Most puppies are crate-trained with relative ease. Remember that the crate should be just large enough for your pup to stand up, turn around, and lie down comfortably. If you want to get one large enough for your puppy to grow into, block off the back so he has just enough room, and increase the space as he grows. Cover the floor of the crate with a rug or soft pad to make it comfortable and inviting, and you’re ready to begin training.
Start with the crate door open, and toss some irresistibly yummy treats inside. If your pup hesitates to go in, toss them close enough to the doorway that he can stand outside and poke his nose into the crate to eat them. Each time your pup eats a treat, click your clicker (or say “Yes!” if you are using a verbal marker).
Gradually toss the treats farther into the crate until he’s stepping inside to get them. Continue to click each time he eats a treat. When your pup enters the crate easily to get the treats, click and offer him a treat while he is still inside. If he’s willing to stay inside, keep clicking and treating. If he comes out that’s okay too, just toss another treat inside and wait for him to re-enter. Don’t force him to stay in the crate.
When he’s entering the crate to get the treat without hesitation, start using a verbal cue such as “Go to bed!” as your pup goes in, so that you’ll eventually be able to send him into his crate on just a verbal cue.
When he’s happily staying in the crate in anticipation of a click and treat, gently swing the door closed. Don’t latch it! Click and treat, then open the door. Repeat this step, gradually increasing the length of time the door stays closed before you click. Sometimes click and reward without opening the door right away.
When your pup stays in the crate with the door closed for at least 10 seconds without any signs of anxiety, close the door, latch it, and take one step away from the crate. Click! Return to the crate, reward, and open the door. Repeat this step, varying the time and distance you leave the crate. Don’t always make it longer and farther; intersperse long ones with shorter ones, so it doesn’t always get harder and harder for him. Start increasing the number of times you click and treat without opening the door, but remember that a click or a “Yes!” always gets a treat.
Leave the crate open when you aren’t actively training.
Toss treats and favorite toys in the crate when your pup’s not looking, so he never knows what wonderful surprises he might find there. You can even feed him his meals in the crate – with the door open – to help him realize that his crate is a truly wonderful place.
Many puppies can do the whole crate-training program in one day. Some will take several days, and a few will take weeks or more. If at any time during the program your pup whines or fusses about being in the crate, don’t let him out until he stops crying! This is one of the biggest mistakes owners make when crate training. If you let him out when he fusses, you will teach him that fussing gets him free. (The exception to this is if you think your pup is panicking in the crate. If that’s the case, do let him out and seek the assistance of a qualified positive-behavior professional.)
Instead, wait for a few seconds of quiet, then click and reward, and let him out. Then back up a step or two in the training program. When your pup is doing well at that level again, increase the difficulty in smaller increments, and vary the times rather than making each repetition more difficult.
Once your pup is crate-trained, you have a valuable behavior-management tool for life. Respect it. If you abuse it by keeping him confined too much, for too long a period
of time, or by using it as punishment, he may learn to dislike it. Even though he goes to bed willingly and on cue, reward him often enough to keep the response happy and quick. Keep your verbal “Go to bed!” cue light and happy. Don’t ever let anyone tease or punish him in his crate. (Kids can be especially guilty of this. Watch them!)
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Sooner or later, your dog will get chewing gum, tar, tree sap, burrs, or some other sticky or tenacious substance in her fur. To get rid of sticky stuff without cutting the hair, work some vegetable oil into the goo with your fingers. The oil will help break up the goo into smaller pieces, which you can gently pull out of the fur. When youre done, bathe your dog with a mild dog shampoo to remove the vegetable oil.
Never use paint thinner, turpentine, nail-polish remover, or other solvents to remove messes from your dogs fur: they are toxic if licked off or absorbed through the skin.
Do you know this expression, “foster failure”? It’s meant as a humorous term, meaning someone who was fostering a dog – one who was being prepared for adoption by a shelter or rescue group – but who fell in love with the dog and decided to adopt the dog herself.
And no, I’m not yet a foster failure, though many of my friends think it’s about to happen, because I’ve been fostering a litter of the most adorable puppies for almost a month. I tell them all, “Blech! I hate puppies! Who in their right mind would want a puppy?” – another joke.
I’m a member of several online groups that rescue various types of dogs, and I see the “foster failure” term bandied about quite frequently. Many people sheepishly announce themselves as foster failures, and other people congratulate them for finding a great dog. And of course, they should be congratulated; it’s terrific when a dog finds a forever home – it’s the goal of every good shelter and rescue group, to find good homes for dogs. But people like myself who foster regularly probably also experience a twinge: crap, another good foster family lost to the group!
Ask any shelter or rescue: It’s really hard to find people who have homes with solid, dog-proofed homes and yards, and who possess enough experience with dogs to improve just about any dog’s behavior, confidence, and emotional connection to humans. It doesn’t do the rescue group much good to foster dogs in homes with people who don’t know how to properly help a dog learn to sleep in a crate, or who panic if their foster ward starts resource-guarding high-value items, chases their cat, or growls at their guests. Good foster guardians need to have enough experience to be able to deal with these behaviors calmly and guide the dog to better behavior in a positive manner. It helps if they already have well socialized, well-behaved, friendly dogs, as well as reasonably secure fences and homes and yards that can take some exuberant (or anxious) dog play.
It’s the same thing I tell people I meet when I volunteer at my local shelter: Yes, it’s hard to see all these dogs here, but no, I don’t want to take them all home; I want to SEND them all home! The most dogs I can legally have living in my home (as per my town’s codes) is three; but honestly, that’s also the number I can properly afford, when you take everything (routine and emergency costs) into account. I have two dogs already; if I had just one more, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to ever foster. But if I limit myself to owning two dogs, I can foster and (I hope) place five or six well-behaved dogs per year in homes with family members, friends, and friends of friends. And this year, perhaps even more (given the fact that I hope to be able to place all six of my foster puppies in homes with friends or friends of friends. (Friends, you’ve been warned!)
So while I can’t say I won’t ever fall in love with a dog I foster and become a “failure” myself, I hope it won’t be soon!
