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to subscribe: www.whl-dg-jnal.m cpgh 2007, blv Mda Gp, LLc THEWHOLEDOGJOURNAL

Ma 2007

the Whole Dog JournalTMeatures

A monthly guide to natural dog care and training

also in this issue

2 ed n24 Pdc d exp rc

3 P d D Howtoprotectyourdogfrombeinga victimofdefectiveorcontaminatedfoods.

8 a rw D Everythingyouneedtoknowinorderto formulateandprepareacaninedietthat includesraw,meatybones.

14 P M Thetopveerrorscommittedwhen trainingwithpositivetechniques (andhowtopreventthem).

18 C ec? Anotheryeastspeciesisimplicatedin casesofchroniccanineitchingand scratching.

22 Md ab d Lettersfromreaders,andanswers fromtheeditor.

$5.9

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Wd ow food . . . 8

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b oo . . . 18

Do ddo . . . 14

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eDitors noteeDitors note

First, let me express my deep sympathyfor everyone whose pets were recentlyexposed to toxins in foods containinga contaminated ingredient. Im surethat every animal lover can empathize

with your pain and concern for your canineand feline companions.

If there can be an upside to this disaster,its that the event is already shaking the petfood industry to its core. America woke up,started looking at its pet food labels, and had

a few questions. Every pet food company inthis country has been buriedin calls, letters,and e-mails from pet owners who wanted toknow how the disaster had happened andwhat the makers of their dogs foods weredoing to prevent it from happening again.Thats a goodthing.

Another positive result is that the industryseems to be taking this event very seriouslyand very personally (as well they should). Iguarantee you that every pet food companyexecutive alive has spent many hours of thepast month in meetings about improving their

companys ingredient sourcing and testing,manufacturing practices, customer relations,product liability, and more.

Ill have an amazing opportunity toeavesdrop on the conversation of some ofthese executives as they gather in mid-Aprilat Petfood Forum, an annual industry eventsponsored byPetfoodIndustry magazine andits publisher, Watt Publishing. The editor ofPetfoodIndustry, Tim Phillips, DVM, invitedme to speak at the conference about scruti-nizing super-premium pet foods. After 10years of criticizing the pet food industry, I feela little bit like a hen invited to a foxhouse, if

By nanCy kerns

Wk-up CllPet ood cant be taken or granted.

The Whole dog Journal

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THE WHOLE DOG JOURNAL makes every eort toprovide inormation on dog health, care, and treat-ment that is authoritative, reliable, and practical.It is not intended, however, to replace diagnosisor treatment rom a veterinarian or other qualifed

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Mission stateMent:WDJs mission is to provide dog guardians with in-depth information on

effective holistic healthcare methods and successful nonviolent training. The methods we discusswill endeavor to do no harm to dogs; we do not advocate perpetrating even minor transgressionsin the name of greater good. We intend our articles to enable readers to immediately apply

training and healthcare techniques to their own dogs with visible and enjoyable success. All topicsshould contribute to improving the dogs health and vitality, and deepening the canine/human

bond. Above all, we wish to contribute information that will enable consumers to make kind,

healthy, and informed decisions about caring for their own dogs.

there is such a thing. Im terribly excited.Like the pet food companies, weve also

received lots of calls and letters about therecent recall. Ive printed a sampling of theletters (and my responses) on pages 22-23.I hope that this exchange, and my article onpage 3 (about what you can do to help protectyour pets from future disasters), will helpanswer some of your questions.

Of perhaps even more use to owners whomay have lost faith in the pet food industry is

the second installment of our series on home-prepared diets, which appears on page 8.

In the rst article, published in the Aprilissue, author Mary Straus presented an over-view on home-prepared diets everythingyou ought to understand about making yourdogs food before actually feeding the stuffto your dog. This month, she gets down tothe nitty-gritty regarding diets that includeraw meaty bones. Next month, shell dis-cussed cooked diets, for those owners notyet ready to go raw. And in the July issue,her topic is the reality of home feeding.

Straus will describe how different people goabout building their dogs diets in differentways, and offer tips on nding economicalsources of nutritious ingredients and ways to

limit preparation time.Like a lot of you,

Im not quite readyto cook more for thedog than I do for myhusband. But anotherdisaster might changeall that.

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By nanCy kerns

Pt food Disst

D

How to protect your dog rom being a victim o deective oods.

j vu all over again . . .In October of 2004 we pub-

lished an article (When FoodsGo Bad) that discussed howowners could protect their pets

from serious harm from contaminatedor toxin-adulterated food. It outlined thelessons learned from the three previouscommercial pet food disasters: the 1995event involving vomitoxin in NaturesRecipe dry foods; the 1998 aatoxin event

involving dry foods made by Doane Prod-ucts; and the still-unidentied problem thatsickened and killed dogs who ate certainlots of Go! Natural dry food in 2003.

Since then, there have been two morewell-publicized pet food recalls: the aa-toxin poisonings caused by some dryfoods made by Diamond Pet Food in late2005, and the very recent event involvingcanned and at least onedry food madewith (in the leading theory) contaminatedwheat gluten.

These events the most recent one in

particular have given us all quite a bit to

food company or your local retailer anask for a replacement. Usually, you will

asked to bring the food to the store frowhich it was purchased for a replacemeIt helps if you retained the receipt, provinit was purchased from that store.

Owners should always be alert to the rsponse of their dogs to their food. Vomitior diarrhea are the most obvious signs a problem with the food, but any changin your dogs elimination and consumptipatterns changes are notable. If weve sait once, weve said it a thousand timewrite down and date any odd response change in a notebook or on your calendYour memory is not as good as a writtrecord.

With all but perennially fussy dogs, isignicant when a dog declines or is relutant to eat a food. This is important evetime you open a new bag or can, but is alsignicant if the dog becomes increasingreluctant the deeper you reach into the bof food. In past cases where foods sicken

think about, from the local (how did mypet store respond to news of the recall?) tothe global (how does the global economyaffect us?); from the specic (what foodsare safe to buy for my dog right now?) tothe general (what types of food pose thegreatest risk to their consumers?).

l dPast recalls have taught us the following:

You should always store dry food inthe bag it came in. This helps keep thefood fresh, but more importantly, keepsthe date/code information with the food.If a problem arises, this information willbe critical to a proper response and/or in-vestigation. If you feed canned food, rinseeach can and keep it for at least a week ortwo.

Dont feed your dog any food that looksor smells bad or abnormal. If a dry food iscovered with green, hairy structures, its

moldy and should not be fed! Contact the

W o do . . .

Consider your dogs ood as a

potential cause any time your dog

becomes ill, is reluctant to eat his

ood, or reuses to eat the ood.

Stop eeding the suspected ood;

oer your dog another ood, made

by another company.

Contact your veterinarian as soonas possible.

Report any suspected

product injury to

the maker o

the ood and

appropriate

authorities.

ConsuMer alertConsuMer alert

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animals, the individuals who ate the mostof the bad food fared the worst . . .

. . . so, stop feeding the food if yourdog wont eat it, or if he becomes veryreluctant to eat it, and contact its maker.Give the company the date/code informa-tion, ask specically if the company hasreceived any otherreports about that foodrecently, and ask what the company will

do for you.

The same goes, of course, if your dogbecomes ill after eating a food. Stop feed-ing the food. Contact your veterinarian todiscuss your dogs symptoms, and makesure the vet makes a note of your discus-sion in your dogs le. Get any sick dog tothe veterinarian ASAP!

Following a bad reaction to one food,do provide your dog with another food,from a different company, while you moni-

tor his response. If possible, feed him aproduct you can conrm is made (not justsold) by a different manufacturer.

By the way, we dont recommend feed-ing a combination of commercial foods atthe same time. In case of a reaction, youmay be confused as to which food causedthe problem, and will have to suspect bothproducts. (See Switch, But Dont Mix,June 2004 for more information.)

Contact the maker of the suspect foodto discuss, date/code information in hand.

Be prepared to give the company yourveterinarians contact information, also.When you contact the manufacturer,

persist until you are satisfied that thecompany representative will record yourcomplaint (including your dogs symp-toms and the date/code information fromthe food).

If you feel brushed off, ask to speak tothe companys veterinarian, nutritionist,or customer service supervisor anyonewho can discuss the issue with you further.A over-casual or defensive response fromthe company, in our opinion, is grounds

for a divorce. We would avoid thatcompanys products in the future. Thereare too many good foods on the markettoday to pledge your undying loyalty to acompany that cant wholeheartedly supportits products.

Ask your veterinarian to report thesuspected product injury to his or herstate veterinarian and the FDA. Please note

Pbm W rp smAs tens of thousands of frightened and angry pet owners learned recently, contact-ing a pet food company to report a suspected problem with its products or toask what they can tell you about the suspected problem can be an exercise in

pure frustration, especially after suspicion has blossomed into conrmation. Itsimportant, however, to persist in any way you can to report any problem that yourvet agrees may be related to your dogs food. When a company receives severalreports of illness in animals eating its products, it must investigate.

Look on the label of your dogs food. You should see a toll-free number tocall. (Not all companies list a number; they may list only an address, forcing youto track down the number through directory assistance.) Contact the company,date/code information from the product in hand. Company representatives willhave a difcult time helping you, or recording information that can help others, ifthey cannot tie the trouble your pet is having to a specic lot of their product.

Be prepared to give contact information for your veterinarian. The companyrep should also ask for information about your dog and how to reach you.

Ask whether the product is manufactured in the companys own plant or ifit is made by a contract manufacturer. If they do use a co-packer, press them for

assurance that the co-packer will be notied about your dogs problem.

Ask what sort of follow-up you should expect. Ideally, a company representa-tive would contact you to let you know whether company tests on the food haverevealed any problem, or whether they had received other reports of suspectedproduct injury.

If the defect is serious and/or the problem affects a high volume of food, thecompanys phone lines may become overwhelmed and the sheer volume of callsmay make it very difcult for its staff to respond as well as they should.

rePorting to governMent regulatorsYour veterinarian should also report any suspected product injury to the state

veterinarian in your state. This is the ofcial who oversees animal health is -sues in each state; notifying the state veterinarian can help ensure the suspectedproduct injury will be investigated.

Finding contact information can be a challenge if you dont use the Internet(a list of the state vets can be seen at aphis.usda.gov/vs/sregs/ofcial.html). Moststates locate their state veterinarians in their departments of agriculture; others arein state regulatory ofces, boards or bureaus of animal health, or other ofces.

Also, be sure to report the suspected product injury to the Food and DrugAdministration (FDA). Again, this is harder than it should be. While there isa form on the FDAs Center for Veterinary Medicine website that enables anowner to ll out, print, and mail to the FDA to report an adverse event caused

by veterinary medicines, there is no way to le an online report for defectivepet foods. Instead, you must call the FDAs district ofce consumer complaintcoordinator for your geographic area. These numbers are listed online (fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html), but may be difcult to track downvia telephone directory service.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, it may be very difcult to get through tothe appropriate authorities. In a large-scale event, their phone lines may be com-pletely overwhelmed. In this case, youll undoubtedly be able to receive someinformation from the media, and have ample opportunity to add your report asthe authorities ability to gather information improves. Keep in mind that itsthe earliest reports of trouble that are the most critical for ofcials to receive; noinvestigation or recall can start until they are made aware of a problem.

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that this might take some real effort! SeeProblems With Reporting System, left.

y w p During the Menu Foods/wet foods/wheatgluten incident, we quickly lost patiencewhen hearing owners who said, Wethought we were paying for the best foodsavailable for our pets, and now this! If aningredient is needed to make other ingredi-

ents resemble meat, when meat could (andshould) be used instead, youre not dealingwith a top-quality food.

One of our most dearly held principlesof dog food selection is that whole foodingredients are more desirable than foodfragments. This means wheat, yes; wheatgluten, wheat mill run, wheat bran, no!Chicken meal, yes; chicken by-productmeal, no! This is for two main reasons.

First, unprocessed foods enjoy lessexposure to potentially harmful agentsin the course of processing, storage, and

transport.

Second, fresh and minimally processedfoods are more nutritious than ingredientsthat are several operations (and perhapsmany months and many miles) fromharvest. Processing reduces the vitamincontent of many foods, and can destroyany unique nutrient properties they maycontain, such as antioxidants, avonoids,and enzymes.

In some cases, the fractions used in

low-cost pet food are truly llers, andcomprised of the part of a raw food that hu-man food manufacturers have little use for;

peanut hulls and cereal nes come to mindhere. In other cases, pet food formulatorsutilize certain fractions to provide just theright amount of a needed nutrient or at-tribute. Tomato pomace and beet pulp areexamples of truly functional fragments.

Were also sticklers for the use of wholemeats from named species of animals (i.e.,chicken rather than poultry; beef ratherthan meat) and meals made from whole

meats from named species (chicken meal

rather than poultry meal). All animal prteins (even by-products, which tend to bof lower quality than muscle meats) havmore to offer dogs (and especially catthan plant-derived proteins, especialwheat gluten and corn gluten (a case ca be made for a certain amount of rigluten).

We cant think of any pet food recall the past 10 years that was due to a proble

with the meat (or meat by-products, to bfair) in the food. If one arises, howevewell bet the farm that the animal proteiin question will be low-cost by-producrather than high-priced muscle meats.

In our opinion, the presence of inexpensive fraction or by-product high othe list of a pet foods ingredients shouwarn you that the maker of the food hcut a corner. If the food contains severfractions or inexpensive ingredients, maker is denitely utilizing least-coformulation, as in, Whats the cheape

way to make a food and still meet the

ab o rcd d t W o tp d lOnly one of the foods that was implicated in the most recent petfood recall has ever been on one of WDJs top foods lists. Weput Nutro Products Nutro Natural Choice Ultra on our topwet food list in 2006, even though it was a weaker candidatethan many of the other highlighted foods, containing wheatgluten (fourth on the ingredients list) in greater amounts thanits rst carbohydrate (rice, fth on the ingredients list).

On our 2007 list, we highlighted another Nutro product in-

stead, Nutro Natural Choice Chicken,Rice, and Oatmeal, which does notcontain wheat gluten. It does containrice gluten, but this item is fartherdown the list of ingredients (seventh), behind two (whole) carbohydratesources, rice and oatmeal. We noted atthat time (March 2007) that the Nutroproduct is not as good as some on ourlist, but is worlds better than mostfoods available in grocery stores.

The suspected source of contamina-tion in the recent dog food recall is an ingredient that reallydoesnt have to be in dog food, and in fact, is notpresent in

the best foods. Wheat gluten, the protein-containing portion ofthe wheat grain, is used in wet pet foods to boost the proteincontent of the food. It also helps thicken and bind togetherthe meat analogue the mechanically formed chunks orslices of material that resemble chunks or slices of meat (butmay be comprised of other animal tissues, fat, grains, and/orother food fractions).

In our dry and wet dog food selection criteria, we suggestthat owners seek out products that contain whole grains and

other whole foods, and avoid products that contain so-calledfractions ingredients that result from the processing of awhole food, and that represent just one part of the original fooditem. Often, this fraction is the part of the food that is not used(or is less valuable for use) in human food production.

However, we dont disqualify foods with grain or vegetablefractions from our approved foods lists. Heres what we sayabout them in our list of food selection criteria: We look for

[products containing] whole grains and vegetables. That said,some grains and vegetables have valuable constituents thataccomplish specic tasks in a dog food formula. We dont gettoo excited about one vegetable fragment and one grain by-product on the ingredients panel. Our tolerance diminishes indirect proportion to the numberof fragments and by-productscontained in a food and the prominence on a label; the morethere are, and/or the higher they appear on the ingredients list,the lower-quality the food.

We do try to present a range of products on our top foodslists products that range from as good as a commercial foodcan possibly get down to much better than most grocery storefoods. The recalled Nutro product falls in the latter range, inour opinion.

So, thats our excuse.Understand, however, one should not expect that our

selections orany commercial foods, regardless of price,quality, or organic content are immune from the potential formanufacturing or ingredient defects. Mistakes and oversightshappen in every industry, and in every food production plant.But there are ways to tilt the odds of avoiding defectiveproducts in your (and your dogs) favor; see the main text,above.

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sd y Bc ( B)? i DpdIn 2003, there was another well-publicized pet food recallinvolving a product made by a contract manufacturer. Theproduct in that case was a food that was on WDJs top dryfoods list. Many of our readers felt the food should be strickenfrom our lists forever; some thought that the other productssold by the same company should be taken off our lists, too.

Some even thought that every product made by the co-packershould be taken off of our lists in perpetuity.We dont think its useful to boycott every food from a

company whose name was on the label of a defective product,or every food that comes out of a plant that produced a badfood. From what weve observed, nobody checks as well foraatoxin in its corn supplies as a company that lost millionsdue to a past event where aatoxin was found in its products.One costly disastershouldvaccinate all responsible partiesforever.

