Can old dogs learn new tricks ?

Maybe they can ...

I've been talking to the parents tonight, first time in a while I know ! I left it a bit too long but it has given them a chance to look away from health stuff and towards moving forwards again. If only I could do the same !

But ... who's that fella who lives with them ?

That's right ! It's the Ben-pup.

Not so much a pup now because he's sixteen years old and suffering from heart problems as well as the long term effects of that dodgy paw.

Such a regal pose. And nothing at all to do with the promise of bacon scraps off to the left of picture. Honest.

Bacon scraps still get the old fella bouncing ...

Although he's getting wise to the smuggling of medicine pills in with the Good Munchies. For all the bouncing, there is the sleeping ...

Bless. (No sleeping pooches were awakened during the taking of these pictures - I think !)

But yeah, it was good to hear from the mum and dad again. Looks like dad's still got some recovering to do after a major health scare but we're a tough mob and they're already looking forward to what they can do instead of looking backwards (like I am) to getting back to health.

Me ? I have some new Healing Gunk (hydrocortisone cream) which is having promising results already after just one evening. We'll see how it does over the week.

This isn't a post about me though. This is the Ben Appreciation Post. He's still with us, I had thought that he might have passed on in the time since I last talked to the mum and dad. Nah, they'd have rung and let me know. He's an old dog now and is spending much more time asleep than awake. Pets are family but there is that time when you recognise that you have to let them go. It's more cruel to keep them in this world rather than the next.

Quite. They are only around for a portion of our lives but we are there for all of theirs. There is a bond between a beloved family pet and their people.

I do miss having a pooch (or cat) around but because I live on my own and can be out quite some time, it would be a bit cruel for the poor thing to be on its own for most of the time.

It is good to see Ben-pup when I'm up there. He's always really happy to see his people and gets sad when he knows they're going away again.

Happy pooch is happy.

And taking his duties of guarding England from the Molehill of Unusual Size very seriously. He was taking his Cooking Monitor duties very seriously at Christmas too :

There he is, in the background there, keeping his nose keenly monitoring that steak in there for perfect munchie smells.

Not forgetting the other pooches either ! There has been Goldie, the short haired labrador who was as fast as I was. And I was quick. We had fun racing each other. He had fun unleashing his rapier like tongue for Slurps.

And the Old Gentleman himself, Scruff :

Such a wise old dog, evidenced in behaviour like knowing the theme tune to the 9 o'clock news, connecting that with watching the descending contents of the pint glass and realising that when the pint glass was empty, the news was over and it would be Walk Time. He would steadily get more and more excited as the pint was drunk.

Dogs are smart.

I'm not sure when I'll go see the mum and dad again. I'd like my ankles to be intact again. They're structurally ok but the skin is really bad and needs a chance to heal up.

Perhaps at the birthdays.

One last one. Will someone play with the Ben ? He'll love you forever if you will.