Three Tips to Help Your Dog Transition with the Seasonal Changes

Summer is gone and the leaves are turning beautiful colors, so what three things can you do to help your dog transition with the seasonal changes?. Just like humans your dog's body changes with the seasons so their needs can shift as well. Typically with the change of seasons, you may see allergies becoming stimulated, skin conditions changing and your dog's energy levels may vary. So let's talk about three tips to help the changes transition smoothly and stimulate new habits in a healthy pet-friendly manner. Our top three tips for the fall transitioning periods are to control allergies, initiating healthy foods, and create activities to keep your dog happy and healthy.

Our number one concern pertains to dogs that are particularly sensitive to allergies. Just like humans changing seasons means a change in pollen. If you know your dog is susceptible to allergies get ready to fight back. If your dog has never had allergies but is experiencing some of these clinical conditions: Nasal and eye discharge, sneezing, coughing, itching, or changes in their fur, consider the fact that they may have allergies and schedule a trip to the vet or try some of these holistic methods, it's easy and its cheap. Some dogs are more susceptible to allergies than others and some may develop allergies as they get older and their immune system becomes weaker. Here are some things can you do to help your dog transition with the seasonal changes.

Try This:

• Keep the house clean of any airborne stimulants by vacuuming and dusting regularly. This includes changing your sheets and vacuuming upholstery. Buy new dog beds or clean the old ones

• Clean or change household filters and keep windows closed

• Bath or have your pet groomed once a week to once a month

• Keep your dog's eyes and ears clean and use drops to promote health

• Make sure you are feeding your dog a healthy diet; steer clear of artificial flavors, sugar and fat.

• Have a wellness check with your veterinarian just to make sure your dog is in good health

A fun fact to know is that pumpkin and squash are good staple food items that not only you can enjoy this holiday season but your dog can as well. Pumpkins, in particular, are rich in carotenoids, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, fiber, zinc, iron, vitamin A and potassium. Dog lovers sometimes feed their pets pumpkin to help with constipation issues because it’s high in fiber and water. Keep this in mind and start your dog out with small amounts at first. Dr Jean Dodd recommends using 1tbs. for small dogs and 2 tbs. for large dogs to start. Using leftover squash to pep up your dog's food is easy and makes a good treat. You can also incorporate pumpkin into their diet using canned pumpkin. If you like an all-natural raw food diet your dog can eat raw pumpkin but steer clear of the pumpkin skin, seeds or innards as these can irritate your dog's digestion. Pumpkin and squash are loaded with antioxidants and can be a great way to boost your dogs immune systems during the change in seasons, which helps with those allergies we talked about earlier. Adding seasonal pumpkin and squash to your dogs diet is one of the easy things can you do to help your dog transition with the seasonal changes.

Lastly, just because the lazy days of summer are done for the year doesn’t mean your dogs active days have to be done as well. This is the best time of year to get out and get walking for both you and your dog. The leaves are turning, and the air is fresh and great to breathe in. So plan activities for you and your dog. We listed some amazing places for outside activities in the Newbury and plum island areas so to limit your research time and find fun activities look through Dog-friendly Hot Spots in Newburyport and Plum Island Massachusetts. To find our recommended outside activities focus on the second to the last paragraph of the post. Most of these hotspots stay open seasonally so check their websites or call ahead. Just because the seasons are changing doesn’t mean you have to slow down your dog's activities. Help your dog transition with the seasonal changes with exercise to keep them active, happy, and healthy this fall.