ALL BY MYSELF.......SEPARATION ANXIETY

In my opinion, there are different degrees of separation anxiety and different ways that owners can cope with it. The German Shepherd is a people (or his master’s) dog. Because he is a pack animal his need to be with you is even stronger than let’s say the average household cat. He is the happiest when he’s with his owner. Nothing pleases him more than being with you. When he needs to be away from you due to hospitalization, showing, breeding, or even when you go out to the store and leave him behind, he suffers some sort of separation anxiety. Depending upon the nature of the dog (easy going, hyper, etc.) will determine how well he handles being away from you.

I must say that I never dealt with this condition myself with any of my dogs EXCEPT a couple of times that they got into the garbage can in the kitchen and turned it upside down! I have talked to other people who have dealt with this problem and its not any fun. Dogs that have this condition can become very destructive. Furniture, rugs, drapes, etc. have been destroyed by some dogs who suffer separation anxiety. I had to laugh when researching this topic. Someone suggested getting this type of dog another dog to help calm his fragile nerves. Yeah, right so the second dog can follow what dog number one is doing and they can tear up your house together! You open up the door to your house and surprise; nothing is still standing except the now two destructive dogs happily wagging their tails because “mommy” is home!

What causes this type of dog to suffer separation anxiety? There are a few theories. Some said it can be heredity. Others say many times it’s the alpha dog that may do this because he doesn’t like seeing part of his pack leaving without him. He has no one to be the boss over any longer. And then others say it is a lack of socialization and training on the owner’s part. Whatever the reason, the result is still the same and unless you have lots of excess money to spend replacing your belongings, the smartest solution is to train the destructive dog. A suggestion was made to try to use another door that you normally leave the house from and return to. The reason being is that a dog is a creature of habit. This might confuse him……..for awhile!

Some suggest leaving a radio on similar to what some of us breeders do for puppies to keep them company. Others sedate their dog and still others leave the dog in the crate while they are out. Leaving a dog in the crate that has separation anxiety can make him even more nervous to deal with. He is now totally confined and even more confused. Leaving him toys that have food in it to help distract him while you’re gone also was suggested.

The dog that is a kennel dog when left alone will usually pace up and down his kennel run barking and making a lot of commotion. Hopefully you live in a rural area where his annoying barking won’t bother anyone. Take a look at a dog in a kennel. If you open your door or look out your window and the dog sees you, what does he do? The majority of the time he becomes excited and starts to pace up and down or jumps up on the fence in hopes that you’ll see him and bring him in the house with you.

Look at a dog that is normally good in the house that doesn’t destroy anything when you leave. Even these dogs when you return act like you’ve been away for a hundred years. You are greeted with a very happy dog who welcomes your return with a tail that never stops wagging with an anxious, happy expression on his face.

Separation anxiety has caused so much aggravation to the owner of the dog that it is not unheard of that he takes the animal to the vet to be put down. If the owner hasn’t taken the time to train her dog, than in my opinion this is the lazy way to deal with the dog. I believe you owe it to your dog to properly train him before you resort to such drastic measures.

I also want to mention here my feelings about dogs that are sent away to be trained and conditioned for dog shows. Again this is my opinion and you may say I’m wrong and that’s alright because I’m going to say it anyway. I feel SOME dogs may be more suited for this than others. It is my feeling that ANY dog no matter what his temperament is like will still be a bit anxious in new surroundings perhaps with strange dogs barking in the runs next to him. He’s not in the house with you, but somewhere where nothing is familiar to him. Oh his temperament is good and he’ll adjust, but no one can make me believe that even this good natured dog doesn’t feel a little bit homesick for his owner and the environment that he is used to living in. No trainer or handler has the time to put into your dog the special things that you do with him. The dog is there for one purpose……training or conditioning. The trainer or handler has many other clients’ dogs to work with as well. He’ll put more time into training or conditioning your dog…..that’s why the dog is there, but he doesn’t have the time to give the dog the special love that only you give to him. I know that some dogs love their handlers, but he is still away from home and yes, “there is no place like home!”

