The 8mo old Yorkshire Terrier, Mucha, recently came to me for Boarding Training and Housebreaking Training. Her unwanted behaviors included aggressive behaviors towards dogs and humans, excessive barking, biting and fear while being groomed, and inappropriate indoor elimination of feces and urine. So Mucha entered the program as a Boarding, Training, and Grooming Client. She unexpectedly became a Wellness Client.…and that could have saved her life.

While simultaneously rehabbing Mucha’s excessive barking and aggressive tendencies, I was Housebreaking training her, throughout the day. Despite Mucha already being an 8mo old pup, I began her at the Housebreaking protocol of a younger 2mo old. I was planning to likely breeze her through the  protocol, that changes slightly, with every monthly increase of age, up until age 6mo. Physiology of a dog’s bladder, dictates this marker, as time to stop adjusting protocol. This becomes the adult elimination protocol.

The housebreaking protocol utilizes my scientific formula for water and food “in” (consumption) and urine and feces “out” (elimination.) Mucha had high anxiety upon arrival. This led to lack of consumption of food and water. While she still urinated over the first day, and every day, she did not dedicate for (2) days. This alone, could be expected. No food “in”…no feces “out.” On day (3) she finally defecated. As I’m also a behaviorist and wellness expert, outside of being an animal trainer, I immediately noticed unusual behaviors, associated with how she defecated. I promptly took video, of this first defecation, and forwarded video to her owner. I asked the owner if the “tap-dancing” and traveling forward while defecating, had been occurring at home, and prior to her coming to me.

53C80CF3-82A5-4596-B3CB-142EE69CE348 (Above: short video clip of Mucha’s “tap dancing” and traveling behaviors)

My first thought was that Mucha may have become dehydrated, then constipated, due to lack of drinking water at my home. But the owner had explained that this occurred every defecation. When I pointed out that these are signs of discomfort while defecating, their reply was that she’s only uncomfortable every 10th defecation, not recognizing these behaviors, as signs of discomfort as well. I asked, “What happens on the every 10th defecation?” The answer was’, “She verbally squeals.” This squealing, was likely due to tearing of her rectum, from a particularly hardened stool. The poor little girl, had to pass difficult stools, with an already sore rectum, each and every time she defecated, … Heartbreaking to me.

Being that Mucha arrived on a Premium kibble food, I immediately went first to the foods lable. I’m a savvy consumer, and not duped by terms like “Premium,” particularly knowing the hazards associated with feeding all kibble. The first lines of the food ingredients lable, were quite alarming.

Passed the only meat ingredient, lamb, we want to see next, (2) other meat ingredients. Ideally these are whole meat ingredients, or meat meal, and NEVER meat by-products. Instead, Mucha’s  Premium kibble contained next, brown rice, oatmeal, and beet pulp. These are cheaper substitutions for the preferred meat proteins. They “count” though, in the food analysts, towards protein content. It’s unfortunate, to say the least.

But worse than being inappropriate protein for a dog, these (3) ingredients soak up TONS of fluid, Any one of these ingredients could be used to aid diarrhea successfully. But for a dog without diarrhea, these ingredients will pull healthy fluid from the dogs body. This kibble is highly dangerous to feed, in my opinion, containing particularly, ALL (3) products, and in such high quantities, that they appeared in the first line of ingredients lable. In the very least, I could have accepted only (1) of these (3) ingredients, but lower in the ingredients lable.

*Note: these products are fillers, with no real benefit to the dog. They’re great for grazing herbivores, but not your dog. They can be harmful to your dog. *

This tiny dog, having a tiny digestive tract, was already in jeopardy, and faced REAL RISKS, of rupturing her intestines. Her jeopardy was dehydration, and constipation. It took (6) daily defecations to eliminate (2) meals, vs the normal (2) expected  daily defecatiins. She was in pain defecating. She was experiencing mechanical damage, in the form of tears to her rectum. But, she’d also conditioned herself to stop drinking enough water…only lapping two to three tiny laps, from a water dish. Dehydration posed even greater, and numerous health risks, throughout her entire body.

She likely conditioned herself to stop drinking enough water, because adding water to her kibble-filled gut, expanded the kibble to roughly 3-4 times its original size. This expansion of food inside the gut, at least would have given her VERY PAINFUL “stomach aches.” Beyond a stomach ache though, Mucha’s very life was at risk. This kibble could have expanded beyond the capacity of her tiny intestinal tract. When this occurs, the tract will perforate. A perforated tract requires immediate emergency surgery, or death will occur.

Aside from making a recommendation to change her diet, I began immediately remedying the problem, utilizing the existing kibble provided. I first and foremost, pre-soaked Mucha’s ration in filtered water. Through experimenting, learned a minimum of 4hrs was required to fully expand the kibble. Slightly more than 1/4 cup was required to fully expand kibble. I added additional water, passed the amount to expand kibble. This was to begin to rehydrate her entire body, and force water in, to compensate for lack of free-will drinking. Other methods were employed by me, to increase water consumption throughout the day.

Next I added oil to the pre-soaked food. It was at this step, that she began to stop the observed behaviors of “tap dancing” and traveling forward. I saw 50% reduction of these behaviors. As well, we went down from (6) daily defecations, to (4) daily defecations. I witnessed a glossy shine to the fecal matter, where it had been visibly dry prior. The texture was also soft, vs hard. Great news. At least her stools were no longer difficult to pass.

Next was repairing any internal damage to her digestive tract and rectum. With the owners permission, I added an herbal blend. The blend would repair GI tract lining, help eliminate fecal matter stuck to the lining, and help the muscles in the lining undulate better, further assisting complete elimination, at each defecation. After a few days in the concoction, Mucha went down to (3) more complete bowel movements, with perfect texture. The remaining unwanted behaviors all ceased.

So in (10) days of “routine” Boarding Training, Mucha went home, with an almost life-long health rise eliminated. The precious little girl experienced comfortable feces elimination, for the first time since starting a kibble diet. She is still working on the required reconditioning, to increase water intake throughout the day, but ingests more water.  She has been switched to food with nutritive benefits. Her owner now has a vast education regarding food choices, and can provide for her better than ever.

The rest of her training was a swimming success as well. Though the defecation behavior impacted  housebreaking, she left at the 3mo old housebreaking protocol, and remains on a positive trajectory towards adult behaviors. I’ll add here, that my housebreaking protocol yields “no indoor accidents,” as soon as it’s started. So, she went home not eliminating indoors any longer.

Through her successful grooming re-training, I was able to provide owners with the “cut of their choice,” for the very first time. Below are pictures of her before and after groom. Their “cut of choice,” is depicted in the cute puppy picture of Mucha, heading this article.