Old Dogs - classic or dud

<3 thank you La Lechera and VG and ned and tomboto and trishyb, i really appreciate your kind words. it's been a very sad time but we are getting through it. there is comfort in knowing harry had a happy life. he was a clever and cheerful wee darling and it was our great pleasure to care for him. and although it was horrible for us to lose him so suddenly, it's much better for him that he was enjoying life right up to the last day.

i've always loved all the old dogs on this thread, they are such wonderful animals. i hope hampton fares very well with his new family<3

My dog is only 3 but has hip problems that we recently learned about. So this sounds verrry familiar:

Oops

On the minus side, a walk that used to take twenty minutes now takes at least twice that long. Not so much a walk, more of a detailed forensic examination of the neighbourhood.

<3 estela

thank you ross.

i'm so sorry your dog has hip problems, karl.

our walks were also getting slower--there would be very lengthy sniffed deliberations about whether or not a particular leaf or twig or bush was spray-worthy. he became quite pedantic about it in his later years.

my old dog (who isn’t even that old really, at 8) has very suddenly succumbed to cancer. really, in the space of a month she’s become irreversibly lame in one leg. she has been at the vets today and the MRI confirmed that it’s comprehensive. there’s nothing we can do either and she is clearly in a lot of pain when she has to move/bear weight on the affected leg. she probably only has 2/3 days left with us and it’s just so sad. we’re heartbroken. mostly because it’s been so sudden and she’s such an angel. they become such a part of the rhythm of your life too. I can only imagine the house will feel empty once she’s gone. sorry just wanted to post somewhere about it

genuinely sorry to hear that:( My dog is knocking on 11 and his legs are getting worse and I'm increasingly thinking/or blocking the thought that I'm going to be completely distraught when he is gone. Like you say "the rhythm of your life" and I've been walking 40+ miles a week with him in recent years.

Bucket (chihuahua/dachshund, almost 19) was diagnosed with bladder cancer in May and given maybe a few months to live. She does not seem to have received the memo. She pretty much pees 100 times a day so we have had to make her a delimited area of about half of the living room, but she marches around and demands her meals and barks when we come home so whatever, we have the apartment that smells like pee, it’s cool

I'm really sorry to hear about your dog. Eight is no age.

We have a 14-year old mutt who was just diagnosed with advanced multiple tumours. Sadly, one of them appears to be affecting his heart, so the chances of him defying the odds are pretty slim, because it is already bothering him. Our vet thinks he has only weeks left. But the steroids have given him a new (temporary, but still) lease of life, so at least he's a lot more comfortable. And I'm delighted (in context, obviously) to be able to spoil him.

thank you

today was really hard. poor girl was really unsettled in the night and my partner slept downstairs with her to keep her company (and so she wouldn’t try climb the stairs on her sore leg). we spent the morning just fussing over her and making sure she was comfortable and resting. around 11 she stepped out into the garden and just basked in the sunshine. it’s so sad, she was a little pain confused but seemed to be enjoying the outside. we had called the vet in the morning and they came round to see her after lunchtime. it was very quick and peaceful and we’re glad she’s no longer in pain. it’s been a very tough and teary day. we really miss her

oh

:(

I'm sorry for you. It sounds like you did everything a person could do to make her end as good as possible.

yeah it’s sad. particularly for my partner because she really really loved her. and for me too because I’ve had a couple of tough years, struggling a lot with loneliness and she’s always been there for me. which is kinda what dogs do I guess

aw, my condolences. that is exactly what dogs do. <3

I’m sorry to hear that, but glad you were able to comfort her and have time to say goodbye.

I’m sorry you had to say goodbye, but what a lovely exit you gave her—exactly what I would want for myself tbh!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtBDhb0VYAAgAJ-.jpg:large

RIP Dogsby

The vet said: physically he was in remarkably good shape for such an old boy. But alas the swelling on his stomach might be an internally bleeding tumour and he was clearly on his way out and in severe discomfort. After he had gone I went out for a walk and was struck by how shitty and grim everything seems without him bounding about and was seriously losing it after seeing his legacy of nabbed from the grounds near the tennis club balls in the front garden. He looked absolutely fine last night and was splayed out on the couch and looking like he was on course for a comeback:(

Another depressing trigger was supermarket guy just knocking on door now and then silence rather than barking.

Aw, that’s rough, Calz. But what a lovely picture and of such a happy VGB in glorious countryside.

aww, rest in power dogsby

that photo is only 9 days ago, and he had a stroke that night after it was taken:( I suppose a positive is that he lived a very high quality and fully active life until then.

