My recent trip to the Catskills was one of my first “real” vacations — meaning no conferences, seminars, or family obligations — in a long time. One of the key features of a real vacation is a chance to do some serious reading. I am almost always reading something, and my reading has increased with the arrival of the Kindle-on-iPad, but vacation time means I can work my way through the backlog, usually a bunch of fiction.

Just before we left (literally days before) I was approached by Leland Dirks about doing a review of his book Angelo’s Journey (affiliate link.) How could I say no? It’s about a Border Collie, it all but has “summer reading” written all over it, and the Amazon reviews were very compelling.

Angelo’s Journey is the tale of a Border Collie that disappears from home for five weeks. The book is a dramatization of events during his journey through New Mexico and Colorado. While one of the reviews (rightly) compares it to “Lassie Come Home,” I kept thinking of the TV series “Kung Fu.” During his travels Angelo helps many people, such as a elderly woman who misses her husband, a lonely Iraqi War veteran, and a woman who needs some courage to get out of a terrible situation.

This is a tough act to pull off successfully. Mess around and you end up with a syrupy, or worse, bitter saccharine aftertaste. Dirks’ writing is spare and efficient without being too terse, and this style is perfect for this kind of tale. The fact that Dirks has published a book of haiku in the past probably helps. He knows how to paint a picture, and letting you finish it is a big part of how he does it.

Each chapter is told to us in the first person by the people Angelo meets, with a few chapters from “the Man” (Dirks) interspersed. This viewpoint contributes much of the book’s emotional impact but without going overboard. There are a couple of tough scenes, especially early on when Angelo first “disappears,” but they are handled tastefully and are very much a part of the story.

Angelo’s Journey: A Border Collie’s Quest for Home. (affiliate link again) is a great read and I recommend it for anyone looking for an exciting and inspirational book. Check it out and tell me what you think in the comments!

Spring is approaching and it’s time to think about getting outside and getting in some long walks! I recently came across a great accessory for walks: Doodie Pack. It’s a nice little backpack for your dog, where you can have her help out with some of the lugging on your long trips.

As a matter of fact, carrying a little bit of a load (not too much: if you have any doubts on how much, talk to your vet!) can help exercise some of your more energetic pups.

Here’s a video review:

They even have a pink ribbon version for those organized walks!

Pick up a Doodie Pack now!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled dog related rantings and ravings for a review of a business book. I just finished my preview copy of “Enchantment,” Guy Kawasaki’s latest book. (You are reading this review a few weeks after I wrote it, as previewers were asked to wait until after the book is released to publish their reviews.)

Why a business book? Because I think this particular book is important not only to business people (and I know that many of DSF’s regular readers are trainers with their own businesses,) but also to people who are involved in, as the book’s subtitle says, “The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.”

Trainers often have to change their client’s minds about different approaches to behavior. People in the dog community that are involved in rescue need to change minds about adopting vs. buying and also about many other animal welfare issues such as tethering, breed specific legislation, and spaying/neutering.

I was initially surprised to see the title of this book, as Guy is a straightforward, no BS kind of, well, Guy. “Enchantment” seemed a little fluffy and new age-y for the author of “Reality Check” and “The Art of the Start.” However, Guy describes enchantment this way:

Enchantment can occur in villages, stores, dealerships, offices, boardrooms, and on the Internet. It causes a voluntary change of hearts and minds and therefore actions. It is more than manipulating people to help you get your way. Enchantment transforms situations and relationships. It converts hostility into civility. It reshapes civility into affinity. It changes skeptics and cynics into believers.

Enchantment is how causes and companies build loyalty, and who better to show us how to do this than Apple Computer’s former chief evangelist and the author of one of the most widely read blogs for many years?

The book is structured as a “how-to” with a list of logical steps to launch a new venture or refine an existing one. The chapter titles include “How to Achieve Trustworthiness,” “How to Launch.” and “How to Overcome Resistance.”

A chapter title like “How to Achieve Trustworthiness” might strike you as odd. Isn’t just a matter of keeping promises and acting honorably? Well sure, if you can’t do those things, don’t bother trying. But there’s a bit more to it. How do you react when people have wronged you? (I need to work on that one.) How willing are you to share your knowledge and skills? How can you create situations that make it easy for you to share and for others to share with you?

