Dear Paula,

Instead of getting indestructible bedding, which doesn’t exist yet, make your dog a dog who doesn’t tear stuff up. After your dog learns not to tear stuff up, he gets a bed again and you won’t have to be there to supervise. This might take some time but you can do it. Some dogs learn it quickly, some take a little time.

First thing, be supervisory. Yes, you have to watch your dog every minute unless he’s in a crate or in some other safe place. That does not mean that you have to interact with him the whole time and it’s best if you don’t. The best way to do this is to keep him on a leash attached to you, we call it an umbilical cord. The dog is with you whether you are playing with him, reading a book, or watching TV. Do be vigilant, watch out the corner of your eye. You cannot take your mind off of your dog. Three places your dog can be until his house and bed manners are impeccable: umbilical cord (see our Buddy System), crate or small safe area.

Start all over as if he is a new dog to your house. Go out for a very long walk, about an hour or more. You’re in charge of the walk so no stopping, no pulling, no meandering. Then when you get home, onto the umbilical cord. You’ll need this walk every day and twice is better. And get into agility or flyball, or play dates, or some other sport that will help your dog drain his energy.

Your dog should be ready for a nap after all that exercise. Sit where you’re comfy and lay out your dog’s bed. Dog lays on bed and sleeps. Praise quietly for good behavior. When dog wakes up, go play with toys or go outside for more fresh air. All the toys are yours, everything is yours. Dog does not get anything without your approval and you are going to supervise. Period.

Most dogs don’t need anything to sleep on, they sleep on the kitchen floor by choice, it’s cooler and most dogs like to lay on a hard surface at least part of the time. So if yours is one who doesn’t need a blanky or bed and it sounds like he doesn’t really, he sleeps without until he learns not to tear it up.

A good start to teaching a dog not to tear things up is let them pick up what they shouldn’t and trade them for something really good to chew…like a bully stick. You’ll find the best quality at SitStay.com and I’d suggest you stock up with a lot of size appropriate chews for this dog and some really yummy treats soft or biscuit type training treats for rewards as well. Also at SitStay, of course. (I am a trainer and keep only the good an necessary on the shelves here. The best part about trading is you’re automatically teaching a retrieve. At first you’ll want to be very close to your dog when he picks up what he shouldn’t, trade for it. Soon you’ll be able to call him to you no matter where he is when he picks up anything. Some dogs start bringing things to you when they think they’re going to get a goodie.

Dog picks up something he shouldn’t, you say, “Don’t chew that, here chew this Bully Stick. Thank you.” Trade for the goodie and let him keep it for half an hour or so. He’ll understand pretty quickly that yummy stuff is better than chewing up a blanket or a bed if you’re diligent.

If you do this right and you’re consistent and don’t let the bed and blankets become toys or eventual rags, you’ll win. He’s just a puppy so always be kind. This is all a learning experience and has to be a good and valiant effort on your part with no hitting, yelling, or any other force. He’s already fearful of some things so it’s imperative that you use gentle and positive training.

Remember to reward the good behavior, too. If your dog lays beside or on a blanket or bed without chewing on it, out comes the Bully Stick! You’re rewarding the dog for not chewing. It’s okay to pick things up with his mouth, don’t stop that because you’re going to also want to teach a fetch, but trade chewing things he shouldn’t chew on to things he should chew on.

I know it sounds a little wrong that you reward when he picks up things and then lets you have them and also reward for what he doesn’t pick up and chew on but your dog understands this. What you’re doing is rewarding for “giving up” and for leaving it alone in the first place.

Do this, too, because you have a fearful dog. Get the Clicker Training Kit from SitStay.com. Click your dog onto that Kuranda Bed. Clicker training works for getting dogs to trade things with you, too. It’s really the fastest way to train ever!

The Kit will save you tons of money in clothing, fabric, and eventually you’ll have saved the living room couch, too. And you can train lots of tricks, heeling, and everything obedience. You’re going to love it and so is your dog. You’ll have opened the lines of communication. It’s easy and it’s fun.

