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Off Leash Training: Building Reliability

By
Mardi Richmond, CPDT-KA
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12
off leash training

Dogs romping, playing, running free. I don’t think there is anything quite as beautiful and exhilarating as watching my dogs take off through an open field – their powerful, long strides, muscles glistening as they race each other through the tall grass. Wild dogs uninhibited by leash or fence. Off leash training can help you and your dog achieve this!

Equally exhilarating is that moment when I call and they turn in tandem, racing each other back to me. After eight years, I am still in awe when my dogs respond with such instant enthusiasm. I am in awe not because it hasn’t happened with amazing regularity – it has. But rather because these two dogs are not the easygoing, stick-with-you type of dogs that make off-leash reliability a given. (They are more like the kind of dog you might see running away down the beach with a person in hot pursuit. You know the type. Perhaps you even share your life with one.)

If you do have a dog whose off-leash skills leave something to be desired, the tips in this article may help you gain the reliability you want, so both you and your dog can enjoy more freedom.

off leash dog walking

Off Leash Risks

I need to start with a word of caution: There is no way to guarantee the safety of your dog off leash. I would like to think that if we trained hard enough, or long enough, or with the right methods, that we could overcome all of the risks, that our dogs really could be completely reliable and safe. But the fact is that when dogs are off leash in an unsecured area, there will always be a chance that their instincts or desires will lead them into the path of danger. In addition, our environment is often unpredictable. When dogs are off leash, there is the chance of a sudden bang, an unexpected animal, or something else that may frighten or harm our dogs.

So why train for off-leash skills? Why not keep our animals on leash or in a safely secured area at all times? As hard as we may try to contain our dogs, the day may come when a gate is left open and our dogs are off leash unexpectedly. And, besides, dogs love to run, romp, and explore. Time spent off leash gives our dogs physical and mental exercise, keeping them healthy and happy. While 100 percent reliability may not be possible, the risks associated with a dog being off leash will be greatly minimized through a combination of training and management.

Off Leash Training

For your dog to learn to respond when off leash, start by training without the aid of a leash whenever possible. This may seem obvious. But many of us spend weeks in dog classes working on sit, stay, down, and come with our dogs on a six-foot leash. When we head to the beach or woods and snap off the leash, our dogs act as if they’ve never been to training class. Unfortunately, on-leash training – while valuable for on-leash behaviors – can’t prepare either of you for the challenges of the off-leash experience.

This is partly due to the fact that people often and inadvertently use physical cues such as a slight pressure on the leash to help the dog know what they want. When the dog and handler lose that added signal, their communication falls apart.

Of course, you can’t simply head out to the stimulating environment of the park and expect your dog to behave as he would on leash in a quiet, controlled atmosphere. Start at home, in your kitchen or living room. When your dog can easily and happily move through a repertoire of off-leash skills in your home, move your training to the backyard. When he is an expert in the backyard, move to the (fenced) front yard, then to a fenced park. As your dog becomes more and more reliable working off leash, he will find it easier to respond to you even in new environments.

Include Training in Daily Play

I have a friend who claims she doesn’t like “training.” She has, however, taught her dogs to ride in the car, sit before dinner, stay when asked, race each other across the park on cue, come when called, retrieve a ball, hop into the bathtub, and a whole lot more – all without the aid of a dog class or training drills. How has she done this? She simply incorporates big rewards for good behavior into everyday life.

Incorporating off-leash training into daily activities can help you and your dog prepare for off-leash adventures. Your dog will learn to respond to you everywhere, all of the time. Simply offer big rewards for good behavior when you and your dog play, walk, feed, or just hang out.

In addition, incorporate off-leash exercises into your dog’s favorite experiences. Think about the types of play and activity your dog finds most engaging. Does your dog enjoy playing with other dogs? Chasing Frisbees? Tug games? Sniffing the ground in search of gophers? Dinner time? Incorporate off-leash training into each of these activities. For a dog that loves playing with other dogs, you can use dog play as a reward for a fabulous recall or a great down. If your dog loves sniffing the ground and exploring, you can teach him searching games (described below). If your dog loves to eat more than anything, have him work for his dinner.

Recall Games to Train With

Turning your recall practice into fun and games helps both you and your dog enjoy the training. Mix your “regular” training sessions with sessions of the following recall games:

Back and forth recall game. For this game, you will need another person. Call your dog between the two of you. Each time your dog comes, give a great big happy reward (silly play, jumping up and down, great food treat, play ball, etc.)

Hide and seek. Have your dog stay in one spot. Go into another room and hide. Ask your dog to “COME find me” (emphasize the word “Come!”). When your dog finds you, give a great big happy reward. Repeat 3 to 10 times, and stop while your dog is really engaged. Once your dog knows this game, you can initiate a game of it unexpectedly. Example: At the beach, dart behind a rock and call, “Come find me!” When your dog finds you, get crazy happy.

Dinner time recalls. Have your dog sit or down and stay while you prepare his dinner. Continue to have your dog stay while you take the dinner into another room. Call your dog to you; dinner is his reward.

“You’re the most wonderful dog” recall. Call your dog to you. When your dog comes, get down on the ground and play, play, play for at least three solid minutes.

Ball between the legs. Call your dog to you. As she comes running, throw a ball (or a favorite treat) between your legs and call “get it.” (Or, if your dog is too big to walk between your legs, you can simply turn around and toss the ball.) Remember to say “get it” when your dog goes by so she doesn’t start to think the recall means to run past you.

Avoid Food “Lures”

Positive reinforcement training and the use of a reward marker, like a clicker or the word “Yes!” are essential tools for training off leash. Reward markers let your dog know that he got it right and the reward is coming, even when he’s 20, 30, or more feet away. A dog who is appropriately rewarded for his efforts will quickly learn to listen and respond off leash. Make his rewards match the difficulty of the exercise. In other words, make his response worthwhile!

However, it is very important that you don’t rely on a lure, such as a visible food supply or toys – when working on off-leash skills. It’s fine at first to hold out a treat for your dog to see while encouraging him to come to you, but repeated and ongoing use of a lure will fail more often than not in novel off-leash environments.

If your dog sees in advance what reward you are offering in exchange for a given behavior, he can weigh its value against whatever it is that he’d rather be doing, say, chasing a squirrel. You might even witness his thought process, “Hmm. Dog biscuit? Or squirrel chase? Dog biscuit? Squirrel chase?” In this case, the squirrel chasing will generally win the dog’s attention.

Instead, always make the rewards for off-leash behaviors interesting, exciting, and most importantly, unpredictable. I find it helpful to list all of the things my dog likes – from favorite food and toys, to freedom and doggy play – and rank them in order with his favorites at the top of the list. For one of my dogs, a tennis ball easily tops all other rewards. For the other, chicken chunks and chasing small animals (not a reward I choose to use) compete for the number one spot. Freedom, or the chance to run and romp like wild dogs, is probably next on both of their lists.

Pick your dog’s top five or six rewards and, if possible, reserve those for off-leash training. Mix up his favorites, varying which one you give him for which behavior. When you keep your dog guessing, he will stay engaged, giving you an edge in a stimulating environment like a dog park or beach. For example, when I call my dog to me, she may get a romping game of ball, a chunk of fresh chicken, or a dog treat followed by a release to go off and play again. She’s never sure which will be coming. For an especially difficult recall, she may even get them all.

Recall Rules for Off-Leash Success

These simple rules will help you and your dog maintain a reliable recall.

1. Don’t end play by calling your dog to you. Instead, go get your dog or wait until he is ready to come to you on his own.

2. Always follow a recall with one of your dog’s favorite things, be it food, a Frisbee, or playing with another dog.

3. Do a few “high-value” recalls right away during off-leash play; let your dog know that coming to you will be worth his while. Then release your dog to play again.

4. Work on your timing. It may be very difficult for dogs to “hear and obey” when they are in the middle of greeting another dog, the moment they find a great smell, or in the midst of a prey drive chase (after a squirrel, for example). At these times, you can increase your chances of success by calling him at the moment he can most easily disengage from his other activity. For example, if your dog is greeting another dog, wait for the moment when you can see they are about to turn away from each other, then call your dog.

5. Avoid repeatedly calling your dog when you know he won’t or can’t come. Go get him instead.

6. Always (and this is a golden rule) act or behave as if your dog is the most wonderful being in the world when he comes to you – no matter what he was doing before he came.

Build a Reliable Recall

Some people might think coming when called should top the list for building off-leash reliability. Coming when called, or the recall, is indeed the backbone of off-leash skills. A dog that will come immediately in almost any situation is safest off leash. But I’ve found that without the first three tips (training off leash, making training part of daily play, and training positively without the use of lure), it’s almost impossible to train a reliable recall. Once you’re incorporating the first three tips, training a recall becomes much easier.

For a dog or puppy that doesn’t yet know “come,” you can start by encouraging him to move toward you. When your dog gets to you, Click! (or use another reward marker, such as the word “Yes!”) and give him a treat. Instead of feeding the treat from your hand, toss it a short distance away. Tossing the treat moves your dog away from you, so he will have to move toward you again for the next Click! and treat. Wait for your dog to come back to you (after eating the treat). When he gets to you, Click! and toss the treat. When he is consistently coming to you for the Click! and treat toss, you can start adding the word “come.” (For more details on teaching your dog to come, see “Why a Reliable Recall is So Important,” WDJ December 2000.)

The secret to building a reliable recall is to teach your dog to come when called in a low distraction environment (like your living room) and then very gradually train him to respond in the face of increasing distractions. Increase the distractions slowly enough so that your dog can handle it. Consistently and repeatedly reward successful recalls while avoiding situations where your dog may not come when called. The biggest mistake most of us make when training a recall is expecting our dogs to automatically be able to come in difficult situations from the get-go.

When teaching the recall, plan frequent practice times. They don’t have to be long or formal – a couple of fun repetitions in the middle of playtime is great – but do try to train a little on most days. Practice your recalls with the following in mind:

• Pay attention to what distracts your dog. This is another time when it may be helpful to make a list. Write down what your dog finds distracting and rank those distractions from easiest to overcome to those that are the most difficult. For example, a young puppy may find everything in his environment distracting – from a leaf on the ground, to a new person coming into the room, to a dog across the street. An older dog may be able to ignore the leaf, but a new person or dog may still pose a challenge. To really build a successful recall, plan on practicing with at least 30 different distractions.

• Practice your recall with one distraction at a time, starting with the easiest distraction on the list and progressing to the most challenging. Practice at the easiest level until your dog will come happily each time he is called in spite of the distraction. This could take one or two practice sessions for some distractions, but may take up to a week or more for others.

• Practice each level of distraction in a variety of places – the more places the better. For example, for a puppy who is distracted by a leaf on the ground, practice with a leaf as a distraction in your living room. Then practice with a leaf as a distraction in a bedroom, the kitchen, and the garage. Next, take the leaf outside in the backyard and front yard. Then graduate to a local park during a quiet time of day (like 7 am), where you can practice around lots of leaves.

• Make the value of your dog’s reinforcement match the difficulty of the recall. The more difficult the distraction or training situation, the better the reward. Continue to reinforce your dog’s recall with high-value treats or games until he comes when called consistently and reliably even in the face of all different kinds of distractions. Be careful not to make the mistake of thinking that because your dog “knows” to come when called, that you can stop giving great rewards every time.

• If you have a dog with a lot of experience in not coming when called, you may have greater success starting over with recall training. Pretend that you’ve never trained a recall before. Pick a new word (for example, instead of “come” you can say “here”) and start training from the beginning. You’ll find that your dog will progress faster than if you try to re-teach using the same word.

By systematically teaching your dog to come when called, you can gradually “proof” the behavior so that he can respond successfully in increasingly difficult situations. This sounds like a lot of work, and it is. But the work will pay off big time when your dog responds to your recall with great enthusiasm under even the most difficult circumstances.

Moving Away

The ability for dogs to herd or run agility requires communication at a distance. A dog who works as team member in these or other off-leash activities learns that he is “working” even when the leash is off and he is some distance from his handler.

One of the best ways to ensure that your dog will stay “connected” to you at a distance is to teach him that it’s rewarding to come when called and to move away when asked. The idea is to shift his concept of off-leash time from one of a vacation away from you to one of a vacation with you. You want your dog to understand that staying connected with you while running, romping, and playing will ultimately make play time even more rewarding.

Even if you’re not into dog sports and you don’t live on a sheep ranch, you can incorporate some distance behaviors in your everyday play. Some that I find fun include:

• Go out: With this exercise, you teach your dog to move away from you across a yard or field. Teach your dog to “target,” that is, touch an object such as a highway cone or a small plastic lid with his nose. Begin by shaping your dog to touch the target while it is near you. When your dog is happily touching the target next to you, gradually move it farther away. Build up to sending your dog 20 or 30 feet to the target. (See “Right on Target,” March 2001 for more details on teaching targeting.)

Alternatively, teach your dog to “go out” with ball play. Just before you toss the ball, say “Go!” Soon your dog will race away when he hears the word, before you throw the ball. At that point, you can send your dog out and then ask for another behavior, like a distance down, before tossing the ball.

• Around: The easiest way to teach your dog to go around something is to use a chair as the “around” object. Stand on one side and motion your dog around the chair with your hand or a treat. Once he gets the idea, you can use just a hand motion, giving your dog a Click! and treat as he rounds the chair and turns back toward you. Use your reward marker the moment your dog turns back to you; if you Click! too early, he may turn back toward you the way he came.

After he will happily circle the chair, you can gradually move away until you can send him around the chair from a distance. Later, you can have him circle trees or other natural features. It’s a great way for him to get exercise while working on off-leash skills!

• Right and left: Teaching your dog to turn to his right or left on cue is a fun (and impressive) off-leash behavior. As with the “go out” exercise, you can teach this with either a target (good for food-motivated dogs!) or with a ball (better for toy-motivated dogs). Start with either the right or left – don’t try to teach them both at the same time.

Let’s say you choose the left. Begin with your dog sitting on your left side – facing the same direction as you – and a ball in your left hand. Say the word “Left” and a half-second later toss the ball to the left. Soon your dog will begin anticipating the toss and turning to the left when he hears the word. After your dog has this down, try it with your dog sitting on your right side, but still asking him to turn to the left. This will make him think a bit more as he will have to move around you to perform the behavior.

Next, try it with the dog facing you. The tricky part here is remembering to toss the ball to the dog’s left – not yours! (One of my students came up with the great idea of putting a chalk mark on her dog’s left ear to help her remember which way to toss the ball. Since she never made mistakes in her cues, her dog never got confused.)

Don’t start working on “right” until your dog has his “left” down pat. Train the rights and lefts at separate times until he can do them both easily. Then you can start mixing them up and impressing your friends!

• Find it: This is a particularly fun behavior for a dog whose nose always seems to be on the ground. Start with a favorite toy or a treat. Show him the toy or treat, then place it in plain sight nearby. Lead your dog to the item. When he starts to sniff it or pick it up, say “Find it!” After a few times, he will start to go to the item on his own. When he happily moves away from you to the treat or toy, hide it behind a tree or rock. At first, let your dog see where you put it, but once he understands the game, make it harder to find. Before you know it, your dog will be a “find it” fanatic.

Train for Safety, Too

When your dog is off leash, two simple behaviors can add to his safety:

• Leave it or Off. Teaching your dog the “Leave it” or “Off” behavior can be of great value in off-leash situations. (See “Teaching Your Dog ‘Off’,” January 2002, for detailed instruction in teaching “off.”) I practice “Leave it” with my dogs around food, other animals, and people. You can use it if your dog finds a tasty piece of garbage or if he wants to visit another dog. It’s also a helpful behavior when you have a friendly dog who wants to meet every person she passes. For those happy canines that love to roll in smelly things, a well-timed “Off!” can prevent a bath later on!

• Distance down or down on recall: Imagine your dog is across the street from you; perhaps the gate was left open and he wandered over to visit the neighbor’s dog. He sees you and is ready to race toward you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a car coming. You raise your hand, giving the signal for your dog to down. Your dog drops. The car speeds by. The coast is then clear and you can now safely call your dog to you. Teaching your dog to down at a distance can save his life in an emergency.

Your dog should know how to do a “down” on cue when she’s near you. “Shape” faster and faster responses, by marking and rewarding your dog’s increasingly quick responses. Then, gradually increase the distance between you and your dog as you ask for the down. When you are far apart, it may be inconvenient to keep up a liberal reinforcement (treat) schedule for her successes, but make sure you do. You want her to be highly motivated to perform the down as quickly as possible.

Respect Your Dog’s Limits

Every dog has limits. Some dogs have special fears that may compromise their off-leash safety – for example, some dogs will run blindly at the sound of anything that sounds like a gun, including a distant backfiring car. Others may have strong drives that can lead them astray, such as the fresh scent of a pheasant for a hunting dog, or the sight of a rabbit running for a sight hound. Get to know your dog’s limits, understand what motivates him, and anticipate when and where you may have problems. You may be able to set up special training situations to work through some challenges; for example, for the noise-phobic dog, you can slowly increase the amount of “background noise” in your training area with a portable stereo.

With other dogs, it may not be worth the effort it would take to make them reliable in certain situations; you may need to disallow off-leash play with some dogs in certain situations. For a dog who is fearful of loud thunder, for example, it’s best to keep the leash on when a storm is coming.

Dogs with high prey drive and car chasers are two other examples. While the dog’s behavior can be improved through training in each case, he may never be completely safe off-leash when near prey animals or moving cars, respectively. The more aware you are of your dog’s limits, the better you will be able to determine when and where to let your dog romp free.

The Freedom Balance

You’ve probably seen one – a dog who is off leash all the time and responds to his handler’s cues almost instantly. For a dog who has freedom all of the time, attention from his handler becomes more rewarding than the freedom.

Conversely, a dog who gets very little freedom will find it hard to do anything but revel in joy when he does finally get the opportunity to run, romp, and explore. The best of treats (or the worst of punishments) may not be enough to dissuade a dog who gets only fleeting experiences with freedom. In fact, for many of our dogs, being off leash is such a novel experience that they will lose their brains (and all of their good training) whenever the leash is snapped off. The only way to combat this syndrome is to provide your dog with as many off-leash romps as possible.

For those of us who live in areas with strict leash laws, off leash romps can be difficult to arrange – difficult, but not impossible. Here are a few ideas:

➤ Find parks, trails, or beaches in your area where dogs are allowed off leash. Plan weekend romps to nearby parks or forests.

➤ Visit fenced playgrounds early in the morning or after dusk, when they are empty. (This is a safe option for dogs that are still learning to come when called.) Visit fenced sporting areas such as tennis courts or baseball fields when games aren’t in progress.

➤ Sign up for training classes that offer off-leash play time. Or enroll your dog in doggy daycare, even for just a day or two a week.

➤ Make play dates with your dog’s friends. Take turns going to different homes. Someone else’s backyard is a novel off-leash environment for your dog. (Of course, this is recommended only for dogs who do well with other dogs in their homes.) Or visit dog-less friends who are amiable to your dog exploring their backyards. Remember to allow your dog to romp off leash only where it is allowed and where it is safe.

Mardi Richmond lives in Santa Cruz, California, where she teaches agility for fun classes and writes about dogs. She is the co-author of Ruffing It: The Complete Guide to Camping with Dogs.

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By
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The Whole Dog Journal Standpoint

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

A few months ago, I was reminded of a statement my parents used to repeat to me and my siblings when they saw us struggling with a moral or ethical challenge. They would decline to give their teenaged daughters and son any specific recommendations for a particular course of action, but would encourage us to think things over and then commit ourselves to whatever we thought was best. One of their favorite adages was, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

This aphorism was applied to many situations, and its intent was subtly interpreted to mean slightly different things. One recurrent message was, “Don’t just go along with your friends, do your own thinking.” Another was, “Don’t be lazy and just repeat whatever you have heard or read!” Also, my folks had activist leanings – we were brought along to more than one march for this or that cause – and they encouraged us to fully commit ourselves to whatever causes we felt strongly about.

I guess it’s kismet that I fell into working for Belvoir Media, publisher of Whole Dog Journal. All of the company’s publications – journals about aviation, sailing, skiing, health, horses, etc. – look over products and issues in their niche and take a position. We are free to do so by virtue of the fact that all of our publications are supported by subscriptions; we don’t have to temper our observations to pacify our advertisers because we don’t sell ads! This consumer-oriented publishing company is a great place to carry out my parents’ counsel.

So what does Whole Dog Journal “stand for”? Simply put, we’re all about raising, maintaining, and happily living with healthy, happy dogs. Of course, any dog magazine can make that claim – but most other publications don’t talk about topics that fly in the face of conventional veterinary medicine or traditional dog training practices. We take into account the fact that there is much more to health than being free of disease, and that there is more to a pleasurable relationship with your dog than his instant obedience. We’re not only about results, but also about the process.

Our mission is to provide dog guardians with in-depth information on effective holistic health care methods and successful nonviolent training. The methods we discuss will endeavor to do no harm to dogs; we do not advocate perpetrating even minor transgressions in the name of “greater good.” We intend our articles to enable readers to immediately apply training and health care techniques to their own dogs with visible and enjoyable success. All topics should contribute to improving the dog’s health and vitality, and deepening the canine/human bond. Above all, we wish to contribute information that will enable consumers to make kind, healthy, and informed decisions about caring for their own dogs.

Well there’s our “mission statement.” I’ve been meaning to formalize and publish one for ages. I’ll find a spot for it in the magazine somewhere and let it stay there, both as a reminder for longtime subscribers and to let new readers know what we’re all about.

I’ve also been meaning to update the picture that appears in this space every month, the one of me and my faithful friend, Rupert. Neither one of us looks much like we did in our old photo, which was taken for the very first issue of WDJ four years ago. I’d like to extend my thanks to the thousands of dog guardians who have responded to WDJ’s ethos and have supported the magazine this long, and look forward to helping them help their dogs for a long time to come.

Whole Dog Journal’s 2002 Dry Dog Food Review

By
Nancy Kerns
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0

How should you select your dog’s food? When you walk into your local pet food store, and walk the miles of aisles of stacks of bags, what is it that makes you grab that sack, and not any of the others? Is it:

• price?
• label claims or package appearance?

• the recommendation of a friend?
• your veterinarian’s prescription?

Bzzzzzzt! Bad answers! Here’s why:

Price: The most expensive foods are not always the best ones in a store (they are not even necessarily good!). Many chain pet stores charge a small fortune for foods that (by our criteria, described further along) are no good at all. Generally (but not always) we find the best foods in small, independent stores and where, interestingly, the prices for the great foods are not much higher than the chain stores charge for their (low-quality) “best.”

On the other hand, you can be certain that the least expensive foods are generally not good. This is not snobbism, by the way. It costs the manufacturer more to buy top-quality ingredients, and it’s only reasonable to expect that he will have to pass along those costs. And if a food costs pennies per pound, you can be assured that its contents cost the maker next to nothing – in other words, the food is vitamin-fortified sawdust, more or less. (And to take care of the inevitable question, “Can’t a dog live on vitamin-fortified sawdust?” we’ll say right now that the answer is, “Yes, but if you take that approach, you can expect to pay every penny you’ve saved in veterinary bills later.”)

Label claims, package appearance: Each and every day, the food makers are getting more sophisticated in their approach to packaging. They know that dog owners are becoming increasingly health-conscious and interested in dog food ingredients, so they are rushing to show us how healthy their foods are – and we do mean “show.” We haven’t seen so many beautiful depictions of vegetables and grains since Andy Warhol’s time. And the label descriptions! Carefully rhapsodic!

Unfortunately, there’s rarely a correlation between what’s shown on the bag and what’s in the bag. Perhaps the most notorious example of this is Purina’s new food, Beneful. (What a name, eh? Beneficial, bountiful, it’s all there. You have to hand it to them.) The front of Beneful’s bag shows fresh ears of corn, snappy unshelled peas, and gorgeous green-topped carrots. In fact, what it actually contains is ground corn, used here as a dried grain and a lower-cost source of protein, and dried peas and dried carrots. The latter, by the way, appear 17th and 18th on the list of ingredients, far below sugar (10th), sorbitol (another sweetener, 11th on the list), and even sorbic acid, a preservative that appears 15th on the list of ingredients. Purina must be counting on people to take one look at the color photographs of the vegetables, read the word “vegetables” on the front, and assume that “Gee, Purina really has come around, putting fresh veggies in its food!”

