Obtain Your Dog's Genealogical Chart

Where's Bolo?

Some people can trace their dog's ancestry further back than they can trace their own!

Hydrotherapy for Your Dog

Water therapy for dogs? For dogs?

You've probably even seen a treadmill submerged in the water, in the swimming pool at your local health club.

They are used for seniors, for people with arthritis, and for people recuperating from injuries and surgery. But for DOGS?

Yes! For dogs!  And water therapy was one major way by which we brought Joey back to health, stemmed off the threat of arthritis, and returned him to his life of running, safely.

What are the advantages of water therapy? 

In water, there is no gravity, so your dog is not fighting against the pull of gravity from the earth. He is floating in water and all his energy is devoted to moving against the water (and not the pull of the earth).  Pressure is equalized on all sides.

If your dog has an injury, there is no stress directly on the injured area, i.e. no pounding of the pavement or the pads of your dog's feet.(This was important in our case, since Joey had a broken ankle and broken toes.)

Veterinarians recommend it. So what do you need to - or prefer to - do your own hydrotherapy with your own dog?  You need:

1. 
   
   

   a dog harness

2. 
   
   

   a body of water

Obtaining the dog harness is easy.

Any pet store will carry them. Just measure your dog's breadth and length before you pick out the harness to get a good fit.

Obtaining the body of water may be more of a challenge! 

It may be winter and water may be cold, and besides there may not be a body of water near you!  Remember, dogs can, because of their double layer of hair, tolerate colder temperatures that you (we) humans can. But at the first states of hydrotherapy, you need to accompany your dog into the water.

But let's say there is a body of water, and it's warm enough for you to tolerate; what do you do next?  

1. 
   
   

   In the beginning, just walk your dog along the edge of the water.

   Get him used to walking in the water. That will be considerable exercise for a dog who has not been walking regularly due to injury, or for a dog who may be experiencing pain that he cannot communicate to you.
   
   
2. 
   
   

   In subsequent days and weeks, get him a little deeper into the water. Continue to walk him.

   Just the water itself will provide resistance and that will be considerable physical therapy for him (or her).
   
   
   
   
   
3. 
   
   

   Gradually, you can get your dog fully into the water.  Next, hold him up by the harness, so that he is just floating in the water. Allow him to become comfortable being held by you.
   

4. 
   
   

   He may kick his legs underneath him to simulate swimming. Good. This is what you want.
   

5. 
   
   

   Time him.

   Start with 30 seconds. In subsequent days or weeks, increase that to one minute.  Let him rest or swim toward shore. Wait. Then try it again, for 30 seconds to one minute at a time.

Swimming in general is a great activity for your dog and, as mentioned above, he can tolerate much colder water temperatures than we humans can. So as he gets stronger, he can go in the water and swim on his own and it will be a great therapy for arthritis and other conditions.

Finally, don't get arrested!

 Seriously!  I was standing in a body of water about 20 feet from the shoreline, holding Joey up by his harness as he doggie-paddled beneath the water without moving forward, and a policeman came along and told me that it was legal for the dog to be in the water, but not for me to be in the water!

Please share your comments or experiences with doggie hydrotherapy (and/or getting kicked out of a body of water!)

Pet Insurance: Accidents and Catastrophic Expenses

You love your dog and you want to know if you should shell out the dollars for your doggie's pet insurance.

This is Part 5 of our series, intended to help you think through this decision.

Let's talk dollars and sense, again.  Joey's first trip to the emergency animal medical center, after he was hit by the car (if you're following our story), cost us almost $4,000. 

Let's emphasize that this covered the first five days of emergency trauma care and hospitalization.

Then due to the nature of the ankle fracture, our dog required surgery one month later. That cost just under another $3,000.

Then we add in the additional visits for bandages changes, which were supposed to be weekly for umpteen weeks but our darling chocolate Lab insisted on chewing his bandages and so sometimes we ended up bringing him to the vet twice weekly and if it was an emergency visit, the price tag was even higher.  (I emphasize that in no way are we complaining about our vet or the quality of service. It was the best. I'm just laying out the dollars and cents facts.) So our total spent was somewhat above $7000 to heal Joey (not including our time!).

But I'm not complaining so let's move on:

So notice the figure from our first post about pet health insurance: 

With a premium of $62 per month, we would have paid $7400 in health insurance in those ten years.

