In this week's issue, here's what we are sniffing out

• A brand-new finding: the way your old dog walks may be an early signal of dementia - and it's his front feet that tell the story

• What that means at home, and what to do about it without panicking

• Plus: a major canine-aging study gets rescued, and fresh funding for senior-dog research

Watch his front feet

If you have an old dog, you probably already watch the way he moves. You notice when he's slow to get up, the days he’s stiffer than others, when a walk that used to be easy isn't anymore. As pet owners, it’s easy to file all of that under the same heading — he's just getting old — and leave it there.

But this month, researchers gave us a reason to look closer, and to look at something specific: his front feet.

A study published June 24 in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, out of North Carolina State University, found that senior and geriatric dogs with worse cognitive scores walked with a shorter stride in their front legs — not their back legs. And here's the most interesting part to me: when they compared two dogs with the exact same amount of arthritis, the dog with the higher dementia score still took shorter front steps. So the change in how he walks wasn't simply coming from sore joints. Some of it was coming from the brain.

To be clear, this study is a small one, so more research is still needed. Every dog who takes shorter steps on the front end doesn’t have dementia. Lots of things shorten an old dog's stride, and most of them are not dementia. But it does give us one more honest, observable thing to pay attention to — and how he moves is something you can actually see at home, without a single test. If you’re seeing other signs of dementia, this may be a piece of that puzzle.

A few things that genuinely help:

1. Watch the pattern, not one bad morning. How is he moving across a whole week? Stiff-then-loosens-up is different from steadily shrinking steps over the course of months.

2. Take video. Gait is almost impossible to describe to a vet and very easy to show. A ten-second clip of him walking toward you is worth more than any sentence you could write.

3. Don't let thoughts of "it's just his arthritis" end the conversation. It might be. But this study is a reminder that the body and the brain can both be affected at the same time, so ask your vet about both.

4. Keep him moving in the ways his body can still handle. Short, frequent walks with lots of time allowed for sniffing. I’ve mentioned this before, but movement is one of the healthiest things you can give an aging brain.

A word for groomers

You may notice changes in gait sooner or more easily than the vet can, since anxious dogs often mask symptoms and changes. A dog walks the length of your shop to get to the table, and you've watched that same dog do it for years. If a longtime senior client's front step is getting shorter — if he's shuffling where he used to stride — that's worth a gentle word to the owner. Not a diagnosis. Just: "He seemed a little different on his feet today. Have you noticed that at home?" That sentence has sent more than one dog to the vet in time to actually help.

The way he walks is one of the ways an old dog talks to us. This is another tool in your kit to help you learn the language.

🐶 Sniffing Out Senior Dog News 📰

A grieving owner turned the loss of his 17-year-old dog Lily into Lily's Second Chance, a free national website that helps overlooked senior shelter dogs get seen and adopted. GreaterGood

Your senior dog could help unlock the science of healthy aging — the Dog Aging Project has already enrolled 53,800 dogs, and there's still room for yours to join the largest canine health study ever. Learn more

Senior Dog Meme of the Week

Me: "You should slow down now that you're old." Him: "I've actually been promoted to Senior Management."

About the Author

Angela Dinsmoor is the Founder of Grey Whiskers and a passionate advocate for senior dogs and the people who love them. With years of hands-on grooming experience and a deep commitment to compassionate, age-appropriate care, Angela created Grey Whiskers to raise the standard for senior dog grooming through education, certification, and community. Her mission is simple: help senior dogs live more comfortably. To join the free Grey Whiskers Community for professionals and owners, click here.