Subscribe

The best in health, wellness, and positive training from America’s leading dog experts

Home Blog Page 198

Debunking the Dog’s “Guilty Look” Myth

By
Linda P. Case, MS
-
0

[Updated December 26, 2018]

I just talked to a potential client who is interested in bringing his 7-month-old Golden Doodle to train with us at AutumnGold. His dog, Penny, has the usual young dog issues – jumping up, a bit of nipping during play, still the occasional slip in house training, etc. Penny also raids the kitchen garbage bin, removing and shredding food wrappers, napkins, and any other paper goodies that she can find. The owner tells me that he is particularly upset about this last behavior because he is certain that Penny “knows she has done wrong”. He knows this because . . . wait for it . . . “Penny always looks guilty when he confronts her after the dreaded act.”

guilty dog myth

If I had a nickel . . . !

Like many trainers, I repeatedly and often futilely it seems, explain to owners that what they are more likely witnessing in these circumstances is their dog communicating signs of appeasement, submission, or even fear.

And, also like many other trainers, I often feel as though I am beating my head against the proverbial wall. But wait! Once again, science comes to our rescue! And this time, it is a darned good rescue indeed.

The guilty look is a difficult issue to study because it requires that researchers identify and test all of the potential triggers that may elicit it, as well as the influence the owner’s behavior and his or her perceptions of their dog may have. Tricky stuff, but lucky for us, several teams of researchers have tackled this in recent years, using a series of cleverly designed experiments.

Is it scolding owners? The first study, published in 2009, was designed to determine if dogs who show the “guilty look” (hereafter, the GL) are demonstrating contrition because they misbehaved, or rather are reacting to their owner’s cues, having learned from previous experience that certain owner behaviors signal anger and predict impending punishment.1

The study used a 2×2 factorial design, in which dogs were manipulated to either obey or disobey their owner’s cue to not eat a desirable treat, and owners (who were not present at the time) were informed either correctly or incorrectly of their dog’s behavior. The box below illustrates the four possible scenario combinations:

guilty dog scenarios

Study 1

Fourteen dogs were enrolled and all of the testing took place in the owners’ homes. All of the owners had previously used “scolding” to punish their dogs in the past; an additional one in five also admitted that they used physical reprimands such as forced downs, spanking, or grabbing their dog’s scruff. In addition, all of the dogs were pre-tested to ensure that they had been trained to respond reliably to a “leave it” cue and would refrain from eating a treat on the owner’s instruction.

During each test scenario, the owner placed a treat on the ground, cued the dog to “leave it,” and then left the room.

While the owner was out of the room, the experimenter picked up the treat and either (1) gave the treat to the dog or (2) removed the treat.

Upon returning to the room the owner was informed (correctly or incorrectly) about his or her dog’s behavior while he or she was away. Each dog was tested in all four possible combinations. (For a detailed explanation of these procedures and controls, see the complete paper listed in “Cited References” at right). Test sessions were videotaped and dogs’ responses were analyzed for the presence/absence of behaviors that are associated with the GL in each of the four situations.

The Results – Two important results came from this study:

1. Scolding by the owner was highly likely to cause a dog to exhibit a GL, regardless of whether or not the dog had eaten the treat in the owner’s absence.

2. Dogs were not more likely to show a GL after having disobeyed their owner than when they had obeyed. In other words, having disobeyed their owner’s cue was not the primary factor that predicted whether or not a dog showed a GL.

First nail in the coffin: The owner’s behavior can trigger the GL.

What about dogs who “tell” on themselves? Joe next door, who happens to know a lot about dogs, says, “How do you explain my dog Muffin, who greets me at the door, groveling and showing a GL, before I even know that she has done something wrong?”

Not to worry; the scientists got this one, too.

Study 2

Experimenters set up a series of scenarios involving 64 dog/owner pairs.2 The testing took place in a neutral room with just one dog, the owner, and one researcher present. After acclimatizing to the room and meeting the experimenter, the dog was cued by the owners to “leave” a piece of hot dog that was sitting on a low table. The owner then left the room.

In this experimental design, the experimenters did not manipulate the dog’s response. Instead, they simply recorded whether the dog took the treat or not. But before calling the owner back into the room, the treat (if not eaten) was removed.

The owners then returned to the room but were not informed about what their dog did (or did not) do in their absence. The owner then was asked to determine, by his or her dog’s behavior whether or not the dog had obeyed the “leave it” cue. In this way, the experimenters ingeniously tested for the “dog telling on himself” possibility.

The Results – Just as the first study found, a dog’s behavior in the owner’s absence was not correlated with showing a GL upon the owner’s return. Corroborating evidence from independent studies is always a good thing!

The researchers also found that when they controlled for expectations, owners were unable to accurately determine whether or not their dog had disobeyed while they were out of the room, based only upon the dog’s greeting behavior. In other words, the claim that dogs tell on themselves and therefore must have an understanding that they had misbehaved was not supported.

Second nail in the coffin: Dogs don’t really tell on themselves; it’s an owner’s myth!

The most recent study, published in 2015, parsed out a final two factors that could be involved in the infamous GL: the presence of evidence as a trigger and guilt itself.

If indeed, as many owners insist, a dog’s demonstration of the GL is based upon the dog having an understanding of the “wrongness” of an earlier action, then this would mean that the trigger for the GL would have to be directly linked to the dog’s actual commitment of the wrongful act, correct?

Likewise, if the dog herself did not commit a misdeed, then she should not feel guilty and so should not demonstrate a GL to the owner.

It is also possible that the mere presence of evidence from a misdeed (for example, a dumped-over garbage pail) could become a learned cue that predicts eventual punishment to the dog. In this case, a dog would be expected to show a GL in the presence of the evidence, regardless of whether or not he or she was personally responsible for it. This last study tested both of these factors.

Study 3

Using a similar procedure to those previously described, the researchers created scenarios in which dogs either did or did not eat a forbidden treat in their owner’s absence. They then either kept the evidence present or removed it prior to the owner’s return to the room. Owners were instructed to greet their dogs in a friendly manner and to determine whether or not their dog had misbehaved based only upon their dog’s behavior.

The Results – Owners were unable to accurately determine whether or not their dogs had misbehaved based upon their dog’s greeting behavior, and the dog’s actions did not increase or decrease the inclination to greet the owner showing a GL. A dog’s inclination to demonstrate a GL was also not influenced one way or the other by the presence of evidence.

The second finding suggests that the presence of evidence is not an important (learned) trigger for the GL in dogs. Rather the strongest factor that influences whether or not a dog exhibits a GL upon greeting appears to be the owner’s behavior.

Third and final nail: Neither engaging in a misdeed nor seeing evidence of a misdeed accurately predict whether or not a dog will show a GL.

Take Away Points 

These studies tell us that at least some dogs who show signs of appeasement, submission, or fear (a.k.a. the GL) upon greeting their owners will do so regardless of whether or not they misbehaved in their owners’ absence. We also know that an owner’s behavior and use of scolding and reprimands are the most significant predictors of this type of greeting behavior in dogs. These results should be the final death throes of belief in the GL. Good riddance to it!

Now, all that needs to be done is that trainers, behaviorists, and dog professionals everywhere work to educate and encourage all dog owners to please stop doing what the owner is doing in the photo!

Cited References

1. Horowitz A. Disambiguating the “Guilty Look”: Salient Prompts to a Familiar Dog Behavior. Behavioural Processes 2009; 81:447-452.

2. Hecht J, Miklosi A, Gacsi M. Behavioral Assessment and Owner Perceptions of Behaviors Associated with Guilt in Dogs. Applied Animal Behavior Science 2012; 139:134-142.

3. O stojic L, Tkalcic M, Clayton N. Are Owners’ Reports of Their Dogs’ “Guilty Look” Influenced by the Dogs’ Action and Evidence of the Misdeed? Behavioural Processes 2015; 111:97-100.

