This article was written by Chris Redenbach CDBC, CBCC-KA, a certified dog behavior consultant and owner of the Balanced Dog, a canine training service based in Atlanta, Georgia.  To learn more about Coach Chris, please visit our “Contributing Authors” page.

Obesity and Heartbreak

My mother loved her dog intensely.

I gave Eco, a Bouvier des Flandres, to Mom as a gift to keep her company after my father’s sudden death left Mom in a very lonely place. Eco filled the void in my mother’s life. Mom was an active and vibrant 80 year old who had retired to the chalet my father had built for them. She and Eco used to take long, leisurely walks through the vast surrounding forest and Eco was never far from Mom’s side at home. Eco went everywhere with Mom in the car too. They were inseparable. Read More

Perhaps you’ve heard a little Mexican-American fella with a meticulously coiffed goatee and rollerblades tell you that the three fundaments of successfully managing unwanted canine behaviors are “exercise, discipline, and affection — in that order.”

Well, if you’re reading this blog, chances are that you’re a bit more skeptical than the average bear.  If you’re anything like our authors, you’re not so inclined to accept the advice of self-styled “experts” without first understanding the evidentiary basis for their advice.

Maybe, despite his fame, success, and undeniable charm, you won’t blindly accept Mr. Millan’s opinion that exercise is a critical part of managing unwanted canine behaviors.  (If this is the case, you’re in pretty good company.  To say that the veterinary and animal behaviorist communities “have issues” with Mr. Millan is to grossly understate the severity of their criticism of him.  Check out these links, which are really just the tip of the iceberg on the subject.) Read More

In addition to the tremendous physical benefits that exercise provides your dog and the psychological benefits that YOU will enjoy from providing care to your loving companion, there’s another reason you should feel compelled to provide your dog with daily exercise:

She is psychologically hard-wired to enjoy it. Read More

Early this morning an article appeared in the New York Times, extolling the benefits of high-intensity interval training in light of new scientific findings suggesting that short, high-intensity interval workouts may boost cardiovascular fitness just as effectively as longer, more traditional cardio workouts.  The studies upon which the NYT commentary is based can be found here and here. Read More

We prove what we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove.

- Emile Auguste Chartier

Why Not Today?

Is today the first time you’ve thought that your dog would be happier and healthier if she lost some weight?

Probably not.

If you’ve read this blog before (somewhat unlikely) or if you’re at all interested in the intersection between doggie culture and science (more likely), you’ve probably heard that canine obesity is a serious problem in this country and you probably recognize that your dog’s experience in the world would be measurably better if she were a fitter, healthier animal. Read More

No profit grows where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what you most affect.

– William Shakespeare

If your overweight dog is ever going to get back into shape, you’ll have to play several different (but equally critical) roles throughout the process.

On one level, you’re going to be a general.  This one is pretty obvious.  You’re the one with the big brain, the one with the ability to set goals, the one with mental faculties that allow for differentiated tasks and strategy-formation, the one primed for (though not always capable of) skepticism and critical analysis.

For most of us, this is the relatively easy role. Read More

Should You Feel Compelled to Exercise Your Dog?

This essay is a continuation of our exploration of the value of canine exercise.  In Part One, we discussed the health and welfare benefits of exercise for both you and your dog.  Now we turn our attention to pet owners and examine the degree to which, in light of those benefits, they should feel compelled to provide their dogs with adequate daily exercise.

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Is it so intuitive that dogs need (or even want) exercise?

"No pain, no gain."

We don’t worry ourselves with seeing to it that our pet fish swim laps every morning.  Pastured animals don’t run laps around their fields.  And, to casual observers, many dogs seem perfectly content to lounge lazily on a couch all day.

Even if we accept that dogs want or need exercise, is it so clear that we, their owners and handlers, need to shoulder that burden?  Maybe in a perfect world we could spend time exercising our pets, but only after all of our personal desires have been adequately satisfied.  We are their “masters,” after all.

Well, here’s our formal position: that’s all nonsense.  When it comes to exercising dogs, we believe in two fundamental principles: (1) most dogs both want and need adequate exercise to live their fullest and happiest lives and (2) their owners and handlers are responsible for meeting those needs and desires.

Don’t agree?  Great, read on.  We’ll cover the first proposition in today’s article and the second one shortly.  We think our positions are supported by reasonable assumptions, empirical evidence, and solid logic.  If you disagree please leave a comment and give public voice to our disagreement. Read More