It’s been just over a week since Penny arrived, but she has proven to be a very smart puppy!! She has not had a #2 accident in the house yet (which as most people know, is one of the vilest smells on earth). She amazes me every day. For example, when Abby and Troy come in from going outside, they must sit and they get a treat. Within a day, when Penny came in she immediately sat down!! I wasn’t making her sit to get the treat because I figured she was too young to understand, but she did anyway! And does so immediately when she enters the house (which is a lot due to her puppy bladder). She also quickly learned to go to her crate when the dog food hit the bowl (she gets fed in her crate to positively associate the crate with food).

When playing with her toys, she brings them back to be thrown again. I think all my dogs (with the exception of Percy) never quite got that in the game of fetch, you come back with the object so the person can throw it again. The others took off so you had to chase them to get the object back.

It hasn’t been completely easy though. She has yet to fully understand the word “come”. She led me on a wild goose chase a few nights to get her to come in so I could go to bed. And like most puppies, she has a thing about “nibbling”. She chomped down on my arm while I was giving Abby some attention – very hard. I yelled at her and put her in the bathroom (they say never to punish a puppy by putting it in its crate). The funny thing is that the next time I raised my voice (at Abby for barking at the mailman) Penny ran into the bathroom!!! Too cute.

I am learning a lot about puppies. When I was discussing my puppy “experiment” with friends, one recommended the “Whole Dog Journal”. It appears to have a wealth of information, which will hopefully be useful.

Penny is also registered for puppy training classes at Petco. She was supposed to start yesterday, but I got a call from the trainer putting it off until next week due to enrollment issues. She gets her puppy booster shots next week. I am a little concerned about getting her into the car, as she barfed so much on the way home. Going to Petco and the vet should be interesting.

I believe that adoption should be the first option when getting a new pet. In my other blog, I discussed the frustrations I had dealing with rescue organizations when adopting my last sheltie. Many are poorly organized, don’t return phone calls, don’t update web sites etc. (the exception to this rule is Fresh Start Sheltie Rescue in TN – very professional and organized). I went to Pet finder first and the only collies that were available were in VA – and once again the rescue did not respond to my inquiry/application for a Collie presumably in their care. The upside of this problem, I believe, is that people are more aware these days the purebred dogs can be found at shelters and rescue organizations.

After my failed rescue search, I decided to go with my idea of getting a puppy and recording information that might help, in some small ways, dogs to live longer lives. I went through the American Kennel Club (AKC) breeders list and located a few prospects.

My thought was that “show dog” breeders breed dogs for traits for conformation not necessarily for longevity. I received a few responses breeders that demanded contracts stating that the dog will be used only as a pet and charging upwards of thousands of dollars. I located a breeder on a farm in South Carolina (my search extended up the entire east coast, so this was one of the closer ones) that was very responsive and very organized, She had a female sable available, one from a litter of nine. She sent pictures, and I knew “F2 puppy” would be the one for me.

I decided on the name Penelope, as it was my last collie Cassie’s (aka Ms. Cassandra Penelope) middle name. She looks very much like Cassie as she has the same collie “defect” in that her white collar does not go all the way around her neck. Interestingly enough, Penny’s mother’s name was also Cassie. A fateful coincidence?

I picked her up and visited with her siblings, parents, and some of the other collies on the farm before packing her up and settling in for the long ride back. Clearly, she had spent most of her short life outside with many, many other puppies and dogs and it was heartbreaking to take her away, listening to her plaintive whining, then wailing which continued for about 20 minutes. She then vomited several times, and then calmed down for most of the rest of the five-hour ride.

We arrived back home and she seemed very relieved to see Troy and Abby (and even Bogie who was very interested in having a new playmate, even if it was a canine).  I read the notes from the breeder and vet, discovering that she was being fed Purina Puppy Chow (two of five stars on Petfoodadvisor.com). I ran out to get her a collar and food (which in my experience is usually supplied so I didn’t already have it) and vowed to switch her over to the Wellness Core Puppy food as quickly as possible without upsetting her stomach. The little girl had already been through enough without adding tummy trouble!

Crate training has been a mixed blessing. We have only had one puddle accident in the house. She stays in her crate at night but cries to get out in the elate night and early morning. She appears to be very smart – following the other two dogs out to the yard to do their “business”.  She seems very happy and healthy so far.

