EVERYDAY DOGCARE

Q. I’ll sometimes see a professional dog walker exercising six or more dogs at a time in my neighborhood. That seems like an awful lot. Is there a maximum number of dogs that a dog walker should take out at once? Lily DetweilerCohasset, Massachuetts Dear Ms. Detweiler, A. There is no set answer, but in […]

Imagine if short, slight people were laughed at and called “cute” every time they acted aggressively, or even rudely? Or if they were coddled...

Dogs that balk at the first drop of rain can find comfort in jackets and ponchos suited to repel wet weather from drizzle to torrential rain, not to mention splashes that muck up bellies and legs with muddy water. All come with an opening for the leash, and the fuller body suits can be tailored […]

People spend hundreds of millions of dollars on dog shampoo each year, with the amount increasing annually. And there are a lot of shampoos to choose from, with ingredients ranging from aloe, coconut oil, lavender oil, and honey to various herbs and vitamins. Do you know which ingredients to look for? Or how often you […]

Our dogs are a nation of couch potatoes during the week and warriors on weekends,” just like we are,” says Tufts University veterinary pain specialist Alicia Karas, DVM. “A lot of people take their dogs out only for quick walks during the week, but then throw a ball or Frisbee for their pet to fetch […]

There’s nothing more pitiful than a dog having to navigate his way around a room when fitted with a hard, plastic funnel-shaped Elizabethan collar, also known as an e-collar. These collars have been a necessary evil because it’s important that dogs’ mouths be kept from reaching a surgical incision or skin infection or wound that […]

We’ve seen people angrily tell their dogs to put down their hair when it’s standing on end because they feel their pet is being unnecessarily aggressive. Don’t. A dog can no better make his hair go down than we can decide not to have goose bumps. In fact, the two involuntary bodily reactions are pretty […]

Trimming your dog’s nails isn’t just about protecting your hardwood floors. Here’s what can go wrong if you don’t cut your pet’s nails regularly. The nails can grow into a circular shape and back into your dog’s paw pads. That doesn’t just hurt. It sometimes causes infections serious enough to turn red and ooze pus, […]

While dogs in general are predisposed to liking people and may even have evolved to bond with us, that does not mean that every dog is interested in being petted by strangers with whom they happen to cross paths. That’s okay. “A dog that’s not interested in people outside of her family or social group […]

Virtually all dry dog foods have an abrasive action on the teeth, so their labels may legally contain wording that the contents are able to “cleanse, freshen, or whiten” teeth. But some foods also meet standards for controlling plaque and tartar. Plaque is the soft, sticky film that builds up on the teeth and contains […]

In a small but telling piece of research, researchers in the United Kingdom equipped dogs with special collars that tracked their heart rates for 7 days and found the following: When a dog’s human companion said, “I love you,” their pet’s heart rate shot up by 46 percent, from an average of 67 beats per […]

Q. Five years ago my wife and I rescued and adopted an abused and abandoned Labradoodle. Today she is a therapy dog and a Canine Good Citizen, a designation given by the American Kennel Club for dogs who can pass a 10-item test designed to rate such things as how politely a dog moves through […]