Readers may be surprised to learn from this month’s article Heartworm: Dont Take It Lightly that we recommend the use of conventional heartworm preventative drugs. Our usual suggestion is to minimize the use of pesticides, vaccines, artificial food additives, and toxic chemicals on or around dogs, so one might guess that wed also be opposed to heartworm preventatives.
One can readily find numerous anecdotal reports about raw-fed, holistically supported dogs who successfully resist heartworm infection without the benefit of preventatives, or even dogs who live well into their senior years while hosting a small population of heartworms. Some holistic practitioners believe this is the natural state of a healthy dog. A properly fed dog with a vibrant immune system, they say, should be able to live in a state of relative health and balance with parasites.
Challenge studies have demonstrated that if dogs who were never previously exposed to heartworm were deliberately infected with 100 heartworm larvae, between 60 and 75 adult worms will develop in about 90 percent of the dogs. This suggests that dogs do have some small amount of natural resistance to the parasites. But we think its folly to bet your dogs life on the notion that you can build his resistance to heartworm solely with a natural diet and holistic healthcare particularly in areas where heartworm disease is prevalent.
Thats because weve also heard stories from people like Christie Keith, a Scottish Deerhound breeder and longtime advocate of raw diets and holistic healthcare for dogs. Keith opted not to administer conventional heartworm preventatives to her dogs for 16 years but was converted to their use after two of her raw-fed dogs developed heartworm infections. Weve heard other heartworm tragedies, but Keiths story is particularly resonant. If such an experienced and dedicated proponent of holistic healthcare wasnt successful in a low-risk environment at preventing infection in her dogs, perhaps it just cant be done. It may well be that dogs were never meant to have to resist year after year of repeated exposure to the parasites.
However, we have determined that there are a number of ways that you can minimize your use of the conventional preventatives and still fully protect your dog. Researcher Mary Straus brings these findings to light in the heartworm article.
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Training Tips
We also have two really great training articles in this issue: Mardi Richmonds Way to Stay and Pat Millers The Shape of Things to Come. Both articles offer detailed instruction on fun, positive methods for producing a happy, well-behaved dog who is highly motivated to figure out what you want and do it.
There is, however, a catch one that should be apparent from the length of the articles: you have to actually practice with your dog to achieve your training goals! Try it! Youll be amazed at what you and your dog can accomplish in just a few minutes of positive training a day every day.
-By Nancy Kerns
