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Dog food manufacturers are supposed to list specific names for each ingredient in their formulations. Each food, vitamin, mineral, or other chemical (preservative, color, flavor, binder, etc.) that has been approved for use in a dog food is supposed to be listed in a certain way on the product’s ingredient list. There are formal descriptions of each ingredient – and all of these are listed in the annual “Official Publication of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)”.
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However, we’ve noticed that some companies get a little liberal with their ingredient lists; they add a few enticing adjectives to make their ingredients sound even better than (perhaps) they are. Some of the ones we saw when we were typing in the first 10 ingredients of the highlighted products on our 2012 “approved dry dog foods” list:
Red Delicious Apples = apples Sun-Dried Alfalfa Meal = alfalfa meal Whole Ground Brown Rice = brown rice
Of course, the adjectives listed above make no difference to your dog at all. The embellishments are there to appeal to you, the consumer.
If a company leans out too far and actually makes the ingredient sound like something it’s just not, a state feed control official can issue a warning, or even order the product off the shelf until the company takes steps to remedy the label.
A few other adjectives do actually possess some legal significance:
Boneless, Deboned = These words, each with its own definition, indicate an animal protein product with less bone than if the adjective were not used. Most of the “meats” used in pet food actually contain quite a lot of bone, along with skin, fat, connective tissue, and muscle meat. If the ingredient specifies “boneless” or “deboned,” it obviously contains more meat than one that does not include this modifier. “Boneless” is defined as “the flesh resulting from removal of bones from accompanying flesh by means of knife separation.” “Deboned” is defined as “the flesh resulting from removal of bones from accompanying flesh by means of mechanical deboning.” Human-held knives, presumably, can remove more bone from flesh than machines can.
Natural = Here is the actual AAFCO definition of this word: “A feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal, or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis, or fermentation, but not having been produced by or subject to a chemically synthetic process and not containing any additives r processing aids that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as might occur unavoidably in good manufacturing practices.”
Organic = Must be certified as such by a third-party audit.
In every one of Whole Dog Journal’s canned and dry dog food reviews, we tell you how to identify the hallmarks of a top dry dog food as well as the attributes of a low-quality food. In “Whole Dog Journal’s 2012 Dry Dog Food Review,” we tell you what specific parts of the dog food label you need to scrutinize to make sure the product is a high-quality, “complete and balanced” diet. We also list some 48 companies that make, between them, hundreds of foods that meet all of our selection criteria for a top-quality dry dog food; those products are listed, each with a highlighted example, in the February issue.
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Now it’s time to look at the label of the food you’ve already been feeding to your dog. How does it compare to a top dry dog food?
If you bought your dog’s food at a grocery store or a big box store, or it was one of the lowest-cost foods you were able to find, it will probably compare very poorly to the foods on our “top dry dog foods” list.
Now take a good long look at your dog. Is she the quintessential “picture of health”? Lean, fit, mentally sharp, with a glossy coat, clear eyes, and a reasonably pleasant odor? Are her poops medium-firm, neither rock hard nor gloppy piles of goop? If not – if she’s fat or too-thin, her coat is a smelly, greasy, or patchy mess, and she’s prone to itching, sores, incessant self-grooming, weepy eyes, endless farting, constipation or diarrhea, you need to choose a new food! All of these are unhealthy conditions that will improve with a better diet.
You can use the information in the “2012 Dry Dog Food Review” for tips on what you should look for in an improved diet for your dog – or look out for, in the case of undesirable attributes. (You could also use our list of “approved foods” as a reliable source of good candidates for improving your dog’s health.)
Once you know how to identify a top dry dog food, it’s important to choose the right good food for your indi-vidual dog. Dogs, like us, are individuals; what works for your overweight Labrador will not be appropriate for my high-energy hunting dog. Your dog may have an allergy or be unable to tolerate a certain ingredient or even several ingredients. The point is, you shouldn’t buy just any good food; your purchase should be customized to your individual dog’s needs. The following are some conditions that require a particular rationale for your purchase:
-If your dog is overweight, you may not want to switch to a grain-free food that contains (at least) 30 percent fat! Instead, it would make more sense to look for a food with a higher protein content (but not high in fat) than the one you currently feed. The goal is to replace carbs with protein, without increasing fat. Though pet food makers are not required to list the caloric content of their foods, many of them report this information voluntarily, and this can help you determine whether you might need to feed more or less of a particular food.
-If your dog is itchy, look for a limited ingredient food (a single protein and a single carb source, preferably not a grain) that contains none of the ingredients that his current food contains.
-If your dog is too thin, look for a food with a higher fat content, particularly if the food you’re feeding now is low in fat.
-If your dog seems to be losing condition as she ages, look for a food with more protein and higher-quality protein sources than the one she’s eating (chicken and/or chicken meal, rather than chicken by-product meal or corn/corn gluten).
-If your dog is having digestive problems, try foods with less fat, a different protein source, or no grains, de-pending on what works for your dog.
-If your dog is a couch potato, don’t feed high-fat foods.
-If your dog acts hungry all the time, look for a food with higher fat content (and maybe more protein as well).
-If your dog is a picky eater, try rotating foods more often, and offer foods with different protein sources to see which are most appealing.
Adjust As Necessary You may have been told that it’s bad to switch foods, or you may have had a bad experience when your dog ate something different and unauthorized (by you) and erupted in gas or diarrhea. With most dogs, the more you change foods, the more robust and capable their digestion becomes. When fed a limited diet, the breadth of their production of digestive enzymes and the variety of the bacteria in their guts are reduced. You can speed the adjustment by adding digestive enzymes, probiotic, and prebiotic supplements, to help the gut recolonize itself with digestion-aiding agents.
Then, watch your dog! Let her tell you how the new food works for her. Keep track of what you’ve tried, so you can continue to make adjustments and big improvements in your dog’s diet – and, we hope, huge improvements in her physical condition, mental acuity, and overall energy level.
1. Lots of animal protein at the top of the ingredients list
Ingredients are listed by weight, so you want to see a lot of top quality animal protein at the top of the list; the first ingredient should be a “named” animal protein source (see next bullet).
