Winnie turned 17 today.
Seventeen.
Yes, I cry about it daily.
At this point, every morning I wake up with her little body curled up in the nook of the knees and feels a bit like winning the lottery. She still greets me at the door. Still patrols the kitchen in case someone accidentally drops something. Still insists on being included in absolutely everything. She’s happy. She’s engaged. She’s still very much Winnie.
Just… with longer, deeper naps in between.
People often ask what the secret is to having a dog live this long and honestly, I’m not sure there is one. Good genetics probably deserve most of the credit. But if I’m being really honest, age has also come with reflection. And regret.
Not the dramatic, guilt-ridden kind. More the quiet kind. The kind where you look back with seventeen years of hindsight and think, “Ah. I wish I understood that sooner.”
So, for the sake of the younger dogs still out there doing flying leaps off couches and running down stairs with functioning knees, here are a few things I wish I had taken more seriously earlier in Winnie’s life.
The nails.
Oh, the nails.
Winnie has always had absurdly long nails. Thick, fast-growing nails that would make Cardi B envious. Honestly, probably a testament to good nutrition and healthy growth.
But she hated having them done.
And because she hated it, I procrastinated. I told myself they “weren’t that bad.” That we’d do them next week. That she was fine.
She was not fine.
If I could go back and change one thing — one — it would be this.
Her arthritis is significant now and I think about those nails constantly. About how many years her joints compensated while she essentially walked around in stilettos instead of sensible orthopedic flats. Long nails change posture. They change gait. They change how a dog distributes weight through their body. And over years and years, that matters.
Sometimes loving your dog means doing the thing they hate because future-them will thank you for it.
Not every “behavioral issue” is behavioral.
For most of Winnie’s life, I genuinely thought she would wake up in the morning and decide if she was going to be housebroken that day.
Her kidney values were always technically normal. When she got UTIs, it was obvious. So I, nor my vet, never connected the dots that something else could be going on underneath the surface.
Then, years later, I started her on an herbal protocol for cognition and arthritis support. One of the formulas, Halscion by Gold Standard Herbs, contains Rehmannia — an herb used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to support kidney function.
And suddenly?
This dog was more continent at 14 than she had been at 4.
It never occurred to me that she wasn’t being naughty. That maybe she physically couldn’t hold it comfortably. That maybe this was medical all along.
I think we owe dogs a little more curiosity sometimes. Especially the ones who are “difficult.” Especially the ones who “should know better.”
Early spay is something we need to talk about more honestly.
This one is complicated because it’s not something I had control over.
I adopted Winnie when she was six months old and she was already spayed. At the time, that was considered completely normal and responsible.
Now we know more.
Research is increasingly showing the importance of allowing dogs — especially certain breeds and body types — to reach full skeletal maturity before spay and neuter. Hormones matter. Growth plates matter. Development matters.
And looking back at Winnie’s lifelong orthopedic and structural issues, I can’t help but wonder how much early spay played a role.
This is not judgment toward people who rescue altered dogs or shelters doing the best they can. It’s not black and white. But I do think dog owners deserve more nuanced conversations around this topic than we used to have.
If you are able to wait until your dog is fully developed before altering, I strongly encourage you to explore that option with a knowledgeable veterinarian.
And if your dog was altered early, it doesn’t mean damage is guaranteed. It just may mean they need more support throughout life than we once realized.
“Complete and balanced” was not the whole story.
I used to believe that if I fed a high-quality, complete and balanced diet, that was it. Case closed. Tiny nutritional mic drop.
“This has everything your little body needs.”
Turns out, that’s also excellent marketing.
I’m not even going to fully climb onto my AAFCO soapbox today because we’d be here for hours. But what I will say is this: most dogs benefit from additional support beyond what’s in the bowl — regardless of whether you feed kibble, canned, raw, gently cooked, homemade, freeze-dried, or food blessed personally by woodland fairies.
Winnie is a long, low dog. Structurally, she was always going to need extra support for mobility, inflammation and joint health. I wish I had started sooner.
And if there is one supplement category I would recommend to every dog owner on the planet, it’s high-quality omega fatty acids.
Not the bargain-bin fish oil that smells like a dock in July.
Good omegas.
Rotate sources. Rotate brands. Use different fish. Use algae oils. Focus on clean, well-sourced products.
Brain health. Joint health. Eye health. Heart health. Skin. Inflammation. Aging.
Start now. Not when your dog is already stiff and staring at stairs like they’re Everest.
The good news is this:
Despite all the things I wish I had done differently, Winnie has still had a beautiful life.
A truly beautiful one.
She has been wildly loved. She has seen oceans. She has eaten things she absolutely should not have eaten - nests of baby bunnies. She has slept in soft beds, barked at innocent delivery drivers, manipulated countless people into sharing snacks, and somehow convinced the entire household that her comfort should dictate all major decisions.
Honestly? Iconic behavior.
I think sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to do everything perfectly that we forget dogs don’t measure their lives that way.
They measure it in safety, companionship and routines.
And Winnie has taught me that there is grace in learning better — even if you learn it late.
So if you have a younger dog at home, this is not meant to make you feel guilty.
It’s meant to give you a head start.
Okay, I'm going back to crying now.