:***(

sorry calz. you have my sympathies - know how tough it can be

i'm sorry calzino. that brought tears to my eyes. RIP good boy.

i think i mentioned my dachshund-chihuahua Bucket got diagnosed with a tumor on her bladder wall in May - the sense given was probably a couple of months left to her. 7 months later she is totally incontinent (has been since shortly after the diagnosis) and v skinny, but ambulatory and still wants her damn food; it's looking likely she will make it to her 19th birthday (january).

i mean she is definitely dying but she is such a ridicuously determined little bastard.

half the livingroom is her area now which we keep paved with pads; i change out her bed once a day. Our apartment smells like pee and so do we, probably.

old dogs.

i'm sorry calzino. that brought tears to my eyes. RIP good boy.

same here. you helped him have a good long happy life, that's as much as any being can ask for.

jon not jon i'm glad Bucket is still hanging around. 19! that's damn impressive.

big dog-hugs to Bucket, Jon.

Thanks for Dogsby commiserations ppl. I've taken this much harder than when my dad died, which isn't saying much but still it really feels like a dagger in the heart. Dogsby was just so sweet, never had a fight in his life. Just loved play and gallivanting about. The purest spirit you could ever meet.

Oh Calzino I’m so sorry. I dread the day when I will have to deal with Benson passing. Thinking of you. ❤️

sorry for your loss Calzino, Dogsy looks like a very good boy in that picture

i’m so sorry, calzino. rip dogsby, what a gorgeous boy. i really feel for you, it’s such a painful loss. our dog died a little over a year ago and it was heartbreaking. the relationship with a dog is such a pure and uncomplicated love. i’m glad he had such a good life with you right until the end.

and jon, best wishes to bucket who sounds like a little trouper<3

Oh Estela I’m sorry to hear that. I remember your little pup. ❤️

thanks enbb<3, harry was 15 so we knew the day was going to come eventually, but it happened very suddenly during the night (he had internal bleeding from a mass on his liver, but he showed no symptoms of illness until the last couple of hours) so it was really shocking and terrible to go to the emergency vet and come home without him. i hated how quiet and empty our house was, and how clean the floors were after he was gone. but it was still worth it because he was a joy and i can think of him with joy now (as well as sadness) and it was great to be able to give him a good life. dogs are so wonderful. give darling benson a kiss and a treat from me.

I'm sorry for everyone's old dogs. We lost Milo recently. He was nearly 15, and also had cancer. He was only sick for a few weeks before he started to refuse all food and stop going out for walks. He put up absolutely no resistance at the vets when we took him to be put to sleep. Even having a load of other dogs doesn't stop the house from feeling stupidly empty without him.

yeah the silence when delivery vans park outside and the postman clanks the gate is eerie and sad. I can't deal with it tbh, might be posting to the puppy thread soon. I keep thinking I can hear him shaking his ears or trotting up the stairs.

Went for a walk today with a friend who has a puppy golden retriever called Stanley. He has some very bad habits like jumping up at joggers and trying to bite their upper arm, chewing wooden pub furniture, eating just about anything on the ground including plastic and manure. I had forgotten what a riot puppies are in comparison with sensible old Good Doggies!

Yeah, the only thing that has made me feel better is taking in a young foster dog while he has his snip, gets vaccinated, and gets used to living indoors. The nurse in the vets said, "Milo would approve." I laughed. Milo would not approve. He disapproved of young dogs and their annoying, lively, young dog ways.

Like, I'm not ready to find another dog to walk in front of me on the beach every day for ten years, but I need the distraction, so fostering is perfect right now.

I am so dog broody right now, it’s unreal.

Calz, rescue a lurcher, maybe?

it's probably really bad, but I'm quite rigidly stuck to the idea of bringing them up from puppies. And with an autistic boy in the house they do need a bit of autism training, well conditioning maybe is the right word. Which some of is learning to walk very very slowly sometimes and some of is staying calm during storms!

we are in a weird space where Bucket has not really loved us in an outwardly doggish way for a few years (she went deaf ~3 years ago and as a result became mistrustful of petting and snuggling - my vet said this is not unusual and my take on it is that with that huge avenue of sensory input subtracted, they do not feel fully aware/in control of what you're doing to them and thus would rather have you where they can see you? Prior to deafness she was a total affection hog at all times) and feel a longing for a dog that wants to show us affection, but there is no way nohow that a new young dog can come in to this pee barracks hospice situation - for one thing, there's not enough space and for another, god knows what kind of ideas they would get about when and where to pee with her as their mentor.