As far as we’re concerned, this food is a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with the conglomerate dog food industry; it’s all sizzle and very little steak (beef is 7th on the list of ingredients). The product has been manipulated in every way possible to appeal to humans, complete with a variety of cute shapes, artificial colors, and chemically enhanced textures, a pretty bag, and lots of healthy-sounding adjectives (wholesome, moist, meaty, real, vitamin-rich). But the contents don’t come close to fulfilling all this promise.

The recommendation of a friend: Your friend may, in fact, feed her dog the best possible food – for that dog. In no way does that guarantee that her dog’s food will agree with your dog.

Feeding dogs is an individual matter. Everything including the dog’s size, age, breed, health, activity level, allergies, intolerances, condition of teeth, past nutritional status, and even the his preferences will affect whether he thrives or merely survives on a given food. We don’t want to discourage you, but we know people who have to buy their three dogs three different foods. All three dogs look like a million bucks, so that’s that.

Your veterinarian’s prescription: Would this be a good time to mention that veterinarians who register for an online account with Hill’s, makers of Science Diet, can expect, as its Web site tantalizes, “convenient, easy ordering with real-time pricing and product availability plus a chance to win a Porsche”?

Sorry, but not many veterinarians know much more about nutrition than your next-door neighbor. But when they’ve been given free Hill’s dog food in vet school, their veterinary nutrition textbooks have been underwritten by Hill’s, and written by Hill’s researchers, is it any wonder they have really good feelings about Hill’s products?

Good answer!
All right, you’re overdue for some positive reinforcement. Here’s the best possible answer to the question, “How should you select your dog’s food?”

“I choose the food that appears to have the largest amount of whole, top-quality ingredients, and the smallest amount of low-quality or undesirable ingredients, and that my dog thrives on.”

In our opinion, the list of ingredients, printed by law on every bag of dog food, is the best source of information about a food. You don’t need a veterinarian, or us, for that matter, to tell you what is a good food and what is an exceedingly mediocre food; you just need to teach yourself to recognize the hallmarks of each kind of food. We’ve boxed this information for you on page 20 (“The Good, Bad, and the Mediocre: What the List of Ingredients Indicates”). Don’t take our word for it! Compare the ingredients, and decide for yourself; it’s really not that difficult. Look for a food that contains lots of the “hallmarks of a high quality food,” few of the “high-quality foods should contain a minimum of. . .” traits, and none of the “hallmarks of a low-quality food.”

Then, have your dog try it. Give him a month or two on the food. If he breaks out in itching fits, begins licking his paws incessantly, develops an ear infection, or has dramatic digestive reactions, give the food away and try another one! If, on the other hand, he’s always had one or more of the aforementioned symptoms, and they clear up, you’re on the right track. A good dog food will contribute to a healthy coat, good energy level, balanced temperament, and flawless health.

One final word about what’s “best” for your dog: It might change. As dogs age, their nutritional requirements change. They can develop food allergies or intolerances at any point in their lives. Don’t get so attached to a food that you fail to see whether it’s failing your dog. It may be a good food, but if it’s not working for your dog, there is no point in buying it.

Our selection criteria
We’ve told you how we suggest selecting a food. On the following pages, we will share with you a few foods that we think are above average. But we should probably also explain what we did NOT do when we picked these foods:

• We DID NOT conduct lab tests to make sure the “Guaranteed Analysis” printed on the label accurately reflects the contents; that’s the job of state feed control officials, and way beyond the scope of our resources.

• We DID NOT inspect manufacturing plants or investigate the manufacturers’ Boards of Directors. We hear rumors all the time about company owners who are rude or even big, fat liars. We hear about moldy food and mislabeled bags. If you experience one of these things, we suggest that you call the company and let them know they have a problem – and that you select another food.

• We DID NOT select foods on the basis of protein or fat content; more is not always better. Some dogs need more; some dogs need less.

• We DID NOT examine every food on the market. That would be impossible! You may find a food that looks as good or better than ours. Good for you! Send us some information about it; we’d love to share.

• We DID NOT rank-order the foods. They are presented in alphabetical order, because, remember, what’s “best” for your dog isn’t necessarily best for ours’.

ALL the following foods are good; we like them all. And, for the record, we still like all the foods we’ve selected in the past. If we’ve named a food before that does not appear here, it’s due to space limitations, not because it’s fallen out of our favor.

Also With This Article
Click here to view “Shopping for Top-Quality Dog Treats – It’s All in the Ingredients!”
Click here to view “Focusing in on The Main Ingredients in Commercial Dog Foods”
Click here to view “Homemade Dog Food Ingredients: 3 Essential Foods for Dogs”

-by Nancy Kerns

Training Your Dog to Behave Around Guests

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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[Updated January 28, 2019]

The elderly man’s voice quavered haltingly in my ear. “Whiskey is just too energetic for us. We have to keep him penned up in the kitchen, and when he’s outside he just bounces on the door. He already broke the glass once! How do we stop him from bouncing on the door?”

Whiskey was an 18-month-old Labrador Retriever, adopted three weeks prior from the local humane society, to a couple in their mid-70s. His new guardians were experienced dog owners and had owned Labradors before, but their last dog died a decade earlier, at the ripe old age of 14 years. It had been almost a quarter of a century since the well-meaning couple had managed an active young dog!

It was clear that they had made an ill-advised adoption choice when they brought home an adolescent Lab with an unknown history, who had clearly missed more than a few of his good manners lessons. Rather than being the loving companion they had envisioned, Whiskey was making this couple’s life miserable.

fetching dog

Unfortunately, their solution (banishing Whiskey for longer and longer periods of time to the backyard) was compounding the problem, making Whiskey even more lonely and hence even more overstimulated when he was finally granted time in their company. They would, they promised, bring him in the house once he calmed down, but the more time he spent outside, the less calm he got. The relationship was spiraling rapidly downward, with the wife insisting that Whiskey was beyond help, and threatening to take him to their veterinarian for euthanasia.

We hastily scheduled an appointment for a private consultation. I assured the couple that there was no need to rush Whiskey to the euthanasia table – the young dog’s behavior sounded pretty normal for an untrained adolescent Lab, and even if he wasn’t suitable for their home, there were other options available to him, such as Labrador Retriever Rescue, or one of the many government search dog programs.

Sadly, Whiskey’s is not an isolated case. A generation or two ago, Mom stayed in the home and taught the dog good manners while the rest of the family went off to work or school. Today, many family canines are latchkey dogs, left to their own devices all day, and family members are often too busy or too tired when they get home to spend the time necessary to properly train the dog. So, while it’s increasingly socially acceptable to spay and neuter, and many animal shelters are seeing fewer litters of unwanted puppies as a result, shelter kennels are often filled with out-of-control adolescents like Whiskey.

Clicker Training is Key to Behavior Management

Whether you have a pup with normal puppy energy or an obstreperous teenager who has good manners lessons to catch up on, clicker training can be a magically effective and gentle way to convince a dog to calm down. No yelling, no physical punishment; just clicks and treats for any pause in the action.

That said, the biggest challenge with a “hyper” dog is that any praise or reward may cause her to begin bouncing off the walls again. It is nearly impossible to deliver a treat to an excitable dog while she is still in the act of being calm. By the time you get the treat to her mouth she is once again doing her Tasmanian devil act. She may well perceive the treat as a reward for her jumping jacks rather than for the sought-after calmness that occurred briefly several seconds before. Fortunately, this problem is not insurmountable.

Timing and consistency are key to successful training. If you give a reward to your dog more than a second or two after she exhibits the desired behavior, she will lose the connection, and may even come to believe she was rewarded for whatever she was doing at the moment you gave her the reward. However, once a dog has learned the connection between a reward marker (I recommend using the Click! of a clicker or a verbal “Yes!”) and a pending reward, your timing can be impeccable – an instant of calm elicits a Click!, and the treat can arrive several seconds later. An added advantage of the clicker is that once most dogs hear the Click!, they pause in anticipation of the coming morsel, drawing out the relatively calm behavior even longer.

Modifying Your Crazy Dog’s Behavior

Here’s how you can turn your Tasmanian Devil into a Serene Sally. Follow this simple program to help her get rid of excess energy, prevent her from being rewarded for out-of-control behavior, and consistently reward her for being calm.

1. Exercise Your Dog Thoroughly

The first element in an “all is calm” program is to provide your dog with lots of exercise. Wise dog trainers and owners know that a tired dog is a well-behaved dog. Often, when people think their dogs are at their worst, they are simply chock-full of energy, bursting to find an escape. Tug o’ war on your pants leg, donuts around the dining room table, and record high-jumps over the back of the sofa are just some of their outlets for that pent-up energy.

If this sounds like your dog, schedule at least three tongue-dragging sessions of fetch per day. Climb to the top of a hill or staircase and throw the ball down so she has to keep climbing back up to return it to you. Set up an obstacle course with lots of things to climb and jump over. Be careful not to send her into heat stroke, but definitely play until she is pooped. Keep the exercise breed-appropriate – an athletic Border Collie can handle lots more physical challenges than an English Bulldog.

Don’t think that a walk around the block will do it. A walk on leash, even a long one, is nothing but an exercise hors d’ouerve for a young dog. You may be tired when you get home from the walk, but your dog is just getting warmed up! If no one in the family has time to give her adequate exercise, arrange for a dog walker to come by a couple of times a day and wear her out, or take her to doggie daycare as often as possible. Eight hours of romping with other dogs is guaranteed to take the wind out of her sails! (See “Doggie Daycare Can Be A Wonderful Experience: But is it for Every Dog?“)

2. Manage Your Dog Tightly

While wearing out your dog should be part of your regular routine, there are other changes you can make in order to manage her inappropriate behavior (see “Relieving Separation Anxiety Symptoms,” August 2001). Whiskey, the Labrador mentioned earlier, repeatedly bounced against his family’s sliding glass door because it was rewarding to him; it brought him the greatly coveted attention of his people when he did so, and when he succeeded in breaking the glass, it actually gave him access to indoors, where he wanted to be.

All living things repeat behaviors that are rewarding to them. Whiskey’s owners needed to find ways to reward him for good behavior, and prevent him from being rewarded for the unacceptable ones.

The management answer is to physically control your dog’s behavior through the judicious use of leashes, pens, crates, and tethers (see “Tethered to Success,” April 2001, and “Crate Training Made Easy,” August 2000). Use these management tools wisely to prevent your dog from rewarding herself with your attention (at times you do not want to give it to her).

3. With Clicker Training, Timing is Everything

As soon as you have laid the foundation with exercise and management, you can begin an effective clicker-training program. Don’t procrastinate; you can accomplish this on Day One of your “all is calm” program. Start by “charging the clicker” – officially known in behavior circles as “conditioning the reward marker.”

Begin by clicking the clicker in your pocket, to avoid startling her with the sharp sound. Click! the clicker, feed your dog a treat. Click! and treat. Click! and treat. As she begins to associate the sound with the treat, bring it out of your pocket and click it in a more natural position at your side or your waist.

Your dog doesn’t have to do anything special to get the Click! and treat, as long as she isn’t doing something unacceptable, like jumping on you or chewing the corner of the coffee table. If necessary, use one of your management tools to keep her out of trouble while you Click! and treat. Most dogs catch on pretty quickly that the Click! means a treat is coming. When your dog’s ears perk and her eyes brighten at the sound of the Click!, you knows she’s getting it. Now you can use your “charged” clicker for training.

The goal of clicker training is to get your dog to understand that she can make the Click! happen by offering certain behaviors – in this case, calm. At first, you can’t wait for long, leisurely stretches of calm behavior to click; some families report that their dogs never stop whirling around like a tornado, at least, when people are paying attention to them! Instead, begin by giving your dog a Click! and treat just because all four feet are on the floor at the same instant. Be quick! You want her to understand that the behavior she got rewarded for was pausing with all four feet on the floor, so your timing needs to be sharp, and the Click! needs to happen the instant all four feet are down.

If your timing is good and you catch her with four-on-the-floor several times in a row, you will see her start to stand still deliberately, in order to make the clicker go off. Light bulb! A door has opened in her brain, and you can now see her thinking. To me, this is one of the most exciting moments in dog training – what we sometimes call the “Helen Keller moment,” when the dog realizes that she can control the clicker and a whole new world of communication has opened to her. You now have a very powerful tool in your little plastic clicker box. You can use it to reinforce any behavior you want, any time it happens, and your dog will quickly start repeating that behavior for you.

