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Tricks to Giving Your Dog Eye Medication

By
Denise Flaim
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As Frodo learned all too well, messing around with someone’s eye can be asking for trouble. And while administering ophthalmologic drops or ointment to your dog isn’t quite as hairy as tangling with the Red Eye of Sauron, it still can be an unpleasant experience for both of you if you are unprepared.

Eye drops and ointments are prescribed for a variety of ocular conditions in dogs, including glaucoma, corneal ulcers, and recovery from cataract surgery. Even a minor eye infection like conjunctivitis – what the kids in your grade-school days called “pink eye” – can require regular administration of drops.

But when it comes to putting anything in their eyes or those of their dogs, “people are naturally freaky about it,” says Dr. David Maggs, professor of veterinary ophthalmology at the University of California at Davis. “And it’s just difficult to aim: You’ve got a wriggly dog and a very small target.” It doesn’t help that eyes in need of medication tend to look very off-putting, to put it mildly: Even a superficial scratch of the cornea, which in many cases will resolve in a few days, can make your dog look like something out of a low-budget horror flick.

giving dog eye medicine

If you’re feeling trepidation, your dog probably isn’t looking forward to the experience, either. Most would rather be somewhere, anywhere, else rather than getting a generous splash of wetness plopped into their eye, which likely isn’t feeling so great to begin with. “Depending on the dog, they can be very sensitive, especially if they have ulcers in the eye, which are extremely painful,” says Dr. Tomas Infernuso, of Veterinary Traveling Surgical Services in Long Island, New York. “And they associate any kind of contact with pain.”

That said, there is something worse than having to deal with a dog’s resistance to getting eye medications: Having matters escalate to the point where you can’t give them at all. “I’ve seen dogs who have lost an eye because people couldn’t medicate them,” Dr. Infernuso says. And that’s really not an option.

Find a Technique That Works For You

Ask 10 veterinarians, and chances are that you’ll hear 10 different (and sometimes contradictory) recommendations on how best to give eye medications. The following are some tips to make the process a little smoother; pick the ones that work best for you and your dog.

Ask 10 veterinarians, and chances are that you’ll hear 10 different (and sometimes contradictory) recommendations on how best to give eye medications. The following are some tips to make the process a little smoother; pick the ones that work best for you and your dog.

Cornered! Dr. Brad Holmberg, a board-certified ophthalmologist at the Animal Eye Center in Little Falls, New Jersey, likes to position the dog so she can’t back away: For small dogs, that’s on a table or countertop, with the dog’s rear against you – “butt to belly,” as he puts it.

Dr. Holmberg recommends straddling large dogs (who need to stay on the floor) with your thighs and elbows, and maneuvering their backs into a corner so they have no way to escape.

“Place your left hand on their chin and angle their head up,” he explains. Rest your right hand on the dog’s forehead, with the applicator ready. Using the thumb of the left hand, which is still steadying the chin, pull up the eyebrow – not the eyelid – to expose the white of the eye, and apply the drops.

Less restraint. Dr. Infernuso, by contrast, prefers not to restrain the dog unduly. “I usually start by rubbing the dog on the head, so he knows I’m not just going for the eye,” he explains. “Then I gently massage the area around the eye,” being careful, of course, not to put any pressure on the eye itself.

Restraining a dog, he notes, usually will mean that she will resist you. “They learn that when they’re held, something’s going to happen, so it usually turns out to be more of a struggle than an easy way out, and usually you get the opposite of what you want.”

Instead, with most patients, he offers food with one hand and administers the medicine with the other. (In a variation of this, a dog rescuer recently exulted on Facebook that she had found the perfect distraction: peanut butter smeared inside a yogurt cup, then held high to induce a helpful head tilt.)

I’ll take Ointment. Dr. Infernuso prefers ointment, because it lasts longer, and administers it by using his thumb to pull down the bottom eyelid, then deposits the medication on the pink tissue, or conjunctival sac. “You don’t have to open the eye that much, and you don’t want to touch the cornea,” he says. He administers drops this way, too.

Going steady. Take a tip from the manicurist: If you’ve ever gone to a nail salon, you might have noticed that the technician stabilizes the hand she holds the nail-polish brush with by resting her pinky against the table; it gives her more control and accuracy. Use that same technique with the hand that holds the eye medication.

“Resting your hand on your dog’s head is important – you don’t want to be holding the bottle above his head,” says Dr. Jacqueline Pearce, an assistant professor of comparative ophthalmology at the University of Missouri in Columbia. “Hold the medicine bottle or tube with your thumb and forefinger, and rest your pinky on the dog’s forehead.” Use the fingers of your other hand to hold the dog’s eyelid open.

Don’t telegraph your plans. Dr. Pearce also advocates the element of surprise, bringing the bottle from behind. “Move your hand along the dog’s neck toward the back of the head,” she advises. “That’s better than if you come straight at them with the bottle.”

giving dog eye medicine

Hands Off. Administering eye medication is a tricky little dance: You have to get close enough to ensure that the liquid or ointment actually gets into the eye, but not so close as to let any portion of the applicator make contact with it. With eye drops, hold the applicator about an inch from the eye, and be conscious of where it is at all times. “I’ve seen people rupture the eye by holding it too close,” Dr. Infernuso warns, “or the dog turns his head and basically perforates the cornea.”

Though you might be tempted to squeeze ointment on to your finger before applying it, don’t: No matter how well you clean your hands, you will transmit bacteria into your dog’s eye. Again, with ointment you don’t apply it to the eye itself, but rather to the strip of pink tissue behind the eyelid. Once placed there, the ointment will dissolve and distribute itself across the eye.

Be Prepared. “Get your drops ready,” Dr. Holmberg says. “Remember to take the top off before you start.” To soften ointment so that is more viscous and easier to spread, put the tube under your armpit or in your pants pocket for five minutes. “It will be more like a gel than toothpaste,” he explains.

If you’re short on time, you can also run the ointment under warm tap water for a minute or so, Dr. Pearce adds. She notes that eye drops rarely have to be refrigerated, but if yours do – or if they have been in a cold car or storage area for any length of time – leave them out for ten minutes so they warm to room temperature. Overly cold liquid is uncomfortable for your dog.

Help wanted. If at all possible, have a capable helper on hand. One person can help support the head and body to keep the dog still, while the other person focuses on holding and administering the medication.

Accentuate the positive. “One thing that’s really helpful is to reward the dog after he gets eye drops, so he associates it with something positive,” says Dr. Pearce of the University of Michigan. “I’ve had clients who say their dogs remind them it’s time for their drops.”

Tough Customer?

Oh, to have a pliant and pleasant Lassie who lifts her comely head to you in trust and deference as you administer those all-important drops. But the reality is that some dogs are simply not willing to follow a script when it comes to medical procedures, and if you want to get the job done, some vets offer more compulsory methods to consider. This may go against your personal philosophy in handling your dog, but, as always, measure it against the potential repercussions of not being able to medicate at all.

Several veterinarians suggest giving the antihistamine Benadryl, which can have a subtle settling effect, about a half-hour before applying the eye medication. (The recommended dose is 1 milligram per pound of body weight.) Dr. Infernuso notes that because many eye conditions are painful, it can be appropriate to have the dog on some pain medication to manage that discomfort to begin with.

“Sometimes, a soft muzzle will preoccupy a dog” long enough for an owner to administer the medication, Dr. Pearce notes. And sometimes that kind of mouth restraint is required with dogs who may be unhappy or panicked enough to attempt to bite when the bottle draws near.

Dr. Holmberg notes that wrapping a small dog in a towel is sometimes very calming, though this may have more to do with the dog being immobilized rather than any more relaxed emotional state. Following this train of thought, consider using a pressure wrap such as an Anxiety Wrap or ThunderShirt. Tight-fitting garments made of elastic fabric that distributes pressure across the body, these wraps can decrease anxiety for some dogs, though of course they will do nothing to physically restrain them.

Dr. Maggs of UC Davis suggests putting the dog “in an area where he is not emotionally sure of himself – where he tends to freeze and be still.” For large dogs, he suggests an elevated area such as a table – provided you have enough help and control to keep the dog there during the process – or a bathtub; for smaller dogs, a sink often does the trick.

In the interest of “getting the job done,” using compulsion can seem like the most logical and expedient choice. But remember that once a dog is “wise” to your tricks, things can escalate, and you are put in the position of using even harsher measures to get the same effect. In the interest of preserving and building the bond you have between you, keep your interactions as positive and rewarding as possible. The results might not be as immediate, but they will very likely be longer-lasting.

Strike that Balance

It should go without saying, but let’s say it anyway: Be gentle. In particular, don’t put too much pressure around eye and be mindful of hurting your dog if he is so unruly that he’s bucking like a bronco. At the same time, don’t be so tepid or unsure that you communicate this to your dog. Remind yourself that this is a simple medical procedure that even the greenest layperson can do with the proper technique. And you’ve just learned it.

The problem with eye medication is most dogs don’t have a chance to be introduced to it in a gradual, positive manner: Instead, the need for it is often instantaneous and unexpected, and owners simply don’t have the time to build up a positive association, the way they would with other potentially invasive procedures such as nail trimming or bathing.

giving dog eye medicine

But if your dog develops a condition that requires long-term daily administration of ophthalmologic drops or ointments, it may be worth it to you to you to take the time to condition your dog to love the eye-drop bottle or tube. Veterinarian, trainer, and author Dr. Sophia Yin recommends systematically pairing the bottle and progressively intense handling with food rewards over the course of a couple of weeks.
To start, use an empty drop bottle smeared with canned cheese or peanut butter, and “let the dog lick the treat off,”

Dr. Yin advises. “It’s best to spread it flat and thin so the dog has to lick repeatedly instead of sucking up the entire treat with one quick roll of the tongue.”

Once your dog is consistently happy to see the bottle, Dr. Yin recommends starting to pair food with touching the dog’s face, systematically and gradually approximating how you will touch it in order to give the drops, such as parting the eyelids. Once she accepts that, you reintroduce the treat-smeared bottle, allowing her to lick the food off the bottle as you mimic the steps of administering the medicine, eventually quickly moving the bottle into position above the eye before returning it to a place where she can continue noshing.