Sometimes a dog needs to be boarded because you are on vacation. The dog’s feeding schedule may be different. Perhaps you feed your dog at 5 p.m. and the place that is taking care of your dog feeds him at 6 p.m. Well you and I know what it’s like around our houses when it’s our dogs supper time. In my house, my dog starts to whine and pace about an hour or so before her scheduled time of feeding. Imagine your dog in his new temporary place and they feed at a different time. He might be whining and pacing for a couple of hours.

I have heard some of the horror stories of dogs climbing fences, dogs escaping or dogs bloating that have lost their lives because they weren’t found in time. I feel if a dog bloats when he’s away, it’s because this dog was stressed. Again, you can disagree with me, but I feel that there is a connection between stress and a dog bloating. Naturally a dog can bloat for other reasons as well, but in some cases, I feel the dog was stressed.

German Shepherds who have good strong nervous systems should be able to cope with most anything. That’s why they are used in the military, the police department, search and rescue, etc. But these dogs are doing work with their masters so they have lots of one on one interaction with them. Many times these dogs live with their trainers to form a strong bond with them.

So dogs can and do have separation anxiety whether they are this way in their homes or they are away with someone else taking care of them. Some have this problem because of a poor nervous system but I believe that all dogs when separated from their owner have some sense of temporary loss not being with their master.

My rating: training and socialization of your dog: (4)

SMALL INTESTINAL BACTERIA OVERGROWTH (SIBO)

I have a bitch that was diagnosed with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) when she was about 1 year old. I never heard of this condition so therefore, I was very unfamiliar with it. All I know is that my bitch had a good appetite, threw up occasionally, and always had mushy, yucky pancake like stools. I thought perhaps she had EPI because she looked like she never had a decent meal in her life. She couldn’t put weight on. Truth be told, she was fed a high quality food and I had her on Dr. Kruger’s supplement and many of the other top products on the market. She still looked like she was underfed and therefore, undernourished.

So I took her to my vet and she recommended that we do some blood work on her. The tests were VERY EXPENSIVE but she called me up one day and told me the results showed she had SIBO. I questioned her about EPI and she told me no, she did not have that condition. She put her on an antibiotic called Tylan and told me she wanted to repeat this test again. So we did and again, it came back indicating she had SIBO. My bitch responded very well to the antibiotic and my vet told me that she might have to be on this for the rest of her life. I was not thrilled with that. I didn’t want her to have to remain on an antibiotic forever! So I did some research and found another way to treat her without medicines or antibiotics.

First let me explain to you what SIBO is. It is a condition where there is a great increase in the number of bacteria in the small intestines. This interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Some of the signs of SIBO can be diarrhea, throwing up, weight loss or failure to gain weight. Obviously these signs can indicate another problem as well. And sometimes, the dog may only have one of these things going on. But most of the time, the dog just doesn’t look healthy and most of the time this condition begins in the young dog. This condition may be related to a deficiency of the immunoglobulin A which is the primary immune defense in the small intestine. Dogs that have EPI or inflammatory bowel disease may also have SIBO, but not always as my girl does not have either of those problems. It hasn’t been determined what causes SIBO, but it is recommended that they not be bred.