Two of my favorite chapters are “How to Use Push Technology” and “How to Use Pull Technology.” As someone with a pretty extensive technology background I know how to operate technologies, but I am always try to better learn what to use them for, and I found his advice very helpful.

Each chapter closes with a short personal testimonial from someone about how they either created or experienced enchantment. These little vignettes help drive the point of each chapter home. They are not just tacked on — they are an important part of the main text.

Trainers and rescue/shelter people are often fighting an uphill battle. The entrenched beliefs about training methods and about shelter dogs are very pervasive, and it’s easy to get angry and lash out. I tend to lash out quite a bit myself, but frankly next to some in the animal welfare community I’m the Dalai Lama. (Oops, there I go again…) Righteous indignation is a very powerful drug, but like most drugs it just tends to make you feel better, until it doesn’t anymore.

So here’s my recommendation – if you need to ethically and effectively change people’s minds and actions, you need to read this book. If you don’t think you need to ethically and effectively change people’s minds and actions, you need to read this book so you understand why you really do.

It’s the last week of the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge for Buddha.

There’s not much to report. Buddha still loves the food, he can still unpack his Tug-A-Jug in minutes, and his weight has remained steady.

While I do not think I will change over to the Performance formula that Buddha has been on during the challenge, I am interested in Eukanuba’s new Naturally Wild formulas. We rotate between a few different foods, and it looks like it may make the cut. What do you think?

The Eukanuba 28-Day Challenge officially kicked off last week for the general public, and it includes some fun ways for you to get involved. I have some details on the challenge below.

Can you tell much from only a month? Not really, especially not if you are already feeding your dog a premium food. That said, there are many lower quality foods on the market (especially if you include the Performance and Naturally Wild formulas) and switching from them to Eukanuba could result in an improvement.

I found the Challenge rewarding since it motivated me to learn more about my dog’s nutrition, and not simply accept the “common knowledge” that is so prevalent on the Internet. Just this week there was a discussion on nutrition on the IAABC Dog Division e-mail list, and the lack of solid facts to back up a lot of assertions being made about canine nutrition played a big part in the conversation.

The fact is, we don’t know if ingredients like corn are automatically bad or if hihg levels of protein is automatically good. Very little solid research on dogs and nutrition has been done, and much of it has terrible flaws. I even found out last week that research relating protein to behavior that I mentioned on Dog Star Daily last month had another, more critical tremendous flaw than the small number of dogs in it – the dog’s diets were not completely controlled, and the owners had fed the dog treats at home that were not part of the study. This is another reason that the studies we would like to see on “real dogs” are not being done. (It’s not all a conspiracy by the big evil corporations, folks.)

What I am willing to recommend is this: find as much information as you can and make a judgement for yourself. Apply some critical thinking. You can figure out what’s best for your situation and your dogs. Does it makes sense for a dog to eat the same diet as a wolf? (Have you ever seen the teeth on a wolf?) At the same time, does it make sense for the first ingredient in a dog’s food to be corn or wheat?

Don’t accept someone’s word that one brand is automatically bad and another is good. Do your homework.

Here’s the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge.

Anyone who completes the Challenge and is inspired by their dog’s transformation can enter the Facebook Contest where one dog will be crowned the “Challenge Champion”.

• The contest runs from Feb. 15 – April 30, 2011.
• Sign-up for the 28-Day Challenge on Eukanuba’s Facebook page over here.
• Once you have completed the Challenge, submit a current photo of your dog and explain how your dog did.
• Eukanuba and Dog Fancy magazine will select five finalists and each will receive a free year’s supply of Eukanuba dog food.

• The grand prize “champion” will win a photo shoot in his or her hometown, an editorial feature in the September issue of Dog Fancy magazine, and be spotlighted in a Eukanuba print ad!

Week three of the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge, and not much to report. Buddha is doing fine.

One minor nit – the kibbles are tiny! I think this may effect the serving size, since the kibbles pack more densely into a 1/4 cup measure than other brands. But that’s not really why I am complaining, in a way that’s really a plus. The problem is how Eukanuba works, or rather doesn’t work, with a Tug-A-Jug or Canine Genius Leo.