Welcome to the puppy project. This page is intended to be a non-scientific study on increasing the life spans of dogs. For the past few years, I have been intrigued by certain medium to large breed dogs that are living a high quality of life into their twenties, when their average life span is 7-10 years. My collie Cassie recently passed when she was close to 17; a neighbor’s lab lived to be 20. We all want our furry friends to live a long and happy life, so what is the secret?

I have been a researcher and have had numerous articles and two text books published, so I know what makes a scientific study – what follows is not. But my thoughts are if enough people find this page, follow at least some of the findings, and report back, maybe we can help our canine friends live swell past their normal age spans.

A cursory web search landed me on a web page for an organization that sells dog food and boosts that they have had dogs live to be 27. That same search also revealed a website that protested these claims – revealing that the dog food had only been in existence for less than a quarter of the dog’s lives, so it is very difficult to attribute much of the sites claims to the food, as well as the methods of care and feeding, etc. So what I had initially hoped would be an answer to the dog longevity question turned out to be not so simple.  But what follows seems to be commonly accepted care guidelines for dog health and longevity.

Some of the top reasons why larger dogs die before their time include bloat, cancer, accidents, and I would add arthritis.

Causes

Bloat

According to the Whole Dog Journal “Bloat is a top killer of dogs, especially of deep-chested giant and large breeds, such as Great Danes and Standard Poodles. … The accumulation of gas sometimes causes the stomach to rotate or twist on its axis; this is referred to as torsion or volvulus”.

I had my first collie for ten years before I even heard of this problem, but since then have had a few friend’s dogs – mostly Golden Retrievers- die from suddenly from bloat. This occurred when the dogs were 7-8 years old. Guidelines for avoiding bloat include feeding high quality* food 2-3 x daily and not allowing exercise for 1 hour before and for 1 hour after meals. There is also some information about using raised bowls and adding water to the food, but some research insists that raised bowls help with avoiding bloat, while others say it helps. Not being a vet or having any medical training whatsoever, I’m not qualified to give an opinion. I will continue to research this. My dogs do have raised dishes, mostly because I believe it helps relieve strain on their necks when they eat.

Some websites also recommend to avoid bloat dogs eat in quiet away from loud noises, screaming kids, blaring TV’s etc.  This is not a problem and again seems like common sense.

Finally, certain websites advocate feeding dogs many small meals throughout the day rather than one or two large feedings. While most people, including myself, have actual jobs that might prevent them from being around to feed a dog five times a day, a third, and possibly fourth, feeding might be possible on most days of the week.

Cancer

This is the biggie. I don’t know of anyone that has had a dog that has not lost it to some form of cancer. Of course certain breeds are more prone to cancer than others. There is no denying genetics. Or is there?

In my statistics in my doctoral program, I learned of something called “spurious correlation”:

“A mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are not causally related to each other, yet it may be wrongly inferred that they are, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor”.

Essentially this is how the cigarette companies avoided lawsuits and why cigarettes are still legal – by essentially saying that cigarettes do not cause cancer, but something about the smoker is the actual cause. So the analogy here is, maybe it’s not the breed that causes it to die early, but something else about the dog that makes it more prone to cancers? Again, I’m not in the medical field, but I’m just throwing the idea out there.

So what can we do to prevent cancer in dogs? The following represent a few of the commonly accepted ways to avoid cancer to begin with:

Spay neuter

According to one website:

“Cancer is the #1 killer of dogs, and 85% of all cancers (whether they end up developing in the bones, organs, blood or skin) originate in the reproductive organs. So, by spaying or neutering your dog at an early age, you are giving your dog the gift of a much longer life”.

My thought when I read this was 85%? Really? I’m not sure if that is an exaggeration, but without wasting a lot of time on it, spaying and neutering is a smart and responsible thing to do. We have a huge dog overpopulation problem, so let’s get them snipped before anyone accidentally gets knocked up.  The sooner the better, so when they are mature enough let’s take care of it. Done.

It also appears that some cancers can be avoided through nutrition and avoiding harmful chemicals. More about that later.

Accidents

We probably all know of – or possibly have had – a dog that has died from an accident – usually with a car. I have been fortunate not to have had this problem, although I have had dogs that have gotten away from me. It is truly terrifying as I have always lived in a city or suburbs where drivers are not always careful. My thought here is that training is key to keeping the dog out of trouble. Being able to get a dog to return immediately if he/she should somehow wander off is critical. Most trainers recommend an emergency word paired with a generous treat. This website explains the training process: https://thehappypuppysite.com/emergency-recall-for-dogs/

So at the very least, having an emergency word is some insurance against accidents. As with spaying/neutering, having a well-trained dog is common sense. No one likes a poorly trained dog (or kid!).  But of course it takes time and patience. But isn’t a log life for your pet worth it? Yes. So let’s do it.