Recently, Dr. Chris Bessent, a Wisconsin-based veterinarian, advised Whole Dog Journal readers to take a proactive approach to joint maintenance and injury prevention by starting when an athletic dog is one to two years old. This is a far-sighted approach that may not be appreciated by most dog owners, especially when they see the price tag on some glucosamine supplements.
Selling people on preventive maintenance is difficult, unless they have had a dog with a promising competitive career cut short by osteoarthritis. This is the point at which most veterinarians will mention glucosamine to their clients, but much of the damage has already occurred. However, even in late-stage osteoarthritis, the supplement may improve matters enough to make it worthwhile.
For more on your dog’s joints, ways to improve their health and prolong an active lifestyle, please refer to Natural Dog Arthritis Treatments.
Before I became a mother, when I met difficult children, I imagined their unpleasant behavior was a result of how they had been parented. In other words, I usually blamed the parents and credited parents with doing a great job when I met kids I liked.
Then I became a parent, and through close observation of my son and his closest friends, gradually realized that actually, kids are largely who they are when they are born. Sure, you can mold them to a certain extent, and teach them good manners (or bad). But many aspects of their personalities transcend basic behavior modification.
For example, even as a toddler, my son was careful – he had a highly developed self-preservation instinct – and even though today he’s a world-class athlete, and no stranger to physically demanding (and sometimes pain-inducing) feats of athleticism, he’s still danger-averse. I think he’s always has been and always will be a careful person; I’ve never worried about his driving recklessly or diving into shallow rivers or drinking too much alcohol. And I had nothing to do with encouraging or discouraging this trait.
I’ve spent almost four weeks with a fostered litter of six puppies, and the experience has confirmed what I’ve long suspected: that the same phenomenon is true of dogs, too. These pups all have different “personalities” – a controversial word in animal behavior circles, but the only word that seems apt to describe the individual quirks and traits that the pups display.
I can now tell my puppies apart, but when I first got them, I ordered a set of Velcro-fastened color-coded collars, so I could keep the pups straight. The collars were also a useful tool for the shelter vet tech, so she could keep of the individual puppies weights and medication (they have been receiving antibiotics for a respiratory infection). This is what I know about the puppies now:
Red-collared puppy: Highly confident and curious. Pays more attention to what humans are doing than to what his brothers are doing, and if he has to choose, will follow the human. Always wants to be in your lap, or on your shoe, or touching you somehow, and he’ll kick up a fuss for the longest when all the puppies are locked in their pen. (By the way, this is the puppy who I accidentally kicked a week ago, and thank goodness, after three days of holding up his right back leg, he started putting more and more weight on it, and now he seems perfectly fine again.) I think this puppy is going to do best if he’s placed with people who want a close relationship with their dog.
Blue: Another very confident dog, but less curious about humans than Red. He dives into any game of tug-of-war, grabs for any toy that any other puppy has. He isn’t one to dive into your lap, but if you pick him up, he cuddles and seems to really enjoy attention and petting. He quickly accepts his situation, whatever it is: confinement in the puppy pen, immersion in a bath, the end of a meal. He seems like he’s going to thrive in any type of home.
Teal: The most independent puppy, and perhaps the smartest but not necessarily in a way that is likely to result in being well-trained. He was the first to figure out that if he followed humans or the other puppies to the puppy pen, he was going to get locked up, so he stopped following anyone to the pen. When I call all the puppies, he never just runs to me like the others do; he watches to see why I’m calling. He totally gets the concept of the potential for not-fun consequences. He’s also the bravest, though, and perhaps the toughest. He is super mouthy, and if I feel a puppy latched onto my shoe or pants leg a puppy who won’t let go I don’t even have to look to know it’s him. I think he’d make a heck of a military or law enforcement dog.
Purple: This puppy is into absolutely everything. If he hears a novel noise, he drops what he’s doing to immediately seek out the source of the noise. If he hears a squabble between the other puppies, he runs to jump into the fray. If he sees another puppy with an interesting-looking item, he grabs it to investigate it with his mouth. Usually, his brothers seem to be more interesting to him than humans are, but he’s not averse to being picked up and held and cuddled, for a minute or two, anyway. Then he’s off to the next adventure. He’d thrive in an environment that was active and stimulating; his owners are going to need to be interesting if they hope to capture and hold his attention.
Green: Absolutely the most affectionate, human-centered puppy. He actively seeks out eye contact with people, and wags his tail with happiness when a humans gaze falls on him. He watches humans constantly and will always choose human attention over a game with his brothers. He’s just so, so sweet with humans. If I watch him out the window, however, I see that he plays nicely with the other pups, unlike the next puppy, and the one that most resembles him: Pink.
Pink: This puppy is almost always off doing his own thing. Like Teal, he’s independent, but not in a bold, brave way, more in a ”Leave me alone, I’m happy by myself” way. He’s shorter and fatter than the other pups, and not as physically rough-and-tumble. He will play tug or wrestle with another puppy, unless the other gets too intense; at the first bit of pain or discomfort, he abruptly quits and waddles off to find something else to do. He neither seeks out nor avoids human cuddling and petting; he’s sort of indifferent about us, except at meal times. I wouldn’t worry about this puppy developing separation anxiety if his people worked long hours; I think he’s a content kind of guy who can find things to fill his time.
Maybe this is all hopeless anthropomorphizing – but I don’t think so. And I think that good breeders are highly aware of the differences in their puppies’ personalities, and take pains to match puppies to families or individuals where the pups’ traits will be appreciated and perhaps even well-utilized, as opposed to resented or punished; they don’t send just any puppy to any person with a check for the purchase amount. Although I’m not a dog breeder, I hope to do the same! Although each of these pups will be officially adopted from my local shelter, I hope to find adopters first, without having to actually send the pups to the shelter kennels. If you know someone in Northern California who is looking for some sort of hound/perhaps Beagle-mix, let me know! I’ll do my best to match them with a puppy that would best suit them.
Nine years ago, we described a smoky-smelling pink ointment that worked wonders for seriously infected ears: Pellitol. Pellitol contained zinc oxide, calamine, bismuth subgalate, bismuth subnitrate, resorcinol, echinacea fluid extract, and juniper tar. These ingredients are both disinfecting and adhesive, so that as the ointment gradually dried and shrank (a process lasting several days), it healed ulcers, dried pus and debris, and reduced bacterial growth. In addition to being effective, this apply-it-and-leave-it approach spared patients the discomfort of repeated ear-cleaning treatments.