During evening classes I give Buddha his dinner in one of these toys. I like being able to give him an actual meal, rather than treats. With these toys it takes him 10 minutes or so to finish, and it burns up a little bit of mental energy. That, combined with some work during the classes, makes for a tired and usually satisfied dog when we get home. (This is why he is Buddha, as opposed to Caffeine, who would need to assist in three or four hundred classes before she was even a little bit phased.)

Well, the tiny kibbles make the toys too easy! Buddha has been finishing his dinners in minutes. This isn’t a reason to pick a kibble, of course. As a matter of fact, I’ve had the problem with a few brands. I wish more of them made a “large bite” version.

Week 2 of the Eukanuba challenge. Buddha’s weight is steady, he seems just as playful as before. He received a compliment on how nice his coat looks and feels during his first-ever visit to Fetch Club.

One of the reasons that I agreed to the Eukanuba 28 Day challenge was that I was offered access to Eukanuba’s Nutrition Experts. After I found the 28/18 food was on the list I could use, I decided that a chance to speak to an expert was something I could not pass up.

And I was right.

I had three main questions, driven by last week’s comments, and one experience of my own:

1. I am only feeding Buddha half the amount recommended on the bag. He is a pretty active dog that gets plenty of exercise. Why is there such a discrepancy?

The recommended feeding guidelines on dog food are governed by rules from AAFCO. Manufacturers can use either a formula defined by AAFCO or feeding trials. The trials would have to be redone whenever the formula is changed, so Eukanuba uses the formula, as do most manufacturers. The formula tends to run high.

As I have said in my previous reviews, my wife and I keep a pretty close eye on our dogs’ weight (better than our own, I am afraid to say.) It seems like this is a good idea regardless of what you feed.

2. Why corn meal? Does Eukanuba have any information on the effectiveness of corn in a dog’s diet?

I didn’t really get the answer I was looking for. Well…I don’t know exactly what I was looking for, but I didn’t hear it either. I did get a handout from Eukanuba about corn. Essentially their position is corn is that it is not bad, but it should not be a major portion of their diet either. (And there are a bunch of foods out there with a lot more corn in it.) Eukanuba’s assertion that corn has a lower glycemic response than rice (that’s on the handout) is an interesting assertion, since I have seen some articles recommending foods that contain rice toward the top of the ingredients list, while also recommending that you avoid corn meal completely.

I’m not convinced the presence of corn in a food automatically means it is bad. I’m still looking for some real data.

What are chicken by-products?

This is, of course, right out of the comments on the last Eukanuba Challenge post. It turns out, the by-products do not include beaks and feet. (I was told this directly by the expert.) I was provided another handout, that explains Eukanuba’s use of chicken in food. Here’s the money quote:

Chicken by-product meal is flesh, skin, and internal organs, including intestines, bone, and cartilage, that have been cleaned, dried, cooked, and ground.

What’s the first thing a dog does when she takes down prey? Apparently she eats the by-products.

So, if you want your dog to have organ meat, which is a major part of all of the raw and home-cooked diets I have seen, you want the by-products.

Eukanuba didn’t have to provide this kind of access, but they did and I respect that.

So, I’ve got 2 weeks left. Do you have any questions you would like me to get answers for? Let me know in the comments.

I’ll confess up front that I am pretty confused about what to feed my dogs. Last week I wrote about what looks to me to be like largely unsubstantiated information about canine nutrition and behavior. That post was motivated by two primary things: I found the research that I cite in it a few months ago (where it sat waiting for the right blog post), and I was asked to participate in the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge.

One of the best things to happen for dogs over the past few years is a steady increase in quality and choice in prepared dog foods. Too many brands for me to even try to list have cropped up with very high quality products, while local boutiques and online sites like K9Cuisine have made getting these foods possible regardless of where you live. As result of this pressure the “big names,” like Eukanuba have been forced to raise their game and many dogs have benefited.

When I was asked to enter the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge. I checked out their product line, (I may as well make this the disclaimer: in return for taking the challenge, I received a 28 day supply of food for Buddha, the dog that is entered in the challenge.) and was pleased to find the Premium Performance 28/18 food. I like the ingredients: chicken is the first ingredient, which indicates chicken meat, and by-products are the second. Corn meal is in there, which, as I reflected in the DSD post, some people take as an automatic negative. But I don’t see as concrete evidence that it is, hence my willingness to take the challenge.

