Do-based training for you and your dog

I was thinking about Don’t-based training in this post a few weeks ago. And on reflection, I thought how much this applies to us as well as to those we interact with - dogs, colleagues, children, partner …

We say DON’T to ourselves every bit as much as we say it to our dogs and possibly our children - and often more!

Time to find a better way!

No blame, no shame

We turn straight to fault-finding, blame - shame! This happens with us as well as with our dogs.

“I’m no good at this,” we cry. “I can never make this work,” “Who, me??”

How often do you find yourself saying this type of thing? Doing yourself down? Why are we so intent on finding fault, beating ourselves up?

Could these feelings of unworthiness have been instilled at an early age, and we accept them as fact?

We’d never speak as harshly to another person - and I hope, our dogs! - as we speak to ourselves.

Imagine your friend saying, “I want to start this new project,” and you saying, “You? Some hope! You’re useless - it’ll never work. Why even bother?”

Of course you wouldn’t! You would be kind, supportive, encouraging. Even if you thought the venture foolhardy you’d step carefully round the subject, tease out some answers, and NOT judge your friend.

Would you say to your dog who is struggling to understand you, “You’re stupid. Why did I ever get you? You can’t learn anything.”

Of course you wouldn’t! You would be kind, thoughtful, gentle. You’d seek to find where your dog’s problem is, and how you can adjust things to make life easier for you both.

So why do you say it to yourself?

Dog training aka people training

You can use what you know from the way I show you to train your dog.

• You focus on what you want

• You start from where you are

• You take baby steps

• You celebrate small successes

• You are proud of what you achieve!

Start with the science-backed method that works:

Reward.

Not a “carrot” or a “stick”, but a reward. A word, a treat (we can have treats too!), a touch. Something that shows you understand. Something that shows you appreciate the effort being made.

It’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, with species as diverse as killer whales, dogs, pigeons, and dare I add - children!

If you reward what you like you’ll get more of it

And in this case the reward is in focussing on what it is you like. The more you think of what you can’t do, your insufficiencies, your perceived failures, the more of that you’ll get!

So the message is clear:

Focus on what you want and go for it.

Whether that’s the new trick you want to teach your dog, or the new course you want to chart for your life. No more beating yourself up!

Decisions, decisions

People find decision-making hard. We’re trying to break away from possible directions and choose just one. Sometimes we want to make a b-i-i-i-i-g life decision. Sometimes we can’t decide what to have for supper.

But decision-making is a habit. And you can build this up with practice. So practice making small decisions and then putting the subject out of your mind - no longer open for debate.

Don’t second guess yourself. Once it’s decided it’s DONE.

Do this with something small - like that question of what to have for supper - and enjoy the feeling of success and relief, once you’ve stopped going round in circles in your mind. Make your decision, and stick with it!

Soon you’ll be saying, “I’m going to schedule three training sessions with my dog this week, and get started on Loose Lead Walking working for me.” And you’ll STICK to it! Because you made that decision.

Looking for new things to teach your dog? Check out our free 8-lesson email course, packed full of recipes and new methods to explore

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The Old Dog: 5 secrets for keeping him young

I write with my old dog at my feet. Tired out after his hour's free running - and he still does run! Border Collies will run till they drop if you let them - he sleeps peacefully near me. He still prefers the hard floor to any of the comfy beds scattered about the house - a hard Border Collie, he! Rollo doesn't see so well now, and he doesn't hear as sharply, but as long as he jumps up - ready to go - when I move, I know he's well.

It's so easy to look after him after our long life together. It's never a chore to take extra time for my old dog, to hold the kitchen door open a bit longer, help him up the stairs, lift him into the van - it's not a task, it's a pleasure. It's a small Thank you for all the love and fun he's given me over the last thirteen years together.

We still enjoy our conversations at the end of the day, Rollo with his head on my knee, gazing at me with devotion, me twiddling his ears and smoothing his brow.

Dogs don't live as long as we do - some stiff questions will need to be answered in the afterlife! - but they pack an enormous amount into their few years.

