Questions and Concerns

This can be summed up in a simple phrase:
Don't hesitate, contact us - we would sooner have a 2:00 am phone call than an "I wish!"

There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to puppies any more than when it comes to kids. Please continue to contact us with individual questions or concerns.

Please note that if you purchase a book through any of the links on this page, Canadian Border Terrier Welfare will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Recommended Books on Puppy Raising

Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog (Carol Lea Benjamin)
This book is fun to read, very easy to follow, very thorough, and takes you through the process in the correct order (so you don't have to read the entire book to begin your training!) An added bonus: the author has a great sense of humor.

Jansim Jottings Main Page

Jansim Reg'd Feeding Recommendations

Like our health care protocol, our feeding suggestions will change from time to time based on our continuing experience with "raw feeding" and as new holistic products become available.

For those not already feeding a 100% fresh food (homemade or "commercial") diet, we recommend using either the Sojourner Farms or the Essex Cottage Farms method. They both provide relatively convenient feeding protocols with the benefits of a mainly natural diet.

Sojourner Farms and Essex Cottage Farms both come with clear and easy to follow instructions. They may be made up with the meat included (great for traveling) or the meat may be fed separately (recommended).
For dogs that will eat a wide variety of foods, we suggest feeding the meat separate to the ECF "muffin" mix or Sojourner Farms grain mix. (So when you prepare the recipe, you leave the meat out.)

From time-to-time, it may be appropriate or necessary to feed kibble, in this case, we suggest Flint River Ranch Oven Baked Kibble supplemented with fresh meat and vegetables or "Evo" (the low fat version) by Innova

NOTE: Evo is high in fat and is not suitable for all dogs and should not be used for any older dogs with liver or pancreas issues. In their case I would seriously consider a homemade diet that can be frozen for travel or look at the quality frozen and dehydrated foods that are becoming increasing available.

Of course, there are many other excellent products on the market. However, when choosing a brand of dog food that contains grains (carbohydrates) you are safest selecting one that has "for human consumption" grade ingredients. The Flint River Ranch Oven Baked Kibble falls into this category.

We have also used "Evo" (by Innova) mixed with a quality canned food while actually "on the road", reverting to "commercial" fresh food diet (frozen), Sojourner Farms or homemade meat loaf once we get to our destination. Another trick on the road is to use paper plates that can be discarded to save carrying dirty dishes or trying to wash them in a rest area or restaurant wash room. Our dogs are excellent travelers, so we have found it possible to feed them in the van, then continue traveling, stopping an hour later to exercise them. This is especially valuable when we will be arriving at our destination late and in the dark, or where we will be on the road for more than a day.

Our current preference is to feed our adults meat and some vegetables, and their vitamins and minerals in the morning, then grain with fruit, egg and/or yogurt with the balance of vegetables at super time. Young puppies get three meat meals and one grain meal (made with goats milk) a day. Growing pups get two meat meals and one grain meal a day.
We replace the meat with fish once a week and with cottage cheese once a week.
There is no one approach to "natural feeding" but there is a wealth of information available on the web and in books. It is important for individual owners to take an approach they are comfortable with.

It is a good idea to keep a few cans of holistic dog food on hand for emergency use. Merrick, Prairie and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul are brands we recommend.

Things to Chew: Recommended:
     large, raw knuckle bone (for ten minutes once or twice per week)
     "Tartar Busters" (for ten minutes three or four times per week)
     raw marrow bones (most of marrow removed)
     sterilized bones (made in the US)
Things NOT to Chew: dangerous or deadly:
     rawhide chews
     pigs ears
     greenies
Basically any "chewie" that can be consumed should be avoided, a Border's jaws and teeth are capable of demolishing and thereby ingesting more than their stomach or intestines are capable of handling

Recommended Books on Nutrition

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Pet Diet (Kymythy R. Schultze)
An excellent book that provides a lot of solid information, although we do not agree with all Schultze's "do's and don'ts", we appreciate the explanations and believe readers will decide for themselves.

Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide (David Bastin, Grant Nixon, Jennifer Ashton)
A fun and practical book for those that prefer to feed cooked food. It includes an excellent and comprehensive guide to vitamin and mineral supplements.

Three Dog Bakery Cookbook: Over 50 Recipes for All-Natural Paw-Lickin Treats for Your Dog (Dan Dye, Mark Beckloff, Three Dog Bakery, Kansas City, Mo)
The Three Dog Bakery Cookbook unleashes some of the never before published recipes from the famous bakery's delicious treats made from all-natural, healthy ingredients for your pooch.

Jansim Jottings Main Page

Jansim Reg'd Vaccination and Health Care Protocol

In keeping with our holistic approach, we tend to be conservative in our approach to the administration of vaccines and parasite prevention. Our vaccination protocol is sensitive to increasing awareness of risk vs benefit. What we recommend today is not what we recommended five years ago and may not be what we recommend tomorrow.

