The Old Dog

My Lacy is 16½ now. ’Tis a good age!

And, she’s very well.

• She still loves her walks

• She still loves her bed

• And she definitely still loves her grub!

I want to share with you some of the things I have learned about keeping my old dogs fit and happy for as long as possible.

Walks for the older dog

You play this completely by ear - there’s no hard and fast rule. But I know that if we walk for more than about 45 minutes, Lacy is lagging behind on the way home.

Accordingly, most of our walks are shorter than that. Half an hour’s happy snuffling off-lead on a path she’s familiar with works wonders. And when she’s paused to inspect a particularly interesting scent, she’ll happily trot - or even run - to catch up with me.

And as you can see here, her BARKING is untroubled by 16½ years of heavy use, and she still enjoys racing about!

Sleep for the older dog

Older dogs sleep a lot. So all I need to do here is ensure she has a choice of comfy beds, and hard floors when that’s what she wants. She usually starts the night crashing onto the hard floor. But she’s almost always on her comfy bed when I wake in the morning.

Stimulation for the older dog

This is super-important! They can’t do crossword puzzles or all the things they tell old people to do to keep sane. But as long as you’re feeding a natural diet - processed foods and ready meals are as bad for dogs as they are for us! And in the case of humans have positively been connected to brain ageing - then that will give them a puzzle to solve daily.

Mine get a lot of raw chicken carcases, and chomping through those takes application.

Yannick frequently presses his PUZZLE button, so I make puzzles for them all.

🐶 Sometimes these are lickimats with paté spread on them.

🐶 Sometimes they’re feeders like kongs.

🐶 And more often I wrap treats in screws of paper, and stuff them into cardboard boxes or packets for them to rip and shred and munch. They love these “puzzles”!

Yes, there are a lot of cardboard and paper shreds to clear up before bed, but - so what? It keeps them very happy for quarter of an hour.

Old dog health

Like my previous old dogs, Lacy’s hearing has almost gone. I stamp on the floor to rouse her in the evening before bedtime, rather than spook her by touching her. Sometimes she can hear a high-pitched whistle, but banging on a door or cupboard will often penetrate her silent world.

I’m so sorry that she can no longer hear me chattering to her. I wonder if she thinks I’ve given up on that? So I make a point to talk animatedly to her when she’s right in front of me. The connection is strong, and must be maintained!

She doesn’t wear the “Deaf Dog” vest I had for Rollo. She tends to walk just behind me, while Rollo was always out front. So Lacy doesn’t need it.

Old dog grooming

Just because she’s old with failing hearing and eyesight, doesn’t mean that her coat stops growing! It has changed a bit, becoming longer and wispier, so it needs careful brushing. Lacy’s always had a dense coat, looking like a black bear, and it’s still just as dense. Trousers need attention for mats or very occasional stains.

She has various small lumps and bumps here and there on her head and body, but nothing that needs veterinary intervention. It would have to be deadly serious for me to risk an anaesthetic for her! But to me she is still just as beautiful as ever.

I’ve always kept claws well-trimmed, and I clip the hair between the pads. I also have mats at strategic corners in the house, to prevent slipping.

But I’ve found one great addition - sticky socks for dogs! I put these on Lacy’s back feet and since I’ve been using them (about four months now) she hasn’t once slid her back feet apart and flumped to the floor (distressing for both of us). So I reckon they’re a great success.

You do need to keep the middle two claws well-trimmed and filed though, or you’ll spend a lot of time darning your dog’s socks! I use a grinder for best, quickest - and most pain-free - results.

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A peaceful old age for my dog

Lacy was a bit quiet the other day. I began to be concerned. But three things worked splendidly well to reassure me:

1. I opened the fridge door. (She may be deaf, but some things she just knows ..)

2. I tossed her a mini pork pie (caught, chomped, and swallowed in one).

3. I took the frisbees to the garden to play with the younger two. (Much woofing and dancing about.)

She was fine!

The old dog can still learn

Lacy still enjoys going through her repertoire of tricks, though I’m careful which ones I ask of her. When she’d had a stroke (she’s had three now, over the last five years) I wouldn’t ask her to spin, as she’d simply have fallen over!

When the others are racing for frisbees, I toss her one right in front of her nose. Sometimes she can catch it, and is very happy.

Perhaps what I’m saying is that you can keep including your old dog in everything you’ve always done together, though some things will have to be adapted. An agility dog, for instance, may be happy just to be asked to go round a pole. And sniffer dogs can always sniff. That sense seems to stay strong for ever …

RESOURCES:

The Old Dog: 5 secrets for keeping him young

Old dogs are the best!

