Living with your Senior Dog
Ch. Riverrun Magenta Morning Blaze, "Blaze"
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GCh. Adeline's Sticky Wicket BISS,
"Wickie"
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Ch. Hunter's Harvey Corrigan, "Harvey"
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Treasure the Old Dog, a personal story by Becky Van Houten
"He's getting old. I don't count the years. I don't multiply by seven. They bred dogs for everything else, even diving for fish, why didn't they breed them to live longer, to live as long as a man?" Peter Heller
Living with an elderly Otterhound provides an owner with new questions and experiences. My husband and I lived with our girl since age 5.5 when she stepped down from her illustrious show career. Born in 2006, Wicket lived with friends of mine as a young puppy, but we were always her co-owners in case anything would happen to these older folks. When Wicket retired, we thought she could add her good genes to the gene pool, so we added her to our pack and got to know her better than before. She generally fit in well with our other hounds despite having 2 other intact bitches in the house. Through the years we appreciated her sweet demeanor and her pleasure meeting people. She loved representing our breed and I believe she kissed most of the city of Milwaukee one year at a meet the breed event. She especially loved kissing men with beards—maybe there was a food crumb somewhere there! It wasn’t long after she had a litter of puppies that we began to lose members of our pack and before we knew it, we were down to two Otterhounds. By that time she was eight. She continued to enjoy good health, and we occasionally went out to play in veterans' classes in dog shows. We lost her half-brother shortly before his 12th birthday.
In early 2015 we brought home a puppy of another breed and began travelling extensively with the two of them. She loved hiking and was my husband’s great pal while I handled the puppy. Trailing her nose on the ground brought her so much excitement and energy and we continued our adventures until 2018 when we noticed she was starting to miss steps and stumbling. Though we had her on a glucosamine supplement, we tried chiropractic adjustments to see if that could resolve the problem. One afternoon our vet said his adjustments were just not going to help anymore and we put her on a pain medication to try and help. Her gait continued to go downhill, and I decided to check in with the big guns at the University. They did some neurology tests on her and found the problem to be in her spine. It was deteriorating. They offered C.A.T. scans and though we did do an x-ray, we thought we wanted to be less aggressive and turned to rehabilitation and laser therapy. By this time, she was not able to walk well, and my son had to carry her up the stairs when we visited his home. On a positive note, she was still happy, eating and drinking well and had her usual sweet demeanor. Then she was 12 years old, and the average Otterhound lives to 10.8. We had never had a 12-year-old Otterhound!
With the help of a friend, we found a physical therapist vet located about 2 hours away and we scheduled an appointment. She showed us how to use massage and gave her some exercises to work her rear muscles. Additionally, we began to have her treated with a laser. In the beginning we had to go frequently to see the progress that we hoped for and progress, she did. The first week we went every other day and then 2 days per week and gradually cut back to 1/month. Even on trips, we were able to find locations that could continue to give her laser treatments. It seems to be a popular and successful way to improve doggie mobility. We got a set of boots to help her navigate slippery floors when needed and placed more rubber backed rugs throughout the house. Once again, the day came when our specialist said our treatment was no longer working-the benefit of laser was no longer the answer for our girl. We saw to it that she never went down any stairs without assistance but found encouraging her to climb stairs was good exercise. Though we had to change to a different pain medication over the years, we would see her still happy and surprisingly well at nearly 15. Our next adventure was to try CBD as a supplement and cut back on her NSAID use which was beginning to affect her liver. That seemed to help. It was always a joy to peer into her pretty face and see the “joie de vivre” she exuded even though she didn't see as well with her somewhat cloudy eyes as she used to. She loved her daily .2 mile “walk” even if it involved some stumbles. She excitedly came inside for her treat at its conclusion. As
we saw more stumbles, so she added a brace for her right hock when the wobbles and stumbles became too great.
