Loving the senior years so far
As my last two blogs can attest, I've been hung up on Eddie's senior years for the last year or so. He's 11 now, and I honestly feel I've worked my way through the fear of his aging and I've come to embrace it.
I've come to the conclusion that Eddie's kinda like the Toby Keith song: "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."
I've decided I'm not going to miss those days when he has extra energy and wants to play. It's easy to look at an animal and say "Not now! I'm too busy!" But I just refuse to do that with Eddie. If he wants to play, we play. It won't be long, I'm afraid, when he doesn't want to play so often.
For example, today was the first of a three-day weekend for me. After a tough workweek and a late night, I really wanted to sleep in. Eddie's normally a sleep-in kinda dog, but today he was pacing around the bed at 8 a.m.
Our mornings are pretty regimented, not necessarily for exact times but certainly for our activities: He goes outside, he comes in and eats and we go for our morning walk to the park. Sometimes we lollygag around the house and don't walk until noon, but most days we're walking by 10 or 11.
Today, after eating, Eddie immediately went to the front door. It wasn't even 9 a.m. yet! I just started to tell him "No," when I realized how happy he looked. He really wanted to go out and play.
So, just after my first cup of coffee, off we went even before I had a chance to eat breakfast.
The walk was awesome. He just wanted to play. I always bring two toys along and toss one for him and one for Jillie. He sometimes gets sidetracked wanting to sniff stuff, but a squeak of the toy and a quick toss always gets his attention.
I also bring a nosework tin. Anyone who has known me very long knows that nosework is a dog sport that we've been doing for 5-6 years, and Eddie is very good at it. On walks, I hide (more like toss!) a tin with an odor and he and Jillie scramble around the field like scent-seeking missiles until they zero in on the target. They LOVE trying to outdo each other and reach the scent first because they get a shout: EDDIE FOUND IT! or JILLIE FOUND IT! I must look like an absolutely loon to anyone who sees us out there by ourselves, but I really don't care. We're in a world of our own, and I'm loving it as much as they do.
I think about that sometimes: all the people who think dog walking or dog training is a chore. ("Honey, it's your turn to walk the dog!") How sad for them. When the dog is gone, you know they'll be heartbroken at all the lost opportunities. So why not embrace them while they're still here? My dogs are part of my life, and I don't ignore them any more than I ignore work, family or sleep.
The cool thing about today is Eddie didn't want to stop. I don't know what it was with him today! First, he wanted to go right out the door at 9 a.m., then it was chase balls and look for scents for a good 45 minutes. But every time I tried to head home, Eddie stopped. He knew I wanted to go home, and every day we go home after about that much time. But today, it was "No way!"
Just as it was turning into a battle of wills, I decided to let him win. I sat down on the grass and tossed the ball for him, took pictures and video for another half hour. Gradually, he warmed up to the idea of a walk home, but it was on his terms, with the ball in his mouth.
Eddie isn't my whole life, but both he and Jillie are a big part of it. No one knows what lies ahead for any of us, but I know for certain that I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity we have together.
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