Rawhide: Friend or Foe?

Everyone seems to have an opinion on rawhide.  Some folks swear by it, some won't ever give it to their dog and some leave it to their veterinarian.  Checking with your veterinarian is certainly a good idea and here are some other things to consider ...

Not all rawhide is created equal:

• Some of it is produced in the USA, some overseas.  There haven't been a lot of issues with domestically produced rawhide while some problems have been reported with rawhide which has been imported from other counties.

•  Most rawhide sold as dog treats falls into one of these three categories:
• Chip Rawhide:  This is the stuff that looks like particle board.  It is often dyed and shaped into fun shapes including holiday themes.  Chip rawhide is consumed quickly by many dogs.  It is small chips which are moistened and molded into shapes.  The pieces of chip are quite small and most dogs would find it difficult to choke on.
• Flat or Strip Rawhide:  This is the type which is made from a square or rectangle of hide.  Sometimes it is moistened and rolled or moistened, rolled and knotted on each end to look like a bone.  A powerful chewer can rip off a chunk and may have problems swallowing the chunk.  With some dogs, this can be a choking hazard.
• Compressed Rawhide:  Often shaped like a bone, this rawhide is actually many layers of thin rawhide moistened and pressed together.  It is manufactured in a similar way to plywood.  And like plywood it is dense and quite strong.  That isn't to say a really strong chewer couldn't rip off a hunk, but most dogs do not chew off pieces.  An advantage to compressed rawhide is it is longer lasting for most dogs. 

When considering whether or not to use rawhide with your dog:

• Ask your veterinarian for his or her opinion on using rawhide with your dog.
  

• Consider how hard a chewer your dog can be.

• Remember to take the rawhide away when it becomes small enough to be a choking hazard, regardless of what type of rawhide you choose.  

• Some dogs don't share well, so take away the stress and give dogs privacy from other dogs when they chew.

• Be sure to monitor your dog when she is chewing.

Most dogs seem to really enjoy chewing rawhide.  It helps massage the gums and prevent tarter build up.  So speak with your veterinarian, monitor your dog, and make a decision which works for you.  My dogs love it!

Training Muse: Intelligence and Training

One of the common questions people ask is about canine intelligence.  Sometimes they've read a book, or watched a television show, or seen something on the internet comparing various breeds and ranking intelligence.  Something along the lines of Border Collies are smart and Afghan Hounds are dumb.  It seems to me, most of the time, the line between intelligence and "trainability" gets blurred. 

Intelligence, according to Websters, is:

"the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations"

A dog who is quick to pick up a new behavior is considered intelligent.  Of course, since we can't ask the dog to explain what she understands about the new behavior, the ability to respond to a command with the desired behavior is how we determine the dog knows the behavior.  So we now have added a criteria to canine intelligence: the ability to repetitively demonstrate the behavior.  The ability to repetitively demonstrate a behavior is what, customarily, is called trainability.

Trainability is what most people desire in a dog.  Show me the same behavior each time I ask you to do so.  It certainly makes dog training easier and makes dogs with a high "trainability quotient" good companions.  But is it really intelligence?

A sled dog who refuses to "mush" across a snow covered field is not demonstrating his understanding of the mush command.  And each time he attempts to turn left or right rather than go forward, he is disobeying a command.  Either he does not completely understand the command "mush" or he is choosing to disobey.  Either one lowers his trainability quotient.  Does it make a difference if you factor in the field he's being asked to mush across isn't a field at all but rather a not very well frozen lake?  So his trainability quotient may be lowered but his intelligence is just fine.

Is a competition obedience dog who has been carefully and systematically trained to jump the broad jump in a straight line while the handler stands next to the jump less intelligent when she cuts across the jump to get to the handler more quickly?  Or is that the intelligent decision while the dog who never cuts across is more trainable?

Trainability relates to how easily the dog can be taught to respond to a command AND the dog's willingness to do it repeatedly.  The second part is what separates it from intelligence.  Of course it is difficult to tell if a dog understands a command without repetition and, if during the repetition, the dog shows inconsistency it is natural to assume the dog does not completely understand the behavior.  Certainly sometimes that is true, especially if we have not put the time in to break the behavior into small steps, systematically train the behavior and carefully proof the behavior in different environments.  But sometimes, a really smart dog will demonstrate a behavior to us once or twice.  If we then ask them to repeat the behavior we may not get anything, or we might get a different behavior.  It doesn't always mean the dog doesn't understand, sometimes they just don't wanna'.  And that doesn't make them dumb.

So enjoy the Beagles, Borzois, Basenjis, Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds, Clumber Spaniels, Afghan Hounds, SharPeis, Shih-Tzus and all the rest.  They are highly intelligent canines.  They all can learn and demonstrate complex behaviors.  Learning to motivate them is the key, and quitting while you are ahead doesn't hurt either.

Our Friend Duke

Duke, a fifteen year old mix breed, passed over the Rainbow Bridge today.  Duke was an obedience competitor, a Barking Hills Canine All Star who appeared on Saturday Night Live, multiple commercials and print work as well as on two Lifetime webisodes:  Casabarka and The Dogfather, but his best work was saved for working with chronically ill children at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.  He will be missed by owners Janet and Joe, his furry brother Chase, and everyone at Barking Hills.