Regarding your article on vaccination (“Current Thoughts on Shots,” WDJ August 1999): Thank you for confirming my belief that its the excessive challenging of the dog’s immune system that is responsible for so many auto-immune disorders.
I am a non-practicing LVT in New York state and I have three dogs, two of whom have autoimmune disorders. I used to vaccinate religiously, and even brought the vaccines home to administer them.
My 10-year-old Standard Poodle has seizure disorder (idiopathic). We’ve had a brain scan and all kinds of tests, under the supervision of a neurological specialist. All results were negative – no brain tumor or old lesion of the brain. The seizures started abruptly about a month after I vaccinated him. I was working at an animal emergency clinic at the time, and a few weekends prior to his first seizure, we had no fewer than 12 seizuring dogs come into the clinic in a 48-hour period, whereas we usually had less than one each weekend. Bad batch of vaccines that year?
My other dog, a four-year-old Bichon, developed AIHA and very nearly died last October. He was vaccinated in the spring before this episode, and he had an allergic reaction – we had to rush him to the emergency clinic for a shot of Benadryl. I truly believe that it was the vaccine that caused both these reactions – and it included bordetella, which he’d never had before. He was not vaccinated this year. We did a titer and it was fine. I doubt that I will ever vaccinate him again, except for rabies every three years.
I am seriously considering not vaccinating my Poodle any longer, especially after reading your article. And my healthy (though itchy) Bichon will probably go on a reduced vaccination schedule; we’ll be testing titers on all three dogs come spring. Thank you for the article and Dr. Dodds’ vaccination schedule. I hope they start teaching this in vet school and vet tech programs.
-Kathleen Foley, LVT via email
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I live in Scotland, but a friend sent me your article on vaccinations. This issue is also being discussed in Britain. My interest in this is because my favorite breed is Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I’ve collected the pedigrees of around 90 Cavaliers who have had heart trouble (about 50 percent of King Charles Spaniels suffer from heart murmurs by five years of age). A number of the dogs whose pedigrees I have, and who come from fairly inbred American stock, had their heart trouble within about a month of having their vaccinations. Some died shortly afterward.
When the Cavalier breed was getting established in the 1930s and 1940s, it was not uncommon to breed mothers to sons, fathers to daughters, brothers to sisters. It’s a fact that inbreeding tends to weaken the immune system. Some Cavaliers are born with a lesser immune competence; others are stable and competent enough to withstand the challenge of their vaccinations.
It’s also been published in veterinary literature that adverse reactions to vaccination are generally uncommon, and thought to be more prevalent in certain breeds. I think that Cavalier breeders should give great thought to their vaccination programs, especially in lines that suffer from heart conditions.
-Bet Hargreaves Thankerton, Scotland
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We just wanted to let you know how much we enjoy your journal. Our human reads it from cover to cover as soon as it arrives. We’ve experienced a lot of new things like whole fresh chopped garlic and Ester C. We loved the whole fresh food idea but we needed some time to assimilate and therefore the other end result was not pretty. We were constantly asking to go out or leaving deposits which she did not greet with a smile. She changed back to the best dry food she could find as per your article. We’re doing fine now.
The reason we are taking the time to bark this note to you is your “Grooming for the Look of Love” article (WDJ July 1999). Now, she always grooms with love but this time she marched out to the barn and borrowed that Grooma curry from the horses. She first tried it on Gwenie, my adopted sister, a sort of German Shepherd. Gwenie is very sensitive about combs and usually displays her dislike for this ritual. This time, however, she rolled from side to side with glee and stretched her legs out for more! Of course our human (her name is Ava) was delighted.
I thought, “What About Me?” I’m a male Collie/Malamute mix. My turn came and I showed my joy by placing my paw on her arm and showering her with kisses. She even tried it on the finicky cat! Purring could be heard far and wide! So, keep up the good work. We appreciate it as much as she does.
Not too long ago, I finally gave up my membership in a health club. I say, “finally,” because I had been threatening my family with the impending loss of their health club privileges for many moons. If they didn’t start getting over to the club more often, I’d warn, I’m cancelling the contract. Of course, that’s not really fair to my seven-year-old son, who is always up for a swim in the club pool – or better yet, a soak in the outdoor hot tub; if he could drive himself across town for what he calls “a fun bath,” he would do it every day.
But neither my husband nor I have made it to the club in the last month – not once! We’ve both been hideously busy with work, but still – not even once? After briefly contemplating what that month’s dues could have bought us instead, I called up and cancelled.
But I’m not giving up on exercise. Instead, I’ve developed a plan, a program that will help peel me away from the computer, put some miles on my running shoes, and keep me immersed in the world of dogs.
In an article entitled, “Brother, Can You Spare an Hour?” in the January 1999 issue of WDJ, writer Dan Hoye described dozens of ways that people could help dogs by volunteering at their local animal shelters. One method in particular caught my fancy: walking the most restless and exuberant dogs. The idea was to help tire them out so they weren’t bouncing off the sides of their runs, to help them present themselves in the best possible light for potential adopters.
Adding pressure to do a good deed for dogs was a sidebar accompanying Hoye’s article, contributed by Pat Miller, WDJ’s “super-writer” and dog training expert, and a woman with more than 20 years’ experience as an animal control officer. Miller wrote:
Volunteering at an animal shelter can be challenging, demanding, and stressful. It can also be incredibly rewarding. Your efforts make shelter dogs more comfortable, increase their adoption potential, and give them a second chance for a loving home.
But you won’t be able to save them all. Animals are euthanized at shelters every day for lack of space, and for disease, injuries, and behavior problems. While you celebrate because the Shepherd mix puppy you fostered just got a second chance for life in a new home, you also accept that the dog you walked yesterday might be killed today. But whether the dog you walked yesterday is euthanized today or adopted tomorrow, you will know that by spending time with him, you improved his chances for adoption and helped make his stay at the shelter a happier one.
I have to say that in just a half-dozen visits to my local shelter so far, I have experienced the celebration and the sadness Miller spoke about. I was thrilled to hear that the excitable Dalmatian I walked on my first day had been taken home by a nice lady – and who also took the advice I had noted on the dog’s kennel card and arrived with a head collar! (We featured these amazing and gentle training tools in March 1998, our very first issue of WDJ.) But I was dismayed to hear that another of my first-day dogs, an affectionate but rowdy Pointer mix, the one with an infected ear and what appeared to be a ready-to-bloom case of mange, had been deemed too much of an adoption challenge, and had been euthanized. At least he had enjoyed one last long walk in the sunshine, and a dozen or so treats, before he was sent to the Bridge. It’s something I’d like to do on my last day on earth.
We all need it to survive. Most states have laws requiring us to provide “adequate” supplies of it to our dogs. If we don’t provide it we could be prosecuted for animal cruelty and our dogs could suffer, even die, of thirst. “It,” of course, is water. With all of my dogs I sometimes feel like I spend half of my day cleaning and refilling water bowls, both indoors and out. Isn’t there a better way?
WDJ thought so. We searched high and low for watering systems that would provide a larger, if not constant, supply of fresh water to our dogs. We selected for testing eight products that seemed to best represent the range of types of delivery systems available. We examined how easy they were to use (from both dog and human perspectives), as well as their sturdiness and reliability. We found a huge range in product quality, price, and effectiveness.
NOTE: While a steady supply of fresh, clean water is necessary for dogs year-round, it is of critical importance in the summer. We examined these products specifically for use in warm weather (or indoor use). Below-freezing temperatures will undermine, if not negate, the effectiveness of any water delivery system. Frozen water will prevent the dog from drinking, and can potentially cause plastic hoses and reservoirs to split, making the units inoperative. Consider all of these systems for warm weather or indoor use only; the old standby of a stainless steel bowl or bucket is probably your best bet for winter watering.
I think my four-year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever is developing an incontinence problem. She only seems to have a problem while she’s sleeping. She often leaves a puddle behind when she gets up. However, when she’s awake, we haven’t had any problems. She’s on a natural diet, gets plenty of exercise, and is not overweight. Why do dogs develop incontinence? Are there any natural remedies that I might try?
-Brenda Dinne
via email
We directed this question to Carolyn Blakey, DVM, of the Westside Animal Clinic in Richmond, Indiana. Dr. Blakey has been practicing veterinary medicine for 32 years, the last four in an all-holistic practice. She especially enjoys serving as a holistic veterinary consultant to clients all over the country.
Incontinence in spayed females is fairly common. The problem is caused by a lack of estrogen, which, of course, was brought about by the spay surgery. Many people assume that when females are spayed, the veterinarian simply “ties the tubes,” that is, cuts and ties off the fallopian tubes so that the ovum can not travel from the ovaries, down the fallopian tubes, and become fertilized. Actually, the veterinarian removes the ovaries and usually, the uterus, too. The reason for this is that you not only want the female to become incapable of becoming pregnant, but also, you want her not to exhibit symptoms of heat. The ovaries are where the majority of estrogen is produced. If you simply tie the fallopian tubes, the dog is still subject to the behavioral changes caused by the cyclic changes in estrogen levels. If you remove the ovaries, the center of estrogen production, the dog stops coming into heat.
