Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Prevention Of Heat Stress In Senior Dogs During Summer Months

by Leave a Comment

Heat Stress and Senior Dogs

There is no excuse for heat stress ever occurring in senior dogs. No one questions your love for your dog, or he wouldn’t have survived this long. Just a little logical forethought during hot weather is all that is needed. Don’t take him shopping with you if your stores do not allow dogs on the premises.

Then you won’t have to tie him outside. If you are going for a drive, be sure he will be welcome at every place you intend to stop. If his outdoor exercise area is small, take him indoors before you leave the house for any length of time.

Those breeds more prone to heat stress (pug, boxer, English bulldog, Boston terrier, etc.) should have even normal outdoor activity severely curtailed during periods of hot sun and high temperatures.

In extremely hot parts of the country they may require air-conditioning. Certainly, free access to frequently changed cool water is a must.

As far as I am concerned, any dog, especially senior dogs, who suffers heat stress, and survives, ought to pack up and look for a new owner!

Muscle Atrophy In Senior Dogs

by Leave a Comment

The muscles of most aged mammals lose much of their strength and actually decrease in size with each advancing year, including senior dogs. This is a normal part of the aging process and is to be expected. However, there are two as yet poorly understood muscle disorders which at first may look like normal aging weakness.

In one the dog develops weakness in the leg muscles during periods of exercise or other physical stress, may fall down briefly, seem to recover, get up for a short time only to fall down again. This is often seen in polymyositis, a disease which causes inflammation of any or all muscles in the body of senior dogs.

Polymyositis occurs mostly in late middle age and early old age, the most common of its several possible causes appearing to be a defect in the dog’s immune mechanism. Treatment with corticosteroids is quite successful despite the often alarming appearance of the dog. Occasionally the muscles of the esophagus are affected, making swallowing difficult, but even these respond.

Muscular dystrophy, the second disorder, occurs mainly in older dogs, bears some similarity to muscular dystrophy in people, and has a cause as yet unknown. Affected senior dogs develop a stiff gait as the muscles become progressively weaker and smaller in size. There is nothing we know of which will stop the deterioration or cure the disease. Treatment is palliative, trying to keep the patient as comfortable as possible, and is based on your senior dogs individual symptoms.

Muscle Atrophy In The Older Dog

by Leave a Comment

The muscles of mos tolder dogs lose much of their strength and actually decrease in size with each advancing year.

This is a normal part of the aging process and is to be expected. However, there are two as yet poorly understood muscle disorders which at first may look like normal aging weakness.

In one the older dog develops weakness in the leg muscles during periods of exercise or other physical stress, may fall down briefly, seem to recover, get up for a short time only to fall down again.

This is often seen in polymyositis, a disease which causes inflammation of any or all muscles in the body.

Polymyositis occurs mostly in late middle age and early old age, the most common of its several possible causes appearing to be a defect in the dog’s immune mechanism.

Treatment with corticosteroids is quite successful despite the often alarming appearance of the older dog.

Occasionally the muscles of the esophagus are affected, making swallowing difficult, but even these respond.

Muscular dystrophy, the second disorder, occurs mainly in older dogs, bears some similarity to muscular dystrophy in people, and has a cause as yet unknown. Affected dogs develop a stiff gait as the muscles become progressively weaker and smaller in size.

There is nothing we know of which will stop the deterioration or cure the disease. Treatment is palliative, trying to keep the patient as comfortable as possible, and is based on your older dog individual symptoms.

Watch For Pain Or Symptoms When Training The Aging Dog

by Leave a Comment

Dogs very often tell you when they are in pain, although not always. Should you find the down placement very painful for your dog, and should he find it painful to lie down apart from his obedience lesson, then it may be more beneficial to dispense with the DOWN command altogether.

These conditions vary with the individual dog, so that ultimately you have to trust in your own evaluation of the situation and then follow your inclinations.

In no instance do we want to obedience-train an older dog at the expense of his reasonably physical and mental comfort. The Down-Stay serves to keep the dog out of your hair, and your company’s lap, for longer periods of time than a Sit-Stay.

With an effective Down-Stay, you need not shoo him away in a strategic retreat to the basement or bathroom. Chances are that your older dog is fit enough to pester company. If this be so, then he is certainly fit enough to learn the down.

In obedience training you must behave like a cool, calm machine. You will be able to hold out longer, with less exhaustion, and your dog will learn more easily and more rapidly, realizing that you have the situation under control.

Dogs will take advantage of their owners’ weaknesses, even at an older age, and this will only mean more difficult, resentful training, with more discomfort for both of you. Speak and act calmly, slowly, deliberately, rationally, and consistently if you want to maximize your training potential and the subsequent benefits that accrue both to you and to your older dog.

The older dog is no longer as efficient at regulating his body temperature. Fats are responsible for this. The older dog often tends to lose weight and some of the fatty components of his body.

In effect, he is not that well insulated anymore. So, when obedience training the older dog, you must take care not to work him in extremes of heat and cold. This holds true for any dog, but more so for the older dog.

Constipation and incontinence can also be problems. It is important to allow the dog to relieve himself before and after an obedience session. If a dog suffers incontinence during the course of training, just ignore it and clean up later. Don’t allow a small puddle of urine to interfere with your training session.

It is also important not to feed your dog just prior to or after an obedience-training session. Feeding before can upset his digestion, and feeding after can not only cause indigestion but can be interpreted as a bribe. This we never want to do. Don’t work your older dog to exhaustion. Several short sessions are always preferable to one long one.

Recent Blog Posts