Okay, back to calm. How does “pausing briefly on all four feet” translate into a calm dog? Very gradually. You are going to “shape” the pause into longer and longer periods of stillness, by extending the time, in milliseconds at first, that you wait as she is standing still before you Click! and treat. If you err and she starts to jump around again, just wait. Eventually there will be another pause that you can Click! and then start the shaping again.

As your dog gets better at being calm for longer and longer periods, be sure to reinforce randomly – sometimes for shorter pauses, sometimes longer. If you just keep making it harder and harder – longer and longer – she may get frustrated and quit playing the game.

Each training session should be relatively short, to avoid frustration for both of you, but you can do several in a day. You will have the most success, at least at first, if you practice working on calmness right after one of her exercise sessions, when she is tired anyway. As she gets the idea that “calm” is a very rewardable behavior, it will work even when she has more energy.

When your dog can hold still for several seconds at a time, add the verbal cue of your choice – something like “Easy . . .” that you will eventually be able to use to cue her for calmness. Over time, you will be able to phase out the Click! and treat and use petting and praise as a reward instead of food. Keep your voice and body language calm and soothing to reflect and support her own growing calmness. Petting should be done as a massage – slow kneading or stroking, not vigorous patting or thumping.

4. Establish Your Dog’s “Spot”

You can use a management tether and a clicker to teach your dog a very useful calming exercise, called “Go To Your Spot.” Arrange her tether station so it is very comfortable, with a soft bed, really good chew toys, and unspillable water. Toss a treat onto the bed and say “Go to your spot.” When she gets there and is about to snatch up the treat, Click! your clicker.

Repeat several times, clicking and treating each time until she goes to her spot easily, and then attach the tether to her collar. Sit in a chair nearby but out of her reach and read a book. If she fusses, ignore her. When she is quiet, Click! and toss her a treat. This is “positive reinforcement” – her good behavior makes something good happen: She gets a Click! and treat.

Occasionally when she is being calm, get up, go over to her bed and quietly pet and praise her (also positive reinforcement). If she starts to get excited when you are with her, go back to your chair and sit down again. This is “negative punishment”: her inappropriate behavior makes a good thing – you and your treats – go away. Negative punishment is considered effective and humane by most positive trainers.

When she is calm on her tether for long stretches of time – up to 5 or 10 minutes with occasional treats and visits, remove the tether and continue to reward her for lying calmly on her bed. If she revs up again, re-tether her and practice more calm.

You should also practice this when guests visit. Give your dog an extra tiring play session before they arrive so she can be on her best behavior. If she greets them too enthusiastically, have her go to her spot, tethered if necessary, and wait until she is calm to allow guests to greet her. When she is relaxed, untether her so she can mingle with the visitors politely. If she gets carried away, she can do another session on her tether.

Forced Calming Techniques Can Cause More Harm Than Good

In recent weeks, I have seen a number of reports of puppies or dogs who began showing aggressive behavior when their handlers used a certain training technique. In several of the cases, the dog owners were confused and upset, because they were using a training method that had been suggested to them by their veterinarian. In each case, the owners had been attempting to get their puppy or dog to “calm down” by either flipping it upside down and holding it to the floor (often referred to as an “alpha roll”), or by holding the pup upside down on their laps.

Here’s an excerpt from a letter I received from a woman in Greenville, North Carolina:

“I have a question about my puppy, an eight-week-old mix-breed. She is generally a very good dog, but has made me a little concerned because she has growled at me and bared her teeth. Both times this happened when I was holding her on her back to make her submit. I was told by my veterinarian that if she becomes out of control I should flip her on her back and hold her down until she submits and breaks her gaze away from me. She has made growling noises during play, but hasn’t ever bared her teeth before. . .”

In cases like this, it’s clear to me that the “alpha roll” has caused the puppy’s aggressive behavior, however mild it may be at this point. The alpha roll can greatly exacerbate aggression and, in fact, cause aggression to occur where it otherwise would not have. While some dogs don’t take offense at being rolled over or held down, many others will respond out of fear or resentment, and will begin to fight back in self-defense. The more these dogs are physically forced to behave in a certain way, the more they are likely to display aggression.

I encourage people to forget what they have heard or read about dominance, “making the dog submit,” and “letting the dog know who’s the boss,” because the suggested methods of accomplishing this don’t always end with a useful result. Even if the alpha roll doesn’t trigger a dog’s defense mechanisms, it doesn’t teach her to behave calmly on cue. Some dogs may think of their handlers as “the boss” after being flipped, but so what? It’s more likely, as the writer above found, the dog will come to regard her handler as unpredictable and scary. You also stand a good chance of extinguishing his interest in and willingness to participate in the training.

“Positive” Force?

Some trainers who consider themselves “positive trainers” teach a restraint exercise that I would consider a close relative of the alpha roll. In most variations, the puppies or dogs are gently but forcibly restrained and are rewarded (with a treat or with release) when they stop struggling or hold still. This was described as a “positive training method” because the puppy or dog was rewarded for calming down. However, it’s still a force-based method, one that uses negative reinforcement (the dog’s behavior makes a “bad” thing – the physical restraint – go away).

A better technique for teaching a dog to accept restraint would involve brief periods of restraint that the dog or pup could tolerate – perhaps just a second or two at first – and a Click! and/or a treat during the restraint to reward the dog for her calm behavior. Gradually, as she learns to remain calm while being held, the time that she is held can be increased before she gets the treat. If the dog were to struggle, growl, or exhibit any other unwanted behavior, I would suggest simply letting go and walking away from her, ending the session with a cheery, “Too bad!” Here, she learns that her wriggly or aggressive behavior makes a good thing – your attention and treats – go away. This is referred to as “negative punishment,” and is considered effective and humane by most positive trainers.

However, you’ll notice that the intention of the method is not to teach the dog to be calm, but to accept restraint. To teach a dog to calm herself, I recommend using the completely force and restraint-free method, described in the preceding article. When dogs – just like humans – try different solutions and learn from their voluntary behavior how to succeed in a given situation, that knowledge tends to “stick.” In my experience, dogs who have “learned how to learn” in a low-stress, rewarding environment pick up whatever it is that you want them to do faster than dogs who have been trained with force, and they generalize their knowledge even more rapidly.

Change YOUR Behavior

Fortunately, when people cease and desist from using force-based methods, and begin reinforcing their dogs for good behavior, the “aggression problem” they inadvertently created almost always goes away fairly quickly. Check out this note that I received from a couple in Dayton, Ohio:

“We have read your book, The Power of Positive Dog Training, only through Chapter Three and we have already changed the way we view, handle, and speak to our new Labrador puppy, Alex. She’s 15 weeks and our new pride and joy. We adopted her from our local humane society about a month ago.

“At our vet’s suggestion, we’d put Alex in the cradle position for getting hyper, yell “no” when she did something bad, and pinch her under the tongue when she’d bite. I noticed within a week of using these methods that she was hesitant to come near me, afraid to lay with us on the couch, and she began to get more hyper and aggressive.

“I knew there had to be a better way. My fiancé and I began reading your book and instantly stopped all of the above. Alex’s behavior has changed almost overnight. Sure, she still gets into things she’s not supposed to, but now we take responsibility for it and stopped punishing her (after all, we are the ones who dropped socks on the floor). So far she knows that ‘yes’ means treat and she’s learned to sit on cue . . .”

It thrills me to hear stories like this, where a person suddenly sees how easily the use of force can damage a dog’s trust – and how compassionate, intelligent use of learning theory, consistently applied, motivates dogs to offer us their hearts and minds.

Rewarding Your Way to a Calm Dog

Dogs don’t learn to be calm by being banished to the backyard. Dogs are social creatures, and time spent in isolation causes stress, which frequently causes hyperactivity. Dogs learn to be calm by spending time with people and being rewarded for their calm behavior. Rewards can be attention, praise, petting, and yes, Clicks! and treats.

My evaluation of Whiskey confirmed my suspicions – he was a normal adolescent Labrador with no manners, very trainable for someone with the time, energy, and commitment to teach him how to be calm. His owners are still considering whether they are the right people for him, or whether he would be better off in the home of someone more able to deal with his energy level.

Like so many of the things we expect our dogs to learn, “calm” is easier to teach sooner, rather than later, but it is rarely too late. So, whether you have a puppy rushing around the coffee table or an adolescent who is breaking down your doors, it’s time to get clicking for calm!

Post-Exercise Accupressure for Active Dogs

By
Nancy Kerns
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Drake is an amazing agility dog. He darts onto the field, running smoothly and efficiently through the entire course with grace and confidence. His timing, movements, and keen attention are impressive. Not a moment’s hesitation taking the triple bar in stride, dashing up and down the A-frame, through the chute, on to the pause table, then off again at top speed to the broad jump, and to weave the poles – the consummate dog athlete!

But like many athletes on the day after competition or a long training session, Drake’s shoulders and hips are obviously sore. He gets up from a nap and seems stiff at first, and then stretches his limbs cautiously. At six years old, he is desperately in need of consistent acupressure treatments.

When Drake runs a course, he gets so excited that endorphins – natural pain-reducers – flow through his veins, and he barely feels anything except his utter joy in what he was born to do. He’s not unique in this respect: Any dog who enthusiastically participates in high-energy games of fetch, agility, strenuous hiking, Frisbee, and all the other canine games and sports is subject to a certain amount of physical wear and tear. Even light exercise can cause tendons to become irritated and inflamed, and muscles stressed and sore. As the dog ages, the likelihood of joints becoming arthritic is very high.

These are the types of conditions we see in dogs leading active lifestyles; they can be much worse, of course, in dogs who have been permitted to take these activities to an extreme.

Fortunately, there is a simple, hands-on method that can be used on any dog to help a dog repair the stresses caused by exercise. Acupressure can help your dog be more comfortable and perform at his best. Over hundreds of years, acupressure has proven to help resolve many of the painful conditions we see in athletes because it can:

• Strengthen muscles, tendons, joints, and bones
• Enhance mental clarity and calm required for focus
• Release natural cortisone to reduce swelling and inflammation
• Increase lubrication of the joints for better movement
• Release endorphins to increase energy and relieve pain
• Resolve injuries more quickly by increasing blood supply
• Balance energy to optimize the body’s ability to perform

If your dog shows signs of acute pain or distress, we encourage you to take him to your holistic veterinarian. Acupressure is an excellent resource and complement to your dog’s health care since you can perform treatments yourself, but it is not a substitute for veterinary care.

Your dog will enjoy playing, running, jumping, weaving through poles – whatever your sport – much more if you help take good care of his body. Acupressure is safe, always available, drug-free, and dogs love the touch of their special people.

Also With This Article
Click here to view “Five Acupressure Points For Your Dog’s Health”

-by Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis

Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis are the authors of “The Well-Connected Dog: A Guide to Canine Acupressure;” “Acu-Cat: A Guide to Feline Acupressure,” and “Equine Acupressure: A Working Manual.” They also teach workshops on animal acupressure.

The Tools That Make Dog Training a Breeze

By
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA
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Blushing brides used to come to their new marriages with a hope chest and a trousseau – a collection of the basic necessities for setting up a new household. It occurred to us that dogs should come to their new homes with a trousseau, too – containing everything dog and owner need to lay the foundation for a successful lifetime relationship. We put our minds to the task, and came up with the following collection of items that should be in every dog owner’s hope chest.

MANAGEMENT TOOLS…

Crate
The crate is your dog’s den, her safe haven, her very own private spot, and when you travel, her home away from home. When properly introduced using positive methods, most dogs love their crates.

 

The crate is an indispensable behavior management tool; it facilitates housetraining and prevents puppy misbehavior by keeping your dog safely confined when you’re not there to supervise. It allows you to sleep peacefully at night and enjoy dinner and a movie without worrying about what the pup is destroying. Regular crates come in either wire or plastic/fiberglass models. Once a dog is crate-trained, one of the collapsible portable crates is also a very handy accessory.

For more information, see “Crate Training Made Easy” and “Have Crate, Will Travel,” WDJ August 2000.

Tether
A training and behavior management tool, not for long-term restraint or outdoor “chaining,” the tether is a short (about four feet in length) plastic-coated cable with sturdy snaps at both ends. One end is snapped onto the dog’s collar, and the other is snapped onto an eyebolt screwed into a wall or beam in a convenient, comfortable place.

A dog can chew the plastic coating off of a cable, but can’t chew through it (thus rewarding himself for his efforts). Also, because of a cable’s resistance to twisting or coiling, it’s almost impossible for your dog to get wound up, or for the cable to kink, unlike a chain.