2. A named animal protein
Chicken, beef, lamb, and so on. “Meat” is an example of a low-quality protein source of dubious origin. Animal protein “meals” should also be from named species (look for “beef meal” but avoid “meat meal”).
3. An animal protein meal in a supporting role when a fresh meat is first on the ingredient list
This is to augment the total animal protein in the diet. Fresh (or frozen) meat contains a lot of water, and water is heavy, so if a fresh meat is first on the list, another source of animal protein should be listed in the top three or so ingredients. Fresh or frozen meats do not contain enough protein to be used as the sole animal protein source in a dry food; they contain as much as 65 to 75 percent water and only 15 to 25 percent protein. In contrast, animal protein “meals” – meat, bone, skin, and connective tissue that’s been rendered and dried – contain only about 10 percent moisture, and as much as 65 percent protein.
4. Whole vegetables, fruits, and grains
Fresh, unprocessed food ingredients contain nutrients in all their natural, complex glory, with their fragile vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants intact. Don’t be alarmed by one or two food “fractions” (a by-product or part of an ingredient, like tomato pomace or rice bran), especially if they are low on the ingredients list. But it’s less than ideal if there are several fractions present in the food, and/or they appear high on the ingredients list.
5. A “best by” date that’s at least six months away
A best by date that’s 10 or 11 months away is ideal; it means the food was made very recently. Note: Foods made with synthetic preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin) may have a “best by” date that is as much as two years past the date of manufacture.
What You Don’t Want to Buy:
– Meat by-products or poultry by-products
Higher-value ingredients are processed and stored more carefully (kept clean and cold) than lower-cost ingredients (such as by-products) by the processors.
– A “generic” fat source
Such as “animal fat.” This can literally be any fat of animal origin, including used restaurant grease and fats derived from roadkill. “Poultry” fat is not quite as suspect as “animal fat,” but “chicken fat” or “duck fat” is better (and traceable).
– Added sweeteners
Dogs, like humans, enjoy the taste of sweet foods. Sweeteners effectively persuade many dogs to eat foods comprised mainly of grain fragments (and containing little healthy animal protein).
– Artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives (i.e., BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin)
The color of the food doesn’t matter to your dog. And it should be flavored well enough to be enticing with healthy meats and fats. Natural preservatives, such as tocopherols (forms of vitamin E), vitamin C, and rosemary extract, can be used instead. Note that natural preservatives do not preserve foods as long as artificial preservatives, so owners should always check the “best by” date on the label and look for relatively fresh products.
When you think about it, most of us dog owners do it all backward: We get a dog, and we feed him whatever he came with, or whatever we can find to feed him that day. And then we tend to keep feeding him that same food. Only later – perhaps after he’s developed some health issues, such as incessant itching and scratching, recurrent ear infections, or dramatic weight gain or loss – do we start to think about what we should feed him.
Don’t worry if this describes you; you have to start somewhere. But once you realize that you ought to steer the ship of your dog’s vibrant good health, instead of towing it off the rocks every so often, you need to know which is the best direction to start looking toward. High-protein? Grain-free? Small breed? Senior dog?
The absolute first step you should take should be across the threshold of the best-stocked independent pet supply store you can find. If there are none in your area, the next-best option would be a chain pet specialty store such as Petco or PetSmart. You need to be able to look at a lot of dog food bags – and not just the pretty pictures on the front. Bring your reading glasses, because you need to read the fine print on the backs, sides, and even the bottoms of some bags. You’ll be focusing on the parts of the bags that are required by law – the most informative parts. We’ll describe them below, and tell you what to look for.
-Ingredients panel. All the ingredients that are present in the food are required to be listed in this panel. If there is something in the food that’s not on the label, there are supposed to be serious consequences for the company whose name is on the label. (However, surveillance, testing, and enforcement varies widely from state to state. Sigh.)
The ingredients of the food are listed in order of the total percentage of their weight as they entered the giant mixing bowls at the dog food factory. So, there is more of the first ingredient on the list in the bag than anything else, right? Right – with one important exception. Fresh meats, such as chicken, pork, fish, etc., contain a lot of moisture, which is relatively heavy. The water in that meat will evaporate out of the food in the cooking and drying process. What’s left in the finished product may not be present in the highest amount of all the ingredients.
That’s why most companies who include fresh meats in their formulations also include a meat “meal” – a grainy powder made from meat (and bone, skin, fat, and connective tissue) through a process called “rendering.” For example, chicken meal is mostly made from chicken “frames,” the carcass of the chicken without the head, feathers, feet, guts, and most of the big pieces of meat (these are mostly stripped off for human consumption). The frames get ground into a pulp, and then the mass is cooked in giant vats, with most of the fat getting skimmed off and the rest getting heated until most of the moisture in the product evaporates. The result is ground again for a consistent powdery, grainy texture: chicken meal!
Fresh meat generally contains about 15 to 25 percent protein, and about 65 to 75 percent water. Meat meals contain only about 10 percent water, with about 65 to 70 percent protein. The inclusion of fresh meat really increases the dog food’s palatability – but to get the food’s total protein levels high enough, the formula is generally bolstered by, ideally a “named” meat meal (see sidebar, page 5) or another protein source.
-Guaranteed analysis. In this section of the label, you’ll find values indicating – roughly – the amount of protein, fat, fiber, and moisture in the food. Why “roughly”? Because the amounts listed for protein and fat are minimum values; the amounts listed for fiber and moisture are maximum values. The protein and fat levels may be higher than what is listed on the label – and we’ve found that in many “premium” foods, the levels are much higher. The fiber and moisture levels, in contrast, are usually close to the guaranteed amounts.
-“Best by” date/code. We also recommend looking for the stamped or printed code that tells you when the food should be purchased by. Fresher food is better; fats go rancid over time and many vitamins start to lose their punch.
Ideally, the code also includes the date of the food’s manufacture, so you know exactly how long it has been formulated to last. Naturally preserved foods don’t last as long as foods that contain artificial preservatives. Most companies that use natural preservatives indicate that the products are best if used within a year of manufacture, although we’ve seen some with “best by” dates that were 18 months later than the date of manufacture. We wouldn’t knowingly buy and feed foods that were close to their best by dates.
