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10 Ways to Increase Your Dog’s Lifespan

Here are 10 practical ways to help your dog live a longer, healthier life:

1. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Obesity is linked to numerous health problems, including arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Keeping your dog lean is one of the most effective ways to extend both lifespan and quality of life.

2. Feed a Balanced Diet

Choose a nutritionally complete food appropriate for your dog’s age, size, and health needs. Good nutrition supports everything from immune function to joint health. Dogs are not designed to eat cereal. Their intestines are too short. Real meat is what dogs are designed to eat.

3. Provide Regular Exercise

Daily walks, play sessions, and other activities help maintain a healthy weight, strengthen the heart, and keep muscles and joints in better condition.

4. Schedule Routine Veterinary Care

Regular wellness exams can detect diseases early, often before symptoms become obvious. Early treatment can significantly improve outcomes.

5. Keep Vaccinations and Preventive Care Current

Vaccines, parasite prevention, and heartworm protection help guard against illnesses that can shorten a dog’s life.

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6. Care for Their Teeth

Dental disease is extremely common in dogs. Regular brushing, dental chews, and professional cleanings can help prevent infections that may affect other organs.

7. Use Halters Instead of Collars

Dog collars can create long-term muscular-skeletal problems. If you use a halter rather than a collar, all the force that would normally hurt their necks is distributed throughout their upper body. See The Insidious Dog Collar.

8. Provide Mental Stimulation

Training, puzzle toys, scent games, and learning new commands help keep your dog’s brain active and engaged as they age.

9. Keep Dangerous Substances Out of Reach

Many common household items can be toxic to dogs, including chocolate, grapes, raisins, xylitol, certain medications, and some houseplants.

10. Give Plenty of Social Interaction and Affection

Dogs are highly social animals. Positive interaction with people and, when appropriate, other dogs can reduce stress and contribute to overall well-being.

Bonus Tip: Know What’s Normal

Pay attention to your dog’s usual behavior, appetite, energy level, and bathroom habits. Subtle changes are often the first clues that something needs medical attention. Early detection of illness is one of the most powerful tools for increasing lifespan.

🐕 A simple formula for canine longevity is: healthy weight + regular exercise + preventive veterinary care + a loving home. While genetics play a role, those four factors can have a surprisingly large impact on how long and how well a dog lives.

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What do Animals Think and Feel?

How do we know what animals think or feel? I say be kind to animals just in case it matters to them. The poet William Blake said, “How do you know but that every bird that cleaves the aerial way is not an immense world of delight closed to your senses five?”

Your author believes that it is easy to dismiss animals as not having much of an emotional or intelligent life. After all, they haven’t learned language. But does that mean they can’t think? Not at all. For instance, years ago, I was learning some rollerblading moves. One was a single spin jump. In bare feet at home, I was practicing by jumping in the air, spinning 360 degrees around and landing. My cat watched for a moment, then walked around in a 360 degree circle. Should that be dismissed as somehow incidental?

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Dog Jokes

Two dogs are talking. One says, “I love being a dog! We get free food, belly rubs, and endless walks!” The other dog sighs. “Yeah, but I’m tired of being called ‘Good Boy.’ I want to be called ‘Excellent Gentleman’ for once.”

A dog walks into a post office, walks up to the counter, and says, “I’d like to send a telegram.” The clerk, surprised, says, “A dog? Sending a telegram? What do you want it to say?” The dog replies, “Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.” The clerk counts the woofs and says, “That’s nine woofs. You know, for the same price, you could add one more ‘woof’ and make it ten.” The dog looks at him and says, “But then it wouldn’t make any sense!”

A dog goes to a fancy restaurant and orders a steak. The waiter, surprised, asks, “Are you going to eat that with a knife and fork?” The dog barks, “Of course not! I’m a dog, I’ll eat it with my paws!”

My dog thinks the vacuum cleaner is trying to eat us. I wish I had that level of loyalty in a relationship.

My dog is an emotional support animal. Mostly for himself.

What do you call a dog magician? A Labracadabrador!

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My dog used to chase people on a bike. Then I took his bike away.

Why don’t dogs make good doctors?
Because every time they hear “CAT scan,” they lose their minds.

Why don’t dogs make good doctors?
They keep burying the lab results.

Why don’t dogs make good doctors?
They diagnose everything as “not enough treats.”

Why don’t dogs make good doctors?
They insist on licking every wound no matter who it belongs to.

What do you get if you cross a dog and a lion? A terrified Fed Ex driver!

How do you stop a dog from barking in your front yard? Put him in the back yard!

I brought my dog to a pet psychic.
She said, “He’s feeling ignored.” I said, “He’s sitting on my lap.”
She said, “He wants emotional attention.”
I said, “He just farted and licked his butt.”
She refunded me.

My dog barks at delivery people like he’s defending the nation.
But if they pet him, he instantly betrays me and shows them where we keep the snacks.

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Unexpected Poisons That Affect Cats

In the same way that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, there are certain things that can harm cats.

One major toxin is automotive radiator anti-freeze. It’s hard to imagine that a cat would want to drink that smelly green fluid, but they do, and it is very not-good for them.

There are also some seemingly innocuous common houseplants that are quite toxic. Keep lillies, jade plant, philodendron, elephant ear, asparagus fern and cyclamen away from your kitty.

