EVERYDAY DOGCARE

We know. Summers approaching, and with it that feeling of freedom, so you like to roll down the window and blast the car radio, belting out your favorite songs as you cruise along the highway. But you know what? If your dog is with you, it could really hurt her ears. Dogs hear a good four times better than we do, and they have a hard time with very loud noises. So Jimmy Pages guitar riff and Robert Plants louder and louder singing of the lyrics in Led Zeppelins Stairway to Heaven, while a terrific release for you, are a jangly, scratchy cacophony of ear-splitting sounds to your pet. Imagine having to listen to a high-volume recording of a fork scratching the bottom of a pot and not being able to change the station.

When pitbull mix Brooklyn came to live with Rochelle Lucas and Aaron Roylance at the ripe age of 9, he tipped the scales somewhere between 90 and 95 pounds. The vet said, he cannot stay at this weight, Ms. Lucas recalls. Thats going to be really hard on his joints."

Photojournalist Jann Tenenbaum used to train her camera lens on subjects with names like Queen Elizabeth, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bruce Springsteen, Pope John Paul II, and hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Her pictures appeared in publications ranging from The New York Times to USA Today. Then a friend of hers was on the way to Los Angeles one morning when her plane was rammed into the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. With no one left to care for her friends dog, a golden retriever named Naboo, Ms. Tenenbaum adopted him, photographed him as a way of dealing with her grief, and never looked back. Today she takes pictures only of subjects with names like Trixie, Lucky, Queenie, and Duke. Really good pictures.

With breeding, says canine genetic expert Jerold Bell, DVM, some dogs are tall and some are taller, and a taller dog looks splashier in the ring. Or more wrinkles are better, or more angulation of the hind legs. At least, thats how some dog show judges tend to think of it. The problem, he says, is that more is not always better. It can become a disease-causing issue.

Q Someone told me I should be giving my dog regular breast exams to check for cancer. Thats patently ridiculous - right?
Claire Lemmer
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The ins and outs of a clinical exam for an older dog

Q I often hear the term clinical exam, as in, I cant diagnose your dog without a clinical exam, but what does that mean, exactly? How does a clinical exam differ from a regular exam? I ask because I have a 10-year-old dog and its time for her clinical exam, but Im wondering if she really needs one.

I have an older dog - a 10-year-old golden retriever - that I just adopted from a rescue. When I put a Seresto flea and tick collar on her, she started having seizures. She no longer has the collar but is now on phenobarbital to control the seizures. What do you advise using for flea and tick control on a dog that has a history of seizures? I know that the new pill is not advised for these dogs.

Dogs love to dig in and roll in the dirt and run through the woods, and though they dont like to go out in the rain will gladly jump in a swamp or smelly debris, says veterinary dermatologist Laurie J. Stewart, VMD, DACVD. Maybe thats why Dr. Stewart, owner of Veterinary Dermatology of New England in Westford, Massachusetts, quips that bathing in dogs is highly underrated."

Truth be told, healthy dogs who are free of skin disease dont need to be bathed for their own sake.

The skin is the bodys largest organ, for dogs as well as for people, and allergies in dogs often affect that organ. In such cases, which are referred to as atopic dermatitis, bathing can be a great way to reduce irritation, itching, pain, inflammation, crusting, and odor, says board-certified veterinary dermatologist Laurie J. Stewart, VMD, DACVD. In fact, while dogs with healthy skin may be able to get away with a bath every few months, a dog with a skin condition may need baths as frequently as twice a week.

A good dog shampoo will contain the following chemicals to do the job of cleansing your dog: Taurate Lauroyl lactylate. In a conditioner, these are that ingredients that do the conditioning: Behentrimonium Glycerin Cetearyl alcohol There are many good products available. The most popular dog shampoo on Amazon is Earthbath All Natural Dog Shampoo, which has ingredients that fit the criteria set forth by veterinary dermatologists. They are also cruelty-free and biodegradable.

An anxious dog who would not be able to handle someone sticking a hand in her mouth for an extended period of time and doing some light probing would not make a good candidate for dental cleanings without anesthesia. This point is agreed upon by both dentists in favor of anesthesia-free dental cleanings and those against it. The dog needs to be mellow enough to allow the cleaning, says veterinarian Ellie Shelburne, who schedules some patients in her Northampton, Massachusetts, practice for anesthesia-free dental work.

You might share the medicine cabinet mirror with your dog while you shave or apply your makeup, but some of the medicines you have inside the mirrored door are very, very toxic to your pet and should at all times be kept out of paws reach. Says the American Veterinary Medical Association, about one quarter of all phone calls to the Animal Poison Control Center are about human medications.