Author: Chewy Editors

When they brought Franklin to the emergency animal hospital in Jacksonville, FL, his owners complained that he was dragging his hind legs. Diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease, the Dachshund with the big, soulful eyes was confined to a kennel and treated with steroids and analgesics. But despite aggressive medical therapy for 24 hours, the Doxie got worse. Intervertebral disc disease is common in small dogs; it affects 25% of Dachshunds. Due to constant jumping—on and off beds, up to couches, or just bouncing for joy—the discs between the vertebrae in the spine experience wear and tear and become irritated. Franklin’s owners were faced with the choice of a $3,000-$4,000 surgery that would require intensive post-op physical therapy, or to keep the dog on steroids and see if he’d still be able to walk at the end of the month. “With his diagnosis, he had about a 50% chance that he wouldn’t ever walk again,” says Dr. Britany Timberlake, DVM, who was on her part-time shift at the animal ER when Franklin was admitted. “[We had] to say, ‘We’re going to do this really radical surgery and your dog may not really walk again. You have to sit and do physical therapy for four-to-six weeks, and hope that he gets better.’ That’s a hard commitment for some people to make.” But Franklin had already made his emergency medical team fall in love with him, and Dr. Timberlake was among his admirers. “My gosh, he was just so cute, and he was so kind,” she gushes. “He just had the kindest eyes. He was so young.”

When temperatures drop and the chill creeps in, our four-legged friends appreciate the toasty goodness of a cozy sweater just as much as we humans do. In fact, it’s part of any dog parent’s responsibility to help keep their pet warm, comfortable, and safe in cold weather. To help you choose the right fleece, hoodie, or knit for your precious sidekick, Chewy editors curated the best dog sweaters for canines of all sizes. The dog sweaters on this list are a mix of Chewy best sellers that pet parents like you love, as well as new items that tap into some of the season’s hottest trends, like earth-inspired hues, bright and playful geometric designs, and #cottagecore rustic aesthetics. Not only will these top picks keep your dog warm in chilly weather, but they’ve got style to spare! Don’t be surprised when neighbors stop you on the street to admire your bundled-up BFF.

Zucchini is super low in calories and a great treat for dogs that are trying to lose a little weight. Both my dogs will eat them raw but, for some of their furry friends, convincing them that fresh vegetables are delicious can be a bit of a challenge. This is usually because they do not smell very interesting so we need to make them a little more exciting. Sprinkling them with a bit of ‘fairy dust’ usually convert even the pickiest dog.

Perhaps the only thing more popular than Adele’s latest album, 25, is the plethora of YouTube videos of moody mutts howling along with her heartbreaking ballad “Hello.” Based on those clips alone, it’s clear that dogs certainly have a relationship to music, though it’s not quite on the same level as the “this song makes me want to cry alone in a bathtub”-type reaction some (okay, all) of us humans have. According to Philadelphia-based music teacher Willie Nelson (no, not that one), dogs perceive a far wider range of sound frequencies than people, which might mean that the distinctions between close frequencies may be less important to them. If this is true, he says, dogs may not be able to distinguish between notes on a musical scale as well as people do. “The distinctions between 440 Hz and 494 Hz (two white keys on the piano near the middle) might not be as obvious to them as they are to us, therefore melody might be less meaningful for dogs,” he says. Though the meaning of music might be different for our canine companions than it is for us, it does indeed have a behavioral effect on dogs. And, much like it is for humans, music is a form of communication for dogs too. Dr. Stanley Coren, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, writes in Psychology Today that, compared to their wild cousins, domestic dogs bark more and howl only occasionally. In the wild, howling is a form of communication wolves use to assemble their pack or to reinforce the identity of the group, according to Coren. This may explain why a pooch is prone to howl along with some of your favorite songs. Dogs love their humans and by “singing” with you, they might be establishing their bond with you and displaying their place in your “pack.”