We would, however, enthusiastically endorse a boycott ofproducts from any company that had anything to do with asecondoccurrence of a life-threatening defect.

Bad things can happen to even the best foods once.

While good management practices and quality controlshouldprevent alldisasters, statistically speaking, stuff happens. Ifstuff happens more than once, its a sign that the companysmanagement failed to take appropriate steps to remediate itsquality control practices, and may fail again.

That said, another factor to consider, post-disaster, isthe response to pet owners made by the parties involved. Acompany that takes responsibility, and responds to pet ownersquickly and generously would earn our repeat business. In

contrast, it would be easy to walk away from products madeby a company that blamed others, refused responsibility, orfailed to compensate owners promptly for their losses (to theextent this is even possible when you are talking about thehealth of a beloved companion).

Heres another unpleasant factor: In cases where a product

had a clear defect, one that caused readily proven injuries, theconsumer stands a fair chance of receiving some compensation.The owners of dogs who become ill after eating foods that arefound to contain aatoxin will have their vet bills paid. Butthe owners of dogs who became ill after eating foods that donot demonstrate an undeniably harmful defect may be hungout to dry.

In past articles, weve discussed the relative merits anddisadvantages of pet food companies using their own facili-ties to make their own products, as contrasted with using aco-packer. Were aware of certain advantages to using contractmanufacturers; many of the best-quality foods on our topfoods lists are made in relatively small batches by co-packersfor small companies that could never afford their own plants.However, we have not previously appreciated the potential riskof responsibility for the products safety slipping through thecracks between a food company and its co-packer.

We wonder: In the case of the wet pet diets made by MenuFoods, who will ultimately take responsibility for the vet billsand other losses suffered by consumers? It would be smart and ethical for the companies whose names were on thelabels of the toxic pet foods to step up and pay the ownersvet bills, at the very least.

nutrient levels? The more fractions andother inexpensive ingredients a foodcontains, and the lower a products price,the less condence you should have in itsquality.

Of course, pet foods that meet all ofour selection criteria tend to be far moreexpensive than grocery store brands. Youcant buy filet mignon at a hamburgerprice, and you cant expect top-quality

ingredients to go into a product that retailsfor pennies per pound.

hm qBuying products that contain wholefood ingredients (and do not contain by-products) is one way consumers cantilt the odds in their favor. Another wayis to choose products sold by companiesthat readily share information about theirproducts with consumers.

This has been a long time coming, butits a trend that is picking up steam (at least

among the companies that aspire to thepremium foods segment of the market).When WDJ began publishing in 1998, not

a single pet food company would tell uswhere their products were made. Today,many disclose that information and muchmore. Some disclose the origin of theiringredients, or offer certication that con-rms the quality (and traceability) of theiringredients.

Still others are eager to discuss thequality controls they exert on their manu-facturing process, including in-person

supervision of co-packers, independentaudits, and certification from outsideinspectors such as the American Instituteof Baking.

We understand all the various justica-tions that pet food companies have fornotdisclosing information about their ingredi-ents or manufacture. But the advantages ofnondisclosure are all theirs.

Too much disclosure is a risk in acompetitive market, but truthful informa-tion about ingredient quality and goodmanufacturing practices helps pet owners

discern and appreciate the differences between products and win their long-term loyalty.

y Given the scope and severity of the latestpet food recall, we dont blame dog ownerswho are considering feeding their caninecompanions a home-prepared diet, dueto anxiety over the safety of commercialfood. We support the impulse, though wedo feel there are betterreasons to feeda home-prepared diet (for example, westrongly feel that a well-formulated dietof fresh and varied ingredients is healthierfor dogs).Dontjust jump into the practicewith a recipe off the Internet, however;these diets require a little homework.

Last month, we began a series ofarticles on how to formulate and prepare acomplete and balanced diet for dogs usingfresh, species-appropriate ingredients.The series will discuss cooked and rawdiets, those that contain bone and thosethat do not, and those that contain grainsas well as grain-free diets. The secondinstallment starts on page 8, and the series

will continue through the July issue.

NancyKernsisEditorofWDJ.

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problems than saltwater fish). Neverfeed raw salmon or trout from the PacicNorthwest (California to Alaska), as thiscan cause a fatal disease called salmonpoisoningin dogs. Cooking makes salmonsafe to eat; canned sh is cooked, so theresno concern about salmon poisoning fromcanned salmon.

Its not always easy to nd RMBs. Askyour local meat manager or butcher; theycan often order them for you, though youmay have to buy a case at a time. (Most ofus who feed our dogs a raw diet have pur-chased a separate freezer to help store thefood!) Ethnic markets often have a widerselection than grocery stores do. There area number of raw food co-ops and groupswho share information and buy in quantitydirectly from vendors, both to lower thecost and to gain access to a wider varietyof foods. If there is no group in your area,consider starting one.

By Mary straus

a rw Dl

C

Formulate and prepare a canine diet that includes raw meaty bones.

ountless dog owners have wit-nessed the benets of feeding theirdogs a home-prepared diet, suchas cleaner teeth, brighter eyes,thicker and glossier coats, more

lean muscle and less body fat, and betterenergy level hyper dogs often becomecalmer, while couch potatoes may becomemore energetic.

In last months article, Have DinnerIn, we discussed those benets at length

and introduced the fact that there are manydifferent styles of homemade diets. In thisarticle, well explain how to formulatea raw diet that includes bones perhapsthe most commonly used evolutionarydiet for dogs. In a later installment, welldiscuss cooked diets.

When I rst began to consider feed-ing my dogs a homemade diet, one of my biggest concerns was the fact that I amnot comfortable in the kitchen. I dontreally cook for myself, so the thought of preparing meals for my dogs was over-

whelming. Once I started, though, I washappy to discover that it was not as muchtrouble as I had feared in fact, it was quiterewarding. Dogs are usually so apprecia-

tive of everything we offer that it makesmeal time a real joy. I feed a great dealof variety, yet my dog Piglet tells me thateach and every meal I put in front of heris her absolute favorite, and she devours it,

practically licking the nish off the bowl(I call it checking for molecules). Howcan you resist something that makes yourdog so happy?

rw m b

Most of us who feed a raw diet to our dogsinclude whole raw meaty bones (RMBs),animal parts that are at least half meat butalso include bone that is fully (or mostly)consumed. This is in contrast to recre-ational bones, such as knuckle and marrowbones, which usually have little meat andwhere the bone itself is not eaten.

RMBs that are commonly fed includechicken necks, backs, and leg quarters;turkey necks; lamb breast and necks; pork

breast (riblets) and necks; and canned shwith bones, such as jack mackerel, pink

salmon, and sardines (preferably packedin water rather than oil). Raw sh can alsobe fed, though some may harbor parasites(freshwater sh are more likely to have

nutritionnutrition

W o do . . .

Feed a wide variety o dierent

oods rom dierent sources in

appropriate proportions.

Consider getting an etra reezer

that will allow you to buy ood in

bulk, or more variety and better

prices.

Look or local groups where

people band together to buy

directly rom vendors.

Do what works or your dog, and

what youre comortable with.

Its okay to eed

ground ood

i you or your

dogs have a

problem with

whole bones.

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You can keep costs down by buyingin bulk, looking for sales, and buyingmeat that is close to its expiration dateand marked down. It helps to develop arelationship with your suppliers, who may be willing to save bargain-priced meatsfor you.

RMBs should make up 30 to 50 percent(one third to one half) of the total diet,or possibly a little more if the parts you

feed have a great deal more meat than bone (e.g., whole chickens or rabbits).The natural diet of the wolf in the wildcontains 15 percent bone or less, based onthe amount of edible bone in the large preyanimals they feed upon. While a reasonableamount of raw bone wont harm an adultdog, more than 15 percent is not neededand reduces the amount of other valuablefoods that can be fed.

Too much bone can also cause constipa-tion, and the excess calcium can block theabsorption of certain minerals. The stools

of raw fed dogs are naturally smaller andharder than those fed commercial foods,and often turn white and crumble to dustafter a few days. If the stools come outwhite and crumbly, or if your dog has tostrain to eliminate feces, you should reducethe amount of bone in his diet.

