-behaved dog. If you have the right dog, this could be a fun toy for you, eliminating the necessity of dragging a leash along with you everywhere. If you have a large, powerful dog who has not yet learned to walk politely on leash, I suggest you hold off on the Hand-E-Lead.
Not Recommended
The Handler Dog Collar, UPCO, St. Joseph, MO; phone (800) 254-8726; $50.
With a secure and easily grasped handle fastened right to the collar, the idea here is that you don’t need a leash at all. But given its heavy bridle leather construction, this is one hefty, stiff, and expensive collar. My 75-pound test dog hated it, and although it was the right size for him, he looked lost in it.
The accompanying literature says the Handler is supposed to keep the dog by your side for “improved communication and control.” But I felt that the constant contact with the dog’s neck was likely to agitate many dogs rather than increase control. While it might appeal to someone who wanted their big tough dog to look bigger and tougher, I would advise the average dog owner to pass on this one.
-By Pat Miller
Pat Miller is a regular contributor to WDJ. A freelance writer and dog trainer, she lives in California.
Visit most pet stores – especially the large, warehouse-style chain stores – and ask for their “best” dog food. Chances are good that you will be directed to shelves containing big-name foods that are high-priced, well-advertised, and not radically different in content from generic, low-cost foods. Ask the saleswoman about herbal remedies, and she might lead you to an herb-infused shampoo – the store’s only herbal product. Go ahead; go out on a limb and ask about the shop’s supply of homeopathic remedies for dogs and cats. You’re almost certain to receive a blank state and a question in return: “What are you talking about?”
Recently, however, the holistic pet-care industry has been catching up to the holistic human-care world, where, if you want preservative-free foods, herbal remedies, or homeopathic products, you go to a health food store, not Safeway! Today, a growing number of animal-loving entrepreneurs are opening pet health food stores, where their clients can shop for the best (and otherwise hard to find) foods and the healthiest natural supplements and remedies.
Let’s meet some of these far-sighted entrepreneurs, and learn how they turned their passion for healthy animals into businesses dedicated to helping us help our pets.
The Birth of the Holistic Pet Store
Sandra Estrada was working in a completely non-animal-oriented business when a friend, a veterinary student at University of California at Davis asked her if she would like to visit him at his summer job – the orangutan unit at the San Francisco Zoo. From the time of her first visit to the orangutans, Estrada felt an extraordinary bond to the amazing animals, and deplored their dismal living conditions in the zoo. She immediately began volunteering her time to the unit, and began researching and studying everything she could get her hands on about ideal orangutan care. Eventually, Estrada founded a nonprofit group that worked to improve the living conditions of captive animals, and, with time and persistence, the group was instrumental in the effort to “inspire” (sometimes with lawsuits) zoo officials to construct new and improved primate quarters.
Estrada began the next phase of her life with a job in a friend’s pet store. At about the same time, her Rhodesian Ridgeback/Russian Wolfhound mix and constant companion of 10 years was diagnosed with diabetes. With her trademark commitment and passion, Estrada began studying everything she could get her hands on about the disease and potential treatments for it. Since diet plays such a large role in the continuing care for diabetes, she focused much of her attention on pet nutrition.
As she learned about the poor quality ingredients and unhealthy additives present in many commercial pet foods, Estrada grew increasingly disgusted with the pet food industry. She also began searching for makers of good quality foods.
She had a revelation when, in the course of her research, she came across holistic veterinarian Dr. Richard Pitcairn’s book, Natural Health For Dogs and Cats. She began feeding her dog according to the recipes in Pitcairn’s book, and experimented with some of his other holistic treatment suggestions.
With the blessings of her friend and employer, Estrada also began stocking the store with better-quality natural pet foods. The results from her own trials and the reports from the store’s clients were very positive, and Estrada began to dream of having her own store, offering nothing but the healthiest foods and supplements.
Estrada realized that vision in November 1997, when she and her husband Cesar opened Happy Pet, their own “pet health food store” in San Francisco. Now, Estrada uses her activist zeal to benefit her customers and their pets. She is dedicated to educating her customers about holistic pet care and to providing them with reasonably priced alternatives to well-known but less-healthy pet foods.
“I emphasize nutrition in my store, since it plays a primary role in the health of all living things,” says Estrada. “Before we carry any food in the store, I make it a point to know everything there is to know about that food – I find out what’s in it and what the source and quality of the ingredients are.”
Happy Pet also carries books about natural health care for animals, quality pet toys, and unique gifts for animal lovers. Estrada regularly refers customers to trainers, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and even animal communicators. She also refers clients to a holistic veterinarian – an easy task since earlier this year, when Estrada leased some spare office space in her store to Dr. Barbara Fishelson, a holistic veterinarian and homeopath. The arrangement has proved advantageous to all concerned parties. Dr. Fishelson can rest assured that her clients have easy access to her recommended foods and supplements. Estrada has a medical resource for her health and nutrition questions. And Happy Pet’s clients have two knowledgeable professionals to guide their pets to greater health.
For the Love of Bonkers
Located just outside Annapolis in Crofton, Maryland, is Crunchies Natural Pet Foods. Store owners Julia and Matt Cahill bill Crunchies as a “Health Food Store For Your Pet,” boasts that they offer the area’s finest selection of foods, vitamins, and supplements for both dogs and cats. They also offer regular seminars by holistic veterinarians and animal communicators.
Opened in 1996, Crunchies is dedicated to the memory of the Cahill’s late cat “Bonkers.” When the cat was diagnosed with cystitis and a rare immunological disease, Julia looked for natural remedies.