“Keep switching back and forth, systematically increasing the length of time that you hold the bottle above her eye,” Dr. Yin explains. “When you’re consistently able to hold the bottle above her head for three to five seconds, you’re ready to administer drops. Switch the fake practice bottle out and replace it with the real bottle of medications. Administer the drops, and then hurry and follow with treats.”

Denise Flaim of Revodana Ridgebacks in Long Island, New York, shares her home with three Ridgebacks, 10-year-old triplets, and a very patient husband.

Tips on Adopting a Senior Dog

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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Adopting a senior dog can be challenging, but it can also be rewarding.

[Updated August 24, 2018]

When my husband asked me to come to the shelter where he worked to meet the 8-year-old Australian Shepherd he had fallen in love with and wanted to adopt, of course I said yes. When Paul first met Missy, she threw herself on her back at his feet, and he was hooked. When I saw her striking red merle coat, her stunning “odd eyes” (one brown, one blue) and her delightful personality, I was smitten, too, and didn’t need any arm-twisting from my husband to agree to add this beautiful girl to our family. She slipped into her place in our home with barely a ripple, just as did Mandy, an 8-year-old tri-color Rough Collie and my first senior adoption, some 30 years prior.

shelter dog

If you are embarking on a senior adoption adventure, you’re likely to have many questions about your new old dog. What should you expect? How active will he be? How much management will he require? Should you plan to do any training with him? Will he need any training? If so, how much, what kind, and when? We asked several different trainers to share their wisdom on senior-dog adoptions.

Realistic Expectations 

While adult-dog adoptions often go as smoothly as Mandy’s and Missy’s, they don’t always. There can be immense benefits inherent in adopting a dog who may already be housetrained and well beyond the puppy chewing and adolescent stages. However, because senior-dog adoptions aren’t always trouble-free, it’s safest to make no assumptions about your new adult canine family member.

Cindy Mauro, CPDT-KA, of Cindy Mauro Dog Training in West Milford, New Jersey, is very familiar with the rewards and challenges of older-dog adoptions.

“I have adopted many senior dogs. The last two were 13-plus years, and I’m expecting a senior girl to come to me in a couple weeks from a puppy-mill rescue,” she says.

“I keep in mind that training may require changing old habits, which requires patience. I never assume that the older dog is already trained, so instead of setting myself up for disappointment, I start off as I would any new dog – with a plan in place for training and management as soon as she comes in the door. I am pleasantly surprised and pleased any time things go easier than I thought they would.”

Absent solid information to the contrary, behave as though your new dog is not housetrained. He may have belonged to someone who forced him to soil indoors so he thinks carpeting is the appropriate substrate on which to eliminate, or maybe he spent the first eight years of his life with only shoes and sofa cushions for chew toys. Or, although he may be physically capable of “holding it” because he’s a mature adult, he’s lived outdoors all his life and never learned rules for indoor living.

Plan on implementing a senior-dog training and management plan that will set him up for success, by using an “every hour on the hour” puppy housetraining protocol. Also, practice diligent puppy-proofing – putting everything away that your new dog might view as a potential chew object. With a little luck he will quickly show you that your precautions are unnecessary and you can relax your standards. If, however, your precautions are justified, you will have set him up to succeed by not allowing him to be reinforced even one time for unwanted behaviors in his new environment. This will help him to learn new rules and appropriate new behaviors much more quickly.

My standard practice of keeping small Tupperware containers of treats in every room will serve you well with your senior adoptee, as will a never-ending supply of cookies in your pockets. You don’t want to miss a single opportunity to reinforce him for doing the right thing as the two of you create your relationship.

There’s No Hurry

This sort of proactive management will help you and your new dog get off on the right foot, but when it comes to actual training, it’s wise to take it slow with your senior adoptee, unless he makes it clear he’s ready for a fast track. Christine Danker, CPDT-KA, KPA-CTP, PMCT3, of Hemlock Hollow Dog Training in Albany, New York, offers these useful tips:

Give the older dog a quiet place to settle in for a few days. This should be located somewhere that enables her to see and/or hear everything going on in the house, or to retreat without disturbances if she prefers.

Pat Miller and senior dogs

Plan on being home, or at least reduce your regular schedule considerably, so you can observe the new senior. Will she be afraid to be left in a room behind a baby gate? Will she be comfortable in a crate? Is she housetrained? Does she have hearing loss or mobility issues?

Slowly integrate the new senior into a house with other dogs. Was the new dog living alone? With other dogs? An active younger dog could be too rambunctious for a senior, but if their sizes are similar, the senior may really enjoy interacting with another dog.

Remember, a mature dog who lived for many years in one home can take longer to adjust to the sudden changes in his life than a younger dog might.

“Be mindful that a senior dog may have formed a strong bond with his former family,” says Dawn Kalinowksi, CPDT-KA, of Poised Pups, LLC, in Norfolk, Virginia. “Realize that he may even be mourning the loss of his beloved humans and the familiarity of his previous home. Don’t overwhelm him. It’s important to go slow and allow him time to bond with his new family and settle into this new environment.”

Susan Sarubin, PMCT-2, CPDT-KA, of Pawsitive Fit LLC, in Easton, Maryland, is in total agreement.

“Dogs who are re-homed later in life may need a more extended period of adjustment to a new home, given their longer history of behavior in their old home. Many older dogs come with additional fears and anxieties that extend beyond just normal adjusting to a new environment or new humans. For those dogs, the best way of dealing with this may be to just give the dog space, allowing him to choose where he wants to be, and when he wants to be with you and your family.

“Sometimes I think we’re in too much of a rush to teach older adopted dogs the behaviors we ultimately want them to learn to successfully assimilate into the family. Unless behavior is truly problematic and needs immediate attention, allow time for the dog to view you as predictable, safe, and the source of wonderful things (petting, treats, toys, walks, etc.). Teaching new behaviors will be easier to train once your new dog is less stressed and trusts you. Be patient, capture the behaviors you like, and forgo dedicated training sessions until your dog is happily interacting with you and appears calm and relaxed in his new home.”

Getting Along With Others

If you already have other four-legged family members, helping your new old dog adjust to his new home includes careful introductions and a management plan that protects your senior adoptee from the unwanted attentions of younger, more active dogs.
Here are some recommendations from Sharon Messersmith, owner of Canine Valley Training in Reading, Pennsylvania, who says, “If you are adding a senior dog into your household with younger dogs, specific training with all dogs will help with the transition.”

Christine Danker dog trainer

Teach all dogs to wait at steps to allow your older dog to go first, or vice versa.
Give each dog her own space and teach all your dogs to respect each others’ spaces.
An older dog might not be able to tolerate constant play all day. Give her a crate or room that is just for her when she needs some alone time.

Be Considerate of Physical Needs

Finally, keep in mind that your senior adoptee may have mobility issues that impact his daily routine in your home. Past injuries or simply age-related arthritis may dictate that you assist him with getting into vehicles, going upstairs, or even navigating the small raised threshold of a doorway. While Missy was able to climb our stairs to the second-floor bedroom for most of her time with us, for the last year of her life I routinely assisted her. In her final few weeks she slept downstairs, as it became too much of an ordeal to ask her to climb. Make sure water bowls and beds are easily accessible for your mobility-challenged new old dog, and consider installing ramps where possible to make life easier for the oldster.

Training an Old Dog

You may or may not need or want to (or have to) invest much energy into training your new old dog. Your own preference as well as your individual dog’s personality and abilities can guide you here. If you win the adoption lottery and your new family member is already housetrained and has decent manners (like Missy and Mandy), you can slide on the training.

You may also discover that your adoptee has some mobility issues that limit his physical capabilities. When I first met her, I noticed that Missy had a slight limp. When we had radiographs taken we found that her right hind leg was an inch shorter than her left due to a prior broken leg injury that hadn’t been properly treated. If we had ambitious goals for her, this might have been disappointing. As it was, since we only wanted her to be a happy farm dog, it wasn’t devastating – it only meant that we needed to watch for arthritis as she aged and alleviate her pain as needed.

Most trainers recommend taking a slow training approach with senior adoptees – slower than you might with a younger dog. Peaceable Paws trainer Laura Nalven, PMCT, shares an experience she had with a recent client:

“I’m reminded of someone in my classes who adopted a senior dog (probably 10 years old or so) just a week or so before class,” she relates. “She wanted to start training immediately because she remembered how much fun her previous (and much younger) dog had and how much it helped them bond.

old collie dog

“The old boy couldn’t see anything more than about eight inches from his face if it wasn’t moving, and his owner hadn’t realized this limitation in the short time they’d been together. Hearing or vision problems, coupled with general achiness, can make group classes full of bouncy adolescents an overwhelming experience. The class environment just stressed this dog out, and his owner felt like she wasn’t doing enough to bond with him.

“I’d suggest that you allow older dogs a longer period to adjust to their new home than you might a younger dog. If they’re peppy and eager to do training games, go for it. But if they’re laid back and just want to sit in the sun all day, let them.”

Clean Slate? Or Highly Experienced? 

Nan Marks of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a Peaceable Paws Academy graduate who trains at Capital Dog Training Club in Silver Spring. She is also a veteran adopter of mature dogs. She shares her thoughts about training:

“This topic is near and dear to my heart. In recent years I have adopted a Rough Collie, Robbie, at age 8; a large bronze (Golden/Chow/Newfoundland?) mix, Bruce, at age 10; and most recently another 8-year-old Rough Collie, Lucy.

“All three were basically outdoor dogs; two of the three had been tied out their entire lives. These dogs have taught me two primary things: first, never assume that they won’t learn and enjoy learning just because they are older; and second, let their behavior, not their age, tell you what they are willing to try. All three became delightful companions, trained and active therapy dogs, two of the three learned some agility, and one competed and titled in obedience and canine freestyle.”

On one hand, your senior dog may come to you will little or no training, as did Marks’ dogs, described above. On the other, he may have had some training with the less-than-positive methods that are still all too common in the real world.

Peaceable Paws Academy graduate Jackie Moyano trains at WOOFS! in Arlington, Virginia, and Coventry School for Dogs in Columbia, Maryland, and also volunteers at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, where she enjoys matching prospective adopters with appropriate senior dogs. She suggests having fun with your dog while introducing him to a new training relationship with humans based on mutual trust.