I was desperate to help my dog put on weight and to start to thrive better than she was. I changed her food a couple of times, but that didn’t change the way she looked and her stools were still awful. So after going through many different natural or holistic supplements, I came across a product called Vibrant Pets. I never heard of it before but I read the different testimonials about it and I saw that Jimmy Moses used it and recommended it. I even tried an expensive herb product that had a strong smell to it. Well she hated that one and refused to eat her food if I added that to it. So I gave it to my other dogs. Anyway, I started using the Vibrant Pets supplement. She liked it, but I still had her on the Tylan antibiotic. Her stools were good, but I knew this was because of the medicine. One day the owner of Vibrant pets called me and I told him about my “problem” dog. He suggested that I take her off of the antibiotic and just use the supplement but told me to double dose her with it every time that I fed her. He asked me to call him in two weeks to give him feedback. Well I did what he suggested and I never had to put her back on the antibiotic again. I even did a little test. I stopped using the supplement and the soft stools returned. Long story short, the supplement will not cure her disease, but it helps her live with it. She looks like a different dog. She put weight on; her coat grew back and NO MORE YUCKY STOOLS! This is not just a sales pitch for Vibrant Pets because I use and sell it. It is the truth! This stuff helps my girl live a better life. I know it works because once in awhile if I’m running low on the product and I try to cut back on the amount I use, in sneaks those mushy stools again. So it’s not a cure, but it offers her a better quality of life. It may not help every dog that has SIBO, but it does for mine and all I know is that she looks and feels so much better because of it!

It is unfortunate that our breed can have so many digestive problems, but they are there. It is up to us as breeders to find a way to deal with it. Obviously we have a long way to go in understanding genetics. But if we as breeders can discuss the problems we have in litters instead of hiding them, perhaps we can help prevent this happening to other peoples puppies. We need to help clean up our genetic pool and the only way we can do that is with open discussions about it. The more we push it under the rug like it doesn’t exist, or say “Oh not my lines” the worse the health of our beloved German Shepherds will be.

My rating: Tylan antibiotic in treating this disease: (4), Vibrant Pets (in my experience): (4)

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

Probably the hardest part of being a pet owner is when our beloved animal’s life nears its end. When faced with the unavoidable many of us chose to take our dog to the veterinarian and have our pet’s life end as humanly as possible by having him put to sleep. Then there are others who chose to let their pet die naturally.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a dog die naturally unless it didn’t recover from a medical treatment or surgery. Ideally (if there is such a thing), I would prefer he died peacefully in his sleep. It’s when he doesn’t that many of us find ourselves in the unenviable position of deciding to have our veterinarian end his life as gently as possible.

Many years ago, I read an article about having this procedure done by your veterinarian. It scared the hell out of me. In this article it said, make no mistake about it, your animal doesn’t die a peaceful death. It said that he feels the pain in his heart until it puts him out of his misery. I don’t know how true this was, but hopefully we’ve come a long ways since then. It is my understanding that the veterinarian gives the animal a stronger dose of anesthesia and sometimes a second one until the animal succumbs and passes.

I know of three people who did not own German Shepherds and all three of them would not have their animals put to sleep. They believed in letting nature take its course and letting the animals die on their own. Two people owned a dog and the other a cat. All the animals lived very long lives. Two of them said to me, “God brought them here and he’ll take them when it’s their time.” I hesitantly voiced my unpopular opinion but ultimately I knew they would do what they thought best for the animals that they raised. One of these people grew up on a farm so was very familiar with animals and the ebb and flow of life. She saw animals born and die all the time, so she came from this mind set of letting nature have its own way. I on the other hand objected because her old cat refused to eat and literally starved himself to death. He lived like this for 2 – 3 weeks. Her cat now rests in her backyard with a headstone marking his grave. The one dog just went into seizures and then was taken to the vet where he died with his owner by his side. The other dog on the last day of his life let out a “death” howl and fell over and died.

Like many other pet owners when faced with this “life or death” decision, I would find myself day after day saying, “Not today. I’ll deal with this tomorrow. Just not today.” Then the day would come when “today” was the day. These are some of animal owner’s worst days. We are of the belief that we love our dogs so much that we don’t want them to have to suffer and we do the kindest thing that we can for them. It’s time to say goodbye! We have our veterinarians help take them to the other side. Then someone will say to me, “You’re not God. You shouldn’t be making that decision.” For a moment or two, I may feel a tinge of guilt and may even find myself beating myself up for it. But in the end, I feel that I’ve done the last best thing that I could for an animal that gave me so much and deserved to have his life end with dignity and as pain free as possible.