-AAFCO statement. If a food has met its state’s requirements as a “complete and balanced” diet, it is re-quired to say so on the label. (For more information about the various methods that a food maker can use to get its foods to qualify for this statement, see “Whole Dog Journal’s 2007 Dry Dog Food Review,” WDJ February 2007.) AAFCO stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials, and its suggested standards are the basis for formulating a “complete and balanced” diet for puppies, breeding dogs, and the maintenance of adult dogs. If the diet is not complete and balanced, it might be labeled as suggested for “intermittent or sup-plemental feeding.”
-Contact information for the pet food company. It shouldn’t be difficult to reach a human being when you have a concern about your dog’s food. Food labels are required to include the company’s name and location; including a toll-free number and website address ought to be another requirement. Of course, there should also be an informed person at the other end of the phone. It’s no use if you can only leave messages for a company, and no one ever calls back.
Assess and Compare Now it’s time to go home and look at the label of the food you’ve been feeding to your dog. Note the in-gredients, and the protein and fat levels in the food. How do they compare to the foods you saw at the pet supply store? (If you want to have some real fun, check out the labels on foods in grocery stores and espe-cially the lowest-cost foods at big box stores. What a contrast, yes? The stuff in these locations barely re-sembles food, once you know what real foods look like.)
Now take a good long look at your dog. Is she the quintessential “picture of health”? Lean, fit, mentally sharp, with a glossy coat, clear eyes, and a reasonably pleasant odor? Are her poops medium-firm, neither rock hard nor gloppy piles of goop? If not – if she’s fat or too-thin, her coat is a smelly, greasy, or patchy mess, and she’s prone to itching, sores, incessant self-grooming, weepy eyes, endless farting, constipation or diarrhea, you need to choose a new food!
Use the information on the right for hints about what you should look for – or look out for, in the case of undesirable attributes.
We’ve used the same information to assess the product lines of all the 48 companies, representing hun-dreds of different dry dog foods, that appear on our “approved dry dog foods” list, beginning on page 6. All of the products listed there meet our basic selection criteria for top-quality foods, and could potentially form a list of good products that you could try for your dog.
Please note that the products are NOT rated or ranked; they are listed alphabetically by company. So, for example, if you are looking for Origen, look under its maker, Champion Pet Foods.
Don’t choose a new food for your dog just because you like the look of the bag. You should have some rationale for your purchase. For example:
-If your dog is overweight, for example, you may not want to switch to a grain-free food that contains (at least) 30 percent fat! Instead, it would make more sense to look for a food with a higher protein content (but not high in fat) than the one you currently feed. The goal is to replace carbs with protein, without increasing fat. Though pet food makers are not required to list the caloric content of their foods, many of them report this information voluntarily, and this can help you determine whether you might need to feed more or less of a particular food.
-If your dog is itchy, look for a limited ingredient food (a single protein and a single carb source, preferably not a grain) that contains none of the ingredients that his current food contains.
-If your dog is too thin, look for a food with a higher fat content, particularly if the food you’re feeding now is low in fat.
-If your dog seems to be losing condition as she ages, look for a food with more protein and higher-quality protein sources than the one she’s eating (chicken and/or chicken meal, rather than chicken by-product meal or corn/corn gluten).
-If your dog is having digestive problems, try foods with less fat, a different protein source, or no grains, de-pending on what works for your dog.
-If your dog is a couch potato, don’t feed high-fat foods.
-If your dog acts hungry all the time, look for a food with higher fat content (and maybe more protein as well).
-If your dog is a picky eater, try rotating foods more often, and offer foods with different protein sources to see which are most appealing.
Adjust as Necessary You may have been told that it’s bad to switch foods, or you may have had a bad experience when your dog ate something different and unauthorized (by you) and erupted in gas or diarrhea. With most dogs, the more you change foods, the more robust and capable their digestion becomes. When fed a limited diet, the breadth of their production of digestive enzymes and the variety of the bacteria in their guts are reduced. You can speed the adjustment by adding digestive enzymes, probiotic, and prebiotic supplements, to help the gut recolonize itself with digestion-aiding agents.
Then, watch your dog! Let her tell you how the new food works for her. Keep track of what you’ve tried, so you can continue to make adjustments and big improvements in your dog’s diet – and, we hope, huge improvements in her physical condition, mental acuity, and overall energy level.
Thanks to the companies who sent samples for WDJ’s annual dry dog food review.
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Since 1998, the Whole Dog Journal has published a review of dry dog food in its February issue. This timing causes some difficulties, as I need to receive samples and literature about pet food companies and their products during the holiday season in order to complete the review in time to be printed in the February issue. Lots of company employees take annual vacations at this time, and they or their replacements are difficult to reach. Shipments get delayed, lost, or the request for them gets buried beneath a sea of “real” orders. The holidays themselves meant that shipping companies were closed on certain days.
I wish I could change the timing of the review, but it’s in my publisher’s hands. In the past, I’ve solicited the samples sooner – but then I’m literally tripping on bags of dog food in my home and office for weeks and weeks. I’ve also tried soliciting them sooner and, as they came in, examined, photographed, and donated them to my local shelter – but every time I’ve done that, I’ve found myself wishing I had the label to look at one more time after I’ve sent the bag away. It actually got to the point where I discouraged companies from sending samples; instead, I learned all I could about each company’s products from its website, the literature it sent me, and answers to the questions I sent them.
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But this year, I was determined to do better. It really does help me get a sense of what a company is all about to see its actual packaging. The amount of nutrients on its guaranteed analysis, the location and prominence of its “best by” date, the label claims and descriptions of its ingredients – it’s all very revealing.
