Keep Dogs Out of Garden Areas, Lawns and Landscaping

With the ASPCA estimating there are about 75 million owned dogs in the United States, there’s no doubt that we love our furry friends! Unfortunately, not all dogs are the product of loving homes. Wild or stray dogs that roam freely can prey on livestock or family pets, become a danger to people or cause extensive damage to your property. Some may even carry the dreaded rabies virus.

Feral dogs live wherever there is habitat and a food source, most commonly in parks, under abandoned buildings and in rural wooded areas. These roving Rovers generally patrol at night and during the early morning hours. And while feral dogs can be a problem, even your neighbor’s dog can leave his “calling card” on your lawn! So what can you do about nuisance dogs that invade your property? Many areas offer trap, neuter and adopt programs or trap, neuter and release programs to help control the stray dog population. Your local humane league, SPCA, veterinarian or similar organization will be happy to give you additional information about these programs and methods.

When trapping, make sure to use a live animal cage large enough to hold the dog. To entice the dog into entering the trap, use a “mouth-watering” treat like dog food, any beef product, raw chicken or sardines. A Pet Detective in Canada, Vicky Vaughan actually realized that there were a lot of stories of dogs being recovered by hunters while they were cooking over campfires. So, you could try her method and light up your BBQ and cook something very fatty – bacon, tripe or hamburger, for example. Then just place a piece in the trap. The dog will find it difficult to resist something that tasty!

Once you catch the dog, be careful with it! Unfamiliar dogs may be frightened and could be dangerous to handle. Make sure to check in with your local animal control authorities or your local animal shelter for information on what to do with the animal.

How to Repel Stray Dogs and Keep “Neighbors’ Dog off my Lawn”!


To avoid the potential dangers in handling a trapped dog, a better option may be to learn how to repel dogs. You can find a myriad of “home remedy” dog repellent tips out there. Some people swear by garlic, chili pepper, olive or almond oil to keep the dogs away. Others say placing ammonia or vinegar soaked cotton balls around the part of your yard or garden that the dog is frequenting will drive them back. Just be ready to smell the ammonia or vinegar yourself (both are strong smells!), and don’t pour it directly on the ground as it may hurt your plants! Most people, however, find that these home remedies are hit-and-miss and try all of them without finding one that works effectively.

A better bet to keep Fido away may be to use a specially made dog repellent. Try applying a liquid or granular-based repellent around the perimeter of your yard that targets a dog’s keenly developed sense of smell and taste. You can also spray individual plants and flowers to protect them from doggy destruction. Liquid repellents protect large areas and also provide vertical protection, essential to your efforts to keep stray dogs out of the garden. By using both liquid and granular in combination, your worries about how to “keep the neighbors’ dog out of my yard” are over.

Another effective dog repellent is motion-activated sprinklers, which work by releasing a sudden jet of water. The spray, along with the tic-tic-tic sound, is sure to keep dogs off your property. You’ll no longer be asking to keep dogs “off my lawn” because they’ll be startled and conditioned to stay away.

Knowing your options on how to repel dogs is certainly the first step to reclaiming your yard from your uninvited canine invaders! Let us know how it goes!

Make Homemade Dog Repellent

Man's best friend may be great for companionship, but it wreaks havoc on gardens and upholstery. Whatever the reasons you want to keep a dog away, there are many dog repellants that are easy and cheap to make at home. All of the repellents listed below are 100 percent safe for dogs and the environment.
Citrus Dogs find the smell of citrus horrendous. You can protect your garden by placing slices of oranges or lemons throughout the flowerbed. To keep your dog off of your furniture, place a glass of lemon water on a nearby table or spray your furniture with the mixture

Cayenne Peppers Though cayenne peppers will not harm your dog, it will irritate its eyes, nose and throat. To keep your dog out of your flowerbed, grind a mixture of black pepper and cayenne pepper, and sprinkle it throughout your garden. A good trick for getting your dog to avoid the upholstery is to sprinkle cayenne pepper in your potpourri or leave a bowl of ornamental chilies next to the sofa.

Vinegar Dogs strongly dislike the odor of . Vinegar can be potentially dangerous for plants, so don't spray vinegar in your garden. Instead, douse biodegradable coffee filters in white vinegar and allow them to dry in the sun. Once completely dried, cut the filters into thin strips about the length of a toothpick. Spreading the strips throughout your garden will repel your dog and allow your flowers to thrive .

Ammonia Ammonia is the most effective dog repellent. To keep dogs off your furniture, clean your floors with an ammonia-based solution. For the garden, you can use the same method mentioned above for vinegar, replacing the vinegar with ammonia. Never pour or spray ammonia onto your lawn or flowers, because it could kill them

Dog Repellents

How to Keep Dogs Away From Yards

The need for effective dog repellents is clear to all those long-suffering folks who, although not dog owners, are nonetheless forced to deal with the unpleasant task of dog waste disposal. Below I consider some of the best approaches known to keep dogs away from yards, without harming them in any way. Broadly speaking, we can label all of these diverse approaches as "dog repellents," since they are all designed to repel unwanted canine intruders from a specific area. But I'll also provide examples of commercial products more narrowly associated with that label, namely, products that come in a can and are sprinkled or sprayed on the ground to keep dogs away.

Dog Repellents Applied as Powders, Granules or Sprays

One problem with the products that are sprinkled or sprayed on the ground is that you will have to reapply them after a rain and/or as the strength of their odor diminishes over time. On the upside, though, two examples in this class are available right off the kitchen shelf, saving you a trip to the home improvement center:

1. Ammonia
2. Vinegar

Note, however, that neither ammonia nor vinegar should be sprayed directly onto any lawn grass or landscape plants that you care about, as sufficient amounts of them will kill vegetation. In fact, I discuss vinegar as a weed killer elsewhere. Ammonia and vinegar, then, can be thought of as dog repellents to use around the perimeter of your property, forming a stinky, invisible barrier that keeps dogs away.

Dogs also dislike the smell of citrus, leading some homeowners to use orange, grapefruit or lemon peels as dog repellents. While these fruit peels are natural and easy to obtain, their use will probably have to be restricted to backyard garden areas, where they are out of public view.

Commercial Dog Repellents

Get Away® dog repellent makes use of the fact that dogs dislike the smell of citrus. But unlike with orange peels, sprinkling Get Away in the front yard won't create an eyesore. This dog repellent comes in both granule and spray form.

Critter Ridder® is an organic dog repellent put out by the same brain trust behind Havahart traps. Available in both granules and sprays, Critter Ridder works as a dog repellent because it gives off a smell of black pepper, which our canine friends find offensive.

Liquid Fence® works on a different principle. This dog repellent depends on the fact that dogs seek areas with familiar smells in which to do their business. Liquid Fence masks those smells. So instead of repulsing dogs with offensive odors, this product removes the welcome mat, so to speak, thereby discouraging them from conducting "business as usual."

Gadgets That Act as Dog Repellents

Unlike dog repellents that come in powder, granule or spray form, no re-application is required with gadgets like Scarecrow Sprinklers. Just hook one up to your garden hose and let its motion-activated mechanism do the work. Another advantage with this product is that there's no need to take separate control measures against each of the various types of pests with which your yard is challenged: Scarecrow Sprinklers® will repulse garden pests just as surely as they'll keep Fido away.

Yard Gard® is an electronic dog repellent. Like the Scarecrow Sprinkler, it is effective against other pests, as well. But unlike the Scarecrow Sprinkler, you have a choice:

• Blast would-be pests 24/7
• Or allow its motion-activated mechanism to alert it when pests approach

This dog repellent works by emitting sonic and ultrasonic sound waves that canines find offensive. Mount it on an outdoor storage shed, tree or fence.

Don't confuse Yard Gard with an underground dog fence: the former keeps dogs away, while the latter keeps them confined. Both emit sound waves that dogs dislike, but underground dog fences are used to keep your own dog from roaming off your property (similar principle, different purpose).

Of course, in addition to dog repellents, don't forget that one option for keeping dogs away from your property may be simply to erect a fence. However, the fence solution often isn't an option in urban areas, where you may have a grassy strip of public land that you have to maintain between the street and your own property border. Unfortunately, inconsiderate dog owners will walk their mutts on this strip and not pick up after them. Since you don't own this strip of land, you can't fence it off to keep dogs away. Thus the need for the dog repellents discussed above.

Lost-pet poster: 6 tips for a more effective sign

I returned home Saturday to two discoveries: Both of my dogs were gone from the yard. And worse: One dog’s collar had slipped off and was lying by the fence.
Wally returned home on his own, but with Daisy still missing -- and lacking any identification -- I had only two likely ways of seeing her again. Someone would have to catch her, drive her to an animal shelter and have her scanned for a microchip containing my contact information. Or someone would have to see her on a lost-dog poster.
It’s good I didn’t know the odds. According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, a nonprofit organization whose members include the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Veterinary Medical Assn., less than 2% of lost cats and less than 20% of lost dogs are returned to their owners — and that’s if the animal has a tag, a microchip or both.
I poured my energy into the posters, but making an effective lost-pet flier proved to be art unto itself, a fact that I learned the hard way. Only after I had posted dozens of fliers around my neighborhood did I realize all of the mistakes I had made in the one pictured above. Here are six things I would have done differently:

1. Photo selection. I thought I was smart by making a photo of Daisy so prominent -- taking up half of the 8.5-by-11-inch paper. But as I taped up the flier alongside other lost-dog posters on a lamppost, I realized someone else's sign was more effective: It also used a large photo, but one that showed only the dog’s distinctive face -- not the whole body. As I drove from intersection to intersection, Daisy's photo was hard to make out, but that close-up shot of another's dog face grabbed my attention and prompted passersby to stop and read the signs. Even though my signs were color, the black-and-white fliers with the face in detail were better: graphic, easy to see from afar and emotionally compelling. If Daisy had distinctive body markings or a memorable shape, the full-body photo would have been wise. But she didn't. I should have emphasized her face in the photo, then let words convey her size. 

 

2. Text selection. The words on my posters were brief, as they should have been. But I made two key errors: I used a serif font (Times Roman), when a sans-serif font (such as Arial or Helvetica) would have allowed for bolder letters that were easier to read from a passing car. I also made the largest words on my flier “LOST DOG.” Everyone could tell that these fliers were for a lost pet, even if the text had been in a foreign language. A more effective strategy would have been to put key visual descriptions in the biggest type: “BLACK LAB,” or “TERRIER PUPPY” or “3-LEGGED CAT” or whatever the case may be. These key words might resonate immediately with passersby and stick in their heads as they travel through the neighborhood.

3. Sign locations. As I madly taped fliers to streetlights and utility poles, I worried that they would be pulled off within a day or two -- perhaps by city workers just doing their job. Had I to do it over again, I would have made some larger signs -- poster board, not paper -- and asked homeowners on key streets if they would have allowed me to stake those signs in their yards, perhaps near a sidewalk or intersection.  Others who had lost pets later recommended using fluorescent poster board, either as the sign itself or simply as an eye-grabbing backdrop. Just glue an 8.5-by-11 flier to a larger piece of colorful poster board.

4. Number of copies. I underestimated the number of fliers to make at the copy center. How? I guessed how many I might put on street lights, but I didn't consider how many I might hand out to people. As I searched for Daisy by foot, I encountered neighbors and dog walkers who were sympathetic and vowed to keep an eye out. I gave a flier to them all, and they essentially expanded my search team. I initially printed 75 copies, but I probably should have made 150, maybe 200.

5. Preparedness. As soon as I found that collar in the yard, time felt unbelievably crucial. With every passing minute, I imagined Daisy wandering farther from home -- and farther from where I would be posting fliers. Superstitious pet owners may think I’m crazy, but I’m convinced I now should approach a missing dog like an earthquake: Get the kit ready in advance. Create a flier now, include the best photo and update it every year. Put the design in multiple places, including a flash drive stored with a big roll of sturdy tape and a staple gun. I wasted two hours calling my partner (who had the laptop where all of our photos are stored) in vain, then madly searching for a decent print of Daisy, then writing a flier, then running to the copy center and then buying tape at CVS because the copy center was sold out. Those were two agonizing hours that I just wanted to be searching for my dog.

6. Hope. Don’t lose it. Because I was looking for a dog that had no identification, no penchant to come when called by name and no spectacular sense of direction or intelligence (love her, but let’s be honest), I was fairly certain that I would never see Daisy again. As night fell of the day of her disappearance, a dog walker in the neighborhood told me to keep my chin up. She lost her springer spaniel, and two months later it was found at a park miles away, she said. Indeed, SPCALA has an “Animal Finder” advice sheet that said: “A lost pet can wander the streets for weeks or months and people who find lost pets may keep them for several weeks before taking them to a shelter.” My local city and Humane Society shelters said the same thing, encouraging me to check their websites daily and to walk their kennels regularly, just in case.

I didn’t need to, I’m happy to report. A dog lover corralled Daisy and drove her to a city shelter, which scanned her microchip and called at night to say my girl was waiting to be bailed out. I don’t know anything about the good Samaritan other than she told a shelter employee that Daisy “seemed like a nice dog.” Daisy has been reunited with Wally, and my fence has been mended. And now I’ve got a lost dog flier on a flash drive ready to go, garden stakes in the garage and a roll of tape stashed in the den, just in case.

Obedience Training for Dogs

 Many people can’t imagine life without dogs. We admire and adore them for their loyalty, unconditional affection, playful exuberance and zest for life. Nevertheless, dogs and people are very different animals. Although officially “man’s best friend,” dogs have some innocent but irksome tendencies-like jumping up to greet, barking, digging and chewing-that can make it downright difficult to live with them! To make the most of your relationship with your dog, you need to teach her some important skills that will help her live harmoniously in a human household.

Learning how to train your dog will improve your life and hers, enhance the bond between you, and ensure her safety-and it can be a lot of fun. Dogs are usually eager to learn, and the key to success is good communication. Your dog needs to understand how you’d like her to behave and why it’s in her best interest to comply with your wishes.

How Should You Do It?

 If you ask around, you’ll get all kinds of advice about training your dog. Some people will tell you that the key is to use a “firm hand”-to make sure your dog doesn’t think she can get away with naughty behavior. Some people argue that you should only use rewards in dog training and avoid punishing your dog in any way. Some people insist that all you have to do is “be the alpha dog,” assert your status as the dominant leader of your “pack.” It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the glut of differing opinions out there.

