He's getting old now our Luey and recently he seems to not know when he's going to need to go for a number two. One minute he's lying there the next minute he's rushing towards the doors and its a race between you and his butt muscles. His age is something we're still coming to terms with and he changes day to day, sometimes he's Mr Grumpy and sometimes he's a puppy bounding all over the place.
The toilet thing started off in the night. We'd let him out like usual before bed, but at some point in the night he'd wake up needing to go and instead of crying to wake my mum up he stares at her for a bit and then gets too desperate. He's never really developed a bark or a cry. He only does these things around other dogs, therefore he's never really used them with us and unfortunately therefore all he does is stare at you if he wants something. Once you're awake he'll talk to you in low noises, but otherwise you'll need to develop spidey senses! Knowing it wasn't his fault we did our best to prevent this from happening, giving him his tea earlier, taking him for short walks round the block before bed. This seemed to solve the problem of pooping in the night (touches wood).
However the recent problem of having accidents during the day seem to be harder to prevent. He tends to get so distracted by going around the kitchen licking crumbs off the floor that he forgets that he needs to go out and therefore it end up as a race to the back door with a trail nuggets a long the way. We now put him out as soon as he's eaten (we've always done this but now we do it even if he doesn't want to) and this on the whole works as long as we're on it.
Yesterday was a different thing though. I'd just made lunch of brown pasta with tuna and sat down to eat it with the dog lying next to me. He stood up to sniff at my food, and then lifted his tail. I knew what was about to happen, he knew what was a bout to happen, but neither of us could move fast enough. Now as much as I love and adore Luey, nobody wants to clean up poo when their about to eat. I let him out the back door and I cleaned up the mess whilst he sniffed at the conifers in the garden. I scratched his ears and told him it was ok, and went back to eating my lunch, because loving a dog is loving them even when they poop on the carpet.
Recently we've had to change the way we are with Luey our lab. at 11 years old we know how lucky we are, and we just want his life to be as happy and comfy as possible. Although we know he needs to take it easy he doesn't, he still thinks he's a puppy, he wants to chase tennis balls and go swimming, and because of this boundless energy that he displays we forget this from time to time too. Shortly before Christmas we took him on his usual walk, off the lead, lots of swimming and watched him chase after a ball. Seeing how happy he was and how much he enjoyed the walk we did the same thing the following day, not thinking about his age just about his happiness. The day after that he struggled to walk, he had very little enthusiasm for anything and just lay on his bed grumbling to himself. Now Luey can be a grumpy old man from time to time, but he always enthusiastic about the idea of food, and we were therefore really concerned. We all spent the few days watching him, encouraging him, not leaving him alone for a moment and we feared the worst.
The the day before Christmas Eve he bounded off mum's bed that morning at half six, wagging his tail as he went down the stairs to greet Jack as he made his porridge. It was like nothing had happened. Christmas Eve, he did wake up with conjunctivitus, however, the trust he put in us to clean his eyes and put the drops in, reafirmed the connection he has with us. That trust goes both ways and it runs deep. He knows when we need him and he also knows when he needs us. The days over Christmas were wonderful with him and with the eye infection clearing up quickly over the past few weeks its been like getting our puppy Luey back. He's mischievous, stealing food, begging for treats and really wants to go for walks. We on the other hand have had to be restrained. Walks are frequent but short and on the lead, this way we can build up the muscle in his back legs and control the amount of walking he does.
Treats well, they are more frequent than perhaps they should be. I mean he's eleven for goodness sake! And he has this way of looking at you and then looking to where the treats are kept then back at you. This wouldn't be a problem if there was only one of us in the house, but when there are six of us and he does the same cute trick to all of us, then he sometimes gets six treats... We've cottoned onto this trick now, but to be honest, we just want him to be happy. We've always been lucky with his weight, he's never been an overweight lab and if anything in the last year we've had the opposite problem where he lost a lot of weight and got picky with his food. Like a human being we've discovered that if he eats and is then sick, he then associates eating that food with being sick, which means we are often changing his food or at least the way he eats it - hiding treats etc. - just to get him to eat.
The things we do for love. Dog love.
Anyone who has a dog will know that they steal your heart the moment you set eyes on them. This bond for us has got stronger especially over the last few years. He talks to you, he'll look you dead in the eyes and tell you how he's feeling. He'll stare at you head to one side, ears slightly raised when you're eating toast, he'll nudge your hand when wants a stroke and if he doesn't want you to leave he'll rest his head on your hand with a small sigh. The love that I have for this dog is incalculable, when I look at his and imagine him not being there my heart hurts and is immediately calmed when I touch his fur. The smell of his head, and the soft fur around his neck is the smell of safety, of home and of him.
Cuddles with a dog are the best. Luey can be a bit hit and miss on cuddles. He loves nothing more than climbing into the smallest space on the sofa and resting his head on your shoulder or your lap. He'll lie there quite content for ages..most of time. If he feels that your'e moving too much you might get his bum instead of his head. If he suddenly feels too claustrophobic you'll get a big sigh and he'll get off you and the sofa by stepping on you as much as possible and move to the opposite side of the room giving you a long hard stare. He can lie on you, but you cannot lie on him is the general rule. Of course there are exceptions like he's too tired to care or he senses you're unwell and need this cuddle, he's pretty good with that. As I'm writing this he is lying on the sofa next me, wanting the warmth of the blanket, however there is a pillow that is annoying him. When I move it he continues to grumble and fidget until he finally gets off as described above. Give it ten minutes and he'll be back, but for now he's being a grumpy old man, my grumpy old man.
