Nothing but the best!

I had my three dogs TC, Yoda and Maisy with me one afternoon while running errands. We made the usual stops, paid the water bill, got some flowers for mom, went to the bank etc. While at the bank drive through the teller told me how cute little Maisy was and inquired about her breed. I told her that she was a Pompatese, which is a Pomeranian, Poodle, Maltese mix. Maisy being the performer that she is took this opportunity to let out a bark and wiggle just to make sure that everyone knew how cute she was in case there was any doubt. The teller smiled as I received my receipt and noticed that she had sent along some milk bones with it. I laughed a bit to myself as I took them out and tried to give them first to Yoda who being a Boston Terrier let out a snort and laid back down on the backseat. TC my Lab Collie mix licked one and looked back out the rear passenger window longingly hoping for a magical tennis ball to go flying by for him to chase. Maisy at this point was fully engrossed in entertaining the people in the car next to mine through the passenger side window. Apparently she had realized from one whiff that these treats weren't exactly up to snuff. I looked back at the teller who had witnessed this failed transaction and had a confused look on her face. I sent the treats back and explained that ever since I started giving my dogs Bigwag treats they won't eat any others. I never knew dogs could be so picky. When it comes to their treats though, nothing else will do.

Is That Chocolate?

I have lots of customers walk into our store for the first time, look around the table, and then ask me one question. What is that stuff that looks like chocolate? Our customers are well informed, and they know chocolate can be deadly to dogs. So obviously, we don't use chocolate. Instead, we use carob. Carob looks and tastes similar to chocolate. It grows in pods on trees, usually in the Mediterranean, although there are some plants in South America. But the great thing about carob is what is doesn't have - no caffeine, no theobromine. These are the two substances in chocolate that can be potentially toxic to dogs, because they affect the heart and nervous system differently than in human because dogs metabolize food differently.

And while we're on the subject of chocolate and chocolate substitutes, a lot of people tell me their dog ate chocolate and was just fine. This is true even for me - Sam ate two huge chocolate cupcakes and was just fine. So what's the deal? The toxicity of chocolate depends mostly on two things. The first is the purity of the chocolate. This means that the chocolate cupcake was probably a good choice for Sam, because the chocolate was mixed with a lot of other ingredients that diluted it. This also means your typical milk chocolate candy bar is not as dangerous as the high quality dark chocoalte bars that claim 60% or more cocoa. Baking chocolate would be the most dangerous, because it's in it's purest form. Luckily, it's also pretty bitter, so it's less likely to taste good to your dog. The second factor affecting chocolate's toxicity to dogs is the size of the dog. Sam's a boxer mix, he's pretty big, so chocolate isn't as likely to be toxic to him as it would be to a Yorkie. Moral of the story? Well, first of all, don't leave chocolate where the dog can get it, because like Cary said, dogs like fats and sweets. (Is there anything that combines those qualities better than chocolate?) Second, if your Yorkie eats baking chocolate, get him to the vet immediately. If your lab licks chocolate icing off your birthday cake? Keep an eye on him, but most likely he'll be fine. Oh, and give someone else that slice of cake :p

Combating Separation Anxiety

There are lots of "How-to" books, training techniques, and procedures to help you and your pet alleviate separation anxiety for your pets when you leave the house. Here is a simple remedy that I use that works pretty well.

We play the "Gobble the treats" game when we leave the house. They have played this enough to know and expect it. We grab a handful of BBQ Trainer chips, call them to the door, and then toss the treats into the living room. This then becomes a mad dash to see who can gobble the most treats as fast as they can.

Why does this work? I believe most of the damage was occurring in the first 5-10 minutes of me leaving the house. That period of awkward silence, with us not in the house, when they seem to destroy anything they can find. This game does two things. It distracts them while we high-tail it out of the house, and it fills up their bellies, which induces a reaction not unlike what you feel right after thanksgiving dinner. Sleepy time. Every time I have come home after playing the "Gobble" game, I find them sleeping on the couch (which is also supposed to be off limits), but is much more acceptable than chewing all of the mail off of the kitchen counter, or eating a phone book.

