dogs and glucosamine

Penny takes a glucosamine product every day. Many people have commented that seeing she's only three, she shouldn't need to take it. However, our vet has suggested she stay on it so I've decided to take his word for it. The general opinion seems to be that even if it does no good, at least it won't harm her.

Because of this, I was interested to read that our local consumer society has reviewed the use of glucosamine for humans. An article in The Age newspaper gave a general overview of the review. It said that of the many glucosamine products studied, many did not have enough glucosamine in them to have an effect, and that there's little evidence that glucosamine has anything other than a placebo effect.

So, if a placebo effect only occurs because the person taking the product believes it will work, it shouldn't work for our dogs, then - after all, they don't know that the medications or alternative products we give them are intended to relieve joint pain. At least the article says that clinical trials show that this product is generally safe. However, on the radio today I heard a commentator say that we shouldn't assume that alternative medicines are always safe, because we have to remember that any product can interfere with the working of another medication. Luckily, Penny's not on anything else.

There is an online general overview of the study, by Choice, our consumer association magazine. A more detailed report is 'user pays', but I think it would be okay to report what I found by reading it.

Glucosamine is a natural product of the human body - I assume dogs' bodies would produce it also - and it helps with the formation and repair of cartilage. My dictionary defines cartilage as firm, whitish, flexible connective tissue found in the articulating surfaces of joints. Medicinal glucosamine usually comes from the shells of prawns and other crustaceans. You can buy a vegetarian version, made from maize starch. (My sister takes this, because she has a bad reaction to the one based on sea creatures.)

Glucosamine itself is unstable, so more than half the human versions are sold as glucosamine hydrochloride, a stable form.
Glucosamine sulphate is found in in tablets and capsules - it’s only stable when combined with potassium or sodium chloride.
You need to read the label to see how much actual glucosamine is in a product that is sold as glucosamine sulphate potassium chloride complex.

Then they report on chondroitin sulphate, another natural body product. It's this that makes cartilage rubbery so that it can help with joint impact or movement. They say that chondroitin sulphate mostly comes from tracheas of slaughtered cattle, pigs’ ears and snouts, or shark cartilage.

The report goes on to say that there is some evidence - but not strong evidence - that chondroitin sulphate helps relieve pain and improve joint function. They say:

There’s also a possibility that it provides an additional benefit when glucosamine and chondroitin are taken in combination

Regarding its safety, there were three provisos: one, as I mentioned, people (or dogs, I assume) who react badly to seafood should take care; two, long-term use could make an existing diabetes condition worse; three, those on blood-thinning medication need to take care.

The article ends with some advice that I think is valuable. The best thing to do is take regular exercise, lose weight and try targeted exercises.

I had a look at the product we feed to Penny, It has glucosamine but doesn't say what it's made from or how much of it there is per milligram. It has chondroitin sulfate that comes from 'socially responsible sources', not shark cartilage - now I'm starting to wonder what those sources might be! Finally, it has green lipped mussel powder. The Choice article mentions this as an alternative treatment that has not been proved conclusively to work.

It's all rather confusing for the average dog owner... but I think we'll keep using it for the present. However, I don't overlook the fact that the product I use is incredibly expensive. I'm hoping that it's a case of 'you get what you pay for.'

more about Hungarian dogs doing tricks

Penny is making good progress on the 'shy' trick. Which all goes to show she's smart, seeing I keep getting confused between 'shy' and 'say your prayers'. I had another look at the k9freestyler site after realising that I'd forgotten to put in the link when I posted about it the other day, and noticed that the gorgeous Hungarian dog is actually doing 'shy' by putting his paws over his face. So, it was back to square one for this confused trainer and now we're more on the track of that particular trick.