We learned about Pellitol from holistic veterinarian Stacy Hershman of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, who became interested in ear infections while working as a veterinary technician in her teens. “This is a subject that isn’t covered much in vet school,” she told us. “I learned about treating ear infections from the veterinarians I worked with over the years. Because they all had different techniques, I saw dozens of different treatments, and I kept track of what worked and what didn’t.”
Chronic ear infections are the bane of long-eared dogs, swimming dogs, recently vaccinated puppies, old dogs, dogs with an abundance of ear wax, and dogs with allergies, thyroid imbalances, or immune system disorders. In other words, they are among the most common recurring canine problems.
Dr. Hershman’s maintenance program for healthy ears involves gentle cleaning with cotton balls, cotton swabs, and room-temperature green tea or an alcohol-free acidic ear cleaner. Mild ear inflammation can be treated with careful flushing.
But if the infection is serious, she takes a different approach. When she began her veterinary practice, Dr. Hershman met dogs who wouldn’t let anyone touch their ears. “I knew that nothing I’d learned in vet school was going to help them,” she says, “so I thought back to all the treatments I’d seen over the years. The one that seemed most effective was a combination of boric acid and a thick, old-fashioned ointment that looks like pink toothpaste. I couldn’t remember its name, but I never forgot how it smelled – really peculiar, like burnt embers.”
The ointment was Pellitol, and as soon as she tracked it down, Dr. Hershman combined it with boric acid. “Like the ear powders I learned about from groomers,” she explains, “boric acid dries and acidifies the ear. Yeast and bacteria are opportunistic organisms that die in a dry, acidic environment. They thrive where it’s moist, dark, and alkaline.”
Because boric acid is toxic (note warnings on the label), it should not be inhaled or swallowed. Shielding the face is important and usually requires a helper, someone who can hold the dog’s head steady while protecting the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Experimenting with her own dogs and dogs at the animal shelter where she volunteered, Dr. Hershman placed two or three pinches of boric acid powder in each infected ear unless it was ulcerated, bleeding, or painful. “Being acidic,” she explained, “boric acid might irritate open wounds. In that case, I would use the Pellitol alone. Otherwise, a pinch or two of boric acid was an effective preliminary treatment.”
After applying boric acid, she would fill the ear with Pellitol and let it work. Within a week, the dried ointment would fall out of the dog’s ear, leaving it cleaner and far less inflamed.
For more alternative and holistic remedies for your dog, purchase and download the ebook Holistic Remedies from The Whole Dog Journal.
Accidents happen but that truism doesn’t make it feel any better.
I feel HORRIBLE. I hurt a puppy on accident, true. But still. I honestly feel sick.
The six puppies I’m fostering (until they are old enough and healthy enough to be brought back to the shelter to be put up for adoption) were running around my backyard; I had just cleaned out their pen, and was bringing a freshly cleaned and filled pan of water to the pen. I looked around, making sure my path to the pen was clear of puppies; they tend to run toward human feet. I was about six steps from the pen when my shoe made contact with a puppy. I heard a puppy shriek as I leaped/dodged as best as I could, flinging the water and the pan clear, but when I turned around, the puppy I had made contact with was still shrieking and was holding up one hind leg. My heart sunk.
I picked him up and held him to my chest, trying to simultaneously comfort him and try to see what the problem was. It didn’t feel like my shoe came down on him; it felt more like the toe of my shoe kicked him. So I was certain I didn’t crush any tiny bones; I was honestly worried that I had dislocated his hip or something. Even after a few minutes, he didn’t want to put any weight on it.
I called the vet tech from the shelter at 6 pm on a Saturday night and she’s amazing, she answered. (She knows I am fostering the puppies, and she would have certainly known I was calling about them. But after working at the shelter for probably 60 hours that weeks? She’s terrific.) She invited me to bring the puppy over to her house so she could take a look at him. I was there within 10 minutes. But on the way, I called the closest emergency clinic, to ask about their rates. Would it be any more expensive to bring him in on Saturday night than on Sunday morning? Yes, it would be more than double to walk in the door, and there would be additional surcharges for just about every possible service, including xrays. Of course, if the vet tech thought he should go right in, I’d pay whatever I needed to. I’m lucky to have a well-appointed and well-staffed emergency clinic about a half-hours drive away.
The vet tech felt all of the puppy’s bones and joints in the affected leg and couldn’t feel anything obviously wrong. She thought it could wait until morning to take him to the vet, especially since he fell asleep on her lap as she palpated his tiny legs and rubbed his tummy. (I insisted he was in shock; I know I was.)
I took him home and kept him with me on the couch until bedtime. Then I put him back with his brothers to sleep in the puppy pile.
I was up at 6 am; he was still not putting any weight on that leg, though he was cheerful and wagging his tail as he ate breakfast with the other puppies. I hung out with the puppies until 7:30, then drove him to the clinic.
The radiographs didn’t show any fractures or dislocations, and the attending veterinarian thought the problem was in his tiny hock. He could just barely visualize some inflammation (fluid) in the joint, and thought the injury involved the tarsus bones and the calcaneal tendon roughly analogous to our Achilles tendon. The toe of my shoe must have made contact right there, and while nothing was broken, the tiny little bones could have been pushed around enough to cause pain and inflammation. We discussed the pros and cons of splinting the leg so the puppy doesn’t put too much weight on it, but settled on a plan to simply keep the pup separate from his five brothers for a week or two, and keeping his activity strictly curtailed. The vet also gave me some pain medication for the puppy, to administer as needed to keep him comfortable.
As I write this, its been 24 hours since the accident, and while I am less prone to burst into tears about what I accidentally did, I still feel just awful. Puppy kicker! I keep reliving the moment. Did I not look carefully enough before I started walking with the pan full of water? Was I hurrying too much, or too distracted? I’m certainly going to be even more careful, and in the moment with these pups from now on.
Have you ever accidently hurt one of your dogs? How did you get over it?
