This is the continuation of our mini guide on how we as dog owners can best care for our dogs throughout their lives.
In this section, you can read more about how we take good care of our adult dogs in everyday life.
The mini guide is in 3 parts and made in collaboration with dog physiotherapist Helle Hoffmann.
You can read part 1 of the guide here.
Like me, you probably want your dog to be with you for as many years as possible. Perhaps you have spent many hours training it for a working purpose, such as a police dog or hunting dog.
Maybe you do a form of dog sport with your dog, such as agility, and spend many hours training and competing. In those cases, it can be worth its weight in gold if your dog can last one or maybe two more years “in service” before it has to retire. Maybe you have a completely ordinary family dog, who is just your and your family’s best friend and a dear family member. In this case, you probably also want your dog to have a good and long life.
In the first part of my mini-guide to getting a durable dog, I gave tips on what to pay attention to with your puppy. This is where the entire foundation is laid so that you get a dog with a healthy and strong body that can last for many years. But the work of creating a durable dog ultimately does not stop because your dog becomes an adult.
Tip No. 1: Continue the good style into adulthood
When your dog becomes an adult, it is still important that it gets enough exercise and is kept slim. As I wrote in the first part of the mini-guide, being constantly overweight throughout life can cost your dog a few years in the end. Many dogs do not have much self-control when it comes to food, so they will eat all the food that is put in front of them. Their primal instinct does not tell them that they will get food again tomorrow. Therefore, they are better off eating now, when there is some food - and the quantity is secondary. If you go to some training with your dog, you should offset the reward treats your dog gets against its food ration.
In Denmark we have a great tradition of coziness, and when Danes coziness happens, it often involves something edible. That's why it's ingrained in us that if we're going to coziness with our dog, then it should also have something to eat. But if you really want to coziness with your dog and increase your bond with each other, I would recommend that you do some training with your dog instead.
It can easily just take place at home in your living room, where you can teach your dog different tricks such as giving a paw or rolling around. Dogs like to work for a reward, which of course can easily be something edible (just remember to offset it against the food account).
Your dog will love you for doing something with them, and it will bring you even closer together than if you just gave them a chew toy to enjoy on their own.
I usually say that a fat dog is not a happy dog. It's just a fat dog. Obese dogs don't necessarily get lifestyle diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disease like we humans do, but their joints are overburdened – especially if they are overweight. This can make your dog very unhappy and can be a direct reason why your dog doesn't live a long life. If your dog has musculoskeletal problems such as arthritis or hip or elbow dysplasia, then being overweight is really a threat to its health. If your dog has musculoskeletal problems, it's even more important that your dog is kept slim – and maybe even a little slimmer than you would think.
Your dog's weight will be one of the first things you should look at if your dog is having problems. Please talk to your veterinarian if you want help with your dog losing weight. He or she will be able to advise you so that any weight loss is done in the right way.
Tip No. 2: Provide physical exercise for your dog
Another thing that is important for your dog's long-term health is physical activity. Most dogs stop exercising themselves when they are 4-5 years old. You will notice that your dog has become calmer on walks. Previously, he may have taken long runs back and forth to you. Now he stays closer to you during the entire walk. If he still takes these runs, they may be less "intense" than before. He may also no longer want to play with other dogs as much, or if you let him out into the garden, he will just want to go back in right away.
Together with my husband, I have 7 dogs ranging in age from 22 months to 12.5 years.
We can clearly see that dogs that are 4 years old tend to do the things I describe above. My husband has 3 male Labradors: Bastian, who will be 5 in May, Connor, who is almost 4 years old, and Emmett, who is 22 months old. If the three dogs are let out together in our garden, they have previously all three been busy playing and running together and - to my regret - digging big holes in the lawn.
Over the past six months, it doesn't take long for Bastian (the oldest) to just want to come back in. The other two can easily enjoy themselves in the garden for a long time, playing etc. Of course, this can vary from breed to breed, as some breeds are more independent and can entertain themselves better than a Labrador necessarily can.
Because dogs generally stop being "self-exercising" around the age of 4-5, it places greater demands on you as a dog parent to ensure that your dog gets comfortable with exercise.
