A Word of Advice ...

[ElvisP]

for those of you with older GSD's. My 125 lb GSD, King, had to be put down at 12 years old. He had been slowing down at around 9-10 years old and one day we did something we always did ... jump into the back of my Jeep. He almost got all the way in but he didn't have enough strength to pull himself all the way up. He fell back on his butt and hurt his hip. That was the beginning of the end in my opinion. He really slowed down after that.

So my advice - at some point, your dog won't be able to do the things he always does and you need to know this before he get's himself into trouble. I should have been more careful in identifying those activities that might be harmful to his health ... especially those normal activities that we always did. It's the only thing I regret with King. Know your GSD's limitations as they get older.

ElvisP

[EchoGSD]

So very sorry about your loss of King. Your advice is right on track, thanks for thinking of others in this heart-hurting time.

[onyxboy]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I had a Golden Retriever I had for 15 years and we just lost him 3 months ago and I also saw the same signs you did. It is sad to see your love one decline like that.

[ElvisP]

Well, this was 1 1/2 years ago and it took that long to move on and get Elvis last week. But it is always hard to think of him. My office (at work) has about four 8x10 pictures of him on the wall.

Onyxboy - your dog looks very much like King.

[DrDoom]

Yeah, Bear hoped down out of my bro-in-law's lifted pickup before I could stop him, and he paid for it. Limped for two days. He KNEW he wasn't supposed to do it, but wait for me, but he doesn't like me lifting him, and I think he wanted to show he's not feeble, personally, but it didn't work out so well. Looking for a new, more compact ramp so that we can take it places with us. He's a rescue, so we don't know his exact age, but if the rescue calculated correctly he's about 8. Personally I think he's a little older.

[JudynRich]

My SUe died of cancer only 5 days after we learned of it. I always dreaded the slow down I was expecting and in the end, she went pretty quickly. I would have a very difficult time watching our active GSDs become disabled. So sorry for your loss.

[Mac's Mom]

My heart goes out to the parents of Sue & King. Thanks for sharing.

[Basil2010]

It's always hard to lose some one you love.

[LDB158]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I also had to put down one of my bestest buds at the beginning of the year. It was the hardest decision that i've ever had to make. My mom was there with me and she was trying to convince me it was the best route to take and you could tell the vet agreed with her. She had lung cancer and could barely breathe. Her last day alive, she was also starting to have seizures every couple of hours.

Again, I'm really sorry for your loss. I know it had to have been a tough decision. Speedy is 6 yo, and when I moved in my new house last July, I had about a 5 foot wall type thing in my backyard that he would love to jump over. Towards the beginning of the year, he quit jumping over it to get down and now it's something my 2 1/2 yo Shepherd loves doing. But Speedy will just walk around it to get to me, instead of jumping it like he used to.