How Does My Dog Do  That?

Many dog owners think that different dog breeds must be fed differently, according to some sort of specification.  However, the eating behavior of a dog is characteristic of the entire species, not of any individual breed, since all dogs eat the same way.  As a result, there are certain general considerations that can be made when feeding any dog.

A dog is not required to eat its food the same way a man does.  A dog has no hands.  Its jaws are suited for biting and cutting rather than chewing.  There are few “gag” reflex nerves at the back of a dog’s mouth, but many in a person’s throat.  A dog has fewer taste buds on its tongue, but a much keener sense of smell than a man has.  There are many other differences as well.

How a Dog Eats

While the eating behavior of a dog may seem strange or awkward to some dog owners, to the dog it is the most comfortable and satisfactory way of getting its food from its bowl into its stomach.  The normal pattern of swallowing in a dog is often described as “bolting.”  The dog picks up a piece of food with its front teeth and with a short, quick thrust of its head, tosses the piece of food back onto the top of its tongue.  The piece of food is then rolled (without being chewed) to the back of the mouth.  As the piece reaches the base of the tongue, a reflex causes the back of the tongue to push the food upward and backward into the esophagus.  From there it is carried directly into the stomach.

When a piece of food is too large to be swallowed, the dog holds the food with its paws and uses its front teeth to tear off smaller pieces that can be swallowed.  If the food is too tough to be torn, the dog will cut it into pieces small enough to be swallowed, using two specialized jaw teeth.

These teeth are called carnassial teeth and have large shearing surfaces that act like scissor blades which can cut through such tough substances as muscle, hide, gristle, and even bone.  While the powerful jaw muscles of a dog are useful for cutting chunks of food into swallowing size, these muscles are used very little for actually chewing those pieces.  A dog’s teeth are few in number and poorly equipped for mastication.

A Few Basic Food Facts

Giving your puppy good food, healthy treats, and the necessary supplements will not only help him grow strong and healthy, but it will also affect his behavior and his ability to be trained to learn new things.

Every dog is different, and there are certain factors to consider when determining the diet program that will fit the needs of his growing body. However, there are also general rules that owners must follow to ensure that their pets are getting the balanced food and supplementation that their bodies require. 

You May Want To Avoid Giving Your Dog Human Food

Most vets and breeders do not recommend adding table scraps to your dog’s diet. They will also likely tell you that the majority of commercial vitamin and mineral supplements that are available today are only a waste of money. When you give your puppy human food, he will not only get used to eating that type of food, but the difference in the taste of human food and dog food will cause him to reject his own food. He will become a finicky eater and it will be more difficult to get him back to eating his regular food.

Take It Easy on the Supplements

It is also not necessary to give your dog a separate vitamin and/or mineral supplement along with human food and his own food. The majority of supplements out there are ineffective and can even be dangerous to some level.

For example, providing your puppy with an extra calcium supplement is not at all beneficial. It doesn’t aid in bone growth, but actually does the opposite. In some cases, extra calcium in your puppy’s body can actually develop to certain types of bone problems.  Adding a combination of supplements is just as harmful to your pet because they can create an imbalance to his diet.

Keep it Natural

Your puppy is better off with his own food, which is a good, commercial dog food specifically tailored to his needs (ask your vet for recommendation). In addition to the dog food, you may also give him a multivitamin such as Omega 3 oil and occasional liver tablets which, in my opinion, are one of the best treats you can give your dog. Omega 3 and liver tablets are available in most health food stores, pet stores, and online catalogs.

Other supplements to give your dog are natural, whole foods. A few examples of these are wheat grass, brewer’s yeast, bee pollen, and barley. These are food that contain nutrients from nature and will not interfere with the nutrients in your dog’s diet.

What Our Dogs Ate Long Ago

Before the industrial revolution, canine nutrition for working class dogs was much like the diet of their working-class owners – basic, simple, and sometimes not very good. Although they worked all day within a whisker of glistening sides of beef or lamb, dogs were lucky to get anything beyond a crust of bread or a greasy knuckle of bone. Other dogs fared a little better, although their diets also were identical to those of their peasant masters – meatless fare consisting of bread, potatoes, onions, and boiled cabbage. In general, the greater the wealth and status of the master, the more varied the diet of the dog. Canine dinners of the rich were lavish, for instance, including succulent bits of roast duck, cakes, and candied nuts or fruit.

