Old Dogs, New Thoughts

Posted by charlene on February 14, 2009

I was thrilled to see stump, the 10 year old Sussex Spaniel win Best In Show at the Westminster kennel Club Show Tues. night. Watching The Garden(it is held in Madison Square Garden, always brings a lump to my throat because Desi won the breed there for Bearded Collies 10 years ago. What I loved about the Spaniel winning was that in the dog world, any dog over the age of 7 years is considered a Veteran. Desmond was shown in the Veteran class for one year after he was 8 years old and did very well at that. I guess my point is that dogs are alot like people; the designation of veteran is meaningless for some. At 10 years of age, Desi was still very active. Anyone who has a Beardie, knows they age very slowly, which is a very good thing. We have to be careful about putting labels on dogs as well as people. Each one is different and still has many lessons and gifts to share with us. Personally I love older dogs! Such grace and wisdom and a willingness to share this with us. May we always take the few extra seconds or minutes that it takes toaccomodate our senior pets. After all, they have earned their place in the sun and in our hearts.

PS: Desi’s lump on his left side was a lipoma, or fatty tumor. I was pretty sure that is what it was, but I always want our vet to check it out to be sure. Why take a chance?