But estrogen plays a significant role in maintaining the tonal quality of the urethra, the neck of the bladder. Without the estrogen, some dogs lose enough tonal quality that they can’t quite keep themselves from leaking. (This same phenomenon is why some elderly women suffer incontinence, post menopause; without estrogen, the tissues become inelastic.) The adrenal glands also produce a small amount of estrogen, and I would venture a guess that in the dogs who suffer incontinence, the adrenals produce a lower than usual amount of estrogen.
It used to be that the recommended treatment for incontinence in spayed females was to initiate hormone replacement therapy. However, this approach has the potential for causing more untoward symptoms that it solves. Namely, the dogs come back into heat; they exhibit all the signs we’re so not fond of! If you wanted to use the hormone replacement therapy, I would suggest enlisting the aid of a really good endocrinologist to help you dial in the dosage as precisely as possible.
I wish I could say that natural medicine has a great solution for the problem, but if it does, I haven’t found it yet. I’ve heard about all kinds of approaches, and sometimes I get lucky, and one of the approaches works, but it seems to be a very individual thing.
Sometimes, a glandular supplement seems to play a role in solving the problem. I happen to like the Standard Process line of supplements, and I have had some success with some dogs with their “Cataplex F,” a female glandular supplement. I have also had some clients report success with acupuncture on some of the acupuncture points that affect the reproductive system. One always thinks of Bladder 23, which is an association point for the kidneys and the whole reproductive system.
My favorite remedy is not from the holistic world, but then, it doesn’t cause as many side effects as the hormone replacement therapy. I use a drug called phenylpropanolamine, a decongestant. It stimulates the part of the nervous system that controls the smooth muscles and glands. It affects the alpha receptors within the mucosa of the respiratory tract, and the mucosa of the vaginal tract as well, helping the dog tighten and control the bladder muscles better.
You can purchase this drug inexpensively over the counter, and it doesn’t cause any significant side effects that I’ve seen. Ask your vet about the dosage for your dog, and good luck.
Sure there are a small percentage of people out there who want to win no matter what the cost. But for the most part the people that I meet at shows love and care about their dogs. In fact some of them care so much about their dogs, they forget about the breed! In 15 years of showing dogs, my dogs are always pets first, then show dogs.
We compete in obedience, conformation, agility, tracking and field. I would never consider hurting some one else’s dog to help my dog win, nor illegally alter my dog. My first dog ended up as a washout in both conformation and obedience. It didn’t matter, we spayed her and she lived to 15 (pretty long years for a Malamute). She was part of our family. My Weims have been successful in many fields, but their health and happiness comes first.
Show people aren’t all perfect, but most of them are pretty darn good people! I think the worst I have personally witnessed was someone who used grooming techniques to hide structural faults, or dying to cover color faults. Someone did once step on my dog (fortunately she wasn’t hurt) and occasionally some one displays bad sportsmanship. Peer pressure takes care of poor ringmanship. If you are responsible and you actually witness unethical activity then you talk to them about it or you report it. It is up to us to police our own sport.
-Patricia Riley via email
Agility is more fun for me I showed a little in conformation in the last few years, but quit because I didn’t enjoy it. I now compete solely in agility, which I do enjoy! Because I didn’t get too involved in conformation, I can only give my opinion on the dog’s happiness at being a show dog. Because their attitude and enthusiasm count a lot, along with their appearance, the dog must be happy! So, to me, showing seems like a positive thing for the dogs. Because I didn’t enjoy conformation showing, my dogs picked up on that, and they weren’t happy. A couple of judges commented on this!
I like agility; it always makes me happy to see happy dogs doing things with their people. Because this doesn’t involve the use of professional handlers and dogs being out on the show circuit for long periods, it’s much less stressful than a show dog’s life.
As for training, I attended a seminar recently with one of agility’s top trainers. To stress how this should be a positive, fun thing for the dog, he said you should never say “no” to your dog in agility training. When any of us absentmindedly said no to our dogs, we had to wear a dunce hat until we passed it along to the next person!
-Ellen Pauly Gaffney, SC
AKC rules protect dogs I have owned and shown various breeds since 1989; first Shelties, then Papillions, and now Chihuahuas.
In the last three years or so I have noticed many more people feeding raw meat and veggies to their show dogs, as well as using healthy supplements. Some do give their dogs drugs, but it is not that common. Homeopathic remedies, Bach Flower Essences, and other natural supplements for anxiety, fear and nervousness are becoming so common that some vendors at the shows sell them.
One thing that must be remembered is that show dogs who compete in conformation are judged on how they look and move (first impression), how they feel (a physical examination by the judge going over the dog with his hands), and how they act. If a dog is not in good physical condition, (if it is fed a cheap, poor quality diet with no supplements), or if a dog is in poor mental condition (unhappy, fearful, acting abused), chances are not very good that it will win. It is in the best interests of the owner/handler to have the show dog in top condition and abusive methods do not produce a happy show dog.
The AKC Obedience Regulations state that dogs who compete in obedience are also judged on how they perform and lose points if they act fearful or abused. “Lack of willingness or enjoyment on the part of the dog must be penalized as must . . . roughness in handling.” “A qualifying score must never be awarded to a . . . dog that shows fear . . . nor to a dog whose handler disciplines or abuses it in the ring.”
-Liz Moore, Diadem Chihuahuas Newman Lake, WA
Show dogs get spoiled, but not abused The vast majority of show dogs receive top care, food, medical attention, and are loved as members of the family. I don’t know of any instance where that is not the case, and I know quite a few dog people since I am active in a breed club (Labrador Retrievers) and our local all-breed club.
Show people spend a lot of money on their dogs and on dog-related items in general; just ask my grumbling husband! I suppose there are cases of mistreated dogs, but I’d venture to guess that you’ll find a much lower instance of that occurring in show people than in the general population.
-Kathryn Miele via email
Members of our families I show my dogs and have friends who have shown dogs for 30 years. Our dogs are important members of the family and are very cherished and loved. Anyone breeding dogs to make money are in it for the wrong reasons. I have learned that you breed to improve the breed’s qualities, not for money.
As for me I feel responsible to those pups as long as they live and try to stay in contact with the owners of my placed pups so I may help ensure they are safe and happy.
Those who show dogs using harmful drugs and/or are abusive are reprimanded by AKC and it’s not if they are caught, it’s a matter of when. This type of behavior is not acceptable nor will it ever be among show people.
-Teresa Miles, Lyonesse Kennels Bellaire, MI
Rumors, but no evidence I breed, show and love Welsh Terriers. I also own a Borzoi which I show, and I used to show and breed Australian Terriers. I have obtained championships in both obedience and conformation. My dogs are raised in my house. I have perhaps one litter per year. I spend more money on my dogs than I do on myself.
I have learned more about holistic dog care from show breeders than from anyone else. They seem to be more abreast of current research, trends, etc., regarding holistic care and supplements. There are exceptions, of course. Some old timers are more holistic with their dogs’ diets than you would imagine! They all have favorite recipes for homemade food and supplements and their dogs reflect these things in the show ring.
I have heard horrible tales that have never been substantiated – such as the use of arsenic for fuller coats, etc. But it seems to me that if the dog dies then you have lost even more money! So I cannot believe that these tales are true. I believe they are (in part) due to jealousies from competitors, etc. Sometimes, losers have nothing but bad to say about winners.
If you hear of a show person getting arrested for animal cruelty they probably had many dogs. Most animal enforcement officials do not act unless there are several dogs or animals involved. The show people are more in the public eye.
-Yancey Miller via email
Average handlers are OK I have been showing dogs in conformation and obedience since 1980. I am not a breeder or handler; I show my own dogs as a hobby, and have shown a few dogs for friends.
I believe the majority of people in the “sport of dogs” are like me – going about their hobby and having a good time. You won’t see our names on top ten lists or on TV at Westminster or in magazines. Most of us are not in what I would classify as the “super competitive” group.
I know of people I suspect of doing unscrupulous things and there are always rumors, but nothing I can prove. But I’m sure that just like any other competitive arena, there are people who will do anything to win. This includes cheating and doing things that are harmful to their dogs.
Unfortunately, people are people, and those who show dogs are no different than anyone else. While most people enjoy a chosen sport, some carry it to a destructive degree. Ask anyone who has ever watched the parents of Little League players!
I wish I could give you a guess as to a proportion of the bad competitors but I simply have no idea. There are so many people involved in showing in my area (Los Angeles) that I couldn’t even begin to have a passing knowledge of a small section of them.
In my own circle, a more behavioral approach to obedience training has certainly become more common. I’d guess that at least 50 percent of the obedience dogs in my group are trained using positive motivation. However, fewer people are aware of the benefits of a “healthful diet;” that will come along more slowly. I only know two people who feed raw-food diets to their dogs, but I also know more and more people who check dog food ingredients very carefully.
