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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 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.
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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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 WDJs 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 Years type of resolution, Im 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 cant tell you how glad I am that she lived to run and play another day (and model for WDJ thats 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. Were still trying to get his medication for cardiac arrhythmia dialed in just so; weve 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. Dont laugh! Border Collies are awfully smart.
Say, this issue is exceedingly full of training articles. Well 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 dont want to get all species-ist on you, but the fact is, weve 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 cant acknowledge all of them.
However, I have a favor to ask: Please dont write to WDJ asking for urgent advice regarding your dogs 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. Its a lot of phone numbers to keep track of, but worth it.
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.”
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.
Note: The editorial team at Whole Dog Journal is working on a brand new winter coats for dogs review for 2019. For now, follow the guidelines below. Also be sure to learn about when winter coats are appropriate for your dog.
Putting a coat on your dog shouldn’t be about making a fashion statement. Rather, it should be about keeping a chilly dog warm, thereby preventing hypothermia, a dangerous condition characterized by a reduced internal body temperature. (The normal canine body temperature is 100.5 to 102 degrees. A dog whose temperature drops below 95 degrees can die.)
A dog’s natural protection against cold varies from breed to breed. Labradors and certain Northern dogs (Huskies and Malamutes, for example) have developed with special physiological responses for coping with cold. However, many other breeds (and certain individual dogs) benefit from extra warming layers in cold weather, including:
• Thin dogs, who may not have adequate fat stores to keep themselves warm
• Extremely short-haired dogs and/or breeds accustomed to exotic climates
• Immune-compromised dogs, who should be protected from the stress of cold
• Older dogs, especially those in poor health
Warming up these dogs actually helps them stay healthy, by sparing the dog’s body from having to generate as much heat as it would have to otherwise. By simply slipping an extra layer on these dogs, you can help them preserve their physiological resources for the maintenance of general health and vitality.
Dog Coat Shopping Tips
If you shop in stores, you have a huge advantage over catalog shoppers. You can try several coats on your dog to check their fit and ease of application, and you can examine them closely for good-quality zippers, seams, and Velcro fasteners, and thick, warm fabric.
The only drawback to shopping for a coat in person is finding a store that carries a broad-enough selection of quality designs to choose from. Catalog shopping, in contrast, may seduce you with a fantastic selection of pretty coats, but it’s hard to tell from the photographs whether the coats are thick and well made. And don’t count on being able to return coats that you try on your dog and then return due to poor fit. Although none of the companies we ordered coats from told us this in advance, we found that many will not accept returns of products that have any dog hair on them. It’s understandable, but regrettable. Before you place an order or hand over your plastic, ask the sales representative about the business’s return policy.
Keep your climate in mind as you shop. Do you live in perennially wet, cold Seattle? The dry, windy cold of Denver? Look for a coat that offers protection from the combination of weather conditions your area generally experiences. Some degree of waterproofing is needed in rainy Washington, for example, a wind-blocking fabric is a must in the plains states, and greater insulation is needed in areas that hover at freezing temperatures all winter.
Also, keep your dog’s body type in mind as you examine coat candidates. Some designs are clearly intended for deep-chested, narrow-waisted dogs like Greyhounds. Others better suit block-bodied dogs such as Golden Retrievers. Check the placement of the closures to see whether they can be adjusted to accommodate your dog.
If you buy from a catalog, or are shopping without your dog’s company, be prepared with his or her measurements. Every coat manufacturer sizes their coats differently. Some use the measurement from the dog’s collar to the top of his tail, some use the dog’s collar size, and still others use the measurement around the widest part of the chest. Measure all of these, as well as the dimension of your dog’s waist at its narrowest point, and take these numbers shopping with you.
Some Winter Coat Models We Liked
Because you need to find a coat that suits your climate and dog’s physique, this is one of those instances where we can’t possibly test every coat available, or even tell you which ones we tested and decided were the “best.” Instead, we’ll describe some of the products we liked a lot, and tell you what it was about each coat that earned our admiration. With luck, one of the coats we chose to feature would suit your dog’s needs.
The Snuggy
The Snuggy is simply one of the best fitting coats we have tested, and one of the easiest to put on the dog. Made of a thick Polarfleece fabric and fastening on both sides of the dog with a wide swath of Velcro, this coat offers superior warmth, but little protection from wind and none from rain. The coat is available in a wide range of sizes (separated by two-inch increments) and colors. We ordered from Valley Vet Pet Supply. Price depends on size, from $20 for the smallest and up to $37 for the largest. Worth every penny.