“While your mature dog may come to you knowing ‘sit’, ‘down,’ and ‘stay,’ you may not know the training methods used to teach these cues,” says Moyano. “Why not take a positive-reinforcement tricks class? Not only could this provide mental stimulation for your mature dog, it could accelerate your bonding!”

It Depends

So, the best answer to any question about a “new old dog” is . . . “It depends.” He may come to you already trained, or you may need to do a lot of management while you find out who he is and how you can best meet his needs. You may be able to jump right into a training program, or he may need time to settle in and take training at a slower pace. In any case, be prepared to fall every bit as deeply in love with your senior adoptee as you have with previous puppies and younger dogs who have been part of your family.

Just last year we said sad goodbyes to our beloved Missy when, at age 14, her injury-related arthritis finally dictated that we let her go. Although we were her humans for only six of her 14 years, it was as painful a loss as any we’ve experienced. When you adopt a new old dog, since you don’t have as much time to look forward to, you learn to treasure the years you do have with them.

Senior Successes

There is an endless supply of “new old dog” happy-ending stories like Missy’s and Mandy’s. Twelve-year-old Scooter is a beloved member of our family. We adopted the little Pomeranian five years ago when he was on the euthanasia list at our shelter after he failed his assessment due to his resource guarding (easily managed in our child-free home).

Rhodesian ridgebacks

Trainer Susan Sarubin tells of her most recent adoption:

“The transformation in my 7 1/2-year-old adopted Rhodesian Ridgeback, Andy, has been quite remarkable since we adopted him over a year ago. There have been many ‘firsts’ in his behavior that have brought me tears of joy. Until recently, I spent little time with him that was dedicated to training – he experienced only the training that goes on with normal daily interaction, with rewards for desirable behavior. He has blossomed into the dog that he was never allowed to be in his previous life. We accomplished that in large part by letting him to come to it on his own. We have done 16 months of informal shaping, really. Now he learns behaviors on cue quickly – and most important, he’s a happy boy.”
Sometimes people worry that they won’t be able to bond with an older dog when they’ve missed out on the puppy and young-dog sharing experiences.

Trainer Nan Marks puts those fears to rest with these beautiful words:

“I remember early on fearing I would not love these older guys as much. Boy, was I wrong! For the most part I’ve found them easier to bond with quickly because they are more fully who they are already and not surfing the waves of puppyhood and adolescence.

“I also remember fearing that having only a short span to share with them would be too painful. I can only say that for the two who have now moved on, they were with me for three and four years, respectively, and those wonderful, loving years felt gloriously long to me in all the things that make having dogs meaningful.”

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. She has a terrific brand-new book, How to Foster Dogs: From Homeless to Homeward Bound.

Dog Food Logic – Make Smart Decisions on What You Feed Your Dog

By
Linda P. Case, MS
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Two years ago, my friend Pam’s six-year-old Akita, Bruino, was diagnosed with bone cancer. Bruino had had his share of health issues during his short life; he was born to a rescued and severely malnourished and neglected mother, he developed several skeletal disorders before he was a year old, and he later required surgery to repair the cruciate ligament in his left knee. Still, throughout all of this, Bruino remained an easygoing and friendly fellow, getting along well with people and dogs and never quite seeming to realize that he greatly outweighed his owner and the majority of his canine friends.

When Bruino started to limp during a walk one day, Pam assumed that either the surgical repair to his knee had failed or that he was developing arthritis in that knee. Unfortunately, x-rays revealed the problem to be something much worse: a bone tumor located in his femur.

Dog Food Logic by Linda P. Case

We are fortunate that we live in a university town with a veterinary college and an excellent cancer-care clinic. Bruino was examined the next day by a team of board-certified veterinary oncologists. Information was presented to Pam about the disease, its prognosis, and several options for Bruino’s care.

Although amputation is frequently the treatment of choice with osteo-sarcoma, Bruino’s large size coupled with his mobility problems made him a poor candidate for this option. After consulting with the veterinary oncologists, the orthopedist who had performed Bruino’s knee surgery, her own veterinarian, and her training friends, Pam opted to provide Bruino with several palliative rounds of chemotherapy and also to enroll him in a clinical research trial that was testing the effects of a bone-salvaging drug for dogs with osteosarcoma. Pam and I also discussed Bruino’s diet, and she made some changes that were designed to support his body condition, reduce inflammation, and possibly slow tumor growth.

Bruino responded well to treatment. His pain and swelling were reduced, and his quality of life continued to be very good.

During this time, Pam was in contact via email with a number of dog folks whom she knew from being involved with Akita rescue. One acquaintance – we will call her “Jane” – took it upon herself to inform Pam via email that feeding Bruino a commercial diet during his young life had almost certainly led to his cancer. Further, this woman proclaimed, if Pam would just start to feed Bruino the homemade diet that she recommended, plus a concoction of nutritional supplements that she would provide, this would slow progression and could even cure his cancer.

Like most of us, Pam would do anything possible to help her beloved dog. She considered changing Bruino’s food and purchasing the packets of supplements. Pam trusted that this person was sincere in her claims. This was a known dog enthusiast who clearly believed in her own words and in the results that her prescribed diet and supplements could bring. (I would add that I like to think she never intended to be the source of the emotional pain that her words caused to Pam.)

After more thought, and more discussion with me and with Bruino’s team of veterinarians, Pam decided to stay with her planned course and declined to use the diet that Jane promoted. During our last discussion about this, Pam commented, “Well, if her diet works so well, wouldn’t there be studies showing that it worked, and wouldn’t more people be using it?”

Yes, indeed, that is certainly the right question to ask.

Mistakes Were Made…But Not Intentionally 

The woman foisting unsolicited food advice upon Pam was probably sincere (though arguably insensitive). She believed that feeding her homemade dog food and providing a nutrient supplement could prevent cancer from developing in healthy dogs and cure disease in diagnosed dogs. Most readers will agree that this is a pretty extravagant claim. Yet, she insisted with conviction, and Pam, in a state of emotional turmoil, considered giving it a try.

We all hear and read such claims in the popular press, on the Internet, or when talking to Joe next door (who happens to know a lot about dogs). Why is it that we, as supposedly the most intelligent species on the planet, are so susceptible to believing such claims and often make decisions in response to assertions that are accompanied by little or no supporting evidence? Why do we sometimes make a choice that seems to be a good idea (i.e., it feels right) but in reality has no actual evidence supporting its benefit or superiority?

In Chapter 1, I discussed how our emotions – important and essential as they are – not only influence our behavior but also frequently do so without our conscious awareness.
Additionally, our brains efficiently process information using a set of mental shortcuts called heuristics that enable us to rapidly observe a scene, extract meaning from it, and react in what is (usually) an appropriate manner. And, as with the emotional input, all of this mental work takes place beneath the surface of our consciousness. It is only the result of processing the incoming information (the action or reaction) that we are consciously aware of. It does not feel this way because we are also masters at “back-reasoning.” If asked why we made a particular decision or choice, we can immediately explain why.

However, at the time that the choice is made, functional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that the processing is much too rapid to have allowed us to work through the series of logical steps to reach the choice – at least not consciously. Again, the benefits of this subconscious system are its processing speed and efficiency.

But with every benefit there is a cost. The price that we pay for rapid-fire analysis is that our brains miss details – details that may be essential in certain situations for reliable decision-making. And, just as with emotionally influenced choices, we are unaware of these missed details. Before reaching the conscious level of “Act now, do this!” our brains fill in a set of details for us, using our unique set of beliefs, experiences, and expectations.

For most processing and decision-making, this system works well because past patterns often accurately predict current patterns. However, the system is also biased by our opinions and beliefs, and so can make mistakes. As a set, these mistakes are referred to as cognitive biases, predictable patterns of thought and behavior that lead us to draw incorrect conclusions. Similar errors called logical fallacies refer to faulty arguments that lead to errors in logic – again, without our awareness – usually because we are highly invested in supporting a particular answer or solution.

Happily for us, psychologists, neuroscientists, and behaviorists have been studying these biases and fallacies for many years. Although we cannot completely prevent them (that subconscious mind thing again), we can be aware of the existence of these traps and their potential to lead us astray when making choices. Just as many of us are talented dog trainers, we can also become effective “mind trainers,” teaching ourselves to avoid or correct for these traps when making decisions for our dogs’ health (and for other important things in life).

Cognitive Bias & Logical Fallacies

The following are some specific types of cognitive biases and logical fallacies that may unduly influence us as we try to select foods, choose the best feeding approach, and make decisions for our dog’s nutritional well-being (each of these are discussed in more detail in the book):

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and remember information that matches what we already believe, and to ignore or discount information that is not in agreement with our preformed views. As just one example, confirmation bias is at work when we become convinced that a dog’s itchy skin is caused by the chicken meal in her diet and then attend to only those signs that confirm this belief (itchy skin, commercial food containing chicken meal) and ignore signs that her problem skin may have other causes (seasonal allergies, parasites, flea allergy dermatitis).

Post-hoc fallacy, formally called post hoc, ergo propter hoc, translates to “after this, therefore because of this.” This common logical fallacy is the cause of many superstitions and false beliefs. We commit a post-hoc error whenever we assume that because two events occur together, with one following the other in time, that the first event caused the second event.

We are especially prone to these in nutrition precisely because we can easily change the food that we feed and because we tend to change foods only when our dogs experience a problem. If the dog’s condition improves after changing her food (and the timeframe encompassed by “after” may be days, weeks, or even months), then the improvement is immediately attributed to the change. However, if no positive change is observed, diet is still not eliminated as a cause. Rather the change may not have been the right diet. The owner moves on to another food, another supplement, and another dietary approach. (Because of confirmation bias the misses are also often not noticed, while the hits are celebrated.)

Illusion of control: Because as owners we actually are in complete control of what our dogs eat and when they eat it, the jump to assuming (hoping) that we can control our dogs’ health entirely by what we feed to them is pervasive. Proponents of nutritional trends that make extravagant claims exploit our deeply ingrained desire to be able to control health changes in our pets through what we choose to feed them. It is no wonder that we fall for these claims, given our strong desire to help our dogs and the natural tendency of our brains to convince us that we have a universal ability to do so.