One thing I should mention: the feed guidelines on the Eukanuba bag call for a lot more food that I feed either of my dogs. To be fair, so do the guidelines from Taste of the Wild. My wife and I very carefully monitor our dogs’ weight, and we have our own guidelines. Buddha is getting about 1.5 cups a day — just like he did with TotW. We started at 39 pounds and in a week his weight has remained steady. (We teach classes at the vet’s office, so I can weigh him there.)

The transition to the food was trouble-free. Everything came out all right, if you know what I mean.

More next week. Comments? What do you think of the challenge? I know that big name food can be a pretty polarizing subject.

I have mentioned Caffeine’s allergies a few times. The short version is that low or no grain foods are a good idea for her. I received an offer for a free trial of Proportions and decided that Caffeine would be a good candidate. As a matter of fact, I went ahead and tried the product with her for three months before I wrote this review.

In short: Proportions may be a good fit for you, especially if you are very concerned about proper nutrition and don’t have the time for home cooking, have a dog with allergies, or have a picky eater for a dog. It is, however, a premium product and is priced accordingly.

Proportions provides a very high quality food that is packaged in, well, proportions based on information you provide about your dog’s size, breed, and energy level. The food arrives in prepackaged bundles, one for each meal. By providing you with individual meals, the work of managing caloric intake is done, but your dog still gets an “interesting” meal since the ingredients don’t become soggy or bland since you mix them right at mealtime.

Caffeine’s meals consist of three components in three separate packages: a chicken and pumpkin stew, a small portion of kibble, and some dehydrated fruits and vegetables. At mealtime we mix these three components together and serve.

For a busy family that still wants to feed their dog the equivalent of high quality home-cooked meals, this is about as close as you are going to get without taking the time to do it yourself. We did try home-cooking once, and it is an incredible amount of work to do correctly.

The stew looks and smells very good, and Proportions has videos of people eating it. Their ingredients listing reflects that of a premium quality food, and it sure looks like one when you open it. The dehydrated mix also looks very good and nutritious.

During the three month period I received two phone calls from Proportions customer service staff, just to check in and make sure everything was fine. This is another indicator that this is a premium service: Proportions is a Lexus.

Caffeine did well on the food, and she definitely enjoyed it. Her allergies stayed under control, she still had her ample energy supply, and everything, uh, worked out fine — if you know what I mean.

I have had a good number of clients whose dogs did not like to eat at all, or had problems with finishing their meal in one sitting. This leads to “free-feeding:” leaving the food out all day and refilling the dish as it empties. This then leads to potential over-feeding, or problems with using food as a reward (why work for food when you live near a buffet?). A tasty food like Proportions would probably go a long way toward addressing this by giving dogs a delicious meal in a perfect portion size.

I also see a lot of overweight dogs. Tons of them. The Proportions model is designed for them.

The two biggest drawbacks I found with Proportions are cost and packaging.

The packaging is really just the nature of the beast. A food that comes packaged into meals is going to generate a lot of trash. This did bother me though. In their defense the boxes that the packages are delivered in are recycled and they do have an option for you to use your own kibble, which I would have done had I stayed on the program. The kibble I use is at least as good as what is supplied with Proportions.

But the other problem, cost, was the biggest one for me. For one thing, there is no way I could afford Proportions for three dogs: and feeding such a premium food to one dog and not the others seemed wrong to me. The sad fact is, as the number of dogs increases, so do the potential compromises. While Proportions may be a slightly higher quality food than what I am already feeding, after three months there was no tangible difference in Caffeine’s health.

This doesn’t mean I don’t recommend Proportions! I think it is a great product that fills an important niche: people that do want to feed their dog(s) a very high quality food, don’t have the time to home cook, and want it pre-packaged into exact proportions. I also think that it is a potentially great solution for finicky dogs.

Pros: Very high quality. Very convenient. Custom diet for your dog. Great customer service.

Cons: Expensive. Large amounts of packaging might be bothersome to some people.

Way back in September I had a contest for tickets to see Victoria Stilwell in Red Bank, NJ. I also went to the show and had promised a review. What you may have not have realized is my father passed away that week. I made it to the show, but blogging take a distant back seat for a while there.

