Fitness training for your dog (or cat) includes balance work, stretching, tricks and aerobics

By Kim Campbell Thornton

The holidays are over, you're back at work or school and you're still enthusiastic about your New Year's resolution to get in better shape. I think most of us commit to some version of that resolution every year: to exercise more, take up a new activity, eat right. Include your pet in that fitness resolution, and you'll improve his health, performance and longevity, says veterinary sports medicine specialist Cindy Otto, DVM.

My cavalier Harper and I started a little early with this resolution when we attended a working dog fitness class last November, led by Dr. Otto. The exercises we learned are often taught to working dogs and canine athletes to help them stay agile and teach them body awareness, but any pet can benefit.

"I think pet dogs benefit even more because often they're bored to tears, they're fat and they don't have anything to mentally stimulate them," Dr. Otto says. "I think the whole process, especially training and working with your dog, changes your relationship."

A pet workout isn't that different from one you might do for yourself. It includes a warmup, stretching, balance exercises for core power, strength training and a cool down. You can take a fitness class with your dog or learn some simple strategies to work with him on your own, using equipment you may already have or can build easily.

A warmup is as simple as walking your dog around for a few minutes to get the blood flowing (especially if he has been crated for any length of time), some active stretches such as downward dog (a play bow) and a counter stretch such as "frog dog" for groin muscles. A trick such as "wave" or "high five" is a good stretch for limbs and shoulders. Complete the warmup with some sits and downs and a rubdown to get the blood flowing.

Balance exercises to build a strong core (think "pupilates") include sitting up on the hind legs; walking a plank -- a board placed atop two balance discs so it's a little wobbly when the pet crosses it; or standing on single or multiple balance discs. Core exercises can also be as simple as having your pet stand or walk on a sofa cushion or inflatable bed.

"Dogs need core strength to keep their spine and pelvis healthy and happy," Dr. Otto says. "A lot of dogs end up losing their lives because of hind end weakness. Bad hips and bad backs are big causes of euthanasia."

Balance work doesn't take long. Spend three to five minutes daily practicing these exercises with your pet. If your dog has a long back or doesn't have good control, be cautious and go slowly with difficult exercises such as "sit pretty."

Another important aspect of fitness is what's known as proprioception, or body awareness. Learning to back up, fitting all four feet in a box and spinning in both directions are all skills that can help to build this ability.

Exercises for building strength and proprioception include walking up hills or walking sideways up hills. Backing up a hill strengthens the rear end while backing down a hill strengthens the front end. Other good strength exercises are "pushups" -- repeated sits and downs -- rolling over in both directions, crawling and trotting through the rungs of a ladder on the ground.

"Fit dogs have muscle tone," Dr. Otto says. "Just being thin isn't enough."

To find a class, do a web search for "fitness class for pets." You can find classes for puppies, seniors and people and pets of all fitness levels.

Q&A

Shedding or hair loss:

What's the difference?

Q: My cat seems to be losing a lot of hair. He even has a couple of bald patches. What is the problem? -- via Facebook

A: It's normal for cats to shed, of course. Hairs grow and then fall out on a regular basis, adorning our "fur-niture" (that's why they call it that), floors and clothing. Sometimes cats spontaneously lose a lot of hair when they are nervous or afraid. Stress activates their arrector pili muscles, attached to the hair follicles, causing the cat to suddenly lose hairs that have been in the resting phase of the hair growth cycle. That's a harmless condition, although it may leave your hands and clothing extra furry, but if your cat is starting to get bare patches, it's time to see your veterinarian. Any time you can see skin, hair loss is not normal.

Cats can lose fur from scratching or chewing at themselves. Known as traumatic hair loss, it's usually related to itchy skin caused by allergies or fleabites. Cats with traumatic hair loss are often allergic to substances in the environment, such as pollens or to ingredients in their diet.

Occasionally, cats can experience spontaneous hair loss from endocrine diseases such as Cushing's or from certain forms of cancer, such as lymphoma or liver or pancreatic cancer.

To diagnose the problem, your veterinarian will need to perform a physical exam. If the cause isn't obvious -- fleas, for instance -- blood work and possibly a skin biopsy can help to pinpoint the problem. If your cat has an endocrine disease or allergies, your veterinarian can prescribe medication or a change in diet. These types of conditions usually respond well to treatment.