Celebrate your Dog while you still have her

My blog is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission - but you’ll get the best deal!

To learn more about how I manage my multi-dog household, old and young alike, go to https://my.brilliantfamilydog.com

Time off for you and your dog

I had my first cold in six years a while ago - and boy, did it hit me!

So I had to cut dogwalks right down.

🚶🏼No walks for a couple of days.

🚶🏼🚶🏼Then ten minutes for the youngster.

🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼Next day 15 minutes for the other two

🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼Eventually back up to normal!

But the point is - nobody died!

No dogs got upset. No dogs climbed the walls - I wouldn’t have had the strength to do anything about it anyway!

Everyone was fine. Lots of cuddles, a few gentle games.

All was well.

Time for a break for both you and your dog?

So.

There is no need to feel worried if for some reason your dog isn’t getting the walks they’re used to.

We take care of them, and we know we have to stop walks when they are overwhelmed, injured, or unwell.

We have to take care of us too!

If we’re overwhelmed, injured, or unwell - then maybe walks need to go.

Of course, if you live in beautiful countryside and the weather is wonderful, and you have calm, non-reactive dogs, then it could be just what the doctor ordered.

But, if you’re blessed with a Growly Dog … then give it a miss till you’re feeling stronger.

We’re approaching the busiest and silliest season of the year. Maybe you’ll have a lot going on, with extra financial strain, visitors, travelling …

Don’t make your life harder!

The days are short, more dogs are out in a much smaller window of daylight.

As long as there is some entertainment or stimulation for your dog (and visitors and travelling are plenty of entertainment and definitely plenty of stimulation!) then you’re ok.

Perhaps some puzzles (lickimat, kong, cardboard boxes and tubes with treats inside, actual doggy puzzles).

A bit of Focus Game .. (Don’t know the Focus Game? Ooh - you need to check out the Brilliant Family Dog Academy: start here!)

Have you got a good retrieve? Now is the ideal time to teach it! You can teach the basics sitting or lying down - the dog will be doing the work. Here’s how. 

Then get back on the sofa.

Together.

Change for you, change for your dog

Change. We all want change. We’re always asking for change.

And usually the change is all about us, or how things affect us.

Your dog’s not behaving as you’d like - let’s get that CHANGED.

🐾 Change what the dog is doing.

🐾 Change how he responds or fails to respond to you.

🐾 The dog has to change!

But look at it another way …

Wayne Dyer puts it perfectly:

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Sometimes it’s not the thing you’re looking at that needs changing. 

Sometimes it’s looking at it in relation to yourself that makes the difference.

Why should your dog change?

Up to now, your dog has done certain things. Perhaps getting worse and worse on a daily basis.

And you’ve been letting this happen.

It’s not the dog who needs to change!

It’s you!

When you look at it all holistically, you’ll see that your input - or lack of it - is a major contributory factor to how your dog is.

🐾 When he was chewing those shoes, where were you?

🐾 When he was barking at the doorbell, were you barking at him to be quiet?

🐾 And when he didn’t respond to your call, had you been paying attention to exactly what he was doing? 

Dogs and us

We don’t exist in a vacuum. We interact with other people, things, and the world, and that influences how we feel and what we do.

Your dog? Just the same. 

And the most important interaction in his life is with you!

How to improve your dog’s behaviour

So next time he does something you’re not mad about, take up the mirror and see what you were doing! 

• How did you contribute to this happening?

• Did you contribute anything, or had you abdicated responsibility? 

• How can your dog learn what you want from him if you’re not paying attention and actively teaching him what pleases you?

And if you think this approach has to include telling-off or punishment - no, it doesn’t. There’s no nagging or blaming.

For your dog to change, YOU need to change

Teach your dog what you want. Build that connection with him so he knows what will please you so he has a chance of knowing what action he should choose.

Then you can forget about changing your dog, and simply enjoy him! 

And to start making that change, explore our free and premium courses on teaching your dog to listen.

Why is my dog reactive?

It’s natural for people to question things.

And especially when that “thing” is having a major unwanted effect on their life!

So “Why is my dog reactive?” is a question I hear often.

