Not all vomit is created equal: dogs eat anything

Jerry the lab threw this up!

Shortly after young lab Jerry arrived, he threw up a little bit. Not pleasant, but not something to worry about. All it took was a quick clean-up and a little snuggle. About an hour later, he threw up two two-inch lag bolts, a piece of metal, fragments of kids’ toys, and a ball of wool. Yikes – Jerry was quickly off to the vet for an x-ray. Dr. Sheppard said his guts looked like a Marshall-Wells Hardware store. Lucky for Jerry, he passed two desk keys and some other gunk without needing surgery.

Sadly, we hear this story all too often. Skittles had surgery to remove a half ball that the neighbours’ children accidentally threw over the fence. Luckily he had eaten a small rock, which showed up on the x-ray. Maggie ate a bath towel. Carly usually passes socks, but needed $3500 in surgery to get the last one out. Shadow the vizsla has had two surgeries, the first to remove a Power Ranger, and the second, a small stuffed money. Sadly, Spike the dalmatian died after a baby pacifier gummed up his intestines.

Although anything small enough to swallow could be a problem, according to VIP Pet Insurance, the most common items dogs eat are socks, underwear, pantyhose, rocks, balls, chew toys, corn cobs, bones, hair ties/ribbons and sticks.

If your dog vomits a little bit, don’t worry about it, but if the vomiting is frequent or projectile, or if there is associated diarrhoea, blood, a fever, lethargy, or distended abdomen contact your veterinarian. If your dog ever throws up metal or other nasty objects, go to the vet. If you’re unsure, check their circulation, and if their gums are white, take them to the vet right away.

To prevent gastrointestinal obstruction, remove small objects from any place your dog has access to, and check their toys regularly to remove small or damaged items.

Petscaping: designing Fido-friendly outdoor spaces

This big bad boy is Gryphon. Our first, enormous golden topped out at 120 pounds, and when he was a puppy, he was a holy terror. Just into our new home, we decided to get our adorable puppy. We had enough sense to think about some landscaping basics - a high fence and doghouse, but that was about it. This cutie-pie tore chunks of sod up, chewed our little trees down like a beaver, and dug up my beautiful new rose bushes. Our yard was a total disaster.

Dogs need fencing, shelter, shade, water and a bathroom space. Some dogs are climbers and can even leap over six foot fences, and some dig recreationally or to escape. Many create patrolling paths. And of course in Saskatchewan, you need to think about how one snow blizzard can easily turn a six foot fence into a three foot suggestion.

Petscaping is the term to describe landscaping with your pet’s needs in mind. My second passion next to dogs is horticulture – planning, planting and enjoying landscapes, gardens and yards. If you love dogs and gardens, here are some things to think about when planning your yard.

Fences and Gates
If you’ve got or may get a big dog, install tall fences. Some dogs can get over six foot fences with a single leap. Think about how you’d handle it if your dog ends up being like that. Think about the smallest dog that you might have too and make sure they can’t slip through any holes in the fence.

Some dogs dig. Either install your fencing down into the earth so your dog can’t get under it or create a cement barrier just under the fence and/or gate area.

If your property backs onto an alley, street or park, decide how you can reduce the risk of children taunting your dog, which can cause difficult behavioural issues for your dog (obviously kids taunting dogs already have behavioural issues …).

What kind of gate closure will ensure that no one can enter and leave the door open for your dog to escape, and that your dog can’t accidentally knock it open?

Decking

Dogs' feet are made for walking, and they’ll wear the finish off any wooden surface. If you want paw-friendly decking, choose something that doesn’t need refinishing. Concrete, bricks or some of the newer synthetic woods are great solutions.

Walkways

Dogs like walking the perimeter and patrol paths. If you’ve got the luxury of being able to watch your dog before installing paths, use their natural movements to help you choose where to put them.

Waste

Dog urine kills grass. If you want them to pee and poo in your yard, are they trained to go in one spot or will anywhere in the yard work? Are children also using the space? Perhaps a separate dog run away from the children's play area would be appropriate. What do you want to do with the poo – a close garbage or perhaps a dog poo compost space?

Dog run

Dogs most likely to bite are un-neutered dogs that are chained. Untethering your dog is one of the kindest things you can do. If you want your dog to have a separate dog run, make it large enough for them to enjoy, and think about how your dog will easily move from your house to the run. It’s pretty simple in the summer, but think through the winter months too when there’s three feet of snow in your back yard and you want fido to move from your back deck into his run to go potty.

Dog houses

Some dogs love to jump up onto their dog houses. When you’re thinking about where to place the dog house, be sure that it’s not right up against a fence – otherwise it could be a step ladder to the other side of your fence.

Design your dog house so it’s raised off the ground, has a door flap, is insulated and, if used in the winter, is heated. Really good houses have a “wind wall” – basically, the house is set up with two rooms – they enter into a porch that opens into their actual sleeping quarters. Lots of neat designs are available online.

Water

• Drinking water: Where will your dog’s water bowl be located so it’s away from their potty area and easy for you to access and remember to fill? If used in the winter, you can buy heated dog bowls to make sure the water doesn’t freeze - that bowl needs to be near an electrical outlet so it can be plugged in.
  
• Grooming: Will you want to wash your dog or at least their muddy paws outside? If so, think about water tap location relative to your dog’s space and your back yard.
• Play pond: If your dog loves water, do you want a spray pond or kiddie pool to be part of their back-yard life? If so, think about how to restrict unsupervised access so they can’t drown.
  

Garbage

If your yard also houses your garbage cans, think about how you’ll limit Fido’s access too it. Nothing smells quite as good as a fresh bag of garbage to a dog. Can you section off the maintenance area of your yard from Fido’s area?

Digging
Dogs love digging. Work with that tendency by creating a digging garden and off-limits areas. For your digging garden, create a pit with sand or gravel. Within the pit, bury favourite treats like peanut butter stuffed Kongs, then watch your dog enjoy the thrill of discovering great treats. For the off-limits garden areas, lay down chicken wire on the ground, then affix it to the soil with landscape ties. Your dog won’t be able to dig in those areas.

Plantings

Especially if you have young dogs, it may be easier for you to keep a good yard if you use raised flower and garden beds and pots instead of ground-level plantings. If you do go for ground-level plantings, you can purchase decorative fences to put around the plants to keep them safe.

If you want a fruit or vegetable garden avoid planting or restrict your dog’s access to grapes, rhubarb, onions, garlic, green tomatoes or potatoes, all of which are toxic to dogs. Dogs love fruits and vegetables - our Gryphon would eat the raspberries off the bottom branches!

To make it easy to select your plants and trees, do it in two steps. First, pick items that work for your planting zone and design needs, then, before buying, check if those plants are toxic to dogs by using the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) online plant tool.

When doing lawn and plant care, be sure to select fertilizers that are pet-friendly. Lots of fertilizers can burn their foot pads if applied incorrectly. Store these items in an area that is safely away from your dog.

Mulch as a toy

Some dogs chew or eat mulch, so be really careful about what you use. Cocoa mulch is toxic to dogs, so avoid that completely. Some dogs chew on and swallow rocks, which can break teeth and lodge in their intestines, which is deadly for them and expensive for you. Determine a safe mulch or ground cover and watch to make sure that your dog is being safe around it. To limit chewing, give your dog lots of alternate items to chew on – raw bones, raw hides and peanut butter or frozen chicken stuffed Kongs are great.

Enrichment

Will your yard be a puppy paradise? You can purchase dog equipment for agility and other sports. If you plan to spend time in that area, it’s worth investigating before your design is finished.


Once you’ve thought it all through, take a quick survey to make sure your dog is comfortable through all seasons. Do they have shade during the hot summer months? Do they have warmth through the winter months? Are you both comfortable with what you’ve got? If you answered yes to all of those questions, have fun with your summer project and enjoy your yard!

Being safe: It’s dog bite prevention week

Crating your kids is one proven way to make sure a dog won’t bite them. (My now teenage nephews are going to kill me for posting this photo.)

Plenty of evidence shows that large breed, un-neutered male dogs that are chained and treated irresponsibly are the most likely to cause serious and fatal bites. So logic flows that if you have sterilized your dog and treat it responsibly, you’re off to a great start. But that’s just a start. Dogs have very few ways to tell you that they’re scared. They have specific body language and teeth. Every dog has a bite threshold, and you can do quite a few things to minimize the risks.

Introductions are really important. Train your child to behave around their dog so they:

• ask permission before touching a strange dog, “be a tree”, remain calm and avoid eye contact
• don’t squeal, run, take the dog’s stuff including food and toys, startle the dog when sleeping, give neck hugs

There are great online resources for parents and educators. Here are some particularly good ones:

• http://www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/safetycentre/DogsAndKidsV3.pdf
• http://www.be-a-tree.com/
• http://www.getdogsmart.com/

For older children, involve them in your dog’s formal training program. And, teach your children not to tease a chained or tethered dog. That’s one of the best ways to turn a good dog into an aggressive one.

