Only Tatum and Jet went. I’m still not taking Levi. I don’t know, his park days may be over… we’ll see. But every day he seems a little bit worse. His poor old body just can’t repair itself anymore. Makes me very, very sad.

Tatum

Tatum and Jet

Blue Skies

Tatum and Jet

Playing

Why not take Muffit or Chase? Well, Chase isn’t dog friendly at all. He’s actually pretty dog aggressive. And Muffit goes hiking with my husband so much, that I don’t take him out myself. He’s my husband’s hiking companion.

Levi and Tatum

He’s going to K9 Nosework Class again at our local training center, Calling All Dogs. He just loves it. I was worried about his first class, wondering if he’d hurt the next day. And if he did, I would have taken Jet or Tatum instead. But no sign of Levi hurting the next day, so I’ll take him back again. He does love it, and I really want to spend time with my old 12 year old boy.

He practically needs a medication cart for all the supplements he’s on. But I think they are helping. And the acupuncture helps too. So he’s rather expensive for us now, but he’s worth every penny. The last three or four days he’s been grumpier at the other dogs. And I think it’s because he’s feeling better. I guess it could be because he’s feeling worse, but usually he’s grumpy when he feels good, so who knows.

He’s my boy, and I’m glad he’s doing okay.

Jet and Tatum

I’ve been taking it easy the last weeks, which is nice, no dog sports. Well, I did do some Cyber Rally-O with Jet that was pretty fun. I’ll have to post about that next time. Otherwise, I’ve been spending time with family and friends and taking the dogs to the park, going on some walks, and taking it easy. Been really nice. I wish I could have more time like this to just live. Oh I’ve been working, too, but that goes without saying. And in only another week, I’ll be able to say “I can retire next year…” oh that’ll be nice. I can retire in 2013, so I’m looking forward to that!

I haven’t been taking Levi to the park, though, just Jet and Tatum. I miss taking Levi. He still isn’t back to normal quite yet. I’ve been taking him on walks around the block, a mile or so, to work him back up to the park. But I think maybe next weekend he’ll be coming with again. His back still hurts. Maybe he needs a discectomy to help his back, but maybe not. He’s been getting a little better every day. And he’s being rather obnoxious at home which is a sign the’s feeling good. So that’s a good thing. I am realizing approaching EOL, which we say with software… (End Of Life), but as long as he’s happy and doing well, I’m happy with him too. He’s not going to keel over dead tomorrow or anything.

January will bring another agility trial. Maybe Jet and I can pick up another Double Q. We haven’t done agility in a couple months, now, but that’s okay. I think we will both remember how.

Levi Chewing

I do worry that he is getting old. I know he’s going to get old. I know there’s nothing that can be done for it. No way to avoid it. I feel like Connor MacLeod on Highlander. He lives 1,000 years and the people he loves only live 100 years at best. But for me, I live 100 years and the dogs I love only live 10. Just less zeroes. Same concept.

Maybe there’s some type of dashboard scorecard out there for the length of a life. I dunno. But one quote always comes to mind from a book I read years ago. A Fantasy novel. “Death lasts so much longer than life.” It’s too true, and too depressing.

So anyway, Levi is doing better, which was the point of this post. He’s grumping at the other dogs, being fun police, guarding bones, and acting himself. I hope to take him for a short walk tomorrow to see how he does. Just maybe a half a mile or so. To make him happy and get him out. Hopefully by next weekend we’ll be back at the park again. The park is way too quiet without Levi. Tatum and Jet don’t bark at anyone. Levi has to talk to every person he sees. And I much prefer a little barking on our walks.

Levi Loves Parties

They had a great time. Levi spent most of the evening going from person to person begging like a goof. Then guarding the chew toys from the other dogs. All his favorite things. Jet and Tatum also had fun. Levi, however, well, Sunday, he was miserable. His back hurt a lot again. He was walking with a roach back and a limp. And at night he was in so much pain he was shaking. My heart just broke that I caused him so much pain. It was my fault, since it’s my responsibility to keep him safe and healthy.

Over the next few days he did better only slowly. I worried like crazy. Fortunately, today, Friday, six days later, he’s better. He was getting better yesterday, too. He’s been on Tramadol for the pain. We stopped the rimadyl on Tuesday, thinking we may have to go to the big guns and use steroids. Today we took him into the vet and they gave him a steroid shot, which should help him feel better. He’s 12, it’s a balance between keeping him healthy and keeping him comfortable. He’s also on adequan, duralactin, glucosamine, and he’s going to start acupuncture next Monday. I’m doing everything I can think of for my boy.

