We have four dogs and two cats. Pet hair is omnipresent in our lives, especially since housecleaning never seems to get very high on our list of priorities.
However, we know enough other dog owners to know that we are not alone. With the possible exceptions of the short list of “non-shedding” breeds, anyone who allows dogs in the house (which is where, in our opinion, dogs belong!) has to deal with dog hair. We vacuum. We sweep. We brush. We cringe in embarrassment when we glance at our clothes in public and see the plethora of hairs that our clothes brushes missed.
If you’re anything like us, you’ve gazed at the variety of dog hair removal products displayed in catalogs and in pet supply stores, idly wondering if any of them work. WDJ decided to find out. We ordered every hair removal product we could find in a towering stack of catalogs and set out to test them. Our home was the perfect test lab.
We found three types of hair-removal products: products that use some sort of tape as an adhesive; tapeless adhesives; and products that use friction and/or static cling to remove hair. We were surprised to discover that, in most applications, the friction products were vastly more effective than the adhesive products. However, to be well-armed for pet hair removal, we suggest including several different products in your arsenal, since each of our top picks excels in a different area.
We’ve listed the manufacturers’ numbers with their products; they can tell you where to find the products locally.
ACL Injury and Surgery
A friend’s 3-1/2 year-old purebred black Lab just had knee surgery at MSU for a bilateral rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). After reading about the benefits of St. John’s Wort on surface wounds, my question is, can St John’s Wort help in healing her internally? She is scheduled to have the same procedure on the other knee soon. Any information you can give to us would be appreciated.
-Samantha M. Cahoon
Waterford, MI
We directed this question to Carolyn Blakey, DVM, of the Westside Animal Clinic in Richmond, Indiana. Dr. Blakey has been practicing veterinary medicine for 32 years, the last four in an all-holistic practice. She especially enjoys serving as a holistic veterinary consultant to clients all over the country.
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) IS often used in topical wound healing creams and ointments, as it demonstrates broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Taken internally, however, it has not demonstrated any ability to heal injuries, but has well-documented abilities to lift depression and lessen anxiety.
I would encourage you, however, to take a step back from looking at this dog’s injury as something that a single thing might fix. How has such a young dog of such a sturdy breed come to require such a serious repair for a such a serious injury in the first place? A black Lab should be able to take a lot of stress on his joints; these dogs are meant to be very active and play rough. If this dog has blown out two ACLs, it makes me wonder what she’s done to the other ligaments and tendons in her body. There is more to this story than meets the eye. I can’t second-guess MSU regarding the dog’s whole health work-up, but I can’t help but think there is something wrong with the dog’s overall metabolism. Has the dog ever suffered a major accident or illness?
Right off the bat, I would start the dog on a supplement that can nourish the ligament structure of the body. In fact, in light of her two ligament failures, she should probably be on a ligament support for the rest of her life.
The surgery will repair or replace the ACL ligaments in the dog’s knees. To nourish what’s left of the old ligament, any new implants, and the surrounding tissues, I’d get this dog on a ligament supplement right away. As a matter of fact, if the dog wasn’t too lame, I’d try this approach before I did the surgery on the other leg!
My favorite ligament support, Ligaplex II, is made by Standard Process, of Palmyra, Wisconsin. Standard Process only sells their products through doctors and veterinarians; you can’t buy them at a health food store. See if you can find a holistic veterinarian who can get you some of this supplement, or something very similar. (To find holistic veterinarians, try contacting the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.) Your veterinarian can reach Standard Process at (800) 848-5061 or (414) 495-2122.
Ligaplex II contains a number of nutrients and micro-nutrients which are needed for the creation and health of ligaments and tendons, including manganese, vitamins E, A, C, and B12. I’ve seen it work wonders.
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are two other supplements that can be beneficial in these cases, even though they are more helpful for joint problems. But this Labrador’s knee joints are probably going to be very traumatized by the surgeries.
Sometimes calcium supplements can help with ligament problems, though you always have to be careful when supplementing with calcium because too much can get the dog’s chemistry out of balance. You might just try to find a food that is high in calcium.
Speaking of food, if the dog is not already on a wholesome, fresh-food diet (and with such troubles at her tender age, I suspect she’s not) she ought to be. Her diet should be superior – no cheap foods. I’d make sure she was getting fresh raw foods, including fresh meat – foods that really feed the joints, and ligaments, and tendons.
There are a couple of other modalities that could help this dog. Acupuncture would help move some energy into and through that joint, particularly through the healing process. And chiropractic could be of particular value; this dog may well suffer a back injury by doing some compensatory movements because of pain from her ACL problems. Chiropractic could help resolve all the lameness problems, helping her body coordinate a total recovery.
False Motherhood
I have a problem with one of my dogs that my veterinarian has never encountered. Cleo, my four-year-old Lab/Husky mix, thinks she had puppies – but she hasn’t!
Cleo was spayed at six months (by a different vet) but has been having what I call pseudo heat every six months ever since. It was never a big deal – no dogs calling at our door, and only a few drops of blood.
Last September I adopted a Shih Tzu couple who were on their way to the pound. I was led to believe the female was spayed. The male I had neutered a week after they got here. Sixty-four days after they moved in, I awoke to a shock; the female had two puppies. Cleo went into heat right after the puppies were born. Nine weeks later she acted like SHE had given birth to puppies. Hers were in the form of three balls of varying sizes and colors that she found around the house. She lays on her bed (where she never used to go during the day ) and whines for me to come see her; understand that she is not a whiner by nature. And she growls at anyone else who attempts to come near her “puppies.”
My vet checked her literature and said I would just have to wait it out. I have since had the Shih Tzu spayed but Cleo is still having her pseudo heats, and recently she went through the whole “I’ve had puppies!” thing again. Her heats involve a little more blood since the other dogs moved in.
-Patty Spear
Waterford, MI
We gave this question to Dr. Mark Newkirk of Margate Animal Hospital and Alternative Care Center in Margate, New Jersey. Dr. Newkirk uses a number of complementary therapies, including herbs, homeopathy, NAET (allergy elimination), nutritional therapy, and alternative cancer therapies.
Pseudo heat with blood dripping can be a sign of an ovarian remnant, or ectopic (not in the normal place) ovarian tissue. Both of these conditions could be the result of a birth defect, or caused if a piece of the ovary was left in place when the dog was spayed. If there is an ovarian remnant, holistic treatment is NOT the answer. Surgery is.
It’s also possible that the behavior results from an adrenal gland that is making too much sex hormone. This is rare, but at least it’s easier to diagnose. You can have your veterinarian do a blood test to determine whether her estrogen and progesterone levels are abnormally high. High estrogen levels can make a spayed female act like she’s in heat, but this is not usually accompanied by vaginal bleeding.
Homeopathy could be very helpful, but a classical homeopathic approach would be necessary to effect a cure (as opposed to simply choosing one remedy that addresses one troublesome symptom). A very detailed and involved history would be required.
Bach Flower Essence therapy might help ease Cleo’s protectiveness and mothering behaviors. I would suggest chicory, for possessiveness, mustard, for depression, and/or scleranthus, for indecision.
First and foremost, however, I would suggest having her examined by another veterinarian. I would try to make an appointment to see the veterinarian when she is exhibiting her mothering behavior (even if you have to bring her tennis balls with her to the vet’s office!) so that her blood can be tested while she is at the peak of her unusual behavior.
Our mailbox has been full lately; I like to think that means we’re doing a good job, whether the letters we are getting are full of praise or criticism. Of course, it would be great to get nothing but glowing notes from happy readers, but it’s unrealistic for one reason: Not everything we write about it going to work for ALL of our readers!
Our job, as we see it, is to provide you with the latest information about holistic dog care and training, from the widest variety of credible sources. We actively seek out the latest studies, as well as the people with the most experience and expertise in their fields, in an effort to present you with information about beneficial treatments you can go right out and use on your dog.
