Old Dogs - classic or dud

I feel that this should be followed by "But Caitlin loved him" and then the Bagpuss music, even though Woody is a dog and not a cat.

Mine has this as well. All over her body. Very strange. I freaked thinking it was cancer, but no, just lumps.

I've watered a spot in the back yard to soften up the soil. I'll start digging in the morning. Jude, my landlady, has had him for a long time, but we don't know exactly how old he is. Probably 15 or 16 years.

k/l: Shel Silverstein? Maybe Willie Nelson.

We had great fun with her over the years, and I think my parents and especially my dad is having a hard time adjusting. She really made a big contribution to our family and I hope my parents decide they can take on another dog quite soon.

(13 year old) Puck says, happy trails Chessie Bear. You look like the best kind of dog.

Austin, sorry to hear about Chessie Bear. At least you're there for the hard part and he's not lonely. Pin, you should post a picture of your old dog. Pictures rock.

http://static.flickr.com/22/33193010_ea7ca5ac14.jpg

My doggie Lucy. About 11,5 yrs. :-) She had this weird anal infection last week. A sac near the anus basically burst open after she was rubbing her behind on the carpet. Ick! But it's healed now. I had to give her pills - some painkillers and antibiotics.

But Shel Silverstein wrote the songs.

She told us what we pretty much already knew: he had something that was either a stroke or close enough for government work, and despite the fact that he's gotten a little better since the 'event' Saturday (he's been able to occassionally lift his head and has taken small amounts of especially succulent food - bacon, chicken salad, etc.) any improvement he might have made would be relative to his current condition. His previous condition was a thing of the past. There was a 1 in 20 chance that steroids (prednizone) might help him a bit, but he'd still require round the clock attention, and there's just no way we could keep that up for much longer than the weekend. So, I carried him out to the backyard where, amazingly, he stood up on his own long enough to take a long pee and walk a few steps, then promptly collapsed on his side. The vet gave him the painkiller/sleeping formula shot, then the heart-stopper shot. We wrapped him in a sheet with his collar and favorite toys, and put him in a quicklime lined hole, the one that I spent Sunday and Monday digging. Then we toasted him with a little wine with some friends and neighbors.

Then I logged online and started doing my laundry.

The good is that we spared him any more helplessness and sickness. He's always been very fastidious about peeing outside (for example, that picture I posted upthread of the massive piss trail) and seemed very guilty about messing himself in the house the last two days, so that last outside piss under his own power actually seemed like a restoration of diginity that might've made him very proud and happy. Also, Craig's dog Ben can now have the run of the house and will probably grow a little calmer and more mature now that he isn't kept in a bedroom all day.

I'm okay. Well, as okay as usual, so still pretty fucked up. But all things considered, okay.

Here's Puck. He's 14, looking a little winded here, but that's hardly ever the case. He's still a champ!

A few years ago, not so white in the face. A lady killer.

This was Jasper last winter when he was 14. He died in July. I buried him just up the hill from where this pic was taken.

Now he is beautiful, and our entire house is drenched. It's amazing how much water they can hold in their paws. I could have dried them more thoroughly, but he wanted to get out of the bathroom so badly, and the house did need mopping.

this thread is making me think that I should get on the property ladder and become a serial old dog rescuer.

Now Puck has run away. Mad at us.

Hot spots are itchy spots, typically on the haunches, that the dog can't stop chewing. They chew all the fur off, chew it raw. Sometimes a flea allergy starts it, sometimes it's OCD and they give them Prozac!
German shepherds are very prone to it, and Puck seems to be a shepherd/beagle kind of mutt.
Dobermans are prone to a related syndrome called "flank-sucking."

Puck is back, as you said.

http://www.frelsifarm.com/puppies.itml

A day for old dogs to be thankful for their favorite quilts.
Puck has Erlichiosis (yet another disease spread by ticks) and has just started on a month-long course of Doxycycline.