from How to tackle aggression in senior dogs… - We Are The Cure Blog | Canine Cancer Information | Dog Time - Dog Blog Network

excerpt -
>>> due to old age a senior dog may not be able to match up
to the energy level of his younger counterparts, leading to a
sense of frustration and despondency. <<


ARRGGGHHH, thump, thump, thump...
(sound of head bouncing off of desk)

* sigh *
way to over-analyze there, Homo-sappy-yens -
Yeesh! drag a little more emotion into it, wouldja?

old-dogs are often WAY-more patient with life in general.
they get cranky with pups b/c they are non-stop, irritating,
interrupt the elders sleep, chew on body-parts, fall over them,
nag, whine and pester, and in general, are a royal PITA.

this is Not *frustration and despondency*...
rather it is an older-adult, telling the young bugger to back-off
and leave me the bloody H*** alone, ya wee pest.

amputee-dogs Do NOT lie about post-surgery, whining about how now they will never dance again... sob, sob... my life is over, woe is me... sob, sob...
Nah, a dog who has lost a limb is way too busy figuring-out how to balance with only 3 legs instead of the 4 that they learned to walk on as infants!

HUMANS are the ones who anguish over this...
they compare the young kids with their smooth skin + bright eyes to their own aging selves, and THEY say, oh i have lost my beauty, it is wasted on the young, it was too short, yadda yadda yadda...
99% of the ppl who lose a limb rarely danced a whole lot before they lost that leg, and if they DID dance, it was not as a professional - i mean they were not dancing as the principal in the Bolshoi ballet, or performing with
Cirque Du Soleil, now were they?!?!

lets learn something from dogs - we may not have been a contender before, or now, or may not be in the future. not for the crown, the award, the cash prize, the most-popular cheerleader or the top-salesnik of the year.

but by Heaven, while we HAVE 2 legs, we can use them - and appreciate the advantages of mobility. we can use what we have, while we have it - and not analyze ourselves into immobility, or waste time whining about what might-have-been.

dogs get on with it - they do not indulge in *despondency*.
cheers,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF