Adventures of the Oregon Forest Dog

21 April 2024

Ivan and I visited Ribsby's dog park today (named after Beverly Cleary's dog character) and did a slow meander through the trail. This place is basically heaven for an old dog like Ivan. There's rarely anyone else here and the trail is all soft surfaces. This time of year there's the sound of meadowlarks and camas is blooming all over. Ivan took his time and enjoyed his slow sniffies. I'm starting to see what looks like ataxia in his gait and it really worries me. I'm not sure if its weakness (although to me he seems to have enough muscle that this shouldn't be the case) or if it's the new pain control regimen (Gabapentin can cause some wobbliness but I only give it to him in the evening) or if there's something else going on. His parents are both DM clear so I doubt it's that but I guess there are many diseases that can cause similar symptoms. Yet again I'm trying to just be okay with seeing him get older and slower and weaker but man it's hard. It hit me today that his days of playing chuck-it or doing competitive obedience are long behind him. It happened so much faster than I could have imagined. But, a slow walk through a grassy, sunny path with birds singing and flowers blooming is certainly still nice and definitely more relaxing.

A very slow walk through the camas path.

15 April 2024

I managed to find a used Help Em Up Harness so Ivan can go on car rides again. He is quickly losing the ability to jump into the car, in spite of our increased walk frequency and his 6 pound weight loss since the beginning of the year. I also had to buy a box of potty pads, since he wet the bed last week-- first time that has happened since he was a puppy. He is not thrilled about either of these developments but is hanging in there, enjoying his short sniffy walks and his new routine of eating his kibble scattered into the grass in the morning. Last week we explored another new park, and Ivan enjoyed wading into the water. It was a short 20 minutes until he was done, and he needed me to lift him into the car-- which is not easy for me to do without a HEU harness. I'm excited to be able to resume our park explorations again!

Old man walks from the last couple months. I haven't been updating here much lately but Ivan is doing well. We're making progress on his prescribed weight loss and he's about 3 pounds from his goal. He's still going for his short walks, we're still hanging in at about 1.5 miles at the longest before he starts fatiguing. He'll still sprint across the yard after a squirrel but his poor body is so sore afterward. I can't believe this dog got so old so fast.

Waiting for Spring