It’s been a little more than a year since we last examined dog treats, but, oh, what a year! It’s amazing (and fortunate for our dogs) how quickly the “healthy dog foods” consciousness is rising, and how many more healthy treats are available than there were last year. For example, we’re seeing far fewer treats that contain propylene glycol, or artificial preservatives and colors, and far more treats containing nothing but healthy, whole foods. “A rising tide raises all boats,” goes the old saying.
But the “rising tide of health awareness” doesn’t seem to have raised the consciousness of the titanic mainstream dog food industry much. We checked a few of the “grocery store” treats and got an iceberg-sized chill. Well-known brands such as Beggin’ Strips (made by Purina) are still formulated with ingredients on our “forbidden” list – things like glycerin (an artificial sweetener) AND sugar, artificial colors, and artificial preservatives. (We were amused by the eighth ingredient on the Beggin’ Strips label, euphemistically dubbed “meat.”)
Other well-known brands, such as Milk Bones and Bonz, seem to be slowly improving, for instance, replacing animal fat, a low quality ingredient of mysterious origins, with beef tallow. However, they still lack the kind of wholesome ingredients and simple formulas you’ll find in our picks.
On the next pages, we’ve listed our favorite treats alphabetically and grouped in one of two categories: WDJ’s Top Picks and Very Good Treats. For education’s sake, we’ve also included a few that narrowly missed our list, and we explain why. Due to space limitations, we can discuss only a sampling of the treats that are available, but you can learn a lot from comparing your dog’s favorite treat to our selections.
Our general suggestions? Stay away from “big-name” commercial treats found in grocery stores, look for products that meet our selection criteria, and let your dog’s health and appetite be your guide.
We receive a lot of calls from readers whose dogs are in the midst of a health crisis. Sometimes, they are simply asking us to help them locate information, something we are more than happy to be able to do.
For instance, they remember reading about an alternative or complementary treatment for a given problem in some back issue, but since, at the time, their dog wasn’t afflicted with the same condition as the dog in our article, they didn’t really pay attention. But now that their dog has the same disease or problem WDJ discussed, they are desperate to find the article. “Don’t give those back issues away; you never know when you are going to need them again!” I tell them. “Put them in a binder; we’ve already punched the holes for you!” Because, if they really need to read the whole article again, they have to call our publishing office (800-424-7887) and purchase a copy. If they just need a phone number or the location of a practitioner or product we discussed in the article, I can pass it along.
But in other cases, they are looking for someone to help them make a treatment decision for the dog’s health problem.
Of course, I can’t tell them what to do. I can listen, and tell them whom I would call, but only the dog’s owner can decide what’s best.
However, I’ve noticed one thing that keeps coming up in these conversations: Many people don’t seem to trust their own instincts when it comes to their dogs. Their veterinarian will tell them something outrageous, and they will acquiesce, but go home with a knot in their stomachs. After thinking it over a while, they’ll call me and say, “Do you think that’s right?”
I’m not a veterinarian; I can’t say what’s right. But I tell everyone who wants my opinion to ask themselves the following question: If you were dealing with this same problem with a child, would you follow the advice you’ve gotten from that doctor?
For instance, I recently got a call from a man whose veterinarian told him he should put his allergy-prone Spaniel on a prescription dog food, and never allow the dog to have table scraps or any other type of “human food.” The man told me, “This just doesn’t seem right to me . . . What do YOU think?”
I gave my standard answer. “If this was your five-year-old son, and your doctor said you should put the kid on a prescription-only, ‘nutritionally complete,’ vitamin and mineral-fortified cereal for the rest of his life, and avoid all other foods, would you do it?”
“Well . . . um . . . no!”
Then why, I ask you and all the concerned dog owners who call me, should we think that it’s OK to take this kind of approach with our dogs? While researching alternatives to the traditional doctor’s “orders” may take time and effort, I think that most of us instinctively know, if we think about it for a few quiet minutes, whether a given solution for our dog’s health problems are the right ones or not.
Caring for our dogs isn’t all that different than caring for children. They are smaller than us (usually!), they can’t articulate their needs very well, and they need us to make the healthiest decisions for them regarding their diet, education, environment, and medical care.
So, if someone told you that it was in your child’s best interest to vaccinate him against several diseases every year for the rest of his life, would you do it? If someone said it would spoil your child if he EVER got a yummy treat, would you cut him off of all snacks forever? If you were told that to solve your daughter’s itching, she would have to take medicine that might cause liver enlargement or loss of bone calcium, would you have that prescription filled?
When Emma, a German Shepherd mix with magnificent, mule deer ears, jumps out of the car after being driven home from a particularly hard run on the trails or mucky outing at the beach, she immediately trots into the bathroom and waits for her bath. During her soaping and rinsing, her owner sings and tells her stories. Cheeky squirrels are given a run for their money by fleet, wily dogs. Cats are put firmly in their place by commanding, resourceful dogs, and humans are rescued from various perils by brave and sagacious dogs (all the dogs bear a striking resemblance to Emma, of course).
After an initial toweling and shake, Emma is wrapped in a warm cotton flannel blanket and snuggles under the bedclothes to take a long nap. When she awakens, refreshed and sweet- smelling, she is brushed, extravagantly praised and given a special treat.
For Emma, life – and being groomed – is a very good thing. Grooming Emma is also a pleasure for Emma’s owner: An intimate interlude in a hectic day spent caring for and paying attention to someone dear to her heart. They’ve worked out their ritual to their own satisfaction and they both love it.
From toenails to teeth to tail, grooming is an intimate, personal issue. We groom our dogs for their health and cleanliness and the satisfaction of seeing them look their best.
However, “best” is a relative term and whatever it means to you, it can be difficult to achieve when something is amiss in the canine/human relationship. Precisely because grooming is such an intimate act, the process can invoke physical pain (an aching back, for instance), as well as feelings of impatience, frustration, and guilt in both groomer and groomee!
Exacerbating Your Dog’s Grooming Issues
Grooming your dog when you’re disgruntled, or procrastinating and avoiding the issue, are both like abusing credit cards: you may get what you want now, but you can’t avoid having to pay the bill – with interest -later. Your dog pays with a reduction in her health and an increase in her stress and discomfort. You pay with time and money spent at the groomer’s or veterinarian’s office. Your relationship with your dog also suffers from a breach of trust.
Your dog also has her own perceptions and feelings about being groomed. One dog may balk and back away from the bathroom door. Another may gouge the floor during her great escape from a nail trim. A third may tremble in tune with an aspen leaf at the sight of a flea comb.
Attempts to groom under these circumstances can not only exacerbate a problem, but set up a mutually damaging cycle: the more she resists, the more you’ll dislike grooming her. The more you shirk this duty, the more likely she’ll develop some of the very conditions grooming helps to prevent. The primary reasons for grooming your dog are health and cleanliness. Skin conditions, lumps, and injuries can be noticed and treated (by you, or when appropriate, by a veterinarian) before they become serious.
Procrastinating or neglecting to groom your dog can cause skin problems and pain from dirty and matted fur, gait problems and joint stress from over-long toenails, hearing loss from clogged or damaged ears, local and systemic infections from gingivitis, and any number of health problems from undetected and untreated flea and tick infestations.
Set Your Dog’s Mood with Positive Vibrations
Fortunately, you and your dog can break the cycle and get back in harmony by working to change each other’s perceptions about grooming. As the groomer, you are responsible for your dog’s experience. In order to bring about a more perfect union of trust, harmony and balance, you need to take the first step. Start by remembering when you and your dog shared a wonderful moment of complete trust, companionship, and harmony. Now try to maintain that feeling while you imagine grooming your dog. It may seem impossible to have those feelings during a grooming session, but read on! It’s not just possible, but it can even be fun!
Always Touch Your Dog with Love
More than anything else we do with and to our dogs, grooming is based on touch. It’s impossible to accomplish any of it without touching your dog, whether it’s toenail trimming or tooth-brushing, flea combing or untangling matted fur, a quick lick and a promise or a laborious show ‘do. No matter how you define it, feel about it or do it, grooming is a non-verbal form of communication that is transmitted through touch.
Helen Keller expressed this wonderfully: “I have just touched my dog. He was rolling on the grass with pleasure in every muscle and limb. I wanted to catch a picture of him in my fingers, and I touched him as lightly as I would a cobweb . . . he pressed close to me, as if he were fain to crowd himself into my hand . . . if he could speak, I believe he would say with me that paradise is attained by touch, for in touch is all love and intelligence.”
To groom your dog with the touch of love and intelligence, to “catch a picture” of her in your fingers through touch – that is communication. What you say and do with her and how you “listen” to what she’s saying and doing creates a feedback loop that results in an ever-more-meaningful and expansive conversation that replaces the old cycle of irritation, pain, and mistrust. Being willing to change our attitudes and approaches to grooming, and to help our dogs become cooperative participants, is a great start toward creating a rewarding ritual rather than a habitual pattern of balk/pull, whine/admonish, cower/encourage, yay/whew!