Most dogs do fine with raw meatybones, but a few may have problems, in-cluding choking and (rarely) broken teethon the hardest bones. In my experience,turkey parts are associated with the most problems, though many dogs eat them

regularly with no trouble.If you are concerned about feedingwhole RMBs, you can buy them in groundform or grind them yourself. You can buya grinder for $100 to $150 that can handlemost chicken parts and possibly a few otherkinds of bones. More expensive grindersmay be able to handle bones that are some-what harder, but they all have a similarchute size, which makes it difcult to t inlarger parts. Note that none of the makersof these grinders claim their products havethe ability to grind bones.

Another option that I use for my older

dogs, whose teeth are too worn to be able tochew bones properly, is to cut up the partsinto bite-sized pieces using Joyce Chenkitchen scissors. These scissors handlechicken parts and lamb breast easily (ex-cept for the hardest end of the ribs).

For harder bones, such as turkey, pork,and lamb bones, you can use a hatchet ora cleaver that you hit with a mallet (whichis safer than swinging the cleaver). While

ground and cut up RMBs will not providethe same chewing pleasure or dental ben-ets, many people who feed ground RMBsreport that their dogs teeth stay cleanerthan when they fed packaged foods.

You can also feed larger, harder boneswith a lot of meat on them; just take thebone away when your dog is done remov-ing the meat. I have done this with beef riband neck bones; people with large dogs usebigger bones. There is still some danger ofbroken teeth, but less than if you allow thedog to continue to chew on the bone after

hes eaten the meat (bones dry out andbecome harder over time).Remember that if you feed a diet that

includes 30 to 50 percent RMBs, there is noneed to add calcium supplements.

o mOrgans are an important part of a rawdiet. Lvr and kdy in particular arenutrient-dense and provide a great dealof nutritional value. These foods shouldmake up 5 to 10 percent of the total diet.Note that they may cause loose stools iftoo much is fed at one time. Its better tofeed smaller amounts daily or every otherday than to feed larger amounts once ortwice a week.

Hr is nutritionally more like musclemeat than organ meat, but it is rich intaurine and other nutrients. If possible,make heart another 5 to 10 percent of thediet. More can be fed; just remember thattoo much can lead to loose stools in somedogs.

ohr rg, such as spleen, eyebalsweetbreads (pancreas and thymus glandbrain, etc. are nutritious and can be addto the diet in small amounts.

Mc m, , d mThe rest of the diet will be made up muscle meat and eggs, along with daiproducts and other healthy foods.

Mucl m consists of all methat is not considered organ meat. Feemuscle meat from a variety of sourcesuch as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, an

turkey. Muscle meat can be fed ground in chunks. If you have difculty feedinmuch variety in your raw meaty boneyou can make up for it in this categorFor example, if your raw meaty bones amostly poultry, then you can feed beelamb, and pork muscle meat. Never feemore than half the total diet from a singprotein source, such as chicken.

egg are an excellent source of ntrition. They can be fed raw or cookecooking actually makes the whites modigestible. You can feed as many eggs you want, as long as you still feed lots variety.

Dry prduc, such as yogurt, keand cottage cheese, are well tolerated bmost dogs and offer good nutritional valuYogurt and ker have the added advanta

of providing benecial bacteria (probioics). Dairy fat is a source of medium-chatriglycerides, a form of fat that is easier digest for dogs with pancreatic disordeand other forms of fat intolerance.

Many people are concerned about the dangers of bacteria and parasites whenfeeding raw meat, eggs, and dairy to our dogs. Remember that wolves and dogsevolved to be able to cope with bacteria found in carrion and meat that has been buried for long periods. Their digestive systems are designed to move foodthrough quickly, before bacteria has a chance to proliferate or cause problems.Bacteria such as salmonella are found in the digestive systems of as many as40 percent of healthy dogs, including those fed only commercial foods. While

these bacteria can affect dogs, it would be unusual for a healthy dog to have anyproblems with the bacteria found in raw meat and other products considered tfor human consumption.

There are a few parasites that might be a cause for concern, though freezingmeat for a period of three weeks will destroy most of them (freezing has no ef-fect on bacteria).

You may want to consider feeding a cooked diet to your dog if youre con-cerned about the possibility of problems from raw meat, your dogs immunesystem is compromised due to illness or medication, or your dog just doesntseem to do well on a raw diet. See next months article for more information oncooked diets.

D rw M?

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Gr rp, which is the stomachlining from cows and other animals, is anexcellent food for dogs, but be warned thatit smells awful at least to us; dogs love it.Nutritionally, it is similar to muscle meat.Green tripe can be purchased only fromsources that sell food for dogs; it cannotbe sold for human consumption. The tripethat you nd in your grocery store has beenbleached and treated and does not provide

the same nutritional value as green tripe.It is also ne to feed hlhy lfvr

(food you would eat yourself, not thescraps you would throw away) to your dogas long as they are not too great a percent-age of the diet 10 to 20 percent of thediet should be okay.

vb, , d Feeding vegetables, fruits, and grains isoptional, as dogs do not require carbo-hydrates in their diet. Even though thesefoods would make up a tiny percentage

of the natural diet, they provide somenutritional value, especially trace miner-als and phytonutrients from leafy greenvegetables.

If you feed vgg, they need to beeither cooked or pureed in a food proces-sor, juicer, or blender. Whole, raw veggiesare not harmful, but their cell walls arenot broken down during digestion so theyprovide little nutritional value to dogs.Most veggies have few calories, so theyshould be added on top of the amount offood you feed, rather than calculating them

as a percentage of the diet.Good veggies to feed include broccoli,cauliower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, allkinds of leafy greens, celery, cucumber,bell peppers, zucchini and other summersquashes, carrots, and more. You can mixup a large batch and then freeze them inice cube trays or mufn tins for easy meal-sized portions.

Steaming is the best method to cookfresh or frozen veggies. You can add thewater used to steam veggies to the meal,as it will contain the minerals that wereleached out during cooking. Small amounts

of leftover meat juices, drippings, sauces,and gravy will make this into a savorysoup.

Some dogs enjoy vegetables, but othersrefuse to eat them no matter how theyreprepared. If your dog wont eat vegetables,or you prefer not to feed them, you maywant to add a blend of kelp and alfalfa,or a green food supplement (more on thisbelow).

Fru such as apples, bananas, papa-yas, mangoes, berries, and melon can beadded to the diet in small amounts. Dontfeed grapes or raisins, which can causekidney damage in some dogs.

Gr, lgum, d rchy vg-

g, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, andwinter squashes, are a source of inexpen-sive calories but dont provide as muchnutritional value to dogs as foods fromanimal sources do. These starchy foodsneed to be cooked in order to be properlydigested by dogs.

Many health problems can be causedor exacerbated by grains and other starchycarbohydrates. If your dog is overweightor suffers from allergies, arthritis, seizures,IBD, or other digestive disorders, you may

want to try feeding a diet without thesefoods to see if your dog improves. If youdecide to feed them, its best if they makeup no more than 20 percent of the diet.

Potatoes (not sweet potatoes), toma-toes, peppers (all kinds), and eggplant mayaggravate arthritis pain, but are otherwisene to feed. Grains and starchy veggiesmay also aggravate arthritis and otherforms of inammation.

d ppmHealthy dogs that are fed a wide varietyof appropriate foods should have no needof supplements, but there are severalfresh food supplements that may provideadditional benets when added in smallamounts:

smp DRemember that its not necessary to feed a balanced diet every day, as long asthe diet is balanced over time. For example, it would be ne to feed eggs one dayalternating with organ meat the next, rather than feeding both foods every day.Or you might feed just muscle meat one day, with a mix of organ meat, eggs, anddairy the next. Many raw feeders feed two meals a day: one meal of raw meatybones and one meal of everything else.

Following are sample diets for a 40-pound dog. Remember that amounts will

vary depending on the individual dog.

saMPle Daily raW Diet 6 to 8 ounces raw meaty bones (may include canned sh with bones once or

twice a week) 4 to 6 ounces muscle meat/heart/tripe/leftovers 1 to 2 ounces liver or kidney 1 to 2 eggs (daily or every other day) spoonful of yogurt or cottage cheese 1 to 4 ounces pureed or cooked vegetables (optional)

saMPle Daily raW Diet using Bravo! CoMMerCial Diet BlenDs: 7 to 14 ounces Bravo! Original Formula Blends (may replace up to half with

canned sh with bones once or twice a week) 2 to 4 ounces muscle meat/heart/tripe/leftovers/Bravo! Boneless Meats to 1 ounce liver or kidney, or 1 to 2 ounces Bravo! Organs (daily or

every other day) 1 or 2 eggs (daily or every other day) spoonful of yogurt or cottage cheese

saMPle Daily suPPleMents (oPtional) 1 or 2 sh oil capsules 200 IUs vitamin E (required at least a couple of times a week if giving oils) tsp each kelp and alfalfa, or to tsp sea blend 500-1,000 mg vitamin C once or twice a day vitamin B-50 complex once or twice a day cod liver oil in an amount yielding around 100 IUs vitamin D

teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar mixed with teaspoon raw honey 1 clove fresh crushed raw garlic 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

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Fish body oil, such as salmonoil, provides benecial omega-3fatty acids that help to reduceinammation and regulate the im-mune system. However, you mustadd vitamin E to the dogs dietwhenever you supplement withoils; otherwise sh oils can induce

a relative deciency of vitamin E.

