Today Tally turns 15 years 7 months of age. As you can see it’s quiet time now so she’s taking it easy. As the months go by the times when she’s taking it easy ever more greatly outnumber the times when she’s active and engaged. Sometimes she’ll play chase in the yard with the younger dogs or seek affection but those times are coming farther and farther apart. Recently, we’ve seen an increase in her dementia, manifested by doing something she’s never done much of in her whole life: barking. She now barks when she wants something. What does she want? It’s frequently pretty hard to tell.
She also has started to confuse day with night. She’s become a certified member of the All-Night Parcheesi Club (for those of you who are Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle fans).
Little by little she’s fading but as of today she’s still herself and enjoying her life.
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Why You Look Like Your Dog
IMO dog ownership is at least in part aspirational. I wish I were as gorgeous as my Samoyeds. Not only are they natural beauties but they love everyone and everything. There’s a lot there to like.
Recently, we’ve seen an increase in her dementia, manifested by doing something she’s never done much of in her whole life: barking.
That must be difficult. When you’re close with a bright dog you learn to understand what they’re saying and that they talk quite a bit (and with surprising variety) through their body language. I know seeing hints of that slipping away would be hard for me.
It’s difficult seeing a pet and friend get old. I had a cockatiel for 24 years, certainly longer than nearly any other relationship I had including my marriage. I was crushed when he died.
I can totally relate to your reflective post, Dave. My dear 17 year old cat, Ruby, died two weeks ago. She has been in decline for a while now. But, it became a health issue 6 weeks back, and then an unavoidable outcome when she stopped eating. I found myself tending her in the kitchen, moving my computer to where she was, carrying her out into the sun and near our koi pond as kind of an outing.
She died at home, although friends were saying we should take her to the vet for a quicker ending. However, I don’t like playing God, and instead made her comfortable and allowed her to bide her time and leave when she wanted to.
Anyway, cats/dogs are an important place setting in a home and in life. They become our friend, an unquestioning 4-footed ally who is greatly missed when they are gone.
I believe in euthanizing companion animals when it’s necessary. Indeed, I take it as an obligation. However, I also think that should be reserved for when the companion animal finds life a burden rather than when it’s more convenient for me.
We’ve been through that process many times so we have established guidelines. Tally’s not ready yet.
The long goodbye is bittersweet.
You may want to try Melatonin (3-6 mg) for the sleep issues. It works well for a lot of dogs to help reset their sleep cycle.
Traction was always a big problem for my older dogs. I tried a lot of things (toddler socks, rubberized treads that stick on the paw pads, nail caps, etc) but never came up with anything that worked well except for bath mats scattered around the traffic areas of the house.
I can second the melatonin. When I adopted my Australian Cattle Dog/lab mix, she had an inverted day as well; what’s more, her peak activity periods were actually in the middle of the night. Apparently she was found in a locked shed with no natural light – so she had no idea what the sun was telling her. Although I’m sure she’d have adapted on her own, the vet recommended melatonin, and within a couple days, she was on the same schedule as our other dog.