Wordless Wednesday: Pooped Pooches!

(photo courtesy of Blossum & Chappie's mom, Courtney.)

Siblings Blossum and Chappie take a well-deserved
rest on the pause table after their agility class.

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This is a blog hop.

Check out the other participating blogs as well by clicking on the image below.

Tips for Dealing With Aggressive Eaters

When a dog is considered to be an aggressive eater, people can have a few different understandings.

Dog food aggression refers to a dog's behaving in a dominant way around his or her food. Dogs who have dog food aggression typically snarl, bark or otherwise make it known to humans and other dogs that the food is theirs—and everyone else needs to back off. This behaviour is closely related to "possession aggression," whereby dogs fiercely protect their toys. 

Being an aggressive eater, however, refers to a dog's eating too quickly, perhaps from anxiety or excitement. Although the temperament of the dog could be just fine, eating too quickly is a concern as it can cause bloat, weight gain or other digestive problems. The faster they eat, the less they chew, so choking is a real concern as well. That said, aggressive eaters can have dog food aggression if they eat quickly as a result of dominance, but these are two separate issues. 

For the purposes of this post, I will provide some tips for dealing with dogs in the second category, but if you would like to read some tips about overcoming dog food aggression as it relates to dominance issues, please let us know in the comment section! We'd be happy to write a post about that topic in the upcoming weeks. 

Tips for Dealing With Aggressive Eaters

Dusty has a deep chest and a small belly so using
a slow-eat bowl makes him slow down and helps avoid bloat!

1.  Purchase a slow-eat bowl. These bowls have various compartments so the dog has to move around the bowl to get to all of the food. There are many varieties and sizes available at your local pet store that are proven to help slow down aggressive eaters. Alternatively, if you already have a metal non-tip food or water bowl, you can turn it upside down and put the food around the edges. Another option is using a muffin tin and spreading the food out for your dog to find.  

2.  Consider hand-feeding.* Not only will this technique build trust between you and your pet, it will also give you control over how much food your dog eats and how quickly. By hand-feeding, you can make sure your pup is finished chewing before feeding her more, and over time she should learn that eating slowly is the way to go. 

* This idea was contributed by Rocky's foster mom, Nancy. Due to her diligence, Rocky now eats at a normal (if not slow) pace, and Nancy has gained his complete trust when it comes to his mouth. She can check or clean his teeth or get unwanted things out of his mouth no questions asked, which, she says, is a big improvement from when he first came to stay with her!

3. Do not overfeed! Since we love our furry friends, when we see that they have finished their food quickly, only to look up at us with those eyes of theirs, it's tempting to give them more. Do not give in! This behaviour just teaches them that the faster they eat, the more food they will receive.

Happy feeding! 

A Healthy Diet Validated

This article was written by a dear friend and supporter, Cathy Witlox.  You can read more of Cathy's insights about life with her 3 dogs at: http://www.wordwitlox.com/dogblog/

We adopted Cora from TAGS in April 2011. She was estimated to be between 5 and 10 years old and clearly hadn’t been taken very good care of before she came to TAGS. She came to us with a severe ear infection (she hadn’t been at TAGS long enough for her ears to have healed) and has had several others since.

Shortly after we adopted her, we had a wellness blood test done, in part because of her ear infections and also because of how low-energy she was. We learned that Cora was borderline hypothyroid (her level was 14, and normal is 13–55), and her eosinophils were elevated, suggesting allergies or parasites. 

When we adopted Cora and Dusty, also from TAGS, we put them on Orijen, which came highly recommended by a local specialty pet store. Orijen is a Canadian-made grain-free food with all natural ingredients and no meat by-products. In May, I read a book Kathy Asling-Cook suggested, The Nature of Animal Healing by Dr. Martin Goldstein. Having learned how much dogs’ health is dictated by diet, I decided then to start cooking for my dogs.

Last week, Cora had another blood test. (She started peeing in the house a few months ago, and we wanted to rule out any health issues.) The vet thought that her previous “borderline hypothyroid” label might have progressed beyond “borderline,” which could result in behaviour issues. The vet was obviously shocked when he called me with Cora’s blood test results. “She’s perfect!” he said. (Of course, we knew she was perfect, but it was great to hear her blood was, too!) There are no signs of any allergies or parasites or even hypothyroidism (her level is now between 21 and 22!). Her liver, pancreas, and kidney levels—perfect. Her white blood cell count—perfect. Her thyroid—perfect. All perfect!

Additionally, Cora hasn’t had any ear infections in the past couple of months. I attribute her improved overall health to her food. The regular exercise she gets (two good, long-when-weather-permits walks a day) helps, too, I’m sure. But the food is so important. I give our dogs a mix of Orijen and homemade food. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

3 lbs ground chicken

3 1/2 cups rice

10 cups water

1 tsp minced garlic (some recommend against giving garlic to dogs, but holistic books highly recommend it)

2 tsp rosemary

1 can of peas and carrots (water not drained)

1 large can of yams (water not drained)

1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies (green beans, wax beans, and carrots)

2 cubes of frozen spinach

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

optional: 1 can crushed pineapple

Preparation

Put water, rice, chicken, rosemary, and garlic in a large pot. Once the concoction comes to a boil, set to simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, puree together the frozen vegetables, the spinach, and the yams, and chop the blueberries. Once the rice is cooked, add the pureed veggies and simmer for another five minutes. Add the peas and carrots and the blueberries. Turn off the stove, and mix everything together thoroughly. Let it cool; then add pineapple (optional), scoop the food into Tupperware containers, and freeze what you don’t need immediately.

I get two weeks’ worth of food for three dogs out of every batch I make. I add to their food a glucosamine supplement and flax seed oil. Our dogs love their food. Cora, who is a very nervous dog, comes out of her shell at breakfast and suppertime, bouncing around the kitchen in anticipation. Feeding the dogs food that I know is good for them makes me feel good, and by all accounts—even medical ones—it’s making them feel pretty darn good, too!