In episode 203, I told the story of the behavior struggles I’ve had with my two-and-a-half-year-old Border Collie This! and the timeline of our challenges that were beyond dog training. And this episode is part two, covering how we began making changes to her diet, the practitioners who helped me help This!, and what I am doing now to ensure that This! has a life of joy. I also want to add a disclaimer that I am not a Veterinarian or Nutritionist. I just want to let you know the journey This! and I have been on together.
In the episode you'll hear:
- How I narrowed This!'s lack of drive and joy for work down to nutrition.
- That you can't dog train a problem that isn't a dog training problem.
- How an Austrian naturopath helped me help This!.
- Why my naturopath requested photographs of my dogs' gums and what they revealed.
- Why I believe a raw food diet is the best option for my dogs.
- The help I received from Dr. Laurie Coger, an integrative and functional medicine veterinarian.
- The role ancestral geographic origins have in nutrition.
- About our IC Peeps roundtable with Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet author Steve Brown.
- About Dr. Peter Dobias and the results of the heavy metal analysis of This!'s fur sample.
- My process for balancing This!'s diet and what I observed.
- How an herbalist used acupressure points to balance This!'s endocrine system.
- What I'm doing now in dog training to help This! have joy.
- How weekly Flyball classes are helping.
- What This! is eating now, and my hope for raw food manufacturers.
- The reason I entered This! into World Team Tryouts.
- Why I believe This!'s comeback will be bigger than her setbacks.
Resources:
- Podcast Episode 203: Reactive, Unmotivated and Fearful: Finding Resiliency For This! Beyond Dog Training Part 1
- Dr. Laurie Coger: The Healthy Dog Workshop
- *Book: Unlocking The Canine Ancestral Diet by Steve Brown
- Dr. Peter Dobias Website
- Podcast Episode 183: What Does “Train The Dog In Front Of You” Really Mean?
- Podcast Episode 172: How To Teach Your Dog Anything With My Training Plan
- Podcast Episode 174: Dopamine In Dog Training: Anticipation, Rewards, And The Transfer Of Value
- Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube
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This rings so many bells!!! My whippet was so disengaged-sniffing, quitting, etc. First big improvement occurred when I added a probiotic. Second was recently when her vet put her on antibiotics and Prilosec for 10 days. I had a different dog! She had her first Qs in over a year. But she started back sliding several weeks after the antibiotics/Prilosec end. She’s now back on Prilosec and is better but not on her best game. I’m going to talk with her vet about diet. Cami has the dark marks along her gums on her lower jaw.
Thanks as always Susan! So happy to hear that This! is on her way to better health mentally and physically. We have a 4 year old male Border Collie who has been fed North American Raw mix (minced proteins/organs/steamed bone meal) since he turned 1. I’ve been very frustrated with his drive, his motivation, his coat and his weight (he gets very little food but stays a bit on the chunky side). I’ve been thinking of changing his diet but had no idea where to go or what to do. This video and all of your diligent research has given me some ideas. Now I’m off to check his gums and get started! 🙂
I had a German shepherd with really bad hips and allergies. I began making her food. Vegetables, meat and oats. She thrived without the need of surgery for 12 1/2 years. Dogs are omnivores.
Karin, I too have 2 GSD’s and a lab. Itchy, itchy, itchy! I have Steve browns book. I’m thinking with the money I spend on expensive kibble I could make my own. I did by mystery meat, a seconds from a company but did not have a lot of faith in seconds. I’m curious as to your recipe. I know we as humans do not get all our daily requirements of vit. And minerals and I’m deathly afraid of trying to feed my dogs myself. But I’m sure I could do it. Is there any way we could talk.
I’m wondering, did this clear up This’ horrible car sickness?
Excellent post
I have terriers and have always been told by responsible breeders to keep the protein low, lower than many kibbles and lower than most store bought raw. I’ve blended up the vegetable peels, the ends that are fine but I choose to not use. I keep track with their helped – but learning about checking gums is an excellent tip
And your journey with This! Is so very valuable to share
Thank you
Caren
Big THXs for your honest directness! Hats off!
Thoroughly enjoyed the meticulous research expressed during these podcasts.
When there’s an appeal to North American Raw manufacturer’s to provide a better product, aren’t we really talking about hunks of meat? Something which would basically be high quality stew meat which could be purchased at the grocers?
If there was a vitamin + mineral mix to add to the ration, couldn’t the raw manufacturer be skipped altogether?
Are there any published studies in a refereed journal for this information? I can’t find anything in pubmed.
I’m glad This is doing better and enjoying life more.
I have a lot of respect for Susan and her training methods but I am confused about the comments about liver storing toxins. The liver processes toxins and is very good at it to keep animals and humans healthy but the toxins are stored mostly in fat rather than remaining in the liver. Ground beef can contain around 30% fat and there could be toxins stored in that fat, and human grade ground beef is usually organ free in Canada.