This is where techniques such as TTouch can be most helpful. If the theorists about the body/mind connection are right (and recent discoveries in neurology and cellular biology indicate they are), the body remembers everything that happens to it. TTouch works directly on the nervous system to help you to discover the response patterns stored in your dog’s (and your) body and bring them to the brain’s attention. When the brain can perceive a more efficient way to function, it makes every effort to implement it. Improvements in health and behavior can be rapid and permanent. The dog’s ability to think and focus is increased.
Bringing awareness to how your dog (and you) hides or expresses responses is an opportunity for you to interrupt habitual, negative patterns and point the way to new, more positive ones. This helps change how the body feels about itself and, along with relief from fear, tension, and stress, it creates a better self-image and boosts self-esteem. The benefits are reciprocal and balance is achieved.
Creating these new feelings, added to your new perceptions, will profoundly change the way you communicate with your dog. The term “handling” will take on a whole new meaning. Your relationship will thrive and harmony will be restored. (For more information on how TTouch works and some specific touches, see “TTouch and Noise Phobias,” WDJ May 1999, “Quiet Barking in Your Neighborhood,” WDJ October 1998, and “Acupressure Techniques for Treating Dog Pain,” May 1998.)
Starting Anew
To start anew, pretend you’ve never groomed your dog before. With a note pad and pen, sit down and without side comments or judgments, look at your dog with fresh eyes. What’s her body type? Is she delicate, sturdy, long, lean, short, round, tiny, or huge?
Think about her emotional and physical sensitivity. Is she a shrinking Violet, nervous Nellie, swooning Camille, or the Rock of Gibraltar? Note what kind of coat she has. Is it thick, thin, long, short, fine, coarse, swirly, wavy, or straight?
Remind yourself about how she approaches things. Does she like to have advance notice, be talked through difficulties, mull them over, negotiate, or be bribed? Highlight any special issues. Is she inexperienced, energetic, old, infirm, allergic, disabled, or phobic?
Now imagine her going through the grooming process. Do you anticipate any glitches? Looking over your list of her emotional and physical considerations, can you think of any things you could do to make the process go more smoothly, more pleasurably for her – and for you? With notes in hand and fresh insights in mind, make a grooming plan for your dog.
Evaluate her grooming environment. Think about temperatures, surfaces, sounds, smells, and feelings. Think about her safety and comfort for each stage. Think about where you’re starting and where you want to end up. Put yourself in her place and try the tools and techniques on yourself! Imagine yourself going through a similar process at a spa, as a young child and as an invalid; how would you like to be handled?
Separate each grooming task and then break it down even further. One nail clipped successfully (from her viewpoint) on Monday will give you a big advantage when you go to clip the next one on Tuesday. Small steps now will lead to major accomplishments tomorrow. Not everything has to be done at once. Timing is everything. Choose your time wisely and give yourself plenty of it. Take your dog’s daily routines and your schedule into account. Better a job left undone than one done in a hurry or just before she goes out for her midday dirt roll! Ask yourself whether you have time to complete the task and whether it is reasonable to do so.
Be prepared. Make sure you have everything you need for the job at hand. A check list for each job can be a handy reminder in the beginning. Turn off the phone or at least bring it with you. This is a special time for you and your dog. It’s rude, as well as potentially very messy, to let yourself be distracted by something. Picture a soaped up dog running through the house and you won’t have any trouble staying focused!
Pay attention. Breathe, start slowly, and be fully present. Monitor your dog; if she starts to have a problem, stop as quickly as possible and end with something enjoyable. Use what she likes and is easy for her to help change what she doesn’t like or is difficult for her. “Bracket” things she’s not sure about with very good things before and after. If you make the endings really wonderful (think of Emma), your dog will know what’s coming next and look forward to it.
Separate training or practice from the real thing. Use the word “bath” only when you really mean it. She may act like a clown to distract you or avoid being touched in a sensitive area, but don’t tease, threaten, or laugh at her. You’re both finding your way to a better place, so be patient and explain to her what you’re doing and why. It’s only polite to do so and she may surprise you with her understanding response. Ginger, an Australian Shepherd I know, once surprised her owner this way. When told it was really difficult to reach the mat on the inside of her thigh, Ginger lifted her leg and patiently held it up until the job was done.
Read books and WDJ, watch videos, pick the brains of professional groomers and competent friends, and peruse catalogues for new tools and general information about dogs and grooming. There’s a better grooming mouse trap every day!
Dog Grooming Goals
Finally, use the following three statements as a guide to clarify the grooming experience for you and your dog:
1. I will groom my dog for her health and cleanliness.
2. I will cause her no harm in the process.
3. I will make it as mutually pleasurable as possible.
Explore these statements with mindful awareness and imagination. With this credo and TTouch in hand, your choice of methods, tools, and techniques will become self-evident as an expression of your philosophy, creativity and attitude. When difficulties arise your new perception will lead you to ask questions. Why is this happening? How can I help? You will find new and ingenious solutions.
Each grooming will become easier and more enjoyable. You and your canine companion’s trust in each other will continue to deepen and strengthen. Your dog may never look perfectly groomed, but as Spanish artist Esteban Vicente said, “You must make the effort, for through effort comes joy.” Your dog will display your efforts for all to see. Your feelings of connection and harmony will flourish and be joyful. You will, together, bask in the “look” of love.
Sabra Learned, of Berkeley, CA, is a Certified TTouch Practitioner. She offers private appointments and group classes.
Most people respond with a warm fuzzy “Awwww” reaction when they see a litter of puppies. After all, nothing could possibly be cuter than a bunch of roly-poly baby dogs tumbling and tussling together on the floor. Or could it?
Anyone who works or volunteers at an animal shelter for any length of time soon finds his “Awwww” reaction tempered by the sobering knowledge that millions of unwanted dogs and puppies are euthanized in shelters around this country every year. I know. I worked at a humane society for 20 years. While I love dogs at least as much as the next person, to this day I cannot look at a puppy without also seeing syringes filled with blue euthanasia solution, needles inserted into furry legs, and canine bodies piled up on gurneys outside the euthanasia room door.
For those who regularly deal with the hapless victims of our throwaway society, spay/neuter is a mantra. Rarely, in the shelter worker’s opinion, is there a sufficiently valid reason for not surgically rendering a dog incapable of reproducing.
The average dog owner, however, is more concerned with his own individual rights or the dog’s well-being than with the state of animal welfare in general. There is a whole host of commonly offered arguments against spaying and neutering. How valid are they?
1. Surgery isn’t natural. I would rather be responsible by keeping my dog home or on a leash than take the risks of surgery and alter my dog unnaturally.
There is some truth to this argument. Surgery certainly isn’t natural. Neither are collars and leashes, prepared dog foods, fences, veterinary care, or the daily killing of healthy “surplus” dogs and puppies. Dogs haven’t lived truly natural lives for centuries. If we are picking and choosing which parts of “natural” we want to recreate for our canine companions, we are better off not choosing this one. If we truly wanted to be natural it follows that we would then let our female dog get pregnant and have puppies every six months, and no responsible dog owner advocates that.
It’s true that every surgery carries risks, but the risks of spay/neuter surgery are minuscule compared to the dangers of overpopulation. Far more dogs die from lack of homes, from mammary tumors, prostate, testicular and ovarian cancers, and hormone-related behavior-problems, than ever die from spay/neuter surgery.
2. Sterilization will change my dog’s personality; she/he will get fat and lazy.
This concern seems valid. We have all seen spayed and neutered dogs who were, indeed, fat and lazy. But let’s think about this for a moment.
Dogs, like humans, get fat if their caloric intake is greater than the calories burned off by exercise and other physical demands. It is true that sterilized dogs often get less exercise. Male dogs who are neutered no longer escape their yards and run for miles in pursuit of females in season, or nervously pace the fence in sexual frustration trying to find a way to escape.
Spayed females dogs no longer experience the immense drain on their systems caused by growing puppies in their bodies for 63 days and feeding them for another six to eight weeks. Nor do their bodies go through the stress of reproductive-related hormonal changes that result in an expenditure of nervous energy. It’s true that sterilized dogs of both sexes are calmer and more content to stay home, but that doesn’t mean they have to be fat and lazy. It does mean they are better companions.
It’s simple: If your dog gains too much weight, cut back on food and increase exercise! I have owned a dozen sterilized dogs over the last 20 years, and not one was fat or lazy. If I noticed that one was starting to put on weight, I cut back on the kibble. Here are several tips for a simple weight-control program:
No free feeding. Your dog should get meals, not all-day snacks. In a natural environment a wild dog makes a kill (along with the rest of the pack), gorges himself, and then doesn’t eat again until the next kill. Dogs’ systems are not designed for grazing. Besides, controlled feeding increases your dog’s dependence on you, which can make your training more successful.
Measure the food. Use a measuring cup and dole out a specific amount. Eyeballing it isn’t accurate enough; we tend toward generous. “He looks a tad hungry today . . . what’s a few extra kibbles?” If we are measuring a specific amount we can instruct all family members to stick with the feeding program. A measuring cup also gives us an accurate gauge if Rover is looking a little too prosperous and we decide we need to cut back from, say, one cup, twice a day, to three-quarters of a cup, twice a day.