Does this mean that we always give you the one right answer to your dog care and training questions?
That’s a trick question. There is no single correct answer to any dog care and training question!
Health and well-being is a science AND an art, for us and for our dogs. Science can tell us that “Substance X” causes this effect in this population of this kind of dog, but only art can tell us whether our dog might enjoy the same results as the Substance X dogs.
We’ve all heard stories – heck, we’ve published some of these stories – about dogs that were cured of their ills in curious ways. But what cures one dog may well kill the next one.
Not for a second am I trying to suggest we have publicized any approach that could kill your dog, but I am trying to make a point: Perfectly good treatments, used at the wrong time, on the wrong dog, can actually do harm. However, if you are armed with good, solid, well-researched information about a given problem, you can combine this with your intimate knowledge of your own individual dog, to make an informed decision about his diet, training, or medical treatment plan. You might make a mistake; we hope not, but it’s a possibility. Nobody’s perfect.
Along the way, we hope to expand the range of information you have at your disposal, because thinking that you have to decide whether to employ Solution A and Solution B to solve your dog’s problem is the best way to overlook Solutions X, Y, and Z!
To this end, we occasionally publish letters, rebuttals, and other “evidence to the contrary” regarding some of the articles that have appeared in WDJ. This doesn’t mean we did something wrong; it just means that for some dog and some person, a different approach was more effective than the one we wrote about! We publish these letters because we realize that the writers’ solutions might also work for someone else; the unique set of circumstances they describe might more closely resemble another reader’s experiences than our article did.
One of my father’s favorite aphorisms is, “You ALWAYS have options.” But even though I’ve heard him say this a thousand times, it’s a hard thing to remember when you feel like you are up against the hard, cold wall of a decision that needs to be made immediately. It might be a veterinarian saying, “We need to start chemotherapy right away if we are going to try to save him.” It might be a trainer saying, “If I were you, I would knock that dog on his butt right here and now.” And you are thinking, “I can do this, or I can walk away . . .” while you should be thinking, “There must be more options than these two . . .”
Our advice? Keep your mind and heart open as you read through this and every other issue. This month, we’re trying to help you decide about electronic fencing, the best diet for dogs, how to help noise-phobic dogs, how to treat lick granuloma, and much more.
(Nail) Cutting Comments The Product News and Reviews article in the February 1999 issue compelled me to write. As a groomer of both dogs and cats, I was alarmed at your choices and limited selection of nail trimming devices. I wouldn’t recommend nor use any of the ones you featured.
If one is used for too long, a nail grinder will heat up the nail and send shooting pain through the nerve up the animal’s leg. And like you so clearly said, it may be difficult to even get the grinder near a dog, much less his nails. So I am confused why you’d recommend the grinder. In my opinion it should only be used by professionals. A simple nail file would be much safer, and for that matter, much less expensive.
I totally agree that the Vista Dog Nail Clippers are junk.
The guillotine kind is yet another poorly designed nail clipper. Like you say, it’s difficult to control how much of the nail is inserted. When it cuts, it actually only cuts from one side, thereby pulling the nail and making the clip painful, while failing to make a clean cut.
Miller Forge makes a better version of the “White” nail scissors. The ones I use look much like the ones you pictured, but the tips do not cross over each other. These are the best cat and small dog nail clippers I know of. Miller Forge calls them “Small Dog Nail Clippers.”
Miller Forge also makes my favorite large dog nail clippers. But beware! There are numerous imitations out there that don’t work half as well as the Miller Forge clippers. I use Miller Forge large dog nail clippers with great success. First, I make one straight-across cut where I’m sure not to cut the blood vessel. Then I make small cuts on alternating sides. That way I know how close to the “quick” I am. When it becomes dark in the center I know I’m near the quick.
This technique takes a little longer, but it’s preferable to “quicking” the blood vessel by mistake. Nail clipping takes a lot of practice and many groomers don’t know this technique. Doing it this way also eliminates the use of a grinder since I’m cutting off the sharp side edges.
When it concerns my animal friends, I choose quality over something cheaper. I try to gain the dogs’ trust in order to trim the nails. And I can relate to the dogs’ fear. I don’t like my toenails clipped either!
J-B Wholesale (800-526-0388) has both large dog nail clippers and files. New England Serum Company (800-637-3786) has all three. I am not saying Miller Forge makes the only clippers one should use, but their clippers work well, at least for me.
-Toni Amelung San Francisco, CA
As a groomer, I use the Miller Forge “Small Nail Clipper” almost exclusively, and their “Nail Scissors” for cats. I love the electric buffer, but I’ve burned up two in five years. I switched to the “Dremmel” brand nail grinder. It costs less than the Oster, and so far, it runs better, too.
-Bonnye Ruttenbur Dillon, MT
Carpet Cleaners Regarding your recent article about carpet cleaners (“Pees on Earth,” January 1999): Several months ago one of our four dogs vomited in several places on our new carpet and the carpet cleaners pretty much gave up trying to get the stain out. I tried everything on the market with no luck. (Mind you, this is oatmeal-colored carpet which was stained in at least 10 places with dark brown vomit.) I called the manufacturer and they gave me the following suggestion that worked (and has continued to work) miracles.
Mix 1/2 cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide with one teaspoon non-sudsy ammonia. Using a paper towel, blot this mixture on the stain until the stain is saturated. Cover the spot with clear plastic wrap and place a heavy object on top (I cover it with a book or something and place something heavy on top of that). After two to three hours remove the plastic wrap. If the spot is not gone, repeat the procedure after the carpet has dried.
Now, they did not ask what color carpet I have so I am assuming this can be used on carpets of other colors, but a hidden spot check would be safest.
-Sue Kane Holland, MI
Learning From Mistakes In all journalist endeavors or personal retellings, stories are edited. The source may choose to omit details in order to fulfill the purpose of the story, to fit the physical space or time available, and/or to meet the needs and interests of the readers or listeners. Because of this, it is impossible to accurately judge the people involved in an article’s content or in any other type of second-hand “telling” of information. We need to be aware that, without discussion, many details can be missing or misstated and this can innocently obscure the total picture, whether the story is from printed material or anther type of second-hand source.
When reading, watching or listening, many find that the best learning is achieved when keeping the focus on the purpose of the story. The purpose of my sharing Dusty’s story with WDJ (“Case History: One Lucky Puppy,” WDJ February 1999) was to advise people that alternative support is available and can be successful in helping with kidney compromise. It is my hope that by further sharing some additional pieces of Dusty’s story, my folly will give others a chance to make more informed choices.
Karma was two weeks short of her third birthday when she whelped (bred at her fifth season). This is a common age for the first breeding of a finished Champion female in the basset world. She was in excellent condition and health when bred, and to all outward appearances throughout her pregnancy even though she was carrying a large litter for this breed. She had no history of illness or signs of immune deficiency. Karma was a multiple specialty and breed winner. Having made the cut for group several times in her short show career, she showed the quality and attitude that many breeders strive for.
Dusty and his littermates did/does NOT have a hereditary kidney disease, but a low functional level due to damage, which was triggered by a minor uterine bacterial infection in the mother before birth. This is Dr. Franklin’s (an internal specialist) opinion, based on sequence of events, physical evidence, the testing done, as well as the dogs’ autopsies.
Dr. Franklin surmised that Karma contracted this infection late in the third trimester of pregnancy, most likely during the last two weeks of gestation. This infection caused the perfectly formed adrenal glands in the puppies to simply not “start up” at birth. The autopsy of Karma did not show that any infection was still present, so it is most likely that she died of toxic shock from anesthesia. As the puppies grew, they did not have the necessary adrenal function to give their kidneys the ability to clear toxins, thus they were going into renal failure and succumbing to toxin build up. Unfortunately, this is difficult to diagnosis in puppies this young, though not an uncommon occurrence in other animals or humans.
