What is the best food for your dog?
May 4, 2022
There are many fad diets for humans (I have tried a few!), this trendy eating has crossed over into dog food.
Along with the trend toward the raw diet comes the grain free and hypoallergenic diets. Great if you have dog with food allergies, but it is rare for a dog to truly have an allergy to grain. The only people gaining from this trend are the dog food manufacturers and those that sell it.
Please do not take feeding advice from people who are profiting from your choices, speak to the experts, your Vet, animal nutritionists or other professional!
I asked my Vet on her thoughts on feeding grain free and hypo allergenic diets and the message was very clear, Don’t! There is now evidence that dogs are suffering with heart problems as a result of zero grain diets. Check out the evidence here:
Breeds that are generally not prone to heart issues are developing problems as a result of the lack of grain in their diet. A diet fed because the owner believes they are giving the best possible for their dog. Dog owners are being fed misinformation, pun unintended!
In my youth the only dog foods available were mostly tinned or raw, next was the arrival of the complete food and now we are back to raw again! I stopped using raw back in the 80’s, the Dobermann’s I lived with came down with campylobacter, one of the few bacteria that can pass between dog and man. My dogs and my whole family had to be treated, not a good experience. That would still be one of my main reasons for not feeding raw meat to this day.
This link gives clear scientific information that grain free is not good for most dogs.
Skip passed the advertising at the top, but do notice how many dog food producers are paying to sell you the idea! Very expensive dog foods, food with large profits!
In my early days of doing my job, the main problem I came across with dog foods was the additives and colouring the producers put in the food to give a high “tail wag” factor (as it was known in the trade). The affect on the dogs was hyper activity and crazy behaviour, much as feeding children high sugar treats. Now there is a new era and a new problem and many of them are leading to health issues, the same ones we humans suffer from too!
One of the reasons dogs have adopted us and the relationship has worked so well is because they do really well on table scraps and leftovers, the dog is a professional opportunistic scavenger, they can thrive on what they can scavenge.
The biggest behaviour issue I see today is related to over feeding high quality food and treats that the dog no longer has to earn. What dog is going to work for a living when they can kick back on the sofa and eat meat anytime they like? What treat is going to be worth working for, coming back to us for?
Couple that with the another new trend of scatter feeding and why have a dog at all, because they certainly will not be interested in being with you on a walk, why should they when all the best stuff comes along so easily!
Here is googles definition of Scatter feeding:
“Scatter feeding is a way to elongate your dog’s meal times by scattering their food over a wide area such as around your garden or house and provide mental stimulation at the same time. WHY? It slows down feeding for dogs that guzzle their meals. As a low arousal activity it can calm highly strung or stressed dogs.”
Firstly with any young dog I would use every piece of their food for training, teaching my puppy to watch me to have every reason to want to be with me and learn how to sit, down, come and heel, to name a few.
Secondly if you want to calm your dog there are much better ways either by training them with food or by learning calming techniques in your handling. (See thedogcalmer.com for calming stroking video)
Thirdly why train your dog to sniff out food, is that what you want to teach them?
Dog training room 101 or what not to buy for your dog!
March 9, 2020
A friend of mine asked what she needed to get for her first puppy, a question I have answered a lot over the years.
I found that as I was talking to a friend and not a client I wanted to respond slightly differently and tell her what not to get, or in other words the items I would put in the dog training Room 101!
Or I may just be growing into a grumpy old woman, or hang on, I am one!
- Extending leads
- Ball chuckers (whats is wrong with people’s arms and backs that they can’t bend to pick up a ball?
- Puppy toileting pads!
- Plastic pooh bag carriers that attach to the lead
- Leads with plastic handles
- Dog harnesses for adult dogs that connect the lead behind the shoulders only
- Play mats and any scatter feeding tools or just scatter feeding in general
- Leads that double over and have numerous clips and options on length
- Tit bits in tupper ware pots
- Dog owners that go to parks and other dog areas to meet up with a crowd of people with dogs and then let the dogs run amok!
And in case you are interested this is why!
- Extending leads
Most people buy them because they are the most expensive lead in the pet shop and kept behind plastic, therefore you are just falling for the marketing!
