Myth v Fact: Positive Training

There is a fierce debate raging in the dog training world between traditional dominance and punishment-based trainers and the positive training movement.

(from Victoria Stilwell’s “Positively”)
https://positively.com/dog-training/myths-truths/myth-vs-fact/#PositiveTrainersDontBelieveDiscipline

Common Dog Training Myths:

There is more than one way to train a dog.
Positive training methods don’t work on ‘red zone’ dogs.
Dogs only ‘respect’ leaders who assert their ‘dominance.’
Positive trainers do not believe in discipline.
Training a dog with food is basically bribery.
Positive training stops working when you stop giving treats.
Aggressive dogs are trying to be dominant.
Dogs are pack animals like wolves and are hell-bent on becoming the ‘alpha’ or ‘top dog’ over their owners.
Dominance training is safer because it works faster.
Positive training is always slow.
Positive training and dominance training are both equally effective.
Positive trainers treat dogs like human kids
‘Alpha Rolls’ make dogs calmly submissive.

MYTH: There is more than one way to train a dog.

FACT: This is the trickiest one to answer, because technically speaking, this is true. You can train positively or you can train with intimidation. (Within these two approaches, there are a lot of different tools and methods you can use.) What you have to ask yourself, though, is what kind of person do you want to be and what kind of relationship do you want with your dog? Punishment does work for a while – if you poke, yank, shock, kick or hit your dog, he will probably stop what he is doing, but trust will be broken, and if you continue to intimidate him, he may well bite. If you want to have an emotionally balanced and confident dog that trusts you and wants to be with you, the positive path is the one you should take.

So yes, there are different ways to train your dog, but until certain punishment-related tools and techniques are (correctly) deemed as illegal, it is left up to your individual moral compass to guide which path to follow when building a relationship with your dog.

The simple question is this: do you want your dogs to follow you because they want to, or because they are scared of what will happen to them if they do not? There is no place in the healthy, balanced dog/human dynamic for macho, intimidating behavior, and only positive training methods create and foster relationships with your dog based on mutual trust, respect and love rather than pain, fear and intimidation.

MYTH: Positive training methods don’t work on ‘red zone’ dogs.

FACT: Actually, this is where positive reinforcement methods are at their most powerful. Using positive training to treat ‘red zone’ or severely aggressive dogs is not only a safer option, but a much more effective one.

Positive training doesnot only work on small dogs with minor obedience issues – it is also by far the most effective way to treat severe anxiety and ‘red zone’ aggression cases. On It’s Me or the Dog, her other shows and in private practice, Victoria and other positive trainers around the world successfully rehabilitate big, powerful dogs suffering from severe aggression issues on a regular basis. But instead of fighting aggression with aggression (a game-plan that usually results in someone eventually getting bitten), a qualified positive trainer is able to truly change the way dogs feel for the rest of their lives using force-free methods – not just the way they’re acting at that moment.

Aggression in dogs needs to be handled sensitively and with compassion. Aggressive dogs are under stress and this stress needs to be managed so that the dog can feel better while the trainer finds the cause of the aggressive response and then works with the dog and the owner to modify it. Instead of using forceful or punitive techniques, a dog is guided by using positive techniques that help him see a perceived threat or potential loss of a valued resource in a different light. For some dogs this can be achieved relatively quickly but for others it can take a while, which is why it is important to see every dog and every situation as unique.

MYTH: Dogs only respect leaders who assert their ‘dominance’.

FACT: Well, dogs do need effective leadership from us, but the whole idea of dominance is a very complex and widely misunderstood concept which almost always takes dog owners down the wrong path when applying it to their dogs’ behavior.

Instead of looking to become alpha, top dog or pack leader over us, most dogs simply want safety, security and those things which generally make them feel good. They know we’re not dogs, and in fact they prefer us to provide effective, non-combative and punishment-free leadership. Contrary to popular belief, we do not need to try and act like what we think an alpha wolf would do when dealing with our dogs, but rather provide consistent, reward-driven learning which helps guide dogs into making the right choices – the choices we want them to make in order to succeed in our strange domestic world.

So do not get caught up in whether or not you or your dog has the upper hand in the battle for dominance. Focus instead on building a common language, rewarding the good behavior, redirecting the bad behavior, and instilling confidence in your dog to live successfully within the boundaries that you set for your household.

MYTH: Positive trainers do not believe in discipline.

FACT: Positive does not mean permissive.

Most positive trainers do use discipline, in the form of vocal interrupters, time-outs, ignoring negative behavior, or removing something that the dog wants, all of which are used to guide the dog into making the right choices rather than forcing it to behave out of fear. In technical terms, such discipline is called “negative punishment” because it removes (negative = ‘minus’ or ‘less’) something that the dog likes, such as your attention, access to you, or a favorite toy. This is by no means to be confused with the term “positive punishment,” which, though it includes the word “positive,” is defined as punishing the dog by adding something to the equation that the dog does not like (corrections, physical force, or intimidation).

Dominance-based discipline uses force and hard punishment such as ‘alpha rolls’ (when a dog is forcibly laid on its back and side and held down until it ‘submits’), ‘biting’ (where a person uses the tips of their fingers bunched together that are poked into a dog’s side in order to simulate a ‘bite’ that a dog would use to reprimand another dog), foot pushes (where a person uses the side of their foot or heel to prod or kick a dog when it is misbehaving), hanging (where a dog is hung by his collar until his air supply is cut off), and shock collars that deliver an electric shock when the dog misbehaves.

Anyone can get a dog to behave using punitive training but it takes a real understanding of dog psychology to use discipline effectively without inflicting pain or fear and to guide a dog into not repeating negative behavior while maintaining trust between dog and person.