The availability error is rooted in our natural tendency to attach greater significance to events that are easily brought to mind or remembered (i.e., are “available”). Like most cognitive biases, the availability error has its roots in a heuristic that our brains use for speed and efficiency when evaluating incoming information. It can lead to errors in judgment when we would be better served to take our time and evaluate information more objectively.

Examples of the availability error include the belief that shark attacks, child abductions, and plane crashes are far more common (and present much greater risk to individuals) than they actually are. An unfortunate but common example occurs when people believe that all Pit Bull Terriers are dangerous because of sensationalized media coverage of dog bites that focuses repeatedly only on this particular breed or breed type.

Negativity bias refers to the psychological phenomenon in which we naturally pay more attention to and give more weight to negative rather than positive experiences. It is this unconscious bias that causes people to be more hurt or discouraged by insults or poor work performance reviews than they are pleased or encouraged by compliments or shining performance reviews.

The negativity bias can affect the attention that we pay to our dog’s health and wellness. We tend to wait until we see a change in weight, the development of itchy skin, or the onset of a serious health problem before we react. In human medicine (and increasingly in veterinary medicine), efforts to train ourselves to focus on wellness and disease prevention as opposed to disease treatment are a reflection of recognizing and trying to combat negativity bias.

Jane’s Claims

These are just a few of the ways in which our mind’s tendency to think rapidly and use shortcuts to form opinions and rules of thumb to make decisions can lead us to make errors in judgment. Let’s return for a moment to Jane’s insistence that her diet and supplement would cure Bruino’s cancer.

Upon further investigation, Pam discovered that one of Jane’s dogs had died of cancer several years previously and that Jane had changed the dog’s diet several months prior to the diagnosis. This led Jane to believe that “diet causes cancer,” examples of both post hoc and availability errors. Because she spent many hours and a great deal of effort in the development of her nutritional supplement, Jane understandably was highly invested in believing in the efficacy of her approach. Therefore, these feelings could lead her to pay more attention to dogs who responded positively (or did not suffer from it) and to ignore cases in which the dog’s condition worsened (confirmation bias).

An additional post hoc fallacy was committed when she assumed that a dog’s change in status was due specifically to her remedy because the change in condition followed feeding the remedy chronologically (regardless of how long that time period was and ignoring the effects of other treatments that a dog may have been receiving).

The fact that Jane’s remedy (and her beliefs about it) had not been shown to be effective through controlled scientific study does not discount the fact that her remedy might be helpful or effective. The point is that we just don’t know. The claims that Jane made for her nutritional approach had never been tested and the risks of succumbing to a variety of potential biases make her claims at the very least unfounded, and at the most highly suspect.

Why Dog People Need Science

So, what is a dog person to do? Are our minds, while highly efficient at processing loads of information and helping us to react quickly to changing circumstances, at the same time sabotaging our attempts to weigh evidence and make well-reasoned decisions? Well . . . yes. But when it comes to our dog’s nutritional health and well being (as well as to many other important decisions in our lives), we can use science as a rational and reliable tool to help us to avoid these traps, evaluate information objectively, and choose well.

At its most basic, science refers to a systematic approach to acquiring knowledge. The system of science uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain the natural world. And – this is important – science is specifically and intentionally designed to prevent the biases and cognitive traps that come along with being human, traps that will almost always trip us up in one way or another if we simply go about willy-nilly making decisions in response only to how we feel and without any type of system or plan.

One of the best things about science is that, by definition, it is testable. Science is designed to evaluate the validity of the stuff that you think/ponder/learn to make sure that your beliefs actually reflect reality as opposed to being flawed, misleading, or an outright falsehood.

In most disciplines, including nutrition, science is put into practice through use of the scientific method. Most of us learned the steps to this method in high school, and some of us have had the opportunity to put it into practice later in college and in our careers. There are four primary steps to the scientific method:

1. The investigator notices a natural phenomenon or a problem and takes the time to observe it closely, trying to learn as much as possible about it.

2. The investigator considers one or more possible explanations or causes for the phenomenon and typically selects a favorite for testing: her hypothesis. Now the fun begins.

3. This is the essence of the scientific method. A study is designed, data are collected and analyzed, and conclusions are drawn. The results of the first study may suggest a second, and understanding grows.

4. Following study replication (preferably by unrelated groups of researchers), the hypothesis is either rejected as false (and you start all over again), accepted, or judgment is withheld pending still more study.

A key difference between the scientific method and other ways in which we learn about the world is that it is designed to protect us from inherent biases and mistakes in reasoning. In Chapter 3, we will see how the use of well-designed studies can support or refute claims that are made about a particular pet food, ingredient, nutrient, or feeding method. For now, let’s return one more time to the issue of diet and cancer in dogs.

The Scientific Method in Practice

The scientific method provides a systematic approach to testing ideas about “how things work” that protects those doing the work (and those who stand to benefit from it) from making errors in judgment. Jane promoted a feeding approach and nutritional supplement that she was convinced would slow the progression of Bruino’s cancer. Her convictions, while sincere, were based not upon scientific evidence but upon personal experience. As we have seen, personal experience can lead to flawed conclusions. Yet, as I mentioned, we did change Bruino’s diet.

The food that Pam chose for Bruino included an increase in fat and reduced levels of digestible carbohydrate (starch). Protein was moderately increased. The type of fat was also modified to include a high proportion of a class of fatty acids called the omega-3 fatty acids. These are commonly found in certain types of fish. When included in the diet in proper amounts, omega-3 fatty acids have varying degrees of anti-inflammatory benefits to different tissues in the body. The reasons for these changes have to do with changes in the way that animals with cancer are able to use energy-containing nutrients from their diet (fat, carbohydrate, and protein) and also how being affected by cancer influences body weight, body condition, and an animal’s interest in eating.

Most animals, including humans, experience certain changes in metabolism (the way in which the body digests and uses nutrients) during cancer. These changes become most pronounced during the later stages of cancer and can also be influenced by cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.

It is known that most tumor cells preferentially use carbohydrate as an energy (fuel) source and use fat and protein far less efficiently. Therefore, feeding an animal who has cancer a diet that shifts its energy balance away from carbohydrate and toward fat is designed to feed the patient while starving the tumor. Because tumors grow fastest when using carbohydrate for energy, depriving them of this form of energy may slow their growth and slow the progression of the cancer.

An additional benefit to increasing dietary fat is that fat improves a food’s energy density and appeal to dogs, which will both encourage a dog to eat and will help to maintain body weight during treatment. Increasing omega-3 fatty acids in the diet has anti-inflammatory benefits in the body and may also help to limit tumor growth. Finally, many dogs with cancer lose weight and specifically show a loss of muscle mass and strength. Increasing protein helps to conserve the body’s lean tissue and reduce this decline in body condition.

These recommendations arise from our understanding of both canine cancer and nutritional science. Still, an approach to feeding dogs with cancer that uses this nutrient matrix must be tested (scientific method, remember) if we are to accept that a diet switch could help Bruino. Is there scientific evidence?

Indeed there is. Although there are not mountains of it, there is enough to suggest that these dietary modifications may be beneficial for dogs with cancer. (Editor’s note: the published research is referenced and described in the book.) These studies provide the science that was needed to make a decision for Bruino’s wellness and quality of life during cancer treatment.

Happily, Bruino’s new diet at the very least supported his body condition and muscle mass during his treatments. Bruino experienced a high quality of life for almost a year following diagnosis. While we cannot know if the dietary intervention slowed his cancer progression as an individual case, we do know that a dietary matrix that includes increased fat and protein, reduced carbohydrate, and increased omega-3 fatty acids has the potential to do so. And, because the food that he was fed was formulated to be nutritionally complete and had been tested, we also know that we did not harm him by feeding it.

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 Canine and Feline Nutrition, as well as three other books and numerous publications on nutrition for dogs and cats. Her blog can be read at thesciencedog.wordpress.com.

Editor’s Note: Dog Food Logic examines the types of available scientific (and not so scientific) evidence about canine nutrition that you can use to make evidence-based decisions for your dogs’ health and wellness. Further chapters include information about dogs’ nutritional requirements, how a dog’s age and activity level should affect your choice for his diet; how the pet food market and the companies that make up that market are changing; pet food marketing; label claims and how to analyze them; and pet food oversight and regulation.

Barking at FedEx and UPS (But Not the Postal Delivery)

By
Nancy Kerns
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4

It never fails: I’m concentrating, reading or writing at my computer. Otto is snoozing on the floor or loveseat behind me. Time flows. The outside world fades from my consciousness. And then, from right behind me, “WOW WOW WOW WOOF!” As I pull myself off the ceiling, I realize that once again, and from a dead sleep, Otto heard a FedEx or UPS truck round the corner several doors down from my house. He just has to announce its imminent passage by our door – or, even more outrageous, its stopping in front of our house, and the entry through the front gate, of that guy, the one who leaves packages on the porch.

Why oh why do dogs get so riled up about delivery trucks? And why can’t Otto make the connection between the arrival of so many tasty treats and toys for him to try, and the nice people who deliver them? My only theory is that he does it because it works; the trucks leave very quickly when he barks. Of course, the trucks also leave very quickly when he doesn’t bark, so maybe that’s a bad theory. It must be the unpredictable entry of the stranger through the gate and THUMP of packages on the porch. Especially because he doesn’t bark at the garbage truck, the water meter readers (they don’t come in the gate, the meter is out under the sidewalk), or the local buses that pass by every hour or so and sound a lot like the delivery trucks (to me).

Otto used to wait for and bark at the postal delivery people, too, but since the folks who have our route started carrying dog treats, now they get the benefit of Otto’s doubt. He wags his tail and whines, instead, when he hears the sound of the mail cart being pushed down the sidewalk. When the postal workers leave packages on the porch, they almost always detour off the porch and give Otto a cookie through the chain-link gate at the side of the house. They have to go out of their way to do it, yet they almost always do. And that once-in-a-while cookie has made all the difference.

If I’m paying attention to the sounds of the outside world, and by some luck, I hear the truck before he does, I can say, “Otto!” to get his attention, and reach (or get up to go find) a treat. This completely forestalls the sudden loud WOOF!, although he still will look toward the door and make a soft growling noise in his throat as he crunches his cookie. The problem is, I’m usually not paying attention to the sounds of the outside world. During FedEx and UPS delivery hours, I’m usually working and deep in thought, completely vulnerable to the sudden WOOF! He’s a big dog, and has a BIG, deep voice, and I swear it’s shortening my life.

