Stop the Begging, Already!

Yeah, it's Doc

 

In my last post (the one on vegetables as dog treats), I didn't have space to address the issue of dogs who beg at the table.  Sadly, I live with one of these (Doc, a 130 lb. Great Pyrenees), and his owner is dealing with the situation by taking his own meal away from the table a lot of the time.  Since he feeds Doc AT THE TABLE nightly and gives him anything left over from whatever he had for dinner, Doc is understandably confused when he is yelled at for begging at the table.  After years of trying to change this situation, I've had to give up (one of those times where you have to go along to get along), but for those of you who are in a position of authority when it comes to the dog in question (i.e., it's your dog, not someone else's), WebMD has some help to offer in a cleverly titled article, "How to Stop Your Dog from Begging at the Table." 

Tony didn't beg at the table, but that was probably because I didn't give him table scraps very often (and never during family mealtimes) and because I rarely eat at the table myself, not wanting to deal with Doc trying to get my food.  However, my father was prone to giving him the last bite of his dinner if Tony was around, which he often was, as you can imagine.  Once he was diagnosed with diabetes, I was able to convince Dad of the error of his ways, and that stopped.  Based on my experience with Tony, of the two solutions WebMD suggests -- controlling the dog's access to the table or teaching the dog to do something else -- I think I prefer the latter.  This is probably because I had great success teaching Tony to move off the street onto grass, then sit and stay, whenever a car was approaching during our walks (there are no sidewalks in our subdivision -- you have to walk in the street.  Yikes.).  I think I could have gotten him to lie on his bed at our mealtimes without too much trouble, but if you think that you might have some problems there, there are training tip links with the article, too.

Good luck, and remember, to a dog, a rub on the belly is often just as welcome as a treat in the belly.   

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Diabetic Dogs in a Winter Wonderland

English: Two Siberian Huskies (Max & Moritz)
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I hope your holidays are going well so far.  I just received an email from WebMd's Healthy Dogs newsletter and was appalled to find that the article links don't seem to be working.  Since others may be having the same problem (and since the search program on WebMd seems to have trouble finding pet articles, too), I thought it would be worth posting how to get to them.

The first article is on frostbite in dogs, and I found this a real eye-opener, as I never thought about it before.  I mean, the dogs I've spent the most time with throughout my life have all been breeds (Pomeranians, Great Pyrenees, Siberian huskies, etc) that originated in cold climates, and you just don't imagine them having too many problems in the winter.  In fact, I've always had more of a problem getting the dogs to come back indoors in the winter.  It turns out that cold weather is especially hazardous for diabetic dogs, because "Prolonged cold exposure burns up stored energy and results in a low blood sugar."  Their instructions on emergency care for dogs suffering from hypothermia include giving honey or sugar water as part of the treatment.  Good to know!

The article on winter safety in general is also a good read, if only to refresh your memory, but it brings up a few things, for example, the hazards of doggie sweaters (!), that may not have occurred to you.

Finally, one of the things I found on my own turned out to be another good source:  the vet blogs at WebMd-- I didn't know they had these, but I should have guessed that they would.  There's a post from a vet in New York about winter paw care, and much more.

That's all for now.  Best wishes for a happy -- and healthy-- new year!
 

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It's too darn hot

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWe're in the dog days now, so it's a good time to review hot weather dangers for our dogs, and WebMd's animal section has a good article on it.  Excessive heat is often a serious problem for diabetic dogs because of their special hydration issues, so we need to pay closer attention to our pets' drinking habits and monitor their time outside.
My sister's larger Great Pyrenees, Doc, was clipped close for the summer in early June and doesn't seem to be having too many problems this year, though his fur seems to be growing back a lot faster than it should.  Not all fluffy dogs should be clipped, however, so you need to check with your vet before jumping on the bandwagon.

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You'll be thankful you thought ahead

Image via Wikipedia


 This may seem like a strange time to talk about it, but as your dog gets older you need to think about end-of-life issues, just as you would for a human.  I'm thinking about this just now because the older of my sister's two Great Pyrenees turned 13 this month, which is very old indeed for that breed.  Gus is still pretty active and alert, but he has developed some weakness in his hind legs, as well as incontinence.   Since I was thinking about how Tony died soon after last Thanksgiving (he had turned 13 early in November, 2009), I mentioned to my brother in law that it might be a good idea to start thinking about the inevitable.  Steve tends to think in do-it-yourself terms (partly from personality, and partly because he hates to pay), and he told me his expectations (although not in so many words):  1.  Gus would die at home, and 2.  he would bury him.

It seems to me that these are common expectations in our culture, but nowadays they are unrealistic.   Unless your dog, or any other pet, for that matter, dies in his or her sleep, you will probably do as I did, which is rush it to the vet because it is in distress of some kind.  You will be very upset and faced with several decisions that you are in no shape to make on the spot:  BUT THEY HAVE TO BE MADE RIGHT THEN.  It is much better to decide ahead of time how far you are willing to go in your efforts to save your pet (if that is at all possible or wise) because when the time is at hand, you could be in a state where you will do anything to prolong his or her life, regardless of any financial hardship or common sense. 

I am thankful that my veterinarian managed to keep me from grasping at straws in that regard.  I thought that I was prepared, and I was, in some ways, but I had no idea how hard it would hit me emotionally.  I had already decided that when the time came I would have him cremated privately (see the article "When is the right time . . ." below for information about cremation) so that I would get his ashes, and I had a vague idea of how much that would cost.  It never occurred to me to bury him at home; I'm disabled, and our water comes from a well (I don't know for sure if that matters, but I wouldn't take a chance).  It turns out that there may also be legal issues involved with a home burial.  Steve wouldn't like hearing that.

Burying -- at home -- a dog the size of Gus, who is small for a Pyr, but more than 10 times the size of a Pomeranian like Tony, just doesn't make sense.   I think Steve sees that now; he's actually done some research into the alternatives, not that he's happy thinking about this problem in any way.  But I know he will be glad he did.  
In the meantime, I'm doing my part to help keep Gus happy and as healthy as possible.
  

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This may seem like a strange time to talk about it, but as your dog gets older you need to think about end-of-life issues, just as you would for a human.  I'm thinking about this just now because the older of my sister's two Great Pyrenees turned 13 this month, which is very old indeed for that breed.  Gus is still pretty active and alert, but he has developed some weakness in his hind legs, as well as incontinence.   Since I was thinking about how Tony died soon after last Thanksgiving (he had turned 13 early in November, 2009), I mentioned to my brother in law that it might be a good idea to start thinking about the inevitable.  Steve tends to think in do-it-yourself terms (partly from personality, and partly because he hates to pay), and he told me his expectations (although not in so many words):  1.  Gus would die at home, and 2.  he would bury him.

It's the heat AND the humidity when it comes to dogs in the summer

Image via Wikipedia

A while back, I complained about an article on winter care for dogs because it wasn't published until winter was nearly over.  Fortunately, the folks over at DogChannel.com have put out their warnings early enough for us to make some use of them, especially since we've been having an early heat wave here in the Midwest.  You probably -- I hope!-- know enough not to leave your dog in a closed car, but you may not know how to recognize when your dog is in trouble. 
According to the article:
'Heatstroke’s early signs include rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, thick drooling saliva and a dry nose and mouth. “The dog often has a panicked or wild expression,” Chodrow says. “If you lift up a lip, the gums above the teeth will be a muddy grayish-pink or a brick-red instead of their normal clear pink color. As heatstroke progresses, the dog may stagger or have seizures. In advanced stages, she may show bloody diarrhea, coma and death. Heatstroke is a medical emergency: If untreated, it can be fatal.”'