Regardless of which method and techniques you use, effective dog training boils down to one thing-controlling the consequences of your dog’s behavior. If you want to influence the way your dog behaves, you need to:

1. Reward behaviors you like.
2. Make sure behaviors you don’t like aren’t rewarded.

Understand How Your Dog Learns

One of the most frequent complaints of pet parents is that their dogs “just won’t listen.” But put yourself in your dog’s shoes for a moment. If someone was constantly chattering away in a foreign language that you’d never heard before, how long would you pay attention? Probably not for very long-because you simply wouldn’t be able to understand what the foreign speaker was trying to communicate.

To communicate clearly and consistently with your dog, you need to understand how she learns. Dogs learn through the immediate consequences of their behavior. The nature of those consequences determines how they’ll behave in the future. Dogs, like other animals (people included), work to get good things and avoid bad things in life. If a behavior results in something rewarding-like food, a good belly rub, playtime with dog buddies or a game of fetch with her pet parent-your dog will do that behavior more often. On the other hand, if a behavior results in an unpleasant consequence-like being ignored or losing things she finds rewarding-she’ll do that behavior less often.

If You Like the Behavior, Reward It

 

Some training methods use punishment, like leash corrections and scolding, to discourage dogs from doing everything except what you want them to do. Other methods cut right to the chase and focus on teaching dogs what you do want them to do. While both tactics can work, the latter is usually the more effective approach, and it’s also much more enjoyable for you and your dog. For example, you can easily use treats, games and praise to teach your dog to sit when people approach during walks in the neighborhood. If your dog is sitting, she won’t be dragging you toward the people, jumping up when they get close enough, mouthing on their arms and legs, and so on. That’s pretty efficient training-no pain or intimidation needed. Alternatively, you could grab your dog’s leash and jerk her to the ground every time she jumps up to greet people, and you’d most likely get the same effect in the end-no more jumping up. But consider the possible fallout:

• Your dog might decide that people are scary since she gets hurt whenever she tries to greet them-and she might try to drive them away by growling or barking the next time they approach.
• Your dog might decide that YOU are scary since you hurt her whenever she tries to greet people.

If you can teach your dog polite manners without hurting or frightening her, why not do it? Rather than punishing her for all the things you don’t want her to do, concentrate on teaching your dog what you do want her to do. When your dog does something you like, convince her to do it again by rewarding her with something she loves. You’ll get the job done without damaging the relationship between you and your best friend.

If You Don’t Like the Behavior, Take Rewards Away

 

The most important part of training your dog is teaching her that it pays to do things you like. But your dog also needs to learn that it doesn’t pay to do things you don’t like. Fortunately, discouraging unwanted behavior doesn’t have to involve pain or intimidation. You just need to make sure that behavior you dislike doesn’t get rewarded. Most of the time, dog motivations aren’t mysterious. They simply do what works! Dogs jump up on people, for example, because people pay attention to them as a result. They can learn not to jump up if we ignore them when they jump up instead. It can be as simple as turning away or staring at the sky when your dog jumps up to greet or play with you. As soon as she sits, you can give her the attention she craves. If you stick to this plan, your dog will learn two things at once. Doing something you like (sitting) reliably works to earn what she wants (attention), and doing things you don’t like (jumping up) always results in the loss of what she wants.

Control Consequences Effectively

 

As you teach your dog what you do and don’t want her to do, keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Consequences must be immediate Dogs live in the present. Unlike us, they can’t make connections between events and experiences that are separated in time. For your dog to connect something she does with the consequences of that behavior, the consequences must be immediate. If you want to discourage your dog from doing something, you have to catch her with her paw in the proverbial cookie jar. For example, if your dog gets too rough during play and mouths your arm, try saying “OUCH!” right at the moment you feel her teeth touch your skin. Then abruptly end playtime. The message is immediate and clear: Mouthing on people results in no more fun. Rewards for good behavior must come right after that behavior has happened, too. Say a child in a classroom answers a teacher’s question correctly, gets up from his desk, sharpens his pencil and then punches another kid in the arm on the way back to his seat. Then the teacher says, “Good job, Billy!” and offers him a piece of candy. What did Billy get the candy for? Timing is crucial. So be prepared to reward your dog with treats, praise, petting and play the instant she does something you like.
• Consequences must be consistent When training your dog, you-and everyone else who interacts with her-should respond the same way to things she does every time she does them. For example, if you sometimes pet your dog when she jumps up to greet you but sometimes yell at her instead, she’s bound to get confused. How can she know when it’s okay to jump up and when it’s not?

Be a Good Leader

 

Some people believe that the only way to transform a disobedient dog into a well-behaved one is to dominate her and show her who’s boss. However, the “alpha dog” concept in dog training is based more on myth than on animal science. More importantly, it leads misguided pet parents to use training techniques that aren’t safe, like the “alpha roll.” Dogs who are forcibly rolled onto their backs and held down can become frightened and confused, and they’re sometimes driven to bite in self defense.

Keep in mind that ditching the “alpha dog” concept doesn’t mean you have to let your dog do anything she likes. It’s fine to be the boss and make the rules-but you can do that without unnecessary conflict. Be a benevolent boss, not a bully. Good leadership isn’t about dominance and power struggles. It’s about controlling your dog’s behavior by controlling her access to things she wants. YOU have the opposable thumbs that open cans of dog food, turn doorknobs and throw tennis balls! Use them to your best advantage. If your dog wants to go out, ask her to sit before you open the door. When she wants dinner, ask her to lie down to earn it. Does she want to go for a walk? If she’s jumping up on you with excitement, wait calmly until she sits. Then clip on the leash and take your walk. Your dog will happily work for everything she loves in life. She can learn to do what you want in order to earn what she wants.

Training New Skills

It’s easy to reward good behavior if you focus on teaching your dog to do specific things you like. Dogs can learn an impressive array of obedience skills and entertaining tricks. Deciding what you’d like your dog to learn will depend on your interests and lifestyle. If you want your dog to behave politely, you can focus on skills like sit, down, wait at doors, leave it, come when called and stay. If you want to enhance your enjoyment of outings with your dog, you can train her to walk politely on leash, without pulling. If you have a high-energy dog and would like outlets for her exuberance, you can teach her how to play fetch, play tug-of-war or participate in dog sports, such as agility, rally obedience, freestyle and flyball. If you’d like to impress your friends or just spend some quality time with your dog, you can take her to clicker training or trick-training classes. The possibilities are endless!

After you decide on some new skills you’d like to teach your dog, you’ll be ready to start training. To maximize her learning potential and make sure you both enjoy the training experience, keep the following basic tips in mind:

