“The End is Near”
The end is near!
Yes, a grim thought, but it’s all relative. The end of what? If it’s the end of the day, the week or the month, it doesn’t sound so ominous.
Two years ago, I wrote about aging and our relationship with the unavoidable. Truth be known, I was feeling pretty good about aging, because, lucky me, I could still jog or at least walk briskly and my two senior pups could easily keep up with me. But sadly, we are not suspended in time. My temporary feel good moment, seemingly changed over night, and suddenly one of my senior dogs took a downward turn.
No longer was she able to take long walks, or climb the stairs. She was showing signs of cognitive decline, and her once robust appetite, was gone. The good news was that my rockstar holistic veterinarian diagnosed a severe UTI, which may have accounted for some of her lethargy and cognitive issues. But her physical decline was one that I knew wasn’t going to improve much. She is after all, a Bully mix estimated to be around 12 years old and her stumpy legs and stiff joints were inhibiting her once, athletic abilities.
So what does this seemingly fatalistic attitude have to do with dog training, you might ask? As usual, I will digress…
In my world, I see and hear about horrific treatment of dogs and cats, especially seniors. They are being abandoned in apartments when the owners move. They are being dumped at kill shelters and if the overcrowded shelters turn them away, these animals are left on the streets or forest preserves, often in deplorable condition as though they were garbage.
I can’t comprehend that level of depravity and fortunately, I don’t encounter pets in my practice that are so neglected. What I do see, however, is a different attitude which has some owners ignoring ailments that could easily make that pet’s life easier. And from what I can gather after talking with them, it’s not about money or lack of feelings, but rather, on some level the guardian can’t face that the years have gone by way too quickly and in some bizarre way, they don’t want to acknowledge that the end could be near, so they soldier on as their pet can no longer climb stairs, run, fetch or even go on long walks like they used to, hoping to stave off the inevitable. I get it, but now that I’m going through this with my Bully dog, I don’t think the end is near. Of course it will be one day, as it is for all of us, but keeping her pain-free, giving her non-slip rugs so she can traverse her environment, dealing with her incontinence with diapers, which I change multiple times a day, and helping her up and down the stairs is just the next level of care that she receives and deserves.
Believe me, last month, just before Thanksgiving, she spiked a fever and the urine culture revealed that her UTI had returned. At that point, I was overcome with sadness, thinking that the end IS near. Thinking that I am that much older too, and knowing that when she passes that it will represent the end of more than a decade that flew by in a mili-second.
But then something wonderful happened. My dogs and I joined the family in Michigan where we rented a home for the holiday. Suddenly this little old lady dog was engaged with life. Trotting outdoors, watching football (yes, actually focused on the game) and she was on-guard during the night when she heard a noise in the house, just like her younger, fierce self would have done years ago. My nephew remarked how we will always remember how she was living her best life Thanksgiving, ’23.
The winter solstice, with the longest night and shortest hours of daylight, arrived last week, but that also means the days are getting longer and before you know it, summer will return.
On this last day of December and the last day of 2023, I hope you and your pets enjoy all the wonderful moments that are yet to come.
It’s not the end; it’s the beginning of a new year!
HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2023