MYTH: Training a dog with food is basically bribery. A dog should never be bribed into doing something for food but should obey their owners because they want to make their owners happy.

FACT: Those who claim that food is bribery do not understand how powerful using food in training is.

Food has the power to help a fearful or anxious dog overcome his fears. When food is presented to a fearful dog in the presence of a stimulus that causes that fear or anxiety, the smell and taste of the food bypasses all other parts of the brain and goes straight to the brain’s emotional center, the amygdala. Instead of feeling fear, the brain begins to be overcome with not just the pleasurable feelings that food gives but also allows the dog to focus more on the good sensation and less on the negative emotion. Food is incompatible with fear and is therefore a valuable tool in modifying a dog’s fear, anxiety and stress.

Positive training isn’t just about using treats though. I encourage people to use whatever reward motivates their dog, whether it’s praise, play, toys or ‘life rewards’ like going for a walk or getting a belly rub.

The bottom line here is that a reward that motivates a dog to learn is a great training tool because learning not only makes a dog more confident and able to live successfully in a domestic environment, it also encourages mutual understanding that increases the human/animal bond. That is not bribery.

MYTH: Positive training stops working when you stop giving treats.

FACT: Any reward that is used to motivate the dog to learn has to be of high value until the dog is responding reliably. When training positively, once this has been achieved, the high reward, such as food, is only used intermittently. That means the dog doesn’t get rewarded with the food every time he responds to a cue, but the next time he responds he might just get it. Then the next couple of times he responds, a lower-value reward such as praise will be used, but the dog continues to respond.

In fact, intermittent reinforcement like this actually makes a dog respond faster and more reliably because it is based on the same theory that makes a slot machine in a casino so addictive. This is how dogs really learn so even if you don’t give a food reward every time, the possibility of the potential of one in the future makes a dog work much harder.

MYTH: Aggressive dogs are trying to be dominant.

FACT: This is very rarely true.

Contrary to what many believe, dogs are not out to achieve world domination! Dominance theory relies heavily on the idea that if a dog is being aggressive, controlling or just behaving badly then it must be trying to dominate the owner. While domination does happen in the canine world, it shows a true misunderstanding of dog behavior to label everything a dog does as an attempt to be top dog or boss over a human.

If a dog is exhibiting controlling behavior in or out of the home, chances are that he hasn’t been taught how to behave appropriately. If a dog hasn’t been taught how to function in a domestic environment he will behave in the only way he knows how. He might control access to food, space or furniture by aggressing at a human only because he is insecure and hasn’t been given the confidence to know that there is no need to guard these resources. Dogs guard and control for fear that they will lose access to their comfort and what makes them feel good and not because they want to dominate humans and the household, yet for so long these kinds of behaviors have been grossly misunderstood.

MYTH: Dogs are pack animals like wolves and are hell-bent on becoming the ‘alpha’ or ‘top dog’ over their owners.

FACT: Dogs are not wolves, and most of the common thinking which assumes that we should base our understanding of how dogs think and act on wolves is based on flawed and misguided research which has been renounced by the very scientists who first presented the idea.

There are thousands of years and many generations removing dogs from wolves both genetically as a species and practically as our domestic companions. What’s more, even the idea of ‘top dog’ or ‘alpha’ status in the wolf world has been wildly misunderstood and is a dangerously misguided way of thinking about our dogs. Dogs actually offer submission to one another rather than aggressively staking out claims of superiority, and the way wolves interact has very little bearing on how we should assume our dogs think, feel and act.

MYTH: Dominance training is much safer because it has quicker results.

FACT: This is a flawed and dangerous way to think. This ‘quick fix’ idea demeans a dog’s experience and is psychologically unachievable.

A dog’s emotional brain is wired in exactly the same way as that of a human. So his physiological response to emotion is the same as ours, which means that our bodies have the same internal reaction to emotions such as fear, joy, excitement etc. When a dog is suffering from anxiety or fear that provokes a negative behavior such as aggression, then it is dangerous and fundamentally wrong to assume that by punishing a dog, the dog is fixed.

If a human has an anxiety problem, chances are they will seek out therapy to help them. That therapy does not work in one session (and certainly didn’t in the past when therapies were punitive). It takes time to work through an anxiety and change the way a human feels about something.

It is exactly the same for a dog because time is needed to really change the way a dog feels emotionally. Punitive training just puts a band aid on the problem but the dog still feels the same inside if not more insecure for the punishment he has received for ‘behaving badly’.

MYTH: Positive Training Is Always Slow

FACT: This is not true. People who have yet to experience it are routinely amazed at how quickly the power of positive reinforcement transforms dog behavior. Positive training actually changes the way a dog feels, thus altering his tendency to make the ‘wrong’ choice. Once a dog learns to think for itself within the guidelines that we set for him, everyone is in for a far more harmonious, balanced and happy life experience.

That’s not to say that more serious fear and anxiety-based behaviors don’t take much longer to get under control, because they often do. But which would you rather have: a quick solution based on ‘patching over’ the underlying issue with the huge risk that the bandage will likely come unstuck, or a solution that takes longer because it addresses what’s really causing the problem and is far more likely to truly change the dog’s behavior forever.

MYTH: Positive training and dominance training are both equally effective.

FACT: There are many great training methods and many different effective and humane ways to train dogs, but all of those methods fall under one general behavioral philosophy – positive reinforcement.

For some reason, though, a lot of people still don’t like hearing trainers say that it’s not ok to train your dog using any method that ‘works’. Using that heavy-handed logic, it would be ok do just about anything to a dog if it meant they stopped misbehaving right then and there. Simply, there are more effective, safe and humane ways of doing things. There are many fantastic methods and approaches that can be used to effectively change dogs’ behavior, but all of those methods have one thing in common – a solid basis in the general principles of positive reinforcement and force-free training.