• When teaching new skills, keep training sessions short and sweet Like kids, dogs don’t have long attention spans. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but an ideal average training session should last 15 minutes or less. Within that session, you can work on one skill or switch between a few different skills. To keep things interesting, try doing 5 to 15 repetitions of one behavior and then doing 5 to 15 repetitions of another behavior. You can also practice new skills and keep old ones polished by doing single repetitions at convenient times throughout the day. For example, before giving your dog a tasty new chew bone, ask her to sit or lie down to earn it.
• Quit while you’re ahead End training sessions on a good note, with a skill you know your dog can do well, and be sure to stop before either one of you gets tired, bored or frustrated.
• For dogs, English is a second language Dogs aren’t born understanding English. They can learn the significance of specific words, like “sit” and “walk” and “treat,” but when humans bury those familiar words in complex sentences, dogs sometimes have difficulty understanding. They can also get confused when people use different words for the same thing. For example, some people will confuse their dogs by saying, “Fluffy, down!” one day and “Sit down, Fluffy!” another day. Then they wonder why Fluffy doesn’t respond the same way every time. When teaching your dog a cue or command, decide on just one word or phrase, and make sure you and your family use it clearly and consistently.
• Take baby steps Dogs, just like people, learn best when new tasks are broken down into small steps. For example, you can’t go out and line dance unless you learn all of the individual steps first! When teaching your dog a new skill, begin with an easy first step and increase difficulty gradually. If you’re training your dog to stay, start by asking her to stay for just 3 seconds. After some practice, try increasing the duration of her stay to 8 seconds. When your dog has mastered an 8-second stay, make things a little harder by increasing the time to 15 seconds. Over the next week or two, continue to gradually increase the duration of the stay from 15 seconds to 30 seconds to a minute to a few minutes, etc. By training systematically and increasing difficulty slowly, you’ll help your dog learn faster in the long run.
• Work on only one part of a skill at a time Many of the skills we want our dogs to learn are complex. For instance, if you want to train a solid sit-stay, you’ll need to work on teaching your dog that she should stay in a sitting position until you release her (duration), she should stay while you move away from her (distance), and she should stay while distracting things are going on around her (distraction). You’ll probably both get frustrated if you try to teach her all of these things at the same time. Instead, start with just one part of the skill and, when your dog has mastered that, add another part. For example, you can work on duration first. When your dog can sit-stay for a few minutes in a quiet place with no distractions while you stand right next to her, start training her to stay while you move away from her. While you focus on that new part of the skill, go back to asking your dog to stay for just a few seconds again. When your dog can stay while you move around the room, slowly build up the duration of the stay again. Then you can add the next part-training in a more distracting environment. Again, when you make the skill harder by adding distraction, make the other parts-duration and distance-easier for a little while. If you work on all the parts of a complex skill separately before putting them together, you’ll set your dog up to succeed.
• If you run into trouble, go back a few steps If you’re training your dog to do something new and you stop making progress, you may have increased the difficulty of the skill too quickly. Similarly, if you’re practicing a behavior your dog hasn’t performed in a while and she seems a little rusty, she may need some help remembering what you want her to do. If you run into training challenges like these, just refresh your dog’s memory by making the skill a little easier for a few repetitions. Go back to a step that you know your dog can successfully perform, and practice that for a while before trying to increase difficulty again.
• Practice everywhere, with everyone If you learn that two plus two equals four in a classroom, you’ll take that information with you wherever you go. Dogs, however, learn very specifically and don’t automatically apply their knowledge in different situations and places as well as people do. If you teach your dog to sit on cue in your kitchen, you’ll have a beautifully kitchen-trained dog. But she might not understand what you mean when you ask her to sit in other locations. If you want your dog to perform new skills everywhere, you’ll need to practice them in multiple places-your home, your yard, out on walks, at friends’ houses, at the park and anywhere else you take your dog.
• Use real rewards Be sure to reward your dog with things she truly finds rewarding. Some dogs will happily work for dry kibble when training in your living room but ignore it if you’re training in the park. Because the park’s a more distracting environment, paying attention there is a harder job for your dog. Pay her accordingly by using a reward worth working for, like small pieces of chicken or cheese, or a chance to run off-leash at the dog park with her buddies. Also keep in mind that what your dog considers rewarding at any given time may change. If she’s just eaten a big meal, a scratch behind the ears or a game of tug might be most rewarding. If she hasn’t eaten in a while, she’ll probably work enthusiastically for tasty treats.
• Be patient Training your dog will take time and effort-but it can be a great deal of fun for you and for her. And your hard work will pay off. With patience and persistence, you and your dog can accomplish great things.

 An Ounce of Prevention

If your toddler was repeatedly sticking her fingers into open electrical outlets, what would you do? Would you sit her down and try to explain why that’s not a good idea? Would you smack her every time she did it? Nope, you’d probably buy some outlet covers. Voilà! Problem solved. Prevention is sometimes the best solution. When training a dog, the easiest way to deal with a behavior problem might be to simply prevent the undesired behavior from happening. If your dog raids the kitchen trash can, you could spend weeks training a perfect down-stay in another room-or you could move the trash can to a place where your dog can’t get to it. Prevention is also important if you’re trying to train your dog to do one thing instead of another. For example, if you want to house train your dog, she’ll learn fastest if you use a crate to prevent her from making mistakes inside while you focus on training her to eliminate outside.

Let Your Dog Be a Dog

Many behavior problems can be prevented by providing “legal,” acceptable ways for your dog to express her natural impulses. There are some things that dogs just need to do. So rather than trying to get your dog to stop doing things like chewing, mouthing and roughhousing altogether, channel these urges in the right direction. Increased physical activity and mental enrichment are excellent complements to training. ore.

Finding Help and More Information

If you’d like to learn how to train your dog or if your dog has a behavior problem you’d like to resolve, don’t hesitate get help from a qualified professional trainer or behaviorist. To learn more about locating the right expert for you and your dog, please see our article, Finding Professional Help. Many Certified Pet Dog Trainers (CPDTs) and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAABs or ACAABs) offer telephone consultations, in-home private consultations and training sessions, and group classes.

There are also a number of excellent books and DVDs to explore. Here are some of our favorites:

• The Power of Positive Training by Pat Miller (and other books by her)
• Maran Illustrated Dog Training
• Dog-Friendly Dog Training by Andrea Arden
• The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
• How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks by Ian Dunbar, PhD
• Take a Bow-Wow! video series by Virginia Broitman and Sherri Lippman
• New Puppy, Now What? DVD by Victoria Schade
• Clicker Magic DVD by Karen Pryor

Dog Distemper Symptoms

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is an airborne type and highly contagious viral disease that is often fatal and can affects the respiratory, urogenital, gastrointestinal, optic nerves and central nervous systems.
Canine distemper is closely related to measles in human so if human has vaccine and immune to measles then they will also has immune to dog distemper. However there is a report that humans can possibly be infected with dog distemper disease but will show no signs or symptoms at all.
Large number of animal species and weasel-like animals such as lion, ferrets, foxes, wolves, coyotes, skunks, wild hogs, badgers, raccoons, pandas etc. can also develop this type of diseases. Dog distemper cannot affect or pass on to cat except other problems like skin irritations, mange, fleas, etc. Cat distemper is known as feline panleukopenia.
Puppies between 3-6 month of age are most susceptible to diseases infection and may suffer from more serious illness conditions such as inflammatory illness of the lung (pneumonia) and acute inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) when compare with older dogs. Around 15 percent of canine inflammatory central nervous system diseases are caused by canine distemper virus (CDV).
Nursing puppies has lower chance of CDV infection because a certain degree of immunity is passed down to puppies by colostrum-milk but this can only be done by giving colostrum-milk during the first 8-24 hours after birth.
Older dogs has little or no opportunity to become infected or exposed to the CDV virus because of the immunity build up but however there is a case that 7-8 years old dog has been infected with distemper.
Seasons has direct effects on the spread of dog distemper virus. Summer season and warm weather can force CDV to become dormantand lower their prevalence rate while CDV can be most virulent during early spring, fall and winter season.
Dog distemper incubation period ranges from 3-21 days in approximation and may be longer depend on other factors such as seasons, temperature etc.