This way, you can ensure that its muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons remain strong, that its metabolism functions optimally, that its connective tissue and muscles are kept supple, and that its blood circulation is improved and thus also the energy metabolism in the body.
Fit with exercise can be specific physical training such as cardio or strength training (which I write much more about in the book "Læg din pate i min"), or it can just mean that on your walks with your dog, for example, you must remember to make sure that it can run freely and use its body, for example by balancing on tree trunks and similar physical activities.
Be creative and use the terrain when you are out with your dog. Avoid flat asphalt roads and alternate between beaches, forests, lawns, hilly and flat terrain. A forest floor is good for walking, because there are branches for your dog to walk over or crawl under. If there is a steep hill on your walk, it is an obvious opportunity to train your dog's hind legs when you go up the hill. When you go down, it is the front leg muscles that are trained.
If you walk in heavy sand on the beach, your dog will also get lots of good muscle training. And there's a bonus. You'll also get a lot of good exercise for your body.
Tip #3: Avoid injuries with warm-up and cool-down
I don't think any dog can go through life without getting a few minor injuries. Neither can we humans. We step on the wrong foot, we fall and bang our knees, we bump our bodies into things. You can't avoid your dog getting a few minor injuries either. But you can still do something to help your dog avoid serious injuries.
One of the most important things is to keep your dog's body strong and flexible, and you can do this as described in tip no. 2. If your dog has a strong body that he uses actively, the muscles and connective tissue, tendons and ligaments are kept flexible and elastic. This helps to lower the risk of injuries.
Another thing you can do is to make sure to warm up your dog's body before physical activity and to cool down his body slowly afterwards. A good warm-up of the body will ensure that the muscles, ligaments and tendons are flexible and ready to be stressed. A slow cool-down, where your dog's pulse and body temperature are lowered slowly, will ensure that your dog's muscles do not get cold too quickly. This reduces the risk of injury.
If you train a sport with your dog, I would suggest that you do a targeted functional warm-up in relation to the sport you play. This could be, for example, doing flexibility exercises for your dog's back if you train agility. You can get help with this from your trainer or possibly a dog physiotherapist. If you do not practice any kind of sport with your dog, then the daily walk to the park will be a great form of warm-up, before any play and running with other dogs. On the walk to the park, it will warm up muscles, tendons, etc. so that they are soft and flexible. This will reduce the risk of injuries.
When your dog has finished playing/running and you are walking back home from the park, your dog will slowly lower its heart rate and body temperature. If it is cold and frosty like it is now, I would recommend that you give your dog a blanket when you go to the park and when you go back home. That way you help your dog even better to warm up its body and cool it down slowly again. If you have a small dog, or a dog without much undercoat, it may be an advantage to let it keep the blanket on during the entire trip.
If your dog gets a minor injury, it may mean that he may walk differently for a few days. This can settle in his body as muscle tension or too tight connective tissue. In the long run, this can cause incorrect loading in one or more places in the body. Therefore, I would always recommend that your dog regularly receives some form of body treatment. This will loosen up your dog's body so that the small bumps he may get will not have any effect in the long term.
Should the accident still occur and your dog sustains a major injury, you should of course contact your veterinarian as soon as possible. This way you ensure that your dog receives the right help as soon as possible to minimize the extent of the injury, also in the long term.
About Helle Hoffmann:
Helle Hoffmann is a trained dog physiotherapist, reiki healer and craniosacral therapist for animals and humans, animal telepath, lecturer and co-author of the highly relevant dog book: Læg din pate i min.
She also teaches craniosacral therapy for dogs.
Helle is the owner of Hoffmann Dog Massage & Physiotherapy, has her own clinic in Mørkøv and is 1 day a week at Furesø Veterinary Clinic. She has 30 years of experience with her own dogs and dog training. Right now, she and her husband have 7 dogs: Addie (Labrador), Enya (Labrador) and Gracie (blind Cairn Terrier), Novo (Mallinois), Bastian (Labrador), Connor (Labrador) and Emmett (Labrador).