Thank you for sharing this. IfI understand you rightly you have exchanged a part of her meat protein to vegetables and fruits? And removed organs completely. But if you replace protein with vegetables and not Carbs and fat you get a lot less calories in the Food is that right? Do you give her a lot more volume of Food or do you give her some fat also?
Thank you for doing a podcast on this topic! I am confused on something Susan said… Susan mentions at the 5 minute mark that “Raw food in North America contains between 49-80% protein”. What raw food is this? I’ve always fed pre-made raw and the protein ranges between 10-17% and includes fruits & veggies. Ie Red Dog Blue Kat, K9 Choice, Big Country Raw etc. Any clarification on this would be much appreciated!
Susan,
Fantastic information. Question regarding your list of food you feed from Wag, titled Dog Feeding Time and Supplements, you mention that you feed heart. Are you now rethinking organ meats altogether? I’ve been reading The Forever Dog, and have been feeding home cooked for a long time, but I never fed organ meats. Would like your thoughts after you had your conversation with the woman from Austria, etc. I did so appreciate the list from Wag, and now this newest, latest information.
Thanks Susan, I had tears in my eyes for both videos. This! has always reminded me of one of our Lab puppies, Tuppence, who stayed because she wasn’t the same as our others from even two weeks. She is gone now after 10 years, but looking back, she had diarrhea as a newborn pup and maybe that is where her very uncharacteristic temperament began to develop. She had a lovely life, happy at home and not asked to do anything challenging, training for fun at home and only coming out to dog club as an 8 year old who finally could handle that sort of scene happily. In between, we’ve had other dogs who are ‘normal’, but now I have Bonnie, who also shows signs of being like This!, arriving at 8 weeks with a funny tum, and so easily over aroused. We had noticed that a certain sort of food made her evening sharknado times much worse, almost frantic, so we changed foods. It has occurred to me that generations of her family, Australian Koolies who are most excellent farm and herding dogs, have been fed the bags of ‘working dog ‘ kibble they sell at stockfeeders, plus scraps and that maybe this expensive food i gave her was wrong for her, but couldn’t bring myself to go buy a bag of it to try. 😀 i joined Recallers because I felt my own skills were not equal to this dog who was so driven by other people and dogs that I was invisible. Now she is 8 months old and a lot better, but we have pulled out of class because her focus was nonexistent and I felt like I was just the anchor to her getting to do the fun things she wanted, and it was hurting our relationship. We planned to go back when her mind had matured some more, but maybe, it’s not that at all! We feed a very good raw food plus the usual other things raw people use, and I’m heading into the kitchen now to look at labels and work out how much protein she’s getting, plan to stop the offal, all the rest but wanted to just say thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your journey with This!. Imagine how many dogs you will help! Much love, Tina xxx
Good for you, good for This!, Susan!! I’m so happy you were able to get to the bottom of her problem… I had no doubt you would! I have to say, when I hear the part about how she had toxic levels of metals in her system, I knew I had felt in Part 1 a parallel to ME/CFS, the condition I and many others suffer from, and bam: there it was. Many ME/CFS patients have problems with metal toxicities for unknown reasons, problems that are very difficult to correct. Many also have problems with absorption, absorption of minerals and vitamins, and also of medications. Something as simple as Vitamin D is a huge issue… almost impossible for us to keep high enough levels of this in our bodies. All of this contributes greatly to brain fog, depression and adds to the lack of energy we already experience. In fact, the picture you had painted of This! reminded me very much of your typical ME/CFS patient: difficulty concentrating, easily exhausted by mental exertion as well as physical, to the point of needing to recover after minor physical activity if included mental focus as well. At any rate, I’m so very happy for This! and for all the other dogs that you have helped point in the right direction for changes that THEIR nutrition might need!
Love you Susan Garrett!!!! My rescue was terribly sick when I got him. Anything he ate went right thru him. After 3 different vets in 3 weeks, I just new I had to take control of his life. I started him on raw and within 3 weeks he was absorbing food. Ironically, I decided just 4 days ago, literally, to do more research on quality raw products. I wasnt sure what I was looking for but something has been telling me to take a closer look. And here you are, Part 2… And as you’ve said many times… There are no coincidences! ♥️
Thank you so much for sharing your journey and now I have a name for a great nutritionist 🙂
Good luck at try outs. Hoping it is filled with Joy 🙂
Good luck for you two for the trials and I hope that you will have lots of joy and progress or insights.
We had a pain problem (at that time it was not clear that it was a tumor in the lung part, as he was always a “Monday dog”) resulting in the same behaviour. The change of food to veternarian kibble was a real relief especially as content and the volume of fresh food was too high so he could not get it into his stomach. So nutritions is definately worth looking at in particular because we are all still learning what a dog or a special breed really needs.