I suspect I’m not alone in having a childhood filled with dogs as my primary companions and emotional “security blankets” – I’ll bet that an awful lot of you experienced that, too. Or you came to love and lean on dogs for friendship and comfort at another challenging time in your life. How do I know? Because it’s been my observation that people who are committed to their dogs to a degree that inspires them to subscribe to magazines tend to be highly emotionally invested in their canine companions.
Wonderfully, in my family, I wasn’t the only one who cried in my dog’s coat on a bad day, and who expressed great joy by running and racing around with our pack of family dogs; all of us were dog-lovers, including my parents. I wasn’t made fun of for considering our dogs as my best friends; each of my siblings had a special dog of his or her own. I challenge anyone to find a family portrait taken at our home (as opposed to one taken at a larger family gathering in one of our more urban aunts’ and uncles’ homes) that doesn’t have at least one dog in it. Some may contain four or five dogs!
I have a hunch that this is also true of all of WDJ’s dedicated contributors. I know it’s true of Training Editor Pat Miller; I’ve seen her childhood family photos, and they contain as many dogs as mine! And I would bet good money that it’s also true of trainer Laurie Williams, who has contributed a deeply personal story to this issue. Her story, about how she was saved from a life-threatening illness by a fellow dog trainer, demonstrates how the shared love of dogs can sometimes bind us humans together and inspire us to do good, selfless deeds.
Speaking of emotional dog-related experiences, my family recently lost a beloved canine: Hannah, my brother’s dog. Though Hannah grew a tad rickety toward the end of her 12-year lifespan, her warm and loving soul shined more and more brightly through her large, beautiful eyes as she aged. Hannah was dubious about the arrival of my niece Ava five years ago, but (with the help of a lot of treats in the first couple of years), she matured into Ava’s most devoted, protective companion – thus carrying on our family tradition for at least one more generation. Rest in peace, sweet Hannah. We miss you.
I assume that most Whole Dog Journal readers are as upset as I am when I see someone treating a dog badly. What should you do when you see someone being rough with their dog? Hard as it may be, I urge you to be calm and take several deep breaths before you act. Then . . .
1. Assess the situation.
Calmly take a good hard look at what’s going on. Does the human appear to be someone who is simply trying to train his dog using outdated methods and who might be receptive to your assistance? If the person is applying hard yanks on a choke chain or prong collar, or blithely pressing the remote button for a shock collar, they are probably simply following the instructions of an outdated dog training professional and may not know that there is a far superior way to communicate with their dog. If, however, you see someone who has lost his temper and is deliberately abusing his dog, hanging, punching, smacking the dog repeatedly, or worse, this person probably won’t take kindly to your intervention and might just as easily redirect his anger onto you. If this is the case, you need to use extreme caution. The action you take will depend on your careful assessment.
2. Evaluate your options.
If it appears that the dog handler may be amendable to your suggestions, you might approach in your best helpful, non-threatening manner as a fellow dog lover, and offer to assist. If, on the other hand, the handler appears emotionally aroused and dangerous, I wouldn’t recommend approaching or confronting him. If the dog abuser appears violent or unsafe, a better option is to call the authorities.
3. Look for backup.
Regardless of how you proceed, look around for another person who can watch out for you when you step forward. It never hurts to have support; there is safety in numbers. Let your back up person or people know what you intend to do, and agree on a signal you will give if you want them to step up in a show of support or call 9-1-1. Ask them to otherwise stay quiet unless you ask for help; catcalls from the peanut gallery won’t help keep the situation calm and positive.
4. Carefully Intervene.
Approach the dog handler with a low key introduction; something like, “Excuse me, but I have a dog myself (or “I’m a dog trainer”), and if you’re willing, I would love to show you a different way to do that, a way that worked really well for my dog (or “works really well for my clients”).” If the person is receptive, you can coach him through a simple positive reinforcement exercise (you may have to provide the treats, if you have them – another good reason to always have dog cookies in your pockets!), and then explain how the exercise applies to what he was trying to get his dog to do.
Or, if the dog is friendly, you are confident in your abilities and the person is willing, you can take the leash and demonstrate one or more positive behaviors. Then leave the person with some good resources – local positive trainers, books, Facebook pages, Yahoo groups – so he will be more likely to pursue more dog-friendly training with his dog. (Consider keeping a one-page handout of dog-friendly training resources for times like this.)
5. Stay out of it and call the authorities.
If you think the treatment of the dog rises to the level of prosecutable or near-prosecutable abuse, or the person seems dangerously angry, don’t even think of attempting to intervene. If the handler is hanging, punching, slapping, kicking the dog – or worse – step back and call for help. Don’t worry about looking up the number for animal control, just call 9-1-1 and let them take it from there.
If you are carrying a cell phone with video capabilities, and you are at a safe distance, record as much as you can. Unless your support group consists of several large, strong guys who eat animal abusers for breakfast, you don’t want to risk getting yourself beat up in your humanitarian crusade. Do know that if the case is prosecuted, you may be called to testify in court against the abuse. Be willing to bear witness.
Arresting animal abusers was one of the most satisfying aspects of my 20-year career as an animal protection professional/humane officer. I have to say that, notwithstanding my own advice above, I might be hard-pressed to stop myself from physically intervening if I saw someone violently abusing an animal. I’m not saying you should, mind you, but I would understand if you did!
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. Pat is also the author of many books on positive training.
I’ve been a dog trainer for more than 25 years. I own my training business, Pup ‘N Iron Canine Fitness & Learning Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I’m one of the first dog trainers in Virginia to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) with the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT), and I’m a past Vice-President/Assistant Chair and Board Member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT). I’ve written about dogs for dozens of publications, and hosted dog-related radio and Internet shows. I’m an evaluator for AKC Canine Good Citizen dogs and Delta Society Pet Partner therapy dogs, and a licensed judge for AKC, UKC, World Cynosport (formerly APDT) Rally, and C-WAGS Obedience.
The entire time I’ve been working with dogs, I’ve been battling to stay alive. I was diagnosed with lupus when I was 22 – almost 30 years ago! Tests first indicated that my kidneys were failing in 1999 – a complication of the lupus. I was diagnosed with “end stage renal disease,” the technical term for complete, chronic, irreversible kidney failure, almost 15 years ago.
