I adopted my dog Otto, seen in the photo with me, from my local shelter. He had been brought to the shelter by a person who said she found him in her chicken pen; allegedly, he had killed some of her chickens. The shelter estimated his age at 6 months; his adult teeth appeared to be newly erupted, and 6 months is about the time this happens.
I fell for him the minute I spotted his scruffy visage on the shelter website. He had been in the shelter a month at that point, and so was about 7 months old. I gave him my dad’s birthday, which was November 30. That was in June 2008. This means that at some point this month, whether on his made-up birthday or the actual, unknown date, he will be 14 years old at some point this month.
I’ve never had a dog make it to 15 years old. The Border Collie I owned when WDJ was launched made it to just past 14. While achieving 15 years of age is not impossible, for a big dog (70 pounds), it’s not the norm. And he has some health issues. He has severe arthritis in his front paws and shoulders. He had a benign tumor sliced off his liver a few years ago, and he’s covered with lipomas – more every day! He often pants for no particular reason, even when it’s not remotely warm. Anxiety? Some other issue? I don’t know, and the chest x-rays and abdominal ultrasounds I schedule for him annually don’t show anything amiss.
And he’s lost a huge portion of his hearing. It seems to me that the hearing loss accelerated exponentially over the past year. He no longer hears our squeaky doors open and close, my calls for him to stop barking at the feral cat who sits in the orchard across the street, or the crunching of gravel as I walk by his shaded sandbox; if he’s napping there, he will no longer wake up and get to his feet to join me on my 100-yard walk to my office. In fact, I can walk right up to his sandbox, sit on the edge, and call his name several times before he awakens with a start. It breaks my heart to see the startled expression on his face when he wakes up and sees me close by, or when I enter a room and he suddenly sees me, not having heard me coming.
But he’s still enjoying life. He still watches for and barks at that cat in the morning, when she warms herself in the sun – and he keeps a vigil for each of the two post office trucks that pass our house daily (we live on a corner and each street is serviced by a different truck), so he can roar down the fence line “chasing” the trucks away. He’s good at it; they always leave! He may limp and pant afterward, but it clearly brings him joy. Years ago, I would have yelled for him to stop; now I cheer him on. You go, Otto! Keep going for as long as you are having fun. Happy birthday, my beloved scruffy wonder dog.
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Back in July, I wrote a piece for this space about the increasing frequency of reports I was seeing about emergency veterinary clinics suspending 24-hour service. I asked readers if they were experiencing this in their parts of the country – and people from everywhere in the U.S. responded that, YES, wait times have increased exponentially at veterinary ER clinics and it’s getting harder to find one that still offers overnight care.
Well, I finally came up against the phenomenon myself. My friend Leonora has a tiny little dog, Samson (my dog Woody’s best friend from puppyhood). Samson’s usual weight is 4 pounds, 8 ounces – his long legs are like pencils and he is slender. But a little over a week ago, he vomited up a little puddle of bile on a Friday morning and refused to eat anything for the rest of the day. Leonora reported that he was still relatively cheerful, though a little quieter than usual – and he refused any food or treat offered to him.
When, on Sunday morning, the tiny guy was still refusing food, Leonora and I agreed he should be seen by a veterinarian. She called our closest 7-day veterinary clinic. They said they could absolutely NOT fit him in that day, nor for more than a week for a regular appointment, but if Leonora wanted to drop him off on Monday and have him spend the day with them, they could try to look at him between appointments. Leonora was grateful for the offer, but no. Samson is so small, he has nearly nothing in terms of bodily reserves, so we both felt it was important to try to have him seen sooner.
Then she called our closest veterinary emergency practice (about 30 minutes away). They said that the current wait time was at least 4-5 hours, and that all cases would be triaged, so if worse cases came in and Samson was stable, his appearance in front of a veterinarian would be pushed back. Fair enough on a Sunday, but yikes!
She called another emergency practice, a bit farther away, and they said their wait time was about 2 hours, with the same triage/worse cases rule in place. I told her I would go with her and hang out with her for the wait. We arrived at about 11 am – and left that evening at about 7 pm with some concerning blood test results, an anti-nausea medication, and some subcutaneous fluids onboard for Samson, and a recommendation to head to another clinic the next day if the morning saw him no better and still not eating.
Monday morning, still no appetite. Leonora and Samson spent 8 hours the next day at our closest emergency clinic, and left that evening with yet more medications (more of the anti-nausea drug, an appetite stimulant, an antibiotic, and a probiotic) and more sub-q fluids on board, more inconclusive blood test results, and an appointment for more tests the next day.
On Tuesday, he had more tests, more meds – and by that night, his appetite began returning. The further tests had ruled out multiple conditions that could have caused his lack of appetite and abnormal blood test results, though we still don’t know what caused his initial nausea and lack of appetite. He has an appointment for another blood draw at the end of this week and one with a veterinary gastroenterologist in a month.
Samson cuddling with his big buddy Woody.
As scary as it was for those of us who care about Samson, his story is undramatic; while Leonora’s wait times were lengthy, Samson did receive care and attention on each day – something that we have gotten accustomed to taking for granted but are extra grateful for today. We’re glad that it wasn’t something worse but can’t help but worry; it might still develop that his condition is chronic and serious.
And of course, I worry about my most fragile dog, soon-to-be 14-year-old Otto. As Samson has grown steadily better this past week, Otto skipped three consecutive meals himself! Why?! A year ago or more, he had gone through a period where he didn’t want to eat much, and was prescribed some medications to soothe his digestive tract and fight any nausea he might be experiencing. After his second skipped meal this week, I jumped to ask his vets for prescriptions of those medications again –and tried not to panic when I learned that both of the vets he’s seen most commonly – at two different clinics! – were out of town for a few days. Fortunately, another vet at one of those practices was able to look at his records and sign off on dispensing those meds. Of course, after his third skipped meal but before I had given him a single medication, Otto asked for dinner and has dug into every food dish with relish since then. Oy!
But I’m glad to have the meds on hand, just in case. And I will be making an appointment for him to be seen; if it takes a month to get an appointment, I need to start now!
If, in the back of your mind, you know your dog needs a veterinary appointment soon, get on the phone and make that call today! You may not be able to book a routine appointment for months! And be extra careful with your own dog, so accidental poisoning or injuries (as much as that may be possible) can be prevented.
What with all the foster puppies around, and trying to get all of their adoption interviews scheduled, I haven’t managed to find the time to properly announce an incredibly cool thing that subscribers to WDJ magazine now have at their disposal. (As of this past weekend, all the pups are placed, hurray! As soon as I receive a nice photo of each pup with their new families, I am going to post them on the WDJ Instagram page, dogsofwholedogjournal.) Now I can concentrate fully on work again.
What’s the cool new tool? It’s a searchable database of ALL of the foods on our “approved canned foods list,” which is published in our October issue.
Previously, when we published a review of a category of foods, we would catalog each of the foods made by each company on our list, but publish only a summary for each company – and, by necessity, this is still what will be published in our print version. For each company, we list how to reach them (city, state, phone, website), how many varieties they offer, what the range of fat and protein levels are in their products (lowest amounts, highest amounts) and then a few comments about the company.
But now, on our website, for the online version of the approved foods lists, we have included every single variety made by the companies on our “approved foods list” – and expanded the details about each variety. Now, you can see the name of each variety, its complete ingredients list, and the amount of fat and protein each food contains. (If you’d prefer the summary for each manufacturer, you can still access the list in its old form, both in the print version and by downloading the PDF of the complete issue from your account online.)
Enter your search criteria (adding as many filters as needed)…
And here’s the best part: You can use filters on the list to search for foods for your dog’s unique needs. Looking for a beef-based food? Easy: Just type “beef” into the search box and click “enter” and you will get a list of all the foods on our approved canned foods list that contain beef.
But wait, what if you need a beef-based food with less than 6% fat? And you want to make sure that it doesn’t contain peas? Just apply the filters.
In this case, you’d click on “add filter.” In the first box, where it says “where” you’d click on the drop-down menu and choose “ingredients,” make the second box say “contains,” and in the third box you’d type “beef.” Then you’d click “add filter” again, select “and” in the first box, “minimum fat content” in the second box, “is lower than” in the third box, and type in “6%” in the fourth box. Finally, click on “add filter” again, “and” in the first box, “ingredients” in the second box, “does not contain” in the third,” and type in “peas” in the fourth box. Then you click on “submit” and voila! A list of 66 foods that all meet your unique criteria – and ours!