The Chinese empress Tzu-tsi was said to have ordered her beloved Pekingese amply fed with "shark’s fins, curlew’s livers, and the breasts of quails … and for drink, tea that is brewed from spring buds or the milk of the antelope that pasture in the Imperial Park."

Dogs belonging to urban working-class owners in the mid 1800’s fared somewhat better than their peasant predecessors. According to art historians, it was common in cities like New York and London to purchase rations of horse meat for dogs and cats, "since horses were dropping dead in the street everyday, the passersby scarcely sparing them a glance as the contractor haggled over the price of a carcass with the cat’s meat man." These inexpensive cuts of meat, combined with varied leftovers from their master’s table, meant that many Victorian urban dogs enjoyed richly varied diets.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, as pets came to be regarded as luxury items, the question of how best to maintain ones "investment" sparked new interest in canine nutrition. Fanciers were inspired to look beyond breeding and grooming for additional ways to "civilize" and elevate the canine race. In an era when medical breakthroughs cast new light on the world of microbes, the gastrointestinal tract was viewed as a brewery of disease fueled by a diet of bulky, unprocessed vegetable matter, which could result in an array of maladies loosely categorized as "blood poisoning."

Harsh, antiseptic high colonies and even radical "colectomies" – elective surgeries to remove healthy colons – were employed in conjunction with disciplined diets of heavily processed foods void of dietary fiber and generous doses of laxative tonics or candies. In essence, imposing a "modern" diet on the body became a means of controlling an embarrassing inner, natural world.

Choose the Best Bites for your Pooch

Dog people are passionate about sharing their love for the family pooch with something extra, usually in the form of a treat, but today’s dog treats are nothing like they were when I was growing up, with the box of Milk Bones in the pantry and some other small treat called Dog Yummies that my Doxie was crazy about and knew the sound of the box when it rattled on the shelf.

No longer is it just a question of choosing from one or two, maybe three different treats at the grocery store.  Today there are entire cafes devoted to baking pastries and cakes, puffs and  croissants for the “haute dog.”  Yep, it’s even possible to choose different flavors of ice cream treats from the frozen food aisle at the local market.  Never mind that you can order special cakes and designer cookies from distant places to arrive in time to celebrate your canine companion’s next birthday.

Obviously there is not a thing wrong with slipping your furry friend occasional goodies.  They can be great motivators for training or rewards to reinforce good behavior.  This sharing just seems to create a deeper bond between the two of you.  And, of course we take great joy in watching our friend munch happily on a coveted treat.

Treats can cause a couple of problems if we don’t ration them out.  Most typical, mass marketed treats contain high amounts of fat, calories, artificial flavors and preservatives as well as artificial colors and ingredients that have names so long we’d have to take a class to learn to pronounce them and an advanced class to understand what they do for the treat. 

Baking homemade treats, from ingredients in your kitchen allows you to keep tabs on exactly what goes into the treat, lets you be somewhat creative in adding goodies like dried fruits, veggies, and spices, and gives you the chance to portion the treats to any size that you want.  You also avoid having artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and added fats.  I suspect that the biggest “bone-us” would be that since all of the ingredients are human grade, you and your canine buddy can share a plate of the freshly baked treats! 

If by chance you are not particularly handy in the kitchen, look for specialty treats that use organic or natural ingredients, have only the essentials, are attractive and highly palatable.  You are even able to adjust some of the ingredients if your dog has allergies or special needs.  I have to confess that I have been known to taste test several dog treats before I would consider their purchase…much to the dismay of my husband.  Many of the premium brands offer gourmet flavor combinations and supplemental ingredients; others offer homeopathic or herbal ingredients that are beneficial as well as tasty.

Try you hand at baking up a batch of dog treats. Even if they don’t come out perfectly, your dog will probably forgive you as long as you share a few with him.