Linda P. Case, MS, is the owner of AutumnGold Consulting and Dog Training Center in Mahomet, Illinois, where she lives with her four dogs and husband Mike. She is the author of Dog Food Logic and many other books and publications on nutrition for dogs and cats. See her blog at thesciencedog.wordpress.com.

Why All Dog Diets Should Meet AAFCO Nutrient Guidelines

By
Mary Straus
-
0

AAFCO dog food guidelines

The long-term goal of this column is to teach interested dog owners how to formulate safe and wholesome “complete and balanced” home-prepared diets for their dogs. We will eventually cover raw and cooked diets, diets that use raw bone as a calcium source, and diets that use other sources of calcium, as well as diets that contain grain and diets that are grain-free. The one thing that all of these diets will have in common is that they will all be “complete and balanced” as defined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

Why would we suggest using nutritional guidelines developed for commercial pet foods, when the whole reason we want to teach people to make their own pet food is so they can provide their dogs with diets that offer better safety and nutrition than commercial foods?

The short answer is that these standards, imperfect as they may be, are better than no guidance at all. Many books and Internet articles make the preparation of home-prepared diets sound as easy as pie. But the truth is, it’s astonishingly easy to feed (or even overfeed!) your dog while simultaneously starving him of nutrients that he needs in order to live a healthy, long life. Most recipes we’ve analyzed are deficient in critical nutrients. We consider the AAFCO nutrient guidelines for pet food to be a good starting point—the bare minimum of what should be provided to our dogs.

Providing All the Nutrients Your Dog Needs

Most dog owners feed their dogs the same food, day in and day out, often for years at a time. Even people who feed a home-prepared diet are prone to fall for the convenience of a recipe that they replicate daily or weekly without variation. It’s more important than ever that a diet meet at least minimum nutritional guidelines when dogs are fed in this way!

Human diets and recipes are rarely formulated to provide 100 percent of the nutrients determined to be essential for human health. But humans rarely rely on a single recipe or unvarying diet; most of us eat a wide range of fruits, vegetables, grains, various protein and fat sources, and other foods, plus we have the opportunity to respond to our body’s cravings when something is missing.

In contrast, our companion animals are completely reliant on us to put everything their bodies require into their food bowls. If we feed them the exact same diet every day, and that diet fails to provide adequate amounts of certain nutrients, or provides a potentially dangerous surplus of other nutrients, or even an imbalance between certain nutrients, we may well cause the development of disease. When feeding our dogs the same food every day, it’s all too possible for us to meet their caloric needs without properly nourishing them over time.

When you feed the same food or recipe every day, the importance of the food or recipe meeting AAFCO guidelines becomes magnified.

In last month’s installment of this column, “Cold, Raw Truth,” we were concerned that most high-fat commercial raw diets do not actually meet AAFCO guidelines when their nutrients are properly reported on a caloric basis. But if you combine commercial raw diets with other types of complete diets or recipes, particularly those that are lower in fat, you greatly reduce or even eliminate the issues we found, especially if you also vary the meats you feed.

Our goal with that article was not to say that you should not feed those foods; only that you should be cautious about feeding them exclusively, especially to the most vulnerable dogs, which include growing puppies, pregnant and nursing females, and older dogs who eat less than they once did.

Nutrient Guidelines for Dogs

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for humans were first published in the U.S. in 1943. They were intended to reflect the best scientific judgment on nutrient allowances for the maintenance of good health and to serve as the basis for evaluating the adequacy of diets and preventing diseases linked to nutritional deficiencies, such as rickets, scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, and goiter. As knowledge of nutrition advances, these recommendations are modified.

It wasn’t until 1974 that the National Research Council (NRC, the research arm of the National Academy of Science) published its first nutritional guidelines for pet food. Of course, the major players in the nascent pet food industry had been researching pet nutrition for a few decades before this, but much of the research had been directed at determining what pets could and would eat. The NRC’s Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats has been updated a couple of times since then; the most recent version was published in 2006.

The nutritional guidelines used by pet food regulators in this country, however, are not the NRC’s; instead, state feed officials (pet food is regulated on a state-by-state basis) use a set of guidelines produced by AAFCO.

The AAFCO nutrient guidelines have been characterized as being more friendly to the pet food industry than NRC’s pet food nutrient guidelines, but AAFCO would likely describe the differences as acknowledgment of the realities of pet food ingredient sourcing and pet food production. The NRC guidelines are often based on studies using highly purified ingredients, with near-perfect availability and digestibility.

But “uncompromised” availability of all nutrients cannot be assumed or guaranteed in diets comprising typical commercial pet food ingredients. AAFCO puts it like this:

“The AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles were designed to establish practical minimum and maximum nutrient levels for dog and cat foods, formulated from non-purified, complex ingredients. These levels differ from the values developed by the NRC… Values for specific nutrient concentrations were added or modified where indicated and supported by recent scientific publications, practical experience, and unpublished data.”

The values were also modified based on known effects of ingredients and processing and the potential for lower digestibility in some products.” As a result, AAFCO minimum values are generally higher than NRC’s.

Neither AAFCO nor the NRC directly conduct nutritional research; rather, their respective guidelines are developed by committees comprised of (volunteer) animal nutrition experts who study all available relevant research on each nutrient. The experts compare studies, looking for consensus in the data and trying to reconcile major differences in research results. Their goals are the same: to try to find results that support the establishment of minimum (and, in some cases, maximum) values of every nutrient needed by dogs of various ages and reproductive stage to maintain health and prevent disease.

Though we will sometimes reference the nutrient values recommended by AAFCO to those suggested by the NRC (and even the ones recommended by the European Pet Food Industry Federation, FEDIAF), our diet recommendations and formulations will be crafted with the AAFCO guidelines in mind, for consistency and to be certain that they meet the most rigorous standards.

Criticism of the AAFCO Guidelines

The AAFCO guidelines aren’t perfect by any means. Just a few of the more salient criticisms of them include:

The organization is painfully slow to adopt changes that reflect newer research; the current guidelines date back to 1995! They have been arguing over and delaying implementation of changes based on the 2006 NRC updates for more than eight years now.

The guidelines are incomplete. As just one example, the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in dogs have been recognized for quite some time, but they are still not included in current AAFCO nutrient guidelines. Proposed changes recently approved and due to be implemented in 2016 will include, for the first time, a minimum requirement for EPA and DHA (the omega-3 fatty acids found primarily in fish and other animal products) and ALA (the omega-3 fatty acid found primarily in plants), and a maximum ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.

Current AAFCO guidelines include maximum values for nutrients that can cause very serious adverse effects at high doses, such as iron, copper, and zinc. But the new AAFCO guidelines have removed many of these maximum values due to questions about bioavailability of different sources, and lack of research on exactly how much is too much. When maximum values are provided, several are more than 30 times higher than minimum values.

As a result, some “complete and balanced” foods may contain excessive and potentially dangerous amounts of some nutrients, such as copper in diets that contain beef liver, as we discussed last month. Most people (including many veterinarians) consider all foods with the designation “complete and balanced” as equivalent, unaware that, without maximum values to limit the range of what can be qualified as within the guidelines, or even with maximum values that allow a very wide range, the difference between nutrient levels in one product and another might have serious effects on a given animal’s health. For this reason, we also refer to European (FEDIAF) legal limits when analyzing recipes and diets.

AAFCO guidelines rely heavily on the use of synthetic supplements and may not apply well to nutrients derived from whole foods. But without adequate research on whole food diets, there’s no way to know for sure which nutrients may be acceptable at lower levels, and which will lead to deficiencies that affect a dog’s health or longevity.

Conclusion

Steve Brown, one of the contributors to this column, is a proponent of what he calls an “ancestral diet” for dogs (he wrote a book about it, called Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet: Healthier Dog Food the ABC Way, 2010 Dogwise Publishing). Drawing on the research of five scientists who studied the diets of wild canids (mostly wolves), Brown analyzed the nutrient levels in a wide variety of reconstructed wild canid diets. In a strange sort of confirmation of the work of the AAFCO nutrient guideline committees, he found that his re-created ancestral diets met essentially all of the AAFCO nutrient guidelines, particularly when it came to minerals (see Table I below).