PC Panache Polarfleece
We ordered this coat directly from the manufacturer, who is so determined to provide coats with superior fit that she actually prefers to make your dog’s coat to order (for only a few dollars more). However, our experience was that, carefully measured, the “off-the-rack” coats fit beautifully. The Panache Polarfleece features an elasticized collar that easily slips over the dog’s head, and a nylon belt (fastened with a metal clip) that secures the coat around the dog’s waist. The workmanship is gorgeous, and the personal customer service divine. Expect to pay more: $35 for the small sizes, and up to $56 for the largest. Again, fleece coats do not offer much protection from wind or rain.
We should mention that PC Panache also makes a very nice raincoat that provides superior protection from wind and rain, though it is unlined and so offers no insulating properties. Their thickest coat is the wooly fleece-lined Denim “City Coat,” another attractive, easy-on model. Panache Rainslicker $35-$50; Panache City Coat $45-$66. PC Panache, (610) 296-3846.
Avery Neoprene Dog Parka
The first time we reviewed dog coats, way back in 1998, a reader chastised us for not including a coat that offered protection from a freezing rain. I tried to explain that as a native Californian, such a thing had never occurred to me! However, this coat is just the solution for keeping warm, if not dry, in that sort of nasty weather.
Designed to keep hunting dogs warm even when they are soaking wet, this Neoprene suit offers superior insulating abilities, but hopelessly flunks any sort of attractiveness test. Available in two different camouflage patterns, “Wetlands” and “Shadow-grass.” Fastens with Velcro strip that runs along the dog’s spine. Easy on and off. $35 from Dunn’s Supply Catalog, (800) 353-8621.
Therapet Standard Ultrex Coat
This simple coat features a nylon shell for wind protection (and some water resistance) and a soft fleece lining for insulation. It fastens with two Velcro straps, one at the neck and one around the waist. $15-$33; a special Greyhound model fits dogs of that physique, $50. We ordered from The Dog’s Outfitter, (800) 367-3647.
Arrowhead Dog Jacket
This is another nice fleece-lined coat with a windproof and water-resistant exterior shell. The coat fastens at the front with a single Velcro strip; the wide belly band fastens with two fairly adjustable Velcro strips.
Like the Snuggy, the Arrowhead coat is available in an impressive range of sizes: from the Toy (5-10 pounds) to the XXXL (120-140 pounds). Despite the fact that we ordered one that was a little too small for our model (the Dalmatian in the center photo), the coat stayed securely fastened, even while the dog ran and played. Affordable at $25-$50. We ordered from KV Vet Supply, (800) 423-8211.
Fido’s Wind & Rain Gear
Once again, I’m not sure who is going to want or need a coat capable of protecting a dog from gale-force wind and rain, but if that person exists, so does the coat. Mann Design Ltd., of (wouldn’t you know it?) Minneapolis, Minnesota, makes what they describe as “one of a kind garments” to thoroughly protect a dog from the worst kind of blustery weather.
I’ll admit that this isn’t the easiest coat to put on. For one thing, you have to put the dog’s front legs through the sleeves – not as bad a job as it could be, since the maker put a small Velcro tab at the “wrist” to widen the sleeve for putting it on, and then fastening it close once on the dog. Next, you seal up the long Velcro strip along the dog’s spine, as well as another Velcro strip at the dog’s throat. The hood is easily attached or detached with another strip of Velcro. Finally, you tighten the elastic drawstring at the dog’s waist to keep his chest sealed from wet and wind. I suspect I could safely take a dog through a carwash in this outfit – only kidding!
I bought the coat from a local pet supply store; you can buy direct from Mann Design at www.fidostuff.com or (800) 343-6779. $20-$50, depending on size.
Most people, unwittingly or intentionally, use a lot of physical force when raising and training their dogs.
The purposeful ones have a whole variety of reasons. Some may have read about behavioral theories regarding dominance and “the importance of showing the dog who’s boss.” Fans of these theories may advocate imitations of canine behavior such as “scruff shakes” or “Alpha rolls” to convince the dog he’s at the bottom of the family hierarchy. Others may have been influenced by advocates of traditional, military-style training – think of yanking collar ‘corrections’ or using the leash leveraged under their foot to forcibly pull a dog into a Down. Still others may be practicing old-fashioned folk “wisdom” when they do things like push a puppy’s nose into a puddle of pee, or smack a rowdy pup with a rolled-up newspaper when he jumps up on the couch.
Then there are the people who aren’t intentionally or mindfully using force on the dog, but who end up doing just that in the course of struggling to get him to behave. My guess would be that this is the majority of dog owners, those of us who reflexively smack the dog for jumping up on our clean clothes, who don’t yet know the trick to walking the dog without his pulling our arms from their sockets, and who have seen hundreds of people using the “push the puppy’s bottom down while repeating SIT!” method of training.
The thing is, sometimes these methods work. So people – some people – keep using them.
However, I doubt that anyone would admit to enjoying inflicting discomfort, pain, or intimidation on his or her dog (and hey, if they did, they probably would read some other magazine!). I’m fairly sure that most of the people who “take a hand to” their dogs are unaware of all the consequences. And I’m absolutely certain that if they learned an easier, more enjoyable, and more effective way to get their dogs to do what they want them to do, most people would. And that’s where WDJ comes in!
The following are discussions with two trainers who use and advocate non-force training. Each has different reasons for wanting to avoid the use of compulsion-based training techniques, and different, compelling explanations for why they think that dog owners should employ positive training techniques. I learned a lot in my conversations with them, and I hope you will, too.
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Creating Dogs with Initiative and a Desire for Partnership
Nina Bondarenko is the program director for Canine Partners for Independence (CPI) in Hampshire, United Kingdom. A native of Australia, Bondarenko has trained dogs for show and competition, judged Schutzhund trials and breed suitability tests, and now lectures regularly on canine behavior, development, and cognition.
Bondarenko says her start in dog training in Australia was inadvertently oriented toward positive methods, “because I didn’t know better,” she jokes. She got her first Rottweiler when she was a young teenager. She trained him herself to the best of her abilities, and he went everywhere with her.
Eventually, Bondarenko became interested in more advanced training for her dog, and she sought the advice of some local dog experts, including an old man who lived nearby who raised “very ferocious crossbred dogs” that were used to hunt and kill kangaroos. Bondarenko says that when the old man, who had a slight build, would go into the kennels, sometimes the dogs would try to pin him against the wall, but he would quite confidently fend them off.
She says the sight was terrifying, but he explained to her that “you just have to show them you’re not scared of them. You don’t have to bash them or strangle them or kick them or anything, you just have to be completely confident around them – so that’s what I did with my dog.”
She also sought advice from the man’s wife, who took the leash of Bondarenko’s young dog and demonstrated some classic force-based obedience methods. “She told me, ‘See, you’ve just got to do this to him, you’ve got to make him do this.’ And she started flinging him around at the end of the leash. I said [in a tremulous voice], ‘Oh, whoa, he doesn’t know how to do that!’ and my poor dog was looking like [in a squeaky voice], ‘I need some help, what’s going on?’ He was trying to comply, but he didn’t know what hit him!”
Bondarenko says she took her dog home and thought about what she had seen. She decided, “Naw, I can’t do that. If he’s going to be my mate [pal] and go with me everywhere, I can’t do that.” Instead, she says she watched him play with other dogs and would try to mimic what other dogs did when they wanted to control each other. “For example, if he was doing something I didn’t like, I’d go menacingly still, and he’d get the message.” Probably because of her unwitting confidence, her good relationship with the dog, and because she never tried to force him to do things, her Rottweiler complied with her wishes without incident.
Bondarenko became a big fan of the breed, and even began breeding Rottweilers. However, as she pursued her interest, she says she was told numerous times by unappreciative Australians that “Rottweilers are stupid, stubborn, ugly, ignorant, untrainable, aggressive, and lazy.” Her experience with the dogs was quite different.
“I was training them just by guesswork, and they were lovely dogs; smart, eager to learn, affectionate, and loyal,” Bondarenko says. However, as she gained an interest in showing the dogs, she joined a training club, and with her new female dog, started learning about and using the traditional, force-based training methods that were in style at that time. In no time at all, she says, her dog “suddenly became stupid, stubborn, ugly, ignorant, untrainable, aggressive, and lazy!”
