Kong Recipe

Interactive food dispensing toys such as a Kong and various puzzle games can be filled with tasty treats and tempting ingredients to provide mental stimulation and carry out natural behaviour such as chewing, licking, and a desire to seek and find.

When choosing an interactive toy make sure it is of an appropriate size for your dog and if you have a very powerful chewer, that the product is robust enough to withstand the forces that are going to be put upon it. The design of a Kong is ideal for filling with ingredients as it is very strong, easily cleaned, freezer friendly, comes in a variety of sizes, and crucially has a hole at both ends.

To add further interest, layer the ingredients used and experiment with different textures from crunchy fish skin cubes to soft blueberries. You can also hide the food dispenser in the garden to encourage your dog to follow the scent and claim their prize. As dogs are natural scavengers this adds to the overall enrichment experience.

If your dog needs to shed a few pounds, then taking some of their daily food ration and placing it into the Kong maybe with a few fresh steamed vegetables can keep them occupied for longer and give them a bit of a workout at the same time.

Added to raw, kibble, or cooked meat you could include ingredients such as pumpkin, sweet potato, pear, banana, natural goats’ yogurt, bone broth, pumpkin seeds, papaya, quinoa, or some of their favorite healthy treats.

Consider some of the following ingredients and add them in layers for a taste sensation.

Grated courgette and carrot,

Complete raw meal (meat, bone & offal) or cooked boneless meat of choice.

Squashed blueberries, raspberries or blackberries

Pizzle or tripe stick.

How to:

Stir the courgette, and carrot, into the raw meat and then spoon into the Kong until 2/3rds full. Insert the pizzle stick then pack the remaining wet ingredients around it. It can be served fresh or frozen.

 For a Fishy treat try:

Sprats (dried or fresh)

Small tin of drained pilchards in spring water

Half a teaspoon of Coconut oil

Tablespoon of Soaked chia seeds.

Blackberries or Blueberries

Cooked Green Beans

How to:

Chop up the ingredients and stir to incorporate. Squish the ingredients into your Kong and add a few whole sprats so they are poking out of the end for added interest.

This can be placed in the freezer for 1-2 hours for long-lasting enrichment.

Caroline Hearn

www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk

SEASONAL FEEDING - Making the Most of Fresh Ingredients

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, seasonal feeding at its freshest and finest. Featuring Hedgerow Hounds seasonal herbal blends.

 The majority of people have lost their connection with the land, nature and the changing seasons.

Natures larder provides us with a huge variety of produce at the perfect time when it will be of most benefit to us nutritionally. With a few small changes we can all benefit from eating seasonally which is better for us, our dogs and the environment.

We can utilise herbs and vegetables in the Spring, which are a perfect cleansing tonic to gently ease us out of the long winter months, where we have no doubt been overindulging and less active.

To the cooling and hydrating bounty of Summer, followed by the real bumper harvest of Autumn, which gives us all the foods we need to help boost our immunity and general health in preparation for the cold Winter months ahead.

Here at Hedgerow Hounds, we are passionate about seasonal ingredients, and if you really want to embrace seasonality, then we have a seasonal range of handmade herbal blends.

What`s so special about seasonal food?

Eating more seasonally ourselves and by including some of these foods in our dogs’ diet, we can benefit in so many ways.

. We can reconnect with the cycles of nature and really appreciate the food that is available for a short period of time.

. It is better value for money as well as kinder to the environment, to buy ingredients when they are in abundance locally and haven’t travelled halfway round the world before they even get to our kitchen.

. We can support the local communities, such as small producers, farmers’ markets, organic growers, and game dealers.

. The produce is fresher and therefore more nutritious as it is harvested when ripe or at its best, and has minimal travelling time before we can purchase it.

Could we survive without sugar snap peas from Egypt, asparagus from Peru, and eating Strawberries in January? These have travelled thousands of miles, are harvested unripe, and sprayed with chemicals, gas, or wax to stop them from deteriorating in transit.

Or could we wait until they are ready to eat locally and benefit from much more flavour and far higher nutritional value, while enjoying so many other foods in the meantime?

 How does incorporating seasonal food benefit our dogs?