Although she had no formal training in pet nutrition, Julia was raised in a family that used natural health care. “I grew up in a family that never took cold medicines; we took herbs or other homeopathic remedies,” recalls Julia, crediting her grandmother and mother with teaching her the importance of taking a holistic approach to her own and her family’s health. It never crossed her mind, however, to use this approach with her pets until her cat became ill.
As Cahill read up on Bonkers’ condition, she soon realized that the cat would benefit from a healthier diet. “We needed the very best food we could find to help with the pH balance of his urinary tract and to boost his immune system. We couldn’t find one locally – we went to every store possible and either they had by-products or junk fillers, or ethoxyquin. We couldn’t find anything. The food we wanted just wasn’t available.” Eventually the Cahills found one supplier who was willing to deliver an acceptable natural food to their house.
A short time later, Julia attended a lecture on pet nutrition given by Bonker’s veterinarian. As the veterinarian spoke about the benefits of natural foods, several members of the audience raised the question of the availability of these foods. Where could they could go to buy these foods? everyone wanted to know. Unwittingly, the veterinarian launched the Cahill’s business by identifying Julia Cahill as someone who had found a way to have good food delivered to their home. Due to this and subsequent referrals, the Cahills were soon inundated with orders for the foods they recommended. When they found themselves using their living and dining rooms to warehouse an extensive pet food inventory, they got the idea. Crunchies was born.
Since educating themselves about small animal nutrition, the Cahills have designed a diet which is largely comprised of raw foods for their own pets. However, Julia acknowledges that it can be difficult to consider all the nutrients and get the balance just right. Accordingly, she cautions customers to proceed slowly, believing the safest, healthiest approach is for most casually interested pet owners to feed top quality commercial foods.
Their families were skeptical but supportive when Julia and Matt revealed plans to open a pet health food store. After just two years, however, the business is in the black, and the Cahills are optimistic about the future. Like most entrepreneurs, the Cahills want to make money, but they don’t measure success solely in terms of dollars, but by the number of pets they can help.
By Julia’s account, they’ve already succeeded. She says, “So many customers have come back to the store to tell me, ‘You won’t believe what’s happened.’ We’ve helped save lives that conventional veterinarians have given up on. That is success to me.”
A One-Stop Holistic Shop
Perhaps the most unique pet food store to be found anywhere is Porgie’s Puppy Teaching and Natural Pet Supply in Riverside, California. In addition to a full array of commercial foods and pet supplies, Porgies boasts a well-stocked assortment of fresh organic meats, produce, and grains. That’s because owners Linda Goodman and Joseph Findeis are ardent advocates of a whole food approach. Goodman claims that “all dogs that eat only commercial dog foods are in some sense starving, because the foods are not nearly as nourishing as whole, real foods.”
Goodman says that she sees improvement in every single dog that switches to a whole food diet. “Fresh food diets keep them constantly improving and getting better.”
Although Porgies is a pet food store, it does not neglect the pets’ owners. Goodman says “we like to refer to ourselves as a ‘health food store for pets and their people’ because we also sell human products. There are no differences between ‘natural foods’ for people and ‘natural foods’ for dogs and cats; they encompass many of the same foods. We carry everything that your pets and you should eat: organic produce, organic meat, and organic grains.” They also stock frozen organic pet meals, consisting of organic meat, whole wheat bread, carrots and peas, for customers who want to try a whole food approach but don’t have the time or desire to prepare the food themselves.
Goodman and Findeis work closely with their customers to teach them how to properly prepare a fresh food diet for their pets. They work with holistic veterinarian, Dr. Anne Smith, who spends a day in the store every third week, and shares the couple’s philosophies regarding diet. Much of the store’s stock is present due to Dr. Smith’s recommendations.
In addition to the health food store, the couple operates an indoor dog “teaching” facility (they don’t call it “training”), offering “kindergarten,” adult, and advanced family pet classes. Goodman also offers private consultations, telepathic animal communication, and grief counseling.
Meals on Wheels for Dogs
Suburban Seattle residents are growing accustomed to the site of a bright yellow bus wandering through area neighborhoods delivering pet supplies and foods. The renovated school bus is the flagship of Smiley Dog, a home pet food and supply delivery service, which specializes in providing natural pet foods, toys and supplies to its ever-increasing clientele.
Smiley Dog is the brainchild of owner Craig Weindling, whose business began modestly as a way to get his own dog good quality toys at wholesale price. About six years ago Weindling, then a stage manager in regional theater and as always a devoted dog owner, happened upon a wholesale mail-order catalogue for quality pet toys. As he flipped through the catalog, he was amazed at how low the wholesale prices were. Toys he paid a lot of money for in stores were actually quite inexpensive – if ordered in volume by a retailer.
But heck! Weindling had a lot of friends who had dogs; he was certain that if he placed a large order, he could easily sell the toys he and his own dog couldn’t use to his friends and neighbors! He took the plunge and placed an order. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, a business was born.
The idea of delivering dog toys to people’s homes was less a “grand plan” than a whim. Weindling laughs, “It just seemed like a really cool thing to be able to walk around the neighborhood to bring toys to friends that had dogs and to let my dog play with their dog and the toys.” Eventually, Weindling bought the little yellow (former) school bus that he sometimes uses for deliveries – and acts as a mobile billboard promoting the business at dog shows!
Initially Smiley Dog offered its clients just dog toys. Weindling says that he a made a conscious decision not to sell dog food because he didn’t know enough about it, and he refused to sell products with which he was not intimately familiar. But as more and more of his customers began asking him about food delivery, Weindling enthusiastically began educating himself about pet foods. Today he is a self-taught pet food expert who can hold his own with even the most seasoned holistic veterinarians on the subject of healthy foods.
