Hi {{first_name}} ,

Janet rescued a mini dachshund named Boswell aka BOZ from the Los Angeles shelter system. He had been found wandering the streets. 

She took him home and spent the next fifteen-plus years giving him everything.

He did agility. He was one of the top dachshunds in the country. He got his AKC Beginner Novice  obedience title, Rally Novice and CHC. He traveled with her all over the world.

Then he was attacked by another dog. It was bad.

Janet sat with him for four weeks. Fed him roasted chicken by hand. Went through multiple surgeries with him. Every day he got a little stronger.  Boz recovered and earned a few more titles! 

The love and dedication she showed Boz taught me something I had not put into words yet. A senior dog does not just need more care. It needs a different kind of person.

In This Issue

Reading time: 4 minutes

Senior dogs pee on themselves. They fall down stairs they cannot see anymore. They wake up disoriented and bark because they cannot hear you call back. They need to be guided to their food bowl. Bathed when they cannot clean themselves. Carried on the days they cannot walk.

That is the job. All of it.

The deal you make when you bring a young dog home is this: from the day you get him until the day he takes his last breath, that dog is yours. The deal holds regardless of what changes in your life. Regardless of how hard it gets. Regardless of whether the dog can thank you for it. Deep down he is thanking you… whether you hear it or not is on you! 

A senior dog demands a level of character that most people are not prepared for. It requires you to be selfless. Consistently. On the days it is not easy and on the days it is.

The way someone treats an old dog tells you more about who they are than almost anything else.

As a dog ages, your job shifts from training to managing. And that shift matters.

Mobility is the first thing to think about. If you have stairs, the dog needs to be supervised or carried. Boz took a couple of tumbles before we made the call to crate him on every floor so he had a safe space without having to navigate the whole house alone. Three floors, three crates. That is what it looked like.

Control the play. Senior dogs often do not know they are old. They still want to run and spin and wrestle. Let them do it unsupervised and you are looking at a pulled muscle or a torn ACL, or worse. Short, controlled movement. Treadmill work if you have access. Structured walks rather than free play. Their minds are still fully on, even when the body needs to slow down.

If you have a younger dog in the home, do not just let them sort it out. A young high-drive dog will override an elderly dog every time. Put the younger dog in a down-stay and walk the old dog around them. If necessary, use a crate.  Let the senior move freely. Let the younger dog watch and learn that the old dog belongs to you and is to be respected. Do that enough times and the younger dog starts to protect the older one rather than compete with it. That is exactly what happened with us.

At 13 years old, let your dog be who they are. Your job at that stage is to keep them safe, comfortable, and loved. That is enough. That is more than enough.

A sick, suffering old dog living in a kennel for years because of a no-kill policy deserves better. A humane death is more merciful than a long life in pain behind bars. That is hard to say. It is also true.

If you want to do something that matters, call your local shelter and ask about fostering an older dog. Give him a home for whatever time he has left. The love that comes back from an old dog is something you cannot find anywhere else.

I have watched a lot of dogs age. Every single time I look at an old dog I feel something I cannot fully put into language. Something about how short it all is. How much they give. How little they ask in return.

They don't live long enough. That is the only thing wrong with dogs.

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Until next Tuesday,

- Robert