I’ve always hated the term, “end stage”; it seems so final and hopeless. But there’s no way to sugarcoat it: chronic kidney failure is progressive. The deterioration may be slow at times and rapid at others; you can’t be sure of the course it will take. You become increasingly sick and weak as your body becomes unable to remove fluid and toxins, balance electrolytes, regulate blood pressure, and produce red blood cells. You hold on as long as you can until all kidney function is gone and you’re faced with three choices:
– to allow the toxins and fluid to build up and eventually drown within your own body, a very painful, horrific death; – to have your life sustained by dialysis treatments; or – to try to get a kidney transplant.
Experienced
I’ve actually been down this road twice. The first time my failing kidneys threatened my life was in 2002. Because my doctors had anticipated my kidney failure, we had a contingency plan in place: my husband Mike, a former Marine and long-time police officer, was a match and would donate one of his kidneys to me! What with one complication and another, however, I had to spend three weeks on dialysis before the transplant surgery could take place. After the surgery was complete in 2003, however, my health returned.
Mike’s kidney sustained me for almost 10 years, before it, too, began failing. So I knew exactly what I was in for – only this time, having only one kidney himself, my heroic husband wouldn’t be able to save me again.
I still had too much living to do – not to mention a village of loved ones who needed and depended on me – so making the decision to seek out only palliative care until my death was not an option for me. Instead, as much as I hated it, I chose to go on dialysis again and start the process of getting on the transplant list.
My village? It includes my beloved dogs, all nine of them, and as time would demonstrate, their presence and quiet support would be instrumental in my journey. My current “pack” consists of four Maltese, a Pharaoh hound, a Standard Poodle, a Dalmatian, a long-haired Chihuahua, and my youngest, a Yorkshire Terrier whom I only recently adopted.
Most of my dogs are seniors: six of them are over 10 years old (including two who are over 12 and two who are over 14!). One of those 12-year-olds is Andrew, my Maltese sweetheart, the dog with whom I appeared on the short-lived (but fun!) 2008 reality TV show on CBS, Greatest American Dog, which was sort of a mix of Survivor and a dog-training camp. Andrew and I placed second in the show’s inaugural season, and were repeatedly praised by the show’s judges for demonstrating the beautiful, mutually respectful relationship that can result from positive, dog-friendly training.
Dreaded Dialysis
Faced with kidney hemodialysis again was terrifying. It consists of being intravenously hooked up to an “artificial kidney” machine and allowing it to remove toxins from your blood and excess fluids from your body. For hours, your blood must repeatedly circulate through the machine’s filters and back into your body. The process is risky and hard on the cardiovascular system. Vital signs must be monitored throughout and at any moment you could go into cardiac arrest. I always found that I was wiped out the following day, unable to work or even do much around the house. It’s estimated that up to 30 percent of people on dialysis die within the first three years, so remaining on it long-term is not desirable.
Unfortunately, for many people, there’s no other option. Even if you are deemed a good candidate for kidney transplantation and put on the United Organ Sharing Network (UNOS) transplant list, it’s a waiting game all over again. There are currently more than 100,000 people waiting for kidney transplants in the United States! Getting a match can take anywhere from four to 10 years, depending on where you live. So the challenge becomes keeping yourself alive on dialysis while you wait.
One of my biggest comforts during this wait was my pack of dogs. Multiple studies and research over the past 25 years confirm the positive effects that pets can have on our overall health and wellbeing. Pet owners suffer fewer minor ailments, such as headaches, colds, and hay fever; pets can help lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and boost immunity. There are insurance companies that ask potential clients if they have pets on their initial medical screening questionnaire! Affirmative answers work in the client’s favor. All these factors would influence both my prognosis and decisions I would make about my care.
Because kidneys regulate blood pressure, one of the symptoms of kidney failure is chronic high blood pressure (also known as renal hypertension). Another secondary illness that kidney failure can lead to is congestive heart failure, resulting from excess fluid accumulating in and around the heart and blood vessels. I struggled with both, which landed me in the hospital multiple times. Even though I knew I needed to be in the hospital, I hated it; being hospitalized took me away from my life, my home, my family, my dogs. I knew my doctors would not discharge me until my blood pressure went down.
Each time this happened, it took multiple medications to lower my blood pressure enough so that I could safely go home. I was instructed to continue my medications and monitor my blood pressure throughout the day – which was only ironic because, each time, within hours of being home and with my dogs showering me with love and kisses, my blood pressure returned to normal.
Getting Dialysis Treatment at Home
This repeated experience led me to an important decision regarding dialysis. Normally, dialysis is performed in clinics, with trained nurses and technicians who insert the IVs, hook up the patients to the dialysis machines, and monitor them during treatment. However, because there are so many people on dialysis (it’s estimated that one in 10 Americans have some level of chronic kidney disease), each patient is limited to only three treatments per week; each treatment lasts two and a half to three hours. In other words, patients are allotted a maximum of nine hours per week on the machines, to accomplish what healthy kidneys do 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, to be even more frank, dialysis patients normally receive the minimum treatment needed to keep us alive.
Well, the bare minimum was just not acceptable to me. Further, I wanted to be home with my dogs and allow the “pet effect” to work its magic. So my husband (who had recently retired) and I attended six weeks of intense training to become certified to undertake my treatments in our home, on our own, with no medical personnel present. Home dialysis would enable me to undergo dialysis treatment five or six days a week, and for longer periods of time, more closely simulating the work that healthy kidneys do.
Home dialysis is time-consuming, intense, risky – and, yes, a little scary – but being able to receive more dialysis, privately, in the comfort of my own home, and surrounded by my dogs and loved ones, helped me both physically and emotionally. My intention was to be the “healthiest” dialysis patient I could be so I’d be ready for that transplant if and when it came around.
I named my business Pup ‘N Iron in honor of my two big passions in life: body sculpting through weight lifting, and dog training. Before my kidneys failed the first time, I was a full-time personal fitness trainer, and occasionally, even competed in all-natural bodybuilding competitions.
Remember how I said I had struggled with lupus for 30 years? Bodybuilding was a potent weapon against this autoimmune disease. So even though it was difficult when I was so sick and tired, I did my best to work out in between dialysis sessions. I took Zumba and “Body Jam” classes. I did step aerobics and used light hand-held weights. It wasn’t anything near as impressive as what I had done in years past, but given my medical condition, it was just as challenging – and it really helped both my mood and my health.