Bone Appetit.

Which Dish is Which or Pick the Best Dog Dish

When it comes to buying dog dishes, you have a lot of options, from using an old pot to buying a hand-thrown ceramic bowl with your dog’s name painted on it. Dishes designed to store up to a couple of days’ worth of food or water are available, as are paper bowls good for one meal only (the latter most commonly used at boarding kennels and veterinary hospitals).

You will probably prefer sturdy dishes of molded plastic or stainless steel that resist chewing or scratching and can be sterilized in the dishwasher. These dishes – especially stainless steel – retain their good looks, handle any abuse a dog can dish out, and last forever. Dishes that damage easily are hard to keep clean and invite the buildup of food and bacteria in the dents and scratches. Some dogs also have a sensitivity to plastic bowls.

For tall dogs, consider an elevated unit that brings the bowl up to the dog’s level, an especially nice product for older dogs. For dogs with long, silky ears – like cocker spaniels – look for bowls with a narrow opening and high sloped sides to keep that fur out of the muck. If your dog is a ravenous eater, a bowl with a nonskid base will help keep the dish from ending up sliding all over the house.

Some people are a little squeamish about putting dog dishes in the dishwasher, but, honestly, if your dishwasher’s doing its job right, the water will be hot enough to render everything in it clean enough for you to eat out of.

The Water Bowl

While food dishes should be picked up, washed, and put away after meals, water dishes need to be kept full and available at all times. Here, too, stainless steel is your best choice. Dishes with reservoirs are fine, but they’re hard to keep clean. And, unless your dog needs a lot of water, these products get mucky before the water needs to be refilled.

For outside water, the "Lixit," available in any pet-supply store or catalog, has long been a popular device. Attached to a faucet, it releases fresh water when the dog licks or nuzzles the trigger – and stops the flow when the dog is through. They need to be installed in a protected area, however, for the metal can become frying-pan hot if exposed to full summer sun. 

All water sources need to be sheltered from both heat and freezing cold, or they won’t be available to your dog – a potentially deadly situation in extreme weather. As for keeping water warm, there are heated bowls available to keep water from freezing, as well as special devices designed to fit into buckets to do the same thing.

If you and your dog are constantly on the go, look into a more portable water source. Several different kinds of traveling bowls are designed to reduce splashing, and some collapsible products can be put away in a space as small as a fanny pack.

About Carob, Chocolate, and Our Dogs

     1. All chocolate is toxic to your dog. It contains theobromine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in cocoa beans.

       2. Carob is naturally sweet and generally lower in fat than cocoa.

       3. It would take 250 pounds of white chocolate to cause poisoning in a 20 pound dog and 125 pounds to poison a 10 pound dog.

       4. Carob is also known as St. John’s Bread.

       5. You can recognize signs of chocolate toxicity within the first few hours: vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, increased heart rate, muscle twitching, increased panting, seizures.

       6. Carob trees have been farmed in the Middle East for over 4,000 years.

7. Chocolate is in the same family as caffeine and theophylline.

8. Carob is considered to be a legume.  The edible pods are traditional snacks on Tu B’Shevat, a Jewish holiday that celebrates trees.

9. The darker the chocolate, the greater the poisoning capacity with a less amount for your dog.  Baking chocolate contains 390-450 mg/oz. of theobromine.

10. Carob contains vitamin A, vitamin B, and a number of minerals as well as protein.  It is rich in pectin, nonallergenic, and has no oxalic acid that interferes with calcium absorption.

11. If you suspect that your dog has eaten chocolate, contact a veterinarian immediately.  There is not a specific antidote for chocolate poisoning.  Activated charcoal may help to slow the absorption of the toxin.  Hydrogen peroxide dosed by weight of the dog and given at specific intervals as per your vet’s instructions will induce vomiting.  Age and health of the dog are definitely factors.

12. The seeds inside carob pods were once used to weigh diamonds, which is where we get the word carat from.

Spices for Your Dog’s Food

Everyone likes to add a little bit of spice to their life.  Why not consider something spicy for your canine’s treats?  As well as adding some flavor, many of the herbs, fruits and vegetables and spices that we use have the added benefit of being health enhancing. 