MYTH: Positive trainers treat dogs like human kids.

FACT: Treating animals like they are human beings is called anthropomorphizing, and good positive trainers do not do it. In fact, many of the common behavior issues that Victoria and other positive trainers are regularly called in to fix stem from the owner’s tendency to anthropomorphize their dogs, and the first step in such situations is to convince them to stop treating their dog like a child.

At the same time, modern behavioral science has shown us that the dog’s emotional brain is wired very similarly to a human’s – dogs have emotions, just not with a human’s level of complexity and ability to extrapolate. Comprehending this is the first step toward understanding our dogs: seeing the world from their point of view.

Furthermore, studies have shown that the most socially mature dogs have an intelligence and ability to problem-solve and understand words and gestures similar to that of a two-year-old human child.

In short, most of us now raise our children using all the same positive reinforcement philosophies at play in positive dog training, but that does not mean that we should equate the two or treat them exactly the same.

MYTH: ‘Alpha Rolls’ make dogs calmly submissive.

FACT: The complete opposite is actually true.

The so-called ‘alpha roll,’ – a popular punishment technique used by dominance trainers – is the practice of restraining the dog on its back or side until it ‘calms down.’ It may indeed appear that the dog has become quiet and relaxed, but the dog has actually employed an instinctive survival tool we call ‘shut down.’ This response is used by animals to appease aggressors and attempt to avoid any further violence. If the dog remains still or ‘shuts down’ until the aggressor moves away, he is more likely to be safe.

Even if a restrained dog’s demeanor appears calm on the outside, research has proven that forced submission or restraint raises a dog’s stress levels, due to a release of cortisol into the dog’s bloodstream. Cortisol is a hormone that is produced in the adrenal gland and released in response to stress. Elevated stress inhibits learning and compromises a dog’s ability to function normally.

To the untrained eye, a restrained dog’s stillness may indicate that he is calm, but an internal battle is being fought as the dog tries to cope with what is, in essence, a stressful episode brought on by of an act of physical violence by a human, in which the dog is the victim. Any ‘success’ that may be achieved when using dominance techniques on even a mildly aggressive dog is generally just a case of the dog’s ‘shutting down,’ suppressing his true instincts, and masking valuable warning signals.

Trying to ‘put the dog in its place’ usually results in a short-lived quick fix, merely postponing the inevitable negative response once the dog feels threatened again. This delayed reaction can easily resurface at the worst possible moment, such as around children or in public.

Elimination Round: Dogs with suspected food allergies

Will Your Allergic Dog Benefit From a Food-Elimination Trial?

Dogs whose allergies are suspected to be related to their diet will benefit from a food-elimination trial.

By Cynthia Foley (The Whole Dog Journal March 2015)

When your dog itches, you know it. That relentless licking, scratching, chewing – anything he can do to relieve the itch. He seems obsessed, and he probably is. Whatever you do, don’t ignore this problem (as if you could!). Incessant scratching and chewing may indicate food allergy. He’ll constantly tear into any place on his body that he can reach with his teeth or claws. You may see ugly hair loss. Until you find the cause, this problem will go from bad to worse.

Yes, persistent skin irritations can also be due to something else, including dry skin, hormonal issues, liver disease, fungal infections, drug reactions, pain, boredom, anxiety, or a combination of any of those! For this reason, if your dog has chronic itching, it’s always worth a trip to the vet to rule out some of these potential causes.

But the fact is, 70 percent of canine skin conditions are allergy-related – and most of those are due to flea allergy and/or environmental allergens, such as pollen, mold, or dust mites. If the dog has fleas, or if his symptoms have a seasonal component, it’s likely that environmental allergies are his primary problem.

But an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the dogs who suffer from allergies are allergic to their food, or at least some ingredient or ingredients within their food. Many owners assume that a dog with a chronically upset stomach has food allergies, but many dogs who have chronic upset tummies may have a food intolerance; if there is no hypersensitive immune response, it’s not an allergy. (That said, one can use an elimination diet to help determine whether the dog is intolerant of certain foods, too.)

The primary symptom of food allergies, just as with inhaled or contact allergies, is itching. Dogs with food allergies might also show gastrointestinal signs (vomiting and/or diarrhea), or secondary infections, such as chronic otitis (ear infections), but they might not; non-seasonal (year-round) itching might be their only symptom.

A Diagnostic Diet
Puppies aren’t usually born with food allergies. These hypersensitive immune responses tend to build up over time, usually appearing between the ages of 1 and 3 (but they can appear late in life, especially if the dog has been on the exact same diet for years and years). The most common food allergens in dogs are protein sources – especially beef, dairy products, wheat, chicken, egg, and soy – but the cause may also be a carbohydrate, a preservative, a dye, or anything else in the food.

While there are skin and blood tests that can be performed for allergies, they’re expensive and have only a 60 percent accuracy, frequently returning both false positives and false negatives. No wonder many veterinarians consider them useless! Although all you’re going to hurt by trying them is your wallet, a far better solution is an “elimination diet.”

Better described as a “restricted diet,” this limited-fare menu will help you both identify the foods that cause an allergic (hypersensitive) reaction in your dog, as well as find foods that can be fed to him without causing an allergic response.

The first step in a food-elimination trial is to think hard about all the types of food you have fed to your dog, and then gather the ingredient lists for all commercial foods the dog has received, or foods you have included in his home-prepared diet. Write down (or list in a spreadsheet) all of the ingredients in the foods your dog has eaten. While it may be difficult to recall (or impossible, in the case of dogs who were adopted as adults) every food a dog has eaten in his lifetime, all of the ingredients in the diets that the dog has received most recently should be included on the list.