Weigh your dog. Pick her up and stand on the bathroom scales, then weigh yourself alone, and subtract. Weigh her once a week so you will notice sooner, rather than later, if she starts to put on pounds. If she is gaining, cut back the kibble and/or the treats.
Use the feeding instructions printed on the dog food bag as a guide, not gospel. Dog food companies seem to lean toward the generous side of meal rations. Perhaps they like you to use more of their product? I have never fed my dogs as much as it says on the bag. If I did, they would all be fat!
If you train with treats, be sure to count those treats as part of your dog’s meal ration. If he is sufficiently food-motivated you can even use his kibble as training rewards.
Give your dog plenty of exercise. Since he is no longer burning off calories in his frustrated attempts to find females (or she’s no longer making puppies), it’s your job to make sure he works out. Throw the tennis ball, a stick or the Frisbee for him for 20 minutes a day. Take her jogging or swimming. Find a doggie play-group or a local dog park (if there are none in your area, start one!) and let her work out by romping with her canine buddies. If you are a portly couch potato, your dog will likely be one too!
3. I want my (male) dog to have fun; I want my (female) dog to experience the joy of motherhood.
This is anthropomorphism at its finest. It is usually a male human who insists on leaving his dog intact, perhaps in order not to deprive his four-footed friend of the joy of sex, or maybe out of the owner’s own embarrassment at having a male dog without a full complement of male equipment. When you mention neutering, the human’s eyes may glaze over as his hands move to protect a highly valued part of his own anatomy.
Stop and think, men! If you have ever watched dogs breeding, you’ll notice that they don’t particularly appear to be having fun. They are simply driven by a powerful, undeniable, biological urge to reproduce. They rarely relax and have a cigarette afterward! Unneutered male dogs are far more likely to escape their yards, run free, risk getting shot or hit by cars, get picked up by animal control officers, and get in fights with other male dogs. If the lack of visible equipment is your concern, ask your veterinarian about “Neuticles,” artificial implants that are now available to help owners feel better about neutering their dogs.
On the other hand, if we are responsible dog owners, we don’t allow our dogs to run free and satisfy those mighty biological urges. Our choices are to neuter, and reap the benefits of having a calm, contented canine companion who stays home (and who no longer risks prostate or testicular cancer), or to keep our unneutered male strictly, safely and unhappily confined to lead a life of constant sexual frustration as he senses females in season for miles around.
The female dog, too, benefits from spaying. While many females do seem to enjoy motherhood, at least at first, by the time their babies reach the age of six weeks most momdogs are eager to escape their persistently pushy pups. There are far more life-threatening complications from gestation and birthing than there are from spay surgery. The maternal instinct can also trigger behavior problems; a significant number of dogs develop protective maternal aggression during motherhood. For some dogs this behavior goes away when the puppies are weaned and placed in new homes. Others continue to display aggressive behavior even after the puppies are long gone.
4. My dog is purebred/has papers. I can make money selling puppies. I want another one just like her. All my friends want one of her pups. I already have homes lined up for the puppies.
Certainly, if we are to continue enjoying purebred dogs, someone has to breed them. Why shouldn’t that someone be you? Maybe because there is a lot more involved in responsible breeding than just putting two registered dogs of the same breed in the same room together.
For starters, AKC papers are not an assurance of quality. Papers simply mean that both of your dog’s parents were registered. Ostensibly. Every month, the AKC Gazette publishes names of breeders who have falsified records, or at least kept records poorly enough that the organization revokes their registration privileges. Even if your papers are accurate and your dog’s parents were both champions, that doesn’t mean your dog is breeding material.
The responsibilities of breeding should not be taken lightly. If done properly, it is an expensive, time-consuming activity. Prospective canine parents must be checked for hip dysplasia, eye problems (progressive retinal atrophy), and any other genetic health problems specific to your breed. Dogs intended for breeding should be outstanding representatives of their breed. If you plan to breed, you need to be willing to campaign your dog on the show circuit and have experts in the breed (judges and other breeders) confirm that your Labrador Retriever is one of the best around. Then you will need to do the research to find the “right” male to breed her to; one who complements her strengths and doesn’t underscore her weaknesses.
Once you have gone to all the expense and trouble to be a responsible breeder, chances are your friends aren’t going to want to pay the prices that you will ask for your well-bred puppies. Labs can have huge litters – as many as 12-15 at a time. You may not have all the homes for them that you thought you did. Many of these will be pet, not show quality puppies. They will sell for less than the show quality pups, and a responsible breeder will have them spayed and neutered before they are sold to ensure that they are not used for future breeding.
Don’t forget to consider the additional vet bills; you want to be sure your female is in optimum health, and that the puppies get veterinary examinations before they are sold. A responsible breeder will also take back any of the puppies he has bred, at any time during the dogs’ lives if the owner can no longer keep them. Not only may you be left with more puppies to place than you had planned, you may also end up with more adult dogs than you intended to own. Chances are excellent that this hobby will cost you a hefty sum of money rather than make you rich.
Finally, consider that every friend or family member who takes a puppy from you could have provided a home for a puppy at an animal shelter or rescue group. Breed rescue groups exist for virtually every recognized breed, so if your friends have their hearts set on purebred dogs they can contact breed rescue groups or go on the breed request waiting lists that are now maintained by many animal shelters. Regardless of how many homes you have lined up for your pups, you are contributing to the pet overpopulation problem.
I want my kids to experience the miracle of birth. Understandable. When I was a kid I loved watching my dogs and cats have kittens and puppies. (Yes, we were an irresponsible pet-owning family.) But if you think this is reason enough to let your dog breed, knowing that “surplus” dogs and puppies are killed every day, then you have a harder heart than I. Your kids can watch videos that document the birth process. If you want to let them experience the joy (and hard work!) of raising a litter of puppies, sign up with your local shelter or rescue group as a volunteer foster home.
For many reasons, most shelters cannot feasibly raise litters of puppies in their kennels, and must often euthanize underage pups. Shelters are desperate for foster homes who can give tender-aged baby dogs a chance to grow up and return to the shelter for adoption when they are eight weeks old and able to withstand the rigors of shelter life. You can even solicit your friends to apply to adopt your foster pups once they have returned to the shelter. You get the joy of puppy-raising and the satisfaction of providing a community service without contributing to pet overpopulation. Win-win!
5. I live in a “no-kill city. We have solved the pet overpopulation problem so it’s OK to breed again.
“No-Kill” is a myth; it actually means “Someone Kills Them Somewhere Else.” In San Francisco, often touted as the first “no-kill” city, more than 4,000 animals are still euthanized every year at San Francisco Animal Care & Control, one short block away from the “no-kill” San Francisco SPCA. While the SPCA labels these 4,000-plus animals as “unadoptable” in order to justify the deaths and claim their “no-kill city” title, it is simply a matter of semantics, public relations, and allocation of resources.
In some jurisdictions, an upper respiratory infection (canine equivalent of the common cold) or a broken leg, both treatable, qualify a dog as unadoptable. Even if San Francisco’s 4,000 animals were truly not redeemable, surrounding communities in the San Francisco Bay Area continue to euthanize unwanted animals by the tens of thousands. Don’t kid yourself; we are far from solving the pet overpopulation problem.
6. My dog is old and my veterinarian says spay/neuter surgery is too risky.
OK, you win. This is truly a valid excuse. At some point in a dog’s life the benefits of spay/neuter are outweighed by the risks of surgery. There is no magic age when this happens; it depends on the individual dog. Follow your veterinarian’s recommendation if she tells you that sterilization is not indicated due to your dog’s age and/or condition.
My Bias Around Spay/Neuter
I am very biased about spay and neuter because of my background both as an animal protection professional and a dog trainer. You don’t have to watch very many homeless puppies and kittens die to get strident about birth control for companion animals. After working with a few dozen dogs with hormone-related problem behavior, you “get” the value of spaying and neutering.
The pet overpopulation problem is so bad that even state governments are being forced to deal with it. A new state law in California actually defines puppies under the age of eight weeks as “unadoptable,” (thereby legitimizing the “no-kill” approach of population control through word games). Another new California law requires all dogs adopted from animal shelters to be spayed or neutered before they go to their new homes – even puppies. The advent of pediatric spay/neuter – the safe sterilization of puppies as young as eight weeks – allows a law like this to be passed, and gives animal protection workers a powerful new weapon in the pet overpopulation battle.
I love dogs as much as the next person. I love them enough to believe that each one has a right to a lifelong, loving home. Pitifully few dogs get that in today’s world. If we spay and neuter, encourage others to do the same, and take the time to teach our dogs to be well-behaved family members, maybe we will all see the day when their lives are valued enough that they all end up in lifelong responsible homes, rather than dead by the side of the road or on the euthanasia room floor.
Pat Miller, a dog trainer from Salinas, California, is a regular contributor to WDJ.