I’ll also suggest that you get a really fun toy that can take some damage. Like the Wubba. This will give him that flapping thing he likes without tearing up your stuff. The toy is for shaking and carrying, not for chewing up. If he starts to chew, away goes the toy along with a goodie for giving it to you. “Give. Thanks. Good boy. Here’s a cookie.” Very soon, he should learn that if he’s too rough, the toy goes bye bye. He sounds like he’ll be very toy motivated if you introduce the toy correctly. (Don’t leave any toys laying around. One toy at a time and only when you give it. You’re the toy master.)

Very soon after your dog starts to understand not to chew things, only give a treat or chew once in a while. Fade the food away until you can say, “That’s not yours” and the dog puts it down or gives it to you.

Another way to do all this is to make the toy the treat, the reward! Trade the Wubba for the bedding. You still have to make sure he’s playing properly with the Wubba and all other rules apply. The Wubba will probably become his binkie and that’s okay. A dog with a toy in his mouth isn’t generally chewing other stuff up.

Do make sure that your dog is getting plenty of fun and plenty of chewing done every day. A dog who plays and chews is most often a very solid minded dog. That leads to a very happy and mannerly dog.

Remember…everything is yours and the dog can only have it if you give it to him. You initiate play, you stop the play. That’s the best way to teach dogs to respect the house and the stuff in it.

Training dogs is much like training human toddlers…they don’t get the run of the house, keep them safe from harm, no hitting or yelling, and reward the good stuff.

Let us know how it goes. – Darc

See our Nebraska identical triplets here

I was out this morning enjoying the view of my beautiful Nebraska prairie. What a wonderful place to live and I love cattle. It’s one of my favorite things, to watch the calves playing and running around and the cows moving slowly, grazing and then later standing or laying in the sun and chewing their cud. Too soon the calves become big enough to quit playing and start eating.

Mother Nature’s cycle is delightful to me at least in part. My wish for today is that these three bull calves become bulls who will live out their lives along side their cows, procreating the next generations. And when the end of their natural life comes, that they give up their parts to become SitStay Macho Sticks. If I was a bull, I’d want to eventually be a Macho Stick. Famous even after the end of this life. It’s an end that supplies an ongoing healthy and natural nature for our dogs, an end that makes a lot of dogs very, very happy and mentally sound.

Click here to see all of SitStay’s Bully Sticks and Chews

(SitStay.com made Macho Sticks famous over 14 years ago. They are so famous that we can’t keep them on the shelves. The good thing is that we have a lot more chews available to you right now until the Macho Sticks come in! SitStay.com sells only the highest quality chews. You really do get what you pay for when you shop for dog supplies. Shop at SitStay.com and never be disappointed. Pass it on to your friends!)

I’m paraphrasing here but it was much like this:

“I am learning and changing how I work with the dogs. I am happy to be changing the way I work with dogs as I learn better ways.”

Hallelujah! Maybe the change really is coming. I’m happy to see it, Cesar! -

A very strong note here. Please do not use the past shows as training aids and help. Cesar seems to be moving to positive training with his new shows and it seems that he wants you to know that. I hope that he pulls his old episodes from TV and from the Internet. He seems to genuinely be headed the better direction. He wouldn’t do that if he still believed that his old ways were better. I hope that he follows through. Darc

In my opinion, and others like me who like the natural way and consult about feeding dogs, raw food with very little or no grain is best for dogs. It’s what Nature intends for them to eat. Next comes home cooked food. Next comes freeze dried raw, then quality canned, and lastly, high quality kibble which is dry food. I’d urge you to feed good, fresh raw or freeze dried raw food to your dogs, or cook your own fresh food at home, or the best quality canned and kibbles that you can find. Go to SitStay.com and click on the menu item Dog Food to see what we have tested and tried for you.

I choose the foods for SitStay.com. With tests and referrals and dogs who have become well again eating these foods after having eaten poor quality foods for most of their lives, I feel very happy with my choices so far.

For this article, let’s look at kibble only because that’s what the majority of people like feeding to their dogs. It’s a convenient way to feed.

As you learn to read labels, you’ll be quicker and quicker to sort out the bad foods. Why corn or wheat? What is animal digest anyway? What kind of “meat” is it? What is a by-product? Added sugar and salt? And a very important question to ask the maker, where does that company’s food come from, is it really fresh food like it’s pictured on the package, without dying, medicated and sick animals in it, are there any colors which have no sensible place in food, were the animals healthy before they were slaughtered for food, is there road kill or companion pets in it, or a sick milk cow, feathers, dirt, rat droppings, waste, chemicals, was the food kept cold or did it start to rot before it became a dog food? Was the grain clean and fresh or from a spill, was it swept up from the bottom of a weathered silo, cereal plant floor or out of the bottom of a truck that sat in the rain, is there any mold in that bag of food that you just brought home?

All grains and seed are not created equal in my opinion. Oats, barley and some other grains when mixed with meat, veggies, fruit and bone are good in moderation for many dogs. Not all dogs can or should eat grain but there’s a good deal of nutrition in these.

I do not like corn for dogs. I do not like wheat for dogs.

Corn and wheat are out for my dogs except for the occasional treat that might have some whole wheat flour in it to hold it together. It’s not my favorite choice of flour, I’d rather see the better grain flours like rice, oatmeal, and better yet quinoa (keen wa) known as ‘the mother grain’. The SitStay Dogs never get wheat in their regular daily meals and never, never corn…never. Corn is what we feed to cattle to fatten them up so we can enjoy a nice marbled steak. “Marbling” is fat, it’s what makes your steak tender. You’ll find corn, corn syrups, and corn of some kind in almost every processed food for humans, even in some cans of green beans and it’s all over in the dog food world. Why do they put that in there? Because it’s cheap and it makes things taste good…read that “addictive”. Reach for the bag or box of your favorite food, something you think you might be addicted to…something you really like to eat or snack on….see “corn” anything anywhere on the label? I’ll bet that you do. Soft drinks have tons of sugar in the form of something….read your soft drink label, does it say “high fructose corn syrup”? Have you seen the drink fat video yet? If you eat or drink processed things that turn to sugar in your body and you do not go out and run several miles a day to burn that off, your body will turn it into fat which makes your body not feel well, slows and hampers your heart and all of your other internal organs, put the body at risk for diabetes, and makes you feel sad. Yes, sugar turning to fat causes no end of problems…well, the problems end when the body is dead….human and dog. It happens to our dogs, too. The dog who eats corn as a regular diet and does not run miles and miles a day will eventually get fat and won’t feel well because he’s not well.

Dogs and humans both can develop a sweet tooth and the manufacturers who want to make money and know you’ll buy over and over again are the ones who know what makes us tick. What we like. What we’ll buy, again and again. If there’s corn or corn syrup in it, most people and dogs will like the taste and they’ll buy again, consuming more and more. Corn is a huge culprit in our obese society, dog and human. I believe corn is one of the biggest killers of dogs and humans and it causes digestive upsets. If it were eaten in moderation, like an ear at a summer picnic or a few tablespoons once a week with dinner, not so bad maybe, but it’s not moderation when it’s being consumed every day, and in everything you drink, and every meal as those dog food companys would have you believe is good for your dog. They have spent millions of dollars on advertising to make you believe these are good foods and if you love your dog…I throw up a little every time I see one of those commercials with the really healthy looking dog running and jumping, loving their person, it’s all so wrong.

All you have to do is look at a fat dog and read the ingredient label of his food to know why he’s fat! If people fed their dogs from their own table and threw out the bad quality dog food, the dog would be much better off! There’s nothing wrong with your leftovers for your dog. “Don’t give your dog human food” is a scare tactic made up probably by the dog food companies and who did they tell? Your vet! Why, because they want to sell you dog food! (Please, share your food with your dog but no cooked bones and watch the fried stuff.)

Dogs who eat corn often have chronic yeast infections in ears and other places, their bodies smell “doggy”, their breath stinks, and their poop stinks and usually it’s big and mushy.

Dogs and people have developed allergy symptoms to wheat and processed products made with wheat. One of my good friends can’t eat anything with wheat or wheat gluten in it, it makes her fat and puffy almost immediately and she’s really sick for days every time she eats a donut or a piece of cake. She’s determinedly cut that stuff out of her life forever, it’s not worth feeling lousy. Can you imagine what that same stuff is doing to a dog who has a whole lot less body to work with? Wheat gluten is one of the most found problems for dogs according to the customers and friends who share their dog’s problems with me. The dogs have become so much better simply by giving up the wheat. Some people and some dogs just can’t eat it.

