Your dog has bad teeth too?

No one wants to talk about dental hygiene for dogs... including myself....but as responsible pet owners, it's something that we strongly need to consider before we end up getting convinced by a vet that we need to anesthetize our dog for 'routine dental cleaning' (not that there's anything wrong with this... but there are other, simpler, cheaper and healthier alternatives).

I've heard of numerous stories from clients about how they thought their dog was going in for a 'routine' teeth cleaning and came out with 6 or 7 pulled teeth (usually occurring in older dogs)... In my opinion, there's nothing routine about using sharp metal to scrape an unconscious dog's teeth after many years of limited to no oral hygiene practice.

On the flip side, dogs who eat raw diets have beautiful, pearly white teeth. Part of the reason is because they're using they're teeth to chew at the bones and tougher meat, and this helps keep them strong and clean on a daily basis.  

Dogs teeth are designed for puncturing and chewing, something the kibble diet lacks.  Many dogs suck their kibble back like a vacuum cleaner and hardly use their teeth at all.  Kibble is loaded with various additives to make it more appealing to dogs. But a side effect is that traces of the additives stay in the mouth and calcify.... oral hygiene is a major problem for older dogs (hence the reason vets end up pulling so many teeth).

When I switched my dog to a holistic vet I discovered this awesome (all natural) product called Liba 3. It works to remove the plaque by changing the chemistry of your dog's mouth... loosening up the gunk and eventually cleaning itself off.

One spray on the tongue, once a day (in the evenings).  35 days later and voila...

Enough said... Just watch this video...

Driving your dog.

One customer recently bought a puppy and already owned an older, very well behaved dog. She was picking my brain this weekend for some strategies that I use when walking multiple dogs at a time... Walking dogs can be a ‘handful’ for some... especially younger, or higher energy dogs. For others it can seem effortless. This was a really good question, and these strategies will work just the same with one dog as it does with 5 or 6.

Think about a young boy leading a 2000 lbs horse throughout his village. The horse is calm, responsive and respectful to the young boy leading him. He trusts him!

Is the boy talking to the horse? Is he allowing the horse to ‘meet’ every other horse on his walk? Is he allowing the horse to stop wherever he likes and sniff whatever he likes? The answer is absolutely not! The boy has a clear vision of where he’s going, and has clearly set some boundaries for his horse.

But your dog isn’t a horse!



The point is still the same....what boundaries have you set while walking your dog? Two important boundaries I like to set are:

1) When we’re walking, don’t pull ahead of me. You can go behind me, or 6 feet beside me... just don’t go in front of me. If your dog does run past you, simply stop and guide him back behind you. Wait for eye contact then start again.

2) When I stop, you stop. In other words, don’t pull me when I’m standing still. Focus on maintaining a loose leash even when still. A common pitfall is when owners think they’re dog needs to make a pee... before you know it you’ve allowed your dog to sniff 2....3...5...10 feet of grass and you’ve taken a few steps to follow your dog. This only teaches him that you follow him.

If you find that you have a particularly challenging dog to walk, perhaps consider cultivating a more ‘businesslike’ attitude towards your dog while walking. For example, don’t overly praise him for doing simple things you expect him to do. Don’t get overly excited or enthusiastic... Be calm and precise with your commands. Be respectful.

Here are some of the commands that I use when walking dogs... they’re designed to give me optimal control and the dogs optimal freedom within the boundaries that I’ve set.

Stop - think ‘freeze’ until I give a release or another command.... Your dog should freeze whenever he hears this. It’s basically a ‘stay’ while standing.

Sit - Think ‘sit and don’t move until I release you’. This is basically a stay, but it’s much simpler to teach. Sit means ‘put your tush on the ground and don’t move until I say’.

Let’s Go - This means ‘time to move’.

Here’s how you might string them together...

Let’s say you’re heading into a vet appointment. Your dog is leashed in the car, but when you open the door he jumps out with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. Use “Stop” to freeze him, followed quickly by “Sit”. Now you have time to get your wallet and cell phone out of the car, to shut the door and lock it. Take one step towards the vet now you’re in front of your dog” and say “let’s go”. As you approach the front door signal “stop” and “sit” approximately 4 feet from the door. This gives you space to open the door and walk through first.

