Old Dogs - classic or dud

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.

"I look good for my age?! I look good period, byatch!"

How's your old girl doing, Rock Hardy?
Puck fell down the stairs last night and tore his dewclaw. Lots of blood. We were TOTALLY freaked out (it was 11:00—too late to call the vet!) until I googled dewclaw injury and found out how common it is. It's not bleeding any more. He licked it for hours. He's a bit depressed-seeming. He gets shaken up by this stuff,. Plus he must be sore. We're kicking ourselves for our carelessness. We had been barricading the bedroom door at night (can't close it or the pellet-stove heat won't get in), but what we really should have done as well is barricade the bottom of the stairs, too. Climbing up is harder—all of his bad falls have been going up. So now the stairs are secured, and we escort him when he wants to go up or down.
OUR POOR BABY!!!!
Here he is, sleeping it off. Prior to the horrid event we had a two-hour beach walk, so life is not all sorrow.

Tracy's doing really well! She's even holding her pee at night better. (Of course I just jinxed that.) We got her a longer lead line for the back yard, so she can follow the sunny spots well into the afternoon and laze all day. Her coat's thickened up for the winter and today, with sunny skies and no wind, she has no interest in coming in and getting near a heater. (It was 26 degrees when I took her out, 46 now).

img src=the•URL•of•the•image

with html brackets () on either side. The image has to exist somewhere on the web, so start a free photobucket account. Practice on this thread!

13 yrs old! the one on the right. the one on the left is our baby who's about one yr old. :-D

almost there...

YES!!!!

Blurry because extreme cold made for shaky hands.