And the questioner often furnishes what they think the answer may be. These “reasons” can range from:

He’s a rescue dog

I think he was beaten

He missed out on socialisation

He was over-socialised

He was attacked as a puppy (“attacked” can mean anything from being stared at to being torn apart, I have learnt)

He had a bad breeder / bad breeding / bad start

We went to a bad puppy class

He never went to puppy class

.. and so it goes on.

Now whether any of those things are true, and - more to the point - whether they have any bearing on how your dog is now, can never be quantified.

Keen to learn more to help your Growly Dog? Get our free e-course here and get started!

It’s been proven that fears can be hereditary. Even that the position in the womb can affect a puppy’s mindset! And while all the research goes on - you have a dog to look after.

The fact is that your dog is reactive!

.. or anxious, nervous, shy, “aggressive” …

This is what we know, for sure - so why not start there?

Start from where you are

It really doesn’t matter why your dog is reactive or fearful. He just is.

A family may have two or more children who are poles apart in character. Same parents, same genes, same environment, same diet, same everything.

And yet they are totally different. We all know families like this - maybe even have a family like this!

Perhaps one child is brave and fearless and dives into everything.

While another is shy and reserved, lacks confidence, and prefers to be a wallflower.

Thing is - we get the children we’re given! We don’t have too much say in the matter.

And we love them just the same.

Choosing your dog

So why not view your dog the same way?

Maybe you went to great lengths to choose a breed you thought would suit you, the gender that seemed right for you. You hunted till you found a good breeder, checked the lines, made your choice.

Or perhaps you took pot luck - picking a dog from a shelter, or inheriting a dog from someone else.

I can tell you now, that there is more variation between individuals than there is between breeds.

In other words, two dogs of the same breed - even from the same litter - will be individual. Not clones. Individual.

Your collie may be afraid of things that run fast, your spaniel may have no interest in using his nose, your GSD may be sound-sensitive, your lapdog may hate laps …

So, to some extent, no matter how carefully you choose, you are taking a gamble.

First of all, be kind

Your dog can’t help how he is. He didn’t choose to be afraid. He just is.

And fear of some kind, whether inbred or acquired, is at the bottom of most reactivity.

So let’s cut him some slack.

He may not be the dog you had hoped for.

He may never be a good agility dog, or working dog - which is why you got him.

He may never be comfortable in strange places, or with strange people or dogs.

But that’s not his fault!

It’s just the way it is!

No need for whywhywhy - it just is.

You chose him.

So you need to do what you can to make his life with you the best it can be. If that limits what you can do with this dog, then so be it.

More love on offer

Just about all the reactive dogs I have ever known are wonderful family pets. They are utterly devoted to their people. They are fun to have around - at home.

I’d go so far as to say there is no bond like the bond between your reactive dog and you.

You have to put so much work in to keep him - and you - happy.

And in so doing, you understand him so much better. You build his confidence, slowly but surely (this can take years).

And your dog knows (once he’s no longer a terrified screaming furry blob on a walk) that you love him and will protect him.

What better pet could you wish for?

Want some help with your challenging dog? Explore our free and premium courses for growly dogs, where you'll find practical, force-free training to help you understand your dog better and enjoy calmer walks together.

Can dogs have ADHD?

So many people say their dog has ADHD, or is autistic, or something else.

And what they really mean is that in some way it’s the dog’s fault that he is as he is.

After all, it’s much easier to say that your dog behaves badly because of some obscure medical condition - rather than lack of proper nurturing - as in poor food, lack of exercise, lack of stimulation.

Far easier to say that, than to admit that you’ve fallen down on training and can’t manage your dog!

While dogs don’t have autism or ADHD, there is a thing. It’s called Hyperkinesis, and it’s VERY VERY RARE in dogs.

I only came across it myself for the first time recently.

It involves complete inability to settle, inappropriate responses (sometimes aggressive), chaotic behaviour, from puppyhood on.

You’d know if your dog had that - you’d really know!

This diagnosis is only given after extensive testing. And I was interested to read that in addition to medication it is universally recommended to use non-aversive reward-based training.

We already know that!

What about my hyper dog?

Some of us have very active dogs, some of us have shut down dogs, but very, very, few people in the world have hyperkinetic dogs.

This is good news!

So what do you do if you have an apparently uncontrollable, mad, dog who never seems to settle and seems to want to defy you all the time?

Double down on the training - especially All Day Training!

What’s All Day Training? It’s those little things you teach and expect all the time, like waiting patiently at doors, standing still to have a harness put on, sitting for a visitor, and so on.

It’s not a formal training session. Rather like we teach our children, it’s just little reinforcements of good behaviour - All Day Long.

