 Barked: Mon May 16, '11 9:03pm PST |
 | |  | | He gets around just fine, as long as he knows where everything is. Since he's losing his eyesight, he needs to be sure of everything before heads off. But if he knows he's got room to run, he'll do it...especially if the other dogs aren't around.
He doesn't want to go outside to pee, though. He gets lost on the way to the door sometimes and will often get lost in the back yard, just because he can't see where the door really is. We have him confined to a large pen in our family room and he prefers to spend most of his time there since it's a smaller environment that he's familiar with. We keep the door open as much as possible but he only comes out once in a great while. We keep a potty pad in there for him and he seems to prefer that to the grass. Even if we carry him outside, he'll often not go while he's out there and will come inside to use the potty pad.
His bowl is right next to his bed...he doesn't even have to get out of it to take a drink. And it stays in the same place all the time, so he knows right where it is. He had a full blood workup done just last week and the low sodium levels are all they could find.
He does tend to bark for no reason sometimes but not often. He barks while you're fixing his dinner and if he can't get back under his blankets or if he's pooped. He's very insistent that we clean up any poop immediately.  But sometimes he has just eaten, poo is cleaned up and he's wrapped up just fine but he'll just bark. Nothing wrong...he just barks and after a minute or two, he'll stop.
It's just the strangest thing...poor little guy. I sometimes wonder about his quality of life but as long as he's basically healthy, I can't bring myself to let him go. He's a tough little dog and has survived so much already that it just wouldn't seem right. But we do wonder...
They say to decide, you should think about their 5 favorite things and if they can't enjoy them, then it's time. But Ru hasn't got 5 things he likes and never has, really - not since we got him. Since we didn't know him when he was younger, it's hard to tell. We'll enjoy him a little longer and keep hoping... |  |  | |  |
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Dogster Obsessions: The Starter Kit for Dogs by Wildebeest
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