How is your Dogs Weight?

At the beginning of every year we all are prone to take a look at our lives, access the state of things, and many of us make resolutions to better our lives in one way or another. After all, we as humans have been doing this every 365 days or so for a millennium, and it is a good thing.

So you are looking at yourself, looking at what improvements you can make, and it is a high probability that are now working on your weight. GREAT! Getting healthier is always a noble goal, and losing weight is very high on the list of annual resolutions, but I have a question for you:

How about your dog’s weight?

Obesity in dogs is a problem that is on the rise in America. We as humans are eating more and becoming less active, therefore our dogs are also eating more and exercising less. Just like in humans this increasing over-eating and inactivity can lead to a HUGE number of very real health issues such as:

• Diabetes
• Damage to joints, bones and ligaments (especially in large dogs)
• Heart disease
• Increased blood pressure (yes dogs too, can suffer from high blood pressure)
• Decreased liver function
• Difficulty breathing
• Decreased stamina
• Heat intolerance
• Increased anesthesia risk
• Digestive disorders
• Immune dysfunction
• Skin hair and coat problems
• Increased risk of cancer
• Decreased quality and length of life

I love my dogs (sometimes more than my children) and I want them to have long and healthy lives. I want their lives to be filled with running and jumping, not IV’s and pills and being drugged all the time. This is why we are very diligent about the feeding of our dogs. This leads to one of the biggest questions a dog owner will have:

How much SHOULD I be feeding my dog?

This can be a more difficult question to answer than you might think. If you have a medium to low energy dog it gets even more difficult. Did you know the ‘recommended feeding suggestions’ on the back of dog food is aimed at an “intact, male working dog?” Since your dog is NOT intact (and if it is you need to get it altered now, but that is another article) and it is probably not a working dog (meaning herding or pulling all day), this means that if you are following these suggestions  you are over feeding your dog, and potentially by a large amount.

A dog that is healthy should  always be hungry. This is a behavioral throw back to the wild dog days. Since they never knew when or where their next meal might be, they would eat anything they found when they found it. Since your dog is NOT a wild dog foraging for food, they should be on as schedule. Whether once a day or twice a day is up to you, but you need to be consistent. Same amount, same way, every day.

As far as making a recommendation goes I will only tell you what we are doing for our dogs. For the new reader we have Hondo, a 2 ½ year old Shiba Inu who is 19 pounds, and Jethro, a Pit Bull that is about 78 pounds. We feed them twice a day, and Hondo gets 2/3 of a cup and Jethro gets 1 ½ cups at each feeding. We feed them a good quality dry food (no corn of gluten please!) and put a little hot water on top of the dry food to make a little gravy in the bowl. We will occasionally mix in with this some drippings or other scraps.
Exercise is also a very important part of the equation, just like for you. “The Boys” and I walk generally at least once a day, and we walk at least a mile or so up and down hills. On top of this we have a large yard that they use and run around in during the day, so they get a decent amount of exercise.

If your dog is obese or overweight or you feel it may be, the first step is of course to consult your Vet. They are the first and best source for information on the health of your dog. However, here are a few suggestions:

• Start a weight chart, and begin to track your dogs weight.
• Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! – Not only will this help your dog’s weight, but will have a surprisingly positive effect on yours (I am down about 30 pounds in a year!)
• Feed a better quality food, in smaller amounts, twice a day. We have found this better than a big meal every morning
• Limit treats, and make sure they are GOOD treats. You would be surprised at how bad some of the commercial treats are for your dog. Make sure you read the packages, and find a good quality treat. Honeycomb cereal is one of Jethro’s favorites, but then again, he eats everything

I will bet a lot of these things sound surprisingly like the same things that YOU should also be doing for you weight. So, make your resolution, but include your dog.Work on your eating and your weight, but help them to work on theirs also. They would like to look slim and hot this summer too!

More Exercies is the Cure. Now, What's the Problem?

One of the things you will learn quickly about us is that before Bekki & I do anything, we do a lot of research. We research, read (mostly Bekki), and general learning on the subject. After a while we started to see a pattern. Regardless of the training method, process, or school, they all seemed to be saying the same thing.

A Tired Dog is a Happy Dog.