There are many people who feed a variety of diets (with and without bones, organs, vegetables, dairy products, eggs, etc.) to their dogs in an effort to replicate their own versions of a “biologically appropriate raw foods” or ancestral-style diet, ignoring standards from AAFCO, NRC, and FEDIAF, because they think those regulatory guidelines are not important or relevant. Brown has analyzed hundreds of home-prepared diet recipes and found that they frequently fail to reach many of the nutrient guidelines developed by AAFCO, NRC, or FEDIAF, particularly those that use high-fat meats or exclude vegetables.

People who feed home-prepared diets to their dogs often rely on recipes or guidelines they got from books or on the Internet, or on incomplete mixtures of ground meat, bone, organs, and sometimes vegetables that the manufacturers have assured them contain everything their dogs need. But unless the diets have been analyzed and found to meet – at a minimum! – the AAFCO guidelines, they may actually harm the dogs they were meant to nourish, especially when fed exclusively.

All of the above is why, when we begin sharing recipes with you for home-prepared diets, in contrast to many other sources of homemade diet guidelines and recipes, they will be “complete and balanced” diets as per the most recent AAFCO nutrient guidelines. The AAFCO guidelines may not be perfect, but when met, they can protect dogs from nutrient deficiencies that can cause serious disease. We think these guidelines are ignored at your dog’s peril.

Karen Becker, DVM, practices integrative veterinary medicine at the Natural Pet Animal Hospital in Bourbonnais, Illinois. She is also the author of Dr. Becker’s Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats, and creator of Dr. Becker’s Bites.

Steve Brown is the founder of Charlee Bear dog treats and Steve’s Real Food for Dogs (but is no longer affiliated with either company), and is author of two valuable books on canine nutrition, Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet and See Spot Live Longer. Brown lives in Oregon.

Mary Straus is a retired software engineer with a deep avocation for research in canine nutrition. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area, and shares her discoveries about canine health and optimum nutrition on her website, DogAware.com.

Dog Trainers Spill the Kibble on Their Favorite Food-Bowl Alternatives

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0
Marnie Montgomery

Marnie Montgomery,
CPDT-KA, PMCT

I will occasionally use a bowl, but increasingly my dogs’ meals are experiences! One option is a kibble-dispensing ball for each dog, with a closed baby-gate between them to prevent my Cocker Spaniel from stealing the Shepherd-mix’s ball when she’s done with hers.

Joyful Dog, LLC, Leesburg, VA
(703) 554-2384

Tiffany Lovell,
CPDT-KA

I use the Kyjen Slow Bowls. I love that these bowls make mealtime more interesting for my dogs. They have to work at it and problem solve which engages their brain. Also, I have a multidog household with dogs of various ages. Because my much older dogs take longer to finish their meals, the younger ones would begin to approach and hover while they ate. I found that these bowls slow down my younger dogs enough to allow everyone to finish their meal at about the same time. It’s great!

Cold Nose College Space Coast
(321) 757-2059

Christine Michaud

I use a combination of things, but my dogs’ all-time favorite is hiding the food in little piles around our yard and sending them off to “go find it.” I love this too, as it builds a strong sit/stay while I hide the food, and it keeps them busy for 30 minutes. The piles are in different places every day so they really have to look or, should I say, sniff!

Family Dog Training, LLC, Fairfax Station, VA
(703) 595-8028

 

Shannon Bayless In Tune Dogs

Shannon Bayless, KPA CTP

Several dogs have spent their entire fostering time with me without ever receiving a meal from a bowl! Instead, I used Doggie Zen practice—feeding them by hand for impulse control and building a good working relationship—or gave them kibble from a Wobbler or puzzle for building their confidence. Careful, incremental introduction of the Wobbler is fabulous for dogs whose history has promoted learned helplessness. Watching those dogs learn that they can use their bodies to get their own food is a joy. When they master it and have fun knocking it all around the room under their own power, that practice informs the rest of their activities. I whisper, “You can do it!” as they’re learning. Pretty soon, they know “I can do it!”

One of my current foster dogs is semi-feral; she can live in a house but wants nothing to do with humans (yet!). Every bite of her ground raw meat meal is offered from my hand as I sit at her level on the floor. Sometimes it is quite messy for me, but it’s worth it to gain, over the course of months, her looser body language, her more relaxed eye contact, her bunny-hopping anticipation, her closer proximity with more duration, and, most of all, her trust and happiness.

Meal motivation can’t be passed up for training opportunities, so I also use hand-feeding to teach her name, a wait (not a precise wait, but one she can handle), and a cue for going into the room where she is fed.

In Tune Dogs, Bogart, GA
(706) 296-6893

Barbara Dobbins

Tricky Treat Balls by Omega Paws are the best thing since sliced bread. Or should I say “oranges” because that is what they are called in my house. These food-dispensing balls look just like giant oranges, with dimples, even. They come in three sizes: small (2.5-inch diameter), medium (3.5-inch), and large (5-inch). Pour appropriately sized food or treats and let your dog figure out how to get the food to dispense. Filling the ball more completely tends to make it easier for the treats to begin being disbursed.

Every dog will have his or her own unique way of approaching the task; my Border Collie Duncan used to pick his up and throw it down onto the ground, while his littermate Daisy would quickly push her around with her nose until it was empty and then politely borrow Duncan’s. Cody, my sister’s Beagle, would simply bring the ball to her and ask her to shake the treats out! These also provide low-impact exercise, which is great for all dogs, but especially for senior or physically compromised dogs. You will get exercise, too, from searching for lost or stuck “oranges.”

Two Dog Girl, San Francisco Bay Area
(925) 890-7986; barb@twodoggirl.com

Inventive Alternatives to a Dog Bowl

By
Lisa Lyle Waggoner
-
0

Like us, our dogs need both physical exercise and mental stimulation. As a trainer, I see many clients who focus on physical exercise, but don’t always consider the benefits of mental stimulation – what I call brain-work. One easy way to add in a bit of brain-work is to get rid of your dog’s food bowl and replace it with other fun feeding options. I’m always so excited to share with my clients how fun and effective it can be to ditch the dish! Yes, that’s right: Throw that traditional food bowl into the trash and get going with creative feeding.

There are a number of benefits of ditching the dish:

— Enrichment. The big-picture benefit is enrichment, a process for improving the environment and behavioral care of confined animals. If you don’t think of your dog as “confined,” think again. Compared to the life of a feral dog, our pet dogs live in incarceration. They go only where we allow them to go, oftentimes only on leash, and they rarely get a choice in their activities. By focusing on enrichment, in addition to nutrition and healthcare, you can reduce stress and improve your dog’s well being by providing not only physical, but also mental stimulation.

— Taking advantage of your dog’s natural foraging or scavenging instincts. As Alexandra Horowitz shares in her book, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (an awesome book by the way), dogs naturally scavenge or hunt singularly (not in packs). Think about how your dog, off leash, naturally takes off to explore the ground with his nose. Providing an outlet for this instinctive behavior is fantastic for your dog.

Kong Wobbler dog food "bowl"

— Outlet for chewing, a typical behavior for canines. Ahhh, chewing! While deemed an unwanted behavior by many owners, it’s a natural behavior for all types of canines. By providing opportunities for your dog to chew through the use of a creative feeding option, you’ll have less chewing of objects that you really did not want chewed!

— Brain work. In the wild, dogs spend a great deal of their waking time trying to obtain food. Think of the mental (and certainly physical) exercise this quest demands. Plopping down an entire bowl of food and having your dog gobble it up in less than a minute certainly nixes nature’s design. Drawing out the length of time it takes your dog to eat, and having him work to get the food out of something other than a traditional food bowl, adds fantastic mental stimulation.

If the dish is gone, what will you use? There is a plethora of options today. You can purchase food toys, interactive food toys, or food puzzles—or you may consider feeding your dog’s meals by hand or other creative means.

