The Old Dog: 5 secrets for keeping him young

I write with my old dog at my feet. Tired out after his hour's free running - and he still does run! Border Collies will run till they drop if you let them - he sleeps peacefully near me. He still prefers the hard floor to any of the comfy beds scattered about the house - a hard Border Collie, he! Rollo doesn't see so well now, and he doesn't hear as sharply, but as long as he jumps up - ready to go - when I move, I know he's well.

It's so easy to look after him after our long life together. It's never a chore to take extra time for my old dog, to hold the kitchen door open a bit longer, help him up the stairs, lift him into the van - it's not a task, it's a pleasure. It's a small Thank you for all the love and fun he's given me over the last thirteen years together.

We still enjoy our conversations at the end of the day, Rollo with his head on my knee, gazing at me with devotion, me twiddling his ears and smoothing his brow.

Dogs don't live as long as we do - some stiff questions will need to be answered in the afterlife! - but they pack an enormous amount into their few years.

A sheepdog runs maybe 30,000 miles in his lifetime, much of it over rough terrain and in all weathers. Gundogs also clock up huge mileage, and even the busy little terrier covers an awful lot of ground during the course of an active day. Sighthounds are professional sleepers, but can operate for short periods at phenomenal speeds, crashing through undergrowth as they race. All this activity causes a lot of wear and tear on the skeleton and soft tissues as your young tearaway becomes an old dog.

The Secret of Keeping an Old Dog Young

There are steps we can take to keep our old friend active and content for as long as possible. 

1. Physical fitness

The most important is to keep him physically fit. If you’ve always paid attention to this, this won’t be difficult. You can’t suddenly start a fitness regime with an old, portly, dog without care and possibly help from an expert.

See an old dog in action here! Jake was 14 in this photo of him catching his frisbee. 

2. The right food

"You are what you eat," as the old saw goes, and the right nutrition is so important.

How would your teeth be in old age if you only ate soggy biscuits all your life? How could your body function correctly if you had been bred for thousands of years to tear into raw meat, guts and bones, yet were only allowed to eat grain? And what would your muscle tone be like if you were served mushy food in your armchair everyday, instead of having to find and prepare fresh food for yourself?

This is how it is for millions of dogs worldwide, caught up in the fashion for fast food. Check out this post now, to see how to feed your dog healthily, appropriately, and ... very cheaply!

To keep your old dog fit and happy, it's essential to keep the weight off! It's so sad to see huge, obese dogs waddling around, and it's usually pure self-indulgence on the part of their owners. So much easier to stuff the dog with unsuitable food and then blame her for not wanting to exercise!

Did you know that giving a small dog a biscuit is the equivalent of us eating a beefburger! Please think before giving your dog - of whatever age - unsuitable food. If you must, then break off a tiny morsel of biscuit - that will carry the same message of devotion. And it’s never too late to teach your dog that begging doesn’t work! Check out Leave It! and change your life.

How can you tell if your dog is carrying too much weight? Checking your dog over regularly with your hands will tell you - and will also pick up any sores, ticks, cuts, lumps, mats, rashes, and whatnot.

The back of the neck should have soft folds of skin you can lift easily: no rolls of hard fat. You want to be able to feel all the ribs - but you don’t want to cut yourself on them! You should easily be able to locate the pin bones at the top of the pelvis, and the belly area should be soft and hollow most of the time. A tight beer-belly shape means you have work to do.

If you choose to feed a raw natural diet, this problem never seems to arise. It's hard work chomping your way through meaty bones, and this is beneficial for teeth, muscles and therefore the skeleton. The whole dog gets involved in ripping meat off a bone - see them use their legs and shoulders and really put their backs into it!

But if that’s not for you, at least make sure the diet is highly nutritious, and you provide plenty of chewing possibilities and monitor exercise.

3. Dry him off

My next tip comes from that redoubtable English Border Collie breeder and trainer, Bing Bellamy (Sealight Border Collies). "Never leave an old dog wet!" she admonished. Some of you rejoice in warm weather year-round, so this may not apply to you. But for those of us languishing in the temperate zones or worse, it's good advice. It's easy enough to ensure your house-dwelling old dog is clean and dry after a walk, but remember your kennel dogs need even more care - dry bedding, no draughts, no damp, heating where appropriate.

Rollo would like to spend his day in the garden, lying in the wet grass, getting covered in a blanket of snow, or just drenched with rain. But I won’t let him! His killjoy mother doesn’t allow it.

Despite all your efforts, your old dog may suffer from arthritis, old soft-tissue injuries, and sundry joint problems. All those miles clock up! There's lots of help you can get, from over-the-counter remedies to working with a Canine Massage Therapist (you’ll need a vet referral) - don't leave your friend suffering!