Crate training

There is also some information pointing to crate training being helpful for longevity. I have always been one to say “I will never put my dog in a cage!!” but then have wound up with chewed rugs, furniture, and lots of other destroyed items, as well as dogs that have taken years to housebreak. There is a lot of information about crate training out there, and finally, after about twenty years of dog ownership, I willing to give it a try.

Sort of along the same lines as crate training is keeping your dog indoors. According to one website:

“Keep dogs in the house, not outside. Let them out every 4 hours. Sun is detrimental to dog’s skin, especially short hired varieties. Limit sun exposure. Heat also bad.  “Their bodies do not dissipate heat well, and they can get heat stroke, which can cripple them or kill them.”

This seems like common sense to me. My dogs have always been “inside dogs”. Done.

Arthritis

Here is one that I don’t think is as commonly accepted as a “killer” of medium to large breed dogs, but treated more as a nuisance problem. I’m putting it forth as a killer, as it has played a role in the death of all three of my female collies.  With each of them, the disease progressed to the point where they were in agonizing pain, causing two of the three to stop eating. When their quality of life was severely compromised, the only humane thing to do was to euthanize them. If they had not had the disease, who knows how long they could have lived? They lived to be 12.5, 13 and 16 years old.

So what can we do about it? Preliminary research suggests these puppy food and exercise guidelines:

Puppy food

According to Petfoodadvisor.com the nutrition a puppy gets early on is critical for not getting arthritis in its later years. There is a calcium ratio that I will not pretend to understand, but there appears to be a great deal of veterinary research backing it up. So rather than delve into a bunch of medical stuff that I don’t understand, I’ll save myself some time by choosing one of the brands that have earned the five star rating by vets. Done.

Exercise

In addition to proper puppy nutrition, some experts suggest limiting early exercise in puppies to 5 minutes per month of age. It appears that over-exercise can cause problems with bones and joints down the road. Makes sense. Done.

Prevention

Now that we have looked at a few of the major causes of premature canine death, let’s look at a few general guidelines for good health.

Nutrition

As mentioned above, good nutrition appears to be the key to good health. There is a lot of somewhat conflicting information about feeding dogs. Some swear by a raw, organic, all natural diet. Others swear that a high-quality supermarket kibble is all that is needed (this advice came from my first vet- so it’s 20+ years old).  Again, not having the time or inclination to sort through millions of articles, I’m trusting petfoodadvisor.com to do the work for me.

One other thing – most pet owners know that there are foods that you should never give your pet. If you are not sure what those are, click on this link: https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/03/all-the-foods-that-are-toxic-to-dogs/

Avoiding Pesticides/ chemicals

I’ve always been extremely suspicious of lawn chemicals. The fact that dogs have their noses to the ground so much makes me wonder if they are inhaling toxic chemicals. Most lawn companies swear that the chemicals are safe for kids and dogs, but I am very leery of this claim. Again without sorting through volumes of research for both sides of the claim, I’m going to go with the common sense idea that fewer chemicals are better than or chemicals. No fertilizers or insecticides here.  I will covet my neighbor’s green carpet- like lawns from afar.

Medical care

As with humans, proper medical care is essential, however finding the right vet can be a bit tricky. When I lived in a certain part of Massachusetts, finding a good very was very difficult. Horror stories about some vets from friends and family were abundant. And – just throwing it out there – I have heard from some reliable sources that some vets are encouraged to “upsell”… Thanks about it – your vet recommends a shot/pill/supplement that might have a possible benefit somewhere down the road but it is very expensive. Are you going to say no to it? Particularly if you don’t understand the science behind it? If you are like me, you will go into debt to afford the item if you honestly believe it will help. And that’s why finding a vet that will help steer you in the right direction, without cleaning out your bank account is critical.

For puppies, here is the schedule of first shots recommended by the AKC

• First shots (given at 6 weeks)
• Second shots (3 months – DHPP along with rabies)
• Third shots (4 months)
• Spay – (6 months ) Heartworm also?
• Fourth shots (1 year )