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Service Dog Health

A service dog is a working animal, and what it eats has consequences a pet’s diet does not. These pages read the label rather than the marketing: what “complete and balanced” actually guarantees, why calcium in large breed puppy food can end a career before it starts, what the grain-free evidence really says, and whether joint supplements do anything at all. Every claim is sourced, and the funding behind each study is named.

Card reading: My Service Dog Was Attacked by Another Dog. More than half the guide dogs in the research were working in harness when it happened. State law may have you covered. Beside a photograph of a chocolate Labrador mix in a purple service dog vest, settled on a white floor.
Service Dog Health

Help. My Service Dog Was Attacked by Another Dog and I Don’t Know What to Do

/ September 14, 2026

More than half the service dogs in the only research that exists were working in harness when they were attacked. They were standing still doing their job, because that is what they are trained to do. This is what to do in the first sixty seconds, who to actually call and what usually happens when you do, what an emergency vet will ask you to pay before anyone looks at your dog, and what the research says about whether a working dog comes back from it.

A person in a brown down coat walks a brown large breed dog along a tree-lined path at dusk, beside the words: Does Insurance Pay for a Service Dog? No. Not private insurance, not Medicare, not Medicaid, not an employer plan, and no state requires one to.
Service Dog Health

Does Insurance Pay for a Service Dog?

/ September 12, 2026

No health insurance plan in the United States pays for a service dog. Not private, not Medicare, not Medicaid. That is not a loophole waiting to be found, and it is not a matter of appealing the denial or getting a stronger letter. Here is the definition that settles it, and then the four places money for a service dog actually exists, including the one most handlers can use and almost nobody mentions.

A senior dog with a grey muzzle resting his head on his paws, beside the words: The best-selling joint supplement doesn’t work. A 2022 review of 72 trials found glucosamine and chondroitin had a “very marked non-effect.”
Service Dog Health

Do Joint Supplements Work for Dogs? What the Evidence Shows

/ September 12, 2026

Glucosamine is the best-selling joint supplement in the pet aisle, and the largest analysis of the evidence found it does nothing for arthritis pain. The thing that does work is cheaper and barely advertised. This goes through the meta-analysis, the trial that measured dogs on a force plate rather than asking their owners, and the reason nobody checks whether the bottle contains what the label says.

The lot code and best-before date printed on a bag of dog food, beside the words: What the Dog Food Recalls Actually Tell You. Recalls are announced by lot. Photograph the lot code and best-by date on every bag.
Service Dog Health

What the Dog Food Recalls Actually Tell You

/ September 11, 2026

Recalls get a brand name, a list of lot codes, and then silence. The pattern running through all of them is more useful than any single one – the same ingredient category fails, the failures are enormous rather than marginal, and the people who find them are a worried owner and a veterinarian. Built entirely from FDA warning letters and advisories.

Card reading "Service Dog Insurance: What It Costs" and stating that it averages about $676 a year and that no policy on the market covers buying the dog or training the dog, beside a photograph of a chocolate Labrador in profile, greying around the muzzle, against pale snow
Service Dog Health

Service Dog Insurance: What It Costs, and How to Judge a Policy

/ September 14, 2026

Yes, you can insure a service dog, and it costs what ordinary pet insurance costs. What no policy covers is buying or training the dog. Pet insurance is a business built on five definitions, and regulators have written all of them down: a preexisting condition does not need a diagnosis, signs or symptoms are enough, and hip dysplasia is hereditary, which is where the exclusions live. Most policies pay you back rather than paying your vet. Here is what it costs, the seven things to check before you pay, and how to work out whether saving the money instead would serve you better.

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