Chewing Woodwork: Cayenne's the Cure

None of the usual advice worked with our black lab rescue pup. He arrived fully formed at five months, and soon proved himself amongst the great chewers on the planet.

At seven months he merely chewed shoes. At eight months, he chewed all the woodwork in our kitchen, and then peed on it to boot. The house looked absolutely terrible.

The only solution: until he broke his habit, we painted the woodwork with a mixture of the spiciest cayenne you can imagine.  The red stain actually improved the appearance of our woodwork, in the interim (it looked that bad).

Have a dog that continuously "explores the world with his teeth?" Here's the regimen I would suggest:

Swimming in Humidity

Hi all....  given the humidity and heat, I just wanted to post a quick reminder about the possibilities for dog-swimming at Prospect Park. Don't keep your dogs indoors! Just give them lots of water, sit in the shade a lot, gallivant in fountains and go swimming!

To reach Prospect Park Lake's paddling area, head to
the northwestern tip of the large body of water indicated by the map.
Dog Beach is at the northwestern (upper) tip
of the little body of water at the top of the map.

So, easiest to reach from Prospect Heights and Park Slope is Dog Beach. To get there, start at what is called the Tennis House, off of the 9th St. entrance, and walk to the foot of the path leading downhill. It's just a tiny little cove in which to take a dip and play a wee bit of fetch, and there are lots of other dogs there too. 

However, for real swimming, and plenty of room for full-on fetching, and without competition for space with other dogs - I really like bringing my pups a little further into the park, to Prospect Park Lake, which has a less dog-visited beach. 

The Dominance Debate

Dominance training is not en vogue. Twenty years ago it was, and positive reinforcement was a foreign concept in some circles. I'm not a fan of fads. My view is that it's best to err on the positive side, but an occasional dominance maneuver is not a terrible thing. There is no reason that you cannot mix and match positive reinforcement with dominance maneuvers - just be sure to use great care as you turn to dominating your dog - as a last resort, and only when you understand his/her character extremely well.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that dogs are profoundly sensitive creatures that pick up on the slightest gestures, cues, vibrations. Being alert and sensitive to their cues in turn is vital to becoming leaders they respect and adore and want to follow.

This pic by one of my favorite clients is entitled "mean-lookin softies". She uses positive reinforcement all the way, and she's definitely boss with her once-aggressive pit-lab mix.

First and foremost, being sensitive means paying attention to subtle body language. Theirs, ours, and that of the person passing by on the street. When we want to train a dog to follow specific commands, we tend to use sounds such as words and clicks. But when we want to communicate our general relationship to our dog, we use physical communication.

Dogs Define Home

Are our dogs really "ours"? One of the possessions our houses contain? Or do they actually define the space we call home?

"Mine", directed by Geralyn Pezanoski, aired on PBS the other day. Pezanoski told Independent Lens about her time in New Orleans filming the animal rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina, where custody battles were arising over other 'Katrina pets'....

One Katrina survivor described his dog as "the only thing I have left." His dog was not a "thing" to him, of course, but he had nothing left of his life and home before the storm, and the restoration of his dog would in turn restore some kind of continuity....

Dog Kills Ball

There are dogs that don't like to play fetch.

They prefer to chase and kill the bright red bouncy ball of a cute little tole-haired boy under the care of his nanny, as the case may be in Park Slope. Ah, what satisfaction to pounce on someone's else's ball, bite and puncture it, shake the air out of it,  watch it deflate completely under paw, a little pathetic wheeze emanating from its plastic wounds. 

Starting Over With the "Come" Command

My regular clients know that every week or so, their dog is going to get some kind of special treat - perhaps some off-leash time, perhaps an extra-long walk, perhaps a swim, or bike-ride (if that's what the owner wants).

Yesterday it was: "Iris!..... Iris!!!!....?.....IRIS!" Lesson learned: Make sure the owners know all they need to know about training their dog to return, before offering off-leash services!

So, here's some background on the issue, a mix of my own approach and some straight-up plagiarism from some good websites. Underlined is the essence of what I would advise you to focus on. If you skim down to the numbered section, then you'll see in what order this process will go. 

