If it seems like I am taking more days to get a blog out than usual… it’s because I am! I had to sneak upstairs to write this entry. Our dog (Sprite) weighs 35 (+/-) pounds, and as soon as she “hears” or “sees” me going upstairs, she wants to follow me… like she used to be able to do. This means I have to carry her up the stairs every time I want to use the computer, and before long, she wants to go back downstairs, only to want to come upstairs again.
I put quotation marks around the words hears and sees because we are not quite sure how much of those senses she still has. But she sure does seem to have both of them when she wants to >>> when they benefit her in some way… In other words, she is very selective at deciding what she thinks is important enough to hear or see.
Sprite will be fifteen years old on Sunday, which means that she sleeps a lot of the time. She likes to follow me from room to room… sleeping under my computer desk, sleeping right up next to me when I’m on the couch, or sleeping on our bed at night. She is my loyal companion and a great family member… She just weighs too much for me to want to continuously be dragging her up and down those pesky stairs all day.
But, we have come up with a remedy for all of this carrying around… This weekend, my son and husband are going to move my computer desk downstairs to the guest bedroom. I’ll be able to use the computer when I want, and Sprite will be able to do what she likes best: sleep… on the best bed in the house, the one that until now was reserved for visiting family and friends.
Alfred says
Hi Danna
I know what you mean. My dog is 15 going on 16 September the 15th. I have had her since she was 6 weeks old. She is my constant companion as well. When we got her she was the runt of the litter. She always slept with me in my bed. In 2006 we did some remodeling on our house and gutted out the bedrooms and remodeled them. Well, now she won’t go in them because she doesn’t recognize the smell so she stays out in our familyroom all the time. I did forget to mention that she has cataracts in both eyes and can’t see really good but gets around like nothing is wrong with her. The only thing is she doesn’t like me out of her smelling range and sight. I sleep in the familyroom with her because if I don’t she will get up in the middle of the night and howl for me until I come and comfort her and then she is quiet again. It is just easy for me to do that. But one good thing is she sleeps through the night. She will get a drink of water and then go back to bed. She plops down with me and that is it till morning when she needs to get up. Well just wanted to share.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Alfred,
That is so nice of you to sleep in the family room so that your dog feels comforted. How sad that she won’t go into the rooms that you had remodeled. But, at least she feels like she can walk around in the areas of the house that she is accustomed to… It sounds like she is as devoted to you as you are to her.
Jan says
Danna, What a sweet story. What we won’t do for our beloved furkids. Before we lost our dog in late 2007 I was carrying her up and down the steps too. We miss her every single day but have now filled our too quiet empty nest with two pups who have energy to spare. Hugs to you and Sprite.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Hi Jan!
I remember you telling me that you lost your dog… who, like Sprite, you had to carry up and down the stairs. But, I don’t remember you telling us about two new puppies! Yow! That’s quite an undertaking…
I don’t think that I ever want to go through puppy-training again… let alone two puppies at one time! But, I bet you are having a wonderful time with those two puppies, running circles around you!
Carrie says
I’ve got a cat (Maurice) who is the size of a small dog and weighs around 20 pounds, he likes to “help” me at the computer! He’s covered in long scruffy black fur and I believe he has a part time job working shifts on a nearby farm…. He is always filthy, takes absolutely no interest in grooming, and wags his tail vigorously when happy. He frightens small children and the elderly and is frankly a menace to society, but he’s a great inspiration for writing about bad-tempered old men or untidy small boys. Oh and he’s also not very bright but can sniff out a cat biscuit from 50 paces.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Are you sure Maurice isn’t a dog in disguise!?! Hmmm… He wags his tail when happy, is able to sniff out biscuits, and has no interest in grooming….
Carrie says
He snores too, and lies on the floor in front of the fire – Hmm, I think you might have something there. He’s sitting on the roof at the moment watching the blackbirds eating pears. He has slugs stuck to his nether regions. In fact I’m beginning to see why he wound up in a rescue centre. Maybe I should write a book about him. Here in Derby, England, we have a mysterious large black cat the size of a Labrador. It prowls about preying on sheep in the Dales, and farmers and tourists are always catching it on camera. It’s known as the Derbyshire panther and suspected to have been abandoned or escaped from a zoo. The county constabulary even have a full time officer whose job is to collate information and try to track it down. I suspect Maurice stands in for the panther on it’s day off, or during holiday times.