If you feed raw or home-cooked food to your dog, then it is important to offer a good variety of foods over the coming months. If you feed dried or tinned food, it is also possible to start incorporating a small amount of fresh ingredients into the bowl at feed times.

By offering variety, you can ensure your dog gets a broad range of nutrients and avoid the intolerances that can occur if the same protein and carbohydrate are fed continuously.

A wide spectrum of fresh ingredients, either animal proteins or of plant origin, nurtures a healthy gut microbiome, which is vital for a healthy immune system and overall optimal health. The more diverse the diet, the less you will have to rely on supplementation.  

By feeding what is in season, you are providing food at its very best. This often means that you don’t need a large amount to benefit from the superior nutritional value.

A few local, handpicked ripe blackberries added to the food will be far superior to a larger number of blueberries that have covered many air miles. Including some free-range, wild, or organic meat whenever you can will also provide your dog with superior-quality ingredients.

Depending on your location, there is generally a good range of proteins available from Spring to Summer, but when Autumn comes, there is suddenly a whole new larder available to the raw feeder or home cook.

The game season varies by the species, but generally partridge and pheasant are available from September until February. Venison is dependent on breed, but around November to March, and Duck from September until January.

If you have been relying on beef, lamb, chicken, and fish from March until August, then this addition of free-range, often organic and minimally farmed protein is a huge bonus. You can either use in addition or temporarily replace the proteins you regularly use until the availability ends.

Putting a small amount of vegetables aside for your dog when preparing your own is a good practice. It will soon become second nature to save a broccoli stalk, steam a little extra courgette, cut off a small slice of pear or apple, or lift out the couple of squashed raspberries that are in the bottom of the punnet for your dog’s supper. You will also start to look out for seasonal bargains at the butchers’ or farmers’ market.

If you can forage for ingredients such as blackberries, dandelion leaves, cleavers, and either keep a few hens or find a local organic supplier of eggs, then that is a big win.

Adding a little fresh, local, and seasonal produce even two or three times a week will help to gradually improve your dog’s overall diet. If your dog is new to fresh ingredients, start off with very small amounts and include one new addition at a time, until they adjust to a different way of eating.

As a rule, although each dog is an individual, the majority of the meal is made up of animal protein, with anything from 5% to 15% being provided by vegetables and berries that are suitable for your dog.   

Spring

Spring ingredients offer a gentle tonic to cleanse and wake up the system after less active months and a diet of heavier, warming meals. Many of these ingredients that come into their own now offer support for the kidneys, liver, and lymphatic system that can often get sluggish over the Winter months. You may observe that your dog seeks out the fresh grass shoots as they appear, which are full of energy, sweetness, and moisture.  

The Nature’s Skin Tonic is perfect for a gentle Spring cleanse after the long winter months and also great for dogs that are itchy and suffer from seasonal allergies at this time of year.

Incorporate some of the following into your dog’s meals:

Spring nettle tops, Cleavers, Dandelion leaf and root, Asparagus, Watercress, Milk Thistle, Spring Greens, New season Lamb, Rabbit & Free range eggs.

Summer

Summer ingredients are cooling, hydrating, and uplifting, and we are spoilt for choice at the range of produce available. If you can grow a few vegetables yourself, such as courgette, cucumber, spinach, salad greens, chard, and parsley, then these will be bursting with flavour and goodness, and you can add a little of these freshly picked ingredients to your dog’s food. If you grow blackberries and raspberries, you will find that the dogs often help themselves to the fruit from the lower branches.  

Nature’s Bounty appears on the shop in February and covers the Summer months until early November. It is a nutritious blend that contains an organic seaweed, and Bounty’s main task is to naturally repel fleas and ticks, which it has successfully done for many years.

Incorporate small amounts of the following:

Fennel, Melon, Spinach, Celery, Blueberries, Bilberries, Raspberries, Dandelion, Seaweed, Sorrel, Courgettes, Mint, Parsley, Calendula, Cucumber, Green beans, Carrot tops, Lettuce, Rabbit, Free range eggs.  