4. Give him comfort

Give your old dog a warm, comfy bed. Many dogs have made a warm, comfy bed a requirement from an early age - for Cricket the Whippet it's a priority! But even those who spend their life spurning the lovely bed you bought them in favour of a cool tiled floor will benefit from a soft bed as they get older.

Be sure that it's an easy-care bed, as one of the problems you may encounter in your old dog is urinary incontinence. This is more common in a spayed bitch, as the hormones needed to keep the tissues plump are no longer available. It's simply cured though. Your vet will have hormone tablets that you can administer in remarkably small doses that I have found fix the problem completely.

5. Eyes and Ears

Just like us, your old dog is gradually going to suffer from diminished function of eyes and ears.

Loss of hearing can be dangerous for your dog - unless you are prepared to keep him on a lead rather more. My old dog Poppy was so deaf towards the end of her sixteen years that I attached a bell to her collar. At least I knew where she was in our garden or in the fields we walked, even if she didn't know where I was.

Once I’d discovered this trick, it's now standard practice for us to add a bell to the collar of our old dogs when we go out. And the bell also keeps bears away - not a huge advantage in the Norfolk countryside, but perhaps more helpful where you live!

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, though, and an unexpected benefit of hearing loss was that once she got to fourteen or so, Tip, another of my collies, was no longer terrorised by fireworks for the month leading up to Guy Fawkes Night (though now they can happen any time …). So your anxious dog has this relief to look forward to!

You'll know when your old dog's eyesight is getting worse as he starts to knock into doorways, miss catching his ball or frisbee, and peer in your general direction when you speak to him, instead of straight at you.

Rollo used to be famous for catching. Nothing got past him, however cannily we tried to trick him! Sadly, he can’t catch anything at all now. But careful throwing can still give him a game of chase, with the frisbee landing in front of him so he can scoop it up. And quite often, one or two dashes is enough. So after handing the toy back to me to throw again a couple of times, he’ll keep away with his frisbee and watch the younger dogs flying about.

As time goes by your older dog will stick close to you a lot of the time. Unless there's a danger to the dog, or he is seriously injuring himself, he can usually be accommodated pretty easily.

His eyes may weep, so you'll need to clean his face for him. You'll also need to clean him the other end on occasion, especially if he has a long coat, as he finds it harder to reach that far to clean himself. A long-coated dog could also benefit from having his "trousers" and underside clipped shorter. This will ensure that there are no mats that can become smelly.

Tough Decision Time

Some dogs will slide gracefully and uneventfully into old age, like my Battersea special Poppy, and will die peacefully at home. Up to age 16, she still came for occasional walks and was content to potter about the house and garden, having no difficulty getting up. If she didn’t want to come, she would turn her head away when I got her lead: it was always her choice.

But there may come a time when your old dog is suffering pain, is unhappy, and you need to intervene to end his life.

Unlike us, a dog can't curl up with a good book. If he can't "be a dog", and run or just walk about, snuffling at things and enjoying life; if he's no longer excited at the sight of the lead and cry of "Walk!" then maybe it's time to let him go. Don't agonise for too long over this. You'll know when the time is right, so just do it. And you’ll know afterwards when you experience the flood of relief that your old friend is no longer suffering that you did the right thing.

I’m happy to pay a bit extra for the vet to come to the house to do the deed. My last dog to go was lying on his bed being handfed fish and chips while the nice visitor stroked him and he slid away.

I shall have to dodge the brickbats now, but I could never bring myself to put a dog's back end into nappies and onto a pair of wheels. My criterion in the event of an accident has always been "Can he be a dog?" Getting about on three legs will still allow him to be a dog. Two legs and two wheels will not. Though I must emphasise that this is my own personal choice. I know people who have kitted out their dog with wheels and had success. There's a lot you'd need to take into account to choose the best outcome for your family and your dog.

Old dogs are a delight

Enjoy them and give them the time they deserve. We only have one life, as do they. Let’s make it the best for both of us!

If you’re struggling to come to terms with any of this, you may find help here: www.beverleycourtney.com

Hands up who’s never shouted at their dog!

I don’t see any hands.

I don’t see my own hand either. (More confessions down the page.)

If you have really and truly never shouted at your dog - in frustration or annoyance, then I admire you! You are one in a million. You can go to the top of the class and give out the bones - while I continue with the other 999,999 people.

Now I’m not talking about fury or abuse. That would be inexcusable. 