As the WDJ article clearly showed, the effect can be devastating to mother and the unborn. I have often wondered how many people have lost partial or whole litters to what they were led to believe was “fading puppy syndrome,” when it may have actually been this problem. It took a lot of determination, a willingness to travel long distance to the “best vet in the northwest,” and a lot of money to get around to appropriate testing for a diagnosis and treatment. If I had been aware that this can (and does) happen, I would have been able to better guide my local vet or get the dogs to a specialist sooner.
Many lives were lost and the damage done to the survivors was greater, because I initially accepted my cherished local veterinarian’s diagnosis of fading puppy syndrome. (A term often used by vets for “I don’t know what’s going on.”) He did what he was trained to do very well, but an internal specialist’s knowledge was needed to make a diagnosis. My vet made the referral when he realized how determined I was to learn what was going on. Whether using holistic and/or conventional methods, you can not be sure of what treatment can be successful without an accurate diagnosis.
I would strongly urge anyone with a pregnant dog to run a full blood panel prior to breeding. (I did this.) This gives you an overall picture of the mother’s health, and a baseline to refer to. Then run another panel in the third trimester to assure continued good health. The type of bacterial infection Karma contracted in her third trimester was not symptomatic, but could have been treated if it had been detected by a second testing. I learned the hard way that this should be done as a precaution. I know this is an extra whelping expense but now that I am aware of this potential problem, I will not omit the second testing again.
Karma’s son Dusty is of the same conformation quality and has also led a very healthy life, despite his adrenal/kidney compromise. If the survivor had instead been female, she would never have been bred regardless of her positive qualities and show career. The stress and physical challenge of pregnancy would certainly have caused further compromise to her kidneys and would likely result in further kidney damage or shutdown. There is no equivalent problem with a male.
I consulted many veterinarians (both general practitioners and specialists) as to whether or not breeding could be a problem for Dusty or his get. They unanimously stated that this was not an inheritable problem, nor harmful to Dusty. Dusty was not bred until he was three years old and will have his fourth birthday on May 29.
Both Dusty and Karma had passed the health certifications that are common in this breed (Eye Cert., VW, BHT, etc.) prior to being bred. There was no known history of kidney disease or compromise in either pedigree. Karma’s mother and both grandmothers free whelped, though c-sections are not uncommon in Bassets. The horror of Karma’s whelping and litter was an event, not a hereditary factor.
All well-studied breeders have a continued quest to gather as much information as is available to assist in each step of their breeding program. We are all striving to consistently contribute to the betterment of our respective breeds. Breeders, please continue sharing both the positive and the negative experiences you have had. I realize that this means you will be taking the risk of someone being critical or judgmental; indeed, you can get bitten clear to the heart. But we all know that more openness is needed in the dog world.
The opportunity to review real case studies and experiences is one of the best ways that we can learn from one another. If we stay focused on the purpose of sharing, and accept this precious gift, we can extend our personal growth from having shared or acquired knowledge. This may be of great benefit to future generations of all animals and breeders.
-Gretchen Shelby, M.Ed. Logo Bassets
Not All Dogs Go To Heaven Regarding your editorial in the March issue: I guess the reader who thought you were criticizing Rotties was a Rottie owner, eh?
For some reason, Rottie owners get REALLY offended when anything bad is written about that breed. They can’t accept that the Rottie is a dominant breed that tends to have aggressive tendencies – especially when the owners can’t handle their dominance and subsequently can’t control or are afraid of their dog. We see this time and time again in our vet clinic.
I own a Jack Russell and I’ve heard bad things about them also, but if you prepare and train them properly, they won’t be like that. If you had used a Jack Russell as an example of an aggressive dog, instead of a Rottie, I wouldn’t have been offended because terriers can be terrors too!
At the first rumble of thunder, some noise-phobic dogs run for you, some run and hide under your bed, and some frantically try to run away. Without some intervention, this sort of blind panic can endanger the dog.
[Updated Dec 20, 2022]
When I was younger and much more foolish than I am today, I did a very stupid thing. I took my 12-week-old Australian Kelpie puppy to help me staff a humane society booth at the county fair, and stayed to the very end to watch the evening’s fireworks display.
With the onset of the first deafening pyrotechnic boom and ensuing panoply of brilliant lights, Keli urinated in my lap and struggled frantically to escape. I tried to comfort her as the show continued, but she was in a total, unmitigated panic. I couldn’t have engineered a more perfect way to create a noise-phobic dog if I had tried. For the rest of her 14 years, Keli trembled violently in fear and crawled under the bed during thunderstorms (fortunately a rare occurrence in California) and whenever 4th of July and New Year firecrackers rocked the tranquillity of the neighborhood.
Preventing Noise Phobias in Dogs
Many behaviorists and dog trainers believe that puppies go through a so-called “fear imprinting” period sometime between the ages of eight to 20 weeks, when they learn what is safe in the big wide world, and what is not. Exposure to traumatic stimuli during this period can have long-lasting effects, as the fireworks did with Keli.
The same exposure outside this critical period might temporarily frighten a dog, but is much less likely to do permanent damage to her psyche. Obviously then, the first step in dealing with noise phobias is prevention. During this “fear imprinting” period of a young pup’s life, it is imperative to take extra precautions to see that she isn’t traumatized by unusually loud or sudden noises.
Even later on in a dog’s life, it is important to avoid experiences, such as confining the dog near a noise-producing object, that might trigger an unhealthy fear of loud noises. There may actually be a genetic predisposition for the development of fearful behaviors, which would help to explain why one dog can tolerate repeated noisy stimuli with impunity, while another needs only one exposure to the same stimulus to develop a severe behavior problem. But what do we do about the thousands of noise-phobic dogs for whom prevention is no longer an option? The damage has already been done. Are they doomed, like Keli, to spend the rest of their lives hiding under the bed whenever storm clouds gather?
It is a serious concern. Animal shelters universally report that July 5th and January 1st are the two busiest days of the year in their kennels, caring for dogs who escaped the night before. Fear-induced adrenaline causes dogs to scale fences that would normally be more than adequate to keep them safely confined. Some even go through plate-glass windows and dig through doors in their frantic attempts to escape the torment of the noise.
Fortunately, there are ways to desensitize noise-phobic dogs. It takes time and a real commitment on the part of the dog owner to follow through on a noise desensitization program, but such programs, if followed faithfully, do have a good chance of succeeding.
Dogs and Thunderstorms
Noise-phobic dogs, often labeled “gun shy,” may react to firecrackers, gunshots, cars backfiring, cap guns, wood chopping, falling pots and pans and any other loud noise. But by far the most common stimulus that triggers noise phobia in dogs is the thunderstorm.
Thunderstorms offer a number of potential fear-producing stimuli, including the noise of thunder, wind and rain, flashes of lightning, changes in atmospheric pressure, ionization and storm-related odors. While they may all play a role in thunderstorm phobias, the most overpowering and easiest of the thunderstorm stimuli to replicate for modification work is the noise component.
The two most common approaches to behavior modification involve either desensitization and counter-conditioning, or flooding and habituation (see “Behavioral Definitions,” below). Medications have been used in noise phobia treatment with mixed success. While they may help to calm and control a dog during a storm and prevent self-inflicted injury, they seem to have little long-term effect on the dog’s fear. Also, drugs may actually inhibit a dog’s ability to learn that the storm is not frightening.
Desensitization/counter-conditioning and flooding/habituation are opposite approaches; one can’t do both at the same time. Flooding can be extremely traumatic, and once embarked upon must be followed to its conclusion in order to be successful. This can take many hours, and if the session is stopped before the dog relaxes and accepts the noise, it is likely to just make the problem worse – the dog may think that it was the fearful behavior that finally succeeded in making the noise stop. Flooding is commonly used in the treatment of human fears and phobias, but much less so in dogs.