Weindling now stocks and delivers a variety of healthy, natural pet foods and is committed to making it convenient for his customers to become educated about what is good for their pets. He also works hard developing strong personal relationship with his customers. If a customer has a question about a product or about a problem they are having, all they have to do is ask. Weindling routinely refers customer to information resources, local veterinarians, trainers, and pet sitters. Most of the veterinary referrals are to holistic practitioners who share Smiley Dog’s passion for educating people about proper pet nutrition.
Smiley Dog has grown to employ Weindling full time and two other employees part-time, and Weindling plans to hire more in the near future. He sends out a regular newsletter to his clients, keeping them abreast of discounts, the “Treat of the Month,” and special events that Smiley Dog will attend. He also has a 24-hour phone answering service and an e-mail address so that clients can place orders around the clock.
Weindling believes that the convenience factor, however, is only a small part of Smiley Dog’s success. Smiley Dog’s personal approach, he says, is what keeps its customers satisfied. “They like knowing that they can trust us with questions, and that we are not going to just try to sell them stuff,” Weindling says. And, of course, Smiley Dog’s personally tested and well-researched feeding recommendations, encompassing only the best quality natural foods and supplements, keep the company’s canine clients healthy – the best advertisement a company can have.
Yankee Ingenuity
“We went natural before it was popular and have done well,” says Sandy Sanel, owner of Sandy’s Pet Nutrition Center in Concord, New Hampshire. Sanel has been in the pet food business for 15 years, having converted to a natural foods about five years ago. Like several of our profiled business owners, Sanel became interested in natural pet foods as the result of a personal experience with a sick pet.
Years ago, armed with good intentions and a love for dogs, Sanel rescued a dog that was infested with heartworms from a local animal shelter. She took the dog to a veterinarian, who only “made him sicker with a lot of drugs.” Finally, Sanel was referred to a holistic veterinarian. She was so impressed with her dog’s progress using the holistic veterinarian’s approach that she began to reexamine all her own beliefs about animal care and feeding. Sanel quickly became acquainted with holistic practitioners around the country and began reading all the literature she could find on natural foods.
Before long, Sanel was so convinced that the food she had been selling was unhealthy for pets that she took the extraordinary step of throwing out all of her inventory that contained any added chemicals. It was a daring thing to do, she says, adding that she just couldn’t continue to sell things she no longer believed in. She replaced her inventory with all natural foods completely devoid of potentially harmful chemical colors, preservatives, and other chemicals.
It has not always been easy to sell natural pet foods in the heart of Yankee country. The biggest mistake you can make, says Sanel, is to come on too strong with new customers. Instead, Sanel uses a soft sell. “We have tons of printed materials in the store, so when a new customer comes in, we can give them literature instead of making a sales pitch. We tell them to come back if they read it and want to know more,” Sanel says. You can’t “beat a customer over the head” with information, says Sanel. “Otherwise, they just think you’re only trying to sell your food.”
However, Sanel is more than happy to educate those customers who ask for more information about proper pet nutrition. She and her employees can also offer their customers information and referrals other complementary and alternative health care. Sanel and one of her employees have both completed course work and obtained diplomas in homeopathy. Sanel routinely hosts seminars and talks on such subjects as homeopathy, kinesiology, and animal communication. One recent seminar attracted 100 attendees – evidence that Sanel’s ideas are beginning to take hold.
Further evidence that things are changing in Yankee country is the arrival of a new holistic veterinarian to Concord. Sanel is excited to have a professional in town who shares her ideals and to whom she can refer customers. And, of course, she adds, it doesn’t hurt that the veterinarian refers clients to Sandy’s Pet Nutrition Center for food and supplements. It’s more than a courtesy to a like-minded professional; Sandy’s is the only natural pet food store for miles and miles, drawing customers from all over New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Support and referrals from holistic veterinarians and other alternative practitioners have benefited each of these profiled entrepreneurs. And an in-depth and enlightened knowledge of pet foods – the most important merchandise in all pet stores – is what makes them stand out from the conventional retailing crowd. But a true love for animals, and a passionate desire to help them be as healthy as possible, provides the impetus for each of these entrepreneur’s success. As Sanel puts it, “If you are doing something you really love, the money comes.”
Dan Hoye is the proud owner of Sadie, an elderly Golden Retriever often used as a WDJ photo model. This is Dan’s first contribution to WDJ.
Not far below the furry surface of your favorite domestic canine companion lurks a mind surprisingly similar to that of its ancestor and current-day cousin, the wolf. We have stretched and molded the dog’s plastic genetic material to create hundreds of widely diverse breeds – from the tiny Chihuahua to the giant St. Bernard – all to serve our whims. But our dogs’ behaviors and instincts to this day closely mirror those chosen by natural selection to ensure the wolf’s survival some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, when the wild canine was first invited to share the warmth and protection of the fires in our ancestors’ caves.
The genetics that have enabled the dog to become “man’s best friend” come as both a blessing and a curse. The instincts that drive the behaviors we love in our canine companions are the same ones that make us tear our hair out. For example, the desire to be a member of a social group, or pack, is what makes the dog so amenable to family life and training. It is this same social instinct that in some dogs triggers incredibly destructive “separation anxiety” behaviors when a dog is left alone, behaviors that include non-stop barking and howling, inappropriate urination and defecation, chewing, and self-destructive escape attempts.
When their behaviors and instincts are understood and properly directed, our dogs are well-adjusted, cherished family members. The millions of dogs that are abandoned at animal shelters in the U.S. every year are tragic testimony to how often we fail to do this. Let’s look at how we can prevent this from happening to your dog.