Just last night I was talking to a man who has a fat lab. My first question is always, “What do you feed him?” His answer? “Beneful dog food.” I got online and found the ingredient list. He said he’s going to change his food immediately, his dog “got fat on Beneful.” Let’s take a look at a few foods and I’ll show you why some foods are better than others. The lists of ingredients are accurate as of today.

Purina brands, who I believe is still owned by Neslte’s, include Alpo, Beneful, Purina Dog Chow, Mighty Dog, ProPlan, Moist & Meaty, Purina One, Chef Michaels, Busy Brand, Beggin Strips, Cheweez Strips, Carvers, T Bonz, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, KitnKaboodle, Tender Vittle, Purina Veterinary Diets. You see multi million dollar commercials on TV for these.

Purina’s Beneful Original:

Ingredients: Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, propylene glycol, meat and bone meal, tricalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, water, animal digest, sorbic acid (a preservative), potassium chloride, dried carrots, dried peas, calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

I believe that Colgate-Palmolive still owns the Hills Pet Foods brands, they will almost always show the Science Diet or Hill’s name or logo on their products.

Science Diet Nature’s Best:

Ingredients: Chicken, Brown Rice, Whole Grain Wheat, Cracked Pearled Barley, Soybean Meal, Chicken Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Whole Grain Oats, Apples, Cranberries, Soybean Oil, Peas, Carrots, Dried Beet Pulp, Iodized Salt, Flaxseed, Broccoli, Vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Science Diet Adult Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe:

Ingredients: Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Rice Flour, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn Gluten Meal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Science Diet Veterinarian Recommended Sensitive Stomach Adult Dog Food: (remember that corn can cause a sensitive stomach)

Ingredients: Brewers Rice, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Dried Egg Product, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Oat Fiber, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Iodized Salt, L-Lysine, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Tryptophan, preserved with mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract

I believe that Proctor and Gamble still owns Iams and Eukanuba. I had a hard time trying to find a full list of ingredients for this company’s products. P&G states on their website that corn is like “corn bread not corn on the cob” in their foods. I see that they are trying hard to convince you that corn is okay for your dogs on a regular and daily menu, they are trying to spin the way you look at corn on the label. They are struggling not to lose your business when you want to do better things for your dog. My question to them? Why not use all that money they’re throwing into advertising on TV to actually make a good dog food?

Iams !Chunks Pro Active Health (ingredient list found at PetCo.com):

Ingredients: Chicken, corn meal, ground whole grain sorghum, chicken by-product meal, ground whole grain barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and citric acid), fish meal (source of fish oil), chicken meal, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, dried egg product, brewers dried yeast, salt, flax meal, sodium hexametaphosphate, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid, vitamin A acetate, calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), vitamin B12 supplement, niacin, riboflavin supplement (source of vitamin B2), inositol, pyridoxine hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid], choline chloride, minerals [ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate], calcium carbonate, dl-methionine, rosemary extract.

I believe Mars Food Group still owns the Pedigree brand.

Pedigree Chicken Rice & Vegetables:

Ingredients: Ground Whole Corn, Meat And Bone Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Wheat Flour, Chicken, Rice, Dried Whole Peas, Dried Beet Pulp, Wheat Mill Run, Natural Flavor, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Carrot Powder, Caramel Color, Vegetable Oil (source of Linoleic Acid), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Dl-alpha Tocopherol Acetate [/source], L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate [source 1="Vitamin" 2="C*" language="of"], Vitamin B12 Supplement, D-calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Salt, Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Potassium Iodide), Added FD&C and Lake Colors (Yellow 6, Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5).

Now, after reading all of that, think about this. The ingredients are supposed to be listed in the order of quantity of foods. If the first item is meat and the next three are grain, there is more grain than meat. If it starts with corn and you don’t see meat, meat, meat, it’s mostly corn. Colors in dog food? Why? To appeal to you. Dogs don’t care what color their food is so why add something that can make them very ill? Added sugar, added salt? Read the lists again, how many times did you count corn and wheat? Watch the TV commercials, they are changing these days. The companies are watching us talk, they want to keep your business so they are going to spin their food to fit your conscience. I even saw one that says your dog’s poop will look and smell better! I wonder what they added to make that happen? They didn’t take anything out! It’s like they’re reading my blog and trying to convince you that they have changed so you’ll keep buying from them. Read Dog poop should smell like….