Desensitization and counter-conditioning, on the other hand, are used together frequently and successfully to overcome canine fears. We can’t use real storms in a desensitization program. Real storms happen too quickly to allow for the gradual increase in intensity that is necessary for desensitization to succeed. However, we can create artificial, controllable thunderstorms through the creative use of stereo equipment, recordings of thunder, strobe lights (to simulate lightning) and sprinklers or hoses to create the sound of rain on the window or roof.
Behavioral Definitions
Phobia: A non-useful, counter-productive fear response that is out of proportion to the real level of threat posed by the stimulus.
Counter-conditioning: A technique by which an animal is conditioned to respond in ways that are incompatible with an undesirable response, by gradually presenting the feared stimulus while the animal is engaged in a pleasurable activity (such as eating food). Ideally the stimulus is presented at a level that does not evoke a fear reaction at any time. (Usually performed simultaneously with desensitization.)
Desensitization: A technique used to reduce fear responses in a step-by-step process by exposing the animal initially to non-fearful stimuli and gradually increasing the intensity of the stimuli without evoking a fear response.
Flooding: A fear-removal technique whereby an animal is continuously exposed to a full-strength fear-causing stimulus until the animal stops exhibiting the fearful behavior. The stimulus is not removed until some time after the animal has completely relaxed. At the end of the session the animal is experiencing the full-strength stimulus in a non-fearful state of mind. We do not recommend using this technique.
Habituation: The decrease or loss of response to a fear-inducing stimulus solely as the result of repeated exposure to that stimulus without the use of pleasant or aversive associations (rewards or punishments).
Desensitizing Your Dog to Noise
Begin your behavior modification program by finding a recording (or combination of recording and other stimuli) that causes your dog to react fearfully. Thunderstorm recordings on tape or CD are available at most music outlets. As soon as the dog begins to show fear of the stimuli, turn them off. You don’t want to evoke a full fear response; you just want to find the level at which your dog begins to respond.
Some dogs are so frightened of thunder that even the noise of an airplane overhead commands their immediate attention and apprehension. Desensitizing such a dog to storm sounds can help him learn to keep calm when there are ANY loud noises.
Once the dog is totally relaxed again you can begin the training program. Start by playing the recording below the level that would evoke a fearful response. This may be at a level that you cannot even hear. Remember that your dog’s hearing is infinitely better than yours. After five minutes or so, increase the sound slightly. (This is the desensitization part.) While your dog is still calm, feed him absolutely wonderful treats – roast beef or steak, fried chicken skins, or anything else that your dog would normally do backflips for. (This is the counter-conditioning part.) You want him to think that absolutely wonderful things happen when thunderstorm noises occur.
Be generous with totally terrific treats, petting, and praise, and keep the sound at each level for several minutes before gradually increasing the volume again. At some point, your dog will start to exhibit a mild, fearful reaction. (If it is not mild, you have increased the volume too quickly.) Watch for panting, pacing, clinging to you, and other signs of tension. When this happens you have two choices. You can either immediately turn the volume back down, or wait and see if the dog habituates to that level of intensity. If the reaction is truly mild and you have been very gradually increasing the volume, it is preferable to wait for habituation.
Keep the volume at this level for a considerable period of time before increasing the volume again (the exact definition of “considerable period of time” depends on the individual dog). As soon as the dog relaxes – when the signs of stress go away – resume treat-feeding and petting.
Try Never to Invoke a Fear Response
It is important not to play the recording too loudly or to increase the volume too quickly. This is the most common mistake made in desensitization programs – increasing the stimuli level too rapidly. It is very important not to evoke a fear response that does not habituate during the session; this would be a major step backward. Be patient. While the first few sessions may proceed slowly, typically subsequent sessions will go much faster. It often takes only three to five sessions to move past the initial volume level at which the dog first reacted fearfully. This can be accomplished in less than a week.
Once your dog accepts loud thunderstorm noises, reduce the volume and add the other stimuli, one at a time, until he is comfortable with the entire package. Each time you add a new stimulus, reduce the intensity of the others and gradually increase them again, one at a time.
You will also want to change locations from time to time, so the dog accepts the stimuli package in any room of the house. Later on, the onset of the artificial storm should occur outside of formal training sessions – at first perhaps while the dog is playing with a favorite toy, or eating dinner, then at other random times.
When your dog is comfortable with storm noises in all of these situations, you can set your storm on a timer to play at very low levels for very short intervals (at first) when you are not home. Don’t forget: Every time you change an aspect of the exercise you must reduce the intensity of each element of the stimulus package.
Your Dog May Take a While
Studies indicate that frequent, long desensitization/counter-conditioning sessions (30-45 minutes) are more effective than multiple short ones. Mild to moderate phobias may be successfully treated in just a few weeks. Severe cases can take longer – a month or more is not unusual; sometimes they never come around.
Pet, praise, and treat your dog any time she remains calm in the face of her most feared noise. If the dog, like the one above, is tentative about eating when she is nervous, use some especially tasty treats, such as pieces of bacon or bits of canned chicken.
The prognosis for severely affected dogs may not be rosy – studies of desensitization programs for extremely noise-phobic dogs are not very encouraging. Many of these dogs don’t respond. However, this may be because the dogs weren’t being desensitized to the right stimulus. It is important to mimic as many of the elements of the package of thunderstorm stimuli as possible for the greatest chance of success.
It is beneficial to accomplish the desensitization program as quickly as possible. If a real storm occurs during the training process and traumatizes the dog it can set the training back. Where storms are seasonal, it makes sense to start and complete the program during the “off” season. Because the desensitization can apparently fade with time, it is also a good idea to refresh the training once or twice a month.
The Dog-Static-Electricity Theory
Some people believe that it is the build-up of static electricity (and resultant static shocks to the dog) that occurs during a thunderstorm that makes many dogs develop an extreme fear of storms.
This would explain why some dogs hide in bathtubs or wedge themselves behind toilets when a storm hits. Their contact with the porcelain plumbing fixtures is thought to ground them and protect them from shocks. Many storm-phobic dogs are much more calm if they are allowed to “ride out” the storm in a car – maybe because the car protects them from the storm sounds as well as from static shocks.
Some owners report success with laundry no-cling strips. Rubbing these sheets over the dog can also prevent static shocks. It is not an unreasonable theory. The intensity of many dogs’ reactions to storms is comparable to the extreme reaction often seen by dogs who are subjected to shocks from electronic training collars. Driving your dog around in a car during a storm, or rubbing him with laundry no-cling sheets are easy and inexpensive solutions to try.
For noises other than storms, it is a matter of finding an adequate artificial replication of the offending noise and any other relevant stimuli that can be incorporated into a similar program.
While not every noise-phobic dog can be successfully desensitized, behaviorists report a fair degree of success with desensitization programs like the one described above. This is good news to the owners of the thousands of noise-phobic dogs that suffer through thunderstorms and other fear-inducing sounds.
I will never deliberately expose another dog of mine to the fireworks experience that caused Keli’s extreme fear of loud noises. I will always regret that I didn’t know how to better help her recover from the trauma of that exposure. But it’s good to know that I now have the tools to help clients’ dogs break through the barrier of debilitating fear so that they can lead normal canine lives, even on the 4th of July.
The Whole Dog Journal is the best thing that has happened to Duke and I since Superman. Duke is my Golden Retriever buddy. Since Duke has been a puppy I have been feeding him commercial dog food. I have always felt that it wasn’t the best of foods, what with its by-products and preservatives.
About eight months ago I subscribed to WDJ and you ran an article on the top dry dog foods. I switched Duke’s food to one of your top picks, and in just the few months that he has been on this food I have noticed a much healthier dog.