A sheepdog runs maybe 30,000 miles in his lifetime, much of it over rough terrain and in all weathers. Gundogs also clock up huge mileage, and even the busy little terrier covers an awful lot of ground during the course of an active day. Sighthounds are professional sleepers, but can operate for short periods at phenomenal speeds, crashing through undergrowth as they race. All this activity causes a lot of wear and tear on the skeleton and soft tissues as your young tearaway becomes an old dog.

The Secret of Keeping an Old Dog Young

There are steps we can take to keep our old friend active and content for as long as possible. 

1. Physical fitness

The most important is to keep him physically fit. If you’ve always paid attention to this, this won’t be difficult. You can’t suddenly start a fitness regime with an old, portly, dog without care and possibly help from an expert.

See an old dog in action here! Jake was 14 in this photo of him catching his frisbee. 

2. The right food

"You are what you eat," as the old saw goes, and the right nutrition is so important.

How would your teeth be in old age if you only ate soggy biscuits all your life? How could your body function correctly if you had been bred for thousands of years to tear into raw meat, guts and bones, yet were only allowed to eat grain? And what would your muscle tone be like if you were served mushy food in your armchair everyday, instead of having to find and prepare fresh food for yourself?

This is how it is for millions of dogs worldwide, caught up in the fashion for fast food. Check out this post now, to see how to feed your dog healthily, appropriately, and ... very cheaply!

To keep your old dog fit and happy, it's essential to keep the weight off! It's so sad to see huge, obese dogs waddling around, and it's usually pure self-indulgence on the part of their owners. So much easier to stuff the dog with unsuitable food and then blame her for not wanting to exercise!

Did you know that giving a small dog a biscuit is the equivalent of us eating a beefburger! Please think before giving your dog - of whatever age - unsuitable food. If you must, then break off a tiny morsel of biscuit - that will carry the same message of devotion. And it’s never too late to teach your dog that begging doesn’t work! Check out Leave It! and change your life.

How can you tell if your dog is carrying too much weight? Checking your dog over regularly with your hands will tell you - and will also pick up any sores, ticks, cuts, lumps, mats, rashes, and whatnot.

The back of the neck should have soft folds of skin you can lift easily: no rolls of hard fat. You want to be able to feel all the ribs - but you don’t want to cut yourself on them! You should easily be able to locate the pin bones at the top of the pelvis, and the belly area should be soft and hollow most of the time. A tight beer-belly shape means you have work to do.

If you choose to feed a raw natural diet, this problem never seems to arise. It's hard work chomping your way through meaty bones, and this is beneficial for teeth, muscles and therefore the skeleton. The whole dog gets involved in ripping meat off a bone - see them use their legs and shoulders and really put their backs into it!

But if that’s not for you, at least make sure the diet is highly nutritious, and you provide plenty of chewing possibilities and monitor exercise.

3. Dry him off

My next tip comes from that redoubtable English Border Collie breeder and trainer, Bing Bellamy (Sealight Border Collies). "Never leave an old dog wet!" she admonished. Some of you rejoice in warm weather year-round, so this may not apply to you. But for those of us languishing in the temperate zones or worse, it's good advice. It's easy enough to ensure your house-dwelling old dog is clean and dry after a walk, but remember your kennel dogs need even more care - dry bedding, no draughts, no damp, heating where appropriate.

Rollo would like to spend his day in the garden, lying in the wet grass, getting covered in a blanket of snow, or just drenched with rain. But I won’t let him! His killjoy mother doesn’t allow it.

Despite all your efforts, your old dog may suffer from arthritis, old soft-tissue injuries, and sundry joint problems. All those miles clock up! There's lots of help you can get, from over-the-counter remedies to working with a Canine Massage Therapist (you’ll need a vet referral) - don't leave your friend suffering!

4. Give him comfort

Give your old dog a warm, comfy bed. Many dogs have made a warm, comfy bed a requirement from an early age - for Cricket the Whippet it's a priority! But even those who spend their life spurning the lovely bed you bought them in favour of a cool tiled floor will benefit from a soft bed as they get older.

