How to Make an Old Dog Happy by Olivier Lagalisse

Author:Olivier Lagalisse
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780285639362
Publisher: Souvenir Press

Apart from breeds for which it is normal to recommend grooming, or when it is a question of an animal that has been wounded or has eczema, it is futile, even dangerous, to clip an old animal. Because of its coat and its undercoat, its fur has in fact a capacity for regulating warmth that, by trapping air, insulates the dog from the cold as well as from the heat.

● Avoid long separations Thirty per cent of old dogs die while their master is on holiday. If you cannot take your animal with you, the best solution is to leave it in its familiar environment and ask someone whom you can trust, whom it knows and values, to come and feed it and walk it several times a day. You could also ask a homesitter (see under Useful Addresses). There are more and more of these organisations who generally use 'hand-picked' retired people (inquiries have been made into their moral standing, criminal record, retirement status) selected for their abilities and of course their love of animals.

If there is no other way but to use kennels, you should be extremely vigilant when you select one, go there beforehand with your dog in order to avoid nasty surprises and gradually accustom the future lodger (you must ensure that there is a vet whom the premises can call upon). Do not forget to ask for a receiem on headed paper which gives details, in addition to the payments you have already made of the price per day, the date on which the animal was taken in, its identichip or tattoo number as well as its eventual special daily diet or, if necessary, its dosages of medicine. Without these precautions, should the dog disappear, any help would be very difficult. To avoid this sort of litigation, ideally you should get a vet to issue a certificate of good health for the dog before you confine it to kennels.

The person to whom one confides the care of the dog is totally responsible for it. The owner of the animal, or the person who is using it while it is in his care is responsible for any damage the animal causes, whether the animal is in his care or whether it has become lost or has strayed.

● Keep showing your dog your affection and your compassion, something often overlooked by owners, but which however is of prime importance in the animal's psychological well-being, now that it is frail, old and possibly ill. Think about it: if dogs that are used for therapy in some hospitals, hospices and old people's homes can succeed in bolstering morale in sick humans by bringing them out of their isolation, the same must also be true the other way round. Stroking and talking to your animal comfortingly and frequently, on a daily basis, is bound to help calm its heartbeat and alleviate its stress and anxieties.

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