Madcap Radio

This episode is about when and if you should use vitamin and probiotic supplements for raw fed puppies and dogs.

One of my students asked me what supplements were necessary when weaning puppies onto raw. Another student in the same thread said she had read that raw diets are often deficient in vitamins D and E and asked if she should be supplementing those vitamins.

The answers to these questions strike at the heart of what it means to be a raw/natural feeder, and why breeders often struggle with this. Natural feeding is not an ideology, but it does require us to release some deep-seated ideas that are based on presumptions that are not relevant to raw/natural feeders.

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“I have a question that has come up from some of my puppy parents, and I am not sure how to answer. How do I phase treats out and use the clicker exclusively? I was thinking clicker every time, but treats sometimes until there are no treats, and at what age would you fully remove treats? Do treats ever get fully removed? Many of my parents reported that many of the pups are really food motivated, and I'm not sure that is my goal ... I would like them to be clicker motivated at some point.”

This podcast uncouples:

How shaping behaviors with a clicker works

How a clicker becomes a shaping tool

​How and when you can lose the clicker and treats.

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This episode answers a question we get on almost a weekly basis:

“How do I introduce my puppy to my adult dog?”

This podcast looks at:

Questions to ask about your dog and your puppy that can help you craft a good introduction.

Guidelines for puppy-dog introductions.

Honoring normal social behavior and protecting the interests of your dog and your puppy.

Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

The question comes from the discussion group for our With Open Arms puppy owner course:

“Looking for a podcast - Hello! Our 15-week-old puppy is presenting some potty training challenges…While he's reliably house-trained for bowel movements, he frequently urinates on rugs, likely because they resemble the puppy pads he's familiar with. More puzzling that even when we take him outside at the recommended intervals, he'll pass small amounts of urine and then refuse to empty his bladder fully, even after 10+ minutes. Inevitably, within 20 minutes of coming back inside, he'll urinate on a rug.

He's very able to stay in his kennel for a full 2-hour nap with no anxiety or accidents. So he certainly is physically capable of holding his bladder.

We are not sure what we are doing wrong or if this is just to be expected and to be patient. It does seem like he thinks that the rugs is the place to pee. Let me know if you have any tips! ”

This podcast covers:

Why being able to take a two-hour nap without peeing does not mean a puppy can hold it for two hours while awake

Why “double and triple peeing” is really a developmental thing

The physical reasons puppies may target fabric to relieve themselves

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A new study was published this week, showing that a specific strain of probiotic found in kimchi is extremely good at binding up and carrying microplastics out of the body.

We, and our dogs, are surrounded by plastic, it’s inescapable, and the accumulation of nanoparticles of plastic in our bodies is also inescapable - and very bad for our and our dogs' health.

So the student question this episode is:

“Should we be giving our dogs kimchi?”

In this episode I serve up:

The practical takeaways from the kimchi study for canine nutrition

The “Foodome” project and network analysis of food

Why the next big thing is “everything”

Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.