Autumn

Autumn provides nourishing produce to prepare for the colder months and are typically rich in antioxidants and high in vitamin C. Many of these vegetables, fruits, and berries also lend themselves to preserving by the process of dry storage, freezing, and fermentation, which would traditionally be used to ensure a supply of nutritious foods through the lean months of Winter that lie ahead:

Incorporate small amounts of the following:

Squash, Blackberries, Rosehips, Beetroot, Pumpkin, Apples, Pear, Burdock root, Chicory, Nettle seeds, Fennel and Dill seeds, Almonds, Pumpkin seeds.

Game meat to include: Partridge, Pheasant, Grouse, Pigeon, Guinea fowl, Quail, Venison, and Duck.

Fish, including Pollack, Mackerel, Coley, and Haddock.  

Winter

Winter provides us with comforting food for warmth and sustenance.

Incorporate small amounts of the following:

Ginger root, Turmeric, Kale, Celeriac, Thyme, Ruby Chard, Brussels sprouts, Winter Squash, Jerusalem artichoke, Pear, Russet apple, Turkey, Duck, Venison, Mussels.

 Caroline Hearn MICHT, Dip ICAT. MIAAT

Equine and Canine Sports Massage Therapist and Canine Holistic Health Specialist

Find out more at www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk

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Your Reactive Dog

Dog-dog reactivity is a very common behaviour difficulty dog professionals are contacted for help about.  We often see it as a problem if our dog doesn’t get on with every dog they see – but did you know this is ENTIRELY NORMAL?
The problem dogs have is that we guardians expect our dogs to do what we do not: accept and embrace everybody we come across in a friendly and unconditional manner.  If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot hold ourselves to that standard of perfection – yet we so adamantly hold our dogs to it!

Yes, dogs are social beings but typically this means they like to have friendships with other dogs well matched for their play style and activity choices.  This does not automatically mean they like to be thrown into a dog park with 30 other dogs all clumsily communicating to each other in a heightened state of excitement.  If you have a dog that can enjoy situations involving a lot of stranger dogs then YOU are in the minority!  Most people find their dogs, especially once matured past puppyhood, are more picky and reserved.   

Furthermore, “reactive” is a very vague unhelpful label in that a “reactive” dog may be struggling with a variety of things.  Their behaviours may look the same: growling, barking, lunging, snapping and so on but the underlying cause of these behaviours can differ. 

• Perhaps they are easily aroused and get over stimulated at the sight of other dogs because they just want to go say hello and play.  Dogs can really struggle with their on-lead behaviour as a result of this overstimulation. 

• Perhaps they are very immature in social skills due to a “not good enough” socialisation period

• Perhaps they have had a traumatic experience with a number of dogs, or just one, and are now highly anxious about interacting with others

• Perhaps they struggle to read certain dog breeds and that makes them feel defensive; for example, brachycephalic dogs or those covered with an abundance of curly fluff. 

• Perhaps they are mature now and tolerating rude/bolshy young dogs is no longer possible for them.

• Perhaps they are struggling with pain in their hips/back/neck and are very sensitive to other beings in their personal space for fear an interaction may make the pain worse.

• And more…!

There can be a hundred and one different reasons why your unique dog before you is showing reactive behaviours at the sight of/whilst in interaction with another dog.  This is why there is no blanket answer for dog reactivity and no quick fix.  How it can be remedied depends on what is the underlying motivation for the reactivity – in short – is it to get the trigger to go away? Or is it to get closer to the stimuli? What if I also add that it is rare for the dog to be feeling ONE emotion! I often see dogs who come across as struggling with frustration because they just want to go over to that dog as soon as possible to play, but are actually highly anxious in their interactions with other dogs as well, further compounding their initial reactivity.  Dogs are complex beings just as we are, and we need to appreciate this when dealing with their reactivity. 

Typically, every dog I see for “reactivity” training and behaviour modification I recommend goes on a calming supplement such as Hedgerow Hounds Tranquil Blend.  Alongside looking at the dog’s diet, their daily activities, the quality of their walks outside of the home and more, the calming supplement helps to put the dog in the best position to learn that the world doesn’t have to be as scary or frustrating (or both!) as they currently believe it to be.