End of Winter Bath

Our dogs' hindlegs have gotten smattered with winter rock-salt and sand, their paws are perhaps a bit salty even after a good paw-washing, and their coats are all-around smellier than we want to admit. It's almost time for that end-of-winter bath!

A lot of us have gotten behind on washing our dogs because as soon as we wash off all the gunk and the instant they have that nice silky fragrant coat again, they go pouncing in dirty puddles and shovel their way through telltale yellow snow-banks. 

Stress, Boarding & Bloat

When we first got Jet -- my childhood black lab -- from the pound, his eyes were not so much pleading, as full of fear. He had a clear history of abuse and neglect, and was such a nervous creature that a year after taking him home we were hardly able to touch his nose without a snap! Since I was a kid, I was able to spend hours every day with him, investing the time he needed to trust humans again. After a few years, he finally let me stroke his paws and his ear-tips. Like even the most adventurous human, he needed a calming, consistent environment, a sure sense of home.

When I was twenty, my parents moved to Chicago and took Jet with them. When they went out of town they boarded Jet at a kennel in the city. This made me incredibly nervous, since Jet was a biter and did not like other dogs, and I knew the kennel kept him caged pretty much at all times. I just could imagine him barking for days on end (he would bark so much his voice would get hoarse) - and my parents were away for two weeks.

And yes, he died of Bloat in there. I don't mean to be alarmist, but I have a strong feeling that it was the stress of being boarded in a kennel that triggered the attack.

Raw Food for Dogs

Think about it: How long have dogs been eating dog food? About as long as we've been eating processed foods like Lucky Charms and Cheezits.

1978 

After World War Two, the same consumption patterns which took hold of our culture, took hold of our dog's foodbowls.

1963 

We have been feeding our dogs a lot of the same kind of junk we've been eating ourselves.

1982

Just like we ate raw, unprocessed foods for thousands of years, so did our dogs. There are countless reasons to feed your dog raw meat:

1. Raw food can greatly reduce the risk of your dog developing health conditions of all kinds, ranging from simple diarrhea to the greatest risk to dogs after cancer - bloat (see the next entry for more info).

2. Raw food is often less expensive than kibble. You need to feed your dog more kibble to satisfy her/his dietary needs. Over the course of a week, a healthy adult dog needs to consume about 15% to 20% of their body weight. If your dog weighs 20 pounds, you can expect to feed her/him 3-4 lbs of food each week.

3. Raw bones act as a natural tooth-brush, and fortify teeth with calcium. Adults love a good RMB - Raw Meaty Bone.

Blizzards and gizzards

With a blizzard coming our way tomorrow, our dogs are probably going to be trudging through lots of driveways smattered with what looks like green-blue snow. This winter, antifreeze is everywhere undertoe, and we as owners should remember once more, that dogs lick their paws. Antifreeze tastes sweet! Because it's tasty, animals go looking for it. More than a few dogs are accidentally poisoned with automotive antifreeze each year.

"Green" Dogtoys and Accessories

I've lived in places where -- not only do dogs eat butcher scraps and chew on regular-old sticks, but  -- people actually use what they own until it is completely beyond salvaging. Places where kids don't have stuffed animals, much less dogs. And here in New York, we give our dogs stuffed animals knowing full well that they'll rip them to shreds in twenty minutes, in search of the squeaky center!

With the heyday of the stuffed animal for doggies, even our dogs are generating lots of non-biodegradable waste. There's no need to involve our dogs in the mess we're creating of the planet.

Uncharacteristic "Pawz"

Does your dog usually tug ahead of you? Is s/he suddenly full of uncharacteristic pause, footdragging and whimpering on walks? 

Start Your Dog's New Year Off Right: Save Some Trees!

Happy first day of the year! In this last year of the first decade of the new millennium, let your dog's New Years resolution be: "This year, I will not pee on trees!"

Most people think the term "Curb Your Dog" has two meanings: 1. To keep your dog under control and out of trouble; 2. To pick up your dog's scat.