Tethers are intended to temporarily restrain a dog for relatively short periods of time in your presence. They should not be used as punishment, or to restrain a dog for long periods in your absence. A tether can be used as an aid in a puppy supervision and housetraining program, and as a time-out to settle unruly behavior. A tether is also useful for teaching your dog to sit politely to greet people, and to help her learn long-distance “Downs.”

For more information, see “Tethered to Success,” April 2001.

Puppy Pen/Exercise Pen
The puppy or exercise pen is another extremely useful management tool. It expands the “den” concept of a crate to a slightly larger area, giving a pup more room to stretch her legs, but still keeping her in a safe, confined area.

Most pens found on the market are collapsible and portable, and usually consist of six or eight two-foot wide panels anywhere from two to four feet high. For lively pups who can scale the pen fence (usually Jack Russell Terriers), some pens come with a wire top.

Set the pen up in your living room or den, and plop the pup in it when you want to give her the freedom to move around but don’t want to have to keep your eye on her every second. Tarps and newspapers can protect rugs and floors from pups who aren’t yet fully housetrained, and the relatively small space will still help promote a pup’s clean den instincts. The pen is also an alternative for pups who must be left home alone for longer periods than they can “hold it” in a crate.

For more information, see “Getting Off to the Right Start,” January 1999.

Seat Belt
Nothing makes us hold our breath like the sight of an unruly dog bouncing around the seats of a moving vehicle. We have included a seat belt in our trousseau as an alternative to the crate for safe canine car travel. Some dogs don’t crate well, some cars are too small to accommodate crates, and some people like to let their dogs look out the windows. Slipping your dog into a harness and using one of the many car restraints that fasten to your car’s seat belts will keep her safe, and safely away from the driver. Remember that airbags can be hazardous to dogs, especially small ones; the back seat is the best bet for the traveling hound.

WDJ reviewed and offered sources for seat belts in “Safest Canine Seat Belts,” May 2001.

TRAINING TOOLS…

Leash
A leash is a must-have for the hope chest. No matter how well-trained your dog, there are times when she must be leashed, such as walking down a busy street, in the vet hospital, and anywhere a leash law is in effect.

Bright-colored designer nylon leashes are appealing and fine for the trained dog, but can burn your skin if your dog pulls. Plain leather and cotton canvas are softest on your hands, and the best choice for a dog-in-training’s basic leash wardrobe. The “hands-free leash” is a nifty innovation, especially if you have strollers to push, bags to carry, or just want your hands free while you walk with your pal. Retractable leashes have limited application; they should be used only in wide-open spaces, away from other dogs and people, after your dog has been taught to walk politely on a leash. Chain leashes aren’t even worth discussing!

Collar and Tags
Your dog’s collar is like a wedding ring – the endless circle that symbolizes your never-ending relationship. You show your love for your dog by giving her a collar (and using a training method) that won’t inflict pain – a basic flat or rolled nylon, cloth, or leather collar fastened with a snap or a buckle. Of course, you must also attach an ID tag and license to the collar – her ticket home should she ever be separated from you.

WDJ reviewed identification tags in “What a Good ID!” October 2001.

Clicker
Inexpensive, small, ridiculously simple, the clicker is our nomination for the best end-of-the-century training tool. This insignificant-looking gadget has led the dog training profession into the modern world of humane, positive training.

Properly used as a reward marker, the clicker significantly enhances your communication with your furry friend, and speeds up the training process. It won’t take up much room in the hope chest, but it will hold a prominent place in your training tool kit.

WDJ reviewed clickers in “Pickin’ Clickers,” March 2001.

 

Treats/Rewards
A clicker, of course, is nothing without an accompanying reward. You can never have enough rewards in the trousseau! We use treats as the primary reward to pair with the clicker because most dogs can be motivated by food, and because they can quickly eat a small tidbit and get back to the training fun.

The best treat is whatever your dog likes best, and the best trainers work with a smorgasbord of treat options so that an extra special treat is always available to motivate the stressed or distracted dog, or to reward an extra special accomplishment. The list of possible treats is endless, and includes everything from Cheerios, carrots, and pretzels to hotdogs, string cheese, and roast beef.

Other rewards may include tugging on a tug toy, chasing after a tennis ball, running out the door into the backyard, a walk around the block, a word of praise, or a scratch behind the ear, as long as your dog likes those things.

Long Line
One of the greatest training challenges for some dog/owner teams is making the transition from “come reliably when called in a safe, controlled area” to “come reliably when called regardless of where we are or what other exciting things are happening.” The long line is an ideal training tool to help you meet this challenge.

Long lines are simply long leashes – we have seen models from 10 to 50 feet – that are light-weight but strong, and made with many nylon or poly fabrics. The key is finding one that’s comfortable in your hand, preventing you from getting rope burns while making it easy for you to maintain your grip.

With a long line, you can prevent your dog from being rewarded for inappropriate behavior (running off into the woods), while waiting for her to offer you appropriate behavior (returning to you) so you can Click! and reward her with a very high-value treat. This, of course, is the tried and true recipe for successful positive reinforcement training – rewarding the behaviors you want and preventing your dog from being rewarded for the behaviors you don’t want.

WDJ reviewed long lines in “Know your Lines” and “A Few We Missed,” November 2001. We discussed training your dog to come with a long line in “Long Distance Information,” February 2001.

Head Halter
Not all dogs need a head halter, but for those who do, it’s a valuable addition to the chest.

Head halters come in a few different styles, but they all share the trait that makes them work so well to prevent a dog from pulling: They are worn on the dog’s head (similar to a horse’s halter), where he lacks the power to pull. They should not be confused with muzzles, despite a small similarity; while they have one strap that fastens around the dog’s muzzle, they do not prevent him from opening his mouth to pant, drink, or take a treat.

The determined puller who doesn’t respond well to leash training, the big strong dog in the hands of a not-so-strong owner, and dogs with aggression challenges are all good candidates for the head halter.

WDJ reviewed halters and discussed how to use them in “Head Halters, Right and Wrong,” June 2000.

TOYS…

Kong
No trousseau would be complete without a wide variety of interactive toys, tug toys, chase toys, and chew toys. The perfect toy for your dog depends a great deal on individual canine and human preference, but here are a few that we would bring to our new relationship.

If we could only put one toy in our hope chest, it would be the Kong. The Kong is the sturdiest, most versatile toy we have encountered in a lifetime of dog relationships. It’s a chew-resistant (not chew-proof) rubber, beehive-shaped toy with a hollow center, a small hole at one end, and a larger hole on the other. The Kong can be used “plain” as a toy, but makes an irresistible treat for any dog when stuffed with kibble or treats that are held in place with something healthy and edible like peanut butter, cream cheese, or yogurt.

We have yet to find a dog who couldn’t be enticed to enjoy a properly stuffed Kong. Among other things, it can serve as a chase toy, a crate pacifier, a puppy distracter, a stress reducer, an energy diffuser, a hide-and-seek object, and a barking alternative. You can throw it, stuff it, freeze it, float it, and hide it. It comes in several sizes to meet the needs of dogs of any size, and several colors; the black Kongs are the toughest, for super-chewer dogs.

Balls
Balls and dogs go together like peanut butter and jelly. The variety of balls available ensures that there are plenty for every play style and jaw strength.

Our favorites include the Bully Ball – very sturdy, great for dogs who like to push balls around with noses and paws; the Goodie Ball – small, with a ridged hole in the middle to hold a dog treat; the Karlie Action Ball – a sports ball inside a sturdy nylon strap with rope tugs; the Jolly Ball – rugged polyurethane with a handle – good for dogs who like to lug their ball around with them; the Zap Ball – flashing lights and wonderful electronic noises; and the Kong ball – a very sturdy basic red rubber ball. There are tons more balls, of course, but even the humble tennis ball keeps many dogs happy and well exercised. There’s no excuse to not have at least a couple of balls in the toy box!

For more information, see “Gotta Lotta Balls,” August 2001.

 

Interactive Toys
These are toys that require your dog to do something to make the toy work. They are designed to keep your dog’s brain, mouth, and body occupied productively rather than destructively.

Topping this list are the Buster Cube (a hollow cube with a hole in it) and the Roll-A-Treat Ball (a hollow sphere with a hole in it) that you fill with your dog’s kibble and let him push around the floor to make the treats fall out. Another great new interactive toy is the PitBall – a circular plastic rim within which the ball-obsessed dog can pursue the object of her obsession to her heart’s content without worrying about losing it under the sofa. Keep your eyes open for other interactive toys to add to the hope chest. The more you keep your dog’s mind and body occupied the better behaved she’ll be, and the more solid your relationship.

For more information, see “Terrific New Toys,” June 2001 and “Gotta Lotta Balls, August 2001.

Fetch Toys
We suspect that as long as humans have had relationships with dogs, humans have been throwing things for dogs to fetch. Dogs who love to fetch never seem to tire of the game, and a new fetch toy is cause for celebration. There are fetch toys that float, for the Mark Spitz’s of the canine world; fetch toys that fly, for the Ashley Whippet wannabes; rubber fetch toys; wooden fetch toys; and for dogs with tender mouths, plush disc-shaped fetch toys. Caution: Not all fetch toys hold up as chew toys. Put fetch toys away when you are not supervising your dog.

For more information, see “A Fetching Dilemma,” September 1999, “Does Your Dog ‘Get It’,” September 1999, and “Terrific New Toys, June 2001.

Tug Toys
Contrary to some trainer’s opinions, we believe that tug o’ war, played with proper rules, is a great game. Most dogs love to play tug, it’s a good way to use up excess energy indoors on a rainy day, it can help teach your dog good mouth manners, and it provides a productive outlet for those family members who want to play rough physical games with Fido.

However, the right tug toy is an imperative accessory to safe tugging – long enough to keep teeth far away from skin, inviting for the dog to put her teeth on her end of the tug, and with a comfortable handle on the other end so the human player can keep his grasp and win the war most of the time (an important tug rule).

For more information, see “Play (and Train) by Tugging,” March 1999.

CLEAN-UP…

Grooming tools
Of course, every bride comes to her new home with a well-equipped toilette, and your dog should be no different. Make sure you leave space in the hope chest for combs, brushes, shampoo, scissors, clippers, cotton balls, toothbrushes, nail trimmers or grinders, and whatever other grooming accessories your dog might need. The array of grooming tools can be confusing, so be sure to find the right ones for your dog. If you’re not sure, ask your local groomer, veterinarian, or dog trainer for grooming tips.

Cleaning
In long-lasting relationships, partners accept their loved ones’ imperfections. Let’s face it, we love our canine companions, but they can be messy! Dog hair, poop, pee, and occasionally, blood or vomit are facts of life in the dog-owning household, and the wise human is prepared to deal effectively with these doggie by-products. Clothes brushes, extra-strength vacuum cleaners, enzyme-based waste removers, and sturdy poop bags and scoopers are dog-owning facts of life.

WDJ reviewed cleanup solutions in “Pees on Earth,” January 1999; dog hair removal tools in “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow,” April 1999, and poop-pickup bags in “The Scoop on Scoopers,” February 2000.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS…

The best dog owners I know find room in their hope chests for extensive libraries, from obscure dog training volumes to the current bestselling videos. Here are our suggestions for books to include:

• Purely Positive Training by Sheila Booth
• The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
• How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks by Dr. Ian Dunbar
• Canine Adventures: Fun Things to Do With Your Dog by Cynthia D. Miller
• The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller
• The Dog Whisperer by Paul Owens with Norma Eckroate
• Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor
• Circles of Compassion by Elaine Sichel
• Guide to Humane Dog Training available from the American Humane Association
• Professional Standards for Dog Trainers: Effective, Humane Principles available from the Delta Society
• Dr. Kidd’s Guide to Herbal Dog Care by Randy Kidd, DVM, Ph.D.
• The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care by CJ Puotinen
• Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, Ph.D.
• Give Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pups with Bones by Dr. Ian Billinghurst
• Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs by Don Hamilton, DVM

When you are trying to educate yourself about new training methods, videos offer an extra level of clarity . . . or at least, they should. There are numerous training videos on the market that suffer from poor production values (bad sound, jerky filming, terrible scripts) and ones that present outdated methods. The following videos were reviewed by WDJ and offer sound training advice and good production values:

• Take a Bow, Wow! by Virginia Broitman & Sherri Lippman
• Take a Bow, Wow! II by Virginia Broitman & Sherri Lippman
• Dancing with Your Dog by Sandra Davis
• Click & Go by Dr. Deborah Jones
• Click & Fetch by Dr. Deborah Jones
• Click & Fix by Dr. Deborah Jones
• Clicker Magic by Karen Pryor
• Puppy Love by Karen Pryor
• 1997 Second Pup-Peroni Canine Freestyle Championship by Ventre Advertising, Inc.
• Dogs, Cats & Kids by Dr. Wayne Hunthausen

All the books and videos mentioned here are available from DogWise, a catalog specializing in dog publications, in Wenatchee, Washington. Call (800) 776-2665 or order online at www.dogwise.com.