Keeping an eye on your dog in this kind of weather is all the more important if he or she has other health issues, such as diabetes, which affect hydration (if his or her blood sugar is not under good control, you really need to limit outdoor play in the summertime).  It's a good idea to limit outdoor play time for any dog on a hot day, and you need to make sure that shade is available no matter how short a time you will be outdoors. 
I've talked about my brother-in-law's group at the dog park before, and there can be some other problems with that kind of setting in the heat.  For one thing, people go there not just so their dogs can have fun, but also to socialize with other dog owners.  The group that Steve hangs out with are  Great Pyrenees owners, and he's lost track of time more than once while chatting with them.  They all wait until early evening to take the dogs to the park to help prevent heat-related problems, which is good, but as the DogChannel article points out, humidity is a problem all by itself.  If the humidity is high, evaporation is slowed, and since the dogs cool themselves by panting, heat stress can build up even after the sun goes down.
There are a couple of other factors that the article mentions that I want to talk about, but the first is most important for diabetic dogs, many of whom have excess weight.  As the article points out, that can have an effect on breathing as well as retaining heat, since the weight acts as extra insulation.  The other problem they cite is dogs with double coats (like Pomeranians, for example).  Although their coats can insulate against the heat, once they do get hot, the coat holds it in.  And, of course, the kind of exercise matters, too.  Here again, I'm thinking of dog parks, where many dogs get a far more intense workout than they do at home, and where they may forgo drinking at times because they are so involved with their play.
The article has a lot of good advice, and I can't recommend it highly enough.  Read it, protect your best friend, and remember -- warnings for heat danger for humans also apply to pets.

I would also recommend the article below about outdoor dogs.  It's kind of surprising, to me at least, how people rationalize their worst decisions.

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Hidden problems under those thick, fluffy coats

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I saw something that brought home a problem that is the major risk factor for diabetes (in dogs and humans), which is excess weight.  My brother-in-law, Steve, took the younger of his two dogs to the groomer, and he discovered why a Great Pyrenees's coat requires either constant attention from the owner or regular visits to the groomer (no more than 3 months apart). 

My sister and her husband have been having a hard time lately moneywise (who hasn't, right?), and they had to put off taking the dogs to the groomer.  Gus, the older dog (he's three-quarters Great Pyrenees and one-quarter Komondor -- his coat doesn't cord, but he has some cool waves) went last month, and there were no problems.  Doc's coat looked pretty good, at least as good as the dog in the picture above; after all, they do brush him and so on, but what none of us could see was that his undercoat had become a giant mat.  The groomer called my sister to tell her that they were going to have to shave Doc.

So, last night, Steve went to pick Doc up, and he said later that he was afraid to bring him home, since he expected his wife to go into hysterics when she saw her "new" dog.  In fact, I was the first to see him when he came into the house, and I didn't know anything about the matting.  "Who is that?" I asked.  Steve kind of winced.  "It's Doc."  I couldn't believe it.  Doc weighs about 130 pounds, and he looked like he was half the size he had been that morning.  However, without all that fluffy white fur, his body was suddenly easy to see, and it was obvious that he is overweight.  You could see that his silhouette was too round, just like those diagrams all the vets have in their waiting rooms that tell you what a dog at the right weight looks like. 

My sister's reaction was totally unexpected.  She kept saying, "he's so cute!  Like a giant puppy!"  She went nuts over him, but she also noted his enlarged midsection, and pointed it out to her husband.  Now, for years he's had issues about feeding the dogs.  Gus is a fussy eater, and doesn't eat a lot at the best of times, so when Doc came along and REALLY liked to eat, Steve rewarded his appetite with more food than was good for him.  Doc's new look finally showed Steve what he had done, and I think he's learned his lesson.  He saw what I went through with Tony.  I am willing to bet that Doc is going to be getting less food and more exercise from now on. 

I hope to have a picture of Doc in his "puppy cut," but I'm not sure Steve will let us take one.  He hangs out with a bunch of Pyr owners at the dog park, and he's always been proud that Doc is such a big dog.  I think he'll be too embarrassed to take him until some of the fur grows back.