Dog distemper symptoms

Early signs and symptoms of dog distemper

• fever
• loss of appetite (anorexia)
• mild eye inflammation (usually last two day)
• temperature rise to above 103 degree fahrenheit
• depression
• nasal discharge
• discharge from eye (conjunctivitis)

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects theintestinal tract.

• vomiting
• diarrhea
• loss of appetite
• suddenly weak
• lethargy

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects the lungs and upper respiratory tract.

• coughing
• sneezing
• vomiting
• green discharge from nostril
• discharge eye (conjunctivitis)
• diarrhea
• cough and labored breathing (pneumonia)
• runny nose (rhinitis)
• fever (usually unnoticed)

Dogs will have following symptoms when CDV affects the brain and spinal cord (encephalomyelitis), secondary bacterial infections.

• seizures
• muscle incoordination (ataxia)
• uncontrollable muscle twitch (myoclonus)
• hard pad disease
• depression
• abnormal increase in sensitivity to stimuli of the senses including hearing, tasting, feeling sense (hyperesthesia)
• partial or incomplete paralysis (paresis)
• deterioration of mental abilities

My old dog

As they age, our dogs often suffer a decline in functioning. Their memory, their ability to learn, their awareness and their senses of sight and hearing can all deteriorate. This deterioration can cause disturbances in their sleep-wake cycles, making them restless at night but sleepy during the day. It can increase their activity level (resulting, for example, in staring at objects, wandering aimlessly or vocalizing more) or decrease their activity level (leading to less self-care and poor appetite). It can make them forget previously learned cues (commands) or habits they once knew well, such as house training and coming when called. It can increase their anxiety and tendency to react aggressively. It can also change their social relationships with you and other pets in your home. Some pets may become more clingy and overdependent, while others become less interested in affection, petting or interaction. Understanding the changes your dog is undergoing can help you compassionately and effectively deal with behavior problems that may arise in your dog’s senior years.

Be sure to report all changes you see to your dog’s veterinarian. Don’t assume that your dog is “just getting old” and nothing can be done to help him. Many changes in behavior can be signs of treatable medical disorders (please see Ruling Out Specific Medical Problems on Page 2), and there are a variety of therapies that can comfort your dog and manage his symptoms, including any pain he might be experiencing.

In addition to seeking professional help from your veterinarian and an animal behavior expert (such as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, CAAB or ACAAB) for the age-related behavior issues covered in this article, a key contributing factor to keeping your older dog healthy is to continue to play with him, exercise him and train him throughout his life. You will likely need to adapt play and exercise to his slower movements, reduced energy level, declining eyesight and hearing, and any medical conditions he may have. Talk to a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in your area (CPDT) for fun ways to teach your old dog new tricks. Patiently keeping in mind his slower learning curve, you can have fun sharpening up rusty behaviors he once learned and teaching him some new behaviors and tricks. A CPDT can also help you change your verbal cues to hand signals if your dog has lost his hearing and help you adjust your training for any physical impairments your dog may have developed. There are many ways to keep your older dog’s life interesting and stimulating that don’t require vigorous physical effort. Please see our article,Enriching Your Dog’s Life, for many fun ideas. Just as with humans, dogs need to use their brains and bodies to maintain their mental and physical fitness. As the saying goes, use it or lose it!

Behavior Changes in Aging Dogs

As they age, our dogs often suffer a decline in functioning. Their memory, their ability to learn, their awareness and their senses of sight and hearing can all deteriorate. This deterioration can cause disturbances in their sleep-wake cycles, making them restless at night but sleepy during the day. It can increase their activity level (resulting, for example, in staring at objects, wandering aimlessly or vocalizing more) or decrease their activity level (leading to less self-care and poor appetite). It can make them forget previously learned cues (commands) or habits they once knew well, such as house training and coming when called. It can increase their anxiety and tendency to react aggressively. It can also change their social relationships with you and other pets in your home. Some pets may become more clingy and overdependent, while others become less interested in affection, petting or interaction. Understanding the changes your dog is undergoing can help you compassionately and effectively deal with behavior problems that may arise in your dog’s senior years.

Be sure to report all changes you see to your dog’s veterinarian. Don’t assume that your dog is “just getting old” and nothing can be done to help him. Many changes in behavior can be signs of treatable medical disorders (please see Ruling Out Specific Medical Problems on Page 2), and there are a variety of therapies that can comfort your dog and manage his symptoms, including any pain he might be experiencing.

In addition to seeking professional help from your veterinarian and an animal behavior expert (such as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, CAAB or ACAAB) for the age-related behavior issues covered in this article, a key contributing factor to keeping your older dog healthy is to continue to play with him, exercise him and train him throughout his life. You will likely need to adapt play and exercise to his slower movements, reduced energy level, declining eyesight and hearing, and any medical conditions he may have. Talk to a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in your area (CPDT) for fun ways to teach your old dog new tricks. Patiently keeping in mind his slower learning curve, you can have fun sharpening up rusty behaviors he once learned and teaching him some new behaviors and tricks. A CPDT can also help you change your verbal cues to hand signals if your dog has lost his hearing and help you adjust your training for any physical impairments your dog may have developed. There are many ways to keep your older dog’s life interesting and stimulating that don’t require vigorous physical effort. Please see our article,Enriching Your Dog’s Life, for many fun ideas. Just as with humans, dogs need to use their brains and bodies to maintain their mental and physical fitness. As the saying goes, use it or lose it!

Following is a list of possible changes and symptoms in your senior dog that could indicate cognitive dysfunction1.

Confusion/Spatial Disorientation

• Gets lost in familiar locations
• Goes to the wrong side of the door (where the hinge is)
• Gets stuck and can’t navigate around or over obstacles

Relationships/Social Behavior

• Less interested in petting, interactions, greeting people or other dogs, etc.
• Needs constant contact, becomes overdependent and clingy

Activity-Increased or Repetitive

• Stares, fixates on or snaps at objects
• Paces or wanders about aimlessly
• Licks you, family members or objects a lot
• Vocalizes more
• Eats more food or eats more quickly

Activity-Decreased, Apathetic

• Explores less and responds less to things going on around him
• Grooms himself less
• Eats less

Anxiety/Increased Irritability

• Seems restless or agitated
• Is anxious about being separated from family members
• Behaves more irritably in general

Sleep-Wake Cycles/Reversed Day-Night Schedule

• Sleeps restlessly, awakens at night
• Sleeps more during the day

Learning and Memory-House Soiling

• Eliminates indoors in random locations or in view of you or family members
• Eliminates indoors after returning from outside
• Eliminates in sleeping areas (for example, in his crate or on the couch or floor)
• Uses body language less (body postures and signals associated with feelings)
• Develops incontinence (accidental release of bladder)

Learning and Memory-Work, Tasks, Cues

• Demonstrates an impaired ability to work or perform tasks
• Sometimes seems unable to recognize familiar people and pets
• Shows decreased responsiveness to known cues for obedience, tricks, sports and games
• Seems unable or slower to learn new tasks or cues

Ruling Out Other Causes for Your Dog’s Behavior
If your dog shows any of the symptoms or changes listed above, your first step is to take him to his veterinarian to determine whether there is a specific medical cause for his behavior. Any medical or degenerative illness that causes pain, discomfort or decreased mobility-such as arthritis, dental disease, hypothyroidism, cancer, impaired sight or hearing, urinary tract disease or Cushing’s disease-can lead to increased sensitivity and irritability, increased anxiety about being touched or approached, increased aggression (since your dog may choose to threaten and bite rather than move away), decreased responsiveness to your voice, reduced ability to adapt to change, and reduced ability to get to usual elimination areas.