Be sure that it's an easy-care bed, as one of the problems you may encounter in your old dog is urinary incontinence. This is more common in a spayed bitch, as the hormones needed to keep the tissues plump are no longer available. It's simply cured though. Your vet will have hormone tablets that you can administer in remarkably small doses that I have found fix the problem completely.

5. Eyes and Ears

Just like us, your old dog is gradually going to suffer from diminished function of eyes and ears.

Loss of hearing can be dangerous for your dog - unless you are prepared to keep him on a lead rather more. My old dog Poppy was so deaf towards the end of her sixteen years that I attached a bell to her collar. At least I knew where she was in our garden or in the fields we walked, even if she didn't know where I was.

Once I’d discovered this trick, it's now standard practice for us to add a bell to the collar of our old dogs when we go out. And the bell also keeps bears away - not a huge advantage in the Norfolk countryside, but perhaps more helpful where you live!

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, though, and an unexpected benefit of hearing loss was that once she got to fourteen or so, Tip, another of my collies, was no longer terrorised by fireworks for the month leading up to Guy Fawkes Night (though now they can happen any time …). So your anxious dog has this relief to look forward to!

You'll know when your old dog's eyesight is getting worse as he starts to knock into doorways, miss catching his ball or frisbee, and peer in your general direction when you speak to him, instead of straight at you.

Rollo used to be famous for catching. Nothing got past him, however cannily we tried to trick him! Sadly, he can’t catch anything at all now. But careful throwing can still give him a game of chase, with the frisbee landing in front of him so he can scoop it up. And quite often, one or two dashes is enough. So after handing the toy back to me to throw again a couple of times, he’ll keep away with his frisbee and watch the younger dogs flying about.

As time goes by your older dog will stick close to you a lot of the time. Unless there's a danger to the dog, or he is seriously injuring himself, he can usually be accommodated pretty easily.

His eyes may weep, so you'll need to clean his face for him. You'll also need to clean him the other end on occasion, especially if he has a long coat, as he finds it harder to reach that far to clean himself. A long-coated dog could also benefit from having his "trousers" and underside clipped shorter. This will ensure that there are no mats that can become smelly.

Tough Decision Time

Some dogs will slide gracefully and uneventfully into old age, like my Battersea special Poppy, and will die peacefully at home. Up to age 16, she still came for occasional walks and was content to potter about the house and garden, having no difficulty getting up. If she didn’t want to come, she would turn her head away when I got her lead: it was always her choice.

But there may come a time when your old dog is suffering pain, is unhappy, and you need to intervene to end his life.

Unlike us, a dog can't curl up with a good book. If he can't "be a dog", and run or just walk about, snuffling at things and enjoying life; if he's no longer excited at the sight of the lead and cry of "Walk!" then maybe it's time to let him go. Don't agonise for too long over this. You'll know when the time is right, so just do it. And you’ll know afterwards when you experience the flood of relief that your old friend is no longer suffering that you did the right thing.

I’m happy to pay a bit extra for the vet to come to the house to do the deed. My last dog to go was lying on his bed being handfed fish and chips while the nice visitor stroked him and he slid away.

I shall have to dodge the brickbats now, but I could never bring myself to put a dog's back end into nappies and onto a pair of wheels. My criterion in the event of an accident has always been "Can he be a dog?" Getting about on three legs will still allow him to be a dog. Two legs and two wheels will not. Though I must emphasise that this is my own personal choice. I know people who have kitted out their dog with wheels and had success. There's a lot you'd need to take into account to choose the best outcome for your family and your dog.

Old dogs are a delight

Enjoy them and give them the time they deserve. We only have one life, as do they. Let’s make it the best for both of us!

If you’re struggling to come to terms with any of this, you may find help here: www.beverleycourtney.com

Consistency vs unpredictability in dog training

I was talking about being unpredictable in your dog training here recently. And yet I also talk a lot about being consistent!

It’s a fine line we need to tread. Between boring the proverbial pants off our dog and retaining some semblance of knowing what we’re doing.

And it’s not only in your life with your dog that you need to keep this in mind … more below.

Predictability

In your training you need to be predictable. Your dog has to KNOW without a doubt when she’s got something right.