Notice the similarity of the amounts? That means that as of the time Joey was hit by the car, the amount we would have paid into a health insurance policy for him and the amount that we actually paid for his injury would have been equal!

So we ask you the question again: Would you not be better off - in the long run - not purchasing a health insurance policy for your dog, and spending the money as needed?


Let's review: 

What happened to Joey, i.e. his getting hit by a car, was not a pre-existing condition.  It was not a result of a congenital defect (unless you want to consider his enthusiasm for life and for digging his way out as one!).  So we are clear there.

Had Joey had some condition such as hip dysplasia, we would have been paying premiums all along and then the insurance company may have told us that they wouldn't cover him due to its being a congenital defect.

We did have to have a lot of money available, at the drop of a hat, though the hospitals will accept credit cards . But remember, even with pet health insurance, you have to have money up front, as you pay first (and wait until you find out whether they will reimburse you) and they (may or may not) reimburse you.

For us, at eleven years old next month, Joey is now doing great.

He's back to minimal annual examinations and pet care: Heartworm pills, tick and flea Heartguard, food, the cost of kennels etc. when we go out of town, Omega 3 fish oils, Glucosamine/Chondroiten, etc. Routine stuff that your pet insurance isn't going to cover anyway.

But we are going to bet on Joey's continuing to be healthy, and that for a long while at least he's going to continue running.  To us, we're going to say it would be "a wash", economically, that is.  So we feel we're better off in having not purchased Joey a policy, and having done everything we could to maintain his good health!

Oh, and we're keeping a much more careful watch on our dog than we did in the past, to make sure he doesn't get out of the yard again unattended!

But if you're that college student with a new puppy and very few financial resources, and your puppy gets sick, maybe you need to consider a different path. But, like beginners luck with gambling, will you know when to walk away from the slot machine after your big win so that the house won't always win?  Or will you understand the expression, "Bad money follows good?"  Unless you're a senior with a young dog to keep you company, in most cases, I think "the house will win".

By the way, please add your comments and share your experience with pet illness and insurance.

Health Insurance for Your Dog or Cat: Do the Math

This is the fourth installment in our series, "Pet Insurance: Is It Worth It? 

You have this darling little black Lab and you love him so much. Do you get health insurance for him? 

At this point, you may be asking yourselves, "So? What is she going to say in her blog? Is it worth it for me (or us) to purchase health insurance for my cat?" Will I be a horrible pet owner if I do not purchase this pet health insurance?

Here's what I do:  I go onto the web and find one site that reviews pet insurance companies. I see one.  They provide rave reviews from satisfied customers, three satisfied customers. Here are how the three rave reviews begin, and I'll paraphrase, so I don't get sued:

• Your 11 month old Golden Retriever has accidentally swallowed a stone about the size of a small egg."
  
• You're a college student who really can't afford the hidden costs that come with a dog. That being said, ... You spend the approximately $400 to buy the full coverage (0% copay, $50 deductible) .... You figure that, with the average checkup alone costing $120, it would be worthwhile, not to mention the potential for all sorts of terrible things happening to your dog. And you are right! A few months later, your beloved dog tears the ACL in his rear right leg, which requires major surgery.
  
• You have a 9-month old Wheaton Terrier. When your puppy was 4 months old she had surgery for ectopic uretors and at 8 months she needed to have her right kidney removed.

In each of the above cases, the dog is very young when he or she is injured.

The owner has invested very little money in his/her pet's health insurance before the dog has had an illness. Of course the owner is going to think he got a good deal.

Pet insurance is also being recommended for seniors.

  A senior will get a pet when he or she is older in life, as a companion, and at that age is often of limited financial resources. If the senior gets a young dog, this can make sense.

So you do the math. 

The dog or cat is young (you've paid out very little into the insurance fund) and has a catastrophic illness (lots of money here). Since the dog or cat is young, there are no pre-existing conditions (which would mean you get no reimbursement). Seems like a win-scenario for the pet owner.  (But keep in mind from our Part 2, that usually you still have to pay the medical bills up front, and you get reimbursed.)

If you and your pet don't satisfy these conditions, we still ask the question: Might not it be preferable for you to put money aside every month into your own insurance savings account for your pet, to use if and when needed, and to then have for yourself, again, if not needed?

So what about our situation, with our dog Joey?  Would purchasing pet insurance for him have saved us any money, in the long run? Stay tuned for our next and final installment of this topic, "

Pet Insurance: Is It Worth It? Should You Purchase It?