…and the database shows all foods that meet your unique criteria – and ours!
It’s taken quite a bit of tinkering to make this happen, but I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve pulled it off. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been shopping for a few candidate foods for a dog with some dietary allergy or other restrictions and spent hours trying to find ones that contained – or didn’t contain – some ingredient or another.
We’ve used the “approved canned food” list as the guinea pig for our upcoming “approved dry dog foods list,” which runs annually in the February issue, which is generally much larger. We usually collect even more information about the dry foods than the canned foods. For example, we add information about how many of their products are formulated for “adult maintenance only” and how many are “for dogs of all life stages.” We indicate how many of each company’s products are made with fresh or frozen meat, meat meal, or both. We indicate how many varieties are grain-free and how many contain grain. For the next review in February, we expect to be able to offer you searchable details on every single one of the individual varieties on our “approved dry foods” list, too.
I invite you to play with the database, try some custom searches, and tell us what you think! If you have any problems, we’d love to hear about them so we can fix them in advance of the dry food review.
Two rambunctious young shelter dogs playing in the half-acre yard at the City of Manhattan Animal Shelter.
A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to visit a former coworker/friend I hadn’t seen for a decade or more. He had invited me to a party he throws annually – one that I had declined with regret every year, because he lives in Kansas and I live in California. But what with the sudden loss of a beloved family member, vaccination against COVID, and the opening up of restrictions on gatherings, I decided that life is too short to turn down invitations like that. I flew to Kansas, went to the party and stayed for a couple nights with my friend and another of our coworkers from 25 years ago. It was wonderful to catch up with both friends and to compare notes about our lives, a quarter-century down the road.
I. Love. Kansas.
When I booked the trip, I gave myself a couple of unscheduled days to decompress and do whatever I felt like. After I said goodbye to my friends, I spent a day driving through the tallgrass prairie range in east-central Kansas. The endless green grass, the matchless blue sky, the billowing white clouds … it was so healing (especially since, back at home, our sky was smoky from wildfires and the drought has everything looking very brown).
Eventually (like, after half a day, lol) I started feeling too self-indulgent; I should do some work while I was out there. I ended up touring through a town where there are several dog-food manufacturing plants (Emporia), and visiting the animal shelter there. As a long-time shelter volunteer, I love visiting other shelters; folks who do the same things in different places do them in different ways and I always see something interesting to try back at home.
I also called a friend, Dr. Greg Aldrich, a professor at Kansas State University and founder of that school’s Pet Food Program, to ask him what other dog-food-related tourism I ought to take in. He tried to pull a few strings to see if he could get me into any production facilities where he had connections, but the COVID restrictions were still limiting visits at each place he tried. However, in a generous act, he invited me to K-State and said he’d give me a tour of the Pet Food Program’s facilities.
I headed to Manhattan, Kansas, and had just enough time to spend an hour visiting that town’s animal shelter before it closed. What I loved most at that shelter: The friendly, humorous, and encouraging signage in the shelter, which showed their commitment to giving each ward some individual attention, and invited visitors to engage with the shelter in any way possible; and the HUGE wooded play yard that was directly outside the dog kennel’s back doors. Staff and volunteers can (and did, while I was there) just open a dog’s run, open the back door to that room, and allow the eager dog to ZOOM out the door and run and romp up and down a hill and among trees and grass to their heart’s content. What fun! No struggling to get a leash on a crazily over-eager dog so you can be dragged through corridors to get outside – just opening the kennel gate and then the door, and “Here you go!” I loved that setup.
Allowing shelter dogs to recreate in groups helps them discharge pent-up energy and keeps them calmer when they are indoors. This is GREAT! And I loved the signage around the shelter; planting seeds in the minds of potential adopters of things they can do for the animals there is a great idea.
After playing with some dogs, I found a hotel and settled in for the night. The next day, I met Dr. Aldrich (and his enormous silver Lab, Lucre, who gets to go to work with his dad) at K-State. He took me on a tour of the Pet Food Program’s school facilities, where undergraduate, Masters, and PhD students conduct hands-on research into pet food formulation and production. What an amazing program! Students who are interested in a career in pet food production can conduct research into formulation and manufacturing; the university has facilities for everything from grain-milling, meat-processing, freeze-drying, baking, canning, and extruding. Multiple laboratories exist for biological and chemistry tests. The students actually manufacture pet food under various conditions and with various ingredients and evaluate the nutrition in the resulting products.
Good For K-State, a K-State alumni magazine, describes the program this way:
“This program draws talent from many areas within the College of Agriculture such as grain science, agricultural economics, animal science and food science. Engineering and veterinary medicine faculty and students also collaborate with the pet food program, along with foods, nutrition, dietetics and health in the College of Health and Human Sciences.”
Dr. Aldrich ordered a stack of pizzas and hosted an impromptu lunch for me and the graduate students who were around campus on this summer day. He invited them to introduce themselves to me and describe their goal in the pet food industry. I was so impressed with their interest and passion for pets and pet food, and fascinated with the projects they were working on for their various Masters and PhD projects.
While I met only graduate students, the K-State program also has offerings for undergrads, including a pet food minor and an option within feed science and management.
This building at K-State, in Manhattan, Kansas, is the home of Dr. Greg Aldrich’s Pet Food Program for undergrad and graduate students.
Dr. Aldrich says the one thing the program could use is more students. “Kansas has declining enrollment numbers for students of college age, yet the industry is asking us for more and more young people to come work for their companies,” he told me.
According to Good For K-State, the U.S. is the largest market in the world for pet food, a $33 billion business annually.
Dr. Aldrich had another meeting and the students had to get back to their projects. I thanked them all and hit the road again. I had a few more hours to kill before I headed back to Kansas City to catch my flight home. I thought, I’ll go visit some pet supply stores! This is another habit I like to indulge when I travel. I love seeing the different products that are stocked by stores in different areas of the country; the food, toys, and even training gear are quite different!
Here was something else that was quite different: What I call “pet supply stores” in California are truly “pet stores” in Kansas; at least, the two I visited were. They actually sell puppies. Like, lots of puppies. One store had over 70 puppies; the other had nearly 50.
The only way that there could be this many puppies in the same age range and of so many different sizes and breeds (and breed-mixes; they were not all purebreds) in stores in this many numbers: puppy mills, which are apparently thriving in some parts of the country.
This is no way to grow up. Some puppies are too young and not well. They don’t get bowls of water, because they are too messy. Instead they drink from rabbit-waterers.
I don’t know the answer. How can we produce enough dogs to satisfy demand without having to breed and sell them in this way? I can’t imagine how harmful it is to their development to have to live for any length of time in those tiny wire-bottomed enclosures, drinking from those horrible ball-bearing rabbit-waterers. And what happens to the pups who “age out” in the stores? Do they return to the puppy mills to be forced into a life of endless reproducing themselves? Ugh! I hated everything about these stores, and wish that no one bought pups this way.
Soon they discovered the cool joys of hanging out in my senior dog's damp sandbox. Otto had to move out of his own sandy heaven for a while.
My current fostering project is a little different from what I usually take on. Ordinarily, my local shelter will contact me if they have a large litter of puppies that need some TLC. I will keep them until they are healthy and old enough, in the shelter’s judgment, to undergo spay/neuter surgery and go up for adoption at the shelter.
This time, for the first time, it’s me who has dragged the shelter (as well as my closest friend here in town) into a fostering project.
I follow a few Facebook groups for lost and found pets in my local area. More than once, I’ve been able to reunite a found dog with his owner by searching through these group posts. But in mid-August, I saw a post for a “found” dog who looked like she had a litter of puppies somewhere, and a looong string of comments from concerned people in our community. Dozens of people suggested that the finder take the dog to the shelter; this was countered by dozens of other people saying, “Don’t do it! Wherever her puppies are, they will starve without her!”
Then there was a comment from a woman saying she was a friend of the owner. She said that the owner was homeless, that the dog had eight puppies, and the owner was struggling to keep the dog fed and contained.
Without really thinking it through, I left a comment on the post: “I would be happy to foster this mother and her puppies, if the owner would agree to turning over all the pups to (my local shelter) and let me get her spayed.” The offer was genuine, but I thought the likelihood of the owner agreeing to this was low.