Owning an animal leaves you in a position of responsibility for the life and care of your pet. He has no voice. We are the guardians of his life and in many cases of his death. Deciding whether or not to end the animal’s life is a matter of personal choice. The choice is never easy, but many times we have no alternative. It is not our place to judge someones decision about whether or not he should end his pet’s life. I may not like what someone decides to do with their pet by letting it suffer and die on it’s own, but when I decide to have my beloved dog sent back to his maker, I do so knowing that I’ve weighed all of my decisions and that this is the one I do to show him one last time how much I love him. Does it mean that I love my dogs anymore than those who let their animals die on their own? No, it’s just my choice and it’s one that I have to live with.

Many pet owners will chose to have their dogs remains cremated and put in an urn. I did this with my first show dog. We took the urn and buried it in front of the dog runs so he would always be with us and the rest of the dogs that followed. Some people chose to bury the dog’s body in the backyard. Others buy a headstone and have it engraved. And then there are still others that bury their animals in a pet cemetery.

I’m not right and the other guy is wrong when it comes to deciding what to do when our animals last days draws to an end. Once again, it’s a personal decision. We both loved our pets and they lived as long as they did because of the loving care that we gave them. We both loved them……we just loved them differently.

Expenses covering the death of an animal: depending upon the vet (office visit, needle, urns, disposing of animal, etc.) over $100. Grave stones and a pet cemetery will run you hundreds of dollars.

My rating concerning taking an animal to the vet to humanly be put to sleep: (4), choices for remembering a pet – grave stones, urns, etc.: (4)

CLICKER DOG TRAINING & THE FINE ART OF DOUBLE HANDLING

Alright I’ve got a confession to make. Right here, right now I shamefully admit that after all these years I am still the worlds worst double handler you would ever want to see. I am every professional handler’s worst nightmare. So there; I’ve said it. It’s out in the open now. So about three years ago, I tell a long time friend of mine my dilemma. She is probably one of the best double handlers in the German Shepherd Dog show world having had a couple of selects and champions to prove what she does works. Under normal circumstances, she has this little meek, mousy kind of a voice that when she raises it to call her dog becomes this shrill that you can hear all over the show ring. I experienced this first hand at a National many years ago when one of her dogs went Select #3. So imagine my surprise when at a National a few years ago, her dog goes Select #2 and not once did I hear her high pitched shrill! I wanted to know how she did that. That’s when she shared her secret with me…………the clicker!

“Just what the heck is a clicker,” I asked her. Turns out it’s this little mechanical device that fits in the palm of your hand that when you press on it, it makes this short click sound. It’s not loud and can easily be carried in your pocket. So she was kind enough and sent me a couple in the mail for my inspection. I walked around the house clicking this little contraption and immediately my dogs responded and searched for the object that interrupted whatever it was that they were doing. It did not take long at all for them to respond each time I clicked on the clicker. I took them for rides in the car and when I came out of the store, I had the clicker in my pocket and as soon as I pressed on it, the dog would sit upright looking for me. I played hide and seek with them and clicked on the clicker and the game was on. I used this to double handle my girl in the futurity, although she has enough energy without the clicker, but it just helped for her to know where I was.

For those of you who follow my blog who are not familiar with double handling, we “semi-sane” German Shepherd Dog show people do this to make our dogs look alert. We want them to stand pretty in the show ring to help give them a little edge on the competition. It also helps to encourage them to move around the ring with enthusiasm.

Now the clicker was not invented with the German Shepherd Dog show person in mind. It was invented for training dogs to do commands more easily. It helps teach the dog that if he does a command that he will be rewarded for it. Some may question why not just teach the dog with a verbal command. The answer seems to be that with the clicker training the dog only associates it with one thing. That one thing is that he is going to be rewarded when he does the command. We all know that dogs love to get rewards and will do most anything to receive them. Unlike the verbal command which can vary in pitch, the clicker always sounds the same so the dog always associates it with something good. The reward can be anything from a piece of food, to playing with the dog or lavishing him with lots of affection. The end result is always something good.

