My Old Stiff Puppy - Loving Geriatric Dogs
Yes, I miss how adolescent Jaya would set-off running into Sunset Park as soon as I unclipped her leash at the entrance. How she would drag me there and then unleash her pent-up power and fly to the trees taunting squirrils and daring me to catch her.
Now I drag her up and down the block, shaking old chicken bones from her mouth before she swallows them like a hound Hoover, ears back and low immediately after I catch her. It seems we do this catch and release a dozen times a walk now, so much so that I actually avoid the park when I can. As picnic/BBQ season draws to a close, we may be able to return without too much Jaya garbage collection.
However, when Jaya puppy would nearly pull my leash arm from its socket and I'd jog to keep-up, I would fantasize about her growing older and slowly down. I do believe in the joy of every season of age, for canine and human. I just love her too much to tolerate her pain and wince when her arthritic legs buckle when she tries to bound up the stoop steps. Sometimes I feel nostalgic for her energetic era, but then she makes such a delightful nap partner.
posted by JenAriel @ 10:54 AM
1 Comments:
My own geri dog is so sweet and lovable now that I can hardly remember when he was the neighborhood terror. Other dog walkers knew to make a wide circle around Jean Luc and when another dog wasn't available he'd content himself with making gray squirrels turn white.
J.L. often sleeps in my father-in-law's room and the two of them make a touching tableu, one asleep in his chair in front of The Price is Right, one on the floor. One, or often both, of them making windy noises and filling the air with odors Airwick cannot cover. they both love meal times and shrink from bathtime. Both have toileting issues. Both tend to wake us up at night. Both are honored and loved in our house, although both are also exhausting to have around.I have begun to call the two of them The Sunshine Boys, after the great Neil Simon movie about two funny grouchy old guys.
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