My brother-in-law Jake bought a Medium Petmate Indigo for his Bernese Mountain Dog, Thor, last summer. Thor didn’t fit. His head touched the ceiling and he couldn’t turn around. Jake ended up returning it and buying the Extra Large, which Thor uses daily now. The lesson: size up for any dog close to the top…
My aunt’s Yorkie, Biscuit, turned 15 last winter. She still jumps onto the couch on her own. She eats like she is starving and barks at every delivery person within a mile. Biscuit weighs 7 pounds. A long life like that is normal for small breeds, which often live into their mid-teens. A small dog…
My cousin Amina has a Border Collie named Riley who turned 11 last month. Riley still herds the kids around the backyard and steals socks. But gray has crept in around her muzzle. Amina asked me what 11 means for a medium dog. The answer is about 65 in human years. That is old, but…
I fostered a 9-week-old Beagle puppy named Pepper last year. The first month was a blur of crate training, vaccine appointments, and carpet cleaner. By the time she hit 6 months, she was a different dog. That is what life stages do. They reshape a dog’s body, brain, and care needs on a set schedule…
A friend of mine adopted a scruffy brown mutt from a shelter last winter. The shelter guessed “Terrier mix” on the paperwork. A DNA test three months later came back 41% Schnauzer, 28% Yorkshire Terrier, and 31% everything else. The shelter was in the right ballpark, but a closer look at the coat, beard, and…
My friend Layla panicked one Saturday night when her Beagle, Otis, felt hot and refused dinner. She didn’t own a thermometer, so she drove to a 24-hour animal hospital. His temperature was 104.2 F. The vet said it was a low-grade fever from a tick-borne infection, treatable with antibiotics, but catching it fast kept it…
My friend Carla runs a small Cavalier King Charles breeding program. She keeps a spreadsheet for every litter. When her dam Poppy conceived last spring, Carla logged each day from ovulation to birth. She marked the day she saw heartbeats on ultrasound, day 25, and the day puppy skeletons showed up on x-ray, day 55….
My neighbor’s Golden Retriever, Max, turned 7 last spring. At the vet that morning, Dr. Patel said something that stuck with me: “He’s a senior now.” Max still sprints after tennis balls and eats like a puppy, so it felt early. That’s the thing about large dogs, though. They hit middle age around year 5…
A neighbor of mine, Gloria, bred her Labrador Honey for the first time last year. When Honey’s belly started to round out at week 5, Gloria panicked and called me at 11 pm to ask if it was normal. It was. Dog pregnancy moves fast next to a human one. From mating to puppies takes…
When I saw a Doberman with cropped ears, I remember being surprised at how different it looked from the floppy-eared puppies I had seen before. The sharp, upright ears made the dog look more alert, more serious, even a little intimidating. At the time, I didn’t really understand what ear cropping was or why people…