Don’t believe it. They haven’t changed yet. Read their labels. (Just a quick note: did you see the commercials on TV where they’re trying to convince you that corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup won’t hurt you if you eat it in moderation? They do not want to lose your business! Read your labels to see how much corn in any form that you consume in a day. Interesting if you’re overweight, isn’t it.)

Okay, let’s move on to a sampling of some really good kibbles. These companies also make excellent canned foods, also available at SitStay.com. There are more and more good and better foods on the market all the time as people start reading labels and want to leave the old tried and not so true of the bad dog food makers behind.

The foods below are a sample of the kibbles I carry in the SitStay store. Each of these foods came highly recommended and then tested to prove to me that they are indeed what they seem to be…good foods that dogs do well with. I don’t recommend any food I carry over any other food I carry. I choose only the foods and companies I can trust, only what I like and what dogs have liked and only those on which dogs have become healthy again. You choose which you want to start with. All ingredient lists below come from SitStay.com.

Orijen Adult Dog Food: (I love Orijen food, it’s really hard to keep in stock but we try!)

Ingredients: Fresh deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, russet potato, fresh deboned pacific salmon (a natural source of DHA and EPA), herring meal, sweet potato, peas, fresh deboned lake whitefish, fresh deboned northern walleye, chicken fat (naturally preserved with vitamin E and citric acid), chicken liver, salmon meal, fresh deboned turkey, fresh whole eggs, fresh deboned herring, sun-cured alfalfa, salmon oil, chicory root, dehydrated organic kelp, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, saskatoon berries, black currants, choline chloride, psyllium, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, sea salt, vitamin supplements (vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, vitamin C, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12), mineral supplements (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium), dried Lactobacillus acidophilus, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product.

Addiction Venison & Cranberry Dog Food:

Ingredients: Venison, Whole Oats, Potatoes, Papayas, Canola Oil, Cranberries, Carrots, Minerals (Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulphate, Manganese Sulphate, Sodium Selenate, Potassium Iodate), Diatomaceous Earth, Spinach, Garlic, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin A, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12, Thiamine, Vitamin D, Pyridoxine, Folic Acid), Natural Antioxidant (Vegetable Oil, Natural Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract), Amino Acid (Tryptophan)

Nature’s Prairie Variety Chicken Meal and Rice Dog Food:

Ingredients: Chicken, Brown Rice, Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid),Montmorillonite Clay, Flaxseed Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor, Alfalfa Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Biotin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid), Sea Salt, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite), Chicken Liver, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Apples, Carrots, Peas, Cottage Cheese, Chicken Eggs, Freeze Dried Chicken, Freeze Dried Turkey, Freeze Dried Turkey Liver, Freeze Dried Turkey Hearts, Pumpkinseeds, Ground Chicken Bone, Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Kelp, Salmon Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Persimmons, Olive Oil, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Rosemary Extract, Sage, Clove.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Chicken Dog Food:

Ingredients: Chicken Meal, Tapioca, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Pumpkinseeds, Menhaden Fish Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Montmorillonite Clay, Natural Chicken Flavor, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Biotin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid), Kelp, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite), Chicken Liver, Sea Salt, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Apples, Carrots, Peas, Cottage Cheese, Chicken Eggs, Freeze Dried Chicken, Freeze Dried Turkey, Freeze Dried Turkey Liver, Freeze Dried Turkey Hearts, Ground Chicken Bone, Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Salmon Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Persimmons, Olive Oil, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Rosemary Extract, Sage, Clove.

Merrick’s Whole Earth Farms Adult Dry Dog Food:

Ingredients: Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Oat Meal, Pearled Barley, Ground Rice, Ground Millet, Ground Barley, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Duck, Buffalo, White Fish, Natural Chicken Liver Flavor, Salmon Oil (a natural source of Omega-3, Docosahexaenoic Acid-DHA), Organic Alfalfa Sun-cured Ground, Yeast Culture, Tomato Pomace Dried, Dried Egg, Organic Sunflower Seed Ground, Salt, Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Lysine, Blueberry Dried, Cranberry Dried, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Inulin (from Chicory Root), Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Cinnamon, Marigold Dried, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus Casei, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantotheante, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydoiodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite

I believe that dogs should get a variety of foods, just as a human should. People should have a variety of foods every day, a dog can get a variety over a longer period of time and still get what they need. So how do you do that? Leave the bad foods behind, start feeding a good quality food. Then after a few weeks of that first choice of food, buy a different good quality food with a different set of ingredients, then vary the diet from then on from bag to bag and can to can. After your dog makes the change to a good food, moving to another good quality food shouldn’t make much difference to their system. Changing from a bad food to a good quality food might show some diarrhea or tummy upset for a bit. It’s because the dog’s system was so compromised by the bad stuff that they couldn’t handle good, wholesome foods. The get over that quickly and not all dogs show signs of the changing to a different food.

