Living in a minefield
Our Penny is getting old.
I suppose that’s something to be expected with the passing of the years? It happens to most of us.
One of the main signs is her changed way of life. No longer do we witness mad fits where she tears around the garden at flank speed. Her greetings for friends and visitors are somewhat muted compared to the frenzy of excitement we were used to. She spends most of her time these days just sleeping. Or trying to scrounge “treats”. Or just standing on the terrace surveying her domain for errant or imaginary cats.
And of course she has gone deaf. Or maybe just developed very selective hearing?
There is one new aspect I have noticed in recent times:
She was fully house trained when we got her ten years ago. Or we assumed she had been trained as her first couple of years will remain forever a big question mark. One of her favourite spots for taking a dump was the gravel on the front drive. There happens to be a very large pine tree overhanging the drive so the ground is always covered in pine cones [and the odd branch]. Now it just so happens that Penny’s poo is almost exactly the same size shape and even appearance of a pine cone so you have to be very careful where you are walking. I don’t call it a minefield for nothing.
Lately however I have started to discover mines laid indoors. They’re always very small, dry and odourless [fortunately]. They appear to be more of a mistake rather than a deliberate dump but I have to be careful, especially at night as I frequently don’t bother to switch on the room light when walking through.
There is one thing I have noticed about these little indiscretions – they are always on a soft surface such as a carpet or a rug. Hard wooden floors are avoided at all costs. She once even dropped one in the middle of my bed which was weird. I have taken to closing off the old part of the Manor as that’s where most of the carpets are.
I have never chastised her for her little indiscretions. She’s getting old and as we grow older these things happen. We must expect the odd drop of incontinence.
I wonder if I’ll start to do the same?
My cats are the same when they get old, I tolerate it as they canât help it but I do wonder why it happens. I have one at that stage now.
It’s the first time I have come across this phenomenon. We have had several dogs that lived to a ripe age but this is new and a bit strange [for me]. It doesn’t bother me unless I step on something soft in my bare feet in the dark.
Two legs or four, as we get older accidents happen.
It’s only a matter of time before I smell of stale piss? Or maybe I do already?
The Biden years?
Which got me thinking.
When I was but a lad I used to see lots of white dog shite. Like thick chalk sticks.
What are dogs fed that makes them shit sticks of chalk?
Now, hardly ever. Do I see such dog poo.
I frequently pondered upon that topic myself [I confine my thoughts to serious matters].
According to Wiki, the white turds were due to commercial dog food having a high beef or bone-meal, hence high calcium content, so ‘chalky’ is exactly right.