And we must always 

🐶 be clear

🐶 be consistent

and it’s helpful to have set routines so your dog knows what’s going to happen next. He knows when he’s going to be fed, he knows when it’s playtime, he knows when it’s bedtime - throughout the day.

Enable your dog to tell you what he needs!

First … CALM!

Something that helps a lot of people is teaching their dog how to relax. Fully. Anywhere.

“I have been teaching my dog the Magic Mat technique from your Calm Down! book, and it's been great! Thanks for writing such a great and helpful guide!” JS

“Thank you, I've just read through the first 4 chapters of Calm Down! and I'm feeling excited to get started tomorrow, I love the way you write and explain everything!” WR

“Thank you so, so much for the Calm Down! book. It's already going brilliantly, it's like you're a dog mind-reader, you really know your stuff!” LN

By the way, if you are medicating your dog you must always combine this with a behaviour modification program designed by an expert in force-free training. This would ideally be a Veterinary Behaviourist, who can manage the dosing at the same time as the training.

Dog Feeding Schedules - how important are they?

I’ve had a couple of people recently looking for help with their puppy because it was screaming all night. On enquiry, I’ve found that the (so-called) breeder - “Greeder”, I’d say - told them to feed 2 meals a day.

Two meals a day, for an 8-week-old small breed puppy!

Totally ridiculous - in fact, cruel.

Can you imagine feeding a new baby twice a day and expecting peace and harmony in the home?

So, while explaining this to the reader - who was of course not to blame but doing their ill-informed best - I was thinking about feeding schedules in general.

They are not set in stone!

 Feeding can, indeed should, change over the dog’s life.

Let me give you some examples.

My usual schedule with a young puppy is to start with 5 or 4 meals a day, gradually dropping to 3 at 12 weeks, then 2 at 6 months, then dropping to 1 meal a day at 9 months or a year or two (depending on size and make-up of the dog).

My dogs also get training treats throughout the day, and have access to meaty bones and healthy chews. Clean water is, of course, always available, in a clean container.

I have four dogs:

🐶 Lacy, English Shepherd, 14

🐶 Cricket the Whippet, 13

🐶 Coco Poodle, 10

🐶 Yannick, Border Collie, coming up to 2

And they all have a different feeding regime (they all have a big raw dinner):

🐾 Lacy - gets a small breakfast as she’s old

🐾 Cricket - started having panic attacks in the morning. Never after lunch. So I started feeding her breakfast - no more panic attacks

🐾 Coco - gets a tiny breakfast - he’s small and inclined to put on weight

🐾 Yannick - I stopped his breakfast at a year and he rapidly became thin, so he’s back on it, and doing nicely.

Plus treats, bones, etc as I feel the urge, and scatterfed kibble in the garden at lunchtime (this is a sure way to get Cricket to go out to relieve herself on wet days!)

So you can see it’s not a “one-size-fits-all”.

You need to observe your dog, view her with a stockman’s eye, check she is neither too fat nor too thin.  

And if you want to give me a treat for all the info I give you freely, here’s your chance!

How can I tell if my dog’s weight is right?

It can be hard - especially for the novice dog-owner - to assess your dog’s condition. You see him every day! These things can creep up on you.

Here’s an excellent chart to guide you:

If your dog has a dense coat which masks everything, you’re going to have to get in with your hands and feel your way round his body.

This is something you need to do regularly anyway - to hunt down parasites, injuries, strange lumps and bumps.

I find the shortcut ways of finding whether a dog is too fat are these:

1. Ribs: you can feel them easily but not cut yourself on them.

2. Pin bones (top of pelvis): easy to find but nicely covered.

3. Neck: the skin should be loose round the neck, no fat rolls or thickness.

If you make these observations - seeing and feeling your dog - regularly, you’ll be able to adjust his intake up or down as needed.

Always remembering the quality of the food you give!

Here are some useful feeding resources for you:

Is raw feeding safe for my dog? Let’s get to the Bare Bones

What food can I give my dog?

Beware the deadly mince pie! Christmas hazards for dogs

“My dog doesn’t like food”

Keep your dog and your Christmas food safe!

Dog feeding frenzy!

I'm not spending good money on a DOG!

How much should I feed my dog?

What can my dog chew?

What are the most effective dog treats?

And once you've got his outsides right, you can start understanding what's going on inside your dog's head. Our free and premium courses will help you see your dog - and their behaviour - in a whole new light.