AboutMadeline Friedman Expertise When you submit a question, let me know that you have read my bio completely by putting at the beginning of your question: "I have read your bio and agree to read and rate your response fairly within three days." Unless you agree to this Virtual Contract, your question will be rejected as I'll know that you didn't take the time to read my bio. Questions re: canine behavior AS IT RELATES TO TRAINING, tricks, and everyday behaviour and interactions and which are NOT related to possible medical conditions ARE WELCOME. I will AUTOMATICALLY REJECT questions of a medical nature which don't relate to training. Questions about itching, sores, oozings, pregnancies, and the like will NOT BE ANSWERED by me. My answers reflect research, extensive experience, and formal, ongoing, self-motivated education in the areas of animal science, hehavioral biology, and behavioural psychology. If you dislike my answer because I've been honest, don't blithely rate me 'down' or say I was impolite when I wasn't. When you ask me a question and get my response, you can expect an honest answer although it may suggest you have work to do. Such isn't a reason to take shots at me in ratings. I am always polite. Your question must make sense, be well structured grammatically and not require that I "decode" misspellings or sentences. If you would like to retain my services in the NYC, NJ, or Palm Beach Co., FL areas, please contact me for training. If I answer within the time frame provided by AllExperts, don't unfairly comment that I didn't answer your question quickly enough. If you have an emergency or feel your dog is behaving in a way which may compromise anyone's well being, call a vet immediately. If your dog dies or is euthanized after I respond to your question, don't lash out and blame me for your dog's death. If your dog seems ill get your dog to a vet ASAP and don't depend on any expert here to save dogs' lives within the generous time frame provided here to respond.
Experience Professional dog trainer and behavior consultant since 2002; professional dog portrait artist and professional painter for over 18 years. Professional State Certified Educator since 1992. Owner and operator of Innovative Reality Dog Training since 2002.
Organizations Was Animal Science Major, Rutgers University; Permanently Certified NJ State Educator Since 1992; AKC Certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator; multi-species experience with horses, swine, agamids, with primary focus on domestic dog. Please keep questions related to dogs only in this forum.
Publications Chronicle of the Dog, Yankee Dog, local news writings, "Popular Dog" Series magazine - Housetraining issue, quoted in Tonawanda (NY) News, July 2007
Education/Credentials Master's Degree, plus additional undergrad college credits in psychology, and accredited college study in Animal Science.
Awards and Honors Published author on dog training and dog behaviour, and business aspects of dog training. F.I.T. "Commitment to Illustration and Excellence as an Illustrator" award. Second place internationally in Society of Illustrators international art competition. Jellybean Photographics Award (for illustration).
Past/Present Clients Over 2,000 satisfied clients since 2002.
Question Hi, I have a 9 month old female black lab. She loves rawhides bones and would eat them all day if she could. Is too much rawhide bad for a dog? Also, is there a way to keep her urine from burning the grass? I've heard that only female urine burns grass. Thank you.
Answer Hi Patti,
Thanks for your questions here at AllExperts! You get two answered for the "price" of one! I am happy to oblige.
Regarding rawhides, that's a great question. While most dogs like and require some chewing time, rawhides may not be your best option, for the following reasons.
First, rawhides don't offer much nutritionally to your dog. They have some digestible protein, but aside from that they pack on calories without adding much nutritionally to your dog's diet. Instead, I would recommend stuffing Kongs with your dog's food plus some peanut butter, unsweetened organic apple sauce, plain yogurt, or wet food and then freezing the Kong. Voila! There is a good partial meal for your dog that also affords some great chew time! Freezing the Kong adds additional chew time for your dog. The black coloured Kongs are said to be the toughest and best for diehard chewers. Pick a size Kong that's appropriate for your dog, and adjust your dog's diet accordingly for how many Kong 'meals' she gets in a day. The Nylabone Galileo is also a great option for tough chewers. The Jollyball/Teaser Ball is a great toy because it's difficult to have it get lost in the bushes of a yard. It's a large ball with a smaller ball inside it and lots of holes for you to use to toss it, and for your dog to use to carry with her mouth. It is supposed to be indestructible. In short, there are many dog toys on the market that provide good chew time for our dogs.
