New Year, Old Dogs

10 Ways to make resolutions a win for your senior pets

Author

Angela Dinsmoor
December 28, 2024

Welcome back to the last issue of 2024 — In this week’s issue here’s what we are sniffing out

  • Make your resolutions matter to your pets

  • Some cool news for 2025

🆕 10 Ways to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions a Win for the Animals

Are you the type who likes to ring in the New Year with resolutions? Double the benefits this year… Practice your new skill or hobby, and make an animal’s day brighter at the same time by donating your spoils to a shelter or helping your pets, or the animals in your community.

#1 - Photography: Take photos of adoptable dogs for your local pet shelter to help increase their chances of adoption.

#2 - Knitting/crocheting: Knit blankets, or crochet small stuffed animals and put squeakers inside them while stuffing. I bought Woobles kits on sale for Black Friday for my mom and I to try, and squeakers for the insides. Mom and I can crochet together, and then donate our little stuffed animals to some small, old dog friends.

#3 - Sewing: Sew bandannas or simple dog pillow beds. They’re just triangles, rectangles or squares, and trust me… the dogs don’t care if the edges are even or not. I didn’t know how to do zippers when I made beds, so I sewed in velcro, but you could easily make the closure an envelope style (like some pillowcases have) as well! Here’s a (DIY) option to try: https://joyfulabode.com/how-to-make-a-dog-bed-step-by-step-with-photos/

#4 -Baking or cake decorating: 🍰 Try baking dog muffins, cookies, or small cakes for decorating.

#5 - Volunteering Or Walking More: Sign up to walk dogs at a local shelter or rescue! That‘ll increase your step count. 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ 

#6 - Home Brewing: 🍺 Did you know you can use spent grains to make dog treats? Here’s a recipe from an expert (Thanks Sheera) I happen to know!

Spent Grain Peanut Butter Treats

2 cups dried spent grain • 3 cups all-purpose flour • 2 3/4 cups water • 1 egg, beaten (can be substituted with ground flaxseed and water if desired, at a ratio of 1:3 ounces, thoroughly mixed so it creates an egg-like texture) • 3/4 cup peanut butter • 1 tsp cinnamon*

Preheat oven to 200. In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry spent grains with 2 cups of water for about 30 seconds. Then add the egg and peanut butter, mixing until just combined. Add the remaining water and slowly add in the flour, mixing until dough forms. Roll the dough out in a parchment-lined baking sheet and score it into 1x1 inch squares using a pizza cutter or knife. You can also use cookie cutters if desired. Bake for about 2 hours or until thoroughly dry. Break apart and serve to your pup. Keep in an airtight container.

Note: It may seem counterintuitive to dry the grains just to add water back in, but controlling the amount of water in a baking recipe is imperative for having a predictably good outcome. Failure to dry the grains first may result in super hard (like concrete) treats, and much longer baking times.

*To dry the grains: Squeeze out any excess moisture using cheesecloth or similar. Spread evenly in a single thin layer on a sheet pan and dry in the oven at 200 for about 2 hours, stirring every 30 mins or so, until completely dry.

#7 - Carpentry: While you’re learning, make raised dog bowl feeders, squirrel or bird feeders, or cold weather shelters for birds, cats, and rabbits.

#8 - Reducing your stress: An hour before bed, when your pet is quiet, put your phone or other devices to the side and spend the time petting him. Your senior dog will benefit so much, and so will you. Petting an animal is proven to reduce stress.

#9 - Learn to massage your own pup! Here’s a short introduction course offered by the Northwest School of Animal Massage, the organization I both learned from and taught at. The course offers a bit of insight as to why massage is important and a brief introduction to at-home massage for your pup. Use the code FREE4U to take the course for free (Thanks Lola)!

#10 - Home organization/cleaning out closets: If, like our family, you try to purge your home a little bit every year, research some organizations that mean something to you personally and drop your donations off to them. Here are two local Denver groups to donate to:

🐶 Soul Dog Rescue 

Soul Dog Rescue has a small thrift store in Englewood, CO. They take well-curated donations and all sales go toward their rescue and transport program.

CPP collects donations from many sources and holds food bank events around the state to offer food and supplies to folks who are struggling to provide for their pets. They’re in Littleton, CO, but have donation boxes set up all over Denver in veterinarians’ offices and local pet stores. Their website has a listing of drop off points.

In 2023, The CPP provided 9 million meals to Colorado pets which is the equivalent of meals for 150,000 pets for a month!

This organization also shares its food and supplies donations with our local rescues who are all working with limited funding. This is a fantastic group to donate to and volunteer with if you’re looking to contribute in any way! I have volunteered with them, and I’ve seen the amazing work they do.

Paying it forward by sharing resources

Many of us with geriatric pups end up buying a lot of things to help them (and us!) deal with the challenges of aging. In our house, over the years, we have bought booties for traction on slick floors and tender feet in the winter snow, gates for stairways, ramps for furniture, diapers, and pee pads. Special canned foods for dogs with poor appetites, clothes, and harnesses in all sizes. We’ve all been there with our old pups. I don’t know about you, but frequently my old dogs will refuse to use the thing I bought to try, like the teeny tiny harness our ancient chihuahua refused to let anyone put over his head after wearing it three times. OR whatever I bought was only needed for a few months, and then it collects dust in a corner somewhere for another 6 months. I used to give those things away to rescue organizations every time something failed to solve our problems (4 different types of booties, used once… can anyone relate??). 2 days later I would talk to someone who needed that exact thing. Isn’t that how it always goes with donations? So I started collecting unused items from people. It started with clothes and diapers mostly but has since evolved to ALL the things that people need for their older pups. Now I can lend something out so that each client can try one or two different types of ramps/stairs, to see what works for their dog, before they go spend a lot of money on something like that themselves - or to save them from spending money on it at all! If no one I know needs it, then I’ll donate to local pet rescues. If anyone in Denver needs something for their elderly pets, reach out to me. If you’d like to contribute, reach out too! I’m happy to continue to pay it forward by sharing the items I collect with families in need.

🐶 Sniffing Out Senior Dog News 📰

Senior Dog Humor 🤣 

How did we do with this week’s newsletter?

  • High Paws

  • Pooped in the House