So this is why using your marker at the right moment is so important.

“Marker?” you ask? This is what you do when your dog does something you like. Some folk like to use a clicker, but most will get along very nicely with a word. I use YES. Quick, clear, to the point. Whatever my dog was doing when I say YES is something she’ll consider worth repeating.

Why? Because YES is always followed with a reward.

Always. No exceptions.

This is where the clarity and consistency come in.

So if you’re woolly over your timing, your dog’s response is going to be equally woolly.

I often say Lacy wears her heart on her tail! Because I know EXACTLY when she’s GOT the new thing she’s learning, as her tail starts to swish as soon as she does the required action.

This is great feedback for me!

Your dog may give a clear signal like that. Or you may have to depend on

🐾 sparkly eyes,

🐾 slightly parted mouth,

🐾 eager stance …

See the image at the top for a demo of this. By the way, Lacy hadn’t just eaten a cat - I was wearing a red jumper and it reflected back on to her pearly whites!

You’ll get to know exactly what your dog does when she gets it. This is wonderfully rewarding for us, too.

Unpredictability

But there’s also a place for being UNPREDICTABLE!

Don’t be a clockwork dog owner - keep your dog guessing!

🐾 Do you usually train in the kitchen?

✔️ Train in the bedroom.

🐾 Do you usually sit in a particular chair?

✔️ Choose another.

🐾 Do you usually train your dog at a certain time - or place?

✔️ Mix it up.

Get the idea?

And if your dog is doing something you’re not mad about, follow this simple recipe:

1. Your dog is doing something.

2. Decide what you’d like instead.

3. Teach the new thing.

4. Be consistent.

Please don’t expect your dog to somehow know - not only what aspect of her behaviour is troubling you, but what you want her to do instead!

Dogs are remarkably sensitive and observant, but they don’t have a crystal ball.

Not only with our dog . . .

For some ideas of how to go about this with ease, check out our free email course

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And it’s not only with our dog we need to combine unpredictability and consistency. If you’ve done the same things, day in, day out, since forever . . . you’re going to get the same results as you’ve always got. Stands to reason!

So to get the change we all need - to move forward in our lives and fulfil our true potential - something has got to change. We can’t stay stuck in childhood our whole life.

Change things up, be unpredictable! This is the ultimate sign of a flexible mind.

Choose new thoughts, new feelings, new things you can do.

While, at the same time, being consistent!

Always stay true to your values and your core beliefs.

That’s a puzzle for you to work out. Have fun!

YOUR NEW PUPPY – 9 STEPS TO GET IT RIGHT FROM THE START

This post was first published on positively.com and is reprinted here with permission

“I wonder if I’ve done the wrong thing … Perhaps I’m not capable of looking after a dog.”

I don’t know exactly what had caused such a devastating loss of confidence in what was clearly a capable individual. But Gwen voiced a sentiment I come across from time to time.

Her family had left home at the same time that she retired from a responsible and caring job. She needed something to nurture. She chose a suitable breed of dog for a pet in a quiet household, and named her Tilly.

She’d done her homework. She’d done everything right. But now she had this little individual to care for she was afraid she wouldn’t measure up.

Her worries were all centred on injuring the puppy in some way. She feared letting her off lead in case she got run over. She feared grooming her in case she hurt her. Keen to use only force-free methods of interacting with her dog, she was in danger of becoming an over-indulgent parent.

You can use positive methods of training without relinquishing control

Acknowledging and rewarding the good does not mean you turn yourself into a doormat!

Teach the owner first!

So my task was not to change any bad things the puppy was doing, but to show Gwen how she could get Tilly to do what she wanted without using force or nagging.

Puppies are happy to take direction. They have no wish to rule the world, to take over the household, to hold their owner to ransom - or any of the other things you may hear will happen if you are not heavy-handed!

Dogs in general are not stubborn, obstinate, or disobedient, and they don’t “know they’ve done wrong”. Whenever a new puppy-owner tells me “He knows the meaning of NO,” I flinch inwardly, and reply that my dogs don’t! Because I don’t use NO with them.