To my surprise, the very next day I received a message from the woman who said she knew the owner. She told me that she had discussed my offer with the owner, and that he agreed to my terms. She also mentioned that he was a drug addict and that his family was trying to get him into treatment – so if his dog could be cared for somewhere safe for a while, it would be a blessing. And she asked if I could meet her that day to pick up the dog and her pups.
She also mentioned that the people who were currently hosting the homeless guy, the mama dog, and her puppies had no dog food on hand. And that she herself was out of food for her own dogs, having given what she had to this homeless crew days before.
Yikes! At that point I realized I had better check with the shelter, to see if they were on board with all of this; otherwise, I was going to need to do some fundraising! Fortunately, the shelter manager saw the wisdom of getting ahead of this problem. By spaying the mama dog and preventing the puppies from being given away or sold, intact, in our town, we were likely preventing many more puppies from entering the shelter down the road.
I asked my friend Leonora if she would come with me to meet the woman and pick up the dog and pups. But first, we went to a pet supply store and bought dog food – for the woman, for the mother dog, and a bunch of canned food for the puppies.
It turned out that the owner of the dog was living in someone’s backyard. When we got to that house, I immediately recognized the mother dog I had seen in the photos on Facebook; her name is Luna, and she has a distinctive ridge pattern on her back. She approached us immediately in a very friendly fashion and hopped right into my car. People were rushing around the property, trying to locate all the puppies, as I handed over a bag of dog food to the woman who had brokered this whole deal, for her dogs. She told me thanks, and then asked, “Do you have more? These people have other dogs here, too – including one of Luna’s puppies from last year…” As she said this, I saw another dog who looked just like Luna, complete with the crazy, intricate swirling ridge on her back, running around the yard. I opened the large bag of food I had bought to feed to Luna, and scooped about half of it into a grocery bag to give to these people.
At this point, seven puppies had been put into the back of my car; Leonora was keeping track. We asked, “Where is the eighth pup?” The woman waved her hands around and said, “I’ll…I’ll tell you later.” I was left assuming that something awful had happened to it, or that they couldn’t find it, or something. It seemed like it was best to get out of there.
One puppy was half the size of the biggest ones, so I tried to give her extra time with her mom; in the first days of our fostering arrangement, she was always getting edged out.
Settling in
Leonora and I got Luna and the puppies situated in a 10-foot by 10-foot kennel with shadecloth over it, with a big doorless crate serving as a doghouse. We opened a can of food for the pups, who appeared to be about four weeks old – walking around, though not well or that quickly. They scarfed up the can of food like they were starving; I could believe the people had been out of food. I opened a second can of food, which quickly disappeared. They only slowed down into the third can. I fed the rest of that can and a fourth can to Luna, along with a heaping helping of dry food. Though it appeared that she had plenty of milk still, she wasn’t all that enthusiastic about feeding the pups.
The next day, I exchanged a few messages with the woman who brokered our foster arrangement. She asked if I could send her some pictures of Luna and the babies, and I complied. I asked about the eighth puppy – and that’s when she confessed that the owner had already given one of them away! At 4 weeks old! I was a little angry about this development; I had been trying to prevent any of the pups from having an opportunity to add to the pet overpopulation problem. As it was, I think we snatched the litter away in the nick of time; the rest of those pups would likely have been sold or given away within days, otherwise.
A couple days later, while the pups were sleeping, I took Luna to the shelter so she could be scanned. She was excited and happy to enter the shelter and greet everyone there. It turns out that she had been picked up as a stray several times before; on a former stay at the shelter, the staff had implanted her with a microchip that was registered with Luna’s owner’s name and the woman’s name and phone number.
When I first got the pups, the weather in my area was still quite hot – over 100° F. most days. Though they were in the shade, the pups would grow visibly uncomfortable and whiny as the day heated up. I started bringing them into my office at about 11 a.m. each day, so they could hang out in a cooled environment until the day’s temperatures dropped to a more tolerable range and they could go outside and play on the dampened lawn. Of course, that meant taking them outside for frequent potty breaks – and cleaning up more than a few “accidents” between their giant crate (a Great Dane-sized crate someone gave me years ago for the Great Dane foster pups I was raising then) and the door to my office. With seven puppies to wrangle, there is always at least one who stops and pees while you are trying to hustle the rest outside.
A couple weeks later, I brought Luna and her pups to the shelter. She received a dewormer and a flea treatment; they received dewormer and their first vaccinations. They had their weights and temperatures recorded and their first little “mugshots” taken.
Feeding the pups in this child’s play tent helped keep the yellowjackets out of their food!
Fostering at two addresses
Soon enough, the pups were starting to explore my yard when they weren’t in the 10-foot-square kennel I used to contain them when I couldn’t supervise their wandering. And it was time to separate Luna from them; her milk needed to dry up entirely before she could have spay surgery. Thank goodness for my friend Leonora; she has a much larger fenced enclosure where the pups could be more safely contained, even as they had a ton of space to play in. And she lives just over a mile from me! I kept Luna at my house, and the puppies (and the lion’s share of caring for them) moved to Leonora’s house. For the first week or so, I went to Leonora’s house in the middle of her work day, to check that the pups were ok and to do a noon feeding, until it was clear that they could make it through Leonora’s work day on their own.
Fostering pups is a lot of work. Keeping them safely contained takes a ton of attention to the infrastructure. They are sure to find every possible hazard they can get into. They stick their heads into gaps in their enclosures and panic when they can’t pull their heads out immediately. There is a LOT of poop to be picked up – and in the first few weeks of getting weaned, much of the poop is a runny mess that requires a lot of hosing. At this time of year, “meat bees” (wasps) appear from out of nowhere any time we bring out the puppy food, and flies are drawn to the aroma of the hosed-down poop areas. Both Leonora and I have wasp and fly traps hanging all around the puppy enclosures – and we started serving the puppies’ meals to them in a child’s tent that had the zippered door unzipped just enough for the puppies to push their way in; only a few wasps got into the food that way. We were both constantly fussing with moving shade sails around, innovating pools of water for them to wade into and drink from, and spraying down the grass and sand in their enclosures in an effort to keep them cool.
Though Luna is a very sweet dog, and is house-trained and has reasonably good manners, she’s a mother, and like most mama dogs, thinks she ought to run the show around here. In her first few weeks here, though my younger dog Woody made numerous overtures to introduce himself, she would run toward him with enough ferocity to make the much-larger dog turn tail and run. My senior dog, Otto, just avoided her like the plague; he had no interest in kindling any sort of relationship with her. But to protect his rights to freedom from tyranny in his own home, I made Luna sleep in my office; I invited her into my house only when my dogs were outside.
Once the pups started staying at Leonora’s house, though, Luna started to be much friendlier to my dogs. She and Woody have turned into great buddies, enjoying similar “run, crash, and bash” play styles – though she takes every toy away from him and won’t let him fetch in her presence. She is a very funny little dog.
With the puppies at my friend’s house, Luna has decided she can now be friendly with my dog Woody. He likes to play chase games with her, but after being chased away for weeks, he’s remaining cautious!
Our work is nearly done – or is it?
Last week, Luna was finally “dry” enough to undergo spay surgery, which was performed by the shelter’s veterinarian. She has recovered and healed nicely.
Over the past week, I have been talking to and meeting with prospective adopters and getting appropriate homes lined up for all the pups – active homes for the high-octane pups, and more quiet families for the mellower fellows. They should all be placed by the end of next week, and I feel terrific about all the families they are going to.
Here’s the tough part: As I write this, I’m supposed to meet Luna’s owner to return her to him tomorrow. I’m going to make sure he knows that if he ever wants Luna to have a permanent home at a fixed address, I can find a family for her. And I already bought a big bag of food to send with her – for her and (probably) all the other dogs living at the home where her owner was camping in the yard. (When I asked the woman who has been acting as our intermediary whether Luna’s owner would have food ready to feed her, she told me, “Well, we’re pretty low… and I sure could use help getting my three dogs spayed…” Ay yi yi!)
I know that, all things considered, Leonora and the shelter and I have done a lot of good here – but at the moment, it just doesn’t feel that great.
You might think that after 20-plus years of moving toward a deeper and more scientific understanding of dog training and behavior in the dog-training profession, all of the alpha/dominance myths would have vanished into the sunset. Sadly, you would be wrong. Far too many trainers still promote the old-fashioned “you have to show them who’s boss” approach to training, and far too many caring but misguided dog owners still believe them. Nat Geo’s recently launched “new” Cesar Millan show is stark evidence of this.
