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Sounds like you and your dog have a happy life, Montana! I will have to try the early morning "out and back to bed" thing. My dog is only a bit over a year old, so he may not cooperate yet. But, it's worth a try! I love him to bits either way.
Retirement is way better than the alternative, isn't it?!
Larger dogs tend to have shorter lifespans. The very small dogs can go on forever. I have a Great Dane who is supposedly on his last legs, and the vet estimates him at nine years old. My medium-sized dogs are nine (two of them) and I consider them my youngsters (although they are nicely reasonably calm). My others are both 15, one a 10-pound Pomeranian with one giant tooth, and the other a mini-Aussie, about 30 pounds, who is showing her age a lot but still delightful and keeps busy when awake (guards the door).
Sounds like you animal lovers have a great life with your domestic pets and I"m one who is very content petless, I can't imagine having to walk a dog a few times a day or cleaning out cat boxes....but I'm glad you are all out there. My daughter is now faced with a dog who is aging and has been sick and she wants to take a short trip next month and don't know if she can due to Tori and the cost to have her taken care of.
Sounds like you animal lovers have a great life with your domestic pets and I"m one who is very content petless, I can't imagine having to walk a dog a few times a day or cleaning out cat boxes....but I'm glad you are all out there. My daughter is now faced with a dog who is aging and has been sick and she wants to take a short trip next month and don't know if she can due to Tori and the cost to have her taken care of.
Why don’t you take care of her dog so that she can go on her short trip?
But I have heard from dog people that the larger sizes have shorter life spans.
You might find what you want to know if you use Google.
Yes that can be very true. I owned 3 golden retrievers over the course of 20 years two boys and one girl. My first boy lived to age 6 and the 2nd to age 7 both dying from different types of cancer and loosing them so young was heartbreaking for me. My female lived to just shy of her 10th birthday and died as result of a stroke.
My dog days are long over as when I had them my parents were living and would take them when we traveled and let them out or take them to their house while we were working which made their lives and our lives as a dog owners much easier. But being a life long animal lover, I am now owned by 3 rescue cats and love and enjoy those crazy felines as much as I did my dogs.
OP, it’s great you have a loving companion! They make a difference in our lives when they are wanted and loved.
Our current dog is the third Springer we’ve had, the other two made it to 14 years old, which was still too soon for us. They both still looked like young dogs until the end, they pranced when they walked and yes, they do spring. . We thought we were done with dogs after the last one, but we weren’t.
The pup is 8 1/2 months old and her morning routine is like the previous two springer’s. She waits for any sign we are awake and if she detects any, butt wiggling and coming from the foot of the bed to between us commences. Opening an eye will get a lick or paw in the face, which gets us out of bed sooner than later. We have to pretend to be asleep unless we are prepared to get up. She is so happy to have us awake! The other two dogs wanted their food right away and the sooner we got up, the better, they were pretty insistent. This one wants a walk before she eats and will not eat until we return. I love the small differences with each dog’s personality.
We’re hoping this one has a long life and is with us when we turn 80.
One of the best things about retirement is not having to leave a dog home all day by himself. We have a rescue. He’s 1/2 Flat Coated Retriever, 1/4 Golden, 1/8 Border and 1/8 Curr. I think he understands everything we say. I guess that’s because we talk to him all day. He gets us up around 5:30 am, and that’s fine with us. It’s our favorite time of the day
A very nice play-by-play Montana Griz! Wishing you and your pahdnuh lots of future naps!
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