Calcium in Homemade Dog Food

If asked the most common mistake people make when feeding their dogs a homemade diet, I’d have to say that it’s not adding calcium. This error is not only common, it’s also dangerous, especially for puppies, but for adult dogs as well when too little calcium is given long term. Giving an inappropriate amount of calcium (either too much or too little) can cause orthopedic problems in growing puppies, especially large-breed puppies during the first six months when they are growing the fastest. But giving too little calcium can lead to bone disease and more in adult dogs, too.

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What Causes Aggressive Dog Behavior?

In a world where our canine companions are often referred to as our “best friends,” it’s a puzzle that so many dog-human communications (or should I say miscommunications?) result in behavior that we perceive as aggression – anything from a freeze (stillness), hard stare, growl, snarl, snap, or bite, all the way to a full-on attack.

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Addison’s Disease in Dogs

Addison’s disease is often called the “great pretender.” The symptoms can be chronic, vague, and masquerade as other illnesses. The initial diagnosis is often missed and only discovered after other diagnostic avenues have been exhausted. In any dog that has waxing and waning signs like decreased appetite, weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting, or just general “poor doing,” Addison’s should be on the differential diagnosis list. This is especially true in breeds such as Rottweilers, Great Pyrenees, and Portuguese Water Dogs.

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The Best Ball-Throwing Tools for Fetching

We purchased the three most popular ball-throwing machines that will shoot out tennis balls, and have been flinging balls all over town to compare the features of these expensive machines. Your dog can play fetch all by himself with each of these products – that is, after you set one up, turn it on, and have taught him to drop his ball into the hopper that each product has positioned on the top.

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How to Train A Dog to Stay

After I learned about positive reinforcement training, I came to understand that teaching a stay behavior doesn’t need to have anything to do with power and control, and instead is a matter of reinforcement and trust.

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Highs and Lows

Nova’s placement is also a win for WDJ, since she’s a smart, well-behaved dog and her mom’s proximity and training acuity means they can model and demonstrate for articles in the magazine, often, I hope! Working with them has definitely been one of the highlights of putting this issue together.

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Download the Full May 2019 Issue PDF

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Download the Full April 2019 Issue PDF

In the most severe cases, dogs can develop anaphylactic shock. In canines, the shock organ is the gastrointestinal (GI) tract (in contrast to cats and humans, in which it is the lungs). Dogs in anaphylactic shock do not necessarily develop difficulty breathing. They are much more likely to develop sudden onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and collapse. The diarrhea and vomit can both be extremely bloody, in some cases.

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A Bee Story

Kale was a confirmed and completely unrepentant bee-eater. He was also completely untrained; my stay-at-home mom bought him from a backyard breeder not long after I, the youngest child and last one to leave home, left the “nest.” She needed another young being in the house to take care of – but she sort of forgot that I was the only one in the family who ever trained the family dogs. Kale grew up with zero direction, and like most GSDs, responded to the guidance vacuum by finding odd things to do with his time. Like hunt for bees.

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Double TPLO Surgery for Dogs

As we learned in our independent research and from meeting with multiple veterinary surgeons, the TPLO surgery has become the gold-standard treatment for this kind of knee injury, especially in very large, strong, young, athletic dogs. While waiting for Sirius’ growth plates to close, we saw firsthand how conservative management worked – and then didn’t. We were looking for a treatment option that gave Sirius the best chance at the kind of fun and normal life she deserved, one that would allow her to return to the activities and sports training that she loved.

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Cranial Cruciate Ligament Repair for Dogs: Your Options

The truth is, we do not have a perfect solution for cranial cruciate ligament tears in dogs. Research is constantly evolving and we are still in search of the perfect fix. In humans, a synthetic or biologic ligament is placed where the damaged ligament used to sit. This was tried in dogs, but the outcomes were never good. The replacement ligaments were just not well tolerated. Consequently, something different had to be done.

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A New Bone Cancer Vaccine for Dogs

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone tumor diagnosed in dogs, affecting an estimated 10,000 dogs each year in the U.S. alone. Too many owners are aware that this disease can be extremely aggressive with a poor prognosis.

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Liver Disease in Dogs

Signs of liver disease can include lethargy, decreased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, bruising of the skin (small patches of bruising are called petechiae; larger patches are called ecchymoses), abdominal distention, weakness, and a yellow tint to the skin and gums (called jaundice or icterus).

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The Best Food-Dispensing Toys 2019

We still love the basic Kong toy, as well as the variety of other toys made by Kong. But we have to admit, we also love many of Kong’s competitors in the food-stuffable toy category. In fact, there are so many it’s hard to even have favorites anymore! But at a minimum, we think you should be aware of how many options are available to you and your dog today, so you can select the ones that are best suited to your own dog’s needs and wants.

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Teach Your Dog to Relax Around Bees

Just like a good skunking doesn’t stop most dogs from going after those black-and-white critters again the next time (darn it!), there are many dogs who seem goaded into more intense bee-chasing behavior after an unfortunate encounter of the stinging kind. Conversely, there are also dogs who become literally phobic about all small, flying creatures after a stinging incident. Then there are those who develop an obsessive-compulsive behavior known as fly-snapping.

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Dog Stung By A Bee? Here's How to Treat It

Hives, wheals, and welts are a moderate reaction to stings. Just like their human counterparts, dogs who have been stung can break out in unsightly hives. These are usually very itchy and uncomfortable. The first sign often noticed is the dog rubbing along furniture or scratching at the face and eyes. The hives may manifest as bright red streaks or lumps all over the body or be confined to a single place.

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Price of Freedom

I asked trainer and Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor Pat Miller to write about the risks and responsibilities of off-leash dog walks in this issue. That’s because I’m a huge fan of hiking with my dogs off-leash, but I recognize that the activity is a huge challenge for many dog owners.

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Reporting Dogs' Adverse Reactions is Your Duty

It seems that is rare for a week to go by that we don’t hear about – or even experience – yet another pet illness or reaction to animal food, drugs, vaccines, or pesticides. At times, Whole Dog Journal’s articles and blog posts will include the advice to “report any adverse events.” And it’s excellent advice – so here’s when, how, and why you should report these events.

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Comfort Your Dog

There is absolutely no evidence, not one bit, suggesting that providing comfort and security to a distressed dog causes the dog’s anxiety or fear to increase. Why then, does this myth persist among dog owners and even with some trainers? Why are owners still advised to ignore their dog when he is distressed or anxious or fearful, as if providing any attention to the dog will reinforce those emotions?

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A Proactive Approach

There’s a significant difference between professional dog trainers and many dog owners: Owners tend to react to things the dog has done that they don’t like; in their minds, this reaction is what might be called “training.” In contrast, trainers set up situations so that their canine pupils don’t have any opportunities to practice undesired behaviors, and actively teach dogs how rewarding it is to perform desirable alternative behaviors, instead.

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