You now have a working list of the ingredients you will avoid when selecting foods for the dog’s elimination diet.

“Novel” Ingredients
The goal for the first stage of the trial is to find ingredients that the dog has never received, in order to find some to which he is not allergic. You will then start him on a diet of these “novel” ingredients, in hopes that his itching reduces and then stops, indicating he is no longer eating something to which he is allergic, and that he is not allergic to any of the novel ingredients.

If his itching and other symptoms of allergy stop, you can begin adding other ingredients back into his diet, one at a time. If the itching recurs, the most recently added ingredient is then put onto your dog’s list of forbidden foods.

Ideally, an elimination diet initially consists of just one protein source and one carbohydrate source, neither of which appears on the list of foods your dog has previously eaten.

“I recommend a limited-antigen diet: one protein, one carbohydrate,” says Eileen Fatcheric, DVM, co-owner of the Fairmount Animal Hospital in Fairmount, New York. “The foods should be ‘novel,’ meaning the dog has not eaten them before.”

In order to ensure the food is new (novel) for your dog, your veterinarian may recommend some seemingly crazy cuisine. Ingredients often recommended for elimination diets include:

Proteins
Rabbit
Venison
Duck
Buffalo/Bison
Kangaroo

Carbohydrates
Pumpkin
Oats
Barley
Quinoa
Chickpeas (also a good protein source)

Keep in mind that this initial, “one novel protein and one novel carb” diet is being used in hopes that you have eliminated whatever your dog has been reacting to in his diet, so that he stops itching, his skin clears, and any other allergic symptoms he has cease. Once he is totally asymptomatic – and this may takes weeks – you can add one ingredient to his diet for a few weeks. If he starts itching, that ingredient gets added to the “forbidden” list, and you retreat to feeding the diet that didn’t make him itch, wait until all is calm again, and then try adding yet another ingredient.

The ingredients you choose to use for this initial trial should be new to your dog, but readily available to you and affordable. Some of the more unique proteins may be more available in frozen, dehydrated, or canned form than fresh.

Decades ago, beef was the most common animal protein used in commercial dog foods, and so when a dog appeared to have a food allergy, most veterinarians would recommend a lamb and rice food. These ingredients were rarely seen in commercial foods at the time and, therefore, were novel to most dogs. The combination was even dubbed “hypoallergenic” – a misnomer for any dog who is allergic to lamb or rice! Of course, when food-allergic dogs improved on these foods, they became popular; soon, even owners whose dogs didn’t have allergies tried them, and more companies began offering foods that contained lamb and rice. The upshot is that within a relatively short time, both lamb and rice lost that all-important “novel” characteristic for many dogs.

The same phenomenon is making it even more difficult for dog owners to find foods that contain ingredients that are novel for their dogs. The popularity of grain-free foods, and their inclusion of potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, and chickpeas (as replacement carbohydrate sources for grains) means that many dogs have been fed these formerly rare (in dog foods) carbs, eliminating those ingredients from the pool of potential “base” ingredients for the allergic dog’s preliminary restricted diet.

Other owners may have fed novel proteins to their dogs in foods that appealed to them for reasons other than food allergies – just to provide the dog with variety, for example.
We suggest that owners avoid feeding foods that contain uncommon proteins to their dogs, so they are available for use in the dog’s diet if he should develop food allergies later.

Commercial Foods, Home-Prepared Option, Home-Prepared Option, Serving the New Food, Challenging

Commercial Foods for an Elimination Trial?
Today, a visit to any specialty pet-supply store will reveal that any number of companies offer “complete and balanced” foods that contain uncommon proteins such as rabbit, duck, venison, bison, and even kangaroo. Further, many of them are formulated to contain only one type of animal protein – what the makers often call “limited-ingredient” formulas. Those products seem ideal for feeding a food-allergic dog, right? Well, it depends.

A commercial food is most likely to work in an elimination diet if it contains just one novel (to your dog) protein and one novel (to your dog) carb. However, if it contains (for example) one novel ingredient (say, rabbit) and chicken – which is the most common animal protein in commercial dog food today – it probably won’t work for use in an elimination diet. You have to look past the “headline” ingredients to see whether a food might also contain ingredients your dog has consumed many times; it doesn’t matter if a food is called “Brand X Bison and Barley Dog Food” if it also contains beef and rice.

There is also the matter of the potential for cross-contamination at the pet-food manufacturing facility. A dog who is highly allergic to chicken, for example, may react to a food that contains no chicken, but was made on manufacturing equipment that was inadequately cleaned after running a batch of food that contained chicken.

Also, even if it’s a single-protein, single-carb “limited ingredient” commercial diet, any “complete and balanced” food will necessarily contain more ingredients than a home-prepared diet that contains only the protein and carb sources. While it’s quite rare that the dog’s allergy is to a preservative or herb or fiber source in the food, the fewer ingredients that are used in the trial diet, the more certain you can be about what is or is not causing the dog’s symptoms.

Home-Prepared Option
Another option is to prepare your dog’s elimination diet yourself – a course of action that has its own benefits and pitfalls. While it provides you with the ultimate method of ensuring that your dog’s diet contains only those ingredients that prove to be safe for your dog, it may take some trial and error to figure out appropriate portion sizes and the best ratio of meat to carbohydrate for your dog. Also, you may be limited as to how long you can keep your dog on the diet, as it isn’t likely to be nutritionally balanced.