If medical problems are ruled out, and if primary behavior problems unrelated to aging are ruled out (for example, problems that started years before your dog began aging or those that started in response to recent changes in his environment or family), then these behavioral signs are presumed to be due to the effects of aging on the brain and are diagnosed as “cognitive dysfunction syndrome.”

Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction
The primary signs of cognitive dysfunction syndrome can be summarized with the acronym CRASH, which stands for:

• Confusion/disorientation
• Responsiveness/recognition decreases
• Activity changes
• Sleep-wake cycle disturbances
• House training lapses

Cognitive dysfunction syndrome can be treated by your dog’s veterinarian with the drug selegiline hydrochloride (brand name Anipryl®). There are a number of other medications and supplements that you and your vet may consider as well. It’s most effective to combine drug therapy with behavioral treatment that’s based on the specific problems your dog is having.

Specific Geriatric Behavior Problems and Their Behavioral Treatment

Anxiety-Including Separation Anxiety

Some common concerns reported by guardians of aging dogs are increased sensitivity and irritability, increased fear of unfamiliar pets and people (sometimes accompanied by aggression), decreased tolerance of touch and restraint, increased following and desire for contact, and increased anxiety when left alone. Noise sensitivity from hearing loss can also make some dogs more anxious and vocal. Your own frustration and distress over your dog’s behavior can add to your dog’s anxiety as well.

If house soiling has become a problem, some guardians opt to crate their dogs when they’re not home. Unfortunately, confining a senior dog to a crate can raise his anxiety level if he’s never been crated or is no longer accustomed to it. To make things worse, if he can’t get comfortable in the crate, or if he can’t control his bowels or bladder, he’ll be even more anxious and may attempt to escape. In these cases, it may be the confinement, not the guardian’s departure, that causes anxiety.

If it’s the guardian’s departure and absence that causes a dog’s anxiety, it’s called separation anxiety. The cardinal indicators of separation anxiety are:

• Predeparture anxiety: pacing, panting, salivating, hiding, trembling or depression as you prepare to leave
• House soiling (or soiling the crate), destructiveness or vocalizing that occur soon after you leave the house
• Destructiveness directed at exit points, like windows and doors, and house soiling while you’re gone
• Refusal to eat when left alone (even if you leave your dog food, treats or a food-stuffed KONG® toy, he doesn’t eat at all when you’re gone, but does after you return)

The most important factor in diagnosing these behaviors as separation anxiety is that they occur only during your absence. If these behaviors occur while you or your family members are home, other issues may be causing them instead. For example, if your dog soils in the house both when you're gone and when you're home, you probably have a house training problem. The same is true of destructiveness. If destructive chewing happens when you're home, it's a training issue, not separation anxiety.

A distinct feature of geriatric (late-onset) separation anxiety is that it can manifest as nighttime anxiety, almost as if your dog views your sleeping as a form of separation. Your dog may keep you awake by pacing, panting and pawing at you, and demanding attention. This type of separation anxiety may indicate undiagnosed disease, and it can be relieved by treating the disease or, at minimum, relieving your dog’s pain or discomfort. A thorough examination by your dog’s veterinarian is crucial to determine whether there’s a medical basis for your dog’s anxiety.

Treatment for separation anxiety involves controlling any underlying medical problems and using a behavioral treatment called desensitization and counterconditioning (DSCC). Please see our article, Desensitization and Counterconditioning, for more information about the effective use of these treatments. Identifying and changing any of your own responses that might be aggravating your dog’s behavior is also helpful. In conjunction with behavioral treatment, pheromones and drugs can be used to reduce anxiety and improve your dog’s cognitive function. Please see our article, Separation Anxiety, for more detailed information on this disorder and its treatment.

Excessive Vocalization

Your senior dog’s vocalizing can become a problem if he does it too often or at inappropriate times, like when you’re sleeping. Anxious vocalizing is usually a plaintive howl or excessive whining. If your dog does it only when you’re gone, it could indicate separation anxiety. If he does it when you’re home, then you’ll need the help of a behaviorist or veterinary behaviorist to determine what’s causing your dog to vocalize so much.

Loss of hearing, cognitive dysfunction, central nervous system disorders and medical conditions can all contribute to your dog’s excessive vocalization. He might whine or howl if he feels the urge to eliminate more, if he’s overeating and wants you to give him more food, or if he’s in pain. If your dog has become more fearful and anxious, he might begin vocalizing at things that scare or stress him, like noises or visitors. Showing your own frustration or punishing your dog for vocalizing can also increase his anxiety and aggravate the problem.

Once any underlying medical problem and cognitive dysfunction are treated, behavioral treatment involves identifying and modifying any of your own responses that might be reinforcing or aggravating your dog’s behavior. For some dogs, training them to be quiet on cue and rewarding quiet behavior is effective. For other dogs, nonshock bark-control collars, such as the citronella collar, may be needed. Drug therapy may also help if your dog’s vocalizations are motivated by anxiety. Please see our article, Howling, for more information on the various causes and treatments for excessive vocalizing.

Restlessness / Waking at Night
Dogs who sleep more during the day can become more restless and active at night. Some dogs start overreacting to things they once ignored, like the garage door opening or the newspaper being delivered. Keeping a record can help you identify what triggers your dog’s nighttime activity.

Sensory changes, such as eyesight or hearing loss, can affect your dog’s depth of sleep. His sleep-wake cycles may be affected by cognitive dysfunction or other types of central nervous system disorders. Ask your dog’s veterinarian to do a complete examination to look for medical problems that could cause restlessness, discomfort or an increased need to eliminate. Any medical problems should be treated first, and then, if necessary, you can gently retrain your dog to reestablish normal sleeping and waking hours. Try increasing his daytime and evening activity by giving him frequent walks, playing his favorite games, practicing obedience or tricks, and giving him food-puzzle toys and bones to chew. Please see our articles,Enriching Your Dog’s Life and Exercise for Dogs, for ideas for keeping your dog well exercised, both physically and mentally. You can also ask his veterinarian about combining your retraining with drugs to induce sleep or, alternatively, drugs to keep your dog more active during the day.

House Soiling
As with all the behavior problems covered here, any number of medical problems can contribute to house soiling, including sensory decline, neuromuscular conditions that affect your dog’s mobility, brain tumors, cognitive dysfunction, endocrine system disorders, and any disorder that increases your dog’s frequency of elimination or decreases his bladder or bowel control.

If your dog soils in the house only when you’re gone and shows other signs of separation anxiety (please see above, Anxiety-Including Separation Anxiety), then he may be suffering from this disorder. Please see our article, Separation Anxiety, for detailed information on this problem and its treatment.

Since they’re often less adaptable to change, some older dogs might begin soiling in the house if there’s a change in their schedule, environment or household. Once your dog has used an indoor location to eliminate when you’re gone, that area can become established as a preferred spot, even if you’ve cleaned it thoroughly. It’s often necessary to have a complete behavior history taken by a qualified professional, such as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB or ACAAB), a board-certified veterinary behaviorist (Dip ACVB) or a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT), to determine the reason for your dog’s house soiling and design effective treatment. To find one of these experts in your area, please see our article,Finding Professional Help.

Once your dog’s medical issues have been identified and treated-for example, after his anxiety has been eased, his pain reduced or his incontinence controlled through medication-then you’ll need to reestablish proper house training with the same methods you used when he was a puppy. These methods include close supervision indoors, confinement in a crate or other small area away from previously soiled sites when you can’t closely supervise, and a regular, frequent schedule of trips outdoors with tasty rewards for outdoor elimination. You may need to adjust your schedule to accommodate your dog’s need for more frequent elimination in his senior years. If you can’t, consider hiring a dog walker or providing your dog with a place indoors to eliminate, such as newspapers, a dog litter box or potty pads. Please see our article, House Training Your Adult Dog, for detailed information about house retraining your dog.

Destructive Behavior

Just as with other behavior problems of senior dogs, the underlying cause of destructive behavior needs to be determined in order to provide effective treatment. Some destructive behaviors reported in senior dogs are pica (ingesting inedible objects); licking, sucking or chewing body parts, household objects or family members; and scratching and digging. Each of these may have a different cause, so a thorough medical evaluation combined with a behavioral history is necessary to determine a cause or causes for your dog’s behavior. For example, cognitive dysfunction might be considered in dogs with licking, chewing or pica. Treatment of underlying medical problems and cognitive dysfunction may resolve some problems but not others. If your dog is suffering from anxiety, phobia or fear of particular things (people, situations, objects, thunder, etc.), these issues need to be treated. Please see Fears and Phobias below for more information. Modifying your home and your dog’s environment can be helpful as well. Prevent access to sites where your dog’s destructiveness has occurred or might occur, and provide him with new, interesting toys to chew (or bones, rawhides, bully sticks, food-stuffed KONGs, etc.).

Fears and Phobias

Sensory decline, cognitive dysfunction and anxiety can all contribute to fears and phobias. The first step in treatment is to control underlying medical problems and cognitive dysfunction. Older dogs can suffer from fears and phobias of noise and thunderstorms and, less commonly, of going outdoors, entering certain rooms or walking on certain types of surfaces. Dog guardians’ own understandably frustrated reaction to their dogs’ behavior can also aggravate the problem-especially punishment is used. Try keeping your dog away from whatever triggers his fears or phobia, or masking the noise with background music. With the guidance of a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB or ACAAB), you can also use behavioral treatment to change your dog’s emotional response to things that frighten or upset him and, as a result, change his behavior. (Please see our article, Finding Professional Help, to locate a CAAB or ACAAB in your area.) See your veterinarian about possible drug or pheromone therapy for panic and anxiety, which can also help ease your dog’s fears and anxiety.

Compulsive and Stereotypic Behaviors

Compulsive and stereotypic behavior problems encompass a wide variety of behaviors with many possible causes. They’re defined as ritualized, repetitive behaviors that have no apparent goal or function. Examples include stereotypic licking or overgrooming that results in self-injury (“hot spots,” for example), spinning or tail chasing, pacing and jumping, air biting or fly snapping, staring at shadows or walls, flank sucking and pica (eating inedible objects, like rocks). Some medical conditions, including cognitive dysfunction, can contribute to or cause these behaviors. Compulsive disorders often arise from situations of conflict or anxiety. Things or situations that make your dog feel conflicted, stressed or anxious can lead him to engage in displacement behaviors, which can then become compulsive over time. (Displacement behaviors are those that occur outside of their normal context when dogs are frustrated, conflicted or stressed. An example is a dog who stops suddenly to groom himself while en route to his guardian who has just called him. He may be unsure of whether he’s going to be punished, so he expresses his anxiety by grooming, lip licking, yawning or sniffing the ground.) Drug therapy is usually necessary to resolve compulsive disorders. But if you can identify the source of conflict early on and reduce or eliminate it (such as conflict between your pets or inconsistent or delayed punishment from you), behavioral drug therapy may not be necessary. Please see our article, Compulsive Behavior in Dogs, for detailed information about the signs and treatment of these problems.

Aggression

 

A multitude of factors can contribute to an increase in a dog’s aggressive behavior. Medical conditions that affect your dog’s appetite, mobility, cognition, senses or hormones can lead to increased aggression, as can conditions that cause him pain or irritability. Aggression to family members can occur following changes in the family makeup, such as marriage or divorce, death or birth. Aggression to other pets can occur when a new pet is introduced to the family, as a younger dog matures or as an older dog becomes weaker or less assertive. Increased aggression toward unfamiliar people and animals can arise from your dog’s increasing anxiety and sensitivity as he ages.

Aggression can’t be effectively treated until a diagnosis has been made and the cause has been determined. Please see our article, Finding Professional Help, to locate a qualified animal behavior expert in your area, such as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB or ACAAB) or a board-certified veterinary behaviorist (Dip ACVB). If you can’t find a behaviorist, you can seek help from a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT), but be sure the trainer is qualified to help you. Determine whether she or he has education and experience in treating aggression, since this expertise is not required for CPDT certification.

One of these professionals can evaluate the situation and help you treat your dog’s aggression. Treatment-whether drug therapy, behavior therapy or making changes in your dog’s environment-will depend on the specific type of aggression and its cause or triggers. For example, treatment for fear-based aggression involves desensitization and counterconditioning (DSCC), as well as training to improve your control over your dog. Please see our article, Desensitization and Counterconditioning, for a detailed overview of this treatment. Medical problems that can’t be resolved, such as sensory decline, may limit what improvements can be achieved. Avoiding or preventing the triggers of your dog’s aggression may be the best option in these cases. Head halters, such as Premier’s Gentle Leader®Headcollar, can give you more control over your dog and increase everyone’s safety. Please see our article, Aggression in Dogs, for more information.

Old Dog Health FAQ

Maybe he doesn’t chase every squirrel in the yard these days. And he’s a little slower to get up to greet you when you come home. Then there’s that gray creeping into his muzzle. Your dog is getting old. But dogs are living much longer, fuller lives these days with the help of loving owners and caring veterinarians. For some tips on caring for aging dogs, we turned to Marty Becker, the nationally known veterinarian, author, and television regular, including regular spots on “Good Morning America.”

Q: At what age is my dog considered old?

A: That’s highly variable. In general, the giant breed dogs age much faster than the large breed dogs, which age much faster than the small breed dogs. A Great Dane or a mastiff can enter into the older phase of life at five or six. The medium-sized dogs, like cocker spaniels or corgis, the ones that are in the 30- to 50-pound range, we start considering them older at about age eight. Then for the smaller dogs, your Shih Tzus, the toy poodles, it’s about eight to 10 years.

Q: What are some of the physical signs that my dog is getting older?

A: Often it progresses so slowly that a lot of times people just don’t notice it. Graying around the muzzle, on the chest, on top of the head. There are more lumps and bumps and eyelid tumors, and those are just signs the immune system is starting to slip a little bit. They’re not as playful and active. They can have jutting hip bones, muscle wasting. They just don’t have a spring in their step. The stairs become forbidden, they don’t want to jump up in the back of a pickup truck any more. Their senses start getting dull -- their eyesight isn’t as good. Their hearing isn’t as good.

Q: As my dog ages, are there mental changes I should look for, too?

A: They can become less social or even more aggressive as they age. There can be house soiling accidents. They’re not as interested in their food or play.

Q: Do dogs get Alzheimer’s disease?