Putting the Word Out
In addition to waiting on the UNOS list for a suitable transplant match, the only other way to receive a transplant is through a “live” donation.
Humans need only one working kidney; live donation enables a living person to donate one of his or her kidneys to a specified person in need. The donor must be in good health and, of course, must also be “a match” (in terms of blood type and tissue antigens) for the recipient. Donating a kidney is the ultimate altruistic act, and yet thousands like my husband do it – heroes! Out of the 14,000 kidney transplants performed last year, almost 5,000 were from live donations.
The dog community is large, but I’ve found we are all connected in a “six degrees of separation” kind of way – especially today, with the help of social media. Word of my illness and need for a kidney transplant spread quickly throughout the dog world, and amazingly, I started hearing from people who were willing to be tested to see if they were a potential match and could donate a kidney to me! Some were friends, some were only acquaintances, and some – amazingly – were total strangers.
I was profoundly touched each time I heard from another “dog person” who was willing to be a donor. We come from different backgrounds, cultures, races, religions, and socioeconomic levels, but our shared love of dogs somehow binds us – and in this case, saved my life!
Paige Port and I met in 2009 when I hired her to judge a UKC agility trial at my training facility. Paige is a long-time agility competitor, trainer, and judge, and the owner of Hilltop Agility training center in Quinton, Virginia. She is an extremely pleasant person and we shared some laughs and enjoyed interacting with each other that weekend. Later we became Facebook friends and occasionally played Scrabble and Words With Friends online but hadn’t seen each other since.
So I was shocked – and moved and grateful – when she emailed me and offered to be my kidney donor. She began all the necessary testing, and miraculously, she was a match for me!
Our kidney transplant surgeries took place on December 27, 2013 – exactly a year after I had started dialysis for the second time in my life. Now, in addition to being bonded through our love of dogs, we are “kidney sisters” for life. I can’t express how grateful I am to her.
Shortly after the transplantation surgery, when asked why she decided to become my donor, Paige answered, “I thought about it, and talked to my husband about it. It was a pretty easy decision for me to make. I wrote Laurie and said, ‘I’ve got one for you.’ She was a dog person, and I could help.”
Though Paige feels it was an easy decision, I can’t help but feel there was something much more profound at work. Any of us who love dogs know that they soften us. Maybe they were put on this earth not only for us to care for them and find the humanity in ourselves, but to facilitate us in caring for and finding the humanity in each other too.
As I approach the one-year anniversary of my transplant, I continue to advocate for patients with chronic kidney disease and raise awareness about the need for organ donors. Not everyone can or even should be a live donor; however, most can register with their states to be a donor in the event of an untimely death. Thinking about that is certainly unpleasant, but the need for organ donors has never been greater. Thousands of people die each year while waiting for a transplant. One donor can save up to eight lives. What an incredible way to impact the world and what a legacy to leave. The late writer and television personality Roger Caras once said, “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole,” and I am a living example of that. My dogs have not only enriched my life, but through them, I got my whole life back.
A canine education specialist, dog behavior counselor, and trainer, Laurie Williams is the owner and Director of Training and Behavior Counseling at Pup ‘N Iron Canine Fitness & Learning Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia. For more information, see pupniron.com or call (540) 659-7614.
For More Information: U.S. Dept. of Heath & Human Service organ donation info This is the primary federal entity responsible for oversight of the organ and blood stem cell transplant systems in the U.S. and for initiatives to increase the level of organ donation in this country (a good central site for information about organ donation). organdonor.gov/about/livedonation.html
Donate Life America Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams across the United States committed to increasing organ, eye, and tissue donation. donatelife.net
Deworming agents are present in any number of prescription and over-the-counter treatments for dogs and puppies. If your dog shows signs of a gastrointestinal worm infestation, there are all sorts of products available that are made exclusively to rid dogs of various types of worms. But there are also deworming agents included – whether they are needed or not – in many flea and tick treatments and in most heartworm preventive drugs; in fact, it’s sometimes hard to find a minimalist flea treatment or heartworm preventive drug that does not contain dewormers. The question is, is this really necessary? Are intestinal parasites that much of an ongoing threat to most dogs – and their owners?
Yes, many of the worms that can infect dogs are zoonotic – that is, they can infect humans, too. (See “Which Worms Can Infect You or Your Human Family?” on page 10.) Now that we have your full attention, let’s start with a description of the most common gastrointestinal parasites that can infect dogs.
Roundworms
Ascarids, more commonly known as roundworms, are the most frequently detected parasite in dogs. The most common species is Toxocara canis, probably because it has the most strategies for infecting dogs of any of the internal parasites, and because the females are such prolific egg-layers (a single worm can lay 100,000 to 200,000 eggs in a day). Toxascaris leonina, another ascarid species, is found less commonly.
Typically, roundworms live in the small intestine, though their larvae may migrate and “encyst” – become walled off and inactive, sometimes for months or even years! Adult worms are usually 3 to 4 inches long, although some T. canis roundworms can be up to 7 inches. Seen in cross-section, they are indeed round and resemble thin spaghetti noodles. Occasionally, adult worms will be expelled in the feces (and more rarely in vomit), but it’s generally the eggs and larvae that are expelled and pose an infection threat to other canine hosts.
Roundworm eggs can exist in soil for years, making them a persistent threat. The parasite is found in every part of North America.
Roundworms can steal much of the beneficial content of what you feed to your dog, absorbing nutrients in the dog’s small intestine and interfering with digestion. Dogs who host only a couple of roundworms may display no symptoms at all, but dogs (and especially puppies) who are more heavily infested may be thin, with prominent shoulder, spinal, and hip bones framing their found, swollen bellies. Their coats are usually quite dull and their energy levels are low and lethargic. They may suffer from diarrhea or constipation, gas, and/or vomiting. Very severe infestations can actually block the intestines and cause the death of their host.
Almost all of the anthelmintic (worm-killing) agents that treat roundworms are effective against only the adult worms living in the dog’s digestive tract; encysted or migrating larvae won’t be harmed by deworming preparations. This makes a good case for occasional treatment with an appropriate deworming agent.