Does the clicker training replace the verbal command? No, it doesn’t. The animal learns the verbal command as well. For instance, you teach him the word sit. When he does the command, you click the clicker and reward the dog. Once the dog knows the command very well, the clicker no longer needs to be used for that particular instruction. Then you can move onto a new command.

The clicker training method has become so popular that it can and is used on other animals as well as dogs. Dolphins respond very well to clicker training as do cats, birds, rabbits, etc.

Do any of you readers use the Clicker training method? I’d like to hear what you have to say about it if you do.

Clickers are very inexpensive and you can buy them at Clicker.com or Amazon. They can range in price from $1.50 to a few dollars.

My rating: durability: (3), ease of training: (4), value: (4)

THE BOOSTER BATH

If you’re like me, bathing a dog especially the size of our German Shepherds is not high on my list of things I enjoy doing. After having a car accident, bathing a dog has slipped far down on my “things to do list.” Even under the best of circumstances, bathing a dog is no easy task. So what do you do when your dog is in need of a bath? You can bathe him in the bath tub or take him outside and use the hose. And then there is a third option and that is the ‘Booster Bath.”

Getting your dog used to the Booster Bath is similar to getting him used to the grooming table. It’s always a good idea to start them young so they become familiar with these grooming devices. Once your dog is taught to jump up on a grooming table, you’ll have no problem getting him into the Booster Bath.

The good thing about the Booster Bath is that you have full access to getting around your dog while bathing him, unlike if he were in the bath tub. It is elevated off the ground so you don’t have to bend over him. It has a three point restraint system with an adjustable collar for the comfort of your dog while preventing him from jumping out. Once the dog gets used to the Booster Bath, many times you won’t even need the collar. The bottom of the tub has a rubberized non-slip mat to prevent slipping and sliding and falls. It contains a five foot drain hose so you can wash in one area and drain in another. There’s a place for shampoo and it comes with a fan nozzle that you can attach to a hose. There is a rubber bottom on the legs of the tub to keep in stationary and help prevent it from slipping. Although it is built sturdy and strong, it is lightweight and portable. You can easily disassemble the tub for storage. The Booster Bath can be used indoors (cellar or garage) or outdoors.

The spray nozzle has an on/off switch so you can control the water flow, using the gentle flow for the face and head or the heavy flow for the rest of the body. Then when you're finished, you can hook the nozzle to the side of the tub.

The Booster Bath comes with a 5 year limited warranty. The company also makes a “Groomers Edition” of the Booster Bath. This has a built in ramp for your dog to climb into the tub rather than jumping up into it. It can adjust to accommodate the smaller dog as well. It has a dual fan nozzle hose system. This one also is lightweight and portable. This also comes with a five year warranty.

You can purchase the companies “Tropic Shower” system. It is made so you can have access to warm water with good pressure. It works with your washing machine valves and garden hose. This has a two year warranty.

The prices for the Booster Bath products are: Booster Bath - $179.95, Groomer’s Edition - $369.00, and the Tropic Shower - $49.95.

I feel that for most people’s purposes, the regular Booster Bath is all they need. The Groomer’s Edition is quite a bit more expensive and I don’t know that it is that much more different than their original bath. Unless the dog is old and has a hard time jumping, I really don’t see the need to spend a lot more money for a bath with a ramp.

To see pictures and videos of the Booster Bath, check them out by doing a search on Google with the words: Booster Bath. Also sometimes you can get a better price when someone is selling it on e-bay. I’ve seen them on Amazon as well starting at $149.00. So check around to get your best price. Watch out for the shipping.

My rating: quality: (4), durability: (4), ease of use: (4), value: (4)