There are also lots of things you can do to help your dog too:

1. Pick the right pet for your family. They’ve got different energy levels and emotional drivers. Make sure you research what you’re getting before you bring one home.
2. Socialize them to people of all ages when young. The more types of people your dog is exposed to, the better. Young. Old. Large. Small. Men. Women. Bearded. Bald. Everyone.
3. Train your dog. The canine good citizen test outlines 10 manners that your dog should comfortably do. Use this as a benchmark for your dog’s training routine.
   
4. Spay/neuter your pet to calm the hormones down.
5. Watch for warning signs from any dog –hackles are raised (hair goes up on its back), stiff posturing, lip smacking, growling, backing away, half-moon eyes or a hard stare.
6. Always supervise children around dogs. Dogs are animals, not people and never forget that.
7. Train your dog to react calmly around strangers especially the milk man, postal workers, meter readers, and others who show up regularly.
8. Teach a soft bite so if they ever do feel the need to bite, it’ll be a warning rather than a serious incident.
9. Protect your pet from harms way. Don’t let anyone do anything to your dog that could make it become scared, then aggressive.
10. If your dog has bitten, train them and manage them so they’re not put into a position to bite again.
    

When you take on the responsibility of a dog, you’re morally and legally responsible for its actions. Learn what you can, train your dog, and teach your children to behave around them so you can minimize your risks.

Double dog dare you: getting a second dog

Nothing beats the pure bliss of watching two dogs romp and play together. They seem inseparable. Where one dog explores, the other follows. They curl up together on their comfy beds into tiny balls so you can’t tell where one starts and the other stops. When they come to visit us at our kennel, double dogs are always happy – and that makes sense because they’re always hanging around, playing with their best buddy.

In single-dog families, you are their universe. You are the source of everything – including being their 24/7 live entertainment. At times, that’s great, and at other times, especially when they’re puppies or adolescents, it would be nice if some of their extra puppy energy would be burned off elsewhere. Enter, the second dog. After you’ve exercised and trained your dog, you can chill and watch your dogs run, interact and play. They can burn off more energy together in a half hour than you could ever give them in several hours – unless you’re into agility or other dog sports of course.

However, there is a secret dark side to double dogs. In addition to the extra space they take (think about two danes), double the hair and poo to clean up, and doubling your cost for food and veterinary bills (especially if both get serious, expensive medical issues), as with people, there can be personality issues – and those issues can turn into aggression and management problems. The most difficult problems seem to be with female/female and big/small dogs. Females can wrestle for dominance, and what would normally be a small scuffle between size-matched dogs can easily become deadly when yorkie and retriever sized dogs get into it. Another thing to watch for is getting puppies from the same litter. They’re awesome and adorably cute, but they can bond more with each other than with you.

Some believe that the ideal way to get a second dog is to get one, train it and bond with it, then get your second dog later. Compatible dogs include picking male/male or male/female rather than two females, and sticking to similar sizes. Once you’ve got two dogs, spend solo time exercising, training and bonding with each dog. If you already have a big and small dog, watch their dynamics, and possibly separate them when you’re not there to supervise them.

Personally, I’m really big on double dogs. I love living with Daisy and Buddy. Every now and then they still get on each other’s nerves – usually over a really, really tasty treat – but knowing that helps me manage around it.

If you’re interested in this topic, here are a few more resources:

• Fully Vetted blog posting
  
• Creative Dog Training’s podcast about getting a second dog
• Whole Dog Journal article When Packmates Fight (Payment is required to access this article)

Dealing with dog aggression: when your sweet, adorable puppy, turns into Cujo

We hear it over and over again “my dog would never bite”. That’s simply wrong – every dog will bite. We all know about some normally mild-mannered person who one day snaps and gets road rage – dogs are no different. They don’t have many ways to express themselves – so they use their teeth. They typically give several warning signs ranging from a growl to a stare and freeze, then move on to a bite. For some dogs, that progression is slow, for others, all of those phases can happen in a moment. This escalation process to an actual bite is called the “bite threshold”. Normal dog aggression occurs around specific triggers such as being touched, resource guarding “their” stuff – toys, food, etc., their people or around other animals. For example, a normally calm, submissive animal can appear to be vicious when approaching another dog while on a leash walk.

While many dogs are able to tolerate one stressor, trouble often occurs when a number of their stressors combine. For example, one dog dislikes, but tolerates toddlers, they tolerate when people take their favourite toy, and they tolerate loud noises. But, inevitably you have a loud family party, where a toddler takes the dog’s favourite toy. That combination could be too much stress for your dog to handle. Then wham, the dog bites, and everyone is shocked.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid aggression:

Be a leader
This is about being like a confident, assertive-parent. It’s not about being an aggressive dominant brute. You’re in control of everything in your dog’s life and they need to realize that. Use trainer Sue Ailsbury’s techniques to respectfully and responsibly put yourself in control of your relationship.

