It has been said that aging is not for wimps and now that I am a senior dog I am gaining first hand experience about what that really means.

It all started with a ear infection. For those of you that don’t know, floppy-eared dogs get a lot of them. So when Doc suspected I had one, she took me to the veterinarian, got me diagnosed and treated. Twice a day Doc gave me medicated ear drops, and once a day she washed out my ears with an anti-bacterial wash. I tolerated it, but didn’t like it as it caused me to shake my head a lot trying to get that stuff out of my ear canal. It just felt uncomfortable.

About week after my treatment started, I woke up one morning and I had a hard time moving my neck it was so painful. I hurt so much I didn’t even want to eat, and let me tell you Doc was worried and so was I. Back to the doctors office we went on Monday morning where I got to see one of my favorite vets, Dr. Balazs. She has known me since I was a puppy and I knew that she would figure out what was going on and help me.

As we waited in the exam room, I could tell Doc was anxious even through she tried not to show it. She knows as we get older that anything can happen. so I laid right up against her so she wouldn’t be so afraid. Soon Dr. Balazs came in the room and just like I expected, it didn’t take her very long at all to figure out what was wrong. After thorough examination she said that I had strained my neck from shaking it so much. She said she could feel the tightness in my muscles in my neck and by the way I was holding my head. After some more consultation a plan of treatment was discussed. It was a relief to know that with medication and rest I would be ok, and the good news was that my ear infection was gone. The doctor also gave me permission to go back to work in the morning as long as I took it easy.

Now that I am back to work, you know that I have been getting lots of sympathy and I have been eating that up. Today I am going to go see Heather, one of my favorite nurse practitioners for a visit in our other building and tell her my sad story about all that I have been through. She keeps special treats for me in the drawer of her desk and I know she will show me great sympathy and feed me. I am not ashamed to say that I have sat outside of her door and whined even though I knew she was with a patient because I wanted her to give me some of those tasty treats. She is so nice that if she misses me when I stop by that she will bring the treats to me later when she has time. What a great co-worker to have.

Yes, it can be difficult dealing with the aches and pains of aging, but when you have so many people like I do that care for me and love me I am left feeling nothing but grateful.

” Age is not how old you are, but how many years of fun you’ve had.” – Matt Maldre.

Doc could hardly believe it when she looked at the calendar and saw that Thanksgiving was next week already. I think of all the holidays, Thanksgiving is my favorite. What’s not love? It’s the one day of the year the humans stuff themselves without guilt and when they are done I get all the leftovers. I start drooling just thinking about it. Of course the focus of the day is to count our blessings and that is the most important thing to remember, unless you know a secret about a past Thanksgiving and that is what I will tell you about today.

Doc says the holidays always bring back memories for her of all the family gatherings from childhood to present and that is what makes the day special for her. As she was going down memory lane with me, she reminded me of a story she told me about before I was born about the biggest Thanksgiving mishap that she ever had and to this day her family doesn’t let her forget about it.

Many years ago, Doc got up at the crack of dawn on Thanksgiving morning, while her family was still asleep upstairs. She had to get the big 20 pound turkey ready and put it in the oven so it could cook all day. After she buttered and seasoned the bird, she picked it up to put in the roaster and that bird slipped out of her hands, landed on the floor and slid a good ten feet before it came to a halt against the stove. She was mortified and let out a few choice words you would never say in church. Trying to decide what she would do as the turkey had picked up some dirt and a few dog hairs, she didn’t miss a beat. She got a paper towel, cleaned off the bird the best she could and put that sucker in the oven thinking the germs would all be killed in the cooking process. She told herself she would never say a word about what happened and since there were no witnesses, she was in the clear.

Later that day, the family arrived, sat down to dinner and ate that turkey while Doc kept the secret to herself,. The family praised her for a great meal and no one suspected a thing. It wasn’t until the next Thanksgiving that Doc confessed to what had happened. Although everyone was a little shocked, no one was so bothered that they left the table and to this day they talk about that and have a good laugh.

Besides the glorious food, listening to the family talk about all the memories is one one my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. I hope all of you have some good memories to share and many things to be thankful for this year.

The weather was beautiful as we sat on the front porch passing out candy. Hordes of children ran up and down the street through the autumn leaves in anticipation of what goodies they would score. Doc has learned over the years to stock up, so that she never runs out of treats. We saw children dressed in every character imaginable and even a gorilla made a visit that was having problems navigating his new large gorilla feet as he walked between the houses. I bet he never wears that costume again. I tried to sneak some treats, but Doc caught me with a Tootsie Roll Pop in my mouth and put the nix on that quickly.

It was about half way through the night when we saw four very energetic and small boys dressed like Ninjas going house to house at a rapid pace. Right before they landed on our door step, Doc and I both noticed that when they were across the street at our neighbors house that they tried to dump much of the unguarded candy from the bowel on the porch into their bags until they got caught and then they ran toward our house.

As they bounded on to the front porch Doc asked them with authority in her voice, ” What do you want, a trick or a treat.? ” These poor unsuspecting lads did not know what web they were being drawn into and answered in unison ” A Trick!” So now that the bait was set, Doc said to them, ” I know I don’t look like one, but I am actually a witch with special powers and I have the ability to turn one of you into a frog. Now, which one of you wants to be a frog? I watched with amusement as their eyes got bigger than saucers and was surprised when all of them pointed to the same boy in the group. ” Him!” they yelled. For a moment, the poor boy looked like he was going to faint, but then Doc let out a laugh, filled their bags with candy and told them to be on their way and to behave themselves for the rest of the night. Those poor boys couldn’t get off our porch fast enough. I bet they couldn’t wait to tell their parents that they met a real witch in the neighborhood on Halloween. What fun! That is what Halloween is all about.

The time passed so quickly and at 8pm we got the last knock on the door from some young ladies and so Doc gave then most of the candy that was left over. They sure seemed happy. As for me I was worn out and jumped into Doc bed only to dream of witches and ghosts and monsters that creep through the night.