New Old Dog

[Pretty Miss Emma]

So, tomorrow I am bringing home an old dog who will be here for foster care while she has surgery and recovers from this. It is also highly likely that she will stay here following this until her time comes.

She is a 14 year old BC. She currently has a tooth abscess that has erupted through her cheek (thus why she requires surgery), she will also be having a few lumps removed while she is under GA.

My last BC only lived to 12.5 years, so we didn't really get to the very old dog age. And she aged quite quickly in the last 6 months of her life. So I'm just wondering what are some of the things I need to be thinking about that may not have crossed my mind in regards to having an old dog in the house. I've got a couple of different bed options for her so she can choose which is easiest and most comfortable for her. She'll get whichever food she gets sent home with (she is happily eating dry mostly at the moment), I'll also add in the turmeric that I'm giving my 2 and omega oils. If she can figure out the dog door she will have indoor/outdoor access, however for the first little bit she might be separate from my dogs just until I'm 100% ok with them all being together (both in terms of getting used to a new dog but also I don't want them knocking her after surgery etc).

Is there anything else I need to think about?

[DeltaCharlie]

Is she actually an old dog or are you going purely by her age?

Dash is 13 and still competing in Masters level at agility and I know of plenty of BCs who are or have been at a similar age or older. They are a breed that are generally pretty active until death's door so you may find that she is still up for a lot of the same things your younger ones are :) Many BCs are now living into their late teens so 14 certainly isn't old yet!

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Well, she isn't ancient. But she isn't young. She certainly wouldn't be doing agility!!! Going from what I've seen so far, she'll be pretty happy hanging out in the sun and having a walk around the block.

[Tassie]

From my experience, she may have some hearing deficit .. real as well as "don't wanna don't have to" kind, and may well have some progressive vision deficit.. from cataract e,g.. My 13.5 year old Kirra seems to have both of these, which can cause her to have some senior moments when she's not sure where I've gone. On the other hand, although she's retired from agility competition, she's always well up for training. If we're running courses, I usually jump her at 400 rather than 500, although she'll happily do 500 when we're doing smaller drills. She's loving training the new Rally signs, and if she's still going OK next year, we might have a go at Masters.