We are hitting lucky number 13 today, our 13th episode. I’m not into superstition at all … like AT ALL. Any time I see a black cat, I give her a nod and say, “What’s up, cat?”
And today, we are taking a little break from the discussion of death and loss and grief. It can be a bit of a heavy topic, eh?
We are, at One Last Network, dedicated to the support and services pet guardians need as their pets age, too, not just as we prepare for those last walks with our precious babes.
As our pets age, we need to adjust our behaviors and schedules to allow them the space to grow old gracefully. But in ways, you might not think …
We might imagine our dogs need to spend all day sleeping or stay away from rambunctious younger dogs. (Or maybe that’s us, projecting our desires to be old and cranky and … well, if you’re over 50, you know what I mean.)
Research at the University of Toronto has shown that giving older animals mental exercise, encouraging them to engage in problem-solving activities and exposing them to new, different and richer environments, helps to offset the decline in mental acuity.
We can, says psychologist Norton W. Milgram, change the physiology of our dog’s brain by creating new connections between existing neurons simply by changing our dog’s routine and giving them new experiences.
That’s what Episode No. 13 is all about. I turn the mic over Courtney Bryson of CM Bryson Photography in Atlanta and she interviews her friend Paula Nowak of Canine Country Academy, based in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
They discuss simple modifications on common tricks and behaviors to help our senior dogs live out their best lives.
Find Paula
Angela Schneider
Hi, welcome back to One Last Network.
We are hitting lucky number 13 today, our 13th episode. I’m not into superstition at all … like AT ALL. Any time I see a black cat, I give her a nod and say, “What’s up, cat?”
And today, we are taking a little break from the discussion of death and loss and grief. It can be a bit of a heavy topic, eh?
We are, at One Last Network, dedicated to the support and services pet guardians need as their pets age, too, not just as we prepare for those last walks with our precious babes.
As our pets age, we need to adjust our behaviors and schedules to allow them the space to grow old gracefully. But in ways, you might not think …
We might imagine our dogs need to spend all day sleeping or stay away from rambunctious younger dogs. (Or maybe that’s us, projecting our desires to be old and cranky and … well, if you’re over 50, you know what I mean.)
Research at the University of Toronto has shown that giving older animals mental exercise, encouraging them to engage in problem-solving activities and exposing them to new, different and richer environments, helps to offset the decline in mental acuity.
We can, says psychologist Norton W. Milgram, change the physiology of our dog’s brain by creating new connections between existing neurons simply by changing our dog’s routine and giving them new experiences.
That’s what Episode No. 13 is all about. I turn the mic over Courtney Bryson of CM Bryson Photography in Atlanta and she interviews her friend Paula Nowak of Canine Country Academy, based in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
They discuss simple modifications on common tricks and behaviors to help our senior dogs live out their best lives.
Let’s listen.
Courtney
Hi, I’m Courtney Bryson of CM Bryson Photography based outside of Atlanta, Georgia. And today I’m here with Paula Nowak, the owner of Canine Country Academy based in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Paula has been training people and their dogs for more than 12 years.
She has been featured on Atlanta Plugged In and has contributed blogs to Brit & Co., Chewy.com and CEO Blog Nation. Paula and her terriers have earned titles and AKC rally, AKC set work and NACSW barn hunt and trick dog titles. Paula is a certified NACSW nose work instructor and AKC star puppy and Canine Good Citizen evaluator, and certified trick dog instructor. Canine Country Academy was founded to improve the relationships between dogs and their people. They strive to show you and your dog how to better relate to one another using respect communication and cooperation. I’ve been working with Paula and her team training my own dogs and foster dogs since 2016 and continue to take classes nearly every week. So excited to have Paula on today and to share some insight on things we can do to make some simple modifications on common tricks and behaviors to help our senior dogs. So, Paula, are you ready to get started?
Paula
Absolutely.
Courtney
Before I jump into the questions, I just kind of wanted to get your take on kind of why you’re here today.
Paula
I love all ages of dogs, and all the developmental stages of dogs. But I think this topic is something that we don’t talk about enough in my industry of dog training. Because when we think of dog training, we think of young dogs, you know, they’re naughty, and they’re adolescent. And then somewhere between adulthood and senior, they don’t get as much attention in terms of regular training. And when they’re young, we may not think of what they need when they’re older. And so I think this topic is really relevant because, you know, senior dogs, they still need stuff to do just like people who you know are retirement, you know, traditional retirement age, need things to do to get their body and their brain moving. And things that we can do to prevent any thing that could, you know, be more challenging for a senior dog or caring for a senior dog.
Courtney
That kind of drops me right into the first question I want to ask you. Why do you think it’s important to continue working on skills with our senior dogs?
Paula
You know, what I’ve experienced because we again, I don’t see many senior dogs unless there’s a behavior problem. But when I think of my own dogs or dogs, I’ve, you know, been able to enjoy that, or in their senior years, they do better if they’re physically and mentally stimulated on a regular basis, what I see is that they declined faster if they don’t have that regular engagement. And yes, that’s going to change, we’re going to talk about things we might need to change. But it really can help you have a better relationship with your dog longer, and maybe even help them have better quality of life well into their senior years. Unless they’re geriatric, that’s a whole other ball of wax. But we’re talking about dogs who can, you know, still do things and they can still learn, you know, that fun adage? Like, can an old dog and learn new tricks? Absolutely. But we have to know what to do with that, because we might not have ideas on what to do.
Courtney
Yeah, I can definitely say, like, even with my own dogs, the senior dogs that had more skills kind of going into their senior years, and that we kept asking them to do things did a lot better. Even Jack, my husky now who he’s going to be 11, in November, so very soon. He still really enjoys getting out and doing things and being asked to do things and kind of getting that positive rewards.
Paula
Yeah, they do. They, you know, the things that they enjoy when they’re adults, they likely will still enjoy when they’re seniors, it might need to be modified and might need to be less time or you know, less strenuous or whatever, but giving them these different outlets, especially for those who are really social or really enjoy learning new things, continuing that is really a nice thing to do for them. Unfortunately, I know, for me, I’ve gotten younger dogs, and then the seniors kind of take a backseat. And looking back, I wish I would have done more with them. Easy to say, but you always learn, you know, as you go to do more with them.
Courtney
So why would we need to modify some of the behaviors that we ask our senior dogs to do?
Paula
A lot of times — I’m gonna compare things to humans, even though dogs aren’t humans — we work with a variety of ages and capabilities of people too, even young people may have limitations, young dogs might have limitations. A lot of times it’s physical, you know, the dog can’t go for as long a hike as they used to, they can’t hold a position as long as they used to, or a certain surface as long as, you know, that they could before. And so we have to modify because physically, they’re not capable of doing it the way they used to.
And honestly, I give them a senior pass a lot of times, like, OK, you did it, OK, you didn’t do it as good, you know, as you used to do it, it wasn’t as fast or as accurate. But that’s OK. I mean, I still think hold your standards to a certain point, because I like to challenge. I have terriers, I like to challenge them.
But, you know, physical is the first thing that comes to mind and keeping them physically fit is going to change. I do dog-powered sports with one of my younger dogs. And, and he does Fast CAT and things like that, like I can’t do that forever with him because it’s not going to be sustainable for his body. Because things just break down, that’s just nature.
For the mental side, cognitively, they might not be as strong, or they may not have the capacity to learn very complex things, or things that maybe take more energy to do. So maybe free shaping games where you tell the dog like you guess whatever you want, I’m gonna reward it, the dog might be like, Whoa, like, my brain is kind of molasses and I can’t do that anymore. So I think it’s important to ask the dog the question, and then listen to the response to say, how was that for you? Because dogs won’t always self-modify for themselves. Like I say, know, Courtney, and I, you know, we’re go-go-go women. And then our bodies later are like “so next time can we do like half of what we did before?”
And we have to listen to our dogs and they may not be the best one to advocate for themselves. So just notice if they’re, you know, maybe a little more sore after a long hike or a big adventure. Maybe they’re a little grouchy those sorts of things you might want to alter the physical or mental stimulation and maybe a group class isn’t the right thing. Or maybe the type of class isn’t the right thing. To again, listen and watch and observe and say what’s right for you now because they’re in a different phase of their life.
Courtney
You really kind of answered my question about things that you might watch for to know when it’s time to modify those, when you’re talking about looking for dogs that are slowing down a little bit or seem sore or grouchy. Can you kind of give me some examples of behaviors that our dogs might already know? Like, I think everybody thinks of sit. Most dogs know sit. It’s the first thing we teach them. How can we modify something like that to help them be more successful as they age?
Paula
So sit is definitely one of those things I think we utilize, maybe overuse, we ask our dogs to sit for everything, please think outside the box for your dogs and do more. But with sit, you may not hold the position very long, you may ask them to do it on a surface that has more traction on it. And nowadays, there are so many options for dogs to help them with traction. So if you have, you know, tile or wood floors, you might be able to put little booties on them if they’re willing to wear little things on their nails to help them have grip.
But you might want to modify it to like putting a pillow under their bum, or having them sit on the edge of a dog bed that can stabilize them. So they don’t have to do the full, if you will, like crouched position. They can do it kinda, I think it’s important to still ask them and if they’re not doing something, it might be a clue, there’s something going on, and you need medical support or physical therapy support too.
But it’s also really good for them to do these different shapes, because we know they’re using those joints and those muscles and, you know, moving everything around good, you know, we don’t want them to get sick or lame in areas. So even just like putting a pillow or even like a, you know, something under them, so that they can, you know, crouch down and sit.
Courtney
So that kind of brings up a good point you talked about, like, sit is kind of our default behavior that we ask our dogs to do. Do you have some ideas for some other behaviors that we could teach even older dogs or behaviors they might already know?
Paula
Sure. And I was just having a conversation with someone about the benefits of really, and some of you may have just gotten an older dog, and you didn’t have the benefit of like teaching them a bunch of stuff ahead of time. But the more that they have in their library, the more you have to use in their senior years.
So you know, kind of build up this bank of things that they can do, things like a hand target. So having your dog walk towards your hand and putting their nose towards it is a really easy fun one that you can have them do multiple times or move them throughout space, you know, it’s something fun and easy if they’re willing to put their face towards your hand, whether it’s the palm of your hand, or the back of the hand for dogs that maybe are more sensitive to our hands, grabbing them.
We can also do things like mobility things. So if stationary is difficult, or uncomfortable, can they spin in a circle, those are really cute, like spin like little tops, my dogs all spin. And it’s really cute. But it’s a great stretch too. I think a lot of these skills are things that they can use for the benefit of their body. So spin in both directions, both right and left. Spin meaning, especially for senior dogs, like all four on the floor, they’re walking in a circle, and that like the dance, not like a little twirl.
You can also do shake, teach them if they only shake on the right side, teach them left side, you know, having them use their whole body, not just one side of their body, if that’s comfortable, whether they’re seated or standing, you can still shake. Those are really fun things that you can do that are tricks, but also you can use them for a lot of different things and things that the dog maybe doesn’t need to have great mobility to do.
Courtney
When I know something that all of your dogs know and your trainers’ dogs know is between.
Paula
Yes
Courtney
It’s a really cute, fun thing to teach dogs, unless they’re really gigantic.
Paula
Well, and then you’re just gonna need stilts, right? Between, for those who don’t know, is your dog actually walking around one side of your leg like they’re facing you first. And then they go around the right or left side, your choice. And then they end up between your legs either standing, seated or lying down. And it does make for a really good photo. Because you just have legs and then their cute little body. We’ve even tried it with two dogs between can be really cute too. But that’s something that, you know, it’s very practical to you can get them out of the way of you know, things going on if you’re on a walk. But it’s also really cute. And it helps dogs be around people’s bodies if they’re sensitive to being in our space.
Courtney
And then as we kind of start talking about tricks and things that we can teach them, are there things that we could do or behaviors that we could teach them that might help us kind of in cooperative care later. Because I know as they get older, they have to do things like take medicine, look at their teeth, they might need eyedrops, you have to check their bodies. What are some things that we can do to make those more successful?
Paula
Yes, and this is something started as soon as you get your dog Because inevitably the dogs who are not fond of some of these veterinary or husbandry-type behaviors, or things that we do to them are going to be more challenging as they get older and things are uncomfortable for them.
So, one, do a full body scan every week, every month, meaning making your petting time or touching time fun. If your dog doesn’t love it, I would definitely pair it with some snacks or licking mat, always ask the dog how they feel about it. Keep it short and sweet. For the dogs who are like, “what are you doing to me, why are you touching me there.”
We want to make sure that they’re enjoying it too. Because it’ll help us in the long run, you know, if there’s something going on something’s odd, you know, knowing that that scale, having them be still is difficult for a lot of dogs. So teaching them to get up on a grooming table and enjoy it. You can put licking mats up there, you can put snacks up there. I’m all about making it really fun for the dog and very rewarding.
So I’m definitely going to incorporate really yummy snacks, things that they can lick can be really good like cream cheese, baby food, mashed-up dog food is a great option.
My favorite thing and that is super versatile is chin. So that means that the dog puts their chin on your hand or on a prop so that you could look at their teeth if you wanted to easily without them, you know, hating you and trying to bite you. Check their eyes, check their ears, put on medication. It’s basically a stationing position. If you think about animals that are in captivity, like our, you know, elephants and lions and tigers and bears, oh my, you are going to see them do these things for those animals, and we can do it with our companion animals too.
So teaching a dog to station, just be there, be still. And it also helps us to see if they’re giving us permission. So if they do chin, or they do station a certain way, then we know they’re saying OK, do the thing. I don’t really like the thing. I don’t like that you’re putting eardrops in or you know, eyedrops or putting on some medication on a topical area. But they’re giving us the permission to do it. And consent is huge when it comes to veterinary care if we can get it, there’s things we can switch to make it as good as possible. But chin is my, like, go-to because I can get a lot of stuff done if you can just put your chin here for a second.
Courtney
That’s awesome. So you kind of mentioned just a second ago, talking about licking mats, which for people that don’t know, are a mat usually silicone that you can smear treats and things on. So like your baby food, your yogurt, your cream cheese. Are there other kinds of, like, interactive feeders or enrichment that are particularly good for senior dogs or that you would recommend people look at?
Paula
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think enrichment for senior dogs is a whole topic in itself, because they can’t do as many things sometimes, especially when they get to less mobility, more geriatric situations. So nowadays, like you said, they have the licking mats that are a flat silicone mat. Then you have bowls actually, that are like silicone mats, but they’re a bowl shape. Soft foods, I have a dog with no teeth, OK? Soft foods are really important things. So they’re not going to choke on or they’re not going to struggle with.
I think making things relatively easy for them. It’s important. They also make some things that have a suction cup that you can smear something on and it’s like a little pinwheel almost. And you can stick it on, like, glass or hardwood. And then you know, put something on there. You can freeze it if your dog likes frozen things, if he can handle that, and then let them work on that while you were doing husbandry or just as a snack. It’s something I like doing.
We just are doing a puzzle of the month at Canine Country Academy. And we just got these, I don’t know if I’m going to say it right, SodaPup Mandala puzzles and they’re hard actually, but they’re pretty short. And so you can put like different things in the little petals. And that’s really fun because it has, like … I did put some freeze-dried snacks in one, peanut butter in another and like squeeze cheese in another and you can do these different configurations and how you can use them for a senior dog to make it even more fun potentially if they like to use their nose, which I’m all about, is put all the other dogs away if you have multiple dogs, and you put a couple of those in different places and have the dog sniff it out, and then enjoy it.
Elevating it can be important, depending on the size dog. So even my 20-pound senior dog, he likes it a little bit elevated because it’s uncomfortable to put your neck down that way. So just putting it on like a raised food bowl or like even plant stands are actually really good for this and then letting them work it out. So anything to engage their olfactory system, their sniffy system, can help too because that releases good endorphins and now they’re licking, which is also soothing, too.
So any of those things are great for seniors. Some of the puzzles are great, too, that they’ve like flipped something, it depends on their mobility and how persistent they are at that. So again, try it and see if your dog likes it.
Courtney
Awesome. I love that. We’ll have to have you back and do a whole enrichment for senior dogs episode, because there’s some good stuff there.
Paula
Yeah, there’s so much. It’s just just barely.
Courtney
So in the meantime, where can people find you?
Paula
You can find us on our website, CanineCountryAcademy.com. That’s canine spelled out. We also are really active on our Facebook page. So that’s facebook.com/caninecountryacademy. And our YouTube channel and Instagram are also where we show up and we love sharing educational information. So if you have questions about things, make sure to show up there and get involved in the conversation.
Courtney
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. I’m really glad that we got to have you on.
Paula
Thanks so much for having me.
Angela
I just love how Paula talks about listening to what our dogs are trying to tell us … through their behaviors and reactions to what we ask of them.
It’s vital for us to notice these changes so we can be good advocates for them in their health care and at visits to the vet.
And one thing Norton Milgram determined in his research was that one year of enrichment in his dog study did not lead to significant differences. After two years, though, his behaviorally enriched group of dogs performed significantly better on cognitive tasks than the control group.
His findings demonstrate that cognitive abilities in senior dogs can be modified by providing behavioral experience but we have to stick with it.
Just like we can’t teach our dogs sit and expect them to sit without us always practising and reinforcing our ask.
Next week, the mic gets handed back over to Jessica Wasik of Bark and Gold Photography in Pittsburgh. She chats with Penny Layne, a certified professional dog trainer and fear-free professional, who founded Pittsburgh Pet Prayer Blankets.
The mission at Pet Prayer Blankets, through the distribution of — you guessed it — warm, fuzzy blankets, is to wrap aged and ill pets in love, comfort and prayer while also supporting the families who are going through the difficult phase of anticipatory grief.
