Old Dog News

I hate people that give their dogs human characteristics, but I'm a big hypocrite, as I'm one of them.

With Delilah's slow demise, Rhonda has "stepped up to the plate" as the number one food beggar in the family. She now rests dirctly under the kitchen table at every meal, usually resting on our feet (she ain't a small dog)...Delilah begs, but more from her bed, those pleading eyes never resting until the dishes are washed.

She is on her feet much less now, her back legs failing more and more. Some days, she is more peppy than others and wants to play. At other times, it seems like once down, she'll never get up again-but she never misses mealtime-I take this as a good sign. She barks more often now-sometimes in order to go out, sometimes to move Rhonda from the best (in her mind) spot on the dog beds... sometimes for seemingly no reason at all-I worry when I can't figure her "reasons" on these occasions. The idea that it is invisble pain bothers me, but the next second, she seems normal. One tough dog or, as my friend Ruth says, "some kinda dog."

Obviously, both of these demons have risen from the depths. Delilah is on the right and Rhonda, aka my leg attachment, is on the left.