Secondly they have hard plastic handles! Just not nice to hold, let alone if you catch hold of the thin rope as your dog pulls, perfect for rope burn!
Having a dog on one maybe okay unless you come into contact with anyone else or another dog or the dog catches sight of a bird/rabbit/cat/ deer and lunges suddenly to the end of 5 or even better 10 metres, fastest way to be pole axed by a dog!
Walking a dog on one by a road! Why? Why would that be a good safe plan, even if short how easy it is to hit the unlock button, let alone having it extended by a road, it doesn’t matter how well behaved the dog is it takes little to distract them or you and they can be under a car!
The best reason in the world not to use one is they actually teach dogs to pull! There is tension in the lead and every time they pull away they get to go further! That is the fastest way to teach a dog to pull!
2. Ball chucker
The only legitimate excuse for carrying one of these is to fend off strange dogs whose owners can’t recall them or are on their phones and haven’t noticed the dog is bothering you or even better hope you and your dog will entertain their dog and wear it out for them (because the only reason they walk their dog is to tire them)!
Whats is wrong with people’s arms and backs that they can’t bend to pick up a ball? Why is it good to make your dog run hard and fast over and over, why don’t people want the dog near them playing, where it is safe and you are in communication having fun together!
3. Puppy toileting pads!
If you want to teach your puppy to toilet indoors use them!
4.Plastic pooh bag carriers that attach to the lead
You should be holding the lead handle and adding weight to the dogs lead makes the dog more aware of the lead and therefore hinders off lead training.
5. Leads with plastic handles
hurt my hand and ditto number 4
6. Dog harnesses for adult dogs that connect the lead behind the shoulders
With puppies this is fine, we want them to feel safe and secure, we may have to lift them in the air to keep them safe and attaching the lead at the back is the best place. However adult dogs, if we want them to walk with us and not tow us, the lead should be attached at the front of the harness, by being at the front of the dog you can turn them faster and keep attention more.
7. Play mats and any scatter feeding tools or just scatter feeding
Why would this be called dog enrichment? I get that kids need iPhones and iPads but dogs do not and anything that encourages people to entertain their dogs rather than spend quality time with them!
8. Leads that double over and have numerous clips and options on length simply create problems. People generally spend way too much time extracting the lead from under the dogs legs, a job the dog is totally capable of doing for himself, but they cannot with a double lead! On top of that they twist and bend all out of shape! Please just buy a nice 4 foot lead!
9. Tit bits in tupper ware pots. If you are training your dog, by the time you get the titbit out of the pot, the dog won’t know what he is getting the treat for! Or the owner doesn’t get the lid back on and spills the lot on the floor. If you are truly training your dog properly you need much easier access to tit bits!
10. Dog owners that go to parks and other dog areas to meet up with a crowd of people with dogs and then let the dogs run amok (oh and that’s because they want to wear the dog out again!)! The dogs become a pack and terrorise anyone who wants to walk their own dog on their own without company.
Remind me why do people get a dog?
Milo Golden Retriever!
Who knew taking my dog out for dinner could be so fraught!
January 16, 2020
Friday evening and I met a friend for a meal in a dog friendly restaurant and my Papillon puppy Moose came along. At the restaurant my friend and I are happily catching up chatting and eating, Moose on my lap keeping his head down being a good boy, when the dog from the next table decided to join us, a cute Chihuahua, not on a lead. What followed was like a comedy sketch, the dog would not return to his owner, she called him over and over “Alf Alf Alf come here Alf,” broke off her attempts to catch him to chat to us, explaining what a lovely dog Alf is, asking about Moose and explaining to us that Alf was coming over because we had a dog with us, (so now it seems our fault her dog is at our table) we meanwhile are still trying to eat our meal and chat though now also trying to help her get the dog. Moose sitting on my lap watching calmly, at one point the woman was crawling under our table to retrieve her dog, the tables were in booth arrangement we couldn’t move the table or chairs as they were fixed, we did our best to push Alf toward her. Finally she got him and returned to her table! But we weren’t done, three more times Alf returned, at one point the woman asked if Moose was okay with other dogs, as I had kept him on my lap, yes I said he’s fine thank you! I chose to ignore the unstated question that Alf obviously wanted to meet Moose and she wondered why he couldn’t! At no point did the owner put her dog on a lead, he wasn’t even wearing a collar!!