Dog Food Toys and Dog Food Puzzles

The terms food toys, interactive food toys, and food puzzles are used interchangeably. These are objects that can hold food and require the dog to work to find or get the food out of the object. They require both mental and physical dexterity to access the food. A quick Google search will pull up more options than you likely have time to look at, so I’ll mention a few of the most popular food toys that I and other trainers use for our own dogs and recommend to clients.

■ Kong Classic. We’ve been using the Kong Classic for nearly 20 years, long before it was called classic (I guess I just dated myself). These are a staple in our home. It’s a super-bouncy, natural rubber toy that has a large opening in the bottom and a small opening on the top. It is easily stuffed with all manner of tasty hard and soft foods. The Kong Classic comes in a variety of rubber strengths, so choose the toughest for those hard-chewing dogs.

■ Kong Wobbler. The Wobbler is a food-dispensing toy that is weighted on the bottom and sits upright until pushed by a dog’s nose or paw and then periodically dispenses as it wobbles and rolls around. The unpredictable movement keeps dogs challenged. It unscrews for easy filling and cleaning.

■ Nina Ottosson Puzzle Toys. There are so many interesting and creative options offered by Nina Ottosson and her products are very well made. Each is designed to stimulate a dog’s brain and reinforce his relationship with his guardian. The puzzles can be set to different levels of complexity. Start with the easier puzzles and as your dog gains skills, you can move to more challenging puzzles.

■ Zanies Wood Interactive Puzzle Pizza. This interactive toy is a wooden design that allows you to put treats under the standing or sliding pegs. The dog has to figure out how to solve the puzzle to get to the treats.

Slow-Feeders

Slow-feeding bowls do exactly what you think they’ll do: slow down the pace at which your dog eats his meal. Meal time may be extended from 30 seconds to 5 to 10 minutes or more. Again, there are lots of options. Here are two favorites:

■ Kyjen Slo Bowl. The Slo Bowl is a round plastic bowl that comes in different shapes and sizes and resembles a maze. It’s deeper in the middle and shallower on the edges. The bowl has small rubber pads on the bottom to keep it from slipping on hard surfaces. Dogs quickly learn to work their way through the maze of ridges; it makes meal time feel more like a hunt for food!

■ Green Interactive Slow Dog Feeder. The Green by Northmate is made of a durable hard plastic and the company says it’s shaped like tufts of grass. I think of it as a small green mountain range. You can scatter dry food or smear wet food throughout the peaks and valleys of the feeder to prolong your dog’s meal and make it a challenging game.

Homemade Dog Food Toys

If you’re on a limited budget, you can craft your own interactive food toys. With a few simple household items and creativity, you can easily make meal times challenging and fun for your dog. Note that while these homemade toys are inexpensive and easy to craft, they are also easy for your dog to chew up and destroy, so give them to your dog under active observation, and take them away when he’s finished removing all the food.

■ Muffin Pan Puzzle. Take a muffin pan, place a treat or a bit of your dog’s meal in each cup, cover each treat with a tennis ball and watch as your dog has fun lifting up the tennis ball to get to the food. Another option is to turn the muffin pan upside down and sprinkle your dog’s food in the valleys around the now protruding cups. Ta-da! It’s a slow feeder.

■ Plastic Container Food Toy. Take a used yogurt container or milk jug, cut several holes in and around the container, file or sand down any sharp or rough edges, fill with food and replace the lid. Your dog will have fun nosing and pawing the toy to extract the food.

■ Box Food Toy. Just like children have fun with boxes, so do most dogs. With a box appropriately sized for your dog, sprinkle your dog’s food in the bottom of the box, close the lid by interlacing the flaps (not taping) and let the fun begin. If that’s too challenging for your dog, you can also cut a few small holes in the sides of the box so that the food pops out when the dog moves the box about.

■ Peanut Butter Jar Puzzle Toy. Take a used, clean, plastic jar, medium- to large-sized. Cut a dime-sized hole in the lid of the jar; it helps if the hole is not in the center. To make this toy dispense food at a higher rate, you can cut additional holes in the sides and bottom of the jar. Place three cardboard tubes (from a roll of paper towels or plastic wrap) inside the jar, fill the tubes with your dog’s kibble, and screw on the lid. As the dog pushes the jar around with nose or paws, the food randomly dispenses from the holes in the jar.

(For a short video that shows how to do this, see this video.)

As with all new and unusual things, slowly introduce your dog to the new food puzzle toy. You know your dog best, so if she’s anxious about approaching new things, take it slow and help her develop a positive association with this new, exciting contraption. Depending on the type of food toy you select, you may also need to help your dog learn how to access the food. Set her up for success. Make it easy for her to succeed the first time, so she’ll be eager to try it again and before you know it, she’ll be acing those complex puzzles!

Hand Feeding Your Dog

I often recommend hand feeding to my clients, most often when there’s a new dog in the home who is just beginning to learn house manners.

I suggest delivering the dog’s food one tiny treat or piece of kibble at a time during several short daily training sessions, as well as using the dog’s food to reinforce all the other wonderful choices the dog makes each day. Behaviors that get reinforced get repeated! What better way to help our fabulous furry friends learn to navigate in our crazy alien (human) world.

Other times, I recommend this practice because the dog may be hand-shy and I want her to understand that a hand coming toward her means “good things happen” – yummy food appears!

Another form of hand-feeding is what I call “scattering and scavenging,” which is scattering your dog’s food around your house and letting her scavenge to find it. It’s an easy way to take advantage of your dog’s natural seeking instincts. Place some kibble behind a chair, under the edge of the bed, behind the recliner, then let her “go find” it.

Outside, you can place food behind trees and under or beside rocks. Get creative, but don’t put food anywhere you don’t want your dog to explore!

This game can be a great way to reinforce a “stay” cue. Ask your dog to stay while your scatter the food in a variety of places, then release her and enjoy watching her having a blast tracking down her meal.

Final Notes

Not all puzzle toys are created equal. Do your research to select high-quality products that are less likely to fall or break apart. Keep in mind that no toy is indestructible, so inspect your puzzle toys frequently for cracks and other pieces that could come loose. If you have a multi-dog household and your dogs don’t share well, it’s best to use interactive food toys with your dogs in separate rooms or tethered apart from one another. As with all things your dog eats from, don’t forget to keep the toy clean by washing it frequently.

Remember, ditching the dish gives your dog a creative feeding option that will help her expend energy, work her brain, and enrich her life. She will thank you for it!

Lisa Lyle Waggoner is the founder of Cold Nose College in Murphy, North Carolina, with additional locations in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Space Coast of Florida.

How to Prevent Your Dog From Developing Periodontal Disease and Cracked Teeth

By
Denise Flaim
-
0

[Updated December 18, 2018]

small dog prone to periodontal disease

Over the millennia that humans and dogs have kept company, we’ve evolved plenty of myths about our four-footed friends—most of them flat wrong. Consider, for instance, the belief that feeding a dog raw meat will make him vicious. (Vicious, no. Longer lived, maybe.) Or, that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. (Sure you can, especially with a clicker.) And, of course, there’s this chestnut, always a dubious comfort after you’ve been munched on by a strange canine: A dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s.

Fact is, dogs are probably worse off than we are when it comes to the bacteria lurking around their pearly whites. The canine mouth is considerably more alkaline than our own, and that chemistry is far more conducive to plaque formation. As a result, according to the American Veterinary Dental College, most dogs have evidence of periodontal disease by age three, in particular small breeds. And periodontal disease is the number-one condition veterinarians see in their canine patients – and feline ones, too.

As in humans, periodontal disease – an infection of the structures around the teeth, including the gum and bone – is caused by residue left in the mouth after a dog eats. The bits of food create a sticky film over the teeth called plaque. Minerals in the saliva cause the plaque to harden, forming calculus, or tartar. As the plaque and calculus spread below the gum line, where they are not visible, bacteria begins to damage the gum tissue. Ever on guard against invaders, the body sets off an immune response: White blood cells are dispatched to the area, and they in turn release enzymes that do still more damage to the gum tissue and bone around the teeth. Eventually, without a solid bed of bone to anchor them, the teeth will need to be removed.