*it is revealed that she still secretly loves us when we are gone too long and she sets up major complaining when we return

Ah, totally get that you’d need a puppy, Calz. Lurcher and whippet puppies grow up into gentle dogs and are not terribly expensive compared to retrievers. I watched the late and much-missed Kenny Whippetlurcher behave with unbelievable patience when accosted by autistic kids (I live a block away from Great Ormond Street hospital so any future dog I have must not be weird around random children).

but it happened very suddenly during the night (he had internal bleeding from a mass on his liver, but he showed no symptoms of illness until the last couple of hours)

Very similar to Dogsby really and other sad stories on this thread. I so wish old dogs could live longer and not die damnit:(

I'm totally set on getting another black lab now before Christmas (just tell the breeder the lad got bored of the last xmas present:p). There will never ever be another Dogbsy cos he was a one off, but I'm putting no unrealistic pressure on his successor.

And six weeks after we lost Milo, our other fourteen-year-old boy, Cody, has followed him. He got sick with a bug that's going around, and went downhill fast. He went into the vets on a drip on Wednesday night, and by Friday morning he was no better at all, so the vet scanned him. Multiple huge liver tumours. She said "this isn't like with Milo. I think it need to be today."

Amusingly, I was up at the recycling centre with a car full of glass and old electricals to get rid of, and I figured, fuck it, I have to get the recycling done. So I walked around just openly weeping, and men just took my bins of glass and my old electricals from me and recycled them for me and handed them back. God knows what they thought was wrong with me.

Anyway, I am utterly flattened by this. Losing Milo was awful, but somehow losing Cody is even worse, because they were our two core dogs and now they're both gone.

That first few days after Dogsby passed was probably the worst grief I've felt in 30 years, locations and pics that trigger memories of him still get me welling up at times. All the best to you trishyb + rip Cody.

sorry trishyb. losing my dog was one of the worst days of my life

2 dogs 2 months. i am very sorry trishyb, that must be so tough.

Thanks. It is crap. Yesterday we went up to the vets and handed in all of Cody's meds. They said they can credit us for the unopened ones, which is good of them. The receptionist hadn't heard, and when we told her, she had to leave the desk for a minute for a little cry.

However, we still have our other two dogs, and our little foster, and they are definitely helping.

When you get used to your four legged sentinel barking at the postie/delivery ppl/any person walking past your house, the silence when he had passed was too sad for me. Glad you have others to help you get through the grief. I got me a puppy to get through mine, he's a handful alright - but I wasn't expecting any less!

Yes, I saw him over on the puppy thread. He looks full of beans.

We can't take a new full-time dog till the summer at the earliest, because of reasons, but we might do a bit of fostering before then. Our circumstances are very different from yours.

Old dog update, obviously the temporary small foster who was not going to stay did stay and has now been with us for four years. He is an awful, awful skinny, tiny, yappy, annoying dog, exactly NOT the kind of dog I would have picked for myself, but my friend begged him off us when we'd had him for a month, then she realized after a month of "owning" him that she just couldn't cope with his energy levels and she gave him back. I didn't want him to have to go through that again, so we just kept him. Then we got an amazing Patterdale/something or other terrier, and he is the apple of our eye. So we are back to four dogs.

Our other old dog, Lulu (14 this year), is now going downhill. She has arthritis in her shoulders and paws, and nerve damage to her hips and back, so she can barely walk. Recently we've started walking her by herself without the other three dogs, and we've realized that she can't really see. Like, we'll open the side gate and she'll hear that it has opened but she won't walk through it. She doesn't really know where she is without the younger dogs around her. So we'll have to figure something out where they can all walk together for Lulu's sake and then the two young boys get a walk on their own for their sake. Like, we're not THERE yet but we are getting there. She still has plenty of things that she enjoys, she just has become a lot of work for us.

I do think this is the end of the four-dog lifestyle for us, though. I recently sprained my knee on stupid Bruno's tennis ball (I love him really) and it is taking me a long time to recover. And it's too busy round where we live now. There are loads of places we used to walk them off the lead that are no longer off-lead friendly, and it's too hard to walk them all on the lead all the time.

Tess, our 11-year-old JRT, remains indestructible and chipper and will probably live to be 25.

Wilf, the beautiful and well-behaved blue whippet who stays with me from time to time, is now 12 and his people have started wondering which of his behaviours are part of the early stages of dementia. My friend G told me that Wilf recently ‘dug into’ the sofa they’ve had for years, and wondered if this was down to that. I thought about it for a second and said, ‘that’s totally out of character, there’s got to be a reason - did a mouse get inside the sofa?’ G took a deep breath and said ‘maaaaybe?’ Wilf is definitely slowing down and occasionally forgets why he wanders into a room, but he’d never wantonly destroy anything because he’s one of those dogs who never even rips his own toys apart.

My sister's stupid, aggressive, smelly and badly behaved dog is now 17 and looks like he might last forever.

I have a young dog (3y.o.) who is simultaneously super sweet and the absolute worst. she is v. dog reactive which makes walking her a nightmare : /