A while back I asked my vet about rawhides. My vet suggested that the compressed are the best for any dog to chew, but discouraged me from offering rawhides at all to my dogs. The reasons were that when the rawhide becomes small enough for the dog to swallow whole, as well as slippery and slimy with saliva, many dogs DO swallow it whole (either accidentally, or on purpose), and this can cause a choking hazard, even death. I had a client several years ago who told me that she lost her boxer in just this tragic manner, due to choking on a rawhide when she left the room for just a few minutes. Chunks of rawhide swallowed whole can also cause diarrhea, vomiting, and esophageal or intestinal blockages which may require surgery in order to remove. I would personally not chance it.
The other issue, in case you need more information and are not yet saying "Jeez, I think there are lots of other toys I would rather offer to my dog before I offer rawhides," LOL, is that many rawhide toys are processed with arsenic. The amount of arsenic varies and in general the amount is said to be too low to affect most dogs after the arsenic is rinsed off in processing; but, I personally am not comfortable with anything that is processed with arsenic and I also fear that perhaps a batch may have slipped through the "rinsing" cracks and might contain too much arsenic. I have not offered rawhides to my dogs in several years, opting instead for the toys mentioned above as well as other toys that I consider safer.
As far as your lawn goes, all dogs' urine can cause pH imbalances in your lawn. All dog urine has urea and ammonia in it. Urea is a quite potent nitrogen fertilizer that is almost 100% nitrogen. Nitrogen used in the proper amounts for a lawn is a wonderful fertilizer, but in the case of dog urine it makes the soil way too acidic and ends up burning your lawn. Urea is what causes the yellow and brown "urine burn" spots in folks' lawns who own dogs.
There are several ways to solve this problem. Some include adding a vitamin to your dog's diet which neutralizes the urine. You can ask your vet about this, and there are also some over-the-counter products marketed for this purpose at many pet stores that you can opt to use without consulting your vet if you so choose.
You can dilute and reduce, but probably not completely eliminate, the effects of the over-nitrogenization by following your dog around wherever she urinates and pouring water over the areas where she potties, although I realize that most dog owners generally don't have the time or inclination (or backs!) to bend down repeatedly and do this. You can train your female Lab to urinate only in specific areas and give her a special potty area, perhaps somewhere where lawn burns won't be very visible.
Female dogs will indeed affect your lawn differently than male dogs! Female dogs generally like to do their pottying out in open areas directly on your lawn, whereas males, by contrast, prefer some vertical object, such as a hydrant, plant pot, tree or shrub. Trees and shrubs are generally hardier than grass, and one potty infraction won’t kill them; but generally these items in backyards get much more than one potty infraction. Male dogs also use urine to mark territory, and they tend to return to the same spot over and over. In addition, when other dogs smell a freshly irrigated canine territory marker, they often feel invited to make a territory marking contribution of their own. Also, a female dog who's ovulating will have higher levels of certain hormones in her urine that can ruin your lawn as opposed to one who is spayed, with their urine being much more acidic. There are other good reasons to spay your female Lab as well. :-) One solution to the added acidity of a female dog's urine is to add sweet soil (lime) to the area to neutralize the pH of the soil which will improve the soil for future grass and make the future grass hardier and probably slightly more resistant to the acidic effects, although I'm not an expert gardener and don't pretend to be one - just sharing the little gardening knowledge that I have in this dog-related forum.
Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Madeline at AllExperts,
NYC Dog Trainers, NJ Dog Trainers, Staten Island Dog Trainers
Innovative Reality Dog Training & Behavior Consulting
www.ny-njDogTrainer.com