Here's a sad story that just popped up from my Zemanta feed (Doc never looked as big as the dog in the Vail News photo, in case you are wondering), plus some less tragic tales:

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A Three Dog Household

I have probably mentioned that there are other dogs here, but it's worth talking about in more detail, since there are problems connected with having other dogs living with your diabetic dog. In my case, the problem is exacerbated by the size of the other dogs and my dog's attitude issues. You guessed it: Tony has delusions of grandeur, mostly related to his conviction that he is the biggest, the toughest, the baaadest dog on the planet (or at least in the house). What's surprising is that the other dogs seem to buy into his domination fantasy, all the moreso since they are Great Pyrenees,
giants who were originally bred to protect flocks of sheep by fighting wolves. Doc (age 5, 130 pounds) and Gus (9 years old, getting skinny-- only 85 pounds) both let 11-pound Tony call the shots most of the time. When all three of them were younger, it wasn't unusual to see Tony jumping up to bite them in the throat (I had to pull wads of fur out of his teeth almost every day. Good times.). I kept thinking that someday Doc would walk in with Tony hanging off his neck like an earring, but that never materialized (a pity, since it would have been a heck of a picture). Nowadays he mostly just growls at them as needed. He still occasionally mounts them, which is pretty funny-- after a few seconds of this, the big dog will turn around and look to see what's going on back there. So much for making the big domination move, little guy.



He's still leader of the pack, however. When Tony was first diagnosed with diabetes, I worried that their dog games would be a problem. Before then, I mostly worried about one of them stepping on him -- their feet are bigger than his head-- but he would get a scratch from time to time as he tried to show them who was boss. Now that he could be expected to have trouble healing, I had something new to worry about. Luckily, he hasn't been scratched or stepped on in the last three years, so my fears haven't panned out. Gus and Doc still want to sniff him all the time, which he usually does not permit, although he likes to play "dog vet" with them, sniffing them from one end to the other until he's sure they're not coming down with some dread disease. They stand stock-still when he does this, and they don't relax until he walks away (actually, he kind of swaggers). Tony's cataracts (a common side effect of diabetes) have been getting worse, but his vision impairment hasn't been as much of a problem with the boys as it has been with the humans, who are used to Tony getting out of their way rather than the other way around.

Most of the problems we've had have had to do with food. Doc eats a lot, where Gus is very picky, but neither is what you might call a dainty eater. Tony has been in the habit of batting cleanup after their meal, and it's sometimes hard to stop this. When he was first diagnosed, my sister found a couple of plant stands for Gus and Doc's food bowls, which turned out to be a perfect height for all of them. They're over Tony's head, but easy and more comfortable for the Pyrs. When it comes to treats, however, all bets are off. My mother was in the habit of giving Tony treats whenever he seemed to want one (a classic grandmother!). She still does this with the other two, but now she lets me know if she's given Tony anything, and her contributions to his diet tend to be things like the last bit of scrambled Egg Beaters on her plate; in other words, protein. She doesn't do it often, thankfully. Dealing with the treats is tough for me, too. It's so sad when the big dogs are being showered with rawhides or whatever, and the Pomeranian can't share in the fun. It would be easier if Tony liked toys, but he rarely plays with them.

If your dog is in frequent contact with other, non-diabetic dogs, you will probably find that the most difficult thing is getting the people of the other dogs to cooperate. They may need continual education and reminders about how their actions affect your dog, and after a while, this becomes tedious for both parties. I can't help you there. One of my housemates has memory issues, yet he becomes upset if you remind him (or if you don't remind him, for that matter). Your best bet is to establish as rigid a routine as you can, so that it becomes second nature for everyone in the household, not just you and your dog.

I'll leave this here for now, but I expect to revisit it from time to time. Right now, Tony still hasn't eaten, and I need to shop for our 4th of July celebration.