“Dominance” is a legitimate construct in the behavior world. However, it’s not about who can forcefully pin the other to the ground, shake them by the scruff, or sit higher up on the furniture. It is simply about priority access to a mutually desired resource.
This is more often than not accomplished peacefully. For example, two dogs come upon a bone. The first dog says (with body language of course), “Gee, I’d like to have that bone!” The second dog says, “Oh, but I really want to have that bone!” The first dog backs off, and the second dog gets the bone. The second dog was dominant in that interaction. He may or may not be dominant in the next one.
While stable social groups do tend to develop some type of hierarchy, social groups work primarily because of deference, not dominance. Willingness to defer avoids conflict, and conflict in social groups is not healthy for the survival of the group – it can cause injury and death to individuals as well as damage to the social fabric.
Conflict was avoided in the above scenario because dog number one was willing to say, “Okay, you really want it, you can have it!” A dog (or other organism) who consistently uses aggression rather than healthy and appropriate communication signals is a bully who threatens the well-being of others in the social group. Dog trainers who still use and promote old-fashioned dominance-based training theory and methods are simply that: bullies.
Social groups are made up of conspecifics – members of the same species. As much as we may consider them members of our family, we aren’t conspecifics to our dogs – we are a different species entirely, which calls into even greater question the debunked idea that we have to establish ourselves as “alpha.”
The Myth of the Alpha Wolf
When a wolf goes belly-up, it’s almost always a voluntary appeasement behavior – offered by the wolf on the ground – not a forcible roll-over by the wolf who is standing. The same is true with dogs. Photo Credits: Dssimages/ Dreamstime.com
The erroneous approach to canine social behavior known as dominance theory originated in the 1930s and 1940s with Swiss animal behaviorist Rudolph Schenkel. Observing captive wolves in a zoo, the scientist concluded that wolves in a pack fight to gain dominance and the winner is the alpha wolf.
Schenkel’s observations of captive wolf behavior were erroneously extrapolated to wild wolf behavior and then to domestic dogs. It was postulated that wolves were in constant competition for higher rank in the hierarchy and only the aggressive actions of the alpha male and female held the contenders in check.
The first problem is, that’s not normal wolf behavior. As David Mech stated in the introduction to his study of wild wolves, “Attempting to apply information about the behavior of assemblages of unrelated captive wolves to the familial structure of natural packs has resulted in considerable confusion. Such an approach is analogous to trying to draw inferences about human family dynamics by studying humans in refugee camps. The concept of the alpha wolf as a ‘top dog’ ruling a group of similar-aged compatriots is particularly misleading.”
What we know now, thanks to Mech and others, is that in the wild, a wolf pack is a family, consisting of a mated pair and their offspring of the past one to three years. Occasionally two or three families may group together. As the offspring mature they disperse from the pack; the only long-term members of the group are the breeding pair. By contrast, in captivity, unrelated wolves are forced to live together for many years, creating tension between mature adults that doesn’t happen in a natural, wild pack.
The second problem is that none of this relates to dog behavior. Dogs are not wolves. Most of our canine companions don’t live in stable familial groups, but are randomly adopted into various homes, sometimes (sadly) multiple homes over their lifetimes. Trying to apply conclusions about wolf behavior to our understanding of dog behavior is simply an exercise in futility, guaranteed to lead to inappropriate and ineffective training methods. Dogs are not wolves.
GIVE UP THE POWER STRUGGLE
So what do you do when you have a dog who seems like he’s trying to rule your world? For starters, you can change your perspective.
All living things do what works. The behaviors that strike you as a potential power grab are simply his efforts to make the world work for him.
A basic good manners training program (featuring force-free methods, of course) will lay an excellent foundation for communication and understanding between you and your canine pal.
These strategies will help:
Implement solid management strategies to prevent him from receiving reinforcement for the behaviors you don’t want (i.e., put the garbage can in a cabinet under the sink, don’t leave food on the counter, give him a bed that is equal to the sofa in comfort, etc.).
Create structure in his daily life. Some dogs are happy to roll with anything and everything we put them through as our life companions. Fearful or defensive dogs generally do better with structure and routine.Unknowns and things that are unexpected are stressful. Being able to anticipate what is going to happen (thanks to structure and routine) decreases stress for fearful and defensivedogs. This helps them be less fearful and defensive, and eliminates – or at least decreases – their need to be aggressive.
Make sure he gets reinforced for the behaviors you do want. Focus on the things you want him to do and reward his efforts. This will help boost his confidence in his ability to succeed – and his trust that you are a consistently kind person that he can trust.
Whenever possible, try to find a nonconfrontational way to get your dog to do what you want him to do. If you don’t want him on your bed, and he jumps on it anyway, toss a treat or his favorite toy (have some ready by your bedside) onto his bed. Or, toss it outside the bedroom door, and then get up and shut the door behind him! As the one with the opposable thumbs and the ability to control all the good stuff, you should be able to do this.
Be a benevolent leader. True authority doesn’t look angry or confrontational in any species. Think about your own life. Are you more likely to follow someone who kindly guides you or one who bullies you? Cooperation, not conflict.
Alpha or Aggressive?
A dog’s aggressive behavior is all too often mistakenly perceived as a dog’s attempts to be “alpha.” That’s not what it is. The most common presentation of canine aggression is fear-related or defensive aggression. While there are many reasons why a dog may be defensively aggressive, it stands to reason that a dog who has been randomly and unpredictably punished for normal dog behaviors such as trying to walk through a door or protect his valuable possessions, might become defensive.
With the extremely rare exception of idiopathic aggression, aggression is, across the board, caused by stress. A dog who is subjected to alpha rolls and other unreasonable and inappropriate human behavior is quite likely stressed.
The first step to dealing with his defensive aggression is to stop doing whatever it is that is causing him to react aggressively. Find ways to get him to do what you need him to do without using force or coercion. The goal is willing cooperation – and there are numerous effective, dog-friendly tactics available to you today, taught and practiced by trainers using modern behavior-modification techniques, at your disposal.
If positive-reinforcement-based training techniquessignificantly reduce or eliminate the aggression, you can continue with your training program to improve communication and relationship. If the aggression continues, seek the assistance of a qualified force-free professional to help you modify the aggression and heal the relationship.
Here are good resources for finding qualified force-free professionals:
Have you ever taken a class with a dog training professional who uses “dog-friendly” techniques and marveled at how easily they seemed to be able to get your dog to understand and do what they wanted him to do? This is not because they are “dog whisperers” or have special “energy.” It’s because they:
Pay close attention to the dog we are working with.
Understand and respond appropriately to canine body language signals.
Communicate cheerfully and clearly to them with consistent cues and body language.
Manage them well to prevent reinforcement for behaviors we don’t want.
Generously reinforce behaviors that we want/like.
Consistently set the dog up to succeed.
If your dog has behaviors that concern you and the basic training and management steps don’t resolve them, seek the assistance of a qualified force-free behavior professional to help you find solutions using methods that will preserve a relationship between you and your dog that is based on mutual trust and willing cooperation.
LONG TIME TOGETHER, NO TAKEOVERS YET
Dogs and humans have had close relationships for at least 15,000 years, with current research suggesting that domestication of our canine companions may go back as far as 40,000 years. One might think that if they were bound and determined to take over, it would have happened eons ago. It really is time to stop thinking about our dogs as adversaries and just relax and enjoy life with them as our cooperative partners and companions.
Alpha Flaws
We would like to remind you of all the flaws in the following absurd – but potentially very harmful – alpha/dominance myths about our relationships with our dogs that are still circulating around the dog world:
You must use an “Alpha roll” (or “scruff shake” or “hanging”) to “correct” your dog’s alpha behavior. This is probably one of the most harmful and dangerous myths. When you see a dog go “belly up” to another, that dog is voluntarily offering an appeasement behavior to avoid or defuse conflict. In contrast, when you aggressively force your dog onto her back, all you do is either intimidate your dog into shutting down – or provoke her into fighting back. In either case, it can cause serious, potentially irreparable damage to the relationship between dog and human, and can cause significant injury or even death to the dog. Just. Don’t. Do. It.
You always have to eat before your dog does. This is based on the misconception that the “alpha” always eats first. This is not the case. While a more assertive member may choose priority access to a resource, they don’t always.
You must go through doorways first. In truth, the canine group leader (if there is one) does not always go first. We may want to train our dogs to wait for us to go through the door for safety reasons and general politeness, but don’t be fooled – it’s not about dominance.