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Dogs

In one large city a phone operator traced the source of an emergency phone call because the caller would not speak. The phone only emitted unusual noises. When the ambulance crew arrived at the scene, they found a basset hound who had dialed 911 in the process of chewing up the phone.

In 1978, New York City passed a law that required residents to clean up after their dogs. Until that time, people had to walk around 54 tons of dog poop deposited daily.

There was a dog (part collie) who liked to take baths and learned how to turn the water on and off and adjust the faucets to get the right temperature.

Dogs see only black, white and gray. They can hear much better than humans, though. They can hear sounds ten times farther away than we can.

There was a dog in Grand Rapids, Michigan that was twice as large as an adult man. This St. Bernard weighed 310 pounds.

The original reason for the haircuts that poodles get was to make swimming easier for them.

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The only things that are taxed in Ile de Sein, France, are dogs.

An average dog costs its owner about $2 per day. In ten years, that’s over $7,000!

If dogs were criminals, you could keep track of them by taking their nose-prints, which are as unique as human fingerprints.

Americans spend four times more money on dog food than on baby food.

Experiments have suggested that a dog’s sense of smell may be one million times more sensitive or accurate than a human’s.

Some advantages of owning a dog for elderly people:
1. The well-trained large dog gives a sense of security or safety.
2. The dog can be a reason to get regular exercise – going for
walks.
3. Touching your pet reduces tension and blood pressure.

Pit Bulls, the breed of dogs which are mostly lovey, even-tempered pets, are sometimes bred to be vicious, and may be outlawed in England, meaning all o them in that country could be sentenced to death. There are 5,256,000 pitbulls in the United States, and approximately 9 million in England.

Many breeds of dogs are the result of human intervention. By selective breeding, the dogs have been made cuter. Very little dogs and pug-nosed dogs may have been bred too far into their specialty. The problem is with their teeth. It seems that their teeth have not decreased in size as much as their mouths, and when these teeth grow in, they come in all crooked. These crooked teeth trap food particles and eventually cause extreme decay and periodontal disease.

You can actually brush a dog’s teeth, and should, to help spare them the pain of mouth problems. To do it, start when the dog is quite young, and put your finger in their mouths and rub their teeth while playing with them. They will get used to this, and you can eventually substitute a toothbrush for your fingers. Don’t use human toothpaste, which is designed to be spit out. Use a small amount of baking soda.

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The Insidious Dog Collar

Most dog owners don’t realize the harm a dog collar can cause. Veterinarians have reported dogs with tracheal collapse in varying degrees up to death, permanent pain injuries due to spinal problems, epilepsy, and even broken teeth and legs, all from dog collars.

You might be wondering how legs can be broken. It turns out a dog scratching an itch can get a leg stuck under the collar. In their ever-more frantic attempts to get free they end up breaking their own leg.

So what can you do?

1. Replace the collar with a harness, as shown above.

2. Don’t yank your dog’s leash as a training technique or punishment. Evidently a training coach at a Petco store accidentally killed one of his students by doing this.

3. Make sure the harness fits correctly. You should be able to slip a thumb under the harness, but not your whole hand.

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4. If your dog stays in at night, remove the harness for the dog’s comfort and health.

5. Tell your friends who own dogs, and even people who know people who own dogs, about this web page.

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Encountering a Dog While Riding Your Bike

1. Slow down or stop. There’s no fun for the dog in chasing something that isn’t moving.

2. In a deep voice, firmly order the dog to “go home.” They often will, but in any case, you’re making it clear who’s in charge and that you do not approve of their current behavior.

3. Get off the bike and place it between you and the dog. It’s a fence to protect you, and if necessary, you can press it against the dog in self-defense.

4. Yell for help. The owner will most likely take control as soon as your plight is discovered.

5. If you encounter the same dog frequently, contact your local animal control agency. In most neighborhoods, it’s illegal to let dogs run loose and bother people.

 

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Brushing a Dog’s Teeth

Many breeds of dogs are the result of human intervention. By selective breeding, the dogs have been made cuter. Very little dogs and pug-nosed dogs may have been bred too far into their specialty. The problem is with their teeth. It seems that their teeth have not decreased in size as much as their mouths, and when these teeth grow in, they come in all crooked. These crooked teeth trap food particles and eventually cause extreme decay and periodontal disease.

You can actually brush a dog’s teeth, and should, to help spare them the pain of mouth problems. To do it, start when the dog is quite young, and put your finger in their mouths and rub their teeth while playing with them. They will get used to this, and you can eventually substitute a toothbrush for your fingers. Don’t use human toothpaste, which is designed to be spit out. Use a small amount of baking soda.

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Pit Bulls

Pit Bulls, the breed of dogs which are mostly lovey, even-tempered pets, are sometimes bred to be vicious, and may be outlawed in England, meaning all of them in that country could be sentenced to death. There are 5,256,000 pitbulls in the United States, and approximately 9 million in England.

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Dogs for Elderly

Some advantages of owning a dog for elderly people:
1. The well-trained large dog gives a sense of security or safety.
2. They have a good reason for regular exercise, walking the dog.
3. Touching your pet reduces tension and blood pressure.
4. The companionship of a pet alleviates loneliness and depression.
5. The feeding and caring of a pet provides an outside focus.
6. A pet also helps an elderly person feel useful and needed,
7. A pet gives a reason to get out of bed in the morning.