Sunday’s recap: 8 tips for keeping your senior dog active

Dogs bodies deteriorate as they grow older – just like ours. Keeping your senior dog active is the best way to keep his body healthy and strong. Of course, strenuous exercise like hiking, biking and running may not be suitable for your older dog. Many pet owners feel that their dog doesn’t need as much exercise as he ages because his body will require more rest. It’s true that he’ll need more rest, but it’s more important than ever to keep him active as well. Finding the balance between the two is the tricky part.

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Dogs can age as gracefully as we can. With proper nutrition, regular exercise and some extra love and care, your senior dog will be just as happy in his golden years as he was when he was a puppy. Younger dogs will get up and play with their toys or run around by themselves outdoors. Your older may need a bit more motivation.

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Keeping your senior dog active will aid in joint health, digestive health and will also prevent excessive weight gain. Just like us, your dog’s metabolism will slow as he ages. You’ll need to keep him active and reduce his calorie intake to keep him from becoming overweight.

8 Tips for Keeping Your Senior Dog Active

1. AKC Canine Health Foundation

The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation has written a great piece on how to properly condition your older dog to keep him active. It addresses the importance of keeping your senior dog active, and some great ways to help your pet stay active in his later years.

It’s important to realize that if your dog has not been active for a while, he’ll need proper conditioning before participating in regular exercise. You’ll need to start slow with short walks and gradually move up to long walks around the block. If you do too much too quickly with a senior dog you run the risk of causing him serious injury.

• When your dog is ready for training and conditioning, you should start slowly, gradually increasing the intensity and length of exercise. “The muscle capacity for work is typically decreasing in older dogs due to mild sarcopenia,” explains Dr. Wakshlag. “They don’t quite have the energy powerhouses in the muscle cells that they did when they were younger.”

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2. Manufacturer Canidae Shares Their Tips

The dog food manufacturer Canidae has a wonderful blog on their site that includes posts for all things dog related. This particular post by Linda Cole gives some great tips to help your senior dog stay active. She perfectly explains that your dog will still be able to participate in the activities that you both love, you’ll just have to tone it down a bit.

• As dogs age, they may not be able to keep up a rigorous exercise schedule. That doesn’t mean you have to stop running, biking, hiking or any other activity you enjoy doing with your dog, but it does mean you may need to slow things down for your senior dog’s sake.

3. Vet’s Tips from Dr. Peter Dobias

Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM, writes an interesting blog with tips and educational information for pet owners. The post I read this week gave a lot of great tips to for keeping your dog mobile in his golden years. There are some great pointers about supplements and exercises that are very beneficial to senior dogs.

Often, swimming is mentioned as a great exercise for senior dogs as it is must less stressful on the joints compared to running. Dr. Dobias explains that although swimming is a great form of exercise, too much swimming can be detrimental to an aging dog’s body.

• While swimming or underwater treadmill exercise can be very beneficial in maintaining mobility, dogs who swim too much can develop lumbar-sacral and shoulder tightness. Tight shoulders often lead to mid-thoracic spine congestion, which is energetically related to the function of the lungs and heart.

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