Letting your dog sleep on the furniture will make him dominant. This myth has to do with the absurd idea that the alpha has to be physically positioned higher than other group members at all times and that allowing dogs on the furniture gives them too much “status.” You are perfectly within your rights to not allow your dogs on furniture for other lifestyle reasons, but don’t buy into the “status” garbage.
You shouldn’t play tug with your dog – or, if you do, you shouldn’t let him win. Actually, tug is a great game for teaching your dog to trade politely when she has something in her mouth – but this is about safety not dominance. (See “Rules for Playing Tug,” December 2016.)
You have the right to anything your dog has and you should demonstrate this regularly. Some people really do believe that you should be able to take away your dog’s food, toys, bone, bed, or anything else, without any resistance from her. But resource-guarding is a natural, normal behavior. Organisms who don’t protect their possessions (food, water, home) will die. There is great value in teaching our dogs to share their possessions with us, and to be relaxed when we are in proximity of their valuables, but that doesn’t give us the right to just willy-nilly take anything and everything away from them on a whim. (See “Changing a Resource Guarder,” April 2020.)
Your dog should earn everything he gets from you. According to the “Nothing in life is free” school of thought, everything your dog wants has to be earned, in order to maintain her lower status. While I do encourage a “Say Please” behavior (my dog sits to “ask” for something), it is just about polite manners, not about my maintaining dominance over my dog. And some things in life are free! My dogs don’t always have to do something to earn my pets and kisses.
If you do not establish yourself as the alpha/pack leader your dog will assume the role. Well, since the whole alpha/pack leader thing is wrong, this one makes no sense. Structure, rules, and consistency are important; they help a dog understand his environment. But it’s not about being an alpha; it’s about simple good manners when living with others!
If your dog is lying in your path, you should either move the dog or step over her. The implication here is that if you walk around your dog you are deferring to her and thereby giving her control. This is just absurd! There is nothing wrong with being polite. Heck, I bet even the President of the United States sometimes walks around folks who are in his path, and I sincerely doubt he ever steps over them!
You should never back down or look away from a “staring contest” with your dog. Oh my. This is an excellent way to get bitten in the face! In the canine world, a direct, hard stare is a threat. I see a lot of dogs with aggressive behaviors in my behavior-consultation practice, and if a dog is giving me a hard stare, the very first thing I do is look away to defuse the tension and give her a better option than escalating her aggressive acts. Dogs use many behaviors, including a hard stare, in order to warn others to back away and give them some space. If you ignore their less-aggressive warnings, they may feel forced to intensify their behavior. If you plan on staring back, make sure your medical insurance is current.
You must punish your dog for growling, snarling, or showing any grouchiness toward you, other humans, or other dogs. Again, this totally overlooks the fact that all of these valuable canine communications are your dog’s efforts to tell you she is uncomfortable. They are not her attempt to rule your world. She is trying her hardest to ask you to back away and give her some space, to not to bite you. Punishing her for these signals will likely to push her to more aggressive communication such as biting. Instead, stop doing whatever is causing her discomfort, and either don’t do it anymore or figure out how to help her be comfortable with it.
You should do (X), because this is how mother dogs (or wolves) do it. 1) It’s probably not, and 2) even if it is, we are not mother dogs or wolves and are likely to be very clumsy and ineffective at communicating what other canines are communicating.
Dogs need to learn that they are dogs. Seriously? Do we really think that dogs don’t know that they are dogs and that we are humans?
Don’t let your dog see you clean up his house-training accidents. According to the myth, if the dog were to witness the human cleaning up, the dog would think that that human is the servant. This is a relatively harmless myth, but … seriously? Where do people get this stuff?
This handsome Flat-Coated Retriever passed away at 8 years old of hemanglosarcoma - a malignant mass that, in his case, originated in the spleen. As is often the case with malignant splenic masses, this dog behaved perfectly normally in the morning, but died by mid-day, soon after his spleen ruptured.
The dog’s spleen is a highly vascular organ that sits behind the stomach. The spleen’s function is a red blood cell processing plant. It filters red blood cells, getting rid of old, damaged, or infected cells. It also stores healthy red blood cells, ready to contract and release these into circulation in the case of emergent need. The spleen is a very helpful organ! Unfortunately, in dogs, the spleen is also a common site for the development of tumors or masses.
Not all tumors or masses are cancerous (malignant); some are benign (noncancerous). The prognosis for a dog with a malignant splenic mass is not good, but surgery to remove a benign mass is curative.
Unfortunately, it’s exceedingly difficult to tell if a splenic mass is benign or malignant until the spleen is removed and submitted for biopsy. If your veterinarian detects a mass in your dog’s spleen, it’s likely that you will have to decide whether to go ahead with surgery to remove the spleen before you know whether the surgery can prolong your dog’s life.
What are the expected outcomes of a splenic mass in dogs?
The most fortuitous scenario involving a splenic mass occurs when the tumor is discovered by palpation on a routine veterinary physical examination. Benign tumors tend to grow to large sizes without otherwise causing problems, increasing the likelihood they’ll be picked up on physical exam. (This shouldunderline the importance of annual or, even better, twice-annual physical exams for middle-aged and senior dogs.)
Discovering a splenic mass in this way, before it ruptures, gives you the opportunity to have an abdominal ultrasound performed. Ultrasound can confirm the mass is in the spleen and can be used to look for any evidence of metastasis (cancer spread) in the abdomen.
Chest x-rays may also be recommended to make sure there is no metastasis to the lungs. If the chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound show no obvious cancer spread, surgery to remove the spleen should be considered.
How long can a dog live with a splenic mass?
If the splenic mass proves to be benign, the surgery will have extended your dog’s life. While benign masses won’t spread to other organs, they can still rupture and cause your dog to bleed internally, so their removal is necessary for your dog’s survival. A study published in 2018 in the Journal of Veterinary Science found that the two-year survival rate for of dogs who underwent a splenectomy for a benign mass was nearly 78%.
Another study published in 2016 in the Journal of the Veterinary Medical Association found that the median life expectancy of dogs with benign splenic masses was 436 days and that dogs with malignant splenic masses was just 110 days.
If those numbers don’t make it clear, I’ll clarify: Yes, your dog can live without a spleen. She may be more prone to certain infections and less effective at rapidly replacing red blood cells in a crisis, but for the most part, her other organs will step up and take over for the missing spleen.
More about malignant splenic masses in dogs
Let’s go back a step. Say your veterinarian has detected a splenic mass in the course of a physical exam, follows up with an ultrasound, and finds that the mass has metastasized.
Malignant splenic masses frequently metastasize to the liver or heart. Either one is bad news, but you may find comfort in the certainty of the knowledge that your dog’s prognosis is poor. Most dogs with malignant splenic masses succumb to their disease within a few months, sometimes even weeks, of surgery. Chemotherapy, used alone or in conjunction with surgery to remove the splenic mass, may slightly improve a dog’s prognosis, depending on the type of malignancy.
There are tools (biopsy, fine-needle aspirate) that, theoretically, could be used in an attempt to determine whether a splenic mass that has not metastasized is malignant, but they are typically inconclusive and the risk of hemorrhage during and after the procedure is high.
Signs of a Malignant Splenic Mass in Dogs
Cancer in your dog’s spleen is commonly caused by hemangiosarcoma (HSA), an aggressive cancer of blood vessel cells. Symptoms of a malignant splenic mass could include any combination of symptoms from general signs of illness such as lethargy, depression, dementia, inappetence, weight loss, constipation/unusual bowel movements, lameness, and decreased stamina, to more acute symptoms of fainting or weakness, lack of coordination, partial paralysis, intermittent collapse, seizures, abdominal swelling, nosebleeds, coughing, and increased panting. Learn more about hemangiosarcoma in dogs.
Most excruciating scenario for dog owners
Unfortunately, many splenic masses are not detected in the course of a routine exam, but are discovered while diagnosing a dog in the midst of an out-of-the-blue medical crisis.
Here is an all-too-common scenario: Your happy and seemingly healthy 10-year-old Golden Retriever is out in the yard chasing balls with the kids, when she suddenly collapses. She looks confused, and though she is alert and responds to you, she is too weak to get up, and she is breathing faster than usual.
You rush her to the emergency veterinary hospital, where the attending vet has a pretty good idea what’s going on as soon as she looks at her gums, which are ghostly white, and feels her abdomen, which has fluid in it. Bloodwork (showing decreased circulating red blood cells) and abdominal x-rays confirm the original clinical suspicion: Your dog has a splenic mass that has ruptured. She is bleeding internally, and without immediate surgery and blood transfusions, she is going to die.