A: Some people call it that. Its called cognitive disorder syndrome, canine brain aging. Sleeping patterns change; they’ll sleep more during the day and be awake at night. They’ll stand by the wrong side of the door to be let out. They’ll wander into a room they typically don’t go into and act like they don’t know why they’re in there. Again, their senses are dulled. It’s like they’ve gone from a world of 3-D back to a one-dimensional world. But I’m so excited about some of the new drugs for the cognitive disorder syndrome. They’re amazing. With some dogs, it’s like throwing a light switch and they’re back to 3-D in Technicolor.

Q: What are the most common medical problems with older dogs?

A: Fifty percent of dogs over the age of 10 are going to die of cancer. That’s from the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association). Other common problems are renal and kidney disease, heart failure, diabetes. Look for increased or decreased thirst. Changes in their bathroom habits. A lot of time you’ll see pain of movement, or lack of movement.

Q: Do I need to change my dog’s diet as she ages?

A: We used to think that we wanted to reduce the protein for older dogs, and now we’re finding out some of them need a higher-quality protein or more protein as they age. I tell my clients we’re probably going to change what’s in your dog’s bowl five times in his lifetime, and certainly one of those changes is when they’re seniors. We certainly need to put them on something that’s reduced calories, reduced fat, so they don’t get obese. Sometimes we put them on a diet for a specific disorder; if their kidneys are starting to slip, we put them on a specific diet.

Q: What are some things I can do to make it easier for my dog as he gets older?

A: Ramps and steps are a big help to get up on the couch or on the bed. Carpet runners are good if you have hardwood floors, stairs, or tile, so they don’t slip.

Have real soft bedding. A lot of people use heated orthopedic beds.

Use drinking fountains. Every creature in nature loves the sound of running water. A lot of older pets get chronically dehydrated. Fountains keep water aerated and cooler.

And heat their food up. Their sense of smell and sense of taste don’t work as well as they used to. If you’re still using dry food, you can put a little water on it or mix a little canned on it and put it in the microwave for seven to 10 seconds to release that aroma.

I also recommend a pet buddy. Dogs in multiple-pet households are sick less often, live longer, and generally are happier. Social interaction is so important. Exercise also is important. Not only do the excess pounds melt away, so do a lot of the behavior problems.

Q: Do elderly pets still require yearly vaccinations?

A: That’s a hot topic. At one time we did a one size fits all -- everybody gets the exact same thing. But we over vaccinated because we gave everybody the same thing regardless of their life stage, lifestyle, or risk in the community. If your dog is boarded or goes to dog parks, you’d better vaccinate him. But we’ve shifted from one size fits all to individualized personal pet health protocols, in which we look at medical history, current health status, life stage, lifestyle, and any emerging risks in the community to determine what, if any, vaccines are needed.

Q: Are there any new drugs or therapies that can help an old dog get back some of his spark?

A: Some of the arthritis drugs are incredible. They can take a pet that’s really suffering -- that’s not playing, is depressed, inactive, getting overweight -- and you put him on these drugs and it’s like you loaded new batteries in him.

There are other things, too. There’s a new FDA-approved drug for weight loss if you’ve done everything and you still can’t get the weight off your dog.

Older dogs get more separation anxiety. There’s a wonderful drug out called Reconcile. It’s basically Prozac in a chewable form. We have a dog that had terrible separation anxiety that we put on that and, with behavior modification, our dog is 98% better.

Q: Any supplements or vitamins I should add to my pet’s diet as he ages?

A: Sometimes there are supplements a specific pet might need, but again it’s not one size fits all. Talk to your veterinarian. Maybe your dog needs a fatty acid coat supplement or would benefit from additional calcium. But inappropriate or too many supplements can also cause problems, so it's always important to talk to your vet before starting any type of program. Personally, I'm excited about potentiated antioxidant cocktails. Now we know about free radical damage to the brain and how this may lead to cognitive disorder syndrome, like early Alzheimer's. And we know that it's not just some dogs, but most dogs that will suffer from that. If we can prevent it by starting young and middle aged dogs on these antioxidant cocktails, it may have unbelievable results.

Caring for Senior Dogs

This question is from a viewer asking what to expect as his dog grows older. What is "normal" for an older dog? Being aware of the normal aging changes for your senior pet will help you identify when there is a medical problem that should be addressed.

From the Mailbag:

"We have two dogs - The Bud, 11 years old, and the Little Guy, 2 years old. The Bud is active, the Little Guy sees to that. My concern is I know nothing about old age, and how to deal with, what to look for, in the serious signs, and how to make aging the most comfortable for us all. Bud and Little are inseparable, and (Bud's passing) will impact him too. Could you recommend a book or paper that will help me out?" - Louis

What is "old age" for dogs?

The old classic "one human year equals seven dog years" is an easy way to calculate and relate to your dog's age, but isn't the most accurate. Large breed dogs (i.e. Great Danes) are considered a senior at 6 or 7 years of age, whereas small breeds (i.e. toy poodle), aren't considered a senior until their teen years. I have seen more than one poodle in the 18 to 20 year range. There are studies to suggest that certain breeds are more long-lived than others, too.

As a general rule of thumb, a dog who is 7 years or older should be considered middle to senior aged, and a consultation with your vet is in order to determine the best health care maintenance program for your dog as s/he ages. For smaller breed dogs, your vet (in consultation with you) may elect to wait a couple of years before doing any geriatric monitoring.

What things should I expect as my dog ages?

Each dog, like each human, is different. Here are some general things to watch for as a pet ages.

Slowing down - You may notice that you dog slows down some with aging. This isn't always the case, but look for subtle changes in how s/he gets up, lays down, and uses stairs. Is there any hesitation or stiffness? Does a change in the weather (rainy, cold) make it worse?

Arthritis is common in dogs as they age, particularly large breeds. Arthritis can occur in any joint, most commonly the legs, neck and back (spine). There are many different medications available to help ease the discomfort of arthritis -- see your vet if you notice any signs of slowing down in your dog. Another potential cause of slowing down is hypothyroidism, an endocrine disorder common in dogs. This condition is easily diagnosed and treated with proper veterinary care.

Graying around the face, muzzle - One of my dogs went prematurely gray at two years of age, but most dogs commonly show a bit of gray starting at middle age (5-6 years).

Reduced hearing - Is your dog hard to wake up after sleeping or does s/he become startled easily if you approach from behind? Hearing loss or deafness may be a reason for this. There isn't a lot that can be done for age-related hearing loss, but a vet exam should be done first to rule out other medical problems, such as an infection, growth, or foreign body in the ear.

If your dog does experience hearing loss, take care to protect him/her from hazards, such as cars and kids that s/he may not hear (or see). Dogs do learn and adapt well using hand signals to come, stay, sit, and so on. It is a good idea to "cross train" your dog early in life to recognize basic hand signals.

Cloudy or "bluish" eyes - As they age, dog's eyes often show a bluish transparent "haze" in the pupil area. This is a normal effect of aging, and the medical term for this is lenticular sclerosis. Vision does not appear to be affected. This is NOT the same as cataracts. Cataracts are white and opaque. Vision can be affected by cataracts, and your vet needs to be consulted (see "when is it time to see the vet?" below).

Muscle atrophy - Mild loss of muscle mass, especially the hind legs, may be seen with old age. Some muscle atrophy, notably on the head and the belly muscles, can signify diseases such as masticatory myositis and Cushing's Disease. Be sure to have your vet check this out if any muscle loss is noted.