For example, the instructor would say, “Say ‘Heel’ and jerk the neck! Say ‘Heel’ and jerk the neck!” Bondarenko says it didn’t take long for her dog to start growling at her when she said “Heel!” because she knew to expect a jerk on the neck.
“The other thing was, if your dog broke the ‘Stay,’ you were supposed to let him come to you, then drag him back to position and throw him down . . . The first time I tried to do that, my dog went very rigid and tense. The second time I tried to do it, she was up and waiting for me – and she would have had me,” says Bondarenko. Even the instructor’s own dog discouraged Bondarenko’s interest in this style of training. “He had a little Corgi that used to attack everyone and had to be kept tied up, so this wasn’t a very encouraging example,” she laughs.
Force won’t work here
Bondarenko continued to pursue her interest in dog breeding and training, and studied animal behavior in college. Today, after 20-plus years of professional training and advanced studies, she says she has two main concerns about force-based training. First, there is a limit to what you can accomplish with force; it can be effectively used for stopping a behavior, but can’t be used to get dogs to offer behavior. Positive reinforcement training, on the other hand, is “absolutely brilliant” for getting a dog to take initiative and find every way possible to be helpful and responsive to his or her handler.
In her work at Canine Partners for Independence, Bondarenko developed what she calls a puppy education system where the selected puppies start “training” in the homes of volunteers at seven weeks. The handlers have been taught to use operant conditioning, whereby the puppies learn to solve problems and accomplish their goals – from finding the right place to go to the bathroom to pressing light switches – by offering behavior. They are rewarded for using their noses, mouths, and their feet to touch and manipulate objects, and taught that if they want attention and petting, they must offer some behavior.
By never winning rewards of any kind for the “wrong” behavior, and always getting what they want when they display the “right” behavior, Bondarenko says the puppies “grow up incredibly cooperative, compliant, and easy to train and motivate. When they do the right thing, it gets reinforced right away. And when they are wrong, nothing happens. This is absolutely non-threatening, and it makes sense to them,” Bondarenko describes. In other words, they are infinitely motivated to show initiative.
When the puppies are between 12 and 15 months old, they are returned to the CPI training center where Bondarenko and her trainers begin to teach them to refine the behaviors they have learned. For example, while a puppy may have learned to nudge a light switch with his nose, he is now taught to press it really distinctly, and perhaps three or four times. The third and final phase of training gets the dog and his new disabled partner used to each other. “Here, the dog has to learn again,” describes Bondarenko. “His new handler may speak very differently or move differently from his previous trainers. He may have to learn a new way of going through a door, or picking up crutches and getting them properly into the hands of his handler.”
Even after many years of working with assistance dogs, Bondarenko says she’s amazed and thrilled with the things that a positively trained and motivated dog can do for people. “Look, there’s no way you could force a dog to do these things,” she says. “Imagine an aversive trainer trying to get the dog to help with the laundry. How could he make the dog open the washing machine door? Will it work to smack the dog if he doesn’t do it? Not likely!”
Plus, as Bondarenko points out, even if physical corrections did work to make dogs do things, this solution could not be put into practice by many disabled people who currently enjoy an assistance dog partnership.
“Say the dog is going to be given to a thalidomide survivor whose arms are three inches long. What’s she going to do if the dog has been trained with pulling and smacking, and he doesn’t do something he is supposed to? ‘Watch out, dog, or I am going to look at you quite fiercely!’ No, assistance dogs can’t be forced to work. They have to be a willing partner, an enthusiastic participant in everything the person does.”
If, in contrast, the dog is punished when he offers a behavior and it is the wrong one, his mistrust of the handler and fear of using initiative will grow. Eventually the dog will avoid using any initiative at all – a behavior that is apt to result in his being labeled “stubborn” or “sulky.”
Fallout of force
Bondarenko’s second major concern with the reliance of force to control the dog has to do with the risk of pushing the dog into behaving in one of several undesirable ways. She explains:
“Everyone has heard the expression ‘fight or flight.’ In dog training, I suggest that there are four main behavioral responses that you are apt to see when a dog has been frightened or stressed: fight, flight, freeze, or fool around.
“A dog that is very self-confident will fight when you threaten him. You say, ‘You had better do that,’ and the dog says, ‘I’ll take your hand off if you try to make me.’
“Flight is the dog who tries to run away. He’ll pull backward, or tremble and lag behind you when you are trying to get him to heel.