In terms of technique there is a lot of overlap between what I see in “It’s Me or the Dog” and what I do myself. Of course, it’s a reality show, it’s heavily edited, and the drama is amped up quite a bit.

While I feel that “The Dog Whisperer” tends to create confrontations between Cesar and the dogs (see my reviews, and try to notice how I criticize the show as much as I do him, if not more.) I get the feeling that “It’s Me or the Dog” creates similar confrontations between Victoria and the people.

But when Victoria is actually training people or dogs, I like what I see. So I was looking forward to seeing her outside of the show and away from the reality tv contrivances. I was not disappointed.

We got to see “behind the scenes” and archival footage from the show, including the homemade “pitch” that Victoria and her husband created to sell the actual show. (It was great to see she is still in touch with the people she filmed that with. They were at the show!) Victoria also explained that she was inspired by “Supernanny,” when she came up with the idea for her show. I found this little bit of trivia both hilarious and refreshingly honest.

Victoria did some onstage training demos. She has great communication skills, and my Evernote has a ton of notes on her presentation and communication skills.

I also appreciated her efforts to put the word out about the Monmouth County SPCA. Her “demo” dogs were from there and she took the time to introduce not just each dog, but each handler, giving them time to talk about the dog and about the work they do at the shelter.

It was a great show, and I left truly impressed. I’m doubly disappointed that I missed her at the APDT conference the following week.

If Victoria Stilwell comes to your neighborhood, take the time to see her. You won’t be disappointed.

The Internets were ablaze with fury when word of the Vick dog fighting bust broke. People, myself very much included, were furious about the stories of how dogs were treated and in many cases killed by Vick and his cronies.

In many ways this is a story custom made for today’s media: a high profile sports star involved in a bloody scandal with enough sordid and gory details to fill volumes of blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts.

And they did.

Now that we have some emotional distance from the discovery of the operation, the arrest, Vick’s (all too quick) release from jail, and his return to the NFL, it’s safe to examine the details of the situation and learn what actually happened, how the dog fighting operation was discovered, and then eventually shut down.

The Review

Jim Gorant’s The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption (affiliate link) gives us this look. In it we get a fascinating view of how the investigators involved in the case brought the ring to justice, how the lives of many of the dogs were (literally) saved, and finally where the dogs are now.

The details of the investigation make for an exciting and engaging story. The case against the Bad Newz Kennel was not easy to make, and the efforts of the people responsible for making the arrests and convictions possible can only be described as heroic. There were many obstacles, some surprising — many infuriating — and it would have been very easy for them to to just quit or settle for a couple of minor charges. They didn’t settle: they struggled to bring Michael Vick and his partners to justice and shown a nationally visible spotlight on dog fighting.

After the arrests and the seizure of the dogs we about learn about what was, in many ways, a ground-breaking effort to save as many of them as possible. Most of us know about certain people’s recommendations to euthanize the dogs, but there is much more to the story than that: the people involved with rehabilitating and rehoming the dogs put in a herculean effort and managed to surpass even their own expectations.

Gorant spent seven years as an editor at Sports Illustrated and admits that when he was first involved with this story he was left wondering about the extraordinary effort that was made to save a few dogs. I think this “outsider’s” view of the case helps the story, and hopefully makes the book and its lessons more accessible to people that are similarly outside of the rescue community.

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption (affiliate link again) is a great read. Anyone interested in the story of the Vick dogs would definitely benefit from hearing about the background of their rescue, while the story behind the investigation reads like a crime thriller.

The Giveaway!

Win a free copy of The Lost Dogs! You must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada to be considered. To enter, leave a comment and be sure to mention that you are entering the drawing to win a copy. I’ll need your full name and full mailing address (no P.O. boxes) later on, but for now only a “real” e-mail address associated with the comment is required. In order to be considered, you must enter no later than midnight EST on Monday, October 26, 2010. The winner will be contacted via email between October 27 – 31. The winner will be selected by a random drawing. Please note that the review copy of The Lost Dogs, as well as the giveaway copy, was provided for free by the publisher and TLC Book Tours.

This review and contest is part of a “virtual book tour” that is organized by TLC Book Tours. It feature various reviews of The Lost Dogs through October 25. I received a copy of The Lost Dogs for free from TLC Book Tours and the book’s publisher. No goods or services were exchanges for this book. It’s all about the dogs.