The Intangibles
Just like a marriage, the dog-human bond relies on intangibles to make the relationship work. You may not be able to physically place them in your hope chest, but if you bring kindness, compassion, patience, forgiveness, and understanding with you to the relationship, you and your dog should share a lifetime of love and happiness.

 

-by Pat Miller

Pat Miller, WDJ’s Training Editor, is also a freelance author and Certified Pet Dog Trainer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and recently published her first book, The Power of Positive Dog Training.

Are Topical Flea Killers Safe?

By
Kathleen Dudley
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[Updated September 27, 2018]

Tempting as it may be to simplistically consider fleas as horrible insects, the bane of dogs everywhere, poisoning your dog in a vain attempt to wipe fleas out of existence doesn’t really make sense. Even though more than half a billion dollars annually are spent on products that kill fleas in that vain pursuit.

Of course fleas can make dogs (and everyone else in the household) perfectly miserable. But it’s not as if using toxic flea-killing chemicals is the only way to control fleas. When we attempt to get rid of our dogs’ fleas by utilizing chemicals that are toxic to the brain and nervous system, that may disrupt hormone (endocrine) systems, and that cause cancer, it’s sort of like burning the house down to get rid of ants – effective, sure, but what are you left with?

In the next issue of WDJ, we will describe effective, nontoxic methods of flea control. No dogs (or any other members of the household) will get sick from these methods, and no dogs (or any other members of the household) will die from them. In contrast, dogs do get sick and die from the toxic chemicals we will describe in this article.

spot on flea killers

Spot-On Products Aren’t Safer

All pesticides pose some degree of health risk to humans and animals. Despite advertising claims to the contrary, both over-the-counter and veterinarian-prescribed flea-killing topical treatments are pesticides that enter our dogs’ internal organs (livers, kidneys), move into their intestinal tracts, and are eventually eliminated in their feces and urine. Not only that, but the humans and other household animals who closely interact with dogs who have been treated with these chemicals can be affected by the toxins. What happens to the health of all exposed individuals during this systemic absorption and filtration process varies from animal to animal, but the laboratory and field trial results clearly indicate toxicity on the chronic and acute levels.

Until recently, foggers, flea collars, powders, sprays, shampoos, and dips containing organophosphates (chlorpyrifos, malathion, diazinon), pyrethrins, synthetic pyrethroids, and carbamates, were the cutting-edge solutions to our flea problems. They were effective, but unfortunately, they also caused disease and sometimes death. Given enough time, most pesticides eventually cause enough human and animal injuries that they are identified as hazards and are removed from the market.

While the newest flea products – so-called “spot-on” liquids that are applied monthly to a dog’s skin – are being marketed aggressively by the manufacturers and veterinarians and represented as safe alternatives to their predecessors, the fact is, they are simply newer. All the “active” ingredients in these spot-on preparations – imidacloprid, fipronil, permethrin, methoprene, and pyriproxyfen – have been linked to serious health effects in laboratory animals (see chart at end of story).

“The public must recognize that any decision to use a pesticide, or to otherwise be exposed to pesticides, is a decision made in ignorance,” says Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the New York Environmental Protection Bureau. “We do not know the identity of the chemicals to which we are exposed. We cannot make informed individual decisions on the acceptability of those exposures, a basic element in the maintenance and protection of our own health.” Spitzer adds, “The requirements for marketing a new product fall considerably short of providing safety for our animal and human families.”

Active and Inert Ingredients in Insecticides

To fully understand the risks associated with any of these products, it is important to understand the various components in a flea product, or any chemical product that you may buy, for that matter.

Like other chemical products, all flea products are made up of “active” and “inert” ingredients; strangely, the actual definitions of those phrases are very different from what they seem to connote. In the case of flea-killing chemicals, the “active” ingredient does, in fact, target and kill fleas – but some of the “inert” ingredients are poisons, too.

While the word “inert” suggests benign activity and even connotes safety in the minds of many consumers, legally, it simply means added substances that are not the registered “active” ingredient. This is important because most people assume that only the “active” ingredient in a chemical product is of concern. Many people feel comforted by the idea that a product contains only a minuscule amount of an “active” ingredient and up to 99.9 percent “inert” ingredients – a typical formula in many pesticide products. Actually, this makeup should frighten consumers.

Why? Because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, the government agency that oversees the pesticide industry) requires a higher (if not high enough) standard of scrutiny for “active” ingredients; these must undergo a battery of tests to determine their toxicological profiles, be registered with the EPA, and be listed on the product inserts and packaging. In contrast, “inert” ingredients need not be listed on the product inserts and packaging and are subject to much less testing than the “active” ingredients; “inerts” are generally tested in short-term studies for acute toxicity only.

The word “inert” implies chemicals that are somehow inactive. In actuality, many “inert” ingredients used in pesticides are as toxic, or more toxic, than the registered “active” ingredients. For example, naphthalene, one of the “inerts” in an imidacloprid product, showed clear evidence of cancer activity through inhalation (nasal cancers), as well as anemia, liver damage, cataracts, and skin allergies. An unidentified “inert” ingredient in the flea product Advantage was implicated in the death of kittens who received doses within laboratory tolerances.

Why don’t pesticide manufacturers have to disclose all the ingredients in their products? This kettle began brewing in 1949, when the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), allowing manufacturers confidentiality on issues they claimed would otherwise make them vulnerable to market competition. “Inert” ingredients, in other words, became protected by industry as “trade secrets.” While protecting industry, this act supersedes the public’s right to know to what we are being exposed and the health hazards resulting from these exposures. And without full disclosure, we are unable to make educated decisions as to which chemicals we want to avoid.

Topical Flea Killer Laboratory Studies

Obviously, products undergo testing in order to qualify for EPA registration, and presumably, most of the overt dangers a product can exert are ameliorated before the product can be marketed. Scientists use healthy, adult, genetically identical mammals to test pesticides, and then extrapolate health information regarding the safety of the product to domestic animals and human beings. In the case of flea products, the laboratory tests are performed on live mice, rats, cats, and dogs.

These toxicological (poison) studies are performed to establish the LD 50 – the oral dose at which the product would kill 50 percent of a test population – and to determine the acute and chronic effects. Throughout and following the test, subjects are killed in order to study the specific system damage (lungs, kidney, etc.). Acute disease tests, such as nervous system and skin reactions, can be performed over a relatively short time period. Most studies are conducted for 3-, 13-, or 52-week intervals, and use exaggerated dosages to compensate for the short testing periods.

“Because of the short period under which the studies are conducted, the health effects resulting from the higher doses of the chemicals are relevant,” says Dr. Virginia Dobozy of the EPA’s Pesticide Division. These effects can include head-nodding; facial twitching; exaggerated blinking; gag responses; weight increase of the spleen, thymus, and adrenal glands; and/or atrophy of the thymus.

Long-term studies, needed to understand the chronic effects of the pesticides, are few by comparison. Chronic disease such as cancer, immune suppression, developmental or reproductive damage, and DNA damage can take months or years to manifest.

However, the cumulative effect – potential damage from continued use of one specific pesticide product or multiple products over a dog’s lifetime – is unknown. Also unknown is the potential for synergistic effects – combined impacts of chemical exposures from their home and outdoor environments. Neither the cumulative nor the synergistic effects of chemicals in products are required to be tested by the EPA before a product is made commercially available. So, our dogs may be more vulnerable to unknown chemical-related dangers than the happy commercials would have you believe.

Critics of the pesticide industry claim that the EPA registers pesticides not on safety, but on a cost-benefit basis, balancing health and environmental concerns against the economic gain to the manufacturer and the end user of the product. But even if the pesticide manufacturers and the EPA are not overly concerned about our safety, we as consumers and guardians should be very concerned.

Spot-On Flea Treatments: Too Good to be True

Today, spot-on flea preparations are considered by many as the Rolls Royce of flea products, and sell swiftly in veterinary clinics and pet stores. Each of the makers of these products claim that they are safe – safer than ever – and that only the targeted insects will be affected by the products’ neurotoxic impacts. The products are frequently advertised as safe for small children and adults as well as puppies (over eight weeks) and geriatric dogs. Do they sound too good to be true? Well, perhaps they are.

The spot-on flea products fall into four general categories of insecticides. All have neurotoxic effects. The first three – imidacloprid (a chloro-nicotinyl insecticide), fipronil (a phenylprazole insecticide), and permethrin (a synthetic broad spectrum pyrethroid insecticide) – all work by disrupting the nervous system of insects, killing by contact or ingestion. The fourth type contains insect growth regulators (IGR), which don’t kill, but interrupt the flea’s life cycle.

Imidacloprid is the first of its class of insecticides, and is relatively new on the block; it was introduced in 1994. Laboratory testing on mice, dogs, and rats, indicates that this insecticide can be neurotoxic to laboratory animals, causing incoordination, labored breathing, thyroid lesions, reduced birth weights, and increased frequency of birth defects.

Fipronil was introduced in the United States in 1996. It is a neurotoxin and suspected human carcinogen. Fipronil can cause liver toxicity, thyroid lesions (cancer), damage to the kidneys, increased cholesterol levels, alterations in thyroid hormones, incoordination, labored breathing, increased miscarriages, and smaller offspring.

In a review of the fipronil pet formulations, Dr. Virginia Dobozy of the EPA’s Pesticide Division states that “this is a persistent chemical that has the potential for nervous system and thyroid toxicity after long term exposure at low dosages.”

Permethrin, a synthetic broad spectrum pyrethroid insecticide, is suspected to be an endocrine disrupter and a carcinogenic insecticide (causing lung cancer and liver tumors in laboratory animals). Some permethrin products have additional “active” ingredients in lesser percentages, and include methoprene, and pyriproxyfen (described below).

Methoprene and pyriproxyfen are both insect growth regulators (IGR), which limit the development of juvenile fleas so they cannot reproduce. Test results indicate that methoprene causes enlarged livers and degeneration of parts of the kidneys.

All of the above active ingredients have induced responses in laboratory animals that give cause for alarm. While these new products are suggested as safer than their predecessors, they indicate high levels of acute and chronic poisoning from short-term use.

Go-To Methods of Action

Whether or not it is purposeful, manufacturers of these spot-on flea products have managed to convince many veterinarians and animal guardians that these products are not absorbed into our dogs’ systems. The companies’ literature describes in vague and contradictory detail how the chemicals don’t go beyond the hair follicles and fat layers of the dogs’ skin.

When the EPA’s Dr. Dobozy reviewed the results of a fipronil metabolism study (fipronil is the active ingredient in Frontline), she reported that “significant amounts of radio-labeled fipronil were found [not only] in various organs and fat . . . [but they were also] excreted in the urine and feces, and were present in other parts of the body…which demonstrated that the chemical is absorbed systemically.”

Veterinarians and pet owners who pay close attention can witness evidence that these products are indeed systemically absorbed. Dr. Stephen Blake, a San Diego veterinarian, relates a client’s experience: “We put Advantage on the backs of our dogs and could smell it on their breath in a matter of minutes following the application.” Blake stated that this indication of immediate absorption did not tally with what he had been led to believe by reading Bayer’s literature. He continues to question its safety for his clients’ animals.

Neurological Health Effects of Topical Insecticides

Logic tells us that a topical chemical that is not absorbed into the skin has no chance of causing neurotoxic effects. Then why do the Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDSs) for all the permethrin-containing pesticides recommend preventing their products from having prolonged contact with the skin? And why do they all state that skin sensations, such as “numbness and tingling,” can occur? Schering-Plough’s MSDS makes an additional statement about its Defend EXspot Treatment: “can be harmful if absorbed through the skin and harmful following inhalation,” causing headaches, dizziness, and nausea.