Initial Vaccination protocol:
Distemper/Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Parvo vaccinations (DHP+P) at 8, 12 and 16 weeks
Rabies vaccination at 18-20 weeks.
Parvo Booster at 24 weeks if there is a prevalence in the area. (In some areas it may be prudent to do rabies at 16 weeks and the final Parvo at 18 weeks.)
We do not recommend corona virus, lyme, bordatella or other kennel cough vaccinations. We suggest leptospirosis vaccination only when recommended by a local vet on basis of potential exposure
Our basis for vaccinating or not vaccinating is based on certain criteria:
The effectiveness of the vaccine - the lyme vaccine is apparently nothing close to a guarantee, the effectiveness of the lepto vaccine is highly dependent on the strain of lepto in prevalent in the area. Even if the strain and the vaccine match, the vaccine has a short effective life (approximately 6 months). Kennel cough is another "disease" where the number of strains make vaccination a "crap shoot".
The safety of the vaccine - lyme vaccination is too "young" (IMHO) - when we see vaccination of humans in high risk areas, I may sit up and take notice. The lepto vaccine is recognized as being one that is more likely to result in an adverse reaction.
The "lethality" of the disease - Given the quality of care bestowed by folks who have our Border Terriers and the enormous wealth of experience that is shared in "the circle", the likelihood of a dog developing an illness unnoticed is about ZERO! That being said let us consider the risks (keep in mind that the "risk" will vary from area to area): Corona virus is a non-fatal disease in a managed situation; kennel cough is non-fatal and can be treated effectively; lyme is being detected much more easily and can be treated effectively (albeit with the risk of side effects) - it can also be prevented to a large degree without resorting to toxins; lepto is treatable if detected early but there is a risk of long term damage to affected organs if not treated immediately. The bottom line has to be the owner's level of comfort - we do not have crystal balls, we learn by experience and what might be right for one dog or one owner is not necessarily right for all. One thing I can say is that having a pup with a healthy (OK - voracious) appetite, gives one a head start on any illness - if any of the youngsters from our 2002 litter refused a meal - I would be on the alert IMMEDIATELY!

Although we have not had a problem with vaccine reaction, we do suggest using a homeopathic approach as a precaution. This entails administering a single dose (one granule) of Thuya Occidentalis 30c per day for as many days as there were vaccines administered.
Example: at 8 weeks the pups received a combined DHP+P - i.e. four vaccines, so they received a granule of Thuya each night for four consecutive nights starting the night of the vaccination.

Boosters:
Rabies bi-annually or as local regulations/border crossings require.
DHP+P 12 - 18 months. After that, we suggest re-evaluating (research and documentation of vaccination protocol and auto-immune issues are ongoing). Click here to read a February 2003 consensus on vaccination guidelines from the American Animal Hospital Association.
Click here for an interesting article from the April/May Newsletter of the Senior Dogs Project.
You may also want to talk to your vet about the availability of having a titer done for Distemper and Parvo.

Heart worm:
Except for dogs living in an area were year-round heart worm prevention is mandatory, we recommend keeping dogs on the prevention for the minimum time necessary to preclude exposure. Our preventives of choice are either Heartguard (regular or plus) which need only be given every 45days or Interceptor which needs only be given every 40 days. We strongly recommend an annual heart worm test and consider this an excellent opportunity for a routine blood work up.

Fleas and Ticks:
We do not recommend the use of oral flea or tick prevention. Auto-immune related diseases are on the increase in dogs, including Border Terriers, although there may be many reasons for this increase, the administration of vaccines and other toxins must come under suspicion. We travel to the States extensively for den trials, hunting, shows and canoeing and our dogs are exposed to all kinds of conditions, yet it is many years since we had a flea problem. We deal with ticks as we find them and stay cognizant of symptoms of the tick borne diseases.

Worms and other internal parasitic organisms
We have a fecal sample analyzed annually (or as required if circumstances dictate), and only treat on the confirmed presence of parasites.
Note: The exception being puppies which are wormed prophylactically with Strongid-T.

Dental Hygiene:
Although feeding a fresh food diet certainly helps maintain healthy teeth and gums, dogs are like people in that individual susceptibility to tartar build up varies greatly. Routine brushing of your BT's teeth is an investment in time that can save substantial vet bills and the worry of anesthesia down the road.
A cheap battery-operated tooth brush is ideal with a natural tooth paste for dogs. The trick is to start slowly - just a couple of teeth to begin with - keep it short and reward with a small piece of cheese. We have our BT's sit on the closed toilet seat for their nightly (we try for Monday through Friday) brushing. They dash into the bathroom as soon as they hear the tooth brush.

Recommended Books on Health

Homeopathic Remedies for Dogs (Geoffrey Llewellyn)
A fun and easy to follow reference book on homeopathic remedies

Natural Remedy Book for Dogs and Cats (Diane Stein)

Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook (3rd Edition) (James M. Giffin, Delbert G. Carlson, Liisa Carlson)
This book provides information on a wide variety of topics concerning dog health. The information is explained in a way that pet owners can understand without having the medical background. It covers behavior, emergencies and CPR, and many common diseases and conditions that veterinarians encounter everyday.