Equipped with these three basic commands you have the power to ‘drive’ your dog. The more skillful you become at driving your dog, the more quickly your use of these commands will fade... you simply won’t need them anymore.

Overcoming Fear

Lady on Phone- “My 15 year old son is extremely frightened of dogs... I’d like to know if you have a strategy for helping him overcome his fear”.

My Brain bubbles.... long pause...Has he ever been bitten by a dog or had a bad experience with a dog? (No)... Are you afraid of dogs? (No)...How often is he around dogs (almost never)...and it dawns on me, this young man’s mind has obviously created a story about being afraid of dogs, yet he’s never had any REALexperiences with them....

My strategy was to create a new story that took place in a safe and intimate setting...to create a positive association with dogs.

My Response - I’ve never done a session like this before, but I think your son would benefit tremendously if he learned about calming signals.  I explained that dogs are in state of constant communication with everything in their environment.  I further explained that their signals are a lot like a 3rd base coach in baseball... every one can see what he’s doing, but few understand what they mean.

Once your son can read these signals, I’ll teach him how to use them to keep himself safe... I went on to explain that all creatures, with the exception of humans, do not inherently seek out conflict... they wish to avoid it!  But, I appreciate that it’s not easy to spot this when you’re visiting a friend and suddenly their fearful and yippy little fluff ball greets you at the door with screachy barking and scratchy nails.

Our First Session - I invite my young student and his mom to my daycare and greet them in the foyer.  We stand and watch the ‘Shloof Room’ through a window, observing a small pack of 3 carefully selected dogs.

Jesse - “Do you notice that all the dogs noticed you from the instant you walked in?  Do you see that no none of the dogs is looking another dog directly in the eye? They have positioned themselves to avoid eye contact. Yet, they’re aware of everything in the environment.  Do you notice that when you stare at a dog through this window he’ll either blink, yawn or look away from you?”



First lesson... When you maintain direct eye contact with an animal you’re actually sending a message of assertiveness.  A more exaggerated form of this manifests when you approach an animal in a straight line.  One example of this in human nature occurs is when you get caught staring at a stranger.  Your first instinct is to pretend you’re not looking (subconsciously you’re communicating that you mean no harm).  Another example is to think about the motion of a fox stealing eggs from a nest (direct approach = potential conflict!).  Dogs that mean no harm will go to extreme measures to avoid direct eye contact with you.

The takeaway... The compassionate way to meet a new dog is to show him that you respect his world.  If you must approach it, do so in an arc (avoiding a direct line)....always be aware of where the dog is and what he’s doing, but avoid eye contact.

Second lesson... A dog’s primary sense is his nose.  If humans smell in black and white then dogs smell in millions of colours.  This is important to understand because anytime you enter an environment with a dog present, he’ll want to scope you out with his nose.  From a simple sniff I joke  that a dog can tell that you had apples for lunch... that you walked through the ravine...  he can also detect chemical changes in your body representing a surge in fearful emotions.

The takeaway... When you enter a dog’s environment he may decide to approach you and touch you with his nose.  The wise approach is to allow this to happen, yet be mindful not to react to it. If you can do this then you can peacefully coexist in any dog’s environment.

Two Weeks Later...Fast forward only two weeks and my young student has made astounding progress.  His courage in overcoming his fear is remarkable!  Every session we begin by reviewing the two key principles in theory, then we spend the rest of the time practicing them in action.  I push him just a little out of his comfort zone each time... first it was meeting one or two super friendly dogs, then it was meeting 25 different dogs with varying temperaments (one at a time), then it was hand feeding a select few and practicing basic obedience commands, finally it was surrounding himself in a pack of 20 dogs off leash.

I quickly worked to earn the trust of my young student then asked him to have complete faith that I would guard his safety.  Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined such a transformation in only two weeks!