ditchparrot19
Member
My yellow Lab is 13 1/2 years old and seems to be losing some of his marbles. This is the second day in a couple of weeks that it's been cold and rainy here, and instead of lying around in the nice warm dog room that's attached to the house with the pointer and the setter, on both days he's gone out by the back fence and flopped down in the wet dirt underneath some berry vines. When he emerges, he's sopping wet and one side of his body is completely covered in mud.
He dug himself a little trench back there last summer and spent many evenings in it. I think that might be an end-of-life thing, as I've seen other dogs stake out a peculiar place for themselves to spend their final days.
I'm pretty much torn as to what I should do. A big part of me wants to protect him from himself and put him in a crate inside the house, but another part says I should let him do whatever he wants to do because he's earned it (that huge-hearted beast has actually earned more than I can ever give him).
His only drawback is he's a lousy house dog -- hot-blooded doesn't begin to describe him. He's highly stimulated by anything and everything that moves, makes noise or gives off an aroma and he's had a bull-in-a-china-shop approach to life from the get-go. Those qualities made him a wild rooster's worst nightmare, but also caused my wife to develop some premature grey hairs. He can't be allowed to have the run of the house because, even at his advanced age, he'd tear it down to the foundation just out of pure curiosity.
I've been preparing myself for the dreadful day when I have to say goodbye to this superb hunter that's given me so many great memories, but I don't want that day to come any sooner than it has to. Do you folks have any advice for me?
He dug himself a little trench back there last summer and spent many evenings in it. I think that might be an end-of-life thing, as I've seen other dogs stake out a peculiar place for themselves to spend their final days.
I'm pretty much torn as to what I should do. A big part of me wants to protect him from himself and put him in a crate inside the house, but another part says I should let him do whatever he wants to do because he's earned it (that huge-hearted beast has actually earned more than I can ever give him).
His only drawback is he's a lousy house dog -- hot-blooded doesn't begin to describe him. He's highly stimulated by anything and everything that moves, makes noise or gives off an aroma and he's had a bull-in-a-china-shop approach to life from the get-go. Those qualities made him a wild rooster's worst nightmare, but also caused my wife to develop some premature grey hairs. He can't be allowed to have the run of the house because, even at his advanced age, he'd tear it down to the foundation just out of pure curiosity.
I've been preparing myself for the dreadful day when I have to say goodbye to this superb hunter that's given me so many great memories, but I don't want that day to come any sooner than it has to. Do you folks have any advice for me?