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We not infrequently hear from our clients that they chose their dog’s food based on the recommendation of someone who works at the pet shop. Not to diminish the good work of store staff in any way, but would you build a nutritious diet for yourself based on the advice of someone who works at the supermarket?

For our dogs as well as our human loved ones, we wish for health right up until the moment of death. Part of the reason, says Tufts Cummings School veterinary social worker Eric Richman, MSW, is that “some people tend to be uncomfortable with conversations about death and dying. If a dog dies peacefully in his sleep, they may see it as a way to avoid those difficult discussions.”

If you see your dog posturing to urinate indoors, it could be a behavioral issue. She may be upset or confused. It could also be a medical issue like a urinary tract infection, diabetes, or Cushing’s disease. Dogs really try to wait until they get outside, but those conditions sometimes increase urgency to the point that they simply can’t wait.
But if urine trickles out without your dog trying to go, perhaps while she is sleeping, it’s likely urinary incontinence. You might find a little puddle at the spot when she wakes up and walks away, or perhaps urine on her rear quarters or her side.

Your dog has always been perfectly fine but now has begun experiencing full-body tremors, or maybe tremors localized to one region, such as the head. Depending on the dog, the tremors range from mild to so severe that they are debilitating and perhaps include loss of balance. In some cases, they are accompanied by nystagmus—back-and-forth or circular eyeball movement that is clearly not in the dog’s control. The tremors tend to increase with exercise, stress, or excitement. What’s going on?

Let’s say “you have a 5-year-old female mixed breed dog who has been happy and healthy since she was a puppy. She has always been very friendly and loved to be petted. Recently she has wanted less interaction with her family and occasionally gets a little snappy when she no longer wants to be petted.”

Q: My sister and I grew up with dogs, and I absolutely adore them, but she does not. Our  parents love animals, especially dogs, and showed us by example how much you can get out of a great relationship with a dog. I should point out that my sister never had a scary experience with an aggressive dog. So why that difference?
Summer Westervelt
Pacific Palisades, California

Q: Our 4-year-old hound/shepherd mix has two beds in our house, one upstairs in our bedroom and one downstairs in the living room. Historically, she always spent the day downstairs where we spend most of our own day working from home. She only slept in her bed upstairs at night. Recently, though, she has been choosing to spend more time upstairs during the day—almost all of her inside hours, actually. We have a 1-year-old cat who sometimes steals her downstairs bed, but that has been going on for months and doesn’t account for the new behavior. Should we be concerned?
Carolyn Tilney
Tacoma, Washington

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To be vindictive or spiteful takes a certain amount of planning, a sequencing of events in your mind that you then carry out. Dogs simply do not have that ability. They pretty much act in the moment. It’s all about impulse.

A vacuum with a HEPA filter is one of the best bets for ridding your home of the hair and dander shed by dogs—which for some people causes allergic reactions. HEPA stands for “high efficiency particulate air,” and tightly woven HEPA filters can keep just about all small, inhalable irritants from spewing back into the air as you vacuum—not just dander but also dust and other airborne particles. Make sure filtration efficiency is at least 99.97 percent and that the particles retained are as small as 0.3 micrometers. The label should guide you, and you can also ask the manufacturer.

It’s so easy to yell at a dog to “Put that down!” or “Wait!” Much of the time the yelling is out of fear that the pet will harm himself or cause some kind of trouble. So when the dog complies, there’s relief.

Dogs, like people, can become uncomfortably cold in winter weather, even if they don’t show it. Thus, if you leave your dog home alone for several hours but turn down the thermostat to save on energy bills, make sure your pet has a fuzzy dog bed with a blanket. If she gets cold enough, she can even pull the blanket over herself with her teeth.