Hookworms
There are actually three species of this nasty parasite commonly infecting dogs in North America: Ancylostoma caninum (canine hookworm), Ancylostoma braziliense (canine and feline hookworm), and Uncinaria stenocephala (Northern canine hookworm). They have notably different geographical concentrations, however; A. braziliense is found in the southeastern part of the U.S. in twice the prevalence it is found elsewhere, and U. stenocephala is found more commonly in northern climates.
Despite their small size (adults are just 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long), hookworms are highly destructive parasites. Their name comes from a description of the mouth-parts they use to attach themselves to the wall of the dog’s small intestine and feed on his blood. Their aggressive feeding habits can cause obvious evidence of disease in a fairly short time, including anemia and serious diarrhea.
Hookworms produce an anti-coagulant that prevents their feeding sites from clotting and healing, so their hosts lose more and more blood as the infection progresses. The chronic bleeding causes the severely infested dog to produce black, tarry stools and grow weak. His coat will become rough. Puppies’ growth will be stunted. Without treatment, dogs with heavy infestations may become emaciated and die.
Hookworm eggs are expelled in the dog’s feces, and develop into infectious larvae in two to 10 days. Hookworm larvae are extremely aggressive survivors; they can travel in any moist environment (rain-wet or dewy vegetation) and swim in water.
This parasite also uses a variety of methods for entering its host. Dogs can become infected by ingesting larvae-contaminated food, water, vegetation, insects (including cockroaches!) or rodents; or by coming into skin contact with larvae (the larvae can burrow through the skin and migrate through the dog’s tissues). Puppies can become infected in utero (as larvae migrate through the mother’s tissues into the developing fetuses) or through an infected mother’s milk. Larvae that migrate through the dog’s body sometimes become encysted in muscles, fat, or other tissues and this can cause pain and discomfort.
Hookworms pose a special diagnostic problem; infections are generally detected via examination of a fecal sample from the dog for the presence of worm eggs. But hookworms can cause serious disease in puppies before the worms are old enough to produce any eggs. A diagnosis of hookworm infestation may have to be made from the observation of disease, rather than a fecal examination.
Whipworms
Canine whipworms (Trichuris vulpis) are found all over the world, and though their infections are much less likely to cause observable symptoms of ill health in a dog, a really severe infestation can cause bloody diarrhea and weight loss. They are not nearly as prolific reproducers as roundworms, with the adult females producing a much smaller number of eggs and much more intermittently. However, these eggs are extremely resistant to dessication (being dried out), extremes in temperature, and ultraviolet radiation; they can remain viable in soil for years.
Dogs are infected by eating whipworm eggs that are present in feces or in soil, or on plants that came in contact with contaminated feces. Larvae hatch from eggs in the small intestine and move into the cecum (the first part of the dog’s large intestine) as they mature into adult worms. The adults are rarely expelled into the dog’s stool, so the worms are seldom seen, making it more difficult to diagnose a whipworm infestation.
Adult whipworms are much smaller than roundworms, only about 11/2 to 3 inches long. The “head” end of the worm is threadlike and thin and the tail end is thicker; so the sum effect is that of a long-lashed whip with a sturdy handle.
The adults consume blood, tissue fluids, and tissue from the cecum’s mucosal epithelium; their feeding habits can trigger inflammation in the cecum, resulting in the overproduction of intestinal mucus, which can be observed in the feces of their host.
Tapeworms
There are two major types and at least 10 species of tapeworms that infect dogs in North America – so many that we won’t bore you with all the names of them. They are considered ubiquitous wherever there are flea-infested dogs, but their prevalence isn’t calculated like the other intestinal parasites, because they can’t be reliably detected (and their incidence quantified) through fecal examination or fecal floatation tests.
Adult tapeworms live in the dog’s small intestine, where they hook onto the walls of the intestine. Unlike hookworms, however, they do not feed on the dog’s blood; they absorb nutrients through their skins (robbing the dog of nutrients in its diet) like roundworms. They can be 6 inches or longer, but few ever see them in this long form, because they grow in “segments” that emerge from the worm’s “neck” area, with older and older segments being pushed toward the worm’s tail. Each segment is about the size of a grain of rice and contains a complete set of organs, but as the segments mature, all but the reproductive organs deteriorate. These older segments at the end of the worm eventually transform into a sac of eggs and then separate from the body of the worm; they then are expelled from the dog in its feces.
While these worms cause the least harm to the dog of any of the parasites mentioned here, they often alarm dog owners the most, due to one simple fact: most owners will be able to see (and be horrified by) tapeworm segments that have emerged from their infested dog. The segments often stick to the hair and skin around the dog’s anus, and upon close examination, can be observed to be moving! Many a startled owner has called her veterinarian to report that her dog has “maggots” on its bottom, only to learn these are tapeworm segments.
Tapeworms can infect the dog in one (weird) way only: they require an intermediate host. Fleas are the usual intermediary, but lice can be, too. Larval fleas (or larval lice) consume the eggs that emerge from tapeworm segments (remember that they are nothing but egg sacs by the time they are expelled from the dog), and the eggs start to develop into tapeworm larvae inside the developing flea or louse.
The tapeworm larvae uses the flea like a Trojan horse; it gets into the dog inside a flea! Dogs accidentally (or incidentally) consume fleas when they groom themselves (or chew themselves to relieve an itchy flea bite). Long story short: your dog can’t become infected with tapeworms unless he’s exposed to infected fleas.
Tapeworm eggs don’t often show up on a fecal flotation test, even if a dog is heavily infested with adult tapeworms, because the eggs generally stay contained in the segments until those egg sacs break open, which may take days after the segments passed out of the dog and his feces. But the presence of a tapeworm segment on or around a dog’s anus is a clear sign that he needs anthelmintic treatment.
Taking Action
Now that you know the players, how do you stop the game?
Thirty years ago, the prevalence of these intestinal parasites was two to three times what it is today. In decades past, dogs were routinely dewormed only as puppies, or if they developed obvious signs of an infestation and their owners sought veterinary attention. Today, with anthelmintic agents included in so many products that are administered for control of other parasites (such as flea, tick, and heartworm preventives), the overall incidence of intestinal worms is much lower in the overall population of North American dogs.