Dog trainers commonly hear complaints about dogs that bite, attack other dogs, jump up, bark, chase cats, cars, or joggers, are shy, or don’t come when called. All these activities have a basis in normal, instinctive, survival-based canine behavior. They occur in spite of the owner’s training efforts because the dog is rewarded by them in some way.
Fortunately, each behavior can be modified, either by figuring out how to make the desired behavior more rewarding than the undesirable one, or by managing the dog so he doesn’t have an opportunity to exhibit the inappropriate behavior. Traditional training methods have often relied on human logic to teach dogs how to behave, by punishing the dog for “bad” behavior. But in the minds of our dogs, behavior is neither good nor bad; they are just doing what dogs do, driven by instinct and governed by the consequences of their actions. “Good” behavior is learned behavior. They learn more quickly, effectively, and happily if we focus on rewarding the “right” behaviors, and preventing, or to the extent possible, ignoring, the “wrong” ones.
Start Training Your Dog Early
Early management and training is the best approach, since it’s easier to prevent an undesirable behavior than it is to correct it. For this reason, more and more dog trainers offer classes for puppies as young as 10 weeks. Trainers used to recommend waiting until a dog was six months old to start training classes, in part because of the widespread use of “choke chains,” which can damage the soft cartilage of a puppy’s throat. Now that positive-based training is more widely accepted and available (using a standard flat buckle collar or head collar, and rewards and praise instead of leash-jerk corrections), there is no reason to wait. Owners can take advantage of a puppy’s critical socialization period to teach good behaviors.
The socialization period is a time when puppies in the wild have to learn quickly in order to survive. During the same critical period, domestic puppies learn which behaviors are acceptable to their human pack, which are rewarding, and which things are safe. While some veterinarians still counsel keeping a dog isolated at home until it is fully vaccinated by age four to six months, enlightened animal-care professionals recognize that there is far greater risk to our dogs’ lives (through euthanasia at an animal shelter) if they do not learn to be well-socialized and well-behaved during this critical learning period. Many veterinarians now strongly encourage their clients to pursue puppy classes and other controlled socializing activities as long as the pups have received at least two vaccinations and the owner keeps up with the necessary schedule of puppy shots.
Genetically Shy Dogs
Shyness can be genetic, it can result from lack of socialization, or it can be a combination of the two. While the wolf puppy that takes a “no fear” attitude doesn’t live long, neither does a wild pup who is so afraid of his own shadow that he doesn’t leave the den long enough to find adequate food to eat. Reasoned caution is a good survival skill for all dogs, wild and domestic. But because domestic dogs don’t face the life-threatening forces that wild ones do, genetically shy dogs can and do survive to reproduce, especially when assisted by irresponsible breeders and puppy mills.
While all puppies need to be properly socialized (even the bold ones), it is even more imperative to socialize the shy puppy. Left to his own devices, his timid behavior will intensify and he will grow up to be fearful, neurotic, and dangerous.
With these little guys, the flight response is so strong that it is important to be patient. Let the pup initiate contact with strange people or objects and reward each contact with a tasty treat. Don’t force the pup. Forced contact will aggravate the fear/flight response and make the shyness worse. But don’t coddle him, either. Coddling rewards and encourages fear behavior. Be gentle, patient, matter-of-fact, and upbeat about helping him understand and accept the big, scary world.
Always Train A Reliable Recall
Puppies, wild or domestic, naturally stay close to other pack members. Again, it’s a survival thing; the puppy that wanders away ends up as hawk food. Our eight-week-old puppies usually come running when we call them because they are very dependent and want to be near us more than anything else in the world. We soon believe that they have learned to come when we call them. When they get older and more independent, and start to explore the world on their own, they no longer come when we call. We are convinced that they are being stubborn, ignoring us on purpose.
In fact, they never learned to come when called. Now, if they get reprimanded when they do come back (for not coming when they were called) they are even less likely to come the next time they are called, since they have learned that the consequence for coming is punishment, not reward.
In order to teach a reliable “come”, we capitalize on the dog’s desire to be near us and the instinct to seek rewards. When your pup is a baby and comes to you easily, be sure to reward with treats and praise every time. Never punish “come!” If you have to correct for something (like getting in the garbage), don’t call her – go to the pup to administer the mild correction. If she doesn’t come to you when you need her to, resist the urge to chase after her. She’ll think “chase the dog” is a wonderful game. Instead, turn and run away, doing something to get her attention – like making excited, high-pitched noises, squeaking a squeaky toy, or bouncing a ball. Teaching her to “chase” you engages her prey drive and takes advantage of her instinct to stay with the pack (you) and her strong desire to be a part of exciting pack activities.
Bite Inhibition
Of all unwanted behaviors, biting is the least socially acceptable to humans, and the one that most often results in a death sentence for the dog. Yet biting is a totally natural behavior for dogs, both wild and domestic. Wolf puppies and adults bite each other in play and in warning. Very rarely do they bite each other in order to do serious damage. It is vital to the survival of the pack that all members be strong and healthy. It makes no sense for pack members to engage in fierce battles that might result in serious injury. As pups, they learn the importance of bite inhibition by playing with each other. When a pup bites a littermate too hard, the victim yelps loudly and may refuse to play for a while. Thus the biter learns that the fun of play ends when he bites too hard. Over the first five months of his life, he learns to control the strength of his bite. If he doesn’t have this opportunity, it is much more difficult for him to learn to use his mouth gently later.