In this scenario, there isn’t time to wait for the results of any tests that may determine whether the mass is malignant (with a poor prognosis) or benign (in which case, surgery may save your dog’s life); you will have to decide on the spot whether to give your veterinarian the go-ahead for emergency surgery to try to stop the bleeding and to remove the dog’s spleen, or to euthanize your dog. It’s a wrenching decision.
A Potentially Helpful Tool
Researchers are working on ways to better determine whether a splenic tumor is likely to be malignant or not before surgery. A recent article published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association by Kristine E Burgess, et al., discussed an online calculator that your veterinarian can use to help predict the outcome for your dog.
“Development and validation of a multivariable model and online decision-making support calculator to aid in preoperative discrimination of benign and malignant splenic masses in dogs,” described a model that uses several parameters including blood test values, ultrasound findings, size of the mass, and how much fluid is present in the abdomen to help predict how likely a tumor is to be malignant, thereby helping owners make the decision whether or not to operate. This online calculator can be found at T-STAT.org.
There’s no definitive way of knowing if your dog’s splenic mass is malignant or benign
Knowing if a tumor is malignant or benign before surgery would help a lot, given the grave prognosis associated with malignant tumors of the spleen. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no definitive way to answer that question preoperatively, although we may be getting closer (see “A Potentially Helpful Tool,” above). This leaves you facing a difficult decision for your dog, and makes one wonder – and fear – how many dogs with benign tumors are euthanized, when they might have been cured.
There are some generalizations that may help you make the decision to give your veterinarian the go-ahead for surgery or to euthanize your dog in order to prevent a traumatic death:
Large, non-ruptured splenic masses found on routine physical exam have the best chance of being benign.
Small-breed dogs with splenic masses have a better prognosis in general than the larger breeds.
About two-thirds of all splenic masses in dogs are malignant.
If you have an older large-breed dog with a splenic mass that has ruptured, the likelihood of this being a benign situation is very low.
Heritability contributes to the risk of malignant splenic masses; hemangiosarcoma is common in certain breeds, including Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Portuguese Water Dogs. If a dog who is closely related to your dog has had a malignant mass, the chances are higher that your dog will, too.
Teach your dog that pressure on the leash is a cue; it means he will get a reward if he moves to put slack in the leash.
Teaching your dog to “yield to the pressure” of the leash can help you safely and easily end an encounter between your leashed dog and another dog. When it comes to interacting with other dogs, your dog can learn that the leash signals “Not now!”
Though “yielding” sounds a little confrontational – as though we are going head-to-head with our dog until she gives in – it’s not at all like that. It’s not a battle of wills, and if it turns into an exercise that looks like a power struggle of some sort, something is terribly wrong and the elements of the exercise need to be adjusted.
Before they are taught differently, dogs naturally pull against the pressure of a leash, just as they will usually lean toward you, into your pressure, if you push against them as they are standing. Our goal is to teach them to reduce the pressure of the leash the moment they feel it on their collar or harness by moving toward us, yielding to the pressure. This skill is taught gently, starting with the easiest of scenarios.
1. Build an association. The very first step is to help your dog build a positive association between the sensation of their harness being pulled and yummy food. (Yes, I know that this sounds counterintuitive, as if we are going to reward pulling. Stay with me for a moment.)
You’ll do this by standing or sitting calmly in a quiet indoor space with your dog, who’s wearing a collar or harness attached to your leash. Keep the leash short in the beginning.
Slowly, gently pull at the leash for a second or two, stop, and immediately deliver a treat to your dog. There’s no need to mark with a “Yes” or a clicker for this step. You’re simply pairing the two things together – in that order – to create a positive emotional response. Don’t wait for your dog to move or to respond in any way to the gentle pressure. Deliver the treat immediately after adding pressure, no matter what your dog is doing. Pressure = food, guaranteed. (To see a video of this, click here.)
2. Entice your dog to move in order to reduce the pressure. This step involves some movement on your dog’s part. Pull very gently on the leash until your dog moves. The nano-second your dog moves to create slack in the leash, mark with a “Yes!” or a clicker, and deliver a treat. (To see a video of this, click here.)
Keep this easy! Be mindful not to get greedy at this point. Even a single step that reduces the tension in the leash is great; it’s all that’s required. Your dog doesn’t need to come all the way back to you.
Do this several times until you feel your dog is responding more quickly to the pressure. You’ll know that has happened when it almost feels like you can’t practice this step anymore because your dog keeps moving with you! “I can’t seem to create any pressure on the leash anymore, she keeps following me.” Great! That’s because your dog is yielding to the pressure so quickly that you can barely feel it.
If your dog tends to just stand there and resist the gentle pull on the leash, take a step or two in the same direction that you’re pulling. This will often entice your dog to move with you. When she does, mark and treat!
3. Increase the challenge: Add a stimulus and reward the dog for orienting toward you.
Once your dog understands that pressure on the leash is a cue that means. “Move to create slack in the leash”, you can use pressure on the leash to indicate that it’s time to depart from a sticky social situation.
Once your dog is consistently responding to pressure on the leash by moving to create slack, you can add a stimulus that your dog is interested in, like a toy or some food.
With your dog on leash and you holding the leash firmly (you can anchor your leash hand against your body), gently toss the toy or treat to a distance beyond the length of the leash.
When your dog moves toward the item and the leash becomes taut, just hang on to it – try not to pull back on the leash. Brace yourself to prevent your arm or body from being pulled out of place – and wait for your dog to orient back toward you. When she does, mark and treat. (Having practiced the “check in” behavior before trying this step will be very helpful!)
Be patient and give your dog time to turn around on her own. You can stand still and wait for her to turn, or if you feel she’s a little too invested in the distraction, gently take a step backward to create a tiny bit of pressure that should entice her to turn toward you.
Try to remain quiet, but if you feel the leash is taut for a little too long, make a kissy sound to attract her attention. When she turns and begins to move toward you, enthusiastically mark and treat.
Remember, it’s not a battle of wills! If it feels that way, set your session up to make it easier for your dog to offer you the behavior you’re looking for. What you want is tons of opportunities to reinforce the right stuff, so make it easy for her to do it!
Also, keep in mind that you want the sensation of the pressure on her collar or harness to be the cue for your dog to reorient toward you. As much as possible, remain quiet and let the pressure speak for you. Use a kissing sound if things get difficult, and then adjust the exercise to make it easier next time.
4. Keep this behavior fresh with practice. Preserve your dog’s reliable response of yielding to pressure on the leash by making sure that you frequently mark and reinforce the behavior whenever you notice it.
While working on this exercise, DON’T:
Jerk, tug, or “pop” the leash.
Pull harshly.
Attempt to teach it while your dog is already pulling excitedly toward something or someone.
While working on this exercise, DO:
Begin teaching it in a very easy context, when your dog is calm.
Make it very rewarding for your dog to turn toward you or move in the direction of the pressure
Consider using a harness instead of a collar. Any kind of pressure on the neck is not good.
Trainer/author Nancy Tucker does allow on-leash greetings between dogs who know each other well and already have a friendly relationship, like these two buddies with the blurred tails and playful stances. But she recommends that dog owners try to prevent any other greetings between leashed dogs.
The modern dog owner spends a lot of time thinking about their dog’s social skills. We do what we can to ensure we make the most of our puppy’s sensitive socialization period; we seek out opportunities for our adolescent and adult dogs to spend time around other dogs, whether to play or to learn to ignore them. For those whose dogs react strongly to other dogs – maybe they bark and lunge – a lot of effort is spent either working on making encounters more pleasant or avoiding them altogether.
Should you allow your dog to interact with other dogs? It depends! It depends on where, and when, and with whom (for starters). Dog-dog interactions are perfectly fine under various circumstances. They can provide enrichment, a great opportunity for play and exercise, and when done well and regularly, they help maintain a dog’s social skills.
There is one particular scenario, though, that gives me a whole lot of pause. I’m talking about greetings between dogs who are leashed; I am not a fan of leashed greetings. I don’t allow dog-dog greetings while the dogs are attached to a leash – at least, not deliberately. Sometimes they’re inevitable, like when someone else allows their dog to drag them toward me and my dog despite my protests, and before we know it the dogs are nose-to-nose.
