Maintaining Musculo-Skeletal Health

• Keep your dog at a lean weight and well-muscled. Your dog's breed standard for height and weight will provide some guidelines, but how your dog looks will take precedence. For most breeds, you want to see some rib definition with tapering between the last rib and the pelvic area, a tucked tummy, and no excess fat about the back, rear quarters or chest/neck areas.

• Be informed about joint and bone conditions and diseases that may effect your dog's breed.

• Don't run/jog with your dog until at least one year of age when elbows have typically fused. Always radiograph both hips and elbows before undertaking any formal running exercise to identify potential joint problems or disease that may rule out compulsory running as an appropriate exercise. Good rule of thumb: during the first year of life, allow your dog to determine the pace and length for when and if it runs. Avoid putting the puppy or young dog on lead and compelling it to jog or run at the pace and length that you think it can safely manage. If you do undertake to jog with your older, radiographically cleared dog, start slow and never do it on concrete or other hard surfaces.

• Swimming your dog is the optimal aerobic exercise that is non-traumatic to joints and bones.

• Establish a warm-up routine that adequately stretches and prepares your dog prior to any vigorous play, training, or exercise, especially after an extended period in the crate, under vehicular restraint, or after a long day of lazing about the house awaiting your return from work.

• Prevent your dog from jumping from any height above your dog's shoulder height until elbow and hip joints have fused and the joints have been radiographed and determined to be sound. This specifically includes getting in to and out of your vehicle. Lift the young dog out of the vehicle, or provide a ramp, until you have determined that the elbows are fully fused and sound. This also includes leaping off decks, porches, stairways, and the like.

• Invest now in a high quality dog food, whether commercial or natural/raw. A few dollars more each month now may mean several thousand dollars less in vet bills down the line.

• Avoid "puppy foods" that are excessively high in protein, especially for the faster growing large breeds. You want to select a food that is nutritious and that doesn't unnaturally accelerate bone growth.

• Establish specific feeding times and amounts, and when your dog is finished with its meal put the food bowl away. Avoid "free feeding" that allows your dog to eat excessive amounts throughout the day. Don't go by the feeding instructions provided by dog food manufacturers, as they are highly generalized and typically recommend excessive amounts per feeding, especially for less active senior dogs.

• Consult with your veterinarian about adding a quality joint supplement to your dog's daily diet. Do not over-supplement with calcium or Vitamin C (do your homework!)

• If you have more than one dog, or allow your dog to play with other dogs, avoid the type of roughhousing that creates hyperextended turning and T-bone collisions with one dog's weight and mass at full speed impacting the other dog broadside, which can chronically traumatize and potentially injure joints and ligaments.

• Don't take your dog to off-lead dog parks or "doggie daycare" environments. (See above.)

• If your dog is slipping on your hardwood or other manufactured hard-surface floors, strategically place some non-skid throw rugs in the main traffic areas.

• Provide a padded sleeping surface.

• Make all rewards lateral. This means, do not toss balls, toys, etc. straight up into the air, which encourages your dog to unnaturally jump straight up. It's the coming back down that causes the most traumatic injuries, including spinal injuries that may cause paralysis. Toss balls, toys, etc. in a lateral, horizontal direction, so that your dog can pursue or catch the toy without jumping upwards and without coming back to ground in a fashion that may cause traumautic injury.

• Don't use erratically bouncing kongs or other rubber toys, especially if your dog is a high drive, prey-oriented breed that will reactively chase and jump in pursuit of the toy regardless of height or potentially injurious terrain or obstacles. If you must use such a toy, toss it into the water so that your dog can safely swim in pursuit and retrieve it. (The only acceptable environment for "Frisbee" play is over open water.)

• If your dog tends to jump up and down in the kennel, install a "false ceiling" at your dog's head height to prevent jumping. A high drive dog that is chronically jumping straight up and down on a hard kennel floor can put more traumatic wear and tear on hips and joints in one day than most companion dogs will accumulate in years.