There are even more frightening long-term repercussions of allowing periodontal disease to take root, especially in older dogs: The bacteria in the mouth can get into the bloodstream, travelling to other parts of the body, where it can create life-threatening infections. For this reason, many veterinarians are reluctant or downright unwilling to perform surgery on a dog with significant periodontal disease until the condition is brought under control.

Brush Your Dog’s Teeth

Board-certified veterinary dentist Dan Carmichael, who works in the metropolitan New York area, says the best thing you can do to maintain or improve your dog’s oral health is to follow the same advice your own dentist gives you: Brush every day.

Dr. Carmichael recommends using a soft-bristle toothbrush made for either humans or canines – he doesn’t have a preference. He’s also not particularly concerned about what kind of toothpaste you use, as long as it is formulated specifically for dogs. Human toothpaste is entirely inappropriate for dogs, as it is not intended to be ingested, and dogs have yet to master the intricacies of the bathroom Dixie cup. Also, its minty flavor is entirely unappealing to canine palates, which is why the non-foaming canine version comes in flavors such as poultry.

While conscientious human brushers make an effort to reach every nook and cranny in our own mouths, you don’t have to be that exacting with your dog. “Just focus on the outside surfaces of the teeth,” Dr. Carmichael advises. “Just do the surfaces you see when you lift up the lip.” The most common areas where plaque tends to accumulate are on the outside of the canines, or “fang” teeth, as well as the big molars at the back of the mouth, which are used for chewing.

While you are brushing, take note of any abnormal growths, especially along the gumline, as well as unexplained bleeding in the mouth. Share any concerns with your vet, who will want to rule out oral cancers.

Busy schedules can mean that you might occasionally skip a day of tooth-brushing with your dog. But being more lax than that is counterproductive. “Recent research suggests every other day is still beneficial,” Dr. Carmichael says. “But anything less than that is worthless; it’s no different than not brushing at all.”

Desensitize Your Dog to the Toothbrush

Of course, before you even attempt to brush your dog’s teeth, be sure to introduce the idea, slowly and positively. Having a foreign object stuck in his mouth and then wiggled around it isn’t a natural sensation for any dog.

The sooner he is introduced to the idea, the better. “Like any training procedure, starting as a puppy develops good habits,” Dr. Carmichael says. “You definitely want to incorporate positive reinforcement.”

Set aside a few seconds each day to slowly desensitize your dog. Start with touching the outside of her mouth. Then segue to putting your toothpaste-dotted finger briefly next to her gums. Move on to swirling and rubbing the gumline with your finger. When she’s comfortable with that, switch to the toothbrush, only for a few seconds at first, and then building up to longer periods. Be sure to copiously praise and reward your dog for her cooperation in each session. Making brushing part of her daily routine will also help your dog acclimate to the process.

Of course, if your dog shows any signs of intense discomfort or aggression – including stiff body posture; a similar tightness at the commissure, or corners of the mouth, and widened eyes – do not force the issue. Instead, consider seeking help from a professional positive trainer. You might have a bigger problem than just a reluctant brusher.

Chew on This

While brushing your dog’s teeth is the gold standard for keeping them free of plaque, Dr. Carmichael acknowledges that there are situations where it’s just not possible, whether due to your dog’s reluctance, your own schedule, or any number of other factors. In those cases, he notes, certain treats have been shown to be effective in reducing plaque.

The Veterinary Oral Health Council maintains a list of products that have earned its seal of approval. The list includes certain types of rawhides and chews, as well as specially formulated dental gels, sealants, and water additives. See the VOHC website here.

Dr. Carmichael is not necessarily an advocate of raw food diets, but he acknowledges that there might be some benefit to dogs chomping through non-load-bearing bones such as chicken necks and wings; raw feeders who do feed whole raw bones swear to the teeth-cleaning results they provide. Others, however, opt to grind the bones or purchase a commercially prepared raw diet to avoid impaction or perforation, which is a risk with “gulpers” who do not adequately chew the bones before swallowing. Regardless of how or what you feed, Dr. Carmichael believes brushing is an important part of daily oral care for your dog.

So is being tuned into to the slightest changes in your dog’s body language and habits. The most common symptom of periodontal disease in dogs is to have none at all, because of how stoic most dogs can be in the face of pain. Subtle signs can include a noticeable increase in the amount of time it takes for the dog to eat his meal, his avoidance of chewing on one side of his mouth, avoiding hard portions of his meals in favor of softer food, and bad breath.

Anesthesia for Teeth Cleaning

Dr. Carmichael says that starting at age three, most dogs could benefit from a yearly professional cleaning performed under anesthesia by a veterinarian, though he notes that the timeline is based on the individual dog, and can be affected by things like genetics and the owner’s poor brushing habits.

A typical cleaning, which removes plaque and calculus from the exposed portions of the teeth and below the gumline, lasts about 45 minutes. Many owners are understandably concerned about the risks of anesthesia for their dogs, particularly older ones. Dr. Carmichael notes that “with modern anesthesia, even dogs with mild versions of heart or kidney disease can undergo anesthesia safely.”

In recent years, there has been a growing movement toward anesthesia-free cleanings, in which plaque is removed without sedation, sometimes by trained veterinary technicians. We don’t recommend these procedures, and neither does the American Veterinary Dental College, referring to them as “non-professional dental scaling.” The College notes that the sharp tools used could injure both patient and operator if the dog moves suddenly, and that there is a risk of being bitten. Additionally, “access to the subgingival area of every tooth is impossible in an unanesthetized canine or feline patient,” the College notes on its website, referring to the area below the gumline. “Removal of dental tartar on the visible surfaces of the teeth has little effect on a pet’s health, and provides a false sense of accomplishment. The effect is purely cosmetic.”

If you do opt to have your dog undergo veterinary dental cleanings, you might decide to consolidate requests and have the veterinarian also clip his nails or remove a few warts or skin tags. But beyond those few minor procedures, Dr. Carmichael does not recommend “double-dipping” with a major surgery. “Combining an orthopedic or other major surgery with teeth cleaning is often not wise,” he says. “It makes it too long under anesthesia, and the potential bacteria that can be released would not be good if there was an intra-abdominal procedure,” such as a spay, for instance.

Antlers Crack Dogs’ Teeth 

If you want to get a veterinary dentist going, talk to him about marrow bones.

“Everybody’s grandfather gave their dog a bone,” Dr. Carmichael says. “But I think the majority of teeth that I’ve seen broken have been on those big beef bones, or knuckle bones.”

In addition to real “butcher” bones, products made out of nylon are also potential tooth crackers. And the recent popularity of shed moose and deer antlers repurposed as chews sets Dr. Carmichael’s own teeth on edge.

“I walked into a pet store last month and saw this whole aisle of different-shaped antler treats,” he says. “Every single one of those is a broken tooth waiting to happen.”

The problem, he says, is the sheer hardness of the bone or nylon. “It’s just the natural bite force of the dog, which is strong. If they have something that’s as hard or harder than the tooth, something’s got to give. It’s going to be the antler, or the tooth, or both.”

Some dogs, he says, seem to know to be careful with the bones, avoiding “chomping” down on them with too much pressure. “But I cannot predict which dogs won’t” be that self-aware, he cautions.

As a substitute, Dr. Carmichael recommends hard rubber toys, such as Kong toys, as well as various rawhide chews.

The Bottom Line

For most dog owners, paying attention to what’s going on in your dog’s mouth is a crucial first step. Dr. Carmichael frequently reminds owners that the most common sign of a problem is no symptoms at all.

“In nature, dogs survive by not showing weakness, so it’s in their nature to mask their problems,” he says. “If a male wolf is complaining about his tooth, he’s not going to be in that pack for long.”