What images do you see in your mind when you hear the word “monastery”? Most people envision rustic wooden buildings, with gentle, somber, bearded men in flowing brown robes and leather sandals quietly treading gravel pathways that wind through peaceful forests.
This could be an accurate description of the New Skete Monastery in Cambridge, New York, with just one glaring omission. At New Skete, the monks are accompanied by dogs. For more than 30 years, the monks of New Skete have bred, trained and sold German Shepherds as part of their monastic life.
This may sound like a strange marriage, but it’s not as odd as it seems. The Lhasa Apso breed was developed by a group of Tibetan monks, who raised them in their monasteries and gave them as gifts to nobles. St. Bernards originally served as companions to the monks of the Hospice at the St. Bernard Pass in the Swiss Alps as early as the 1600s, only later developing their talent for finding lost travelers. Many Zen monasteries also keep dogs.
And, as Job Michael Evans wrote in the Monks of New Skete’s first book, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend, “Dogs, because of their association with humans . . . are in a unique position to offer man a mirror of himself.” Given the monastic quest to self-awareness, a community of monks and dogs makes perfectly good sense.
One dog leads to more
Accordingly, the New Skete community was created in the 1960s. Originally the brothers managed a full-scale farm, with goats, cows, chickens, pigs, pheasants, and sheep. When they moved to a new, mountaintop location that wasn’t suitable for farming, they had to give up all of their animals except “Kyr,” their first German Shepherd.
Valuing the connection with animals that they had developed through their farming experiences, the community of brothers began studying the sciences of breeding and training dogs. Brother Thomas Dobush led the Monks’ training and breeding program. Initially, the purpose was simply to train the dogs to live as a group in the monastery and maintain the quiet and order that is vital to monastic life. Brother Thomas emphasized “listening” to the animals and “reading the dog’s reactions” rather than just training by rote protocols.
As word of the New Skete Shepherds spread, dog owners began asking the brothers to train their dogs as well, and the demand for information on the Monks’ training methods and breeding programs (and their puppies) grew. Their first book, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend, was published in 1978, and the Monks of New Skete became a household word, at least in doggy circles.
Talkin’ ‘bout a revolution
At the time, the Monks’ methods were revolutionary. In the 1960s and 70s, people like William Koehler and Blanche Saunders were the foremost authorities on dog training. The Koehler method, still defended by far too many trainers today, is a no-holds-barred punishment-based training method that ridicules the use of treats, mocks those who protest harsh punishments, and promotes a perception of dogs as resentful, revengeful, deceitful, and deliberately defiant.
For modifying problem behaviors, Koehler’s books advocate the use of exceedingly harsh methods such as shock collars, slingshots (with BBs as pellets), hanging and helicoptering (lifting a dog off the ground by the choke chain and holding him there or swinging him around until he ceases resisting or goes unconscious), a wooden dowel inside a length of rubber hose (with which to hit the dog who is too heavy to hang or helicopter), and drowning (filling a hole with water and submerging the dog’s head until he is near unconsciousness, to teach him not to dig). Saunders was somewhat less extreme than Koehler, but still advocated routinely jerking, kicking and “cuffing” dogs.
In contrast, the Monks talked about “listening to a dog until you discover what is needed, instead of imposing yourself in the name of training.” They emphasized the importance of relationship, not just obedience, and promoted training as a way of relating to your dog. Making a distinction between training and educating the dog, they quote J. Allen Boone from Kinship With All Life: “Trained dogs are relatively easy to turn out. All that is required is a book of instructions, a certain amount of bluff and bluster, something to use for threatening and punishing purposes, and of course, the animal. Educating an animal, on the other hand, demands keen intelligence, integrity, imagination, and the gentle touch, mentally, vocally, and physically.”
One trainer’s evolution
I discovered the Monks in 1983. I had just acquired Keli, a 12-week-old Australian Kelpie puppy who was one of the first two “Canine Field Agents” for the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California. My partner, Humane Officer Donna Bosso (she had Keli’s sister, Darby), gave me a copy of the Monks’ book, and I devoured it. I loved what they had to say. Their methods were ever so much kinder than those that I had read before, yet still familiar enough to feel right. I nodded as I read their justification for scruff shakes and alpha rolls. It made sense, and, as they said, it was just mimicking what the mother dog would do to reprimand her pups when they were out of line.
The Monks’ training philosophies were cutting edge, a breath of fresh air, consistent with my own thoughts on dog training and behavior. I forged ahead with my sensitive, independent, reactive, high-energy herding dog, jerking on her leash and doing an occasional scruff shake or alpha roll when she had the audacity to challenge my corrections.
I realize now that Keli, although she was a wonderful dog who learned to herd sheep, earned a Companion Dog degree and was my constant and beloved companion for 14 years, never truly reached her full potential. There was something missing from our relationship – a level of trust and understanding that I have with my current dogs, who have never been alpha-rolled or scruff-shaken. (I am mortified to admit that I turned my back on the opportunity to do positive puppy training with Dr. Ian Dunbar when Keli was a pup, convinced – as were so many other trainers, including the Monks – that training with treats was heresy. That’s a different story . . .). But as I learned more about the advances in positive training methods over the past decade, I relegated the Monks to the same category as Koehler – outdated and unnecessarily harsh and punitive.
Longevity on the charts
Despite my own (and many other positive-based trainers’) opinion that the Monks’ training techniques were outdated, their books continue to rank near the top of dog training best seller lists of companies like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Was I missing something?
I decided to reread their original book and also to check out their newer The Art of Raising a Puppy, published in 1991. Perhaps their 1978 book had been revised. Maybe their puppy book now incorporated the more positive reward-based methods that have proven so successful in training dogs and puppies.
I read the books. I had forgotten how much of the first book was good. Yes, the scruff-shake, alpha-roll, and “cuff under the chin” are still there (the book has not been revised). But so is the basic philosophy of respect for life that I found so compelling in the first read.
Problems with the puppy training book
The newer book about puppy training is more of a disappointment. I truly hoped that the Monks had modified their perspectives on punishment by 1991. They hadn’t. Not only does this book continue to denigrate the use of treats as rewards in training, it still strongly promotes scruff-shaking, alpha-rolls, and cuffing, even for puppies. Although it counsels their use primarily in older puppies only, the methods are still harsh. For example, in regards to the cuffing, the book says, “The discipline should be firm enough to elicit a short yelp.”
The puppy book also contains several serious misstatements. At one point, perhaps a little defensively, the author reminds the reader that “a correction is not punishment.” Behaviorally, punishment is defined as something that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Clearly a correction is punishment, since that is exactly what it is intended to do. The fact that it is not done in anger makes it no less a punishment.
Selection questions
I had a few other objections to The Art of Raising a Puppy. In one section, the Monks describe how to choose a puppy. While they show a clear bias for purchasing purebreds, I was delighted that they are quick to stress that whether you purchase a puppy, adopt from a shelter, or find one on the street, the commitment and responsibility is exactly the same. A life is a life. In defending their argument for purebreds, however, they offer the justification that there is greater reliability and certainty of a purebred dog’s behavior and capacities (based on breed generalities) than with a mixed breed.
While this may be true to some degree, there is wide variety in behavior, temperament and potential for performance in any given breed, and it is a false reassurance to lead people to believe that behavior is predictable based solely on breed. Professional dog trainers frequently share stories of Labrador retrievers who won’t retrieve or swim, submissive Rottweilers, and pit bulls who don’t fight with other dogs (thank goodness!). In addition, an experienced dog handler can be pretty skilled at determining the breed components of cross-bred and mixed breed dogs, and to the extent that breed assumptions are useful, apply those same assumptions to the mixed breed dog.
The Monks also defend their position on purebreds by saying that “. . . service and working organizations involved in Seeing Eye, support for the handicapped, search-and-rescue, protection, and so on, all use purebred dogs.” This is simply not the case. Mixed breed dogs are commonly used as service dogs, and there is no reason that mixed-breed dogs who are physically and mentally suited and properly trained cannot perform any task that a purebred dog can.
It is true that some organizations, such as Guide Dogs for the Blind, stubbornly cling to their old assumptions that they must produce their own purebred dogs in order to have reliable workers. But since another service dog organization, Canine Companions For Independence recently (in the past year) began to explore the use of positive training instead of the compulsion training previously believed to be a necessity for service dogs, perhaps Guide Dogs’ purebred assumption will someday be open for discussion as well.
Revisionist? Not!
It has been eight years since the Monks’ puppy book was written. Not one to give up easily, I wondered whether there had been a paradigm shift at the monastery in the last eight years. After all, my own conversion only occurred in the last decade. But in an interview with Brother Marc from the New Skete Monastery, I was disappointed to find that this is not the case. Along with all of the good things that the Monks do with and for their dogs, they still follow some disturbing practices.
The Monks’ Shepherd puppies have to be some of the most well-socialized dogs on the planet. One or more of the brothers are present at the birth of each litter, and they begin handling the pups at an early age. The puppies are temperament tested and re-tested, and notes on their personalities and development carefully recorded.