It is highly important to get the right behaviour help though for your dog as some interventions can be truly harmful.  If your chosen professional is recommending you “correct” the dog through various methods such as a flick of the wrist with a slip lead, shaking a can of pennies at them, or other aversive tools such as vibration collars, choke chains, prong collars and even shock collars, please be aware there is significant fallout of relying on these corrective methods to alleviate your dogs’ problem behaviour.  In the same way children in schools are not punished for getting things wrong, dogs are emotional beings who also can be negatively affected by punishment-based interventions.   

Studies have shown that positive based training is more effective and does not cause any unwanted fallouts like corrective training does (1)(2)(3)(4).  If you are reading this then you are concerned about your dogs’ emotional welfare and that is the concern of all good behaviour professionals as well.  The important part of a reactive dog’s journey isn’t their behaviour, it’s their emotional world! Emotions cannot be corrected; only recognised, understood, and soothed. 

Most importantly, oftentimes living with a reactive dog involves compromise.  It involves respecting their genuine likes/dislikes with regards to other dogs (some dogs genuinely don’t want to play, or are too little to want to be around large breeds and so on), so they can learn to be less over-reactive on exposure to dogs in general.  We often place high expectations on our dogs and when these can’t be fulfilled we blame the dog, when really we need to ask ourselves “is this expectation fair?”

(1)    Vieira de Castro AC, Fuchs D, Morello GM, Pastur S, de Sousa L, Olsson IAS. Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare. PLoS One. 2020 Dec 16;15(12):e0225023. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225023. PMID: 33326450; PMCID: PMC7743949.

(2)    Blackwell, E.J., Bolster, C., Richards, G. et al. The use of electronic collars for training domestic dogs: estimated prevalence, reasons and risk factors for use, and owner perceived success as compared to other training methods. BMC Vet Res 8, 93 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-6148-8-93

(3)    Ziv, Gal. (2017). The Effects of Using Aversive Training Methods in Dogs – A Review. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 19. 10.1016/j.jveb.2017.02.004.#

(4)    Cooper JJ, Cracknell N, Hardiman J, Wright H, Mills D (2014) The Welfare Consequences and Efficacy of Training Pet Dogs with Remote Electronic Training Collars in Comparison to Reward Based Training. PLoS ONE 9(9): e102722. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102722

Jen Leslie is a canine behaviour specialist based in Buckinghamshire.  Originally completing a psychology degree to work with people, she moved across to dealing with the emotional worlds of dogs instead following a period of volunteering at a dog rescue with the dogs hard to rehome due to behaviour difficulties.

Jen has four dogs of her own, ranging from her 3kg chorkies to her 30kg Doberman/shepherd cross. She advocates primarily for little dogs and their misunderstood experience in this big world. 

You can read more from Jen at her website www.calvertcanines.com and on her facebook page www.facebook.com/CalvertCanines

GREEN CLAY Powder - For Pets

Our high-quality, pure Green Clay is a must-have for your natural first aid kit. Now available in a 250g bag or 650g bags for multiple dog households, horses & livestock.

Green Clay has excellent drawing properties, so it can be used for drying up wet eczema and hot spots and helping control infection in wounds and abscesses. Green Clay is so versatile and can be used for dogs, cats, horses, sheep, and other livestock. It forms a protective layer over injuries and also naturally repels insects. I have found that when treating horses and livestock that are troubled by flies, a drop of tea tree or lavender essential oil into the wet clay can further aid in repelling flies from the treated area.

It has a calming and soothing effect on a dog’s itchy or traumatized skin, breaking the itch-scratch cycle. It is completely safe if your dog accidentally licks or consumes it. The clay’s perfect partner in dealing with wounds, sores, and fragile skin is Leucillin; they complement each other brilliantly.

Green clay can be made into a thick paste with a little water and spread onto the affected area. This acts as a protective barrier for sore or fragile wounds and as the clay dries, moisture is drawn away from any wet areas of skin.

Perfect for all livestock and can be used wet or dry. A persistent wound which refused to heal, mostly caused by fly annoyance, was kept clean and protected by using the clay as a thick paste.

If used dry, it can be applied with a clean cotton ball and dusted onto the area or with a small, clean brush. This is particularly useful for instantly calming an inflamed area or itchy rash. Click here to view it on our product page: https://www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk/products/green-clay 

For infected areas or those that are oozing the area should be cleaned in between applications. An excellent product for this is Leucillin antiseptic spray or dropper bottle.