Socialize your dog to everything
Let your dog experience the world and different people of all ages, men and women. Let them see the world so they realize that it’s not a scary place.

Never use aggression on your dog
Using aggression builds fear. When you build fear, you’re also setting the stage for future aggression.

Handle your dog and their stuff
From day one, take away their stuff, make them move from your pathway and off the furniture, and be able to touch them all over. Ideally get other people to do this too so your dog is prepared for other caregivers such as vets and trainers.

Ask for and reward the behaviour you want – rather than tolerating what you get
Every day your milk man arrives, your dog goes wild, then watches him leave. His little doggie brain tells him that he’s done his job by sending the bad man away. Rather than allowing this behaviour, train your dog to do something preferable like sit or go to your mat. Reward that behaviour. Eventually your dog will sit or go to their mat when they see the milk man arrive.

Teach your dog to have a soft mouth
If you do this right and one day they feel the need to bite, they’re less likely to cause damage.

• Teach Your Puppy to Have a Soft Mouth
• Dr. Ian Dunbar's e-book, After You Get Your Puppy

Protect your dog
One of your jobs is to protect your dog from harm’s way so they never feel threatened. Being attacked by another dog is an easy way to build aggression into your dog. One trainer I know carries a riding crop with her when walking her dog. If any dog tries to harm her dog, they can’t. It sounds a little nasty, but I’d rather deter someone else’s aggressive dog than build fear into mine.

If you notice signs of aggression, manage or modify it right away. Doing nothing is a recipe for disaster – either you or someone else will be bitten. Check with your vet to rule out that behaviour changes are not medically related – eg. if they’re in pain, they may snap. Don’t do anything that is likely to get yourself bitten. If you’re concerned at all, seek a professional trainer to help you out. When doing that, make sure you find one that uses positive techniques rather than aggressive, fear-based methods. Never tolerate behaviour in a small dog that would be unacceptable in larger dogs. What often starts out as cute puppy behaviours can turn into a nightmare.

Here are some additional resources to help you on your way:

• Good overview posting about dog aggression
• Lots of very good training podcasts about aggression, dogs with kids, etc.
• Good info by Dr. Sophie Yin
• Specific corrective skills from Jean Donaldson’s book entitled Mine

Stopping dogs from inhaling their food

Some dogs – especially labs and beagles – truly “wolf” their food down. The bowl goes down – gulp, gulp, done. Often that’s followed by choke, puke – repeat as necessary. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear the poor thing is starving.

When it comes to food, dogs are designed different than we are – because they’ve got an incredible sense of smell, they’re more olfactory focused than we are. And because they have fewer taste buds, flavour really isn’t that important to them. They don’t need to chew and savour every morsel. Humans have flat teeth, designed for chewing and mixing food with saliva. Dogs are designed to kill, tear and cut (nasty huh), then swallow – digestion happens later in their very acidic stomach.

There’s a genetic component to this too. In times of food scarcity, your dog’s ancestors had to eat fast to get their share and survive. It’s hard to pause that kind of genetic programming.

Since your dog doesn’t need to worry about where their next meal is coming from, and because they can choke or vomit when eating too fast, here are a couple of things you can do to slow them down. A simple trick is to turn a regular dog bowl upside down. As shown in the above photo, the dog has to surf around the bowl’s edges to reach every morsel. Another option is to add water to their kibble to make it mushy. If either of those options don’t work, try the scatter approach – simply throw the full portion of kibble onto the floor in a scattered pattern – not on a pile – so your dog is forced to find each and every morsel.

Read more about dog digestion at:

http://www.best-dog-food-guide.com/dog-digestion.html

http://www.iheartpaws.com/articles/59/1/How-Your-Dogs-Digestion-Works-By-Andrew-Lewis/Page1.html

http://www.dog-nutrition-naturally.com/dog-digestion.html

Living with dogs and kids

I’ve always loved animals. That’s my first dog King. He was my protector and my friend. I was always the kid who asked for cats and dogs – anything furry would do. For a while, my parents said “no” to pets, then I started keeping baby field mice in our porch. That's how I got Kitty and my dog Chuckie.

If you watch movies – especially Disney movies – dogs and kids always get along. In real life, it’s not always that way. Dogs are not people – every one of them has a bite threshold. For some, it’s short, for others, it’s long, but any dog can bite.

If you’re bringing a new baby into your life, you can prepare your dog for baby’s arrival in a lot of ways - read up about the topic, get into a post-baby routine before the baby arrives, tug at the dog as a child would, and scent the dog’s toys with almond oil to distinguish them from baby toys. Groups like Dogs and Storks have lots of useful information and tips.

