FEEDING RITUAL - Eating

Some people experience what is called "food aggression" or "resource guarding" with their dogs. These are displayed by a dog's growling, snapping, barking, etc. toward a person or other animal that approaches it while it is eating or chewing on a high value item such as a rawhide, bone, or favored toy. This is dangerous behavior and it is unacceptable in our pack.

There is not one command or "thing" we do that discourages resource guarding. I believe it is the one hundred little things we do every day that inform our dogs we provide for them, everything belongs to us, they do not need to defend themselves, and we will not accept possessive or aggressive behavior. Our feeding ritual provides examples of a few of these.

As already highlighted, our dogs work for their food and wait calmly. They also have to receive permission to approach their feeding stations.


Fosse's bowl is filled with dry dog food, frozen green beans, pureed sweet potatoes and hot water. He looks to me for direction of when he can eat. He's such a good puppy!

Once my dogs are eating, I should be able to have my hand in their bowls or move them away from their stations or touch them without any irritation or aggressive behavior. I am guaranteed this due to the trust and respect in our relationship. It creates a secure environment for everyone. My dogs trust that they never have to defend food, and I trust that my dogs are safe around anyone any time.


Luna licks my hand assuming something good is coming from it.
Not everyone has this kind of relationship with her dog, but I wish it for everyone.


Foster moves slightly from my hand as it approaches his food, giving me space and preparing to stop eating if I demand it.
He was unsure during feeding time when he first came to us, but now he's healthy, respectful, appreciative, and happy to eat.

FEEDING RITUAL - Waiting

Feeding time can be an exciting and active time in some households. I am told of food spilling, people tripping, dogs jumping and general chaos leading to people just leaving food out for their dogs to eat at will. For a few reasons, free-feeding is not something I provide, but what I do create in my home is a structured and relaxed energy surrounding our feeding ritual.

After we've walked - accomplishing a task before being rewarded with food - my dogs have a particular location in which to sit while I prepare their meal. This location gives them the opportunity to see what I'm doing while ensuring everyone's safety and composure. It doesn't take long to prepare their meals, but there are a few steps, and having my dogs sit until I call them to their bowls gives them another task to perform, and it provides them with the predictability that food comes when everyone is calm. There is a serene feeling and reverence for the gift of food in our house.

This isn't all to assert my power over them, though it does create an understanding that all good things come from me, but it gives everyone a job, a place, a security that we each have a role in this ritual and it's always a gift, happily provided and received.


Luna watching carefully and patiently. Fosse interested in both the meal prep and the squirrel he sees out the window.

FEEDING RITUAL - We Walk

I know I've typed it a jillion times already, but here it is again. We walk.

I see walking together before eating as a primal connection between my dogs and I. In another lifetime together, my dogs and I would migrate and hunt in a territory. We would have to work to find our food. In our life together now, even if it's a short walk, walking together before eating is a ritual within our feeding ritual. It just feels right.

FEEDING RITUAL

I've got a thing about food. I feel it is one of the most loving things I can provide for my family, and I enjoy taking care of my family by feeding them the highest quality food I can afford. Of course this includes my dogs. I have researched dry commercial foods, designed and implemented a home-cooked menu, as well as fed my pack a combination of commercial and home-cooked foods plus nutritional supplements. Through all of the meal plans, I have maintained the same feeding ritual. Meals, the assembly of them, and even the eating, all have a rhythm, and some rules.

Meal time at our house is exciting. Our dogs are highly food motivated, but it is also a calm, stress-free, manner-filled experience. I love giving my dogs exactly what they need, and I love the respect they have learned to show the humans who provide for them.

I've been using this food for nearly one year since discovering Luna's allergies are tremendously helped by feeding her virtually no grains. Foster likes it too!

SAFETY - The Heat

Warm temperatures make it seem so easy to get outside and be with my dogs...because they do make it easy! The only thing I put on my dogs is tea tree oil spray (for mosquitoes, fleas and ticks) and out we go for hours of walking, weeding, picking up sticks, whatever. My dogs still have needs though, and I think I'm prepared for the "whatever" of the outdoors in the heat.