NO gives your dog no information about what you want him to do - only that you’re cross with him. He will have no idea what has caused your anger, and no way of knowing how to appease you.

So having just been told off for jumping up, he may assume he didn’t jump high enough for your liking and try harder!

Gwen’s fears were unfounded and all she needed was some support and to be shown how to do the things that she was anxious and nervous about.

Here’s what Gwen learnt about how to get the best from her new puppy

1.  She learnt a new mantra: Reward what you like, Ignore what you don’t like, Manage what you can’t ignore. And found that life instantly became much easier! No longer was she telling Tilly off endlessly for minor transgressions.

2. She learnt, for instance, that a baby gate silently prevented cat-chasing without any need for Gwen to say a word.

3. She got a firm understanding of what house training her puppy entailed, and that any puddles were not the puppy’s fault, but her own - for not paying attention.

And there’s a free Housetraining Cheatsheet for you here which shows you just what Gwen learnt, so you can get your puppy clean and dry in a couple of weeks! Your Guide will arrive by email

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4. She excised NO, Ah-ah, and other such words from her vocabulary.

5. She learnt that blaming this little scrap, who’d only been on the planet a matter of weeks, was pointless - and unfair.

6. She flourished in our calm Puppy Class environment, and enjoyed seeing that the other puppies were very much like hers!

7. We went on walks together to demonstrate that she was perfectly able to let her puppy off-leash safely and call her back again.

8. She enrolled on a short grooming course at her local Community College to learn how to trim her puppy’s hair and claws without any danger of hurting her.

9. We tidied up one or two things at her home - like when and how to use the crate, and best practices for feeding - to ensure that the puppy didn’t start to take advantage of her fears! Once Gwen knew what was reasonable to ask of Tilly, she was much clearer with her boundaries.

Forming a relationship with a puppy is much like falling in love. 

In the initial euphoria you are afraid that you may do something wrong and it will all come crashing down around you. But as you get to know and trust each other these fears evaporate.

Just as babies and children need structure and boundaries, so do puppies

It’s absolutely understandable that Gwen had anxieties around this new person she’d introduced into her life - just as new parents make mistakes, so did she.

She had no qualms about consulting a car mechanic when her car wasn’t running properly - rather than asking her aunt or the greengrocer which tyre to kick! So she had the good sense to invite a professional dog trainer to give her the advice she needed to get quick results with her new charge - and not listen to the endless old wives’ tales circulating amongst friends, neighbours, and online.

A year or two have now passed, and Gwen and Tilly have formed a bond that cannot be broken. They delight in each other’s company. They fit each other like a pair of comfy slippers. Here’s what she wrote a little while ago:

"Thank you very much for all the help and support you have given Tilly and myself (mainly myself!). As a first-time dog owner I feel that I have come from having no idea to having some idea of what I need to do to care for her.

I was worried that, as she is such a cute dog, I would let her get away with whatever she wanted. I know now how to set boundaries, and have the confidence to - but to do it kindly.

With your help Tilly has developed into a confident, funny, friendly, well-behaved (usually) and loving little dog. Obviously she is still a ‘work in progress’ as far as recall is concerned and we will find other things to work on in the coming months but I have the confidence to tackle matters as they arise."

I was delighted to receive her letter and see her confidence shining out on the page. And Gwen knows now that when she chose her little dog as her companion she made the very best decision.

To get a look at some of the strategies I taught Gwen, go to our Free Courses page and get an 8-email course which goes into all the things you need to be aware of with your new puppy or dog.

Want a bible to help you through this stage?

Go to www.brilliantfamilydog.com/new-puppy and get New Puppy! in ebook, audiobook, or paperback.

And for a complete new start watch our free Workshop

Dogs are creatures of habit - so are we!

We are creatures of habit. We do things the same way day in, day out. For some things this works - brushing your teeth daily, for instance, is a good habit.

When we repeat an action, we make a path in our brain so that we can do it easily, without thinking. For your teeth this is ok. But you can improve on this experience by getting other parts of your brain working too.

Brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand can drive new neural pathways, and wake up parts of you that don’t work as efficiently as they might. It’s a simple thing, and it feels very clunky to begin with - but think of the flexibility it’s building in your body and your mind!

For all the daily habits that make your life run more smoothly - because you don’t have to think about them - how many things do you do that really aren’t worth doing? And how would it improve your life if you looked into some of these habits forensically and made some changes?

While you ponder that, think of our dogs:

Our dogs are habitual creatures too.

They are right- or left-footed, just as we are right- or left-handed (and -footed!). They turn the same way in their pre-sleep circle. They sleep in the same spots in the house. And maybe their daily routine is the same every day.

How much more do you think your dog can achieve if you change this up a bit? No need to break old habits if they serve you both, but how about developing some new ones?

If you always do things the same way, in the same order, your dog can sleepwalk through her day.

Keep your dog guessing!

Be unpredictable! Keep your dog guessing! She’ll have to pay more attention if you do things differently.

And so will you.

So what sort of things can you change?

🐾 If you always turn right when you leave your house, try turning left - or just cross the road and turn there.

🐾 Do things in a different order. If you always feed your dog before you prepare your own dinner, cook first and then feed your dog.

🐾 If you always enter a park or field and follow the path round the edge, try walking straight up the middle.

🐾 If you always feed your dog from a bowl, try scatterfeeding, or feeding from a tray or foodtoys.

🐾 Zigzag on your walk instead of going in a straight line.

Yes, these are very small changes, but they can have a big effect.

Leaping around and barking!

You’ll have noticed for sure, that when you do certain things you get the same guaranteed result from your dog. Again, this can be a good thing if your dog spins round on one call and barrels back to you!

Want to learn more about how to build up the GOOD habits? Enjoy our free Workshop on getting your dog to LISTEN!

But there are some sequences that you could do without.

Like the sequence when you put on your coat or pick up the lead: of hysteria and over-excitement from your dog, leaping and barking and racing around. This you could certainly do without! And it’s been built and grown and you’ve carefully nurtured it by repeating the same sequence every single day.

So take your coat and go to another room to put it on. Instead of getting the lead, sit down and read for a few minutes. Do keep half an eye on your dog’s expression - it’ll be very comical!

Put the lead in a different place. Leave by a different door. Do whatever you can to alter this sequence so that it’s like brushing your teeth with a different hand. You are causing your dog’s thoughts to go down a different, new, neural pathway - one without the leaping and frantic behaviour!

She doesn’t know what’s going to happen next so she has to pay attention and learn a new way. Dogs LOVE knowing what’s going to happen next. They LOVE predictability.

Hence being unpredictable is one of the best ways to get your dog to pay attention to you!

Habits can be useful

Some habits of course, are useful. The habit of looking both ways before crossing the road; the habit of using an oven glove when you open the oven door. 

But some can be counter-productive - even destructive!

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. John Dryden

I’m thinking of the habit of self-criticism. Maybe you spent your early life being criticised by family, parents, teachers. And now they’re not there, you fill the gap so you can continue this habit of self-deprecation, encouraging a feeling of worthlessness. The habit you created is now in the driving seat!

You may struggle to find a way to get over this, to allow yourself to blossom as you should. Drop me a line and let’s have a conversation about how you can change this and flow freely towards what you really want.

Don’t accord privileges to destructive thoughts, just because they’ve been around for a long time!

What can my dog chew?

Many people buy the chews that cover whole stands in the aisles of their local pet shop in the belief that they are good, wholesome, and safe.

Sorry, but they may be none of those things!

You’d think that rawhide would come from the meat industry, but in fact it’s a by-product of the leather Industry - it’s technically an industrial waste product.

And far from foody substances being used in the manufacture of rawhide chews, lead, arsenic, mercury, chromium salts, quaternary ammonia, formaldehyde, and other toxic chemicals have been detected in rawhide, along with the occasional addition of e coli and salmonella. Not to mention the glue used to hold them in shape.

Though there are a very few companies making chews without this shocking list of ingredients, most of the rawhide chews sold come from countries where, shall we just say, the health of your pet is not their top priority.

What can go wrong?