Plus, this year, as a member of the Board of Directors of my local shelter (the Northwest SPCA in Oroville, CA) and frequent volunteer there, I’m acutely aware of how scarce donations have been this past year – and how many more dogs (and cats) have been surrendered to the shelter by their owners than in an average year. I donate all of the samples that I receive to the shelter – to Otto’s and my husband’s dismay. (Otto would like to “try” everything that comes in; he loves smelling the packages that arrive. My husband doesn’t fully understand why I continue to buy dog food when so much arrives “for free!”) I was determined to make this a banner year for both the food review and donations to the shelter.
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In the letter I sent to each company whose products are on WDJ’s “approved foods” list (asking for updated information about their products and manufacturing), I explained that every sample they could send would be donated to the NWSPCA – and that while larger donations wouldn’t get them a better review, they could at least rest assured that the food would do a lot of good. The NWSPCA serves the city of Oroville (where I live) as well as all of the unincorporated areas in Butte County, which is one of the poorest in California (per capita).
This year, I hired an assistant to help me shepherd the samples — from all the companies on WDJ’s “approved” foods list, through the holidays, into the editorial office, and back out of the office and into the Northwest SPCA. With her help, and the generosity of the companies on our “approved foods” list, we collected 1,100 pounds of pet food (some companies sent samples of their cat foods, too!) for the shelter. It was enough food to require the shelter to make two trips to pick up all the food.
Our thanks, and thanks from the NWSPCA, to all of the companies that sent samples for our review.
While researching this year’s dry dog food review (which starts on the facing page), I was struck by the overwhelming prevalence of two big trends in marketing and formulation. I’m not sure any pet food company is immune from these tactics – and I’m not yet convinced they will prove a benefit to dogs or dog owners.
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The first tactic is the “No!” approach. You know, “No Corn, wheat, or soy!” How tame those claims seem now. I’ve seen dog food bags and pet food company literature that proudly proclaims products free of beef, dairy products, eggs, pork, potatoes, and yeast.
The problem with each of these “no” statements is that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of those ingredients. In some of the latter cases, the pet food maker is not actually denigrating those ingredients; its trying to help the consumer identify products that contain less-common ingredients. However, the “no” approach plants a seed of doubt in the minds of many consumers. “Wait; why are potatoes bad?”
Corn, wheat, and soy have been historically overused in low-quality pet foods, in lieu of better-quality ingredients. But that doesn’t mean that the presence of any corn, wheat, or soy in a food is cause for immediate dismissal. Each contains nutrients that can be of some value when the ingredient is used in moderation in a food that is bursting with higher quality ingredients. I don’t want to see any of them in the top five or so ingredients in a food – but the appearance of one of them in an otherwise compelling food does not cause me to drop it in horror.
I also saw products labeled as having no added hormones, added steroids, added sugar, antibiotics, by-products, fillers, genetically modified organisms (GMO), and grain fractions. My favorite? “No potentially allergenic ingredients.” (I could write a book about how that one aggravates me. Anything can be an allergen for a given individual. There are dogs who are allergic to dust. How can anything be free of “potential allergens”?)
There is a valid concern behind each of these statements, and perhaps even a valuable service offered by a product that protects dogs from the threat implied by each. But for any but the most educated consumers, these claims are meaningless and confusing – especially when market rivals publish counter-claims; you know, one company’s “filler” is another company’s “beneficial fiber.” In my opinion, unless these claims are explained by educational material (and supported with valid research), they do more harm to the industry than good.
The other big trend this year is related, I guess: Grain-free (or gluten-free) foods. Everybody has one, and some companies have a bunch. Suddenly, the premium pet food niche is all about a low-glycemic index diet.
There is no doubt that this is a good thing for many dogs – but it’s not good news for every dog. While some improve and thrive on a grain-free diet, some dogs wither. And while it’s true that grains are not a natural part of an evolutionary diet for canines, many dogs can utilize them without problems.
I’m pleased that so much research and innovation is going on in the pet food industry, and I’m happy to have lots of grain-free formulas from which to choose. But let’s educate dog owners so they know to try different products for different dogs, notice the results, and continue with what works best for each individual.
Many years ago, when I was a Customer Care Supervisor at the Marin Humane Society, in Novato, California, we received a frantic phone call from a woman who had glanced over her fence and noticed her neighbor’s adolescent Dalmatian tangled up in her tie-out rope so badly that she couldn’t move. Rushing to the address, the Society’s humane officer did, indeed, find the tangled dog, but there was something suspicious about the scene. The rope was coiled and knotted so neatly around the dog’s legs that it left no room for doubt in the officer’s mind. On a sunny day, Pebbles had been deliberately hog-tied and left for hours with no access to water or shade. The officer quickly untied the dog to restore circulation to her swollen paws, then rushed her to a nearby veterinarian, where it was determined that Pebbles was mildly dehydrated, but, fortunately, suffering from no permanent damage. To add to the mystery, however, the vet found that Pebbles’ right hind leg and hip had been recently shaved for some sort of surgery. An investigation was clearly called for.
When questioned later, Pebbles’ 19-year-old owner explained that he had put his dog on her “punishment rope” because she had peed in the house, and he had forgotten to release her before he left for work. The surgery had been needed to repair a broken leg, inflicted on a prior occasion, when the owner claimed to have shoved the dog off the porch for peeing in the house. You must, he asserted with confidence, punish your dog for peeing in the house or she would never be housebroken. His method of punishment-based training clearly wasn’t working, since at the age of 10 months, poor Pebbles was still peeing in the house.
What the young Dalmatian’s owner didn’t realize was that not only is punishment a relatively ineffective means of housetraining a puppy, but his dog didn’t even have a housetraining problem. Instead, Pebbles was urinating submissively to try to appease her angry, violent owner, and all of the punishment her owner subjected her to was only making the problem worse.
Pebbles’ owner was charged with animal cruelty. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation and, to Pebbles’ everlasting good fortune, forfeited ownership of his dog. She was adopted to a more understanding owner who successfully implemented a proper training program, and in just a few short months Pebbles’ submissive urination was no longer a problem.
If you met Bonnie today, there’s a 95 percent chance you could greet her without having her pee on the floor. That wasn’t always the case. In fact, when we adopted the six-month-old Scorgidoodle six years ago her submissive urination behavior was so extreme I awarded my academy students extra credit points if they could greet her without making her pee. Only a few students earned those points the first year.
In fact, the adorable Bonnie had been surrendered to the shelter because her owners “couldn’t housetrain her.” Far too many dog owners mistake submissive and excitement urination as a house-training problem when they are actually behavioral issues. Sadly, many dogs are punished for these presentations of inappropriate urination; in both cases, this is the worst thing you can do, as it is highly likely to make the behavior worse, not better.
Some behavior professionals consider excitement and submissive urination to be on a continuum of the same behavior, while others make a clear distinction between the two. These are both involuntary behaviors, meaning the dog is not deliberately house soiling, but rather simply reacting to conditions in his environment. The behavior is not under his control.
In both cases, the first step is a trip to your dog’s veterinarian, to rule out any medical or physical causes for or contributors to the behavior, such as a urinary tract infection. Assuming no medical condition, the next step is behavior modification. Of the two behaviors, excitement urination is generally the easier to resolve, so let’s look at that one first.
Excitement Urination for Dogs
This is the canine equivalent of, “Whee! I’m so happy and excited I peed my pants!” This behavior is seen as simple immaturity, particularly common among young, exuberant dogs of many breeds and either gender, who have not yet developed complete neuromuscular control. The dog sometimes doesn’t even squat (or lift a leg), and may urinate while standing, walking, running, or jumping up and down. The best solution is tincture of time; many dogs simply outgrow the behavior as they attain physical maturity. Additionally, you can:
1. If possible, greet your dog outside, and have guests greet him outside. This won’t reduce the excitement urination, but will reduce clean-up chores.
2. Take your dog for more-frequent-than-normal walks so her bladder is always as empty as possible.
3. Teach your dog to relax, by calmly reinforcing relaxed behavior (lying down; standing calmly with four feet on the floor; sitting quietly to greet people). A relaxation protocol such as the one developed by Dr. Karen Overall can be very useful.
4. Provide your dog with more aerobic exercise. Off-leash hikes; playing with other dogs (where safe and legal); and good, hard fetching sessions with a ball or flying disk are all great ways to expend the excitement energy that can cause loss of bladder control. Tired dogs don’t get as excited as underexercised ones!
5. Greet your dog calmly, with quiet body language and a low tone of voice, and/or or don’t greet him at all until he calms down.
6. Instruct visitors to greet your dog calmly, with quiet body language and a low tone of voice, rather than encouraging excitement. (Teaching other humans to alter their dog-greeting behavior is often the most difficult task!)
7. Calmly ignore any damp greetings, and quietly ask your dog for a relaxation behavior you’ve already trained that is incompatible with excitement, such as lying in “sphinx position” or on his side, head on the floor.
8. Do not punish your dog – or yell or behave angrily, even if it’s not directed at him – if he makes a mistake.
Submissive Urination in Dogs
This behavior is more common in young dogs than older ones and in more females than males, and it appears more frequently in certain breeds, including Cocker Spaniels, Golden Retrievers, and Dachshunds – but can occur in any dog. Prime candidates for submissive urination are dogs who are also otherwise behaviorally submissive. Unlike excitement urination, a dog who pees submissively may also offer other appeasement behaviors such as a lowered body posture, flattened ears, rolling over, licking, and looking away. The dog may offer a subdued greeting or greet with some excitement.
The more assertive a human’s approach to a pee-prone dog, the more likely a puddle is to appear. Hence, men – especially large, deep-voiced men – are more apt to trigger urination than are soft-spoken, small women. Fast, direct, exuberant approaches by any human are riskier than slow, calm, approaches. Direct eye contact, patting the dog on top of his head, and bending over the dog are more likely to trigger submissive responses – including urination – than are averted eyes, kneeling sideways, and scratching the dog under his chin or on his chest.
Many dog owners are surprised to discover that submissive urination is a natural, normal behavior. It probably stems initially from the mother’s practice of stimulating reflexive urination in young puppies by licking the urogenital area. In the canine world, it keeps a lower-ranking member of a group safe from a higher-ranking member. The dog who squats and pees when greeting another dog sends a strong, clear message, saying, “I am not challenging you, I acknowledge your superiority, there’s no need to hurt me.” It usually works well, with other dogs. With humans, not so much. I try to convince my clients that their submissively peeing dogs are actually giving them a huge “You da boss!” compliment, in an effort to change their perception of – and response to – their dogs’ behavior.
While submissive urination behavior is innate, and occurs in many puppies up to the age of six to eight weeks in the presence of perceived threats to their safety, it normally ceases pretty quickly as the pup matures and gains confidence. However, it is exacerbated and more likely to continue into adolescence or even adulthood if it is mismanaged with inappropriate punishment or excessive control by an overbearing human or dog.
A pup who is punished by his owner for normal housetraining accidents (or other typical puppy transgressions such as chewing) may start offering submissive urination in anticipation of the punishment associated with his owner’s presence. Eventually, any time the owner (or another human) looks at, walks toward, reaches for, or touches the pup, he may urinate. Therefore, to prevent the development of submissive urination in your growing pup, manage his environment to prevent exposure to overbearing, punishment-oriented humans, and limit his access to dogs who may behave aggressively with or bully him, or be otherwise inappropriately assertive.
If it’s too late for prevention, or you are dealing with submissive urination despite your appropriate environmental management, all is not lost. It is possible to modify submissive urination, although it can take a healthy helping of time, patience, and commitment. Here’s how:
1. Whenever possible, greet the dog outdoors. Have someone let him out to greet you in a fenced yard or other safe area when you arrive home. If no one else is home, ignore the dog until you let him out, and then greet him outside.
2. Keep your greetings calm. Rapid body movements and loud or excited voices are more likely to trigger a release of urine in both submissive and excitement urinators. Move slowly and speak in a calm, soft voice. Have all family members and visitors follow the same behavior guidelines. The more consistent and successful everyone is in not triggering the behavior, the sooner it will go away.
3. Take him out frequently to pee outdoors. A full bladder releases more easily – and makes a larger puddle – than an empty or near-empty one.
4. When you do greet, either indoors or out, turn sideways to the dog, kneel down with your upper body straight rather than bending over, avoid direct eye contact, let him approach you, and scratch him under the chin rather than petting him on top of the head or on the back of the neck.
5. If an accident does happen, do not react verbally or physically. Calmly invite the dog outside and then clean up the puddle.
6. Give visitors treats or a toy to offer to your dog. This encourages the dog to increase body height and move forward (more assertive behaviors) and gives guests something to do other than pat the dog’s head.
7. Teach him to target. Like taking a treat, having him target his nose to your hand encourages him to offer a more assertive behavior in greeting. Invite your guests to ask him to target to their hands – open palm, fingers pointed down.
8. Implement other confidence-building protocols such as “Find It” and “Treat and Retreat.” (For more about these bravery-building exercises, see “Building Your Dog’s Confidence Up“.) When you can’t control the behavior of your visitors, perhaps during a large party, keep your dog crated or closed in a safe room, where he won’t be subjected to urination-eliciting behavior.
9. Use one of the various doggie diaper or belly-band products that are availableto catch the urine and prevent damage to carpets and floors while you work on modifying the behavior.
10. Remember that your dog can’t help it. Reminding yourself that he cannot control his response helps you to avoid getting angry and minimizes the possibility that you may inadvertently send body language signals that tell your dog you are upset and as a result trigger more submissive urination.
11. Take your dog to a good, positive training class. Not only can the trainer help you with the submissive urination challenge, but the improved communication between you and your dog that occurs as a result of positive training will help him gain more confidence and end his submissive responses sooner.
12. If modification efforts are not successful and the behavior continues into your dog’s adulthood, consult a veterinary behaviorist or behavior-knowledgeable veterinarian about the use of medications that can increase the dog’s general muscle tone and control, including the muscles of the urethra.
Successful Greetings
If you have a submissive or excitement urinator, you can be very optimistic. Most dogs can overcome these problems relatively easily with appropriate management and modification techniques. Our beloved Bonnie, now almost seven, has been one of the most persistent cases I’ve ever encountered. In addition to her submissive urination, she is one of the less reliably housetrained dogs I’ve ever owned, supporting the theory of weak urethra muscles. She is still crated at night, to ensure an accident-free sleep time.
However, I no longer award extra-credit points to academy students for pee-free greetings. At one time so sensitive that simply walking toward her could trigger a puddle, Bonnie is now mostly pee-free when met with normal low-key greetings. (I do still warn students of the need to greet her calmly.) If I try, I can still elicit a small puddle from her in one circumstance – when she has something in her mouth I need to take from her (she does have a tendency to pick up stuff!). When she does, I avoid a pee response simply by trading her for a treat, rather than just taking the object away (a better approach to retrieving an object from your dog anyway!). However, my husband and I no longer have to use any caution at all when greeting her – we can bend over, pat her on the head, hug her, and do all the other normal, stupid-primate things we humans like to do to our dogs. If Bonnie can do it, your dog can, too.
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CDBC, is WDJ’s Training Editor. Author of numerous books on positive dog training, she lives in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center, where she offers dog training classes and courses for trainers.
“I think it’s really important for dog trainers to get a lot of experience being a student before becoming a teacher. Take as many classes as you can, in numerous disciplines, with your own dog. You’ll learn how different classes are structured and what you like and don’t like about them. When not actively working with your own dog, observe the other students and see how the instructor works with a variety of dogs and people.” Dede Crough Give a Dog a Break, Chester Counter, PA
“If it’s a business, not a hobby, you need to know how to run a business. Have a business plan. Know what your start-up costs will be. Know what will be the most effective advertising strategy for the first six months. Plan for your professional development as part of your costs. Get liability insurance. Be professional from the very first day.” Marilyn Wolf, BS, CBCC-KA Korrect Kritters, New Port Richey, FL
“People who want to enter this difficult, but rewarding, profession must be willing to pay their dues. I’ve had several calls from people – including some former clients – who have decided they want to become a dog trainer and want to know how to proceed. When I tell them to join the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), attend conferences, read books, shadow a trainer, help teach classes and volunteer at a shelter, most thank me for my time and never call back. In my opinion [dog training schools] alone won’t make anybody a competent trainer. You need practice, experience, observation of hundreds or thousands of dogs, many workshops and seminars, and lots of reading to be good at what you do. Every book, every workshop, every video holds the potential for giving you the perfect way to explain a difficult concept to a frustrated client, or the best way to get through to a difficult dog.” Rick Riggs, CPDT-KA Happy Training! Dog Training, LLC, Topeka, Kansas
“It is very important that you enjoy problem-solving; not everyone does. Training dogs and their people requires more than being technically proficient. You may know exactly how to change a dog’s behavior, but if the dog’s handler cannot or will not carry out your plan, you must be prepared to switch to Plan B, or Plan C, or even Plan Z. Be flexible, listen to what the client says – and then believe them when they tell you who they are. If they tell you they want a problem fixed now, creating a painfully detailed training plan is unlikely to be successful; perhaps management would be a better solution for that particular dog team.” Christina Waggoner, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP Deschutes River Dogs, Bend, OR
“I think it’s extremely important to schedule specific times to work on the business: accounting, taxes, advertising, networking, etc. It’s important to stay on top of these things. Social media is really taking off for dog professionals, so I spend quite a bit of time adding content to my company’s Facebook page and blog.” Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP Spring Forth Dog Services, Randolf, Massachusetts
Despite a lagging economy, the pet care industry continues to thrive, experiencing a steady increase for the past 17 years. According to the American Pet Products Association, we spent more than $50 billion on our animal friends in 2011. With an estimated 46 million American households owning at least one dog, many long-time dog lovers are considering a career partnership with man’s best friend.
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Regardless of what inspires you to explore a career training dogs, it’s critically important to recognize that, above all, dog training is a profession. As such, there are many important considerations and obligations to be aware of.