That said, many dogs originate from or are raised in circumstances where little veterinary care is given. Dogs who are rescued or purchased from crowded and/or neglectful homes, shelters, hoarders, or puppy mills will almost certainly be infested with every known variety of intestinal parasite. Puppies who were born to dogs from those circumstances will also be infested and require several treatments to be rid of worms.
There are a lots of anthelmintic products available to dogs owners; there are products that you can buy over the counter, and drugs that require a veterinary prescription. There are products that are targeted to treat intestinal worms only, and combination products that also control external parasites and/or prevent heartworm. (For more information about heartworm prevention, see “Sick at Heart,” WDJ July 2011.)
What kind of treatment you use should depend on your dog’s age and health. Treatment will need to be repeated at certain intervals, depending on the parasite. Most anthelmintics affect only the adult stage of worms; repeated doses (usually in about three weeks, and again in two to three months) will be needed to eliminate any worms that were present in the dog in larval stages and unaffected by earlier treatments.
If specific intestinal parasites have been identified in your dog, it’s wise to use agents that are specifically indicated for those worms, rather than relying on broad-spectrum treatments.
As just a few examples, milbemycin oxime and moxidectin are included in a number of heartworm preventive drugs, and are also credited with effectiveness against roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms; pyrantel pamoate (the “plus” in Heartgard Plus) is effective against roundworms and hookworms only. But we’ve heard of dogs who have routinely received these heartworm preventive drugs and still were diagnosed with severe intestinal parasite infections.
There’s also the issue of the dog getting reinfected, especially if your dog eats feces, frequents areas where the soil has been heavily contaminated (such as dog parks), and/or if your yard was previously contaminated by neglected dogs. Environmental decontamination can be difficult, and the eggs of some of these parasites can persist for months or even years in the ground. Regular fecal exams (and treatment) for dogs in these situations are recommended.
Natural Deworming Remedies?
People who strictly adhere to “natural” dog-raising practices often eschew veterinary deworming agents in favor of traditional remedies such as wormwood (artemisia), black walnut hulls, ground pumpkin seeds, food-grade diatomaceous earth, and others. In the view of many experienced holistic veterinary practitioners, however, some of these remedies turn out to be more toxic – more dangerous to dogs! – than conventional veterinary treatments. They may be ineffective as well, especially if non-toxic doses are used.
And while it’s true that a healthy dog, fed a superior diet and living in a clean, healthy environment, should have the benefit of a robust immune system response to help combat parasitic invaders, parasites, too, are capable of being quite robust. In our opinion (and that of many holistic practitioners) counting on the unverifiable “strength” of your dog’s immune system to prevent intestinal parasites is asking for trouble.
The natural approach may seem to prevent worm infestations in healthy, well-cared-for adult dogs who were produced by well-cared-for mothers, but the truth is, the incidence of worms in that lucky (and minority) population is bound to be low no matter what. Treatment of existing infections and prevention of reinfections in vulnerable dogs and puppies should be undertaken by more reliable, conventional anthelmintic agents.
“Fecal Float” Tests
Most intestinal parasite infestations are diagnosed by examining a fecal sample from the dog. Sometimes, adult worms (or in the case of tapeworms, worm segments) can be readily identified in the poop itself. More frequently, however, veterinarians perform what is called a “fecal flotation” test. The feces is mixed with a solution that causes any worm eggs present in the sample to float to the top; sometimes, the mixture is also spun in a centrifuge, to concentrate any eggs present. A sample of the floating material is then examined under a microscope.
If any eggs of any intestinal parasites are present in the sample, they are readily identifiable in a microscopic view. However, a dog may be heavily infested with worms that are not yet old enough to produce eggs (this is especially true in young puppies), or the sample may have been taken on a day when the worms did not produce eggs. Some worms produce only small numbers of eggs and only infrequently. For these reasons, many veterinarians recommend periodic “fecal float” tests – more frequently when a dog is young, and especially if the dog shows signs of a heavy worm burden upon physical exam (including a thin, pot-bellied body condition; poor coat; or persistent lethargy).
Which Parasites Can Infect Humans?
Roundworms: Humans can become infected by unwittingly ingesting infective eggs. Roundworm eggs can build up in the soil where infected dogs eliminate. Infection can result if you get these microscopic eggs on your hands (say, by getting dirt on your hands in the process of doing yard work), and then eating something with your hands.
If you become infected with roundworm larvae, you can develop a condition called “visceral larva migrans” – severe inflammation caused by the migration of the larvae through your tissues. Signs of this disease include an enlarged liver, intermittent fever, loss of weight and appetite, and a persistent cough. Asthma or pneumonia may also develop. “Ocular larva migrans” is a condition caused by roundworm larvae migrating through a human’s eye, causing partial or complete loss of vision.
Hookworms: Humans can much more easily become infected with hookworms than roundworms, due to the hookworm larvae’s ability to migrate through skin (such as bare feet or hands) into tissues. As with roundworms, the migration of hookworm larvae through human tissue can cause a serious inflammatory condition known as cutaneous larva migrans.
Tapeworms: Humans can become infected by tapeworms, but it takes some doing; just as with dogs, a human has to ingest a flea that is infected with tapeworm larvae in order to become infected himself.
Preventing these infections is relatively simple:
Periodically treat your dog for intestinal parasites. If your dog eats dog and/or cat poop, treat him for parasites regularly.
Pick up dog feces in your yard frequently. It would be ideal if you could pick up and dispose of your dog’s poop immediately after he eliminated; this would minimize the chances of any worm eggs or larvae lurking in your yard.
Wash your hands. A lot! And especially after being in any environment where lots of strange dogs have eliminated. And before eating, any time you’ve been around soil where dogs have been. Don’t ever eat food with your unwashed hands in a dog park, for example.
Avoid bare skin contact with ground where dogs eliminate. We’ve been to plenty of dog parks and off-leash areas and witnessed people (worse, small children) walking barefoot – yikes! Remember, hookworm larvae need only skin contact in order to migrate into your body.
Protect your dog from fleas. And treat him for tapeworms (and fleas) immediately if you see tapeworm segments on him or in his feces.
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?”