If all this sounds muddled, that's because I am all mixed up! But now I think I've got it straight. I put a peg on Penny's fur near her nose - gentle, small pegs - as Amber-Mae's mum showed me months ago. Then I clicked and rewarded when Penny put her paw on her face to brush the peg off. Penny soon began to paw at her face without needing the (not very) annoying peg. Anyway, you might like to go to k9freestyler and see her dog doing this trick beautifully.

hungarian dogs dancing

Penny and I are having another go at the trick where she puts her chin down on an object, so we can do 'say your prayers'. We practised it some months ago and then forgot about it, but Cindy at K9 Kompany reminded us about it today. I thought I'd have a look at the Net to get some hints and came across a series of video clips from k9freestyler in Hungary k9freestyler in Hungary. They show a great range of dancing moves and the dog is fun to watch as his (or her) shaggy coat sweeps through the air with the energetic and happy movements.

In the meantime, I think I'll click and reward whenever I see Penny spontaneously put her chin down on anything, and see if that works as a refresher on what we learned.

Dogs and possums

I often joke about Penny keeping our garden clear of possums. Sure, when she goes out last thing at night to relieve herself, she does scamper about checking for arboreal visitors, but she's not as fierce as I make out. We have two types of possums living in our trees - ringtails, my favorite, and brushtails, that I don't actually find so attractive, even though I was told by a wildlife expert that the brushtail is more likely to be friendly.

I've been thinking about how lucky we are, actually, to share our space with these native mammals. If they were rare, instead of common, we'd be hiking out into the bush to find them. One of our richest men, James Packer, has plans to develop a ski resort in the mountains but he's also faced with the problem of living with possums. The proposed site is home to an endangered species of pigmy possum, small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. There's an article about this situation in The Age today and I just love the picture of a possum sitting one someone's finger.

It's the last day of autumn today and I've read that both our local species of possums breed in autumn or winter, so I'll have to keep an eye out for the babies. I'm always concerned that one of them will fall off the mother's back while she's racing through the treetops. It's never happened in the normal course of events, but one extra hot day last summer (over 44 degrees, or about 110 Fahrenheit), I found baby ringtails lying exhausted and dehydrated around the garden. The mother was dead and we greatly feared Penny had grabbed the mother, either before or after her death. The wildlife expert that I took the first babies to said that these possums have either no rib-cage (that seems strange, so I might have misheard) or a minimal one, and if a dog grabs them their lungs are crushed. It was very upsetting.

We think the family of possums just couldn't take the extreme heat. This species builds an open kind of nest of twigs and leaves, called a drey, high up in trees, and they probably got the full blast of the unusually hot weather.

I'd love to include a photo of these interesting mammals but I don't think my photographic skills are up to it, yet, so here is a link to a gallery of pictures.

Wagging tails and tagging tales from dog blogs

Penny has been tagged by Cooper and Levi, so I'm going to do my best to write down her answers to the seven questions.

Heres' what she said: 'Woof, bark, woofie, grr, grr, harrrrk, frwww, woof, hhh, hhhh, bark.' I've got a nice little translation thingy on the side of this blog so you can translate into quite a few languages, but to save you time I'll translate into English for a start.

1. What was Penny doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago Penny wasn't even a gleam in her father's eye. In fact, he hadn't at that stage wandered into a Macdonalds car park and met her aristocratic mother, thus creating a problem for the breeder who owned the mother.

2. What are 5 things on her to-do list for today?
Snooze.
Chase balls.
Look longingly at her leash.
Bark at possums
Snooze.
Bark at the next-door cat that struts around the front garden of our place.
Glance at her leash.
Sleep.
Check out every window in the house just in case that cat might have forgotten that Penny can in fact get out into the back yard.
Bark at possums
Check out the leash.
Eat.
Go and see whether any of the humans look as if they might get her leash down so we can go for a walk.
Bark at possums.

Ooops! More than five things... But it's a busy life when you're a dog.