That’s why the humans in a dog’s life have to be proactive in finding oral problems, before they get too big – and too painful.

Denise Flaim of Revodana Ridgebacks in Long Island, New York, shares her home with three Ridgebacks, 11-year-old triplets, and a very patient husband.

What is Proper Socialization and How Do You Make Sure Your Puppy Gets It?

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
-
1
puppy lying in the grass

In 2008, the American Veterinary Society for Animal Behavior (AVSAB) released a statement affirming that puppy socialization is a critically important tool in the development of a behaviorally normal dog. The organization also confirmed that the risk of a puppy contracting a serious or fatal disease during proper socialization efforts is far less than the risk of a dog later being given up or euthanized due to behavior problems that developed as a result of a lack of socialization. This is an absolutely critical accomplishment for your dog.

One might think that when AVSAB makes a position statement on a canine behavior topic, the case would be closed. Apparently not.

It recently came to my attention that an internationally known speaker and dog trainer is asserting that puppies don’t have a prime socialization period, that they should remain with their litters until they are 10-12 weeks old, and that puppy training classes are bad for puppies and should be avoided. When I read this, I was floored.

In my behavior practice, I still come across the occasional client whose veterinarian exhorted them not to take their pup anywhere out in public until she is fully immunized against contagious diseases, somewhere between the ages of four to six months. It happens often enough that I’m not floored by this, just disappointed. Not surprisingly, I often see those clients’ dogs later, in consultations for fear-related behaviors (often aggression) stemming from a lack of adequate socialization during puppyhood.

What is Dog Socialization?

Socialization involves introducing a puppy to a variety of stimuli (sights, sounds, smells, experiences) and making sure the pup is having a good time while doing so.

Well-socialized puppies become optimists, believing that the world is a happy place and that new things they encounter are probably safe and good unless proven otherwise. They tend to be resilient, able to bounce back quickly in adulthood even if/when a traumatic event occurs.

An unsocialized or undersocialized puppy becomes a pessimist. Everything new is scary and suspect unless you can convince her otherwise—and it’s not easy to do that—hence the generally fearful nature of an undersocialized dog. Traumatic events only confirm her strongly held belief that the world is scary and dangerous.

Canine behavior scientists have determined that the “socialization window”—the critically important time for a pup to receive a good education about the world around her—is even smaller than once thought. Previously, experts thought the period extended to the puppies’ age of 16 or even 20 weeks; today, most agree that the prime socialization window extends only from three weeks to about 13 weeks.

Note that this very important socialization period is more than half over by the time most pups go to their forever homes around the age of eight weeks. Let me repeat that: More than half over!

To help ensure that the products of their breeding become the type of emotionally healthy dogs that they intended to produce, breeders must do their share. If a puppy is already fearful at the age of eight weeks, super-socialization for the month that remains will help, but may not ever completely make up for the missing time. Puppy buyers can easily lose their hearts to the shy puppy who hides under the chair, telling themselves that the little one just needs love to help overcome her fears. This is not usually the case. If the puppy has a genetic predisposition for a confident personality, some of the damage can possibly be repaired, but it takes hard work in addition to love. Still, she will never be the dog she could have been with better socialization during the first five weeks of her prime socializing window.

If she is genetically predisposed to be timid, early socialization is even more critically important. Absent that, dog and human are probably in for 10-15 years of behavior challenges. Since much of the time we really have no knowledge of a pup’s genetic predisposition for a confident or timid personality, behavior experts recommend super-socializing every pup!

Wherever your puppy hails from (breeder, shelter, rescue, friend), ask detailed questions about the socialization she’s had so far. How many different places has she been? How many different kinds of people has she met? What kinds of activities has she done? How did she react to all those things? Your pup should have already at least happily met the “ding!” of the microwave oven, sounds of the washer and dryer, ringing telephone, radio, television, grooming brush and nail clippers, and dozens of different/varied humans.

If you’re meeting her in a whelping box or puppy pen, ask if you can take her outside, away from her littermates. Sometimes a pup will act normal in her familiar environment surrounded by family members whose presence gives her confidence, but become very fearful in a new place. (Note that a good breeder will have already worked with her away from her mom and littermates so her rehoming separation is less of a shock to her.) If you elect to purchase or adopt that timid puppy anyway, know that you are setting yourself up for lots of behavior work.

How to Socialize Your Dog

Remember that socialization is giving your pup good experiences with new things, not just exposing her to new things. To the extent possible, control the environment. Introduce her to children you know, ones who can be counted on to behave appropriately around dogs; don’t just let her be mobbed by the entire Little League team.

Socialize her with other dogs by enrolling in a well-run puppy class that allows puppy playtime as part of the curriculum. Don’t take her to the dog park; if you want her to meet an adult dog, select a dog you know well, one who will be appropriate with her, and introduce them using an appropriate procedure. (See “Great Introductions,” WDJ January 2008). Walk her on suburban sidewalks before exposing her to big city streets.

Pair your pup’s exposure to new things with generous delivery of small (pea-sized) bits of very high-value treats, so she thinks new stuff means good stuff. If she’s comfortable meeting new humans, give them several treats to give her, so “new humans” become reliable predictors of “yummy treats!” (Be sure to strongly caution your humans not to grab for or otherwise frighten her.) If she’s a bit worried about new humans, you feed the high-value treats in the presence of strangers until she is quite happy about their presence, then they can feed her the treats.

You can also use favored activities – play with a toy, scratches behind the ear, searching on the ground for “Find it” treats – to give her a positive association with new people, places, and new things. Your socialization goal is to always make sure she is always having a good time as you introduce her to the world during this important period of her life.

If she won’t eat super-scrumptious treats or won’t play with her favorite toy, she is telling you she is very uncomfortable with her surroundings. You need to act immediately by moving her away to a safe distance – far enough away that she’s happy to take treats and play again.

Next, make a mental note (and write it down later) of what it was that may have been of concern to her, and plan to do more work around those stimuli – a certain type of human (male, child, large, small, pushing a cart, wearing a uniform, etc.), a thing (garbage truck, elevator, manhole cover, another dog, recycle bin, etc.), a sound (thunder, beeping of a truck backing up, applause, crowd cheering) or a surface (gravel, concrete, sand, hardwood floor).

In each case, you will use counter-conditioning and desensitization to work on increasing her comfort level, by presenting the stimulus or stimuli at an intensity she is comfortable with, and feeding treats or playing with toys there until she is happy. Increasing the distance between the dog and the stimuli will usually decrease their intensity; when you are far enough away you can use treats and/or toys to get her happy, then gradually move closer – by inches at a time – and get her happy at each new location before moving closer again.

Experiences most pups should have at an early age include:

Places: Car, vet, groomer, beach, park, woods, trails, school, shops, friends’ houses, crate, public transport, cafe, training facility, stairs, hardwood floors, carpet, gravel, grass, cement, other unusual surfaces (walking on a tarp, a teeter-totter, stone wall, fallen log).

People: Friends; neighbors; family; children; elderly people; men with deep voices; men with beards; people of all different skin colors; people in hats and sunglasses; people carrying boxes and bags; people wearing various outfits (saris, turbans, tool belts, uniforms, backpacks, babies in a carrier, etc.); people with wheelchairs, strollers, or walkers; people on bicycles, skates, and skateboards; people running, crawling, skipping, and playing sports; people who ignore dogs, and people who are affectionate toward dogs.

Animals: Other puppies, other dogs, individual dogs, groups of dogs, working dogs, playing dogs, cats, fish in a tank, Guinea pigs, rabbits, parrots, poultry, horses, livestock.

Things: Brooms, mops, vacuums, dishwashers, fans, weed-whackers, power tools, ladders, children’s toys, manhole covers, trucks, buses, snow blowers.

You get the idea . . . the possibilities are endless!

Fear Periods in Puppies

Behavior professionals also talk about “fear periods” in young dogs; this is different from the prime socialization window, though they may overlap. These are times when puppies or adolescent dogs are more likely to react fearfully to new stimuli, or even to stimuli they’ve been exposed to in the past and were seemingly comfortable with.

Although specific time periods have been identified by various experts as when fear periods are more likely to occur, current thinking is that those periods are not as rigidly fixed as once thought. It has been suggested that one fear period is around 8-12 weeks – the time when most puppies are going to their new homes, and the time when super-socialization should be occurring. It’s probably a good idea to not ship pups by air or truck transport during this period (if ever). If your pup is coming to you from across the country, I strongly advise driving her home rather than shipping her, or arranging for another trusted person to drive her. Far too many scary things can happen during shipping.

Later on, a dog may seem more susceptible to a strong fear response during periods that occur any time between the age of 6 to 14 months, which makes it less a true “fear period” and more about just life as a dog. Real or not, it’s less important to worry about whether the pup is in a fear period than it is to respond appropriately any time your dog or puppy shows fear.

Here’s how to deal with fear behaviors, both during your socialization efforts and beyond:

■ Remain Calm. Dogs excel at reading our emotions and body language. If you react badly when your pup is fearful, you can compound her fear response. Stay calm and relaxed, and remember to breathe. Act as if it’s no big deal, and help her out of the situation.

■ Counter-Condition. The moment your dog sees the threatening stimulus, feed high-value treats. Pause, let her look again, then feed again. Do not ask her to “sit” or watch you, just feed.

You aren’t giving treats for a particular behavior; you are trying to create a positive association between the scary thing and the treats. In fact, asking for a specific behavior can be counterproductive.

You can also use counter-conditioning for scary sounds. Associate the sound with your pup’s high value treat, and she will come to love the sound. Important: If your pup won’t eat the treats she is probably “over threshold” – the scary thing is too close, or the noise is too loud. Increase distance or find a way to turn down the volume.

■ Move Away. It is perfectly okay, in fact often advisable, to increase distance between your pup and the scary thing, until enough counter-conditioning is done to change the association from “Ooooh, scary!” to “Yay, treats!” If you find yourself having to move away frequently, it’s time to up your management game so your pup doesn’t keep finding herself too close to scary things.

■ Socialize. As discussed above, socialization is your best immunization against fear. While even a well-socialized optimistic pup may go through fear periods, she will be far more resilient and recover more quickly if she has a solid foundation of socialization. While her primary socialization window may close at 13-14 weeks, you will want to continue to give her positive social experiences throughout her life.

■ Don’t Punish. It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. Don’t ever punish your pup for fear-related behaviors (or other behaviors, for that matter). She’s already convinced bad things happen when that scary thing is near, and if you punish her you will confirm her suspicions and exacerbate her fear. Instead, let her know she can rely on you for support when she is scared.

Well-socialized dogs are made, not born. Even given the genetic component, your pup’s future behavioral well-being is in your hands. Take the time to super-socialize now, and your optimistic dog will confidently romp through life with you. Cut corners with your socialization program, and you and your canine pessimist are likely to pay the price in fear-related behaviors, even aggression, a life full of stress, and major restrictions on what activities she can share and enjoy with you. Seems like a pretty easy choice, yes?

Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. She lives in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center, where she offers dog-training classes and courses for trainers. Pat is also the author of many books on positive training. Her two most recent books are Do Over Dogs: Give Your Dog a Second Chance at a First-Class Life, and How to Foster Dogs; From Homeless to Homeward Bound.

Download the Full October 2015 Issue PDF

By
Nancy Kerns
-
1
…
To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in
If you are logged in but cannot access this content, a) your subscription may have expired; b) you may have duplicate accounts (emails) in our system. Please check your account status here or contact customer service.

Subscribe

Subscribe to Whole Dog Journal

With your Whole Dog Journal order you’ll get:

  • Immediate access to this article and 20+ years of archives.
  • Recommendations for the best dog food for your dog.
  • Dry food, homemade diets and recipes, dehydrated and raw options, canned food and more.
  • Brands, formulations and ingredients all searchable in an easy-to-use, searchable database.

Plus, you’ll receive training and care guidance to keep your dog healthy and happy. You’ll feed with less stress…train with greater success…and know you are giving your dog the care he deserves.

Subscribe now and save 72%! Its like getting 8 issues free!

Already Subscribed?

Click Here to Sign In | Forgot your password? | Activate Web Access

Do you recall?

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0

There is an article on the WDJ website right now about recalls that is available to subscribers and nonsubscribers alike. I’m glad it’s available to anyone who is interested, because it contains information that I wish every dog owner would read and embrace. It’s by trainer Lisa Lyle Waggoner, and it’s about how to build a consistent “rocket recall” response in from your dog. I’ve used the exercises described in the article over the years with my dogs, and I can honestly say that their response to the recall cue is pretty darn sharp.

The exercises are great – but you have to practice them daily. On some days, I might give my dogs a cue for a recall ony once, but if I ask just the one time, I make sure I’ve got a pretty terrific reward for their instantaneous and enthusiastic response. Sometimes the reward is a special treat, but more often it’s dinner, or a chance to join me on a quick walk to a nearby park, or the opportunity to hop into the car (which often results in an off-leash run at a local open space).

I admit that it really helps to have more than one dog with a great recall – because if one dog responds to your cue and starts running toward you, the fast movement toward you tends to draw less-enthused dogs into the first dog’s wake. Fast action often proves irresistible to action-oriented dogs – or is it the concern that they might miss out on their share of something yummy that brings dogs running who, when cued at a moment with no other dogs around, tend to be poky and disinterested in the training exercise? Either way, when I have a foster dog or guest dog around, there is nothing like a number of “pack recalls” led by my reliable recall stalwarts Otto and Tito to deliver the less-experienced or formerly unenthused or uneducated dogs to my feet, where I can make sure they are treated to something really divine for their efforts.

Lisa mentions this in the article, but I’m going to repeat it because it’s so important: When you are training the recall, don’t always end the session with your captured dog on leash or taken indoors. Cueing your dog to “go play!” and turning him loose to resume doing whatever fun thing he was doing before you called him is a powerful reward for coming to you when called, especially for dogs who weren’t all that wild about coming to you in the first place. I’ve known many dogs whose best opportunities to run free came only when they refused to come to their owners, and, in fact, actively evaded their owners. Clearly, they wanted more time to run and play. If they never get enough exercise, and you use a recall to end the fun every time, who can blame them for running away when called?

I appreciated my dogs’ recall just the other day when I spotted a large rattlesnake as I was walking with my two dogs and my little foster dog. It doesn’t happen all that often, but I was in front, with all three dogs sniffing things and lagging behind me out in a local open space. I turned around to see where the dogs were, and saw motion in the grass just a few feet behind me. My body responded to the sight of the fat snake before my brain even really registered what I was seeing. I leaped in the air, then started running backward and in an angle that would lead the trailing dogs away from the snake, and said urgently, “Dogs, HERE!” (“Come” is the word I use for casual “conversation” with my dogs; “Here” is the cue I use for the “I really need you here right now!” recall.) Actually, I think I really said, “DOGS HERE HERE HERE!” – not because the cue should be repeated (it shouldn’t), but because my heart was pounding, the size of that snake finally sinking in to ALL the cells in my body and brain. All three dogs immediately left what they were doing and dashed toward me right past the snake, who obligingly rattled a loud and unmistakable warning. Whew! I felt like I had stuck a fork into a light socket, so the “party” I threw for the dogs when they ran to my feet was full of excitement and heavy on the treats.

Check out the article, and the links to some demonstration videos in the article! And feel free to share your favorite games for keeping your dog’s recall fast and happy.

 

 

 

 

The Virtue of (Your Dog’s) Self-Control

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0

The more time I spend with dogs (my own and particularly other people’s), the more I think that promoting a dog’s self-control is the most valuable thing we can do to make him more enjoyable to be around, while preserving both his dignity and individuality. That sounds like a lot of new-age mish-mash, so let me explain.

