In Praise Of Older Dogs

Caele (KAY-lee) is 12 and a half this month. I am very pleased to have an older dog in my pack. They add balance and a quiet dignity. Having lost the exuberance and “go for it” of the younger members, she replaces it with a gentle insistence and deep love. She doesn’t run things, but she gets what she wants. And when we take that all-important one-on-one walk, leaving all the others behind, she starts by prancing with a little cross-legged dance.

I love the white-haired, grizzled look of the old dogs. Cats never look old.

 

Last winter I saw a middle-aged woman sitting in the sun with a cat so shiny, it looked like she had hand-rubbed it with furniture oil. When I stopped to talk to her, they both turned the same calm, unreadable eyes on me.

"Beautiful cat," I said. "How old? Two? Three?"

The woman gave me a you're-such-an-idiot-I-can't-waste-more-than-one-word-on-you look and said "nineteen."

Oh.

I left them sitting in the sun, growing old together.

You don't grow old with a dog. They just don't live long enough. It is guaranteed loss and heartbreak. But if you are willing to risk it, it's also guaranteed unconditional love and companionship for that all-too-brief decade or so.

Ridge, a 17-year-old ridgeback, who shares her life with Chris Jensen, is shown here taking her "beauty bath" in a bed of kelp. She especially likes kelp, but also bathes in the saltwater tidal pools of the Pacific.

Chris's secret? "I try not to ever let her get bored or get to thinking she is old."

Does she look old to you?

Chris makes me feel guilty. I rarely get Caele out to interesting places, and never to the beach. She still can run and bound, but I have to hoist her up onto the bed. I am just hoping she will stay with me another year, maybe two.

Caele

Do you have room in your heart to take in a senior dog? They are the least adoptable of all dogs. Most shelters just euthanize any dog over 8 that comes to them. These dogs may not be with you for many years, but they will all be good years. And many are fine, wise souls who deserve to live out their lives in peace and comfort. There is a wonderful 11-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback right now waiting for some saint to rescue him. Is that you?

Photo credits: Ridge in kelp © Sharon Johnson; Ridge running and Ridge in sand © Chris Jensen; Caele © Julia Runk Jones.