It can also be expensive. When dog-food manufacturers use something like kangaroo or rabbit in their diets, they have the benefit of buying those novel proteins in bulk, for much lower prices than you are likely to pay. That’s why it can be a great boon if you’ve never fed your dog a diet that contains a common animal protein, that is, when your dog’s “novel” protein is something that’s easy to find and affordable, like fish or beef.

Serving the New Food
The switch to the elimination diet should take place over the course of a few days. Change your dog’s food gradually, substituting increasing amounts of the new food for equal amounts of the old food until the dog is eating only the new food. If you see any signs of gastric distress (vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, which may indicate your dog is allergic to one of the ingredients you have chosen) or if your dog refuses to eat the new food, you’ll need to choose different ingredients.

The length of time that you feed the initial diet (of just one protein and one carb), and how long you should wait before introducing a new ingredient, will depend on how your dog’s allergies are expressed. Dogs whose primary allergy symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and gas will respond (for better or worse) relatively quickly after dietary changes are made.

However, if the dog’s primary symptom is itching, it can take a lot longer for the problem to subside after the “trigger” food is removed from his diet. It may also take longer for him to start itching again when a problematic ingredient is added back into the diet.

“For food-allergic dogs whose symptoms are gastrointestinal, you only have to do the ‘diet trial’ for two weeks,” Dr. Fatcheric says, adding that it could take as much as 8 to 12 weeks for skin problems to completely clear.

If there is absolutely no change in the dog’s symptoms – no reduction in itching or GI problems – you may want to change both the protein source and the carb source and start a new elimination trial.

If a second trial, with all-new ingredients, produces no reduction in the dog’s symptoms, it’s very likely that the dog’s diet is not what he’s allergic to; he most likely is allergic to something else in his environment.

In contrast, if your dog’s symptoms reduce immediately and disappear quickly, you will know that there was something in his most recent diet (before the elimination diet) to which he was allergic.

Challenging
Few owners are willing to take a further step to confirm the link between their dogs’ old diet and the dogs’ allergy symptoms – a “challenge” phase – but many veterinarians feel this step is necessary. To definitively establish the link between the dog’s former diet (or even the single ingredient suspected of being the allergy culprit in the old food), some vets suggest reintroducing the old diet (or the suspect ingredient); if the dog begins to break out in itching or GI distress, the allergen for that dog is decisively confirmed. Quickly return to the diet that your dog did well on, with no allergy symptoms.

Some owners stop there – and who can blame them? It’s a pain to employ such scrupulous supervision over your dog’s diet. If you feel confident that the trial and challenge have identified the ingredient that is problematic for your dog, you can start looking for (or formulating) a new, complete and balanced diet that is free of that ingredient.

However, it can be incredibly useful to continue for a few more weeks, to challenge your dog with a few more ingredients (one at a time), in hopes of finding more ingredients that are safe for him to consume. Feed him the trial diet until his allergy symptoms are gone again, and then add one ingredient that you would like to use in his diet in the future. If you are able to add it and he doesn’t react with signs of allergy within two to three weeks, you can put that ingredient on his “safe” list for now. Once you have challenged his system with a few proteins and carbs without an allergic response, you should have enough ingredients on his “safe” list to enable you to buy or build a complete and balanced diet containing those ingredients (and none of the ones that he’s proven to be allergic to).

If you’re lucky, you may be able to find a commercial diet that contains only the ingredients on your dog’s safe list and none of the ones that trigger an allergic reaction in your dog. But if you can’t find such a diet, or want to continue to prepare your dog’s diet at home, Dr. Fatcheric recommends that you “work with a veterinary nutritionist to make sure your diet is balanced and complete.” Another option is to consult with a company like JustFoodForDogs, which will formulate a diet based on your dog’s special needs. (See “Better Choices for Home-Prepared and Special Needs Recipes,” December 2013.)

Tips to Ensure Clear Results
Make sure your dog consumes only the “trial” food – even for treats. For training treats, use dried bits of the animal protein you are using in the trial. (See “How to Make High Quality Dehydrated Dog Treats” in the May 2012 issue of WDJ.)

Be sure to check any medications your dog may be on, such as a monthly heartworm preventative, to make sure they have no flavorings. If they do or you’re not sure, ask your veterinarian for an unflavored alternative. It is critical that you are vigilant about your dog’s diet during this time.

If you have several pets, you’ll need to oversee dinner time to ensure your dog doesn’t eat someone else’s meal. Or put all the dogs in the household on the same diet for the trial period. With an elimination diet, your dog can’t even lick the cat’s bowl clean or gobble down something he finds outside. You’ll need to watch everything he does. This is another time when it’s valuable for your dog to be happy and habituated in a crate for the periods when you can’t supervise him directly.

“I myself would have a hard time being completely compliant for two to three months. No treats (of foods that aren’t part of the diet). No nothing. Be careful in homes with toddlers who drop food on the floor. And watch for well-meaning neighbors or in-laws slipping a treat,” Dr. Fatcheric says.

The Proof
A food-elimination trial can be a valuable tool in determining the cause of your dog’s discomfort. But it does take commitment, vigilance, and a little extra cash. It’s well worth the effort, though, if you do it correctly.

If you stick with the restricted-diet regimen, you should see a reduction in itching by 50 percent or more at the end of the trial. If not, you haven’t eliminated the cause. That means you either need to try another combination, consisting of a new protein and new carbohydrate, or determine that dietary hypersensitivity is not the issue. That’s why it’s so important to involve your veterinarian right from the start.

If the results do prove a dietary cause, you will have been given the key to an itch-free, happy, comfortable dog. You can then either choose a commercial food that contains only those ingredients you used during the elimination trial or consult a veterinary nutritionist to construct a diet that will work for your dog. It’s important that the dog’s diet for the long-term is complete and balanced.