I don’t like it when dogs jump up in greeting, or crash into me when playing with each other. It makes being with them unpleasant – to me, anyway, and maybe some of you. Making a lot of rough physical contact with us doesn’t seem to bother many dogs, probably because it’s something that many dogs do among themselves.

Also, I don’t want to have to struggle with my dogs physically, ever. I shouldn’t have to drag a dog somewhere he doesn’t want to go or physically restrain one from doing something he really wants to run toward or check out.

Bigger dogs are strong enough to hurt us (particularly if we are fragile due to age or previous injuries) by jumping up on us, knocking into us, or pulling us down. But even smaller dogs can injure us without meaning to by jumping up at the wrong time (a shelter dog gave me a nice shiner this way once, as I was trying to clip a leash onto his collar) or bolting after a cat when we look the other way while stepping off a curb.

It’s amazing to me, however, how many of my friends and family are in constant physical struggles with their dogs! Holding them back from rushing the door when someone comes in, blocking them with arms and legs from jumping out of car doors, pulling them away from forbidden items, and so on. In many cases, the owners will say, “I know I need to train him,” but I think they have to start with themselves! If it’s a good friend or family member, I try make them aware of how much wrestling they are doing with their dogs – many of them don’t seem to notice that they are even doing it! – and try to let them know there is a better way.

My training goal for my dogs and my foster dogs is to teach them to control themselves. There is a lot that goes into it, but it starts with teaching them basic behaviors (such as come, sit, and off), and rewarding them for doing these behaviors in the face of greater and greater distractions. It also helps immensely to use a bevy of dog-management tools – around the house, baby gates and tethers are my favorites – to help them from being rewarded for the wrong behaviors while teaching them the new ones.

So, for example, for the dogs who rush the door and try to run out or jump on someone who is entering the house, I have a baby gate set up in the hall doorway, about 12 feet from the front door. I can rely on the gate to keep a dog from either practicing the rude behavior or forcing me to grab him and pull him back. The gate also sets him up for success; he clearly can’t reach the door, so he has, in essence, “stayed back” and I can reward him for this as a tiny first step toward a self-controlled greeting. I can ask him for a sit on the far side of the gate, and if he complies, several rewards. If he can hold the sit while a person enters and is greeting with some enthusiasm, jackpot! Eventually, he should have the idea and the gate can be taken down intermittently and ultimately for good.

We have lots of good resources in the library of back articles that are available to current subscribers that can help people learn about teaching their dogs to have self-control. Here are just a few.

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/help-your-dog-learn-self-control/
?page=2

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/training-a-hyperactive-dog-to-calm-down/

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/training-your-dog-to-be-polite/

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/puppies/puppy-training-classes-teach-self-control/

Mid-life Surveillance

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0

I’m the owner of two middle-aged dogs. I’m also a friend to many people with senior dogs with serious medical conditions. I’ve started worrying about my middle-aged dogs, especially Otto, my 70-pound wonder mutt / “heart dog.” (Small dogs live longer, so I’m less worried about 10-pound Tito, who lives with us but who keeps his own counsel and has never achieved “heart” status with either my husband or I.)

I know that every disease is best treated early, so I’m scheduling a major middle-aged wellness exam for Otto next week, in preparation for his first dental cleaning. I’ve had his blood tested annually, for blood cell counts and blood chemistry – and for vaccine titers. (He was vaccinated a LOT at the shelter I adopted him from when he was about 7 months old, and not since, except for rabies as required by law and once, a bordetella vaccine that was required in order to admit him to an agility class. His vaccine titers have always come back super strong.)

In addition to blood tests, I’m going to discuss with the vet whether it might be a good idea for a full body x-ray or any other scans that might detect any abnormalities, such as signs of cancer or enlarged organs.

I’m also waiting for the recommendations offered by one of WDJ’s regular writers, Cynthia Foley, who is researching and writing an article for an upcoming issue of WDJ on this very topic. Yes, my paranoia is so great, that I asked one of our writers to prepare an article on middle-aged to senior-dog wellness exams, so that I could follow her/our experts’ recommendations for detecting problems early. Of course, I’ll be sharing that information with WDJ readers as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I’ll ask all of you, too! What early detection / senior wellness tips does your veterinarian recommend? What tests have been vital to catching your dogs’ illnesses early? (Or, conversely, which tests do you wish you had scheduled earlier than you did?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Raw Dog Food #2) Don’t They Need Kibble to Keep Their Teeth Clean?

By
Carina Beth MacDonald
-
0

Of course not! Dogs don’t get cleaner teeth by eating kibble, any more than you will by eating cookies. Those crunchy little nuggets provide almost zero teeth cleaning benefits for big sharp teeth. Ever looked at your dog’s mouth about an hour after eating her doggie bits? All that goop is still smooshed between her teeth, fermenting away. One of the most immediate benefits most people see with a raw diet is sweet breath and whiter teeth. Often this difference will be seen within days. One of the most common reasons people bring their pets to a vets’ office is for dental concerns.

Spend to Save

By
Nancy Kerns
-
0

Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

Nancy and Otto

I spent more than $7,000 on vet bills last year. Only a fraction of that was spent on my own two dogs and two cats; the bulk of it was spent on foster puppies and a relative’s dog. The crazy thing is, I think would have come out better if I had bought pet health insurance for all of them, the six foster puppies and my relative’s dog included.

This is something I just figured out, after getting quotes from a number of companies based on information I learned from working with WDJ contributor Cynthia Foley, who wrote the article on pet insurance that appears in “Pet Insurance 101” this month. I’ve gotten quotes before, but I have always (in the past) been daunted by the prospect of adding more to the things that go under “pet expenses” in my budget. I have not, as yet, pulled the trigger on buying insurance for any of them. But that’s about to change.

As Foley mentions in the article, pet insurance is a bit of a gamble. You may spend a bunch of money on something that you end up not needing or benefitting from in any way. If your dog has an uneventful year with no health problems, the company whose insurance you bought will make a little profit. When there are things you’d rather spend money on, this can be a bit galling.

But look at it from another angle: What if your dog had a major health problem? What if your heart dog experienced a major heart problem all of a sudden? Would you spend whatever it cost to save and extend his life?

When it happened to me more than a decade ago, I just pulled out my credit card and resigned myself to paying a certain amount of interest, because I didn’t have the thousands of dollars I ended up spending just laying around. My Border Collie Rupert was fine one day, and the next, he developed an idiopathic ventricular tachycardia – that is, his heart started going pit-a-pat, too fast and without any sensible rhythm at all. The condition was severe enough that several veterinary cardiologists told me that Rupie could literally “go at any time” if we didn’t get and keep the condition under control with medication.

As it turned out, the bulk of the money went toward trying to discover any underlying condition that might have been responsible for the tachycardia. I authorized test after x-ray after scan, only to end up with the dreaded designation of “idiopathic” – no explainable cause found.

But back to my question: Would I do it again, spend a small fortune if my dog Otto suddenly developed a similar condition? You bet your booties I would.

And what about those foster pups, two of whom ran up bills of more than $1,000 apiece (one that I injured accidentally by tripping over him; one who suddenly “tanked” – and then within a day, after a bunch of tests and the administration of fluids and antibiotics, completely recovered); would I spend that money on them again? Well, of course.

So why on earth does it seem like an extravagance and a gamble to spend far less than that on a plan that would pay a good-sized chunk of that money back to me if those dogs had been insured at the time of their misfortune? Human nature, I guess.

Another thing I’ve learned: I’m not alone. According to experts in the industry, no more than two percent of the pets in this country have health insurance.

Having learned more about it, and how to best go about buying it, though, I’m going to add my pets to the ranks of the insured.

 

 

 

 

 

1...197198199...389Page 198 of 389

Latest Blog

An old fashioned TV pitch man tries to sell a box of something.
Blog

Informing? Or Selling?

Nancy Kerns 4
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?”
© Belvoir Media Group, LLC. All rights reserved.