The three numbers
- 0.5 mg/kg twice daily — the start. One week at this tier tells you how your dog tolerates it (watch for drowsiness and soft stool).
- 1–2 mg/kg twice daily — the studied daily range. The Cornell trial's 2 mg/kg twice daily is the ceiling of routine dosing; most dogs land around 1–1.5.
- 4 mg/kg once — the event dose. What the separation/car-travel trial used, given ~2 hours ahead, with food.
Weight → mg conversion, bottle-strength math, and drops are all handled by the calculator; a printable weight table lives there too.
The details that change outcomes
- With food, always. Fed dogs absorb several times more CBD than fasted ones — the cheapest potency upgrade available.
- Split the daily dose. Half-life is 4–9 hours; morning + evening keeps levels steadier than one big dose.
- Two-week rule. For ongoing anxiety, hold a steady dose for two weeks before judging or increasing.
- Bloodwork for long-termers. ALP elevation is the known lab signal; an annual panel (which senior dogs get anyway) covers it.
- Drug interactions are real. CBD occupies the liver enzymes (CYP450) that clear many medications — phenobarbital, some heart meds, others. On any prescription: vet first.