Before you can recognize illness, you need to know what healthy looks like for your dog specifically. Every dog has a baseline — and the better you know it, the faster you'll catch a problem.

Baseline Vitals & Habits to Know

• Temperature: Normal body temperature for dogs is 101–102.5°F

• Heart rate: 60–140 beats per minute depending on size (smaller dogs have faster rates)

• Respiratory rate: 15–30 breaths per minute at rest

• Appetite: How enthusiastically they eat, how much, and how fast

• Energy level: How active they are, how long they play, how quickly they tire

• Bathroom habits: How often they urinate and defecate, what their stool normally looks like

• Weight: Weigh regularly — even a 1–2 lb change in a small dog is significant

• Sleep: How much they sleep and where

• Behavior: Their typical personality — social, independent, vocal, cuddly

Key Principle: You don't need to memorize numbers. You just need to pay attention consistently, so that a change registers. The earlier a problem is noticed, the better the outcome.