If this can’t be avoided without making matters worse, there are guidelines I follow to help the interaction go as smoothly as possible. I’ll share them with you here so you can prevent your dog from getting into a potential predicament. But first, let me tell you why I think this scenario can be a recipe for trouble in the first place.
REASONS TO AVOID ON-LEASH GREETINGS
Here are my top reasons for avoiding on-leash dog greetings:
1. Most on-leash greetings are not consensual. When two dogs meet on-leash, there are actually four parties involved: The dogs, of course, and the humans they’re attached to. In my experience, it’s extremely rare that all four parties agree to – or are interested in – a greeting or interaction.
Not all dogs enjoy being approached by other dogs, and even if both dogs are usually very sociable, it doesn’t mean they like all other dogs or that they’re interested in greeting at this particular moment.
The owners might have their own reasons for preferring to avoid interaction between dogs. There could be health reasons (the dog might not be feeling well, or he might be recovering from an injury or medical treatment), or behavior reasons (the owner knows from experience that their dog prefers not to greet other dogs).
Even if two owners and just one of the dogs are keen on letting a meet-and-greet take place, often, the humans fail to notice that the second dog is sending all kinds of subtle signals that mean “No, I’d rather not.” Humans are often not as skilled as they think at accurately reading dog body language, which can often be very subtle and understated. Trainers and animal behavior experts tend to see dog-dog interactions very differently than dog owners. For every five videos I see of dogs greeting on-leash, there are four in which one of the dogs is working very hard to make the best of an uncomfortable situation. That’s not ideal, and it’s completely unnecessary.
2. Humans don’t move quickly enough. Dogs don’t stand still, face to face, and shake paws to say hello. (In fact, if they’re standing still, face to face, and one is staring at the other, watch out!) Rather, dogs in a greeting scenario will be in constant motion. They move in a tight “smell-me, smell-you” circle, they hop back and forth, they angle their heads up, down, forward, and back, they create space between them and close it in again very quickly.
It’s an elaborate dance, and each movement is significant. Meanwhile, the humans usually remain still, clumsily trying to detangle the leashes. Or worse, they pull tightly on the leash and create pressure, preventing their dog from participating in the important social movements that make up a healthy dog-dog encounter.
3. Allowing on-leash greetings sets a precedent. Do you want your dog to be able to walk right past other dogs while staying engaged with you, or, at least, while moving in the same direction as you? It’s a common goal! In my experience, owners frequently complain that their dog pulls toward other dogs, or barks and becomes excited at the sight of another dog.
Allowing your dog to greet other dogs while on leash, even if only occasionally, makes it more difficult to teach your dog to keep walking past other dogs. It’s much more difficult to extinguish a behavior that the dog enjoys but that is allowed only sometimes (what trainers call “on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement,” meaning that sometimes he gets to do the enjoyable thing, but sometimes he doesn’t).
Also, because it’s not usually clear to your dog which encounters will result in being allowed to greet and which won’t, you risk creating what is commonly referred to as a “frustrated greeter.” These dogs may learn to pull, bark, jump up, whine, and generally become very aroused as they approach another dog. With enough practice, this type of arousal can sometimes cross the line into aggressive behavior, fueled by frustration.
4. Ending the interaction can escalate excitement. When people allow on-leash greetings, they often let them go on for too long, and then when they decide it’s time to move on, they end up tugging on the leash and dragging their dog away. Sometimes, especially if the greeting is laced with an element of tension between the dogs, pulling on the dog’s collar or harness can trigger a less-than-friendly response and, in a split second, one of the dogs being pulled away may snarl and snap at the other dog.
GUIDELINES FOR ON-LEASH DOG GREETINGS
Contrast the previous picture of two dogs who know each other and are excited and happy to greet each other, with this: The Australian Shepherd does not know the big, excited dog and is signaling that she doesn’t wish to!
Sometimes a greeting between unfamiliar dogs is inevitable, like when you turn a corner and suddenly find yourself face-to-face with another on-leash dog, or if someone allows their dog to approach your dog while you’re standing still. Here’s how I suggest you handle these situations:
*Move with the dogs. Work quickly to follow their circular movement and keep the leashes slack. It’s not easy – especially if the other person is just standing there. Don’t be afraid to speak up and instruct the other person to move in order to avoid creating tight or interlaced leashes. The dogs’ movements will be fast, and the direction unpredictable. That means you and the other person should both stay focused on the dogs (rather than standing and chatting), and you’ll be criss-crossing leash handles over and beneath the leashes as the dogs move.
*Limit the encounter to less than 5 seconds. Just a quick sniff and then “Let’s go!” – it’s time to move away. This greatly reduces the chances of tension or excitement building between the dogs and creating that delicate split-second trigger moment I described earlier, when one dog can snap at the other if he feels the tension on the leash.
Your dog’s ability to move away with you is a skill that needs to be practiced beforehand. Take the time to teach your dog that gentle leash pressure and a cue (like “Let’s go!”) means he should turn his attention toward you and move with you. (See “Tactical Extraction: Yielding to Leash Pressure,” below.)
If the greeting intensifies quickly, even if still in playful mode, and you’re having trouble keeping the leash slack, drop the leash. Naturally, this can be a very risky move, depending on your surroundings. I wouldn’t drop the leash on a busy street with lots of traffic! But I might do it if my dog finds himself in an unexpected greeting scenario on a walking path or on a quiet street in our neighborhood, especially if my holding the leash is creating a tangled mess that may cause the encounter to morph from playful to confrontational.
*Never allow greetings with a retractable leash. I advise against using retractable leashes in general, but I know they remain very popular and even if you don’t use one yourself, you will inevitably run into others who do. If a dog on a retractable leash is making a beeline for your dog, do your very best to avoid a greeting and move you and your dog out of the path of the other dog.
If you use one of these leashes yourself, understand how quickly it can become a dangerous tool when two dogs begin circling and moving together. You will almost certainly not be able to keep up (the handle is too bulky to make this possible), and the rope, cable, or ribbon can become extremely harmful in the blink of an eye. It can wrap around a human or canine limb and cause severe damage.
Also, if the handle is dropped, the noise it makes when it hits the ground, followed by the sound it creates as it gets dragged and bounced around can startle one or both of the dogs, leading to panicked behaviors. There’s nothing quite as alarming as dogs in a panicked state who are tied to each other.
SOCIAL DISTANCING
If you decide you want to avoid on-leash greetings, but your dog has other plans and routinely pulls toward other dogs, you can teach her how to politely navigate the presence of other dogs through behaviors like checking in (see “Train Your Dog to Check In,” WDJ February 2017) and loose-leash walking (see “Loose Leash Walking: Training Your Dog Not to Pull,” March 2017).
I much prefer to teach my dog how to keep a polite distance from other dogs and to accept their presence as just another part of their environment. Unless, of course, the leashes are off and the dogs are free to greet and interact safely in an appropriate location, without the restrictions imposed by leashes that can negatively impact how they communicate.
They already know. Even before the carry-on suitcase comes out of the closet, they know.
I’m leaving town for a few days.
Is it the extra laundry? The new sneakers set by the door? The way I’m preparing and setting out my senior dog’s medication, in a foolproof organizational fashion for my husband, who is staying behind?
It’s likely all these things – certainly the cumulative effect of all of these things. The more things I do to prepare to leave town on a business trip (I’m going to Kansas City for Petfood Forum), the more depressed and glum-looking my dogs get – especially on these work-related trips where I leave my husband behind to take care of the dogs.
When the two of us take a trip together, often one of the first steps I take in preparation for leaving is to deliver my two dogs to their respective favorite caregivers. Senior Otto usually goes to my sister’s house, where he gets to play 70-pound Gulliver in the land of Lilliputians (my sister has three small dogs). Six-year-old Woody is the same size as Otto, but his playful demeanor and exuberant body language makes him a better fit with my friend Leonora, who owns Woody’s best puppyhood friend, 5-pound Samson. They are mismatched in size, but perfectly matched in energy and interests.
Both of my dogs begin looking joyful when we approach their respective caregivers’ homes. They leap out of the car with joy, and barge into their temporary homes as if they’ve just returned from their own too-long vacations.
But this is a work trip; they are staying behind with my husband. All they have to look forward to is mealtime. My husband’s motto? “Food is love.” Even though he never feeds the dogs when I’m home, he enjoys preparing lavish meals for them when I’m gone. The last time I left town without him, I came home to a refrigerator that contained none of the eggs, lunch meat, or bacon bits (which I enjoy sprinkled on my salads) that were there when I left three days prior. He had mixed all of those ingredients into their food while I was gone!