If medical causes are ruled out, seek the advice of a veterinary behaviorist. Your cat may have a compulsive disorder that's causing him to pull out his fur. -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

Pacemaker gives dog

new leash on life

-- A 7-year-old bulldog named Joe is the first canine recipient of a state-of-the-art pacemaker, a small device that helps to control abnormal heart rhythms. The human-grade pacemaker, implanted by Auburn University veterinarian SeungWoo Jung, stimulates more of the heart than older models more commonly used in dogs. Older-style pacemakers regulated only the heart's bottom chamber, while newer models regulate top and bottom chambers. Manufacturers have made the devices available to veterinary cardiology programs at low or no cost.

-- Max and Bella top the list of most popular pet names of 2015, followed by Charlie and Buddy for male dogs and Lucy and Daisy for females. The trend toward human names for pets has been going strong for several years (last year, 49 percent of pet lovers chose "people" names for their dogs and cats), but pop culture is a force as well. "Star Wars" fans are naming pets Chewbacca, Yoda and Wicket, not to mention Luke and Leia. And who wouldn't name a Lab Boba Fetch? "Harry Potter" aficionados name pets Luna or Dobby as well as variations on the scarred wizard himself: Harry Pawter or Hairy Potter, anyone?

-- When foxes nearly wiped out a colony of fairy, or little, penguins on Australia's Middle Island, the flightless birds were rescued by an unusual savior: a Maremma sheepdog named Oddball. The uninhabited (except by penguins) island was invaded by foxes, who crossed to it from the mainland during low tide and feasted on the tiny penguins, which stand only 8 to 12 inches high. A chicken farmer suggested that his Maremma, a guardian breed, be used to protect the birds. That was 10 years ago, and the experiment was a success -- the fairy penguin population has risen to 200. Currently, two dogs named Eudy and Tula patrol Middle Island, and a new puppy is in training to start work this year. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Kim Campbell Thornton and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: Dogs and cats can benefit from "core" and strength training. Position: Main Story

Caption 02: Dogs as diverse as briards and Brussels griffons are named after the "Star Wars" character Chewbacca, said to have been inspired by George Lucas' big, furry Alaskan malamute. Position: Pet Buzz/Item 2

A missing-dog story has a happy ending thanks to an identification tag

By Kim Campbell Thornton

It's one of the most alarming phone calls a pet owner can receive: "Hello? I've found a dog. His tag says 'Thornton' on it, and it has this phone number."

That was the call I received last month while I was in Oklahoma, visiting my parents. My husband was recovering from surgery and had a cold, so we placed the dogs with a pet sitter who had kept them many times previously.

I was stunned and frightened. Had all the dogs escaped the sitter's home, or just this one? Were the other two still running loose somewhere? I rummaged for a pen and some paper so I could take down the caller's name and phone number. I called my husband to alert him that he needed to call the person and arrange to get our dog. I wasn't sure which one it was, since Keeper and Harper both have brown-and-white coloring.

Then I called the pet sitter. "Do you have my dogs?" He admitted that Keeper was missing -- he had somehow slipped out of the house unseen. They were searching for him. Happily, Harper and Gemma were still there. I let him know that Keeper had been found -- turns out he was just next door -- and that my husband would be by soon to pick them all up.

You might say that I'm a little obsessive when it comes to the amount of information I put on my pets' identification tags. They are engraved with our last name, our home phone number, two cellphone numbers and our veterinarian's phone number. Of course, my dogs are also microchipped, but an ID tag is the first and easiest option for recovery. All the finder has to do is read the tag and call the phone number on it.

In our case, the man called our house phone first but didn't leave a message. My husband didn't recognize the number, so he didn't pick up the call. I had my phone on silent because my parents and I had just gotten out of the movies, but luckily I felt it vibrate. I didn't recognize the number either, but it was an Orange County area code, so I answered.

In addition to their ID tags, my dogs wear tags from HomeAgain and the American Kennel Club's Reunite service. The microchips are registered with those organizations, so if the man had called either of those numbers, we would have been notified. And of course they all have their license tags from the county. Those tags don't have phone numbers, but if the finder had called Orange County Animal Control, they would have been able to identify Keeper and get in touch with me.

Accidents like Keeper's escape can happen to anyone. He's very good at home about not running out the door, and I would not have expected him to escape in such a manner, but you never know what a dog is going to do.

You can never prevent your dog from becoming lost, but you can take easy, inexpensive steps to increase the likelihood that he'll come home safely:

-- Keep a collar with an up-to-date ID tag on him.

-- Put multiple phone numbers on the tag.

-- Check the tag regularly to make sure the engraving hasn't faded.

-- Microchip him.

-- License him.

-- Register his identification with an organization such as the American Kennel Club's Reunite service.

And remember: If you find a lost dog, be sure to leave a message at all the phone numbers.

Q&A

How often should

I deworm my cat?

Q: I just read that cat owners should deworm their cats monthly instead of annually. Why is that? I never see worms in my cat's poop, and he gets a fecal exam every year with a deworming if he needs it. -- via Facebook

A: I know it sounds like a lot, but veterinary parasitologists now recommend year-round parasite prevention for good reason. A recently published study in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association found that more than half the cats examined had tapeworms that weren't evident through a fecal flotation test (how your veterinarian checks for the presence of intestinal parasites). Many of the cats also had roundworms. In most of the cases, the cats did not have evidence of worms in their feces or on fecal flotation. That means a lot of cats are carrying intestinal parasite loads that haven't been identified.

It's not unusual for cats to have a negative fecal exam for tapeworms or for your indoor cat to be exposed to roundworm or hookworm eggs brought into your home through mud, dirt or soil on your shoes. If your cat hunts and eats crickets, beetles or rodents, he can ingest roundworm eggs or larvae that way.

Ask your veterinarian about a parasite prevention program that's appropriate for your cat's lifestyle and health, as well as the types of parasites common in your area. He or she can recommend a broad-spectrum monthly preventive that's safe for cats and effective against intestinal parasites, fleas and heartworms, which are a risk to cats as well as dogs. If that's not a good option for you, have your adult cat dewormed two to four times a year as a preventive measure. During their first year, kittens should be screened at least four times for intestinal parasites. Dog owners, the same information applies to your pets. -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

"Test-tube" puppies yield

hope for dog, human health

-- Researchers at Cornell recently whelped a litter of beagle-cocker spaniel puppies using in vitro fertilization, a scientific first. The technique lays the foundation for conserving endangered wild dogs and rare dog breeds, and using gene-editing technologies to eradicate heritable diseases in dogs. It also provides a powerful tool for understanding the genetic basis of diseases, says Alex Travis, associate professor of reproductive biology in the Baker Institute for Animal Health in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. The study describing the effort was published online in the Dec. 9 issue of the journal PLOS One.

-- If you have muscle or joint pain and use a topical pain medication containing the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) flurbiprofen, your pet could be at risk if he licks your skin or otherwise ingests the drug. The Food and Drug Administration received reports of five cats in two households who became ill or died after their owners applied the cream or lotion to themselves. Even small amounts of the drug can be dangerous to pets, so it's important to store the medications out of their reach, discard applicators or gloves used to apply the medication in a place where pets can't get to them and prevent pets from licking skin of people who use the drugs.

-- Vaccinating dogs for rabies may help to eliminate the disease in humans. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 80 percent of people at risk for the disease live in poor, rural areas in Asia and Africa. "Vaccinating 70 percent of dogs regularly in zones where rabies is present can reduce human cases to zero," says OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) director-general Dr. Bernard Vallat. It's easier and less expensive to vaccinate dogs for the disease than it is to treat humans bitten by rabid dogs. -- Dr. Marty Becker and Kim Campbell Thornton

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: An identification tag helped ensure that a lost dog was returned quickly to his owners. Position: Main Story

Caption 02: The first litter of puppies born as a result of in vitro fertilization. Credit: Mike Carroll, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Position: Pet Buzz/Item 1

Toys are essential to keeping your cat active and happy

And don't forget the classic catnip-filled mice for rolling and rabbit-kicking under the influence.

To keep your cat interested in his toys, change them out every few days. If he sees the same ones over and over again, he'll get bored and look for something new to play with. Cats being who they are, it will probably be something expensive or fragile that you don't want him to treat as a toy.

Those laser pointers, flashlights and wand toys have especially high value to cats because they are just so darn much fun. Bring them out less often than other toys, and limit the amount of time your cat is allowed to play with them. For some cats these toys are addictive, and they will stand in front of the closet where the laser or wand is stored and yowl plaintively until they are brought out.

Remember, if you give in even once, you have just taught your cat exactly how to manipulate you. To help soften your cat's disappointment when these favorite toys go up, reward him with a treat afterward or give him another favorite toy, like a catnip mouse.

The word "toy" just doesn't seem to cover how important these items are to our pets, especially an indoor cat. Indulge your pet with the gift of play, and you'll both be happier for it.

Q&A

Ignore barking dog

to end phone follies

Q: When I get on the phone, my dog starts barking. Why, and how can I get her to stop? -- via Facebook

A: Anyone who has ever worked as a telemarketer can tell you that lots of dogs start barking the minute their owners get on the phone. Why? Because they've been taught to behave that way -- accidentally, of course.

The problem starts when a dog barks at you just once when you're on the phone. Maybe she wants your attention. Maybe she just felt like barking at that moment. If she did it while you were watching TV or paying the bills, you'd probably ignore her. That means no reward for the behavior, which also means it's not likely to be repeated.

But if you're on the phone, you don't want the person on the other end to hear your dog barking, or to hear you yell at your dog to shut up. Chances are that you'll pet your dog or throw her plush toy across the room just to keep her quiet. Before too long, you have a dog who starts yapping every time you pick up the phone, because that behavior has been rewarded.

Sometimes, it even goes a step further. There are plenty of people who give their dog a treat to shut her up while they're on the phone. This is a big payoff for the dog, who is now rewarded for every yip with a cookie. Why would she stop barking? Dogs are not stupid.

The best way to avoid this problem is to prevent it: Don't reward your dog in the short term for behaviors you don't want in the long run. If she barks when you pick up the phone, ignore her. If that doesn't work, or if your dog is already a phone pest, ask your veterinarian for a referral to a dog trainer who can help you re-train her to be quiet on command. -- Dr. Marty Becker

Do you have a pet question? Send it to askpetconnection@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker.

THE BUZZ

Antifreeze gets

a safety makeover

-- The manufacturers of antifreeze and engine coolant have agreed to add a bittering agent to their products, making them far less likely to poison pets and wildlife. In its original state, these products taste sweet, making them attractive to animals. The active ingredient, ethylene glycol, is highly toxic in small amounts and quickly absorbed, making veterinary response difficult and death common for animals that ingest the product. A number of states have mandated that bittering agents be added before products can be sold, but the voluntary agreement, brokered by the Humane Society Legislative Fund, expands the sale of the new formulation to all 50 states.

-- Like humans, dogs have two kinds of sleep. The deeper kind is characterized by rapid eye movements, so it's known as REM sleep. We know humans dream during REM sleep. We also know that the whining, heavy breathing, twitching and leg movements we've all seen in our dogs occur during canine REM sleep. So it's not a far fetch to believe dogs are dreaming, too. What are they dreaming about? We'll likely never know.

-- In veterinary circles, the popular Labrador retriever has the reputation as a breed that it will "chew 'til they're 2, and shed 'til they're dead." Bred to carry things in their mouths, it's no surprise that these dogs sometimes swallow them, too -- and without chewing first, as in the case of Ryder, a Lab puppy in Wilmington, Delaware, who swallowed an antler. Ryder's antler was safely removed by his veterinarian, and the dog's mishap was named "The Most Unusual Claim of the Month" by Veterinary Pet Insurance. -- Dr. Marty Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Kim Campbell Thornton. They are affiliated with Vetstreet.com and are the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Dr. Becker can be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker. Kim Campbell Thornton is at Facebook.com/KimCampbellThornton and on Twitter at kkcthornton. Mikkel Becker is at Facebook.com/MikkelBecker and on Twitter at MikkelBecker.

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: Keeping kittens and cats busy with toys will help them learn not to play rough with family members. Position: Main Story

Caption 02: The move by manufacturers to make antifreeze bitter-tasting may help to save many pet lives. Position: Pet Buzz/Item 1