I can’t purchase the food locally, or any of the brands that you recommend in your article, for that matter. I have to order it through Pet Warehouse to be shipped to me. But that’s okay. I now understand why there are so many veterinarians in this area; the only foods there are to buy around here are the junk foods that are killing our dogs. For that matter, the veterinarian that I started Duke out with even sells and recommends Science Diet’s dog foods.
I have switched veterinarians.
-Jerry A. Schweitzer
Williamstown, WV
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Thank you so much for the food reviews. Putting my dog on a high quality food has made a ton of difference for her. She was constantly licking her feet. The vet gave me powder to relieve the pain and help the rawness go away, but she was not at all helpful at getting to the cause of my dog’s licking. I suspected it was a food allergy, but didn’t know how to choose a good food. Your February 2000 issue came just at the right time. I started Roxy on a new food, and stopped giving her “grocery store” treats. The licking has all but stopped. Every so often, she gets licky, and I can always trace it to an unauthorized treat.
-Linda Lavolette
via email
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I always enjoy reading WDJ and find I constantly learn from the articles you present each month. Concerning “Canned or Dry?” (January 2001): I would like to share some things that I learned over more than 40 years of small animal practice.
First and foremost, whether or not the veterinary profession recognizes it or not, there is a vast difference in the overall long-term effects of dry vs. canned (or fresh) pet diets. Most dry food is calorie-dense, and has a far greater tendency to produce overweight pets. This, in turn, leads to the “too numerous to mention” problems caused by excess weight.
Also, most dry foods cause the dog to produce an alkaline urine, not as acidic as it should be. Alkaline media, as any home canner will tell you, supports bacterial growth. So the incidence of renal disease, cystitis, vaginitis, vulvitis, and even bladder stones increases. I could give you endless examples from my practice experience. When dogs urinate on grass, a brown spot should not develop, but will, if the dog is on a dry food diet.
Any competent physical exam on the dog should always include palpation in the area of the kidneys. Most dogs having systemic infections will exhibit a pain reaction in this area, so vets look for it. I found it quite interesting that through decades of exams, most pets on dry food will exhibit discomfort. Those on canned do not. Sometimes the pain was quite dramatic, sometimes even to the point of being unwilling to walk. Or they might manifest an inability to easily go upstairs or jump in the car.
Every case of gastric dilatation or torsion I ever saw, with one exception, were on dry food diets. It was a problem, like many others, we did not have in my practice in suburban Virginia. I am not saying there is no place for dry food in a good nutritional plan, especially for large dogs. But to ignore the differences between these diets is to tread on very shaky supposition.
It’s five a.m. You’re suddenly awakened by a sound. After a moment you roll over and go back to sleep, realizing it’s Tuesday and thinking dark thoughts about garbage trucks.
Your noise-phobic dog, however, may not only think the sky is falling, but also that it’s his responsibility to make sure that everyone in the world knows about it. So much for your sleep.
When the average dog hears a loud or unusual noise, as long as no one around him panics or acts strangely, he’ll generally figure out that there is nothing to worry about. But noise-phobic dogs don’t seem to notice that the earth just keeps turning, noise or no noise. And, for many of these dogs, noises can elicit problem behavior of varying natures: territorial, fear-based, obsessive/habitual, to name a few.
This need not be a permanent condition. Training a dog can change a dog’s response to a noisy event. In my experience, however, training alone does not always relieve the underlying fear-based stress caused by the noise phobia in the first place, and, may in fact, contribute to its continuation. Instead, the dog may change the focus of his stress to another sound or sense; some of these dogs begin exhibiting another problem behavior, such as destructive chewing or obsessive licking.
Tellington TTouch
This is where Tellington TTouch can make a difference. While TTouch works to help every animal become better balanced and more consciously responsive to itself and its environment, it is with the fear-based and/or habitual response patterns that TTouch can truly work wonders.
TTouch body work and learning exercises affect the nervous system, interrupting habitual patterns and giving dogs the opportunity to discover and experience their own ability to respond to challenging situations in new and different ways – to think, not just react.
Improving the communication between the body and the mind promotes physical, mental, and emotional balance. Given a choice, a balanced dog will release old patterns and choose less stressful, more rewarding, more efficient patterns – ones that, with your guidance, will be mutually beneficial (aahhh, sleep!).
For some dogs, that ability can appear magical. One Great Dane I became acquainted with used to be so terrified of thunder that she would pull the couch away from the wall and hide behind it when a storm hit, damaging both the wall and the couch in the process. She had one session of TTouch (when there was no thunder), and during the next storm she was found lying ON the couch, fast asleep. Now, that’s letting go of baggage!
On the other hand, a nervous Border Collie with incredibly sensitive hearing might need TTouch on a regular basis to help him maintain his balance, and his family might always have to be mindful of the level of sound in their home and surroundings to reduce the stress, and possibly, the pain of excessive noise. (Those fine-tuned ears are a benefit in the far hills of Scotland, but a real detriment in a city that echoes with noise ‘round the clock.)
The following TTouch exercises can be particularly helpful for noise-related issues. Start when you and your dog are calm, so he develops trust in your touch and its results. From your dog’s perspective, it feels good, it’s relaxing, and it enhances communication between you. This will create memories (both mental and physical) that will be useful when he’s not so calm. Remember that TTouch works on the nervous system and a little can go a long way. Your dog needs time to process the new information, so shorter sessions of two to 10 minutes, twice a day, will be more effective than longer, more intense ones.
Ear Slides
This TTouch can help balance the entire body. Most dogs like having their ears touched, so it’s usually a safe place to start. Sit beside or behind your dog with one hand gently resting on his shoulder or supporting his chin. Curl the fingers of your other hand softly and place your thumb behind and at the base of the ear with your curled fingers in front of the ear, holding gently. Slide your hand from the base of the ear to the tip and off, in the natural direction of the dog’s ear. Cover the entire ear with repeated slides, keeping your hand (and body) relaxed and breathing naturally. For cropped or very small ears, you can use just your thumb and index finger; for large, heavy ears, use one hand to support the base of the ear while your other hand does the slides. You can also rotate the entire ear in both directions holding the base as above.
Watch your dog’s responses and experiment with different positions, pressures, and speeds to discover what he really likes best. For many dogs this is a great pleasure. If he seems to really hate it, you might want to have his ears checked to eliminate any physical cause.
Bear in mind that if your dog is responding to the sound of a perceived threat, generally he will not want his ears touched at that time – he needs all of his senses undisturbed so that he can evaluate the potential threat. If you can anticipate when a disturbing noise is about to occur (such as sirens that go off every Saturday at noon), do some ear slides before and after and apply the Body Wrap.
Click here to view the TTouch and Body Wrap techniques.
Sabra Learned, of Berkeley, CA, is a Certified TTouch Practitioner. She offers private appointments and group classes.
I am sure that nearly everyone has experienced grief over the death of a pet at one time or another. However, I want to digress from a focus on death and bereavement to address life, and its full enjoyment.
For some people, it can be as difficult (or even more difficult) to endure or reconcile the death of a dog as it is to deal with the death of a person. This isn’t a matter of displaced affections; today, we tend to be isolated from human death. Few people die at home in the arms of loved ones; most people die in hospitals. In contrast, people are much more likely to be personally involved with the death of their dogs. Many animals die at home, and often, owners are intimate with the anguish of making decisions regarding euthanasia.
Additionally, while no one would be embarrassed to admit they were upset about the loss of a human friend or relative, many people feel unnecessarily self-conscious and embarrassed when they get so upset about the death of ‘only a dog.’ But the loss of a good friend and companion is always upsetting, regardless of whether it was a dog or a person. It always hurts. It really hurts. In reality, it is part of the owner’s life that has died and the owner must now reevaluate and reconstruct.