See more about Helle's work at: https://helle-hoffmann.dk
How to have a durable dog: Keep your adult dog physically active - Part 2
This is the continuation of our mini guide on how we as dog owners can best care for our dogs throughout their lives.
In this section, you can read more about how we take good care of our adult dogs in everyday life.
The mini guide is in 3 parts and made in collaboration with dog physiotherapist Helle Hoffmann.
You can read part 1 of the guide here.
Like me, you probably want your dog to be with you for as many years as possible. Perhaps you have spent many hours training it for a working purpose, such as a police dog or hunting dog.
Maybe you do a form of dog sport with your dog, such as agility, and spend many hours training and competing. In those cases, it can be worth its weight in gold if your dog can last one or maybe two more years “in service” before it has to retire. Maybe you have a completely ordinary family dog, who is just your and your family’s best friend and a dear family member. In this case, you probably also want your dog to have a good and long life.
In the first part of my mini-guide to getting a durable dog, I gave tips on what to pay attention to with your puppy. This is where the entire foundation is laid so that you get a dog with a healthy and strong body that can last for many years. But the work of creating a durable dog ultimately does not stop because your dog becomes an adult.
Tip No. 1: Continue the good style into adulthood
When your dog becomes an adult, it is still important that it gets enough exercise and is kept slim. As I wrote in the first part of the mini-guide, being constantly overweight throughout life can cost your dog a few years in the end. Many dogs do not have much self-control when it comes to food, so they will eat all the food that is put in front of them. Their primal instinct does not tell them that they will get food again tomorrow. Therefore, they are better off eating now, when there is some food - and the quantity is secondary. If you go to some training with your dog, you should offset the reward treats your dog gets against its food ration.
In Denmark we have a great tradition of coziness, and when Danes coziness happens, it often involves something edible. That's why it's ingrained in us that if we're going to coziness with our dog, then it should also have something to eat. But if you really want to coziness with your dog and increase your bond with each other, I would recommend that you do some training with your dog instead.
It can easily just take place at home in your living room, where you can teach your dog different tricks such as giving a paw or rolling around. Dogs like to work for a reward, which of course can easily be something edible (just remember to offset it against the food account).
Your dog will love you for doing something with them, and it will bring you even closer together than if you just gave them a chew toy to enjoy on their own.
I usually say that a fat dog is not a happy dog. It's just a fat dog. Obese dogs don't necessarily get lifestyle diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disease like we humans do, but their joints are overburdened – especially if they are overweight. This can make your dog very unhappy and can be a direct reason why your dog doesn't live a long life. If your dog has musculoskeletal problems such as arthritis or hip or elbow dysplasia, then being overweight is really a threat to its health. If your dog has musculoskeletal problems, it's even more important that your dog is kept slim – and maybe even a little slimmer than you would think.
Your dog's weight will be one of the first things you should look at if your dog is having problems. Please talk to your veterinarian if you want help with your dog losing weight. He or she will be able to advise you so that any weight loss is done in the right way.
Tip No. 2: Provide physical exercise for your dog
Another thing that is important for your dog's long-term health is physical activity. Most dogs stop exercising themselves when they are 4-5 years old. You will notice that your dog has become calmer on walks. Previously, he may have taken long runs back and forth to you. Now he stays closer to you during the entire walk. If he still takes these runs, they may be less "intense" than before. He may also no longer want to play with other dogs as much, or if you let him out into the garden, he will just want to go back in right away.
Together with my husband, I have 7 dogs ranging in age from 22 months to 12.5 years.
We can clearly see that dogs that are 4 years old tend to do the things I describe above. My husband has 3 male Labradors: Bastian, who will be 5 in May, Connor, who is almost 4 years old, and Emmett, who is 22 months old. If the three dogs are let out together in our garden, they have previously all three been busy playing and running together and - to my regret - digging big holes in the lawn.
Over the past six months, it doesn't take long for Bastian (the oldest) to just want to come back in. The other two can easily enjoy themselves in the garden for a long time, playing etc. Of course, this can vary from breed to breed, as some breeds are more independent and can entertain themselves better than a Labrador necessarily can.
Because dogs generally stop being "self-exercising" around the age of 4-5, it places greater demands on you as a dog parent to ensure that your dog gets comfortable with exercise.
