Some Elderly Dog Care Notes, and Life goes On...

In her last days, Queen Thistle was not in pain. Our vet assured us of this, so we could take our time deciding when her quality of life was too poor to go on. We would not let her suffer. She was very comfy.

A friend of ours who also had had an elderly dog with failing mobility gave us her old harness. It's from this company called "Help em up", and it may look complicated, but once you get it all adjusted and you practice a few times, it's pretty quick to put on and take off, and it's quite ergonomic to use. There is a handle on the front (if the dog's shoulders are weak) and one on the back (if it's the back end that's failing, like in Thistle's case). If you go to that website, there are videos that show how nice it is. There's also a strap thingy that you can loop through both handles to support both the front and and the back end at once. I only tried this once, so here is a photo, but it turns out Thistle's front end remained strong the whole time, so I never used it again. I ended up just holding the butt handle.

Here is a better view. They can pee and poop while wearing it, too. However, I was warned against leaving it on 24/7 as some parts do rub. In Thistle's case, we never got to that point. But I guess the late Kaia dog used it for a whole year. I think anyone who has a dog ought to save that link! You never know what the failure mode of your dog will be, and if it's mobility, this is a great thing to have.

We decided to let her go on the day that I realized that I was holding all of the weight of her back end. Her poor legs could contribute nothing at all. So I splurged and got her an out-of-season honeydew. She effin' loves melons! She is all "Holy crap! A melon!!!"

MELON!!!

Princess Cricket likes melon, too!

And so does Duchess Raven!

Our vet does casts of their paws. Here is hers.

I sure loved her little jellybean tootsies.

I'm sure glad Cricket and Raven are friends. It'd sure be hard to be an "only dog" mourning alone.

And we still take walks together, of course. Life goes on, and mourning can and should include that going-on. No point moping about the house. The trails are melting out, and we can no longer ski, of course. But the roads are also clear of snow and ice, so we might as well be in summer mode.

I did recently have the most touchingly apt targeted ad appear to me, and I had to go for it. A beautiful Thistle pendant of enamel set in sterling silver. I did some googling, and it seems her name fit her very well. "In Celtic regions, the thistle represents devotion, bravery, determination, and strength." It's from Skye Silver, if you'd like to have one yourself, or any pretty silver bauble.

The last skiing we did before the snow went away was... I entered Raven into our first skijor race! We entered the 4-mile, 1-dog class, although had I realized that they had a 2-dog class I'd have registered with Cricket, too. But it's okay. It was good training for Raven to learn some leadership skills by running solo. We placed 6 out of 7, which is about what I expected. Neither Raven nor I am competitive. Cricket and/or Thistle probably would have pushed to win. After the race was this crazy "Le Mans" loop where all competitors do a last sprint race of a 1-mile lap. Mass start and no poles! I thought that madness would ensue, but it did not! And Raven and I placed 8th out of 11, which is like wow! Yay, us! Not dead last!

That same day, Raven graduated Basic Obedience, which is doggy charm school. Raven is my first dog who is NOT a prior sled dog. My first who is young, and my first who did not arrive pre-trained. She's a Very Good Girl and a people-pleaser. In fact, the instructors at doggy charm school thought she must have had some obedience work before, which I'm pretty sure she has not. She was a street dog! But she's very loving and very smart. That was a long day! We had to get up at 6:30 to make sure that Thistle got her Queen walk and Cricket got her Princess run before we rushed off to the race. Then Raven and I killed time throwing and chasing her ball at the dog park before it was time for doggy charm school. A long day!

As for Cricket, she's still going strong, cuddly as ever, and the best Communicator. Here she is doing her impression of a Vermeer.