Proactive Care for Your Dog’s Wellbeing: 4 Key Pillars for Healthy Dogs
As pet owners, we all want the best for our dogs—healthy, happy, and full of energy. But achieving this requires more than just responding to problems as they arise. It’s about taking proactive care to ensure your dog’s wellbeing in all aspects of their life. Just like humans, dogs thrive when they’re supported holistically, from their physical health to their mental and emotional state.
At Bisous Pets, we believe in empowering pet parents to take a comprehensive approach to their dog’s care. To us, proactive care is a holistic approach to supporting and managing the wellbeing and longevity of your dog through their daily habits and lifestyle. These are small actions to help prevent illness and injury and support a longer and healthier life. Here’s a closer look at the four key pillars that play a crucial role in proactive care for your dog’s overall wellbeing.
- Diet
- Physical Health
- Mental Health
- Emotional Health
1. DIET: Fuelling Your Dog’s Body for Success
The foundation of proactive care begins with proper nutrition. Just like humans, dogs need a balanced diet to support their growth, energy levels, and overall health. A high-quality dog food that meets your dog’s specific dietary needs can help maintain a healthy weight, support bones and joints, and a strong immune system.
In addition to traditional kibble, there is now a variety of raw food, cooked food, freeze-dried and air-dried food, all made specifically for dogs with growing evidence demonstrating the health benefits. Consult your vet about any potential diet options, including food sensitivities or allergies to make sure they’re getting the right nutrients for energy, joints, coat health, and vitality.
Proactive Care tip: Nutritional Toppers
A healthy gut significantly contributes to a dog's overall health. Prebiotics and probiotics can be included in a dog's diet to help strengthen their gut lining and the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. There are also plenty of supplements that can be added to a dog's diet to proactively optimise their nutrition. They often come in the form of powders or freeze-dried toppers and offer more targeted nutrition to combat particular health concerns.
Sprinkling supplements in your dog's bowl to support their joints, skin, digestion, and dental health is an excellent way to proactively support their wellbeing each day!
2. PHYSICAL HEALTH: Keep Your Dog Active and Fit
Exercise isn’t just about burning off energy - it’s essential for your dog’s physical health. Regular exercise keeps muscles strong, supports healthy joints, maintains healthy weight, helps regulate stress, and boosts your dog’s mood. Having a routine of daily movement for your dog is a cornerstone in proactive care. You can mix up physical activity with walks, running, dog park play (such as fetch or tug), and swimming!
Proactive tip: Injury Prevention
Tailor your dog’s exercise routine to their breed, age, and fitness level. Some dogs thrive on long runs, while others need shorter, more frequent walks. Always use a good dog harness that allows correct freedom of movement and supports mobility, like the Smart-Fit Harness.
You can include proactive habits in your dog’s routine for injury prevention, which includes warm-ups and stretching! Do this before/after your dog’s daily exercise and when they play with other dogs.
Maintaining strength in your dog legs, chest, and back is also a great way to help prevent future injuries. Try this with at home exercises such as repeating sit and stand, paws up (placing front paws on a surface a few inches off the ground, and then step back down) and having your dog weaving in between objects while walking in a straight line.
3. MENTAL HEALTH: Stimulate Their Mind
Mental stimulation is just as important as physical activity for your dog’s wellbeing. Dogs need mental challenges to stay sharp and prevent anxiety or destructive behaviour. Activities that are mentally challenging are ones that allow dogs to chew, lick, sniff and explore.
Proactive tip: Enrichment Routines
Incorporate training sessions or fun games into your dog’s daily routine. Simple games like hide-and-seek, or learning new tricks, are great for enhancing their cognitive skills and deepening your bond. Puzzles toys, interactive toys, lick mats and obedience training can help keep your dog’s mind engaged and reduce the chances of boredom, which can lead to unwanted behaviours.
You can also DIY games yourself - place treats in a towel, roll the towel up and tie it around itself in a twist, then give to your dog to sniff out the treats.
4. EMOTIONAL HEALTH: Building Strong Bonds and Providing Comfort
Dogs are highly emotional creatures, and their emotional health is just as important as their physical and mental wellbeing. Ensuring that your dog feels safe, loved, and supported will help them lead a more fulfilling life. Dogs thrive on routine and stability, and they need plenty of affection, attention, and positive reinforcement to feel secure and happy.
Proactive tip: Intentional Quality Time
Spend quality time with your dog every day where you are mentally present with them - whether it’s cuddling on the couch, training, playing, or simply talking to them. Creating a secure, loving environment helps your dog feel emotionally balanced and is especially important if they spend a large portion of their time alone at home, while their humans are at work.
We can also support our pup’s by learning how to read their body language. Dogs communicate through their posture, facial expressions, and vocalisations. Understanding these cues can help you interpret how your dog is feeling in various situations. Did you also know that dogs have love languages too? Just like humans, dogs have preferences in the ways they express and receive love. Knowing your fur baby’s love language can help support their emotional wellbeing and strengthen your bond.
Incorporating Proactive Care into Your Dog’s Daily Life
Taking a proactive approach to your dog’s wellbeing means staying ahead of any potential issues and ensuring that each of these four pillars is nurtured. It’s not about waiting for a problem to arise; it’s about creating a routine that promotes a healthy, happy life for your dog.
Start with small changes and make proactive care a part of your daily routine. Your dog will thank you with years of happy moments!
