EVERYDAY DOGCARE

Q: I do a lot of gardening, and my dog keeps me company in the backyard as I weed, mulch, water, and otherwise tend to the flower beds. But I worry because you always hear about different flowers and plants being toxic for dogs. Are there certain flowers I should absolutely be keeping her away from?

More than 2 million pets travel by air each year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. If your canine family member is going to be one of them, it’s good to get him acclimated ahead of time.

People shed hair every single day, just like dogs. We just don’t happen to have as much hair to shed, so it doesn’t show in the same way. Also, most of our shed hairs go down the drain when we shower, so we’re not apt to see them. Dogs, of course, have many more hairs than we do, and when those hairs die and slough off, they end up all over the place; our pets don’t rinse their bodies every day.

People think of cats as the pets who keep their human housemates up at night. But some dogs have trouble settling down at bedtime, too. Sometimes it’s pain from an illness that doesn’t allow them to drift off. Dogs with separation anxiety might be particularly afflicted. If they’re in pain and the people in the home aren’t available to them because they’re asleep, they may feel more nervous than usual. But if a medical issue (including dementia) is ruled out, what can you do to help your pet slumber?

We think of dogs as social creatures, and rightly so. They are a species genetically primed for social engagement with others of their kind. But if a dog gets into a frightful scrape with another dog early in life, perhaps before she came to live with you, being around other dogs can unnerve her, truly making her miserable.

Q: Can you settle whether it’s okay to have your dog go jogging with you?

At a webinar put on a few years ago by the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University, Robert Gierka, EdD, discussed the concept of disenfranchised grief, which is grief over the loss of a loved one that is not socially acknowledged or considered legitimate. Such losses, Dr. Gierka said, traditionally consist of miscarriage, the loss of a same-sex partner, and the loss of a loved one through capital punishment. There’s also the loss of a pet.

Giving your dog a summer buzz cut can actually make her feel warmer, not cooler. That’s because hair on a dog insulates her from the heat.  The coat creates an air chamber between the hairs that does not conduct heat easily. (It also makes it hard for cold air to get to a dog in winter.)

We’re not talking here about canine prisons—puppy mills where dogs are kept in deplorable conditions. We’re talking about a program called Prison Puppies in which incarcerated men and women train puppies to become guide dogs and thereby help people in need. The program currently operates in prisons in Michigan and Minnesota.

More than 50 percent of dogs in the U.S. are estimated to be overweight. Part of the reason may be a psychological problem — yours. In many households, people turn food into currency for love. They fear that withholding as much food or as many treats as their dog wants will fray the bond they have with their pet. It won’t — if you show your pet love in all the other important ways.

You may have heard that treats should make up no more than 10 percent of your dog’s calories. But if you don’t know how many calories your dog should be consuming in the first place, that advice isn’t so handy-dandy. Fortunately, there’s a formula for the right number of daily calories overall, at least if your dog weighs between 5 and 55 pounds: 30 x ideal weight (in kilograms) + 70.

A healthy dog scratches himself so little that you don’t even really notice it, and he certainly doesn’t spend time biting or licking his coat. More than a few seconds of scratching here or there over the course of a day (or rolling against a surface to relieve itchiness), and there’s a good chance something is wrong.