But why is it that you usually see "Curb Your Dog" signs near trees? Dog urine and leavings are poison for trees, grass and flowers. Saplings and young trees haven't got a chance against a barrage of neighborhood dogs marking their territory.

Biodegradable Doo-bags

Years ago, I collected a series of tiny little sturdy, re-usable, nicely-designed Reisenthel and Envirosax bags for grocery shopping, etc., so I never needed another plastic bag.

But when I started dogwalking, I had to collect a bin full of plastic bags to accommodate all my dogs. I hate throwing away all those plastic bags, don't you? So a few weeks ago I wrote to a compostable plastic bag company and they sent me some samples. I can report that they (BioBags) work really well, much better than using old bags from the grocery store.

Fussy, fussy

Back when I walked dogs down the grassy streets of a medium-sized Midwestern college town, I used to assume that those people who cleaned their dogs' paws had a diagnosable disorder.

But like everything else, the definition of "disorder" is relative to context. Since I started walking dogs in Brooklyn, I've learned that what seems neurotic in a spotless environment, is common sense in a world of sidewalks strewn with the leavings of Brooklyn's thousands of dogs.

Oh my goodness, talk about a city full of dogs with fussy stomachs. What to do?

Is it Behavior or Genetics?

Epigenetics. Check it out sometime.

When scientists in the field of epigenetics observed rat mommas that were nurturing, that licked their babies, in comparison with those that took a paw-off approach and did not, they noted the following:

The unlicked babies had higher blood pressure. Their bodies were flooded with more of the stress hormones that actively promote heart disease, obesity and diabetes. When the unlicked babies were later placed with licking moms, and compared with those that stayed unlicked, they grew up to have far less health problems. Through nurturing behavior, the moms sculpted the genome of their babies.

In turn, there is some evidence that "Genetic Memory" does indeed exist in some form. That our ancestors' life experiences impacts our health, has been proven incontrovertibly. For instance, if one's great-great-grandparent experienced the Irish potato famine, generations later this will impact how one processes food, whether one is overweight, and whether one can or cannot withstand fasting.

What your grandmother was exposed to gets passed down to you – stress, smoking, pesticides. We have a responsibility for shaping our epigenome and passing it down to our kids - preferably improved!

The exciting thing to think about is that: We can change. So can our dogs and cats. And if we change, they certainly will too.

Now, let's get them out in the open air to walk, maybe even play!

Fearing Freedom

When monkeys raised in captivity, trapped their entire lives, are released from concrete and cages into open green spaces, they do not always know what to do.

One monkey, when released, paces back and forth on the narrow strip of concrete outside his trap door. He can't manage even the grass just beyond the concrete. He tries it out, but panics, returns to the concrete, pacing, anxious, finally recedes into the trap door.

Another monkey sees the open door to his cage, knows what to do, leaps past the concrete onto the grass, rolls around, sees the endlessness of the open space before him -- and the freedom he is about to experience -- and he does not hesitate, moves into the wide open, accelerating into a new life.

The Urge to Play

The passion to play is a powerful learning tool. Animals tend to play in relaxed environments and don't tend to play with predators around. However, animals who live in high-risk environments know how to adapt, and often play in a high-risk way - this helps them to learn better how to contend with the risks around them.

Animals who don't learn how to play become rogues, and grow up to become aggressive and violent. Animals need to play daily, just like we need to talk to other people daily.

"Owning" A Beast

Cats are like doorways,
the doorways they curl around,
because they exist on the edges,
between realities, this world and that,
civilized and beast.

They join us here for dinner,
while, with full bellies,
they nevertheless rip apart a mouse
for play.

They join us in our world, giving us the impression
they belong to it
and leaving suddenly to remind us
they do not.

When we try to coerce
their 'belonging' (or if they even sense we do)
if we forget, assume they are civilized,
their claws lash and eyes flash
in an instant to remind us -
they are certainly, indignantly, not,
not at all civilized.

How ridiculous. How perfectly preposterous.
Humans, such fools.


(Copyright, Refcah Manski 2009)