Enter the human. We routinely take the domestic puppy away from his siblings at six to eight weeks, sometimes earlier, effectively eliminating the pup’s opportunity to learn bite inhibition. No wonder we end up with shark-puppies who chomp down on our hands, sometimes even drawing blood with their needle-sharp teeth!
Responsible breeders won’t release their puppies to new homes until they are at least eight, sometimes ten weeks of age or older. Progressive animal shelters put litters of young pups in foster homes so they can grow and learn from each other, rather than placing them too early. Yet, trusting in the myth that “the earlier you get a pup the more she will bond with you,” uneducated dog owners clamor for the six-week-old puppy (or younger). Unethical breeders, uneducated backyard breeders and shelters that lack adequate foster programs may oblige.
Even if adopted at eight to ten weeks, pups need to continue their bite inhibition lessons. The best way for the human teacher to do this is to imitate the puppy’s littermates. When a pup bites hard, say “OUCH!” in a loud, high-pitched squeak and remove yourself from the pup’s reach for a few minutes. Then return to puppy play. Each time the pup bites too hard, repeat the lesson.
After several repetitions the pup’s bite will begin to soften. You can then repeat the lesson at gradually decreasing levels of bite intensity until the pup learns not to bite at all. If you try to extinguish bite behavior all at once you will frustrate your puppy’s natural biting behavior, and fail at the task. At the same time you are softening the bite you can also direct the puppy’s biting toward acceptable chew items. (It is virtually impossible for small children to respond properly and consistently to puppy biting, which is why many shelters and responsible breeders discourage families with young children from adopting young puppies.)
Adult dog biting behavior is much more serious. Much of wolf body language is designed to avoid an actual fight, again for individual and pack survival reasons. Growls, stiffened legs, stiffly wagging tails, stares, glares, and raised hackles are signals intended to warn away a challenger. The majority of bites to humans occur because we misread or ignore the dog’s similar warning signs. This is one reason why children are so often the victim of dog bites – they are even less skilled than adults at heeding a dog’s warning – and why it is so important for adults to supervise all interactions between dogs and small children, no matter how trustworthy the dog is believed to be.
A wolf or dog’s reaction to a possible threat is either to stand ground and fight, or flee. Individual canines usually have a preference for one reaction style over the other. Most dogs that prefer to stand and fight will still give warnings. If they are ignored, a bite often follows. We call this “dominance aggression.” A dog who prefers flight will try to escape the threat rather than challenge it, but if the escape route is cut off – when a dog is cornered, restrained, or tied up – a bite often follows. We call this submission aggression, or “fear biting.”
The more a puppy is socialized before the age of five months, the fewer things are ultimately perceived as threatening, and the less likely it is that a bite will occur in the adult dog.
The Jumping Greeter
All creatures instinctively seek rewards. In order to take advantage of instinct-driven behaviors, we just need to figure out how to make the behavior we want more rewarding than the one we don’t want, and then continue to reinforce the “right” behavior until it is a programmed response. Wolves, of course, don’t have much opportunity to jump up on people. They do greet each other face-to-face – sniffing noses and licking faces. Our dogs jump on us in their greeting ritual to try to reach our faces (and will often lick our faces if we let them), to demand attention, and because when they are puppies we pick them up and cuddle them, teaching them that “up” is a very rewarding place to be. When they jump up they are self-rewarded simply by touching us. Everything we do to get them off of us also rewards them. We look at them. Eye contact is a reward. We push them away. We touched them – that’s a reward! We tell them to get off. We spoke to them – that’s a reward too! A sturdy, rambunctious dog can view even a forceful “knee in the chest” as an invitation to play.
If, instead, we ignore the behavior we don’t want (in this case by turning away from the dog, and stepping away so he isn’t even self-rewarded by touching us) and reward the behavior we do want (by waiting or asking for the dog to sit, then turning to him, and giving him a treat, along with the greeting and attention he wants) he will soon learn that he gets rewarding by running up to us and sitting, rather than jumping.
The Thrill of the Chase
The wolf would not survive without a strong prey drive. The lives of pack members depend on their ability to chase, catch and kill things that run away from them. Our dogs have retained a very strong prey drive. In many cases, we use this instinctive behavior to our advantage. The intense herding behavior of the Border Collie is a modified prey drive with a strong inhibition for the killing part of the process. Many breeds of terriers, hounds, and sporting dogs were bred to pursue and kill or retrieve other animals. We encourage this drive in our pets to this day, with mutually enjoyable games of fetch the Frisbee, stick, dumbbell, and tennis ball.
Small wonder, then, that some dogs are driven to chase cats, joggers, bicycles, cars, and other fast-moving objects. This is such a strong drive in some dogs that it is difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate. Prevention is mandatory for your dog’s own safety. Dogs who are allowed to run loose to chase cars tend to have short lives. Dogs who chase cats, joggers and kids soon get in trouble with neighbors and animal control. Dogs who chase livestock get shot. With a real commitment to a long-term training program we can teach our dogs to pay attention and respond to us even in the presence of an enticing prey-distraction, but a dog with a strong prey-drive will always chase if given the opportunity, and must always be securely confined when not under the owner’s immediate control.
Barking
Barking is also a natural behavior. In fact, when Lassie barks to warn us of an intruder, or to tell us that Timmy has fallen in the well, she’s a hero. But if she barks at the mail carrier, a stray cat in the yard, or when Aunt Emma knocks on the front door, we yell at her to “Shut up!” It is a wolf’s job to alert other members of the pack to anything out of the ordinary, and when Lassie barks at the mail carrier, she’s just doing her job. How is she supposed to know when we want her to alert us and when we don’t? Some dogs may well think that “Shut up” is just our way of joining in the barking! A better way to respond is to acknowledge the intruder and thank Lassie for doing her job. Then tell her that you have everything under control, with a “Good girl, that’s all, quiet.” Again, with a positive-reward approach, you wait for the barking to stop, and reward the silence with a treat while you say “Good dog, quiet.”