What sets off your dog’s alarms? And what have you done about it?

Webinar About Canine Allergies April 22

By
Nancy Kerns
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1

It’s amazing to me that even people who have fairly serious allergies themselves often fail to see the similarities between their own condition and their dog’s allergies. Many people are quite experienced at avoiding the substances to which they are allergic – but don’t realize that it would help their dog considerably if they would invest some time in trying to identify the substances to which their dog is allergic and limiting the dog’s exposure to that allergen.

I’m not judging, believe me. I had an allergy-ridden dog for years before I ever suffered an allergic reaction myself; that’s my excuse for subjecting poor Rupert to dose after dose of steroids to quell his itching (and antibiotics for secondary skin infections caused by relentless scratching and chewing). This was long before I learned that it would be far easier – and healthier for Rupe! – to manage his environment in such a way as to prevent the allergic reaction that caused the itching in the first place.

Through my work at Whole Dog Journal, I’ve learned a lot about canine allergies and how to prevent and/or manage them. I know the most common allergens in dogs (flea bites, and environmental allergies such as pollen and dust mites), and the difference between a food allergy and food intolerance. And today, though the dog I currently share my home with has seasonal allergies, he has never had a hot spot, ear or skin infection, or steroid.

On April 22, at 7 pm EDT, I’ll be presenting a 60-minute webinar about canine allergies to interested Whole Dog Journal readers. I’ll be discussing:

* Five things any owner can do to help an allergic dog, no matter what the allergy.

* The three most common types of canine allergies, and why they get worse as the dog ages.

* How to distinguish a food allergy from a food intolerance.

* 12 ways to reduce your dog’s exposure to fleas, dust, and environmental allergens.

* The importance of observing where on your dog’s body he scratches, licks, or chews the most when he’s suffering from allergies.

* The risks and benefits of corticosteroids.

After my presentation, I’ll answer questions online about your dog’s allergies. Won’t you log onto your computer and join me during this free event?

Register now! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3942722610551744257

Addison’s Disease tip #1

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

Addison’s disease, called “The Great Pretender,” is often misdiagnosed because it resembles so many other illnesses. Patients with Addison’s are often erroneously diagnosed as having gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), infections, parasites, cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, or poisoning. Acute renal failure, liver disease, urinary blockage, pancreatitis, insulinoma, hyperparathyroidism, and protein-losig enteropathy are other common misdiagnoses.

The most dramatic Addison’s symptom is the endocrine emergency called Addisonian crisis. This occurs when the dog goes into shock due to circulatory collapse, and it can happen so quickly that a healthy looking dog is suddenly, within a few hours, close to death.

For many dog owners, the crisis is their first sign that something is wrong. About 30-35 percent of dogs with Addison’s are initially diagnosed during a crisis.

For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of Addison’s disease, purchase and download Whole Dog Journal’s ebook, Addison’s Disease.

Shedding season is upon us

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

You know it’s spring when you start looking for your tape rollers, or your face lights up when you see them at the pet supply store register. When you start coordinating your work wardrobe with your dog’s coat. When it seems like you vacuum or sweep up enough hair to make at least a small dog every day.

I told a friend recently that we should switch cars: she has beige upholstery in her car, but two dark-colored dogs; I have buff-colored dogs and dark upholstery. I had my car before the dogs, but darn it, at some point in life I’m going to coordinate these things.

I have both types of shedding dogs in my family: the kind whose hair comes off every time you touch him, and the one who never seems to be shedding but whose hair is everywhere anyway.

Otto’s hair plugs up the Furminator with every pass, floats off of him as he walks around, and concentrates in your hand at the end of every stroke of petting. When he wakes up in the morning, walks into the kitchen and stretches and then shakes in that morning sunbeam, I just about have a nervous breakdown seeing the loose hair float and fly about. Why can’t he wait until he’s gone 10 more steps and shake outside? I am using the Furminator on him every day, but the job of getting rid of that layered winter coat just seems endless.

I can’t use the Furminator or any other brush on Tito the Chihuahua. Because instant hysteria. He defends himself thoroughly against any potential harm or discomfort. Fortunately, he loves being massaged, so I can still use my fingers to scrub and loosen his hair, and then sort of wipe it off, but it’s not nearly as effective as using a brush.

Dyson came out with a dog brush attachment for its terrific Animal line of vacuums, but even when paired with high-value treats, my dogs hated being brush/vacuumed. At least now they leave the room when I vacuum, instead of being underfoot. Did anyone’s dogs not mind that experience?

What are you doing to cope with the shedding?

Don’t take my dog “in the back” without me

By
Nancy Kerns
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4

I’ve written previously about my aversion to letting veterinary technicians take my dogs “in the back” for blood draws and other quick procedures. My main reason for not wanting to send Otto in the back is that he has an irrational fear of slippery floors. As soon as he thinks a floor is slippery — it doesn’t even seem to matter whether I find the floor to be slippery or not — he starts to walk like Bambi on a frozen pond, scrambling in such as way as to ensure that he will fall.

He’s actually made a LOT of progress, largely because I’ve never dragged or forced him across a floor that freaked him out (contrary to LOTS of advice from the kind of trainers I don’t listen to). He may quail for a moment at the entrance to a pet supply store, when he steps off the entry carpet and finds himself on a sea of tile, but then he will gather himself and walk cautiously along with me. His turns will be wide and wobbly, and he will pant a bit with the effort of staying upright, but he’s game, he’ll go. That’s hard-won progress — and admittedly, I don’t put him through it a lot, or for no good reason. Any time we have to navigate a super slippery place, I make it as rewarding — and brief — as possible for him.

Veterinary clinics almost always have tile or other hard, smooth floors — they are the easiest to keep clean. But they present a challenge to Otto, and knowing this, I protect him as best I can by telling the techs, as they lead us to exam rooms, “I need to let him go slow and pick his own path; he’s really cautious on slippery floors.” And — usually — I don’t allow them to “take him in the back”, because they don’t know this behavior as well as I do, and I don’t want him to backslide. If he gets scared and puts the brakes on for a second, I can encourage him with a word and he will start walking again. At clinics, they will almost always respond to a dog locking up by just dragging the dog — gently, but dragging nonetheless! — through the door into the back. Most dogs are afraid to leave their owners and are fine (if not better behaved) once the door between the “back” and their owner is closed. Otto is happy to go with the techs, he likes them! Inconvenient though it may be, it’s really all about the FLOOR.

My son was visiting over the weekend. He was delivering his young dog, Cole, to me to dog-sit while he and his girlfriend take a short vacation (spring break). We took both of our dogs to the vet on Sunday. Eight-or-so-month-old Cole needed to be weighed again (he’s growing like a weed) to make sure we are giving him the right amount of heartworm preventive, and to receive said preventive; and he received his first rabies vaccination. (It was given later than usual, as we have been sorting out his immune response to his other vaccines.) Otto needed his annual examination to renew his prescription for heartworm preventive. I also wanted the clinic to take a blood sample to send off for his annual vaccine titer test. (He hasn’t been vaccinated for anything but rabies since I adopted him in 2008; his titers come back strong and positive every year.)

As usual, Otto hesitated at the door of the clinic, and then walked into the waiting room carefully. He happily got onto the scale, which was covered with a paper advertisement for some veterinary product, and which made the scale less slippery than the floor. And within a minute, we walked into an exam room. He was doing GREAT, for him. He started panting a bit, but otherwise looked happy enough to be there. The tech came in and greeted both dogs, and took the temperature of each, and administered Cole’s rabies vaccine. Then she asked if she could take Otto in the back for the blood sample.

I hesitated for a moment, but he was doing great, and she seemed to have a good handling technique with him. I actually considered for a moment that I didn’t want to come across as nutty and overprotective. So I broke my own rule, and said, “Sure, you can take him in the back.” To my credit, I also said, “Please just let him take his time, don’t pull him if he stops for a second, he’s just REALLY cautious on the slippery floors.” She said, “No problem!” and she chirped at him, and he went with her through the door into the back quite cheerfully, no hesitation or balking — though with the usual “walking on ice” gait he uses on slippery floors.

They were gone a bit longer than it takes to take a blood sample, and my son and I were discussing what might have gone awry when the tech and Otto walked back in — accompanied by the unmistakable odor of released anal glands. My son quickly pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth, as I asked, “What happened?! He’s usually good with blood draws!” The tech said, “Oh, he was really good! He did that right afterward, for some reason. We tried to clean it off . . . do you want us to bathe him for you?”

I answered no; I didn’t want him back out of my sight again! And I was instantly so mad at myself. Why is it so hard to trust one’s own instincts, and just gently request (then insist, if need be) that the procedure be done right there, not “in the back”?

On the way home (with the car windows open), my son and I discussed what we thought probably happened; we were both certain that he must have stalled on the floor at some corner and someone tried to pull him along, forcefully enough to panic him, if just for a moment. The tech said that he was good for the actual blood sample, and I would expect him to be; I’ve been present many times for the procedure with him, and he’s never seemed to notice or mind either the restraint or the needle.

I know that veterinarians and technicians have many good reasons to prefer the dog to be “in the back” for routine procedures, and in some cases, it might be truly necessary. However, this was a reminder to me that I need to insist, every time, that for simple things like blood samples, Otto stays in the exam room with me.

Otto is mature enough now that I don’t think the scary event will scar his sensitive psyche; he was perfectly cheerful and comfortable with the veterinarian’s exam immediately after this. And he was due for a bath anyway. But I feel like I failed him — and it could have been worse.

What’s your policy on this practice at the vet’s office?

At the Gate

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

Last month in this space, I mentioned that my son’s puppy (Cole, now 7 or 8 months old) had presumably received all the “puppy shots” a puppy his age would ordinarily receive, when a vaccine titer test revealed that he lacked circulating antibodies to distemper. Thank goodness we had asked for the test – apparently, the first one that anyone at that veterinary practice had ever ordered – because without it, we wouldn’t have known that Cole was still absolutely vulnerable to becoming seriously ill should he ever encounter the distemper virus out in the world. He was vaccinated again, and three weeks later, we ran another vaccine titer test, and this time, the results came back as quite positive; he now has circulating antibodies to the distemper virus in his blood.

Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns

I said that I would discuss vaccinations, vaccine titer tests, and Cole’s situation in the April issue, but this article will actually appear in the May issue. For reasons that I will explain further next month, it took weeks longer than expected to receive the test results (I actually received them just a day before I am writing this) and I wanted to discuss them, whichever way they turned out, in the article that you will see next month.

Speaking of grandpuppies: I mentioned a few months ago that my grandson, Liam, was coming to live nearby. I’m still adjusting to how ridiculous it is that I could possibly be a grandparent – someone who is now referred to daily as Nana! . . . I mean, that was my grandmother’s name! – but I’m not the only one adjusting to daily visits from an almost-two-year-old person. Tito the Chihuahua could not be more excited to see Liam every day; he screams with joy, wags himself in two, and races to find a ball. He doesn’t bring the ball to anyone, but he loves being chased when he has a ball, and Liam loves chasing him, in the lurching, uncoordinated way that human toddlers chase anything.

My big mixed-breed dog Otto does not like being chased, and what’s more, he does not particularly like kids. When we adopted Otto in 2008, when he was about 7 or 8 months old, Otto was afraid of a lot of different types of people – tall ones, loud ones, deep-voiced ones, men who wear big boots, people with gardening equipment, and pretty much all children – and I’ve worked hard over the years to help him form more positive associations with all humans, particularly the ones on his “no fly” list. He’s solid with about 99 percent of all the adult humans he meets now, but truly comfortable with only about 50 percent of the older kids he meets, and not yet predictably okay with any toddlers.

I’ve already admitted I’m a grandparent now; it follows that at my age, I’ve had only sporadic access to toddlers with whom I could conduct counter-conditioning sessions with my dog. They are all around, and yet you can’t just borrow one that is a third of the size of your dog for the express purpose of training the dog! Unless they are related to you. Then, it seems, the parents are all, “Sure! Yeah! Take him! We’ll see you in a couple of hours!”

So, it’s taken almost six years, but we’re finally working on this gap in Otto’s education and experience. Glory be, he’s coming around beautifully. It helps that Otto loves food, and is well-accustomed to working for food and being very patient and self-controlled around it – and that Liam is often surrounded and splattered with various kinds of food (as is his stroller and car seat), and that he loves dogs. I’m stacking the deck in everyone’s favor by literally showering Otto with treats when Liam is nearby, and today, Otto’s face lights up with happy anticipation when he spots Liam and Liam’s mom at the gate. You’ll see; Nana’s excessive photographic proof will appear here soon.

New Hope for Treating Osteosarcoma On the Horizon

By
Mary Straus
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0

Osteosarcoma is by far the most common form of bone cancer in dogs. About 75 to 85 percent of tumors occur on the legs, but can develop in any bone. Middle-aged and older large- and giant-breed dogs are most commonly affected. The first sign is usually limping, which may start suddenly, or develop gradually, and is often accompanied by swelling at the tumor site. Within one to three months, the pain will be constant, and the tumor can cause the bone to fracture. Radiographs (x-rays) are usually all that is needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Because osteosarcoma has already metastasized (spread) in 90 to 95 percent of cases before it is discovered, treatment is aimed at prolonging life and improving quality of life, primarily by reducing pain. Surgery is the first line of treatment, including amputation of the limb, if practical. Surgery is rarely curative, but amputation leaves the dog pain-free to enjoy life for a time. Chemotherapy following surgical removal can prolong that time. Palliative therapies such as radiation are used for pain relief, especially when amputation is not an option. Drugs called bisphosphonates can be tried to inhibit bone destruction and relieve pain.

About half of dogs treated with surgery and chemotherapy will live for at least one year, and up to half of those will be alive after two years; occasionally, some dogs will be completely cured. Dogs treated only with amputation or palliative radiation therapy live on average about six months after diagnosis.

Now, new therapies are emerging that offer hope for prolonged life. Dr. Nichola Mason, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, is conducting clinical trials using immunotherapy to treat dogs with osteosarcoma.

Immunotherapy is the term used for vaccines that stimulate the dog’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells. The vaccine Dr. Mason is using consists of genetically modified bacteria designed to express a tumor marker known as “Her2/neu,” which is also expressed in approximately 40 percent of canine osteosarcomas, as well as other types of cancers. If the vaccine triggers the immune system to attack the bacteria, the expectation is that it will then go on to seek out and eliminate any tumor cells remaining after chemotherapy. The vaccine is given intravenously once a week for three weeks following amputation and chemotherapy. As of this writing, 12 dogs have been treated with the vaccine therapy. Side effects have been minimal, consisting primarily of short-term fever and sometimes nausea.

Of the first six dogs who received the vaccine, one dog who received a low dose of the vaccine had developed lung metastases, while the other five remained free of cancer a year later. Three of those dogs remained alive and cancer-free in November 2013, 500 or more days after initial therapy.

Dr. Mason hopes to include dogs unable to undergo amputation in future trials. She is also looking at the possibility of using the vaccine to prevent osteosarcoma in certain breeds at particularly high risk of the disease.

Palladia (toceranib phosphate), a drug approved in 2009 for treatment of mast cell cancer, has also shown promise in treating osteosarcoma. Studies are currently underway at Colorado State University and the University of Pennsylvania to evaluate the effectiveness of toceranib for the treatment of dogs with osteosarcoma.

Another clinical trial using targeted treatment for canine osteosarcoma in dogs is being conducted in Portland, Oregon. Doctors at the Keller Laboratory at Oregon Health and Science University have teamed with veterinarians at Oregon State University and Colorado State University to study osteosarcoma treatment in dogs, hoping it will lead to better treatment for children with this disease. The goal is to develop personalized treatment by testing dozens of drugs on a tumor to determine which is most effective for that individual. Wally, the first dog treated in this manner, survived for 29 months after his treatment. Dr. Keller hopes to find more than 40 dogs with osteosarcoma to participate in the clinical trial.

For more information:

Canine cancer studies at the University of Pennsylvania:
tinyurl.com/vet-upenn-studies
tinyurl.com/vet-upenn-trials
Canine cancer studies at the University of Colorado:
tinyurl.com/vet-colo-trials
Canine cancer studies at the OHSU’s Keller Laboratory:
tinyurl.com/vet-kellerlab

Caring For and Preventing Your Dog’s Ear Infections

By
Lisa Rodier
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2

Severe and/or recurrent ear infections cause more than chronic discomfort or even maddening acute pain for your dog; inadequately or belatedly treated, they can cause total deafness. I once helped transport a rescued Bouvier who had suffered such serious chronic infections that she required a total ear canal ablation (TECA, a procedure in which the entire middle ear canal is surgically removed). While such operations are usually a last-resort effort to both reduce the dog’s suffering and preserve the dog’s inner ear (hearing organ) and ability to hear, in this case, the damage from her many past infections was already done and she was completely deaf.

While such drastic measures may occasionally be indicated for dealing with long-standing ear infections, taking a proactive approach to your dog’s ear health may save her from the need for radical treatment.

Signs of Trouble
If your dog frequently shakes her head, scratches at her head or ears, rubs her head along the carpet or furniture, sits with her head cocked to one side, or whines while doing any of the above, odds are that she has or is developing an ear infection. You may also see some redness at the opening of the ear, sometimes extending outward into the pinna (ear flap).

Normally, a dog’s ear has very little or no discharge, and what little you may observe is a beige/yellow waxy substance. In an infected ear, you may find anything from dry black stuff (usually associated with ear mites) to brown waxy discharge (normal, yeast, or bacterial) to pus (bacterial).

An infection brings inflammation to the area, as the body attempts to flood the infected tissue with pathogen-fighting agents and flush pathogens and damaged cells away. But inflammation is always a double-edged sword, for it also can cause pain as the tissue swells. This is never more true than when the swelling is inside the ear canal – already a small, sensitive space. As the tissue inside the ear swells, the dog’s hearing may be diminished, and his balance may be affected, too. Chronic inflammation can lead to ulceration, scarring, calcification, and even rupture of the ear drum.

The pain and irritation may cause him to shake his head and claw at the ear, damaging the tissue even further and causing even more swelling. Head-shaking and scratching can also cause blood vessels in the flap of the ear to burst, causing the ear flap to swell like a balloon. This very painful condition, known as an ear hematoma, requires immediate veterinary attention. If left untreated, it can cause permanent disfigurement of the ear flap. Chronic ear pain can also cause the dog to develop behavioral issues; he may grow increasingly cranky in general and specifically defensive about being touched on the head – so much so that he reflexively snaps at and bites an unsuspecting person who pats his head or fondles his sore ear.

It’s imperative to get ear infections cleared up as soon as possible and not expect them to resolve on their own.

At the Vet
Heading to your veterinarian for help with an ear infection is always a good idea, especially if you haven’t had previous experience with a canine ear infection and you aren’t certain what it looks like, or if a previously treated infection has recurred. If you are going to take your dog to the vet, don’t clean his ears that day; it maybe helpful for the veterinarian to see the appearance and amount of the discharge.

The vet will clean and examine the ears, and usually will take a look deep inside the ear canal with an otoscope – that is, if the swelling in the ear canal is not too severe. Some brave veterinarians will also put their noses near the dog’s ear and take a quick sniff; the odor of an infected ear is distinctive.

In mild cases, after cleaning the ear well, veterinarians will generally administer and give the owner a topical ear solution containing antibiotic, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory agents. This is typically used for a dog’s first or infrequent ear infection because, no matter what the causative organism, this type of topical will address it. In many cases, that’s all there is to the ear infection event.

However, if the infection recurs, it’s likely that the treatment was incomplete, whether because the solution wasn’t applied as frequently or as well as required (sometimes the outer ear looks good, but the infection continues to fester deep within the ear canal), or because the infectious organisms developed resistance to the antibiotic in the solution. In these cases, we may wonder why the infection keeps “coming back” when, in reality, it never ever went away.

When an ear infection recurs (if not before!), culturing a sample of the exudate is a must, to make sure that the next treatment is targeted to treat the specific pathogen.  Oral antibiotics may be indicated in such severe cases in addition to topical therapy. Note that oral antibiotics are not the first go-to for a one-off ear infection and are rarely successful as the sole therapy.