"

Pet Insurance: Pre-existing Conditions, Congenital Defects

"Pre-existing Conditions" is a term that you have heard referred to for human health insurance. But did you realize that this is a major issue with pet insurance?

And what about this term, "congenital defects and diseases"?  Many people don't even know what "congenital" means!

What do you know about the congenital defects of your darling new family member?

"Congenital" means that it comes with birth. The term "hereditary" also works.

Let's look at the human disease, Cystic Fibrosis. This disease is most common among Causasians in the United States  In the United States, this disease occurs more frequently among Caucasians than among any other ethnic or racial group.  If we took the same situation with a chocolate Lab who developed hip dysplasia, this would be considered, by most pet insurance companies to be a "congenital defect" and would NOT be covered! So you could be paying premiums and your dog could have many healthy years,  and then your dog develops hip dysplasia and you will not be reimbursed.

You may be able to find some pet insurance companies that say that they will cover congenital defects and diseases, but you need to do your homework. Which are they?  Read the fine print.

More than 400 diseases are considered to be congenital in dogs, and over 150 diseases are considered to be congenital in cats. More and more diseases are added each year to this list, as inbreeding continues. We do want our purebreds, right? And if your dog is a mix, do the pet health insurance companies refuse to pay based on both breeds in the mix? 

So before you purchase or consider purchasing pet health insurance, look at the list of congenital defects for your breed of dog. (And this goes for mixed breeds, too!)  Talk to your vet or do some online research.

So much to think about.... So much to learn!  Your dog is your best friend, and you are his.... But make smart decisions.

Our next installment is called "Do the Math".  

>The pet insurance companies are telling you one thing; sure they are!  They are in business. In their advertisements, they are presenting  the side of the story so that you cannot refuse taking out that policy.  You love your pet and want to be a good owner. But you can make a wise decision, if you learn to do the math!

Pet Insurance for Your Dog or Cat: Money Up Front

This is Part 2 of our series about Pet Insurance for your Dog or Cat: Is It Worth It?  (Read Part 1)

If you're looking at this post, you're probably looking also at 8 or so Google ads for pet insurance. So you need to be a smart shopper because businessmen have discovered that offering pet insurance is a good way to make money! So with that, let's continue:

Now my husband and I laid out an astonishing amount of money to have our Lab Joey just admitted to the medical center.

But would having pet insurance have had any less of a crash impact on our pocketbooks?

Truth is that most of the dog and cat insurance companies that I saw require you to pay the medical care bills first, and then submit the bill to them, and then they assess the charges and fees and reimburse you as they deem appropriate.

So you have to have the money up front, even with pet insurance.

In some animal hospitals, you can't admit your pet without having the money available; in others, you can't take your pet home without having it. 

That may be having up to $1000., which I saw for many pet owners whose dogs or cats had a diabetic attack, or, in our case, over $3000 for an animal that's been hit by a car, available on a credit card.

And keep in mind that many of these pet insurances also have deductibles that have to be met.

Our next post in this series is called "Pre-existing Conditions and Congenital Defects."

Health Insurance for Your Dog: Is It Worth It? Part 1

I know a lot of people who have dogs, but frankly I don't know that any of them have pet insurance. And yet when Joey was injured, we heard people ask, "Do you have pet insurance?"  The internet is pulsing with ads for pet insurance.

 

Right from the start, I'm saying that we never got Joey health insurance. Do we wish we had? Would we recommend pet insurance?

We are going to begin a short series on this question: Pet Insurance:  Is It Worth It?

First, Joey - and I hope I'm not putting a curse on him by saying this - never was sick one day in his life!  For the most part, until he was hit by the car, his medical care was entirely routine.

The worst medical condition he had was an occasionally skin allergy in the winter, that the veterinarian said was due to the long dry New England winter and his lack of being outside.  (And we solved that problem: After Joey got hit by the car, we started putting Omega 3 oils in his food once per day to help his skin heal and presto, by the next long and hard New England winter, he had only minimal skin dryness!)

So when Joey got hit by the car, and even that first day cost us a pretty penny, naturally we started wondering if we'd made a mistake, if we should have gotten our dog health insurance a long time ago, and we started wondering if it was worth it for us to get it from that point going forward (with the understanding that it would not cover any costs related to his accident).

Even that first day!  We had a fee at the first and local animal hospital that stabilized Joey, then the second and larger 24-hour animal medical center provided acute emergency care, diagnosis, etc.  Joey was in the Intensive Care Unit for 5 days, during which time he had, among other care, dental surgery.

Now, if your pet has an emergency, when you go into the animal medical center, before they will even admit your dog or cat, they will consult a doctor and create a maximum and minimum estimate of charges.  You must have that amount of money in your account or on a credit card account before they will administer your pet and provide emergency services. Your credit care is not actually charged; it's kind of like making a reservation at a hotel. They want to make sure you have the money, but you are not actually charged until the service is provided.

So let's go back to pet insurance. We went online and chose one very well-known company to obtain a free quote. We put in for the maximum coverage: Common Problems, Panic-Moment Problems (aha, here is where our dog gets hit by a car), expensive problems (which includes chemotherapy), routine care, additional care (?) and enhanced cancer care: Hocus Pocus and we have the figure $62. per month. Now do the real math.  Okay, over one year that's $744. Over a period of ten years, that's $7445. Hey, that's Joey's age!  Over a period of 15 years thats $11,160.

So a person would have to have $11,160 in medical bills (and that's after any deductibles and/or co-pays are paid) on medical expenses related to your dog to just break even after 10 years.

Now the caveat is "Pre-existing conditions including congenital defects or diseases". 

Here's where it gets tricky. What exactly is a congenital defect considered to be? Or a congenital disease? And what are the congenital defects and congenital diseases that YOUR dog might have been born with, or might develop, for which you will not be covered?

On a Labrador Retriever, the ever-so-common Hip Dysplasia is considered to be a congenital disease and is therefore not covered!  Did I see a list of exclusions for each breed - what is considered to be a congenital defect - on this website???? Did I hear any of you say "No"?

We looked at another dog medical insurance. In the rolling sidebar, it gave the following example, intended to surely hook you in to the great savings offered by getting pet health insurance:

Example #1:

"Treated for: Colon Cancer Claim Paid: $2647.xx Monthly Premium: $42.xx

Do the math.  This person was paying $507. per month for health insurance for his dog.  So if his dog got colon cancer when he or she was five years old, the dog's owner would have broken even, and if he/she'd gotten colon cancer after that age the owner would have saved money by having pet health insurance. But in our pet insurance's example, how old was the dog when he or she got cancer?  We don't know that!  We aren't told this!  Most dogs don't get colon cancer when they are 5 years old, although Joey's mom was an exception and got cancer and died when she was four. (Cancer is common among Labrador Retrievers, but not so common among other breeds.) So maybe this owner would have done better putting his money in a bank account every month and using it when needed, if needed, and taking that statistical chance.

Example #2:

Treated for: Cruciate Ligament Tear Claim Paid: $2633.xx Monthly Prem.: $37.xx

Do the math.  This pet owner was paying, per year, $444. How old was the dog when he got the ligament tear, or how many years was the person paying for this insurance?  At 5-1/2 years old, the owner was breaking even.  Before that, the owner was saving money. After that, the insurance company was coming out ahead. 

Be a smart shopper.  Be a smart pet owner.

When you see these ads enticing you to purchase health insurance for your dog or cat, do the math - first.

And then there is the question from above: the exclusions for a "congenital defect" and a "pre-existing condition"!  In another post, we're going to take a deeper look at this question: For dogs, what is a "congenital defect and what is a congenital defect or disease considered to be, by these insurance companies?

Part 2: Money Up Front!

Building Endurance in Your Injured Dog

The bandages from his broken ankle long off, Joey was doing great: Though we watched him closely, I cannot even pinpoint exactly when our dog stopped favoring his right side hind leg, the leg that was badly hurt, the one that had the metal plate and screws, and that had three broken toes, and when he stopped hopping on three legs rather than four. But he did!

When you've had an injury, you get back to normal slowly. Little by little. You notice and complain about your aches and pains. Maybe you even go to a physical therapist. Your dog, on the other hand, wants to jump right in, back to life. He wants to walk, run, jump up on beds, jump down from beds. Does he feel aches and pains? Maybe, but he isn't going to tell you.
He is, in fact, going to act rather like your adolescent child when he or she is injured or sick.

The fact is that both Phil and I played an important role in our dog's recovery and rehabilitation:

For a few weeks there, in the glory of the summer, I was taking him swimming in the lake, taking him literally doggie-paddling, giving his legs a workout, and getting his endurance up. (At least I was doing that until I got kicked out of the lake!)

Dad was taking Joey running in the morning...building up his muscles and his endurance.

Bringing patient, and having a good watch with a timer on the run was part of the process.

At first Phil would take him running for five minutes.  Then a few days later, increase it to ten.  Then a few days later, increase that to fifteen.  And finally one morning Phil took Joey out for a big twenty-minute run.

The twenty-minute run took place, at first, once a week. After a few weeks, he increased it to twice a week...

It's important to observe your dog - including what's going on with his tongue. That can signal he's too hot or too tired.

Joey would always start every run out strong. However, unlike before, at some point in the run, his tongue would hang out.  On some days, he just got slow toward the end of his run.

The dog, so full of enthusiasm, didn't realize that he needed to stop - so we humans had to realize that for him.  You have to understand it's not your run alone; it's the dog's run, too.

But it just seems that all of a sudden I noticed  Joey was walking normally and running normally, on all fours!

When I asked Phil if he had his running partner back, he paused.

"Almost, but not quite."

Now, five months later, on the long runs, the mornings when Phil runs for 40 minutes or more, Joey can't make it all the way.

Mister Enthusiasm is good for about 15 minutes but can manage twenty.

So Phil has to figure out how to run the dog - and still get his own long run in.

It was September. The shadows that followed Joey and me when I walked him toward the pond in the late afternoon dragged behind us. The long and lanky shadows that preceded Joey and me when I walked him back from the pond also seemed anxious to climb up the hill. Even the shadow of Joey's tongue, which would by then be hanging out, seemed longer. But we were on our way!


Please read more about our dog's injury and recuperation, from Joey's point of view!

What Does a Dog Do after He's Been Hit by a Car?

The dog has gone off on his own and you don't know where he is. You might not even know that he's wandered off. You might not be aware that he has gotten hit by a car.

What did our dog Joey do after he was hit by the car? He eluded everybody who was trying to HELP him, and walked home, several blocks away. And walked back down our driveway to the gate, and sat, and waited.

He didn't cry, he didn't lay down. He just sat by the gate.  And waited. For me.

People have told me that a dog who knows he's going to die will find an isolated place and just stay there. I don't know about that. I do know that our dog was very wounded, and that he came home, and waited.

And this is why it was so difficult for me to know, on my own, what had happened to our dog.

Another dog I know of (through the blog) was hit by a truck; his owners thought he was dead and they started digging a hole for his final resting place. Suddenly, he started moving.


It was a miracle.

Just last month, ten months after Joey was hit by the car, when I was walking Joey on a rainy day, an enthusiastic City worker stopped me and said, "Is this the dog who was hit by the car?" It turns out this was Eddie, the person who had tried to follow Joey but who'd lost him in the underbrush, and who notified the City that a dog had been hit!

We can salute the spirit of dogs and wounded animals, the spirit to survive.

How Our Dog Was Hit by a Car

Hello, friends.

Let me tell you about how our dog, Joey, got hit by a car.

One sunny morning Joey found a very nice place in the back where he could dig a long hole that followed along the fence, and then dip down under it, and gradually squeeze his body under it. In between it and our neighbors’ wooden fence is just enough room, a gap of about six inches, for him to squeeze my thin body through. About 30 feet later he is free.

And that's exactly what he did.

The site Joey chose was particularly clever because there was an evergreen tree in front of it that blocked us from seeing what I was up to. There was also a non-biodegradable plank that I had so smartly had placed there to keep him from access to the fence, which he easily pushed aside, it having become dislodged during the winter snows.

Isn't it amazing how dogs just figure these things out.

But this is just my point of view.  You can read more about Joey's life and about his injury and about life after he was hit by the car from his perspective, from the dog's point of view.

A Dog Who Runs

We have a dog and his name is Joey.

Joey runs.  Joey is a runner.

He's a chocolate Labrador Retriever, and as of this writing, he is almost eleven years old.

The miracle of his existence is that he was hit by a car last year and he survived, one miracle right there, and he is still running, three to five miles almost every day, another miracle right there.

This is a blog about living with a dog who runs!


Read my blog! And read about Joey's life and about his injury and about life after he was hit by the car from his perspective, from the dog's point of view.