The Monks are supremely aware of the benefits (to canine and human both) of fully integrating their dogs into the daily routine, and young dogs quickly learn good manners, lying quietly with the rest of the group in the dining room during mealtime. The monastery is often frequented by visitors of all ages, shapes and sizes, who are encouraged to meet and greet the dogs. Brother Marc dispels the image of the monastery as a place of constant solitude and silence when he describes some of the activity.
“Right now we are having some work done on one of the buildings,” he says, “so the dogs are exposed to all kinds of construction noises. There’s also the weekly lawn mowing right next to their kennels, and we play the radio so they hear talking and music. They go for rides in cars, and the monastery is near a road, so they do hear traffic pass by regularly.”
The puppies are sold after age eight weeks, according to Brother Marc, after the fear period but well before the optimum socialization period is over, so they have ample opportunity to learn about scary stimuli in the rest of the world. One would assume that the breeding dogs in the Monks’ program live out their entire lives at the monastery, so, for them, a lack of exposure to the outside world shouldn’t be a problem. One would assume incorrectly, however.
Lifetime commitment/responsible breeding?
I was stunned to discover that when a dog was no longer useful to the breeding program, she was “retired” and sent to live outside the monastery. With all of the Monks’ emphasis on relationship, responsibility and commitment, this was hard to understand. Didn’t the brothers have strong feelings for the dogs they had lived with for 10 years? How could they give them up?
“It’s hard to give them up,” admitted Brother Marc. “But when you meet the dog’s new family you can see the love that they lavish on her and you know the dog will do fine. They are so well-trained and people-oriented that they don’t seem to show any stress in their new homes.”
It was also surprising to find out that the New Skete dogs may be bred more than once a year. Most responsible breeders agree that breeding twice a year is a significant strain on a dog’s physical health.
“It usually works out to one litter every year to 18 months,” says Brother Marc, “but if a dog is healthy and ready to breed we may breed twice in one year. We never have more than 10 litters in a year. There is a two-year waiting list for puppies right now. The puppies sell for around $1,000 each. As any good breeder will tell you, we don’t make money on puppy sales – the cost of the program more than eats up any revenue from sales. We do it because we love it, and the dogs help us do our work, which is helping people.”
Punishment revisited
Other issues aside, the Monks’ willingness to use punishment still strikes the greatest dissonant chord within me. That dissonance wasn’t dispelled by the interview with Brother Marc. He said he’d read Koehler’s books, and thought they made a lot of sense, although conceding that you can’t use the methods for every dog in every situation.
“Sometimes a dog needs a good boot in the rear to get its attention,” Brother Marc insisted. “The scruff shake, if used indiscriminately as a substitute for basic understanding and training of the dog, is not right. But it certainly is appropriate if it is integrated into a whole, balanced training program.”
If Brother Job Michael Evans, the Monk who wrote the New Skete books, were still alive, he might disagree. Kaye Hargreaves, a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) from Wagging School in Melbourne, Australia, recalls Brother Job’s keynote speech at the 1993 APDT conference in Toronto, Canada.
“As I recall,” Hargreaves says, “Brother Job said that he no longer taught the scruff-shake and alpha-roll because too many dog owners had been bitten attempting to follow that advice. I remember him saying that he had wanted to revise what he had said in the Monks’ books but could not do so because the Monks held the copyright. Brother Job had not totally rejected the use of correction in training, but was still loved and respected for the many qualities he brought to dog training.”
Dominance is unnecessary
The modern view, held by prominent trainers and canine behaviorists Dr. Ian Dunbar, William Campbell, Jean Donaldson and many others, is that physical dominance techniques are not necessary or appropriate for a long list of reasons:
• Many people have been seriously bitten as a result of using physical dominance methods. The struggle between a dominant dog and owner or trainer can escalate, with a corresponding escalation in the levels of violence, until owner, dog, or both, are injured. Many dogs who could have been successfully trained are euthanized unnecessarily for biting because of this escalation of violence. With the vast majority of dogs, leadership can be established by using non-confrontational methods.
• People have a tendency, when given permission to use physical force by a book or trainer, to use it inappropriately, to punish the dog when he has never been taught what to do in the first place.
• Even if very skilled trainers can use the techniques successfully, most dog owners can’t, so it is not an appropriate technique to teach students. A trainer who dominates a dog through force can increase the dog’s disrespect for the owner who can’t, possibly even provoking the dog to attack the owner in the trainer’s absence.
• The natural occurrence of scruff-shakes and alpha-rolls has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted. Its primary use is by mother dogs, to discipline puppies and adolescent dogs, to teach them to respect and respond to subtle body language cues by other dogs. It is arrogant and faulty to think that we can accurately mimic that maternal subtlety. To physically challenge an already dominant adult dog – the most common application in dog training – is a different matter entirely, and a very risky one at that.
Updating the Monks
I respect the Monks of New Skete for the good things that they have accomplished. There are probably lots of dogs who have escaped hanging, helicoptering, and drowning thanks to their work. Their approach to training was an important step across the bridge from very abusive methods to the positive ones that are becoming more and more widely accepted every day.
But the Monks are still standing on the bridge. Let’s hope they keep moving forward and someday join those of us who have crossed it and are continuing along the path to more humane and effective methods of training our canine companions.
With more than ten years’ field experience under his belt, the veteran humane officer, from Santa Clara County, California, thought he had seen and heard just about everything. Then he got the call from a hysterical woman who had come home from work to find that her dog was being shocked non-stop by his electronic collar.
“Please hurry,” she begged. “He’s totally crazed, and when we try to touch him we get shocked. We can’t get the collar off him!”
The officer rushed to the scene. When he arrived he found that the owners had managed to throw a rug over the dog, restrain him, and cut off the offending collar with a knife. The dog was still so severely traumatized by the experience that he refused to allow anyone near. The woman vowed never to use her underground fence system again.
Electronic fences and their partners – collars that deliver an aversive agent – have been around for more than 20 years. They seem like the perfect canine confinement alternative to a solid physical fence. They are often marketed as the ideal fencing solution to homeowner association fence prohibitions and for problematic, difficult-to-fence, steep, rocky and rugged living spaces.
But while occurrences of a collar shorting out and administering repeated shocks to a hapless, helpless dog are relatively rare, there are other drawbacks to using electronic fencing systems. A conscientious owner will weigh all the pros and cons before deciding whether or not to invest in this sort of “fencing” system.
How Do Electric Fences Work?
Electronic fences rely on the transmission of a radio signal from a wire or some other transmitter that is typically buried or mounted in an unobtrusive location on the dog owner’s property. The radio signal is broadcast within a specific zone, following the contours of the individual layout. The dog wears a battery-operated receiver on a special collar, which picks up the radio signals when the dog enters the special zone. Most of the systems are programmed so that a “warning tone” is emitted when the dog first approaches the radio transmission area, and, if he remains or travels further into the zone, follows up with an aversive stimulus.
The most commonly used aversive is an electric shock, delivered to the dog’s neck by metal (electrically conducting) prongs set in the dog’s collar. A recent technological innovation provides for some systems to deliver a burst of citronella spray as the aversive instead of an electric shock.
The best of the electronic fence makers teach the dog owners how to condition their dogs to the fence. “Training flags” are installed around the perimeter of the dog’s “safe” territory, to give him a visual hint to its shape and size. For the first few days, it is suggested that the owner applies tape over the prongs on the electrical collar, to minimize any shock that the dog receives, and to keep the dog on a leash. The owner is instructed to walk around the property, allowing the dog to approach the forbidden zones and hear the warning tone. The owner is to pull or call the dog back into the safe area, and then praise the dog.
The next phase involves removing the tape, and allowing the dog (who is still on a leash) further into the danger zone, where he experiences a correction. Again, the owner brings the dog back into the safety zone, praising his retreat from the forbidden area. This is followed by a few more days of off-leash, but supervised experiences, and finally, removal of the training flags. Whether the aversive is a shock or a spray, in most cases it takes only a few applications for the dog to learn that the tone means “Bad things happen here.”
The Advantages of Invisible Fences
There are certainly advantages to electronic fences. They are generally less expensive than a physical fence. Systems range in cost from $120 to $400, and can cover anything from a small yard to a 100-acre parcel, depending on the brand. Variation in cost depends in large part on the features included in the system package, such as adjustable levels of shock strength, rechargeable batteries, and combination fence and no-bark or fence and remote trainer systems. If you are considering investing in an electronic fence, compare features carefully in order to be sure you get the brand that best suits your needs.
Electronic fences are easier to install than a traditional fence. One system uses a wire that is buried a few inches underground, a process that is much less labor-intensive than digging post holes and building fences, especially in rocky soil or on steep brushy slopes. Another type of fence doesn’t even require a buried wire, but instead uses transmitters on “emitter posts” that are inserted into the ground at intervals around the property. Consumers can install the fences themselves, or hire one of the many landscapers and builders who have experience in underground fence installation. Some companies will provide a list of certified fence installers on request.
