#65: Be Honest: Do You Feed Your Dog Eye Boogies?

A controversial training take, a very employable gas station dog, and that debate you may not want to admit you’re part of…

📝 Editor’s Note

ICYMI this week, Christie shared a beautiful story about a quiet moment with her son, a single ant, and the way she thinks about dogs, training, and the brief miracle of being alive. It’s a reminder of how deeply connected all of this really is.

If you’ve been loving what we’re building here, consider becoming a paid substack subscriber yourself! It’s just $8/month (less than your fancy coffee order) and helps keep this newsletter running. Plus, yes, we absolutely do a little happy dance every time someone new joins. 💃

And as always, we’re so grateful when you share this newsletter with fellow dog lovers.

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🧠 Training Tip of the Week: Do Grand Entrances Give Your Dog Anxiety?

YALLLLLLLLLLL. I rarely “take the bait” on anything online, but I couldn’t help myself when Jess sent me this post from @sayitoncedogtraining. In a bold statement, he confidently asserts that by happily greeting your dog, you are creating anxiety. Like me, you may be wondering … how? Fear not. He has an explanation:

“...when you hype your dog up the second you walk in, you reinforce emotional chaos instead of calm. Your arrival becomes a HUGE event. That anticipation builds all day and often turns into jumping, barking, whining, or an inability to settle. Walking in calmly and ignoring your dog for a few minutes feels cold to humans, but to dogs it is grounding. It also allows them to do what they are biologically wired to do: use their nose instead of their eyes.”

This. Is. Bullogna.

And riddled with constructs, inaccurate science, and wild assumptions (I know of zero research to support what he says).

What is “emotional chaos” or “calm”? What do those things look like? How do we know something is “grounding” to a dog? Why does ignoring them allow them to use their nose instead of eyes? What evidence do you have that chaotic greetings create chaotic dogs? What does that even mean? This ignores the entire principle of behavior and conditions – together, always. And, perhaps most importantly, what do you mean by anticipate? Typically when we see anticipatory behaviors in dogs, it’s a result of cue transfer. Imagine your dog would do full body wags and little tippy tappies when you put their leash on at the door before a walk. Then they start doing those behaviors when you put your walking shoes on. When one stimulus gets paired with another, you may see the behaviors transfer from one to the other. This can move behaviors far from where they originated, but I have a hard time imagining the excited greeting behaviors (I can only assume that is what he means when he says “emotional chaos”) transferring to cues around the house that otherwise have a history for evoking behaviors like lying on their bed.

If a dog is showing behaviors we would label as anxious (per his post, “jumping, barking, whining, inability to settle”) when you are not at home, I don’t know of any research or anecdotal information from the leaders in separation anxiety training that supports the claim that you caused all that anxiety by enthusiastically greeting your dog. That’s not how behavior works.

There are times when I would want to train a calm greeting (which is not the same as ignoring - lol), but it isn’t to reduce anxiety in the dog when the human leaves (it is common to use calmer greetings during separation anxiety departure trials since you are measuring recovery time). I could write a whole paper debunking this mess, but I suppose the real tip here is that we all have to be so careful about who and where we get training information from (maybe hearing me briefly talk about it out loud helps you in the future). There is a lot of … stuff … out there that won’t actually help you and may rob you of the kind of greeting that can make your whole day better. I, for one, love a moment of emotional chaos with my dogs.

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📺 TOC’s Take: Viral Video of the Week

This week’s internet star: Brownie, the gas station dog.

In the clip, Brownie appears to “run” a service station—taking credit cards and cash, returning them to customers, and generally behaving like a highly competent (and very good) employee.

I often think that one of the real perks of being a dog is that they don’t have to do the 9-5 grind, but Brownie honestly seems to be in his element. He clearly finds these interactions and tasks reinforcing because he keeps showing up to work.

Also worth it: the comments section, where people are fully committed to the bit—claiming Brownie is retired or still on shift.

I might enjoy filling my car up more if I got to interact with Brownie.

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🐶 Community Corner: Be Honest… Do You Feed Your Dog Their Eye Boogies?

We’re going there.

Do you… feed your dog their eye boogies?
Why do you do it? Do you think they like it?

This question (sparked by @dapperdoodleduo) turned into a surprisingly passionate debate—and now we need to hear from you.

Jess reached out to Dr. Meghan McIlwain, Stanley’s vet at Bond Vet here in DC, and her answer was… diplomatic:

“I don’t recommend feeding the discharge to pets because it can contain bacteria. If they groom and ingest it on their own, that’s one thing—but I wouldn’t actively feed it to them.

That said, the risk of illness is relatively low since the gastrointestinal tract isn’t very hospitable to pathogens. However, if there are open wounds in the mouth, the risk isn’t zero.”

So… not a hard yes.

But also not exactly a full panic.

Here’s what’s actually more important: not all eye discharge is created equal.

Dr. McIlwain broke it down for us:

• Clear or slightly brown (tear staining): usually normal, as long as it’s not excessive

• White or gray, mucus-like: could signal irritation, dry eye, or early infection

• Green or yellow: a strong sign of infection—definitely time to call your vet

She also noted that redness, swelling, squinting (“winky-blinky”), pawing at the eye, or light sensitivity are all signs your dog should be seen ASAP—especially to rule out something more serious like a corneal ulcer.

Bottom line: the occasional eye boogie isn’t the issue. But changes in color, texture, or behavior? That’s your cue to pay closer attention.

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🎨 DIY This for Your Dog: A Smarter Towel Game

We love a good remix of a classic enrichment activity.

This version of the “kibble in a towel” game adds one simple twist: placing the wrapped towel inside the side of a laundry basket. That small change makes the puzzle more challenging, engaging, and longer-lasting.

Simple. Smart. Effective.

(There’s a chance I would weigh the basket down to make it easier for my dog to pull the towels out!)

If you try it, tag us—we love seeing your dogs in action.

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🌍 One More Thing: Heaven, Through a Dog’s Eyes

We want to leave you with something softer this week.

Artist Emilie Louise Gossiaux creates deeply moving work shaped by touch, memory, and their bond with their guide dog, London. After losing their sight in their early 20s, Gossiaux’s relationship with London became central—not hierarchical, but mutual.

Following London’s death in 2025, Gossiaux created work imagining heaven from a dog’s perspective: floating together, surrounded by familiar objects, reunited in a shared world.

It’s tender, a little devastating, and—if you’ve ever loved a dog—deeply resonant.

If you’re grieving (or pre-grieving), this is worth a moment of your time.

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