Sea blend, green blend, orkelp/alfalfa mixture supplies traceminerals. These are especially goodto add if you dont feed green veg-gies.

Organic (unpasteurized) applecider vinegar provides some traceminerals.

Raw honey has antibacterialproperties and offers a variety ofnutritional benets.

Fresh crushed garlic has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial

properties, as well as other benets,

and may help to repel eas. Give nomore than 1 small clove (one smallportion of the bulb) per 20 poundsof body weight daily, as high dosescan cause anemia.

Ginger is good for digestion andmay help with inammation.

Nutritional yeast is an excellent sourceof B vitamins, along with trace minerals.

Dark molasses can also be used in smallamounts as a source of trace minerals.

More information on supplements will be provided in the upcoming article oncooked diets.

P mdThere is a style of raw feeding called preymodel, that advocates feeding a diet basedon whole prey and excludes anything else,

such as dairy, vegetables, fruit, or supple-ments. This is based on a desire to mimicthe diet of the wolf in the wild. The trueprey model involves feeding large chunksof meat along with small amounts of bone,organs, and eggs. It is certainly possible tofeed a good diet using this model, but thereare some factors that should be taken intoconsideration.

Feeding parts is not the same as feeding

whole prey. When wolves in the wild eata deer, they consume almost everything

except the stomach contents and someof the hardest bones from the skull andlegs. That includes not only the musclemeat, bones, liver, and heart, but the eyes,tongue, brain, blood, intestines, kidneys,lungs, and various other organs. If you arenot feeding actual whole prey, you maybe missing parts of the diet that includeimportant nutrients.

In addition, whole, large, grass-fedprey such as deer, moose, and bison havedifferent nutrient proles than animalsthat are farm-raised, and smaller animalssuch as chickens. The nutrient contentof animals raised in various ways (wildanimals, grain-fed animals, animals raisedon grass from depleted soils) also varieswidely. Even if you feed whole rabbitsor chickens, the nutrition will not matchthat of the large ruminants that our dogsevolved to eat.

While some people swear by preymodel diets, I believe there is no benet tobe gained by leaving healthy foods such as

dairy and vegetables out of the diThe more restrictions you place oa diet and the less variety you feethe higher the likelihood that somthing may be missing. I believe thadding foods and supplements nfound in the natural diet of the wocan help our dogs live the longehealthiest lives possible.

Cmmc w dThere are two types of commercraw, frozen diets currently avaable. The rst type is a complediet, formulated to meet the nutrielevels suggested by the Associatioof American Feed Control Ofcia(AAFCO). Examples include Prarie from Natures Variety, HomMade 4 Life, and Steves ReFood for Dogs.

These foods can be used juas you would commercial dry

canned foods, with no need to adanything else (though just as wiother commercial diets, its best rotate between different brands an

protein sources, and its ne to adsome fresh food as well). Complecommercial raw diets are generalquite expensive; theyre usualnot an option for those who havlarge dogs or limited funds.

The second type of commercraw, frozen diets provide a varie

of different parts that can be combine

along with other foods, to create a complete diet. These parts may include mebone, organs, and vegetables, but generalnothing else. Examples of companies thoffer these types of diets include BravoOmas Pride, and an increasing number small, independent local companies. Theare great foods to include in the diet yofeed your dogs, but you cannot feed thealone, without adding anything else.

When you compare the ingredienof the complete diets to those of the icomplete blends, you will notice that tcomplete diets add a number of foods

addition to meat, bone, and organs, incluing such things as eggs, ker, tripe, kelalfalfa (sprouts or dried), garlic, raw honeorganic apple cider vinegar, ginger, oi(sh, axseed, olive, coconut, cod liverseeds (sprouted or ground), nuts, andwide variety of fruits and vegetables. Thalso sometimes add specic vitamin anmineral supplements, such as vitamin manganese, zinc, iron, and copper, or

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natural source of minerals, such as mont-morillonite clay. Note that complete dietsusually include more muscle and organmeat and less bone than the meat/bone/or-gan/veggie blends.

If you want to use incomplete blends asthe basis for the diet you feed, most oftenyoull want to add a bit more organ meat(particularly liver), some additional musclemeat that does not include bone, and a

variety of other healthy foods, includingeggs, dairy, canned sh with bones, greentripe, healthy leftovers, and some freshfood supplements. Fish oil and vitamin Ewould also be good additions to the diet.The fewer foods you add, the more impor-tant supplements will be.

For example, the Bravo! blends areapproximately 10 percent organ meats(equal parts heart, liver, and either kidneyor gizzards), 15 percent vegetables, and therest ground meat and bones. These blendsshould be used as one half to two thirds of

the total diet, with a mixture of the otherfoods listed above making up the rest of thediet. You can get some of these other foods,including muscle meat and organ meat,from Bravo! or at your grocery store.

PppFor the most part, puppies can be fed thesame diet as adult dogs, though young pup-

pies will benet from the addition of goatsmilk to the diet. It is even more crucial thatyou get the proportions correct and feed awide variety of foods when feeding pup-

pies. It is also imperative that you feed anappropriate amount of bone, neither toomuch nor too little, especially to large-and giant-breed puppies under the age ofsix months, when they have less ability toregulate their uptake of calcium, and bothcalcium deciencies and excesses can leadto serious orthopedic problems.

Raw meaty bones should comprisearound 30 to 50 percent of the diet. Becareful if you supplement with cod liveroil or another form of vitamin D. VitaminD increases the absorption of calcium, soif you feed high amounts of bone and vita-

min D, you increase the likelihood that toomuch calcium will be absorbed. Never addcalcium to a diet that includes appropriateamounts of bone.

Remember that high-protein dietswill not cause excessive growth or leadto orthopedic problems in puppies. Theseproblems are caused by overfeeding andby improper calcium amounts (either toomuch or too little). In order to avoid or-

thopedic problems, keep your puppy leanand slow-growing by limiting the totalamount fed.

rmmb As a reminder, there are three basic rules tofeeding a homemade diet: variety, balanceover time, and calcium.

All homemade diets need to contain avariety of different foods, including dif-

ferent types of meat and raw meaty bones,different parts (especially organs), anddifferent foods, such as eggs and dairy. Alot of people depend on chicken since itscheap, but if your dog gets nothing butchicken, even if you feed organs alongwith muscle meat and bone, he will notget all the nourishment that he needs. Asa general rule, you should never feed onekind of food as more than half the diet, andpreferably less.

When you feed a variety of differentfoods, every meal does not need to becomplete and balanced. You should en-sure that all of your dogs nutritional needsare met over a period of a week or two, butthat can be done by feeding different foodsat different meals, and on different days;you dont have to combine all the differentfoods into a single meal. Its also ne tofeed just beef, for example, for a coupleof weeks, and then switch to another meatsource for the next two weeks.

A raw diet that includes 30 to 50

percent raw meaty bones will supply theproper amount of calcium; there is no needto add more.

am dAs a general rule of thumb, dogs will eataround 2 to 3 percent of their body weightin fresh food daily, but remember that eachdog is an individual, and the amounts theyeat can vary considerably. There will be

more details on calculating amounts to feedin the article on cooked diets.

M wcThe rst time we feed raw meaty bones toour dogs is always frightening. Weve beentold so many times to never feed bones todogs that its hard to believe they wontdrop dead when we do. Its important toremember that the warnings are aboutcooked bones, not raw, and that eatingbones is natural for dogs.

Most raw feeders can empathize withmy friend, Mindy Fenton, who says, Therst time I fed one of my dogs a raw chick-en wing, I followed her around for threedays, terried that I was going to kill her,and waiting for that darned wing to comeout whole because I was sure it would. Ofcourse, she was perfectly ne, but it tooksome time before I became relaxed aboutfeeding raw meaty bones.

