Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

I took Guinness for a 6km run last night, and while he was running, I could hear the tap, tap, tap of his toenails hitting the footpath. Although it’s not likely to cause a dog a great deal of pain, it may be uncomfortable for him to run with longish nails. Fortunately, Guinness is very easy to handle when it comes to giving him a manicure.

If your dog has white nails, it’s easy to see how far you can trim them. Just don’t cut the pink “quick”.

Guinness has black toenails, and they’re a little trickier. Just nibble away enough so that the nails aren’t hitting the ground any more.

If you have trouble trimming your dog’s toenails, your vet or your local grooming parlour would be only too happy to help.

This is something I’m asked often. There is no cut and dried answer to that question. It depends on so many variables.

Some breeds of dog are bred to run. A fine example is my Australian Working Kelpie, Guinness.  He was raised on a sheep station, and those dogs are mustering sheep in the paddock from quite a young age. I started running with Guinness when he was around 8 months old.

Some breeds have inherent orthopaedic problems, and in those breeds, I’d hold off a while until their body is more physically mature.

Smaller breeds of dog are physically mature before larger ones, so it’s safe to say you can start running with a Jack Russell Terrier before you can start running with a German Shepherd Dog.

Veterinarians recommend that growing pups and dogs don’t participate in “forced exercise”. That is basically any exercise that they wouldn’t participate in with dogs of the same age. One guideline to consider is that a 5-6 month old dog is physically comparable with an 8-10 year old child. How much forced exercise would you allow your pre-teen child?

I think it’s a matter of plain common sense. If you have a high energy working breed, who is in lean condition, his family have no history of orthopaedic disease,  and he’s keen to go, there’s not a lot of reason to wait until some arbitrary age to start running with him. Start gently, don’t run too often, and keep him on soft terrain such as grass and trails. Make sure you watch him, because a lot of dogs don’t want to stop when they should. It’s up to us to keep their enthusiasm in check.

Running with dogs is great – they’re good company, they enjoy the exercise and they can help keep you safe when you’re on your own.

You don’t need a vet check for your dog before you start running with him. Do you?

In most cases, you know when your dog is well. He eats normally, isn’t limping and has plenty of enthusiasm and energy.

Even so, it’s a good idea to pop into your vet clinic and have him examined before you start an exercise program with him. This was brought home to me recently on a busy Saturday morning in the vet clinic where I work.

A beautiful lean healthy boxer was brought in for vaccinations. Nothing wrong with him at all, except the owner mentioned in passing that the dog occasionally had funny “turns” after he’d played ball for a while. He stared, seemed quite vacant, staggered a little and got over it very quickly. It wasn’t a problem and he nearly didn’t bring it up.

After much discussion, it turns out this dog quite possibly had a condition called syncope, a genetic heart problem which caused abnormal rhythms, and fainting. Imagine what could have happened if this owner had taken his healthy dog with no obvious problems out for a run?

A more common, but no less serious, condition that could interfere with your dog’s ability to enjoy a run, is obesity. Over 40% of our pet dogs are now overweight, and it can affect their joints, and their heart. Sometimes we’re not sure if our dog is actually overweight or not, so it’s not a bad idea to get a professional opinion. It may save a lot of pain later on.