Unlikely blessing: Adopting an older dog
A couple days ago, I received an email from one of our regular readers, known to most of us by her comment tag name, 3Dogs2Arms.
In 2007, she and her husband took in a 15-year-old Australian shepherd mix by the name of Lucky. At the time, he wasn't very lucky at all. (That's Lucky at the shelter, above.)
The original email ("Perhaps we can save him!") that 3Dogs received was a desperate plea for the dog who had been turned into a Los Angeles area shelter by his family:
"He was old and forgotten and so sad and hopeless that he did not even lift his head when I stood in front of his cage," the rescue person said. "He knew that he had been dumped by his family, and the only life he had known for the past 14 years was behind him. He was there to die.
Years earlier, she speculated, "how cute and happy he must have been, a little bundle of joy passed from family member to family member like a shiny new toy.How adorable he must have been.
"Fast forward to 2007 -- he is led in slowly, his hind legs a bit stiff, his eyes a little watery with age, his trusting heart not knowing that he is being left to die now that he is old."
Kleenex break.
Enter 3Dogs2Arms, the kind of gal who from childhood was always bringing home all manner of stray animals. She and her husband opened their hearts to bring Lucky home to live out the rest of his life with them. And a wonderful home it must have been. With some acreage, he had room to roam.
"You can see how magnificent he was, but it was nothing compared to having the honor of watching him stroll around our property and throwing his head around in merriment when the mood would strike," 3Dogs wrote to me.
After he came to stay with 3Dogs, he "had 20 months of sunsets to watch which was amazing as he came to us very ill and we never imagined he'd recover, much less thrive and participate. He must have been a beautiful English shepherd in his prime days, I'd get an inkling of that when he'd toss his head around trying to play the Geriatric Gadfly."
You know where this is going, of course. After not being able to get up on his own for a few days, 3Dogs said "we made the decision to not ask any more of him. ... He has been gently placed on our property, right at the point that he'd go no further when he'd accompany us down the hill."
3Dogs says she'll have to come up with a new name now that she no longer has her third dog. But I hope she doesn't do that too soon. You never know ....
Adopting an older dog has many benefits, of course. But it is also a remarkably kind gesture in cases like Lucky's. His name, in the end, surely suited him well indeed.
But it's odd how those who bring these animals home to live out their lives in dignity so often say the owners are the ones who really benefit the most, and in so many unlikely ways.
So here's to adopting older dogs and all the unexpected blessings they bestow on us.
I found these resources for those considering adopting an older pet: The Senior Dogs Project; Adopt an Older Dog; Why Adopt an Older Dog?
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About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.
Very kind and loving of you to take in a creature that gave his whole life to others.
I agree with David!
That is a beautiful post, Donna. Thank you for lifting our heavy hearts and promoting the beauty of older dogs. I was already proud of Lucky just being himself, but you elevated him to some Barking Spokesman promoting his peers!
Your previous post about Timon gives me the opportunity to publicly thank the rescue group Ace of Hearts as they initially got our Lucky out of the shelter environment and into foster homes.
There are a lot of rescue groups I've worked with and fostered for *cough* too-many-years-to-admit *cough* but Ace of Hearts fills special niches.
Kudos to them, it takes very special people to recognize the gems hiding behind fear, shyness and agressive actions that can arise from impound environments.
One tip for helping older dogs - enforce verbal commands with hand signals. When dogs begin to lose their hearing, they don't lose the ability to interact with their humans (depression in dogs is an ugly thing). We've also found it invaluable on our younger girls that we take on outings where wind can diminish vocal commands but we use a clicker to get their attention first.
This story almost made me cry. I have three australian Shepherd dogs, and a golden retriever, and it is difficult for me to understand why or how anybody could drop their dog off to a kill shelter for any reason, but especially simply because he or she was old. As mine age, they grow in worth to me, and I only feel sad that none of us can live forever. I sometimes worry about two of my dogs, who don't do well with strangers, if something should happen to me, but never would I even consider dropping them off like so much access baggage. It breaks my heart to hear of such things. I guess some people do the same thing to their parents. Cold.