One of the many resources we discovered in our research was Cesar Millan and the Dog Whisperer. If you have caught his show, it can come across as a put on. That he can walk in and in moments eliminate unwanted behaviors by "simply tiring out the dog on a walk." (yes, I know now that there was a LOT more going on there) I thought so too, until I started employing some of his techniques, most importantly regular exercise. I began to see good results, and as I started thinking it through it began to make a lot of sense. The terminology he uses is that a dog cannot be a "balanced" dog if it has pent up energy it has not and cannot release.

"Most" negative dog behaviors are a) created by humans, because b) their dogs are bored. Why are they bored? Well, most dogs spend most of their days in a fenced yard or locked in the house alone. Most are not exercised on a regular basis. If you do not burn off your dog’s energy on a regular basis it begins to build up, just like his bladder. Sooner or later that energy, like his bladder, will need to be released. Unfortunately, that relief can take some very negative and destructive forms:

•    Chewing on/tearing up the furniture
•    Peeing/pooping in the house
•    Nervousness/insecurity
•    Constant barking
•    Separation anxiety - tearing up your house when left alone
•    Increasing aggression - 'Suddenly' nipping or biting
•    Many More!

I was skeptical to say the least. It seems too good to be true that by walking my dogs and giving them regular exercise, I can eliminate or significantly lessen the bad stuff like I listed above? So from the beginning with Hondo, and now with Jethro as well, at least one 20 - 30 minute walk is a part of our daily routine. I can honestly say that on the days when it is raining (rare here in Southern California) or I am just stuck working all day and they do not get out their behavior is worse, some days a lot worse. Like a couple of 9 year olds on a Mountain Dew rush.

Let me state I am speaking only from the research that we have done,, articles we have read, and personal observations on this subject. There are very real behavior issues out there that require the attention of a professional. However, that said, you can go a long way to dealing with most issues by hitting the pavement with your pooch.

If you require additional motivation, I will say that I have lost 30 pounds in the last year, primarily due to walking with my dogs on average once or twice a day, 20 – 30 minutes a shot. So, go walk with your dog. They will be happier, and so will you.

You can find more information on our website at www.capawblehands.org!

Give the Gift of Life

This is the Holiday Season. This is the time of year when we as compassionate and caring humans are supposed to think about the needs of others more than our own needs. The time of year when we are supposed to care more about the less fortunate and then ourselves. Well, it is now the time of year for us to stop thinking about being a good person and start being one.

There are thousands of dogs and cats in local shelters near you that need desperately need your donation TODAY in order to, quite literally, survive the Holiday season. They need you to NOT spend $20 on Starbucks for you and the kids, but instead take that money and make a donation to their shelter. Their lives depend upon you perhaps spending a little less on dinner at that lovely restaurant that you like so much, and instead putting that money into the gift of life for animals that only want to find a forever home with someone that will love them like they desperately deserve.

Please, take 5 minutes right now, and make a donation to the SPCLA shelter, or any rescue organization of your choice. If you do not know where to give your money, see our web page for a list of rescue organizations that would LOVE your help and support, both financially AND in the gift of your time! These animals have done nothing wrong. They have not asked to be put in animal jail with only the HOPE that someone will come and love them. They are asking for your help, and they deserve it.

Now. 5 minutes, and animals will live. Please help

PLEASE Can I Have a Puppy for Christmas?

What parent out there has never heard this endearing plea from a doe-eyed little child, possibly with real tears in their eyes? I would bet a huge percentage of us have. While I love my children and want to give them what they want for Christmas (or what ever specific Holiday you chose to celebrate at this time of year) it is also my job as a parent to make sure what they get is a responsible gift, and they are ready and able to take on the responsibility inherent in potential gifts.

For the vast majority of children out there the answer to this question is simply, no. They like the idea of a puppy, but then the every day responsibility of feeding, grooming, walking, and of course the poop pick up. Generally once a child begin the tedious day to day they honeymoon quickly wears off. This then means there will either be fights with your child to feed the dog and walk the dog, or YOU mommy and daddy will become full-time dog owners. You will be walking the dogs before and/or after work, you will be feeding, and of course, let us not forget the post-feeding ritual that also involves a little clean up.