3. Snacks she enjoys
Possum poo
Dog biscuits
Grass
Liver
Raw vegetables
Decaying sandwiches that the local schoolkids have hidden in the bushes near the school gate
Scraps near the Subway shop
Basically anything that is a carbon-based life-form


4. Things she would do if she were a billionaire
Buy lots of houses and units so homeless people and their dogs would have a place to live.
(Oh, she says it would be okay for cats to live there, too. Maybe...
Well, she's still thinking about that one.)

5. Three of her bad habits
Penny doesn't admit to any, so I'll have to report that she:
Sleeps on humans' beds if the bedroom doors are left ajar, even if she has just rolled in something 'lovely';
Barks at possums late at night.
Pulls on the lead.
Decides she doesn't remember what 'sit' means, in the middle of training.
Is mean to visiting dogs in the house.

6. Five places she has lived.
Her breeder's house (while she was gestating inside her mum).
The vet clinic where she was born and saved from being 'put down' immediately after birth.
The vet's other clinic on the other side of town.
Her home and her 'other' home in the mountains.


7. Five jobs she has had.
Chasing cats away from the home.
Chasing possums away from the home.
Chasing crows (ravens) away from the home.
Warning of the arrival of strangers.
Warning that strangers are walking down our street.

Now we're supposed to tag some other blogs but I always get terribly confused about that so I'll just leave an open invitation to any visitors with blogs to join in the fun!

canine fitness routine for the city dwelling dog

Penny and I went for a walk in Darebin Parklands this evening and we both took the opportunity to improve our level of fitness (me by strolling around and her by racing all over the place, chasing balls and swimming in the creek). I think we’re incredibly lucky to have an open area at the bottom of our street where she is allowed to walk off-lead. I’m sure that if she had to toddle around the streets on a leash at my middle-aged pace, she’d be overweight and unfit.

We city dwellers have to work hard to find opportunities to keep our dogs fit. I’ve just read an article in the magazine ‘Dog World’ about finding places in a city to exercise a dog. The author, Liz Palika, is a dog-trainer, behavioural consultant and AKC CGC evaluator. She says that one of the advantages of living in a city is that the dog gets plenty of chances to experience different surfaces, such as grass, asphalt, sand and dirt – this will increase all-round confidence when faced with new experiences.

There’s also a photo of a dog in what seems to be a small backyard, standing up on its back legs to get a treat. The caption under the picture says that when a dog goes from a sit to a stand the rear legs and core muscles are exercised. Cindy, the teacher at K9 Kompany in Lilydale, where Penny and I go each week, also emphasises the usefulness of stretches for maintaining a dog’s health. It sounds rather like ‘Pilates for Dogs’, now that I think of it. This is the first time I’ve heard the expression ‘core muscles’ used for a dog, though I’m familiar with it in my own exercise classes.

The article also mentions an exercise routine that Cindy uses at the start of many classes. It’s ‘sit-ups’, doggy-style. Penny goes from a sit to a drop and up again. The writer of the article says that the idea is to get some speed on this so that the dog does lots of push-ups in a very short time. Hmmm… I’m pretty sure Penny’s ancestry involves lounging around in a Tibetan monastery looking to see if anyone is coming up the valley. She’s not easy to convince that she needs to do exercises quickly. Have to think about that one…

However, the exercise that sounds like fun is the one that Christine Zink, author of a book on dog fitness called ‘The Agility Advantage’, recommends. The dog gets into a beg position and then rises onto the back legs without putting the front legs down. It sounds as if it would be great for Penny because I sometimes think she is not using her rear legs strongly when she runs. We've practised it in the past with her rising up once to get a treat but haven't tried it as an repeated exercise.


The article is from the June 2008 edition of Dog World, volume 93, issue 6, and it’s on pages 36-40. At the DogWorld site there are five great tips for increasing a city dog’s fitness and general agility.

Photographing dogs

Penny doesn't really like it when we point a camera lens at her. She usually looks away. But she'll just have to get used to it, because we're having too much fun shooting pics of her. Here are a few, just for fun and no particular reason: