Mackenzie is the kind of Pug that takes time to smell the roses, someone who appreciates the early signs of spring, a ray of sun or the dewy grass. You can’t rush Mackenzie and you’ll often find him staring off into the sunset wondering how life made him the man he is today.
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As a dog gets older incontinence creeps in like it does for us humans. Accidents begin to happen and both the dog and the owners find themselves upset as a result. As much as our floors and carpets may take a beating, I find it is especially hard on the dogs because it is contrary to what they have been trained to do their whole lives. They are used to doing their ‘business’ outside so it can be very upsetting to them when they can’t control their bladder or bowels and make a mess inside the house. Diapers offer dogs a way to retain their dignity and age gracefully. Incontinence can be managed and there are lots of products including the diapers I show in this video that can help to control accidents, keeping dog and owner feeling relieved.
I have to admit, we had a lot of fun doing this video. While we have been selling diapers for some time I hadn’t actually tried them or tested them to see how well they worked…until now.
Watch as I try them out on Mackenzie and then on Paige to see the difference a tail makes. Each disposable diaper has a cute little hole for your dog’s tail which works great for a dog like Mackenzie, but not so great for a French Bulldog like Paige who only has what I call a pretend tail.
We also tested for absorbency and tried to copy an old diaper commercial that used to be on tv which poured water on the diaper and then used blue paper to see how much water was at the surface of the diaper. We were blown away when we discovered that these diapers were bone dry even after I poured a generous amount of water in them. This means that your dog will stay dry and comfortable even after they have urinated.
Typically this type of diaper is used for female dogs and male dogs use what is called a wrap. Mackenzie, who is in touch with his feminine side, volunteered to help show how these diapers work despite the fact that is very much a man. We will take a look at the male wraps in a future video.
Thanks for watching.
p.s. See if you can find the moment my sister’s finger makes its debut 
Ann-Marie Fleming is the Founder of www.DogQuality.com, a site focused on products that help older dogs enjoy life.
How does he do it? Living with Mackenzie our 13 year old pug is a lesson of contentment. I don’t know if it is something that happens when you reach the twilight years of your life but ‘Big Mac’ as I refer to him seems to take pleasure in everything he does, be it eating, sleeping, walking, and what I believe is his favourite…pooping. Don’t get me wrong, I think it can be argued that most dogs regardless of age seem to have fun in doing all of these things. However, I firmly believe that as Mackenzie has gotten older he has come to really savour every moment of each of these activities. He is a breed that naturally has character but when you watch him eat he takes time outs after each bite to lick his chops for half a minute and then continue. When you watch him sleep, he has waking moments where it seems as though he is reflecting on the best times of his life. He really does make living look, not just easy, but truly tasteful. Like every minute is another serving of his favourite meal. I love it and am thankful I get to enjoy it every day. It is a great reminder of how enjoyable life is when we slow it down to a manageable pace.
Wow, when you hear stories like this it really changes your perspective of professional athletes. Maybe they really are human with real emotions and genuine interests. Whom might I be referring to you ask? Well, let me start by saying, I am not a baseball fan and most certainly not a fan of the overly paid athletes who play the game but when I read the story about Ken Griffey Junior and his three dogs I had to lighten up a bit. According to an article by Seattlepi.com columnist Jim Moore, Ken Griffey Junior is a big dog fan and considers them apart of the family even going as far as researching what hotels accepts pets before embarking on the family vacation.
Particularly touching, is his love and devotion to his aging 12 year old Rottweiler. Akiba’s been through a lot — she had E. coli as a pup and almost died, and more recently, she had a basketball-size tumor removed from her chest. Moore explains that Griffey and his wife, Melissa, were at a loss with what to do but weren’t ready to give up, It’s no different than one of your kids, you want to try everything you can. With the help of an experimental drug administered through shots given once every two weeks followed by a cycle of once every four weeks the tumor disappeared.
Ken Griffey Junior lovingly talks about the rest of his dogs in the article and shows an honesty of emotions rarely shown by athletes, unless of course, they are found guilty of using muscle enhancements…sorry, but I had too. Haha. Anyway, aging dogs always find a way of tugging on my heart strings and this story reminded me that we really must find ways of keeping them in our lives happy and active for as long as possible. They are great companions and when they give you 12 plus years (as in Griffey’s case) of unconditional love we owe it to them to do what we can.
Living in Canada and dealing mainly with Canadian and U.S. dog owners I forget about all the great stuff the United Kingdom does for dogs. The PDSA is the UK’s leading veterinary charity, caring for more than 350,000 pet patients belonging to people in need. Recently they ran a program helping overweight pets to lose weight and in fact made a contest out of it. Participating in the contest, which consisted of a 100 day diet and fitness program devised by vets, was 5 obese dogs and one cat. Many of which were in their senior years.
The winner of this contest was a Labrador Retriever by the name of Keano (great name by the way) who began the contest at more than 100 pounds, which means that he was approximately 55% overweight. Losing 22 pounds earned him the skinny crown that he deserves.
Second place went to a 7-year-old German Shepherd by the name of Alfie who joined the program at over 125 pounds, approximately 55% overweight. Alfie missed the top spot by only a couple of pounds as he lost 20 pounds (19% of his body weight) and 6 inches off his waist by participating.
Tinks, the lone cat in the contest, fared exceptionally well, even at he young age of 13-years-old. Tinks was a shocking 96% overweight at 23 pounds, but left the program with a waistline that was 2 inches shorter and a body that was 2 pounds lighter.
It is hopeful that all the participants will continue to see the benefits that exercise and a healthy diet can bring, and if these results are possible within just 100 days, then think about what can happen over the next 6 months.
The bottom line is that no matter what age your pet is you can make a significant difference in their happiness and well-being by keeping them active and making sure they have a healthy diet. The benefits that controlling their weight can bring are absolutely endless, from preventing diabetes and heart problems, to keeping their spirits up and stimulating their minds.
Mackenzie (my pug) could be a poster child for weight-loss. By around 8 years-old he started gaining weight. He was getting older and has an enlarged heart. This meant that he would hyperventilate quite easy…it became a vicious cycle where I was too worried to walk him for fear that he was straining his heart, but by not walking him he was gaining weight which in and of itself put strain on his heart. Thanks to a wise vet we found the magic solution. We put him on a special diet food and I took him for walks early in the morning and at night when it was much cooler. The walks started very slowly, shorts walks that gradually grew in distance as Mackenzie became fitter and lighter.
Long story short - he went from being 31 pounds to 20 pounds and became a whole new dog. His energy shot up, his health dramatically improved and he has kept the weight off to this day, 5 years later.
I am a big believer in keeping your dog active and controlling their weight is one of the major benefits.
Do you have a dog with a great weight-loss story? If so we’d love to hear it.
Ann-Marie Fleming is the Founder of www.DogQuality.com, a site focused on products that help older dogs enjoy life.