Chronic cases may also be helped by a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) approach including acupuncture, and/or when used preventively such as prior to spring/summer if dealing with seasonal allergies. Also, acupuncture and laser therapy can relieve pain associated with infections.

Early Care
Integrative veterinarian Susan Wynn, DVM, CVA, CVCH, AHG, who practices at BluePearl Georgia Veterinary Specialists in Atlanta, believes that learning to identify and detect the earliest stage of infection is a dog owner’s best shot at preventing a serious infection and the need for veterinary attention. The switch from being normal and comfortable to infected can be subtle and fast; the ears may have no redness and then suddenly develop mild levels of redness and discomfort with minimal discharge.

A veterinarian is seen examining a small white dog's ear
This Maltese has a history of recurrent ear infections, and would have benefited from more frequent veterinary and owner care. On this visit, Dr. Diane Castle, of Union Hill Animal Hospital in Canton, GA, found his ear canals so swollen that they could not be examined with an otoscope.

“Infections are usually a secondary problem,” says Dr. Wynn. “People should be watching for the onset of that primary cause, rather than waiting for infections to develop.”

Be vigilant and check your dog’s ears regularly; the moment that you notice redness or discharge, you need to clean the ears. Yeast and bacteria are normal inhabitants of a dog’s ear – in small amounts. A variety of health conditions can cause yeast or bacteria populations to spike; the goal of cleaning is to create an inhospitable environment in the ear for this to occur.

Dr. Wynn likes Zymox Enzymatic Ear Solution, with or without the anti-inflammatory hydrocortisone. (Zymox is available in two formulas: an enzymatic ear cleanser for preventive maintenance, and an enzymatic ear solution for treating mild infections).

Another ear wash that may help prevent infection is Halo’s Cloud 9 Herbal Ear Wash. It contains a variety of essential oils in a base of witch hazel.

This dog’s ear barely resembles an ear. Chronic infections and long-term swelling have caused permanent tissue damage and blockage of the ear canal.

One of my favorite recipes for a cleansing ear wash comes from The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care, by WDJ contributor CJ Puotinen. Combine 1/8 teaspoon lavender essential oil with ¾ cup witch hazel, 1 tablespoon powdered boric acid, and ¼ cup aloe vera juice or gel. Shake well before using.

Nancy Kay, DVM, DACVIM, author of Speaking for Spot, has a recipe for a homemade drying agent that involves mixing one part white vinegar, one part water, and one part 70% isopropyl alcohol (avoid the 90% variety). But she cautions that we not use this concoction in our dog’s ears before discussing it with a veterinarian. Dr. Wynn concurs; she says she no longer cleans ears with vinegar/water or vinegar/water/alcohol solutions. While inexpensive, the solutions can cause significant pain if the dog’s ear canals are ulcerated from chronic inflammation.

Others favor cleansing the ear with a solution containing apple cider vinegar, which is often touted for its infection-fighting properties. As healthy as it may be, please note that this vinegar also stings inflamed tissue.

How often you clean your dog’s ears depends on your dog and her lifestyle; for example, dogs who swim regularly may need frequent ear cleaning. But more is not necessarily better; over-cleaning can be too drying and may lead to other problems.

If your dog has very occasional signs of a mild ear infection, cleaning his ears well may stop the infection in its tracks. But if the infection persists or worsens, take your dog to the veterinarian as soon as possible for further investigation.

The Root Cause
In most cases of recurring ear infections, clearing up otitis (inflammation in the ear) is just the start of your work. Figuring out what caused your dog to develop the ear infection is your next assignment.

Far and away, allergies are the most common cause of ear infections. Chronic inflammation, leading to infection as a secondary effect, is most frequently caused by environmental allergies (such as pollen, mold, and dust mites), but food allergies can also cause inflammation. A visit to your veterinarian, or, best yet, a board-certified veterinary dermatologist, will be your best bet for identifying (and then avoiding) the triggers for your dog’s recurrent ear infections.

Joel Griffies, DVM, a board-certified veterinary dermatologist (DACVD) who practices at the Animal Dermatology Clinic in Marietta, Georgia, explains that there are four factors involved in ear infections:

Primary: Allergies or diseases causing immunosuppression

Secondary: Bacterial and yeast infections (many people focus on this, but elimination of the bacteria and yeast often results in only temporary relief)

Perpetuating: Related to swelling of the ear (i.e., anatomical changes such as scarring) that accompanies infections

Predisposing: Excess hair in ear canal, pendulous ears, or very long ear canals

Dr. Griffies feels that the role of swimming (water in the ears) in the development of ear infections is exaggerated. “Most dogs who get ear infections from swimming already had an ear prone to infections. That bit of water may have just pushed the infection over the edge,” he says.

Dr. Wynn emphasizes that it’s important to understand the cause when choosing a treatment. In the case of allergies, she notes, “Most people don’t seem to know that the dog’s allergies must be controlled to prevent the infections, and that isn’t always easy to do.” Treating this kind of recurrent infections with conventional or holistic strategies will fail, she says; finding and preventing the cause (rather than the symptoms) of the infection is the only permanent solution.

Dr. Wynn shares a cautionary tale about a client who had a wonderful agility dog who suffered from recurrent ear infections. When herbal/essential oil treatments didn’t work well, the client consulted with a homeopath – long-distance. Not a veterinarian, and unable to see the dog’s ears, the practitioner  recommended homeopathic treatments and suggested that the continued inflammation of the ear was essentially okay. Two years later, Dr. Wynn saw the dog again. The dog’s ear canals were calcified and the dog had become aggressive due to her constant pain.

The best way to avoid ear infections? Dr. Griffies says, “Probably the best answer can be obtained after an ear infection has occurred. Diagnosing and managing the underlying problem that is causing ear infections is the best method. We have many dogs who initially present for chronic otitis, but once their food allergies or environmental allergies are managed, they no longer suffer from recurrent infections.”

Whole Dog Journal’s Gear of the Year 2014

By
Nancy Kerns
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1

Toys

Orbee-Tuff® Snoop®

Orbee-Tuff Snoop dog toy

The bulk of Sandi Thompson’s 26 years as a dog trainer has been spent teaching group puppy classes and hosting weekly puppy socials at Bravo!Pup, her training business in Berkeley, California. So she’s been asked (thousands of times) to suggest good toys for puppies and bored dogs. She strongly recommends the use of food-stuffed, interactive toys to help dogs and puppies develop the habit of entertaining themselves. She usually advises owners to buy several types of toys and see what works for their individual dogs, because dogs have their own preference for the “mouth feel” of various toys. Also, she has yet to find a single toy that appeals to all dogs. Or has she?

A couple months ago, Thompson found the Orbee-Tuff Snoop at a dog show, and thought it looked interesting enough to buy and try with her own dogs. The Snoop is made of a squishy, translucent material, and it’s designed to have its center pulled out (it’s hard to describe, see the photo below), so treats can be poured inside and the inner layer folded back into the toy. Dogs can see, smell, and even feel the treats through the material, but they really have to work to get them out – and they do! Some interactive toys are too difficult for puppies; often, they don’t persist long enough to be rewarded with the treats. But with the Snoop, puppies keep at it! Thompson provides three different types of treat balls on the floor at her puppy socials – and says that all the puppies prefer this one. Best of all, unlike a lot of the treat-dispensing toys, the Snoop is soft, so it doesn’t make a lot of noise rolling around on hardwood floors. Note that the Snoop is intended for puzzle-play, it’s not meant for chewing.

Orbee-Tuff Snoop dog toy inside out

You can also make it more difficult for puzzle-savvy dogs to get the treats. After you fill it with food, you can insert a ball (Planet Dog recommends their other Orbee-Tuff balls, but tennis balls work fine) into the center, so the dog has to figure out how to remove the ball before he can start getting the treats. Thompson says, “My dogs love the Snoop, and so do my clients’ dogs and puppies.”

Orbee-Tuff Snoop – $18 
Planet Dog, Westbrook, ME. (800) 381-1516

Soggy Doggy Doormat and Soggy Doggy Super Shammy

Most of us who share our homes with dogs have doormats and employ old towels at the threshold of our homes, in an attempt to reduce the amount of water, mud, sand, and other debris that our canine companions track into the house. A dog who is wet from rain or snow is a particularly potent threat to wood or laminate floors (and of course, carpets and upholstery).

Soggy Doggy Doormat and Soggy Doggy Super Shammy

Here are some products that look better (and work better) than old towels for getting water and mud off of a dog’s coat and paws:

Soggy Doggy discovered a micro-fiber chenille material that can absorb five times as much water as cotton, dries quickly, and is long-lasting and durable. The company uses the material in a doormat (that has a no-slip backing), a dog-drying shammy (featuring pockets at the ends for your hands), and other products. We haven’t tried the other products, but we absolutely love the shammy and the doormat. The mat looks nice, and both tools trap and hold an astonishing amount of water, debris, and hair, and yet can be shaken out easily and quickly dried.

Soggy Doggy Doormat – $40
Soggy Doggy SuperShammy – $20
Soggy Doggy Productions
Larchmont, NY
(877) 504-4811

SafeStix

The Kong Company developed this toy with two canine activities in mind: safe retrieving and tugging (they are not chew toys). Safestix are molded out of a bendable plastic in a shape that will prevent all the kinds of injuries that dogs can suffer from playing fetch with wood sticks. The ball shapes at either end prevent throat punctures or choking (if a dog happens to grab for one end as it hits the ground); and the flexibility of the material means that the dog won’t break a tooth or get hurt if he misjudges the flight of the stick and gets hit in the head when he tries to catch it in the air.

SafeStix dog toy

A Kong representative told us that people who train dogs for law enforcement asked the company to develop a toy that could be used for a quick session of tug as a reward – but one that wouldn’t continue to stimulate the dog when the handler stopped tugging. Apparently, it can be difficult to get these high-octane dogs to let go of (“out”) rope toys, since the rope moves in the dog’s mouth even after the handler stops pulling. So Kong made the toy with a plastic that would be gummy enough to invite a dog to bite down on it, durable enough to resist damage from all that mouthing, but rigid enough so that it would be immediately clear to a tugging dog when the handler said the game was over.