A dog who barks non-stop in the backyard is a different matter. Non-stop barking is often a sign of a dog who is bored and lonely. She is isolated from her human pack and expressing her natural desire to rejoin the social order. The obvious solution is to bring the dog into the house and let her be part of the pack. Crate-training (teaching the dog to sleep in a wire kennel or airline crate) is an excellent tool to help incorporate the dog into the family without risking damage to antique furniture and Oriental carpets. Dogs are meant to live with others – isolating a dog is a form of extreme mental cruelty, and should not be permitted.
Endless Possibilities
Most dog behaviors are connected in some way to that genetic package of instincts handed down from the wolf. And all dog behavior, if properly managed, can be turned into something positive. Dogs that dig can find truffles in France. Dogs that climb and jump fences are great candidates for agility training. The hound that always runs off with his nose to the ground can learn to track and do Search and Rescue. Dogs that chase can fetch golf balls. Their potential is limited only by our creativity.
The next time your dog does something you don’t like, stop and think before you yell. He’s not being bad – he’s being a dog. What instinct is driving his behavior? How can you work with his instincts instead of against them to modify his behavior into something positive? It’s worth the time it takes to figure it out and apply it to his training. You’ll end up with a happier dog. You’ll be a much happier dog owner. The incredibly rewarding bond that is created between the two of you will guarantee that your dog never ends up in the ranks of the homeless hounds at your local humane society.
Pat Miller is WDJ’s Training Editor. She is a dog trainer and freelance writer from Salinas, California.
We now know that worms do much more than, as the childhood song had it, “play pinochle on your snout.” Manufacturers of deworming products have gone out of their way to let us know that, left unchecked, these pesky parasites can plague dogs that are in poor health, rob them of nutrition, attack vital organs, and cause unthriftyness, illness, and even death.
Well, yes and no. If a dog’s health is poor and he is hosting an uncontested parasite population, all sorts of bad things can happen. It is important to protect our dogs from parasites, but as it turns out, protection largely follows as a result of building the dog’s overall health. Toxic dewormers may be unnecessary to dislodge what few worms a strong and healthy animal might have.
Conventionally trained veterinarians routinely administer de-worming agents for roundworms as part of regular puppy care, for tapeworms when tapeworm segments are observed, for hookworms whenever they are diagnosed, and for whipworms if symptoms indicate a severe infestation. In addition, heartworm preventative is routinely prescribed in areas where that deadly pest has been identified.
But most holistic veterinary practitioners believe that a dog’s ability to withstand parasitic infection is a function of the animal’s overall health, and that tolerance for a low level of parasites is less harmful than toxic dewormers. They may counsel against routine deworming of puppies and adult dogs.
Parasite Prevention is Key
Both schools of medicine support parasite control through prevention, although their concepts of appropriate prevention methods may differ. Take tapeworms, for example. Dogs get tapeworms from swallowing fleas. The dog that never touches a flea never gets a tapeworm. For this reason, and because of all the other problems that fleas can cause, traditional veterinarians tend to focus their preventive efforts on flea eradication.
Holistic veterinarians prefer a multifaceted approach. Dr. Christina Chambreau, a veterinary homeopath from Baltimore, Maryland, says that improving the overall health of the dog is the key. “The main cure for repeated parasite problems is to work to have a healthy animal. Vaccinate the least, feed the best diet, and treat the overall health of the animal. Then they will stop having the problem,” she says.
Richard H. Pitcairn, DVM, Ph.D., the author of the best-selling book, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, suggests that owners tolerate a low level of tapeworms in their dogs, only intervening when the parasites noticeably impact the animal’s health.
When necessary to assist a dog with tapeworm removal, Dr. Pitcairn combines homeopathic, herbal, and nutritional remedies. Feeding whole, raw pumpkin seeds, ground into a fine meal and added to each meal (one-quarter to one teaspoon, depending on animal’s size), is thought to irritate the worms, causing them to loosen their hold and pass out of the digestive tract. Wheat-germ oil, one-quarter to one teaspoon per meal, is believed to discourage tapeworms naturally. Some vegetable enzymes, especially those of the fig and papaya, supposedly eat away at the outer coating of the worm. Filix mas 3X (male fern), given as one tablet three times daily, is a homeopathic remedy for tapeworms.
Treatments for Roundworm
For roundworms, which he also recommends treating only in the case of severe infestation, Dr. Pitcairn again offers a multifaceted attack. He suggests giving the homeopathic remedy Cina 3X (Wormseed), one tablet three times daily for at least three weeks.
This treatment is accompanied by specific additions to the dog’s diet that help “scrub” the weakened worms out of the digestive tract. Pitcairn suggests adding one-half to two teaspoons of wheat or oat bran and the same quantity of grated raw carrots, turnips or beets and one-half to two cloves of fresh, chopped or grated garlic to the dog’s food per day. He also recommends adding one-quarter to one teaspoon of unrefined diatomaceous earth to each meal to irritate the outside of the worms, causing them to loosen their hold on the intestinal lining so they can be flushed out.
Like most mainstream veterinarians,Dr. Joan Freed, DVM, a traditional practitioner and veterinary chief of staff for the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley in Santa Clara, California, takes issue with the “live and let live” approach to roundworms.