For those who simply prefer the aesthetics of a fenceless yard or are faced with homeowner association constraints, electronic fences can keep a dog contained without obstructing the view or violating neighborhood sensibilities.
The Negative Side of Invisible Fences
Paul Miller, now director of the Chattanooga Animal Services program in Tennessee, was the Santa Clara humane officer who responded to the call of a dog being shocked by his collar a decade ago. Ten more years of experience in the field haven’t softened his opinion of the product. He argues that electronic fences don’t provide adequate containment to reasonably guarantee a dog’s safety.
“I can’t tell you exactly how many stray dogs I’ve seen wearing electronic fence collars,” he says, “but it’s a lot. Owners forget to replace weak and dying batteries and dogs are soon free to come and go at will. Many owners who come in to shelters to retrieve their shock-collar-sporting wayward hounds will admit that they were aware the batteries were weak and they hadn’t bothered to replace them.”
Another minus: Some dogs seem to have no trouble braving the strong corrections imposed on them by a working collar with fresh batteries if they are presented with sufficiently enticing stimuli: a female in season, a fast-moving cat, a child on a bicycle, a postal worker. And then the dog is stuck outside the fence without sufficient motivation to risk the shock to get back in! For this reason, certain breeds, especially large dogs bred for guardian jobs or dogs with strong hunting drives, make poor candidates for these systems.
Another important consideration is the fact that an electronic fence does nothing to protect your dog from outside harm. The neighborhood canine bully can still enter your yard and attack your dog. Bad people can still come onto your property and steal or torment your dog. (We’ve even heard of one report of an expensive electronic collar being stolen right off of its dog!)
Also, these electronic fences don’t keep children or delivery people from approaching your house and being attacked or bitten by your dog. Finally, dogs with especially long or thick coats may have to have their necks shaved in order for the prongs (and the corrective shocks) to reach their skin. Such disfigurement is not acceptable to all owners.
How Strong is the Electric Shock from an Underground Dog Fence?
Dog owners also need to be concerned about the unintended negative side effects of punishment. Despite the euphemisms used in promotional materials that call the aversive electric shock a “mild electrical stimulus,” a “stimulus distraction,” a “tingle” or a “tickle,” it is, in fact, an electric shock.
In November 1998, while attending the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual conference and trade show in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, I watched as a number of dog trainers tested an electric collar by wrapping it around their own hands. (The equipment was provided by one of the electronic fence manufacturers, who had a trade booth at the convention.) Different people reacted to varying levels of shock with significantly different levels of sensitivity. While some felt nothing at the lowest setting and only a mild sensation at level three, others described a mildly painful sensation at level one and unpleasant, even intolerable pain at the higher settings. (The shock was felt on the hand, not on the more sensitive neck area. Product representatives refused to allow the human Guinea pigs to test the collars on their necks.) There is no reason to think that our different dogs would not also experience different sensitivities to electric shocks.
The use of punishment in training, especially a punishment as intense as an electric shock, risks irreparable harm to the mutual trust that is critically important in the dog-human relationship. During the training process the dog may associate the shock or spray with the owner’s presence and end up fearing the owner.
Sensitive dogs can be seriously traumatized by just one administration of the punishing aversive. Some dogs may refuse to enter the yard at all after being shocked or sprayed, especially if the yard is small, with a limited amount of “free” space where the dog can feel safe. One Monterey County, California, dog owner reports that while she loves the electronic fence system because it allows her dogs to run loose on her several-acre property (which she couldn’t otherwise afford to fence), her Komondor is so respectful of the boundary that the dog won’t cross it even when not wearing the collar. The owner has to load her dog into the car and drive across the wire just to take the dog for a walk around the neighborhood.
What are the Alternatives to Electric Fences?
What are you supposed to do if you live in an area where fencing is prohibited, prohibitively expensive, or simply not feasible? You can keep Rover in the house, train him to come when called, and allow him outside only under direct supervision. You can install a cable runner, although tying a dog up creates its own set of risks and problems. (Watch for “Fit To Be Tied” in an upcoming issue of WDJ for a discussion of this topic.) You can purchase a chain-link kennel run to provide safe confinement for Rover when you aren’t able to personally supervise his exercise. Or you can move to a neighborhood that allows physical fences.
Some people, however, feel the benefits of an electronic fence system outweigh the negatives of the alternatives. We’d grudgingly acknowledge the potential usefulness of the system, provided it’s used in the following limited circumstances.
Because of the potential for an electronic fence to malfunction, for your dog to simply “run through” it and escape, and for predators to enter your property and injure your dog, we suggest using the system only when you are home and able to monitor its use. This means not using the system when you are not at home (even just for a few minutes), or at night (or any other time you may be sleeping). You must check on your dog constantly, establishing visual contact with him at least every five minutes or so when he is “confined” by the fence and nothing else. And the collar must be removed whenever the fence is not being used as the primary barrier (when the dog is safely confined in the house, for instance). Failing to do all these things exposes the dog to all the various dangers discussed above, while simultaneously giving the owner a false sense of security.
Of course, if your dog is reliably trained to come to you when he is called and you are keeping him under this sort of close supervision, you probably don’t need this sort of system! Which strikes at the heart of our objections to electronic fences: They are really designed as a “convenience” device for people who like having a dog, and who don’t want it to run away, but who are unwilling or unable to go the extra mile to absolutely ensure the safety of their dogs.
There are exceptions. We have met dog owners, for instance, who keep their well-trained dogs under close supervision, but who maintain the electronic fence as a sort of “emergency back up” barrier for their dogs because they live on a busy road, and even an extremely rare, quick trip “off the property” could result in death.
In our opinion, however, there is nothing that can replace training, supervision, and that timeless tool for good neighbors everywhere: a purely “visible,” solid, well-maintained fence.
Just when I started to think I knew something about dogs … I had the pleasure of learning about a large and talented branch of the canine family tree that I knew nothing about: scent dogs. Best of all, I was delighted to discover that these dogs are trained to the highest levels of competency without the use of any force-based training methods.
Late last spring, I read a small item in my local paper announcing the arrival of some 70-plus Bloodhounds and other scent dogs in my town for a training clinic for scent dogs used for law enforcement. I called the host of the clinic, local police officer and Bloodhound handler, Jeff Schettler, to ask permission to attend one of the training sessions. “The public is welcome to come and watch,” he said, laughing, “but you’ll have to find us first!”
Schettler explained that there were six instructors, each leading handlers and their dogs through a different scenting challenge, working from locations throughout the area. For instance, they would be conducting a long-distance “manhunt” throughout the brushy Oakland hills, as well as practicing following trails in a highly trafficked city environment.
I selected a location where we were most likely to find one of the instructors, and set out with my son, Eli. We also brought Eli’s two best friends (twins Brendan and Michael) and their mom, Maureen. Our dog-loving neighbors and their Golden Retriever, Sadie, have been active participants in WDJ product tests and photo shoots since Day 1, so of course, we invited them along. On the drive to the clinic, I asked the boys if they knew what Bloodhounds were. “Those are the dogs that find you if you’re lost!” they all answered – and, then, “Can WE get lost?!” they all wanted to know.
We found a group right away. I introduced myself and my companions to the instructor and asked permission to take photos of the session. I also mentioned that the three seven-year-olds with me were eager to “get lost” for the dogs. “Tell you what,” said the instructor, Timothy McClung, Chief of Police in Perkins Township, Sandusky, Ohio. “We were going to do something called a ‘split trail’ exercise. We could use one kid to act like a kidnap victim.” He pointed to one of the students in the class, a towering man with a shaved head, a thick black moustache, dressed in heavy black Army boots and a green Army fatigues. “He’s going to be the kidnapper.” Suddenly the kids weren’t so sure about volunteering!
This “split trail” exercise was where my education about these amazing dogs began. The exercise replicated a situation where someone was kidnapped; you want to find the victim, but then you’d like to find the unknown kidnapper, too. First, the instructor rubbed a small square of gauze on the head of Brendan, the chosen “victim.” He put the gauze in a Ziploc bag, and then the kidnapper picked Brendan up and carried him away to an unseen location in an apartment complex. Then he set the boy down, and hid himself somewhere else in the complex.
About 40 minutes later, one of the students, reserve police officer Dennis Slavin, of South Pasadena, California, brought out his dog, Tinkerbelle. One whiff of Brendan’s gauze, and the dog took off like a shot, baying with excitement. Despite the fact that Brendan’s feet never even touched the ground, with a scent so fresh, Tinkerbelle didn’t hesitate; she ran straight to where the boy was hidden. Slavin praised her, and immediately gave her the command to search again. She gave Brendan another sniff – and took off baying again, straight to where the “kidnapper” was hiding.
All I can say is, if, God forbid, anyone I know ever disappears for real, I’m calling for a positively trained Bloodhound, first thing.
I took my two dogs—Woody, age 9, and Boone, age 3—to see their vet a week ago. I wasn’t looking forward to being chided for allowing him—nay, facilitating him—to gain a few extra pounds this winter. But I wasn’t at all expecting the health problems that my vet found.