This way, you can ensure that its muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons remain strong, that its metabolism functions optimally, that its connective tissue and muscles are kept supple, and that its blood circulation is improved and thus also the energy metabolism in the body.
Fit with exercise can be specific physical training such as cardio or strength training (which I write much more about in the book "Læg din pate i min"), or it can just mean that on your walks with your dog, for example, you must remember to make sure that it can run freely and use its body, for example by balancing on tree trunks and similar physical activities.
Be creative and use the terrain when you are out with your dog. Avoid flat asphalt roads and alternate between beaches, forests, lawns, hilly and flat terrain. A forest floor is good for walking, because there are branches for your dog to walk over or crawl under. If there is a steep hill on your walk, it is an obvious opportunity to train your dog's hind legs when you go up the hill. When you go down, it is the front leg muscles that are trained.
If you walk in heavy sand on the beach, your dog will also get lots of good muscle training. And there's a bonus. You'll also get a lot of good exercise for your body.
Tip #3: Avoid injuries with warm-up and cool-down
I don't think any dog can go through life without getting a few minor injuries. Neither can we humans. We step on the wrong foot, we fall and bang our knees, we bump our bodies into things. You can't avoid your dog getting a few minor injuries either. But you can still do something to help your dog avoid serious injuries.
One of the most important things is to keep your dog's body strong and flexible, and you can do this as described in tip no. 2. If your dog has a strong body that he uses actively, the muscles and connective tissue, tendons and ligaments are kept flexible and elastic. This helps to lower the risk of injuries.
Another thing you can do is to make sure to warm up your dog's body before physical activity and to cool down his body slowly afterwards. A good warm-up of the body will ensure that the muscles, ligaments and tendons are flexible and ready to be stressed. A slow cool-down, where your dog's pulse and body temperature are lowered slowly, will ensure that your dog's muscles do not get cold too quickly. This reduces the risk of injury.
If you train a sport with your dog, I would suggest that you do a targeted functional warm-up in relation to the sport you play. This could be, for example, doing flexibility exercises for your dog's back if you train agility. You can get help with this from your trainer or possibly a dog physiotherapist. If you do not practice any kind of sport with your dog, then the daily walk to the park will be a great form of warm-up, before any play and running with other dogs. On the walk to the park, it will warm up muscles, tendons, etc. so that they are soft and flexible. This will reduce the risk of injuries.
When your dog has finished playing/running and you are walking back home from the park, your dog will slowly lower its heart rate and body temperature. If it is cold and frosty like it is now, I would recommend that you give your dog a blanket when you go to the park and when you go back home. That way you help your dog even better to warm up its body and cool it down slowly again. If you have a small dog, or a dog without much undercoat, it may be an advantage to let it keep the blanket on during the entire trip.
If your dog gets a minor injury, it may mean that he may walk differently for a few days. This can settle in his body as muscle tension or too tight connective tissue. In the long run, this can cause incorrect loading in one or more places in the body. Therefore, I would always recommend that your dog regularly receives some form of body treatment. This will loosen up your dog's body so that the small bumps he may get will not have any effect in the long term.
Should the accident still occur and your dog sustains a major injury, you should of course contact your veterinarian as soon as possible. This way you ensure that your dog receives the right help as soon as possible to minimize the extent of the injury, also in the long term.
About Helle Hoffmann:
Helle Hoffmann is a trained dog physiotherapist, reiki healer and craniosacral therapist for animals and humans, animal telepath, lecturer and co-author of the highly relevant dog book: Læg din pate i min.
She also teaches craniosacral therapy for dogs.
Helle is the owner of Hoffmann Dog Massage & Physiotherapy, has her own clinic in Mørkøv and is 1 day a week at Furesø Veterinary Clinic. She has 30 years of experience with her own dogs and dog training. Right now, she and her husband have 7 dogs: Addie (Labrador), Enya (Labrador) and Gracie (blind Cairn Terrier), Novo (Mallinois), Bastian (Labrador), Connor (Labrador) and Emmett (Labrador).
See more about Helle's work at: https://helle-hoffmann.dk