Kennedy, if you’re not ready to go with a raw, fresh food diet or freeze dried raw, maybe you will make your change like this. Start with any of the foods from SitStay.com, say you start with Orijen or Addiction dry (and canned by the same names) with some tripe for a few weeks, then next time Nature’s Variety to the end of the bag, the next bag being another good quality food.

Tripe is excellent food. We have it in freeze dried, canned and treats. If you do nothing else differently right now, add tripe to your dog’s diet.

Kent has been testing a rotation of the SitStay.com dog foods with the SitStay Dogs for several months now, they used to eat only raw food and they did great on that. Oliver, Frankie, and yes, old Tilli, too, have been eating a rotation of raw, canned and kibble foods, including tripe of course, all from SitStay.com. They are all doing great and feeling really, really good! And they smell so good. A dog who eats right smells good like they’ve just had a bath…all the time…unless they roll in something icky.

Kennedy, I am so glad that you’re making great decisions for your dogs. Good food and in the right moderation and choices will see your dogs healthy and well. Dogs who feel good train more easily and they are better mannered and milder tempered dogs. Dogs and people who eat right will keep their health, be able to fight genetic influences more easily, and they will be able to cope with the stresses of life. Thanks for the question. – Darc

Thank you, Everyone, for your support and your business. We and the SitStay Dogs appreciate it very, very much! – Darcy

Dear Peg, Wouldn’t that be nice! Especially if we’re on the agreeable side!? The world doesn’t work that way and in my opinion, it shouldn’t. What a terrible thing for me if I had to agree to use shock collars even when I am so against their use. And what a terrible thing for someone else to have to give up their shock collars if that’s working for them without turning their dog into a mass of jelly….no wait, I take that back, that’s not a good argument….LOL!

Disagreements aren’t necessarily bad and they can be very, very good. Some people have to weigh all sides before they make a choice, to do that they need to hear all sides.

Oh, there will be a few bad apples in the barrel who want to raise some ire for the sake of starting a fight but those people are few and far between and in my experience are excused by most of us as argumentative and not worth listening to much. We let them stick around because every once in a while they say something sensible and worth listening to but most of the time we kind of roll our eyes as if our crazy old Aunt Tilli had just farted in church, it’s just the way she is and we don’t pay it much mind.

Most people want to hear about things that they don’t know about yet or why what they’re doing isn’t working as well as something else. Gosh, if nobody listened to what might be a better solution because they think they have it all figured out, nothing would change for the better. And will that happen? Sure, it happens every day. Some people will never be budged away from what they think is right, right or wrong.

I say that everyone should get a chance to speak their piece and share their experiences. Of course I don’t like anger, resentment, or harsh words and if the posts are bad enough, they get deleted from the discussion. We don’t ever have to be mean to each other to talk this stuff over. The Dish by Darcy and SitStay’s Facebook are all about sharing what we know with each other. It’s a good thing.

I’m not the end all of the dog world and you won’t be either, none of us are, I’m sure there’s agreement about that. What I do know is that I do what I do by writing The Dish and sharing with our Facebook friends to share what works for me and what I know has worked for thousands of my friends and customers who want a better way to live with their dogs. It’s why I’m here, to share. I don’t put myself on the line every day just to have people agree or disagree with me. I do it because I care about people and the dogs they love. I want to be loved and accepted just like I love and accept everyone else. It’s my nature to want to help. I can’t help it, it’s what I do. Again LOL!

If we don’t all put our two cents in and listen to each other, what use is it to have a public discussion or even to know each other at all? We don’t have to always agree. I think we should always listen. Good things come of people coming together for a good cause. What better cause than the dogs? Well kids, maybe, but mine are all grown and doing well so I don’t have much to say about that any more.