I know that it was me that was actually behaving in an unusual way, my behaviour was not at all English, was it? The woman did not do anything a million other dog owners wouldn’t have done. In fact her behaviour is probably more acceptable to most people than mine! I know that my friends and clients are more likely to see things my way, but most dog owners wouldn’t. Most dog owners would think me unsociable and unfriendly like this lady thought I suspect!
More visitors, Bronte visits Betty and Pie!
September 8, 2017
Happy memories from Betty and Bronte’s puppyhood and a younger Pie!
Betty had a busy week with Smarty her brother visiting one day and the next Bronte, the Border Collie puppy that Annie has waited 6 years for(see Bronte’s story), coming over the next day! I like my puppy to meet up regularly with the dogs and puppy’s that she will be meeting throughout her life, that way they become part of the extended pack, which makes my life easy whenever they meet. These are the dogs she can enjoy a social life with, not the strange ones in the park that we might only meet once! As most of my friends are dog trainers or at least train their dogs properly, I can also use these dogs to train Betty how to behave with other dogs. That means no rough games are allowed and Betty has to recall to me in the middle of the fun, ensuring she learns to…
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Don’t be an Ostrich! Dogs are animals!
March 2, 2014
Yesterday my dear Black Rock chickens Doris and Dodger were the victims of my neighbour’s dogs! What did they do to deserve being butchered in their own pen? Nothing, they aren’t even afraid of dogs, they are used to my dogs being around them and not bothering them other than to eat there pellets, they were even more helpless than less socialised hens! I feel terrible, it happened to creatures in my care, they were my pets giving me eggs to eat in return for safety, food and care. At least I thought they were safe!
One of the worst things is my neighbours reaction was denial, these dogs have never killed they say. How would they know? My sister has found them wandering loose on the road and taken them home on 3 occasions. I have found them in my garden and rung them to come get them home. At Christmas the Labrador came and had a go at Pie over the fence, luckily someone is always close at hand even when my dogs are out in their own garden and a worse event was avoided!
If a dog is out of sight it is likely learning to hunt! Hunting doesn’t happen overnight it takes many days practice, a lot of hours off lead. Some take longer than others, some are more natural hunters. If a dog chases any other animal or bird, eventually it will get lucky and catch one, the next step is they will kill it, once they kill they will get faster and better at the job, it is what dogs do! Two dogs together are even more effective; they can corner and kill very fast. That is how packs have survived for centuries. It’s not like this behaviour is weird or strange, it is what untrained dogs do! It is what they had to do in the wild to survive, but we can control them!
2 weeks ago I told my neighbours their dogs had killed one of the hens, I didn’t find her body, I saw the dogs flush her out of my paddock into their land, she didn’t come home! Just because there was no evidence I could offer they argued and denied the event. I heard them calling the dogs for several minutes, they couldn’t see them, and they assume all is well!
Please don’t be an Ostrich, we do not live in a Disney film, dogs are real animals, and if you ever forget it bad things happen to remind us. My hens are dead, they won’t be back but maybe just maybe a few people will read this and change their behaviour and that of their dogs and some other pets won’t die as a result, you won’t find your pet mutilated in its own garden!
Dog don’t just change overnight, it may seem they do, but learning is a process, when a dog catches, kills, bites, other creatures or people they have been practicing for some time and no one intervened! Please intervene, even if it is just to pass this on to someone who needs to hear this today!
Take your time!
July 29, 2013
This morning, as I was putting my horse’s head collar on, I found myself starting to rush, as he turned his head away I went after his head, it was like I was being pulled around just to put on a head collar! I stopped, I would never do that with a dog, any dog! I slowed down and waited for Red to settle down, every time he moved his head I stopped. It took a while, maybe 2 minutes at most to put on his head collar with no fidgeting, not forever, just a little time for me to teach him so that tomorrow the process will be quicker, but if it isn’t I will slow down again!