And it’s also important to teach your children how to behave around dogs. While your own dog may be fabulous with kids, it’s best that they know what to do around strange dogs.

If you’re worried that your dog will hurt your young child, it may be in everyone’s best interests to find another home for your dog. Living in fear is not an option. Our own dog Buddy came to live with us because of that kind of situation, and its turned out to be the best thing for that family, our family, and for our Buddy.

If you’re interested in this topic, here are some additional resources:

Canine IQ test

Regarding Rover Podcast

Wall Street Journal article

DogGoneSafe Bite prevention rules

Bond with your dog using positive training methods

Our first Golden Retriever Gryphon came to live with us in the eighties. We were young. We didn’t know what to do for him. We enrolled him in puppy kindergarten and thoroughly loved the experience. In addition to great early socialization Gryphon learned the basics of sit, stay, come and heel. We liked it so much that we signed up for the next class. What an eye-opener. The instructor told us to stick a dumbbell into his mouth, then pinch his ear until he held the weight. We couldn’t do it. We left and never went back. We couldn’t believe that good dog training included pain.

Years later with Daisy and Buddy we discovered agility. We had fun learning clicker training, playing games and exercising their minds. Then the new instructor yelled at Daisy until she cowered and hid in her crate. Agility was supposed to be a fun, bonding experience, and Daisy obviously wasn’t having fun. We left.

Today, I attended an incredibly wonderful workshop with Sue Ailsby. Working with dogs and llamas, Sue has experience with just about every competition possible. She’s wonderful. She believes that balanced dogs do things because they want to please you – and when you’re pleased, their world is full of good things. Her fundamentals are teach them to learn, reward their good behaviour, and ignore everything else. Within five minutes and without a word being spoken or negative correction applied, we watched Stitches (Sue’s companion show, sport, and service dog) figure out how to weave under a chair, then sit proudly on it.

Training can be a positive bonding experience for you and your dog. To learn about Sue’s BOOK of TRAINING LEVELS, visit her web site at http://bit.ly/g58Vh. When you research your local training options, look for instructors who use positive methods such as clickers, treats and affection, and avoid those who use corrections, choke chains and aggression to dominate their dogs.

Trembles for thunder

When prairie storms start to brew, happy-go-lucky little Jessie starts to tremble.

Unfortunately being scared of thunder is quite common. This fear ranges from trembling slightly to hiding behind furniture to needing to chew their way out and run away – anywhere! It can start small then worsen over time – and it can also ease off with age often with the onset of deafness.

Different levels of fear need different responses. For some, it may be as simple as confining your dog in a safe place like their kennel with a favourite toy. For more serious cases, some use alternative remedies available at health-food stores, and yet others use Gravol or prescription medications (puppy prozac like substances).

If your dog is terrified of thunder, resist the urge to pacify by giving affection – you’ll only reinforce the timid behaviour. (If you watch Dog Whisperer, Cesar consistently talks about reinforcing a calm state of mind.)

If your dog’s fear is extreme – medical attention may be in order. Talk with your veterinarian about an appropriate solution. Because doggie dosages are way different than human dosages, please don’t self-medicate without talking with your vet.

My dog had issues

Buddy was born November 26, 2001. He lived with another family and was a customer at our kennel until he started biting their children. When his mom called in tears looking for a new home for him, we took him in.

His food aggression was bad. When putting his bowl down, he would turn to us, bare his teeth and growl. It wasn’t just a little “shoo, get away” kind of growl, it was more of a stare you down, toothy “take one small step closer, and your face is gone” kind of growl.

We immediately got him fixed. And we immediately worked on his food aggression.

We did everything. We talked with our vet. I took a course from Sue Alexander, who specializes in rehabilitating aggressive dogs, and read about Ian Dunbar and Jean Donaldson positive training techniques. We treated him with Bach Flower Remedies. And we did as Ceasar Millan would say, acted in a calm assertive manner.

It took a lot of time and even more patience. Today he’s better, but not perfect. He’s our couch potato snuggler, and we love him dearly.

Dan and I are sure that Buddy came to live with us to teach us about what other families deal with. So there’s our silver lining.

If your dog shows aggressive tendencies, please don’t give up. You’ve got lots of options – try many and use the ones that work.

Here are some resources to start you on your journey:

• Ian Dunbar - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOW0IKO_zfM
• Jean Donaldson www.jeandonaldson.com
• Sue Alexander www.dogsinthepark.ca
• Bach Flower Remedies www.bachflower.com
• Ceasar Millan www.cesarmillaninc.com