“Diet trials are hard. But the people with food-allergic dogs who successfully complete them potentially have a comfortable, itch-free pet without expensive and potentially harmful medications. It’s worth it, if you can tough it out,” Dr. Fatcheric says.

Cynthia Foley is an experienced dog agility competitor. Also a lifelong horsewoman, she served as editor of Horse Journal from its inception in 1994 to 2014.

The Whole Dog Journal’s Dry Food Recommendations 2015

GOOD INGREDIENTS
In our opinion, the most important factors to consider – the starting place for the search – are the food’s ingredients. The following are desired traits – things you want to see on the label.

Lots of animal protein at the top of the ingredients list. Ingredients in pet food, just like human food, are listed in order of the weight of that ingredient in the formula, so you want to see a top-quality animal protein at the top of the list.

Importantly, that animal protein should be identified by species – chicken, beef, lamb, etc. “Meat” is an example of a low-quality protein source of dubious origin. “Poultry” is more specific but not specific enough!

Animal protein “meals” are made through a process called rendering, wherein the animal tissues (muscle, fat, skin, connective tissue, and some smaller amount of bone, hair, and/or feathers, depending on the species) are ground, and then heated to separate the fat and reduce the moisture. If it’s made from rendered chicken, the resulting product is chicken meal; if made from lamb, it’s lamb meal, etc. Just as with the fresh animal protein, look for a named species (i.e., “chicken meal”) but avoid “meat meal” or “poultry meal.”

When a fresh, named meat is first on the ingredient list (such as “chicken”), there should be a named animal-protein meal (such as “chicken meal”) in a supporting role to augment the total animal protein in the diet. The closer to the top of the ingredient list that this supporting meal appears, the better. The ingredient list of the best foods will start out with something like, “Chicken, chicken meal . . .” and go on from there. Fresh meat contains a lot of (heavy) water, so if meat is first on the list, it acts like a diluted protein source; while it adds an appealing flavor and aroma to the food, it doesn’t actually contribute that much protein. That’s why another named source of animal protein should appear in the top three or so ingredients.

Whole-food ingredients: vegetables, fruits, and/or grains or other carbohydrate sources such as potatoes, peas, chickpeas, or sweet potatoes. Fresh, unprocessed food ingredients contain nutrients in all their complex glory, with their vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants intact. Don’t be too alarmed by one or two “fractions” (a byproduct or part of an ingredient, like tomato pomace or oatmeal), especially if they are lower on the ingredient list. But the more fractions present in the food, and the higher they appear on the list, the lower quality the result.

UNDESIRABLE INGREDIENTS
We also think it’s important that you know some ingredients to look out for. Avoid the following:

Meat byproducts and poultry by-products, meat byproduct meal, or poultry byproduct meal. Some of the animal tissues that go into the ingredients that are identified on labels as animal byproducts are highly nutritious, such as lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains (of some animal species, not all), livers , blood, bone, fat, and emptied stomachs and intestines. Poultry byproducts also includes necks, feet, and underdeveloped eggs. In addition, poultry byproduct meal may contain poultry heads.

However, believe us when we say that these ingredients are not handled as nicely as the higher-value cuts of meat of which they are “byproducts.” Because they are not headed for human consumption, these products are not kept clean and chilled through processing and transport; it’s a given that whatever bacterial burden may flourish during this time will be reduced by later processing. As they become oxidized – rancid – these animal tissues develop a certain level of peroxide. Pet-food producers may specify byproducts with lower peroxide values, but these cost more.

A “generic” fat source such as “animal fat.” This can literally be any mixed fat of animal origin; it need not have originated from slaughtered animals. Meaning, it can be obtained from renderers that process dead animals. “Poultry” fat is not quite as suspect as “animal fat,” but “chicken fat” or “duck fat” is better (and traceable).

Added sweeteners. Dogs, like humans, enjoy the taste of sweet foods. Sweeteners effectively persuade many dogs to eat foods comprised mainly of grain fragments (and containing less healthy animal protein and fats).

Artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives (i.e., BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin). The color of the food doesn’t matter to your dog. And it should be flavored well enough to be enticing with healthy meats and fats. Natural preservatives, such as tocopherols (vitamin E), vitamin C, and rosemary extract, can be used instead. Note that natural preservatives do not preserve foods as long as artificial preservatives, so owners should always check the “best by” date on the label and look for relatively fresh products.

GIVE IT A TRY
Along the bottom of these two pages is a list of relatively well-known dry dog foods and their first five ingredients. They appear in order of how we would rank them in quality, with the lowest-quality foods on the left, and the better-quality foods on the right.

Why have we put them in this order? First, understand that we wouldn’t buy any of the foods on the left page. Not a single one has an animal-protein source at the top of its ingredients list. Instead, each uses corn as its major source of protein. (Note: There is absolutely no difference between the designations each uses for “corn.” All those phrases mean the same thing.) The array of amino acids that make up the protein in corn are not as beneficial for dogs as the amino-acid profile of animal proteins; while dogs can survive on it, it’s an unnatural and low-cost protein for them.

We have Kibbles ’n Bits ranked below all the rest, due to the fact that its source of animal protein, the very low-quality “meat and bone meal,” appears lower on its ingredient list (third) than the next foods. Even its low-quality, artificially preserved fat source appears lower on its ingredient list than its competitors. (These things are reflected in its low protein and fat percentages.)

The next two foods are nearly identical, with one small difference: Pedigree uses an artificial preservative on its low-quality fat, so we would rank it lower in quality than the Purina Dog Chow. By the way, corn gluten meal, which appears third on both of these products’ ingredients lists, is a concentrated protein made from corn – again, a lower-cost, lower-quality nutrient for dogs than an animal-protein source.