Bayer does not reveal more than 90 percent of the ingredients in Advantage, but its MSDS does warn us to “use a respirator for organic vapors” in order to avoid “respiratory tract irritation and other symptoms such as headache or dizziness” (symptoms of nervous system exposure). Bayer’s promotional literature for Advantage, however, states that “studies prove that using 20-24 times the dosage on dogs and cats does not cause any internal or external side effects,” and that “. . . switching to Advantage from another flea control product poses virtually no risk to your pet.”

Dr. Graham Hines, a veterinarian from the United Kingdom, treated a four-year-old female German Shepherd who had two Advantage Top Spot treatments. He reported that “both times she became unusually clingy, and would not leave her guardian’s side, yet paced up and down all day, very restlessly. These symptoms persisted for 48 hours before a gradual return to her normal state.” The neurotoxic effects were clear to Dr. Hines.

Dr. Blake also finds different results than the Bayer literature. “We are told that the product affects only insects’ nervous systems, not mammals’. Several of my clients told me that they accidentally got some Advantage on their hands and when they touched their mouths, their lips became immediately numb for several hours. So much for not having an effect on the nervous system of mammals.”

Acute symptoms of headache, nausea, and abdominal and lumbar pain are associated with carbitol, one of the “inert” ingredients in Frontline. According to the MSDS, carbitol induced these symptoms in laboratory settings.

Curiously, these potential side effects are not published in the literature accompanying the products, nor do many veterinarians know the dangers. But there are numerous anecdotal reports from veterinarians in the U.S. and the U.K. of dogs who were treated with spot-on products who have displayed signs of neurological damage, such as depression, lethargy, convulsions, underactivity, tremors, overactivity, stiffened limbs, and lameness.

Adverse Skin Effects

Topical skin irritation is listed on all the MSDSs of the products reviewed in this article; however, product literature inserts fail to emphasize the extreme nature of the problems. They all instruct the users that their products are for “external use only,” and to “avoid contact with the skin,” but only Merial’s product insert appears to suggest there is some possibility of adverse skin contact reactions.

Dr. Dee Blanco, a holistic veterinarian practicing in New Mexico, treated 20 dogs for adverse reactions to Farnam’s flea product. In a letter to the Farnam regarding a client who had used one of Farnam’s permethrin-based insecticides, Dr. Blanco stated, “All the dogs (20 out of her 24 dogs treated with BioSpot ) had pruritus (severe itching of the skin) with bleeding and cracking of the skin, various degrees of erythema (intense redness of the skin), many fluid vesicles (blisters), severe hair loss, and elephantiasis (thickening of the skin) with chronic itching. Many also showed severe mental depression, lethargy, and symptoms concomitant with aggravated liver toxicity. All symptoms appeared within two weeks after applications of your (BioSpot) product, also a consistent time-frame for liver toxicity after absorption through the skin. . . To date, most of the dogs have dramatically improved but a few still remain symptomatic.”

Dr. Blanco also stated that one dog died of liver cancer within three months of this BioSpot application, which she says “could have been exacerbated by the application of BioSpot.” Permethrin is indicated as a possible carcinogen by the EPA, causing liver enlargement and cancers in laboratory mammals.

When Dr. Dobozy reviewed the reports from fipronil product studies, she found that Frontline “does not adequately describe the severe reactions” reported by veterinarians – sloughing, “chemical burn” conditions, and extensively affected areas well beyond the application site. When these incidents were reported, Merial recommended bathing the dogs. That’s strange, because their literature indicates the product remains effective after bathing.

The MSDS for Bayer’s Advantage tell us that “prolonged contact with the skin can cause defatting of the skin due to solvent component in the products,” to “avoid skin contact,” “to wear appropriate gloves when handling the product,” and to “wash off any contamination.”

Chronic Disease Linked to Flea Killers

Based upon toxicological studies, a dog suffering from liver, kidney, thyroid, adrenal, spleen, lung, brain or gonadal conditions could experience heightened states of chronic diseases, with the potential for development of cancer, when spot-on flea preparations are used. Permethrin is linked to malignant liver and lung tumors and autoimmune system disease, and at very low levels suppresses the immune system. Thyroid lesions have developed in laboratory studies in dogs during imidacloprid tests. Further studies are necessary to understand the possibilities of malignancy. Thyroid cancer has been linked to fipronil, according to the EPA. The data from the metabolism and chronic toxicity studies for fipronil indicate that ” . . . this is a persistent chemical and has the potential for nervous system and thyroid toxicity after long-term exposure at low levels,” according to Dr. Dobozy.

In the Journal of Pesticide Reform, author Caroline Cox cites studies that show thyroid sensitivity to imidacloprid can result in thyroid lesions, as well as increased incidences of miscarriages, mutagenic (DNA damage) abnormalities, and abnormal skeletons in animal studies. In addition, one metabolite (breakdown of the chemical into new chemical compounds during the metabolism process in the body) of imidacloprid appears to be far more toxic to mammals than the imidacloprid itself.

General Risk Factors

Of course, not all dogs exhibit immediately noticeable symptoms when dosed with a commercial spot-on flea product. Adult animals and those in the peak of health are less likely to show immediate signs compared to animals that are young, old, or suffering from chronic disease. Animals with a heightened sensitivity to chemicals or with exposures from multiple sources such as a flea collar; other dips, sprays, dust, or flea bombs; yard pesticides; and house termite extermination, are most likely to react. The cumulative and synergistic impacts of pesticides can take a heavy toll on animals.

Dr. Jerry Blondell, of the US EPA Office of Pesticides, has indicated clearly “not to use pesticides on the old, the sick, or the young.” While some of the literature for the spot-on products does discourage this usage, many dog guardians and veterinarians overlook or disregard these written precautions.

Although the number of dogs reported to react to these products may seem small, this does not suggest the overall impact is small. First, spot-on products are relatively new, and many problems are cumulative.

Second, reactivity to chemicals in a population is similar to other population statistics and is represented by a bell-shaped curve. In other words, at one end of the spectrum are sensitive individuals, and at the opposite end are resistant individuals; these groups are relatively small compared to the vast middle group, who show varying degrees of susceptibility – but who are all susceptible. Thus the sensitive group – dogs who have displayed signs of toxicity – happen to be the sentinels for the younger, healthier ones who will eventually be affected; it’s just a matter of time.

Safer Alternatives to Flea Resistance

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a nontoxic approach used to eradicate any insect infestation. Simply, it is a way of thinking about how to preserve the quality of life on this planet and within the earth’s stratosphere – of understanding not only the damages of the pesticide to all species and the environment, but also understanding the consequences of insect resistance to the constant parade of new, more sophisticated, and perhaps more toxic pesticide formulas. The IPM process was initially designed to safeguard all species, including the environment, from the ravages of pesticides.

In the next issue, we will present a complete indoor and outdoor IPM treatment program for effective, non-poisonous flea control.

Also With This Article
Click here to view “Flea Control: Best, Safest Practices”
Click here to view “Flea Tip #1”
Click here to view “Natural Herbs for Flea Relief”

Kathleen Dudley is a writer and photographer who lives in New Mexico.

Letters 02/02: A Grape Mystery

By
Nancy Kerns
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Have you heard anything about grapes and raisins being toxic to dogs? I read on one of the dog lists that a dog died after eating a box of raisins. I give grapes as treats and use organic raisins as training treats. Should I discontinue this practice?

-Ann Schallert
via e-mail

Contrary to rumors sent to us by several readers, grapes and raisins haven’t suddenly gained toxicity. A review of poisoning cases in the database kept by the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Illinois, revealed the grape/raisin overdose danger.

In all, researchers found 21 cases where a dog had become sick following the ingestion of a large amount of either grapes or raisins. The poisonings occurred in a 12-year period, from 1989 through April 2001. The authors of the study are now conducting an even more thorough database search of poisoning cases, and according to one of the authors, have found numerous additional cases where an overdose of grapes or raisins may be implicated in a poisoning case; further study is ongoing.

The 21 incidents described so far were very serious; 20 of the 21 dogs developed evidence of renal dysfunction; 3 dogs died, and 4 were euthanized due to poor response to treatment. Initially, most of the dogs vomited; more than half had diarrhea, and about a third displayed a lack of appetite, lethargy, and/or abdominal pain. Researchers are trying to determine what was responsible for the acute renal failure: mycotoxins, pesticides, heavy metals, or a toxin that has yet to be determined.

Unfortunately, the amount of grapes or raisins that were ingested could be estimated in only 12 of the 21 cases. One case involved a dog who ate about 2 pounds of red seedless grapes. The raisin eaters consumed 8 to 16 ounces in one sitting. The smallest dosage seen in the cases equaled 1 ounce of fruit per 2.2 pounds of the dog’s body weight (10 ounces of fruit eaten by a 22-pound dog, for example). A variety of fruit was implicated: fresh grapes came from both grocery stores and vines on private property; one dog ate fermented grapes from a winery. The raisins were commercial raisins of various brands. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center provides telephone assistance to veterinarians and animal guardians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Center charges a flat fee of $45 for a phone consultation, which includes as many follow-up calls as necessary. To consult the APCC, call (888) 426-4435.

We would hesitate to call for a complete ban on feeding grapes or raisins based on these reports. However, we suggest exerting absolute control over your dog’s access to these foods don’t leave grapes or raisins anywhere a dog might be able to reach them and limiting his total intake of both foods. And, of course, if your dog eats a large amount of either food, OR displays any sign of illness after eating any amount of these foods, take him to your vet ASAP.

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Loose Ends

By
Nancy Kerns
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You may not be aware of the time lag between your reading a new issue and us preparing it. Often, by the time you are just finding out about recent events in WDJ’s life, those events have been long since resolved, or the situation has changed completely. And then I forget what people are referring to when they say things like, “So, is Carly okay?” So, as a New Year’s type of resolution, I’m going to try to catch you up on recent news and gossip.

Like Carly, for instance. In the December issue, I mentioned that while I was babysitting her for my next-door neighbors, I negligently left her playing with a stuffed fleece toy while I was preoccupied on my computer. Hours later, I found a lot of fluff and the squeaker from the toy, but I could not find the fleecy cover of the toy anywhere. I was terrified that Carly had eaten the darn thing, and it was all my fault.

Days went by, and my neighbors and I kept the closest eye on that rascally dog, but she suffered no symptoms. Yay! I can’t tell you how glad I am that she lived to run and play another day (and model for WDJ – that’s her with “packmates” Brendan and Michael on page 19). Still, I searched and searched and could not find the toy.

Okay, okay, mystery solved. I was picking up poop the other day and found it mostly buried under a rose bush, just one tiny hunk of fleece visible above ground. I tell you I looked for signs of digging and burying, with no luck.

In other news, my dog Rupert (who recently passed his 12th birthday) is hanging in there. We’re still trying to get his medication for cardiac arrhythmia dialed in just so; we’ve visited the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at University of California, Davis, so much lately that Rupert has fallen in love with his cardiologist, Dr. Karen Sanderson, a delightful woman who always has cookies in her pockets. Rupert drags me into the building to see her, which makes me wonder whether he makes his heart go pitter-pat-pat-pitter just to further his friendship with her. Don’t laugh! Border Collies are awfully smart.

Say, this issue is exceedingly full of training articles. We’ll be catching up with the health and nutrition departments with the very next issue. One of our favorite contributors, veterinarian Jean Hofve, has been out of commission for a while following, get this, a severe cat bite on her hand. I don’t want to get all species-ist on you, but the fact is, we’ve never lost a writer due to dog bites. (Forgive me, I have a friendly little competition going with the editor of our sister publication, Whole Cat Journal.)

My last desk-clearing resolution is to improve my record of responding to your calls and letters. The volume of mail I receive here, e-mail in particular, is staggering, especially since the advent of the WDJ Web site. I do really appreciate hearing from readers, even if I can’t acknowledge all of them.

However, I have a favor to ask: Please don’t write to WDJ asking for urgent advice regarding your dog’s health. Contact the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (the contact numbers appear in “Resources” on page 24 of every issue) to find a holistic practitioner near you, and then establish a relationship with that vet. Many of us use conventionally trained veterinarians for routine care and specialists for in-depth issues, and rely heavily on our complementary practitioners to oversee and coordinate the “big picture” of our dogs’ health. It’s a lot of phone numbers to keep track of, but worth it.

-by Nancy Kerns

Making Peace With Death

By
Nancy Kerns
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One great and inescapable sorrow awaits all of us who share our lives with dogs: Sooner or later we shall have to face the decline and death of our beloved companions. Painful though it is to contemplate this loss, ask yourself the following question: If it were within your power to provide it, what sort of death would you wish for your dog?