• If your dog is demonstrating any type of gait, joint, or skeletal problem, have it examined by a qualified veterinary specialist. If your dog is put on a medication regimen, be sure to discuss with your veterinarian any exercise or activity limitations that you should adopt while your dog's discomfort or pain is masked by medication. If your dog is not feeling the discomfort or pain that would naturally limit some physical activities, your dog may over-exert the effected joint(s) and compound the problem.

• Understand that a diagnosis of joint disease is not the end of the world and most conditions can be supported with a variety of treatments and lifestyle changes. Knowledge is the best treatment plan -- be an informed, educated consumer when it comes to veterinary care for your dog, including joint and overall skeletal preventative maintenance and care, diagnosis, and treatment.

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Additional General Health Care Tips

• Educate yourself about current vaccination protocols. Don't allow your dog to be overly vaccinated, or to be vaccinated with multiple vaccines at one time.

• Have your dog physically examined, with a full blood panel workup, on an annual basis. Make sure your vet checks your dog's teeth during the annual exam. Bad teeth can be the root cause of all manner of chronic health problems and potential disease.

• If you use a tennis ball as a reward, give it to your dog only when you are actively rewarding. Do not allow your dog to idly chew on tennis balls. This will significantly hasten wear and tear on the teeth and the skin and rubber interior are proven choking or obstructive hazards. (If you want to see how a tennis ball wears down teeth, go find your dog's favorite old tennis ball; place it in a bowl of warm water; check out the gritty dirt that is flushed out of the ball's fabric skin. It's this embedded grit that can turn a tennis ball into a gooey blob of sandpaper that effectively rubs away your dog's teeth enamel and beyond.)

• Don't offer your dog any rawhide or other processed, smoked, or cured bone- or meat-based treat. Understand that most of these items are now imported into the USA from countries without any petfood manufacturing policies or standards. Ask yourself, how was a putrid and decomposing black hairy cow skin transformed into an off-white chew toy? (Hint: think chemicals such as bleach, arsenic, lye, etc.) Don't believe it when a vendor claims it's "all natural," unless they can explain step-by-step the entire process from living animal to neatly packaged dog treat, and they can verify that they personally supervised each step of the manufacturing process. Understand that any "cooking" process (smoking, baking, etc.) significantly increases the brittleness of bones and the associated hazards for choking and internal blockage or perforation.

• Learn how to groom your dog including skin and coat care, teeth cleaning, ear cleaning, and toenail clipping, and maintain a regular schedule.

• Avoid over-bathing your dog with commercial detergent-based products that may dry and damage the skin and coat. Daily brushing will do more to remove excess dirt than a weekly or monthly bath, and the grooming process will stimulate the natural production of skin oils. Barring a good long full-body roll in something disgustingly stinky, the healthy dog that is regularly groomed will rarely if ever require bathing. If your dog has a double coat (with undercoat), avoid forcing water and/or soap through the naturally water-repellant coat. If you must wash your dog with soap-based detergent, rinse thoroughly, then rinse again, and then rinse thoroughly a third time. If there are any suds still coming off the dog, rinse again. Either use far less of the product, or consider an alternate, low-sudsing product for occasional bathing only as needed.

• A superior soothing, anti-itch spray for dry skin/coat conditioning is the Pramoxine and colloidal oatmeal based DVM Relief Spray. Spray directly onto the skin while back-combing the dog's coat, then brush thoroughly. For mild moist skin irritations/rashes, I prefer Gold Bond Medicated Powder (Extra Strength in the green squeeze container) for its zinc-based drying and healing properties. Sprinkle a little at a time into your hand and apply onto the dog's skin while back-combing the coat. (Avoid sprinkling the fine powder around the dog's face/eyes/nose). Neither of these OTC products is to be substituted for veterinary advised medical treatment; always consult with your veterinarian if your dog has a chronic skin condition.

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