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Low-maintenance and low-energy dog breeds may be the answer for some older adults, but not for everyone. You need to adopt the dog you want and can handle safely.

How often your dog should be seen by your veterinarian, and what sort of routine screening diagnostics should be conducted, are highly dependent on...

An examination of veterinarian-prescribed dog foods that purport to prevent or treat disease, and over-the-counter foods that promise to "promote" improved health. Medical diets are the ones formulated for dogs with health problems, from vexing but garden-variety conditions such as itchy skin or digestive issues, to more serious health problems such as cancer or kidney disease. Some of these foods are what we'll call veterinary diets" (available only from veterinarians); the rest are over-the-counter (OTC) products

Well, it's happened: I have reached the age where I look forward to Social Security payments arriving in my bank account every month. With that significant milestone comes some new perspectives on life with dogs as a senior citizen. Not the least of these is the sobering realization that I have a finite number of dogs left to share my life with, making each one an even greater treasure.

When we first adopt that pudgy puppy, or spring that delinquent adolescent canine out of a shelter, our new dog's senior years and final days are far from our thoughts. But if we're lucky enough to enjoy a long life together, eventually, we'll spend a number of months or years caring for him as a senior dog - and sometimes, a challenging and emotionally difficult time seeing him through to a peaceful death. Fortunately, there are many resources available to help us support our beloved canine companions - even those who have been diagnosed with chronic or terminal illness - in maintaining the best possible quality of life before they die. Hospice care, or "pawspice," the term coined by Alice Villalobos, DVM, former President of the American Association of Human Animal Bond Veterinarians (AAHABV) and founding member of the Veterinary Cancer Society, is supportive assistance in evaluating and managing our pets' quality of life as they near the end of their days, a time period that can span from days to months.

Tooth extraction dogs is complicated with teeth having multiple deep roots and recovery can take time, but most dogs are happier after having a problem tooth removed.

Mercury, my Chihuahua-mix, turned 17 years old this year, making him (by far) the oldest dog amongst all of my friend’s dogs. When people...

The other neighbor who owns a Beagle had seen and spoken to the woman who owned the three large, powerful dogs who attacked Brando. For reasons of his own, he had apparently told her angrily that animal control was on the way and they were going to seize her dogs. By the time the officers got there, she had put her dogs in a truck and fled the scene.

You thought you were doing a good thing for your mature dog when you adopted a new puppy. She'll love him!" you assured yourself. "It will keep her young and active." Rather than loving him

Depending on who you talk to, “hunting dog” means very different things. The only thing in common may very well be that the human end of the leash historically toted a gun in pursuit of some type of “game.” The game in question was not after-dinner parlor entertainment, but the entree on your dinner table. That might be pheasant, duck, or squirrel. Through hundreds of years, the real-life pursuit of food for one’s family has morphed into a competitive sport for people who rely upon Safeway to meet their nutritional needs.

Only rarely does a totally new genre of dog toy appear on the market, and it almost never happens that a new genre of toys is introduced with more than just one or two representative products. This rare event was recently engineered by Sweden’s Nina Ottosson, with the introduction of her Zoo Active Games, a line of 10 novel interactive dog toys (and a few cat toys!). As a huge fan of interactive toys for dogs, I was eager to get my paws on as many of the toys as I could, and see if they were as fun for dogs as they looked! The Zoo Active toys are available in the United States from only a select few distributors, including Paw Lickers Bakery and Boutique, owned and operated by Marianne Gage and her son David in Greenfield Center, New York. Fortunately for me, when Whole Dog Journal editor Nancy Kerns contacted David to inquire whether we could test the toys, he generously offered to send me seven of the products to try out. I’ve been introducing the toys to my own dogs for a few months, so I knew they had great “fun potential,” and looked forward to an opportunity to try them out on a bunch of other dogs, too.

Old age should not be viewed as a downhill slide to inevitable suffering and death. Nor should chronic disease be perceived as part of growing old. Each year hundreds of elderly dogs are put to sleep prematurely – not because they are deathly ill, but because their guardians can’t get past their own fears of watching their companions grow old and die a natural death. Granted, it’s difficult to live in anticipation of a companion’s death, but with all things considered, this is really our problem, not theirs.