“I would agree that a reasonable tapeworm load is relatively non-threatening,” says Freed, “but I would have a hard time advising against routine deworming of puppies. Veterinarians in private practice probably don’t see as many of the distended bellies associated with heavy roundworm infestation that we see in animal shelters.”
Freed maintains that although it is possible that puppies that have enjoyed good nutrition and a healthy environment may be less affected by worms than half-starved strays, even the apparently healthy puppies can suffer thickened intestinal walls resulting from roundworm damage.
The Alternative View to Animal Health Care
Conventional veterinarians and those practicing alternative medicine agree that a healthy dog is much better able to withstand parasitic invasions than one whose health is compromised. To this end, your natural health practitioner may recommend a comprehensive health care program that includes feeding a natural, home-cooked diet rather than prepared dog foods, avoiding the use of any and all pesticide-bearing shampoos, dips, powders, sprays, collars, and dewormers, and implementing exercise and massage programs to keep dogs at their peak of health.
Once a dog is truly healthy, minor visits from occasional parasites may be inconsequential, and major infestations are less likely to occur.
None of the holistic veterinarians we queried are completely opposed to using chemicals to control advanced internal parasites. Even Dr. Pitcairn recommends conventional parasite control when alternative methods are not immediately effective, and for treating or preventing the more serious parasites – such as hookworms – that present an immediate and significant threat to our dogs’ lives.
Dr. Chambreau has some additional suggestions for those contemplating the use of traditional dewormers. “If you have to treat the dog, do it as minimally as possible. If you know exactly what kind of worms the dog has, treat it for that type of worm only. Don’t give a medication that treats hookworms, tapeworms, whip worms, and roundworms when you have only roundworms. And follow up with herbal and nutritional supplements (ground pumpkin seeds, garlic, grated carrots, turnips, or beets, and bran, as mentioned above) to clear the worms completely from the system and to strengthen the dog’s own defenses against future pests.”
Parasites Most Often Infecting Dogs
Roundworms (Toxocara canis)
Puppies are infected in utero by roundworm larvae from the tissues of their mothers. The larvae migrate to developing fetuses and reach the puppies’ intestines a week after birth. Affected puppies have dull coats and are often potbellied and fail to grow. Worms may be vomited and are sometimes visible in the stools. Eggs are shed in the feces, and larvae can migrate in the tissues of many animals, including humans. Because of this, children should not handle lactating females or young puppies that have not been dewormed.
Tapeworms (Dipylidium caninum)
Dogs become infected with tapeworms by swallowing fleas. Signs of tapeworm infestation include unthriftiness, capricious appetite, irritability, rough coat, and mild diarrhea. Small, white tapeworm segments, the size of grains of rice, can be seen in the feces and sometimes clinging to the fur beneath the dog’s tail. In extreme cases, emaciation and seizures can occur. Tapeworms occasionally infect humans.
Hookworms (Ancyclostoma caninum)
Puppies can become infected with hookworm larvae through the milk and colostrum of their infected mothers. Adult dogs can ingest hookworm larva from contaminated ground where infected dogs have defecated. Hookworms are most common in the U.S. in the Southeast, as the eggs require warm, moist soil to hatch.
Hookworms cause severe anemia, often fatal in puppies. The pups that survive develop immunity, but may continue to suffer from chronic anemia. Adult, healthy dogs who harbor a few worms without showing clinical symptoms are of particular concern, as these dogs are the source of infection for puppies and other dogs.
Whipworms (Trichuris vulpis)
In light infections, whipworms produce no clinical symptoms and are relatively benign. If the worm burden increases it can cause internal hemorrhage with resulting weight loss, diarrhea, blood in the stool, and anemia. Worm eggs are easily susceptible to desiccation (drying out), so prevention relies on maintaining cleanliness in all the areas where the dog spends time. Take special care to eliminate moisture around the dog’s bed.
Bruno was probably not more than four weeks old when found abandoned on a Hercules, California street corner. But the people who found him knew just who to call: Marilynn Hanson, a professional pet-sitter and shelter volunteer. While Hanson is often tempted to bring home the hard-luck cases she sees in the shelter, for practical reasons she usually resists. But she couldn’t help but respond to this tiny foundling, taking the green-eyed pit bull-cross home right then and there, and named him Bruno.
Hanson noticed the pup was a bit lethargic, with a runny right nostril, and so she took him in for a veterinary exam. Hanson’s veterinarian thought it was likely that an upper respiratory infection was the probable cause for Bruno’s runny nose, so he prescribed an antibiotic. Unfortunately, fixing Bruno’s problems was not to be that easy!
Knowing that the puppy would still be nursing if he were with his mother, Hanson tried to feed him from a bottle without success; he just couldn’t seem to suckle correctly. However, a hungry Bruno soon learned how to lap up a slurried mixture of A/D Lambert-Kay canine milk replacer mixed with baby rice cereal.
No Bladder Control
Although he drank an unusual amount of water all the time, and then, of course, urinated an extraordinary amount, Hanson chalked that behavior up to puppyhood. A more alarming symptom was his runny nostril, which failed to respond to the antibiotics, and even seemed to make his right eye weep.
A clue to the nature of the puppy’s true problem came in the form of an expelled tooth. “His upper right canine just fell out on the floor right in front of me,” Hanson describes. She took Bruno to Dr. Michael Floyd, a veterinary dental specialist. An x-ray revealed a broken nose and upper jaw, with a crack three-quarters of the way across his skull on the right side. Whether the injury had been a result of deliberate cruelty prior to the pup’s abandonment, or due to an accident suffered while he was on the street, it was impossible to know. There was nothing to be done except let the injury heal on its own, said Dr. Floyd.
