The laughing has stopped!

Right now we are going through a rough patch.  We had to put our dog, Ollie, down on Monday.  Ollie was only with us for about 18 months but he was a good old guy.  He started out (with us) with a nasty hair cut that our vet thinks could have injured a bunch of hair follicles

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He was only about 55 lb too which seemed a lot skinny!  He'd been found by Animal Control out in the desert and taken to our local animal shelter which seems to be run by a bunch of idiots!  They told us he was 18 minths old!  We (and our vet) believe he was well over 10 years old.

It took a few months but he was soon stable at about 75 lb and his fur did grow back mostly!

He was a good dog but had his odd spots just like we all.  He didn't mind if you put a collar on his neck but he HATED having a slip lead put around his neck.  Then, after all that fuss, he walked very gently never pulling or hesitating.  Someone did some very weird stuff to him on a slip lead!  He could only just manage a couple of stairs so we bought a ramp so he could get into and out of our truck and RV without falling.

Unfortunately he had a limp which gradually became worse and worse.  He would sometimes even fall when he walked.  Then he started pooping while he walked; it was as though he didn't know it was happening!  The vet suggested that he had a problem with his spine and it was not signaling his brain properly.  You couldn't really correct him for something he didn't know was going on.  At the end we were giving him two pain medications twice a day and he still limped; at least he seemed to know when not to poop.  Finally he stopped finishing his meals and he'd certainly never had that problem!  He was also sleeping all day and all night which was probably the pain medication but he was still limping with every step.  Finally we all decided it must just be his time.  RIP Ollie.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!