As with the death of a relative or close friend, losing a dog can have long-lasting effect on the owner’s lifestyle. For example, I am surprised to realize that I have not been cross-country skiing or running (both previously major activities) since the death of my first Malamute, Omaha Beagle, well over 10 years ago.
Grieving is a painful, yet necessary process. At the time of the pet’s death, owners may lose perspective, tending to focus on all the bad experiences associated with the last few days, weeks and sometimes months prior to the pet’s demise. The bad experiences tend to become magnified and temporarily tend to obscure the many happy memories of years gone by. Each owner may experience different emotions, generally progressing through phases of denial, pain, anger and maybe depression. The goal, though, should be to get to the place where they can accept the death of their pet and remember the many good times along with the bad. It is essential to regain perspective on life. The loss of a pet is sad and unfair, but ultimately inevitable. We are all mortal.
And, most importantly, the loss of one life should not destroy another. The owner is still living and can have fun. The deceased pet would most certainly have wanted it that way. And when the time is right, there are other pets that are crying out for human companionship. There are so many unwanted pets that would be so lucky to have such a caring owner.
“I ask my (owner) to remember me always, but not to grieve for me too long. In my life I have tried to be a comfort to her in times of sorrow and a reason for added joy in her life’s happiness . . . One last request that I earnestly make. I ask her, for love of me, to have another. It would be a poor tribute to my memory never to have another dog. I would like to feel that once having known me, she cannot live without a dog!”
– from The Last Will and Testament of an Extremely Distinguished Dog, by Barbara Meyer
I would like to echo the above sentiments. Loved ones whose loss we may grieve tomorrow are presently alive and well and living with us today. Whereas no one can even remotely comprehend the full nature and magnitude of the feelings of the bereaved over the death of a loved one, nearly everyone can recognize, enjoy, and benefit from an overt display of love and affection for the living.
For those of you who are currently sharing their lives with a happy and healthy dog: watch him, be with him, play with him, talk to him, and train him. Let today be the excuse for a party. And tomorrow. And the next day. Listen to your kids, talk to your husband or wife, visit your parents, and appreciate your friends. Don’t wait for a day of grief to evaluate your feelings for those who are close to your heart. Tell them now!
Dr. Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian and dog trainer residing in Berkeley, CA. He is also the founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and is renowned for his Sirius Puppy Training program, which he describes in his popular books and instructional videos.
We know from innumerable modern research studies that a person’s immune strength and resistance can be improved through a positive mental outlook, and that people who are happy heal more quickly than emotionally depressed people. Stated simply: emotional states can affect the physical body.
Most veterinary health care professionals would probably agree that the principle is true for animals, too. For example, most healthy dogs are usually happy dogs – or is it the other way around? And have you noticed how, just as with people, very often an anxious or angry dog also tends to be prone to more injuries and illness than a content and cheerful dog?
We have proof of this today, but it was a radical proposition when English physician Dr. Edward Bach (pronounced “Batch”) posed a similar theory in the late 1920s. Bach started his medical career as a bacteriologist, but found fame as the founder of “flower essence therapy,” a healing modality based on the principle that addressing psycho/emotional imbalances can lead to improved health and function. Negative emotions, Bach conjectured, suppress healing, so he looked for elements that could positively affect people’s emotions and moods. His theory was that once a person felt better, he or she would begin to get better. Bach wrote, “. . . our fears, our cares, our anxieties and such . . . open the path to the invasion of illness. Remove the disharmony, the fear, the terror, or the indecision, and we regain harmony between soul and mind, and the body is once more perfect in all its parts.”
Familiar with the use and preparation of herbs through his study of homeopathy, Bach experimented with substances made from flowers, which he regarded as the most vibrationally powerful stage of plant growth, and ultimately developed 38 formulations of “flower essences,” each aimed at a specific emotional condition.
Curing or preventing disease may have been Bach’s ultimate goal, but the flower essences soon came to be valued by Bach’s adherents for their primary ability: positively affecting moods.
Bach’s goal was healing humans, but it didn’t take long for veterinarians who agreed with his theories to try Bach’s formulations on their animal patients. Indeed, for animals, the essences’ ability to improve mental and emotional states has proved to be perhaps even more valuable than for humans. (People, after all, can alternatively be helped by cognitive therapies such as discussion and analyses of thoughts and feelings – not a viable option with animals.)
Animals also provide us with an opportunity to determine whether any benefits experienced from flower essences are due to a placebo effect (where the patient expects the medicine to make him feel better, so he “makes” himself feel better). A dog who begins behaving in a more normal fashion after receiving the flower essences makes an ideal illustration of the flowers’ power!
Today, a growing number of veterinarians and complementary animal health care providers use flower essences on their animal patients. And because the remedies are safe, gentle, and available at most health food stores, many animal owners are trying the flower essences on their own, with remarkable results.
A Veterinarian-Tested Rescue Remedy
Without a doubt, the best-known and most widely used flower essence remedy is a combination of flower essences that Dr. Bach named “Rescue Remedy.” The remedy, a mixture of five different flower essences (Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock Rose, and Star of Bethlehem), is indicated for anxiety, agitation, upset, terror, and shock. Many people give the remedy to their dogs to ease show-ring or field trial jitters, for calming dogs who get anxious in the car, or for trips to the veterinarian’s office.
A growing number of veterinarians also use the five-flower combination on their patients. The blend is not only useful for treating the panic that many animals experience when they visit the veterinarian, but also for treating the conditions that necessitated the animal’s visit!
Maggie Voorhees, DVM, of the Natural Animal Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, makes it a habit to administer Rescue Remedy to her clients before particularly frightening procedures. “I’ve seen amazing results at times,” she says. “Many animals that are pretty wild before being treated with Rescue Remedy calm down nicely afterward.”
Any animal that experiences fear or terror at the veterinarian’s office can benefit from Rescue Remedy, says Voorhees. She administers the remedy to her patients before and/or after surgery, and says it can be counted on to “calm them right down.”
Another veterinarian, Arthur Young, of the Stuart Animal Hospital in Stuart, Florida, says he gives Rescue Remedy to any dog who has been hit by a car or suffered any other kind of traumatic injury. He’ll use traditional emergency veterinary medicine on the dog in addition to a dose of Rescue every 10 minutes until the dog is out of shock.
Every Day Flowers
However, Rescue is not the only flower essence he uses. “I use Bach flower remedies in my practice every day,” he says. “When there is disharmony in the mind, body, or spirit, something will give, and that’s where we get disease. When you’re stressed, you’re sick, and when you’re sick, you’re stressed. Stress creates an obstacle to healing, so I use the Bach flower remedies to fill the emotional need created by stress or illness,” he explains.
Dr. Young can rattle off a number of useful applications for many of Bach’s original formulations. “An animal whose owner has died can benefit from Honeysuckle, which is specifically for ‘grief for the loss of a loved one,’ and Rescue Remedy, to relieve fear, anxiety, and to take away the ‘edge.’ I also prescribe Rescue Remedy for a dog who is going to be traveling, especially for flying. Rather than using a tranquilizer for air travel, I’d treat him with Rescue Remedy for anxiety, add Aspen for fear, and Walnut when the dog gets to where you’re taking him to help him make the adjustment to a new venue.”
Dogs can also be treated for problematic behavior that is caused by negative emotions. For example, a dog “who has a strong personality and feels the need to be in charge can be treated with Chicory to help him quit seeking so much negative attention,” says Dr. Young.
Young also uses flower essence remedies to help him resolve physical problems that are aggravated by negative emotion. “I’ve seen dogs that have developed skin problems from unrelieved scratching, who have been treated allopathically for flea allergies but just keep scratching. Typically, the dog will have been overdosed with pesticides, or cortisone, even antibiotics. I’ll prescribe Agrimony, to help relieve the crawly feeling or sensation of itching, and Crabapple, which can be used as a detoxifier. Within a few days, the dog will feel a lot better – physically and emotionally.”