For those parents that DO have a child that is responsible and ready a few words of advice:

• As always and in all things, do your homework FIRST! Do NOT let your child fall in LOVE with a cute little puppy that is going to grow into a 120 pound monster that needs daily grooming and 3 miles of road work twice a day. Find out what dogs YOU as parents can live with, then sit them down and have a discussion about breed X, Y, and Z, and completely steering them away from the monster that sheds. 
• Please, when the time does come, rescue an animal instead of buying a Pet Shop puppy (Puppy Mills are SATAN!) When you rescue an animal you save a life, pure and simple. There are thousands of rescue organizations out there and there are breed specific organizations as well. So no matter what kind of dog you decide on, there is one out there in a shelter ready for you to come get them.
• Learn all you can about crate training as this will be your best friend. The ability to have Hondo go to his 'den' and be happy to sit in there while we go out when he was young was invaluable. Your house will not be at risk of disaster, and your dog truly will be happier. 

Every year right AFTER Christmas the shelters are flooded with puppies that were briefly loved, then became an unwanted nuisance and were dumped into some shelters lap, or worse. So in truth, if you really want to let your child have a dog, and really think it is a good idea, please do it AFTER the Holidays, and you will have your pick of a lot of young dogs, and you will be really helping a shelter.

Give the gift of life to an unwanted dog, adopt one AFTER the Holidays!

Better Dog Food Means Less Dog Poop!

OK, as you all know there are only so many ways do do things, like making dog food. If it is made of good, nutritional  ingredients there is a certain minimum cost to produce. Make sense? Well then, it makes one ponder how good the 50 pound bags for under $20 can be, and how to they make it so cheap? Well, the answer is right on the label.In this first picture you will see what we consider 'bad.'

When we started looking for our first dog (after we had to put down the last 2 from old age and disease) we started looking into dogs, dog training, dog collars, leashes, and yes, dog food. One of the first things that we learned right after getting Hondo was that most of the cheaper dog foods will have a lot of fillers in them; specifically corn and corn gluten (the REALLY bad one.) Theses (and others) are used to basically make the real food go farther, and thus be less expensive when it hits the store shelves. Check out the second picture and what the ingredients list looks like. This is really good stuff I would be very happy feeding to our dogs!

There are a couple of problems with these fillers in your dogs food:

1. Many dogs, like our Hondo, have skin issues and these fillers can cause these issues to become much worse. We didn't know Hondo had skin issues until we bought crappy food one day and it really make Hondo's skin issues flair up. As soon as we changed to a better quality of food, it immediately went away. 
2. This one is the biggie (literally!) The parts of the food that your dog's system absorbs and uses are pretty much only the good stuff in the food. So with cheap food full of fillers, this means that there is a lot of 'stuff' that has to go somewhere. Where might you think that is? Exactly! However with better quality food your dog's system absorbs more of it. This means less waste and smaller stools!
3. Because your dog is actually using more of the food he is eating, you end up being able to cut back a little on the amount of food you feed them. This reduction in the amount can easily off-set the increase in the cost of the food  you are feeding them. With our two odogs we have seen that it really comes out about even in the end. 

So how do you know what good dog food is? Well, first and foremost do your homework. Find out what the 'bad stuff' is.I suggest a Google search or starting with this article. Great stuff! Next, always check the label of anything you intend on feeding your dog. The 2 biggies that for us automatically exclude a dog food is if corn meal or corn gluten meal are in the top half of the ingredient list. Now, I will tell you that while I love my dogs, they are in fact dogs. I do not feed them the people grade ready to cut food you seen in the deli case at places like PetSmart, etc. We check labels and find the best food that we can at a reasonable price.

One of the things we have always done with our dogs is to feed them a variety of things regularly. We rarely buy the same food again and again. We buy a big bag that lasts 3 - 4 weeks, then something new. During that month they get good scraps and training treats of all kinds. We feel this desensitizes them and prevents them from getting sick should they have to eat something new. Now, we are lucky in that neither of our dogs have sensitive stomachs. This might not work for you. If not, find a good quality food that your dog likes and can tolerate, and stick with it. 

OK, here is that recap we all love (especially those that skim the important detail above!) 

• DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
• Check Dog Food Labels!
• Buy Good Quality Dog Food
• Dog Happier and Eats Less
• You happier and Pick Up Less Poop!

This looks like another of those Win / Win's we all like so much!

Stop by www.capawblehands.org to see more information, articles, and pictures of our cool dogs.