Chances are, you would wish him the same death as you would wish yourself: to die when he is ready, peacefully in his sleep, at home, in bed, surrounded by loved ones.

However, very few dogs actually die this way. For the vast majority, death will come in the form of euthanasia at the veterinarian’s office. Although in most circumstances this experience is mercifully quick and painless, it’s not what anyone would call ideal.

People may debate whether the dog experiences discomfort in the veterinary hospital setting – the dreaded odor of the clinic, the steel table, memories of recent painful treatments for a terminal illness, strangers coming and going. This setting is unquestionably uncomfortable for the grieving human, and may even leave her with the lingering feeling that she has in some indefinable way failed or betrayed the trust of her beloved canine friend.

However, conventional veterinary clinic-based euthanasia may one day be the exception rather than the rule. A small but growing number of veterinarians and animal guardians are beginning to challenge the way we typically deal with our animals’ terminal illnesses and are developing a compassionate alternative: veterinary hospice care.

Hospice history
The concept of hospice is not new; it was originally introduced more than 30 years ago by the British physician Dr. Cicely Saunders. In her work with terminally ill human patients, she came to realize that what her patients feared most was not death, but pain. By effectively controlling their pain, she was able to give back to her patients a vastly improved quality of life, even though their days were numbered.

Dr. Saunders’ work was expanded by others, including Dr. Elisabeth K bler-Ross, internationally known author of On Death and Dying. Eventually, the hospice philosophy has come to embrace several key concepts:

• Care for a terminally ill patient should neither prolong the patient’s life, nor hasten his death, but allow him to live as fully and comfortably as possible until death comes. Those who work with hospice patients accept with equanimity the fact that death is approaching, and seek to allow it to arrive as naturally and painlessly as possible.

• Once a patient enters hospice care, the particular diagnosis of his disease is no longer of central importance. Heroic efforts to effect a cure cease and the focus shifts to meticulous attention to the well-being of the patient, with a strong emphasis on pain control and the maintenance of comfort and dignity.

• Death is not a circumscribed event, but a process whose course is unique to each individual. Therefore, the care of each dying patient must be responsive to that individual’s needs.

• The emotional and spiritual needs of the dying patient and his loved ones strongly color the way they experience the patient’s death, so spiritual and emotional support for the patient and his family is one of the cornerstones of hospice care.

Also, the patient and family are regarded as a single unit, and care is delivered by a team which addresses the many different (and sometimes conflicting) needs of this unit as death approaches. Nor does care cease with the death of the patient; grief and bereavement counseling and the emotional support of the family may continue for many months after the death.

Hospice for animals
Veterinary hospice care is closely modeled on its human counterpart. Hospice care is usually chosen only once it becomes obvious that the animal’s disease has ceased to respond to conventional treatments and that its progress can no longer be held in check.

Typically, this point is reached only after a succession of visits to the veterinarian’s office, during the course of which the guardian has of necessity become very familiar with the various therapies and procedures the veterinarian has been using to control the disease. It is usually not too great a step at this stage for the veterinarian to hand over some of the basic supportive measures to the guardian to begin implementing them at home. With the use of available pharmacology – fentanyl patches, for example, or morphine – pain can quickly be brought under control and the patient made comfortable.

Of course, not every dying animal is a candidate for veterinary hospice care; there are circumstances, for example, where there is overwhelming trauma, or where quality of life is so very poor that your veterinarian will justifiably lead you toward the swift release of humane euthanasia. Other considerations must also be taken into account when weighing whether hospice care is an appropriate choice. For example, the animal’s guardian must be able to devote the considerable time and financial resources that may be necessary to sustain a dying pet through his last illness. Can the guardian be at home full- or part-time to monitor the patient?

Hard though such questions may be, they must be faced squarely at the outset, for no veterinarian will be willing to embark on the hospice journey with a client who cannot make a full commitment to see it through.

In some cases, the guardian may receive assistance from a veterinary technician. With the objective of avoiding the need for office visits altogether, the veterinarian might arrange for a vet tech to visit at regular intervals both to monitor the patient’s status and to provide support and assistance to the guardian. If the vet tech finds anything amiss or needs to change or add medications, she can do so after consulting by phone with the veterinarian. The vet tech also assumes responsibility for instructing the guardian in nursing skills such as rehydration, dealing with incontinence and avoiding pressure sores, etc.

Many holistic veterinarians also integrate alternative or complementary modalities such as flower essences, aromatherapy, color therapy, and/or homeopathy into their hospice care regimes, in some cases avoiding the need for the traditional opiates.

Eric Clough, DVM, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, is one of the hospice movement’s founding members and most enthusiastic advocates. He feels strongly that hospice is a more humane way of dealing with dying and death. “As a clinician, when you accept the hospice philosophy, you take on a different set of expectations in terms of disease management,” he says. “You no longer focus on increasingly intrusive diagnostics, frequent blood tests, etc. Instead, you turn your attention to what I call ‘Aggressive Comfort Therapy.’ The goal is to make death into a safe, loving, comfortable experience, rather than viewing it as a terrible defeat.”

Euthanasia and hospice
This is not to say that euthanasia is shunned by practitioners of veterinary hospice. Euthanasia has its place in veterinary hospice care and remains an option throughout the progress of the patient’s final illness. However, the hope of many who choose the hospice route is that euthanasia may never be needed, and that with careful nursing and effective symptomatic relief, patients may be able to find their own way, peacefully and without pain, to a natural death.

The rationale of euthanasia is unquestionably a noble one: to spare animals pain and suffering. Those who advocate hospice care do not dispute the compassionate basis of euthanasia; they do, however, question its timing, and even its inevitability. They also tend to view the disease process in an uncombative manner, accepting the approach of death without a sense of impotence or defeat. Instead, they channel their energies into addressing the patient’s pain and providing symptomatic relief on a day-to-day basis. If, however, the efforts of the animal’s guardians to provide comfort and relief from pain are fruitless, they may still decide to employ the option of humane euthanasia. Ideally, this would be delivered peacefully, at home, if possible.

Criticism of veterinary hospice
Hospice care is not embraced by all veterinary medical practitioners. Medical teaching – both human and veterinary – tends to reflect the larger culture and ours is a culture that is deeply uncomfortable with death. The military metaphor pervades medical thinking; we speak of fighting disease, beating infection, waging war on cancer. We train our physicians and veterinarians to view death as something to be conquered at all costs, and when a patient dies, we speak of that patient as having lost his battle.

Sadly, this has the unintended effect of making our doctors feel as though they have somehow failed when confronted with a life-limiting disease that will no longer respond to treatment. In the veterinary context, euthanasia can become in a sense a surrogate for treatment; it gives the veterinarian an additional treatment to administer – one more thing they can offer to “help” their patients. This may explain why some veterinarians guide their clients toward euthanasia – with what can often feel to the animal’s guardian like indecent haste – almost as soon as they diagnose an animal’s incurable illness.

“Vets are first and foremost medical thinkers,” comments Guy Hancock, DVM, Director of the Veterinary Technology program at St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida and an advisory board member of The Nikki Hospice Foundation for Pets. “This can make the transition from conventional treatment to hospice very tough for them, since in hospice care the medical aspects are secondary to the psychosocial aspects.”

Interestingly, the strongest criticism of the growing veterinary hospice movement has come from some who, professing to advocate for animal rights, find the notion of withholding immediate euthanasia from dying animals both unethical and abhorrent. They see it as yet another example of humans willfully subordinating the needs of animals in order to gratify needs of their own.

Hospice proponents counter this argument by pointing out that the raison d’être of hospice care is the relief of suffering, and that euthanasia is not by any means the only (nor even at times the best) way to accomplish this goal. They see such objections as simply another manifestation of our generalized cultural squeamishness about dying, and point to the example of Japan, where reverence for the elderly and a more dispassionate attitude toward the process of dying are strongly enshrined culturally – and where, correspondingly, the practice of veterinary euthanasia is extremely rare.

Even so, many who are dealing with terminal illness in their animal companions find themselves in the unenviable position of being pressured, sometimes none too subtly, by family and well-intentioned friends who don’t understand the concept of hospice or palliative care, and who feel that sustaining life in a dying animal is fundamentally cruel. Such pressure can induce agonies of self-doubt and confusion in the mind of the unfortunate pet guardian at a time when emotional resources are already stretched to breaking point.

Those who choose the hospice route will need to rely heavily on an experienced, sympathetic veterinarian and her staff for reassurance that they are indeed doing the right thing. A skilled veterinarian who knows her patient well can often tell from the look in the patient’s eyes whether his life is still worth living. It helps enormously to know that one’s veterinarian will blow the whistle if she honestly feels that the animal’s condition has reached a point where pain control can no longer be assured or quality of life is untenable.

It is also worth remembering that although animals assuredly do feel pain, they do not necessarily suffer quite the way we do. Although an animal may have pain, we can never know with certainty whether that animal is able to interpret the meaning of its condition, to have expectations or to worry and fret about impending death the way humans typically do. Those who know animals well and have studied them extensively often remark on the “philosophical” way in which animals seem to approach death, as though they both understood it and had no fear of it.

Different hospice approaches
Dr. Hancock, a staunch proponent of veterinary hospice care who is also deeply involved with the human hospice movement, believes strongly that the psychosocial tenets of the hospice movement are paramount. Just as with terminally ill human patients, he says, no animal should die alone.

“The family is the unit of care, and grief counseling should be available both before and for up to a year following the death.”

Debbie Mallu, DVM, a holistic veterinarian with a practice in Sedona, Arizona, is another hospice advocate who draws on human hospice ideology. Dr. Mallu says she no longer performs euthanasia, but even when she did, she would not euthanize an animal without its human guardian present.

Dr. Mallu’s growing interest and respect for the Buddhist philosophy has guided her in her veterinary practice, and she has incorporated some of her Buddhist beliefs into her hospice work. She encourages her clients to participate fully in the death process of their pets. As she sees it, her clients need help with their feelings almost as much as they need veterinary help for their pets, and their fear of death must be addressed before all else. “I try to teach them to let go of the outcome of the illness,” she says.

Although Dr. Mallu does on occasion make use of the full pharmacological battery for pain control, she uses mostly holistic modalities of treatment. “I prefer not to ‘dope up’ my patients if I can possibly avoid it,” she says. She teaches her clients to hold their dying pets, to stroke them in calming, comforting ways as the death progresses, and, as she puts it, “to be mindfully there, minute by minute, with a loving heart.”

Christina Chambreau, DVM, a holistic veterinarian from Sparks, Maryland, finds less and less reason to euthanize animals; she says she has euthanized only 10 animals in the past 10 years. “I operate on the assumption that the spirit goes on after death,” she says. “One can let go of the fear of death by realizing that only the physical body dies; the spirit lives on.”

Although Dr. Chambreau says she takes her patients’ pain very seriously and treats it aggressively, she reminds her clients that animals live in the moment, and don’t reflect on the significance of their symptoms. “People are apt to project their own fears of various symptoms onto their pets,” she says, “whereas the animals themselves may not find those symptoms overly troublesome.”

For some people, the most valued gift of hospice is its offer of a precious interval of time, however limited, in which the animal’s guardian can begin to say goodbye to her friend and the difficult but essential task of grieving can begin. As Rita Reynolds puts it in Blessing the Bridge, a wonderful book on the subject of animal death:

“My friend and teacher joined me in this lifetime in the form of a honey-colored terrier named Oliver. Through his living and dying, he taught me there is no such thing as life versus death, or success versus failure. Love given and received, moment by moment, is all that really matters.”

Also With This Article
Click here to view “How to Prepare For a Dog’s Death”
Click here to view “How to Grieve For The Death of a Dog”

-by Louise Kehoe

Louise Kehoe is a writer and garden designer who lives in New Hampshire. The author of a memoir, In This Dark House (1995, Random House), Kehoe has written for numerous publications including the Sunday Times (London) and the Chicago Tribune. This is her first article for WDJ.

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Why Veterinary Wellness Exams Are Important

Nancy Kerns 1
I took my two dogs—Woody, age 9, and Boone, age 3—to see their vet a week ago. I wasn’t looking forward to being chided for allowing him—nay, facilitating him—to gain a few extra pounds this winter. But I wasn’t at all expecting the health problems that my vet found.
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