The choice of what to start with canvary according to your comfort level, and

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to subscribe: www.whl-dg-jnal.m cpgh 2007, blv Mda Gp, LLc THEWHOLEDOGJOURNAL|

grinDersSPs sells the popular Tasin grinder along with other more epensive models,sillypugs.com or (925) 778-2340

nt T sells two popular grinders, items #168620 and 168632 (good only or sotbones, in small amounts), northerntool.com, (800) 221-0516

am e makes stainless steel heavy-duty grinders that are more epensive, butdo handle most raw meaty bones that you can ft down the chute. Made by American EagleFood Machinery (ameagle.biz, 800-836-5756). Available at retailers such as Pierce Equip-ment (pierceequipment.com, 877-354-1265) and North Coast Pets (northcoastpets.com,877- 231-7416).

JoyCe Ch en sCissorsMade by Columbian Home Products; inormation available at joycechen.com. May bepurchased rom Viecos Kitchen (858-487-5321, viecokitchen.com) or Cooking.com (800-663-8810, cooking.com) and other retailers.

CoMMerCial raW Dietsnts Vt P, naturesvariety.com, (888) 519-7387

hm M 4 l, homemade4lie.com. Manuactured in the U.S. by Aunt Jenis Home Made(auntjeni.com, 301-702-0123) and in Canada by Pets 4 Lie (519-372-1818, pets4lie.com).

Stvs r ds, stevesrealood.com, (888) 526-1900

Bv!, bravorawdiet.com, (866) 922-9222. Bravo! oers a booklet called Bravo Beginningsthat will help you get started using their oods.

oms P, omaspride.com, (800) 678-6627

See the authors Web page at dogaware.com/dogeeding.html or more inormation on homeeeding books, websites, and e-mail groups; supplements; commercial raw diets; and localraw ood co-ops and groups.

hm-Ppd D rc

how likely you think your dogs are to gulptheir food. Many people advocate feedingpieces that are too large to be swallowed,requiring the dog to chew on them rst.This doesnt always work, since largepieces become small pieces as the dog eatsthem, and he may still try to swallow piecestoo large to go down easily.

I am most comfortable with feedingchicken necks and backs to my dogs; the

bones are soft and easily chewed, and thepieces are small enough to be swallowedeven if the dog does not chew them well(small dogs may have problems withchicken necks). Others feed chicken wingsor leg quarters. If your dog is not protec-tive of his food, you can try holding ontoone end while she chews on the other, tohelp her learn to chew rather than gulp, butwatch your ngers, and dont try this if itmakes your dog anxious.

Many people worry that their dogs maybe too old to switch to a raw diet, but in

my experience, older dogs do as well asyounger ones with the change. My oldestdog was 13 years old when I switched

are more likely if you mix the two togetheIf you are feeding whole raw meaty bonefeed them separately from kibble, at leaa few hours apart.

Its ne to start with limited varieuntil you see how your dog does, but donfeed just one food for long periods of timSometimes people will start with juchicken parts, for example, but this mlead to constipation if there is too muc

bone in the diet. While you may want feed just chicken at the beginning, be suto feed plenty of meat as well as bone, andont feed such a limited diet for more tha week or two.

If your dog has any problems with tnew diet, back up and start again, maing the change more slowly this time. Dnot blame problems on detox. If yodog develops diarrhea or other forms digestive upset, it is because his diet wchanged too quickly, or because he reacting to one or more of the ingredien

in the new diet.In that case, again, go back to what yo

were feeding before (or what you knoyour dog can tolerate without a problemthen add new foods one at a time in oder to identify which one(s) are causinproblems. Also, while most dogs improvwhen fed raw foods, a few cannot tolerait for some reason and may need a cookdiet instead. There will be information ocooked diets in next months article.

t wd

Preparing your dogs meals yourself is nas easy as simply opening a can or pourinkibble out of a bag. However, once youvdone the initial work of devising the diand nding sources for the products yowill feed, it isnt terribly time-consuminThe actual preparation is fairly simple; thhardest part is buying products in bulk anthen splitting them up into meal-sized potions for feeding. But the rewards can makit all worthwhile.

Most people who switch their dogs toraw diet notice improvements even in dowho seemed to be perfectly healthy beforFeeding a homemade diet may cost a littmore, but many people report a decline vet bills. Best of all is watching the enjoment our dogs get from their meals, antaking pride in knowing we are doing thbest we can for our dogs.

MaryStrausdoesresearchoncanin

healthandnutritionasanavocation,a

isowneroftheDogAware.comwebsite.

him overnight to a raw diet, and he hadno problems.

Most dogs do just ne when switchedcold turkey from commercial food to ahomemade diet, but a few will experiencedigestive upset. The longer a dog has beenfed the same food with no variation, themore likely he is to have a problem if hisdiet is changed too quickly. Dogs that are

prone to digestive upset may also benet

from a slower, more careful approach.To make the change gradually, start by

adding small amounts of fresh food to thecurrent diet, then gradually increase. Ifproblems develop, return to the prior dietand make the change more carefully onceyour dogs digestive system is back tonormal. That may include feeding the newfood separately from the old (at least a fewhours in between meals), or feeding onlyone new food at a time, to see if your dogreacts to any of the new ingredients.

The one exception to mixing foods is

when you feed raw meaty bones. I nd thatthe consumption of kibble interferes withthe digestion of bones; digestive problems

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By Pat Miller

Positiv Mistks

Y

The top fve errors committed when training with positive techniques.

oull never hear me say thatcoercive methods dont work;they can. Nor will you ever hearme say that positive training turnsevery dog into a model canine

citizen. It doesnt.There is a big difference, however, be-

tween positive and coercive training. Whenmethods that rely on the use of force andapplication of pain fail, its often becauseof the dogs inability to tolerate coercion

and intimidation. This can result in seriouslong-term behavioral damage and some-times physical injury.

Dogs at the assertive end of the caninepersonality continuum may fight backassertively against coercive techniques,while those who are too soft to toleratephysical punishment may bite defensivelyor simply shut down. Positive methods,however, are most likely to fail becauseof mistakes made in the implementationof the method. If you misuse your clickerand treats you may end up with a fat,

happy, out-of-control dog, but youre farless likely to do any long-term physical orpsychological damage.

The ideal, of course, is to have ahealthy, happy, well-behaved dog. In orderto accomplish this with positive trainingmethods, youll want to be sure to avoid thecommon mistakes described below.

M #1:P = pm

You may hear non-positive trainers insistthat there has to be a negative consequencefor a dogs inappropriate behavior or hellnever learn whats not allowed. It mightsurprise you to hear that positive trainersdontdisagree. We just differ on the natureof the consequence. A well-implementedpositive training program combines goodmanagement, to prevent the dog from hav-ing the opportunity to be reinforced forundesirable behavior, and negative pun-ishment, in which the dogs inappropriatebehavior makes a good thing go away.

W o do . . .

Review your own training

program to identiy which o the

training mistakes you might be

making.

Implement changes to your

training protocols to help you

avoid the mistakes and improve

the efcacy o your training.

I necessary, renew your

commitment to positive training

methods that encourage a

relationship between

you and your

dog based on

mutual trust,

cooperation,

and respect.

Consider this comparison:

Crcv Dog is on leash, goes to jumpup on an approaching pedestrian. Handlergives a sharp correction (punishment) byjerking hard on the leash. Jumping up ispunished; dog learns that bad things hap-pen if he tries to jump up. Note that he mayalso learn that approaching people makesbad things happen, a possible foundationfor future aggressive or fearful behaviorwith strangers.

Pv Dog is on leash, goes to jump

up on an approaching pedestrian. Handlerrestrains dog so he cant reach the stranger,and asks the stranger to stop and wait forthe dog to sit before petting. Jumping up ismanaged; dog learns that jumping up getsnothing, but sitting makes good things hap-pen, a foundation for future good manners/polite greeting behavior.

Prmv Dog is on leash, goes to

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jump up on approaching stranger. Handlerallows dog to jump up and stranger petsdog. Jumping up is reinforced; dog learnsthat jumping up makes good things hap-pen, and will continue to jump up to greetvisitors, perhaps even intensify his effortsto jump up.

Management plays a vital role inthe positive doesnt equal permissive

piece of positive training. By removingthe positive reinforcement for unwanted behaviors, you prevent your dog from being rewarded by them. This is truewhether youre restraining with a leashto prevent jumping up, crating to stopadolescent house-destruction, clearingtables to manage counter-surng, puttingtempting objects out of reach to avoidchewing, or any of a long list of othermanagement applications.

