Sky becomes an old dog
You always know how old your kids are. You mark their important birthdays with a party, or a special dinner and you give them gifts. With your dog it can be different. If it’s a pedigree dog, you have its papers to refer to if you’re not sure, but when it’s a bitzer, and energetic and healthy, the years roll by and you’ve no reason to remember its age.
So it was with my dog, Sky, until one day, for the first time ever, she declined to follow the farm bike on its daily trek of three kilometers to the furthest boundary of the farm. She came with us about half a kilometer, then, while I was stopped to open a gate, she gave me “sad eyes” and a “slow wag”, turned around and went back to the house.
I was worried something was wrong with her, but her temperature and appetite were normal and she did not seem to be in pain. Her bowel motions were normal, too.
When I gave the matter some thought, I realized that she did have some stiffness in one shoulder that was maybe worse recently than it had been. Other than that, I could find nothing wrong with her.
A visit to the vet confirmed that she was in good health, but did have a bit of arthritis in her stiff shoulder.
“How old is she now?” asked the vet. I worked out her age, and was astonished to find she was about twelve years old!
She actually never came to the back of the farm again. She would come part of the way, then return to the house, usually when we came to the first gate.
That’s the thing about pets – their life-spans are so short compared with ours. So there’s another life lesson our pets help us to remember: make the most of every day you have and be grateful for it – whatever age you live to, life is short.
