My dear old dog

Maggie, my dear sweet dog, is showing her age.  She is twelve now and you can see the grey in her muzzle and above her eyes.  Her eyes are getting milky and her hearing is fading too. She's really slowing down.  Last night was, I think, the last time we'll be taking her to flyball.  We realized that she's unable to see the jumps so instead of running down the lane full speed as she's been doing for years, she's loping hesitantly towards them turning her head from side to side trying to see where they are.  When she got to the box she crashed into it and then couldn't see to get the ball properly.  It's so sad to see her struggle to do what she did so effortlessly in the past.  We've seen this happening gradually over the past couple of months but I've continued to bring her because she wants to come and play.  But last night I don't even think she enjoyed it, so there's just no point in bringing her along.   

It amazes me how quickly she's lost ground over several months.  She can't hear us call her any more and she can't hear cars on the road so we're unable to let her walk with us off-leash as she's always done.  Thankfully she still likes to go out in the field and chase after a ball.  She seems to be able to see a moving object still, so there's something fun in her day.  Otherwise she just sleeps the day away waiting for dinner.

She is my special girl and I only hope that we can have a few more years with her in relatively good health.  Seeing our sweet pets getting old is hard. 

Here's a picture of Maggie doing flyball in her younger days.