Creeping time

I cannot believe that my baby will be 8 next month; my furbaby that is. My human baby is now 18 which I cannot believe either but that's another blog. Luke will be turning 8 on August 16th and it seems llike only yesterday I made the fateful trip to my friends to see her litter of pupiies. Now at 8 years of age my boy is maturing; yes it has taken 8 years.

The girls are well into their senior years with Tilley having turned 11 in March and Jessie 12 in May. I am at a point in my life that I hadn't considered. Tilley is showing signs of her age; slowing down, taking longer to rise in the morning or after a nap and not hearing as well as she use to; although she looks amazing and no one thinks she could possibly be 11 years old.

Jessie is 12 and like Tilley she looks amazing. People always think she is a puppy and when I say 12 they think I mean months which they are surprised at; then I tell them "no years." She has lost color pigment but when you don't look at images of her when she was younger you would never know. Her body is the same and I think she is actually in the best shape since her ordeal over 6 years ago.

Life is easy with all senior dogs; there is alot of sleeping that goes on during the day but that is pretty typical with any dogs except maybe teenagers. This morning is like every other; three dogs crashed on my bed while I write. Luke at the left end of the bed in his usual perch, Tilley on the right end and Jessie curled up between my legs making it difficult to move. They will remain this way until either I get them up or the sound of the food cooking is enticing enough to move them from their comfort.

When you have lived with a dog or dogs for this amount of time the connection is beyond explanation. The trust, admiration, understanding and deep love is two sided. (Yes I know this is an an·thro·po·mor·phism (nthr-p-môrfzm) n.
Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

But you know it is how your dog feels; whether you can explain it in purely canine terms or have to resort to human terminology to explain how a dog is behaving. I know my dogs love me; is it love in a human sense? No, but I have no doubt that it is there. If I have had a rough day I will often lay in the middle of the livingroom floor; with my hands over my face my dogs will come and lay touching me; this is what a pack does. This feeling you must experience to understand. But I can say all the worries of the world can melt away with a simple canine connection.

Our dogs are with us on this earth for a fleeting amount of time; creeping time. It is amazing how quickly time passes; one minute you have a crazy puppy who is making you pull out your hair and the next moment you are looking at clouded eyes and a graying muzzle. Each moment is a cherished one and the senior years are good.