The older they get, the wider the smiles :)
A day doesn't go by that my Yorkies don't make me smile. Not just a, "Oh, that's cute" smirk, but a deep, appreciative grin that also fills my heart.
Jillie passed her Pet Partners therapy dog test again last month -- a perfect score for the second straight time -- this one coming with some unexpected distractions.
In a new testing area, Jillie was able to hear my wife talking in the hallway outside. Her head tilted that direction in the middle of the test and I was afraid I was losing her concentration. But I talked to her about it, in normal tones just like you'd talk to a friend: "Yes, I hear her too. She's out there and waiting for you. Let's play for a while here and we'll see her later." Her focus snapped right back and we aced the test. Afterward, I hugged her and broke into that deep, hearty smile.
Interestingly, she tested later with my wife -- and again she heard a voice outside during the test, this time mine. She was in the middle of the "out for a walk" exercise, and she lost concentration again and temporarily pulled at the leash. Again, her attention snapped back when Kelly talked to her and she passed the test with ease. She's taken the test for 6 of her 8 years, so she's passed 4 times with me and 4 times with my wife in that time. She's also served as the "neutral dog" volunteer in the exercise, meaning she has to be on her best behavior then too.
Eddie continues to be a marvel. At 13, he's an undisputed senior. But I've embraced his adulthood and learned to appreciate the small changes that define it. In a lot of ways, Eddie and I have gotten old together. I was 48 when I got him and I'm 61 today. I think we both feel each other's aches and pains .
The changes this year have been subtle but significant. A big one has been a loss of hearing. I'm not sure it's a total loss or just selective, but there are times I'll call him from 10-20 feet away and he won't seem to hear me. A huge change this year was on the Fourth of July. Fireworks have always terrified him, and we've tried everything from Rescue Remedy, background noise to a Thundershirt to ease his stress. But this year, he didn't react at much of the fireworks. I don't think he could hear them. Once or twice after a particularly large boom, he'd react, but for the most part it was our best fireworks show ever. Made me smile -- after all our struggles, it was a loss of hearing them helped him the most.
It's things like that that help me embrace the changes in his life. If I was only depressed at his loss of hearing, I might not have recognized his ease on the Fourth of July. I certainly appreciated them.
The vet tried putting him on long-term Rimadyl for aches and pains last year, but each change in dosage brought either a spike or drop in his liver count. The doc wanted me to keep him on a small dose, but I refused to take that chance. I use it only as needed on particular bad days, which surprisingly don't come very often so far.
I've started using CBD oil, a hemp extract that many users are raving about. Only 2 drops on his meals, and, like others, I seem to notice a difference in his mobility. He still loves his walks. He doesn't jump like he used to or even climb down on the doggy steps from the bed, but at other times I see a bounce in his step that I didn't see before using the CBD oil. It's being studied all the time, so hopefully there will be some science behind the results in the near future.
Eddie has been retired as a therapy dog for more than a year, but i find myself smiling all the time when I run into people who remember him and his vast array of tricks. Even on Jillie's current visits, his name comes up all the time by people who remember him. He has made more people smile than I can count. Jillie, too.
Closing, here are a couple more pics taken this week. Eddie, 13, Jillie 8. Older, yes, but they give me the same sense of joy each day that I felt when they arrived as puppies.
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