Eco-Friendly Ideas to Improve Your Dog’s Health as It Ages

We are finding that eco-friendly living is becoming more important to customers in numerous ways. In the early days of the green living movement, people were only using eco-friendly practices to find more renewable energy sources. However, they have recently found other green living ideas, such as using eco-friendly dog ownership ideas.

One survey from April found that 81% of the country’s 81 million pet owners said that they take the environment into consideration when taking care of their pets. This includes finding more environmentally friendly ways to help their dogs as they get older.

Eco-Friendly Practices to Take Care of Dogs as They Get Older

Raising a dog from a little puppy can be an exciting experience, but it’s also a serious long-term commitment with various responsibilities for you. It can be even harder if you try to be an eco-friendly dog owner too.

It’s important to pay attention to the changing needs of your best friend if you want to ensure that they’ll be able to live their full life as pleasantly as possible. This is especially true as a dog gets even older, at which point you might have to take a different approach to things that may have become part of your routine at that point. Thankfully, as long as you put some time into planning this properly, you shouldn’t face too many difficulties along the way. You don’t even need to leave a larger carbon footprint by following these steps!

Come Up with Eco-Friendly Exercise Routines

Keeping your pal active is important at all times, but having them run after you on a bike may not be the most appropriate way to go about this as they grow older. With weakening muscles and the eventual bone pains, you should find more easy-going ways to keep them moving, especially if they are used to an active life from before. You need to invest in some equipment to keep your dog healthy, while making sure that they don’t leave a large carbon footprint. This is one of the most important ways to be a green dog owner.

You should look into some new eco-friendly toys specifically designed for this purpose – the market for these products is quite rich and diverse nowadays, so you have a lot of comparing to do. You can find some eco-friendly exercise products for your dog from articles on sites like The Good Trade.

Just don’t push too hard if you don’t see any avid enthusiasm for this in your dog, because not every dog is the same when it comes to increasing the amount of exercise they have to do on a daily basis. After all, the goal is to make them feel better overall, not make them dread every new morning because they are anticipating an annoying exercise routine!

Explore New Places without Driving

Don’t just stick to the same old places that you used to explore before either. Try to vary things up a bit with some new scenery, new people, and new opportunities to explore and discover something exciting. Many dogs love this aspect of their walks, even though they might often try to give you the impression that sticking to your classic routine is what they want. If there are any special places that you’ve always wanted to take your dog to but never had an opportunity to before, try to clear up your schedule for them now. You’ll often find that this can easily breathe a lot of new life into your dog even if he’s been looking tired and down in the last months.

You don’t have to drive to go to places worth traveling with your dog. It is best if you don’t, since you won’t leave as much of a carbon footprint, which is obviously bad for the environment.

Finding Comfort at Home is the Most Eco-friendly Idea

Do your best to revise and improve things at home as well. Every little thing can add up! Does your dog have trouble climbing on his favorite sofa? Get a small pet ladder or even place some old boxes in front of the sofa as a climbing assist. Pay attention to how comfortable they are around their food as well. Animals – both dogs and cats – tend to change their eating habits as they grow older, and might not find the current arrangement that comfortable any longer. This is especially true with breeds that normally enjoy their privacy in the first place. Your dog won’t always make it immediately obvious that he has an issue with the situation, so pay closer attention to the little signs that might indicate they’re having trouble with a certain part of the daily routine.

You won’t leave as much of a carbon footprint if you stay at home with your pet. You can shave the damage that you would do to the environment by simply chilling at home.

Time for a New, Sustainable Diet?

Another area you should definitely take a look at is the way you’re feeding your buddy. Dogs can get overly sensitive to certain foods as they grow older, and not in a good way. What used to be a favourite meal or snack might eventually become downright harmful, so you should be very careful with the way you’re adapting your dog’s diet over time. This is especially true for dogs with certain medical conditions, particularly ones in the digestive system. You might need to consult a veterinarian to ensure that the dog is still getting its full dose of daily nutrition without harming its organism in ways that you might not anticipate.

You can consider finding a diet that is better for the environment and your dog’s health. You can find some eco-friendly diet food for your dog on places like Earth911.

Extra Nutritional Help

If diet alone doesn’t prove sufficient, consider using some nutritional supplements to bridge the gap. Yu Move offers a good variety of supplement products that can help get you started – check out what they have to offer. They are one of the better companies to start your search with if you’re not very familiar with the market, as they’ve been around for a while and have extensive experience in the field. Don’t be afraid to branch out, though, and make sure to explore the full range of options available to you on the market before committing to a specific selection of products for your dog’s diet. Also keep in mind that it might take some time for changes to take effect, so don’t be quick to discard something just because you don’t see any immediate difference in the first few days. Be patient, this is going to be a trying period for your pal and for yourself alike.

Socialize More Instead of Using Environmentally Destructive Ideas

Many breeds tend to become more affectionate as they grow older, and it may get to the point where your own care and attention isn’t enough. Now would be a good time to explore some additional options for helping your dog to socialize. Start with the basics – go to a park that’s popular among dog owners, and try to strike up some conversations. Or even let your buddy free and let it handle things on its own. That of course doesn’t apply to every breed, and you know your pal best. But in most cases, it’s a good starting point. Look up some Facebook groups for dog owners looking to socialise. There are plenty of those, and if you live in a bigger city, you should have multiple options to pick from. Remember that your dog likely won’t get along with every other dog out there – they have their feelings and preferences, just like we do. But even finding a couple of new buddies to hang out with can already make a huge impact on the happiness and the overall attitude of your pal.

This is good for your dog’s health, which can be good for the planet as well. If you keep your dog healthier by socializing, then you won’t have to depend on environmentally destructive medicines and therapies down the road.

Make Them Feel Special

Don’t miss out on a good opportunity to remind them that they hold a special place in your heart, either. Drop a little something while you’re cooking – or even go all out and prepare a special meal just for your friend! There are many ways to treat a dog that go beyond the basic snacks and treats, and you’ll know what works best for your own pal. Don’t be afraid to spoil them a little either. Now is the time for that, and you can probably ignore some dieting limitations that you would normally pay close attention to. After all, the goal is to make every year feel even more special than the one before it.

Don’t get discouraged if some of those ideas don’t work out right off the bat. As we said earlier, each dog has its own preferences, and not everything is going to work equally well. But as long as you understand your friend and know what they are looking for, you can generally do a lot to make them feel happy and special in those times. Don’t be afraid to go a little overboard – your friend is going to appreciate it!