This product should not replace veterinary treatment if it is needed or if a serious infection is present in a wound.

WILD GARLIC, IDENTIFYING & FORAGING

Wild garlic, from spring leaf in March through to full flower in May, the leaves, buds & flowers are all beautiful to eat.

The long awaited first shoots of wild garlic (Allium ursinum) always signals spring is here. As with most wild plants, it goes by many names. Ramsons is probably the most widely used, but depending on the region, also goes by devils posy or bears garlic. It was believed that wild garlic was devoured by brown bears as they came of of hibernation, probably due to the plants cleansing, antiparasitic, antifungal and antiviral properties.

Wild garlic has broad, spear shaped leaves with a long tender stem and can cover vast areas of woodland floor and alongside the shaded banks of brooks and streams. Depending on your location, the leaves start to appear in the South around early March, but further North it can be late April, early May.

All parts of wild garlic are edible, and it is unnecessary to dig up and eat the root as the whole plant has so much to offer anyway. The leaves can be used in stir-fries, made into pesto, stirred into scone and bread recipes and make a fantastic garlic butter. The buds are beautiful pickled in cider vinegar and kimchi recipes and the flowers make salads extra special and have a very delicate garlic flavour.

It is wise to also learn how to identify the two plants that grow in the same environments and to the complete novice, look a little similar. One is Lilly of the Valley, although I have never seen it growing wild, the young leaves can look similar to wild garlic, however it doesn’t smell of garlic in the slightest and the flowers are completely different.

The other potential is Lord & Ladies when it is first emerging in spring, but again it has no garlic smell and doesn’t have the white buds & flowers, so highly unlikely you will mistake this for wild garlic. It is essential to learn what not to pick as well as what is safe to eat.

You can often smell wild garlic before you see it and the second it is picked it releases its garlicky aroma. When driving home you`ll need the windows open as the smell is overpowering, another sign you have definitely picked wild garlic!

When picking it is good practise to pick individual leaves rather than just grab handfuls. This ensures you don’t clear large areas of the plant and importantly you are not inadvertently picking other plants that are growing through it. When you are cleaning your foraged ingredients, always sort through every stem so there are no imposters that you can`t identify nestled in there.

Caroline Hearn - owner of Hedgerow Hounds, lover of herbs and keen forager.

www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk

Why does my dog eat grass?

 Dogs eating grass is something I am asked about on a regular basis and it can cause concern for owners as they presume that their dog must be ill or lacking in nutrients of some kind. So what might our dogs be getting out of eating their daily helping of “Dr Green” and should it be something we discourage?

The most popular grass our dogs seek out is Elymus Repens commonly known as Couch grass or funnily enough Dog Grass!

The new shoots in the spring are tender, moist and sweet with natural occurring sugars but as the grass matures it can become rough with tiny barbs which you can feel if you run your fingers down the middle and outer edges. This may be relevant when the dog chooses a certain patch of grass for a specific purpose. Other herbs selected in the early months are cleavers and dandelion leaves, these are an effective spring tonic for the liver, urinary and lymphatic system, which can become sluggish over the winter months.

Some dogs, particularly those on a dry food diet may be seeking out additional water from the leaves and roots or even the dew that lays on the top of the shoots. I have observed that dogs will rush to nip out the tops of grass first thing in the morning but show very little interest in the same patch in the afternoon.

Fibre:

Vegetables and fresh grass are abundant in a variety of dietary fibres which are needed to keep the gut and the beneficial gut microbes within it functioning effectively. There is now evidence to show how the balance of our gut microbiome impacts on our mental and physical health, this also applies to our dogs. Encouraging a healthy population of good microbes means there is far less space for the bad microbes to take up residence.  

I expect most of us have seen our dogs take immense delight in consuming the droppings of animals such as cows and horses which is basically just pre-digested grass which once passed through a herbivore contains digestive enzyme and probiotic qualities.

If you feel your dog is eating too much grass or may need more fibre in their diet then try adding a few steamed vegetables or blitzing raw veg in a blender and adding it to their meals. This can include broccoli, spinach, courgette, kale, parsley, dandelion greens or even some spirulina to see if they reduce their intake. This can often stop the desire to consume large quantities of grass within a few days.  A really useful supplement with is rich in chlorophyll and green vegetables is the Greens, Seeds & Superfoods blend which can be found on this link: https://www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk/products/greens-seeds

Nutrients:

Grasses do not offer a large amount of nutrients to our dogs, but they do provide a certain amount of vitamin A, B, iron, fibre and silica as well as astringent properties and chlorophyll which dogs really seem to crave at certain times of the year.

There is a theory that our dogs still have some of the traits of their distant ancestors. Wolves and wild canines would hunt and kill herbivores or possibly scavenge from the carcass and consume some of the contents of the preys stomach which contain partly digested grasses, herbs and other roughage. This provides welcome moisture, fibre and enzymes to help in the process of digesting a heavy, meat rich meal.

When to investigate further:

The majority of dogs will eat grass most days and seem to thoroughly enjoy the experience. They will do this despite having a good balanced diet which includes fibre from vegetables and never have any adverse effects such as vomiting afterwards.

However, there are circumstances where further investigation is necessary. There is no doubt that some dogs will actively seek out certain grasses to induce vomiting. You may notice your dog drooling, licking their lips, swallowing hard and rushing outside to eat grass. This tends to be a rapid, frantic, grabbing at grass rather than the slow, selective grazing usually seen. After vomiting has occurred this may give temporary relief of nausea, reflux or easing of stomach irritation. Most of us would have seen our own dogs or those of others do this and they seem to be totally unaffected afterwards and back to their normal self within minutes.

If your dog is regularly eating large volumes of grass particularly after their meals and then vomiting, there could be an underlying health issue that needs investigating by your vet. Dogs may induce vomiting in order to eat the regurgitated food immediately afterwards as they have an inability to absorb nutrients and need to re-ingest the stomach contents to make it more digestible, this will also require a visit to your vet for further tests.

Eating a large amount of course grass which cannot be digested will cause stomach irritation and add volume and bulk to the stools as well as being passed out the other end almost intact. Dogs can exhibit this behavior if they are carrying a worm burden as it encourages elimination of parasites. To rule out this possibility it is important to carry out a fecal worm count to establish if this is the actual cause.   

Where to take additional care:

Often the only access dogs have to grass is from the lawn, footpaths that run alongside arable fields or from eating young shoots of barley or wheat growing in fields. All these areas are very likely to have been treated with chemicals of one form or another. We should avoid using artificial fertilisers or chemical treatments on our lawns as dogs will ingest them and also absorb the chemicals through the skin on their pads. Special care is needed to avoid arable fields at certain times of the year or at the very least keep dogs on a lead if you have no choice but to walk alongside them.

If you want to provide a clean source of fresh grass or greenery then it is easy to grow couch, barley or wheat grass in individual pots for your dog to help themselves as and when they desire. You could also make a small area in the garden where your dog can be free to sniff, explore and have access to grasses and herbs which are pollutant and chemical free.

Grass can be grown in pots for the dogs to pick at if they wish. This pot has Lemon Grass in but Wheat and Barley grass are also easy to grow and well received.

Gut Health, Immunity and Microbiome

At first glance the digestive system appears to have a very simple task of taking in food, digesting it, absorbing nutrients, and then excreting the waste, and while everything is in good working order, we never even give it a second thought. 

It is in fact an incredibly complex structure with a vast number of tasks to undertake. The more the gut is studied the more we realise the vital role it plays in achieving optimum health, disease prevention, and stabilising our emotional state.

Although the teeth are needed to some extent to bite, crush and tear off food the actual process of digestion doesn`t start until it reaches the stomach. With no digestive enzymes in the saliva to kick start it off, the food needs to quickly get where the real work begins, which is in the stomach.

 Oesophagus:

Is a long muscular tube that runs down the neck, passes through the diaphragm and uses strong contractions to push food directly into the stomach.  

 Stomach:

The stomach lies at the front of the abdominal cavity, tucked just behind the liver and acts like a big mixing bowl.  

Any incoming food is first subjected to an acid bath of around ph1, this immediately gets to work breaking down protein and also killing any harmful bacteria.