There are just a few exceptions regarding what should not be added at any time to your fur person’s home-baked treats.  Onions, chocolate, raisins, yeast, grapes, and the leaves of potatoes and tomatoes should be avoided.  Aside from those, the only limitations are your imagination and your doggie’s preferences.

 * Grass fed beef has up to six times more Omega-3 fatty acids than grain fed.  The fatty acids help to maintain heart health and cell function.

 * Parsley aids digestion and eliminates bad breath.

 * Fennel seeds freshen breath.

 * Flaxseed is rich in essential fatty acids and vitamin B.

 * Basil helps digestion and adds interest to the food.

 * Rosemary is an anti-stress herb that takes very little to add a big flavor.

 * Garlic stimulates the immune system but be sure not to overuse it.

 * Ginger relieves motion sickness, nausea, and has anti-inflammatory properties.

 * Blueberries, apples, dark cherries, cranberries, and pineapple are rich in antioxidant properties and dogs really enjoy them.  Add them to any recipe that calls for dried fruit and even those that don’t will be spiced up with their addition.

 * Cinnamon, nutmeg, anise seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds are great additions to recipes and will entice even the pickiest eaters. 

 * Lavender can be added to some of the cookies.  This aromatic herb has a calming effect on dogs and people.

 * Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and yams all have high amounts of beta carotene in them.

 * Comfrey helps to repair achy bones and joints.

 Ancient Chinese Medicine Tip: Based on balance in the universe, there is even yin and yang in foods.  Keep your canine cool with cooling foods such as broccoli, spinach, celery, pork, eggs, and duck.

 
Bone Appetit.

 Evolution of the Sense of Taste in Our Canines

The sense of taste evolved from direct interactions of the first living things with the chemical soup in which they were immersed.  In fact, the dog’s sense of taste develops before birth!  And, while their sense of taste is far less developed than that of humans, they use it for determining the palatability of food, stimulation of saliva, pancreatic, and gastric secretions.

 The dog’s ability to discriminate between disgusting and appetizing serves as a survival tool; the item may be poisonous, indigestible, or even harmful if detected as disgusting.  Good tastes are generally digestible, useful substances.

In our canine connoisseurs, the sense of taste is detected as in humans, by taste buds on the surface of the tongue, at the back of the throat, the mucosa of the palate, the epiglottis and the pharynx.  Interestingly, the taste senses are functional in the dog from birth, but require a few weeks to reach complete maturity.

 To taste something, the chemicals in the substance must be broken down with saliva.  A dog has a total of four pairs of salivary glands: under the tongue, at the back of the mouth, under the eye, and behind the ear.  They also have different types of saliva that are used dependent upon the type of feed that they eat-either watery, or mucosal in nature.

 Taste sensitivity is correlated to the number and type of taste buds in a similar way as sensitivity to smells depends upon the number of olfactory receptors.  Dogs have just over 1700 taste buds compared to their humans who have only about 9,000.

The average life span for a taste bud is approximately three days and must be replaced regularly.  Naturally with age the dog’s ability to reproduce or regenerate the cells declines dramatically.

 Dogs have a great attraction to all things sweet which can ultimately end in death!  One of the most common sources of poisonings involves dogs drinking antifreeze, which contains ethylene glycol that activates the dog’s sweet tooth.  As little as two ounces can kill a dog of medium size.

 In contrast to their affinity for sweets, the canine has a short lived retention capacity for remembering that it does not like bitter tastes even though the dog’s tongue is extremely sensitive to this taste sensation.  Within as short a time as 24 hours after having eaten something bitter and highly unpleasant, the dog will return to the source and try again…Rather dogged in it’s pursuit of treats.

 Our dog companions have taste buds that respond to water, unlike humans.  This taste sense is located at the top of the tongue and is on alert at all times.  When sugary or salty foods have been eaten, a dog’s sensitivity to water’s taste increases.  Possibly, the “water sense” is the dog’s mechanism for keeping his body fluids balanced.