So no more parties for Levi. Just a week ago he was going to the park with me, Jet and Tatum and we’d walk for a mile and three quarters. So we just have to work back up to that slowly. I worry about my old by. I know I have to be happy he’s 12 and has had a good long life, but Levi is my heart dog, and loosing him… I just don’t even want to think about it.

Happy 12 Levi!

He’s been licking his bum, too, but he came back okay about that, too. He doesn’t do it enough that he’s red or raw. The vet said maybe he’s cleaning his own anal sacks. Which I guess is fine, though kinda gross.

So he’s now on adequan and rimadyl. I know rimadyl can be bad long term, but he needs some help with his arthritis. He’s also on duralactin and glucosamine. I still want to get him some acupuncture, too. And the other dogs are not allowed to push him over, or he spends the day on the memory foam toppers on the bed and sleeps. Because he gets sore. My poor baby boy. I just adore him.

Here’s a video of him doing agility from back in 2008. His weaves never were good. Maybe his back always did bug him, I don’t know. I hope not. But I didn’t force him, I just tried to make them happy. He did so good at agility, except for the weaves.

He loves his birthday pizza, so do the rest of the dogs!

Levi's Birthday Pizza

At CampW

I’m also going to look into getting him acupuncture on a regular basis. Unfortunately my schedule is really messy right now, since we are transitioning to five day work weeks, but at the same time I have time off the next couple of weekends because of flyball and then agility. But I’m going to make the time for my Levi, as he means the world to me and I want to give him everything I possibly can to make him feel better.

Levi did so good at camp… but really he is fine, if he’s not pushed over, if his back isn’t twisted. That’s where his pain comes from. The arthritic bridge in his spine. He’s my heart and soul, this boy. I wish he could live as long as me. He’ll be twelve in just under a month. He still has to have some good years ahead of him. I’m thinking of looking into Reiki as well.

Maybe the cooler weather will help him, maybe it will hurt him, I’m not sure. Fortunately we don’t have any metal buildings around to keep the cold in, if that’d make him worse. My boy… I want him to get better. Even though I realize he is on the downward slide of his life now.

Levi and Tatum

Of course every project ends up being a lot bigger than anticipated. We got this wood from my work place years ago. They were doing construction and gave it away for free since they were going to just throw it out. So I snagged it in my Toyota Pickup and brought it home.

Ramp Starting

It’s been on the side of the house, but we use it now and then. Lucy’s chair was made out of the stuff, too. And free is always good. It’s thick sturdy wood. The above pictures is the platform that my husband thought Levi needs when he comes out of the dog door. If he angled down right away, it might be bad for his back, so we put up a platform first.

Jet Snoozing

I had to get a picture of Jet sunbathing on the stair. So cute, he’s the only dog we have little enough to sleep on a step.

The Ramp Forms

It was hot outside when we built it, mid 80s… though summer would have been hotter. This ramp was a bigger project than we thought, maybe some Beverage/Sommelier Jobs would have been easier to do! But we kept on. And I thought the edges would be dangerous and Levi might fall off the side. Like he fell off the pier (was pushed my Tatum, actually) at camp a month ago. So I insisted to my husband that we put sides on the darn thing.

Putting up Sides

Levi or Tatum could both fall off, they are not the most limber of dogs in the world. Jet and the Border Collies would fare better, but they are also younger.

From the Inside

So it’s all done, railings and all. Well actually not all done, we need to paint it and put some sand or something on it so the dogs don’t slide down. Us too. It’s pretty solid because of the thick wood, and my husband does an excellent job of building things. It was kinda a pain to put the sides on, but I do think, when all the dogs ran out full speed barking at something, Levi would be the one to fall, and that would have been bad.

Another cool note, our neighbors were giving up their fire grate today, it was on the front of their house with a sign. And I’ve needed one for a long time! Since we moved our TV room upstairs, I want to have fires in the fireplace again. But we’ve needed the fire grate, and now we have one! It’s super nice, too. Solid and way better than the last one we had. I dusted it off and put it up.

New Fire Grate

And yes that’s a mattress we have on the floor. Levi likes to lay on it. And we only have one chair in the living room upstairs. And a bean bag my sister gave us. We don’t want to haul the couch up, and we don’t have room for it anyway. So we sack out on the mattress to relax. And Levi loves it too, it’s his special bed.