While the toxins and bacteria listed above are not things we want our dogs or ourselves to be contaminated with, the chief danger is obstruction or choking. Some chews even carry this warning:

“Choking or blockages. If your dog swallows large pieces of rawhide, the rawhide can get stuck in the oesophagus or other parts of the digestive tract. Sometimes, abdominal surgery is needed to remove them from the stomach or intestines. If it isn’t resolved, a blockage can lead to death.”

Sure you want to give your dog that chew?

Yes, they can be useful to amuse a young puppy. Unless your pup is a new designer breed Velociraptor cross, they’ll mostly only mouth and soften the chew. As soon as they are able to swallow any of it, it should be removed and you should no longer give them to your pup, as they’ve now moved into the blockage danger category above.

Healthy alternatives

There will be downsides and possible dangers to anything in life.

Some folk like to give antlers - though for some dogs with iffy teeth these may be too hard and cause tooth damage.

Some people with strong stomachs and a poor sense of smell like to give pigs’ ears. Just keep in mind that the ear is often full of needle holes from all those hormones and what-have-you that are injected into factory-farmed pigs on a daily basis.

And some - with an even poorer sense of smell! - give hooves. Hoof slices were always popular with my dogs when I was trimming the goats’ and sheep’s hooves. But I wouldn’t be mad about them having a whole hoof, breathing horrible smells into the house, then bringing it up on the carpet later.

What do I give my dogs to chew?

I give mine raw meaty bones. Hugely popular, safe, unpolluted, untreated, truly natural, satisfying. The major benefits are teeth cleaning, physical exertion (ripping a bone apart is hard work!), mental absorption for an hour or so at a time, and high nutritional value.

Avoid marrowbones and weightbearing leg bones. The strength of these bones can result in tooth damage, so I’m told. But forty years of feeding bones to my own mix of large, medium and small dogs has never resulted in this. In fact the whiteness of my dogs’ teeth has often been remarked upon, and they die at a good old age (mid to late teens) with all their teeth intact.

You’ll find that your dog will vomit up any bits of bone or indigestible tendons a day or so later. This is a natural clearing out of junk from the stomach and does not mean anything is amiss. Too much information? Just forewarning you so you don’t panic! Dogs and cats have a simple digestive system: it either goes down or it comes up again.

Government food protection

We’re used to being protected by government legislation. But this legislation does not necessarily extend to our pets. It’s up to us to be aware of what’s in what we give our dogs to eat, to chew, or to play with.

Caveat emptor! Buyer beware!

While it’s easy enough to simply exclude these commercial chews from your home, understanding canine nutrition is a whole nother ball-game! And it’s another place where dreadful “foods” are promoted - even by vets! - which we should not give house-room to.

Check out this ingredients list on a popular, vet-prescribed, expensive, dog food from Royal Canin:

Rice, Vegetable Protein Isolate, Wheat, Animal Fats, Maize Gluten, Husked Oats, Maize, Hydrolysed Animal Proteins, Minerals, Soya Oil, Beet Pulp, Fish Oil, Flax Seeds, Fructo-Oligo-Saccharides, Mono and Diglycerides (Emulsifiers), Borage Oil, Marigold Extract, Antioxidants.

Yes, there is a teaspoonful of meat in there, not named or quantified, listed at no.8. The whole product is nutritionally rated in allaboutdogfood.co.uk - the site run by a canine nutritionist - at 22%.

22%! Vet-recommended! Currently £5 per kg!

Commercially-produced raw and cooked foods, on the other hand, show exactly what meat is involved (e.g. beef kidney, duck breast) and how much (often as high as 90%).

You can see that if this is news to you, you have your work cut out!

Don’t take anybody’s word for the quality of what you feed your precious dog. Do the work. Bone up on the knowledge ;-). You’re the one who will be paying the vet’s bills when you run into trouble with these awful “foods”.

But I don’t want to feed raw …

Here’s an article which goes into more detail about how best to feed your dog

It looks at what will suit you and your dog best. I’m not on a crusade about how you choose to feed - but I do want to make you aware that it’s not all unicorns and roses in the commercial petfood and dogchew world!

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