I’m talking about the daily niggles that cause us to shout at or nag - even those we love most in the world. As soon as we’ve done it we wish we hadn’t. Because, apart from damaging our relationship, it really doesn’t work to get us what we want.

It doesn’t work for family members or work colleagues, with our sophisticated human brains, reasoning power, and social skills.

So there’s little hope of it working for your dog!

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Dogs are simple souls

They do what works. They aim to please - but it’s often very hard for them to know how to please. We say one thing when we mean another; we call them, ask them to sit, tell them to go away, to lie down, to vanish - what do we want?

You have to look at the bigger picture in order to convey clearly what it is you’d like your dog to do. 

For example: You call your dog. He comes bounding over to you with enthusiasm, ready to jump up to give you an extra special slurpy kiss. You say “Sit”. “Sit. SIT. SIT!!” 

One of two things will happen here: 

1. You are clearly responding to his bouncing with excitement, so he bounces some more. Now you’ve taught him to jump all over you. Out of frustration you begin to sound crosser.

2. He’s done a smashing recall and instead of appreciating that and congratulating him for his speed and enthusiasm, you are nagging him now about something he doesn’t understand. He mooches off feeling deflated. What’s going to happen next time you call him? Hmm, not so speedy or enthusiastic, I think.

So separate out in your mind what your dog is doing when, so that you can respond to the individual actions rather than the whole thing at once. If you call your dog, you reward him for coming to you. That’s all. Fancy stuff, like sits, can all be added later, when you’ve got the recall down. Allow the little doggy brain to focus on one thing at a time, get it right, and enjoy a reward. 

When you learn ballet you don’t launch into a dance straight away. You learn to stand correctly, to point your toes, to hold your head right. (I’m making this up. I’ve no idea how you learn ballet. But I do know that you start with component parts and gradually fit them together.)

If you can pick out the little things your dog does which you like and respond to those, he will do those things again and again - because it works. 

Yes - dogs can learn to do extraordinarily complex tasks, like opening the washing machine, pulling out the washing and putting it in the laundry basket, for example. But this takes time to teach, and has to be broken down into little stages, each of which is taught separately. When all the parts are mastered, the whole sequence can be put together. On a technical note, this is often taught backwards. The dog first learns to put washing in a basket, then they learn to pull it out of the machine to put it in the basket, and at the end they’re shown how to open the door (stage 3) to get the washing out (stage 2) and put it in the basket (stage 1). 

So if you want your dog to perform a complex behaviour, like coming when you call and sitting before you, then you must teach the recall on its own, and the sit on its own. Only when they are both 98% reliable do you join them together. If the recall is rocky, then you’ll never get to the sit. And if the sit is wobbly, you’ll only spoil the recall by focussing on the wrong thing.

If we can keep our part of the bargain, and ensure that we teach what we want our dog to do, and not expect him to learn it by witchcraft or thought transference, life will become easy and frictionless.

Why did you shout at me?

Now recollect the last time you shouted at your dog. You can put up your hand now - no-one’s looking. 

• Was it because he had dug up the flowerbed? (Who left him unattended in the garden?)

• Was it because you were in a hurry, the phone was ringing, the saucepan was boiling over? (And that’s his fault?)

• Was it because he jumped up on a visitor and you felt social pressure to have him behave nicely? (Have you taught him how you’d like him to greet visitors?)

• Or was it because he did something infuriatingly bad which you thought he could be trusted not to do? (He’s a dog.)

No, my dogs aren’t perfect either. 

And I’m certainly not. 

But I know that whenever I catch myself losing patience with my dog it’s my problem, not his.

Maybe it’s because I’m tired and rushed - that means it’s the perfect time to have a game in the garden with the dogs. That’ll relax me, please them, and get things back in proportion.

“There are no pockets in shrouds,” my grandmother would recite serenely, as she nodded slowly and sucked her teeth. And there are no prizes in heaven (where all our dogs are waiting for us) for having a beautifully clean house and a snapped-at pooch; or a flourishing business and a dejected dog.

What’s more, getting short with my dogs is a sure sign that my teaching has flagged and they have been left without guidance. So I need to up my game and re-teach with crystal clarity the things that are sure to please me. (These things may be incomprehensible to your dog, by the way, but they’ll do them - for you.)

Shouting at a dog is not only unfair, it damages the trust your dog has in you. You have suddenly become unreliable. 

Dogs (and children!) need to know that you have feelings too and they can only push you so far. But shifting the blame onto them is never the answer.

And for all those things which your dog does which frustrate you beyond measure, have a look at the many “recipes” for changing them to things that you’d like him to do, with our free 8-part email course - all force-free, of course. Jumping up, Barking, Digging, Chewing, Nipping - they’re all there!

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