Beneful has a significantly better animal-protein source than its predecessors; chicken byproduct meal is at least a named animal protein. And it’s present in a higher amount than in the preceding foods; see the higher protein content?

We’d start to consider foods that appear on this page. They meet our basic criteria as described above, displaying some of the good traits (a named animal protein first on the list, whole grains, a named supporting animal-protein meal) and minor infractions with the “undesirable ingredients” (brewers rice, a food fragment). We’d call the Hills and the Iams product nearly a tie, with the edge in quality going to the Iams food, with the credit given for chicken meal in the fourth spot on the label (rather than fifth, as in the Hill’s food). Again, this is reflected in the total amount of protein seen in the food.

We jump upward in quality with the next two foods. The Taste of the Wild product is a grain-free food, so remember to expect it to be higher in protein and fat – not something that every dog can handle. But look at those nice named meat sources – one fresh at the top of the list, followed immediately not one, but two supportive named meat meals. Nice!

We will take another upward jump with the highest-quality product on this list, Orijen. Five ingredients down and there are still no grains or other carbohydrate sources on the ingredient list. It’s packed with high-quality named animal proteins, and this is reflected in its high protein content.

By the way, don’t be afraid of feeding protein to your dog; he’s well suited to utilize it. If you’ve been warned about the dangers of too much protein, please see our article “When to Say No to Low-Protein” in the May 2005 issue of WDJ.

Hopefully, you feel comfortable now in reading an ingredient list. Here are just a few more things to look for when considering a new food for your dog.

Other Considerations, List of Approved Foods

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Many of the other things we want you to read the label for are neither good nor bad, just things you need to be aware of when shopping for your specific dog. Remember, each dog is an individual, and while it’s great when it works out that all of your dogs do well on the same food, don’t take this for granted.

You will need to become aware of how much protein and fat your dog thrives on – how much is too much, and how much is too little. Top-quality foods contain a lot more protein (and often, more fat, too) than lower-quality foods, so you may have to reduce the amount of food you feed quite a bit if you switch from a low-quality food to a really good one. (One upside is that good foods are much more digestible, and your dog’s poop should shrink a lot, too.)

Look for a “best by” date that’s at least six months away. A best by date that’s 10 or 11 months away is ideal; it means the food was made very recently. Note: Foods made with synthetic preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin) may have a “best by” date that is 18 months or more past the date of manufacture.

Grain-free or not? Be aware that grain-free foods generally contain higher protein and fat levels. Also, keep in mind that grain-free does not mean carbohydrate-free; another carb source has been employed to take the place of grain (you can’t make kibble without any carbohydrate at all). Be sure you can identify the carb used in the food you choose – the most common ones used today are potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, and chickpeas – and keep track of how well your dog digests it.

Some companies use a small amount of dehydrated or freeze-dried meats in their formulas. These unprocessed ingredients add both concentrated protein and taste to a finished product, but are wickedly expensive, so they aren’t often used in dry food.

LIST OF APPROVED FOODS
Here is the reward for those of you who have applied yourself to “learning to fish.” On the following pages, we’ve listed a number of companies that make foods that meet our selection criteria. Some of them make just a few foods; some make dozens and dozens of different formulas. Some sell a relatively tiny amount of dog food; some sell quite a bit.

Only a couple of companies on this list could be considered corporate titans – and in the case of the ones you may identify as such, you need to look carefully to see which line of their products has actually met our selection criteria. We predicted a decade ago that if the largest pet-food companies ever wanted to put a lot of small companies out of business, all they would need to do is to produce a few formulas that more closely resemble the higher-quality products formulated and marketed by the “boutique” companies, but with the economy of scale and efficiencies of their large production facilities and ability to write big contracts with ingredient suppliers – and you should be able to see that this is happening. Many of you don’t trust the “big guys,” but I’m here to tell you that you’ve never seen cleaner, more professionally run manufacturing facilities and fantastic in-house labs than those operated by “big food.”

The FDA has a site where all the pet food recalls since 2008 are listed (it’s here: fda.gov/animalVeterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm). We’ve indicated which products on our list have had a recall since 2008, what it was for, and when it happened. Keep in mind that we are not terribly concerned about recalls for Salmonella in dry dog food. (To understand why, see “Do You Recall” in the April 2013 of WDJ, as well as “Why Are There So Many Recalls?” in the October 2013 issue.)

We also included information about the foods’ price, but this is fairly unscientific, given that retailers vary wildly in their markup. We gathered prices from a variety of retailers – brick and mortar and online. We also checked prices on each variety, in large bags and small bags; the price per pound is much less in large bags than small bags, but not everybody buys (or should buy) large bags. We averaged these prices per pound and came up with these categories:

$ Food is less than $2.50/lb.
$$ Food is $2.50 to $3.50/lb.
$$$ Food is more than $3.50/lb.

Because of the number of variables, the price range may not be accurate for all foods in all places, but rather a rough guide to help some of you identify which foods may or may not be in your budget. Just remember: To some extent, price does equal quality. While it’s highly possible to pay a lot for a mediocre food, you cannot buy a great food for less than the cost of the superior ingredients that are needed to make it.

Finally, look for your favorite foods alphabetically under their maker’s name. So don’t freak out when you don’t see Orijen under the O’s; it’s listed under the name of the company that owns it: Champion Pet Foods.