“The dog that freezes will just go rigid and throw calming signals like crazy. He’ll go still, lower his body, and will close down in an effort to avoid doing something that will stimulate more of your aggression.
“Then you get the dog who fools around – the one who gets extremely excitable, the class clown. He throws extreme behaviors – pawing and submissively throwing himself down and then jumping up all over you, grabbing the lead, getting tangled . . . this is anxious, insecure behavior. Or the dog who is jumping and wagging his tail, putting his ears back, and pulling his lips back in a big grin is saying, ‘Hey everyone, laugh! And then let’s go do something else now!’
“You may get any (or some combination) of those four responses from using threats on a dog who doesn’t really understand what that is all about. If he’s frightened, and he doesn’t know what he can do to avoid punishment, he’s likely to try some or all of the above.”
Negative results of positive training?
Bondarenko says that the chances of positive-reinforcement training harming the dog’s confidence or psyche are quite slim, though she has seen positive methods, inexpertly applied, cause a dog some frustration and even aggression. The difference is, she says, this resulted in a dog who may be frustrated enough to bark angrily, but who had no reason or trigger to make him attack his handler, whereas a dog who is frustrated and then punished or hurt may well bite to defend himself.
“Positive training gives the dog the opportunity to walk away, to lie down, to stand and do nothing. . . there is lots of room for the dog to avoid being pushed into a very bad, unwanted response,” she says.
Bondarenko sees potential for trouble with positive training in a few, specific instances. For example, when a person has a very confident, independent dog that wants his own way, and is not particularly interested in complying or cooperating, she says, “You have to be able to engage the dog’s interest, you have to get them to want to do it and eager to learn – and not everyone is capable of getting that from their dog.”
And then there are the people who are looking for shortcuts – who just want the dog to be trained as quickly as possible, with little effort. “Behavior shaping is such a wonderful and useful tool, but it’s also complex, demanding, and not everyone can use it very well. Some people use a little bit and then go, ‘Aw, this doesn’t work.’ Or they say, ‘I think it was faster when I just jerked the dog.’ ”
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Ian Dunbar: Promoting “Dog-Friendly Dog Training”
Punishment,” says Dr. Ian Dunbar, “is an advertisement that a dog isn’t trained yet.” Dunbar is a veterinarian, has a Ph.D. in animal behavior, and is often credited with pioneering the puppy education movement when he founded Sirius Puppy Training, in Berkeley, California, in 1980. He also has written and produced numerous books and videos on dog training, founded a publishing company (James & Kenneth Publishing) that specializes in books about positive dog training, and founded the Association of Pet Dog Trainers in 1993.
Whether Dunbar has stirred up the wave of positive dog training so popular today or he simply managed to surf its crest for more than 20 years is, perhaps, not worth debating. Throughout that time, he has been a tireless advocate of what he calls “dog-friendly dog training,” focused on helping owners get along with their dogs happily and safely.
To achieve these goals, Dunbar advocates taking the simplest effective approach to dog training possible. Any method of dog training had better be “all the E’s,” he says: “It has to be effective; there is no point in doing it if it doesn’t work. It has to be efficient, because people won’t do it if it takes a long time. It has to be easy, for the same reason. And if it is enjoyable, and people have fun doing it, and their dogs do, too, then they will do more of it, and be more successful.”
For example, Dunbar uses lots of lure-reward training – using a food treat or toy that the dog will follow to get him to perform certain behaviors, such as holding the lure slightly over the dog’s head to get him to sit. He also teaches handlers how to employ the difficult-sounding but fiendishly simple “operant conditioning” – rewarding the dog when he performs the desired behavior or a successively closer approximation, “reinforcing” the desired behavior.
In contrast, undesirable behavior goes unreinforced; the handler strives to make certain that the dog derives no reward from his “bad” behavior, and soon the dog loses interest in repeating it.
While Dunbar does address exotic misbehavior and serious transgressions such as aggression in his books, videos, and lectures, he says the bulk of his work has to do with helping people deal with normal dogs exhibiting normal dog behavior: eliminating in the house, digging in the garden, chewing the family’s possessions, chasing the cat, barking at strangers, and so on.
“What most people want is a dog who is fun and easy to live with,” he explains. “Once upon a time, dog training was all about this military stuff, and practiced mostly by people who wanted to show their dogs in obedience. You used to pick up training books and they would talk mostly about leash corrections.