“In short,” says Young, “I use flower essences extensively in my practice. One of the best aspects of this truly holistic therapy is that it is gentle and non-reactive with other therapies.”
In his house call practice, Russell Swift, DVM, of Tamarac, Florida, uses flower essence therapy alone and in combination with nutritional therapy. But he finds them especially useful for treating behavior problems.
“I have used the flower essences for several years to treat for a variety of pet health problems, and have found them to be very effective,” he says. “But they are great for behavior. I’ve prescribed Chestnut Bud for a dog that ‘failed to learn from experience,’ an animal that kept making repeated mistakes in an obedience training situation – and it makes a huge difference. I’ve found Walnut to be helpful for a dog who had difficulty adjusting to a new dog adopted into a household, and Larch for the new dog who is low in confidence, as he was low in the pecking order in the household.”
Dr. Swift says the availability of the essences, as well as information about them, makes them especially useful to dog owners. “In the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of essences available from around the world, and many books and courses available on the subject for anyone who would like to learn how to use these healing substances,” he says. The biggest challenge for most pet owners, he warns, is in selecting the appropriate essences. “Since we have to interpret our pet’s behavior patterns through our own eyes, it is difficult not to superimpose our own emotions and feelings on them.”
How to Use Flower Essence on Your Dog
Flower essences generally come in tiny bottles of less than one ounce. The already diluted contents is referred to as a “mother tincture,” which is usually (but not necessarily) diluted further before administration. The undiluted mother tincture can be administered directly to a dog (two drops at a time), but due to the high alcohol content, many animals object to its taste and smell.
Further dilution does not affect the action of the essence, and it saves money!
Most health food stores that carry flower essences will also sell small (about 30 ml.) dropper bottles and/or mister bottles to use for mixing and administering a “working stock.” Pour three parts water (well, filtered, or bottled water if possible; neither chemically treated tap water nor distilled water are recommended) to one part alcohol (vodka, brandy, or Purol) into the bottle. Most experts suggest adding two drops of each mother tincture to be used (up to a maximum of seven essences, with Rescue Remedy counting as one essence) to the water/alcohol mixture. Then, put the top on and shake the bottle vigorously. Administer four drops of this working stock to the dog four times a day for chronic symptoms, or every 10 minutes or so in emergency or critical situations. (The potency of the essences is best increased by more frequent dosing from the working solution bottle, rather than giving a mixture with a higher percentage of mother tincture.)
Commonly, the working stock is administered with an eyedropper and squirted into the dog’s mouth. Some people prefer to drop the mixture onto a treat and feed it to the dog. The mixture can also be sponged onto the dog’s face, softly massaged into his skin, and rubbed behind his ears. Sometimes a dog who is panicked or aggressive will calm down after being gently misted (through a cage door, for instance) with a mixture formulated for his condition.
None of the essences’ manufacturers claim that the products will heal specific conditions on a physical level. The essences should not replace medical treatment, and should your dog manifest any symptoms of illness before, during, or after treatment, consult your veterinarian as usual. All of the makers say that the essences may be administered by themselves or in conjunction with medical or other treatment; they won’t conflict with medication, including any homeopathic remedies.
That fact that you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) change anything about a dog’s other treatments when you administer the remedies makes it easier for many skeptical dog owners to give the remedies a try; since they cannot hurt a dog in any way, an owner has “nothing to lose” by giving them a try. And that’s often precisely when the flowers seem to work their subtle, wonderful miracles.
Someone asked me the other day, How long has WDJ been around? I had to look at the cover of the most recent issue to confirm what I fuzzily knew: WDJ is now in its fourth year of publication! Our first issue was published in April 1998; and it was soon after that first magazine was mailed that I received a phone call from someone wanting to know when we would be publishing an article about barf. At least, that’s what I thought the caller said. Beg pardon? I asked.
Turns out, she was asking for an article about the bones and raw food (BARF) diet, something I had not yet heard about. I came to the helm of Whole Dog Journal fresh from an editorial stint at a (now-defunct) sister publication, Whole Horse Journal. In fact, up until three years ago, my entire professional career had been spent in the editorial offices of some horse magazine or another. (I know a lot about horses, and I’ll have you know that they neither barf nor BARF.)
After hanging up, I quickly checked my favorite Internet search engine – and was just as quickly overwhelmed by everything that I didn’t know about feeding dogs foods that dogs are biologically designed to eat.
Fortunately, there were quite a few knowledgeable people standing by, eager to share what they knew in order to see a holistically oriented dog magazine succeed. Famous trainers stepped forward and helped me develop WDJ’s stand against force-based training methods while they educated me about the incredible power of positive training. Veterinarians with decades of experience with alternative and complementary medicine pointed me in the direction of the best books and research in their fields. Just as importantly, hundreds of regular dog owners told me stories about their successes with positive training and natural dog care. I can’t thank all of you enough for helping me help WDJ’s readers.
After three years, I now can honestly say I’m a dog person, not just a horse person!
As such, I now do a double-take whenever I see a dog when I’m driving, I can’t get out of a pet supply store in less than an hour, and I watch dog training videos for fun.
Last weekend, as I spent a full day at an agility competition (a event that I didn’t have to attend!), I even found myself repeatedly brought to tears as I witnessed some gorgeous performances, so obviously a result of seamless communication and willing partnership between some dogs and their people.
I was particularly touched by the runs made by one leggy teenaged girl and her grinning Border Collie (or maybe he was an Australian Shepherd – I don’t know everything!). The healthy, vibrant dog never made a wrong move on course, speeding around the obstacles with his eyes glued on his girl and the teenager never failed to give him huge hugs and kisses at the end of every run. I didn’t follow the classes closely enough to know whether or not they were in the ribbons; I just know that they were winners in my book. They absolutely embodied what I want WDJ to be all about: purely positive and healthful relationships between people and their dogs.
But don’t take my word for it; take a look yourself. For just this month, I’ve removed from this column the picture of me and my faithful dog so you could see what I saw. The love and trust between these two absolutely shines.
As we were going to press with this issue, we received a report of a dogs death due to ingestion of a small part contained in a toy called the Wiggly Giggly ball. The noisemaking whistles in the interior of the ball may provide a lethal dose of zinc if ingested.
While we have been unable to confirm the report of the poisoned dog, we did contact both the maker and the seller of the Wiggly Giggly ball, and confirmed that the balls did, in fact, contain small discs of zinc, at least, until very recently.
According to Andrew Farrar, partner and CEO of HandsOn Toys of Wilmington, Massachusetts, maker of the toys, zinc discs were used as weights inside the toy. These weights were positioned inside a plastic tube that was inside another tube, which was inside a third tube inside the ball.
Alerted by a pet owner a couple of months ago that her dog had managed to chew through the ball and all three tubes (she was concerned that dogs may break their teeth on the metal pieces), Farrar immediately ordered a design change, replacing the zinc discs with crushable stone pieces that pose no danger if eaten by a dog.
According to Farrar, more than two million of the toys have been sold in the last three years, both as a toy for dogs and for children, who presumably also enjoy the erratic movement of the ball and its amusing noises and who (presumably) would be unlikely to chew the ball open and risk exposure to small, swallowable parts.
Farrar warns that if a dog has chewed a Wiggly Giggly ball open, it should be taken away from the dog immediately a warning that has always appeared on the packaging of the Wiggly Giggly toy. Farrar adds, however, if a consumer believes that a dog has ingested a weight from the interior of one of the balls, the dog owner should contact a veterinarian immediately and have the dog examined.