But these meals are clearly not on their minds (yet) as I pack my bags. It seems as if they are focused solely on conveying how much they’d like to come with me (as evidenced by their following me from room to room, or parking themselves by the door and following me to the car with every piece of luggage) or demonstrating how miserable they are going to be while I’m gone (demonstrated with glum, sad-sack expressions and deep sighs every few minutes).
Do your dogs care about your vacation preparations or react to the sight of your briefcase being packed for a trip?
Where should you start? How can you choose from among so many foods? On the next pages, we’ll tell you what to look for on the labels. That will get you into the ballpark; then you have to feed some of the qualifiers to your dog and see how she responds. If she reacts to the food by breaking out in hives or diarrhea, it doesn’t matter if we love the food or your vet recommends it; it’s your dog’s response that matters most.
“What should I feed my dog?” It’s the most common question that I am asked. I wish I had the ability to magically know what combination of ingredients and protein and fat levels are needed to nurture each one of your unique, individual dogs!
Sorry, but nobody but you can answer that question, because only you can determine how your dog responds to different foods. And that is more important than my opinion or your veterinarian’s opinion or anything else. Your vet, trainer, breeder, or I could give you the names of our very favorite dog-food makers, but there is no guarantee that the products would “perform well” for your dog.
What does it mean to perform well when it comes to dog food? It means it helps promote a healthy stool (not diarrhea or constipation), it maintains or improves your dog’s skin and coat, and it neither makes your dog fat nor thin. As a bonus, your dog should like the taste and be glad to get it!
LEARN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BETTER CANNED DOG FOOD
What I can do, however, is help you identify things on the label so that you know what to look for and what to look out for, so you can choose the better options from among the products at your disposal, in a price range you can afford, and that work well for your dog.
Note: Calorie for calorie, canned food is very expensive – perhaps the most expensive type of food to feed! While the cheapest foods are most certainly not the best ones for your dog, the price will, to a certain extent, indicate better-quality ingredients and, sometimes, more ethical ones (such as certified wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, and cage-free poultry).
That said, remember that the most expensive ones are not necessarily “best” for your dog, either! I’ll say it again: You have to feed what works for your individual dog, by trying foods and watching to see his response to them.
1 – Start by looking for a food that is formulated for your Dog’s life stage.
Some foods do not provide all of the nutrients dogs need; they are not “complete and balanced.” If this is so, the label will indicate that they are “for intermittent or supplemental use only.” These products are fine for short-term use or as a “topper” on your dog’s complete and balanced diet, but they will not provide everything your dog needs over time.
This is not a complete and balanced diet
Growing puppies need higher amounts of some nutrients than adult dogs. Complete diets must state whether they have been formulated to meet the nutritional standards for “growth” (puppies) or “adult maintenance.” If the label says the food is for “all life stages,” it has met the “growth” standards. Throwing a wrench in the works, some foods are now using the phrase “growth and maintenance.” This is just another way of saying “all life stages.”
Do you have a large-breed puppy? Look for this nutritional adequacy statement
If you are feeding a puppy, you must check to see if the nutritional adequacy statement indicates the food is meant for dogs who are expected to mature to more than 70 pounds or less. (For more information about these statements and feeding puppies, see “Puppy Needs New Food,” WDJ September 2020.)
Do you have a lightly overweight adult dog? Look for a “maintenance” claim. These foods are generally lower in protein and fat than foods that make an “all life stages” claim.
If you are feeding an adult dog – especially an overweight one – look for a food that is formulated for “adult maintenance.” These foods are almost always lower in fat and protein than food that is formulated for puppies. An exception to this recommendation: dogs who train for or compete in active sports, or who are too thin. In that case, a puppy food (or one for “all life stages”) would be more appropriate.
2 – Next, check the amount of protein and fat. Consider only those products that are appropriate for your dog.
You should have an idea of how much protein and fat you are already feeding your dog. Check the “guaranteed analysis” on the label of the canned food you have at home and compare it to any food you are considering.
If your dog isoverweight, look for a food with less fat in it than the one you are feeding (gram for gram, fat contains more calories than protein or carbs). If he’s too thin, look for a food with more fat than what you’ve been feeding. If he’s just right, try to find a food with the same amount of fat.
Be aware that these values range widely in pet food; one can of food might contain three times as much protein or fat as another.
If you’re not sure about the fat content, at least check the caloric content on both foods (the one you currently feed and the one under consideration).
3 – Finally, look at the ingredients.
The ingredients are listed in order of their inclusion in the formula by weight. If there are equal amounts of any ingredients, the manufacturer can list those in any order.
Here’s a lovely ingredient panel (The Honest Kitchen’s Beef, Cheddar, and Farm Veggies Pate). Beef appears first – that’s super. The food contains just nine ingredients other than the mineral and vitamin sources.
Look for foods that have the animal protein source or sources high atop the list (water or broth may also be first or second, as water is often added as necessary for processing).
Also, look for ingredients that are easy to identify as “food.” (Vitamin and mineral sources are the exception; even the most innocuous vitamins and minerals sound like toxic chemicals; look up any ingredients you’re not sure about!)
Look for whole, named sources of animal protein (i.e., “lamb” rather than “meat”). The amino acid profile of animal protein suits dogs better than proteins from peas, potatoes, corn, soy, etc. If plant proteins are present, we’d like to see them play a minor role, appearing lower on the ingredient list – lower than the fifth or sixth position. When vegetables, fruits, grains, and/or other carbohydrate sources are used, we’d like to see them present whole as opposed to a “fraction” – wheat, for example, as opposed to wheat flour or wheat bran.
Look out for unnamed meats (i.e., “meat,” “poultry”), generic fat sources (e.g., “animal fat”), and artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives (such as BHA, BHT, and/or ethoxyquin). None of these are needed or common in canned food.
Historically, we have rejected foods that are made with animal plasma or blood meal, in favor of more conventional animal protein sources – and we haven’t quite changed our minds about these ingredients yet. There is a case to be made for the nutrient value of bloodand blood-sourced products, and an environmental advantage in not wasting those nutrients. We recently met with a representative of a company that collects and processes porcine (pig) and bovine (cow) blood into feed-grade and biomedical products, who answered many of our questions about the safety of these products. We want to learn more, but for now, we’re still rejecting these foods.
If your dog has symptoms of allergy or intolerance – such as chronically inflamed ears or paws, or year-round itching – start trying to identify what ingredient or ingredients may be disagreeing with him. An elimination diet may be in order. Of course, once you have identified which ingredients are problematic for your dog, avoid foods that contain those ingredients in any amount or form. (For example, if he’s allergic to chicken, avoid chicken, chicken meal, chicken by-products, chicken fat, and chicken liver.)
Let’s look at a few canned food ingredient lists. You’ll see that it’s not that hard to identify quality.
Here is Pedigree’s Chopped Ground Dinner with Beef:
The list starts with chicken – but it’s steeply downhill from there. There is no animal species named in “meat by-products” and “animal liver.” Instead of wheat and rice, it contains wheat flour and brewers rice. Yuck.
Here is a doozy: It’s Cesar Wholesome Bowls Chicken Recipe:
The pet-food companies got the memo about the merits of “real chicken” being first on the ingredients list. But you have to look past that!
Take a look at this one; it’s a little tricky:
This is Instinct Original Grain-Free Real Beef Recipe. At first glance, it looks like it doesn’t have that many great ingredients; it goes from beef, beef liver, and beef broth to tricalcium phosphatea source of calcium. But this is exactly what to expect in a “98% meat” type of formula (this one is actually 95% beef and liver, according to the label).
However, you also shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that all of the amazing foods after the calcium supplement and the other vitamins and minerals are present in anything like a significant amount. At the end of the ingredients list, there are artichokes, cranberries, pumpkin, tomato, blueberries, and more! If the formula is 95% beef, liver, and water, everything else on that list, added together, is 5% of the total. In other words, those foods are there as a sort of window dressing. They sound great! But there couldn’t be enough of them to make one bit of difference in the formula’s taste, texture, or nutrient content.
A couple of days ago, I received a text from a dog-training client, wondering about a video she had just watched—and which she linked in the text. “Is meat meal bad for dogs?” she asked. She followed that message with, “I get that she’s selling her own pet food, but is it (meat meal) that bad?”