In telling her story, I’ve neglected to mention that she ruled the house and when she wanted something, she never failed to communicate it. When there was no water in the bowl, she pushed the bowl around to let us know it was empty. Often when she had a need during the day, she approached my husband and he recited a litany of possibilities and when he landed on the thing she wanted, she barked in appreciation for his insight. Near the end, she determined that 8:30 was bedtime for the household and she would bark until I gave in. I tried settling her in the bedroom but like an errant toddler, she popped right up again until I joined her in the room. Luckily, she let me read or watch television! Whenever our other dog sounded the alarm that the UPS driver arrived, she could run to the door with the best of them! Every morning when I woke up, I was happy to see her barking her acknowledgement of a new day and her aggravation that our other dog was jumping for joy about it! I never expected to have an Otterhound live to age 15 but it was really a fulfilling experience! The day finally came when Wickie went downstairs with me for her dinner which she ate but then came to a rest and was never able to stand on her own again. We had some sad days as we gradually recovered from our loss.
In early 2015 we brought home a puppy of another breed and began travelling extensively with the two of them. She loved hiking and was my husband’s great pal while I handled the puppy. Trailing her nose on the ground brought her so much excitement and energy and we continued our adventures until 2018 when we noticed she was starting to miss steps and stumbling. Though we had her on a glucosamine supplement, we tried chiropractic adjustments to see if that could resolve the problem. One afternoon our vet said his adjustments were just not going to help anymore and we put her on a pain medication to try and help. Her gait continued to go downhill, and I decided to check in with the big guns at the University. They did some neurology tests on her and found the problem to be in her spine. It was deteriorating. They offered C.A.T. scans and though we did do an x-ray, we thought we wanted to be less aggressive and turned to rehabilitation and laser therapy. By this time, she was not able to walk well, and my son had to carry her up the stairs when we visited his home. On a positive note, she was still happy, eating and drinking well and had her usual sweet demeanor. Then she was 12 years old, and the average Otterhound lives to 10.8. We had never had a 12-year-old Otterhound!
With the help of a friend, we found a physical therapist vet located about 2 hours away and we scheduled an appointment. She showed us how to use massage and gave her some exercises to work her rear muscles. Additionally, we began to have her treated with a laser. In the beginning we had to go frequently to see the progress that we hoped for and progress, she did. The first week we went every other day and then 2 days per week and gradually cut back to 1/month. Even on trips, we were able to find locations that could continue to give her laser treatments. It seems to be a popular and successful way to improve doggie mobility. We got a set of boots to help her navigate slippery floors when needed and placed more rubber backed rugs throughout the house. Once again, the day came when our specialist said our treatment was no longer working-the benefit of laser was no longer the answer for our girl. We saw to it that she never went down any stairs without assistance but found encouraging her to climb stairs was good exercise. Though we had to change to a different pain medication over the years, we would see her still happy and surprisingly well at nearly 15. Our next adventure was to try CBD as a supplement and cut back on her NSAID use which was beginning to affect her liver. That seemed to help. It was always a joy to peer into her pretty face and see the “joie de vivre” she exuded even though she didn't see as well with her somewhat cloudy eyes as she used to. She loved her daily .2 mile “walk” even if it involved some stumbles. She excitedly came inside for her treat at its conclusion. As
we saw more stumbles, so she added a brace for her right hock when the wobbles and stumbles became too great.
In telling her story, I’ve neglected to mention that she ruled the house and when she wanted something, she never failed to communicate it. When there was no water in the bowl, she pushed the bowl around to let us know it was empty. Often when she had a need during the day, she approached my husband and he recited a litany of possibilities and when he landed on the thing she wanted, she barked in appreciation for his insight. Near the end, she determined that 8:30 was bedtime for the household and she would bark until I gave in. I tried settling her in the bedroom but like an errant toddler, she popped right up again until I joined her in the room. Luckily, she let me read or watch television! Whenever our other dog sounded the alarm that the UPS driver arrived, she could run to the door with the best of them! Every morning when I woke up, I was happy to see her barking her acknowledgement of a new day and her aggravation that our other dog was jumping for joy about it! I never expected to have an Otterhound live to age 15 but it was really a fulfilling experience! The day finally came when Wickie went downstairs with me for her dinner which she ate but then came to a rest and was never able to stand on her own again. We had some sad days as we gradually recovered from our loss.
See the valuable information provided in the Senior Dog Talk presented on August 17, 2022 by Laura Martino.
| ohca_senior_dog_talk.pdf |
Ch. Riverrun Mor Lorgaire Jester CGC ThD, "Jester"