We greatly appreciated the potential hazards of zinc being brought to our attention, says Farrar. We had already initiated a change to the manufacturing process to make the toy safer. Wiggly Giggly toys have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of dogs. While any traumatic event is too many, we are committed to bringing safe and engaging toys to the pet market.
Rich Rivlin, president of the company that markets the ball to dog owners (Multipet International of Moonachie, New Jersey), also expressed his concern for the family of the dog that died. We are all pet lovers, and we pride ourselves on selling fun, safe toys for dogs to enjoy with their people, he said.
Poor durability WDJ included the Wiggly Giggly ball in a review of toys in our September 2000 issue. We noted that while some dogs are highly engaged by the noisemaking ball, a dog who is prone to chewing on his toys can easily tear the soft plastic ball open. The balls lack of durability, we noted, makes it an inappropriate toy for dogs who chew their toys, simply due to the fact that it contains small parts. We also noted that if the toy is ripped, it should be discarded immediately.
However, we were unaware that the product contained zinc. While any small metal item that is swallowed by a dog is potentially life-threatening, a zinc item poses special dangers.
Sources of zinc poisoning According to the Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine (2000, W. B. Saunders Company), dogs are susceptible to zinc poisoning if they ingest any number of things that contain zinc. Reportedly, zinc poisoning has been caused by ingestion of pennies minted after 1983 (these pennies are 96 percent zinc), zinc nuts on some dog crates, and galvanized drip points on metal fences. Zinc can also leach out of galvanized dishes into particularly acidic food or water.
The textbook explains that signs of zinc poisoning may include depression, abdominal discomfort, vomiting, diarrhea, and anorexia. A veterinarian examining the dog would find elevated pancreatic and hepatic enzymes and evidence of anemia. Radiographs of the dogs abdomen often provide the first evidence of a metal object that has been swallowed.
Immediate treatment is needed to save a dog with zinc poisoning. The swallowed object must be immediately removed with surgery, blood transfusions may be needed, and fluid therapy will be needed to correct fluid loss and electrolyte imbalances and improve renal function. Chelation therapy should also be administered.
Any toy poses some danger Dogs should never be left unattended with any toy that they can chew up or swallow. Toys with small parts, batteries, flashing lights, or electronic pieces inside should be given to dogs to play with only when you are closely supervising their activity. If the phone rings or someone comes to the door, pick up that toy first! And owners of dogs that do tend to chew or destroy toys should consider never having this type of toy in the house, in case the dog is able to find where youve hidden it.
The Kong is a good example of a toy that can be safely left with most dogs, but very aggressive chewers have been known to shred even the strongest Kongs. Bottom line: When youre not paying rapt attention to your dog, take his toys away.
Not all dogs have the benefit of a nice start in life. Sergeant had about the worst start possible. His first owners left Sergeant locked in their apartment when they abandoned it in October 1997. By the time the landlord found him, the three-year-old male Rottweiler-mix was emaciated. The landlord brought him to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (SPCA) of Upstate NY, a no-kill shelter. It was several days before Sergeant could eat solid food without vomiting.
He was in good hands, but Sergeant wasn’t completely safe. The unneutered male was wildly aggressive toward other dogs, and the problem was so pronounced that most shelters would have considered him unadoptable. As soon as he regained strength and energy, Sergeant began spending his days growling, snarling, and barking at the dogs in the nearby kennels.
Mark Hoag, the shelter manager, says Sergeant’s aggression was the worst he’d ever seen. Oddly enough, however, despite his cruel abandonment, the dog still regarded humans as his friends, and was warm and affectionate with shelter staffers – as long as no other dogs were nearby.
Aggressive to other dogs
Sergeant displayed an uncommon territoriality; even when he was alone in a run or in a cage, he fixated on any other dog in his sight, challenging them to fight. When in an outside run, Sergeant would wait until another dog jumped up, then grab its toes, pull its foot through the chain-link fence, and bite it.
Sergeant was soon turned out only in a run on the end of a row, with the run next to him kept empty. He spent his nights in an indoor cage in a far corner of the shelter to minimize the number of dogs he could see. When he was brought in at night he would snarl and snap at other dogs all the way down the kennel aisles.
The shelter staff had him neutered, but saw no discernible reduction in his aggression. Some volunteer dog trainers worked with him a few times. And the staff gave him toys to help him modify and displace his aggression. These approaches helped a little; Sergeant focused a little less on the other dogs. But the staffers still had to keep the run next to him empty. By February, 1998, Sergeant had been at the shelter for more than four months. If the shelter was anything but a strict “no-kill” facility, he would have been put to sleep months prior.
Flower essence blend
Then a minor miracle occurred. Celeste Caruso, of Equilite Inc., a manufacturer of flower essences for horses, contacted Hoag about having his shelter field-test her new “Pet Essences,” flower essence blends specifically formulated to address the emotional problems of small animals. Hoag thought immediately of Sergeant and some of the other dogs with behavioral problems and agreed to give the remedies a try.
Sergeant was one of the dogs selected to receive a daily dose of one of the essences. The mixture was selected by Caruso on the basis of the description of each dog’s behavior problems. Initially, the staffers knew only that the mixture that Sergeant would receive was selected for dogs with aggression problems.
At first, staffers dosed Sergeant by putting the flower essence blend directly into his mouth. The dose was two or three drops, twice a day. Sergeant was initially good about this technique, but everyone was happier when they changed to putting the drops into his water bowl.
Within three weeks, with daily administrations of the essence, Sergeant was noticeably calmer. By about the fourth week he was aggressive only toward newly arrived dogs. By the sixth week, according to shelter manager Hoag, he “turned into a big ham.” Sergeant not only played with his toys instead of taking out his aggression on them, but he also invited the other dogs to play with him. The shelter now felt it was safe to resume using the cages next to Sergeant. He did not bite or growl at the other dogs, unless it was a normal response to one of them taking his toy.
“I saw a recognizable difference in this dog,” Hoag describes. “One day he broke his lead, but when he got near another dog he just wanted to play.” It was time to discover what was in the flower essences given to Sergeant. The staff was amused to learn that the remedy given to Sergeant was called “Devil Be Gone.”
Special placement
By May, Sergeant had improved to the point where he had, at last, several serious adoption candidates. Hoag knew one of the candidates personally, a man who lived alone, with no other pets or children. It seemed like the right home for Sergeant, who would thrive in such a close (and, for him, a low-stress) household.
It was a highly successful adoption. Sergeant’s owner had no qualms about building a comfortable environment for the affectionate Rottweiler. Today, Sergeant exercises in a huge custom-built run, sleeps in the house with his person, and accompanies the man when he works alone in a building next door to his home. Clients are asked to knock before entering, so that Sergeant can be let outside before the people enter.
Sergeant no longer receives the flower essence blend, since he is living in an environment with few of the stresses that set him off in the shelter. But the mixture was a key ingredient in improving his temperament and behavior so that he was able to attract a nice owner. His life started out a bit rough, but if his luck holds, there will be a nice, uneventful end to his story.
Epilogue
The SPCA of Upstate NY is raising funds for their new shelter by selling hand-made and hand-painted “Shelter Sweeties” for $15. These are six-inch beanbag toy models of different animals from the shelter. Each toy comes with a copy of the animal’s story, and is packaged in a cardboard pooper-scooper. The first toys include the shelter’s mascots, and soon they will produce the model of and story of Sergeant.
To purchase “Shelter Sweeties,” contact the SPCA of Upstate New York at PO Box 171, Hudson Falls, NY 12839; ph (518) 798-3500.
I have never owned a dog with separation anxiety, thank goodness. The condition is hard on the dog who suffers from the condition and hard on the dog’s caretakers, too, including owners, vets, groomers, pet sitters, and dog walkers. Care must be taken to prevent triggering the dog’s panic at being left alone—in severe cases, even just long enough for the person caring for the dog to use the restroom!