Safestix come in three sizes, from 12 inches to 27 inches. They come in several neon colors for easy visibility, and they float in water, too.
safestix – $6-12 (depending on size)

The Kong Company, Golden, CO. (303) 216-2626

Tucker’s Chicken Breast Treats

We were not fans of dried chicken chews even before China-sourced products began causing dogs to become ill and even die – mostly because these products are so dry that it’s like feeding sharp splinters to your dog. Tucker’s solved both the questionable sourcing and over-dried issues and has completely won us over with its moist chicken treats.

Tucker’s Chicken Breast Treats

The treats are relatively expensive, and if we were feeding something like this to our dogs every day, we’d probably just keep fresh-roasted chicken on hand. The benefit of these is their convenience; they can be kept for weeks or months in your purse, car glove box, or desk, and pulled out just when you need an irresistible, safe, wholesome training treat for your dog.

Tucker’s sources all of its meats in the U.S. and Canada, and only partially dehydrates them before slicing, hand-rolling, and packing each treat in individually vacuum-sealed packages.

The anaerobic environment keeps the meaty treat moist and soft, but prevents degradation or bacterial growth without the use of glycerin or preservatives, so when you peel apart the package, the treat is chewy and appealing as fresh meat to your dog.
All of Tucker’s products are manufactured in a USDA-inspected plant in Wisconsin with human-quality (“edible”) meats. The chicken breast treats come in four varieties: just chicken breast, and chicken breast rolled around a strip of either bacon, dried apple, or dried banana.

Tucker’s Chicken Breast Treats – $27 for 1 lb bag

Tucker’s Bones, Pleasant Prairie, WI. (800) 219-3650

Beds

When we go into pet-supply stores, we’re always drawn to the dog beds; we’re on a perpetual quest for products that are thick enough to provide real cushioning, and yet easy to wash. What we generally find are mats that are thin (though easy to launder) and beds that are thick but either difficult to wash (with covers that are hard to get on and off), that don’t hold up well to washing (we’ve had some that literally fell apart after two washings), or unwashable (with non-removable covers and heavy stuffing). The thin ones – feh! What’s the point of buying something that your dog doesn’t want to sleep on? We admit we have bought our share of inexpensive thick ones that need to be thrown out at some point (because they can’t be laundered), but we don’t feel good about it; it’s a waste of money and bad for the environment. The following products provide the perfect solution: comfortable, washable, durable beds that can stand the test of time.

West Paw Design’s “Eco Nap”

West Paw Design's "Eco Nap" dog bed

Desperation drove us to West Paw Design’s Eco Nap mat. In Otto’s first two years with us, he destroyed at least half a dozen dog beds. If they contained stuffing they got chewed open and de-stuffed. The Eco Nap was the first bed he didn’t eat – and five years later, it’s still attractive and still one of his favorites. The bed is basically a pad made (in Bozeman, Montana!) with a very thin layer of West Paw Design’s “exclusive Intelliloft® fibers” sandwiched between two layers of synthetic fleece (made of the same material, which derives from recycled plastic bottles). The outer edge is stuffed thicker than the center, and yet never drew Otto’s chewing attention the way most “stuffed” beds did. Best of all, while the material is thick enough to provide enough cushioning to draw all the animals in the house to it, it’s light enough to be washed in a regular top-loading washing machine and dryer – no special trips to the heavy-duty machines at the laundromat required. The price might seem high given the simplicity of the product, but these beds hold up to everyday use and washing so well, they have paid for themselves several times over. The Eco Nap comes in five sizes and six colors.

Now that Otto is older and wiser and doesn’t eat beds anymore, we use an Eco Nap on top of a bed that is made with a thick slab of foam (but which has one of those not-durable, hard-to-wash covers).

Eco Nap – $29 (xs, 14″ x 19″) – $99 (xl, 29″ x 41″)

West Paw Design, Bozeman, MT. (800) 433-5567

Purple Pebble’s Cuddle Mat

Purple Pebble’s Cuddle Mat

The Cuddle Mat is a similar “flat mat” type of bed, but is made in the U.S. without any stuffing, out of a high-pile synthetic fleece material that washes easily and dries quickly. Purple Pebble says the material is hypoallergenic and stain-resistant, making the Cuddle Mat ideal for puppies, convalescing dogs, or dogs with sensitive skin.

Because it does not contain stuffing, the cushioning is consistent even after many trips through the washer and dryer – no lumps! We’ve used a Cuddle Mat for over a year, most recently with a teething adolescent dog, and it’s holding up perfectly. The mat comes in one color (“natural”) and eight standard sizes and an “SUV” size. (The company will also make custom-sized products at no premium.) Fold a large one in two, and you may have to physically prevent the dogs and cats from fighting over who gets to sleep on it.

two dogs on Purple Pebble Cuddle Mat

Purple Pebble offers two additional styles of the Cuddle Mat: one with an attached pillow, and one made for use in crates, with a bumper on three sides. (The bumper is the same material as the mat, with scored sides extending about 5″ up the sides of the crate. The bumpers don’t take away from the dog’s space in the crate, nor do they pose a potential safety risk if chewed and ingested).

Cuddle Mat – $28 (xs, 13″ x 22″)- $120 (xxxl, 37″ x 54″)

Purple Pebble, Waldwick, NJ. (201) 444-7439

Cubby

Okay, just one more bed. This one is not only novel, but also fabulously flexible.

Cubby dog bed

“I’m a connoisseur of dog beds, from those impossibly cheap, sawdust-filled rounds of fabric sold at wholesale stores to princess-caliber, canopied numbers worthy of Downton Abbey,” says Denise Flaim, a Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder and regular contributor to WDJ. “By far my favorite is the Cubby. Easily washed and available in lots of fashionable faux furs – chinchilla, anyone? – these are the Transformers of dog beds: They can be flat little circles of plushness, stuffed into themselves to make little nests, or folded in half into den-like ‘cubbies’ that my kids have dubbed ‘dog tacos.’ Whatever you call them, neither my dogs nor I would be without them.”

Adds Flaim, “Bonus: If you have a favorite heirloom blanket or vintage chenille spread that has seen better days, Good Dog Beds can convert it into a fetching custom bed. Now, that’s recycling.”

Cubby beds are made in California, and are available in four sizes and a wide variety of fabrics.

Cubby – $52 (s, 17″ opening) – $202 (xl, 60″ opening)

GoodDogBeds.com, Huntington Beach, CA. (714) 319-0353; 

Help ‘Em Up Harness

The Help ‘Em Up harness is a favorite of canine rehabilitation professionals and puts to shame the idea of using a towel to lift or support a mobility-impaired dog. This well-made, heavy-duty, machine-washable harness is ergonomically designed with soft, comfortable padding and waterproof Neoprene. The harness offers great support for dogs who have mobility issues, allowing them to maintain independence with just a little help from their people. An additional benefit of the harness comes in the form of neuro-stimulation: with the hind-end support linked to the front, the dog’s entire nervous system continues to receive stimulation, reminding his brain that he still has a hind end!

The harness consists of front and back pieces that are detachable from one another, and features two strong, comfortable, rubber handles. The harness can be placed on your dog even when he’s lying down, and is comfortable enough to leave on him all day. For the best fit, consult a veterinary rehab professional.

New for 2014 are features that make using the harness more comfortable for the human handler: a “walking handle” and a “walking leash/shoulder strap,” to provide additional walking assistance and extra leverage when lifting and/or walking.

“I used a Help ‘Em Up Harness with our elderly Bouvier in his later years, and it changed all our lives for the better,” says WDJ contributor and and K9 Nose Work instructor Lisa Rodier.

Help ‘Em Up Harness –
$75-120 (depending on size)

Blue Dog Designs, Denver, CO
(720) 237-6852

The Dog Anatomy Workbook: A Guide to the Canine Body

Anyone with an interest in canine health or canine athletes should run to buy this book. Participants in canine sports and owners nursing dogs with sports injuries would also benefit. The book not only clearly shows all the structures in the dog’s body, but explains how they work, both alone and with related structures – and discusses some of the most common things that can go wrong, from malocclusion of the teeth to hip dysplasia.

Edited by Andrew Gardiner, a veterinarian and clinical lecturer at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and illustrated by Maggie Raynor, a sought-after animal illustrator who lives in Sheffield, England, the book is not an anatomy textbook, but a true workbook. Though there are illustrations, photographs, and even x-rays that depict every muscle, bone, and organ, the book also contains opportunities to color and label bones, muscles, ligaments, organs, and all other systems of the canine body, in order to most thoroughly learn and understand them.
The book has a hard cover but is spiral-bound, enabling the book to lay flat enough to draw and write on. Instruction is given on the proper method for learning anatomy (such as creating lists, devising acronyms, and labeling diagrams), and the “language of anatomy” (directional terms such as cranial, caudal, rostral, etc.) is explained.

The Dog Anatomy Workbook – $45 
Trafalgar Square Books, N. Pomfret, VT. (800) 423-4525

Kool Chamois Pad

The Kool Chamois Pad is a lightweight, PVA chamois pad that, when wet, acts as a cooling mat. Made by long-time dog enthusiast Sandy Teague, the mat is easy to wet, and doesn’t get heavy or bulky like other cooling mats do when water is added.
Lisa Rodier lives in Georgia with a thick-coated dog, Atle, a Bouvier des Flandres (seen modeling with the Kool Chamois Pad). Rodier says she wouldn’t consider making a summer car trip with Atle without the Kool Chamois Pad along for the ride. “We used the mat in Atle’s car crate during multiple-day road trips in the searing summer heat, and he stayed cool and comfortable throughout,” Rodier says. “Although the pad didn’t require frequent re-wetting, doing so was easy.”

The mat’s stock size is 17″ x 27″ and sells for $17. For a large dog like Atle, WetCoat.com is happy to customize the product; Teague sewed two mats together to make one large (33″ x 27″) pad, for just $34. The Kool Chamois is machine-washable, and should be air-dried between uses. While WetCoat.com uses the same material in its cooling coats (the main product they sell), in a pinch, the mat can be draped over your dog’s back to be used as a cooling coat. Simplicity itself!

Kool Chamois Pad – $17 
WetCoat.com, Orlando, FL. (407) 422-2345

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Informing? Or Selling?

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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?”
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