What kinds of treats do dogs like?

So, in the ever swelling sea of dog treats out there, what kind of treats do they actually like? There are so many choices. Recently, I found some dog treats that sort of resemble gummy bears. I couldn't believe this. The first ingredient is corn syrup, aka sugar. I can't imagine what these tasted like, I wasn't brave enough to stick them in my own mouth. Thankfully, my dogs spit them right out, and didn't want any part of them. My biggest fear is that most dogs would have actually eaten these, since their normal treats are of so poor quality, that these might have actually tasted good to them.

The challenge in most pet treats is to make them, what the industry labels, "palatable". This is a fancy way of saying tastes good, and most of these companies use such sub standard ingredients that they have to add something to make them palatable. The first choice in palatability enhancers in IAMS is Liquid Digest.

"Liquid digest is simply protein that is enzymatically broken down into amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. The enzymatic process reduces large protein pieces to smaller protein pieces and free amino acids. By adding small amounts of acid, the enzymatic or digestive reaction is stopped and a stable liquid ingredient is produced. After a dry food formula is cooked, formed into kibbles, and dried, the liquid digest is sprayed evenly on the outside of the dry kibbles. This is called "enrobing". Not only does the liquid digest make the food highly palatable, it also adds to the overall digestibility of the food." (Taken from IAMS website)

Mmmmmm. This sounds yummy, doesn't it. Or, How About "The palatability enhancer, which preferably includes from about 0.1% to about 99% by weight of one or more sodium tripolyphosphate salts, is preferably topically applied to dry pet food pellets or kibbles after extrusion. Other constituents of the palatability enhancer can include one or more ingredients selected from meat, meat by-products, fish, fish by-products, dairy, dairy by-products, microbial proteins, vegetable proteins, amino acids, and carbohydrates. Additional ingredients, including other natural and artificial flavors, other palatability-enhancing acids and salts thereof, vitamins and mineral supplements, antioxidants, preservatives, inorganic salts, and the like, may also be utilized." (Taken from the World IP Website)

Salt. Sugar. Chemicals. We've all heard the stories of rancid restaurant grease being used as pallatability enhancers. Who wants to eat this stuff? I know I don't, and I seriously doubt your pet does either.

My first question is, why do we have to make things "taste better"? Shouldn't things taste great already? I mean, I completely understand adding chocolate syrup to ice cream to make it taste better. That makes perfect sense to everyone. But, would you add chocolate syrup to spoiled milk so that you could stomach it? Or how about some meat by products. What does it take for you to be able to eat some rancid, stomachs or intestines? A little A1 steak sauce perhaps? No offense to the A1 Steak Sauce people, but there isn't enough steak sauce to make me want to eat those, ever. OK, maybe if I was starving to death, could I get two or three bottles then please?

I am a big believer in that things taste good because they are supposed to, and because you like it. You shouldn't have to add so many chemicals, salt, and sugar to something so that every dog will find this food irresistible.

So, from my experience, what kinds of treats do dogs like? Believe it or not, they like a lot of the same things you and I like. They like peanut butter, cheese, eggs, liver (well, maybe some of you). They like human grade whole wheat, bacon, and they prefer KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce, just like I do. They like sweet, and fat. Not so big on the salt, even. That doesn't mean that you should run out and feed them the fattiest, sweet treats you can find, but you can look at ingredients of the treats that you are buying, and know that honey and molasses are a great all natural sweetener, and a little animal fat has GOT to be better than partially broken down amino acids or sodium triphosphates. My treats I feed my dogs are the simplest I can make, and they do voice their opinion now and again. They can just refuse to eat something. They haven't bitten my hand yet, though I am careful when I try and feed them something less than great.