I’ll always be on the side of the dogs and I’ll always do my best to answer and argue and share with love. For me, it’s the only way.

Thanks for the question. It’s a great one. Stick around, we’ve been doing this for over 14 years and we’re still going strong. You might learn more than you ever realized existed. It’s a great big old world out there and there are tons and tons of people working with and loving dogs every day. That’s a lot of information. – Darcy

When I got home from the expo, I took the prong collar off and started reading. Then we started using the training from the book, My Dog Pulls What Do I Do? OMG! Within minutes of starting the training she isn’t pulling any more! Even my granddaughter can walk her.

Sunday morning, I pulled the prong collar off the shelf to put it on and she sat and looked at me, then she shook her whole body as if to say, “What! Have you gone mad again?!” That made me remember that we didn’t use that nasty old prong collar any more and off we went with her on the cat’s leash, threading it through the handle. On the cat leash!!

I’ll get a pretty new soft dog collar for her and of course it will be from SitStay!

I still can’t believe the change in her, that fast change is hard for me to realize. She’s more cuddly and she’s sitting politely to go out when it’s time. I wonder if that has anything to do with me being smarter than I was last week! I’ll be in town on Monday, I’ll give you a call when I get there. – Beth

Oh Beth, I’m so glad! Yes, our dogs do know and respond differently when we aren’t hurting them any more. Metal hurts. And dogs who pull usually simply don’t know what we want instead. Open the lines of communication and you and your dog will live such a wonderful life together. It doesn’t take harsh training to make it so. You’re a good woman. Thanks for calling and letting me use this in The Dish. And thanks for letting me have some time with your girl, too, she looks so much like our old girl. See you Monday. – Darcy

Dear Cathie, I’m not going to be much help I’m afraid. I know dogs, I don’t know much about cat nutrition. We do carry high quality cat foods for the convenience of our dog lovers. The cats who live in my house aren’t mine so I’m not the one who feeds them, they eat the foods from SitStay.com and they catch and eat mice, they’re doing great but they all still have their teeth. Here’s what I know about cat diets. Taurine is not a true amino acid but is essential in a cat’s diet. It’s found in many foods especially seafood and meat, and the less processed, the better. Processing of food kills Taurine and is why cat foods are supplemented with Taurine, you’ll see it on the ingredient list. Cats shouldn’t go over 24 hours without food. Truly that’s about all I know about it. We all get one life and we don’t have time to learn everything. That would be me, I don’t know everything.

Can anybody help Cathie with her sweet old cat? Sorry, I wish I knew more but it’s why I have a dog supply store.   – Darcy

So last night I’m all tucked in and Meela jumps up and curls up on top of my belly, you know how they are, she had to be between me and the book so I can’t see the pages. She breathes really loudly which is only annoying sometimes. I like this cat. I push her gently over so she is closer to my pillow and I put one arm up over her so she’ll stay there and I go back to my book. I pull my arm down to turn the page and Feona jumps up next to Meela where they proceed to have a slap fight, playful but still…I watch the slapping cats instead of reading.

DC can’t be left out of a slap fight and now she has jumped onto my belly, does a little slapping of her own and immediately goes into kneading my stomach. By this time, I am laughing out loud and they seem to think that my laughter means here kitty kitty, except for Feona who went off the far side of the bed and is now trying to get onto the bedside table next to me. Meela pushes closer to me and lodges herself in the curve of my neck, her nose against my ear, remember she breathes really loudly, and DC digs into my belly even harder with her nails. DC needs her nails trimmed so I put up with the kneading as long as I can, then move her with my elbow over next to Meela who has now relaxed and is going to sleep. Feona, who jumped off the bed after the slap fight has taken my book mark from the bedside table and is under the bed playing with it. Oh, good grief.

This morning I looked under the bed and the book mark wasn’t there. I gave up trying to find it after looking in all of their usual hiding places and in my closet.

When I sat down at my computer this morning here in my library, guess what was on my keyboard? The book mark. Laying stretched out across the D to the Enter key, like it was a present or something. Thanks, Kitties. I don’t know for sure who put it there, they all steal it from time to time and they are all accomplished thieves.

At least this time they didn’t pull my CD player off of the bedside table, take the CD out and use it as a skateboard for the next hour and a half while I was trying to go to sleep. – Darcy