The Special Part Of Taking A Senior Dog For A Walk


Molly Jo Carrell-Dog is 11 1/2 years old, and she is the four-legged love of my life. She's getting up there in age for a Great Dane-mix, which means she's starting to have old lady issues, but her times outside are probably her second-favorite part of the day. (Meals come first.)


We try to get her outside as frequently as possible so she can relieve herself. All of our older female dogs have had some potty issues late in life, and she's no different. She loves sniffing around while she's out there, so she doesn't have a problem going out a bunch.


There's always something to sniff on the property.


Acres of stuff to sniff.


Her back end has gotten super stiff, to the point that she's not really bending her back legs on her own unless she has to. I decided several weeks ago that she gets to lead the way when we go walking. If it was up to me, she'd go do her thing and come right back. She has other ideas.


We have a circle drive, but she rarely stays on it. There are several tree stumps that require investigating - I'm not sure what lives in them - and the rabbits and squirrels in the big thicket by the driveway are definitely a curiosity. 


With no leaves on the trees yet, she can also hear absolutely everything. Molly keeps tabs on both her brothers, the traffic from the highway at the bottom of the hill, and especially when Danny's truck comes up the driveway. She can tell as soon as he hits the gravel, and she'll book it to get to him when he gets to the garage.


Molly gets to decide how far we walk and how long we stay outside. I love to follow and see where she goes each time. She's incredibly stubborn and won't go where she doesn't want to, and I've never succeeded in telling this 125-pound Dane what to do. If she wants to make one more loop, we're making one more loop.


As the days get prettier, we'll be outside more because it's her favorite place to be. I'm not worrying about her time being short right now. As long as she's excited about sights and sounds and smells, we're gonna walk til we can't walk no more. We'll deal with the rest of it as it comes.

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