He doesn’t always do that, he was impatient to get out in the field, he knew what was coming next. Just like a dog knows he is going for a walk and gets impatient and fidgety! Next time your dog fidgets around as you put on the lead or collar, just slow down take your time, take as long as it takes. By bring down the adrenaline in this way your whole walk will improve, it will be worth it, let me know how long it takes you next time you put a collar or lead on your dog!
Red, my nephew Mac and Doyle (son of my Teddy!)
BBC Essex Radio for a live phone in!
July 23, 2013
I went into see Mark Punter at the Chelmsford studio to record my top dog training tips for his show this week. Mark will play one each afternoon, on Friday I am there for a live phone in! you can listen again on the iplayer if you miss the show on Friday! So no excuse. There is one top tip per day and I chose them this time from my clients suggestions, so your fault if you don’t like them :). I would really appreciate it if you can listen in and if you enjoy the show go on the BBC Essex Facebook page and let them know you like me please? That’s if you do!
As I arrived who should I bump into coming out the front door but Batman! I took a photo, not the best sorry, but wanted you to know I wasn’t making it up!!
You never know who you are going to meet!
The simplest tips are the best! (well I think so)
April 26, 2013
Can you please send in some silly photo’s for the blog?
Not that I think little Roxy looks silly, I was just looking through my dog photo’s and I have plenty of winter theme photo’s but not so much summer ones, maybe we can jog the weather along if we get summery!!
My tip for today was prompted by 2 of my clients yesterday, in separate lessons, both of whom will remain nameless! If you have a powerful dog on the end of the lead you must always stay aware of where the dog is and how you are holding the lead. I caught both my ladies holding the lead over one finger, yes one finger! Both complain of being dragged and having difficulty holding on their dog, not surprising is it?!
Always think power position when holding the lead, that means keep your feet apart for balance, and both hands, if possible, on the lead, but never less than one hand!
Titbit training and posh pup!
February 7, 2013
Posh puppy!
Toby (Betty baby) after a trip to the grooming parlour! Doesn’t he look gorgeous?! Lee is doing a great job of training Toby too, I can’t say too much or the rest of the litter will be jealous, but isn’t he handsome!?
My new puppy group reminded me to talk about titbit training today, my favourite analogy for titbits and puppy training is imagine you are paying the titbits into a bank account, every time you ask your puppy to do something without a reward you are making a withdrawal, with young puppies it is easy to become bankrupt, that is the puppy starts to ignore you! I always want to have a million on account! 🙂
Radio, snow and dates!
January 23, 2013
With Steve Scruton leaving BBC Essex I did wonder if I would still get an invite as I would guess the show must be having a complete freshen up, new brooms and all! I did wonder if the sound advice would survive but I am pleased to report it has, though it will be different. Mark Punter the new presented came here this morning to record some top tips, it was really strange to be doing that at home, maybe it was because we were in the living room in front of the fire and not in the work room! (see below for times)
I have had Bonnie staying this week, Jo has been in India, soaking up some sun, though she did say on Facebook that she looked like a red lolly pop as the humidity was so high! We haven’t suffered with that problem this week!
Thanks to Janice for the photo of Riley enjoying the snow, he is so like Bonnie, she has looked just like that most of the week, not wanting to come in from playing with her Mum in the snow!
Here are some training dates, as normal all groups have a maximum of 5 dogs and handlers!
Recall training:
Taking place here at Bury Farm
- Wednesday 30th January recall (beginner to intermediate dogs and handlers)
- Saturday 9th Feb recall (advanced training for the more experienced amongst you, you do know who you are, if in doubt do ask me please?)
Group walk training:
One of these will be in Hylands Park the other to be confirmed according to demand, either Dunmow, Bishop Stortford’s Thorley Park or the Discovery centre on the A130 near Braintree.
- Wednesday 13th February walk
- Saturday 23rd February walk
BBC Essex Radio
You can hear me on Friday 1st February
A new format on BBC Essex Radio, with Steve Scruton off travelling the world and Mark Punter in charge, you can hear a dog training tip from me daily next week, culminating with me live in the studio, answering dog questions from listeners, on Friday between 2.15pm and 3pm, if you miss the show you can always catch up on the iplayer for the following 7 days!
Avril Munson's Blog 