Dog Training is People Training Don’t let the “dog trainer” title fool you. I once heard Kathy Sdao, an associate certified animal behaviorist in Tacoma, Washington, joke about how, the next time she has business cards printed, she’ll replace the words “dog training” with “primate training.” Even when you think life has “gone to the dogs,” you’ll still find yourself logging a substantial number of hours engaged in the art of dealing with humans. In fact, interacting with people makes up the lion’s share of a career in dog training.
Dog training is a service-oriented profession; dog trainers work with people who happen to own dogs. Even trainers who specialize in board-and-train programs, where they work with a dog in the owner’s absence, must develop and maintain strong “people skills” in order to successfully communicate to the owner how to effectively maintain newly learned skills once the dog is back in the home.
If you’ve ever worked in a service industry, you know about the wide range of personality types that comprise the client pool. Some clients are friendly, attentive, and a joy to serve. Others are argumentative, cranky, and can make the art of good customer service seem just shy of impossible. Guess what? Those same personality types are often dog owners. As a dog trainer, you’re likely to encounter all types of clients: from the dedicated dog owner who is detailed and compliant, to the unorganized complainer who shows up late for lessons, doesn’t log necessary training hours, and still complains about his dog’s behavior.
We can’t stress this point enough. Most people are attracted to a career as a dog trainer because they like working with dogs, and quickly find the real work often lies in working with dog owners. On most days, a good dog trainer is part instructor, part coach and part problem-solver. Other days, being a dog trainer feels more like an ad-hoc relationship counselor as you sit with a couple arguing over who did more (or less) of the training that week; or a potential emergency worker as you do your best to politely yet firmly educate a new client on why the way to “fix” the issue of the dog growling at the toddler is not to help the toddler pin the dog to the ground.
By the time many people come to consult a professional trainer, they’re already frustrated with their dogs and near the end of their rope. They want behavior change and they want it yesterday. They’ve often already received bad advice by well-meaning friends and family that goes against how you believe dogs should be treated. The job of the trainer is to figure out how best to communicate with each client as an individual, in a way that allows the person to be receptive to your input. You might encounter situations where, in your head, all you can think is, “Are you nuts?!” but if you respond as such, even just out of your passion for dogs, you’ll likely alienate the client. If this happens, everybody loses – especially the dog. Trainer and author Ian Dunbar invites his dog training students, when they grow frustrated with a difficult client, to imagine a syringe full of euthanasia solution – the worst possible conclusion if a dog owner can’t achieve some satisfaction with the dog’s behavior. In the end, your ultimate success depends on your ability to motivate, inform, retain, and inspire people.
Learn Before You Earn Dog training is an unregulated industry. Unlike becoming a lawyer or a doctor, anyone can decide to be a dog trainer, advertise herself as such, and begin accepting money for working with dogs.
“There’s not one obvious entry point into the profession,” says Veronica Boutelle of dog*tec, an Oregon-based consulting company for professional dog trainers. “It’s important to recognize that nobody will say you have to, but there’s an ethical obligation to become as educated about dogs, dog behavior, and training as possible.”
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Loving dogs is not enough. “Our conventional wisdom about dogs is misleading in a number of ways,” explains Boutelle. “There are a whole lot of things we, as a society, think we know about dogs, that in reality, we have strangely backwards. Those misconceptions can get us into a lot of trouble when we start working with dogs professionally.”
Dogs communicate via often incredibly complex body language. To the average dog owner, a wagging tail always indicates a friendly dog; the dog who fails to run away when hugged by a child obviously enjoys the interaction; and the snappy little dog must have a Napoleon complex. The educated dog trainer likely sees a different picture by analyzing the rest of the dogs’ body language within various contexts.
In seeking an education, there are several routes to pursue. According to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, most people employed as dog trainers are largely “self-educated” through extensive reading; attending seminars, workshops, and conventions; and, in many cases, mentoring with another trainer.
For students looking for a more structured academic approach, a handful of dog trainer schools exist, offering both online and in-person programs ranging from six days to six months and costing from $1,200 to more than $5,500. “Most dog trainers who are committed to professional, ethical dog training attend multiple schools in order to get a well-rounded education,” says Boutelle. “Serious dog trainers’ resumes are full of workshops and seminars; it’s an extremely extensive field.”
When researching schools and continuing education opportunities, it’s important to do your homework. We recommend limiting the list to schools that focus on scientifically sound, ethical, and humane training practices as opposed to programs that employ more “traditional” methods involving dominance, intimidation, and physical punishment.
Be cautious of school and programs promoting an ability to produce “certified” dog trainers. Regardless of what school you attend, earning a certificate is the program’s way of acknowledging that a student has successfully completed the fee-based program requirements. This is different from an independent assessment of the student’s general knowledge and ability as a trainer. Trainers seeking an independent certification can, upon meeting certain requirements, apply to test with the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.
Experience Needed “One of the biggest issues we’ve found, especially with the popularity of the Internet, is that people coming into the profession have a great deal of knowledge but, often, not a lot of mechanical skills,” says Mychelle Blake, executive director of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. “I’ve seen a lot of people who have a business card and who call themselves trainers, but you hand them a strange dog in a workshop and they can’t get the dog to sit.” She, like Boutelle, stresses the importance of gaining education from a variety of sources, both academic and practical.
“I tell everybody, above all else, get yourself to a shelter. Volunteer. Even if it’s just walking dogs, you’ll learn so much from that,” says Blake. “The ability to ‘read’ dogs is so important. You need to be knowledgeable about different breeds, and you need to see dogs at their best and worst states. In a shelter, you’ll see the most lovely, well-behaved dog who maybe lost his home because of foreclosure, and you’ll see the crazy, adolescent Pit Bull-mix. That kind of experience is so vitally important and it’s something I don’t see trainers, even experienced trainers, doing enough of. It’s such a tremendous educational experience, whether you’re just coming into the profession or you’ve been it for years. It’s also a great public service.”
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Trainers must also remain mindful, throughout their careers, of what types of cases they feel comfortable and qualified to safely and successfully handle. It can be dangerous (and can have legal consequences) to decide to take on a too-difficult case for your level of experience.