“But in recent years we began talking about pet dog training, and we invoked the notion of relationship; we’re not just training dogs to do things, we’re training dogs to live with us and be our pals. After all, this is a dog I sit on the couch with and give tummy rubs to. This is the friend I walk with and chat with. I want the dog to like me. I want my dog to enjoy training, and if he does, I will too.
“Within the last 10 years, there has been an explosion of dog-friendly dog training,” Dunbar continues. “Now, the average family living with a dog has so many options, so many new, warm, friendly tools in the toolbox. Now we talk about training dogs to have bite inhibition; to like people, other dogs, and other animals; and we can talk about the notion of dealing with behavior problems.”
Love me, love my training
Dunbar says that in his opinion, the biggest current topic in dog training is teaching trainers and owners alike to avoid punishing their dogs. “My definition of training is to eliminate the need for any punishment,” he says. “If I use a force-based method, my goal is to eliminate that method as soon as possible.”
Dunbar believes there is definite “fallout” from using force- or pain-based training methods. “Even the mildest correction – just saying ‘No!’ – can result in baggage,” he says. “The point of training is to get the dog to like you and to be enjoyable to live with. Trust me, he won’t be fun to live with if he doesn’t like you and doesn’t trust you. In contrast, the fallout of training with treats is that the dog likes the handler.”
Putting yourself in your dog’s shoes is appropriate here; you wouldn’t want to spend hours and hours taking music or dancing lessons from someone with whom you felt uneasy. Dunbar gives an example from his home: “My son has favorite subjects in school because he likes the person who is teaching them. He’s even taking a Chinese history course because the instructor is so wonderful. You want the dog to want to sign up for any course you are teaching – and he won’t do it if he gets yelled at or struck in class.”
Be a behaviorist
When trying to convince people that force-free training actually works far more effectively than positive methods such as lure-reward and operant conditioning, Dunbar says it’s helpful to get them to look at the two different approaches objectively.
“To say I don’t like force-based training, or that dogs don’t like it, is a purely subjective opinion,” he explains. “But you can ask them to use the method that behavioral scientists use to determine effectiveness – to observe and quantify the dog’s behavior.”
Dunbar uses an example of a dog that jumps up. You could, he suggests, deal with the behavior by turning your back and completely ignoring his jumping, while keeping track of how many times he tried to jump. “If you have someone actually keep a log, it not only keeps the person ‘on task,’ but also shows them that, in fact, the method is working. There is no disputing a trend seen in the log.”
Close observation of the dog’s behavior is critical to dog training, says Dunbar. When he is working with a dog, he wants it to feel comfortable and confident, and to enjoy working with him.
“I know I’ve messed up if I see the dog suddenly lower his head and back up, or refuse to join me in the training game,” explains Dunbar. “That’s why I start off by offering the dog a food treat, and observing what he does. Did the dog come? How quickly? His response gives me a good look inside his head. If he takes it, I can be reasonably assured he is comfortable with me, and he can probably be persuaded to enjoy training. If he doesn’t take the food, I give it to the owner and have her offer it to the dog. If he takes it from the owner right away, I know that the dog is uncomfortable with me – and therefore vulnerable to being scared by me.”
As much as he believes that dog training can almost always be accomplished without pain, fear, or force, Dunbar says he doesn’t “attack” force-based trainers or owners who use force. “I don’t look down on anyone for their force-based training methods,” he says. “But I put this question to them: ‘Would you like to do that (use force) less? Because I think I can give you one tip, so you can get the desired result much more effectively and easily.’ If I can show them that I can get the dog to do the same thing quicker, easier, and more enjoyably, they are likely to give the positive stuff a try.”
The trainer does admit to sometimes using covert methods to demonstrate the benefits of non-force methods to a handler who has become angry or frustrated with a dog.
“If someone is in my class and she is ‘losing it’ with her dog, I might put my coffee cup in her hands and say brightly, ‘Could you hold my coffee for a second? Thanks!’ Then I take a handful of treats and get the dog to do what he’s supposed to be doing, and praise both of them lavishly, ‘Goooood dog, goooood job, you two!!’ That conditions both of them to enjoy training!”
A couple of days ago, I received a text from a dog-training client, wondering about a video she had just watched—and which she linked in the text. “Is meat meal bad for dogs?” she asked. She followed that message with, “I get that she’s selling her own pet food, but is it (meat meal) that bad?”
