Loving my Oldies

My first thoughts, too. With my first two little dogs, I had a handyman cut out part of my door and put in a swinging flap of hard plastic which I could leave down and it was easy for the dogs to push through, or hook it open. If you used a commercial one, seeing the house is to be demolished, you simply remove it when you leave to use again in your next place. Another thought. If your next place is a rental, take the whole door with you. Seriously.

Not really - not as bad as fully lifting her up. Have you seen my thread in Market Place about the ramp? http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/265803-ramp/ Maybe you could find or make something like that?

No to toy poodle in your situation. Going on your description of what you are looking for, I’d definitely be going with a sturdier breed. Cairn Terrier?? Border Terrier ?? Corgi?? Or what about another little staffy? Maybe look in the rescue pages for an adult dog as well.

None of my oldies now jumps onto the bed, which is a bit of relief really, because I don’t have to shut the bedroom door. Danny, Jeune and Tamar used to bound onto the bed (which is also quite high) as though they had springs. What I found with mine is that one day they could and the next they couldn’t. Tamar and Jeune can still jump off but Danny and Bunter can’t. Bunter usually starts whinging if he wants to get off and Danny is a bit like Feather, in that he gives a raucous/help-me-mum bark. I wish Bunter would bark because sometimes I don’t wake up and instead I hear this dreadful thumping and clunking because he’s thrown himself off. I have a whole post on steps though :D :D (My darling brave Myrtie ( )

Wonderful to see, Starkehre. You must feel so proud ... totally deservedly. :thumbsup:

Zeph needs to drop a kg or 2 to be at his ideal weight. :laugh: Mia is the prefect exercise partner for him. Mia is very coquettish in her interaction. :laugh: :laugh:

where is it? Kinglake West Kirisin, near the primary school. Off I go to google houses for sale - LOL.

Pics of Little Red Man in tartan coat pls. :D LOL. I’ll get one tomorrow.

Stunning! What a magnificent park for dogs to run around. :thumbsup:

Thanks, Boronia. At the moment, Danny is pretty good about not bumping into things. He has found going blind a little more difficult that it could have been because it happened fairly quickly and when he was already 15-16. But there are times when he just paces around the deck, into the house, around the house, etc etc and I watch him very carefully. He gets caught up in chair legs, etc etc, but he doesn’t seem to get fussed about it, thank goodness. I make a point of taking him downstairs several times a day and sometimes he spends quite a bit of time sniffing around, and others he comes back up pretty well after he has had a wee. Yesterday, I took a wonderful video to have for the future. He was looking very resplendent in a tartan patterned coat

:cry: In places you’d hardly know it had been fixed. Cost me a small fortune and the guy was incredibly slow. 6 weeks, 10 hours a day to do windows (inside and out) doors, skirting boards and architraves. If I asked him to fix something up (such as paint runs) he just about had hysterics - and I’m not joking . Extraordinary. I could write a book. I had three new doors done and one he’d painted rather badly leaving rolls of paint and a couple of runs. He kept on saying he couldn’t see it so I took a photograph. He finally (after we’d discussed it at least 4-5 times) fixed it. If he wanted to do something and I said, no it was fine, he argued; if I asked him to do something, he argued. It will take a while to get over the whole debacle. :(

Oh goodness, I can just see that. Hilarious. I’m interested that someone else has a special object that is used for a dog related matter. I have two dogs who think the deck is outside :( and so I have a heap of newspaper to spread over the offending wet spots to soak them up before I wash. The implement I use to pick up the papers is a barbeque length of “salad” servers.

I don’t hate anything my dogs do. :lie: :lie:

It was not a smooth ride ....... nor a smooth finish . On a couple of days Danny was pretty sick (he is very old after all and we elderlies have bad days) and all I wanted to do was to lie on the couch with him, but at times I was so cross, I just had to leave the house for a few hours. The man is, I believe OCD, and I don’t think I have ever experienced anyone so argumentative. Anyway, I can now spend as much time as I like lazying around with Danny and the others :laugh: :laugh:

The painting is finished and I can't smell it anymore, but OMG, it has made me sooooooo crook. I was really worried about the dogs because they are all elderly, but seem to have come through it okay. So thankful to have the house back to just us. It is so stressful having someone coming and going all day - he started at 7 am and wouldn't leave until he couldn't see well enough which has been about 5pm. Never again. I took a couple of videos of Danny today, but don't know how to put them up. He has had a really good day today. :thumbsup:

What a wonderful lot of responses. I am so glad to learn I am not the only one who does a lot of stamping, clapping and speaking in a loud high pitched voice :D :D Unfortunately, my old old man, Danny, has gone blind as well so it is difficult for him. He can no longer go downstairs unaided, but wanders around the backyard and comes back up the ramp when he is ready. Danny's bark has become very raspy, but that may be because of his age?? As Boronia has experienced :) :) when he needs me, the bark is VERY demanding and, because he has continence issues, when I hear that bark, I run. :laugh:

I adopted a toy poodle some years ago (long term DOLers may remember my threads about Rover). Turned out he was three weeks off his 17th birthday. He graced our home for another three years with no signs of aging until a month before he died at nearly 20. Preston isn't old. He's only middle aged. :laugh: :laugh: He is gorgeous, kirty. We should all have accidents like that :D :D

Oh my goodness, Kirislin. You must feel in heaven with all this beauty (and naughtiness) around you. And on top of that still have the dignity and wisdom of the Whippets. Do Neko and Secret play zoomies?

Probably illegal, as well. Some people should not have dogs.

Congratulations. :champagne: Not that I am surprised - your photographs are brilliant.

Did Mac just stop and stare at nothing or just hang there as though going to sleep on his feet? Danny does that a lot lately as though he has forgotten what he was about to do ( which was nothing LOL ). He also does a lot of pacing and I really put that down to the fact that the painter has been in the house for 6 weeks and so normal routines have gone by the way. Instead of spending a couple of hours in the afternoon with Danny (and the others, of course) on the couch or the recliner chair, I have been going out in an attempt to stay sane. He also can no longer negotiate the stairs or ramp to go downstairs and has to wait for me to carry him down. This week is going to be even worse as the painter has started on the interior and is using gloss enamel and making me feel quite ill. God knows what it might be doing to elderly dogs. I will shut them out on the deck while the painter is inside. He is good with doors generally, but I am worried about the fumes. I’ve seen the man with two Westies twice this week. Privileged LOL.

Thanks, WM. After the tests, it is business as usual. Slight kidney probs but nothing we didn't know about. But it is tearing my heart out to see him winding down. That said, I take him downstairs several times a day and sometimes he comes back up straight away and others he spends so long sniffing around that I Keep checking on him LOL.

I can't help myself from posting...yep, Sideways Mac again I still think of my old xbred dog, Harry, who went over the bridge quite a few years ago, you do stop grieving WM, grieving turns to memories of the funny, and quirky things they did. Grieving turns into lovely warm memory-spots in your heart Well said, Boronia. Even sideways, Mac is one handsome little guy.

I wouldn't be game to even take a stab in the dark. A small fortune - but that is because Danny's med costs are huge.

It’s hard seeing the historic photographs. But it is good to have them to be able to reassure yourself down the line that it was time or it wasn’t time. I had to take Danny back to the vet this morning as the “bloods machine” spat the dummy last time, so hopefully there won’t be any nasty surprises and we just have a very elderly little fellow here.