The walls of the stomach are lined with a thick mucous which provides protection from the strong acid as well as stopping the stomach from literally digesting itself.

As the stomach expands with food, a peptide hormone called gastrin is released, which in turn triggers more hydrochloric acid and digestive enzyme production.

To aid digestion even further the surface of the stomach is a mass of wrinkles and folds which expand and contract to grab food particles and perform a churning or chewing-like action.

At this point, the thick soup-like constancy of partly digested food and secretions is known as chyme.

The food has now been in the dogs stomach for anywhere between five and ten hours and its next destination is the duodenum, the first section of the small intestine.

 Pancreas

The pancreas is a small gland, which sits next to the stomach and is attached to the small intestine, here it transports digestive enzymes through two excretory ducts into the duodenum.

The enzymes it produces are amylase to help digest starch, lipase to digest fats and trypsin and chymotrypsin to deal with the protein.

Enzymes are needed to break down food into tiny molecules and allow the absorption of nutrients into the cells of the intestines which then go on to be released into the bloodstream. 

It also produces and secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon that regulate blood sugar levels. The higher the concentration of sugar in the diet the more insulin is secreted into the bloodstream and the harder the pancreas has to work.

Liver

The liver is the largest gland in the body and the only organ that has the potential to regenerate after disease or injury.

Its many crucial jobs include producing bile to assist the small intestine in breaking down and absorbing fats and to process the nutrients that are absorbed by the small intestine.

Its other roles include storing vitamins and minerals, acting as a filter for toxins in the bloodstream and as a glycogen store for when extra energy is needed. 

 Small intestine

The small intestine is made up of three sections, Duodenum, Jejunum (longest) and the ileum (shortest)

On receiving the nutrient-rich chyme from the stomach, it is joined by secretions from the liver, gallbladder and pancreas to further assist in the digestion process.

The small intestine is lined with millions of tiny finger like projections called the Villi, these act to increase the surface area in order to trap and absorb as many nutrients as possible.

Most of the absorption of nutrients takes place in the small intestine, which are then released into the bloodstream to travel throughout the body to be utilised by the cells.

The final and shortest part of the small intestine is called the Ileum, here the food gets broken down even further in preparation to enter the cecum, the first section of the large intestine.

 Large intestine :

The large intestine is made up of the cecum, colon and rectum.

Its purpose is to remove water from the faeces, keep electrolytes in balance and to prepare and temporarily store any indigestible matter for excretion.

But there is much more activity going on in the colon than just that and although not a very glamorous area of interest, it does deserve our full care and attention.

The large intestine has a high concentration of bacteria referred to as the

Microbiome.

This is a collection of microbes made up of bacteria, viruses and fungi that we all have in our gut for efficient digestion, absorption of vital nutrients and to build a strong immune system.

 Our dogs would have acquired their unique bugs from their mother at birth and developed others depending on the environment they lived in and the food they ate.

The delicate balance of the microbiome can easily be disrupted by medication such as antibiotics, periods of stress and anxiety and a poor, unsuitable diet.

When everything is in balance these good bugs work hard to extract as much nutrition as possible out of the food that is consumed and to ensure the smooth running of the whole gastrointestinal tract.  

The bacteria are also responsible for assisting in hormone production such as serotonin, which occurs in the highest concentration thorough out the lining of the gut. 

A thriving, balanced microbiome is absolutely essential for the dogs ability to resist or fight disease, control inflammation in the body and for a positive influence on their mental wellbeing.

 Rectum and anal glands.

The faeces are then ready to be expelled along with the indigestible matter and dead red blood cells that it contains. 

Ideally, the dogs stool will be quite firm, which will press on the anal glands as it is passed, causing the glands to naturally empty.     

 All disease begins in the gut - Hippocrates

 Immunity and the gut

The gut forms between 70 - 80% of the immune system and has a vital role in regulating immunity, protecting our bodies from invaders such as allergens and pathogens and controlling inflammation.  

The food we chose for our dogs and the lifestyle choices we make for them will have either a negative or positive effect on their overall gut health, ability to utilise the nutrients in the food they eat, the essential fuel to grow and repair their body and to thrive well into their senior years.                                          

 Caroline Hearn - Canine Holistic Therapist