Behaviors that arent rewarded in someway eventually extinguish, especially

if you make it a point to reinforce analternative and preferably incompatiblebehavior.

M #2:Dpdc Unless youre a dedicated pure shaper, ifyou train with positive methods you prob-ably use luring to some degree.

Luring is using a treat to show your dogwhat you want him to do. To lure a down,for example, hold the treat in front of yourdogs nose while hes sitting, then lower

it a tiny bit toward the oor. As his nosefollows the tidbit, mark the behavior thatyou want with the click! of a clicker or averbal marker, such as the word Yes!,and feed him the treat.

Continue gradually moving the treattoward the floor, clicking and treatingalong the way, until hes lying down. If atany time he stands up, say Oops! andhave him sit again, then resume luring thedown, moving the treat toward the oor insmaller increments this time.

Luring to teach behaviors is just ne.Forgetting to fade (gradually remove)the lure is not. If you dont fade the lureearly in the training process, you andyourdog can become dependent on the presenceof treats to get the behavior to happen.While I almost always have treats in mypockets or close by, I dont want to haveto rely on treats to get my dog to offerbehaviors when I ask for them.

Heres how to fade the lure with thedown behavior:

1. Use the lure until the down happenseasily when you lure to the oor your dogfollows into a down position immediately,with one click! and treat at the end. Formost dogs this should only take a half-dozen or so repetitions.

2. Stand in front of your dog with yourhands at your sides, a treat in the handyouve been using to lure with. If your dogmugs that hand for the treat, hide it behindyour back.

3. With your dog sitting in front of you,ask for the down.

4. Wait a second or two, and if he doesntlie down (he probably wont), lure him tothe ground.

5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 several times,sometimes waiting a little bit longer tolure, sometimes a little shorter.

6. If hes not lying down when you askafter a half-dozen repetitions, start fad-ing the lure in gradual steps. Ask for thedown, pause, and when you lure, insteadof moving the treat all the way to the oor,move it three-quarters of the way, and thenwhisk it behind your back, parallel to theoor (if you lift it up youll lure him backinto a sit). Since hes three-quarters of theway down, hes likely to continue all theway to the oor, even though the treat isgone. If not, repeat again and go seven-eighths of the way to the oor.

7. Repeat Step 6, gradually decreasinthe distance you lure toward the oor, unyouve faded the lure completely.

You can apply this same process to anbehavior you teach initially by luring. Asoon as the dog can perform the behavieasily for the lure, begin fading. You arin essence, translating for your dog, showing him that the word youre using is tequivalent of the lure. When you say tverbal cue down, pause, and then lurits as if youre saying, Dog, the wo

down means exactly the same thing putting the treat in front of your nose anmoving it toward the oor.

M #3:Dpdc Even if you do a good job of fading thlure, you can still nd yourself dependeon treats feeling like you have to clicand treat your dog every time he performor the behavior might go away.

This is known as a continuousscheduofreinforcement(CSR). Dogs can achievsuperb, reliable behaviors on a CSR, but tbehaviors are probably not very durabIf for some reason youstop giving a clicand treat for each repetition of the behaviothe dog will probably stop doing as you ain fairly short order, since he no longer gehis primary reinforcer (the food).

Enter the very important concept intermittentreinforcement.When your doperforms reliably on a CSR, that is, offethe desired behavior in response to yo

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cue at least eight out of ten times, its timeto start reinforcing intermittently. In plainEnglish, that means every once in a while

you skip a click! and treat, and praise yourdog instead. At rst just skip an occasionalclick!, and as you practice this, over timeyou can skip more and more, until yourdog works primarily for praise (or otherlife rewards).

If you include praise regularly as part ofyour clicker training click!, treat, Gooddog! your dog will have a very positiveassociation with praise, and it will stillhave value even when the click! and treatare absent.

Note: In my training, a click! always

means a food treat is coming. When I startusing intermittent reinforcement, I dontclick! if Im going to use praise alone. Thishelps to maintain the value and power ofthe clicker.

You can use other rewards as well,when you want to reinforce without a click!and treat. Anything your dog loves can beused as a reinforcer if you can gure outhow to control your dogs access to it anduse it to reward desirable behaviors: a ball,a favorite toy, a car ride, a walk on-leash,or a scratch behind the ear.

Sometimes I reinforce my dogs forwaiting politely at the door by openingthe door and telling them they can runthrough. They get to dash outside andpoop, pee, and play. These are all valuablelife rewards things that are naturallyreinforcing to dogs.

Of course, sometimes they dontget torun out the door. Intermittent reinforce-ment makes a behaviorvery durable. Likea gambler at a slot machines, your dog

will keep playing the game because heslearned it will eventually pay off.

M #4:P mSome trainers will tell you the consequencemust happen within x amount of time inorder for it to be effective; that is, in orderfor the dog to understand the connectionbetween the behavior and the reward (orpunishment). Ive heard as much as veseconds (which I would suggest is fartoolong) and as little as one second (which ismuch more likely to be accurate).

Sufce it to say that the results areoptimal when the consequence happens

as close to the instant the behavior hap-pens as possible. This is true whether theconsequence is positive reinforcement(treat, praise, toy, play, petting), negative punishment (where the dogs behaviormakes a good thing go away), or positive punishment (where the dogs behaviormakes a bad thing happen). Of course, positive trainers studiously try to avoidusing positive punishment.

The greatest value of a reward marker such as the click! of a clicker or the wordyes! is that it enables you to have per-fect timing. With a marker, you can alwayshave perfect, or at least near-perfect timing,because the markerbridges the time gapbetween the behavior and the delivery ofthe treat. Of course the marker still has tobe given the instant the behavior happens or very close thereto but it gives youa few seconds of breathing room in whichto deliver the treat.

If you have poor timing, you mayinadvertently but consistently reinforce

a behavior other than the one you wantyour dog to perform. At best, this is con-fusing for the dog, slows learning, and is

frustrating for both of you. At worst, youmight reinforce the exact opposite of thebehavior youre trying to teach, and endup training your dog to do an entirelydifferent behavior, perhaps even a highlyundesirable one!

Lets say youre trying to teach yourdog the polite greeting behavior of sitwhen he approaches visitors in your home.When your guests arrive, you have himon leash so you can manage his jumpingup behavior. As your rst guest enters thedoor, your dog executes a brilliant sit on

the doormat! You fumble for your clicker,and just as you press the metal tongue hedecides hes not getting reinforced for thesit and jumps on Aunt Martha. Click! andmajor oops! Of course you havent doneterminal damage unless Aunt Marthais 90 years old and breaks her hip whenyour dog knocked her down. But everytime youre too slow with your markerand it arrives when your dog is jumping upinstead of sitting, youre telling him thatjumping is a goodthing to do; it earns amarker and reward!

Herein lies one of the values of havinga verbal marker, such as the word Yes,or a clicking sound you make with yourtongue. If youre caught off guard andyou dont have your clicker handy justlet loose your verbal marker and followwith one of the treats you always have inyour pocket.

If you realize your timing is sloppyeven with your clicker ready in hand, thendo some clicker-timing practice. With your

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dog out of earshot, turn your televisiononto the sports channel and nd a tennismatch. Watch closely. Every time a playerhits the ball, click! your clicker. Whenyour click! regularly coincides with theThwack! of the ball hitting the racket,youre ready to go back to work with yourdog. (Note: this sort of practice isnt nearlyas effective with golf or baseball.)

M #5:lc fc c ccWhen youre training your dog and thingsdont seem to be working as they should,it can be tempting to let yourself be ledastray. You can always nd a ready sup-ply of friends, family members, and otheranimal care professionals who are happy totell you that you need to correct, alpha roll,intimidate, and/or shock your recalcitrantdog into submission.

Perhaps youre a crossover trainer and

even your own past success using forcefulmethods prompts that little voice in yourbrain to say, I could just jerk his collarone time . . .

STOP!One of the things we value so much

about positive training is the trust it buildsbetween dog and human. Your dog truststhat he can try behaviors without gettinghurt youll let him know when hesright, but you wont frighten or hurt himwhen hes wrong. When you violate thattrust, you risk negative behavioral conse-

quences that are sometimes signicant,ranging from aggression at one end of thespectrum, to shutting down, or learnedhelplessness,at the other.