In the meantime, Bruno was making terrific progress in his puppy training classes, advancing easily to obedience and then “click and treat” classes. Hanson expresses delight when asked about Bruno’s obedience work. “His conformation, drive, trainability, and temperament are so nearly perfect, I’d clone him,” she says. “Personality-wise, he has always been such a sweetheart, and his training was going well,” Hanson recounts.
It’s fortunate that the green-eyed pup had such a winning personality, because his health was still not good. At about six months of age, Bruno’s breath suddenly turned awful, so Hanson took him back to Dr. Floyd. Several of the teeth on the right side of Bruno’s mouth had grown in looking odd and malformed, and one even lacked enamel. Dr. Floyd extracted some malformed and abscessed molars and performed corrective dentistry on the teeth that had not erupted straight. One tooth even had “renamel” placed over its naked dentin.
When It’s No Longer a Puppy Problem
Months went by, and Bruno continued to grow, eating his slurried kibble, but still drinking excessive amounts of water every day. “It was very annoying, because I couldn’t really house-break him,” says Hanson. “Crate training didn’t work either, as he could only ‘hold it’ for an hour or so at a stretch. During the day, I pet-sit, and so usually, I was able to either take him with me, or I could get home to let him out every few hours. In the evenings, I worked out a routine where I’d take him outside every couple of hours, with the last trip at 10 p.m., and then put him to bed in the garage, where he could got up and relieve himself away from his sleeping space.”
Bruno was worth any amount of trouble to his adoring owner, even after the stocky puppy got stuck with the nickname “the Urinator” from the instructor of his puppy training class. But as he failed to “grow out of” what seemed like a persistent puppyhood problem, Hanson sought medical advice.
When Conventional Drugs Are Making You Bankrupt
After a thorough examination, Bruno’s veterinarian surmised that the pit bull might have diabetes insipidus (DI), a rare type of diabetes. DI is a rare disorder, caused by either the lack of ADH, a hormone that limits urine production, or by a failure of the kidneys to respond to the hormone. A shortage of ADH points to a malfunction in the pituitary gland (which could result from severe trauma to the skull). Either way, a solid diagnosis could only be made by conducting more extensive tests for pituitary and kidney function, or by administering the drug treatment of choice for DI. Hanson chose to start treatment, which consisted of intra-nasal “DDAVP” drops.
Fortunately, the drug worked! That clinched the diagnosis and improved Bruno’s condition. He quit drinking so much, and quit having to urinate so often. By the time Bruno reached one year of age, Hanson felt she finally had a normal dog.
The bad news was the exorbitant price of the treatment. Although the dosage was just two drops per nostril twice a day, the drug cost $185 for five milliliters. Hanson weathered the expense for several months and then decided there had to be an alternative to bankruptcy. “I admit, I work to support my numerous pets, but felt I needed to explore other options for Bruno’s treatment for financial well-being,” Hanson explained.
When Acupuncture is the Best Option
Considering a past positive experience with a geriatric cat which also happened to have a pituitary condition, Hanson decided to consult a veterinary acupuncturist to see if this complementary therapy might benefit Bruno. An appointment with Dr. Lisa Pesch, a veterinarian and acupuncturist in practice at the Broadway Pet Hospital in Oakland, confirmed Bruno’s candidacy for acupuncture. Dr. Pesch required a blood panel before acupuncture treatment, which would enable her to detect measurable differences that might occur with this therapy. Tests happened to show Bruno’s blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine to be extremely high, indicating kidney problems, but Dr. Pesch had confidence that with acupuncture and an herbal supplement regime, Bruno’s drug therapy could safely be terminated.
In late May, Hanson discontinued use of the DDAVP drops; on the same day, Bruno underwent his first acupuncture treatment, with half a dozen follow-up treatments in as many weeks. No significant changes were seen in the blood tests, and Hanson has to admit there were times she panicked while looking at the results. “But I was told by several vets that you can’t got hung up on the numbers, that each individual is unique, and what is normal for one may not be normal for another,” she recounts.
Bruno’s blood values were unchanged by the acupuncture, but the difference in his symptoms were dramatic. The dog who could not go more than two hours without needing to urinate can now sleep six hours straight (and so can his owner!) without getting up to go outside. His thirst reduced, and his perennially runny nose dried up. “These improvements made me a firm believer in complementary therapies,” Hanson affirms. “Western medicine has a lot to offer, of course, but sometimes, putting the body ‘in balance’ and keeping it there with alternative therapies is just as valuable!”
Hanson has supported Bruno’s health all along with a great diet and a variety of natural supplements. “I’ve fed him a fresh raw diet as much as I could, supplementing his pureed fruits and vegetables and raw meat dinners with Flint River Ranch kibble,” she describes. Hanson also gives Bruno Cell Tech’s Super Blue Green Algae twice a day, Cosamine (glucosamine chondroitin) for his jaw disorder, cranberry extract for bladder health, Nature’s Life Golden Flax Meal for kidney support, and New Visions’ Una de Gato to help keep his urination frequency in check.
Today, Bruno is a gleaming, smooth-coated amber color, with sparkling green eyes and a firm, muscular body. He wriggles with happiness when anyone turns their attention to him, which happens a lot to such an attractive guy. Who knows? With luck, perhaps in his next obedience class, Bruno will become known by a nickname suitable for a more finely tuned action hero.
I recently fostered a dog who first greeted me at the shelter that I sprung her from by jumping up on me. I spent the first two days with her almost exclusively working on preventing her from jumping. When I introduced her to a friend, my friend immediately held her arms out and greeted the dog’s enthusiastic jump up with a big hug, petting, and cooing
