Rodney Habib - The Forever Dog: Surprising New Science to Help Your Canine Companion Live Younger, Healthier, and Longer

To Sammie, Reggie, and Gemini,

our first teachers

We are all just walking each other home...

Ram Dass

... and we hope it will be a really long walk.

Dr. Becker and Rodney

Dr. Curtis Welch was worried. As winter began its slow creep into the small Alaskan town of Nome in late 1924, he noticed a disturbing trend: increasing cases of tonsillitis and inflammatory diseases of the throat. The flu pandemic of 19181919 that killed a little more than a thousand in his state was still fresh in his memory, but this was different. Some of the cases had the appearance of diphtheria. In his eighteen years practicing there as a physician he had never seen the contagious infectionbrought about by a certain strain of toxin-producing bacteriathat can lead to death, especially in children. Diphtheria was commonly known as the strangling angel of children; it causes the throat to become blocked with a thick, leathery coating that makes breathing very difficult. Without treatment, death by suffocation is likely.

By January the following year, it was clear he was dealing with an outbreak of the dreadful disease and had no treatment on hand. Children were beginning to die. At his request, all schools, churches, movies, and lodges were closed, and all public gatherings were forbidden. No longer could people travel on the trails, with the exception of those delivering mail or conducting urgent and necessary business. Homes were quarantined if any family members were suspected of having the illness. Although these measures would help, what Dr. Welch really needed to save his entire region of about ten thousand people was the antitoxin serum. The cure, however, was more than one thousand miles away in Anchorage; it may as well have been millions of miles away, as there was no way to traverse the ice-filled harbors or fly an open-cockpit plane through the subzero temperatures.

Enter teams of sled dogs and their drivers to participate in the Great Race of Mercy, a historic round-the-clock relay that covered 674 miles of rugged wilderness, frozen waterways, and treeless tundra over five and a half days to deliver the miracle serum to Nome. Two Siberian huskies named Balto and Togo stood out as the superstar dogs of the journey. They often relied on scent rather than sight to push through miles of blinding, whiteout conditionsa perilous trip that is now part of the iconic Iditarod Trail. This story is just one of many that vividly illustrates how incredible dogs are and how humans and dogs have been helping one another since we fell in love thousands of years ago.

It has been nearly a century since the serum run saved Nome, and, as the irony of the worlds stage would have it, we write this while in the midst of another outbreak circling the globe. Society is searching for our modern version of such rescue dogs to save us from an invisible foe that has proven lethal in many people. A sled dog is not likely going to deliver the antiserum today (though we wouldnt put it past some more sled dogs coming to the rescue in remote areas again for delivering anti-COVID therapies and vaccines), but our dogs have no doubt become central players in antidotes of other kinds that are helping us plow through the coronavirus pandemic. More than half of US households own pets, with dogs taking the lead over cats. By some estimates, 12 percent of adults with children under the age of eighteen adopted pets because of the pandemic, compared with 8 percent of all adults. Pet ownership is trending upward, and we think its here to stay.

For many dog owners, our pets provide brief moments of paradise on long, refreshing walks and are regular sources of hugs and kisses in our homes. They provide unwavering comfort, cuddles, and unconditional lovea distraction from the bad news and a beacon of hope for tomorrow. In some small communities, winery and brewery dogs are now delivering libations, and scientists are training a few breeds to sniff out sick people so they can be used at airport checkpoints.

The experience of this pandemic has highlighted the importance of dogs in our lives and the role they have in helping humanity move along and, as it were, survive. As much as they depend on us for lifes necessities, we rely on them for an untold number of things. They ultimately help us be better people physically, mentally, emotionally, and, one can easily argue, professionally (numerous companies now list an office dog as an employee). Its really true that owning a dog has been proven to extend the longevity of humans. A growing body of evidence links dogs to good health, and not just for the obvious reasons of lowering our general stress levels and feelings of loneliness. Studies show dogs can lower our blood pressure, keep us active, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, boost our self-esteem, encourage social engagement, force us to be outdoors in nature, and trigger the release of potent chemicals in our bodies that make us feel safe, connected, and content. One study even revealed that dog ownership is linked to a 24 percent reduced risk of dying from anything (what the scientific literature likes to call all-cause mortality). And for people with underlying cardiovascular conditions, which amounts to millions of people in the United States alone, that reduced risk is even greater. In 2014, Scottish scientists calculated that owning a dog, particularly later in your life, can turn back the aging clock and make you actand feelten years younger. Weve also learned that dogs can help children develop stronger immune systems and soothe the stressors of adolescence, a period of time often riddled with self-doubt, peer judgment, adult expectations, and emotional turmoil.

Dogs serve us well in many ways, from helping us to keep better schedules (after all, they must be fed and walked on cue) to protecting our families and sensing danger. They can detect the imminent doom of an earthquake minutes away and smell environmental changes in the air that signal a major storm or tsunami coming. Their keen senses make them excellent helpers in tracking down criminals, finding illegal drugs and explosives, and locating people who are trapped or, worse, dead. Their olfactory prowess can nose out cancer, dangerously low blood sugar in a diabetic, pregnancy, and now COVID-19. And they can be surprising wellsprings of thought and inspiration. It has been suggested by scholars that dogs in fact introduced Darwin to the systematic study of nature and came to help shape his scientific approach in his formative years. (Polly, a smart terrier, was often found snuggled in a basket by the fireplace near Darwins desk in his study where he wrote his seminal masterpiece On the Origin of Species. Theyd converse in front of the window, with Polly barking while Darwin jokingly referred to the naughty people outside. Polly became a model for illustrations in Darwins last book, 1872s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.)

But not all the news is pooch-perfect rosy. In our lifetimes alone, by some measures weve witnessed a decline in canine longevity, especially among pedigree dogs. We realize this is a bold and controversial statement to make, but bear with us. Although many dogs are indeed living longer, like people, many dogs are dying prematurely of more chronic disease than ever before. Cancer is the leading cause of death in older dogs, with obesity, organ degeneration, autoimmune disease, and diabetes not too far behind. (Younger dogs are more likely to die of trauma, congenital disease, and infectious diseases.) We have met countless pet parents who are desperate for ways to keep the dogs in their lives for as long as possible (maybe not forever, but at least as long as they can for a healthy life span, or health span; life span and health span are two important terms that are not one and the same; well distinguish them shortly).