Because so much of dog training revolves around working with people, Blake also recommends accruing skills in teaching methods and interpersonal communication. Dog training is rooted in science, but the act of teaching is an art. The ability to present the same information in different ways can go a long way toward helping the human end of your dog-human team achieve success. Some people learn best by listening, some by watching, and others by actually doing. Good trainers know how to develop solid lesson plans and can explain the mechanics of specific behavior skills with an emphasis on each individual learning style.
Susan Smith, owner of Raising Canine, recommends that trainers strive to interact with their human clients much like they do the canine variety. “We need to view clients as learners just as we do the dogs,” she says. “I think dog trainers often assume clients absorb more of the session than they do. We talk at them for an hour or more and impart a lot of information – information we know well. I don’t think it’s possible for them to take it all in and understand and remember it.”
Smith provides a range of science-based education and business services to animal professionals. She says one way trainers can help human students become successful learners is to break things down and be specific. “For example, instead of telling clients to ‘raise the criteria a little bit,’ we need to tell them exactly what the next criteria is. To us a “little bit” might be duration going from five seconds to seven seconds, but to them it might be from five seconds to 30 seconds,” Smith says. This requires good communication skills and the ability to clearly verbalize one’s actions, which is sometimes easier said than done when it comes to something you’ve been doing for so long, it has become second nature.
Smith also recommends using human analogies to help normalize elements of dog behavior. For example, one could explain resource guarding by admitting to imagining sticking her fork in her brother’s hand as he stole French fries off her plate when they were kids.
Dog trainers must also be comfortable with – and skilled at – handling difficult conversations. Trainers are often in the position of helping clients make tough decisions about whether or not a dog should remain in the home, or even, in extreme cases, if the dog should be euthanized. The ability to listen and provide compassionate counsel without personal judgment is an important skill that doesn’t come naturally for a lot of people – especially when dealing with something we’re personally passionate about, like dogs.
Mind Your Own Biz “The reality is that there are very few jobs available for dog trainers,” Boutelle says. Some of the larger training and daycare facilities will provide full-time positions, but not many, and the big chain stores don’t offer full-time training. You can get an independent contractor position, but it’s usually 5 to 10 hours per week. You need to recognize that if you want to do training for a living, in most cases, that will also mean owning a business.”
As the former Director of Training and Behavior at the Academy of Dog Trainers (when it was based at the San Francisco SPCA), Boutelle reports a disappointing long-term success rate among self-employed graduates. “These were great trainers with solid people and dog skills and many just wouldn’t make it; they’d go back to their previous career – not because they didn’t know how to train dogs, but because they didn’t know how to properly run a business.” This phenomenon is what led Boutelle to launch dog*tec in 2003. The company specializes in business and marketing support for dog professionals. Her team’s goal is to “help positive reinforcement training professionals achieve financial success and personal fulfillment,” through one-on-one consulting (including career change counseling) and a host of additional products and services.
“Most dog trainers don’t become business owners because they set out to, or because they have a business background,” explains Boutelle. I think a lot of trainers out there, if they had a choice, would rather draw a salary than work for themselves. We try to take the fear out of it and help them build a business skill set, along with the training skill set, so that people can do what they love – which is train dogs – and make it sustainable for the long haul.” She says the most common mistakes dog trainers make are related to marketing: either not marketing enough or making poor marketing choices such as relying too heavily on word-of-mouth referrals. “Word-of-mouth does not work in this industry until you are established,” explains Boutelle.
Time can be a tricky challenge for dog trainers. While it’s a wonderful perk to be able to set your own hours as a self-employed dog trainer, the reality is that leisure time can be difficult to come by. Few full-time dog trainers enjoy the luxury of two days off, especially in the early days (years!) of starting a business. “In the beginning, you’re working a start-up business; you’re going to put in a lot of unpaid hours,” says Boutelle.
Beware of Burnout Long days (paid or unpaid), scarce time off, and the often emotionally challenging nature of the business, make burnout a real threat to professional dog trainers. To prevent burnout, Blake stresses the importance of scheduling time for oneself. “Do not work seven days a week; you need to make sure there’s time for yourself, your spouse, your kids and your own dogs,” she says. “So many trainers have untrained dogs because we spend all our time working with clients and their dogs. If you don’t make time for yourself, you’re heading for a fall. Even if it seems okay in the beginning, it’s not sustainable.” She also recommends utilizing support services such as in-person and online trainer networks, and participating in a hobby that has nothing to do with dogs or training.
Go Forth and Prosper Despite the challenges, dog training can be an extremely rewarding and successful career. Most trainers agree that even a bad day training dogs is better than a good day stuck in a downtown high-rise. The joy trainers experience when watching a dog and owner transform from adversaries to teammates can make it all worth it – even the scary business-owning part.
“It takes an incredible person to wake up one morning and say, ‘I’m going to do what I love for a living and I’m going to pursue my dream, follow my passion and make it work,’” says Boutelle. “If you truly have the passion and you’ve weighed all the pros and cons and it’s still what you want to do, then you set your foot on the path and you do not let anyone knock you off. Go get the education and learn everything you can about dog training and running a business and then go forth and prosper. To find the strength to do that is really something special.”
Stephanie Colman has been training dogs in Los Angeles for 10 years. She actively competes in obedience and agility with her Golden Retriever, Quiz and enjoys spoiling her retired Whippet, Zoie.
When I compared a nutritional analysis of Preference plus turkey to the 2006 National Research Council (NRC) nutrient recommendations, the minerals zinc, copper, and selenium, vitamins D and E, and possibly some B vitamins were all low. This is because commercial dog foods are designed to meet nutrient profiles established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAF CO), which are based on older research published by the NRC in 1985.
Instead of supplementing with vitamin E alone, Allen could give a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement made for either humans or dogs to help make up for the differences between the AAF CO and NRC guidelines. Most one-a-day multivitamins that are designed to provide 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA ) for people, such as Centrum for Adults under 50, would supply appropriate amounts of vitamins and minerals for dogs when giving 1 tablet per 40 to 50 pounds of body weight daily. Supplements made for dogs could also be used. Allen should use salmon oil rather than cod liver oil if the supplement contains significant amounts of vitamin D.
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?”