When a dog becomes aggressive, hisfuture becomes questionable. When a dogshuts down, losing his willingness to of-fer behaviors for fear hell be punished, itmakes his training even more frustrating.

Aggression aside, using coercionalong with positive training has seriousconsequences. If you punish your dog forfailing to perform a cue that you knowhe knows, you poison that cue; in other

words, you give him a negative associationwith it. The cue becomes ambiguous; thedog doesnt know if it predicts good stuff(click! and treat) or bad stuff (punish-ment). This ambiguity creates stress, andcan turn a happy working dog into onewhose tail starts to lower and enthusiasmstarts to wane.

A poisoned cue is very difcult, if notimpossible, to rehabilitate. If you poison

a cue youre better off introducing a newone than trying to regain the consistentlypositive association with the old one.

You always have a choice as to how tobehave with your dog. One of the manythings I love about positive training is thatif one way isnt working, there are manymore possibilities to try to get the behavioryou want to reinforce, without resorting tocoercion or intimidation. Use of force in

an otherwise positive training program isdetrimental to future training, as well asevidence of lack of creativity and lack ofcommitment to a pain/intimidation-freerelationship with your dog.

At a recent seminar, the owner of alovely Bernese Mountain Dog admitted tome that he had to use a forced retrieve(ear pinch) on his otherwise positivelytrained dog. I gently suggested that hedidnt have to, but rather he chose touse this pain-inducing method. I wasntsurprised when we got to the shaping

exercise in the seminar and the Berner satnext to his owner, staring unwaveringlyinto his eyes, not offering a single bit ofbehavior, while the rest of the dogs in thegroup happily engaged in the shaping gameand learned to move toward, and eventu-ally onto, their mats. His choice denitelyaffected his dog and their relationship.

Positive works. If youre committedto positive training, you can nd a wayto teach a retrieve without pinching yourdogs ear, or overcome your own trainingchallenge. There are plenty of great books,

videos, positive trainers, and supportivee-mail lists that can help you throughyour training program. Or you can decidethat teaching the retrieve isnt importantenough to lose your soul over, and ndsomething else to do with your dog thatdoesnt require the iniction of pain. Itsyour choice. Choose wisely.

SpecialthankstotrainersRuthannaLevy

ofAlameda,CA,andSarahRichardsonofChico,CA,fordemonstratingproper

positivetrainingtechniquesforthisarticle.

Forcontactinformation,seeResources,

page24.

PatMiller,CPDT,isWDJsTrainingEditor.

MillerlivesinHagerstown,Maryland,siteofherPeaceablePawstrainingcenter.She

isalsotheauthorofThe Power of PositiveDog Training andPositive Perspectives:Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.Forbookpurchasingor contactinformation,seeResources,page24.

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have chronic allergies. Leaky gut syn-drome is at the root of many illnesses,she says, including autoimmune diseases,joint diseases, and allergic reactions. Sincemuch of your immune function is in yourgut, it makes sense to look there first.Certainly this is true when it comes toallergies.

A large number of the dogs she workswith were adopted from shelters or rescue

groups. Most, she says, are underweight.Even in their new homes and on an improved diet, they cant gain an ounce.Reinhardt suspects that conditions thatinterfere with their gaining weight, suchas leaky gut syndrome and malabsorption,contribute to behavioral problems, hyper-activity, and other factors that promptedtheir previous owners to give them up.Add all the health problems that comewith leaky gut syndrome and an inamedintestinal tract, she says, and the expenseof conventional medical treatment, and

I suspect that many of these dogs weregiven up because their owners couldntafford the time and expense their treatmentrequired.

Symptoms as varied as ear infections;seasonal or respiratory allergies; itchy skin;hair and coat problems; diarrhea; and aninability to gain weight can all stem fromdigestive problems, she says.

To heal the digestive tract, Reinhardtrecommends an improved diet with higher-quality protein and the elimination of soy,corn, wheat, and chicken fat. Soy, corn,

and wheat are at the top of the list of foodsthat irritate canine digestion, she says,and I like to stay away from chicken fat

because it contains residues of whateverthe chicken was exposed to in the wayof drugs and toxins. Fat from organicallyraised, pastured chickens is ne, but thats

not what youll nd in commercial dogfood.

Reinhardt then recommends threesupplements that she considers crucialfor rapid healing and recovery: Seacure,probiotics, and digestive enzymes.

Seacure, described in SecuringSeacure (WDJ April 2003) and Accel-erated Wound Healing (August 2006), isa very shy smelling powder made from

fermented deep sea white sh. Becausethe fermentation process predigests thesh and breaks it into amino acids andpeptides, which the body uses as buildingblocks to repair damaged tissue and speedhealing, it requires no digestive effort andis assimilated on contact.

I started taking Seacure seriously,says Reinhardt, when I gave it to some

cats who were dying. They literally re-sponded within 15 minutes. Their eyeswent from dull to sparkling in that shorta time. Since then, Ive seen the sameresponse again and again, including seri-ously ill and unresponsive dogs who satup, began grooming themselves, waggedtheir tails, interacted with their owners, andtook an interest in their surroundings, allwithin 15 minutes. Im not saying that theyall get well, but when any pet in dire straitsresponds dramatically, its wonderful.

In most cases, she says, underweight

dogs and dogs with allergy symptomsbegin to improve within a few days, andwithin a month or two, they have gained

weight, their coats have improved, baspots have disappeared, and they no longchew on their paws. The food that goin stays in, she says. It doesnt comshooting out the other end as bright yelow diarrhea. Seacure provides the denourishment that helps with conditioacross the board.

Reinhardt usually starts with the laberecommended dose of teaspoon per

pounds of body weight per day, but fdogs weighing over 100 pounds, she nthat 2 teaspoons works well. Larganimals dont necessarily need a greatdose, she says, and dogs who dont nea lot of digestive support do well on hathe recommended dose.

Reinhardt says that when she adprobiotics (benecial bacterial) and digetive enzymes, the dogs health improveven faster.

Some probiotics (see ProbinProbiotics, August 2006) are labeled f

pet or veterinary use. Among the mastrains of probiotics for which caninhealth claims are made, one of the mointeresting is LactobacillussporogeneUnlikeL.acidophilusand similar strainL. sporogenes reproduces rapidly, soacts faster in keeping yeasts and fungi check. Some human product lines, sucas Thorne Research, carry L.sporogensupplements, which can be safely givto dogs.

Several canine probiotic supplemensuch as Jarrow Formulas Pet Dophil

Powder, contain Enterococcus faeciua strain that is native to dogs and whisome nutrition experts consider essentito canine health.

Enzyme products that have helped dowith allergies include digestive enzymthat are added to food, such as Prozymand NZymes, and systemic oral enzymesuch as Wobenzym and FlavenZym, whiare given between meals on an empstomach (see Banking on EnzymesJanuary 2001, and Digest These Beets, October 2005).

Reinhard t prefers Pe tLabs36

DigestAbles tablets. Theyre chewableshe says, so they can be fed directly dogs or put in their food. Theyre beef ancheese avored, so even nicky dogs lithem, and the results are excellent.

Her favorite product for dogs suffeing from airborne allergens is SeaVivecompanion product to Seacure. SeaVicontains Seacure, colostrum, Beta-1,3-glucan, and vitamin C.

gs Mop,WD i s?To treat canine allergies romthe inside, consider supplementsl ike Seacure, which he lps

heal the digestive tract, andprobiotics, which help controlyeast overgrowth. I desired,add digestive enzymes or WillardWater to urther heal the systemby improving the assimilation onutrients. Eternally, Selsun Blueshampoos relieve skin discomortand itching, and vinegar diluted withwater helps control Melassezia yeastinections in the ears.

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Another supplement that has helpeddogs with all types of allergies is WillardWater (see Willard Water, June 2006),which can be added to drinking water orherbal tea and diluted and added to foodto improve digestion and increase the as-similation of nutrients.

MzMalasseziapachydermatis is a yeast com-

monly found in the ears and on the skinof dogs. Held in check by the immunesystems of healthy dogs, it can multiplyuntil it becomes pathogenic in susceptibledogs, resulting in itchy, oily, or scaly skin,hair loss, redness or blackening of the skin,thickening of the skin, and an offensivegreasy odor.

Affected areas tend to be the earsand skin folds on or around the face,elbow, underarm, and tail. Dogs with anovergrowth ofMalassezia may lick theirfeet incessantly because of atopic or en-

vironmental allergies that accompany theyeast overgrowth. Cocker Spaniels, BassetHounds, and West

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