It is so easy to love a young puppy! They are so full of energy, so cute, so cuddly, so…whatever else endears them to us. They are also so messy and so destructive, but that’s the other side of the coin. And then they grow up…
The recent storms here in North Texas have been loud and wet. I have never had the respect for such storms as I should – doing dumb things like stand in the middle of the street taking photos of a tornado a couple of blocks away. (A topic for another time.) Most people and animals have a healthy respect for such weather and are not as foolhardy as I have sometimes been. But as I grow older, I have now seen enough that I’m beginning to realize that those things can be dangerous! I never said I was very bright – unlike our German Shepherd.
We bought Shadow when he was ten weeks old. He was the last of the litter and we got a good deal – papers and all. He is our second German Shepherd and a big, beautiful, intelligent dog. After weaning, he was living in a nice shed on the country property of the breeder. He had free rein to come and go and explore the large fenced-in property – and he had house-broken himself in the process. But he also was somewhat afraid of thunder and lightning.
Shadow’s fear of storms ameliorated as he grew to 124 pounds of solid muscle. Not a puppy anymore! At 12 years, he is now the equivalent of an 84-year-old man. His hearing and visual acuity have diminished somewhat the last year or so. That may explain why he now has a propensity to bark incessantly at times. Then there is that common Shepherd problem – hip dysplasia. It is obviously painful for him to get up and move around and I fear he may not be with us much longer…
In recent months, Shadow has become absolutely paranoid during storms and wants to either be as close to us as physically possible or find a nearby hiding place from the storm. Being an indoor dog, that means surveying places like the six-inch space behind the TV (where he’ll never fit) or the corner behind a chair. Now when the storms rage, we have another issue – he apparently gets so upset that 12 years of being housebroken is out the window and we have had to revert to the reward-and-punishment cycle of training a puppy. Very irritating to say the least!
But, he is an aging member of the family and deserves the same love and respect he has always known. Much as we should treat the elder human members of our family. While I don’t pretend to understand what is going on in his head, it is also interesting to look around at some older people who similarly seem to have reverted to the mental state of a young child. I know that I would want to be treated with love and respect should I live to be an old man.
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