Having Labrador Retrievers, I learned they are prone to heat stroke. I've had a Yellow Lab and a Black Lab. This does not mean they had to stay indoors in air conditioning. This means I had to provide ways to keep them cool and safe, and yes, sometimes limit their activity because they don't know when to stop!

Satchel was over 90% Yellow Lab and he LOVED to be outside for any landscaping activity. While he was severely car sick, and hated being in a moving car, he LOVED tooling around the yard in the John Deere cart. To safely be outside, Satchel needed just a little bit of sunscreen on his nose and some shade. To be happy, he just needed his Jason.


Adorable, right?

For Luna and Foster, a Black Lab and a mix of dark dogs, they need just a bit more cooling opportunity. We provide a pool for cooling off! Foster doesn't love the pool as much as Luna, so I put what is called a "Cooling Collar" on him. It has some kind of gel inside that when soaked and frozen remains cool around his neck for about 2 hours. We also keep the garage doors open so the dogs can lie down on the concrete in the shade, and that is where their outside drinking water is kept. They get to participate in whatever we're doing (we were setting up for an outdoor party on the day these photos were taken), and I know that they're safe from the heat.


Luna LOVES her Puppy Pool


The actual temperature was over 90F with over 90% humidity. It was HOT.

We are fortunate to have access to a lot of lakes and boats, and people know that I will want to be with my dogs, so we are invited to bring them with us. With boats, comes my boater safety training, and that makes me think of life vests. Yes, my dogs have life vests.


Once again, Luna is ready to go!

I have been told that my dogs, my Lab in particular, can swim. This I know. I also know that accidents can happen, and even dogs can be knocked unconscious, or our kayak could flip while out on Lake Michigan and it's a long swim to shore. We have life vests for our outdoorsy life, and I'm not embarrassed to wear one, nor to have my dogs wear one.

I will "confess" that when Luna and I canoe on the Crystal River we don't wear our life vests. We love canoeing there. People yell from shore that Luna should have a paddle, and we smile and wave. It's so easy and relaxing. I know that you can drown in inches of water, but the Crystal River is like 2 feet deep in most areas so even if we "capsized," the canoe wouldn't even sink. I can't find the picture of my sweet canoe mate right now, but here's one of my tired girl with her favorite life preserver after a day of wave jumping on Lake Michigan.

SAFETY - Winter

We like to be out in any kind of weather. Well, Luna and I like to be out in any kind of weather. Since meeting Foster, and divinely integrating him into our family, I've learned not everyone is like Luna and I. Foster doesn't love variations in weather. While Luna and I are barely fazed by rain, Foster sniffs the air and seems to say, "Um, you do know that it's raining, right?" With a few supportive gear elements, Foster has learned to enjoy the Winter.

Sweatshirts and Sweaters
I've never clothed my dogs. I do like a jazzy Halloween costume now and then, or a Christmas or Spring bandanna, but I don't dress up my dogs daily or anything like that. For those who do, I'm amazed at the products available! But we're kind of simple and minimalist and I flip quickly through that section in the dog catalogs I receive.

Having mostly Labs in my adult dog ownership experience, and outside dogs as a child, I wasn't familiar with dogs who actually require clothing to be comfortable. Enter Foster Dog. Fosse has about 4% or less body fat, and he gets chilly in the Winter. We keep our home pretty cool, and I noticed FD curling up particularly tight to have a nap, and I noticed him burrowing into a down comforter on the bed at night. It occurred to me I should feel his feet. My Fosse's feet AND ears were cold as he curled up in his Barkalounger in the house! A remedy was soon found.


Monogramming was free. Had to do it.

Jackets
Several years ago while walking in the woods with Luna and Satchel, I realized we needed to be visible to hunters who could be in the area. I purchased outdoor coats...and paid extra for monogramming. Had to do it.


Foster wears Satchel's hand-me-down, and I wear the jogger's reflective thingy that's in the middle

I chose these coats because they are waterproof, have some warmth, have reflective accents, and are bright orange. Luna doesn't need hers very often, but it was really helpful the last time we went to the kids' soccer game when it was POURING buckets of rain and the school wouldn't let us enter the covered area around the field.

Their Feet
There are booties with various names to protect your dogs' paw pads in snowy areas, rocky terrain, waterlogged areas, etc. I canNOT keep them on my dogs' feet. I have them, and I keep trying them, but usually we lose them within 20 yards of the car and have to turn around and pick them up.


It's hard for me to believe I still have a complete set



We buy Bag Balm at the grocery store

What does work for us is Bag Balm. There are several similar products available. Musher's Secret is a really nice alternative, but it's quite a bit more expensive. We have Bag Balm, and it works, so we use it. Bag Balm, or a product like it, protects dogs' feet from salt and de-icing solvents as well as from chapping. I put it on before we go out and I wipe off the residue with baby wipes when we return. It doesn't prevent them from getting a cut from an ice shard or something buried in the snow, nor does it prevent frostbite, but I hope I'm looking out for my dogs in enough ways that we will continually avoid those hazards.

SAFETY - Traveling

I've written about traveling with my Pack, and here, I'll mention a few of things I do to increase the safety of my dogs when we're traveling. They're easy to do, and even though I am once again teased about some things, I keep doing them because they help us enjoy our travels completely. This is what works for us.

Seat Belts
I seat belt my dogs whenever we get into the car. We may be going 3 miles down the road or 1300 miles across the country. Each dog has her and his seat belt and each dog waits patiently to be buckled in.


Luna is always up for an adventure

The comments that are made are generally about how the person doesn't need to do that for his or her dog because his or her dog is so well-behaved in the car. I generally don't respond because my dogs are very well-behaved in and out of the car, but I still seat belt them. I seat belt my dogs because I don't want them to become projectiles if we are in an accident or if we have to stop short to avoid one.

When driving 35mph, a 60-pound unrestrained dog can cause an impact of 2700 pounds slamming into a car seat, windshield or passenger. (Bark Buckle UP, the leading research team on pet travel safety. http://www.barkbuckleup.com) I seat belt my dogs whenever we get into the car.


Fosse nearly asleep as we wait for Js flight to arrive from SF

Microchipping
I'd never considered microchipping until Foster came into our lives. He runs a bit, and since he looks like a Pit Bull to many, I envisioned people being unsure about bringing him into their homes to call me. Kind people might call Animal Control who hopefully would scan him and reunite us. Ideally, we will build our relationship so he doesn't run, and so far, he's run into the woods and then back to his yard. Luna has run away once her life; the very first time I left her in the care of someone else. She hasn't walked further than 60ft from me since. Still, I asked my vet about microchipping and she told me this story.

A client of hers has two dogs. They are each microchipped with the owner's information as well as the vet's. The owner and her husband, and their dogs, were driving to a wedding and were in a terrible car accident not far from home. The restrained-in-crates dogs were thrown from the vehicle which broke the crates open. Accident witnesses saw the dogs run into woods adjacent to the highway. These Good Samaritan witnesses coaxed the dogs out of the woods and took them to a local vet who assessed their injuries and scanned them for microchips. The dogs' vet, who is also our vet, was contacted and the dogs were transported to their vet's office for further assessment and boarding. The owners were unconscious following the accident, but when they regained consciousness, they asked about their dogs. They were told their dogs were safe and being cared for at their vet's office. I walked out of our vet appointment with TWO microchipped dogs.


Foster LOVES being on the road

Meds
I always have a car first aid kit (jumper cables, fix-a-flat, etc.) and a dog and people first aid kit. For the dogs, I have wound care items and medicines like buffered aspirin, a prescription anti-inflammatory and antihistamines. We've only needed the prescription anti-inflammatory once when I let Luna overdo it on Lake Michigan, but I feel that if I'm prepared, we won't need anything!


I have the best traveling companions. Ever.

There was that time in our neighborhood when Luna and I stepped onto an underground yellowjacket nest...we needed the Benadryl out of the first aid kit that day...