How to include your dog in your will

By Josh Weiss-Roessler

Our dogs are more than just pets — they’re family members.
When you bring a four-legged companion into your home, you become responsible for their well-being, making sure they’re exercised, fed, and able to do their business, while remaining healthy and happy. In return, they teach you new things, provide unconditional love and devotion, and often help you to branch out in ways you never expected. Many people feel that they become a parent to their dogs just as much as they would to any human child.
But what happens if your dog is still around after you pass on? How can you make sure that he or she will be taken care of? Do you need to set up a trust to take care of your dog? They’re available in 46 states and Washington, D.C., and some people have left millions to ensure proper care of their pets. (The states that have no such laws are Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi.)
But you don’t need to get that fancy. The answer is fairly simple, really: include your dog in your will.
You need to put a plan in place
Unfortunately, there’s simple — and then there’s simple. If you want your kids taken care of, you leave them money or other assets. But you can’t leave property to a dog because the law considers dogs to be property themselves. You have to do it in a roundabout way, which means coming up with a plan.
Pick a caregiver
Even if you could leave your dog a million dollars, it wouldn’t do much good because dogs aren’t exactly savvy financial planners. If pets don’t have someone to take care of them, often they end up euthanized, so your first order of business is to identify someone you trust to take care of your dog and make sure they’re willing and able to do it.
Name this person in your will as your dog’s caregiver and make sure to select a backup person, too, just in case things change.
Provide money
Once you have a caregiver in place, you state in your will that you want them to receive a certain amount of money to be used to take care of your dog. If the dog dies before you do or that person backs out, they don’t get the money.
And that’s it, really. Do those two things, and you’ve done all you really need to do as far as the law is concerned.
Want to take it a step further without setting up a costly trust? Sit down and write up a “study guide” of sorts about your dog. Does he really love belly rubs more than anything? Can she only eat or drink certain things? Do they have medical conditions? What’s the vet’s contact information? Are there people they really get along with? Is it a bad idea to bring kids around? What is her favorite toy? His favorite place to run?
Give this “guide” to your dog’s future caregiver to help them to get to know your pup, and you’ll be helping to ease the transition if it becomes necessary.

Read more: http://www.cesarsway.com/the-scoop/features/How-to-include-your-dog-in-your-will?utm_content=NL-%20Adding%20dog%20to%20your%20will&utm_campaign=CW.com%20Article&utm_source=Facebook&utm_term=dog%20care%2Ccw%20article%2CA%20Knowledge%20Trust%2C%22cw.com%20%22&utm_medium=1424624825#ixzz3SV94ePXc

Common eye problems in dogs

Canine eye care

http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-eyes-and-ears/All-about-canine-eye-care

by Josh Weiss-Roessler

Dogs aren’t quite as dependent on their eyes as we are (nose, eyes, ears, remember?), but their vision is still a major way that dogs interact with the world. As the Pack Leader, you have to pay special attention to your dog’s eyes during her care routine.

Four common dog eye problems

Eye infections
How do dogs get eye infections? Sometimes they just get something in their eye that has bacteria. Other times they may come into contact with another dog that’s infected.
Signs of a canine eye infection include excessive crying and whining, light sensitivity, redness, and green or yellow discharge that crusts over their eyes. Breeds prone to eye infections include cocker spaniels, Maltese, Pekingese, poodles, pugs, and Shih-Tzus.
Cataracts
This largely genetic condition will make the lens of your dog’s eye appear increasingly white or cloudy, coinciding with a progressive deterioration in his vision and eventually blindness.
All dog breeds can develop cataracts, and it’s also possible to get them from disease, immune system problems, or injury. But some breeds are more susceptible than others. These include: American cocker spaniel, bichon frise, Boston terrier, Havanese, miniature schnauzer, miniature and standard poodle, silky terriers, and smooth fox terriers.
In-growing eyelids
Also known as entropion, with this condition, your dog’s eyelids will actually grow or roll inwards, rubbing up against the cornea and causing damage and discomfort.
Though it can occur in any dog, entropion is a leading health concern in breeds such as the Akita, American Staffordshire terrier, bloodhound, Chinese Shar-Pei, chow chow, English bulldog, English mastiff, Great Dane, Neapolitan mastiff, Rottweiler, spaniel, vizsla, and Weimaraner.
Third eyelid prolapse
This may sound strange, but every dog has a third eyelid. The gland of this eyelid protects the cornea by secreting tears. Sometimes, though, this gland can become swollen and exposed.
When that happens, you may see yellow mucus indicating the irritation. Brachycephalic or “flat-faced” breeds like the Pekingese, pug, and Shih-Tzu commonly have this problem.

How to take care of your dog’s eyes
While each of the problems above are likely to require veterinary consultation and specific treatments to solve the issue, there are still a number of general things you can do to keep your dog’s eyes healthy and to catch things early on.

Gaze into her eyes
Check your dog’s eyes regularly by taking her to a bright area and looking for crust, discharge, or tearing, and making sure that there’s white around the eyeball.
You should also watch out for cloudiness, unequal pupil sizes, a visible third eyelid, a change in eye color, closed eyes, or rubbing of the eyes. These are signs your dog needs to see the vet.

Check the lining
While you’re there, look at the inner lining of his eyelid by rolling the lid down. You want it to be pink, not white or red.
Clean them out
Keep her eyes free of gunk and crustiness by using a damp cotton ball and wiping outward from the corner of her eye, being careful not to scratch the cornea. Use dog eye wash if you see redness, which is common during dry winters.
Keep your dog clipped
Long hair can scratch and poke your dog’s eyes, so trim those bangs using round-tip scissors.
Close the windows
It might bring a smile to your face — and your dog’s — when they stick their head out the window while riding in the car, but wind and debris can actually cause serious eye problems.

Read more: http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-eyes-and-ears/All-about-canine-eye-care#ixzz3Rq05de6d